Friday, August 22, 2008

And then I Lost my Needles on the I-95


When we last left this soap opera, Anita was trying to do the work of 12 inch circulars with 18 inch. Knittin Kitten suggested two circs (thanks for the tip! I need more info though - how is that done? Do 18 inchers work?). As I was driving down the I-95 between North and South Carolina, trying to figure out how to do the 2 circs deal, my needles flew out the window.

Sigh.

Bottom line, if you see a pair of 2.75mm on the highway, they are yours to keep.

So after much begging and pleading, Ross drove me to a fabulous yarn store in Myrtle Beach. Its called Knit 'n' Purl. Here's a blog that talks about Phyllis and her crew. She doesn't have a website. Basically, you keep driving until you're sure you're lost - then you're almost there.

Phyllis, said, "Anita, you can do the dpn".

"I can't." I said

"You're doing it." she said. "The first row is the worst".

"Like "the first cut is the deepest"?" I asked.

Phyllis doesn't know Cat Stevens. That's okay.

So here are the results. This is a picture of my boy's foot, along with the yarn. I'm sure in 20 years he'll be explaining to the shrink about the day his mama (yes I'm in Georgia) made him wear girl socks. Right now we're in Savannah, and can't drive any further (thanks Tropical Storm Fay), so I have lots of time to knit.










Saturday, August 16, 2008

Socks and the Sea

Right now, I'm sitting in a hotel room in NagsHead, North Carolina. I can hear the surf from my room, and its totally soothing. Before I left Ottawa, I bought some Fleece Artist yarn to make some socks. I know I should stick with what I know for the Innu project (hats and blankets) and leave the more complicated stuff to the experts, but its sooo tempting when you see the Fleece Artist stuff. The plan was to go with the two needle sock pattern, but I saw Fleece Artist's pattern using circular needles and I got a little cocky.





Here's a picture of the socks I'm making:



Note to self: when they say 12 inch circulars, they don't mean 18 inch, they mean 12 inch. Bottom line: I am stretching and stretching and stretching the 64 stitches to make it fit around 18 inches, and it won't fit.

Not pretty. I can't convince my family to take a break from our holidays to go on a yarn store hunt - imagine that.

So I'm frogging and going to go back to the 2 needle pattern.

Gotta walk before you run.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Check out the Size of the ...Needles on that Girl

The knit-out was a huge success.
Good weather - check
Lots of knitters - check
Free yarn, free patterns - check
Horse and piggy smell - double-check


One down is a pic of Jeanine - she's been my pal since last year - she's one of the first ones to send us stuff for the project. Jeanine makes me laugh. She had a hobby farm in Southern Ontario and kept sheep that she sheared, then she washed the fleece (wrecking her washing machine, I think), then spun it, then knit it. I told her they sell it already spun at the yarn store nowadays. Heh heh. Apparently I'm not funny. Anyways, this is JT spinning up yarn from her baby (well sheep-baby), Aubergine.


Plus there's a lady with massive....needles. I had to laugh.



We were there to spread the word about the project, and the Guild promised to help - yay, Ottawa knitters.