In which hardly anything got done

I have had a busy couple of days, running hither and yon, parking in green garages and yellow garages and following the hardwood floor to the green elevators and going down to the basement. Waiting around occurred too, but none of it was good productive knitting time! I had a plan to take a blanket with me to work on, but TDQ's is too big to be portable, Baby Blanket Through Time #1 has hit the point where I really want to pick another lace stitch but need to figure out what that will be before I can knit on it, the scarf for the new knit along has beads and one thing I know is that beads stop portability in its tracks!

So not a lot got accomplished while I was hanging out in waiting rooms!

This is where I am on the baby blanket. Ignore the wonky stitches, the yarn still has a lot of machine oil on it as I am knitting directly from the cone, which makes the fibers stick to themselves. A nice hot, soapy bath, and those stitches will even right out.

I am making this one up as I go along, stealing stitch patterns from other projects and books as I knit.Some cluster stitches made an appearance in the last section. I think I want nupps in the next one.
Yard work should have been done, but wasn't.There are a lot more red currants on the other plants that need picked and eaten but I used the time and energy I had mowing the lawn and transplanting toads....there are thousands of little toads living in the grass and each time I moved the mower I saw one and I just couldn't run over the little things, I had to stop and catch them, then move them somewhere else. (Of course when I got out there with a camera there was not a toad to be found!)Lilys are nearly ready to pop open! I can't wait to smell them, some of my favorites are planted in my yard.

I leave you with a little peak at my Elm Leaf Scarf from Back to the Garden knit in some of Land O Lace's silk yarn I sampled a while ago. Kayla is a wonderful yarn to knit with, you should give her a spin! In case you are wondering that is a Just About's color, Shoreview.
~M

In case you missed the winter project

This past winter there was a project of huge proportions hosted by Andrea of Bad Cat Designs and Jeri of Jeri Rigged.

Metamorphosis was described as "transforming your lace knitting" and it lived up to that description. A sweater that started the same way as a shawl...
With a variation that could be a cardigan :
Not to mention a shawl or two (even though I only knit one!)
And then even more variations of the stitch patterns that morph in and out of each other in some truly fascinating ways.
The amount of work that went into creating this project is the truly amazing thing, and now, if you missed out on the knit along you can buy both the pattern and the stitch charts. The pattern itself has sizes ranging from 34 to 60 inches and is a massive 30 pages! The stitch charts include a tutorial for measuring yourself and you knitting to be sure to get that perfect fit we all long for in our knitwear.

With the variety stitches there is no telling how many different ways you can knit this pattern.

There is still time to join the Summer Project. We are still discussing yarn choices and beads, although a couple of the smaller side projects went up last weekend the main project charts won't got up until the July 4th Holiday Weekend...the American Knitters will get an extra day to play with their yarn and needles before heading back to work on Tuesday.

~M

Back to the Garden

Summer officially started on Tuesday, and if you have knit along with Andrea you will know that the start of summer is usually the start of something special in the knitting world.

This year the project is titled Back to the Garden and includes a large piece (a shawl) some smaller ones (a scarf, a stole and maybe socks or mitts or even socks and mitts). It officially started with a swatch.

Andrea's pattern for the large piece is designed for a 2/28 nm yarn. Laceweight, moderately thin yarn that produces a light and airy fabric even with moderately small needles.

But...

As the name of the project is Back to the Garden, and the name of this knitter is Mary, I think I will change things up a bit.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
Someone is going to have to help me come up with wording for the rest before the piece is finished! My unblocked 2/15 nm swatch is above. Rather than the delicate size 2 needles that Andrea uses, I am using giant logs of size 6 needles.

So far it looks like going up to twice (or thereabouts) the thickness of yarn and several times the diameter needles I am getting a piece that is just about twice the size of hers.
I might end up with another bedspread!*

~M

*But only if I make the full circle piece, would look very silly as a semi circle.

PS THERE IS STILL TIME TO JOIN head over to Bad Cat Designs and check it out!

Enough

Those that know me in "real life" know that it has been a tough few months, the kind that make you look to the skies and rail at the knitting gods "I have had enough, find someone else to test and torment"...or words to that effect.

Sometimes when you raise your fist and shake it heavenward while yelling that very phrase a little voice behind you says..."If you have enough, give some away." And while I wish I could just pack up my troubles and send them on a long journey that wasn't really what the little voice behind me had in mind.

When I thought about what it said I realized that not only did I have enough, I had too much.

And so began the great clean out of 2011.
Not many months ago this would have been just a weekend project and done with, I move a bit slower than that now so what you see is actually the result of a weeks worth of "I can do anything for ten minutes...ok maybe five!"

One drawer at a time the boys clothes were purged, if it was ripped or didn't fit, into a bag it went.
And the same with my room.

TDQ has thus far declined to play, but we did a massive purge of her dresser in March so it shouldn't be too bad!
Yep, more from my closet. I have gone through about half of it, even though the plan was to finish it up today.

But you didn't really care about that, although the theme does carry on. It was not just stuff that I had had enough of. I had a serious case of "I have had enough of this (insert your favorite cuss word here, I am partial to shhuuugggaaarrryyyy) edging."

So I present to you :
Golden Eye as Baby Blanket. If you are not on Ravelry look here.

Yarn : Bernat Baby in Antique White and Baby Blue.
Size 4 (US) needles
Mods : None, I was not tempted to fiddle with the pattern at all this time around!
As this is an easy care acrylic yarn I steamed it pretty well, so it should come out of the washer and dryer looking just like that!

TDQ's blanket is much too heavy to work on while I am sitting in the summery weather of Ohio in June, so what was a knitter to do?
Cast on with some fingering Cotton/Linen/Silk blend from ColourMart and start her baby blanket through time collection! (Scroll down it is the last paragraph.)

Don't forget that Back to the Garden starts really soon here! Still time to join, it looks like it is going to be a really fun knit!

Finally in response to the comment, Amanda, only I would be crazy enough to put a border and edging all the way around a huge blanket, yours will be much easier if you follow the pattern and only work one side at a time.

~M

Can you even see that knitting has been added?

You will not believe how long it took to add just that much of the blanket! The rounds on this are a lot longer than they look.

Maybe it will be done, one day, for now I can only take working on it a little at a time..nothing like a heavy blanket on your lap when it is hot out.

~M

600 or thereabouts

Miles and miles, at least it feels like I have knit miles and miles of edging already and I am only just coming up on the half way point. I have about another 600 rows to go before I can put this one through the magic of steam blocking.

If I stand any hope of getting it done before the baby arrives I had better get back to it!

~M

1156

That is how many rows I have left before I can call this one done!

I am a bare 20 rows into the edging, why do I always forget how much edging there is when I am knitting the body?

~M

Let the Magic Begin

The final installment of the Summer Mystery Shawlette on Wendy Knit's blog was published yesterday. A nice short clue, with rows that decreased down to a total of 7 stitches before binding off!
Doesn't look like much does it?

But, let me tell you, here is where the magic begins.

Take that scrounged up piece of knitting and add some...
Water and a few......
Pins and that piece of scribble ends up looking more like :
That would be a shawlette, my friends! Just the perfect size to wrap around just your neck and shoulders and I am sure it is destined like many others to be hidden in TDQ's room and only seen in passing as she heads off to meet the school bus.

Want to see some details?
Pattern : Summer Mystery Shawlette by Wendy Knits aka Wendy D Johnson
Yarn : Land O Lace Steffi in Andover, this is one of the varigated colors, but as you can see it has a pretty subtle color change and looks great in lace. Why yes, this is one of my favorite sock yarns!
Needles : US size 4 (pattern calls for a 5 but my gauge is shot to heck and back right now, look at the size of those yarn overs, bigger needles would not have been a good thing!)
Mods : changed all the left leaning double decreases to centered double vertical decreases, just because I like the symmetry.

One more look before I move on to other things...
Ok, ready for other things?

It is nearly time, it is nearly time! Bad Cat Designs has announced the Summer 2011 project and you can find details and sign up here! Now really, some of you have been absent for a knit along or two, and you know who you are! Won't you join me in another one of Andrea's summer adventures???????

~M