September 2011 Archives

I really enjoyed seeing all the comments come in and hearing from both old and new readers. It was a lot of fun!

Making Waves, Maggie and Peasy were your top three. But my top choice is Audrey in Unst! I love the combo of lace without frilliness and think it will be super-versatile - perfect with a black pencil skirt and white cami, or paired with gray or dark brown trousers, or with an A-line corduroy skirt and T shirt, or with a sundress in early spring, or with dark jeans and black boots for the weekend. You get the idea.

Reader Winners

Pam won first place for being one of the five who guessed Audrey.

Alicia won second place and she guessed Maggie.

Congrats, ladies! I've sent an email to both of you to select your yarn and send me your mailing address.

Many of you really put a lot of thought into your responses! When I wrote the post last week I had decided on Audrey, but a few of your comments did give me pause. Jodi suggested Tangled Yoke which was supposed to be on my list but somehow dropped off. And as your comments came in guessing the ones I did show, a few of your reasons made me think "Am I doing the right one?"

In the end I decided to stick with my original decision. I swatched during the week and am getting gauge on US #4. I still need to decide on a size and then sit and cast on a whole lotta stitches. I plan to do that later today so I can take Audrey with me on the train.

Speaking of train knitting, I got a lot of knitting done on my Bubble Stream sock. I'm on the heel flap.

Those of you who know me know that I don't usually do heel flaps. I prefer short row heels. But the way the pattern grows out of the flap made me stick with that design. Truthfully I didn't feel like thinking too much about it and it's been a long time since I've done a heel flap. I figure it's about time.

The sock as written is 64 sts but I prefer 72 sts so I added 8 sts changing each single row of knit sts to 2 sts. After working the first inch (the cuff) I switched those 2 st columns to garter rib; I'm alternating a round of knits with a round of puls in those 2 st columns. So if you're familiar with the pattern that's why my sock looks a bit different.

I'm loving the pattern so far and found it's a perfect commuter project. I can put it down at any point and pick right back up. I'd love to make a few new pairs of socks to wear this fall and winter. At this rate I'll finish a pair a month. Not sure I'll keep up that pace though if Audrey makes it into the rotation. Let's see how this week goes...

As I mentioned in my last post, my new job is business casual. I've already started sewing some skirts and I also want to knit a few things as well since I'll have so much commuting time.

It took some research on rav forums to find knitting patterns that are suitable for work, fun to knit, and suitable for me to wear. I've been collecting patterns and I'm close to deciding what's next.

First, the yarn:

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Color 114 - a true red.

Now, where you come in and the contest. Guess the pattern I'm going to make first, or even suggest one I haven't shown below. Here are 15 contenders.

A few things to keep in mind:

• I want something versatile. Something I can wear with pants or a skirt, dress it up a bit or do a more casual (but still work appropriate) styling.
• I don't have a problem adjusting a pattern for gauge as long as the styling and shape suits me.
• I like layering. All of these allow for camis, button down collared shirts, or even nicer Ts.
• I don't want *too* much lace. I don't mind looking feminine, but I don't want to come off too frilly.

What can you win?

Upper left - 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Pink Blossom (1ns)
Upper right - 1 skein of Schaefer Anne
Lower left - 1 hank of Sliver Moon 50 Merino/ 50 Tencel
Lower right - 1 hank of Tess Supersocks and Baby

I'll give away at least 2 prizes - first prize to the person who correctly guesses the pattern (or who convinces me to knit a pattern I haven't shown here), and 1 to everyone other than the winner. First prize gets to pick from the four and second prize gets to pick from the remaining three.

So come on - everyone has a chance to win. It's been a while since I've actively blogged so this is a way to encourage more of you to comment. I'd love to reconnect with longtime readers and even meet some new ones I haven't heard from before.

CONTEST IS CLOSED - thanks everyone for participating!

The contest will go through the rest of the week. I'll close this post to comments on Saturday morning - and announce winners on Sunday.

Good luck!

Tap tap...is this thing on?

Hey everyone! It's been quite a while (just over 3.5 months). Life has finally settled and I have lots of projects and news to share with you.

Since it's been such a long time, I've compiled a list of popular FAQs to get you all up to speed.

Where have you been?

Getting the house ready to be on the market was a much bigger job that we anticipated. We kept thinking "This is the last big week" but then the weekend rolled around and our list was still filled with things like mulch the front yard, clean the basement, fix that pesky molding, patch that hole caused by 1970s phone cord. Ugh. But it's done now!

So, did you sell?

We put the house on the market on July 12th! When I got home from work that night I took a pic of the lawn sign because I could hardly believe it. All those months of hard work were done, done, done.

We'd been looking for a place in center city - one with enough outside space to enjoy and walking proximity to restaurants and shops. We just couldn't find it in center city so we broadened our search. We found outside space but lost the proximity. We started to get nervous about selling our current house (which we love in a lot of ways) and getting stuck buying something in the city that didn't quite work for us. But we figured in this market we'd have a few months to think about it and decide. And then we got a call on August 1st with an offer - a good offer - and we had to think fast. We decided to take the house off the market and do a few of the larger renovations we'd considered doing to make the house better fit our lifestyle.

We get to enjoy all our hard work and for the first time ever we're living in a house with no projects. It's awesome!

What else has been going on?

During the time we had the house on the market I was contacted by a center city firm. They found my profile on LinkedIn and thought I'd be a great fit. Several phone and in-person interviews later and I decided to join their team! I start this Tuesday and I'm very, very excited. I'll be joining a great company, I'll be in the city 5 days a week, and for the first time ever I'll have a train commute. Can you cay commuter knitting?

BTW, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. You never know where a connection might lead. Just let me know you're a blog reader when you send the connection request.

What projects are you working on?

I started a Colourflow Wrap in several shades of Koigu KPPPM. I bought a lot of Koigu early on in my sock knitting but discovered it's a bit too thick for socks for my taste. I've been holding on to them because I have mostly 2 skeins each but I decided to bite the bullet and do something - anything - with this beautiful yarn. The pic shows 6 skeins. The pattern uses 9 skeins but I'm starting with 6 and I'll pick up a few more skeins if I really need a wider wrap. I'm more of a scarf girl so 6 might be perfect.

I also started sewing again! The new job is business casual and I haven't been in a business casual office for close to 15 years. I started by making a test version of Simplicity 2475 and I'm almost done with the modifications to make it fit perfectly. The Simplicity Amazing Fit line is fabulous! One-inch seam allowances where you need them for a custom fit and lovely details - this skirt has 2 kick pleats in the back! I plan to make several of them including a black skirt with red kick pleats.

I also started a sock. It's been several months since I've done any sock knitting - any knitting at all - and I needed a portable project for my commute. I'm doing Bubble Stream in Regia Color 4 ply in red. I'm double dipping in 2 KALs this month - SKA September and Solid Socks September.

It sure is nice to be back.

But enough about me. How are you all doing? I'm woefully behind on my blog reading. How have your summers been? Plans for any fall knitting? Who's going to Rhinebeck?