Camille is Complete!

All knitting is done and she is blocking.
Now I need to seam and find five buttons.
Photos soon.

I am still here!

It is now December 9, 2009. I'm afraid Ravelry has taken me away from the blog. I should get back to it.

Now.

I still have a plethora of UFOs! However, I am 6 inches from finishing the last sleeve on Camille

Purple Pea has been hibernating. But it, too, is 60% complete.

Lady of the Lake needs to be "deconstructed" to fix what I think is a too tight bind off at the armhole edge.

They say it will be a snowy winter here. Maybe I'll get some of these completed!

April 18

Ten days. It's been ten days since I last posted. I am exhausted. The past week was nuts.
My sister and I made the cakes from hell for our mother's birthday yesterday. The process involved two chiffon jelly rolls, filled with raspberry preserve, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds and lining two 6 cup round bowls. Said bowls were then filled with a vanilla bavarian cream (home made custard with whipping cream). These were left to set overnight. Unmold onto cake plates, then glazed with an apricot glaze. (apricot preserves, strained and thickened with gelatin. Happy birthday, Mom!



We made this thing 20 years ago for her birthday, and she'd been "remembering that cake" so my sister decided that this would be the year to repeat. She WAS surprised. And it WAS good. But it may be another 20 years before THAT process is repeated!

Wednesday was birthday gift shopping day. My sister and I spent the day at Tyson's Corner, collecting "things for the birthday basket". Thursday night was cake making night, Friday night was birthday dinner night. Mom was very happy.

I had to miss my son's Conference Championship Track and Field Meet. DH went to represent us. DS did very well, PR'ing, which is making a "personal record". And beating his old teammate from high school, who now runs for UNC Wilmington. DS was very happy.

Today I pulled all the weeds from the front bed, completely cleaned out the fridge - amazing what a burned out light bulb that breaks when you try to get it out will do. At least I got rid of a ton of really icky old stuff, and it's squeaky clean now!

I also had to clean the floor with a sponge - broken light bulb glass, you know.

We went out for dinner.

WIP Wednesday…

It's taking every ounce of willpower I have to not swatch something with that Pink Peace Fleece.

So in the full WIP Wednesday fashion, I have almost finished the left front of Camille. I have almost finished the second front of Sweet Pea, and I have finished 6 inches of sleeve on February Lady.





I think Sweet Pea needs a wet blocking. It's fitting Mini-Me a little snuggly.

I HAVE TO STOP!…

I have to step away from the Destash boards!
I think I need a 12-step program! This really is yarn pr0n! This is what I have amassed in the last month alone.


Plymouth Outback Mohair - 1090 yds.


Cherry Tree Hill Froth in Champlain Sunset, 1288 yds


Mountain Colors Mountain Goat, one skein in Wild Raspberry


Peace Fleece Worsted in Georgia Rose, 1600 yds


Berocco Optik, 3 skeins


Lorna's Laces Glory in Tahoe, 1080 yds


And another gratuitous Kitty face shot. Isn't he adorable? I can't help it.

At least I will have a long stretch of car knitting this weekend. We are going to Philly to tour the University of the Arts with DD. It was Philadelphia College of Art when I went there, way back in the 80's. I have not been back since I graduated. This should be interesting!

Happy weekend!

YPF or FO Friday…

Hmmmm… a little of both.

I finished the back of Camille, does that count?



And I have this:



A thrift shop find. I have no idea what is, except that it is a huge hank. 274 grams of what looks like a handspun. Dark, dark brown with flecks of bright green, maroon, gold, red, and dark blue. I need to count strands in the hank and figure out what the yardage is.

And here's a random kitty photo, taken by DD:

WIP Wednesday…

February Lady in March:



Ok, so I didn't finish this thing in February… I'm still enjoying knitting it. A few more inches, I think on the body. And then I can move on to the sleeves.

And now there are two more:







Camille, from Debbie Bliss Winter Essentials in Donegal Tweed Chunky and…



Sweet Pea by Kate Gilbert from the Winter Twist Collective. This is in Kraemer Yarns Mauch Chunky.

I really had an urge to knit with chunky yarns. Maybe it was all the cold and snow from last weekend. It is because of all this snow that I have had to photograph these lovelies on top of the dryer. The skylights in my attic office are still all covered up!

And this weekend promises to be spectacularly spring-like. I am really hoping to get a bike ride in. I have now had 12 physical therapy sessions for my hip bursitis from October's fateful 100 mile ride. I have not ridden since then, so I am really itching to get back on the bike.

It's Cute! It's Pink!

And it's Yarn!



KPPPM. Acquired through a destash. I can't resist pink yarn.

How 'bout a Monday FO…

Even though I did finish this a few weeks ago…



The One Row Scarf, in Cosmicpluto's wonderful merino handspun.



LOVE the colors!

Somehow, It's Friday again

Time for Yarn.

This is a long - and long overdue - post.

I have been busy both stash enhancing and knitting. I had the head cold from hell last week, and started physical therapy for a hip bursitis and IT band issues caused by "overdoing it" in October. That was the Seagull Century bike ride. I guess I didn't stretch adequately before, during and after the ride. Resulting in PAIN. The temperature is supposed to be in the high 50's this weekend. I think I'm going to give the old hip a workout - not a long ride, but I have not been on my bike since October. It's time.

Stash enhancing has been done both by thrift shopping, helping others destash, and a couple of visits to Knit Happens and The Tangled Skein. I picked up a couple of skeins of Claudia Handpaint Chunky at the Tangled Skein. Ocean Depth and Walk in the Woods. Both beautiful colors.





Oh, and "My Favorite Yarn Shop" in Warrenton! That was bonus yarn shopping! DH and I spent a night at the Inn at Little Washington! Dinner and a night. O.M.G. That is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was my Christmas gift, our 27th anniversary gift to ourselves and his birthday gift. When you factor all those into the equation, it wasn't so bad, fiscally speaking. But it was the first time I had eaten or stayed at a five star establishment. And it was fabulous! (The yarn shop was in Warrenton, on the way home. A wonderful, friendly shop!)





This was my breakfast. Eggs Benedict. With these.



It was tough coming home - or down to earth.

This was what I found at "My Favorite Yarn Shop"



Two skeins of Tilli Tomas Cleopatra beaded silk ribbon, and some Ironstone Yarns mohair. Couldn't resist. Plus, the Tilli Tomas was 75% off!



I have acquired 11 skeins of Queensland Kathmandu DK that will become Katarina from Cocoknits and a few more skeins of Manos in Henna bringing my total to 7 skeins. I figured I could do much more with 7, right?





And Thrift shopping has resulted in 48 little balls of Brown Angora/wool, worsted weight. These are 26 yards each, probably from the 1960s.



But a lot of yardage! Why did they have such small balls then? That makes for a whole lot of ends to weave in.

Here's the red lambswool from the American Eagle hoodie. It's really a nice deep red wool.



I haven't skeined and washed it yet. And there's one more to unravel:



Another Merino/Angora blend. I think I need to stop this for a while.

And finally, progress on February Lady. I WILL finish this before the end of February.

Finally, Some FOs

Here's Donna's Hat:



Alpaca Silk Aran in the Maple Seed Hat. This combination of pattern and yarn makes a wonderful chemo cap.

And a Foliage for me:



Fibre Company Organik

I love this hat! I've never knit a hat top down before. Casting on is a little tricky, but then it's an easy pattern to knit.

I also finished my "One Row Scarf" and my Noro Stripe scarf, but I'll save those for another post. I haven't photographed them yet.

And I seem to have succumbed to the dreaded head cold everybody's been getting. I've been living on benadryl and mucinex - lovely - and sleep. In fact… it's nap time.

No Words…

…

Delurking Day!

So, I delurked.




Oh, and I am still knitting Donna's Hat.



The Maple Seed Hat in Alpaca Silk,

And the One Row Handspun Scarf



Pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Yarn by Laura Chau. Yum

Monday, Monday…

Sort of feels like that song…
It's gray and cold. Makes me want to sit by a fire and knit. Hmmm…

Let's see, what did I do over Winter Break?
Some knitting. Striped scarf is into its second set of Silk Garden balls, I finished DH's hat and one that had been meant for a friend about to undergo chemo, but I think I'll make her one out of something softer. This one is Lamb's Pride, and that could be a little itchy against bare skin.



I finished the Amherst knitting and it is ready to be seamed.

I decided to undo the bind off armhole on the Lady of the Lake and redo it using a stretchy bind off. This is what has been holding up production on that one.

I also went Yarn Hunting at thrift shops and found two American Eagle Outfitter sweaters to frog. One is a blue and white variegated version of the yellow one, and one is a deep red variegated wool.

All in all, a good time! And now, it's back to the grind so to speak. Although DS is still home for another week.