Eleven Stitches

Happy Birthday!

Today is a milestone birthday for my wonderful fiance.  It's one that ends in 0!  Here are a few (knitterly) reasons David is so wonderful.

1.  He supports and understands my love for knitting.  He isn't a knitter himself (despite many offers to teach him) but he has many hobbies he's passionate about, and he understands how it is for me.

2. He hasn't gotten grumpy about all the yarn.  In fact, when I sometimes reluctantly admit that I just bought a lot of it, his reaction is "That's great!  Now you have more yarn!"

3. For a non-knitter, he knows a lot about knitting.  He is well versed in types of stitches, common knitting problems, types of yarn, types of needles, gauge (and its importance), test swatches, colorwork, blocking, cast-ons, and grafting. 

4. When I get a new skein of yarn that I particularly love (think Wollmeise or Sundara), I'll keep saying "Look at how pretty it is!".  David admires it every time.

5. He reads my blog, and all of the comments.  Because of that, he will see any birthday wishes you send him!  Could you help me wish him a Happy Birthday?

I love you, sweetie!  I hope you have a great day today!

Virtual Swatching

Given my recent seasonal revelation, I decided to abandon the bamboo top for now and start on a fall sweater.  I love the simplicity of the Elizabeth Zimmerman seamless sweaters, and I'm going to try one with inset sleeves. 

I have some Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed Yarn that I got at a LYS going-out-of-business sale.  I love the color.

I was only able to get 6 balls, and I need more than that for a sweater.  I wasn't able to find any more purple  (this yarn has since been discontinued), but I did find a lovely green that looks very nice next to the  purple.

This brings in the issue of stripes.  Horizontal stripes are often not very flattering, and I don't want to knit a sweater that I won't want to wear.  I decided to do a little bit of virtual swatching.

First up is wide stripes.  Aesthetically, I like wide stripes.  However, they usually make the wearer also look wide.

Next is thin stripes.  This looks like it could be a workable option. 

I've also been thinking about optical illusions.  Maybe I could get my wide stripes and still have it look flattering.  What if I started out with thin stripes at the bottom and gradually widened them as I got up top?

I think this is my favorite so far.  Not only does it appear flattering, the varied stripe widths would be interesting to figure out and knit. 

What do you think?  Wide, thin, graduated, or something else?

Knitten

It turns out that Philana likes yarn and knitting very much.  In addition to helping me tangle my yarn, she also likes to watch me knit.

This has become her favorite spot to sleep.  She switches back and forth between shoulders, but she generally leaves me enough room to knit or use my laptop.  In fact, she just jumped up on me since I started writing this post.

Philana is also interested in knitting patterns.  She has found the Child's First Sock pattern to be especially nice to lean against. Despite Because of her best efforts, we have just turned the heel.

It's been fun to make pairs of my single  socks.  But a great idea for a pattern and yarn combination might do me in soon....

Both Sidewinders Now

I had so much fun knitting this pair of socks.  The pattern was so inventive.  The yarn was so wonderful. The combination makes a stunning pair of socks, in my humble opinion.

Pattern: Sidewinders by NonaKnits
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle in Amazonas
Needles: Addi Turbos Size US2
Time to Knit: June 9 - 16 and July 23 - August 3
Modifications: On the second sock, I placed an extra stitch between the increases and decreases on the toes and heel.  This evened out my stitches and helped to fix the problems I had with the first sock.

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting these socks, and they knit up so quickly!  There will certainly be more of these in my future.

Eye Candy Friday

I saw this guy just outside my building when I left for lunch.

He carefully went to each cluster  of flowers to feed.  I stood there for several minutes watching (and taking pictures) before he finally flew off.

Isn't it nice to be surprised by beauty like that?  Have a great weekend!

A Matter of Timing

I cast on the other night with some lovely pink bamboo yarn.  I bought it last fall at a closeout sale, and I have been envisioning a delicate summer top ever since.  I swatched for it in June, and finally at the end of July, I was ready to go.

Plymouth Royal Bamboo

Today I've been considering this decision.  If I start knitting this now, I'll be done in a month or so.  That means my delicate summer top will be done in September.  I will then be able to wear it twice and then put it away until next spring.  Hmmm....

Ideally this top should have been started in April.  I could have finished it in time for MDS&W, and worn it instead of the Ming Sweater.  (I did love that sweater, but it was extremely hot to be wearing on a warm day surrounded by crowds of people.) I will have to remember in April 2008 that it's the perfect time to be starting a delicate bamboo top.

Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in 05 and Brooks Farm Solana in 31 (for two different sweaters)

In the meantime, I'm going to be swatching for some warm, woolen sweaters.  After almost 2 years of knitting, I think I'm starting to get my timing correct.

PS.  Thanks for all of the wonderful kitten name suggestions.  There are so many creative knitting-related names!  Unfortunately (and understandably), David wasn't too keen on the idea of having a knitting-related name, so we settled on the name Philana.  Mathilda and Agatha were close behind though.  Thanks Stella and Ashley for those suggestions!