Author: missouristar

The Olympics are upon us and I have to admit, I'm a fan.  I know all the arguments about how the games have become commercialized and the athletes are really not amateurs any more, but I still love seeing all these people work their hearts out toward a goal.  I was going to say young people, but last night in the parade there was a 61-year old!  Of course, he was a shooter, not a runner, but still . . . .

I think part of the reason I'm so psyched this year is because I've set a goal for myself.  I'm not exactly sure what possessed me (although I think Kris might be partly to blame), but I have started running.  My goal is to participate in a 5k race.  I've already reached the stage where I can do a run/walk of 3 miles.  Not bad, considering running for even a minute when I started was hard.  I'm not sure of my time because the last two times I ran, the app on my iPhone crapped out on me and I didn't make note of the time when I started.  Monday I'll run with a new app and hopefully get a feel for whether or not I will embarass myself.  I've signed up for a 5k on August 18th.  I'm really hoping I can do it in 45 minutes or less using a run/walk combination.  Apparently that is pretty ok now and even marathoners will insert walk breaks to allow their bodies to recover.  My goal is a 5k this year and a 10k next year.  I would dearly love to do a half marathon after that, but I'm not going to tempt fate by announcing that as a goal quite yet.  I'll have to see how my 62-year-old formerly couch potato body holds up!

And of course, I have my Ravellenics goal.  I have started Haruni .  It's probably not a real stretch for me to finish this during the Olympics because I'm a pretty fast lace knitter and it's a smallish fingering weight shawl.  I think for me the challenge is project monogamy!  I started yesterday afternoon and knitted through the opening ceremonies.  Good thing I had something to keep me awake because I thought they were dismal!

I'm on the team for Knit Companion.  And speaking of KC – I hope to be teaching a class on it come fall.  I spoke to the owner of Wild Fibers in Mt. Vernon and she was really excited about the prospect.  While I was talking to her there was even a lady who came up and asked to have her name put on the waiting list!  It remains to be seen if there is enough interest to make a class of it, but I certainly hope so.

Another goal was to finally finish my 2011 KALendar Shawl.  The knitting was finished ages ago, but I had been dreading the blocking because it is so big!  Turns out, it wasn't as bad as I expected, although it did entail a little rearranging of my bedroom:

This was certainly the most ambitious shawl I've ever done and as I blogged about previously, one of the sections (the vertical lines just before the heart border) just about did my wrists in.  However, the pattern was lovely, clear and free of errors, so I would highly recommend it.

I think the next lace knitting goal will be to tackle a wedding ring type shawl.  I have several patterns, but some of my fellow knitters in the Knit Companion group have our eye on the Queen Susan.  Perhaps in the fall.  Any other takers out there for a knit along??

It seems that a lot of my fellow bloggers are falling into the same dilemma that I am.  Life has become so busy that it's often hard to find time to blog.  But on the other hand, if life weren't so busy, there would be nothing to blog about!

Busyness this time came about in the form of two beloved granddaughters coming to stay for a whole week.  We were having Vacation Bible School at our church and I think this is becoming a summer tradition.  The girls absolutely love it and we love having them here.  They both wanted to dress up in the hats and purses that their Aunt Claudia had bought for them:

I got such a kick out of Isobel, who wanted to wear her hat all week, even when she was wearing jeans. She keeps insisting she's not a girly-girl, but I think there's just a smidge of that hiding in her.  She still seems to be loving her doll.  At the end of the week my sister and I treated the girls to lunch at the American Girl Store in Alderwood, and of course, the dollies came along for the ride.

Several times while we were together, Isobel brought me her knitting and wanted to work on it:

She only seems to be able to manage one row at a time, but her workmanship is very nice.  I'm not pushing it, but letting her set the pace.

On my knitting front, I've been working hard on my son's cardigan.  All the pieces are now knit and waiting to be blocked and sewn together!

This is the part that always seems to trip me up, but using a pattern without seaming just makes for a huge project that you're dealing with at the end.  I'm anxious to move on to another project and have the yarn and pattern in the queue to make Iain for Isobel for Christmas.  She has expressed a desire for a hooded sweater.  Still looking for something for Mei-Mei.  She's almost never cold and doesn't need something too heavy.  She has loved her Child's Kimono and when a sweater is called for, that's the one she wants.   

And of course – there's the Ravelym . . . . oops!  Ravellenics coming up.  I will obstain from posting my observations about all the brouhaha that insued over the whole thing, except to say that the USOC are a bunch of twits.  I do understand protecting copyright, but they kind of sorta went overboard and insulted 2 million knitters.  I guess I didn't obstain from commenting after all.   Anyhoo . . . this is the first year that I am participating as part of team KnitCompanion.  To say that I totally love this iPad app is an understatement.  I can't imagine knitting without it – especially charts.  My project will be Haruni in black KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer.  That's black with a lot of sparkle.  I'm also entering the WIP Wrestle with Ylva.  All that's left is the sewing up and arm and neck bands.  Hopefully this will give me the incentive I need to wrestle that puppy to the ground!

The main reason I wanted a sparkly shawl was so that I would have something for (drum roll please) the cruise we are taking this fall!  To celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, hubby and I have signed up for a 17 day cruise through the Panama Canal.  Port calls include San Francisco, Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica and Columbia.  We are beyond excited.  We've never cruised before and as someone commented, it is jumping off the deep end by selecting such a long cruise as our first.  But I can't imagine what's not to like.  Any advice from veteran cruisers out there would be welcome.

Spurred on by Kathy and her beautiful spinning, I pulled out my sadly neglected wheel this afternoon.  I was gratified to find that it is indeed like riding a bicycle and I haven't totally forgotten everything I know.  I have unfortunately let my spinning bag dissolve into disarray and many lables are missing, so I'm not sure what this lovely fiber is, other than a guess that it is tencel and merino:

My plan is to Navajo ply it, which is ambitious considering I've never Navajo plyed before.  Guess you have to start somewhere!

I've been in a bit of a blogging slump lately.  It's seems that I'm awfully busy, but nothing seems "momentous" enough to blog about.  But then I remind myself that I'm blogging to remember my every day life, not to astound my readers (few though they may be) with the fabulously exciting life style that I lead!

I did have a wee bit of excitement lately when Abby and I took the girls to Great Wolf Lodge.  This is a nice family-oriented hotel just south of Olympia with an attached indoor water park.  None of the guys seemed all that interested in going, so we decided to make it a girls' mini-vacation.  When we got there, we were able to upgrade to a Kids' Cabin room, so the girls had their own little cabin with bunk beds in the room:

There were so many cute little details in the room and the girls loved it!

The water park was outstanding!  There was a wave pool, kiddie pool area with small slides, two big slides and two enormous slides.  In this view from our room you can see the two enormous slides:

There were spurting fountains everywhere – no chance at all of staying dry!

 

 And every fifteen minutes or so this huge bucket dumped 1000 gallons of water!

The first day Abby took Isobel on the more adventuresome slides and I stayed with Mei-Mei in the wave pool and kiddies pool area.  However, on the second day, Mei-Mei got her courage up and went on one of the big slides.  I was really worried, because she can be rather timid, so Mom was up at the top and I was down at the bottom to catch her.  The look on her face as she came down was pure joy!  After that there was no stopping her and I lost track of how many times we went down the slide.  Since Mom and Isobel went off to do other things and Mei-Mei could not go up the stairs by herself, that meant that every time she went, Nana went!  I'd go down the slide first and be there to catch her at the bottom.  Hubby mentioned that there didn't seem to be any photos of Abby or me.  I only took out my non-waterproof iPhone for a few pictures and Abby and I were usually in separate places with the girls.  Even if I had a picture of me in a bathing suit, there is NO way I would post it in my blog!!

Lots of knitting was accomplished on the long drive down, since Abby drove.  I made a lot of progress on Ben's sweater, but no photos.  When I came home I started thinking about my friend, Karen, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is having a mastectomy today.  I decided to make her a prayer shawl and chose Summerflies  as the pattern.  I found some beautiful Merino/Silk in her favorite color at my LYS:

And today my Knit Picks order arrived!  I ordered some Stroll Glimmer – black with sparkle to make Haruni.  

This is going to be my Ravelympics project.  I have joined the Knit Companion team and hope to start and complete the shawl during the summer Olympics.  I wanted something with sparkle to wear on the cruise we're taking in the fall!!!  Hubby and I decided we wanted to do something spectacular for our 40th wedding anniversary.  We never really had a honeymoon, so we are going to be sailing from Seattle to San Francisco, Mexico, Costa Rica, Columbia and the Panama Canal.  I am beyond excited!

To round out my order, I got some blocking mats and more sock yarn.  So, I guess there is a lot going on to blog about.  I have a couple of photos that Abby had framed for us hanging in the hall.  The caption is, "Life is made up not of milestones, but of moments."  How true that is!

 

 

We're back from another trip, this time to Logan, Utah.  Hubby's brother recently got a new job at Logan State University and had been encouraging us to come down and visit them.  It was a fairly quick road trip – two days down, two days there, and two days back, with a side trip to the Spokane area to visit his other brother.  Logan is a beautiful area!  One day we took a side trip to Bear Lake and on the way passed a little cave that Bill and his brother remember visiting in 1966.

We drove up to Tony's Grove and found a beautiful lake still partly covered by ice:

And there was knitting!  Debbie is a wonderful knitter and we visited her LYS for some fiber therapy. Of course, there was yarn as souvenirs:

There was a close out sale on some merino laceweight and these two skeins jumped right into my bag!  And we decided to start a sister-in-law knit-a-long and bought the same yarn to make Wingspan:

I seem to have misplaced the ball band, so I can't remember what yarn it is – I believe it's a new Regia sock yarn, but don't quote me on that.  I don't know if I'm going to have enough to do the full 8 repeats.  It's getting close and I'm knitting faster in the hope that the faster I knit, the farther my yarn will go.

To make the hours go quicker on the road, hubby and I listened to an audio book.  We chose 11-22-63 by Stephen King.  This is definitely one of his best!  Of course, with King, you do have to accept that there will be  some language, but he has kept the violence to a minimum.  And did I say it's long??  We didn't finish it on the trip, so have been listening to it in the evenings instead of watching TV.  I can see that the book wouldn't be of as much interest to the younger set, but for those of us who lived through Kennedy's assassination, it's fascinating to think about going back in time to try and stop it.

Lately I've been revisiting one of my long time loves – quilting.  Never fear that I'll give up knitting, but a recent visit to a quilt show and the exhibit of my good friend JoAnne and her gorgeous applique quilts has gotten me thinking about getting back to hand applique:

I have taken a leap off the deep end and have joined a Block of the Month to make this quilt:

I have always wanted to make a Baltimore Album quilt, but just didn't know where to even start.  I'm hoping by doing it this way I will get over my hesitation.  Yeah, I know I'm crazy!  I have no doubt that I will be unable to keep up on a monthly basis, but I hope to keep plodding away and eventually get it done.  In the meantime, I'm honing my skills on a much simpler block:

There are still leaves to be added.  This does mean that I will be starting fewer knitting projects, however, I did finish the 2011 KALendar shawl:

It just needs blocking, but I'm sure I'll procrastinate because blocking that puppy is going to be an all day affair!  In fact, I'm not sure I have enough T-pins.  This shawl just about did me in!  At the end I think I had over 1600 stitches on the needle.  I think the results are probably worth it, but any shawls I'll be doing for a while will be smaller.  I am joining the Ravelympics team for the Knit Companion group and will probablyl do Haruni.  The goal will be to cast on during the opening ceremonies and finish by the closing ceremonies.

In closing, I leave with this picture of Maggie.  As those who love Corgis know, they are able to defy the law of physics and shed more hair than they actually have!  It cracks me up that she is a black dog, but the undercoat that she loses in the spring is a light grey.  I know it's possible to spin dog hair, but I think hers is too short stapled.

 

Thanks for all the kind comments regarding my wrist.  It is doing a lot better.  A combination of the splint, icing and a little knitting vacation seemed to do the trick.  The knitting hiatus came about because of a real vacation – we flew back to Missouri for a family reunion.  There was lots of visiting (and eating!), but very little knitting.

As those of you who have followed my blog might remember, my home town is a tiny little town in Missouri.  The population varies somewhat, but as far as anyone can tell, it's less than 100.  My parents have lived in the same cute little stone house for over 30 years:

We even got to visit the actual house I was born in.  I was a little disappointed that the owner wasn't home, so we didn't get to go inside.

This visit was especially memorable, because all of the siblings were together for the first time in almost 10 years!

Aren't we a cute bunch?  We also got to meet my brother Pat's wife for the first time.

They are an absolutely darling couple.  This picture was taken in front of the house that Rose Wilder Lane built for her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We also visited the house that Almanzo built for her:

I have to admit that I never did read the Little House books growing up.  But I bought one for the granddaughters and I think we will read them together.

Immediately upon returning, we had birthdays to celebrate.  Isobel and Grandpa celebrated their birthdays with a joint party – they are only one day (and 56 years!) apart.

Abby and I took a chance and bought Isobel an American Girl Doll.  When Ivy got hers, Isobel insisted that she didn't "need" a doll because she is not a "girly-girl".  But whenever they passed the American Girl Doll place in Alderwood Mall, she would look wistfully in the window.  We thought that perhaps she would be won over if the doll suited her.  So we picked out a doll that looked like her and I made a Gi with a yellow belt because Isobel just earned her first yellow belt in Karate.  The effort was a resounding success!  One of the first things Isobel said was, "She looks just like me!"

She promptly named her doll Amelia, after Amelia Earhart. And there was more than enough dolly love to go around!

We're off on other adventures soon, but I'll post after we get back.  I'm a little cautious any more about advertising that we'll be gone, even though we have a house/dog sitter.  I'll be visiting a favorite sister-in-law, who just happens to be a knitter.  Good times!

I've been knitting for more years than I care to remember, and sometimes quite intensively.  And, I've managed to do so without suffering any ill effects to my hands and wrists.  Until now.

Several days ago I woke up to extreme pain in my right wrist.  I couldn't even hold a coffee cup.  I think what did me in was the next to the last clue in the 2011 KALendar shawl:

Usually when knitting lace, there's enough variety that I'm not making exactly the same wrist and finger movements all of the time.  On this particular clue, there are endless rows on I don't know how many stitches (a LOT – enough to fill a 60" cable to overflowing) of the same pattern – k2 tog through the front and back of a stitch.  Over and over – and over.  I probably should have paced myself a little better, but I so wanted to get beyond it to the more interesting border.  I bought a wrist splint and have been icing like crazy and it's much improved.  I haven't entirely quit knitting, but am limiting myself to lightweight projects for no more than about 20 minutes at a time and no more than maybe an hour a day.  For me, that's almost the equivalent of complete withdrawal!  I am prepared to stop entirely if there's the spectre of permanent damage, but since I am getting better, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.  I am seeing the doctor today for my annual physical and I'll discuss the matter with him.

Fortunately I have some sewing projects to command my attention.  Isobel's 7th birthday is coming up and she has been showing a lot of interest in knitting.  So I am making her a learn-to-knit kit.  I found this darling fabric to make a bag and have bought her some bamboo needles.  I'll look for some pretty blue yarn from my stash to complete the kit:

Her mother and I also took a big chance and went together to get her this:

We're not exactly sure what the reception will be.  She told her mother that she wanted an American Girl Doll, but then said she didn't like dolls because she's not a girly-girl.  She does a lot of rubber necking when they walk by the store, so I think she's intrigued.  We're hoping to convince her that tomboys can have dolls too.  We liked this one because it looks like her.  My sister is going to get her a book about women scientists and we'll suggest she name her doll after one of them.  I'll also make her a Karate outfit.  Isobel recently won her first belt in Karate!

We've enjoyed some really stellar weather around here lately – at least between the rain showers.  Last Saturday hubby and I decided to take the Karman Ghia convertible out for a spin and found this charming little example of yarn bombing:

Actually, I don't know if it's technically yarn bombing if you use commercially knit garments, but it's cute nonetheless!  

Next week I hope to post from my parents' house in Missouri, although internet and even cell phone coverage will be sketchy at best.  It should be a fun time.  All of my parents' children and their spouses will be there.  Please pray for a safe journey for all, and no tornadoes! 

Whenever I start a new piece of lace, I always feel as if I've slipped down a rabbit hole.  I get so engrossed in it that everything else takes a back seat.  The 2011 KALendar Shawl has been no exception!  This is such a wonderful pattern!  There is so much going on and it is constantly changing and keeping my interest.  The pattern is very well written, and since the KAL is officially over, has the added bonus of having been test knit by a large number of knitters.  Like most large shawls, it's difficult to get a good picture without risking having it slip off the needles, but here goes:

However, I really do need to start thinking about putting it aside because I have several other projects that need my attention.  As if I don't have enough on my plate, I signed up for a swap with the American Girl Doll Knitters group on Ravelry.  This won't be too involved, though.  I think I can probably finish a little sweater in less than a week.  I've chosen as my pattern a darling little cabled sweater by Astrid Aesoey.  I just want to finish this one section on the KALendar shawl, which should be done tonight.

The other project that needs to take front and center stage is my son's sweater.  As you may recall, I gave him the yarn for Christmas and it would really, really be nice if I could finish it in time for his birthday the end of June.  No promises though, Ben!  I just couldn't find a pattern that he liked, so I'm devising my own pattern.  It will be a simple set-in sleeve cardigan in basketweave stitch.  My LYS offered to plug it into her Sweater Wizard.  However, I found it on sale for half price and bit the bullet and bought it.  I've been trying to hold out for a Mac version (have I mentioned how much I hate Windows?), but that doesn't seem to be on the horizon quite yet.  

I also need to resume work on my gansey.  There's no huge rush, but it is our yearly group project for my knitting group and since I'm the only one crazy enough to do a fingering weight version, I am already hopelessly behind.

And . . . . our knitting group has also undertaken a project for our picnic in July with a neighboring group.  They have decided to do teddy bears and I am on the hook for two.  It seems like everyone in our group is just too fond of knitting tiny little toys, except me!  I keep putting it off, but the time will come soon when I need to get going on that.  I'm trying to use the "small step" approach to spur me on.  The first step was putting the pattern into Knitters Companion.  I love this program so much and my iPad is a constant fixture in my knitting basket now.  Next step was to get out the needles.  This week I will choose the yarn and then will have no choice but to get going on it!

I did take time out from knitting projects to scrapbook about my knitting.  Our project this month in the scrapbooking class I'm taking is our hobbies.  Wow – I could probably fill a whole scrapbook with just that.  Here's my page on knitting:

Spring has finally sprung in our part of the country, but we're not out of the woods yet.  Lots more rain to come, but these lovely daffodils are God's way of saying that he hasn't forgotten us.  

In the great lace race of 2012, the winner is the KALendar 2011 shawl.  

I just could not resist the aweseomness of all the different patterns.  It will definitely keep me intrigued and challenged!  Although I have the yarn for Evenstar, it will need to wait just a while longer.  In addition to the fact that this is a new knit for me, one of the things that sent this to the top of the pile is that I actually found yarn in my stash.  I have enough Knit Picks Bare in laceweight to accomplish this, with enough left over for insurance.  The option is given to use beads, eyelets or nupps and I have chosen to do nupps.  I'm not a great fan of doing them, but since this is knit circular (although it is square, if that makes sense), you don't have to wrestle with purling them all together – you knit together through the back loop.  I find this SO much easier.  Here is the start:

As much of a bear as this was to start, I think I'm going to start over because I don't like the way the center came out.  Part of the trouble was a catch in the join of one of my Knit Picks needles.  I have really loved these needles and they've been my first choice for laceweight, but I do find the quality control lacking.  I found these Knitters' Pride needles at my LYS and am going to give them a try.

They are priced quite reasonably and the owner of the LYS said the cables were very flexible and the joins smooth.  However, they do come with a warning!

I told hubby he was absolutely forbidden to use them, as he is not adequately trained!

On Thursday I took a bus down to the Sewing Expo in Puyallup (for you non-Washingtonians, that's pronounced "pew-allup") with a group of fellow quilters.  We had a lot of fun, spend a boatload of money and at least one of us (ahem) came home with a new serger:

My old one is on its last legs and I spend more time fiddling with broken parts than actually sewing.  The time and price seemed right and this found its way onto the bus with me.  Good news – it's a demo model and since they couldn't find the box for me, they threw in this pretty pink carrying case.  

 Bad news – they forgot to throw in the owner's manual.  We didn't realize it until it was being loaded on the bus and I didn't have time to go back to the booth to get it.  I'm hoping to go in for my free training next week and can pick it up then.  Until then, I'm just gazing at it fondly because I don't want to mess around with it too much and break something!

One of the projects I'll be using it for is to sew more doll clothes for my and Mei-Mei's dolls.  I found a pattern for costumes from the Wizard of Oz.  I've always wanted to sew a costume featuring my namesake and since I'm too old to wear it, my doll will do.  I know that Mei-Mei may not know about Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, but I think she'll be pretty impressed with glittery ruby slippers!

But shhhh . . . . not a word to her (I'm looking at you Abby!)  This will be a surprise, probably for her birthday.

All these fun things are helping distract me from some vision problems I've been having.  I've been diagnosed with Posterior Vitreous Detachment.  The opthamologist said it's not uncommon as we age, although I am on the young side for this to happen.  Apparently the sac of vitreous fluid in the eye tugs and pulls on the retinal lining, especially in the macular region, as it shrinks when we age.  Many people get no symptoms at all, but I am in the lucky minority that is experiencing some rather pronounced effects.  Imagine someone coating your glasses lens with debris and dirt – only you can't clean it off.  It's especially noticeable when looking at anything light colored.  The bad news is that there really is nothing they can do until there is actual detachment.   I am trying to accept it with as good graces as I can.  After all, I have friends who are dealing with a lot worse – chronic pain, cancer.  But as one friend noted, it's ok to grieve the loss of something before moving on.  The suddeness of this coming on has made me a little anxious about the changes that can happen to our bodies in a heartbeat (literally!).  However, I'm hoping that after throwing a major pity party, I will just move on and adapt.

I'm working on a quilt today and hope to have an FO in that area to show next time.  Toodles!

I haven't knitted any lace since I finished my Advent Scarf back in November and I'm definitely feeling the effects.  I am in full blown withdrawal and will have to remedy that soon.  I've already ordered some Eos from the Unique Sheep in a lovely soft pink.  My original plan was to knit another Evenstar.  

As you may remember, I made the shocking decision to give away the first one I made.  I certainly don't regret it because my niece absolutely loves it and does wear it.  Another option might be the 2011 KALendar shawl.    Because it is a mystery KAL, there are not pictures on the project page, but fellow Raveler Judy has kindly consented to let me share hers:

Is that not absolutely glorious?  However, I'm not sure I have enough yarn for that.  Even if I don't do it this time, it definitely goes in my queue.  The other option is be patient, because scuttlebutt has it that the same designer, Carmen Oliveras, may be starting another KAL in March.  Looking at her designs, I would most certainly be on board for that.  I will keep you posted.

The reason I've not been doing lace was because I was so focused on finished hubby's Mountain Brook.  As promised, here is the modeled shot.  Doesn't he look handsome?  And the fit is perfect!

Next up I need to get working on son's sweater.  We haven't been able to find any patterns that he likes, so I'm afraid I'll need to draft one.  Thankfully, my LYS, from whom I bought the yarn has Sweater Wizard on her computer at the shop and is going to plug in the numbers for me.  I just need to get a good gauge for her first.  I did need to do some mending on the sweater I made for him last year.  He's certainly got a lot of wear out of it, but that has taken its toll:

This wasn't a simple fix as it involved two rows of knitting.  First up, I had to (horrors!) make the hold bigger:

Then I stabilized it with a contrasting thread and wove in the ends:

Next up was to weave two lengths of yarn into the opening:

Then, using a crochet hook, I laddered up the stitiches:

In the interest of full disclosure, I almost didn't post this last picture because the end result wasn't as neat as I would have wished.  I should have taken more time and used better light, but at least the end result is not too ugly and is completely functional!

I'm hoping it will even out more as it's washed.  For more complete directions, check out this article in Knitty.

For now it's on to more sock knitting.  I've finished the first pair of the barter socks and am down to the foot on the first of the second pair.  I really want to get these done and get on to something fun – like lace!

I know, not a very creative title, but all my winter-weary brain can come up with at this point.  Don't get me wrong – we certainly can't complain that we've had a tough winter this year.  Other than the few days of Snowmageddon, it's been relatively mild.  But we have entered the time when the grey skies start to take their toll and visions of warm, sunny spring are starting to seem so far away.

I promised hubby I would have his sweater completed by spring, and lo and behold I was able to keep my promise!

Mountain Brook was finished today.  All the ends are even woven in and all that's left is a nice bath and blocking, although I think it looks pretty good even without blocking.  Maybe it's my imagination, but there does seem to be a very faint color difference in the skeins.  I know they are all the same dye lot – the LYS double checked for me.  So I'm just going to chalk it up to a strange trick of light.  Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Model shots will follow once it's blocked.  Stats:  Mountain Brook by Janet Szabo, yarn – Nature Spun Sport by Brown Sheep, size 3 needles.  Knit all in one piece – no seaming!!  Yeay!

Recently I was given a copy of the app Yarn U to review on my blog.  This is an app available for the iPhone or iPad that reviews yarns.  You can sort by manufacturer, name, weight or (strangely enough), the distance you are from the manufacturer.  When you choose your yarn, a page comes up showing the yarn and giving the basic statistics, along with a map giving the location of the manufacturer.

For most yarns (but not all), you can scroll through the color choices:

There are also links to online companies where the yarn can be purchased, along with a spot for comments (you can add your own).  There is also a list of pros and cons, which can, of course, be quite subjective.

I think this is the start of a decent app, but it does need some more work.  The list of yarns, although extensive, does have gaps.  For instance, the only Brown Sheep yarn profiled is its Cotton Fleece.  Only four of Knit Picks yarns are listed.  I did like the reviews and the ability to add comments from knitters who had actually used the yarns would seem to be very useful.  The photos of the yarns that did have a list of colors were a decent enough size to get a real feel for the yarn itself.  Although there were links to online retailers, there need to be more.  Only a select few retailers were offered.  The one part of the app that I found most puzzling were the maps.  I found them distracting.  I really don't need to see on a map where the yarn was manufactured and I think they take up screen real estate that would be better filled with more photos of the yarn in use.  I do think the app is slightly overpriced right now at $2.99.  Perhaps in the future when more yarns are added the price would be justified, but for now it's just a little too light on information.  It certainly will be interesting to see how the app evolves and I hope the developers will continue to add and improve!