Knitbloggers' Vacation Anyone ?

I'm off to DC for a fun-filled weekend with my sister,cousins, and best friend. If you hear news reports about chaos and destruction in DC, that just us reeking havoc on the town. It's going to be fun.

Before I go I thought I'd share an idea with you. I usually plan my big vacations a year in advance so I can set my calendar and start saving my money. I plan on doing the Maryland Sheep & Wool as a weekend trip but I also thought about taking a trip to a city, maybe NYC, that has a lot of good fabric and yarn shops just to do a lot of good shopping. Then I got to thinking about who I would invite. So I thought, I've met all these great people since I started blogging but I've actually never met any of the them (with the exception of Nik) and how nice it would be if we could all get together in one place so that all of us could meet.

Here's the idea. I am thinking of organizing a trip for next summer to a centrally located city where all of us could get some hotel rooms, lay around the pool or on a beach, go to a good restuarant or two, knit, swap some yarn, and visit a few local knit shops. I want it to be a real leisurely vacation so I wouldn't want to center it around a sheep& wool festival or a stitches east/west thingie. Nor do I really want to try and take workshops or have people/companies trying to force their products on me. More of a girl's weekend, but instead a knitter's weekend, since boys are invited too.

What do you think? Do you think people would come? If so, where should it be? California, New York City,Atlanta, Chicago,The Carolinas, Florida? Spread the word and ask your knittie/craftie/sewy/bloggy friends to leave a comment. If enough people are interested then I think I'll do it.

Bill's Friendly Tip

Today's Friendly Tip comes from my sister, Bill (that's her nickname for those that don't know). I found this lovely note in my inbox yesterday . The friendly tip is actually only the first 3 sentences of the email but I'd thought you'd enjoy the email unedited and in its entirety. Bill is a true character. She'll probably hurt me when she see this but I couldn't resist.


Friendly Tip #9

You have truly lost your everlasting mind!!!! Never claim a man on the internet that doesn't even know you are alive. You never know who may see your site and may think you are a weirdo!!! I also would like the sweater on your site that is black with the colored specks in it. I will take it in a large and possible in a bright yellow color with the specks too. You think you could have that for me by ...... Nov. 27, 2005??? Just think.... I am willing to do free advertisement for you just because you are my big head sister. Aren't I so kind. I am even willing to by my own yarn!!! Boy I just love having a sister that knits and sews all for the low low price of FREE Ninety-nine!!!!! Yee Haw Cowboys!!!!!

Socktoberfest

I want to thank everyone for all your get well wishes. I think the sudden illness has to do with the fact that the temperature went from 85 degress to 60 degrees in the matter of a day. It's definitely fall now.

Time for hats, scarves,mittens, closed-toed shoes, and .....SOCKS!

And without further ado here are the Socktoberfest socks in all their splendor and glory.






I made these on US3. For the first sock I used my Bryspun dpns. On the second I used an Addi Turbo using the Magic Loop method. Next time I think I will use US2 for a denser knit, although I'm not sure how much difference that would make when it's only a .25mm difference in needle size.

I would have to say that I think I prefer the Magic Loop method over the dpns. The very first sock I ever made I used the 2 circ method and hated it. All that sliding was annoying so I went back to the dpns. I decided to try the magic loop on this sock and although there is still some sliding involved, it's tolerable.

As far as the short-row heels, I like these best. I do not like the look of a heel flap. That's not the way socks look when you buy them at the store and therefore I refuse to make heel flap socks. Plus I don't like picking up stitches. The only problem with short row heels is that I had to come up with a method that doesn't have holes. It doesn't look all-together correct, but there are no holes and that's what I like best. I have followed every pattern variation on the web (Wendy's Short row method, the comfy sock method, etc) but they all produce holes. If you know of a way to do the short-row method as they instruct without the holes let me know.

Sniff Sniff

Some people spend their weekends doing fun things like going outside, shopping,etc. But me....I spend my weekends sick and sitting on the couch. Noooo...I don't get sick during the week when I can use a sick day. I get sick on my own time. What is my body thinking?!?



So as I sniffled, I sat on the couch and spent a little time with my new man, Wentworth . Yep, Freddie has been replaced. Now my man Wentworth....we got a little thing going on. On Sunday we spent a few hours together during the Prison Break marathon on FX. You might have also seen him on a few Mariah Carey videos, but don't worry. Those were just videos, he's really all mine. (Now I have to just find him and let him know that.)



On the knitting front, I finished the front of the Lacy Top and I finished my Koigu Toe-up Ribbed Socks. While watching Monday's new episode of Prison Break, I blocked the front and back pieces. I'm going to start on the sleeves. I'll post a picture of my socks when I can get some decent lighting to take a good picture.

I'm off to dope myself up with some Nyquil and have sweet dreams of me and Wentworth.

Strike Two

Strike Two is for Vogue Knitting and that craptastic issue they have just released. It is chock full of complete and total garbage. With the exception of one pattern that I would think of knitting, that horrible 70's/80's retro mess is disappointing. They have one more time to publish another garbage issue and I'm staging a protest. And when did knitted pillows become the big thing?


I'm in kind of a snit. (Can you tell?) Work has been...well...it's just been. I'm too tired to even think about it. I haven't turned on my computer at home since Sunday. The hope of a good VK issue was the only highlight of my week. That dream was crushed as I flipped through it while at Borders.

One good thing....



...it's Beth. She's all done. The armholes are a little small but I'm not in the mood to undo a thing so instead I weaved in a ton of ends and seamed it up. It was 85 degrees here but hopefully it will be cool enough in DC next week for me to wear it.

I plan to finish my Koigu socks this weekend and then maybe the Lacy Sweater. Oh...and maybe clean up my apartment. Yeah...that would be a good idea.

Complements

Out of all the sweaters I made last year, this sweater was the one that recieved the most complements.


What's funny is that this was probably the cheapest sweater I've ever made. Courtesy of some LB Wool-ease Thick & Quick and Homespun, I made the Charity pattern from the Rowan Ribbon Twist Collection. Never one to pay over $100 to make a sweater, I decided to come up with some knock-off Ribbon Twist. I sporadically worked in some Homespun with the Thick & Quick. Thick & Quick tends to pill and get all fuzzy but if you can get past that, it's great. What's also funny is that I only think Homespun is good for afghans and despise it for clothing, but I guess it does have it's purposes.

I wore that sweater for the first time on a trip to Wash.DC, last year in October. Since I'm going to DC again at the end of this October, I decided to make the other Ribbon Twist sweater I like so I can take it with me. This is the Beth pattern.



I finished the back piece this afternoon, while watching Lord of the Rings.


I also finished the back of the Rebecca Lacy Sweater last night. Well actually it was 3am this morning but at least I have something to show for my insomnia.


I'm off to work on my sock and then go to a book club meeting. We read The Alchemist which is a really good book. If you ever have a chance to read it you should. It's very motivational and it just may move me to finally work on my dream to get my fashion design company off the ground.

Socktoberfest

I've joined Lauren's Socktoberfest. I needed a break from all the cabling and decided to work on my socks.



Here is my first Koigu sock all finished. Now brace yourself. I'm about to say something blasphemous. Yesterday Kathy asked me if I thought the Koigu is worth it. My answer: Nope. I think it's overrated. They have nice colorways which may be part of the hype but I don't really like the nubby texture. I prefer Knitpicks or Regia better.

Now onto this swatching and gauging thing. I was almost done with the back of the Rebecca Cable Sweater when I realized it was WAY too big. So after 5 minutes of pouting, I ripped the whole thing out. I'm going to start it at the end of the month.

Instead I started this sweater.



I started the ribbing and it was WAY to small. So after another ripping session, I swatched and gauged it correctly. Although I hate swatching, I shouldn't try to avoid it. I have to confess that I never swatched for anything until about March of this year.

It's Fall Y'all !

I know fall started on Sept. 22 but it didn't feel like it here until this week. We've been suffering from a drought and when the long await rains came this week, it brought fall along for the ride. The temperatures are dropping and the skies are dreary. The leaves haven't changed yet but I guess that is on the way.

With the onset of the season, I've decided to get cracking on my sweater knitting. And hopefully it will all come from stash. I've decided that I can't buy any more yarn until after Christmas. With the size of my stash it's doesn't make any sense to get anything new. Of course there is one exception. I'm going to DC at the end of the month and I have to stop into StitchDC since their variety is different from what we have here.

Here are my latest stash enhancements and the reason my guilt has resulted in my yarn-buying restrictions.



First there is some yarns for scarves. The pink colorway of the James Brett Marble yarn, 2 skiens of LB Landscapes, and my favorite, some Katia Nepal.





The other photo is of some laceweights from handpainted yarns . I have two different colorways, Stonechat and Loro Barranquerro. 800 yards for $5.60 each. I love that.

I also acquired some Alpaca Cloud and Dyeable sock yarn from Knitpicks. I think I've bought more than enough yarn.

I don't have any progress shots to show you and this brings me to today's

Friendly Tips for Everyday Living

Tip #8

Swatch and gauge, my friends. Swatch and gauge. If you don't you will spend a lot of time knitting something that will turn out to be way too big or way too small. And you will be more than annoyed when you have to rip it out.

More on this tomorrow...

A sense of completion

I did it again. I started fifty-eleven projects and it started to drive me up a wall. So this weekend I made it a priority to finish some things. It rained all weekend so I really had no desire to leave my apartment.

First there was Bill's cropped sweater...DONE! ( I now officially hate this pattern. 2x is 2x too many.)


Then some of the SnB charity projects. A man's hat out of Encore Worsted. I still need to make the matching scarf. The blue scarf is a mistake rib pattern out of James Brett Marble yarn.
(The pic is crappy but it's late so it's the best I could do. I'll try for a better one in the morning.)



There is also the cable purse I'm making. I lined it but I hate how it turned out so I'm going to take it out and make a knitted lining. I'll come back to that when I get some more yarn for it.

I feel a little better now but I still have my Koigu socks and the other Rebecca cable sweater to finish.

I did leave the house for a little while to go to the Moonlight Madness sale at AC Moore. Thanks to Nik and her nifty little Friends & Family discount, I got some scarf yarns for 45% off. Tomorrow I'll take some pics to show you all what I bought.

Late Nights w/ Freddie Prinze Jr.

Yes....this girl loves her some Freddie Prinze Jr.



So much so that I stayed up two nights in a row to see him on David Letterman and Conan O'Brien. I love to hear my man Freddie talk. He has this accent that ....wooo. Let's just say I love it. I have this thing for men's voices and accents. Don't ask. I couldn't explain it if I tried.

So while stayin up with my man Freddie I finished these.



They are for a friend's birthday this month. I don't think she reads my blog so I should be safe showing these. The white is my own drop-stitch pattern made of 2 balls of Lion Brand Mystery on size 17s. It measures about 5"x80". The other is made of 2 balls Lion Brand Landscapes on size 15s. It's about 4"x60".

As far as other progress goes, the Rebecca cropped sweater has been blocked and I will have a little seaming party at tonight's SnB. At last night's SnB I started another little project.



Hey Christie....guess what this is going to be?

The toys are fighting.

Somebody's a little jealous.

I missed the deadline.

Remember that secret project I was working on for Knitty. Well, I missed the deadline. I was trying to get the perfect pictures and never had the time or the right light. I thought the deadline was October 9 but it was October 1. Needless to say I'm a little peeved right now. I guess their loss is your gain. When I finally get a good picture and type up the pattern I'll post it for free. I have another idea I want to submit and I have until February 1st for that one. I bet you I don't miss the next deadline.

Moving on....

Some people go to the movies, others go to the club, but here is what I did on my Friday night.
Self-striping yarn. With a little kool-aid and a whole lot of time, I dyed some yarn. I don't know what it looks like knitted up but it should be nice.

But the best part of Friday.....






...my first package from my Secret Pal. My favorite brand of dark chocolate, Ghirardelli, a note pad, and RED Lana Grossa sock yarn. I like this yarn because it's a nice mix of reds and browns and I've never seen this colorway before. I also like the note pad because unlike some people, I don't like Palm Pilots. I like notepads and post-its. I write lists everyday to keep track of what I need to buy and do. Thanks SP!!!