Archives for October 2008

Thanks for the recommendations for places to buy beads. 🙂

I checked out Earth Faire, but didn’t see anything that seemed quite right. I checked out Fire Mountain (I was a Fire Mountain customer way back when. Before the internet) and again, nothing exactly right.

Then I went to Fushion Beads, which a couple of you recommended. Ding! We have a winner. I actually bought beads in 4 different colors so I could compare and see which ones worked best with my yarn. It’s a good thing beads are cheap!

Even given that I bought 4 times the beads i needed, I think I was pretty well-behaved. That’s because I kept my focus (“beads for the shawl, beads for the shawl,” chanted I) and I did not stray into any other part of the online store. When I heard a little voice telling me to just look at some of the other stuff, I managed to block it out. Lalalalalalalalala, I can’t hear you.

How will I bead this — by stringing them onto the yarn or using the crochet hook method? I’ve done both in the past. I’ll be stringing them, because I’m not sure the crochet hook method will work. According to the pattern, the beads are slipped into place between stitches, not onto a stitch.

How is the pattern constructed? The center panel is worked first, then you pick up stitches on each side of the center and work outward.Should be fun!

And I’ve done a wee bit more on my current project. Still slogging along on the lace, but hopefully I’ll reach the ribbed portion this weekend.

Oh, and I wore The Daily Sweater to work today. Crappy in-the-mirror photo:

The photo might be less than stellar, but the sweater is great. I give it two thumbs up!

In other news, my “Guys with Yarn” calendar was in today’s mail.

And I give it two thumbs up. 😀

The calendar was purchased from Franklin Habit’s etsy shop. He is sold out of calendars as I write this (gee, what a surprise) but according to his blog, there will be more available for sale soon.

Last but certainly not least, Lucy wishes you a good weekend!

Thank you for weighing in on the issue of civility (or lack thereof). I could go on and on and on about this topic, but I’ll spare you. Just think of it as my way of being civil to you. 😉

I did crank out a wee bit more on the body of my sweater.

At this point I’ve got almost two repeats of the lace pattern done, and I need three repeats before I start the rib pattern.

I’m toying with the idea of making the sleeves for this wrist length — the pattern has three-quarter length sleeves. I think I’ve got enough yarn, though time will tell on that. Or to put it another way, all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

In the meantime, I’m thinking about the next project. It may be this:

This lovely shawl is in the book Alt Fiber, by Shannon Okey. The pattern is called “Midnight Lace Stole” and it is designed by Sivia Harding. The pattern calls for 3 skeins on Handmaiden Sea Silk. I might have already (cough, cough) bought the yarn.

The shawl has an unusual shape. It is not evident from the photo in the book, but if you look at the design’s Ravelry page, you’ll see that it is not a rectangle, but has a wedge-shaped center panel. I think this will make it easy to wear. It gives it a bit of a curve around the neck so it will sit nicely on the shoulders. Clearly, Sivia Harding is a genius of engineering.

And this shawl is beaded. I’m not a fan of beaded knitting, but I might actually break down and do the beading on this one.Now to find the perfect beads. I think I’ll start at Earth Faire (that’s where Sivia got the beads for hers). I’ll keep you posted on my bead acquisition hijinks. Like you had a choice anyway.

In other news, Lucy has not yet convinced me to turn on the heat.

I love this time of year. I love especially that it is lovely and cool outside. Not hot. Not humid.

I think Lucy wants me to turn on the heat. And I want to open the windows to let in more cold air. I really don’t see how she can be cold with that lovely thick fur coat. But she is noticeably more snuggly, and when not pasted to me, is curled up on one of her cozy cushions. The temperature in my condo (without turning the heat on) ranges from 70 – 72 degrees F., for pete’s sake. Clearly, she is a pampered little cream puff.

I’ve made a bit of progress on the Rib and Lace Cardigan — see?

But don’t expect too much progress tomorrow — I’ve got other things to occupy my time tonight. For example, reveling in the peace and quiet. Perhaps I am getting old and cranky, but when did it become acceptable office behavior to play radios in an open office, have loud music as your cellphone ringer (and have your cellphone ringer turned on for that matter), have all-day personal phone conversations on the business phone lines, and congregate at the front desk to socialize for 45 minutes at a time, complete with loud braying laughter? Et cetera.

Yeah, I’m old and cranky.

Lucy sez:

“I still love you, Momma. Even if you are old and cranky and have the stupid windows open.”

Last week, Rona commented:

After reading all your comments about Calmer I am very tempted to get some and try it. You one said you did not like to knit with cotton, and I have never enjoyed it much. It’s either too heavy, stretches out of proportions or whatever, but I have not had much success with cotton. Why have you changed your mind about cottons? How much Calmer would I need for a sweatshirt style sweater?

I haven’t changed my mind about cotton — I still don’t like knitting with it. But these days, if I want to knit a sweater that has a chance of ever being worn by me, it can’t be in wool. I haven’t worn a wool sweater in 3 or 4 years because I am too warm. You may have noticed that I’ve knit a heck of a lot of socks and lace in the past few years. But I still like to and want to knit sweaters. So at some point, cotton has to enter the line-up.

Rowan Calmer is a very pleasant cotton to knit, because it is a soft stretchy blend. It’s not hard on the hands while you knit it, like some 100% cotton yarns. I enjoy knitting with it very much. But because it is so soft, you have to be careful what you use it for. You wouldn’t want to use it for a very structured item, I think, because it would have a tendency to sag. This could be overcome somewhat by using stitches with a lot of structure, like cables and twists.

I think it is a great choice for something like the Mason-Dixon Daily Sweater, an easy sweatshirt style sweater. Incidentally, the size large Daily sweater takes 10 skeins of Calmer (to answer the second half of Rona’s query).

On to Rowan All Seasons Cotton . . .

This yarn is also a cotton blend: 60% cotton and 40% acrylic. But it is not nearly as soft as Calmer. But at the same time, not quite as hard on the hands as 100% cotton. Still, I can only knit it for short periods of time before I find my hands getting tired. Hence I’ve made only small progress on my Rib and Lace Cardigan:

The truth is that I did not feel much like knitting all weekend and only spent any serious time working on this yesterday afternoon.

Lucy seems not to be too pleased about the change to autumnal temperatures. She helped herself to my Colinette AbFab throw that is usually folded over the back of a chair.

“Would it kill you to close the window?”

I’m busy knitting and playing with Lucy. Be back tomorrow!