Big projects are wonderful. There is nothing like wearing a sweater that you worked hard on… but I am quite addicted to the small projects! I love the instant gratification that comes when knitting something in one or two hours, and being able to wear it, or gift it away a few hours later.

Case in Point:

The self-fringing wrap! This is version 2.0 (1.0 seen here) and is a present for a certain woman who gave birth to me… *hint hint* I am just proud of myself for getting a headstart on this present before her birthday!

This pattern took me awhile to wrap my head around (how does it fringe?), but it is so fun to knit, an all becomes very clear in the end… all a series of increases and decreases at key spots, and when you finish, yank them out!

It’s the small things that bring joy…

In a moment of weakness and desperation, I stopped by All About Yarn to pick up some size 2 circs… but I walked out with a lot more
…but at least I know exactly what I am going to make with them.

Yeah, I have been talking about it for awhile, and when I saw this amazing yarn, I knew it would be perfect for the Flower Basket Shawl! This is a Maryland produced yarn, Blue Heron, and the quality is amazing. Can’t wait to play with it. This is 100% cotton, I thought it would be perfect for a summer shawl.

The love affair with Dalegarn Sisik continues… but probably not till late summer/early fall, when I hope to make this turtleneck. It is hard to make out, but there is lace detailing in the body, and ribbing on the bottom and sleeves. Nice and comfy yet stylish. I got the navy Sisik this time.

Another springy/summer knit to add to the list. Dear Ei sent over this yummy golden sunshine yarn. I have never had anything this color, but I think it would be really nice to this summer capelet. I have never had a capelet either, but this one really appeals to me (Phoebe Capelet from IK Spring 05)… this will be a lot of "first times" for me… hope it is successful!

**News You Can Use**
• Melissa Wherle, designer of the Lucky Clover Wrap Cardigan just started her own blog! Go give her a proper welcome and show the love! She is a professional knitwear designer for a very cool company!
• The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival website is newly updated with some vendor info, and daily schedules! Mia started a blog for the festival, and is keeping a list of all the people coming–let her know if you want to get together and have a knitblogger bash! It would be so great to meet other knitbloggers from all over the country!

The memey goodness continues… this one is from liebe Marta! It is about books… so I had to answer!

1. What was the last book you read or are reading?
   I read a lot of books for school… but the book I am reading for fun? Cultivating Delight by Diane Ackerman. I love her stuff.

2. Where did it come from (library, bookstore, gift, etc.)?
   Hmm… probably a book store, but I don’t remember.

3. How many books do you read per year?
   Last year I read 73, but I was not in grad school, and I had a lot more free time… plus I was not as into knitting then… it does take away from the reading time. This year I have read 5 books: 4 for school, 1 for me.

4. What is your favorite genre?
   I have been on a big nonfiction kick for a few years, particularly history, anthropology, religion, travel, and nature books. I also love literary fiction.

5. Who will you tag now? Heather, Cara, Miriam, and Bookish Wendy

Thanks to Chrissie for Counting Me Blue! I love it! Thanks for sending it to me!

Now off to an all-day school meeting… I hope to get a little knitting time in Have a lovely weekend, all!

Long day at work and school. Home to a nice warm meal. Puppy girl by my side. Knitting in my hands. Lost and Project Runway on the telly. Life is good.

Next week is my Spring Break from school… really early this year. Of course, I still have work, so it is not the same "free week" as it was in college. I have spring fever pretty bad right now… but Mother Nature, being the crazy fox that she is, decided to sprinkle several inches of snow on Maryland.

I am plugging away on my Dale Balmoral… but it is hard to tell with the tiny gauge. It is all about the process I am reminded. Seven inches are complete, and now I am beginning the decreases for neck shaping. I always look forward to these things in the pattern.

Jen sent me some lovely Noro Kuryeon a few weeks ago, and I thought it was perfect for a new cell cozy. (My old one was gross!) Trying to be creative yet functional, I went with a side-to-side knit and doubled it over for extra padding. I liked the reverse stockinette look, so I sewed up the sides, and voila, my cute little phone has a cute little cozy. I love the color graduation in this yarn.

I had to show off the new IKEA doll… cell cozy doubles as a doll poncho and my doll shows off one of the the lovely gifts that dear Eilene gave me: Lorna’s Lace! Thanks!

That style maeven, Kimberli, tagged me for the US State meme… and I have been to a lot — 36 including DC! I can add two more very soon when my sister moves to Hawaii! (CA and HI)

Bold the states you’ve been to, underline the states you’ve lived in and italicize the state you’re in now…

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

See you later, alligators!

Question: How do you know that your LYS is the best?
Answer: They open it just for you and your five friends!!

Lolly, Heather, Nicole, Eilene, and Donna
Picture credits: None other than Miss Froggy herself!

Kathy is the coolest. Period. I called her up a few weeks ago and asked her about Presidents’ Day weekend. They are usually closed on Mondays, but I was hoping… just maybe… that we could still come in. She said: "For you, YES!" Is that not the coolest thing? So, of course, we made a whole day of it! Froggy drove for an hour to come and meet us for some yummy Chinese food, and some hot knitting action.

You may notice that Froggy is not around in the pics… let me say it is not for lack of trying! She is a dodger But here is her knitting bag! Proof that she was there with us!

As you can imagine, it is pretty hard to make a decision in this wonderful place… when you have yarns that look like this (and this and this) in your face, how can you choose? Well, there was a definite "fondling frenzy"… but I came away with some lovely enhancements:

10 balls of Dale Svale, 2 hanks of Knit One Crochet Too Tartalette, and one ball of Dale Baby Ull

If you are thinking that I am addicted to Dalegarn, you may be right. I got the Svale to make a summer top, probably one of these. Pretty.

Alas, Lolly had more fun this weekend… like going out for yummy Indian food with sisters and friends! then going bowling! (I can’t even remember the last time I did it… but I actually had fun!) I was winning too, until crazy Tracy decided to get strikes for the rest of the night! and Kris was really enjoying himself as well… step back, he’s mine!

By pure coincidence, both of my sisters wore scarves that I made them!

Sunday was definitely not as fun as Saturday and Monday… I spent the day very sick with a virus, or something. 100% better today though!

—

Knitting progress reports to follow… now to watch a little Jack Bauer…

I recenly joined ReKAL 2005 because why not have a cute button and knitalong for something that you already do? I have about 6 sweaters at various stages of "unravelment". Here is the most recent find–and the best one in my opinion! (Shout out to my girl, Michelle, who made me realize that I really do like this color!)

Specs: Abercrombie & Fitch 100% Wool pullover, ca. 1975; Great tweedy wool with little flecks of color mixed in with all the orangey goodness; One sleeve missing because I "pulled this thread and walked away…"

I couldn’t get a good picture, so I missed a step here… after unraveling, I washed it and weighted it to dry without the kinks. Then trying to make some order out of all of this, I measured the yardage. Then it was off to the swift and ball winder with this little baby…

…and a little orange tuffet with a center pull was born! One sleeve yielded about 200 yards, so I am probably looking at 1000-1200 for the whole sweater… and what do I want to do with it?

Well, believe it or not, I have never tried felting, so I think that this yarn will be perfect for it! I am thinking something big and functional–like the Farmers’ Market Bag in Weekend Knitting, or one of the Candy Stripers Messenger Bags from SnB Nation. More to come on this front…

Well, the first installment of Lolly’s Favorite Things was more of a success than I expected! I just wanted to show off all of my scarves! About the Hump Day tee–picked it up at a discount store for $5. (More than I would usually pay, but it is all about the message!) It is manufactured by Hollister Co., and while I could not find this shirt on their site (it is SO 2004!) I did find other shirts that were equally funny / cool (this one, and this one in particular). I am considering the Lolly’s Favorite Things as a weekly installment. I think I like enough things to keep it going for awhile… but, I definitely could write about things I don’t like too… I am an opinionated girl!

Balmoral is in the decrease section now, but it pretty much looks the same, so no picture of the same ol’ same ol’… this time, I will show you the bag that it lives in! This was a free gift from my other LYS, All About Yarn in Columbia, Maryland, when I bought all of the Sisik and needles for this project. Nice little perks!

The Dulaan Project is my other focus right now, and I am churning out scarves of all sizes for the people in Mongolia. I will share my love of scarves with them! I started this variegated one last night. Yes, it is Red Heart. Yes, I like it. Enough said.

My Lucky Clover Wrap knitalong has had a great response with 30 knitters signed up so far! Although we officially begin on March 1st, you can join and start knitting at any time. Check out the blog for all the info!

Oh, I have big plans for this long weekend! I can’t wait to tell you about them… you will just have to wait!!

Very little knitting content today… but a whole lot of style!

First installment of Lolly’s Favorite Things!

Sure, you all know that I love knitting… and you know some other things like I have a great husband and cute dogs… but, do you wanna know more about my favorite things? Well, read on, sisters and brothers…

Funky tees that you can only wear one day a week! Huge sunglasses circa 1977! Thrift store cardigans! Scarves for all seasons! (I don’t love weird facial expressions, despite what this picture might make you think…)

My silky scarf collection has grown to pretty large proportions… here are a selected few of my scarves. I got all of these at the thrift store.  None of my winter knit scarves are pictured here… that is another Favorite Things installment.  Scarves are worn in my hair and around the neck in a variety of ways.

Fitting very nicely in with this Favorites Installment is this little meme from Toni (check out her cute blog!)

• How much space is left on your TIVO?
  About 5 or 6 hours… enough to get the shows coming up this week!
• Have you ever bought a DVD of a tv series and if so which one?
  We received the first season of "24" as a gift last Christmas, but I have never bought one.
• What was the last tv show you watched before reading this message ?
  Hmm… I watched a little bit of news this morning.
• List five shows you won’t miss:
  I don’t watch many shows "on time". They usually hang out on my Tivo till I get the chance to watch them. But,Carnivale, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, 24, Lost are my favorites… I can miss CSI and Desperate Housewives but will watch when there is nothing else happening. Oh, and Survivor starts this week!
• Three peeps to pass this on to?
  sUsAn because she got a new TiVo
  Loz Lauren because she likes Lost and so do I
  Kimberli because I love her coat
  Of course, you don’t have to do it, girls… just for fun!

More favorites later… I have to go to DC and go to class now.

I want to do this:

But I need to do this: