All Quiet on the Knitting Front

My hand had been causing me problems all last week. It's my tendonitis and I wasn't using the computer much, so I must have slept on it funny. Anyway, as hard as it was, just like any other obsessed addict, I stayed away from knitting and did not pick up my needles for about 10 days! Ai-yah! I'm sure other knitters out there can relate to the agony and pain of not knitting for 10 days. So my advice for you knitters out there is to use an ergonimic mouse and ask for one at work if you use it a lot in your job. That's how I ended up with the tendonitis. Owwie.

So at my knitting group on Wednesday, I picked up my needles and knitted some lace swatch samples (not worth photographing) for a few projects that I want to do. Yesterday, I resumed working on the Kitty hat I was making for my sister. It's part of a kitty accessories set for her. I already made her fingerless glove gauntlets with claws, per her request. I actually named the gloves "Catty" and submitted the pattern to Knitty. But alas, I was rejected with the response that although the pattern "is really fun but unfortunately not right for Knitty." I'm still not posting the photos yet though because I'm trying to see if there's another fun knitting pub that I can try submitting to. I don't think this is up MagKnits' alley. The option I'm leaning towards is just posting it on Craftster's forum and putting up the free pattern on this blog.

Project: This WIP is a modified version of the kitty hat from the Stitch n Bitch book.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay, #108
Needles: Using 2 US 10 circulars (don't have a 16")

Another project that I worked on is a simple lace scarf for a former colleague. She requested a fuzzy pink scarf. I admitted my yarn snobbery and told her I don't work with fun fur novelty yarns, so this is what I came up with.

Project: Simple Keyhole lace scarf, my own pattern
Yarn: Knitted 2 stranded with 1 strand of hand-painted kid mohair, and 1 strand of hand-painted worsted weight merino wool.
Needles: US #15

Sunny California

People here are not used to cold weather. I'm not either, but not this bad. There's soma unusual cold weather in southern California, but Houston was colder when I was there. Houston and other parts of Texas has somewhat extreme weather -- it can go from 100% humidity and totally stinkin' sweaty hot in one week to really cold with frost and ice the next week. California, especially SoCal is not even close to being that bad!

Anyway, while I was in TX one of the people I got to see was my friend Ann, who I met in college and taught how to cook and sew. This time, I taught her to knit. Her first lesson was the mantras:
"Hobby store yarn is only for practicing and learning."
"Do not waste your precious skills and time knitting something for someone using acrylic or other petroleum-based synthetic yarns."
"There is nothing shameful about being a yarn snob."
"Natural fibers are awesome."
So, after she understood those mantras, I showed her how to cast on and knit. We then went to a HipKnitsHouston meeting at the Central location. There we met some lovely and friendly ladies, who mostly seemed to be transplants to Houston. One of the ladies, Kelly of Kelp!, was making this beautiful sweater out of Malabrigo yarn from a project in Knitting Nature. It was so soft that I just wanted to roll in it like a cat. Anyway, everyone at the meeting was amazed at the knitting prowess of my star student. Her stitches were really straight and had even tension, AND she didn't even drop a stitch! I think she's a natural...or....is it because I am an awesome teacher? ;)

The next day, I decided to take a field trip to one of the few yarn stores in Houston, Nancy's Knits. I ended up hanging out and chatting at the store for a couple of hours with the very welcoming and friendly Nancy (owner) and Michelle (regular customer). The shop is a small shop stocked well with all sorts of yarn -- a little something for everyone. Some of the yummy yarns Nancy carried include Fiesta, Noro, & Cherry Tree Hill. I showed Michelle and Nancy the projects stuffed in my giant purse and they admired my hand-painted yarns in my clapotis and the scarf for Linh. I bought myself some 5" #7 dpns by Lakewood and a skein of Berroco Ultra (50/50 alpaca/wool) in a deep red for Ann. After the store trip, I visited Ann again -- she wanted to make a baby hat for a gift for the next day! Talk about ambition! Ann then learned to purl, decrease, make tassels, pom-poms and bind off. That night, I made a baby hat with the Berroco for Joshua, Ann's large 9 mo old baby, and Ann will be using the rest of the yarn to make Josh matching booties.

I should call Ann and tell her that she should get an alpaca as a pet for her son.

Back from the Bible Belt

I returned from Texas tonight several pounds heavier from all the multiple family get-together and family friend get-together dinners consisting of Peking duck, crab, braised tofu and other yummy and fatty items. Luckily, I wasn't on a diet, nor am I picky when it comes to good food. Although, I think I should go to the gym so that the fat from the Peking ducks (yeah, I had it 3 times) don't permanently adhere to my thighs or my already unusually robust bust. And on Monday night, we went to an uncle's house for dinner and drink, and they served us giant crab legs as an appetizer! Yum! Looking at that is making me salivate like a rabid dog!

On the crafty side, I pretty much had my purse stuffed with knitting projects these past 2 weeks. I knitted whereever, whenever, including that Peking duck restaurant. Aside from finishing a sample for that class I'll be teaching and something for my sis (the one I submitted to Knitty), I also test knitting a pattern that's been swimming around in my head, a neckwarmer for my stepmother, and a lace scarf for my friend Linh.


Above: (click to enlarge) Drop Stitch neckwarmer that self fastens by inserting one of the tips into a gusset. (don't know what the exact term is). I hand-painted the 60%cashmere/40% merino wool yarn. My grandma used to make something like this for us, but hers looked, uh...like a grandma's. I examined one that grandma did, figured out the pattern and updated it with the drop stitch.


Above: Lace scarf with a seed stitch border. I knitting the scarf with 1 strand of that 60/40 cashmere/merino yarn I love so much, and 1 strand of a 100% kid mohair yarn. I hand-painted both of the yarns separately -- the cash/merino has soft greens and lavenders, while the mohair had lime and celadon greens with hints of a mossy brown. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and the way that the colors paired together. I'll post the pattern later.

Another Liana

Here's a pic of the sample of another Liana pattern in a colorway that makes me think of a desert sunset.

Happy New Year!

I've spent the past week in the Houston area. Surprisingly, the weather has been mellow and cool. I can still feel the humidity, but it is much easier to bear than when it is hot. I definitely have been spoiled by the nice California weather. So, what have I been doing here? Doing what cats do -- eat, sleep, eat some more. There's the obligatory family dinners and visits followed by visits with family friends and then hanging out and catching up with some old friends. My sister and I attended the lovely wedding of some old friends. The mantra of the wedding basically was "It's about time!" You see, our friends have been together for 11 years longer than some of us have been married and known our own partners! The wedding very nicely done and was almost like a mini college reunion. Plus, the open bar didn't hurt ;) No one but a young cousin of theirs got smashed though.

Anyway, in preparation for this trip and visit, I made sure to pack a good amount of knitting supplies. I made a sample pair of the Liana gauntlets for that class I will be teaching and I made my sister model them for me before I had to send them off. I also am pretty much done with a project I designed based on a request from my sister, which I think I'll call "Catty." I hope to meet the next submission deadline for Knitty. Another project I brought to work on is for a contest submission for Etsy, which I haven't touched. That's not all; I brought more projects to work on. My not-as-ambitious projects include a neckwarmer for my stepmom, which I made too long and have to undo part of; a yarn ball and yarn mouse for my aunt's meanie guard cat Curry, who will claw at you he thinks you're taking something that belongs to the house or if you try to venture beyond the living room into other areas of the house; and a scarf I'm making for Linh, for which I have only finished 10 inches.

I'll post some pix later. Dad doesn't have DSL yet...trying to set it up for him. I hate dial-up. Luckily, I brought my laptop here's a weak but good enough signal from a neighbor's wireless that I found (probably from my uncle's house, which is right behind my dad's.)