So, I swatched the yarn for Nora’s purse on Monday afternoon:

I think it looks pretty cool. I swatched with one of the skeins that took less of the dye, figuring I’d use the more vibrant ones for the actual purse.

I started the actual purse itself Monday evening, and got a lot of it done yesterday in between loads of laundry.

The purse is moving along - I’m about 1/3 of the way through the pocket portion, and then I have about a million miles of icord to do for the strap. Yippee. Then, I felt and assemble, and ta da! I think I am going to try to find some beads to put on the flap of the purse once it is done.

I have to say, I like these colors a lot better than I expected to. I wasn’t sure just how the combination would work out, but it’s really cool. I might even do something for myself with these at some point.

To digress from the knitting stuff for a bit: The last month or so has been really difficult on a personal level. Kris and I hit a crisis in our marriage that I never saw coming, and I found out that a friend was not at all the person I thought she was. I am still dealing with the repercussions of all of it, and still find myself veering back and forth between so angry I can’t see straight and so upset I want to curl up in a ball and die. I am really thankful that I have knitting projects to focus on so that I can escape from it for a time. It has made it possible for me to deal with everything without actually going crazy, and to let my mind work on some decisions without spiraling into an emotional wreck. I’ve had to make some decisions that are really tought and a little selfish, but my first priority has to be my marriage.

OK, enough of that. Happy kitty pictures - Rajah perched on the couch :

(Nice flash reflection on the window, oh genius photographer)

It was a busy and productive weekend here at the zoo. Mom and Dad arrived Wednesday evening in Dad’s car, which decided somewhere around Breezewood that heat was a luxury, and they didn’t really need it. Hyon and Drew and Clint came over to see them, since they haven’t seen him since he was about 6 weeks old (we think). We went out to dinner with John and my folks, and then we all called it an early night, since Dad had worked Tuesday night, and Kris and John had to be up early so John could get to the airport. It’s kind of odd to think that he isn’t coming back this time. I’m so happy for him that he can finally be home with his family, but we are going to miss him.

Thursday was the typical Thanksgiving - I cooked, Mom got yelled at for trying to clean up, and Kris sat outside babysitting the turkey in the vat-o-oil. We brined the turkey this year, which was new. It worked quite nicely, I think. Next time, I might brine it longer (like overnight, instead of just 4 hours), and I think I will rinse the brine off the bird before we fry. The skin got really dark, but that may have been a combination of the honey in the brine and the oil having been used before.

Friday morning we got up and went to breakfast. Then Dad and Kris went bowling, while Mom and I watched. I think they really had a lot of fun together. They had to head home around 2:00 so Dad could get to work Friday night, so it was a short weekend.

Thursday night, Julian and Betsy had called to say that they were coming through Bowie on Friday on the way back to Florida, so they stopped here and we had dinner and hung out for a while. It was really awesome to see them. We miss them. Of course, Betsy is now trying to convince us to move to Florida so she and I can open a yarn store.

After J and Betsy hit the road, Saturday was pretty quiet around here, which was nice. Sunday, Kris had another World of Warcraft LAN party, so I hid in the kitchen and played with Kool-Aid, working on the yarn for Nora’s purse (the commissioned piece I mentioned before). I also got a fair amount of knitting done through the weekend.

So, the current status on the Christmas gift list:
I finished Jessica’s purse last week. I’m happy with how it came out - it actually looks like I planned it to look. The miracles of swatching and measuring! The inside suffered from an over-abundance of Fun Fur, so I trimmed off the fuzz once it was felted. The handles (It’s hard to see in this picture, but there are two, honest) are each two icords that I twisted together after felting and let dry that way, so they seem to be holding their shape nicely. The purse is about 10″ across the top opening, and about 8″ across the base. I felted (OK, fulled, technically) it for longer than I have with the other bags I have done, so it’s pretty firm and stands up on its own.

Janelle’s purse was completed while Julian and Betsy were here, and it went in the washer on Saturday.
Before felting, it looked like this:After about 3 ten-minute sessions in the washer with a pair of jeans, it looked like this:

Closed on the left, and open on the right, obviously. The base didn’t come out quite as square as I had hoped, but it’s very close, and I think it still looks pretty darn cute. The icord handle pulls through an opening on the front of the purse to close it. There was a woman in Stitch DC one day who had something like this (only smaller), and I used her purse as a jumping-off point for this one. I also have some pretty green Cascade 220 that I picked up the weekend before Thanksgiving with the intention of making a Fun Fur-free version of Janelle’s bag for myself at some point. I may eventually write up the patterns for both of these bags, once I have time to sit down and do it. I took pretty good notes, so I should be able to recreate them.

I finished two more squares on the afghan for Kris’s grandmother - 3 down, 9 to go.

So, while the geeks were having their day in the computer room yesterday, I broke out the Kool-Aid and got to work on the purse I am designing for Chapman to give to Nora for Christmas. He decided he wanted red, purple, and blue, so this is what I ended up with:
All of them were dyed together, but for some reason, the ones in the center took the blue Kool-Aid much better. I’ll save those for the actual bag, and use the other two to start the swatching process.

A closer shot of the yarn:
From left to right, that is Tropical Punch, Berry Blue, Grape, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and Cherry Kool-Aid.

So, the plan for today is to wind the dyed yarn (which is now dry - yay), and start swatching it and figuring numbers for the purse. I also want to get started on Kris’s gift. As soon as I have Nora’s bag done, I’ll start on Dad’s Satchel. And theoretically, I’ll get this all done by Christmas. I hope.

And just for fun, I decided to see what Simba would look like in my Clapotis. He was incredibly patient and stayed put while I got the camera.

Quite dashing, isn’t he?

Yes, I have knitting ADD - I freely admit it. I mean, honestly, have you SEEN the list of projects on my needles? Is it EVER less than 4?

Anyway, I’ve decided that it is time to buckle down and start working on the knitting for Christmas, and stop playing with things for me. If I’m a really good girl, I might get them done in time to start knitting for myself again before we head up to PA for the holiday. Maybe even on the VK Lace and Fair Isle Pullover that I really want to wear for Christmas. (Can you say “carrot”?)

So, I have finished Mom’s Clapotis, which I have now decided is going to be a Christmas gift, instead of a “just because” gift. I have to start Dad’s Satchel, but I know Kris’s didn’t take me all that long, so I should be fine on that.

I am also designing a felted purse for my brother’s girlfriend Janelle, which I did start last night (although I am re-thinking some of it, so I may be swatching again today). I am doing two other felted purses, one for my hairstylist Jessica, and one for my friend Jeff’s girlfriend Nora (my first commissioned project!). I cast on for Jessica’s last night, and hopefully will have it done in a couple of days. I have to dye the yarn for Nora’s, and I need to get some blue Kool-Aid for that. For some reason, no store in Bowie carries any flavor that is blue, so I have to wait for my Glen Burnie source (hi Jen) to pick some up for me.

And, I have to work on the afghan that Kris asked me to make for his grandmother. I’ve got one square done (out of 12), and in spite of the mistakes that I made and had to rip out, it didn’t take me all that long, so if I can start making them without screwing up, yay!

I’d love to do something for my brother, too, but I have no idea what to knit for him. He lives in California, so he’s not likely to need a sweater. I might try to do a hat of some sort, just so he’s not the only one without a knitted gift this year.

I’m working on a sooper sekrit project for hubby, which I can only work on while he’s not home. I should still be ok to have it done for Christmas, though. (And if he knows what is good for him, he will not click on the link here or under the progress bar that shows the yarn I will be using!)

So, I’ve been a good girl, working away on the Clapotis that I am making for my mother, so that it will be done when they come down for Thanksgiving. Monday I started the final ball of yarn, and with it the decrease section of the pattern. You may remember that this was the plan, since I was sort of guesstimating how long each section should be.

So, last night, I am cruising along, decreasing my heart out, and I get down to about 20 stitches left per row. And about 2 feet of yarn. This is not an equation that bodes well for the imminent completion of the Clapotis (and probable casting-on of the Satchel for Dad). I stewed about it for a while, trying to figure out if there was any way to salvage it other than ripping out a WHOLE LOT of work. I finally determined that no, there was not, and I was going to have to rip out the entire decrease section and the last repeat of the straight section to start the decreases earlier. So, I took a deep breath and did it.

The decrease section I just ripped and wound sort of willy-nilly, since I knew I was going to be ripping beyond it and could do that more carefully. Once I finished that last ball, though, I started ripping a little more cautiously while taking out the final straight repeat. I picked a row that looked promising and started working my way across it, putting the stitches back on the needle. Of course, some of these stitches had already been dropped as per the pattern, so my Clapotis is looking a little odd at the moment, but I did get through one repeat of the decrease section before having to put it away for the night. It’s going to be very pretty, I’m just cranky at it for the moment.

I had an in-person Knitty meetup yesterday. Yorkie is in town with her hubby and little guy, and she and I met up at the park for about an hour and a half yesterday morning and hung out while Max played. She is awesome - so much fun, so easygoing, and with a VERY similar sense of humor to mine. She called me last night to see if I wanted to meet up for lunch today so she could have some time out without Maxman, so we’re meeting at Panera (yum) to eat and knit.

It shouldn’t really surprise me, but all the Knitty folk I’ve met in person are so cool (GretchenX, alicec, leftie, and now Yorkie). No wonder it’s such a great community.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Yorkie had to cancel today, but we’re going to try to hook up tomorrow. And…I am thisclose to being done with the Clapotis - nothing left but weaving in the ends and blocking it! Yay!

So, I finished Kris’s socks the other day. They have officially been dubbed his “bowling socks”, both because I got a lot done on them while hanging out with him at the bowling alley and because he’s going to use the handknitted sock mojo to help with his game. =) As soon as I can get one, I’ll post a picture of the finished socks.

So, between finishing the socks and my Kiri, I have added a few more WIP’s to my list:

I cast on and knit a row or two of the Swoncho, although I’m in more of a lace mood currently and I think it might be at the bottom of the priority pile for a while yet.

I am still working on the Clapotis for Mom - I started the 3rd ball of the center section the other day, so once that runs out and I start the last ball, I’ll start the decreases. That was the easiest way I could figure to decide how many of each section to do. I had five hanks of the yarn, so I did one ball of increases, 3 of the straight section, and then one ball to decrease. It’s working out to a nice size.

My felted entrelac tote is kind of in a holding pattern. The last time I picked it up, I had to pull out the last square I had done because I goofed somewhere and ended up with an extra row. So, I’m annoyed at it.

I was waiting on new needles to re-start the Retro Throw, because Denises + Crayon = very VERY frustrated me. So I ordered some Addis (of course) and a few other things from KnitPicks the other day and will be casting on again for the throw, hopefully this weekend.

The Misty Garden Scarf has reached the midpoint, and after consulting with Kris, I have determined to mirror the two halves so that the ends will both be the dark purple. I’ll have to see how much I have left over and decide what I am going to do with them. I like the idea of making gloves (since I’ve never done them) with a matching lace cuff, so I hope I’ll have enough to do that.

Finally, I picked up some KnitPicks Shimmer in Misty Morning to do Ene’s Scarf from Scarf Style. I was looking forward to doing more lace, and I wanted to try a pattern that started with a million stitches and decreased, since Kiri goes the other way. That way, I’ll have an idea of which one I prefer.

I have also decided that I REALLY need to get through some of the projects in my “Waiting in the Wings” list before I buy any more yarn. I have 11 projects waiting to be started, plus the 6 I am working on now. AND I have a commissioned project for a friend to give as a Christmas gift, so that’s got to take priority. My challenge going forward is to find patterns to fit the yarn I already have, rather than buying new yarn to fit patterns I would like to do (And yes, I have a list of those, too) And I need to start looking really critically at some of the yarn in my stash and deciding which ones I really want to keep, and which ones I should RAK or swap on the Knittyboards. It’s time to begin to let go of some of it, rather than hoarding it all. The yarn will be happier in a home where it is being used, rather than stuck in a cabinet. Wish me luck!

So, I got this gorgeous yarn from my SP on Thursday, and I started playing with it that night. I decided to make the Misty Garden Scarf from Scarf Style, striped with the four different colors. After a Friday morning at the vet’s office for Ginger’s shots and checkup, and a Saturday afternoon sitting in a bowling alley with my husband (who was bowling - I was not), I have now achieved this:

Seriously - this is some lovely yarn. Nice and soft and springy, and it is showing the pattern really well, even without being blocked yet.

I got an email from my SP saying that she had some trouble letting this yarn go, and I do not blame her - I am in love with it!

I think I’m going to get two stripes of each color. I am 1/3 of the way through the pink stripe, at which point I have to decide if I want to reverse the order so that the halves are mirrored images, or keep going and change to the dark purple. Either way, I’m going to have a little bit left over, so I will be debating fringe. Or maybe gloves with lace cuffs on them.

Decisions, decisions….

So, yesterday, I finshed casting off my Kiri shawl and blocked it. This does it, folks - I adore lace. While I had been working on it, I would stretch it from time to time to get an idea of how it would look when it was done, but I had NO IDEA what the reality would be. I washed it, and spun it in my salad spinner (Thank you Knittyboard denizens for that idea), and pinned it out on my bed.
That’s a queen-sized bed - the neck edge goes darn near corner-to-corner on it!

I put one of our floor fans (left over from the great a/c death of this past summer) so that it blew on it, and the thing was dry in less than two hours! (Go, skinny laceweight yarn!)

Once I unpinned it, and draped it lovingly over the couch that models most of my knitting, I was rewarded with this:

This is a closeup of the stitches, and this is the edging.

To recap: Kiri Shawl pattern from All Tangled Up, in KnitPicks Gossamer in “Leprechaun”. Done on size 8 Addi Turbos because I apparently didn’t read the pattern fully and missed that the shawl was supposed to be knit on 7’s, and the 8’s were for the bind off. I did 12 repeats of the second pattern chart. Also, I didn’t do the bind off that the pattern calls for, because I was having trouble getting it to look right. It was also a little too tight, even after I went up to a 9 to bind off. So, I did EZ’s sewn cast off, and I LOVED it. I am REALLY happy with my first big lace project. Gimme more!

This afternoon, my lovely mail carrier brought me a box. A box from my darling Secret Pal, who had told me that a box was on its way. Showing amazing restraint, I opened the box carefully to show:
Four hanks of the prettiest fingering weight wool, in four different, each-lovelier-than-the-next colors. According to the note that was in the package, these are spun and dyed at a mill local to my SP. Two of the colors remind me somewhat of Knit Picks Shadow, although this is definitely a heavier yarn. Left to right, they are: a pale purple, similar to Oregon Coast, but with a lot more pink and purple than the Knit Picks one; a deeper purple somewhere between Vineyard and Grape Jelly; a lovely dusty pink; and a really pretty blue with highlights of green and red in it. I am going to be looking for a pattern for these tonight.

This is a ball of Reynolds Calico Kitten in a combination of colors that immediately struck me as very similar to the Cascade 220 Quatro I bought a couple of weeks ago and was winding this afternoon to start making into a Kepler. I am going to have to use it in the Kepler - it is just too perfect a match not to. Maybe along the edges of the cable bands.

And finally, something that I am hiding from hubby immediately - Halloween candy! A lovely little assortment of goodies that might already be missing a Baby Ruth or two…

Thank you SP! I can’t wait to find out who you are so I can thank you directly!

So, we hosted our annual Halloween party this weekend. We actually had more in costume than not this year! As always, there was way too much food (my bad - we’ll be eating chili for months), and plenty of beer to go around. Here are some of the highlights:

The preparation - Kris, Jen and I carved pumpkins last Thursday night, and I felt the need to photo-document. Here you can see the masters at work.
Kris is clearly thrilled that I have the camera, no? He was working on this, which is proof that once a geek, always a geek:
Jen is working on what is apparently her very first jack-o-lantern ever (!): Trogdor the Burninator:
I think we all had some pretty good success with our pumpkins (although Kris didn’t bring out his devil ghost on Halloween, so I don’t have a picture of that one, although I think Jen has one of all of them on her blog):

I have a few pictures of almost everyone in costume (somehow, I’m missing the Mooneys. Not sure why):
Left to right, we have Big Steve as Charlie Brown (his sheet was off for this picture, but he has it on here) wrangling Clint the Lil’ Devil, Ed as Jayne Cobb, Jen as River Tam, Johnny Mac as Simon Tam, Kris as Jayne Cobb (again), me looking very drag-queeny as Inara Serra (I blame the wig), Kelly as Drew (complete with faux baby Clint) and Hyon as…herself.

So, yes, we had a preponderance of costumes from Firefly/Serenity. Later in the evening, Mike and Brenda showed up and cracked us all up with Mike’s costume. Gorram reaver!

Since he was taking the pictures, Drew wasn’t in the group shot, but he and Clint take the prize for most irreverent costumes of the night (Inspired by Drew’s hair)

The winning picture of the night, though, is of my poor, put-upon husband, who made the mistake of putting a recently-fed baby on his shoulders for a piggyback ride.
The really bad part, is that none of us would get him a towel until we got a picture. We’re kind of cruel that way, I guess. Of course, that’s what he gets for allowing the kid to do this:
Seriously - Clint is so very much Drew’s child. Couldn’t keep his hands off the beer. =)