Amy Knits Texas

Ok. It is 90 degrees but I really am enjoying this sweater! The lower body is complete and ready for the sleeves.

Webs had Lopi yarn on sale for 3.75 US a ball, so what better time to make a lopi sweater. I've been thinking about traditional knitting lately, and this sweater seems like the first step toward a broader skill set. I've never knit a sweater in the round, and I have wanted to practice two color, stranded knitting. Here's the picture of Giselda:



Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea. I had started with a teal around the bottom, but decided it was much too bright. I think the dusty blue is really pretty. This is from the Best of Lopi book that I bought a month or two ago. What a super fast knit!

This felted fairly well, but I was unprepared for the length. This is one long and skinny bag--perfect for long needles! Every time I felt something I find it lacking in some way. This one just didn't come out quite like I wanted it to. I think it must be that felted wool just isn't my preferred bag fabric (leather all the way). I'm not much of a bag person, but this will give me something to toss my knitting into. And, I have to say I would not want to use Brown Sheep Bulky for anything other than felting. It sheds like crazy, leaving little wool balls all over the house. I am still vacuuming them up this week!

While Brown Sheep Bulky doesn't win my favor, I adore Peace Fleece. The wool is lovely, the company politics excellent, and their patterns beautiful.

I've been looking at this yarn in my LYS for a while and the Coup d'etat Cardigan pattern sealed the deal:

There's water and candles throughout the hotel, which is rather minimalist in decor. Here's the waterfall in the entranceway.

Not only is the hotel comfortable, but funky, but we were treated well. Here was what awaited us:

My kind of place! A bottle of wine, milk and cookies. What more could you want?

The child polished of the cookies and milk and, on return from dinner, was impressed with her good night package from the hotel--Nala from the Lion King, a cup and play dough. She keeps asking why we aren't going back to the hotel at night... Can't image why she liked the place.

At dinner we were entertained by a female mariachi band. They sang a song at our table and the child spent the rest of the evening singing songs in spanish.

We went to the San Antonio zoo on Saturday. This is one of the oldest zoos in Texas (animals in the 1800s and built in 1914). What's really neat is to see how much of the zoo is WPA built using local stone and looking, at parts, like an old Texas corral. One of the exhibits let you feed nectar to the lorys. They are beautiful birds and seem to be enjoying the free food that the visitors provide.

In the children's area there is a riverbed for kids to play--and since it was hot we spent more than an hour splashing around.

All in all, a great trip!

Dalarna Socks
From Nancy Bush, Knitting on the Road
Wendy Guernsey Yarn, grey

I think they look smashing. The yarn softened a bit with a wash and block, but they look to be warm, hardy socks for years of use.

Here's the cuff with the Twaandsstickning (swedish two ended knitting), a new and fun technique. Notice the little clock pattern that runs down the side of the sock?

The toe is a bit odd, but fits well. Notice it is pointy? I feel like I have pixie toes...

And look--they are actually the same size!

I like the heel--not wrapped but a heel flap that you pick up stitches. This heel works for me, as I never seem to get funny gaps or holes along the turn.

I love them!

This bag was actually nerve wracking at the end--I ended up with less than 6" of off white yarn. I want to have this finished by next Thursday for our knitting guild handbag competition, so ordering more yarn was out of the question. I was rationing the yarn over the last half of the bag--spit splicing and the like to make it last. Phew! I have the handles underway and when they are complete, I sew it up and felt!

I also picked up a few goodies at our LYS--a sweater stone and some cedar blocks. I noticed a little moth damage on an older sweater and thought that the cedar might help. I haven't seen anything else, but who knows! I've never used a sweater stone, but seen positive responses on line, so I'll let you know.

A side bar--the blue Roseville Pottery basket that is in this picture was a gift from my Mom. The basket used to sit on the fireplace mantel of our summer camp in New Hampshire and was always filled with pinecones that we would pick up in the woods. Mom says that the basket was always on the cabin fireplace mantel and, since they bought the cabin furnished in 1962, my guess is that this one is authentic to the original cabin in the 30s. I remember, as a little kid, really liking the basket, but never being able to touch it. I think my Mom told me it was a waterlily, like the ones that bloomed in the New Hampshire pond every year, but it is actually the Zephyr Lily pattern. The cabin was torn down about 8 years ago to make way for a new home (it had no heat and no insulation, so wasn't a year round house), but this vase always makes me think of the New Hampshire woods and lakes. Thanks Mom!

Also seen on campus: a drink box, a picnic basket, a watermelon, and other unknown food items. Hmm.

2. Fraggle Rock: My daughter has been watching Fraggle Rock at night thanks to a DVD release of the first year's shows. And, on Episode 19 "The Great Radish Famine," the Doozer's, little creatures that spend their day building, turn to knitting when radishes, the bedrock of their constructions, disappear. Very odd. But here is a link to the mpeg of the song and here are the lyrics. This just makes me a happy knitter, even if the Doozer's end up tossing the yarn out the door (admit it--we've all been there....):

Doozer Knitting Song [01:23]

Performed by: The Doozers

It's neat and it's sweet.
It's a ding dong treat,
Knittin' socks for little feet.
Just sittin' with your knittin' all day long.

You know, knittin's friendly,
And knittin's fun.
Knittin's good for everyone,
And that is why we sing this knittin' song.

Well it's knit one pearl two.
What's a Doozer gonna do,
With a gol-darn,
Ball of yarn?
It's stitch three drop four.
Pitch that knittin' out the door right now.

There's a green, there's a red.
There's a knot in my thread.
A knitter needs his noggin read,
So don't come 'round and speak to me of yarn.

You can k-nit all day and k-nothin' fits.
'Cause only k-nitwits like to k-nit,
And k-nittin' k-needles just ain't worth a darn.

Well it's knit one pearl two.
What's a Doozer gonna do,
With a gol-darn,
Ball of yarn?
It's stitch three drop four.
Pitch that knittin' out the door right now.