Winner #8

And winner #8 is:

Crystal Broyles!

I have your snail mail address, Crystal. The package will ship in the morning.

More writing than knitting today. I managed an inch on the cursed BSJ and regretted starting it in stash yarn and not picking something more . . . subdued. But so be it. I'm also muttering a few choice words over EZ's challenging (how's that for a diplomatic word?) instructions. Her designs are revolutionary. Her conceptual skills border on genius. But why oh why did she think some of us are smarter knitters than we are?

If we're not supposed to count the neutral stitches, please tell me! If we are supposed to count them, please tell me that too. IT'S IMPORTANT!!!

Sorry. I had to get that off my chest.

Big Yellow Taxi (and Yarnapalooza Winner #1)

The plan is this: I'll post every day this month (I can't believe I'm typing those words) and among other things, I'll announce the day's winner.

That said, can we have a drum roll please for our July 1 winner Chris Silker who can be found here. Chris, you'll find an email in your inbox. I have your package ready to ship in the morning.

See that big blob of eye-searing yellow? That's the first piece in my second EZ Garter Stitch Blanket. (Yes, garter stitch is addictive.) It's from my stash of Sirdar Nova Chunky (Chunky Nova?) and I hope to tone it down a little with some white. Or maybe I'll add orange (another favorite color) and make yarny candy corn. Either way I'm having way too much fun.

I also have Baby Surprise Jacket on the needles. Maybe a picture tomorrow. (I take terrible pictures.) I grabbed some Lion Brand Baby Soft from my stash (The Stash That Ate New Jersey) and jumped into it and it's certainly an interesting experience. More about that tomorrow too.

The hot pink scarf has doubled in length and I'm eyeing some gorgeous Muench Touch Me and thinking of casting on another Vintage Velvet.

Don't you just love this part of knitting when anything's possible and your needles are just dying to be put to good use? No frogging! No tinking! No dropped stitches! I swear I almost think I could knit a wedding ring shawl without lifelines.

EZ Garter Stitch Blanket - Day #1

1. The pattern is in Elizabeth Zimmermann's THE OPINIONATED KNITTER, a book I love with a passion usually reserved for Szechuan food and creme brulee.

2. Knit Picks Options, size 9.

3. Single strand of CASCADE Ecological Wool. (It's supposed to be double-stranded but that would mean a significant jump in needle size and my hands balked.)

4. I picked two very pale oatmeal/cafe au lait shades but zipped back to WEBS to order two of the darker shades as well. I'm thinking I'll want a little more contrast. Or maybe to knit more blankets.

5. EZ doesn't specify wrapping stitches in the pattern but I wrapped anyway. I just didn't pick up the wraps. Why, you ask? Well, mainly because I hate picking up wraps but also I just liked the way it looked this way. (The holes are part of EZ's pattern design.)

6. I take crappy photos of my knitting. The blanket in progress looks much niftier in person -- edges are crisper, fabric not at all lumpy.

Wait! I forgot to tell you: I'm knitting again!

I'm surprised trumpets didn't blare and marching bands start parading up and down the street. I cast on yesterday afternoon for the first time since January and it felt great! Okay, so maybe I over did it (I'm the original all-or-nothing kid) but what a joy, what a thrill it was to feel needles in my hands again, fondle yarn with an actual purpose, watch as those beautiful utilitarian spare and lovely garter stitch ridges began to stack up one on top of the other.

How did I live so long without this?

I can hear you laughing. You'd think I'd actually embarked on an Orenburg or a Wedding Shawl or something equally mind-blowing and not a simple garter stitch blanket. But I am a knitter who is easily pleased by the Simple and the Easy. (Although I could probably screw up Simple and Easy if I put my mind to it.)

Definitely doing the Happy Dance here in central NJ.

The Argyle Laptop

Meet Elizabeth. I've named only one other laptop in my life (Cleo, 2003-2006; may she RIP) (okay, so maybe I did refer to one other as Baby; it was a fleeting thing) but the second I applied the pink argyle skin to her shiny silvery surface I knew Dell Inspiron 1505 was Elizabeth. Nickname: EZ.

Yes, in honor of Elizabeth Zimmerman, goddess of all things knitting. To me the most fascinating thing about Elizabeth Zimmerman wasn't only that she could knit like a dream, but the fact that she was also a brilliant writer, an incredibly gifted artist, and the kind of mother any woman would wish to be . . . or to call her own. Strong, gutsy, funny, a tiny bit fey, bursting with ideas and the ambition to follow where they beckoned.

If I can tap into even a tiny fraction of the real EZ's spirit when I sit down to work at the Pink Argyle EZ, I'll be one very happy knitting writer.

Or is it writing knitter . . . I'm never quite sure.