I Love Lucy, But....

I don't know if I'm more upset with Lucy Neatby for creating such different dyelots, or the vendor who sold me two different dyelots in a "kit", or me for not knitting from alternative skeins.. but the bottom line is this:



Yep - my Tidal Streams is toast. I finished one skein (very pastelly), started the second one and even tho it is still Aquamarine.. the colors are bright. Not even close. Here is the culprit:



Can you tell it is bright (I confess I putzed with the computer to make the photo brighter but it was very noticeable in the fabric)? I hoped maybe it was just one section, but no.. the last 6 inches of my stole were definitely different. If I adored garter stitch that much I would have selvaged it but to be honest, I didn't like it that much. Not enough to knit it a second time. I will use the second skein for socks tho.

What can I say? I'm a klutz, Lucy isn't consistent, and the seller needs to be more careful putting their kits together. Sigh.. back to the bees..

I'm Home!

I am back home again. Arrived yesterday. So today has been my "Saturday" and I am taking tomorrow off as my "Sunday". Need to get to know my pets again. Hah!

I had a great trip. The humidity is hard on me but I loved the lush green everywhere.

I finished my first "recipe" sock and today I started the second. But I knit mostly on my Tidal Streams.. Here is where I am today - finished 11 out of 16 repeats:



And a closeup of the border:



And the edge where I stopped today:



The pattern was easy after I realized she had included the errata page with the pattern. I had looked online and hadn't found one so I assumed the pattern was without errors. Silly me. Oh well - I guess I deserve that for not reading the whole pattern.

And my sister and I did some yarn store hopping. I bought this incredible black (or very dark grey) alpaca sport weight yarn. It is so soft I cannot believe it. Not sure yet what I will do with it . I also bought some Noro Silk Garden Lite.. it is so pretty.

I also used my Namaste Peacock Laguna as my bag/tote. Wonderful bag and made it so easy to knit on the plane. The bad news is that I also bought a medium GoKnit Pouch and proceeded to leave it on the plane. I hope a knitter finds it!

Its good to be back though. I missed my pets. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday Country!

I love the 4th of July. I think I must have blogged that last year too. Its a happy holiday without all the guilt that comes with not being with family and sugary foods around. I would much rather have a grilled burger than jelly beans. And I sincerely love living in this country. We are so blessed.

Anyway - I am going to visit my family in Baltimore next week so I decided to blog today. And no - sorry burglars - the house won't be empty - I have a house/pet sitter spending the nights. I can't bear the thought of my babies waking up alone.

So here is my progress on Bee's. I FINALLY (with the help of Annmarie on Ravelry) did row 5 of the Bee In Fields section 1:



Its tricky. You CO 4 stitches, pickup 4 bars and knit one from your Right needle, YO, and then do another 4 bar PU and knit, then CO 4 more stitches. It makes a fancy bee. Hah!

And here is a good photo of the entire shawl:



I am on the second skein of yarn so I must be getting near the end!

I am also still in love with Kindle. I hope to get a lot of use of it on my trip. I had originally planned to knit the Bee on the plane but found out that TSA only accepts circulars <= 31 inches. The Bee is already on 47 inch circulars. Geezz... So I am going to start this on the plane. Its the Tidal Streams stole by Ilga Leja. Isn't it pretty? And I am using the same yarn as shown in the photo - Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino yarn in Aquamarine. I will take my Denise needles on the plane just in case.

See ya when I'm back!