knit1frog2

in luvvvv

Well, much thanks to KnittingInMind who was kind enough to pick up some yarn for me (tax free!) while she was in Portland!  She had mentioned that she thought I'd like I Love What You're Wearing and wow she was NOT wrong!!  I can't remember the name of the store she visited...but when she suggested Mango Tango as well and described it, I wanted one of those too.  Sooooo glad I did, take a look...

 I Love What You're Wearing (mid & lightweight) / Mango Tango (midweight)

Thank you Thank you KnittingInMind!  I want to eat it!

check it!

Since KnittinginMind asked...here is a pic of the sweater so far!  It's kind of fun knitting a top-down sweater b/c I can try it on as I go.  V-neck not too deep?  check!  Cleared the boobs?  check!!  Decrease more before getting to the waist??  check!!!

I'm still not sure about the colors, but it's kind of cutie...

what do you think?
The stripes are cheerful....kind of like candy.

no moro

another one bites the dust

I don't know how I missed the memo from earlier this year about Hilltop Yarn on the top of Queen Anne closing in March of this year!!  Like I said earlier, I was barely looking at anything knitting then... :(.

But, I received an email yesterday about the sister store Hilltop East shuttering.  I had been wondering how it was doing these days and it makes sense now after going there last week looking for a US8 and them having low stock on needles.  Sounds like though, they will be having a sale this week and then continue to sell online.  Hopefullly that will work out for them.  I shudder to think about how expen$ive it must be to lease in downtown Bellevue.  I knew someone who worked at Neimans in Bellevue and she said that only one pair of mens' shoes sold in the mens' department ALL week.  yikes.  Wonder how much longer they'll be around.

In better news, I tried on my stripey sweater and lo and behold, so far so good!  I'm now heading into the decreases for the waist!  Go go noro!  Must get coffee!

mo noro

Went to Acorn Street today and it was so quiet in there that the only thing you could hear were my orthotics squeaking in my shoes.  Nice I know and NO I do not feel old b/c my workout trainer is 26 and his orthotics squeak worse than mine!!!

I went to pick up more Noro for the stripey sweater.  I also was in the market for a Kim Hargeaves book, but I guess you can't sell Rowan books unless you also stock their yarns.  I suppose that makes sense...

Drove over to Weaving Works and wow do they close early.  I had 10 minutes to look around, what?!  They also did not have the book.  Here I didn't order online b/c I was trying to be all supportive of the LYS, but sigh. 

It's interesting how this group of Noro looks different than the stuff I bought from a different location.  It's the same color and dye lot too.

looks like blooming flowers!
I have 60 days to use or return this yarn...I'm thinking that I won't need this much, but I'd rather have too much than too little and risk not finding the same dye lot, right?!

all blue

I had a friend take me to get my car from the shop the other AM.  I hopped in his car and he said, "Wow!  You must be knitting a LOT!"  I was all, how do you KNOW this??  Apparently there was a US7 circ stuck to the back of my jacket and backpack and I immediately scanned the stairs from which I came to make sure there wasn't a trailing ball of yarn!  CRAZY!!

Sweater update:  I frogged my striped sweater...it was clear that the front was NOT going to work out chest-wise.  It was kind of weird.  After working out some numbers, I completely forgot I did this and was trying to follow the pattern in the book.  what?!  I know.  So now I'm back on track...yay!

I bought a new 47" US8 and wow it must have been a long time since I've bought needles b/c the new ones have a lovely clear blue wire!

The blue is pretty!
Knitting with a longer circ is so much nicer!!

i am not an XS

I know that I'm not an XS (not even in mens' sizes), but for some reason when I was ordering yarn I must've been in wishful thinking mode.  It is clear to me that there's no way that I have enough Noro to even get me 3/4 of the way through this sweater.  Sigh.  I'll have to order more yarn...but, until then, check out how it's coming together so far!
isn't it kind of cutie?
Now...to order more yarn...

time will tell

Today I went out to try to find a US8.  Hilltop East was completely out so I headed elsewhere and shortly afterward, my car broke down.

Frick.

I got a ride home from the repair shop and I sat there thinking about knitting and about not having a free US8 (anything besides the impending co$t$ of my car repair!!!).  I put dinner on the stove and while it finished bubbling away, rooted around in some old/unfinished projects and ripped a US8 out of a project I know I will never finish.  (Now I will have to find something else to do with that yarn!)

I started this from the clown car box o yarn...

shocking stripes

When the first 2 stripes were knit, it was a bit shocking and seemed almost neon!  Looking at it later I don't see it that way anymore...at least I don't think I do...I'm still not convinced.

What I do know is that it feels great to be knitting again...

midnight shopping

See this is what happens when you're up too late looking at sweater patterns online after you've taken an inspiring knitting workshop.  You start to get all of these crazy ideas about what you're going to knit next.  After that bout of midnight shopping, I had completely forgotten (eep!) that I ordered this yarn until it showed up on my doorstep.  Hello!

Again it was the tiniest box ever and once again I thought my entire order could not be in there.  It was like a clown car of yarn!  More and more yarn kept popping out of the box!

8 Rowan Cracksilk Aura, 3 Noro silkgarden, 4 Cascade 200
Oh yes, fun times ahead for sure.

tiny bounty

There was a notice on my front door that there was a package waiting for me at the Post Office.  I went and was shocked for some reason at how small the box was!!  Could my entire order be in there?  Why yes indeed!

could this really be 3,300+ yds of yarn?!!

What is in there you wonder?  I did too!  Because I couldn't wait for my digital camera battery to charge, I've been using my smartphone cam.  It takes pretty good pictures actually...though I can never seem to get the color/exposure right.

Isn't that the most gorgeous color??
One of the neat things about ordering directly from Catherine Lowe is that she will put up your yarn order into larger cakes.   That means less weaving in for you and me.  I <3 her.

yes you can

Well, hellooooooooooooo!!

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged.  At least I know I have one person who keeps checking in on me from time to time (thanks knittinginmind!!)

So there I was...hadn't knit anything for quite some time.  Hardly checked people's blogs...you know how it goes...life gets stressful, people are worried about their jobs...of course this is the worst time not to knit, right?  I even went to Madrona, but only for the Marketplace...and honestly I don't remember what I bought.  I'm sure it was STR yarn even though I don't like to knit socks.  (what?  I know...)

KiM told me about a workshop that she had signed up for...with none other than THE Catherine Lowe aka The Knitting Genius.  I waited too long and missed the initial sign up, but the workshop turned out to be so popular, she added another class and by the kindness of a class participant who offered to move to the mid-week class in case someone could only go to the wknd class I was IN!!

The workshop was sooooo interesting.  Yes it involved calculators at one point, but there were not a lot of difficult calculations going on there.  For any of you that have taken a class with Jean The Right Way Wong, this class was a joy.  That's not to say that JW's class wasn't.  JW's class was interesting (if you like doing calculations like I do) and informative, but Catherine's class gets you to the same end point without as much of a mental strain.  This showed you that knitting can be intuitive, couture and even though you may have to do a few calculations, it won't be like calculus.

 
Grid paper and calculators for knitting!

I didn't ask CL or the other person you see in the above photo to post their faces, so I cut them out for politeness.  KiM and I had a blast at the workshop (going to PCC for lunch wasn't half bad either).  I was very excited to get ALL of my body measurements once and for all.  I never really knew what constituted the "cross shoulder" measurement, but I do now!! 

Some of the ladies asked me why I didn't knit sweaters for myself and I had to stop and think for a moment.  I love knitting and I knit things for other people, but what was the deal?  I came to realize it was because the finished sweaters never really fit me right.  This workshop was exactly what I needed.

One of the exercises was to bring and try on a few sweaters...one that you get compliments on, one that just doesn't look right and one that you're not sure if it works on you.  What an interesting thing!!  It turns out that you too can wear a boatneck, but you need to make sure you are showing the right amount of neck space for you!!  I've never left a knitting workshop so inspired and excited to knit something. 

Below picture for KiM who laughed raucously at my sloper bust points.

 
Hi! These are my bustpoints!

There you have it.