Wednesday, February 17, 2010

February 18, 2010

It's been a while since I've posted last. Not been feeling well and just trying to keep my head above water.

Knitting-wise I picked up the shawl I knitted for my friend Lisa again. I need to do an edging and I'm experimenting with putting a leaf edging on it like the one on the CedarLeaves shawlette. It's tedious picking up all the stitches so that I can knit a few rows of garter stitch before I am able to start the leaves, though. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pull it off, either, I'm afraid of what may happen with the point of the triangle. Remains to be seen what will happen. I'm not really experienced enough to be able to fudge it.

Never Not Knitting has another shawlette pattern. Very pretty and I would really like to make it, but of course I can't find the Madelinetosh yarns to make it. The body of the shawlette should be lighter, but I can't find a color I like that's available that has a corresponding darker yarn that will complement it. I snagged some Madtosh Pastoral in Norway Spruce from the Etsy shop, but it's hard to tell what will go with it, plus it's dark in color and I'm not going to be able to find a complementary darker yarn. I'm not fond of the look of using a lighter yarn, Eyre kelp would probably work, but I don't like the look. I'm thinking of just getting Norway Spruce in Eyre. It's a little bit lighter than the pics of the Pastoral, but I think it will be OK. I'm afraid to wait for the shipment of the Pastoral since the Eyre will probably be sold by the time I get the shipment. Plus I really wanted to use Fig, it's so pretty, but I can't find the Merino in Fig anywhere, just the Eyre. I even tried to find a different manufacturer's yarn for the body, but without success. It's very frustrating. I'm also waiting for my shipment of Madtosh from the Yarn Club. They are running behind and I think I'll be lucky if I get it the first week of March. There may have been something in there that I could use.

Found a cool yarn called "Sunapee" today in a pretty pale yellow. Think I need to add this yarn to my stash, especially since it's Margaret's fav color. There's only one skein in each of two dye lots, though. They are pretty different, it would mean alternating every row. Oh bother!

We've had a fair amount of snow the past few days. The dogs are loving it! I took them to meet up with my friends Joe and Sandy so that they could play with their dogs. They didn't play together, but they did get the chance to run around the park and they had such a great time! I stupidly forgot to take the camera into the dog park with me, so no great pics of them playing in the snow and having a blast! Boo hoo!

Finally the one skein of Mirasol Tupa I've been waiting for has arrived at the LYS. Going to pick it up tomorrow so I can finally finish it and gift it to Lori. I want her to have it before it's summer!

Well, off to see about downloading the Tea Leaves Pattern. I have the Lichen in Vintage just waiting to get started, but I need to download the pattern.

Monday, February 1, 2010

February 1, 2010

It's hard to believe it's February already! Wow, time really does fly!

So I've been working on a Cedar Leaves Shawlette, this time I think I'll keep this one for myself. The yarn I'm using is Madelinetosh Pastoral, a beautiful yarn that I was very sad to discover is now discontinued. *sigh* Whenever I find something I truly love it seems it gets discontinued. Seems Madelinetosh said that there wasn't enough of a market for the yarn and so she's discontinuing it. I love the Blackcurrant colorway, it's so pretty. I bought 2 skeins from Eat, Sleep, Knit in November during their Black Friday sale. Four hundred yards should have been enough to complete this shawlette, but I have the feeling I'm going to come up short. Madelinetosh was wonderful and dyed a skein just for me, but the dye lot is completely off and this is not a pattern you can easily alternate skeins, especially in the leaves. My original two skeins had a substantial amount of pink and lavender throughout it, and the 2nd skein I am using now has some teal, too. The 3rd skein has nearly no pink and is not as blue and doesn't have the same depth of color. So what to do? There is a Ravelry person with a stash of 2 skeins, she's willing to sell them to me. She got them from ESK, so they will probably be similar. Just didn't want to spend another $64 so that I could complete this project. So I'm knitting in hopes that it'll be enough, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to come up short.

This morning I was awakened by the doorbell at 9:30a.m. Who could be ringing the bell at that hour? Julie and Gable, my Leos, were going crazy and barking up a storm. I dragged myself downstairs and opened the door only to discover a package from the post office between the doors. Wow, my order from ESK had already arrived! I placed the order on line very late on Friday night. I never expected it to have arrived already! So my first order of Madelinetosh Vintage in Lichen arrived. I'm hoping to do a tea leaves cardigan with it, something to do while I'm recuperating from surgery #32 which takes place 2/9. I just have to re-load the software for my printer so that I can print the pattern out. It's very pretty, but I really wanted the Tannehill. Still waiting for The Backwards Loop to get their order of Madelinetosh Merino in. Guess maybe I'll have 2 tea leaves cardis! In my order with my Lichen was my Yarnathon Welcome package, really great to have samples of all the yarns they carry. Also scratched off my Yarn Lotto card and got a $5 discount on my next purchase, yay!!!!

Been wanting to take pics of my projects only to discover that my camera battery is dead and the new charger I bought on vacation in August is not working. Arghhhh!!!! So now I need to find another charger, I can't find the original one that came with the camera for the life of me-I was certain I packed it when leaving for Sunapee last summer, but it is nowhere to be found. Very frustrating! I also wanted to take a pic of my square for the Leos in Need afghan made from Julie's fur, but can't without a functioning battery. This doesn't make me happy!

Well, off to find out about a new charger!