nothing to see here.

I should warn you 'all' that things will probably be excruciatingly dull around here for a while. I'm nearly done with the second border for FrankenSilvia, so as of tomorrow it's going to be all Queen Silvia nupps all the time until I get this thing done. Then, of course, we will have the fun of grafting, and the even better fun of laughing at me as I whine and moan when I don't have a space big enough to block the thing. (Actually, I think I should be ok on this front. I specifically chose a rectangular stole so I should be able to block it on my bed.)

Other than that I've got nothing going on the knitting front. Still out of work, so no cash to buy fun yarn. There's not really anything else I'm dying to knit right now, but ask me again after I've knit about a foot of straight-up Queen Silvia. I will probably be raving mad and looking for something I can knit without looking at. When that happens, we shall see what we can find in my meager collection of yarn.

In other news, I have found no more freakish knots in my ball of yarn, and the Stanley Cup Finals start tomorrow. Both of these are good things. Go Pens!

Attack of the Yarn Pixies!

I don't know what else it could have been. Seriously. I'm freaking out just a little. Here's the deal:

I cast on for my FrankenSilvia two days ago. All was well. Had a migraine yesterday, in the course of which the whole mess of it, ball of yarn and inch or so of yarn, fell on the floor twice, and were picked up quickly. No knitting was done: I could barely have my eyes open, much less focus on laceweight yarn.

So today here I am, all better, both eyes open again, no stabbing pain, yay, and I'm knitting along, and I discover a break in the yarn. Brand new yarn, I might add, that had no breaks in it when I wound it up not so long ago. Now, ok, that wouldn't have made me think I had lost my mind. What's got me thinking I've lost my mind is that the broken yarn ends were tied together. Ok, weird, thought I, maybe this happened during the bit when the ball of yarn rolled under the chair? Weird, and statistically sketchy, but ok.

So then I'm knitting along some more, and I discover ANOTHER break, tied together the exact same way.

At this point I'm left with four options:

1. I did this myself, and don't remember it at all
2. Someone was in my room, playing with my yarn
3. A moth or other yarn-eating bug that also feels remorse and has the ability to tie knots
4. Yarn pixies

Frankly, all of these strike me as HIGHLY UNLIKELY.

I say to you, my friends, WTF?

If I find any more knots, I am going to cry, because first of all, I don't want this shawl to have a whole bunch of splices, and second, I really don't like feeling like I've lost my mind.

This Is Why I Can't Be Left Unsupervised.

I still have not acquired my size 3 needles. I will probably go purchase them tomorrow, as the shop downtown has a lovely array of cable sizes.

Anyway, this has led to a problem. See, if I'd had the appropriate needles when Knitted Lace of Estonia showed up, I would have cast on for Queen Silvia right then and there, and been through several repeats by now. However, I have been left to my own devices, and there's a stitch dictionary in the back of the book, and we all KNOW I like to do my own thing . . .

That's right. There's some designing going on. Or not so much 'designing' as piecing together a sort of Franken-shawl. I'm not extremely keen on the all-around lace edgings in general. They're pretty, yes, but not really as modern to my eye. Or maybe that's just a load of crap, maybe I just like the deep, interesting, short-side lace borders much better.

So anyway, I think my mom's Birthday Shawl is going to end up as Queen Silvia with random frankenborder. I think I will--not really 'swatch,' since I don't have the exactly right needles, but dig up some random thin yarn (there's got to be SOMETHING around here) just to make sure the lace patterns I'm choosing flow together into something that's fairly pleasing to the ol' eyeball. There's already been some math. There has to be a little more math, but I have faith.

If I had been a knitter in high school, I would have gotten a much higher score on the SAT, I'm sure of it.

a standstill.

Right. So I finally get Knitted Lace of Estonia from the library (I've been waiting since January!) I've got some red laceweight yarn, and I've got Queen Silvia in my sights--and of course I realize that the only US 3 needles I have are double points.

Oh, cry me a river. I was so ready to get started. :( And no, I'm not going to try a swatch to see how it all looks on 4's, because I'm knitting a Print O' The Wave stole on US 4's right now, on a similar weight yarn, and I would definitely like the stockinette sections to be less airy. I think.

So, GREAT, this means I'm going to have to venture to a yarn store sometime soon, because it's not like my mom's birthday is getting any further away, or the pattern is getting any less epic. On the other hand, since it's all the same motif, once I get it down, it should be clear sailing. As we already know, I don't fear the nupp.

Some Finished Items.

Hey, so I'm still here and still knitting stuff, though I've been swallowed up a bit by hockey. Most of the stuff I've been working on has some element of secrecy about it, so I have not been knitting it during the games.

The first item I've got finished here is an Aeolian Shawl:





I really enjoyed knitting it. All the shifting lace patterns were very pleasing to my brain. I don't know that I'll be making another large triangular shawl anytime soon, though. Mostly because I don't have a space large enough to block it. My edges are ragged. Ah well. Maybe I will block it again later.



The color is most accurate on this next one. This yarn used to be a rather grandpa sweater that I found at a thrift store. It had a couple of stains, and I wasn't wearing it, so I unraveled it. I still have a light green one which I do wear. It's a shame: it would make lovely lace.



And here we have the socks I made my mom for Mother's Day. Spring Forward, also from Knitty. Dude, these are one hell of a speedy knit. Also simple enough to knit during hockey games, but quite pretty. I love designs that give you a lot of bang for your buck. The white toes and heels are because everything I've read about Dream In Color Smooshy says it wears out pretty quickly. They're not the greatest, but sometimes function has to win out over form.



My mama wore her socks to the Star Trek movie last night, so I think we can all assume that she likes them. :)