Not Quite Half of a Wool Peddler's Shawl

I'm still here...still knitting, too. I've been working away on the many many garter stitches of the Wool Peddler's Shawl from Folk Knits. I have 88 stitches on each half of the body right now, and I have to keep at it until there are 110. So let's see...2 sts increased for each half on each right side row...that makes 22 more rows to go before I can commence the lace section. I think I'm averaging about 5-6 rows a day at the moment...ugh. I might have to cast on an instant gratification knit!

Red Hot Scarf

The Candle Flame scarf is done! I finished it earlier this week and then gave it to my friend Tracy (she of chenille scarf fame) this morning as a belated birthday gift.



The yarn is more of that wonderful Malabrigo merino worsted in the Amoroso colorway. The pattern is here, and I knit it pretty much according to pattern except for two little mods: I started the scarf by casting on three stitches and continuing the pattern from row 2, and instead of decreasing by S2,K1, PSSO, I used a S1, K2tog, PSSO just because it's easier to do. I also added little tassels made from the tiny bit of yarn that was left over. I gave the scarf a very light steam block to keep the ends from rolling under. I really like the textural, bumpy quality and didn't want to lose that.

Mmmmmalabrigo

Remember my shipping-to-Norway dilemma? Well now I can add guilt to my worries, because what I have packed to ship to my swappee doesn't even come close to what I got from my swapper! In addition to a pattern and two sets of needles, I got all the stuff you see here. I got tea, tasty tidbits (there's more down in the little bag you can't see in the photo), and stitch markers.



Of course, the yummy Malabrigo in the Red Mahogany colorway - so fabulous.



But also, beautiful mitered-square coasters with the cutest fringe:



And these incredible slippers, made from my swapper's grandmother's favorite slipper pattern!



Yep, guilt and gratitude, that's what I've got. Love my swap!

Bootielicious

How adorable are these? I had to take a break from all my big projects to whip out a little instant gratification.



The pattern can be found here, and it just takes an evening and some leftover sock yarn to make these cuties. The yarn is some Knit Picks sock garden in the geranium colorway; I believe it's discontinued, which is a shame. And the buttons were just a random purchase from a fabric store, but they're perfect.

Clapotis and Sympathy

My clapotis (rhymes with "cup of tea") is done. It would've been done last week, except that for the second time in a month I've been knocked on my ay-ess-ess by some kind of virus that's felled any number of my acquaintances. Sore throat, fever, body aches...now cough and ear pain. I tanked down the Emergen-C and swabbed with Zicam, and am now feeling like I might live.



Unfortunately, there's nobody available to model it for us, so you'll just have to settle for cheesecake shots (a.k.a. clapotis pron). The knitting was very satisfying - easy to memorize, interesting enough to keep me going through the long middle, and very fun to show other people in the middling stages ("Did you just do that on purpose?"). Plus, getting to fondle the the Koigu is always a treat.



Also unfortunately, I tried knitting while sick and drinking Nyquil and completely left out one of the drops on the decrease portion, really near the end. I ended up having to pull that thread out a couple of inches, cut it, unravel enough to drop the stitches that needed dropping, and splice the cut ends back together. You can't even tell. But now I need a bumper sticker that says "Friends Don't Let Friends Knit Under the Influence."



Above you see it all skinny-like, in scarf form. And below you see it spread out shawl-fashion, looking alarmingly like the planaria we had to cut in half in 9th grade biology....


And now, if you're done here, go visit my friend Sarah-Hope at whatifknits. She's celebrating her blogiversary with a raffle, with the proceeds going toward animal charities in her area. Great prizes, good deeds....go take a chance!

Back to the Future

We interrupt this knitting blog to bring you, like, a really gnarly flashback. Anna went to an 80s dance last night, a la Pat Benatar. Good thing I still had those hair-gelling skills.

Secret Knitting Pals

In December I did a secret-Santa thing through Knitters' Review, and it was such fun that I signed up for another through Ravelry. The holiday one was sweet - check out what I got up above: soft yarn, cool buttons, cute needles, homemade cookies, and a really nice deliaQ tool bag.



For this current swap I'm in, the theme is Malabrigo yarn. This Indigo is hard to part with, but I bought it special for my swappee and since I didn't want to be tempted to keep it at all it's been living in the plastic bag from the yarn store. I also bought soap and a nice-smelling candle, and then I found this cute bag to wrap everything up in.



I weighed my package, sealed it, and went to the Post Office online site to print a label. It was there that I started having second thoughts about the contents of my gift. First of all, it's being shipped to Norway. According to the website, no inflammables. Which I think means no flammables.

Also, no scents. Does this apply to the soap? I'm not sure. The flammable/inflammable candle is scented too. Will I set off an international incident involving Norwegian German Shepherd scent-sniffing dogs?



And - if you ship in a box, it's a lot of money. Really. More than the cost of the contents. (And forget UPS - I could fly to Norway for the cost of shipping. Okay, mayble not to Norway. But to San Francisco, for sure.)

So I've unpacked everything and am considering my options...everything soft, packed into a USPS-provided envelope and shipped at a reasonable cost. I guess I'll shop some more for noncontroversial stuff I can flatten!

A Cautionary Tale

Take a good look at the Anais above, because it's the last time you'll see it in its present state. I knit it so quickly that my gauge got very loose...it's too big for Fiona. She likes the length, but it's just not form-fitting at all. It bags. It fits me. Except I would need to grow five inches to fit the length, so there you go.



Anyway, I am debating steeking the sides and seaming them, but if I don't like how that looks it will completely remove the possibility of raveling and reknitting. I'd have a pile of 15" long threads left after that. Ugh. I should've knit it flat so I could fiddle with the seam allowance, or at the very least so I could've seen at once that it was going to be too wide. And, I could've slowed down. But no.

On the bright side, Cactusneedles nominated me for a "You Make My Day Award" on her blog. Here are the rules if you'd like to play along:

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

Now I'm going to add a giant meme, chainletter, and tagging disclaimer: I'm the person that always screws this up. I was also tagged by Somewhat Aloof earlier this week and I haven't tagged anyone yet for that either. I think I have some kind of blogging social disorder, because I worry that if I tag someone I will come off as some kind of stalker...and yet, I don't feel that way about the person that tagged me. I even have trouble friending people on Ravelry. And I assure you, I make friends just fine in person. Weird, I know.

More on this at a later date...for now, visit my friends at their blogs. Cactus Needles is a warm-weather knitter like me, and her dog will make you smile. And Somewhat Aloof could use some positive thoughts, so send them her way.