Frog Is A Four Letter Word

...I'm frogging again. For someone who thinks frog is a four letter word, I'm sure doing a lot of it this week. Well, I was cruising along on my mom's hat. After doing some yard work, I decided to sit out in my garden and knit. Here's what was done so far...



Then when I was reading the pattern for the next decrease, I realized I was making the wrong hat!! This pattern has four different variations. My mom specifically requested the flat brim style, almost like a bucket hat. But I had started the wide brim version, which rolls up and looks like something even my grandmother wouldn't wear. And the beginnings of the two are nothing alike, so I have to start completely over! Here I am frogging!



But on a groovier note, my friend E's grandmother donated a ton of yarn to Handknit Neighborhood. And just in time, our next circle is Saturday! Of course it's all acrylic in righteous 80's colors, but hey! Acrylic is exactly what we need for the blankets, slippers, hats, etc. that we make for invalids and displaced people. Look at this!



E decided to wash all the yarn because it smelled smoky, but she washed it all in the skeins, so now the skeins won't dry completely. Guess what I'm doing right now, you guessed it! Unwinding all the skeins into hanks so they'll dry. Then I'll wind them all back into skeins, joy!

So do you have a yarn washing nightmare or wrong pattern story?

I cast on for my mom's felt hat last night, and got a few rows done this afternoon. Of course since it's stockinette, the edge is curling obscenely. Does anyone know if this will be an issue when I felt it? I can't see how, because any blocking I do would simply be negated in the washer. I'm using #11 circs and dpns, Lamb's Pride Bulky in "Ink Blue" and the felt hat pattern with the wide brim option from Fiber Trends. So here it is, a lovely shade of blue that my mom chose to match her jacket.



Can I tell you I am loving this Lamb's Pride. That little bit of mohair makes it scrumptious. Mmmm, mohair. The felting projects I've done in the past were with Lopi Lite, and compared to Lamb's Pride, the LL is very scratchy on your hands. But I like the colors that Lopi Lite has.

What's your favorite felting fiber, weight and brand?

So I didn't start on my mom's felt hat last night. I remembered that I wanted to make something for Teeni to wear to be buried in tomorrow. Please ignore the loose ends!!



So I just made a little necklace out of a bunch of pink scraps I had. Cotton Tots, Velvet Touch, Microspun and something else. This was the first time I used the casein (milk protein) needles from Swallow Needles that I bought about a month ago. They are pleasant to work with, a jillion times better than metal, but they're no bamboo!

Perhaps I'll start on my mom's hat tonight. I doubt I'll get much done tomorrow, since I won't get home til late afternoon. The vet I use for the dogs is almost two hours away, then I have to take Teeni over to my parents' farm to be buried next to her father. Then my mom wants me to stay for lunch, and it's another hour and a half home from there. I am also taking Charlie, my other dog, so he can be with her and say goodbye to her. I'm not sure how much dogs can comprehend about death, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I always think of "To Build a Fire", where the dog knows the man is dead and heads off to the camp.

So what do you like to make with scraps? Also, I apologize for whatever is going on with my archives (or lack thereof). Any Blogger users out there to help me out?

Well last night I said "F it!!!" to the pink shrug. "Frog it", that is. :) I got the whole thing finished and when I tried it on, it was so huge I couldn't even keep it around my shoulders. I told you those #13 needles were too big! I would have taken a picture, but I was at R's house and my camera was not. So I frogged the whole thing and put the yarn in a ball. I'm going to set it aside at least for a few days. I will have to decide soon whether I still want to wear this for my birthday. I'm too mad at it right now, we're not speaking.

My mom specifically requested to have her blue felt hat done before she travels next month. Must be nice to have your own personal fashion designer. I think I'll start on that this evening while watching CSI. I only really watch tv two nights a week up at R's house. Mondays for CSI:Miami and Thursdays for CSI. I don't have a tv at my house. Yes, intentionally. So I'll take some pics of the hat after it's cast on.

What yarn or project has pissed you off the most?

My very busy week is over!! I can actually do some knitting tonight! If I don't fall asleep, since I stayed up all last night finishing a job. So after I delivered it this morning, I wanted to head to the Ben Franklin craft store because some blog this past week said they were pleasantly surprised when they went in there. Welll so was I! They had some nice and adorable Patons yarns and some of the cooler Lion Brand ones like Watercolors. I got some Patons Fresco, a soft ribbon yarn, in yellow for my new niece. Then I went to my LYS down the street. Okay, when I say "local", I mean an hour away. There are three nice yarn stores in the area but they are each an hour in different directions. I hate this town!!! The people are so cheap and tasteless, a decent yarn store would never make it. But I digress. So I went in to exchange my Lamb's Pride bulky for worsted weight, but she had a pattern for felted hats that I liked much better than my pattern, so I can use the bulky. Oh, but I had to buy new circs and a set of new dpns, $10 each!!! But after working an average of 14 hours a day for the past week, I deserve it! Here are my goodies.



And a close up of the Fresco. This may be a really cute spring cardigan for NN (Newest Niece).



So do you reward yourself with yarn, needles or patterns/magazines? Or just let yourself start another project?

Hey gang! Guess what was waiting in my mailbox when I got home! A gaggle of new bamboo needles!



And a cute quilted holder. I bought them on Ebay on Wednesday, they shipped on Thursday, and they're here today! From Canada! 'mazing!

So that's pretty much all the knitting related excitement I've had lately. Worked on the baby blankie Saturday night while watching CSI:Miami reruns. DANG! that blanket is boring. It may become something else. :) With the crazyness of finishing a big freelance project while starting a new full time job, I have only done three more rows on the shrug. But the end is in sight. The last skein is getting "hollow", you know what I mean. When you can tell you're getting to the end of a skein because it's flat instead of round.

And one of my dogs is going to doggie heaven on Saturday, so I want to knit her a collar or scarf or something in which to be buried. She likes purple, but I don't think I have any purple in my stash. No one could deny me that shopping excuse. Well, I'm sad that she can't be around anymore and enjoy life in good health, but I will be relieved that she is not in pain anymore. I think she will appreciate it too. And it makes me smile to think that all over the country are handknit goodies with more than their share of her fur in them! :)

So do your pets help you knit?

Well I scored some awesome deals on Ebay on Wednesday. A big lot of bamboo needles for the charity, and a big lot of yarn, including a mostly finished blanket and the yarn to complete it, also for the charity. I'll show you some pics when they arrive.

Also on Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the temp agency saying a company wanted me to start the next morning. So I've been working the daily grind for the past two days and I remember now how much it sucks. Part of the problem is this big freelance job that's due on Tuesday still has to be finished, but now I only have the evenings to finish it. That, and the fact that temp work pays NOTHING! I have to keep reminding myself "Health insurance, health insurance".

So the only attention my pink shrug has received in the past two days is a quick pet as I walk by the coffee table. There are only about ten or twelve rows to go. I'd like to sit down tonight and work a couple of them. Since nothing exciting is happening, here's a picture of the shrug again.



So what's keeping you from your knitting?

I really need to get off Ebay. I'm finding some groovy deals on yarn and needles....just when I have no money! Well, I could buy something, but then I wouldn't be able to eat or put gas in the car until I finish my next job. What's the dilemma, you ask?

The shrug/wrap/thing is progressing. I'm into the third and last skein that I'll use. I'm one of those knitters whose projects are however large the yarn supply is. When I run out of yarn, that's how big the shrug will be. I showed it to my friend E yesterday and she likened it to a sweater without sleeves, neck or a bottom. A half sweater! Perhaps that's the new name!

It would be awesome to finish it today, but I really need to work on this job. It has to be delivered Tuesday morning and I've got six days of work left on it. You do the math.

Has anyone scored an awesome deal on Ebay lately?

I realize I have the dreaded knitter's short attention span. It's not so bad that I can't finish a row, but I've broken my rule of only having two projects going at once. Larger projects like sweaters start to bore me, and I begin dreaming of that next project. It always seems so much cooler and more exciting than whatever I'm doing.



Okay, so I'm only one project over my limit of two. But what embarasses me is that none of them are for charity or fundraising, they're all personal projects. I usually like to take turns on projects in the three categories: personal (which rarely is for myself); charity; and fundraising. But the two pink UFO's shown above were started for my birthday party. The striped one may turn out to be my sister-in-law's birthday present, all I need to do is add about 4 or 5 inches to the sleeves and the length (she's a tall girl).

Anyone else's WIPs getting out of control?

I'm very pleased with the progress of my shrug/shoulder wrap/whatever. This is only the second thing I've ever made for myself--it will be worn at my birthday party! There is another component to this ensemble, but I'll introduce that when I begin working on it.



So the springboard for this project was the Wide Rib Shrug in Vogue Knitting Fall 2003. But their shrug just sits around your arms and shoulders, and looks as if it may fall down if you're the least bit animated. So of course I had to make up my own design. Mine will encircle the shoulders, then have armholes (made like massive buttonholes) and decrease to fit around the torso. It is all worked on my new #13 29" circs. Let us all withhold judgment until it's finished.

I'm using Wendy's Wild Spice, a super chunky wool/acrylic, in color 723. I worked with another Wendy yarn, Velvet Touch, and I must say I am loving both of them. Although I'm not crazy about working this up on #13 needles. Even though the ball band, the Vogue pattern and my LYS owner all said to use #13's, it just seems very loose and gappy. I don't have time to redo this project, but if I use this yarn again, I'll try smaller needles.

So far I have the wider shoulder part and the armholes done, now I'm working on the torso part. So this garment needs a name besides shrug, because that just makes me think "Uh, I Dunno". Any names?

So I've endured my second morning of Starbucks coffee. I can't stand it, it's bitter and nasty and doesn't taste much like coffee. But I ran out of coffee two days ago and I've been using this free sample of Starcrap. I should stop complaining and go to the grocery store!

I need the coffee because I was up late last night bidding on knitting needles on Ebay. I kept getting outbid, though. I guess I have to wait til I have more money. I was bidding on large lots of assorted needles for Handknit Neighborhood. Since our next circle is a couple weeks away, I have to be prepared with needles, hooks and yarn for whomever shows up.

Speaking of the charity knitting circle, I ran around Saturday night putting up flyers at the U. It would be cool to get the younger crowd there. I need to go activate my U email account so I can post info on the e-bulletin board there. My next steps are to submit our event to the public access channel and to the local paper.

But now....more caffeine! Anyone have any charity knitting stories to share?

I'm working on a little blankie for my cousin's new baby. This will be the first blanket I knit as opposed to crochet. I wanted to see how wide I could make it on 14" needles without having a seam. I just kept casting on until I filled up the needle. I got 130 stitches of worsted weight onto my #9 needle! It should be wide enough for a little crib or car seat blankie. I'm using Plymouth's Encore Colorspun in color 7744. It's a cute white/blue/yellow mix that's self-striping. I just made up the pattern by alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette, with a garter stitch border. And yes, the garter stitch is not as tall as the stockinette so every so often you have to add a row in the border only.

The baby's already arrived, so I need to hurry on this project. Anyone else got a baby blanket in progress?