Totally done!

Well I wet blocked Sahara. I was pleasantly surprised by the end result. Initially, the sleeves were a little tight and a little too short. I placed the sweater in a basin of water and let it completely absorb the water for about a half hour. I then spun the water out in the washer and stretched it out on my blocking board, stretching the sleeves to the measurements I wanted. The yarn feels lighter and smoother--less dense. It is extremely silky and the sweater fits perfectly! I can't begin to describe how luscious it feels on the skin. I will definitely use this yarn again if I can find it!

I think this sweater really requires more boobage! Maybe in my next life I can do it justice!

I just found out about a new yarn source! The Yarn and Fiber Company is an online store which has competitive prices and offers free shipping! Gotta love that! They also take Paypal! Gotta love that too! I was just looking at some Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace yarn which is $52 in my LYS. It is 46.80 at the Yarn and Fiber Company and they have the color I want! I'll have to give them a try!

School is coming to an end! Eight days left! Things are getting a little crazy, but I look forward to those not so lazy days of summer!

Kitty Cam:
Bar is enjoying the sunny day from the inside looking out!

Ta da !

Finally! The Sahara is finished! I still have to wet block it, but the knitting is done and the ends are all woven in! Once it's blocked, I'll model it!

Here are the details:
Yarn: 3 1/4 skeins of Handmaiden Great Big Sea Silk in Pumpkin
Beads: Miyuki 5/0 triangle seed beads in crystal with burnt orange core
Needles: Size 6 and size 4 Addi turbos; size 6 and size 4 KnitPicks options
Modifications: Hip increases were done every 6 rows instead of every 8 rows.

As they say--necessity is the mother of invention and that old adage held true while working on the Sahara. I found the lace difficult to do on my Addis because the points are a little too blunt. I switched to my KnitPicks options needles which worked well. The sleeves, however had too small of a circumference to do this. I thought that I could just knit the difficult row--the one with the knit 3 togs--with my options needles letting the extra length just hang. Then I planned on switching back to the Addis which were 12 inch in length. This didn't work because the needle part of the options set was too long. I stopped in the middle of the row and did a google search for "Magic Loop." I found a couple of good sites and lo, and behold, I finally learned how to do the Magic Loop which I used to finish the lace portion of my second sleeve! I had always wanted to learn that technique, but never took the time to do so!

Now I'm on to two more projects. I've cast on Rusted Root and done 6 rows so far. I like the way the pattern is designed. One thing that is confusing, however, is the fact that the number of stitches in the lace pattern changes on different rows and this is not noted in the pattern. Other bloggers have written that they found this confusing and they ended up frogging because they thought they had made a mistake. After studying the lace pattern, I figured this out before doing something stupid. I also hope to begin my Lily of the Valley Shawl as well. I think it will be easy to manage these projects because of the number of repeats in the patterns. The lace pattern in Rusted Root has 10 rows. If I can knock off 10 rows every other night or so, I will finish in a few weeks. Likewise, the shawl lace pattern has 28 rows. I won't know if I can knock off one pattern repeat in an evening until I start the thing, but that is the plan. I figure I can work on them alternate evenings.

I am knitting Rusted Root in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. People seem to love this stuff, but I'm not terribly impressed. It looks nice, but it splits badly when knitting it. I think I would have liked this in Touche' by Berroco or Premier by Classic Elite. Both are incredibly soft and easy to knit! The shawl will be knit in Jaeggerspun Super Fine Merino. I found it at Sarah's Yarns for an incredible price.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Judy at Fabulous Yarn had special ordered some Artyarn Silk Rhapsody Glitter for me. It came on Friday and it is gorgeous!

It is variegated beiges with gold metallic running through it. I hope to make the Stitch Diva Cardi Wrap with this yarn. I think it will be really elegant!

Speaking of glitz--I found a fabulous pair of shoes earlier in the week. I decided to browse through DSW for a lark and found these beaded, open toe pumps in the clearance section.




These shoes are also comfortable! I couldn't help but think how fly they would look with this lace remnant that I bought at G-Street.

I've had that in my fabric stash for at least a year. It is 3/4 of a yard and the remnant cost me about $30. This lace sells for about $200 a yard. There is enough to make a bustier which is what I have planned. There was an article in Threads about corset and bustier construction which showed how the premium ones are made. I know that some of you may think that bustiers and stilleto heels amount to skanky attire, but I would argue that at least it is attire of the high class skank variety and not that of the two bit street ho variety, so that is more than okay!

It felt so good to sleep in today. However after my shower I encountered a minor frustration. From the WTF department--why do lotion manufacturers insist on using pump dispensers that cannot be opened on their products? I got a new bottle of Aveeno lotion and I kept turning and turning the top in the direction indicated by the arrows and the pump just wouldn't work! I tried turning it the other way and still it wouldn't work! I probably wasted 10 minutes trying to get that blasted thing open. Geez! WTF! Who would think this to be rocket science! Fortunately the empty bottle was still in the trash so I fished it out and took the pump from that one! Go Figure!

Kitty items: I know I've mentioned that Mikey is a polydactyl kitty. For those who don't know what that means--It means he has extra toes! Here is a photo of one of his paws so you can see that he is literally all thumbs!


Kitty Cam:
Greg patiently waiting for mom to get dressed!

"Hurry Mommy! How can you resist my cuteness!"

Busy Busy!

Busy day! So busy, in fact, that I knit exactly 136 stitches! Two rows on my second Sahara sleeve! I'll make up for it tomorrow!

Kitty Cam:
I know that I wear my political beliefs on my sleeve, but who knew they would rub off on ALL my family members!

Being that Cosmo dresses in drag (he IS the fashion show kitty, after all), one could assume him to be a liberal!

Surprise!

I love surprises! Who doesn't? It was so much fun to come home Friday after a burn-out week to find a package from my secret pal!

First there were some fun black and white stationary goodies: a journal, stickers, post-its and ribbon!

Next is a silky bag and a dark chocolate, espresso bar which I will indulge in when I need that afternoon pick-me-up during the week!

What was in the bag? Gorgeous black Malabrigo! I LOOOOVE Malabrigo! I think this skein may become a hat and matching fingerless mitts!

Thank you so much Magic Loop for all your thoughtfulness!

Another Friday delight was my first trip to Curves! What a fun way to exercise! I really felt invigorated and I actually enjoyed the experience! I'm sorry I was unable to go on the weekend! Saturday was taken up by our spring MUSIK workshop. It was a wonderful workshop all about choral techniques for children's choirs and the best part, of course, was being able to hear 5 different choirs. The downside was that I had to get up as if it were a school day and I had to leave the house at 7:30 a.m. Yuck! That shouldn't be allowed on weekends!

Today I shunned my usual Sunday activities which involve cleaning and I took advantage of Mother's Day being a day for mom to relax! I visited my mom and brought her a CD player with some CD's of music from MGM movies of the past --think Bing Crosby, Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland etc. My mom is almost 86 and she is in hospice care in a nursing home. I can't help but find her existence to be sad. She loves music like the rest of us and I know she was thrilled with the CD player. When I was giving her dinner, she would stop eating and just listen then say "I love that song." I just hope the nurses will remember to turn her music on for her. DH called out and got crab cakes at Timbuktu's for Mother's Day dinner! If you've never had a Maryland crab cake from Timbuktu's, then you've never had a REAL Maryland crab cake! They are the absolute best and they are HUGE! Today was also Bird's 21st birthday. We gave him a home brewing kit along with some smaller items. The rule is that any fermenting will be done in the basement!

Sahara progress: I got the neckline lace done and the seams stitched. It's a beautiful sweater!



I have started the 2nd sleeve and I expect to be done before next weekend!

Here's the latest from the Kitty Cam:

Greg, the King of the Remote Control!

Sheep & Wool continued

I must say that I exercised a huge amount of self-control at the Sheep & Wool festival. I went with a list--mainly looking for yarn for 2 sweaters. One, the Simple Knitted Bodice, was to be knit in Tilli Tomas as I mentioned in my last post. I will go early next year and take care of that one. The other, the Cable Down Raglan from the Sprink IK, is still up in the air. The pattern is shown knit up in Louet Gems Worsted weight merino. I'm debating whether to use merino or cotton for that one. I've learned not to buy yarn for a pattern unless I absolutely love it and nothing really tickled my fancy for that one. Funny--I came across some perfect yarn on Ebay last night--Berroco Pure Merino in Resin which is a goldish kind of color. I love the color and it would go beautifully with all the browns, rusts, and olive greens that I wear! That's it! I will order that!

Of course, I did get sock yarn--Koigu, which I've never seen at the LYS. Gorgeous colors!

I bought yarn for another small project also. I have a pattern for a beaded scarf which I love. I already have some teal cashmere with black beads, but I saw the same scarf knitted up in variegated sock weight merino so I got some with the beads!

I've decided to try drop spindle spinning. I am trying to plan a colonial living history day for our 5th grade next year at school and I thought it would be fun to teach them drop spindle spinning. I picked up a pound of roving and some simple spindles.

Then I got a fancy spindle for myself!

This one came with a kit which included the book and some black fleece. The spindle is made of cherry and brass and it is lovely. This crafter made all kinds of designs and had little stands to display them in.

I bought a book at Borders earlier in the week.

Check out some of the designs!




Ooh la la! Sexy stuff! Gotta love it!

Progress on Sahara is steady. I have finished the first sleeve and I got one repeat of the lace pattern done on the neckline (which doesn't show in the photo). Once I'm done with the neckline, I'll do the other sleeve. The neckline lace isn't knit in the round and every pattern repeat (every 3 stitches) involves a P3tog tbl which is a nightmare! When done in the round as on the sleeves and hem, it's a K3tog tbl which is so much easier. The purl thing is nasty and I'm not liking it. It takes forever. I will make myself finish that part by tomorrow night.



Other news--I joined Curves today! It really seems like a good environment for what I need to do and I have set a goal to go 3 times a week!

I took Mikey to the vet this afternoon for his first glucose test in a month. It was in the high normal range so that's good news. He's gaining weight which shows that the diabetes is getting under control, but he's overweight so he really needs to lose weight! Gee--someone should develop a Curves for Kitties!

I hate to admit that I have no kitty photos today! Who would believe with 4 cats that I couldn't catch one of them being cute!

Slow and Steady

I'm still chugging along on my Sahara. I really like the way this pattern is designed. I am about halfway through the first sleeve. The sleeves are knit by picking up stitches around the armhole and knitting short rows on the top of the sleeve to form a sleeve cap. One version of the pattern has cap sleeves so the diamond rib lace is knit onto the sleeve cap. The long sleeve version starts with the sleeve cap and then the sleeves are knit straight from there with some decreases. The beaded diamond rib lace is done at the wrist. Fortunately I had 12 inch circular Addis so I don't have to use double points for the sleeves. That helps to speed things up!



I'm getting restless with this project! I really want to start something else or knit a small project like a hat for a diversion. I'm not giving in to this whim however. I plan on making myself finish this. That's one of the nice things about participating in a Knit Along. It helps to keep you on task!



Bar seems to be expecting a phone call! I had to take the phone from him before it rang. He's such a nervous sort that he would have completely freaked out!



Mikey is back to lying on his back in the middle of the floor! He woke up to pose for the pic!

Body complete!

Finally! I finished the body of my Sahara and it looks fabulous!


It takes forever to add the beads but I think I like it better with the beads worked into the pattern than just randomly placed as they would be with prebeaded yarn. I also really like the diamond lace rib. It looks almost like regular ribbing on the inside of the sweater.


The next decision is whether to do the sleeves (which the pattern says to do) or the neckline next. Maybe I'll comprimise and do one sleeve then the neckline then the other sleeve! Who knows?! Who cares?!
I love everything about this pattern! I think top down sweaters are the way to go since they can be tried on and adjustments made as they are being knit. This was how I determined to make more increases for the hips and it fits like a dream!

That's it! No kitty photos this post! I'll make up for it next time. I promise!

Gettin' There!

I can't believe that I have finally gotten to the lace trim on the hem of my Sahara! Granted I still have to do the neckline lace and the sleeves, but the body of the sweater is done and it fits like a charm! My quandry has been how to do the beads. The lace pattern is as follows:

Row 1: P2, yo, k1, yo
Row 2: P2, k3
Row 3: P2, k3
Row 4: P2 k3tog TBL

Two repeats of the lace pattern are done for a total of 8 rows. Someone told me that they added the beads to the middle K stitch every other group of 3 k stitches on row 3 only. That makes sense but it wasn't enough beads for me. I added them to the middle k stitch every other row on row 2 then to the alternate groups of 3 on row 3. This created a slight zig zag the way the beads lie. I'm not sure if I just should have done it to every group of 3 on one row only or not. I'll be able to tell when I finish the lace. I have finished 4 rows for one repeat of the lace as you can see in the photo:




The next question for me was how to actually knit the beads in. I've seen a lot of different techniques but I decided on knitting the first stitch, bringing the yarn in front with a bead, slipping the next stitch as if to knit, then bringing the yarn to the back and knitting the next stitch. This way the bead is centered right in front of the stitch where you want it and it won't slide to the back of the work. It is rather time consuming, but the result is nice. I wasn't sure how this yarn would work with the beads, but it is holding up well.

These beads are Miyuki size 5/0 triangle beads with a color core (in burnt orange) and clear glass outer layer. I used a dental floss threader to string them on the yarn. These are handy little items. I happened to have a pack of them because I use them to thread my serger loopers. I'm so glad I remembered that I had them! I only strung enough for one repeat of the lace so I will have to cut the yarn and string more. I counted the beads used in the first repeat so at least I know how many to string this time.



The pattern has you do the sleeves next, but I think I will do the neckline lace so that I can actually try the sweater on and see how it really fits. It's so open without the lace panel that it's difficult to gauge the fit.

I used my new KnitPicks needles for the lace. I like the points on these needles and find them excellent for lace knitting. The cables are odd to me. I'm so used to my Addis which have some spring whereas these cables are rather limp. Also, the Addis at this length (24") have a curve where the cable connects to the needles which I like. There is no way I could've done a k3togTBL with the Addis though--at least not without a great deal of frustration.

Maryland Sheep and Wool festival is next weekend. I have to plan accordingly. It's so easy to go overboard and get stuff for the stash which isn't how I like to buy yarn. I prefer to purchase yarn with a specific pattern in mind otherwise I end up with odd amounts that I can't use for what I like. I have two patterns in mind: Stephanie Japel's Cable Down Raglan from the Spring IK and the Stitch Diva Simple Knitted Bodice. The Cable Down Raglan needs a plain merino or blend worsted weight. The Simple Knitted Bodice needs a drapey yarn. The sample is done in Tilli Tomas Plain and Simple with her beaded yarn for the lace panels. Tilli Tomas will have a stand at the festival so I can actually look at this yarn which I've never seen in person. I won't buy it unless it is discounted because I don't see myself knitting this pattern any time soon. They carry this yarn on Kpixie and send out coupons periodically so I will wait for that otherwise. I've learned to walk through all the vendors before buying yarn because as soon as I see something I like, I can almost count on finding something I like even better later. So I scout it all out first and only purchase something if it is a one of a kind type of item. What I'm really in the market for is some undyed yarn to play with. I have two skeins of Bare merino from my Secret Pal and I would like to get some other fibers. Earth Guild sets up there and they have everything imaginable for dying so I can get the dyes and chemicals from them. Friday I will be taking an all day cabling class. Apparently they will cover every type of cable imaginable! I have to watch the funds as Bird's 21st birthday is the following week!

Of course I have to show kitties. Greg was sloppy this week. Usually he manages to crawl under the bedspread without mussing the bed, but I went upstairs the other day and found this:



I'll have to have a serious talk with him about that. Meanwhile, that night Harley was the one who was hiding.



I drape my bathtowel over the edge of the whirlpool to dry and Harley gets in the tub and tries to hide under the towel! Often he will pull it down into the tub and walk in a circle until the towel forms a bird's nest type of structure in which he sleeps the entire night! Go figure!



For once, Mikey's acting like the normal one!

I have to get back to finishing my lace so I can take it off the needles tonight!

Making progress!

I've been working on my Sahara sweater for the knit along. I haven't done too much this week, but I have gotten to the waist and I'm starting the hip increases. Being someone with a fair amount of "junk in the trunk," I'm adding a few more increases since the pattern has the hip and bust measurements being the same. Believe me, my hips and bust are far from being the same measurement--and they probably haven't even been close since I was about 5 years old! Here is my progress so far:


I finished the mid month dishcloth KAL. I like the mid month ones because they are pattern stitches instead of picture cloths. I learned something though. I've learned that you can't talk to someone while knitting lace patterns. I made a boo boo on this one which you can see if you look closely. I realized it at the time, but decided against frogging the row. I find frogging stitches which have yarn overs and decreases to be a mess so I figured I'd live with it. It is a dishcloth after all. It will end up with spaghetti sauce all over it.

I like doing the dishcloths because they are small and allow me to try new stitches. The knit alongs provide some diversion from my larger projects since they only involve knitting about 9 rows a night! I had a kitty helper when blocking this one. I typically block my items by pinning them down on a blocking board then steaming them with my Rowenta Euro steamer. I had done this last night and left the cloth to dry all night. When I opened the sewing room door this morning, a little black and white fuzzy thing ran out and I found all the pins --there were about 30 of them--were removed and lying flat on the blocking board! I think a certain feline made a bed out of my dishcloth! Samantha has a habit of running in the sewing room when I'm not looking and then she hides. Sometimes I go in there and she's spread out comfortably on my sewing chair or the blocking board!

Speaking of kitty helpers--they've discovered the construction in the dining room!
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Notice how the party kept growing! It started with 2 then increased to 4! I can tell you one thing--black cats and drywall dust don't mix! I think they have devised a little plan in their little feline brains. They all love to be brushed and whenever they get dusty, they get groomed. I think they've figured that out. Harley especially can't wait. Whenever I'm brushing one of the others, he pushes his way in to get his. He can be in a different part of the house and he just appears out of nowhere!

Harley--doin' the cow! (again!)

Nothing much to blog about today. The Sahara is coming along nicely, though I dropped a stitch and I had to figure out where it was! I was able to get that straightened out fortunately. I received a lovely sympathy card from our vet. That was a surprise and I thought it was quite considerate! Last of all, I have to include a kitty photo:


That's Greg helping me unpack my Easter basket goodies! Better in the bag than the Easter basket!