On the Needles

You may have been wondering what I've been working on since the baby sweater got off of my needles (finally!). Check out this little item:

"Will she get it done before the end of winter?!"

This is a modified vesion of the Aibhlinn, pronounced "ave - leen", project found on Knitty.com. It is done on #7 Turbo circlular needles (love these needles) with Rowan's Calmer yarn in a dark chocolate brown. The photo makes it look like its lighter in color than it is (I'm doing this at the office and I don't have any photo editing software here!). The Calmer yarn is so soft and silky. It is just dreamy. I've made several changes to the pattern. I started, as you can see near the bobbles, to use the original pattern which would have resulted in a spiral ribbed look. Then I changed my mind and added a few rows of purl and then launched into a checkerboard pattern. I'll repeat the purl rows and partial spiral at the other end, for symatry. I won't, however, be adding bobbles at the other end. I don't like the idea of bobble around my face. I can just see myself batting at them like cat toys. I'm one of those people who don't like things around my face. I don't wear big earrings, either. Yes, I have personal issues!

Here's what the original would look like (source: knitty.com):

Aibhlinn by Mary Burr for knitty.com

I love working on circular needles and the checkerboard pattern is pretty mindless to knit, so this is a happy little project for me to work on.

Enjoy your weekend!

Thought for the day: If a turtle loses his shell, is he naked or homeless?

Strangeness of Beach Life

Are you one of those people who dream of living near the beach? Is this close to your mental picture: your hair being gentle caressed by the wind, palm trees gently swaying, your soul being soothed by the gentle sound of waves? I don't know how to break this to you, but I'm here to give you a reality check. Here in my beach area, you are not soothed by the gentle sounds of waves but awakened by the loud, bass-y sound of cargo ship engines! Have you ever heard a cargo ship's engines? You may actually feel them before you hear them. You can feel the deep bass in your chest. Then you hear the deep thud, thud, thud of them. It is a really weird thing to wake up to. We have a ship that likes to go by my house at 2:00am. Joy. I live about 300 feet from the water and the ships go through a channel that is about another 300 feet out in the inlet and this still wakes me up. This wasn't mentioned in the brochure! Here is the ship which delivers happy little VWs to our local port:

If you are wondering what I do when a large ship wakes me up at 2 o'clock in the morning, I knit, of course!

What do you like in a blog?

I was going through my list of knitting blogs and started to mentally note what I liked and sometimes disliked about them. This, of course, got me thinking about the bigger picture. What makes you come back to a blog? What traits do you like? For example:

• Do you like it to be just about knitting or about the knitter's life as a whole?
• Do you mind when the blogger throws random thoughts into their blog?
• How do you feel about photos? Should they be just of knitting or do you like it when they give insight into the writer's life?

I would love some feedback. Here are my answers:

• I like blogs that are about a knitter's life. I love to hear about their families, friends, triumphs, trials and travels.
• I love random thoughts. A non-knitting photo, comment, or quote may add to my mind candy for that day.
• I love photos! I love photos of everything and anything.

BTW, I finally got to see the new Pride and Prejudice movie. It is yummy!

Laugh at Yourself

"Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not." --Vaclav Havel

Wahoo!!!!

I finished the baby sweater! Party!!! This is the first sweater I've ever knitted and I think it turned out pretty darn good. Check out your favorite and mine, the very sassy Koala, modeling the finished product:

Koala doesn't look happy that I'm sending this sweater to baby Max. I guess he thought that he could keep it!

Here is a close-up of the sweater:

I used Manos Cotton Stria yarn, which is so soft. The pattern is Stripz #183 QK from Minnowknits. If you haven't made a sweater before, this is the pattern for you.

Aren't you proud of me?!