cosmicpluto knits!

catch-up

It was great having Ysolda here this week, we had lots of fun! Let’s see how much I can cram into this post – mostly photos.

We did lots of knitting on the various forms of the TTC.

Ysolda got two awesome dresses at the Clothing Show (there’s a photo of the other one on her blog). Her sweater pattern will be forthcoming on the blog as well..

We went ribbon shopping at Mokuba:

And yarn shopping at Romni (where I got the fibranatura from the last post).

On her last day here, Ysolda came with me to work, and we sat and chatted and crocheted.

And then it was time to say goodbye, sniff.

Now I really want to go visit Edinburgh!

red and swingy

Herringbone Skirt
Pattern: from Knitscene Fall 2007
Yarn: 8 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I forget what the colour name is, but it’s, you know, red.
Needles Hook: 3.25 mm Boye

I just finished up this skirt Wednesday morning, finally. It seemed like a forever project, but it did actually work up relatively quickly – and I love the result!

I do kind of wish I’d started the flarey part a little earlier, so it would be a longer section of the skirt, but it worked out fine. I did modify the seaming, slightly – the directions tell you to ch 2 between each sc of the seam. Didn’t make much sense to me, I tried it and just decided to nix the ch 2′s.

I think I used 3/4″ elastic rather than the 1″ the pattern calls for, and also canned the bottom mini-ruffle. It was a bit too much for me and definitely would’ve taken more than the eight skeins the pattern called for.

The fabric, being crocheted, is pretty see-through…

But since it is a wool skirt, I’ll always be wearing leggings or tights underneath. And if not, there’s always the old-fashioned (but very useful) half-slip.

Not bad for a first crochet project, eh? I’ve done crochet edgings and stuff before, but this was my first all-crochet project and first time following a crochet pattern. I’m glad it worked out – now I’m seeing a little more crochet in my future.

back on track

The pain and any surface marks from the burn went away pretty quickly, and I’ve set my sights on finishing the crocheted herringbone skirt.

I’m farther along now, with just a few inches to go on one of the pieces. The other piece is about halfway done as well. The pattern, just as a reminder, is from the Fall 2007 issue of Knitscene.

I had four skeins of the yarn (silky wool) in my stash to start with – the pattern calls for eight. I crocheted two balls each of the front and back while waiting for more yarn to come. I knew it’d be a different dyelot, of course.

It does show (the new yarn is brighter) but luckily, it’s at a point where it looks perhaps intentional – pretty much right where the increasing for the flare begins. So I’m okay with it. I ordered five extra skeins (so nine total), and I think I’ll only need seven. Maybe I’ll make it a little longer, since I’m not planning on doing the mini ruffle at the bottom.

And now, a different type of (almost) FO:

I grew that! A HUGE tomato, heartland variety. Those aren’t kid-hands, either! It’s not quiiiiite ripe, but I picked it anyway under the strong urging of a garden-neighbour, because it is almost ripe, was at the front of the garden (easily accessible), and because it is big – don’t want to risk someone coming along and yoinking it! I’ll give it a day or two in the kitchen to ripen up before the ritual devouring.

here and there

A little progress, a little progress…

The crochet silky wool skirt is coming along. I crocheted two skeins worth of the front/back (they’re both the same), and now I’m starting on the back, just for some variety. It’s going much quicker the second time around. I still have to wait for the rest of my yarn to get here, so it’s not a great hurry or anything. I have to figure out how to put together a little underskirt for it, too.

And my first tomatoes of the season are not the ones in the allotment garden! These are tiny tims, which I picked up on a whim at the garden centre, in pots on my back deck. They’re teeny little plants but are producing a fair amount of tomatoes for their size – I’ve got four plants, so I should be able to harvest some for eatin’ here and there.

Yikes, it’s getting late. Better go water that garden.

goin’ on a big boat

I am completely infatuated, must make it NOW obsessed with the Stitch Diva Hairpin Lace Skirt.

I’ve got a slight step up on the technique, anyway – I’ve seen Denny do it! And I know how to single crochet, too. I am totally going to make it for my trip.

Trip? Yep, I’m a-goin’ away, in a little less than a month, for two weeks. It’ll be the longest vacation (as in, away from home) that I’ve been on in more than five years – I stopped going with my parents and sisters on their summer vacations (usually to Florida) in favour of staying home in a nice big house by myself.

This year, though, there’s a different plan: my sister and I shall fly down to Texas on the 20th of May, where we will stay with my cousins in Austin for about a week doing fun things – it sure looks like a fun place!

Then my parents will fly down and we’ll board a Big Boat for a western caribbean cruise – Jamaica, the Caymans and Cozumel. I’m a bit apprehensive about the boat part (and the plane part, for that matter) but I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun. And there’s lots of cousins the same age to hang out with. It’s going to be a bit insane – there’s 24 people in our party! We even have a minibus booked for the trip from Houston to the port in Galveston.

Anyway. That long winded description of the trip = need new hairpin skirt. This brings me to a related point: since I have decided that Maryland isn’t going to fly (REALLY can’t afford to go by myself, plus I wouldn’t be able to drive once there…so yeah, also, can’t find anyone else to go with) I have decided that I can spend whatever the hell I want at the Frolic on Saturday.

Important math:
a) I will spend hundreds of dollars less at the Frolic than I would at Maryland.
b) I’ll be working, and therefore will have less time to spend walking around and spending money (although I’ll be sure to get enough time in there!)
and
c) since I’ll be working, that’ll offset a bit of the spending.

Not math, but:
d) I’ve made a list of stuff I want, which includes some kind of swishy drapey ribbon yarn (so not me yarn) for the skirt.

Gotta go spin the water out of that completed sweatercoat!