Pink is the new pink

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on the Blue Boatneck! And I am pleased to report I received notifications for all of them! I did change my email within WordPress to go directly to my .mac account, but I got a few comments through before then as well. So I really don’t know what did it, or if it was all just a glitch.

The wear test was mostly good for the boatneck. The cotton, as expected, did stretch some, including the neck. But it’s not unwearable. Much like my Blue Sky Cotton sweater, it will require an occasional soak and tumble in the dryer. However, the arm cuffs will need reknitting. They sit right in the crook of my elbow, and they looked a bit droopy/sloppy by the end of the day. I’m going to unravel the cuff, go down a needle size, and make the whole arm a tad shorter. But another day.

PINK!

These days I am focusing on Big Pink, as I have dubbed the baby blanket project. I swatched and looked at books and swatched. I ruminated in my head. And finally settled on something so simple.

Mistake rib with a wide garter stitch border. A shot where you can actually see something:

I decided to double strand the Comfort. The variegation in this colorway is extreme (white to dark pink) and the lengths of color are short. On a piece of this size, based on my swatches, I thought the coloration would be far too busy in a worsted gauge. This gives the fabric a nice heft too. Also, I thought the stitches being chunky helped them “read” amidst all the color. Any type of lace was out, and almost every stitch pattern I tried just got lost in the colors. I thought about entrelac or log cabin-ing, but feared the riot of variegation going in multiple directions would not be good. At all. I’m going for something about 42″ X 60″. Big and very pink.

Stash some more

I received some beautiful hand-dyed stash goodness in the mail this week, from Shelly at Butternut Woolens. Super Sock dyed with Indigo:

Sadly, because of a life change, Shelly has to sell her farm and discontinue her fiber and yarn handdying business. Although the yarn stock is gone, she is selling some of her equipment. If you are in the Portland, OR area, and in the market for fiber preparation and/or dying materials, she’s going to be posting for sale items on her blog.

Stop with the awesome patterns already, I can’t keep up.

The awesome awesomeness that is Flint Knits Pam has whipped up the February Lady Sweater, based on EZ’s February Baby Sweater, but “for a grown-ass woman”. Yup. And it’s goooooood.

And I do like the word awesome. Isn’t the eighties coming back and all that?

Have you all seen the Berroco fall collection? OK. Go here (especially), and here, and here, and here as well. Norah is awesome too. Eastlake is my favorite (from Berroco’s site):

I will be getting my hands on Norah Gaughan Vol. 3 if I have to arm wrestle somebody for it. And that’s saying something, because I have the upper body strength of a doily.

Some other great patterns I’ve recently discovered: Ziggy by Anny Purls; Sunray by Pure Handmade Ulli; Dean Street Hat by Ninaknits (Ravelry download only); Cowgirl Butterfly Astronaut Vest by f. pea; Quinn bag from CogKnition; and the monthly scarf pattern from Hank’s Yarn and Fiber, I especially like June’s scarf!

Miscellany

Price of gas last Wednesday next to Union Station in downtown LA:

Is that irony or what? Highest price I’ve seen next door to the hub of the Metro system. (Love that car!)

Extra irony? I was here at a work-related seminar at the Metropolitan Water District, also next to Union Station. Planned to take the Gold Line (light rail) from South Pas. I was given to understand that Mission-Meridian was a park-and-ride station, and I would be returning when the City’s bus transfer service was not running. So, I drive to the station and enter the parking garage intended for Metro riders, and all of the 6.2 parking spaces that are not designated for tenants or “Hospital Parking” (? – there isn’t a hospital in South Pas) were full. Myself and the 3 other cars looking for spots circled the small 1 story deep garage and had to leave. Ummm, lack of foresight much? I had to drive. To a building next door to Union Station.

On a completely different miscellaneous note, something neat in my garden. I’ve discovered a Valley Carpenter Bee nest in the trunk of an Alluaudia in my backyard:

This is especially poetic to me, because this is a dead succulent. Winter before last, there were below 30 temps for a couple of nights, and 2 succulents died. But I kept this plant for its sculptural beauty. Knowing that a native pollinator has been able to find a home because I left a dead plant in my yard makes me inordinately pleased. It’s providing habitat, which for me is just as important as any aesthetic aspect in my garden.

So far we’ve only seen the female, a gargantuan black bee that makes an incredibly loud buzz. She’s been feeding on the citrus and other flowering plants in the back for the last couple of weeks.