Thursday, March 31, 2005

Covet central

So, I head over to my fave little LYS with Carol (you remember Will's girlfriend, right?) in tow a few days ago, and saw the most amazing yarn. It's made out of...get this...100% Bamboo. But it's super soft! It feels kinda like a mix of cotton and silk. Plus it has this cool glossy look to it. I checked the Lettuce Knit newsletter, and she said that she got 31 different colours in (hello, Baskin Robbins!). They're all dyed using chemical-free dying too. The company is called Alchemy Yarns of Transformation, and I totally wanted to buy some. They have a pattern for a tank top that takes 4-7 skeins depending on size (I that would probably be 4-5 skeins for me). So, what's stopping me? The price. The introductory price is $24/skein. I'm wondering if that means that the price will go up the next time she orders it.

In other news, Carol bought a pattern for a felted handbag (Bags by Mags) and the yarn for it while we were on our little excursion. The pattern looks really cool, and I can't wait to see how the finished product looks!

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

99 bottles of beer on the wall...

Okay...so I finally got off my lazy @$$ and took some photos.
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These are the beer cozies that I made for my friend Aaron. I think they're a little small though. I tested them on a bottle of Keith's India Pale Ale and they fit okay, but I don't know how well they'll do for fatter bottles. Plus it was hard doing the letters with pseudo-intarsia (at least I think that's what it's called). I never knew how much slack to leave. As a result, the middle part isn't all that stretchy. But oh well. They're mostly just a novelty anyway.

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And here's that shawl I'm working on. As you can see, it's taking me quite a long time. But I'm happy with the way things look. Boy, it's SOOO much easier when I use stitch markers. Lace can be a bit of a pain though. Plus the Kidslik is so darn thin. On the upside, the shawl feels sinfully soft!

Monday, March 28, 2005

Getting back into things

Okay...so I've been away from the whole knitting thing for a while now. But I'm easing back into things. I recently finished a pair of beer bottle cozies for my friend Aaron. They were left over from Christmas...for my Secret Santa gift, I gave a small knit item to be commissioned by whoever received my present. So, Aaron picked beer bottle cozies that are in the colours of his dearly departed Winnipeg Jets. They even say 'Jets' on them. I'll take a picture really soon. ^__^

I've also gotten into that lacy shawl I've been knitting for my mom. I've only repeated the 8-row lace pattern about 3 times so far, so I haven't gotten all that far. But I'm starting to see it, and I think it'll be quite nice when it's all done and blocked (gee...who knew that a mistake in the pattern could make such a difference >_<). I'll take a picture of it when I'm further into it. It's so pathetically short right now that I'm too embarassed to put it up!

So, now that the beer cozies are done, I think my to-do list looks something like this:
  • shawl for my mom
  • Kyoto sweater (still need to finish the sleeve, block, and finish)
  • Noro wrist warmers from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation
  • fun socks out of the Koigu you gave me (need to get a pattern for this though...can you recommend any good ones?)
  • pink mohair 3x3 rib scarf

And I guess that's in no particular order, though I'd like to finish Kyoto in time to wear it this spring/summer. Man...what am I doing I work? I should be at home knitting!! LOL!!

Monday, March 14, 2005

Clapotis, elle est fini!

Clapotis is finally done (please correct my french if it's wrong; I think I can safely say that those 9 years of french classes probably didn't do too much for me in the end =P)! Boy, that felt like a long haul, all that stockinette. But it was oh so worth it in the end. This scarf/shawl is one of the softest things I've ever had the pleasure of draping over myself. The merino is absolutely to die for. Here are some pictures, first a no-flash picture of Clapotis being worn (and my messy room in the background):

Clapotis shawl_01

Then a with-flash picture of her draped over a chair:

Clapotis chair_03

In addition to being very soft, she is also terrifically warm. I might just have to borrow her occasionally before I get a chance to give her to my mom. And incidentally, I had just enough yarn to finish off the decreases. I had about 8 feet of yarn left over at the end, so it's a very good thing I did all that math beforehand! Hooray for math! =)

Monday, March 07, 2005

Inadvertent yarn diet

So I was looking back on my expenditures for the month of February, and I realized that a very unusual thing had occurred. No yarn purchases! Not a penny spent on yarn during the entire month of February! That hasn't happened since....May 2004 (why yes, I am anal about tracking my expenses!). Hm. I guess I have just burnt myself for now out in terms of frivolous yarn acquisitions. After buying the yarn for Clapotis, there just wasn't anything I really wanted out there anymore. Lord knows I have enough stash yarn now to keep me busy for quite some time. I wonder how long this accidental yarn fast will last?

In other knitting news, I am chugging along on Clapotis. I've reached the decreasing part, so the end is definitely in sight. I just hope I have enough yarn; I measured the circumference of my first ball before and after the increasing part and then did some fancy elementary school math to calculate the volume of yarn consumed by the increases, so I should have enough left for the decreases (which should theoretically take the same amount of yarn, right? Am I doing this all wrong?), but we shall see. I can definitely see how my math skills are rapidly disappearing with time. =)