riiiiiiiiiip

That's what I did yesterday at knit nite. The Bonita shirt is no more. After some deliberation with the other gals, I decided that it had to be reknit. I cast on this afternoon and I thought I was being careful but after knitting 7 - 242 st rounds, I realized that I had a moebius. @$%#!!!!!!!! I cast on again but didn't join in the round until hubby got home and held the needles while I ran my fingers around the cast on to make sure I wouldn't get a twist. I am going to knit the next size down and it should fit this time. I'm not going to reknit the sleeves since the armholes will be the same depth.

My lys has gotten a new shipment of hemp yarn called "hemp for knitting" . The stuff feels like straw but after it's been washed, it's so soft. In fact, I'd be tempted to prewash the skein before knitting with it. And the drape is unbelievable. There's 2 weights - fingering (only $6 for one 50g/150m skein) and dk (twice the price/weight as the fingering but same yardage per skein). I thought about buying some of the fingering to make this lace nightie. But decided that the yarn wouldn't look good in the gauge required. The dk would be a better weight but it's so thick. I don't know that I want a nightie with that much substance. Lana Knits is distributing the yarn and has great pattern support. I really really love this top. It's knit side to side and looks so elegant. I would be tempted to knit it in black so that I could wear it with anything. And maybe one in 'deep sea' to wear with jeans. Hmmm...

feels like summer

I am wearing shorts!!!! It's still a little cool but I've been moving around all day so I'm keeping warm. I mucked in the garden - planted 7 plants: 2 heathers, a cranesbill geranium, a heuchera, a bergenia, and 2 helianthums. The new flower bed is looking much better. While I was taking stock of what needed to be planted, I came across 2 identical mystery plants. They look like a tree/shrub and one is slightly larger than the other. I cannot remember what I bought last year that came in those pots (I buy a lot of stuff that I can't remember). They were just starting to leaf out so I guess I'll have to wait awhile before the mystery can be solved.

A yarny package (#2 of 3) arrived today... But it's not all mine.

Yoo hoo, Gladys - your Noro is here. The book goes to another knitting friend. The Addi Lace circ, Atacama, Regia sock yarn, Panda Cotton, and Panda Wool are mine (I'm replenishing the sock yarn that my Mom has taken from my stash). Pairs of socks that I can knit from stash: 23.

On the knitting front, I finally did laundry and washed my Bonita shirt swatch (do not remind me that I've already finished knitting the whole shirt). The swatch shrank but it only shrank lengthwise. It did not shrink widthwise - not one single bit. Argh!!! I had made the shirt slightly wider so that it would shrink to fit. And now it looks like I'm stuck with that width. Do you think 4" of ease is a little too much? I'm afraid that I might just have to rip out the whole thing and start over (seems to be a popular theme over here).

Monday UFO report

I am making great strides on the Bonita shirt. After leaving it for about 6 months, I've completed the back & front. Plus I've knitted both sleeves. I tried to take some pictures but they're just lousy. The sheen of the cotton messes up the camera. My concerns about running out of yarn were completely unfounded. I have 2 whole balls left! That's plenty for the i-cord edging and the hem. Speaking of the hem, I am toying with the idea of changing the hem to either a picot edge or i-cord (to match the neck and sleeve/armhole). I think the i-cord will curl too much so I'll probably go with the picot edge. This project is on the back burner until I wash and dry the swatch. My row and stitch gauge are almost identical and I am worried that the i-cord will shrink too much causing the edges to pucker. If the swatch looks weird then I'll go up a needle size.

No sock progress at all. However, there has been stash enhancement - some KP Telemark in Bayberry and KP Shadow in Oregon Coast and Redwood Forest.

I am disappointed that the Redwood Forest is so dark but I'm glad I had the foresight to order Oregon Coast at the same time. I need 2 yarns (one DK and one lace) with good contrast to make a hat featured in an article by Meg Swansen called Armenian Knitting in the Vogue Knitting winter 05/06 issue. This technique is a cross between intarsia and fair-isle. You trap/carry the colour in the back like fair-isle but it's an intarsia-like motif. And get this - the carried colour is supposed to show on the front! I probably won't start this anytime soon since it's too warm to wear hats.

sockless

Wow! That's a lot of socks that you've finished. I really like the cashmere ones. But then I'm a sucker for anything purple! If you're looking for sock suggestions, how 'bout these and if you have enough yarn, you can make a matching scarf. These are my 2 top patterns for the huge chunk of MCY yarn that I bought from etsy.

There hasn't been much knitting over here. I spent most of Wed in the garden cleaning up. And since the garbage cans didn't get emptied, I dumped all the stuff on Hubby's side of the carport. I'm going to make him haul it to the yard waste recycling centre tomorrow.

I haven't felt like knitting socks. Dunno why. I did a little bit of sock knitting at knit nite but mostly, I've been working on the Bonita shirt (from IK Summer 06).

I started this last summer and lost interest when I reached the armholes. My yarn, gauge, etc. is different than the pattern so I had to adjust the numbers (I am knitting the 43" size and it currently measures 48" but I expect it to shrink down to 46" or so after washing & drying which is the perfect size for me). I stalled mostly because I hadn't done the math for the armhole decreases. But I'm back on track and am concerned that I'll run out of yarn. I started with 9 balls of vintage stuff that I picked up at the thrift store. I've used up 5 balls and I'm about 3-4" from finishing the back. Then I've got the front, 2 short sleeves, and i-cord edging around the neck/sleeve/armhole. Plus I didn't knit the fold over hem because I wanted to conserve yarn. But I did a provisional cast on so that I can go back and put the hem in afterwards. Wish me luck.