Yep, another BallBand dishrag down. This one knit with leftovers from Absorba, cream and soft violet. It was my first knit per the pattern with two colors. I'm finding it best to twist the yarns at the start of each right side row, this prevents that loose float when you carry the color A up the side. Number four is on the needles already.
In only 7 days, I have completed Absorba. Final tally, just under 6 balls of Ecru (literally, there were only a few yards left on the last two balls), 2 2/3 balls Soft Violet (I was surprised to find the yardage to be more in these balls) and an unknown amount of Cream (since it was a cone, it’s hard to tell, but there’s a ton left!) It measures 30 ½ by 22 inches (pre-washing). I put extra rows on the ends to get it close to the size of the bathmat I had been using since it was the perfect size for in front of our shower. I have some trepidation about washing this puppy, though. As the book describes, it looks like it will easily soak up a couple of gallons of water. Great for bath time, not so great when it comes to washing time. It just missed laundry day and I’m not making a special load just to see what happens. Will report how it washes up next week.
Now I’m kind of in knitting limbo land. The rug was such a quick and satisfying project. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do next. Yes, there are still the half finished CC Tunic and the similarly half finished 3 Seasons Cardi, but it is WAY too hot to even think about touching their wooliness. I’m on the fence about the Country Silk Shawl. There is only a touch of wool in it, but it still seems to stick in my fingers in this hot weather. The dishcloths seem to be the favored project this summer. They are little, so they don’t heat up your lap while you are knitting. The cotton doesn’t stick to sweaty hands. Everyone can use dishrags, so I can give the extra’s away. I’ve still got a couple of colors of Sugar n Cream to go and yarn left over from Absorba too so I can actually work from stash for once!
I’m still thinking about ordering some cones of Peaches n Crème to make matching kitchen rugs for in front of the sink and inside the side door. I’m leaning towards the Seabreeze ombre colorway, but buying it in individual colors (teal, dark brown, white, tan). I’m afraid 3 or 4 strands of the ombre together wouldn’t turn out very well. It would be neigh onto impossible to keep the color changes matching up for a whole rug. With the individual colors held together, I think the color would be more homogenous throughout. Again, I’m shite with colors, so if anyone has experience with mixing colors to knit a rug, I’d love the advice.
It was a movie weekend here in the Smith home. We haven’t been to the video store in ages so there was a good bit to choose from. Every time we rent movies, I end up not getting to watch them. Either something comes up or I just am not in the mood for the movies we rented. This time, it worked out well. Hubby picked out Batman Returns and War of the Worlds, I picked Alexander, Dodgeball and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I was disappointed with Alexander, but the rest were all really good. Dodgeball was laugh out loud funny. Rip Torn was hysterical! I’d say Batman was the best of the bunch. I don’t usually care much for the superhero movies, but this one was excellent, by far the best of the Batman movies. Also watched Bridgett Jones 2. Very funny, as good as the first (can’t say that often of sequels!)
The second, using K1C2 2nd Time cotton in a blue color (lost the label so I don't know the name), using the Bee Stitch. This one shrank up a bit in the wash but is quite usable. The yarn is made from recycled textile waste. This color looks like it's made from old jeans and oh so soft. 
(mulching the flower bed)
(getting my first book read for the summer reading program) 
Yes, that's right, the yarn for Absorba was waiting on my doorstep when I arrived home today. The colors are blending wonderfully. I'm using 2 strands of Ecru, 1 strand of Soft Violet and 1 strand of Cream Sugar & Cream on US size 13 needles.
Finally, after almost a year (yes I'm slow, but I have a lot of stick-to-it-ivness), I have finished the Landscape Shawl. Washed & blocked it last night and wore it to work today. It is so cozy and soft, soft, soft. It is knit from Knit Picks Elegance in Grass using Fiber Trends Landscape Shawl Pattern. I used US size 10.5 needles and the numbers for fingering weight yarn. I ended up not doing the fifth panel since I ran out of yarn and it was plenty big enough anyway. There are mistakes (of course) and I’m not crazy about some of the yarn joins, but in all I am just thrilled to bits with it.
Since finishing the shawl, I’ve been splitting my time between the Country Silk shawl and this…
Apparently there are subliminal messages hidden between all the blatant warshcloth love talk in Mason-Dixon that make it impossible not to knit a BallBand dishcloth. I had picked up a couple of balls of Peaches & Crème and Sugar & Cream with the intent of knitting some dishrags one of these days (see previous posts). I wasn’t immediately taken with the BallBand pattern and have been looking online for something to catch my fancy. Nothing has. I’m just not a dishcloth kind of person. Then yesterday I just felt I HAD to do the BallBand dishrag. So I settled in with my yarn and needles and pattern and had at it. The pattern is exceptionally easy to memorize. After the first repeat I had it down. I’m only using one color rather than the two called for in the pattern, but I think the ombre yarn has enough interest on it’s own. This is the first I’ve knit with Peaches & Crème and am finding it very nice to work with. Soft and smooth, even for a cotton yarn.
Ann & Kay have had a lot of sway over my knitting this week. I got to page 82 and fell in love. Absorba, the Great Bathmat. I MUST KNIT THIS. I have been searching for a cooshy, absorbent, pretty bathmat forever. This one suits the bill to a T. I came up empty on the double worsted Peaches & Crème called for in the pattern. That’s not exactly true, several people pointed out it could be purchased from Cotton Clouds. But in the end, I decided to go with Sugar & Cream from Knitting Warehouse. I was able to get a cone of Cream, and balls of Ecru and Soft Violet for cheap and it will be here Monday (in plenty of time for my long weekend coming up!) Already told hubby I plan on spending alot of time knitting so don't make too many plans! I'm shite at picking colors though, so I hope these work well together. My bathroom is blue with purple accents so I'm thinking this will work. This girl can pick colors! Who'd have thought purple and orange would work so well? I feel...inspired!
The yarn is Fiddlesticks Country Silk, manufactured by Fleece Artist. Everyone raves about Fleece Artist yarns, so my expectations were pretty high.
The yarn is 50% silk, 30% wool and 20% nylon. The feel is neither too soft or too scratchy. It has an incredible sheen in natural light. There is no gauge or needle size recommended on the tag. I would say the yarn is about a sport weight (although the website lists it as suitable for DK weight patterns).
Knitting Rules is Stephanie's best book yet. If you haven't read the others (and why not?!) by all means, get this one and read it. She has much the same "you can do it" attitude that Elizabeth Zimmermann always put forth in her books. Rather than specific patterns, she gives you recipes and the tools to work out how to knit basic things like scarves, hats, socks and such. Plus there's plenty of her familiar with sprinkled throughout. I'm currently reading Mason Dixon (hence the removal of the cover so as not to get it all scuffed up). Everyone RAVES about this book and I must say, so far I'm really enjoying it too. I've checked out their blog occasionally in the past, but it hadn't been one of my regular reads. It's becoming a regular stop for me now, though. Same with Wendy Knits. I would stop by her blog every know and then to see what Lucy was up to and ogle at Wendy's phenomenal (and prolific) collection of knitting. I picked up her book along with Mason Dixon, but have only briefly glanced at it. The last book was a find at a local book sale a few weeks ago. I have no clue what it's about, just saw it was a novel with knitting for $.50 and had to snatch it up. I do think it's a sequel to Knit One, Kill Two, so I may have to find and read a copy of that first.
I sat down to knit one night, after a long hard day and picked up my knitting to find Stuart had chewed the ends off of my Brittany Birch needles. Yeah, the little beast is fine, no splinters or anything...this was hubby's first concern. Although I was concerned for the cat too, once I was sure he was ok, I had to tape the ends up so I could finish the row I had stopped in the middle of. Not fun, but it worked. Thankfully, I had a US 11 circular needle I could use and now have this...
, navy and amethyst. It doesn't look like much in the skein, although the colors are beautiful. And knitting it is much like any cotton, stiff in my opinion. But the resulting face cloths are such a treat. Once washed, they are soft and fluffy. 
I'm using this pattern from Crystal Palace. Although, I wasn't crazy about the eyelets formed by the yarnovers. After the first cloth I switched to using a kf&b increase and am much happier with the result. I think I would also like them to be a little bigger, maybe go up to 50 or even 60 stitches instead of 44.
