sweet marigold (wah wah wah)

finished.

i have an FO report on ravelry which evidently you can't see since it's a membership community.

here's the screenshot for y'all of the report:

here are my pattern notes:

so it's finished. i finished it yesterday, crocheting the armholes, omitting the ruffles.

and it was SO tight and inelastic because i am a remedial crocheter. so i ripped that back and did 4 rows of the k2p2 ribbing.

because i was too lazy to learn the k2p2 tubular bind off, on the last row before binding off, i added 1 stitch between the k stitches, making it k3p2 for that row, and bound off with a 5.0mm needle. i bound off the neckline and the armholes with that too, without adding the extra stitch.

it's fine. i don't love it, mostly because of the yarn. and now that i'm actually wearing the alpaca with a spaghetti strap tank underneath it i find it ITCHY. so maybe it's an autumn vest before it gets cold cold? eh...

picnic

this weekend, pants and i went on a picnic in the virginia countryside.

we brought a new picnic cooler, a matching picnic blanket, gourmet cheeses, grapes, cherries, apples, and hamburgers.

we also saw pirates 3 which made me very sad, but wasn't as awful as people are saying.

we also had mongolian bbq.

we also hung out and did nothing much.

i almost finished ms. marigold (i crocheted the armholes, ripped them, and am now in the process of putting a k2p2 ribbing instead)

my mom sent me the jordana paige knitter's satchel in ocean blue.

and i turned 30.

it was an excellent weekend.

knitting on the bus

after about 2 weeks of knitting almost exclusively on the bus and metro (although some in front of shear genius) i'm almost done with the body of ms. marigold - i am going to do about another 1/2" of stockinette before i do the 2" of 2x2 ribbing. then all that's left is the neckline ribbing and finishing the arm holes. i've decided against the armhole ruffles because, well, i'm not really an armhole ruffle sorta gal, so i'll either do 2 rows of crochet around them to finish them (which is appealing because it's fast. it's unappealing because i suck at crochet) or knit them in 2x2 rib, like jodi did.

we'll also soon see the folly of having a new alpaca (aka HOT AS THE SUN) sweater vest for the humid days of eastern seaboard summers... it may have been smarter to do this in cotton...

in other news, i'm still spending STUPID amounts of time on ravelry (how i heart thee! get in the queue if you're not already - they're getting their invites out slowly but surely!) and will hopefulyl have a cabinet to store my yarn in soon. when i get that i'll be able to inventory my stash (egad...) and assign some yarn for projects.

in other, other news, i turn 30 on sunday. yeesh.

knit list

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing. (filched from emily)

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn (have to learn to spin first)
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (you never know...)
Scarf
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca (My hands are still tingling!)
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (why?)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

holy crow!

it's been 10 days since my last update? well, i've been a busy monkey lately... between work and sleep and knitting and whatnot...

anyhow, for lack of anything interesting to say (still), here's a WIP pic of ms. marigold, in the lovely, almost entirely unphotographable frog tree alpaca sport:

for those of you who are suckers for the supermacro shots, here's a close up of the almost unphotographable stitch definition (upon closer inspection, i can't tell where the focus is or if it's just that fuzzy in person)!

this yarn is hairy. i said it, it's seriously fuzzy and it has heather hair, ernie fur, and probably some catty and moses fur (since i bought it off of jess who frogged it from her usmp), too!

at any rate, i'm about 2.5" past the neckline join, and have about 10" of stockinette followed by 2" of 2x2 ribbing, the decision of to ruffle or not to ruffle, the neckline finishing, and the armhole finishing.

we'll see if this ever gets finished...

if i had hours every day of free time...

i'd spend it uploading everything i've ever knitted to ravelry.

i got my invitation last night, and was planning to go to bed around 9 (i've been supasleepy, yo) and wound up awake until about 11, adding my '07 projects. i still have my '06, '05, my stash, my queue, and all the browsings of yarn subs and FOs of patterns i want to do.

i love you, ravelry. (they're still rolling out invitations - if you signed up but didn't get your invite yet, just wait... they'll get there!)

i didn't spend a nickel

i didn't. not one thin dime on yarn, roving, spindles, sheep.... at the maryland sheep and wool festival. don't belive me? ask the sheep.



see? however, i may have eaten lamb while there. however, semaphoria knows well my inappropriate food choices (i.e. eating lobster after watching the little mermaid).

going and frolicking amongst the ruminants really made me want to start knitting more again. i'm figuring out how to balance work, commute, home finally, and am ready to start my craftiness. so i cast on for ms. marigold in the long-neglected frog tree alpaca i bought from jess half a lifetime ago and started 3 different projects on, subsequently frogging each. i don't even know if i'll like it in this pattern - i think the color's a little dark.

what's interesting is that i'm just not feeling the blogging mojo lately. unless i finish a knittin' project. i think that by necessity this is turning into a knitblog. which isn't terrible, but it is what it is. i've been blogging since late 2003 or so, and i feel like i'm more invigorated by living my life than by talking about it. so in the meantime there are some pics, not a ton, here.

of my favorites, the fluffy bunny and the lambs not on leashes following their leashed mama.

i'm feelin' socksy...

FO report

pattern: embossed leaves from interweave knits, winter 2005 by mona schmidt
yarn: lang yarns jawoll superwash, 2 skeins in some sorta pinky color
needles: brittany birch 2.75mm (US2) dpns
start date: i have no idea, but it was many moons ago
end date: 5/1/07? i don't really know that either...
mods: i did an actual tubular cast-on, and a slip stitch heel
notes: the pattern's lovely - i love the star toe finishing the leaves in the pattern. the yarn? well, i payed $3.40 per skein at closeknit, and didn't love it at all. it's not squashy, it's sorta rough. but the color's pretty. i had frogged and restarted this yarn 4945143901823 times so it got sorta grimy, so i washed it before photographing it. so it gets grimy, but it cleans up well!

anyhow, for all the pics, click on the mosaic!

cinco de mayo bbq tonight, maryland sheep and wool festival tomorrow - pics to come!