My current work in progress:

Stornoway, designed by Alice Starmore from her book Fishermen’s Sweaters, knit in Frangipani 5-ply guernsey wool in the Aran colorway, on a 3.0mm needle.

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Archives for June 2009

In Case You Wondered

June 30, 2009 By

I’m not just collecting knitting bags. I do still knit. I just haven’t done much lately.

I spent 2 days not knitting courtesy of whatever viral crud hit me last weekend but I am feeling almost human again, so the knitting has resumed.

I did finish the first modified Peace Sock.

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I’m working on the second one right now. What I’m not working on is the circular shawl I started last week in the Tilli Tomas Elsie yarn.  You know, the yarn that leaches blue dye everywhere?

I found myself avoiding working on it because the leaching of dye is so bad. I’ve come to the realization that I am not willing to knit with this yarn as it is. The yarn needs to be washed with synthrapol or something similar before it is fit to be used.

And I know myself well enough to know that I will never be bothered to do this. So who wants my dye-leaching yarn?

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Ten skeins of Tilli Tomas Elsie in the “Jade” colorway. Eight of the skeins are in original condition, one is wound into a ball, and one is partially knit into a lace pattern. As a bonus you get to rip that part out yourself. 😉

If you’d like to be entered in a drawing to receive this yarn, leave a comment to this blog entry. Don’t send me an email, don’t use the contact me link, just leave a comment. You need to click on the link at the end of this blog post that reads “x responses” to do so.

Leave said comment by 4:00pm Eastern Time on Thursday July 2. At that time I will awaken the mighty Random Number Generator and ask it to pick a winner.

Lucy Sez:

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“OMG! Did some of that blue dye get on my ear??!!”

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Bag It

June 29, 2009 By

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for a nice bag, be it a knitting bag or a purse.

In the knitting bag department I am suffering an embarrassment of riches. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I was lucky enough acquire three new knitting bags last weekend.

Check out this baby:

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This is the Emily Lace Bag, a new bag from Keri’s 3AM Enchantments (Etsy shop). This bag is made from a heavy fabric with a flat bottom so it stands up nicely by itself. It has a grommet on each side so you can thread your needle tips out through them when you stuff your lace project in the back, thus ensuring you don’t drop stitches off the ends of your needles when your WIP is in the bag.

(This past weekend in Richmond, Frances had her Girasole in her Emily Bag and said she really likes that feature!)

A little bird (okay, it was Keri) told me that she would be updating her Etsy shop very soon with these bags. If you are a member of the 3AM Enchantments Group on Ravelry, you can stay in the know. 🙂

My bag is in the Dala Horse fabric, which I love. I’ve got a KIP bag and an accessory pouch in this fabric as well.

Now check out this cutie:

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This is a box bag custom made for me by Aimee. When I was in Charlotte, NC earlier this month, I picked out the fabric and Aimee very generously said she’d make the bag for me. I wanted a box bag that was slightly smaller than usual, so Aimee sized up a pattern for a much smaller bag. Didn’t she do a great job? And I love the ribbon she used (she picked that out, not me.)

Pictured with my new little sock bag are some sachets Aimee made for me and some lavender wands L-B gave me over the weekend. The lavender wands match the bag very nicely, don’t they?

This brings us to this adorable bag:

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This one was made for my by Issy, who also made the ultrasuede mouse that Lucy was playing with in yesterday’s blog post. (Issy, Lucy slept with her new mouse last night.) I love, love, love the kitty and pawprint fabrics Issy used on this bag.

So, I am surrounded by knitting bag love! Thank you, Keri, Aimee, and Issy!

Oh, in addition to the lavender wands above, L-B thoughtfully gave me a One-Year-Aniversary-on-Plurk gift:

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Bananagrams! Woo-hoo!

Lucy is not terribly impressed. She just wants her dinner.

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Richmond Weekend

June 28, 2009 By

I had a great weekend in Richmond! The only drawback is that I developed a sore throat on Friday on the train going down, and by the time I came home I had a low-grade fever as well. Today it has blossomed into a full-fledged cold. (I’d like to blame the cold on being in a confined space on the train, but considering the incubation time needed, it’s likely I was already infected.)

In spite of feeling poorly, it was a fun weekend! L-B picked me up at the train station and we met up with fellow KnitPlurker Aimee (who drove up from North Carolina) for lunch. After lunch we met up with Frances, another NC KnitPlurker! We all checked into a hotel and had a fun afternoon and evening of knitting, talking, and laughing, joined by local knitters Lou and Alice.

Saturday was a book-signing at one my favorite yarn shops — The Yarn Lounge. We had a wonderful day meeting online acquaintances and seeing old friends again. There may have been some stash enhancement as well . . .

I’m not feeling up to a full post today but I wanted to say thank you to everyone involved for the fun weekend, and Lucy wanted to say thank you for the fresh catnip and for this:

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“Thank you for my beautiful ultrasuede mouse, Issy!”

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Richmond Bound

June 25, 2009 By

I am not going to work tomorrow (Friday). Insert appropriate sounds of jubilation here. Instead, I’m heading down to Richmond, Virginia. I’ll spend Friday afternoon/evening with my good buddy L-B and other assorted knitting friends, and on Saturday I’ll be at The Yarn Lounge, signing books, from 11:00am til 1:00pm. I hope to see some of you there!

I did manage to find the time to turn the heel of my sock. See?

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Said sock will accompany me to Richmond. As I mentioned yesterday, I do have another project I just started.

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It’s a circular shawl of my own design, being knit from the Tilli Tomas Elsie yarn that I recently purchased. I like the yarn very much. My only beef with it is this:

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Dye on the fingers! Since I began work on this I’ve been going around with blue fingers. Well, I can wash it off my fingers pretty well, but it’s not so easy to get it off the fingernails. I’ll just have to tell people that it’s a special new kind of French manicure.

The extent of my relief that this week is, for me, over, cannot be adequately expressed in words. Just sayin’.

Lucy appears to have had a rough week as well.

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On My Desk

June 24, 2009 By

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What’s that on my desk? A new bag!

What’s inside? My sock-in-progress, of course.

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I purchased this sweet little sock bag from OliviaKnits on Etsy. As I write this, she has a number of them for sale, in a variety of very pretty fabrics.

One of the things I like about this bag is that it is completely reversible. It’s like two, two, two bags in one.

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I’m not making a lot of progress on my sock just now. My commute this week has been disrupted by the horrific metro accident that occurred Monday afternoon. I have been leaving home earlier in the morning (if you can imagine that) and changing trains at a different point to a different line so as to avoid the Red Line, which is a mess right now. The earlier train is more crowded than the one I take, so I can’t knit, and then I have a half-mile walk, during which I don’t knit.

Well, I could knit and walk (particularly since my new little sock bag has a strap that slips conveniently over my wrist) but in the morning I am more concerned about being aware of my surroundings and moving quickly (downtown DC before 6:00am — just sayin’). And in the afternoon, well, it is well upwards of 80 degrees out there. And humid.

And once I’m at home I’ve been working on something else . . .

Jennifer asked:

Inquiring minds want to know — Do you wear all your socks or do you give them away as gifts? Perhaps you have a small guest room that doubles as a handknit sock closet? (Ooh – that gives me an idea….)

Ooh, that gives me an idea too!

Remember the Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine where he asks what’s the deal with those little hangers that socks come on? Like you have a little sock closet at home where you can hang your socks on their little hangers?

In answer to the question . . . I keep some, I give some away. 🙂

Lucy Sez

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“More belly-rubs, please!”

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