Baking, and Delivery

On Wednesday night, I took a page out of David's book, and baked some bread!

A few weeks ago I went to an art fair, where I picked up a ceramic bread baker. It came with recipes, too, and I couldn't wait to try them out--especially the dill bread recipe. So, on Wednesday, I gathered my ingredients, did my mixing and rising and re-rising, then put the whole shebang in the oven.

This is what came out.

The bread top is almost as tall as the baking dish! In fact, when I checked it partway through, the top of the bread was almost touching the top of the oven. I had to move my rack down.

I made the world's biggest muffin.

That's a full-sized dinner plate it's resting on.

The good news is... It's very tasty!

~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I got a very large box.














I love the nice people at Elmore-Pisgah. I especially love the $2.19 grab bag, even though it came with lots of crochet thread (which I've never used) because they also included significantly more than $2 worth of yarn in each. (The spread on the carpet came out of 4 grab bags. I ordered the 2 bags of 6 separately.) I figure that I can find someone to give the thread to, so it won't just sit in my apartment not being crocheted into anything. (I might keep a big one and a small one, in case I'm suddenly seized by an urge to doily. You never know--sometimes I go a little crazy.) Of course, in order to get the special prices, you have to order a total of $25... but you know, I think it was totally worth it.

Quickly

It's 6 o'clock, and I'm still at work, so I thought I'd make the most of the fast internet connection to show you pretty pictures.

Ooh, look! It's Ann's first ballband cloth!

It was surprisingly easy. It shouldn't have been surprising--people kept telling me it was easy!

And here's Grandma's stole/wrap/thing so far.

I took a poll at Stitch & Bitch last night, and the consensus was that I shouldn't double the turquoise stripe. So I'm not. See? I'm starting a new white stripe.

I just realized that the ballband cloth and the stole/wrap/thing match. Looks like I'm on a white/turquoise/lilac kick... How odd.

And now, I'm going home.

Weekend Stuff

Ugh. Is it really Monday again?

---

Knitting pleases Ganesha.


From Wikipedia: "Ganesha is worshipped as the lord of beginnings and as the lord of obstacles, patron of arts and sciences, and the god of intellect and wisdom." He seemed like the perfect guardian for David's kilt hose. (I checked before I made him into a sock-in-progress holder. I definitely didn't want an inauspicious vibe too close to such important knitting!)

Speaking of kilt hose, look how far I am!

Don't worry, David--I'm not using yellow or pink yarn. I'm using natural (sheep-colored) wool, as you can see above. (Wait, you're not allergic, are you? Please tell me you're not!) The yellow panel on the chart indicates Needle 2, and the pink shows my progress. So I'm more than halfway done with the cuff of the first hose. (Hose? Ho? What's the singular of "hose"?) Anyway, the fact that I was able to get this far in such a short time helped me to realize that essentially, I'm just making a very long pair of socks--and that makes this project much less daunting. Also, it appears that my calf has the same circumference as David's, so I can at least check for fit in that dimension. I'll have to trust my tape measure for length.

I also crocheted a dishcloth over the weekend, which I (of course) neglected to take a picture of. It's cute. Imagine a cute, navy blue dishcloth.

And I cast on a ballband cloth, which is going along nicely.

I feel okay about having a new WIP because I finished the Hug Wrap on Friday!

Here it is, lounging on my armchair. It's about 6 1/2 feet by a little over 2 feet. I had been planning to call the recipient last night to get her address, and when I got home from getting burgers with a friend, there was a message from her on my machine! Crazy.

And last but not least, I have finally settled on a project for my grandmother, to thank her for the ancestral needle case. I abandoned the card suits theme and cast on a wrap from a vintage pattern. I haven't actually bought anything from that site; this is from the free book you can sign up for near the bottom of the page.


The stripes will be vertical on the finished project, and will go turquoise, white, lilac, white, turquoise, repeat. (I'm on the fence about doubling the width of the turquoise stripe [to make it a true repeat] or leaving it 8 rows wide, like the rest. I guess I'll decide when I get there!)

Vaguely Knitting-Related

Well, more than vaguely, now that I think about it. Whatever.

I decided yesterday, after spending an hour or so charting the cuff for David's kilt hose (and then making about 4 photocopies of it, which I stashed in various places) and casting on, that I needed to get some of those nifty sock-in-progress holder things that I've seen: basically two things that fit over the ends of all of the needles, connected by two pieces of elastic.

I went to ReBelle at lunch today to see if they had any; Robyn showed some that Sarah had sewed, but they weren't quite what I was looking for. So Robyn showed me hers: two little plastic Buddha pencil toppers that she had poked holes in and threaded with elastic cord. Not for sale, of course. But she very kindly explained how she made them, and I trotted up the stairs to Sqecial Media (sorry, the store's MySpace page was the best I could do, link-wise). I picked up 4 pairs of finger puppets and one pair of pencil toppers, then ran over to Hancock Fabrics and got me some elastic cord. I poked some holes with my tapestry needles, and ended up with sock holders!

Look what I made!









Aw, how cute! I also tried to make a sock holder from a pair of wacky monster finger puppets, but the rubber/plastic those were made of was too flimsy--the instant I stretched it to try to put it on a sock, the elastic tore its way right out. Rats.

But here are the two successful attempts (so far!) in action:



I'm completely in love with these things. I'm dying to find more cool finger puppets and make them into sock-in-progress holders!

SnB

I had a blast last night at Stitch and Bitch. It helped that there was wine:

I saw it at Liquor Barn and just couldn't resist! It was actually pretty good, too.

Leah and I had determined a few weeks ago that we each had some sock yarn we considered "extra," and were willing to trade, so we set up a swap. I traded some yarn that looked like this:


for some that looks like this:

Plus, some other people caught wind of the swap and brought yarn to trade--or, in Kim's case, give away.


Look! A finished sock!


*Ahem* What's that? My clever attempt to distract you with a FO didn't work? Darn.

All right. I admit it. I did go home with more yarn than I arrived with, which wasn't what I was planning... but look! Superwash wool in blue, yellow, and green! A ball of hemp! And hand-painted sock yarn in a bright, fun colorway called Circus! Kim needs some cookies, I think, to reward/thank her for her generosity. ("It would have just sat around, otherwise," she said when I thanked her.)

And I had my gauge swatch double-checked by two people, both of whom came up with numbers that were almost identical to mine: 6.25 or 6.5 stitches per inch. Hooray! Now I can cast on David's kilt hose.

As soon as I pick up the pattern, which I left at ReBelle on Sunday. Because I am just that absent-minded sometimes.

Swatchy

I have some lovely pictures of my recent knitting... on my computer at home. I plan to post them tomorrow or the next day, but for now, I'll just have to post picture-free. So depressing and un-colorful!

Anyway, I have been a busy little knitter. I received the package of Wolina I ordered from Herrschners (in Tuscan Slate, a color they apparently don't have available anymore), so now I have the yarn for my Perfect Sweater (designed by the readers of Mason-Dixon Knitting--how fun!). I figure I'll start simple when it comes to sweaters; nothing fancy and cable-y or lacy or anything like that. I started a gauge swatch, but I want to get a bit more knitted on it before I measure. Of course, I'll probably end up with the strangest, wackiest numbers ever (and therefore the worst fitting sweater ever), given my history with gauge swatches... It looks beautiful so far. I have a good feeling about this yarn.

Which brings me to the next project! I've also been swatching for David's kilt hose. In the round, no less! And today I got his measurements (so I can make sure his kilt hose fit him!). I fully intend to take my swatch with me to Stitch and Bitch tonight and force everyone at the table to check my gauge before I cast on. I'm taking no chances.

I've also been working away on the latest dishcloth KAL, a nice cabled cloth. I'm having fun cabling; it's like magic! (It doesn't photograph well, of course. But that might have something to do with my yarn--P & C in Potpourri, a variegated cream/lavender/aqua/yellow/sage that Mom sent me. Pretty, but hard to photograph all cabled up!)

I'll stop here--at last count, I have 11 WIPs, and it would be incredibly boring for everyone if I just described them all. I'm trying to figure out how to put progress bars on my sidebar--maybe that'll help motivate me to finish some things!

Mmm, yarn!

While most of my trip to New York was spent doing non-yarn-related activities, this post ignores all of those things.


Here we see how much sock one can knit when one's outgoing flight is delayed by three hours, one has lengthy layovers, and one makes time to knit while on vacation. Lexington to New York and back=about 2/3 sock. This is from the pattern I learned from Robyn at ReBelle, using the OnLine Supersocke Julie sent me. (I was tempted to haul it around and take pictures with it, à la Yarn Harlot, but on further consideration that seemed creepy and stalkerish, not to mention too copycat for my taste.)

The first yarn store we hit was Purl, in Soho. I tried to rein in the geekiness a bit, since Kelly's boyfriend was along--but I admit, I spent a decent amount of time fondling the yarn before I settled on my purchase:


That's 3 balls of sportweight yarn, 50% alpaca and 50% silk. (I don't have the label with me at the moment, but I think it's this.) Destined to be the most luxurious, most decadent pair of socks I can imagine. This picture doesn't capture the sheen on this yarn--it's amazing. I'm so glad I was on vacation when I found it, because I would never have been able to rationalize the price at home! (When I asked the nice woman at Purl to wind it for me, she cautioned that I wouldn't be able to return it after it was wound. Return it--ha!)

The second (and, sadly, last) yarn store we went to was The Point. It had a totally different feel than Purl did--very open and breezy, in contrast to Purl's coziness. Both fabulous. At The Point, we sat down at one of the tables with our beverages (coffee for me, TeaNY for Kelly) and played with our yarn. I worked on my sock, and Kelly frogged a shrug she had been making for her sister, then re-balled the yarn. (She decided her sister would like a bag better.) We each stopped periodically to get up and fondle yarn in the baskets hanging from the walls.

Then I bought this:

(100% wool, dk weight--again, I don't have the label with me.) And Kelly bought some, too, and we each got a crochet hook, and I set about teaching her to crochet. Never having taught anyone to crochet before, I think I did pretty well. Of course, her inherent craftiness helped, too! In no time at all she had a nice rectangle of single crochet going. Yay, Kelly! I ripped out what I had crocheted; for some reason, this yarn says "striped scarf" to me, but I want to look around for the right pattern before I really get into it.

I got home Wednesday evening, but I didn't come back to work until today. So I spent yesterday sitting on my backside, recovering from vacation! I also found time in the evening to do a little crocheting:

I did just the black edging yesterday; the hexagons themselves were already done. You can see that I didn't weave in the ends, though, if you look closely. There's a limit to my motivation!

*****

Yikes, I wrote this at lunchtime, and here it is, almost quitting time, and I haven't managed to hit the "publish post" button yet! I'd better do that, and get ready to go home. Happy weekend, everyone!

Hiya!

Sorry for the long absence, folks--in the rush to get ready for vacation, I forgot to post that I was going on vacation!

But I'm back now, from sunny NYC, where I spent a wonderful week visiting the lovely Kelly and her equally lovely (in a very manly way) boyfriend.

In that time, I knit two thirds of a sock, visitied two yarn stores (where I purchased more yarn than I should have), and taught Kelly the rudiments of single crochet. Oh, and I saw New York, ate yummy cupcakes, went to a movie, attended a party, and had a complete blast.

I'll post some pictures probably tomorrow--I took my 35mm camera with me, so I need to get my film developed. (Although I only took about 16 pictures; I was strangely unimpressed by major landmarks, possibly because I had already seen them on my last [first] trip to NYC.) But I'll take some yarny photos today with the digital, so everyone can drool with envy over the alpaca-silk blend sock yarn I bought.

A girl needs a souvenir, you know?

Endless Bag

I took my market bag-in-progress to Stitch & Bitch yesterday, hoping for some help fixing the huge hole. When I displayed it, though, one person advised me that the hole is where the baguette sticks out, and another suggested tying the hole shut with a little piece of yarn--I really like these women--and in the end, I knit on without fixing the hole. I figured I would tie it shut at the end.

Heh. The end, she says.

I spent a few hours on the bag yesterday, and it seemed to be taking longer and longer to finish each row. I thought I was just getting tired of wrestling with yarnovers. Hoping to have an excuse to make a slightly smaller bag than the pattern directed, I mentioned that my ball of yarn was looking a little skimpy. "Oh, you're not going to run out!" Sarah assured me. "When I made the sample, I made it 10 inches instead of 9, and I still had yarn left over!" So I kept going. But I was working on the bag a little while ago and noticed that I really did seem to be running out of yarn rather quickly. I decided to go ahead and do the second handle. According to the pattern, I'm supposed to have 30 stitches at this point.

On my second row of plain garter stitch (no more yarnovers!) I started counting. I got to fifteen and saw that I was nowhere near halfway. How many stitches did I have, you ask?

Fifty-six.

I don't know where those other 26 stitches came from.

But isn't it pretty?

Sigh. It looks so much like a market bag! Just like the market bag I want to have!

But I'm going to have to... (oh, how this pains me!) I'm going to have to frog it and start over.

Yarnovers: The bane of the novice knitter's existence.

Felt, KAL Progress, and Long Shawl

Check it out--I finally felted my skulls!








They turned out pretty well for a first attempt at two techniques, if I say so myself.

I actually forgot about the monthly dishcloth KAL this month until I got the second day's rows yesterday! But I caught up last night, which is way easier to do when you're only a day behind--unlike the mid-July KAL, when I fell about 3 days behind. Here it is so far:


Ooh, zig-zaggy!

And I'm also making good progress on the Hug Shawl--it's as long as I am tall now.

Okay, I'm pretty short, but I still think that's fairly long.

And I got a letter from Herrschners today, informing me that they can't find any of the yarn I ordered. Sigh. Now I'm contemplating the Wolina I pointed Mom to, maybe in Sicilian Slate. (I think I like Trevi Taupe better, but there are fewer skeins of that left, and I would be sad to have my order canceled on me again.) We'll see.

Fish, and a Bag

I'm up to six fish--how exciting! They even look like they'll fit together pretty well. I just need to weave in ends on a couple of them. I think fish are my new "take to work" knitting. They're nice and satisfying.



Yesterday I started knitting a market bag out of Amaizing, 100% corn fiber yarn. I had been looking for a pattern for a market bag, and the sample at ReBelle caught my eye--it was exactly what I was looking for in a market bag. And the pattern was free with yarn purchase, which gave me a great excuse to buy fancy yarn I wouldn't otherwise buy!

I finally worked up the courage to cast on (my first time with circular needles--whee!) before work yesterday, and got most of the first handle done before I had to leave. I took it with me to Stitch and Bitch last night, and got about a third of the way through the body of the bag. Here's what I pulled out of my knitting bag this morning.


It's all smooshed up; it stretches quite a bit. Here's some of the bag part, stretched out:



Here's an edge:


See, there's a nice border around the more open body. And here's some more, stretched out:



Oh, crap. That's a very big hole. Much bigger than the other holes. Much bigger than the holes are supposed to be.

I'm not sure if I can fix that hole. I have serious doubts about my hole-fixing abilities. I might take it in to ReBelle and see if Sarah can help me... but I'm afraid that my only hope might be to rip back to the last row of plain garter stitch, because the loose body is made with double yarnovers that get dropped...

And here I was all proud of myself for not having messed up at all last night! This is where my hubris gets me. All alone with a very big hole.