The comments on my Balmoral are very much appreciated! If any of you decide to make one, I would love to see some other versions of this cardigan–I have never seen another one!

If it were not a billion degrees outside, you know I would wear it. It even is a little warm indoors to wear it, so it sits at home, waiting for a crisp fall day. Can't wait!

Here is the only outdoor shot I could manage… mind you, this was wearing a wool/mohair blend outside in the "Code Orange" heat advisory… all for that perfect photo!

I was lucky enough to meet up with Heather, Donna, and Eilene on Wednesday night for some dinner and knitting. I introduced them to my favorite bookstore, Daedalus, and then headed to dinner, before going to a cafe to knit.

Knit Nite girls: Eilene, me, Heather, and Donna (thanks to Donna for this picture–we have this long tradition of asking total strangers to snap our pictures at the Knit Nites…)

Heather is translating a Phildar pattern to make a pullover for the adorable Pixie, Donna is working on a lovely Birch, and Eilene is perusing the new Vogue Knitting.

At Knit Nite, I cast on for the vintage bolero from YesterKnits. So far, the pattern is going well. I had a lot of yarns to use in the stash, but I settled on this TLC Essentials in Dark Plum. I guess I was not over the luscious purples of Balmoral, and needed another fix.

The stitch pattern is similar to the Asymmetrical Corrugated Sweater in Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop — the deep side-to-side ribs. It is a relaxing project, and it was my companion knit on the train to yesterday's class.

Of late, I have been following strict yarn diet rules, focusing on using what is in the stash for my projects, but these skeins jumped in my basket while running into JoAnn the other day for a new darning needle…

Unfortunately the colors are way off in this picture. The bottom skeins TLC Lustre and are a nice sage green with a great texture. Perfect for a shrug or some winter accessories. The large skein at top caught my eye: nearly 900 yards of yarn for $7 ! I liked the brown/black boucle, and although I am not sure what this will be, it will make something nice. It is the new Joann line, Sensations Rainbow Boucle.

**I am very happy to see that many of the craft store brands: Lion Brand, Red Heart, Bernat, Caron, and some others, are upping their quality. I have noticed that as the knitting/crochet revival is happening, the yarns are becoming better and better with nicer textures, colors and variety. I am particularly happy about the new Lion Brand cashmere and wool yarns hitting stores in September, and the new Joann Sensations line. It is the perfect answer to knitting with nice yarns on a small budget.

Kris was particularly happy to see all of the comments about his salsa. We have a whole new batch of tomatoes, so he is planning to make more this weekend.

The summer semester of school is winding down, with only one more class to go: a week-long intensive institute that tours "behind the scenes" of many of the major DC museums (Smithsonians, National Gallery, Holocaust Museum) as well as some historical societies and historic houses next week. I am really looking forward to the course, although it will leave very little time for blogging and blog-reading. I am hoping to find some knitting time on the tour bus…

Busy weekend ahead as well… I hope you all have great ones!

UPDATE: Libby at Knit Tidbits inspired me to cast on for the vintage bolero.. and she just finished hers! It looks spectacular. Go have a look! I hope mine turns out as well.

Balmoral cardigan Started: February 2005 Completed: August 2, 2005
Pattern: Dale of Norway book 115
Yarn: Dale Sisik in 1031 Aubergine
Needles: size 3 and 5 Addi Naturas (29" and 40") Some detail shots:

I can officially say that this is my favorite thing that I have knit so far. This cardigan is so ME! I love the color, the tweedy yarn, the velvet ribbon! I am also very happy with the overall fit. Far too many of my knits sit in my closet because they did not turn out how I wanted them to… this will not be the case with Balmoral. This knit will be my staple in fall and winter, and I can even wear her now in the chilly Archives where I work! I did modify a few things… I made the neck a little wider and did not lace the ribbon around the neck and sides. I thought that the hem and waist were enough detail.

I started Balmoral back in the winter, after making the book/yarn purchase at All About Yarn. For some reason, I set her aside, and when I returned for good about 10 days ago, I knew this would be my next finished knit. It was a great joy to knit… even on the small needles!

The velvet ribbon detail is one of my favorite things. I really lucked out to find such a perfect color match at Joann earlier this year!

This same book, Dale Adult 115 has another great pullover with some simple lace detailing (hard to make out in this pic) but this is definitely on my list off fall/winter knits. The yarn is wonderful and I love working with it, and I just happen to have enough skeins of blue Sisik in my stash!

With this lovely cardigan all knit up, I will probably begin my Knit Picks Hourglass in the next few days.

However, I may take a quick detour for this…

I found this pattern through Libby. She searched for a bolero pattern and came up with this freebie from YesterKnits. That site is amazing! I was so impressed with the patterns they have. I requested the pattern and received 4 documents in return: instruction sheet, schematic, info on YesterKnits, and a photo of the finished bolero. I have some stash yarns that will be well-suited for a project like this–I am thinking red for this baby!

Around the house, we have been reaping what we have sown… We have had a nice crop of cucumbers and tomatos in recent days. We are also reaching the peak with many of our pepper varieties. Unforunately our zucchini got some sort of wilt and died, but it did produce three zucchinis before doing so. Kris made our first batch of pickles with the cucumbers and some of our dill, and this past weekend, he made some jars of his award-winning chipotle salsa. Last year, he canned about 20 jars of salsa… and all of them are gone. It was high time for some new stock! I daresay that this batch is better than last years! He really knows the right combo for yummy salsa.

Updated to add: The recipe that Kris used for the salsa is here:http://www.homecanning.com/usa/AlRecipes.asp?R=369 (he added the chipotles to the mix by himself–determined by taste!)

The pickles were canned using the standard "Refrigerator Dills" technique, which can be Googled for lots of results. HAVE FUN!

Hope to get some natural light pics of Balmoral soon… stay tuned… have a happy Wednesday!

A big thank you for all of the lovely blogiversary wishes~it truly has been a wonderful year, and I look forward to many more!

This week has been flying by, and unfortunately, I have not gotten the amount of knitting time that I need to function properly… until this morning. I have not made up for the deficit, but I did make some notable progress on my cardigan.

The Balmoral cardigan is now yoked together forever, for no one to tear asunder… The yoking was pretty simple, and I do like this method, as it only leaves a small little underarm bit to sew in the end. I have to pay attention to the raglan shaping as well as the decreasing for the front of the cardigan, which is not exactly the easiest task; however, so far so good. (See the puppy paws? Jenny loves to be in the shot!)

… and because it is hard to make out in the picture, here is the cardigan with a shirt underneath:

As you can see, I have a few more inches to go before finishing this baby up. Very little seaming to do in the end–the joy of a circular knit! Of course she will need a good blocking and then I can sew in the velvet rope around the cuffs, hem, and the waist tie.

So the knitting and blogging have been slow this week because a) school is taking a lot of my time up. I love it and don’t regret a thing–but it is hard to go to class after a full day at work. b) It is hot, and this kind of weather seriously takes it out of me. I am a delicate flower. c) Work is really busy as I am putting up an exhibit right now and d) I got my booklist for my Fall semester classes, and my jaw dropped. I have to buy 24 books for 2 classes. My internet time has been sucked up doing price comparisons for these books so that I am not completely destitute after this one semester. I am taking two history classes (not library science next semester–the whole double degree thing) and they are going to be hard. One is a survey prereq sort of class in general historiography; the other is Medieval Hagiography. So, maybe I will be St. Lolly after reading all of the books for this class?

However busy I may have been, I did manage to carve away a little time to spend with some great people.

My sister, Sarah, came over last night. It was great to catch up with her. She has been very busy traveling and working this summer, and in a mere three weeks, she will be moving to North Carolina to start college. I am really going to miss her. She is planning to study Communications. This is a great choice for her — she loves to talk! (as an older sister, I have to say things like that, didn’t you know?)

Of course, she will be coming back to Maryland often to see my parents and me, but it is hard to see both of my sisters leaving and settling far away. All three of us have always been very close.

Kris and I started the week off with some other great visitors: Jenna and her boyfriend, Cobra (this is his hardcore blog ID, we don’t want to reveal to much about him!) came over on Monday night for some dinner and fun. Jenna filled me in on her awesome workshop with Teva Durham, and we got a little knitting done… but I think we might have spend more time doing this:

Dancing and laughing! We got Kris and Cobra to join the fun too and had a dancing duel. It was a crazy night!

Back in knitting territory, I have started planning for some Christmas knits, hoping to avoid the rush I pulled off last Christmas (I bound off for my mom’s wrap a few minutes before we left to exchange gifts!) I know the fab family reads the blog, so no spoilers here, but I do have some cute things in mind, rest assured

Updated to add: CONTEST! I have seen other bloggers do this, so I thought it was my turn! I am close to having a landmark number in my comment tallies over the next few days… so, the person who reaches that magical number will get a special LOLLY surprise!

My blogging life started on LiveJournal site with a list of book reviews. I joined some of the knitting communities on LJ because I was becoming more interested in knitting. Through LJ, I discovered that people set up complete websites to share their knitting/crafting activities with the world. This idea was absolutely novel to me. I uncovered this complete sub-culture of knitting blogs, the first of them being Stefanie’s site, Glampyre.com.

I decided to jump in head first, and LollyKnitting Around was born on the Blogger site. I set up my account and decided to feature my first sweater and some of the various scarves and hats I had made in the previous months. Stefanie was even one of my first commenters on my blog, encouraging me to design my own patterns! (unfortunately many of my oldest comments were lost in my first migration to Haloscan… )

I decided to make some bloggy friends; so I visited other blogs and left copious amounts of comments. Eventually, people started to visit my site too. I met up with some local knit bloggers who instantly became my "real life" friends. I have gained several friends that do not live close to me, but that I am able to know through the internet.

Needing more space for my pictures, and a desire to expand my options, I registered this domain, Lollygirl.com, in January of this year. I still have plans to develop the site in many ways, but now it is just a host to this blog, and the knitalong blog.

…and all of this started one year ago today!

Through blogging, I record my life events. I do it for me and my family, and for any one else that happens to take notice or care. I am an archivist, so I am archiving my daily life through my blog. It is the Lolly memory bank.

When I get old, I want to look back and say "Remember that first sweater I made and how hideous it was?", or "Remember when Mimi got engaged?" With this technology, I am able to recall the exact date and time of these events. I can recall exactly how I felt at the moment and how I was able to sum it up in words; as well as the way that my online friends reacted to it with their comments. Blogging, and the Knit Blog community in specific, has given me a real sense of purpose, and a wonderful sense of community. I have met some fascinating people through this medium, and I know I will meet many more! I receive daily inspiration from all of your blogs, projects, and your comments on my entries.

Many thanks to all of you for giving me this opportunity to share my life with you; and for caring enough to come back to read more!

You all have made my life more meaningful, and I am so grateful!

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Balmoral’s first sleeve was a cinch. Finished it up while watching Lance win this morning (Yea Lance! 7 Times!) and started Sleeve 2 straightaway. After Kris’s hockey game (they lost… again) and this week’s episode of Six Feet Under, I am now 12 inches in, with another 6.5 to go.

I could not let the first sleeve get all the glory and not let the second sleeve get any photo action… so here is sleeve 2 underwater!

Well, not under water, but in front of Kris’s aquarium… so scenic!

This cardigan is moving along so quickly–I daresay I will have another FO this month (that is a record: FOUR!) After this sleeve is done, I will join them with the body and yoke them together and knit around. From there, it is raglan shaping until the bind off. Easy as pie, right?

(Sleeve 2 not pictured here–a good blocking will make her more photogenic as well)

Stay tuned for more Balmoral news as she develops…

…In the meantime, check out my friend Debbie’s new blog, and stop by and see Shayna’s Ultra Femme modeled by her sis!

Some of you may remember my long-suffering Balmoral cardigan. I often pick it up when I have nothing else to work on. It is a pretty sad existence, honestly. I can’t really explain why I do this: I love this design, I love the yarn, and I have made some good headway… I have finally resolved to work on this one till it is finished.

This is the THIRD time I have cast on for the sleeves. The previous attempts have all ended up in the "frogpond" due to my lack of skillz with the DPNs. I think I am finally getting those suckers down, so it was time for another try.

(I think something about those DPNs sticking out reminded me of spikes and this made me feel hardcore, hence the growling animal face)

So far so good… I am knitting them more bell-shaped than the pattern calls for, I think this will be perfect for layering in the fall and winter. A good blocking in the end will even them up as well. As a reminder, this is a Dale of Norway (Adult 115) pattern, and the yarn is Sisik. I *heart* Dale patterns and yarns.

My favorite part about this cardigan is the velvet ribbon that details the edgings and ties at the waist… it is hard to make out in the pattern book picture above, but here is the whip stitch detail that I already sewed into the cardigan body:

I have been a little behind on my blog reading this week, so someone else may have already mentioned this… but, in the Washington Post Magazine from last weekend (July 17th) there was a whole article about blogs and blogging. (Read the article here)

The article focused on political blogging, but we got out chance to shine too:

See? We got top-billing! KNITTING BLOGS!

School work is keeping me quite busy lately.. but I can’t complain too much because the work is SO fun! One of my classes, History of the Book, has a project working with the Library of Congress. Our mission is to collect and observe the events, phenomena and fan mania around the Harry Potter books/movies for the Library to preserve for future researchers/scholars wanting to learn about the books, the publishing industry, marketing ploys, and the web presence. Several websites have been permanently archived using the Internet Archives’ WayBack technologies. My group is assigned to work specifically on Collectibles and Tie-Ins for the books and movies. We are collecting some "artifacts" and taking pictures of store displays, toys, clothing, etc.

One of my co-workers picked up these great plastic glasses at the book release party at Barnes & Noble. She also picked up a poster and a bracelet and let me have them for this project. I also contacted Alison and asked to use an image of her Harry Potter-themed yarn store display. I am very excited about presenting these items and pictures for the LC’s archive!

Next up: Scout out the grocery stores and department stores for more Harry Potter themed clothing and accessories! As you can see, I am just eating this project up! Have you seen any HP related collectibles or tie-ins that you wanna share? I would love to hear about them!

Updated to add: I got a great email from Dana this morning pointing to these LiveJournal sites for some other Harry Potter lovin’ knitters out there:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/weasleysweaters/
http://www.livejournal.com/community/hp_knitting/

Have a good weekend!