Knitty SP gifts

The other day I received the most amazing and thoughtful package from my Knitty SP:



The thing that is peeking out of the white paper is the most adorable pumpkin that she made for me!



Treats for the kids:



and treats for me in the most cute Tweedy Bird bag:



She is paying attention, because in the bag there are instructions for two toe-up on two circular that I said I had lost, and of course yarn:



and chocolate, and beautiful stitch-markers:



The very day the package arrived,I was thinking I need socks in fall colors, and there it is!

THANK YOU, SECRET PAL!

Stash-busting and de-stashing

My October stash-buster project:


Slide the mouse over to see pre-felting pic.

Pattern from Debbie Bliss Home, I used 5 skeins of Peruvian Collection Highland Wool.

De-stashing still going on here, email me at lux2night AT yahoo.com if interested.

Tuesday is knit-along day

I made two hats and mailed them too!


Two socks on two circulars.


The pink felted bag is done - felting tonight!


No baby stuff on the needles right now.


Two felting projects going on right now: a bowl with Heilo and Plassard Laine de Pays and the pink felted bag, that is done - felting tonight!


I am past the armholes!


I mailed my scarf.


I won!


Now that I have joined this knit-along, I'll maybe finish my handwarmers? Maybe, if I can find them!


Stashbuster is back, with a blog. Email me if you want to be invited!
I already finished my October stashbuster project (the pink felted bag) and started my November one - I am on a roll!

I won!

Look here, I won 14 skeins of Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool Heather in Scarlet.

Speechless.

And making room for the new yarn.

Shopping around and de-stashing

Usually on Friday Jenifer blogs about her shopping online bargain hunting, so here are my hunting habits.
The first stop is always here, sale or not sale. Yes, Full Thread Ahead is my LYS and I know Hollis' inventory, well, maybe not as well as her, but close. Still, I love to check out which new yarns she has put on the online store. Her inventory is way larger than what she has up there. So, while we are there, have you seen the new Karaoke colors? I tell you, in real life they are even more stunning! And I get to play with some because I am doing a store sample:



with my Fish pattern. Go get some, it is 10% off! And it is the most amazing yarn I have ever touched, unbelieveable soft, I can't put it down!

And I forgot to mention that this and this are store sample for Full Thread Ahead as well, and that Hollis is going to offer my Holly Hat pattern free with purchase.

Next stop is Knit Pixie - I just love the layout of their website, so airy and light. I do not shop there much, mostly because their inventory overlaps with Full Thread Ahead a lot, but I always check the closeouts - I may find some Karabella Aurora on sale! And I did, yesterday. Snatched all up.

Knit Pixie has Vesper Yarn in their one-of-a-kind yarns, but I usually get it directly on Etsy, where lately I found Sunshine Yarns - not a bargain, but heavenly.

Another online store whose sale items I regularly check is Knit Happens - Kristine carries several yarns that my LYS does not carry, like, again, Karabella, on sale!

My other regular stops are What's new at Elann, Little Knits, and Knitty Noddy - Evelyn carries Lana Grossa, a brand I love.

Oh, and just for this month, Jimmy Beans Wool has a different yarn each day week at 40% - I am stalking the place for some Katia Jamaica.

So, with so many great yarns out there, I am de-stashing a little - click here if interested.

Misty Garden

My Misty Garden for Scarf Me! is done:



I used Curious Creek Fibers Etosha in colorway Sunrise on Daffodils - it is such an easy and quick knit that I am thinking of making another one with this yarn.

But for now, next on the needle is either Campus Scarf from Scarf Style with Filatura di Crosa 501 for my father or Interlocking Balloons with Far East Collection Cashmere for my father in law.

It's all about hats

Striped Hat: SWTC Optimum Wool and Laines du Nord Dolly Maxi.
Blue Hat: Plymouth Dreambaby DK and Heaven.

Funky package

EDITED ON 10/21: I heard from my SP6 and the package is not from her. I am very puzzled ....

Yesterday I received a package from my SP6 - or at least I think so since there was no note in it. So I opened and I found this:



Yes, it is a garbage bag, isn't that fun?
Well, nothing trashy inside, look:



The colors of the Burly Spun are truly amazing, and she sent me yarn for my fish!

THANK YOU, SECRET PAL!

The sheep and me

I like sheep, I would not want to have them in my backyard - I leave that pleasure to others - but I like them. After all, sheep = wool. Nice animals. But I would not want to look like one.

Even with my ever growing stash, I refuse to subscribe to the concept of "core stash" - if you do not know what "core stash" is, go buy this book. So I was thinking about my oldest stash, namely:









So, I need to knit up these little suckers, soon. Let's skip the Eskimo for now, I really have no idea. Beautiful colors, kind of scratchy. Next Austerman Caprice, I did buy with a project in mind, then I looked at the schematic and I said "no shaping, no way". So yesterday night I browsed all my knitting book and magazines and I went "ah ah":



Right gauge, right quantity, match made in heaven. Well, until I swatch, but still, I am happy now.
Second "ah ah":



Happy, happy, I am going to knit up all my stash. No, do not remind me of how much I have, I am happy, do not ruin it. Berbero is taking care of that. I have 13 balls, 1,430 m of this yarn. Why did I buy it? Besides the fact that I love all yarn from Lane Della Robbia, all so heavenly soft, and it was in the bargain bin of the merceria near my parents' place? Let's face it, it looks like a sheep. Do I want to look like a sheep? No.

So? As I said it is softer then butter, so a scarf! I double it and there I went:



Hated it. It is so nubbly and sheepy-like that as no stitch definition at all. Ever a simple rib looks horrible. I tried a false entrelac before that, could not see anything. So I thought, why not an afghan? So I casted 125 stitches and quickly realized I was out of my mind. Frog.

Back to the scarf plan, and let's face it, hats and mittens and then another scarf. Since I can see the stitches, why bother? Cast 40 and garter stitch I go. Boy, it is soft.

He is back

He is back and I survived 10 days alone with two kids, full time jobs, various other commitments, board meetings that I missed, soccer practices and games, kids' parties and sleepovers. And no espresso in the morning.

"Mi hai portato un gomitolo?" I asked.

"No, ma faccio il caffe domani mattina".*

Well, good enough. Espresso is the only thing that rates as high as yarn in my book.


*"Have you brought me some yarn?"
"No, but tomorrow morning I am making espresso".

Blooming

More shots here.

Another baby sweater and a hat

I have made yet another baby sweater, this time with No No Kitty Kona Superwash:



Since I had about 100 yards of yarn left, I thought: "Let's make a hat to match" and so I present you Holly Hat, worked from the top down.



The pattern is available on Etsy.

Tuesday is knit-along day

Oh, it is Friday, you say? Maybe for you, not for me.


I made two more squares for the for the Afghan Project in Memory of John Annie is making.


Two socks on two circulars.


Still no progress on the Branching Out Hand warmers, but yesterday I received Debbie Bliss Home and I casted for a felted bag with Peruvian Collection Highland Wool in pink - stashbuster project!


Misty Garden is done, next on the needle is either Campus Scarf from Scarf Style with Filatura di Crosa 501 for my father or Interlocking Balloons with Far East Collection Cashmere for my father in law.


I know, summer is over, but if you look outside today, you would swear it is July.
The stats: 9 summer projects done (SnB Little Top, Knee High Socks, Striped Toe-up Socks, Fragola, baby tank top, Matilde, Kidlet Tank, Haiku, and Soleil) and 2 on the needles (NBaT and Hopeful).


I finished a quick baby sweater and hat set, the Dancing Baby Pullover (pattern by me) in still on the needles.


Two felting projects going on right now: a bowl with Heilo and Plassard Laine de Pays and a felted bag with Peruvian Collection Highland Wool in pink.


I am at the v-neck!


2 squares done, 2 to go.


Now that I have joined this knit-along, I'll maybe finish my handwarmers?

What day is today?

Seriously, I have been sick since last Thursday night, and while I am functioning thanks to powerful drugs, I found out last night that I am not quite functioning.
First of all, don't get worried, it's only a cold. No, the mother of all colds, the type of cold that makes me not want to knit. That was Friday night, when my husband had a panic look on his face, fearing for my life. And for his trip, since he was supposed to leave on Sunday morning.
But Saturday I stayed in bed and I knitted fish all day long. Husband was reassured by the number of fish and left on Sunday morning.
I had to drag myself out of the bed because Principessa had her soccer team photo - who on earth schedule photos on Sunday 9 a.m.? Very cruel people.
That was the only thing I did on Sunday - when we got back home I told the kids that if they did not make any noise, they could watch TV all day long. They disappeared.
Hollis came to visit in the afternoon, and she brought me chicken soup! She could not believe I never had chicken soup before, and I discovered it is good. Really surprised because I do not like soups usually.
Monday morning I told the kids that they did not need to go to camp (Columbus Day, so school closed) since I was staying home. They begged me to drive them there. Well, I guess that answer the question: How much television is too much television. So I dropped them off (basically in my pj) and went back home to crawl into bed.
Now that was Monday 10th, so you would think Tuesday was the 11th. Not in my mind. I have convinced myself that the 11th would be Wednesday and that "tonight" means "tomorrow night".
You see, there was this Foundation Board meeting on October 11th, and I had no doubt in my mind it was on Wednesday. To my defense I would say that beside the fact that I am sick, the board meetings are always on a Wednesday. Why on earth it was a Tuesday this time? No idea.
And so, I marched there, to the school library, kids in tow (husband out of town, remember?) yesterday night. Library locked. So I asked Principessa (who is way more reliable than me): Today is the 11th, right?
No, it the 12th, she answered.
So I whipped out my powerbook from my backpack, I opened my email and I showed to her:
Look, yesterday I got this email from Amy, and she wrote:
See you tonight.
Silence. Big sigh.
Mom, tonight means "stasera", not "domani sera".
Yeah, mommy, added Paperino.

Imagine five minutes of silence here. And then a flurry of activities, and phone calls, until I tracked down some stuff I needed to complete by today, and I did, thank you.

So, today is Thursday 13th, right. And tomorrow I need to bring Paperino to the dentist because they left a message on the answer machine at home to confirm his appointment for tomorrow.

Why a minute, if they said "tomorrow" yesterday, is that tomorrow or today?

I am going to call them .......

Oh, one last thing, I believe that while not coherent I have been buying yarn. I am positive I bought some marvelous Jo Sharp Silkroad DK from Deb (and she gave me a great price), but I have reason to suspect I ordered more. Or not? But it worked, I am feeling better.

Squares and more squares

I checked the dimensions of the square I made for the Diva knitting Challenge: 10 inches. Good. 10 inches. That's not 20 cm, isn't it? Well, maybe she did ask for 10 inches squares. Check. No, she did not.

!@#$%^&*

Why did I casted 40 stitches to begin with? With a gauge of 4 sts / 1", it is 10 inches.

Ok, rather than frog it, I went look in my stash and I casted with Heilo. And checked the measurements. But while I was knitting the square, I remembered that Kerstin sent this yarn to me, lots of it, a while ago because I won a contest on her blog.



I do not know why I haven't thought of it before, but these are going to Annie for the Afghan Project in Memory of John Glick.

Off to knit some more for the Diva Knitting Challenge.

Oh, and I managed to convince myself that it would be very reasonable to spend 13 bucks or so to buy 8 balls of Wool of the Andes Tomato, so I can make 9 more of this, then 10 in this color and 20 with Heilo, and I have a twin size afghan.

Small fish, big fish

On the Knitter's Review Forum there is a discussion going on about dishcloths - I do not get it either, my quick "I want to try a stitch" projects are squares that eventually will become an afghan. My latest square is this one:



for the Diva knitting Challenge - Wool of the Andes, Tomato. 110 yards is not enough for two squares, but I had plenty of leftovers, I made a fish:



for my Escher Blanket, and then two, and three, and I start thinking: Wouldn't be fun to make an afghan out of fish? Big fish. So I grabbed my funky yarn, needles #13, and here it is, a big fish:



and you know how it goes, two big fish:



three big fish:

Socks on two circulars

It is not a secret that I prefer dpns to circular needles - heck, I prefer anything to circular needles - but I must confess that those little suckers are growing on me since I discover the combination knitting. Or whatever it is called the thing I do so that I do not have to move the yarn so much. And no sewing, I love that.
Still, no sewing with socks on dpns either, and I really like my dpns, so cute and tiny.
The other night, Amy was knitting two socks on two circulars. Then Nona blogged about two circulars. What is this, a conspiracy? I need to try everything once!
And the idea of finishing two socks at once is tempting.
So, I got bored with my Misty Garden:



I got bored with Dancing Baby:



And I remembered that I have printed instruction for two socks on two circs a while ago. Of course they were nowhere to be found. Too lazy to blingo it again.
Ok, yarn Deb gave me, two US #2 needles, instruction on how to do the Turkish cast on from Vague, I am ready to go:



Note to myself: next time do not waste time and natural resources to print instructions for thing I can figure out by myself in a couple of minutes. Unless there is some magic trick to avoid tangles, because, I tell you, two circs and two balls of yarn...

Anyway, once I am done with the toes, I am thinking a simple lace insert, like lacey ribs.