So not surprising:

Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

I was Goth before it had a name...

Thanks to Ann for the quiz!

Devan update:

Steph's done. Go check out her Devan modeled by the darling Melanie!

Kathleen's ready to cast on.

Jasmine was finishing her second side and going to start the back.

Chris finished the second sleeve but discovered a problem when she checked out her potential seams.

I am chugging along on Mya, but I'm starting to worry about whether it will be done by Monday. I seem to be taking a great deal of time untangling yarn since I have 3 going at once in order to have the white trim. It is faster now that I am in the main part, let's hope it's fast enough...

Have I mentioned how much I hate small needles? Mya is going very slowly. Here's what it will look like:



Here's what it looks like currently:



I am doing all the seed stitch borders in white, with dark blue for the main color. I am hoping to pick up some steam now that I am in the stockingnette section. Seed stitch slows me down just as much as the small gauge.

Thanks for all the compliments on the rug. I realized you can't see the points of the chevron at the top in the picture because it's rather curled but they are there thankfully. I think that's what helps hide the flaw.

As promised here is a picture of my rug, in it's natural habitat no less:



 

See the screw up is not so noticeable (if you're far enough away anyway)...

The only thing I worked on during my vacation was the rug and I finished it on Sunday, in the car on the way to Jeeper's for my son's birthday get together (3 kids does not a party make). I wanted to put a picture up today but I forgot to upload it last night. I was too busy setting up our new TiVo which I bought my husband for our anniversary (10 years, I got a lovely diamond anniversary band from him I figure I'm going to get a lot more out of TiVo than he will out of my ring). I promise to put them up when the kids go to sleep tonight.

The rug is pretty and functional, but it went very wacky at the end. My mother took a bad turn last week and it would seem that much of the work I did on it while visiting her was really screwed up. I ended up about 10 stitches short at some point (damned if I know how) so I did an increase row rather than frog. So now of course it has a very odd indent in the upper corner. I decided that I should just leave it as a testament of this time in my life. My husband says he can't really tell because of the variegation and the slight rolling at the sides anyway. I may go back at some point and re-do those last 20 or so rows but it is for my bathroom floor, who's really going to be inspecting it.

Carrie joined the Devan along with her now completed Devan. She did it in Lion Brand's Magic Stripes Jelly Bean and Bernat's Hot Sox. It is very wild and cute. Definitely makes the other Devans seem quite sedate. I had been hoping to create the Devan Gallery last week while I was home but as usually is the case life intervened. So I hope to get it done this weekend and Carrie's will be the first one up. Stephannie is moving along. Her Devan is blocked and just waiting to be finished. Mine is with me today for subway knitting but I have a baby sweater that must been completed immediately so that will take precedence once I cast it on tonight.

The Rug Along officially began on Thursday.  I began my rug on Friday.  I managed to put down the lap blanket, thankfully.  I went searching on Thursday night through my various stitch compendiums and finally found a nice chevron stitch in The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches  (I also managed to finally do a row of single crochet,  but that's a story for another day).
 
So here's my progress as of Sunday morning: 
  
 
 
The pattern is exactly what I was imagining, with this yarn.  I made my husband measure the space where it will be so he could decide how big I should make it (he likes to feel involved).  It's about 20"  across and I will make it 32" long.  At this point I have about 10" done.  I want to finish it pretty quickly so I can get back to the lap blanket.  We are getting new furniture this week (ok not so new, the couch and chair from my mother's apartment since they are nearly brand new and my furniture is falling apart) and I would like to be able to drape the lap blanket over the back of the new couch while it still looks nice.  I figure I will have about 10 minutes once it gets here...

The Knitting Group on Tuesday went really well.  Over 12 people showed up, including a young girl who wanted to learn to knit and/or crochet and a young boy who learned to knit in school this year and "misses it".  We went around the table introducing ourselves and explaining when and why we learned to knit.  My favorite story was a young woman who had twins.  They were preemies, just a little over a pound a piece.  She said she received the most beautiful little knit hats from the hospital.  She decided now that her girls are happy and healthy (19 months old), that she would like to give something back.  So she taught herself to knit from a book and now she makes preemie hats.  The one she brought was adorable.  
 
I have been working on the lap blanket ever since Tuesday.  After working on small gauge projects I forgot how gratifying bulky yarn and big needles can be.  
Here's my progress so far:
 


Poor Devan is sitting neglected because it takes so damn long to see any progress.  I needed a break and the blanket is providing a good one.
 
Here's where I stand with Devan:
 


 
I was hoping to figure out the pattern for the bath rug since the Rug Along has officially started, but I would have had to put down the blanket and I'm just not ready to do that.  Of course the rug is done with even thicker yarn so that should give some real satisfaction in the speed with which it knits up.  I had been thinking of a basketweave pattern, but now I'm leaning toward a feather and fan or chevron type pattern.
 
I go on vacation next week so I am hoping that means plenty of knitting time...yeah right, oh well a girl's got to have her dreams...
 
Have a great weekend everyone!

Just quick reminder, if you're in NYC this evening stop by Barnes and Noble at 86th and Second. My best friend Maribel is hosting a knitting group. I will be there working on my lap blanket (she is featuring Weekend Knitting so I thought it would be fun to bring the blanket since it comes from that book). It starts at 7. I hope to see some of you there!

Just a cute little quiz my son had me take (I guess a love of quizzes is genetic), he of course was Harry Potter.

Which HP Kid Are You?

I finished the Magic Stripes tie:



Ray wore it to work yesterday and got lots of compliments. He said people were very surprised that it was knitted.

I also finally got my progress bars working. I decided to make them purple, I don't know why, it's my best friend Maribel's favorite color so let's say it's for her. By the way for anyone in the NYC area, Maribel is hosting a Knit Together at her Barnes and Noble store at 86th and Second Ave this Tuesday (July 13). Yours truly will be there as well as my friend Tisha, just hanging together, knitting, talking about the latest knitting books and whatever. It's something new they asked her to try (when they discovered that knitting wasn't just her hobby but a huge phenomenon at the moment), it's sort of knitting version of a reading group. So the more people who turn out the better. It will start at 7.

I finally started on Devan. I did about 4 inches on the left panel, then I decided to frog it. I figured since Ian will be 3 in October, just around the time he would start wearing it, I wanted to make it a little bigger. My gauge had been dead on, so I went up a needle size, that should give it a few more months of wear. As I recall kids slow down a bit once they get to 3. Of course I'm pretty sure Ian has put on 2 inches in the past week because suddenly he can reach things he never could before, countertops, the microwave, the button to turn the air conditioner on, the DVD player. I am sure you can imagine what the past few days have been like in my house.

As for the other knitalongers, Stephannie finished the back, but has a warning for anyone making the second size (6-12 months); she is running low on her contrast yarn and will have to rip out her swatch to have enough. She suggests doing your swatch with the patterned yarn, because you will need all of your contrast color.

Jasmine has been waiting for her yarn to arrive from Canada. It arrived this week so she hopes to start this weekend.

Chris is busy with her summer activities so she hasn't wanted to knit. She also needed to take a break from the small needles used in Devan. You can see how far she's come on her Devan Progress Page

Brynne's Devan was being blocked when last I heard but she has been a little busy with a completely different project. Go check out her beautiful new son John Francis...

Have a great weekend.

From Mindy who got it from Em.

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

This is one of my eldest son's favorite books so it works for me!

My best friend Maribel decided to hook me up for my birthday. She works for Barnes and Noble. She therefore has her staff trained to bring any new and exciting knitting books or items to her the moment they are unpacked.

Here's what she gave me:



I have been dying to knit a poncho and the one in the Suss Knit Kit is quite cool. In the picture on the package it looks like black and white, but it is really a varigated black and beige with subtle hints of blue. It's quite pretty. Here's a close-up but it doesn't do the color justice:



I love the books as well. The Knit Journal from Melanie Fallick just got reviewed in Knitty. It has a plastic case for holding notions, as well as a needle gauge/ruler, lot's of pockets and graph paper. It's a great size too. It will fit nicely in my bag.

The other book is called the Knitting Directory. It's a really cool reference book which gives you the basic stuff (about gauge etc.) as well as more advanced things to alter patterns to your liking. It's also small and compact, to make it easy to carry around.

All in all it was a pretty good haul for me. The blue bag in the background was also from Maribel. It's great to put things in for a day at the beach, which coincidentally is how I plan on spending my 4th of July.

Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone...

The new Knitty is up. Can't say there is much in it I would actually make but I love the creativity of these designers. Were I younger and less voluptuous I might be more adventurous, but if I have any bridal showers coming up I'll keep some of these patterns in mind.

I do like On the Moon,it's very cute. I think it would also make a nice gift for a young girl when she gets her first period. Something cute to help her keep her embarassment level low. It could be sized to fit pads as well.

The pattern I might make for myself is by the lovely and talented Stephannie! It's a very decadent sleep mask. Pretty cool.