Alchemy Cami

ALCHEMY CAMI

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I have finished the cami for Alchemy waaaaaaay late. I fiddled with the edging several times over since it calls for crochet and I don’t crochet well. I was told to pick any simple knit edging I liked but none gave me the frilly look shown in picture so I finally ended up doing my cheesy picot bind off that IMO mimics the crochet picot. For those who do not crochet and would like to know what I do: Where it says *sc3, chain 3, slip to last sc* I *BO 3,[ slip st back to left needle and knit]3X* accross. Its not time efficient and very tricky to maintain gauge but it works. I usually chain more and BO less between the loops than was called for in this pattern and if it were not needed for trade show I just might be tempted into redoing it again. Hopefully they are pleased and I have to mail it overnight tomorrow morning.

Post cami finishing I picked up my sock I showed you at the beginning of May–you know the blue thingie I had just turned the heel on after MS&W. I finished it at aunties except for the grafting of toe and weaving in all the ends. There are a lot of ends because my kidlets took a friend, and 3 sets of scissors, into the yarn room and made merry with the snippage. I am far too cheap to throw away $20 of yarn[this ball alone lets not talk about the little piles of at least 50 different colors and textures they created] just cause some chickadees cut out a few inches of the hank here or there. Actually that might just be why my Koigu was so bad–I do have a pair of scissors the kids have used to cut tape and now hacks through yarn instead of cutting. That might be why they looked like breaks instead of clean cuts. Of course I am now worried that I have enough yarn to finish my socks. Those leave 4″ of each end for weaving a dozen times over kinda adds up in the end. Yes my children are still alive and get this….Zoe took another friend in the yarn room last week so…. not phychologically scarred for life. Anyways I should be ready to show you that tomorrow.

Looking over my blog I see that I said I would try and knit one sock between every FO so that my 7 pairs sockathon goal would be less painful. IF you didn’t keel over laughing at my deluded self on March 29th lets do a tally shall we? Since I made the statement we have 7 FO’s and 2 socks completed. I am doing better than I thought except one of the 2 socks needs to be redone and the second needs weaving in of a bazillion ends. Realistically we completed 7 items and NO socks. I really think somebody should be volunteering to knit me socks in exchange for oh a scarf or shawl or something I consider pleasant. Rumor has it that some people enjoy knitting them after all. Anyways the thought of starting another sock in 4/1 ribbing to make the pair was so odious after 2 days of {yawn} knit 4, purl 1 round and round and round and sigh round again that I decided to work on something fun, fun, fun as well. Since I joined Nathania’s Tank Time Along, truth be told I pressured her into creating a Tank Time Along, I decided I would start that. As we all know one of the great things about knitting is the variety in stitches. So of course we had to pick a breather project consisting of a 3/1 rib. Just shoot me now.

 

The Good, The Bad, & The Lovely

We had a nice visit my mum, sister, daughters and I. We spent a day at the Missouri Botanical Garden, dined at Saleems ‘Where Garlic is King’ on Delmar while watching a belly dancer followed by street jazz en route to car, and sat around and gossiped. Knit wise not much. But we did have The Good. Since my sister did not make it to Miami to visit mum last month she visisted here and that meant a hotel. Less mom time = more knitting time. My apologies if this makes me seem like a bad daughter. I like knitting and feel out of sorts when I don’t do any. Unless its my choice to not knit of course. Plus with the TNNA trade show coming up I am under pressure to finish stuff up for work. People are counting on me for heaven’s sake. The Bad was that the sweet adorable Nece decided to remove the needles from my tank and socks almost immediately after I took the picture on Thurs. I had to restart the tank and fiddle with the socks. Sooooooooo…. hmmm how much did you knit during the visit? I thought you would never ask. And the answer brings us to The Lovely:Image40.jpg
See the needle point piercing the lace right around the 2nd pin[row 32 cause its a 16 row repeat and made no sense to do pins every 10 rows]? Thats how much I got done between Thursday and Sunday at noon when my mom left. The rest is what I got done aftermy mum left. Considering that Sunday afternoon included dinner out and watching children put on a musical bonanza to celebrate my day and visit with Aunt Carol[unplanned so no knitting] and  I think it is safe to say my mum is a major non knitting influence in my life. Its a miracle I ever learned. Oi. Back to knitting and cleaning and vegging out. Have a great yarny day you guys.

And So It Begins

Wanna see? Sure you do.Image38.jpg
Thats a whopping 4 rows of the tank I am doing for Alchemy Yarns. I was gonna do it in the round but just couldn’t under the time constraints I have. Too much fiddling with instructions and regauging going on this past week. And the infamous aforementioned sock. When I said I turned the heel I mean I worked from the last pin on leg and did the heel. I think I am an amazing 4 rounds post heel turning. Normally I wouldn’t blog about such piddly progress but its a fine chance for you to compare my normal knitting rate vs life interference rate. Take note of this photo, the photo on Mon, and a photo next Friday just to see. Not very scientific but still a record.

Have a great weekend with lotsa knit activities. For me if nothing else….

It’s All About Presentation

One thing about working as a sample garment knitter is hmmmm ok you get the pattern before its ever been knit. Potential mistakes and accompanying headaches. The yarn sometimes comes on cones or untagged. Its strait from the mill baby. But ALCHEMY is a different breed of company. Yah the yarn is gorgeous. The colors rich and just unbelievably yummy. But what really makes working for them a pure joy is that they treat the knitter with the utmost of respect. Ideas and suggestions are exchanged, color preferences taken into account[this is the 3rd project using this color “Scarlett’s Deap Secret”], and hellooooooooo, check out what I get when I open the Priority Mailer. I have reached nirvana. Inside: Image19.jpg

A Card! I love it that they send me a card with the yarn. A friendly little handwritten note asking me to have fun in Maryland in addition to a little banter. Yes I just adore these folks.

Look for me on Monday with MS$W report and beginning of lacey tank. Til then have a great one!