In which it's a small world, after all

Got my e-mail from Amy Singer today: two new patterns for summer up on Knitty.com.

I checked out the everlasting bagstopper--great idea, and I, too, always forget my reusable bags. OK, I think, this one might go on the list as long as hemp yarn isn't too expensive.

Then, even though I am SO not in the market for another top, I checked out Emerald Seas. Cute! I'd like to knit it, I think, and it's cool that the person is from the Pacific Northwest, like me, and I'm looking at the photos and I think: huh. That water? That looks like my bay. Those islands in the background? Those look like my background islands, the San Juans. That path winding through the waterside park? Looks like my path winding through a waterside park, in fact, wasn't I just chasing a four-year-old on a bike on that path??

I read the bio, and only says "Washington State." (Because, pet peeve, when we Washingtonians are out of town and self-identifying, we always have to say we're from Washington STATE otherwise people think we're from Washington D. C., and I think it sounds dorky.) So I do some quick clicking and it turns out that the designer is an instructor at my local community college.

Small world. (Good thing I'm not a stalker; I now know her e-mail, office location, and what classes she's teaching next quarter. Kinda cool, kinda creepy.)

In which I unravel

I read on a MS3-er's blog (don't remember whose, sorry!) that ravelry now has a feature where you can look up your position in the queue.

If they're inviting about 1200 people/week, I should be in by the end of the month, possibly mid-August:

• You signed up on June 8, 2007
• You are #7745 on the list.
• 1681 people are ahead of you in line.
• 10827 people are behind you in line.
• 32% of the list has been invited so far

I have mixed feelings about this. I think ravelry is extremely well organized and a fantabulous tool for the serious knitter/fiber artist. However, I need another knitting-related time-suck like I need a hole in the head, especially since I'll soon be returning from my Year of Knitting Bliss (aka maternity leave) to the year of Oh Hell I Have 120 Essays to Grade By Tomorrow Not To Mention A Forty-Eight-Page Yearbook Deadline.

If I don't start a knitting group at school, I may never knit again.

In which I admit my addiction(s)

I said I wouldn't do it. I said I'd pace myself. The knitting world needs this pattern to be shared in a step-by-step fashion, so knitters everywhere can rejoice in its freshness, revel in its genius, relax into its rhythm.

But I couldn't help myself.

No, I'm not talking about Melanie's gorgeous lace (look, see, wow!: clue 3 done before clue four comes out tomorrow!), though of course I could be.

I'm talking about this pattern:


The start of my second pair of Coriolis socks. (Cat, when is this book coming out anyway?????)

I finished the MS3 Clue 3 chart on Tuesday night and immediately went into withdrawals. So, Wednesday, I dug this KnitPicks Memories (Geranium colorway, reds and pinks and greens, I don't think it's available any more) out of my stashette, and cast on again, this time using size 5s because the Austermann Step pair on size 6s came out a leetle bit big--just a skosh, as my mom would say. (Long o, as in most.)

The genius of this pattern is such that I, and I'm not a super fast knitter, have finished AN ENTIRE FOOT OF A SOCK in only a few knitting hours. It's some plain stockinette, some ingenious shaping, and just plain really cool. I feel like Cara on her monkey/jaywalker streaks.

So I promise to do my best to be a better blogger and record the process on Geranium Coriolis #2. But if I get the shakes and the cravings and I've already finished clue 4, and if Micah's hogging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (ay yi yi, so many addictions in play this week!) I reserve the right to cast on with impunity.

I bet I'll be knitting this again. And you should too.

In which I play catch-up

I haven't posted a photo since May 29th. Of course, I've hardly blogged since then--it's not as fun without photos, right?--but I HAVE been knitting. A Lot. So it's back to the joy of writing on a nearly-daily basis. I have essays in my mind and on my mind (having just returned from AP training) and the itch to write is in my fingers. More on that another day; today is all about What's On (And Off) The Needles.

As I caught up on my documentation of Works Progressing, I noticed that, by accident, I am following the June/July colors for Project Spectrum: red, black, and metallics.

First, the Red: my lovely swallowtail shawl, which for now is gracing the back of the couch:


I finished this one up a couple of weeks ago--told myself it had to be completed before I started the Mystery Stole. I couldn't be prouder. The color, the nupps, the bindoff, the blocking--all went just so so so well. Though it matches the couch well, I do plan on wearing it; I have my eyes on this tee to go under. First day of school, anyone? (Am I the only teacher who carefully plans her first day of school outfit?)

On to the black/metallic:

Here is my Mystery Stole through the middle of the second clue, about 135 rows in. (I'm up to row 179 now, in clue 3, but haven't taken photos of it yet.) The color is a charcoal grey, but looks washed out here; the beads are a metallic mix with a variety of sheens; some look like silvery hematite, others coppery, others golden, others almost black. I'll try to get a better closeup and post my theme guesses soon.


And, finally, the redANDblack project: Cat Bordhi's Coriolis sock:
This project also deserves a post of its own; to understand the genius that is this design, just take a gander at this--it's the toe.

Intrigued? More soon!

In which I return!

I'm back! And the camera has returned! Someone, likely me, set it inside a box under a box in the garage. Yay! Only took a month for us to find it...

So--photos soon!