Kitty: So much to post, so little time

HAPPY DANCE !!!! HAPPY DANCE !!!

Thanks you once again A Sneak! You are the best. I can not wait to have some tea tonight. Sorry for the delay in the thank you. It turned out my neighbor ran into the mail woman on Saturday and she ended up giving the package to her instead of leaving it on my door step. Then she didn't see us home yesterday. So I had a pleasant surprise when I ran into my neighbor today at lunch. She came bearing gifts and mail. The Lavender Earl Grey smells absolutely divine. And More Empress of China.... WOHO... TEA HEAVEN.....

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On the Knitting Front:

Lately, MeowGirl has been researching like mad cast-on techniques for her new top. I realized quickly that I really didn't know enough to converse intelligently about the subject. So I spent yesterday reading up on different types of cast on techniques. I made an interesting discovery, all along I thought I was doing long tail cast on. In reality I realized that I was doing the English Cast-on, which is more similar to the continental cast-on. A Continental Cast-on will give you a knit stitch base while the English Cast-on that I have been doing gives you a purl stitch base. Which now makes sense since I have been having trouble doing a knit and I didn't understand why. From what I have read the English Cast-on is great for a k1,p1 edge.

There is also an earlier historical English Cast-on that is designed for an elastic edge and doesn't require a bottom thread. From the old reference book I was reading this is what they suggested for lace, since it was strong and also elastic. The elastic quality allowed for it to easily follow the lace pattern, though not good when a sharp edge is required. In the reference material I was reading it was really hard to know which English Cast-on they were referring to. Since both are called English Cast-on.

Some other fun cast-on's that I found:

Italian Tubular Cast-on Invisible Casting On

German Cast On Cable Cast On

On the Needles:

Well, I had a major set back yesterday and had to rip out 10 inches. bleck. I realized while knitting in the dark I had split the yarn for one stitch and had only caught 2 of the threads. BLECK BLECK BLECK. I guess this teaches me to be nice and knit in the dark while on server watch so my hubby could get some shut eye in the dark. Well the hope that I will finish before going to San Fran on thursday is just about over. :(

So I have to decide if I am going to take a project to knit while I am in San Fran. hmmmm Maybe a little blue purse someone nice gave me the pattern and yarn or something else small. I also wonder if I can get by with plastic knitting needles on the plane?

Something Fun:

Check out Columbus Knitlife over on Alison's Blue Blog. I can not wait to see what she bought here in CowTown USA. Her son's photo is so adorable with the blue hat.