Look what I got at stash swap

Last Wednesday at Knitting Meetup, we had what I consider a very successful stash swap. 17 people came, at least 12 people brought stuff to swap, and at least 15 people took stuff home. I, myself, contributed some needles, some scarf yarn from Michael's, some Rowan cotton and a magazine. I brought home these two lovely sets of.. what? possible felting projects? hats? I don't yet know:

     

One idea for the Jazz is this nice scalloped brim hat.. where the scalloping comes from the thick & thin nature of the yarn. Could make a pretty swell chemo cap! Any other ideas?

Where the hell ya been?

My great uncle Clem used to ask this question of his family if they left the house for too long. It's a family greeting we use with great fondness. And I figger some of my readers (Hi Mom!) might wonder just where the hell I've been lately, since there haven't been any posts for nearly 3 weeks. Here are my answers:

A) Busy social life. In reverse order... Went to a play called Medea the Musical in SF tonight, Wine Walk in San Mateo last night, a Tubes concert in San Jose Thursday, Yarn swap at Knitting Meetup on Wednesday, and a Mind/Body class connected with the Stanford infertility clinic on Tuesday. Phew.

B) Travel. I personally delivered my insta-baby-sweater to my niece in Philadelphia on June 12. Here she is looking sunny and sweet modeling the finished sweater and hat

It was pretty hot in Philly - about 90 on the day of the baptism - but I shopped for and bought wool anyway. My hotel was very close to Rosie's Yarn Cellar where I bought a bit of Koigu, some buttons, on sale sock yarn, and a back issue of Knitter's. I really dig that shop - very friendly and helpful staff and a great selection of yarns.

I also visited Cape May on my trip for a bit of summer birding. Fiber Arts in Cape May has a slightly lower quality yarn selection at much higher prices - like balls of sock yarn for $10.95. Didn't stop me from buying 2 skeins of Socka Fortissima Colori to make another Mexicali Baby Ole someday.


C) Damn if I know. I have no idea what kept me off the air between May 31 and June 8. Musta been something good. Or maybe just slug mind. Dunno.

My knitting for the past three weeks has been the insta-baby-sweater pictured above and a revival of an oldie from last summer -- the Myosotis cardigan. After a solid year as a UFO, Myosotis is back on the needles. I finished the back just before my trip to Philly. I tried to weave in ends on the plane, but I lost interest and watched the movie Robots instead. (review: mostly harmless, but not very good.). Here's a progess photo of the back before I started weaving in ends:

    

With this week's work, I'm just 3 inches from completion of the second front. The new target recipient of this sweater is going to have her baby this coming week, so I have to keep moiving on Myosotis for the next week so I can deliver it along with a casserole Real Soon Now.

So that's where the hell I've been. But I'm back now and knitting away. Thanks for asking.

Summer-along, Week 7

Hi knitters & friends! I have been away from the keyboard some and lazy some, hence the lack of postings. That meant I missed Week 6 of the Summer Along at work, but the gals did meet without me and kept going.

T's enthusiasm recruited a new gal for knitting @ work -- not yet knitting along on the Favorite Summer Sweater, but we have hope. While I was away, E took home a copy of Stitch-n-Bitch last week and taught herself how to knit, hurray! She is already knitting and purling like a pro with sample yarn and in love with the latest Rebecca. I always admire newcomers to knitting who plunge right in. That was Week 6.

Week 7, June 15, was this week and we had pretty low turnout. Each person apparently walked by our regular meeting location, saw no one was there, and went back to work. Might be a bit of summer blahs. But I did go round to everyone's desk and see their progress.

H. has knit her gauge swatch for Tempting. J has all but 2 inches of the back finished and T has about 6 inches of her sweater done. I think I'll go ahead and start my front next week, since summer is speeding a long and I'd love to be able to wear this sweater this year. Also, I am way curious to see how the short-rowed neckline works.