Saturday, August 30, 2008

Finished!

Today I finished the Oriel Lace Blouse! Whooo Hooo! I'm going to wear it to church tomorrow. It looks great if I say so myself!

I had it done except for the placket and buttons for several weeks. I even got the sleeves done and sewn in a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I was working on them when I lost my cat. He sat with me while I sewed them in. On 8/7 I had the back door open because it was so hot. I heard the dog chase him, but I thought he went upstairs. When I went to bed I noticed that he was missing, but he always shows up in the front yard, so I didn't worry. The next day he didn't show up and I got concerned. The dog looked so guilty when I asked him about the cat. After a few days I made up missing cat flyers and took them around the neighborhood. A few hours later I got a call from our neighbor 2 doors down and she said,"I've seen your cat. He's in Buellton." I said, "excuse me?" Buellton is 130 miles away from my house. Turns out he had gotten into the storage compartment of thier camper and rode all the way up there with them. He jumped out and scared them to death when they opened the door. They tried to get him back and he hung around for a couple of days, but wouldn't come to them. I called the animal shelter, but they haven't seen him. Every couple of days I check www.petharbor.com, but he doesn't show up. We went to Buellton the next weekend, but didn't find him. We left missing cat flyers around, but haven't heard anything yet. I really, really miss him.
Finished Another! Yesterday I had to take my mom to the doctor and the grocery store. It's warm out but when we go to the grocery store I always freeze. I was looking for something to wear and remembered that a couple of summers ago I made a sweater out of a heavy cotton yarn. I ran out before I made the sleeves so I wore it without them as a tank. Turns out the cotton was so hot I didn't wear it much after that. I did go back to the store to get more yarn and finished the sleeves but I never set them in. When I decided to wear it I found the sleeves and decided to sew them in. Yay! Another sweater done!
Front Back It's funny, now that I'm more experienced I noticed all the imperfections in it. It looks ok. It's a little loose, but that's perfect since I overdid it on the carbs this week. It was great for the frigid grocery store. And Yet Another! Today was the day for finishing. I finished my Coupling socks too! I had them done for a couple of days except for the bind off. I did the same bind off that I used for RPM. See the post below. I love them! I'd wear them tomorrow too, but they don't exactly go with the blouse. Oh well, I'll definitely wear them in Amsterdam.
We are going to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks. DH is working, but I'm going to hang out with the boss's wife. I'm looking forward to it. Hope I can find a yarn shoppe! Currently On The Needles The latest project is a wrap. I call it my Simple Sideways Wrap. I got the yarn last week at Unwind. They gave me a pattern for a wrap they have in the shop, but when I got home and cast on it wasn't what I remembered. I fooled around a little and came up with a pattern of my own. It is knit, left leaning decrease, knit, yo. I say "left leaning" because I knit combination and for me it's k2tog, but if you were to do that with western style knitting it looks different. So If you want it to look like mine you'd have to ssk. Or you can slant it the other direction. I think you'd start with the yo, but I haven't tried it myself yet. I started a cozy for my Zen with this pattern and the sock yarn from coupling. It's a yarn called "Maizy" and it is made from corn fiber. The only thing I don't like is that it was spun in Taiwan. Why did they have to do that? I believe that Crystal Palace Yarns is an American company. I guess it's cheaper, but is transporting the fiber back and forth worth the savings? I remember when things used to have a made in USA label on them. Now you don't see that much if at all. My next quest will be to find fiber that is manufactuered in the US.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Knit Knite Out

Last night I went to socialize with other knitters at my LYS. Seems that most LYSs have knitting groups that meet on Thursday nights. I tried to connect with another group, but this one for some reason is comfortable. I also ended up buying a new skein. Oops, that wasn't on the agenda. $40 bucks, but I couldn't resist. I love the weight of this yarn. It is Laurel, 100% mercerized pima cotton from Schaefer Yarn. The colorway is Susan Sontag. It reminds me of the beach. The silver, light brown and white are so soothing. There was a shawl/wrap made from it in the store and it just hangs beautifly.

I cast(ed) on as soon as I got home and quickly discovered that the instructions don't seem to be the same as the wrap in the store. It has a wider rib than what the directions say. Since I couldn't sleep, I fooled around a bit and I think I've got it now. I want to go back and look at the original just to be sure. Also since I knit combination style, I decided that I don't need to k2tog by flipping the stitches around. I did that for like 10 rows which slowed me down and looks kind of crappy. It doesn't matter which direction my rib goes! It's a shawl and it's mine, all mine! ;)