Wonder Purl

Six months later

2007-06-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

I didn't plan on being gone for so long but a few days of wanting nothing to do with my knitting needles turned into weeks, then months, until it soon became evident that my love affair with knitting had gone on an indefinite hiatus. The few half-hearted attempts I made to knit resulted in a couple of beanies but once those were done, I promptly returned to ignoring the many unfinished projects sitting in my basket. But that's all in the past and I'm finally back. I've resumed work on a few things and, thanks to the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits, I'm even planning on starting a new project or two. In the meantime, here's a look at one of the two FOs for this year:

This is a Christmas gift for Tony, who is Zeb's sort-of-brother-in-law. I made this using the London Beanie Pattern and it's so ridiculously easy to make that it took me fewer than five hours to finish, and that's including the time taken to weave in the loose ends. Quite an achievement for a slow poke like me.

Yes...

2007-01-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

...I'm still alive. And yes, I still knit but I haven't done any knitting for the past month and consequently, I don't have very much to report. Except that I only finished one of the knitted items on my list and so my Christmas knitting adventure was a failure! Oh well. I'm not too upset about it because I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish in time. Overly ambitious gift list + modest knitting talent = doomed from the start. On the bright side, at least now I have a head start on gifts for Christmas 2007.

Speaking of Christmas, check out one of the wonderful gifts I received:

In an effort to out-gift me, Zeb bought me an insane amount of knitting needles of every size and type I could possibly need. I am not exaggerating when I say that I now have at least 60 pairs of straight knitting needles at home, not counting the ones I already owned before I received Zeb's gift. What I will ever do with all the needles I have no idea, but I like knowing that I will probably never again find myself in a situation where I do not have the right size needles for a pattern.

Hi, my name is...

2006-12-16T18:03:00.000-05:00

Meet the new member of our family. He's four years old and is the sweetest and friendliest cat I've ever met. His previous owner named him Darfield, but we're not crazy about the name. We're trying to decide on a new one but so far we've got nothing, although Zeb's brother Bjorn insists on calling him "Squeezer."

Zig Zag Conundrum

2006-12-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

Having made significant process on the my other Christmas projects I decided to begin some new ones. Enter Zig Zag stripes:

I'm making the adult version (the one on the left) for my friend Miriam who's a fan of bright colors and fun designs. The pattern is ridiculously easy, which is great because with about 2 weeks left until Christmas I don't have the time for elaborate designs. The challenge is keeping all the different balls of yarn from tangling. I find myself having to untangle yarn every couple of rows and it's getting pretty damn annoying. Here's what I've got so far:

Damn, that is one craptastic photo! The horrible lighting! The boring composition! I seriously need to enroll in some photography classes. Anyway, notice how the bottom half of the scarf looks a little crooked? Well that's because instead of cutting the yarns before switching to a new color I've been carrying them on the right side along with the working yarn until I need them again. The result is the scarf isn't draping properly because the right side has a little more weight to it. Regardless, I've been plodding along telling myself it looks okay and I'm perfectly fine with it but it's bugging me. I should just stop and frog the damn thing before I get too far but I'm not sure what to do to correct the problem. As far as I know the only alternative is cutting the yarn after I'm done with it but then I'd have a million ends to weave in afterwards. Suggestions, anyone?

I promised you an FO...

2006-11-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

...and here it is!

Pattern: "Backyard Leaves" by Annie Modesitt from Scarf Style
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 in color #25
Needles: US 7

So it's a week late but at least it's here, right? I can't believe it took me a month and a half to complete it. Anyway, I'm pleased for the most part with the scarf. It's very pretty and I love the texture which I think was greatly enhanced by blocking. I didn't make any modifications but if I had to knit this again I'd do it in one long piece instead of knitting two halves and then joining them as instructed. That way, I wouldn't end up with this:

See that? I was extremely careful and tried really hard to make the join look as seamless as possible but as you can see from that photo, I wasn't very successful. It's the only flaw in this otherwise beautiful scarf and it bugs the hell out of me. But I'm going to resist pulling it apart because it's not very noticeable. Besides, I have quite a few more gifts to finish so I really don't have the time.

Sorry for the pictureless post...

2006-11-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

...but it was either that or wait until the weekend to post an update. I never have enough time in the mornings to take photos and by the time I get home from work it's pitch black outside. But don't worry, I promise to take photos this weekend and show off an FO!

Long time no blog

2006-10-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

Remember all that crap I said about not freaking out about my huge pile of Christmas knitting? Yeah, well, that was the denial talking. Or perhaps I was drunk blogging. Whatever it was, it has now disappeared and been replaced by anxiety. And panic. There is absolutely NO way I will be done in time to get these goods shipped off for Christmas. What the hell was I thinking? I'm such a slow knitter that I could have started knitting in January and still not have finished in time. Ok, I'm not that slow but I'm certainly no Eunny, who has the enviable ability to knit sweaters in less than a week. But no worries, I'm still plodding along, hopeful that somehow I'll manage to pull this off. I work better under pressure.

Anyway, it's unlikely I'll be blogging any more than once a week because I'll be spending much of my spare time knitting. Speaking of which, here's this week's progress report:

That's one half of "Backyard Leaves," off the needles. I haven't made much progress on the other projects, mostly because I've been doing a little bit of work on all of them instead of concentrating on one or two. But I prefer to do it that way because it keeps things interesting and it's more efficient than spending days on a single project while the others languish in my knitting basket.

As for yarn purchases, I bought what Zeb and I agree is the perfect shade of red for his sister Chantal's scarf, which will be "Here and there cables."

The color looks really dark in that photo but I swear that red is possibly the brightest red I've ever seen. It's so bright it hurts my eyes when I'm knitting with it, and that's just a slight exaggeration. According to Kuna, Chantal likes really bright shades of red, so I'm sure she'll be happy with the color choice.

Progress report

2006-10-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Christmas may be rapidly approaching but I'm not freaking out over the fact that I have yet to complete a single gift. I may not have finished anything but I've started four gifts and plan on starting three more before the end of the week. Furthermore, of the four I've started it looks like two of them will be finished by the end of next week. So really, I'm doing just fine for someone who waited far too long to start knitting her Christmas gifts. Here's what's currently on the needles:

That's "Forbes Forest" and it's going to be a gift for Zeb's brother Bjorn. This picture was taken last week when I'd just started working on it but I've done a lot of work on it since then and it should be done by next week. Can I just say how much I love this scarf? I'm so in love with the pattern that I find myself stopping at the end of each row just to fondle the scarf. The pattern may look complicated but it's really just made up of basic knit and purl stitches with a few cables, bobbles and popcorn stitches thrown in to jazz things up a little. I'm always amazed by the fact that you can create such beautiful designs just by arranging simple stitches in a certain pattern. It's one of the things I love about knitting. Forbes Forest has been knit by quite a few knit bloggers out there but if you want to see a particularly gorgeous specimen I suggest you check out Brooklyn Tweed's version.

Up next is a gift for my friend Kelsey, who loves all things soft and pastel. Presenting, Misty Garden:

And if you think that looks wonderfully soft and fluffy, take a look at the yarn from which it sprung:

Aaah, such glorious fluffaliciousness! For those of you who can't be bothered to read the print on the tags, those are two balls of Jo Sharp's Rare Comfort Infusion Kid Mohair which is now being produced under the brand name Queensland Collection Comfort Mohair. Don't you just want to bury yourself in a tub full of this? Misty Garden is a very easy knit which is perfect because after all the cables and chart-reading, it's nice to be able to sit back and relax with an uncomplicated project.

I can't share gift #4 with you because the recipient reads this blog but to make up for that, here's a gratuitous yarn shot instead:

I'm a KnitPicks virgin no more! My very first KnitPicks order arrived last week and I'm impressed by the quality of these yarns. I'm no yarn snob but I'll admit that despite all the positive reviews of KnitPicks yarns I was a bit skeptical. How could yarns as inexpensive as these could be any good? Silly me! I'm using some the Merino Style yarn for Forbes Forest and it has a nice, soft texture and great stitch definition. The Andean Silk (the gray skeins) feels exquisite although I can't comment on its performance because I haven't used it yet. But I'll keep you posted.

Yarn, glorious yarn

2006-10-06T08:24:00.000-05:00

Look at what the mailman brought me:

Crappy photo quality and messy apartment background aside, aren't the colors beautiful? Especially that blue-green yarn, it's so vibrant. These are the colors that will be used in my Fair Isle Jazz scarf which will be started once I finish winding all those hanks of yarn into balls, hopefully this weekend.

As far as Christmas knitting goes, I'm currently working on a scarf for my sister Funmi. Here's what I've done so far:

Look familiar? Well, Backyard Leaves has been knit by practically everyone in the knitting blogoverse so it could be because you've seen one of the jillion photos of it floating around the internet. Or perhaps you recognize the pattern from the picture of my own Backyard Leaves scarf that I posted back in June. Sadly, I didn't get very far with my scarf because I found the pattern a bit too challenging. Funny, because I haven't had any problems with the pattern this time around and actually find it very easy. Maybe my chart-reading skills have improved? Who knows...

All wound up

2006-10-02T15:09:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the best thing about knitting for others is that I get to buy yarn without feeling the least bit guilty. I get to come home every other day with yet another yarn package and Zeb can't "tsk-tsk" me for spending more money because it's for a gift. In fact, I think the only reason I decided to give knitted items as Christmas gifts this year is so I would have the perfect excuse to selfishly indulge in two of my favorite pastimes: knitting and buying yarn. Anyway, here are my latest purchases:

The blue yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Silk that I bought from Fabulous Yarns. Besides being a very pretty shade of blue, this yarn is wonderfully soft, possibly the softest yarn I've ever felt. A lot of knitters rave about Blue Sky yarns and I must say the praise is well deserved, although I might be a tad premature in my assessment considering I've yet to start knitting with the stuff. But judging by looks and feel alone, I'd say it's a winner. The red balls are Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Lace weight yarn which is a blend of 25% Silk and 75% wool. It's a very rich and dark shade of red, a lot darker than it looks in the picture. Both yarns arrived in hanks which I then had the pleasure of winding into centre pull balls, a task which took me 3 hours but only because one hank of yarn got so badly tangled. Still, winding yarn into balls is such a tedious process that I may have to invest in a ball winder. Anyway, the projects for which these yarns are intended will be kept under wraps until after the recipients get them at Christmas. But don't worry, I'll have plenty more projects to share with you in the coming weeks including my very first Fair Isle project which will be this.

Let the games begin!

2006-09-25T14:53:00.000-05:00

I had my four wisdom teeth removed last Monday and thought I'd use the time off from work to catch up on my knitting. Silly me. A post-op diet of antibiotics, Vicodin, jello and ice cream made me too lightheaded to concentrate and so I didn't do as much knitting as I'd hoped to. I did manage to complete my first knitted Christmas gift. Behold:

And look, it has pom-poms!

Pattern: Kittyville from Stitch n' Bitch by Debbie Stoller
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Double Knit Cashmerino
Needles: 16" US Size 7 Circular

Isn't it adorable? It's for my friend Veronica who I'm sure is going to die when she sees it. It's nice to know I can at least cross that off my Christmas knitting list. Speaking of which, I realized last week that I only have two and a half months in which to finish knitting all my Christmas gifts. Actually, I only have two months because I'd like to mail the gifts in early December so the recipients get them in time for Christmas. Did I mention I'm knitting for 12 people? Damn me and my ambitiousness. Something tells me I will have to either whittle down that list or clear my social calendar for the next couple of months.

Birthdays come but once a year

2006-09-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

What’s green, cute and about the size of a cat? Give up? Well, I don’t blame you because those clues aren’t very good. Try these:

Why, it's my brand-new Hello Kitty sewing machine, which was a birthday gift from Zeb.

As adorable as it looks in these pictures you'd have to see it in person to fully grasp the overwhelming cuteness of this thing. I'm not even a Hello Kitty fan but I absolutely love it. It looks like a toy but it's actually fully functional; in fact, Zeb did a ton of research before buying it and discovered that it's one of the better models on the market right now. I have no idea how to sew or operate a sewing machine, but I've ordered a few books on sewing and I'm sure I will have learned the basics in a few weeks or so.

My 26th birthday (which was on September 11th, for those who don't know) was lots of fun. We both had the day off and so Zeb made me a delicious birthday breakfast comprised of home fries, bacon and ham w/syrup. I made buttermilk waffles which were cooked
on my new grill/waffle iron (another gift from Zeb) and we stuffed ourselves silly.

Later on in the day, we met up with friends for dinner at an East Village Indian restaurant called Raj Mahal (not to be confused with Taj Mahal restaurant which is on the same block). I've been to Raj Mahal a few times and not only is the food delicious and inexpensive but they have a pretty extensive menu. We ate, drank and made merry for several hours before going our separate ways; in short, a fun time was had by all.

And now for some knitting content...I promised some more photos of the completed Lady E. and so here they are:

I'm sorry that these photos aren't very good but they're the best I could do for now. Lady E.'s size makes photographing her without assistance very difficult. All in all, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Entrelac seemed very intimidating to me at first but now that I've completed an entrelac project I know it's not as difficult as it seems. I chose not to block Lady E. to preserve the measurements: it's about 17" wide and 60" long so it's more of a scarf than a stole which is perfectly fine with me, since I'm not a stole-wearin' kind of gal.

Blistering barnacles, she's done it!

2006-09-06T12:03:00.000-05:00

More pictures of the completed Lady Eleanor stole to come...

Scene from a living room window...

2006-09-02T12:13:00.000-05:00

Mystery project #2

2006-09-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

Here's your clue:

Ok, this one's not much of a mystery. That's the yarn for the Kittyville hat I'm knitting for my good friend Alien, a.k.a. Veronica. She was quite taken with my Kittyville hat and requested that I knit her one for Christmas. I started working on it yesterday and here's how far I've gotten:

The yarn I'm using for this makes knitting Kittyville much less of a joy this time around. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Double knit yarn which, although a worsted weight yarn, is much finer than the worsted weight yarns I've used in the past. I had to change the way I hold my yarn because I kept dropping the yarn when I held it my usual way. Anyway, Alien's Kittyville is going to have light green kitty ears and pom-poms...how cute! She doesn't know it, but I plan on knitting her a pair of forest-green gloves to match, although I haven't yet decided what pattern I'll be using for those.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

2006-08-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'm back! We left last Friday for a mini-vacation to Vermont to visit Zeb's grandmother and some of his family members, and got back yesterday. We had lots of fun but the time off was much too short, considering we spent most of Friday and Tuesday in transit. Oh well, serves us right for going Greyhound. It may be cheaper but really, you're better off paying the extra money for a train or a plane if it means you get to your destination quicker and have more time to enjoy your vacation. Anyway, we really enjoyed ourselves so it was worth it. Zeb's relatives were all extremely nice and hospitable. We ate lots of good food, went kayaking and fishing, slept in a tent, played board games and, thanks to Kuna and Tony, came away with enough chocolate and candy to last us for months (ha!). I'd post some photos but, absentminded fool that I am, I kept forgetting to bring my camera with me whenever we left the house and so I only have a few photos of Zeb and his family taken on our last night. Hopefully, Kuna will post some on her blog soon.

I didn't do any knitting while away, although I brought Lady Eleanor along for the trip and enjoyed showing her off to Zeb's relatives, who oohed and aahed over her gorgeousness. We also visited a yarn store in St. Albans called Gwen's Antiques and Wool. The owner had a nice selection of yarn at pretty good prices. Unfortunately I didn't buy anything because I didn't have my yarn shopping list with me and didn't want to buy yarn that I wasn't planning to use for a specific project. But it was nice just to look around.

In other exciting news, I am officially a member of the New York City Knitters ring (check out my ring code on the bottom right side of my blog) ! Or at least, I think I am. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to get some sort of official confirmation e-mail or something but I'll just assume I am until I get an e-mail stating otherwise. I'm so excited by this you'd think it's a huge deal but it really isn't. All it means is I'm part of an online group of New York City knitting gals and guys which makes it easier for anyone looking for NYC knitters to find my blog. Cool, huh?

Tabula rasa

2006-08-21T13:42:00.000-05:00

Yes, faithful readers, I've changed my template again. The old one was just not working for me and I grew tired of cringing every time I visited my blog. Actually, the new one isn't working for me either but at least it's plain, simple and spare and so it'll do until my HTML skills improve and I can create a layout I can live with. Damn Blogger for having such a crappy template selection!

Anyway, on to the knitting...oh wait, there isn't any. At least not anything new; I'm still working on Lady E. but I'll spare you the play by play. I will say that I'm not progressing as fast as I'd like because I've had so little free time to knit. Now that Zeb's working six days a week, I've actually had to (gasp) COOK for myself. Oh the horror! While he was out of work Zeb prepared nearly every meal we ate and so I was a bit spoiled. I'd forgotten how time-consuming cooking is. Even the recipes that supposedly take only 30 minutes to prepare take me at least an hour. Thankfully, Zeb has two weeks off from work and so I'll get a reprieve and some much needed knitting time.

Waste not...

2006-08-14T13:51:00.000-05:00

Buying yarn before you have a specific project for which you will use it is a bad, BAD idea. I came to this conclusion while digging through my yarn basket over the weekend, when I realized that I have absolutely no idea what to do with the 25 skeins of yarn sitting in there. About 15 of them are skeins of boucle yarn that Zeb bought for me on ebay, after I salivated over pictures of them. Of course it didn't occur to me at the time that buying 15 skeins of boucle yarn wasn't very wise because there are only so many things you can knit with boucle. Things like scarves, throws...and scarves. Another useless gem is a cone of what appears to be 5, 000 yards of cotton yarn in a nice aqua shade. Okay, I'm exaggerating; it's only 1,000 yards but still way more aqua cotton yarn than I will probably ever need. Hmmm, maybe I'll knit some nice aqua dishcloths for everyone I know...

Mystery Project #1

2006-08-07T15:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a clue:

Give up? Well tough nookies, because I'm not posting the answer until the recipient has received his/her gift, which means this mystery project will not be unveiled until the end of the year. Neener, neener, neener!

River revisited

2006-08-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

The past several days have reminded me how much I despise summer. It's fucking hot, people. I grew up in Nigeria where every day is either rainy or oppressively hot and even I am wilting in this heat. Besides being uncomfortable the constant heat makes it very difficult to do anything that requires being more than 5 feet away from an air conditioner for over 10 minutes, which eliminates any activity that requires leaving our apartment (working and exercising excluded). Bad for my social life, wonderful for my knitting. So wonderful, that I've resumed work on a project I abandoned 5 1/2 months ago:

The name of the pattern is River and it's one of the many lovely patterns featured in Rowan Magazine Issue 38. I'm knitting this in Kidsilk Haze which despite it's ethereal beauty, is a total bitch to work with. It is 70% mohair, which makes it very delicate and the resulting stitches are so thin that I sometimes knit into two stitches instead of one. And forget making a mistake: I learned the hard way that unravelling Kidsilk Haze is an exercise in futility. When I first began work on River I made a mistake and tried to unravel my work so I could fix it. I unravelled for several rows only to have the yarn snag and break. I repeated this stupid behavior every time I made a mistake because I foolishly thought if I was extra careful and ripped it very s-l-o-o-o-o-w-l-y I could unravel it successfully. Ha! After I found myself holding a little ball of wasted yarn for the fourth time, I gave up and decided to keep trudging along no matter how many mistakes I made. Some more photos:

My River is going to be more of a scarf than a shawl because I'm not the shawl-wearing kind of gal. Hopefully it'll be done in time for fall.

And we're off!

2006-07-26T10:09:00.000-05:00

As you know, I'm getting a little bored working on Lady E and have been looking for a side project to break the monotony. It occurred to me yesterday that Christmas is only 4 1/2 months away and if I want to give knitted items to close friends and family, I'd better get a move on. So now I have not one, but 13 new side projects to work on. I'd initially planned on knitting things for everyone I know and like but that would involve knitting about 25 items in just 4 1/2 months. I may be antisocial, but I'm not willing to give up what little social life I do have to pull off that feat and so I quickly nixed that idea. I've already decided what I want to knit for each person on my gift list so all I have to do is make the yarn selections. Yay, an excuse to buy new yarn!

Are we there yet?

2006-07-24T17:48:00.000-05:00

Some Lady Eleanor progress shots...

2006-07-17T14:33:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted recently because I'm currently suffering from mid-project knitteritis. Those of you who knit may be familiar with this dreaded affliction which, as the name suggests, strikes when you're halfway through a knitting project. Suddenly the precious knitting project to which you eagerly devoted nearly every minute of your spare time becomes a bothersome chore that's taking forever to finish. So it has become with the Lady Eleanor and I. "I can't wait to get home and knit," has turned into "Sl 1, knit 6, ssk, dear God will this tedium ever end, turn work, purl 8." That said, Lady Eleanor is coming along beautifully. It's about 22" long now and the pattern really shows off the colors of the Noro colorway I chose. I'm just tired of working on it and want to be finished with it already!

I've decided that the only cure for mid-project knitteritis is to start a new project. I'm hoping eventually I'll get so tired of working on my replacement project that Lady Eleanor will seem novel and exciting in comparison. Backyard leaves was supposed to be my backup but sadly, I had to unravel it yesterday because the yarn got badly tangled. So I've been on the hunt for a new project, preferably one that's quick, easy and doesn't require the use of any scratchy yarns (it's far too hot for that). Maybe socks or gloves?

2006-07-07T12:06:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...I'm a naughty blogger for not updating my blog in a week. I meant to do so over the holiday weekend but the oppressive heat sucked so much energy out of me that all I could do was sit on the couch watching one episode after another of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And eat. And knit, although it was so hot that after a while I gave that up because I couldn't stand the feeling of the very warm Lady Eleanor on my bare legs. So you see, it's just as well I didn't update my blog because I had nothing to report. I still don't. Hopefully that'll change after I do some knitting this weekend.

2006-06-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...pictures!!!

Here's another!

Yes, that is indeed the Lady Eleanor. The yarn I'd ordered for her arrived last Wednesday and I've been knitting like crazy since then. Sadly, I'm not as far along as I should be by now because on Saturday, I dropped a stitch and had to unravel the whole thing. Ok, I didn't have to but I got so frustrated trying to fix the damn thing that I thought it'd be best to just start all over. Thankfully I'd only completed two tiers and so I didn't have to do much unravelling. Aside from that unfortunate mishap, the Lady is progressing very nicely. The pattern is much easier than you might think from looking at the scarf. There are no unusual stitches or complicated charts to follow, just your basic knitting, purling and picking up stitches. The one annoying thing is the pattern requires you to turn your work after every eight stitches or so, which slows me down considerably. In an effort to avoid turning my work, I successfully taught myself how to knit backwards and did so for several tiers but was forced to abandon my new trick when I realized that my gauge was much too loose. It also felt extremely awkward and more importantly, I couldn't do it without looking at my work and so it detracted from precious Gilmore Girls watching time. Obviously I couldn't have that and so I settled for the inconvenience of turning my knitting. Oh well, at least I learned a valuable skill that should come in handy someday.

On Saturday Zeb and I braved the rain and nasty weather for our first trip to Grimaldis in DUMBO. For those of you who don't know, Grimaldis has a reputation for churning out pizza pies so amazingly delicious that there is frequently a long line of people waiting outside the restaurant for their chance to experience pizza nirvana. Since they don't deliver or sell slices, if you want to try their pizza you have to suck it up and get in line which is what we and our friends Veronica and Brian did. Fortunately, we only had to wait about 7 minutes or so before we were ushered into the restaurant and directed to a table by the window. We ordered two pies: one with sausage and sundried tomatoes and one with ham and onions. Both were underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, the fresh ingredients, thick tomato sauce and thin, crunchy crusts made our pizzas delicious but they weren't so mind-bogglingly good that I'd make repeat trips to Grimaldis for another taste. Frankly, I find a bacon and spicy sausage from Papa Johns just as tasty, if not more so.

2006-06-20T08:41:00.000-05:00

Ahem...drumroll please!!!

It's not much, but that's your first look at the project on which I'm currently working. Meet "Backyard Leaves", another scarf from my new favorite knitting book, Scarf Style. I want to knit EVERYTHING in this book. Ok, there are two or three scarves in there that I'm not crazy about but even those are nice, just not my style. My only complaint about the book is nearly all the photographs seem to have been taken in very soft lighting and so you can't clearly see the stitch detail in each scarf. But I digress. You probably can't tell from the picture but I swear there's actually a discernible pattern in there somewhere, and a gorgeous one at that. Don't believe me? Take a look at this:

Sure, it looks pretty but those pictures don't really do this scarf justice. I didn't realize how beautifully designed it is until I looked at the many photos of it on other knitting blogs. It's also a fun knit, just complex enough to make it interesting but not so complicated that I'm constantly frustrated. I'm a little concerned that the color I'm using is a little too dark to showcase the intricate pattern. I guess I'll just have to wait to see what it looks like as things progress.

Lady Eleanor update: I ordered the yarn for this pattern on Saturday and it should be here either today or tomorrow (fingers crossed!!). I found a great deal on Noro Silk Garden on ebay and decided to purchase the 10 skeins of yarn required for this project. It cost me $88 but that's not too bad considering how much Silk Garden usually costs. I can't wait!!

2006-06-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a delivery from a good friend I may be starting a new project this weekend. I ordered this last week and it arrived a few days ago, its pages filled with pictures of beautiful scarves and shawls. I'm already coveting the Lady Eleanor Entrelac stole which seems to have been knit by every knitter in the blogosphere except me. From what I've seen Lady Eleanor is lovely and dramatic, the kind of accessory that is likely to elicit gasps of wonder from anyone who witnesses it. I MUST have it!

The only thing that might keep me from starting this as soon as I'd like to is the fact that it requires 15 skeins of La Lana yarn. One skein costs $24 so I'm looking at $360 for 15 skeins...no thanks. Several bloggers used Noro Silk Garden as a substitute but one skein of that is about $10 and so I'll have to spend about $150, which is a lot better than $240 but still a tad too much for my liking. Although, the Noro has about 110 yards per skein whereas La Lana only has 81 yards and so I'll need fewer skeins. Regardless, I'm going to have to scour ebay for a cheaper deal. Maybe I'll make one of the other scarves from the book in the interim.

In other non-knitting news, Zeb and I have been having lots of fun watching Degrassi Junior High on DVD. I LOVE this show! I'd heard several people (including Zeb) rave about it and so I rented Degrassi, The Next Generation thinking it was the same show. Well, it's not. It's actually an updated version of Degrassi Junior High centering around the lives of a bunch of kids, some of whom are the offspring of characters featured in the original. The show was pretty good but I have to say that the original is so much better. Yeah, the acting is occasionally laughable but the show is the most honest and realistic portrayal of adolescent life that I've ever seen. It also showcases some of the worst hair and bad '80s fashion I've ever seen. If I ever have kids they're going to be forced to watch every episode of Degrassi.

2006-06-15T15:16:00.000-05:00

I wish I could say that I've been too busy knitting to post updates but I haven't been very productive lately. In fact, I've picked up my needles only once in the past week and a half, and that was to knit a tank which, surprise, was frogged after several rows when I realized I didn't have enough yarn to complete it. After that failed endeavor, I decided to take a break and spend some time perusing my favorite knitting blogs in hopes of finding ideas for a new project. And as usual, one look at Eunny Jang's blog has me itching to knit again. I discovered Eunny's blog earlier this year and since then I've spent an inordinate amount of time drooling over her finished projects. She is incredibly thorough and detail-oriented and as a result, everything she knits is gorgeous. Did I mention she also writes very informative and in-depth tutorials on complicated knitting techniques? I'll admit that the very thought of attempting a Norwegian steek sends droplets of cold sweat rolling down by back but if I ever dig up the courage to try it, I'm sure her tutorials will guide me through what is sure to be a terrifying experience. I would sell my sweet mother's soul to George W. just to have a tenth of Eunny's talent. Sigh.

2006-06-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Here it is!

Yay! It's so exciting to finally finish something. I'm very pleased with the way Kittyville looks. I was a little nervous because the pattern calls for circular needles which I had never used before. But I think I may have become a circular needle convert; it was so nice not having to purl (except when working the seed stitch) and not having to turn my work at the end of each row. The decrease rows were a bit challenging because I don't own any size US 7 double-pointed needles (dpns) and so I had to use the circulars until I absolutely could not do it anymore (my limit was 20 stitches). At that point, I switched to US 8 dpns and the rest was easy. Unfortunately, Zeb wouldn't let me post pics of him wearing Kittyville so you'll have to settle for one of me instead. Please excuse the blotchy forehead, my skin has been very uncooperative lately...

Now that Kittyville's done, I'm free to go back to agonizing over what to knit...fantastic!

2006-06-05T15:32:00.000-05:00

Finally! After nearly two weeks of wallowing in a seemingly unshakeable funk, I went into a knitting frenzy yesterday and completed about 95% of the Kittyville hat from Stitch & Bitch. I just have to finish knitting both the ears and then I'll be done! I didn't want to knit this hat because it's not the sort of thing I could see myself wearing out of the house. For one thing, my 'fro's getting bigger every day and there's no way I'll be able to fit all of my hair under the hat unless I braid it, which I'm simply too lazy to do. Plus, Kittyville is a really cutesy hat, the sort of thing a 5-year-old might wear. Nothing against the style choices of 5-year-olds (hey, I've seen some with better taste in clothing than most women my age) but I have no desire to look like one. I already look like I'm 16....or so the guy at the bodega down the street tells me. Anyway, after seeing how cute Zeb looks with it on I just might dig up the courage to wear it in public.

I'll be posting pictures as soon as I finish it. You might even get to see the aforementioned Zeb photos...if he doesn't kill me first.

2006-05-30T15:24:00.000-05:00

Lately it seems I've been struck with a particularly nasty bout of knitter's ADD. I keep starting projects and frogging them. Would you believe I started the Dream Swatch and then frogged it after only 8 rows? Granted, I did have a valid reason for doing so: it became clear as things progressed that the yarn I was using wasn't well suited for the pattern. But it still frustrates me that now I don't have a project to work on. And after looking through all my knitting books and patterns several times I still can't find anything to knit. Whenever I find a pattern that interests me, it's either A) I have the yarn but the wrong size knitting needles; B) I have the right size needles but the wrong yarn; or C) I have the right size needles and the right yarn but not enough of it to complete the project. The gods must have cursed me. Grrr!!

2006-05-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

Marilyn is dead. Nearly two weeks worth of work has been unravelled and rolled into three baseball-sized balls of yarn. Really, it was the best thing to do. It's all my fault for not reading through the entire pattern before starting. If I had, I'd have noticed the schematics on the third page which clearly show the final measurements of the front and back panels of the sweater and realized a few days ago that my measurements were WAY off. But you know what, it's a learning experience and now I know what NOT to do next time I knit a sweater. I don't know if Marilyn will ever come into existence because at this point, I don't think I can bear starting the pattern a third time. I'm ready to try something new.

Perhaps this? Yes, it's yet another scarf and I need more practice knitting clothing and blah, blah, blah. But it's so pretty! And frankly, after all the wasted effort put into Simply Marilyn I want something that will take me less than a week to finish. I have a small ball of Diakeito yarn that's a bluish-green with flecks of gold which would be absolutely perfect for this. I saw it at Seaport Yarns and fell in love with it, but couldn't justify buying more than one ball because it costs $13. Although I don't think it'd be suitable for anything that required more than one or two balls of it because it's so shimmery. Which is beautiful in small doses but tacky otherwise.

2006-05-16T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm such a fickle knitter. Less than a week with Marilyn and I'm already hankering for a new project. How I am ever going to finish an entire garment when I've got such a wandering eye is beyond me. It's not helping that the Spring issue of Knitty is finally up and Anatolia is beckoning. The pattern isn't really my style but I love the shape of the sweater.

To be honest, I'm not too happy with this issue of Knitty. The patterns are nice enough but there wasn't anything that really grabbed me. The only patterns that interest me are Anatolia and Hedera which is odd when you consider that usually in each issue of Knitty, there are 10 items that I simply HAVE to make. Oh well, I guess that's a good thing because I have enough knitting to deal with at the moment and shouldn't be starting any new projects for a while.

2006-05-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

What a weekend. I spent the entire weekend indoors working on Simply Marilyn. The good news is that for the first time in a while, I got in a good 4 hours of knitting time and made quite a bit of progress on Simply Marilyn. The bad news? I had to frog it. And start ALL OVER AGAIN!!!! Ack!

At first I blamed the somewhat ambiguous pattern instructions for leading me astray. But now I'm beginning to suspect that I didn't get the proper gauge before starting the project. The pattern calls for US 10 1/2 and 10 needles, but I decided to use size 9s instead because (a) I broke my 14" size 10s and didn't think it would be wise to knit a sweater on my short 10s; and (b) I've seen a few versions of the sweater that were knit on smaller needles and preferred the look. I vaguely remember knitting a swatch on size 9s and getting an accurate gauge but I probably imagined it. Serves me right for being so impatient!

In case there's anyone reading who is yet to witness the beauty that is Simply Marilyn, feast your eyes on this.

2006-05-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

After a brief knitting hiatus I'm back to knitting again and it feels fantastic. I resumed work on my Simply Marilyn sweater last night and after knitting a few rows I remembered why I became addicted to knitting in the first place. Not only does it have the power to completely relax me but it's extremely gratifying to create something with just two needles and a few balls of yarn. I don't really know why I haven't picked up my needles in the past couple of weeks...I guess I've been in a weird funk lately and haven't felt like doing anything creative. Thank god that's over!

I'm only a few rows into Simply Marilyn but it's turning out to be an easy knit. Of course, I may eat my words as things progress but I'm hoping things will stay as easy as they've been so far.

2006-05-11T13:44:00.000-05:00

So here it is.

My very own knitting blog.

I started this blog because I got tired of reading about everyone else's knitting adventures and wanted a place where I could chronicle and share my own with the world. Or at least, anyone who's interested. I also realized that I needed to spend my free time at work doing something more constructive than perusing celebrity trash blogs (riveting though they may be) and figured this would be a much better use of my time. I don't really mind if no one reads this, although it would be nice. I'm not doing this for the fame, but for the glory.

I'll try to keep this as knitting related as I can, although it's quite possible that occasionally I'll slip in a few posts about my other interests in here. But don't worry, I'll keep those short.