Just a quickie

What a crazy week! It's not going to get better until 12:30 pm Friday. Then I get only a few hours of respite before the parents come to town for the weekend. Arghh!! No rest for the weary this weekend.

However, I can take comfort in knowing that when I get home everynight this week I can spend time working on Polka Purl Dots from the Spring issue of Interweave. It didn't start out as my refuge from insanity. That darn cast on direction took an entire day to figure out. Very poorly written is all I have to say!!! They tell you to do the tubular cast on, so you go to the instruction page, and it says cast on this certain way then knit, wyif slip 1, knit, etc. for the next few rows, so one can only assume that all these rows is the tubular cast on method. After several attemps, some of which was with all 210 stitches, did I figure out what it really meant. What the pattern direction should really say is cast on using the tubular method knitting row 1 only. It's been smooth sailing after that. I'm substituting the Butterfly Super 10 with Cotton Fleece. Wow, Cotton Fleece is great! I think it would also be an excellent sub for Rowan Cotton Glace or Wool/Cotton.

Also, I'm finishing up the current Phildar freebie, you know, the raglan tank top. Ran across some words I couldn't figure out. At first, I asked my multilingual friend what the meaning of surjet was and she didn't know. Then I went to this translator to look it up, and there it was.

Has anyone attempted to work on any of these Drops patterns? Is it as easy to translate and understand as the Phildar ones?

On the lam.

This guy eluded the authorities for six years! It's reported that his fleece is nearly a foot long. He's like a huge cotton ball with legs. How did he manage to elude the shepherds for so long? He couldn't possibly see through all that fleece.

While doing a search for Phildar Aviso yarn I ran across a few French blogs like this one. It's fun to see what knitters outside the US are knitting. Too bad I can't read French to understand them. Reading anything filtered through that Google translation option is pretty hilarious.

Okay, I'm nixing the plan to knit the bikini bottom so I can make the new Phildar freebie. The winter cotton appears to be swatching to the correct gauge. Woohoo.

There's a new Phildar freebie out today. This one is cute. I need to put this on the top of my to knit list.

Done. Almost done. Getting there.

The Ribbeb Bikini top was a breeze to knit up. Definitely can be finished in a day. The yarn from Elann, Schoeller's Winter Cotton, is a perfect sub for the GGH Samoa. The direction calls for knitting the midriff band in the round but I opted not to do it that way because I was afraid it would result in being either too tight or too loose. I wanted control over the fit so it was knitted as a flat piece and has a criscross lacing closure on the back. I used the yarn and laced it like you would shoe laces. It's on to the pants now.

Got that summer feelin'... sort of

I got inspired by the change in weather, so I plan to start this. I haven't had much luck with subsituting their yarn, hopefully this time it will work out. I got some cotton yarn at Elann to try my luck. Not that I'll be wearing this to a beach any time soon. It looks like a lot of fun to make. Also, I'm considering this. I have some mohair/acrylic purchased a while back, and if it swatches correctly I'll do it. Probably won't make it as long as it is shown... wait a minute, is it maternity wear? Regardless, I'll see how the yarn swatches.

Who knew?

It was another beautiful weekend. We spent an afternoon at the Locks soaking in the rays and watching people with too much money pass by on their fancy boats. Do I sound envious? I am. Our excursion opened my eyes to something I had never noticed before. Yes, I have driven down Ballard Avenue many, many times, yet I never noticed those cute boutiques that line the avenue. This calls for an exploratory outing. Who knew Ballard is so hip?

Mustn't forget to mention that this weekend is the knitting and fiber expo down at the Sea-Tac Marriott. I've never been to any craft expo before so I hope it's worth the trip to exciting Sea-Tac. Maybe I can convince my mother to come along. She loves to treat her only daughter to yarn, etc.

Really have been back at it with the cable hoodie. I was able to start the armhole shaping last night. The way things are going I think I may get the front completed this weekend.

Guilt-free sweets

Happy Easter. Consumed too much sweets this Easter? Want another fix without all the guilt? How about some guilt-free cupcakes. They're sugar-free, but oh so sweet.



Not sure about the whole crocheting thing? Go here for an introduction. They have instructional video clips that are great for a beginnger. Thanks to Action Hero for sharing the cupcake link.

What's old is new again. Vintage tops just in time for summer. Wait for the expand button to appear so you can enlarger the directions.

New Phildar freebie at their website.

All That Jazz!

In a continuing effort to distract myself from buying yarn I'm starting a different type of stash...fabric! I couldn't help myself, I ordered these lovely Alexander Henry fabrics from e-Quilter. Also, I went crazy at Big Horn and Fabric Attic. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but Big Horn and Fabric Attic has some of the same stuff as eQuilter at a fraction of the price.

And on to knitting....
Back at it with the french hoodie. I don't know, but it looks doubtful that there will be enough yarn for the hood. Argh! When I ordered I got at least two skeins more than needed for the project. If it's not enough for the sleeves then I'm in trouble...Elann is out of my color (Arizona Clay).

Stripe cardi is soooo close to being done.

Not much knitting this weekend on account of the great weather on Saturday.


Just a random thought...
I can't decide whether I like them or not. Their current single is a catchy little number but something about them makes me not want to like them.