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 | TrackBacks (0)

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 | TrackBacks (0)

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)

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)

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)

Last Friday was my birthday (I'm 27 now in case you were wondering).  I can't remember the last time my birthday was on a weekend.  Actually, I take that back.  My 21st birthday was a Friday.  The problem was, Feb. 1 was also the first day NCAA rules allowed us to have softball practice.  So my coach would get really excited and schedule early practices those first few days because that was the only time we could get practice space (since in February in Minnesota you have to be inside).  So, we had early practice scheduled the day after my 21st birthday meaning neither I, nor most of my friends, could really drink very much.  It was very disappointing.  One of my college roomies sent me a birthday card this year, and in it she mentioned that she always thinks of those first softball practices on my birthday every year.  I think we are in agreement that we don't really miss them all that much, even if we do miss some of the other parts of college softball.

Anyway, I was really excited to have my birthday on a convenient day this year, but then the team Daniel coaches had one of their games rained out and the makeup was set for Friday.  How annoying!  I wouldn't let this get me down, though, and I ended up turning my birthday into a very nice birthday weekend.

It started on Thursday when I finally got to go to an LSSK meetup at Borders.  I had conflicting class last semester, and work over the summer, so I don't even know the last time I got to go.  It was great to see everyone, and Linda Q. gave me the cupcake I'm holding in this picture with Vicki.

Although the cupcake looks really yummy, it's not edible!  It's a bath cupcake!!  How fun is that.  Put it into the bathtub and you will get lots of bubbles and good smells.  Can't wait to try it out.  Vicki also got a picture of me with Laura. 

Thursday evening Daniel gave me my presents (part of my iphone and elliptical machine that I got for Christmas count as birthday presents too).  He actually designed this necklace and had it made!!  We took my grandmom to a bead shop for her Christmas present, and saw this neat glass piece.  Well he went back and bought it along with coordinating beads and the people at the bead shop helped him put it together.  He actually had a great time and is interested in maybe designing some other pieces.  Lucky me since I'll be the recipient :-)  (please ignore the crappy picture - I was trying to take it of myself using my iPhone)

My parents and in-laws went in together to get my other big present - my very own windmill!  Before law school I worked in wind power development, so I like windmills.  This one is the perfect size for the garden in the backyard, and I have it sitting so I can see it out of the window in our living room.  I love the Texas stars on it too! 

On my birthday, I went to work in the morning, and one of the law clerks had a King Cake shipped by his aunt from Baton Rouge whcih just happened to arrive on Friday.  So that was fun and very yummy - I had never had one before.  And the whole office, including the judge, took me out for lunch on Monday, so that was a nice way to end my birthday long weekend.  My parents took me out to dinner on Friday while Daniel was coaching, so that was nice too.

The big birthday event was that a bunch of my friends got together on Saturday, and we had cheese and chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot.  YUMMY!!!

We had four burners, so we got four different types of cheese and four types of chocolate.  It was so good, and if you've never been to a fondue restaurant before, I HIGHLY recommend it. 

Of course, a birthday recap post wouldn't be complete without knitting content.  I came across this blog recently, and fell in love with these mittens.  I had purchased some pinky-red malabrigo a few months ago to make either Foliage or some mitts, but never could decide on what I wanted to make.  Well, when I saw this pattern I knew it would be perfect.  So I stopped by Gauge (one of our new LYSs) and was thrilled that they had winter white malabrigo.  When I got home, I cast on, and here's what I have so far.  I love it!  The slight shade changes in the pink yarn look great with the fair isle pattern.  The yarn is soooo soft, and knit on size 3 needles they are going to be buttery soft and very warm mittens.  I'd love to keep them, but honestly I will never need mittens like this is Texas, so I will probably send them to my godmother for her birthday.

Speaking of Gauge, the store is really starting to come into its own, and I love how everytime I go they have lots of new stuff in stock.  It's been really fun watching both it and The Knitting Nest develop, and I love having multiple LYSs.  Now there's one nearby no matter which part of town I'm in.

I also ordered the full set of Knit Picks Harmony sock dpns (there are 6 sizes from 0-3).  I really like my Harmony interchangeables that I got for Christmas, so I thought I would probably like the dpns.  For thicker socks, I love my Bryspuns, but they only go down to a size 2.  I have been using Pony Pearl dpns for my fingering weight socks.  However, I've been having trouble with them.  They're plastic, but they have metal inside of them and that metal has broken on some so the needles rattle and bend.  And worse, the tips on several of my needles are starting to split apart so that they're snagging on the yarn.  These were the best needles I'd found for socks so far b/c of the sharp points, flexibility (metal are sharp but not flexible), non-fragility (my Brittanys broke), and length (I prefer 5-6" for socks).  But I think I am done with them since they keep breaking.  Or at least, I'm willing to try to find a better solution.  We'll see if I like the Harmony's - my mom is going to start knitting socks so she's going to use some of the needles from the set, and if I don't like them, I'll probably give her the set assuming she likes socks.

I can't wait for them to arrive b/c the First Thursday sale at HCW was 20% off wool, and they just got the new Noro Kureyon sock yarn in!  I bought 2 skeins b/c I couldn't decide on colors.  One is rainbow colors, and while it's pretty wild, I think it will make really fun socks.  The other is more my normal colors of blue, green, and purple.  I want to wait to cast-on til I have my new needles because my gauge may be different with wood versus plastic. 

It was a very indecisive day at HCW b/c I was also trying to buy yarn for my BFF Laura's baby sweater.  We became best friends in first grade because we had the same birthday, and she was able to schedule her ultrasound for our birthday and found out that she is having a boy!  What a great birthday present!  I'll post more about potential patterns in the future, but when I was at HCW I couldn't decide, so I bought enough yarn for 2 sweaters - one DK and one worsted.  I haven't decided yet if I'll keep it all or return one sweater's worth when I make a decision. 

Ok, this post is way long enough.  I have all sorts of ideas for things I want to post about, but I have had a very hard time finding the time to do so.  This semester is turning out to be crazily busy since I have some very work intensive classes in addition to my various other commitments, including the internship at the Supreme Court of Texas, but it's worth it b/c I am finally taking classes in subjects I am interested in.  More when I can.

Posted by Becky at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)