End of summer blues

I've had the end of summer blues, I think. Work's been a little crazy and I haven't been knitting much.

I need to finish up two gifts: one baby sweater (it only needs buttons-wait, you've heard that before?) and some mitts.

Emily's baby sweater is only waiting for sleeves. I kinda have to focus on that because it requires making two identical (or nearly identical pieces) and, for the Baby Albert Jacket, the sleeves are the only part that have shaping. Specifically decreases. Not hard ones. I can do this, but I do want to pay attention and do them right.

This sweater is beautiful and I like it a lot. It's the yarn, I can tell you. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. Soft. Beautiful color - Irving Park. Washable. Wonderful to work with, rarely splits. I'd love to knit all my baby gifts in yarn this satisfying.

I'm still poised on the diving board above the sock pool. I have patterns. I have a plan. I have needles. I have yarn. I haven't cast on.

Maybe I'll start a new scarf. I have one skein of some bubble-gum pink alpaca yarn. Wouldn't that make a yummy scarf to get me through the wet winter here? Oh, but maybe that delightful yarn that Susan sent me from Hawaii. The color is so peaceful.

Well, maybe I'll just lie down and nap first.

Photos of Emily's Sweater

This is the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in #205 Irving Park. A delicious plummy color, overall.












This is the progress of the sweater, with the torso band at the bottom, one of the front yokes, and the start of the back yoke still on the needles. I'm loving it. I made a few mistakes on the slip-stitch border, which will show-darnit, but the fabric itself is dense, warm, & soft. I'm slightly nervous about the sleeves, but I'm sure they'll work up well.

I wish that all the babies I know were able to have a beautiful sweater or garment made out of such lovely yarn as Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted.

New Baby Sweater

I'm at my brother's house on Sunday. Eating waffles and playing with Emily. I'm knitting a new sweater for Emily. It is the Baby Albert Sweater from the Sally Melville book, The Knit Stitch. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in colorway #205, Irving Park. It looks great. I've taken a couple of really good photos of it (I know, you don't believe me), but I can't figure out how to put them up, because of his Mac.

I'm still reeling from being mentioned in the Yarn Harlot's entry regarding her Portland visit, and all the bloggers and messages from bloggers about Ms. Pearl-McPhee's visit. It's a great thing to meet other like-minded people.

The sweater's about halfway done. Yum.

I have seen the Harlot

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee spoke at Powells (on Hawthorne) last night. She was very funny, as one would expect, and quite gracious. Look, there she is in the awful photo, behind the large red vase with sunflowers in it. She signed my book.

I sat with some very cool knitters, including Carrie who blogs, or used to, as Outfoxed Knitting, and Kathy who blogs as Vast Amounts of Spare Time. I think that's a bit of sarcasm, as she is the mother of two small boys. Cheri, of the Naked Sheep Knit Shop, was also there, beautiful and gracious, as always. She had a friend, Kathy, I think, with her, and another friend who blogs at Bipurler Disorder whose real first name I have already misplaced. She's great though, very funny, and helpful. Other bloggers were there too, including Bulldog Knits (she's great, and got some great photos, too), and Chrissy, wearing her MomMA shirt-you gotta support that. (I don't think that I've actually met Katrina yet, though.)

I got done several inches of the Baby Albert Jacket. Because of my painful feet, I arrived very early and planted my butt in the seats. The place filled up, and many latecomers had to stand. When she was done with her very funny speech, Stephanie signed books. I couldn't stand in line, so I waited until the line was down to the very end. This was about 9:30 pm.

The store closed at 9:00. The Powell's employees were obviously not happy about the scheduling and were eager for us to leave. Many knitters there said that they had warned Powells about the small venue and the large number of knitters to be expected. Alas. Perhaps next time all will plan better, both in terms of space and scheduling of time.

The Yarn Harlot is coming today!

My mother's schedule changed, or perhaps I got it straightened out in my head, so all I have to do today is to sneak out of work early, fight for a parking place in SE, and get a chair for the YH event. I hope I make it. I hope I keep up my 'nice' factor throughout the whole day.

Hawaiian Gifts

Susan, from Hawaii, is my One Skein Secret Pal Angel. She sent me these cool mitts or wristwarmers. The photo's not great. You can't see the delightful spiral rib. Susan, I hope I got that right. If the pattern has a different name you'll have to let me know.

They are warm and useful. I think I'll be reaching for them for my drive to work in the morning in just a few weeks now.

You'll be happy to know that most of my favorite yarn stores are still in operation and have survived a week without my patronage. I visited Close-Knit, the Naked Sheep Knit Shop, Lint, Knit-Purl, and Tangle. Well, I was at Tangle on Labor Day, where I peered in through the windows. They weren't open. I bought a few needles, but no new yarn. I have lots of yummy yarm to work with now.

I finished the I-cord on the white Baby Surprise Jacket. I still need to weave in ends and sew on four buttons.

I finished the cords for tying the Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono. I cut six-foot sections of yarn, then cut each one of those down to 24". With those three 24" sections, I used a crochet hook to pull the strands through where I wanted them to be attached. I then evened the strands up, and braided the six strands together and tied a knot in the end. I think that worked well. I liked the braids. I liked the way it exactly matched the kimono, rather than the ribbon shown in the Mason-Dixon book.

It's ready to go for Dorothy. I'll probably wrap it in a manila envelope and mail it to Dorothy's family. I didn't spot Dorothy's mom at church this weekend, but no announcement was made.

I've got to finish up my gift for my One-Skein Secret Pal and send it off to her. I just have to count those tiny little ridges and make sure they both have the same number, then bind off, and sew up seams. I love that project and will be sorry to send it off to Kim. But happy to have her have something that fun. I can always knit another set for myself.

The truck, Dr. Parts, and the yarn store

The vehicle wasn't starting every time. No problem. I'll just take my knitting along and wait until it does start.

Then it wasn't starting at all. Problem. No go.

Dr. Parts moved the disabled vehicle. Dr. Parts drove me to work faithfully. He picked me up after work. He went to the grocery store with me. Dr. Parts replaced the starter in the vehicle last night. It took him about an hour or two. He rocks.

The vehicle starts now. Hoooray.

You know what this means, don't you? It means I can go visit the local yarn store again. It means I can go when the Yarn Harlot visits Portland next week.

Life is good. Dr. Parts is good. He's the best.