Present and Accounted for

Interlacements Toasty Toes
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Yep, I'm alive and knitting. My extremely busy week has finally wound down a bit and I can blog.

The good news is that the week had plenty of knitting in it, thanks to working in a room where I couldn't get Internet reception for 5 straight days. My bosses told me to feel free to knit while they discussed the finer points of blade systems and storage area networks (huh?) while I waited for them to decide what I was to record in copious spreadsheets and technical documents. Plus, they took way longer breaks than I ever do during the day, which led to a lot of knitting and pleasant conversation.

So, even though my evenings were mostly filled with non-knitting activities (singing and a high school football game), plenty of work on Maelstrom got accomplished. I am two thirds of the way through the last repeat of the pattern! Of course, rows are at least 700 stitches at this point, maybe longer, so they take a while.

Today has been extra beneficial in the knitting department, because I got this lovely skein of yarn from Nancy the Knitting Student (who from now on will be "Nancy"). She had been to the Old Oaks Ranch, south of here, and got me a souvenir. Wow, did she get some pretty sock yarn there--must make trip, must make trip. The yarn is Interlacements Toasty Toes in a color called Turkish Carpet. I made socks out of their Tiny Toes yarn before, but I may do something else with this, since it's sport weight. I think it would be pretty as an edging to something black. Not sure why.

Also, I lucked out, and when I went on an errand with Suzanne TCL that had nothing to do with knitting, we realized we were near the bead store. So I took advantage of that to get beads to put on Maelstrom's border. I ended up with two colors. One is a round semi-matte one in a rose that reflects a lot of the colors in the yarn, while the other is a green matte square that gives off purple, rose and a bit of blue. I would have just gotten the first one but they only had one tube. I actually think having the two colors will enhance the first one, which might have blended in a bit too much.

What I am doing is adding a few beads on these last few rows, then I will have more in the border. I hope it looks OK. I have a lot of the green ones, so I figure why not use them? Since they aren't overly shiny, I don't think they'll detract much. The yarn is so muted that a really shiny bead just wouldn't work.

I had a nice time at the yarn shop today, with two nice students and lots of friends to talk to. I'm getting a lot of wedding planning help from the people at the shop, so I am glad I have a group of women to run my ideas by!

It's been so long since I wrote that I have even MORE to mention. My order from KnitPicks came, and it contained black and white Swish DK to make the OpArt baby blanket from the current Knitty out of. I hope it makes the recipient one smart baby! The yarn feels really good and will not itch any baby. I also got 60" cables in anticipation of this project! And, heh heh, in a wry note, I also got my replacement gauge checker and needle measurer thing. Only to immediately find my lost one when I put it in my knitting bag. Oh! Poo! So, now I have one for each knitting bag, to put a positive spin on it.

That should be it. I am awaiting another yarn order for a fun project, which I'll tell you about when it gets here.

PS: I am still really tired, so if this makes no sense, I apologize!