Green Dilly Beans

Now on Display

Technical camera glitch has been identified. Clapotis and Hourglass Sweater bits now on view.

It can be done. Clapotis was accomplished with just one skein of Brooks Farm. I completed two less pattern increases to adjust and was left with a baseball sized ball of yarn at the end. I might have been able to get away with just one less increase round, but didn't have the balls to contemplate running out of yarn. Specs are as follows:

Pattern: Clapotis (duh)
Pattern Adjustments: Two less pattern increases (see above!)
Needles: Size 8 circs
Yarn: 1 skein Brooks Farm Harmony (50% Mohair, 25% Silk, 25% Wool)

Torso Tube. A sleeve is also in progress, basically just a longer, skinnier version of the same.

Close-up of the Licorice Twist action.

Round and Round and Round She Goes

November has flown by in a whirlwind of activity, dominated by my efforts to fulfill work obligations so that year-end vacation time can be truly foot loose and fancy free.  The end result has been me arriving home every night to collapse in a rumpled heap on the couch.  A cold beer, a stash of individualized frozen soup servings (hooray for a big stock pot and doubled recipes!), and stockinette, lots and lots of stockinette, have become my fail-proof evening routine (some might say rut).  Needless to say, blogging hasn't exactly figured into this equation.   Between a newly completed Clapotis and a recent foray into the world of the Hourglass Sweater, my life has been soothed by the mindless lull of stockinette and knitting in the round. 

Right now its a blessing, but I can see massive boredom looming on the horizon.   Corrective measures will ultimately have to be taken to get the knitting neurons firing again.  In the meantime, the hourglass sweater is growing by leaps and bounds* and the clapotis never fails to amaze me in its snuggling capabilites and daily delights*.   

*Why does my camera refuse to cooperate this morning?! Pictures await you, pending the resolution of my technical difficulties.

Brobdingnagian Bunny

This isn't exactly new, but I have to admit.... I love any excuse to use the word Brobdingnagian!

Special Delivery

A mystery package slip arrived in the mail this week. What could it be? Who was thinking of lil' ol' me?

Hooray! My Aunt Joyce, who is to be greatly admired for her fabulous sense of taste and color, had sent me a bunch of vintage knitting magazines and pattern books.

Although I have no concrete cast on plans, here are a few early favorites.

As you can see, I'm loving the big, snuggly sweater jackets right now.

Just as fun, if not more, are the items for which I have no plans whatsoever.  In my opinion, these fashions should never go beyond the pages of the magazine.  Cases in point (no knitting pun intended there, really I swear) .......

Knit culottes???!!! Umm, no thanks.

I like to think that this shot was taken at Lambeau Field.  It is the only reasonable excuse I can come up with for the creation of a head to toe ensemble in green and gold.  Brett Favre - eat your heart out. 

Yikes, I didn’t notice this until the second flip through. Why is the fluffy ski bunny looking lovingly at the scary man in the full face mask?  She should be making her escape down the mountain, but I bet those boots would slow her down.  On the other hand, she's holding a matching red robber’s mask in hand.  Who knows, maybe she's his accomplice.  All I know is that Halloween is over and I won't be needing an executioner's style hood like this one any time soon.   

Thanks for all the fun Aunt Joyce!

Gone With the Wind

I'm sure everyone has a story (or stories) in which the knitting habit places the knitter in a less than dignified situation.  Well, here is my latest contribution to the anthology:

Work on the All-Over Two Color Patterned Watch Cap (henceforth known simply as "the hat") has continued this week.  In an effort to make consistent progress, the hat was assigned to subway knitting duty, no B train clapotis or On Beauty for me.  WIth this task at hand, I copied the pattern chart for easy packing and row marking and sat down to enjoy my morning commute.  Jostling across the Manhattan Bridge, the hat getting admiring glances from fellow riders, I merrily knit away, oblivious to the impending doom.  The ride was blissfully uneventful  until we hit Atlantic Avenue.  From my usual perch near the doors at the end of the bench (I like the extra elbow room) a gust of wind swept through the opening doors and whisked my paper pattern chart out of the car and down the subway platform.  Naturally I jumped up, grabbed my things, and squeezed out the closing doors to chase my pattern out of the train car and onto the platform.  What followed can only be described as a knitters version of the old attach a dollar billl to a string and watch the poor fool chase after it gag.  Despite my begging, pleading, chasing and cursing, the pattern hopped, skipped, and jumped its way out of my grasp, until it landed in a pile of muck at the bottom of the track.  Despondent and a little out of breath I caught the next train and rode the rest of the way to work with no clapotis or On Beauty to relieve me.   

The story does not come to you without a happy ending, this is not a blog of tears.  After 18 months of sitting forlornly on the needles and a hot pursuit down the subway platform, I have finished "the hat". 

Specs:  All-Over Two-Color Patterned Watch Cap from Hats On by Charlene Schurch.

Yarn: One skein each color (I used 4416 and 4441), Classic Elite Lush, angora wool blend. 

Needles: Size 4 addis. 

Size: Adult Small

Gauge: 7 stitches per inch

The aerial view.