I can stop any time I want...

Pattern: Lady Eleanor, by Kathleen Power Johnson (Scarf Style)
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colorway 203, 12 full balls and a little bit of a 13th ball
Mods: Knit to a longer length than called for in the pattern (approx. 95 inches long), did not work crocheted edge, did not fringe

I love, love, love this stole. I just never got tired of the pattern, and I never got tired of the yarn or the colorway. I had originally intended to work the crocheted edge but leave off the fringe, but after I washed and dried it, I decided that it didn't need the crocheted edge either. I didn't stretch it to block it, just laid it flat, smoothed it out and left it to dry. The post-wash fabric has a wonderful drape and is so soft.





I finished Lady E in time to wear her yesterday, when Mark and I took a little road trip to one of our favorite local wineries to celebrate our anniversary (10/01):



Since we were so close, Mark suggested that we make a stop at Kathy Zimmerman's shop — Kathy's Kreations — in Ligonier. As an anniversary gift, he bought me a copy of The Opinionated Knitter, a skein of Colinette Jitterbug and some dpn point protectors that I'd been meaning to pick up. I'm a lucky girl!

The Lady at 72 inches.

She's about 72 inches long (stretched a bit but unblocked) and I'd say that I am about halfway through the tenth ball of yarn. I'm still not sure when I will stop. I just keep wrapping it around myself, and I figure that I will quit knitting when the length feels "right" (or when I run out of yarn, whichever comes first).

See yinz Hurricane Knitters this Wednesday (7 p.m.) at Barnes & Noble at the Waterworks!

Thar she grows.

I'm still not getting anywhere fast, but I have made some progress on the lady:



We'll be at the third Wednesday meeting of the Hurricane Knitters tomorrow at Barnes & Noble at the Waterworks (7pm). Hope to see you (and 40 guy) there!

Pitiful progress.

I last posted progress on Lady Eleanor back in April, before being distracted by home renovations, vacations, lovely shrugs, etc. A refresher:



I've knit on it a bit here and there over the past few months, but when I compared the new progress shot with the old, I realized just how little I'd actually gotten accomplished:



Huh. I guess I will buckle down and attempt to finish this thing so that I can wear it when autumn rolls around.

Lady E and I will be there for the first ever first Wednesday meeting of the Hurricane Knitters this week. If you're in the Pittsburgh area and would like to join us for knitting, crocheting, conversation and 40 guy spotting, we will be in the Waterworks Barnes & Noble cafe from 7-10 p.m. Hope to see some new faces there!

Not feeling it.

Have you ever, you know, not been feeling it? Your knitting, I mean.

Here's the situation. I've been trying to get a new pair of traveling socks going, but every time I start a pair, I'm just not feeling it. A couple of months ago, I started these:



with the Koigu that just insisted on pooling. I tried a different pattern than my normal plain sock pattern, and for a while, I was infatuated by that Jaywalker. Alas, by the time I got to the toe, the infatuation was lost, and so was my interest. I'll make the mate to that sock. Someday.

I yearned to go back to my plain socks, so I tried casting on with some yarn from the stash - a bright and cheery Trekking XXL. I didn't even get past the cuff ribbing before I lost interest.

Despite the fact that I have a good amount of sock yarn in the stash that I remain absolutely in love with, nothing was calling to me. I thought that maybe I needed to knit with some new and exciting yarn - squishy, woolly and lovely yarn, and bought this Claudia's that had been calling my name for some time.



Jenn and I once had a conversation about how we insist on buying variegated yarn, only to be disappointed with the pooling or diagonal striping (and yet we keep buying it). I'm not sure what I thought was going to happen with this yarn, but just look at those big, fat, spooling stripes. Sigh. I think this yarn maybe needs a different pattern.

I started feeling a little down on sock knitting. Would I ever knit another satisfying pair of socks? I tried the "buy new and exciting yarn" tactic again, and although there is some pooling/striping going on, this yarn has held my interest so far:



By the way, that's Regia bamboo sock yarn from Yarns By Design. I'm trying to have these finished to be a birthday gift before the end of April, so wish me luck!

To further complicate matters as far as knitting time goes, I'll be losing my weekend to prepare for some upcoming housework. We're having new wood floors installed next week, so with any luck, by the end of the month there will be a finished sock photo with me sliding across our new carpet-less floors à la Risky Business. Kidding.

And to close tonight, the obligatory Lady E progress shot:

How cool is this?

Several months ago, Mark requested another pair of socks. A pair of red socks. Because he has another pair of them that are holding up really well, and he likes the feel of the yarn, I tried first with some KnitPicks Sock Memories in the colorway Redwood Forest. That yarn just pooled like the dickins, and wasn't half as pretty in person as it was on the KnitPicks website, I thought. I poke in on Jessie's blog and her online shop, A Piece of Vermont, from time to time. I'd never placed an order before, but her colors are beautiful and the yardage in her skeins is amazing, so I looked there and found this lovely yarn, in a colorway Jessie calls Lipstick:



You can't really tell from the photo, but the yarn has some spots of lighter red/pink in it, so the husband vetoed it (more for me!).

A couple of weeks passed, and I looked at several different yarns that I liked. There was Koigu, but the yardage in two skeins just wouldn't be enough for his size 12 feet. Lorna's doesn't appear to make a true red. Ditto for Claudia's.

One day, when looking for other people who'd knitted Lady E in Silk Garden 203, I came across this amazing knitter and her blog. I spent probably an hour or more perusing her blog. Her knits are gorgeous, and everything she knits looks fabulous on her - she should be a knitwear model!

In the process of perusing, I noticed these socks, and I absolutely fell in love with the colorway, from Yarntini. So, I check out Yarntini's web site, and notice colorways called Three Rivers, Steel City, etc., and realize that this person must be in Pittsburgh! I emailed and asked about the colorways, and Jessie at Yarntini told me that she could do a special order for the yarn. I placed my order, and then a light goes off in my head. I asked her if she would custom-dye a man-approved red, and she did!





A color just for Mark! Well, not really just for Mark. Apparently Jessie was pleased with it and dyed a bunch of skeins, which appear to have sold like hotcakes at her Etsy shop. Thanks, Jessie - the husband loves it!!

Lady E is cruising along. We both hope to see you Pittsburgh knitters this Wednesday at the Waterworks Barnes and Noble for knitting night. We start around 7 - see you there!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Can you believe these colors? I think that I spend as much time marvelling at the colors as I do knitting on the thing.

Wednesday night knitting reminder

This is just a reminder that there is a knitting night this Wednesday, February 21 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble in Pittsburgh. If you're new and/or have any questions, feel free to email me at jennylrae(at)juno(dot)com. My slowly-growing Lady Eleanor and I hope to see you there!

Progress.

I know that it might be a novel concept here at OSSFM, but I actually have some progress shots!



Um, I know that it doesn't really look like I have made any or much progress on Lady E, but I promise you that I have. I originally cast on for one more rectangle than the pattern called for, thinking I would make up the width that way for using a finer weight yarn. After I'd finished two tiers, I looked at it and, not only was it wiiiide, there seemed to be no chance that I would actually be able to finish the thing in my lifetime. So, I ripped and cast on for the recommended number of rectangles. I'm three and a half (a little further than the photo shows) tiers in, and it's looking like it will be plenty wide, at somewhere around 20 inches, not accounting for any extra width from blocking.

Also, there's this:



Now I understand why so many people have made multiple pairs of these. So easy and so satisfying!