28 September 2007

Off to New York City!

Be good, kiddos. I'm off for a real vacation for the weekend. Who knows how much knitting I'll get done without a toddler to manage in the air! I'll report back on my adventures on Monday.

26 September 2007

Clapotis, take two


For those of you who haven't knit Clapotis, why not join us on the Second Wave KAL? And for those of you who've been with me for a while, yes, I did knit one before, but I couldn't resist when my friend Bridget started this one.

Isn't my yarn pretty? I wanted to wait to take a picture until I'd dropped at least one stitch (the big exciting part of this pattern, you know). And now I have my new fall bag to show with it. I didn't even realize when I chose the brown over the red that it would look so nice with my shawl-to-be. And the skein of brown Koigu is to make a pair of Endpaper Mitts for my friend Keri's Fingerless Mitts for Fall KAL with the leftovers from Clapotis. I think I'll pause on the Clap, knit the mitts, and then finish the shawl with the rest of the yarn. What do you think? But then I also think I should go with a slightly more solid and light-colored yarn for the contrast. The Endpapers I've really liked in Ravelry have been high-contrast.

Something to think about, anyway.

Happy Blogiversary, Keri!

19 September 2007

Belated Blogiversary

Purly is one! And six days. Wow, I can't even tell you how much has happened in the last year. It's kind of insane. Thank you for coming along with me; there are more adventures to come.

For now, of course, there is knitting. I'm working on my first BSJ for my ... niece once removed (my sister-in-law's brother's baby). It's a lovely, squishy garter-stitch adventure. I'm using the 100purewool worsted yarn in Pasionaria (rose and lilac) on US5s. So far, so good. I'm nearing the end of the first skein and have started the increase portion, so I should make it with only the other skein.

I'll have to get the camera out and snap some pics, especially as I received some lovely birthday presents: four skeins of Misti Alpaca Worsted Handpaint in blues and greys from my bro, sis-in-law, and sis (mmm, alpaca); a two-year subscription to Interweave Knits from my BFF (yippee!); and a Jane Austen action figure from my dear former roomies (squee!).

ETA: I also had a lovely birthday breakfast today with Miss Isobel and my dear friend Nicole (hi!) who almost fell out of her chair when I mixed it up by ordering a Pecan Waffle instead of my usual Dutch Baby and Hashbrowns at Walker Bros. The benefit of being back in Wilmette is that I get to indulge in such goodies more than once or twice a year so don't have to order the same things I've been getting since childhood.

All in all a good turn of the year for me and the blog I'd say.

Oh, almost forgot, since I took a break from it, but the back of the Slouchy Cardi is complete, and I cast on for the right front. It is going well, but the surprise hot weather (90 degrees on Monday and again tomorrow they say) makes smaller projects more palatable.

13 September 2007

Feathers and Fans

Crazy feather yarn I purchased at Whitefish Bay Farm. The Turkey Feather Yarn was crafted by Fiber Artist Laurie Boyer in Wisconsin and consists of turkey feathers, Salish x English Leicester wool, and cotton thread. I have ten yards and am thinking of some sort of scarf/necklace thing to wear to a charity fashion show next month with a grey wrap dress.



And here is some 100purewool yarn for Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket from The Opinionated Knitter in Pasionaria for my brother-in-law-in-law's new baby girl (that would be my brother's wife's brother's baby). I haven't done one of these yet, but the yarn has been sitting in my stash for a while and needs knitting, and I think the variegated yarn should look lovely in this pattern.



And here is the Zephyr DK (which I consider more of an aran or knitting worsted) at the start of my Slouchy Cardi. First sleeve is complete, and I cast on for the back last night. I've come to the conclusion that for me, now, knitting stockinette back and forth is sometimes easier on my wrists than in the round a la Cobblestone. Knitting in one piece means you have the weight of all the yarn on your needles, even though it's distributed along the circular needle. Some knit-bloggers extol the virtues of top-down raglan knitting, but with Cobblestone I realized that I like knitting the sleeves and then attaching them to the body, rather than knitting the sleeves once the body is complete.



Loving the yarn! The sheen! The texture! I foresee more Zephyr in my future.

As for fandom, the new Knitty is up! Neiman would give me an outlet for the two skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in Turquoise sitting in the stash. And it's a bottom-up seamless raglan. How apropros! And I haven't done any stranded colorwork yet, so this would be good. The other appealing pattern at first blush is Cinderella. I started a pair of socks recently using the Yankee Knitter family sock pattern (#29 at the bottom of the page) and some nice sock yarn from Laughing Rat Studio. I started out OK but got bored (sorry, sock knitters of the world!). But Cinderella may kindle an interest in socks again. I really like that heraldic pattern and had tagged it in my copy of BW's Second Treasury. Plus these are knit on US4s!

Happy Birthday to me!

Make a wish...


Off to storytime with my girl, but not before receiving a beautiful bouquet of roses from a dear friend for my birthday.


And tonight we've got a pizza party with my BFF's family. The Wilson Family dinner is tomorrow night.

I'll post a picture of the crazy feather yarn during naptime. Promise!

12 September 2007

Finished!

OK, I just popped Cobblestone into a lavender bath. I hope it fits the intended recipient. There will be pictures after it's been gifted.

In the meantime, how about some "live" shots of Icarus?


10 September 2007

Fashion

Just a quickie today, peeps. I have more knitting to do! Jeepers, garter stitch just eats yarn, doesn't it? I'm about to start the second set of short-rows, which means we're near the top of the yoke. Thank goodness! The deadline approacheth.

There will be bloggable knitting soon, I promise, as well as pics including a crazy skein of feather yarn.

Anyway, I've been thinking more about fashion lately. Perhaps it's the crisp fall air, perhaps it's starting the job search, which means I'll need some grown-up clothes, perhaps it's Tim Gunn upon whom I have quite a crush. So, I bought the September issue of Vogue. And I have to ask myself "WHY!?!" Out of 840 pages, on first flip-through, I dog-eared five pages, four of which were ads, and the fifth was a brief profile of a woman wearing Twinkle's Shopping Tunic. The cover is awful, as is the spread that goes with it. Ugh. I may have to give you a page-by-page review here in the future.

American fashion magazines are rubbish, aren't they? As far as the serious business of fashion goes, anyway. I read Lucky occasionally. It's my airport go-to, since there aren't really articles, just lots of fun things to look at. But I don't fly much these days and when I do I usually have a very mobile tot in tow.

Ever since Liz Tilberis passed away and Harper's Bazaar was Marie Claire-ed by Glenda Bailey, Anna Wintour has no goad to make Vogue all it could/should be. I still remember the first cover of Bazaar after Ms. T. took over: white studio background and Linda Evangelista looking gorgeous. Check it here (#9). What I'd forgotten about the Tilberis era was the fantastic typography. Check out that last "A"! Clean, gorgeous, one headline, not the junked up covers we see today.

I read the September issue of Harper's Bazaar over Labor Day weekend, and it was crap, too. At least Vogue has Jeffrey Steingarten's food writing, which I quite enjoy. But I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to read Ms. Wintour's editor's letter. For more opinions on the issue, be sure to check out Cathy Horyn's blog entry and don't miss the comments.

04 September 2007

Birthday/Blogiversary Pending

Where does the time go? My birthday is coming up on the thirteenth (lucky girl!), and my first blog post was one year ago on the fourteenth. I should probably have some sort of contest to get my dear lurking readers to join the conversation. What do you think?

Happily, Jill was finally able to comment today. I may have to join the Knitini trip to Belize in February. Wouldn't that be nice?

In knitting knews (hehe) I've joined the sleeves and started the garter section of the yoke on Cobblestone. Yeehaw, short rows. This is going very quickly! Now, watch, I'll hit a snag. Hope not, as there are other things I'd like to knit soon (the danger of Ravelry).

Sorry this is a dull post. I have to get my pics off the camera...

03 September 2007

Likey Zephyr

That Zephyr DK is seriously yummy. The silk just gleams. I'm almost through the first sleeve, and then I'll be able to block it to be super-sure I've gotten the gauge I want (on US6s). There will be more projects in this yarn in the future. But I'm back from a weekend in Door County so need to get back to the Cobblestone - thank goodness for air-conditioning in Wilmette as a lap-ful of alpaca is a bit much, even in the balmy weather up nort'.

And I've just joined another KAL. When did I turn into such a joiner? Who knows. Anyway, Keri started a new gang for knitted mitts and wristers Fingerless Mitts for Fall, and I've decided it's time to do some colorwork so am going to knit up Eunny's Endpaper Mitts. Maybe once I accomplish those I'll feel up to doing her Anemois, which are so pretty.

Some Douceur et Soie may have come home with me in a stormy teal colorway from Easy Stitchin' in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. Just reporting the facts.