Keep your needles crossed for me

See that? Lucia? It's me!

ETA: The other finalist from FTA is Janice - go congratulate her!

Last chance for a green project

I just realized that I haven't knitted any green project all May, green is not really my color. So here is my last chance:



a square or two for Papa's Quilt.

Knitting World Cup Questions

- Are there any teams that you're cheering for?

What a question, Italy!

- Who do you think will win the world cup?

No idea.

- What will you be knitting for the Knit Along?

Hats for Warm Wollies

- Will you be tackling any new techniques?

No

- Is there a special reason you're knitting for a particular charity?

No, but I love the fact that they want wool items, I hate knitting with acrylic.

Summer of Stash

I joined the Summer of Stash and so I pledge to knit from stash from today to Labor Day. Do you think I'll ran out of yarn?

Here are the rules:

1. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, no yarn purchases allowed. You must knit only from stash.
2. Each SoS team member may have up to two exceptions to their rule this summer. For example, if you find us after Memorial Day, you are welcome to join later, and simply designate a later start date as your exception.
3. Challenge yourself to reduce your stash in creative or generous ways. Share your projects and ideas with other SoS-ers.
4. Rules apply only to yarn purchases. Books, patterns, and needles/notions needed to complete projects are allowed and encouraged if it gets you through the summer.
5. Plan and post about special Post-Labor Day Reward.

Rule #2 troubles me. Do you have any idea how much damage I can do in one sitting? And I get two!

Here is my plan:

1. Finish my WIPs - yarn consumption: about 20 balls
2. FBS with Claudia Handpainted for The Amazing Lace - yarn consumption: 5 balls
3. Keep making dishcloths - yarn consumption: up to all the Sugar'n Cream I have
4. Logcabin blanket from Mason-Dixon - yarn consumption: how much Karabella Aurora 8 I have?
5. If in doubt, choose something from here.

Those Mason-Dixon ladies

Those Mason-Dixon ladies are dangerous, really. I received their book on Monday and I already made two project out of it. They got me to knit a dishcloth, a dishcloth!



They got me dreaming about cones of Sugar'n Cream, me, your usual yarn snob who scoffs at acrylic and does not set foot in craft stores. They made me go to JoAnn and come home with this:



Well, the baby kimono was still in two balls of Sugar'n Cream when we got home, but there, few hours later, all it needs is the seems and the ribbon. But I must knit more dishcloth! I looked at all the ballbands and found three more patterns, but did you know that instead of straining your eyes to read that fine print you can download them directly from the Sugar'n Cream website?

But back to the book, I need to make these for my downstairs bathroom:



I believe this Euroflax



in my stash was waiting for those. And why have I been collecting Karabella Aurora 8?
It is clear to me now:



I am even considering making 4 of these for my daughter's bedroom:



Those ladies are dangerous and I am in trouble.

ETA: I joined the knit along.

I may be the only one

I may be the only knitter on earth who feels this way, but I just hate to knit with Kidsilk Haze - gasp!

You may remember I was making this:



and I hated it. It was like knitting with sticky dental floss. So, to the frog pond, the pattern is so beautiful, but the yarn was not working for me. So now I have this:



Koigu.

There are days

There are days when every thing goes wrong. And then a fellow knitter usually comes to the rescue. Look what Wendy sent me as my KTS package:



Tea trays, so cute and never seen before:



to go with these teas:





And you saw right, she sent me CTH Supersock Merino in Northenlights:



and cinnamon honey sticks:



and more tea:





And least, but not last, Lazzaroni cookies, this girl know the key to an Italian expat's heart!



Thank you so much, Wendy, you made my week!

I made it

Remember this?

Last night at 12:20 am I casted off the sleeves, and I did have enough yarn. Now I have to weave in a gazillion ends because I did use all I had, every little scrap.

Pictures to prove it soon.

ETA: the proof

The Knitting World Cup

Following the steps of the Knitting Olympics, here comes the 2006 Knitting World Cup. Actually, here they come, because I am aware of at least two. Grenadine Girl had this great idea of knitting something that can be donated to a charity or can be auctioned off on Ebay, with all proceeds going to Oxfam. Projects must be finished by Saturday July 1st for mailing to the appropriate charity/ebay charity seller. Deadline for mailing is Saturday July 8th.

I am going to be on vacation in Italy during the World Cup, and believe me, I'll have plenty of time to knit, because when la Nationale plays soccer, the country stops. I am serious, everybody stops and watches the game. Companies either send people home or set up big screen TV in conference room. It is completely useless to try and make people work.

So I'll be working on my Amazing Lace, if I ever make a choice, and a vest for Warm Woolies.

Monday morning

You already knew that, but it is Monday morning, it's early, I am not completely awake yet.

Let's talk about this, I finished the front last night and I have 1 ball, plus 1/2 ball, plus 3 swatches left. Uhm ..... I am going to try and see where it gets for the sleeves. Agnes had a great idea, let's make a tank top. I may do that, or fug with very short sleeves, we'll see. Thanks for the suggestion!

As for The Amazing Lace, the shawl that Cookies likes is the Icarus Shawl from IK Summer 06, and I do love it. It would be my first choice if I had a better matching yarn. I am not sure about HPY Red Java, it is not exactly "Red Java" in real life, more "Copper Java". So, right now, I am leaning toward Jennider's suggestion, FBS with Claudia Hand Painted.

And how could I have forgotten this?



I bought the Zephyr Royal Blue to make it.

And since we are on the subject of lace projects from IK, remember this? I have figured out the pattern for 5 different sizes, and then decided I should have two version, plain is stripes and lace. Guess which lace pattern I have chosen?

The Amazing Lace

Choices, choices, choices, I need to select my team mates for The Amazing Lace, and I am having a really hard time, so many worth candidates.

For the yarn category, let's peak at my lace yarn boxes:



Plenty of choices, and if that was not enough, I can pick several from my fingering weight stash:





In the pattern category, at least five choices:





Let's tackle this in a analytical way - pairing up yarns and patterns.

Ene's Scarf: 700 yards of lace weight yarn
- HPY Red Java
- Zephyr Martian

Trellis Scarf: 440 yards of lace weight
- HPY Red Java
- Zephyr Martian

Flower Basket Shawl: 880 yards of lace yarn or 440 of fingering yarn:
- HPY Red Java
- Cherry Tree Hill Glitter Alpaca
- Claudia Hand Painted
- Nature's Palette

Icarus Shawl: 875 yards of lace yarn:
- HPY Red Java

Leaf Lace Shawl: 1175 yards of lace yarn or 1100 yards of fingering yarn
- Inspirations Yarn in Poppy
- Shimmer in Grape Hyacinth
- Zephyr Royal Blue
- HPY Purple Gold

So, what should I do? Opinions?

Not going to make it

Even if I can go through de-stashing phases, I have always been a fan of a big stash - I just love that fact that if I see something I want to make or I have an idea, I can just "shop my stash" and find something that would work. But there is one big drawback to having such a big stash. Say that I have bought some yarn more than one year ago, and I am getting around to finish the project now, how on earth I am going to find more lot #112 in case this is not enough?



That is what I have left to finish my NBaT, and I still have several inches of the front to go, plus the two sleeves.

Not going to make it.

Dear Secret Pals

Thank you so much for claiming me, I feel so loved already!

Yesterday both my SP8 and my Knitty SP7 sent me an email, and of course I received my matches. I am plotting and scheming .......

My SP Questionnaires are here, the link is on the left side bar.

Michelle asked what I am going to make with the yummy Nashua yarn Marisol sent me. Probably a longitudinal garter stitch scarf, to show all the beauty of the yarn.

Project Color Swap Package

Last week, my Project Color Swap partner for May, Marisol, sent me the most amazing package:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside.

Look at how she carefully wrapped everything:





The notes, the pen, the candies, and the tissue are already in my knitting bag, with my current project in the silky bag - how did she know I have been wanting one of those?



The Nashua yarn looks so yummy, I have never tried it - as soon as the temp goes down a little, I am going to make something out of it.

Thank you so much, Marisol!

And the winner is .....

Thanks to everybody who participated to my latest contest, I really enjoyed reading all the comments. I tried to reply to everybody, but I know that I have few more to go.

Following my usual process, I selected a winner, and the lucky one is Tiffany!

Tiffany, I have your address, so I only need to know which colorway you want.

As for the verdict, I think most people prefer BIG skeins, but I haven't done an exact tally yet.

Squares

Have you seen that Warning Grace has 174 participants?



Cynthia has just posted an emergency call for blue squares for a little boy who is living on borrow time, so grab a button a start knitting.

You rather knit in green? Here, another squares project for you:

Dysfunctional post (and a contest)

Warning: dysfunctional post ahead, I have a lot of bits and pieces to post about.

First of all, thank you for the compliments on the Sugar Maple Shawl. I am sorry I can't show you guys the shawl blocked and all pretty, because it my submission to the Cherry Tree Hill Design Competition. That means that I don't get to keep the shawl, but I am not too sad about it. Even if the colorway is gorgeous, it is really not me; I look green in orange (and I look yellow in green). My colors are the reds, and blues, and purples, and speaking of purple, I'll probably make another one with Nature's Palette:



I have joined the Amazing Lace Summer 2006 KAL, and I need to choose a project. It can be the Mountain Stream Scarf because I casted for it the other day:



and the KAL rules states that I need to start on Memorial Day. So it is either another Sugar Maple shawl or Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Shawl with HPY Lace Pure Wool.

After I finished the Sugar Maple Shawl, I had a serious attack of startitis; I casted for the Mountain Stream Scarf (I was itching to do that, but my brain can hold only one lace pattern at any given time), but then I thought I need a quick project so I started the Baby Hat from One Skein:



The weather has been glorious - finally! So it is time for cotton knitting. I opened my cotton yarn box and this jumped at me:



Lana Grossa Point Print, 4 balls that scream: "Tank top for Principessa!", so here it is, a Very Berry Tank Top:



Back to Lana Grossa, have you seen this? How cool is that? But I bet that they will be impossible to find here - do Americans even know there is going to be a World Cup in June/July?

Ok, if you have read all of that until here, contest time!

Please leave a comment answering the following question:

When you buy sock yarn, so you like big skein (100 gr, one skein is enough for a pair of socks) or you prefer small one (50gr, you need at least two for a pair of socks)?

When I buy undyed yarn, some tie it come in small (50 gr) skein, so there is nothing I can do about it. But some time it comes in half pound skein or even one pound cone, so I can control the size of the final product.

When you see a 560 yards skein, do you go: "Holy cow, that's great!", or, "Holy cow, what am I going to do with all that yarn?”

I'll draw a random winner, and the prize will be either this or this - winner's choice!

ETA: I'll keep the contest open until Sunday night - after all I can't go to the post office before Monday, can't I?

Done

The Cherry Tree Hill shawl is done.



I need to weave in two ends and block it, that's it. No more deadlines for a while, just try to figure out what to do with my with no name capelet, socks, and few more projects. I have this thing about naming thing in English, just can't do it. I usually ask Principessa, what's this?
"It's a mantellina". Great, thanks, I knew that, how would you call it in English?
How long can I keep naming stuff in Italian? I guess people can think it is glamorous, but sooner or later sonmeone will figure out that I do not know the English name for Lilla'.
"Lilac", sighs Principessa shaking her head.

So, Mantellina?



P.S. if you are here looking for the new contest question, come back tomorrow!

The verdict is in

Koigu style got the majority of the votes, so Koigu style it is - I did re-wind all the skeins. Having a swift and a nitty-noddy, it is a breeze.

I must admit that I side with the minority report and I do prefer Lorna's Laces style; in fact, in my stash, a lot of Lorna's Laces, no Koigu, some Cherry Tree Hill.

So the yarn is ready to go, it will be at Full Thread Ahead soon, the first of many batches, as soon as I can get there. I am feeling much better, thanks everybody for the well wishes, but guess what? Paperino is sick now.

As for the contest, I used my usual highly scientific method, I asked Principessa to tell me a number between 1 and 48 (someone left me a comment offline, Haloscan was misbehaving), and she said: 31. So, go there and count ...... Jess!
Send me your mail address and the prize is on your way.

Thanks everybody for playing, I have another question for you all, so there will be another contest (and prize) soon - check back!

Alive

Alive but not breathing. Whatever I had became the mother of all the colds. If you have emailed me, do not hold your breath waiting for a reply. Lack of oxygen to your brain won't do you any good. Believe me, I know.

Hand Painted P0rn

Who knows what in what kind of searches this title will show up!

This is part of what I dyed in the last two days:


Click on the photo for a larger view.

As I said, I am in love with this yarn, it is going to be very difficult to part from it.

As you see, I re-skein some of the skeins, so, question for you all: what do you like best, re-skein hanks (Koigu style) or non re-skein hanks (Lorna's Laces style)? In other words, looking at this photo:


Click on the photo for a larger view.

What do you like best, the top skein (Koigu style) or the bottom one (Lorna's Laces style)? Inquisitive mind wants to know, so leave a comment and you will be enter in a contest to win one of these - the 4th of July will be here before you know it!

I think I am sick

Not only I have been working until the wee hours every night, but I think I am getting sick. My throat hurts and I feel really crappy. Or maybe because I have been working until the wee hours every night, my doctor seems to think that every thing that is not working with me would be fixed if I slept more. I would love to, some one pass a 36 hours day, please.

So yesterday I decided that's it, I am taking a break, and Principessa and I did some dyeing. Hollis gave me some Louet Merino gems to dye for the store, and I am in love. It is the most amazing yarn, drinks up the color like there is no tomorrow. I'll make sure to post some pics when it is dry.
Then I dyed some Knit Picks Color Me for my etsy store, and after the Louet was a "blah" experience. I do not think I'll use this yarn anymore, I have to work twice as hard to get the same result. It does not take the dye that well, I need to do two passes to get a good saturation. I think I will stick with Louet and Henry's Attic from now on.

Knitting news, I finished the first Sixth Sense Sock and casted for the second one:

Free Yarn

Now that I have your attention .....



The above 4 hanks of hand dyed yarn are free for the first person who emails me her address (no, comment does not count, my email address is on this page).
Disclaimer: this yarn is scratchy, and I have no tolerance for scratchy yarn, and that is the reason why I am giving it away. I hand dyed it myself, but then I was faced with the problem of what to do with it. It does need a need home, it is unloved over here.
So, there, email me and it's all yours.

ETA: the yarn is gone.

Cleo Clutch

Pattern by Chrissy Gardiner on Spun

1 hank of Peace Fleece in Georgia Rose
11x7.5 inches before felting
9x5 inches after felting

It takes one day to make, really. And I loved the cables. If I am to make another one, I won't use Peace Fleece again. I love to knit this yarn, it is really yummy, but the 15% mohair makes it too fuzzy. I had to shave the clutch a lot after felting it, and it is still fuzzy. I do not mind fuzziness in general, but in this case it does hide the cables.