Recently in Bellini Lace Category

Received a package from Nathania sometime this weekend: schmoo gumballs, milk candy, apple jelly marshmallows (yum!) and what looks like peach chewies? The marshmallows are all but a happy memory, and I'm about to start on the gumballs. BF is opening the milk candy as I type this. Thanks Nathania! And thanks to Erica for creating such a fun knitalong!

I picked up the needles this weekend after a torturous week of not knitting! And I must've been so depraved, I knit up about 8" worth in a couple of days. I'll do a show and tell in a couple of days. My tendonitis is slowly going away; my physical therapist/climbing buddy Rennie worked on my finger on Thursday and found that the bone was not aligned properly in the socket (I guess I did tweak it badly) so she pushed it back in (yow!!!). Ugh, it's not the most serious injury I've had, but certainly one of the more frustrating ones.

Egg on my face. Lisa just reminded me that The Magician's Nephew is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. I stand corrected! I can't wait to hear the production details on this movie! Will it be live action or animated? I wonder how Aslan will end up looking! Amy, I didn't know A Confederacy of Dunces was being made, I'm looking forward to that too! Say hello to Her Bubbly Babbly Pinkiness, Share, I think she needs some cheering up...

Finally, dear Froggy, I've tried to comment on your blog but my IP is blocked. I also tried your address but my mail didn't get through... I'd like to say thanks for your comment on my tank! Please let me know if you read this!

Have a happy Monday! Drink lots of water and stay close to the AC! If you're in the L.A. area in August go to Stitches West--JenLa have some details on their blog. Maybe we can do a meetup.

Pattern: #33 Wine Red Top in Rebecca 25
Yarn: Patons Katrina in #10510 Sherbert

Why, it's the finished top! Such the procrastinator, I sewed it up Friday evening in a hurry because BF announced we were going camping for the weekend. Did I mention I loved knitting this? The elasticity of the yarn worked well with the Rebecca pattern, so there wasn't even any gut-sucking! (Wish the yarn could do something for the front porch, but sadly, there are limits!) For anyone interested, click here for project details.

Here's another of me at the campground. Imagine a little stream bubbling behind the bushes....

I didn't hit the yarn stores there, I figured I'd try to catch up on Anna Karenina. The read-along is moving steadily, some have already gone into Book Two and I'm still on page 90. Yikes, gotta get moving!

Santa Barbara was, as always, beautiful. We'd been there before, many times in fact, and this time around we decided to look around the area for places to live. Santa Barbara attracted us for a number of reasons: life there seems to be less hurried than L.A.; people are much friendlier; the area is bike-friendly; it's close to a lot of quality bouldering and climbing. Sadly, every apartment/house rental was *expensive*, and although our bank accounts are healthy, I can't imagine paying a ridiculous amount to rent when it could go toward a monthly house payment. So we're still here at the beach, not that that's anything to complain about...

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth!

I love knitting tanks! They practically knit themselves on the needles, they're so easy to do. The front was finished last night and tonight I'll do seaming, peach nectar being the non-alcoholic beverage of choice for this party. Here's a detail shot on the finishing pattern. Gotta do some situps before I post any pics!

Le Tour de France starts this Saturday! We don't own a tv (and quite frankly, we don't miss having one), so we get most of our news either from internet news sites or from the papers. This event, however, is probably best on the tube because it's action! I just love seeing the peloton chugging up the hills like some gigantor amorphous creature. Wonder if Becky will be bouncing up to watch any of the stages near Lyon? BF and I are rooting for the T-Mobile Team; for him because German wunderkind Jan Ullrich is on the team; for me because they're wearing pink! Such a superficial reason, but seriously, you can spot them a mile away. (smirk) I could go into a more serious discussion, but I'll summarize: Lance Armstrong could win it, but hey, let's cheer for the underdog this year, yah?

One more thing: happy birthday to MJ #1!!! Okay, back to work.

So here's the back; I've already cast on for the front and am on the 3rd pattern repeat there. The springy yarn was interesting, I hope I kept it loose enough so I won't have to suck in my gut when I finally wear it! I made 6 pattern repeats instead of 5 for more coverage (either that or don't eat chocolate, which I can't see myself doing). It's a nice touch that the lace pattern ended with 2 completed "leaves" at each side, so it doesn't just end into reverse stockinette stitch.

I've got my eye on the Braided Pullover in the same issue of Rebecca that I'll make with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. It's the same as the orange top on the cover, only with sleeves. My blog title is "Yummy Yarn" so I really want to explore all the possibilities! I went to the LYS a couple miles from my house and played touchy-feely with their goodies.... I fell in lust with Debbie Bliss' Cotton Angora and Cotton Cashmere! BUT I left empty-handed, but I'll be back now that I found a place to s&b.

Many thanks to Anita who kindly answered my questions on circular knitting. She's knitting her Vintage Knits Lace Camisole in the round (see June 22 entry), something I never thought of doing, but will apply to a future project. Anita also suggested starting off with socks and hats; I'm not much for knitting on 00s or 1s (can't stress the climbing fingers too much!) so socks are out of the question, but I just may try a hat.

Yay, I'm in the Knitting Blogs ring! What does this mean? I dunno really, it's fun to go down the list of knitblogs and click and read about someone's Charlotte's Web or Audrey or other things. Big ups to Booga J for starting the ring!

I joined Erica's Candy-Along because it sounded fun: candy colors and a candy exchange. Ooh! I'm looking forward to that! (So's my dentist, who has filled a ridiculous amount of holes in my teeth!) I have 3 balls of Patons Katrina in Sherbert, which is a peachy type of color. I bought them out of curiousity--the balls were squishily soft and the yarn very elastic, stretching about half its length when I measured. This means I may have to knit a size smaller if possible. I'm knitting the Wine-Red Top (the one on the left) from Rebecca 25, something with lace, since I promised myself to try something other than stockinette and garter stitches. Since my yarn isn't winey-red, let's call this the (Peach) Bellini Tank, shall we? Here are the first 2 repeats of the pattern:

I frogged this thing 6 times! You'd think I'd have learned after the first 2 frogs, but I kept making mistake upon mistake upon mistake. I experimented with cast-ons also, only to conclude that the simple twisted loop cast-on is best (according to Montse Stanley's book).

P.S.: Thanks for comments on Laurie Lambkin! The niece took one look at the thing and tried to cram the head into her mouth. A complete success!

P.S.S.: BF liked my Lace Cami; needless to say, he's now curious about my next knitting project!