get your granny on

it’s time to ripple!
everyone who reads this blog is surely aware of my irrational and unrelenting fondness for stitch dictionaries of all kinds—even the bad ones.

well last week, i saw this advertised in one of the knitting mags.

three guesses as to how long it took me to run to the computer and order a copy! three more guesses as to how many bruises i incurred along the way, tripping over myself to get there! a caveat for purists though: this book contains both crochet AND knit patterns!

i mean, here i am making a zig-zaggy skirt, and then there is a book full of inspiration for it?? not only that, but overstock.com got the book here in like, 3 days—just in time for me to change patterns in my knitting. i LOVE being in sync with the universe!

ok, so where am i on said skirt, anyway?? wanna see it?

as you can see, i am just at the point where it is about to flare out some, just at the bottom of the hip. that “seam” actually is a side seam. i am in the process here of changing to a larger needle and i have just begun a more open version of the zig-zag pattern. i did rip back the other day to make the black stripe less bulky, and i like it MUCH better now. the striping will be random, but i will maintain the ecru as the main color, so it will be mostly background, with some stripes.
i love it so far!
except for one little thing—the ecru yarn is strangely NOT nearly as soft as all the other colors i have tried in this yarn (about 6 total). why?? obviously it has something to do with being undyed, but it is not nearly as flexible, soft, or pleasurable to touch right now. i’m sure this will change with a washing, but it’s too bad it is the main color!

meanwhile, back at the ranch, i am plotting my second skirt and also starting a sample of the lacy little girl’s dress i knit last week. tell me what YOU think:

these are my two choices for the dress, which will be the sample and the pattern photo:

the red is a watermelon color that i bought to make my second skirt, but i could use some for the baby dress. OR i could use this fresh green. i really can’t decide! the recipient will be the same little girl (she is quite pale-complected); if she has a pink dress, does she need a red one too? or would green be better?
i know the correct answer is “make both!”, but which one first?

the watermelon will indeed be my next skirt; i love this color. i think i’ll make it an allover lacier mesh. i am realizing that his yarn can stand a LOT more meshiness than i thought at first; it won’t compromise the (cough) modesty of the garment, since it doesn’t open up as much as you would think. plus, it will lighten the weight of the fabric even more, which can’t hurt.
i might put a touch of a blue stripe along the bottom of the second one; i don’t know yet!

i am working away on the ivory shawl, too. it doesn’t look like i did much, but that’s because it’s getting scrunched onto the needle.

i just love this piece; it was totally the right decision to start it, even though i have a lot of other things on my plate right now.

now, no post would be complete without a discussion of sock knitting, and i have been doing a lot of it in order to be nearby when david has questions for work (though yesterday, he really didn’t need me much at all!). i finally finished the hollySox.

you must be SO excited that you will never have to hear of them again! and i am glad i do not have to photograph them any more—it was always very difficult to get a good picture of them. i am making headway on camoSock number two, which is my new desk project (to do when i am printing or uploading files).

i love the color but i will be happy when they are done. the yarn is “catchy” and it annoys me. i know it will make splendid socks, but it is constantly catching on the needles as i knit it. feh.

the weather here has been gorgeous; cool, dry and best for biking! we went for a wonderful ride last night together on our racing bikes. then we came home and watered the garden

which is growing like mad! if only my projects were doing the same . . .