Looks like I am taking the summer off to write and clean. And yes, there will be knitting and crocheting, though there won’t be any hosa cables. I’m working on my Virginia socks right now. Then my cousin’s cat scarf. Then I need to decide whether to work on Carrigan or the Suzie Hoodie. Probably the Carrigan, it just needs half a sleeve and a collar. And then there is Hocks. And I will be starting a travel shawl as well. What do you mean, “in my free time?”

Tonight, dear readers, I had a chance to look through Crochet Lace Innovations by Doris Chan. Ooh, gals, there is some purtiful stuff up in here. There are vests and shawls and scarves and capes and shirts and the most amazing dress I have probably ever seen. It’s called the Bozena Dress and it is on page 96 of the book, and if I could figure out what in the world to wear under it, I would so be making it for myself. If you know, please tell me exactly what someone wears underneath a see through dress! Seriously. I would totally show it to you, but I can’t find a picture of it online. It’s a-may-zing!

Ok, now that I am through praising The Dress (notice the caps), let me talk about the book a bit. There are several other patterns, and while some of them would make good wedding accessories, some are also practical for every day wear. And all those techniques I didn’t quite understand are beautifully explained with nice diagrams. For instance, I now know that those huge, HUGE knitting needles I have, they aren’t knitting needles at all, but are, rather, sticks for making broomstick lace. Never mind that I used them to make a knitted laprobe for Grandmother out of really bulky yarn several years ago. Ahem. There are also tutorials for Tunisian Lace and Hairpin Lace.

This book delighted me at almost every page turn. Alas, I know I won’t make anything from it, so I am planing to pass it along to a friend of mine who is an avid crocheter. But if I can figure out what to wear under The Dress, I am totally asking to borrow it back.

O, so, yes I finished it in time, see?

This is the Pinwheel Sweater from elann.com. It is knit and crocheted from Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in color 230 Victorian Pink. I’d been wanting to knit this pattern for quite awhile, and if you recall, I started it last summer, and stopped a bit over halfway through the body, when I lost my knitting mojo.

Now, I do have a couple of pattern notes to share. If you look at the photos in the link, you will notice that they never show you the front of the “sweater”. I’ve put sweater in quotes there, because it is not really a sweater. It’s actually more of a bolero, as you can see in this frontal shot.

That worked out fine for me, since I really wanted to wear it to a formal event, and a sweater just would not have been quite the right thing. But I also wanted to warn you, in case a sweater is what you really need. Also, if you dance and spin, it will slip off your shoulder. But then it is really easy to let it slip off the other arm and throw it on a chair, so that worked out, too.

The back worked up pretty much like the pattern showed.

Here is the sweater laid out all nice and round:

And a close-up of the lace border:

And a gratuitous shot, just so I can comment about how nicely the yarn washed up and smoothed out. The stitches evened out nicely, which was quite a feat, considering I knit the whole thing on 16 inch rounds.

As I noted before, be careful on the lace. Mine is crocheted according to the written directions for the body lace. Those instructions do not match the chart. My lace is therefore a bit frillier than the lace on the pattern model, but that’s okay, because I am a frilly sort of gal. I figure that and good skin care products ought to keep me looking 18 forever, right?

After I get the project I discussed yesterday finished, I want to turn my attention to this:

If you remember, and I really don’t expect you to, it is the pinwheel sweater I started for myself back last summer, when everyone else was playing wii games. I think I am almost done with the knitting, and then there is the very fancy, very wide crocheted border. However, I am going to a fancy schmancy dancy on the 20th, which I discussed here, and I realized last Monday that this sweater would be about perfect for it, if I can get it done in time. Anybody wanna place a friendly wager? I’m really motivated, because I have nothing else remotely suitable, and if you click that link, you’ll see that the dress is very, very sleeveless.

Or at least covering them up! Here are the hats I made for Drama and Stuntman, modeled by their owners.

Drama’s band is made from Plymouth Encore and the colorwork is doubled Trekking XXL in color 05. Stuntman’s band is some… uh… black yarn and the colorwork is doubled Lane Cervinia Forever Jaquard in color 230.

And as if mom-knit hats were the qooly equivalent of secure online backup, DaBaby has picked her yarn and thinks I should have started her hat instead of weaving in the ends on Stuntman’s. I am sure Batman will be lining up next!

Also, I have a picture of the Secret Christmas Knitting. I made stockings for Micheal, That One and That Boy. Merry Christmas fellas! Welcome to the fam.

So, today, about 6pm, I finished the secret Christmas stitching. Now that it is done, and one has been delivered and the other two recipients won’t be reading my blog, I can tell you that I was crocheting stockings for Micheal, The Clone’s boyfriend and That One. I am exhausted, but they are done, and for that I am glad. And oh by the way, do you know how hard it is to keep a secret in a house of ten? Really, really hard. Of course, I did do one right under the recipient’s nose, but I don’t think he realizes it yet. I hope. LOL.

We got the tree decorated last Sunday night, but it is still package-less, since we aren’t opening presents until The Clone gets here in January. I imagine I will spend some time wrapping things on Saturday, while the kids are with their dad. I always enjoy the time right after Christmas the best, so that suits me. I like the reverence of the season and not the bustle, so this delayed Christmas pleases me quite well.

Tomorrow, however, is the big family party on my dad’s side. It’s always fun. Or at least it is since I decided to quit worrying about it and just have a good time. That’s only been a few years ago, but now I only have a few minutes of nervousness instead of days of it. The children’s clothing is all together, thanks to Mama, and while it’s not quite as clever as these outfits by TeaCollection.com, it’s cute and fits their personalities for the most part. The littlest girls have the cutest little plaid jumpers! Of course, I work tomorrow, so I won’t get to see them until I get to the party.

Yes, yes, I know I need to put up pictures: Hat the First, The Stockings Three, The Tree and the cute babies. But first, I have to find a camera card. And before that I have to work. And before that I have to sleep and before that, I have to write another post while I wait for my hair to dry so I can go to bed, which I have been ready to do for a couple hours already.

I mean of course, that it is cold to me! Sandwiched as I am between all this beachy wonderland (20 minutes from wrightsville, 30 from carolina, and about 45 to myrtle beach s c), we don’t spend a lot of time down in the 40s, which is what we have forecasted all the way through the weekend. Geez Louise, I need more hats. Speaking of hats, I am ready to begin the decreases on Hat the First, but by the time I got there last night, I was too tired to start trying to count and remember. And guess what? I am equally tired tonight. It’s 6:30 pm and all I can think about is how much I want to be in bed, followed by the realization of just how much stitching I have to get done in the next 8 days.

sleep or stitch or sleep or stitch or sle zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

okay, in the Secret Christmas Crocheting, there are twelve milestones to complete. Yesterday, I spent three hours in a waiting room with children, and I raised the total steps done to four. Each step takes an hour to an hour and a half, so I think I can safely say that I will be done by Christmas, given that I have several more kid appointments to sit through and the kids are with their dad this weekend. That’s important because I will soon reach the point that I can no longer hide exactly what it is that I am doing.

*Segue* Now, as many of you know, I own several blogs. At one time, I did toy with the idea of putting everything under one umbrella, but it seemed like a huge hassle to move everything over, and really, I enjoy having niches and corners of myself to explore and it is quite handy to be able to tell a new acquaintance that “I just talked about that on my knitting blog” and not have them have to be sucked in to the drama that is my personal angst over on my other blog. There are ther reasons as well, but …there ya go.

If I were to do it over again though, I might consider just one website with multiple tabs. It would be neat to create a website that showed off my photos and my writing and my stitching and allowed me to express my creativity with site design and such as this. Kind of a OneStopCassShop, if you will. And with all the time I’ve ben spending on Facebook lately, if I were to put that time and energy into my own site, it ought to be a hum-dinger within a week, ykwim? But that would require me to give up a certain amount of my internet schizophrenia, now wouldn’t it, LOL? And also my games, and that I am not so much laughing about.