Endless Cables

My husband has been so nice taking me to yarn events recently. When he admired a cabled and front zipped vest at Stitches East I bought the pattern when he wasn’t looking. He probably knows he is getting something because I have been measuring him and asking him what colors he likes but I hope he doesn’t know exactly what. I had dark olive green, brown, heathered blue and this red in my stash and asked him which color he preferred. He picked this and I started the vest last week. It is an Irish pattern and is completely cabled. Needless to say, I am totally sick of cables and really thought I would have the back finished by now. I seem to be knitting very tightly so it is even harder to complete. But I will persevere. I want to change the front slightly so there is a channel to stitch in the zipper. I looked up a zipped sweater I had made for myself from an old 2001 Interweave and I think I understand what I did. It seems I made a knit and purl on the front and purl and knit on the back edges. I’ll test it out on a swatch before I get to the fronts. I have a lot of projects I want to make so I am trying to knit this vest quickly. Even though after a while it just makes my hands ache, I am so compulsive that I just can’t put it away for a while. I’m afraid I’ll never finish it. So I will just keep going, knitting as fast as I can. I finished my first pair of Jaywalkers with the yarn that was a gift from KnitPastis. I think they came out great. And finally my first grafted toes! Thank you Knit Doctor at Stitches East for explaining grafting so I finally understood it. Stripes look great in this pattern. I will definitely make another pair, maybe in the Rhinebeck STR.

My Weekend

Saturday I went to yet another yarn sale, this time at Smiley’s in Queens, N.Y. Since I am always early I went into the McDonalds across the street for some free coffee (it was free coffee week) and saw a little girl playing with a Happy Meal figure at the next table. Then I noticed a poster with a picture on it. The figure was wearing a sweater. It was an adorable ribbed sweater in turquoise blue with an I-cord through the neck and waist. I had to have one. As soon as I got home I went to my local McDonalds and got a Happy Meal. I gave my husband the hamburger and apple juice and I ate the apple slices (at least it was somewhat healthy) and I got a figure too. It is from some new movie, Flushed Away. I’ll never see it and I don’t know who the characters are but that sweater on the girl animal figure is really cute.
Last week I joined A Wearable Meathead Hat Knitalong. I couldn’t get the required yarn right away so I picked up some Paton’s UpCountry on the weekend and dashed this off. It only took about three hours so it was a fast, easy and fun knit. The point was to add original decoration on the left side. I don’t know if my decoration is so unusual but I think it looks cool.
By the way, Saturday was the last day of the sale at Smiley’s and there wasn’t much left. Nothing appealed to me and it was just as well. My stash has been growing too much lately as it is.

Baltimore

Yet another yarn expedition took place last weekend when I traveled to Baltimore for Stitches East. Five hours driving each way and I was able to complete half of a Jaywalker. Why is that sock pattern so much slower than any other one I’ve done? I’m making the smaller size using size 2 circular needles so there aren’t that many stitches. Anyway, by sheer luck we picked a lovely hotel right across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center.
I have to say it was a lot of fun. We were the first ones in the market on Saturday and stayed most of the day. I didn’t do much shopping but I talked to everyone and I learned a lot. The Knitting Doctor showed me how to kitchener and I think I am ready to try it now, maybe on these Jaywalker socks. We saw the fashion show. I made my husband take a knitting lesson. He wasn’t too happy about it but he won the raffle for the new XRX book The Knitter's Handbook. We talked to everyone and even saw some people from Rhinebeck. I met a few knitting stars and was especially happy to talk with Norah Gaughan. I bought some sock yarn but passed up a few things I feel badly about now. I did get a few patterns though. I mostly got a lot of inspiration from booth displays and the beautiful hand knits many were wearing. So it was worth the trip.

Knitting Thoughts

I’ve been having trouble deciding what to knit lately. I’ve started a few things and then ripped them. Do I want to make a sweater? I made a few swatches. Nothing in my stash has the right gauge. I started Hourglass and the bottom somehow got twisted and out that went. Do I want to make wrist warmers? I actually finished another pair of Fetching but the thumb looks terrible. I don’t know what I did. Nothing appeals to me. I just finished two pairs of socks for Socktoberfest so I don’t want to make any more right now. But I needed something to do, especially on my way to Stitches East in Baltimore, so I started Jaywalkers with some hand dyed yarn I was gifted. Here the sock is starting the trip. I hope Baltimore will inspire me to get started on something!

In other news, my scarf pal sent me this beautiful scarf. The color is so rich and it is soft and light yet warm. Doesn’t it look great? I love it.