Monday, July 30, 2007

You know you're a yarnaholic...

...when while getting ready for a vacation, you pack your knitting before your clothes.

We're going on vacation for a few days. I don't know exactly where, but my dad decided (last week) that we needed a family trip. Oh joy. Seven hours with my family in a minivan. At least I have a CD player and headphones. And knitting - plenty of knitting. (Is there such a thing?)

Projects I'm bringing with me:
1. Basic stockinette socks in Lion Brand Magic Stripes on size 2 needles - one's finished. I think I set a new personal record yesterday - cast on to partway through gusset in half a day. With any luck, I'll have a new pair of socks by the time we get to the western border of the state.
2. Conwy socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road in Sockotta - one finished, major SSS on the other.
3. Opal Silk to make Jaywalkers
4. Omega Sinfonia in Royal Blue to make Green Gable (thank goodness for interchangeable needles!). I got this yarn from Hobby Lobby on Saturday. It's a really pretty royal blue sportweight cotton.
5. WoolEase Sportweight to make the Essential Stripe pullover (minus the stripes).

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Peer pressure and parsley worms

Ah, peer pressure, the scourge of parents of teens worldwide. What else could explain this?

Yup, that's a Mystery Stole. No, I have not finished the CDR yet. Want to hear my rationale?
1. My knitting bag (the nice one my sister brought me from Italy) won't hold my CDR without squooshing it and possibly felting it.
2. I've worked too hard on this thing to ruin it now.
3. The Mystery Stole is portable, especially when it's using recycled wool from an old thrift store sweater.

In other news, one of these:

has progressed to this:

and will soon (hopefully) become one of these:


Oh, and look what was nibbling our flowers!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Harry Potter and the Hagrid-Sized Knitting Bag

At 5:45 PM on Friday, I had this:


At 1:00 AM on Saturday, I had this!


I finished Deathly Hallows in 4 hours. I need to re-read it to let it sink in more. The reason I plowed through it so fast is that I just wanted to read it before I got spoiled, like I did on almost all the other books. Some parts were great, some parts weren't, some parts I totally saw coming, and some parts I totally didn't. I won't say much more so as not to spoil anything, but if you're considering reading Harry Potter to your young 'uns, stick with the first three books. Deathly Hallows is most certainly not a children's book. It's got a terribly high body count.

After I finished Deathly Hallows, I went to SWAK in Guthrie, where they were having their store-wide 25% off sale. I picked up 9 skeins of Silky Wool in a really pretty dark cobalt blue for $4.81 a skein! This is such lovely soft yarn. The color is blue without being the denim-y blue that I'm so sick of. I can't decide what it wants to be, though. It would look great in cables.


Last Christmas, my grandmother ordered me a knitting bag from Land's End. She didn't give it to me at Christmas because she thought it was too big. But it works great for toting around the knitting guild library!(I wear a size 8 shoe, by the way, and yes, it does come up to my knee.)


I finished the bottom of the CDR! And wonder of wonders, IT FITS! And there was much rejoicing. Go gauge swatches! (The stuff hanging out of my armpit is waste yarn, by the way. Seriously.) I've knitting about three inches on one sleeve.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Less than five hours now!

I'm in the second group of 150 to get my very own copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!! So excited!

Oh, it's been almost a month since I last posted. Bad me. I'm feeling a little embarrassed.

Since there's so little time left before I read DH, here's my last shot at playing Professor Trelawney with some predictions:
1. Snape killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders.
2. Snape had a thing for Lily Evans-Potter.
3. Pettigrew will fulfill his life-debt to Harry.
4. RAB is Regulus Black.
5. The final battle will take place during a full moon, and werewolves will be involved somehow.
6. Who dies: Lord Moldyshorts, Snape, Pettigrew, and Bellatrix; Hagrid, Percy Weasley, and somebody else major (I wouldn't be surprised if it's Neville or Luna; please not Lupin or Tonks!).

Knitting-wise, I've been plugging away on the cable-down raglan and a Ravenclaw house scarf. I'm on the bottom edging for the CDR! Somehow, I kept getting distracted at work and knit some purls and purled some knits. With any luck, I'll finish the bottom and at least part of a sleeve at the DH release party at Borders tonight.

I got my first Addi Turbo circular needle! At the Knit-In at the Gourmet Yarn Company, I won 2nd prize for the kiwi lime gelato I brought, so I got a gift certificate. Thank you Margaret! I got a size 1 47" lace Turbo that I can use for Magic Loop or the lace shawl that I WILL make someday. I've signed up to make the Mystery Shawl, but I'm not letting myself cast on until I finish the CDR.

I've decided that I LOVE knitting from charts! I tried knitting from an old Vogue stitch dictionary from the guild library, but it's one of those tall, narrow books that will not stay open. This means that the instructions for just one row can wind up taking several lines in the book, and it's really hard to read.

Well, I'm off to Borders! See you on the other side of DH!