What $3 Will Buy You

A couple of weeks ago, I grabbed some kiwis at the supermarket. I hadn't seen them in awhile, and since both kids love them, I thought I'd get a bunch. And then I noticed the price. $1.89. Per kiwi. What?!! I don't really watch food prices very closely, but I know for sure that kiwis were 4 for a dollar last year. I distinctly remember using them to help my daughter practice her multiplication, as in: "If you can get 4 kiwis for $1 and you have $3, how many kiwis can you buy?" The answer now would be 1.6 kiwis. Wow!

Well, it's nice to know you can still catch a break in today's economy. I finished my Drop Stitch Lace Tank using the Feza Lisa I brought home as a souvenir from Los Angeles. I had never heard of this yarn before but thought it would work well for this pattern. Turns out I'm only the 2nd person on Ravelry to use it in a project, and the 1st person had only used it as fringe on a novelty scarf. Yes, it's synthetic, but it's one of the more tame novelty yarns. It is a very stretchy nylon tape yarn that is mostly matte but has a single shiny thread running down the middle of the yarn. I think the stretchiness will help this piece hold its shape over time. I had admired Lilybeth's version using Berroco Softwist, which also has a bit of subtle shine, and I wanted that extra little touch. Yes, breathability is a factor when considering a nylon yarn for a summery project, but luckily, this pattern has its own built-in ventilation. Yes, this does have a tendency to snag, but it hasn't been hard to be careful so far. And yes, it does twist around something awful while you knit with it. I had to keep stopping and untwisting my yarn. Actually, I would hold up the yarn with the work-in-progress dangling down, and I would just give it a few good spins around to unwind it--kinda like a tire swing. In the end, I got a top for less than the price of 1.6 kiwis. Can't beat that! More details are in the gallery.

Waiting

I put many patterns on my Ravelry favorites list and had been taking a wait-and-see approach to them. I wanted to see if I could find just the right yarn, just the right color, just the right inspiration. I held off on getting too many patterns because I was trying to fight my pack-rat urges, but in a fit of paranoia, I decided that I shouldn't be waiting too long on the free patterns, because they might not be there anymore. It's not just the Magknits patterns (which have largely been made available again elsewhere), but also the Interweave patterns that had disappeared when IK renegotiated with its designers. It's the patterns on someone's blog that would go away if they chose to stop working on it. And so on. I had gotten so used to thinking about the internet as infinitely accessible and "archive-able", that it caught me off guard. So I went through my favorites list and made a personal copy of the patterns I wanted. I was glad to still able to find working links to the Corset Pullover and Simply Marilyn, since those are the patterns I would have regretted not having the most. Have any of you been doing that too?

Now of course, sometimes you have no choice but to wait. And I'm not usually very good at it. I used to be that kid who would keep tapping her pencil in class. I am the person who sits a couple of seats down from you in the movie theater and jiggles her legs around so much that it makes your own seat shake a bit. I have a lot of what is called nervous energy--even when I don't feel at all nervous. I'm a fidgeter. I suppose the one good thing about all that fidgetiness is that it probably helps keeps me thin, along with a huge and lucky dose of genetics. But the fidgeting can be so annoying and can get really bad when I have to wait.

That's when knitting comes to the rescue. Waiting time can now be converted to productive knitting time! I was recently at a Bruce Springsteen concert and thought "no, of course I'm not going to bring my knitting!" I really regretted that decision, though, because he started a whole hour late. An hour! I could have done 8 rounds on my Drop Stitch Lace Tank! Hmmph.

At least I have been able to get some of my waiting time to pay off:

Driving through the pick-up window at Starbucks: 1/2 round

Waiting in the carpool pick-up line at daughter's school: 1 round

Standing in line at the post office on April 15th: 3 rounds

Riding in the passenger's seat as my husband drives us downtown: 6 rounds

Not getting nervous when I saw this while riding on the highway:


...PRICELESS!

Ripples

I am knitting the Drop Stitch Lace Tank from Fitted Knits and am really enjoying it. It looks like it should be complicated, but it is not at all. I love the form that the stitch pattern makes.

The droplets remind me of the work of Ruth Asawa. Her sculptures were among my favorite pieces when I visited the de Young a couple of years ago.


I must be in a philosophical mood because when I look at these images, it makes me reflect how each action creates waves of consequences. I think, for example, about how a decision to start this little blog has helped me "meet" an ever-expanding circle of people. One person links to another, who links to another, and another, and the ripples get wider and wider, and I am suddenly connected to people who I would not otherwise have known . This week, I met Chris, and we had a nice chat and lunch. Janet, whose blog I stalked, turned out to live very close to me. She generously gave me her extra copy of Greetings From Knit Cafe after reading that I had intended to buy it at Knit Cafe but that they had run out. And though I have not yet met her in person, I discovered that Farrah and I share a lot in common, including our taste in knits. She was kind enough to get me a much-coveted copy of Paton's Street Smart, and we're going to do our own mini KAL for the cabled hoodie. Aren't ripples fun?

Just Do It!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. I went to Los Angeles for spring break, and then I've just been really busy with Life since then. I kept waiting for the right light to take pictures, the right time to sit and think, the right amount of knitting progress to show, etc. But this morning, I had some time off, and I decided I'd just go for it :-)

My trip to LA was wonderful! Our family had a great time, and I even managed to get in a few yarn store visits. I have to say, I showed unexpected restraint and only came home with this:


My first yarn stop was at a store that will remain unnamed. They had an okay selection but nothing to "wow." The salesladies seemed very nice to the "regulars" but didn't pay much attention to anyone else. 'Nuff said.

The second store I went to was A Mano Yarn Center, which Jillian had been kind enough to recommend. The store was cozy and inviting, and there was a fun, chatty group there knitting at the table. I had just missed their big sale, which had happened the week before I got there. They still had old Rebecca mags for 75% off, but not the ones I needed. The yarns were really nice, but they were ones I could get locally already, so I almost didn't buy anything. On my way out, though (isn't that always the way?), I spotted some pink Feza Lisa yarn in the $1 bin. I have never heard of this yarn. But I thought it might work for the Drop Stitch Lace Tank that I've been meaning to make, so I grabbed 3 balls. If it doesn't work out, oh well. But if it *does*, well, my tank would have only been $3! BTW, the staff was really friendly.

And finally, I visited Knit Cafe, which was a real treat. I met up with the super-talented Christie, who was really fun. It was so sweet of her to rush over from work so that we'd have time to chat for awhile. We also got to visit with Suzan, the owner, and Sarah--both were great! Suzan even showed us some of the knitted samples from the book! I was going to buy a book and have her sign it, but they didn't have any more books; they had even just sold the store copy and were waiting on more. At Knit Cafe, I bought the Rowan Studio book because I've long-admired Olga's Jolien, and my LYS doesn't carry these booklets. Christie and I were sad to learn that Knit Cafe will be moving. Oh, that also meant that I missed their sale too, which was scheduled for the week after I left.

All in all, it was a great trip, even though I got precious little knitting done. I had anticipated doing a lot of car knitting while my husband drove, but I couldn't do it because there was waaaaayyyy too much stop-and-go traffic on the highway, and that makes me car sick. I did manage to add several inches to the middle section of my Juno Regina, but there's not really anything exciting to show from that. The only other project I brought along was some Manos Silk Blend to make a My So-Called Scarf. I am almost half-way done with it.


Once home, I picked up Mirabella again. I finished the fronts and back and was half-way done with one sleeve when I finished my 2nd skein of yarn. I reached for the 3rd skein and...

...those of you who were whizzes at the "What's Wrong with this Picture" puzzles in Highlights will realize right away that I completely did not pay attention to dye lots when I bought this yarn. I mean, c'mon, it's an entirely different type of tag! My only defense is that I bought it at a sale and I was just in a daze with so much yarn. I thought about going back and exchanging it, of course, but I could really not tell any difference in the colors, so I decided--Just Do It! Yep, I want ahead and used a different lot number. I will say that when I went to block the pieces, the 3rd skein was more water-resistant and looked a heck of a lot lighter, which gave me a scare. But after awhile, those areas soaked up water too, and all was well. I'm putting the finishing touches on this baby and need to shop for buttons, but maybe I'll have an FO by the weekend.

Thank you all for the nice comments on Coral Seas. I credit my 8-year-old Sweetie for taking deceptively nice pictures of it. I am still taking a mental break from the tank before I decide its final fate!