Finished!

There's no good reason at all why this project took so long--I'm embarrassed to say it's been over 3 years since I began this project!--but finally FINALLY this baby sweater is complete! Knitting knit, seams sewn, and ends woven in. Whew!

This is a baby sweater from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits for Beginners. The pattern actually calls for two pockets on the front, but 1) I can't be bothered to knit more for this sweater and 2) pockets? Seriously? What is a baby going to put into these pockets? Nothing useful--that's what I think.

It's been so long since I started this sweater that I cannot even remember who I knit it for in the first place. Luckily, there's been a million babies cropping up, so no problem finding a recipient.

I have to thank Stacie profusely for helping me go through my stash and UFOs way back in January. This was among them and even though it's August, I'm just so pleased to have completed it. Also, Stacie/Dr. Knitting actually sewed many of my seams. Boy oh boy do I hate sewing seams.

TNNANANANA

Whew.

TNNA is a LOT of stuff to take in, and they didn't let us take any pictures on the floor. BUT so many fabulous things we bought. Full of inspiration, I came right home and cleaned out my stash in preparation.

And people were really cool. I got to rub elbows with the Ravelry folks Jess and Casey, Franklin of Panopticon, Teva Durham, Stephanie the Yarn Harlot, Erin of Imperial Stock Ranch, Lily Chin, Anya Safir (daughter of Jade Sapphire and a supa cool Brooklynite) and many many other lovely people - including Mr. Snub Nose at the front desk of our hotel, who kindly explained the lack of drugstores downtown.

Some small snapshots of last weekend:
Proof that there are Starbucks everywhere, even Ohio. Bicycles are very popular in Columbus. YAY Columbus!

Here is Sean at an outdoor cafe. See that map? Those are all booths! Much iced coffee and tea was consumed while trying to figure out what to focus on.

If anyone is in Columbus, I highly highly recommend hitting up the Burgundy Room for dinner. Sean and I did two different "flights" - here is mine. It started with an Apple-Celery salad, then Portabello mushroom ravioli, then an Almond Beet puree that tasted a lot like a Hillel sandwich with the water crackers provided. Plus accompanying wines. So delicious, we had no room for dessert. Which was too bad because apparently Jeni's ice cream is world famous.

It was entirely overwhelming, but also completely wonderful to see so many fiber-lovers all gathered together from so many different places and paradigms all so happy to see each other and the merch. Oh, and did I mention Teva Durham had heard of this blog? Hey now!

Too long gone

Whew. I have been knitting & crocheting away, but somehow it seems to be much easier to post projects on Ravelry. But as I was doing so I noticed that it had been MONTHS since I posted here.

So.

A few things:

1. I think we should reconvene a regular knitting meeting. For I miss seeing you all regularly. Perhaps we could do themes? Like, charted knitting? Or the mysteries of Portuguese knitting? Or, name/smell that fiber?

2. Jennie Atkinson, of Rowan, is on my list for this bed jacket. There are no instructions about how to attach the collar. NONE. Poo. Thank goodness I have a very smart friend in Austin who just happened to be also knitting it and could advise.


3. I love Pentagons. I love knitting this Pentagon lace shawl. I am anxious to show this off. Plus I need color opinions.


4. This is my new kitty George. He is awesome. And double-toed.

4. Is anyone else listening to the Y Knit podcast? The one with Cat Bordhi is TOO funny. Also Lace for Boyz.

And how are you all doing? What lovelies are you up to?

Jumping on the Bandwagon BSJ

Long time, no post! Well, I finally started a BSJ and finished it up rather quickly too. What a lovely pattern. I knit it up in some Cascade Fixation that I picked up at the Somerville Library/Ravelry Stash Swap from a couple weeks ago. I'm trying only to knit from my stash this year--it's actually getting increasingly complicated since I have 1-2 balls of lots of things. But BSJ really is rather perfect for that.

Yelapa

I just returned from a journey down to Yelapa, Mexico. Yelapa is a little fishing village with no automobiles - it's a 45 minute Water Taxi ride from Puerto Vallarta to get down there, and we stayed at the most lovely Casa Milagros, which is a mere 182 steps up from the village. But the views!



The place is all very lovely - there is a waterfall at the edge of the village, and a larger one about an hour walk away. The food was wonderful, the people were lovely, the weather was stunning. My biggest concern while there was avoiding burro crap. Easy enough.

Oh, and I got some knitting done:


I had wanted to take along a lace knitting project, but not wanting to get too involved in charts and really PAYING ATTENTION, I opted to cast on for a Pi Shawl. I followed the lead of brooklyntweed, and went for a simple yo, K2tog row every once in awhile. Keeping it simple. The yarn is from Miss Simone - Grignasco ExtraFine, and it sure is extrafine! I'm knitting this on US4s. I plan on completing it sometime in 2037 or thereabouts.

*They say that getting there is half the battle, but this time around it seemed to be a bit more - the getting out of there was a bit of an issue. Heed these words, my friends: If any of you ever think for one minute about going to Houston, Texas - consider our friendship OVER.

Booties, part 2

Has anyone else noticed the total baby boom going on right now? I swear I have nearly 10 babies to knit for recently. I knit another pair of the Saartje booties to bring to a baby shower next week. While I still love the way these look--I'm beginning to think they're slightly too noodgy. Several seams to sew up, the little button ends, sewing buttons on. . . . then again, these types of activities are the things I hate most about knitting. If I could only knit with zero seams and zero sewing. . . well, then I'd be a really happy knitter. If I could figure out some magical way to instantly weave in ends, that would be tops too. I guess I'm realizing what a very lazy knitter I am!

Cable time

I had hoped to finished this cable hat in time for Valentine's Day since I wanted to give it to Scott (what a lovely model!). Sadly, I only completed it a couple days later, but I'm thrilled to report that he really loves it and it looks quite dashing with his brown, pin-striped winter jacket. This is another 3AM Cable Hat but this time without the ribbed rim (like I had done on mine). This was was knit in some dark blue yarn that I picked up in Florence.

Boy---Stacie's Fiddlehead mitts sure are something, no?