Don't Rag on Me!

OK first things first. Berroco Jasper yarn is on sale here! Check it out. I was asked if it is really as soft as it looks and the answer is yes. It's not quite Alpaca soft but it is very soft and snuggly and nice to wear as a hat, scarf, gloves, anything. Really - you need to make a hat!

Now - to the purpose of THIS post. Anyone out there playing Dish Rag Tag The Sequel? If you are - beware Magic 8. We are going to win this time! Well I received the box yesterday with a lovely purple dishrag from Jaynee along with chocolates and some cherry Carmex. How did she know I love cherry! As soon as I got a free moment I took the brightly colored ball of cotton out of the box and knit my fingers to the bone to finish my dishrag. I stayed up late and got up early but I wanted to do my team proud. I packed it back in the box this morning with a new skein of cotton and some goodies for Jill and off it went. I never knew one could feel so much pressure to knit a dishcloth! It never ceases to amaze me how many fun folks there are out in the knitting world. There are almost 300 knitters competing in this game of Tag!

Jasper My Love

I just can't stop knitting hats with Berroco Jasper yarn. I'm hooked. It's so soft, knits up so quickly and stripes so beautifully! I started with the red Amanda Hat which you see modeled by the actual Amanda. I liked it so much that I made another one in blue. I did modify it a bit as I felt that if I followed the pattern the hat would be too long so rather than do 3 full repeats of the lace pattern in the second section of the hat I only did 1 and one-half.

After those two I went back and bought some of the black colorway and made a Black Jack Hat (pattern to be posted soon) which is for the Little Man since I didn't think he'd like the fancy lace stitch! After that I just HAD to make a Black Jack Hat for my nephew so I chose the brown colorway to go with his blonde, blonde hair. I think the boys will love being twins. Now what shall I make with it?

Round and Round and Round

Miss K saw a twisty scarf months ago and decided that she just HAD to make one. So we went to the LYS, found some Bamboo yarn (green of course) and brought it home. Then it sat in her room. And it sat. And it sat. Finally she asked if I would make it for her. I'd always wanted to try the pattern so I agreed. It's from Scarf Style and it's actually quite a fun knit. It goes quickly and it's pretty neat to watch it twist. It is made with short rows and I must admit that I don't actually understand why it does what it does but it's very cool. It does eat up the yarn though so I think it will take three skeins. I've just finished the first.

We just got back from a few days in Oregon. It is so gorgeous up there!

Stick a Fork in It

My Italian Market Bag is finished. I am so thrilled with how it turned out. The only problem now is keeping the girls from taking it! I love this yarn, soft, pliable with just enough sparkle to add some interest. The ending kicked by bu** though as I had to frog it several times. I thought I would end with seed stitch but after 4 rows I decided it didn't look very good so I had to tink it all. I hate taking things out so it was a struggle for me. I decided to use stockinette instead and was hapy with how that turned out.

Then I bound off and had a big, huge floppy opening. I didn't like that so had to take that all out. I decided to pretty much k2tog all the way around and then bind off again. For awhile I was nervous that it would then be too small of an opening but it turned out just right.

I looked all round for white rope handles but couldn't find any. I couldn't even find any good rope to try to fashion in to handles. I did find some white drape tie backs and got all excited over those, but when I got them home (of course I didn't have the bag with me at the time) they didn't look good with it. Too fancy. So I decided to knit the handles. After that I tried a few different things and pulled them all out, I finally landed on making it in to a strap with "blocks" of stockinette followed by a purl row.

I will type up the pattern and post it in case anyone is interested. I have seen links on people's blogs to patterns that open up to nice PDF files of the pattern. Does anyone know how to do that? If so I'd love to hear.

The joining bug has bit me again so I joined two KAL's this week! Luckily both are small. One is Dish Rag Tag through the Yarn Miracle. I did it last year and it was a lot of fun (even though our team - Lucky 13 - lost solely based on where the mailman placed our box! - I'm still bitter.) I figure a dish rag is a pretty quick knit so that's not too much of a commitment. Also check out the Fashionably Late in 2008 KAL and join me to knit a smoke ring. I've never made one before but I think it will be fast and easy and make really impressive gifts.

Good Yharma

"Yharma" is my word for knitting kharma and this hat is the perfect example. I was yearning to make another hat - just one - and then I'll get back to the socks and UFO's - really I will. I wanted to make it for my daughter's friend Amanda but I wanted to try something new. So I searched around and found this great pattern for the "Amanda Hat". Now how perfect is that? The pattern is adorable and it knits up really quickly. I think she's going to love it. The only problem is that it calls for a half ball of Malabrigo and I didn't have any handy. So I grabbed some Berroco Jasper that I have been waiting to use. It is so soft and yummy I just love it!

What I didn't realize is that there are only 98 yards in the skein. I came close, really, really close but not quite enough. But I figured that since Berroco is a major yarn supplier and it's not some hand dyed, art yarn that I'd be able to easily get some more. Right? WRONG! I went on the Berroco site to figure out what the color is called (my tag just had numbers on it) and what did my eyes behold? They have discontinued that colorway. ACK! So I quickly went to WEBS online and was thrilled to find that they had 3 skeins left. Can you believe it? Just 3! So I bought 2 because I figured I'll use just a little to finish my hat and then what will I do with it? So if I have 3 skeins I can make 2 hats and maybe one baby hat . . . . Hopefully it will arrive soon.

I also went to my vegetable garden this weekend. I've been scared to go up there because there has been a gopher in there destroying things. I hired a trapper service and they've already caught 3 but I'm still getting holes all over the lawns and in the veggie garden. It's very depressing. They've basically ruined the tomatos but the beans are still doing great. They ruined the Little Man's peas and he is very sad. He wants me to get three Anacondas and put them in the gopher holes. That might just work but I'm pretty sure I have to go to the Amazon to find Anacondas . . . . But look at the pretty sunflower that is getting ready to bloom!

And speaking of growing things - remember this little gal? Well she is growing up and I know her Aunt Bonnie wants to know how she is doing. For those of you who havn't "met" her yet, this is Miss K's Bearded Dragon named Saphira. I never thought I'd ever care about a lizard but actually I do! Maybe she could catch the gophers for me!