gaysknits

new yarn has entered the premises...

so much for stash busting. in the mail yesterday i received the final two colors and textures of yarn for the favorite color sweater.

red being the favorite color.  i ordered a red violet and a red angora mohair blend and it is wonderfully soft and exquisitely furry but not quite as lacey fuzzy as the mohair so i have cashmere, mohair and angora in shades of wine, red, mauve, and violet. i love the color combination and i love the assortment of textures i have right now so i'll stop shopping. i am loving the cashmerino which is soft and comfortable against my skin.

the sleeves are no fuss fitted and strait to the hand and long. the cowl has been ripped out and is a strait up loose fitting turtle neck. the only thing i know about the body is that it will not be fitted and it could be long and tunic like but nothing is certain.  friday i was turned on to an online black friday yarn sale so i indulged hoping for a deep discount and i got ten percent off...not such a deep discount but what i did get was the shibui silk cloud i was hoping for to make a lacey ribbons pullover from the latest issue of interweave knits.  the color is not red or purple and although i considered black or brown it is neither but  i'll leave that up to a later reveal .

 
 

i have now had contact with and/or knitted with at least seven different angora and mohair yarns and yarn reviews will be forthcoming as i definately have my favs and you may be surprised at my choices.  i have a renewed fascination for the fuzzy, the furry and the soft.  i must be going back to the days of my youth so please stop me if i make an angora twinset or a cable knit mohair sweater because  i don't want to go back quite that far...a fuzzy beret...hmmm...now that's a horse of a different color and a distinct possibility! 

i was gifted some vintage black boucle wool...enough to make a sweater coat and i picked out the perfect pattern but it is no longer in publication and is apparently as hard to find as hens teeth...i have tried all the way to australia so i will attempt to duplicate the pattern and make it up as i go along.  i have located a collar similar in shape to the one i want in an old issue of vogue knitting to use as a guidline for shaping the shawl collar as i have not attempted to make a one yet. the yarn has been soaked in wool wash and hung to dry and re skeined. i have  to wind it into ballls. no knitting had been done for a few days because of all the cooking  but i did start up again last night.  it snowed the night before and although it was ony a few flurries and not even noticeable i pretended it was inches and inches, turned on the fireplace and snuggled up to some knitting.  after we went to the local electronics store to replace the phone that broke when i dropped it on the floor. oops. later...love   g

today i will ramble....

on and on and on. i have a lot of ramble in my head today and maybe it will go somewhere...maybe not.  i just noticed typepad has a quick compose like face book or twitter. i think i will try that but not today. today i have rambling to do. i have lots of work to do too but it is not work that i have been occupying myself with lately. it is knitting, it is reading, it is cooking well really candy making i should say that has been occupying my time lately.  i made myself sick eating the pecan brittle i made for the mom and she did get some of it but i ate a good share  myself and it was delicious. every year i make cookies for the holidays and they take up large hunks of time and for the most part go un eaten because there is so much else to eat and because i don't have the opportunity to see the people that will be eating the cookies until the day  of the holiday so this year i will not bake cookies.  i will make peoples favs.  i have people who love peanut brittle, i have people who will gorge on beef jerky, i have people who hoarde chocolate covered potato chips and then i have myself who will eat an entire recipie of thumbprint cookies all by myself and the guy will do the same to chocolate chips. i plan to limit my baking to the favs.

shopping...i plan to cut out practically altogether. well except for socks and patchoulli incense and of course the grandpuppy will get a giant bag of dog food. she has a new favorite kind this year so it will be a treat!  speaking of shopping...for my birthday i decided to buy a pair of boots. let me say that before i found the perfect pair i ordered and returned four other pair.  i used a tank of gas driving them back to the postal office and geez the mailman must think i am crazy and the last box i got in the mail had this printed on the side in big letters "highly addictive contents inside" ain't that the truth!  i returned a pair of snow boots that were wonderful but too small. i returned a pair of suede flat boots that had sheepskin inside and were too big.   i returned a pair of suede  wedge heel boots that were perfect  except they were too wide in the calf.  i returned a pair of tall buckled leather boots that were so cute with jeans but they were also way too wide on my skinny legs.  i bought and am in love with a tall pair of leather scrunchy boots with a  half inch heel and a bit of point to the toe and they are soo comfy, yum and cute. then rather than sell on e bay my old practically unused tall suede boots that did not fit under jeans only over them i gave them to the youngladygrandaughter  so she has new boots and there is still not a huge pile of boots in my closet. i kept one pair of snow boots to replace the ones that sprung a leak last year and one pair of black flat boots to replace two pair of suede flats...one tall  and one short so i am really short one pair of boots but no worries i have handled that. a pair of brown midcalf buckle boots is on the way to my front door and i hope they fit me because i love them but if they do not i will not hesitate to return them in exchange for a bigger or a smaller pair of the same boot but maybe in black  instead. highly addictive contents indeed!   i will not have time to knit gifts either.  the mom  will be dissappointed but she received a scarf for her birthday and i have been knitting gifts for the past few months so i will be occupying myself with a few personal projects.  one of which is the sweater coat and i have a design in mind  for that. as a matter of fact the guy sat through a fashion show of sorts when i went to the local national chain discount department store and tried on at least seven or was it fifteen sweater coats made from blends of acrylic yarn that i cannot stand to wear or to touch but i did find a style that i like so no harm done.

 i am also in the process of accumulating a wealth of yarn in shades of red.  i swear every day i order yarn in a different shade of red or a yarn with a different texture or fibre content for a sweater that is literally being designed as i knit it. whoa so unlike me to  do something like this and yet so perfect for me. it is inspiring. it  is fit to order and it is fun.  so far i have some wine cashmerino, some mauvey kidsilk aura, some red mohair, some rose red merino that i may or may not use depending on what the design of the neckline of the thing turns out to be...surprise, some maroon alpaca which i definately will not be using as it does not have enough color variation and or it clashes with the other yarn, and some angora blend yarn i ordered for additional texture and have not received  in a shade of red and when i woke up on friday morning i shouted to myself "it needs some violet" so i ordered a red violet angora. wait til you see this thing! it will either be fugly as hell or exciting and wonderfully creative!  i have no idea what the style will be. that changes in my head daily and as a matter of fact i am off now to rip out the neck and re do it to the specifications that were in my head when i woke up this morning.  so far the body is knit to the ribcage, the sleeves knit to below the elbow and i have started the neck/collar.  all of the above is done in cashmerino so it will be a soft and comfortable item next to the neck and upper body where the skin is most sensitive.  the cost is becoming astromomical. it all started out as a real bargain on the cashmerino...twenty bucks for four skeins is a real bargain then i added thirty five bucks to the total and then an additional twenty then again twenty more so we are already up to ninety five dollars and this thing is way out of the price range of anything i would normaly pay for a sweater to wear with my twelve dollar jeans but on the other hand that's entertainment! these are what is left of one of my brithday flower arrangements and a new pet  the guy found lost and wandering around and loving animlas as he does he adopted it...i keep him in a jar of alcohal! later...love   g

i talk to myself...

all the time. i talk to myself while i am at work constantly...i have wierded out several people who have at one time or another sat in the cube next to me. i talk to my self while i drive...a lot.  as a matter of fact i composed a  whole post the other day on my way to work and it's  a shame i didn't tape record it because it would have been a good one and now...i forgot what i was even thinking about at the time.  i would blame it on the early hour of the day but the truth is i forget lots of things these days. it could have been that i finished the book i was reading and now i must find another one to start on tuesday at approximatley noon while i eat my lunch...that doesn't leave me much time. it could have been that the four pounds of peanut brittle i made were a huge hit with the mom as was aisling fall shawl...multnomah which she is going to wear as a scarf.

it could have been that i have agreed to make another pair of armwarmers by thanksgiving and i have no wool do make them with (they were requested to be made in black).   the black wool was added to the tail end of an order of yarn i placed at webs and they have yet to ship it. as a matter of fact not only have they not shipped it but they put a hold on my credit card in an amount that does not include the particular yarn that i placed the order for in the first place.  grrrr. now i am in a holding pattern. it could have been the news that i am knitting a sweater.  it all started innocently enough. i ordered some purple  cashmerino and some navy cashmerino  for some knitted gifts and while i was at it  i nabbed some wine cashmerino  because it was a heck of a bargain but it was not enough to make a whole sweater out of so rather than make a  a cropped something or other i decided to make a striped something or other.

i started out with a pattern in mind but as soon as i cast on i changed my mind and now i am not making that but something else entirely...that is if i ever get the rest of my yarn from webs.  grrrrr.  all this is cutting into my i have to knit i promised to knit a christmas stocking for one of the boy oh boys before christmass decorting time and that time has arrived hasn't it?  also i am desperately seeking a sweater coat and god knows i don't know why because i am way to cheap to pay for a nice one and i am way to picky to wear a cheap one so i have no sweater coat.  i may have to knit one.  it will take a long time i suppose and it will most defninately cost way more than i would ever pay for a store bought one but i'm thinking i'm going to go for it as soon as my gift knitting of a pair of arm warmers and a christmas stocking is finished. i was considering the vogue knitting pattern...the long coat for the sweater coat but now that i think of it i may just go for the tilted duster.

i think it suits my body type better.  we shall see.  i have already obsessivley started looking for yarn for it and planning another mohair project for my future winter knitting.  this is starting to sound like stash building to me.  how about a couple of crappy pictures of the  fall shawl. i loved this after i got the hang of it and will make another...some day...maybe...but i doubt it i ususally don't like to make the same thing more than once. later...love   g

we have more...

beautiful yarn!  i  made a trip to the lys on saturday with the grandchildren in tow.  when the youngladygrandaughter and i walked into the joint and she gasped "oh my gaaaawd" at the sight of rows and rows of yarny goodness that set the yarn store ladies all agiggle and atwitter and they began doting  on her which helped her to become inspired and picked out yarn to make herself a scarf...yay knitting parties!!!

the little guy walked in announcing his immediate need for a drink so they fetched him one and the guy settled into a comfortable chair and held the basket with our future purchases until the yarn store ladies directed them to other stores of possible potential interest...one of which was the pet store where the little guy decided to pet a beagle and announce that when he is old enough to live by himself and dharma and lola settle down he will get himself a beagle and name it chew chew.

 

did i mention there was a pre inventory sale going on??? there was.

i scored some malabrigo lace for the whisper cardigan, and some cascade superwash for a swell for the little guy and a slouchy beret for the ylgd

 

and some yummy clearance aisling yarns hand paint merino yarn which will become a #09 eyelet cap from this latest issue of vogue knitting.

i also got tons of cashmerino in the mail so i am ready for some caps and cowls knitting.  busy busy busy.  later...love   g

huh i guess i'm much more modern than i thought i was...

i seem to have been given a new typepad to play with and here i am with out a clue.   what i do have is the flu. not the swine as the youngladygrandaughter calls it at least god knows i hope it isn't the swine but it is most definitely the flu. you know the one. sneezing, coughing, head aches, body aches, fever, chills,  head filled with something resembling cement and whatever that is it is working it's way down and into my lungs. god as if i don't have enough lung problems. they are none too happy with me at work either because i have been absent for going on two days.  like i'm having some kind of fun or something here at home in my sweats and sheepskin slippers and a heated electric blanket and snot or other bodily fluids coming out of every crevice i have. please give me a break. you want me to come to work and cough, sneeze and breathe all over all of you?  i thought not.  i have a scheduled flu shot for oct 21 but i think it's a little late. the ylgd got herself a shot of tami flu last week when she had this mess and i wonder if i should but i just may be to tired and lazy to go to the dr's today...and i'm freezing...did somebody turn out the sun?  what the hell happened to summer and warm sunny days. one of those would feel soooo good about now.  any way fall is here and with it some pretty cold days.  we had a frost and whatever i didn't already neglect in the garden is most likely dead now.  i am uninspired to knit either mostly because i feel like so much crap. i did however get my sick self on ebay yesterday and bid on some debbie bliss cashmerino...i won it too because apparently no one else who knits was home with the flu yesterday. nice!  i have 4 skeins of green, wine and lavender coming my way and 5 skeins of navy. i wish i had five of the red cause i'd love to have enough of one color to whip up a little cropped cardi...i know sweater there i said it...the dirty word i swore i wouldn't mutter this year. then again i said i wouldn't buy any shoes last year and we all know how that worked out!  anyway back to the sweater...come on it's cashmere!  my plans are to make another chemo cap for the kahuna out of the navy cashmere, then the cowl that the guy has requested because he thinks he invented them and probably a second cap for the number one son.  the green i have no clue what it will become but the lavender will be come a lacey picot edge cowl for bob's wife and maybe a second of those as well for someone else who fancies purple and has never gotten to have anything of gaysknits for herself. the red which is really a deeep deep red more towards wine or maroon is going to be a cropped cardi even if i   have to design it myself, it will most likely be edged in another color since i think even for me 400 yards will be a bit short. i will most likley stripe the cuffs and hem and it will definately be short sleeved like to the elbow. so there you have it. oh and i want some malabrigo lace to make the cute little whisper cardigan that i have suddenly fallen for. i may wear it to the beach in november but i won't be wearing it with an apron...not my style really! going shopping this weekend to the lys for a pre inventory sale! yay! i will get off the glove bandwagon soon and off the smalls altogether but i still have some hats and cowls to finish and a pair of gloves and a christmas stocking before i can move past go and collect 200 dollars...and then there is the flu. going to bed now maybe a cup of tea first then bed. later...love   g