Whiny whiny boo boo

Waaaa, I killed the washer last weekend, the parts are spendy, payday is tomorrow and laundry is a fucking mountain now. Dh is out of town, and has been quite a bit, so I'm single mommy. Kids are cranky, and ds yelled at me in front of my boss today, VERY embarrasing. I want to sit on my ass, not cook, not clean and knit. I don't want to have to pay the bills, take the garbage cans out to the curb, go to the library, blah blah blah. I want a fucking break, and now. Not just a few hours, I need DAYS.

Manly Camo Cozy Take 2 and Lady Elaine

Well, I believe it is felted as much as the poor thing can be felted. It's still big, compared to the pattern. I think that has to do with the yarn and my dyeing process a few years ago; it was probably felted some back then. I washed and dried this damn thing at least a dozen times.

It's kewl, our friend will still like it. He may get some fuzzies in his mouth, and I'm sure he'd say it's just fiber where his diet is lacking.


Onto Lady Elaine. I've adapted the pattern from Lady Eleanor in Scarf Style, tweaking it in different ways. I don't care for the funky fringe, and chose not to afford Noro Silk Garden, rather use Paton's SWS in Natural Earth. With the changes I made, along with the sheer amount of time she's taking me to knit, she deserves a song, wouldn't ya think? I didn't realize until today I was humming Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan, thinking the lyrics were Lady Elaine. My mistake, albeit it somewhat funny, is the perfect name for this shawl/stoll.


Here she is the end of January, when I started. I still need to change to circs, the straights are getting too heavy and bulky. I like using the bamboo because it grabs the yarn and doesn't allow the stitches to slip off when I'm not paying close attention.



And here she is with two skeins in. I'm noticing the blocks are very matchy and I'm not sure I like that. I like more randomness, but I decided to keep going. With the size I plan on acheiving, I think it'll even out. I've found I can work on her the best when I'm waiting in the car line for ds to get out of school. So, the girl rides in the 'van and gets to go places.


Which brings us to today. Here she is with almost 3 skeins. This week I learned how to knit backwards, and that ROCKS! No more flipping and twisting the yarn. Little did I know that backwards knitting=knitting right handed (I'm a lefty). The colors are moving around more, so I'm glad I didn't rip her out in the beginning.

I took a closeup of the squares, they are so soft! I really like this yarn for it's affordability, versatility and available colorways. It is splity and hairy though. I can look past that, this is a good match for me.

It's camo and it's for a man

I've been on the hunt for a good beer/soda can cozy pattern, and came across this one at The Knitist .

I happened to have a bunch of fisherman's wool I had dyed a couple of years ago in greens and browns laying around, so I slapped it on some dpn's and went to town. First off, you hold two strands together, so it's a bit tight on 10 1/2's. And, the dpn's are a few years old; dh and I made them out of some dowling and they need to be sanded some more. It was slow goin'.

After the two sets of increases, we end up with something looking very manly, yet booby'ish.

I tried to sell dh and his friends on the idea of camo pasties, but they weren't going for it. I asked, "what about all the times you are sitting around the campfire, and it's 0 degrees out, wouldn't you want something to keep your nipplies warm?" Terse reply, "ummmm, no." Okedoke, cross Start a new liberal hunting trend off my list of to do's.

I had hoped to finish the cozy in time for Superbowl Sunday, but this is just a prototype for a friend that still drinks beer in a can (we still love him anyway), and he had a backup. So, pasty had to wait a few days to be elongated.

Here is the finished product, prior to felting. I think it still looks rather, um, manly.

It's in the washer now, however we have a front loader. My fingers are crossed it felts well.