Noolie Knits

WNBP

Thank goodness for the Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  If it weren't for this opportunity to post a bunch of random things, I would probably post even less than I do now.  It's kind of freeing to not have to worry about transitioning from one subject to the next.

So, let the random begin!

************************************************************

~~I voted today. 

~~No, it's not election day; I voted by absentee ballot.

~~I won't be absent on election day, but that doesn't matter.  The State of Maine wants to make it easy for everyone to vote so we're allowed to vote by absentee for any old reason.

~~Even if that reason is that I'm just too lazy to go to the polling place.

~~I can get my ballot right at work, so can you blame me for not wanting to drive the 2 miles to the polling place?

~~Of course I voted NO on  1

~~Speaking of voting and NO on 1, don't forget about this and this. 

************************************************************

~~When you see your cat in a position like this, what is the first thing any sane knit-blogger (is there any such thing) would think to do?

~~Take photos of course, and add a WIP for good measure.

Pattern: Plain Ole Stockinette Stitch, Top Down, Heel Flap sock
Needles: Size 2 dpn
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill (colorway unknown - label lost a long time ago)
Cat: Rico (I guess I did disturb him; he moved his legs up)

~~I've knit a bit more on this sock since that photo session yesterday morning; I'm a couple inches down the foot now.

~~Did I mention that this is a mansock?

~~Men have big feet.

~~Mansocks take a loooong time to knit.

*****************************************************

~~I started a new sweater for myself - Acer by Kirsten Kapur

~~I've only done a few inches and haven't taken a picture yet.

~~I can show you the yarn I'm using though:

Cascade Yarns Eco + in a beautiful purple

~~Yes, I know that's way more than I need.

~~I'll probably use the rest for something for Clover.

~~Maybe another little dress.

*****************************************************

~~I still haven't been doing much spinning.

~~I have a couple of bobbins with 2ply yarn that needs to be wound off.

~~They've been on the bobbins a couple of weeks.

~~I really should do something about that.

~~I also have two bobbins of singles that I need to ply.

~~I think I'll do that tomorrow night at Chicks with Wheels.

*****************************************************

~~Have I mentioned recently how far behind I am in responding to comments?

~~I thought I was getting all caught up Monday morning before work.

~~I went through a bunch of comments, hit the reply button, composed nice personal notes, and hit send.

~~I felt good about my progress and figured I'd respond to the rest during the day at work.

~~It hit me sometime mid-morning.

~~I was replying to the blog, not the individual commenter.

~~I quickly opened Typepad and looked for my comments.

~~They didn't seem to be there.

~~Luckily, they were all marked as spam and not visible on the blog (not that I write anything bad, but some of them had more than just a response to the comment itself).

~~I deleted them all and have no clue who I owe responses to anymore.

~~I hate the changes Typepad made to how we reply to comments. 

~~Yes, they "fixed" the major problem, but I just can't remember to change the email address everytime I hit reply so that it doesn't go to the blog.

~~I guess I'm getting old.

~~I'm going to do my best to respond in a timely manner from now on (and will hopefully remember to change the "to" address in the reply!).

*****************************************************

~~That's all I've got.

~~Have a wonderful evening!

Slumber Party

Remember going to slumber parties as kids? 

Staying up all night, eating tons of junk food, laughing and giggling with the girls, playing games. 

Those were some good times, weren't they?

Why should all that fun be left to kids?  It shouldn't, and it wasn't this past weekend.

Patti, Sharon, Eileen, Carol, and I decided to have a slumber party at Sharon's house.  It was a typical girls' slumber party.  We laughed, we giggled, we played games (knit & spin), we ate (and ate and ate and ate).  The only thing we didn't do was stay up all night.  Wait, we also didn't play Truth or Dare; hmmmm, maybe next time.

We never left Sharon's house from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. 

Not only was it a fun weekend, it was a productive weekend.

   

 

I crocheted two bath puffs and a washcloth, knit one sock for Clover (the second sock was finished last night), finished spinning Selfish, and started spinning the Spunky Club July fiber, Beach Day.   Thanks for letting us invade your house, Sharon; I had so much fun!  

To top off the weekend, I got  home and received this from Clover:

A handpainted pencil holder for my desk.    

I'll end with a picture of Clover's finished socks.  I  used Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock yarn for this tiny pair of socks.

  They fit her perfectly and she loves them - I call that a success!

 

Sitting on my Butt

I had a crazy busy weekend, but a good deal of it was spent sitting on my butt.  Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?  It's not.  I went to a BB King concert on Saturday (it was awesome!) which involved sitting in the car for the 2 hour drive to the hotel, on my butt at dinner, on my butt in the hotel relaxing before it was time to go, on my butt at the concert, and more time on my butt in the car on Sunday morning to get home.  Then it was right back into the car (and on my butt) for a 2 1/2 hour drive(which should have been 1 1/2 hours) to go to my niece's bridal shower, more butt sitting at the shower, and again on the way home.  Man was I tired by the time I got home!  Who would've thought you could get so damn tired sitting on your butt?!

I'll tell you all about the weekend in another post, but for now I'll update you on the other things I've been doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spinning:

  "Spring Leaves", 4 ounces, 335 yds, fingering to sport weight, 2 ply.

This beautiful Merino Silk fiber was hand dyed  and gifted to me by the wonderful Gina.  I truly enjoyed spinning this and am really going to enjoy knitting it - it is VERY soft and the colors are gorgeous!  Thank you so much, Gina!

8 Ounces Alpaca/Merino/Silk roving purchased at the Spinning Bee back in June.  I spun the singles a bit thicker than usual hoping for a dk or light worsted weight 2 ply.  The singles are still on the bobbins so we'll have to wait to see if I was successful. 

My current spinning project is the June installment of Spunky Club Fiber:

I'm almost 1/2 way through this 4 ounces.  The colors are spinning up beautifully.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knitting:

I finished the TOFUtsies ankle socks.  

 

This is pair #6 for Summer of Socks '09 (apparently I can not count because I thought I've been working on pairs 7 and 8 but after going back and checking, I see it's only  6 & 7).   This pair also counts as my August socks for SAM8.

Pair number 7 is nearing completion.  I have no picture of the progress, but as you might expect, the second sock looks just like the first.  Once this pair is complete, I'm going to get back to work on my long neglected sweater. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seems Hubby has been getting a little nostalgic lately; look what he dug out the other day:

 

1986        and       1993

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seen in the backyard on Friday morning:

Sorry for the blurry picture; here's a better shot of one of the babies:

Cute, isn't it?  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have a great day!

WOW!

It's really been a long time since I last posted anything that I've been working on!  I was scrolling back through my posts to find the last thing I shared with you, and was shocked to realize that it was all the way back on July 2nd!

Since this is supposed to be a blog about my fibery pursuits, how about I show you what I've been working on?  Don't get too excited though; I haven't done all that much in 5 1/2 weeks.   

I can't remember the last time I knitted anything that wasn't a sock; I do know that it was before Summer of Socks '09 began.   My poor Cabled Yoke Pullover still sits with just one sleeve left to be knit before I can move it over to the FO category.  I don't see that happening anytime too soon.  Probably not until SOS'09 is over on September 1st.

Now that I've shown you what I haven't been doing, let me show you a couple of FO's:

Pair #5 for SOS'09:

Spring Savasana Socks
Dream in Color Classy in Pansy Golightly
Started July 11th - Finished July 20th

These were a gift for my sister; I gave them to her when I visited her in the hospital after her surgery. She loved them.

This is the second pair of Spring Sasavana Socks that I've knit and won't be the last. (As a matter of fact, I already picked up some yarn for the next pair!)

 

 

Pair #6 for SOS'09:

Slip Stitch Heel Basic Socks I used my handspun (Spunky Club Fiber Soul Windows) Fiber content: SW Corriedale w/10% nylon Started July 3rd - Finished July 22nd  

I'm very happy with these; not only do they look good (IMHO) but they feel wonderful.

This is my first adult sized pair of socks using my handspun; my first handspun socks were for Clover using the same handspun.

 

That's it for FO's.  Do you want to see my current WIP's?   You might as well say yes because I'm gonna show you anyway.

Pairs 7 and 8 for SOS'09 (Hey, I told you it was all socks all the time around here these days.)

Toe-up, Short-row heel, plain ole stockinette stitch, sewn bind off.
Mountain Colors yarn in the colorway "Ruby River". Started July 22nd One sock down - one to go.
This yarn is incredibly soft - kind of makes me wish I were knitting this pair for myself instead of Hubby.  He does deserve them, though.  He has 2 pair that are wearing out. Anyone who loves their handknit socks to the point of wearing them out deserves more; don't you agree?

Gusset Heel Basic Socks
(This is the progress as of yesterday morning; I've done a couple more inches since then.)

I'm using the remainder of a skein of TOFUtsies sock yarn that I used for another pair of socks back in June of '07.  One skein of TOFUtsies goes a LONG way. I split the remainder in half and am just going to knit each sock until I run out of yarn. I expect they'll be fairly short socks, but we'll see.

That's enough projects for today, don't you think?  I have been doing a little bit of spinning and I'll try to get some pictures and share that with you soon (soon being a relative term).  

I was away at Property Tax School last week and did bring my wheel and had really hoped to get more spinning done than I did.  I pretty much vegged out in the evenings - didn't keep up with the blogs; didn't get much knitting done, got very little spinning done.   What a waste of alone time!

 

This & That on Thursday

How about a bit of the random today?

 ~It's now July and it's STILL raining!  Will it ever stop?

~It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't also COLD.  Yesterday was July 1st and we broke records in these parts for the coldest high temperature since 1976!  Enough already; I wan't to start breaking temps for the hottest low.

~Hubby got my pool set up early this year. 

~I was in it for a couple hours one day about 3 weeks ago (it really wasn't warm enough but at that time I was already sick of the rain and took advantage of a sunny day).

~This is our busiest time of year at work.  We are preparing our final tax assessments and need to get things ready for bills to be printed.

~Our computer server is having fits with our assessing software and keeps kicking us out of our program or not letting us get into it at all.

~It's been a long couple of days at work and today looks like it's going to be more of the same.

~Looking on the bright side - I can now spare a couple of minutes to write this post.

In knitting news:

~I finished my Crazy socks last night.

SOS'09 Pair #3 Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

~Surprisingly, I was even able to match up the colors! 

~I'm not crazy about the Crazy Socks, but they'll be warm and my feet can use some warm (see above).

~Finishing this pair leaves me with just one WIP.

~The Cabled Yoke sweater is nearing completion - just one sleeve to go. 

~That neck looks a little wonky in the picture, but it's really not. 

~The "just one WIP" thing won't last long - I'm hoping to cast on for my next pair of socks tonight.

In Spinning News....

~I've got nothing.  I've done no spinning since the Spinning Bee.

~That'll change tonight because tonight is Chicks with Wheels night.

~That's all the random I have for you. 

~Have a great day.

Socks, Socks, and More Socks

Now that I'm participating in two sock knit-alongs, there's been quite a bit of sock knitting going on around here.

This first pair qualifies as my June socks for  SAM7.   They also qualify as my first pair finished for SOS'09  (even though they were a WIP at the start of SOS'09).

Yarn: TOFUtsies
Needles: Size 2 dpn's
Top-down, plain ole stockinette stitch on 60 stitches

This teeny tiny pair of socks is my second pair finished for SOS'09.  I knit most of one sock on Friday night, finishing it up on Saturday, and the second sock last night.

 

Yarn:  my handspun Spunky Club April 09 Fiber - corriedale/nylon

Needles:  size 2 dpn's

I knit this pair of socks from the toe-up using short roe toe and heel and a Russian bind off.   I followed Wendy Johnson's easy instructions in her new book "Socks from the Toe Up" 

They may be a bit funky - not really matching at all, and they may actually be a bit too teeny tiny, but I still consider them a win.  Why?  Well, first because Clover loves them and second because I accomplished a few of my goals in this one little pair of socks.  All that and I still have enough of my handspun left to knit a pair for myself.   I'll knit those toe-up as well.

I knit most of this next sock on Saturday.  I was with friends when I finished the knitting on the first teeny tiny sock and knew I needed to be alone to read the directions for the bind off, so I started a mindless top-down sock.  I finished it yesterday afternoon before starting the second teeny tiny sock.

Yarn: Austermann Step 6, color #111 Herbst
Needles: size 2 1/2 dpn's
Pattern: top down, afterthought heel, stockinette stitch on 48 stitches

I'm not really sure how I feel about the colors on this sock.  They looked better in the ball,  I think.  Can you see how long that color repeat is?  From the top all the way down almost to the toe.  It's going to be pretty difficult to knit a matching sock without wasting a lot of yarn!  I do like matchy matchy socks, and I'm sure there's plenty of yarn, so I'll probably give it a try.

Well, that's it for today.  Have a good one (and if you're in this neck of the woods, try to stay dry!)

WNBP

It's been awhile, so how about some Wednesday Night Bullet Points tonight? 

~~First things first - you still have time to enter my contest; I'm taking entries until I wake up on Friday morning (6am).

~~Check out this link and be sure to roll over the image :-)  

~~This past weekend was very busy, but very fun.

~~Patti, Sharon, Carol, and I left Friday afternoon and headed to Patti's timeshare condo at Loon Mountain.  The plan - a weekend of spinning and knitting together and attending the Granite State Knit-In on Saturday.

View from the condo

~~A couple of our other friends, Eileen and Eileen (no, that's not a typo), were supposed to come with us but couldn't make it.   That was the only downside to the whole weekend. 

~~We missed you 1.0 and 2.0!

~~I was only able to attend one of the classes at the Knit-In, but it was an awesome class.   Suzanne Federer, who used to teach at The Yarn Sellar and whose classes I've taken in the past, taught Intro. to Fair Isle knitting.  

~~She only had 2 hours to teach us, but she did a great job and I do believe I got the hang of it! 

~~I'm now contemplating what my first Fair Isle project will be.

Suzanne and Sharon

~~The weekend also included me taking a side trip on Saturday to Acton, Maine to attend my niece's graduation party.  (This would be the reason I was only able to attend one class.)

~~Said side trip involved an hour and forty minute drive each way - much of which was driving the Kancamagus Highway.  

~~I would have loved the scenic drive through the mountains had I been the passenger - as the driver, not so much.  

~~I'm a wimpy driver.

~~My niece is worth the white knuckle drive though.

Jena, the RISD grad, and her boyfriend, Andrew

~~The time spent at the condo with the girls was awesome.  The condo was spacious and comfy with enough room for us to leave our spinning wheels set up and not have to move them around if we wanted to take a break and sit on the couches.

Patti, Carol, Sharon                              Sharon, Patti, Me

~~I started my May Spunky Club fiber last Thursday night at Chicks with Wheels and finished spinning it on Friday at the condo. 

~~No picture yet because it's still sitting on the bobbin.

~~My Rainbow Tofutsie socks have gone from this:   

~~to this:   .

~~Some day I'll learn to listen to that little voice in my head when it says "It's not working; it's too small". 

~~After that failure, I decided to make plain stockinette stitch socks with the TOFUtsies.

~~My Cabled Yoke Sweater is moving along quite nicely.

~~All that remains to bed done is to knit are the sleeves, which are straight stockinette - YEEHAW!

~~That's it for now.

~~Have a great night!

A Picture Post

Another picture of Clover and Samm. Samm thought I deliberately cut out her tattoo in the last post so I thought I'd show it to you today.   
 

I finished a pair of socks...

Yarn: Marks & Kattens Clown
Pattern: Stockinette Stitch, top down socks on 60 stitches. Eye of Partridge heel.

 

...and started another:

Yarn: TOFUtsies     Pattern: Rainbow Ripple  

 

Over the past week, I've received more goodies from some very good friends - I'm so spoiled (and I love it)!

 

From the wonderful Dana and Dianne - a souvenier from the festival they work so hard to put together, The Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival: 

A Nana Sadie Rose bag!
With crazy black cats on the outside and pawprints inside (along with many pockets for needles and things) - Perfect!

I'm saving my pennies so that I can buy my own souvenier next year.
2010 Sedalia or Bust!  Right Marianne?

More birthday goodies from Patti and Roger:

Goes perfectly with the rest of the birthday gifties they bestowed upon me.

 

Wait, I'm not done yet.  Even more birthday goodies arrived in the mail on Friday. This package came from the sweet, sweet Gina.

Chalice Cable Handwarmers pattern by Alison Green Will,
the yarn to knit the handwarmers - Rowan Felted Tweed,
and some scrumptious Jojoland Cashmere laceweight yarn!
Don't you love the wrapping paper? And that card is too cute! (click here to see it larger so you can read it)

Thank you all so much - you're all too good to me!

I received one more goodie package in the mail on Saturday - this one wasn't a gift; it was my May Spunky Club fiber:

"Pansy" 4 ounces of Romney
Gorgeous isn't it?  

Clover thinks so!

I have just a couple more photos to share with you before I end for today:

 

This is how hubby spent yesterday morning.
You KNOW that made me happy!!!

I'm on a Roll

Here's another completed pair of socks. 

Plain vanilla socks using size 1 1/2 (2.5mm) dpn's
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton
Started: October 2007
Finished: May 19, 2009
 

No, that's not a typo; I started these socks in October of 2007!  The first sock sat for over a year in timeout because I thought it was too small for Hubby (and it was too big for me).  As I told you when I let that first sock out of timeout a couple weeks ago, either the sock grew or hubby's foot shrunk because the darn thing fit this time! Whatever the case, this is another pair of finished socks in 2009.  That makes 4 pairs of socks finished in 2009 or 4 times as many as I finished in 2008!

I'm feeling so good about the return of the sock mojo, that I joined Summer of Socks 2009 (Ravelry link here).    I was a bit hesitant to join because I was kind of afraid that committing to knitting socks might be just what it takes to cause the sock mojo to take a summer vacation, but this year's theme is LOW STRESS so I think I should be okay.   I haven't decided exactly what my goals will be for SOS (I still have a month to decide), but I do know that one of them will be to use some of the  mountain of sock yarn I have in the stash! 

Why don't you join me and the millions of others (okay, maybe that's a wee bit of an exaggeration) knitting socks this summer?  Come on, you know you want to. 

Socks

I think my sock mojo has returned for real.  You may recall that I only completed one pair of socks last year.  Here it is May 4th and I'm working on my fourth pair of 2009 (granted they weren't all started in '09, but that's not the point). 

I had hoped to finish the socks designed by the talented Gina over the weekend and I did it.  As a matter of fact, I finished the second sock on Saturday morning.

Pattern:  Spring Sasavana Socks
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Good Luck Jade.
Needles: Size 6 dpn's

I love these socks; they feel so incredible on my feet!  This pair of socks will live in my spinning basket to be worn when my tootsies get cold while spinning (which is all the time). 

This was a quick and easy pattern that I will definitely knit again.  The only thing I'll do differently on the next pair is  knit the cuff longer.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn to knit a longer cuff on these so I went with what the pattern suggested -  turns out I had enough left that I could have made them close to my usual length. 

Once these were off the needles, I went up to the stash to find some yarn to start on another pair for Hubby.  While I was looking, I came across the one finished "Boy Sock" that I knit back in October using Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton.   You may remember the story of how this first sock was knit for the hubby and was too short requiring that I rip out the toe and knit a bit more length in the foot.  Hubby tried it on again after that and said it was too tight.  "Boy Sock" was banished at that point and I truly never thought it'd see the light of day again.   When I found it  this weekend, I decided that I would rip back to the leg and reknit the heel and foot allowing some extra room.  Luckily, before ripping I asked hubby to try it on again to let me know exactly where it didn't feel right. 

I'm sure you can guess where this is going - it fits him perfectly.  Yippee, that means I'm halfway to another completed pair of socks!  I started the second sock last night and have knit the ribbing and a few rounds of the cuff.

This weekend was filled with progress on a few different fiber projects - I'll fill you in on the rest later.

Have a great night!

WIP Wednesday on Thursday

It's my crazy busy time at work and will remain that way for a couple more months.  Add to that the fact that I'm also very busy in my non-work life - knit night, spinning night, watching Clover on days Samm works (after I get home until Jay gets home from work), or just plain playing with Clover.  This makes it really difficult to blog regularly.  I've decided not to stress too much about it and stop apologizing for it,  but I would really like to get in at least one fiber related post a week. 

This week's post was meant to be a WIP Wednesday post, but I didn't finish it in time (see above) so you're getting it today. Just pretend for a moment that it's Wednesday as I show you my current WIP's. (The ones I'm actively working on anyway; like most of you, there are plenty more that have been stashed away to take a timeout and which may or may not be ressurected at some future date). 

SPINNNIG:
 

Sereknity "Beach Glass" 4 ounces of lucious Alpaca/Merino/Silk  

I'm loving the way this is spinning up.  I split the fiber only once lengthwise to get nice long color repeats.  I intend to navajo ply in order to keep the beautiful colors intact.  The singles should be finished tonight at Chicks with Wheels. 

KNITTING:

  This is the completed back of my Cabled Yoke Pullover.   

Since taking this picture, I've completed the front up to the point where I need to begin the patterning.  It's now on hold until I finish this next item:

 

   Spring Savasana Socks (Ravelry link) by Gina House  

This is Gina's newest sock pattern (the one she gifted me last week).  While doing a partial stash organization on Sunday, I rediscovered this yarn that Patti gifted to me quite some time ago.  It is Dream in Color Classy and it is perfect for this pattern.  It's very soft and squishy and feels wonderful on my foot.  The pattern is great; it's very easy to remember the 4 row pattern repeat and it's quick.  I started this first sock Sunday afternoon and finished it on Monday!  I've started and completed the ribbing on the second sock and plan to finish that by the weekend. 

CROCHETING: 

Warning - Very Bright Photo Ahead - Use Caution when Viewing!

I haven't shown you any progress on my Crocus Wrap for a while and since it was a beautiful sunny afternoon after work yesterday, I decided to snap a picture on the deck.  Immediately after taking the picture below, my camera battery died.  Had it not died, I would have attempted to get a better photo for you.  

Crocus Wrap
My handspun Louet Northern Lights yarn in the Burning Bush colorway (which is much pretty than the picture would lead you to believe; check it out here.)

I'm enjoying crocheting this wrap;  I don't need it until mid-September so I'm just taking my time and working on it when the mood strikes.  It doesn't look so hot unblocked, but when I stretch it out to get a preview of how it might look when finished, I'm very happy.  Now I just need to lose enough weight to fit into the dress I want to wear with it!
(I should be able to do it - I've lost 11 1/2 pounds since mid-February;  just have to keep my motivation up to lose another 10.)

Did I Finish?

Yes, I did! 

I finished the mansocks last night.

I would have finished them early yesterday if I wasn't a moron who knits toes sideways.  Of course knitting toes sideways means having to rip out several rows and pick up all those teeny tiny stitches.  That takes some time let me tell you!   I blame it all on Patti since it all happened while I was visiting with her.  Since I have never, ever knit a toe sideways before, I just can't think of any other explanation.  Makes sense, doesn't it?

I left her house with the second sock looking exactly as it did when I arrived.  I didn't get a chance to pick it up again until late in the afternoon, but I did manage to finish the toe before dinner and the heel after dinner.  Once all ends were woven in and pictures were taken, Clover and I brought them upstairs where she delivered them to her "Gampy".

(please ignore the nipple at the end of the toe)
Yarn: Cascade Sassy Stripes
Needles: size 2 dpn
Pattern: A bit of 2x2 rib followed by plain ole stockinette for an eternity, and an afterthought heel.  Nothing fancy here.  

I had to find something to work on in the waiting room of the dentist's office this morning, so I decided to "wake up" a hibernating sock.  This will be my mindless knit for a while and I'm thinking that tonight I'll begin the Crocus Bud crochet wrap using my "Burning Bush" handspun yarn.

Monogamy is Boring

Monogamy in knitting, that is.  Especially when said monogamous knitting is a plain ole stockinette stitch sock.

Hubby told me back in January that "if I wanted to, I could make him some more socks".  I took that to mean "I'd love it if you would make me some more socks."  That's exactly what he meant, but I was in the middle of a few things at the time so I told him that yes, I'd be happy to make him socks (he doesn't ask for much and he really does love his hand knit socks) but that they'd have to wait until I finished the projects I had going on at the time.  I started the first one in January and worked a little on it here and there (key words being "a little"). 

Finally, I finished the first sock the other day.

  (click for bigger)

Check this out - I worked my first afterthought heel (which is really just another toe where the heel goes).

  Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Sassy Stripes Color 714 (such a clever color name) Needles:  Size 2 Crystal Palace dpn's

I was a little unsure how hubby would like the feel of the "toe-heel", but he really likes it and I really enjoyed doing it.  I love how the striping pattern doesn't get interrupted.

 

I started the second sock on Monday evening and did the ribbing so that I could just knit in circles at Chicks with Sticks on Tuesday night.   I've told myself that I will not start anything else until I finish this second sock.  While I enjoy knitting socks (although you wouldn't really know it if you were to judge me based on last year's output of ONE pair), knitting nothing but one pair of socks with nothing more challenging to turn to every now and then is kind of boring.  Boring, but productive; I am now nearly ready to knit the scrap yarn where the heel will be.  I'm hoping to finish this sock by the end of the weekend.

 

Have a great day!

Teeny Tiny Hats and More

Although you wouldn't know it by my last couple of posts, there has been knitting going on around here.  Actually, make that knitting and crocheting going on. 

CROCHET:

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the first preemie hat I made for the K3tog Preemie Hat Knitalong.   I had anticipated making several more when all of a sudden, I looked at the calendar and realized that the month is almost over!  How did that happen? 

I had been crocheting a little hat in the style that my friend's grandmother taught me 100 years ago when I was in high school.  It should have taken me only a couple of hours to do, but because of my inattention to the calendar (and apparently to the hat) it took me over a week!  Well, since I cannot send just two itty bitty hats, I decided I'd look for a quick crochet pattern and whip up a few more itty bitty hats.

 

These hats all use leftover acrylic yarns - Caron Simply Soft, Bernat Softee Baby, Plymouth Jelli Beenz and size "H" crochet hook.

Clover personally tested the hats on her baby:

She approves.

I did crochet one extra one for her baby to keep; I didn't get a picture of that though.

KNITTING:

Hubby mentioned recently that he'd like some more hand knit socks, so I went stash diving and found the perfect yarn for some mansocks .  I told hubby that these would take awhile because I have some other projects I really want to get done but I've been working on them a bit here and there.  I brought them to the doctor's office with me yesterday and when the doctor appologized for making me wait, I told him it was fine because I got some knitting done.  I don't know about you, but I don't mind waiting in the doctor's office as long as I have my knitting with me; I actually kind of like it.

 

 
Cascade Sassy Stripes (superwash) yarn Size 2 dpn's    

The Replacement Sweater is coming along nicely. I've tried it on and believe it will be a nice fit; a little loose but not huge.

Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool
Needles: Size 9 circular Pattern:  Knitting Pure and Simple Swing Coat

Of course Clover had to inspect it:

She's withholding judgement until it's complete.

Unintentional Break

I really didn't mean to take a blog break; it just kind of happened.  When I realized that it had been over a month since my last post (other than the Friday with Clover posts), I was shocked.  I kept meaning to blog; as a matter of fact, I wrote many blog posts in my mind.  Those don't really count though, do they?  Unless you can read my mind, I need to make the time to actually get those posts from my head onto the blog.

Making time to get things done just hasn't been working out very well lately.  When I have had the time, I haven't had the energy.  I'm going to make a serious effort to change that. 

Even though I haven't been around blogland very much, I have still been knitting and spinning; there's even been some crocheting. Granted, not nearly as much time spent with the needles, hooks, and wheel as I'd like, but some. 

As you can imagine, there has also been a lot of new and exciting changes with Clover.  You got a glimpse of one of the changes in the last post.

 I don't want to bore you to death with one very lengthy post filling you in on everything at once, so I think I'll break it down into several smaller posts. 

Tonight's post will be all about the FO's (don't get too excited, there aren't very many).

First - A Sweater for ME:

Pattern:  Metro Pullover by Oat Couture Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Galway Colornep (the color doesn't show very well in this shot; it's a lovely olive green with flecks of red, yellow, and blue) Needles:  Size 8 and 9 Mods:  The only modification I made was to knit this in the round to the arm holes.
I picked up the perfect buttons for this from the Malabar Glass booth at Harvestfest, which was held last month outside my office.  I wasn't sure at first, but once on the sweater, it was obvious that they were made for it! 

I Love this sweater; it fits perfectly and I've already worn it a few times since finishing.

Second- I hope you're sitting down for this one:

Samm's Sweet Socks   STARTED:  February 20, 2008 FINISHED:  November 11, 2008 (yep, you read that right - February to November for one pair of socks) Yarn:  "Sweet Clover" bamboo/merino, (dyed by the fabulous Heather of Sereknity and Serenkity Boutique) Needles:  Size 1 1/2 dpns Pattern:  Standard cuff-down sock with eye of Partridge flap heel
I honestly didn't think I'd finish a single pair of socks this year and then I suddenly felt the need to finish these. I'm glad I did. They are beautiful socks (thanks to Heather's beautiful dye job) and there's enough yarn left to make some matching socks for Clover. Just have to get around to starting them.

Third: Two FO's in one.

Part One - Clover's Hat

Pattern:  Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur Needles:  size 9 Mods:  Added a chin strap with button instead of the braided ties Yarn: My Handspun, which brings us to...   Part Two - Neapolitan

4 ounces "Neapolitan" Merino/Silk 80/20 fiber from Spunky Eclectic Spun 2-ply - approximately 66 yards bulky weight (well, actually it's a little thick and thin, but mostly thick)

This spun up so incredibly soft that all I want to do with it is snuggle it. But, I decided that a nice warm hat for Clover might be a more appropriate use for it.  I think I made the right decision; the hat is incredibly soft and fits her perfectly.

I think that's enough for one post. More catching up next time. I promise I won't wait another month; I'm going to shoot for at least one more post before the next Friday with Clover.

Goodnight!

FO, WIP's, & 300 Hats

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted about anything I'm working on, hasn't it?  There really has been a bit of knitting going on around here, even some crocheting.  Spinning, on the other hand, has not been happening lately.  I'm going to have to fix that.  But for now, let's take a look at what's been on the needles (and hook) and what's come off.

Samm said that Clover needed some more bibs, so I made this one for her.

"Baby Bib o' Love" by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne
Yarn:  Lily Sugar'n Cream, colorway:  Playtime
Size 8 needles.
Mods:  I  put a snap on it instead of a button, and I'm really not very pleased with it.  I think I'll replace it with some velcro.

I have a lot more cotton yarn, so I'll be making a couple more soon.  Because working with this cotton is so hard on my hands, it takes me a few days to make one and then it takes a while before I feel like doing it again.


Have you noticed the lack of socks around here this year?  Yeah, me too.  What's up with that?  I do have two socks on the needles; not a pair, 2 single socks. 
    


Samm's Sweet Clover socks (which are actually almost ready to begin the toe) and my Sockotta socks.
 Both plain ole stockinette, top down socks. 

Nothing difficult, so why can't I seem to finish even one?  No big deal, though.  Remember, I decided to stop putting pressure on myself with the knitting.  Knitting is my enjoyment and relaxation and I'm not letting it get stressful.  No matter how much I want to finish some socks.

I've started another lace project. This is The Twinings Stole by Anne Hanson

I'm using some Fino that I won quite a long while ago from Kelli. This is the first project I've actually knit with laceweight.  I've only completed 2 repeats of the 16 row lace pattern, (actually, I almost completed 3 repeats but had to frog back a bit) but I think it's coming along nicely.  My plan is to complete this shawl before tackling the Flight of the Honey Bees. 

Samm bought a new camera and naturally it's just enough longer than the old one that it doesn't fit in the case I made recently for her.  That's okay though, because I like that one better than the one I made for myself so I'm using it. I crocheted Samm a new one today.  Here it is before felting (sitting next to the one that I'm now using).

I used Lion Brand Wool in "Flower Garden" and a size K crochet hook. I just crocheted until I thought it was big enough and then felted it. It is drying right now; I'll have a completed picture in a couple days.

Okay, I've shown you an FO, a prefelted FO, and some WIP's.  You may be wondering what the 300 Hats in the title is all about.  You know I have NOT knit 300 hats in the last couple of weeks.  As a matter of fact, I haven't finished even one hat in quite a long time.  I did, however, begin a hat today for Colleen and the 300 Hat Project.  The quick details are that Colleen's friend, Kristy, will be traveling to the Ukraine in September and working with several orphanages.  She'd like to bring 300 hats with her and Colleen has offered to be her East Coast Connection.  She'll collect hats through the end of August.  Please click the link for more details.  Oh yeah, there will be prizes too!

Here's my first hat for the project: It's not much yet, but I've only just begun. I plan to knit hats all summer, in between other projects. Won't you join me? 

(Remember to come back tomorrow for my contest!)

FIVE DAYS?!

How did this happen? There are only five days left until Christmas. We celebrate with the family on Christmas Eve (during the day), so I guess you could say I only have four days left. YIKES. How are all of you doing? Me – I’m further behind than I ever am at this point.  Thank Goodness (Marcia) for Holiday Headstart or I'd be stressing out even more right now. I did most of my big (if you can call baby and toddler sweaters big) Christmas knitting throughout the year.  But the shopping - haven't done nearly as well with that!

I am taking tomorrow afternoon off to finish up the rest of my shopping; I tried to do that last Saturday but I got frustrated very early on. I don’t do well in crowds or in lots of traffic. There were quite a few words coming from my mouth while driving that weren’t what you’d consider to be in the “holiday spirit”. I gave up fairly early and went home, figuring I’d do a little each night. Wrong. Here I sit with only four days left to finish, and I’ve barely accomplished anything.

I have done a bit of knitting on Jay’s socks (well, actually on Jay’s sock). Here’s a picture as of yesterday morning:

Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn on size 5 needles; 48 stitches, Garter Rib.
(the blanket this is sitting on was knit for me by my then boss when I was pregnant with Samm; Clover uses it now)

 I didn’t accomplish a heck of a lot more on it last night; just finished up the gusset decreases and called it a night. If I continue at this rate, Jay will have just one warm foot on Christmas morning.  Samm looked at me like I was crazy when I told her that I might have to put just one sock in his stocking. Obviously, she’s not a knitter.

 I finished spinning the blue/green singles I’ve been working on.

  Since taking this picture, I have plied half of it. I find the plying to be the most difficult part of spinning; am I alone? I’m hoping to finish this up tonight. It’s making a really pretty yarn!

And speaking of pretty:

What do you think she’s dreaming about that’s making her so happy? Dry diapers, maybe?

Project Update

I think I've gotten into a bit of a small project rut but I don't see anything changing until after the holidays.  I thought I was pretty much done with  Christmas knitting, but as it turns out, I can always find just one more gift I want to make (or two or ten)!  This is okay because I'm knitting for people I really want to knit for, but I'm craving a challenge!  Oh well, there'll be time after Christmas. 

Until then, I'll just plug away at the small projects:

Another pair of Toddler mittens
for KUTO and Month of Mittens KALs

Yarn:  Trekking XXL color 126 (doubled)
Needles:  size 6 dpn    
Pattern:  Basic Mitten Pattern - Ann Budd


Bob Hat

Basic 84 stitch hat on size 8 circulars
1.5" K1, P1 rib
Yarn:  Paton's Classic Merino


The "Bob Mitt" has been renamed "Mitt". 

I got to this point before accepting the fact that it was going to be way too small.  It fit me, and even though I don't have the smallest hands around, I don't think mitts that fit me will fit a man.  Oh well, they are now on the back burner for a while and I've begun new mitts for Bob.  I'm trying a different pattern; actually it is a mix of a few different patterns.  Here's where I am so far:



Jay's Boot Socks

Yarn:  Lamb's Pride Worsted, Sable
Needles:  size 5 dpn's
(oops, the picture looks upside down)


Felted Catnip Fishie


This got mixed reviews:
(click pics for bigger)


Ralph isn't sure at first, but eventually succumbs to the nippy goodness.


Rico loves the fishie!


Peaches Loves it; Ruby - not so much


Moogie and Ruby discuss the fish and decide - Nope, not for them.

Have a great day everyone!

Knit Alongs

This post is all about knit alongs.

I finished the Bob Socks this morning.    These socks fulfill my requirements for two knit alongs; SAM4 and Holiday Headstart.

Pattern:  Garter Rib
Yarn:  Paton's Classic Merino
Needles:  Size 5 dpn's.

Good timing too, considering today is the start of .  Carole and Margene are hosting this knit along for the third year.  The idea is to spend some time over the next couple of weeks knitting for those less fortunate than yourself.  Click the button to read more about it.  This knit along coincides with another one I’ve had listed in my sidebar since the beginning of the month (but haven’t mentioned because I haven’t done anything with it yet).  Gina is hosting (again, click the button for details). 

Can you guess what my next project will be?  Yep, some mittens for charity.  There are several patterns linked on the KUO blog; why not knit a pair or two or more?  Did I mention, there are prizes for both knit alongs?!

What are you waiting for?  Go raid the stash and start some mitten knitten knitting.

On the Mend

Boy, this cold has kicked my butt!  I'm not usually such a wimp about a cold.  Yeah, I'll whine all day long about it, but usually I'm still able to function.  Not with this one.  I went to bed on Wednesday night and proceeded to shiver and shake all night long, even with a down comforter, two afghans, wool socks, and flannel jammies on!  This is where I spent all day Thursday and most of Friday:

  I spent the days blog reading and sleeping (and using up that entire box of tissues in one day).  Never did touch the stocking until Friday evening when I was able to sit up in my knitting chair in the living room for a few hours.  You know I'm really sick when I can't even manage to knit!

Things started looking up a little bit on Friday night and I was able to finish the knitting portion of the stocking.  I then found a site to create some knitting graph paper according to the gauge being worked and planned how I'd put "CLOVER" in duplicate stitch on the front, which I did on Saturday morning.  I'm so pleased with how this stocking came out. Samm really loves it, too. 

Check out the pocket; isn't it cute?  I wasn't sure how that would come out, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I used an i-cord bind off across the top the of pocket; I think it put a nice finishing touch to it.

Some close ups:

 
I'm not crazy about how the "V" came out, but I don't see any other way I could have done it.  I used the Eye of Partridge heel and did a stitch combination on the top to resemble it (I used purls instead of slips on the top).

After finishing the stocking, I decided I HAD to get out of the house; I was going nuts (plus we had no food in the house).  So, I went grocery shopping - not a good move.  I really wasn't quite up to being on my feet for two hours yet.  I was totally wiped out!  I spent the rest of Saturday quietly - taking an afternoon nap and knitting.  I needed to be able to get up on Sunday morning and make it to work at the gym.  It was not easy getting up, but I did it.  Thankfully, it was an extremely slow day at the gym so I didn't have to get up to clean as much as usual and I managed to finish the first "Bob Sock" and start the second.  After work, I took a nice afternoon nap and vegged on the couch.  I spent the evening quietly knitting on the second Bob sock and catching up on some blog reading (you guys doing the NaBloPoMo are killing me!) 

So, want to see the Bob Socks?  I rather like the colors I'm using; I think they look kind of sock monkeyish (new word) :-)

Pattern:  Garter Rib
Yarn:  Paton's Classic Merino
Needles:  Size 5 dpn's

Plans for today?  Well, since it's a holiday, I get another day to relax.  I plan to take it easy and do some spinning until I have to meet Patti at the gym.  Luckily, I'm feeling a bit better today but I think I'll take it a little bit easy at the gym.  Then back to work tomorrow.

Ooops, I almost forgot; Chappy's mom is having another calendar contest.  Post a picture of your November calendar and you could win one of her beautiful calendars.  So, here's my entry:

Each year, my Dad makes a Family Calendar.  It's so much fun to see which photos he'll choose (as long as you're not the one whose embarrassing photo is chosen!)  You have until the 15th to get your entry in; what are you waiting for?

Weekend ReCap

I may have said this a time or two or twenty, but just where do the weekends go?

Another thing - how in the heck does everyone keep up with everything; blog reading, blog posting, knitting EVERYthing you want to knit, spinning, and stuff around the house?  (Not that I've ever been the one to do the majority of the housework, but it seems I never have enough time to do the little things around the house that I want to.)  I guess I just need to win Power Ball and be done with it, huh? 

Anyway, enough of that. Let me tell you what I did with my weekend (short as it was).  I slept until almost 8:30 on Saturday morning; I seem to be doing a lot more of that lately.  It used to be, if I slept until 7 I felt like I'd slept the day away.  It was a crappy, rainy day and I thought I'd just veg out at home and knit.  Sounds like a good way to spend a rainy day, doesn't it?  Yeah, well I still needed to go to Wally World to pick up a few items so I just amended my plan to veg out for the afternoon and knit.  Nope, didn't happen.  I did do some spinning though. 

First, I soaked and hung up the green merino that I had finished spinning and plying on Friday night.  This is where it stayed until this morning, when it was finally dry enough to take down:

Pretty convenient to have that hook in the ceiling above the tub; I didn't even put it there.  Hubby used to use it when he wanted to give his hanging plants a good watering (when we had some).  I couldn't believe how long it took for this to dry, and it was pretty annoying to have to keep moving it to the hook on the door when showering (hmmm, maybe the steam from all the showers held up the drying process; duh).  Anyway, want to see what it looks like now?  Of course you do.

(click for bigger)

This is a very good representation of the actual color; I'm kind of amazed that I was able to take such an accurate photo! This was spun from the gorgeous 100% merino fiber that Gina hand dyed (colorway: Woodland Forest) and gifted to me.  That's 3 oz. of what seems, I'd guess, to be worsted weight (didn't use the wpi thingamabob).  There's about 165 yards there.  I love the dye job that Gina did; the subtle variations in color are just beautiful.  This yarn is so very soft.   I'm not sure yet what I'll make with it, but for now, it's sitting happily in my basket of handspun yarns (most of which were spun by others and gifted to me).

Back to Saturday - after hanging the spun yarn in the bathroom, I pulled out the fiber I purchased recently from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  I purchased one of their Sheep 2 Shoe kits with absolutely no intention of spinning sock yarn (I'm no fool; I know that at this point in my spinning life, I wouldn't be able to spin it the way I need to for socks).  I just liked the colors and knew that Samm would too and thought there'd be enough to make something for her or Clover.  I was right about Samm liking it; she was home when the package arrived and she has been hounding me to hurry up and finish the green merino so that I could start spinning that.  Here's what it looked like when I dumped it all out on the floor:

I had to put the big picture up so that you'd get the full effect of just how COLORFUL this yarn is!  Can you say "Clown puke"?  Actually, I love the bright colors, which by the way, BMFA calls "Sherbert".  I was very careful where I broke the fiber so that I could keep the color sequence (not that you can see it here).  I thought I'd try to spin a single ply heavy worsted weight to make some stuffed fish for Clover's room.  Samm wanted felted fish, but this is superwash merino, so that's not going to happen with this.   I had a bit of trouble with the spinning, though; I was overspinning it bigtime!  I'm not quite sure what I need to do - do I loosen the tension?  HELP!  Anyway, what I did with the bit that I'd spun was to wrap it tightly on the niddy noddy trying to remove a bit of the twist as I wound it and then I soaked it while still on the niddy noddy and let it dry.  Seems to have helped a little, but it's still pretty energized!  Here's a picture of the little 35 yard skein:

I've predrafted a bunch of the fiber and I'll try spinning  it again when I figure out what I need to adjust.

I did a very little bit of knitting on Saturday night; I began a boot sock for my brother-in-law for Christmas.  Only did the ribbing and a few rows of the cuff:

I'm using Paton's Classic Merino in Rich Red and Dark Grey.  I'm using the garter rib stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks and as you may have guessed from the picture, will have contrasting rib, heel, and toe.  I'm thinking of doing another pair with the colors opposite.

Sunday morning was, as always, spent at work at the gym.  While there I managed to get quite a bit done on Hubby's sock. 

I should have finished this sock yesterday, but when I got home from work (after running some errands), I laid on the couch, alternately watching a Law & Order marathon and napping.  I did knit a bit more on it after dinner, but just couldn't stay awake long enough to finish the damn thing! I went to bed at 9:30; I think I must be getting old.

Where has the week gone?

Can it really be Thursday already?  The last several days have just flown by!  I've meant to post; really, I have, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  I'm also incredibly behind on my blog reading and e-mails.  I thought that with two weeks off work I'd be able to keep up with things.  Wrong! 

So, what have I been doing with all my free time?  Well, the weather has been absolutely perfect for several days now so I'm sure you can all guess where I've spent a good amount of my time.  Yep, the pool.  It's been great, very relaxing.  I've spent a couple of hours each afternoon just floating and reading a very good book.

I've also completed some projects and started some new ones.

I crocheted a couple of granny squares for Colleen; she's putting blankets together for her local children's hospital.

I started a new sweater for Clover on Tuesday; I was just feeling a very strong need to make her a sweater NOW.  So while at Chicks with Sticks, I picked up some yarn in a really pretty mint green color with flecks of pink to make the Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting.  I took a picture of my progress so far, but it is a really crappy picture so I don't think I'll post it here.  This is such a quick knit, I should be able to show you the finished picture real soon (unless I've just jinxed myself by saying that!) 

Speaking of Chicks with Sticks, Mel and The Sheep were unable to attend and both were really missed :-(    We did have a special, first time visitor this week, though.  Mel's partner, David, joined us; it was great to finally meet him and hopefully he'll join us again.

Yesterday, I finally finished the test knit I've been working on; it's currently drying on the blocking board.  It'll be a couple of weeks before I can show you pictures, but believe me when I say, it'll be worth the wait.  I am very happy with this FO.

This one's for you Patti; also finished yesterday:

School Socks

(this is a strange picture; guess I won't stand the socks up to take pictures again)

Yarn:  Soctoberfest by Scout
Needles:  Crystal Palace size 1 1/2 dpn
Pattern:  Plain ole stockinette on 64 stitches

These are my August socks for SAM4; finished just in time.  The first sock only took 2 days of classroom knitting to complete; the second sock took almost a month!

 

That brings us to today.  I got a new hairdo this morning (no pictures until after the cold sore from hell is gone).  Spent a couple of hours in the pool this afternoon and then spent some time with Alice on the deck.  After my lesson with Cheryl and Manise on Saturday, I put Alice away until the test knit was complete.  Now that I've finished that, I can spend some time getting to know her better.  I sat on the deck spinning for about 1 1/2 hours; I must have looked pretty funny sitting there in my bathing suit spinning away.  Good thing I have a nice private back yard.  Here's what I accomplished:

(Apparently, I'm a lousy photographer; the colors are actually more purple than this photo shows.)
The fiber is some BFL I got from Amy in a "Learn to Spin" spindle kit that I bought back in the fall.  This is about one ounce; there's a total of 4 to spin.  I think I'm doing pretty well, although there are some overspun and underspun bits.  I think I'm getting the hang of it though. 

That brings us up to date; I'm hoping to spend some time tomorrow and over the weekend catching up on some blog reading and e-mails.   

I'll try to be better about posting, too.  No promises though :-)

Yes, This is Still a Knitting Blog

You may not be able to tell from my last several posts, but I have been knitting.  I'll update you on what's on the needles and off the needles and also one project that I can't decide what to do with.

I brought a big bag full of yarn and my spindle with me to school; I always think I'll get more knitting time in when I go away than I actually do.  I was only able to knit during two of my classes, and in that time I started and completed one sock.

I'm calling this my "School Sock" for obvious reasons. This is the third time knitting with this yarn; when I say that, I mean it's the third time with this same skein of yarn! I cast on for two other patterns with it over the winter, but they just didn't work - one was too small and one was just not the right pattern for the yarn. Third time's a charm; this sock fits perfectly and I like the yarn in the plain ole stockinette stitch. I've cast on for the second sock and this will be my "to go knitting"; nice, easy, mindless knitting. The yarn is Scout's Soctoberfest yarn and I'm knitting this pair on size 1.5 dpn's over 64 stitches.

While in Waterville, I visited Yardgoods Center, the LYS (no website that I can find).  The store has kind of a cluttered feeling; I think I'm spoiled by my LYS and have difficulty finding something to buy in a cluttered environment.  I was just about to leave when I spotted an adorable stuffed bunny rabbit.  Samm had asked me if I'd make a stuffed bunny for her friend's daughter's first birthday (which was this past Sunday) and I thought this would be perfect.  I bought the pattern and the yarn and made the bunny in two evenings in the motel room; it's such a quick and easy knit taking only about three hours of actual knitting time. I sewed the eyes and nose on when I got home and it was ready in plenty of time for the party.

Pattern: "Magic Friends" by Barbara Boulton

Yarn: Stylecraft Charleston

Needles:  size 10 1/2

The pattern also has a kitty and a teddy bear; the only difference is the shape and size of the ears.  This is knit in one piece with no seaming except to close the hole at the top of the head when you're done stuffing it.  I've already bought some yarn to make the kitty for Jay's niece's first birthday, which is in a couple of weeks.  I see more of these in my future; easiest stuffed animal ever!

That was the exent of the knitting while away.  Since I've been home, I've made a washcloth for Rabbitch's drive, a baby washcloth for Clover, started a bib (from Mason-Dixon Knitting), and have finished the body of the Simple Knitted Bodice.

Washcloth for Rabbitch using Peaches & Cream cotton

Washcloth for Clover using Bernat Cotton Tots

I haven't taken a picture of the progress on the SKB yet; I'm not sure I will.  Believe it or not, that is the project I'm not sure about.  I think I made it too big and I'm just not happy with it but I'm not yet ready to admit defeat.  I'm picking up the neck stitches and I'll decide whether or not to finish once I see how that looks.  It's a mighty expensive knit to make any rash decisions.

Before leaving for school, I finished my July Holiday Headstart project.

Pattern: Yankee Knitter Fisherlad Guernsey

Yarn: Plymouth Encore, Color 0405

Needles: Addi Turbo sizes 5 & 7

There has been no spinning in the last couple of weeks; I'll have to remedy that pretty soon!  I have some news on that front too, but I'll save that for another post.

I have MANY projects that I'd like to start soon, but the next two will be my August Sockamania socks (once the School Socks are done) and a test knit for Lark which I plan to start this weekend.

I guess that's enough for today; I was planning to tell you about my afternoon with Sara and Cheryl, but this post is long enough as it is.  That'll be next.

Have a great day!

One Finished, Another One Started

Heaven forbid I should finish up everything on the needles before beginning something new!  I finished my Sockapalooza Pal's socks on Friday night as I'd hoped, and instead of getting busy finishing my Simple Knitted Bodice, I cast on for another project.  In my defense, I hadn't yet made anything in July for the Holiday Headstart project.

First, the socks:

 

(The cuffs really are the same length even though they don't look it in this pic)
Pattern: Waffle Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

Yarn:  Socks that Rock medium weight, "Monsoon" colorway (Feb. 07 Club yarn)

Needles:  Crystal Palace size 1.5 (size 1 for the heel)

I'm pretty happy with them.  At first, I was a bit disappointed with the pooling in the gusset; but have decided that I actually kind of like it.  I don't think there's anything I could have done about it anyway, except maybe use an afterthought heel.  I didn't even think about that until the socks were just about done and there was no way I was ripping both back to the cuff and reknitting all that!  Besides, I've only used the afterthought heel twice and that was on felted Christmas stockings.  I'm not confident enough in my ability yet to use it for gift socks. 

Next up, the new project:

Finished front and beginning of back of Yankee Knitter's Fisherlad Guernsey. This is for my great-neice, Ella. This is a really quick knit; I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.

I finished spinning the fiber for Clover's mittens, now I need to ply it. There's a lot more there than it appears; hopefully, it's enough for the itty bitty mitties :-)

I still haven't even started the July Sockamania socks; I'm hoping I can finish Ella's sweater and get going on the socks before the end of the month. I'm thinking if I could knit a pair in less than 2 days (as I had to do for Sock Madness), I should be able to get this pair done. Only time will tell, I guess.

That's it for today. Have a great one!

THURSDAY EDITION

Where does the time go, and how is it that the work days seem to drag on FOREVER, but the evenings just fly by?  I fully intended to use the Sheep's WNBP (Wednesday Night Bullet Post) format for a post last night, but by the time I was ready to sit down, it was already 8:45!  WTF? How did that happen?  I hadn't knit a stitch or read a single blog yet, how could it be that late? 

But it was, and I had to choose between writing a WNBP, reading blogs, knitting on the Sockapalooza sock, knitting on the Simple Knitted Bodice, or doing some spinning I've been wanting to get to.  The spinning won out (the fact that I want to use the resulting yarn for Clover probably influenced my decision a teensy bit).  I had some of the same fiber I spun for her hat left over and am hoping I can spin enough to make a teeney tiny pair of baby mittens.  I'm spinning a whole lot finer now and will have to ply this. (I really don't have a clue how to do that, but I'll figure it out.)

Check out how thin this is compared to the first batch. It's also a LOT more consistent.  After spinning for about 1 1/2 hours, I took the remaining fiber and pre-drafted it so it'll be all ready for the next spinning session.  Here's what I have left.

Fuzzy Balls :-)

I did finally finish the cuff of my Sockapalooza pal's 2nd sock this morning.

The plan is to knit the heel and at least through the gusset decreases tonight and try to finish it tomorrow night.  I really don't know what is taking me so long to knit this pair of socks.  Well, that's not really true; I do know.  I seem to have a bit of ADD lately and can't stay focused on only one thing.  There are just so many things I want to knit, then there's Ravelry, and blog reading, and planning baby knits.  I need to focus! 

Speaking of blog reading, Bloglines has done something really screwy to me.  One minute it said I had something like 70 blogs to read, and the next minute it said 20!  I do not read that fast folks; it just willey nilley marked a bunch of my feeds as read.  I am not a happy camper!

Shamelessly Stealing Ideas

It's Wednesday (for about another hour) and I've decided to steal the idea follow the lead of the Sheep and do a WNBP (Wednesday Night Bullet Post).  Here goes:

• Today was a holiday here in the U.S. - Independence Day, better known as "the Fourth of July".  Most people celebrate with BBQ's and fireworks; not me.  What'd I do today?  I went to the gym with Patti first thing this morning, came home and floated in the pool for a couple hours, took a nap on the couch for a couple hours, had takeout from "York's Best Roast Beef & Seafood Rest." (that's really the name) for dinner - YUMMY, knit for a while, and now posting on the blog.



• I know you are all wondering how I can stand all the excitement, but to me, this was a perfect day.



• I finally posted the Haymarket Bag pattern.  There's a link in the sidebar. (If you make it and find a mistake, please let me know)

• I started my Sockapalooza pal's socks on Sunday and finished the first one tonight. 

Yarn:  Socks that Rock, medium weight, Monsoon colorway (Feb 07 club yarn)

Pattern:  Waffle Rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch

• We had a great "Chicks with Sticks" night last night at the Yarn Sellar. Mel and Annie were there, as well as Doug (whose in town for a few weeks). It was really a good time. Annie, Patti, and I ended up staying for quite a while afterward just chatting.  It was a really good night and I only had to rip out a few rows of the sock.  I guess I can't do anything more complicated than straight stockinette when I'm gabbing.



• I reserved my room for SPA 6 today.  It's going to be in Freeport in February.  Hurry and make your reservations if you're going (and you definitely should be going if at all possible)!



• Amanda is having a contest; all you have to do is answer some questions (all the answers are in her previous posts). 



• My first spindle spun yarn:

(sorry the pic is so blurry)

I finished this on Saturday and soaked it and hung it to dry overnight.  I'm not sure how much there is, certainly enough for a baby hat or something small.  I still have more of the same fiber to spin.  I love the colors and I'm pretty happy with the yarn (although you can definitely tell which part is the beginning!).

• Bloglines tells me I have 147 posts to read.  I had planned on catching up today, but was busy floating and sleeping and eating.  Guess I'll have to catch up tomorrow.



• I am taking vacation time tomorrow and Friday; my plan was to float in the pool, but given the forecast, I don't think there'll be much of that.  Oh well at least I won't be working :-)



• It is now almost Thursday so I guess I'll stop here and go to bed.

Goodnight.

SAM3, Sockamania, Holiday Headstart

What do these all have in common?  This is what:

Pattern: River Valley Socks by Anni Design
Yarn: Tofutsies, color 793
Needles: Crystal Palace size 2 dpn

This one pair of socks fills the June requirements for three Knit Alongs; Sockamania, SAM3, and Holiday Headstart. Whew! I finished them just in time. (I just have to weave in the ends on one sock)

Seeing as it's Saturday, here's my Saturday Sky:

Don't forget to enter the contest; you have until midnight tonight.

Now, I'm going to go float in the pool; have a wonderful day!

Busy!

Sorry I haven't been posting as regularly as I should or responding to all the comments like I should.  I feel like I have no free time anymore and I can't figure out why.  I can blame Ravelry for some of it; but since I've only been on that for a week, that's not really it.  Do you ever have times in your life like that, when it feels like you'll never have enough time to do all the things you want to do?  Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I can and try not to worry about the things I don't have time for.

Another thing taking up my time is the spindle spinning. I've been doing quite a bit of it lately. I've pretty much filled up the spindle with my first real spinning (even though it is a bit thick and thin) and I've been working with my new spindle and the fiber Gina gave me.  I brought it with me to Chicks with Sticks last night so I could show off my new skills.  Can you guess what happened?  That's right; I couldn't spin without the yarn breaking to save my life.  I blame it all on Roger; he put a jinx on me (just kidding, Roger; I still love you. But don't tell Patti).

This new spindle is quite a bit lighter than the other one, and I've been able to spin some pretty fine yarn; fine as in skinny, although I think it is mighty fine looking too :-)

I've also gotten quite a bit done on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I'm at the garter ridges before beginning the lace section. I tried it on when I joined it and it seems like it'll be a good fit. The garter ridges and lace portion are knit in a smaller needle size (of course I didn't do a gauge swatch for the smaller needle size so keep your fingers crossed for me).



The V-neck turned out a bit lower than I wanted, but not quite as low as the pattern called for. I guess I'll have to wear a cami under it after all. Although, with the lace section in the middle, I probably would have anyway.

The second River Valley sock for Sockamania hasn't seen much action lately. I've completed 2 1/2 pattern repeats in the cuff (nothing picture worthy) and will be ready to turn the heel after I finish the third repeat. I don't really need a lot of time to finish this; I just need to pick it up again. Perhaps tonight.

That's it for today. Be sure to tune in tomorrow; I'll be announcing a contest!

My New Knitting Spot

For months and months I've been wanting a glider chair and rocking foot stool to go with it; but not enough to buy a one new.  My boss/neighbor, Rick, deals in antiques and used furniture (and anything else he can make a buck on) so I asked him to keep an eye out for one.  A few months ago he came in and told me he found one that I could have for $300.  No thanks, I could buy a new one for that.  So I waited and waited and figured I'd be knitting in my worn out corner of the couch for the rest of my life.  Until Saturday evening when I heard a knock on my front door.  It was Rick; he had just picked up a glider with the foot stool and I could have it for $20!  That's more like it.  I quickly gave him the 20 bucks before he could change his mind and sent hubby across the street for the chair.  It came out of an old woman's house and kind of smelled like it, but after giving the cushions a bath in the tub (twice), there's no smell at all.  I did a bit of rearranging in the living room and here is my new knitting spot:

Everything I need is nice and handy. I did switch the printer and the laptop after taking this picture; the laptop is on top of the book case and the printer is on the shelf below it.  It's just easier to move the laptop back and forth from the top (yes, I'm incredibly lazy).  I also have all my reference knitting books next to the laptop and my knitting magazines on the bottom shelf (the rest of the stuff on the bottom shelf are Samm's beading supplies).  Next to the bookcase in the plastic set of drawers is where I keep all my active WIP's and knitting supplies.  What you don't see in this picture is my other bookcase which is filled with the rest of my knitting books; that's on the wall in front of the chair, not too far away.  So, I've taken over about 1/3rd of the living room for my knitting (not to mention a big closet downstairs and a spare room upstairs, but like I said, we won't mention those). My daughter told me I look like an old lady rocking and knitting in my new chair; I told her, "At least I'm a happy old lady." :-)  Who'd have thought that something so little could bring so much pleasure?

Okay, enough of that.  I've got some knitting to show you (not much, but some).  I finished the Magic 28 socks I was working on last week.  This is pair #4 and my favorite so far.

Pattern: Magic 28
Yarn: Reynolds Odyssey, color 409 (left over from this sweater)
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn

I k2p2 for 2 rows then k a row for the length of the leg. I don't usually enjoy doing ribbing, but with the knit row to break it up, I enjoyed doing this. And it gave me an idea for my Sockapalooza pal's socks.  I'm not going to knit them quite the same; I'm going to purl the 3rd row for my pal's socks. She said she doesn't want anything lacy and she prefers a thicker sock, so I think this will work out perfectly. I haven't decided definitely on the yarn yet. It's between the February STR club yarn and the May Spunky Club yarn; both are colors that she likes. Of course, I love both so I'm having trouble deciding.  I'm leaning toward the STR because it's a heavier weight yarn (medium weight), but I still have time to decide.  I figure I'll have to get started on them by the beginning of July to make sure they are ready to be shipped on August 2nd. This will give me plenty of time in case I run into any issues, I don't expect to, but if I wait until the last minute, something is sure to happen to hold me up.

I started the June socks for the Sockamania KAL last week but wasn't able to work on them much until yesterday. This is a great pattern. I'm using Tofutsies in color #793 and Crystal Palace size 2 dpn's. This is my first time using the Tofutsies, and even though it is a teeny tiny bit splitty, I really like it. The colors are beautiful and it feels sooooo nice.

I've finished another 16 row repeat since taking this picture.  The colors in this picture are pretty accurate (at least on my monitor). I am really enjoying this pattern; it is easily memorized but not so easy that I don't have to pay attention.  The only thing I will do differently on my next pair is to use a smaller needle for the leg. It's just a bit loose in the leg, but not so loose that I won't enjoy wearing them.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great one!

Randomness again

I received an e-mail at work from hubby this afternoon that read "Water is going in the pool starting now."  WooHoo!!!!  Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be much of a pool kind of weekend.  Maybe I can squeeze in a little time on the floating lounge chair on Sunday afternoon if the temps reach the higher end of what's being predicted.  Keep your fingers crossed for me; you know how much I love my pool and the sun!

Check this out:
I'm winning the battle! I know it doesn't really look like much, but I really am getting more comfortable with the spindle spinning and am actually starting to produce something that resembles yarn. It's getting a little more consistent, too; no more huge chunky sections followed by lace weight. It's starting to look more like a heavy worsted weight. This is a real accomplishment for me. Thanks for the "park and draft" tip, Amy; it's making all the difference. I'll keep working on this a bit each most nights and before long, I may even spin some useable yarn.

My crochet bag is coming right along. I have about 2/3rds of the body done and then it's on to the straps. I toyed with different ideas for the center section to give it some texture, finally deciding on a section of half double crochets and bobbles. I think it works; what do you think?


I packaged up the Dulaan knits and sent them on their way yesterday.
Thought I'd take a little break from the charity knitting once that was in the mail but remembered that I am teaching a sock class tonight. I need a sock that's at the start of the heel flap so I can demonstrate how to do the heel. You tell me; what's quicker than a little Magic 28 to accomplish that? Here's the cuff of sock #1 of pair #4 ready to to start the heel.

For this pair, I'm using some leftover yarn from a sweater I made last year. I love the subtle changes in color and the yarn is very soft. I decided to shake things up a bit and knit a ribbed cuff. I get too bored doing plain ole rib, so I did a 3 row repeat of K2, P2 for 2 rows, then knit a row. I know there's a name for the pattern, but don't ask me what it is.

I don't even want to think about how many WIP's this makes; seems I've been starting an awful lot of projects lately and have precious few FO's to show for it. Oh well, such is the life of a knitting addict :-)

Lazy Blogger

Wow, I've certainly been neglecting the blog this past week.  It's not that I've not been doing anything.  I have a lot to share with you; too much for one post, so I'll spread it out over the week.

Today I'll show you the knitting (and crocheting) I've been up to.

I finished the sweater for my Holiday Headstart May project.  This will be for my very handsome great-nephew, Colin.

This is not the best picture, but it does show the color accurately. You may have noticed that the color of this sweater seemed to change each time I posted progress pictures. Who knew that dark green could be so difficult to capture with the camera.
Pattern: Yankee Knitter's Fisherlad Guernsey (child's size 6)
Needles: Addi Turbo sizes 6 and 8
Yarn: Plymouth Encore, Color #1234

I thought I had finished the knitting at Chicks with Sticks last Tuesday night and did the seaming when I returned home. Wednesday morning I looked a little closer and realized that the last cuff I knitted was much bigger than the other (it fit loosely on my wrist; way too big for a 3 1/2 year old!). I not only forgot to switch to the smaller needle size, but I also forgot to decrease 8 stitches before beginning the ribbing! I ended up taking the seam out up to a couple rows above the cuff and reknitting it. Oh well, at least I finished it in time to count it for my May project :)

I finished the first sock of my first pair of toe-up socks. I decided to go with the heel called for in the directions for the Sherman Sock given to me by Mel. I have to admit, I didn't think I'd like that heel, but I really do. Now, to start the second sock.


Next up:


Pattern: Magic 28 by Norma
Yarn: Cascade 220, lost the band ages ago, but suffice it to say the green is MUCH BRIGHTER than the picture depicts (believe it or not). I could have used some sunglasses while knitting these.
Needles: Brittney Birch size 5 dpn's
This is pair #3; 25 to go.
This pair of socks ends my Dulaan knitting for this year's shipment; I'll be packing up the knits and shipping them off sometime this week.


There has been a bit of progress on the "Monkey Blankie" but it's nothing to look at yet. I really don't know why I haven't finished it; it's a teeny tiny mini-blankie, but I just can't seem to stay interested in it. I better get going on it though; my co-worker's baby is due very soon!


I started a crochet summer bag yesterday. I'm designing the pattern as I go. I'm using Plymouth's Fantasy Naturalle mercerized cotton yarn in a light green color (I'm too lazy to get up and look at the label right now). I haven't been able to get good pictures yet, but I'll give ya what I've got:

This is a really lousy picture of the outside; it doesn't really reflect how the finished bag will look, so I really don't know why I'm bothering to post it. It does, however, show you how much I did yesterday. (It also explains why my hands hurt today; crocheting is much harder on my hands than knitting.) Here's another picture for you:

This is the inside, bottom of the bag. I think hope this bag will turn out nice and if it does, I'll post the pattern in case anyone would like to make one.

That's what I've been working on over the past week while I've been lazy about blogging.

I've also been doing a couple things for my health. Actually, doing one thing and not doing another. Today marks the beginning of DAY 9 of no cigarettes!!!! I'm telling you, Chantix is a miracle drug! I took it for one week while continuing to smoke and then quit on day 9 (you're supposed to quit on day 8 but I had plans that I knew would make it too hard to quit that day). I'll continue to take it for a total of 12 weeks and then decide if I need it for another 12. I haven't had any physical cravings at all; although I have had times when I've thought "I'd normally have a cigarette now" and that felt strange at first. I'm getting used to not smoking, and I know that I am through with it.

I've also gotten back into a regular workout schedule. Thanks to Patti who has agreed to be my "gym buddy". It's harder to blow off the gym when someone is expecting to meet you there. I went three times last week and will go 3 or 4 times this week. Now I just have to get my eating under control; I'm thinking it's time to get back to Weight Watchers.

Well, I've got to go get ready for work.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our trip to Amy's (some yarn may have followed me home).

Have a great day.