Ravelry

I'm in! My name is Fury -- add me!

Blah ...

I have been feeling a lot of general annoyance/frustration/time-crunching lately ... my mom is still in the hospital, my group has two shows on Saturday (one of which we are not very prepared for), one of my very good friends is moving away, and there's some stressy stuff happening with the day job. To make things better, I've had a nasty ache in the back of my neck for three days. Blah.

But there's a big ol' light at the end of the tunnel. Sunday I'm getting a super-deluxe pedicure with a gift certificate. Monday we have off work, and several yoga studios are offering free classes all day. I'm going to work on Tuesday to tidy up loose ends ... before I take five PTO days! Mr. Fury and I are doing a week in Washington D.C. He has a couple of shows, but we'll be doing some touristy stuff, too. And we'll be seeing my friend who is moving away, since she is moving to Virginia. So I'm trying to keep all that in mind. Other good stuff:

I'm hoping I will get a Ravelry invite by the end of the week. There are only 124 ahead of me now.

Mr. Fury is going to take me to get a new digital camera this weekend! He has a good one, but it accompanies him on the road; when he's gone, I have to use his old one, which I hate and takes terrible photos. So now I will have a new camera of my very own, yay!

PICC Line Sleeve

Pattern: PICC Line Sleeve
Source: Knitpicks.com
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine
Color: Wisteria and Blush
Size: one


It's a horrible, horrible photo ... but I didn't have time to get a better one before I took it to my mom last night. I'll be making another one in the opposite colors, so I'll try to get a picture then.

This was a fast fast fast knit and very simple -- I started and finished it Sunday. I added the eyelet row and crochet cord in case it's too loose on her arm.

Solution-Oriented

Happily, I finished my purple-y Fetching gloves on Friday. The yarn came from the huge sale several months ago and has been hanging out in my stash ever since. I didn't finish any projects in July, so it's nice to have actually completed a project. I followed the pattern but added an extra round on the thumbs. Like last time, I obsessed about running out of yarn. Like last time, I had just barely enough. I did the wrists on size 5 needles and it made a huge difference. This pattern just plain rules. Maybe I will make a pair for my grandma for Xmas.

My Knit Picks order arrived yesterday; as much as I want to start my Clapotis in Andean Silk, I'll be good and work on the PICC line sleeve for my mom instead. The yarn is very similar to Classic Elite Premier, which got me thinking about potential saggage. Not good. I was trying to think of how I could add some elastic and where I could go to get some elastic today and how the elastic procurement will prevent me from casting on until I get it ... then it hit me. The Coquette Lace Tube Top is knit with the same sort of yarn, and I've seen many people thread a ribbon through the eyelet row. Brilliant! I can do a simple row of eyelets and add a ribbon or i-cord that matches the CC stripes on the sleeve.

The Shine yarn was just sort of in the package (no plastic bag around it) and it had some serious funk when I opened it up. Anyone else experience this before? It seems to have aired out okay, but I'm concerned that the funk will return when the fiber gets wet. Hmmmm ...

Mini-Clapotis!

Pattern: Clapotis
Source: MidnightKnitter.com
Yarn: SWTC Bamboo, 2 skeins Bougainvillea
Size: 65" by 8"

So I altered the altered pattern ... I did 16 straight sections instead of the 8 called for in the pattern. As written, it's just too darn short. I probably could've gotten another repeat out of the yarn I had left, but it was long enough for my purposes.

The yarn is really drapey, heavy, and lovely. It's not silky soft, but it's nice. There was some color pooling along the edge; I think the double-stranding helped to mitigate that. The stitch definition is really nice.

I've already ordered some Knitpicks Andean Silk to make the full-size version. ;-) I see why people were so addicted to making these!

Good Intentions ...

So my plan, devised on Friday, was to pick up yarn for a mini-Clap so I'd have some nice, compact, non-garment knitting for the drive to Dallas (and the waiting time while Mr. Fury gets tattooed) today.

Whoops.

I actually finished it last night. Like mouse, I found the mini-Clapotis pattern resulted in a very short scarf, so I added more repeats of the straight section. (I forget exactly how many offhand -- it calls for eight and I did at least twelve.) The result is about 65" of lovely drapey Clapotis. Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this leaves me without nice, compact, non-garment knitting for the drive. I am going to do some stash-diving a little later ... I know there is Cashmerino in there, and I always intended to make a second pair of Fetching mitts. Hmmmmm.

Lightning Speed

Wow! I am sailing along on the mini-Clapotis ... I cast on last night and made it halfway through the MidnightKnitter version's instructions. It's looking a little short, so I might add some straight rows. It seems like I have plenty of yarn. (Hope those aren't famous last words!)

Speaking of the yarn, on my way home from work last night, I stopped at the LYS for SWTC Bamboo. I had to ask about it, since it wasn't on the shelves. Turns out they only had three skeins, all the same dyelot of Bougainvillea, in clearance. Score! I bought two of them ... they seem to have a LOT of knots, maybe that's just par for the course with this yarn.

I think it took a little break for me to get my knitting groove back. Thank you, tiny Clapotis! I might need to pack a little something else to work on tomorrow en route to Dallas ... this is going awfully fast.

Slogging

I made some progress on my pink v-neck top from Knitting Lingerie Style last night. Sunday should result in some good solid knitting time; we're driving to Dallas for Mr. Fury's tattoo appointment. I'm not really crazy about knitting with the Italian Ice yarn, but it's pretty.

Honestly, I think I'm a little burned out on garments right now. I might pick up yarn soon to make a mini-Clapotis before I try to finish my modified TTV from Fitted Knits.

I'd also seen this pattern some time ago, and hadn't given it much thought ... now that it's actually relevant to my life, I might order the yarn and make a couple for my mom.

Back!

Oh, my ... it's been forever and a day since I've updated! My mom has been back in the hospital for the last few weeks. She's stable again and improving, fortunately.

I've barely touched my yarn or roving lately ... it's been a million degrees and humid. I really need to finish the two tank tops on my needles so I can start on baby stuff for my friends!!

Hopefully I'll have some knitting progress to share soon. :-)