I made a trip down to St. Elmo Fiber, expecting… I don’t know.  A few skeins of Plymouth Encore, maybe.  After all, Chautauqua is fairly small, and only gets substantial shopping traffic in the summers.  Instead, I found a wide range of beautiful, striking yarns, from Cascade to Noro.  Oh joy!  Oh rapture! 

I have yet to buy anything, though, as I left my wallet at the house on purpose.  I intend to buy a cast-iron teapot and warmer for my dorm room when I return home, so I’m trying to limit my purchases between then and now. 

Make sure to drop by if you are in Chautauqua – it’s located in the basement of the St. Elmo building.  Just follow the pretty colors and the sheen of sari ribbon.

By the end of the hour-and-a-half that I spent at the cast-on party, I had 16 rows done, mostly ribbing.  During yesterday’s drive, I worked a good two inches of stockinette – but had to rip it all out.  I had started the wrong size.

Yes, it was silly of me.  But, to be fair, I am in between sizes on this one, and thought that the larger size was the way to go.  Apparently not.  So I started up again today (I didn’t have the heart to work on it much after the ripping action), and am almost to the end of the ribbing.  Phew!  But I lost way too much time to remain competitive. 

Oh, well.  In the competition I will stay. 

I thought a solid black pillowcase backing was boring, anyway.

I will finish this before the Ravellenics.  I will, I will, I will.

I’ve chosen to attempt the Boyfriend Jacket from the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of Debbie Bliss magazine.  The Ravelry page for this project can be found at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/truthinjest/boyfriend-jacket.  

This is my first ever project with a Rowan yarn.  I’ve been telling myself for years that I will not knit with Rowan until I can afford it.  I have a summer job, and will be twenty miles from the nearest yarn store in college, so I felt that I could buy some yarn (this once!) that is a tad outside my budget.  I like to think of projects like this as “investments” in stylish warmth.  And a reason to love cedar-lined chests.  

Two weeks of sweater madness, here I come.

Hopefully, I can finish the shirt this week and wear it to school next Monday… fingers crossed!

For eight years my needles have writ poetry in yarn;

Sometimes, I admit, these rhymes have been ill-wrought.

I am a veteran of frogs and twisted stitches;

To knit the perfect sweater has, alas, not been my lot.

Any yet, despite these mishaps, for sock knitting I’m famed.

Lace and Fair Isle stockings have I fought and won.

Victoria and Snow Bunny are two that could by named;

Long and glorious battles, now over and done.

For the first, I armed myself with Malabrigo Sock;

Straight and slender knit-spears were my tools of choice.

Deftly dueled I daily with cables and lace panels

No painful cry for air sounded in my voice.

For the next, I chose instead some Heritage Cascade;

That sheep-twist worked together with my needles.

Wearily and wildly I wove my wooly workings;

The triumph of my victory will ne’er fade.

More complex things that socks from my closet haunt me still;

Shaping, seaming, and fit walk in my nightmares yet.

The Classic Shirt by Sally Melville took my honor;

This button-down in blue’s an old opponent.

Twice have I tried and failed to beat my great enemy;

The little button band drove me to defeat.

Jeering laughs from other knitters have rained down on me;

Tonight I’ll try again to save my honor.

With thin Alpaca Lace and brave determination

With my trusty knit-spears stainèd blue by time

With jaded eye and steady hand and calculating mind

I’ll end this shirt or else I’ll end my knitting and my rhyme.

I successfully completed my first yarnbombing run ever this morning!  I was going to do a piece on my town’s main drag, but I got up later than I had planned, and it felt a tad exposed to be yarnbombing on the main road at 7:15 in the morning.  Instead, I passed a handy playground en route and bombed there.  I had five tags and a calling card in my bag, along with an id, a cell phone, and a pocketknife.  I was nervous as I pulled in and checked the area for hidden observers – this particular playgroup is catty-corner from a library and right next to a city admin building.

I climbed onto the playground, checked my measurements, and started bombing.  I quickly discovered that yarnbombing, at least for newbies, is a nerve-wracking process.  Every few stitches I stopped to check that no one was watching.  But I couldn’t do anything about it when civil servants started pulling into the parking lot and passing the playground on the way in to work!  Fortunately, the bit of parking lot that backs the playground is a small one, and I don’t think anyone noticed me.

But then came the kid.  In the middle of tag #3, a little girl showed up and started putting the swing set to good use.  She was watching me the whole time!  My strategy was to keep quiet and try to look like I was supposed to be there.  She didn’t say a word, but I was on the receiving end of several weirded-out glances.  I finished the fifth tag and got the heck out of there, hoping she wouldn’t tell on me.  I took a couple cell phone shots, which I’ll put up later, and pedaled away VERY quickly.

Despite my fears of getting caught, the leg cramps ensuing from crouching for half an hour, and the guilty feeling I have for “defacing” a playground, I’m hooked.  My next project – bike racks!

Vernazza sleep set

Yarnbombing tags

Women 4 Women Knitting 4 Peace shawl

Projects in Hibernation (PIHs)

Classic Shirt

Snow Bunny Socks

Scrap afghan

Baby hat