Summer Knittin'

Well, ain't nothing going on but alot of tweedy brown Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm on the yoke part and finally about to start following the charts. Woohoo!

It makes for a pretty boring pictures at this stage, and I need to post about something and so here is a little ditty I've been composing in my head for the past few weeks to the tune of Summer Lovin' from Grease.

Summer Knittin’ had me a blast
Summer Knittin' happened so fast
I knit a shawl called Clapotis,
I knit socks – they were Monkeys
Summer days driftin' away, to uh-oh those Sum-um-mer Knits
Uh Well-a well-a well-a huh
Tell me more, tell me more
Cause the pattern is key
Tell me more, tell me more
Are you on Ravelry?
Uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh

It got hotter, I made a tank
Oh so simple and only one hank
Lots of knit groups, I have sure found
Hemlock ring, goes round and round
Summer sun, something's begun, but uh-oh those Summer Knits
Uh well-a well-a well-a huh

Tell me more, tell me more
Is that pattern alright?
Tell me more, tell me more
Cause it seems it bit tight!
Uh -huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh

We went knitting, down at the Mall
I was knitting the Mystery Shawl
Pomatamus, is that a sock?
Frogged again, oh what a shock
Summer fling, don't mean a thing, but uh-oh those Summer Knits

Uh well-a well-a well-a huh
Tell me more, tell me more
I can’t keep up the pace
Tell me more, tell me more
I have trouble with lace!

shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop,shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, shoo-bop bop, YEH

On vacation, where did you go?
On vacation, I got Malabrigo
It was soft, just like a hug
Should I make a simple shrug?

Woah!

Summer heat, yarn and I meet, but uh-oh those Summer Knits

woo, woo, woo

Tell me more, tell me more
How much dough did you spend?
Tell me more, tell me more
Is that by Fiber Trends?

Getting hotter, wove in the ends
Getting hotter, are we still friends?
Entrelac, I don’t know how!
Wonder what I should knit now
Summer dreams ripped out the seams,
bu-hut ahhh, those Su-hum-mer Kni-hits
Tell me more, tell me mo-o-oore!

What a Weekend!

Saturday we went to the WWKIP day picnic held at El Dorado Regional park in Long Beach. What a great park! They have a golf course, an archery area, paddleboats, bike trails, heck - even a train for the kiddies. We will definitely be going back cause I have an itch to learn archery and its just a really cool place to go play. :)

Ok, so the picnic - it was awesome! Organized by Renata, Marie and Anne from All Things String; there was food, contests, guitar players, even a baby alpaca made an appearance! Mr. Peeps was busy spinning some luscious purple yarn for me; and Kristie, Renata, Melissa and a couple of others were spinning too. Denise and Shanda participated in the mystery speed knitting contest and neither won, but I think they had fun anyway. Michelle and Holly sat with us also. It was nice to see so many friends there and we had a great time. Go on over to the Mister's blog if you want to see the pictures, cause he's got em all over there.

Sunday we were off to the Huntington Library in Pasadena for a spinning demonstration (hubby was one of the demonstrators) and we got to tour the facility and grounds. If you've never been, you gotta go. We got to see Pinkie and Blue Boy by Gainsborough and lots of other art. My

favorite is the statue of Diana the Huntress. What a nice day, spinning and knitting and touring the grounds. We had some fellow spinners accompany us - Randall Hayen, who we knew a bit from GLASG; Diane Taylor who is a spinner and actually lives close by we found out; and another very nice woman whose name escapes me, but she came all the way down from Ventura County. A wonderful, if warm, day was had by all.

Oh, there is actual knitting going on too. I finished the candywrapper socks and have finally taken pictures! WOOHOO! Laura's pattern was a bit of a challenge for me since I hate charts, but they came out so cute!



















Also, I'm about 1/4 or so finished with the Tangled Yoke Cardi by Eunny Jang for my sister. I'm using the Rowan Felted Tweed in the Treacle colorway, which, by the way, I LOVE. Its a dark chocolate with cornflower blue and gold flecks. I hope she likes it as much as I do! The color is a bit darker than in the photo, but you get the jist.



















So there you have it. I'm a little burnt out on knitting to tell you the truth and so I'm staying home tonight while hubby goes to yet another spinning group. I will be in HB for the Sip or Stitch tomorrow night however.

Knit on!

I've Been Bad (But It Feels So Good!)

Well - every time I leave the house lately, I manage to come home with more sock yarn. Thank you Economic Stimulus Payment! Sock yarn that I surely do not need. Sock yarn that I really cannot afford. (But there's that Economic Stimulus Payment!) Sock yarn that is just so darn irresistible that instead of being called sock yarn it should just be called George Clooney (or whoever floats your particular boat). Below are photos of the latest. I'm SO ashamed....

First is the heavenly Handmaiden Casbah - Merino, Cashmere, Nylon - OH! This is the most beautiful ocean-y colorway. Plus it is so soft and so darn squishy I am tempted to just sleep with it. Purchased at Twist when going in to supplement some lace weight bought there previously. Really, it just leapt into the basket!



















Second is the Kraemer Luxury Sterling Silver and Silk - colorway is Tuxedo. I've been coveting this for awhile and when I saw it at A Mano, just had to have it. People, HELLO!, it has STERLING SILVER in it! One of the hardest decisions of my life was deciding between the red, the purple and the black. I went with the conservative choice.



















Ok, so you know last night was Stitch n' Pitch in LA right? And, well, we were signed up to go on the bus with the gang from A Mano, right? And, um, Shannita and Annette give goodie bags and a special Stitch n' Pitch discount, right? Uh, so, I was just "holding" the two different colors of Shibui (love that sock yarn) and that darn Mr. Peeps was no help at all. I asked his opinion as to which color we should get (should, HAH!) and he said "BOTH". Well, who am I to argue the point? And I ask you, who could ever have decided between the Chinese Red and Peony colorways anyway?



















Stitch n' Pitch was a good time. We won - go BLUE! Here's a photo to commemorate the evening. I even wore two knitted items - my Cabled Tee in Lobster Pot Whale of a Skein and my turquoisy monkeys in Shibui. (I think this is against knitters law, but whatever - catch me if you can, Knit Police!) More photos to come on Mr. Peeps' blog - AKA Twisted Knitster. Thank you Shannita and Annette - Shannita, you looked GREAT on the big screen!

Cabled Summer Tee

Check it out - its done - YAY! Love the yarn and the color and the pattern was pretty easy. The yarn is Lobster Pot Whale of a Skein in Hydrangea. Do not adjust your computer, the color is more like a soft variegated aqua than hydrangea, which I always thought was either purplish- blue, pink or white. The fit is good and I'm happy with how it came out. It does need a blocking, but might just steam it so I can show it off at Stitch n' Pitch at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. Its not Dodger Blue, but its probably the closest thing I have to that color anyway.

What to do next? There is a sock project that got put on the back burner while I worked on the Cabled Summer Tee; but I'm itching to do a rectangular shawl. Haven't yet found "the one" yet, but I've seen some gorgeous patterns on Ravelry and the net. There are even a few crocheted ones and, believe it or not, I'm considering it! I know the basics of crochet, but I've never been very good at it. And also, there is still a bad taste in my mouth from the 70's. My mom crocheted some hellacious vests for me to wear and I swear I get hives upon hearing the word. But maybe its time to forgive and forget and move on, eh?

New Sock Book!

A wonderful lady that Mr. Peeps and I know through the GLASG (Greater Los Angeles Spinning Guild) has a new sock book out. Its called The Eclectic Sole - Socks for Adventurous Knitters. The book has 14 new patterns and I'm looking forward to diving in and making some new socks! We picked ours up at the Guild today, but you can order it through Amazon. I may do the Jacaranda as my June sock, since the Gluttony ended up being May. I'm aiming for a pair (or more) a month in 2008.

Still plugging away on the cabled tee. Front is done and I'm about 2/3 through the back. Not sure yet if I'm going to do the sleeves or not. I'll decide on that once the back is done. Already thinking about the next project - I'd love to do a rectangular shawl in the new lacy yarn we picked up at Twisted - Graceful Lace Yarn by Yarn Place. I love the depth of color in this yarn and think it would make an awesome shawl. Now to find the right pattern. Any suggestions?

Buses and Cables and Socks - Oh My!

Mr. Peeps and I saw this bus in LA a few weeks ago and we just had to take a picture. :)



















This is my latest project - its the Cabled Tee by Maureen Taylor and Patricia Brunner. Believe it or not, I had almost the entire front done this morning and had to rip it - it was just too big. Mistakenly thought to make my usual size instead of checking the measurements. It was so cute, I should have taken a picture before the ripping, but just had to jump in and do it before losing my nerve.



















And here, finally, are the finished gluttony socks. I think they came out pretty good (if I do say so myself!) They were a fun knit and the yarn was nice. This was part of the Seven Deadly Spins and the yarn was Verve. Cute, eh?

That's it for now - we did manage to visit the South OC Weekend KIP at Fashion Island where we caught up a bit with the ladies (and Chris!) It was good to see them and find out what everyone is up to.

Back to the cabling....

Wrath? Caution - 7 Deadly Spins Spoiler ALERT!

There will be talk about Wrath at the end of this post, so if you don't want to know, don't read the whole thing!

Been working feverishly on the first 7 Deadly Spins project - the gluttony socks - and I'm still not done - BAH! Had some issues and had to rip a few rows a few times. Its not a complicated pattern - I just can't talk and knit at the same time apparently!

I did manage to visit the UCI knit group on Thursday since Mr. Peeps was traveling on business. It was a smaller group this week, but so nice to catch up with Diane and Juliet, Juliet's sister and friend. We had a good time giggling over silly stuff and that's when I goofed up my sock again; but it was fun and I'll probably be heading back over this Thursday too. By the way, Diane is a super knitter. I don't known how she gets it all done - she is truly an inspiration!

Saturday was Stacey's birthday dinner at P F Chang's. Mr. Peeps and I had never been there before. My recommendation is the Moo Goo Gai Pan and the tiny shot glass desserts - YUM! We gave Stacey some Shibui sock yarn in a pretty jade green color - can't wait to see what she does with it!

Also spent a couple of days last week working on a pincushion for a swap I'm involved in. The picture will be posted once the recipient lets me know she has it. It was alot of fun to make and I'm looking forward to doing more :)

OK - This is the Spoiler part, so if you don't wanna know, stop reading!
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Alright, so this is Seven Deadly Spins Shipment #2. "Wrath vs. Peace". For some reason, they chose to do the opposite of Wrath, i.e. Peace. So the package is full of peaceful things - blue cotton yarn with pattern to make a soap sack and cute sheep logo bath cloth, bath salts, beeswax candle, chamomile tea, a chocolate lamb and a little sheep stitch marker. Oh, and my package had the added pleasure of stinking to high heaven of some kind of perfume. I thought it was the soap, but it appears to be something sprayed in the bag or box. I couldn't open it in the house, so the picture is outside on the balcony. While Wool Girl does an excellent job of keeping to the theme and including lots of wonderful goodies to inspire you, I wonder if those who signed up for the 7 Deadlies were expecting, or even wanting, a Peace package.

I don't know - maybe its just me? I was wishing for something dark and sinful. Its not that its not a nice package, it just doesn't especially appeal to me. I'm not into baby blue cloying sweetness that you can smell a mile away or I would have joined the 7 Heavenly Things that Make You Nauseous club. Its a pretty little package that I'll probably never open. Anyhoo, now I get to wait another two months to see what the next package will be. I just hope there are no more "opposites".