I have to admit that once I got past the difficult starting charts and the same small chart was repeated ad nauseum, I was beginning to wonder what about this lace shawl impressed me enough to knit it.
I should be ashamed! May I introduce you to the Veil? She’s breezy light as usual, and when I said I wanted close to transparency… I got it.
When I come to knit, nothing is safe!
Eventually it all got contained. The blue yarn is the child’s sweater I’m finishing for the gal who broke both elbows. My spinning is in there as well.
The Big Deal is Elaine’s Sheep Shawl. She’s onto the border, hooray! Look at the sheepies marching across the bottom edge! And yes, I say sheepies. Deal with it! Leigh and Elaine examine:
Of course, I went to dinner AFTER I went to Knit and Caboodle. Strangely enough, I didn’t get pictures of the individual items that I bought to build up my stash, but I got a blanket kit. Intarsia Sheepies! I also got some roving, and the rest of my store stash that I had set aside for a jacket. I should swatch for that.
At the end of the day, everyone was tired. Including Zalo.
So I’ve been busy doing everything that I shouldn’t be. I’ve got some sewing to do, but I keep doing yarnie things. The yarn. It’s irresistible! I’ve picked up my spindle again and I’ve actually skeined and washed my first attempt at yarn. Opinions on Ravelry lead me to think I need to run it through the spindle again and give it some more ply twist, but I think I’m just going to leave it be and make a neckwarmer. I don’t know one wa or the other about spinning yet. But I do have my eye on a gorgeous spinning wheel on ebay (oh dear lord, the trouble, it comes quickly!). I am waiting for more pictures of a few details, and lovely folk on Ravelry are seconding my opinion. I love Ravelry. Ravelry is wonderful.
SO anyway, here’s my handspun. Point, laugh. Get it out of your system. I’ll kill you with my gorgeous laceweight by this time next year.
I’ve also been blocking things that have needed blocking all year. First up is the February Baby Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman. It was for my friend who had her baby on Halloween. She had a boy. Oops.
I finished White Lies Design’s Renee’s Vintner’s Waistcoat (say that five times fast!), and realized when it took up nearly the width of the towel that it was going to be huge. And it is. Are you sensing a theme here? I can’t knit a thing my size to save my life, apparently. Maybe I should just stick to christmas stockings? Those are done, by the way.
This has the cutest buttons too. It makes me cry. I’d frog it and reknit it, but I’ve lost the pattern. I can find all the patterns for everything else I’ve knit, but not this! Cover your ears, because I’m going to scream!
I’ve also spent the day cleaning up my bedroom/sewing room in preparations to move my knitting and fiber addiction back in there as well. My mother is taking my knitting/entertainment room for her permanent sewing room. But tomorrow, I really do need to get some sewing done. Really.
Check it out. Not a word of Doctor Who, and you get to see knitting AND spinning! Do I deliver or do I deliver?
I just watched Waters of Mars. Oh Doctor… you need a companion. Very very badly.
(and that brings to mind Hook, with Robin Williams. At the end, the little girl playing his daughter shouts at Hook: “You need a mother very very badly!” it makes me giggle…)
I will not say anything else about Waters of Mars, or the preview of End of Time. But I really want someone to cuddle with right now. Not all is right in the Whoniverse, and it makes me sad.
And now to get down to knitting, as that is what I’m assuming we’d all actually like to talk about.
I feel really guilty saying my Veil of Isis is not complete yet. I’ve been going gung-ho on the christmas stockings as commissions and trying to get them done. I’m in the finishing stage now. I picked up another commission to finish a child’s sweater for a woman having a bad string of luck – broke one elbow, and right after it healed, broke the other, and some other parts required for knitting. I’ve also picked up some repair work, and a sewing commission. I’m a busy girl. I did get one personal knitting project done. Bit of a brain break:
Key-hole Scarf
Manos Del Uruguay, Silk Blend. The pattern is a free one on Martha Stewart’s magazine website. She makes me feel dirty. But the scarf is nearly identical to the one in One Skein Wonders, which just uses bigger yarn. Sooo…. makes me wonder if someone’s been very flattering. You know the phrase: plagiary is the most sincere form of flattery. Of course, I’m just throwing stones. I’m too lazy to look into publication dates and study the exact nuances of each individual pattern. And there’s only so many ways to make this key-hole scarf. Right? Right. BTW, pattern called for 150 yards of a fingering weight yarn. The Silk-blend is a DK, and I have enough of this stuff left to make my neglected camera a cozy. That’ll be my next brain-break project.
Google docs, I appreciate you. At a time when I’m feeling very lost and my finances seem like a rioting mess, you come and help me out. Of course, I have had my payment schedule spreadsheet hosted there for over a year, and it has helped tremendously by letting me look forward to paying off debts (of which I’ve eliminated half!). I have also started a new spreadsheet for something most people carry in their wallet: a balance register. I am one of those people that hate balancing, and don’t do it. Part of the reason, if I’m allowed to give myself excuses, is the fact that I use a trifold wallet, and balance registers don’t do this! I do keep my receipts though. And now I am motivated to record my daily fluctuation of finances as well as my monthly debts. I am proud to say it has not taken a negative balance for me to realize this necessity; I have, for some time, been very vigilant about watching that red line, and I have been able to avoid it successfully. This should just help me do it a little bit better. I should say that my biggest reason for doing this is for a clearer snapshot of my financial habits. I “know” I do this or that too often, but it’ll be hard to ignore it when it’s staring me in the face.
On a more knitterly note (’cause that’s why you’re here, if you’re here at all),
I finished up the last of my 1460 yards of cobweb laceweight on my Veil of Isis! … but did I finish my Veil of Isis? Sadly no. The bright side: Connie has another skein in the store and has it waiting for me. Hurrah! I will finish it this week. I have neglected almost all duties in order to finish this shawl. As I am not going to be able to make it to the store during store hours until Monday, I am going to have to work on commissions instead (whoops). Tell me it’s okay…
Another project that is tantalizingly close to completion is my blouse. I have to seam it up. The second seam has given me trouble and therefore I have set it aside, because we all know that’s how problems are solved. I will be picking that up again as well. Shall I have two WIPS done by this time next week!? Tune in next time and find out!
Still nanoing as well; I skipped writing today, but I did brainstorm and micro-plot the upcoming portions of my novel, and I did some research (however inaccurate my findings) on the details I had not known I was going to write about. This is good. Many times while I am writing I simply stop dead and stare, because I have no idea what I’m talking about. Now, I can continue not knowing what I’m talking about, but still write on! Getting the details right is what revisions are for…
It is 3 am for the second time today. What was all that about writing every day? I’m terrible. How am I going to do Nano, you ask? I’ve been asking myself the same question. >< I'm not even in the mood to write about it. I'm actually plotting how to make Dalek stitch markers. I think I've hit on an idea — I need liquid sculpey, 11/0 seed-beads, and needle-nose pliers.
On the knitting side of things, I've gotten to the border on the Veil of Isis shawl! I've finished 8 rows and I hope in the next two or three days, I'll be binding it off and blocking it. No pictures; I've been lazy about that.
Have I finished anything else? hmm, don't think so. I've been picking up some yarn at Connie's for a jacket, skein by skein, although that project is on the back burner. I'm working on two christmas stockings for client that I want to get done before Thanksgiving. My next lace project is to finish the Pi Shawl, with beads. I'm re-doing the front closure and neckline on a dress I made. Lesson learned: muslin does not equal two layers of wool. Allow for thicknesses!
So, my to-do list for today, since I don't seem to be sleeping. 1 section of a stocking, if not two sections. Take apart the bodice and save sewing for the week. 2 more rows on the Veil of Isis. Call bead stores for itty bitty seed beads. Write 2000 words on my nanowrimo.
I've also got a dress for myself planned, but if I write about that it'll be on Seamshistoric. I need to revamp that site. I need a proper Photoshop. Someone wanna buy me the Mac version? My PC is kaput.
Okay, so while I’m sitting here kicking around the internet I finally tell myself there is no excuse to not write a blog post. I’m not really knitting on anything at the moment because I’m finishing up some sewing, and I don’t want to distract myself. However, it’s 5 am, and I’ve done all I can right now by hand, and I need to use the machine. Which, in turn, means noise, and I have to wait.
The red blouse I’ve been working on is at the seaming stage; it’s in a bag in the car ready for my next trip to wherever. I’m not casting on anything new; I’m going to try finishing up the Veil of Isis.
As for NaNoWriMo, I’ve been filling out index cards for my characters and individual scenes. I like the mobility of the index cards over the seemingly static list of an outline. I’m using a lot of index cards, but that’s okay. I had to buy them for math class anyway, and they’re cheap. I haven’t worked on the the story at all recently; I need to pick up one of the books I have to research with and you know, read them. I am not quite sure, however, where I put them. I’m sure they’re both lost in the mess in my car. Ah well.
So, sorry for the useless pictureless posts. But I’m alive. Surely that makes you happy, right?
Actually, I mistyped my own blog url (hah!) and found that there is a website out there, http://theknitside.com, and it’s a yarn store in Michigan. I have no idea how long they’ve been open, but their website appears new. Hopefully this won’t cause any confusion between their customers and my readers. (*crickets chirp here, because we all know Andi is just talking to herself.* 
)
So, the full moon is on October 4th, and I can tell. Today has been maniacal. First I stayed up all night (what was that about getting to sleep at a decent hour?) and I had assumed that I was working evening today, so I was okay with getting a few hours sleep during the day. I got a phone call waking me up; I was working all day today. Damn it! Then on the way in I stopped to get some grub at McDonalds (oh and that losing weight thing?). On the way in I saw one of those trucks that hauls 8 cars pulled over on the side of the highway. Is it good luck or bad luck that those new cars have been stranded on the side of a highway before they have any mileage put on them? Then, as always happens with a full moon, people drive like idiots. Be wary people! be wary!
I promised you pictures today. I am such a liar. Today has been a nonstop rush here, rush there, don’t stop to do anything. When I got home I moved my technology and knitting into a spare bedroom. I have an office! More or less. (and yes, there is a spare chair for the cat.) So now, at 11 pm, I’m exhausted. And who knows… I might even sleep tonight! Hopefully I’ll get the pictures tomorrow.
I’m a terrible, terrible, person. I haven’t updated at all. But, come to think of it, have I finished anything? Well, my mosaic jacket has been felted, and it fits… sorta. Ignore the fact that now it’s just the tiniest bit too small. That I don’t mind, actually, if I would actually get up and lose weight. It would fit then. But I digress. My Veil of Isis is still on the needles. I’m about halfway through the yarn. I’ve started another project, which I’m making decent progress in, and I will post when I get pictures. So this post is lacking pictures, but at least it’s an update.
Another thing I will be blogging about now: NaNoWriMo. I have to remind myself it’s ‘nah-no-wrih-mo’ not ‘nah-no-wree-mo’, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop. I am going to try blogging every day during the month of October, because it will help me get into the groove of writing every day for nano.
What is nano?
I’m not linking to it today because they’re relauching the website and every year it crashes when people use the website in the massive waves that occur on October 1st. However, nanowrimo is ‘national novel writing month’. It’s actually in October, but the gears start turning in October. Today. Yay!
I may or may not blog about halloween. I have a dream dress in mind that is inspired by Tom Baker as Doctor Who. What!? Did you think that since I’ve been silent so long I’d be quiet about Doctor Who!? Not a chance. Anyway. Unfortunately this is another ‘I need to lose weight’ idea, because I’d like to use the corset and undergarments I already have, but I’ve gained the weight and I don’t fit. I need to stop complaining and do something about it. I need to stop blaming insomnia, sleep during the night, wake up in the morning, exercise, eat right, and go back to sleep during the night. There’s a lot I need to do.
First things first though; tomorrow: pictures.
ETA: Here’s one project I started and finished since my last post a few months ago. A pair of socks. I really only do one pair of socks a year, although I probably cast on half a dozen. Socks may have been my first project, but they are not my friends.
socks
Doesn’t look too impressive right now. Wait until it’s off the circulars and blocked! It’ll improve by leaps and bounds.
You HAVE to backlight lace. It’s a law. Really.
