Knitting on the beach

I'll be back someday in July ......

Thinking Blue

I may not be the original Blue Gal, but I have blue feet!





Pattern by Susan Lawrence, knit in Vesper Yarn, toe-up instead of top down.

Something Curious

Like this?



Click here for the pattern.

ETA: Thank you to everybody who emailed me to let me know that I spelled "crochet" wrong in the pattern. That is one of those English word whose spelling does not stick to my brain. I'll fix it.

The Amazing Lace - breaking news

In an extremely surprising turn of events, one of the members of the Maglia team has announced its decision to leave the team. The Flower Basket Shawl stated, "I am extremely disappointed by the behavior of my team leader, so I am leaving!". We managed to get an exclusive interview.

So, tell us .....
Tell you? I'll show you, here, see it yourself!



We see some lovely lace yarn ....
She did not even bother to wind all the yarn! That speaks at her level of commitment. She is not committed. She said she was going to start knitting me when the World Cup started, and that was Saturday, it is not Tuesday! I have waited enough! I have been waiting since Memorial Day!

Maybe she is not sure she'll need all the yarn .....
For someone who fancies herself as lace pattern writer, she can't even read a pattern and see that she'll need more than 3 skeins? All she thinks about is that Sugar Maple Shawl, she did not even win the competition, Janice did. But that does not stop her, she is planning to make another Sugar Maple in purple, because July is purple. She was busy taking photos of the shawl at FTA last night, she even forced one of the customer to model for her. She has such a cheek!

So, you were with her at knit night and you witnessed this.
Me with her at knit night? Please! I never made into her knitting bag. She is so disloyal, so uncommitted, an harlot! The Intarsia Flower told me, it is upset too, because after finishing the Fair Isle Hat, you know what she did? She started working on a summer scarf! It's unbelievable, the poor Intarsia Flower so hopeful, waiting for its turn.

She is knitting, then?
Of course she is, it's all she does. Look here, look what she is doing instead of fulfilling her obligation to me! Such an harlot, I am leaving her.

Has she ever offered some explanation for her behavior?
Explanations? Lame excuses, you mean. First she was saying she needed to finish The Very Berry T-shirt because she wants to publish it. Like anybody would be interested in a t-shirt! Then she is working on the Sixth Sense Socks because they are blue. Then she pokes in the FTA leftovers basket and comes home with yarn "that spoke to her". I talk to her all the time, I beg her all the time, she does not listen to me. Look here, another proof of her behavior:



She was working on this Sunday, a triangular handkerchief! It's not even lace, it's just dropped stitch. And then she is busy writing down what she has done, making a pdf. Seriously, does anybody ever even look at her patterns? What a waste of time!

So maybe she wants to knit you, but haven't ........
Please, she is doing everything she can to avoid me! Look, more evidence, she is sewing up NBaT rather than knit me! She hates sewing! She is working on the Stashbuster Shawl rather than knit me, and she hates boucle'! I had it, there is no coming back! I am leaving and the Mountain Stream Scarf can have her!

And that's lace, so she is still in the race?
I guess so, I don't care anymore! And you know what, something is funny here. The Mountain Stream Scarf is blue like the Sixth Sense Socks, and both of them were written by the same lady. Coincidence? I don't think so. But I am not planning to stick around to find out! I am out of here!

That's all for now, stay tuned for further developments.

Soapy Swap

I swapped some yarn with Soapy and look what she sent me:



We agreed on the white merino handspun, but she added more yarn, and the most beautiful soaps. I really had to convince Principessa and Paperino that, no, they could not eat them, not a good idea.

I dyed the yarn with cedar and gold and here is the result:



I really like it, I think it would make a really nice ...... I don't know, it is 25 yards (local wonky system measure, so it is more than likely that I am wrong). Suggestions?

ETA: Michelle kindly pointed out that I was way out on my yardage (of course, I said that it was more than likely that I was wrong), so let's ditch the local wonky system, I have 120 meters of supersoft Merino. I am thinking a hat.

Mail call

As I said, I need to thank both my SPs for their gifts. My Knitty SP sent me this:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside.

Isn't the custest little pouch? It is already in my knitting bag, with al the notions. I can't ever have too many notions. And notice the card, with my name!

My SP8 sent me this:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside.

And look who immediately got hold of the candies:



We love sour people! And cookies (already gone), and yarn, of course. Well, Paperino does not care much about yarn, yet.

Thank you, Secret Pals, I really loved everything!

I'll be back

Regular programming will be resumed when the end of the school year activities are over. I have a lot of things to talk about, blue knitting, a package from my SP8, a terrific swap with Soapy, the Very Berry T-shirt fixed (still no boobs), the Knitting World Cup (that has landed here), but no time to post at all while running back and forth from work to school. I'll leave you guys with a picture of the postcards my secret pals sent me:

Green is hunting me

Maybe it is payback because I did not knit much green in May, but green is hunting me right now. Remember this? (I tend to say that a lot, right? "Remember this?")
Anyway, I got my prize from Kary Miksis at the Knotty Sheep and look at that gorgeous green:



Well, the brown is beautiful too, but the green is spectacular.

Then this:



I mentioned to Hollis that I found the perfect project to show off the two SWTC soysilk yarns, the Twin Set from KnitScene, and after looking at all the possible combination of variegated Oasis and solid Phoenix, we decided on that combo. Green.

But I am not making it in my size.

The Very Berry T-shirt

Have you ever noticed how knitting makes you wish for things you really not wish for? The Very Berry t-shirt made me wish Princessa had boobs last night. I caught myself pretty quickly and I shudder at the thought, she is 9 and if I could devise a plan to make her stop growing up, I would do it in a heart beat. It is really unfair that her first year lasted forever, at least two, and then, I do not pay attention for a couple of weeks, and boom!, she is 9 year old, half way to adulthood and college. I do not want her to grow up.

Still, the Very Berry T-shirt, that used to be the Very Berry Tank Top, but then became the Very Berry T-shirt because Principessa goes to junior middle school next year (or whatever a school that goes from 4th grade to 8th grade is called), and there is a dress code. I suspect the dress code keeps her up at night, and one morning she told me that since the straps of a tank top need to be at least 1 inch wide, she wanted a t-shirt instead. Why not a tank top with 1 inch wide straps, you ask? I don't know, maybe she does not trust me with the local wonky system? Or with counting? And maybe she is right?

It's not that I am not good at math; I am very good at math. I have a Ph.D. in Statistics. No, that's a lie, my Ph.D. is in an obscure sub specialty of Statistics. But when I said that I have a Ph.D. in "insert obscure term here", people starts asking questions, so I lie. Anyway, that is what gets me. Not the lies, I am very good at that as well, but statistics. You see, everything within a 90% confidence interval is good enough for me. And then knitting puts me back to my place, because 10% variation on a sweater is a lot.

So, the Very Berry T-shirt is knitted from the bottom up. With tiny sleeves - just enough that it can be called t-shirt and pass the dress code. So 55 stitches for the sleeves, 25% of that is the underarm, 165 stitches the body, 165-28=137, 137/2=68.5, so 69 stitches front and 68 back. My notes say, "76 sts front, 75 sts back". @#$%*@#$%^&

So, I have attached the sleeves and I have a front of 76 stitches and a back of 62 sts, a difference of 2.6 inches (see? I can do wonky.) It would be ok if she had boobs.

Sewing the baby kimono

A while ago Zarah asked for some pointer on how to seam the baby kimono. Uhm, I do not know if I do it the right way, I just do it like my mom has always done, I learned how to knit from her, not from books. I think that sewing up garter stitch is really easy, I just pick up the little ridges like this:



and then the opposite direction:



Do I do it right? The result looks pretty neat to me:

I got the radio box!

Look, the radio box landed on my front porch:



and look what was inside:




What a loot! And guess who sent it to me? The same Wendy who sent me that amazing Knitters Tea Swap package! She really know how to spoil me, Cherry Tree Hill (I can never too much CTH):



Misti Alpaca Lace:



My favorite candies in a bowl she felted for me:



The most beautiful tags for my handmade gifts, a journal, a row counter I was thinking today I needed, one of those Lantern Moon silk bags I have been wanting forever, a chibi ......



Thank you, Wendy, again, you made my week!

Cherry Tree Hill contest winner

I just heard that the CTH contest winner is Janice- I am so happy for her, please go post a congratulation comment on her blog. I have seen her stole and it is truly stunning.

I am getting my shawl back so I'll have my friend Susie or Principessa model it - photos will come soon. And you will be able to see it "live" at FTA, its permanent home. The pattern will be available for sale as well.

The Amazing Lace

After much debate, a decision was made and there, here is my team:



The Flower basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark from IK Fall 2004, Claudia Hanpainted in Chocolate Cherry, and my aluminum straight needles. Ready to jump in on the sidelines are my circular needles, who will not be as fast as my straight, but they'll do their best. The support team is composed by post-it, scrape yarn, and stitch markers. We are ready to go.

Our biggest challenge? The competition from other projects.