Unsuccessful trials

It's so disappointing when you go out of your way to try something new and it doesn't live up to your hopes (I wasn't even expecting, just hoping). I made a new recipe tonight - chicken alfredo using low-carb nooldes and sauce. Darielle soy low-carb pasta, Walden Farms alfredo sauce, fresh chicken breast (and of course, a good fortifying glass of my favorite Sister Creek Muscat Canelli) --- and save the wine, it was totally unsalvageable. Sigh. The pasta was a little rubbery (maybe the soy, maybe it could have cooked a bit longer) but the sauce was downright SWEET. Ugh. I ended up picking out bits of chicken and then scrapping the lot. At least the wine was excellent.

Tomorrow, the marinara sauce - but I'll be sure to taste it before dumping it on the pasta.

We have hat-itude!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's a hat. Anthony's hat, to be precise -- and the third I've knit for him, to be more precise. It started Christmas before last, when I decided to make hat and scarf sets for my older sister's three kids. The hat for the oldest boy turned out to be way too small (I grossly underestimated the size of an eleven-year-old's head), although it fit his little brother. This Christmas, I sent Anthony a replacement, using the London beanie pattern. Sadly enough, this hat, too, was too small. And it fit his little brother. Being the good Auntie that I am, I've now knit the hat a third time, and hopefully this time is the charm. The first two hats were done from Bernat Camouflage, but this one is Plymouth Encore worsted weight, in shades of black and grey. It should fit up to a 24 inch noggin! Three more ends to weave in, and this baby is going in the mail! :)

Now I am down to just nine more projects to go until I reach my goal before the chorus tour, I think... Two pairs of socks are in progress, the DB baby sweater just needs to be sewn together, and I've got to get more work done on Tilt. Fingers, get to knitting!

To Fair Isle, or Not To Fair Isle...

Isn't this absolutely amazing? Not to mention a great starter Fair Isle. Yes, I think I will look into making this one as my first FI.

(Not to worry, V, it ain't gonna happen 'til after Germany. :)

Oh so sleepy...

The good thing about long choir rehearsals is the time I get to knit -- I turned the heel on a sock and got to about 2/3rds of the way through on Anthony's hat that I've been working on.

The bad thing about long rehearsals is the absolute fatigue you feel upon finally dragging your sorry bones home. Oy - see you in the morning.

The yarn stash that ate Cincinatti...

(Bonus points if you get the pop culture reference!)

Well, I was going to post a picture of my recently reorganized yarn stash, but I felt the pics wer a little too scary. See, my stash previously was in a complete state of chaos punctuated by minor glimpses of organization. Now, at least all the yarn is in one place. Mostly. However, I have two very large computer boxes full of yarn that doesn't fit into my towers of plastic drawers, plus a couple extra tubs stacks on top of said drawers. I can see this little project is going to take longer than I thought. Just call me Clotho.

(P.S. More bonus points to anyone who gets the literary reference!)

Two words:

Chasing Liberty.

Go see it - yes, you - go now! :)

Sock it to me

Yes, I am working on a sock. I'm not sure I like the colorway, nor my results so far:



That top edge is my beginning ribbing - 1x1 on size 2 US needles using Bernat Hot Sox (the color is Hot Tamale for anyone interested). The second inch is the pattern for the sock - 3x1 ribbing. It looks tighter than the beginning, irritatingly enough. The last inch and a half is the heel - using the k1, sl1 heel pattern. It, too, is tight enough for a sock. So, what am I doing wrong on the initial ribbing? Do I just need to go down a needle size?

Sad news...

RIP, Captain. We'll miss you. Say hi to Fred for us...

Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...

...unfortunately he gave his hair
to become a scarf that failed. Sigh.

I tried the Magic Scarf pattern this week (from the Knitlist gifts) on my Bond for a co-worker who is leaving.

Items of note:
1. Casting on from 31 to 30 gives you a really wide scarf, even after pulling it straight.
2. Never do an open cast on unless you know where your finishing instructions for your knitting machine are.
3. If you've lost your machine instructions, do not trick yourself into thinking that a simple backstitch is going to close that open edge unless you have enough yarn left over to do it twice.

I love learning things, but sometimes I wish that one didn't have to learn the hard way.

Huzzah!!! (A)FO report...

Yes, I have an (almost) finished object!! The Debbie Bliss baby sweater is now completed, save seaming. I finished knitting the sleeves about 15 minutes ago, and I've sewn up the shoulders, but the rest has to wait as I don't have safety pins with me to pin the sleeves to the body.

Choir practice in 15, so I gotta go - ciao!

More progress

Last night I finished the front and back of the DB baby sweater - tonight I plan on finishing the sleeves. This sweater seems to be the sweater of mistakes, though - first I knit too small a size (well, the baby grew quicker than his sister did at the same age), then I managed to make a stitch error in there (not a horribly glaring error, but I know it's there) and THEN, at about 2 inches to go, I discovered that I was knitting the pieces on US 9s instead of the 8s the pattern calls for. Sigh. I checked my measurements, and the body will end up being about an inch to an inch and a half larger in chest size. Since the yarn is so soft, I may just take the seams in a bit - I can knit the sleeves to the correct size without harming the overall pattern.

Ah well, you live, you learn.

Things we learned this weekend

• If you are knitting in the round and it is biasing, either slip a stitch where the seam would be or when finishing crochet a surface chain up the inside hem to stabilize the stitches.


• Ketogenics Oatmeal Raisin Crunch bars are nasty. The Pria low-carb bars are pretty darn good, though!


• There are only 24 hours in a day, and I am only going to be awake for less than 20 of them.

KIPping and a Progress Report

Got a bit of knitting done today: small private lesson and then some time with friends...even some knitting at a movie. We went to go see Calendar Girls -- and it's a very poignant story. I highly recommend it!

Back to the progress report - I've gotten about halfway through the remake of the Debbie Bliss baby sweater. Here's a pic:



I am doing the back and front at the same time on a long circular needle, and I hope to have the body completed this weekend. If I'm lucky, maybe even the sleeves. 7 weeks to go!

Well, pooh.

I get through an entire baby sweater (less than half of a sleeve to go!) only to find that the baby is growing very fast and will need the next size up. Usually I just make the next size up to start with, but I figured that since Texas winters are so short (read: nonexistent) that I should go with the 0-3 month size for the baby sweater. So much for that! At least it is a relatively simple pattern that I can hopefully knock out in a couple days ... I really want to give this couple a baby gift! :)

Maniac on the Floor

It's so wonderful when knitting breezes by for a change. Not that I don't love to knit -- it's just that sometimes it seems like it takes so long to finish a project. I supposed that my having a short attention span (not to mention extreme start-itis) might have something to do with it. :)

At any rate, I've finally gotten the DB boatneck baby sweater almost done -- I just need about half a sleeve, and then the finishing. My luck, the baby it's intended for will have already grown out of it....

Poetry to Go

Today is Magnetic Poetry day -- mainly because I just bought a MP calendar (at half off) and remembered to bring it to work to stick it on the wall. It's funny, but sometimes just the order the words are in on the sheet (before you tear the chits apart) make interesting phrases. One of my favorite: "loud day lost color".

My poetry for the day:

beautiful flower
why must the winter creep in
I shiver coldly
-flowers in winter, copyright 2004 CML

sculptured clouds
on a dandelion holiday
-Texas skies, copyright 2004 CML

What do you think?

Well, I did some minor housekeeping around here, and tossed up a new template. There are still some minor tweaks I want to do, and my archive links aren't working, but aside from that... What do y'all think?

Getting organized

Okay, I think I've come up with the projects that I absolutely want to finish in the next 8 weeks.

As numbered, they are:

1. Tilt - ~30% finished, using Noro Silk Garden


2. Leg-o-chic in Noro Kureyon 131


3. Dubbelmossa for my nephew in Encore


4. Scribe gloves in Limbo Mexico


5. Matching socks


6. Socks from Magic Stripe


7. Socks from Koigu Kersti


8. Socks from Koigu KPPPM


9. Socks from Opal - ~25% finished


10. Baby boatneck sweater from DB Cashmerino - ~65% finished

In order of importance, I'd say that Tilt, the baby sweater and my nephew's hat come first, then the legwarmers and Limbo Mexico set, then all the other socks. Can I do it all in 8 weeks? Only time will tell...

Holy cow.

Who would have guessed that people could do this? I'm impressed. And a little scared.

(P.S. This is supposed to be cheaper than real ones? In Colinette?)

Woohoo!

Gotta love it when things work the way you want them to. :D

Moving...

Well, the blog is moving, so you may need to update your links. The new link will be http://www.cyndilou.net/yarnutopia - a redisgn should follow soon! :)

Was ist der Antwort?

Ich muß Deutsches wieder lernen - meine Deutsch ist sehr schlecht.

Ugh, I can't conjugate, and I've forgotten half the nouns I did know. Ah well, let's see how well the Instant Immersion courses work. One additional thing I'll be doing is trying to read more German - via books that I have and blogs, mainly. Got a link to a good German knitting blog you want to share?

The word of the day...

...is FRIBBLE. :D

Sad blog monkey

Aw, did you see the poor monkey over at MonkeyKnits? The little fella has no new blog content to read. :(

Ok, so I haven't truly helped its plight, but the new site should *fingers crossed* be up this week!

Happy New Year!

Fröhe neues Jahr! Feliz Año Nuevo! Welcome, 2004...

This year got off to a good start - a party and then sleeping late. I got some knitting done, watched Stuck on You (silly, but cute) and did some computer work. I've avoided all housework and otherwise unfun activities. :D Tomorrow is soon enough for the laundry, anyway.

As a general rule, I avoid New Years' resolutions. My plan for this year is mainly to lose weight before my 30th birthday (not a resolution, but a definite plan :). A friend and I are doing this together - and we're off to a good start so far. I have through October to get into shape, and with everything I've got going on I think it is a completely achievable goal.

Hope your year is spectacular!