More photos available on Ravelry. I decided I should probably finish this sucker before summer was over - I wore it to brunch today and it is a nice, light tank top that doesn't stick to my skin like non-natural fibers. Lovely.
Linen Camisole
sheep and stuff
See I actually DID go to MDSW even if you can't tell it from the blog. I make my amends by displaying the cute sheep pictures I took.
So in knitting news, and despite the total lack of posts I have been knitting, here's my yoga bag which I did back in the early early spring. Notice the color matching to the actual yoga mat. This does all kinds of wonderful to my centerednes during yoga I must tell you! Although I'm afraid it also means I'm possibly shallow which rather flies in the face of the whole yoga process of becoming peaceful and above such things!
Here's the sweater for Jennifer (Rick and Patsy's daughter) and Dave's baby girl, Catriona. It doesn't show the color well. It was a lovely dull pink going toward palest orangey. The design didn't work out like I thought it would but I bought the yarn on Monday, designed and knitted the whole thing by the shower on the next Sunday. I was sewing buttons on 30 minutes before church! So we shall forgive a little wonkiness.
Finally, here's the coolest story. So the shawl that never ends still isn't ending. I was looking for yarn and thought I'll price cashmere, just for the lark, just for the laugh, knowing I couldn't possibly afford it. The cheapest I found it at my normal yarn sites was $45 a ball and I needed five balls--yeah, I know.
So I googled "cashmere yarn" or something one final time just to see what came up and I found a blog entry entitled "cashmere cheaper than wool." I'm interested yeah? So I go and this woman and her friend have both claimed to have gotten lovely cashmere for dirt cheap. I check out the website. It's a funny little stripped down site, just cashmere and a few weird things, and they claim to be in Inner Mongolia selling cashmere direct. And I quote: "We have established direct connection with yarn factory to provide you with unbeatable." No labeling, no middlemen, so "Thus saves cost dramatically for you." Now, how could you resist that?!
I could get all the cashmere I need for the shawl for $35, less than for one ball from anywhere else!!! AND shipping is a flat $4.99 no matter what you order. COME ON!! What was there to loose? I happily placed my order thinking I'd never see the yarn or my forty bucks again. Then, five weeks later, this arrived. (it's worth clicking to enlarge, the stamps are gorgeous).
And inside...well I can't prove it's cashmere unless I find someone with a diagnostic lab they're not using, but, baby, it's cashmere to me!!
Trouble
According to Google maps, it is 1.4 miles from my house to the oldest running knit shop in Houston. And would you believe I didn't even know that when we bought the house? I just discovered it yesterday.
The View From Where I Sit
Welcome to my new house. My new house? No. Someone else's house that I'm staying in for the summer. This is the view out my bedroom window. The pool is on its way to being ready, not quite there yet. I LOVE the pool house. LOVE. On mild nights, I might just sleep out there. 
My fireplace, which is what I'm facing while I lay in bed. I wasn't too enthusiastic about the empty brick hole all summer, so I planted some flowers in it. The mirror is not mine (it came with the house) but I love it as well. Not as much as the pool house, but almost. The mirror also needs to be hung...I'll get to that eventually. Other great things about my house: comes with 2 awesome dogs, cable tv, air conditioning, and privacy. I might just get the fiddle out this summer, because noone will be able to hear the horrible sounds that I produce with it.
And, a knitting spoiler/teaser: Angela (my little sis) is getting married this summer so I'm making her a wedding gift that is low budget yet still special. Her favorite color is red, she picked the colors.
Sorry for the long hiatus, it's been sort of busy with moving, traveling, and starting new jobs. I'm assisting a curator on an exhibit and working nights as a hostess at a local "upscale casual" Italian restaurant. When I asked what the dress code was for hostesses, they told me "Dress like a whore in church." Have fun imagining that.
technology, making our lives better
Ever heard of Jott? Super fun software that lets you call and leave a voice message that will be transcribed into an email and sent to you.
So, there was a pattern in a knitting book for an afghan I liked but I didn't want to pay the $25. Thinking I could find it at a library, Mark called Jott and left the book's publication info. This is what was emailed!
Sent with my voice via Jott:
ISPN 1579903533. This is most of title, gorgeous medic Afghans by [Language not supported] gorgeous knitted Afghan 33 great designs for creative knickers. The year is 2004.
Doesn't 'creative knickers' just bring all kinds of fun images to mind.
Knitting pictures soon. I really do have FOs!
So, Abby, the clock is ticking! May 31st is right around the bend:-) How goes it?
Status Update
One finished object:
Drops Jacket in black. 
I don't have buttons on it yet, but I might just get a pin of some sort instead. I'm not sure that buttons will give me the kind of closure I want. Also, sorry for the bad pic, hopefully I'll have something better after this weekend (jacket gets debuted on Sunday at Point to Point).
I also have made some progress on the linen camisole I started a few weeks ago. 
I didn't take any full object shots because it's looking sort of pathetic in its current state (and is on circular and straight needles plus one stitch holder). I love the colors of it though, and I can't wait for it to soften as it ages.
I frogged a hat because the yarn was sun bleached and something in the dye was turning my skin black when I knit. Metal morden perhaps? I washed the yarn, and am now considering my overdying options (I'll deal with that some time this summer).
I haven't touched anything else on the list...it's not going so well. I started rock climbing again and that makes my fingers tired.
Impossible?
I just counted, and I have eight projects on the needles:
2 socks
1 lace stole
1 lace scarf
1 regular scarf
1 cardigan/jacket
1 tank top
1 bag/random felting project
Who thinks I can complete all those projects before I move? May 31. I think I can complete everything except the stole, lace scarf, and bag/random felting project (it will probably get frogged). Opinions?
Superlong Wrap
This is a pattern from the Knitting on the Go series Caleb's grandmother gave me. The wrap is supposed to be "just the thing for those ever-so-slightly chilly summer nights." Translation for those of us moving to Houston: "just the thing for the coldest January morning." This is going to sound so silly, but to me it looked like something the wife of a Rice professor would wear. We are really hoping we will have more of an opportunity to enjoy the arts once we move because 1) the free babysitting will allow us to spend money on tickets and 2) the university itself has some terrific programs. So that is when I envision using this.
The finished dimensions are supposed to be 16 by 84 inches. But it says a possible adaptation is to make it just 68 inches long. I chose this option not just because it meant I just had to buy one ball of yarn but because honestly the original size seems so big for someone my height.
I really like knitting it. I have already ripped out once. I went several rows without making the selvedge edge (purling instead of knitting) and even though my Knit Fix book made it clear I could fix it, everything got messed up. Plus the pattern called for size 10 needles. The only pair I had were stinky metal ones so I used them. But my gauge ended up being a little small so ripping gave me an excuse to switch to my size 11 bamboo needles. Ahhhhh sweet relief.
It is going to need some serious blocking when I finish. And also, it has a slant to it that doesn't show up in the pattern. I imagine blocking will fix that too, right?
Oh, FYI I am using the yarn the pattern calls for and I really like it: Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool.
*****
To answer your question Jen, I keep trying to come up with a way for me to get to MDSW festival. But I'm not having much luck. The next few months has quite a bit going on and a lot up in the air too, what with the going back and forth to Houston to try to find a place to live. I haven't given up hope yet but you probably should.
Yarn injury
A few weeks ago Caleb took Ellery to the park. She was wearing the hat that Jen knitted her. Well she fell flat on her face at the playground and you can see the results on her forehead. The individual stitches of the hat left polka-dot marks on her skin. Isn't that funny? (Okay, well it was sad when she cried but we can laugh now because there are no long term scars.)
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