Secret Pals

It have been quite a week, between lot of work and internet not working right at my place, so I have many things to blog about, but today is all about Secret Pal. I received the reveal package from my SP7 and she held up her reputation of super extra special pal. You may remember the loot I got with her first package. Well, last week I got this:


Slide your mouse over to see what was inside.

See how creative she is? She put a star sticky note on each gift to give me a hint! And see how many things she sent me? I felt like x-mas!

Here is a shot of the yarn:



Cherry Tree Hill Glitter Alpaca in the Java colorway - really yummy!

Thank you so much, Tracey!

And I have nominated you for the best SP7 award, you truly deserve it!

I revealed myself to the person I was spoiling too, Wannietta. She is the fastest knitter in North America, and by the pace she cranks up projects on her blog, I think she could hold the Europe title as well.

East but not last, I owe my Knitty SP6 a public thank you for a gift she sent me a while ago:



She is feeding my addiction to yarn dyeing!

Knit for Peace, March 21, 2006

Knitting is a peaceful activity. Sheep are archetypically placid. When they cross a road that you are driving down, there is nothing to do but wait. It never crosses your mind to honk the horn or try to drive around—where I live the sheep graze in fields so rocky that you’d pierce your muffler if you tried—you just turn off your engine and admire the ungainly woolly lumps brushing past your front bumper. Knitting starts with the sheep.

I like natural yarns that are full of lanolin. That way I can feel the life of this animal that needn’t give its life to yield up this wonderful product that I use to knit. I fondle the yarn and start to rack my brains and my library for inspiration. My knitted things have no borders. I use a Swedish wool to knit mittens using a twisted Eastern stitch. The mittens turn out not to be warm enough, so I knit mitten liners out of Chilean alpaca. The hat on my head is of Japanese yarn, knitted from a Norwegian pattern. I knit my hat in the round from the top down, and once I passed the awkward double point stage and worked onto a circular needle, I slipped into the meditative state that arises when I knit stocking stitch in the round. My mind wanders, first to my work day then, eventually, to the private part of my day, my family, my friends, the wild thyme that the sheep graze on in the rocky fields up the road. I become part of a world bigger than that enclosed by the ends of the sofa where I sit knitting. My mind wanders through the world that has led to the knitting in my hands and because I am knitting, engaged in this quiet, peaceful activity that starts with the placid sheep, my mind wanders through a peaceful world.

Knitters radiate peace. When I see a stranger moving a pre-natal sock around and around a ring of double points, he is engaged in creating warmth for someone he cares about, an expression of peace. When I see a friend with a lap full of grey alpaca, lovingly being worked in moss stitch for her new baby, her quiet handiwork sings peace.

I would like to channel this peacefulness. On March 21, every stitch that I knit will be dedicated to peace. I would like to invite everyone who knits to join me on that day. Will it stop people from hurting and threatening and frightening each other, the antithesis of peace? Who knows. When I knit on March 21, I will be saying with each stitch that peace is possible, that human intelligence and compassion can triumph over fear and greed, that terror and war can give way to discussion and peace.

Knit for peace.
Randy Sklaver Visby, Sweden
knitforpeace@yahoo.com
Peace Fleece

Scarfa

It's up on Chiagu.



My friend Susanna is the beautiful model.

What I have been up to

Bye-bye Kool-aid, welcome Gaywool and Jacquard. Most of the yarn I have been dyeing is up on my Etsy shop, link on the right bar. As you can see, we are having a red and blue period.



This pink pile is Fragola for FTA - I need to put the pieces together and block it a little. It has been in this state for a while now, I am professional in finding excuses when it comes to sewing.



This is a Baby Sweater I am making for, again, FTA, in Opal DK. Circular needles, no sewing, but circular needles indeed. The jury is still out on what I despite more, sewing or circulars.
But the sweater is darling, don't you think?

Right after I finished my Jaywalkers, I casted for Go with the Flow Socks (by Evelyn A. Clark in Interweave Knits Summer 2005) with Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn, but there was no love among the pattern, the yarn and me. I don't know whose fault was, but yuck, it looked horrible, the yarn kept splitting, so I frogged them and last night I casted for Embossed Leaves Socks (by Mona Schmidt in Interweave Knits Winter 2005), and look:



Love at first sight! Such a passionate affair that I snapped one of my Brittany US#0, right after I took that photo. Elspeth told me that if I email them, they'll send me a new set, so I did it, but while I wait, I can't work on my sock!

Dear SP7

Dear SP7,
thank you so much for the lovely e-card.
I have tried to reply to you, but my email came back "undeliverable".
I wanted you to know I really appreciate the card.

Yours truly,
Lu

Yarn Hunt

My sister just sent an email to thank me for a package I sent her, with something I can't show you yet (sorry, Elspeth, but it is going up on Chiagu soon), and these:





She found out a couple of weeks ago that she is having a baby girl and that sent me out in a crazy hunt for yarns and patterns. Among the excuses to buy more yarn, my baby sister having a baby girl is a a really good one.

Starting with my stash, I have Katia Jamaica, Bernat Cotton Tots, Karabella Aurora 8, and Tess Designer Yarn. BTW, FTA carries Tess Designer Yarn now. But here is the thing, I have bought Kate Gilbert's Samantha a while ago and it calls for DK weight yarn, all the above are worsted. And none of the DK yarns I have in my stash are suitable. I could try Lana Grossa Point Print, but I am positive I won't get gauge, by the look of it, I think I'll get 20 sts / 4". And yes, I know, I could re-recalculate the pattern, but I hate to do that when I have bought a pattern - I buy something because I do not want to do the math, otherwise I'll just write it myself. So, I went browsing. Bad idea.
And to be completely honest, I need to confess that the Tess Designer Yarn is a recent buy as well; I bought it the day after I heard my sister screaming "it's a girl!" on my answering machine.
So, as I said, I went browsing. And I saw this:



And it was on sale. And I heard it kicks Socks that Rocks' butt. I'll let you know.
Then this on e Bay:



that will make a really nice bag with the one that I already have.
Still not suitable yarn for Samantha, but look what coming Tuesday March 28 at 9:00 am Pacific Time: Lana Grossa Toccata 60% off. I made the first original Fragola with that yarn, and it is heaven. You will check the label a thousand times to confirm that it is 100% cotton, because it is so soft and stretchy, I do not know what kind of magic they have done on it.
Problem solved? Well, not quite, the smallest size for Samantha is 3 months, and that will be November. November in Rome? Not cotton. I could use fingering weight yarn, so that I get a newborn size with the 3 months instruction, so off to find fingering weight cotton:

• Rowan 4 Ply Cotton, enough to make something for all my nieces;
• Jaeger Sienna
• Brown Sheep Cotton Fine
• Schachenmayr Catania
• Sandnes Mandarin Petit
• Idena Bambino Cotton

Oh gosh, with all the time I am spending browsing, I could have written the darn pattern!

Another Karaoke Hat

The hat for my dad is done, thanks to Hollis who gifted me with the Karaoke Navy for the top:

I need to make this

Two for one

One button gone from my sidebar, two more added:

Karaoke Hats

I must tell you, Karaoke definitely ranks really up there in the list of my favorite yarns. The colors are stunning, from almost solids to variegated, and has all the characteristics I love in a yarn: it's soft, it is stretchy and bouncy, has great stitch definition. And on top of that, mainly colors:



The brown hat is for my brother-in-law. I knit a scarf for him for x-mas, and since I had two balls left I made him a hat for his birthday. The colorways are Cocoa and Rustica.
The other hat is for my father - same story, scarf for x-mas, hat for his bday, but I ran out of yarn. The challenge will be buy just another ball of it, this Bluezz colorway is so beautiful that I found myself planning a sweater for me in it - and I do not wear blue.

Could it be?

Could it be a Jaywalker sighting?



Well, it really looks like it. I finished them few days ago and they have not left my feet.



Well, they have gone to the washer ....



As you can see they are fraternal twins, and I like them that way.

Details:
Pattern by Grumperina on Magknits
Yarn from FurrYarns - MaineBearSOX 1 in Electryc Skyy.

International Women Day

Pink explosion for Project Spectrum

A naked person?

Read here.
A naked person?
For Pete's sake, it's Myron's Discobolus.
People from all over the world go to Rome to visit the Museo Nazionale Romano to see this statue.
It's an icon of classic art.
It represents the passion for the Olympic games, the celebration of the perfection of the human body, and the harmonious balance between body and mind.

But for some people it is just a naked person. Geez.

Life after the Olympics

Life after the Olympics lacks focus, I can knit whatever I want, and this freedom is unsettling.
I made a hat for my sister:



I put a couple of handpainted skeins up for sale on Etsy (I have more, but I need to wind them), a pattern of mine will be on Chiagu soon.

So, I am just wandering, waiting for the muse to strike again.

Another gold medal for Team Italy

After 7 days home sick, my skin has that shade of green no amount of make-up is going to cover, so, no, I am not modeling. But it is done.

Still alive

Barely. "Just a virus", says the doctor. I just hate when they say that.
So much to report. No photos because I am not alive enough to find the camera, point, shoot, download, upload, etc. Hey, if I had that kind of energy, I would use it to take a shower.
A knitting boo-boo, a felting disaster, but Silana is going well. Unless I am hallucinating. I think it's knitting itself up - front and back done, shoulders grafted, sleeves started.

More about Stitches West

Have I told you guys I met Lily Chin?
And I saw Juls, who quickly hugged me and dashed out to more yarn buying, I finally met Jennifer and her mom, I saw Angela, my soccer mom friend who does not have a blog, Elspeth and Amy stopped by and I am sure I am forgetting someone.

Surprising enough, I did not buy any yarn, just some roving and miniskeins from Royale Hare who had the distinct advantage of being across the hall from FTA.

But the most amazing thing is that I sailed through six hours in a crowded and enclosed place. Probably Hollis would have appreciated if I had told this before I volunteer to work at her booth, but ...... I usually have a panic attack in crowded and enclosed place. But, see, love of yarn conquers all fears, I knew I could do it.

Macy's and Bloomingdale, on the hand end, will always freak me out.

EDITED TO ADD: Yes, I know who I forgot, Shannon, who stopped to the booth for five seconds, completely out on Benadryl (she is allergic to wool), waved at everybody, and went out to breathe.

I met Lily Chin!

After a day working at Full thread Ahead booth at Stitches West, I am dead.

But I met Lilly Chen!

Sherry and the Black Hat

My friend Sherry sent me her photos wearing the black hat:

Learning lessons

Two thing I have learned so far in this Knitting Olympics.

First lesson: if I actually knit stuff, it gets finished. Since I have forbidden myself from casting anything new, I have no choice but knit what I have already on the needles, so:
- Silana: 33% done
- Spiral Hat: done
- Baby raglan: done
- Buttonhole bag: done, needs felting.

Second lesson: I always, and I stress always, find a way around the rules, even the self imposed one. Since I can't start new knitting projects, I have decided to try a new thing, dye wool with synthetic dyes:



The yarn is drying out, more photos to follow.

Cute pictures alert

A while ago I promised some cute pictures, and I did take them, but I guess I forgot to post them, so here we go, my niece modeling the poncho I made for her:


Click on the photo to see more of them!

As for the KO status report, I just realized that Cara's contest deadline for the Jaywalker socks is tonight Eastern Time, so no way I am going to make it given that I am about to go to prison work. One less excuse for not working on Silana.

Knitting Olympics Status Report

This is what I knitted watching the opening ceremony:



Then yesterday my usual knitting ADD kicked in and I worked on other projects - must stay on task, so I have given myself the following order: no casting for new projects until the knitting Olympics are finished.

And on the FO subject, I am almost done with the baby raglan, I only need to sew it up:

Let's the games begin!

My knitting Olympics will start tonight, at 8 pm Pacific Time, while watching the opening ceremony. I know, according to the official rules, I could have started at 2 pm today, but I was in prison at work, so .....

Yesterday, at the very last minute, very Italian style, I trained swatched my yarn, and yes, we have a winner:



I went down one needles size and I got gauge with Jo Sharp DK Wool Heather for Silana.
So, I am going to make and finish a sweater for me, even if I will only wear it in the frozen food sections at the local supermarket - there are 25C outside today.

And I stress "finish". Do you know what I did yesterday after I got gauge? Did I finish one of my many projects on the needles? No, sir. I started this:



And the other day, only because I was bored? I decided to crochet:



Interesting fact: crochet is faster, the head kerchief took me only 1/2 hour, ripping it 3 times because I had not idea what I was doing, and it takes more yarn. So, if I crochet, I am not at SABLE yet, right?

A Good Thursday

This morning Paperino threw a fit when suggested that he was not well enough to go to school. He just dressed himself and declared he was not going to stay home another day. That means, "mommy is so boring, let me out of here". So, back to school for him and back to work for me, where I found this from my wonderful, generous, incredible SP7:



You know the drill, slide your mouse over to see what's inside. Yes, you can believe your eyes, she sent me not one, not two, not three, but four skeins of Koigu:



And so much more! This beaded Eyelet pattern with the beads, the hook, and the needles to make it:



The needles are actually in the next picture, with Vogue Knitting, that I did not have and it is blue as the whole package, a nice pad, and chocolate HWME already ate:



Do you think it is all? Well, think again:



The new chibi, sour candies, stitch markers, and Jasmine Scented Teardrops Organic (I am not sure what I can do with those, but I'll figure it out):

I am really speechless, I do not think that "Thank you", not matter how big or how colored, is enough.

Did I mention she sent me 4 skeins of Koigu?

Fishing adventure

Yesterday I was home with a sick child, so I decided it was time to finish up some projects. I have quite few projects on the needles, and then there is the stuff I forget to list there, like this spiral hat I am making for the store:



So I resisted the urge to cast for a baby sweater with this:



or even for a new Fragola, another store sample:



So, what to finish? Ruffles, the never ending scarf?



What about the fish bag? I started the fish bag last year, in Karaoke, and it was supposed to use one of those new purse forms from SWTC. I knitted up a bunch of little fish in blue and variegated, and saw them together, and wrap them around the magic purse form. Well, it did not work, way too floppy, so yesterday I decided to felt it "a little" to give it substance. I took out the form and throw it in the washer.
Problem: the variegated Karaoke felts as soon as it sees the washer, the blue Karaoke ..... Maybe it is machine washable? So after 2 min in the washer, the variegated Karaoke was quite felted and the blue one was like new.

OK, let's felt the thing completely and not use the form (which, by the way, was all bended out, so now it is under 3 volumes of Lessico Universale Italiano, the weight of the Italian culture will beat into shape.)

Now it is felted, but the the two yarns felt so differently ...... Well, if you are strong, click here to see it.

I think I'll cut my losses and see if Principessa wants it as, I don't know, doll bed? Maybe one of Paperino's monsters action figures needs a need hiding place?

Lesson learned: swatch and felt you swatch.

Today? I did not even think about finishing something. I ripped out the stole I was making with the Nature's Palette, it wants to be a triagular shawl, and I learned how to crochet. Kind of.

A good Monday

Mondays usually suck, especially when the previous week has been not good, so I know what awaits for me at work. But yesterday, look what was delivered to my cubicle:





Hint: slide the mouse on the box to see what's inside.

The yellow box is from Jennifer. A while ago I sent her some yarn as raok, and she has decided to reciprocate 10 time over - the two cakes are Lorna's Laces Worsted, my first Lorna's Laces Worsted, in Mixed Berries, 550 yards of luscious yarn.

The blue package is from Knitty SP6, she sent me the Sensational Knitted Socks book, you can spot it peaking out, two balls of sock yarn, and dpn's so I can start a pair of socks immediately. Well, as soon as I decided which one I want to make. Oh, and coffee, always need coffee.

Thank you so much, Secret Pal, I feel so spoiled!

The $100 hat

While I was on vacation in Italy, my best friend showed me a hat she wanted in a shop window - 80 euros!
One skein of Frog Tree Merino, some paillettes, and here it is, the hat she wanted:

Two socks

I have two socks to report for the Aime's 2000 socks ticker. My first Jaywalker socks is done:



and this is the sample for my toe-up class at the store:



I love the fact that I do not have to knit the second one!

Other than that, this is week has been a blurb, but I joined Yarn Aboard:

It's up!

on Magknits.

Click on the photo for more shots.