Return

See...I'm still alive.

Lately, I've just been knitting and reading like crazy. I'm reading the Harry Potter books for the first time. Yesterday I was out sick, and I ended up reading for 90% of the day. I finished off the last 200 pages of the 5th book, and started on the 6th. I did take a small break to work on my Spring Shawl Surprise swatch, but I will get to that in a minute.

It's been so long since I posted, I guess I should fill you in on my knitting. My Honeybee Stole is coming along slowly but surely. It amazes me how quickly some knitters can knit really complicated lace shawls, and the truly amazing thing about it is that they usually also have other projects they are working on at the same time. I've finished my Orchid Lace Mitts, and am halfway through my Snow on Cedars Mitts. I don't have any pictures yet of my completed Orchid Mitts, but they are gorgeous. I love them, in fact I've already worn them a few times on chilly mornings and once at our local hockey team's game. I'm having second mitt syndrome with my Snow on Cedars, but I'm determined to finish. It's nothing to do with the pattern or yarn, its me. I think it's because I went on a bit of a yarn shopping rampage, and now I want to start working with my new yarn. I just have to ignore the Siren's call of my new yarn. Ok, so maybe I did end up using some of the new yarn to work on my Spring Shawl Surprise Swatch, but that doesn't count, because the pattern clues don't start until January. To be completely honest, I was dying to knit something yesterday, but I was feeling so bad that I was concerned I would mess up anything I worked on. It seemed like the perfect time to work on a swatch....after all it's just a swatch. Plus, it gave me the perfect excuse to use my brand new Malabrigo Lace yarn (the Siren I couldn't ignore). I've never knit with Malabrigo yarn before, and now that I have, I have no idea how I existed without it. It's so soft, and the colors are gorgeous. I bought 4 skeins each of two different colors (Vaa and Taureg) because I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use for my Spring Shawl.

Vaa:


Taureg:


I'm worried that Vaa will end up being too dark, so that's the one I'm swatching with right now.
Next I will probably do a swatch with Taureg so I can compare and decide which one I like more.

Sorry about the long absence.

Time for another blog....

I'll start out with knitting....
I've been working on Monkey like crazy for the past few days. I knitted all day yesterday! I'm working on the foot right now, if all goes well I hope to be done with the first sock today. My very first sock!! I've been using Knit Picks new sock yarn Risata in Grass. It's a really nice yarn. It's very soft, and has a nice stretch to it. I was able to get the proper gauge for this pattern with #2 dpns, which I was really happy about. I always get a little nervous substituting a different yarn in a pattern...which is odd because I don't think I've ever knit a pattern with the yarn it called for. The only complaint I have about the yarn is that it's easy to split the stitch. I think that has something to do with the stretchiness of it, and I really only ran into problems with it when I was turning the heal.


Please ignore the pet hair in all my pictures, I have 3 dogs and 2 cats...it's kind of unavoidable.

I've already got big plans for my next project. This week I plan to order Math Whiz, Smoking Sock (I couldn't find a good picture on knitspot's site, so I linked to the etsy one), and Delicato from Knit Spot. As soon as I'm done with Monkey, I will start on Math Whiz. I'm planning to use some really pretty handpainted merino sock yarn in Specked Pear that I bought from Whorled Peace on Esty.


Just for fun, here's a skein of handspun yarn that I have no idea what I'm going to do with. It's also from Whorled Peace, and it's gorgeous.


Oh...I'm super excited right now because I placed a custom order with Pigeonroof Studios, and its going to be listed today. I'm ordering her superwash sock yarn in Poison and Seaweed. I will provide linkies when they are listed. Seriously...I can't wait. I feel like it's Christmas.

Here are some long overdue pictures of Twiggy Tweed. The yarn is from Peace Fleece.




On to other things...
Last night the hubby and I went to eat at a new Sushi restaurant with a couple of friends. The place was awesome. The food was just as good as our regular haunt, but the selection was 1000x better. They had tons of stuff. I think it took us 20 minutes to figure out what we wanted. All in all I was very pleased. It's a bit farther away...over the river...but it will be worth the drive, and I plan to go back soon.

I have a new blooming Paph. It's my Paph Barbatum. It's not completely open yet, so it was kind of hard to get a good picture.