Exhaustion

I'm back from camp. I've spent 25 hours traveling to and from Wisconsin. I haven't slept past 6 am (my time) in five days. I am beyond exhausted. I am crawling to bed. I will report on camp tomorrow though it will take days to share all I've learned and done.

May I Present...Scrapenstein

Well, here she is.

And a close up.

Wes is out tonight so we have to settle for the artful arrangement on the floor. The sweater is a wee bit shorter than I wanted. I may cut off the ribbing and add a few more inches. I don't think I'm going to cardiganize it. That was my original plan but I'm liking it as a pullover. It's taking a bath right now along with all my other barely blocked and seldom washed dark wool sweaters. Rosedale, Banff and Rosy are all having a good soak and spin tonight too.

Tomorrow in the very early morning I am off to camp. I will bring my camera. I'm very excited and I promise to tell you all about it when I get home. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Stay Tuned

It's almost done.

Weekend Update

Scrap raglan body is complete.



The back of the Candy Sam has been complete for about a week.

I've Been Robbed

Both kids were at camp yesterday morning and I went to the mall to run some errands. I walked into the Anthropologie store and the first thing I saw was this.



Okay, it wasn't this. This is Rosy from Debbie Bliss's Cotton Angora book. But it was an exact copy of Rosy. I mean exact. I just finished the sweater a few weeks ago. The front, the collar, the sleeves were all identical. It was made by a company called Moth. I hope Debbie is getting a cut of this because they ripped off Poppy too. But they made it in a woman's size and added a button.

I don't know why I feel so angry about this. It's Debbie Bliss's designs they stole, not mine. But stealing is stealing and it's just wrong.

I finished the body of my top-down raglan a few days ago. I'm working on the sleeves now. I also finished knitting the sugar bowl and lid for the Fiesta tea set. I still need to do the handles. Then I'm on to the tea pot. I've been fiddling around on a lot of projects in the last few days. I started working on the sleeves for the Candy Sam. I knit a few more inches on the Waving Lace socks. Progress on many fronts.

Sex and the City and Sex and the Knitty

I had a night full of sex. I got Amy's email about the new Knitty going live just as I was heading upstairs to watch the last disk of the first part of the last season of Sex and the City. I immediately rushed to the site to ooh, ahh and giggle over the new designs.

Kate Gilbert's Mon Petit Chou struck me as particularly (insert Samantha's nasal tone here) fabulous. I wrote to her right away to tell her I loved it and also complain lament that it was not written for those of us who are larger up top. She wrote back to me like a shot that I could add a repeat if needed and that she could help me if I ran into trouble. Is that service or what?

I really like this issue of Knitty because while it had some of the patterns I imagined it would, it didn't have any of the ones I was fearing. I don't think I'll be casting on the 400 stitches to make Hush any time soon but I think it's a very sweet pattern. 302 Calories is a very witty design--and it's knit with chopsticks.1930 also appeals to me a great deal but, again, it's not for my body.

So I really want to try Mon Petit Chou. Now if only I could get my butt to look like this.

Link-A-Dink-A-Doo

A new knitalong that I may join.

The bucket-o-chic to end all bucket-o-chics.

The new Interweave Knits for fall is chock full of great looking projects. The spring issue didn't have anything that grabbed me. I cannot wait to make several of these fall projects.

The Purlygirls have their own home on the web now. **Updated Link**

Rosy, Scrappy and Baby Makes Three

Rosy has been complete for a while. At last a photo.



I still don't have a pin for it. I held it closed with an earring that was in my desk drawer.

The scrap sweater continues to grow.



I'd like to incorporate a little waist shaping I think. I'm going to bring it to Purlygirls tomorrow night and get a little advice on the decrease pattern.

I finished the Baby Broadripples too. A reader was very sweet and sent me some leftover Elann Esprit in the color I needed. It was the perfect amount for the second sock.



The computer mouse is for scale.

I started the sugar bowl for the Fiesta tea set today while watching the kids play at the mall. I won't bother to show you a picture of the off-white circle.

Have a great week!

What I've Been Doing

I got about two inches of the Waving Lace sock done at the park on Friday. I was pretty impressed that I got anything done while watching three boys (playdate) at a wading pool.

I'm going to make the fiesta sugar bowl next.

The scrap raglan is also coming along nicely.

I taught my first class today at the grand opening of The Fiber Gallery. I did a mini felted bag class. It was a free drop-in class. I got two students and it all went really well.

Scrap Happy

After staring at my scrap pile for a week or so I got inspired. I just tore into them and started a top-down raglan a la Glampyre. It's a lot harder to plan this with no gauge. I'm using a variety of yarns and getting roughly 4.25 stitches to the inch but each section is a little different. It's a lot of fun so far. I cast on yesterday in the afternoon and couldn't put it down all night. I'm almost to the underarms.

Knitting Along

While at Purlygirls tonight a fellow knitter said to me, "How many knit alongs are you in right now?"
Well...
I'm making Waving Lace socks for the Lace Along.
I just finished the Cloverleaf Rib Socks for the Six Sox Knitalong (the next project won't be announced for another month).
I made 5 afghan squares for the Afghanalong(wanted to make more but was overtaken by the urge to knit sweaters).
I have the yarn but haven't started the Rogue-Along.
I'm making the Candy Sam for the Candyalong.
I want to make a top-down raglan for the Scrapalong.
I want to make a Bottoms Up! BOC for the Bottoms Up Bucket Knitalong.
I signed up today for the Tea Party knitalong.
Hmmm...I guess I like to knit along.

Here's the first cup for the Tea Party blocking on a beer bottle.



I also finished the back of the Candy Sam and Rosy is complete. I'll try to get a photo up soon but I really don't feel like wearing wool right now.

Call a Medic!

I have contracted an acute case of startitis. These are the projects that I started yesterday.

On the left in light blue is some Classic Cotton for making the Fiesta tea set from the latest Interweave Knits. I stalled out because I don't have any size three double points. The there's the dark sage green Kidsilk Haze for making a small lace scarf from the Vogue on the Go! Scarves Two book. I stalled out after about four rows because I had either added a stitch accidentally or never had the right number to begin with. Darn that fuzzy dark yarn! I couldn't see a thing. Plus with the heat I was worried that I was going to felt the yarn with my sweaty hands. So I moved on to the red and black poppy from Magknits. I knit it in Lamb's Pride Worsted. I wasn't crazy about how the pattern was written so I stopped to rewrite it for myself (after ripping out two petals). I'm also not crazy about how she wrote the bobble pattern. Mine looks pretty lame. And then there are the missing construction diagrams... But I finished knitting it and now it needs to be felted. Lastly, just before bed, I began casting on for the Waving Lace socks from the Spring IK. What's my problem?

Friday and Saturday were knitting-filled days for me. On Friday I spent the morning at a friend's house knitting and catching up while the kids played. Then in the afternoon I had a knitting moms playdate. A group of us got together for a few hours at the park and sat in the shade and knit while the kids played. Ah. A great way to spend the afternoon. I also completed my first crocheted object ever. I made a flower from the instructions on Georgia's blog.



On Saturday I had made plans with some Purlygirls (including Amy and her sweet little baby) to go to the sidewalk sale at Acorn Street. We looked around a lot but no one walked away with many bargains. There was lots of discontinued colors in Debbie Bliss yarns and several Jo Sharp yarns but nothing that worked for any of my current want-to-make projects. If I wasn't broke I probably would have picked up enough Merino Aran for a sweater. Oh well. We moved up the block for a lovely lunch at Queen Mary. We all had good food and then split a HUGE piece of a really delicious coconut cake.

A few of us wanted to continue knitting after lunch and someone suggested Arosa Cafe. I wanted to go because I know the owner but hadn't been there yet. It also happens to be next door to Tricoter. Well Tricoter was having a big sale too. Everything was 25% off and some items were 50% off. Now Tricoter has really, really high prices so the 25% pretty much brought the prices down to normal retail. I did get a skein of Kidsilk Haze (the sage green above for the scarf) from the clearance bin. I also bumped into another knitter I know (Sandy who has been working on and off on the Koigu kimono for two years--it's amazing). So she joined us at the Cafe. We sat in air-conditioned comfort, drank iced coffee and knit the afternoon away.

Wes had a screening to attend last night which gave me the time to knit and reknit my felted flower and start all these other projects. I needed a break from all the 2x2 ribbing in the Candy Sam. The back is almost done. But, man, does it go slowly.

Today we have nothing on out schedule. At all. I can't recall the last time this has happened. So we are loafing around and letting the kids watch some tv before heading to our local wading pool--with my knitting, of course. Have a great day everyone!