After rekindling my interest in sewing earlier this year, I began reading a few sewing blogs as well. HELLOmynameisHeather soon became one of my regular reads - she is such a creative person, and all the photos on her site are amazing. Well, turns out she’s created her very own line of fabrics. And, from the looks of the photos, they are gorgeous.

The fabrics make me want to sew a quilt, but I’m not sure that quilts are my thing. Sewing one would be great fun, I’m just worried that I wouldn’t use it in my bedroom. I’m just not sure quilts are my style. Hmmm…

Also soon to come from Heather (I hope!) are a super cute purse pattern and an apron pattern. The purse is similar in style to the Amy Butler Madison bag I made, but with cleaner lines and what appears to be a better top closure. And where was this apron pattern during the apron exchange? It would have been perfect!

Since I haven’t been knitting much this summer (haven’t finished a single thing since May!), and the knitting I have done recently hasn’t exactly been going as well or as quickly as I’d like (see: SKB, Estonian Garden Stole), it’s been hard for me to keep up my motivation to knit.

Whenever I get into a rut like this, whether it is at work, or at home, the easiest way for to snap out of it is to actually finish something. Anything. A quick, easy, fun project is just the answer for my current knitting woes. And the yarn I bought at Webster’s was the inspiration I needed.

Thus, I present Fuzzy - a simple roll-brimmed hat of my own design (and I use the term “design” very loosely).

Specs:

Yarn - 1 skein Diakeito Diadomina, color 305. [I’m in love with this yarn. It is worsted weight, 50% wool, 21% mohair, and 29% nylon, with ~122 yds/skein. It is extremely soft and the colors are gorgeous. It would make a beautiful knit-in-the–round raglan sweater.]

Needles - Size 7 Crystal Palace dpns. I tried using magic loop, but for me dpns are a lot faster.

Pattern - My own very basic pattern, inspired by a store sample at Websters, and sized to fit my head (21″).

Important lesson learned - When knitting a hat like this, you MUST calculate approximately 2″ of negative ease when determining how many stitches to cast on. If the hat is exactly the same size as your head, it will be way too big! (I actually knit 2 hats today, because I figured this out a bit too late!)

Now, back to knitting already in progress.

The sweater I once loved is turning out to be a real pain. I’m not a big fan of ripping, but it’s looking like round two of SKB ripping is about to commence.

Here’s the lace, sans beads. I like it a lot better this way!

Per the pattern, I’m about 20 rows from finishing the bodice of the sweater.

But, here’s what it looks like on me…

I love the fit, up to the bottom of the lace. But, when I switched back to the larger needles and started the increases, something went terribly wrong. This is supposed to be a fitted sweater, and it is not even close to fitting me around the waist! There are about 6 extra inches of ease that make the sweater balloon out around my stomach - not good. Also, I’m going to need to add a bit of length… 20 rows isn’t going to do it if I want the bottom of the sweater in the right place.

So, here’s my plan:

1. Rip back to the bottom of the purl ridges.

2. Re-knit using one needle size smaller.

3. No increasing for a few inches, then add just a few increases spaced farther apart than called for by the pattern.

4. Add enough length so the bottom of the sweater hits my “shirt length sweet spot”.

Also, I should note that my stitch and row gauge are right on. I think the reason that my sweater is turning out differently than the modeled sweaters is the difference between the drape and structure of 100% silk yarn (Tilli Tomas) and 100% merino wool (Malabrigo). The Malabrigo doesn’t “grow” lengthwise like the silk would… its stitches stay right where they are knit. The moral of the story is that when substituting yarn, there are other things to consider besides row and stitch gauge.

I’ll try to keep this short, with a knitting update tomorrow. I actually didn’t get a whole lot of knitting done on the trip… I guess vacation knitting isn’t really my thing.

Favorite country visited: Canada! The highlight of our trip was spending a day in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I could have spent a whole week there.

Number of overpriced not-very-nice-actually-kinda-yucky motels we ended up staying at: 2 - one in Gold Beach, OR, and one in Castle Rock, WA. And one of those was after I had turned down an even more scary room in a nearby motel. Yikes.

Worst time to take a drive up the Oregon coast without hotel reservations: Labor day weekend. Hotel rooms are sparse (at least rooms that I’d want to stay in), and the weather was so foggy that we didn’t see one bit of scenic coastline on our drive.

Favorite new-to-me yarn store: The Web-sters, in Ashland, OR. A big thanks to Ms. CG for leaving a comment recommending the store… I would never have known about it otherwise. They have a huge selection of gorgeous yarn and very friendly service too. I got some Diakeito yarn for myself (enough for a hat, and either socks or gloves), and Todd picked out some sock yarn for me to knit him socks.

Places I loved: The beaches of Olympic National Park. I have never seen such a flat, wide beach. Even with the fog, it was amazingly gorgeous.

Victoria.

Seattle - the water, but not the traffic.

Place I hated: The Tillamook Cheese Factory. It might have been better if we hadn’t stopped on a Sunday that was also on a holiday weekend. All the machines were offline, and there were hordes of people in line for cheese samples and ice cream. Very disappointing. We skipped the line for ice cream and headed to the Dairy Queen down the street. Also, didn’t care for Pike’s Place Market. Way too many people, and lots of people selling touristy crap. The fish tossing was amusing, and the flowers sold at the market were gorgeous, but since we were staying at a nearby hotel, we had no need for fish or flowers. Again, disappointing.

Things I enjoyed doing the most: Watching boats and sea planes on Lake Union in Seattle. Visiting friends and family, some of whom I had not yet met. Climbing the sand dunes at Oregon Dunes National Park.

Wandering around downtown Portland, guidebook in hand.

Craziest place we ate: A bowling alley in South Bend, WA - it was surprisingly good food, but slooooow.

Best boutique clothing store: Alley Cat Boutique, in Port Angeles, WA. The best find of the trip was from here… my new Silver jeans. They fit like they are made for me, and cost just slightly more than Gap jeans. These jeans are perfect for curvy figures (large hips/small waist). (not really travel related, but I know how much of a struggle it is to find great jeans when you’re not shaped like a supermodel - hopefully this info is useful to someone.)

Most amazing geologic feature: Mt. St. Helens. Wow.

Things we missed on this trip that give us an excuse to take another vacation sometime soon: The entire Oregon coast, due to fog. Crater Lake. The Ashland Shakespeare festival.

Where I am glad to be right now: Home! As much fun as the trip was, two weeks is a long time to be away.

Wow - it is always nice when the internets validate your feelings… Every single person suggested getting rid of the beads.� So, the beads are gone!� Unfortunately, I haven’t done any knitting since Monday and have no new progress pictures to show.� I’ve been in Santa Cruz visiting a friend, sightseeing, shopping, and reading.� It’s been a relaxing week.

Today, we’re headed off on a two week roadtrip up the coast with stops in Seattle and Portland, and many other little towns along the way.� I haven’t done any proper research on yarn shops in the Pacific Northwest, but if anyone has suggestions on must-see yarn stores (or any other interesting places, for that matter), please leave a comment and let me know.� We don’t really have much planned, other than visiting a few friends and family, and hope to be able to explore some places that are a bit off the beaten path.

Hopefully there will be some knitting and blogging time during the trip, but if not, I’ll be back in mid-Sept.� Enjoy the holiday weekend!