More scarves

The Magellanes scarf has been converted in a longitudinal garther stitch scarf - I knit one for the Red Scarf Project 2006, so it's a tradition!
The other scarf is a mistaken rib scarf in a soy silk/wool blend - FTA will be offering 220 yards of this yarn at the special price of $8 each for the Red Scarf Project tomorrow.

It's all about scarves

A while ago I joined the ISE3 and I started the Tiger Eye Scarf for my pal:



for my pal. Of course I got distracted, started a gazillion other things, and I started to panic and think I will never finish in time - I do most of my knitting at my kids' soccer games and practice, and reading a chart while pretending to watch watching a game is not easy. So I thought, "why don't I (usually the most disastrous plans of my life start with "why don't I") make another scarf, just to be safe?"
So I started My So Called Scarf with some Magallanes from my stash:



Oh so beautiful!
Oh so stiff, and that is not so good in a scarf. So I casted another one with some Colinette Skye:



Oh so beautiful, oh so soft, but I do not think my pal likes purple. She said she likes red, gold, blue, and green. No purple in her list. Of course I should have checked before starting scarf #3, but that would have been too simple, right?

So, red, Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and Inspirations Yarn Cream:



So, now I have four scarves on the needles, and I am about to start another one this Sunday for the Red Scarf Project. A unisex scarf, so none of the ones I have would work (except the very stiff one that I would not call "scarf", more like "board"), that would be too simple. And I do need an excuse to cast another two or three.

I saw this ....

on gourdongirl and I thought it was hilarious.

You know you are living in 2006 when . . .

1 . You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that
they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the
screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your
coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on
this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

Happiness is a completed sock

Finishing a sock gives me more happiness than any other FO's. There is no angst involved, the "how would I look in it" fear that makes me hide my latest top at the bottom of my drawer and pretend it's not there for a couple of months weeks. So, when are you going to wear your blue top? Which blue top? Eyes wide open. Me? Knitting a blue top? I don't think so.
A foot in a sock always looks nice. If you have two socks, and so both feet are clothed, even better. Sock on a sequoia? Not so good, don't you think? My first and last attempt of "sock and nature" sock.
So, I need to start something new, otherwise what I am going to knit at the bus stop?

Never mind that the "projects-to-grab-on-the-way-out" cabinet contains 4 "fit-in-my-purse" projects, I have three sweaters and a lace scarf laying around in my bedroom, I need something new.
So I started another Baby Bolero from One Skein, two My So Called Scarf (I may frog one, though), and a felted bag. I did not say that a needed one new thing.
The needles holder? My Knitty Summer Fling, Katy, sent it to me

Pictures heavy

After the Yarn Harlot visit and standing near her for three hours taking photos, I was a little "photo-ed out", like "give me a camera and I shall cry". Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of it, but I was definitely done with cameras for a while. I did not even take a photo of her in my car, Principessa is reminding me.
So, a week after, I played catch up up, lots of photos. And before that, since a couple of you asked, yes, I admit, the one on the right in the second photo of the public, with silly tiara and the silly expression on her face, yes, it is me.

Now, moving on, I owe both my SP8 and my August Colorswap pal many many thanks. My SP8 was Candace and she sent me two wonderful packages and topped those sending me this:



THANK YOU SO MUCH, CANDACE!

Last week I received my August Colorswap package from Susan - as you can read on her blog, she is having problems with her knee, so could not make it earlier to the post office. But being such a nice person, she always kept me in the loop so that I would not worry - she is really nice, and generous, look:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside the white bag.

Lots and lots of goodies, Noro, Opal, Dazzle, Sugar 'n Cream, Flip, and chocolate, tea, and soap.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, SUSAN!

Knitting progress. I started my ISE3 scarf:



I have completed two repeats of the scarf and I really love this pattern. I usually do not care for variegated yarn and lace, but in this case I think it is working well:



Since it is getting chilly at the bus stop, at least by definition of chilly that is everything not freaking hot, I have knit a pair of fingerless mitten for myself:



pattern from One Minute Gifted Gifts, yarn Noro Silver Thaw, it really takes few hours to make a pair, and I already casted for a second set with this yarn.

High on the fact that I finished two tops for myself, and a pair of mittens, I casted for the Simple Knitted Bodice:



I am at the point where I need to put it on a scrap yarn and try it on - may I say that I hate doing that? I understand that I need to if I want it to fit (especially because I do have broad shoulders so I suspect that I need to keep increasing), but I feel like I want to throw a tantrum.
And just to reconfirm my love of the online knitting community, as soon as I posted on the SKB knit-along, I received several suggestions on how to avoid a tantrum.

Yes, I did say two tops, because after Tivoli, here it is, NBaT:



You have to believe me when I say it is brown, the most difficult to photograph brown on earth, but brown nevertheless.

Bus Stop Sock

It is happening again, I am alone. I walked Principessa to the school bus stop, went running, I walked Paperino to the school bus stop, came back home, espresso was waiting for me in a empty house. Alone.
School Bus.
Yesterday I was informed that it is not cool for a girl going to middle school to be walked to the bus stop.
Oh, I said, and why all the other parents of the other parents are walking their kids to our bus stop exactly like me? An unusual concentration of uncool parents?
They are not walking their kids, Principessa replied, they are walking their dogs. To the bus stop? Yeah, right.
But she is right, everybody else has a dog. I am strongly suspecting that they got the dog because a similar conversation they had with their kids. So, should I get a dog? Don't think so, husband and two kids are enough. But I love going to the bus stop, and chatting with my neighbors, while I knit my sock.
I am not walking you either, I replied, I am walking the sock. See? I have decided to call it "Bus Stop Socks", and so, I need to walk it to the bus stop, otherwise it would not be a Bus Stop Sock. So, tomorrow morning I'll set the record straight and I'll tell everybody I am walking the sock, not you.
Sign. Big sign. Bigger sign.
Ok, mom, you win, as long as you do not tell crazy story about you, your knitting, and you sock, you can walk me to the bus stop.
The power of knitting.

We met the Yarn Harlot

Do I need to say more?

It happens every week

Every week there is a morning when I am alone in the house. The thought of it takes my breath away. 5.5 hours alone. Alone with the laundry. The realization that is going to happen every week was so startling that it took me two days to recover and blog about.
So, what did I do beside laundry?
Duplicate stitches, a gazillion of them. Remember my NBaT and my tale of almost running out of yarn? I made it, but I used every scrap I have so I had a million ends to weave in. That translates to a gazillion duplicate stitches, but as you can see, I did it. It took me two hours (Grey's Anatomy and Judging Amy) to weave in the ends of one sleeve. I has two sleeves, of course, and, as I said, 5.5 hours. So, I did it. And I finished the neck (for which I had to buy a second ball of yarn, different dye lot, but the second dye lot is on the inside, and that makes me really happy - happiness IS in a ball of yarn.)
So, I am happy. And Chicchina is happy too because she is getting a raglan sweater with yarn hand dye by me.

Midwest Moonlight

I think I was a vampire in a previous life, otherwise how can this increasing dislike of mine for sunlight be explained? Seriously, the sun here in sunny California is a killer. First of all, it is in the wrong position in the sky. No, don't laught, I am serious, even if I wear sunglasses everywhere, the sun snucks in from above the sunglasses and bang!, hits my eyes. It is because it is too high up in the sky, it is supposed to be lower. And I am near San Francisco, that's like the same latitude as Athens, last time I was in San Diego (that's like being in Lybia), I wanted to die. I am starting to understang why so many people wear those silly baseball hats all the time.
And moonlight sounds like heaven.

September Magknits

The September issue of Magknits is up and I think it is the best issue ever. As soon as I opened it I clicked on Lombard Street. I did not know the pattern was Susan's, but of course, who else, such beautiful socks! So there, in my queue, in pink.
I like the others socks too, and I think Apple is adorable.