Friday Fair Isle

Happy Friday everyone!

First of all, a big big congratulations to my talented MIL, Alison, who was recently accepted into the Deep River Valley Artisans Guild in Ontario! Congratulations! This is a big deal! It is really quite amazing what she has accomplished in one year. She has definitely moved on to being a full fledged ceramics artist now. She makes some really incredible things. I'll take pictures of her work next time I visit her, and perhaps in the near future she'll have her own website up and running! Or at least an Etsy shop of some sort!

I've started my first fair isle mitten, and it's actually not as difficult as I'd imagined. My main challenge so far is trying to knit more loosely than usual, which will probably mean that the second mitten will be totally different than the first, but what can you do. Hmm. I guess I could have gone up a needle size, but apparently I thought of that too late.

These are called Daina Mittens by Tuulia Salmela. I am loving the pattern - easy to memorize too, which is a plus. If only I had a little bit of red yarn for the little dots between the circles, but, oh well. I am really trying hard to make do with what's in the stash right now.

This Sunday we are traveling to Bethlehem, PA for the next 5 days to find ourselves a new home. We've got several appointments lined up, but I'm finding that a lot of people don't allow pets. How can they turn away a cat as cute as Gatsby?? Anyhow, I just hope that we're not still hunting by the end of our five days. Aside from apartment hunting, I'm hoping to stop by the Tuesday night knit group at UnderWired to meet some new friends, and on Thursday I'm booked for a tour at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. I can't wait to see Philly - I've heard only good things about the city.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Wish us luck!

Short Row Hat & Entrelac Scarf

Two finished objects to show you today!!

D, while working, was taken hostage as the model of my photoshoot

Let's start with the hat... a bit of a surprise, actually. One of those sudden urge knits. After finishing the scarf, I had about a ball and a half of the Mille Colori left so I thought I'd try the Short Row Hat by Veronik Avery, which had been on my to-knit list for a while, and...

Excuse the unwoven end poking out the top

Wow. The pattern is sooooo interesting. Awesome. Super addictive to knit. I literally couldn't put it down because I was so intrigued by how the colours were coming together and the way the hat was shaping itself. Although it looks like entrelac, the diamonds are actually cleverly done with short rows. And, the hat is neither knit top down or bottom up; it's sectional. Sooo cool. This must have been such a pain in the butt to design, but what a great pattern!

Hat Pattern: Short Row Hat by Veronik Avery

Scarf pattern: Entrelac Scarf by Allison LoCicero
Yarn: Lang Mille Colori, 3.5 skeins for scarf, 1.5 skein for hat
Needles: US8 circulars and dpns

This wins as the fastest project I have ever knit - I started on Friday afternoon and finished on Saturday evening, and I'm guessing it took about 7 hours from start to finish. Measured in other terms, this hat equaled 8 episodes of the first season of the West Wing.

Trying to photograph the top of the hat on myself.
Clearly, not such a successful idea.

I am really excited about wearing these now that the weather's getting chillier. I know they're not meant to be a set, but I kind of like them in combination, although it is a whole lotta squares. What do you think? Hat and scarf together are a little too much?

The Cat is Mellowing Out

After 8 years of aloof, anti-cuddle, anti-lap behaviour, Gatsby's personality is beginning to change. Occasionally, you will find him seeking a cuddle these days.

Only, he's not fully committed to the full lap cuddle yet... He's started doing this funny half-draping thing on your lap, with his hind legs firmly planted on the couch.

Too funny.

Showing up at 6am for work really stinks

...especially when you do it on the wrong day. Worse, it's pitch black outside and cold. And I was locked out of the bakery for what seemed like ages (well, 25 minutes) since I arrived way before the Friday baker. Why the hell would my boss schedule me to work at 6:00 if no one arrived until 6:15 at earliest??

Then I found out the schedule said I was working Saturday, not Friday. I was absolutely livid - surely my boss changed the schedule on me last minute. On the way home I'm having a mental shouting match with him about not messing with my schedule and making last minute changes without telling me!

When I get home and look at my scrawled note, oops. Did I really write Saturday??

I'm having one of those weeks. So, it's Saturday at 5:20am, and I'm giving this another whirl. Hopefully I can't screw up twice in a row!

Super Cutie-pie Zoobies

Holy moly! Craft mania today in the Knitticrafty household. I can't believe it, I actually sat down and attached all the heads on these little animals!! Now I just need to paint some faces on them..wait and see what becomes of this little zoo.

(Oct 17, 08 - I forgot to mention that the pattern for these animals comes from the book Play Quilts by Kristen Kolstad Addison)

I'm going to bed super early tonight, as I am expected to crawl to work at 6am tomorrow. I think I am pretty sure I don't see bread and breakfast pastry baker in my future...anyhow, enjoy the animals.

Entrelac, Socks and Mohair

Though it may not seem it, I've actually been knitting... from left to right:

1) Mohair Portrait Scarf by Veronik Avery in Kidsilk Haze (which, I confess, is some of the most expensive yarn I have ever splurged on...) I got a good chunk of the scarf done en route to Zarafa's wedding.
2) Entrelac Scarf by Allison LoCicero in Lang Mille Colori, which I bought THREE years ago in Chicago. Wow, that was a long time ago. I am loving knitting entrelac. I don't even know what that word means, but it's lovely. This thing is addictive to knit. It's hard to put it down.
3) Socks for Veronik by Mona Schmidt, from the Interweave Holiday Knits 2007 issue. I'm using some weird string-like variegated blue sock yarn I bought on sale a few years ago...can't wait to be done with it.

It feels like forever since I finished a knitted project! I've got all sorts of things piled up in corners around the house and I've been lazy about finishing them. Urgh. I wouldn't say I'm in a crafting rut, b/c I've always got lots of ideas for things I want to make, but I'm definitely in a 'get it done' kind of rut. To up our motivation, Devon convinced me that we should both post our progress shots every day we craft; accountability should theoretically result in some increase in productivity.

Well, this is totally not the craft I intended on doing today, but what the heck. Sewing can wait. I blocked the partly knitted entrelac to see how big it got, and boy did it grow in the water. It's a big one! I think I can bind off now...

Crossing Borders

So, my boss calls me this morning and asks in a strangely cheerful but accusatory tone, 'Are you making the buckeyes over there??'.

Me: 'Um, yes. Is everything OK?'

'This woman just called me to say she loves our buckeyes. She wants six dozen shipped to Texas this week. So. Can you make them?'

Me: 'Sure'

My buckeyes are infiltrating Texas!!