Gettin' Steeky

My sister gave me a blue hoodie that didn't fit her correctly, so I decided I'm going to steek it! Handily, it's ribbed with alternating cables, but there are no cables down the front center, where the steek will be. My sister is very keen to know how it goes, because she has another of these sweaters that she'd like cardiganized, if mine works.

Did you see the new Twist Collective? The green sweater story was so compelling. I want that pattern!

I noticed that several of the things in this issue used stitch patterns that I've been trying to write up patterns using. Argh. I need to work faster, or all of my ideas will be used up! In that vein, I'm trying to get some patterns worked up so I can try to sell them. My dream is to have a pattern published by someone, and this is my first little step in that direction.

Word of warning

If you decide to froth milk in a martini shaker because you don't have a milk frother and want a cappuccino for breakfast - don't.

Addendum: if you go ahead with your plan, note that cleaning frothed milk off vertical blinds is not easy.

I got what I wished for: hot weather! Unfortunately, it's so hot I don't want to be outside :)

I decided to try this recipe: lemon brioche rolls. I think I'm going to substitute a piece of chocolate for the lemon curd, since I have no lemon curd in the house. Every time I've tried to make brioche dough, I've had a problem, so I'm a bit scared. I only made a half batch, because the thought of using that much butter for something that ends up being gross hurts my heart. Also, I only had 2 eggs in the house ;) The dough tastes right, but we'll see how it matures in the fridge.

I got 4 rows of my shawl done yesterday! I just keep telling myself that each row is going faster than the last, though that might not actually be true. I have a way of psyching myself out on these things, evidence the not finishing this shawl during the month of July when I told myself I'd work on it. Sigh.

I got the latest Lord of the Rings sock club installment - a cream with bronze and silver highlights, meant to represent Caradhras. Unfortunately, the people making the pattern misspelled it. I feel so bad for them, but also a bit annoyed. This is the second big mistake of this sort in the club, and this is the fourth kit. 50% is only good in baseball.

I'm not sure I'm going to make the pattern that came with the yarn, but that's just the crotchety person I am. The yarn feels great; it's the same line as the first installment of the club. I didn't actually use that yarn for anything because the cabling on that pattern hurt my arm.

Where have I been?

Even I don't know! I'll try not to neglect my poor blog, even though the holiday season is coming up.

Actually, we did go to Missouri to visit the in-laws and hang out with my newest niece. She's 5 months old and has the most moxie of any baby I've ever met. She's constantly looking around at things, and she loves to laugh! DP was dancing around with her, and she was belly laughing - it was so cute!

I also took a break from the shawl to work on socks - mini-socks, to be precise. I've been wanting to brush up my flap and gusset skills and get better with dpns. I still prefer magic loop, but I wanted to make sure that if I was ever trapped with only dpns I could still survive. These little projects are great bus knitting, and they'll make good present toppers for Christmas.

I know I should be happy that it's not crazy hot outside, but I wish that it was just a bit warmer. I'd like to sit out on the deck with a cup of coffee and my knitting and just relax.

Cookies

It's 80 degrees outside - what else to do but bake cookies! I'm making these russian tea cakes with hazelnuts. Delicious!

In other news, I survived a birthday party last night and one this afternoon, but my arms have been munched by mosquitoes.

I ripped out the LotR sock because I just can't cable. I don't know what it is, by my arms hurt too much. I'm freestyling a pattern: just a traveling eyelet. I don't know why k2tog or ssk is no problem but c2b is. Argh.

I have a scratchy throat

And I have to go out to the bar tonight for a relative's birthday party. Sore throat + smoke = yargh.

I broke down and bought some yarn - breaking my streak of not buying yarn until the Sheep and Wool Festival - but it's for my bff's birthday, so I figure that makes it okay :) It's DIC Smooshy in Pansy Golightly. My friend is a purple fanatic - she even had her pool table recovered in purple felt - so I figured this would be the perfect yarn for her. I'm going to try to teach her to knit long distance...we'll see how that works out!

Back to my knit hat :)

I hate mosquitoes

I really do. They're so thick outside that I can't mow the lawn or pick any of the veggies in my garden! Sadly, I'm hoping for a quick rise in temps (95 or so!) to kill them so I can actually go out in my yard . Argh.

My shawl is coming along, though slower than I'd hoped. For some reason, I've only been able to get a few rows in on it this week. I'm further on it than I've ever gotten, so I'm going to keep bulldogging ahead, but it seems such a slog. I think that it's totally psychological, since I was buzzing along on it quite well until this week.

For bus knitting, I'm working on a top down mini sock on dpns with a flap and gusset heel. Crazy! I figured that I might as well teach myself how to do a flap and gusset on the fly so that I can have it in my arsenal. I've just picked up the stitches and am on the gusset decreases. Oh yeah - I also made a picot cuff...my first! This little sockie has been such a learning experience so far, and it's not even done yet :)

Attack of the cucumbers

When I planted my garden this spring, I just planted what DP would like to eat and what I thought might grow. I didn't know much about anything, frankly. Now, I've discovered the horrible truth - cucumbers are the mafia of my garden. They've been elbowing everyone else, and now they're twisting their tentacles around my other plants! The flax has already fallen prey, and the asparagus is next. Only the sunflowers and the green beans seem strong enough to survive the onslaught.

The green beans, by the way, are doing wonderfully! I picked a bowlful of them for dinner yesterday, and cooked them in a couple tablespoons of salted water. I would have picked more, but I was being eaten alive by the mosquitoes. When they started biting my face, I knew I had to flee.

Now that it's July, I need to dig into my silk shawl. I still don't have pictures for you, but they're coming soon. DP just notified me that he'll need to work through the night for the rest of the week, so I should actually be able to get some rows done! Even with all my swatching, I still haven't settled on the pattern for the lace band. I guess I have a while to go before I work the band, but I'd like to be settled on the pattern by the time I get to it. I need a pattern that gives the impression of leaves or trees, is 9, 18 or 36 stitches wide and preferably has plain purl or knit rows every other row. The leaf pattern I planned to use looked wrong with the feather and fan, so I've been reworking it and playing around with some openwork cable-y things. Oh, what a world.