Picture Day                                                                                              Tuesday, May 6th

My friend, Sheila, was nice enough to let me take some pictures with her camera when the Yarn
Harlot came to Denver (Highlands Ranch) after I'd forgotten mine.  Here are some of the pictures 
that I took that evening, and hopefully you won't notice that I have no knitting to talk about today!

Off With The Old, On With The New                                                    Monday, May 5th

I've decided. The maroon-colored seed beads just weren't adding anything to the Moroccan Days/
Arabian Nights shawl. They really weren't visible.  It wasn't worth the extra effort of putting all those
hundreds of beads on the shawl if all I was going to get was a bit of weight and texture.

After work I dropped into Orr's Trading Company and found these.  There is quite a bit of variety...
from pink to salmon to pearl to silver to frosted to gold.  The price was right, too.  See all those
beads?  There are over 3000 beads on those strands and cost was under $6.00 with tax.  

They don't match exactly with the megatamas on the edge.  Those are a brighter pink, but I don't 
mind.  The two borders will match each other and everything in between will be varied.  I'm not trying
to follow any plan.  I just put the crochet hook in the dish and whatever comes out is what goes on 
the shawl next.  Now I'm enthusiastic about this project.  I really wasn't with the maroon seed beads.

Bead It....                                                                                                    Sunday, May 4th

I've finished the border of the Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights shawl and I've just started the patterns.
Instead of the heavily beaded fringe on the border I did a beaded cast on using larger beads - 4mm
megatamas.  These are so pretty and I wouldn't be surprised if I use them again some day.

My seed beads are particularly small.  They are 8/0s, but that size has to do with the size of the
hole.  I've seen other seed beads that are bigger, but still 8/0.  Can you see the 2 seed beads on
the edge?  No?  I can't either, and even looking at my knitting in person, it's hard to see them -
especially in this matching color.  I'm now considering buying different 8/0 beads, something that
will show up better.  But what to do with these seed beads?  I don't really want to start a bead
stash.  My yarn stash is bad (good?) enough!  I guess I'll stop at the store and see what's available
and see if I'm tempted by something else.  I'm anxious to knit a few more rows today, but I've heard
that patience is a virtue!  I hate to rip back 3 rows (189 sts on each), but I guess it's would be better 
to do it now rather than be disappointed later.  Decisions, decisions.

Lilly is Ready to Fly to Canada                                                          Saturday, May 3rd

The Lilly Cardigan that I made for my Mom for Mother's Day is ready to be packaged up and put in 
the mail.  (If you're talking to her, don't tell her... it's a surprise!).  

This pattern, from Jaeger, was a joy to knit.  Their patterns are well-written and generally error-free.
I did take a backwards step in knitting this sweater, however.  When it was finished, the lacey edge
at the cuffs were too long, going down past the wrist and, to my eye, too "heavy" appearing to be 
worn on a petite woman. So, I cut off the cuffs and knit a seed stitch border to match the button/
buttonhole bands.  I'm much happier with the resulting cardigan.  It surprises me that there is angora
in this yarn as you can't really tell by looking at it or the feel of it.  It's a shame that such a nice
yarn has been discontinued.  The book, in which some of the designs are ageless, is also sadly
discontinued.

 It's not a good picture, but you can see 
 some of the pretty detail.  I don't know
 what the material of the button is... 
 possibly pewter or silver.  It's fairly heavy.

Pattern:  Lilly by Jaeger
from Jaeger JB40, "The Roma Collection"
(Yarn and pattern book are now discontinued)

Yarn:  Jaeger "Roma" - 11 balls, color 010 (leaf, mint), DK weight
63% Viscose, 22% Nylon, and 15% Angora

Needles:  US#4/3.5 mm and US#7/4/5mm

Buttons:  8

Size:  X-Small

Noro Socks                                                                                                Friday, May 2nd

Finishing projects is addicting.  Now I'm on a quest to finish another pair of socks - my Noro socks.
It shouldn't take long because second socks always go quicker than first socks as I don't have to
stop and measure.  I just knit the same number of rows.  My second sock is well underway.  I like 
to make my socks match (see the Cascade Socks) but I don't think it's going to work with this pair.  
I started at the same place, with the red, and all was going well until I got to the blue stripe.  There
was less of the blue yarn on the ball. Who knows?  It make even out later. If not, I'll just have to live with the difference. C'est la vie!

 This blue section is approximately half
 as long as on the first sock. 

I think I'm going to have quite a bit of yarn left over.  If so  I'll make another sock, which won't have 
to match the first two.  It'll be a sample for A Knitted Peace since they got in their shipment of Noro
sock yarns last week.  So many temptations.  

  

 









     Two shelves of Noro sock yarn at

       A Knitted Peace - 11 colorways

I promised someone that I'd write about my impressions of this yarn, so here goes:

You notice right away that this is not your typical sock yarn, not what we've come to expect.  It's 
not super soft and squishy and doesn't produce the same smooth surface that you get with the 
Opals and Regias, etc.  The texture is not what draws you in immediately.  It's the colors - the kind
of variegation that you've come to expect from Noro yarns.

When I started knitting I wasn't sure that I liked this new sock yarn.  It wasn't smooth in my hands
and there were some thick and thin spots - not many, but a few.  I was afraid that it wouldn't stand
up to wear for very long.  However, when I finished the first sock and put hand in it, I was amazed 
at how snug and warm they felt.  The took shape around my hand, more than other sock yarns I've
tried.  I wouldn't call them scratchy at all - that's the wrong word.  A better word might be rough 
(not necessarily a negative) or rustic.  Personally, I like the feel... kind of like the feeling of work 
socks.  I washed the finished sock and it did soften up somewhat, but not really a lot.  

I read the review of this yarn here and agree with most of what's been written. However, I didn't have
any problem with splitting or picking up stitches on my size 0 Knit Picks double-pointed needles,
but maybe it's just me and the way I knit.  I'm a "thrower" or as some call it, "British style".

The colors are tempting, but I doublt that I'll make another pair of socks with this yarn.  Part of that
decision is because I already have so much sock yarn in my stash to knit up.  But, part of it, too,
is that I tried it, it's nice, but not my favorite sock yarn.  At the moment, any of the Trekking XXL 
family is in the lead, but that could change as I try to knit up the stash!  I'd be interested to see how
the Noro sock yarn would knit up as a sweater or shawl.  I do like fine, fingering-weight yarns.  Yes,
I would definitely recommend trying this yarn for at least one pair of socks.  The yarn may very well
please you.  I've read many rave reviews of it on various blogs.  

I am tempted to make a sweater... but not until I get caught up on all my other projects.  The idea
is lurking in the back of my mind for now.

Mother Goose - Final Update                                                             Thursday, May 1st

What a better way to start off a new month than with news of Mother Goose.  On Tuesday after
work I went back to the mall parking lot in Aurora, with bread and water in hand.  From a distance
I could see that she was still on her nest and there was another goose sitting with her... the dad.
As I got closer I could see that someone else had also been watching out for her well-being as she
had a plastic container of water beside her and corn around her on the ground.  

But as I got closer, I saw more.  Look what's between Mama and the water.  BABIES!!  They've
hatched.  Mom and Dad made some hissing sounds, warning me not to come too close .. which
was just fine with me.  I had no desire to disturb any of them.  It was hard to count heads because
they were a pile of fur and feathers and it was hard to tell where one gosling started and the other 
left off.  I did watch each head that I could find to be sure that it was moving.  All babies appear to 
be alive and well and my best guess is that there are 5 or 6 of them.

 Aren't they cute?

By the way, the little family had someone else watching out for them, too.  As I was tossing the
bread to them and taking pictures, I noticed a car pull up at a distance.  It was Mall Security. When
I looked over, the man in the car waved at me and then drove off.  He knew that no one was trying to
harm the geese.  I wonder if he's the one who brought them the corn and water.  

I won't be making any more trips to see Mother Goose and family.  I know that they are safe and 
it's been a happy ending.

If you'd like to learn more about the Canada Goose, check out websites here and here and here..

Next time:  knitting!