Mitred Square Source

Since I got a couple requests for the pattern for my little blankie, I figured I'd go dig up the magazine I got it out of. It was a Knit It magazine that I bought from Joann's. I have no idea where you can get this now that it's out of print, but here it is anyway:



I'm sure this is absolutely no help at all. Again, sorry.

FO: Mitred Square Blankie

Our company picnic was this weekend, so I dragged out the blanket (that has been languishing in my cedar chest for MONTHS) to give to our VP's newly adopted daughter. They were accepted as her parents before the adoption ban went into effect for Russian children, but it took FOREVER to get her. I made the blanket back in February right after I heard they got accepted, and just never wove in the ends or put the border on it. They picked her up from Russia and brought her home in June, but this would be the first time I met her, so I had to get that blanket ready. I whipped out the fray check and my darning needle and finished it just in time.
Another satisfied customer:
She loved it! She also seems to have good taste in friends, because she hung out with me all day. The VP came in this morning and said she didn't stop talking about me all weekend. [AWWWWWWW!]
When we got home, this was on my doorstep: It's for the Mirepoix bodice from the new interweave. I guess I needed a challenge? Or maybe Robin is just a bad influence! Either way, I love the colors & I think it's going to be soooooo pretty.
Sunday we went to another Yankee game where we listened to this guy scream his head off the entire time.
He has to be related to Sam Kinison. They could be brothers. Seriously. I made some progress on my other WIP's, but I think they might be disasters, so I'm not showing them until I know for sure. Whoever wrote that Teva Durham's new crochet book was a good coffee table book is starting to look really smart right now.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday, Joe!
I know I promised I wouldn't post this picture, but it is SO cute; I couldn't resist!

Jenny Simpson

No, that's not my real name, but I've been Simpsonized.
I just checked my Ravelry status & I only have 22 people in front of me today. 'Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow!' I am SO EXCITED!

Weekend Shenanigans

We went to Virginia over the weekend to see my parents & stopped off for a quick visit and to deliver Sahara to my friend Aimee. I forgot to take her picture in it, but it looked so great on her and she really loves it! Then, we went to my parents' house where I found this on their stove: I love love love home grown tomatoes. I tried to eat all of them, but I only managed 4 (Yes, that is a little pot of bacon grease behind the tomatoes. -I used to have one on my own stove because I thought everyone did- until I realized just how WRONG that is). On Sunday, we went to G Street Fabrics in Falls Church where I found these little treasures:
The green print is Marc Jacobs cotton with some sort of stretchy content (I forget what), and the white was a remnant I couldn't resist. Both are destined to be skirts.

Sahara Returns

So, I was stupid enough to show off my Sahara to my best friend a few months ago and she said she would like one too. I said, "great, what color?" She said, "same as yours. Same yarn, same everything. Just a little smaller and shorter sleeves." Um, WHAT? Knit the same exact sweater again? Well, she is my best friend.......
I think it came out better than mine! Bitch!

I'm leaving in 15 minutes to go personally deliver it to her in Virginia. Have a good weekend!

Pictures, Finally

So remember that little dress I crocheted last year that was going to be my wedding dress, but then I chickened out and bought a different one, then took a lame picture on a hanger and then never mentioned it again? Well, lookie what I wore today:



Ha! Just kidding! Here it is:

And a close up:

We also went to WEBS this weekend where I got yarn for my Back to School Vest from Fitted Knits. I also got yarn for my crocheted skirt from Teva Durham's new crochet book, Loop-d-loop Crochet. Wanna play? Join the KCAL!

(Cascade 220 Superwash, Classic Elite Star & some fun stuff)

Joe fits right in with the ladies.

No Knitting, Just a Shameless Advertisement

I have got to stop reading knit and tonic. Every time I go there, I swear it costs me 50 bucks. This week's wallet sucker was the Furminator.
It's some fancy pants pet brush that supposedly gets all your pet's 'dead fur' off of them and makes them shed less and get less furballs. I was skeptical. But, now I'm a believer! This thing is really (REALLY) awesome. But really (REALLY) expensive. Rocco actually gave me thank you kisses after I brushed him with the thing. We got at least 4 kittens' worth of fur off of him. He had us cracking up--he was turning around and around so I didn't accidentally miss any spots. He likes!

I love that they call it the antsy page

Because I am so antsy right now!

I have most of my pictures done & ready to upload. Just need that key little piece of the puzzle a.k.a. my invite. I'm being patient, though. Other than checking my email 90 times a day, that is. If you're antsy too, here's the link.

Lovely Leaf Lace Skirt

Yay! It's done! This was definitely one of those "Are we there yet?" type of projects. I would swear I had done all of the repeats, and then I would count to be sure and I would have 2 left (this happened twice! Clearly I can not count. Please don't tell my boss--I'm an accountant.). Then, I when I actually was done, I tried it on and realized I wanted it to be longer. Anyway, on to the pictures!


The neighbor's cat walked up just as Joe was taking this picture. Rocco was in the window seething at him to get away from me. It was too funny.


Notes:
Pattern: Lovely Leaf Lace Skirt by Lana Knits
Yarn: Allhemp6 in Cinnamon, 4.5 skeins
Needles: Knitpicks 4's & 5's
Size: Well, my hips measure 39", so I took Wendy's advice & made the small. It was a wee bit snug until I wore it for a few minutes and then it fit fine. Weird fiber, that hemp.
Mods: I did two extra repeats of the stockinette section because I wanted it a bit longer than it was when the pattern said I was done. Because of this, I needed an extra skein of yarn. I would have JUST barely made it with the 4 skeins if I hadn't made that mod. I would have had to rip my swatch out to make the i-cord. I also changed the drawstring-I crocheted a chain, then did one slip stitch in the butt of each chain. I think this is much less painless than I-cord and looks almost just like it.
Thoughts: Although the hemp is "different," I actually liked working with it. Out of 5 skeins, only one had a knot in it, but all of them had several knots in one ply every now and then. You can't see them unless you look really really closely, so it was no biggie. As for the skirt-Love it! Love it! Love it!

New Email

I decided to jump on the gmail bandwaggon since they blocked aol at work & I have to wait til I get home to respond to pretty much anything anyone sends me during the day. My new address is jenerationx74 at gmail dot com. I hate to add yet another email to the stable (we're now up to 6!), but I just had to because of stupid work. I'll put it on the sidebar too as soon as I figure out that little trick.

I was 2 rows away from being done with the Lovely Lace Leaf Skirt & I RAN OUT OF YARN. I'm kind of happy though; I wanted it to be longer than it was, so I really needed that 5th skein anyway. I swung by the LYS on my lunch hour, so hopefully I'll have a FO by Sunday!

Have a great weekend!!

ETA: I just set up gmail to check my other emails for me, so whatever one you have in your address book will work. Woo hoo!!

What I'm Up To

I'm officially obsessed. I can't wait to finish it.

Losing Focus

I don't know if it's something to do with the weather or what, but I have crazy focus issues lately. I start something, abandon it, start something else, feel guilty about the first thing & then the cycle starts over at the beginning. Maybe it's not the weather; maybe I just found some really cute new things to knit. Case in point: Zodiac. Don't get your hopes up; it's for a guy at work.

Yes, another Knitty pattern. But, look, I actually BOUGHT a pattern too. Do I get any credit for that?

Zodiac stats:
Yarn: Bernat Satin from Joann's (2 balls for the 3-6 months size)
Pattern: Zodiac from Knitty
Needles: I tried to get gauge on 9s & 10s, but ended up using 10.5s to get 4.5 sts per inch (and the pattern called for 4 sts per inch). I just made the larger size to compensate for my wrong gauge. It worked out fine.
Model: Olivia's Build a Bear Monkey (so cute!)
Mods: Um, obviously I didn't go with the whole 'zodiac' theme & decided to make my own NY Yankees symbol chart. I don't know if it was necessarily BECAUSE of the Yankee logo (Audrey), but it took me 3 tries to get the damn thing right. But it is done and it is so cute and I just pray it fits over that baby's head (cause me & monkey had a little struggle with it). Oh, and I put in a strip of snap tape instead of a zipper.

Now, must resist knitting skirt............
Must finish other things first.............
Yeah, right!

Summer of Sequels

I hate to blog when I don't have much to say. And, just like at the theaters, there's just repeats of the same ol stuff going on here. I'm making my friend Aimee a Sahara. In the same exact color I made mine in. BO-RING!

And, we went to another Yankee game just like last year. They won again. Yawn.

I guess there is one important thing to say to the moms out there; please remember to tell your kids to say no to crack.

Ewwwwww!

A pretty happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is typically a long, boring, lonely affair for me. Filled with movies and knitting and wanting to go to a party really bad, but being supportive of the Lowe's employee I married and not going to such parties. (Poor Joe; he had to work 5 AM-5 PM all three days this weekend-and it's not like he had a day off in the last week either!). I have learned to deal with the days, but the zombie that comes home in the evenings is the hardest part. I want to go to a barbeque, and he wants to sleep on the couch. :( Oh well.

So, this is how I 'dealt' with my days this year:

Saturday, I went to the Mass Sheep & Wool Festival with Amy, Audrey, & Karen. This is me & Amy from Spunky Eclectic. She's so awesome. She was definitely the biggest hit at the festival.

That's a skein of her Purple Haze sock yarn in my hand. After the festival, we went to a little fabric store in Northampton (thanks for stopping, Audrey!) and I picked up the Cabo Halter pattern I've been wanting to make.

Then, we went to Webs (!) and used up whatever energy we had remaining.

Sunday, I had my spa day that Rocco got me for mother's day. He's such a good little kitty. Here's my pedicure & finished socklets:

Then, Monday I made the halter top & took totally silly pictures of myself in it. The neighbors must think I'm insane.



This was my first Amy Butler patern, but it will not be my last. It was painful to pay $13 for a pattern, but all the details & little hints in the pattern were worth it. I can't get over how well written it was. I even got the zipper right on the first try. That NEVER happens!

Glampyre ROCKS!

So, a few weeks ago, I was reading Stefanie Japel (Glampyre) 's blog and she asked if anyone had taped her episode of Knitty Gritty. Of course, I still had it in my Tivo, so I sent her a copy. Look what she sent me as a thank you present! Her book Fitted Knits, her mini sweater pattern, and her waist pack pattern. She sure knows how to make a gal's day! I think I'm going to make the top on the cover of the book first. It is sooooo pretty. I really like a lot of the patterns. There's a little shrug in there that might grab my attention before that gold top, though. I'll let you know which one wins!

Seven Random Facts

The latest me-me floating around the blogosphere; Kasia from Morgiana's Manifesto tagged me for this me-me. I figured why not. Gives me something to blog about.

Seven Random Facts:The Rules:

The way it works is as follows: each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves along with the rules of the game, as well as tagging seven others by listing their names as part of the blog post and leaving a blog comment for the tagged individuals to let them know that they’ve been tagged.

My Seven Random Facts:

1. My college degree is for Physics but I am an Accountant. I sort of lost interest in Physics somewhere along the way I guess. (Like accounting is interesting).
2. Touching cotton balls totally skeeves me out & makes my skin crawl, yet I love to knit with cotton yarn.
3. My mom got me into crafting and sewing. She is the QUEEN of UFO’s. I can’t think of more than 4 or 5 things she ever finished. She would take a class for a certain craft (stained glass, basket weaving, etc.), then finish her class project, buy a ton of supplies, start a bunch of projects & totally abandon them. Mind you, she still has all of these supplies to this day. I am still waiting on my bedroom curtains, quilt, and sheet set from 4th grade. I did, however, receive my dust ruffle.
4. My dad is where I get my obsessive nature. He is very organized and always puts things back where they go. For those of you keeping score, that’s 1 parent who is a packrat, unorganized, ufo committer and 1 parent who is borderline OCD. They spend most of each day trying not to kill each other.
5. I missed a month of school in my Junior year of high school because I had bronchial pneumonia. I have not been sick since. (I have pretended to be sick, but never actually been sick; hangovers, headaches and tummy trouble don’t count)
6. The only celebrities that share my birthday are Jimmi Hendrix and Bruce Lee.
7. I can’t F*CKING stand when people leave their pets in their car for more than a minute or two. If your pet likes to go for a ride, take them for a ride. Then take them home. Don’t take them to a F*CKING wool festival or to the hair salon or Target with you. They don’t need to accompany you while you run your errands. They could be sitting at home in the nice air conditioning instead of sweating and panting in your 150 degree car while you get your nails done. If I see a dog in a car on a hot day, I give the owner 60 seconds before I call the cops. Who ever drove the yellow Mini Cooper to the MD Sheep & Wool, I hope they had to break in your car to get your dog out. And I hope it cost a bundle to fix your window. And I hope they took your dog away.

Ok, I’m done venting about that. I’m not going to officially tag anyone. Just do it if you want to.

I might need an intervention

Hi, I'm Jenny and I'm an addict.

So, I bought some yarn a few weeks ago when we went to Newport, RI. We went to Sakonnet Purls & if you are a sock yarn-aholic like I am, you might want to avoid that shop (or not, depending on where you are in your 12 steps). I got some Cherry Tree Hill, some Jitterbug, and some Schaeffer Anne.

Damn those Schaefer people! They don't have color-ways. They just dye whatever they feel like dyeing that day. Which makes a sick person like me think, "this is probably ONE OF A KIND; I better buy it."

Then, my Valentine's day yarn FINALLY came in. Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb in Black Purl. Mmmmmm. Yes, it's for a Clapotis. I am one of maybe 6 people that hasn't made a Clapotis.

Then, I told my SnB buddy Kris that I told Lime & Violet about her & they mentioned her etsy shop on their show. So, as a thank you present, she gave me some of her hand-dyed sock yarn! I didn't do it for a reward, but I was not about to turn her down- this stuff is GORGEOUS.
I picked this colorway for my mom since she has requested socks for her birthday. Most of you know how I feel about knitting for my mom. I DON'T LIKE IT. Everything I knit her never gets used because "it's too pretty and I don't want to ruin it." This irritates the bejeezus out of me. If I'm going to knit something that no one ever wears, it's going to be for myself!

MD Sheep & Wool

Warning: Long post ahead!

Wow, what a blast! We had so much fun this weekend I don't even know where to start. Friday, we had crabcakes for lunch in Baltimore, then visited a little yarn shop downtown. I think it was called A Good Yarn. It's very tiny, but the girl at the counter said they were mostly a teaching store & they only had a few brands of yarn. I asked if they had any darning needles because I needed to weave my ends on a project I had just finished and she just gave me one of hers. How awesome is that? We went to an Orioles game that night (I had to throw SOMETHING in there for Joe).

Now, onto the REAL fun: The Wool Festival! It was so awesome. We got there right at 9, and there was this huge line of traffic. I sat in the car as long as I could stand it, and then RAN into the main gate. I knew Joe would find me eventually, right? I saw Karen & Rachel in the line for the Fold & stopped to say hi. And since no one seemed to mind that I was standing there, I just stayed in line with them. I felt very guilty about breaking in line, but it was so worth it-Look!

I totally scored! It took a lot of restraint to just get 5 skeins. I think I did pretty good. But then I found this:

It's a little evening bag liner-you pick up stitches in the grommets & knit the bottom of the bag. So cool! Yes, it is from the "evil" Tilli Tomas. The great part about these festivals is that you sometimes get to meet the owners of these businesses. Like, for instance, TILLI TOMAS! She was standing right there helping me pick out yarn. And she was really nice. So, I formed my OWN opinion about her & decided I like her, I like her yarn, and I like that little bag. And it might be the most expensive sock bag ever, but who cares? I wanted it; I got it.

Anybody know why I bought this green silk fingering weight yarn? Cause I have no clue. Let me know if you think of an answer. And, of course, some Koigu. Aaaaahhhhh, Koigu. I couldn't resist. :) I have some of the same pictures on my Flickr page, but some different ones. Go check 'em out!

We spent Saturday night drinking and catching up with the BFF at her recently-purchased cabin. Sunday was spent leaning out the window of the car as Joe drove my tired, hung-over butt home. A good time was had by all!

Sahara!

Photography courtesy of the bathroom mirror at work. Sexy!

Yay! Sahara’s done! I LOVE it! It was so easy to make & it fits perfectly.

The specs:
-Sahara pattern, size M
-8 balls of Classic Elite Premiere in 5215 (Meadow Grass). I have a bunch of leftovers; 7 balls might have been enough, but I didn’t want to weave in unnecessary ends, so I would start a new ball whenever I started a new section (i.e. each sleeve, the neckline, etc.).
-size 7 Knit Picks Options for the body (great for cotton yarn, BTW) and size 5 for the lace. I had to bring my Denise set out of retirement for the sleeves because the KP set doesn’t have any short cords.
-Started 4/9; finished 4/28
-Mods: none really, but I did a little trickery on the neckline bind-off. I bind off REALLY tightly, so I bound off with a US 10.5 needle up the front until I got to the back of the neck. Then, I did a sewn bind off on the back of the neck, and then picked up the 10.5 again for the other side of the front. That way, the chain looks neat & pretty, but the bind off chain doesn’t pinch the back of my neck. I did the sewn bind off on the waist and the arms as well.
-Thoughts: I really like this yarn. 50% cotton; 50% tencel, so soft and beautiful drape. It feels like a dream against the skin. The pattern was so well written and super easy. I just might make another one!

Surprises!

Oh, my gosh. Have you seen the knitty surprises? I want to make this in the worst way:

I know it may seem like a ridiculous thing to knit, but I find myself in need of a parasol on lots of occasions. And, no one makes parasols that don't look like they belonged to Scarlet O'Hara. Lacy ruffles don't exactly 'go' with the leather.

This was in the parking lot at work the other day.

Have a good weekend! Sahara pics coming soon!

Yarn shop, wine shop, sub shop

I wonder if this is what Creative Fibers means when they say "conveniently located." hehehehe. I had a pretty productive lunch that day, I can tell you that much. I picked up some wine, yarn, and a sub in 10 minutes flat! Also, CF redecorated and now has a blog. Go check it out-the place looks fab!



This is Sahara's progress. Not bad for 4 days of flat stockinette. 2 more inches, and I'm in the round. Have a good weekend!

Isabella

Isabella & I haven't spoken for about a week. After a few issues with the neckline & me trying to do a 3 needle bind off where there shouldn't be one, we called each other a few choice phrases & called the whole thing off. Well, last night we made up. I undid my disastrous bind off, seamed up the sides, re-did the bind off & we were in love once again.

Here she is:
Pattern: Knitty's Isabella, size M
Yarn: Dale of Norway Stork, color 35
Needles: Size 4 Addis
Modifications: I didn't do the picots because my last tank had a picot edge. I did a single crochet all around the arm holes & the bottom. I also decreased 4 extra stitches on each armhole because I thought it looked a little too bulky on the model. I would do even more if I could do it over.




Done, done, onto the next one:

This is the yarn that came in the other day for Sahara. I'm starting it today. Yay!