Okay... don't everyone jump at once, but I need one more person to have an even number in the swap this month. Here are the details of the swap. If you are interested, please leave a comment or send me an email.
Edited 6/1/06: Okay, we got to worked out. No additional entries, please!
Whew! I never realized how important pictures are to my blogging! I am pretty much lost without them. Anyway, as you can probably guess, I finally have a new computer (with LOTS of memory!) so I'm back in action! (So many posts to catch up on.....)
First things first - my sister's wedding! I don't have too many pictures yet, since I was in the wedding, but here goes. The lovely bride...
My great new brother-in-law (yes, he realy is as tall as he looks!)
And what wedding is complete without a cute flowergirl?
Of course, every wedding has its moments (the wedding coordinator got violently ill the night before the wedding - luckily she recovered quickly - and I have to admit there were some pretty cheesy wedding songs performed) but overall it was a fun weekend. My parents had BBQ brought in from Kansas City for the reception - yum! Weddings are always so much more enjoyable to me when it seems like the people getting married know what they're getting into. This happy couple is really well suited for each other and they are really committed to making their vows come true.
Don't you love Project Spectrum? It has really pushed me in some new directions this spring, especially exploring yellow and orange. But then there's June.... The color for June is BLUE in all of its wonderful variations: sky, ocean, indigo, turquiose, navy, slate, robin's egg, and more. And who, at some point in their lives, hasn't called blue their favorite color. And let's not forget that blue that looks good on everyone - your favorite pair of blue jeans.
I can't wait to see the blues everyone comes up with for June's Hand-Dyed Yarn Swap. If you are already participating the swap, I will assume you want to join for June unless you tell me otherwise. If you want to join the fun, send me an email or leave me a comment! The deadline for June sign-ups is THIS SUNDAY, MAY 28. Matches will be sent out in early June. Yarn should be mailed by June 15th, unless you arrange otherwise with your pal. Buy your yarn now, kids - it's time for another exciting round of THE SWAP!
PS - In other yarn-dyeing related news, I may start dyeing some yarn for sale at my LYS. We're still working out the details, but I'll let you know if anything happens!
You know it's coming... World-Wide Knit In Public Day, June 10 2006!
So, what do you have planned? Brianne and I have decided we need to organize an event for the Springfield / Missouri Ozarks knitters out there, so here's the plan:
Meet us at 2 pm on Saturday, June 10 on the lawn at Sequiota Park (bring your own blanket or lawn chair) for a knitting, crocheting, and spinning extravaganza! (any spinners out there?) Rain location: The Library Station (on South Campbell) (edited 5/23/06 - because the library is more public than the yarn shop).
Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and make up some flyers to post in the local yarn shops. I hope lots of people will be able to come! Tell your Ozarkian friends...!
Just in case you were wondering, these are NOT my socks. I wish! But it does prove the point that they ARE possible. But not for me, right now. (this particular pair was knit by heylucy - I found it on flickr.)
Thank you all for the comments, I really appreciate the guidance. I do think I'll knit the Jaywalkers again at some point, and I will definitely go about it a little differently next time.
I'm considering the possibility that the yarn I'm used was a hair too thin, combined with my ill-fated choice to knit the smaller size, and possibly needing to use a larger needle size. Anyway... note to self: knit a gauge swatch next time!
Moving on.......
I met up with Brianne last night at Panera for a little knitting and catching up. She found a cute pattern for a vest to wear over a dress shirt that I think I will make for myself out of that Cotton Fleece that has been hanging around my stash begging to be knit.
This weekend, I'm headed to Kansas City for a low-key bachelorette party for my sister, plus a visit with my friend Jill from law school. And I might just pop in to Yarn Shop & More, a yarn shop in Overland Park KS where my sweet sis got by copy of MDK autographed. Fun times! I promise lots of pictures when I return!
Remember those yellow Jaywalkers? The ones I attempted surgery on and failed, so I was forced to reknit the entire gusset? Well...
I finally decided it might be a good idea to try them on. (Full disclosure: I don't knit gauge swatches for socks.) Yeah, you can probably guess what's coming next, right? Yep, you guessed it: Too small. It requires a shoehorn it get my heel into the things - I may have broken a few strands while trying to extract my foot from its death grip.
So, I have a question for you.... what should Zarah do?
(a) Knit on, but gift them to a small footed friend or maybe a small child.
(b) Rip and start again with more stitches
(c) Put it in a dark closet and back away slowly. We shall never speak of this again.
(d) Other
Whatever you advise me, I think this is definitely a sign from the knitting gods that I need to take a break from the small needles for a while! Coming up: pattern #2 from MDK - the baby kimono! (No, Mom, I'm not pregnant. But lots of my friends are!)
I love knitting books just as much as the next knitter. Which I think means that I have far more books & patterns than I'll EVER be able to knit. But I keep buying them anyway. I think my favorite part of getting a new knitting book is seeing the same basic stitches we all know transformed into someone's unique artistic vision. Mason-Dixon Knitting is definitely no exception: these ladies know what they like. (Apparently, they like squares. And cotton. And thus, what they love most is the perfect embodiment of those two elements: the warshrag).
I certainly never thought of myself as the kind of person who knits washrags. I have limited knitting time, after all. Shouldn't I spend it knitting with luxury yarn? and only the finest garments? Of course, that's not reality, I have a budget just like everyone else and not everything I knit comes out looking wonderfully. So why the discrimination against washrags? I do use them after all, so they're just as practical as knitting socks.
Okay, sorry for the rant. But I have to admit I AM biased against knitting washrags, but if gals as classy as Ann & Kay do it, then it must not be that bad. I wanted to try a pattern out of the book, so I admit I broke down and started one.I also really love the blanket patterns in this book, but don't they take FOREVER? I guess I actually do have one blanket in progress right now - it was inspired by the log cabin blanket on the MDK website, but I'm just using leftovers from finished projects, so it will be a while before I ever finish it. Actually, I've got a few odd and ends to add - maybe I'll post a new picture of it tomorrow.
Oh... I forgot to mention that the reason I have this book is because Ann & Kay''s book tour stopped through Kansas City and I made her go get it for me .... it's autographed! Thanks Mary!
Yarn Swappers:
Don't forget that your hand-dyed yarn should be sent out to your pal ASAP! (If you're running late for some reason, please email your pal and let her know!)
Does anyone else feel a little sad when they finish a project? Maybe the feeling is more like "adrift" than sad. I am happy to have finished Orangina, but that was the main project I had worked on for over a month! I think I miss Orangie!
Actually, I have been working on one other small project. Just before I left for my DC trip, I cast on (about a million times) for a pair of socks. After trying several different patterns, I finally settled on the infamous Jaywalkers. That Grumperina, she's clever. These socks look so tricky but they're really simple! I'm using the yarn I got in the Project Spectrum Yarn Swap, from Lu of Maglia! I think it looks really great in this pattern - there are hints of yellow, white, beige, orange, and red. A few other bloggers saw me knitting on this at Maryland Sheep & Wool and asked me about the yarn - Lu actually has her hand-dyed yarns for sale here.
Of course, nothing ever goes exactly according to plan here at Chez Zarah. See that middle ridge? It's supposed to be straight, but.... as you can see, it got derailed. I suppose most normal people would call this a design feature and either correct it or continue knitting with the center stitch one stitch off center. But no.... I have to try to FIX IT. Because I am the knitting guru of all my knitting friends, and I think I can fix EVERYTHING. Just let Zarah fix it, everything will be FINE.
I had to document the carnage. If you've never knit Jaywalkers before, I am ripping out a vertical row of 3-stitch decreases. It was fairly simply to rip out, but.... not so easy to reconstruct the "slip, slip, knit 3rd st, slip first 2 sts over 3rd st."
In the end, I had to rip back almost all of the gusset stitches. (argh)
I've decided to take a break from the tiny needles for a while, though. Between Jaywalkers (size 1) and Orangina (size 3), it's been all small needles for way too long. I picked up some Rowan Cotton Tape on elann.com not too long ago (50% off!) so hopefully I'll be able to whip up a quick little tank out of that fairly soon. (Maybe this one?) Meredith - if you're reading this, I need to borrow your Rowan pattern book. Thanks!
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Originally uploaded by kerner.
My yarn purchases ar Maryland Sheep & Wool were all about the Tess Designer Yarns. MmMmMmmmmm.... I do love merino. But this -->
This is Hand-Dyed, superwash merino! De-luxe yarn at a very nice price. I've heard other people complain about the selection at the Tess booth this year because they didn't have many yarns that were multi-colored. I guess each person has their own tastes, but I love the hand-dyed yarns that are only ever-so-slightly vareigated. This is 1500 yards of dark green/dark gray yarn, which should be just enough for a nice sweater for my husband. I still owe him a sweater after the Great Sweater Debacle of Birthday 2006. I don't think the poor guy even got a replacement gift after the sweater went horribly wrong. So, I am going to TRY AGAIN. NEVER GIVE UP. Yep, that's how my daddy raised me. =) So, if anyone has knit a nice men's sweater in worsted weight yarn, please let me know.
Here's my only other yarn purchase at the festival - some soft and colorful sock/baby superwash yarn. I have several friends who are expected babies soon, so I might use it to make a little baby sweater.
Isn't she lovely? I worked on this during my trip to St. Louis with my friend Emily at the wheel (we were going to run our half-marathon) and during my trip to Washington DC - Lolly witnessed some of the final rounds of ribbing while we knit at Teaism and cringed everytime two little boys a few tables away nearly careened into a koi pond. Hmmm... I think Brenda Dayne's thoughts on "knitting memory" are true - each project is not just stitches, but also all the events that happened while it was being knit.
Project Details:
Pattern: Orangina by Stefanie Japel, available at Glampyre Knits
Yarn: Rowan 4-ply cotton, color: Aegean (about 4 1/2 skeins for 36" size) (If you haven't discovered Janette's Rare Yarns on Ebay yet, she's a great source for Rowan yarns)
Needle Size: Size 3, 24" Addi Natura circular
Skills needed: cast on, knit, purl, right and left slanting decreases, yarnover, mattress stitch, cast off
Pattern Modifications: The pattern called for 3" of ribbing at the bottom, I did about 5" (I'm tall).
Time to knit: I think I started knitting this around April 10, and finished it around May 10. Dang! That was fast!
Final impressions: This was a challenging pattern for me at first. I've never really done lace-type knitting before, and the nature of this particular pattern didn't lend itself to stitch markers, so I made a lot of mistakes at first. There's just no fudging it when it comes to lace knitting, it seems. Then I had a gauge problem when I tried to outthink my gauge swatch... unlinke most people, I actually did get gauge on this pattern. Once I finally got going, this knit up very fast, considering the tiny yarn and needles involved. I'm sure going on vacation which involved two full days of travel didn't hurt either. I am happy with the way it fits, and I will probably make this pattern again.
I didn't travel all the way to Maryland just for the festival - I just happened to be in DC at the same time it was going on. As soon as I found out, I was determined to go. Finally, about 3 days before the event, my husband finally relented and said I could go. I excitedly called Lolly (who had already volunteered as my tour-guide-for-a-day in DC) and arranged transportation to the event (strangely enough, the DC Metro doesn't go there!). Lolly's friend Jenna and her boyfriend were driving to Columbia MD where we would meet up with Lolly for the short trip out to the fairgrounds.
Jenna picked me up on Saturday morning (right on time) and we headed onto the dreaded Beltway. I got a full dose of DC traffic, since we ended up stuck on the highway, completely stopped, for around an hour. The traffic sucked, but the silver lining was that I got to know Jenna a lot better.
We started out with shopping - there was a lot of yarn, to be sure, but I was looking for something unique (can't buy it at my LYS) and a relatively good bargain. I fell in love with the Tess yarns, which are "somewhat solid" hand-dyed yarns with a good selection of colors and reasonable prices. They also have really nice multicolor superwash sock/baby yarns. I think one of the reasons I liked the Tess yarn was because it was in its on tent, and I was having sensory overload in the exhibition halls.
