Hey y'all, I got my camera back. So now I can show you what I've been working on lately. A few days ago I was checking out Brooklyn Tweed's site and I saw this stunner:

Red Light Special Hat


I immediately decided to make one for myself. It's made in KnitPick's Telemark and I just happened to have several balls of Cream in my stash. Even though it was almost midnight, I knew I had to start as soon as possible. So I pulled out the food color and vinegar and produced this.





I'm not sure I made the best color choices, but I was almost out of yellow, so I made do.

Here is my version of the Red Light Special.



I'm not completely happy with the colors, but I do like the pattern, especially the decreases enclosing the band of colorwork on the top.




I don't know if you can tell, but I had to shrink it to size. I knew I was off gauge, but I've knit telemark in fairisle at the suggested gauge and haven't liked the stiffness of the fabric. It was too big in exactly the right ratio for felting to fit. It took about twenty minutes to get the right amount of felting, by hand. I also didn't knit a 3 inch lining as in the pattern. I live in Texas and sportweight stranding is already too warm for most of the winter, so I just did a one inch hem to maintain the lovely edge of Brooklyn Tweed's pattern. I like the pattern a lot and will likely knit it again.



Okay, I just have to share a little sunshine. This is Gianni.




Isn't he gorgeous. He's my sister's new puppy. He's full of boundless puppy energy. I was puppysitting when I took this picture. It took two days to recover. I love looking at puppies, but I really don't have the energy for them. Give me a ten year old dog any day.



I got these rosewood needles for Christmas and put them away. I just took them out and look at what I noticed.




That's about an inch difference in size. I love them anyway, because they were a gift from my brother. But I can't believe whatever shop sold them didn't notice or care.

I'm still desperately waiting for the yarn and pattern for my Forest Path stole. I'm hoping it will come this week. My fingers are itching.

Of socks and stoles...

Wow, I didn't mean to stay away for so long. I haven't done much knitting in the past week, unless you count all of the swatches I've started and frogged (about 10). I have been trying to find the perfect not too girly lace pattern for socks. I think I have finally decided on the Eyelet Check pattern. I would show you all (see I am a Texan), but I forgot to download the pictures from my camera which I believe is currently in the trunk of someones car. It's pretty great. I'm not sure, but it may be a lace pattern you could get some men to wear.

I've also decided to knit the Forest Path Stole from The Alpaca Yarn Co. Check out the loveliness:



It is a lace entrelac rectangular stole. It will be quite a challenge, but I have been wanting to knit for some time now. I have been practicing knitting backwards in preparation. I can do it, but I don't like it. I know it's a hassle to be constantly turning your work in entrelac, but I think I'm probably going to stick with purling.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time deciding on the yarn to use. Trying to pick out yarn online for a specific project can be such a drag. The color you see on your screen is rarely even close to the color of yarn you will receive. When deciding between fibers you have never used before you have to imagine what would this pattern look like in silk or cashmere or merino (I've never knit with lace weight silk or cashmere). I couldn't decide between Zephyr, Colourmart cashmere, silk and Knit Picks Shadow. Ultimately I ordered the Colourmart cashmere. I really wanted a luxurious yarn for the project. I mean, if I am going to spend hundreds of hours on something I want the yarn to be worth all the effort. I've heard so many good things about Colourmart that I just had to try it and at $34 including shipping from England for 2400 yards of lace weight cashmere, how could I go wrong. I chose a color called Lemongrass which appears to be a light gold-green color. I will have a lot more to say about the yarn when I get it in my hands and start knitting up a swatch.

I think I'm in love.
My love is not an obvious beauty. Many would call her homely and a little masculine, but that's what I love about her. I just met her on Saturday in an very unlikly looking, but friendly little yarn shop near my house. I had been looking in the shop for some time before I spotted her, she really kind of blends into the background. But, when I picked her up and took her home she finally revealed her manifold charms. Here she is :





That's right Cestari sock yarn. She's a two ply cotton wool blend with a lovely hearty texture. When knit up she makes me think of evergreens and hiking boots. The yarns is a little bit fluffy and crunchy at the same time. Think Summer Tweed but soft and without the little hard bits. There are some quite coarse looking hairs poking out, but there is no itchiness. I really want to knit a summer sweater with this yarn. Considering that I live in Houston, it would be a fall and most of the winter sweater. The yarn has a really nice drape and knits up very fast on size three needles. I started knitting a pair of socks, but I frogged them after a while. I want these to be perfect house socks (I think sport weight is too bulky for socks to be worn with shoes). I've got to find or design a pattern that isn't overwhelmed by the visual texture of the yarn, yet is still special enough for this yarn. I purchased the yarn for $6.95 for 193 Yds. Not dirt cheap, but not overpriced either.

I decided to knit a simple little baby sweater this week. It's going to have to substitute for the baby quilt I am so behind on . I would post a picture of the quilt, but I would then have to acknowledge the depths of my procrastination. I've been 90 percent finished with the quilt top for a month and a half. I promise to post pictures when I get it together.

This sweater brings up a problem I've noticed with my knitting process. I find that if a project is difficult, I will carefully study the pattern and make necessary changes before I start. With an easy project I jump in without thinking about the incredibly simple things I could do to make it better.

Here is the sweater from Knit It

I don't know if the woven in ends are visible in the picture, but they are in person. I wanted the ends to be secure, so I wove them in using duplicate stitch. Because they are dark and the background colour is white they stand out like a sore thumb. This sweater is just two squares sewn together. I really should have knit it in the round and picked up stitches for the button band, creating a facing for the ends. It wouldn't have been harder, but I didn't think about it until I was faced with all those ends poking through to the right side. I know I could frog it and start over. It only took two days to finish, but as cute as the sweater is it's not that interesting and I don't know If I want to spend the extra time on it. Oh well, I think my rush to find an quick and easy gift has once again shown the benefits of patience and deliberation.

On to better news. Yesterday I finally found the closest LYS. The yarn shop I usually go to is about thirty miles away. I live in Houston, so that is the other side of town. Marie's Yarn Shop is located at 411 S. Friendswood in Friendswood, TX. It is a very cute little shop. The customer service was excellent on my visit and I will definitely be shopping there again. Now the shop does not carry the kinds of yarn that I usually buy. It is largely stocked with acrylics and acrylics blends from Sirdar and Reynolds. But they also carry Lopi and Saucy Sport and Elizabeth Lavold's Hempathy. I noticed several ribbon type novelty yarns, I didn't pay attention to what they were because that's not my thing. I also noticed several skeins of a hand dyed worsted weight wool. I purchased four skeins of Cestari sock yarn, which was a real revelation. Even if you don't like any of the yarns on offer, it the closest place to get good needles on the southeast side of town. I usually run to Michael's when I need inexpensive machine washable yarn for gifts, now I'll go to Marie's instead.