Audrey is done. I finished up the knitting on the neckband Friday evening and sewed it on the body then.

That neckband is a sly wench. You need to knit it shorter than you think, and sew it in while stretching to fit. It’s the thing that pulls the whole sweater together — without the neckband you have this big ol’ floppy thang hanging off your shoulders. For those of you keeping score at home, I did nineteen pattern repeats of the lace pattern in the neckband.

Fortunately I had the collective wisdom of the knitters who have completed their Audreys to draw upon for advice in neckband length. Thank you, dahlings!

May Contest Winner!

Drawn at random from thousands of (okay, over a thousand) entries, the winner is Susan in Australia. Congratulations, Susan, and thanks to everyone who entered.

Prezzies!

I came home from work on Friday to a surprise package of prezzies from Beate in Frankfurt, in honor of our Lucy-versary:

An assortment of chocolate, and some lovely self-striping sock yarn! Thank you so much, Beate!

The Lucy Sweater

Speaking of Lucy, L-B and I decided that we should name my sweater design “Lucy.” I started knitting mine up this weekend and here’s my progress so far:

This is Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, knitted to a gauge of 6 sts/inch. The pattern will be available at some point in the future.

Ingeborg

And last in the knitting lineup, but certainly not least — Ingeborg! I started knitting the Borg on the official starting date, May 15. And because I said I was going to go slow on it, I only worked on it part-time, and worked on the Lucy sweater as well. Here is my Borg progress:

This is addictive knitting and I had to be very stern with myself and put it down, though I wanted to cast all other knitting aside and work only on the Borg.

The observant among you will note that there are no twisted stitches in the bottom band. I tried it with the twisted stitches and didn’t like it, so I ripped it out. I’ve never been a big fan of mixing texture with colorwork, and apparently this sweater is no exception.

Lucy seems to like it — she’s lying on it here.

Speaking of Lucy, there was a question last week about how often I step on her — she blends in very well with my carpet. Actually, I’ve only ever stepped on her once, and that was only a couple of weeks ago. I was getting ready for work, sitting on the side of the bed, putting my shoes on. Unbeknowst to me, Lucy had silently come in and sat down next to my foot. I stepped on her tail, but only on the fur. She got up and walked away, and left a huge clump of fur under my foot! I don’t think she even knew I was standing on her tail. I was horrified when I saw the fur I’d pulled out, but I couldn’t afterward find any bald spots in her fluffy tail.

She is, after all, losing her winter coat right now. I like to think I was just helping her along with that process.

I have not used the words “fair isle,” “norwegian knitting,” or “aran” in weeks?

What’s with that?

I have no idea. I have been seduced by summer knitting, that’s my only explanation. And I’m not complaining. But of course I’m placing the blame elsewhere.

I blame all the bloggers I read for blogging about their summer knitting. I blame the Audrey knit-alongers. And I blame Knit Happens. When I was in there the other day I was drooling over Noro Hana Silk and a skein of it actually said, in a pleading silky voice “Knit me! Knit me!”

I’m sure you’ll all be amazed to hear that I walked out of Knit Happens unaccompanied by any Hana Silk. But we all know it’s just a matter of time.

Speaking of Knit Happens, I didn’t tell you what I bought there. Now, brace yourselves — I didn’t buy any yarn. But I did pick up an adorable Elizabeth Austen bucket bag. See?

It’s a smaller size — just right for toting my commuter project to work. I have been stuffing Audrey’s sleeve in a plastic bag and shoving it in my purse. How inelegant! Audrey deserves better.

I also bought a copy of Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. I’ve been meaning to look at this book since it was published and finally saw it in person. By the third design I was drooling. So I had to buy the book, you know? I’d drooled on it, for gosh sakes!

Ingeborg!

The official start of the Ingeborg knitalong is tomorrow! I shall cast on then! And you’ll be hearing me talking about Norwegian knitting again. Lucky you. But Ingeborg is going to be my secondary project, so don’t expect a lot of progress. I give you fair warning.

Fiona Bag

I’m afraid I’ve ceased knitting on this for the time being. My hands are not up to knitting with the Mission Falls cotton just now — after less than a round they start aching. So I think it’s best that I set it aside for a while. Even though I don’t wanna. Sometimes it’s not easy being a delicate flower.

Audrey

My Audrey will soon have two sleeves. I’m into the armhole shaping on the second sleeve!

Actually, I finished the sleeve after taking that photo.

Knitting the neckband now, thank you.

May Contest

Don’t forget — the deadline to enter is today at 4:00pm Eastern Time. Scroll down to Monday’s entry for information on how to enter. I have gotten over 1,000 entires for this contest and will be picking the winner at random. But you never know — it could be you! You gotta play to win.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Thank you to the scores and scores (over 300, to be exact) of you who offered to test knit my pattern-in-the-making. The overwhelming response to my request makes it impossible for me to email each of you who offered and thank you personally, unless I want to give up knitting and spend the next 12 hours emailing. So please consider yourselves thanked. So much.

I think I have my three test knitters. I say three because so many of you emailed me and asked me to add a smaller size which — duh — should have occurred to me. So I’ve added a 35″ size. And I’ve emailed three of the knitters who so generously contacted me and offered to test-knit.

Still on Sleeve Island

But what an island it is! Tropical breezes, tequila sunrises and kir royales . . . and hunky cabana boys. Becky, I know you didn’t say anything about cabana boys, but surely if I’m gonna have tequila sunrises I need a shirtless stud to serve them to me and gaze adoringly at me whilst I sip them daintily.

Sorry. I may have strayed away from the point, but I’m back now.

Well, here is sleevie number one. She’s obviously tired of being photographed — she’s over-exposed!

And sleevie number two. Much more true to color.

So Audrey is progressing very nicely. I’ll have the sleeve done in a couple of days, and can start on the lace collar band then. That’ll be a bit tricky, as you have to fit it around the top and stretch it slightly to fit. Whatta pain.

But the finished Audreys I’ve seen in bloggyland make me think it’s worth the effort.

Lookie Here!

Here’s Kristine, putting my Official Knit Happens poncho in the window of — you guessed it — Knit Happens! So if you’re within a 300-mile radius, do stop by and say hello to my poncho. And buy lots of yarn while you’re there. Why? Because I say so . . . see?

And because I love this wonderful shop!

And because they have enough fabulous yarn to make your head spin!

Lucy says “meow.”

Thank you to Sylvia, who pointed out that WendyKnits made the PR Newswire!

Lucy would like to thank everyone, humans, felines, and canines, for the nice anniversary wishes!

Not a whole lotta knitting progress in these parts, because I had a date with my Dad last night.

But I did work on Audrey during my commute and at lunchtime. Here she is, reclining gracefully, shortly after I started the sleeve cap decreases.

Why is it that it takes me as long to knit a sleeve as it does the front or back? I don’t get it. Help! I’m marooned on Sleeve Island!

A Teaser

And a question.

I’ve worked out a design for a summer sweater, inspired by a pile of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in a pretty lavender, courtesy of eBay.

Anyhow, I wrote up a pattern for three sizes — 39″, 42.5″, and 46″. I plan on knitting the smallest size, but I have it in the back of my head that I’d like to eventually offer the pattern for sale in several sizes.

So the question is — would anyone like to volunteer to test-knit the two larger sizes? I need two knitters — one for each size, who are fairly experienced knitters (because there will be some simple lace and some bugs to work out, I am sure) and complete a short-sleeve sweater within a month or so. The pattern is for DK weight yarn — 6 stitches per inch, and you can use whatever you deem appropriate for a summer sweater that knits to the proper gauge.

Test knitters will receive my undying gratitude and a very nice yarn gift at the conclusion of the project.

If anyone is interested, please let me know by emailing me using the “Contact Me” link in my sidebar.

In the “Stuff I Never Want To See” Department:

The police barricading the street outside your office window.

In the “Stuff I Love To See” Department:

Tam’s handcrafted “WendyKnits Minion” shirt!

Today is Lucy’s anniversary. One year ago today she came to live with me.

I told this story right after getting Lucy, but I’m telling it again, because it’s a tale worth telling.

I found Lucy online, at a local rescue shelter, through Petfinder.org.

This poor little kitty found herself in a shelter because her previous owners had her declawed and let her outside. She was attacked by a dog and was badly bitten because she couldn’t defend herself. Her owners didn’t want to pay her vet bills after the attack, so they dumped her.

(Note: I’d like to find these people and put them in a cage of hungry tigers so they could see how it feels to be defenseless against a larger animal with teeth and claws.)

I emailed Lucy’s foster mom about her, and we made arrangements for me to meet her at an adoption event at a local pet store. Of course I fell in love with her as soon as I laid eyes on her. The adoption was finalized and a volunteer brought her to my home for a combination home visit/delivery.

The organization I got Lucy from is Capital Animal Care, in Arlington, Virginia. Their list of pets available for adoption is available from their website. If you are in the Washington DC area and thinking about adopting a pet, I encourage you to check out their listings. They have beautiful cats and dogs, and some smaller furry animals too. And you couldn’t deal with a nicer group of people. Lucy’s foster mom, Barbara, was wonderful throughout the process, and her love for, commitment to, and bond with the animals is obvious.

This is an example of why I support animal shelters and rescue organizations. I don’t want to think about Lucy’s fate if it weren’t for them.

So there you have. Your excessive cat sentimentality of the day. Happy Anniversary, Lucy! I think I’ll keep you.

Audrey

Audrey’s first sleeve grows. See?

Fiona

Fiona is growing too, albeit slowly. I’m trying to take it easy on my hands right now because I’ve had a bit of pain, and the Mission Falls cotton is sort of hard on my hands. So just a few rounds per day!

Colinette “Comfort” Book

I picked this up when I was at Knit Happens last week. It’s got patterns for throws, shawls and scarves using Colinette yarns (of course). But it’s also a great jumping off point if you want to use different yarns. As long as you know the gauge and type of each of the Colinette yarns used, you can use your creativity to branch out. The sky (and maybe your stash) is the limit!

May Contest

Yes, all you have to do to enter is to send an email to the address posted in yesterday’s entry. Not limited to U.S. residents — anyone anywhere can enter.

WendyKnits Minion T-Shirts

By popular demand (tee hee hee), I’ve put WendyKnits Minion t-shirts up for sale in my Cafepress store. The link is in my sidebar — “Shop the WendyKnits Store.” No doubt I’ll get criticism for putting a markup on the price. If anyone were to actually buy one, I’d make one dollar per shirt. Crass commercialism!

Please note that no one who said they would is under any obligation to buy! If anyone actually does buy anything, I’ll use any profits I get to help defray postage costs when I mail out prizes for the Critter Knitters project.

Speaking of T-Shirts

This one’s for you, Rachael. Mmmmwha!

You can get your own “Knitting is Sexy” merchandise in Rachael’s store.

New Blog Photo

I put up a new photo of myself in the ol’ sidebar because I was getting sick of the one that was there. I would like to point out to Cat that when this photo was taken I was wearing Laura Mercier Rose Glace lip gloss. See? I know how to take good advice!