Friday Updates

Just a few photo updates. I must be in a funk, because none of these seems very exciting right now. In fact, after I finish with this post I'll fiddle with my spinning instead. Or take a nap with the cat.

Hubby Socks - just past the ball of the foot now, and I decided to add 2x2 ribbing on the topside.


Felted Basket - so far its a blob of brown knitting, but the bottom is done.


Clapotis - Something a little prettier than the blocking pic.

Muir - it really doesn't look much different, so I'm not posting a new picture.

New Projects on the Needles

Last week I culled my Ravelry queue to things I'd like to start in the next couple of months, plus a few items that don't have a 'favorite' option. I leave those in my queue so I know where to find the patterns, remember the pattern names, and so forth. So I ended up with a nice tidy list of 9 projects. And then I promptly cast on for 2 projects that I didn't even have in my queue. Hey, I'm the boss of my knitting, right?



One is a pair of basic toe up socks for Hubby, he's been hinting about, and keeps mentioning how much he likes the first pair I made him. I'd been ignoring the hints, as he wants just basic socks and that's not very exciting to knit, but I finally realized that if I were knitting more socks, things would go much faster/easier with a new set of Addi circulars in size #1. :-) There is another good reason for these socks as well, my second project is a lace shawl, Muir, my first all lace project and I know it's a sit and knit quietly project, not a traveling project or a take me to the knitting group project.



I'd been eyeballing both Shipwreck Shawl and Laminaria (ok, I fell in love with the picture of the finished shawl draped over a rock like seaweed) as my first lace projects, I even have the yarn for Laminaria, and I got beads for Shipwreck, but then for some reason I decided I must use up this lace weight 2 ply tencel I've had in my stash for a couple of years. Its a multi color yarn, I wasn't sure how the colors would work out in a lace project, but Muir looked like a good choice to me.

Oh, I decided to block the clapotis, so it's all pinned out right now. I'll get new pictures posted up soon, but for now I need to wrap up, the power company is shutting down power to the neighborhood in a few minutes for some routine maintanace stuff.

Hmmm, where'd my text go?

The picture of the nearly finished Clapotis was sent to blog from my phone, but some how the text portion didn't come along with the picture. And its such a sad story too. Ah well, I'm over it. :-)

Missed it by that much!

Missed it by that much!
Originally uploaded by shelly2dogs

Day of Fools

I am not feeling anywhere near clever enough this morning to even try to pull an April Fool's day stunt, so I won't. Or maybe I will, but after one more cup(s) of coffee. Which reminds me, I really love my hoodie. Pulling it on is a form of instant gratification that contains zero calories, is moral and legal, and just feels darn fantastic. Its like a hug and a happy sigh. Simple in its construction, beautiful in function. ahhhhh... drifting away ...

OK, I'm back now. :-) I'm into the fourth skein of yarn now on my Clapotis, and I love the colorway (and the feel) of the Manos Silk Blend. It reminds me of a foggy winter morning at the beach, or maybe the desert. I'm so enamored of some of the shades that I plan on hand dying some yarn to match, and painting some of the rooms in the house similar colors. (The house does need painting.) The picture with flash shows more blue than I see when I look at this yarn, and the picture under natural room light doesn't show enough blue. Someday I must learn how to correct for this in editing, or get a different camera. ;- )



I think I could have, maybe should have, gone up one or 2 needle sizes to knit this. I'm using US #5, and the gauge is fine, but I think it would be nicer just a little bit looser. Not that I'm frogging this and starting over, I don't feel that strongly about it. I'm anxious to finish, partly because I'm looking forward to wearing this and partly because I'm ready for some other projects.

Just a few days ago, I decided I must knit some warm weather vests now, at least 2, to add to my wardrobe. Something that will work over T's, tanks and camis, with skirts or pants. Yeah, I have it in my head that these vests will revolutionize my idea of my wardrobe. I'm researching patterns now, looking for lightweight simple things that have an open front. Maybe some lace. We'll see. So far I'm considering antique lace, skin of the sea, vine lace, knit a beach, and the sea tangles pullover which is not a vest, but looks very cool. Besides the vest(s), I've a hankering for a wrap sweater, out of the yarn I intend to hand dye. This has me, in the past whenever I've tried on a wrap sweater, I've never really liked them on me, and now I want to knit one, for myself. Maybe this is the ultimate challenge of being the boss of my knitting; to create a garment for myself in a style that normally I don't wear because I never found it flattering, and make it so I like it. I can do this.

I also decided to finaly finish off my Cool Black Sahara. It was put away during the winter, needing only blocking and weaving in ends. I tried it on first, and lo, I want it just a bit longer. Started weaving in tails and found that the trim on the sleeves don't match, one side has a longer trim than the other, but not an entire pattern repeat longer. Maybe I used different needle sizes? I'm not sure at this point, but will most likely end up frogging and reknitting one side to get them to match. Or maybe both sides to get them to match.

Other random things; I have a partial essay on time in my head that I need to write down, the orioles are back making a hanging basket nest under the eaves (painting the eaves now has to wait until nesting season is over), while we may have had more rain this season than last, I see fewer wildflowers on the hillside. Perhaps it has something to do with the spacing of the rains. I want to plant some flowers and shrubs in the yard, but I'm afraid to commit since it's likely we'll be asked to ration water this summer.

Clapotis on a Sunday

Clapotis on a Sunday
Originally uploaded by shelly2dogs

For some reason, I like getting up a bit early on Sundays. No matter how much I was convinced the night before that come Sunday morning I'd be snoozing away past 8 a.m. (yes, for me that's sleeping in), I find my eyes opening by 6. But I don't mind. I like the quiet of early Sunday morning. Traffic noises are few, and seem in no hurry to waft over the hill, the house is still except for occasional creaks and pops, and the birds outside are conducting their daily roll call and warm ups. It's just me, my knitting, my cat and my coffee.

Hootie Kitty is an superb lap warmer, although she believes my early morning meditation would be better spent in kitty appreciation and petting and not clapotis knitting. I've completed the increase section of the pattern and am now working away at the straight rows section. Did I already mention that I bought 5 skeins of yarn so I wouldn't need to work the math for the 5 sections of the pattern?

Pardon the photo quality, the cell phone cam doesn't work so great in low light situations.

Hoody done, clapotis for fun

Hoody done, clapotis for fun
Originally uploaded by shelly2dogs

Yay yay yay, my hoody is done and I love it. Pictures coming soon. I started a clapotis yesterday, using delicious Manos silk wool blend.

Knitting Updates

Hmm, I've been pretty delinquent in posting about any of my knitting projects, haven't I? I am still working on my Sahara top; body all done (I re knit the neckline lace in a different yarn), left sleeve all done (except I'm going to rip it out because I forgot to pick up the wrapped stitches at the shoulder) and the right sleeve 2 inches shy of starting the lace edging. Thank goodness this is a top down pattern. Early on after I finished the body I decided it was too long and I just didn't like the curving hemline this time. So I ripped back to just past the wrap and turn hem shaping and then just continued with the lace edging.


This project really has been a work in progress, as I seem to keep reworking it as I progress. I found some yarn at a lys sale that I thought would make a great accent along the neckline and sleeves, so I ended up pulling out most of the neckline trim and re knitting it with the new yarn. I considered doing all the lace trim in the accent yarn, but changed my mind. My backside is pretty good at making its presence known without extra help. :-) Maybe this project will finish up before New Year's Eve. I keep thinking about the perfect skirt to pair it with. BTW, I don't remember the last time I went anywhere for New Year's Eve.


I finished a pair of socks that started clear back in March. I didn't realize they'd been so long in the making. They came out a little large for me, but will be perfect for my sister, Marci. Cool. I think I'll send along the Blue Heron Clapotis as well. While I love the colors, every time I wear it I feel a bit overwhelmed by them, and I made the wrap a bit too long as well. Marci is taller and has darker coloring, and I think it will look just perfect on her! But I'll need to cast on another Clap soon, I want to make sure I have a replacement!

With the holidays on the way, I'm getting the urge to start some gift knitting (ummm, another reason why the socks and the Clap are soooo right for my sister). But I also want to finish up my Sahara, start on a hoody sweatshirt, felted bag, wristwarmers and croc warmers for moi, plus get a bit more charity knitting done. So many choices. Lets not forget finish scouring the fleeces. I'll muddle along, maybe postpone most of the knitting for me (must make the bag!), the weather has been so crazy here that I'd be way too warm in almost anything wool. In today's paper

Below are pictures of some of the batts I've carded up with the drum carder. This first one is cormo cross, and whatever was left on the carder when Kelie used it. She doesn't know what it is either, but it gives a pretty heathery look to the batt.

The next picture show batts of merino cross, cormo cross and rambouillet. I wasn't really keeping track of what I used, just trying to get experience with the drum carder. I especially liked the way the rambouillet worked out, so so soft and fluffy. Now, I need to try spinning some of them!

And this last pic is the few oz of not-very-good merino cross fleece I got for very cheap. I think tossed half of it. The resulting batts have been carded twice, and could benefit from one more go, but I'm just going to use them as they are.

Clapotis - Complete!

Yes, yes, the beautiful Clapotis is finished! And rayon is just right for cool, coastal summer evenings. I got lazy and just kept knitting straight rows, rather than grab the pattern and start the decrease rows, so it came out a bit long, more like a shawl. I'm wearing it right now over my pajamas and I love it. I know I'll be making another, or 3; one for colder weather and one to send to my sister at least.

I'm busy swatching away, I want to knit a summer top with some Elann Soie Bambou I bought a few months ago. I have a short list of potential patterns, I just need to see how the gauge works out.

After I figure out what top I'm knitting, I want to start a lace project, Laminaria. I haven't really done any lace work yet, and I suspect once I start I'll only be working on it while I'm in the mood. Sometimes I knit to keep my hands occupied, and sometimes I knit because I need to keep my mind occupied. I'll be using Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino.

Lately, I've been thinking about spinning, and buying a spinning wheel. I really didn't expect to care about spinning, but the idea just won't go away. And I want to play around with hand dying my yarns too. I ordered about a kilo of un-dyed corridale from Uruguay, it'll probably be a month before it gets here. I keep wanting certain colorways and yarn weights for certain projects and I'm not finding what I want. Maybe, I just need to make what I want.

Speaking of wanting things, I've been yearning for alpacas for about 5 years now, ever since I met some in person. And I hadn't even started knitting at that point. Hmmm, I wonder if learning to knit is my sub conscience trying to move me closer to alpacas. We have a couple of acres, I'd only need a couple of fiber beasts... Seems kinda silly considering I've hardly knit with alpaca at all, maybe a beaning I sent to my sister.(ok, I must be getting tired, I didn't bean my sister, I sent her a beanie.) Oh, and yesterday Offspring #2 told me that there are some alpacas and a llama living not to far from here, within walking distance. I must go meet them!

Last but not least, this Saturday is Knit in Public day. Go out and git ur knit on! We'll be out in the Lumberyard courtyard in Encinitas starting around mid-day. Not that I've ever been shy about knitting in public, or need any excuse to do so.

new pictures

This picture doesn't due justice to the beautiful colorway of this Blue Heron yarn. But at least I can give you an idea of how the Clapotis is coming along. No doubt I'll be starting another soon after this one is done.

Early this week I frogged the hideous hoodie in order to liberate the lovely yarn trapped therein. While the hideous hoodie was completely functional, it fit like a potato sack, and I felt that the lovely Malabrigio merino handspun would be better showcased elsewhere. It really is so beautiful in hanks that I might just make a yarn tree to hang it from and display it as art. The Manos del Uruguay was liberated at the same time, its nice, but not in the same league. Perhaps a felted project.

While shopping at my local Trader Joe's I found Peony blossoms in their cut flower section. I've admired pictures before, but don't think I've ever seen them up close. So now I have 5 stems in a vase here, and the flowers are fantastic. The buds started as tight pink globes, and as they open they get showier and showier, changing color and revealing the ruffled petals near the center. And they smell good, too! I'm pretty sure the shrubs won't grow around here, so I'll just have to enjoy them while I can. My favorite flower is now a Peony!

I'm way behind

I really do have updates on my projects, but haven't taken any time with blogging. Work on the Clapotis continues, it was a very good travel project. No progress at all on the Curbing Bag, slight progress on the toe up socks, but inches to go before starting the heel gusset. I've frogged my very first garment, a rather shapeless hoodie, and will use the lovely yarn for something else.

Travel Time!

Tuesday I head out for Knoxville, Tn. This is another Destination ImagiNation trip, so I'll be traveling with five 17 year old boys and the team manager. It was a hoot last year. You can click on the link, opening and closing ceremonies will be web cast live!

Travel without knitting projects is not an option, I'll take along the socks I started a few months ago, and I've just started a Clapotis as a take along project as well. Not that I expect to have any need of a scarf at this time of year in Knoxville. I splurged (really splurged!) and bought 2 skeins of Blue Heron Rayon Beads for this project. I fell in love with the colorway. I've actually cast on about 4 times and ripped back, I think I've got a good start now. One thing scares me, what if I forget to twist a stitch somewhere?