MD Sheep and Wool

Last weekend, I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool and it was awesome.

I was going to take lots of pictures of its awesomeness, but the battery on my camera was dead, so that didn't happen.

I bought lots of yarn. Hopefully this weekend I'll replace the camera battery and show you pictures of said yarn.

Second sweater sleeve is coming along nicely. My goal is to finish this thing before June 4.

That might seem arbitrary to you, but that's when summer classes start, and once that happens, I will have no time until, like, Christmas for knitting.

Knitting!

I've been knitting again! And I'm going to Sheep and Wool next weekend!

Here's my pretty Peace Fleece replacement needles from the lovely Ellie.











Here's the sweater I'm working on! I've done a lot in a just a few weeks. Too bad it's way too hot to wear! I'm doing a seamless yoke cardigan from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns

Here the lovely yarn, a gift from my friend Sarah. Lamb's Pride and Handpaint Originals-- very lovely:

Here's the body-- it's knit in one piece up until the sleeves...

Here's a close up of the striping pattern and border. I'm doing seed stitch and stripes of the Handpaint Originals. I'll do a lot of stripes when I get to the yoke.

And here's the first sleeve, ready to be added in to the body to knit the yoke, once I get the other sleeve done...

And here's the other sleeve, in the very beginning stages.

Here's a baby bonnet for someone at work. I'm knit it in Calmer.

It's from Erika Knight's Knitting for Two. Here's a detail of the back: I need to put some lovely brown velvet ribbon bows and ties on it... yummy.

And what I promise will one day be a teddy bear, once I sew it up and stuff it. It's from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss.

Look! The sweater I knit for Denise's new little one!

So, I tried an experiment in felting. I made a crazy ball of Peace Fleece and knit myself a giant rectangle of linen stitch for a pillow? Maybe?

And here's the result after felting... ummm... not so good. Maybe another trip and it could be a scarf? Maybe. Ugh.

The stitches turned out kinda neat... I forgot about the mohair halo. D'oh.

Yarn Stores

I went to Stitch DC in Georgetown yesterday morning. It was pretty nice-- I fell in love with 225 yards of lace weight cashmere in beautiful colors. There may still be a little puddle of drool on the floor. The price tag kept it firmly on the shelf though, and not in my yarn stash.

But the store made me realize something that I really miss about the Midwest-- large yarn stores. Rent is much out East these days that yarn stores are small with a higher markup. Ah well, what am I going to do? I shouldn't be buying yarn anyway-- gotta stick to the stash diet!

GAH

I need to get off my duff and take some pictures to share with y'all.

But I finished knitting the teddy bear. There's a lot of finishing that needs to be done but for knitting I picked up a crazy ball yarn felted pillow project that I've been working on for awhile now (it's my between projects project).

I started whitening my teeth today. Now they're hyper-sensitive. Blargh.

Curing the Slump?

I really need to dig out the USB cable and my camera.

But I think that maybe cute girly baby things might be the slump cure.

So, my friends, STOP HAVING BOYS! :)

Argh

I hate knitting slumps and this one has gone on forever.

New pretty needles from a friend? I'm stroking them and loving them, but not knitting with them.

Pretty yarn from multiple friends? See above.

Every few days I'll do another round or two on my legwarmers, but I don't know what my problem is.

My friend Elizabeth just knit the most gorgeous Debbie Abrahams blanket.

I want to knit again! I miss it.

bad me

Man, I'm really out of practice with this blogging thing.

I also need to get the pictures off my camera and onto here!

I'm knitting some legwarmers. They're brown and one is done.

My friend Sarah hooked me up with mad amounts of Lamb's Pride for Christmas.

I got the greatest bunch of needles from a secret awesome person who's real-life identity I've uncovered. ;) LOVE HER.

I also got the new KnitPicks Options needle things, but I haven't used 'em yet.

Oh, Wow

Peace Fleece Knitting Needle Replacement Squad? I don't know what to say, except wow. I am humbled and thankful and whomever you are, your kindness made me cry (but you know, in that good way).

THANK YOU!

SADNESS

Oh, it looks like the vast majority of my knitting needles did, indeed, disappear during the move.

I can't find them. Anywhere. Just gone gone gone gone gone.

That full set of Peace Fleece straights I bought last spring? Gone.

My half dozen sets of Lantern Moons? Gone.

Those dozen Addi Turbos? Gone.

All my Brittanys? Gone.

Crochet hooks? Gone.

Double Points? Gone.

All my other needles? GONE GONE GONE.

*sob*

I KNOW!

Ack, HolyKnitter, I know, I know. Part of me telling you I wanted to update once a week was so y'all could ride me when I didn't!

Knitting update:
Secret Knitting is done. And about to not be a secret because ANN ARBOR! I NEED DENISE'S ADDRESS! Or hey! Denise! I need your address!

I'm working on the UFO Rebecca Wrap. Miles of Brioche Stitch = done! First sleeve = done! YAY! Second sleeve is almost up to the bit where I start increasing. Then sewing in the sleeves.

I'm looking for a good pattern for a sweater done in a fingering weight yarn. Preferably a stripey cardigan. I know. I'll have to design it myself. Poo.

I have some knitting books to review, too.

Thai Prisons+Mattress Stitch+Wine=Love

Ok, so, one of my resolutions this year is to update this every week.

So, what have I been up to? Well, I've been in a bit of a slump lately. I'm not sure why, and with school and work, I almost didn't realize it. I've started up again, but what I'm working on is a big fat secret, because it's a long overdue present. When I started it, it was not at all near overdue, but now, woo-boy.

So that's the knitting front. Plus, I still haven't found my knitting needles that got lost in the move. I know they're somewhere in some box in the attic.

But, last night was all about a bottle of merlot, Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason, and mattress stitching up seams on the secret knitting.

I also knit some rows on the Rebecca wrap that has been languishing forever. Woot! Maybe my slump is nearing an end? Let's hope so.

Yes, I am alive

Sorry...

I finished Dan's socks.

My other knitting is a BIG FAT SECRET. But I haven't been doing a lot of it.

School is keeping me crazy-busy.

As is work.

You can still check me out at Biblio File. I have to read all the time for work, so that's fairly current.

For something to read while on the metro to SnB...

Chicks with Sticks: It's a Purl Thing by Elizabeth Lenhard is a cute book about four teenagers who find each other and friendship through knitting. It's not an earth-shattering work of literary greatness, but it's sweet and a quick read and has some nice patterns in the back for. Obviously written by someone who loves yarn a little too much (as we do).

OIY!

Hey look! I do exsist! Check out what my awesome secret pal gave me! You should check out Holly Jo's blog!




There are some pretty postcards of Alaska (where she's from), some neat sock yarn and double points and this super neat pouch to hold me knitting as I walk around and stuff. And some really pretty stitch markers in the beautiful jewelry pouch.



Also, here's what my Knit the Classics Swap Partner gave me:




That's a lot of different types of tea, Stolen Tongue, candy, pretty yarn, and gerbil treats.

I'm here!

Not a lot new on the knitting front. The big news is, we bought a house and moved to Arlington last week. I'm slowly unearthing all my yarn and books and everything. Not a lot of blog about (maybe the ever-growing pile of flattened boxes?) BUT! I now have more yarn storage and a guest bedroom complete with bed that can have things blocking on it for a few days!!!

Swank.

It also has a jumbo kitchen to entertain all of my cooking and entertaining fantasies.

One of these days, I'll return to Stitch 'n Bitch. But it might be a few more weeks yet.

OH! But I got an awesome package from my Knit the Classics swap partner and I'll fully blog about that later when I find my camera.

Adventures in the Great Beyond

Oh yeah, it's a bajillion degress and I've been wearing a scarf for the last few days? Why? Because my most awesomest of secret pals made it for me for my BIRTHDAY. And it was one of those super awesome presents that actually gets there ON your birthday! It's the falling leaves scarf from Knitty and her FIRST EVER lace project and she gave it to ME! I'm so super honored. And it's so super-pretty!

The first picture, Dan took because he was sick of me hogging the bathroom mirror while he was trying to brush his teeth. But I forgot to turn the flash back on. Silly me.

Check it out!



AND! A ball of Kid Silk Haze. Yummy.



Yesterday, one of my knitting coworkers was all excited because she's planning on knitting the same pattern in a similiar yarn and was happy to see how nice it looked!

And I went to Florida 2 weekends ago now.

My flight was super delayed. Stupid Southwest. Instead of getting in at midnight, I LEFT at 12:30. I got to Ali's house around 4am. BUT! When I woke up and turned over in bed, this is what I saw. (Except it was really sunny out)



I am a northern girl through and through, but I don't know why that girl ever moved to Iowa. (She explains, "We didn't live in this house then")





Mary's sock enjoyed the Devil Ray's game!



So did Ali's cowbell!



Then last week a dear friend from England came. We went out for my birthday with other friends. Dan took us all to West Virginia where we hung out in a cabin in the mountains and played horseshoes and laid about in hammocks and grilled out and had fires and made s'mores and played putt putt. And it was AWESOME.

Also,

Fun things about knitting friends moving to Hawai'i. They give you all their Alpaca yarn from Peru. And some random Peace Fleece. And other Wool-Ease. SWEET.



Fun things I saw walking through Silver Spring on my way to the metro stop to go to my birthday dinner party thing.





But OH NO! What's that eating the Discovery Channel Building?!




Du dum. Du dum.



dudumdudumdudumdudumdudumdudum



DUM!!!!! IT'S SHARK WEEK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!



AND! There's even been some knitting. Look! I'm almost done turning the heel. And everyone should note that this is the SECOND sock.

Sock Hell

As soon as I posted about my knitting slump, it went away. I finished the angora lace scarf (no pix yet, soonish)

I got more re-enforcement for Dan's sock, so I cast on and last Sunday at knitting group, I got all the way to the heel-turning bit (huh, I just mistpyed and wrote hell-turning... Hello? Dr. Freud?) Anyway... my hands were getting tired so that night while watching TV, I went to tighten the toe stitches (because they're toe-up and tightening of the figure-8 cast on is very important) and... I somehow completely pants it up.

So I ripped the whole damn thing out. And started again. I'm still on my toe increases. Grrrrrr.

But tomorrow night, I'm going for a girl's weekend in Florida and it will be awesome.

And next Thursday, I won't be at work... until the following Tuesday. Just celebrating my birthday and hanging out with faraway friends. I can't wait.

Rain, Rain GO AWAY

Guess what! I do still exsist! Who knew? Lately, there have been several out-of-town guests. And lots of house-hunting. But really? I've just been in a really lazy mood these past few weeks. I blame the weather.

BUT!!!

I got a new package from my secret pal last weekend!!!!



I would like to confess that those candy boxes are empty. Because I like sugar.

I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove this sweater from the RYC book and wish to make it at some point. But I need to wait until I have the $$$$ so I can do it right in the cashcotton. Or maybe whatever they're calling their wool/cashmere blend.




Well, I bet you know that a few weeks ago, we got more rain than we could handle. This is the stream across the street from my house.



That was taken a few days after the water level had started to go down a bit. They closed my street for awhile because of flooding and the creek did take out a bridge and a bunch of trees, so it had to have been several feet higher at least for a brief bit. (Can we say "flash flood" boys and girls?) Usually, the things is only 2-3 feet deep, so impressive.

Here is Bitey the Wonder Gerbil enjoying her gerbil treat from my secret pal.



Chloe enjoys it as well!



I haven't been knitting a lot lately. I don't think I'm in a knitting slump so much as a "anything that's not lying around and watching TV" slump. But, the scarf is slowly growing.

HELLO DC!

I got a package from my secret pal this weekend!!!! PRETTY!!!!



There was a lot more candy, but a chunk of it is now IN MY BELLY. Plus some gerbil treats and Folk Shawls, and some pretty pretty KnitPicks alpaca in a lovely sea green. The amazing thing is, that I just got a few skeins of this stuff to play around with and found a pattern I'm interested in but was a skein short! And now I'm not! Same color! Same dyelot!

People of the world, take note: MY SECRET PAL HAS A SCARY TELEPATHIC CONNECTION TO MY BRAIN.

Kinda cool, no?

I finished up the Christmas stocking and am currently knitting a lace scarf with 133 yards to 100% angora in bright red...



So here's the original Christmas stocking.



And here's mine, all nice and done!



See the front...



Here's a close up of the Christmas tree with sequin ornaments:

Panic on the Streets of London

Flickr's and Blogger haven't been playing nicely together lately. Or maybe they both hate me, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm working on the pillow from that kit I won at Amy's Olympic Closing party



It's a nice pattern, but the chart for the smaller pillow is just plain... wrong. The website doesn't have corrections, so I'm keeping a list to send to them when I'm done.

That said, I want to knit it again, and probably will. I'm thinking I'll do the big 10 color version with all my peace fleece scraps I have lying around.



But this weekend, I need to finish up the Christmas stocking-- just blocking and ends to weave in and whatnot.

Life is pretty boring here these days. Work is eating me. It should stop next week when my massive training program is over! Then a few blessed months before grad school starts kicking my butt.