Poppy!

Poppy is done!  I finished it on December 31, laid it by the fireplace and then forgot about it until today (blame hangover and unpacking and general holiday laziness).

The last bit of crochet finishing was a bit of a challenge, but with Mom's help and some wine, my tussles with the crochet hook are now forgotten.

Playing with the colour and not blindly following the pattern was fun.  I did end up with more stripes at the ends (or the back where the seam is) than the front, and my need to control personality took a bit to get around that, but in the end I'm really pleased with the result.

A perfect fit--I knit a size smaller than I would normally, so I'm learning what fits!  Now to find a deep v-neck shirt for underneath--I love Silk Garden, but not against my skin.  A great pattern for great yarn (though Noro should reinstate these colours--they are gorgeous).

Painting, Packing, Poppy

I'm so tired, I can't even think of what to write.  I finished marking Saturday and started packing.  We're almost done--just down to all that junk stuff that clutters up life, but which we can't live without and odds and ends that aren't enough to warrant their own box--stuff that will end up in a bag or laundry basket at the last minute.

My hip still hurts, though it is improving.  I have my first massage booked for tomorrow afternoon and I'm hoping it will help with the pain and stiffness--the only thing that really makes it stop bugging me is booze, but that does make doing other stuff a tad more difficult.  The fact I'm still painting and packing is probably not helping, but for now there really isn't a choice but to play throught the pain.

The movers come Thursday.  It's very exciting, this first house thing.  We never thought this would happen (though we hoped it would).  I'm excited for when we stop referring to it as "the house" and start calling it "Home".  Thursday.

With all this, I did find a wee bit of time to knit.  Poppy is the only thing I have actively on the needles (everything else is too complicated to pull out right now).  I'm loving Poppy.  She has two arms and almost a body (sans shoulders).  I'm really having fun just knitting the body, throwing in the colours and ridges where I want.  I'm pleased with how I've been able to be random on this one.

I doubt there will be much more knitting before Christmas.  I really wanted to go to the Lettuce Knit holiday party tomorrow, but I really just don't have the time and I'm totally beat (probably the therapeutic rum and coke isn't helping).  Normal knitting and life will return by the New Year I guess. 

Next time I blog I'll probably be in the new house!

Poppy progress

I need to go to Lettuce Knit to get the contrast yarn for Lizard Ridge, so in the mean time I've started Poppy.  This pattern is stretching me creatively, which I rather like.  I'm getting much better with Noro yarns--relinquishing control and letting the colour happen--but Lisa Shobhana added another twist by not telling me where to put the garter ridges and striped on the bottom part.  I have to decide. 

So far I haven't planned farther than the next element and I'm just winging it.  I am doing things like picking what colour of the Silk Garden I want for the next stripe, but not planning the whole thing.  It's fun.  The knitting isn't a technical challenge so this makes for a good balance.

I also started a sleeve so I have something to take with me on the subway.  I need some mindless knitting too.  I am working on a navy cashmere scarf, but sometimes that's too mindless.

Olive it is

I went ahead and ordered the Chocolate brown Cash Iroha, figuring it was the best available colour to go with my Silk Garden 34.  It hadn't arrived yet when Jenna gave me a skein of Olive 14 to take home.  Olive is the way to go.  The Silk Garden doesn't have any brown in it, and while it's a nice match, the green is much better (and I like it better).  The photos aren't great, but it gives you some idea.  If I ever blog again in daylight I'll do some better photos (the last one is the truest of the bunch).

So Craig will have a nice brown scarf some day (or me, since I have a partial skein of fushia that would look great with it).  And I'm on the hunt for the green.  Julia of Vesper fame told me about some at her LYS, I'll do a quick call locally first but if not I'm calling her town.  Yarn Play is my current coffeetable book and Poppy is calling me.