Lace is coming up all over!

Now that I’ve decided I’m not too afraid of lace (and have knowledge of my limits)  - I’m knitting lace everywhere.  I tried out the cute Little Girl Shrug #288 with the lace panel at the bottom.  I did it with a yellow DK yarn my Mom bought in Chile on her last trip there.  It is very soft wool, and an soft kind of yellow.  It goes really well with my little one- and as soon as it’s blocked, she’ll be wearing it!  It took only a few hours to make (over the course of 3 or 4 days)- so it would make a great little gift.  Now what to do with left over yarn?  Ii don’t know how much I started with so I know even less about how much I have left!

Shetland Triangle and lace

I have a hard time with lace.  I have to rip out at least 5 times before I can really get going on the project, and even then it’s hard to not make a mistake.  I hate it… and I love it.  It’s addictive.  Why do I torture myself??

But I’ve made a new discovery!  Lace looks great when done on bulky yarn.  I saw the Shetland Triangle in Eco Wool and had to have one.  It just happened we’d just got Eco Wool into Hilltop Yarn, so it was destiny.  It took me a week to finish it because, of course, it flew on my hands, and before I knew it I was giving the finished shawl a good blocking.    I loved EcoWool-  it is soft and fluffly (THICK!) and knit up beautifully.  i will be knitting with his yarn again and again and again.  I can’t wait to go back to the shop!

To ship or to take?

My mother has been building up a stash of her own apparently, and is very happy to unload it onto me upon my next visit- in about a week from now.  She’s developed a wool allergy and can’t knit with most of what she’s got.  Since I prefer wool and alpaca,  she’s giving me all of her wool in exchange for most of my cotton and bamboo and anything else I might have in my stash she can knit with.   I pulled a very large bag for her, and now I have to decide whether to try and pack it along with all my other stuff or just mail the whole thing to her… but it’s heavy.  Will it cost me more to put it in the mail?  I think I’ll have to find out.

Of course, I’ve been obsession over what to take on this visit to my mothers.  She’ll be in the hospital for a bit and I’ll be waiting for her in the waiting area, so I’ve been thinking that I might actually be able to do some of the lace I’ve been wanting to do but never had the odd spells of long time to concentrate.  Still, I’m not sure I’ll be in any state to concentrate if I’m waiting to hear my mother’s made it out of surgery!

Unfortunately I’ll be leaving behind Keld and Thwaite because the yarns are quite heafty and take up loads of space.  Keld is almost done!  I’m starting on the sleeves.   still I’ll be southern Texas, where there’s not much call for wool at the moment- thought my Texas friends say it’s actually cooled down a bit.  I just hope I don’t get caught up in some hurricane or other.

Knit Stress

For several days I thought that the one box that held about 1/3 of my stash was missing.  In this move we’ve managed to get almost everything that we had packed away three years ago in England.  All of it has made it and in excellent condition.  It’s almost as if we’d packed it the day before (and if we had done such a thing we’d probably would have left about 1/2 of the stuff- why did we bring all those little knick knacks?).  Yesterday I found the yarn box- and managed to stuff my entire stash into what is now the yarn cabinet.  My yarn will now live in the living room/sitting room.  I’m not happy about this arrangement, but that’s for another blog post.  For now, i am arranging and rearranging my yarn- admiring it and wondering why i have so much yarn.

Relax

I knit to relax- to get away and to create something while doing nothing else.  We’ve been looking for a place to buy- and in Seattle it’s a very expensive and time-consuming endeavor.   I think I’m too tense to even knit.  I keep messing up the lace patterns and in the heat wave that Seattle is having, knitting with wool is too warm.  And for the first time in 3 years we have a TV, at least for a time… so I need to make the most of it, and knit!

Saying goodbye…

Today I spent my last day in Mexico- and it was harder than I thought!  I’m not Knit NOMAD for nothing and usually I am looking forward to the new place and the new experiences… but this time it was a little different.  I went to Mexico with not such good thoughts- I have a history there, and not that good of a history- so Mexico had little appeal.  Still I went because “never say never”  - and I am leaving with such happy memories and excellent friends.

Lately some of my friends there had shown an interest in knitting- and I’d been holding impromptu classes.  it was a strange experience translating knitting into Spanish and explaining how things worked, and mainly trying to remember what my mother and grandmother called things back when they taught me.  They picked it up very quickly-knitting prodigies!

The night of my going away party - and my friend Miriam shows up with this—

This started life as her original sample swatch using yarn I gave her and needles I loaned to her to get her started!  In the square at the top she put a photograph of her and her family and you fold it all up.   She did about 5 different stiches on it after I’d just taught her knit and purl.  I cried.  I am so proud and SO sad to be leaving.

What to pack… what to pack for storage?

This is getting complicated.  We’ll be spending about 2 months in Corporate Housing, and most of our things will be in storag.e  We’re also driving up in one car… but I’ve got so many projects!!

Lace is the obvious answer… except I need projects I can do on a 2 day car trip- and can’t follow a pattern closely.

Nomad again

I’m living up to my nomadic roots and we’re once again on the move… off to Seattle in mid-May so we’re up to our eyeballs in planning and packing and packing and planning. This time it means moving things from Ensenada to San Diego and then packing it all up to be moved to Seattle, while at the same time co-ordinating a container holding our 2 bedroom house in England to also go to Seattle… and a tottler… and my stash… I’ve been anticipating this move for nearly a year, but when we were told officially the date- I felt pain instead of joy and relief. I really hate to leave Ensenada and San Diego- two places with the most perfect weather and an excellent mix of friends and friendly places. I wish i could take a few people with me… the worst part about being a nomad is the packing up and saying goodbye (although the REALLY worst part of being a nomad is when everyone else is leaving and you’re left behind!) . So my knitting time had been seriously cut down.

I did manage to knit up a hat from one of my best Ensenada friend’s daughter. I wanted to knit something special for my friend, but I knew that I wouldn’t finish it in time now that we’re also leave (she’s going on the 16th of May- a week before me).

My biggest concern so far in this move… I’m going to be about a month without my stash… I need to start planning projects carefully… and of course, how will we manage two cars in a city where many people have none?

Good Intentions

I was just browsing through Ravelry and found yet more patterns to add to my queue- and in looking at the queue and all … is it 27 patterns so far (not including those which I just browsed in the new Vogue and Interweave Knits!) I think i have enough projects to knit for the next year or so…

My problem is not the good intentions of creativity and fashion, it’s my stash- the immensity and limits of my stash. I made a promise to myself… all I would knit would be from my stash as it is- no buying new yarn, and if the yarn has no project then it will be gone… this is because it’s moving time again. We’re due in Seattle in a few months… maybe not even a few months but a couple of months. Knowing that I have a house full of furniture in storage in Houston, TX, a suitcase full of yarn in Mexico, and about 2 bags full of yarn in San Diego (apart from books, clothes, and all those other important things) the last think I need is to be moving lots of yarn I’ll never use. Anyway, that’s the idea… the intention. With at least 27 projects in mind though… I might find a project for all of my stash! I better get knitting.

The 6s and the CHP

Only a 24″ US6 addi turbo is standing in between me and finishing the knitting part of the CHP. I must have left them in Mexico because they’re not here in San Diego… I hope they’re there or else I won’t be finishing it any time soon!

I knit the hood yesterday and shortened it by two rows since I was running out of yarn and didn’t see the point of starting a new ball and leaving a little knot right at the front of the hood for the sake of two more rows. It shouldn’t make too much of a difference!