February already?

It feels like it's been forever since i've posted here...wait, it has been!  So knitting, unfortunately, has been on the back burner lately.  I had Bell's Palsy this past fall and school things started requiring a lot more concentration than usual (i.e. multi-tasking was impossible for a while).  I have gradually improved and think that my brain is finally pretty much back to normal.  However, this semester is even more hectic than the last one!  In fact, i'm going to be dropping a class tomorrow (no worries, it was an elective, i took a class in January Term so i could complete my final semester with only three classes if need be).  So i've only been knitting a little bit here and there and don't really have anything substantial to tell about...other than my Christmas knitting, and even in that case i unfortunately didn't get as far as i meant to.

So, in 2010 i completed the following projects:

Dashing Evi mittens FINALLY

Ginny's Hex Vest...which somehow ended up felting in cold water

Tangy Giselle - even more FINALLY, as i had been dreaming of this project for years and had multiple issues with it

Drunken Bees Toes - my socks still have issues that i need to work out

Gentleman's Matrimony/Cozy Socks

four Monteagle bags (with various variants)

a Lacy Starfish Snood that i'm in the process of reworking the band of (it turned out to be too loose)

Mega-Sonic Screwdriver for Megan

Shy Adipose for Josh

Wisp scarf for Abby

Lacy Skull Cap for Alice with matching mini-hobo purse

Baby Totoro cap for Caleb (that turned out being huge)

And my Asymmetrical Wrap...which doesn't have finished sleeves yet, but i've worn a couple of times as a vest.  The sleeves are in the works (i've finished the cuffs so far...pathetic, i know) and i'm planning to make them removable anyway.  I'm also planning to add ribbing to the back waist because it rolls up so much right now.

I guess i did get a lot of knitting done in hindsight, with about 15 projects completed and a few more started.  This year i hope to improve upon my finishing methods (weaving in ends, putting the zipper in my Fair Ginny cardigan, figuring out how to seam that baby sweater i knit years ago, etc.) and will probably eventually get around to working on quite a few projects.  River's vest (from Firefly) being among them... yeah, i've been crocheting more, even tackling amigurumi for the first time.  Yeah, i have been dreaming of a couple of projects but have no idea when i'll be able to tackle them.

Christmas is coming, the bag is getting fat...

I went a little crazy at Hobby Lobby today.  I bought a bunch of yarn, effectively committing myself to knitting and crocheting for 2/3-3/4 of my Christmas gifts.  Check out my haul:

$80 worth of yarn in my Mason-Dixon Monteagle Bag, which i knitted in hemp.  A couple of skeins are for myself, to knit more of these bags (i have two so far, and preferred the Sinfonia to the hemp, though they both work up pretty well), and to knit myself a shawl (which is something i have yet to attempt), but the rest...  Let's just say that i have a lot of Christmas knitting ahead of me.

ETA:  Off to add the appropriate projects to my Ravelry queue.

first project of the Fall (even though it's still Summer)

I actually have been doing more knitting than usual over this summer, not that i'm getting much done, but i am gradually working on several projects simultaneously.  These socks took me thirty-five days, which really is too long, but for the Summer is pretty good (not to mention that i probably only worked on them on five days all together).  I'm thrilled with how they came out, now i just hope that they fit the person i knit them for.

a glimpse into my purse

I like my knitting to be portable.  Even when i was working on Tangy Giselle, it was in my messenger bag most days right along with my textbooks.  I would work on it in class (when professors allowed), between classes while studying, it was heavenly.  The issue for me was always how to carry knitting supplies without losing them.  I was really worried about carrying scissors and poking a hole in my bag or losing my nice, birch cable needles (which have been borrowed and lost by family members, but oh well).  So, over time, i have gradually put together a compact kit that i will be able to travel with and keep some of the most important knitting supplies on hand.  The biggest thing that i'm missing is the ability to carry a crochet hook in it.  Here's what i carry with my knitting:

• The case is from the Icing store at the local mall:  i got it on clearance for $2.75.
• The tape measure is from Wal-Mart, i had it on hand, it probably cost me about $1.
• The stitch holders were a gift from a family member who knows that i knit.  I have some larger ones at home, but this is a handier size and prevents me from losing my stitch markers.  Sets of 3 with varying sizes are about $3-5 new from Michaels or Hobby Lobby
• The blanket pin is what i'm going to be using until i find a shawl pin that i like well enough to splurge on.  $2 from Michaels
• Cable needle, bought in a set of 3, probably from Michaels.  Again, about $2.
• Stitch markers...i use a lot of these (and lose them, too).  I have about ten on the needles right now, three off, and have lost 7.  These are nice and flexible, and come in two sizes (in the same package) and two colors.  I prefer orange and blue to the new green and purple.  $6 for 20 at Tangle, i think they were cheaper at Michaels.
• Nail clippers, found at Big Lots...i think they were $1.  These are short enough to make it through security at an airport.
• Not pictured, but often with me, is my row counter (which i have on a keyring, so it's usually with my keychains).
• Total cost of $10-15

Skacel Addi Turbo review

It doesn't rain but it pours, so i'm going to write up my opinion about the  Addi Turbos.  I'd heard good things about them for a long time, but i'm wary of metal needles:  my first couple of pairs were too heavy, the ones i inherited from my Grandma no longer have smooth tips, and i've heard that they can explode in cars due to static electricity or some such.  However, after knitting up the Boing socks separately, months apart, and with a gauge issues that made them two slightly different sizes, i was looking for a new solution to sock knitting that wouldn't leave me wanting to quit before i've even started.  The Brittany birch dpns (though lovely) tend to be too fragile in size 1 and 2 for my klutzy ways, and they're too short to for comfort (in my opinion, 7'5" isn't long enough, let alone 5", without risking dropped sts or adding weight with point protectors that fall off anyway), so i was looking for a new solution.

I did a little research, and can definitely see that sock knitting is largely about personal preference.  Some people knit two pairs of socks on one set of dpns (one inside the other) but most people seem to knit one sock at a time on one set of dpns.  But i'm one of those people who, upon completing the first sock, despairs at the thought of starting a second.  To me, binding off = project finished = time to wear.  Which is why i had two matching socks that don't fit exactly the same way and were knit months apart from each other.  So, when i stumbled upon the idea of knitting both socks at once, on two circulars or with one long circular and a magic loop, i decided this would be the way to go for me.

Which is why i decided to buy some Addi Turbos.  They are smooth, lightweight, the cables are thin, and my Bees Toes socks knitted up quickly and like a dream.  The cables are a bit stiff, but my guess of 32" long proved to suit my needs nicely.  They're already showing a little wear, but the tips are still smooth and i anticipate creating more projects with them.  5 out of 5 stars here.

What i have discovered, however, is that my tension is very loose compared to most people (perhaps this is because i now knit Continental style, rather than English:  i know that my tension while knitting English is tighter).  I originally thought i had bought size 2s (they were on the wrong hook, i'm guessing, as it's all right next door to each other), when i really had size 1s but was getting the gauge i expected from 2s.  So i went out to buy a set of 1s only to discover that i already had that size!  I now own a pair of size 0s and would like to order some 00 and 000 eventually. I still haven't decided if i want to get the size 3 tips to match my interchangeable set or just go with another set of Turbos.  It will be a hard choice.

There is a difference in cables.  My first set was just a Turbo, and has a beige cord.  My second set was a Turbo Lace and had a light blue cord that was slightly more flexible, so i prefer using them.  They've now changed the Lace cords to red, apparently, so i have no idea if those are more or less flexible than the blue ones.

Webs Interchangeable Needles Set review

And now for some needle reviews!

This past Spring i splurged on the WEBS Interchangeable Needle Set in bamboo.  I love knitting with bamboo needles, but in the past it's been cost prohibitive to buy yarn for a new project and the corresponding needles to go along with it.  I felt this would be an excellent solution, and it sounded like a great deal when you consider that it's nine needle sizes in numerous length combinations.  I have mixed feelings about my purchase, however.

Pros:  The tips are lovely, smooth, and not too sharp, they feel sturdy, and light.  The cables are a little thicker than i would like, but very flexible considering.  The screws fasten smoothly, and don't exactly lock, rather have a firm stop.  I haven't had any issues with them unscrewing themselves like i did with the Boye metal tips that i used to knit up my Flaming Snowboard Beanie ages ago.

Meh:  The cables come in two different sizes, brass and black (or thin and thick, respectively).  Tips size 4-6 come with brass receivers, while sizes 7-11 come with black ones, which indicates "which diameter of cable should be used."  The brass cables came perfectly set up, but with the black screwed ones required me to ease them a couple of millimeters farther out of the clear cabling in order for the receivers to be able to grip the screws properly.  This was nerve racking for me, i certainly didn't want to mess up my purchase, but once i adjusted them, most have worked fine.  As it turns out, the black receivers can take the brass screws, but then the cable doesn't form a smooth fit with the female end.  The brass screw cables are narrower, so the black receivers need to have a larger diameter to accommodate the thicker cables.

Weak Cons:  Some of the numbers on the tips are already starting to wear off.  One of my size 10 1/2 tips doesn't lock on most of the cables: it just keeps turning.  It's not going to fall off, so i can still use it, but it's annoying.  The size 7 and 8 tips are very snug on some of the cables, so it's trickier getting them locked in:  i think that the 7s would have been better suited to the smaller cables, but they have the black ends.  The case isn't quite as nice as i was expecting (the quality of fabric and sewing being the issue).

I wrote in the needle sizes by hand for quicker extraction.
As you can see, i currently have three projects on needles from this set.

Huge Con:  The real issue is with the 24" black cables:  most of the tips can't even grip the screws, and when one can, the other can't.  I cannot ease the screws farther out of the cables as i did with the rest of them, and trying to use pliars only damaged the screws.  So i have one damaged 24" cable and one 24" cable that i can't use, anyway.  My fingers are sore at the moment from trying to fix this, and i'm sure that i've tried other times in the past and gave up on it.

32" (left) and 24" (right)

The knobs work fine, but are a little smaller than seems rational.  I'm always paranoid about my sts slipping over them (not that they have, it's just a mental thing for me).

The connectors seem to work fine (except on those 24" cables, which is where i wanted to use them, of course), though the brass ones don't connect as smoothly as the tips do.  They haven't snagged anything yet, but i'm extra careful around them.

So overall... i guess i'll give it 4 stars out of 5.  It really annoys me that i cannot use those 24" cables.  I don't know if ordering replacement cables would help.  The kicker is that i didn't test everything out immediately after it arrived, just gradually as i started to use it, so i feel ridiculous about e-mailing or phoning them with a complaint now.  This seems to be the best set currently available online, but there is definitely room for improvement.

correcting an oversight

I just realized that i never provided an update on the knitting that i did while in Europe.  I ended up taking my Boing socks and Dashing Evi.  I think i probably took some other sock yarn, as well (probably the Regia for Bees Toes), but i didn't get around to using it.  I spent most of my time working on the Boing socks, predominantly while on layovers in the airports, on the train from Civitavecchia to Rome and back again, on the bus from Izmir to Ephesus, and on the bus to Cairo from Alexandria.  I did go to (what was supposed to be) a knitting meetup with my sisters on the cruise one morning and worked on my socks there, but no one else showed up!  So i finished my socks in Barcelona (bound off in the hostel and wore them on the plane home) and hardly worked on Evi at all.

It's surreal to think that i have now traveled (and knit) in Europe, Asia (questionable:  the part of Turkey that we were in is generally considered to be part of Europe, i believe), and Africa (a.k.a. the Middle East).

fixing a frustrating pattern problem

This seems to always happen to me these days: i get to a certain point in a pattern where, even though i've followed the pattern thus far, it doesn't allow for what i want to do with the pattern next. In this case i wanted to make the sleeves on this sweater convertible (that is to say, a vest with sleeves that can be buttoned or snapped on).  Unfortunately, i wasn't quite sure how to do this, and i was in a hurry to get the project done, so i just started the sleeves in the round at the armhole.  The trouble was s a little issue with the sleeve being too baggy. Take a look (the one on top is my solution, the bottom is the sleeve before i took it out):

I'm not sure that you can really tell while i'm not wearing it, but there was excess fabric bulging under the arm even after i reduced under the arm for about 12 rows.  This sort of thing happens to me quite a bit due to my excess bust size and designers not expecting women to have breasts.  So i frogged this back to the live armhole sts (there are 4 sts picked up at the shoulder and 2 sts picked up under the arm) and knit around one complete row with the start of the row as the underarm.  There are 70 sts total, and i have divided with 7 sts on each side of the row marker.

To the right of the row marker i reduced with ssks, on the left side i reduced with k2tog on the right side or p2tog on the wrong.  Inside the markers i knit or decreased only, but for the other 56 sts i worked in a k2, p2 rib.  So to start out, i k5, k2tog, worked in rib until the next marker, ssk, slippped the last worked st back to the left needle (along with the marker), turned, and worked rib around to next marker, p2tog, slipped st back to left needle, turned, work to next marker, ssk, k4.

So it's kind of like i worked in short rows, but instead of wrapping sts i turned at my dec st.  The next couple of sts of rib i made sure to keep snug, but not tight, and each dec becomes part of the next dec the next round, so there are no holes.  I went through the same process again (with less sts around the beg of the row, obviously), leaving 2 sts on each side of the center marker (60 sts).  The decreases created a triangle, as you can see below.  From there, i bound off.

So the armhole is now pleasantly snug.  It looks a little tight in the photos, but it doesn't feel tight at all.  Hopefully i will get some better images up here (or on my Ravelry) soon.  Right now, it needs to be blocked a bit, and then i need to start on the sleeves before it cools off too much (one can only hope!).

2009 in review

i did, quite honestly, a lot of knitting this year, and also some crocheting. It seems rather amazing to me that i finished eleven projects and began at least five more. i knitted my first sweater, my first pair of socks, and knit in Europe (most notably the airport in Germany, the hostel in Barcelona, the train to and from Rome, and the ship on the Mediterranean). This blog may not show how busy i was, but Ravelry was one of my most frequently visited sites, and i fully intend to keep knitting... and maybe crocheting, too. (:

My 2009 projects included:

Fox Coffee Beanie Reborn


Liberty Cap 1.0


Fair Ginny


Ohm Mat Bag


Chunky Cabled Cap


Ski Helmet Liner, Jr.


Boing Socks


three Hobo purses


Ski Helmet Liner

and pictures are forthcoming on Dashing Evi and the Ginny Hex Vest.



Since the new year i have already completed two more projects and started two more! So even with reduced time for knitting (this semester is intense!) i have been knitting every spare moment. i even wrote a poem about knitting last week... and am dreaming up new projects all the time.

ecstatic and traveling

i finished Ginny's Hex Vest today! i need to finish weaving in the ends and block the knit portion. It's actually looser than i expected, and has a deeper neckline than i envisioned, but overall i am very happy with the end result. Now i am planning to knit Christmas presents for Aunt Polly, Abby, Dad, and possibly Uncle Earl and Zac. Dad's present will be like Daniel's, only with the left over green fisherman's wool (and if i run out of that, i'll knit the rest up with the brown fisherman's wool i just got in the mail today for the asymmetrical wrap sweater).

i'm going on a cruise in less than two weeks and am currently trying to decide what knitting to bring along. i think i'm going to leave the computer at home and make it a knitting retreat! i think i'll take the remainder of the Christmas present projects (at least, those i don't finish before the cruise), and sock yarn if that fails. There is actually a good chance that i can get a couple of Christmas presents done before we leave for the Mediterranean. Of course, i do have some school work to get done, but overall i'm very optimistic.

Fraggle Rock knits

the newest development on Dashing Evi

i’m tired of trying to improvise a perfect pattern. i’m going to make a go of following the pattern for Dashing as closely as possible, while using the Evangeline chart only for the back of the hand. i don’t know how many times i’ve cast on for this project, but i really don’t want to do it anymore.

The knitillating history of Fetching/Dashing Evi of Broadstreet

1/27 ~ So i actually knitted a swatch for this (twice), and it turned out that for the pattern's gauge i will probably need to use needles in size 1 1/2... but i'm using size 2 and will have 24 sts per 4" instead of 20. i decided to have the cuff come to mid-forearm, where my arm measures 10" in circumference. As it turns out, since i have big bones and am overweight, i can't cast on 40 like the pattern calls for. i figured out that according to gauge i need to cast on 64 sts and will gradually decrease to 44 at my wrist. So i'm still using 16 sts of pattern, but have 48 sts divided evenly on my other two needles (24 sts on each). i also plan to create a gusset and add some interest inspired by Fetching. To cast on i also used the long tail method for the first time, which as it turns out is super easy, but when my Grandma tried to explain it to me some 15-17 years ago made absolutely no sense. Now i think i'll use it every time.

1/28 ~ i guess i'll go with the convertible mittens that i've been meaning to do for forever: i'll use Broad Street Mittens as a guide. So far, i am ready for round 10 and to start the cable pattern. In round five i did a cable round like in the Fetching pattern once (instead of repeating it 3 times on the wrist, i just did it once, and because i don't have a knit 4, p1, repeat going on i slip 2 k sts, hold to front, p2, k2 off cable needle). And because i'm backwards and contrary i'm knitting the right mitten first, which is mostly because i plan to reverse the Evangeline cable pattern on the left mitten so that the cables cross the same way i do up my sneakers (outside laces on top). Yes, i know i'm anal.

1/30 ~ After a false start with runaway cables on the inner wrist, i have cast back on and knitted to the wrist. i dropped a purl st once and had to undo 3 rows worth of cable pattern to fix my mistake. ): Luckily i saw a video on YouTube the other night that showed me an easy way to quickly un-knit. As it turns out, i accidentally repeated row 5 on my second repeat, but i liked the way it looked so i did it for my fourth repeat as well. i've been decreasing 3 sts every 5 rows and now have 46 sts on the needles: i plan to dec 2 more sts at the inner wrist and start the thumb gusset next.

2/4 ~ The thumb on my first mitten is complete and i am getting ready to knit the pinky next, but i have to do a couple more rows of pattern first. After the pinky, of course, comes the ring, middle, and index fingers, then the convertible part. The crazy thing is that the palm is baggy but i cannot extract my hand from the current slot. i do not think that i'll have enough yard to actually knit the fingers up properly, but i'm not sure. i plan to rotate the thumb decreases 90 degrees. i feel a bit embarrassed when i hit walls like this in my knitting. So far i'm not entirely impressed with this yarn, the gauge seems just a little loose, but i'm hoping that it will work well on the slopes once i complete the project.

2/19 ~ i have been really unhappy with this project for over a week now. The cables look awesome, but the thumb gusset it in the wrong place, and i don't like the way the ribs look on the wrist. As much as i hate to do it, i think that i'm going to be taking out the right mitten and start over on it, but probably not before knitting up the left mitten so i can use it for a guide to see where my improvisations went wrong.

10/12 ~ Cast on again (frogged this long ago), this time 40 sts and not intending the wrist / forearm section to be as long, and basing the design on Dashing so far.

10/13 ~ Round 12: Dec 2 sts, once on each side of wrist (opposite each other), by turning 4th k st in rib pat, then placing it back on left needle. Knit k and p st tog tbl.
Round 16: Cable over same place as decreases (4 over 4, LT for right hand).
Round 20: Cable over inner wrist (first quarter), increase 5 sts on back of hand to beg Evi cable pattern, put incs back in between k4 ribs, and inc 1 more st to begin thumb. Cont. working cable section and inc 1 st for thumb each row.

yet another dye day... squared

So, once i found the lemon-lime Kool-Aid, and wrestled my yarn into large loops secured with scrap yarn, i set about in dyeing bogey-colored yarn.



First i soaked the yarn in the same large pot as last time: i think that i had more length with the lemon yarn that i dyed orange, but this yarn is definitely thicker, and filled the pot to about 2/3 instead of 1/3. Next i emptied the Kool-Aid into an empty bowl and filled that bowl with water, stirring to dissolve the powder completely before pouring it over the yarn.

+ =

i heated the yarn, but it didn't even get anywhere near a boil before all the Kool-Aid was gone from the water. After steaming it for about 20 mins i let it cool, eventually draining the yarn and hanging it to drip dry. i liked the progress i had seen in the midst of the heating:



Unfortunately, though the yarn floating nearer the top of the pot turned out beautifully (albeit a little darker than i envisioned in the middle of the dyeing process), the yarn on the bottom... didn't.



Whole spans of yarn with no dye at all, and blotches of a decidedly blue-green hue. i was of course a little upset, but relieved that this did not happen in my last project, with more expensive yarn. If need be, i could always buy more yarn (i've found it online for even cheaper than i paid for it at work), but i decided it would be cheaper to buy more Kool-Aid, dye it again, and just live with the mistake. Now i know to not dye so much yarn at a time. i bought four more packets today, and dyed again, and the color seems to have come out well (no pictures yet, it's still drying), thought just a hair darker than the other skein, and of course with no hope of fixing the blue-green bits. i'm not sure yet how hard it will be to work around this error.

wha???

Read some blog the other day, can't remember where, in which a woman said something along the lines of "Oh, my daughters and I love to crochet, except for one of my daughters who prefers to knit because it's more time consuming." And of course i was like, "Wha...??????" i haven't been a slow knitter in well over a decade, and am even faster now that i've made the switch to continental. Crocheting is more time consuming (for me) because i crochet less than i knit and have to think about it more, and i have to constantly watch what i'm doing (if i'm knitting stockinette i don't have to be too focused on my hands really, i can watch tv or whatever. i knew i had arrived as a knitter when i was knitting in the round in a dark theater while watching Underworld 2, and no, i do not use glowing acrylic needles). Knitting is not slow any more than crocheting is, it merely depends on one's amount of experience. This weekend i knitted two hats; they both took me 3-5 hours once i worked out the kinks of learning a new pattern and figuring out what to do when i ran short on yarn (they never mention that in the project books that laud knitting with leftover yarn...). As a result i made a beanie instead of a beret and a two-colored hat instead of a solid one, but it all worked out, and rather quickly (i will admit that i was getting rather tired of the k2, p2 ribbing on the second project, however). Anyways, back to the point: enjoy the craft you love, realize that it takes time to master a new one, but eventually crocheting and knitting are both rather like riding a bike: once you know how, your fingers always remember the way.

Overall, i feel that the art of knitting is a rather misunderstood pastime. i am so sick of people giving me dirty looks when i bring my knitting along to class or church. Please understand, that if i feel comfortable enough to knit in front of you, it is a compliment. Knitting gives me a heightened sense of awareness: i retain lectures better and notice more details (which is saying something, as i am pretty observant on my own as a rule). i am great at multitasking, but knitting focuses me enough to not let me be distracted, allowing me to give more of my attention to what is at hand (well, rather, what is not in hand, but being discussed, taught, etc.). Just because someone doesn't know how to knit does not mean that one should look down on me because i can!

It disturbs me how we have fallen away from the idea of never having idle hands and always contributing to society, the war effort, etc., to become a culture that is threatened by the fact that i can create something with merely a ball of yarn and two (three, four, five) needles. i didn't know that i was going to be making some sort of statement every time i picked up the needles when i taught myself how to knit from a book nearly fifteen years ago. If i have to, i'll continue to make that statement, because i fully intend to continue knitting for the rest of my life, and i hope to be knitting more in the future. i'm already working on another hat and fully intend to start crocheting the hex vest this week, too.

End of rant. (;

bitter lemon-limes

After looking at at least five grocery stores, i have finally found some lemon-lime Kool-aid. The bad news is that i neglected to write down how many ounces of yarn that i'm going to be dyeing, and only bought eight packets (when there is 16 ounces of yarn). So, the question is, do i buy more? Perhaps dilute the green with the leftover yellow and orange that i have left over from dyeing Tangy Giselle? i'm undecided. i think that i will probably be using what i have and then adapting to fit my needs as i am actually doing the dyeing. i do not want the colors to be too bright or too diluted, either. i'm not exactly sure what color i'm going for here, just something greenish, but not blech (like the $200 handbag that my US Lit professor bragged about getting a good deal on last semester). i'm definitely going for a bogey color (hex!), but i want it to be pretty, too.... Does that make any sense???

The bitter part of this post is that i am trying to figure out a good way to unwind this yarn and i have managed to get it royally tangled in the process. i'm almost finished untangling it now, but it's taken me over an hour. The board game box was too small, the ironing board kept collapsing, but the empty laundry basket turned upside down seems to be doing the trick.

dye day

Yep, last Friday, after work, i finally got my Ohm Mat Bag dyed, along with those thrift store pants that i mentioned. i think the project actually turned out pretty well. The color isn't perfect, but that's why it has personality.

dreaming of yarn...

i cannot believe that i forgot to bring my knitting with me today (i'm in the middle of Liberty Cap 2.0, and World Geography is the perfect opportunity to get the needles clicking). The weather is cool and rainy today, and as such i have knitting on the brain (along with the cruise i am taking in two months, but that is entirely beside the point: that is on the brain because we finally got our plane tickets today). i am really restraining myself, not allowing myself to run down to Tangle (Mountain Biking was canceled due to the weather, so i have a little extra time on my hands today) and check out the yarn that i am thinking of buying for the Hex Vest or simply buying it online (i haven't even seen this yarn in person or touched it, mind you, but i am itching to start this project, nay, multiple projects). i still haven't had the time to take photos of my yoga bag or dye it. My life is so busy and full of stressful requirements. Maybe after the first mod is over (which means the yoga class will be over, and by then, what's the point?).

On a cruise related note, i found two pairs of pants at Goodwill, one pair brown and like new, the other pair pink and from Old Navy. What on earth was i thinking? Well, basically, what the heck, it's four bucks, and i can dye them. i have no idea if i can actually dye this type of fabric, but it doesn't really hurt to try, as no one in town has the appropriate pants (well, Old Navy does, but i'm not willing to pay $30 a pair for them), and Hi Fashion Fabrics does not have the fabric i'm looking for, either. i broke down and bought some batik for a blouse (i shouldn't have looked!). i have very low willpower lately.

fall approaches...

On Sunday, my family and i went to a wedding. On the way there i finally finished knitting my yoga mat bag. i still need to photograph it and dye it, but it's finally complete! This project seemed to take forever, most likely because of the small gauge (i was using size 4 dpns for crying out loud!). The youngest daughter of the bride (who is 13 and friends with my sister Katie) had the audacity to say that it looked like a sock! So, of course, i had to model it, by pulling it onto my right leg, much to their amusement (it's somewhere between the length of a knee high and a thigh high on me, in case you're wondering). Then i put it on my head and bounced off to the car feeling very rastafarian.

On the way home, the family decided to take the scenic route, which is the same loop that we took last fall to see the trees changing colors (you can see pics here). We rolled the windows down to let in the cool air, and wouldn't you know it? i forgot a ponytail holder so my hair (which is getting quite long now, it's starting to inch down my back) was completely in my face. What is there to do but put the bag on my head to keep my hair back? It was how i imagine it would feel to wear a really long snood! Would you believe that the trees are already starting to get tiny splashes of color and Hayes Creek Falls was even more beautiful than the last time we visited? i am so excited for fall, and hope it gets cooler soon (this, of course, has nothing to do with the mountain biking class i am taking twice a week in what seems like blazing heat).

Today, to fill the knitting void in my class time (World Geography is the only class i've gotten up the gumption to knit in so far this semester), i pulled out the size 8 dpns and ink blue Lamb's Pride again to start my Liberty Cap 2.0. i think that knitting the yoga bag and wearing it as a hat has actually helped me understand better the implications of designing this pattern. i don't expect the project to take me long, and fully expect that i'll be picking Tangy Giselle back up again soon, hopefully finishing it just in time for the weather to turn cool again.

p.s. i have passed 6 dead skunks on the side of the road in the past two weeks. Grandma always said that dead skunks in the low country means a cold winter. i think that this winter must be a whopper of a cold one if that's the case.