I started a skirt yesterday, with some black fabric embroidered with pink flamingos, and it’s almost finished. I started with a pattern, but decided to alter it substantially. So now it’s a six-gore skirt with a waistband, and it looks kind of 50s housewife-ish, so I’m psyched. I also started sewing a top to go with it out of some translucent, pink fabric with a rose pattern. The shirt is slightly more complicated than the skirt, and I’m hoping to finish it up next weekend.
Snow day! I caught up on some napping, and Greg left for XBA’s mini tour. They’re playing in Tennessee tonight and tomorrow, and Greensboro Sunday.
The Addi Turbos showed up, and they are pretty smooth. The back of Skully is coming along pretty well now.
Skully is once again on a back burner. This time it’s because my needle broke – I was using a circular needle and the plastic connector came undone in the middle of a row. Ah well. After trying unsuccessfully to pick up the stitches, I frogged everything and ordered a new needle from Lion Brand. Their new catalog came today, and I was just dazzled by all the pretty pretty vegan yarns. I heart Lion Brand. Anyway, so now I’ve got some Addi Turbos on the way. I’ve heard good things, and I figured it was time to try them myself. Plus they have to be better constructed than the crap needle I was using.
It’s cool, though. I’ll just work on the legwarmers and other projects that have been neglected. Also, I’ve been working out the logistics of the Aura shoulderwarmer. Glampyre Knits has a pattern for a “boob tube” that I like, and I’m basing my shoulderwarmer on it. I would say I’m straight up using GK’s pattern, because it’s a great one, but I suspect changes will have to be made, at the very least due to the differing gauge. We’ll see. I’m impatient to start it, so I’ve been trying to talk myself into using regular needles (straight? single-pointed? I don’t know), but I’d have to put a seam in and I really don’t think I want that. Or I could go back to the pattern I originally got the yarn for…Hm. Anyway. Eventually I will make the boob tube, whether out of the Aura or not. And quite possibly on some Addi Turbos, if they work out well.
Valentine’s Day was excellent. We made linguine no-fredo for dinner, and had a vegan raspberry chocolate cake from WSM. Mmm….rich food…We didn’t really do anything huge – just stayed in and enjoyed each other’s company. Which was fine with me – I had enough of other people when I went to pick up the cake. And watched a laughably bad but nonetheless entertaining film: Faust: Love of the Damned. I hear it’s based on a graphic novel.
Grr. My payment for the Kyoto yarn cleared the bank a couple days ago, for 4 skeins cheaper than what it should have been. I ordered 4 skeins of one color, and guessed that this meant the supplier was out of that color and had shipped the rest without even warning me. So I emailed them, a little peeved, because I did spend some time deciding which colors I wanted, and since it’s all for the same project I can’t do anything with a partial order but sit on my thumbs. And at least if they had warned me I could have asked them to sub in a different color, so all the yarn would show up at the same time. So I get an email back claiming they emailed me on the 7th to let me know they were out of the pink, but were shipping the rest. In today’s email, they offered to ship a different shade of pink that was “close” to the one I wanted. This just peeved me off worse because 1-I haven’t gotten any emails from them until today and 2-the shade they suggested wasn’t close at all. We’re talking the difference between fuschia (what I wanted) and baby pastel pink (ugh). They also noted that the pink I wanted was on order, and that I could place another order for it when it got back in stock. I emailed back asking when it was expected in stock, but got no reply. Later, I found the exact shade I wanted, in stock, for cheaper, and the supplier was closer to NC (so, it should get here in no time). So I ordered 4 skeins from them.
So today when I get home, the partial order is waiting for me. The green is…well, it’s not hideous. But it’s so different from the sample online that it’s a little worrisome. I know colors can be funky online, or scanners might make them wonky, but this green is ridiculously brighter than I expected. And most certainly would not look well with baby pastel pink. Whatever. I can deal. The pink I ordered today is a strong fuschia-y pink. It should be okay. Anyway, so on the receipt in the box there’s a note: “other color will ship later.” Which peeved me again. Because telling me I can place another order for something when it’s back in stock is not the same as telling me they’re going to automatically ship it when they get more in stock. Not a huge deal, but it meant that I had to email them and tell them to cancel the rest of the order. Because, hello, I’m not going to cancel the order that costs less and ships from closer, and actually has the item in stock. And also? If they’re out of stock, they really ought to say so on the part of their site called “Yarns in stock.” Yeesh.
I’ve finished the front of Skully, and have started the back. It still looks like it’s going to be a little long, but not as ridiculously long as it seemed before I frogged three inches.
We went to Flicker Monday night, mainly to see Greg’s film acting debut in a short by one of his minions. As I couldn’t take Skully, I started a cozy for my cellphone, and pretty much finished it there. All that’s left is the seaming.
Still waiting for the Kyoto yarn to show up. So impatient.
whew. i finally finished backtracking on skully, and am almost finished with the shoulders. the legwarmers are coming along slowly but surely, and i ordered yarn for knitty’s kyoto last week. whee! i’ve got some aura for a shoulder-warmer, and i’m debating whether to pair it with another yarn to bulk it out and make it a little warmer or to just use the aura alone.
excitement: i dusted and oiled my knitting machine, and used it to successfully make a blanket for the cats, after many other unsuccessful attempts (before the oiling). so, people blankets ahoy!
we saw bubba ho-tep again last night. and this time around we caught the first twenty minutes or so, so that was nice. the guy at nevermore that told us we only missed like four minutes? clearly quite wrong.
i finished the first leg warmer, and it’s rather flared at the foot. i don’t think the flare would provide much warmth, so i’ve scrapped it and am starting over and just knitting a tube. and not following anyone else’s legwarmer patterns, either. since that’s worked out so very badly for me three times now.
i also started undoing the top (and unnecessary) three inches on the front of skully. hopefully, this is all it’ll take to fix the length.
