Starts...

Did I mention I started the Swallowtail Shawl last Sunday? I'm using Schaefer Anne and size 8 needles.

The pattern claims to only require 437 yards of laceweight. Well, I'm using fingering weight and I've got 560 yards. My current plan is to run a life line after the required 14 repeats of the main pattern. I'm going to knit another 5 repeats of the pattern and then do the lily of the valley border. If I run short on yarn, I can rip back. If not, great, I can knit on. I want to use as much of the yarn as I can.

And also, I got a finished object picture taken on Thursday. Some scenes of the Sweet Life Knitters meeting can be found here. But anyways, this is the "Cozy V Neck Pullover with Deep Ribbing" from Fitted Knits.

It's really quite nice to know that I have some new clothes for winter.

Also, pictures from Stitches East can be found here.

Feeling better

• I'm feeling better. I've been sick for 2 weeks, at times being so incredibly tired that all I wanted to do was sleep.


• I finished that green sweater with the Lamb's Pride Bulky. There is no FO picture right now. K2P2 was about all the thinking I was capable of handling.


• I walked 13.1 miles today as part of the Nike+ Women's Virtual Half Marathon. I haven't moved in 2 weeks from being sick. I'm quite sore.


• Nothing new on the beading front. It took too much brain power.

Twas the night before Stitches

And I have a finished necklace:




It started with the setting. I didn't intend to set it using purple beads for the bezel but it worked out that way. Then, it started to take on a life and theme of its own. Wine! Grapes! Harvest! And this is what I came out with. Lots of fringe, a peyote strap. The portion with the stone and fringe is a lot heavier than I had expected but it certainly captures the theme well, dontcha think?

creative madness, eh...?

So it's the second time where after I do a race, I find myself sick and tired, and sleeping, a lot. Sunday was horrible race day and I went and did the Army 10 Miler. Lucky me, I was not the fatality. So, I'm home today with a sore throat and my brain is fuzzy. People from work were talking to me this morning and not all of it was making sense. And now, I'm sitting in front of my computer, knitting socks and thinking, "Gee, sock construction is really quite interesting. In theory, I could use generic toe up sock instructions and some sort of flat needle weaving stitch (not brick, not peyote) and make a small beaded sock or bootie. Make a swatch of the beads and then start the toe similar to the magic 8 cast on, no provisional cast on and increase to the foot, increase on gusset, do the heel turn and proceed up the cuff." It's the sickness I tell ya.

Progress shot of that green sweater

Progress shot of that green sweater
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

The sleeves are done. I did a sewn bind off to keep it loose. I'm now at the part where I switch to the 7s and do the ribbing portion of the body. The 7s were on the 60 cable so now I try it on! I don't know if I'll knit with bulky wool again. It knits fast, but it certainly does add additional bulk and you can feel it when you do stuff like bend your arms.

Next week, Stitches East!

I'm really excited! I have washed Mom's Lace Sweater and it is currently drying. I hope it's dry by Wednesday night for me to pack up to take with. I've bound off the sleeves on the Cozy v Neck Sweater (aka that really bright green sweater) and will be continuing on with the body. If I finish this in time, it certainly won't have been washed. I'll have some socks with me to work on as I wander around and I think the "large" project will be a Swallowtail shawl, that is if I finish the green sweater. I generally need a large project to work on and I don't feel like looking for a pattern, then seeing if I have yarn, then making a gauge swatch. Not enough time. With a shawl, I just need to find the pattern (which I have), and find the yarn (which I've earmarked for this shawl), and find some needles and cast on!

First wear of the Monkey Socks

I wore the Monkey socks to work today. Towards the end of the day, I was in my boss's office with our head network guy who noticed my socks. The bright red stood out against the dark greys and blacks I was wearing. Then my boss asked if I had made the socks. Then the two of them marveled at sock construction. It's nice to know that I have work people trained :D

Necklaces come and go

Etsy shop alert. Stuck a necklace on the etsy shop. It's this one:

I thought it was time.

Some finished beady things and an iron chef

I said I owe you all pictures of some finished beady things. Well, here they are. First up is a labradorite necklace and earrings. I used some sterling silver softflex for the necklace. I really like that stuff!

Next, we have a piece that has come back from the dead. I had started in on the stone way back when but lost inspiration. Sometime in the last month, I was at Bead Obsessions when I saw Susan was counting out some Czech fire polished beads. They screamed at me about wanting to be in a spiral rope so I took some home. And I realized that the beads to compliment it in the spiral were beads I was using in this stone...and it all came together!


I have one more picture but I need to take a better picture.

Finally, I was at Wegman's last week and the first thing I saw when I walked in was:


Why couldn't I have seen that sooner so I could still get tickets to the cooking demonstration??? This is next Sunday at Wegman's. You can go get a book signed but you need to have purchased the book at Wegman's. Cover price has it at $40 but you can get 20% off. Sigh

Whee!!!!

The first 100 miles with Nike+!

Finished knitted objects post

I've had a very productive day. Most of it was spent knitting. I also took a knife skills class at Sur La Table and came home with a knife and stuff... :)

First up, a picture of the finished pair of STR Club's Grasshopper socks. Yes, I chose to make the knee highs.


Yes, they're done and washed. Finally, I can move on to other socks. Next up, we have:

Yes, that's right. I finished this sweater tonight. Finished all the seams, weaved in all the edges. Here's another close up of some details:


Amber helped me take these pictures.

One last picture:

I'm actually a bit further along than that because I got in some good knitting time while at the mall this afternoon. I like how bulky knits up fast! Once I finish the current skein of yarn, I want to do the sleeves first. The thing I like about top down raglans is that you don't have to do the body first. I like full length sleeves and I can deal with having a crop top if I run out of yarn.

2008 Women's Health Calendar

2008 Women's Health Calendar from the US Department of Health. It's free!

Some knitting, some beading, a visit from the Harlot

Well, first off, I would like to point everyone to pictures of the Yarn Harlot's visit to VA. Picture set here. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka The Yarn Harlot is a great comedienne. The talk was hilarious and knitters from all over came out. Amber and I got there early and managed to get front row seats. Whee! If she is in your area, definitely make an effort to go see her.


You'll also notice among the picture set that I have started in on something that is BRIGHT LIME GREEN. Yes, I know it is bright. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought it other than, "This yarn must come home with me to be made into a top down raglan!"


So it is getting turned into a sweater from Fitted Knits. Stockinette body with ribbing.

And in case anyone is curious, yes, I have been beading as well. I still need to take some finished object pictures though. For now, here's one of my work area


I'll point some things out. Front and center is a serpentine strap designed by Patricia for part of our cabochon class at Bead Obsessions. I think I need a highly artsy beady project each year and this would be it. It will be the kelp like strap on a necklace on which a lampwork mermaid will be swinging off of. In the upper left quadrant, you see a spiral necklace and the blue Chinese torquoise stone. If I could find my silver end caps, I would go ahead and attempt to finish it...

Grasshopper socks

Are done! And they're drying now. I need to take pictures. I've made a couple of necklaces. I need to take pictures of those. I just need to take pictures. I've also started in on a v neck raglan from Fitted Knits with Lamb's Pride Bulky in a lime green. Hee :)

The second of the pair

The second of the pair
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

Some progress. I've been taking the bus to and from work the last couple of days cuz the car was in the shop. Car is all fixed now and the right side looks like new! In that time, I started in on the cuff. I had just finished the heel flap by the time I went to bed Sunday night. It has just started up my leg. I just started the 3rd repeat of 7. Damn knee highs. What possessed me? I think I'll bring this to knitting tomorrow night.

Starts and ends

I'm onto the cuff of the second of the Grasshopper socks. Whoo hoo! It must go faster. My car is in the shop so I am taking the metro to work. That's 40 minutes of knitting time!

I have finished with the knitting of the Shelridge Farm sweater. Here's a picture of it before I did up the raglan seams:

Not too interesting here. I have finished the raglan seams and had started on the arm seams but I couldn't get it to work out right. One side kept being longer than the other. I think I'm going to take some time this weekend and sit down, baste, and then seam.

I also started a new knitting project. I am a big fan of Joan McGowan-Michael, the woman behind White Lies Designs, knitting patterns that are classic and elegant and just a little bit sexy.

It's the start of a little something that most people won't see me wearing in person.

The second of the pair

The second of the pair
Originally uploaded by jyiu7

Yup, I started it. See the little martini charm I'm using for the stitch marker? I've been wanting to make my friend some socks and was given the go ahead. But since I told myself that I can not start a new pair of socks until I finished this second one...I got started.

Labr Day Monday

Next set of house work pictures are here. I pulled up the carpets Saturday afternoon. Found a lot of beads on the floor. Overall it was quick work. I also included a picture of the wall sockets. It's one of my major annoyances about this house. You can tell which rooms I've worked through because those rooms don't have socket plates. I've taken them and thrown it out because previous inhabitants painted over the plates. There are layers of paint so I have to take a knife and cut it away from the paint on the walls. I will be replacing all of the plates in this house slowly. And when I am done, I will be calling in an electrician for a couple of jobs and having him replace every socket in this house that is covered with paint.

I also realized I was a bit over ambitious to have this entire room done this weekend. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I weren't running and biking this weekend or getting together with people...but it's still a lot. So I think I'll be painting next week and playing with trim.

Saturday afternoon progress report

When you start a workout with the Nike+ system, you can choose "Basic" (run until you tell it to stop), "Time" (set a time goal, say, work out for an hour), "Distance" (I want to run 10 miles today), or "Calories" (I feel like burning 2000 calories today). Under the "Distance", there is a preset group of distances (think your average race distances) along with a custom option. I was thinking, as I crawled out of bed this morning, that 12 miles might be a good distance. But when I went to go set my work out, I was too lazy to take the extra 30 seconds to go to custom and instead just picked "Half Marathon". 13.1 miles...close enough to 12. Conclusion of the run. My body was fine through 12 miles. I pushed myself through the last 1.1 mile. Ow I hurt.

And now, I go tackle the carpets. Experience from my room has taught me a bit and I had 13.1 miles to plot out exactly how to execute the plan today. Seriously, I spent the run thinking "I will pull up carpet today. Must stop by Home Depot on the way home to get some paint color samples. Should take no more than 4 hours to get all carpets, tack strips up and the floor cleaned. I can slap on a layer of primer tonight and paint when I wake up in the morning. And I shouldn't bother showering immediately when I get home cuz the carpet padding and dust is just going to stick to a nice showered body so I might as well stay dirty." Yeah, so all you people, stay away from me today!

Weekend goals

It's Labor Day weekend! I have 3 days off, though I'll probably have to monitor work slightly. Whee! I thought I'd make a list of things I'd like to accomplish this weekend, just so I have a reminder.

• Run 10+ miles Saturday mornining


• Bike the full Mt. Vernon trail


• Get my entire yarn stash into pictures so they can be loaded into ravelry


• Organize the larges batches of beads


• Start putting all my necklaces up on etsy. Yup, that's right all. The ones I don't want to part with might be marked a little higher...but that's cuz I don't want to part with them as much


• probably a little much but pull up the carpet in the room upstairs with the yarn and beads

If I can do all of that, I think I will be happy.