Do you Cece the difference?

You may remember a few weeks back I posted some displeasure with the yarn I had chosen to knit Cece. I switched yarns and have been happily knitting away without an update. Here is a progress photo up to the armholes:

And last night while waiting for the night owl to fall asleep, I cast on for the first sleeve (no photo). I will say one thing about the instructions, they are not for the braindead. I am so lucky to have good friends who did not think it odd that I should ask how to make a 3 stitch buttonhole. I googled, and found this (scroll down to the one-row buttonhole). These are the instructions I followed, because I couldn't wait for the response from my friends. I should have though, because their creative genius was to cast off 3 stitches, and when you get to that spot on the next row, cable cast on 3 stitches! DOH!

on good news

How often is bad news, good news? I received an e-mail from webs stating that my encore #4045 is on backorder, and they don't expect the yarn for a few weeks. Did I forget to mention that I am planning to knit an afghan? I really want to finish Cece and the Pomatomus socks, so it is good news that this yarn will not be a distraction for a few more weeks.

I hope to have a photo session with Cece this evening. If the rain holds off, that is. We've had rain for the past 40 days (so it seems). I am up to the armholes so I think it is time I share her with you. Maybe tonight.

Do you have school spirit?

It's school spirit day. Show your school spirit by dressing in one color and having crazy hair. Ok, well, my kids (especially the boys) have crazy hair, better known as bed head, almost every day. But dressing up is fun anyway:


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I'm addicted...

... to the Pomatomus socks. And it is a good thing that they are made out of fish scales, because it started to rain when I took this picture.



I am using *gasp* the yarn called for in the pattern which I *double gasp* had in stash! That is soft touch ultra from Shelridge Farms in a handpainted colorway that I picked up at M$W cough a couple of years ago.

And here is a cute little e-card thing I found while surfing the knitblogs.


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Notice how well the beagle is sitting and NOT pulling on his leash and NOT barking? That is so NOT my dog.

You can design and dress up your own gal, buy printed stationery and even send free e-cards. How cute is that? The site is Design Her Gals. Go check it out!

A New Home

My grandmother has been in town this week, and she fell in love with my Diamond Fantasy Shawl. She gave all the appropriate exclamations and made all sorts of gushing noises, so it will go home with her. It is safely packed (and locked!) in her suitcase ready to fly home. You can see how much she loves it:

Barb has a DFS2 KAL planned for July, and I have a larger skein of Fleece Artist set aside for this purpose. I plan to make a larger shawl which I will keep. I need to finish the P socks and Cece first.

Cha-cha-changes

Thanks for all the kind words about Cece and her non-cooperation. You all are right in that life is too short to work with bad yarn. Well, ok, not BAD yarn, but the wrong yarn for the project. Not being one who lets go easily, I cast on a new Cece with some Rowan Calmer in a lovely, summery, coral color. I immediately felt the Zen of the project wash over me. The color is beautiful (you will have to trust me on this as I forgot to take photos!), the yarn does not split and the project is definitely a go-go. Feeling pretty secure in my new match made in heaven, I will frog the green Cece tonight and return the yarn to the stash.

I signed up for the P - Poma - Pomatomus KAL some time last week. It appears I did it just in time because sign ups are now closed. I have not yet decided which yarn to knit these socks out of, but perhaps tonight will be the night for ripping and swatching. There's a new button over in the sidebar.

To Cece, Or Not To Cece

I decided to cast on for Cece, after all, it's time I made something for myself (again). Here's a progress shot:

I am considering ripping her out. I have to tink 2 more rows as I made a mistake in the lace pattern, but I am also not really loving knitting with the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. The yarn is splitty, and the color - Rue - is much prettier in the skein than knitted up. I'm just not loving this yarn/pattern combination. What do you think, should I persevere or visit the frog pond?

While you are commenting anyway, if you know what species of plant this is, would you let me know? It sprung up in my garden and I just don't know what to make of it.

What Shall I Knit Next?

I'm at that odd place in time when I have finished my current WIPs, don't want to look at the UFOs, and am itching to start something new.

In the running are:
Cece from chiknits
Pomatomus (am I the only person who has not knit these yet?)
Reid
Lotus Blossom Tank

Leave me a comment with your vote!

Extreme Knitting

Or "Socks On A Rocky Boat"

The "Sixth Sense Socks" designed by Susan for the 6SoxKAL are done! They went on a photo shoot this weekend.

Socks On A Boat
The chop was pretty high on the Puget Sound Saturday. You can tell by how slanted the island is in the background.


Socks In Hiding
And it wouldn't be a photo shoot without the silly prop.


Thanks To The Crew or Why The Heck Aren't You Helping?
A photo shoot with incredible scenery just can't happen without an awesome support staff. We famous photo knitting stars must remember to thank the small fry, the ones who are keeping the other kids occupied so 1 out of 23 photos can be blog worthy. The ones who drive us to all of these insane places, the ones who are catching dinner. Oh, did you say dinner? Yes, yes, lots of LOVE and RESPECT to the dinner catcher.


What's For Dinner?
For those readers still with us and wondering what's in those cages? Those would be Spot Shrimp.

Spot What?
And a close-up, for the uneducated.


Is Your Mouth Watering Yet?
Dinner!!!!! (aside - RJ and Leah, Congrats on joining the Blue Pearl family!)


Just How Big Are Those Things?
Come here, little fella!


And for Grandma,
Why Didn't You Cut Their Heads Off Yet?

LOOT!

Loot posts are popping up all over the knit-blogosphere. Who am I to hide my SABLE aquisitions from you readers?

Tess' Designer Yarns sock yarn


Persimmon Tree Farm wool/mohair blend for another wool peddler's shawl


This is a silk blend that screamed "summer tank" at me.


Brooks Farm Four Play


An introductory yarn from Brooks Farm. Wool/silk/nylon blend, I am thinking, you guessed it! Socks!


More Brooks Farm Four Play


Fleece Artist merino sock in a humungous 250g skein for a Diamond Fantasy SHAWL this time and maybe a pair of socks as well.


Spirit Trail sock yarn


That should keep me busy for a while.

Blue socks

The blue socks for DS2 were finished while in Maryland. They were well received:

They are a little long in the foot, but the kid is growing like a weed, and I predict they will be perfect come fall.

M$W recap

DD and I headed out to Maryland last Thursday in preparation for the biggest event of the year, otherwise known as the FiberTraditions reunion.

The show didn't open until 9, but we couldn't wait any longer, and made it to the fairgrounds bright and early.

We decided to scope out our favorite booths, and it turns out that some entreprenurial vendors were already open for business. I'll have to share photos of the stash aquisitions in another post, as photos have not yet been taken (or suitcases unpacked) Hey - I was busy yesterday!

I was just saying to my Mother that this is the first year I felt like I was walking around with my head up, looking for friendly faces, instead of head down, burrowing into the yarn. I heard a friendly voice say, "Jennifer...Jennifer Johansson...". What was that about looking up for friendly faces? Never mind. Kim had found us, along with her shopping buddy, Melanie.


Truely the best part of this years' event was seeing some old friends and making new. The FT gathering was larger than last year, here is a sneak preview (before the whole gang had arrived).

From left to right, that's me, Laura, Elizabeth, Kim, Mel, and Kerry.

A trip back home to Maryland wouldn't be complete without a visit from The Best Friend. This year, although I didn't bring any kids to the festival to watch, dear Steph (non-knitting Steph, we need to do something about that!) still came out to see the sheepdog trials. Notice the lavendar t-shirt? She's a veteran, for sure! Steph brought her wonderful sister Kelli who has the most adorable baby girl (next to mine, of course.)

Like I said, it was great to visit with old friends and new. The jet lag is slowly wearing off and the room is not spinning as much. I hope to be recovered (and unpacked) by Friday.

I finished DS's blue socks while on the trip, but will save those for another post!

Queen for a day

Yesterday when I woke up, I was feeling like a queen (or at least a really happy Momma). It was my son's first Mother's Day tea at preschool, and I was happy to be home from a fun, yet exhausting, trip to Maryland. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and this is true in my case. I got all dressed up for the tea party, and since royalty have to wear jewels (Leah, I did learn something this weekend!), I put on my new Diamond Fantasy shawl.
This was my first time wearing the shawl. I used one of my friend, Sheila's, fabulous shawl pins to close it.
Aside: Sheila calls them hair sticks, I call them shawl pins. Maybe one day my hair will be long enough to wear hair sticks. But then, I will need to buy two!


The kids had made corsage's for the Mom's. Mine was quite exquisite as you can see from this photo:

The kids served cake and punch to the Mom's, and then put on a show for all of us to enjoy. We were then presented with gifts that our children had made:

I had just mentioned to my mother that morning, that a woman needs a shawl pin collection. Mine has grown as much as my heart has this day.

If the sock fits...

Yesterday, my sockapaloooza socks arrived in the mail!

Ignore the stupid look on my face, I was asking my husband if he was taking a full body shot, or close up. The answer is obvious.
And a close up...

Thank you, Louise in Seattle, for a perfect fitting, beautiful pair of socks! They are so comfortable that I wore them all evening and forgot that I even had them on! I do have a few questions, so Louise, if you are a blog reader, would you post a comment with the answers? What yarn did you use? And what pattern? Are they superwash or handwash? Thank you again for the beautiful pair of socks and yummy chocolates! Many thanks to Alison for organizing this enormous swap, to her tech guys for doing such a fine job with the enrollment website, and to my sock sister, Cathy, for providing words of encouragement along the way. This was a fun exchange and I would definitely do it again!

Getting to know me

It's just about time for Secret Pal 8 to start up. SP7 was the first time I joined the event, and I had so much fun spoiling Alison. She's had some really great news, so go leave her some good wishes! Christine did a fabulous job of spoiling me, so much that I now have some great ideas for my next SP!

Let the game begin...
Here are my answers to the SP8 questionaire:
1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I will knit with almost anything. My favorite weight is fingering (as in most sock yarns). I seem to be allergic to possum fur, so the wool/possum blends are not a great idea for me.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? My family gifted me with some lovely needle holders made from fabric with sheep on them last year. These are a great way to store my needles!

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been knitting for 19 years, and I would say that my skill level is definitely "not afraid to try new things".

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I just created an amazon wishlist (under my hotmail account) and I have a knitpicks wish list, although I will say that I would like a bunch of their patterns which, for some reason, I am unable to add to the wishlist.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)vanilla or lavendar

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Yes, who doesn't?! I love dark chocolate. And anything coffee flavored.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I spin, I occassionally scrapbook, and I like to read.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)I'm such a follower when it comes to music. Don't laugh - I was always a top 40 kind of girl. Now they play those songs on the oldies station. I also like the music they play in spinning (exercise) class - basically anything with a fast beat that I can run to. Yes to MP3's.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? all colors are beautiful

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
3 kids, 2 dogs, 1 husband, and a partidge in a pear tree

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? yes, yes, yes, no

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? socks, scarves, kids' sweaters, anything that I have a chance of finishing this decade

13. What are you knitting right now? little blue socks for my youngest son

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? It really depends on the project. I always start with bamboo, and switch only if there is a need.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? yes!

17. How did you learn to knit? from my German penpal

18. How old is your oldest UFO? maybe 2 years, but don't think I'm some fantastic knitter, I just finished The Decade Aran last year. Guess how long it took me?

19. What is your favorite holiday? I like any reason to party!

20. Is there anything that you collect? knitting books, sock yarn, and dust

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
patterns from KnitPicks:
autumn leaves lace socks
hanging garden shawl
faroese peaks shawl
almost argyle socks
women's mitered cardigan
child's mitered cardigan

plus anything on my amazon wish list
I have a subscription to IK.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Cat Bordhi's moebius cast on. I have the 2 treasury books, I just haven't made the time to try the technique.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? yes! I will need to update this when I am near a tape measure.

24. When is your birthday?
December 3rd