Light as Air

Shetland Triangle, blocked and ready to wear. I love this shawl. I ended up knitting 12 repeats instead of the 8 that were in the pattern and still, it’s not really that big. I started the shawl June 7th and didn’t finish it until July 27th. I worked on it sporadically at best. The yarn was Elann Baby silk and it’s very nice to work with. I used about 5 and a half skeins. I would definitely use that yarn again for a shawl project, in a lighter color. Black is so hard to see sometimes. But black does go with everything and who doesn’t need a little black shawl to go with that little black dress we all have in our closets somewhere?

addition: I forgot to mention the blocking wire experience. It was wonderful!! I just took those welding wires – I didn’t even have to smooth or file the ends and they were fine. I “wove” them through the top for a nice straight edge – I used two across the top and just wove another wire down both sides through the points of the shawl only. Then I pinned the wires to hold them in place and stretch the shawl on my blocking board. I loved this way of blocking and the shawl had near perfect edges! I highly recommend getting yourself some wires.

I’ve cast on for Mountain peaks. I originally started it with a single strand of Helen’s Lace. It does call for lace weight, but I really wasn’t liking the way it was knitting up. I only takes 600 yards of yarn, so I restarted it doubling the Helen’s. I like the slightly heftier feel to it. Now, I have to enlarge the charts because apparently I am going to go blind reading these charts otherwise. Not the charts fault at all – entirely the result of aging I’m sure. This pattern is so very interesting and I’m really looking forward to it all.

And speaking of aging – tomorrow when I wake up, I will not be 43 any more – yep, it’s my birthday. I’ve got a pretty busy day ahead – doctors appointment, Post office run, banking to do, lunch with a friend, waiting to hear about DH’s interview and a possible dinner out. Pretty full day, I think.

And the Winner is……………..

Well, somewhere in the world it’s before 12 o’clock – sorry…..here goes…………

Drum roll please…….

And the Winner is………………….
Laurie!!!!

Congrat’s Laurie and I will be emailing you to see what your preference is in color!

Thanks everybody for entering and as you all probably figured out, the answer was the movie “Office Space” one of my favorites.

This was so much fun I might just have to do another contest next month!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

the credit goes to my youngest DS for helping hold the hat and pick out the name – thanks D!

Commence Blocking

There’s gonna be a whole lotta blocking goin on – what you see is the Shetland Triangle, off the needles, finally. And notice to the right of the shawl? What have we here? Well, DH had to go to get a C02 bottle refilled/replaced yesterday at a place that also sells welding supplies. Somewhere along the line – it could have been on Lorette’s page, I saw advice on getting stainless steel rods from a welder supply (if it wasn’t Lorette’s page, let me know who you are and I’ll correct that, very sorry). So I asked the nice gentlemen – he kinda laughed when I told him what they were for and told me he could sell me a pound of them for about 9 dollars. Well, a pound is a LOT of rods , so he just handed me about 10 of them at no charge! What a nice thing to do from a clearly perplexed man who was wondering just what I was going to do with these things that had to do with knitting. So, as soon as I get off my arse, I will get this shawl a soaking. Now, why won’t I get up and do it right now? It’s hot. I know. I’m a whiny, whiny baby. But come on already with the heat. I can’t breath. It’s affecting what little control I have over my suddenly wavy hair. Plus, I don’t want to dry the hair and it doesn’t dry on it’s own in this weather until about 12 hours after I wash it. And the Picolvoli – it’s been drying for two whole days? That aint’ right. I’m kinda cheesed about this. And, forget the hair. What really cheeses me (yes, cheeses me the hell off) is this heat is really cutting into my knitting time. I really really want to cast on for Mountain Peaks – I’m so excited about this shawl. I mean, I get excited about any shawl – who wouldn’t when you get to see two or three tiny stitches eventually turn into a few hundred that make up a beautiful design? I especially love trianglar shawls. I think they’re my favoritist. And it will be the first time I get to use Helen’s lace. So, I’m sure you can understand my wanting it to cool the frick down already?

The names are accumulating in the hat for the contest – I’m really having a great time reading everyone’s guesses and you still have time – so tell me what movie “Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays” is from – send your guess to scootergirl762 AT yahoo DOT com. I will have my youngest DS pick a name outta the hat tomorrow before noon!!

Forces of Good…..(and a Contest Update)

Far outweigh the bad. The last few days have been a whirlwind of great people to come into my life. First there is Sara of Woven Thoughts who so generously put up a wire working tutorial AND gave me permission to make and sell her designs! Plus, she linked to my Etsy Shop! What a vote of confidence from someone – thank you SARA!!!!!

Then, through a delightful buyer I was able to make the aquaintance of Fred, the SCARFGUY. He makes the most amazing handwoven Shawls and Scarves – they are just beautiful and you should definitely go visit his shop. Visit his Web Site too! He so nicely suggested photographing my pins on his scarves and doing a little collabortation. I’m honored and frankly, speechless. There are a lot of really good people out there, who are generous and willing to share ideas and I appreciate their help.

I have been doing some knitting – I’m on the edging of the Shetland Triangle. I had to put it down last night because I’m so used to the 10 row repeat and the edging is somewhat different. And I KNEW I was going to make a mistake. I just knew my hands were going to want to knit the 10 row repeat and not do this different pattern. So, I made a decision – watch Dirty Jobs. I think I may have me a bit o’ crush on Mr. Mike Rowe – anyone else out there????

Now, don’t forget to go enter the contest – see the last post. And you won’t win any ole pin, by the way. This pin will be made specifically for YOU (or someone you have in mind), to match a shawl, scarf or sweater you have or are working on. I even have a guess from Turkey!!! This is very exciting for me and I’m glad you guys are participating! So go enter – I will be putting the names in a hat Friday, so If I get your email by Friday morning the latest, you’re in.

Go……..send me a guess……..you know you want to….

Sounds Like Somebody’s Got a Case of the MOndays…

But not in a bad way……..Tell me what movie that post title came from……..Cause I’m havin a contest!!! Yessireee. Email me with your guess at Scootergirl762 AT yahoo DOT com (you know how to do that, I know you do) and I will pull a name from the correct guesses this Friday, July 28th. The winner will get a shawl pin, made by moi.

The weekend was HOT – well saturday was. Very hot, very oppressive. I didn’t get to do much of anything constructive except make a few sets of stitch markers. Quite a few things sold in the Etsy Shop – link on my sidebar now, so I spent some time packing things up. Thank you Wanda!
You had my weekend off to a good start and I sure hope your feeling better.

Yesterday was beautiful – not humid at all and I could tell because my breathing was much better. I spent the day lazing about, finished the left front to Scoop and pulled out my Shetland Triangle to get it done! I’m looking forward to starting a new lace project. I’m doing more repeats than the pattern calls for because I’m not a 23 year old waffer thin model, and my shoulders would seriously be hanging out from the 8 repeats they suggest. I’m hoping to tidy it up this week as it’s been on the needles since June 7th – and that’s just too darn long!!!

Oh and for all you Greys Anatomy fans – and this may be old news to ya, but what the heck – I hear tell that the show is moving to Thurdays at 9pm. I’m so happy about that – it’s the perfect day, the perfect time. I did watch it last night AND on thursday night too. I don’t know if it’s going to be on twice a week, everyweek, but last nights happened to be an episode I never saw, so I don’t mind at all. And I just pull out some mindless knitting, to avoid the snacking/watching TV syndrome.

Well, that’s really it for now – boring, I know, but hey, the contest should be fun………and here are the latest Shawl pin and markers to hit the shop.

Frequent Visitor

I give you Picovoli Fini – a little warshed out, I’ll admit, but it’s dark and cloudy here this morning so the light was not my friend. I really like this tank. I loved the pattern – it’s flawless. Now, if my body was flawless, it would look great on me. But, not so much. I think if I keep working on losing the spare tire, it would look fab. So I will block this and keep it as inspiration to get my arse moving and keep losing!

This is the back of Scoop. I love this. I’ve cast on the left front and it should go even faster – another great pattern and I can see myself making ore than one of theses.

And the new red-ness. This shall be Something Red. I love that pattern even though I have gone up a needle size and it’s more of a drapy fabric (pima melange is supposed to be worsted weight, but lets not go there) I love the color and the feel of the knit. I cannot wait to start it and as soon as I can get two brain cells that will cooperate with each other, I’m casting on – so Scoop? Prepare to share my time!

And while watching TV last night – I made more of these little beauties – I’m getting better at making them, and these are more elegant than my first attempts – they will be posted later today on the shop, better photo’s there, to be sure.

Finally, after reading Yarnstorm’s latest post on her blog – I have to say, I totally agree with her. Well said. This negativity and thoughtless disregard for the real people behind the blogs has got to stop. No one should feel they have the right to humiliate, intimidate or bully you by leaving negative comments. No one. And when they hide behind “anonymous”, well that just adds cowardice to the mix. She says it much more eloquently than I ever could. Sometimes I think we forget that even though we read what bloggers post about their lives, that we really don’t know everything about them. Well, some we do. Friends we’ve gained through this community. But, some of the time, we don’t know them. We only see a part of them, the part they’re willing and brave enough to share with the whole world. I love having this outlet. I love the friends I’ve made and the visitors I have and the lurkers who never comment – that’s all ok – if you want to visit my blog eleventy-five times -Frequent Visitor- and never comment – well, that’s your perogative. I hope you enjoy what you see here and that you’re here for the right reasons. Only you can know that. Soap Box over-and-out.

DH is out running off his nervous pre-interviewing energy. It’s going to be a long day.

Keeping to the High Road

because it’s cooler up there. But I have to say, it’s not as cool as Mr. Weatherman said it was going to be. Still humid. And the pollen counts were so high today – I couldn’t really get a good breath going. And tomorrow, rain, thunderstorms, rain – did I say rain?

On the FO Front – Picovoli is done! Pictures tomorrow. I’m just too hot. And it was sooooo bright out today, I didn’t want to warsh out the photo. And the back to scoop – done. And I think I may have decided not to do the Mystery Stole along right now. I think I may do the Mountain Peaks Shawl. And I do have a reason. See, I know what the Mountain Peaks looks like. That’s what it boils down to. I know the Mystery stole – well, I know the point of it. It’s a mystery. I do get that. But, I was thinking, I may not be able to handle the mystery part of it so much right now. I think I need the cold, hard shawl facts. And I’m not putting the mystery down, no, no, no, not at all. That’s not it. I’m all for the fun of it. The suspense of it. But, not right now. Too much uncertain stuff going on right now, and I think I need a little more certainty. So, I will wait on the mystery project till………….well, there’s another mystery for ya – I don’t know. Till I feel more devil may care? Flying by the seat of my shawl? Need a little suspense and excitement in my life? Yup, those would be the indicating factors.

DH has an interview tomorrow – so any good kharma, thoughts, positive energy that you can spare to send our way – well, it just might do the trick. I will surely get a LOT of knitting done tomorrow – it seems the nervous energy I have has allowed me to accomplish two tanks, some socks and the back of a cardy in less than a month. And that’s a good thing, right?

Rising Above

The heat that is……..last night was another wicked night in Thunderstorm Land – which is what we are becoming. We even had some HAIL. HAIL. Hail is scary. A lot of people in the storms path are without power, trees are down, damage everywhere. We had a roof blow off a building a few miles from us, DH went out on one call for power lines down, but we’re ok. No damage. The power went out twice though and we’re lucky it came back on a few minutes later – usually when that happens we are without power for hours.

Anyhow, I was able to put some time in on Picovoli – who conspired against me and obviously put out an SOS to Netter, and complained that I favored Scoop over her. Guilty. But it was the yarn, I tell you. So, in lieu of photo’s believe me when I tell you I am done with the decreases, done with the approx. 15 rows of straight knitting, and now I’m on the increases. Coming into the home stretch. Now, since I do not have abs of steel, I will probably make it a bit longer, but I’m hoping to have it done by Saturday. Ambitious, I know, but I’ve got some pressure here. I apparently cannot knit on something else – the knits do tell.

Shawl Status – well, the Shetland Triangle is here. Not being worked on, but see above for reason. The Peacock Feathers is in queue. As is the Mystery Stole. As is the pattern I just downloaded this morning, thatwillnotbenamedrightnow. Good news – I organized all my patterns, put them in sleeve protectors and in the binder. So progress is being made, just not actual knitting progress.

And there is some new prettiness in the Etsy shop:

Four sets of handmade stitch markers, made for up to a US size 10 needle. These have a cool “tigers eye” effect on them. And they’re only 4 bucks plus shipping (1 buck). I had one customer have a problem signing into etsy to buy some pins last night – I don’t seem to have a problem, so I’m hoping it was a fluke.

Stay cool – I still think it is warm -too warm, but I’ll take 10 degrees less than yesterday, anyday!

It’s Boiling, but there’s still knitting

I just love this pattern, this yarn. That’s the back of Scoop du jour. And I was able to get a bit done last night, after going into the bedroom AC. It’s light in your hands and just knits up so nice. Oh! And it’s TLC Cotton Plus in the “thistle” color, but I think it should have been called “jewel” because it reminds me of jewel tones.

Here’s a close up of the color. This is pretty accurate. I know I say my favorite color is red – and there is red yarn on the way for another cardy – but I seem to gravitate towards knitting blues for myself. I guess I better branch out, huh?

As I mentioned – it is HOT. It’s HOT everywhere though. And there are places hotter than here, so I’m not going to complain to much. But I’m also not going to do too much either. I’m about to venture into the pool, for a little cooling off. And then maybe a few rows of knitting here and there. Picovoli is almost done with the decreases and then I should be knitting a few inches straight before the increase. Even though that’s cotton yarn too, it’s a bit heavier and feels that way in my hands, so I’m not tempted to pick it up right now.

And lastly, here’s someone I’m really, really happy to have met. Knitnana. Not only is she talented, kind, supportive and did I say talented? She’s one of a kind. Also, you have got to check out her bags and cases, they are amazing. Someday, I’m going to treat myself to a bag – can’t wait!

Making these is fun. The color combinations are endless. But, did you ever notice, when you go looking for, say, beads, and you have a particular “look” in mind, that you just can’t find everything you want? It worked out, but I’ll be on the lookout for those “different” beads, to lend a unique look to these…………..go……………..look………….thanks!