it makes me want to buy school supplies

Despite the lingering heat of summer, back-to-school sales abound along with daydreams of autumn and cooler weather.

Scarf weather!





A girl can dream, can't she?

a red cap and a speedo

Inspiring, isn't it?





Indeed.




I just had to knit my own.

red, white and blue

When I prepared my snack the other day,something about the arrangement struck me.

Upcoming holiday?
Summer festiveness?
Perhaps subconscious color coordination with current projects?!

in the midnight hour

Oh what a long journey it's been. From fantastic plan to calculation disaster to freestyle adventure it's been, well, quite the saga. This baby even travelled on the plane with me to London (and yes, you can get knitting needles through the security checkpoints, though smuggling them through a nervous passenger does make - despite the all clear for knit accessories I was still fearsome they would confiscate hours of intesive knitting labor).

After a premature bind off, and a second frogging I was feeling a tad discouraged.



Dark days, my friends - dark days.
I almost could not go on.
Just three more inches I told myself. It can be done!

Mustering as much energy as I could, I struggled on, and have (finally!) finished, though not without a few hiccups (or namely some extra 'wings' acquired from over-zealous increasing) that needed some intense problem solving efforts.

Behold! The four-month tube top!



So versatile - it slices, it dices, it coordinates with khaki, and denim!



Whew.
I am amazed that I actually finished it 'in season' and can wear it while the weather is warm and toasty.

like a bee

As often happens during summer, I'm seeing stripes. But no, it's not a bee.





This is knitted in Caron's Simply Soft, and let me tell you it is the softest acrylic yarn I've used. I'm not generally a huge fan of the acrylics, but this one was quite nice and fluffy.

Now that that is finished, perhaps I can finish up that top I've been working on since Spring Break - patience pays!

so retro!

I've been told that I'm a bad knitblogger. It's true.

But here's what's been going on with the projects...

The sleeveless top is still pending. I started binding off, but it was still too short, so I now need to pick up the stitches again and keep going. Grr.
Also, I've been working on a HP scarf. Halfway done!

Now, here's the fun part. Today at the flea market I managed to snag a fun little vintage pattern book for only 50¢. Here are some of the highlights...

A fun skirt and jacket:

(note the pointy cuffs on the sleeves)

A snappy sweater perfect for birdwatching:


Strappy crochet sandals:


There are quite a few more cute patterns - more vests and slippers and little hoods modeled by a balloon with a face painted on it. No lie.

I've also been thinking of fun decorating ideas to snazz up the apartment. I have a great plan (it sounds good in theory at least) to decorate a lampshade with some fabric - we'll just see how that goes.

Also, I may even make a rug!
I pulled out some old Interweave issues for ideas:




Again, I think my ambitions are too great for the free time I have available to me!

give me the taste, give me the joy of summer wine

Many moons ago, or more accurately last month, I was relaxing on spring break and exploring new lys's at home. The store I visited was in fact not new, but had been in it's present location for 8 years. And oh what a selection. This was not one of those precisely stocked and shelved stores. Nay - boxes and bags of yarn lay about and I found myself digging through piles of yarn throughout the store.
Not being a girl who stashes without knowing exactly what her yarn is intended for, I was on a mission.
A mission for cotton.
Spring green cotton.

Alas, the fates had decided that I owned enough green items and instead I walked away with this...



Tahki Cotton Classic in color 3416.
'Brick' was what the store deemed this color. Very nice indeed.

Now, I had mentioned that I prefer to have a plan before setting out for the store. Yes, indeed...my plan entailed a strapless summer top.
And as I was feeling quite adventurous, I decided to dive right in taking measurements of myself and calculating stitches, etc. and began casting on.
Well, apparently my calcualtions were wrong because the top ended up waaaaay too big after only a few inches. So, in keeping with my destructive mood, I ripped it all out and started over.

Started over freestyle.

After ripping out two in progress sweaters I was at the 'I don't care anymore' point and decided to just do my own thing with little planning ahead. We'll see how it turns out in the end.
I may be a renegade knitter. I may be crazy. But getting there is half the fun, right?

Here is where we stand now...



It fits snugly right now which is good so that it won't fall off. : )

I'm working on this one from the top down. Here you can see the little ties in the back for added stay-on-ability...



Right now it's barely long enough to be considered a bikini. Progress is slow, but I hope to have it finished in a few weeks...maybe.