be sorry before

My Current Claim to Fame

I was just having my first cup of coffee, and up popped an e-mail from Cara with the subject line saying: "You Won!"

OK - normally I would delete or at least run a virus scan on something that came into my inbox like that - but this time, bleary-eyed, I recognized the name ...

and, to put it mildly, I was SHOCKED!!! It seems that I was almost spot-on with the date and time that she would finish the last mitered square of her latest obsession, the cotton blanket (king-sized, mind you!) for her bed.

where's the feather?  it would definitely have knocked me over -

thanks again, adorable Cara ... you know where you rank in my heart of hearts!

ps - I've never gotten more comments on my blog than today - thank you once again, adorable Cara!

more tomorrow with the quest for the perfect pattern for my latest score of Great Adirondack -







and I'm leaning toward this one from Elann - just the ticket for some "mindless knitting" -

NEWS TO ME ...

Finally ventured out of the neighborhood and stopped in at The Point. I was hoping to see Helane, the owner, but she wasn't in - saw the adorable Rebecca , who now is there only on Saturdays, and met the new guy Josh, and a couple of blogless knitters (at least I think they are) - Linda and Carol - thanks for your company!
Couldn't leave a beloved LYS without buying something:


it's Great Adirondacks Pinstriped, a comfortably hefty skein (560 yds), 75% merino wool/25% merino superwash in the incredibly happy colorway "Kiwi Kenny"!  Patty Subik, you've done it again.

A quick google got me 5 to the inch on US 8s.

OK guys, now here's where you come in:  it probably wants to be a shawl, and I would love some suggestions of which one to make.

Please help me come up with something as I wind up the skein ... the latest bunch of Addi Lace Knitting Needles are begging to be used (unfortunately the largest size is a 4mm/US6).

thanks a big bunch, and enjoy the first decent weekend of what we around here in the oversized Granny Smith lovingly call spring!

GOING GREEN

How do I love Evelyn Clark's patterns? let me count the ways ...                                                










I got two skeins of Fleece Artist Basic Merino Sock with the idea of making a shawl. This is the beginning of her Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style , treated myself to a set of these:

yup, Addi Lace needles - and I've got to say, there's something quite wonderful about them ... the points are perfectly sharp with a touch of a scoop at the ends, and they're lighter than the Knit Picks Options (whose points are even pointer - enough to insert accidentally into one fingertip!) and slightly "grabby" - just enough to keep the yarn from sliding off of them.


I think I'm going to knit this until I've run out of the yarn - may take quite a while, since I've got a lot of it.
 

DOING THE MATH...

It's totally done!






Statistics: 
yarn purchased: 630 grams Kauni effektgarn color EQ
started:  3/18/2007
finished: 4/20/2007
needles: 3.5mm/US 4 (combo of Inox grey circs and KPO circs)
amount of yarn actually used: approx 430 g (approx 1900 yds)
revisions:  I added width because the largest size of the pattern was smaller than my width!

brilliant discovery:
there are approx 200 grams left over!  that means more than enough for a pair of socks ... maybe even two pair?  what a deal!






and here is the approval shot:







she was especially pleased with the choice of button:

NEARING THE FINISH LINE

I'm sure you've all been wondering where I've been (well, maybe not...); I almost completely finished the cardi on the 13th or 14th.  Sorry for the zillions of pix coming; this could have been the fastest sweater knitting I've ever done --- just could not stop!  It took just about a month; life got in the way for a few days before I got to the business of completely finishing.
But first, a fridge pic, per Wendy's tag.

Okay - now where was I?  oh yes... once I finished the collar, after the sleeves, I was on to the button bands,

but first had to trim the steeks and sew in all the ends, of which there weren't that many:

then I basted the front closed before its bath: 

 

then the bath and the aftermath:

which is what I had been concerned with before dunking - the red dye was crocking!!

at last:

KAUNI KLUB!

Since the weather has turned decidedly colder here in the big apple, currently 38F/3C , and I have a "holiday" weekend in that I have nothing better to do than knit, I'm flying through the cardi.
After my mini visit to the pond,






I'm proceeding happily with great speed, as evidenced herewith the corrected  red/blue section:






then the new shoulder seam, in which we notice that






now the shoulder is defined by only one set of squares; much more pleasing, to this eye, at least...

then, after three false starts, the sleeve begins to take form






after starting off with a confusing jumble of two circs, both of which were too long and kept smacking into each other, as well as yours truly...






I spent a little bit of time at Knitty City this afternoon, and enjoyed knitting and talking to a young woman named Samantha who used to work at School Products about 6 or 7 years ago, who challenged me into perfecting the "magic loop" technique (which I had tried once a few years ago and ditched because I really love working on dpns) because I was very "challenged" by those two wily circs.  So, I found this wonderful site on the web - which explained it to me in literally less than two minutes!
Luckily, I had a free set of 3.5mm/US4 Knit Picks Options  and a well-needed 47" cable and I'm now comfortably unencumbered!
Thanks, Samantha, for making me try, try again...




and I'm happy to be part of a little group which includes Naomi and Melinda (who just about started it all over here on the left side of the pond) and Joanne (who has links to all on a sidebar in her blog) - but sorry that the yarn is so hard to come by over here - I am almost embarrassed to knit on it in public since all people do is want to know where I got the yarn!

OK - enough out of me - back to my knitting!

FROGGING

Since that took up a bit of my time yesterday, I thought I would show you this clever little item.  I picked it up at my much too local yarn store , since I'm in my "green" mode these days.  And it's really raining heavily today, so it fits the bill:
here it is next to the about-to-be-frogged cardigan,




and here it is with the spoils of war:






and I've got to figure out what to keep in it, so here's my start:






the bright green color is great for being easily found in my knitting bag; so far, I've put in a calculator and a folding pair of scissors.  I guess a tape measure and some stitch markers might be in order - hmmm... what else? Any suggestions?

WARNING: SOFT SHOULDERS

I had to make an executive decision with regard to where to end the top of the sweater.  Would it be the solid lines in between the squares? Or would it be the middle of the squares so that they could "sit" comfortably on my shoulders?

As I was pondering, I decided that the squares should be completed and a solid line should separate them:

and I was so happy that I got to that point:

and then I was taking a few more pix of the squares just so I could have a record, and I noticed this:

what?  you don't see anything wrong?  but you're on a galloping horse and I'm just sitting at my kitchen table under my trusty Ott-lite.  Some (or rather, ALL) of the other square motifs look

like this:

 

and this

so I have to take it back down to the offending missed row.

Stay tuned for a repeat performance.