Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Running Late

Oh God, how horrible!

I give myself an F on blogging. It's been, what, months? There's so much to talk about! I've missed you guys! I've missed writing in this blog but there are precious few free hours in my day now and I have to use them with care.

First off, the knitting. I haven't stopped knitting even though I've taken a hiatus from writing about it. Wanna see the latest? I took a deep breath and dived into my stash. What I came up with was the Colinette Giotto. It's been in the stash for, I dunno, 4 years? I bought 5 skeins in colorway Pietro but after reading about how this yarn stretches ad infinitum, I put it away, scared. Originally I considered the Waterlily Top from Interweave Knits but decided it would need too much intervention.

Then I happened upon the Tara Tank in the Yarn Girls Guide to Beyond the Basics. This pattern is simple and would show off the yarn without being a totally boring knit.

I had to go waayyy down on the needle size though. I think the ball band recommends size 10.5 or 11, I used size 8 and 9. I swatched using size 10's and was satisfied with that until I actually started knitting the body. It was very obvious it was going to stretch a lot and I wanted a fitted silhouette.

This tank only required 2 skeins of Giotto for the smallest size (32"). I still have 3 skeins left. Maybe I'll make a shrug. Not sure yet, but I'm going to take a break from the yarn. I don't recommend Giotto for beginners or wool lovers. Although this was a pretty fast knit, the yarn slowed me down. My needle tips would get stuck in the ribbon.

On to domestic news.

Karalyn is now a toddler. *sniff* Her baby phase went by so fast. She was walking before she even turned 1 and now she's on her way to 14 months. Our house is a happy mess but I try to remind myself that it's only temporary.

We took Karalyn to Ocean Beach in San Francisco. It was a very cool, extremely blustery afternoon. Karalyn ran to the water and promptly fell down. Amazing how much sand can get into little jeans. Like that sweater? One of my knits. It wears like iron - it has gotten a fair amount of abuse. It's only downfall is velcro. Just say No to Velcro, knitters!

I think in my last post I mentioned house hunting. Well, we hunted down 2 homes and put bids on both of them. One of them was a beautiful, huge, brand new bank repo. The other was a gorgeous 9-year old home with an amazing back yard. I'll let you know in my next post which one we decided on.

8 comments:

Stephanie said...

Gorgeous knits! I'm glad you're still knitting and I know how it is when you just need to take a break from the blog. Welcome back. Good luck on picking the "right" house - can't wait to hear all about the winner. I cannot believe Karalyn is already that big. Wow, time goes fast.

Anonymous said...

Love the sweater! You have accomplished much more than I have. I guess it's true that the busier you are the more you can get done!

Karalyn is adorable! Such a little girl now.

Beautiful and huge (and repo) sounds good, but I'm going to guess the amazing back yard home is the one you picked.

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear from you again! Your sweater is very cute, but Karalyn (as always) steals the show. I can't believe how time flies!

Anonymous said...

Hey there stranger!! =D Didn't know you were house-hunting! What areas are you looking into? Of course, this is a great time to buy... =)

Your tank looks really great!! I have yet to create a sucessful fitted piece of knitted garment for myself. =P

And wow, Karalyn is getting big!!

Anonymous said...

Is that the same little Karalyn that was born so early? My gawd she's a big girl now!!

i can't believe you had a baby a year ago. you don't even look like you were ever pregnant. i am jealous. lol but your tank looks awesome!

good luck on the house hunting!

AJ said...

Glad to hear you are still alive and enjoying phase 2 of babies! :) The tank looks gorgeous!

Lucy said...

Gorgeous Tank top, Lynette - I'm new to blogging but get behind frequently with mine !! Your little girl is gorgeous and I love her sweater too!

Unknown said...

I'll join you in the F for blogging. life gets in the way. YOur knitting looks great both on you and your adorable toddler. Well done for a busy mum