April 2004 Archives

No, that's not a garbled title. It's Norwegian for "Do you speak Norwegian?" Or, at least, I think it is!

A couple weeks back I posted this pic:

as something I might consider trying for a FI project.

Then, while reading Carissa's new list of tank patterns I followed the link to Garnstudio's free patterns. And wouldn't you know it, on page 32, there she is. The catch, of course, is that the pattern is only in Norwegian.

Then, I remembered that Theresa had a Norwegian for Knitters lesson on her site. All signs seem to be pointing to giving this a try.

I've always loved languages. I took 5 different ones between high school and college. And learned a bit of 2 more as an adult. So, the thought of broadening my language skills *together with* my knitting skills is very appealing to me. I haven't decided for sure if I want to make *this* pattern, but I'm sure I'll be picking something out of here just to give the translation thing a try.

I know a bunch of you have worked on Phildar patterns in French. How has this worked for you? Did you translate the whole pattern up front (which I think is what I'd do), or did you just work thru it as you went? Would you do it again?

Yup...just me and my hat. And before any of you mention it, yes, those are little pigtails. That's right - a 32 year old with pigtails. Go ahead, make fun. It's the first time I've done them in years and I kinda liked them. Not in a wow that's the greatest way ever to wear my hair. But in a that's kinda silly and fun in the right environment sorta way. So it's probably how I'll wear my hair on Saturday. So for those of you on the lookout for me - there I am. I think it's pretty typical of how I look.

48 hours to MSW!!!!! Are you excited? I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

OK, so which you wanna hear first? Get the bad news out of the way? OK.

Maude

I motored along on Maude, getting the the armhole decreases last night. Now that only half the stitches are on the needles at once I was able to try it on for the first time. It's too big. Not huge. But definitely a bit drapey. It may shrink up a bit after a bath. If it doesn't, I think I'm going to take some off the sides by steeking them. What do you think? The biggest benefit I can see for doing this - no ends to weave in! The ends would be cut off as part of the steek. I think there's a really good chance I'll have to do this (or frog the whole thing) so I may finally try my hand at steeking!

Here she is, just a couple rows into the armhole shaping:

Linen Drape Along

I've been really struggling with what pattern to make out of the linen drape. I love the yarn. Love the color. But I was totally missing design inspiration. Until yesterday. I'm designing my own sweater and I'm VERY excited about this one. It's going to challenge me to get a really good fit, and there's a healthy dose of crochet in there as well. The color I picked is called Tango (a claret red) and the design I've come up with is very Spanish-inspired as well. I'm not going to give away many of the details on this one, as I think it will be fun to reveal the design as I go.

However, there is one thing I need some help on. Crochet instructions. All you hookers out there, can you clarify something for me?

The pattern says starts out by doing a series of dcs and chs (dc, ch2, sk2 ch, dc into next ch). It makes a mesh. At the end it says (9 sps). I got that - it's telling me there should be 9 mesh holes (spaces?) after that round. Then it says 1sc into next dc, ch5, skip next 4 sps, 1 dc into next sp. This is where I'm confused. Does that mean I should put my hook into the mesh hole (in essence, under the ch2) instead of into the top of the dc in the previous row? I think that's what it means but I'm not sure. If anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it :)

Blog Links

I've finally added links to some of the blogs I read. I just started working on this list so it will definitely grow. Please don't feel insulted if your blog isn't there. It's probably because I just haven't added it to the list yet. I've put off creating this list for such a long time now because I've been afraid of hurting someone's feelings by not having their blog listed. There are so many good knitting blogs out there!

Interweave Knits Summer 04 Preview

I came across this link while reading sequinK's blog. I haven't seen much talk about it around the blogs so I thought I'd post it too. Here are my favs:

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light and airy for the summer!

big enough to hold a few knitting projects!

i'd consider 2 similar colors for a more muted look

remind you of Alison's Rosebud? i still like hers better!

Mother's Day Gift

I had the realization last night that Mother's Day is less than 2 weeks away. Now luckily, Mom wants a huge pile of mulch so the real gift is all set. However, I'd like to knit her something little that she couldn't just go out and buy. I'm considering making up a couple little sachets for her lingerie drawers. I have some white mohair that would work up nicely in a lacey pattern with some muted colored fabric behind it. Anyone see any patterns like this that they liked? I'll probably just thumb through my pattern books in the next couple of nights for a stitch pattern I like.

Anyone else knitting something for Mother's Day?

House Progress

We finally got some real work done on the house. Along with the new rooms we're repainting the outside. It desperately needs it. Right before I bought the house the previous owners decided to "scrape and paint" it. But the only painted the areas they scraped. So, the house has lots of brush strokes of blue that are just slightly different in color than the rest of the siding. When I looked at the house it was raining and I thought it was just wet. Oh well. It's really shaping up though. We finished about half of the first floor. I really want to get done before Memorial Day weekend because it will start to get really hot at that point.

Gardening

I love gardening this time of year! Mom and I went to a big garden center. I behaved myself and only bought Dianthus, a hanging basket, one pot of verbena, and 2 flats of pansies. I'm going with a purple, yellow, and red/dark pink theme. It looks really good against the light blue house as a contrast. I was able to plant everything exept 2 little packs of pansies before the rain really started pouring.

I also noticed that the lilacs are just about ready to bloom. And the dogwood is in full bloom in the backyard. It's really starting to look like spring out there!

Knitting

I was very good this weekend and didn't start any new projects. Can you believe it? I didn't get much knitting done though. Mostly because of all the house work and the fact that my hands hurt from the scraping. So no pics today. I should get in a few quality hours of knitting tonight at Perkfections with the girls though.

I also sent Carissa a set of tank links for her contest. I LOVE that ribbon so I'm really excited to see who wins it. Me! Me! Me! Pick me! In browsing for patterns I came across this one from Berroco that I really liked.

And finally, I'm considering making a lacey poncho. I've loved the Charlottes that are out there but I know I'll never wear a shawl. This weekend at a bar I saw a girl wearing something similar but made into a poncho! Hers was the 2 rectangle type but I think I'd like the look of knitting the lace into Vs at the front and back. This is just in the pondering stage so nothing to really report yet. Koigu would be an obvious choice. Any other suggestions?

I gotta say I'm in love with knitting this Maude tank. The mindless part of straight stockingnette just isn't happening because of all the color changing. I can definitely see how Fair Isle keeps knitters interested. I can't wait to see how the tank changes its look with the addition of each new color.

I'm also finding myself trying to understand how Mags Kandis chose the color sequence that she did. At times she went for two very different colors - like Jade green and Chili red. And in other parts of the sequence she put two very similar colors together - like the Peony pink and Chili red. It all seems to work marvelously and I keep thinking I never would have done such a nice job if I did it myself. And still I find my mind wandering - thinking about how I might layer the colors if I tried to do it myself. Would I have chosen a theme? Maybe rich autumnal colors, or beachy blues and greens, or perky citrus shades, or possibly some serene neutrals.

Maybe so, but for now I'm quite content knitting it Mags' way:

the side shaping is starting to show

Tank Talk

Since I have a few tanks planned for the summer (who doesn't?) I decided to join Nathania's tank along. C'mon and join us. You can knit any tank you like. It's fun to see the variety that's happening on this one.

Don't have yarn for a tank? Then go visit Carissa who's holding her first contest. She'd like to get together a comprehensive list of tanks, and is offering up some GORGEOUS batik ribbon to the winner. So send her links to all the tanks you know of. I'll be putting together my list this weekend.

Talk about the MSWF has definitely heated up in the past couple of days. I've been meaning to post here that I'll be going. I can't wait! Between getting to meet bloggers in person to attending the demonstrations to shopping at all the independent vendors in the mart - it should be a great day. I'm driving down with Christy and Stella on Saturday. No, we're not staying overnight. Philly is close enough to do it in a day - about 2-2.5 hours.

If you're planning on going let me know, ok? Kathleen just told me yesterday that she's going! Yes, I'll be participating in spot the blogger. I think I'm going to put something on a backpack. I'm hoping (yeah yeah I know, famous last words, right?) to be finished with Maude by next weekend. Finished knitting is one thing. Finished weaving in the ends may be an entirely different thing.

Speaking of Maude, no pics today. I worked late last night and didn't get much knitting in. Just a few rows in Lichen and Peony. Dontcha just love the color names of Mission Falls?

My meeting in NYC today got cancelled though so I should have a short work day today. I'm hoping for a good 3 hours of knitting tonight. That is, if I don't get sucked into blog surfing once I get home. Not that any of you can relate to that!

The New Stuff

One of my friends had her baby yesterday! A few days early and he's 7 pounds 10 ounces. She's only 4'11" tall. I can't believe that baby came out of her. A no, it wasn't a C section.

So, now that I know she had a boy (I was holding out for a girl so I could make Anouk) I can get to thinking about what to make for her.

After lots of discussion about what to make for a new summer baby, I decided to ditch the idea and make something for the fall/winter. It just seems to fit so much better. I know you can make tanks and little onesies, but something about them just didn't say "wow, handknit gift" to me. So I'm going for the more traditional cool weather gift. No inspiration yet, but feel free to chime in if you have an idea!

The Ends

The talk of a thousand ends sure brought about alot of comments. I agree with Allison - ends are the worst part of the project. But similar to childbirth (I've been told) the lure of knitting pulls us back in to yet another (and another...) project.

I took Kathleen's sage advice and decided to do Maude in the round. Since I had planned on giving it a side vent I just cast on for the front last night and caught up to the back. Thanks, Kathleen - you are right. It really does make alot more sense.

Dontcha just love that part about blogging? The support, the ideas, the kick in the butt when you need it.

And I love Christine's suggestion for an end-along. How funny! I may just need the support. I've been considering making the matching shrug for Maude since I'll have so much yarn left over. What is it about Mission Falls that just sucks you into thinking "Those ends won't be *that* bad."?

No, I don't mean knitting in the round.

Knitting in Circles - The act of knitting the same part of a project twice. Often preceeded by frogging, always preceeded by cursing, it is what a knitter often does in search of the perfect garment.

And I've been doing exactly that. On Sunday I cast on for Maude. I was really enjoying knitting with the Misison Falls. It was making a beautiful fabric, and the color changes every few rows kept me interested. As I added each new color the tank took on a different look. I couldn't wait to pull the next color out of my bag just to see how it integrated and played off the others.

I was so into the color changes that I didn't bother to look at the whole garment. When I finally did I thought to myself "Hmm, that looks awfully large. Maybe it's just the stripes." I measured it.

4 inches too big!

How in the world did that happen? I even did a gauge swatch. So - rip, rip, rip.

I didn't pick it up until last night. I was able to catch up almost to where I left off on Sunday

look at all those ends!

It's a good thing I recently got all those darning needles! I considered doing it in the round, but I didn't want to delay seeing the colors take shape. Impatience won over practicality.

Betcha I'll be cursing that decision in a couple of weeks!

My Yarn Shopping Excursion was a huge success. We went to five stores in Philly and and Princeton area. I bought alot of yarn and was able to return the yarn for the failed Dori attempt.

The weather was gorgeous and we drove around most of the day with the top down on the jeep. Ate lunch outside in Princeton.

I only had one bad store experience - at Sophie's. I've never had a bad experience there but the girl was utterly rude. I was hitting all the stores to gather the yarn for Maude. There's so many colors in it that it took 3 stores before I got it all. When I asked her about the 1 last color I needed she scolded me and told me that I really should buy all the yarn at once because you never know when they might run out and dye lots really do make a difference. Bitch. I bought the one last ball of Mission Falls that I needed and left. Will I go back? Probably. I think it was a freak thing but I certainly was in no mood to give them any more of my money yesterday.

OK, onto happier thoughts. Here's what I got:

for the Maude tank from Mission Falls

Mission Falls Vera tank. the colors are actually a dull red and orange. honest

navy cotton classic for smooch

2 shades of red for a bottom's up bucket hat

for this top from Jaeger JM06

i'm not sure yet. maybe chamomile from rowan summer tweed?

this came in the mail for my linen drape along. i think i'm going to design a pattern for it. sketches in the next few days

What am I going to start with? Probably the Maude tank or the Linen Drape. I want something different from Tricot so either the small Linen Drape gauge or the color variety of Maude should do the trick.

Woohoo! The day of the Great Yarn Excursion has finally arrived! I'll be going to at least 4 different stores.

First, I'll be stopping by the Tangled Web. They're having a storewide 20% off sale and I'll be able to say hello to Stella.

Then we'll head on down to center city where we'll visit Rosie's and Sophie's. Rosie's is holding one of my birthday presents - a ball winder and swift!

From there we may head south and hit a couple places I've never been to. Or we may head north and go to The Woolly Lamb, Glenmarle Woolworks, and Pins and Needles.

Should be lots of fun. I'll post pics of my acquisitions tomorrow!

So What Gives With Today's Title?

We met up with PJ and Kelly last night. They gave me my birthday presents - a bottle of my favorite wine, a huge bouquet of flowers (love love LOVE getting flowers!), a copy of the latest VK, a really cute card ragging on my brother (she got in trouble for it but I think it was worth it), and FYO - For Yarn Only - money. Well, who am I to disappoint! I'll be sure to put that money to good use today!

I also have some kind of cake that I'll be getting today from Kelly. She loves to bake. The only hint I have is an IM from her yesterday that said "You like coconut, right?". When asked why she needed to know, I got the standard "Oh no reason, go about your business". So I'm guessing today's cake will have something to do with coconut.

A piece of coconut cake isn't such a bad way to end a taxing day of shopping!

Enjoy your day everyone. The northeast is finally warming up!

That's what yesterday's post was really about. What is the next thing I want to accomplish with my knitting?

After reading your responses yesterday - and considering what I want to get out of knitting - I've decided that yes, it needs to be something wearable. Not necessarily every day wearable. But something I would wear at least occasionally. This is knitting - not needlepoint!

I'm setting a goal of knitting a milestone garment by the end of the year. I'm not sure what it wil be. It might be one of the FIs from yesterday. Or it might be a Starmore Aran - I'm particularly fond of Cromarty and St. Brigid. Or it might be something I haven't thought of yet.

For the next few months I'm going to collect ideas. My plan is to start this garment sometime in September, with the ultimate goal of completing it by the end of the year.

Until then, I think I'll enjoy making some more simpler garments. It's fun to see some projects come together quickly, isn't it?

What are your knitting aspirations?

Just a quick post to let you guys know there's a sale going on at Patternworks. And this is the real stuff - Rowan, Berrocco, Manos, and Colinette just to name a few. Hurry though - it's disappearing quickly!

I haven't really done any fair isle (other than playing with swatches) but it continues to appeal to me. I've been going thru pattern books alot lately and a few FI items have really drawn me.

First up, this one from Norsk Strikkedesign

I can't decide if I'd ever actually wear it though. Have you ever been drawn to knitting something just for the art of it? This would undoubtedly be my most time consuming project thus far. I don't think I could knit it if I thought I wouldn't wear it.

So, with that in mind, I bring you this Drops design

The colors are really me. I do think I'd wear it, although not very often. It's not like you can wear a sweater like that every day.

So then I look to Gerbera by Dale of Norway

in this colorway

Something drew me to this design from the moment I saw it. Not nearly as complex as the others, but probably more "wearable" than the other two.

For those of you who do FI, what do you think? Are these practical? Should I ditch practicality and just choose to knit something I'd enjoy knitting? There's been some talk on the knitting blogs lately about knitting as a form of meditation. And it's true - it does calm me and feel peaceful. But I won't lie - I enjoy the results as much as the process. And if I thought I wouldn't get much use out of something I was making I probably wouldn't be able to complete it.

Summer Yarns and Patterns

Saturday's knitting excursion will be to acquire more warm weather yarns or patterns. Any suggestions? Right now I'm thinking some Mission Falls for one of the tanks I mentioned on Tuesday and maybe some Tahki Cotton Classic for some kind of top (just because so many bloggers love it). I like the elasticity of Rowan Wool Cotton but can't get past the fact it's 50% wool (I know, it's the wool's properties that I'm so attracted to in the first place). Has anyone worn a Wool Cotton garment in the summer? Is it more of a spring/fall yarn? Do tell.....

This has been quite a week for gifts. First, I received another package from my secret pal.

How does she do it? The flipbook is in my favorite color. Then there's the Chibi. She sent one I haven't seen before. It's a set of 3 darning needles in various lengths. I always struggle at the end of a garment with the long needle. No more! On the left there is a Yankee Candle. I often have candles burning as I'm knitting so this was a perfect addition. The cute little post it notes in my favorite color of the season - pink. And finally, 4 little bars of awesome chocolate. How do I know it's so good? See that wonky one on the bottom? It's just a wrapper shell. I've been helping myself to a square here and there.

So once again secret pal, a huge thanks!

Then on Monday night Evelyn hit me with a birthday box full of knitting goodies

I've been eyeing up beaded stitch markers for a while now. These are really cool because they're made from rustic looking beads - with little imperfections in them. The colors are great too. There's a set of cute note cards in there - with pink accents as well. Some personalized labels for my knitting. Another chibi - how funny that I got 2 different ones. This one has special meaning though. I always forget to pack mine on Monday nights and am constantly asking Evelyn for hers! So now I can keep this one in my travel bag (which is one of the bags my secret pal sent me the first time). And finally - yarn bras! I keep meaning to order these things but never remember when placing an order. I'm going to test drive them with Tricot tonight. The Cotton Ease balls seem to unwind alot and the ziploc bags aren't quite doing the trick.

Louise (also from Monday night knitting) gave me a box of Atkins brownie mix. Which will be put to good use as soon as I get myself in gear and get back on the diet.

And finally to round things out, I'm going on an all day knitting excursion on Saturday for my bday. We'll probably spend most of our time in Philly and we should get some good eating in as well. I'll tell you all about it on Sunday.

Tricot

I promised a Tricot pic so here she is:

It's knitting up faster the second time around. Mostly because I'm much happier with the colors this time. I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but the red feels really soft compared to the blue. I really like the way this one feels. Progress on this guy is not so exciting to look at though so I'll spare you all of daily pic updates unless I've hit a milestone.

I've had the Mission Falls In Living Colour pattern book for about a year now. I keep picking it up and commenting on how much I like the book, but somehow it remains on my bookshelf. Something "newer" keeps taking center stage. Do you find yourself doing that? I have patterns I've wanted to knit for a few years now but they always seem to be overridden by the latest and greatest pattern book to hit. Well no more.

Here are the patterns I like the most out of this book:

Maude Tank

I love the color variety on this one. You could wear it with jeans, with khakis, black pants. Shorts or a skirt. It's a really versatile tank. And the colors. Aren't they great summer colors?

Next up, this bright number:

Vera Tank

Dontcha just love the colors? Yes, I'm in a red and orange sorta mood. But they're cool, right?

And finally, the backpack:

Tejido Backpack

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love backpacks. I use them for everything - purse, knitting bag, laptop bag. And it would be a good trial for colorwork. I've played around with swatches of colorwork but I've never done a whole project.

The only hesitation I have with these projects is that I've heard Mission Falls can tend to bleed. Since these projects use more than one color I'd be concerned that they'd run. Does anyone have experience with the yarn? I've also heard some comments about its tendency to pill. The colors are amazing though, so I really don't want to substitute.

Tricot

Sorry, no pics today. I gotta get into my groove with the new job and posting to the blog. I've got about 5 inches done on the back. I love the red and orange! Pics tomorrow - I promise!

Secret Pal Strikes Again

And finally, I got another package from my Secret Pal. Pics from that tomorrow too. Honest :)

After reading about the Linen Drape along on Alison's and Eklectika's blog I just couldn't resist. Following a suggestion by Eklectika I bought some Linen Drape in the color Tango (claret red kind of color) from an eBay seller - Jannette's Rare Yarns. She has some great deals on there! She's in the UK but air shipping was only 12 bucks. Sounded reasonable to me. So I bought it yesterday and she shipped it today. Can't wait to get it!

I'm not sure what I'm going to make from it yet. I'm considering using this design as inspiration:

It's from Schoeller Stahl's Summer 2003 book. The gauge in the pattern is much larger - 15 sts/4 in - so I'd have to redo it for 22 or 24 sts. I don't think it'd be difficult though. What I really like is the transition between the stockingnette and the garter. You do one row of double YOs that you slip on the next row - creating the long stitches in the middle. It's also done at the neck edge. What do you think? Is this a good match for the yarn?

PTD
PTD is coming along nicely. I've finished the yoke part and am on the body part now. I took it off the needles again last night to try it on again. Here's a pic. The color is so difficult to photograph well. It's not so fluorescent in person - I promise.

I tried it on and I'm a little bothered by the way the eyelets are behaving when I'm wearing it. They're stretching out a bit near the shoulder. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. In retrospect I think one eyelet would have been enough. I suspect the extra yarn for 2 eyelets is what's allowing it to stretch so much. I'll wait though to see how it looks when it's a full garment. It's not horrible - just not exactly what I had envisioned. The yarn, however, continues to feel gorgeous!

OK, back to knitting for a few more hours before we leave to go out to the shore to my cousin's for Easter. I don't see this part of my family much so it should be a really nice day. Happy Easter to everyone!

I love the Berrocco Zen but I hate the way it knits up in the domino knitting. It's light but think and I think it will become one of those sweaters that was fun to knit but never worn. So I'm frogging Dori.

So now, I'm left with 20 hanks of Zen and a hankering to do those cool sleeves on Dori. I love the purl ridge every fourth row. But I don't think this yarn is the way to go with a pattern for those sleeves. So - what to do? Any suggestions? Right now I'm thinking about returning most/all of it. There's a pattern in the latest IK with Zen but it's one of those side-to-side sweaters and I've never been a big fan. Maybe a square neck tank?

I've been in love with Topacio. My LYS has it in most of the popular citrus colors as well as red, white and blue. It's 60% Cotton/40% Acrylic and has a feeling very similar to Calmer. Without the Calmer pricetag though. It says handwash only but I'd try washing a swatch in the machine to see how it does. With 40% acrylic it might be fine.

Tricot

You might be wondering about Tricot, since it has been stuck at 3% for almost a month. Well, it was another one of those projects that I just wasn't happy with. I went back and returned the blue for some red. So yes, I'm now making a red and orange version. I love those colors together. I'm back to where I was before I frogged the blue so I should have this one done in a few weeks. I hope ;) Pics in a few days when I'm used to posting again before I get to work. This working thing can really get in the way of the important stuff!

Job Stuff

Day 2 of the job was alot of fun. And Portland, Maine is so pretty! It was around 50 degrees there and their offices were right at the port. There's a really cute downtown area with cool looking bars and restaurants. All that and it's only an hour plane ride! I hope we get this job. I'd love the occasional jaunt up there. I've heard it's gorgeous in the summer.

I was able to get some knitting in while flying too. Although I forgot to pack an extra ball of yarn I ended up not needing it. The plane on the way back was so cold that I couldn't knit very long anyway. I think I'm just about at the point where I split off for the sleeves.

PTD

Colorwise, I'm considering only doing to 2 darker colors though. I think if I add in the light pink that it may feel too sporty/casual. And I suspect the lacey raglan seams and edges will conflict with that look. So, instead, I'm considering doing stripes in the center to more gradually switch between the more fuschia red and the more red red. See my previous post for the 3 colors.

Header

Thanks for all the nice comments on the header! I agree with the comments about the fallen leaves. I thought the same thing but I wanted to see if anyone else did too. I took a bunch of pics with the daffodils too but they all looked odd - kinda staged if that makes any sense. I'll try some more this weekend if the weather's nice again and see what I can come up with.

Or I could just clean up the leaves out front of my house and take the pic again.

Nah, too much work.

I've been doing some work on my blog this weekend. As you can see I added a header image. What do you think? After about 2 hours of searching online I decided to just take my own pic. I am so not a photographer though. Anyway, it's a change and I like that. So it will stay for a bit.

I also did some work on PTD this weekend. Top downs are hard to see how they're progressing when they're on the needles so I threaded some scrap yarn through so it could lay flat.

click for a closeup of the eyelets

The Calmer is living up to my expectations beautifully. It's light as air and drapey. A few more rows and I'll be down to the sleeve body only.

My dad was quite a bit older than me. He was 48 when I was born. In retrospect, I was very fortunate to have an older dad, even if I did lose him earlier than most of my friends. He retired when I was in second grade. I spent after school time with him every day. He taught me how to cook all those Italian recipes my Nana taught him. And instilled in me a passion for gardening, although I don't believe I'll ever top his tomatoes.

My dad, however, was famous for losing his glasses. He'd sit in his chair reading the daily paper - a ritual for him - and eventually would doze off for a bit of a nap. He'd wake up a few minutes later and wouldn't be able to locate his glasses. Did they fall on the floor? No. In between the cushions? No. Under the chair? Not there either. Finally, he'd give up and find one of us. "Have you seen my glasses?" he'd ask, half annoyed and half frustrated. We'd burst out laughing. "Uhm, yes, I'm looking at them right now". You see, dad would fall asleep with his glasses firmly placed on his head.

We've often joked with our mom that she'd pick up this habit someday. But apparently this affliction is genetic because he's passed it on to me.

I've been using dpn's for one of my new projects (more on that later). While I was busy knitting the phone rang and I had to run into the other room to get it. I must have taken the needles with me when I answered the phone. When I came back I couldn't find them anywhere. Not on the floor. Not in the cushions. Not under the couch. Clearly, I had concluded, Isabella took them. Damn cat. Luckily I only need 2 dpn's, so I just took out two more from the package and went along knitting.

In the evening I was cleaning the bedroom and leaned forward to pick up some laundry. And out slipped the 2 dpn's. I had a good chuckle, and realized that I have inherited more than just his firey temper and love for cooking and gardening. It feels nice to see bits and pieces of dad in me and my brother. So I'll happily keep this trait, and giggle to myself a bit each time I take out the dpn's.

Dori

So yes, my lack of focus has created a few new projects here. The first is called "Diamond Pullover" from the latest Vogue Knitting. I've picked a beautiful hand-dyed ribbon from Berrocco called Zen. I thought the name was rather boring so I've renamed her Dori. Do for Domino knitting. Ri for ribbon.

red and pink and orange oh my!

Lost Points Shawl

The second new projects is the store sample I mentioned yesterday. It's the Lost Points Shawl by Soy Silk. I picked the all white colorway. There's less than 50 rows on this. Sounds easy, right? Rows 1-26 have approx 155 stitches. The rest of the rows are done in the round by picking up stitches around rows 1-26. So you end up with over 300 stitches at that point. I'm done with the first set of increases - half of the hexagon center.

I've never really knitted with novelty yarn before. I gotta tell ya - this ladder stuff makes for S-L-O-W knitting. But since it's a shop sample I'll probably be more motivated to get it done. People always get more excited when they see a sample, right?