KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

I am very PO'ed - well, actually not so much anymore. Last night was bad, very bad... I don't know how this could have happened... Because I made a swatch, and took the gauge from the swatch, and wrote it down. Plus, I was knitting on gauge for the pattern. And it turns out - almost half a cardigan later - the gauge is off. Verdammte Scheisse!!! When you hear me swear in German, it's pretty serious... So, here's the story:

I was knitting along on Gale's Sonnet at Knitch. Everything was going great, the yarn is wonderful to knit with and it knits up fast. The body of the cardigan is knitted sideways, and I totally concentrated on the measurements sideways to get the right width... Well, a couple of knitting friends mentioned that the cardigan looked very short. And that made me wonder... So, I drove home last night from the FNKG (Friday Night Knitting Group) with a wary feeling. With hubby by my side for moral support and calming purposes, I measured the length and, sure enough, IT WAS FREAKIN' 3½ inches short... Look for yourself...

And the armholes were - of course - also not deep enough...

Instead of 8 inches, I had only 6½. %&$#@*!!!!

I was close to strangling that smiling sheep tape measure... How could this have happened? I have no idea. I can only guess that my garter stitch tightened up while I was knitting along. Oh well, hubby and I ripped the whole thing. But before we did that, we took the gauge measurement at four different spots on the cardigan. And guess what - it was consistently 14 stitches for 4 inches, instead of 12 stitches.

I always try to think of Elizabeth Zimmermann in situations like this. I like what she says in The Opinionated Knitter: Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.

So, this is what I had when I started all over...

I cast on last night. It almost felt like after a car accident. You need to get right back into the driver's seat and drive. I am almost back to where we ripped from... Thanks to Bonnie and Clyde (with eye candy for everyone: a gorgeous Faye Dunaway and a handsome Warren Beatty) and Amadeus this morning. (Hubby keeps calling the movie I'm a Danish from a parody of the Falco song he heard a long time ago.) That was nice knitting entertainment. :-)

Lou sent me a cool link for pictures of Ovejas Telefónicas. This is my favorite of the sheepie pix:

Hey - I have something off-topic. Do you have a "mandatory" homeowner's ass-ociation because of where your house is located? Hubby and I do... We get a monthly newsletter which is mostly super-infuriating... I want to share some August highlights:

Garage doors should not remain opened all day. Neighbors do not need/want to see how clean or dirty you keep your garage.

No artificial vegetation shall be permitted on the exterior of any property. Exterior sculpture, fountains, flags, and similar items must be approved by the Board.

That makes me want to drive to Wal-Mart right now and get the most hideous and gaudy window treatments and some really purdy super-artificial looking flower arrangements to infuriate the Gestapo... uh-h-h... I mean Board.

Here's a cute cartoon from Lionbrand - for all the hecklers in your life:

And with this I wish you a wonderful Labor Day weekend - hope you don't have to work on Monday. I am off to make dinner now. :-)

Warning: Picture heavy blog entry....

In a nutshell - a wonderful weekend. Even tho' it started out very terribly, with the ripping incident - and thank y'all for your kind words - it got better every day.

SATURDAY
Knitting, knitting, knitting - at home and at the nail salon. I made huge progress on Gale's Sonnet. I got back to where I ripped and am even further along now:

This picture is from last night. After taking the picture, I put a couple more hours in, and I am now at the second armhole. YAY for that.

SUNDAY
More knitting, but at Callaway Gardens for their eighth annual Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival. The day started with clouds and a little rain, but that did not keep Jane, Jen and me from driving to the beautiful gardens about an hour south of Atlanta. If you live around here and you haven't been, I can highly recommend a visit. You can even bring your dogs. They just can't go inside to visit the butterflies and sniff the flowers. But there are a lot of trails and a beach for the pooches to have fun, too.

First we went to visit the butterflies. You can look at the 100+ photos in my Flickr album - these are just some highlights:

The moth you never want in your house. From Wikipedia:

Atlas moths are the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area (upwards of 65 square inches), and their wingspans are also among the largest, about 10-12 inches. Actually, in India, Atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in a non-commercial capacity; unlike that produced by the related Silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), Atlas moth silk is secreted as broken strands.

At least something good comes out of this moth for knitters. ;-)

After the visit to the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center, we picnicked, and then went to see what was in the John A. Sibley Horticultural Center: This one-of-a-kind garden/greenhouse encompasses five acres of native and exotic plants within its tropical conservatory, rock wall garden, sculpture garden, fern grotto, main conservatory and outdoor garden. And of course, we all snapped away:

Then it was time for a Flying Disc Dog Demonstration. That was a lot of fun but way too short. The schedule said it would start at 3:30pm, but it was already underway when we got there. We got to see only two dogs, but they were awesome:

These dogs were extremely fast and knew a lot of tricks. They reminded me a lot of Hermione, except that playing frisbee is beneath her. Her favorite toy is a green racquetball. But when you take her to the dog park, she is as fast as lightning.

Then we waited for the last attraction of the day... And waited, and waited... This was the Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival after all, but because of the yucky weather - it was very windy - the evening Balloon Launch was cancelled. So, this is all we saw of a hot air balloon:

It was a long and wonderful day. I didn't get home until around 10pm. Good thing hubby didn't come with us. The dogs would probably have exploded after 13 hours without a potty break...

MONDAY
On Monday, I finally got down to the business of cleaning up my crafts room. Granted, the closet is stuffed with a lot of yarn that should be organized (but, hey, it is organized on Ravelry ;-) ...) and there are several boxes full of papers and patterns and crap that should be filed, but in general I am very pleased with the result:

Now I have a whole shelf for my knitting books and magazines, and one for notions and my spinning stash. And once the boxes are cleared out, I'll even have enough space to leave the spinning wheel out and accessible. Yay for that! Oh, and I'm sure you noticed that I have a cow or two...

I'm off to knit some more on the Sonnet. The last season of The Sopranos arrived from Amazon today, so I'll also have wonderful entertainment while knitting. :-) I can't wait to hear Tony say: "I told you my feelings, every day is a gift...It's just - does it have to be a pair of socks?" Sounds like he never received a pair of hand-knitted ones. ;-)

...when one of your dogs is obsessed with a little green ball? Well, mostly you indulge her because she is a cutie and wiggles her way right into your heart with those doggie eyes...

I was trying to knit and watch The Sopranos. Don't you like my classy setup? The laptop on a cardboard box on the futon and a South Park DVD box for the mousepad. Now, why is there no beer??? Anyway, Hermione thought it would be much better if I threw the ball for her all night instead of stupid knitting and watching DVDs. But throwing the ball is not the easiest thing when I am in my crafts room, because

a) I am terrible thrower,
b) trying to get the ball out into the hall is very tricky because there are a lot of corners and I usually can't get the ball past the first corner, and
c) I am a terrible thrower

But Hermione is very patient and loves any effort I make, even the most ridiculous throws...

Mommie - I brought the ball!!!

Mommie - are you blind? Pick it up and throw it - NOW!!!

Oh, whatever, Mommie - I'll just grab it then...

Noah, on the other hand, is just a lump - a snuggle dog who likes to hang out. Hang out. Nothing else. Ball - what's that? And he likes a good belly scratch:

Wait - I do have knitting content. I finally finished seaming the mittens and the patch I knitted for the scarecrow that the AKG will enter into the competition at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens this year - just in time for tomorrow's meeting. Et voila:

And I got mail today - Five new sock magazines from Germany:

and a new book:

Believe it or not, there is a group on Ravelry called "Knitting with Border Collies". So of course I had to join that group - and enablers are everywhere... Somebody there recommended this book, and I HAD to buy it. I knit with dog hair all the time, just unintentionally. ;-)

My poor little silver Scion xA had a small accident last Friday. (Yeah, I know, I haven't blogged in a while. That has several reasons - more about that later.) And, of all places, it was right near Knitch, while I trying find parking for the FNKG. Virginia Highland is just too crowded... Anyways, I got a ticket for failure to yield because I hit another car. I totally disagree that this was solely my fault because the other woman was on my side of the road. We were going in opposite directions, and if she'd been on her side of the road, we would have been fine.

Maybe I was just too giddy about my new knitting bag - who knows. But isn't she a beauty?

So, poor little Flitzi (that's my car's name) was having a little cosmetic surgery this week. Luckily, only her front bumper was bruised - no internal damage. YAY for that! And she's fine now, looks like a brand new car - well actually, she is still a brand new car. Anyway, hubby got her back from the shop today. And that's why I'm driving the studmobile today...

It's just an awesome car, and every once in a while hubby lets me drive it. Then I really feel like Claudia Schumacher (maybe you've heard of the German Formula 1 star Michael Schumacher). Except it's kinda boring to have a 320 hp car when you can only drive 65 mph... That's when a German Autobahn with no speed limit comes in handy. ;-)

So, what else have I been up to in the last week and a half???

Well - there's been so much drama in my little knitting world that I kinda ducked down and kept a low profile for a while. It seems that there are always people who are jealous for what you have and what you can do/buy, and they have to dis you behind your back. Well, that kind of behavior does not go over well with me and it gets you seriously on my shit list. If you know me at all, then you know that you can approach me anytime with anything and I would talk issues over with you and even apologize if I think I should. And you would also know that I've worked hard for what I have - including a fabulous relationship with hubby - and that I had several smackdowns in my earlier life. So don't judge me, because you don't know a thing about me. OK - I'll get down from my soapbox now and get on with the knitting - it's a knitting blog after all. I can't believe I wrote all that...

I have a bunch of FOs to show you - yes, I've been a busy bee. Got a bunch of deadlines looming over me. ;-)

Gale's Sonnet has a finished body since last Saturday. I'm going to cast on for the sleeves this weekend, and I think they will be done in no time. Hubby and I divided the remaining yarn in a very scientific way. We unballed four balls back onto the swift, counted the wraps, and reballed each ball into two halves. This way I will have matching yarn for each of the two sleeves. Clever, huh??? Leave it to a software engineer, aka hubby, to come up with this method. ;-)

Aren't these colors wonderful? I feel like I'm knitting with all possible color combinations.

I finished Mom's Wavy Scarf - it'll go to the post office tomorrow. Her birthday is on October 1. I also bought some sock yarn for her - Claudia's Handpainted, which is not available in stores in Germany, and Blue Sky wooden dpns (you know - the funky ones in the tin box):

Another finished muli-directional scarf - which probably goes into my box of "need a knitted gift fast"...

A pair of socks has also been finished - finally... I used a crochet bind-off for a very stretchy bind-off, which I love on my socks:

And then - of course - I had to start a new sock. It's the September pattern of Sockamania:

This picture is from last week. In the meantime I finished the three repeats of Xs and Os, and I am past the heel. Once I get my sock blockers back from the Yarn Doctor, I'll post proper sock pictures. Somehow, my feet are not such good models...

What else???

Oh - there was the Mystery Stole 3 meet-up last Sunday at Knitch. We had a bunch of GORGEOUS lace stoles - finished and works-in-progress:

From left to right: Claudia, Alma, Linda, Jane, Ellen, Diana & Debra

And we had "Knitch" cake - well, at least the icing was in Knitch colors - Thanks to Jen!!!

And since everybody is on this competition thing about knitting a sweater for SAFF, and I have no time for that, I am going to design a felted bag for SAFF. Yup, in Knitch colors...

The pattern will be published - no worries - gimme some time to design, write up, and also knit and felt the bag.

I'm taking my coworker to Knitch tonight - she needs a knitting refresher. So I brought needles and yarn. Always good to get somebody into knitting. She crochets, but thought knitting would be fun. And I talk about it all the time, poor thing!

I am so excited, So Excited, SO EXCITED!!! Have I mentioned that I'm so very excited to meet her? So excited that I'm taking the day off tomorrow. You - the non-knitter reading this post - might think that she is just another knitter and blogger. Well, yes, but a very cool and famous one!!!

SO - here is what the super-duper event that Knitch has organized for tomorrow looks like:

Location:
The event will be held at the Hilan Theater in Virginia Highland in Atlanta. The theater is located at 800 Highland Avenue between Greenwood Avenue and St. Charles Avenue. The theater is somewhat of a neighborhood secret and has no exterior sign. Use the door for Ben and Jerrys. We will have a volunteer on site beginning at 5PM to guide you. Once in, you'll check in at the box office. They will need your name and your ID. If you are using a friend's reservation, please bring their confirmation to the event. There will not be additional tickets available on the day of the event.

We'll see you Wednesday!
The Team at Knitch

Doesn't that sound like a little knitting dream? Even better, here's what some of my gals and I have planned around it:

11am - Meet at Knitch to go to lunch at the Dark Horse and stay there until 5pm knitting and chatting and hoping they don't kick us out
5pm - Hop over to the theatre for the biggest knit-in ever
7pm - The Yarn Harlot

Then we'll pick a location for dinner and more knitting and chatting. If you feel like you want to join us - please do. We love all knitters, the more the merrier. No cliquing - the only "cliquing" comes from our knitting needles. ;-)

I am still SO excited - whew... I think I need a glass of wine after this post to calm me down.

Hmmm - such a long post and no pix. Wait - no problem...

I finished the first Sockamania sock - Noughts 'n Crosses:

And I have the sleeves for Gale's Sonnet two-thirds done:

I went to Jane's spinning party last Sunday. IT WAS SO WONDERFUL!!! Great women who very generously share their knowledge. Here are the queens, Jen and Sandy and Janice, the Obi-Wan Kenobis of spinning:

I didn't take many people pictures, but Jacquie took a bunch and I'll post them when I get copies. She is still blogless... I took some spinning pictures, tho'. These are the flying bobbins of Jen and Janice:

I walked away with a bunch of cotton and novelty yarn that Jane had up for grabs, and an adorable spinning basket from Sandy:

THANKS GIRLS!!! You can find lots more spinning tales about the party on their blogs.

And because I had a little insomnia attack last night, I whipped out two hats for Regan for the Yarn Harlot hat collection. Now I don't have to feel guilty about that anymore. Thank you insomnia!!!

Let's hope I don't forget to bring them tomorrow... And speaking of headgear, here is a project that hubby found for me:

Please don't ask me how he finds these things. He claims he wanted to know if "earmuffs" is one word or two (ever the editor), so he Googled it, and found these on the search results page. I think maybe he spends too much time online. :-) Hmm... now that would really get me some attention at SAFF...

The wine is calling louder now... Hope to see you tomorrow in the shadow of the Yarn Harlot!!!

Kim - you need to rest and not be reading blogs today. You and your staff did an OUTSTANDING job last night, and you guys need a break. I haven't had so much fun in a long time!!!

At least for the moment. ;-) See ya tonight - I will need lots of coffee because I am dead tired - didn't get home until after midnight!!!

OK, I am gradually recuperating from Wednesday. Just to give you an idea - I left the house at 09:30am and got home after midnight. IT WAS FABULOUS. I am still thinking - WOW, I actually stood behind the Yarn Harlot in a group picture. YAY!!!

So how did the day go? The usual suspects met at Knitch at 11am to go lunch and "kill" time until the fun began. Which was about 5½ hours later. We sat on the back porch of the Dark Horse, in the shade, on a beautiful Georgia fall day.

I started a new sock - of course to honor the Yarn Harlot and her traveling sock - and I'm going to write up the pattern soon. Jen offered to test-knit it to make sure it's understandable outside of my head.

I started two to test gauge - one on size 0 and one on size 1. I should know better by now. I don't like my socks on size 1. So the pink trial sock went back into a ball and I continued the variegated sock. I am searching for a name for the pattern. Help me out, will ya?

I want to share some class with you as well. Nice knitting still life, hmmm?

A very nice shot of Jen and Regan. Looks like Jen is joining the nose warmer craze that Regan started...

Melissa finishing her UGA hat - ooops, I think I'm supposed to say that it's a Falcons hat:

Before we left, the whole porch was full of people. Amazing!

Around 4:30pm we all got ready to walk over to the Hilan Theatre. It is hidden in a building that you have to enter through a Ben & Jerry's on the left side of the place and a Starbucks on the right. I'm sure they had lots of business that day.

And, the lovely knitters that we are, we all got in line...

And this is the last picture I took inside the theatre...

And wouldn't you know it, all the snarkies are in it except their fearless leaderess. ;-)

And why is that the last picture??? Because that's when the camera died. All of a sudden it made a very strange sound and that was it. Sandy's camera started acting up, too. Hmm - I wonder if all the funny stories and all the laughter the Yarn Harlot spread around had an impact on electronic devices? That almost sounds like a sci-fi movie to me. "THE DAY A CANADIAN KNITTER MADE THE EARTH STAND STILL..." And that's actually almost how it felt - 600 people mesmerized by a very very funny woman who spoke about her knitting adventures and the CHOKE (Cultural Harrassment of Knitters Everywhere) movement all around us. And boy was she funny. I actually bought her book on CD at Knitch last night and Jacquie and I laughed all the way home - squeeeee (this one is for Regan!). Stephanie reads the book herself and listening to it is just like reliving Wednesday evening forever.

So, I had to steal a few pictures from the other bloggers - blame it on the dead Nikon. THANK GOODNESS FOR BLOGGERS!!! And I compiled a list of the ones I saw (and remember...) at the event:

Chickengoddess
Deb in Atlanta
Evil Science Chick
Famous Steve Knits
Farie_Knits
Frank the Reindeer
Gotta Knit
Hockey Mom Knits
Knit4Bears
The Knit Factor
Knit in Your Pants
Knitterboy76
Knitters = Angry Mob
Knitting, with dogs
Knit Witch
Jen from Knotty Girls
Knotty Mouse
La,La,La... Random Musings
light wading for the unadventurous
Lotus Knits
PostModern Artisan
Quiddity
Scrappy Knitter
Snarky Katey and her snarky friends
Sticknits
TURBOchic KNITS
Turtlegirl’s Bloggy Thing
Wool & Words
Woofgang Pug Knits

and... the Yarn Harlot

Let me know if I missed you and I'll add you to the list. And go check out each other's blogs. I'm sure there will be a ton of pictures everywhere. Unlike here...

I was knitting on the sock while waiting for the Yarn Harlot, and I ripped twice, unnoticed by my neighbors, thankfully, because the fellow knitters are all such delicate flowers and always so terrorized by ripping. Then I decided to start knitting the cuff (it's a toe up sock with a cable/lace pattern) on a bigger needle (back to size 1). Which was a bad idea, and I ripped that too once I was back home. Crap - but oh well, gotta do it right, right?

After the Yarn Harlot spoke for over 1½ hours, a bunch of us went to dinner around the corner. And I have to say, kudos to Harry & Sons. I have never seen a place be soooo accommodating to a group of over 15 people. (I lost count because people kept showing up and showing up.) Within a few minutes, they added 3 tables to the 2 tables we already had them put together for us. And their service was very quick, and they gave us seperate checks, too. And have I mentioned that they have exeptionally good Sushi and Thai food? AMAZING!!!

We were in a bit of a hurry because we were all scheduled for a book signing back at Knitch. Again, the timing was perfect - we got in line at the store just a few minutes before the Yarn Harlot showed up. And here is the final shot of the evening:

Doug, Melissa, Lou, Stephanie, me (peeking), Jane, Regan, Sandy & Jen

I didn't touch the traveling sock, but because I wore my cowboy suede poncho, the Yarn Harlot actually sang the first few notes of "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" to me. How cool is that...

I think I spent the day with the nicest knitters I know. Y'all were the perfect crowd to go see the Yarn Harlot with!

Can I lay down now and go to sleep??? Well, actually - I'm going to head over to Knitch in an hour to decompress. :-) Almost as rejuvenating. Have a great weekend!

Well, it's time again to brag about the better half! He truly is a gem. Remember that our camera died at the Yarn Harlot event? When I came home that night, I showed hubby what happened or doesn't happen anymore with the camera. The next day he did some research and made a few phone calls and found out that Nikon has a repair service that gets the camera fixed in 10 days or so. Truly good service for a very expensive camera. All hubby had to do is send the camera away to get it fixed.

And so I was out of digital services... Oh no - what is a blogger without a camera? NOTHING!!! So I was moping around, driving hubby crazy and threatening to buy a little digital camera just for my silly knitting purposes. Since he knows that I don't know a thing about digital cameras and that I would buy a really crappy one, he did some more research and when I came home after the FNKG, I found this in my room - disguised in a Cow Parade box. How sweet is that?

HE IS THE BEST!!! And sorry, no, he does not have a brother.

After a happy dance, I pulled out the camera and all the extras that came with it, and noticed with a shock that an advanced degree is needed to tackle the book-sized manuals. Ok, ok, I am exaggerating (slightly), but one of them is really thick and with tiny print. All kinds of functions that I have never heard of (or even thought of) and certainly never needed. Naturally, I had to play around with the new toy all weekend. ;-) So, this is a picture heavy entry. SORRY...

Here are fiber dawgs...

And here is a new sock...

And here is new sock yarn...

It's a new yarn that Knitch just started to carry - Pagewood Farm Sock Yarn. It's machine washable, fingering weight sock yarn made out of merino, bamboo and nylon. It's very squishy and yummy - can't wait to try it. One skein has enough to make a pair.

And here is the Knitch Sunday group...

I made a German Apfelkuchen (apple cake), and it must have been good because it was gone in a heartbeat. I am going to bake my favorite German recipes over the course of the upcoming Sundays. I really like to bake, and did so every weekend when I still lived in Germany. But since hubby and I try to be healthy eaters, I don't bake for us. But I can bake for the Knitch knitters. MUA-HA-HA-HA-HAH - and I will translate the recipes, no worries. I'll add a section to the sidebar.

And here is Olivia with her first knitted garment. It's a tiny vest and it is so freakin' cute...

And here comes Melissa's handspun. Since Melissa is blogless, I have to rave about her here. She had her first spinning lesson last weekend at Jane's party and now she is spinning up a storm...

You can see Melissa (the cute one with the red pigtails) between Sandy and Jane. I stole this picture from Janice (hope that's alright!!!) because when I took pictures, Melissa somehow made herself invisible. Or maybe that was when she got locked in the bathroom with the door without a knob on the inside.

So, look what a beautiful storm she spun up!!!

It's 22 grams or 3/4 oz and about 50 yards. You go girl! And you can see my spankin' new digital scale. I finally had to get one. German recipes specify ingredients by weight instead of volume, like here, and all the conversions from grams into ounces and cups and what not, made me pretty nutty. Even tho' hubby is a big help (He likes to use his calculator!), I just can't get my head around the US measurements for recipes. I guess I was spoiled by straightforward grams, kilos, milliliters and liters. Anyways...

And here is an evening sky...

I love that baby blue and grey color combination... Hmmmm. That would be a nice sweater color...

And here are my weekly Cow Parade cows... I think I missed showing off the last four Sundays':

Ollie - Half Price Off

Cowmiau

Amoorica

Say Cheese, Wisconsin

And here is the weather...

What is up with the freakin' weather in Hotlanta - a high of 90 degrees today??? We had a couple of nice fall days with cooler weather last week. Was that fall, winter and spring combined? We have summer, again... So stay cool inside with the A/C going and a winter sweater. ;-)

That's how I feel lately. Rush, rush, rush... I guess it's my own fault because I start a lot of knitting projects (which are in no danger of finishing...) and a bunch of them these days are BIG projects with a deadline...

So, important at the moment are:

1. Gale's Sonnet
I met with Gale last weekend. The Sonnet is finished, it fits her and she liked it. Now I need to block it, seam the shoulders and set in the sleeves.

2. Brett's sweater
The body is finished. The sleeves need to be knitted. I want to finish his sweater before SAFF, so he can wear it there. Hubby modeled the sweater body for me and y'all. ;-)

I had him untie his hair - have I mentioned that I LOVE HUBBY'S HAIR???

3. Bag for SAFF
Everyone is knitting a sweater for SAFF. Since I'm knitting one for Brett, I don't have time to also knit one for me. Instead, I thought I'd make a felted bag for myself. I designed the pattern and I will publish it once I finish the bag.

The yarn is good old Cascade 220 in a rich dark brown and turquoise. And you can guess what colors these are... Yup - the colors of my favorite yarn store. I think I'll be done with the body by tomorrow at the latest and then I can felt it and add some funky trim and bright turquoise handles. Stay tuned - the pattern will be appearing soon in this theatre.

4. Jacquie's Lace Shawl
This has a deadline of December 25. Yup, it's her Christmas gift and she'll wear to her son's wedding on the following Saturday. I will be very proud to see her wear something I knitted to the wedding. It's currently on hold until I finish Brett's sweater. So, this is what is looks like at the moment:

It's the Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace and I'm knitting it with Jade Sapphire 2-ply Cashmere. Yes, it feels as yummy as it sounds. I can't wait to get back to it.

5. My Lily Chin Lace Dress
Since I want to wear this to Jacquie's son's wedding, it has the same deadline - December 29. I've finished one sleeve and knitted about 8 inches into the body.

Update on the pattern mess from the Vogue Knitting Fall 2007 issue: I have not heard a word from the magazine since I sent them my complaint back on August 11, 2007. I guess that's no surprise. I check their webpage frequently, but it's been under construction for weeks. They listed a pretty ridiculous correction, tho':

Pattern #41 Lace Dress
Yarn description on page 156 should say "Greenwich Village," not "Park Avenue."

No mention of the chart being wrong or the set-up of the lace pattern being wrong. Oh, and by the way, in the meantime (because I knitted one sleeve) I also discovered that they printed an incorrect chart for the sleeve. Guess what - the most important pattern row is missing. What a mess! I feel bad for the designer, Lily Chin. She actually emailed me back the same day I asked her about the pattern being incorrect in the magazine. Lily rocks!!! I can't wait to meet her in November when the AKG hosts a bunch of workshops with her.

And besides this little priority list, I am also working on a couple of sock patterns that I'll publish soon. I finished the first one - hubby is trying to think up a name. Let me know if you have any creative brain farts. ;-)

I put a cute bind off edging on the sock - it is called a picot edging:

The other sock is a toe-up as well, and I tried the Turkish cast on for the first time. Where have you been all my life? I totally love this cast on. So easy, so fast, no crochet hook, no waste yarn. BEAUTIFUL!!!

And here is the tiny tip of the first toe. I tried to put it on Hermione as a nose warmer to follow ESC's trend, but she didn't want any part of such a picture. So, her silky fur had to do as a background.

And I got mail. ;-) Mom sent me some German knitting magazines:

The boys are going to drool over this magazine. It has a lot of men's sweater patterns - and seriously nice ones I mean.

And I finally got a copy of the latest Cat Bordhi book:

I have to rave about the service at Bob & Nancy's Services, Inc. They were fast, nice and gave me a discount of $2 because I ordered 2 Cat Bordhi books. I ordered the books on September 24, they shipped the same day, and I had them 2 days later!

And now some eye candy for Pittburgh Steelers fans - I knitted a beer can cozy for one of my coworkers, who is a serious Steelers fan. And he uses it every day. YAY!