be sorry before

Not your average Operating System (or, yes I Do do Windows)

I started this sweater for my husband in (gulp) October 2000.

It is one of Hanne Falkenberg's patterns called "Windows", and its brilliance is in  the use of only two colors of yarn.  The whole effect is created by mosaic knitting, and is a quick knit.  Why, you ask, has it taken me so long?

close-up of the bottom

and a close-up of the top.

It's all come back into play since my husband asked me why I hadn't been working on any of "his" sweaters lately...interestingly enough, Ms. Falkenberg's design vision incorporates a zipper at the collar, which can have it be worn as open and flat, or a turtleneck.  And no, that's not hubby in the picture, but he kinda looks like that guy (at least I think so).

If I can continue to work toward the finish line, he may be able to wear it this winter ... or, more realistically, the next! 

OFF THE WAGON OR ...

why is this kitten laughing?












could it possibly be because I decided that I HAD to go  all the way downtown to Downtown Yarns because I had nothing better to do today (I actually could have stayed home and continued knitting on the Khaki Cables aran cardi but I got shpilkes)to see if, in fact, there was the largest size of the knowknit pack , which I totally worship and adore for my sock knitting ... and no, it was not at all what I had in my brain - but here's what I ended up coming back up town with:

you guessed it, Lorna's Laces for yet un autre CLAPOTIS!

this colorway, Safari, is, IMHO, to DIE for!! here are a couple more pix of it:







and then, of course, not to be outdone, I decided that I HAD to have yet another skein of Schaefer Elaine:  in Clara Barton!!:
please notice cat thigh to the left of this shot - Coco is still laughing, and needed to have her thigh in the shot -

any questions?  ask away!!

More than a Hat

Since Winter has arrived with a vengeance, I've been pulling out all my old hats from their box in the closet.  I've always had trouble wearing them, since no matter what yarn I used to make them, they all itch me a teeny bit. 

So I remembered a pattern that I had made from Vogue Knitting International's Holiday 1986 issue, Lipp Holmfeld's Ridge Pattern Hood.  Yes, a 21 year old pattern!  And, since I've been making even more of an attempt to knit from my stash, I found a 300 yard skein of Schaefer Elaine in the Eleanor Roosevelt colorway. I had bought it with the thought of making a one-skein baby sweater, but never got around to it.  This was the right yardage and a color that I hugely love...

and it came out looking like this:

                                                                                    

I could NOT take a picture of it on a human, so the tissue box will have to suffice as a model!





Anyway, it was a quick knit on US 11 circs(total about 8 hours), and doubly useful - it can stay just around the neck as a cowl, as well as cover up the head and ears.

And now I have one more way to keep my poor little head warm during the winter that we thought would never arrive.

Back to that sweater...

Away for a while

If you were reading a couple of weeks ago, I was in the end stages of my wonderful Clapotis out of the gorgeous Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb Lakeview... well, here's what it ended up looking like:











thanks a bunch to Heidi, who explained the finer points of enlarging my pix within the blog - I'll get the hang of it sooner rather than later!
Yup, I screwed up - forgot to drop about 4 or 5 stitches near the end, cast off, and there was no easy way for me personally to tink back to where I made the booboo; it was better to just frog it all and start again - nothing like getting to knit something you like with yarn you love twice, is there?

soo .. on to bigger and better projects.  Having read the reviews of the latest issue of Knitters Magazine, K85, I was totally taken with Penny Ollman's pattern.  Trying desperately to knit from my stash, I found this simmering therein:







hmmm - the old Jaeger Shetland, a great aran weight yarn, 80% new wool, 20% alpaca - in a neatly rustic grey with teeny flecks of gold, chocolate, and a little black - would it work?

here it is after 3 cable repeats:







and now I'm up to 4 cable repeats:






the beauty part of this particular pattern is that the cables are all 8 rows in depth, so it's basically a "mindless" aran - one of the few I've run across - so I guess I'm off and running!

maybe this is one that I'll actually finish in time for the cold weather to arrive - I especially love the frog closures - I've got to check out the designer to see if she's done any more ...

And a CLAPPY New Year!

Deciding to K.I.S.S. for the beginning of 2007, I am still working furiously on my clapotis in Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb





and as I was in the process, I thought, how nice it would be to make a clapotis from this:
after all, I certainly have enough of it, and I certainly am enjoying the "mindlessness" of the pattern and the goodness of the wool/silk combo; what could be better than 100% silk?

Maybe this?

excuse the flash, but I hope that you can guess what it is - never saw anything like it before!