Picture Post

Ok so I'm a slacker and just got around to putting the pictures from August on my computer. So I'm posting some pics to tied you all over until I get over my lazy b*ss and take pictures of the yarn I dyed this weekend (you can see my hand in the first shot and 2 of the skeins on the table are mine, can you guess which 2?). If the current rate of slackerism holds then maybe you'll see pictures of all 4 skeins I dyed and a post about the class sometime in October. =P

Today's pictures are of the lace part of the garter belt that I knit as the something blue for my best friend's wedding. (Every time I type that I see Julia Roberts in my head) Unfortunately I finished the garter the morning of the wedding and things were a tiny bit crazy that morning (ok so we thought we didn't have a wedding cake at one point and I really wondered if I would have to kill the bride for the good of humanity but other then that it was a carefree morning) so I didn't get a finished object picture (FO for those of you who don't read knitting blogs... um Dad). I'll borrow the garter sometime (probably November or something :P ) and post an FO picture.

This is the Dayflower (or maybe Mayflower? I don't have the book handy) lace panel from Barbara Walker 2nd Treasury. The yarn is some absolutely luscious hand spun, hand dyed light blue merino wool and cashmere blend. I am a horrible blogger and I don't have the name of the spinner/dyer or anything. (If you were at Black Sheep and sold me some gorgeous lace weight in light blue made of merino and cashmere then thank you a billion times and let me know who you are so I can acknowledge you in public!((like anyone would remember one specific sale at black sheep for two skeins of yarn!)))

With pins.



With pins and at a funky angle!



No pins at all =)



Yeah I really need to take some finished pictures. After it was blocked I seamed the two ends and added a stockinette border around the top with eyelets at the edge and threaded some lace through them in order to tie it around her leg. This was a great project for tackling some basic design and it made me realize that the next garter will have to be designed very differently due to fit issues. (I kinda ripped a hole in the eyelet section when I tied it onto her leg. Opps! We still managed to keep it on her for the wedding and reception and I can easily fix it.)

Craaazy....

Patsy Cline is on permanent repeat in my head today. This whole summer has been a bit crazy. Luckily in 2 weeks it will all be over. My best-friends wedding (isn't that a movie?), where I am maid-of-honor, will be over. So with 2 weeks left I've realized exactly how much weight I've gained this summer (too freakin much) and since I tried on and bought the dress in April I'm getting scared. I can't even try on the dress to see if it fits because my bridezilla best friend (actually she's not too bad, just a bit of a control freak but that's normal) took all the dresses to La Grande over the 4th so she would know they were "safe". Well the dresses might be safe but I'm not sure my body is safe to fit inside it any more. So.. two weeks of eating very good, drinking lots of water and exercising 'till I fall over. Please send fat shedding thoughts for me so that my body will morph into a version that fits into the dress while allowing me to breathe simultaneously.

Another craziness... I decided over the weekend to knit the garter band for Lindsey's wedding. I've only been talking about knitting it since they became engaged over a year ago, but no, I wait until last minute as always. Now I could have chosen to do something simple with cute little eyelets and call it good right? After all who is gunna see it besides her, me and the groom to be? But do I choose fast, safe and easy? No! I go for a very lacy pattern (have I mentioned I'm new to lace?) from the 2nd Barbara Walker Treasury. You can see a pic of the pattern here except mine is done in an extremely fine laceweight which measures 19 wraps per 1/2 inch (I got tired of wrapping at 1/2 inch, that says something for my sanity and this project). I'm knitting the lace panel flat then will connect it and pick up the top edge and knit a few rows of stockinette stitch with eyelets every so often so we can run some ribbon or maybe some kind of elastic (or if I'm truly feeling wild maybe elastic with ribbon sewed around it) to keep the thing on her leg. On the bottom I plan to pick up stitches and finish with an Ocean Wave Edging, also from the 2nd Barbara Walker Treasury. I found a sketch of the pattern here so use your imagination. I may be delusional but I really think I can get it done. It's her something blue (a very pale sky blue merino/silk blend, I loves it so much!) so it's of vital importance (at least that's what I told Jeff when he asked me why I was torturing myself). I figure I can find time to squeeze knitting in between working full time, helping thread itty-bitty ribbon through itty-bitty holes in the wedding programs, scanning 3 million photo's for my friend to decide which she will use as a photo slide show (of the 3 million she will probably pick like 100 so much of my scanning time seems to be supercilious), picking up tuxes and the pressed wedding dress and food and cups and anything else that comes up, oh and loose 20 lbs too. Hmmm perhaps my subconscious has good reason to play Patsy Cline to me :P

By the way, it's good to be back and over the next couple days I'll try to squeeze a couple pictures outta my camera so I can show you my garter belt. Even though it's only a few inches long I'm unreasonably proud of it. I made my co-workers look at it this morning. I believe they were just nodding along and making nice so I didn't accost them with knitting needles or anything. :P

Oh yah I have to write a toast too.. Hmmm must start thinking on that!