Eat.Sleep.Knit Rocks

I have to give a shout out to the owners of Eat.Sleep.Knit for exchanging the extra Malabrigo for me. I did a miscalculation when I bought the Malabrigo worsted for the second Lady Eleanor stole. I didn't pay attention that a skein of Malabrigo is twice the size of a skein of Noro Silk Garden and ended up with 5 (possibly 6) skeins more than necessary. No, problem. They were nice enough to let me send back the applewood in exchange for blue graphite.

Because of PurlBee and their gorgeous quilts, I started researching sewing machines. I haven't touched a sewing machine since high school. A lot has changed. A basic sewing machine under $200 that doesn't fall apart if it's looked at cross-eyed does not exist. I got in my head somehow that Bernina makes a good sewing machine. Why, yes, they do. At $3,500 I cannot justify buying it unless I'm going to make a second income from it. I did find the Janome 760, it is perfect for my needs. A great price, powerful, small, and portable. Every review I've read about it is mostly positive.

I got a message from JL this evening indicating that perhaps she visited a yarn shop and maybe something came home with her. You know how these things just fall into a shopping basket. My answer to her question is, "No, lace does not count as stash."

I wish knitting designers did more on-line/pdf publishing. It would be great if the knitting books I use were available on-line because; one, I could easily print out a pattern instead of lugging the book around; two, I could also have the instant gratification of downloading the pattern instead of waiting for it to be delivered by UPS; and three, as my tastes change I would no longer have a book taking up space in my home or a landfill.

Today, I learned my boss knits sometimes. I showed her my set of Knit Picks Harmony interchangeable needles and she was intrigued. Another convert to knitting obsession, perhaps?

I discovered something good about the Haiku bag fitting one large project at a time. It carries all my notions, keys, wallet and water bottle, which is excellent. Yet, because of its size it forces me to finish a project before I start another. I am avoiding the dreaded start-itis. And, I would rather spend the money on yarn instead of a knitting bag.

I have fallen in-love with yet another online yarn shop. The newest object of my affection is Purl SoHo. If such a phrase existed I would call them a home arts/textiles shop. Everything is at the store and not a little bit of everything, everything. They have both yarn (knitting, crochet, felting) and fabric (quilting). The blog seals the deal.

On my sticks
Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole I - Noro Silk Garden
I'm moving faster than I thought I would on the stole. Last night I joined in the third ball of yarn. It is up to about 11 rows now. I'm afraid I might have a bad skein of Noro Silk Garden, the thread feels loose and I've been particularly careful to knit loosely because I'm afraid it is going to pull apart or snap. I showed the stole to DH, he asked how did I decide which colors I would put beside each other on the stole.

For anyone who may have been vacationing on Mars for the past two years, yesterday was an historical Election Day in the U.S. The prediction was voter turnout would be high and lines would be long. I went to the polls prepared. I slung my Haiku bag messenger style and pulled out the Lady Eleanor stole to knit. I was probably the only person in line hoping for a long wait. Lady E received some attention. One volunteer said it was pretty while another called it pretty. There was no long line for me, I was out in about 30 minutes.

Another bag rationalization:
As the Lady E. stole gets bigger I have moved my other projects out of my knitting bag. I really need a Namaste Cali Malibu or Laguna bag in charcoal.

I didn't get the extra hour of sleep I was hoping to get because while the rest of the country observes Daylight Saving my four-year-old does not. At 6:30 this morning someone was ready to start his day. I eventually went downstairs to watch Playhouse Disney. He watched, I knit. I am convinced my yarn has a secret kiddie magnet in it somewhere; whenever I take it out he has to scrunch it. I remind myself that I should not put him into time out for touching my yarn.

At the last minute, I went to the monthly Ravelry meet-up. DH wanted to spend some quality time with our daughter and I volunteered to take our son with me since JL was bringing Monkey with her. They were very well behaved. We distracted them with food and movies.

We had a great time even though there wasn't that big of a turnout. That's to be expected during football season. It was me, JL, and another Raveler. Oops! I forgot her name. I can tell you this about her. She's very nice. She loves the color green. And, she knows how to do magic loop (she demonstrated it for us). She wore her clapotis (I LOVE) and showed me her Kureyon hat (cute and love that too). And, she told me how to block and soften my Lady E once it is ready. I may have been inappropriate with her bamboo yarn, but it was so soft I had to molest it. She has a Namaste Cali Laguna knitting bag which I've been lusting over since the first time I saw it. I am making rationalizations here. I technically do not have a knitting bag. I have a re-purposed diaper bag and the Haiku messenger bag but no "made as a knitting bag" knitting bag. And, the Namaste is great for travel. Where I can only carry what's on the needles I can carry the project and extra skeins in the Namaste.

I have borrowed several books from the library. I borrowed the Vogue Knitting Volume 2 cables stitchionary because I'm looking for the perfect cable pattern to graft onto the Lady Eleanor malabrigo. This is now on my purchase list. I borrowed Vogue Knitting to go: Shawls Two because I love the idea of wrapping myself in yarny goodness. While I was not crazy about the first book, I found 5 patterns in this one I would like to make. And, I borrowed a couple of knitting for children books because I would like a little more variety in my daughter's wardrobe. There is only so much pink I can take.

Gmail Account Ready

I created an email account. You can contact me at honeybearknits [at] gmail [dot] com.

On my sticks
Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole I
Tonight, I was able to get a good bit of knitting done on the stole. I joined in a second skein. I didn't know this about Noro but although my skeins are all from the same dye lot the color each skein begins with can be different. That's kind of cool.