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".

Gluttonous Maximus

After a week spent clearing out the last of the moving boxes (I know - we moved in August!) and mopping the stupid floor many, many times, Mr. Peeps (AKA Twisted Knitster) and I hosted a newbie spin group with the wonderful Janel Laidman as instructor/mentor on Saturday. None of the attendees looked like newbies to me and I hope everyone got what they wanted out of the day. I know I did. Mr. Peeps was learning a new technique and he's so happy when he spins, it just makes me smile myself. Sort of a like that James Taylor song - do, do, do, do, dooooo! It was fun to mix various knitting and fiber friends and watch them make YARN. Yes, fun to watch - I don't have any desires to spin. Being too short attention span for that, I just want to go to the shelf and say "oh, yes, my pretties, come to Mama!". I figure with a spinner in the house, I'll do alright. :) Check out Mr. Peeps' blog for the details.

Me, I've been working on socks. I love em, but maybe I need a break. You see, socks are my go to item when I don't know what else to knit. There are only two pages of stuff in my Ravelry queue; but I had my really super turbo knitter phase 3 weeks or so ago and now I'm just moping around. Started some great socks by our knitting buddy Laura - Candy wrappers - the pattern is fabulous, but a bit challenging and I showed them to Kristie who was here for the spin-in cause I wasn't happy with my crossover stitches and she said, "oh, those are fine, but what happened to the pattern on the back - its missing a purl stitch!" Ah, THAT'S why they looked funny! Rip, rip, rip, but someday I will conquer those socks. Once I realized that this pattern wasn't super super easy, I'd also started the gluttony sock by Kelly Eells - The Unique Sheep. This is part of the Seven Deadly Spins Club. This sock is a pretty cool idea - you get a glut of mini Verve sock yarn skeins (4) in various colors and you blend the color changes throughout the pattern. Alot of club members have finished them - go check em out on Ravelry if you can. These are an easier pattern, but you definately have to pay attention since the colors change and there is shaping, etc. So, last night I dug in with the notion of finishing these before trying to do some justice to Laura's funky pattern.

Maybe I need to do something summery next. Maybe that chevron pattern from More Big Girl Knits? If only we could find that capelet kit I bought at Stitches West last year - that yarn would be perfect for it! How is it that these things keep disappearing? We also have a sock book lost to never never lands and that just frustrates me no end. Cause now that I can't find it, I NEED it! Grrr.....

Oh please, great and wise Knitting Gods, help me out here!

Trifecta

This was a productive week in the House of Peeps . I actually somehow managed to finish 3 projects! The first is the Swallowtail shawl by Evelyn Clark. I had such a time with this shawl. I started it almost 2 years ago with another yarn, frogged and reknit it several times and finally just wound up the yarn in disgust. I just couldn't concentrate enough to do lace. This spring I decided to give it another try. I had to rip here and there, but I finally did it and I'm so proud of myself! Its nowhere near perfect, but its done and I love it and whew, got that Swallowtail off my back.




















The yarn is Fiesta Yarns La Luz Multi in colorway Poppies. Its 100% silk and a bit splitty, but vibrant and lovely to look at.

The second FO is a Sock for All Seasons - Spring Sock - designed and handpainted by none other than Lori Lawson of Capistrano Fiber Arts. This is the second to last shipment of the Yarn Tree sock club and my favorite thus far. I found the original pattern to be a little tight on me and so I increased to my standard 64 stitches cast on rather than the pattern's 56. I also carried the pattern down the top of the foot, unlike the pattern, but it just seemed to work better for me. I love these - they are the epitome of Spring!



Lastly, I needed a quick baby gift for a former co-worker. Am I only one who decides these things the night before? Once again, Mr. Peeps came to the rescue with a pattern and yarn to make a Child's Ruffled Ballerina Shrug designed by Ellen Rich. The yarn used is Ella Rae Shibu in a mauv-ish color with little pearly bits. I know it sounds weird, but its actually quite attractive.



Ok, I'm off to find a new project - happy knitting!

Back in the Saddle Again

Today (4/14/08) is a wonderful day. I'm just back from a short vacation with a couple of wonderful friends from back East and I finally got my new laptop - YAY! No longer do I have to go to the library or wait for Mr. Peeps to get home to post or read blogs or see what's happening on Ravelry. It has been a long time without computer access whenever I want for me. I'm happy to be back!

First off, the vacation was wonderful. My good friends Liz and Dave flew out to San Francisco and booked a resort in Windsor. We did alot of driving since they had never been to that part of CA before. Let's see - first we went to Big Sur (yes, I know - it WAS far, but so beautiful) and found a gorgeous waterfall and saw elephant seals. It was such a pretty day that I wished I had paints with me. It been so long since I've painted, but it just felt like one of those days - it was THAT pretty.



Then we did a more local day - we saw the Old Faithful Geyser - yes, there is one in California and I had to get some pictures of the animals too. We also went to the Petrified Forest and that was cool for me since I love rocks of all kinds. Dave and Liz enjoyed it for the flora and fauna also. I had read something about a castle that had a torture chamber and, of course, we were all over that. It turned out to be sort of a rip-off, the castle was built in 1993 and it was too expensive to tour. Had they thrown in a glass of wine, I'm sure we might have gone for it.

Day three was breakfast in Windsor at a great place called KC's Grille and a bit of shopping; then a long and WINDING road to the Sonoma Coast - I had some carsickness issues (this has been happening lately and it really sucks), but when we got to the ocean, it was breathtaking. We stopped to take pictures and noticed an older gentleman changing from his wetsuit to street clothes. He had a big duffle that he threw in the back of his truck. We ended up talking to him and his wife and found out he was diving for abalone. He pulled one out and let Dave hold it. It was huge and seemed to be breathing. The old man said he has a permit for 24 a year and can get three at a time. He takes them home and freezes them which I guess helps to pull the muscle away from the shell. Then his lovely wife batters and fries them and as he said "they taste like candy!" He then saves the beautiful shell for his collection. Such a friendly couple and so helpful. Its fun to talk to people on the road. When we got back to the resort, Liz and I had a white sparkly wine from Toad Hollow winery called Risque - it was crisp, fruity and delicious.

Sunday we drove down to San Francisco and went to the Golden Gate Park. We ended up touring part of the botanical gardens. It was a warm, sunny day. We took alot of pictures - Dave especially likes the flowers and trees and then headed back through an art exhibit. Then it was off to the airport to wait for my flight. I hope Liz and Dave got a day to relax by the pool!

Well, that's my little vacation - Mr. Peeps didn't join us - he stayed home and did alot of spinning. Here is a picture of the footie socks I made for Liz



















And it all took for a week to post :) Getting into the posting habit in a more timely manner is my next goal! Next post will hopefully have a new finished object - something that's been haunting me for a long time.


Til next time!