S'n'B at the coffee house and the scarf

We had S'n'B this week and it was great. Sonja was there and we don't see her much. She's been knitting a long time so she always has some wonderful projects going. L had her Socks That Rock, but too much laughing took place and she messed up the pattern. I tell you, even at a coffee house, our S'n'Bs get out of hand. We were near the medical school and all that brain power was severely stunted by all the SAHM craziness. The amount of stares and dirty looks we got bordered on comical by night's end. I tell you, we're a loud bunch that's for sure. I'm sure we ran some of those kids out of there.

Anyway, I easily slipped into my drop stitch scarf made of the Mango Moon Recycled silk. I love this stuff. It's so pretty. I've been wearing it everywhere just waiting for someone to compliment me on my creation. This lovely item that will adorn my neck for years to come. I fall short of shoving it in people's faces and screaming, "THIS IS GORGEOUS!!! Why won't you say anything .. ." I never thought that I would be this obsessed with external gratification, but here I am. It's actually funny b/c R said to me at lunch, after the server had rudely ignored my masterpiece, "If it makes you feel better, which I know you need b/c of the sad look on your face, that scarf is just beautiful!!" What a smile he brought to my face . . of course, then The Beast grabbed it and started to clean our table with it!! One woman's masterpiece is a 2 year olds wash rag!! Such is life!! Here are some pictures!!

Shawls and blankets and scarves, OH MY!!

I am officially un-motivated to knit. This could be a serious illness or a sign that we at the "end of days" - LOL. I can't believe after almost a year of knitting. I officially started knitting in December of 2005. I taught myself from Stitch'n'Bitch and it went from there. I've many things, one total failure, and a handful of projects just waiting to be started. Why now?? Who the hell knows! I started the Lana Grossa Shawl for SPs Christmas present. . . I've gotten through 1 ball and haven't even picked up the rest of the yarn from our LYS that has been in for about 2 weeks now. The library called with another pattern book I had on hold, I never went to get it. I started my grandmother's blanket. I've done it before, it's the same one I made for R, but in different girly colors. Frogged it and now I can't find the f-ing needles! How do you lose Size 19 Circulars??? I guess the 2 year old is a huge factor!!

So now what? We have Stitch'n'Bitch tonight at the local coffee house. I need something. I always do a lot of work at SnB. Let's look in my stash . . ah, this might have promise . . . a beautiful purple jewel toned Recycled Silk by Mango Moon Yarns.

This is basically the colorway I have, just a little more purple:

L suggested a drop stitch scarf so it's on!! I'm going to knit myself a gorgeous scarf tonight! Pictures to come! I hope this gets me out of my knitting funk! I hate idle hands and can't imagine why I can't get myself going!!!

Fibonacci in da house!!!

Okay, I know I can't pull that off!! =) Well, it snowed here in Wisconsin. Not anything heavy, but it snowed and it's the freakin' middle of October. On this one snowy morning, S looked at me and said, "Outside?" I realized at that moment, my son has no hats or scarves for this winter. He luckily has a really cool jacket that I just won off of eBay, but nothing else. So I called L, "Let's meet for lunch and take the kids to Joann's. " Off we went.

First, we are those women I would roll my eyes at with unending spite prior to having a child. S and V were all over the place, in a good way. S was going after needles and V was looking at books. They were chasing each other down the aisles and S was tormenting V in a way that only S can torment his girlfriend! Neither met any of my criteria for removal from the scene (blood, property damage, or all out tantrum) so we shopped! I got 3 skeins of Wool-Ease and decided to make mittens along with the hat and scarves.

Once I got home I got an itch to do something new and fun with a boring ol' scarf so I decided to use the Fibonacci method of knitting. I saw an episode on Knitty Gritty about Fibonacci knitting. Here's a blurb about Fibonacci from the Knitty Gritty website:

First off, you need to know that there is a number Phi (1.6180339887498948482) that is an expression of something called the golden ratio. Since ancient times, it has been known that using this golden ratio enabled designers to create art and buildings that were most pleasing to the human eye. Even Mother Nature used the golden ratio when designing spiraled things such as shells and sunflowers! Then, in the 13th century, a guy named Leonardo Fibonacci (Fee-bo-nah-chee) discovered that when he took a number (starting with 0), added the previous number to it and continued doing that with each resulting sum, he arrived at a unique sequence of numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...) that had golden ratio-like properties. As he went further and further out in the sequence, he found that the ratio of one of the numbers to the one preceding it began to approach the golden ratio!

So you basically just knit Fibonacci numbered rows for an aestheticly pleasing item without your normal stripe pattern.

Well, I did it and I LOVE the results. The scarf is all Fibonacci and I even used each color 8 times!! The blue and yellow in the hat are sequenced, but the grey isn't! I'm quite fond of the scarf though!! Now all it needs to do is snow again! It was in the 50s today, so no need for all this garb!!

Ugh!!! Can't believed I have done it . ..

No not that you dirty dirty people!! I mean knit lately! I was a 2-3 hour a day knitter until a week or so ago. I think it has to do with the failed sweater for Laney. Yes, it was a total bust!!! I had the sleeves all ready to go, so I put the sweater on S to just see how it fit. He looked so pretty in the pink sweater!! Here's the problem, THE SLEEVES ARE TOO SHORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

S looked like he had on a short sleeved shirt!! I measured those sleeves about 5 times before binding off, just to make sure. I was sure. They matched the pattern EXACTLY!! Nowhere in the pattern did it say that is was a 3/4 length or short sleeved sweater. So Laney's getting something from Gymboree, about a month late!!!

I think that is why I haven't knit in a while. I'm just bummed that I failed. I guess it's just the control freak in me b/c I can't figure out why it went bad..

So here's a toast to you, little pink sweater, that never will be. Maybe I'll use you to make some socks for Laney's sister Kelsey . . . she loves pink!!!


Next for me is http://www.yarns-and.com/LAGbabykidshawl.htm. It's GORGEOUS. The BabyKid yarn from Lana Grossa is fantastic. I can't believe how soft AND durable. I can't break it just by pulling it. The shawl is for R's cousin SP in Cinncinnati. I think she'll love it. I'm using a dark gray. It's coming along easily, but I'm not used to the weight yet. Of course, it's been days since I worked on it . . . . I have a few more weeks until my date to have it done! We have SnB on the 24th so I'm hoping to have the body of the shawl done. I need L's help to finish the shawl. I've never picked up stitches before!! The ruffle is wonderful so I need to make sure I have everything just right!!!

So I have a few things left for the year. My mind changes constantly so I hate to blog what I want to do today, because it'll be different tomorrow.