Knitasha von Stashenskeins

Boo!

Happy Halloween, everybody!  18 years ago today, I was in labor with my first baby.  My friend Cathy ran over to the hospital to see me, and when she popped into my room in a Minnie Mouse costume, I started wondering what the heck they were putting in my IV.

Between Halloween and the big birthday tomorrow, I have got quite a to-do list this morning.  This post will be short and sweet.

Who wants to guess how long it took to weave in the ends on the hat from hell?



Keep in mind that this photo only shows one side of the hat before I knit on the earflap!  It was quite the party, as you can imagine.

The damn challenging hat is finally done and wrapped.  I will get a finished picture on the birthday girl - it was absolutely impossible to get a picture of myself wearing it.  Not to mention, I really wouldn't be caught dead in the thing.  I still have no idea what my daughter sees in this hat, but mine is not to wonder why, mine is to intarsia or die.

Wanna see another FO?



Yep, the cinnamon Monkeys are done!  I finished them at the football game on Friday night.  Once again, it is almost impossible to take photos of knitted items while you are wearing said items, but I think you get the gist.



I love, love, LOVE these socks and I never wish to be parted from them.  Unfortunately, I think they are destined for the Christmas present pile.  December 25th is bearing down on me like a freight train and I've got to get it in gear.  So, present #1 - done.

One more (almost) finished item:



The multi-directional diagonal scarf for my International Scarf Exchange 5 pal.  I still need to block it and fringe it.  I also have not put any thought into what else I'll be putting in her package.  Guess my to-do list just got one line longer.

I'm off to shop, wrap, bake and, oh yeah, go to work.  Apple cider wishes and candy corn dreams to you all!

Love Is...

...making a third attempt at the UK Punk Hat from hell.  As evidenced by the rat's nest of ends, I have become desperate enough to try to actually follow the pattern.  I am knitting to and purling fro (which I hate) and I'm doing intarsia (which I really hate AND suck at)  Hat recipient will be away from home all day today, so I intend to hunker down in front of college football and wrestle with this monstrosity.  Only one of us is coming out alive.



...spending my Thursday evening frosting Milano cookies and inexpertly piping white icing to make tombstones.  My daughter's class was having a Halloween treats contest  and several awards were presented.  We were proud to walk away with "scariest treat", which is better than "grossest treat" any day.  There was an overabundance of entries, so this cake came home with only 15% of it eaten.  It will sit on the counter all weekend, my daughter will pick the tombstones off, and I'll throw away the mutilated leftovers on Monday.



...buying myself this skein of Araucania yarn, even though I need more sock yarn about as much as I need a hole in my head.  It is greener than it looks in the picture and it shades from light to dark in the most delightful way.  I'm picturing socks with a leafy pattern, like these or these.  These are pretty too.  Since I have a Kauni sweater, a multi-directional scarf and the world's most frustrating hat to finish before I start anything new, I guess I have plenty of time to make up my mind!

Divided Attention

I have waaaaay too many projects going at once right now!  I am usually faithful to one or two projects at a time, so having this many is making me feel a bit schizo.  I'm bouncing back and forth between them somewhat randomly, so they all feel like they are taking too long.

The scarf for my ISE 5 pal continues to grow.



I went back and wove in all my ends so it looks neater - they were driving me crazy flopping off the sides.  I would guess I have two-thirds of the final length done, and then I'll add a fringe.  The exchange requires we also include some extra goodies in our package, so I will have to start thinking about what I can throw in.

Denim and Leaves is also growing, slooooowwwwly.  This is the first time I have ever knit an adult sweater on size 3 needles, and I am very impressed that I have made it this far. 



I put the armhole stitches on hold last night and got three or four more rows done.  I am very grateful that the green yarn is cycling back into a lighter shade.  Trying to distinguish the dark blue from the dark green was making me cross-eyed and I kept losing my place.

I tried the sweater on before I put the armholes on hold, and I'm really happy with the fit so far.  Yarn Harlot says that yarn on cones "blooms" a lot once you wash it, which would be nice as this yarn is rather thin and string-like in spots.  It would be nice to see it thicken up a little and also get just a teeny bit softer.

Cinnamon Monkey Sock #2 is stalled at the heel flap while all these other projects steal my attention.  I didn't bother to take a picture, but I hope to have a completed pair to show you before the end of the month.

My final UFO just got started yesterday.  It is a special request from my older daughter, whose 18th birthday is November 1st.  I don't really understand why, but she has her heart set on the front-cover hat from this book.  I made an aborted attempt at it while I was in Arizona, but the yarn I had was way too thin.  This Tuesday at Yarn Haven, I bought some Lamb's Pride Bulky and yesterday I took another stab at it.



This is still looking way too small to me, but I am choosing to be in denial and pretend that I can block it bigger.

The pattern calls for making the hat in two pieces AND using intarsia.  Um....no.  I am knitting it in the round and stranding instead - it seems to be working out.  The earflaps will have to be intarsia knit back and forth, but they are much smaller and have less color changes, so I will probably survive.  I am not enjoying this knitting at all, but I am determined to see it through.  There is actually one of these hats on Ravelry and it is finished, so I know it can be done.   She better wear the dang thing!

It's All About the Tangelo

After a busy weekend with no time for fiber fun, I was itching to spin.  Once I got everyone off to work/school - it was Tangelo Tango time!!!

When I unraveled the cool braid, I was surprised to find the roving is all one long strand.  (I keep meaning to Google it so I can see how they do that!)  I figured I had enough fiber to make 2 skeins, so I divided it in half, set one half aside, and divided the other half again to spin two spools of single ply.

This is after drafting. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the fluffy little rolls.

I had enough time before my afternoon in the office to get one spool of single-ply spun.  My spinning is still more irregular than I would prefer.  I wonder how long I'll be a thick-and-thin spinner before I can graduate to even gauge?  After I ran off to work, thoughts of the remaining roving danced in my head.

I had the middle-of-the-month bills to tackle after dinner, but with the promise of spinning as my carrot, I zipped through them in record time.  Then I moved my spinning wheel into the living room so I could keep half an eye on Monday Night Football and I got back to it.

By 9:45, I had another spool of single.  Get ready for bed, or ply it?

Who needs sleep?

By the time I had it all plied, my yawns were big enough to dislocate my jaw, so I packed it in.  I managed to find five minutes in my morning routine to wind it onto my niddy-noddy so I would have a nice skein to photograph.

Not the best light - it is cloudy today - but you can see the wonderful sherbet colors.  I wish you could reach into the screen and feel it; it is so soft!

Close up so you can see how uneven I spin.  I think this yarn might want to become Fetching for my mom for Christmas.

Insanknitty at Yarn Haven tonight!  I'll actually be doing a little bit of shopping.  I've got a gift to knit and no yarn to knit it with.  With the size of my stash, you'd think I'd have the yarn to knit almost anything, but I always manage to find a pattern that requires a yarn purchase!  ;)

Champs

First of all, let me introduce you to the champions of the Steve Mix 6th grade basketball league.



My little champ is bottom row, right.  Good job, ladies!

Remember the mystery package I received?  It was a present from Kate, my downstream Sockapalooza pal.  She lives in Australia, so we have never met in person, but that has not stopped us from becoming very good email friends.  I recently helped Kate place an order from Knitpicks (who has a very bad attitude re: international shipping) and she wanted to thank me.  So this is what she sent!



Can you tell what it is?  That is two colors of hand-dyed Merino Top for me to spin!  Woot, woot!  Kate ordered it from  Ewe Give Me The Knits, which is local to her, but fabulously foreign to me.



This is 100 grams of "Berrylicious".  (Oh yeah!)



And this is 100 grams of "Tangelo Tang".  (Yummy!)

As I told Kate, I can't wait to spin this up, but I also just want to loop it around my neck and wear it around.  The other Karen thinks I should put them in a big bowl and display them on a table for awhile.

Today is slipping away from me at warp speed, but maybe I'll catch a break and get to spin a little this evening.  (Fingers crossed!)

We went to see "Across the Universe" yesterday, and my Denim and Leaves sweater is NOT movie-knitting material.  I joined a scarf swap recently, the International Scarf Exchange 5.  I had a couple of patterns I was trying to chose from, so I started one yesterday.  It is easy enough to knit in the dark, but looks really cool.


Paton's SWS (I'm so predictable!) in Natural Plum.  This is called the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, and the pattern is here.  My only mod so far has been to slip the first stitch when I knit "back" on the short rows.  (Even numbered rows per pattern) - I like the diagonal better.  It will need to be blocked, as it wants to bunch up a little at the diagonals.  I have 2 more skeins, so I should be able to make it nice and long and add a fringe.  Deadline is December 1st, but it will be long gone by then.  I am starting to feel Christmas knitting anxiety and it is time to get serious!

All Those Years Ago

So, my reunion was an absolute blast.  Beforehand, I was really nervous that no one would remember me, or that I'd end up sitting in a corner alone, but that didn't happen.  I reconnected with a lot of old friends and also connected with people I probably never spoke to in high school.  This many years later, the cliques had mostly dissolved and we have all developed some people skills and some self-esteem.  I struck up a conversation in the bathroom with a girl (sorry, woman) who I didn't really know in high school at all and we ended up talking for a good 20 minutes about hospice care.  So cool!

One of my former classmates is a professional photographer and she was shooting pictures all weekend for a special reunion CD she'll make for us, so I didn't feel pressured to take too many pictures.  I did pull out the camera a few times, so I'll show you my favorite shot - actually taken on my camera by my friend Freddy.  He came all the way from PORTUGAL to attend.  That, my friends, is dedication.



Awww!  Look at all the pretty girls!  We don't look particularly sweaty in this picture, so I am guessing it was taken before we did the electric slide and long before Christy started the conga line.  (Did I mention we danced our asses off?)  The party didn't break up until nearly 1am, which is 4am at my house, but I felt like it had just started.  It was hard to say goodbye after just saying hello again, but I have high hopes we will do a better job of staying in touch now.

Of course, while in Yuma, I also got to spend time with my fambly.  The newest addition is my niece Adleigh Rayne who was born on the 19th.  She is gorgeous and cuddly and has a perfect nibble spot in her soft little neck.  She rarely cries, but she makes all kinds of wonderful grunts and growls that just crack me up.

I had hoped to have a picture of Adleigh in her new kimono sweater, but...I am a dork.  I was so certain that the one skein of Comfort would be enough that I didn't even considering packing the second skein just in case.  I ran out of yarn somewhere over Colorado with about 14 rows to go.  Arggh!

I couldn't leave town without bestowing knitted goods on the new cutie-patootie, so I improvised.  A quick rummage through my mom's mini-stash (she is still competing on the amateur level) and I found some baby weight acrylic that was soft AND had pink.  Using my standard garter-stitch bootie as the base, I made the cuff with a lace stitch I took off a scarf pattern on the Cider Moon site.   Voila, instant infant footwear!



My mom's ribbon was all too slippery for bootie ties, so I used a twisted cord out of Perle cotton instead.  My sister was very happy with the little gift, and Adleigh raised no objections to modeling them.



My other knitting time in Yuma was spent mostly on my second Cinnamon Monkey sock.  I had the Denim and Leaves sweater with me, but with 4 nieces and a nephew bouncing around, there was no way I could work from a chart.  I picked it back up today for a little while to get back in the swing - the colors still enchant me.

Once I was back in Ohio, I dug out the second skein of Comfort and finished up Adleigh's kimono. 



The sporty button is entirely ornamental.  The real closures are little snaps I sewed inside the flap.



I want to wash this sweater and block it, and then I'll mail it off.  I managed to keep my big mouth shut about it over the weekend, so my sister will be surprised when it arrives.

I got extra-special cool mail yesterday, but I think it is too good to be tacked on here.  It deserves its own post!  I will divulge that  a) it came from overseas and  b) I didn't order it.  That's all you get; my lips are sealed!

Sneak Peek

I'm home!  I had a great time and saw a lot if old friends.  I have many things to write about and pictures to share, but absolutely no time in my schedule today.  So this is an I.O.U., with one picture to hold you over.

 

She's a keeper!

Brief Detour

No photos of my infinitesimal progress on my Denim and Leaves pullover tonight - it is on a little break.  Don't worry, it hasn't been bad.  I just realized I'm about to head off to Arizona for my 20th (gulp) high school reunion and I'll be seeing my brand-new niece, Adleigh.  Items knitted for new niece = zero.  Uh-oh.  This will never do.

Ann and Kay to the rescue!


This is 2/3 of a "Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono" from Mason-Dixon knitting.  I lurrrve this pattern.  It is quick to knit with clever shaping and is all garter stitch so it lies flat even if you are too rushed to block.  (Did I mention that I haven't packed yet?  Or that my plane takes off at 7:58 tomorrow morning?  In Detroit?)

Anyhoo, this is a nice quick knit that mommies of new babies seem to appreciate.  I am really loving the yarn I am using.  It is soft and smooshy and (are you sitting down?) 100% non-natural fibers.  I know!!

It is called Comfort, made by Berroco.  It is 50% "super-fine" nylon and 50% "super-fine" acrylic.  Believe me when I tell you, I am as yarn snobby as the next guy, but this yarn is cool! There is nothing acrylic-y about the feel and I am really excited that it will be so easy care.  Adleigh is baby #4 for my sister Jen, so her "hand-washing precious handknits" time is extremely limited.



Dig that groovy stitch definition!  This color, by the way, is "Nosegay Mix", which makes me think the folks at Berroco are finally running out of color names.

I have to knit one more front and then sew the side seams.  I have high hopes of finding a snap in my sewing box to sew on the inside, as I have found that the suggested ribbon ties are a cute but inadequate closure.  With any luck, I'll step off the plane in Yuma tomorrow with a complete kimono, and I'll have baby-in-kimono pictures for my next post.

I'll try hard to remember to take some reunion pictures, too.  My camera tends to be neglected when I'm flustered, and I'm sure this weekend will see me feeling off-balance quite a bit.  I will try hard to breathe and enjoy the moments, but the thought of facing all my classmates again is making me feel a little clenchy.  Are these pre-reunion jitters the norm?  I don't drink, but I'm thinking I may need to start.