ARTwin knits

Pictures at last!

So, I finally got around to working on the pictures. This will be a heavy picture post, so bare with me.

Clapotis - c'est fini! I'm so excited to have this completed.

It's a bit smaller than the pattern, since I used a lighter weight yarn, but I think it turned out beautifully. I love the subtle variations in the color. 

Here is a close up of the stitches:

The color is so different between these two pictures. It is more like the closeup than the full view.

Now on to the knitterly gifts that I've received for HTK:

A beautiful feather and fan blanket. I can't figure out what the yarn is, but is soft and cuddly. I hope he likes it.

A simple, chunky knit blanket from a dear friend of the family.  She is in her 90s!! And still kniting.  The subtle colors don't show up too well in the picture, but it is gorgeous.

And another beautiful blanket - this one from my grandmother who lovingly knit this while her husband was in the hospital. It kept her busy and made a great gift.  She's making the little peanut a hooded sweater, too. I can't wait to see it when it's finished.

And an adorable little newborn hat. It's all stretched out to fit on the sheep's head, but I couldn't resist. The sheep was a shower gift from Aunt Kristin. It has a white noise machine inside that plays all sorts of soothing sounds for bebe.

And now for the knitterly gifts for me - my yarn purchases and gifts:

Some lovely DB baby cashmerino that my sister sent me a while back as a surprise. I'm still trying to find the perfect project for it.

KnitPicks Shine in Butter, Cherry and Sky. I'm not sure what to do with this yet, either, but it will definitely end up as a baby knit for H

And lastly, some beautiful Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton that I picked up at 50% off

OK - well, I have to run get some work done, but I wanted to finally share some pictures. Now - to figure out what to do with all this lovely yarn!

Oh yeah - and the basketweave is getting some action this week. Won't be done for Larry's birthday, but maybe christmas? I can dream, right.

unfulfilled promises

Well, last week I promised you pictures of my clapotis progress and my knitterly gifts, and I'm sorry to say that I still haven't mustered the energy to take photos. Now, I know, it doesn't take that much energy, but I've been so busy that I haven't taken the time to do it. So, I still hope to get to it this week. I've been promising my sister pictures of my house, too and I can't seem to get those taken.  So, the goal this week is to take pictures for everyone - knitting pictures and house pictures. Stay tuned... I hope to get to it tonight or tomorrow.

Oh yeah - and clapotis is finished. Pictures of the FO with the others. Now, it's on to baby knits, but I can't seem to find a pattern I like. Everything I find is a different guage than the yarn I have, and I want an easy knit without having to adjust the pattern. Looks like I might not be able to avoid it though.

This morning has really tested my patience - and made me realize my hidden email addiction.  Gmail has been down all morning and I've been desparately checking to see if the server is up. It's driving me crazy that I can't see if anyone has emailed me, that I can't jot off a quick note to anyone, and mostly, I can't see if my dad got my email that I sent with directions to my house. He's coming tonight to see our new house and stay overnight. Yipee! It's been a while since I saw my dad, so it will be great to spend some quality time with him. 

So, I should be spending my morning without email doing something productive, like working on my dissertation - which actually is getting some attention - but I had to have my distraction quota for the day, so I decided to catch up on my blog reading and post something, too.

I've been meaning to post for a while. I have lots of pictures to post, but I've been too lazy to download them - actually, some of them still need to be taken, so you'll have to wait until later in the week for all of my fibery photos - I have new yarn to show, new knitted gifts, and some other things.
But, I guess I'll give an update on Clapotis. I've finished the straight rows section and I'm working on the decreases. I love this section!! Not only does it go faster, but you get to drop two stitches per repeat instead of just one. Oh, the joys of knitting.  I spent some time on the knitting this weekend while watching tennis and some movies.  But I spent most of the weekend catching up on my thank you notes that have been stacking up from my baby showers. I think I'm almost half-way done.

OK- well, i'll be back later this week - probably Wednesday - with a photo heavy post of my knitterly goodies. Hope everyone has a great week.

Progress report - NS (not satisfactory)

Well, my goal of finishing the middle rows of clapotis didn't happen last night. Too many other things to accomplish.  I did  knit a few rows, so that's worth something I guess.

I spent most of my evening last night programming my new cell phone with all my phone numbers.  We were old AT&T Wireless customers and since they merged with Cingular, we went ahead and migrated my phone (Finally - we've been talking about doing this for months.) The impetus was that Larry got a new phone for work (paid for by them - yipee!) and didn't have a need for another phone, so we cancelled his phone and moved to a smaller plan.  It will be great to save some money on the phone service.

I like my new phone - LG C1300i. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it was free, so that's a bonus. 

Well, I hope to keep plugging along on clapotis today. hopefully my progress report will be and S for tomorrow. ;)

Clapotis Update

Well, clapotis is coming along pretty well. I have three more center section repeats and then I head into the decrease section, which will hopefully go more quickly.  It make sense but doesn't always happen, as the Harlot found out.  I'm glad that I'm almost done, because I want to wear it at a conference that I'm going to this weekend.

After I finish, I'm not sure what I'll turn to next. I think I should start making some baby things. I guess I should scour the pattern books and magazines for some patterns. But before that, I have to finish packing and move!! UGH - it's never ending. I can't wait to be in our new house. 

So, Clapotis is coming along. I think I've dropped three stitches, so I've done three repeats in the straight section.  It's looking nice, but the silk yarn is catching a bit on the drop stitches, so they need a little help to drop. This would be good if I had mistakenly dropped stitches, though, so I won't complain.  I got a bit of it done this morning while waiting on the car to be fixed.  Geez - car repairs are expensive!!

But this afternoon I'm casting on for some wristers because I can't stand to have freezing hands any more.  Clapotis can wait a bit - it is sort of spring weighted anyway.  Hopefully this new project will be a quick knit.

I've decided to use Bonne Marie's voodoo wrist warmers pattern from Knitty.  I'm using some  Cascade Quattro #9432 that I bought last summer and that has been sitting in a little cake on my desk for a few months. It is fun to finally use it. It is a 4 ply yarn - a single ply each of different shades of blue and green.  I really like it. I think they will keep me nice and warm.

Knitting in NYC

I had a fabulous time yesterday with my friend Jen.  We met in an online knitting group and have been trying to meet up in person for a while now. But we finally made it to her favorite yarn store - Seaport Yarn which in and of it self was an experience.  It is a yarn shop in an office. And it was over-flowing with  yarn.  I splurged and bought 3 skeins of La Luz by Fiesta Yarn in a beautiful rosey pink. I'll try to post a picture later.  I think I might use it to make a version of Clapotis from this fall's Knitty. It's a finer gauge, so it will be lighter and more like a scarf than a wrap. I also picked up some size 4, 16 inch addi turbos that I needed. It's my first pair of addis, and I can't wait to use them.

After lunch, Jen and I headed up to Knit New York. The minimalist set up at Knit New York was quite a difference from the yarn that was flowing off the shelves at Seaport. We got some coffee and tea and knitted while chatting. Jen was just starting her cable scarf and I'm still trying to finish up my picot sweater.  Then it was back to New Jersey for me.

Today I've been crazy running Christmas errands. Tomorrow is the office Holiday party. I had to pick up some things to make pumpkin bread to give to my colleagues. I better get started on it or I won't get it done for tomorrow.