A New Project

I started the Shell Beach Shawl by Dawn Leeseman in a Blue Heron Yarns silk/rayon twist from Y2Knit. God, how I love this yarn! The colorway is Tulip and it is stunning. Susan, who owns Y2Knit, had the same shawl hanging in the store and I just had to make it for myself. It's going very fast on #15 US needles and I should have it finished in a couple hours.

If you asked me to review the yarn I would have to say that it wants to stick to itself a little. This pattern calls for 3 rows of k1, yo2 all the way across. When it's time to turn the work and go back it's a real struggle to get those stitches and wraps off the cable and onto the needle. I'm not a really tight knitter so that isn't the issue. The yarn is just "grippy". This is just a slight annoyance however, and definitely wouldn't stop me from using this beautiful yarn again in the future.

Work continues on the Baudelaire socks.

It is a little loose but I can live with it. As I said in an earlier post, this is my first toe-up sock and I'm working on the gusset.

I think it's looking pretty good. I just hope I didn't start the gusset too late. Only time and more knitting will tell.

As for the Baby Kimono from Interweave Knits, I've had to stop because we can't locate anymore of the yarn in that dye lot (Claudia Hand Paints, Fingering Wt., Dye Lot 004 - Freesia). I thought I might take it along with me to Stitches East and see if I can find some. Meanwhile I will start it again in a different colorway. And THIS TIME I will buy 3 skeins.

I finally got an iPod!!!

I created this blog last Friday, May 12, 2006, and I have been looking at other blogs all week. I was interested in podcast but had no way to listen to them other than with the laptop. I got to thinking about an mp3 player. I have wanted one for a long time but never really had a good reason to get one other than plain old desire. I am a geek girl, after all. Then on Wednesday I read a mention of video podcast for knitting and I decided that the time had come. I needed an mp3 player right away.

I should stop and say that my boss is the one who got me started on this. I work for a local government IT department and my boss assigned me to get up-to-date on blogs and podcast in case the county commissioners decided that they might want to move in that direction. He bought me a couple books and sent me on my merry way. Two weeks later and here I am!

So anyway, back to the mp3 player. When I decided I must have one on Wednesday afternoon I started doing some research. Though I have never had much experience with Apple products (except back at the dawn of personal computers when they were the only game in town) I quickly decided that an iPod was the way to go. It has the most accessories and seems to be the one most likely to be around for a while. The price was outrageous but Circuit City had the 30g video model on sale for $284. When my husdand called later that afternoon I casually mentioned that I would like to go to Circuit City and "look" at the iPods. To my amazement he didn't put up much of a fight. Perhap he already sensed that resistance would be futile.

As you already know "looking" turned into "buying". I am stunned at how little actually comes with this thing. Apple must rely on the sales of accessories to make the bulk of their money. The only accessory I bought was a decent case since I heard that they scratch easily and I didn't want anything to mar this sleek black and chrome beauty.

Not being a genXer, I has taken me a while to get familiar with the controls and techniques but I am downloading podcasts left and right. One that have particularly enjoyed is Pointy Sticks. She mixes knitting information and stories with really good musical selections. I totally enjoyed the two I listened to yesterday.

Now, if you will excuse me I must go search for more podcasts.