I got an email from the publisher today saying that I need to pick out my top two yarn choices and tell them how many skeins I need. Eep!

In addition to making a post in knitting, which lots of people have answered and helped me out with, I took and extended lunch break LYS hopping with Kate. The only way I'm going to be able to accurately determine how much yarn I'll need is by swatching, so I've picking out my favorite/most likely to succeed yarns from each store I've gone to. So far Hilltop East and the Fiber Gallery have been plundered. Alchemy Bamboo (HOLY CARP EXPENSIVE!) from Hilltop, Debbie Bliss Silk from Fiber Gallery.

People in the knitting post have pretty much said no on the bamboo (heavier than I thought, apparently, but I'll still swatch and make a desicion on my own), and yes on silk, but leaning more towards a merino/silk blend or Euroflax. One of the dresses in Sensual Knits is made with Louisa Harding Grace Silk & Wool, which seems like it would be a good choice but I'd still have to swatch it it or something VERY similar to determine yardage, and I'm not exactly sure where I would find it.

I really want to figure out my yarn choices soon so I can request it and start designing. This whole deadline thing is SCARY!

I'm exhausted from so many projects and deadlines and sick rabbits and vet bills that this post won't be nearly as long as I thought it would be at the beginning of this week.

Around Monday or so, I went to Tuesday Morning with Chris to buy stuff and found lots of ( close-out yarn )

I don't think I ever posted the second Chakra hat, so here's a two-for-one:


( more armwarmer pictures )

I finished the armwarmer things for a swap, and they ended up being a REALLY fast knit once I got the hang of them. I re-wrote the pattern so that it's more organized and fixed up some errata, and I'm sending it to the recipient of them. I'll probably be posting the improved pattern sometime soon too, but probably just in Craftster. I'll link to it.

I've been working on the reversible ribbed hat too, and I'd post pictures but it looks exactly like the scarf at this point so I won't bother. It's coming along, but I'm a little puzzled as to how to do the decreases when the time comes.

Oh well.

My special order Tahki Yarn ( from California came today )

I don't have pictures of the table cloth, but I will once it's finished. I just have one more triangle to sew on and then I need to stitch around the edges so I can throw it in the wash and have it be functional for the party tomorrow. I want to put a backing on it, but that's not going to happen overnight.

I'm officially broke after spending several hundred dollars on vet bills, so my future knittings are limited to yarns I already have. I've got a few sweaters I need to do before winter's over, and buying yarn for sweaters can add up. So I improvised:


The green yarn is 80% alpaca, 20% nylon, from a sweater bought specifically to unravel. Some of you may recognize the brownish yarn, although not in this form. It's from a sweater (bought from a thrift store!) I wore for a couple years, but have stopped recently because it's just not flattering. Apparently it was made from a LOT of yarn. 100% acrylic chenille. I'm not sure if I want to just remake that sweater, or reincarnate it as some hats and scarves. We'll see.



In other news, HURRY UP AND DRY ALREADY!

I posted them in my other journal without a lock

But more closely on topic for this journal, I bought lots of yarn while I was there and more importantly, did LOTS of knitting too.

The hot pink fuzzy coat from hell is taking shape. I've got the body completely done, and I'm making progress on the sleeves. Problem with the sleeves is, my yarn gets a LOT shorter when it stretches, and it's hard to measure their length when you're sitting in a car.

This was my progress when I was in Santa Cruz:







I did get a little bit of the watermelon shirt done, but not enough to take a picture of.

I bought pretty yarns:


The entire haul


Schaefer Laurel (two 400 yd skeins) in Katherine the Great


Blue Heron Egyptian Mercerized Cotton (one 1000 yd skein) in Raspberry



Maggi Knits Maggi's Linen, 5 120 yd skeins in hot pink, 2 in variegated orange/olive greenish-brownish

And two blue cascade fixations for a CHRIS THONG. Har. He'll wear it too, I'll make him.

I went on a "weekend" trip to California, and just got back today. I just uploaded a million pictures, many of which involve fishies and knitting. Until I get them all edited and ready to post, I just wanted to give a shout out to Monarch Knitting in Monterey, CA, one of the most awesome yarn stores I have yet to visit.

I highly recommend them, especially if they let you borrow their passes and get into the Monterey Bay Aquarium for free, like they did for me when I ended up spending so much time in their store that it was too late for me to go to the aquarium that day.




More later

If it's not obvious, I'm on a Fitted Knits kick. Finished the shrug, halfway through the tube vest, and I've already got the yarn for the drop-stitch tank. So what's next? I think I've fallen for the Long Coat with Chevron Lace:


One problem stands: yarn. This coat needs a LOT of it.

Here are the specifics from the book:

Gauge: 10 sts and 13 rows = 4 inches
Size 13 needles
Suggested Yarn: Cascade Tuscany Grande, 1755 yards

I have a 50% off discount for Joann.com right now, and the only yarn I liked that MIGHT get the right gauge was some Red Heart. I'm checking some other online places too, but it's hard to find super bulky yarn anywhere.

Red Heart Casual Cot'n Blend Yarn in Preppie or Black Grape
Spinnaker

More than anything, I'm figuring I'll probably end up making a nice fuzzy coat out of one of the giant cones I bought from theladywyvern, but I'd want a scale first so I can figure out what my yardage is. I'd hate to get 75% done and run out of yarn. Ew.

UPDATE

EUREKA





I seem to have gauge from the bit I did. The one problem I can see this yarn bringing up is that there is NO STITCH DEFINITION WHATSOEVER. But it's soft and pink and I got a GIANT cone of it. I *think* this one is Squish, but it could be Cush.

I have constant bad dreams and nightmares. More often that not, I wake up with a pounding heart several times in the night.

The neutral/goodish dreams I've been having are turned bad upon waking up. These are YARN DREAMS. You know the kind of dream where you receive some object you've been lusting after, or win large quantities of money, only to wake up realizing that you never had it in the first place?

I've had two dreams in a week, where I woke up and suddenly had less yarn than I had thought.

Lovely wonderful yarn.

And it's not mine.





I can't wait for this class to be over (ONE MORE WEEK) and then I can knit all day, use up loads of yarn, and find excuses to buy more. Mmmmmmm yarn.

If there was ever any question in regards to my sanity, here is your answer.

I just recycled this yarn:



This used to be one of those stretchy tube scarves that everybody and their mom had five years ago. Kate was going through her scarf drawer and asked me if I wanted the ones she was throwing out. They were all fabric except for this one.

I accepted the challenge.

It took me several days to even figure out which end was the one to unravel, because it kept getting tangled on itself before I could make any progress. Once I did have the right side, it took me a few days to figure out why I was having such a hard time: IT WAS KNIT WITH FOUR DIFFERENT STRANDS OF YARN. No idea why. But it was, and it took me a while, but I DID IT.

Now to see if it tangles up on itself if I even look at it wrong.

Yesterday morning Chris finished putting together his new router table and was able to start helping me put together a niddy noddy for me to undo sweaters onto.

( Yay for Chris and his Routing Genius )


The Niddy Noddy in all its glory.
One wrap around the entire thing is approximately 5 ft. of yarn.

As soon as it was done, Chris handed it to me and said, "Go unravel a sweater!" So I did.

My first unraveled sweater was perfect. Big chunky yarn in an OBVIOUSLY bottom-up pattern. All I had to do was unravel the stitching holding it all together and off I went.

( Farewell $10 Sweater )


A sweater's worth of yarn. I'm estimating about 900 yards of 100% cotton wonderfulness

I have no intention of knitting anything with it soon. I'll probably do the obligatory OUT YOU KINKY BITS! soak, twist it up, and then throw it in a bin until inspiration strikes. But OH man it feels great! All that yarn for $10?! That was my splurge of the thrifting trip. I felt bad paying that much for a used sweater, but I found the original "inspected by" sticker on the tag so it's probably brand new anyway. And that's a LOT of yarn for $10! It took me less than 30 minutes unraveling the whole thing, I believe.

( May package from my swap angel! )

Thank you so so so so so much Swap Angel! <3

I got paid yesterday. What does this mean? All those urges to go out and buy sweaters to unravel became a reality over the course of two days. Not only did I get some nice yarn to recycle, dye, felt, etc., I also picked up some SWEET fabric. Observe.

YESTERDAY

I stopped by the Goodwill by my house. It's nice living in the yuppy neighborhood sometimes. The store was small so I only picked up two sweaters, an XL mostly wool in somewhere around sockweight yarn for $3, and a small hooded bulky linen one for $4.





I'd never been to this thrift store before so I had a look around, and found THESE babies:


6.66 yards of fuzzy pink upholstery fabric for $7(I'm serious about the measurement too)


4.5 yards of that pretty color-changey purple fabric for $4

I also caught a glimpse of some nice looking nylon yarn ($1.50) that ended up being way way way less soft that I'd thought. I can still make something out of it though.



TODAY

Chris and I both had dentist appointments today, but they were five hours apart so we used that as an excuse to run a bunch of errands. We stopped by a lumber store so Chris could take a gander at wood to start making his drums out of, and I got a dowel to make a niddy noddy to unwind my yarn onto. Then we stopped by the thrift store I used to work at and knew all the tricks and where all the good stuff was. Chris helped me look through sweaters too. I came home with:


37 ties ($6)


Giant pink cone of mystery yarn, laceweight ($2)


The exact same bulky linen hoody I found yesterday (can't hurt to have more of the same yarn!; $3.50)


A splurge. Pink and green linen sweater ($10)


A red and orangish wool hoody ($2.50)


An 80% Alpaca, 20% nylon sweater in my favorite color ever ($5)

The hard part now is going to be NOT unraveling them until I've finished the second baby blanket and have the niddy noddy all made up. But oh man I want to do it NOW. I'm excited.

Apparently SOY SILK CAN TAKE KOOL AID DYE.

YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Now I don't have to be all bitter and jealous when I hear about the awesome things people do to their yarn with Kool Aid.

That is all.