Tag Archives: yarn pirate

pinwheels and parties.

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Remember pinwheel blanket number two? The one I needed to finish in time for the pre-wedding party of two friends? Well, you can breathe easy. I finished it. (I mean, I may have blocked it in my car and woven in the ends on the back porch of a building said friends were standing in…but I finished it and they loved it. I’m hoping they’ll send me one of the pictures they took with it/me.)

I would have finished it earlier, I swear, except one of these two friends ended up coming into town and staying at my house on Wednesday to work with us for a few days. I couldn’t very well work on it in front of him, could I?

Anyway, the work we did required a road trip (with a slew of 7 year olds) to the base camp of the wilderness education foundation I work for. Though it was crazy, I did manage to snap a sunrise picture for you:

Looking northward, Friday, 5:50 am.

I did manage to find some evening quiet time to knit by the light of a cozy fire. My ankle socks (using the Super Simple Short Sock pattern by Radiant Twist) are progressing quite nicely. Have we talked about how much I love this yarn? (Yarn Pirate Merino Sock in Kalamata.) I really love how this project fits into the center zip pocket of my Namaste bag, which could be why they are moving so quickly…

Yep, there’s some pooling there, but I don’t care. I love it anyway.

I returned to civilization this morning, in a bit of a hurry to make progress on another big project: packing up my life. I move to base camp for the summer in a few weeks, and after that, I head to New Home to start graduate school. Didn’t make sense to rent my little house through the summer only to come back and pack everything, so pack up now I must. I think it will get easier once I actually go rent a storage unit this week so that I have a place to put all of the boxes I am filling. Today I’ve been working on the kitchen. See?

Off to pack some more and enjoy the evening light.

eye of newt?

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or partridge. (Why is it called an eye of partridge heel?)

The zippered middle section of my new Namaste bag is just begging to be used for a sock project. I’ve been meaning to cast on for a pair of Super Simple Short Socks by Radiant Twist, and that whole incident with my car window (in which the nutkin mitts were stolen) means that I no longer have a knitted item made from my first Yarn Pirate Booty in colorway kalamata. I have half or slightly more than half of a skein left, and figured it should be perfect for these ankle socks. I think this pattern is really going to show off how gorgeous the yarn is — and if I can keep up the momentum with these, they will certainly get a lot of use this summer.

Lots of high school rugby watching and the fact that I was chauffeured around all weekend made for some serious progress on the second pinwheel. I’m up to 38 stitches between markers, and the blanket border begins at 44. Hoping to wrap this up and give it away this weekend, and I’m on track for that to happen, as the blanket has officially achieved “jellyfish” status. (Doesn’t it look like one?) It won’t be long now…

I am pretty sleepy this morning, even after a few cups of coffee. Stayed up super late last night organizing my life into piles and emptying my bookcase into boxes. This guy is tired too — not because he “helped” with all of the packing, but because we had a good frolic at the dog park yesterday morning.

It’s Monday, folks. I may look like this later today.

carnage.

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This guy:

Saw this, a bee-yoo-ti-ful Sunday Market Shawl, blocking:

and, in the middle of the night, decided to do something like this:

A few more pictures of the carnage:

I stayed up REALLY late trying to finish this for a dear friend’s birthday — unraveling the dropped stitches took forever. This is beyond repair — or at least my capacity for repair. There are at least four shredded sections of the shawl, and I can’t bear to unravel what’s left right now. Back to the drawing board? I still need a birthday present — was hoping to give this to her over the weekend.

Hard to stay mad at this dog. Sigh. At least today is Friday.

saturday’s a rugby day.

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So is Sunday. No pictures to share, but I spent the weekend volunteering at the D1/D2 Mens/Womens Collegiate Rugby Championship Round of 16. I’m a bit tired, a little sunburnt and a lot happy about the weekend. Saw some fantastic rugby, did lots of volunteering, and spent time with friends who share a love for this game.

Onward to the knitting:

You may recognize the yarn. On Friday, I decided to frog the Lace Ribbon Scarf in favor of something that would go a bit more quickly and perhaps be a bit more useful as an everyday kind of scarf. You may recall that this yarn is for a birthday girl who loves pink. I’m making the Sunday Market Shawl by knitfish/Vanessa Carter, and I must say, this super simple pattern is ingenious: cast on, knit a set up row with yarn overs, knit in stockinette until it is long enough, and then drop the yarn overs to get an open, dropped stitch pattern. I’m already thinking that I want one for myself. (Details: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in I Want Candy, needles are US 10.)

All of the rugby this weekend meant that *someone* was a bit neglected, so I’ll give him his share of the limelight here:

Fast asleep, Friday night. Fast forward to this evening. Though Boh and I got in a great run this afternoon, he is still a bit pouty that no dogs were allowed at the tournament:

As I write this, he is curled up on my pillow. Life is rough. I hope we’ll both sleep well tonight.

nutkin mitts and another pinwheel.

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Question: What do you get when you combine a cross country airplane trek with a yarn pirate knitting project?

Answer: Nutkin mitt #2, and just in time. While it was close to 80 degrees yesterday, today’s high is around 50 and the forecast is for rain. Perfect nutkin mitt wearing weather, if I do say so myself.

Also, I started pinwheel number 2, using Cascade 220 Heathers. This one is also not quite perfect, and I am blaming it on awkward plane conversation. I should have started this before I left, as the beginning is a bit fiddly. There is one spot where I think I missed a yarn over, but the first blanket blocked so nicely that I don’t think it will be visible at all. This is what it looks like, almost one ball into the project:

Alright. Boh is tugging on the leash, which means he has some business to do — and I have to get to work!

distraction.

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Oops…I may have accidentally knit a beret — Le Slouch, by Wendy Bernard, to be exact. How did that happen?

I wanted something simple and soft to work on…and even though spring weather is definitely here, early desert mornings remain cold enough for beautiful headgear all through the summer.

I didn’t want a full-on beret, but rather a comfy hat that wouldn’t flatten my curly hair in the morning. I followed Wendy’s instructions for the stockinette version, using US 8 and 9 DPNs, and began the decreases at just under 5 inches. The yarn is Malabrigo in colorway verdeazul, and while the pattern called for roughly 200 yards, I’m wondering if I can get another full hat out of what is left — looks like I used just over half the skein.

I also managed to cast on for the Lace Ribbon Scarf. I can see how folks get into a rhythm with this pattern, as I sat down to get started and looked up 10 rows later. This Yarn Pirate booty is tough to photograph, as the tencel in the yarn seems to make it super shiny to my camera. In real life, it has a subtle sheen that I think will really add to the beauty of the scarf.

Also, more evidence that my dog is absurd:


pinwheels and a new project

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First of all, whoa! WordPress got fancy! (Overnight! This may take some getting used to.) Second, look at my pinwheel! Binding off 430 st took forever, as in, I had to call a friend to apologize for my lateness and explain that I was still casting off…

I really like this — which is good, because I am planning on making several. I followed the pattern exactly for this first pinwheel, and it only required about 2.5 skeins of Cascade 220. I think the size is just right for a cozy lap or reading blanket — perfect for the intended recipients. If you look closely at this picture of the center of the pinwheel, you’ll notice that it isn’t perfect: seems that when I switched from DPNs to the circular needle, I screwed up a YO or two. I realized this a few inches later, and a moment before I began ripping back, I decided against it. You see, this blanket is a wedding gift for a historian-to-be and his fiance.  They are new friends, and hopefully folks I will spend more time getting to know in New Home. This new friend and I spent a lot of time talking about scholarly processes, in a range of contexts. What better gift than a blanket with a few quirks? After all, marriage is process-oriented! These small “mistakes” will provide me with an entry point to write a little love note along these lines. Boh thinks so too.

He looks particularly worried, likely because he isn’t sure if we should block this to maintain the swirl of the pinwheel or if we should straighten it out. Life is rough when you have these kinds of things on your mind. Boh is also thinking about the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the most recent Knitty.

A friend had this on her dining room table yesterday, and a closer look revealed that this pattern is intended for sock yarn! I have been trying to figure out what to do with my February booty from the Yarn Pirate — gorgeous colors, but not really for me. Seems that the stars are aligned — or at least Knitty is aligned with my calendar of friends’ birthdays…

Alright — the sun is fully up, and it is time to get on with the day: long overdue breakfast date, rugby practice, dog play date, yarn shop outing…and then margaritas?

Ahh, Saturday.

squirrels love _____.

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nutkin.jpg

The answer is Nutkin.

It is also the reason I did not post this morning. I have at least seven other projects on the needles, included a sock that I am making progress on, so I can’t really explain why I felt the need to cast on — except that I was procrastinating on Ravelry, and saw a gorgeous photo of the January Yarn Pirate Booty Club yarn, Kalamata, en route to becoming Nutkin. In this case, I’m a joiner.

Home for lunch — must get back to work!

another convert…

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jills-hat.jpg

This gorgeous hat was made by its wearer — in just over 24 hours. The dear friend I was staying with in NYC asked if we could get her some knitting materials on Sunday evening. We made our way to Purl, and with 15 minutes before closing time, she made her decision: a very full red color of Manos del Uruguay, and some size 9 16 inch circulars. I helped with the cast on, and soon she had inches of ribbing completed. We decreased during the televised MLK Democratic Party debate on Monday night, made the pom-pom before bed, and it was ready to be worn on Tuesday morning.  She did a great job on this hat, and it looks beautiful, particularly with her all-black wardrobe (just kidding, JP).

Time to share a few NYC yarn acquisitions:

cashmere-merino-yellow.jpg

This is a super soft cashmere/merino/mohair blend from School Products — about 500 yds of it. I am thinking this may be perfect for the Chevalier Mittens (ravelry link). I also picked up a few skeins of Koigu — too pretty to pass up.

koigu.jpg

Also, though I have not yet entirely articulated my 2008 goals (soon, I promise), socks are quite central. I even joined the Yarn Pirate Booty Club in December to further inspire me to learn new techniques and try more complex patterns. I just received the January installment — my first — and while I will not post any pictures or details just yet (nobody wants to be a surprise spoiler), this yarn is every bit as gorgeous as the hype!