I'm productive again!!!

So in spite of moving and cleaning out the old apartment and all that, I have gotten some knitting done as of late. And more stashing. Always with the more stashing.

First, we shall see my Chicago purchases. At the Renegade Craft Fair I got some fab handspun from a woman who lives in Chicago but has a family with a sheep farm in Michigan. It's undyed, so I will probably use it for my first forays into Kool Aid dying.



Then my two purchases from Loopy Yarns. This nifty Karabella will become a cute little tam/beret type thing:



and I'm still debating what to do with the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. That's the Tuscany colorway. If I call up the shop and see if they have another hank in the same dyelot, I might be able to squeeze out a lacey shrug in this. Although Clapotis is calling my name more than it has been so far. Hmmmm...



My project for toting around to work, and out and about has been the Crusoe socks from knitty, out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. I turned the heel while we were in Chicago and half tried it on. After really upping the number of stitches from what the pattern called for, I still have a sock which might fit and might not. I like the way this pattern looks, but I don't like the way it's written much at all. But hopefully the finished product will pan out:



What really took off this weekend is Carlotta, which I'm using for the Colors of Autumn KAL. I started doing the beads! And the body is absolutely flying in comparison to the 1x1 rib.



I'm doing the beads a bit differently than the pattern calls for. Rowan would have you string all 1,400 odd seed bead onto the yarn before starting. However, I'm finding it easier to use the world's smallest crochet hook to pull the stitch through the bead. It's working out wonderfully so far. I'm not totally enamoured with my bead choice--they're a bit shiny I think--but I am happy with the overall effect, and I think the intarsia on the front will balance it out quite nicely.

My Scarf Me pal's scarf is coming out well too. I decided to use one of the Interweave Knits staff project patterns (Ann Budd's double basketweave) and I have knitted up one ball of Cork. Right now, I estimate if I use all the yarn, it will be about 7.5 feet long. Pretty cool. I do love the way this yarn is knitting up--it's really really soft. But I'm not so thrilled about the knots I've been finding in it. If it were for me, I'd probably keep on knitting and take my chances, but since it's going to someone else, I'm being all perfectionisty and will have lots of ends to weave in later as a result.

A photo thus far:



Speaking of perfectionism, I got out my TKGA Master Knitter Level 1 packet tonight and started the first swatch four times. I'm not sure Encore is the best choice for that. My 2x2 ribbing looked like crap. Perhaps I'd knitted too much this weekend.

There will have to be a whole post about the VW bug cozy later in the week. I have procured a 32" size 19 circ, and started freeforming the shape tonight. I started the first four rows four times before abandoning it because my arms were hurting.

And today, Lisa and I went to the Knit Out and Crochet. It was fairly uneventful, as there were only a couple of people we knew via SNB there, but I did get a spiffy door prize:



Fun.

This week brings my first SNB in a while, the Craftin' Outlaws craft fair here in Columbus, and some design work. I awoke from a nap on Saturday with some pretty brillant ideas (if I do say so myself) for a line of hats that I hope to be my first patterns under the WittyKnits label. They will take a lot of planning, but I think they are going to be a hit! Watch this space!