Brainfart

I don't really know what to write about today....I have a ton of works-in-progress, but one's wet, one's black, one has an uncertain future, one I've forgotten about so it looks the same as the last time I showed it to you, and the other I haven't really started yet. So...that doesn't leave anything else, really....

I hope I have something for you Friday, but we'll see. The wet one is blocking so I know I haven't flubbed it up, not because it's done. It could be done by Friday, though. Again, we'll see.

Monday, I was going to show you this cute outfit I wore last week. I guess today works too. John said I looked like a cowgirl. I was rather happy about that for no particular reason.

It's Gap all the way down. We went shopping last week. I'm looking to pack away some of my band/silly graphic tees and replace them with simple, soft solids.

I'm also thinking about bangs. I just don't know....

For some real WIPs, head over to Tami's blog! I promise I'll show you some knitting next week. PROMISE!

My Phone is Happy

Key-Proof and Attachable

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Steam Age
Needles: US 4
Project Page

I've been meaning to knit a phone cozy since I got my new phone in...October. I've been super paranoid about my keys scratching the touch screen lately, so it was time. I also have a terrible habit of carrying cards with me in my pants pocket (I carry a thing that looks like a purse, but it's really a knitting bag that I don't like to carry if I don't have to). Cards get bent, beat, up, and unusable fast. So my phone cozy also became my card carrier!

I have been trying to use up this Madtosh DK for a while. It is just never-ending. I could make three more cozies from it, I bet. I'll have to find something else. I hate having a little ball of that beautiful stuff languishing in my Random Balls of Yarn bag. It worked out pretty great for the cozy, though, I must say.

No fancy designing, really. I think I cast on 32 stitches with Judy's Magic Cast-On and knit in the round until it was a little longer than my phone, then bound-off half the stitches and worked the flap flat (it needs to be blocked wider). The pocket I did with 20 stitches and an improvised cable pattern which I just seamed to the cozy. I learned from my last cozy that buttons with buttonholes are easier to undo than buttons with strings wrapped around them over and over and over.

Nothing too fancy, but it sure is practical! I bet you can find lots of pretty, fancy FOs at Tami's Amis!

It's Summertime

Summertime means it's warm and warm means avoid the wool and avoiding the wool means next to no knitting is happening. But it must! I can't not knit and I committed to all six classes in the HPKCHC this month! I've started...three of them. That's actually not too bad! I just have to get my second top started and I should make it.

Anyway, it's Wednesday and I'm working on things and stuff and things. I'm too lazy to take decent photos of my knitting (you'll just have to trust that it exists), so I'll show you what else I'm working on in the meantime.

Last weekend, John and I picked some raspberries. John and his sister did most of the picking, really. And we have an entire pitcher full of raspberries to show for it! I love wild raspberries! It is not summer in Iowa unless I've gone out to pick some and them eaten all of them in various ways. :) Above is the tried and true raspberries on vanilla ice cream (Breyer's Homemade Vanilla is soooooo gooooood!). Below is an old favorite: raspberries with sugar on top. Mmmmm.

No muss and fuss here, just tasty raspberries. I also like raspberries in cereal. We are going to try raspberries in lemonade and on a strawberry pie with whipped cream. I just found a recipe for tarts in this month's Woman's Day, but we're running out of raspberries fast! What do you like to do with berries? We are definitely open to suggestions. :)

For some real WIP Wednesday posts, go over to Tami's blog!

This is What Happens...

...when you have an overly generous knitting friend who gets all the best bargains in the entire world. Seriously. She bought a full set of Denise interchangables for a quarter once.* In the same shop, she found a giant box full of cones of yarn.

Not just any yarn, though. We're talkin' lace weight cotton, silk, and linen blends! This is classy stuff! All of it for $8! I need to start shopping with her! She forced this bounty on our Friday Night group (we seriously felt pretty bad taking it from her, but she was really persuasive and did keep a bunch of silk for herself). Above is a linen/cotton blend. This here is 100% cotton:

And this is 100% silk, I think. I might dye it.

I'm at a loss as to what to do with half of it. The linen and cotton blend is perfect for a project I've been wanting to do for a couple months. I just have to weigh it and see how much I have. Do you know how much the cardboard cones weigh on their own? That would be helpful to know. Would you like some dyed lace weight silk? I'll absolutely consider giving a skein away or maybe selling a couple. John keeps telling me I should dye some yarn. Or I could have my friend Kate at Fangrrl Fiber Arts help me out. :) She's a great dyer!

Anyway, now I'm thinking aloud and I'll stop. I'll see you Wednesday with some WIPs!

*Okay, maybe not a quarter, but it definitely wasn't more than $10.

A Long Time Coming

Quidditch Socks

Pattern: Key Chain Sock Blocker Sock by Debbie Jennings
Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock in Kiwi and Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs Laudanum-GothSock in I'm a Very Neat Monster
Needles: US 1
Project Page

I've had a naked sock-blocker key chain for a few years now. I got it for Christmas from my friend Amy. I've intended to knit the little sock for it for...ever! Finally, the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup offered me just the incentive I needed. Slytherin was down in Quidditch and the more people who knitted or crocheted mini socks, the more points we earned! I whipped out some yarn and went to work.

It only took a tiny bit of yarn. I had a tiny little ball of Shibui Knits Sock that I thought would be just enough for one sock. I think I could make another! The two-toned sock you may recognize from my Dexter Socks. I thought the two-toned sock would be my favorite, but I think it's the green one. They are both incredibly cute! John thinks so too. I may need to get him a key chain. :)

Slytherin tied Hufflepuff for first place and now I have two socks for my once long-naked key chain (and there will be more!). Win-win!

Head over to Tami's Amis for more FO Friday posts!

Sit Down, Stash Up

This weekend completely wiped me out! A comp (I passed!) and movie on Friday, a road trip to a yarn shop with friends on Saturday, lunch and an art festival Sunday, and work, errands, and grilling with the boy Monday...and I'm beat! I want to camp on the couch for the rest of the week and knit, but I've got research and a paper to start at the office tomorrow. It'll be fun, though. :)

I'm not too tired to share my yarn acquisitions from the weekend, however! They'll have to sit in the stash for at least a month, but I'm itching to cast on some sweaters. Unfortunately, I think I'm 100-200 yards short of yarn for each of the sweaters I bought yarn for, but not enough people have knit them and precisely recorded their yarn consumption yet for me to know for sure. :/ Cross your fingers!

This is some lovely Certified Organic Merino Worsted from Swan Island. I think it's destined for Levenwick. I have a plan for finding the missing 100 yards since this yarn in the colorway is pretty much impossible to find.

I've never bought yarn like this before, so I'm super excited. It's hella squishy! I'm going to make Exeter and I'm going to make it work, short or not! I might not be short of yarn. I don't know how many yards I have, but the weight is a bit light. Again, fingers crossed! I'm going to live in that sweater come winter, I just know it!

And finally, I caved and bought some Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight. Very few shops carry it. The Fold is one. It is wonderful!

 It seems a lot of people have been replenishing their stashes recently. Are you one? I want to know what you got!

All right, I'm spent. I don't know if I'll blog tomorrow. I haven't started anything this month and my Rams and Ewes isn't much further along (I do have a ram row now, though). We'll see. :)

Waffling

When I finished my Bridgewater, I had a hell of a time trying to find a shawl pattern that would eat up the leftover 350 yards of lace weight. This was pretty much the only one that fit the bill.

Wavering Heart

Pattern: Fragile Heart by Boo Knits
Yarn: Alpaca with a Twist Fino in Plum Wine
Needles: US 6, 7, 8
Project Page

Still, it just didn't seem right. I couldn't make up my mind about anything, so I just started knitting to see how I felt. Then I got to the lace part and couldn't decide whether to bead it. When I decided to get beads, I couldn't decide what beads to get. When I got to the pattern repeat, I couldn't decide whether to repeat. Then when I got into the border and realized I should have done the repeat, I couldn't decide whether to rip back or try to repeat the border twice. When I got to the end of the repeat, my decisions were all made for me: the stitch count wasn't right for a second border repeat and I didn't want to use that many more beads on the damned thing anyway.

Then, I washed it and hung it up to block it--another dilemma: pin flat or hang it like I do all my shawls? Again, a decision made by circumstances: my blocking stuff was locked in a room with John, who was studying and wouldn't like to be disturbed. :) And then I went to check on it (it dried really fast!) and instantly fell in love!

Really, what's not to love? I'm sorry I wasn't so fond of you in the beginning, shawl. You are a very nice shawl.

My Thursday night knitting group (who had seen the waffling and hemming and hawing for the past few weeks) marveled at it and scolded me for second-guessing. I deserved it. :) I think my biggest question about it was whether I'd wear such a shallow shawl, but I have all day and it's perfect for summer, when my Bridgewater or fingering weight shawls are just too heavy.

The pattern is a little confusing, but after I sat down and read through the whole thing a couple of times, I understood it. I should have done the pattern repeat at least once more to use up my yarn, but I really do like its size now. In fact, since I think I have enough for another, I'm probably going to make it again, this time without beads. I may give it away. My friend Jane called dibs. :)

Lesson learned: just because you aren't sure doesn't mean you should stop. I'm sure you've had patterns like that too?

For more FO Friday posts, hop on over to Tami's Amis!