I'm back! YAY.

Whew. That last trip this past week was a doozy. I'm glad it is over. No I didn't get any yarn. No, I didn't have any free time. Yes, I did get beer! Oh and speaking of beer, I think I'm going to have one now...

Ah. That's better. So, you ask, what have I been working on? WELL. Things have kind of moved on a bit from when I took the photos, but I think you can get an idea.

1. Swatches for Warm Up America from Harlot yarn

Remember, everyone got a ball of Paton's Soy Wool Stripes from the Yarn Harlot's Represent event, and I did a swatch but didn't have any scissors, so brought the ball home with me and promised to do some better ones and send them in.

Before/After:

Before: boring stockinette swatch, a little too small. After: stitch patterns! Greatly increased size!

Both stitch patterns are from the piece of paper given out at the event from Warm Up America. I think the one that is in the back is called "Shadow Triangles" and the one in the front (which is finished now) is called "Squares" but is really just basket weave. I don't know why I picked this up again recently. It was kind of a palate cleanser between harder things. Plus, I just wanted to get that ball out of my knitting basket. I don't think I have enough yarn left to finish another one, so I think I'll just keep the rest of the ball for a felted flower or something later. I think two squares is good enough karma. The yarn itself is silky and smooth, but splits easily and has this tendency to almost felt to itself, which results in these little puffs of fluff being generated by the friction of the ball unraveling. It is most annoying. I can't see making anything bigger than a scarf with this stuff, and really don't think I'll be using it any time soon, even though I do love the colorway with all the pinks and brown.

[small aside: HI, I'm sitting here watching Dancing with the Stars and that Leila Ali is HOT. Oh. My. God. Sigh!]

2. Ok, I've been working on Monica for my neice, since I owe her a poncho that may not ever happen (seriously, every little girl needs a poncho once, no matter what YOU may think of their fashion savvy). Anyway, I got both sides done:



I measured and measured, and I STILL think one side ended up a bit shorter than the other. ARGH. So I blocked them out, as you can see in the picture. I used the measuring tape and made absolutely sure that they were the exactly the same measurements when I pinned them out. I've since taken the pins out and held them together and what? ONE SIDE IS STILL BIGGER. So, I've not started to seam them yet. I want to get some of those knit klips first, because I think I'm going to need them to hold everything even while I seam it up. Luckily, on their website, they say that the klips are available at Knit NY, and I have to go over to that side of town anyway to get Spanky some Kiehl's products and get my hair cut, so I'll probably be seaming it this weekend.

Other than that, I started another baby blanket from Natural Knits with the Organic Blue Sky cotton, in Sage, and it is SOFT and I love the green. I'm going to use three whole balls of the cotton on the blanket in an effort to make it bigger this time. I hope it works! This stuff is so soft, I totally recommend it for bulkier baby stuff.

That's all I have tonight. I am failing miserably at Turn off your TV Week, but I guess that was a foregone conclusion anyway. When I get home from work, I don't have much energy to do anything else, and if I want to knit, there isn't much else to do. I have been listening to Villette, by Charlotte Bronte, on LibriVox though, and it is way more addictive than I thought it would be. I am about 6 chapters in, and I can't wait to see what happens to her after she goes to London.

Anyway, this Dancing with the Stars is addictive also. I don't even care who wins, I just like watching the dancing. That Billy Ray Cyrus is growing on me too. I love his hair cut. I love how his kids come to watch him perform. But really, I think Leila is the best. I like her teeth.