Rav member Fenna, and her gorgeous shawl through clue 2

My silk triangle shawl, through clue 1, with gold beads

One more clue, and the end is so close we can almost touch it! By now, the rounds are becoming tediously long, but as the edge begins to unravel, hopefully you all have new found energies to arrive in London safely and claim your wage :)
Unfortunately, my experimentation with some of the new Ravelry features had a rather disastrous effect; Some of you found that clicking the "update" button brought indeed the new clue, but also wiped out the past clues from Rav library. In retrospect, this makes a lot of sense; the "update" function is there to let you know that there is a new version of a pattern you acquired, and that means the old pattern is obsolete and it is removed when the new, updated version is uploaded. sigh.
Fortunately, I think I will be able to use this feature next year, and just have one cumulative pattern that gets updated with the new clue added, so you won't miss old clues or have dozens of little clues all over. This is still on the refining process, and I definitely have to make sure that there are no glitches (such as, Rav attempting to charge you after the pattern changes from free to pay). But we are getting there. Meanwhile, if your data got wiped out, you can either buy the cumulative pattern (2.50, not a bad deal), which you can keep in your library forever, or if you honestly feel you are owed a copy, email me and I will send you a copy of the pattern up to clue 12, but yo won't be able to keep it in the library or update it with the final clues.
Clue 3 will take us one step closer to the end. However, I need to push its release a couple of days back, to Sunday, October 30th. I will be in a conference in San Francisco until then, and even if I take my laptop with me, I don't want to have any surprises having to rely on whatever Internet connection I have in the hotel (some hotels give you very limited data upload and such).
Any good yarn stores I should visit while I am in SF???

New projects

With my square shawl trudging along the last rows of USA, I really needed to get cracking on my mom's coat. This is the first time I design a truly shaped sweater, with set in sleeves, sleeve caps, and all that jazz. There was a lot of math, and I really had to struggle to stay organized and type down the instructions as I go. I have a bad habit of making shorthand notes in a dozen different locations, which make perfect sense at the time, but after a few weeks, or even days, I can't decipher my own gibberish. Case in point is the hat I developed as a swatch. I did some beautiful crown shaping with the cabled motifs merging gorgeously, and now I can't for the life of me figure out how I did it. Which means making another hat while I try to figure out whether the scribbles are cable symbols or Chinese characters.
This coat also meant I had to develop smarter strategies to make the model, and minimize frogging. I am almost programmed to start a sweater at the back, then make the fronts, then the sleeves. However,  I started at the front side, to test the armhole and neck shaping. Now I am moving to the sleeve, which also has a lot of shaping. If those fit well, then the rest of the coat follows. I am scaring myself with all this organization. And I am shaking in my boots to think about grading this (adding extra sizes). But the pattern is too beautiful to keep it solely as my mom's pet projects, so I will have to woman up and do it.

Elly Samples
A big thanks to those of you who offered to make a sample Elly for me. I ended up with five samplers, one who offered her own stash (thanks Dragonflyjenn!), and here is what the other four got:

From the top: Pink yarn is Stroll Glimmer, a fingering yarn with threads of lurex. It is actually quite soft to touch, and the twinkle is quite subtle. I think if I was a little girl, I would go nuts over a little hat or scarf made with this. I think it is going to make a very cheery and fun scarf!. Red yarn is the luscious Gloss DK, a silk/merino blend that is just delish to touch. Purple yarn is some Shadow from my own stash, a pretty basic workhorse lace yarn with a lovely heathered color. Finally, the blue yarn is Stroll Tonal, but the picture really does not do justice to the lovely color variations within. All in all, a stellar lineup, I think we should have a great collection of Ellies in a variety of impersonations, and I can't wait to meet them all!
Thank you to all of the participants!

Just some pretty yarn...
 All my latest project are brown, brown, brown... so I was thrilled when I got my first installment of the Sweet Georgia Yarn sock yarn club. Such lovely, romantic blend of browns, purples and turquoise. The photo does not do it justice.
I have also been toying with the idea of making a little football shirt for my littlest one using Gridiron. The ownership of the magazine is up, and the pattern is now all mine. So I need to type it up, make some new photos, and put it up for sale. I have a Minnesota Vikings version for my eldest, so the choice now is, what to do for the little one? Arizona Cardinals or Iowa State Cyclones? I think daddy would love the little monster on a Cyclones shirt...It is such a fun little knit! And there has to be some football lover moms and grandmas that want to make one for their kids this Christmas, don't you think?

Will there be a 2012 KALendar?
Of course there will be! it is just too much fun not to do it. I have started chewing on some ideas and inspirations, but as usual your input means so much to me. You all know that the KALendar is a frogocracy (I get to make all the decisions), but still your opinions and wishes often fuel my inspiration and help me push the envelope. So I will likely start a thread within the group so you can all sound your opinion, and get me going. This year, it was very clear that things are a lot better when you have more planning time, though we ended up in crunch time for the border. Thank God for my test knitters!!!! They saved my butt a few times.

All done... and in awe!

An unusually brief and photo-less update today... but I just needed to let it out. I have finished my 2011 KALendar shawl!!! One of them, at any rate... the blue Muga silk with gold colored beads. And what a sight it is. Absolutely exquisite, and worth of a Maharani to be sure. I had added an extra USA repeat, and it is one big large sucker... 47 in deep by 108 in wingspan, and all 920 yards of silky glory.
My last worries about the appearance of the border and the blocking and the yardage are finally put to rest. You will not be disappointed by your shawl, I promise!!!
Now, if I could only finish my Cashmere square... but my mom has been reminding me that I promised to finish the cabled coat for winter, so am applying myself to it. Why, o why did I promise her a 3/4 length coat???

Be an Elly sample, try some yarn
And now, a little plea for help. Knit Picks has agreed to place Elly as a free download pattern in their site! I am very excited because they do get a lot of traffic, and I really would love to share Elly with a lot of people. But here is the catch: I need to make a sample in some KP yarn, any yarn or color I choose (and lucky me, I can choose any, since Elly is an "all yarn" pattern). 
But I am woefully short of time, so I would like to ask for some help. Here is the deal: if you think you can turn a sample of Elly in a week or two max, I will let you choose any KP yarn you want, send you the yarn at home, and you make the sample. I would need the finished sample sent to me for a short while, so I can take pictures (unless you are an awesome photographer yourself and can send me some great snaps). I will send you the sample back, and it is yours to keep.
Let me make this clear: KP is not giving me the yarn, I have to buy it, and being it a free pattern, I make no money out of it. So I really need somebody that keeps her/his end of the deal.
I can probably use 2-3 samples, so if you would like to make Elly, and you are really itchin' to try some KP yarn (how about their new Sugarbunny?), send me an email at neverfrog@aol.com, letting me know who you are, your Rav name, what yarn and color you would like to try, and your pinky promise that you WILL make the sample promptly and return it to me. If I have a lot of takers, I will have an innocent-ish hand draw names and will let you know. 
Just one more thing... due to mailing cost and time I can offer it only to USA knitters. Maybe next time I can partner up with an European or Canadian dyer/retailer!

Well, here is some Malabrigo Rios I had bought for a Lazy Elly in Rainbow colorway. I just noticed that all my WIPs are some shade of brown or another. My 5-year old picked this one right away, I can't argue with his taste :)
Are you ready for the next round of border awesomeness next week?  

Clue 12: Are we there yet???

My Mr. Fogg Square Shawl with a partial clue 12

Right about now, most of you are feeling like little kids on a really long car trip: Are we there yet? Tired of laboring long (and if you make the square shawl, obscenely long) rounds of repetitive knitting, you wish for the excitement and the challenge of our grand finale border. And we won't disappoint you! With the weather starting to cool off, we can finally sit down with our shawl in our lap, and "git'er done" in time to show off during the holidays.

 Unfortunately, I have been lagging a little bit with my square shawl, and I only have a partial clue to show, but you get the idea. I can't say enough of this Hedgehog Fibers cashmere lace, with its beautiful stitch definition and the soft halo, and a softness that it is to die for. You will have to pry this shawl from my cold dead fingers!

Why doesn't my camera get along with the blues?

Unfortunately, my Muga silk cobweb shawl does not photograph well at all - the color here looks like a muddy brown, while it is a deep blue. I added an extra repeat of the USA clue for size, so I thought I would show you. The beads are size 8 gold colored beads.

Border Details, the Big Reveal


This year, the border is intrinsic to the shawl - meaning, knit with the shawl and not separately and attached or knit-on later. It is a couple of rows shy of 50, and you may be able to expand it or shrink it only by a couple of rows at the end. There is no bailing out halfway, so make sure you have enough yarn.
For yarn guesstimation purposes, you should have at least as much yarn as  you used for USA2 plus a couple of hundred yards for security. I would say, about 600 yards.
The border will add between 5-7 inches per side, once blocked, but this varies a lot with your gauge and yarn.
The method of choice to turn corners is a separate motif that will be worked in the corner (thus there will be charts for the straight sides and a different chart for the corner). You will have to toggle between charts, so make sure you have a good supply of chart markers - maybe a large cookie sheet and a collection of magnetic strips or a highlighter.

There shall be opportunities for beads, nupps, and all of the above. In fact, there are multiple options for those elements, which the test knitters have lovingly nicknamed:

• Plain vainilla border. Don't worry, the border is very ornate so if you do not like beads or nupps, it will still look spectacular.
• Nupp groupings. Plenty of nupps,but not overwhelmingly so, it is an elegant option. You can also work these as beads
• Sprinkle of beads. Just a few beads scattered on the lacier parts for a bit of sparkle without weight. These beads are marked differently and can not be converted to nupps.
• Superbead option. Indulge the glam within you, make all the nupps as beads and add the "sprinkles" as well. This option may give you a heavy border, and it will use a whooping 1,000 beads for the square, but it is a head-turner.
• Baroque option. Work the nupps as nupps and add the bead sprinkle as well. Who says you can't have it all???

Once you realize that you can also combine with the different options in the corners (eg a "superbead" corner with a more simple straight side), your head may start spinning. Another problem is that you will have to commit to a format from the beginning, and trust me, you don't want to rip. So find your zen place, and make a decision, and order your beads. I should be able to give you a bead count soon.

The book ends with a bang - our heroes race the Atlantic burning their boat as they go, Fogg is thrown in prison, they think they have lost the race, only to find that the won when they gained one day by travelling with the sun. And the romantic touch. It is one of the  most exciting book endings in classic literature. We will be matching this hellish fast pace with our own. The border will be revealed in 4 shortish clues (8-14 rows), spaced 2 weeks apart. Work permitting, here are the tentative release dates:

1. Sept 30th (so hurry up and finish your USA 2!)
2. Oct 14
3. Oct 28
4. Nov 11 (how COOL is this? our last clue is 11/11/11

That gives us plenty of time to finish in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, swap yarn leftovers, make a couple of Ellys for Christmas giving, and start gabbing about what we want to do in 2012.
Excited? I really hope you are

Where in the world is Carmen Neverfrog?

You probably have noticed that I have been conspicuously absent from the boards lately. There has not been any tsunami-like event in my life. And unfortunately, I have not been involved into any super sikrit project I hope to show off soon. I have just been having a big, fat helping of Supermom Syndrome. You know, that illness all women have where they feel they need to prove they can do it all and do it well. 

First, there is this day job thing. Need it for food, shelter, health insurance and all that minutia. My job site is having a major expansion which means a lot of extra paperwork, update classes, computer crap, and people generally running around with their hair on fire. Good for business, bad for stress. 

Then there is this mom thing. My eldest just started Kindergarten, which means all of the sudden he is released in the middle of the afternoon, and there is a "short day" in the middle of the week, and I had to scramble to find other activities to keep him from driving us batty at home. Thus Mom becomes She Who Drives Kids Around.And the youngest is in the middle of UberTerrible Twos, and Potty Training Bootcamp.

Since I really, really needed another job, there is still this home remodel project we are doing in our rental unit. Trust me, it is a LOT more fun when you see it in HGTV, where edgy designers and hunky carpenters and electricians put together a lovely home update in three days and show it to the delighted owners. Spending your time off unglueing ancient flooring, painting the trim, cleaning prehistoric dust from the ceiling fans and touring really hot stone and tile warehouses, not so much fun. But somehow, Roach Inn is slowly inching its way to becoming a lovely modern and efficient little home with high-end finishes. We will share pictures, and you won't believe the transformation.

Which leaves us with this knitting business. Forget about socializing on the net, working on new designs, submitting to magazines. I am just keeping my head above water, putting all I have into getting this border put together. Definitely, my head has not been on the game as it should and my latest charts have had some major boo-boos. Thankfully, the talented test knitter pool has saved my butt a few times pointing out major errors and modifications that needed to be made and goading me towards and overall better design. A big thanks to them for sticking it out this long!!! Deborah, Tasha, Susan, Karen, you are the best.

Hopefully, as the dust settles and I fall into a new rhythm, I will be back to my usual self. God knows I have a notebook full of sketches and ideas waiting to be developed.

Some FOs 

I have finished a couple of projects due for my sister and mom's birthdays, only two months late. Yay.

My sister will be receiving this Fitted Top from Vogue Summer 2011. Instead of expensive silk yarn, I used Cascade Ultra Pima cotton, in a bright turquoise color. Really cheap project, I needed only 3 hanks, and very showy. It was quick and fun to knit though it looked very awkward while being knitted. The finishing, however, it was another story. LOTS of sewing, and LOOOOTS of ends to weave. the result is pretty cool, though I have left a bit of it unsewn in the back so my sis can adjust the fit. I think it is a great top to wear over your swimsuit with a pair of shorts or a sarong, you can go straight from the beach to have a few drinks.

  The Mission Cardigan from IK Summer 2011 is for my mother. I hated making it. The yarn is Louet Euroflax (100% linen), a sport weight linen worked on really thick needles. There is no end to what I disliked about it. The yarn is stiff and splitty even with blunt needles. The pattern was all written and I had to make my own little charts. Getting gauge was hell.  There was enough similarity between all the portions and enough differences that I kept making mistakes the moment I clicked into mindless knitting and man, it is hard to read the knitting with this yarn. Blocking to size was a pain because unlike wool, the linen does not stretch well. Sewing this net-like fabric was a pain. Weaving in ends is hard. However, the results are 100% lovely, the cardi knits up relatively fast and it is a very wearable and fun garment. Almost worth all the trouble. Almost. One quick tip, if you attempt this, use a lace cast-on for the bottom edge. It will look extremely messy on the needles but once you get to blocking, it will give you a cleaner edge that won't pucker the bottom of the garment. I was tempted to bind the neckband with k2tog, but it looked bulky and messy so I just went up 2 needle sizes. 

 

In the middle of the 800-stitch-per-row and complicated lacy stuff pattern, I needed to find a little solace on something simple and small, so I started a pair of Paul Atwell Socks for my father. I had this gorgeous skein of SG Little Traveller in an one-off colorway. I have loved this socks since I first saw them in the Yarn Harlot blog. They are simple, manly socks that show off variegated yarn well, so they are fun to knit and discreet enough that a man won't object. In fact, I love the stitch pattern so much I am pondering making something with some derivations of it. 

We will see each other soon... Knit fast to finish your Clue 12 and join in the mad rush to the finish!!!

Hello, Elly!

whisper-thin Elly in cobweb weight Muga silk with glass beads

Finally, Elly is ready to be released! I had a wonderful set of test-knitters, that made me rework the final written pattern to make it really user friendly and clear. The pattern contains a lot of links to the more unusual techniques for those that are just getting their feet wet into the great river of beyond-beginner lace.
Here is Elly's Ravelry project page

Elly has proven to be an incredibly versatile pattern. It managed to look good in every possible yarn weight, other than bulky. In variegated, bicolor, and solid options. With or without beads. Regular or "lazy" (all purled WS).
Above you can see a cobweb yarn option (the scrumptious Indigo Moon Muga Silk, in purple cochineal dye), with glass beads, that rendered a lighter-than-air neckerchief to dress up any plain top. See it here again:

A lovely picture show of all the FO's from the talented tester pool, in many versions and weights

Bcrobb shawl in Tencel lace from Valley yarns

Blessedspeedy in Adorn Sock

BusyMind in Cascade Vero DK. Larger weights knit at relatively tighter gauge, for a cozier shawl with a lot of great texture.

FiaKnit used cone lace yarn with beads

GoodNurse version in St-Denis Nordique (sport) finished with picot cast off to avoid edge rolling

NadiaZ60 used mohair lace for a deliciously fluffy shawl

Malabrigo Silky Merino looks just huggable in Panfila's shawl version. she used an i-cord cast off.

Quilterx made this in KnitPicks Shadow bare, which she plans to overdye

Subtly marbled Plymouth Happy Feet sock yarn for Starfish15, lovely color!

after seeing VintageRedHead worsted weight version, I plan to buy some Malabrigo to make me one...

Another St-Denis Nordique sport weight shawl by xstmj

Elly looks well also in heavy variegated yarn with texture in Yarn-Dar's version

After viewing the pictures, I bet you already have in mind some stashed yarn you can use for an Elly. It uses less then 400 yards for smaller versions, and 400-450 for the DK-worsted weight. And if you can't decide, make a couple of them. It is a quick knit, that you can finish in a week or less. The cast on and first couple of rows are a bit painful, since the shawl is started in the long (lace) edge, but once the lace is stablished, it sort of flies of the needles, and the final short row part is just a cinch. So it actually gets faster and easier as you finish!

And at the whooping price of zippo, zilch, nada... free! What excuse do you have not to make one?

Sock Summit Spectacular!

Finally out, the Summer 2011 Tangled Magazine issue! It is a Sock Summit issue with an 80's music  theme. A dozen gorgeous socks, all named after 80's rock bands and artists such as David Bowie, The Clash, The Cure and (don't laugh, I was a big fan) Spandau Ballet.

I was very excited that my socks were chosen to represent the Go-Go's, one of the most successful girl bands ever. I think they fit the bill, being all girly and frilly, but as you can see, also totally badass :). Check out the pictures in their official site, the ladies are still rockin'!

Here is the Ravelry Pattern Page. Go ahead and give them some love (please?)

But back to the socks; The Go-Go's have elements you will recognize from the Talinay Gloves and the September clue in the 2010 KALendar. The construction is traditional cuff down, the leaf lace pattern whips around the front of the leg towards the toe, there is a round flap toe and a hybrid toe (part wedge, part star). And yes, a little frilly edge! (which is totally optional). And the best part, is that I knit the first one while flying from Hawaii on my honeymoon. (Apparently, airports are very inspirational to me, since Elly happened at Denver airport). I remember a cute old lady stopping by my seat to tell me I was "doing a real good job" on the socks.

Being at heart a practical person, I made the socks to be really stretchy, to fit just about any size cuff. In fact, I made a point to have just about anybody at work try them on.

To fully enable your sock shopping, here is a discount code: Use it to get a $1 discount in any pay-per-download coupon at tangled! Just enter code Socksummit11 (good for any pattern, not just this one!). I hope you enjoy it - I do have my eyes in a couple of the patterns already, and a mound of sock yarn that needs some serious lovin'.

Clue 11: USA part I

And we arrive to the USA finally! The next two clues will add some size to the shawl and frame the edge. I really wanted to go with the idea of the bridges, and the stars and stripes, and throw in some reference to the natives, even though in Verne's book they are just a cliche. I put it all in the blender, and out came the clue. A bridge with stripes of stars and arrowheads!

The 2x2 gathered stitches that form the star portions can put some tension on the fabric, because they are not as elastic as the openwork. The arrowheads do compensate for it, but still, in a square, a tight ring about the middle can cause an unsightly puckering of the center portion. Thus, my recommendation to swatch a little. I found it necessary to swap needles when knitting my silk triangle, which has a much less elastic fabric, but for loose knitters, a good merino lace may take a more aggressive blocking due to the elasticity of the wool.

Star Stitch Pictorial
Though I tried to add a picture to the clue itself, here is a little pictorial on how to do the 2x2 stitch (I promise to learn to post videos soon!)

 

Fig 1: K2tog as usual

Fig 2: do not drop the stitches just worked from the needles

Fig 3: insert right needle through the back loop of the stitches just worked

Fig 4: k2tog-tbl

Fig 5:  The stitch will appear a bit nubby, the pattern won’t reveal itself until you work a few rows .

Fig 5: a swatch that did not make the cut, showing the 2x2 stitch well blocked

This clue should be easily accomplished in about 3 weeks, so I will announce a release date for clue 12 very soon... as soon as my August schedule is out. There is a little trip at the end of the month and I don't want to shoot myself on the foot by scheduling the clue out the day I am supposed to be elsewhere! to compensate, clue 12 will be somewhere between longer and much longer! The big surprise is that clue 12 will give you the very American option to supersize it!!!

Elly Beading Contest
Just in case you are not lurking the list, I want to make sure you read the hilarious Shakespearean verses that Susan (ttegnirps) dedicated to the Eternal Dilemma: To Bead, or not to Bead

To bead, or not to bead – that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the shawl to suffer the
Dropped stitch and heartache of outrageous nupps
Or to take hook against a sea of beads,
And by crochet, knit them. To bead, to guess
No more – and by guess to say we choose
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That shawls are heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.

I am sure the ghost of Hamlet's father will be haunting her dreams forever. Probably laughing.

Deserttyrtle beaded the center of the scarabs, and thinks about the rib

Lynne4444 frothy pink lace was beaded from the WS

MandyzMoon beaded the decreases

Martik has more spare beading but beaded the edge

ttgenirps, our resident Bard, went for the twisted rib

A quick review of the entries, just to remind everybody how hard it is going to be to decide. No matter which one I decide for, I will place a link to this page in the pattern so all of you relentless customizers can choose from this smorgasbord of beading styles.
I have not made my mind up completely up yet either, but I will announce the winner by next weekend. It seems like I foolishly placed the deadline smack in the middle of a really busy stretch at work with almost no days off on sight, so I want to give myself a chance to chew on this and work on my time off (ha! what is that?) on refining the pattern and the chart so we can get it released soon.

And speaking of releases...
It looks like a pattern that has lain in waiting for a little bit is due to be released this week!!! I can't tell you just yet... but I will announce soon... and it is... SOCKS!!! and there will be a coupon! yay!

A pause for Elly

 

I am taking a break from our 2011 KAL to show you the progress on the Elly Shawlette and launch the "beading challenge" we spoke about.
You will remember that I sketched the basic math for the shawl during a layover at Denver airport. I had just heard that one of our co-workers had major surgery involving her neck and face, to remove some deep-seated tumors. As expected, she has been very self-conscious of the scars and the damage caused by the surgery, so I thought a pretty little scarf may help cheer her up. And, if I can make some other people happy as well, all the better!
Elly is a short and long crescent type shawl, began at the border and shaped with short rows in the style that Susanna IC has made famous with shawls like Annis, or Oslo Walk.
The beauty of this is that once I started working from my sketches and numbers, I did not have to make a single correction, and it came out just like I thought it would! Some patterns are just meant to be.

You will recognize the edge as a modified version of Egypt. Months ago, while swatching for this, I noticed how the swatch tended to form a point in the lower border, and I thought it would make a pretty edging. So I recycled and modified that swatch.

Here is Elly laid out to block. The lower edge is pinned down, leaving the straight edge free; It curves naturally forming the crescent. This shape, long and shallow, can be worn like a scarf, wound around your neck, or like a light shawl gently draped over the shoulders. The slight curve helps keep the shawl on your shoulders, and it is long enough to set with a pin.
(Oh, yeah, the other stuff... are the pieces of my sister's summer top waiting to be finished. It is going to be a LOT of finishing!)

The border is pinned, the straight edge is free

The yarn is Wollmeise Sock in Spina de Pesce colorway, knit very loosely on size 7 needles. I used just a bit over 300 yards, so it is a great pattern for lace remnants. If you are going to use it as a scarf, you can probably go all the way up to DK weight (or even worsted, but it may turn out to be enormously long) and tighten the gauge somewhat for more dense fabric. The lace edge will still show very well in thicker yarn. It will also show well yarns with some variegation (let's face, nearly nothing shows well "clown barf" yarn).
Yup, no pictures wearing it or on the dress form. If you have not heard yet, we are having some massive dust storms (don't miss the video on the link!). Everything is covered in lunar dust, and the light outside has just not been right for pictures.

Here is the swatch!

I am going to experimentally place the swatch here. You can click on the picture and download it, then enlarge it for printing, we will see how this works.
*please note that this chart is set to be knit "as written", no need to flip stitch meaning in the WS* However, if this hurts your eyes and would much rather have the usual, RS view of the chart, let me know and if there is significant support I will change the chart in the final pattern. Nothing is written in stone!
Have fun experimenting with beads on this pattern. Post your swatch with beads in the Ravelry group (2011 KAL), and hopefully we can use one of them for a beaded version of the shawlette - The "Dressed Up" Elly. The one you saw in the picture will be the "Everyday Elly", and probably I will also include a "Lazy Elly" (wrong side all purled). Does it sound like fun? Once this is done, and I have gone through test knitting, it will be a free pattern for everybody to enjoy :)

USA Spoiler

It seems like giving some "heads up" on special issues pertaining the upcoming clues has been helpful. So here is something I want you to know about USA: It has a tendency to pull the fabric a little bit, so you will probably need to go up one or two needle sizes for the USA clues. By the time we go back to the edge, we will revert to the previous, smaller size. So start looking for the needles! I do give some instructions for a small swatch so you can judge for yourself. I am almost through both USA clues, and I have moved up one needle size.

Off to Iowa!

Next week I will be visiting some family in Northern Iowa, maybe a short hop to Minnesota. I know my husband has vision of dancing sweet corn and big beefy steaks, and temperatures under 100F. I am looking forward for some green, nonthorny vegetation. I do miss the lovely outdoors we used to enjoy in Minnesota, but I do not miss one bit of the endless snow and cold winter.
Also dreaming of some peace and quiet to get some serious knitting done! Life here has been so hectic; We finally closed on our project rental home, and we have been very busy tearing it apart and evicting the cockroaches. I volunteered to do some "light manual labor", but my husband's definition of "light" was rather loose, so I spent two backbreaking hours removing a stubborn glued wood floor (he manning a rotary hammer, me picking up all the pieces and manually unglueing the stray bits). I am hurting in places I did not know could hurt. My husband is loving it. So I am glad not to have to feel guilty about not doing construction work for a few days.
Ask me later about the flight with the two little ones. I have an ace on my sleeve. God bless Pokemon.