Anyway, I thought I’d show you the goodies I picked up at the fibre tasting at fibre space on Friday.  I went with a plan in mind – Laura Chau at Cosmicpluto Knits released her Honeybee Cardigan pattern recently, and after seeing Jesh’s, well, yeah.  It was on my “to-do” list for sure.  So, I was planning to look for something to use for that.  I also ended up picking up some of the Imperial Stock Ranch yarn that we were playing with at the event, and one of their patterns.

Yeah.  Orange and more orange.  (I’d better watch out, or I know of two people in PA who will come steal it from my stash!)

The top yarn is the Spud and Chloe yarn I mentioned the other day – it’s their Fine yarn (80-20 superwash wool/silk sock yarn) in “Clementine”.  I think it will work beautifully for the cardigan.

At least, it will when the additional two skeins arrive in my mail.  It helps immensely to check the yardage on the skeins and do the math CORRECTLY when figuring how much you’ll need.  (D’oh!)  Thank goodness for awesome stores who will help you out when you are a nitwit. 

The fiery ball of orange fuzz is Imperial Stock Ranch Bulky 2-Strand.  It’s a pencil roving (for my non-knitters, that’s unspun wool), and that color is “Spiced Poppy”.  I couldn’t resist it!

It’s going to be a Honeycomb Scarf (heh… Honeybee Cardi, Honeycomb Scarf… another pattern there!  Didn’t even think about it.), which is one of the designs that ISR publishes.  It’s a neat technique – i-cord linked to itself to  form the pattern and then felted.  They had one in the shop, and it was just beautiful.  I may want to stab my eyes out knitting that much i-cord, but I’m hopeful.

Pre-blocking, laid out on the kitchen table.  Already big.

Taking a little bath. Sadly, this will be the last time I soak anything in this salad spinner. I’ve been using it for 4 years to soak my knits and handspun, and it developed a crack across the bottom. It leaks. Looks like I need to pick up a new one.

A little dye bleed from the yarn. Wasn’t expecting it, because I didn’t get any on my hands working with it, but it rinsed out quickly.

Pinned out on the guest bed.  It just barely fit on the queen sized mattress.  Think I can convince Kris that we need to get ourselves a king sized bed so I have more blocking space? 

Unpinned.  Yeah, it’s bigger than my wingspan.  It’s more than 6 feet across the top edge, possibly 7 feet or slightly over.  (No, I haven’t measured.  I’m lazy.)

I’m pretty damn happy with it.  Can you tell? 

Pattern: Icarus by Miriam Felton from Interweave Knits Summer 2006.
Yarn: Ellen’s Half Pint Baby Alpaca and Silk (80/20). I bought two skeins at Stitches East in October 2007 for this pattern. Unfortunately, when I got home, I double checked, and I didn’t have enough yardage. Luckily, I saw Ellen at Rhinebeck the next week and lamented my mistake. She still had another skein of the yarn in the same dye lot. Yay for small independent dyers! It’s lovely stuff – I really enjoyed knitting with it.
Mods: Since I had the third skein, I now had a fair chunk more yardage than needed, so I added two repeats of chart 1 before beginning the lace at the edge.  That took it from a nice big shawl to a HUUUUUGE one, which makes me so happy.

I started Icarus on July 4.  It wouldn’t normally have taken me two months to finish it, but I took a few weeks to work on a sample for a friend, which I (obviously) couldn’t blog about.  It’s a neat pattern, though, so I’ll be sure to mention it when she publishes it.  Overall, I really liked knitting this shawl, although I whined from time to time about how boring the center section was.  It actually got to be pretty good mindless knitting, and I worked on it quite a bit during rehearsals.

Now, on to the next project – it’s the Milkweed shawl in Spud and Chloe Sweater in “Toast” I’ve seen a few examples of the shawl around, and I decided it would be nice to have something solid and neutral.  How unlike me, I know, but I like to shake it up every so often. (Oh, and yes, those are Ravelry links.  Apologies to any non-knitters who were curious about them.) I started it yesterday, and those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that I made some decent progress before goofing up and having to rip back everything I knit at last night’s rehearsal. Happily, while ripping all of my new Beatles cd’s today, I caught back up and have now progressed beyond where I had been.

Yeah, not good.    They had just gotten some DiC Smooshy, and I couldn’t resist.

The color is “In Vino Veritas” – it’s a gorgeous deep red.  It’s going to be a second Ishbel, more of a fall-winter one, because I enjoyed doing the first one so much.  And I’ll probably figure out how to enlarge it, too.

And in other news, wish me luck.  I’m auditioning for a play tonight, and another one tomorrow.  It’s been far too long since I’ve been onstage, and I’m pretty nervous.

First, if you are a Rockin’ Sock Club member and haven’t seen this yet, well, why the heck haven’t you opened your package yet?

The second shipment of this year’s club – “Gertrude Skein” (and yes, I pronounce it “SKYn” in my mind).  The moment I opened it, I was in love.  If you described it to me, I’d say it’s not at all my colors, but somehow they just WORK.  Gorgeous.  And as soon as I finish the socks I have OTN for Kris, the Rogue Roses are next.  (And don’t ask about Kris’s socks.  Ripping back as far as I did makes me cranky.)

Next, we have something I picked up at A Tangled Skein on the 4th.  They hosted a release party for “Pints and Purls“, the first book by the delightful Karida Collins (of Neighborhood Fiber Co.) and Libby Bruce (who I am sure is also delightful, but since I’ve never met her…).

I picked up my very own copy of the book, along with one for a certain Floridian who I blame for getting me hooked on Karida’s yarns to start with.    The skein up top is some Studio Sock in “1600 Pennsylvania Ave.”, a colorway I checked out at the Homespun Yarn Party, but didn’t buy and regretted it.    The two skeins at the bottom are Penthouse Spun Silk in “Tenley Circle”.  There is a gorgeous cowl in the book that calls for the silk, and this color just called to me.  So, it will be mine, probably along with several other projects from it.

Today, before I left to swim, my mailman dropped off a box from Blue Moon Fiber Arts for me.  I was a very restrained girl, and I waited until I got home to open it.  I was greeted by two skeins of their Luscious Silk in “Shadow”, which will become the “Lacy Shrug” by Cheryl Beckerich to go with the dress for the wedding.

I’ve got one month to knit it (the wedding is May 16th).  Think I’ll make it?  I hope so…

There were also two big, beautiful hanks of the Luscious Single Silk (50-50 wool-merino) in “Star Sapphire” just, um, because.

Can you blame me?  It’s 1000 yards of gorgeousness.  I’m sure I’ll come up with something worthy of it.  I’m leaning toward something lacy, and I’m open to suggestion. 

(Ahem, yes, I fixed the post title.  I was originally going to post-date this so it published tomorrow (you know, THURSDAY, but I forgot/changed my mind by the time I was done writing it.)

So, the LazyMan.  Today was Day 9.  So far, I have walked 7 miles, biked 35.5, and swum 30 laps.  I am sticking with 1 mile walking and 4 miles biking each day (although those of you who are quick with the maths may notice I skipped a day or two…), and I’m swimming three times a week.  I was able to up my speed on the treadmill, so I’m now doing a mile in 20 minutes instead of 30.  And I started out doing 7 laps per day last week, and was able to do 8 this week.  I’ve still got to swim tomorrow yet, and then I’ll decide whether I’m going to try to bump it up to 9 laps next week.  I’m definitely feeling stronger than I did to start with, so I may give it a try.  I forgot how much I really loved to swim.  I think once this month is out, I’m going to buy a 4-month pass and keep up with the swimming.  It feels SO good to be back in the water after all these years.

I may be a bit scarce the next couple of weeks (like that’s any different lately…).  I got a message from my friend Jo today.  She’s directing “Alice in Wonderland” at PGLT, and has had some attrition in the cast.  So, I told her I would help out, and I’m going to be stepping in as one of the soldiers for the second weekend of performances (the first weekend is MDS&W, and the last is the wedding I’m wearing that blue dress to, so I couldn’t do any more than that).  I’m looking forward to it, but it does mean missing trivia for a couple of weeks and running pretty much straight from yoga to rehearsals.  Hopefully, I’ll have some time to knit during rehearsals so that I can get that shrug done.

Oh!  Speaking of, thank you all for the suggestions of patterns.  I decided on the ever-so-creatively-named Lacy Shrug by Cheryl Beckerich, and I’m waiting on some BMFA Luscious Silk in “Shadow” (one of the Ravens) to make it.  I think it will work really well with the dress.  Now I just hope the yarn gets here soon so I can get started!

Anyway, y’all requested being able to see the dress to properly advise me, so here it is.  And pardon the it’s-9:30-and-I-had-yoga-tonight look. 

Front:

Back (Hello, tattoo #3!):

I think I’m leaning toward a shrug rather than a shawl, mostly for ease and not having to juggle it.  Also, I think I’d rather not have a point at my butt AND a bow on my back at the same time.

And yes, those are the shoes I am planning to wear.  And before you ask, my foot is feeling MUCH better, those are surprisingly comfortable, and I plan to continue to take excellent care of them from now until the day of the wedding.  And I’ll pack flats just in case they start to bother me.

So, now that you’ve seen it, suggest away!

(PS – Day two – another mile walked, and four more on the bike.  Planning to do the same tomorrow and hit the pool again.)

So, thoughts? Suggestions for patterns? I’m figuring black, possibly silk if I can find it, and I’d prefer something in the DK to worsted range, just for speed purposes. And of course lace is always good.

Fire away, my knittas!

Oh, and thank you for the encouragement on the LazyMan!  I did a mile on the treadmill this (Wednesday) morning, 4 miles on the bike, and 7 laps in the pool.  So, if I keep up that pace, I need to walk and bike daily, and swim three days a week to make my goal.  Totally do-able, I think.  I hope.    Thank goodness for the hot tub – that helped a LOT with the sore arms tonight.

Explaining to Meeko that claws + sweater = repercussions for the owner of said claws.

Plotting the placement of the shed.

Squinting at the sun (it was the only shot I got of the collar. )

Chatting with Lola.

I’m really thrilled with how it came out, and Kris loves it.  It’s soft, it’s warm, and it FITS!  Yay!

Now, I tackle this pile.

Here’s hoping I can finish both by the 30th!

That’s right – it’s DONE!  I finished the knitting yesterday morning, wove in the last of the ends last night, and it’s soaking now.  I’m hoping it dries quickly so that I can get some good modeled shots of it tomorrow.  In the meantime:

And now, I think I’m crazy enough that I’m going to attempt a second sweater.  I picked up Malabrigo Book One at Stitches, and the pattern on the cover (Carmelo) is positively gorgeous.  I’m going to use the Malabrigo Worsted in “Tortuga” that I originally planned for Kris to make Carmelo for me.  As much as I’d love to use it for Kris, there’s just not enough there to get a sweater for him out of it.  And since he won’t wear a vest, well, no Malabrigo for him right now.  Maybe if enough of the stash gets used and or destashed, I’ll let him pick out a color for himself.  Plus, I found that fantastic shawl pin at Stitches, and it’s just BEGGING to be used for this.  The color is perfect for the Tortuga Malabrigo.

In the meantime, a FO, some planned projects, and a kickass gift.

First, the FO:

What I believe may be the single-handedly most obnoxious Hawaiian shirt ever.  This is the same print that Amanda gave me that I used for my first Frenchy bag.  I was in JoAnn fabrics the other day and stumbled on a bolt of it.  I bought all they had, because I knew that it HAD to become this shirt, and that I could find something fun to do with the rest of it.  So, on Thursday, when I would have been at Barnes and Noble for knitting but was instead at home waiting for my yoga clothes to dry because I forgot to put them in the dryer (D’oh!), I made this for him as a surprise.  He even wore it to work on Friday, brave soul. 

ETA:  Per Courtney’s request, it’s Butterick #2149.  If you use it, definitely look at the finished size vs. intended wearer.  I used an XL, which should have fit, but I think it’s a bit too big, and I’m going to pick up a copy in the L size for the next ones.

Today, Carrie and Maryanne took me on my first trip to G Street Fabrics.  Holy CRAP that place is huge.  I found lots of fun prints, but narrowed it down to four, to make more shirts for my very appreciative hubby:

The camera print was a no-brainer, really.  And the poker one was just fun, but I about died when I found the buttons to go with it.  The chili peppers and fortune cookies are mostly just for the silliness factor.  Kris seems to like all of them, though.
I got a PM on Ravelry last week from Valkryie.  She was going through some things to prep for a garage sale and came across something that made her think of me, so she wanted to send it to me.  On Thursday, this arrived in my mailbox:

Is that not awesome of her?  I have to decide what I am going to do with it, but it’s definitely going to be something REALLY special.  I think there’s 3-1/2 or 4 yards there, so any suggestions are welcome.  Thanks, sweetie!!!

So, now I’m off to settle in with clue #4 of the Mystery Stole (unless I feel like tackling beads, at which point I can work on clue #2 on the second end, since that still hasn’t exactly progressed) and Indiana Jones.  Apparently, Kris is in a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” mood.  _