Saltwater Purls

Meredith we roll along

I break the blog silence to bring you meredith and some questions (if anyone still reads this).
1. Sleeve length....3/4 length or should I lengthen them?
2. How bad are these mistakes? (fairisle bands marked by red lines on the body, the sleeve is right if you want to compare).

Regular blogging will resume when classes end and I am no longer responsible for the education and care of 600 students.

Look who came to visit

Its a praying Mantis...Yes it's big ~10cm long

Eating lunch at the nasturcium snackbar...okay not so cool eating my bees, but the next snack was a fly.

Testing out my new macro lens

Hannah Bannah parties with Jazzmine

I have a serious case of startitous these days. I blame the upcoming election which has me on edge. Although my husband would disagree with me I would say the upcoming election will change the US forever...either way. Forget the stars though here are the stripes.

I've started Hannah from Kim Hargreaves the Thrown Together collection in Kidsilk Aura. So soft my son likes to hold the balls to his face. This should be a quick gratuitous knit.

And Jazzmine is inching a long slowly....only another ~20 rows until the armholes.

P.S. Yes Adelaide is growing up too fast there with tasty Thomas and busy-bee.

Welcome Mac and Millie

Camilla is pleased to announce the arrival of Mac and Millie on September the 15th 2008.
Mum and twins doing well.
 

Puff the magic Loppem

Here is Loppem right now. I forgot the recalculate the number of stitches added for the sleeves so the result is that they flair out. In fact if I were the type of knitter to do things right I would undo to the armhole, reduce the number of stitches cast on and do no shaping  on the arms for the first couple of decrease rows. We all know I'm not that knitter. Instead I'm contemplating short rows and a little puff sleeve action....could be bad.....could be good......I drew one in to see if I felt the puff for it.

PS. Jimmy Beans didn't give me any credit for my honesty, just emailed a return slip.

Oh the irony

So you heard the saddest of all the sad knitting tales on the last entry. When online purchases go astray. Here's the irony that arrived today. This would be a completely unsolicited package from Jimmy Beans.

A $42 bag handle supposedly destined for Angele in Alberta..addressed to me, however. Big screw up on their part as I also got the receipt and more information than I should have. So I'll write to them and ask them what they would like me to do. Maybe they'll ask for it back and give me a credit for being honest...

When life gives you lemons...

you start a new knitting project. So you remember how blah I felt about Meredith, and how I hated the colour Walnut but how everything was going to turn out alright because the right colours were winging their way to me like the gentle drum of spring rain. Well those swelling clouds in the distance turned out to be a dry thunderstorm (like Gérard Depardieu, dancing for the approaching storm in Jean de Florette). See I never noticed that my address information on the Knitting Garden website was old, very old like 4 years old. And so.....and so (pregnant pause inserted like Alan Rickman in Sense and Sensibility ....'no doubt....no doubt you've heard') I waited by the mailbox expecting the parcel to arrive everyday. It didn't because it was being delivered elsewhere and subsequently lost to the ether of space and time. What do you do when life gives you lemons....you start a new project....cotton of course because until the last couple of days it has been warm and sticky).

Meet Loppem from Norah Gaughans Book 3 in GGH Samoa from the Stash. The gauge is a little different, but I am also going to add some very short sleeves....so watch this space....and then I'll wander through the woods like a zombie creature (because you all know when you knit something you'll end up looking like the model right? ).

bleech!

Well I thought the walnut would work in Meredith. I got one nice stripe in and then tried it with the blue. Yuck! So I've thrown her to one side (well I did start the sleeves) and I'm waiting for new colours. Istill have the dusty lavender, and Yarnzilla has agreed to send me the proper colour (another green) I ordered and give me the walnut. What to do when your project goes awry....finish one already on needles?

Don't be silly....start another one. This is Jasmine from Kim Hargreaves Nectar collection. I'm jazzing it up a bit by adding some stripes and knitting it in the round. I love Kims classic fitted knits but oh boy they can get boring to knit. I am using Rowan 4ply cotton that I've picked up in sale bins over the years. I have 6 balls of the green in 4 different dyelots...so I'm striping the balls.

I really like Animals...

...I like them a lot
15 animals is what I've got.
I've 15 animals so friendly and tame
and I've given each one of them a special name
I've got a cat named Bob, and a dog named Bob
and fish called Bob and Bob....

Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton

Why yes that is another version of Bob this time the yarn is Noro Blosson, Cherry tree Hill Worsted Possum and Classic Elite Skye Tweed. Finlay loves the buttons, which if you can't make them out...they are a tractor and a trailer. The button band is my own addition to the pattern due to Finlays large German head. No he doesn't look like his parents, and we frequently get people stopping us in the street asking us where he gets his blond hair from...just as well he isn't adopted and he never left my sight in the hospital!

True story of motherhood

'Mama, mama....what's dis?'

Chubby fingers are pinching a tiny object. I crouch down and look closer. Instinctively I gasp as I see a bee's thorax bending and searching for purchase with its sting....

The Pattern: Bob by Kim Hargreaves in Rowan Babies
The Yarn: Jaegar Luxury Tweed dark blue and rust and a mystery hand dyed dk weight yarn.
Confession: My mother made this for Finlay. I was going to mail the wool to her in Britain but due to unforeseen circumstances she arrived in the US earlier than expected. I think she had fun with this pattern. Bob was the most useful vest last year...I wished for more.