By Wendy on September 8, 2009
It was raining when I left for work this morning, and I actually saw some leaves on the ground! This makes me ridiculously happy — autumn is coming. But I’m not fooling myself. I’m sure we’ve got some hot weather ahead before it really gets to be autumn. Still, it is nice to have the illusion of autumn!
Since you haven’t seen it for a while, I’m posting a pic of the sock-in-progress:
This is Madeline Tosh sock yarn in the Malachite colorway. I’m loving this yarn. It’s got my favorite base — tight twist 100% merino. And it’s green! How could I not love it?
And it is being knit up very slowly. Since I’ve got a big lace project to work on at home, this sock only comes out during my commute. And more often than not, the morning commute only. The afternoon commute has been too crowded for knitting lately.
But I’m hoping to finish this sock by the end of the week and have the second sock started to take to New York with me this weekend. I’ll be at Knitty City Saturday evening for a book signing (5 – 7 pm), and Sunday for classes. I hope I’ll see some of you there!
Here, for Johanne, a pic of the shawl in progress.
I’ve named this design “True Love Stole.” Johanne will understand. 
iTunes!
I just got enough reward points from my VISA card to order a free $50 iTunes gift card. Wheeeeeee! So soon I’ll be buying 50 songs from iTunes. Wanna help me out? Leave the name of a song from the 1960s to 1990s in the comments to this post and on Monday (September 14) about noon-ish my time I’ll fire up the Random Number Generator and pick some folks to win the WendyKnits pattern of his/her choice, which will be delivered in pdf format via email.
Doesn’t matter if the song you name is one I’ve already got — I just need some inspiration here!
Lucy sez:
“Treats, please.”
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged hot weather, lace project, random number generator, sock yarn, visa card
By Wendy on September 7, 2009
Because I am busy working on this:
And Lucy is busy working on this:
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged lucy
By Wendy on September 6, 2009
Spotted in my bathroom:
The fact that I am using the toothbrush thingie in my bathroom as a stand for my soda is a sign that today is Clear Out Day. I’ve been tidying up in one of the bathrooms, and I’ve got to have my beverage, right? I usually try to do some mucking out over Labor Day weekend. I get rid of clothes that have been marinating in my closet, never to be worn again, and try to generally reorganize things. Lookie here:
A new shoe organizer/cubby! Stuff like this makes me happy.
Clou Winners
The Random Number Generator has done its job and picked four commenters to win one skein each of Gedifra Clou. Those four are: Rose-Marie, Elsie, Sheryl, and Jan E.
I have emailed each of you. And a big thank you to everyone who left a comment.
In answer to an oft-asked question in the comments, the scrubbie does a nice job of being a scrubbie. It is softer than a nylon net scrubbie, but it certainly works. If you find the nylon net ones too harsh, you’ll like this.
Okay, back to the general muck-out/clean-up. But before I go, photos of my shetland shawl for Johanne, who would likely stop speaking to me if I neglected to post a picture or two.
And a close-up:
And a pic of what Lucy is doing this long weekend:
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged labor day weekend, one skein, random number generator, shetland shawl, shoe organizer
By Wendy on September 3, 2009
Do y’all use a nylon net scrubbie? You know what I mean — one of these:
Well, yesterday the center cord on mine came undone and I was left holding approximately 4 yards of wet nylon net. I smooshed it back together and tied the cord around it again, but it will never be quite the same again.
Then I remembered something. A few years ago, there was a pattern in Knitty for a bath puff called Bonbon. I bought the yarn called for, Gedifra Clou, and stuck it in my stash room, thinking I’d make a couple. Of course I never did.
Gedifra Clou is a 100% nylon tape yarn — considered super bulky. And now discontinued.
Yesterday I went into the depths of the stash room ISO my Gedifra Clou. and I actually found it in the space of minutes! I was going to knit a Bonbon, but decided, hey, just for fun, I think I’ll winkle something together myself. Why do things the easy way?
Here’s the result:
I started out with U.S. size 10 needles and woo doggies! Not big enough! I dug out a set of U.S. size 15 needles and cast on again.
By the way, doing a longtail cast on with super bulky nylon tape and size 15 needles is . . . weird.
Just for grins, I wrote up the pattern for this and you can get it (in pdf format) here. It’s also linked to from the free patterns page.
Yeah, the yarn is discontinued. But I did a yarn search in Ravelry for bulky and super bulky yarns in nylon and/or cotton and came up with a few alternatives, which are mentioned in the pattern. I also noticed that there are people on Ravelry who have Gedifra Clou that they are willing to destash.
And of course, I have more than one skein. You didn’t really think I had bought just one, did you?
Want a skein of my Gedrifa Clou yarn? Leave a comment to this blog post by Sunday September 6 at noon Eastern Time, and I will have the random number generator draw four names to receive a skein each of my yarn.
Lucy Sez
“That doesn’t look like a toy for me.”
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged gedifra clou, nylon tape, one skein, random number generator, ravelry
By Wendy on September 2, 2009
My shetland stole is coming along nicely. See?
It is so much fun to knit. Well, I’m still on the first skein of yarn, so we’ll see how I feel about that when I’m on the 4th 400-yard skein.
Here is where this work-in-progress lives:
It’s a custom bag from my buddy Michelle at Three Bags Full. Don’t you love the fabric?
I asked Michelle to do a small-ish tote bag for me specifically for my lace projects. I asked for this specific size (12 x 12″) and shorter handles. Most tote bags come with slightly longer handles, so that the bag can be carried on one shoulder. Well, I’ve stopped carrying any bags on my shoulder. (This came about a year ago when my right hand went numb, courtesy of some cervical disk problems. The neurologist ordered me to cease and desist using shoulder bags. Oh, and my primary doc, who I went to first, told me to stop knitting until they figured out what the problem was.)
Anyway, I wanted a bag with shorter handles so that it wouldn’t drag on the ground when I carried it in my hand. And this is perfect!
More new stuff . . .
Stitchmarkers from my BFF Muriel. Aren’t they adorable?
As some of you know, Muriel is Tempted Yarns Stacy’s sister. And more of Muriel’s stitchmarkers are up for sale at the Tempted Yarns etsy shop. Just sayin’ . . .
So, tonight I am going to forgo knitting on the Shetland Stole to whip up a quick necessity. I’ll tell you how that went tomorrow. 
Lucy Sez
“Surely a new toy for me is a necessity?”
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged bff, drag on, lace projects, shoulder bags, skein of yarn
