Things Sam's Done

Just thought I'd try to keep y'all updated as I move on as the SJC S'n'B distance correspondent! Working at the LYS has been great fun, and I've had a lot of knitting time in-between wedding planning!

A few highlights:


* Progress made on the laminaria lace I was working on at the end of the year, though it's still far from done!
* A linen stitch bag I've design for DPNs that's being test knit before I release it on my patterns blog.
* A tank top I made out of crystal Palace summer net, a great summer yarn. It's only that see through when there's a camera flashing at my chest!
* A crochet dishcloth with popcorn stitches and faux cables.
* A heart for Paul!
* my second pair of socks -- they're a secret surprise for paul. I'm going to deliver them before the wedding with a note saying "in case of cold feet" !
* The headband I made for Anna for her birthday!
* And the last two are knit up swatches of my handspun yarn. Both are 2-ply, the blue/gold is silk, and the pink/brown is merino. I might be acquiring a used spinning wheel soon, and I'm very excited about that! I hope you all are doing well! I miss you!

Clover Fields Scarf

This is the scarf I started in the fall for Everett's wife.
The close up (and a better picture of the color):


Pattern: Cobbled together from stitch patterns used in the Dover Shawl in Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in Moss
Needles: Size 3


-Molly

Molly's super groovy cardigan

Here's a picture I took of Molly's beautiful green cardigan. She has photos of the process on her Ravelry blog, but not the finished product. Here it is!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oh, I'm so excited! I've got all my shopping and wrapping done! I'm also excited because my Ravelry invite should arrive tomorrow. On Christmas! That is, assuming they send out invitations on Christmas Day.

Ravelry is this super cool knitting organizing site that Mary showed Jo Ann and me just before we left for break. I could say more, but check it out for yourself. They're only in beta right now, which is why only a few people can join per day (in the neighborhood of 700) which is why I've been patiently waiting for my invitation for almost two weeks! Apparently in the summer people were waiting for months though, so I can't complain.

In view of my imminent deluge by knitting culture, I've been frantically trying to finish the project I started with Jo Ann's beautiful wool yarn that I snatched that same fateful last Stitch 'n Bitch afternoon.

This is the project, kind of folded over itself. I have one more skein of yarn than what's pictured, but I've gotten into that one now.

And this is an up-close view of my stitches/pattern. I'm purling one row, and knitting two, purling one on the other row, so the right side ends up with a a two stitch-wide stockinette rib,

with a one stitch-wide garter stitch dividing line that kind of sinks into the background of the fabric.

What I'm actually making is the Any Yarn Shrug, since I didn't have labels for this yarn, and I had the right-size needles. Mine will have three-quarter length sleeves, I think, and won't be as loose and droopy as the one in their picture. I'm really nervous because I'm going to have to block and sew the arms together, neither of which I've done before. Well, I've sewn knitting and crochet pieces together before, but never clothing! Any advice?

The Long View

I miss you all and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and break!

Ginger Plantation

Here is my gingerbread plantation I made over the break. It took me two daya, a lot of planning (and some yelling), but I think the final product was well-worth the strife! The dimensions are 16" wide X 26" high. I want to write in to Martha Stewart's magazine to tell her that I used her recipie, but it would probably be corny. I hope everyone else is having fun creating things this winter break!

Technical Details

Okay, so to invite people to write on this blog, log in to blogger.com, under this blog, click the "Settings" link, and near to the top of the page there is a whole row of links under the "Settings" category: click on "Permissions". You can only invite people if you are an administrator, which I've done for everyone who has accepted to write so far.

I think we're off to a great start! Kirstie, I agree with all your proposed topics, and leave the floor open for anything else that might come up in the course of our lives, cold cream included.

And maybe Jo Ann could make the sweater, but make it less ugly by choosing other colors and tweaking the pattern -- then it's not only the wonderful sweater he wanted, but also wonderfully unique by virtue of his wife's inventiveness....

In other news, I love continental stitch (is it even a stitch?) and am SUPER nervous about the Agora tomorrow.

Baby stepping to the Blog...Ok, I meant the "comment" I sent in response to Samantha's post to be a Real Post by me, so please check it out. How do we invite others to join our blog? There are some virtual SJC S&B-ers who I know would to have some of this action. -Jo Ann