New Rowan Magazine!!!

The new Rowan magazine is out! I have to admit, I've been unreasonably excited about this since about mid-June. I first encountered the Rowan magazines last summer, when I bought Rowan 37 (which is where Hike was found, as well as the now-ripped out Elspeth, and many other patterns I love). However, in my view Rowan has been in a downhill slide ever since, and each magazine has disappointed me, especially since I had high standards after having found so many things I liked in my first Rowan experience. However, from the small, too dark photos on the webpage, there is hope. I think I see several lovely sweaters and some great armwarmers. So, I guess I'll be taking a bit of time off tomorrow to go peruse this baby and see if there are any sweaters good enough to be added to the queue!

At last...the poll

The sleeve is finished. Friday night, 9:43pm PST. It's long. This isn't a shock since the first sleeve was also very long for my apparently freakishly short arms. I carried on regardless, figuring I could roll up the cuffs like I have to do with every other sweater I own, although I did shorten the sleeve by about 12 rows, probably almost 2 inches. So, with the main part of the knitting finished, and the sewing/blocking/cheering/crying still to come, it is time to "Choose Emily's Next Big Project"
These are in no particular order, so don't be swayed by any inherent ordering bias. Leave a comment, let me know what you think I should knit next! And yes, I will also finish the Hike sweater, but I need something else to do as well.

Option 1) Demi, from Vintage Knits.

This will be in a darkish green tweed (Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran), or a dark purple Donegal Tweed. I'm leaning towards the green, since it's lighter and will show off the pattern more, but this sweater looks lovely in the dark brown in this photo.

Option 2) Salina, from Vintage Knits.

This one I have the actual recommended yarn for, in dusky navy blue Rowan Felted Tweed (is that a color or have I just made it up? Anyway, it's navy, but lighter). This baby could be made in the round and is the simplest option, I think. I intend to look happier when I wear mine.

Option 3) Rogue, from The Girl from Auntie.

This was intended to be my next sweater, way back last fall when I had good intentions of finishing Hike much faster than I did. I have the yarn, light blue Rowanspun Aran. In fact I have enough yarn to make two of these, since it was a huge deal from Ebay that involved getting a whole bag, and this stuff comes in huge skeins.

Option 4) Asymetrical Cabled Vest, from Loop d'Loop.

That is a horrible photo. I bet this woman is quite attractive, but that face she's making is really doing nothing for her. However, in reality this vest is quite cute and reminds me a bit of DNA. Plus, it has an adorable matching hat. And the gauge is huge, so it would go quickly. I'd wear it more like a sweater, over long-sleeved t-shirts, hence it's in the potential sweater section. I have some Rowan Polar (not tweed!) purchased for this item. Or anything with comparably huge gauge, say the Lace Leaf Pullover (option 5): I also have a few side options, without photos. I had intended to knit a vest for someone who shall remain nameless in case he/she reads the blog, but I've not really found the perfect pattern. I thought I had, but the more I look at it the less it calls to me. So I'm still looking for that, but I could get on with some zeal if you all think it wise. Then there is the option of making something summery, say a tank top. I have several patterns and appropriate yarn, and this might be a good choice since it would be simple (fewer pieces=less finishing=better chance of getting it done). But the sweaters call to me as better things to knit, since knitted tank tops seem slightly oxymoronic to me. And summer is fleeting in Seattle. In fact, after our brief wave of hellish heat we're now back in the 60s, 40s at night, and a sweater sounds like just the ticket. And a scarf. Maybe even a hat and mittens. I love it here but I'd really appreciate some warm evenings!

Okay, the poll is open. What should I make? You've got until Wednesday. Speak now or forever hold your peace (until we do this again, say next summer, when I finish whatever I'm about to start)! By the way, I do have an opinion about what I would like to make, but I'm interesting in getting opinions, so I'm keeping it to myself. Maybe you'll all agree with me...

Stitch and Pitch

Last Tuesday was our 2nd Annual Stitch and Pitch here in Seattle. The girls and I headed on down, picked up our totebags, and proceeded to watch the Mariners get whupped by the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite the disasterous game (of course that's a matter of perspectdive - the Blue Jays fans, who seemed to dominate the crowd, were probably quite happy with the proceedings), we had a great time. The sweater sleeve was worked on:

Garlic fries and nachos were consumed. No beer for me though, since I can't drink and knit, even stockinette. The sleeve would've gone totally crooked.

Daisy made some sock progress:
And Jennifer won this fantastic basket from Michaels (I think):

The basket is chock full of yarn as well as a Learn-to-Knit book and kit with tons of nifty knitting gadgets, and some of those bizarre circular knitting frames that remind me of the loop potholder kits that were everywhere when I was growing up. They gave away quite a few of these giant baskets, which was really impressive when you think how much is in them, and that they were (I think) free raffle tickets.

I promise to get back to more regular posting now that the herpes meeting is over and done with. It was totally exhausting. Too much beer, too much science, too many late nights and early mornings. And NOT enough knitting. I think I can finish the sleeve this weekend if I put my mind to it...And then you guys can decide what sweater/garment I knit next! I have the potential victims all lined up for a photo display in my next post...

Swappin' Goodies

The fiber fairies have been smiling on me these last few days, let me tell you. I've gotten a package every day since Saturday. Actually there were two yesterday but I didn't get the second until this morning, so that counts as three days in a row (not counting Sunday, of course). I'll share them with you in the order I received them:
Package 1: From my Secret Pal, who remains a complete mystery to me. I don't know much about her aside from that she lives in San Francisco (great city) and that she's been quite good to me. Here is my second SP8 package:

Here we have two skeins of purple (hello Project Spectrum) Patons Bella (she suggested a cabled hat, which is an idea I can totally get behind), Outside magazines 2006 Buyer's Guide (which I had actually looked at and meant to buy, but I didn't get around to it, so this is great), and a needle felting kit and pack o' fiber. I'm pretty excited about the needle felting - I'd seen this kit before and was curious about it, so I'll definitely be trying it out soon. I have some yarn ready to make a felted purse, so I'll probably put some needle-felting on that when it's finished. I also got a new Knit Picks catalog on Saturday, with a big section on needle-felting, so I read up on it a bit and I'm all set to go. Thank you secret pal, I love my package! Can't wait to find out who you are :)

Package 2: The yarn I won in the Dye-o-Rama swap, from Cider Moon:

I have to say it - this yarn is very nice in texture, and in dyeing, and is all around lovely, except that the colors are not really me. In reality the yarn is less teal and more chartreuse than it appears in the photo. However, I'm sure I will use this yarn to make a lovely gift for someone who can pull off chartreuse with more panache than I can. And, I'm very happy to have won it, since I never win anything, and it is really nice. In fact, the more I look at the photo the more it's growing on me. We'll see...

Package 3: My July Colorswap package, from Kristi:

Kristi went all out with this package! There are two skeins of purple Knit Picks Palette, which I think I might use for socks, maybe lace armwarmers? There are many options. There was also a bath bomb (love those), lip gloss, and a nifty purple flower, which will live on my desk in the lab. She also made me a little pouch for stitch holders and yarn scraps and the like, which is very nice. There was also a tube of very pretty amethsyt beads, that managed to sneak under the tissue for the photo shoot. I'm not sure what I'll do with them - there may be enough for a necklace, I'm not sure. Cetainly a bracelet. Then there was some fun stuff, like glitter watercolors (can't wait to use those - I don't remember the last time I painted something that didn't count as home improvement), and some interesting candy that I've not seen before but I'm hypothesizing is like PopRocks, which are totally great. And a cute card as well. Kristi has impeccible handwriting. I have pretty neat handwriting but I'm very jealous of hers. Thank you Kristi, I love my package, and I hope that yours arrived and that you liked it as well!

Phew, that was a lot of stash enhancement! Tonight the Fiberphiles and I are going to the Seattle Mariners Stitch & Pitch. The Mariners play the Toronto Blue Jays. The weather is lovely, and the knitters will be out in force. I'll try to document the occasion like a good blogger, but it might be a few days before I get the photos up since I'm spending the week at the International Herpesvirus Workshop (in Seattle - my first international research meeting and I don't even get to go anywhere). If you click on that and like the logo, it was designed by my labmate Stephanie and we're very proud - it's been a huge hit at the meeting.

Purple Project!!!

Finally I'm knitting something in Project Spectrum color of the month! This is the Lilac version of Perdita from the newest Knitty. It's knit with DMC Cotton Perle, which is pretty much like embroidery floss but with more twist, so the plies aren't coming apart. And it's shiny. It should have beads, but the ones I have are a couple of sizes too big, and they looked ridiculous, so I've left them out. This is about half done already, from starting pretty late last night, so I should be done with it soon. Well, until I have to do the crochet edge and attach buttons, since I don't know how to crochet. I've been shown several times but my hands can't really work out what to do with only one implement. I think I'll just modify the pattern and add a clasp or just tie it on with some i-cord on both ends.
Yes, I'm still working on the sleeve. It's well over half done. Maybe later today I'll post the options for the next sweater so everyone can weigh in with the decision...

Progress

I did it.
So there.

I started the second Hike sleeve last night around 9:00, worked on it for about 1.5 hours, and then again this morning while watching the Tour. I could've gotten more done had I started knitting when I started watching the race, at 5:15am(!), but I really wasn't awake enough to knit until around 7:00...And what a stage it was. Very exciting. Still no idea who is going to win this one. SO much more exciting than all the Tours de Lance...I've not been going on about on this blog, since it's supposed to be about knitting, but I'm a huge cycling fan and have been since I was probably 10 years old. So, the Tour is always an exciting time of getting up early to watch the race live (remember, I live on the left coast, so we're talking pretty early here). I also do this in May for the Giro d'Italia, and again in September for the Vuelta a Espana. It is possible I am insane.

Yarn guardian, and inadvertant stash enhancement (sorry Mom)

Observe the orange beast keeping a watchful eye on the newly organized stash...

Carefully he waits, ready to pounce (or purr) on anyone who might come near his domain. Or maybe he's just lazy. Either way he's cute, yes?

I found out yesterday that I won a prize in the Dye-O-Rama handdyed yarn swap! I'm really excited, I never win anything! My yarn should be on its way today. I'm getting 2 skeins of handdyed mohair and one of merino (I think) from Cider Moon, enough to make a scarf (pattern included with my yarn). I'll be sure to show it off when it arrives.

Last night, in lieu of knitting, I did some Project Spectrum crafting. I dyed some yarn, and made purple paper. Here is the yarn, which I've christened "Luscious Lilac:" The picture doesn't really do it justice but there's just no way to get good lighting in my apartment...It's 300 yards of Gems Pearl (fingering weight) dyed in four shades of lilac. Once again I've tried and not really succeeded in getting dark purple, but regardless I'm really happy with the way this turned out. Now if only it was for me!