More Than One Can Chew

Ahhh, fall. It's probably my favorite time of year, especially in California. Summer is hot hot hot with none of the rain my Alaskan-raised soul began to crave once I had been out of the rainforest for about 6 years. I rouse slowly from my heat-induced lethargy and begin to long for productivity, soup, and warm mugs of tea. Which is why, when my Brit-Lit from 1800-Present professor announced that garment construction could be a viable term project, I fired off an email rationalizing why knitting something from Victorian Lace Today would be a good idea. I figured, I'm only 2.5 seasons in with Buffy, there're 5 seasons of Angel, and untold seasons of good HBO shows in my Netflix queue, so why not?

Then reality hit me on the head. A lace shawl by the 6th of December? Yikes. So last night I threw the atrocious Perlas Rojas into the dye pot with some vermilion and fire red, let it simmer and then cool in the pot overnight. This morning, it is drying in the fall sunlight on the porch. If I get the go-ahead from the prof tomorrow, I'll be ready to go, and if she thinks it's a weak idea, I still have 1600 yards of claret red lace that I didn't have before.

Since the last time I updated this thing, some stuff has happened! Nothing really major, I grant you. But stuff, nonetheless. First up, I finished the Gryffindor Socks for my pal! They knit up surprisingly quickly with only one skein of Lorna's Laces plus some Skacel yellow for the peasant heels and toes. I just need to block them - maybe I'll add them to the fall sunshine on the porch before ManCandy and I head to brunch on the hill this morning.

They make me wish I were a Gryffindor, but only for a minute.

I've turned the heel and begun gusset decreases for the Hedera's I'm knitting to be a Sock Savior for Sockapalooza. I feel a bit guilty that it took me awhile to begin them, but the pattern is a relatively quick one and the lady's feet are a teeny US size 5, so I'm hoping to have them in the mail by the end of October. This pair sort of makes me wish I'd learned to do 2 socks at once, but it wouldn't actually go any faster; I would simply not have the second sock hanging over my head.

I also swatched for the Secret of the Stole, which may be on hold pending teacher approval for the Handsome Triangle. I'm going to use the Clivia I got from Handpaintedyarns.com with some pearl-colored beads originally purchased for Mystery Stole 3. I was completely disgusted with that color when I got it, but it's grown on me a lot since then. I'm looking forward to working with it. I had a nightmare of a time printing the damn pattern - the printers at work hatehatehate me and refused point-blank to print, so I had to wait and do it at the school lab. But now the first hints are in my hot little hands.

Why are the top 3 rows of garter stitch so huge and the bottom 3 rows so tiny? ARGH!

Lastly, I mentioned the KP 45 in my last post. This little feature will have to wait awhile since I'm broke-ass for reasons I'll go into in a non-yarn related post (gasp and alack!). But here is at least one KP45 to tide you over, 'cause I know my yarny antics just get people goin' in the morning. Har.

KP Gloss in 4 colors, Palette in 2, Jaquard starter set and Options Harmony size 4's

Yep, forty-five bucks can get you a lot of bang if you do it right. HAH! I'm funny. It's actually been since the Purlescence birthday bash that I bought yarn, which was Oct. 13th. I'm going to see if I can make it for a month - depending on what that prof says about the Handsome Triangle, I may not have much of a choice!!

What did I buy at Purlescence, you ask? 1200 yards of BMFA Bambu in Calypso. Go big or go home, baby.

And I shall leave you this fine evening to go work on the Savior socks with this little tidbit I snapped awhile ago:

I call this: Can I Help You?