Tres Chic Veronique

Oooh, thrums are so exciting!
Check out my almost-completed first mitten:

Nice and fluffy.
But the best part? Thrum innards!


The Yarn Harlot's thrumming tutorial was extremely helpful. Ripping out little pieces of roving is as much fun as dropping stitches on the Clapotis. Seriously. Try it.

(Thanks to Prof M for letting me use his bookshelf. The mitten feels smarter already).

Rhinebeck, as I had assumed, was overwhelming.
The Spiders had warned me about the crazy quantities of yarn and assorted fibers. They told me to pace myself. And I did! But what took me aback was the knitters! Knitters everywhere! Knitters whose blogs I probably read! I met so many people and barely squeaked out a couple words. For example, when Carrieoke recognized me (recognized *me*!), my response was "hi"...

Here's what we saw:

And here's my loot:
A sheepskin. (Sorry, vegetarians).
2 huge hanks of alpaca (600 yds each!) from A Touch of Twist (that's Twist, not Twits as I originally heard). One in Chocolate and one in White. You cannot imagine how soft and fluffy this alpaca is... Those should become scarves and hats, as they must be worn against the skin.
3 hanks of Zephyr merino/silk in Emerald, also from Twist.
Goat's milk hand cream!
From Greenwood Hill Farm, a felted sheep kit (the white yarn) and a thrummed mitten kit. These kits were a hit: the Jess's and I each got one. I switched things up though: instead of the white roving that came with the kit, I'm using roving from Habu in Nutmeg and Plum. Want a closer look? Sure you do.
Oh, thrumming is so much fun! (Tricky to do on the subway though).

I completely forgot my own blogiversary! My first post, dated Ocober 17th, consisted of a picture of Rowan's Butterfly

and not much else, aside from the obvious "I have a blog!" acclamation.

Since that post, I have knitted:

• 9 cardigans
• 0 sweaters
• 2 pairs of socks
• 4 hats
• 3 pairs of gloves or mittens
• 3 lace shawls
• 7 scarves
• 1 toy robot
• 2 dresses
• 2 baby blankets
• 1 camisole.

I started my blog because it was a sine qua non condition on becoming a Spider, and I really, really wanted to be a Spider. --Check out their blogs if you don't know what I mean-- OK, now I have to get a little mushy and say that I love my Spiders! I can't believe we've known each other for only one year. It seems like much longer. Kisses!
Oh, and I can't forget my readers! I'm still surprised and flattered when I get a comment from someone I don't know. I usually eagerly check out their blog and add them to my Bloglines list. Kisses to you too! Mwah!

My knitting plate is overflowing.
I'm cramming all the knitting I can on a Secret Project. My hands hurt, and my right elbow too! The almost-completed back of my brother's Rowan sweater has taken permanent residence on my couch. I thought that if it was within eyesight, I'd pick it up and knit it. Wrong. All it does is make me guilty every time I glance at it... I've put Rowan's Pam on hold. I cast on for Interlocking Balloons from Scarf Style using merino in the most awesome shade of chartreuse I have ever seen (ask Jess, she knows what I mean...). I've knitted a swatch for VK's Retro Sweater. I knit and ripped the beginning of a Dairy Queen hat.

And then.... the IK preview comes out! Seriously, there's Fall patterns that I haven't had time to make, and now the Winter issues are upon us already?!! *sigh*
I want to make this:
and this:

and this:

Next up: Rhinebeck!!

This weekend, I :
1. admired how lovely the Wedding Shawl is. (If I do say so myself, *ahem*).

Pattern specs:
Swallowtail Shawl, by Evelyn Clark, from the Fall 06 IK.
Yarn: Misti Alpaca, Alpaca lace, 1 ball plus a few yards of another, in Green Meadow.
Needles: US 4 Bryspun circs. The super-pointiness of Bryspuns was key to work the K5tog for the nupps. Key.
Mods: In order to get a larger shawl, I worked 19 repeats of the Budding Lace pattern (instead of 14). I worked the Lily of the Valley edging as per instructions.
Knitted for: the bride.

2. I baked wedding cupcakes (carrot/orange, carrot/ginger and carrot cake cupcakes), and the bride made her cake topper: a drawing of a banjo and a paintbrush.
3. I was a witness for this solemn occasion.
Congratulations!

Edited to Add: How could I forget? A big thanks to Gleek for helping me with fixing up my blog! I kind of jumped into the new template and clicked "post" even though there were still some issues. So if the comments look good, if the sidebar items are all lined up, it's thanks to her!

OK, I have to admit I've been holding out on you a little... I recently added a new project to my sidebar, when in fact, I've already knitted both fronts. See?

This is Pam, from the discontinued Rowan 30, by Debbie Bliss. I'm making Pam out of Grignasco's MerinoGold, which I bought at the Yarn Riot last year. Now, I know, I originally wanted to use that yarn for the Vogue Knitting Retro Sweater which I had tried on at the Point... But there wasn't enough yarn for that project, and the next thing you know, I'd seen a picture of the lovely Pam and I was casting on. Yes, I know, I have no filter when it comes to knitting. (I also cast on for 2 scarves, but that's for another post). I still want to make the Retro Sweater though. Maybe with the Soft Wool from Habu...
I can tell you what tipped the scale from Retro to Pam: Vs! I feel like I have my initials all over this cardigan, hee!

And there's another thing that I've been holding out on: I finished the Swallowtail Shawl last week! Originally, there was some miscalculating . I was told that I had 2 weeks until the wedding, when in fact, there were 3 entire weeks. Phew! Nonetheless, I knitted it in 2 weeks... Considering that I had a hard time meeting deadlines in high school and college, I'm secretly pleased about being so grown up all of a sudden. (When did this happen?). Anyway, it will be gifted to the bride this weekend, so I'm deliberatly posting a not-so-great picture. More pics after the wedding!

Speaking of which, did I tell you I'm making the wedding cupcakes? The bride and groom requested carrot cake cupcakes, not too sweet. Oh, I had such fun scouring the internet for the perfect recipe. And I found 2! I'll share: carrot orange cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and candied orange peel nest and carrot ginger cucpcakes with cream cheese frosting and candied carrot sprinkles, both from the fantastic Chockylit. Did you know she has an entire blog devoted to cupcakes? Yum. Drool.

After Jenna changed the aesthetics of her blog, it hit me all of a sudden that my own blog was looking pretty bland. Well, except for the knitting chicken banner! When I put up Bernice the knitting hen, Steph suggested that I get rid of the polka dots in the background which were visually distracting. Back then, I was terrified of html, and I *knew* that I'd lose all my comments if I tried to change my template... Although I really wanted to switch to a plain background, I didn't dare.
So I clicked on all the links that Jenna put up, I googled "blogger templates", I learned a lot about html on W3 Schools and, one weekend later, voila! A new template.

And I lost all my comments.