Stash flash!

New stash!!! The results of my Knit Picks Cyber Monday Sale purchase, a major online Stash Enhancement eXpedition. I almost didn't, but I couldn't resist. 

First, I was just going to get the Suri Dream Alpaca for the Craftsman Afghan I had planned a while ago. The pink/red/orange scheme doesn't go with our home so much, and some of the colors aren't produced anymore. So I went with blues and greens: Aegean, Atlantic, Fern Heather, Blueberry Heather, Natural and Black.


I kept looking at how much I had to spend before getting free shipping, and thinking about how much I was saving (because that totally makes up for sort of unnecessarily buying more yarn, but....). How could I resist buying discounted yarn for a few more projects? It's not like I was randomly buying yarn....it had a purpose!

So I got Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin for the Creature Comforts Cardi, since I've been in love with it since it came out.

And then I was really close, so I figured I may as well go for the $50 purchase to get free shipping. I added two skeins of Wool of the Andes Bulky in Porcini to make the Mittenscarf - perfect for the cold Montana winter, right? And so cute. Provided the airline lets me take needles aboard (it is technically allowed, but left up to the individual agent's discretion), it will be my holiday travel knitting.

My plan is to modify the pattern slightly, as I would like convertible mittens, the kind where the top flap buttons back so your fingers are free to drive or use an iPhone or so forth.

Finally, five skeins of Comfy Worsted in Pomegranate to make the drew sleeveless top. I've never really done any summer knitting aside from the failed bikini, so I thought this might be a good way to start. I love the gorgeous red color - it will go with I think two or three of my summer skirts, plus my dress skirts and suit, and of course any jeans or shorts really. I just love the ruffle details. I'm noticing in my queue that it is the small details like that that usually get me...ruffles, hardware, subtle shaping, etc.

The half-felted bag is coming along nicely. I've finished the front and back of the bag and sewn it together. I also completed the two loops. I didn't make it in time to felt them here as our laundry day was yesterday and I was seaming the bag until after 10! So I'll take it with me to CT and felt it there. The chain arrived yesterday, too, and it is perfect - sturdy and heavy. I'm hoping the rest of the hardware arrives in CT by the time I do! I know the Chicago screws have shipped, so it's just the lacing then.

I haven't done anything dissertation-related today, so I'm going to do that to assuage my guilt. I did make an awesome pickle soup for lunch and started looking at slow cooker recipes thanks to an early Christmas present. (Thanks Mom!)

Of course I really want to be knitting. I keep telling myself that once I finish writing these last two chapters and start submitting post-doc apps, I can focus solely on knitting and yoga for a good six months. But the less disciplined side of myself (not so much a half, but about 80%) doesn't want to wait. Besides, it's perfect knitting weather - grey, cold and snowy/sleety/rainy.

We're in a fight

I started my first sweater! I was so excited and had even finished all UFOs before casting on, so that I would only focus on this sweater. I also chose something in a super bulky yarn that I figured would knit up quickly and keep my attention during a somewhat bigger project.

I cast on. I knit a few rows. Got hung up yfwd (twice)....does it mean to loop the yarn over the needle twice and then knit my stitch? Does it mean to yarn over, knit, yarn over again, knit? Figured that out with some help from sister and the Internet. (Yarn over twice then knit.) But at this point I had ripped out the few rows I had done because I initially did the yfwd (twice) wrong. So I started over, confident that I now knew what to do. Proceeded to do so and went for about 20 rows successfully. Or so I thought. I counted my stitches on the first decrease row, and had 67, instead of something like 82.

I had already cast on about four times for this particular project. I couldn't figure out where I could've gone wrong to get 67 stitches so I wasn't sure where to backtrack to. The only thing I could think to do was rip it out and start over. At this point, I'm thinking the yarn has some kind of vendetta against me and is dropping stitches when I'm not looking. So until it learns how to behave itself, it can stay in little balls in my yarn storage. We're totally in a fight, and I know I'm not wrong, so. It could be a while.

I'll come back to it when I cool off. But seriously. We are so in a fight. Not cool, yarn. Not cool.

I decided to start something else in the meantime: the half-felted bag from Boutique Knits. I have some Lion Brand Wool (perfect for felting) in pearl gray, and it's knitting up very nicely (unlike some yarns) and quickly. I'm just about done with the back of the bag; the front is the same, and then it's just two bag loops and two pockets. The loops, back and front get felted, and then the pockets are sewn on, unfelted.

The knitting is relatively easy and I've been keeping a close eye on stitch counts in case this yarn gets any ideas. The hardest part has been finding the notions! The bag uses Chicago screws, leather lacing, cord lock stops, D rings and a purse chain. I thought I might actually have some luck locally with leather lacing and Chicago screws (commonly used in leatherwork) since hunting is so big here. No luck. Joann's had D rings and cord lock stops, as well as magnetic bag closures.

In case someone making this bag sees this and needs the resources, here's where I got the other stuff:

Chicago screws: via an Amazon seller. The Weaver Leather Chicago Screw Pack comes with 3 that are 3/4", so I had to order two. Apparently the nickel ones have a floral pattern on them, but I think it will either not be noticeable, or look good as it's a purse and it'll add a little girly detail.

Leather lacing: This was really hard to find! I looked at the websites for a bunch of leather goods/work stores. Nothing in gray. Maybe if you're doing black or white or brown, it would be easier. But for gray, I ended up buying leather shoelaces. They come in the right length, and I'm pretty sure it will work. They're the 72" square leather laces. If they don't work, I'll probably substitute black. (Joann's did have some leather lacing, but in very limited colors.)

Handbag chain: Somehow I almost had to order this from vendors in the UK or NZ! Before I ordered from overseas, I finally thought to check Etsy and had luck there. I ended up ordering a 24" nickel bevel chain that I think will be perfect; it also has swivel snaps so I won't have to do any metal twisting to get it on!

The chain should be here early next week I didn't trust the shipping time on the other items, so I had them sent to my mom's house, so that I can finish constructing the purse there. My plan is to finish all the knitting on it and possibly the felting before I leave so that once I get there, I can just put the hardware on, and voila! A new purse! Happy Christmas to me! Anyway, I'm enjoying knitting this in comparison to other recent projects. I'm also enjoying how ginormous it currently looks unfelted. Like some massive mutant bag....it grows so quickly too, on size 11s.

I also just finished my mohair shawl, complete with ribbons and buttons. I'm not really a bow girl, so I just looped the yarn at the ends and fastened it with the button. It has some unique design features....like where the rows shift from where I lost track of the pattern...and the odd dip in the middle. Also, I'm now completely unsure if I knit it right because my pdf says to repeat the two rows in the pattern, and the website says only to repeat row 2. But it's a nice lacy mohair shawl nevertheless, and the ribbon and button idea is so cute! It really adds something. And Isis really enjoyed the part where I was weaving the ribbon through. She thought it was a game just for her. Disappearing ribbon! Oh boy!!! I told her, "Not everything is kitty playland." But she disagrees. Fortunately, she did not do anything terrible to the shawl, just chewed the ribbon ends a little. Now I just need an occasion to wear one of my dresses again....maybe a certain wedding in the spring?

Well, back to the knitting I go. Oh! And the dissertation is coming along well. I just need to write my last two chapters. Oh, and make some tedious changes due to the new APA style manual. Adding a number at the end of all my citations (super tedious), two spaces instead of one after a period (really? I can automate this, but really???) and some changes to parenthetical citations. Sigh. I wish my school did what most others did: If your proposal was written and approved in Style 5, keep it that way. Otherwise, Style 6. But apparently the dissertation process could always be more difficult/frustrating/tedious.