One-year Knitting Anniversary photos!

You'll notice that I have a tendency to lump all my photos into one posting. This is because I'm lazy, primarily, but I also like the way they all look together! I particularly like the pinks, blues, yellows, and greens in this spring-y posting.

First of all, I must dance the happy Blue Cardy dance! It's really done! I kid you not!

Here's the dark blue side, with nifty round buttons and pockets:



Here's the light blue side, with a little fish on the chest that I embroidered to match the buttons:



Here's the birthday gift together, cardy and backpack:



What have I learned from Blue Cardy?

1. Gauge is important. Without careful attention to gauge, your two contrasting sides won't fit together exactly, and there will be some puckering. This will bother you even if it doesn't bother anyone else.

2. Buy more yarn than you think you need, and don't give away the extra ball at a stash swap until you're quite sure you don't need it. (It was touch and go there at the end!)

3. If you don't feel like doing it just like the pattern, don't.

4. American children are way bigger than French children.

5. If your intended recipient outgrows the gift before you give it to him, never fear. People get pregnant all the time.

On to more fun photos! Here is a fun new project, made from Crystal Palace "Choo-choo" and "Squiggle." I got one ball of each at the Meetup Stash Swap, and decided to make a little easy belt, garter stitch on the bias, with the two yarns held together. I like it!



And here are some more photos of my Stash Swap acquisitions. This pile of yellow chenille and novelty acrylics are going to go toward a funky layette for the new CNITU sibling. (Sis is going to find out the gender in advance, so I'll combine it with blue or pink accordingly.)



I'm going to make this fluffy washcloth brown into teddy bears, and maybe a teddy bear costume for CNITU this Halloween.



Now a couple of things for me! First, the new project, the camisole from Vintage Knits (super close-up for full appreciation of Rowan cotton glace):



And here's White Lies lingerie, all ready for finishing. Scandalous!



Also, I was dissatisfied with the French knot I used as a button on PM's purse. Found the perfect button at Joann and replaced it on Saturday. She loves it! (She kissed it several times after I sewed it on. It might even get a name, we'll see.)



How satisfying to find the perfect final touch!

New camera, and major progress

Oy! Work has been occupying my time more than usual lately, no time to blog. But a few quick notes:

Camera report: Thanks to the good wishes of several kind friends and family members (and a very nice wife), the DH has a snazzy new early birthday present: Canon PowerShot SD300. Photos will reappear on my blog very soon.

These photos will be of Blue Cardy, which is now seamed and being joined together by nice crochet edgings. I probably shouldn't jinx it, but it looks pretty damn cute. All my gauge issues seem to be resolving themselves, and I like the crochet. It's hard to believe that by July 9, Blue Cardy will be out of my life. I almost miss it already.

Also of White Lies Lingerie, which is blocked and ready to be seamed. Also of my new project, the cotton camisole from Vintage Knits. I bought the yarn for it about a year ago, when I first started knitting. Do you notice a camisole trend? I figured I might as well make the summer stuff in the summer. Go figure.

A year! Spinnity pointed that out to me the other day. I have been knitting for about a year. Pretty significant.

Knitting Horoscopes!

As I was coasting the web searching for Bahama, I came across this very fun website: Knitting Horoscopes! I'm a Capricorn, which of course means that I like a challenge, something no one who knows me would dispute! My horoscope recommends Artyarns, which looks a lot like Koigu. Nobleknits does carry Bahama in a lot of nifty colors. I think our bathmat is going to be periwinkle with pink and cream stripes.

I noticed that Feza also carries yarns called Barbados and Fiesta. This is party yarn!

Weekend knitting report: Finished Feesh Backpack -- all it needs is a little tag saying it was made by me. DH took lots o'photos, but all on my old analog camera, so patience is required. I was so obsessed by it that I neglected Blue Cardy completely, and made little progress on White Lies -- although I now possess a size J crochet hook from Vanessa's.

Oh! And I almost forgot! There is a book out that every knitter must own! It's called Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham. I read about it in Interweave Knits a couple of issues ago, and it's divine. Lots of very deconstructed, fascinating designs, very funky. And Teva gives Sally M. a run for her money in the Zen Knitting department. It's inspirational; I couldn't tear myself away from it Saturday afternoon. She makes me want to become a knitwear designer.

Friends' plays report: Saw B.K. in Harold Pinter's Moonlight on Saturday night. Liked her, liked some of the actors, like the play itself, but thought it was a bit overdirected. Pinter needs less direction than most directors seem to realize. (I can say this because I saw a production of The Birthday Party that the man himself directed in London, and it was more real than realism.) The DH did not care for the play, but I think he'd like it better in a different production. Last Tuesday we saw S.A. in The Black-Eyed, a new play about Palestinian women. Not bad, some bits stronger than others, but definitely had an impact. It was J.H.'s directing debut at the M.T., very nicely done!

Bahama mama

My big white envelope from Yarn-of-the-Month arrived yesterday, and I instantly fell in love with Bahama, and the enclosed pattern for a big fuzzy bathmat. It's hard to describe this yarn -- it's a washable acrylic blend, very soft, that looks like a ladder: two side bars and lots of rungs in between. When knit up, it apparently forms a sort of terry-cloth or toweling-like fabric. Suggested needle sizes are 11-15, much bigger than I normally knit with, so it would go fast! I just wrote to them to find out where I can buy more. The problem -- the yarn is shown in very bright summer-y colors like red and turquoise that normally, I would love, but our bathroom in the Bungalow is retro pink and cream. It really needs something a little more pastel.

Chalazion report: Small but still red and lurking.

Pregnant Sis report: Tuesday was a very bad day. Nauseous with a cold on top of everything, she managed to get into two small fender-benders in one day. (This is a few weeks after her DH's car was hit at a stop sign and totalled -- he's fine.) Most mournful moment -- driving CNITU around for an hour to make him go to sleep (we used to call him "Speed baby;" if you stopped the car, he'd explode), then parking at a shopping center and passing out in exhaustion herself. I can just picture them both asleep in the Laguna sun, mouths open.

Knitting report: Body of White Lies lingerie finished! One cup almost finished, only took about 1/2 hour so I'm sure the second one will be done this weekend. The panty should go just as fast. Then I will really be in finishing land. This weekend, I am committed to finishing the Feesh Backpack and making some more serious progress on finishing Blue Cardy. So hard to sit and sew when there's all that yarn to knit up!

Knitting desires: More Bahama. Size J crochet hook for finishing White Lies lingerie. Lingerie elastic for same.

Good-bye, camera!

It gave up the ghost. Did not care for its salt water bath. But before it died, my DH did manage to salvage the card with photos intact. Here is my favorite girl PM with her birthday present from me:



And here she is with her bunny from Mom Wiz, and her mommy, of course:



And here I am, casting on for Camp Knitting! That's a nice ball of Prairie Silk from Brown Sheep. The circular is 12", which is too big. The pattern calls for 8" circulars, which don't exist. So I spent a lot of time pulling the plastic center cord between stitches.



And you'll have to imagine the completed fingerless gloves, as well as the almost-completed body for the White Lies lingerie camisole, since they happened after the camera's death.

Final note of the day -- props to Christine Stork, owner of Article Pract, an LYS in Oakland. (Don't you love that store name? It's a fun juxtaposition of "Practical Art.") She was cool enough to let our new TD at SF Shakes out of his work obligations there so that he could take over the TD position at short notice. Christine is hoping to replace him, so any potential yarn store employees should contact her at 510/595-7875. Please, also, if you are ever in the East Bay, go check out her store and buy something! 5010 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland. If the store's anywhere near as cool as the website, you'll be thrilled to be there.

Big news!

Okay everyone, time to tell me about all your favorite baby sweater, bootie, blanket, and hat patterns -- CNITU is going to have a sibling! S/he is due about a week after my birthday, in early January. So the little Capricorn will be spoiled rotten by Auntie Becca.

Sis is feeling crappy, fat, and sick, but that phase will be over fairly soon. Meanwhile please enjoy the photos of CNITU, future genius architect, and his cousin James from Manchester making a sand castle in Laguna Beach.

Unfortunately it's sideways, but here's the little dude all tuckered out from a day making sand castles. 

And here's the completed sand castle! (with sun-burned James) 

My cousin James visited from England last week -- here he is building a sand castle in Laguna with CNITU.