May Day - May Day

Typepad has been the victim of a sophisticated distributed denial of service attack the last couple of days. It shut down everything on Tuesday night and almost everything on Wednesday. Hopefully it's over and the person who thought it was fun has had their fill and moved on!  The Internets...hard to live with it but IMPOSSIBLE to leave without.

OK, things might be getting a little out of hand.  Over the last week I have been in the paper stores more often than yarn shops (and I've been in both plenty.)  There may be more card making than knitting going on, too.  Tuesday night, as usual, Smith called on his way home from work.

S:  "What are you doing?"
Me: "Making a card."
S: (Long silence)  "So, you aren't knitting anymore?"
Me: "Um, er...hee,hee....I guess not as much."

This new creative endeavor is addicting.  The good, bad and ugly of it is the paper store (other than it is near my home) is open until 8:00pm.  With a few minutes to use up on my way to Stitch 'n Bitch, I got caught up in all the color and 'stuff' and spent nearly 30 minutes touching, ogling, thinking and spending.    There is enough paper in my house now for dozens of cards and if this addiction doesn't abate soon I may require an intervention.

This doesn't mean, however, that there hasn't been any knittin' goin' on.

After visiting 3 of the LYSs over the weekend I found a yarn that is working up perfectly for CeCe.  It is Sakura by Noro, colorway #1.  The barber pole yarn has several colors that changes throughout and, occasionally, little wormy wraps of color come along to perk things up and change the shape of the stitches.  It's pure yarn entertainment at its finest. The pattern is going to work up quickly, as it is knit in one piece. The sleeves are knit and then added the the body as you go.  Lace, color, texture all in one sweater...perfect knitting.

To take advantage of what bits of  Mountain Stream might be stuck in my memory, a second scarf has been started in KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud , color Sand.  The yarn is lovely and the finished project should be very fine and soft.  MS makes so much more sense the second time around and it's growing very quickly.  I'm also hankering for a larger lace project and have some stash yarn in mind. Just to insure that this project will happen, I have joined The Amazing Lace.  The yarn is the beautiful lace weight (blue/violet), which I purchased at the Estes Park Wool Market last summer from Grayce, of Plain and Fancy Wool Co. The pattern is yet to be decided and I'll dedicate this long time project to Mr. Etherknitter. I'll knit lace while he knits some solid bone. (May as well dedicate ALL my knitting to him just to get things going.)

Simple knitting projects are also on the needles with the Euroflax robe growing while bitchin' with the stitchers, and a warshcloth, also from MDK, is ready to be cast on for a future gift. 

Mim's Eleanora sock is also growing well with its intriguing and entertaining pattern. Turning the heel this weekend really gave me a boost.  You may have 100 heels under your belt but, each one is a magical occurrence.  Another sock in Sleeping Dragon's Purple Night was also started this weekend. (Sock yarn does sing like the Siren's. I swear it!) Karen does a nice job of dyeing so that the color moves through the knitting in an interesting way.  There is, also, a ball of pastel pink Trekking near by that would like to become a sock like this.  Plus all that, I'm working up Cassie's new sock pattern. There are no more empty #1 or 1.5 DPN needles in the house (thank goodness)! There have never been this many projects on the needles and there a few more tempting me from the stash.  It is getting a little noisy around here, as the knitting mojo returns, and the projects want their turn in the hands. Then I remember Socks for Sanity, and too much of a good thing is never enough. However, it still might be time to send up the white flag of surrender.

Claudia is getting ready to ride for MS again this year. Please check her side bar to donate funds and put her over last years total.  You could win some VERY nice prizes and, more importantly, give to very good cause!  You GO Grrl!!

Comments

[Kelly]

wozers! You have bigger startitis than me hehe now I don't feel so bad. The Sakura looks yummy! Can't wait to see what your gonna be pumping off the needles!

[Lucia]

This is what you're knitting when you're not knitting much? You are so far ahead of me.

[Marina]

Phew, I'm so relieved to see lots of pictures of knitting being done and started ;-) Don't know what I'll do if this becomes a "paper craft" blog.

[Dave Daniels]

That's a LOT you have going on. But, if hubby asks, the paper store and yarn stores are useful together: make knitted item, NEED to make gift card to go with it. OR, someone gifts you something, you NEED to make a card and a than you. I don't see anything wrong with that way of thinking. lol

[Theresa]

I love the idea of knitting lace for bone - because healthy, live bone has so many little canals and channels in it to move nutrients in and out that it kind of looks like lace under a microscope.

[Jenny Raye]

I would definitely say that your knitting mojo is back in full force!!! I joined The Amazing Lace, too. What a cool concept. My hope is that it will keep me motivated to do some lace knitting this summer. I have three lace projects in various stages of planning /knitting. Three--what am I thinking?!?!?

[Kathleen]

Love that Noro. Terrific colors.

[Alison]

Looks like there is plenty of knitting going on. Lots of pretty stuff.

[Jenn]

And I thought I had a lot of projects on the needles! Now I don't feel so bad! :)

[Laurie]

I could hear Smith's active mind churning away with the possibilities in that exchange! Maybe he's getting worried that when he comes home, he's not supposed to wrinkle anything. Yarn? He could sit on that!

Lace mojo works for me! Thank you! Let me keep this straight...lace for the knitting, strong for the bone, right?

[Beth]

I'd say that's about 3 or 4 times your usual WIP count. Good job! The more the merrier! You can't have too many going. :) (says the girl who never limits herself to working on UFOs)

[Kathy]

Look forward to seeing some of your paper creations!

[Stitch-n-Snitch]

I want to see some fancy letterin' goin' on! (And, I'm glad I'm not the only one who says "warshcloth!") :)

[Cara]

You were right - that yarn is TO DIE! I can see how much fun you're having.

Oh and PUT DOWN THE PAPER!

[Lisa]

I'd say the knitting is definitely scratching it's way to the top. And I love the Noro for CeCe. The color changes add a whole new dimension to the pattern as my mind was stuck on a solid color when I bought the pattern. Love it!

Oh, and don't listen to Cara - play with that paper! :)

[Norma]

Shows you how out of the loop I've been (uncharacteristically, I might add!). If it weren't for Theresa C. asking me, I wouldn't have even noticed that Typepad was down. Now, be quiet: I have a ton of work to do before heading off to Maryland in the morning. (sorry, I'm really not trying to rub it in or anything.....)

[Carole]

I love the colors in that Noro. And who cares about Maryland, Norma? We've got Estes.

[Jennifer]

Playing around with paper and card making is fun isn't it?

[Patti]

I loooooove paper. You can do a million things with paper. No intervention from this quarter.

[Stephanie]

I couldn't handle the paper, so I stepped back and am pretending there isn't any in my house. So far, it's working. You have a whole lotta socks in the works and that sweater promises to be a fun, quick knit. I've joined the Amazing Lace too.

[--Deb]

Ooh, everything looks pretty. And really, you can play with paper for a while, it's okay....

You know, I keep meaning to tell you--I've already said I love the new header, the red umbrella, all of it. But what I didn't mention? Every time I open up your blog, for just a split second, I see the verticals of the "dl" as the legs of the woman holding the umbrella . . . just for a second!

[Nonnahs]

Your not knitting as much is more than my average knitting pace! I suddenly feel the urge to cast on a new project... :)

[Martha]

Do you have any suggestions for someone interested in learning to make cards? 'Cause I really do want to hand-make Christmas/Hanukkah cards this year, and don't know where to start. I would like this year to be a 90% homemade holiday, gifts included. So much more civilized than running around the malls from November through December!

[Andrea]

Ooooo! Pretty Noro yarn!

[hillary]

Wow! You certainly are busy. I've had a burst of startitis myself but nothing like this. Keep it up! I'm looking forward to a little paper fun myself.