Non-knitting content

Not much knitting news to report - there should be plenty after next week, it's vacation time! Yes, one whole week up in New Hampshire, to knit, read, relax, and repeat. The vacation knitting bag will contain:

Big Booga Bag
Fawke socks, with RSC Firebird
Cotton cable sweater
Artfibers shell
Falling Water Lace Scarf with RubySapphire sock yarn in Bryleigh

That should hold me for a week. Just for fun, I tried this quiz:

You scored as Storm, Storm is a mutant who possesses the psionic ability to manipulate weather patterns over limited areas. Storm is extraordinarily skilled at picking both locks and pockets. Storm is also a gifted hand-to-hand combatant, having been trained extensively by her fellow X-Man Wolverine, and is also an excellent marksman with handguns. Storm 70% Kitty pryde 55% Rogue 50% Jean Grey 45% Mystique 40% Emma Frost 40% What X-Men would you be? (Female Version). created with QuizFarm.com

If I could control the weather, the humidity would be much lower.

Finished Montego Bay

already worn twice, with very positive feedback. All those braids as fringe were a pain, but look nice.
and a false start on the FiberArts shell.
Every pattern knit in the round warns to make sure it isn't twisted. I'm not as observant as I thought, because I didn't notice until I'd completed 6 rounds. The challenge will be to remove the needle, and reinsert back at the beginning so I don't have to cast on 128 stitches again.

Bigger Booga Bag

Knitting has continued on the Montego Bay scarf, which is almost done, and on the Big Booga Bag. We spent the weekend in Vermont, where it was cool enough to knit with a giant wool blob in my lap.
I've finished the first ball of yarn, and knit 20 of the 64 rows called for in the pattern. Looking at the picture, 64 rows seems excessive. It all depends on how the turquoise yarn holds out. The plan for the stripes is to make the black stripe 1/2 the width of the first stripe, and continue with narrower and narrower stripes.

The second picture is to try to put the size in context. My original plan was to put the dog in the bag, but he wasn't in the mood.

Big Booga Bag

The bottom of the bag and the Icord are complete, and I bought the required US15 circular needles at the knitting guild meeting last night. The weather will be a little warm for the next several days, so there may not be much accomplished on this. My iPod is included for scale, as it is difficult to see how big this is without something for comparison. I'm concerned that I don't have enough of the turquoise to complete this, so bought some Plymouth Galway in black. I'll double it up and put some skinny black stripes in the bag, both to extend the yarn and add some interest.

Let's hope this isn't too ambitious for a first felting project; prior to this I tried it a couple of times on swatches - never on something that I cared about.

Last minute substitution

Artfibers rocks. I ordered 3 skeins of the Phyz, having decided that the colors weren't going to be found anywhere else. Then I get the email from Kira at Artfibers, telling my the my color choice was discontinued because of difficulties with the color. Aargh. I got smart, and emailed her back with what I was looking for - bulky lightweight yarn, with purples, blues, greens.
Kira emailed me back with several suggestions, of which Rosetta wins:

3 skeins are now in Priority Mail on their way to me. I also started the Big Bulky Booga bag - pictures shortly.

Vacation shopping

or, none of this counts, does it? I went to Patternworks on July 1st, and all of their sale yarn is another 20% off for the month of July. The Fantasy Naturale is destined to be a tank top - it has several of my favorite colors. I did break down once we got home and order the Phyz from Artfibers, because nothing else is close with the colors.

The Lamb's Pride was in the sale bin, and I love the color. No plans yet.

It's hard to tell scale from the picture, but the turquoise yarn is super bulky. I'm going to knit it up in the Booga Bag pattern, but on US13 needles, not the 10 1/2 per the pattern. Hopefully it will knit up bigger; I need something other than a plastic bag to tote my tap shoes back and forth to class. I'll do the I-cord first, then knit until I run out of yarn.

It was cold and windy in New Hampshire, so plenty of knitting time. The Conwy socks in Tofutsies are finished, the Montego Bay scarf is about 1/2 done, and the cotton cable sweater is out of hibernation. It is easier on my hands to use a cable needle. I'm trying not to cast on anything new until the scarf is finished, though the latest Rockin' Sock Club, the giant Booga Bag and the cotton tank top are all calling out. We'll see how long I last!