Hi y'all...

Didn't want you to think I'd disappeared. I am just getting over a raging cold that has kept me from doing virtually any knitting, and I am just starting to feel a little like myself again.

Great timing since it was a whole 0 degrees outside this morning.

Welcome to my new home!

So what do you do on a Sunday evening when your handy dandy thermometer says this?


(and for anyone that can't read the picture, it says that the outdoor temp is a balmy 12 degrees)

If you're my husband, you do this...



If you are the cats, you do this...
(first Kita... who is yawning, not howling, second Camilla)





And if you're me, you do this...





And drink this...


Ignore the obnoxious rust stain on my counter by the base of the bottle. For the life of me, I have no idea when that appeared. Like the collection of bottle caps at the top of the picture? The Sam Adams Boston Lager ones are Seth's and the White Ale ones are mine. I used to be a Sammy Winter Ale fan, but for the past couple of years, White Ale is where it is at.


On Friday, I had a vacation day and had plans to sit home and knit, but Cory suddenly got the opportunity to also have the day off so on a whim we decided to venture to...



This place is like a knitting joygasm. Cory thought it was intensely funny to watch me walk in the front door and have my jaw instantly drop. Kate... we seriously need to make plans to meet up in Bath and wander around the store. Maybe you, me, Jason and Seth can also catch lunch somewhere?

Cory was making her first "real" yarn purchase, and has decided that for her first project she wants to make a bag. She found a great pattern for a simple bag, and after wandering back and forth between the Noro and the Bartlett yarn for about 1/2 hour, she settled on the Bartlett yarn on a nifty reddish shade. Bartlett yarn is spun in Harmony, Maine, which is right next to the town she grew up in. I think that sealed the deal for her. I can't wait to see how the bag turns out.

For me, I wandered back and forth forever trying to decide how to spend the $30 I had. I knew I wanted some Sockotta sock yarn to make some socks in the Red or Pink color for March's Project Spectrum, but couldn't keep my eyes off a skein that was actually more blue and green than it is red. Regardless, maybe I can squeeze it in anyway since it does have a little red in it.



In one of the connecting rooms I discovered the most amazing yarn ever. Now, I know all of you will groan when I say what it is since I am sure that all of you have already worked with it, but to be honest, I've never seen it readily available before.


I love Malabrigo. Love it. Not only is it lovely to look at, but it is just heaven to work with. Even my brother, who knows nothing about yarn, thinks it is awesome. I've already told Seth that as soon as I get my tax return money, I am going to buy more. It will completely go against my recent rule of only buying yarn for projects that I already had in mind to make, but screw it. More Malabrigo will be mine!

I brought it home, rolled the first skein into a ball, and immediately cast on for the Short Row scarf found on Magknits.



I love the way that the Malabrigo is verigated ever so slightly, but not enough to pool in places. I can't wait to finish this scarf.

We've moved!

Welcome to the new home of Knit Mainea! Stop in, say hi, grab a beer and some knitting needles.

Happy Valentine's Day...

I just want to wish a Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers and knitting friends. All of you linked over there in my Blogroll are there for a reason- you inspire me and I love to see the beautiful creations you make. I am so glad I joined such an amazing knitting online world.

And that goes especially to Jessica, Kate and Beth who have been the best... and to Glampyre and Grumperina for some of the most wonderful knitting patterns I have ever seen.

You are all wonderful... and I hope you all have wonderful Valentine's Days filled with knitting, chocolate and love (whether the love is from a partner, a family member, or a pet).

Name change...

It's a beautiful sunny day... we have about 3 inches of new snow on the ground... and I am craving a name change here at Knit Hippie. Why? I guess I just don't feel so hippy-ish these days. It's sort of sad, actually.

So after brainstorming and having Sebastian watch too much Danny Phantom on tv this weekend (too much= 1 episode), here are the two choices I've come up with thus far. I'd love to hear your thoughts... yays or nays to either or both. I just need a change around here... like an early spring cleaning. Especially since I don't have the money to dye my hair, and that is usually how I deal with a "need a change badly" day.

*edit two*

I've got it!

Knitting Mainea.

It's a good thing I haven't been thinking of this instead of working. *snicker*

So the Nor'easter is just about over here, although we didn't get much of anything out of it. Bummer since I was kind of hoping that we'd get crushed with snow and the Governor would take pity on the state workers and allow us to stay home tomorrow.

I did hear that y'all down in southern New England did get crushed, though... Jessica and others, if you need anything, give me a shout. Seeing pictures on NECN of Newton, MA being buried under the snow reminded me of one winter when I was living down there (Regis College, Weston, MA for anyone that wants specifics) and we got a killer snowstorm. My roommate Terri had a car in one of the student parking lots and campus police announced over the intercom that all of the cars had to be moved ASAP. Since none of us students had shovels, we "borrowed" a bunch of dining hall trays and started digging her car out. My best friends Sadie, Lizzie, Steph, Terri and I had the best time digging out that stupid car (although it took us forever to find is since the snow had drifted over many of the car roofs, and she couldn't remember where in the lot she had parked).

I did grab a few pictures of the snow from my house...

first is out my mudroom door...


next is up the street from the front door...


and last is down the street from the front door and looking at the high school...


As mentioned in the last post, I wanted to knit a set of armwarmers that would, theoretically, keep my hands warm while I was knitting since I get cold so easily. I decided to use the Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers pattern from SNBN and some dark blue Knitpicks Merino Style I had hanging around. Because I knit so tightly on dpns, I had to use a size 8 needle instead of a size 7 in order to make guage. I finished the first one this afternoon, and will cast on for the second one tomorrow at lunch break.





The pattern isn't as noticable as it would be with a lighter color or with the Noro varigation. I've been eyeing a few different Noro colorways from various online dealers, so I think once I splurge on some, I'll knit another set. The pattern is pretty easy overall, although it would probably help to not lose my cable needle every five seconds. I suppose I should suck it up and learn to cable without a needle, but laziness is preventing me from trying it.

The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics was pretty awesome, although I found myself intently interested more in what the athletes were wearing into the stadium than the athletes themselves (well... except for Shaun White since he's my boy). There were some awesome knitted hats, scarves and mittens in all kinds of neat colors. I can't wait to play around with some of the pattern ideas I saw.

The other day, Jessica had posted pictures of her girl's night in with knitting and wine. I was kind of bummed that none of my friends were really interested in hanging out and knitting, but lo and behold, my friend Cory, who had learned to knit about a year ago, has decided to once again pick up the needles. Last night we had Survivor and Knitting night!

Here is Cory concentrating really really hard...


And here is Cory with the first few rows of a new scarf completed...


We've already made tentative plans to go yarn store hopping, including a trip to the famous Halcyon yarn store. My goal is to introduce her to some really fabulous yarn in all kinds of different fibers.

As she was knitting, this is what Camilla was doing...





She's such a dork. And bizarrely has never ever tried to attack my yarn. There must be something about Cory's that she finds irrisistable.

This is what I was tinkering around with last night.

I found a small bunch of super thick off white yarn without a label in my stash, and cast on to play with the cabled handbag idea before I do the final performance in red for Project Spectrum. Due to the small amount of yarn I had, though, I didn't try the special cables I have planned for the red bag. It was still kind of fun to screw around with, though.

Finally, here are pictures of my completed Spiderweb Capelet... well... finished except for the pompoms. Once I get those on it, I will get pictures of it on me.

Thursday's musings...

There is a part of me that kind of wishes I would have been ambitious about signing up for the Knitting Olympics... but at the same time, I honestly have no idea what I could have picked for a project that would have been a doable challenge. I can think of a zillion things that would be challenging. But doable in 16 days?

On the other hand, I am completely excited planning my projects for Project Spectrum. I dug through my slowly depleting stash the other night, tossed all the crap acrylic I've been given into a bag for Goodwill, and pulled out some nice red Wool of the Andes. I think my first project will be one of those simple cabled handbags that are floating around on knitting blogs... mine will be the same basic idea, but I am going to try to incorporate a couple of the cabled designs that are found on the girl from auntie's website instead of the basic cable. I also think I will use real purse handles instead of dowels. We'll see how things work.

After the bag is complete, I have ambitions to make some red stripey socks. Thank you to Kate and the folks over at the Livejournal Knitting Community for suggestings some fabulous sock yarn.

I realized this morning that I have yet to plan any pink projects for March, despite the fact that not only is it one of my favorite colors, but I wear a ton of it. It sure wouldn't be difficult to find something to match whatever I made. I guess my next google knitting search will be for pink yarn prettiness.

I finished a second Spiderweb Capelet last night (except for the pompoms), and since this one is staying with me, I will be sure to get pictures up as soon as I can remember to do so.

Remember how about 10 posts ago I said my next project was Glampyre's Top Down raglan? Yeah... I still haven't gotten that far. I keep suddenly coming up with things that pop out at me, and since they are quick, they get done first. Next up is a pair of arm warmers out of Knitpicks Merino Style after trying to knit last night with icy fingers. Is there such a thing as Knitting ADD?

The last post...

I'm kind of wondering what actually appeared on the last post... because it appears that somehow Blogger or my server has eaten most of it. I am really bummed about this since I had pictures posted and everything. Not only that, but I had other yarn on my window shopping wishlist, and it looks like that has disappeared as well. I'm going to try to recreate it as much as possible...

Hmm... I know I had 8 yarns on the list, so that means that 3 have disappeared. I know that one is Southwest Trading's Karaoke, one was Colinette Graffiti, and the last..? Well crap, it was elann's Peruvian Wool in Summer sky and... tapestry blue, I think.

Let's hope that Blogger doesn't decide to delete this entry.

I had posted pictures of my grandmother's blanket in progress. Basically, I came up with the idea to crochet blocks for a lap afgan for my grandmother's birthday. Each block would be different yarn. I'm having each person in that part of my family (my mom's siblings and their families) choose a skein of yarn that they believe represents them. I gave no advice on fiber content or weight because no one in my family would understand that, so although I have gotten mostly acrylic selections, I have also gotten a nifty variety of colors. Once everyone's block is done, I am going to crochet them together with black.

Disclaimer... all of the squares are the same size and are square even though not all the pictures make them look like that.

This is the square for my mom...



This is the square for my dad...



This is the square for my Aunt Patti...



This is the square for my Uncle Chris...



This is the square for Seth (in progress at the time)...


I've finished Seth's and also done Alana's. Lili's is next, followed by Sebastian's. Everything should be really pretty when it is done.


And I'll leave you all with a picture of my cluttered knitting shelf. Mind you the closet is also full of yarn. I gave Seth the second shelf down for his stuff... I'm a swell wife, eh? All of the containers and baskets you see are full of knitting stuff and various things of yarn.

Yarn window shopping...

Another pictureless post... how boring have I been lately? In truth, I've already broken my New Year's Resolution about only doing one project at a time, set aside my Clapotis, and have picked back up the crocheted quilt for my grandmother. I can get through a block a day (on average), and I have until the end of March to finish, but I also don't want to leave it until the last minute and have it look like shit. I grabbed a few pictures of the blocks the other night... I'll upload them later this evening, but as a fair warning, due to the serious lack of sunshine lately all of the colors look really muted and dark. What a bummer.

So... let's talk about yarn and online yarn dealers. My LYS store is about 1/2 hour away, and to be honest, I don't get out that way all that often. It's the same reason I have yet to get to Halcyon or down to Portland to any of those yarn shops. It's just not a lot of fun to drag a toddler (or make Seth wander around with me). The result is that most of my yarn is purchased online.

I've played around the net for the past three days, and here is my current yarn wishlist... and I am always up for checking out new stores, so suggest away!

1. blue sky alpaca and silk. This yarn looks completely delicious. I was going to use this yarn for Grumperina's Odessa, but the folks at the LJ knitting community advised me not to since the alpaca wouldn't hold its shape very well over time. Regardless, I *want* some of this yarn for something. Even just to pet.

2. KPPPM. Holy smokes these colors are beautiful. I wonder if they would make good socks. There are about 5 different colorways that I am covetting at this point, so once I get around to buying some, it is going to be incredibly difficult to settle on one color.

3. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in custom purlsoho colors. Confession time... I have never used Lorna's Laces. I've never even touched Lorna's Laces. But these colors just are too incredible to ignore, and since I have developed a huge desire to knit socks out the wazoo, I can't help but stare at sock yarn.

4. Rowan Cashsoft DK. This is the yarn that Odessa is originally made from, and now that I've looked online for it, I have fallen in love with it.

5. Rowan Biggy Print. I want to make a winter hat with this. A nice chunky nifty colored winter hat.

The newest edition of magknits is up. Usually I like a few of the patterns, but this time, I think I like *all* of them... even fragola (which I wish I had the time to resize to an adult size since I think it's really cute). Odessa is my favorite, though... Grumperina hit big again with this one and I can see the potential for this one to be as big as her Jaywalkers. Between her designs and Glampyre's designs, I am one happy knitter! Now if I only had four arms (to work on two projects at once) and 36 hours in a day...

Jess and Traci just came back from Hawaii, lucky ducks, and before they left, Jess asked what I wanted her to bring back for me. I had a bizarre obsession with collecting sand from different places, so I asked her for a little baggie of sand. Then as a joke I told her she could also get me some yarn. Now Jess is not a knitter, and neither is Traci, so as a joke they went to Walmart Hawaii and got me a skein of Red Heart. The colorway is really really pretty... and I've heard tales that if Red Heart is washed enough it actually becomes soft. Anyone have any experience with doing this? It's too bad that acrylic doesn't air very well since I think the colors would make a wonderful pair of socks.

*addendum* I forgot to mention...

Seth and I are working on planning our summer vacation/ anniversary trip, and again this year we are planning on trucking down to Boston. Now we don't think we're going to have Red Sox tickets (since I don't have the money for them now and they'll be sold out by the time I get my tax return... and I'm not going to pay $100/ ticket like I did last year), and we've made the decision to stay 3 nights instead of just 2. I didn't get the change to hit any yarn stores last summer, so I want to plan on hitting at least one this time. We haven't yet decided on a hotel... we really liked staying in Cambridge, but in order to hit the T we had to walk across the river and into the BU campus (which wasn't fun at 90 degrees). We might want to stay in the city this time... perhaps around the Copley area.

So... jessica and any other Boston area knitters... what is your recommendation for places that I should definitely hit? Anything is doable as long as it is accessible by T (since I'm not driving into the city). Green line is most familiar to me, but that's because that's the line I took when I lived down there. I'm not limiting myself to that line, though. I'm excited to hear your thoughts!