Coquette Lace Tube Top

I actually finished this last week, but haven't had the opportunity to get photos. So it took a week of knitting, minus a day or so. I was right to worry about my yardage -- I wouldn't have had enough to complete the pattern as written. By removing one lace repeat in the pattern, I was able to finish it with the yarn I had (but just barely).

In additon to that change, I also added waist shaping and crocheted wee straps. I'd recommend both those alterations to anyone who is particularly small through the torso. I think it would have been sadly baggy around my waist if I hadn't. There are many FO photos out there of people wearing the finished top over a t-shirt, so I wanted to add one with just the top, so people can see that it's not scandalous that way. ;-)

This yarn is totally soft and silky, but it also pills. I'm wondering how well it will wear in the long run.

Pattern: Coquette Lace Tube Top
Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Classic Elite Premier, three skeins
Size: smallest

Averted!

I solved my yarn problem in the simplest way possible. The pattern calls for five lace repeats before the bottom ribbing startes. I did four instead, since I was planning on making the whole thing shorter anyway. What a foxy little knit this is. I should finish it this evening with no problems.

Today I got some Cascade 220 for the Back-to-School Vest, also from Fitted Knits. Man, I think I need an intervention. This is my third project from the book.

Yarn Woes

This is a picture of a yarn diet. :-)

I am kicking myself ... I bought just enough yarn to make the Coquette top from Fitted Knits. Of course, while winding the ball it developed mysteriously into a huge crazy tangle. Gah. I stopped at the LYS on my way home from work and they are totally out of not just the dye lot, but the whole damn color. Lots of ones that are similar, none that are the same.

I am going to soldier on with what I've got, and see how far I get. (I was going to shorten it anyway.) If it isn't enough, I will rip back to the bottom ribbing start and redo it in a complementary color, then frog the top ribbing and redo it in the complementary color as well.

Lesson learned: if you don't use the yarn, you can exchange it ... but if you run short, you'll have to come up with a plan B.

On the bright side, my decision to add shaping was definitely the right choice.

Meme

Tonight I had my third chest tattoo session. In addition to the lotus, I have a goldfish on one side (from two weeks ago) and a koi on the other (from tonight), with cherry blossoms to balance it. There will be pictures in the next day or so ... for the record, the absolute worst part was a couple of teeny little smoke wisps right around the kanji that look less than two minutes. Ouch. The whole thing is effectively finished, although I may go back and have blue shading added to the water.

And now, a meme!

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog. Here are my facts:

1) I was a philosophy major in college. My concentration was axiology (ethical/value philosophy) and existentialism.

2) Cocaine Blues is my favorite Johnny Cash song. Heroin is my favorite Velvet Underground song.

3) I can’t stand eggs. They gross me out to the point that I can barely be at the same table as someone who is eating them. I use a vegan egg substitute when I bake.

4) I modeled rubberwear for my friend’s design line. At one fashion show, the Rubbergirls were superheroes who saved the audience from zombies. In another, we were living dolls fighting over a godlike rock star. I got to wear a rubber bunny hood for that one.

5) A full-page shot of my behind (in fishnets and hot pants, not bare) was featured in a Canadian pothead magazine. I am not sure what that says about Canadian potheads.

6) I've been on TV in America, Japan, and the UK. Our Vegas elopement was on MTV True Life.

7) I feel bad to tag people in memes, in case they don't want to play! This probably means I am too sensitive.

Shannon H., Kitty, bumbershootska, Gypsy Junk, Pam, Jessica/geeyouknit, and msfortunknit!

Whew!

It has been a busy, busy week ... my boss was in and out of the office and then a coworker was out, so things have been hectic. Not only is Mr. Fury home now, he also dug up a Wii for us; I can't tell you what a time-suck that thing is. Apparently I am a good pretend bowler, and pretend fisher.

After reading through no less than four different tutorials, I have finally managed to produce a short length of lumpy, twisty, unbalanced, overspun, underspun, substance-that-can-loosely-be-defined-as-yarn-if-you-squint. :-) I was having a problem with the entire fiber length completely untwirling when I removed it from the spindle, so this time I just left it on there for 24 hours before taking it off. I was feeling sort of discouraged until I looked at Crafster and saw many other "first yarn" posts that sort of resembled mine. The next attempt will be better, I'm sure. I am going to save this length as a single for posterity.

I go in for my final chest tattoo session on Wednesday ... I know that I vowed not to buy any yarn until it's done, but hey, what difference would a few days make? I have Fitted Knits on the brain -- many things, but particularly that turtleneck vest. Hmm ...

Grand Plans

Mr. Fury returns tomorrow night, so I need to get some hausfrau-ing done this weekend. I like him to come home to a clean house. :-)

This morning I ran out to Blobby Lobby and bought a dowel and some wooden car wheels ... to make this! I couldn't turn up any cup hooks there or at Target, so I'll have to try somewhere else this afternoon. Now that I have some super-cool roving in hand (thanks again, Shannon!!), I'm hoping to start experimenting this week. I know myself, and I know that I have to screw up an awful lot before I get the hang of crafting (see also: me learning to knit, me learning to crochet, me learning to knit Continental ... )

Honestly, I read through a million different sites of instructions, but I still didn't understand the mechanics of spinning until I watched drop spindle basics on YouTube. Now it makes sense in theory -- we'll see if I can get it to work in practice!!

Okay, it's yoga time ... gotta go get my namaste on. ;-)

April Month In Review

What did I do in April? The two-tone ribbed shrug (with successful seaming), the Honeymoon Cami, and one lonely dishcloth. I also went on my first real yarn diet so that I could get tattooed ... although I happened to see Knitting Beyond the Edge on sale for $10 on Amazon, so I had to order it. :-) I managed to destash quite a bit of yarn by donating it, and now my stash is lean and mean and ready for action when needed.

I feel like a good chunk of the month was wasted when I got sick midway through. No fun at all.

Here's to May! How is it that we're a third of the way through the year?!

PRGE Package #2!

Last night I received my second package from my punk pal ... the glorious, lovely, beautiful, generous, and talented Shannon H!! What's really funny is that I was her gift-er, too!

In addition to an adorable box decorated with sheep photos, I received a slew of wonderful goodness: burgundy and indigo fiber, two skeins of Cotton Classic, a pink post-it pad, three skeins of her very own handspun, a bag of specialty pasta (which will be used for a special romantic dinner with Mr. Fury), and a beautiful bracelet that she made herself, presented in a handknit bag made from her own handspun.

Lazy Sunday

I finished the Honeymoon Cami last night ... it is drying at the moment. So far it looks like the blocking will even out the stitches somewhat, but I'm still not sure if it's a keeper. The v-neck is too plunging for me, which is certainly saying something; if you can see my entire chest tattoo and then some space underneath, the v is too deep! I'll stitch it up by a few rows if I keep it. I didn't weave in the ends yet, since that would make it hard to frog; there are a million ends, because every skein seemed to have half a dozen knots in it.

Today I've been working on my fourth Mason-Dixon warshrag. Of the three I've made, one went to my PRGE pal and one is at my office (so I can dry my tea infuser and coffee thermos). That means I only have one at home, which is definitely not sufficient for my knitted-dishrag needs. This one is a weird white-pink-purple variegated yarn, and I'm using the hexagonal pattern. I need to knock off the cotton for a while, my index fingers are starting to peel. Ew.

Next up will be some more stash-busting ... maybe my long-delayed Broadripple socks, maybe the cell phone cozy I promised my friend (but that's a teeny project). I'm taking two trips in late May/early June, so I will need a good project for airplane knitting. Various items from Fitted Knits are calling to me.

I'm also scouting out some good baby projects for my various knocked-up friends. Both of them are due late fall, so cool-weather items will be good. I will be asking all you mamas out there for suggestions. ;-)

Finally Some Progress

I finally got some work done on the Honeymoon Cami last night ... it really shouldn't be taking this long, but I guess I haven't been working very diligently on it. I'm almost through the first of the "quarters." Honestly, I'm not totally crazy about this project. I don't like the increase and decrease methods given, and the twisted eyelet rib is sort of dull. I'm tempted to make another one using my preferred inc/dec and a different lace. We'll see how it turns out. Hell, there's always a chance I'll frog the entire thing! :-)

Last night I made the second and third appointments for my chestpiece. Very exciting ... the next one is this Wednesday, then the third one is two weeks later. Now that the worst part (sternum) is over, I'm ready to finish it.

Now I'm going to have some iced coffee and watch a bad horror movie while knitting, before I tackle the other stuff I need to do today ...

Totally Not Knitting-Related

My always-fabulous coworker Honey Sweet brought her camera just so she could take tattoo pictures for me. Hooray, Honey Sweet!

It's still raw, so of course it will look better in a few days (gotta love those little red blood spots on it!). My original plan was to do a session each month, but now I'm hoping to get the remaining two sections done in May. If my artist has the time, then there's no problem.

Also, because I don't think I ever explained why I'm getting this tattoo: it's an adaptation of this urban legend.

Today I found out that another friend of mine is pregnant ... that means more tiny tiny knitting!! It's actually my friend who wrote the kanji for my tattoo. :-)

Inked

I haven't made much progress on the Honeymoon Cami at all. It just doesn't hold my interest very well ... which is unusual, because I can normally dig a straight section of stockinette.

I had my chest tattoo session today. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, although I'm glad I don't ever have to get my sternum done again. :-) Most of the remaining two panels will be on my pectorals, so they will be much easier than the needle-on-bone I did today. It's really gross and oozing right now. Hopefully tomorrow it will be decent enough for me to have a picture taken.

Catching Up

I had a very nice visit with Mr. Fury on Wednesday. I hadn't seen the newest incarnation of his MC act with the Jager tour, so it was especially fun.

Last night was the only night that the Knitty girls were doing a free event at my LYS, and I missed it. :-( But I was doing a big favor for a close friend, so I know I made the right choice.

In random news ... apparently there is a book called Keep Austin Weird that features a big ol' picture of me (for the Satan's Cheerleaders blurb). Not quite as exciting as my modeling for Naughty Needles, but entertaining nonetheless.

Today I celebrated my newfound recovery by pulling a double at the gym -- weights class and then yoga. This afternoon there will be errands and then hopefully I can finish the bust shaping on the Honeymoon Cami. I'm finally going to see Grindhouse tonight. Quentin Tarantino put a special thanks to us in the closing credits (did I tell that story? I think I did).

Recovery

I am much improved today! I ended up taking yesterday off, too ... I am very, very, very lucky to work for a company that encourages us to stay home and recuperate when we're sick (or even when we need a mental health day!). I didn't do much knitting, but did make it partway through the waist decreases for the Honeymoon Cami. I like the way it's coming together so far, but I'm not crazy about the decreases she used. If I ever make another, I'll use my own decreases. The twisted-rib eyelet border is also not super special-looking ... maybe if I do it again I'll sub a lace border. The Elann Sonata is looking very nice.

Tomorrow I am heading to San Antonio to see Mr. Fury. I usually take knitting with me when I see him on tour, because he gets called off to work throughout the day.

In other news ... one week from today, I will be starting my chest tattoo! We are doing the center first, then doing each of the side pieces in separate sessions. I'm sort of nervous, because I have a bony chest and everyone is telling me how much it's going to hurt. But my artist is fast and as light-handed as can be, and the work will totally be worth it. Besides, people told me that my shin would suck royally, and it wasn't so bad.

Sick Puppy

Thank you for all the nice comments on my FO post below! I meant to reply sooner, but I have been sick. It started creeping up on me Wednesday, and by Thursday I was practically falling asleep at my desk and my throat hurt like crazy. Friday morning, every muscle in my body ached and I had a fever. I called in sick and then slept for the entire day, most of the evening, and the entire night. Saturday I was able to wake up for most of the afternoon and evening -- small victory.

I still feel pretty lousy, so today my focus is getting lots and lots of fluids. I neglected that yesterday, because I was more concerned about getting some calories in (I lose weight fast when I'm sick, and it makes things worse).

Today I think I'm clear-headed enough to do a bit of work on the Honeymoon Cami. I cast on last night, but trying to do those twisted stitches was more than I could handle. :-)

Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug!

Not bad for a week's work ... especially considering how little knitting time there was in that week!

Pattern: Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug
Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Cascade 220, one hank navy, one hank sky blue
Size: smallest

I love this shrug! So cute, so easy, so quick.

Alpaca

Totally random ... I asked a coworker a work-related question and happened to mention that the clients in question have a llama farm. He replied that his mom owns an alpaca farm! How cool is that? When I learn to spin, I'm totally going to order some roving from her.

Yarn and Ink

I finished the knitting on the two-tone ribbed shrug and just have to finish weaving in the ends. Tomorrow is still going to be very chilly, but it should be warm enough on Tuesday for me to debut it. (I don't want to wear it over a long-sleeved shirt.)

While doing something completely random I found the missing fifth skein of Elann Endless Summer Sonata that I ordered a million years ago for Soleil. Now I'm sure I have enough to make the honeymoon cami, so I'm officially declaring that my next project. Stash-busting is a good thing, especially because ...

At our show last night I talked to my tattoo artist about a chestpiece I want done. I've been toying with an idea for my lower back for years, but last week it occurred to me that the piece would work well on my chest. This means that knitting money is being converted to tattoo money for a little while ... it's going to be hard to miss the classes that the Knitty ladies will be doing at my LYS, but I can still go to any free events they have. This is just too good of a time to get the work done -- the band is going on tour, so I have a few weeks off with no shows.

Photo shoot today ... where did my weekend go? It's not until four, so I have a few hours to get decent before then.

Cold!

Austin is in the midst of a freaky cold snap. I don't remember it ever being this cold in April, and I've lived here my entire life! Today I woke up to rainy 38 degree weather ... whoa. Nice to know I'll get a bit more mileage out of my winter knits this weekened. (It will be 80 degrees again in a week. :-)

There are errands I need to get done today but I'm having a lot of trouble with motivation. I didn't get back into town until seven this morning, so even after sleeping until 1 this afternoon, I'm still a little out of it. (Coffee is brewing as I type.) I am promising myself a giant burrito and some knitting time after I've gotten through everything I have to do.

I have 9 rows left on the body ribbing for the two-tone shrug, so I should finish it this weekend. It would've been a much faster knit, had I not had such a busy week. It's turning out very well and I can't wait to wear it.

No Longer a Sucker!

I heard from several friends that the dwarf was very rude and snotty to many people last week. Which I can believe -- I thought he was just a particularly obnoxious drunk, but it turns out he's a jerk. So no knitted hat for him! Jerks get no hats.

Last night I did agree to knit a replacement cell phone cozy for a friend, in exchange for some buttons she makes. I made her a cozy years ago and she's used it ever since. :-) This was the first one:

I still have the rest of that skein in my stash to make another one!

A friend gave me Knitting Over the Edge as a late birthday present. And I have a $50 Borders gift certificate from Mr. Fury's folks. I am a little baffled as to what to get next, since I've gotten so many knitting books recently ... maybe, just maybe, it's time to get a non-knitting-related book. Do they still write books about things other than knitting?