No ... that's for the next entry.

Well, I thought I'd just say that I'm feeling really lucky right now that I have all kinds of neat, interesting knitters crossing my path.  I think that when I started this blog, I did it out of purely selfish purposes -- you might know what I mean, because you might be reading this blog and saying to yourself, "Wow, she has some nice projects, but I'm doing stuff that's as cool as what she's doing!", because that's what I said about your blog.  (And, if you don't have a blog, go get one!  Then other people can say that about yours, and the vicious knitblog-addiction will never end.  That's okay, we don't want it to.)  Well, meeting all kinds of neat people has been a thoroughly appreciated side effect of me doing this wierdo thing here in blogland. 

Last Friday, Cathi and I got together with our little kiddos, and snatched in some knitting between mommy moments.  It's rare to find people who you like, with kids that your kids like (and who they don't either beat up or get beaten up by).  So, to find someone like Cathi who is both of those things, plus who actually can understand this knitting language that I speak, and who gets equally excited by things like SEX, talking about our SABLE status, and other weirdo knitting acronyms, is really a blessing in my life.  Thanks for the playtime, Cathi!  (Sorry that I'm a lame blogger and didn't take photos.) 

I got to see Cathi again later that night because Wanda had a small impromptu little get-together with me, Cathi, Cynthia and Michelle.  A little knitbloggers get-together, if you will. A great time was had by all, attested to by the fact that we left no sooner than 1:00 AM (yes, we are wild and crazy gals). Wanda proved to be a Cape Cod-mixer-extraordinaire, while Cynthia kept us in stitches (pardon the pun), and Michelle wowed us with tales of being in the military and living in Saudi Arabia.  Cathi was just being hilarious and cool, like always.  Go see what she was working on that night, and just finished and you'll see what I mean.  I think the highlight of the evening was when I turned to the other girls and said, "Hey, speaking of Lorna's Laces, did any of you see that cool pattern that the Argyle colorway works up to in a sock?"  And ... they did.  I mean, this to me is the sign of a group of people who understand your language.  (And, if you speak my language, too, you'll go here to see for yourself.)   (Sorry again that I'm a lame blogger and didn't take photos.)

Okay, blessings aside, here's the mother's day update [and, if you're wondering, I haven't really let any of my family into my little "private life" here, besides friends who actually knit and just *might* be interested in this (but who probably aren't) so I can blog about such things without ruining any surprises].

I recently bought some Knitpicks Shimmer in Morning Mist and Maple Leaf to make little lacey scarves for the MIL and the DM.  I started last week on a faggoting stitch pattern (which I've always been so uncomfortable saying and now I can tell you that I'm also a little uncomfortable writing?).   Anyhow, did you know that faggoting patterns simply mean "do the same lace pattern on every row"?  I thought this would make my scarf easier, but I worked it on small needles, and then my yarn got tangled, and before I knew it I'd spent two hours on one inch of scarf.  This wasn't going to work.  I then remembered the "airy lacy scarves" from Last Minuted Knitted Gifts.  Joelle Hoverson to the rescue!  Size 10.5 US bamboos to the rescue as well!  Here's the scarf I cast on for at Cathi's house and finished at Wanda's house.  (Well, almost finished, I just had another inch and then I bound off the next day, but you hear me.)

Here's the blocking action:

And note the self-striping action of Shimmer. 

Finished and ready to go!  A little longer than planned, but a successful little scarf overall.  Just a little something to send along, along with a cute kitty pin and some cards that my kids wrote.

Meanwhile ... as for my Dear Mother, what about that little Grace Beaded Bag, you ask?  Well, that gets into my next entry, which I'm going to title "In which Jenifer makes mistakes and is sort of stupid."  You'll see soon enough.

Wow -- thanks for all the entries to  my stashbuster contest!  Trust me ... the CD is worth it.  So, enter if you haven't yet, and remember that you can enter as many times as you want!  Come back after May 5 to see a huge updated list of fun stashbusters projects, one which I'll be referring to soon enough because ...

Well, I'm trucking along on my ribbed cardigan ... I've finished the back, the fronts, and I've started the sleeve.

Let me back up there ... I've actually almost finished my second front ... but I noted something that MIGHT be problematic when I lined up the two sweater fronts (I discovered this while working the buttonholes):



Do you see it??

I'm not sure if this is a big deal or not, so how about a little poll action today??  (And my last poll didn't really work ... I hope this one does!)





Thanks, and I'll reveal more later.  I just don't know if this is a big deal (or if it shows well in the photo). 

MEANWHILE ...

The triada-along is already a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get started.  Wanna see??

And THANKS to everyone who's leaving AWESOME comments on my contest ... which runs through May 5.  There's still time to comment!  I'm going to have a killer list after this, which might help me de-stash a little. 

Okay, now for a contest ...

(and I know that I just broke all those formatting rules about not using too much bold and italics and underline all at the same time, but aren't contests worth it?)

As you all know, I did a little three-month experiment of a yarn diet from Dec. 1 to March 1.  It was a great experience overall.  I only had a few relapses, and overall I was pretty psyched that I used my a lot of my stash.  However, what did I learn from this??  My stash is out of control.  The only reason that I'm not at SABLE status (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy) is because I'm 33 years old.  Otherwise, I'd start worrying.

So, more than anything, I realized just how many bits and pieces of leftover bits and pieces of yarn that I have. 

The question that I pose to you is ... What should I do with all of it??

So, here's my contest:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PATTERN OF ALL TIME TO USE UP ODDBALL REMNANTS OF YARN?

By this, I mean, what specifically have you done with those bits and pieces of yarn? 

I'm starting with this list:

First, we all know that we can take any old pattern and make it into a stashbuster by putting all the yarns together and pulling out one at a time.  Afghans, sweaters, scarves ... those are always great ideas.  Here's a few more specific patterns to browse through, however: 

BLANKETS:
Laura's washcloth afghan made from lots o' washcloth squares
Berroco's Homage Throw would work great with lots of leftovers

PURSES:
The Booga Bag in scraps (must be feltable wool)
Sophie in scraps (must be feltable wool)
French Market bag in scraps (again, feltable wool)


SWEATERS:
Berroco's Luisa, a side-to-side cardigan using worsted weight yarns

VEST:
Leftover "inchworm" vest  looks interesting but I'm not sure I'd make it

SCARVES:
Berroco's Pastiche Scarf would look cool with lots of different yarns

SHAWLS:
Cheryl Oberle's Knitted Ruana in Folk Shawls
Berroco's Panache poncho using worsted weight yarns



To enter the contest ...

Please leave a comment to this entry telling me about any other specific pattern, and in what book or where online I can find the pattern whether it's free or for sale.  And of course, patterns that don't fall into the above categories are of course welcome!

I see that Michelle has made a fun yarn purchase of Fiesta Yarns La Boheme ...

And we all know that I picked this up at Woolen Treasures earlier this month ...

The Phoebe-along was so much fun (and in the end, helpful), why not join up for a Triada-along?

So who is up for a Triada-along? Michelle?  Anyone else?

Well, it's been a week since I've updated, so I thought I'd drop a note and share the goings-on in my life, in case you were getting worried ... (thanks for the note!...)

Thanks, however, first to all the comments on the Spanish knitting blog entry -- and I'll be posting an update soon on other  related things that I've gathered up.

Back to the goings-on ...

Last Friday was April 15.  This is important because it was deadline day for me ...

The #1 deadline was our taxes.  Yes, for the first time EVER, I put off doing our taxes until spring break in March ... and while using our Turbo Tax program, it said that I needed to refer to some numbers from our 2003 filings -- but I couldn't find our 2003 filings!  So, to make a long story short, we had to send off for our 2003 filings which luckily arrived on April 13, and which allowed me to get our taxes done.  In the end, I delivered our state tax form to the post office at 4:30 PM.  Hey -- I still had half an hour to go!  Who says I'm a procrastinator??

The #2 deadline was my little mystery project that I wanted to submit to Knitty.  And, being the procrastinator, I realized one week before that April 15 was the deadline -- but I still worked my little knitting rear off to get the project, the photos, and the pattern finished by April 15.  In the end, I submitted the pattern and picts at about 10:30 that night -- Hey -- I still had an hour and a half to spare!  (Did I mention that I'm a procrastinator?)

The good news is that I haven't been rejected from Knitty yet, so I just *might* have a shot at making it to the summer issue ... we'll see.  In any case, what really matters to me (and I really do mean this) is that I finished a goal that I set for myself, and a certain little man in my house is very happy about something that he gets to wear.  That alone is definitely a success in my camp.

Do you remember that I've been hunting down knitting blogs that are in Spanish?  There's a large number of blogs in French and I have a few bookmarked that I read over there on the left sidebar.  But in Spanish? 

Well, look at what I found ...

Waltzing Matilda writes a bilingual knitting blog.  That's lots of extra writing, but !gracias por el esfuerzo! 

(...and can I also mention that a big gripe of mine is that I can't figure out how to work the special characters in these blogging text editors, which makes an anal person like me really annoyed?)

And then there's ?Y qué si tejo?, another bilingual knitting blog that Pioggia updates in both English and Spanish at two different sites. 

La Gringa Tejedora is an English-writing knitter who sometimes incorporates Spanish. 

But that's it.  Let me know if you've found some ... I'd love to bookmark them!  I'll add these in to the left sidebar at some future point, too. 

You might recall that we had a great Boulder hand knitting guild meeting last Monday.  (If you are in the area, you're welcome to join us next time!)

And then I went to meet some mommies for knitting with kids last Tuesday, which was great.  I'm still hoping for some sandbox mommy knitting some day ... so I'll post here if I intend to organize that.  We met through the Denver Knitters yahoo! group. 

Well, two knitting social activities in a week apparently aren't enough for me ...

Because on Friday I went to meet up with the MHC Knitters.  This is a group that meets mostly in Denver, and often up to up to an hour driving from my house, so I hadn't yet been to their group.  If you're in the area, sign up for the yahoo group here. 

We had a really fabulous time.  Lesley* was an amazing hostess and welcomed us into her house with a yummy spread that included both real food and to-die-for-fondue-and-desserts.  Strawberries, chocolate fondue, wine, and knitting friends ... what a fun Friday night!

(And sorry for my crummy photos in this entry... visit the other bloggers mentioned here if you want to see real photos.)

I got reacquainted with Michelle and Stacey, both of whom I'd met at the Denver area Klaralund kick-off last fall.  (Isn't it so cool when a blog becomes an archive of friendships made?)  Michelle was working on a Wavy scarf that convinced me that I, too, need to make this.  Maybe I'll copy Nona's wavy hat.  Stacey worked on her Clapotis while I admired her incredible sense of style, with her pink crocs and her pink and green Frida knitting bag (way cool).   

I then met many other area knitters, some whom I've known through their blogs, and some whom I hadn't yet met but was delighted to get to know.  There's Cynthia and Wanda, two cool knitters who have started blogging, so I'll be anxious to stalk their projects via their blogs.  There were -- four of us?? -- working on Clapotis, which just cracked me up. 

I sat next to Shirley* who was supposedly working on her first sweater vest -- in which she substituted plain st st for a pattern st, then altered the size, and was fixated on matching left decreases with right decreases -- are you sure that was your first sweater, Shirley??  I also met Cathi of the supermodel fame, who was just as fun as I expected her to be, and who I hope will come knit in the sandbox with me at some point.  She brought the Rowan yarn named after her blog, and her finished Clapotis of the photo session fame.  Last, but definitely not least, was Tamara*, a really talented Denver area knitter who kept us in stitches (pardon the pun) with her mispronunciations of yarn -- Koigu will forever be Kujo, as will Clapotis be Cappuccino.  She was great!  She even owns an electric spinner, which produced this:

Which I promply purchased from her for something for my DH.  (What do you see in that? A hat or mittens? It's about 100g of chunky weight.)  Hey, I have to support my local artisans, right??

That was Friday night.  I got home late, and had a great time ... until my 2 yr old woke up just as I was falling asleep and then I got to have a fabulous time with her.  (Why am I cursed with children who don't sleep?? Anyhow...)

NEXT, both Lia and I made it to Saturday's SnB in Boulder at Borders (on the Pearl Street Mall if you ever want to show up!).  Another great time was had!!  It was mostly us "Guilden Girls" as my husband so dorkily calls us, plus Joan, a fun Boulder knitter.  We had a great time, and even Lia behaved herself.  I'm really enjoying our Saturday knitting group.   

Tara brought a project that she said was her "Chempa" (or was it champù? Ha.), or something like that which is a buddhist term for "that which keeps bothering you until you resolve it."  This is another long story, one that I'll save for later, but it is leaving me working on a mystery project this week.

This week I'm also busy subbing for colleagues out of town again (gotta love the extra income), and working on said mystery project.  Knit on!

*And in a truly unoriginal way, I agree with Cathi that just because they don't have blogs doesn't mean their names can't be in bold, too. 

My mother (who by the way doesn't knit and overall thinks I'm insane to love knitting as much as I do, although she's much too polite to actually say it quite like that) recently told me that she was interested in knitting a Victorian beaded bag. 

You may wonder why, so let me back up and tell you that my mother is a volunteer at the Molly Brown House here in Denver.  Several times a month, she gets dressed up in her Victorian garb and heads downtown to give tours to people interested in Ms. Brown and her side of the story.  It's actually very interesting, and if you ever get a chance to visit the house I highly recommend it. 

Anyhow ... though she actually does have two or three purses that she uses, she'd really like a more authentic replica of the kinds that were used in those days ... the hand knit kinds.

This is where I come in.  My mother (who let me repeat isn't interested in knitting) told me that she was interested in this project ... which, in my mother's language, meant, "could you make one for me?"  I know this because I've grown up with her, and I understand how she'd never actually ask me for one but would love to get one.  So, I told her that I would do it, I was happy to (etc. etc.), and together we ordered this Grace Purse in black from Purse Paradise.

And the package came this week in the mail!

Can I tell you that until now the smallest size knitting needle that I've ever worked with has been a size 1.  Sure, I've always seen that there were smaller sizes but I guess that I assumed that those were for hobbyists who liked to knit with thread or hair or something.

Let's look at how small these needles are ... they're called 4/0 needles because they have four zeros.  Here's the size 0000 next to a size 1 needle:

Tara called them "bicycle spoke needles" because they probably come from the same source. 

Next, can I now tell you that I've never knit with beads either?  Sure, Mary Ella looks great ... and Libby's new Cambio is so cute, isn't it??

The beads on this purse are size 11 beads that fit on DMC Pearl Cotton ... for emphasis, let's recap that we're talking embroidery thread here.

Luckily, the beads come pre-strung on thread which you then tie onto the DMC Cotton and supposedly slip on very easily (through some extremely convoluted instructions that include sentences in parentheses with only one half of the parentheses surrounding what should have been in the parenthesis.  Just like that. 

Well, the key word in my last paragraph was supposedly ... because it didn't go so smoothly for me.  Case in point:

What happens when you're pushing the beads onto the Cotton and then the thread breaks.

Beads everywhere.

I broke my thread several times, so let's just say that transferring the beads wasn't my favorite part of the project.

But then I started knitting ... and these needles aren't impossible to work!  Yes, they require a bright light and my cheapie reading glasses that I bought at Big Lots! ... yes, the black makes it even more difficult ... but, so far so good!

It's an easy pattern of garter st on both sides, and drop the pearls at very even intervals.  Every 16 rows, you add one more bead to the interval which creates the scalloped design. 

Here's my progress:

If I'm lucky, I'll finish by Mother's Day.

If I'm not lucky, I'll finish by December 9 (mom's birthday). 

Either way, she told me she'll be tickled when it's done (remember that she is from Texas, if you're wondering why she said that). 

I've been pretty busy the last few weeks on a few Stash Enhancement eXpeditions ... you may remember that I purchased that gorgeous silk from the Great Adirondacks trunk show at A Knitted Peace ... or that I swung by Knitty Cat for an errant skein of yarn that I needed ... and look at where I went last week!

Yes, Woolen Treasures is a fairly new yarn store that I've been meaning to swing by for some time.  My friend Stacey was in town (by "town" I mean Fort Collins, an hour north of where I live) over her spring break last week with her new husband in tow, so I of course had to go see her there.  Where did I stop by on the way, but Woolen Treasures. 

Anyhow, back to the story at hand ....

This is what I couldn't resist.  Mountain Colors Bearfoot Superwash sock yarn (350 yds, 6-7 sts per inch for my further reference as I've already lost the tag).  I'm in a sock phase, right?  I actually have the real intention of knitting a pair of socks for each month this year, so this will come in handy.  This will match my oft-mentioned favorite shoes ever in the world, or they will go to my mother who really loves these colors.  (And because I'm always blogging about these shoes, may I point out to you that Sierra Trading Post often has these at 50% off?) 

Upon checkout, I discovered that I was a day early for the owner's one-year-anniversary sale of all yarns for 30% off (!!), and she went ahead and gave me the discount a day early!

I was so appreciative, I returned this week.  (Never underestimate a knitter when there's a 30% off sale going on... through April 9, beware.)

As I entered, I said to myself -- what will I regret not buying?  I planned to buy some Lorna's Laces sock yarn as everyone is so in love with this yarn and I felt like this would be my chance ... so I did:

And as it is, I'm thinking of going on another yarn diet ... this stash acquisition is getting out of control.  I haven't yet reached SABLE status yet (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy), but I may if I keep this up. 

Last but not least ...

Just to leave you up to date --  Clapotis has reached the end of the straight section but as I have more yarn still I"ll continue for a bit further before I begin decreasing.  Here she is: