NaBloPoMo Day 21: fizz fest

Cookie invited a bunch of the BobaKnitters over today for Fizz Fest: a bath bomb making party. I took the opportunity to bring the Costco sized bottle of tequila that I bought when I went with a group of the knitters to Tahoe in May. They didn’t drink as much of it as I had hoped and I keep trying to use it up and failing. I also brought my blender, because I don’t know how else to make the delicious Whole Fruit Margaritas that we all love without it. So…

first things first

Once that was taken care of, we could get down to business. Cookie taught us all how to make fizzy bath bombs and even provided a whole host of essential or fragrant oils with which to “flavor” them. The mixing included a step where you had to listen for the ingredients fizzing together.

cookie and jill demonstrate the listening step

I brought my cutesie Japanese egg molds to mold my bath bombs because I am hoping to give them to my kids. Because my molds snap together Cookie said to leave them like that until they are dry. I only had enough stuff left to make one small bomb, which refused to stay together, so I don’t have high hopes for the others coming out of the cutesie molds intact. You can’t tell from the picture but they are creamsicle flavor: clementine and vanilla. Cookie said someone did that last time she had one of these parties and it sounded good to me.

at least they’ll still fizz

Afterwards there was hanging around and snacking and chatting. Oh, and knitting.

rachel and jen

cookie and jill

lisa and her guava mimosa

While we were there, I finished the heel turn on my Wedge sock. You would have thought I’d take a picture of that but I didn’t. Oops.

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NaBloPoMo Day 11: fixed sock

My sock is all fixed now.

I also wanted to take a new picture because Jen mentioned at knitting that the yarn looked like a totally different color in person than it did in the previous picture I posted. I took this one under my Ott Lite lamp, so it should be closer to true color.

As I suspected, I have no problems with the wraps in the decrease section of the sock if I do the pattern correctly instead of assuming too many things and messing up completely. So there you go: if you read the pattern right, your sock will turn out much better. Who knew.

quickie: knit. sock. love.

It has only taken me three days to realize I didn’t post a link to where you can buy Cookie’s new book. She self-published so if you order it online it’s better to order from her (also she sends them to Amazon but she hasn’t done that yet so if you’re ordering now you’ll get it faster from her). She has said that she’d rather you support your local yarn store than buy it from Amazon even though the same amount of money gets back to her either way. She’s also having a Book Launch event at Bobbin’s Nest Studio on December 4.

In going to her site to get those links I found out why she signed my book in Finnish. That’s what I get for not reading her new blog regularly.

Okay, I’m done advertising for Cookie, I just didn’t want anyone left out in the cold if they felt they had to have that lovely book I posted of which I posted a photo but about which I didn’t say much else. I blame the tequila again. Such a convenient scapegoat.

nupps for lisa and lots of yarn

I have honestly still not been knitting very much. The mad rush of things to do at the beginning of the school year subsided and then my own classes started. I’m taking two online classes in subjects that are a bit of a review for me but the act of taking classes has been a challenge. It’s nice that the classes are online but at the same time it means that I can always be available to check in on the discussions and see if my work has been graded and that gets draining.

Anyway, knitting… this is a knitting blog, right? Right. Here’s where things stand.

My Slinky Ribs (Ravelry project link) hasn’t been touched in ages. I think I did two sets of short rows and one side and need to start the second, judging by the photo. Poor, ignored slinky ribs.

What I’ve mostly been ignoring it for is the first of two cardigans I’m knitting for my nieces for Christmas (Ravelry project link). I bought this yarn because the name of the color, brick, implied a terracotta red that I thought would work for me and instead it’s what I would think of as a dark raspberry pink. Lovely for a 6 and an 8-year-old, but not for me. The pattern is cropped with 3/4-length sleeves but that is not what the picture shows. The pictures shows a full-length sweater with full-length sleeves so that is waht I am attempting to make, without knowing exactly how long my niece’s arms are. I’m basing it off Niels for the older niece even though he’s a little taller. I hope that works out!

Yesterday and today, I knitted like mad. My friend Lisa is getting married on 10/10/10. She has been working on a lovely wedding shawl for the past several months and it’s crunch time. On Sunday at knitting she was lamenting that she wasn’t going to make it as far as she’d like. I repeated my offer to help with some of the knitting and she asked me to knit the other edge. (Both edges are knitin the same direction and one is grafted to the rest of the shawl. It wasn’t a lot of knitting (115 stitches, 26 rows), but it has nupps. I have heard people complain about nupps and always wondered if they were really that bad. The answer is yes. Lisa’s shawl features 7-stitch nupps which require you to purl seven stitches together without dropping anything! I conquered the nupps and delivered the edge to Lisa’s friend Jasmin who has taken on the task of grafting the edge and blocking it all. Go, Jasmin, go! Here’s a taste of my piece of it.

So, even though I haven’t been knitting I have been acquiring yarn. I sort of have an excuse, though, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I was given some yarn and yarn-buying gift cards! Here’s what has come in:

Berroco Remix from Kristi, Cookie and Teenuh. I have been wanting to try this yarn and love this color.

I’m considering mostly rewriting the Aidez cardigan to make it with this, even though it’s a totally different gauge. I had originally thought I’d hold the yarn doubled to get the right gauge but I’m short about three balls of yarn if I want to do that, and these are not small balls of yarn! I did knit a swatch and it was lovely but that would eat up a ton of yarn, so rewriting it is!

Next up is Berroco Love It taht I got from WEBS on closeout because the yarn is being discontinued. I am disappointed by that, I really do Love this yarn! I am thinking that this blue will become a sweater for Niels. (Yes, I am aware that i can’t blame that yarn on my birthday. Oops.)

Next up is some Knit Picks yarn that came from a gift card from Jill. I used most of it to get a new ball winder but I threw these two balls of Comfy Bulky in there. I think for a cowl for myself? I know I had a plan but I can’t remember what it was.

Last but not least is the most recent purchase: five hanks of Misti Alpaca Tonos Pima Silk that came from Bobbin’s Nest Studio by way of a gift card from Hannah. I hadn’t initially looked closely at this yarn because it looked like hand-dyed wool but it turned out to be cotton and silk!

It’s more gray and not as blue as it looks in these pictures. I really like it, though. I’m considering the Effortless Cardigan for it. (That’s a Ravelry link, sorry if you can’t see it.) Preeti suggested that pattern and I think it’s a good choice!

Thank you to all my lovely knitting friends who bestowed yarn and yarn buying gift cards on my for my birthday. You all are the best!

boob-a-thon

Last weekend Anabel organized and hosted a Boob-a-thon for the BobaKnitters. We were all knitting breasts to donate to local breastfeeding counselors for use in helping new moms get then hang of breastfeeding. You may recall that I knit one of these before, also.

Anabel loaned me the main color for this project, so I'm not sure what yarn that is, the darker color is cotton-ease though. I'm hoping the mottled main color doesn't make people think it has a skin disease!

Just to let you know how little I've been knitting, it took me four days to finish this small project. It really only got done because I finished knitting it while we were driving to the zoo on Monday and last night I crocheted the circle for the back while watching Howl's Moving Castle. I didn't turn on the Wii. Aren't you proud?

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Jeni’s going away, old projects and new

Our dear Jeni, aka, The Knitist, is moving away. In true BobaKnitter style we gathered to send her off with champagne and cupcakes. Hannah hosted with Erin the owner of Bobbin's Nest Studio at the shop. It was a lovely time!

Jeni’s going away

We gave Jeni gifts, giant cupcakes, and recursively blogged each other.

In other news, I finished a hat. It's the Slouchy Copycat Hat. (Ravelry details.) I need to figure out the right way to wear it.

slouchy copy cat hat

I've also settled on a yarn for Wedgette. It's a pattern by Norah Gaughan that she is giving out bit by bit in the Norah Gaughan Fans Ravelry forum in celebration of there being 200 (I think?) members of the group. There are more than 3000 now. We love Norah Gaughan.

Anyway, I swatched in Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton thinking it would work because it is DK, but I think it will be too heavy and stretch out so I'm going to try it instead in Soy Silk, which may also be heavy. I'm going to take Janice's advice and make the skirt shorter than I really want in anticipation of it stretching out. We'll see how that goes! In the meanwhile, here's a swatch.

wedgette swatch

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yay Kristi!

Kristi's sock design, Froot Loop, is one of the Knitty spring surprises. Check them out!

Congrats, Kristi! 

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a blankety week

It's been all blankets all the time around here this week. Back in January I saw the book Knitalong online somewhere and started to think about making a blanket for Anabel's new little one. Specifically, I saw the Blessingway blanket, which looked like something Anabel would like. I talked to Kristi about it and we debated whether that was the right project, particularly since the book wasn't out and then thought about doing something more square, but what yarn? What patterns? You know, all the things you debate when starting a project. Kristi then happened to see a class a couple of friends of hers taught at her local LYS on log cabin knitting. We discussed a couple of different yarns to use and then settled on Pakucho. Kristi picked some colors and I knit the first square.

We decided that we had a winner! So Mary and I wound yarn into the kits and distributed it to Janice, Lisa D, Lisa L, Karen, Rachel, Jeni, Teenuh, Jill and, last but not least, Cookie. One kit was sent off to Kristi and then I waited for them all to come back. There were more knitters than there were squares to knit, so Juls and Hannah contributed to the ordering of the yarn. The last square was delivered to me on Thursday at which point I got the crazy idea that we could finish the blanket by today because Kristi is in town and I thought it would be nice for her to be there when we gave Anabel the blanket. I sent out a desperate plea for help with seaming and Cookie, Jeni, Lisa D, Karen and Teenuh all came over yesterday evening to help. Thanks all! By 11pm, the squares were seamed.

blanket pieced

Originally I had a crazy plan (I'm all about the crazy plans) for a border with mitered corners. Then I thought about an i-cord border. In the end I was pressed for time and overwhelmed by how large the blanket had become. Each of those blocks is 12" square! So, in the end, a crochet edging was added in natural. I did one row of single crochet and then one of half double crochet. I was pleased with the result.

done!

I presented it to Anabel at our special Saturday-Kristi-visiting edition of BobaKnit. I'll have to leave it to someone else to post a picture of Anabel with the blanket because I, of course, forgot my camera. After all that. I hope Anabel and her new little person enjoy the blanket! Also, now that we're done, you're free to give birth. I know this blanket is just what you were waiting for. (Insert winking smiley here.)

(To those BobaKnitters mentioned here who haven't signed the card for Anabel, I have it, touch base with me so you can sign it, or email me a message to put in!)

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more stitches goodness

I guess I posted too soon about my Stitches haul! I went back today for a while and remembered that I wanted to get some gift yarn, enough dk weight organic cotton for a kid sweater for a friend. It's the same yarn that I bought myself one of yesterday. I love this color but  have a feeling I couldn't pull it off, but my friend's daughter can.

blue sky skinny cotton

(I have no idea why this photo isn't showing up.)

I also had a hank of Sea Silk just jump at me and I had to buy it to defend myself. Okay, it didn't jump, CJ picked it up and handed it to me. It's pretty though, isn't it? I think it is going to become a scarf sized Sarcelle. I think it will be gorgeous!

hand maiden sea silk

Yesterday evening, Cookie IMed me to tell me that she found my avatar on the Ravelry thingy. I had no clue what she was talking about. I somehow had not noticed that the giant Ravelry icon on the wall next to their table was a composite of avatar photos! Lucky for me, mine was easy to spot. Although, you might have to click over to Flickr to see where it is.

I got to have a yummy Indian dinner out with some of the BobaKnitters, including Kristi, so that was good. The food was really good and so was the company. The only downside of today was coming home to a pukey Stefan. It can't all be good, eh?

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stitches goodness

I got to go do knitting stuff for almost four hours this afternoon/evening! This may not sound like news to some of you, but it was pretty exciting for me. I went to some Stitches West events. First I went to the Ravelry meet-up, which was fun. I only managed to take one picture of people, of course. It's Lori, Rachel, Jeni and Kristi (and wine)

ravelry meet-up at Stitches West

Then, I picked up my badge (thanks to Margit of Fiber Fiend for signing me up as a worker in her booth!) and went into the market preview. We (a group of BobaKnitters) stopped first at the Ravelry booth and bought Ravelry schwag! (Click over to Flickr to see what everything is.)

my stitches haul

As you can see, that's not all I bought. I also got some Longmeadow yarn from WEBS. Now that I have it home I'm wondering if I should go  back and get six or so more of the red to make the Auburn camp shirt. I'm not sure. I got the two linen colored ones thinking I'd make a tee and use that as an accent. We'll see. I got one hank of Blue Sky Skinny Dyed cotton yarn. I want to try it out. I also bought a log cabin pattern from Bella Knitting. I've been wanting to get that one for a while.

Ah, Stitches. I got all of my stamps in my Ravelry passport except for from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, because they were too busy to do stamps tonight. Foo. Speaking of the Ravelry Passport, it amused me that it so closely resembled the Dutch passport. (What can I say, I am easily amused.)

Dutch Passport vs Ravelry Passport

I'm planning on going back for a bit on Saturday, so that I can hang out more with Kristi. Yay, yarn, yay Kristi!

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