What Else?

Also at Mass Ave Knit Shop:

Rowan Mother & Baby, book 19
Click the link for all the projects. There are patterns for both moms and babies, just like the title says. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Do I buy these books for the patterns? Or do I buy these books for the babies?

Babies: 1
Patterns: 0

(<-- Can I have this one to keep? He followed me home...)

Okay, more yarn. This is Knit One, Crochet Too's Cotonade, on tap for a pair of sheep booties from 50 Baby Bootees To Knit by Zoe Mellor.

Ooh! What kind of tracks are those there in the snow? I think if you get out your Field Guide To Wild Yarnimals of the Midwest, you'll see that those are the tracks of the lesser known Yarnus Noneofyourbusinuss of the genus Secret Projectis. Looks like we just missed him! Those tracks are fresh. So, so fresh.

And two skeins of Cotton Classic. I call this "Knit Knack Stash Enhancement" since I don't have a definite plan for either shade.

We also went to a shop called Knit Stop. This is clever because the shop owner is related to the guy who owns the Indianapolis 500 Speedway. So, you know... Pit Stop / Knit Stop. Okay, enough.

Here I added to my Blue Sky Cotton collection with a bright green and an organic white. Purty. My plan is to amass a giant collection of colors of this yarn and some day do a big stripy something. (I do love making definitive, specific plans, don't you?) I bought a few colors last spring in Lexington at ReBelle Yarns.

I also bought some size 15 needles at this shop in order to start working on my collar in the previous post.

All in all it was a great weekend spent with my BFF and her mom, enjoying a little time away and a little research and development. I stayed within the yarn budget I gave myself and have definite plans for most of the stuff I bought. Success!

O, Zitron

Zitron.

It's not a fancy Frency way to say "citron".

It's not the older brother of Voltron.

It's not an acne-ridden movie Tron.

It's not the mortal enemy of Megatron.

It's my new love.

Saturday afternoon* at Mass Ave Knit Shop, I fell in love with this skein of Zitron Turmalin.

Wendy gave me an idea for a project and found some wicked awesome buttons.

That afternoon we took some pictures at Wendy's mom's house, and I wound it up into a ball.

That night I made a collar using the "my so called scarf" stitch pattern.

Then, I put it on, and was instantly fabulous. It goes great with both my brown and black coats, and has kept me roasty toasty the last couple of days with the loverly snow we've been having.

I'll show you the other stuff I got soon. This was hands down my favorite.

*I loved this skein so much, I could barely stand to wind it and knit it up. So Sunday afternoon we went back to MAKS and I bought a second skein. I'm not going to knit the second one. I'm just going to look at it. And love it and pet it and call it George. (Didn't hurt that both skeins were 40% off. Woo!)

**I knit it the first time casting on 30 stitches, and it was too short and way wide. So, I ripped it out and cast on 26 stitches, and it turned out perfectly. Woo!

Dear Everyone

Thank you for calling Drunken Monkey Knits.

The Drunken Monkey is not available.

She has gone to Indianapolis for the weekend with her BFF Screaming Wendy for some retail therapy at the biggest yarn store in the somewhat near vicinity.

(You may remember her previous experience at said yarn store. Good times are ahead.)

Please leave a message at the tone, and she will share new yarny goodness with you next week.

*tone*

Just For Kim

Dear Kim,

I'm so glad that you like the UK baby sweater and I'm thrilled for your daughter that she was accepted to UK for the fall! But I don't have any way to get in touch with you other than right here. So, for your viewing and knitting pleasure, I present to you the University of Kentucky logo knitting chart.

(click for big)

The chart is 38 stitches wide and 36 rows tall. Please do not use the chart for items to sell. This is NOT an official chart nor is it approved by the university.

If you'd prefer it in a .pdf or .doc file, please email me at brooketyler2002 AT yahoo DOT com. Enjoy!

p.s. If anyone is interested in the Notre Dame chart from a while back, email me at the above address and I'll see what I can do.

Endless Waves of, uh, Stockinette Stitch

It's all about the white stockinette stitch around here right now. All white stockinette, all the time.

So clearly, I'm looking for distractions. Ooh! I could blog about all the white stockinette stitch I have to do! Yeah! Good idea!

Oh, did I mention this sweater has to be finished tonight because I have to give it to the recipient tomorrow?

Maybe I shouldn't be blogging.

Ravelry is a fantastic distraction, by the way. I think I've finally overcome the attitude and become something of an addict. Oh, the sock patterns.

I'll let you know when the sweater is finished.

Edited to add:
The sweater was finished around 2:40am-ish. Nothing like a good deadline.







p.s. I have to give a shout to all my Endpaper Mitts students from last night... every last one of them persevered through the Italian waste-free tubular cast on. There was a fair amount of teeth-gnashing, sure, but not one of them gave up. Great job, ladies!

p.p.s. Yes, that actually means I started my second Endpaper Mitt. Any bets on if I finish it in this millenia?

Languishing

This is my brick wall. I'd like you to meet it. I hit it a couple weeks ago, and have since become rather well acquainted. Here's why:


These five projects are all "due" in February. Two of them were technically due a few days ago, in order to have time to mail them in time for today, which clearly did not happen. Only one of these projects (the green monkey socks) is more than halfway complete, and I can only just barely say that about the monkey socks.

A couple days ago I spent three hours creating a hilarious and insightful post about a project that I've actually had interest in, and blogger wouldn't let me format it any other way than crappily, to my great dismay. So I haven't been absent from the blog for lack of trying. The new project?

Brigit Socks with the new Comfort Sock yarn from Berroco. (Here's a link to the pattern site on Ravelry, login required... for some reason the actual pattern site is down right now.)

This yarn is crazy. It's 50% nylon and 50% acrylic. That would have been enough reason for me to leave it right on the shelf, except the colors are so rich and brilliant that I had to take some home, and frankly, cast on immediately. I'm really glad I didn't dismiss this yarn based on fiber content. They don't call it "Comfort" for nothing. It is SO incredibly soft and nice to work with, and the stitch definition is enviable. It's also much less splitty than other non-wool sock yarns I've worked with. And it's cheap! I got mine at Yarns & Fabrications for $10.00, but I've seen it on the internets for as low as $6.50-$7.00. One ball makes a whole pair of socks. I'll be using this stuff again, to be sure.

So. Until I get past those five February projects, I'll be crouched at the base of this brick wall, cowering and trying to avoid Brigit-guilt. Anybody got a rope to help me over?

Party Hardy, Mardi Knack!

Sure there's no Mardi Gras parade in Wooster, but that doesn't mean Knit Knack can't make his own fun! And who would make a better parade king?

And if there's no parade, he won't have to fight the crowds to get some beads.

After the imaginary parade, he could even go to an imaginary masquerade!

And if it's all make-believe, we won't have to worry about Knit Knack being able to find his way home when it's all over.

-----

Obviously, the coolest feature of the Sheldon pattern is that the shell comes off. Otherwise, my mom and I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun with Knit Knack as we have. However, if you've ever tried to put a shell on a Sheldon, you know it's not the easiest thing to do, and sometimes my mom struggles to change Knit Knack's clothes. So the Mardi Gras shell is the first to feature... well, a new feature. I didn't connect one "shoulder" of the attachment panel to the top of the shell with the applied i-cord. Instead, I left that part loose and later added some velcro as a closure. It's just sticky velcro... I think it could probably use a stitch or two to tack it down in the future, just to keep it in place. It's not as ideal as what the original pattern calls for, but it works if your turtle's owner needs some help getting those shells on.

In the top picture you can see the open "shoulder", and the bottom picture shows how good it looks when it's closed.