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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Frogged!!!



A moment of silence, please, for the 2010 Knitting Olympics Challenge project....
Ok, times up. Yes I frogged it. I just wasn't happy with how the blocks of color were working out. But fear not, I'm still plugging away--it's been cast on & reknit to about 3", with a bit better planning. I just did not realize how hard it would be to make "random" blocks of color throughout the thing. The NEW & Improved design will have smaller blocks of color on the fronts only. I'll likely need another skein of the "natural" ("oatmeal"?), since the entire back will be just that one color. Pressing on....

I love my high-speed innerwebs. It used to take a couple of hours to upload a picture here, now it's less than a minute. I got so excited, I even signed up for a Pro account in Flickr (Yarnshuter), and joined Facebook.
In other news, I got stopped this morning because the Black Purl aka my car has no back bumper.

I didn't get a ticket, but the Plaidman has orders to arrange for the repair & give up his car for the duration of the repair work. Just what we need, another big bill while he's laid off. A bright spot: he says he knows his layoff is temporary because his bosses didn't ask him for the building & lot keys. I wonder if they forgot he has them. Anyway, we'll just hope for the best.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

More progress, but it's a slow event.





I ran outside in my housecoat & slippers, to get a few shots of last night's progress on my Knitting Olympics Challenge Vest. OOps, I let the cat out of the bag! Yes, it's a vest in chunky yarn, with intarsia stripes. Lots of little balls of big yarn...

So far I'm not too aggravated at all those little balls of yarn. I'll let you know if that changes.

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Olympian dreams

Yesterday I cast on for my Knitting Olympics challenge, just as the opening ceremony kicked off. I can tell this is going to be even more difficult than I had originally thought; I had forgotton how many small balls of yarn would wind up hanging off the knitting, in the process of making vertical stripes. Anyway, I will perservere. Here's a pic of last night's progress, held by my ever-lovin' Plaidman:

Have you seen it from this angle?
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This project looked doomed before I started, because at about 5 minutes before the start of the opening, I couldn't find the pattern. Had to get into the computer, which meant moving the Plaidman away from it, & search for it in my docs. But I'm well started now, and enjoyed both the ceremony and the start of this project. I don't want to say exactly what it's supposed to be just yet. Happy Saturday!

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

It's official




I have signed up for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. Fear & trepidation fill my heart...but it's a good thing.
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In other news, The Plaid Patrol has hispeed interwebs now! Woohoo! We be in the high cotton now. Last night I downloaded two pictures to Flickr in one minute; this would have taken two or three hours on the dial-up.



That, dear friends, just uploaded to Blogger in less than a minute. This is a Drops design, for a lacy tank top. I started it last summer, and worked on it pretty digilently for a while, until the dreaded holiday knitting just couldn't be put off any longer. Before you get the wrong idea, this tank top is not my Knitting Olympics challenge. I may finish it after the Olympics.

And that is the obligatory orange cat that serious knitters must have. A story: while the cable guy was in the house, this little kitty stayed out in the living room and even sniffed at the man. Meanwhile, the 15 lb monster kitty went into hiding. Go figure.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Do I know what I'm talking about?



A basket of yarnImage via Wikipedia

Apparently not! I must stand corrected; Debbie Stoller's line of yarns includes these three so far:
Full O' Sheep, a 100% Peruvian wool, looks like a roving yarn
Bamboo Ewe, 55% bamboo viscose + 45% wool, has a little sheen to it
Alpaca Love, which is an alpaca/wool blend (exact amts?)
Notice that all are derived from all-natural sources--although the bamboo is processed to produce something like a rayon fiber, it did come from a natural source.
Yesterday I got a "care package" from Ms. Stoller, with 3 balls of Full O' Sheep, 2 balls Bamboo Ewe, and 4 balls of Alpaca Love. I've rewound two balls of the Full O' Sheep (let's be careful not to say that aloud too many times), as they were missing their labels and starting to unwind.

The Plaidman was admiring the nice yarn cakes that came off the ball winder he got me for Christmas.
I always make sure to let him know how much I like the yarny tools he's given me. He got a swift for me, which I put away every time because I just love the label on the box. It's Japanese, and the box is labelled "Almighty Reeling Machine"---gives me a giggle every time.

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Soon, my little chickadees, we will be pushing this silly blog into hyperdrive: We're set up to get an upgrade from dial-up (49.2 KBPS) to ACTUAL HIGH SPEED internet! I will actually be able to post pictures without going gray in the process. Which will make this site a heck of a lot more interesting--who wants to read when there are pictures!?!? Sometime ago, I got Zemanta linked into this thing, and that's the source of the picture above. Found another cuter one, alpacas grazing somewhere in the UK, but the stupid Zemanta doesn't want to put more than one pic on the page. You'll just have to use your imagination.

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Friday, February 5, 2010

Here's hoping...

That this year doesn't fly by too quickly--I'm thoroughly sick of holiday knitting. So much so, in fact, that the latest acquisition of Wool Ease Thick & Quick -- originally intended for use as holiday 2010 knitting (hats!) -- will be used in a multicolored vest for ME, dammit. I actually need some practice knitting an item larger than a cowl, that has some shaping (armholes, neckline), in order to get a handle on these parts of sweater knitting before I start on Plaidman's sweater. He & I looked through The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, to see & discuss the possibilities. I have never knit a sweater, so I'm looking for one that will have simple construction with minimal shaping, but that will still allow me to throw in some cables (he likes cables, and I can do cables!). I have a large pile of Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, in three shades of green. No, his sweater will not be plaid. I am so intimidated by the idea of sweater knitting! But it is the main reason I wanted to learn to knit, along with knitted lace, and of course socks, oh and don't forget shawls....shoot, if it can be knit, I want to knit it!
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Some time ago, I was on Ravelry in one of the forums, reading a thread & noticed that Debbie Stoller had an entry in the thread. Well, Debbie's book Stitch 'N Bitch was my ticket to Knitterhood -- she taught me to knit! And I have been so pleased & grateful, I just had to send her a message saying so. I wouldn't care at all if she didn't respond, I just had to let her know how much it meant to me to be able to do all these neat tricks with string & sticks. But she did respond! And very graciously, too. I suspect she may be a really nice gal, so if you haven't read her books, please do. She's also launching a line of moderately priced natural-blend yarns, of which there are three currently available. One is a wool & acrylic, another is alpaca & acrylic, and the 3rd is bamboo blend. I haven't seen or fondled them yet, but I intend to look for them the next time I'm yarn shopping.
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Ok, now the bad news: Plaidman has been laid off. Thanks to the stimulus package, he'll get a little more $ each week than he would normally have gotten. And he's still a non-smoker, so he's saving a lot of money there. Of course, the reason he's a non-smoker is his development of heart-related problems, for which he has to take lots of expensive medication--and he has other medical issues, again requiring expensive medication. But hey, he doesn't snore as loudly as he used to! I noticed that within days of him quitting--now I think I may be a louder sleeper than he is!
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Well, I have somewhere else I need to be pretty soon, so TTFN!

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