Monthly Archives: September 2009

pink.

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pliedpinkhh

pinkhhskein1

pinkhhskein2

106 yards of 2-ply, light worsted, from 2 oz. of pinky-purple falklands fiber from AVFKW in the hollyhock colorway.

Despite what you’ve seen here lately (Mara, this baby sweater, lots of pink spinning), pink is not my favorite color in real life, but I am always really happy with the pinks in my fibery projects. I hated pink as a child, and as soon as I headed off to college, my parents painted my bedroom what I like to call “pepto bismol” pink. (That pink is still not okay.)

bbelleprog sleeve

bbellesleevecloseup

I’m loving how this is knitting up, but I’m getting to that place where I’m concerned I may run out of yarn. With this in mind, I stopped the sleeves at 4 inches, so these will be 3/4 length, rather than full length. I even caught myself knitting faster last night…fingers crossed!

feeling antsy.

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I’m not exactly sure why — maybe because it is early enough in the semester that I don’t quite have a routine yet, maybe because getting back into this particular mode of being is a bit of a struggle — but last night I felt just plain antsy, like I should be getting things done, even though I was tired. I think one of the reasons there is such crossover between the land of knitters and academia is that knitting is a way to see what you are producing, to hold it in your hands. Sometimes, even though there is a pile of reading staring at me, I just need to really see my own progress on something slightly more tangible.

belleprogsleeve

Hence, my baby belle. I just have the sleeves and the button band left to do, and I love how this is turning out. Also:

hhocksplied

I plied the bobbins of the green falklands fiber in the hollyhock colorway together, and set the twist.

hhockskein

hhockcloseup

110 yards of 2-ply, from 2 oz. of fiber. You may recall that the other half of this bump is pale pinks and purples. I may have spun up the remaining 2 oz. before bed last night…

purpleshock

I’m taking a class that is exciting to me, although it is out of my field — and out of my comfort zone. I may ply the rest of the hollyhocks falklands fiber this morning in preparation  — the fibery equivalent of a few deep breaths?

handspun baby belle.

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winding1

winding2

Yesterday Boh and I began winding the yarn I spun specifically for baby belle, an adorable baby sweater by cosy of cosymakes.

winding3

winding4

I cannot get over how cool it is to see my handspun in yarn cakes. The yarn is superwash BFL (so soft!) from AVFKW in the Pointillism colorway.

babybelle1

Although the pattern is written for a main color and a contrast color, I decided that I’d rather have the yellows blend into the pinks and greys, instead of alternating between the two. I started using 8s, but the fabric was just a little too open and sloppy, so I went down to size 7s, which are just right.

babybellemacro

I do have a baby in mind for this sweater. I’m knitting the 6-month size, in hopes that she’ll grow into it as winter approaches. I was up late knitting this — I just couldn’t put it down until I separated the sleeve stitches from the body — and now I’m going to knit a few more rows with my second cup of coffee before I head to campus.

beauty.

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crock o flowers

The wedding was beautiful, and the bride looked absolutely radiant in the shawl. (Pictures soon!) On Saturday morning, I helped to gather and arrange flowers before the ceremony — dozens of vases filled with local blossoms. I stopped by this afternoon to take a pickling crock full of flowers off the happy couple’s hands. (See below.)

flowersgrowler

flowersbed

flowerswindow

flowerslamp

flowerstable

Sigh. So nice to have a house full of lovely flowers — especially after such a lovely celebration.

curlingupwithboh1

curlingup2

Boh and I did some serious lounging this morning as I recovered from the evening’s late night (which, for me, means I was out past 10) festivities.

wrinklyboh

quichesun

And this quiche just came out of the oven — a grad school friend is coming over for dinner. Perhaps later I’ll find some time to curl up with my knitting…

ready to go.

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readytogo1

readytogo2

(Note to self: while the blocking mats are awesome for blocking, they are not the most attractive background for knitting photography.)

So here it is, in pile form, ready to be delivered to the bride. (It did grow and open up quite a bit — ahh, the magic of blocking — but there was no way I was going to try to photograph that in the mirror BEFORE pouring my coffee this morning.)

Thanks for all of the encouragement this month, with this shawl and with lace knitting in general! I’ll try to get a picture of the shawl in action this evening.

nick of time.

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I finished the shawl. In order to do so, I took it with me to a meeting of a group that the bride is also part of. She is getting married tomorrow, so she wasn’t in attendance today. I was the bleary-eyed/loopy person introducing herself by way of explaining that I was so close to finishing something for the wedding, and that I was working on it during the meeting (charts and all) because otherwise I might not get it done in time to block it. After all, wedding shawls don’t really count if they aren’t done in time for the wedding, right?

unblockedshawl

Unblocked shawl.

blocking

blockingshawlcloseup

I splurged and acquired the Knitpicks blocking mats and blocking wires in order to properly finish this project. I pinned the shawl out around three o’clock this afternoon, just over 24 hours before the ceremony. Eight hours later, it is almost dry, and I think these mats are really speeding up the process. (Phew!)

I’m so pleased with how this shawl turned out, but mostly, I’m incredibly relieved that it is finished. I can’t wait for H. to wear it tomorrow evening at the reception! I spent the afternoon cleaning my apartment, playing with Boh in the big field behind the elementary school in my neighborhood, and cooking up a celebratory meal: eggplant parmesan (from Mark Bittman’s big yellow book) and mexican hot chocolate pudding (from mostly foodstuffs).

pudding

eggplant parm

bohsadeyes

Boh REALLY wanted some of my eggplant. Or maybe he’s making that face because he adores H. and knows he isn’t invited to the wedding tomorrow?

Happy weekend, folks.

t-10 minutes.

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asleep

LONG day. I intend to be right here, under the covers, very soon. No knitting photos, but I did knit 2 more rows of the wedding shawl. For those of you keeping track, I still have 16 more to knit. It would be great if I could finish the whole thing tomorrow.

awake

Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you? Maybe you should get off my side of the bed.

MIA (mara in action).

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wearingmara1

Monday.

wearingmara2

Tuesday.

laceshawlalmost

18 rows to go. I was intending to work on it tonight, but I accidentally (?) had a few beers after class today, and really should not work on it.

hollyhock1

Late last night, after doing substantial work on the shawl, I decided that while I could no longer look at lace charts, I wasn’t quite ready for bed. So I spun a bit of luscious falklands fiber.

hollyhockbob1

This is the first of four ounces of lovely falklands fiber in the hollyhock colorway from A Verb For Keeping Warm. There are two ounces of this green, adn two in a lovely pinky-pale purple. I’m spinning each color separately into a 2-ply, with the thought that I’ll make something stripey…eventually.

dogtired

This is what Boh looks like right now, and I’d say it accurately conveys how I feel at this particular moment — and it is only Tuesday. Hello, September.