In which I get off my lazy butt and post something

So, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted in quite a while. Nor have I been reading any blogs (or leaving any comments -- sorry, people). And I have no great excuse: no long vacation, no major illness, no overwhelming work schedule. I'm just a lazy blogger. Sorry about that (hanging my head in shame here). I just don't know how you dedicated bloggers can keep it up so regularly. Hats off to you.

Anyhow, I have been getting some knitting done. I finished the socks for Sister#1 (the annoying ones from my previous post -- the socks, not the sister). I'll be giving them to her this weekend, so wish me luck with the sizing. Also, I have very nearly finished a Picovoli tank for me. It think it's just a touch more "form fitted" than I would like. But it's cotton so maybe it will grow with washing. And I'm maybe 2/3's of the way into a spiral shawl (can't remember the exact name and too damn lazy to look it up). No pictures of these items, because again -- I am the essence of blogging lazitude.

You may be wondering what finally inspired me to post again. Well, because I was looking for a way to avoid work this morning, I decided I'd waste some time and check my blog stats (assuming they'd be way down since I haven't posted in eons). I was surprised that they weren't really down and started looking at the referrals. I noticed several referrals from Knittin' Mom, which I thought was unusual. So I visited her site and discovered......

I won one of the grand prize baskets of sock yarn in the Sock-a-Month Knitalong! Woo hoo! I am SO excited!

My prize. Yay!

It's just what I needed to get me out of the funk that I've been in. Also, I'm thrilled because I haven't tried any of those yarns yet. I've especially wanted to try Socks That Rock for the longest time, but I kept telling myself that I really should use up some of my sock yarn stash before ordering more. Lorna's Laces has also been on my "must try" list. And that yarn in the upper right corner looks very nice -- anyone know what it is? I didn't even know that Cascade made sock yarn, so I'm interested in trying that. Those bright colors will make some fun socks for me or the girls. Also, it will be nice to try out the two kinds of KnitPicks sock yarn.

OK, enough excitement and chit chat. I've got to get back to work. Then I've got to finish ordering homeschool curriculum materials and organizing our schoolroom/office for the new school year.

I will try to get back to more regular posting and commenting soon. I hope you are all having a great summer.

Are you jealous yet?

Just feast your eyes on the loveliness that arrived in the mail for me today.

Oooooh, pretty.

It's my gift from Anne of knitspot for winning her Mystery Cable Contest. What can I say - I LOVE it! She sent me two hanks of wool that she dyed and spun, along with a pattern that she wrote for a Ragamuffin Scarf and Mitts. I know you want a closer view of this beautiful yarn, so I will of course oblige.

This lovely blue mix should be enough to complete the scarf and fingerless mitts in the pattern she sent. I just love all the shades of blue in this. It makes me think of faded jeans, my attire of choice.

This gorgeous gold/blue/green mix is thinner than the blue. Anne suggests that it would be good for a pair of socks. I will have to select just the right sock pattern for this. Any thoughts? (And if anyone says the word "Jaywalker" they're in trouble).

Anne did a great job picking colors for me. I just love them. [And I love the slight patchouli smell from her wool wash ;)] In fact, this yarn is so gorgeous and soft that I almost don't even want to knit with it. Almost.

OK, OK, enough with the gushing. I will assume you are satisfactorily jealous at this point, so I will move on.

I just finished knitting my Lady Eleanor stole last night. Wuh, was that a lot of knitting. I still need to weave in the ends and steam block it and then attach the long knotted fringe. I was considering skipping the fringe, or maybe going with a tasseled fringe, but after looking around at other Lady E's online, I've decided to go with the long knotted. Pics soon hopefully.

Here's another thing I've been working on. It's a Komi-patterned bag based on the gift bag pattern in Handknit Holidays. More details next time. I've got to go block Lady E.

Oh, and thanks for the suggestions about the Karaoke yarn as a Noro substitute. I'll have to try that. I see they carry it at WEBS. How convenient...

I'm a Winner and a Ranter

So, as some of you know, this has been a good week for me in blogland. I was randomly chosen as the March winner of the Sock-a-Month Knitalong. I won some sock yarn, which I haven't received yet, but here's a picture of it that I stole from Knittin' Mom's site.

Yeah, you've seen my stash and you're thinking, "What does she need with more yarn?" Well, shush. A girl can't have too much yarn. Even Brooklynne of The Mosh Knit now agrees -- go listen to her essay on stash in her latest podcast.

And, as if one prize wasn't enough, I also won the Mystery Cable contest that Anne was holding at knitspot. I finally identified the cable after much scouring of stitch pattern books (and desperate consultations with others who have bigger book collections than I). Anne said she's sending me some handspun and one of her patterns as my prize. I've never knit with handspun before so I'm excited. Plus, I can't wait to see one of her patterns.

Warning: Rant Ahead

OK, that was the happy news. Now it's time for a nice long rant. [I hope Robot Lady can pull off an authentic ticked-off tone of voice. Wouldn't that be cool if you could use tags to tell Talkr what tone of voice you want things read in? Ahh, but I digress. Back to the rant... ]

So, I've still been cranking away on the Lady Eleanor Stole -- on and off, but it's still actively in progress. Anyway, I continue to be annoyed by the knots I keep encountering in this Noro Silk Garden yarn. Not only are the knots annoying, but they always introduce a completely different color that is totally out of sequence. Every time I hit one of these knots (which has been in about half of the balls I've used so far) I have to rip back to the beginning of the little entrelac square so I can change the color discretely (see the picture of the stole in this post, if you don't know what I'm talking about). Then I have to figure out where I am in the color sequence and try to find another ball that starts somewhere close to the right place, so I don't end up with a huge glob of lavender in one spot and thus destroy the whole balance of the thing. Sigh.

I didn't rip back the first time I encountered a knot (which happened in the second row of squares) and now I regret it. It's in the lower corner of the stole, in a spot I hope is not too noticeable, but it looks crappy too me so I learned my lesson. I would have ripped back, but I didn't see how noticeable it was until I got into better light, at which point I was too many rows of squares away.

Anyway, after the millionth time that I encountered a knot I decided I would rewind my remaining balls to find all those hidden little annoyances ahead of time. That way I could make a separate ball whenever I encountered a knot and I would be better able to match up the color sequence. And, boy, am I glad I did because here is a picture of the very next ball:

Stupid, Annoying Noro Silk Garden with a Millon Knots

There were FOUR STINKING KNOTS in this one ball! What did I get -- the crappy leftovers ball? And even more annoying, it's missing half the colors. Compare the picture above with all the colors shown in this nice ball:

Nice Ball of Noro

OK, so I complain a bit to myself and to Uncool Guy (even he could understand my annoyance -- and that's not a frequent occurance, people) and I move on to rewind the next ball and what do I find but this:

Look in the circle. Do not be distracted by the pretty colors.

"What is that in the little circle?" you ask. Why it's another freaking KNOT! And it's right there sticking out of the end of the skein. What are they doing -- ADVERTISING that their yarn has more knots than you thought were possible in one skein of yarn? Is the company that anal about yardage that they couldn't just cut off that extra two inches to avoid a knot hanging there right at the end? I guess it just shows that they don't care where their knots fall or how many of them there are. Yeah, I know they need to make a profit but really, a little quality control would be nice.

So, for future reference, can anyone recommend another brand of yarn that has colors like Noro without the irritations of Noro? Anyone?

Late Flashing

Yeah, I know -- YESTERDAY was Flash Your Stash Day. But I am slow, and perpetually late. It took much longer than I anticipated to unload all my yarn bins and stack all this yarn so it would fit in the picture. I initially tried to do a 360 degree photo, but that was kind of a disaster. Hence the lateness.

Anyhow, I have yarn here that is designated for 16 sweaters, 9 tank tops, 1 shawl, and at least 20 pairs of socks. The rest is random balls to be used for hats, scarves, mittens, stuffed animals, and other miscellaneous projects. Some of this (mostly the left corner) is destashification from someone else, so I really can't be blamed for all of this.

Here is the stash. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

I know what you're thinking, "That's not very big." Yeah, that's what I thought. So I just got this load of Cascade on sale from WEBS (thanks Yarn Enabler.)

Oh, and I AM still planning on posting the short-row information. It's just turning into a bigger project than I expected. I'm going to have to break it into smaller pieces. I'm thinking of covering all the various types of short rows, each in the context of short-rowing down and then having one 'long row' to join everything back up (like in a shoulder) and in the context of a miter where you short-row down and then long-row out (like a sock heel).

Now I'm off to reorganize my yarn.

Updated to add: Talking Edna says, "Dahling, your stash is fabulous." Ten points if you can find her in the picture. ;)

Yeah, I Bought More Yarn. . . Sigh

Look at what my Yarn Enabler, aka Melissa, has procured for me -- Noro Silk Garden in color 217. I just love these colors. And it is softer than I expected, too. But not cheap. No sirree, Bob.

This yarn is going to be used to make the Lady Eleanor Stole from Scarf Style. I've had my eye on this pattern for a while, especially after seeing this one at Fig and Plum. However, it was the gorgeous colors of Aimee's that made me take the plunge. I just can't stop looking at it -- I'm in looooove. So, I'm being a copycat and making it in exactly the same color. [Oh shush, I'll get back to Rogue eventually. Gotta go with the inspiration, right?]

I've also decided to start knitting items for the Dulaan Project. It's an organization that collects items to send to impoverished children & adults in Mongolia, where the temperatures get down to -40ºF at night.

Here's a picture of my first hat to donate to this project. It's just a simple ribbed hat made with two strands of stash yarn.

I started this in desperation the other day when the rest of my family was sitting down to watch Zathura (really enjoyed this movie, by the way). I was in a panic -- frantically searching through my knitting bags (and the various piles of knitting that are distributed throughout my family room) for something easy to work on so I could concentrate on the movie. It was kind of funny actually, I was all like, "Wait, wait. Don't start the movie yet -- I can't find any knitting!"

I am such an addict. I can't just sit when I watch movies any more; I must be knitting. Otherwise I get so restless. My hands need to be busy so my mind can concentrate. This becomes an issue when I visit people who like to turn off all the lights when they watch movies (Hi, Sister#2).

Anyhow, easy hats and scarves make for good "movie knitting", so I'm going to try to keep some of these Dulaan patterns ready to go for movie nights here. I might try this Double-Thick, Super-Warm Dulaan Hat pattern next. It appears to be just a big tube which you fold in half and gather together -- an easy way to get extra warmth without the complexity of double knitting.

My own private block party

I finished the Lopi Lace Scarf this morning, and then I went crazy blocking all the knitted Christmas gifts that have been sitting around - 2 hats, 1 bag, 2 scarves. Should have some good pics tomorrow. I ran out of blocking pins so I couldn't block the Backyard Leaves scarf. I've been putting that one off because after I block it I will have to seam it together, and it looks like that will be very UN-fun due to the lumpy edge.

I looked for blocking pins at the LYS yesterday, but they only had some ridiculously expensive ones (10 pins for like $8.50 -- geez, those must be nice pins). Anyway, I asked if they had any others and the two older women behind the counter looked at me like I was insane. They said they had "never HEARD of using pins to block your knitting." What??!!?? Then they were all in my face asking me what I was making, etc. I told them I was going to use the pins to block lace -- to open it out more. They just did NOT get that. They insisted that was unnecessary, that it would probably HARM my knitting (how???), blah, blah, blah. Why do I bother talking to these people -- it's just not worth it.

Anyway, I bought a bunch of Cascade 220 to continue my Christmas knitting extravaganza. Enough to make another alien scarf (1st one is currently blocking), another knitted bag (1st one also blocking), and then some to enhance the stash (you know, cuz it was getting low... ;)

This is kind of cute: Make an avatar of yourself!

Oh, and I fixed the problem with the comments. So, feel free to comment away.