Bullets

• I was looking forward to wearing my new Buttercup to knitting at Home Ec Saturday morning, but it was a little chilly, so I wore Daedelus instead.

• We've had a chilly summer, in fact. I hate to complain about it, considering what my friends and family in Texas have had this summer, but I worry that, if it's getting down into the 40s in late August, what's it going to be like in December?

• I had some bananas on the counter, so I made these muffins this morning. Wow - talk about yum! (I used regular whole wheat flour, butter, and Greek yogurt.)

• It's hard to type with a big boy kitty on my lap between me and the laptop!

• Friday night, I cast on for my February Lady Sweater (which I think I'll call October Lady Sweater, in hopes I get it done!), using some Brooks Farm Mas Acero that I got at Stitches Midwest last September. I'm about halfway through the garter stitch bodice. I find garter stitch wildly boring, so I'm plowing through it.

• Before I cast on, I finished the first Bougainvillea sock. I started these back in February. I love the pattern and the yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in cranberry), but I haven't been in much of a sock mood lately. (Weird....)

• I've finalized my Christmas knitting plans. I think it's very do-able, and I've got the planning done much earlier than usual. Plus -- it's all being knit from stash!

• Gotta go - almost time for Mad Men!

Time Flies!

Really, I didn't mean for it to be two weeks. But since it has been, I guess I would say that the highlights were seeing the butter cow and butter Abe at the Illinois State Fair and finishing Buttercup.

And there was a butter kitten, too.



There were also several butter butterflies hanging above Abe and the cow. If you look closely, at the very top of the first picture, there's something small and butter-colored. That's a butterfly!

There's been a butter cow at the Illinois State Fair every year since 1922. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to keep the cow from melting back then?

I also (almost) finished Buttercup. She's laying on top of the dryer, drying, right now, and I still need to sew in some ends. I'm pretty happy with it. I wanted to make it more of a baby doll shape, and I think I may have done that just a little too well! But it's still a cute summer top.

Sorry for the lousy picture. The cats are particularly unhelpful.

Details
Pattern: Buttercup (Ravelry link -- the only place I can find it)
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Eucalyptus. Hemp, cotton, and nylon - I loved this yarn! I'll definitely use it again.
Mods/notes: I wanted this to be a little more baby doll shaped, so I increased it a bit more to make it flare. I also did five pattern repeats at the bottom, rather than one. (I got both of these ideas from Hapichick, on Ravelry.) As I said in my notes on Ravelry -- if you're one of those people who is uncomfortable showing more than an inch below your collarbones, this isn't the top for you. While this should be obvious from the photos, I was surprised at how many people seemed surprised at how wide/deep the neckline was when they finished.

This was a great pattern, and I really enjoyed knitting it. It took me about 6 weeks, which, considering how slow I am and how little knitting time I have, was really quick!

It fits!

No, Buttercup (Rav link) isn't finished yet, but I did put it on waste yarn to make sure it fits -- and it does!

The color is off - it's really a sort of blue-grey-green.
However, this is the best I could do in my tiny downstairs bathroom.

I'm doing a little modification - I'm making it more baby-doll shape, and am doing a wider trim at the bottom, a la Hapichick. As of Saturday, there's a new version of this pattern available -- I'm not looking at it, because this one is working for me!

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How cute is this?


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And Denise on Clear Creek is turning destashing into a contest -- go to her blog to see! (There's sock yarn and Malabrigo!!!)

More Yarny Goodness

I don't know about you, but tonight I'm working on socks, pretending I'm at Sock Summit (assuming there are lap-sitting cats at SS09).

This is Vinnie, who has gone from growling at me a month ago to sitting on my lap whenever we're in the same room. And it's hard to take a picture of your own lap.

I forgot one of my yarn-related birthday gifts in my last post. My brother got me this great knitting pirate t-shirt.

In the last few days, other knitting goodies have arrived in my mailbox.

Here's this month's yarn from the Mean Girls Yarn Club. Accompanying it are a stitch marker (attached to the label), a lollipop, and, my favorite, a tiny crochet hook on a key chain ring. I've been wanting one of these for ages! This one is made by 5elementknitr, who is currently at Sock Summit, with all the other cool kids.

And a week or so ago, while working on Buttercup, the cord to one of my Harmony Options broke. It came out of the part that screws onto the needle. This was extremely annoying, so I called them. I know that I'm not the first person to have this problem, but I've got to say customer service was great. They put a package of two more in the mail, and told me just to throw the broken one away. I love my Harmonies, and even if they aren't perfect, I'm glad that this problem was so easily resolved