24 of 24 - Heaven!

I may have to play 2424 in the California lottery tomorrow because I HAVE 24 COMPLETED SQUARES of the Vagina Blanket. Now the dilemma begins...I started the scalloped border in a soft pink but it doesn't seem to go. I don't have enough of the white, main, yarn color so I'm sort of stumped. I'd love to find this Carina yarn in pink with the same iridescent quality but I can't find out anything about this yarn on the net since the entire label is in a foreign language. It's such a pain how stuff like that can get in the way of good knitting.

I know there's a solution out there and one I'm not going to figure out tonight. So instead, I'm going to have sweet dreams in increments of 24 - 24 ice cream cones, 24 lbs lost, 24 years old, okay, that's just fantasy so I'll stick with my 24 COMPLETED SQUARES!

P2tog My AS... ... that's hard

Well, I decided to not chicken out and went out today and found the Cebelia 30 yarn, no, not yarn, THREAD. This pitiful little picture is the work of 4 cast-ons and 45 minutes worth of work on a size 1 needle. P2tog after a yo at the top of a row, with yarn, thinner than thread that I sew buttons on shirts, I don't think so. Don't let the picture fool you, this stuff is thread, skinny, skinny .... little thread. How did our grandmother's even see the stitches, never-the-less create amazing works of art?

Well, I managed to sort of master knitting with it, so purling will commence .... another day. And just in case you're thinking that this is just a little teaser and tomorrow I'm going to post an amazing, fully blocked handkerchief edging, I'm not, really!!

As for right now, I'm going back to my Vagina Blanket - 23 is on the needle!

Channeling Little Old Ladies

So I found this wonderful book The Lacy Knitting of Mary Schiffmann by Nancy Nehring and have fallen in love with woman, born March 12, 1908 in Kobe Japan. For those of you who know me, there isn't one thing right with that sentence. Regardless, it's true.

The book is terrific. There are so many patterns, I wanted to knit all of them at once. There are beautiful edgings for pillow cases (imaging them in guestrooms I don't even have), intricate doilies from a time gone by that the partner would never let me put under found artifacts about the apartment and an amazing assortment of lace patterns found throughout the 20th century by Ms. Schiffmann. So I decided to knit the seemingly, easiest project in the book which is a lace edging that can be sewn to a woman's handkerchief. I thought it would be a really sweet gift for Mom.

Off to the LYS to buy the recommended yarn DMC Cebelia 30 and a size 1 needle. When I found the yarn, I thought there must be a mistake. This isn't yarn, maybe dental floss, maybe angel hair pasta with anorexia, perhaps piano wire on meth but certainly not yarn. It's the skinnest piece of string imaginable and I'm supposed to knit with this odd cotton yarn replica into a stunning, delicate lace worthy of Mom's schnozz -- I was not hopeful. Now the #1 needle should have been a giveaway but in my state of new project euphoria, it never crossed my mind.

Fortunately, I was unable to find the recommended color - white (go figure) and put it on the back burner for another day!

On the Vagina Blanket front, we are officially at 21 squares, 22 on the needle!

Very Bitter Knitguyla

I'm bitter, more than usual. I have either lost a square between the LYS and home or I'm so daft that I can't count to 19. Just finished another square and laid them out to admire my handywork and counted only 19. Last time I checked 20 came after 19. And yes, I checked everywhere. On top of that, it snowed in Malibu today; which hasn't happened since 1962. Between the snow and the square, I swear it's the Apocalypse!

Deep Breath/Postive Spin on the Day: I wanted to tell everyone who may not know about this ">book I happened upon at the library -- A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker. There aren't any finished garment patterns in it but seemingly 1000s of pattern combinations for the imagination to simply go wild! It's copyright 1998 so I'm probably way behind but it's such a great book I had to make mention of it somewhere -- here.

1, 2, 3....19th Square!

Yes, we are officially on the 19th of 24 squares. It's only taken a year but who's counting. The blanket has officially been named, "The Vagina Blanket" for its obvious Georgia O'Keefe imagery. Everyone is just casually asking, "So, how's the vagina blanket coming along?" Me: "Oh fine, another square done." But who's really listening in the lobby at work, right?

I do really like this Carina yarn. It has a wonderfully soft, iridescent quality that does not show up well in the photo with our 100 year old camera - being replaced very soon. Once the squares are done, there's about 1000 hours of burying ends and a lovely border to knit as well. I try not to crocket as much as possible. There's just too much knitting yet to learn!

Simplicity - Straight Up, No Ice

Sometimes you just want things to be simple, like my first pair of socks. They were simple, just stockinette but my first foray into double-pointed needles! Let me tell you a little bit about my socks. They're both the same length, they both have matching heels and they both have matching toes. This, I'm told is the prescribed practice. Oh, and the most important thing, there are two of them. They're a little on the short side and there are plenty of imperfect stitches, but they're mine and there are two of them (did I say that already)!

In fact, I'm wearing them right now and may not take them off for some time. I was so excited, I decided to jump right into my next pair, something perhaps, a little more challenging. I chose a Charlene Schurch pattern, based on Franklin's blog. Franklin seems to always be knitting one of her patterns and I think he's an amazing knitter so, it just seemed logical. Then I reviewed the pattern and although I can and will knit this new pattern someday, I just won't knit them today. Sometimes, you just want to knit something simple and sometimes you don't. This is so one of those simple days. So I'm going to keep working on the baby blanket and maybe work on something tried and true like a lovely, simple, Fan and Feather dishcloth. Today, simplicity rules and socks wait!

Resolution Crap!

Personally, I don't like to make resolutions at New Year's as I inevitably lose the list (purposely or not) forget the list even exists by February 1st (purposely or not) or simply don't accomplish what's on the list (purposely or not). So in terms of knitting, I've decided to not make any resolutions for 2007. Now the numerous half knit projects laying about the apartment may indicate to the untrained eye that resolutions are just the ticket here and those half finished projects are absolutely indicative of my inability to see certain things to fruition (purposely or not). I'll leave that to overly-opinionated family members and Freud, instead, let's just poke fun at celebrities, purposely! Happy 2007!