Turbulence

My sister's birthday sweater is blocking upstairs. Her birthday was yesterday, so it's going to be late, but I really like the way it turned out. The yarn (Berroco Softwist) has a simmery strand spun into it, which really catches the light in the cable pattern. Unfortunately, it also makes the whole thing difficult to photograph.

Here's the whole sweater laid out to block:


And here's a closeup of the cable pattern:


It's very hard to photograph, and it looks much, much better in real life. But this is the best I can do with the lighting conditions and with my cheapo digital camera.

In other news: I have to redo some of the hems on Samantha. I thought I could live with the imperfection, but it's annoying me every time I look at it. Just blocking out the sweater took 2 hours, and I'm done with annoying stuff for today.

Instead of mucking about with hems, I'm starting the Christmas blanket for my in-laws. It's a lace pattern knit in bulky acrylic... I hope my hands survive this, and I hope it blocks at least a little!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

We've finished cooking and stuffing ourselves. The leftovers are in the fridge, and I am happily ensconced in my comfy chair. Now for some knitting, and life will be perfect.

One question, though: Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong with my pie crust? It turns out either way too crumbly to work (why? why? why?), or, if I add too much water to counteract the crumbliness, shell-like and not at all airy and flaky.
If you have the solution to my pie crust problem, please help. I'm baffled.

Pumpkins

My sweetie took me to see pumpkins. It was great! A huge field of pumpkins, all carved. We drove to Lookout Farms in Wellesley. There, we got on a little train-like thing they use to take people into the orchards, where...
Pumpkins. Everywhere! We were surrounded by them. They even hired some artists to do some of the carving.

See for yourselves!


It's really well done. Feels like a maze, looks like a maze, but there's really only one way to go.

There was actually water coming out of the top of the pumpkin pile! I didn't get a picture of the dragon with pumpkin eyes, but the landscaping was phenomenal. So worth the price of admission.

Spooooooky!

I know, I know, Halloween is long over. But I never properly thanked my Spooky SP, the amazing AKKnitter, for the wonderful (and thoughtful!) goodies she sent me. This green package was Cthulhu-themed, complete with instructions for a dark ritual to summon the Great Old One. She was wonderful to send me a ritual that really worked...
As you can tell, because I didn't get eaten.


Here's me wearing the socks. See, they fit perfectly -- and I don't remember ever giving her my foot measurements! Methinks it's time to get out the tinfoil hat again.
On second thought, why don't I not. After all, getting comfy, warm socks in Cthulhu green is worth the loss of a little privacy.


This is an amazing package, right? Well, it wasn't the only one! Here is the OTHER package she sent. Look at these bat stitch markers! Aren't they the cutest? Complete with Jack Skellington row marker!

And check out this spooky haul. The cutest bat bags, beady candy cake-decorating thingies in bat shapes, and... BAT SPRINKLES! For cookies! Now I can battyfy my cookies, they'll taste twice as good.
There's yarn... I'd never actually knit with Noro Kureyon, so this will be a first. The colors are gorgeous. Then there are these vintage patterns. Some of them are really cute and pretty, others make you laugh out loud. What a great gift.
Then there's the Wool of Bat jar. It doesn't get any more perfect. And a little pumpkin carving kit, and candy corn candles.

I have been completely spoiled, and I apologize for the delay in showing off all this wonderful stuff. Thank you so much. It's obvious a lot of thought went into these packages, and I appreciate every little bit of it.

Dead batteries

Sigh. I still haven't posted pictures of my spooky SP's incredibly generous gifts. My husband took me to this amazing pumpkin event at a nearby farm, I took some pictures, but can't download them. The batteries in my camera are dead and I've been too broke to buy new ones!
Has anyone else ever had a negative balance on their account because they just really couldn't afford that last trip to the yarn store? Maybe I do have a problem.

On the bright side: Samanta is done, at least the knitting part. I was trying to put it together and then seam, but that didn't work because all the loose ends from the provisional CO made it impossible to see what's what. Now, I'm hemming first, then putting it together. If I'm really careful, everything should come out even.

The hem is flaring. I can't just pull elastic through it because the dress buttons up the front and fits like a cardi. The elastic would pull the halves apart.

It will block out. I know it will.
I know I'm probably kidding myself.