Knit Picker

I'm Back!

Had a bad fall while running in the park. I guess I got excited with the change of weather. I woke up early. Really early, like before the Sanitation trucks pick up the garbage on the streets here in NYC. Feeling like doing something healthy for myself I decided to go for a run, but it was dark and I tripped over something and went splat!

Fortunately my doctor said nothing was broken! But I just started walking again, with a light limp and my sprained hand is a little better. The bruises are now dark purple. I'm taking some homeopathic remedy called Arnica Montana, to help with the soreness and bruising.

I'm running on a treadmill from now on! I can't type for too long--I want my right hand to heal so I can knit again!!

Manic Planning and Works In Progress

Smiley's is so old school I love it...it might as well be the 70's with all that acrylic on sale.
Acrylic definitely has its advantages, however. It's dirt cheap and you can make a durable dog sweater (like the one I promised my brother I'd make for Samson, his chow mix). Another WIP on my list. The yarn to be used: Cervinia Sorrento, on sale at Smileys. I bought this bag of light grey yarn for $1 a 50g ball. A $10 dog sweater is unheard of in New York...
Got the cables down, see?? I tried using a double pointed needle as a stitch holder; it works, provided you use a needle same size or smaller...otherwise the loops are larger, duh! I got a lot of cool ideas for cable stitches from this vintage Reader's Digest book
I inherited from my mother, who bought it in 1979.
The frogging on my Karabella 8 purple sweater continues...the sweater is knit in K2, P2 ribbing from a pattern I adapted from a Katia book. Ribbing seems so boring now that I'm practicing cables. I am frogging the top of one sleeve, the shoulder shaping came out weird!
But the back of the sweater is being knitted, and we are progressing! That's one pet peeve I have about sweater patterns for beginner knitters--you really have to research techniques for increasing and decreasing to perfect them. A great book I have in my library is Nancy Wiseman's "The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques." I cannot wait for the sweater to be done, yippee!
And I bought the yarn to be used for the Koolaid Project: Panda Woolbale, a Worsted Weight yarn from Australia. Haven't decided on the color yet...but I am excited!

All this knitting in between writing, and catching up on reading material for our next campaign at work. And it's only Monday...I'm having one of those moments where I am wishing I were a domestic goddess, and I could leisurely knit all day. Nice thought, but no thanks! I love being busy and I honestly wouldn't know what to do with myself if I had a lot of free time...probably start my own business, have a tribe of kids or something insane like that. OK, I've snapped out of it, back to reality!

Knitting Keeps Me Sane

It's been a whirlwind of work-related activity here. Missed the day session of the US Open, so where did I end up last night? Across the river, in New Jersey! A last minute invite to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's Opening Night Celebration found me watching violinist Midori perform at Prudential Hall. Didn't get home till late, went to work early this morning armed with a hazelnut coffee. Coffee wore off at about 3:30pm and had to go home early to take a nap.

Next week is Fashion Week in NYC and that means a few parties and friends to visit! But more importantly, so far 3 people have confirmed to meet up at the Volo Cafe for an early evening of knitting next Friday. In addition, there's a big sale at Smileys next week and I'm stocking up on white wool for the Project Kool Aid adventure I will be embarking on! I'm keeping this short because I woke up from my nap and now I'm feeling the urge to knit--knit something, anything! Happy Friday!

Storm Residue

No schmoozing due to rain.
My sunny disposition allows me to only whine for one paragraph, so here goes:
The big boss at work gave me these tickets but I won't be going...my bedroom ceiling is leaking and a lot more rain is expected. I did want to take my clothing industry friend Richard, to the US Open, so I can talk to him (between sets, of course!)about YARN! I am such a fiber addict. Richard and I go back a few years--I dabbled in sales and worked for him at the Femme Sportswear Show at the Javits Center as a manufacturers rep. If Richard had his way, I'd either be selling pashminas or working at Rocawear, and rap music isn't my cup of tea...

The dampness has also hurt my joints a little, so I have had to wear what I call my carpal tunnel relief glove that makes me look like a Yu-Gi-Oh. I have to give my sore hands a break! No knitting till tomorrow, so I read a good chunk of "Knitting Lessons" on the subway. I have read quite a few KR posts from the same folks that have contributed to the making of this book. In addition to being completely in awe of Yarn Harlot, I am now also in awe of KR founder Clara Parkes, who is featured in the book and is a very cool woman!

Speaking of Yarn Harlot, I am so glad Lauren is the recipient of her morning glory yarn! It is definitely a beautiful color-- lucky girl!

Last but definitely not least, thank you Nathania for the lovely icard! So sweet of you to think of me! And have I got a surprise for her!

In true RAOK fashion, I am now going to send a RAOK to someone whose recent blog entry really disturbed me, just for the fact that she seemed really down. I had noticed her post something similar before, so I sent her a comment. I didnt expect a reply, I know she gets a ton of hits. Now she sounds worse, not only was it whiny but truly sad, like she had given up on life. I really hope she gets through what's upsetting her.

Cables for Dummies

Oh dear. Like all good things worth waiting for, this is gonna take practice and patience. I broke out the Stitch n Bitch book and read the directions for making cables; short and sweet, it got me started. The KR Forums, however, completely rock! All the cabling nitty gritty info I'll ever need (not to mention online support) is there. For example, I just read that toothpicks make good cable needles when knitting cables on socks! Wow, it's like having the spirit of Mrs. Saunig, my 5th grade math teacher and knitter/crocheter extraordinaire here on demand!!

I submitted my site to RAOK today, I think I'm #96...just in time! I have a couple of skeins of Handspun I wouldn't mind parting with.

In cat related matters, I switched flavors on Cita's Science Diet dry food from the Adult Light to Adult Lamb and Rice. Lamb and Rice was what the good folks at the Massachussetts Animal Shelter were feeding her when I adopted her, but like any doting mom, I fed her more food and she gained a few pounds soon after she moved in to her new digs. I had to put her on a little diet and then returned to the Lamb and Rice. She is way more active now! She chats up a storm when I come home from work, and I noticed an increase in her grooming habits. She also digs playing fetch again--yes she has been trained to fetch this, a small plastic rind.

Who knows, maybe its just the change in the weather.

Knitting Group Plans

Hooray! I went to the manager of the Volo Cafe, on Ditmars Blvd. and told him about my plans for a Knitting Group meetup there. Done deal! It'll be held on Friday, Sept. 17 after work, the coffee is darn good there and the pastries (brownies, lemon bars, cookies et al) are irresistible. Fortunately there are also salads, and gourmet stuff. So here's my free plug for Volo! This is Ditmars Blvd., the subway stop is off the N train. If you keep walking east like I did this morning, you run into Astoria Park. It's magnificent, and so is the view of the East River. The Amtrak train that travels from Boston to Penn Station en route to Washington DC passes over this bridge, known as the Hellgate Bridge (named after the dangerous currents located directly underneath the bridge, and the drownings that occurred).

There also just happens to be a knitting group forming at the Queens Public Library on Saturday, Sept. 18th. The knitting bug has definitely taken off here.

Viva La Poncho

I cranked up the 80's tunes and did a dance because I finished sewing up what used to be the neck opening of the shapeless baggy sweater. And now it was a long rectangle. I draped it over my shoulders and could see that the end was near!

The next step involved attaching one end of the long rectangle to the lower right bottom, and voila! Crystal Palace has a couple of ponchos that are super easy, designed by Ann Norling. This schematic is from the Glam poncho pattern. The measurements are an approximate guide, however. Mine was actually wider and longer.

Gotta grab a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee...I'm exhausted and have been speed knitting all weekend!

If You Like Noro...

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend in Boston; found the rest of the Diakeito stash and my Addi Turbo needles for the Easy-to-Make poncho. Diakeito is really beautiful, I'm casting on in between thoughts! There are pretty metallic flakes in the DiaJuliano yarn which is purple, blue, brown and green. I did undo the small seam I had made when the ETM poncho used to be the expensive, baggy boyfriend sweater, but I dont have the heart to frog the mock turtleneck part yet. I absolutely adore YarnHarlot's poncho, but this one is defintely a lot less complicated. A simple poncho like the one featured in a recent issue of Bust magazine consists of two rectangles sewn together, which is what I'm attempting to do.
And then I found this, I guess it's the 3rd WIP. I remember frogging the back section of this ribbed sweater because it was too long. This WIP is definitely on the back, back burner. I know purple is a hot color this season, but I'm not interested right now. I'm finicky like that!

I knew I saw something cool: The sweater featured in an August 2001 cover of Rebecca, looks similar to the vintage pattern below. The pattern is from Columbia Minerva Yarns Book 762, "Shells", circa 1966, and this one's made of 100% Ban-lon yarn, made from Ban Antiperspirant and Orlon. Just kidding, everyone! Can you hear the acrylic squeaking on the needles?


I sent out emails to those who responded to the Astoria Knitting Group. Our first planned meeting will be on September 17th and I hope all will make it. I'm pretty excited!

Stash Maintenance

This is Cita. She was caught gnawing on a Clover Bamboo needle! Said needle is now useless, since it snags the yarn. Cita's posing for the camera with her apologetic face on...

Spent part my day visiting other blogs. Afterwards I decided to do some stash maintenance. Here are some pics. This is one of my 2 bins. I have a bunch of Cervinia Softer Mohair I'd like to use in a scarf. I wish I could keep my stash in baskets, but Cita would have a field day.

I was really in a pink mode last spring. The Mango Moon is really beautiful to look at. I could make a bag out of it...and I'll probably use the Jo Sharp Mohair in a scarf I saw in last winter's VK. Click on the images for a slightly larger view.

I got these patterns for my stash. I collect tons of 'em: Katia, Rowan, Gedifra, Debbie Bliss, and vintage ones that I find on Ebay.
These are so cool and so Mod I had to buy them.

Werks en Progresse

I am often very, very guilty of having 3 or 4 WIPs at a time, which really isn't that bad. One of them is turning from an ugly duckling into a swan!

I was actually en route this morning to Smileys Yarns to pick up some more Cervinia Calzetteria that I ran out of while making the slouchy socks, a current WIP. I went through my stash, which in a tiny NYC apartment, consists of two large plastic bins--to see if there was anything I would need to buy. Mind you, I dont have the luxury of the yarn studio/room of my dreams yet, so going though my stash involves rummaging through the bins, which is organized by color, but piled on top of one another. Definitely not the best way to keep stash but until I figure out where to move the Bowflex machine after it's out of the tiny spare room, there's no way I can have room for shelves of yarn!

Hidden in the bottom of one bin was a WIP I started earlier this year: a sweater made with Diakeito, a Japanese space-dyed yarn bought at A Good Yarn, one of my all time fave LYS in Brookline, MA. I had done the back and front, and pinned it together to see its progress.

It was just BLAH. It looked like it was turning into a boyfriend sweater made with expensive yarn--baggy, and because it was made from a simple pattern, no shaping was involved.

As I pondered unpinning the garment and wondered about the fate of this beautifully colored, but shapeless mass, I tried it on and my head went throught the side seam opening. The garment draped beautifully and the striping now ran vertically instead of horizontally. It could be a shawl, but its fate was destined for something greater--A PONCHO!

This is something I must finish. The socks--and the long, 30 min. train trip to Smileys--can wait for another day.

High Anxiety

What was I thinking? "Vanity Fair" was playing at the 34th St. Loews movie theater, but when I got out of work last night, rather early thanks to my beloved boss, CNN had taken over the Tick Tock Diner across the street. I couldnt sit and wait around anywhere! There were numerous private events going around, cameras all over the place, and I needed to leave the area AT ONCE! There seemed to be more journalists than delegates running around. I can't wait till this ruckus is all over.

That said, when I came home there was a Trojan virus in one of my emails! Fortunately I was able to contain and delete it but still, it seemed like Murphy's Law last night. Nothing went my way!

Knitting Aside...

Okay, being a fashion savvy, transplanted New Yorker, I must say that I watched the convention to see what the twins were wearing...I did like the Catherine Malandrino dress, the Oscar de la Renta jacket, and though you can't see them in this photo, Jenna's wearing jeans! I know it comes from living in Los Angeles, but my style is pretty casual. The Juicy sweats are so over, but I do like clothing by Joie and James Perse LA, and I am fortunate that I have a job without a cookie cutter dress code.

Reason #3468 why I have grown to love NYC: While walking down 7th Ave. en route to work, I ran into a wholesaler having a sample sale and found a Banana Republic silk cardigan for $5!!!