Knowledge Is Power!

Read this and be sure to tell EVERYONE you love to read it as well! (remember men get breast cancer too!) Post it to your blog and spread the word because KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

And since were making today all about the PSA this is something everyone should always remember:

SEVEN WARNING SIGNS OF CANCER

**CAUTION**

C – Change in bowel or bladder habits

A – A sore that doesn’t heal

U – Unusual bleeding or discharge

T – Thickening or lump in breast or elsewhere

I – Indigestion or difficulty swallowing

O – Obvious change in wart or mole

N – Nagging cough or hoarseness


You can't knit or enjoy handknits if you're not around!!

Fiberlicious Friday and other stuff

Guess what I found?

Well, honestly it was Auntie Carol's super sleuthing skills that tracked it down but look what I got!

It's the much coveted Kureyon #91!! Friday Fiber, yarn pr0n and a happy FKDeb all in one shot! YAY!

Thanks for doing such great PI work Carol!


I started a new sock.....

This is the beginning of the Go With The Flow socks by Evelyn Clark from IK's Favorite Socks.

I'm using some well marinated Elann Sock it to Me Colori because it's so PINK :)

This is a gift for a professional colleague who's been very kind to me, especially when I lost my Dad last December. She of course knows I knit and I told her I'd really love to knit her some socks. She loved the idea so when I asked her what color, after much thought she came up with BLACK. Um, no way! Ok then how about navy? Um, PASS!

I told her she must expand her color horizions and where better to do it than on one's feet (that don't even have to been seen in public if that's your choice!) So she chose pink....little did she know she was getting PINK!! But they are really cute and it's a cool pattern so I think she won't freak out too much, I hope! :)

I finished Bonita and she's gorgeous! She's blocked and drying as I write this (boy do I *hate* blocking, but I *love* the result) and when she's dry I'll just need to do a bit of finishing and she'll be ready for her debut.

Here's a little teaser showing some Bonita knitting and knails.....

That's another OPI color, called You Red My Mind! Doesn't it look great with Bonita?

Lastly but never least, I leave you with another gorgeous pic of the P-Man sitting on his throw rug "throne".

Enjoy your weekend!

Eye Candy Friday

I'm not real big on the "look at the yarn I bought" kinda posts but I had to share this stunning yarn I just acquired...

And why did this yarn speak so loudly to me, besides being drawn in by it's obvious beauty? Check the name...

KOI, VEY! :)
My love of all things Koi is well documented here at Blog de Fluffy and when I saw the name of this gorgeous yarn I knew it had to be mine!

This is my first time seeing (sniffing, petting, fondling) Urban Gypz yarn and it's super yummy! Really, really soft superwash merino and TONS of yarndage - 560 yards to be exact! Gorgeous and economical, what more can a girl ask for? Suberb and super fast shipping yarn pr0n merchant here :)

Have a great weekend and try to keep cool!

Three times is the charm?

I'm knitting away on Bonita.

I've finished the front for the SECOND time and since, for me, the front and the back are the same (I'll explain more when the tank is finished which I PRAY is by this weekend!) I'm knitting the same piece for the third time! Ah, the bane of being born a Virgo - perfectionism!

But it is coming out quite lovely and I'm more than eager to be finished, so I'm hoping knitting it three times will be the charm! Soon, soon....

As a respite from all things Bonita I've finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks.

I give you Smooshy Scrolls

Specs:

Scrolls pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Smooshy sock yarn by Dream In Color purchased here (Kris just got a new shipment in so hurry on over if you've been dying to try the "it" yarn of the moment) Colorway: Ruby River

Toe up using the Turkish Cast On and magic loop on 32" size 1.5 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbos.

Sewn down picot hem bind off.

I LOVED every stitch of these socks!! The yarn is a *dream* to knit with and the color is just glorious! The yarn is a bit beefier than standard fingering weight so knitting it on size 1.5 needles gave me a nice firm fabric yet the yarn stayed super soft and drapey. I'm totally smitten and will use this delightful sock yarn again and again.....plus the pattern was lots of fun and I always get a lil thrill when I see how easy the Turkish cast on is and how perfect it makes sock toes look! In fact I might be becoming a toe-up convert for just that reason :)

My needles are sockless at the moment (shocking, I know!) but I really want to focus on finishing Bonita because my next "big" project has a deadline and I want to get the ball rolling (and y'all know I can't handle more than 2 WIPs at a time!)

I leave you with one of my favorite pics of the P-Man that I've taken in a while.....he's sitting on "his" rug that he loves to rough up and bunny kick (which I've placed there to protect the carnival throw cause there will be NO bunny kicking of the throw no matter how cute the P-Man is!)

Isn't he gorgeous?

See you soon, hopefully with a finished Bonita, a new sock and another new WIP!!

Have a great week!!

PS - no luck on the Kureyon #91 but I'm still looking if anyone happens to find it!

Desperately Seeking...

No, not Susan but 2 measly skeins of yarn.....

Does anyone have 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon in color #91, (gray, magenta, turquoise, taupe) ANY dyelot that they would be willing to part with?

I'll either pay for it, or we can figure out a trade.....anybody? anybody? Bueller? :)

PLEASE let me know! Thanks!

It's all about the P-Man

Cause it's his THIRD BIRTHDAY!!!!!

So our day will be spent eating lots of these...

And playing with his new birthday toy...

And playing...

And playing...

Enjoy your day, sweet boy!! Happy Birthday!!

Kittyman purrs and chirps of thanks to Auntie La for his special presents! My mail carrier got a real kick out of delivering a package addressed to Pumpkin :)

Back soon with actual knitting but I didn't want to steal the P-Man's thunder!

You can come a'knockin....

Cause Blog de Fluffy is ROCKIN'!

Look! Carol (infamous purveyor of recent kitty pr0n) nominated me for a

award!! Woo Hoo!

So now I get to share the love and nominate 5 more Rockin' Girls!

It's next to impossible to narrow it down to only five but here goes....

1 - Agnes


2 - Kris


3 - Kristi


4 - Karen


5 - Lorette

Go forth and spread the love, Rockin' Girls and so on, and so on and so on.....(remember that old commercial, bonus points if you remember the product!)

One of the ways bloggin' girls rock is Knitting and Knails!

Kristi and I have been playing around showing off our knails with our knitting....

Here's sock #2 of my Smooshy Scrolls with my latest matching mani...

Pumpkin prefers au naturale :)

Come on knitters, show off your knails!

Bonita Redux

The good news is, I'm still in love and love is all about compromise, right?

Here's Bonita's sad tale of woe.....

I'm knitting along on the back, happy as a clam, beading my lil heart out. Not especially thrilled with how the shaping works with the lace (of course there are no guidelines in the pattern, just "incorporate lace pattern into shaping" and the decreases/yo's arent paired in the last repeat so one can't help but increase! Makes the shaping a bit more taxing than it appears!) but I can live with the result.

I finish all ten lace repeats which means I've also added about 200 bead to the lil beauty. I count my stitches ( I swear I did, I SWEAR!!) and I'm knitting along on the stockinette bodice. I notice that the stockinette portion looks a bit bigger than the lace but I figure that's because the lace pulls in a bit so I'm not worried. (famous last words here - take note!)

So I finish the bodice and work the left neck, armscythe and shoulder. Looks perfect so I short row the shoulder, place the stitches on a holder and begin the right neck, armscythe and shoulder.....and discover somehow I've gained an extra EIGHT stitches between the last lace row and the stockinette bodice!

Now 8 stitches isn't that much in my fluffy world - the bodice IS quite a bit bigger than the lace but the real deal breaker is now the neckline/armscythe/shoulders are not centered! So the left side has to go! Plus on re-evaluation, the bodice really IS kinda big and the shaping isn't perfect....

So I took the opportunity to rip the whole thing out! :) Yep, 4 full skeins of yarn and 200 beads bit the dust!

Of course I do still love the top, and I LOVE the beads so I'm back to knitting Bonita #2 except this time I added selvage stitches and have decided to omit the shaping. The shaping was quite minimal (and not worth the headache) and frankly the texture and elasticity of the lace and the yarn (and the fluffy wearer!) adds enough shaping by itself.

So that's our story, Bonita's down but she's not out! At this point I've only done one pattern repeat so no "new" pictures yet.

I did finish the first sock of my Smooshy Scrolls, see?

Este calcetin es bonita, si? :)

I was cleaning up this afternoon and look what I found under Pumpkin's kitty bed......

His stash of genuine kitty pr0n cheesecake*!

My boy's a lil devil! Just look at that sly demeanor :)

To all those that celebrate, Happy Independence Day and Happy Birthday America!

*thanks for the chuckle Auntie Carol! :)

Bonita?

Ay Caramba!

Pictoral Essay: One Happy Cat

Intent

Desire

Strategy

Persistence

Success!

PS - My Bonita is a bit bigger as is my sock but pic worthiness remains status quo here at Blog de Fluffy so no knitting pics til next week :)

PPS - The P-Man had no idea how truly fascinating a pull tab from a priority mail box could be until his pal, the Meezer told him about it!

PPPS - Does anyone have a sure fire remedy for tear stains? My poor P-Man gets his little face cleaned all the time yet his nickname remains "Krusty"! Any suggestions are much appreciated!

Have a great weekend, see ya next week!

Old socks, new socks, pink socks, blue socks

Best chuckle of the day....

I was checking my blog stats and I saw a lot of visitors from a particular site so I clicked on the link to see what was making FKD so popular. It was a blog from a woman in France and the link on her sidebar was for my beading tutorial .....It was listed as "Blog de Fluffy" :)

Yesterday was the first day of summer so of course that means it's

Summer of Socks 2007!!
Here's my first sock of summer.....

It's the "new" pink sock - Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in the Ruby River colorway and it's totally luscious!! Really soft and look at that color!

It's a toe up sock using the Turkish cast on and Scroll Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, another great sock book BTW.


Now here's the "old" blue sock...a finished Thelonious!

Specs:

Thelonious designed by Cookie A.

2 skeins Gems Pearl, colorway Neptune. Size US#1 (2.25mm) Aero DPNs

ETA: The pattern states that the "sock is not as stretchy as regular rib because of the traveling stitches". Because of this I used a US #1.5 (2.5 mm) for the leg and switched to the smaller needle for the rest of the sock.

Mods: NONE!! because Cookie is such an amazing designer I knit every stitch as the pattern suggested and loved every one!

It's a great pattern and a really great looking sock - the chart may look overwhelming but it's very intuitive and once you get into it, it's a really fun and interesting knit! I can't recommend Cookie's patterns highly enough but I know that's preaching to the choir cause almost everyone is already knitting her Monkey pattern :)

My other WIP is Bonita, here's her progress....

I'm absolutely LOVING this tank! I just wish I could capture the true grassy spring green of the yarn and the beautiful beads.

I leave you with my favorite guy hanging out in one of his favorite spots......

whatever pattern I'm working on (and trying to read!) Maybe if he does it enough he'll let me teach HIM to knit :)

Have a great first weekend of summer from all of us here at Blog de Fluffy!

Come join me for some summer fun!

I'm not much of a joiner or swapper these days, having been burned a few times too many. That kinda takes the joy out of it, ya know? Plus we won't even discuss the fact that I just quit MY OWN KAL* now will we? (I feel guilty, completely relieved but a little guilty - I'm Jewish, I can't help it, it's genetic! heh!)

But I saw this on Beth's blog


and I thought, "now this is a swap/competition I can get into"!

The "Cliff Notes" version is you have a team, you buy 2 skeins of the kitchen cotton of your choice. Your team member sends you the "relay" box containing 2 skeins of cotton and a little treat, you knit a dishrag with one skein in the pattern of your choice and you keep the little treat, the second skein AND the dishrag that came in the box for yourself. Then you send the 2 skeins you bought, a new little treat and the dishrag you knit to the next member of your team. The first team that finishes wins!!

Cool, right? Plus cheap and even if you get the world's fugliest yarn/dishrag (which I am sure you won't!) IT'S ONLY A DISHRAG! so who cares? So for less than a day of knitting and around $10 doesn't this sound like fun?

If you click on the button, you can get the full version and sign up too!**

** Sorry folks the Dish Rag Tag swap is closed**
Even the P-Man is excited, see?

Why yes, this is his "bursting with excitement" expression, can't you see his raised left eyebrow? :)

Have a great weekend!

* I'm still co-hosting, I'm just not knitting!

One knitter's nightmare is another knitter's dream

And the new owner of the FPS nightmare DREAM is.....Cheryl!!

The best news is, she really wants to continue what I've already started so it's win/win for both of us! YAY!!

Can you believe it, Cheryl just FINISHED a gorgeous FPS and she actually really wants to knit another one!! Here's another lil secret: our Cheryl has a pattern in the new Knitty!! Now clearly this is one of those Knitting Goddesses I previously made reference to :)

Cheryl, if you would please contact me with your mailing info, your SECOND FPS will be winging it's way to your doorstep faster than you can say laceweight sucks rocks! :)

Congrats you crazy woman Cheryl and thanks again for everyone else who bared their souls and their knitting disasters!

Moving forward, here's the cute little FO I mentioned....

It's the Dolly Bag from Rowan

Isn't she adorable?

This was this season's thank you gift for renewing my status as a Rowanette. She's knit with 2 skeins of Handknit Cotton in the Celery colorway and as size 4 US (3.5 mm) Addi Lace needle. The pattern called for a size 6 but I alway have loose tension with cottons and I wanted a very firm fabric because the bag isn't lined.

This was a totally fun knit. I cabled without a cable needle and even the bobbles/nupps weren't heinous cause they are the knit in the front and back of the stitch x5 then slip the 4 stitches over the 5th kind NOT the purl a zillion stitches together on the purl row kind! (::::cough FPS cough::::)

I think the FK Mom has her eye on this cause it is fairly sturdy and not as "Dolly" as the name implies as it is about 8 inches wide at the bottom and 6 inches tall without the handles. If you have the kit I highly recommend this bag for a quick summer knit!

Unfortunately, I didn't make it out for WWKIP day because I had the headache of the century! All the rain and barometric changes completely did me in (altho I did knit in front of my two neighbors so that kinda counts, right?)

I was down for the count but I did manage to start Bonita later in the evening. Then I started her again on Sunday cause as we all know, swatches LIE!!

The pattern calls for a US #5 for a gauge of 5.5 sts/inch. I was a hair under at 5.75 sts/inch so I went down to #4 and 6 sts/ inch, did the math and picked the larger size. Of course when I knit the first full pattern repeat and pulled her off the needles she was ginormous! So now I'm knitting the smaller size with a US #3! It's that pesky tension and cotton thing again! Good thing I happen to have made a recent acquisition of a full set of Addi Lace needles so I had my feathers numbered for just such an emergency! (bonus points if you get that reference - my brother used to do the most hilarious impression of the speaker of that phrase when we were kids and still does on request, heh!)

So even tho this is less knitting than I hoped to accomplish by now, here she is......

Isn't she pretty?
I ADORE the Nostalgia yarn I'm using, it's so sproingy and soft! Plus I love the subtle variegation and how it looks with the beads and the lace! See? I never waxed this poetic about the FPS :)

This is a WIP I'm *really* enjoying!

Of course I can't let that picture slide by without a mention of my current manicure - this is another of OPI's "Brights Collection" called "Call My Cell-ery" . How could you not love that name?? I admit the color is a bit Shrek meets Slime but I'm getting a kick out of matching my manicure to my knits! Plus it's a fun summery color so why not? I must admit however, if I don't knit something red or pink soon everyone I know is gonna think of me as "the weird knitting lady with the funky nails and the handsome and studly cat" Oh wait, they already do :)

Speaking of handsome and studly cats, will this one do?

I think so :)

How can you mend a broken heart?

Altho I'm sad to leave my Forest Path Stole to the knitting of my past I take comfort in the fact that some lucky FKD fan will knit her and give her the love she deserves!

I must say that the stories y'all have shared have been hilarious as well as painful but it's good to know we're all human and we're all in good company :)

Don't forget you still have til Sunday if you're interested in making her your own, just keep the tales of knitted woe coming.... it's so entertaining freeing, isn't it?

So how does a knitter mend a broken heart? Why she begins a new project of course!

What has won my heart in place of the FPS? Well....

I'll be using this:

Berroco Nostalgia, color #6672 - "Gecko" (fitting for a Floridan, huh?) which is actually much more spring/grass green than the color on my monitor but since it's been raining like Armageddon for the last 3 days, this is the best I could do. It's a soft, light cotton/microfiber blend with a hint of a shiny nylon - it's a dream to knit with and so pretty! In fact I knit the Retro Redux Shrug with it a few weeks ago.

To knit this:

Bonita from Rowan #41
Who's neckline I will be embellishing with these:

BTW, these beads ARE the perfect color for the yarn, I have no clue why their color is so true while the yarn is not. I plan on wearing Bonita "backwards" which is why it will be perfect for some knitted beading but I'll explain more once I start her.

I'm really excited about this new WIP. I'll be starting Bonita on Saturday which is WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY and I think it will work wonders in helping me get over my recent breakup :)

What will y'all be knitting on WWKIP Day?

I'm still working on my Thelonious socks which are quite beautiful but I'll save that for next week along with another cute lil FO I completed today. I'm such a tease I know but I gotta pace myself :)

I will, however share a wonderful gift I got this week....

I know I'm doing the KFYS '07 (HAR.) and I know I said sock yarn, for me, counts but a friend wanted to buy me something special for a favor I did and she just happened to know exactly what I wanted. After all I did say any and all GIFTS anyone felt the need to bestow upon me did NOT count! So how about a little yarn pr0n baybee.....

That's Dream in Color sock yarn from Kris at Sonny and Shear

Four glorious skeins of Smooshy Sock in Happy Forest, Beach Fog, Ruby River, and Giant Peach.

It's uber soft and the depth of color is amazing! Plus Kris is a good friend of mine and I had to support in her endeavor of her new online yarn shop, now didn't I?

I can't wait to start a new sock in this yummy yarn!

Go pay Kris a visit, she's a real sweetie with great products and fabulous customer service! She even includes nice little surprises in each order (FK Mom loved the raspberry tea!), has a great free shipping deal and rewards for her loyal customers! Come on you know you wanna have a peek!

Now to close with some manly kitty pr0n. Seems kitty tummies are all the rage around Knitbloglandia these days - here's the P-Man's contribution!

Have a great weekend and get out there and Knit in Public!!

There's both good news and bad news....

Y'all are so funny! Your guesses on the reason for my exuberance were hilarious but my favorite goes to Madge who wrote:

"Hmm, I'm guessing your parole has ended and you don't have to wear that pesky ankle bracelet any longer. :D"

Cute Madge, very cute!

I wish many of your guesses were correct (new computer, lottery win and world knitting tour with the P-Man all sound great to me!) There were a few of you who got the right answer so let's unravel the tale, shall we?

Here we have my Forest Path Stole. Isn't she lovely?

And a close up...

I love her color and the pattern is much easier than it looks....the kind of pattern that has the world thinking you're a Knitting Goddess when you're really just a warshcloth knittin' chick :)

The bad news is, this fluffy knitter wont be knitting even ONE MORE STITCH on her! Actually that is both good and bad news, heh.

Here's the story....

I learned to knit when I was 8 and knit pretty steadily until I moved to Florida in 1989 (no LYS, knitting was passe and it's HOT here!) That hiatus lasted until about 5 years ago when I was surfing the net looking a hobby for "stress management" (HAR.)

In those 15 years the Internet had been born and knitting had a PRESENCE!! So I came back to knitting with a vengeance but also with quite a bit of experience under my belt, or so I thought.

After getting my feet wet I jumped in with cockiness gusto and chose a lovely stole in laceweight yarn. Wait a minute! SSK? What's that? I'm a PSSO girl...charts??? we don't do no stinkin' charts...I don't remember knitting being this complicated!! (now, btw, I wouldn't knit anything without a chart!)

Bottom line? I tossed the mess across the room and almost gave up knitting for another 15 years! I picked other projects and things went much better, my skills improving with each new FO. I chalked up that failure to my 15 year lapsed muscle memory and once I got my chops back, I evolved into the semi-goddess knitter I am today :)

What I didn't realize, until this February, is the problem with that long ago stole wasn't so much with my knitting sabbatical and atrophied knitting skills but that I LOATHE KNITTING WITH LACEWEIGHT YARN! Yes, there, I said it! Whew! Do I have to hand in my Knitter's Secret Decoder Ring now? hehe!

Gimme some fingering weight yarn and a set of size 0 DPNs and I'll knit you the Brooklyn Bridge but me and laceweight, not so much!

Yes I've knit shawls since that fubar fiasco 5 years ago but always in fingering weight or above. Either it was what the pattern called for or I was upsizing for fluffy me by subbing a heavier yarn for laceweight.

So.....I blithely sign up as co-hostess of the FPS KAL, not realizing that knitting with laceweight yarn makes me want to poke my own eyes out with my Addi Lace needles :) And I get to loathe all 2700 yards of it!! YIKES!!

So me and the FPS, I'm just not into her.....

Now for the good news! I'm giving her away!!! YAY! A contest!!

I'm giving my FPS away as is, so if you've always wanted to knit the Forest Path Stole, think of this as your way of getting a six tier head start! It's such a shame to waste all that pretty knitting and I would love for someone who isn't adverse to knitting with laceweight yarn to complete the stole and give it the love it deserves.

If you want to knit the FPS, but would rather every stitch be your own, or if you just want about 2000 yards of Juniper colored Zephyr wool/silk yarn after you *snip snip* what I've already knit , the yarn will be yours, do with it what you will....just DON'T tell me, please! I'm sad enough already. (I would be thrilled to know if you do knit the stole with my "head start" however!)

As I said, the pattern is easier than it looks but it is a BIG project! The lace is quite easy and the finished product is stunning....just head over to the KAL blog** and see for yourself! And as I said in my last FPS post, the Addi Lace needles are so fabulous with this yarn, they almost made me reconsider my decision to part company with the FPS! (but even they are not that good!)

So how can you make the FPS (and/or the yarn) your own, you ask?

Why a contest of course!! It's simple, all you have to do is leave a comment sharing your biggest knitting disaster disappointment! Come on, we've all got em! You can share em even if you don't want the FPS, it's cathartic!

You have until this Sunday, June 10th and then I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner. So dish up your juiciest stories and win yourself a Forest Path Stole of your very own! Even Pumpkin says you should....

See? He's doing quality control so the winner wont be disappointed :)

Good Luck!

** I will still be co-hosting the KAL with my buddy Agnes but I'll be cheering the participants on instead of knitting.

Just a little teaser.....

FREE AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be back to tell you why and reveal a juicy contest next week!

Continue to enjoy the P-Man Live til then!

Have a great weekend!

We have a button and a debut!

Not much knitting to show here, I'm working on my Thelonious and shockingly I've done a bit on my Forest Path Stole altho I'm not sharing it cause I'm really trying to decide if I am gonna continue to knit it or "know when to fold em"! So pics next time....maybe, heh!

But....

I wanted to share a few things at least.

Here's a button for World Wide Knit In Public Day if anyone is interested. This is the same button from last year and the year before so if some generous soul with photoshop skillz was inclined to make a new one, I'm sure no one would object! Click on the button for a link to the WWKIP Day page....

And now to make up for the lack of knitting, I give you the world wide premiere of the fabulous....the glamorous....the ever adorable....

P-Man LIVE!!


Hope you enjoy it (despite the crap video skills and the FKD voice of silliness!) Be back with some actual knitting soon! Gotta go see if Steven Speilberg is ready to take a meeting....

Blue Wednesday

Nah, I'm not sad, it's just that blue seems to be the color of the moment :)

Case in point, meet Audrey....

She's periwinkle blue and ain't she sweet?
(As always, click to embiggen and note kitty with ever present tongue sticking out, stage left)

Here's a detail shot of her ribbing and lace
(kitty still hamming it up in the background)

The lace is ready for it's close up, Mr. De Mille!

Specs:

Audrey from Elsebeth Lavold Designer's Choice, Book Four The Sophisticated Lady Collection

Size Small (33 1/2 inches) - I'll try to get a modeled shot once it's gifted

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in color # 27, Periwinkle - Just under 3 skeins - I LOVE this yarn!!

Addi Turbos US #4 and #6

Mods: The only mods I made was to shorten the body by one inch (I thought it would be a bit more youthful in the slightly shorter length.)

This was a fast, fun knit with lots of va-va-va- voom! I just think it's so pretty and feminine!

As with most Lavold patterns, it's pretty organic...kinda the bare minimum as patterns go. For example, altho the lace is easy enough for a beginner, it never says in the pattern to reverse the charts so the left and right patterns mirror each other. Obvious to most experienced knitters but not to a newbie. Personally I think guidance like that should be in every book, some knitters can be very literal when following a pattern! In addition, I was unable to find an errata page but there is an error in the chart - it was an easy fix, and pretty obvious once you're into the pattern.

I also wish Ms. Lavold would learn to do schematics! There's nary a one in any of the books I've looked at and altho they are not necessary I find they are very nice to refer to when blocking.

Despite those minor whinges, it's a lovely knit and I'm very happy with the finished product.

I also started some new socks....guess what color?


Why, blue of course!
This is some Louet Gems Pearl in the color Neptune and the beginnings of Thelonius by Cookie A.

The astute among you will also note that this week's manicure is brought to you by the color blue! This is another by OPI, the Brights Collection called Can't You Sea? I don't often knit with blue but I've had the colorway and pattern for these socks dancing in my head for a few weeks and I guess that fact subconsciously influenced my manicure color choice. I never even noticed til I started the socks today, d'oh!! :)

The pattern calls for a gauge of 8 inches/inch on 1.5 US (2.5 mm) so I decided to try my Knitpicks DPNs for the first time. I'm spot on for gauge but may I say...MEH! I don't get all the hoopla - they are very slick and pointy but they are HEAVY and too short for me! They may be cheap but so are my beloved Aeros
and my Aeros aren't too slippery, are also nice and pointy and a much better length. I do like many of the Knitpicks products but I'm not jumping on the "I heart options needles!" bandwagon! Gimme my Aeros or addi turbos any day!

Speaking of which, you may wonder what has become of the Forest Path Stole....
Well, I'm just not feeling the love. Yes, I'm co-hosting the KAL but knitting should be fun and never a chore. The truth is I LOATHE knitting with laceweight yarn!! I have used bamboo, addi turbos, teflon and nothing makes the knitting more fun but.....:::drumroll::: enter the new Addi Lace Needles. Now this is a needle I could fall in love with and marry, heh! Seriously, these are the BEST. NEEDLES. EVER! I used a pair to knit one lace unit of the FPS (I'm just finishing tier 5). They are super light, nice grab without any drag and oh so pointy!

Now I won't say that they worked miracles and made me have a burning desire to start knitting the FPS again but they sure did help! I have a new project all picked out for WWKIP Day (I always like to start something new) so from now until June 9th I am gonna use my addi lace needles and try to find that FPS feeling again. At least I'll have my blue socks to keep me from going crazy because yes Alison, I really am a 2 project knitter :)

Lastly, as blog mascot and knitting supervisor (see the where's Waldo Pumpkin pics above) the P-Man wants to remind you, if you ask a question in the comments, please leave an address where I can respond OR check back and I'll respond in the comments! Neither the P-Man or I ever want to ignore our fans :)


Happy Wednesday whatever color yours may be!

Didnae turn owt a wee stoater?

That's Scottish slang for didn't they turn out really attractive?

Dead brilliant, they sure did!! :)

I give you the Clan Tartan Socks!

Heel-n-toe
pretty sharp, huh?
so manly!


can you hear the pipes and smell the heather?

Specs:

Clan Tartan Socks

Pattern: my own, top down mistake stitch rib on 72 stitches, reduced to 68 for the foot

YO short row heel with mini flap and gusset

US #1 (2.25mm) Aero teflon DPNs

Custom dyed superwash merino in Tartan from Cherry Blossom Fibers

I totally love how these turned out. The color is rich, warm and saturated and the yarn nice and soft. My only complaint is the yarn "tore" in a few places....it just sort of fell apart. This was my first experience with this vendor and I'm not sure what the base yarn is but I admit with the added ends to weave in because of the contrasting ribbing, heels and toes I was NOT at all thrilled to have an additional eight ends to weave in (the yarn broke 4 times!)

In the end, I love them and they are winging their way to Glasgow even as I write this!

I've finished the Lavold tank and it's blocking so I'll have a FO to show off next week and some new projects on the drawing board!

Now I leave you with the P-Man doing a Highland Fling! :)

Have a great weekend!!