Becky's Knitting

My first LYS stop in St. Paul was Borealis Yarns, a shop I had not visited before.  The front of the shop was very nice with a good selection of yarns.  They had Lucy Neatby yarn which I had not seen before, and many of the standards.  I then wandered into the glorious back room where they have a great selection of sock yarns. 

I had a VERY hard time holding back because there were so many beautiful items, but I ended up limiting myself to two.  First, this beautiful Silky Sock by Great Adironack.  Totally reminds me of a peacock - the color name is Fiesta.

And this Opal Feelings yarn will make fairly thick stripes.  The colors reminded me of something my mom would like, and wouldn't you know, when I was showing her my purchases she claimed this one for herself. 

I would have liked to have purchased some of the Lucy Neatby yarn as well, but was trying to limit myself at this point.

My next stop was The Yarnery.  The last time I visited this store, I saw Malabrigo for the first time and purchased some laceweight which I am currently making into a swallotail shawl/scarf. 

This time around I went with some Malabrigo worsted weight in a color that is pretty close to burnt orange.  If paired with cream, it could probably pass for burnt orange.  I don't have any specific plans in mind for this, so it will probably marinate in my stash until the right project comes along.

The next day on my way to Northfield, I stopped at this new store in Lakeville - Knitter's Palette.  How I wish this store had been around when I was in college - it would have been so convenient!  I didn't buy anything because I had already spent quite a bit, but it was a lovely store and I hope they do really well.  I will definitely go back to visit next time I'm in town.

And because I can't resist a good wind turbine, here's one of the many turbines I saw scattered around on my trip.  This is Carleton's own wind turbine. 

Posted by Becky at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Yarn

So after finishing my 40 page seminar paper and 6 weeks at my first law firm job of the summer, I am finally getting around to posting about my trip to MN.  I flew in early in the day so that I could get the direct flight from Austin to Minneapolis, but my friend had to work, so I spent the day on my own personal yarn crawl. 

I began the day at my favorite Twin City LYS, Needlework Unlimited.  It's located in Minneapolis, just past the Edina border, and since I spent a lot of time at the Edina mall and restaurants when I was in college, I was able to visit NU fairly often while I was in school.  They have a huge variety of yarn (and a needlework section which I have never paid any attention to). 

I had such a hard time deciding what to get because they have so much, especially a wonderful selection of sock yarn, and I had so many stores ahead of me.  I settled on this skein of Schaefer Anne sock yarn in colors that remind me of Sedona. 

Next up was what is quickly becoming another favorite store of mine, Amazing Threads in Maple Grove.  I visited AT on my last yarn crawl in MN a few years ago and really enjoyed it so I was eager to go back.

When you first walk in, this gorgeous wall of Malabrigo greats you.

My other favorite part is this wall of Koigu (sorry these pics are so blurry, but they're the best I got).

So of course I had to get a little of both.  This skein of Koigu is kind of easter egg colored, but not  soft pastels.

And then there was this beautiful purple Silky Malabrigo.  I LOVE IT!  I'm actually debating on whether I want to buy enough to make a sweater, so I'll probably swatxh with this and then decide.  It's gorgeous.

They also have a great selection of sock yarn, and I couldn't resist.  I got this skein of Schaefer Heather.  The fiber combination of wool, silk, and nylon really intrigues me, and the colors are very me.

Also in Maple Grove is another store that I missed on my last trip - Yarn Cafe.  I was kind of disappointed.  It isn't really a cafe, but more of a store with some snacks and drinks, but certainly not what I would consider a cafe.  The lady who helped me was really friendly, and it is a nice local store.  They carry a little Rowan, Cherry Tree Hill, Schaefer, etc.  They also had some really cool buttons.

Interestingly, it seems one of their main focuses is to carry a line of yarn called Mooncake.  This yarn is made in China, but it reminds me of Malabrigo with its incredible softness.  It comes in a LOT of colors.  I picked up a skein in this fun pink color to make a hat or scarf or some other small accessory.  I'm interested to see how it works up.

Coming soon: Part 2 of the Yarn Crawl - the St. Paul side of the Twin Cities.

Posted by Becky at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Yarn

Franklin Habit came to visit Austin today as part of his 1,000 Knitters Project.  My goal was to finish Isabella so I could wear it for my picture.  I didn't make it :-( 

I didn't realize that I would have basically no time for knitting once finals were over.  In fact, silly me, I thought just the opposite.  I can't complain because life as a summer associate is pretty swanky with lots of good food, fun events, and nice people, but I am always amazed at how exhausting near-constant social time is. 

As you can see, I did make excellent progress on Isabella.  The back is done, and I am currently doing short-row bust shaping on the front.  I would still like to get it finished this summer as I have a suit this would look excellent underneath, which is what I originally picked the yarn out for.  We'll see how quickly I finish it, though, because I am sooo in the mood to knit some lace and cables now that school is done. 

Franklin's visit was really fun.  Unfortunately I didn't get to stay too long because I had a handbell concert to get to.  The Knitting Nest was pleasantly full with lots of people shopping and knitting while awaiting their turn, but it wasn't overly crowded.  Here's me with Franklin.

Check out how long the scarf that everyone is working on while getting their picture taken is.

Here's my friend Lisa who is my handbell/knitting buddy.

And here's Rita and Lydia from LSSK.

I was also pleasantly surprised to run into Ana who makes Entrelac stitch markers.  I purchased some of these back in April when she had her collection at The Knitting Nest Ravelry get together.  I LOVE THEM!  They are small, so they don't interfere with my knitting when I'm using small needles.  But they're much prettier than the small plastic ones I've been able to find.  I was planning to email her about ordering some, so I was thrilled when she said she had some with her.  I got two different colors of little tiny ones and one slightly larger one that I like for marking the beginning of the row in circular knitting.  I needed some more because all the ones I bought my first time around are in use already.  I highly recommend her products if you tend to knit with smaller needles or just don't like dangly stitch markers, but still want them to be pretty.

I also picked up 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Pink Blossom.  These are for test knitting socks for another LSSK friend - Birdy.  She's finishing up her heart socks pattern, and I offered to test it out for her.  Should be fun - I'm thinking my sister loves pink and the hearts would be cute girly socks for her.  Of course, I also think they'd be really cute for me. 

And check out these cute tape measures that Stacy just got in and was giving away with purchases.  Glad I bought something

Posted by Becky at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Isabella | Yarn

I turned in my final paper of 2L year last Wednesday.  I had to write at least 25 pages as my portion of a joint research project.  I ended up writing 40 of the 65 pages we turned in (ok b/c I was doing it for more credits), and I easily could have written more.  We'd like to publish the paper, but that would require me going back in and adding the stuff I left out and some major editing, so I don't know if it will happen. 

I also started work last Monday, so the overlap those first few days when I was staying up late to write the paper and getting up early for work was pretty rough.  Now I'm living the life of a summer associate - big lunches and lots of activities paid for by the firm - the hardest part is trying to squeeze in actual work.  I'm really enjoying myself so far, even the work part! 

On the knitting front, the back of Isabella is done and I'm about 4 inches into the front.  I would show a picture, but it really just looks like a purple blob right now.  I got kinda tired of it and did a bunch on the second Crown Mtn sock while finishing my paper, so I'm not as far along as I'd like to be.  I'm going to have to do some major knitting this weekend to get it finished in time for Franklin's visit.  I'm struggling though because now that I'm done with finals, I really want to work on lace and cables and all those awesome projects I didn't get to work on while school was in session.  If I could get a little farther Isabella has lace - I wonder if I can force myself through it or whether I don't care that much.  We'll see.

Also, as a heads up, Season 2 of Vickie Howell's podcast will be starting soon.  I think the episode with the founder of Etsy is the one I am most looking forward to.

I owe you a recap of my yarn crawl through Minneapolis and St. Paul yarn stores.  Lots of goodies were purchased, and I want to take some good pics so look for that soon. 

And because I hate a post without pictures, here's Major helping me write my paper.  These pictures have not been rotated.  He curled up between my legs, and then rotated himself.  So cute!

Posted by Becky at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Isabella | Law School | Major

Only a few more weeks until finals, which means I am studying hard (and procrastinating by blogging).  I am officially done with my internship at the Supreme Court and the class that goes with it.  I still have to write a 25-30 page paper, co-write a buy-sell agreement for a closely-held corporation, and outline for, study for, and take a Securities Regulation final.  I am hoping to be done all of this by April 30, but I have a little bit of extra time to work on the paper if necessary.  As usual when I get into finals mode, I have been doing lots of knitting, but not a whole lot of blogging.  So here's the latest status report:

• the Scandanavia Mittens are done and gifted to my mom, but are back in my possession for blocking and picture taking.  I probably won't get around to this anytime soon, but once I do these gorgeous mittens will get their own post
• the Unoriginal Scarf is finished and also in need of blocking and FO pics
• the Conwy socks for Daniel have been cast on, and while I don't (and can't because they are a surprise) work on them very often, I like the way they are coming out
• the first Monkey sock is complete and very cute.  I haven't cast on for the second one yet because ...
• I am about to complete the fastest sock I have ever knit, as explained below.

Back in February Grumperina posted some socks that I fell in love with.  The yarn is Sock Hop from Crown Mountain Farms, and I knew I wanted to get some, but it is pricey as you need two skeins to make a pair of socks.  Plus, it only goes on sale for one day a few times a year, so I had to wait until April.  Come April I had recently finished a few projects and hadn't bought too much yarn recently, plus I wanted to celebrate getting EIC, so I decided I deserved a bit of a treat.  Unfortunately they don't have the colorway Grumperina used anymore.  I couldn't decide which color to get, so I ended up getting two - San Francisco (blue and brown - something I don't normally pick) and Layla (purply pink - very me).  It arrived on Monday, and look how awesome it is! 

The reason the yarn is so expensive is that it is handspun, but it is so worth it!  I needed a new, mindless stockinette project, so as I finished up the first Monkey sock, I cast-on on Tuesday with the San Francisco colorway.  I went with my size 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks dpns, which I think was a good idea because the yarn sometimes gets very thin due to being handspun (there are also some thicker parts).  Between having a few meetings where I was able to knit, and needing some mindless knitting while studying, and this yarn being sooo addicting, I have already reached the ribbing on the first sock!  Here's the progress:

Here's the socks in progress while I'm studying and Major is passed out on top of me - aww!

I'm now up to the ribbing and will take more pics once I cast-off the first sock.  I don't know if I'll immediately cast-on for the second sock- I seem to have a single sock thing going on right now.  But it does work really well for mindless stockinette.  Here's the other single socks:

The beginnings of the Conwy.

And the first Monkey sock.

Normally I get a bunch of knitting done during the finals crunch, and I will get some done doing research for my paper, but unfortunately the paper writing, contract editing, and outline creating all require a lot of typing which is not conducive to knitting, so we'll see how much I get done this time around.  I cast-on for the Baby Lord jacket I have been planning and purchased yarn for, but it requires too much counting and concentration, so is on hold until I get to start my summer knitting.  I could do Mermaid or Sahara knitting as my finals knitting, but both of those require figuring out where I am on the pattern, so I will probably stick to sock knitting until school is over.

Posted by Becky at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Conwy | Law School | Monkeys | Scandanavia Mittens | Sock Hop | Socks | Unoriginal Scarf | Yarn

Note: the majority of this post was written back in January, but I never formatted the pictures to upload them and post the entry.  Writing about the Dale dress yesterday, I realized I never showed my first FO of 2008, so I'm finally getting around to posting this. 

So you know how when you go to a baby or bridal shower, you always feel sort of nervous when your gift is being opened.  Did you spend enough money?  Will she like it?  Did 2 other people get the same gift?  Is it cute enough?  Does it have the aww factor?  Well I finally had an experience this past weekend where I didn't have those worries.  My friend Leslie is getting married, and her bridesmaids threw her an Ornament Shower where everyone brought ornaments for them to hang on their Christmas tree.  For the first time, I knew going in that my friend was going to love her present, and everyone else was going to be impressed.  The present:

Mini-Weasley Sweater Christmas Ornaments with the couple's initials on them in Texas Longhorn colors.  I love them, and they would be great presents to make for others for next year.  Just need to start early! 

Project Specs:

Pattern: Mini Weasley Sweater Ornaments from Charmed Knits
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK in burnt orange and cream
Needle: US 4 Bryspun dpns
For: Leslie & Kevin
Started: January 2008
Finished: January 2008 

Ravelry Details

Thoughts: the seaming was a little annoying - next time I might try knitting them in the round.  The duplicate stitching was much easier than I thought.  DO NOT do a loose cast-on - otherwise the roll looks a little goofy like on the K sweater.  I bought craft wire at Hobby Lobby to make the hangers.  I'd love to make a set of these for my friends Matt and Nancy who are engaged.  One is a Longhorn and one is a Sooner so it would be cute to do each in their school's colors.  Really, it would be fun to start a tradition of doing a set for all of my friends when they get married, but no promises since I would have to actually plan ahead to pull that off.   

I leave you with a picture of Major being goofy.  He is trying to hide from one of our friend's dogs who was visiting. 

Posted by Becky at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to FOs | Major

I received some big news last night - I was selected as Editor-in-Chief of my law school journal - the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas & Energy Law.  This basically means I get to run the show next year, so that's pretty exciting.  I'm really looking forward to it - it'll mean a lot of work, but it's a great opportunity.

In other big news that those reading this blog will probably be more interested in, I finished the Dale Baby Roses Dress!  There hasn't been a FO in these parts in quite some time , so I am pleased to present to you the first big FO of 2008.

Pattern: Dale Baby Roses Dress (#13502) from Book #135 in 6 mo size
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull, <3 balls of cream, <1 of both pinks, and just about 1 ball of green
Needle: US 1 addi turbos
For: baby Georgia
Started: September 2007
Finished: March 2008 

Ravelry details

What's that, you want to see a picture of it being modeled?  Ok! 

It's a little big right now, but that's great so hopefully she can get some good wear out of before she grows too much.

I actually finished it (except for weaving in all the ends) on our anniversary which was last week.  Daniel and I celebrated by checking out the new Four Seasons Restaurant Trio.

Since our anniversary falls during spring break, we both had the day off so we went golfing.  Here's what my car said when we got back in - in the middle of March!!

Daniel loves to drink port, so I bought our present this year - a set of 4 Waterford cystal port glasses!  Turns out the 3rd anniversary gift is crystal, so I even followed the rules

Posted by Becky at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Dale Baby Roses Dress | Law School

The Unoriginal Scarf, based on the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, is now available as a free download.  You can get to it from the sidebar, and it is also available in my Ravelry Store.

Please let me know if you have any questions or find any errors, and I'd love to see any projects you make with it.

(Now if only I would hurry up and finish and block mine )

Posted by Becky at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Unoriginal Scarf

Here's where I'm at on the Noro socks, but I have a two-part dilemma so they're on hold until I get some opinions. 

Problem 1 is notice the icky green after the purple.  There is a whole bunch of that icky green, going into greenish yellow, before you get back to red.  I don't understand why it's there because those colors definitely don't show up in a normal rainbow.  Should I cut that part out of the skein?

Problem 2 is the following.  The Noro yarn has 3 full repeats.  The problem is that 1 repeat is not enough to do a whole sock, so I need to get into the second repeat.  But that means I can't make these socks exactly the same.  So my options are a) make the foot and heel identical, and then the top of the leg not match up or b) start the second sock with green, blue, purple so it will follow the same color sequence as the first sock, but start in a different place in the sequence.  I'm sad because I really wanted to make matching socks, but I guess it just isn't meant to be.

I could probably get two matching socks if I made them a little shorter than normal, but that would mean the entire leg and cuff would have to be in the green, which I think takes away from the rainbow.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on both issues - should I cut out the olive green and how should I handle coordinating the two?  If you want to see others who have made socks in this colorway, check out these and these.

Posted by Becky at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Noro

Yesterday was First Thursday at HCW, so my mom and I met up when I was done with class.  In honor of March Madness, all balls of yarn were on sale.  I was excited to see that they got in the new Comfort Sock yarn.  It doesn't have any wool in it, so I picked up a skein to make a pair of socks for Daniel.  Finally - non-wool sock yarn so it doesn't make him itchy and non-cotton so it doesn't hurt my hands.  Even though the picture doesn't show it well, it's gray with slight shade variations.

I'm planning to make the Conwy socks from Knitting on the Road.  These will be a surprise so I will need to knit them on the sly.  I'm thinking I can at least make some good progress on them at school. 

Not on sale, but just in and GORGEOUS was the new Manos silk blend.  My mom and I both fell in love, and, not surprisingly, I got the purple and my mom got the one with lots of pinks in it (called Wildflowers).  This yarn is so me!  Even though I have two purple scarves in progress right now (the Swallowtail Shawl and the Unoriginal Scarf), I'm thinking about making a scarf with it.  Alternately, it would make lovely fingerless gloves, but I feel like I will wear a scarf the most.  I'm thinking maybe something slightly lacy.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Last month I picked up this yarn, but I hadn't posted about it yet.  6 skeins of Mission Falls 1824 Wool to make a baby sweater/jacket for my oldest friend Laura.  We have the same birthday, and she found out on our birthday that she is having a boy.  I'm going to visit her in August when the baby will be about 6 weeks old, and I'm so excited!

I'm planning on making this Cable & Seed Stitch Jacket from Debbie Bliss Baby Knits.  I'm going to do the 18 month size so that maybe he can wear it his first winter with the sleeves rolled up, and then definitely wear it the second winter.  They live in Delaware so wool is appropriate up there.

Spring break began today at 1:45 for me, so I felt the need to celebrate that by stopping by The Knitting Nest on my way home and checking out all the new sock yarn Stacy has gotten in.  She has TONS of Trekking XXL - so many appealing colors.  I ended up picking up Trekking 100 because I have seen so many gorgous socks knit out of it (like these, for example).

Stacy was also unpacking a box of Hill Country Yarns in pretty pinks.  There was pink and red, all pinks, and this gorgeous pink and chocolate brown.  She carries their Instant Gratification yarn which knits up fast, and I've been wanting to try it.  I'm undecided whether to gift this to my mom, or make her socks out of it, or maybe make my lil sis socks out of it cause she likes pink too.  It'll live in my stash until I decide.  Stacy also got in more of the Longhorn and Aggie colorways which are great!  I held off this time around, but I'm sure I'll be getting some soon.

And, finally, here's my latest progress on the Unoriginal Scarf.  I haven't heard back from the Yarn Harlot yet about posting the pattern, but I don't really think there are any copyright issues so I'll probably post it soon.  I think I'm going to really like this once it's blocked, but it needs blocking very badly.

Before I cast-on any of the new projects contemplated above, I will at a minimum finish the Dale Baby Dress.  The crochet trim on the bottom is done and I am working on the neckband.  It is taking forever, but I definitely want to get it done this week.  Wish me luck!

Posted by Becky at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Posted to Cable & Seed Stitch Jacket | Socks | Unoriginal Scarf | Yarn