The Last of July

I try to write an entry here most weeks but sometimes my life is so boring it's hard to find anything to write. It is very hot and I haven’t been doing too much lately. In August I have a vacation planned and a few birthdays so things should be more interesting. MS3 will be over and the new sock from Six Sock Knitalong will be out. Sockapalooza will happen. I have my partner’s sock all ready but I haven’t heard a word from the person sending one to me so I really hope I get an exchange. My husband and I have been discussing movies to see for two weeks and other than Harry Potter there is nothing I want to see. Maybe there will be some more interesting movies coming out next month too. Meanwhile, I finished my second EZ February sweater and gave it to a co-worker Actually, I left it at her desk because she is already on maternity leave and I won’t see her until she gets back. I hope she likes it. The Chevron Scarf is gone. It just didn’t please me. The stitches were too lumpy and uneven and the contrast wasn’t great. I’m going to try to use the STR for socks instead. So I started this Cropped Cardigan with leaf ties in some Lion Brand Cotton-Ease that I bought a year ago at a Smileys sale. I looked on-line and quite a few people have used this yarn for this cardigan so it should work. Top-down sweaters usually seem to take forever but this seems to be going pretty quickly.

Summer Saturday

I went to the Museum of Natural History for the first time in years and saw a lot of fantastic dinosaur bones and this great west side NY view.
I’ve been working on clue four of Mystery Stole 3 but needed some bus to NY knitting so I started a Chevron Scarf, this time in STR. I used the colors Watermelon Tourmaline and Henpecked and I like them together but the fabric is bumpy and uneven so I’m hoping it blocks out well.

Weekend Fun

Sunday we went to the Celebrate Brooklyn Yiddishfest in Prospect Park. Four hours of klezmer. Actually it was very lively and more fun than I thought it would be. Fyvush Finkel from the TV show Boston Public and The Klezmatics were there along with many other groups. Most people just listened but you know what I did, I knit. This is the second EZ February sweater this month. The white one just needs buttons. Three women I know are having girls so I have to make one more after this one.
I’m also still working along on the Mystery Stole 3. I’ve finished up through the third clue and have to wait until Friday to continue. It is certainly looking mysterious. I’ve never knit anything this complex before and have to work slowly and mark every row.

It's a Mystery

I’ve spent this week on Mystery Stole 3 and having dental work. Although I swatched, I wasn’t happy with the Misti Alpaca Lace from the beginning. I loved the color but it just seemed too thin, even with #3 needles. I didn’t like how the edges were coming out. It frayed on the number 14 crochet hook every time I tried to put on a bead. The beads just got lost in the yarn. The whole thing just looked too open and the stitches just didn’t seem formed enough, if you know what I mean. Then, while on painkillers for my tooth, I attempted to knit row 95 and messed up big time. I decided to give up. Why worry about each row? Why not relax this summer with easy projects. I ordered two new books from the Knitpicks sale to inspire me, Fitted Knits and Favorite Socks.
Then I read the Yarn harlot’s blog. I saw she was doing the stole. It seemed like everyone was doing the stole. So I looked in my stash and found some fingering weight sock yarn. I liked it better immediately. The solid knit areas looked substantial while the yarnovers were nice and open. The beads provided contrast and didn’t get lost like in the alpaca. I had a little trouble getting them on the thicker yarn but I used the crochet hook with looped dental floss. So now I am trying again. I saw clue 2 today and it looks good. I’m now one of over 6,000 knitters. If they can do it I can too.