Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Some Randomness

This post is going to be a jumble of random kinds of knitting stuff. My apologies in advance for not waxing long-form about one thing or another. Kidding! Wouldn't want your eyes to glaze over. ;-)

Well, as you may or may not have heard out there on the internets, the U.S. Year of Lace shipments were delayed and did not get mailed out last week as planned. Apparently, the yarn is coming from Oklahoma. But the Make One yarn shop is in Calgary. There is no sense in shipping yarn from the States up to Canada and then back down again. So the U.S. yarn is shipped to Montana, one of the women from Make One drives down and assembles the kits, mails them from the U.S., and hops back across the border. This time though, the post office in Montana decided not to hold the yarn there and shipped it right back to Oklahoma...meaning it had to be shipped *back* to Montana to be shipped to the knitters this week instead.

The Brain says it's all my fault because I have the worst luck with this kind of thing, and now I'm subjecting innocent people from all over the country to my particular brand of wonkiness. Even Jacey noticed it and commented on it in my last post! There is nothing I can do but apologize...and wait for my yarn along with everyone else. :)

Well, that left me in a lurch because my Little Birds is stalled while I wait for more blue yarn, and my Year of Lace yarn is criss-crossing the country. I was asked to knit up a sample piece for J. Knits: an infant dress, and I did that in three days. Yep, three days to knit the thing followed by one entire day trying to figure out how the heck to do the row of single crochet and row of reverse single crochet around the neck edge. It took *hours*. I'm not kidding. I felt like an ape who has just discovered tools while I sat there with my tongue sticking out the side of my mouth, manipulating yarn with this unfamiliar hooky thing. I really should learn how to crochet. It makes edges look so much nicer! And don't worry, I blocked the edging after I took this photo.

That still left me with nothing to do, so I went ahead and cast on for a simple project last night. Flutter, from Norah Gaughan Vol. 4, is basically just a v-neck tee with a ruffle down the front. I know I'm supposed to be using up my old stash this year, but I purchased a few skeins of Aslan Trends Glaciar del Cielo cotton at one of my LYSes in February. They were having a 25% off everything sale, and I considered it my birthday present to myself. Believe me, at 25% off an already low $3.80, I think it was OK. :) I don't normally knit with cotton, but so far I am really enjoying this yarn. It's suuuuuper soft and the drape is very nice, almost like bamboo but not shiny. I'm hoping to finish this one before my other yarn comes in and then I'll have a new top to wear for summer. Yay!

I leave you with some random photos from Balboa Park this past weekend:




5 comments:

Yarndude said...

1. Those Balboa Park pictures are awesome!
2. I can't believe you're knitting with cotton, but I love the pattern choice.
3. Congrats on finishing the infant dress.
4. Yes, it's all your fault that the YOL is delayed.

Mrs. Homesteader said...

oooh..Flutter looks pretty! I love the color you chose, too.

I miss Balboa Park - the pictures are beautiful!

Hilary said...

Sorry to hear about your laceweight, but it looks like you've got some fun things to keep you occupied? I LOVE Flutter, and in that navy yarn it will be beautiful!

Jacey said...

I love randomness. Flutter is a neat pattern-I don't think I've seen that, and it's not something I would normally like, but random ruffles are pretty alluring. I love the color you chose as well.

And I'm not sure, but you might not want to broadcast that rumor about who caused the delay of Yarn of Lace. ;)

Anonymous said...

Bonus points for use of the word "wonkiness". When I say "wonky", people think it's a fake word.

I'm going to be whipping out the crochet hook soon for what will feel like an ornate border for someone with my limited skills. Here's hoping I don't blow it.

I like the ruffle; cotton's good when it's warm out, it must be said. Enjoy!