Colors on Parade

I've been so into spinning this past week or so that I haven't thought to take time of the pre-spun roving, the process or the singles. Hell, I haven't even taken the time to note ratios or pre-drafting activities to repeat myself later. I've just been a whirling dervish.

Spinning has been an activity of mine for about six months now ... I got the bug back in the pre-Spring months when I ordered a spindle from eBay. That one spindle multiplied and I ended up with my fair share of spindles, which allowed me to tackle multiple fibers at once. In the meantime, I stocked up with more than my fair share of fibers at MDS&W. Then i got my wheel in June, and it's been nuts ever since.

But I've never actually knit with any of my homespun. Until now.

Earlier this month, the Harlot posted a beautiful story of a Grafton batt of fiber that she spun up, Navajo plied and then knit into a very simple, one-row scarf. I was inspired, and I took to the wheel with a passion, tearing through my MDS&W fiber like a madwoman, spinning and spinning and spinning. Then I went to Cloverhill and discovered Mama E's roving, and got some of that and took to it. I showed you what I Navajo plied earlier last week (that peacock colored yumminess? I'm unplying it to do a double -- Navajo makes a three-ply), but late last week I hit the Cherry Garcia colorway.

Now I'm no pink girl, and I doubt these pictures will do it any kind of justice, but this colorway is like ice cream. No joke -- it's smooth and luscious, the color transitions are subtle and if I could get naked and roll in it, I would. I wish I could show you the process, really I do, but I spun it up, hung it to set the twist, and then made this:

There it is, all wound up. I'll note here that there were no fancy steps taken to preserve the colorway ... I wasn't about to f#@* up another batch of roving trying that. Instead, I let it go the way it wanted to, and the transitional result is (I think) pretty darn nice. See?

I like it. The only question is, is it mine, or do I put it in the holiday bin?

And I'm on to Fire. Mama E makes one hell of a roving, and I'm really looking forward to knitting with this once the twist is set (the plan is to soak it this a.m. before work and then hang it up in the hopes that it will be dry by tomorrow).



I have a child who wants an orange scarf.

In more spinning news, I'm dealing with some singles that I spun up last week in my frenzy -- a beautiful yellow merino/llama/silk concoction. I only bought four ounces of it and was hoping to get a fine yarn out of it. I did, soaked and hung the singles (they were very twisted) and now I have approximately 230 yards of singles to work with. I'm torn ... do I make a modified Melody (I cannot tell you how long the finished product is--it's ginormous) or something else. Thoughts?

I'm speechless.

Yesterday at lunch, I ran over to my LYS to pick up some more fiber to spin, and got my hands on some Alpine Meadow Artisan Fibers. It's wool with some little sparkles in it. I bought four ounces -- two in the "Mount Cook" colorway and two in "Black Lake" -- and last night sat down with Mount Cook and got started.

Here are the singles:


And here's the two-ply result:

Something clicked last night with this fiber. Now I'm an average spinner (way below average when it comes to Navajo plying), but for some reason this just blew me away. There's nothing fancy here ... just a very fine single done as a two ply. I could have done more color separation, but that's not what the fiber wanted to do. I let it do its thing, and it did it well.

I'm head over heels in love with the yarn. I can't wait to spin up the other colorway and then get started on the Mama E's "Cherry Garcia" braid that's also in the wings...

As the Whorl Turns

And boy did it turn this weekend. No knitting of note, but man, was I a spinning fool.

Now let me clarify. I haven't spun anything on my wheel in, literally, months. I've been so busy traveling for work and preparing for a new boss (started last Tuesday) that knitting has been about all I've had time for. I hadn't planned on spinning this weekend, but I got started and than couldn't stop.

Remember Oreo? I finished it. All 20 ounces of it. I have a lot of yarn to show for my efforts, but it's bulky, and so I must do lots of calculating and measuring before I make something with it. I don't want to run out. It's a delightful yarn -- sproingy and soft.

Once Oreo was singled and plied, I tore into some Caroline Homespun (picked up at MDS&W) to play around, and spun two full bobbins of singles and then plied it up into two two-ply skeins. I bit nubbly, but nice nonetheless for a nice bulky scarf. It's Merino superwash, and the drafting really was difficult and hurt my thumb, so at 2 a.m. I called it quits for the night, soaked and hung the skeins and hit the sack. Can I tell you how nice it is to wake up to see this?

Then yesterday morning over coffee, I picked up a big ball of fluff (again from my MDS&W stash... if you look at the post there's a two-tone varigated skein right in the center -- that's it) and spun that up into four two-ply skeins of itchy wool. I'm not sure what to do with that.

And then, as if I hadn't already done enough (have you lost count? I'm up to 13 skeins already) I picked up the four ounces of Mama E's Cyber Roving that I grabbed at my LYS a few weeks ago. Decided to spin that up and then try my hand at navajo plying. I love the colors and this merino superwash spun and drafted like liquid gold. It was a pleasure to spin and now I want more, more, more. Another bulky result (partly because it's a three-ply), but the holidays are coming and there are more than a few people who will appreciate a scarf with my own handspun. This one, however, may just be mine.

Surprise!

I certainly hope that this isn't the one day that my best friend decides to read the blog. Because I'm about to show you this past week's opus all completed:


This is the Baby Surprise Jacket, aka, the blob of the blog I showed you all last week. I have no idea what was going through Elizabeth Zimmerman's head when she designed this, but boy I'm glad she did.

Since I was in Albuquerque the day the annual Balloon Fiesta kicked off, I decided to commemorate the sweater and the trip with appropriate buttons. I think they personalize the sweater just a bit more (though how much more can you personalize a hand-knit sweater?!?)

Here's a close-up:



More about the rest of my trip later.

Whole Lotta Knittin' Goin' On

For a reason unbeknownst to me, I was a knitter crazed last week. I'm not sure if it had to do with it being the end of the month (has the yarn diet and wild passion to finish projects before a deadline carried over from August?) or the fact that autumn weather seems to be setting in, but I've been a busy girl. I'll post pictures in my next post.

Swallowtail is progressing, and it's here with me in Santa Fe. Since I finished the top-secret baby gift (see below) on my flight here, I'm thinking serious progress will be seen since it's now the only knitting I have with me on my trip. I'm still in the second lace chart, but I hope to make it to the third soon.

I've bound off the Melody Shawl. This project was been way more like the pi shawl than I actually care to admit ... tedious in so many ways but at the same time so very, very pretty that it's going to be difficult to give it away for Christmas even though I started it with very selfish motives. For you see, as I knit it and contemplated the colors and the drape of the fabric, a different owner manifested itself in the expectation. It's a lot easier to leave something languish if there's no hard deadline. I'm glad it's done.

The vest, of course, was started, completed, unravelled and lengthened. This took a week or so to knit, and then a day to lengthen. Total of about eight days or so. I wanted a vest. No doubt about it, that one was for me and honestly it was so easy I just couldn't put it down. Not to mention that I used my new KnitPicks needles for it and I was anxious to try them out. (Note: These needles are nice, nice, nice. Very pointy.)

Second Widdershins heel has been turned. I was really suffering SSS on this one. I'm not sure why it was so difficult for me to get the heel done. I mean, I like the pattern and all, but doing that heel sure is awkward. It's having all the gusset stitches together on the needles, I think.

I've also been sidetracked by another project ... a top-secret one for my "nephew" ... who turns the big 1 on Friday. His party is on Saturday, and since I'm out of town I'm going to miss his party. But his mommy will have her birthday on Monday and the three of us will do lunch to celebrate. The present?

Experienced knitters will know what this is. I'll show you after I give the gift. There may even be a cute baby shot to go with it.

The Harlot was Here

On the blog. Friday. Read my post about Ottawa and left a comment. I was thrilled. My husband thought I was crazy. I was a happy girl that day.

So happy, in fact, that I decided to go ahead, damn the torpedoes, and lengthen that sweater vest I designed. It's been sitting in my basket all week screaming and pleading with me to finish it off, and well, I didn't want to call it done until I made a call on the length. It needed to be longer ... I really don't need a knitted cotton belly tank. It's hard to see just how short it is in this picture, but trust me ... it would have worked, but an extra couple of inches would help big time.



So I embarked on my great lengthening adventure. First, I picked up the 120 stitches around:



I made sure I had them all, and then took the scissors to it. Just below the start of the ribbing. Oddly, this didn't make me weak in the knees or ready to vomit. I'm not sure why I was so confident.


Lots of yarn carnage, too. Little bits of Debbie Bliss denim cotton aran floating all over me and my living room. Then came the unraveling, which was a bit nerve-wracking with the start of the ribbing. Note to self: Just hack the ribbing off and unravel plain stockinette. Because once I got through the ribbing, it unravelled lickety split.



I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the actually knitting-to-lengthen process, but you all know what knitting looks like, so why bother? I added an extra 2-3 inches of stockinette to the bottom of the vest and then did the ribbing. And I must say this: the transition was SEAMLESS. You simply cannot tell where the original iteration stops and the expansion begins. All done in a weekend and the pre-blocked vest (which looked fine w/o blocking) made its debut last night to a friend's birthday party. I'm very content, and my husband was even impressed with the collar ribbing and sleeves.


Progress also continues on Melody, but I'm holding pictures for today. Knitting this shawl is kinda like eating a never-ending pasta bowl ... this yarn ball never gets any smaller, I swear, even though I'm looking at a solid 11-inches (slight stretching to block in order to measure the finished product) and no end to the yarn in sight.

Not Much to See Here

Seriously. My husband obsconded with my camera. I think he took it to work and hasn't brought it back yet.

It's too bad, because I just finished up a self-designed basic sweater vest and I'm kinda proud of it. Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to require some feedback on the length ... if all agree that it's a tad too short then I'm going to have to slice and dice a little since I knit it from the bottom up (ordinarily I do top down, which would make this crazy-easy to fix, but alas ...)

Progress continues also on Melody and the Swallowtail Shawl. I'd like to note here that schoolteachers were taken care of with a single visit to Morehouse. Since they don't look at the blog, I can tell you what the elementary school teachers are getting. Click here to see. These are too damn cute not to make them. My youngest son's teacher is a first-year, so I think she'd get a kick out of it.

Thoughts?

Home Again, Home Again

Jiggedy Jog.

I got home from my whirlwind business trip to Canada yesterday, and I'm still tired. But there are lots of things to catch up on. Firstly, I finished the second ponchette, and it turned out fine. TYS took pictures but they aren't worth posting. So you'll have to just trust me. So on to Ottawa.

Let me start first by saying that I've just managed to fall in love with Canada for the second time in my life. The first was a few years ago when we drove into Windsor on a jaunt to Detroit to see the Baltimore Orioles play in the old stadium before they tore it down. Going from that grimy city into Windsor was like going into Oz. It struck me in a way that I've never quite been able to describe or forget. I was thrilled to find that the experience wasn't unique to Windsor. I felt that same amazement when I walked out of the airport terminal into Ottawa, the nation's capital city.

So what strikes me about Canada?

It's clean. Even in a metropolitan center like the capital, it doesn't have the urban dinge or decay that you see in the States. People use the public wastebaskets. They take pride in their environment. The air is clean, the city is clean, the people seem clean. And you see signs like this:

It mixes old and new. The "old" architecture that you see in the U.S. has NOTHING on Ottawa. This was what I saw every morning from my hotel room:


This was the view if I looked to the right. In the right foreground is Le Chateau, a hotel, and in the background is their Parliament complex -- a massive set of gorgeous gothic buildings filled with amazing iron and stonework.

Here's what I saw if I looked to the left:

Modern-ish architecture, looking very comfortable a block away from Parliament.

Interested in more Parliament? Here's a closer shot:


Other than the architecture and history, there are lots of other things to enjoy.

Like Beavertails.

Very yummy. The one on the bottom is garlic butter and cheddar, and the top is cinnamon and sugar. Fried pastries that are both light AND filling all at the same time. If you're ever there, you must go to Byward Market and get one. My associate and I split each of these for a complete experience.

We also attended a work event at the Canadian War Museum. Even wore boas for the occasion (yes, it was an event that called for costumes!)

OK, I admit no yarn stores were visited on this trip, but that's OK. I didn't see much in Canada that I couldn't get in the U.S. Besides, next month's trip is to Santa Fe, NM. I'm actually flying in to Albuquerque (home of the Fiesta outlet store) and there are some cute little yarn stores there and in Santa Fe. I'm imposing a yarn diet until then ... and plans to get a much bigger suitcase for the trip.

Note: Even though no yarn stores were graced by my presence, I did make quite a bit of progress on two WIPs: the Melody Shawl and the Swallowtail Shawl. Pictures later.

Ponchette Redux

I don't know that there's many things worse than scrambling to finish a project only to find that you've managed to screw the whole thing up. From cast-on to bind-off, the brick-colored ponchette was an anomaly of sorts ... a seemingly simple project that was anything but.

The photo in my last post showed it taking up nearly a full twin-sized pull-out sofabed. That's right, it was pretty big. At first, I assumed that I blocked too aggressively, but the bottom line is that it was just doomed from the beginning.

Damn hemp.

A devil fiber if ever I met one, hemp is a nightmare to knit with. No matter how tightly I caught the stitches, they were still way too loose throughout. I should have known something was amiss when everyone who has knit this project finished in less than a week. Me? It took nearly as long as a blanket.

The good news is that it's not a total wash; it's a nice rectangular shawl for someone for the holidays.

Even better news: Two days ago, I headed to the LYS, picked up two balls of SWTC Bamboo, and pounded a newer (and more appropriately sized) version out in less than two full days of knitting. Here it is blocking on the same pull-out sofa:


So why the rush to get this done?

You see, I'm getting ready to leave for a business trip on Wednesday morning to Ottawa. It's chillier there than here, and for some reason I had set a goal of having this ponchette completed in time to wear it if I go out and about. It's made of soy silk, which in my experience can be pretty warm if it needs to be. So I figure I can take a long-sleeved shirt and a short-sleeved shirt and wear whichever suits the weather.

I wanted it in brick, but I'll settle for this gorgeous turquoise. As long as it dries as planned, I should be able to seam it up tomorrow and toss it in my tote!

Mass Production

So August is over, and so is the race to complete UFOs. I feel like it was a pretty productive month: Pi was blocked, Charlotte finished, two socks, a large ponchette (which will become a rectangular shawl) and quite a bit of progress on the Sheep Shawl. All amid a busy month with vacation, a business trip and the first day of school for two elementary schoolers. I'm happy with the progress and considering myself at this point quite content.

Like so many other luxuries in life, casting on a new project is one that we all take for granted until we can't do it. There's nothing like picking out a new yarn, a new pattern and sitting down in solitude and putting the stitches on the sticks. I'm so glad I'm free to do it again.

Pictures will come later.

Home Stretch!

A blocking ponchette ...


Hemp takes a long time to dry, so I'm in a waiting game. Hopefully, I'll be able to seam it up tonight. It turned out bigger than anticipated, despite my getting gauge early on. Oh well, tis the season to be gifting ... if in fact it turns out too big.

The widdershin is in the cuff stage, so I expect that to be done soon too.

Knitter Down!

I feel cheated. These past few days were supposed to be filled with endless evening knitting, as my children enjoyed the joys of farm life for four days (they come back tomorrow). But my mouth had to take this opportunity to go all foul on me.

Late last week a filling that I had replaced in June (lost half of it while on my work trip to Atlanta) decided it should start to abscess at the beach. That's right, on Thursday cool beach air sent me to depths of insanity I had never felt before. When we got home that night (thankfully this happened at the end of the trip), it started to throb.

Anyone familiar with the movie version of Frank Herbert's Dune? Picture Paul Atreides with his hand in the box. I had my tooth in that box for four days. I couldn't head to the dentist on Friday because it was Oldest Son's birthday and we took him out for the day. Saturday things felt only slightly better, but Advil really helped. On Sunday, nothing helped. But I had to trudge on, and take my children to my family reunion on the Eastern Shore and then fight three and a half hours of beach traffic for a trip that only takes 90 minutes on a good day. Pain abated long enough to fall asleep, only to wake up in absolute AGONY at 4 a.m. Saw the dentist right when she opened and then I had the pleasure of experiencing a first in my life.

A root canal.

Now it's my understanding that root canals have a bad rap. So I was naturally apprehensive. Tons of little files scraping my tooth's innards for the sole purpose of making way for a dental death ray in there? Ick. But again, I was a trooper and had it done. Went to work afterward, even.

The good news is that my tooth feels better. I'm taking a gnarly antibiotic (the tooth, apparently, was really gross) so I'm not worried about infection. My problem? Where I had to get the needles -- right where my gum meets my cheek. I look like I had a wisdom tooth extracted, all swollen and puffy. This is why I do not like having dental work done. Those damn post-operative injection sites in my little mouth really hurt. The tooth? Well, it feels a little weird, packed and all, but no real pain. Where I got a slew of needles? Raw and sore and begging for relief ... which nothing seems to be giving. But I go on to work today.

And so my knitting has suffered for the past three days. Fortunately, the ponchette is easy, steady and without charts. I can nearly do it with my eyeballs closed. Being so easy and not having to think, I'm done all but the last two or three points, which I hope to finish today in time for blocking tomorrow. As long as my mouth doesn't get any worse I can probably do it. Then all I have to do is seam it up.

I just have to get my mouth to agree with the plan.

Since there are no knitting pictures, here's one from the beach:

TYS had a great fascination with the sea this year. I caught a glimpse of him doing this from far up the beach and rushed to photograph. He was showing this seaweed to his father, but methinks he looks a bit like Perseus holding up the head of Medusa to turn the Krackin to stone.

Widdershins!

Those of you monitoring me in this race are aware that I did abandon a single sock very early on. It was my feather and fan sock in Claudia's Olive Navy. I really wasn't happy with the way it turned out and wasn't willing to waste a skein on the match just for the sake of finishing a pair of socks that I hated.

Instead, I opted to finish one other sock in Claudia. To make things interesting, I decided to try the Widdershins pattern from Knitty. It's a toe-up sock that has nearly all the makings of a traditional sock (except the Kitchener stitch). You start with a magic cast-on, increase to full foot diameter and then knit until three inches before the heel. Then you do increases for the gussets, the heel is done, and you wind up with a beautiful heel flap that's way more sturdy than the short row heel I was previously in love with. See?


Yes, I now it's hard to see, but for the schooled sock eye, you can see the heel stitches running almost perpendicular to the stripes on the foot. This is Claudia's "Black Walnut" colorway and I love the patterns as much as I love this pattern. Now I just have to knit until I have just enough yarn to cast off and I'll be done.

Why I love this pattern:

1. The toe is nice and mitered. Ordinarily I cut myself short doing short-row toes with the crochet cast on because they are time consuming. The result is a stocky toe that doesn't taper as much as I'd like. On a similar note, the fact that there are no stitch pick-ups necessary to avoid holes makes it even better.

2. No holes at the gusset area. Just as there are no holes at the end of the shrt-row toe, there aren't any at the gussets, either. The invisible increase gusset absolutely rocks, and it flows beautifully into the heel flap. No pick-ups necessary along the slipped stitches.

3. Sturdy heel. Traditional heel flap. Enough said.

4. Well-written pattern. Brooke Chenoweth did a great job with this. I found no problems or struggles at all.

5. I still don't have to worry about running out of yarn. This is my No. 1 problem with the traditional sock. I detest not knowing how long I can make the leg without risking a severe yarn shortage. Yes, I know that if I know just how far I can take a skein of yarn from experience that's different, but what about when I've started a new sock with a brand-new yarn? Then I need to make an anklet only to find I have enough left for a partial foot. This way, I'm good.

I know that everyone has their own particular preferred means of knitting socks, but anyone who has tried a short-row toe/heel pattern and hated it ought to try this pattern.

Eleven days left this month and I'm chugging along. Today, I take the boys to my aunt's farm for four days and my knitting time should increase at least a little bit for the next few evenings. I'll be chugging along on the leg for the lone Widdershin (the mate will be cast on Sept. 1) and the Hemp Ponchette. I'll do as much as I can on the Sheep Shawl as well (I did a few more rows last night, but like the ponchette, progress is hard to see).

Beach Bums

It's funny how hotels at the Jersey shore don't have internet access. I suppose folks take the word "vacation" too seriously for bloggers. I could have trucked to the internet cafe on the boards, but knew everyone would understand. After all, I was on a beach vacation with my husband, two boys, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, quasi-sister-in-law, her daughter and her daughter's friend. Tons of people, tons of confusion, tons of contention. Enough said.

But progress was made, believe it or not. While everyone slept each morning, I hauled The Yarn Sniffer to the pool every day and knit. Then we either hit the beach or the boards.

Here's Sock enjoying the pool at the beginning of the vacation:



And here it is at the end.



Not much progress, but that's because work commenced on the Sheep Shawl.


It's very hard to see progress here, but I'm completely through the Sunshine Lace chart and I'm on to the Orchard Lace chart. After this, I need to make it through the Village, Sunflower, Sheep and Grass charts, with a four-stitch increase on each pattern. I'm really starting to worry that this isn't going to be done by the end of the month. However, if necessary, I will designate my finish line to be the end of the chart I'm working on closest to the end of the month. Had I not been preoccupied with Charlotte, this might have been done. Oh well. It's a Christmas gift, so as long as progress is smooth and steady ...

Consider what I found in our hotel bathroom one morning to be a tremendous stumbling block.


That's a washcloth for scale. ICK!!

Pi, Here's Your Close Up

Jennie has asked for a closeup of Pi's stitches. I'm flattered. Really flattered.

Basically Pi is from EZ's almanace and it's done as the shawl with concentric holes. I threw a homemade pattern in when the knitting got REALLY boring, then went back to a straight-knit two sections before starting the acursed edging. Here's a better shot (a bit blurry, but it was either that or wash it out with the flash):


And that's all the blogging for a few days. I hope to make lots of progress and bring photos of knitting relaxing on the beach. To acquire internet while at the beach would bring (believe it or not) a compulsion to do work, so I'm opting to avoid if possible. The weather should be great, and both boys (three, if you could Husband) are all very excited. Me? I've been up since before 7 a.m.

Have a great week!

Pi R Blocked

Yesterday, I had myself a blocking extravaganza. And you can count off one more of my marathon targets.

Pi is done. All blocked and beautiful.



(Photo courtesy of The Yarn Sniffer, who is also treating us to a self portrait complete with a very dirty face from the last day of summer camp.)



I'd show you a picture of the actual blocking, but it was happening on my bed and our paisley comforter really interfered with the Zephr. You just couldn't make out much of the patterning of the shawl. I can say this, though: My homemade lace pattern didn't turn out half bad.

Now, in other marathon news, I've gotten a bit more done on the sheep shawl. I also finished one of the Claudia socks. Problem is, I hate what I did with the cuff so I really need to abandon this sock. Since I reserved the right to start a new sock in August (and not start anything else), I started another to take its place. The goal is to complete one full sock and meet the August goal (though I hope to come out a sock ahead and get a pair done).

Progress is a wonderful thing.

P.S.: I'm lusting after that Swallowtail Shawl in the newest Interweave and that's gonna be first on the sticks Sept. 1!

Some Shawl!

She's terrific, she's radiant and she's humble. I cast off the edging this morning, while the men in my house were all sleeping (even the dog). It's a shame I couldn't let out a big "Whoop!" She's beautiful.

I cast off the outer edge last night and immediately started on the edging. Here it is, all done before blocking.



I really should have done this edging on the pi shawl. This edge only took me a few hours to complete. Yet another lesson learned from Charlotte.



Granted, I only used three skeins of Koigu (remember, I didn't want anything big -- and I really only cut out the last two pattern repeats), but this project went relatively quickly. The bonus? I have two skeins left and can make matching socks!

My vacation officially started today. We head out to the beach on Sunday, so I have Mommy things to do. But this afternoon, I plan on sitting down and hammering out a few more points on the ponchette ... maybe that one's almost off the needles too?

I'm saving the sock and the sheep shawl for beach knitting. In the meantime, I leave you with Charlotte, blocked and drying. Let me know your thoughts!

What I'm Learning from Charlotte's Web

As a child, I loved this E.B. White book, and believe it or not, learned quite a bit from everyone's favorite grey spider-writer. To this day, it's one of my favorites -- I'm the proud owner of the annotated Charlotte's Web, an original pressing, my own childhood copy and even a t-shirt of the "Some Pig" web, complete with Wilbur looking on. Charlotte A. Cavatica teaches about friendship, about the power of even the smallest, and just how fulfilling having a goal in life can be. It seemed only natural that I would do this project for myself, and this was my last-minute cast-on for the marathon.

That said, lessons from Charlotte -- the shawl, not the spider -- have been ongoing since the beginning. So ... what have I learned?

• I hate to purl. Yes, I knew this going into the project, but thought that forcing myself to purl WS rows might give me an appreciation for the stitch and even perhaps speed up my purling. I was so terribly wrong that it sickens me. But, in the interest of the marathon and my insane desire to wrap myself in this koigu, I'm slogging on.
• I really do like lace knitting. The only real lace projects I've done have been simple patterns on socks and the concentric circles pi shawl. I haven't yet experienced the miracle of blocking lace (sorry, pi, your turn is coming) but it's fascinating to knit a lace pattern.
• I can knit from a chart. For some reason, patterns with charts have freaked me out for my entire knitting career. Charts just make things look, well, complicated. Especially when there is more than one to follow. Lucky for me, there's just one for Charlotte.
• There is such a thing as a crappy chart. When I bought the Koigu pattern at MS&W way back when, I eyed the chart with extreme contempt. I even opened the document to see if the lace pattern had been written out inside. It was, and so I purchased it. As it turns out, I've been using the chart more than I thought, so I'm intimately familiar with its nuances and it's over-complicatedness. The folks who designed this shawl really made it much more difficult to follow than it needed to be. And if you scour the blogosphere, I'm not the only one saying it.

There you have it. Lessons from Charlotte. I'm actually only 20 rows from being at the edging stage, and my plan is to do a simple crochet edging without the fringe (I'm not a fringy kind of girl). I'm actually cutting the shawl one repeat short to keep it at a decent size (I'm not a big person), so I anticipate being done maybe by the weekend.

And the race continues!

Progress in Dallas

Well, I'm back from a whirlwind business trip to Dallas. In on Sunday (very late landing) and out on Tuesday (left very early) and I'm downright exhausted. Weary exhausted. The kind where you just can't think of sleeping so you drink more coffee until you black out later in the day exhausted. Oh well. To top it all off, I forgot to take my camera.

OK! As stated earlier this month (which wasn't long ago given that it's only the 8th), I'm teaming up with Knit and the City Wendy to have a very happy August. Happy to me this month means not casting on any new projects, or buying any new yarn from my local yarn store. From the get-go, I reserved the right to cast on new socks and possibly get a fabulous yarn at an out-of-town locale ... but ONLY if it was one that my LYS didn't have.

I worked most of the day yesterday, but found time late in the day to head over to the only yarn store in Dallas that was within walking distance of my hotel. I didn't walk though, because it looked like they were going to have one hell of a storm (if I had taken the camera, I'd be able to show you -- it was breathtaking watching the storm come in over the big Texas sky). As it turns out, my cab driver only took a few extra minutes finding the little gem of Dallas known as The Shabby Sheep.

It's a charming little store, in a little house that fits rather nicely into the cityscape. (Thanks to the owner, Rhonda, who told me I could copy the picture from their website and put it on my blog ... even after finding out that I am not Wendy of WendyKnits. But alas, their site has a lot of Flash and I can't get the photo. Do go look at the pictures. It's a really cute shop -- and if you're ever in Dallas, stop by. Ronda's little dog Abby will greet you by licking your toes!)

I was determined not to buy anything that I couldn't get at Cloverhill here in Catonsville, and so I was drawn to this:

This is Knit One, Crochet Two's Gourmet line, in Truffles. Not only does it feel like I want to bury my face in it and gobble it up like truffles, this feels like chenille, and it will be a scarf. I also picked up some Regia in a colorway that Cloverhill doesn't carry (again, it's for socks, so I don't count it. And it made me happy!)

I bid Ronda farewell after a long discussion about Charlotte's Web. I have made great progress (as you really can't see from this photo -- I will try to drape her over the pillow she adorned after Night One a week ago to try to give some scale. This is from knitting on a four legs of my round-trip flight as well as in my hotel room. I'm on the third skein, and had to stop shortly after taking off from Chicago to come home because I forgot to wind another skein and didn't want to run out mid-flight.

Happiness in August

Let's face it. When you're busy in every single area of your life, it isn't always easy to be as happy as you want to be (unless of course you're busy with things that aren't work). I find it even more difficult to be happy in this horrific August heat. Triple digits today.

But I'm going to try. While other folks are out there playing Sock Wars and defeating foes by finishing projects, Wendy over at Knit and the City is putting a happier spin on things. She's going to finish six projects in August, which sounds like a good plan. The catch is that she's not going to cast on any new ones.

I think I'll join her -- though last night I had to scramble to get one last project on the needles. I have a bunch of things to finish this month.

Exhibit A: The Hemp Ponchette from LanaKnits. Here's a closeup of the lace pattern:


Exhibit B: The Fiber Trends Sheep Shawl (This one's a Christmas gift, though I do not wish to disclose the recipient's name at this time)


Exhibit C: Koigu "Charlotte's Web" Shawl (I started this one last night in a mad attempt to make sure I had enough to work on in August without having to cast on any other projects. I'm on row 57 already; this may not have been the wisest thing to cast on. It knits up so quickly and, well, let's just say I now know why everyone goes gaga over this yarn. I bought this back in May at MDS&W and haven't been able to bring myself to crack it open and use it for fear of not being Koigu-worthy. So I'm opting for a Koigu pattern and hoping I don't screw it up.


Exhibit D (not pictured): Feather and Fan Socks (I'm on the first sock's cuff; I'm doing them toe-up, so I don't have that much more to do before starting the second)

Exhibit B: The Pi Shawl (Note: The edging was completed on July 31, but I'm reserving this as an unfinished project because it still needs blocking and that's gonna take me some serious time.

And now, to start August off with a smile, I leave you with an example of what you find when you check on the Yarn Sniffer (who loves to swim) when he's in the shower:

I swear, I nearly wet my pants.