Purlene’s Corner

(ames)

Spring has sprung here in Charleston, and it is – well, it’s a little cold at times, and a little rainy at times, and pretty at times, so I suppose it’s a fairly typical spring. Have some pictures!

I took all of those pictures in my grandparents’ backyard. It was a glorious day, blue blue sky and cool breezes, and everything seemed to bloom at once. So now that it’s getting warmer, it’s obviously the perfect time to knit a wool sweater, right?

Simple Green Sweater, knit by me with yarn from aya, and it fits my mom perfectly. Yay! I knew it would fit someone, and I’m thrilled that it’s her.

I also made a new friend for my kitty:

A buddy for Buddy! You may recognize this as leftover sock yarn from the Bright socks! I finished a few weeks ago. This little guy is about three inches tall, a little bit askew, and completely adorable. Buddy isn’t totally on board yet, but a little catnip (once I get some) should get him excited.

That’s what’s happening here! As a reminder, posts in green featuring cats (like this one) are from the Amy in Charleston (formerly Chicago, call me ames if you like), and posts in black featuring bunnies are from aya in Boston. xoxo!

(ames)

Here, have a sneak peek of a project-in-process!

A sweater! This is the back, and off screen are two sleeves, all done and blocked and waiting. I’ve got the front well on its way.
Basic Sweater Pattern
Dream in Color Classy, Happy Forest colorway
US9, and I have no idea who this will fit. I went for the size that would use up my yarn, haha.

Look how pretty this yarn is! I love it.

(ames)

So, it’s been a while.  My camera died, which is SAD, and also kind of a relief.  I bought it six years ago for a trip to Australia.  Digital cameras were very new then, and I wasn’t sure how they worked or how you got the pictures off the computer and onto paper.  So, I took both a digital and a 35mm camera!  Lots of camera switching, let me tell you.  Anyway, that’s not the point.  The point is that I had a camera, and then I didn’t have one anymore, and they’d become a lot more advanced and awesome than my original one was. It took a while to replace it, is what I’m saying.

Also, I have not been much with the knitting. It is a sad but true fact that my knitting mojo gets depleted in the summer, even a cool and comfortable summer like Chicago has had this year. Instead of knitting, I have been running around and Doing Things. aya’s been making her first sweater, and I’ve – not. Here is what I’ve done this summer instead!

* Charleston for a WEEK! It was the most time I’ve been back home since I left in the middle of my college years, and it was great. Incredibly unseasonably hot (aya, I promise it’s nice in February, should we go back), but I loved seeing my family again and being able to spend more than just an hour here and an hour there.
* Had a birthday!
* Saw Star Trek FIVE TIMES. It was worth it every time.
* Fell in love with Sanctuary on the SyFy channel.
* Hung out with my Mom and visited a cute-as-heck yarn shop in Oak Creek, WI.
* Saw part of the Osh Kosh, WI Airshow that my Dad volunteers at every year. He and I wandered all around the fairgrounds looking at the 28947524508756 planes. SO MANY. Fortunately, Daddy knows all about them and was happy to share and teach.
* attended the first of what was to become many going-away parties for friends who are leaving Chicago. Sadness.
* Decided to change apartments. Cue chaos.
* Saw Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy, and thoroughly enjoyed them both – although FOB a little more.
* Realized how lucky I am to have so many good friends both here and far from here. <3

But I did knit. Witness:

Eesti Trail Hiking Socks from Favorite Socks, Interweave Press
Mission Falls 1824 Superwash Wool in Stone and Spruce

EDIT:  Because I am a ninny, and was updating Ravelry at the same time as the blog, I neglected to say here that the sock are for my Dad, who saw the Bayerische socks on the blog and requested hiking socks.  The original pattern has a standard heel flap, a spiral toe, and a snowflake design around the calf.  I ditched all of that.  Afterthought heel (which I hate actually doing, although I love the look), wedge toe, no snowflake.

The second Bayerische sock is in the commuter bag for CTA knitting, and is going well. I have also finally cast on for the Summer’s End cardi, which – well, I wish the designer had a better link than just to Ravelry. Not everyone is ON ravelry! Sigh. Anyway, it’s cute – lacey bottom with stockinette top, and the sleeves are stockinette with a lace panel going down the outside. I’d show you what the lace looks like, except this is all I have done so far:

Sergei is most unimpressed. :D

See? I have not dropped off the face of the earth! Also, it’s been nice here on weekdays, and I’ve been wandering Chicago on my lunch breaks. If you want a picture of a Chi-town landmark, let me know! If I can get to it and back in an hour, I will happily provide. Possibly with sock (although that’s really the Yarn Harlot’s thing, and I hate feeling like a copycat.)

(ames)

Welcome to a picspam. :D  I found my camera, and now you get to see the fairly sketchy fruits of my labors.  I was contemplating getting a new camera, but decided I just needed to learn how to use mine.  Allons-y!

My little ad hoc knitting group and I are all working on this sock, the Arched Shaped Socks by Meg Swanson. Unfortunately, I only have a Ravelry link, woe. I didn’t want to link to someone else’s flickr account, because that leads to confusion. Anyway, it’s two color knitting, all the way up to the knee, with a “sensuously shaped arch”, which is what really caught our eyes. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Chocolate and Old Rose. The pattern calls for two skeins of each, but we’re all hoping we can get it done with just one.

A swatch! This is a swatch for the Big Bad Baby Blanket (linking to a Google Images search). I just don’t know. The yarn (selected by the mothers-to-be) is gorgeous, but it is a skinny DK weight, and the pattern calls for two strands of worsted held together. I mostly did this swatch so I could wash it and see how it holds up; it’s Patons Silk Bamboo, which I think may be a little high maintenance for a baby blanket, but we will see. I’m doing another swatch with two strands to check weight and figure out gauge, and will give this one to the parents to run through their washing machine. It bled a little in the quick rinse I gave it, but not much; just the faintest tinge of purple in the water. I used a US6 for the swatch, and if I double it, I hope to go up to an 8 or a 9, while still maintaining a nice blanket-suitable fabric.

Sadly, I can’t use this kid for stash busting, as the parents have wool allergies or sensitivities, and I don’t knit with hardly anything but. I don’t have a huge non-wool stash at all. Woe for me.

Ha, this cracks me up. How boring! It’s the back of a sweater that will have a lot more going on in the front, I promise. I’m cannibalizing a couple of other projects I wasn’t too pleased with. Hopefully I’ll have enough yarn, but I’m not too worried if I don’t. Someone out there will have a skein in the same dyelot they’re just waiting to get rid of, I am sure. Pattern to be revealed when I know I won’t screw it up too much.

And finally, may I present Winter in Chicago:

This was after the first snowfall. We got another half foot or so on top of that. Then the warmth deserted us for a few days, and the thermometer forgot how to go above 0F. It is somewhat depressing to wake up and learn that the high for that day will be -4F. The bed never felt so warm and inviting, let me tell you. But it’s better now!