Prognosis: Negative

It all started out so simple. A plain black scarf with pirate skulls. How hard could that be? And considering it was a gift that was promised so many months ago, I vowed to dedicate all my knitting time to nothing but the Pirate Scarf. And, as a cherry on the sundae, I'd be learning a new skill since, as we all know, the only way to get skulls on a plain black scarf is with Intarsia.

I had never knit Intarsia before, but it didn't seem to be too difficult. All I needed was a skull and crossbones chart to knit from, and I could knit it into a basic scarf. Easy Peasy - or so I thought!

The first challenge came when I tried to find a chart for a decent sized skull and bones. Not an easy task. I spent way too much time surfing the pattern archives on Ravelry, as well as various sites on the net. Finally, I found one to my liking! Woo Hoo!!! It was a great chart that went with a pattern for a hat that was knit in the round.

Now, my peanut sized brain understood that when you're knitting in the round with a two-color chart, you're going to knitting Fair-Isle, and not Intarsia, but that was about as far as my logic got me. I just assumed (and you all know what that gets you) that it would just work it's way out as I knit & purled a flat piece of fabric. Result: Fair Isle charts for knitting in the round DO NOT work for flat knitting Intarsia. Fine, so now we know for sure. And off to the frog pond it went. And back to searching for a proper chart.

Needless to say, I did find a proper Intarsia chart for a skull and bones motif, and was very excited!! I could finally, properly, begin my scarf. So, off I went. First, I had to figure out how many stitches I would need to cast on to center the pattern just so, then grab my yarn and go.

Mmm, yummy wool blend goodness!

After knitting up a couple of inches, I began the chart. Stopping and starting with the different colors and yarn ends made for quite a confusing mess of yarn bobbins and tails on the back of the work. All of the untangling and straightening of the mess slowed me down some, but before long, the chart was complete! Yay me!

Confusing bobbin madness on the back side!

After I completed the chart, I had decided to just knit in black for a while, then randomly place a skull and bones here and there whenever I felt like it (the chart also included a pattern for a smaller skull that I was planning on using). After several inches, I noticed that my scarf was curling in on me more and more. I was beginning to get very annoyed, but reassured myself that it would work itself out.

When I was planning out the scarf, I knew I was going to be knitting the scarf in stockinette stitch, and everybody knows that stockinette stitch curls. But I was prepared for this! I, being much more clever than the number one ultimate rule of knitting, had figured this "inevitability" into my so-called design. You see, I had knit a 2x2 rib border at the beginning of the scarf, as well as used a garter stitch side edge.

2x2 Ribbed Border

Garter stitch edge

So there was no way my scarf was going to curl. It just seemed rather tube-like because of the way I was letting it drop as I knit, and I'd just block that baby out when I was done. But, as I knit on, the curlier and curlier it got, so I finally decided I needed an expert opinion. I sought out the sage advice of the owner of my LYS. After explaining the situation, I fully expected to hear "Of course you can block that curl out. Just pin it out and it will the beautiful flat scarf you envisioned!". But what I got was "It will never uncurl. That's the way stockinette is. You have to frog it back and use a different stitch." It was so definite and final, and my heart dropped a little.

I haven't had the heart to unravel all my hard work just yet. For my first Intarsia project, I'm actually a little proud of how it came out (minus a mis-placed stitch or two). So, the curly menace came out of the knitting bag to get pinned out and photographed, then back in it went for a time-out.

Pinned out & flat

Curled up front

Curled up backside

So, back to the drawing board for how to make a non-curly/flat pirate skull scarf. I think I should have it ready just in time for summer. Perfect!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

So, for the last few holiday seasons, I've sent out holiday cards with Boomie's photo on them. They always turn out pretty good - how could they not? But, unfortunately, I'm a super procrastinator. A week before Christmas, I still hadn't ordered my holiday cards, mainly because I hadn't taken Boomer's holiday photo yet. So, obviously, a little winter time photo shoot was in order, and what's a photo shoot without...wardrobe!!!

As I think I've mentioned before, Boomer's not a big fan of wearing clothes. He prefers to be "au naturale", but I was determined to get a couple of good shots of him in his "outfit".

Here's the best of what I was able to capture:

First up, we have Sneery Christmas:

And Happy-wait till I get my paws on you-Holidays:

And of course, Feliz "Oh the Humanity" Navidad!

So, fine, I gave up, took off the offending items, and was able to catch my sweet little Boomala in his most natural state: sweet, fluffy and freshly napped!!!

Happy New Year!! Woof!

I've got a secret....

So, I've had this basket of yarn sitting around for a few months now, just waiting to be made into something awesome. I've perused patterns; spent many an hour on Ravelry; checked out way too many knitting books from the library, when I finally found it! A project that may not be "awesome", but is definitely silly, fun, and within my meager skill level!

Since I'm making this as a gift for someone, I can't really divulge too much info, so from here on, I'll be referring to said project as "Project Penguin 2.0 (or PP2.0)".

Here is some of the Knit Picks yarn I used for PP2.0. Isn't it lovely?

Here are some random completed pieces of PP2.0.

Hmm, what could it possibly be?? Could it be:

• a) some legwarmers for Boomie
• b) an army of finger puppet minions to do my bidding
• c) fashionable maternity wear for expectant garden snakes
• d) all or none of the above

Don't worry - I'll be revealing the big mystery very soon! It's just killing ya, isn't it??

It's a bird, it's a plane......

It's Bumble-Boomie!!

Sweet little Boomie, all dressed up in his Halloween finest. Yeah, so he's really not thrilled about wearing his 'bee-bonnet', but I just couldn't resist!!

Once the bonnet was shed, he was a little more accommodating, and even humored me with some handsome shots of him in his festive attire.

(I said he was accommodating - not enthusiastic!!)

However, once he was freed from the constraints of his silly outfit, he was overjoyed, and immediately went to work on a plan to abscond with and destroy the striped nightmare.

But, upon being caught in the act of the petty vandalism, he decided it was best to just make peace with his nemesis in the best way he knows how....

By napping with the enemy.

Happy Halloween!!!

Sock it to me...

I've decided to get back up on the horse, so to speak. As you may (or may not) remember, I had attempted to knit my first sock a while back, only to have it end in disaster. ~sigh~

Well, I'm back at it! I'm just using a basic "top down" sock pattern, and am almost done with the cuff (or leg) of the sock, then comes the dreaded turning of the heel (insert dramatic music). But, I feel more confident this time that I can get it done!

Here's my progress so far:

Also, as an example of how easily distracted I can become by new shiny things, I found the coolest ceramic pots on summer clearance at "The Lobby" a few weeks ago. This is what I've decided to use them for:

I just love how they look with all of my needles sticking out of them, and have spent a good chunk of time just admiring their summery loveliness! Yes, I'm very easily amused, why do you ask?

That is all!

So Close, and Yet So Far

So, I've gotten a few questions about the status of my Ravelympic effort. I'm sorry to report that I was not able to cross the finish line victoriously. Sigh.....

If you recall, I started my project - a paw cozy - a few days late. I was making pretty good progress on it; I had finished the entire cuff of the cozy in a day and a half (trust me, that's some speedy knitting for moi), and had just switched to the larger DPN's that the pattern called for. After knitting a few rounds, the unthinkable - a broken DPN! Split, right up the middle. I guess that's what I get for buying the absolute cheapest "bamboo" set of Double Point Needle's on eBay. Double sigh....

What I didn't realize at the time, however, was how difficult it was going to be to find a new set of size US9 double points! So, here is how far I got on my project (pic taken before fateful injury):






There is, however, some good knitterly news! I did manage to finish a project during the Olympics (in hindsight, maybe this should have been my Ravelympic effort). Hooray for the Finished Object or "FO". I love, love, love this scarf! It was made for my swap buddy, and she seems to like it as well!





And now for the the stats:

Pattern: Old Shale Scarf by Tienne
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in fingering weight, 70% Merino/30%Silk, in Black
Needles: Size 6US straight
Mods: None! The only thing I would change is to not use such a dark color. It's hard to pick up on the pattern unless you really look at it.





I will be making this one again - for sure!!



Now, I still want to make a couple of paw cozies, so will be re-casting on in the coming weeks. I will just be using smaller needles (US7's & US8's instead of 8's & 9's). Stay tuned!

Socks in the City

I had heard rumors of it's existence. I caught wind that it would be making an appearance at my favorite LYS. I knew it would change my life.

Okay, maybe not that last one!

It really doesn't take much for me to find a reason to hit my LYS, but this was some serious business - a pilgrimage of sorts, if you will.

The World's Biggest Sock!!!

(or should I say "The World's Biggest Sock in Progress")

As soon as I pulled up in front of the store, I knew I was in the right place!

And there it was, the Moby Dick of knitting - the Big Sock!!

When first approaching the Big Sock, I slowly made my way around the table it was spread out on, sizing it up (tee-hee), when I made my move! I picked up one of several sets of needles attached to it and started knitting, stitch after stitch. Forty minutes and a couple of hundred stitches later, I was kinda over it, and ready to do a little shopping to buy some yarn of my own to take home.

Yes, my 3 faithful readers, KnittyBoomBoom knit on the (soon to be famous) Big Sock! I promise not to let this success go to my head!!

Okay, seriously now, the Big Sock is actually a very cool project started in the UK in 2006 during National Knitting Week (how cool is that?? We need a National Knitting Week too!!). Since then it's traveled all over the place, and is doing it's time here in lovely Colorado.

Right now the part of the sock that's being knit is the cuff. I was told it's about 9 meters across (I don't know how many feet that is - look it up!), and still quite a ways from where the heel would start.

Since it's been in Colorado, several inches have been put on it. You can kind of see how many in this pic. The white yarn attached to the Knitted Peace card is where they started, up to the knitting needles (sort of up and off to the left). Sorry for the bad pics - I'm no Ansel freaking Adams!

Here's where I made my stitches. See them?? Aren't they the best looking stitches you've ever seen? I thought so too!

If you want to see some much better pics of the sock, go here. If you would like to read a short little article about the sock's Colorado stop, go here. If you would like to learn how to become an airline mechanic go here.

The Big Sock has it's own blog where you can read all about it's adventures as it makes it's way around the globe - check it out!