Two Down, Sixteen to Go.

I am now a little ahead of schedule. I went through two balls this last week, and am only on row 23. However, my wrist started acting up, so I think I may have to take it more slowly on the blanket for the next few days. It's starting to get a little big and heavy.




Since the blanket is no longer portable, I finally cast on for Rusted Root. I always need to have a project that fits in my purse, and this should be easier on my bum wrist. However, I don't like Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. It's splitty and not as soft as the yarn I used for Green Gable, Rowan Wool Cotton, but the upside is that it costs half the price of the Rowan yarn. I had to go down one needle size to get gauge, but will use the suggested needle size for the sleeves. I have been following the knitalong on craftster, and it seems that the knitters who went down in needle size also lost the puffiness of the sleeves, which is the last thing that I want to happen.

On Thursday, my boss took me to the San Francisco shoe show to help out with buying the Spring '07 shoes. It was a blast, and we picked out so many beautiful shoes for the store. I am sample size, so she brings me along to make sure that the shoes fit properly before we order them. I spent 10 hours trying on shoes, and got paid for it. Not a bad job, right? We saw Giraudon, Castaner, Coclico, Chie Mihara, DKNY, Ted Baker, Camper, Luc Berjin, Repetto, Arche, and many more new lines that are just starting out. The spring lineup doesn't arrive until mid-December, and it is always exciting to see how our customers react to the shoes, and to see which ones sell out and which become lonely wallflowers.

One Down, Seventeen to Go

I started working on the cabled blanket on Sunday, and I am finished with the 3.5" seed stitch border, which consumed the first of 18 balls of yarn. I am planning on working through one ball each week, which means that this big bad blanket should be finished before the New Year. I like that the charts are very long and only repeat three times, so the project should not be too repetitive. The Berkshire from Valley Yarns (WEBS house brand) is light, soft, and subtly thick and thin.

I treated myself to my first pair of Addis Turbo needles for this project, since I figured I would be spending hundreds of hours on these needles. They really are all that! The smooth join makes it all worthwhile. I have the Boye interchangeables, and I find myself tugging the yarn across the join all the time.

I gave Kate away to little Tolya on Saturday. We decided to give her a new name and gender, so now she is known as Baby Freddy K. It was love at first sight for Tolya and Freddy K. He squealed, clapped his hands, and immediately began to fling him about by his extremities. I hope I joined Freddy's arms and legs strong enough for Tolya. Maybe with enough drool and vigorous play, Freddy will be felted, and then we won't have to worry about dismemberment anymore.

Meet Kate Kruger

Kate is done. Here she is with Bobby, wearing their coordinating Friday the 13th sweaters.

She was another stashbuster, and a couple of the yarns I used weren't the best choices. The red yarn is Knit Picks Andean Silk and the golden yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, both leftovers from last year's holiday knits. The gauge was wrong for these two yarns post-stuffing; you can see the polyfill stuffing through her stitches. However, the brown yarn was excellent! It is a yarn called "Jazz" by Grignasco, which I used to make my first project about a year ago, which was a green and brown ribbed, keyhole scarf for Bobby. If I make another Kate, I would use Lamb's Pride Worsted, which is what Jess uses for all of her knitted toys.

I am late to join the knitted toy craze, and apparently too late to get my hands on Jess Hutchinson's booklet, which isn't available through her site anymore. I put myself on the notification list, but it may not be printed again, ever. I heard it was previously for sale on fredflare, but it's sold out there, too. Any other leads?

The Wait is Over!

My yarn has finally arrived from WEBS, and I can't wait to get started on the neverending blanket. Am I really going to make it through those 18 skeins?

On Wednesday, I got an invite to a friend's baby's first birthday barbecue, so I decided to make a little gift for the occasion. I am planning to finish her off before I cast on for the blanket. Unfortunately, Bobby and I are starting to grow a little attached to her, and I don't want to let her go. I'd like to make another- maybe a bigger, pillow sized version for our couch.

Meet Kate, designed by San Francisco's own Jess Hutchison:

I'm gonna miss her when she's gone.

Finished Fetching

I finished my "in between projects project" before the yarn for my new projects has arrived. Now I have to figure out another stashbusting project to fill the next few days. This is the Fetching pattern from the summer '06 knitty that everyone is knitting right now. I used a leftover ball of Rowan Cotton Glace in Poppy. I used this yarn to make the Cupcake top from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker, which I finished last month, but still haven't seamed up.

I wanted my gloves to be a little smaller and daintier than the pattern, so I used size 3 needles instead of 5s. I used a regular bind off instead of the picot, which I think is a little too fussy for these already fussy gloves.

These were very quick and easy to knit. I think they took about 5 days of very short and infrequent knitting sessions.

Gratuitous cable photo. Thanks for looking.

Waiting for UPS

I'm anxiously waiting for my yarn to arrive for my next two projects. The first project is from the new fall 06 issue of Interweave:

I ordered the suggested yarn in tan from WEBS. I'm worried that this one is going to make me crazy (4' x 6'!) so I have a second project lined up that should be much quicker and more mindless to knit up. This is a new one from the girls at Zephyrstyle:

This one's gonna be a beautiful deep purple. You can't see in this picture, but the sleeves are short and poofy. Again, I'm using the suggested yarn, which is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I've never used this yarn before, but I know that it is very popular, so I am excited to see what it's all about. I'm also excited that the pattern includes the extra-small size, because my bust is only 31", and I always have to work out modifications to make 34" patterns fit me properly.

Another shopgirl's debut

My name is Anne, and this is where I will be writing mostly about my knitting projects, but also about working in retail in San Francisco.

a view of downtown from my apartment in SOMA