Ketchup

Wow, I've been amiss in my blogging nonefforts lately. There's always so much to write about and so little motivation.

I start knitting projects then abandon them for others. I've actually finished three of kpixie’s Valentine Sequin Scarves, one in Tilli Thomas' Rock Star yarn in pinks and purples (silk and beads), one in her American Beauty colorway (a gorgeous deep red), and one in red Berroco cotton twist. I love this scarf. I've made it different widths and lengths; the cables on alternating sides cause the scarf to curl under and looks nicer than the plain scarves I usually knit. No photos for some reason. I take thousands of photos of other stuff; why not my knitting? (Answer: Because it has to be photographed in the right light at the right time of day in order to show the colors and stitches properly, and I rarely take the time to bother with it.)

A friend of mine is going to be a grandmother for the first time this summer. I wanted to knit something special for the baby, a girl, so after researching patterns and yarns, I bought some undyed bamboo yarn from lotusblossom on ebay. Eight ounces, 420 yards, in each hank of worsted weight yarn, a gorgeous creamy color, for $8. I bought four of them. Similar yarn that I bought several years ago in a slightly lighter weight cost $14.50 for only four ounces and about 242 yards. Of course that was Southwest yarn and I bought it at a yarn shop, but still.... The very first nice yarn that I bought when I started knitting came from lotusblossom; she has some gorgeous colorways. I paid for it on Friday and it arrived yesterday at noon.

I'm really ready to knit something that I'll actually finish, so last night I cast on for Blossom. (I hope the link works; it won't load for some reason.) So far so good. It's a silky yarn and a really cute little wrap dress. I plan to add a pair of booties and a hat to finish the ensemble.


I may even try my hand at dyeing some of the yarn. I have a kit I bought years ago (from lotusblossom, coincidentally enough) and if I get energetic, I may try that. I'd do it outside on the gas grill, though, so the house wouldn't get hot, steamy, and stinky. I bought the dye kit when Avery was very little with the idea that we could dye yarn together, but these dyes are poisonous and hard on tender skin, so I gave up on that. I could try dyeing with Wilton food color paste; I used to have lots of their little pots of coloring 30 years ago when I sold decorated cakes.

Yesterday I received a letter from the Virginia Retirement Service stating that my retirement request has been processed and I should receive my first check at the end of July. I'll still get my current pay until the end of August, so for two months I'll get two paychecks. Now I just need to find a job in the lower Keys.

Thirty-nine days and counting.........

Fibery goodness!

No, sisters dear, I'm not talking about that kind of fiber. It's all about yarn. Inexpensive yarn. Silk/cashmere (55/45) yarn, lace weight, as light as a cobweb but much more durable, about 500 yards at $5.99 a hank. I have never ever seen anything with cashmere in it this cheap.

If I can remember and have the energy, I'll take photos of it tonight.

I also received today (beside the drugs we'd ordered) three other hanks of yarn, wool I think, maybe some silk in one of them, that I'd ordered last week while trying to decide what yarn to use for Joan's mother-of-the-bride (after all, it IS her day) shawl. I ended up starting it with some beautiful mohair laceweight yarn that I found 50% off in my LYS, but I'm rethinking that mistake. As much as I have to rip out, mohair ain't gonna cut it. Silk adds such nice shine to yarn, really dresses it up.

And it should be easier to frog.

Packed and ready to go

Yesterday I went through my yarn and chose the sock yarn I'll take to Florida, along with the necessary patterns and the box o' needles. I am ready for any eventuality.

I pretty much know what books I'm taking (I think I'll just sneak 'em into the car after Tom packs it, because he thinks I'm taking too many); I've gotten a bunch that look good at book swaps lately.

I might not be quite as prepared for leaving the condo, though, as I don't have any clue as to what clothes I'll take.

Over the weekend, I read I Am Legend, which was written in 1954, I think, which can be sort of aggravating with the details of life at that time (as in, no microwave, records instead of cds, cars with chokes, etc.), but it really is a timeless story. Only the car with a choke, and a record player seemed odd in this day and age. I imagine that the movie with Will Smith will address those issues; now I have to see it. Very good book.

And I read the 5th book in the House of Night series. I can't remember what its title is, although I think it's Hunted. Those are fun, easy books and I enjoy them.

As for knitting, I did finally finish the second sock of the pair that I started two years ago. They fit and feel good. I knit them with fingering yarn and size 2 needles, which is what put me off them so long ago. They make a very thin fabric, but I like the way they feel. Very lightweight, soft. I started a pair with some of Claudia's sport discards, pink and yellow, but I don't know the colorway. I'm making them for a coworker whose only luck is bad luck, really really bad luck. As in she used to be an English teacher (in a piss-poor backwoods county, if that tells you anything) but had a nervous breakdown or something because she's now working as a teacher assistant for maybe $12,000 a year, and she's always deathly ill with this or that, or having foot surgery that laid her up for three months and she couldn't work, and her kids won't help her (although it's possible they have a reason for that), her furnace broke down in the dead of winter and she couldn't afford to fix it, so people here at school chipped in to take her through those months, including paying her health insurance when she couldn't work. Well, last week the poor woman had a mini-stroke while working and had to be rushed to the hospital. She was hospitalized for two days. Anyway, a few weeks ago I asked her if she'd like some handknit socks (she's always admiring mine) and told her to measure her ankle and the length of her foot. She wears a child's size 3 or 4 shoe! She never did get the measurements to me, but I'm guessing that her foot is about the same size as 9-year-old A's foot, well, except for the poor woman's bunions.

On top of it all, the woman was running back and forth 5 hours to the bottom of the state to take care of her ailing father, then he died and left her some run-down, no good rental properties waayyy down there, and she's sunk way too much into fixing them up, and the people who are renting aren't paying their rent........... She's just a magnet for bad luck, poor thing.

I tell you, we are so blessed. During the winter when the scary financial things were going on with us, I had no doubt that we'd come out of it okay. We came out really well. And here we are, with plans to spend my entire 6 weeks off work in the Keys, while we look for a house to buy, just seven months after the financial boogey man attacked us.

We truly are blessed.

Ketchup

I've really been neglecting this blog. My excuse, for last week, anyway, is that I've been busy. I spent one day working in the attendance office (those ladies are not paid enough for all they have to do!), one day giving math placement tests, and one day on an art field trip to the National Gallery of Art and the Hirschorn Museum of Modern Art. I gave the SAT Saturday morning, then we drove to Mom and Dad's house to visit overnight. While there, we went to see/hear Todd Snider at Ashland Coffee and Tea. We left Mom and Dad's around 3:30 yesterday and drove the three hours to my son's house to attend my youngest granddaughter's 6th birthday party. We left home at 6:30 on Saturday morning and got back at 10:00 last night. It was a very busy weekend, but it was great to visit with family. And earn $98 for giving the SAT.

Here's a photo of my Bloodlust (from All That Glitters) custom-dyed for me by Yarn Lust (etsy.com). I love it. It's 2% silver so it's sparkly; I'll use it to knit Shipwreck (knitty.com). She sent a stitch marker with each hank of yarn: one red heart, one black heart, and one clear heart. I have a feeling I'll need them for this. You can also see the beads I bought at Beads of Distinction in Key West; I think I'll need more of them, but I have to figure out how many and which ones go where. That's going to be a pain; I want the inside rows to have clear beads, the center red ones, and black on the outside rows. Thank God they're not needed until the entire center is knit; they go on the edging. But how am I going to figure out just how many I'll need and in what numbers? I can always break the yarn and add more beads when needed, but I really really hate having those ends to weave in. I may try a Russian join, which basically, I think, is spitting on the loose ends of yarn and then mooshing them together. If it'll work, I'm all for it. I hate to weave in ends on anything.

This photo doesn't show the sparkle factor, but it's there all the same. I plan to haul this to Florida and work on it this summer, but I'm not sure how well I'll be able to concentrate when a) I'm sitting on the porch in 90 degree weather while gazing at the Gulf waters a few hundred feet away with wool on my lap, and b) I can't concentrate when I'm in a room by myself anyway and this one is going to take some concentration.

Slacker radio works pretty well when we're in flat country with a really strong AT&T signal, which means it doesn't work well in this area but did closer to Richmond. We're interested to see if it's any better in Florida where there are a lot fewer hills and no mountains. I like that I can fine-tune custom channels to play songs by people that we like, but I do not like the cutting in and out when we're in less-than-flat land.

I'm not a very good traveling companion since I got the Crackberry. I mean, I can check my email in the freaking car! And Facebook. I hate Facebook, but it's interesting once in a while to log in and see what (mostly) boring things others are doing. I haven't had any luck sending photos to cell phones or others' email; something else I need to check on. And, like I said earlier, I can read blogs and their comments but cannot post my own comments. I still haven't attempted to tether it to my laptop, which I should do very soon because we're paying for it and I want to see if make sure it works before we leave for the summer.

I loaned Twilight the movie to a friend a couple of weeks ago (I know! I let it out of my possession for a good 10 days, but I did keep the codes for the iTunes downloads, just in case I needed to watch it). My friend and I usually don't like the same movies or books, and she's not obsessed sucked into the phenomenon as I am, so I didn't expect her to enjoy the movie. To my surprise, she thought it was well-cast and well-made, although she did say that she was a little disappointed that Edward didn't dress more elegantly, as described in the book, but overall, she really enjoyed it. Wow, and she's 61.

I'm almost to the toe of the boring socks I'm knitting now; I got a lot done on the bus on Friday and in the car this weekend when I wasn't fiddling with the Crackberry checking my email.

School's almost done with for the year; the kids are here till Thursday, and I have to work until June 18. That afternoon we're leaving for Florida as soon as 3:30 rolls around. We'll drive straight through to Orlando (with a dog and a cat) and spend a few days with my daughter and her family. Then--the Keys. For six glorious weeks. We plan to shop for a house while we're there.

I haven't checked any blogs since Wednesday, unless you count the drive-bys while on Crack(berry), and those don't count because the type is so tiny that I can't read it anyway. I'll try to do better. Oooh--I need to run over to June Cleaver's place and check out the Monday Swoon. This selfless woman spends hours each week ogling checking out finding photos of Swoon-worthy men and posts them on Mondays for those of us who can't get through the work filters are too busy to search for them ourselves. The lady is a saint.

Still feeling icky

I'm so tired of this!

I don't feel sick. I don't feel particularly tired, but I've been sleeping soundly (till 2 yesterday). I just feel weak, like I'm about to pass out.

On the knitting front, I finished one of my sport-weight socks that I started last Sunday. They're some of the freebie Claudia yarn; I think it's Buckeyes, but since it's dark gray and deep red, I'm going with Eclipse (as if you don't know the reference there). I did the heel from some deep red yarn; I think it's Rubies Dancing. They're just plain socks, but since they're sport instead of fingering, and still knit on #1 dpns, they're really cushy. I love this colorway. I still have two hanks of fingering in Buckeyes. Not quite enough for a pair of socks (Claudia's fingering is only 165-175 yards; since I like my socks longer, I always have to use a third hank.)

I finished reading the four books (so far) in The House of Night series; I enjoyed them. Now I'm reading Stephenie Meyer's (do not tell me you don't know what she wrote) The Host, which is a truly odd book. It took me several tries to get far enough into it that I got interested, but now I'm enjoying it.

Two words

Tom was wondering last night why he was so exhausted.

I said, "Ninth graders." Need I say more?

The sport-weight sock is coming along nicely. I love the way it feels. I just hope I have enough yarn to make a pair; these were leftover hanks when the yarn was wound into "selling" hanks.

Black and Red

So. Yeah. I finished my Twilight-cover-art-inspired socks last evening. What do I do now? It's kind of like after I finished reading the Twilight Saga, nothing else appealed. Others I've talked to in rl are the same way (not all of them, but enough women I consider to be sane are saying the same thing). What knitting project is next?

I really want it to be Shipwreck, but that's a pattern that's not suitable for knitting during odd down moments. It's going to be a committment. Tom suggested that I save that for condo knitting this summer. I'll probably work on it in the car on the way down and back. I went ahead and rolled one hank into a ball. I've got a couple thousand (I hope) 6/0 glass beads in red, black, and silver-lined clear. I really have no idea how to determine what color I want where on the shawl; I'll have to figure it out as I go, I guess, since I'm not going to use the 5000 beads that the pattern calls for. I don't want a stripe of all red, or all white, or all black, or red and white, or red and black, or whatever when I get done with it. I'm really going to have to think when I knit this one. No mindless tv knitting.

I went to Ravelry and printed off page after page of discussion of this shawl and its challenges. Fortunately, the designer has been an active participant and clears up a lot of the issues.

I can't get the entire chart to print, but she has each section written out, so with luck I won't need a chart. I really mess up when I used even a simple chart, so I'm glad that she spelled them out.

So, I've got three hanks of Bloodlust All That Glitters yarn dyed by yarnlust, dozens of vials of beads in three colors, the two needles necessary to start the project, and alllllll of those pages packed away in a plastic shoe box to take to Florida in June. I may have to start the center long before then; it depends on how stupid I'm feeling. If a simple chart kicks my ass, I cannot imagine what this heirloom-quality lace will do to me.

I've never before felt like I just have to knit something. There are lots of patterns that appeal to me, but never has one jumped into my brain and taken up residence there. The very first time I saw Shipwreck, I knew that I had to knit it. I also know that it will probably take years to finish (hello? 5000 beads), and that's okay. I'll probably end up using it as a decorative table cloth most of the time. By the time it's done, we should be living in South Florida permanently, so I might be able to wear it during a cold snap.

But that leaves me without a current project. I cannot rest until I find something that I want to do and get it organized. I have two hanks of Twilight-cover-art-inspired worsted that I want to use to make a neck warmer and a hat, but I just can't get too enthusiastic about that now. I haven't seen a hat pattern that I really, really want to do with it, so I'll wait.

I dug through my stash of Claudia fingering and came up with some gorgeous red and gray sportweight. There are four separate hanks of it; I'm just hoping that I have enough to finish a pair of socks. I started knitting last night using a pair of size 1 dpns; it's heavier yarn, but I didn't want to go any higher in size because they look like they'll be nice and squooshy on the feet. I think it's Claudia's Buckeyes colorway, which, oddly, is very similar to christinamariepotter's colorway for the cover of Eclipse. This got my mojo rising and I cast on. This isn't to say that I won't be ordering more yarn from christinamariepotter (on Ravelry and etsy) for each of her colorways from books 2-4. Must. Have. Them.

I finished books 2 and 3 of P. C. Cast and Kristen Cast's House of Night series. I'm now reading the fourth book. They're light and cute and a quick read. But they are not Twilight.

I am so doomed.

I'll try to add photos to this post after lunch. Tom is substituting in and English class today and he's going to bring me a big Pepsi. I might want to check my weight tomorrow morning; I've been drinking more Pepsi than sugarless tea lately.

Two of my sisters, Betty and Joan, are planning to fly to Ft. Lauderdale at the end of June and we'll have a Sisters' Week in the Keys. We've long dreamed of doing this, but scraping together the money for the four (or three, as Nancy will be with friends that week) of us to fly, get a motel on the beach, and eat for a week has eluded us. With a free place to stay and our own gourmet chef (Tom), we're going to make out like bandits. (No, Google search, we sisters will not make out.)

Linky for Georgi

This is the pattern for the socks. I absolutely love it.

Can someone explain to me why charts for knitting are always upside down? Why do we have to start at the bottom and go up? Seems to me that it would be a lot simpler (for me, at least, unless someone can tell me why they're that way) to have it right-side up.

My special order yarn, "Bloodlust", should arrive today. I've been tracking it all week. This is the etsy shop of the talented lady who dyed it for me. I plan to knit Shipwreck with it.

Yes. I am insane.

I finished the first book of the House of Night series, Marked. It's a cute, quick read; there are 3 more in the series. It's written by a mother/daughter combination, P.C. and Kristen Cast. I'm enjoying reading something that's not Twilight.

Twilight (black)hearted socks

Is it Prozac or Florida? OR Why am I feeling so great on a Monday?

I wish I could bottle this feeling.

I feel completely at ease (notice how well I'm ignoring stabs of anxiety), like I've finally been able to exhale. Remember that book, Waiting to Exhale? I knew exactly what she meant by that. I've spent most of my life waiting to exhale. Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Chronic Depression will do that to you.

After spending 8 glorious days in Florida, I am relaxed. I even feel rested. I have a touch of color (I know that sun is bad for the body, but it's so good for my soul.). (Even though an ignorant male teacher told me that it didn't look like I've been in Florida. The soul doesn't show.) If my soul has a color, today it is the serene turquoise of the waters off the Florida Keys.

We got home yesterday morning around 5:30 and went straight to bed. I slept until 7:30 p.m., got up for a couple of hours then went back to bed. I slept wonderfully. Tom is still on "driving straight through the night" time and didn't sleep as well.

I last reported in on Wednesday while we were in Ft. Lauderdale on a little hotel on the beach, with its picture window overlooking the ocean. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there; less than 24 hours, but it's a place we'll stay again. It was clean, comfortable, and had a wonderful pool area. We ate at the Yacht Club that night; Tom's daughter's boyfriend's father is the Commodore there. Good company, good food. Beautiful boats.

Donna and James took us to Marathon in the Florida Keys on Thursday morning. James' family owns a couple of condos there that overlook the Florida Bay. It's incredible; it has a wraparound screened lanai that faces the water (and palm trees and light house); I'd live on that porch if I could. We spent most of the afternoon there, reading and looking out at the view.

Donna helped Tom cook dinner while I took a nap. That's such a luxury for me now; I used to nap after work, but now that I have to get up so early, I can't afford it. But it was so peaceful at the condo that it lulled me to sleep.

We ate dinner on the lanai, watching the sunset. Tom and Donna cooked shrimp, basmati rice, and snow peas. It's a wonderful meal any time, but it was especially good eaten while surrounded by the Florida Keys.

Friday morning I slept late (as usual). (Donna sleeps later than I do, but it has to be noted that she doesn't get off work until 2 a.m. and has a reason to sleep later. I just need sleep.) We left for Key West around 10 or 11; it's just an hours' drive southwest. We ate lunch at Pepe's. We've eaten there before and like it. I had a BLT which for some reason I was craving; even that seemed exotic in Key West.

We split up and spent the afternoon wandering around Key West. I l0ve Old Town. Of course I asked for directions to the knitting shop (they finally have one! Used to only have a needlepoint shop with incredible handpainted canvases; it's still there, too.) I know my way around Old Town that I was able to find the shop without any trouble at all. That, in itself, is a miracle. The shop, Knit Wits (I think) has a wonderful selection of yarns, all organized by color, and even had that yarn crack (or so I hear, since I've never touched it before) Malabrigo in such an array of colors. It wasn't as expensive as I'd expected, but wool, for some reason, wasn't calling to me that day after walking in the hot sun. I chose some coral silk (my vacation yarn) to make a little scarflet. There's a bead store next door, conveniently joined by a walk-through, so I chose some beads to add to the silk when I knit it. Yes, I know that silk that is already beaded is available; I bought a hank in Sonora, CA last summer, gorgeous stuff, but $39 as opposed to $14 plus beads didn't speak to me right then.

I also bought some red, black, and clear beads to use with the "Bloodlust" All That Glitters that yarnlust (etsy) has specially dyed for me. I've decided to make Shipwreck with it. I know that I'm totally crazy to even consider it; I remember how much I moaned and bitched about The Never Ending Test Knit. I won't put any 5000 beads on it, either; I'll probably use only 1000 or so, spreading them a little thinner than the pattern calls for. The clear beads have sterling silver inserts in the holes; I bought slightly bigger ones to use on the silk I bought there. I'd thought of using only sterling silver beads on it, but they're just ridiculously priced, although I think they'd look spectacular. They'd have to have a clear coat on them; I can just see me polishing thousands of tiny beads. (Not.)

We stopped for drinks at Louie's Backyard, a place I've read about in many Florida noir novels. It's right on the beach, with Dog Beach next to it. Key West is very dog-friendly. We enjoyed looking over the ocean as we refreshed ourselves before heading back to the condo.

That night we ate at a nice little restaurant, then packed our stuff in preparation for leaving at 8 the next morning. ( I personally think that anything before noon should be banned.) We picked up our car in Ft. Lauderdale then drove to J.'s house to pick up little Marie, A.'s kitten. We brought her back to have her spayed before taking her back to A. in the summer. She was a wonderful little traveler.

Tom wanted to drive through again, so we got home at 5:45 Sunday morning. We didn't unpack the car, just went straight to bed.

All of my photos are on my laptop, but you can be sure that I'll upload some when I can. I know you can't wait.

I finished sock 1 from the Twilight sock yarn. I forgot to put the hearts on the top of it, so I put one on the top of the foot. I got the second sock right and knit 3-4" before it got too dark and I could turn on Twilight. The laptop won't turn up loud enough for me to hear it, but I could see it juuuuuuust fine. It's still not a well-made movie, but I like it just fine. Still reading New Moon too, even though I took several other books with me. I am doomed, I tell you.

But I'm happy. That counts for a lot.

The yarn

Ah yes, the Twilight-inspired yarn.

As I was saying, I ordered this yarn Friday afternoon. According to the UPS records, it was mailed Friday night at 8:50. It arrived in Richmond, Virginia, Sunday night at 11. I wasn't expecting it before Tuesday or Wednesday.

It was here yesterday afternoon, people. Less than three days from start to finish.

The website is Christina Marie Potter and her etsy shop is Woolen Mill St Yarns. Like I said, the service is phenomenal, and the yarn is just what I was looking for. Love love love it! Good prices on her yarns, too.

I'm going to knit another pair of (Black)hearted socks, a hat, and a neckwarmer. I'm thinking of doing the sock hearts in beads this time, if I can find beads before I cast on. This will be my spring break travelling project. (Florida!!! After work Friday!!!)

I'm rereading New Moon. I guess I'll give in and buy the last two in hardback. I prefer paperbacks, but I'm sure that it will be another year or two before Eclipse and Breaking Dawn are available in paperback. And I'll need to reread them before then.

Unmotivated Monday

What is so freaking exhausting about Mondays? I slept well this weekend, and lots of it. Here I am dragging.

Tom and I watched Twilight on Saturday. He wasn't impressed; it was too slow and there was no story to it. I watched the first half through his eyes (and I totally understand his point of view; if I weren't female and drawn to this type of story in the first place, I wouldn't have cared about it), but he fell asleep about halfway through and I got drawn (you might say sucked) into the movie. Loved it. I want to watch it again and again and again...... God help me.

I've been haunting etsy.com, looking at Twilight-related merchandise. Go over there and enter twilight into the search (search all) and marvel--and snicker--at all the unbelievable crap stuff they have. Some things are totally unique (jewelry and yarn, stickers, etc) and some are just odd.

I found some yarn. Check christinamariepotter and see her yarn. Eventually I'll link it here, but I have to go work in Power Hour now. Anyway, Friday afternoon I ordered some Twilight worsted for a hat and neckwarmer and fingering for socks, all red, black, and white. Then, from another etsy artist, I ordered some All That Glitters sock yarn (with 2% silver!) for socks or a shawl. She didn't have it in the colors I wanted, so I asked her if she'd be open to a special order of blood and black. Edward sparkles, you know. And she's making some specially for me! Check out yarnlust at etsy. She also has some cashmere sock yarn.......

Gotta run!

Knitting

This is the cat bed that I knit for A's kitten, Marie. I knit it of Claudia's Chunky in the Pink Dot colorway and edged it with pink fake fur yarn. (Kitty Pi pattern, available on Ravelry.) I took this photo of B2 wearing it to show the size it was before felting.

Well.

So how'd that turn out, you ask? Notsogreat. As a matter of fact, it did not felt at all. Not one little bit. I put it through 45 minutes of agitation in extremely hot water, and it didn't shrink at all. This is 100% merino, and I've never come across merino that wouldn't felt. (My $100 Oven Mitt is testimony of that all-wool-felts axiom. And it was 50% silk, too.) Even after 15 minutes on high heat in the dryer, it hadn't felted a bit.

This is the first of Claudia's yarn that I've tried to felt. I'm glad that I didn't buy that 3 hanks of Chunky. I could possibly unravel it and try to use it for something else, but the hot water didn't do anything for the color. The blues ran and it's not the prettiest shade anymore.

I've got some odds and ends of her Felt Me in my stash; I guess I'll try to felt that and see what happens.

But I bet that if I went to the trouble to use that Chunky yarn to knit something really time-consuming and accidentally washed it in warm water, it'd felt. Right away.

Just like that $100 Oven Mitt.

So much for that.

I gave up. After only one round, I could tell that the mitt was going to be waaayyyy to big for petite Bev. So I frogged that one, too.

A big part of the problem is that I'm trying to use Knitpicks Gloss in black. Black. I cannot see the stitches when I'm unknitting, and one tiny mistake just ruins the pattern. I wanted to use a lighter, neutral color, but I don't have any sock yarn that is light enough, or neutral enough.

So much for mitts for Bev. I quit.

I won!

http://carefreeholiday-ornot-kal.blogspot.com/

The random number generator chose me to win two skeins of Crystal Palace yarns. My first choice is Panda Silk (bamboo, merino, and silk); second choice is Panda Superwash (bamboo, merino, and nylon). Earlier I won a book of sock patterns simply by finishing a project (thanks to the random number generator again).

I have two skeins of Panda Silk in Strawberry Cream; A chose them while we were in Sonora, CA so I can knit her a pair of vacation socks. That's in the very near future. I bought pink glass beads to adorn the cuffs. She's a bead kind of girl.

That's my excitement for today. Pretty good!

Destash!!!

I'm going to put some yarn on eBay this week, some of my Claudia stash. I thought that I'd give you guys a chance at it first.

Claudia's fingering is selling at $13 a hank; boucle around $25 a hank; and sport around $24 a hank. Most of the yarn I want to sell is (fingering and sport) Purple Haze, and Fantasy, which is sport weight. I'll sell the Claudia sport for $10 a hank, 225 yards, 100% merino wool from Louet. If you want to buy a bag of 5 hanks for $50, I'll include Priority Mail postage free.

I'll sell the fingering at $9 a hank, $45 a bag with Priority Mail postage free. This is also 100% merino wool, Louet base, 180 yards per hank.

The one hank of boucle is $10, 162 yards.

As you can imagine, we're scrambling for ways to put gas in the car and food on the table, so I thought I'd give this a try. (Okay, it's not that bad yet, but I don't want to wait till the last minute!)

This one (above) is Claudia's sport weight Purple Haze. The colors are true in this photo, although the flash is a bit bright. I have 1 hank that's this bright (will sell for $9 instead of $10), and there are 10 hanks, 225 yards each, that are a little more muted.

All 10 are from the same dye lot, but one bag of 5 is a little brighter than the second bag. The bags have never been opened. This shows the two bags together. They're not horribly different; any problems with them could most likely be avoided by alternating hanks from the two bags. 100% merino wool base from Louet.


These (above and below) are Claudia's Fantasy sport weight, 5 hanks, never opened.


Then there's Claudia's fingering, Purple Haze, 100% merino from Louet. There's one hank not bagged; it's from the same dye lot, 005, as one of the 5-hank bags. The second bag is dye lot 006, which is a little darker than the first.


This next photo shows the two bags of Purple Haze fingering together, lot 005 on the left, 006 on the right.


Next is one hank of Claudia's large loop boucle in Purple Dot. This is 78% mohair, 13% wool, and 9% nylon. It makes warm, snuggly scarves. 162 yards is enough for a nice scarf.

Last is four hanks of Mango Moon Bali Sky, 150 yards each, 100% recycled viscose, hand-spun in Indonesia, colorway Dawn. It originally sold for $18 a hank; I bought this from my blog friend Tonya a while back and just can't come up with anything to make from it!




I'll sell it for $8 a hank. If you buy all four, I'll pay the postage.

If you just want to buy a hank or two or three or four, we'll figure out the postage, your choice of first class or Priority Mail; you'll pay the postage.

I hope that these are fair prices and that they'll just fly out the door. I promise that I'll mail any that are sold right away, not months later as I am the contest loot!

Uh oh, I hear sleet on the skylights. Crapola. First ice storm of the season. I'm thinking more and more that it's time to move to south Florida!

Thanks for considering helping me destash, and feel free to tell your friends!

Back to my usual whining

Cold all weekend. Cold, cold, cold. Not much sun.

Instead of finishing one of the big-ass wraps (I bought beads'n'stuff on Friday), I started another one, this one of Claudia's boucle in the Ink colorway. Let me tell you, Ink it is. My hands are black after knitting for a while, and it doesn't come off easily, either. This better be one stunning wrap, let me tell you.

Close-up of the fabric:

Very pretty, but very much a royal pain. I'd forgotten just how much I hate to knit with boucle. I should have used a bigger needle (I used size 10) and fewer stitches, but this stuff is such a bitch to rip out that I won't even attempt it.

I've got to come up with something to use to close them. I just don't like the big buttonhole and haven't had any luck finding suitable buttons, anyway. Even at etsy.com or ebay. I need 2.5" ones, and on those sites, "big" means 1.5".

I have to pack tonight; FLORIDA Wednesday night! Late Wednesday night! Just a carry-on! Horrors!

Inspiration and wips

This is the inspiration for my big-ass wrap. It's 100% cotton, while mine are 100% merino (because that's what I have on hand). I'm ready to look for buttons and beads to finish the two I've knit so far. After these two, I'm not going to knit a buttonhole; I'll find broaches or scarf pins or short knitting needles to close them. I've decided that my next one will be of Claudia's boucle in Ink. Ooooooh, elegant!

And these are my plain old vanilla socks made of Claudia's Buckeye merino fingering. I just love the deep dark red in this yarn.

Good grief

Three whole weeks. Three service calls. New parts ordered and replaced. And still:


Then tray by tray, the "good" one started failing.


At least I got some knitting and yarn in that photo. (The to-be-frogged wrap.)

Casting off again

*sigh*

I've knit about 8" of my new wrap using worsted-weight yarn and size 8 needles. That's what I swatched with and it seemed like it made a nice, drape-able fabric. Uh uh. It's too tight. It looks great, but it needs to be looser, to flow better.

So I have to rip it all out and start over again. And I don't have bigger needles with me, so it'll have to wait till I have them.

I could cry.

At least I have my Tropical Tee with me for emergency knitting.