Bonus post- good news!

Guess what? I sold two designs to South West Trading Company (makers of fine Soy Silk yarn). Sorry, can't divulge the details yet. I feel a frolic coming on!

52 1/2 skeins...

Well, it only used up half a skein of Cotton Ease. Just 52 1/2 to go.



Cute, yes? It's a Bucket Hat. It only took a few hours to knit, and my daughter loves it! She asked me if I could knit her a sweater today and another tomorrow (in her world, that's apparently possible.) In actuality though, I'm mainly focused on finishing my corset, since I'm getting close. Hopefully in the next day or two, we'll see how many other responsibilities I can avoid in order to maximize knitting time.

I got my contracts and stuff for Cheaper Than Therapy yesterday. I hear it's supposed to come out in September or so, so look for it and my writings within. I'm excited, obviously.

Coming clean

Step One- Admit you have a problem.



It went down to $1 a skein! What was I supposed to do? It makes the best kid sweaters. My daughter actually LIKES orange. They don't make it anymore. It's so close to Rowan All-Seasons Cotton, but cheaper. (How many more excuses can I make?) Even though I traded Amy my 5 skeins of bubblegum pink for some of her cool Amyville stuff, I still have an embarrassing 53 skeins of Cotton Ease. I'm starting a Tivoli soon, so that's a start. I actually have some black! I bought pretty much all that what left at the creepy old Joann's in the old deserted mall(as opposed to the nice new one) near my house, leaving behind the gross (and plentiful) mint green and yellow- which my daughter wanted me to buy but I drew the line at orange. I'm done. Really. (At least I thought I was- I had to update this post because I decided to run up to the old creepy Hancock Fabrics (there seems to be an old creepy and a new nice version of most stores in my area)and they had MORE black and pink. So I got some more. Now I'm really done.)

A home for the patterns

I've decided to start a second blog for all the patterns I come up with and don't know what to do with (mostly for quick things, not "big" enough to submit anywhere). So I did. I also moved all the links for patterns of mine that are elsewhere (like Chiagu, Spun, etc.) there. I put two patterns up this morning, so if you have some yarn leavings you want to use up, check it out.

One Skein Wonder #2

Well, I finished my second One Skein Wonder, this time in leftover Knit Picks Andean Silk (I really like that yarn, by the way). I ran out close to the end so the body ribbing is in some scraps of Noro Cashmel (discontinued I think, cashmere but not as soft as some). Good stash-busting, at least. Here's a picture:




One sad thing- I submitted something to Knitty that they don't want to use for the Fall issue. :(

UFO Smorgasbord!

I think I spelled that right. Anyway, since I haven't exposed my non-Aran projects recently, I thought I would-

The teal thing is my corset, the wine-colored thing is another One Skein Wonder, and of course the sock is the third item.

I'm starting to get ridiculously excited about Stitches Midwest. I've even started thinking about how to minimize what I'm packing clothes-wise to leave maximum space for more meaningful items (such as the yarn I'm certain I will buy-the one downside of flying being limited luggage!) I'm hoping to finish the corset (and hoping it will fit nicely!) to wear to the banquet thing there on Sat. night. I'm taking the Bohus class and one of the Maggie Jackson ones, I forget which but it's on Sun. morning. Once I get back it's only a few days until I have to report back to work- and we're moving to a new building- so I will have much more to do than usual getting ready for the new school year. In the meantime to hell with all the housework I should be doing, I'm going to enjoy as much knitting time as possible!

A minor setback

I realized my stash had gotten a bit out of control when I had to go shopping for more containers to store it in--right now it's taking up the better part of my knitting room closet. So why did I buy a boatload of Cotton Ease today? I've been staying away from Tuesday Morning to avoid temptation, but today when I went to Joann's to look for buttons for my corset-- well, let's just say there was a big shopping cart full of the stuff by the checkout, and it was really, really cheap. So I bought enough for a sweater for me and for Emma. So much for the stash reduction efforts, eh? Guess I'll have to start over on that one.

Aran progress and my darling little sushis

I've been hard at work on my Level 3 Aran over the past few days. I'm almost to the armhole shaping- look! I really want to get a bunch more done before Stitches, maybe even close to finished.

Yesterday my sushi stitch markers arrived- they are so cute! Amy even sent me a little bonus zipper pull charm, which I hung on my cell phone with my little Hello Kitty. I can't believe how tiny and detailed these are!

Finished object, finished book

Ok, as promised, a picture of my finished One Skein Wonder.

I used a partial skein of leftover Cotton Ease from a sweater I made Emma last year. It was just enough. I like the pattern-- I may make another out of a yarn I like better. It was so fast to make!
I finished the new Harry Potter this morning-- it was great, as always!
One more thing, I ordered some extra-cute stitch markers that look like tiny sushi (and I love sushi-themed items, don't you know). I can't wait! They'll be a perfect match for my bag.

Not about to spoil anything, but...

Okay, I really haven't been knitting today (except for finishing the One Skein Wonder-picture forthcoming- while I waited for the UPS guy to bring my Harry Potter.) I'm not about to give anything away about the book, other than to quote Dumbledore from pg. 73- "No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines. I do love knitting patterns." Too cool. Back to the book.

Another project done!

Admittedly, it was a small one. I finished the beaded bracelet from the kit I bought last year at Knit Fest. (I am going again this year, mostly for the shopping, also for the dyeing class- something I would like to try without making a mess at home!) Voila!

Speaking of fun knitting events, is anyone going to
Stitches Midwest next month?
I've never gotten to go before because it's ALWAYS been on the same weekend as my work retreat. Not this year! I'm so excited. Even though I live near Detroit, I'm going to fly. That way I can leave at noon and arrive at noon through the magic of short flights and time zones. No hot 5 hour trip down 94 for me!

New book, new project, same kitties

Yes, they're cute and they love each other. Today I got another Barbara Walker treasury (now I have volumes 1, 2, and 3).
I ordered it from Purl since it looked like a cute shop when I read about it last year in a Rowan magazine. Look how nice!

As for the new project, I'm going to being making the Silk Corset. I saw a finished one on somebody's blog (forgive me, I forget who) and it looks great. I'm going to use Debbie Bliss Cathay, which is a cotton/silk blend. 100% silk is just too expensive, I know you hear me on that one! I ordered the yarn today, and in the meantime I have one more submission to finish up and I also need to put some serious work in on my Level 3 Aran. Off I go to handle that (I love summer vacation!)

Charlotte is Finished!

Charlotte is done, a bit small, but done. Contrary to my usual practices, I didn't bother with a gauge swatch on this one (I know, someone who is a couple of sleeves and a sweater front away from being a Master Knitter should know better) but I figured any little differences could be blocked out (being lace) and that fit wasn't really crucial (being a shawl.) Somehow, though, my finished product ended up a shocking 16" narrower than it should be-- I probably would have had to go up 2 or 3 needle sizes to make up that difference! Crazy. Anyway, I'm not about to frog something that is otherwise flawless, and fortunately, I'm short, so it really isn't too small on me. I've decided to forgo the fringe after all-- I think it would be a bit much.

More news

I heard from Annie Modesitt today-- if you read her blog then you know she is putting together a book of essays and such about knitting called Cheaper Than Therapy -- and she is using the essay I sent her as well as some knitting-related limericks I wrote. I'll let you know when the book comes out!

Today I went yarn shopping (yay!) at one of my favorite shops, Knitter's Kove. It's a bit of a drive but I'll go to great lengths for a fiber fix. I spent the rest of the day working on a Chanel-inspired submission for Knitter's. I think it looks pretty good! I'll let you know if anything materializes, of course. (It's so hard waiting to hear about these kinds of things...and it usually takes a while to hear anything at all. Right now I have 5 submissions floating around out there and checking the mail is getting to be a bit too big of a deal!)

Nearing the Finish Line

Charlotte is a mere 10 rows from completion, not counting the fringey business. Behold!

Happy Birthday Boys!

Even though I'm still a little mad at them for what they did to Charlotte, Happy 1st Birthday to Rosalie and Pinecone, my kitties. To celebrate I bought them their first bag of adult cat food.

Oh the humanity!

Yesterday something utterly gruesome happened. I was taking a Charlotte break (it was nearly done, mind you), knitting along, when my daugher, who was still eating breakfast in the kitchen, said, "Uh oh." I set Charlotte down IN MY KNITTING BAG and went to investigate. She had tried to pour herself more milk and made a terrible mess. I helped her clean it up, then went back to knit. To my horror I saw Charlotte on the floor, and one of the cats hiding in the corner. When I picked it up, I saw about 30 stitches were off the needle. Okay, no problem. I start to fix that, then I noticed that there was a BIG HOLE CHEWED IN IT ABOUT 4 INCHES DOWN. As in gaping hole with little frayed yarn ends sticking out. Once I regained my composure, I settled down to the heartbreaking task of ripping back to the big hole and trying to get everything back on the needle properly, which as you know is hard to do with lace. Extremely frustrating? You bet.

A Package from my Secret Pal

Today I got a package from my Secret Pal- behold!

I'm assuming the suncatcher is for my daughter to make...she'll like that. My favorite is the sheepy tape measure!
As for Charlotte, she's on row 123 and counting, and I'm nearly finished with the project I'm knitting for MagKnits. It will be in either the September or October issue, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before. I also sent in something funky to Knitty earlier this week that looks good enough to eat. I'll keep you posted!

$$$

I know, two posts in one day, but I'm happy and wanted to share. Some of you may have seen my sweat and toil otherwise known as Kaleidoscope at Chiagu, but until recently, no one was kind enough to buy the pattern. I got an email today with payment for 4 patterns for the month of June! Here's the design of which I speak:

Once again--yay!

At long last, it's summer vacation (for real)

Yesterday we finally finshed everything we needed to finish at school (extra busy with the move and all- Wednesday we stayed until 3:30 am!) and I am now officially on summer vacation. Emma and I decided that in honor of our first day home (she's been in day camp for the last week and a half) we would do whatever we wanted. She chose playing toys and watching DVDs. I picked knitting (duh!) Hopefully I can get a bunch more done on Charlotte since I'm eager to finish...but I also need to finish the thing for MagKnits too...maybe a little of both?
Apparently Blogger lets you post pictures directly now so I'm going to try it. Here we go-