sheep in the city

Knitting across Kansas

My dad ended up renting a mini-van for us to drive to the funeral, since my Uncle and cousin Ryan were riding with us and none of our cars would hold 6 people. Plus, my dad always finds good deals, he rented the van for $8.00, no clue how he swung that, but it happens on a regular basis, him getting sweet deals on random stuff. Anyway...my mom and I planted ourselves in the back seat and took over every available space back there with our knitting! I primarily worked on my Wavy scarf...which should be about 10 inches longer than it is because I've had to rip it back so many times (about 4 times)! Dang, I hate ripping out! What a waste of time!

I did work a little bit on a "new" project from the stash. It's a tank for my friend RayLynn's birthday. It's called Ginger. It has a high neck in the front, and a v-neck in the back...sexy, sexy! We are going to L.A. in March for a wedding, a few days before her birthday...so, the plan is for her to be able to wear it then! I need to get moving on it. I bought the yarn about 6 months ago at a sale here in town. It's Rowan Summer Tweed in Angel (color 526). I think she's going to love it! She already knows about it because I asked her if she would rather be surprised, or have something fit right. She chose fitting right over being surprised. What sucks about it is, the size that I was planning on making WAS the right size, and it WAS the color I remembered her liking, oh well! At least I know it's going to fit her though. Here's Ginger:

*FYI- Anyone who lives in L.A. and wants to get together to knit when I come out, or make a yarn crawl, or knows anything else that I shouldn't miss...let me know!*

Back to the trip...I also worked on some sadly neglected clogs for my roomate Genia. They have been on the needles for far too long! I am now, thanks to car knitting time, more than half way done with them! I went through a faze last year where I was making everybody clogs...I made 11 pairs. I'm thinking that the reason that these have been sitting in the knitting basket by the couch for so long is that I was just burnt out. But I'm getting back into the swing of knitting clogs. I really love to give this as a gift to people. It takes three skeins of wool total. (I always use Lambs Pride Bulky) You need 2 in the sole color and 1 in the color that you want the top of your clog. The clog in the picture is made with one strand of WW wool and 2 strands of a novelty yarn that will shrink a little.

The pattern is by Fiber Trends, and is one that you really have to pay attention to, and follow very carefully. It's not hard, but it's very specific in the amount of stitches you need to have at all times. I always make a photo copy of the pattern so that I can highlight the numbers for the size that I'm making, otherwise I would get totally lost. My mom helped me out by highlighting the pattern for me! Thanks Mom! This picture gives you an idea of how many numbers there are the pattern page. A highlighter is your friend when making felted clogs!
Here's a shot of my mom knitting in the back seat. She was the true knitter in the car, and deserves a prize (if I was giving prizes) because when the sun went down and I put my stuff away and took a nap...she busted out my flashlight and knitted on into the night! My mom rocks!