I’m going to be going to some training in NYC next week which mean some commuting time (God I miss mass transit!). And of course commuting time = knitting time.

Anyway this is my first shot at real lace knitting; I’ve done little bits of lace before but not a whole project. I’m using Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in lilac that I bought from Sarah’s Yarns for much less ($6.75/2oz) than anywhere else. Other places 2oz was over $11! They are in Brooklyn so I got the cheap first class shipping and had my yarn in no time.

I am still on clue number one as I have had to unknit a few times when my stitches didn’t add up. Damn yarn-overs! I’m going to be traveling next week so I should be able to get plenty done in the airport.

There’s also a week off from clues for the Harry Potter book release. I don’t read Harry Potter so I’ll be free to catch up on my knitting.

The well..almost is because I need to sew in the ends. And, I think I might want to make it longer which will mean frogging the bottom ribbing and doing another inch or so of the main pattern before I do the ribbing again. I also am not sure I like how the sleeve are. I think the bottom is too loose, but a little elastic might help. I’ll have to show my mom and see what she thinks. Either way I’m excited to have it done.  I have a ton of things I want to knit but I wanted to finish this sweater first.

My first stop was Knit Purl. It’s a relatively large shop with lots of different stuff. They carry ShiBui yarns – I later learned the shop’s owner started ShiBui. They had a ton of Koigu. I bought a skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn and ShiBui Kid Merino in honey. Right around the corner is Josephine’s Dry Goods – a yarn store. It’s awesome, they have the most luscious fabrics. I bought a yard and a half of two Amy Butler cottons to make skirts. Then I went to a bead store and picked up some peridot tear drops for earrings I’m making.

Later that day I took the bus across the river and went to Yarn Garden in the Hawthorne district. I think this store must be knitting nirvana. There are 3 rooms at least the size of my bedroom that were floor-to-ceiling yarn. Then there’s another room that was full of books, patterns, and needles. They also have a connected cafe. The people there were very nice. I asked about bamboo yarn and was shown a whole “section” of it. Crazy! I ended up buying a ball of Crystal Palace Merino Frappe, 3 skeins of Louet Kidlin (for a wrap), and 3 balls of Classic Elite Bam Boo for a beret for my sister.
On the flight over and during my hotel downtime I’ve been working on Rusted Root. I’m glad I took the time to laminate the instructions. It’s going pretty well. I’m over 25% finished. The pattern is pretty straightforward and the way the sleeves are made is rather nifty.

I received an invite for Ravelry.com today. It’s a crochet/knitting community where you can track your stash, projects, needles, etc. It’s incredibly well done. I think I need to learn Ruby. I spent several hours this morning playing around with the site. It’s in beta so you need an invite to join.

I’m using Knit Picks Andean Silk in Pitch on size 7 needles. So far I’ve used 3.5 balls and I’m almost halfway done. Flying cross country is awesome for progressing on knitting projects. I only started this last friday. I am going to be snowboarding in Tahoe next week, so I may be able to finish it by the end of the month. That’s good since I need it to be done by mid April.
I updated my progress meteres on the right. I frogged those DyeoRama socks so I took it down. I came across the Knitty Sweater at home. I need to finish that up…maybe when I’m back for week in April.

I am a magic looper so I had to pull something off my Denise 40″ cable to get started last night. The knitting went pretty quickly once I got a rhythm for the cabling. I can’t wait for my grooved cable needles to get here!

I think I should be able to finish this one up tonight. I’m liking it in general so far and I really like the cable ribbing. I may have to make some mittens!

 I’ve never knit socks before so I did some searching for a pattern. I’m using my Dye-O-Rama Yarn from Liz. She said the stripes work well with a 60 stitch round. So when I came across Wendy’s Toe-Up Sock pattern I was all like SCORE! So I cast on and got going and 2 rows in I got confused, very confused. I’ve never really done short rows, and I knew that I had to be slipping more and knitting less, but I couldn’t understand how that works. So I searched and read and searched and read. And finally I came across this tutorial. So I basically ignored the instructions, which I think are not very clearly written for an “easy” pattern, and followed the Coffee Crazy instructions. So right now I’m done with the first toe. I just need to put my provisional cast on stitches back on the needle.

I cast on and did a few rows for the other sleeve. It’s a big pain to that sort of stuff when I’m on the train. Hopefully I can get it mostly done by next week. I will probably work on the cowl part at home because that’s going to be too big to take on the Path.

In other news, I think I figured out what I want to make for Alexis. There is this cute ribbed collar in the first issue of K1. But it calls for LB Kool Wool. I’d rather using something softer. I looked through Knit Picks and either Panache or Decadence will work. Panache is very nice blend of cashmere, silk, merino and alpaca but will cost twice what the 100% alpalca, Decadence, will.