Die, Fluted Banister, Die

Oh this sock. It seems like it's been taking forever. Because I never work on it. Because I don't like it. The pattern is simple. A very basic four-row repeat. So simple, in fact, that it bores me to tears. But since it changes every row, I can't just zone out and hammer away on it. I have to pay attention. I hate having to pay attention. I have less than two inches on the foot and then the toe left to knit. I keep bringing it places and leaving the rest of my knitting home in an effort to force myself to finish it.

My Butterfly sleeve and Big Sack sleeve are moving along. I think I'll knit the body next for the Big Sack instead of the second sleeve--just for a change of pace. I'm going to babysit for a friend tonight so there will be a lot of undisturbed knitting time.

I had a brush with knitting fame at work yesterday. I rang up a sale for a customer. We were chatting about the joys of owning a ball winder a swift. I was about to ask if she was planning on doing some lace knitting when she handed me her check and I went to check her ID.

Evelyn Clark. Yes, this Evelyn Clark. And this one. And this one. I kind of sputtered and said something very composed like, "It's... you!" I told her that I knit her Waving Lace socks and we chatted a bit. I've seen at Knitting Guild meeting before but never talked to her. She's very sweet. So that was the highlight of my day yesterday.

Butterflies

Marta is moving quickly on here Butterfly
Anita's progress
Annie is knee-deep in Noro
Emma has started the back

Carried Away

I was knitting away on the second sleeve to Butterfly yesterday. I took it to Seattle Stitch 'n Bitch last night. I just knit, knit, knit along. I went home. I watched Law & Order. I knit, knit, knit. Then I decided to count rows. Well, crap.



This is what I had. See the little green stitch marker? That's where I was supposed to stop. So I ripped, ripped, ripped. Until I had this. (Please note that the stitch marker was placed after I counted. I'm not that dippy.)



I also knit about 14 inches of the first Big Sack sleeve. Even though it's going quickly there's part of me that was expecting it to go even faster. "I've been knitting this sweater for a day and I'm not done yet!"

Sacked

What's better than a huge bag of Manos del Uruguay? A huge free bag of Manos del Uruguay!

I'm starting the Big Sack sweater by Jenna Wilson from Stitch 'n Bitch. I'm knitting it for the shop. I plan on teaching a class on it. It seems like a good first sweater--big gauge, no shaping--plus it's a good introduction to cables. I'm knitting it in the round. It's nice to knit a sweater that I a) don't have to pay for and b) don't have to worry about fit or sizing.

Thanks so much for all the nice comments on Paula. The sweater is terribly easy to knit. So easy that it was kind of boring, which is why it got put aside for so long. But I got remotivated when I thought about how pretty it would be and how much I really wanted to wear it. It also helped to have a whole day out (Saturday), hanging out with Molly, to work on seaming it all up. It made the finishing a lot more fun to do it in good company.

The ribbon I used is 2 inch wide double-faced satin. The pattern calls for 1.5 inch wide ribbon. But I knew this was the right color ribbon and it didn't come in a 1.5 inch width. I plan on putting some Fray-Check on the ends of the ribbon to prevent fraying. I'm sure I'll find it in the attic before I die. I also decided against sewing the ribbon on to the sweater. The ribbon, I think, is dry clean only. The sweater isn't. So for now at least I'm just pinning the ribbon to the sweater. We'll see how it goes.

Paula Portrait

Paula from the Alpaca Silk collection by Debbie Bliss
Knit with Cotton Fleece in Silver Plum

You've Taken the Quiz, Now Buy the Panties

Knitting Thongs

Ribby Cardi Madness

You may have noticed in the knitting blog world lately that everyone is buying Highland Wool from Elann to make the Ribby Cardi. I was going to make a list of who had blogged recently about it. Then I thought it would be easier to write a list just of the knitbloggers who aren't planning on making a cardi. Then I went back to my original plan. So here is what an inquisitive mind, a Google search and ten minutes on a Saturday morning (why won't the children let me sleep?) turns up.

Absinthe Knits
Action Hero
Amped Disposition
Chonderella
daily zen
dear sir or ma'am
Everybody Love Saturday Night
Froggy Knits
half baked
jensknits
Just Another Day
In The Pink
Keyboard Biologist
Knit This
KnitBlog
Knitmeister (Using Cascade 220)
Knitting and Other Stuff
Knitting-Sushi in AZ
Lanam Facio
marmalade
Misocrafty
Much Ado About Knitting
Passionknit
Purls of Wisdom
Super Eggplant
sweet georgia
Take Back the Knit
Zeneedle

***Just Added***
Crayonbrain's Knitting Drivel
Stitch Marker
Pinku
Lectio.ca
Clever Lefty
One More Row and Another Latte
KnotInMyThread

It looks like there will be a knitalong.

And the reason I haven't posted about getting some Highland Wool yet is because I already have this in my stash from the last time Elann had it. I was going to make a striped cardigan but since I know have yarn for the Retro Prep it seems redundant. Will I make a Ribby Cardi myself? I don't know yet.

Let's Agree to Disagree

To counteract my reputation in local knitting circles as a poncho-hater, I offer this olive branch. Here are 27 free poncho patterns for any poncho-inclined readers.

Ball Winding Party

After Stitch 'n Bitch tonight my friend Jeanne mentioned, with a sigh, that she had to go home and wind another ball off of her giant cone of Den-M-It by hand to continue knitting her sweater. I invited to come over to my house to use my swift and ball winder. What a disaster. First we couldn't figure out where to put the cone so it could spin, then the yarn got wound around the bottom of the winder, which keep sliding around because I hadn't secured it to the counter well enough. Eventually we had a tangled mess of yarn and Jeanne was wishing she had just gone home. But Wes helped secure the winder and we unwound the mess on to the swift. We rewound the first ball and then put the cone on the handle to our Swiffer and wound away.


All Done!

Then I wound all the yarn for my Floral Felted Bag. I still need to finish the collar of Paula to free up the needles for the bag. But once Paula is done, I'm finally going to start. I got sidetracked today because I got my swap partner assignment from the Pink Flower Pin Swap. I spent most of the afternoon working on some ideas. I brought them all to Stitch 'n Bitch to see what everyone thought of them.

While I was at my son's school, sitting on the playground knitting a flower, something flew up, landed on my face and stung me. Right on the lip! Oh, it stung. Tears were streaming down my face. Owie, owie, owie. I put some meat tenderizer on it and kept ice on my face for as long as I could stand it. I can still see where I was stung but it's hardly swollen and only a little tender. Ouch.

Meandering

Just a reminder of what I'm doing over here

I've been stuck at home for the last two days with a sick four year old. That may account for my somewhat strident tone yesterday. But stuck at home is good knittin' time. I knit the entire right front to Paula yesterday. I even did the three-needle bind off to the shoulder before bed. This morning I cast on the 282 stitches for the shawl collar. You knit one row of k2, p2 ribbing then cast off 4 stitches at the beginning of the next 20 rows. Do some more knitting, bind off and sew the collar on to the sweater. Normally, I'm completely against sewing. But casting on 282 stitches, while it did take what felt like several hours, is preferable in my mind to trying to evenly pick up 282 stitches around the front of the sweater. Pick your poison. I'm about halfway through the collar now.

Bloglines seemed very quiet today so I toured the Knitting Bloggers webring for a while until I hit a dead end (which I took as a sign). I found Curlie Girl which features the most adorable needle felted bears and even a dragon. Keep scrolling down there are several bears and they are truly charming and incredibly well-executed.

I also discovered a knitting store that bears my name. I don't know what the store is like but the website is gorgeous!

Noro Knits?

One of our Butterfly-alongers, Mona, believes her pattern book has been lost in shipment. She is wondering if anyone would like to sell or swap their copy of the book.

Gallimaufry*

I saw knit.1 at Barnes and Noble on Saturday. It's small like a comic book or those teenage versions of magazines. The articles and products in the front were vaguely interesting but I'd seen it all before on the blogs. And the patterns? Here is what I thought as I looked at them.
"Oh no."
"Ugh."
"Ick."
"Blech."
"That's nasty."
"Nasty, nasty, nasty."
"Ugly."
"Fugly."
"Oh, dear God!"
You get the idea. The magazine is sponsored by Lion Brand and every pattern uses Lion Brand yarn. That's right. More Fun Fur than you can shake a stick at. I'm sure if I was a 13 year old beginning knitter I would think it was awesome.

Speaking of teen knitters, the Seattle Knitter's Guild held a special talk and book signing last night with Jennifer Wegner, author of Teen Knitting Club. The book looks nice. I didn't buy one to get it autographed. I'm cheap that way. I was a little put off by Jennifer. She came across as pretty arrogant. She said things like, "I can just look at someone and know their measurements and know exactly how to make a sweater that will fit them perfectly." I imagined her using Terminator vision to scan her customers for their measurements. I've met a few true knitting goddesses and they all seemed a lot more gracious and modest. Maybe Jennifer was tired after all the touring, signing and talking. She's pregnant with her third child. Poor thing.

I have updated photos of Paula and Butterfly if you're interested. I just laid out all the pieces that I've finished so far into sweater-like shapes. I've made a lot of progress on both sweaters since I snapped these pictures last night.

There's a new webring for Asian Knitters. Since I'm only Asian by marriage, I don't think it would be appropriate to join. I think they're welcoming Asian knitters and knitters in Asia.

Lastly, Theresa has finished her Butterfly! Go have a look at all it's loveliness.

*Like my title, doesn't it sound more fancy than "odds and ends?" Thank goodness for thesauruses (or thesauri, both are correct--love dictionaries too!).