Its summer!

And its been hot for June, so far. So, a perfect time for ....



... Calla!

Calla from MagKnits, April 2006
Debbie Bliss Cotton DK
4.0 mm circulars
Started March 2007 - Finished June 2007



This was supposed to be done in time for my trip to Mexico with my sister ... It was my pre-trip knitting to get excited about the trip (there was something about knitting a tank top while it was 20 degrees out that really made me excited, and made it more real that I was going to go somewhere warm soon). Well, it didn't get done for the trip - I really was pretty close too (the arm holes/decreasing). It sat for a while, but as summer snuck up, and I became infatuated with another tank, I finally finished it!

I'm really happy with it - I was skeptical that it wouldn't fit, being too big in some areas or too small overall. I followed the pattern pretty closely - except I made it on circulars so that I wouldn't have seams on each side (it really wasn't a hard modification to the pattern). I'm happy with the yarn as well - I love blue in general, and the color is going to be great for the 4th of July. Can you believe how close it is?

He's into it!

Chief is my cat and, unlike my sister, he is interested in my knitting.

This is a more innocent picture, sometimes his interest interferes ... Today, I was working on Calla and engrossed with Law and Order on TV when I felt a tug on the yarn I was holding. Well, the little sweetheart HAD been innocently batting at the yarn ball when something must have triggered him to run with it ... across the room ... around multiple pieces of furniture ... very fast. Normally I find it endearing when he carries his toys in his mouth; I thought that was more of a dog thing, retrieving (he's my first cat, I'm learning). He has batted a yarn ball on the floor around and lead to some unraveling, but the carpet/furniture/walls usually slow/stop the rolling ball so that I can get to it before too much damage is done. Well, this new technique...very efficient at unraveling yarn. Somehow, he even seemed to know where to hold the yarn ball so that he didn't in anyway restrict the flow of yarn, or how fast he ran. Being positive, I guess that was a relatively benign way of him showing his displeasure with me - I was post call today, thus the "Prime Time in the Daytime," and there had been quite a bit of meowing when I got home. Oh well.

Hopefully there will be FOs to talk about soon ... I'm close on a few (Calla and the Clementine Shawlette which really needs to get done as it was this year's Mother's Day present), and have one Roza and one Grasshopper done (I'm trying to decide which to cast on - probably the Grasshopper so that it gets done before the next shipment and I don't fall behind). I also am hoping to cast on for this soon, I think it will be a quick knit which is why I violated my no more yarn until I move rule (which is just until the end of this month) to buy yarn for it (its summer...I've had this pattern for almost a year...I NEED to start it soon so that I can wear it in the appropriate season, I really needed that yarn...right?!)

zzzzzzzzz....

I'm post call today - and what a great day to be in bed! I don't like working 30 hr shifts, but I do love having the excuse to get into bed in the middle of the day and watch daytime tv! Its gray and cool in the 60's so the windows are open wide and I have piled back the comforter and quilt on my bed. I've procured my favorite pastry from here, a chocolate papillon, and have a latte as well (for caffeine withdrawal symptoms). Chief was behaving, but his favorite "toy" has emerged at the most inopprotune time (a cork from a wine bottle, forget catnip, how did this cat get so high-brow?), hopefully he'll get tired soon.

Now, time to get into bed, play with this (soooo cool!!!!!), and hopefully stay awake for Martha Stewart.....Good night!

Monkeys!

With the whole "monkey" title, I was really trying to take a creative picture. I tried taking action pictures of them while jumping on my bed -too blurry and, I know, not original - having them surrounded by bananas- this just looked weird - and I even have a friend who's husband is a zookeeper and took us on a behind the scenes tour of the zoo -talk about a fantasy job! ... but the socks weren't quite done by then ... another example of how bad I am with deadlines - I can be optimisitc, maybe my Mom will get it by Fathers Day). I'm still holding out for a photo shoot on a playground with a yellow or orange painted jungle gym. Anyway, I fell hard and just took a picture on a blue pillow that I thought highlighted the yarn well (there is just a wee bit of blue in this colorway, but its my favorite component of the colorway).

Monkey Socks from Knitty
Cherry Hill Tree Supersock - Life's A Beach Colorway
US 2 circulars (Cuffs and 1st 2 pattern repeats), US 1 DPNs (remainder of pattern)
Started April - I bought this specific colorway because it went well with my "spring break" trip to Mexico.
Finished - May
(spring break is in parentheses because there was no Senor Frogs, only one night was spent in Cancun, and my propensity to get hung over now that I'm out of college kept me away from the tequila for the most part (I'm not a big fan for it straight up anyhoots).

I really enjoyed this pattern - the lace was pretty easy and you got rewarded at the end of each repeat by several rows of mindless and fast stockinette. This is my first time knitting with the yarn as well, i wasn't expecting the oranges and yellows to be so prominent and was thinking they were a little crazy, but, hell, they are spring break socks aren't they??!! There is just some very mild/somewhat good pooling on the stockinette section on the sole of the foot. Best of all, that little bit of blue....*makes* me *feel special* when wearing them! Oh, and the yarn was nice to knit with - minimal fuzzing, no splitting, 100% wool! I could see using this yarn again, and this pattern getting knit again (although not with this yarn - I don't knit a lot of socks, so I couldn't make two of the same, and I have my eye on a few patterns from "Favorite Socks" for it). I have this 10% off coupon from here, and I have been especially enamoured by the pastels and overall looks of these plus ...

...a moment of silence, the chevron scarf, rip (pped). I was using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, I liked/didn't love the colors, and the weight just was a bit too flimsy for me. I would like this scarf to be more for cool fall days, rainy spring days with my bright green raincoat, or to liven up a white t shirt and jeans in the winter. I *need* BMFA mediumweight STR, and I could use the above coupon for this as well as its good for an ENTIRE ORDER. As for the ripped yarn, I was thinking a chevron-esque pair of socks would be nice, I'm leaning more towards a feather and fan - type pattern over the Jaywalker. We'll see.