Tuesday, August 31, 2010

FO: Sarah's Web

At Bayly's wedding in April (after several glasses of wine,) I promised the lovely Sarah a wedding shawl of her own!  After all, it was April... August was so far away.  Plenty of time to plan and to leisurely knit while the little one naps, right?  Well, apparently I love deadline-knitting, knitting under pressure, last minute Lindsey strikes again... etc.  Sarah was a wonderful, flexible, creative bride and let me do absolutely whatever I wanted.  She sent me a sneak preview of the bridesmaid dresses and of her own gown.  Rather than making something to match or 'go with' her wedding dress, which was very romantic and kind of timeless... I thought it would be more fun to have something a little bohemian that would contrast with her dress and hopefully be something she could wear to a future LEAF or under her coat while she's off lawyering in D.C.  I am (again) ashamed of the photos I took. 

The details on the shawl... I chose the Charlotte's Web pattern by Koigu which has been in my Ravelry knitting queue since 2007 and on my to-knit list for much longer... Probably since I saw a sample knitted up at Knit in Charleston.  I put together five skeins of Koigu KPPPM with colors ranging from a peacocky green (the color of the bridesmaid dresses), Sarah's favorite color (a mossy green), yellow (she told me that the lace of her dress was an almost-yellow that was hard to match), browns, and pinks.  While it was on the needles, I thought the green section might look a little too muddled... but when I took it off the needles!  Ah, I was in love.   Here she is, pre-blocked. 

The only post-blocking picture I took...

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Baby's First VW Van Ride


It seems as though our family has a lot of "firsts" that are not included in most baby books... For instance, baby's first bluegrass festival... baby's first experimental film screening, baby's first black eye, and baby's first VW van ride.  It was hands-down THE best trip to the grocery store EVER.  We all three went, coupons in hand...large thermos of iced mint tea... taking our time,  plotting future VW adventures.  To make it even better, we ran into a friend who gave us a big container of homemade strawberry icecream.  We even had a spoon at the ready!  Although we've kept the VW legal all these years (insured and properly registered), we have major rust issues and haven't trusted the engine to take us very far.  We are daydreaming of blowing our tax return on her this year and having her ready for Spring LEAF



Thursday, August 05, 2010

Bayly's Something Blue

I found a few more pics of Bayly's wedding shawl.  I knitted this up with a lovely silvery-blue yarn by Debbie Bliss... believe it was called "Pure Silk."  Bayly picked out the yarn, and I got to choose everything else.  I had to choose a pattern that I knew I could finish by the wedding date deadline, while working, living, chasing little Dana, etc.  I also contemplated knitting this... but wasn't sure if I could pull it off.  Knitters out there seem to have a love/hate relationship with Kidsilk Haze.  I have only attempted to knit with it once, and that project is RIP-ing in my cedar chest.  To my credit, I was making one of my first attempts at lace while knitting on a cross-country road trip in a pick-up truck with a 45 pound dog and a man who believed that riding with the windows down instead of running the AC would give us better gas mileage.   Keep in mind that this yarn is 'airy' and creates a 'cobweb' like fabric... 

The Pure Silk Clapotis was a perfect choice, after all.  I love the one I made for myself years ago, and after making Bayly's, I think it might be nice to have a silk one of my own.  I do have a cone of silk from a San Francisco trip lying around somewhere... now that I mention it.

Had to include a pic of the beautiful bride with my handsome devil in his seersucker suit. 

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Getting Up to Speed (January to April 2010)

In January, my baby boy turned one!


I FINALLY finished by sister Lauren's Jaywalker socks, and she FINALLY sent me a picture of them.  My sister Lauren is a bit more style-conscious than I am.... so I was thrilled that she wanted a pair of *my* handknit socks. But you would never know it... since it took me so long to finish them.  I cast on in August and didn't mail them off until January!  Or maybe it was because my little one starting crawling, pulling up, and walking... Lauren thought it was weird to have random sock glamour shots on her digital camera... in my world, that is just the norm. 


In January, I also began knitting a pair of Jaywalkers socks for myself in the most ice-creamy colors I could find.


We also had a reunion of our Charleston Birth Place/Birthing From Within class... It was so great to see the boys together again and to compare notes with other parents.  I hope the boys grow up knowing each other.   Little D. is wearing his Wolverine hoodie in the middle. 


In February, it snowed!

I was with my knitting girlfriends on a little retreat, and Daddy D. brought the wee one out to me so I could see him play in the snow.  (Notice my handknit hat and scarf!)  We dorked out on wool that weekend.  We didn't even finish a bottle of red wine among 4 knitters-- Just stuck to hot tea since no one wanted to drop a stitch. You can read more about it on Knitty Nikki's blog... She's such a better blogger than me!  The snow came at dusk and was gone by late morning the following day-- it was the perfect snowstorm.

February also marked a milestone for my father-in-law.  On his 71st birthday, he was admitted to MUSC to have surgery for esophageal cancer.  He is a former Hokie football player and a diehard Virginia Tech fan.  I knitted him a little VT-inspired cap to keep his head warm and to show his Hokie Pride.



In March, my father-in-law was cancer-free!  Yay!

And I was knitting like crazy on a silvery blue silk Clapotis for my college roommate's wedding day...

In April, I finished the shawl at the last possible minute for Bayly's big day.  She wore it to cut the cake, and it really looked lovely with her dress.  I have to admit that I was nervous about this handknit gift.  Bayly has a very unique style, and she knows what she wants.  I was worried that it wouldn't work with her dress or that she would fee obligated to wear it for my sake.  I think we were both happy with the way it turned out... Unfortunately, I didn't get too many great shots of the Clapotis because of the lighting at the reception.  I will have to see if the photographer got any better pictures.