Please note that I am way too young to use expressions like “hubba hubba.” Honest.

But that Laci. Oh, Laci is racy. She does get around. In case you didn’t see her elsewhere around the knitting blogs, here she is.

She likes to par-TAY!

With our Phyl-Phyl.

With Kristine.

With Rossana.

And with Holly.

And I gotta say, you all look fabulous, dahlings!

Lucy

I think Lucy is a little miffed with me after seeing the photo I posted of her yesterday. She was sitting in my lap when I took that picture — I had the camera in one hand, and with the other hand wiggled my fingers above her head to get her to look up. Poor Lucy.

And here, for Kelly, is an old photo of Lucy doing her “drape myself on the back of the chair” pose.

LaLuz Top

I got a lot of extremely cute suggestions for what to name my LaLuz sweater pattern. I’m going with Aurora, suggested by Cathy in San Diego. Thanks to everyone for the fun ideas!

Barbara asked:
Wendy, when you knit a seed stitch bottom border, do you typically cast on the full number of body stitches or fewer? The same size needle or smaller? I once knit a seed stitch border which rolled–I’ve avoided it since, but your LaLuz looks so nice, I’d like to try again. Thanks.

On Aurora, I cast on the full number of body stitches, and used the same size needle as the body. It’s worked out nicely, no rolling.

By the way, I really really like seed stitch in LaLuz. So much so that I briefly considered doing a whole sweater in LaLuz in seed stitch. But sanity (and impatience) prevailed and I discarded the idea.

Elizabeth asked:
question – i am itching to make Maidenhair but cant really wear a wool sweater at work – (too many computers in my area – its 80 degrees year round in my office). would it be sacriligious to knit it out of cotton – im thinking of BS Cotton Fleece – i have a gorgeous purple – and well, i really want to… would this be an exercise in futilty? any advice is appreciated (i love cables so i dont care if they are in cotton, and i love BS Cotton).

If you wanna, go for it! Be a bad-ass knitter! I would suggest making a fairly hefty gauge swatch first, though. Maidenhair is knitted at a fine gauge and you wanna make sure you can get the gauge and get the look you want with your suggested yarn.

But first, in case you missed it . . .

Knit Happens Online Store is Live!!!!

It only looks as though Lucy is permanently glommed on to the couch in the same spot all the time. She moves. Really.

For example, now that I have a desktop computer again, she spends some time draped over the back of my desk chair whilst I . . . um . . . compute.

Agnes asked what Lucy’s fav tv shows are. Lucy likes old movies — British cinema from the 1940s and 1950s, to be exact. She is a huge David Lean fan.

Aside: Has anyone seen the movie Home at Seven (sometimes known as Murder on Monday in the US)? Made in 1952, it was directed by Ralph Richardson, who also starred in it, along with Margaret Leighton, Jack Hawkins, and Campbell Singer. (I love Campbell Singer, by the way, who played a policeman many times in his career.)

I first saw this movie ages ago on AMC. And couldn’t remember the name of it, or who starred in it. It drove me crazy for a long time, until I found an online message board about British cinema. I posted a brief plot description and within minutes several people supplied me with the title. And one lovely lady offered to send me a U.S.-format videotape of the movie. Which I treasure.

Huh. What brought on that little digression? I dunno. Any other fans of old British movies out there?

Back to Knitting

I did finish the back of the LaLuz top yesterday afternoon, sitting at the back table at Knit Happens.

And I started the front.

I posted yesterday that I was going to do a lace flower motif at the neck — I decided that would be too big, so I’ve got a smaller motif in mind now. Subject to change at my whim.

Ann in CT asked:
Have you stopped naming your original creations? I notice the recent ones have been sort of generic and the names were always so cute.

I think the only one I haven’t named is the cardi I just finished. You’re right — she needs a cute name. She will henceforth be known as Laci.

Now . . . the LaLuz top. Anyone have any cute ideas? Leave ‘em in the comments if you have an idea what it should be named.

The Inishmore Challenge

Lauren asked:
Not that I doubt your honesty whatsoever, but what would keep one from starting Inishmore a wee bit early?

Well . . . nothing. Except our honesty.

L-B and I are good friends and spend a fair bit of time teasing and harassing each other via email. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that neither of us would even consider starting early. It would kill the fun for us, ya know?

Though one of us (and I’m not naming names here) did threaten to set her alarm for 12:01am on May 16th so she could wake up and cast on. Of course that is within the rules we have set.

Crikey! It’s a good thing we’re both in the same time zone, or this could get ugly!

P.S. to Jen:

Why yes, some people do give a crap about your winding of sheep hair!

Newsflash! Knit Happens Online Store is Live!!!!

Have you noticed that there is a decided lack of spinning content here lately?

I’ve not done any spinning at all for weeks. Weeks, I tell you. It started out because of back pain, but I think I just got out of the habit of it. Maybe it’s time to get back into the habit.

But not tonight.

I went to Kristine’s surprise birthday party earlier (were you surprised K? Huh?) this evening. Here’s the only photo I took at the par-tay:

As you can see, Axel was all dressed up for his mommy’s birthday. And it’s hard to get a dog to pose when he is in the midsts of his single-minded quest for T-R-E-A-T-S.

So I arrived home later than usual, and I’m behind in all the normal evening devoirs. Including apologizing to Lucy for coming home late.

She was just chillin’ on the couch, watching tv.

Just a bit of progress on the LaLuz silk top. But no photo as I’m distracted by other things! Tune in tomorrow for that.

This yarn is lovely and soft and I do enjoy knitting it, very much. I have to be careful, however, that my nails are filed and I have no rough spots on my hands, because the yarn tends to catch on everything. I’m using Addi Turbos to knit it. I bet it would catch on wooden needles.

So . . . the Inishmore Grudge Match Challenge starts May 16. Today is April 26. I’m knitting a short-sleeve top. I’ll probably get it done a few days before the start of the Inishmore Grudge Match Challenge. Yup. Need to do some spinning to fill in the blanks. Although I do seem to be knitting the LaLuz slowly. Even though the yarn is gorgeous, plain stockinette is plain stockinette and it does bore me a bit.

The front of the sweater will be more fun, as I’m adding a lace inset at the front neck. Ooh!

More details about this top: It’s got a wee bit of shaping at the waist, and will have a round neck and short set-in sleeves. I’m putting a little lace motif of a flower at the neck in the front. Well, you’ll see when I get to it. The bottom border is seed stitch.

For summer, I don’t like clothes that are too fitted. Washington DC has more than its fair share of heat and horrific humidity in the summer, so that last thing I want is a close-fitting knit, even if it is luxurious silk.

Depending on when I finish this top, I may sneak in a tank or something small before the Inishmore Grudge Match Challenge.

What’s official? This is: The Official in the Bathroom Mirror Shot.

Thanks for all your very nice comments about the cardi!

I’ve been extraordinarily busy today, and I am more than a little tired, so I’m just popping in for a brief hello. Here’s what Lucy did all day.

You can see that she has things tough.

And here’s my progress on the LaLuz silk top:

And just for grins, an extreme close-up of the yarn:

The Lacy Cardi is done:

To recap, this was knitted from 12 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay, on size 3.5mm (US size 4) needles and is my own design.

I’ll post a photo of it being worn in the next week or so — just don’t have the energy to do so right now. In the meantime, a couple of close-ups:

And the sleeve edging:

So . . . what’s next?

This:

This is another of my own designs — a short-sleeve top being knitted from La Luz Fiesta yarn, which is 100% silk dk weight. I’m using the colorway they call “Alaska.” More details as I progress.

Inishmore Challenge

Here’s my yarn, the 3-ply Hebridean in “Sea Ivory.”

And here’s a close-up of the color, photographed in natural light.

There was a question in the comments about using other yarns for Inishmore, specifically Cash Iroha.

My best advice is to knit a good-sized swatch from the yarn you have, using at least one of the cables from the sweater, so you can see how it looks knitted up in the pattern. Particularly if the yarn is a big departure from the type of yarn called for in the pattern.

Didja See?

Annie has moved her blog to a brand-new address! If you haven’t already, stop by and tell her “hey” in her new blog home.