31 October 2006

Happy Halloween!!!

Remember how proud I was of my Sunflower Tam made with the Noro Kureyon? With the cool colors? My cats ate a hole right in the side of it. Not sure which one but my money is on Chaucer (he's kind of like a goat in cat fur). Not a good Halloween trick, especially since its now freezing outside. Boo.

Current book-in-progress: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Writings by Washington Irving (a little Halloween reading).
Current knitted item: Still working on that shawl (stitch by stitch) and I can make progress on the first stocking because I got the yarn dyed (Dale of Norway does not make even remotely flesh-colored yarn in the Baby Ull variety), and now I have to make another hat.

15 October 2006

Hat done, stockings started. Shawl? Still not done.

Went to see my Grandfather for his birthday. He was 80 years old on Saturday and had a party to celebrate - the best quote of the day was from one of his good friends who said the gathering looked like a geriatric ward (kind of funny, since all my Grandpa's friends are around his age). But I got absolutely nothing done, except to finish The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield. I had been wanting to get that finished because the author is going to read on Wednesday.

As far as knitting, I made a hat on Thursday from the Noro I just bought using the Sunflower Tam pattern - based on phyllotaxis - from the book Knitting Nature (and I have enough to make another hat since I think the pattern needs tweaking, but the yarn makes the pattern really interesting). One Christmas stocking is started but I need to dye some yarn before I get to Santa's face (flesh colored yarn is not a commodity apparently).

And I need to write a paper. Sigh. I would rather read and knit.

Current book-in-progress: Rooms of Our Own by Susan Gubar, one-half of the team that wrote The Madwoman in the Attic (a very good book also)
Current knitted item: Torn between the shawl, Christmas stockings and another hat.

07 October 2006

Growing 8 stitches per row...

My shawl, which is sooooo pretty, is taking about 20-30 minutes per row since it grows by eight stitches per row. There are now about (140 x 4) + (6 x 2) stitches and I'm on Row 120. The patterned part of the shawl continues until Row 160 and then there is a 12 row garter stitch border. Just think how many stitches that will be. Eeep.

But I also bought more yarn (huzzah for more yarn!). Enough to finish two Christmas stockings for the neices (found some really cool "hairy" yarn for Santa's beard). And since I couldn't leave without something for myself, I bought three skeins of Noro Kureyon in color 164 (green/gold/cream/aqua combo) to make the Sunflower Tam from the book Knitting Nature. Pretty!

Current book-in-progress: Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. And some poetry by the Earl of Rochester for a paper (due in 10 days). And Les Liaisons Dangereuses....
Current knitted item: Working on the shawl. Need to cast-on for the stockings. And I'm itching to start the hat.