Bichons In Berry Sauce

My friend Andra and I went to one of our LYS a few days ago.. not the really nice one which is a 30 minute drive away, but the close one with the 30% off coupon which carries just about every single novelty yarn you could imagine. Double what you're imagining, it's a lot. We scoured the store to come up with acceptable knitting yarns, and Andra came up with these to make her sister a scarf. I brought them back to my house under the guise that I'd be winding them into balls for her. I really just wanted to pet them some more. They're really more purple than they look in the picture.

I found these beautiful wool/mohair blends in a pretty color named 'blueberry ice'. I was torn between this color, a deep pink, and a deep reddish orangey pink color. Andra reminded me I have a lot of pink things (like the scarf I was wearing at the time) and I needed to branch out. These will become a scarf and hat set I'm thinking. I like the Esther Williams Hat pattern, but need to figure out a way to match up the patterning for the scarf.

Posted by Nancy at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been working on my double moss-stitch pillow back and forgot to post progress on it.. but I can't see how a growing sheet of moss-stitch would be that exciting anyhow. The finished pieces have been sitting around my house waiting to be put together for about a week now. Last nite I decided that was it, I was going to defeat the attached I-cord edging and yes, even weave in all the ends. Big goals for me, seeing as how I get nervous when I try a new technique, especially when it's at the end of a beautiful project. I'm always afraid I'll mess something up and I won't be able to fix it. But last nite, the I-cord was learned, and it looks so neat and perfect!

The ends are all weaved in, all I need to do is get myself to JoAnn's today to pick up a pillow-form, make sure it fits, then block it out one more time. I think I pulled at the knitting a bit too much during the I-cord attachment, especially where the two back pieces overlap one another. A good blocking should even this out nicely. Hopefully there will be a 'FO' posting tomorrow!

Posted by Nancy at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've finally cast on for the double-moss stitch pillow back. It's knit in two sections, one with button holes for the i-cord knot button things and one flat panel. I'd been procrastinating casting on for this because knitting those hats has been a lot of fun! Now it's just miles and miles of double-moss stitch.

Yesterday my special little girl was spayed. The vet said that she was a little princess (this I already knew. I think it's a nice way of saying drama queen) and did a lot of whining. Last nite she cried the whole evening and most of the nite, but she's better this morning. No more low head and flat ears.

Posted by Nancy at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I realized I never posted about my progress on the demi from my San Francisco trip, which is odd, because I'm quite proud of my neat little cables. I like the way this is turning out, but it's going to take me a long while to finish. I'm nowhere near having the pattern memorized.

Since I'm a lefty, I had to go through the chart and reverse all the cabling instructions-- I think I did this right, cause I don't see any obvious mistakes in the knitting, but you never know. I'll probably find out when I'm at the cap shaping. Did you know Crayola makes erasable colored pencils? I had planned on color-coding my chart, so I was really excited when I saw these in CVS. It's really conveinent to be able to erase instead of coloring in the whole chart again.

I doubt I'll be working on this much until January. I have several Christmas gifts to finish, and two baby sweaters to put the finishing touches on, then it will be all-demi-all-the-time. Until something else catches my eye. Like that cute little sweater from Debbie Bliss' Simple Living that I already have the yarn and pattern for.

Posted by Nancy at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

For part of a few Christmas gifts, I wanted to knit something quick, easy, and useful. After seeing Elann's Highland Chunky wool, I knew I had to make a few hats. I ordered it in a few different colors, being undecided about which I should make, and knowing that I'd probably want to add blocks of contrasting color to each. This purpley-burgandy one is for my boyfriend's sister, and the blue-gray-greenish one is for his mom. I'm undecided about colors for his dad's hat still. Maybe navy with a red and wheat stripe? And definitely ribbing on the bottom.

Today I am yorkie sitting for Andra. Lucy (also known on occasion as Lucifer) and Abby are doing their best to get along with each other, and have been running around my apartment for a good two hours now. They're both still puppies-- I'm eagerly awaiting puppy nap time. This is the closest they'd get while being still and not nipping at each other's necks.

Posted by Nancy at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (76)

Over Thanksgiving, I flew from NY to Phoenix, drove from Phoenix to San Francisco (and back), and flew back to NY. A whole lot of travelling means a whole lot of knitting time. sorta. Abby came with me, and she doesn't like it when flight attendants tell her she has to be completely zipped up in her carrier and under the seat in front of her mother. Most of my flights were spent attending to my needy little bichon.

She does great in cars though, she thinks car time=nap time, so we were all set for the 12 hour car rides. I worked on my Demi sleeve and started the Menorah Pillow from Handknit Holidays. This will be my mom's Christmas present, so the Demi has been put aside for a while (sorry D, but I'll be picking it up again probably when you and squid are finishing). Wait, you're saying, why would someone give their mother a menorah pillow for Christmas? Well, when we were little, my mom would always put those Christmas bulb candles in the windows, and we'd always say, "Mom, we're not Jewish!". She'd explain it to us over and over again that they weren't menorahs, but we didn't get it. Now that we're grown-up kids, we say the same thing, but mostly to agitate her. So this year, she's getting a Jewish present to display on her couch, which will complement the menorahs in the windows.

I think it's turning out really nicely. I messed up the chart a little bit where the second two candles come off the base, but I don't think you can tell that much. The knitting went quickly, and the chart was fairly easy to follow once I got the hang of it. I got all the way through the front of the chart, so now it's just mindless double-moss stitch to be done for the back. Perfect for movie watching and coffee drinking at nite.

Posted by Nancy at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)