Nothing to knit

Do you ever stand in front of your closet, presumably full of clothes, and think, "I have nothing to wear?"  Well, I'm having one of those moments....I have nothing to knit.

In an effort to get the Adeline blanket finished, I am allowing myself only one other WIP so that I can dedicate more time to it.  It would be nice to use it before the weather warms up!  So, now that the Pinion hat is done, I can choose another project.  I headed over to look at the stash.

As I was standing in front of the stash last night, I realized I had no idea what I want to tackle next.  My first thought was to pick a a highly variegated skein of sock yarn and just knit plain vanilla socks.  However, I do that all the time!  Time for a change!  Which led me to the "I have nothing to knit" situation standing in front of plenty of yarn which would become all manner of projects that are not plain vanilla socks.  I thought about another hat.  Maybe some lace.  Baby gift for a friend.  Nothing seemed to fit the bill.

What's a girl to do?  Cast on a pair of plain vanilla socks until the mood passes?

First 2012 FO! Pinion Hat

Working on the Adeline blanket routinely does not (unfortunately) have to churning out a new FO (finished object) every week.  However, while the blanket of doom is slowly progressing (at 2 hours a round now), I decided to knit a hat. 

I selected Pinion by Naomi Parkhurst (ravelry link) which is a worsted weight lace beret.  Lurking in the stash for the past year was a lovely skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label in an aran weight that my parents brought me from a trip to Canada.  I had been looking for a great pattern to show off the instense color of the skein.

Hat knit on US 8, ribbing US 7 and the included instructions for disappearing loop cast on were very helpful. The beret fits pretty snuggly on my head. I normally wear my berets a little ‘slouchier’ but didn’t want to do the math to add another pattern repeat. I love the way the pattern blocked out though!  I might try reblocking it to see if I can get it to stretch a little more.

Happy Birthday: Triple Dose

I have several friends with birthdays this month, so I made a bunch of these cards to mail out.  All of the products are from Stampin Up.  Card features:

• Pumpkin Pie card stock base and ribbon
• Just Add Cake DSP background
• So Saffron background
• Happy birthday in Wild Wasabi and Marina Mist with the Square Scallop Punch

Sky Scarf

Back in December, my friend K suggested a Sky Scarf KAL (knit along) for the upcoming year.  It idea and pattern was dreamt up by Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs and tackles the idea of conceptual knitting.  Her Sky Scarf project involves knitting two rows each day to match the color of the sky in the area you live.  I love looking at all of the scarves being assembled on Ravelry.  I started on January 1, so mine is rapidly approaching the size of a dishcloth.  It looks good though.  I'll share a snapshot when we get to the end of the month.

For my yarn, I chose The Loopy Ewe Solid Series so that the yarn base for all of my colors would be the same.  In the old library catalog box, you see:

• #01-39 - White
• #19-43 - Dove
• #20-44 - Smoke
• #47-60 - Colonial Blue
• #48-69 - Cerulean
• #57-61 - Slate Blue

The Adeline Blanket

The Adeline Blanket has been an ongoing WIP for some time now.  I started it in summer 2010 when I was looking for a crochet project to tide me over a non-knitting spell.  My family has several inherited crochet blankets and I wanted to make an updated version.  I've named it after one of my grandmothers who was the creator of several of the original blankets for our family.

Digging into the stash I found (unsurprisingly) that an astonishingly large number of sock yarn skeins had been accumulating, so I decided to put some of that fingering weight yarn to good use.  I spent several days soliciting feedback on color schemes (thanks girls!) and finally settle on the five that you see here.  The yarn is The Plucky Knitter 100% Superwash Sock.  Each skein hovers around 400 yards.  So....

10 skeins (2 of each color) x 400 yards = 4,000 yard project

This fact is exactly why this is still an ongoing project in 2012.  It is, however, listed on the Fiber Goals of 2012.  I hope to have it completed this year.  Not only do I want to use it, but I want the space in the WIP basket to start a few new things!  Since it is now halfway, I think this is a do-able project....

 

....only 2,000 more yards to go!

What a lot...

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters.  You can't reread a phone call.  -Liz Carpenter

Knit / Crochet / Weaving 2012 Goals

At the beginning of the year, there was much discussion in my knitting groups and on Ravelry about goals for the coming year.  Last year, I tackled 12,447 yards of yarn with knitting, crochet, and weaving projects.  There were times when I was scrambling, but overall the year went pretty smoothly. 



I participated in The Knit Girllls 5K over the summer and that got me halfway through the yardage requirements alone.  I've also been doing my own self imposed sock yarn club with a few girlfriends in which I have completed every month.  We were inspired by the one that the Yarn Harlot created for herself two years ago. It's worked out; I'm finally making a dent in the sock yarn stash.  I met all of my goals last year.

To make myself more accountable and to share what you may expect to see here over the next 12 months, I thought that I would share my 2012 goals.  Without further ado, they are:

1. Finish the Adeline blanket. (More on that project soon!)
2. Complete the Sky Scarf project. (More on that project soon!)
3. Continue my self imposed sock club. (Every month!)
4. Knit more items that I've had marked for years!  I keep post-it noting, printing, and storing the patterns.  There is no time like the present.
5. Try to knit more patterned socks. Seriously, I don't need more plain vanilla socks.  Patterns, even more stripes, would be nice.
6. And finally....Knit/Crochet/Weave 12,000 yards in 2012. Any type of project as long as there are 12,000 yards at the end of the year.

Welcome & Introduction



My name is Lauren and Parlor Notes is a way to share a few notes from my parlor.  The Oxford English Dictionary describes a parlor as:

1. A room or place for talking; spec. an apartment in a monastery or (esp. in later use) a convent, in which residents may converse with people from outside the establishment or amongst themselves.
2. In a manor house, or large public building (as a town hall, college, etc.): a smaller room separate from the main hall, reserved for private conversation or conference.
3. In a private house: a sitting room; esp. the main family living room, or the room reserved for entertaining guests.

I hope this blog will act as a little bit of each of those.  A place to gather with good conversation and stories.  What to expect?  Well, I hope to cover a bit of everything.  I am a knitter, paper crafter, stationery lover, crocheter, weaver, and antiques lover.  I'm a bit nostalgic for time periods I have never experienced first hand (hence, parlor).  I think that there should be more handwritten letters, tea with friends, and a brief moment in every afternoon where you can stop and think without worrying about the next ten items on the do list.  

Handknit scarf. Pattern: Baktus.

So, grab a cuppa tea and relax for a bit.  I hope you enjoy reading and following along.