Thanks, Ravelry!

You can now easily download the Nouveau Sack Hat pattern through Ravelry... go ahead and click on the sidebar, that will lead right to the PDF. I'm so happy to be able to offer links like this without leaving good old free blogger. Anyway, the hat pattern is $6, has a complete chart, seriously, it's a no-brainer, and the perfect way to learn 2-color stranded knitting or use up dk to worsted weight leftovers!



On the Grellow front, I found these for $29.99 on my way home from work yesterday. The last pair in the store, size 8 1/2.

Vote Weaverknits

Alert! Free Pattern for Absolutely Fierce Armwarmers is HERE!

I may or may not be wearing them today, to, you know, test them before I send them to Beth The Otherweaver. If I were, I would tell you all about how they stay up, and are so soft and super warm, allowing me to wear a lovely short-sleeved tunic in Cold New Job today.

I've decided to take part in a contest. Recall that I am a beginning lace knitter. My first impulse, before holding my skein of Trenna in my hand, was to make a hat or cardigan or something other than a shawl with the yarn, something unexpected and profoundly chic in its unexpectedness. Then I got the yarn, which is laceweight if ever there was laceweight. So I decided to do the shawl/scarf thing, but set myself parameters:

1. Must be wearable by many for many occasions. This, to me, meant not making a huge-ass shawl. I decided on a wide scarf. Mine will be very long, hopefully about 9 feet, but it can easily be made shorter by working fewer pattern repeats.

2. Must be easy and fast. So easy and fast that much progress can be made while watching TV. Even good TV. Like the new show Ax Men on the History Channel. Or DVDs of The Wire.

3. Must somehow make use of traditional patterns or design, rathern than simply representing a selection from a stitch dictionary.
Well, I'm just posting a tease picture here, but rest assured that I've succeeded. If my pattern is a finalist, it will be up on the little knits site for your votes! If it wins, it will be available through little knits. If not, I'm going to make it available as a PDF for a nominal price. I am working to make lace FIERCE! And EASY! WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

Since my color choice in Trenna was grey, I'm adding a little you-know-what as a finishing touch. My new friend stinkyfromage on Ravelry sent me this adorable little package containing just enough leftovers from one of her projects to give this scarf that Grellow Magic.

Yay!

Oh, I have a blog. Right.

YES, I've been knitting, including these absolutely fierce armwarmers that Other Weaverknits Beth and I conceived during our weekend of fabulousness in Chicago.

Okay, so only one is done, but I've decided to write up the pattern and post it for free on Ravelry. Look for it over the next few days! Above you see the thumb hole option.

Or you can push them up and disregard the thumb hole option. We're LOVING the grey and yellow combination seen on the runways for fall 08 and will be rocking them all year. Plan on much, much more action in these colors here at Weaverknits. If you don't like it, you've been warned.

P.S. Can anyone explain these weird virus software warnings I've been getting in my comments section? Anyone? I use a Mac and don't run Windows, so they're totally irrelevant to me. I'll send you a prize if you can explain. Really!

Not only better, but FABULOUS.

So I got better and flew to Chicago to see my sister and friend Hannah. Let's start the blog post off with a photo of something my sister Beth is knitting. Beth: The Other Weaverknits. The one who only knits scarves and shawls, but has perhaps the best visual sense of anyone I know. This is one of her scarves. I have extracted a promise from her that together we will write out the pattern.
And the shopping. Oh, the shopping. The shoe department in the Chicago Nordstrom was better than Saks and Neimans in Boston combined. On the yarn front, we went to Nina, which I highly recommend. It's a beautiful space with a fantastic selection, a staff who were helpful but not intrusive, and reasonable prices. In this photo Hannah and I sit on what we called the "pods" in the front of the store. I came home with one ball of Be Sweet tiny boucle, the softest boucle I have ever felt (come on, don't you often feel like recoiling when you touch boucle and feel that nylon stiffness?) and a bunch of alpaca for some long, long armwarmers for Beth.

What have I been knitting? Some socks for my Grandma, among other things. She recently made a few passive-aggressive mentions of the fact that she only has one pair that she has not worn to shreds. While I could do without the passive-aggressive, hey, it's Grandma, and she gets what she wants. I hope she can wait until Mother's Day; I've got a lot going on!

Still... sick...

But made it to work today. I Finished Bark from Rowan 38 while sitting on the couch Saturday and Sunday between naps and wore it today as a sort of comfort blankie. I highly recommend the pattern, especially since the required yarn (Rowan Chunky Print and Big Wool Tuft) are SUPER ON SALE at Jimmy Beans Wool and WEBS. Oh, and you only need ONE skein of Chunky Print in each of the four colors, so that makes it even cheaper!

Can you do a double crochet? You can make this project! See Flikr for more photos.


I have to go to bed now. Thanks for all the well wishes. Nicole, I did have a double Rusty Nail last night, hey, maybe that's why I was able to drag myself into work today...

Sick Blackout!

Sick, sick, it's all over the office, and I got a bad case of it this week. So much sick I can't knit much more than round and round, can't read, couldn't even drag myself out of bed by noon to watch Maury, which is sort of my touchstone for moderate wellness or sanity. Making that pot of coffee and sitting through Maury proves that I can DO IT! Reach some sort of GOAL! IS HE THE BABY DADDY???? I must find out!

I failed at this both Wednesday and Thursday. Today I somehow managed to get dressed and went to work, blugh. Anyway, I finished these socks during Sick Blackout. Blurry tungsten-lit photo emblematic of queasy feelings:

Here's some of the knitting I've done... more swatching than knitting. I love these Habu experiments. There will be at least one pattern coming.

Meanwhile, Joan got her package! I need to do things like this more often. I'm beginning to consider a more sophisticated blog, through which I can easily have free PDF patterns for download as well as patterns for sale.

For now, though... Blugh.

We're all Winners.

Since so many of you asked, the buttons on Anise are made from Tagua Nut. You can read about and purchase this eco-friendly product here. However, none seem as cool as mine. Contact Yarns in the Farms if you need a fix!

The stitch pattern on the top portion is double moss stitch. And it's all done! And perfect! The only modification I made was to add about 3 inches of length to each sleeve, since my arms are long in proportion to my bust size.

In other news, the WINNER of my anniversary contest is... Joan! You can find her blog here. A box of yarn, including Socks that Rock, will be headed your way this week. Thanks so much to all of you for your comments. What encouragement to keep blogging!


In progress at the moment: Operation Finish Green Objects. One lace scarf, one pair of socks, one book, which I actually finished the other day and HIGHLY recommend. Tomorrow, which, as President's Day, is a paid holiday in states like Massachusetts (that honor every possible Federal Holiday), will be devoted to watching the Project Runway marathon and working on my entry for Teeny Project Runway. Carry On!