I cast on for a new lace project today.  You won’t be seeing pictures of it.  It’s been frogged and put aside.  I may try again in the next few days.

 However, I have finished the main part of the knitting on my Booga Bag  I’m also 12 inches into the five feet of icord for the handles.

I’m not terribly fond of making icord.  Luckily, though, it’s knit on 6.5mm needles and is going pretty fast.

I’ve made some progress on the Radiance Lace Headband also:

There should be 11 repeats when I’m done and I’m on number four.  I’m quite pleased with the way it is coming out.

Oh, and I’ve been told that I will be featured on the Sleepy Eyes Knits podcast that will be coming out sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.  I’m looking forward to it!

My husband and I went to an absolutely amazing piano recital last night at Carnegie Hall.  My husbands co-worker’s wife was the pianist.  I knew she had advanced degrees in piano but I had not heard her play.  It was a really wonderful experience and I had a chance to wear my recently completed Fir Cone Wrap!  It kept me nice and warm the entire evening.

 

After the concert we had desert at The Russian Tea Room.  It was fun to do something memorable.  We spend so much time just getting through the things that need to be done each day.  We live just 30 miles from New York City but rarely make it in there to take advantage of all the great things the city has to offer. 

Not too much time to write today but I wanted to just drop a quick note.

 Hubby and I will be heading to Carnegie Hall for the evening for a recital of the wife of a colleague of my husbands.  Should be quite nice.  I got a new dress for the occasion and chose it specifically to go with my Fir Cone Wrap.  I am determined to get a picture of myself wearing this wrap sometime today.

But in the mean time here is what I’ve been working on.

Meet the Boku [Booga]

I assume it will felt. It’s 95% Wool/5% Silk.  I can’t imagine using this yarn for anything wearable but it does have very pretty color transitions.  I think I’ll have some left over when the bag is done.  It’s yardage is less than the Kureyon but it seems to be going quite far.

More updates to come soon

I walked out side this afternoon and saw a tube sticking out of my mailbox.  I knew, instantly, that it could only mean that my blocking wires had arrived.  Hooray!

In anticipation of the arrival of the wires I had woven the ends into my wrap so that blocking could commence without delay.

Here we are:

 

The picture of the entire wrap is a better color representation.  If I ever learn to use my camera properly I may be able to get colors to show acurately.  Yes the blocking is just a bit wonky and no, I’m not going to fix it.  I don’t think it will make that much difference.  If it does it will just have to wait until the next time I wash it.

This was my first lace project. I worked on it in spurts over the last 8 months or so.  Final pictures to come shortly. 

Coming back to my to-do list from before here is my update

I guess that’s a start, eh?  I’ve got other things to add to the list now but I’ll try not to depress myself.

Instead lets look at my new goodies from Knit Picks!

First, though, here is a little something I picked up from the dollar section at Target.

 

Too bad it must have gotten broken on the way home, though.

 

I got one skein of Knit Picks Memories fingering weight yarn in the Cape Cod colorway.  Not sure what it will become yet.   It’s darker than I expected but really pretty.

 

The rest of the box was all tools and organization stuff.

• 2 32″ cables for Options
• 2 - 47″ cables for Options
• Knit Picks DPNS in sizes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
• Coil needles holders, now holding my options tips
• 8 DPN tubes
• Needle Size ID Tags
• View Sizer - guage check and needle sizer
• Needle Size ID Tags
• Package of Jump rings for stitch markers.

I am still waiting for the Blocking Wires.

Here are my tubes

Here’s what’s inside

I figured out how to solve the sleeve problem on the Rose Bud sweater….

 

I made it a tank. Viola!  Not my best work but it will be a great summer top.  Once I clear up a few more non-knitting things I can start some new stuff :)  I have a 25% off my total order coupon for my LYS.  I think I’ll be heading over there sometime tomorrow.

Well, here’s the Hopeful Sweater - it’s done.  My first complete, beginning to end, sweater for myself.  I wore it today and I really like it.  It fits perfectly.  Maybe just a bit low cut but it’s gorgeous, if I do say so myself and I got compliments from both those who knew I knit it and those that did not.  I’ll get a picture of myself in it soon but here it is being blocked. 

 You are supposed to steam block the bottom edge but since my yarn is not steam friendly I just pinned and spritzed.

In knitting news my Hopeful sweater is nearing completion.  The sleeves are done and i’m working on the neck band. I know they look like different colors.  The pictuer to the right is a better representation of the color.  I need to either learn to use my camera or get some white fabric for a background.

 

 I think I have a plan for how to finish my Rosebud Sweater.  Again the picture to the right is a better color representation.  I don’t have enough yarn to complete the full length sleeves so I think I’ll make it short sleeved and use the technique from the Hopeful sweater by starting the sleeves by picking up stitches from the body of the sweater and shaping with short rows.  Then I can end them off with a 2×2 rib to go with the rib that is used to shape the sweater body. I need to come up with a way to solve a small problem at the bottom of the v-neck that really bothers me.  Any suggestions?

 

I ordered blocking wires from Knit Picks so as soon as they come I can block my Fir Cone Wrap. 

 

I’m thinking of frogging both the Clementine Shawlette and the Regia Bamboo socks.  The Clementine is because of the yarn.  I like the color but it’s Mill End wool and I don’t think I’m going to like the finished product, too scratchy.  The socks are just knit at too tight a guage and from seeing how my other too tight guage socks are wearing I think I’ll be better off going up a needle size. 

Lastly I started something new.  I’m into headbands lately.  Probably because my hair gets in my face.  When I saw that Gina of Sleepy Eyes Knitting and the Sleepy Eyes Knits Podcast was having a contest for her headband patterns I joined in right away.  You can get the pattern from the Sleepy Eyes Knits blog.  I’m using some varigated Paton’s Grace from the stash.  Not as luxurious as I had planned but the Lisa Souza I was going to use didn’t show the lace to it’s full advantage.

 

I’m realizing that, while the blogosphere is filled with people gallantly trying to get a handle on thier yarn stashes, I need to get a handle life itself.

My to-do list seems to never make progress.  I’ve always been a great starter and a really poor finisher.  Knitting has been an exception to this rule, so far, I actually have FOs (albeit not as many as I’d like.)  I’m finding myself at a point where the sheer volume of unfinished (non-knitting) projects that I need to deal with is crushing down on me with a force that I can barely tollerate.  Since my paper and pencil lists never seem to help here is a partial run down.

• Register kids for camp and swimming lessons
• RSVP for birthday party the 6yo was invited to ages ago
• Bank Deposit
• Pay Bills
• Write and distribute the survey that stands between me and my BS degree
• Website for the NGO startup that DH and I are involved in
• Website for Church
• File 2 years worth of misc. junk that can’t just be thrown out but defies categorization
• Complete Music CD Archival project
• Empty Storage unit
• Clean

There is much more but that’s about all my brain can manage at the moment.

I’d like to take the time to write something long and descriptive but a quick photo post will have to do.

I got some stash enhancements

 

Cascade 220 , Plymouth Shire Silk, Reynolds Odyssey, Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool, Clasic Elite Bam Boo, Plymouth Boku, and Cascade Pastaza.

 I don’t have any definite plans for any of this.  The Boku may become a Booga Bag and the Reynolds a Clapotis?

 My mystery project, which I introduced at this stage:

 

Is now ready to be revealed as…..Hopeful by Jenna Adorno. The website is not working at the moment so I won’t put the link here. 

Here is my progress as of about 4:00 pm yesterday:

 

Moving right along my progress as of Noon today: 

 

With all the feelings of community surrounding knitting it’s strange that I havn’t been able to tap into that.  In 10 months of knitting (I’m self taught) I have yet to see anyone knitting in person except for one time when I caught a glimpse of someone for a fraction of an instant.  I’ve been to my local yarn shop a couple of times but never even saw anyone knitting there.  Strangely, one trip to the shop was on the night of thier sticth and bitch group and all I encountered was the bitch part of the group and not a stitch to be seen. 

I mostly shop online, buy patterns and books online, and wait for the packages to arrive.  When I encounter a problem I google the answer. 

I do know a few people that knit but when they showed me thier garter stitch scarves and I pulled out my lace work they kind of changed the subject with a bit awe and a bit of terror in thier eyes. 

I have made some small attempts to connect to the online knitting community but i’ve found myself to be a luker most of the time.  I listen to endless podcasts, read many blogs, am familiar with the hot online patterns that everyone is working on, but the only place i’ve clicked is a single chat room and I havn’t even been there in a couple of weeks.

 I would love to find a group to connect with that can challenge me.  People that are not afraid to be challenged.  With two small children, though, this will probably have to wait.  For now I’ll go back to my podcasts and blogs and maybe manage to leave some comments.  My resolve is to stop being a lurker and actually join the community that I’ve been peeking in at through the window.