February 8, 2005
Legwarmers...
Moving right along on the cami - 10 1/2 inches completed. I may just get it done it time - I'd still appreciate it if you'd keep your fingers crossed and maybe say a little prayer to the knitting gods just to be on the safe side. I've decided that I need legwarmers. I know, most people immediately flash back to the '80s and have instant negative thoughts, but they're a necessity. I had a meeting yesterday and thought that I should wear a skirt and the always dreaded pantyhose. Let me tell you, not the best idea when it is 10 degrees outside. My legs froze - literally. So I'm thinking some nice nondescript black snuggly legwarmers are the answer to my problems. I'm on the hunt for the perfect pattern, but here are a couple of options (don't freak about about the colors - I've already told you I'll do something in black): The first one is from Hollywood Knits Style and the second is from knitty.com. What do you think?
My fabric for my curtains shipped today (yippee) so I should have it by Friday and maybe my mom can come help me on Sunday (still have to check with her). I'd do it on Saturday, but that's the day of the karate tournament so that day will be shot. I hope all goes well with that, but why oh why did I ever agree to enter the sparring. I hate sparring. I'm going to get beat up and it's gonna hurt. Oh woe is me! :)
My sister liked her hat!!!!! :) The smaller one fit better, and I am oh so glad I knitted the second one to send to her too. She is the one who doesn't like anything wool, but she actually liked this, even said it was soft. The hat was my first attempt at making something for someone else (other than a scarf my mom picked out the yarn for) and boy was I nervous. It's kind of like you put a little piece of yourself out there and if the recipient doesn't like it it some how reflects on you personally. Now logically I know that isn't really true, but that's how I feel about giving handmade gifts. The relief here is that I think Stacy truly likes her hat.
Posted by Stephanie at 9:10 AMFebruary 4, 2005
Next...
It's Friday and I am so glad. I'm really hoping my new yarn comes today so I can get started on the cami, but if not I know my package with the scarf yarn is at the post office and Travis is going to pick it up today. It really is rather difficult to work in a different town from where you live and receive your mail. Oh well, it just means I have to rely on my husband to do some of my errands. Such requests are not always well received nor are the results reliable, but I always appreciate him trying. I'll take pictures of the yarn for you when it arrives. :)
I finished my sister's hat last night and it is really cute, but too large. I washed it in hot water this morning and dried it for about 20 minutes and it seems to have shrunk a bit, but I'm worried that it will stretch back out when she wears it. I may have to do another one in a smaller size. The yarn is much stretchier than I imagined and the small size would probably have worked even with her massive amount of hair. Yeah, she's evil - thick naturally curly hair, but I still love her. Here us a rather dark picture of the hat before I sewed it together. It's curling, but those are 4 points. The finishing was quite easy and different since it was sewn together with the right sides facing - something I haven't tried before. Anyway, here are some photos of the finished project. I really like the color and style, but am very disappointed in the size. Oh well, the good news is that it was a fairly quick project so if it doesn't work for her it won't take me very long to do another one.
I am excited that I will get the curtains on one window hung this weekend and will have a bit of time to play around with the furniture placement in my dining room. I've been looking at kitchen cabinet hardware because when I paint that room I want to replace the hardware and light fixtures to give it a more rustic/western feel. There's always something I can't wait to spend money on!!
Posted by Stephanie at 10:46 AMFebruary 3, 2005
Some People
My brother-in-law is getting married this summer and if we survive the wedding, it will be a miracle. I really don't know why people think that planning a large (like 500 people) event is no big deal and anyone with access to the internet can do it without a problem. Now, I may be a bit biased in this area because my mom is an event planner and does simply fabulous work and when she offered her assistance it was not well received. However, despite all of that, it seems that some people are just clueless. People with no idea or experience in setting up large tents should not try to do it on the day of the wedding with absolutely no professional guidance. Call me crazy, but I see disaster all over that! Anyway, enough of my ranting about trainwreck weddings.
My hat is coming along, but I had to rip out about 5 rows last night - twice. I probably shouldn't have worried about it because the mistake was on an edge stitch, but I wanted it to be right so a rippin' I went. Despite that, I still got one of the 4 V's for the hat shaping finished. By the way, decreasing sucks. I don't generally mind your every day knit 2 together kind of thing, but when you're trying to decrease on the purl side so that the decrease slants in the proper direction on the knit side and you have to do it on each side of every row and the pattern gives you no advise other than "decrease", I get a little cranky. However, thanks to Vogue Knitting I think it came out fine. Only 3 more V's to go - yippee.
I ordered yarn for the honeymoon cami from a wonderful little store in Omaha - Personal Threads. I had no idea finding GGH Mysik would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Not the easiest thing I've ever done - I had to call about 6 stores. I ended up calling Churchmouse Yarns & Teas in Seattle and they found the store in Omaha for me. Very nice people there and wonderful customer service. I'll definately try them again. I finally purchased the required number of balls and hope the color I have in mind is what I get. The lady was very helpful and thought the color she had sounded just like the celedon I was looking for. I sure hope so because I won't have time to send it back if it's wrong. I'm hoping that since it went out UPS yesterday and Omaha is fairly close to me that it will come by tomorrow so I can start on it this weekend. That will give me about 10 -12 days to get it finished before I have to send it off. Yikes - I'll have to burn the midnight oil on this one! Oh well, what is life without a little procrastination and a deadline looming?? :)
Posted by Stephanie at 9:24 AMFebruary 1, 2005
Drumroll Please!
Good news ladies and gents . . . my yarn came! Go ahead, have a little party - I did. It is a wool from Suss Designs. Much finer than what I have been working with, but still pretty soft and such a pretty color. The hat is knit with two strands on size 8 and 10 needles. I also ordered some Muench Naturwolle for the super skinny scarf from Hollywood Knits and the much needed size 15 circular to finish Trav's sweater. I'm trying to decide if I should order the Manos del Uruguay for the My So-Called Scarf or if I should move on to socks and maybe a really cool tote bag. What do you think?
Picked up the iron hooks for the curtains and some dried wheat for the large copper pitcher in my dining room. I'm still not sure which corner of the room the barn wood hutch should be, but I think I'll experiment with that this weekend along with hanging up the curtains. I ordered more curtain fabric first thing yesterday and I'm hopeful it will come by the end of next week. Chances are better if it is shipped through someone other than FedEx Ground! :)
Riley (our Corgi) thought the newly received yarn was a new toy and was really upset when I took it away from him. Isn't he cute? He sat on the ottoman and stared at it while I cooked dinner. That's why I love him so much - he can always make me smile.
It's been cold here the last couple of days. We really need snow (or any moisture really), but I wish it would just warm up and rain rather than stay cold and snow. I know, I know, beggars can't be choosers, but I can still complain!
I started on Stacy's hat last night after I got my yarn wound into balls. I think it is going to be sooo cute! The ribbing is K1, P1 and I was kind of dreading it. But I have to say, ribbing isn't bad. I don't know if it's because I knit continental or if it's just that I'm weird, but it was kind of fun! What do you think of my efforts? I'm hoping to get it finished this weekend and in the mail to her because she's leaving on a trip next Wednesday and I'd really like her to have it before she goes. I think it will go pretty quickly because now I switch to the size 10 needles and knit in stockinette stitch for a while. I'll let you know how it goes.
Posted by Stephanie at 8:31 AM
