MY Blog

And there’s been some news chez Sato.  After Labor Day, I’ll be starting a new job with the Seamen’s Church Institute.  I’ll be managing the Christmas at Sea program, and I’m super excited about this!  I’m actually sort of amazed that such a job exists.  It is very much like my current job, plus knitting.

Christmas at Sea has its own blog, so I’ll be posting there regularly.  Please visit, comment, etc.  We also have a group on Ravelry, and I’d appreciate your joining there, too.  But most importantly, if you can see fit to add a hat or scarf to your knitting queue for the cause,  you’d not only make my day, but you’d be helping out a seafarer as well.

Meanwhile, I’m finishing up at my current job.  I have two outstanding projects I hope to complete.  And to make the time pass quickly, my co-worker and I decided to create our own “fashion diet” ala the NYTimes story.   It’s not going so well.  I picked a navy blue dress, a black pencil skirt, a pink button-down shirt, a white tank, and a yellow short sleeved blouse, and a coral colored jacket.  Boring.  At the beginning of week 2, my co-worker and I decided 8 was a better number than 6.  So I added a liberty-print tank and blue pencil skirt. But I’m hanging in there, although, my current coworkers will probably only remember me after I’ve left as the girl who never changed her clothes.

And knitting.  I’m trying to decide whether or not to frog my henley perfected and use my wonderful cashmere for plain & simple instead. Thoughts?

Not like I’m keeping track or anything, but I think I’ve just finished up adult garment #5 for 2010.  Wow, has my knitting dropped off or what.  Three of the five were either tank tops or short sleeves.

Introducing #5:

This is Prettier in Purple, a variation of Pretty in Pink on Ravelry. It’s actually not prettier in purple, but I like the alliteration.  What I loved about this pattern was the back:

The seam up the back is soooo cool.  The project’s knit side to side (thus the seam in the middle of the back).  The collar’s made by increasing needle sizes gradually for 8 rows each–i love the drape!  A nice project, and something I may do again in a wool or mohair for winter.  For this project, I used five skeins of Cascade’s ultra pima–a lovely mercerized cotton that dresses up the piece a bit.  The ultra pima has 220 yds per hank, so for $9 or so, you can get a lot of knitting done.  I barely broke into the 5th skein.

Now onwards to adult garment #6.  I’ve got a few projects on the needles that need attention.  Time to dust them off!

Holy cow, it’s Thursday night (and still a bit humid), and I’m confronted with a huge decision–to watch LeBron James’ press conference or visit stockinette island for yet another evening of Pretty in Pink. (rav link).

Here’s my progress so far:

This is the right side.  It’s now done, and I’m cruising on the left.  But there’s tons of stockinette, which can be a bit mind-numbing.  But I’m thinking Mr. James’ hour long press conference may be just as, well, numbing.  Talking for an hour about where he plans on playing ball?  He’s good and all, but that’s about maybe a 3 minute speech at the most.

And to be filed in the “how’s your summer vacation going?” category: we started the summer of 2010 off with a bang.  First Thing 3 bit a classmate on move-up day.  Nice first impression on the new teacher Thing 3!

This is before the bite!  We didn’t look so pleased leaving the school. (note: this whole bite thing has me flummoxed.  Thing 3 was never a biting kid–she must have been sooooo frustrated to lash out like that, but no excuses!  Biting isn’t tolerated at Linden Ave. School I was told by the nurse–and I’m thinking to myself, like we tolerate it at home, either!)

We then moved on up to Maine.  But without leaving New Jersey, we saw some crazy sites, like this rock/lawn ornament.  Who does this stuff?

Up in Maine we were at a nice lodge, Jamaica Point Lodge, on Great Pond.  Remember, ponds are lakes in Maine lingo.  JPL was roomy enough for the extended clan of 19!  Here are Things 1 & 2 paddle-boating in the cove the first evening.

Great Pond has a little hill, Blueberry Hill, renown for its, um, blueberries.  Thing 1 accompanied DH & I on our trek, and promptly chose a spot, plunked himself down, and started noshing, ala Blueberries for Sal.

At the end of August, we’re headed up to Atlantic Canada–can’t wait!

within 5 minutes, even?  WTF.

I had forgotten to highlight the fun Things 1 & 2 have been having with random sharpies.  I can remember reading all about Through the Loops wicked creative teens, wondering if mine would ever get to that point.  Well, although nowhere as talented as the trio from TTL, mine are spreading their wings.

Voila:

Thing 2’s creation.

And for Thing 1:

Here’s the difference between Thing 1 and 2.  Thing 1 is still working on his shirt.  He outlined in black and then waited a few days for the ink to really set.  He adds one or two images a day.  Thing 2 finished her shirt in about 2 hours.  No waiting, she wore it right away.

Thing 2 also has a spreadshirt store.  right now, there’s only one design up, but she’s working on some more.  If you’re interested, please visit.  She’s trying to raise some dollars to offset her extremely spendy art & music summer camp.

amazing how time just slips away from you.  i have all these blog posts hanging out in my head, but by the time i actually sit down for the evening, i can only concentrate on mindless TV and/or knitting…

I have been knitting. I finished up a long-lost project last week.  The project actually wasn’t lost, just the pattern.  My mother found it in her house.  Odd spot for my pattern, especially since I hadn’t actually taken this project to CT, but, oh well, at least it was found.

However, since it’s a year later, it will no longer fit Thing 3.  It will most likely fit Cousin 3, who’s not yet 3.  I think one reason I wasn’t so sad that the pattern had disappeared was that I realized it would not fit Thing 3 even last year.

Here’s the dress:

It’s from a BSA pattern, and I’ve raveled the deets.   I’m not the hugest fan of the dyed cotton, but I like how it knit up here.  I think the dress will suit Cousin 3, especially as she (along with my sister, BIL and their other two Things) move off to Hong Kong later this summer for an extended assignment.  It’s hot in Hong Kong.  All year long.

Christina at the store has been busy as well.  With this:

can you tell which one is actually supposed to be on the beach?  Well, neither can I, except the one on the left is wicked heavy.  Because it’s filled with more than air. It looks adorable though!

I’m smitten with Ishbel.  In just a few days I whipped up a sample for the shop and class we’re offering on Tuesday.

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of shawls.  They just seem slightly, well, um, dowdy.  But Ishbel looked appealing–especially the way the photo was styled: more like a triangular scarf.  And, given my previous death at the hands of a vampire (or the guillotine during the French Revolution, i’m not sure which), I’m all about protecting my neck.

Ishbel’s made using 400 yds of lace or fingering weight yarn.  Not wanting something so sweaty around my neck in the late spring/summer, I decided to use our new Safari yarn from GGH.  Safari is a linen/poly blend that has a slight suede-y feel.  Knitting it up, I wasn’t so sure about my choice–it felt much stiffer as a strand than it did in a ball.  However, after binding off, I gave ole Ishbel a bath in warm water, and boy, did the Safari soften up so nicely, and with great drape!  I used two balls of Safari, and had a few yards left over.

Here’s the back.  It hangs nicely, doesn’t it!?

And the front, when worn as a shawl, not a scarf:

Ishbel turned out so nicely, she’ll be leaving the shop and heading up to Massachusetts where Slow Speaking Grandma now lives.  (No, “slow-speaking” is not a criticism–SSG is from South Bend, Indiana, and when DH first arrived from Japan, she was the only person he could understand, because she spoke with such a mid-westy cadence.  Thus the nickname.)  Anyways, SSG is now is Massachusetts, and this past weekend we celebrated her 90th birthday!  Woo-hoo for SSG! I’m pleased to be giving SSG a knitted gift, because SSG’s mother (my great grandmother) was an avid knitter, and although she did not teach me to knit, I know I was enthralled watching her.

BTW, you’ll notice that Ishbel is sitting atop yet another lovely knitted FO.  That, dear friends, is Ginger, a free pattern from Rowan.  I knit that baby up in just over 10 days, using another great GGH yarn-Tara.  5 skeins.  It’s conservative enough from the front.  The treat is the back:

Ooo-la-la!

so last year I started Jasmine, from Kim Hargreaves.  I was using some semi-solid Koigu KPPPM, and the back came out just to-die-for.

I finished this in late August, so I decided to let it marinate for the winter.  Saturday I got the hankering to finish it up, so I dragged it out of its hiding place (which it really was–it took me a good hour to find it, and then another 90 minutes to find the damn book and the correct needles).  I quickly cast on, and away I went.

This morning, I held up the new knitting to compare:

Huh?  The lessons here?  Plenty.  1.  don’t let projects sit for so long.  you no longer have a good enough memory to retain the details.  2.  you’re a loose knitter.  you always go down a size.  take notes on the needles used.  3.   who do you think you’re fooling by knitting a back that small????  You’re freaking 5′10″ for crying out loud.  That back WILL. NOT. FIT.

The back fits gauge (7 st to the inch).  The front is 6 to the inch.  I have a couple of options.

1.  I figured out that I can make the front on the current needles in the XS to get a 37″ finished bust size, which is my size.  And I can do so without ripping out the seed stitch hem which, because i’m a thrower, I absolutely hate.  The down side?  I will have to re-knit the back, seed stitch and all.

2.  I can take out the entire front, reknit the seed stitch hem and everything else in the correct needles to give me the gauge (which is correct).  The downside–will it fit?  I think I was overly optimistic when I started this thing.  So it will need some aggressive blocking.

3.  Frog the entire thing.  Because when it comes down to it, I think the most appealing aspect of this project was the gun metal gray skinny belt on the model.

4.  move on.  Start Raindance instead.

i’ve dropped off the face of the planet, rest assured i haven’t.

I’ve been knitting!  Lots of starts.  Not so many finishes.  Except for Raspberry.

This is a topdown garter stitch yoke pattern adapted from Naganasu on Ravelry.   I liked the aesthetic, but I didn’t like how deep the raglans were, so I shortened them for Thing 3.  Although it’s hard to see here–the pajamas don’t really complete the look.  The unmatching buttons, though, are to die for.  Thing 3 did not want the buttons to match.  In her estimation, this project is a complete success.

The yarn?  It’s the new Blue Sky dyed cotton multis.  The colorways are fabulous.  This one’s the pink/orange combo.  I’m also loving the vibrant blue, so I think I may snag that for my new-to-the-world nephew Kosuke (koh-su-kay).  He was born to my sister-in-law in Japan on April 12.   Yeah for me!  After 6 neices, I finally got a nephew.  Figures he lives a kajillion miles away.  Oh well.

Thing 3’s sweater was a partial birthday gift.  She turned 6 on 4/15.  Here she is with Thing 1 on our way to Holsten’s for a quick and easy dinner.

Thing 2 did not make it into the photo.  She found Thing 3’s bow to be completely embarrassing.  And it was.  It’s a stuffed felt bow glued to a hair comb.  Who, you may be asking, made this lovely accessory?  Why DH of course.  Anyway, the bow was a hit at Holsten’s.  And Broad St.  And Barney’s.

I’m glad I plugged ahead with my Noro stripey sweater–it’s been put into good use this weekend.

I made this pattern up, using sweater wizard, and then modifying slightly.   I love the look of Noro with the stripes broken up, so I used two different colorways of Kureyon, and alternated every two rows for the skinny stripes.  This worked out really well on the back, and then on the front, I had to unravel balls to get the stripes to match up.  The sleeves were a mess.  I wanted the two sleeves to match each other, not necessarily the body of the sweater, except for the sleeve cap, which I did want to match the pattern on the body.

The result:

Lots of unraveled Noro.

Overall, I’m happy with the sweater.  I need to wet block it, but it’s so damn chilly, I’m postponing that for another week probably.

yup, a snowman.  Courtesy of Thing 1.  He’s been dying to take a sculpture class.  Sadly, he makes do with model magic.

Thing 3 got in on the fun:

Thing 1 is a minimalist.  Thing 3 is all about color.  Thing 2 promptly named Thing 3’s creation “prison bunny.”

The foray into sculpture has not derailed the knitting, just the photo-taking.  Suffice it to say, I knitting up a Noro storm, trying valiantly to match up the stripes.  We’ll see how long this dedication to perfection lasts.

reknit makes.

Here’s BobKatz redux:

Just compare:

Now granted, in photo 2 he does not have delicious eye candy on his side (!), but even given the presence of the Tower of Taupe (as I like to call myself when I wear my “go to board meetings” suit), No. 1 vest is just so much better.  The mods: I unseamed the shoulders, and frogged the V-neck and arm hole ribbing.  I then frogged the front and back to the point of the V.  I knit back up about 3.5″-4″ before I started the V and the arm holes. I did some amazing math to figure out the slant of the V and about how wide I wanted the shoulder seams to be.  Then I matched the back to the front.  I did some short rows at the shoulders to give it a better fit, as well. Then I had to give it a wicked blocking to get all the kinks out of the yarn.

I’m pleased, and so is Mr. Katz.

And long before the torch is extinguished.  I definitely deserve a gold medal for this one.

Here’s the back:

And on me:

I’m not as buxom as womannequin, so I’m going to have to block this puppy a bit, but I’m happy!

Where’s my medal?

Hurrah!

I thought i was well prepared for the storm, having picked up my groceries from Shoprite at Home on Wednesday evening.  Alas, when I got home though, and was putting away the provisions, I realized I had no potatoes for the beef stew I was planning on making for dinner Thursday night.

Therefore, I found myself at the Shoprite at 8:15am at the start of the blizzard.  I was there with all the senior citizen buses, and the parking lot was already full!  My goal: 3 potatoes, salt, toilet paper, and some dried fruit because of this. (thanks to Chappys mom for the heads up on that one!)

Here’s what I came away with:

see the potatoes, the salt, the other granola bar ingredients?  Yup, all there. But what, pray tell, are those jars on the left?

They are the exact reason I rarely set foot into grocery stores (and why every time Thing 3 and I go to pick up our groceries, she says, wistfully, “one day, I’ll get to go inside that store.”).

Those jars, my friends, are an impulse purchase.  And I didn’t even get them for the fruit that’s inside (though I’m sure it’s tasty).  I got them for the jars.

These are adorable, and they have little “handles” on the sides.  Perfect for summer sangria sipping.  The fruit was 10 for  $10.  I figured I couldn’t get 10 drinking jars for $10, so that made me happy.  Especially to be thinking about summer as the wet sticky stuff keeps falling!

a wedding crown:

No, Thing 2 is not getting married.  A co-worker is.  It’s a second wedding, so I thought I’d pay homage to her Indian-Trinidadian heritage and work in a colorful sari silk ribbon from Frabjous Fibers.  Only 1 1/2 skeins did the trick (at $8. per, this makes a great gift).

The crown only took about 2 hours to knit.  The embellishment took longer.  The crown closes with ribbons in the back; it looks amazing.  And I added some wedding-ish rosebud thingys from Michaels to each pointy tip. (after the photo).   Very pleased, and I hope she will be too.

That being said, the embellishment completely derailed any Lymp-along progress yesterday.  Oh well.  One day of rest will be good for my shins.

And, as a PS, it’s appropriate that Thing 2 modeled the crown; yesterday was her 12th birthday.  Wow.  Almost a teen.

with the MY oLymp-along.  I’m knitting Fireside, which is ambitious.  I had a major Frogging episode on Thursday night, which almost caused me to toss in the towel.  But that’s not the Olympic spirit. At. All.  Krimey, if those skiers can plummet down the super G and totally wipe out only to ski the next day, then I can frog over 10″ of (slightly)  tedious cables and slog through it! Dammit!  My shins, however, are still bothering me.

Here’s where I stand Sunday am: 7.5 inches into the back:

I’m obviously off-pace.  Still have 15 or so inches to go here, plus two sleeves, and then the seaming.  hmmmm.  Good thing this is the limp-along!

The shop is closed.  Other work is closed.  School is closed.  It looks like a day full of (dread) monopoly, (woot) making cookies, and (yee-haw) knitting!

I’m working on this crepe paper crown (rav link) for a co-worker’s upcoming wedding.  and I’ll be swatching for my oLymp-along project, the fireside sweater.

Have fun!  I will!

Lise in the shop has been up to some crafty goodness.  If you’re on the shop’s email list you may have read about Modern Craft @ Modern Yarn.  Lise came up with this idea–new spins on traditional craft.

Modern Craft classes are currently during daytime hours.  Eventually, we’ll offer them in the evenings as well, but for the time being, just daytime.  So if you’re working, like call in sick or something.

This week’s class is toile embroidery.

It’s your opportunity to have some fun with beautiful, yet oh-so-traditional toile.  See how Lise changed the French woman into a Flamingo dancer?  HA! But then Lise took the idea one step further.  How ’bout just adding some embroidery to, say, a floral?

I find this so intriguing.  I just may call in sick, too.

Class is Tuesday from 10am to 11:30, or Wednesday from noon til 1:30.  It costs $45 and includes all your supplies (including an embroidery hoop).

If there’s too much snow on Wednesday, then class will be postponed and offered at a later date.  I’m hoping for snow.  I’ve got new mitts than need to get broken in.

The pattern: herringbone mitts with pom-poms. (rav link) I forgot the pom-poms.   Oh well.  I used two skeins of cascade 220, and still have tons left.  I guess for the freakin’ huge pom-pom.

Also, stay tuned for more news about the knit olympics.  At the store, we’re offering an (o)Lymp-Along, which we couldn’t really do through ravelry because we (meaning me) were too late to sign up Team Modern Yarn. Happily, tho, the Yarn Harlot will be hosting the Knit Olympics, and I think that will be our venue! So visit the Yarn Harlot to sign up (I’ll let you know when and if a sign up appears on her site).

The rules are such that you can “practice” (i.e. swatch) to your heart’s content until the torch is lit, and then (and only then) can you cast on for your project.  Keep everyone informed of your progress through our rav group (modernyarnies) and facebook group (modern yarn).  We’re supposed to be finished two weeks later.  But since this is an oLymp-along, we’ll just keep on cruising at our own non-herculean pace. 

Since tomorrow’s promising to be snowy (!), make sure you’ve got plenty of projects on hand.  We’re open late tonight (til 9), ready to provide that last minute whatever you may need.

or, re-knitting.  I find myself consumed by projects I have no interest in.  Consumed is an exaggeration.  I’m only working on 3 projects, and it’s only two that I’ve lost interest in, and one that I’m not enjoying because the needles are just too big (size 13s).

Meet Bob Katz.  This was the vest for my golf committee chair for my other work.  As a “thank-you,” I was asked to knit him a vest.  He’s a vest-wearing type of guy, so I agreed.  Unfortunately, I had to make up a pattern, and really guess as to his size.  Therefore, the vest came out slightly too big.  The V was too long, and the shoulders too wide.  On the other hand, the mid-section came out nicely.

Bob Katz (the man, not the vest) was pleased.  But he asked for some modifications.  So, in the interest of giving this man something he would actually wear, I agreed to shorten the V (his request), and while I was going to be at it, work the shoulders better (my idea).

Here’s Bob Katz (the vest) in the middle of being re-knit:

Changing the V required a bit more math, and I’ve been putting it off.  Shame on me.  Bob Katz is coming into the office on Friday.  I’d love to be done with this by then.  Pray for me!

In the interest of start-itis, this (2nd from the left on the top row) has garnered my attention.   Not that I love knitting with those huge knitting needles, but boy, does this jacket look comfy, warm, and mod.  I’m thinking I need me some be sweet boucle mohair, pronto!

and this makes my 9th over all adult sweater project for the year.  Yes, I fell short of 12, but 9 is pretty good in my book.

Introducing Amber:

Amber’s a free pattern from Rowan.   I raveled the deets here.  I heart Amber.  However, as I’m sitting here shivering, I’m questioning the wisdom of short-sleeved sweaters.  I’m wearing Amber today to my office, and it’s always freezing there, so I’m thinking (as I type) “do I have enough time to add a long sleeve t-shirt under my white shirt before work.”  The answer, since I’m still typing and I’ve only got a few minutes before I have to leave, is probably not.

I love Amber’s neck.  The cowl is ginormous.  :)  Again, I’m all about protecting my neck.  You never know when the French Revolution will start up again.

So, in the interest of getting to work on time and actually trying to make my arms warm, I’m signing off for 2009.  Happy New Year all, and see you in 2010!

I did not put much on the docket this year for Christmas gifts.  I think my theme was “no wasted knitting.”  If someone has asked, then they shall receive.  I did not assume anyone would want a knitted gift, so I only made things requested.  Except for my secret santa at my other life.  This person got a knitted gift.  Probably not such a good idea, but. . .

One person who did ask was my sister.  She requested 3 hats for her three things.  I’ll have a modeled photo tonight when I trek out to Queens to deliver said hats, but for the meanwhile, here they are:

Three Hurricane Hats (free rav pattern).  The red is malabrigo twist in ravelry red.  the blue is malabrigo in bobby blue.  The pink multi is colinette’s cadenza (not sure of the colorway).  I followed the pattern, the multi is smaller just because of the gauge.  Appropriate for an almost 1 year old, with room to grow. My sister requested the beanie style instead of an earflap–her girls don’t like stuff on their necks, I guess.  It works for me.

Here are the next two projects in my queue:

Amber is a free pattern from Rowan.  It’s done in their cotton alpaca blend.  We don’t carry that, but I’m trying Aslan Trends same blend in an ice-y blue color.  It’s a worsted weight held double, so it should go quickly enough–maybe in time for new year’s?

Then there’s this:

Henley Perfected from Interweave in 2007 (or 8, can’t remember).  I’ve got enough Hunt Valley cashmere sport weight in a camel color that I think will do the trick.  This, however, is on size 4s.  A much longer haul.

right now is from Lily’s purple plastic purse: “today was difficult day; tomorrow will be better.”  because mainly things aren’t better in my other job world.  i can’t really go into details, but it’s distressing and disheartening, which is putting a huge damper on my holiday spirit.

So, to try to lift my spirits, I’ve been cranking out A Hat for Andy that Christina at the shop designed for the Andy’s Merino yarn. It’s beautiful, and a great pattern.  Especially because the rib pattern continues through the decreases.

DH got the first hat, made from Indigo.  No model shot.  Thing 1 was 2nd, and I’m in the middle of Thing 2’s.  Her’s will be done today, no problemo.

Thing 1’s is the Mahogany colorway, and Thing 2’s is Buttercup (I think).  You can really see the great broken rib pattern on Thing 2’s.  And yes, the needles will come out when I’m all done!

sadly no longer exists.  Mabel’s was a gift shop on Madison Ave on the UES.  Mabel was the name of the cat of the old lady owner, and everything in the shop had some sort of Mabel rendition on it.  Mabel’s was one of my dad’s first clients when he started is direct mail consulting business.  I remember being slightly mortified that Christmas (my freshman year in high school), when I opened a giftbox from Mabel’s.  Inside:

Long purple gloves with this odd stuffed cat head the hands.  Needless to say, they did not get worn much. Or even ever. I was a savvy enough 14 year old to understand these would earn me no social creds whatsoever in Waterville Maine in 1980. However, they were slightly kitschy enough that I did keep them. Unlike my sister whose bright kelly green Mabels promptly disappeared without ever getting worn.

I must have kept them in a reasonable spot, because 8 years later when I was experiencing my first not-really-cold-temps-but-bone-chilling-damp winter in Japan, I called home asking for mittens.  My mom sent my Mabels.  And they were good.  Good because I needed to wear gloves in my apartment that didn’t have central heating.  Good because they were so purple that I couldn’t ever misplace them.  Good because they sorta smelled like the room I had left behind.  Good because the funny cat head made me think all those Japanese people weren’t actually staring at me, but my gloves instead.

My Mabels continued to serve after my return to the US, through many a winter in NYC and NJ.  However, this must be said.  My Mabels were cool in more than one sense of the word: my Mabels were not warm.  They are ackrylic.  And several times, I had re-sewn the fingers.  Poorly I may add. And with white thread.

Last winter, having burst through yet another finger, I came to the conclusion that the Mabels needed to be put down.  They were just limping along.  But then either Kristen or Christina suggested removing the Mabels from the ugly purple glove and repurposing them onto new gloves.

An excellent idea.  Except that I don’t knit gloves.  Until now!

Meet my prototype of the Knotty Glove (rav link).   Talk about fun!  Gloves are fun!  Even funner than socks.  And easy-peasy!  Even the fingers!  I have conquered my fear of gloves, and along the way, I figured out how to modify the gloves to fit my hand better!  Now I can give Mabel a better home!

My yarn of choice?

Zitron’s Lifestyle in a lovely vibrant pink. It’s head and shoulders above the purple.  It’s wool.  And superwash.  And wool.  And not acrylic.  And wool.  So already we’re one better than the old  Mabels.

Now, I’ve just got to move along the other crap in my knitting queue so I can get to these.

First and foremost, a big shout out to Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops!  The past three Mondays, Kirsten was in the house leading a stranded knitting mitten class. The pattern: Reykjavik.  And then she treated us to a matching hat.  Lots of fun was had by all!  A note to all: we will definitely be having Kirsten back.  She’s a great teacher, and she put up with my calling her Kristen numerous times!

Notice the goodies on the table?   Well, the last class was also Carol’s birthday, so we celebrated!

As it gets cooler and cooler, more and more folk are heading in looking for cowl patterns.  And not to toot my own horn, but read about Erin’s success with our Too Cool Cowl! Kudos to Erin–she did a lovely job!  We’ve got several more folk finishing up theirs.  I’ll post photos if they’re amenable.  Xtina at the shop too found a great cowl to use with the lovely new Twist from Malabrigo.

And to whet your appetite. . .some new misti alpaca in the shop:

think again.

(thing 3 sharing the love while cooling the sushi rice).  Thing 3 has since been banned from food prep.

The next best thing:

Yes, the malabrigo has finally flown north for the winter.  Thank god.  We’ve been waitin far too long for this.  In addition to some of the awesome merino worsted, we’ve got a nice supply of malabrigo sock, and their new Twist.

Twist is just as sumptuous as the worsted, but has a slight twist to the ply.  It’s just amazing.

But I’m holding back; I’ve got some projects in the queue that need to be dealt with now that BobKatz is done.  Some mittens:

and more that I haven’t had the chance to photograph yet.

I have been released from stockinette island.  BobKatz is now complete. 

Yes, I know.  Another craptastic photo.  But wait there’re more.  See the messy bit at the top.  That’s this:

A wee bit of argyle intarsia.  To break up the monotony of the navy blue, I added golf-ish lime green and light blue argyle. 

The icing on the cake:

a fuzzy image of my “handknit by Paige” label.  The ultimate in kitsch.  Just so everyone remembers.

Now onto more, more, more.

“knitting under pressure.”

Meet BobKatz.

Yes, not so thrilling.  A navy blue men’s vest with a citron green stripe along the edges.  This is the back.   It’s gotta be incredibly long.  BobKatz is for a big guy.  Bob Katz (the man, not the vest) sits on the Board of Trustees for my other job.  He’s the chairman of the golf outing that I manage each fall.  He’s a sweater-vest wearing gent, and is sorta a guy that has everything.  Everything, meaning we (my org) can’t really buy him a “thank you” gift for chairing the golf committee, even though he’s done it 23 of 25 years.  Everything, that is, except a sweater vest hand knit by me.

So this year, instead of buying him yet another gift that goes unused, my boss suggested I knit him a sweater vest.  Lucky for my boss that I have a few bags of rowan wool cotton hanging around.  Lucky also for my boss that I was willing to let my other projects languish in the interim.  And at this point, I’m thinking, lucky for me that a vest has no arms.

Bob Katz (the man, not the vest) is lucky, too.  The last man to get a handknit from me was my father.  In 1987.  It was a scratchy Lopi icelandic cardigan.  Not quite sure if Big Jim ever wore it.  But, just as a good father tends to do, he still has it folded in his sweater closet.  Underneath all his fine gauge cotton sweaters.  I learned my lesson with BobKatz (the vest, not the man).  I actually scoped out his color palette and sweater vest collection before casting on.  It only took 22 years to catch on!

In other news, Kirsten Kapur, our Throughtheloops friend, will be coming to Modern Yarn to teach Reykjavik, a colorwork mitten!  Class starts Monday 11/2 from 7-9pm, and continues for the next two Mondays (11/9 and 11/16).  I’ll be handling the 11/9 class, and Kirsten will be back on 11/16 for the mitten-finishing-fest with celebration bevies, treats, and picture ops!  The class is $25 for all three sessions, plus the pattern and supplies.  Read about Kirsten’s test mitten here!  Call the shop to register: 973-509-9276!

is just amazing.  Really.  Sometimes I’m just flabbergasted by how truly excellent the internets can be!

For example, I got a text message from Kristen saying that the Dream In Color Starry yarn came in today.  Could I post a photo.  Unfortunately, this was in the middle of a work crisis involving unsightly rental tables, trying to direct people to where I had hid the plastic tablecloths, and driving the Things to sundry afternoon activities.  I could not make it to the store.  I did not have my camera.

Luckily for me, Lise (in the shop) had her cell phone.  She texted a photo to me.  From my wicked cool iPhone, I sent it to my flickr account.  Later on, I downloaded it to my desktop, and voila:

There’s the Starry yarn in all its glory.  A decade ago, I would have had to wait for my film to be developed.   I heart the internets.

Or should that read carma?

My new plate for Lady Bug.  And no, I didn’t request this.  Ha!  It makes my day!

I’ve also got a new sweater, finished just in time for golf outing ‘09:

Photo taken by my boss who’s taller than me. Note to self: having tall people take my photo is a good thing.  It makes me look skinny. 

Here are the deets on the sweater: the pattern is Nestle, from Rowan Studio 14, designed by Sarah Hatton.  Raveled here! I used the called-for yarn in the called-for color.  It’s Scottish Tweed Aran, knit on size 9s.  Two weeks start to finish!  I was motivated to have it for our golf outing, and I’m glad I did, especially with the 50 mph wind whipping through our tent and around the course. 

The hood was funny.  I’m not a hood person, and when it’s on, I look a bit like Obi-Wan-Kenobi.  However, when it hangs in the back, it has a nice drape and it just works.

I should know better than to ever doubt a Rowan pattern–there were spots where I tried to figure out a way to knit things as one (instead of the insane number of pieces–hood, back, front right, front left, right button strip, left button strip), but the results were not good, so I followed the instructions to the T, and the damn thing fits perfectly. 

I’m working on finishing up Cottage Garden before the holidays.  But then I saw this and was inspired!  I totally heart the lacey cowl.  I’m not as much a fan of the uterine lace panel down the front, tho.  I’m thinking slinky, drapy, long-sleeved in a sorta skinny-ish weight.  I’ve got 2400 yds of Jitterbug in a burnt orange that may just do the trick. Hmmmm.

So Lady Bug has been a member of the Sato family for 2 weeks now.  I’ve put over 900 miles on her.  And her size is totally deceiving.

In preparation for my org’s upcoming golf event, I made a trip to Costco for snacks for our golfers.  Behold the overflowing Costco cart:

Behold the empty Ms. Lady Bug:

10 minutes or so later:

and:

I could have fit more, but that would have meant fussing with the car seat, and I hate doing that.

In more relevant knitting news, I’m working on Nestle (rav link).  I’m using the called for Scottish Tweed Aran in an oatmeal color.  My goal is to finish this puppy in time for the golf outing (which is Oct. 7).  I’m not sure if I’ll get that done.  I’m finished with the back and two fronts, but still have two arms, a hood, and the huge front bands to do up.  At least it’s on size 9s, so it goes quickly.

that reproduces well.  Kristen’s sib Alyssa (who sometimes you may find hanging out at the store), takes the cake when it comes to producing adorable babies.

Meet Alyssa’s Thing 1.  Like my Thing 1, A’sT1 is also a Christmas Baby.

Unlike my Thing 1, A’sT1 has a knitting grandmother.  Who made this lovely sweater (I’m guessing out of Manos) for A’sT1. So not only is Kristen’s sister talented, her mother is too.   And lovely A’sT1 has a talented pop as well.  He cleverly created this:

The talent apple does not fall far from Kristen’s tree!