Yarn Crawl

Weekend Plans!

I am so excited that two knitalongs are starting this weekend (on Sunday, July 1st): Knitting Lingerie Style, and the Sexy Knitters Club dual knitalong for Fifi by French Girl Patterns

and Annie Modesitt's Red Carpet Convertible.

I got my yarn for Fifi - Rowan Calmer in Tangerine

but was trying to come up with a yarn substitute for the RCC. The recommended yarn is Classic Elite Playful Weekend, a ribbon yarn, so I thought maybe I could use my Tess Designer Ribbon for this.

According to Yarndex, Playful Weekend is a super bulky ribbon, and the Tess is more of a heavy worsted weight ribbon, but the pattern's gauge is 4.25 stitches per inch. I think it may work! I've been waiting for the right project for this yarn, so maybe this is it. I am only making the corset length, not the full dress, so I should have enough yarn.

So that's the SKC KAL. I usually try to make both of their pattern selections but don't always do so. I did for Wicked and Eiffel, but not on the last one - only made Rusted Root, not Sahara as (to me) that one was too similar to the Simple Knitted Bodice that I made last year. The only thing I thought was really different about it was if you used the Tilli Tomas yarn, which I think would have made it $160 for the sleeveless one. Yeah, not really the best use of my yarn "budget".

So, back to my knitalong, Knitting Lingerie Style. I have yarn for two patterns, and am not sure which I want to start first. You guys tell me what you think:

Krista Lace Shaped Tee in Cascade Pima Tencel

or

Surplice Bodice Camisole in Elann Callista?

I have a bunch more patterns from this book that I want to make now, but I'll save that for another post as this is getting long.

Back to the title of my post - my weekend plans are to finish some of my unfinished projects so that I can feel better about adding two, potentially three (not sure if I'll cast on the RCC right away or not) new projects to it. Jim and I are also going to dinner at Roy's with my friend Stefanie and her boyfriend, downtown - we haven't seen her new place yet, which I'm sure is great as it's on the 46th floor, two blocks from the lakefront. We're taking the train down, as the Taste of Chicago is starting now, and traffic would be insane. Saturday - no plans!! Although I want to play nine holes of golf as I had a breakthrough lesson last night - a slight change in my grip and a focus on what my wrists were doing during my swing made a HUGE difference and I was hitting the ball 150 yards. Seriously. I've been golfing since last summer, very intermittently at that. Sunday - KAL start day and seeing a movie (Knocked Up - I have to form my own opinion on this one as I've heard so many varying things) with my friend Patti at 1 pm.

Oh, and one more thing - I received my "teaser" mailing for my Rowan International membership and it said that the look for their Autumn/Winter magazine is oversized and slouchy. Yuck. Now I feel old as I remember when that was in the last time in the 80s. I'm so not up for that. Usually that magazine is about a year ahead on fashion trends so it should be a year or so before we see it across the board in stores, but I'm seeing signs of it already. Some of the patterns in the last Interweave Knits fit that description. It's so NOT a good look for me. The only thing I feel nostalgic about from the 80s is the music - hence the music today on my blog.

Have a great weekend!!

(Almost) Wordless WIP Wednesday

Lace and Cable Sweater - almost done with the back!

Body and first sleeve of Two-Tone Shrug (Fitted Knits KAL)

Separated sleeves of Alexandra top (Fitted Knits KAL)

My newest project - Tube Toporini from the Zephyr Style gals - in brown ("Earthy") Rowan Cork from my stash

Amy Butler Cabo Halter - still sewing in zipper and figuring out length issues, but bodice part fits perfectly

This dress - I bought the fabric (yeah, succumbed to Hancock and overspent for one of the only decent pieces of linen fabric they had), cut out the pattern and sewed all the seams. It doesn't fit right - again, my hips are just after where the waist should be b/c of my short-waistedness, so I am going to use this as an opportunity to learn how to make modifications. It doesn't have a zipper or anything, so I'm thinking maybe I will take out the center back seam after shaping this to fit my body better, and put in a zipper.

Here's the pattern - I made View B at the far upper right - I should have known anything that is supposed to take an hour is going to look like a potato sack!

and the fabric closeup

and the other two fabrics I bought

and the patterns I bought last weekend (forgive the glare - it wasn't light out yet when I took the pics this morning) - can you believe I took almost all of these pictures this morning, plus got a quick swimming workout in (15 laps) and got to work at 7:25?

Here's a silly cat picture - I walked down to the basement to see this:

Gilda is the one in the insulated lunch bag, and FatKat is in the background, on the floor, either begging for belly-fur petting and/or passed out next to the case of Old Style (depending on if you ask me or Jim - maybe both though - LOL). Crazies!

Stitches Midwest and East - Blogger Meetups

I am so overdue about posting on this - but I'd like to set up a blogger meetup for Saturday late afternoon for both Stitches Midwest (Saturday 8/11) and Stitches East (Saturday 10/13). For East, I'd like to meet at the restaurant/bar across the street from the convention center at 5 pm - here I am last year when I went with my friend Lisa for the day.

At Midwest, maybe the same time, around 5 pm, but I'm not sure where. They have a sports bar in the convention center, but there are also hotels that are connected to the convention center through a moving walkway.

PSA - Jeanie of Sexy Knitters Club fame is looking for a roommate (more yarn $$$) for Stitches Midwest. She will be here from Thursday night through Sunday. Contact her through her personal blog, Dances with Yarn, to arrange.

I can't seem to sit down and do a "normal" blog post lately - like WIPs, progress, etc. I feel so scattered and pulled in a million directions. I decided to take the rest of the week off after the 4th of July, so maybe I will catch up then.

I am planning ANOTHER excursion back to the Vogue Fabrics (a la last weekend's adventure) on Saturday morning, because apparently, $200 and about 35 pieces of fabric weren't enough for me. I need an intervention. But I live with the biggest enabler, MY HUSBAND. I was going to go to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up some linen fabric (the one thing I didn't buy) for some summer dresses yesterday, and he said, "Why not just go back to Vogue Fabrics? As my uncle who owns a mens' suit shop always said, good fabric is everything." Have I said how much I love this man?

My Life's Work (or At Least My Weekend's)

All day I took pictures of my stash for Ravelry (and I'm still not done!) and then took pics of my fabric as I had bought quite a bit of it yesterday at Vogue Fabrics, the monster fabric store.

For those of you already on Ravelry, you can see my yarn stash there - I don't have all the pictures matched up with the list yet, or have all the duplicates cleaned up, but here is a link to the Flickr set. Also, here is my fabric stash - the things toward the top are the newest acquisitions from yesterday.

Whew. Now to back slowly away from the computer and the digital camera...and actually start knitting!

Interesting - I've Changed from a ENTJ to ENTP

You Are An ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love. And if things don't work out, you're usually not too much worse for the wear! You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor. At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision. How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

What's Your Personality Type?

WIP Update

Here's a picture of my newest project, the Lace and Cable sweater from the Classic Elite Summertime Knits book. I finished the waist decreases on the back and am working on the increases now - about half way to the armhole. It is KILLING me to do something so slow.

So my antidote was this - the Alexandra top from Fitted Knits. I just separated the sleeves and am working on the body now. Apparently I'm all about the cables lately!

I'm also working on the two-tone shrug - almost at the point where I separate the sleeves (couldn't find that project quickly enough this morning for a pre-work picture.) I also will have pictures soon of the Waterlily Top from the Spring 2006 Interweave Knits. I just need to finish the back (from the armholes up) on that one and undo the provisional cast-on for the hem edging and that'll be done.

I can't wait to start on the lacy skirt that I posted a picture of on Wednesday - I ordered the sprout colorway in the Allhemp6 and they emailed to tell me that it was delayed by two weeks and to ask if I wanted another color instead sooner. I thought that was good customer service and told them I could wait - this way I get a chance to finish up some of my other projects.

We didn't go to Vogue Fabrics this weekend as planned, as we just wanted to get home on Sunday and didn't want to rush the trip. I'm thinking maybe this Friday afternoon. I have the road trip bug too - I would love to go to "Harbor Country" in Michigan but the roads are totally under construction in Indiana, so we might pick another locale. Maybe Galena again. This is our "weekend vacation" year, as next year is the big South American cruise vacation in March. We tend to do a big vacation every other year and short ones on the alternate years.

On a more serious note, I just heard about the donations for Annie Modesitt's new design, The Red Carpet Convertible on Elan's blog and I stopped by to buy the pattern/donate. Annie's husband was recently diagnosed with cancer and to help defray some of the household/other expenses while they're going through this, she is selling the pattern for $4.50 plus whatever you'd like to donate to help her family. Jim and I know someone (the wife of one of his friends) who had the same type of cancer and needed a bone marrow transplant. She got the transplant but ended up passing away in her mid thirties, a mom of three kids. So I thought any small thing I could do to help them (while getting a great pattern, as a plus!) was good.

American Club Weekend

Jim and I were at the American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin this weekend. We drove up on Thursday for my corporate outing and returned yesterday.

Here's some pictures of the courtyard - we really liked hanging out here during the day when we weren't playing golf or doing spa stuff. The stained glass building in the first picture was brought over from the UK and was a great place to sit and drink coffee or eat a light breakfast - they also had a decent wine selection and homemade ice cream.

Here's pics of the room - it included all of the nice Kohler fixtures, although the tub wasn't as great as I thought it might be (I'm spoiled though!)

When we first checked into the room, my co-worker who organized the event had these waiting for us. Each of the ladies got a different purse, all of which were really cute and handy to carry around everywhere - mine was perfect for me, being pink and green. There were also Kohler turtle chocolates and golf balls in the bag.

I did do some knitting on my new Lace and Cable sweater from Summertime Knits, mostly on the first day, but not as much as I thought. I brought that and the two-toned shrug and worked mostly on the cable project. I didn't have really any time between spa appointments so I ended up not working on it in there.

The spa was INCREDIBLE - best one ever. The spa was four stories, they had an area to eat lunch, a bunch of plunge pools/whirlpools, nice sitting areas, just really great all around. I had the best manicure and pedicure of my life - really - they had a lot of special touches that they did to make everything special. Like for example, on the manicure, they dipped our hands three times in this really great cranberry-spice scented paraffin wax, then put plastic gloves on, then had us sit with our hands in these nice warm mitts for awhile - and gave us the bottle of polish that we picked! I also did a body treatment called the Sea Lime Sigh which was a hydrating scrub with lime smelling salt oil - it was really nice.

While I was spa-ing on Friday, Jim was playing this course at Black Wolf Run:

The next day, Jim and I played another course with one of my co-workers and her husband and it was fun. Nine holes was enough though as it was extremely hot. We then had lunch in the clubhouse (which was really nice) and went to their Sports Core to the pools. This was my one beef about the hotel - no pool directly on property - and both of the pools at the Sports Core (about a mile away, reachable by shuttle bus) were indoor. They did have a beach area, but it was a pond, not directly on Lake Michigan, and there weren't really any chairs or anything. Next, we went to the Kohler Design Center and museum on site, and that was interesting ($15K corner showers, overflow tubs, etc....) We thought it was unique that almost everyone in the area worked for the Kohler company in one way or another - truly a company town - it looked a lot like the Pleasantville movie set.

Overall, it was a nice place, and I would go back as part of an outing or just for the spa/golf, but wouldn't spend much time in town as there wasn't too much to do. The rooms were OK in the main building, but not worth $379 (in my opinion) as there are no decks or balconies, and no pool on site. However, I only paid for one night and am very appreciative of the free nights and free spa/golf we got to do - so I don't want to sound like I don't appreciate that. They have a new Carriage House, which is in the same building as the spa and the rooms are supposed to be outstanding (but $800 a night!! In Wisconsin!!)

Wordless Wednesday

Sweater a Month KAL Update - 14 Done!

Back in April, I did a year to date recap of the sweaters I've finished this year with the Sweater a Month KAL and I thought I'd update the list as I finished my 12 sweaters, plus two to spare!

1. Jim's RYC Soft Tweed sweater
2. Charlotte
3. Wicked
4. Eiffel
5. Green Gable
6. Kochoran Skinny Rib Sweater
7. Ines
8. Rusted Root
9. Turtleneck Tube Vest
10. Ribs and Lace Tank
11. Textured Tunic
12. Airy Wrap
13. Carie Cropped Cardi
14. Tomato

In other news, I started a new sweater yesterday from Classic Elite Summertime Knits. I'm using this bright yellow Pima Tencel

and doing this pattern.

I felt like doing something more complicated, with different directions on each row. I decided to knit this in the round to the armholes instead of in pieces, as I feel like sweaters get done more quickly that way for some reason and it saves a (dreaded) extra step at the end. There was another lace/cable sweater I liked from the Classic Elite Boathouse book, but when I did the swatch, I realized I didn't enjoy the pattern (I hate two stitch cables, which maybe I would hate less if I cabled without a cable needle, but it had them on every RS row.) This one will be a lot simpler, yet detailed enough to keep it interesting.

This year our annual company outing (for our corporate office HQ) is at American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin. They let us pick either golf or three spa services, and this year they are also picking up golf and spa for our spouses/guests as well!

Here's a pic of us ladies on their way to the spa at last year's outing in Galena (Illinois):

The company pays for us to stay at the resort on Thursday and Friday night, then if you like you can stay on another night on your own at a group discounted rate. Jim and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary on Thursday - (big) hint to my SP10 spoilee- so we are going to stay the extra night and make a weekend out of it.

So Thursday morning we'll drive up there, stopping at a few yarn shops along the way and maybe taking the Harley Davidson plant tour in Milwaukee, then having dinner with one of my friends from work and her husband. Friday Jim will be playing golf with the other husbands (his buddies) during the day on Friday while I spa with my co-workers that have opted for that route (mainly the women in the office and the wives), then we have dinner with the whole group on Friday night (no cocktail party this year, which is actually a good thing.) The next day we're playing golf with one of my other good friends from work and her husband (the ones we went to the Easter Seals benefit with) and then probably having dinner with them later. It's going to be fun!!

Ravelry Addiction and Two New FOs!

I've been a slacker about updating my blog lately...however, I have a new addiction. (Raises hand) - Hi, I'm Robin and I'm powerless over my addiction. To Ravelry. I guess it's not bad as far as addictions go. I spent about three hours on Friday uploading names of my projects (still working on pictures of them and my stash) and about an hour locating friends. I'm RobinM on there, so let me know what your id is if I don't already have you on my friend list. I think a whole bunch of invites just went out too so if you don't have yours yet, it'll probably be arriving soon.

So, I have two new FOs to show.

First, Tomato! I have not woven in the ends yet or washed it. Any suggestions on how to wash this to make sure that the red doesn't bleed into the white section? It's Blue Sky Dyed Cotton. I'm thinking it'll loosen up a little too when it's washed as cotton usually "grows".

Here's some pics - I could wear this without a cami (I did just happen to be wearing this one so left it on) but it would be a little va-va-voom! Ignore the appearance of my hair as all I did today was sit out by the pool and knit (I know, rough life, but I was low energy after being out late last night at a concert til 2 am.)

On Tomato, I made the smallest size, but didn't switch to the smaller needles to do the sleeves or the neck pickups. I think that worked well, as the sleeves are pretty fitted (but are OK, as opposed to Rusted Root which I still need to reknit the sleeves on - learned my lesson on going down a needle size on that one.)

The second FO is the Carie Cropped Cardigan from Fitted Knits - I don't yet have the perfect button, so am just holding it closed, but will be going to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston on Sunday and hope to find one then (along with one for the Textured Tunic.)

I don't love this (me and superbulky wool like this Cascade Magnum have a love-hate relationship) but I think it will be nice to throw on for extra warmth in the fall/winter.

I made the smallest size on this one, and could have stood to go up one size. It will button, though, and in the back it fits right. So who knows.....it was quick and easy and will be warm in winter. And I really like the sleeves.

Here's my latest project, Waterlily Top from last spring's Interweave Knits (2006). This is a fun one!

Here's a close-up of the start of the eyelets for the bodice:

I'm using Colinette Giotto from my stash in the "windfall" colorway. I'm hoping it fits as well as the Ribs and Lace Tank as they're similarly shaped, and I'm using R&L as a guideline for the length.

That was my weekend! Hope all of you had a great one!