mayflower

After running into some construction issues on the Silk Garden Fair Isle, I decided that a short break from the continual, frustrating cycle of frogging and re-knitting was in order. But have no fear! It will not suffer the same fate of countless other knits, relegated for months (some years!) in my wooden UFO chest. I am quite determined to finish it, and am in fact quite close.

And what has the uncanny ability to recharge knitting mojo? Great yarn! I seem to be going through a brown/ pink phase. Here are a few recent additions to the stash. For more info such as yardage/ weight/ composition, check the "yarny love" album on the left.

Oh, and also the "7 things" that I didn't get around to doing sooner...

 

Lamb' s Pride Bulky- Victorian pink

1. I live in the second most conservative city in the US. In the past year, Chippendale's dancers were hand cuffed and jailed for "simulating sexual acts in public", and a lingerie store clerk arrested because the store sold "obscene devices" (translation: sex toys). I'm not joking!! Oh, and to top it off, we were one of the top finalists for Dubya's presidential library. Makes sense.

2. I am not a conservative.

Knitpicks Gloss- Cocoa

3. I'm ridiculously sad that destash has been shut down. :(

4. I'm a fan of good, dark beer. ZiegenBock on tap is my current favorite.

Knit Picks Shine Sport- Orchid

5. I'm a vegetarian with vegan tendencies.

6. I've gotten pierced a total of 14 times (some re-piercings of course) After voluntary and involuntary closings, I now just have 5.

Berocco Denim Silk- voodoo

7. I'm addicted to spinning. There's just something about being packed into a room with a bunch of sweaty bodies, biking nowhere, following commands barked out by ridiculously fit instructors, feeling the almost palpable, collective dread... "no! not another sprint!". Love it!

The SG Fair Isle will return next time!

 

In the time that has passed since my last post, I knit the entire back and seamed it to the front, and am almost done with one sleeve! I am still very pleased with how my spur of the moment, sudden inspiration driven, Silk Garden baby is turning out.

The angle of this photograph makes the raglan shaping look a little shorter/ shallower than it really is. In my first post about Silk Garden, I commented on how I desire a clean, calculated shift in colors that match on both sides, whether it is in the sleeves, or in the front and back panels. So obviously both sides of the V-neck had to match, not just in color, but also in its duration.  Short 1 1/2 inch- 2 inch gradations in the body followed by long 4" ones in the neck shaping  would really bother me (haha, I feel so anal!). To get the colors to match, I cut the Silk Garden when I reached the neck shaping, and spliced it to the other side. Yes, this is many rows worth of splicing...but hey, no ends to weave in! Splicing is one of the coolest knitting tricks ever, more on it later.

To achieve a consistent gradation in the V-neck area, I removed long segments of each color. Look what cute bundles they make!

mmm, I adore Silk Garden!

Here is a shot of the reverse side, where I mattress stitched both sides together. Has anyone ever seen a pattern or garment where fair isle's "wrong side" is showcased? The backs of fair isle panels are so interesting, and is almost always posted in blogs along with the fronts.  Why not create a design that stars the always neglected reverse side? hmmm...

I've become accustomed to calling Justin "Hospital Boy"! HB is now walking BY HIMSELF!! I know...what?! After the doctors surveyed the damage on the day of the accident, they announced that it would be six long months before he would walk. It hasn't even been three months! Ah the miracle of a positive attitude and youth (being 25  has helped immensely) He is going to PT/OT twice a week to regain full range of motion in his wrist and ankle, and is still home from work. He has a slight zombie-esque walk from the boot on his right ankle, bringing to mind this scene from Shaun of the Dead..

Remember this scene? Haha...hilarious!!

Oh, and the 7 random things? I'm thinking! :)

One of last month's purchases was a bag of Silk Garden color #247. I've always been intrigued by this yarn, but could never bring myself to pay $11 for 109 yards for any yarn, Noro or not! But when it went on sale at littleknits.com (beware yarn hos with no self control!!) at over 50% off, I jumped at my chance to FINALLY experience Silk Garden. Yes, I do believe Silk Garden, and Noro in general, is an experience quite unlike any other yarn out there. (Heck, you don't even have to knit with it to appreciate it!) I've heard mixed reviews on Silk Garden, and after working with it, I definitely fall in the "LOVE IT!" camp.

My only qualm working with Silk Garden is the difficulty of matching up the color transitions in sleeves/cardigan fronts/backs. Each skein seems to cut off at different points of the colorway. Considering my personality and the fact that I've become quite enamored with this yarn, it does surprise me that I desire a more consistent, clean, and calculated look in the overall final knit product.

The funny thing is that Silk Garden is definitely not a clean, calculated type of yarn. I LOVE its more rustic, organic, and subtle nature. The uneven spin with thick and thin areas seem to work well with the composition and color shifts of the yarn, and the random bits of veg matter don't bother me.

After knitting a plain swatch with it late one night, I had a sudden burst of inspiration, and HAD to start a fair-isle project. Crazy, I know, to do stranded knitting with WORSTED weight wool blend yarn, especially when summer is just around the corner!

In my very inspired, excited mind, The front panel will be fair-isled, the 3/4 raglan sleeves and back will be in complete black, and a V-neck will top it off. I do realize it sounds a little strange, and is completely untraditional. It could turn out to be a complete disaster, but I'm too revved up about it to care! We'll see what happens.

The yellow yarn across the swatch marks where I switched the Silk Garden from the main color to the background. I like the original with the black background much better. Even though the Silk Garden hovers around worsted weight,  the many thicker areas seem to really help design pop.

This thicker nature as you can see in the above picture, along with being conscious of yarn dominance will really showcase the lovely colors and design (anyone recognize it?). More on all this later.

Hospital boy is in his 8th week at the hospital, and is progressing very well!! His arm splints were taken off last week, and the 5 metal pins yanked out from his wrists with pliers (seriously...ouch!!) After a VERY painful couple days, his range of motion in his wrists are slowly returning with daily physical therapy, and the pain is finally subsiding.   

empty splints!

His orthopedic surgeon is pleased with recent x-rays, and said his left arm can start weight bearing therapy. His left femur seems to be healed up, and may join the left arm in bearing weight too, a MONTH sooner than anticipated!!! This is FABULOUS because as soon as he can transfer himself from bed to wheelchair, he can FINALLY go home!!! Two months is a terribly long time for a young, active, independent fellow to be cooped up in a hospital bed. Can you tell by the preponderance of exclamation points that I'm VERY excited that his hospital time is drawing to a close?!

Yippee!!! :D

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!   

The Great Stash and UFO Organization of 2007 is well underway!

I pulled all the yarn I could find in closets and cabinets and dumped them in piles on my bedroom floor...

...then organized them neatly in rows...

(a sea of yarn!! wheee!)

I found these fantastic 2.5 gallon slider bags at Target at $3 per box of 12. PERFECT for organizing yarn!

Bagged up and cataloged...

next up....

stay tuned!!

Ahh retail therapy. Never underestimate the power of new YARN! Last month I indulged myself in a whole slew of indulgent yarny goodness.  Financial guru Jean Chatzky warns us fans of retail therapy to STOP and ask ourselves "Is this purchase necessary?". Hmm, yes, I did in fact feel like I NEEDED 5 skeins of beautiful Noro Big Kureyon. The lovely blue-greeny woolly yumminess called out to me...at 50% off! How could I say no? I threw aside good financial sense (what savings and IRA accounts?), and said "BAH!" to Ms. Chatzky's suggestion to rank and prioritize my retail therapy wants.

mmm...don't you feel better already just looking at it? I sure do!

The package containing my Noro lovelies (and more!) arrived just I was headed back to the office after my lunch break. I tore open the package (can one calmly open a box knowing what goodies lie within?) and literally squealed out loud, much to the chagrin of my perpetually scared-shitless guinea pigs. Unable to leave my beauties at home, I stuffed a hank into my purse and headed back to work.

At work, I periodically pulled it out of my bag to admire it...the colors! the texture! the twisty, pretty hank-iness of it! (I love it when yarn comes in hanks!) I'd covertly pull it out of my bag, untwist it, ooh and ahh over it, retwist it, then stash it back in my bag. (heheh, the first couple comments reminded me of the SNIFFING that goes  on with yarn admiration...oh the sniffage! how could I forget?)

This continued beyond work, and into the evening at the hospital. Does anyone else do this? There must be some of you among the ranks of us yarn-hos that display this seemingly strange behavior. Is this further evidence of my definite yarn addiction?

This is just one of my many recent yarn acquisitions, the rest of which will be soon be photographed, posted and added my slowly cataloged stash. However, I've decided to COOL IT after seeing the final calculations for my March expenditures...observe...

   

I spent more on YARN in March than I did on FOOD!! *gasp!* Yarn was my number 2 expense after rent and bills. Hmm, perhaps I do have a problem...

I decided a thorough inventory of my stash is in order. While organizing the stash, I found crazy amounts of UFOs laying around, patiently awaiting the moment when inspiration spurs me to complete them.

While the Great Stash and UFO Organization of 2007 takes place, I'll be knitting away on my newest project, the "All over lace pullover" pattern I ordered from kpixie. (And yes, I decided the next chunky number could wait until next Fall.)

Cute! I'm knitting it with Elann's Sonata, a nice, basic, no nonsense mercerized cotton.  I've already finished about 6 inches of the body.

Cheers to yarn and yarn-hos! 

Hmm, remember the breakup 9 months ago last summer? After 6 months of zero contact, we started talking again, and this Tuesday morning J was in a huge accident . As of today, he has a broken left femur, a shattered right ankle, a broken left arm,  a broken/ scrambled right wrist/hand/ arm (yep, all his limbs), a fractured/ broken cheekbone/ eye-socket. He has already had 2 surgeries, and has at least 2 more to go. He's the first one to say that he's phenomenally lucky to be alive, AND with zero internal/ spinal/ head/ neck injuries! Looking at his car, and the fact that he was going over 70 mph and was hit by a 3/4 ton truck, it is amazing that he got away with the injuries he did.  So even though he is very hurt and is in constant pain, we're so incredibly thankful he is still here with us.The truck driver who was COMPLETELY at fault is a 16 year old girl, who walked off the scene with a scratch on her knee. *sigh*

I've been spending nights with him...when the drugs kick in and he drifts off to sleep, I knit!

You can see the external fixator on his right ankle, and one of his broken arms. That cream blob is this...

I was so tired of the knitting on 4s business (could it get any slower and seemingly unproductive?) that I jumped 6 sizes and started a sweater on 10s. Ahh the joy of chunky yarn! I've sped through it, and have just finished the raglan shaping. It's based off this pattern. Oh, and those pretty little stitch markers are part of a graduation box of GOODIES from Kristine!! I'll show off all the other great stuff she sent next time. Thanks Kristine!! :D

And what makes everything better? (at least temporarily).....YARN!!! and the yummy stuff too!

I FINALLY have some Noro!!! I found a great deal on Silk Garden and bought a whole bag....VERY exciting!

And this has got to be the yummiest yarn around...Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk...wow...just wow!

I plan to knit a deeeelicious cuddly cabled sweater/ cardi with this.

Prayers/ positive vibes/ thoughts would be very much appreciated...take care!

(I'll attempt to remedy this one blog a month nonsense)

 

Knitting a sweater on size 4 needles takes FOREVER! I've knit my way through these movies/ documentaries....

1. Frida
2. Naked World
3. Love, Ludlow
4. Stupidity
5. the First Amendment Project
6. Supersize me (wow!)
7. Wal Mart, the High Cost of Low Price (Lubbock with a population of 200,000 has 3 Walmarts...seems a little excessive doncha think?!!)
8. Closer (Natalie Portman and Jude Law were spectacular in it)
9. Big Fish (one of my favorite Tim Burton movies!!)

Hehe, I'm sure this makes me sound like a VERY slow knitter! In my defense, I didn't knit the WHOLE time, plus it's on 4s...4s!! The sleeves which I'll be knitting on dpns will take even longer....but I am enjoying the silky wool, so I don't mind.

The yarn came in for my next project!! It'll definitely NOT be a mindless knit, and there'll be tons of  fun fair-isle/ steeking action. It's Knit Pick's telemark in Aubergine and Navy Blue. Yes! ...that's the least blue Navy Blue I've ever seen in my life. In fact, it's black.... if you squint really hard you see a faint bluish halo....but it's most likely just my imagination. Yep, Knit Picks definitely messed this dye-lot up! It's PURE BLACK! :( I've decided to just go with it. So black and Aubergine it is!

I dropped by our yarn store this morning looking for 12" circs, and of course left with a magazine and 10 balls of this lovely rayon/acrylic blend. It's Plymouth's Sunsette and is incredibly soft and silky!

mmm, dreamy stuff! ...and at 40% off!!

Gotta run, studio starts in 25 minutes! It's actually my FINAL class as an undergrad...I'll be graduating in December! woohoo!