Sassy Does It

Yippity ding dong, my WEBS yarn arrived!

Isn’t it glorious?

Here, let me get you acquainted.

Jade Sapphire
Mongolian Cashmere
Colorway 50, Driftwood

On the left we have the amazing Mongolian Cashmere, made by Jade Sapphire, in colorway 50, Driftwood. 

Oh yes, we’re feeling very posh with this splurge for a friend’s b-day gift - it’s a big birthday, so she’s going to get 100% cashmere.  And at a 25% discount for me, thank you very much, Kathy and Co! 

The project of my desire, about which I will blog once I’ve cast on, is the Sheer Poncho. This is a design that I initially drooled over here after having found it on Ravelry here.

Cascade Fixation
Color 3919, Maroon

Next we move into the Cascade Fixation portion of my stash-building order.  There was a closeout on Maroon (color 3919) so I decided to dive in.  I’ve not knitted before with Fixation, but I hear it’s quite unique in its springiness.  I’d like to try some socks with it, so I ordered just a bit…OK, in a second color, too - Yankee Red (color 3628).  Yankers was not on sale - but what the hey - in for a penny, in for a pound.

Cascade Fixation
Color 3628, Yankee Red

The Yankee Red is a bit on the Fire Engine side for me, but I’m thinking it might be really nice for Maizy, who is a Fire Engine Red kind of girl.  The Maroon I really like, because I like…things that are maroon.

Maroon.  Marooooon.  Another word that gets funny if you say or spell it a lot.  Maroooooon. 

It’s been a long day.

On the right you’ll see the nice pile o’ yarn that will be known in the future as Little K’s baby blanket à la Curlicue.  The to-die-for Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton is organically grown and truly luscious, certainly in the vibrance of its color (617, Lotus) but also in the feels-like-your-fingers-are-sinking-into-it plushness.  It’s uber-fabulous, all of it.

I swatched a bit in preparation for Curlicue cast-on; not that a swatch is absolutely necessary for a baby blanket, but I’m a little picky about baby blanket dimensions (I like ‘em intentionally generously-sized and not accidentally teddy-bear sized).

Top third stitched with US 5,
Middle third with US 6,
Bottom third with US 7

The yarn label says US 7-9 will yield 4-5 stitches/inch.  I’m wanting to stitches a bit on the tighter side so that my lace pattern is sure to pop.  I started with a 7 and came in at about 4.5 st/in.  Decided to tighten it up and gave it a shot with a 6, then with a 5.  Although the tension looks more pleasing to my eye with the smaller needle, the fabric didn’t change much in actual gauge; it’s still in the 4.5-4.75 st/in range.

So, I’ll probably go with the US 5.  I’ll run a few inches of the pattern on my swatch and then stick a fork in that decision (I dilly-dally around a lot, don’t I?).

The design calls for a repeating 11+1 pattern, so rather than the 100 stitches called for, I’ll up it to 122 and yield a blanket right around 26-27 inches wide.  Then block it heavily if it’s not big enough in the end to feed my fatty blanket beast.

One more set of yarn introductions will round out my lot this time, all from Valley Yarns.  It’s the sock-weight Huntington, in three hues.  Red (4150), grey (0605), and chocolate (B118): these were the short-sock color possibilities suggested by Squeezer, if I were to knit, say, a gift or three for her. 

Valley Yarns Huntington
Color 4150, Red

I have to say I’m in love with this red.  Really in love with it.  I’d call it a deep red, but not an earthy one.  I’m no color expert, but to my eye it’s got less of the orangey undertone and more of the blue. 

Sidenote:  I probably wouldn’t have said anything about blue undertones if I hadn’t had accidentally and briefly met someone who apparently knows more about undertones that I do, which thereby empowered me with an “eye for color” I don’t really have.  Backstory:  I have an Ann Taylor sweater in this shade that has been a staple in my winter wardrobe for a couple of seasons, and once in an elevator in Boston a woman randomly complimented the color and said, “Oh, honey, the blue undertones in that red really suit your complexion.”  Which was a really nice thing to say.  And this shade of red reminds me of that sweater.

Anyloo-hoo - this is my last planned yarn purchase this year.  I’ve really gotta cool it until next year as I’ve got a nice stash to bust between here and there.

[sigh]

I guess I better get knitting so I don’t get distracted by another yarn sale.

In the spirit of basking in fall goodness (and in Halloween preparation mode, in Squeezer’s case), we ventured out recently to get ourselves a spiffy pumpkin.  We’d previously picked up some smaller pumpkins for baking, but we were in need of a bit of ceremony, and thus journeyed out to a neighboring town with wider open spaces and plenty of pumpkin patches.

Immediately upon return back home, Squeezer wielded the knife and gave our new friend a toothy grin.

Boy howdy, that girl doesn’t waste a minute in getting projects like this started (and finished) - she’s my hero.  The pumpkin was carved and propped on our front porch within 20 minutes.

The crisp fall air inspired me inpsired to whip up some pumpkin-based dinner that evening. 

I removed a couple of cups’ worth of pumpkin pieces (as previously frozen from the cut-up baking pumpkins we’d bought a few weeks earlier) and altered a favorite go-to recipe from Mediterrasian.com (a fan-freaking-tastic site) to create the following:

Pumpkin Curry Soup
1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
1 onion—chopped
3 cloves garlic—chopped
2 teaspoons red curry paste
2 cups of fresh pumpkin —peeled and roughly chopped
1 cup red lentils (or yellow split peas)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup coconut milk (less if desired)
1 heaping teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander
pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
fresh cilantro

Lightly brown the garlic, then add the onion; cook for a few minutes.  Add red curry paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.   Add the pumpkin, red lentils, stock, coconut milk, spices, and brown sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes.  Puree the soup in food processor until smooth, then add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.   Add a few tablespoons of fresh cilantro and serve.  Serve with a dollop of nonfat natural yogurt and garnish of cilantro and freshly ground black pepper. 

Too bad I didn’t take a picture to share with you.  It was so pretty.  And so delicious and warm and cozy.

Other reminders of cozy fall goodness include the wooly comfort of The Big Project (Bidie-In has now shortened his name for this sweater to just TBP), with which I’ve made the opposite of progress.

Yeah, I frogged my Fisherman’s Sweater, like, entirely.

It was just getting a little too baggy.  And by a little I mean a lot. 

Even after the first few inches of stockinette I knew it was on the big side for Bidie, but I hoped it would be within the margin of error for “big, cozy, hot-toddy-by-the-fire” sweaters. 

Then I held up my in-progress front and back pieces to the actual width of Bidie this weekend.  Ah…no.  

The wool I’m using has a bit more give than the acrylic blend from which my seaworthy-sweater-model was knit.  This makes “a little baggy” more like the way-too-droopy clothes on the kid version of Tom Hanks in Big after the Zoltar wish machine brings him back when he’s done being an adult.

This problem is exacerbated a *teensy* bit by the fact that I screwed up with the gauge at the very beginning. 

I know, I was shocked too, because usually the smoking gun of improper sizing doesn’t simply lead back to the fact that the dimensions of the starter swatch were completely ignored.

Bit too quick to green-light the gauge for Rowan Plaid on US 11s. 

Hello!  Look at this picture! 

In spite of the photographic evidence shown here that clearly illustrates how NOT close the size of the brown stitches is to that of the off-white stitches, I think I just thought my swatch was close enough to the existing knit gauge to base my design roughly on the number of stitches of the prototype pattern rather than the actual measurements. 

[boo, hiss]

I know.

Argh, rookie mistake!  I should have either tried a smaller needle or adjusted my first swipe at the design, or both.  Which is what I’ve now done.

Frogging it isn’t that big of a catastrophe, though, really.  Don’t feel sorry for me.  The yarn knits up at about 3 stitches/inch, even on a size 10½ needle, so it’ll knit up fast all over again.  And the yarn wears/frogs well, so it’ll look fine the second time around.  I hope. 

Right.  Done with the ripping out part, starting with the re-doing part.  Yes!

Swatching now on US 10½, I can see the fabric holds its shape a bit more to my liking.  And my design notes are headed in the right direction, too.  I’m using a bit more actual math, boys and girls, in converting the real gauge (not a pretend one) into a number of stitches based on the desired finished dimensions.  Capital idea.

In other news, my 2-at-a-time Practice Socks are off the 40-inch Addi Turbo Lace needles (still sexy, as previously reported).  The Raindrop Lace Socks, bless their wee hearts, are on.  Really and truly.

Although it was touch and go during my first hour or four of learning the 2-at-a-time method, I’m happy to report that once I hit my activation energy I was off and running, with fairly infrequent consternation.  Perseverance led me through the initial (heavy) cursing at tangled yarn to a happy harmony of satisfying, quicker-paced sock knitting.

At the heel flap

At the heel turn

Best tip I’ve garnered so far from Melissa Morgan-Oakes, other than the actual technique of keeping both socks on the needles at all times, was to put the ball of yarn in a Ziploc and pull two ends of yarn from the ball (one center-pull and one from the outside) and poke a little hole in each bottom corner of the bag, such that one end of yarn comes out each side.  Then any (short) length of yarn that is stretching from the bag to the needles doesn’t get tangled.  Smart.

These two little guys would need blocking before gifting (due to my beginner’s inconsistency), but we’ll see if I end up gifting them at all.  I don’t think I have enough of the green sock yarn to do another, even small, one.   Maybe I’ll whip up a second tiny beige one on its own.  We’ll see.

More soon.  Cannot wait to show you my new yarn coming from WEBS - yes, Allison, I went for the bonus yarn and told the boys in Massachusetts to throw another few logs on the fire with my order (boys = boys or girls, logs = skeins, fire = pile of yarn).

Two words: Cash. Mere.

Cannot. Wait.

She hasn’t made her entrance yet, but she’ll be here very soon.

Kymber is going to have a girl baby to go with her boy baby, Little J.  Well, he’s a toddler, now, really.  Little J is two years old already, how can that be?

Anyway, Little K (as I’ll call her for now) is due in mid-December, so I better get cracking on her Curlicue blanket.  Yes, in celebration of the giddy girliness of a girl baby, I’ve decided to go with a daintier spin, and I really liked the Curlicue Blanket as given the “yay” by Allison on my Blanket Vote post.

The pic of the Curlicue I’d posted at that time as my inspiration was crafted in real life by Stashquisition (here on Ravelry) in a lovely baby blue.  The blanket design was shared on Ravelry by Skruddevutt, who posted the pattern on her site so that people like me can access it…for free!  Thank you to Skruddevutt, who makes furniture by day and blogs in Swedish about this and more here.  The photos of her blanket in a lovely red hue are shown below.

No, I’m not fluent in Swedish, but my good friend Google translates into English for me and brings the words to life.  Isn’t it cool that a mouse click can do that?

As for yarn, I was inspired by SouleMama’s adoration for Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton as documented in her “blanket for baby” post a couple weeks ago. 

SouleMama is coolio, yo - Sissy B turned me on to her a few months back, and then made sure I didn’t miss this cuter-than-cute post on SouleMama’s blog, in which she presents the yarn of my current desire.  She also describes recently taking the Ravelry plunge, waxing sweet newbie wonder at the “vast expanse that is Ravelry” and expressing the initial trepidation all Ravelers have felt at first dipping the toe into the sheer abundance of it: ”so much goodness!”

I digress for a moment because I just read Amanda’s bio on her blog:  she’s from Portland, Maine (I think Sissy B told me this, but clearly it didn’t stick).  I was just there a few weeks ago.  Maybe I ran into SouleMama in a parking lot or something!  Hmmm.

But I’m not a weird stalker or anything; I just think it’s funny.  Funny ha-ha.  And funny strange.

Kinda like me.

Anyway.

One more thing and then I’ll continue about my yarn selection.

SouleMama, in her fabulousness, has a book out called The Creative Family.  You can tell by the Amazon ratings and reviews that it’s pretty darn cool. 

Sissy B had this book on her coffee table the last time I visited and I couldn’t stop raving about it.  It’s not just the craft ideas that make this book cool; really it’s the concept she’s getting across, as highlighted in the subtitle, “How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections.”

I mean, come on.  Too cute.  And I don’t even have any little ones. 

I do have a knitting obsession, though, and Amanda had me at hello with her comments in the introduction of her book.  She described a compulsion to knit that became rampant during her first pregnancy - and since then, she admitted, she has been known to knit at long stoplights.

I love it.

Right.  For my Curlicue, I’m going to go with bright pink (not neon, no thank you - but still bright).  Kymber is like a big sister - she’s a lot like me, which is a polite way of saying that she’s spicy, if you will - assertive and independent, with a penchant for überwoman exuberance (some people would call this being loud and opinionated, others - the cooler ones - would call it being hilarious and all-around awesome). 

Not that either of us are short on sugar in the sugar-and-spice equation; let’s just say we’re heavy on the spice.  Any girl of hers needs a shade of pink that can keep up with her.

So I can’t go with the undyed organic line that Blue Sky Alpacas carries, but I can go with the next-best alternative to au naturel, which is the 100% organically grown cotton that is dyed “in a fun array of colors.”  I’ll say.  Click on this link and check out the happy hues.

My shade is Lotus, number 617.  Haven’t ordered the yarn yet, but I’ve shopped.  I have a hard time committing sometimes, for no good reason - especially since I’ve already decided to buy the yarn. 

Blogging about this should help.  JUST BUY THE YARN, Amy. 

Yet, I do not, preferring instead to hem and haw, and tell you more about my shopping. 

It seems Fabulous Yarn may have the best deal once you figure in their discounts, but over at WEBS they have a whole lotta delicious sale yarns listed, of which they could throw in a few skeins while they’re packing up my Lotus. 

That’s the real reason I’m stalling on the purchase - because I want to be able to justify buying more than just the blanket yarn.  OK, I said it.  I’m not going to lie to you.

Time’s a-wastin’, though (*wink* doggone it, says Sarah Palin), so I better get movin’.

I’m still a relative newbie to knitting things that are tiny, so it’s not surprising to make new discoveries at this point.  But I gotta tell ya:  these #2 Addi Turbo Lace needles are rocking my world.

In order to get started on my practicing for 2-at-a-time socks, I needed a 40-inch set of circular US 2 needles.  I moseyed down to my LYS to pick some up.

I love browsing, of course, so even though I had only a few minutes to get this errand done, I got stuck in the first set of shelves I passed that contained yarn.  I lingered there, mindlessly petting the yarn, sniffing the fiber-scented air around it (freaky, I know). 

I was jolted back to my needle mission by the voice of a happy-to-help store person.  Nervously, I looked around, found a few needles hanging nearby and said, “Uh, I’m just looking at these needles here.”  Unfortunately those needles weren’t the needles I needed (it was the bamboo-only section, who knew?) and I was led (sulking slightly) over to the Addi section.  Just before I said, “Thanks, I’ve got it from here,” the nice lady whipped a set of Turbos off the shelf.  “Here you go.”

They were gold.

I’ve used Addi Turbos in the big-ass sizes, and they were always silver.  I had been envisioning silver - what’s up with the gold?  Thinking she was steering me toward a more expensive gold-edition type or something, I waited until she walked away and then spun the circular display around to find the silver ones.  I found them, 40″ number twos, and clutched them triumphantly.

However.  I still had the gold ones in my hand.  Curiosity took over and I read the labels on both.

Regular Addi Turbo, in a nutshell:

• fast needles: yarn slides easily on nickel-plated brass
• soft cord: smooth transfers, yarn won’t snag

Addi Turbo Lace:

• sharp tips enhance lace and sock knitting
• soft, pliable cords with smooth joins
• hollow, coated brass tips

Although they sounded similar, I had to admit the sales lady might have been on to something.  Skeptical as I’d been, and as much as I wanted to be loyal to the silver - I mean nickel-plated - ones for which I’d already developed such a fondness, I thought I’d better investigate the gold - em, brass - ones.  Sharp tips sounded a little scary, but since I was new to tiny things, sharp might be good and I just didn’t know it.  And the bright red, allegedly supple cords looked and sounded sexy.

Then - alas, my reverie was broken.  Bidie-in and Squeezer walked in from their perch on the sidewalk, meaning my time was up.  I bought the gold lace ones and hoped for the best.

Well.  I tell you, these things are like butter.  I mean like buttah, Babs.  They feel all smooth and creamy on each other as stitches slide from left to right needle.  It sounds dirty to say it like that, and maybe it is.  But it’s true.

I know Addi Turbos are meant to allow faster knitting, as I had experienced before, and these needles didn’t disappoint.  However, it wasn’t just about yarn moving quickly on a slick surface.  Now that I’ve done a little research, I know that the aforementioned coating on the brass tips is “a fine resin for added control”; in other words, a coating that provides an ever-so-slight bit of drag to keep the tiny stitches from flying right off.  I think that’s the origin of my smooth-like-buttah feeling.

Then how does the knitting feel so fast, if the coating creates drag?  It’s because of the pointier points (I saw these termed “aggressively tapered” somewhere).  It feels like magic as the tip end comes up clean every time after every stitch, even after speeding up, without any splitting.  None. 

It makes me feel very professional to see my fingers flying and little stitches bulking up in the wake of my right needle.  Splitty yarn doesn’t get splitty.  Thank you, Addi Turbo-people, for making me feel so special.  I’m sorry I was wary of your gold-looking brass needles at first.  I really really like them.

It is worth mentioning the sexy red cord between the needles, too, because it’s as sexy as I’d hoped in the store.  Well, done, Addi - the cord looks like a thin string of luscious red licorice, except you can see through it, you can fold it over on itself and pinch it and it won’t break, and you can’t eat it.  It’s softer and more malleable than the regular Turbo cord. 

The super-bendy but not breaky part is especially nice for my 2-at-a-time sock effort, since this is kind of a required feature for the needle, to bend sharply in a loop.

So I’m off and running with my practice socks, which are being in made in two colors so that I don’t confuse the socks in following the directions in the tutorial. 

I’m not going to lie to you (in fact, I’ll post a pic to show you) - they’re a little rough around the edges as I get my head around this method.  But I’m getting better as I go, and even the cuff ribbing that’s fraught with loose ladders at the turns will probably block out and stretch to look OK on a baby’s foot.

Yes, this pair will probably go to E-dot, since she’s about the right size for them.  Of course she might not get them until she’s too big for them since I’ll have to make these and then another set of two (one green, one tan) to match.  Wait a second - didn’t I embark on learning this method so I didn’t get second-sock syndrome?  Hmmmm.

In other knitting news, Bidie’s clamoring for his Fisherman’s Sweater - yes, my little creation will become his - which is coming along.  He refers to this project as either “The Big Project” or “Project #1″ and gives me the stink eye whenever he sees me working on something else.  Last night he pointed out that E-dot-sized socks did not look like Project #1, which is a true statement.  In any case, I’m knitting it up on US 11s, so there’s no excuse for not forging ahead to polish this puppy off.  Maybe this weekend. 

Speaking of weekends - oh joy, I have happy plans to spend time with someone special this weekend.  Hurrah, AJ is coming to visit from Arizona for a few days.  She’s my mom’s sister, which makes her my aunt, and also my friend.  We’re going to do relaxing girly things and other genetically-bred nerdy things like sitting around engrossed in our laptops and figuring out how to work some new software she has.  In between all that, I’ll sneak in some knitting and it will be fabulous.

Ciao, bellas.