Sunday Plan

The deal for today is that I will work on the Crazy Monkeys for mom. As a reward, once every hour or two, I will play with my spinning wheel. (I found a deal for some raw fleece, and wish to be a decent spinner before I take the plunge of buying a few pounds of fleece...)

I would like to get the heel turned on these socks today, and that way I can work on the Central Park Hoodie for a little bit as well.

I got some new yarn. The yarn I put on order a few months ago finally got shipped to Weaving Works, so I went to pick that up (Universal Yarns Classic Worsted Long Print). In keeping with my "No Use Credit" thing, I paid in cash for the lot. Then I checked the sale bins. There was Austermann Step in there! You know, the yarn that has Aloe and Jojoba oil in it? Yep. Got two skeins at half price. *squeee* I had been wanting to play with it, but couldn't justify the cost of the one skein, especially since I hadn't seen any colors I really liked. Dude, one of the skeins knits up into something that resembles tiger stripes! Yay!

In addition, I picked up the new Knit.1 Spring/Summer 2009 (click to get the pictures), (which I am annoyed to report is not currently listed in Ravelry...they have the patterns set up, but no photos). I wish to do the Double-Sided Scarf (third row down, first photo, scarf on the right)(in purple and black, naturally). Nothing like justifying the purchase of 2 skeins of Kidsilk Haze, huh? When my budget allows, I will buy that. Other patterns in that issue: I am thoroughly amused by the ottoman cover (second row from the bottom, last photo). The rockstar story line has one decent shirt (the leaf yoke top, fourth row down, last photo) and the rest seems contrived. I kind of like the Rib and Ridge Stripe Cardigan (second row down, first photo), but feel that it would do better in a thinner yarn. The sock patterns are interesting, and created by some of my favorite people (Grumperina, Cookie A, Yarnissima, and Cat Bordhi of course). Rest assured that when I am a different shape than I am currently, I will certainly knit the Surplice Wrap (second row up, first photo).

Hmmm. While perusing the Knit.1 site, it appears that the magazine was not supposed to go on sale until May 5th. Bad juju. Oops, I guess someone at the LYS made a boo boo.

I also received the new Interweave Knits mag on Friday. The first thing that really struck me when I opened up the magazine wasn't really anything to do with Interweave. It was the big ad on page 25 saying that Euroflax Linen is now being treated with a compound to soften the yarn up a little more. Holy crap. That's awesome, because having to soak the yarn in the skein with conditioner before knitting with it was easy enough to do, but it took time out of my knitting with it. *beam* I can't wait to see how well this works up!

[Back to the magazine] First things first! Techknitter has a first article! It's well written (as can be expected) and it is all about jogless stripes. Let me say, I have been reading the TechKnitting blog for a few years now, and am so excited to see that all the goodness is getting printed in Interweave. It's about damn time! I totally squee'd when I read on the blog that this was to occur, so you can understand just how much I was squeeing when I was actually reading the magazine. Please buy Interweave Knits, if only for this article!

Second, the articles, as usual, are decent, and share a little info that you might not have known before. But let's talk about the Patterns! From the "New Heirloom" section, I will certainly be doing the Great Gatsby dress Mari Lynn Patrick designs things that are simply delicious.



Annie Modesitt's Laura's Cardigan is a design where I like the shaping but hate the coloring. It will be something I knit in another color. Well done, though.



I really like the color and shape of the Grotto Wrap by Karen Kendrickhand, but if you look closely at the first photo, the sleeves are too short for the model. Make sure you double check the desired length before binding off those sleeves!



In the "Forever Lace" section, I was excited to learn that I could do the OneShot Lace Hat with a single skein that I had sitting around. Anything that used less than 200 yards makes me happy. The Luminarie Lace skirt (another Annie Modesitt) is pretty, and may be a good thing for when I am bored out of my skull from doing socks.



All in all, I was pleased with the patterns for the Summer Interweave (usually fall is when the really good patterns come out)

Well, which ones will you be knitting?