Its Coraline, Not Caroline.

Conspiring with T about a knitted Coraline costume for his Lovely Lady, C.
It will involve a sweater pattern that works from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting without Tears," because, let's face it, her patterns are fully custom fit and awesome; knitted sparkly blue spats, and a knitted Hallowig, all in blue, with velour stars on the sweater.

Oh, this is going to be awesome, folks.

But! BABY PROJECT FIRST, dammit.

Finish things you start, Prag.

I'm counting back / the number of the steps

Progress has been made on the super-secret Murray-Green Baby-on-the-way gift.

I am loving it so much, that I'm actually going to be running a Weekend Long (!) SNB in May to get some of my fellow Lovelies (The Gardeness, @scarletgashes, Rach, and a few others, knitting in the round, joining in new colors with confidence, and learning a thing or three about The Importance of Blocking.

I managed to unload probably an eighth of my stash on Corinne (she's a sucker for the greens, I tell you!) which has freed up some space in my father's old seachest. This is notable, because we are moving again. Or, at least, it is certainly looking that way. Oh man, the plans I have for the garden. And the Stash.

Gary has promised that my spinning wheel (Sgt. Hannah, for those acquainted) can live in public space so that I may use it in the company of Folk, and not be relegated to a tower, like the girl in Rumplestiltzkin.
Excitement!

The Slackers and Ruder Than You are playing at The Note tonight, which is pretty awesome.


In other news, tomorrow is both the Vernal Equinox and the day of my birth. I will be all of twenty-seven years old. That's really something.

In The Springtime of His Voodoo

Springtime Knitting.

My eldest step-sister, K., is getting married. And having a baby! While knitting cannot happen for the wedding (next month --- holy shit WHAT am I going to WEAR?!), it is happening for l'infant, gender to be determined.

I am working on a challenging project for the little one, and have come to question my choice in colors. I balk at pastels for babies. They need sensory input: bright colors, interesting smells, things that feel neat, music, and so on. Muted, powdery baby colors fly in the face of my pedagogic sensibilities. In addition, they don't strike me as K's style, either.

All the same, I hope I made the right choices.

While I doubt she reads this, I cannot post much more about this project, though I am documenting it on paper to upload at a later date.

In the meantime, I did order two sets of the Options circular needles from KnitPicks, and have fallen completely in love with them. They have the advantages of the AddiTurbos, with flexible cables, strung between well-made, sharp-pointed aluminum needles; and I can order exactly the sets of cables and needles I need (which gives them a leg up on the Denise's Interchangeable Needle sets); plus, they are way, way, WAY more affordable than Addi's.

Love them.

I also picked up some of KnitPick's yarn (which I have yet to try until recently) and I have to say, I'm impressed. I checked it out at The Knitter's Review first, and liked what I read there. So I ordered some Swoosh DK and I like what I'm seeing so far.

It does have a tendency to snag, but honestly, I snag most yarn, since I knit left-handed.

So. More on that project later, when the gift is made, blocked, and given.

I have put the Malabrigo sweater on hiatus until I can finish K's baby gift. Also, I'm thinking about chalking the checkerboard pattern I have completed up as a loss, and beginning again in stripes. As anticipated, I came completely unglued after 4 rows of squares, with the number of ends that will need weaving in during finishing.
Kill. Me. Now.

The new issue of Knitty is out, and I'm dying to try a few of the Spring projects, but as I told The Gardeness, that will have to wait until after the baby gift is complete.

In other exciting news, I am actually going on a week long vacation this summer with friends! We're staying in OBX for an entire week, in a huge, beach-front house. So far, the count is Rach & Bryan, Matt, Steph, and the Bupp Parents, Bonnie and Jeff, (who were kind enough to invite me) and Ross. A whole week at a beach I've never visited.

I'm planning to work on a few things to wear while I'm down there (Knitting for myself? Who ever heard of such a thing?), so I'm open to suggestions on that.

So! July, July! Cannot wait.

I've also started a pair of fingerless mits for Rach in a bright yellow that are knit flat in garter stitch to produce a lovely, squooshy fabric. Finger holes, and no fuss short rows for the hand. They match a lovely spring coat she has, and I'm planning to embellish them with spring green buttons , ribbons, and maybe even a touch of lace for my girliest girl.

More later! Must Work!