Green Dilly Beans

Yo Ho Ho and a Ball of Yarn

Fresh off the waterways of New York, full of cupcakes and quiche, I disembarked from the 1st annual Point / Knitty / Gilda's Club cruise. We ate, we drank, and of course, we knit. It's safe to say a good time was had by all.

An obligatory scenery shot of the Brooklyn Bridge, a Valentina request.

Valentina, Michelle and Jackie in a state of cupcake-induced euphoria. 

There is a decided lack of my own knitting to be found in this account.  To be sure, I made an attempt at toe-up socks via provisional cast on, courtesy of a J Strizzy tutorial.  In the end I decided my green on green on green self-striping would be better off in the top down method.  More on the Jolly Green Giant Socks to come. 

The Yarn That Never Ends

The Mini Sweater has been finished, un-finished, and re-finished. After one wearing, I decided to rip out the sleeves to make them smaller. Although the unforseen unraveling prolonged a second wearing, the good news was that my arms are smaller than I thought. Given the choice of instant gratification vs. smaller, skinnier limbs, I gladly chose Door #2. Now, with second round of sleeves intact, and several months having gone by, here is the finished product. Giving credit where it is due, Heather's boy has dubbed this pattern the jug snuggler, which I think is the best appellation yet. Let's hope the name catches on outside the Splinter circle. In my unending quest to whittle away at my yarn stash I have started a pair of ribbed wrist warmers for my sister. The yarn is a lambswool / angora blend of multiple recycling origins. I got it at a yarn swap from someone who got it on E-bay as recycled sweater yarn. The bulk of it has already been turned into a wrap and wrist warmers. A second pair of wrist warmers isn't very exciting as far as knitting goes, but the effort to use up scraps is always commendable.

Knits Ahoy

Just in time for the arrival of scrunchy sock and snuggly sweater longings, the new fall issue of Knitty is here! As usual the possibilities are endless....  Josephine would satisfy my cozy cabled cardigan cravings, although I would skip the ivory yarn to avoid the inevitable stains and marshmallow associations.  From the picture I had hoped Bloom would be a skirt, but it's actually a shawl.  Sigh, I guess it's up to me to come up with a pattern for a rainbow paneled knit skirt.  Having sworn off baby blankets, Bubby Bear bodes well for the pending baby boom.  Adding to the excitement is the fact that after helping my parents move out of their house and into an apartment, my marvelous mother gave me a ticket to the Point's knitting/sailing brunch cruise in celebration of Knitty's 3 year anniversary.  Thanks Mom!

PS Having started this blog entry last night, I have since spotted further proof that great minds think alike.  True to form, Valentina has chipped in her 2 cents towards the new Knitty, which includes the scoop on a craftoholic version of the Falling Leaves socks, complete with pattern. Lovely.  I think I see another Splinter sock streak in the making.