In my current carefree state of devil-may-care, do whatever-the-heck I please, I have cast on for another project, the Giotto tank from the latest Vogue knitting (design #28).

You may recall that I posted a photo of my Giotto a while back — it’s in the lichen colorway. I did a wee bit of knitting on the tank:

I love this colorway! I bought 3 skeins of Giotto but will only need two for the tank, so I’ll probably use the third one to knit a narrow scarf thingy. If I wear the tank under a suit, the scarf thingie will look nice draped around the jacket color. Tres chic am I.

The Giotto is a bit of a pain to knit with — I have to be careful not to poke the needle tip through the ribbon. But I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

Checkerboard Shell

And yes, I’m coming down the home stretch on the Checkerboard Shell. It is my commuter knitting, so it was getting short shrift. But I pulled it out and knit a bit on the train and at lunchtime at work. And now it’s done, except for the finishing. I’ll do that this weekend.

Not-Colinette Poncho

And yes, I’m still working on the Not-Colinette poncho! It’s almost done at this point — I’ve got 12 rows left before the finishing.

I’m thinking about which poncho to knit next. I have (cough, cough) enough Colinette yarn to knit ponchos in a number of colorways, as well as my pink/green Not-Colinette colorway. I may knit something else that’s on the Colinette “Vintage Knits” pattern — the Vintage Shawl. I’m thinking of doing that in one of my made-up Colinette colorways that has lots of Monet in it.

But Wait! There’s More!

I cast on for another shell, the Abby pattern available free on the Berroco website. I’m using Lana Grossa Point, in white:

This is the same yarn that Kristine is using for her Tank of the Ta-Tas. This will be my new commuter knitting.

In the meantime, Lucy contemplates the approaching weekend.

Have a good one, all!

I’ve completed the knitting of the evening bag and all that remains is the felting. Pre-felting it’s about 12 inches from top to bottom. Jocelyn was correct in yesterday’s comments — this is the same bag that’s listed in the prizes for Critter Knitters — Knit Happens donated a kit to knit the bag and when we put the kit together, I bought the pattern and yarn to make one of my own.

I did indeed hold the Heilo double, as the pattern is written for a heavy worsted weight. So with the eyelash yarn, I was knitting with three strands of yarn. It wasn’t at all a problem — I was using a size 11 needle and was able to navigate my way through with ease — even on the decreases, where I was knitting six strands of yarn together. Woo-hoo! Life on the edge!

Speaking of Critter Knitters

A Canadian reader asked yesterday if we’d be charged customs duty on blankets sent from Canada. I’m 99.9% sure that the answer is no, so send ‘em on down! Any readers have any thoughts on this?

Not-Colinette Poncho

So I’m back to knitting on my Not-Colinette poncho. The colors remind me of Lucy — maybe that’s why I like them so much. And the yarn I’m using in place of Isis (Crystal Palace Splash) is so soft and furry, I feel like I’m knitting with kitten tails!

Hoo-yah! This is life in the knitting-guilt-free zone! It’s liberating, ain’t it? Wheeeeeee!

Knitting Guilt?

Some interesting comments yesterday to my post about knitting guilt.

Funny thing — I never feel guilt or remorse about buying yarn. No matter how much I have. Yarn and books is pretty much all I spend my spare cash on. It works for me, and I’m not in the habit of answering to anyone about what I spend my hard-earned bucks on. (Ooh! Bad sentence construction alert!)

Lucy Has No Guilt

Here she is, enjoying the new bookcase I bought.

And the box it came in!

Good News!

Knit Happens got a nice write up in today’s Washington Post! You can read it here.

Happy Earth Day.

It seems as though I’m reading a lot about knitting guilt lately, on blogs and on email lists. Guilt about abandoning a project. Guilt about starting yet another project. Guilt about buying more yarn.

Kristin addressed this in a blog entry the other day. Why, indeed, do we feel guilty about our knitting?

I confess: I was feeling guilty about my knitting. I actually had pangs of guilt the other day about finishing Flora and not starting another “big” project right away. What the heck is with that? No one is making me knit. I do it out of enjoyment. And if I want to take a few weeks to knit nothing but small stuff, why the heck shouldn’t I?

So I’ve decided to Take Back the Knitting™. I will no longer listen to my little voice that tells me “you really should be working on a big project.” Take THAT, little voice!

Evening Sporran

Got more done on my evening sporran — er — purse. (L-B made this same bag and brought the completed, felted bag with her when she came up last week. We agreed that it looked like a very fancy sporran.)

Well, it’ll look like a sporran when it’s done.

Checkerboard Shell

And got more done on my checkerboard shell. Past the armhole shaping on the front. Yay!

I stopped by Knit Happens after work and bought what I needed to complete my Not-Colinette poncho, and a few other things.

I also bought yarn to augment what I had for the pink/green Not-Colinette poncho, some more Noro Lily to make a striped top, a couple of skeins of something fun for another bucket hat, and another skein of the yarn I was going to use for the Tank of the Ta-Tas. Gonna make something else with that.

Lucy’s Plastic Fetish

To all of you who either emailed or left comments expressing concern over Lucy chewing on plastic: rest assured, she is not eating plastic. I have no plastic wrap or rubber bands or other items like that where she can get at them. She likes to chew on plastic bags when they are filled with something, or on plastic page protectors. And she only does it when I’m around, as I don’t have any plastic out where she can get at it. I think she just likes the chewing action. She never tries to swallow it.

I’ve lived with cats my entire life and have never lost one to misadventure of any sort. I am a Concerned Mommy. Here she is, safe and sound:

Critter Knitters

Mia in Maryland: I’ve emailed you twice to thank you for your prize donations, but both times the emails bounced back as undeliverable. But I wanted to say thank you, and Lucy says thank you for the kitty grass!

And there are more blankets on the Blankets Received page!

Ah, going back to work is such a joy.

Not.

Yeah, it was back to the grind yesterday. Fortunately everything seemed under control and there were no emergencies or atrocities while I was out, so I was able to ease myself back into career gal mode. Sorta.

Lucy was in a petulant mood when I got home and indulged in one of her “We are not amused” pastimes — chewing on plastic.

But after some quality time with Mommy, she regained her good humor.

What’s Next?

Knitting-wise. What’s next indeed? I don’t plan on starting Ingeborg until early to mid-May, so I’ve got three weeks or so to kill, as it were. I’ve got a number of small projects lined up, so I think I’ll be working on those for a little while.

Like my Ann Norling checkerboard shell.

I’ve got the back completed and a good amount done on the front. So that’ll be done soon.

I’ve started knitting a fun little evening bag — to be felted.

This is knitted with Heilo wool held double, along with one strand of Trendsetter Aura. Cute! The pattern is from Fiber Trends.

And as soon as I buy more yarn, I can get back to my Not-Colinette poncho.

Speaking of the Not-Colinette poncho, I estimate you’ll need about 100 – 120 yards of each of the six yarns. Ballpark figure.

And I have (whispering) some cotton to make some more summer tops. I bought the yarn to make the same tank that Kristine is making, but after seeing all the problems she’s having with the pattern, I’m thinking “screw it” — I’ll use the yarn for something else. Life is too short to mess with ill-written error-ridden patterns, right?

By Popular Demand

Okay, in response to one email request. A photo of Flora’s wrong side.

And thank you for all the kind Flora comments you guys left!

Critter Knitters Prize Page Update

I don’t have to keep telling you to check the prize page do I? Y’all know to keep looking for updates, right?

And I have to head back to work. The horror . . .

But I did finish Flora on Saturday afternoon — see?

Tried her on:

And the back view:

And a close-up of the button:

And now she’s in the closet, waiting til next autumn before I can wear her.

I started a not-Colinette poncho, made from some of the yarn I bought at Knit Happens:

I used the following yarns:

For Isis I used Crystal Palace Splash
For Mohair I used Classic Elite La Gran
For Prism I used Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed
For Skye I used Manos
For Wigwam I used Online Allegro
For Zanziba I used Dale of Norway Ara.

I finished the first half and am about a third the way through the second, but I’ve run out of La Gran. and I believe I’m gonna run out of Ara, too. I’ll have to make a trip to Knit Happens and get more. Darn it all! I’m forced to go to a yarn shop. Such torture.

Lucy prefers to sleep in her Daddy’s lap!

And last but certainly not least, check out the blankets received page!