still here ...

Hmm, nearly 2 weeks since I posted. I'm still alive. Still knitting. Took pics. Lack time.

What's been keeping me busy? Work is busy. We moved offices. Have several very large meetings in the near future. One involves many high-level people. As in, multiple Nobel Prize winners. Oy.

Coaching. Lots of early season drama. Including one swimmer leaving tomorrow to fly to Colorado to have arthroscopic hip surgery. Lots of behind the scenes work needed to get the season off the ground. Head coach leaving the country for two weeks. Oy.

What else? Looking at houses. Lots of houses. Narrowing down the list. Looking some more. We think we like this one best. Should we make an offer? How much? Will it still be for sale by the time we decide if we should make an offer? Double oy.

Knitting. Yes, still knitting. Mostly on the drive to work (I'm the passenger). Lace socks not so good for busy times. Doing a bit of tinking too. Want to start some stockinette socks. But ... the List of 5 continues. I'm sticking to it!! Here's where it stands now...

• Baudelaire socks for MIL's christmas gift -- finished the foot and heel on each, plus over half of one leg
• Vest for Dulaan (all done but for the neck edging)
• Cabled Seaman's scarf for FIL's Christmas gift. It will match the mittens I made him last year, and a hat that I made the year before.
• a poncho for grandma
• Denyse Schmidt potholders

So, finish one of thes and I can have my comfort knitting socks :)

comments and charity

Pet peeve: I am unable to reply to a lot of my commenters who don't allow Blogger to post their email address to me. Note, this is a peeve about blogger, not about my commenters :)

So, commenters, know that I love reading your notes, but sometimes just don't have time to trace back to find your email address to reply to you... This is the biggest reason why I'm thinking of moving to Typepad or other service.

But, THANK YOU all for the nice words about my Fountain Lace cardigan :)

****

Charity knits: I have lots of yarn. I have lots of charities I want to knit for:

• Red Scarf Project (I made 2 last year)
• Dulaan (I've sent them many hats, mittens, and even a sweater)
• Afghans for Afghans (sent them socks and a group-made afghan -- I really want to make a vest or sweater for their early October priority collection)
• Loop By Loop -- knitting for peace, humanitarian aid, and community development (they are in need of washcloths. I got a box of yarn from MDK. Need I say more? Match made in heaven!)
• Project Linus (maybe make a quilt instead?)
• Newborns in Need (they need winter hats, too -- click on the Christmas in July info. Maybe a baby quilt for them too?)

I just don't have enough time!!!

Fountain Finito

The Fountain Lace cardigan is done! I started this in April. So long ago that I had to go back and look in my archives to figure out the date!

I also have a new iMac at work, complete with a built-in camera and Photo Booth software. So, I can now sit at my desk and take self portraits. The quality isn't great, but I'll try to get the Mafia to take some real photo later. Until then, I just wanted to post this!!!

The back ...


And the front ...

Not the best photo, but you get the idea. Also, the yarn is a much brighter blue than appears here.

Project Specs:
Pattern: Fountain Lace Cardigan from Classic Elite
Yarn: Cotton Ease
Needles: Addi Turbos, size 6 and 7
Gauge: I think the st st parts are about 19-20 sts/in
Size: I followed the pattern for the 43" inch chest. I think my finished size is a little smaller, due to gague. I can't remember -- I did the math in April, and just followed my notes when I picked up where I left off.
Mods: Just a few -- subbed seed stitch instead of seed stitch rib. Changed the collar to a shallow v-neck. If I did it over, I'd make a deeper neckline. Didn't block it (gasp!) but it still looks pretty good :)

So, that means it's time to edit my "list of 5". Here it is --

• a poncho for grandma
  
• Denyse Schmidt potholders
  
• Baudelaire socks for MIL's christmas gift -- I'm almost done the gusset on one, and about to start the gusset on #2. (I'll finish the heel shaping on one sock first, in case it is too big or small and I have to rip. Don't want to rip both!!0
  
• another sewing project -- a notebook cover for a notebook for work
• Cabled Seaman's scarf for FIL's Christmas gift. It will match the mittens I made him last year, and a hat that I made the year before.
  

I hope to finish the socks this month, and the poncho in October. Then, I will have 2 more gift projects to finish -- the scarf for FIL for Christmas, and a pair of socks for my boss, also for Christmas and that will be it! Then, I will again get to knit for MEEEEEE!

recap

Hello, blogosphere. I've barely had time to read blogs recently, much less post to mine.

Here is a brief recap of the past week and a half:

VACATION:

• spent three great days in Portland, ME.
• ate a fabulous meal at Arrows
  
• am embroiled in a non-so-fabulous billing dispute with the hotel we stayed at. Grrr.
• visited Edith and Edna and bought some fabric as a souvenir

LIFE:

• on September 1, was promoted to new job at work. Same boss, pretty much the same job, just a more senior title, and some new responsibilities. Getting new computer tomorrow. Whole office moving to new location on September 25.
• on September 4, Thom started a new job. Yay for full-time employment after grad school!
• on September 9, we started to look for a house to buy. Wow! Overwhelming!!!
• September 12 (today), Thom's birthday
• September 16 (Saturday), synchro season starts back up for real.
  

CRAFT:

• finished the Fountain Lace cardigan -- FO photos tomorrow, I hope
• made 14 sets of stitch markers in a fit of misguided energy ... here are just a few of them ...

• packed up all of the prizes from my MDK yarn giveaway, and a few of my swap packages too ... here's a before and after shot ...

• Worked on the Baudelaire socks a bit.
  
• Made a washcloth for charity.
  
• Started Grandma's poncho, though not much of it yet ...

Hopefully, I'll be back soon.

wanna trade...?

... I'll trade you my ham and cheese for your fluffernutter.

Wait, not that kind of trade!

Instead, I'm offering up my well-dressed baby food jars in trade for ... well, other crafty stuff!


These jars are perfect for storing what my husband refers to as "crafty crap" -- pins, stitch markers, safety pins, sewing machine bobbins, cuts of ribbon, beads, thimbles, etc.

Here's how it will work -- send an email to aswiminknits at yahoo dot com and tell me which one of the jars you would like.

Then, offer to give me something in exchange. If I am interested what you have to offer, it's a deal. I'll mail you a jar, you mail me [whatever we trade for].

If you want to attach a photo of whatever you are offering, even better!!!

Here's a list what I am most interested in swapping for right now. I know that some of these things are not necessarily things you'd want to swap away, but I'll throw the ideas out there anyways :) If you feel like what you are offering is worth two or more jars, then ask for two of them!

And, please do feel free to offer to swap things that are not on my list -- you never know what I might want!

SEWING STUFF

• fabric scraps for patchworky stuff -- pieces of all reasonable sizes (like the ones in these Denyse Schmidt scrap bags)
  
• fabric yardage -- got something you don't plan to use, or a big chunk leftover from a project?
• fabric fat quarters (see a theme here?)
• thread for my sewing machine -- (I don't have a ton of colors, and sometimes just need to use a little bit, so partially used spools are ok too ...)
• ribbons or other embellishments
• patterns for making bags (like these Amy Butler ones, for example...)
  
• notions (snaps, hooks, bag handles, zippers, etc).
• embroidery floss (I use this to sew down buttons, so again, partial skeins are ok!)
  

KNITTING STUFF

• black wool yarn in worsted, aran, or bulky weight (not planning to felt it, so superwash is ok)
• Knitpicks's new circular needles (any size, just wanna try them...)
• sock yarn
• bulky wool or other animal fiber yarn (approx 3 sts/in, give or take, for charity knitting, hats mostly...)
• rubber stitch markers like these (small sizes are very good!)
  
• a mini Kacha Kacha counter!!! (regular sized red one is good too...)

In case you are curious what kind of fabric I like, I have eclectic taste. I like any of the Free Spirit stuff, and anything in similar styles. I also like vintage or faux-vintage prints. Love stripes, esp multi-colored, and multi-width. And if they sell it at Repro Depot, I'll probably drool over it! I like solids and semi-solids, too.

At the moment, I am particularly coveting prints and solids in sherbet-y shades of pink and orange, with colors like this or this.

***************************

Here are some individual beauty shots of the jars I have to swap:

JAR #1 (white with dots) and JAR #2 (pink with dots)

JAR #3 (woodsy colors)

JAR #4 (pink and orange nearly squares checkerboard)

JAR #5 (pink and orange bullseyes)
JAR #6 (pink/orange/purple/white lotsa dots!)

JAR #7(purple, white, and pink marble swirls)

JAR #8 (pink and white marble checkerboard)

JAR #9, 10, 11 -- custom colors! I will make you a jar just like #1, 2, 6, or 7, in your choice of colors. Here's an example of a blue/green/purple one that I made and traded away to the Mafia --


So, bloggy buddies, search your stashes for things to trade, and send me an email! I will be away from the computer all weekend (gasp!!), as I will be going on a quickie vacation, but I will get back to you next week.