Pointy

Today's cloudy weather was making me feel like it's almost fall, which means it's time for... woolly socks! I haven't had a chance to go out and buy any KPPPM but I know they carry it at Pins & Needles in town, so it's just a matter of time. For now, I'm learning to make toe-up socks with this handy tutorial from Knitty, using some self-striping sock yarn I've had for a few years. I used the figure-8 cast-on and five #1.5 double-pointed needles.

It feels kind of like lassoing a porcupine.

More travel

We're back home again, this time after a road trip up to Cape Cod for a wedding. The wedding was lovely (congrats Allison & Kira!) and it was a fun weekend, except for the godawful traffic throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. I drove all the way to the Cape on Friday, but Oliver took over the driving on the way home (we stopped at his mom's house on the way - hi Jean!) and I managed to do some knitting in the car. When I was a kid I would always read in the car, and I never got carsick, but these days reading in the car hurts my eyes. Knitting, though, is just right. At least, it is when it's a nice small simple project, and right now the Bonny sweater fits the bill.

Portland

We're back from Oregon! I did, indeed, get lots of shawl knitting done on the plane, and the Flower Basket is starting to look like a shawl rather than a very insubstantial hankie. (just look at all those baskets!) I even made a little progress on the infamous Bonny. Oliver took my picture in front of Mabel's Cafe & Knittery, which is a great place. Oliver and my mom and brother could sit and have cool drinks while I checked out the wool, and they even helped me decide what to get, looking remarkably happy and patient about the whole thing. So I've been planning to make a new pair of mittens to go with my red winter coat, and after much fondling of various fuzzy yarns, I picked up three skeins of Cascade Bollicine Etoile in #14 "sooty." It's so soft and fluffy... So I think I'll make a lace scarf, possibly this one. As for the mittens, I searched my stash for something thick to match the mohair, and I think I've found it: some old Stahl Limbo Color in Indigo. I'll swatch it up and see how it looks.

I picked up a copy of the Stitch & Bitch Knitter's Journal at Powell's and I really like it. The graph paper and helpful tips, combined with the success of my tiny modification to the ChicKami, are inspiring me to actually consider designing my own patterns!

Sweaters everywhere

I finish one project, and get some good work done on two more, and what happens? Amazing sweater patterns start coming out of the woodwork! I'm a sucker for fancy cables so there's Eris, and also Kepler, and the previously mentioned Weasley sweater. I swore I'd cast on for Paloma as soon as I finish Skyespun, and I want to make that Fair Isle cardy too, and I saw this picture of a sweater (on a waitress in Montana) in Outside magazine while I was getting my knee worked on at the doctor's office, and now I want to make that one too but I'll have to write the pattern myself, and, and, and... argh. Must knit faster!!!

ChicKami II: done!

It's finished! And it's perfect. :) The fit is much better than on the first one, enough so that I'm almost tempted to redo the first one. (Almost, but not quite.) The butterfly pattern came out really nicely, though it'll probably look even better after blocking.

I'll get Oliver to take a better picture - one in which my head isn't cut off - when we meet up in Portland this weekend! I'm hoping to get plenty of shawl knitting done on the plane.

Weasley is our King

Alison, author of the Blue Blog, is starting up a new Weasley sweater knit-along for grownup-sized sweaters! I don't know if I'll join the actual knit-along, since I have the Flower Basket to finish by April and also all that gorgeous Paloma yarn in the closet, but I'm very excited that she'll be posting patterns for when I finally get around to making my own Molly-style creation. If only I could enchant my needles...

Crafty

Last night was Craft Night at Maitreya's. Lots of fun, good conversation, good pizza, and enough knitting that the ChicKami is ready for another skein. Now I have to decide whether I want to add a few stripes of the pale blue, and if so, how many and what width, or if it would just look weird. There are also some neat examples of lace/eyelet added to the pattern (here and here) which appeal to me too. Decisions, decisions...

Update: I found this butterfly eyelet/lace pattern in The Book of Knitting (which I borrowed from my friend Chris, um, a year ago? Oops) and made this swatch in some leftover pale blue cotton. It's really simple, only 5 stitches so it's easy to place in the pattern, and so cute! So I think I'll put a row of those along the neckline.

New pictures up for the Skyespun and ChicKami, both of which are growing slowly. Look at all that sleeve action on Skyespun! Praise the wonders of air conditioning that lets me work on wool sweaters in August in New Jersey!

Double chocolate

I put in a few rows on the ChicKami tonight. But then I got all distracted because we made warm brownie sundaes. Mmmmmm.