Some other WO-MAN is knitting for mah MAN.

I know. It’s shocking. As we all know, I do not knit for Kevin. A woman must hold something back, and Kevin does not get a scarf or a sweater until we are married. It’s the rule.

So, some other woman took pity on him, and knit him a scarf. Can you believe it? What happened to female solidarity? How am I ever to get engaged if random women send him knitted items?

Actually, I’m teasing. An EverQuest friend that he met in New Orleans at the Fan Fair sent it to him, and he reports that she’s very nice and very married. Here’s a picture.

Even Katie is being a traitor.

It’s a nice scarf, knit with a fur yarn and an eyelash yarn. It’s quite snuggly. I’d wear it.
On to another scarf, here’s the scarf I knit for my mom out of the Lorna’s Laces Chunky Superwash that I bought at Knitche. It’s perhaps a bit short (Ionly used two skeins), but I still like it.

It’s a chevron pattern from Barbara Walker’s First Treasury.

In other news, after much sniffling and frustration and stress and even some crying (I’m feeling delicate lately), the zipper is finally in my sister’s sweater.

I’m not sure if I like the dark background of the gold zipper, but it was the best I could find in my time limit. She better like it - after all, it is even, and even zips up and down. I think that’s an accomplishment, given my complete lack of sewing skills.

Finally, here is my green Sad Sack Sweater. I love this sweater, even if I look a bit dumpy in it. It is comfy and warm, and I adore the color.

Yes, laying out a sweater evenly was a bit beyond me.

Remember how the water went totally green when I washed the sweater? Here’s photographic evidence. The flash actually washed out some of the color - to give you an idea, my sink is sort of this dark pinkish beige in real life. The water was dark green.

The green did not rub off on me when I wore the sweater today, I’m happy to report.

And, I almost forgot! I won an auction for 2500 yards of this gorgeous lace weight yarn from the nice people in Uruguay. I’m a little bit worried about the color, now that I’m seeing it on the good monitor at home, but I bet I love it in real life. I certainly love that bright green.

That’s it! Well, other than almost losing control over 40% off Alpaca Silk at Purl Soho, but I managed to control myself. Unfortunately, there isn’t really any left.

In the Gail and Kevin household, Christmas has struck.

See, I have issues with the holidays. They stress me out. I obsess over what to get people and how much money to spend, and then I stress about money, and before I know it, I catch a baby flu bug that put everyone else down for a day, but left me sick for 3.

I was home sick Wednesday and Thursday, and couldn’t even get myself up and going to go knitting Thursday night. I did drag myself to work on Friday, but only because I’m taking most of the last part of December off, and its really really busy at work. Like, super busy.

But, I did get some knitting done. But no pictures - I went to take them last night, and realized that the camera battery was about dead. Oops.

I blocked York - my sister’s orange cardigan last night. The water was _really_ dirty after washing, but the yarn did often up a bit, but still smells a bit sheepy. I like it. My sister is excited to get it, but is being a mite picky about the zipper - I’m off to JoAnn’s tonight. Monica did point me towards the perfect zipper web page, but I’ve dithered so long that I just have to get something now.

I also finished my Big Sack Sweater, from Stitch N’ Bitch. It’s gorgeous. When I washed it, it turned the water bright green. I do have a picture of that, but its on the recharging camera. Also, it gave off lint like no one’s business - I had to clean out the drain after I washed it. It also really oftened up, but now I’m worried about how well it’ll stand up - for a rugged yarn, its really very delicate. I broke the yarn at least 4 times when I was doing mattress stitch on the seams. I assume that’s because its made out of recycled wool, and the fibers are short.

I’m half way through my Mom’s scarf - its made out of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Bulky in Argyle. I don’t even like red, but I love how vivid the red is in this yarn. The blue is awesome. I’m not so sure if the gray is right for my mom - I mean, its a gorgeous yarn, and it does remind me of the red line stop at Argyle street, but my mom is more of a Mountain Girl.

I do love the Shepherd Bulky - its very very very soft. It knits up beautifully. I’m doing a sort of modified chevron pattern, which is strong enough to stand up to the variegated yarn.

I’m hoping to finish my Mom’s scarf in the next few days so it can be sent off for Christmas, but I also have to do Christmas shopping. At least we cleaned the house this weekend - it looks like real adults live there now, instead of a pack of wild dogs. I really need to get the cleaners back in.

Don’t worry, I’ll do a real blog entry soon, but Kevin just told me that I could put the following quote in my blog.

He had just seen Knitty’s Womb.

“That is Fucking Nuts.”

That’s the newsflash from Gail and Kevin central, where Gail is nursing a lovely drink made of butterscotch schnapps, and Baileys. Kevin appears to be sober, and now very disturbed.
(Sorry for cussing, but the quote just wouldn’t be the same with bleeps, you know.)

(Knitche in Downers Grove now carries Lorna Laces Yarn. The Bastards. They found their way into my heart and pocketbook.)

I’m perhaps a bit too busy at work to be actually making this post, but, screw it, I’ll buckle down after this.
I have so much news! First, York is complete, except for the zipper. Here she is in all her glory. Yes, the sleeves are the right length. Yes, I agree, they look long.

I am excessively proud at how well I finished this sweater. The set in sleeves look pretty much exactly like they should, the seams are not bulky, and best of all, everything matched up. The collar is nice and stiff, and no holes were it joins the body. I know the sweater looks a bit tilted, but that’s because of how I laid it out. The sides match, I swear. It needs washed and blocked, and I need to preshrink the zipper.

Or so the nice knitting list people told me. I need to thank the nice knitting list people. I’m a bit terrified of inserting the zipper - I can’t even find one that seems to go. I did buy a navy blue one, but now I think perhaps I should go with cream. I did find a nice orange one that matched, but it wasn’t a seperating zipper, the damn thing. I may need to make a trip to Jo Ann Fabrics and see if they have more options than Hancock Fabrics. I looked in both the one down the street from me, and one in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They had the exact same zipper selection.

The Hancock Fabrics in Council Bluffs did have yarn, while my local one does not. But its just Lion Brand stuff, so I wasn’t that excited. They did have their Susan Bates needles and accessories 50% off, so I bought some random stitch markers, a size 8 needle that I needed NOW, having not packed one (oh, the horror), and some other random stuff.

After I finished York, I started back up on my second Sad Sack Sweater. The back and the front are now finished, and I just started the sleeves.

I’m using Rowan Recycled Chunky, which is discontinued. It’s a little hard on my hands, and linty, but I love how it knits up.

I also gave into the Elann Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed sale, and bought 14 balls in Tartan, a lovely greenish-brown tweed. I just keep petting it. I’m going to use it to knit Lara, from Debbie Bliss’s Alpaca Silk book. I ordered the book from KnitPicks yesterday - there are several designs I really like in that book.

Speaking of Elann, they put more Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran up today - the colors as of this writing are already fairly limited, but I didn’t see what they originally offered. My monitor at work sucks, so its hard to see colors, but based on what I”m seeing, I like my Tweed better. I’m a little worried about how Lara will work up - the yarn might not be sleek enough. But, I still love it, and I bet Lara will look great a little “rustic”.

And, for the final picture, we have the door prize I won during the Knitting Beyond the Hebrides Virtual Conference.

It was the mascot of the conference, and I love her. It’s a signed print by the artist, no less. I should frame it.

I’m celebrating Thanksgiving in Iowa this year, and trying to type very very quietly because Kevin’s mom is resting directly behind me before finishing up dinner. So, no hyperlinks. Or pictures. Anyways, happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Plus, yesterday before leaving, I was alerted by Dee that Elann.com had Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed on sale, and I snagged 14 skeins to make Lara from the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk book. Steph (she has a blog, but no links, shhhh), made one with the regular Silkroad Aran, and I liked it even better than the Alpaca Silk version. I picked Tartan as the color, which is a tweedy green.

Speaking of tweedy green, I finished knitting the back of the Big Sack Sweater from Stitch N’ Bitch on the car ride to Iowa. I was planning on starting the front, but I didn’t bring a pair of size 8 needles with me. Well, I do have some size 8 straights, but my alpaca silk lace scarf is on them, and I really should finish that scarf sometime in the next decade.

That’s it for knitting news!