Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Ballad of the Red Knight



Once upon a time, there was a knitting princess. She lived in a kingdom with lots of yarn. One warm day, after finishing all of her work, the Princess sat down to work on her latest project, a pair of mittens (which was an odd choice, for it was the month of June). However, when she was about to begin, she realized that one of her six Royal Double-Pointed Needles was missing! The Princess always knitted pairs of things simultaneously, in an effort to avoid Second-Mitten Syndrome, and so the sixth needle was crucial to the completion of the project! The Princess thought and thought, and realized that she must have dropped the needle in the faraway kingdom of Uptown, which she visited that morning to take a lesson from the Music Master who resided there. The Princess sent correspondence to the kingdom of Uptown, and although a search party was sent out, the needle could not be found. However, the Princess was not ready to give up, convinced that the tiny needle was lying, overlooked, somewhere within that kingdom. Unfortunately, the Princess was exceedingly tired from her hectic week and the previous journey that she made Uptown that very morning, and her powers were drained. After pondering her dilemma for a moment, she had a brilliant idea.



The Princess decided that she would call upon the Red Knight to help her find the Royal Double-Pointed Needle. Like all of the knights in the Princess’s lands, he was strong, and swift, and brave—a natural leader. However, he had a special quality that the other knights did not, something that only the Princess could perceive.

Luck.

With that luck, the Princess had total faith that the she and the Red Knight would be able to find the Needle. She called the Red Knight to court...


...and gracefully requested his assistance.


Aside from his other qualities, the Knight was also very gracious and charismatic, and quickly accepted the mission. The Red Knight led the Princess to his chariot, and they set off on their journey.


They traveled far—over water,


On winding, high roads,


And beneath mighty trees.


Finally, they reached the Castle of Fine Arts where the Music Master taught. They made their way to the place where the Princess had last knitted.


The Red Knight and the Princess reached the Hallway of Doors. All of the doors were locked, but the Princess was sure that behind one of them lay the Royal Double-Pointed Needle!


The Princess produced a Golden Key and, approaching the final door in the hallway, unlocked it. (The Red Knight waited patiently.) She stepped into the room, and turned on the lights, holding her breath in anxiety. She looked around, hoping that their epic journey had not been in vain.


There, hidden deep in shadow and overlooked by all, was the Royal Double-Pointed Needle! The Princess cried out, and seized her beloved needle, holding it on high and jumping up and down with unadulterated glee! The Red Knight calmly reminded Her Highness-ness that jumping up and down while holding very pointy sticks was not the safest course of action. The Princess thanked the Red Knight for his wisdom, and they left the Castle of Fine Arts.


The Red Knight was hailed as the greatest hero! He was rewarded with a chaste kiss from the Princess.


And an Iced Green Tea.


The set of six Royal Double-Pointed Needles was united once again! The mittens could be finished simultaneously, protecting the Princess and her lands from the peril of Second-Mitten Syndrome. The Princess was enormously thankful, and promised the Red Knight that he would be immortalized in legend for his heroic deeds. The Red Knight brought the Princess back to her home.


And she knitted Happily Ever After.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Parade of Projects, Part One: Women Are Tough

As promised, I return with pictures! I have knitted several things since the last time I posted pictures, so I'm going to try to catch up now.

The first project to be shown off is the shawl that I knitted for my Grandmother's birthday. I did much of it in one night, and it's pretty much a miracle that I finished it on time.





Pattern: Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Masala
Comments: In my hurry to get this shawl done on time, I didn't record what needle size I used. It was probably 4.00. I left off the border due to time constraints, but I discovered that I also really like it without the border. The edging looks more winglike. I really love this pattern (I've knitted it once before), and I'm happy with how this one came out. Taking the pictures was a huge pain, because it was super windy that day. I think these two were the only successful pictures taken.

Stay tuned for Parade of Projects, Part Two!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Over four months ago

I made a post in this blog, and I did not return until now. The last post was a hurried one, about being busy, and a promise to return soon. I come to you now from a fantastically quiet space. It was necessary today for me to take a little getaway, and I'm choosing to do it in a place where I can sit and catch up with the little things that I enjoy most in my free time. For the past several hours, I've been reading Yarn Harlot blog posts from March until now. I'm finally caught up, which makes me feel very relieved, because I really missed hearing what was going on with Steph on a regular basis. I'm going to knit for the next couple of hours before I head on home. I planned on showing you a picture of the Ishbel I've been working on, but my new laptop's webcam will not let me, and my camera stayed at home today. But, I will come back with pictures, and also some pictures of the feather and fan scarf that I'm wearing right now.

In case you've been wondering what I've been up to for the past four months, I finished up the school year, operas included, with general success. I'd say that I've been resting since then, but it would be a lie. I took a summer job working at a doggie day care, and that pretty much takes up all of my time. I've been doing a scandalously small amount of knitting, which I plan to rectify this week. Over the past few weeks I have traveled, to Dallas for a wedding and Gulfport for a party, and now that everything is settled down again I think I'll have more free time. However, a substantial part of that should be used for practicing, since I have been neglecting that, lately. But, I really need to get more knitting in--the lack of yarn in my life lately has been seriously impacting my mood. The Ishbel is made with Knit Picks Palette for stashbusting purposes, so it's going to be pretty big, and hopefully really beautiful.

I really will return soon with pictures. Promise.