Ever since completing Orangina, I’ve been seeing its lace pattern everywhere. I finally figured out the name of the lace – it’s called Vine Lace, and I think that its in the first Barbara Walker treasury. I totally understand its popularity – it is very simple, and oh so pretty!

Recent Vine Lace sightings:

• Interweave Knits is in deep love with Vine Lace – it’s the edging for Pink Mimosa from the most recent issue, and Summer 2004 (which also has Madli’s Shawl) features two Vine Lace Patterns – the Victoria Tank and Lace Blouson (vine lace at the bottom).
• Silk Camisole, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Amy is knitting this right now. The photo in the book shows a mistake in the lace part (towards the top).
• Sweet Mary Jane Cardigan from Knitpicks. Staci knit this up recently.
• Rose of Sharon Hat, most recent Magknits. Floppy brim, can also be a bag. Generally somewhat odd, but there’s nice decreases on the top of the hat.

I can’t escape the stuff!

I’ve looked through the Knitting Nature book some more, and decided that I must finish Green Gable asap, so that I can start the Basalt Tank. Good stuff. Also, I’m definitely making the Target Wave Mittens, even though the pattern is written for child sizes. I’m hard pressed to think of when I’ll have an opportunity to wear the mittens – anyone living in a cold climate want a pair of handknit uber-cute mittens?

New mail, yay! I worked from home today and finally, finally got my Amazon shipment. Since moving to the big H, we always get boxes one day after the USPS (or UPS) website says that they’ve been delivered. Maybe our mailman likes to peruse knitting books?

I have picked up One Skein many a time to check it out, and I finally purchased it. There is some super cute baby stuff in there (the petal bib, so cute!), and you can’t go wrong with using up oddballs of yarn. The Knitting Nature book I picked up pretty much unseen, just based off of random photos off the web. There’s some good stuff in here, beautiful motifs and really clever construction. However, I don’t think that there is one pattern that I would knit as-is – many of the sweaters have a gradual bell-shape to them that isn’t really flattering in any way.

A couple of my warm-weather faves (there’s some great wooly stuff in the book, too) – the Basalt Tank and Roundabout Leaf Tank. I’d like both to have straight hems on the bottom. I’d also like to add waist shaping to both, which involves clever moves to get around the clever construction. I have some ideas along those lines…

Also, I heart these mittens with gigantic, arrow-pierced hearts. And the Triforce! Save Zelda!

Orangina is done, seamed, and looks great. Photos to come, I need to to take a nice, non-bathroom-mirror shot. In the meantime, back to working on Green Gable, which has languished as of late. I needed to rip back a bit because it was too big, so I’m back to where the body joins together. I also need to figure out some waist shaping – I learned from Orangina that I don’t need to be quite so agressive with the waist decreases.

Silver – so cute!

Orangina is finally blocking. Look at that sea of black! Yum.

I spent the weekend knitting ribbing, ripping back ribbing, knitting more ribbing. Ribbing like a pro. I cast on some stitches between the lace and rib portions, so that the Orangina width is the same in both areas.

Let’s hope it fits!

Step 1: Find the hole. Two dropped stitches and a nupp of questionable constitution. The nupp stitch totally didn’t go through the nupp, and it was falling apart. Not good!

Step 2: Curse the hole. Bah! Admire your fudging of the lace pattern to make up for the dropped stitches. Marvel at the fact that you didn’t catch this sooner.

Step 3: Open a beer. This can really occur at any point in this process.

Step 4: Conceal the hole. Ladder up those puppies and decrease them toward the top. Not bad. Take some leftover yarn, thread it through the hole, and weave in the ends so that they totally show.

Step 5: Finish beer and take a crappy bathroom mirror photo. Classy!

• There is nothing that one needs more than a flamingo cozy.

First there was some lovely Socks that Rock yarn, then a ribby sock. Finally the yarn has a purpose – Badcaul Socks!

I’ve changed the pattern a bit – I did a short-row toe (the pattern called for something different), and added an extra stitch between cable repeats (my gauge was a bit tighter than the pattern). I don’t think that this yarn shows off the pattern too well, because it happens to be the bright green stitches that are the slipped/cabled ones.

Also, I blocked Madli’s Shawl at Amy’s house. I did end up adding right around a foot to the stole, and it’s the perfect length. However, there’s a giganormous hole due to two dropped stitches, which have been stitting there, dropped but stuck to a lower stitch, for a year. Hopefully they won’t be too tough to fix.

I had a big blocking event last weekend (finally, finally washed and blocked the Clapotis), and I dug up a couple of things that I made last year.

The whole wedding thing from last year? Well I decided to knit a stole, Madli’s Shawl from Interweave Knits, to wear with my dress. Big mistake. First, I didn’t know much about laceweight yarns, and I found a great yarn from Habu Textiles that was the perfect color. However, it is quite a bit thinner than the yarn used in the pattern, so I wound up adding more pattern repeats in the width and modifying the border pattern to fit. Then I made the executive decision that I Will Knit the Crazy Nupps. I wound up using a darning needle to do the p7tog for the crazy nupps, which was such a pain in the ass. The thing was blocking 2 nights before the wedding, and then I proceeded to NOT wear it. Awesome!

The thing is really too short to wear, so I’m lengthening it. I have a bit of extra yarn, so I’ll be able to add about a foot to the length.

This baby sweater was for a friend who wound up having a baby girl (and got a Pinwheel Blanket instead). It is the Diamond Seed Baby Jacket from Interweave Knits, knit out of Dale of Norway Baby Ull yarn (which is washable and awesome and actually a dark, forest green). I knit this exactly to the pattern, and I really like the way it turned out. Now if someone I know would just have a boy…

Orangina is slowly moving along. It seems that zero yarn shops in Houston carry a size 2 circular in the length that I want. I tried on what I’ve completed so far, and the waist shaping fits perfectly, I love it! I’m planning on increasing some stitches when I start the ribbing, to avoid any potential poufiness.

I was working on a pair Jaywalkers in the Socks that Rock, but they were pooling like a mofo. So they got frogged, and a simple pair of 2×2 rib socks were started while I was flying to and from MA last weekend. I’m not wild about how the yarn looks on the purl bumps, so I may frog this and start a modified pair of Thujas. The yarn really does rock, very soft and sproingy.