Tahini Salad Dressing

We are long on tahini at the moment so I've been playing with tahini salad dressing. I mixed up a batch today and like it enough that I'm posting it for future reference.

Summer tank

Back about, oh, 7 or 8 years ago, I was shopping with Cherie and she talked me into buying this simple, little tank. I have a tendency to be a bit ... um, shall we say "thrifty" (some might say, "cheap") and this was one of those things that cost a little more than I would normally spend.

Well, it turned out to be a big, huge value. Thank you, Cherie!!

I wore this tank to pieces. OK, not quite to pieces, literally, but all the way to stains and frays.

After multiple attempts to get rid of the stains (that'd be the "thrifty" side of me), I've finally decided that it is time to let go of this wonderful tank.

However ... perhaps, I could knit a simple, little tank that I like equally well. So, before putting it in the stack for Take It or Leave It at the Lopez Dump (aka "Neil's mall"), I took a bunch of measurements and - by posting them here - I'll have them at the ready when I sit down and start working on my knitted tank.

Girly Pink Cardigan

I was in Augusta, Georgia visiting Mom & Dad this Easter. Bill came out too and he took a family photo.

I happened to be wearing my very girly pink cardigan and I happened to notice that one photo shows a fair bit of it.

One of these days, I will get more photos. In the meantime, I can post this much.

I made this from yarn that was in my stash for years. I did lots and lots and lots of swatching before I finally struck upon a stitch pattern, yarn combination and design that I liked. I'm glad I stuck with it, 'cause I like this sweater.

I STILL Need a Hat

While I haven't finished up my Shoal Bay Slouch posts, I have finished the hat. Bill took a few pics of me wearing the hat.

Turns out I didn't wear this one for very long. I gave it away to our friend Karlena. Luckily, I had enough yarn to knit a second one.

That one went with me when we flew to Fort Worth for Christmas with my family ... but it didn't come back.

Shoal Bay Slouch - Part 5, Almost finished

After popping the apple crisp in the oven and planning what to make for dinner (butternut squash curry), I sat back down and picked up where I left off (part 4).

A few rounds more and it became quite apparent to me that my decrease-marker-positioning math was wrong.

I finished my jogless join rounds

and still had 4 stitches between my end-of-round marker (yellow) and my decrease marker (blue).

My mistake was 4 x 2 for the decreases. Because, of course, when you knit 2 stitches together you don't end up with 0 stitches you end up with 1 stitch. It took me a minute to figure out the right calculations.

Shoal Bay Slouch - Part 4, More knitting

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the post office and dropped off the last 2 boxes for my conference next week and that means my work week is finished and I can knit.

When I set my project aside, I had finished the braided edge, the ribbing and the first few rounds of the main body of the hat. (Part 1, part 2 & part 3 have those details.)

I completed the first repeat of the pattern and then the second repeat and then set it aside for the night. I had come to the point where I needed to plan the crown and decided I should do that in the morning. (I tend to make mistakes when I'm tired.)

Back again after a good nights sleep, I set about planning my crown decreases. I've already figured out that I'll make 8 decreases on each decrease round and I'm planning to make the decreases at the same point in each round. My math is 112 ÷ 8 = 14 stitches between each initial decrease location and 8 stitches remaining (1 between each decrease location) after 13 decrease rounds.

Shoal Bay Slouch - Part 3, Knitting

Oh joy, oh bliss, it's time to cast on and start knitting.

Having done my swatching, blocking (Part 1) and pattern planning (Part 2) earlier this afternoon, I just had to get started with the actual knitting.

I cast-on and did the braid (mentioned in Part 2 with a link to a video). I had an ugly twisted mess at the end of the first purl round, but by the end of the second purl round the twists were gone. I knit an inch of 1x1 rib and considered doing another round of braid, but decided against it.

 I really like this braided edge!