The Root

Ah, the excitement of a new project. I love this Rusted Root pattern and how it will look, but I'm also a little nervous that it won't look good on me, or that I chose the wrong color (I don't think I've worn something yellow since I was very small and I've never knit with it - let's hope I still like it as much as I do now when I'm done).


I am having a bit of a problem with the lace panel though. Has anyone else had a problem getting row 5 to work? I always seem two stitches short and the decreases don't seem to line up with the previous row's decreases. I searched through Google Blog Search (an ingenious tool, by the way), but didn't find anything particularly useful. Maybe I'm searching wrong. Or reading the pattern wrong. I'll do a little more research and then contact the designers.

And yes, those are paper clips I'm using as stitch markers. While they're working in pinch (the pinch being I have no stitch markers because I always lose them), they're not that great. They keep catching and falling off the needle. So I thought to myself, maybe I am mature enough and responsible enough to actually have some stitch markers. With some quick research online, I am officially overwhelmed. So many choices. Here are the traditional and cheap ones. Here's someone that calls them "jewelry for knitting" and has just about every do-jiggy I could ever imagine to attach to the rings. Ebay has even more options. The offerings on Etsy seem to be the most promising, showing rings that don't look like they would be overly distracting. Here's even some instructions on how to make your own with Sculpey, something that turns out looking great, but also a bit complicated. And that's only a skim on the surface.

I might just stick with the paperclips for the time being.

Summer Time

I'll be honest: the summer is keeping me pretty busy lately. Work is eating up lots of time, which is good because I have a little income, but at the same time frustrating and tiring. Don't get me wrong, I love books, the people I work with, and even most of the customers, but at the end of the day, working for a major bookstore chain is just not my calling.

So I've been hanging out with Guy, catching up on old TV shows, going to the park, the zoo, and for ice cream. Today we went to see a show called The Musical of Musicals: The Musical and it was highly entertaining. Also, we've taken up something called geocaching, which takes us to random parts of town in search of random hidden treasures. I'm sorry to say, though, that during many of these adventures I've forgotten the camera. I'll try to remember it next time.

On the knitting front, I didn't finish all my Spring Cleaning. Here's a taste of a bit I did finish:


I'm trying to get some better pictures of the Honeymoon Cami and Thermal while I'm wearing them, but it's been hard to find a time when the weather and a photographer are both cooperating.


The Print o' the Wave is also coming along nicely, and believe it or not I almost have the pattern memorized. I guess that's what you get for doing it twice.


Today I finally got ahold of the new KnitScene magazine, and while some out there think it's full of the fugly, I like most of the patterns and might actually make some of them. I'm already eyeing the cover sweater, as well as Road to Golden on page 23 (the Fair Isle worsted weight sweater in reds, greens, and yellows). I love it's little optical illusion of looking like two layered shirts.

I'm hoping to start a couple of new things soon, maybe something quick to jumpstart me. I might be in danger of the summer knitting blues. Tell me it ain't so!

Whirlwind

Whew. I feel like I haven't been around much at all. Between moving back home (which in some ways is more traumatic than just moving), the graduation, graduation party, my grandmother visiting, starting work, trying to unpack, and then my mother's birthday and Father's Day today, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

Coming back home makes me realize how much stuff I have around - all the stuff I needed (and didn't really need at school) plus all the stuff I've collected throughout the years makes for a cramped room and no real place to put anything. I think some real cleaning and organizing is in my future.




All in all, there hasn't been much knitting around here either. I frogged the Print o' the Wave and I think I'm about half way done with the body again. Hopefully this time the border will work better. I also picked up some Cotton Fleece in a yellow to begin work on a Rusted Root, and along with the rest of my stash I think I'm set for summer knitting.

Wow, I just reread that and I sound so boring. Really, I'm not, just a bad writer. Well, maybe I am marginally boring. Check out the updated blog links for some actually interesting people.

Stay tuned. More knitting content to come.