Odessa Hat Finished

I finished the hat and it will be on the way to NYC soon to warm the ears of Amanda. Sorry in advance: there wasn't enough yarn to make it quite as long as the first, but I hope it will be ok. At least it will match the scarf Amanda has, which matches the beads.

I am nearly finished with Steve's socks which have been on and off the needles since June.
Finishing up the toes, then blocking.

I haven't worked on the Kauni in about a week. I am up to the part where I need to add the steeks for the armholes. That is pretty scary to contemplate, so maybe I will go into A Knitted Peace tomorrow morning for support. Class is on Monday so I better get to it!

Knots on the yarn of life

Making progress on the hat for Amanda. It seems like deja vu all over again. But this yarn is so soft and dreamy that it is really a pleasure to work with. Of course, the knot in the middle of the ball just about did me in, but I managed to slide all the beads over it with only a little cursing along the way. Sounds like a metaphor for life, allowing life to pass smoothly over the little knots without too much hassle. Once you get to the other side, it is smooth sailing again.

The subway ate my hat

I spoke with daughter #1 this weekend and she asked me if I wanted to hear a story that would make me cry. I hesitated and said to go ahead. She lives in NYC and is Queen of the Subways, but on this occasion, her favorite hat fell out of her pocket, never to be seen again. This was a hat made last spring from the pattern: Odessa http://www.magknits.com/feb06/patterns/odessa.htm by Grumperina from the Magknits.com web site. It was made with Rowan Cashsoft DK in a pretty shade of sage green with a deeper seagreen bead. I had bought an extra ball of yarn as I extended the length to cover the ears and I still have beads left. I will make the same hat again. Is that like asking Leonardo da Vinci to paint another Mona Lisa?????? I hope I have enough yarn left to finish it. I never know how my knitting gifts are received- whether the eyes roll or whether the pieces are ever really used and enjoyed. Knowing that this one was a favorite, I am happy to try again and I hope the original is being loved and appreciated by whoever is in possession of it now.

Blogging as a source of amusement

I sent the link to this blog to my two daughters, Amanda in NYC and to Alison in KC and I received two very different responses. Amanda sent me an e-mail that said "My Mom is so cool. " Alison thought my blogging about knitting is so funny (funny weird, not funny ha-ha) that she sent the link on to all her friends. So this link is getting out and about, not exactly in the way I imagined, but out nevertheless. Here is a photo from one of the special times we were all together. Wish it could be more often...

Bamboo yarn

A gift from Amanda, I started to knit with this


yarn and discovered it is very slippery. It is about 12 ply, very soft and easy to split as I knit. I started with a simple feather and fan pattern on size 8 needles for a lacy scarf, but with the splitting, I cast on and frogged at least 4 times. I think I will switch to a simple rib knit scarf and alternate colors every couple of rows.







Making lots of progress on the Kauni. Working my way up to the arm holes in another few inches. Note the steek section in the middle. And with this photo you can see the random color splice of yellow to red in a bad location. Hopefully there are no more splices to deal with on these skeins.

Today I am a blogger!

On Saturday, I officially became part of the the Ravelry family, and today I join the blogging community. For consistency's sake ( but really because I have so many screen names, user IDs, and passwords, I have chosen Lizzzknits for ravelry, flickr and this blog. Mind you, my life is more than knitting, but I seem to be spending a lot of my free time either knitting, shopping for knitting, reading online about knitting and showing off my knitting.

My first blogging project is the Kauni sweater. So far, so good. My gauge is right on and I haven't had to tink back too much. I am knitting this together with a group of ladies at my LYS for the camaraderie as well as for the help. I have never steeked a sweater before, but I see each project as an opportunity to learn more and just the thought of taking scissors to my knitting has me terrified. The color changes of this yarn have been interesting and I like the way it is turning out, except maybe for the one time yellow suddenly was spliced with red for no reason. I guess I could have wound out some yarn to make the change more gradual, but this will make my sweater unique, to say the least. Unfortunately, it is near the front and center.

So there you have it. My first post.