Happy Anniversary!

I celebrated my anniversary last night. The actual day was Friday but I was working so we went out last night. What an excellent night we had!!

We went to Balthazaar, one of our all time favorite places! If you've never been there you really should try to go. I love all of Keith McNally's restaurants but this is by far my favorite. It is such an incredibly beautiful space. I know it's french bistro style but it is So NY! And the food...mmm good. Instead of sitting in the dining room we opted for the bar. We totally enjoy going to top restaurants and eating at the bar. I don't know if it's the energy or the more casual atmosphere or what but we much prefer the bar. We started off with a bottle of vintage Veuve Cliquot Rose. I'm not a big Veuve fan but this bottle was surprisingly good. We ordered Kumimoto oysters. We talked and talked and talked. The bar got pretty busy but because we were sitting it didn't really bother us at all. We just kept talking. We decided to have another bottle of champagne! It was that good. Then we ordered a cheese plate. We love cheese. We are really into it and this cheese plate was quite tasty! And we talked some more. We went out pretty early and at around 8:15 I realized that I had never cancelled our reservation at La Esquina - another super good place. So we got our check (ouch!) and headed around the corner to La Esquina for some of the best Mexican food in the city. No kidding. This place is great. Again, we sat at the bar and ordered up some ridiculously good appetizers...and of course sangria and margaritas. We had an awesome time there as well, chit chatting with the staff and with each other. Really a great date. After La Esquina we headed around the corner to hang out with a friend at Palais Royale. Where we met the most amazing dog!! Porter. He's a mix of black lab, German short haired pointer and american bull dog. Wow! He was so beautiful and smart and awesome. We hung out there for a little bit and then decided to head home. We were actually home before midnight!!! How awesome is that? It's so nice going out in NYC. We rarely get the time to hang out together because of our crazy schedules but this was an excellent anniversary night out. Really special, really fun, totally full of love!

Unfortunately, his sweater is not finished! I'm up to the armpits. At some point yesterday I decided to add a red cashmere hem to the bottom. I'm not 100% sold on it. But I was getting bored knitting the body so I switched it up. It only prolonged the fact that the body was taking forever. Oh well. Now that I look at it I only have 2 sleeves and the raglan sleeve decreases to go. I should be able to whip this out in a day or 2. The problem is that I'm headed down to Soho Pub. to pick up a couple of projects....There goes November!

My sister-in-law gave me a few ideas for the sweater that she would like for me to make her...The November issue of InStyle has a section on sweaters. She likes the longer cardigan with the fur lining. Hmmm. How will I do that? Sounds like a challenge. I hate fake fur and I definitely won't use real fur so this will be interesting...It will give something to think about while I work on the other projects...

about last night...

Here's the scene:

The weekend before Halloween. New York City. Chinatown. Former speakeasy now groovey lounge. Pouring rain. Steamy. Excellent music. Dark. Super packed. Right around midnight....

This is what I'm thinking from behind the bar...

Where in a girls mind is it ok to get completely trashed in an unflattering halloween costume and puke in public? In a bar. A very crowded bar? I mean while she was getting dressed up in her silly, unflattering get up did she think Wow, wouldn't it be fun, since I'm in costume, to get completely half cocked and puke in public tonight in front of all of my friends. Or was it more like Well at least no one will recognize me this time!

Girls, come on, this is the jungle...didn't you see Mean Girls? I mean this is not ok to do in public. You really won't get the guy. Plus what were you thinking wearing that ridiculous silver Hershey's Kiss get up. I mean, you definitely won't get the guy....FOR SURE. 100% GUARANTEED. It's cute on a 5 year old. Not on a 20 something. jeez.

Random thoughts in a sea of people:

When did 20 somethings start ordering vodka with water? oh, make that a double vodka with water. I mean, I'm really good at this bartending but wtf?? Can we spell r-e-t-a-r.....No can we spell AA? It felt like rehab gone bad last night!

Fellas, you're not off the hook....

I know, I know, you and your 3 friends are having a SUPER good time but instead of closing out your bill you order a bottle of red wine after the 3 bottles of champagne, 10 shots of patron, and a couple of g & t's to boot...a bottle of red wine? Really? hmmm. questionable choice. Oh and by the way, really nice hiding the teeth grinding. I never, ever would have pegged you to be the blow type. You may want to go to the dentist when you recover from last night. Hold on a word comes to mind PATHETIC!! and you weren't getting the Hershey's Kiss girl either...she was puking last time I checked. But man, how dehydrated were you? You were sucking down that water in record time. I'm just thinking like you may want to have a friend do a little documentary style video of you next time you go out. I'm not kidding...I'm totally serious. You looked f****d up. No, not in a good way. Like in a 28 days kind of way. And No the tip really has no bearing on how you looked. Actually that 30% tip made you look a little bit like a loser. Sorry.

Note to Halloween goers - don't paint your face green when you are going to a downtown bar that is really, really dark. HELLO, I CAN'T SEE YOU. and you look green. Next...who needs a shot!

If you haven't been on the cute team before... wear a great platinum blonde wig and dark clothes. Maybe some false eyelashes. Red lipstick. The guys have done so many shots that they have forgotten why everyone is dressed up and they just think you look hot. Strange, but it seems to work every time...

If you have been on the cute team your whole life...wear something hot and have a great time...you're gonna be a hit. Everyone is so uncomfortable and insecure about their dorky costumes that they will all gravitate toward you and bonus all the guys will be around you. JUST DON'T PUKE...

The busier I get the more time I have to let my mind wander about things... Like the girl with ROLLER SKATES on? ok. You lost me there. Rain= slippery floor, Crowded bar = no skating, Drinking massive quantities of lemondrop shots = very messy. Oh uh, no sweetie, you can't carry a tray of shots across the bar with your roller skates on. I know it would be super cute and that really, really cute guy would like want to make out with you and, and, and, but uh, no. Please leave. Now. Your're not cute anymore.

Anyway, have fun. (and don't do drugs! It's not pretty)

On the knitting front....I'm going round and round and round on this alpaca sweater. Maybe before the games begin again tonight I'll get a bunch of rounds in!

More to come...

Oh Yeah!

That's right!! 6 skeins of Silken Straw by Alchemy. 100% silk. This is going to be one fantastic shawl, wrap thingy for some very special person. (She that will not be named) Have you ever seen this stuff knit up? OMG. It is gorgeous. I was at Purl yesterday looking for some lacey weight variegated fall color yarn. Couldn't find anything. Then Kablammy. There it was... And how nice of them to show it to me all knit up into a fabulous little swatch. OMG!!!!!!!! YOWZA! I'll take 6 (at $24.50, ouch) Can't wait!! Know of any good shawl patterns??

Here's the problem...I've been trying to get a bunch of knitting done for the holidays because I've been free from deadlines. Well as of Monday that's going to change. I'm picking up 2 projects from a magazine that are due at the end of November....which can only mean .....Complicated. So there goes November. This will leave me 3 weeks to make:

1. The shawl with that gorgeous silk - from above. Oh probably 8 (10/12)days worth of knitting once I find the pattern or design something. I have roughly 1400 yds. I oughta be able to make something brilliant with that, right?

2. This fabulous manly sweater - 100% love, 100% alpaca. Size 7's. Seamless.
but Holy crap...I knit all night at work. I knit all morning. Dear lord when will I get somewhere on this thing...The other problem, which could quite possibly be a fatal one, is that this beautiful ball of yuminess has for the past 2 years been a 3 x 2 ribbed sweater....about 3 sizes too big...in a box...SO, I just snipped and rewound and started knitting. ALPACA HAS MEMORY. I'm concerned. but not enough to stop, wash, dry and reknit. I'm going for broke. I'll pray to the blocking gods and throw a penny in the fountain for good luck!! (Another 5 days at this snails pace)





3. Next up there is a lovely Lorna's Swirl Chunky in Island Blue EARFLAP HAT in a sweat little girls future to go with her brand spankin' new chocolate brown, puffy, knee length coat! YEEHA. That is one lucky girl... (sorry the photo looks crappy. I have too much flair going on) My only concern on this is that I won't have enough. This was the only skein left in this colorway (her favorite) so if necessary I'll dip back into that cashmere from the ribbed earflap hat and finish it off. OK that's like a half a day.



Total days: 13.5(15/17)...yeah, right. Not in a billion years. Plus I have to make a sweater for my sis-in-law. However, she may be s-o-l if she doesn't get me some ideas of what she wants...she's had a month so far to get me something...Time doesn't stand still, sistah....

And my other s-i-l...hmmm. I'll just give her some good ideas and she can make her own sweater...Or maybe I'll buy her the yarn and write up a pattern or better yet...buy one...

B-L-O-G-G-E-R WHAT'S UP?

I'm having PROBLEMS with blogger. Crap.

Stay tuned.

One Moment, Please...

I'm having Blogger issues......I can't upload any photos.

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One Moment, Please...

I'm having Blogger issues......I can't upload any photos.

Stay tuned!

Socks for Socktoberfest

So I've had my head in the sand designing like crazy not having time to think about personal knitting stuff. So things like Soctoberfest just didn't have a place to go in my brain. Well, I've had a couple of weeks free and I've been reading about Socktoberfest on peoples blogs and thought why not.... I signed up. Today, October 25th. And I knit these super cute peds for the occassion. I love them. I bought the cashmere the other day thinking I would make them for my mother-in-law. I also thought I would put a cute picot edging on these. But I decided against both. I was reading Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. It's fantastic. Really. It gave me some great ideas. I cast on and bam. This is what I came up with. Pretty simple, I know but I think they are great. The reason for the two color switch is that each 100yd skein was $15.00. It takes 2 per sock. (15 x 4 = $60.00) Uh, $60 bucks seemed a little excessive for a pair of peds. Even for me!! So, I decided to switch the second sock to use up the yarn from the first sock. Only in reverse. I actually love it. I could totally see some stripe thing happening. And I still have the other 2 skeins left. Yippee!!

I have a question about socks. Why is it that everyone makes socks that hit mid calf? I think this is so unflattering. I guess it has to do with calf shaping but really, I don't think they look so hot. I don't think calf shaping is all that hard. It's like any other shaping - increasing, decreasing. Plus options for fashioning that could look amazing. (note to self - design some awesome calf covering socks with really great fashioning!) I wonder if I'm the only one that feels this way. I only ever wear peds. But it's getting cold so maybe knee highs would be great.

Lion Wool Sweater for Aran list

My photo didn't end up in my email that I sent to the aran group so here it is. It's easier to put the photo here. There was a discussion about Lion Wool. This is a sweater that I designed for Lion Brand using their new wool. As I said in my post to the group, the blue was very unstable. The yarn held up very well. I had to rip this sweater out about 4 times because the sleeves had to keep being tweaked. So yes, it holds up well! I think if you click on the image it will enlarge so that you can actually see it better. (This was an early photo because the sleeves ended up being more cap that short.)

A few more things to check off!

1. Finished pink Manos Stria sweater.
You can't really see the collar. I ended up doing a 2 x 2 rib. I think it works with the short sleeves and the deep ribbing at the bottom. In real life it's nice. I like it.




2. Buy dye for dress that faded in window of Downtown Yarns!
When this dress was in the window the sun faded out the front of the dress. So while I was at Rhinebeck I bought some turquoise to try to dye it back to it's original Lobster Pot color!






3. Buy cashmere for footies for Chistmas gifts
I bought some beautiful cashmere yesterday to make some peds/footies for gifts. I'm going to do a picot edging around the top in contrasting color. And the rest of the sock/footie in st. st. Should be quick and nice and really soft. I'll show you.


4. Start Blog
Yay. I finally have had the time to start this. It's been pretty fun so far. It's nice to actually have a place to put my knitting.

Checking off a few things on my TO DO list!

1. Angora Sweater
Sleeves, seaming, blocking, yeha. It pretty much turned out the way I wanted it to. It's waaaayyy nicer than the one that I was inspired by... which was an Anthropologie sweater where the collar attached at the side seams. Very unflattering! I love the longer, fitted arms. I love the ties. I love it.




2. Limbo Bird Hat
Second colorway. Still love it. I think this one will be for me. I have a pink ski jacket that this will look great with!



3. Pink Multi colored 100% cashmere hand-dyed scarf
Hated the yarn. I've already snagged it in my zipper. But it's super soft and rather pretty and VERY light. So ok, I like it!



4. Second Earflap Hat
This one I did all in Stockinette. I made it a little smaller than the ribbed one. I used Malabrigo yarn for the edging, pompom and ties. I blocked it before I added the pompom this time! It looks better in real life than in this crummy photo. I actually love it. It's soooo soft.


5. Malabrigo Scarf
Matches the hat. I used the Yarn Harlot's pattern. It's ok. Actually it looks pretty nice now that there is some length happening. I felt like the fabric was too tight. I thought maybe I should use bigger needles but I didn't have any with me at the time. So this is it. It will look nice with the hat. (The closures are from Rhinebeck!)




6. SEE FALL COLORS!!!!
OMG the colors were incredible. What a beautiful day to get out of the city and look at the leaves. UNBELIEVABLE. All my photos blew. Trust me, they were stunning!






7. Go to Rhinebeck!!!
Rhinebeck was amazing. I got home from work at 5am sunday morning and we left at 10 so I was pretty pooped. But rallied once we got there.It was a beautiful day. I saw everything.




8. Buy yarn for Tuscany Dress
I bought yarn for the Tuscany dress (Interweave). My sister is going to make it for me. (yippee)I bought 2 skeins of Fawn and 3 skeins of Carmel. It's going to be amazing. Pictures to follow....



9. Learn to spin
I bought a book and a drop spindle to teach myself how to do it!





10. Buy Roving
I felt every piece of roving at Rhinebeck. It seemed like a lot of it had silk in it?? I have no idea why but maybe after I learn how to do this I'll understand why?? This was really soft and the color was pretty. So I bought a pound of it. I have no idea how much yarn that makes. hmmmm.



11. Not on the to do list....Yummy hand cream.
This stuff is amazing. It's from Maggiesfarm. It smells divine.



12. Silk Cap (2 of them)
This is amazing!! You can draft directly from the cap!! I'm going to make some lovely little scafy thing. Can't wait to figure it out and show pics! It's made from hundreds (?) of silk cocoons. It's pretty cool.


That's it for now. It feels so nice to check off so many things. It's nice to have no unfinished projects. I guess I have to work on my apartment now....woohoo.

A Little Crochet...

I designed this top for Lion Brand. It is a simple motif that when put together looks really great. Super easy. Big payoff.








It was in the recent Lion Brand catalog. You can find it here . If you click on the catalog and browse though the different pages you'll see it. I think it's on page 9. I also designed the Ruffle scarf maybe page 23?. It is toward the back of the catalog. This is what it looked like in my apartment. Well this is the black one. I did both of the cream versions that are on the website. It is really interesting to knit with. I love the possiblities of it.


My most recent great idea with the black cashmere is about to be back in skein form! I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and was looking through some of the newer knitting/crochet books. I picked up one that was lovely. (I can't remember the name of it). I was going to buy it but then when I actually started looking at the designs, I realized that there were 3 patterns for MY GREAT IDEA!!! I couldn't believe it. I wasn't completely sold on MY GREAT IDEA but I was giving it some time on the mannequin. It's official. I hate it. I love the yarn and I'm not going to waste it. So now I'll just have really clean yarn! On to the next great idea!

Let's see, while I was letting that gel, I went to the DUMBO arts festival in Brooklyn on Sunday. It's always a really great time. It's pretty inspiring to get to go into the artists' studios. and see all their stuff. I met the most amazing sculptor by the name of Paige Bradley. She does the most beautiful bodies. Look her up. I'm sure she has a web site. I lost her card at the moment. Definitely check her out.

I made another scarf too. I don't know what's up with me and scarves. I've never been a scarf knitter. EVER. It's weird. This one is made from lace weight cashmere boucle. Handpainted. 285 yards. I bought it from School Products the other day when I bought the other cashmere. This was a total pain to knit with however, it is super soft and super light. I like it. I'm going to toss it in the wash and then I'll take a pic.

My sister is coming tomorrow. She was in Philadelphia on business but is going to make a long weekend of it because we're going to RHINEBECK!!!!! I totally can't wait. Last year was really great. It was my first time so I had no idea what to expect. Now I do. I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in the spring to warm up!! It was super fun. I bought some incredibly beautiful yarns. I'm looking to do the same on Sunday. I have to work on Friday and Saturday nights so Sunday it is. It's cool. I can totally do it in a day. I know what I like and I know what I want. (I hope there is kettle corn!) I don't know any other knitters (except my sister!) so there won't be any distractions!

Oh, in my lap is the pink sweater. I've finally added the collar. YAY! I'll take a pic of that too.

I'm thinking about christmas gifts. I haven't come up with anything yet for a couple of people. Maybe more than a couple. I'll probably end up making sweaters. I might make that beautiful butterfly dress that was in the Rowan mag. last season. It's still beautiful. It looks pretty straight forward. Hmmm.

The Mets don't look so good right now. Bottom of the 6th. Mets 2 St. Louis 4. Crap.

AKD Membership Completed!!

I finished my AKD membership. I sent an email to Shirley MacNulty to get the 411 on where to send this beautiful thing off to...I'm kind of excited about it. I feel really silly but I am. I sure hope I get in. OMG, now I'll be thinking about the what if's for like 8 weeks.

Well, anyway something I can check off my to do list.

Wow, you can really get a lot done when you're not under the gun of knitting deadlines. My life completely stops when I am designing. I get into this very strange head space. Like I almost shouldn't be around people. It's weird, I know. But that's how I work.

Someone asked recently on the Yahoo Designer list if people love or hate to write patterns. I like to write patterns that are size appropriate. I don't like to write patterns to fit every body type. I would prefer to design a size appropriate garment and create like one size on either side of what I designed. It is weird to me to design a sweater for a 52" bust and then have to write all the sizes down to a 30" bust. I think it really ruins the integrity of the design. I think it would be better to design two separate sweaters with inclusive design elements. Even on Project Runway this season (!!!!) the designers were stumped on the Everyday Woman episode. The project was speaking to proportion in design. You can't just cookie cutter xs to xxl. It's wrong. One of the sizes at the end of the spectrum won't work. It depends on which end was designed for. On PR, they design for very small bodies so for them to design plus size, well, ouch. Did you see Jeffrey's design? As Laura says, Serious Ugly! And he's really good. So how can knitwear designers keep the integrity of their original design inspiration and grade the sizes up or down? It baffles me every time I have to do it. Of course I do it because everyone wants to be so PC but if you ask me it doesn't work. I think a lot of + size people are just not knitting the patterns because they know their bodies and know that most of the designs aren't flattering. (That's why the Big Girl Knits concept is so awesome!) I think there should be more + size designs in commercial knitting mags. Like even a separate section. I mean isn't the average american woman a size 14 or something? I know it's expensive to devote pages to something specific like that but I think there is a gigantic market out there for it. Don't you?

So, anyway, I love writing patterns but I hate grading them. Not because of the math but because of the sillyness of it.

Just my 2 cents.


Off to work. It's gonna be a crazy one!!

I'm Finishing up

So it was raining and a little cold last night which makes for a very slow bartending night! That can only means 1 thing....LOTS of knitting. I finished up the body of this.


As you can see it's blocking right now. (not such a nice photo!) The sweater is knit sideways to about 1/3 up the armhole shaping. Then each front and the back is picked up and knit in the usual way. I (hopefully) made it wide enough to incorporate the button band so no added knitting for that. All that is left are the sleeves and a neck treatment!

I also started the angora sleeves last night. I'm about 1/3 done with one of them. I started talking to some customers and had to put it down. So they are coming with me to work tonight.

And I've picked up the pink sweater to finish that up. Not sure where I'm going with that one. But I'm bringing needles, yarn and a Barbara Walker with me to work tonight.

And lastly, I'm finishing up my AKD presentation. I'm waiting to hear if it's knit only or if I can submit crochet tear sheets. Other than that I just have to make it visually pretty and off it goes. I'm really excited about it. I've been meaning to get it out for about a year but haven't had the free time to do it. I've had about 2 weeks off from ANY deadline knitting. Though it is VERY strange it's letting me get a bunch of stuff done around here.

I've been catching up on Project Runway...Did Jeffery cheat? OMG!!

Full Disclosure...

Remeber this...




I said it was maybe for my mom (mabye for me)? Well the real story is this. My Sister-in-law bought some Manos Stria two summers ago. She was going to make a sweater out of it but didn't know what she wanted. So we talked a little and I said I would write a pattern for her. So I took the yarn and did the required swatch. And sketched out a little pattern idea. I remembered that she was working on a shrug that seemed to be taking her forever. Since the yarn was cotton and it was summer and the swatch was to my gauge (not hers) and it would take me like a few days to knit this thing. I told her I would do it. I looked at the skeins of yarn that she gave me and realized she probably didn't have enough. I happened to stop by the Yarn Co. on the upper west side and wow! they were having a sale on this exact yarn (1 year later? strange but fortuitous). I bought what they had and immediately started knitting the sweater. It was going to have at least 6" of 2x2 ribbing around the bottom. So knit 2, purl 2 I did. Now, as we all know, cotton stretches. It loses it's shape, it droops. My S-I-L is extremely particular about how things fit. Usually the preferred fit is snug. No loosey goosey clothes. She hates them. Won't wear them. And I definitely didn't want to waste my time making something that wouldn't fit. So the next time we got together I said "hey, let's check the sweater". Since I knit cardigans all in one piece I was able to put the sweater-in-progress on some yarn and wrap it around her. OF COURSE it was too big. Well the gauge was dead on but because of the 2x2 cotton ribbing it was going to grow and grow and grow and ultimately be WAY TOO BIG. So there I was with 6" of a l. front, back and r. front not needing any seeming or anything. Just the top halves. And since I had purchased a ton of the pink yarn I decided that the smartest thing to do was just start another sweater on smaller needles and leave this one alone to be dealt with later. That's exactly what I did. I whipped up this sweater for her. I took every inch of ease, growth, stretch and drape out of it. There was nothing that blocking could do for it. Luckily it fits! She happened to come over last night and I saw it on her for the first time and took these pics. I think that maybe it needs a little reinforcement at the bust. I think I'll add a see through snap between the two buttons where it is pulling. But all in all, I think it's really cute. AND...all I had to do was pick up and knit the other sweater. Now all I need to do is finish the collar. After seeing this one I think the collar looks super cute. Maybe I'll do that? To be continued.






That brings me to the cashmere from yesterday and my big idea. Well I cast on and worked the r. front, back and part of the left front. I'm working tonight so I think I'll for sure finish up the body tonight!! I'll take some pics tomorrow. Or tonight when I get home. It's a pretty cool design so far. We'll see where it ends up!!

Phew, I'm pooped!

So the elevator was fixed just in the nick of time! And the furniture got moved in. The movers were awesome. Really. None of this Schleppers or Moishes mentality. Just good, clean, nice movers. What a concept! What a pleasure! They showed up 45 minutes early (huh???!!!) and bam the furniture was in. And VERY reasonably priced!!

The rest of the day was spent ORGANIZING my apartment. God is that exhausting. Particularly when everyone hates you for doing it!! I felt like the general. And there was some serious grumbling among the ranks. Oh well. Everyone will be happy when it's all back together again and we can all find our things. I have 4 huge shopping bags full of yarn that I'm going to donate to school. I have a ton of clothes that will be donated to the Holiday Fair. I have boots, I have shoes, I have bags, I have furniture, I have toys. I have so much stuff to get rid of it's outrageous. I HATE clutter. Living in NYC makes you a little clutter crazy. Space is at a premium. Granted, I have a lot of space according to NYC standards. I have like a suburban size space. The problem is the more space you have, the more space you fill up. It's like the Blob! Stuff just fills in all of the corners. One minute it's quiet, empty, calm and the next it's full of something. Anything. It makes me nuts!

Later....during Weeds...I helped a knitter pal out with her Juno from the latest Rowan mag. We had to yank out some rows but she got back on track and is moving along. I hope she can finish it in time for uh, the holidays?

Unfortuately, I am NOT moving along. I swatched some cashmere. Just to see what the gauge was like (4 st"). I loved the feel and drape and color. So I thought about making something. Anything. I looked through mags and books. I looked through stitch patterns. Nothing. I finally decided on a pretty shawl. I was going to base it on the Triangle shawl from the latest Rebecca. But adding something fabulous around the edges. I cast on the required 263 sts. Worked the first 5 rows of the chart. Then I read the directions. Oops. I was supposed to purl the first row. Should I frog? I would tell everyone else to frog. So I frogged. Actually I ripped out. I again cast on 263 sts. I purled the first row and moved on to the the chart. I worked the first 18 row repeat. Hmmm. What is that odd looking hole back there on row like 2? or 3? I knit another few rows. No really, what is that hole? Can I live with it? Will Anyone but me notice it? OMG......I put it away. Went to bed. Got up. Thought about the shawl. Did a little work in my apt. Went out....brought the shawl with me. On the subway ride home I did it. I pulled the stupid shawl out. Much to the dismay of a woman sitting across from me. She never pulls out her projects apparently. Hmmm. Whatever.

The good news is that I had a great idea for a sweater. I guess I'll be casting on later tonight. Maybe during Smith. It's a cardigan. Of course I'll be making the body in one piece. Why doesn't everyone do this? All lengths are the same. When it's done, it's done. Sleeves, a button band and a collar. Bam. Finito! Well, that's the way I do it. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Now for that excellent bottle of wine I picked up on the way home...and some fine cashmere!

You call them pirates. I call them finished!

I finished We Call them Pirates. I LOVED making it. I used Aurora 4 like I said previously. 1 ball black and 1 ball white. (I still have 5 balls of black left!!) My gauge was totally off but I knit it up anyway. To make it wearable I added an extra repeat of the skull. I used a fantastic red cashmere/silk blend for the lining. The lining is super soft and contrasts the black and white nicely. All in all, the hat is awesome. I made it between 6 and 10 on saturday night before it got CRAZY at work! (which it got!!!)



Here's a pic of the cashmere earflap hat that I made. It doesn't look so great here but let me tell you...IT'S GREAT! So many people have asked me for the pattern. Before I write the pattern I'm going to make one that is all stockinette...no ribbing. I want to see which one fits best. Although, this one is going to be hard to beat! I could make this hat a thousand times and still love it. IT NEEDS A POM POM!!




Oh, my 2 ball of Limbo came in!! I'm definitely going to use it for teacher gifts! The second color way (the one with the pink) is really pretty. I might have to keep that one for me. I still have 2 more bird buttons so these will get the birds!


Did I show you the final scarf with the fringe? Pretty, right? (notice the sleeveless sweater underneath?)



Some friends just got married and took their honeymoon in Italy. They took some pictures of sweaters in the windows in Rome. I'm now inspired to make a basic cardigan with an embellished button band/collar. Very Rowan inspired - crocheted floweres, etc. I have to go ransack the stash and find some yarn for the project. I have to tell you, I really liked the Aurora 4. It is really soft and comes out so smooth and consistent. My gauge came in at about 7 sts". Really lovely!

Movers are coming today to deliver bedroom furniture. But guess what? The elevator is broken. Excellent!

We Call Them Pirates

Tomorrow I'm going to begin the We Call Them Pirates hat from helloyarn.com. I bought some Aurora4 today at KnitNY on sale. 25% off! I ended up buying all of the black (6 balls at 196 yds. each) and all of the white (only 1 ball). I think the hat will use up 1 black and a partial white. I would love to make the mittens to match but probably won't have enough white. If I love the pattern maybe I'll look for more...Although there will be enough black left over for a sweater!

I finished the scarf/shawl last night at work. I love working on wednesday nights because I usually get to knit most of the night. Even if it gets busy I'm usually able to work on something. I try not to bring too complicated a project because it is super dark and I'm constantly interrupted. But I can get some great knitting in. The scarf ended up being about 15" w x 7' l before fringe. The fringe adds about another 6" to each end. It's really beautiful. I wish it was for me. I also made some short wristlets. Basically I knit a swatch and added a full ruffle at the end. I'm thinking the ruffle will peek out from under the cuff of the coat. I did yo's before the ruffle and threaded the same ribbon as the finge through the yo's. Very nice.

I added the second tie to my angora sweater. I still like it. Time to make the sleeves. Maybe I'll do them at the same time. I've decided to do long, straight, fitted sleeves instead of any shaping. I think they'll be nice with everything going on at the neckline. Photos to come...

It was cold today. Just in time for October baseball! I think the heat was turned on in my building!! I guess we won't be seeing these for a while...

A Fluffy, Yummy Mohair Scarf

I haven't finished the angora sweater yet. I added one of the ties. Two sleeves and a tie to go! I'll show you then...

In the meantime:
I puchased about 1,000 yards of the most amazing charcoal grey cashmere the other day. I bought it because my niece is at Penn and is going to experience winter for the first time in her life. She's from LA. I'm going to make her a hat, scarf, wristlets and whatever else I can think of. Her mom told me that she ONLY wears dark colors. Greys, black. The cashmere is PERFECT. Well I was texting my niece the other day and she said she wanted a yummy scarf in a LIGHT color. Hmmm, the charcoal grey definitely won't work! So, I went through my stash and found a huge ball of light grey/off white mohair. Not scratchy mohair but a soft not too furry mohair. I cast on 40 sts on size 11's and began working in Turkish St. (yo,k2tog) I'm about 5' into it. It's about 15" wide. It's lovely. I went to M&J Trimmings yesterday and picked up some organza ribbon for fringe. I'm not crazy about mohair trim. Sometimes is looks a little frizzy and sloppy. So I bought a light and a dark grey. One is 1/4" the other is 1/2". I think it's going to look really great! I'll show you when I'm finished.

My First Post!

I have thought about having a blog for a while. I have walked around NYC with thoughts of "hmmm, that photo would be great on my blog" for so long that I just decided to go ahead and do it. I am a bartender in a busy NYC lounge and I am an avid knitter. I mostly want to write about knitting but of course there's the bartending...I have lots of questions about why people behave the way they do when they are out on the town (and drinking). I'll get to those later...

First, the knitting...I have been working on a couple of projects

1. The Pink Sweater


I love this little sweater. I love the deep ribbing at the bottom and the ribbed short sleeves. I love the length. However, I cannot decide on a collar treatment. I've tried a basic 2 row garter. Not so great. I've tried a cute jersey roll (not with this cotton!) So now I'm thinking of a little crochet trim. The buttons are these fantastic antique milk buttons that Rita had at Downtown Yarns. I'm thinking this might be for my mom for the holidays but I can't decide...

2. When I got my new Treo 700p the other day (yay!), one of the first things I did was input all of the yarn in my stash!! (# of balls, color, length, gauge, etc.) And I came across this one lone ball of Schoeller + Stahl "Limbo". I must have purchased it a few years ago because I went back to Rita (at Downtown Yarns) and asked her for more. Apparently she hasn't had this yarn for 2 years. I knit it up super fast and finished it off with a cute little bird button. I love it. I ordered 2 more balls of it on the internet. One in this color way and one in a similar colorway but with a little pink in it. (I'm thinking teacher holiday gifts!!)


3. The last thing for this post is an angora sweater. I bought the yarn at the Joan Vass yarn sale last year. I think I bought 15 balls for $30. SCORE! The grey brown undertone with the cream overtones make this yarn so beautiful. And once it's blocked it stops shedding! I was thinking of a deep v neck pullover with a shawl collar. The collar would then turn into ties that wrap around the body and tie in front. Maybe getting thinner as it wrapped so that the tie wouldn't be too bulky. So far so good. I think the sleeves will be slightly belled at the bottom and very fitted in the upper arm. Because the length is a little longer than usual, I think the fitted sleeves will work perfectly. Although now that I think about it maybe just an extra long, fitted sleeve will work best. hmmm. To be continued!



I also made an earflap cap with 100% cashmere that I bought at School Products. It is so yummy. In my excitement I tossed it in the washer to fluff it up (like with any good cashmere) and the pom pom came out looking like a wet rat. So I cut it off. The hat still looks good and is wearable but I really liked the pom pom. So I think I'll add a new one. Then I'll post a photo.