Oh well (deep subject!)

I was studying the pictures of her Austin visit, on the Yarn Harlot's blog. I'd let Sis & Miss A & MeMaw & even BIL Steve know that she'd be coming to their home territory. I can't find either Sis or Miss A in the Harlot's photos, so maybe they didn't make it there. Too bad, Stephanie's such a fun speaker.
Sunday I finished the knitting on Princess T's lace beret, and tried it on -- it appeared to be more of a beanie than a beret. Last evening, I washed it and blocked it on one of our huge dinner plates--and I think it will actually be a beret! Success! I have quite a bit of the yarn left, so would like to make a pair of fingerless mitts for Princess T, to match the beret. And I will get a pic of the beret blocking.

Home on the range

Ah, back in Texas! I've been at Sis' house for a few days, just unwinding & playing with her "foster" dog. And knitting, of course. Miss A has received her lace beret, and was gobsmacked with it. I think she's worn it three days straight now. Her classmates are also gobsmacked; they should be so lucky as to have knitting aunties. Sis used to teach at the Austin School for the Deaf, so she made up a sign for Auntie Ann; I will have to see if I can get it on video for Plaid Patrol. Miss A's little sib, Princess T, may have been struck green-eyed with envy of the fab hat. So now I'm knitting her a lace beret as well, although it's considerably simpler in design (& hopefully a lot faster in execution!) than Miss A's.
I took a field trip to South Congress, to visit Hill Country Weavers! I'll have some photos of that later. I found some lovely yarn, and sat in on a sit 'n stitch -- which was supposed to be knitting lessons, only everyone there looked quite competent. I had all of 90 minutes there, so made the best of it. South Congress has a lot of fun-looking shops, and the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop -- none of which I got to see this time, but I'll remember them for next time. Well, I'm on Sis' laptop, & not sure how to load up my photos here, so I'll close by saying "stay tuned".

Oxymoron

I was going to title this "More or Less Random",and thought of a shorter way to say it.
Do we like lists? I made a list of things to bring in to my new cubicle at work:
Magnets done
3" X 5" photos can't seem to remember these
Small folding screen collage frame & smaller photos for it nor can I seem to take the time to find these
Seat cushion I've actually been shopping for this, and have decided to make one instead. Because, hey I don't have enough projects in progress; it's not like I'll save some money making my own.
I'd mentioned a need for magnets to DiscoDame. She got me two, imprinted with cute stuff. One (my favorite!) says,"To Err is human. To Arr is pirate."
I get a chuckle when I see it. Disco wants a felted tri-corner pirate hat for next International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which will be September 19th next year and every year.
The baby kimono in K1C2 sock yarn has been frogged. I started another, using the leftovers of the Serenity sock yarn and Paton's Lacette, and I must say it's definitely more girly. Lotsa pink, here. But the Serenity sock yarn is self-patterning, so that breaks up the intense pinkness of this little sweater. It's going fairly quickly, knitting 4 rows of each yarn & carrying the unused yarn up the edge. I may have to apply I-cord to that edge...hmm. I'll figure that out later.

Movin' on

Hopefully to better things, if not actually bigger. I've started working on a garter stitch baby kimono, with some nice cushy superwash merino fingering wool that I got at Bliss Yarns. They had discounted the sock yarn, so I got some. I'd thought to show it to the gal at work who wanted glitts (gloves + mitts; keep up folks), but it's so pretty & this baby thing came up, and the Harlot had just done one...I'm weak. Anyway, it's all knits all the time around here. No pics yet; one never knows who might be reading.

Remember "Sorry"?

I'm talking about the board game; if your opponent caught up to your game piece, you got sent back to the starting line. The deep plum colored EWW has been completely frogged, and I'm back to the start of a new & hopefully better EWW. However, it's just occurred to me that I'll be in Texas for Sis' birthday, and haven't got a gift for her! Horrors! Should I a)dig thru the basket of finished objects for something suitable? or b)pick up a UFO & finish it for her? or c)cast on & knit something meant for her from the get-go? Option A would be really easy, I suspect she'd wind up with the light blue beret. Not too sure she'd use it, but it wouldn't be cluttering my basket anymore. Option B is a bit trickier--I have two really nice things I was making for myself, and some silly things that I could part with easily if I'd get 'em done. The obvious implication being that the two nicer knits are my size & too fine to part with. Then there's Option C--my own preference, could I come up with a pattern, the yarn, and the time to work on it! Decisions, decisions.
All hail to the Yarn Harlot's friend Jen & her sweetie, baby Marlowe! I'm glad for Jen, who seemed to be going for a Guinness record for longest human pregnancy, but kinda sad to see the end of the baby knits parade. O_o, and I just got an invite to a baby shower. Let's see, today's the 14th, the shower's the 22nd--another pair of Saartje's booties, perhaps? Love them!

Throwing in the towel

Dear Loopy Ewe(s)
I'm sorry but I will not be completing the third Camp Loopy project, due by 9/15. You see, I'm about half-way thru the Every Way Wrap made in a wool/angora blend (bunny fuzzies!), and have just discovered that there's a major misprint in the key to the cable pattern chart. Now, I've been ambivilent about the fuzziness of the yarn,thinking it was obscuring the stitches so that it was hard to see the cables, and with this new-to-me info I see that I've made all these cables incorrectly. This version of the EWW will make a trip to the frog pond. I'm ready to start over with some Paton's Classic Wool, which should have much better stitch definition, but there's no way I can get it done in two days. The angora blend will have to wait for an appropriate project, which I hope to find soon -- it is teh beyootimus! and so so soft! So, alas & alack, but no Project #3 this year. I'll likely try next year.
Best wishes,
A completely frustrated knitter

What was I thinking?!?!?

Ok, I can see that the Every Way Wrap is not likely to be finished by 9/15; I'm probably the slowest ever at cable knitting. But I'm determined to have it done by my birthday, as my present to moi. Still loving the soft angora, though the fuzz kinda obscures the cables (!!!)which keeps it right in line with my usual poor choice of yarns for projects. Still adore the dusky dark plum color.
I've put some pics over on the other page, for My Patterns. Someday the patterns & pattern revisions will be written up, to go along with the pics. I really need Sis to send me a shot of the Tall Latte cozy. You know, since I made that silly thing I think I've found four other similar designs...of which I was blissfully ignorant while I was making mine. The lace beret had to be changed so much from the original designer's pattern, that it is an adaptation at least and a whole new ball of wax at best. The Chunky Monkey Hat was another on-the-fly effort, just from seeing a few like it on Etsy. Patterns, we don' need no stinking patterns. Just lots of knitting magazines and Ravelry & Etsy!