beautiful things

Contemplating...

So I never pulled the trigger and ordered the yarn for Girasole... I'm thinking maybe I start that late summer in preparation for next winter...

In the meantime, I have a fast developing new obsession - Vivian (ravelry, pattern).  As is often the case, I love the color it's shown in, except that it's called olive and looks a lot more aqua on my screen so is probably not true to life.  Also the specified yarn is not readily available in the US anyway.  I'm thinking of using a worsted merino and knitting a size up... I love and am comfortable working with merino.  I can't really find the right aqua so actually, I'm thinking,,, pink!  Of course, I already have my pink Sundara FSM that I'm planning on making Tempest (ravelry, pattern) with.  What is it about pink right now?  I think I'm just longing for spring,  

Of course, the question is, could I possibly finish this sweater before it's too warm to wear it at all?  And is this a crazy pick for my first "real" sweater?

A new obsession

Girasole (ravelry, pattern) has captured my imagination!  It feels like it's been a while since a pattern has done that... I did all of my baby boy knitting planning a few months ago and have been very focused on that.  Many patterns have caught my eye of course, but I haven't really allowed myself to think about starting a non-baby project.  Of course, I have enjoyed the baby knitting, and it's not going to be stopping any time soon, but I'm starting to think it might be a wise luxury to allow myself a project or two for myself as well, so it's not quite all baby all the time around here.

Plus, it's not entirely unrelated to the baby - we finally picked out a sofa bed for the baby's room (yes, the baby's room is huge and is in fact the largest room in the house, so it's more of a family/baby's room).  Due to cost and availability, we ended up picking out something a little different to what I had been imagining - it's dark brown leather, but not expensive so it's kind of shiny and, basically, begging for a beautiful hand knit blanket to be draped over it.  I think that Girasole would be a) perfect and b) amazing.  I've yet to knit any of brooklyntweed's designs and by all accounts, everyone is raving about not just what a great project this is but what a great pattern it is.

The only thing is, what yarn?  I know brooklyntweed chooses his yarns very carefully, and as this is a self-published pattern, no one else was involved in his selection for this pattern, so I'm tempted to go with the Cascade Pastaza he used.  It comes in the perfect color too - a beautiful heathered blue (0085).  The thing is, it's 50% wool, 50% llama, basically pretty much exactly the same as Classic Elite Montera which I used for the asymmetrical wrap and... didn't love it.  It was a little hairy for my liking.  The fact that it was dark brown probably didn't help.  I'm thinking of giving it another chance and swatching with it to see what I think.  But really I'm thinking I should probably go with something different... but what?  Possibly Beaverslide Dry Goods McTaggart Tweed in Big Sky Heather... but it's out of stock.

And colors are so hard online too... should I just order 1 skein to see if I like it?

Or do I give up on blue and go with a natural color of Cascade Eco Wool? (I don't really like any of the Eco+ colors.)

Or Jamieson's Shetland Heather Aran - but what color?!!

Obviously, I need to think about this more... but if you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Wow!!!!

Ok, more eye candy... 

Yup, it's Seasons FSM (which arrived a few weeks ago), taken with my new DSLR on my new desk at home, in it's new location by a window!  It's a pretty grey day today but the sun was peeking in for a short while earlier this afternoon and I figured I'd take advantage of it.

The set up is not completely ideal as it's more back lit than side lit - I took a few side lit shots but there's not much space to get in at that angle, and my zoom lens requires me to be 3 feet away.

But wow, yeah.  Gorgeous yarn, gorgeous camera, and a better set up than before.  What more could a girl ask for?!  (Maybe actually knitting with some of this yarn?!.... shhhh....!)

First the basics, here are the four seasons:

From left to right: flaming flamingo (summer), sugar plum (spring), life aquatic (winter) and carmel apple (autumn).  I ordered an extra skein of spring, hoping that would be my favorite, and it is!  I'm thinking of a lovely spring tempest (ravelry, pattern) without the stripes.  Carmel apple seems to be the least popular on the ravelry boards and I can see why.  It's a beautiful color but I think you need a certain skin tone for it to look good.  Not sure yet what I'm going to do with it or the others but I've been abstaining from the flurry of trading that followed the recent Sundara shipments.  If I do trade, I want to be looking for something specific, for a specific project, which I'm not right now, otherwise it's just too hard to figure out I think.

The straight stash shots (ie for ravelry) are definitely an improvement but not particularly exciting.  One of the things I've really wanted a DSLR for is to get those lovely depth of field shots I'm always so envious of where only things at a particular distance are in focus and everything else is blurry.  Today I broke out the manual (which I have been carefully reading through) and broke out of auto mode to play with depth of field settings.  For example, here on the left we have f5.6 and on the right, f36.0. (I don't know if you can really tell the difference at a small size but when they are large, it's a lot more obvious.)

That last photo on the right had a shutter speed of 8 seconds!

Those last two were also shot using the extra lens my husband got me (have I mentioned again how impressed I am with the research he did?!)  I had to step way back to get 3' away so that it would even focus but to me, this is where the fun really is!

And finally, it's pretty similar to some of the ones above but this is one of my favorites...



Love the yarn, love the camera! Can't wait to get more familiar and better with the camera either...

I've got the blues...

Sorry, that's a horribly corny post title but look, I really do have the blues...

Well, I am having a boy after all!

(I used to hate gender stereotyping by color but in the past few years, I have been re-embracing my roots as a little girl fan of red and pink. I read a good explanation once that a mother gave to a child - it's hard to tell whether a baby is a boy or girl so we use colors to make it more obvious.  In the end though you can wear whatever color you want!)

So anyway, blues, yes.  Back in September, as our pregnancy progressed into safer territory, I went on a yarn buying binge with the baby as an excuse!  

Above left to right you have Sundara Sock in Cerulean Seas and Beach Glass, Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Laguna, Squoosh Bamboo Sock in Big Blue and Shadow, and Sunnyside Ellen Hand Dyed Superwash Merino in Laguna and Dragonfly.  

But of course, that wasn't all!

From Hazel Knits:

Artisan Sock in Alki Reflection and Laguna.  I was expecting these to be brighter (see here and here) but I love them all the same.

From Squoosh:

From left to right: Celery Colonial Sock, Rusted Merino Sock, Shadow, Brick and Big Blue Bamboo Sock.  I love these colors too, a little more muted yet still rich and vibrant.

I also got some Squoosh handspun that I originally planned to use for the baby tomten jacket but it also ended up being darker than I was expecting (is this a mac/pc thing I wonder?)

From Sunnyside Ellen:

From left to right: Laguna, Dragonfly, Gerbera (all superwash merino sock) and Pretty in Pink Silk Lace.  I know, I couldn't resist some pink.

I haven't quite figured out what to do with all this yarn yet.  The color combination possibilities are endless, especially with the Squoosh sock yarn.  I had vague plans for a BSJ and a sock giraffe - but which colors to use?!!!

Speaking of blues, I also ordered some Oceanwind Knits merino:

From left to right: Slate (worsted), Amber, Vancouver Island and Galvanized (sport).  The difference between Vancouver Island and Galvanized is more prominent in the photo than in real life... I was going for a subtle difference but not that subtle as I did want some contrast for Angle (ravelry, pattern). I'm thinking of getting a green instead, maybe thyme, and using one of the blues for some baby bell bottoms (ravelry, pattern).

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it!) there have been a teensy few purchases more recently as well, but I'll save that for another post.  I feel like I'm hoarding yarn for when we become a one income family, even though at the moment the plan is for that to only be for three months!

Yes, that's right, Koigu Cashmere

I still haven't rebuilt my stash spreadsheet after my unfortunate incident of the dropped laptop, but I've been doing pretty well with my yarn resolutions. Or, I was.

Here's a quick rundown:

1) I did not go to Rhinebeck

2) I am not knitting any gifts for Christmas so therefore I am not buying any yarn for them. I'm having a hard enough time getting the baby knitting I want done

3) I haven't purchased yarn for the Cardigan for Merry yet (although I'm still planning to but maybe not until the new year)

4) I did order more Big Tryst for the barn raising quilt as some new colors came out at The Loopy Ewe. However, I'm not sure if these colors really go with the others, so they may be saved for something else.

5) I haven't spent my store credits yet

6) I got the bitter orange, but I haven't ordered any handspun from Pigeon Roof Studios... nothing that I've managed to catch when available has quite captured my imagination.

In addition to the Big Tryst and the bitter orange, I also purchased a skein of natural/white handspun alpaca on Etsy for the Tomten Jacket as I decided it needed a contrasting accent. And quite recently I also splurged on some Sunnyside Ellen sock yarn that I just couldn't resist on a day that wasn't going so well otherwise and, yes, as you may have gathered from the title of this post, I splurged on some Koigu Cashmere.

I have been eying this yarn for months, and when I first visited String last May or so it was to pet the Koigu cashmere in person, especially after seeing Nicole from Stash and Burn's pretty pretty colorway. When I was there, I saw the cutest little baby sweater (pattern, ravelry - but the pictures do not do it justice).  However, I was a little put off by how many very expensive skeins even such a tiny little item would take.  Besides which, I wasn't even pregnant!

Since becoming pregnant, I've thought back to that sweater many times, but could never quite bring myself to pull the trigger... until I saw that the cashmere was on sale.  I've had good luck lately with things I've been wanting for a while coming down in price, or perhaps there are just a lot of sales right now.  Anyway, this yarn is by no means cheap, even on sale, but, you know, what's the point of having a baby if you can't indulge on its behalf?!!!

So, off to String I went, and after a nice chat with a mother and daughter who were just leaving the store and gasped when they saw me and said "are you about to give birth or what?!!" (it was not rude like it might sound - turns out the daughter was three months pregnant so they were both very excited) I got to fondle the cashmere and chat with Linda, the store owner, who advised that the tiny size jacket they had on display was one that she knit for her twin grandsons who were each 5lbs.  "I don't think you're going to be having a 5lb baby," she said, eying my rather large belly.  She recommended getting 4 skeins.

Of course, there was only 1 skein left of the colorway I really liked, which happened to be the one the jacket was knit in (I know, sometimes I am very unoriginal), colorway 460.  In fact, there weren't 4 matching skeins left of any colorway I was interested in (which is partly why they are on sale - there are only odds and ends left) and Linda said she wouldn't be ordering a new batch for a while.  I managed to find 3 different skeins that looked like they could go well together... did I really need 4?

I ended up buying 5 - the three that looked good together, and two of a fourth colorway that I really liked in and of itself and also happened to go best with the first three out of all the other colorways left.  But... it doesn't go GREAT and I love the other three so much, two in particular.  See what you think:

Here's my favorite, 460 (yes, these are pre-brooklyntweed workshop style photos):

My next favorite happens to be the same colorway and dye lot that Nicole has, c309:

Then I got another skein of 460 but from a different dyelot that really doesn't have the orange:

And then here is c324, very pretty, but not quite in line with the others (and I have secret plans for a tiny little cowl for myself with the extra):

Here they are all together:

They don't look too bad together, right?

Here's my dilemma though.  The pattern calls for 3 skeins for the 0-3 month size.  I'd like to knit this for the baby newborn even though I know he will grow out of it fast, but I know that large newborns sometimes don't even fit into newborn clothing, and Linda recommended I knit one size up, even for a newborn.  So I guess that's what I should do, which means 4 skeins, but does that include the hat?  

Further complicating the matter though is whether this is the right pattern for this particular collection of colorways, even though it's kind of what I had set my heart on originally.  In blending all the colorways, I'm afraid it's going to get muddy, and there are other patterns, such as the baby surprise jacket or the tomten jacket that lend themselves better to mixing multiple colorways in sections so you don't lose the beauty of each colorway.  The tomten jacket would actually be perfect for this - but I already made one!  I finished it by the way, although I haven't decided on toggle buttons or a zipper yet, and I love it.  Still, do I want to make another?  I'd rather make something different, and I really had something different in mind for a BSJ.

Tomten would be so perfect, or maybe something like this (pattern, ravelry)?  Probably I just need to swatch and see how it looks.

I'm excited about being able to direct a bit more focus back towards my knitting though - it feels like a bit of a knitting renaissance!  There is still a lot to do to prepare for the baby but I have at least completed the biggest and most burdensome - clearing out the home "office" (aka giant storage room). Over thanksgiving it was dismantled and converted to our new fitness room so the old fitness room could become the baby's room... yippee!!! 

Resolution

So, I bought a lot of yarn yesterday.  In fact, I have bought a lot of yarn this month, you don't even want to know how much.

This whole Sundara business has kind of changed things for me... I have fallen in love with color all over again big time and I can't seem to get enough, not just of Sundara, but of indie and small dyers in general that have gorgeous gorgeous colorways.  In fact, I think I have moved on just a little from Sundara... not that I've even knit with any of her yarns yet(!) but I have a small collection of random skeins I managed to snag on Ravelry, and I have all my seasons subscriptions coming up, and given the difficulty and complications of getting what you actually want, I'm actually glad the latest new subscriptions closed before I had made a decision about signing up or not because there is plenty of other gorgeous yarn to be had - my wallet will agree!

Not that I have given up competitive yarn buying either... I managed to score one skein of Troika Sport after all in yesterday's Mama Blue update - in penny.  I think these will make perfect Baby Bell Bottoms with matching hat and mittens.  In the update frenzy, I didn't even notice that it was sport and not sock but I couldn't be happier as it was sport I really wanted!  The way the yarn was "flying off the shelves" though was utter craziness.  I still can't believe this kind of yarn buying frenzy goes on.  It's such a strange phenomenon to me, and then of course people end up buying stuff they don't really want and then there's a lot of trading going on.  I was actually very restrained as I saw a lot of sock yarn flit past my screen and I didn't even go for it, what with my newfound realization that I really don't need a lot of sock yarn, especially not random sock yarn that I don't have any specific project planned for it.

Anyway, more of my purchases will get revealed... slowly.

And, I am thinking of making a resolution: no yarn buying in October, and perhaps not in November or December either!!!  There would, of course, be a few exceptions:

1) Rhinebeck.  Yeah, that's a bit of a problem.  I'm hoping to go with a non-knitting friend of mine who was intrigued by the idea of "sheep and wool" and a bit of a getaway.  If I do go, I'll have to set myself a strict budget and maybe try to limit myself to only purchasing for the other exceptions below.

2) I am really limiting gift knitting between now and the baby, although I do have two gifts I'd like to make for Christmas.  One I already have the yarn for, but I need the yarn for the other.  There's a possible third but I have the yarn for that too.

3) Believe it or not, I should be pretty much set with yarn for all the baby knitting I'd like to do except for the Cardigan for Merry, so I'm allowed to get that.  

4) I may need more sKNITches Big Tryst for the barn raising quilt.

5) I have store credits at three stores so I'm allowed to spend those.

6) Oh yeah, Pigeon Roof Studios handspun, I'm allowed that if I can get my hands on it, plus I'm also on the "want" list for some bitter orange.

Could I do it, could I make it to the new year with these 6 exceptions?  i am going to try, especially as those exceptions give me quite a bit of leeway anyway...!

Baby boy patterns

Ok, so I think I'm starting to get a handle on my baby boy knitting plans... at least just a little.  It's so confusing, pairing all the beautiful yarns with all the beautiful patterns I want to knit! I've started a list of patterns here, and after a few days of obsessing, I'm starting to narrow down the yarn choices... I think.

Several of the patterns I have prioritized specify sport weight yarn, and I have my eye on three - sKNITches Big Tryst of course (which I'm already using and loving for the barn raising quilt), Pagewood Farm Alyeska, and Oceanwind Knits Hand-Dyed Merino which has the added benefit of being available in fingering, sport and worsted weights. And ooooh, I just scored a skein of Pigeon Roof Studios Siren Two Sport!!!  Love that 80/10/10 superwash merino/cashmere/nylon blend!  Now if only I could get another color... looks like I just missed bitter orange, which is a shame.  Also, it would be awesome if I could get my hands on some Mama Blue Troika sport... but I'm guessing that's going to be next to impossible. I really want some Pigeon Roof handspun too.  I'm having a hard time finding fingering/sport/DK handspun in quantities and colors that I like.

Speaking of handspun, one of the most beautiful projects I've seen recently is verabee's handspun baby hoodie (ravelry, flickr).  I also love mindofwinter's burning bush tomten jacket (ravelry, flickr).  And, not handspun, but look at knitsburgh's adorable malabrigo kipling sweater (ravelry, flickr).  Love it!!!  Oh yeah, madelinetosh has a lovely tomten jacket too (ravelry, flickr). And littlelamb (ravelry, flickr).

I think the hardest thing for me lately is sock yarn - there is so much beautiful sock yarn available in gorgeous colors, but what to knit with it?  I don't knit socks, and I know it's good for baby knits because it is generally superwash but... at such a fine gauge!  

Anyway, back to swallowtail... I am almost done!

Baby surprise...

No, not another baby surprise jacket (yet) and not even really a surprise, at least not to us, but to you dear readers perhaps, unless you have really been paying attention and noticed a lot of knitting for an unspecified baby recipient lately...

Yes, that's right, I AM PREGNANT!!!!!!!

I wanted to be sure and wait until we passed a few milestones before announcing it to "the whole internet" (even though I know only a tiny fraction is reading here) yet at the same time I have been dying to make an announcement as, well, obviously, this has factored just a tiny bit into my knitting plans... is it wrong that one of the things I'm really looking forward to is being able to take cute baby-with-hand-knitting photos?!!!  No really, that's not the only reason we're having a baby!

Anyway, we are due in mid-February and we just found out we are having a boy!!! 

So, let's see, so far I have the pinwheel baby blanket, the barn raising quilt and the trellis baby blanket on the needles for our baby.  I am also planning little giraffe (ravelry, pattern) (the family of them I've been talking about), elefante (ravelry, pattern), and elijah (ravelry, pattern) for sure in the soft toy department.  As far as clothing goes, as we only just found out we're having a boy, I'm still putting together my plans.  Definitely a baby surprise jacket or two of course, and I have tons of other cute sweater/jacket/cardigans queued.  I'll keep you posted as ideas develop but I will definitely take suggestions!!!

Lace

So somehow, having declared myself "off lace" for a while, I find myself planning not one, not two, but three lace projects!  At minimum!

Yes, the Sundara Lace Silk I snapped up on Ravelry arrived last week:

This is mahogany over marmalade and grey over pink.  Aren't they beautiful?

To be honest, I'm not sure about mahogany over marmalade as a wardrobe color for me, beautiful though it is.  I'm tempted to see what I can trade it for, but I'm still so confused about what exactly to try and get in Sundara that I may just wait for a bit.

For the grey over pink, I'm thinking of Muir, which I've had my eye on for a while.  The ravelry page for the pattern has a lot of useful links, including for a beaded version of the chart.  Yes - I am thinking of putting beads in!  I may even go shopping for them today!

I'm also thinking of going to Purl and spending my store credit on more lace weight yarn for a quick Swallowtail Shawl for a friend we are visiting in a couple of weeks.  Yes, that's in a couple of weeks!  But it's at the end of a week long vacation and people seem to knit this up pretty quickly so I am hopeful.  I'm not sure what colors this friend likes but for some reason I'm thinking green, inspired largely by the photos of Laminaria, another pattern I've had my eye on for a while.  Ironically, I'm thinking of making this for myself using my Lanas Puras Melosa Lace Weight that I purchased for something else that didn't end up coming to fruition and has since been floating plan-less in my stash.  Yes - knitting from stash!  I'm pretty excited about it myself, even though I'm not sure quite when I'll get to this project.  Both Muir and Laminaria would be for myself - I have knit several stoles and wraps as gifts but have yet to have one for myself.  Well, aside from the Clementine Shawlette but that doesn't exactly provide a lot of warmth and I have to admit that I have actually yet to wear it.  I should have worn it to a recent wedding though with a new brown and cream dress I bought for the occasion... why didn't I think of that?!

I do so love Ravelry though, although I think I'm starting to spend too much time on it again.  The search capabilities are really getting quite refined - you can now search projects, not just patterns, which means, for example, that I was able to look at all Laminarias that are in lace weight wool to get a feel for how it might come out.  I've been uncertain about triangular shawls as I've never owned one or tried one, but this yarn is not so precious or expensive that I am unwilling to try it.

My other beautiful Sundara-off-Ravelry purchase was of 2 skeins of Delphiniums Fingering Silky Merino:

I haven't yet decided what to make with these but would love to figure out a cardigan, maybe Tempest but in one color.

Here are the Ravelry links: Muir, Laminaria, Swallowtail Shawl, Tempest.

Inspiration explosion

Over the past few weeks, my "fantasy knitting life" has completely exploded, rather at the expense of my real knitting life I might add.  It's certainly balancing out what I'm coming to think of as my knitting monastery days of the wedding stole where I was focused on the one project and had no time for ravelry or yarn shopping or thinking about let alone touching other projects... plus I was working in laceweight white!!!  No wonder I've been going gaga over color!

Although my aesthetic tastes tend towards the more minimal (ie non-decorative) I've always loved color and texture and of course, knitting is a fantastic outlet for that.  I think it's why I keep getting drawn back to sock yarn, even though I have never actually knit a pair of socks with sock yarn (my only socks are the Tyrolean Stockings).  I could see getting into socks... one day.  Or at least knitting a pair or two.  I loved knitting the Tyrolean Stockings.  I don't think it's a "waste" to knit socks, but I do feel there are so many other items deserving of knitted attention that enhance a wardrobe in a more visible way.

But yeah, sock yarn.  I think people are more willing to go outside of their normal wardrobe color comfort zone with socks, so it would make sense that there is a wider variety of colors available in sock yarn.  I'm not sure if this is actually true, but it certainly seems like it.  There's more variety, more experimentation, brighter colors, and more interesting color combinations.  It's enough to drive a person crazy!  

I also like the higher yardage of sock yarn and the comfort of knowing that even if you don't knit socks, you can probably find a one skein project, like, oh, say, the Baby Surprise Jacket!  I'm sure I've said this before but I've made about a million of these in my head with every beautiful skein of sock yarn I've ever seen in person or online.

Anyway, all this is to say that, um, well, I have totally blown my yarn budget for this month.  Determined to make a Little Giraffe with my Sundara citrus zinger, and failing so far in my quest to obtain the contrasting Sundara color of my dreams through cash or trade, I decided to *gasp* look at other options.  Through the hilariously titled "Satanic Sock Yarn" thread on the Sundara Love ravelry group I received lots of good pointers for beautiful sock yarns with a similar yarn base that would be compatible and this led me to MadelineTosh.  

You know how if you hear a name a lot it suddenly hits home, even if you don't really know where you heard it before?  Well, that's what happened with Sundara, and now MadelineTosh.  A quick look at the site led me quickly to the conclusion that I needed to look no further - this was the yarn for me!  In addition to Sundara of course... to go with my Sundara.  Think of the considerable advantages in this particular situation: a) yarn is available with minimal time investment (I did have to do a little searching to find the colorways I wanted available in various places) b) I don't have to part with one of my precious citrus zinger skeins in a trade and c) I was debating between brown, orange and green as the contrasting color... now I am getting all of them and planning on making a family of three giraffes, big, medium and small!!!  

Actually, I *um* *cough* *splutter* ordered 5 skeins in total: bark, citrus and lettuce for brown, orange and green respectively, and I couldn't resist adding ginseng not only because it is so so pretty but because it pretty much has brown, orange AND green in it, so I might use it for one of the contrasting giraffe colors - user stash photos give a better sense of it eg here (ravelry, flickr) and here (ravelry, flickr) is a really cute giraffe that uses multiple colors so that's an option too.  

Then, well, I also got victory garden just because.  Again - so pretty!  Ironically, the official photo has it looking a lot more like ginseng but user stash photos have it looking rather different (ravelry, flickr). 

So I am dying to receive the yarn and get started on Sundara/MadTosh Giraffemania!  (By the way, I ordered from both Yarn and Fiber and Sealed with a Kiss as not everything I wanted was in stock or available at one store.)

My recent online travels have also had me drooling over Mama Blue (although forget it, that's as hard to get as Sundara - here are ravelry and flickr links) and, more attainably, Oceanwind Knits (their hand-dyed merino in particular), and Pagewood Farm (Alyeska and Yukon in particular).  I'm holding off though, and there's a much longer list of recommendations that I am avoiding for now... and I am absolutely not signing up for any more yarn subscriptions!

In other wallet-damaging news, my custom order of Big Tryst is ready so that's another hit on the old budget, although very very exciting... I can't wait to receive this order as well, and it means I'll have 9 of the 13 colors!  I'm going to make the barn raising quilt (ravelry, book website) from the book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together although I do want to try one square first and see if this is the best use of this beautiful yarn.  I was going to wing it on the pattern but I think I'm just going to get the book, which has lots of other beautiful patterns including the Pillow of Sei Shonagon (ravelry, flickr) which I have always admired. 

Speaking of sKNITches, here are some better photos of my recent order:

In other exciting news, I'm going to start swatching for my Pakucho blanket.  I received the two books I ordered and I think I have selected Courtly (ravelry, flickr) from the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.  This is a very "meat and potatoes" kind of book - more of a booklet really, with no frills, just photos and patterns, and while the photos are pretty good, the book is laid out in a strange way so that the photos and the patterns do not correspond at all!!!  There are some beautiful blankets shown though, and all are knit with worsted weight yarn doubled up on #17 needles so they should live up to the "quick" of the title.  Actually, I randomly saw a post on ravelry this morning asking about Knitpicks Options which lead me to review which tips I have and realize that I actually have #17 tips, which is fantastic as I was thinking I had to go and buy needles before I could start this.   I've now entered all my tips on ravelry under sock dpns, which I am pretty sure I will never buy, so I avoid this problem in the future.

In other news, I received yet another package from my Secret Pal.  I didn't mention it before but she had some beautiful stitch markers sent to me from Ruby N Purls a few weeks ago, and then just the other day I received an unexpected package from Amazon containing Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard.  Oh my!  I love this book!  My Secret Pal has done a great job of introducing me to new things while pegging my tastes really well.  I had actually seen and queued a couple of patterns in this book without actually taking note of or looking at the book... and now that I have the book, there are many more that I could see myself knitting.  My Secret Pal was very sweetly worried that the patterns in the book are simple and possibly not as challenging as I like... ha!  I explained to her that I have not yet knit what I would consider to be a "proper" sweater yet - the lacy hooded tunic doesn't really count in my mind as it didn't really need much fitting.  That to me is the daunting and challenging part - not so much the knitting itself but selecting the right pattern and yarn and getting the right fit that will look good on me.  The asymmetrical wrap doesn't really count either and look at the problems I have there with wearability, even though I knit it exactly as designed!!!  (I am going to give that a go this winter though and see if I can figure out a way to wear it.)

So yes, I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting my first "real" sweater and I think this book is really going to help.  Ingenue (ravelry) looks like something I would wear, and my other favorite is the Lion-Neck Cardigan (ravelry), although I don't really count that as a "real" sweater either (I imagine it's much easier to make a cardigan that fits).  I also love the Paradise Beach Cover-up (ravelry) and the Karma tank (ravelry).  There's nothing like a good cover-up and/or tank!  Sorry, no flickr links yet... the book is new so there aren't any FO photos in ravelry yet.  

I won't list all the other patterns in the book that I like but I am getting those fall sweater/cardigan urges.  Here's another one I like - Starsky (ravelry, pattern) although not with the belt (again with the belts!)  I particularly like this version (ravelry, flickr).  

I love watching my friend's activity on ravelry - it's like a constant feast of inspiration.  Still, I have to remember to occasionally actually knit... which I am off to do right now!