Memoirs of an Obsessive Compulsive Knitter

Sometimes I Can Be

2011-03-08T21:21:00.006-05:00

... a total and complete idiot! I have spent the past several days reposting 3 1/2 years worth of photos to my Ravelry account. Why? Well, I was getting annoying emails from Flickr on a regular basis. Since I no longer use my Flickr account, I decided to delete it last week. Ummmmm completely slipped my mind that until recently I was uploading photos to my Ravelry projects from the Flickr account. Every photo I had was replaced with a horrible Flickr "this photo is currently unavailable" graphic! This little project did force me to clean up and organize the photos on my computer, so all was not lost; however, I do not want to do anything like this any time in the near future. What a pain in the butt!

I have been working so much on finishing up my WIPs, I was beginning to come down with a slight case of startitis. In an attempt to head it off at the pass, I allowed myself to knit up a cute dishcloth. 1 project complete for March!

I have only worked on the first of my March blocks for the 2011 Block A Month Afghan. I will work on the others this weekend. This is about the time of year I got behind on last year's afghan. Really going to put effort into not letting that happen this year.

I have completed all the pieces for Paul's Daring jacket. Didn't get a photo of the sleeves, but since they don't have cabling on them, you aren't missing much. I got a zipper today and plan on sewing it in and finishing the jacket this weekend.

Cast on a cardigan for Max and quickly got the elephants complete. This shouldn't take too much longer to finish up. I can have this done in a couple of days if I put my mind to it. I plan on having it done by next weekend. Just need to find the perfect buttons for it.

Finished section 6 of the Babette blanket and got it sewed on this afternoon. I've been working on section 7 this evening and should have it finished tomorrow. Hoping to have this afghan finished this month.

Adding to the Spring wardrobe

2011-02-21T22:04:00.003-05:00

I am done with the Leaf T with the exception of weaving in the ends! I am saving that task for tomorrow night. I really like this top. Might make another one in a solid color and use a yarn with a different fiber content. This one is a bit heavy, but it does feel like it's going to breath. Both yarns were ribbon type and they both knit up heavy. The fuchsia is bamboo, and the green is corn. I made the top a bit long, more of a tunic length than a t-shirt length. I'm hoping it doesn't decide to grow when I wash it.

Since I wasn't in the mood to do the finishing work on the Leaf T, I pulled out the Apres Surf Hoodie and worked on it a bit tonight. I'm about an inch shy of beginning the hood shaping, then I'll be ready to knit the sleeves.

I'm about sweatered out for tonight. Time to pull out the Babette blanket for some mindless crafting while watching TV.

2011-02-17T21:16:00.002-05:00

Put the last couple of rounds on Paul's hat last night. Another project finished! Back down to 24 projects in some semblance of completeness.

I have been concentrating quite a bit on the Leaf T. Just about finished with the knitting on the main body. The pattern calls for rolled edges at the hemline, neckline, and sleeves, but I really don't care for that look on me. Maybe the rolled edge on the hemline if it was tunic length and a really drapey yarn, but I digress. I will be adding ribbing to all the edges to make the T a bit more structured.

I've also been putting some time into the Babette blanket. Here it is with section 4 added.

Last night I crocheted the pieces for section 5, and tonight I added it to the main piece. This is working up pretty quickly even with each section becoming bigger.

My goal is to finish the Leaf T before February is over. I have already chosen my projects to concentrate on next month too. I am hoping to have the Babette blanket done, and I've decided to pull out the Apres Surf Hoodie and finally finish it up. It's coming up on the right time of year to get a lot of wear out of it.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T21:23:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I put the final touches on my 2010 Block A Month Afghan. It's a bit, ok a lot more than a bit, bigger than your normal afghan. I went a bit overboard on the borders. Once I added borders to each of the blocks and seamed them together, I should have called it a day, but I had just received Nicky Epstein's book crochet border book and I couldn't leave well enough alone. I do like the additional border I added.

And now it fits quite comfortably on a king sized bed without looking too small.

I finished Paul' gloves last Wednesday and am just now getting around to posting a photo. These were so much more fun to work on than the brown and red ones.

Now, I'm working on a hat for Paul. This is the watchcap from the book "Knits Men Want". There are quite a few patterns in that book I intend to make. Just about everything with the exception of the fingerless mitts. Paul wouldn't be caught dead in those.

We have fingers .... Yay!

2011-02-07T21:48:00.003-05:00

I adore handknit gloves. Every pair I've made I have fallen in love with. I detest knitting the fingers on them though. I tend to fly through the main part of the glove then let them sit forever without fingers until I absolutely can't stand it anymore and have to knit them on. I'm not having that issue with Paul's new gloves though for some reason. It took me no time at all to knit the main body of the gloves and I'm making good progress on the fingers so far. Here they are in all their "puckered not relaxed yet fairisle" glory. At the rate I'm going, I should have these finished before this weekend.

I've also been making good progress on the 2010 Block a Month afghan. No photos since all I'm doing now is adding a border to all the blocks. Whatever possessed me to add more to them is beyond me. I should be ready to seam them together this weekend, then next week I can concentrate on the border. I ordered "Crochet on the Edge" and expect it to be delivered in the next day or so. All I need to do is decide on which border to use.

My sock yarn blanket is now as wide as my new sofa. It completely covers both Paul and I, and once finished will be the size of a king sized bed. I met some friends at a pre-super bowl party at one of the yarn shops in town and was stupid enough to bring an entire bag full of yarn and all the supplies to knit, with the exception of the blanket itself. It was a bit too far to drive home and fetch it, so I had no choice except to knit another section to add to the blanket. It is going to take me forever to complete this blanket!

Modular Mania

2011-02-05T23:47:00.002-05:00

This weekend I pulled out one of the WIPs left over from 2010 and started working on it again. Below is a photo of the finished pieces so far. I cringe every time I think about weaving in all those ends. This is going to become the Koigu skirt from the Fall 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting. I am not making the floor length version as I don't think I would wear that very often. I will only be making 4 of the 6 rows of hexagons. Each row consists of 9 hexagons, so I'm just shy of 1/2 done with the pieces. Tonight I started joining the first row of hexagons and did a bit of weaving in of ends.

I've become completely obsessed with the sock yarn blanket. I have to force myself to put it away and work on other more pressing projects. I added my first large square last night. Lots of ends in this project too, but I've been weaving them in every so often on this one, so it's not as out of control as the skirt.

It's 14 squares wide, which so far seems to be a good width. I have a lot (read several baskets full) of sock yarn scraps, so this will keep me busy for some time to come.

I dug around in the stash and found yarn appropriate for the new glove pattern Paul picked out. Paul approved of the colors so I worked on the cuff of one when he was out of town. Texted him a photo of it to make sure he still liked it, and once he agreed that he did indeed still like the colors and pattern, I got down to business. Last night I finished the first glove to the point where the fingers will be added. Today I finished the second to the same point. Adding fingers to gloves is not my favorite thing to do, so work will slow on these now. I am hoping to add one finger every day and have these done in another week or so.

Did a bit of crochet this week too. Finished section 3 of the Babette blanket and got it seamed to the main piece. I've also finished a few of the pieces for section 4 and hope to have that finished up and added to the main piece next week.

Ice Storms

2011-02-01T22:51:00.004-05:00

When I woke up this morning, it was already 9AM!! Paul checked out the weather this morning and decided not to chance going in to work today so he let me sleep in. It's even worse tonight. We've lost 1/2 a tree in our backyard. It came pretty close to hitting power lines and our garage, but we got lucky. Limbs are hanging really low in the front, and we keep hearing the creaking as the ice weighs them down. I'm afraid we haven't lost the last of the limbs in this storm. The rain is still coming down and ice is falling on the roof and sliding down into the front yard. The sound is awful. At least it's starting to warm up some so the ice will melt.

Snow days are good for getting tons of crafting done.

I played around with what kind of layout I wanted for the 2011 Block a Month Afghan and worked on some filler 6" squares.

Then it was time to work up the February squares. I did both of the 12" squares and 4 of the 6". (and another limb just cracked - Paul has run outside in his jammies to check for damage lol)

And after all that work, I have the first of 4 big squares that will become my blanket. Along with 4 of these, I will also have 4 rectangles consisting of 2 12" squares with 2 6" squares between them.

LOL the "on-the-scene" weather reporter just mentioned that there was 1/2" of ice on the trees and that's why twigs were cracking. Dude! Whole trees are falling in my neighborhood!

Last night I worked on the Babette Blanket some more. I finished sections 1 and 2, then seamed them together. I've gotten most of the pieces for section 3 finished now. Just need to seam them together then attach them to the main piece.

I tried to work on Paul's gloves last night too, but I really didn't like them. Paul agreed that the pattern wasn't working up well and although the yarn wasn't thick enough used single, it was definitely too thick used doubled. The glove is now in the frog pile and I plan to order appropriate yarn this week to make gloves in a new pattern Paul has picked out.

Year of the blankie

2011-01-30T21:55:00.005-05:00

2011 is quickly becoming the year of the blankie. I have so many started and so many more in my queue, it's not funny. All of them are made in pieces which seems to be giving me a bit of "finished object" satisfaction. This may be why they are all calling my name, and why I'm enjoying them so much.

I finished the last of the 2010 Block a Month squares and have added a border to all the 6" squares. It will take another week or so to get the borders added to the 12" blocks, and then the seaming can commence.

Amanda and I got together again this weekend. This time with the hubsters. We had a great time. Lunch at an italian restaurant, then crafting at the bookstore. While there I spied Crochet on the Edge and I think I'm going to pick it up and find nice borders to add to my finished afghans.

Even though I didn't keep up with the 2010 group and made most of my blocks this month, I enjoyed making them so much I joined the 2008 and 2009 groups so I can make those afghans too. What is wrong with me?

Finished up a couple more squares for the Chain Reaction afghan this weekend too. I need to spend some time on this one in February. I have 9 more squares to finish up ... hopefully before the next Interweave Crochet hits the newstands.

I finally caved. Amanda mentioned the Babette Blanket one too many times and I couldn't resist anymore. I decided to try out Vanna's Choice yarn for this one, instead of the Simply Soft I usually use for afghans. It's not horrible, but I really do prefer the Simply Soft.

I made several of the 2 round squares before my better sense got hold of me, so I'll have to figure out which is which when it comes time to add them to the afghan. I wasn't thinking about the construction of this project when I started. Now I'm doing it the logical way. Make section 1 first (duh!). I now plan to seam the pieces together for each section and seam the sections together as they are complete. Will save lots of frustration later when I'm faced with a gazillion pieces to be sewn together.

Worked on Paul's gloves a bit this afternoon too. The pinkie finger is just about ready to be closed up. I need to put all these blankies aside and finish these up before it gets too warm to wear them.

So Close

2011-01-26T23:46:00.004-05:00

So close to being finished with the 2010 Block A Month Afghan. Only four more squares to finish up, so I should be ready to start bordering them this weekend!

Might have to rethink the new backdrop for photos of smaller projects. Got my new livingroom furniture last weekend and the ottoman's are just too handy. A bit on the wild side though don't you think?

While digging around in the craft room, I ran across a project I had started some time ago and had never entered into Ravelry. It was originally going to be a log cabin block sock yarn blanket, but I found another pattern I liked better to use up all those leftover bits from making socks. This is fairly mindless knitting for those times when you can't or just plain don't want to pay attention.

Made some progress on Paul's sweater this weekend. I really need to spend some more time on this and his gloves. Poor guy has worn big holes in his other gloves but is still wearing them. I didn't get an in progress photo of the gloves this week, but I am working on the fingers of the first glove.

Amanda is still trying to tempt me into starting another blanket, but so far I have been able to resist the temptation. I really want to have something else from my 2010 WIP list finished before starting another big project like the Babette Blanket.

Busy Week

2011-01-20T23:20:00.003-05:00

It has been a super busy week! Working late, starting back to the gym, snowstorms .... all things that are getting in the way of my knitting/crocheting. I wonder if I can get coordinated enough to knit while running on the treadmill ... hmmmmmm.

Even with all this stuff going on, I did manage to get a few more squares done for last year's afghan. Twelve more to go. Changed my mind on adding a 4th color to the mix, and decided to use the dark brown to add a 2 round border on each block, then add several rounds to border the entire afghan once the blocks are sewn together.

Met Amanda last night for some craft time and worked up a few strips for a Chain Reaction afghan block. Still have 7 more strips to make then a border to add to get this one finished up. I'm hoping to have all 15 of the already published blocks complete before the next issue of Interweave Crochet hits the stands.

This weekend I'll be getting back to knitting and setting the crochet aside for a bit. I really want to get Paul's gloves and sweater finished so he can use them before it gets warm this year.

Amanda has me really itching to start yet another project. Another afghan to be exact. I spied the Babette Blanket in an old issue of Interweave Crochet and showed it to her last night. Hopefully I can have enough discipline not to order the yarn and start that until I get some of these other projects completed. Making good progress of several of them, but don't have any more finished yet.

A Definite Theme

2011-01-17T20:39:00.004-05:00

I'm noticing a definite theme to my crafting lately. I've got the crochet bug but good. Finished up 5 more 2010 Block a Month squares this weekend. Still have 15 more to get done, but at the rate I've been going, I should have this project complete in another couple of weeks!

Next on the list of projects I want to complete are Paul's sweater and the Chain Reaction afghan. Crossing my fingers that this renewed interest in my WIPs continues and I don't get bitten by the startitis bug anytime soon.

I'm a crochet demon

2011-01-15T21:31:00.004-05:00

There has been quite a bit of progress on crochet blocks the past couple of days. I finished 3 for the Chain Reaction afghan. Really liking the color choices on this one.

Also finished a couple more for the 2010 Block A Month afghan. Still in a crochet mood, so I plan to work up several more of these this weekend. I really want to get this finished during February so I can concentrate on the other 2 I have in the works. Started thinking about if I want to use another color to border all the squares and the finished afghan. Considering perhaps a burnt orange color.

Got a photo finally of the fair isle sock I started earlier this month. I'm going to start it over though, as it is obvious now that it will be too big for me using the size 2s called for in the pattern. I love the yarn I'm using for these. Trying out some of the Cascade sock yarn. It is so soft and squishy.

Quite a bit of progress on Paul's sweater. I'm just about ready to start the armhole shaping. At the rate I'm knitting this, he'll be able to wear it this year yet!

No significant progress on the cross stitch, although I have worked on it.

Stitch Off?

2011-01-13T22:14:00.003-05:00

So today I read an interesting post over at A Little Yarn On The Side and it sent me scurrying around in my craft room in search of a long neglected project. Toni blogged about her never ending cross stitch project. I have one of those too! Back in 2005 when I wasn't working, I got this cross stitch wild hair you know where and thought it would be a great idea to get back into the craft. Now, anyone who knows me already knows that I didn't choose to ease my way back into the world of cross stitch. No way! Delana went out and purchased a Mirabilia chart that calls for no less than 70 bazillion colors of floss, eleventy million packages of seed beads, and a metric buttload of charms. Wheeeeeeeee!!

Here's how much of the project I have completed in the past 6 years.

Here's what the finished project will look like.

I asked Toni if she might be interested in a stitch off LOL. I'm actually going to try to complete a bit of this several times a week. Maybe I'll have it done before another 6 years passes.

Last night I finished the first square of the Chain Reaction afghan I started. Have plans to meet with Amanda tomorrow night for dinner and crocheting time. Can't wait to see the colors she's chosen for her afghan.

Also last night I finished up another square for the 2010 Block A Month afghan. Really been on a roll with the crochet blocks lately.

The UPS man visited yesterday afternoon and I did something so unlike me I've shocked the entire household. I started another project! Gasp!

The yarn for Paul's sweater arrived and I couldn't resist starting his cardigan. I am using Rowan Cocoon and I am in love with it. This yarn is so yummy and the sweater is knitting up so quickly on size 10 1/2 needles. Of course this means I now have 24 projects OTN now. Sigh, I was hoping to not go over 23.

What a Cutie!

2011-01-11T20:56:00.002-05:00

Well, you can't see the pattern on the hat so well, but you can sure see this cutie pie's little face. Isn't he adorable? I see a whole bunch more baby boy knits in my future!

Finished a couple more squares for the 2010 afghan. I hope I stay this motivated since I have 3 crocheted afghans in the works right now, and the very last thing I need is all of them 1/2 finished and cluttering up my craft room.

It may not appear so, but I have made some progress on the Leaf Lace Tee. It's the mind numbing stockinette stitch that causes the problems with this. I get bored with it too easily so it feels like I've been knitting on it for hours when in fact it's actually only been 15 minutes. Oh well, it's a short sleeved sweater and we are in the middle of winter here. It's too cold to wear it and if I keep knitting on it (even if it is only 15 minutes at a time) it will be done in time to wear it this spring.

Haven't done as much work on Paul's gloves as I'd like, but I have gotten something done on them. I'm not liking working on this pattern as much as I thought I would. Sigh, the hazards of having knitting ADD.

Don't be a square!

2011-01-09T20:30:00.006-05:00

Spent some time concentrating on some of those projects that were OTN at the end of the year and finished up 2 of them (21 projects left OTN).

First up is the slippers I made for Paul. He finally wore out the last pair I made him - they lasted 5 years! Hopefully these will have that long a life. It always cracks me up to see these before they are felted. Will get a comparison photo in a few days when they have been magically transformed to fit his feet.

The second project I finished is one of those 3 pair of socks that were left over from my 2010 goal. I really like the way this yarn knits up (Regia Hand-dye Effect). Have several more skeins left in the stash that will hopefully become socks this year.

Next I pulled out the bag of yarn and finished squares for the 2010 Block A Month Afghan (sad that I haven't finished that one and started the 2011 one already). I finished a couple of squares this weekend and took photos of all the ones I've completed so far. I am making a fairly large afghan so chose to make both 12" squares for each month and 2 of the 6" squares. I still have 25 (yikes!) patterns to make.

As mentioned above, I started the 2011 Block A Month Afghan even though I'm not finished with the 2010 one yet. I'm hoping not to get behind like I did last year. Again this year, I am making both of the 12" blocks for each month and 2 of the 6" blocks. (22 projects OTN)

Met my friend Amanda Friday night for dinner and knitting time. While we were out, I showed her another crochet block afghan that I wanted to make. It's the Chain Reaction afghan that has been featured in the past several Interweave Crochet issues. We have decided to make it together. I bought my yarn and started the first square. (23 projects OTN)

Somehow my WIP list always seems to be stuck at 23!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-06T21:52:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I'm a few days late, but better late than never I say. I was a horrible blogger during 2010, but I'm hoping that 2011 proves to be a better year for that.

I had a goal last year to start a pair of socks each month and have them all finished by year's end. Alas, I didn't meet that goal, but I did come pretty close. I finished 9 pair of socks completely, have just the toe decreases left on 1 sock of another pair to finish, am at the heel turn on a pair I am knitting toe up 2 at once on circs, and just barely started the last pair (which are monstrous mutant man socks that I shouldn't have left as my December start socks).

Out with the old, in with the new .... new goal that is. Each month of 2011 I want to finish at least one project. 6 of these must be WIPs on the needles as of 12/31/10 (23 of them OTN), and 6 of these can be newly started projects in 2011. A couple of rules I am imposing on myself. I am allowing myself to start 5 projects in January - 3 gifts, a crochet along project, and something for myself. Until I finish one of the prior to 2011 projects, I cannot start anything else new. I cannot complete projects "early". In other words, if I finish 2 projects in January, one of them does not count for February.

Ok, on to photos!

I'm off to a good start with my goal. I started a hat in November as a knitalong with a friend. I finished it in December, but didn't like it in the yarn I bought. Frogged it and made this one instead. The pom poms dangling from the chain stich cords were made for the first hat and since you can't very well frog a pom pom, and I thought they were cute as can be, I added them to this hat. Love it!! First FO for 2011! 22 projects left OTN.

Another project started in December and finished in January is a pair of mittens for myself. These were made from a pattern in the Vogue Mittens and Gloves book. The pair on the cover actually. Fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. I love them, but wish I had chosen a bulkier yarn to knit them in. 21 projects left OTN.

One of the gifts I allowed myself to cast on in January was this adorable hat for a coworker's son. I told her that I am his adoptive gramma and am allowed to knit him all kinds of cute things and can spoil him rotten. Can't wait til she sends me a photo of him in it! Still 21 projects left OTN.

I pulled out the leaf lace tee again and have been spending a bit of time on it each night. Doesn't seem like much progress is being made, but if I continue, this might be my finished project for February. The photos don't do the green justice. It is a bright apple green and contrasts nicely with the magenta. Still 21 projects OTN.

Another gift I allowed myself to start in January is a pair of gloves for Paul. He finally wore a hole in the pair I made him a couple years ago and it's too cold not to have some gloves. These are knitting up pretty quickly and I hope to have them done in a week or so. 22 projects OTN.

No photos yet of the 3rd project I've started because there isn't much to show yet. I cast on a pair of socks for myself (yeah, I know I have 3 pair still OTN from 2010, but I couldn't resist) from the book The Enchanted Sole. 23 projects OTN.

The last 2 projects I will start in January are the 2011 Block a Month Afghan Crochet Along, and a sweater for Paul. Hopefully I am able to finish a couple more almost finished projects before starting those so I don't get up to 25 projects OTN.

I am bound and determined not to have as many projects OTN at the end of 2011 as I did starting 2011 .... and yes, I do realize I say that every flipping year!

2010-10-31T19:46:00.008-05:00

I really need to get back into the habit of updating my blog! It took forever to get photos and upload them. And, I even forgot one! Oh well, later this week (if I remember that is lol).

Paul was out of town this weekend, so I spent my time alone watching episodes of Bones Season 1 and Rockford Files Season 1 on Netflix, and finishing up some projects that have been languishing.

I started this adorable turtle bowl in August. Not sure why the poor thing wound up down in the craft room unfinished. It only took about an hour to finish up the pieces and sew him together. Made 2 of them ... one for a friend at work, and one for Paul.

Just in time for Halloween, I finished up a cute tam. Pattern available on Knitty. The ribbing is too big, so I am currently weaving elastic thread through it so the tam stays on my head. Guess I'll get to wear it next year =(

Since I was watching mindless tv and not football this weekend, I wound up not working on this cute t-shirt. Using up some stash yarn for this. The magenta is bamboo, and the green is corn. This has been my football knitting the past couple of weeks. Paul will be home tomorrow night, so it will get some attention yet this week.

Pulled out several pair of socks that were started this year and finished up the first sock of each. Next I will cast on the mate and concentrate on it to get the pairs finished. If I don't lose interest, I should actually make my 12 pair during 2010.

First up on the list was the sock I started for July. I had finished up the heel turn and most of the gusset before I shoved it in a bag to neglect it for other projects. Finished up the first sock this afternoon. Plan to cast on the second sock this week.

Next up was the pair I started for August. Absolutely love this sock! The yarn is gorgeous (Regia Hand-Dye Effect). I have several balls of this so will have plenty of colorful socks once they are all knit up. Since this is a straightforward sock and doesn't require a pattern, it will be my car knitting for the forseeable future. Plan to cast on the second sock this evening before going to bed.

Lastly is the sock for October. Was only able to finish one during October, but will have the next one done in a couple weeks. I am knitting this pair as an "along" with a friend. She cast her second on today, but it will be a couple of days before I get a chance to cast on.

A couple of weeks ago, I finished up a ribbed tank I was knitting for a knitalong in Ravelry. Lost interest in it for some reason way back when I cast on, but put my mind to finishing it recently. I adore this top and wish I had finished it when it was still warm enough to wear it without wearing a jacket over it.

Along with finishing up the first sock of several pairs that were started in 2010, I finished up the second sock of several pair too.

This was the first sock I cast on this year. Love these, and can't wait to wear them. The bobbles were tedious, but well worth it.

I was almost finished with the first of these socks when I realized I had lost track of the second ball of yarn. I put them away for almost a year and came across the second ball of yarn a month or so ago. Finished up the first sock, cast on the second, and made it my car knitting. Can honestly say, this is the longest it has ever taken me to finish a pair of socks lol.

Finished up my September socks in the past couple of weeks too. These were so much fun to knit.

So the sock tally stands at: Finished January, March, April, May, June, September ... One sock complete February, July, August, October. I have cast on my November socks a bit early, and have picked out my December socks. Wonder if I'll be able to finish them all this year!

A Tale of Two Sweaters

2010-09-13T21:09:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to work on all those WIPs, honestly I have. But, of course, I do seem to be acutely susceptible to bouts of startitis. I've been able to keep it at bay somewhat this year since I am on that quest to make a pair of socks a month. I know that most of them are still OTN and I'm running out of dpns. No need to remind me thank you very much.

Everything I am working on lately is on tiny needles and seems to be getting no closer to being done no matter how long I knit on it, so I did indulge myself and cast on a quick to knit project. I've had this yarn (Elsebeth Lavold Angora) in my stash for a couple of years and have since lost interest in the sweater it was supposed to become, but every time I saw it, it reminded me of this cute little cardigan I ran across during a Ravelry surfing session. 1 week start to finish. Gotta love projects like that! It was just what I needed to give me the incentive to finish up another project (one that I don't have a photo of at the moment).

I will get a photo of the finished Zick Zack tunic later this week to post. A lovely laceweight concoction that drove me batty with its monotonous pattern that for some reason I just couldn't memorize.

Since I finished that project, I decided to indulge myself in another project that would be finished in a short span. Again, I dove into the stash and found some yarn that had been purchased for a sweater I no longer wanted, matched it with a project in my queue, and voila! We have a Leaf Yoke Top just in time to wear a few times before it gets too cool for sleeveless wear.

It knit up quickly in Berroco's NaturLin, a linen/rayon blend that will hopefully be soft and drapey once dried. I plan to wear it tomorrow to work =)

Hello ...

2010-07-27T20:06:00.006-05:00

is anyone still checking this blog to see if there are updates? I know it's been forever and an age, but hopefully I'll get back in the habit of updating.

I've finished quite a few things since I last updated, so this post will be chock full of photos. Got on a sock kick for several months and have a whole new wardrobe of socks, plus a bunch more still on the needles. As bad as that sounds, I've actually gotten much better at finishing projects I start before starting new ones. Not that I don't still start the occasional new project on a whim. And not that I've gotten any better whatsoever at finishing up all those WIPs I've had sitting around forever. Hoping to rectify that with my newfound project (sort of) monogamy.

A co-worker is expecting her first baby, so I couldn't resist making this adorable personalized blanket. It worked up in no time at all. I've always been able to crochet much faster than I knit. Isn't it adorable?

Five pair of socks finished since I last posted. Not sure what's with the sock craze, but I'm putting quite a dent in my sock yarn stash.

Knit up a Modern Lace Henley in record time too. More stash yarn used up to make this. It's knit up in Silky Wool and is super comfy. Perfect for spring and fall.

And now on to some newly started projects. Saw a book in my LYS and fell instantly in love with nearly every project in it. The Enchanted Sole is filled with wonderfully beautiful and fanciful socks. The first pair I cast on is a gorgeous stranded colorwork concoction called Tree of Life. I am using yarn purchased from a local dyer/spinner (Laughing Rat - look her up on Etsy). The darker blue/purple yarn is 100% merino, and the lighter pink/orange is a merino/bamboo blend. The resulting sock is quite decadent and I am absolutely thrilled with it.

In keeping with the sock yarn knit off I seem to be conducting, I started a skirt made from Noro Silk Garden Sock. It is made up of ever increasing in size panels to create a pretty A-line skirt. I've finished one panel and have another almost complete.

Another new book purchased is Crochet So Fine. It is full of simply scrumptious projects all crocheted with fine yarn (mostly laceweight, but a few fingering/sport). I have a bunch of the projects queued up and couldn't resist pulling out some Mountain Colors Winter Lace yarn I've had for some time to start a lacy tank. More photos of this in the near future as I am quite smitten with the pattern at the moment.

Another project started since I last blogged (I think so anyway because I didn't see it in the last few posts and I'm too lazy to look further back) is the Zick Zack Tunic. Another lightweight sweater made with lace yarn. I'm using up more stash yarn on this project. The back is finished and I'm about 1/2 done with the front.

I am trying to keep my focus on 2 projects at a time to keep to finishing more than I start .... wish me luck!

Quick post before Olympics start!

2010-02-25T19:40:00.003-05:00

Finished the Team USA Hat. Too big for me, and I decided I want the one Julia Mancuso was wearing instead of this one, so I'll be making that one next. Yes, I am hopeless, scouring the Olympics for new knitwear!

Horrible photo of the first 1/2 February dishcloth. Uggg I guess I need to learn to use this camera better. None of my pictures turns out well.

Ok, fun time. What do you do when your ass won't fit into your jeans anymore? Besides go on a shopping trip to buy more? You find some horrible fabric in your stash that makes you go "why the hell did I buy that?" and make yourself an apron, that's what? Ok, it's weird but I love it. Now I want a whole bunch of aprons. A different one for every day of the month, just like the collection of mittens and gloves I have.

Lest you think I completely gave up on Ravelympics and Team WIP, I now give you progress!

I finished the Gladiolus vest and even wore it to work on Tuesday. Love this so much. Told everyone at work that I spent 4 days in my jammies making a hippie vest LOL.

Finished the Bustier Top too, and wore that to work yesterday. This fits nice, but the yarn is shedding. Hoping that that will stop once it's washed again.

Finished the Rose Wrap Shell too, but this looks so much better on the dress form than it does on a real body. I do believe it's destined for the trashcan. It's so horrible I won't even take a photo of it on ... ewwwwwwww.

Not bad, 3 finished WIPs and 1 finished new project since the Olympics started. And, now I will confess that I bought materials for a new crochet project and started a new knit one. Sigh, I am hopeless!

2010-02-15T18:37:00.002-05:00

Ah, Ravelympics. I found the perfect team to join. Team WIP. I found an event to challenge myself with. WIPs Dancing. I picked out my projects. The Mary Tudor Cardigan I started in October 2007, and the Ravenna Satchel I started in September 2008.

I gathered my tools and projects in anticipation. I anxiously awaiting the start of the opening ceremonies.

I spied the Team USA hat and all hope was lost LOL. I simply had to have one. Of course, I got lucky and another knitter had already spied the adorable hat and made up a chart for it, so all I had to do was buy yarn, add another event (or 2) to my already full Ravelympic roster, and cast on. And, that's exactly what I did.

Here it is after the first day of knitting. Not too bad considering I was disciplined enough to complete my goal rounds on the cardigan before casting on, I spent quite a bit of time during the afternoon shopping, and I went out to dinner with Paul for Valentine's Day.

Here it is after day 2 of knitting. I am still enamored of this hat and believe that it should be finished tonight while I watch ice skating and snow boarding.

There is progress on Mary Tudor too. I am hoping to be finished with the body this week. The Ravenna Satchel will hopefully be completed this weekend. I am not so foolish as to believe that I will be able to complete the sleeves for MT and get the finishing done during Ravelympics, but I will consider the attempt a success if I get the better part of one sleeve completed. That just might be the incentive I need to finally complete the sweater and get it off my list of UFOs.

Can you believe with all this WIP finishing excitement, and shiny new project joy, I am still itching to start yet another project? Of course you can if you know me in the least. I decided that I would limit myself to using a pattern in my Ravelry queue and a yarn in my stash. I asked Paul to give me 2 numbers (the first corresponding to a page in my queue and the second to the project on that page). Score!! The pattern is a cute tunic made with laceweight yarn and I have a ton of that in my stash. I will allow myself to start this project once the Olympics is over provided I finish my Team USA hat and the Ravenna Satchel.

Sock, socks, and did I mention socks?

2010-02-04T21:44:00.004-05:00

A bit of progress made this week on the Hearts n Flowers socks. The double yarn over on size 0 needles make these a bit fiddly. Combine that with 4" needles that are so sharp they threaten to put holes in your palms as you knit, and you have a project that does not get a lot of attention at any one sitting. They shall be finished however, as I adore the yarn and pattern.

I finished up the second Mini Mochi sock on the way home from work tonight. Love them! The colors are so vibrant and the yarn soft and smooshy. I will wear them to work tomorrow to keep my feet toasty during the snow storm we are supposed to be getting.

Another fiddly project is the Bacchus socks. I have managed to turn the heel of the first sock and am now working my way up the leg. These are definitely not socks that I can work on while paying attention to anything else. Absolutely love them though, and can't wait til they are finished and I can wear them.

I had planned to work on the Girly Camo socks during car rids next, but have run into a little problem. I can't seem to find the second ball of yarn! I know it's around here somewhere, but until I can find it, I refuse to work on a sock that may very well be a singleton. What to do now? I really don't want to cast on something new, but everything cast on now seems to be less mindless than what I consider to be necessary for commute knitting.

The new 2010 block a month CAL pattern was released this week, and I worked it up immediately. I then decided that my resulting blanket was not going to be big enough with only 12 squares. I have chosen to make one of each 12" square and two of each 6" square from the patterns given each month to make a larger blanket.

Several weeks ago I cast on a sweater using some Cornucopia that has been in my stash for quite some time. I am liking the apple green color and hope it works well with the magenta contrast I've chosen for the accents. This project might become my commute knitting since it is the most midless of what I have cast on.

Only 8 more days til the Olympics!!!

Win some, Lose some

2010-01-31T21:06:00.005-05:00

I finished the baby blanket!! Yay!! I love how it turned out (even if at the end it did feel as though it was sucking all the life out of me). Paul had an appointment yesterday with Chelsea to get his hair cut, and I have an appointment to get mine done tomorrow. Good thing I finished this blanket up. Chelsea told Paul that they are inducing her on Friday. Wow, talk about getting something done just in the nick of time.

My friend Amanda and I are both creating our own Sock of the Month clubs. Our stash's are chock full of sock yarn, and we have tons of patterns. We will be putting yarn and patterns into bags and picking one out the first of each month. Hopefully I'll have 12 pair of new hand knit socks come year end instead of 12 more WIPs taking up space LOL.

I know it's not quite February yet, but I went ahead and started my February sock anyway. It would have made too much sense to continue working on the January cast on sock until January was over you know. The Olympics are gearing up to start too, and with that comes Ravelympics. I've joined a team that will work exclusively on WIPs so my only event will be WIP Dancing. I am hoping to finish the Ravenna Satchel and Mary Tudor Cardigan during the games.

Of course, this means that at the end of February, I will have two pair of socks on the needles and neither pair finished! Looks like March might be sock month for me.

Also finished up a face cloth about a week ago. I used Knit Picks' CotLin yarn. Rather like it and plan to buy more to make towels for the bathroom with.

As for the "lose some" portion of this post title .....

Remember the Orchid top I was crocheting that was so close to being finished? Well, I bought the buttons for it finally this weekend and finished the edging on it. Tried it on before finishing the sleeves ..... and the bottom looked awful! Too much flare in the back. It looked like a giant ruffle on a giant butt! Uggggg to the frog pond it went. I had to frog it back to the beginning of the flared portion. Four skeins of yarn! Half of the sweater! I was hoping to have that sweater done this weekend, but looks like it might not be done before the Olympics start :-(

Today was cooking day. Last weekend, Paul bought me the Julia Childs Cookbook set. Couldn't wait to make Boeuf Bourguignon. I cannot possibly describe just how wonderful my house has smelled all day. This very well might be the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. And, I can't believe I made it myself (well, with Paul's help!)

Doppler sure wanted some!

And, what better desert to top off Boeuf Bourguignon than Creme Brulee?

Yum!

Losing All Will To Live

2010-01-19T22:37:00.003-05:00

I checked out the projects page for the blanket I am making Chelsea (my hair stylist) and found a woman who posted in her notes that if she had actually knitted the borders on all the blocks she would lose all will to live. She chose to do a crocheted border around her blocks and it really looked cute. I wish I had read those notes before I started my blanket. It is such a chore now to work on those borders. I should finish the last one tonight thank goodness!

I've started the seaming since I was about to pull my hair out working on those last few border rows. Hoping to have all the strips made by tomorrow night and the strips sewn together by Thursday night. That will give me all weekend to put the final border on the blanket and hopefully put a big dent in the weaving in of ends. I am cutting it close to the deadline on this one. Chelsea is due in February.

I did a bit of work on the Apres Surf Hoodie during my blankie breaks. Can't wait to get to work on this one full time. The yarn is a dream to work with and is so soft and drapey. It is going to make a great sweater.

Also, started a new project this past weekend. This is a scarf for Paul made with Buckingham (Alpaca/Silk blend) and Ecco Cashmere. So soft and dreamy! There is a cashmere scarf for me on the horizon too!

I've signed up for Ravelympics and joined a WIP team (go figure!). Hoping to finish up the Ravenna Satchel and Mary Tudor Cardigan during the games. It will be nice to have a couple of the long standing WIPs finished up and no longer staring so accusingly at me from their knitting bags!

Lots of Progress

2010-01-10T20:06:00.005-05:00

No photos of the baby blanket because they would just be more of what I posted last week, but I have made a lot of progress and should have all of the blocks (including the borders) done next weekend.

I'm really liking the Bacchus socks and can't wait til the baby blanket is done so I can devote more time to them. Should be turning the heel of the first one next weekend if all goes as planned.

I'm hoping the bobbles on the foot aren't uncomfortable inside shoes.

The Orchid Top should be complete pretty soon too. A few more rows on the body, a bit of lengthening of the sleeves, and the border is all that is left.

Even though I have quite a few projects in progress, I decided to start a new one this weekend. This is the beginnings of the Apres Surf Hoodie from Interweave Knits Summer 2008. I am using lavender Lyndon Hill cotton/silk that has been in my stash for over a year. Really like working on this so far.

Another new project started is a block a month afghan crochet along I joined on Ravelry. Below is the 12" square for January. I'll be using this as a destash project to use up a bunch of Patons Classic Wool I have.

I've finished four of the blocks for the Yarn Forward Mystery Blanket I started last summer. Haven't done much work on it lately, but maybe that project will come out of hibernation once the baby blanket is finished.

Lastly, I finished up the first dishcloth knitalong projects for 2010.

First FOs of the Year!

2010-01-07T19:16:00.003-05:00

The first of the Mini Mochi socks will be finished later this evening. No way will I be able to make the second match. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the stripe pattern. They will be delightfully color matched but stripe mismatched socks.

Last night I put the finishing touches on the Lace Tee. I absolutely love this top! I added a crochet scalloped edging to keep the lace on the edges from rolling. I really like how it looks. Can't wait til it's warm enough to wear a short sleeved top.

The first project started in 2010 was this cute hat. Finished it up in just a few hours. It is very very warm.

More work this week on Chelsea's baby blanket. Need to get that finished up soon. Really starting to get tired of the colors and the pattern ..... uggggg. I hate when I lose interest in a gift!

Long Time No Knit

2010-01-03T20:14:00.005-05:00

Well, not really, but there's been precious little of it for someone who's as obsessed with the craft as I am. Let's just say that the last quarter of 2009 was bad for me and quite frankly, I'm glad I don't have a bunch of dreary posts in my blog to attest to it. Here's hoping 2010 turns out to be a much better year!

I still have a ton of WIPs sitting in various stages of completion in my craft room. I'm hopeless it seems. I'm not even going to attempt trying to finish them all this year. Not going to make some resolution not to buy yarn this year. Not going to do much except enjoy the projects that I decide to knit/crochet at any given time. I've decided life is much to short to stress yourself out over a hobby.

I currently have 3 projects in my room that are being worked on. The first is a baby blanket for my hair stylist. She will be having a little girl in February, so I need to work on this regularly so it gets completed in time. I am almost done with all of the base blocks (have 2 more of the shooting star ones to finish). Need to put borders on 11 more of them, then sew them together and put a border around the blanket.

I have been spending quite a bit of time decluttering my craft room and getting rid of some things that I've been keeping just for the sake of keeping. I gave 3 tall kitchen size trash bags full of yarn to my sister, and have a 4th started that I'll pass on to her when she's here to go through the piles of books and magazines I've decided to part with.

While going through all the patterns in those books and magazines, I came across a pair of socks that I am in love with. Dug around in the yarn I decided to keep and found the perfect yarn for them and cast on. This is the beginning of the Bacchus Socks for Interweave Knits Fall 2008 and it is the second of the projects in my room. Nothing like waiting a year to cast on a project huh?

I found several pair of socks on the needles and decided to put a pair in each car for traveling knitting. Amazing how much I get done while riding in the car. Below is a pair of girly camo looking socks made with Panda Silk prints I started several months ago then forgot about when they got buried in the craft room. They will now live in the Caddy waiting for Paul to drive me somewhere.

I will need to bring the pair that lives in the Lincoln in sometime this week to get a photo of them. They are made with Mini Mochi and I love the colors and feel of the yarn.

The third project currently getting some quality time with me recently is a crocheted top. I am making this with Gloss Sock yarn and so far I'm really liking the way it looks and feels. I don't think this one will take much more time to get finished up if it keeps my attention for awhile.

Got two projects finished up during this holiday weekend. An adorable hat and a lacy cami tee shirt. Will get photos of them later this week.

It's Amazing .....

2009-09-08T21:25:00.004-05:00

.... what you can accomplish when you quit playing computer games! LOL

I was hoping to finish the Flower Child Tee before Paul and I spent that long weekend in a cabin (with no cell service so work couldn't reach us ... yay!!), but I decided to work on other things instead. True to my word to Amanda, I took it with me and finished it up during the vacation. I've worn it twice now and love it!

I also took the Cabled Top with me and did a lot of work on it. I pulled it back out yesterday during the True Blood season 2 marathon and put the finishing touches on it. Can't wait til the weather cools a bit so I can wear it.

Before we left, I finished up Jenn's Seashell Tote and promptly filled it up with all the stuff she keeps leaving in the bathrooms. Yes, I did mean that to be plural. The girl fills up both bathrooms with all her hair stuff.

So, what is it that I really don't need? New patterns you say? Well, yes. And, I did purchase several books and magazines in the past couple of weeks. More yarn? Ummmm, yeah, and you guessed it, I bought quite a bit during my LYS's recent sale. Another project on the needles? Yep, you guessed it! And since I didn't need another project on the needles, I cast on 2!!

A couple of knitting buds are doing the Yarn Forward Mystery Blanket, so I decided to knit it along with them. I started my first square this weekend when we met up for some knitting and socializing time. I finished this one tonight, and am ready to cast on another one. I'm a bit worried that I didn't buy enough yarn, but hopefully it's just that the first square I did takes more yarn than some of the others since it's cabled.

The other project I cast on is Valentina from "The Lenpur Linen Collection". Lenpur Linen was one of the yarns that was on sale, so I couldn't pass it up. I have to be careful because it can be a bit splitty, but I love the way it feels when knit up. This cardigan will be very drapey and soft.

I've also been working quite a bit on the scarf for my stepdad's birthday. Just under 1/2 done with it. Hopefully I can keep up doing a few repeats of the cable pattern each day and not lose interest in it.

I'm not the invisible woman .....

2009-08-24T19:58:00.003-05:00

I just play one on the internet sometimes :-) Sorry to those of you who sent me e-mails or posted wondering where I was and if I was okay. I got a bit too wrapped up in that silly computer game and let all my crafting languish.

This weekend though, I took a break from the game to do my fantasy football drafts and crafting has overtaken my life once again.

A few things to show, but not a lot of progress on any of them. That should change in the next couple of weeks.

Tonight I finished up seaming all those pieces to create the front and back of Flower Child. I am bound and determined to have this one finished by Thursday night so I can take it on the weekend getaway Paul and I have planned.

Some progress (though you won't be able to tell unless you compare this photo with the last one I posted) on Mary Tudor. I was planning to bring this on our weekend, but I might leave it til the weather cools a bit more in the evenings. Not a fun thing to knit something of this magnitude made out of wool that brushes against your legs when you're wearing shorts!

A couple of weekends during my blogging hiatus, I met a friend for some away from home knitting and socializing time. On one of these meetups, we both purchased the yarn and pattern to make Cabled Top by Debbie Bliss. The yarn (Pure Cotton) is a dream to work with, and the pattern is quick to knit and addicting. I've finished the back, and am about 1/3 done with the front. This may be one of the projects I take this weekend. Would be nice to have a couple of things finished up so I don't feel like such a knitting lollygagger.

This weekend was one of the meetups with my friend Amanda. Before meeting her, I stopped by one of my LYS's to get the yarn to make the scarf I promised my mother I would make for my stepdad for his birthday. The cable pattern is reversible and was easy to memorize. The yarn (Mountain Colors Mountain Goat) is a wool/mohair blend. The resulting scarf will be soft, squishy, lightweight, and very warm.

Anybody else have a daughter who enjoys leaving her hair appliances/makeup/you name it laying around in the bathroom? I promised my daughter that I would make her a tote to cart her things around in if she promised to quit leaving said things to mess up my bathroom. I decided on crochet instead of knit since I got in a crochet mood. This is the bottom of the Seashell Tote from the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet. This took no time to complete, so I'm hoping the tote will be finished by next week.

Starting the tote really gave me the crochet itch, so I flipped through the magazine and found another pattern to start (like I really needed another project going!). I grabbed some yarn in the appropriate weight in my stash and worked up the top portion of the back of Bustier Top. The yarn looks white in the photo, but it's actually a soft sage green. It's fairly neutral so I hope to get a lot of wear out of this vest this fall. Of course, the project will have to keep my interest long enough for me to finish it!

So, that's what I've been doing the past .... has it really been more than 2 months?

Long Time No Post

2009-06-15T20:38:00.005-05:00

Looks like I slacked off on posting again, oops!

It hasn't been for lack of progress, even though progress has been a bit slow these past couple of weeks. With Paul out of town, I got back into a computer game that he got bored with. It's been almost a year since I played Guild Wars and I missed my characters. I started a couple new ones too, but now I've got the itch to do some knitting again.

Flower Child is turning out to be a pretty quick knit .... when I actually knit on it that is. Three of the five front pieces is complete, and tonight I should finish the second of the five back pieces. Crazy to make a tshirt with 10 pieces eh? But I love the way it's turning out!

A fairly good closeup of what the center front will look like.

Not as much progress on Scheherazade, but there was a bit. Hopefully next time it's chosen by the spreadsheet I won't be distracted by a computer game!

I finally got around to taking a couple of photos of the buffet and china cabinet I brought back from my Gramma's house. It's a bit of a tight squeeze in the dining room now, but I really like them. We just need to get a new piece of glass for the china cabinet door. The tablecloth is one of the hand embroidered ones she made. Since I'm the only one with a big enough table to use them on, I brought them all back to my house and I love changing them each week. Woe to he who drips food on them and stains them, for he shall not live long!

I finished up my two felted projects during my blogging hiatus too. I think the Viktoria bag turned out really cute.

And, I'm loving my felted clog slippers. My daughter says they reminder her of Grinch shoes and they crack her up. I'm thinking that is a hint that she wants some. Maybe I'll get some neon green and orange and make her a pair for Christmas.

I didn't even let the spreadsheet choose a new project last week. Sad, since that should mean more progress on Scheherazade, but such is life. This week's project chosen is Mermaid 3. Let's hope I have more to show for this week's knitting than the past 2 weeks.

Another One Bites The Dust

2009-05-31T21:25:00.003-05:00

More Spring Cleaning in the WIP list this week. The super duper spreadsheet picked out a sweater I haven't touched in a year, and I just wasn't feeling it. After taking a good look at the photo of the sweater, I decided that it wouldn't look right on me and frogged it. The yarn is destined to become something else, and my WIP list is a bit shorter now.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going out of town last week to help move my grandmother to Ohio to live with my mother. She's all moved in now and settling in well. Since my mother's house is fully furnished, and I wasn't about to let my grandmother's nice antiques go to auction and be sold for next to nothing, I brought a few of them back with me. Her buffet and china cabinet are now in my dining room, and one of the dressers is now being used by my stepson. Hopefully some photos of those later this week.

Since we were going to be working most of the day, and I didn't want to drag any big projects with me, I started a couple of small, quick to knit projects for the trip.

The first night we were there I finished up a scarf using Prism Wild Stuff.

And the night we got back, I finished up all but the felting on a pair of clog slippers. I had plenty of the mulberry color left, so I picked up another contrasting color and plan to make a pair for my Gramma.

I picked a bit at a Ruca Multy scarf, and will work on this during my lunch hours this week.

After I frogged the sweater last night, the spreadsheet picked out a crochet bag I had started last summer. This afternoon, while watching a movie, I finished all the pieces. Tomorrow night I will sew them together and felt it. Finished photos later this week.

Remember the cute as a button kittens we found in our garage? We thought mama cat had run off with them, but I think she just found a spot behind some things stored in the garage to hid them, because Paul spied them on Friday.

Any time I peek through the garage window they scurry behind boxes, but a couple of them are getting used to me.

I was able to snap a quick photo of a couple of them tonight. They are all fluffy as can be and I am dying to get my hands on them.

Of the 6 that were cuddled up on the chair cushion, I've spied 5 of them. The black one with the white belly hasn't been seen yet. Hopefully, as I do some decluttering of the garage I find him. All of them are scared of humans, drat it all. I was hoping to get them used to us when they were still young, so it wouldn't be so difficult to get them to a shelter. If I can't get them to tolerate me being around, a shelter won't take them, so I'll definitely be like my mom and have neutered wild cats wandering around my yard.

There should be a lot of knitting progress the next few weeks. Paul had to go on a 3 week business trip, so my evenings are free to knit to my heart's content.

WIP Spring Cleaning

2009-05-18T20:19:00.005-05:00

Friday evening I finished up the base needlefelting on the Ravenna Satchel, then misted it with water and ironed it to set the roving. Since it was still damp, I couldn't move on to the embellishments, but I think I got quite a bit done for a week's worth of work. It is now dry and sitting back down in the craft room awaiting its next turn to be worked on.

Also on Friday evening I finished up the knitting on the Silky Wool Vest. Now all it needs is some buttons. Still haven't found the right ones, but once I do, I'll probably finish this up and not make it wait until next rotation.

Only having 2 projects upstairs made for much more progress than I usually think I get for a week's worth of crafting. I think I'm going to like this new process.

I did a bit of Spring Cleaning this weekend. Spring Cleaning the WIP list that is. I took a good look at what I had on the list of projects, and found several that I really wasn't interested in completing anymore. Those 4 have been removed and frogged. The yarn is now awaiting new projects that it wants to become. I'm now down to 16 projects on the list.

The spreadsheet chose 2 new projects for me to work on Friday night. One of them was the Turnberry Cardigan (one of the projects I found when freezing yarn). The pattern wasn't quite turning out the way the photo looked and I found I wasn't that crazy about it, so found something else in my queue for it to become.

It decided it wanted to be granny squares, attached together on the last round. This is the Gladiolus Vest from Interweave Crochet Summer 2008.

I'd say I finished up about 1/3 of it this weekend, so it very well may be finished up before it needs to be put back in the craft room.

The Koigu Kimono Jacket was also chosen, and there has been a fair amount of progress on it so far. I finished the first strip last night, and began the second tonight. I'm hoping that I can have the second finished and attached by the end of the week.

Next weekend we go to St. Louis to help move my Gramma back to Columbus to live with my Mom. Not sure I'm going to let the spreadsheet pick out projects for that trip. With my luck, it will choose something like the Mary Tudor Cardigan, which requires reading a chart and a gazillion balls of yarn LOL. I picked up some yarn to make myself some felted slippers, and may cast those on and knit them up on the trip.

Questions answered, and this week's projects

2009-05-12T20:21:00.002-05:00

A couple of readers asked what pattern I used for the orange Cap Sleeve Top. It is called Cap Sleeve Top, by Robin Melanson, and can be found in "Nashua Handknits: Creative Focus Silk". There are a couple of other really cute patterns in the booklet that I want to try too. The Creative Focus Silk yarn was really nice to work with, but I would definitely suggest blunt tip needles instead of the pointy ones I used. I had to pay attention so I didn't split the yarn.

The two projects I am working on this week will be very close to being finished, if not actually finished, by the end of the week.

The Silky Wool Vest is such a quick knit, and it's fairly mindless so perfect for watching TV. I need a total of 16 inches after the division before casting off, and I managed to add 4 1/2 inches last night. Finding enough buttons in the right size and color might prove to be difficult though. I've already discovered that the fabric stores around me no longer carry the button loop tape I'm supposed to use (the kind used for all those teeny tiny pearl buttons down the back of wedding dresses), so I decided to skip that and just sew the buttons through both layers of knitting to finish the vest. Problem is I need about 28 teeny tiny buttons (about the size used for baby clothing) and I can't seem to find more than about 16 at the fabric stores. I may need to ask them if they can order them for me.

I got a bit disheartened last Fall with the Ravenna Satchel. I had a bit of a felting issue. Not too long ago, I decided to try using roving to needlefelt over the motifs on the intarsia piece to see if that would fill in all the icky parts.

So far, so good.

A close up photo of the area that I've done the needle felting on. I still need to go back over it again to make sure that any fuzzies at the edges get felted into the center, but I think it looks a heck of a lot better than before needle felting.

See?

Part of the felting problem I had is that the yarn I used, while gorgeous just knit up, left really long fuzzies that wound up felting themselves into portions of the project where they didn't belong. Although sometimes a tweedy look is what you're looking for, background color in blobs in the center of the flowers just wasn't cutting it for me.

I could not find roving in the exact colors I used, but I came fairly close on most of them, and will use the leftover yarn from knitting the project to do the outlining and other embellishments on the bag. So far the needlefelting is going pretty quickly. I might have to wait until this project gets another turn to get it all sewn together and add the handles and hardware, but at least some pretty good progress is happening to a Basket O Shame project :o)

Changing the plan of attack

2009-05-11T20:14:00.003-05:00

Attack of the never ending (and ever growing) WIP list that is. While stuffing stash yarn into freezer bags for their "time out" in the freezer, I came across 2 more crochet projects that I forgot about and had to add them to the list. On top of that, I got a bit bored with Paul's sweater, and bought a kit from a friend who is doing some destashing, and cast that project on Saturday. Ugggggggg - at this rate, I'll never get to the bottom of that list!

At least I've discovered that whatever project the spreadsheet picks out for me keeps my attention for about a week before I get bored with it. And, sometimes bringing up a different project from the craftroom appeases my urge to start something new. (Quit laughing, I said sometimes.) For instance, Friday night I was really wanting to dig around in the stash for some yummy yarn and cast on something bright and shiny and new. Instead, I spied the Sipalu bag that I lost interest in last Fall, and decided to bring it up. Yesterday, when I put it away again, I had knit all but the top border and handles. Another weekend and the knitting will be done and it will be ready to block and line.

So, I've decided to change my plan of attack. Instead of making myself finish the project the spreadsheet picks out for me, I will let it pick 2 projects for me to work on for a week. Unless I am completely enchanted by a project, I won't work on the same thing 2 weeks in a row. I'm going to try very hard not to cast something new on until I've finished at least 2, but preferrably 3 projects from my current WIP list. Hopefully, this new tact will have me completing some projects and not casting on so many new ones.

I took a break from the knitting for awhile this weekend and finished up a dress I had cut out last weekend. I'm fairly pleased with it, and will make another. I will change the pattern some though. The photo did not in any way, shape, or form show the cartoon model's boobs sticking out. The neckline on this thing falls just below my nipples, so I had to wear a cami under it. Next time, I will raise the neckline and probably bring the shoulders in some so bra straps don't show.

Although I have been casting on new projects regularly, I have been finishing some of them. This one was knit up in record time. 6 days from cast on to worn to work. I also wore it when I met my friend at our LYS to buy that kit from her, and while there wound up selling the last pattern book for this top to one customer, and the yarn to knit it to another. I absolutely adore this top. It's not too casual to wear to work, but casual enough to be paired with jeans and tennies for the weekend.

That kit I purchased? If you read Vogue Knitting, you may remember the Koigu jacket from the anniversary issue. 'A' bought it, then let it sit for over a year. Her hubby really wanted her to sell it and pay off some of the credit card lol. I started it while sitting at the LYS with her for some knitting and socializing time. Worked on it a bit Saturday night, but it is somewhat fiddly with all those little triangles. Not bored with the project by any stretch, but 37 skeins of Koigu in my bedroom along with the other 6 or 7 projects I had once again dragged upstairs was a bit much. The spreadsheet did not pick this project for me to work on this week, so I put it away to await its turn.

Friday night I finished up the felted pond turtle I started in September or October. Another project off the WIP list! She turned out rather cute once I needlefelted some outlining on her shell.

A photo of side 2 of the Sipalu bag. Already picked up all the stitches for the top border band, so when the spreadsheet picks this out, it will be all ready for some fair isle goodness.

No photos of this week's projects yet, but in a few days I will post some. The spreadsheet picked out the Silky Wool Vest and Ravenna Satchel 1.

Wish me luck!!

April Wrap Up, May Wind Up

2009-05-04T20:10:00.005-05:00

April was a pretty productive month for me. I finished 5 projects, 4 of which were Basket O' Shame projects! Never mind that I started several new projects lol.

I got a little carried away and had about 6 projects out of the craft room to work on, but this past weekend I rectified that. I now have only 3 projects available to work on while I watch TV.

One of the 3 that made its way back to the craft room is Salvia. I did make some progress on it, and it will be the next projects I work on when I finish something.

I pulled out the Pond Turtle that I started last year and have finished all except the final piece. Pretty sure I'll have this one finished up this week.

Progress has been made on Paul's Islander pullover too. This is one of those projects that just doesn't photograph well indoors with flash. Hopefully we'll have some sunshine this weekend so I can get better photos of the beautiful color of this yarn.

Confession time: I was a bad girl and cast on a new project. I saw this top in my LYS' window and couldn't resist buying the pattern and yarn for it. In my defense, I did wait a full week before giving in to the temptation of starting it. I cast on Friday night and last night I started on the 4th of 5 balls of yarn. This thing is practically knitting itself!!

I'm down to 20 projects on the needles now. Still sounds ridiculous, and I'd like to be under 10 by the end of the year. As long as I can resist all those tempting new projects that are begging to be cast on I just might make my goal.

Basket O' Shame Projects	Non Basket O' Shame Projects
Flying Carpet Socks	Yesterday Once More
Mermaid Jacket	Filet Dragon Throw
Merging Colors Bolero	Emily's Gloves
Felted Pond Turtle	Jenn's Gloves
Sipalu Bag	Rose Wrap Shell
Moorish Stripe Socks	Sweetie Pie Cami
Roped Shell	Santa Fe Shawl
Mary Tudor Cardigan	Bellydance Halter
Lace Knee Highs	Solo
Asymetrical Jacket	Sackboy
Ravenna Satchel 1	Salvia
Ravenna Satchel 2	Silky Wool Vest
Islander Pullover	Cap Sleeve Top
Zarah Pullover
Bamboo Socks
Scheherazade Shawl

Kitten update: Mama cat must have gotten spooked because she moved her little brood elsewhere. We've seen her a couple of times roaming around the neighborhood, but no sign of the little ones yet. I'm still going to try to catch them and take them to a shelter if I see them. Last thing we need is 6 more strays running around!

Awwwwwww

2009-04-19T19:28:00.002-05:00

Look what Paul found in our garage yesterday. Aren't they cute?

He was rummaging around trying to get the lawnmower out, when he heard a commotion. He saw a cat scurry across the garage and hide behind some boxes stored in there. Then he saw the kittens and called me out to see them. Their eyes are still closed so they aren't very old. So adorable. Mama is a feral cat living in our neighborhood. When I came out to the garage to see, she took off across the street and I was hoping she'd come back if we stayed away. We got her some food and left it out in the garage then left them all alone. We didn't see her all day yesterday, but this morning Paul saw her. She's been in the garage all day today with her little ones. As long as all we do is peer at them through the window and not make any quick moves, she tolerates us. Once the kittens are old enough, we'll take them to a local shelter that won't put them down, and see if we can't trap Mama and have her neutered. There are several feral cats in our neighborhood. Looks like I'm going to be a crazy cat lady like my mom lol.

This afternoon I finished up sackboy. I think I'm going to knit him a hat too, but that will have to wait for another day. Now I only have 2 of the newly cast on projects left on the needles.

Last night I pulled out the Silky Wool Vest and finished the first of three balls of yarn. This shouldn't take too much longer to finish since it's a cropped vest. Hopefully by the end of the month.

I'm only a couple rows shy of finishing the bodice of the Yesterday Once More top. Tomorrow night at my crochet group I'll begin the pleated bottom border.

This afternoon while Paul and I watched a couple of movies I worked on the felted Pond Turtle I started for myself last summer. Ran out of yarn .... ugggggg. Since It's felted I'm not too worried about the dye lots matching perfectly, so a trip to JoAnn's to get another ball of Bernat felting wool is in order sometime this week.

Squee!!!

2009-04-14T18:52:00.003-05:00

I have a lot to squee about today. Everyone "squee!" with me!

Squee!!!!

Look what I got in the mail. My SP pal, Knitting Ladybug (the one I was spoiling), sent me such a sweet and thoughtful gift. She knit me socks! Soft, beautiful, stripy, merino and bamboo socks! And, she sent me the Knit Kit. It has 7 different tools that knitter's need (and usually run off without when they need them most lol). This went straight into the bag that goes with me to my weekly group right after the photo was taken. The socks will be worn tomorrow! Thanks Debbie! I love them :o)

Also squee! worthy is the fact I finished 2 more of my BOS projects this weekend. The Moorish Stripe Socks are now tucked into a padded envelope and will be off in the post to their recipient tomorrow. I hope he likes them!

And, I also finished the Roped Shell. Wove in the last of the ends last night after my weekly crochet group meeting. I changed the pattern a bit to raise the neckline and add more fabric on the shoulder to hide bra straps. I am really happy with how this turned out. I made it using GGH 100% silk and it is so soft and luxurious. Can't wait to wear it!

Sackboy is almost done. Tomorrow night I will knit the head, then Thursday will start the seaming and finishing.

The handy dandy spreadsheet chose the Islander Pullover for me to work on next. This poor sweater was started a year ago for Paul, then after only 4 rows of the ribbing were completed it was shoved in the bottom of a knitting bag and has just now seen the light of day again. The sad thing is I don't think I bought enough yarn for this, so I will need to order more and do the knit 2 rows with each dye lot thing ..... ugggggg.

WIP Status

2009-04-12T08:29:00.018-05:00

Friday night I finished up the Flying Carpet Socks. Now I don't feel so guilty about casting on that Silky Wool Vest. Of course, as you'll see later in this post, I still have plenty to feel guilty about lol.

The current state of my WIP list looks like this. I've finished 5 of the projects that were OTN at the beginning of the year, and have 2 more that should be finished in the next couple of days.

Basket O' Shame Projects
Flying Carpet Socks
Mermaid Jacket
Merging Colors Bolero
Felted Pond Turtle
Sipalu Bag
Moorish Stripe Socks
Roped Shell
Mary Tudor Cardigan
Lace Knee Highs
Asymetrical Jacket
Ravenna Satchel 1
Ravenna Satchel 2
Islander Pullover
Zarah Pullover
Bamboo Socks
Scheherazade Shawl

Non Basket O' Shame Projects
Yesterday Once More
Filet Dragon Throw
Emily's Gloves
Jenn's Gloves
Rose Wrap Shell
Sweetie Pie Cami
Santa Fe Shawl
Bellydance Halter
Solo
Sackboy
Salvia
Silky Wool Vest

According to my self imposed rules, I should only have 2 newly cast on projects (one of which is now complete). But, I was a bad bad knitter and cast on 2 additional projects *sigh*. Kris plays Little Big Planet and I couldn't resist casting on Sackboy. Luckily it is a smallish project and should be finished in record time. I didn't feel too bad about casting that on, even though I haven't finished the Silky Wool Vest, since I was almost finished with another WIP. I do feel a twinge of guilt about casting on Salvia though. Rowan yarn is an evil temptress indeed. I am limiting my time working on this project until I get a couple more of the BOS projects finished.

I am currently finishing up the toe on the Moorish Stripe Socks. Then they will be shipped off to my stepdad.

The Roped Shell is also almost complete. Last night when I took photos she looked like this.

This morning she is complete with the exception of the I-cord bind off on the arm openings and the cabled neckband.

The beaded purse is getting some attention too. Progress seems awfully slow compared to the knitting, but I've increased my speed to about 3 rows per 30 minutes. The problem is I can only work on this about 30 minutes at a time. It's just too hard on the eyes!

I mentioned Salvia earlier in the post. It is a shortsleeved cotton cardigan with intarsia flowers on it from the latest Rowan magazine. I took Friday off work as comp time last week and made a trip to my LYS to look at shawl pins for the Merging Colors Bolero. While there, I spied yarn in the perfect colors for Salvia, a soft grey and beautiful blue. I have absolutely no willpower whatsoever, so you know I bought it and cast on as soon as I got home. I only allowed myself to complete several rows of the colorwork pattern before setting it aside and pulling out the projects I was supposed to be working on.

I think I'm going to sift through the list of WIPs and find one fairly close to being complete to work on next. Salvia shouldn't have been cast on until I had 8 finished, and when the socks and shell are done that will make 7. Why do I do this to myself? My WIP list never seems to have fewer than 20 projects on it!

Bugs!

2009-04-05T19:16:00.002-05:00

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh I have a bug infestation! Carpet beetles!! Ewwwwwwwwww

I discovered the problem yesterday when I pulled out one of my Basket 'O Shame projects to work on. I noticed a small hole in it when I began knitting. It looked like the yarn had been snipped and one of the stitches had unraveled. Repairing it was a pretty simple matter. Then I noticed another hole, and a couple of spots that looked like the yarn had been snagged. Upon closer inspection, I found a couple of the telltale shed skins of the larvae.

I've never been very careful with my stash or the projects I am working on. The stash is stored in plastic drawer containers, but not put in ziploc bags first. The projects I've started are kept in the various knitting bags I've collected over the years. I've learned my lesson! Multitudes of freezer bags were purchased today and a good portion of the stash now resides in them.

So far I haven't found any further signs of infestation in the craftroom, but I found a couple of the adult little buggers wandering elsewhere in the house. I can't tell you how creeped out I am right now.

The infested project is in the freezer right now, along with as much of the stash as I could fit in there with it. It is going to take me for freaking ever to freeze it all just to be on the safe side. I use that freezer for um foodstuffs. Never again will I let yarn sit in my craftroom until it has been properly frozen in its freezer bag.

At least there's some good news on the knitting front. I finished the Merging Colors Bolero Friday night. I just need to find something nice to use as a closure and it's ready to wear. I love how this turned out and can't wait to wear it to work.

I worked some this week on the beaded purse. I wish this photographed better. Maybe when I have nice sunlight outside and don't have to use the flash I can get better pictures. My speed has gotten better, but even at one row every 20 minutes or so, this is going to take a long long time to complete.

Since the Asymetrical Jacket has a bug problem at the moment, I let the spreadsheet pick out a new main project. I had forgotten how much I liked knitting the Roped Shell. Not sure why this wound up sitting in the bottom of a knitting bag, but it's got center stage again, and should be finished up fairly quickly. No sleeves and minimal shaping make for a fast project.

Wish me luck in my quest to rid my house of the disgusting carpet beetles!

New Toy!!

2009-03-28T20:04:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of the year I made a decision to do something about the extra weight I have gained over the past couple of years. I told myself that if I lost the 10 pounds I wanted to by my birthday, I was going to buy myself a nice new toy to make a project I saw in a magazine that made me drool.

Since I lost the weight, and last weekend was my birthday, I ordered my new toy and all the supplies for that drool worthy project. I was so pleasantly surprised yesterday when I got home from work to find that both orders had arrived.

Behold my new Boomerang Bead Loom. Isn't she lovely? It took me about an hour last night to warp the loom, and about another hour and a half to weave the first 2 rows of that project.

As you can see below, at 2 rows per hour and a half of work, this project is going to take me forever to complete. But complete it I will!!

Too bad my photography skills are so poor that you can't see the pattern emerging. Hopefully when more of it is complete I can get a better photo. Today I did another 3 rows. Woohoo!!

This afternoon was an extension to my birthday. Mom took me to lunch and we went shopping! We went to my favorite mexican restaurant, then hit the mall and wandered around the stores. The stop at Pier 1 was productive. I found a great terra cotta turtle for Paul to put on our back patio this summer. Mom and I both got a reed oil defuser to put in our bathrooms (she bought mine as my gift). I'm going to have to go back to stock up on this fragrance oil (fresh fig). I love it! Next we checked out a beauty supply store, and I scored one of my favorite Bliss body scrub/moisturizer sets. One I haven't seen in Sephora for quite awhile. Of course, since we were at the mall, I had to hit Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to grab some more dark chocolate covered pretzels. Paul is in heaven now. I believe he likes those more than I do lol.

Even with the beading and shopping, I've not neglected my knitting and crocheting. The Merging Colors Bolero is coming along quite nicely. The body is complete, as well as the first sleeve. Tonight I should finish the second sleeve, and in a couple of days I should have the collar piece done. All that will be left then is the seaming and the weaving in of eleventy bazillion ends. This is knit using 3 strands of lace weight yarn held together. The shading is accomplished by changing 1 strand of the darkest color every 6 rows to the next lighter shade. I'd love to make a pullover using this technique one day.

Last Monday at a crochet group I go to, I finally pulled out the Yesterday Once More jacket again. After having to frog the entire thing since I apparently couldn't count on my starting chain, it took some time to face redoing the entire thing. It's well on it's way now. After this upcoming week's group meeting, the back should be complete, and I will again be back to where I was when I frogged it. I'd really like to get this complete so I can start on the skirt that goes with it.

The second of the Flying Carpet Socks is almost to the heel turn. I haven't knit on these much over the past week, and really should pick them up again. They are so close to being finished and it would be nice to knock another project off that endlessly long list of Shameful Projects I have.

Basket O Shame

2009-03-15T18:49:00.004-05:00

I found a group on Ravelry that is right up my alley! The Basket O Shame KAL. Details, rules, etc. can be found Here.

My long shameful list:

Flying Carpet Socks
Mermaid Jacket
Merging Colors Bolero
Felted Pond Turtle
Sipalu Bag
Moorish Stripe Socks
Roped Shell
Mary Tudor Cardigan
Lace Knee Highs
Asymetrical Jacket
Ravenna Satchel 1
Ravenna Satchel 2 (yes, before I had finished the first I actually cast on for a second sigh)
Islander Pullover
Zarah Pullover
Bamboo Socks
Scheherazade Shawl

Some of these have been languishing for more than 2 years. Yikes!! This list does not contain any of the crochet projects I have sitting around either, as they do not count in this Along. Quite sad, and I'm suitably ashamed of myself.

I did some sewing this weekend. Finished up this wrap top, and started the pants that will go with it. I love how the top turned out, but if I never sew with sheer chiffon again, it will be too soon! A bit too fiddly for my tastes.

The pants aren't far enough along to show yet, but here's a photo of the pattern envelope. I chose a brown for the main color, and blue for the contrast.

Another finished project this weekend too! I finally did the finishing on the bellydance halter. Instead of the beads I was planning, I decided to go with the tassels that the pattern called for. This will be fun to wear to class.

My new main project (chosen with the cool spreadsheet yet again) is the Merging Colors Bolero I started in summer 2007. I got quite a bit knit on it today. A shame I put it away when I did. It's a really quick knit, and I could have been wearing it for 2 years!

Mermaid has gotten some attention too. Even though I am allowed to change my "secondary" projects when I get a new main one, I chose to continue working on the 2 I chose last time.

I really shouldn't have, since I haven't finished the Flying Carpet Socks I was allowed to cast on for finishing 2 projects in my WIP list, but I allowed myself to cast on a new project for finishing my 4th WIP. I purchased this yarn last weekend at Knitters' Mercantile's sale. It looks more blue in this picture to me than the beautiful purple it is. This will be the Silky Wool Vest from Boutique Knits. I fell in love with the pattern when I first saw it, and have been itching to make it ever since.

I think I'm going to need to add a new rule to my plan for this year. Until I finish the last newly cast on project, I won't be allowed to cast on another, even if I've finished enough WIPs. If I don't at least try to stick to this rule, I'll wind up with another long list of WIPs at the end of this year, even if it is half as long as last year's .

You win some, you lose some

2009-03-02T21:24:00.004-05:00

I was in the mood to do some sewing this weekend, so pulled out a pattern and fabric I purchased in the fall and finally made the dress and jacket it was meant to be. Super simple pattern for both pieces. I'm thinking that I will make several of the dresses to go with the jacket, and may make another jacket in another color to coordinate with them too. I need to do a bit of work on the jacket. I need some bigger snaps where it attaches at the neckline. The ones I had just weren't strong enough for the weight of the jacket, even though the jacket is fairly lightweight.

I love the wide sleeves on the jacket. Very comfortable to wear. Got some nice comments on the outfit today at work.

The above would be my "win" ..... and below we have my "loss".

I had to completely frog the Yesterday Once More top yesterday. When I went to work on the right front, I realized that my starting chain wasn't for the size I needed :o( At least I haven't lost interest in the project. After seeing it almost complete, I want it even more than I did when I first saw the pattern. It worked up fairly quickly, so I'm hoping that I can have it back to the state it was in before its visit to the frog pond within a week or two.

I thought I was tired of garter stripes, but turns out they are great for movie knitting! I have just cast off for the first armhole on Mermaid 3. I adore this color combination and will get a lot of wear out of this fun colored jacket.

More sewing on the agenda for this week, along with some progress (finally) on the bellydance halter which is supposed to be my main project right now lol.

New Projects!

2009-02-25T20:28:00.003-05:00

Woohoo!! I officially finished my mandatory project and now get to work on some new projects. Well, not new as in just cast on, but new in that they haven't been touched in quite awhile. After so long in the ol' WIP pile, all projects become "new" again I do believe.

I finished the second sleeve on Solo on Saturday and sewed it in on Sunday. I got several nice comments on it when I wore it to work on Monday. The colors seem to be what catches the eye. I really wish this photographed nicer than it does. You can really see the pinstripe effect quite well in person.

My only complaint would be that the front points want to flip out. I'm considering getting some frog closures for this. Or, maybe just use some hook and eye closures to help it stay closed when worn. Not sure yet.

I also finished up the first of the Flying Carpet Socks on Saturday night. I'll need to take a photo using a blocker to show the lace. It doesn't show up well unless stretched out in this yarn.

As soon as I finished weaving in the final end on Solo, I opened up the WIP spreadsheet to see what my next main project would be. It turned out to be one of the almost, but not quite, finished items on the list. The bellydance halter I crocheted was the winner. There isn't any knit/crochet work still needed, but it does need the beaded fringe I was planning to add. Since I didn't have any other projects that I was itching to work on at the time, I decided to let the spreadsheet pick out the 2 companion projects also.

The first of those is Yesterday Once More, the crocheted jacket/skirt outfit I started in late summer last year. I brought that project up from the craft room to work on since I haven't had the time yet to devote to beading.

The jacket is now about 1/2 done. I'm a bit concerned about the size. Although I am getting gauge (using a hook about 5 sizes bigger than that called for-no clue how someone got this gauge using a size 8), it seems a bit on the small side lengthwise. I've decided that since it seems like the width will be fine, and it will get a pleated border at the bottom, I should be able to just add rows to that to lengthen the jacket if it is needed.

I haven't yet brought up the second project that was chosen. Mermaid 3 gets the honors. I'm a bit tired of the garter stitch stripes, so this one may languish for awhile, but hopefully not too long.

Valentine's Weekend

2009-02-16T21:14:00.003-05:00

Paul got me some dark chocolate covered pretzels for Valentine's Day. Yum, my favorite! The purchase went something like this ....

Paul: I'll take a half dozen of your dark chocolate covered pretzels.
Girl behind counter: They only come individually.
Paul: Um ok, then I'll take six.

LOL, what's with people these days?

I haven't been feeling great lately, and insomnia has set in. I hate when this happens. I lay awake almost all night, then crash hard just before dawn. I'm super tired tonight, so I'm hoping to get back into the habit of actually sleeping at night.

I did manage to get out Saturday night for dinner though. We went to a Turkish restaurant I had heard about that has a bellydancer on Friday and Saturday nights. Isn't she cute? She did some really neat moves with those candles balanced on her head.

I got quite a bit of knitting done this week. The first of the Flying Carpet Socks is half done. I should be done with the lace repeats on the leg tonight, and be ready to do the cuff.

I got the first of the sleeves for Solo finished and sewed all the seams. The second sleeve is cast on and is about a quarter done. With luck, this jacket will be finished this week. Of course I said that a couple weeks ago didn't I?

I really like the way this is turning out and think it will get a lot of wear once finished.

I've also been doing some emergency alteration knitting. The sweater I made my stepdad for his birthday wasn't fitting quite right and needed a bit of attention. I had to buy more yarn and pray that the dye lots weren't too far off. It looks like it will work out ok, but if it's off too much I have a plan that should hopefully turn out not too bad. Ron wanted the ribbing to be a bit tighter, so I had to alter the pattern some. I've got the new ribbing knit, and I've cut off the old ribbing and picked up stitches so I can graft the new ribbing on. If the dye lots are enough different, I will need to knit new ribbing for the sleeve cuffs. The neckline was a bit too wide for him too, so I will knit that again using the new yarn. I'm hoping to have this done this week too, so he can hopefully get to wear it this year before it gets too warm.

New Project!

2009-02-10T20:01:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't manage to finish Solo, but I did finish the body and have just about 1/2 of a sleeve completed. Paul is going to be out of town tomorrow night and I envision a lot of knitting time :o)

Tonight I will weave in the ends on the finally completed gloves for Emily. I sure hope she likes these.

And, as a reward for being so darn good with sticking to those 3 projects for so long, I caved and cast on a pair of socks using the yarn my SP sent me. The dark yarn is not sparkly like it keeps photographing, but boy is it lovely to work with. I can't wait to get to the lace portion on the foot. Hopefully will have much more progress to show in my next post, but I am planning on concentrating on Solo during most of my knitting moments.

First FO of 2009!

2009-02-01T21:57:00.002-05:00

I got my second SP13 package this week! More fabulous sock yarn! I love the colors in these, and can't wait to cast on a pair of socks with them. Last weekend I picked up a kit with a Cat Bordhi sock pattern that I think this yarn will look great in. And, there should be enough of the darker color left to make some matching hand warmers. Along with the yarn there was a dpn holder and a book. Some of the cartoons in this book crack me up (like the one on the cover). Definitely worth picking up if you like knitting humor. If you're reading this SP, THANK YOU!!

I spent a lot of time this weekend working on Solo. The body is almost complete, and should be so if I have enough time to work on it tomorrow night after bellydance class. I'm still not tired of knitting on this, but boy am I tired of blogging about it. I'm going to put a lot of effort into finishing it this next week so I can pull out some other projects to work on.

I'm into the hand section of the second of Emily's gloves. I'm a bit gloved out now, so I think I'll hold off casting on a pair of these for me until later in the year. I'm itching to cast on some socks now.

I finished Jenn's gloves this week and she's very happy with them. If I'm not mistaken, my pair of these were the first FO for 2008, so it's only fitting that hers are the first FO for 2009.

I've done really well so far sticking to my plan to get all my WIPs finished up, but this method isn't doing my blog any favors. There's just only so much you can say, and so many photos you can show of the same projects over and over. If I'm bored with them, then I'm sure that anyone who reads this is just as bored. I may have to adjust my "rules" a bit and allow myself to add a new project if I finish one of the secondary projects. We'll see.

My husband, the haggler

2009-01-18T23:09:00.003-05:00

In December, we closed a refinance on our house. Much better interest rate, lower payment obligation, and if we continue to pay what we're used to paying, the mortgage will be paid off about 10 years early. Can't beat that!

Since we closed early enough in December, we didn't have to make a mortgage payment that month, and we didn't owe one in January either. Between that and the refund checks we received (PMI, escrow, and overpayment of tax estimate at closing), we had a bit of extra cash to spend on the house. We didn't really need anything, with the exception of livingroom furniture (but I'm not ready to get into that yet), I suggested we replace the dishwasher so all the kitchen appliances match, and put a hefty sum into our savings. Paul agreed. Until yesterday that is.

Friday night, one of the kids notified us that there was something wrong with the dryer. Paul was pretty sure it was just the belt and spent the better part of yesterday taking the dryer apart trying to figure out how to change it. Poor thing still doesn't get that Google is your friend. This morning, when he still hadn't gotten it figured out, I typed in "change belt on kenmore dryer", and the first link gave step by step photos. Within 10 minutes Paul announced that there was nothing wrong with the belt and it must be the motor. We decided to skip the dishwasher and replace the dryer instead. Off we went this afternoon to HH Gregg. It went something like this:

Paul: Let's just replace both the washer and dryer.

Me: OK, but I want a top loader so felting is still easy, and we have to make sure it has both a delicate and handwash cycle.

We decided on the Maytag Bravos 300 pair. The salesman came over to talk to us and write up our order. He asked if we were considering getting a new bed and told us that if we were willing to go try out their Serta mattresses, he could give us $10 off.

Paul: Is that $10 per body?

Salesman: Sure, ok.

Paul: Come on baby, let's go lay on some mattresses. (After we had tried out a few.) Dude, you got any chairs I can sit in.

Yes, sometimes just being around him is a hoot. At least the salesman laughed.

While the salesman was writing up our order and checking on delivery, Paul told him that we were going to look at dishwashers. He told me he was going to see what kind of deal he could get if we bought a dishwasher too, because you know with the economy what it is, people aren't just buying a bunch of appliances all at the same time.

Next, while the salesman was writing up the dishwasher information and checking on delivery and installation, Paul told him we were going to check out the mattresses again. The salesman quickly went to get his manager to explain the differences to us. Now, mind you, I was thinking this looking at mattresses was some kind of ploy, and I know better than to question Paul when he's in haggle mode (I always wind up saying the wrong thing within earshot of the wrong person and he gets mad lol). Paul was really working this purchase. We really do need to replace our mattress, but I didn't think now was when we would be doing it. Paul haggled with the salesman and made him think we were going to go for the "cadillac" of Serta mattress sets and had him go check with the manager on what kind of deal we could get if we purchased the washer, dryer, dishwasher, mattress/box spring set, extended warranty on the washer/dryer pair, had them all delivered and installed. We wandered around in the small appliances while the salesman went to talk to the manager. I saw the manager give us a look. I just know he was thinking that we were bored on Sunday afternoon and were just messing around and weren't going to purchase anything at all.

The salesman came back and gave us a price that wasn't to Paul's liking. Paul let him know that it was more than he was hoping for and let slip that all we really needed was a dryer and not the dryer we had chosen with so many options .... we were looking at one that was in the $350 range now and might just go with that, but if they could come down to $3,500 for the lot, including all the extras, delivery, installation, tax, the works, he would sign right now. I about choked since that was basically saying we would pay full price for the mattress/box springs and washer/dryer, and get everything else at no charge.

The salesman ran off to talk to his manager, and we got another one of "those" looks. After quite awhile, the salesman came back and said the best they could do was $3,900 out the door. Paul hesitated a bit, then asked him to go see what kind of deal he could get if he added in a garbage disposal and installation (since this house didn't have one and we never installed one).

After 2 1/2 hours at HH Gregg, we walked out with a receipt for a king size Serta mattress/box spring set, Maytag Bravos 300 washer/dryer pair, LG dishwasher, garbage disposal, extended warranties, delivery, haul away, and installation for $4,000 and change. Next time we need a dishwasher, I think I'll let Paul go shopping by himself ROFL.

Even with all that appliance shopping, I managed to get some knitting done.

Jenn's gloves are almost done. Just need to finish the thumb on the first, and the fingers and thumb on the second.

Not as much knitting done on Emily's gloves, but I am almost done with the first one. Need to finish the thumb, and I don't really care for the pinky finger, so I think I'm going to reknit it.

Solo has gotten some attention. A couple more evenings of knitting and I should be at the second sleeve opening.

A couple of closeup shots since the detail gets lost in the full photos. I love the combination of the red and fuscia.

Happy New Year ..... a few days late

2009-01-06T22:16:00.002-05:00

There's been a lot of progress on Solo. I've worked on it almost exclusively during my knitting time. Just about to the center back, so about 1/4 done with it. So far I still haven't lost interest in it, so I may just get to wear it this season instead of having to put it up until next year.

I did do a bit of work on both pair of gloves too, just not as much as on Solo. I'm ready to start the fingers on Jenn's first glove.

And I finished the second finger on Emily's

No urges to cheat on the new program to get the WIPs finished either, so that's a good thing.

I finally got tired of all the grousing I've done about the poochy belly I've gotten over the past year, and decided to do something about it. For our anniversary, Paul and I bought an elliptical and I love it. I've added some strength training in with my cardio workouts now and hopefully this will do the trick. I figure I only need to lose 10 pounds so it shouldn't take too long to get back to where I want to be.

We're trying out the Flat Belly Diet too. Tomorrow is the last day of our 4 day antibloat jumpstart. Can't wait for that to be over!! Gotta love having a smoothie every evening though. It's just not enough calories for me with the workouts. I am ravenous by the time we're supposed to eat our next meal. I'll be altering the rest of the diet to make dsure I get enough calories since it's still under what I really should be taking in. I want to lose that 10 pounds, but I want to be healthy too ya know?

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-26T23:39:00.007-05:00

So, what do you do when you realize that you started the year with 17 WIPs; have completed 58 projects during the course of the year; and look to end the year with 20 projects (more than you started the year with!) still on the needles?

Well, if you're anything like me, that's the perfect time to cast on 3 new projects LOL.

Jenn spied the Annemor 11 gloves I made last year and decided she wanted a pair like them in browns to match her winter coat. How could I resist casting on a pair of gloves for my daughter, who will hardly ever let me make her anything because she "doesn't like knitted things"? Obviously I couldn't resist. I only cast them on last night and I'm almost to the fingers of the first glove. This pair seems to be knitting up much faster than the pair I made myself.

I ordered 2 Hanne Falkenberg kits at the beginning of December. Never mind that I still have a Mermaid kit and Ping Pong kit sitting downstairs in the craft room that I got almost 2 years ago that I haven't cast on yet. I got a note from the distributor that they were on order and would be shipped as soon as they came in. I couldn't wait. My fingers were itching to knit up some lovely shetland yarn and the fairisle projects I had in the works just weren't cutting it. I dragged out the Mermaid kit from 2 years ago and finally cast on.

I am so enchanted with this colorway. It is going to be a really fun jacket!!

Of course, as soon as I cast on the Mermaid, my order arrived from Cucumberpatch! I've always been a sucker for new yarn, so of course you know I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cast on a second Hanne Falkenberg. I am just as enamored of this colorway and it should prove to be quite a fun jacket too! This pattern is Solo. The second kit I ordered this time around was Plisse. Good thing casting on Solo took the edge off the frantic obsession with starting new projects.

There has been progress on the fairisle project this past 10 days too. I finished the front of the Sipalu bag, picked up the 240 provisional cast on stitches, and am starting on the back now.

Emily's Gloves have a pinky!! I really love the colors I chose for this pair of gloves. I will definitely make myself a pair in the same colors during 2009.

Discovering that I now have 23 WIPs is a bit daunting. It's sad that some of them were on the WIP list at the end of 2007 (one is even from 2006!). I've created what will hopefully be a fun way to get some of these completed in 2009. And, if not fun for me, should at least prove entertaining for those who read this blog. Can I actually stick to this plan? Do I really have the willpower not to cast on something until I'm technically allowed to? Only time will tell.

I found a nifty little equation which will randomly choose from a list in Excel. Each time I open the spreadsheet, it will randomly choose something from my list of WIPs. This will be the project I must finish before moving on to anything else. Now, we all know that I cannot be monogomous to a project, so I've decided to make this a bit easier for me. Each time I use the random project finder, I will be allowed to choose 2 other projects to work on at the same time. The catch is that if I finish those first, I won't be able to knit on anything else until the main project is finished, so I'd better choose wisely. And, because for some strange reason, making the decision to work only on projects already started makes me want to cast on new ones that much more, I've decided that for every 2 projects on this list completed, I can cast on something new as one of my "other" chosen projects next time I use the random project finder.

I'm really quite thrilled with the first project that came up. I get to work on Solo! For my other 2 projects, I've decided to work on the gloves for Jenn and Emily. Wish me luck!!

A bit of progress, and a package received!

2008-12-16T22:05:00.003-05:00

I'm still a bit addicted to that new Diablo mod, and the holiday parties/get togethers are still filling up my calendar, so knitting content is a bit slim.

I did make some progress on Emily's gloves. I can't wait til I get to the next fairisle bit so I can quit turning them inside out to show the pattern.

The Sipalu bag continues to grow, although slower than I had anticipated. I realized the other day that this whole time I have been knitting it using the wrong size needles lol. Oh well, a bit smaller bag isn't such a bad thing. At least there's less room to lose my keys!

I received my first SP13 package this weekend! My wonderful pal sent me a skein of yarn she had dyed for me. I love the colors and can't wait to finish one of the projects I'm working on now so I can cast something on with it.

Along with the yarn, she sent some buttons and some beads. Both will come in handy for projects I have sitting on the back burner right now.

Jenn and I finished up our last bellydance class last night. Well, not our last forever, just the last of this session. The next session doesn't start until mid January, so for a few weeks I'll be able to visit a local crochet group that meets on Mondays.

Hopefully in my next post I'll be able to point to some photos taken at the hafta (party) our dance group had this past Saturday night. It was my first and was a ton of fun. Can't wait til I can actually put some of these moves I'm learning together and dance with the others!

Actually made time for some knitting!

2008-12-10T23:43:00.002-05:00

With holiday shopping and parties, too much time spent at work, getting absorbed in other crafts, and of course, the new Diablo mod being released, there hasn't been as much time for knitting as I usually have. I did manage to get a few things worked on this week though.

First, we have a little something special for Emily (my holiday purse swap partner), who sent me so much yarn I'll be in fair isle heaven for quite some time. I wanted to make her something from the yarn she sent, so I pulled out my copy of "Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves" and picked out a pattern I haven't yet knitted. Below is a photo of one completed cuff. That's only one evening's worth of knitting, so I think these will be done shortly after the holidays are over.

I also made some time to work on the Sipalu Bag (the pattern Emily sent with all that yarn). It's on dpns now as the stitch count was getting a bit too small for the circulars I had in the correct size. Even though this doesn't seem to be growing much, it's a fairly quick knit considering what little amount of time I've spent on it this past week.

I also pulled out the Ewe Jest Bag and added the handles finally. Found some really cheesy earrings while out shopping and thought they would make a nice accent on the bag. This bag will get a lot of use since the green is a color I really like to accent with in my wardrobe.

Not so sure about these handles now that I've attached them. I'm not particularly impressed with the way they look. I'll give it a go for a bit, but might change them out.

Catch Up Post

2008-11-30T19:52:00.005-05:00

Although this post is a bit photo intensive, I haven't been able to do much knitting or crocheting the past couple of weeks. For 3 weeks straight I put in a lot of overtime at work, and when I say a lot I mean 15-20 hours average per week. There wasn't much time to anything except work, eat, and try to catch a couple hours of sleep before starting it all over again. I put in so much overtime, I was able to take this past week (Mon-Wed) off work and won't notice any decrease in my next paycheck.

Before all that started, I finished up the bellydance hip scarf I was crocheting. It was a big hit at practice.

I also finished the crocheting portion of a bellydance halter. Beaded fringe will be added when I have enough time to string beads. I'm also going to make some kind of beaded tie to pull the front pieces together a bit. Even if I had something to hang out of this halter, I'm not so sure I'd want THAT much of it hanging out lol.

If I can find enough of the yarn, I'm thinking about making a skirt and gauntlets to match the halter.

I also finished the Swirly Girl socks! I love these so much. The yarn is so soft and yummy and the pattern was great fun to knit.

This past week I received 2 swap packages!

First was the holiday purse swap. My partner was great! She sent me tons of goodies and a great purse pattern.

The gigantic chocolate covered pretzels didn't last very long.

Aren't these stitch markers beautiful? I'm just about to the point where I can use them in my pattern.

Emily sent me the Sipalu bag kit from Knit Picks! I've been eyeing this pattern for quite awhile and I can't believe I actually received 17 balls of yarn in this swap! The colors are gorgeous and I couldn't resist casting on already.

Just finished the side panel and am about to start working on the front portion.

I bought myself the same pattern and yarn (in different colors) that I sent to Emily, and made this felted bag this week. I had these handles in my craftroom and think they will work great once the bag is dried and I've put the finishing embellishments on it.

The second swap package I received was from the Toy swap. My partner sent me 2 great toys. Isn't the bear adorable?

Also in the package was some knitting needles, a craft magazine from Australia, some fabric with turtles on it, 2 balls of really soft and silky yarn, and some sweets.

Now excuse me while I go kill some stuff ... there's a new mod out for Diablo :o)

SP13 - 24 Questions

2008-11-14T22:18:00.004-05:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I love natural fibers. Right now I am especially liking silk and linen blends. About the only thing I don't care for is 100% acrylic that squeaks on my needles.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Does storing them in WIPs count :o) I have a couple of sets that came in cases. Circulars I store in one of these holders that hang on the wall. My crochet hooks are mostly stored in a felted holder I made, and all the rest pretty much get thrown into whichever knitting bag I'm not currently using.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been both knitting and crocheting for over 20 years. I'd consider my skill level advanced, although there are always new techniques and tricks to learn.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? You can find my Amazon wish list here.

5. What's your favorite scent? I love lavendar, lilac, and light citrusy scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but chocolate covered pretzels are my downfall.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I love sewing my own clothes, and beading/jewelry making. I have a spindle, and would love to spin, but I just don't seem to have the patience for it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) Both my computer and my phone can play MP3s. I am a soft jazz junky (Nils, Rick Braun, Sade)

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I love most colors, but purples are my favorites. I'm not overly fond of orange unless it's a really warm autumnal shade.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I am married, and three of four adult children still live at home. The family pet is a border collie/lab mix named Doppler.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I love scarves, hats, and mittens/gloves. Rarely wear ponchos, but mostly because I haven't taken the time to make the ones I was really drawn to.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I knit a bit of everything except baby items (no babies to knit for). I seem to knit more sweaters and mittens/gloves than anything else though.

13. What are you knitting right now? Currently on the needles are 4 pair of socks, 2 bags, a felted turtle, a tank top, 2 cardigans, 2 pullovers, and a shawl. I am also crocheting a bellydance halter, a cami, an afghan, a shawl, and a vest.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? I LOVE handmade gifts.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Both straights and circulars have their uses, but I seem to use my circs most often. I have a set of Denise needles that I use quite often, and a set of KP Harmony needles that I adore. I don't much care for aluminum knitting needles, but I do use aluminum crochet hooks. I've just started using bamboo crochet hooks and I love them.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? I own both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO? I hate to admit that one of the cardigans currently on the needles is approaching it's second year.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe? Same answer to both ... Christmas.

19. Is there anything that you collect? Besides yarn and pattern books? LOL I collect lighthouse figurines and novelty tape measures.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I subscribe to Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, and Rowan. I'm considering a subscription to Verena. I keep meaning to buy Knit Couture: 20 Hand-Knit Designs from Runway to Reality, but never seem to get around to it. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never knit with Malabrigo, but I'd love to give it a whirl on the needles.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I've never done double knitting, and would like to one day.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I knit a lot of socks. My foot is 8 1/2" long and 7" circumfrence

23. When is your birthday? March 21

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID? On Ravelry I am HerHeart.

November Goals and other miscellaneous odds and ends

2008-11-03T23:31:00.004-05:00

I just had to share my daughter in her Halloween costume! Isn't she cute? Paul took her out back for a photo shoot in the dark to try out the night setting on his camera, and told her that ladybugs eat leaves. She was happy to oblige with this pose LOL.

November will hopefully prove to be quite productive on the WIP front. Of course, we all know I tend to think I can knit more than I actually can in the short timespan of a month. But, you know, that last day of the month seems to be so far off on the first, I just don't seem to be able to help myself.

First off, I am planning to finish the Swirly Girl socks. I am really liking this pattern, and the yarn I chose for it. The green is a wonderful merino sock yarn I purchased this past summer in Atlanta. The dyer can be found on Etsy (LotusYarns). I plan to purchase more of her yarn. It's been a dream to work with and I really like the colors. The contrast I am using is Claudia Handpaints' Fingering silk/merino.

Next on the list of WIPs I would like to finish in November is the Rose Wrap Shell. I finally got all the pieces put together and added the edging. All that's left is to weave in the seventybazillion and one ends, add the ribbon ties to the inside, and add buttons. If I don't go completely nuts weaving in ends, this should be done this upcoming weekend.

I didn't get the Dragon Scale Gauntlets finished in October, but they were my first FO of November. I like the pattern, but I'm thinking a solid color yarn would have been a better choice for this project.

I began the needle felting on the too small Ravenna Satchel yesterday while watching football. I didn't get very far, but I plan to spend some quality time with it this weekend. The ladies in the KAL were right. Even with just a bit of the needlefelting done, I can tell that it will make a huge difference in the looks of the bag. I bought some green handles at my LYS Saturday and plan to either use this as a handbag for myself or possibly gift it to someone. Along with having this finished by month's end, I would like to have the (hopefully fullsize) other one I currently have on the needles finished too.

I ran across some nifty crochet patterns in Ravelry Friday night and started one of them on Saturday. This will be a bellydance hipscarf, and it's going so quickly I should be done with it by next Monday when I start the intermediate classes. Along with this pattern, I also found a dance top, gauntlets, ankle warmers, zil covers, and a bag to carry my dance gear in. Eventually I will have all of them!

I have spent quite a bit of time with the Moorish Stripe Socks, and plan to have them done in November. Next time I want to make fair isle monstrous mutant mansocks on size 0 needles, would someone kindly kick me in the rear and remind me of all my whining about this pair?

Not pictured, but on the list of WIPs I want to complete in November, are the Sweetie Pie Cami, and a Pond Turtle for me. It's a long list, but I think fairly doable.

When I got home from work today there were 2 packages waiting for me.

I received my "Knitter's Treasure Swap" package from Lillian in Canada. She was a great swap partner. I hope she likes what's in her box as much as I like what was in mine.

I received:

IK Holiday Gifts 2008 (great pair of fingerless mitts in there I have got to make)

Japanese Crochet book (lots of great patterns I can't wait to try out)

post it notes

magnet

puppy dog bookmark

lip balm

lavender soap

mini crochet hook

hand made birch needles

Noro Sock yarn

2 skeins Blue Sky Alpacas alpaca/silk

The alpaca yarn is so yummy! I've been petting it all evening. Can't wait to find the perfect pattern for it.

The other package was my "Holiday Ornament Swap" package. Suzanne was my partner this time around and I received 2 great ornaments. The mittens are adorable and I love how elegant the gold/pearl one is.

She also sent me a bar of dark chocolate mint, which is all but gone now, and some hazelnut creme coffee which will get me going tomorrow morning. All of that was boxed up in this adorable handpainted box which will be a great decoration on a table in the livingroom for the holidays. Along with the ornaments and treats, she sent a bone dog toy she knitted for Doppler. He's making out pretty well in swaps LOL. It's so cute how he's playing with it. He almost never plays with toys, but he's playing fetch with this all by himself. Throwing it across the room, then chasing it. And when he gets bored with that, he's using it as a pillow LOL.

Below are photos of the items I sent Suzanne. The vase cover is from Vogue Holiday 2008, and I can't remember where I found the idea for the crocheter's ornament, but when I saw Suzanne crocheted too, I couldn't resist making her one. There will be one just like it on my own tree this year.

A Few More FO's for October

2008-10-28T19:49:00.003-05:00

Well, it's official ..... I'm a total idiot!

I had all those nifty swap projects that I was waiting to post about after the partners received their packages. I took lots of photos. I boxed up the packages. I shipped them off to their recipients. I can't find most of the photos!!! I do have a couple, but I'm going to have to rely on my partners to send me photos so I can show them off :o(

Admidst all that swap crafting, I did manage to get some things finished for myself too. Today I whipped up a dragon bookmark since I met a couple of goals and the rest of the October goals are in sight.

I also finished up the first Dragon Scale Gauntlet. Still pretty sure I can finish the other before October ends.

Last night while watching the game, I finished the last of the Pond Turtle parts and got them sewed together. Paul is quite happy with it! I now have a pink one on the needles for myself.

Isn't he cute?

Sad news. I was so thrilled to have the Ravenna Satchel all knitted up. The felting didn't go so well. It's not bad, and I will finish the project probably as a gift for someone since there's really nothing horrible about it, but it's too small for what I wanted so I'm not happy with it. All the black pieces felted beautifully. The intarsia piece however, was doomed. First, it twisted up really tight in the center during felting. The ends felted, but the center stretched out and didn't felt at all. I untwisted it and sent it through again. It felted the second time in a big way. The worst part is the pillowcase I had it in came open during the spin cycle, and all the long hairy alpaca that shed came out and clogged up the washer. Poor Paul spent all day Saturday taking the machine apart and digging out crud that resembled dead guinnea pigs, then trying to put the washer back together again. I felt horrible for him.

I've since bought more yarn (sans any alpaca or fiber that will require a full blown haircut after felting and will threaten the washer again) and cast on again. I will have my full size Ravenna eventually.

While Paul slaved over the broken washer, I took my mother out for her birthday gift. A day at the spa! I booked us for facials, manicures, and pedicures. It was so much fun! Neither of us was thinking too clearly for the event however, since we both wore socks and closed shoes. Ummmm that doesn't work too well with freshly pedicured feet. After sitting with our feet and hands under the dryers for about 1/2 hour, we went off to lunch sporting those wonderful spa sandals that are more like black pieces of paper than footwear. Mine kept folding under my feet and I was walking funny. At least our nails dried enough for us to put on our own shoes before we hit the mall. All in all it was a great day!

More progress than I'm allowed to show

2008-10-19T21:44:00.003-05:00

I've finished quite a few projects this week. Some of which I can't show yet because they are for swaps and you never know who could be lurking about. I do have photos of them, so I know they've arrived at their destination, I can let you peek.

This morning I put the finishing touches on the Tommy Nobis Amigurumi. I think he's cute as can be, but I'm not quite satisfied with the felt embellishments. I downsized this project to about 6" (about 1/2 the size of the pattern), so the felt pieces were teeny tiny. Sewing them on caused some to shrink up and some to stretch out. You can clearly see what I mean with the numbers on the jersey. They both started out the exact same size. Hmmmmm I might redo those as it is kind of bothering me.

I love the little cleats! They are the posts of doll eyes pushed through the shoes from the inside. Too adorable.

The little falcon on the side of the helmet turned out better than I thought it would. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

I even added his name to the back of the jersey. The only thing he doesn't have is the football. Oops, forgot to buy brown yarn. Next trip to the LYS though.

Friday night I finished up the Nutkins! Yea a whole week early, which means I get to relax this week and work on the projects I want to instead of the projects I need to.

While I had the felt out this morning, I finally decided to give the poor dragon some eyes. I didn't like the white felt, it just seemed too stark. So he has pink eyes. Makes him look a bit formidable doesn't it?

Tonight I finally finished up the intarsia piece of the Ravenna Satchel. I'll start the felting either tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm really excited about having the knitting portion done on this project. The needle felting and embellishing is going to be so much fun.

I pulled out the Dragon Scale Gauntlets this weekend too. They work up pretty quickly when I put my mind to it. I might make these my next goal to finish up.

Friday night I finally faced reality and frogged the Sweetie Pie Cami. Not sure why I waited so long. Maybe I had this dream that if I thought about it long and hard enough, the brown yarn would grow another 200 yards or something. Since it didn't happen, I decided to redesign my redesign. Now it will be a colorblock cami. I will keep the empire waist and go up a hook size below that so it's not so body skimming where I don't want it to be. Below the empire waist I will change the colors. There will be plenty of yarn to complete the project now.

Goal update

2008-10-13T21:08:00.004-05:00

We are almost midway through the month, so it's high time for a goal update. Let's see, there was:

The Ravenna Satchel - I think I've maybe completed 5 more rows since last photo .... not looking good, but I still have hope. I just need to spend some quality weekend time with it is all.

Dragon Scale Gauntlets - completed one repeat of the pattern. Again, not looking too good, however, I still have hope. That repeat didn't take me long, so I set them aside for something that was taking longer. Just need to finish a couple of those and spend some quality time with this project.

Sweetie Pie Cami - Am almost out of yarn, am positive what I have left isn't going to make this top nearly long enough to suit me, and can't for the life of me find another skein anywhere! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr I think it will be back to the drawing board with this. I'll need to figure out a way to add more of the pink variegated yarn into it to get more length.

Filet Crochet Dragon Throw - haven't worked a lick on it since my last update. I still think I can have it finished this month. This week should see some progress on it.

Yesterday Once More - I have only completed one more row since last update, but since I already declared this not about to be finished until at least Spring, I am not worrying about it in the least.

Rose Wrap Shell - Am almost done with all the motifs, and have attached all that are already compelte. Another night or two on this and it will be done.

Pond Turtle - I have about 5" of an unfelted piece completed. Need to spend more time with this adorable turtle.

Tommy Nobis Amigurumi - At last update, Tommy resembled a black ball. The next time I tried to work on him, it was to add the embelishments to his helmet. Lo and behold I couldn't find one single photo of Tommy Nobis wearing a black helmet. His helmet was always red (at least in his photos). I cursed Paul every second of crocheting the second attempt at a helmet, because afterall, if you're going to crochet your sweetheart his idol, you gotta make sure the helmet is right! As of now, Tommy resembles a red ball LOL. I will get over my snit at having to start over in a few days and give him some appendages.

Aran Tree Skirt - Finished!!!!! And I love this more than I can say. Can't wait for Christmas to get here so I can replace the falling apart old tree skirt we have and display this one.

A closeup of the cablework. It just doesn't photograph well (or perhaps it's me that just can't take photos?) unless it's close up.

Nutkins - Spent quite a bit of time on these this past week and am happy to report that they should be complete a full week earlier than needed. By all rights I should be able to finish these up Friday night.

Again, the pattern just doesn't show up in photos unless it's a closeup.

Fierce but Friendly Dragon - finished except for eyes. His wings are a bit droopy, so I think I'll add some craft wire to them so they can be posed. His little legs are moveable and I love that I can make him sit and watch over my stash.

He looks a little like a flying dog here doesn't he? Hopefully the addition of eyes will rectify that.

And, since I really didn't think I had enough to keep me busy in October, I cast on another project this week. These are the Swirly Girl Socks I am knitting for the Obscuriosity KAL group on Ravelry. Love this pattern! So much fun to knit.

A very busy month ahead

2008-10-05T20:19:00.005-05:00

I did manage to meet the September goals I set for myself. October might just be a different story however. I think I may have bit off a bit more than I can chew (or knit/crochet as the case may be), but I'm going to see just how close I can get.

Yesterday, I presented my stepdad with his Lowry Pullover. I was so nervous that it wasn't going to be long enough, but it fits great! He's one of those northerners with the great internal heater, so I don't think he'll be wearing this a lot, but I hope he enjoys the times it's cold enough for him to need it.

I received my ornament from an angel in the Holiday Ornament Swap I signed up for. My original partner fell off the face of the earth and was never heard from after filling out her questionairre. Although she says it is not necessary, I plan to send my angel one of the Victorian Skates ornaments I've made.

Isn't this the cutest? I love it!!

Now to those October goals I set for myself.

First up is the Ravenna Satchel. I really want to have this done this month. I am done with all but the intarsia piece so hopefully I can felt next weekend. The intarsia is slow going though. Even using butterflies, my yarn keeps getting tangled. And this yarn likes to leave fluff on the other colors that it touches. Even with the extra time it is taking to complete this piece, I still think this goal is doable.

Then there's the Dragon Scale Gauntlets I cast on for the Dragon KAL/CAL group. I am using some Cascade Bollocine I had in my stash. I'd love to have these done in October, but am not going to sweat it if I don't.

The Nutkin socks have to be done in October. They are a gift and need to be done no later than 10/25. I really need to give these a bit more attention than I have this past week if I am going to meet this goal.

Another Dragon KAL/CAL project. Here be a dragon snout! Again, I'd love to have this done in October, but no biggy if it takes another week or so.

The Sweetie Pie Cami really needs to get finished. It crochets up too quickly to be languishing in my project bag the way it has been. I've taken some liberties with the pattern in hopes of making it more flattering for my body type (no boobs and that telltale 40ish tummy pudge).

I started another throw this month. This one should be done in October if I keep working on it at the rate I have been so far, but it really doesn't have a deadline so may wind up cast aside for other projects.

This particular project will not be complete until at least Spring. This is the very beginnings of a suit made from size 10 crochet thread. I will be taking my sweet time with this project.

Along with the projects listed above that I want to have complete in October, here are the others that I want out of the project bags:

Aran Tree Skirt
Rose Wrap Shell
Tommy Nobis Amigurumi
Pond Turtle

See what I mean about that biting off a bit too much?? Wish me luck!!

Success at last!

2008-09-28T21:16:00.004-05:00

This is an awful photo of it, but I finally finished the Lowry Pullover. And, with a week to spare too! I'll definitely get some photos with the recipient wearing it. Hoping to gift it next weekend.

I also had time last night to finish up the Feather & Fan Throw for Paul. A very productive Saturday indeed.

Today I pulled out the Rose Wrap Shell and worked on it a bit. I can only work on it so long though since I am at the point where I am attaching all those motifs together. It's difficult to see what you're doing if you don't have it laid out flat, and then you wind up sitting hunched over to do the connecting. It doesn't take long for the back to start aching. Good thing I can get quite a lot done in just 30 minutes of working on it since that's about the timespan I can handle sitting in that position. I'll probably pick at this a bit each night until it's finished.

Last weekend I spied a great pattern on Ravelry, but couldn't find it in the designer's Etsy shop. I messaged her and asked if it was still available. Imagine my surprise when she messaged back that it was a brand new pattern and she was offering it free to the first 25 people who asked and I was on the list! I really can't wait to finish this. It's the most adorable Pond Turtle. One of the better turtle patterns I've found. Below is the first of many of these I'm sure I'll make. As soon as Paul saw the photo on the pattern he announced that he wanted one. The top shell is his choice of colors in Kureyon. And the contrast color is Cascade.

Check out Woodrose's Etsy Shop to see a photo of the finished turtle. He's really quite perfect.

I spent some quality time today on the Ravenna Satchel too. The bottom piece is complete, and I am half done with the back. I should be able to finish the back and get a good portion of the top band done tomorrow night while watching the football game. Then I get to work on the fun intarsia piece. Most likely I will be ready to felt it next weekend.

Swap Package Received!!

2008-09-22T21:48:00.003-05:00

Before I get to the goodies, let me share a few finished projects.

I finished up the Mid Month Dishcloth pattern on Sunday morning. Pretty soon I'm going to have to quit making these. My kitchen is full and there's no more room in the bathroom basket for more face cloths. Or, maybe I just created my entire Xmas gift list for next year lol.

Dairigon was finished up yesterday afternoon. She is too cute!

And, I whipped out this tree ornament in record time yesterday too. I'll be making a few more of these for friends and family. I love the little paperclip blades.

I received my Great Knitted Purse Swap package today. I love the bag!! My partner did a great job on it. She knit it using Noro Kochoran. Yummy wool/angora/silk. I didn't get a photo of the lining, but it coordinates beautifully. I tried to get a good photo of the cabling, but it just wasn't to be.

She also packed the box full of goodies.

There is yarn (dyed by her in the colors I said were my faves, I believe), stitch markers, and an adorable puppy tape measure to add to my collection. Lots of Mary Kay "purse essentials", including body lotions, eye primer, lip mask, lip gloss, and nail polish. Two kinds of Burt's Bees lip balm.

The Huggable Hedgehogs pattern from Fiber Trends which I keep wanting to get, but just never have. A felted hat that fits perfectly and makes me feel like a Gabor sister. I need to make some felted mittens to match this!

And notice that little bag beside the hat? Yeah, the one with the obvious puppy dog paw prints on it. Well, it is filled with the yummiest looking cookies dipped in "chocolate". Or at least I thought it was. I totally blame my lapse of logical thinking on the fact that I am suffering from a severe case of medicine head and it's Monday to boot.

I posted my thank you and show off post in the Ravelry group and mentioned I couldn't wait to try the sweets after dinner tonight. Good thing I went to bellydance class before eating dinner. When I got home, I had a message from my partner which read "I don't know how to tell you this, but the cookies are actually special dog treats." LOL sweetie that she is, she sent goodies for Doppler as well as for me. He's drooling and begging for more, and I am happily munching on a chocolate chunk macadamia nut cookie that I got at the store when I picked up my meds today.

I am soooooo close to finishing the Lowry Pullover. And drat it all, I'm going to run out of yarn!! I guess it will be tomorrow night .... that is if my LYS has a ball of what I need, otherwise I'll have to order it. There is no way I am going to find the correct dye lot, but I'm not going to worry about that. I only need enough to do about 6 more rounds of the collar and seam it up. If I ever contemplate making a monstrous mutant man sweater that calls for 32 (but actually needs 33) balls of yarn to complete, I sincerely hope someone smacks me upside my silly head with a sledgehammer!

Next up to complete on the never ending WIP list are the Aran Tree Skirt and the Feather & Fan Throw.

Photo Intensive!

2008-09-18T21:05:00.006-05:00

I've been meaning to post for about 2 weeks now, so I have a LOT of photos built up.

Let's start with the hurricane force winds that Ohio endured Sunday evening. Paul and I were watching a football game when it started. We had to close the bedroom window because the winds were blowing things around! Then the lights went out. Uggggg no more football.

Paul had to go out back to try to secure our back porch awning. The wind ripped part of it off and it was flapping around making all kinds of noise. I was afraid a good gust would pull the whole thing off and it would go flying around the neighborhood and hit someone.

Next thing you know, crack CRACK BOOM BOOM. I ran to the front window and couldn't believe what I saw.

Look how close that limb (ummmmm that's the understatement of the year, both of them that fell were as big as some of the trees in our neighborhood) came to the cars. Both cars were brushed by the smaller limbs, but no real damage to either. The Caddy has a couple of scratches on the bumper that we feel pretty sure will buff out, and the Lincoln came out unscathed.

Here is a view from across the street which shows the size of these things a bit better. You can't even see our whole house or either car in this shot.

And my favorite shot of the size is Jenn goofing off. We have fantastic neighbors who went from house to house on the street. Those with chainsaws cut up the fallen trees, those without helped haul the cut pieces to the street. I consider myself very fortunate to live where I do. The city sent crews out to gather up everything that was piled up by the road ... high taxes come in handy at times like this.

Our electric was restored by 6AM Monday. There are still quite a few here in Central Ohio who are doing without power. Our office power was restored at some point last night and today was our first day this week in the office.

Now on to knitting/crochet projects. I've been inflicted with a horrible case of startitis this month, but I'm not doing a whole lot to get rid of it. I have a few goals to meet, and as long as my bright shiny new projects don't seem to be keeping me from attaining them, I plan to start whatever I feel like.

I discovered a great amigurumi designer about a week ago and ordered 2 of her patterns. Although this looks like nothing more than a black ball, it will soon be an adorable football player for Paul. I am doing him in the Atlanta Falcon colors, and will embellish him with Tommy Nobis' name and number.

One of the knitalongs in the Crochet on Ravelry group is the Turnberry Cardigan. I found some yarn in my stash (originally slated to become a skirt I have since lost interest in making) which worked up a great swatch, and will start on it in full earnest once the first of my September goals is met.

Speaking of the first of my September goals. It is now in sight and I am once again excitedly knitting away on the Lowry Pullover for my stepdad's birthday. My goal is to have it finished by 9/25, but it looks like I just might have it finished up this weekend. A few extra days off work did wonders for my progress!

Another newly started project is the Sweetie Pie Cami. Once again using stash yarn which had been sitting neglected in the craft room. It is working up quickly and should be done by month's end.

Yet another newly started project that worked up quickly is the Cable Car Hobo bag. It worked up so quickly in fact, that I never did get to post an in progress photo of it. I am inordinately pleased with the way this turned out. The embellishments on the straps are leather strap bracelets that I found at JoAnn's, and I bought some "charms" to add to them. I added a closure since I'm not so keen on having a purse that is so open all the time. It's not much, but the weight of the glass pendant bead is just enough to discourage someone from slipping their hand into it.

Yet more crochet. I've been on an amigurumi/toy kick lately. They are all so darn cute I just can't resist myself. Below is the first of a series of dragon projects you will see in my blog.

All my crochet projects are really helping to clear out the stash. Below is a project from Sensual Crochet ... the Rose Wrap Shell. The yarn coordinates with that I'm using for the Sweetie Pie Cami and hopefully the two will go well together. As long as I don't lose interest in the Shell weaving all those ends!

I had Paul get a photo of the Flickering Flames Skirt when I wore it to work. I really love this skirt and might make more lace skirts in the future.

As if I didn't have enough projects to keep me occupied, I fell in love with the Ravenna Satchel and bought yarn to make it. I can't wait until the Lowry Pullover is finished so I can really concentrate on this project. If you've never seen this bag, check it out at www.tinkknit.com.

I guess I've gone bag happy as well as crochet happy lately. Below is the only photo you're allowed to see at this point of the fabulous bag (even if I do say so myself) I made for the Great Knitted Purse Swap. I have photos to post once my partner receives her package. I just knew I was going to love this bag, so purchased yarn to make myself one too. Haven't gotten a photo of that yet, but will once I allow myself to cast on.

Poor little socks haven't gotten much attention yet, but they will soon. Only about an inch done on the Nutkin socks I am making for my mother's birthday. I'm hoping to have them done by 10/25 when we have a spa day planned.

And, last but not least, the Schoolhouse Dishcloth, which was the September Dishcloth KAL pattern.

I think that's it in the knitting bags beside my bed for now. And, if I'm lucky, I won't wait quite so long to post again. Organizing all those photos was a pain and took up too much precious crafting time this evening!!

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Psycho Knitter!!

2008-09-01T15:58:00.004-05:00

The Russian Coat really deserved a photoshoot, so out into the warm weather I went, looking like a complete imbecile wearing it. Now, you all know that I always complain about my photos. I just can't pose to save my life, that's all there is to it. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I've never been able to overcome it.

This project warranted more than my normal Franken Delana pose, so I told hubby to let me know if that's the look I was going to get instead of just snapping like he usually does.

Ummmm in the first sideview photo, he snapped while I was talking to him. Well, an odd pose, but at least it's not Franken Delana.

The second isn't too bad. I just wish that the sun wasn't making me squint so badly.

And then the fun started. After looking at the first photos (some of which will never come off my computer), I told hubby that I should just quit trying because I'm never going to be happy with my "poses". He told me to quit posing and just "do" something.

"Like what? Throw up my arms and spin around in circles?"

You can clearly see the point in the ridiculous act that he said "Look at me, I'm a bird!"

Because I started laughing uncontrollably.

After finishing those 31 shots using the sports action setting on the camera, we went back to a couple of poses.

I love how the additional hexagon I added to the sleeve resulted in a point on the back of my hand. The pattern called for a partial hexagon to be knit at the end of the sleeve, which made the point on the palm. Even if the sleeve had been long enough knitted as the pattern called for, I think that point on the palm would have driven me insane every time I wore this.

Hubby always manages to get a "butt shot" in at the end of taking photos. That man just isn't right!

Final post for August

2008-08-31T21:47:00.002-05:00

This month has been very good for my WIP count. I have 15 right now, but at one point in August it was over 20!

Earlier in the week I finished the needle felted pot holder. Although I am pretty pleased with my first foray into needle felting, the obvious spiral look of the apple bothers me a bit. I tried asking in the KAL group if this was normal or if I was doing something wrong. LOL the answer to that question was more like an advertisement for the called for yarn in the pattern we will be doing than any actual help on the matter at hand. I guess I'm on my own! It doesn't look as fuzzy now since I got some batteries for the sweater shaver and defuzzed it.

Last night while rewatching Heroes season 1, I finished up the Tissue Tote I crocheted for my Great Knitted Purse Swap partner. Hey the purse needs to be knitted, but nobody said anything about crocheted goodies to go into it :o) Jen wants something like this now to keep her makeup in. Guess what got added to my Ravelry queue last night? Yep, a gazillion and one cosmetic pouch patterns.

Yesterday afternoon I finally finished the #$@%#$ picot bind off on the Flickering Flames Skirt. It was finished blocking early in the evening and I can't wait to wear it to work! This one just seemed to go on and on and on and on. No matter how much I knit on it, it never seemed to gain any length.

And guess what I spent today finishing? WOOHOO the Russian Coat is finally off the needles! If you recall many months ago, I threw this thing in the craft room when the second skirt I knit turned out not too wide for the bodice, but not wide enough and too short. Bound and determined not to let this thing get the best of me, I refused to knit yet another skirt. Instead, I knit a ribbed waistband to both lenthen the coat and connect the mismatched pieces. I started with a k2 p3 at the bodice, decreased to k2 p2 for most of the waistband, then finally decreased to k2 p1 for the last inch or so. I can't believe something finally worked!

Now I can't wait for it to get cool enough to wear it. I deserve it after all that work :o)

Ask and ye shall receive

2008-08-26T21:36:00.002-05:00

I asked for a productive Sunday, and I got it! Paul decided Saturday night to go on a little road trip, and I chose to stay home and relax with my many WIPs. When I'm alone I get into a "knitting zone" and it's amazing how much I accomplish.

I had put this little dishcloth away when UFOlympics started, so I pulled it out and finished it.

Then I cast on for the mid month dishcloth and finished it tonight.

I also crocheted this little bookmark in about an hour and a half. I'll be making more of these as gifts since they work up so quickly and look so nice. This one will go to my Great Knitted Purse Swap partner.

Not pictured is the felted potholder post felting since I want to wait until the needle felting is done. I started on that tonight. I decided not to draw the apple first and just try my hand at freehanding it. I'm pretty pleased with the result so far. The apple is outlined, the stem is done, and the leaf is done. Filling in the apple using just one needle is going to be a bit tedious, so I might go get one of those tools that holds several needles to do larger areas to speed up the process a bit. It should be complete tomorrow and if I have time I'll post a photo.

After working on all those little projects, I pulled out China Doll and finished her up! I wore her to work today and I can't say how pleased I am with this top. It is cool and comfy being cotton, and the stitch pattern is very form fitting. It stretches in all the right places and pulls in in all the right places.

Please ignore the sappy look in my eyes. I'd say it is due to a very busy and stressful day at work, but I just don't take "posed" photos very well. I think I'm always afraid the flash will make me blink at the wrong time so I try to force my eyes to stay open ..... and we get Franken Delana.

She's got a Fat Bottom!

2008-08-23T22:18:00.002-05:00

It's amazing what the weekend coming can do for your disposition. Three days ago I was ready to take a few people's (and I use that term lightly) heads off, but today I am in fine spirits.

I never did get a chance to take an in progress photo of this little project. I made the Fat Bottom Bag from "Stitch n Bitch: The Happy Hooker" for my daughter. In her favorite color scheme of lime green and hot pink no less.

Since she's such a girly girl, I had to add a bit of bling.

I just adore the lining fabric I found. It suits Jenn.

We went on a shopping excursion this evening in search of belly dance hip scarves. We'd been told about a shop in the Short North that carried them, so off we went. Jenn picked out a cute pink one naturally, and I got a bright yellow one. Maybe I can get Paul to take a photo of us before class on Monday. While we were wandering around looking for the Turkish shop, we ran across a great candle store. The owner was burning a few out front and they smelled divine. We had to go in of course. We wound up spending a pretty penny on candles, but the house smells great right now! Keep an eye on http://modmod.us/ and once the online shopping is set up, get a candle or two. You won't be disappointed I promise.

Since I gave up on UFOlympics I figured it wouldn't hurt to pull out another project to work on. I was really close to finishing up China Doll when the Olympics started and was sad to put it away for two weeks. I'm pretty sure this can be finished up tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

I probably would have finished up China Doll today, but I joined yet another group on Ravelry. It's a KAL for the Ravenna Satchel, a fabulous felted bag knit in intarsia then needle felted. My pattern is ordered and I can't wait to receive it. I've never done needle felting before, so decided I should probably try my hand at it on a practice project before jumping into the bag.

This afternoon I bought needle felting supplies and picked up a few skeins of wool to make a felted potholder.

Here it is pre felting. Tomorrow it is into the machine with it, then once dry I plan to needle felt an apple on it. I'm not much of an artist when it comes to drawing, but I figured how hard could an apple be? I have a couple of disappearing ink pens for quilting that should come in handy to outline my apple before trying the needle felting.

I haven't completely neglected the UFOlympic WIPs. I did a few rounds on the Flickering Flames skirt, did one repeat of the cable pattern on a Lowry sleeve, and managed to do a few rows of the Tree Skirt today. All in all a very productive Saturday indeed. I'm hoping Sunday will be more of the same.

I flunked UFOlympics

2008-08-20T22:00:00.002-05:00

When knitting becomes so stressful that you don't want to go out to dinner because you will lose some of the precious little time you have to complete an unreasonable goal you set for yourself, then it's time to back off.

I've officially called it quits with UFOlympics and plan to finish my declared projects whenever I finally get around to it.

And, can I just say (I apologize to those of you offended by strong language, but sometimes softening it just doesn't get the point across) ....

My job really sucks ass. Funny how I think of it as a job now when not so long ago I considered it a career. I've lost all respect for some of the weasly cocksuckers who are supposed to be senior management (and that's sad since I'm a member of that group). And, I hope the arrogant mofos find this surfing the net (although they're so damn arrogant that they wouldn't possibly consider this to be about them)!

Well crap! Venting usually helps, but I don't feel one lick better than I did when I finally got to leave the office tonight.

UFOlympics day 12

2008-08-19T18:27:00.004-05:00

I'm really not doing well posting progress during UFOlympics on a regular basis, but I get so little done on each project, you'd all get bored anyway!

The Aran Tree Skirt is over half done now and according to my handy dandy spreadsheet I only need to spend about 2 hours per day knitting on it to get it done in time :o)

You can't see a lick of difference between today's photo of the Flickering Flames Skirt and the last, but according to the aforementioned spreadsheet, I only need to knit on it 2 1/2 hours each day to get it done :oP

I didn't take a photo of the finished back of the Lowry Pullover, but it is done and awaiting the front to be done so I can add the collar. I've done quite a bit of work on the sleeves despite what the photo may show.

And I got past the tedious cabled ribbing section on the front.

According to that dang blasted spreadsheet that I keep torturing myself with, I only need to spend a measly 4 hours per night on this to get it done :0/

Yes, my friends, that's a whopping 8 1/2 hours per day to complete my declared projects! Since there is only so much time I can make up on the weekends, and I can't possibly knit until 3AM each night and still get to work by 8AM bright eyed and bushy tailed, I sincerely doubt I'll be getting a gold.

Oh well, at least I should finish all 3 projects before the end of the month and that will bring my WIP count down to 18.

I'd chat more, but I really need to get cracking on that 8 1/2 hours of knitting I have ahead of me tonight LOL.

UFOlympics day 5

2008-08-12T20:40:00.002-05:00

Well, there's good news and bad news.

First off, something about the pattern for the Lowry sweater just wasn't sitting right with me. Ummmmm if I knit the sleeves to the length it says, they will be too short by about 3"!! Yowza, that's another 6" of knitting. At least at the beginning of the sleeves I get more bang for the buck since there aren't so many stitches.

Below is the effort of my "free" night of knitting, since I didn't count Mondays in my daily count.

I'm pretty sure I can get another 6" on them before turning in for the night. That should catch me up as I'm knitting them at the same time (obviously) so I get to subtract a whopping 12" off my total left to be knit.

After trying to convince myself that finishing all 3 of my projects was still doable, I noticed something else odd on my spreadsheet. (Yes, I'm so anal I'm actually using a spreadsheet to calculate what I need to knit each day in order to finish.)

WooHoo!!!!! When I calculated the stitch count in the Aran Tree Skirt, I used all 11 panels in the equation and neglected to subtract the 4 repeats I already had done! Now, instead of having to knit 1700 stitches per day, I only need to knit 900! Relief! I once again have myself believing that I actually might make it to the finish line :o)

As for the belly dancing ...... it was so much fun!!! Of course, this morning I could tell that I am not in shape at all. I could feel every single muscle in my body! I can already tell, after just one class, that I'll be signing up for the intermediate class.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled knitting.

UFOlympics day 3

2008-08-10T15:53:00.004-05:00

I had planned to post my progress every day for UFOlympics, but obviously I missed the first 2 days. I really have my work cut out for me. What the blooming blazes was going through my mind when I declared not just 1, but 2, less than 1/2 done big projects, along with the almost done one, is currently escaping me.

Friday night when I got home from work I pulled out the 3 projects to take stock of just what I had to do each day in order to finish all of them by the time the Olympics were over.

Ummmmm remember the Lowry pullover?

This was the state of it when I picked it up during the opening ceremonies. In order to finish it, I must knit approximately 5 inches each day.

Here is the state of it this evening. Not too shabby. This might actually be doable. Of course, this is the result of knitting many many hours yesterday and today. Unless I call in sick for the next two weeks I won't get this kind of progress again until next weekend.

A closeup of all that cabling going on. I was using those little blue/green/red plastic stitch markers for this, but they were digging into my hands and I thought a knitting injury would bench me for the remainder of the games. My wonderful hubby to the rescue. He actually went out in search of the soft purple and green stitch markers for me yesterday so I didn't have to give up knitting time to go shopping.

Remember the Aran Tree Skirt? This was the state it was in when I hid it in the craft room around March.

I actually had to figure out how many stitches were left in this one since it is knit in short row panels. Verdict? 21788!!! That's 1282 stitches per day in order to complete it by the end of the Olympics.

This is the state it is in this evening. Not much difference is there? As of this evening I need to knit about 1700 stitches on this per day to complete it. Not only did I not work on it Friday night, or much Saturday, but I realized that I was counting Monday evenings as "knit time" and shouldn't have been, so the count has gone up dramatically.

Remember the Flickering Flames Skirt? This is the state it was in back in July when I quit working on it so close to having it done.

Although it doesn't seem like much of a difference, this is the state it is in this evening. I've knit 8 rounds so far, and need to knit about 2 per day to get it done by the end of the Olympics.

Why can't I count Mondays as "knit time"? Well, I don't think I've mentioned it here yet, but my daughter wanted me to take belly dancing classes with her as her birthday gift. The class starts this Monday, so I figure any knitting I get done on Mondays will be catch up on what I haven't gotten done yet.

I do believe I will only be able to finish up the skirt and have to be happy with a silver LOL.

Comment Catch Up

2008-08-05T18:18:00.002-05:00

The one thing I don't like about Blogger is that I don't get email addresses to respond to comments. I usually forget to respond in my posts too. Oops, sorry about that! I'm really not ignoring you. I just hit "publish" then grab my needles and go back to work.

Let's see if I can remedy that tonight.

Kellistarr left a comment just gushing praise on me. I literally blushed reading it. She called me amazing and a dynamo. And, she said she noticed in the background of some of my photos that my house was clean LOL. Little does she know that I frantically pick up just before the photos are taken. I have 3 grown (20-24) kids living in my house who act like they're 4 years old and can't pick up behind themselves. I'd get no knitting done at all if I actually tried to keep the house as clean as I'd like it to be. That would be why all my knitting is in my bedroom. The one room in the house I don't have to worry about kids trashing. I practically live in that room. As a matter of fact, the biggest television in our house lives in our bedroom. How nuts are we to have a 42" flat panel tv on the wall of the bedroom??

She also asked what yarn I was using to knit the Roped Shell tank in. I am using GGH Silk. It's a bit splitty to work with, but so soft and luscious it's worth the trouble.

Stefaneener told me to quit worrying about how many projects I start. Her advice? Figure out a way that all the WIPs don't drive me crazy and just enjoy the experience. She's right. I'm going to quit stressing and just enjoy. That comment is the reason I didn't feel guilty one lick starting the new crochet tunic. Or, starting the crochet handbag the other night LOL. Photos of that in a future post. It will probably be done before I take one since it's such a quick to finish project. She also mentioned that she is envious of my crochet skills and says that hers are very much rudimentary. So were mine at one time. A word of advice for you Stefani, just pick out a small project and crochet away. You'll be doing tunics in no time. A nice thing about crocheting - a lot of people I know who can both crochet and knit say they crochet much faster than they knit. I know I do!

Susan liked the dress I sewed up last week. I tried emailing you Susan, but I'm not sure if it will get to you, since I couldn't find an email address, and made a guess at one LOL. The pattern is Butterick 4789. It would be a great project for you to get into the apparel sewing with. No zippers, no buttonholes, no collar or cuffs. Just 4 pieces, 6 seams, and a few narrow hems. Instant gratification.

Not so much for instant gratification are the Moorish Stripe Socks. I usually knit fairisle socks lickety split, but for some reason (the siren's call of the new crochet tunic perhaps?) I am just slogging away on this pair. Maybe the 2 week break from them while I work on my UFOlympics projects will get me back in the mood to knit them.

This weekend I pulled out the Feather and Fan Throw again. Sometimes you just need a quick knit on big needles. I'm hoping to be at the halfway point by this Friday when the Olympics start.

I tried to post these photos last night, but Blogger wasn't cooperating with me. After I did some work on it last night, this was the state of the China Doll crochet tunic. This is working up so quick I might have it done in the next couple of nights. After last night's work, it is now done to just below the bustline and I am starting on the waistline decreases tonight.

I'm thinking I might have to find some nice silky oriental print fabric to make a sheath dress to wear under it.

It's been a productive week

2008-08-02T21:06:00.003-05:00

The WIP count is now down to 17! And, that includes a new project that I started today to reward myself for finishing 3 that were in the pile.

This afternoon after I met a friend for some knitting I put the finishing touches on Granite. It's a bit on the cool side in my office, so I might try wearing this to work on Monday. I really liked knitting with the Bamboo Tape and will probably get some more one of these days for another project.

As soon as Granite was finished, I pulled out Eerie and did the seaming and weaving in of ends. This one will definitely be worn to work sometime this week. Turns out the fabric I bought to make a skirt is a bit too much on the pink side to go well with this, but it may work with Granite instead. I might try sewing it up tomorrow and trying it.

There's another finished project on the sewing side too. This dress was done in just a little over an hour.

It was so quick and easy to make that I plan to make at least one more. The pattern includes a top also, so I'll make a couple of those too. I had to do some altering of the pieces on this one. I don't usually cross sizes on patterns but on this one I was a size 10 for the bust, size 12 for the waist, and size 14 for the hips. Yep, just as I thought, all ass and no boobs LOL.

I was flipping through one of my Interweave Crochet magazines and came across a great tunic I had been planning to make. I'm trying to be good and not buy more yarn (gotta save for that new serger ya know), so checked out Ravelry to see what others had used. Score! Someone was making the top using Saucy Sport and I had enough of that in my stash to start the project as a reward to myself for knocking 3 off the WIP list.

Doesn't look like much now, but I am completely enchanted with it so there will be lots of progress before UFOlympics has me working frantically to finish up 2 more WIPs.

WIP Status Wednesday

2008-07-30T18:34:00.004-05:00

Not as much progress to report as Saturday, but there is progress nontheless.

Eerie has been holding my attention lately, and by all rights should be my next FO. I am almost done with the sleeve increases, and am about to start on the neck shaping for the front. Unless some other project takes my fancy this could be finished up by Friday. I certainly hope so, as I bought some great striped fabric for a skirt and I think this will go great with it.

The Moorish Stripe sock just about did me in last night. I worked an eye of partridge heel flap, and turned the heel. Next came the sole pattern and gusset decreases. The way this pattern is written just makes it so confusing to follow. Or, maybe it's just me. Anyway, I screwed it up at least 4 times before finally getting the pattern set. So all I have to show for an evening's worth of knitting is 3 rounds of sole pattern LOL. Now that the pattern is set, I'll hopefully be able to finish this sock stress free.

My craft room has become too full of knitting patterns, yarn, supplies, etc., and wasn't very conducive to sewing anymore. Hence, all the patterns and fabric I purchased many months ago have just been sitting neglected and ignored. Saturday afternoon I took the table apart, dragged it upstairs, and set myself up a sewing area in our familyroom/office. Hopefully this weekend Paul can install a light fixture above the table for me. A bit difficult to sew with the poor lighting in that room. I like my area so much, I actually finished an outfit. I put the final touches on the 2 pieces tonight.

The blouse is a bit too low cut for my body type, so a cami is a necessity. I'm not super happy with the neckline. I played with the rolled hem on my serger and probably should have done some more adjusting on the differential feed. It's a tad bit wavy, but will have to do.

I had some problems with both the sewing machine and serger making this outfit, and got it in my head that I wanted to replace both. The sewing machine is 20 years old, and the serger is 15 years old. Both are pretty basic machines and I received them as Xmas gifts. I don't know the price paid, but knowing my ex neither cost more than $300. I had quite the rude awakening when I was pricing new machines. Nobody can say that I don't have champagne taste, since the serger and sewing machine I am drooling over currently cost $2500 and $8100 respectively!! Holy cow! I'd have to take out a second mortgage to replace what I have. The serger is a no brainer even with the hefty pricetag. 90% of my sewing is done on the serger and I really want the features the new one offers. That will be replaced first. The sewing machine on the other hand will probably just be a dream.

Spreading the love (or why I have too many WIPs)

2008-07-27T09:08:00.004-05:00

I've been told I knit fast. If that is true, tell me please, why my WIP list seems to keep growing and nothing ever gets finished. I do suffer from a terrible case of startitis. I know this. It's something I've learned to live with (and so has Paul). But, my friends, you would think that the newly cast on project would gain quite a bit of progress before something new catches my attention. Not so! I have several WIPs that only made it to the 10 row or less point, and most were cast on at least 6 months ago.

Startitis isn't my only problem however. Very few of my WIPs really lose my interest. My problem is that I want to work on all of my WIPs. I rarely start something new and work on it exclusively. So, what happens is I get to do less on each WIP as new ones get added to the pile.

To combat this issue, I've tried putting all the WIPs in the craftroom and only allowing myself a few next to the bed to be worked on each evening. That will work fine for a day or so, then I find myself searching for something in the craftroom and spy one of those WIPs down there. The urge to spread the love to that WIP is strong and I think that adding it to what I already am working on couldn't possibly slow down progress on anything, so I haul it upstairs. Next thing you know, I can barely get into bed and poor Doppler gives me sad looks because I've taken up all his space and he can't lie next to me on the floor.

Lest you think I'm exaggerating:

This is the state of my bedroom. Mind you, I spied this as I was carrying yet another project bag up to be added to the pile. I immediately grabbed several of the bags already there that contained projects that could wait, all of the books and magazines squished between bags that didn't have patterns I was working on, and anything else that was just cluttering up the space, and hauled them all back to the craftroom. Hopefully, they will all stay down there until something in the bags left upstairs is finished.

This:

is what is left next to the bed. There are 4 WIPs and one project that is finished save for the weaving in of ends and sewing on of a button.

Now let's hope that I can resist starting the crocheted dress that I purchased this for yesterday. I was laughing with the owner of my LYS yesterday as I paid for this haul. I told her that I had no intention of starting a project with this in the near future, but I couldn't resist buying the yarn because it just made me feel better knowing it was downstairs waiting for its turn to be loved.

As for those projects left in the bedroom? I decided to keep track of how many rows, etc. I have completed on each of them since my last post to see if I only give the impression of knitting fast because I have so many things being worked on, or if I do really knit fast and give myself the impression that I don't because I spread the love too widely.

Since my last post I have:

Roped Shell

finished the last 6 repeats of the cabled hem
knit 17 rows of the pattern

Eerie

knit 51 rows finishing the back and casting on the front

Moorish Stripe Socks

knit 31 rounds finishing the leg of sock 1

Granite

knit 37 rows completing the second sleeve
knit the collar
sewed the 3 final seams

Feather & Fan Throw

knit 16 rows

All told that is a grand total of 152 rows , 1 collar, 3 seams, and 84 rows of cabled hem in 3 days. I guess I do knit fast. An average of 51 rows per day, considering I work full time, like to eat, need to clean house, and recently pulled out my sewing again, isn't too shabby!

WIP Status Wednesday

2008-07-23T18:03:00.002-05:00

Lately the "events" I've seen in the online knitting world have centered on WIPs. UFOlympics is right around the corner, and there's a new contest over at A Little Yarn On The Side.

Sadly, I think my final official declaration for UFOlympics is more than I can actually accomplish. Finishing the Flickering Flames Skirt shouldn't be a problem. Only about 16 rounds and the picot bindoff to do. But, even coming close to finishing the Lowry Pullover will be a miracle! For some reason, it seems to be taking me forever to finish a 12 row repeat of the pattern. At least working on it for 16 days should get it into a condition where I can actually have it done by its recipient's birthday!

The contest at A Little Yarn On The Side is to see who can finish the most WIPs before casting on a new project. I really wanted to join in on that one, but I know I need to cast on another gift before the contest would be over, and didn't want to set myself up to fail LOL.

I do need to get my WIPs under control though. I currently have 19 of them! Well, 19 unless I find some other poor neglected project that I've completely forgotten about in the craft room. Maybe giving a status on them every Wednesday will shame me into finishing something before casting on a new project.

Although still considered a WIP in my book (since I haven't woven in all of the ends), the knitting is done on the Ab Fab Throw. It is super soft and reminds me of rainbow sherbet.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I had purchased yarn to do another of the patterns that came with the Ab Fab Kit. As soon as the knitting was done on the above, I cast on this:

Manlier colors so Paul doesn't feel neglected. Casting it on kind of defeats that whole "get the WIP count down" motto though doesn't it? Hopefully I can be better in the future.

I haven't done much work on the Roped Shell, but since it's actually on the needles and started, I must count it as a WIP. I love the GGH silk yarn I am knitting it in. So luxurious! I really should put this towards the top of my "to complete" list since it's a sleeveless top and finishing it in December won't do me one lick of good.

Eerie is progressing nicely. The back should be completed tonight and hopefully the front will be cast on by this weekend.

No new photo of Granite, but it will probably be my next FO. One sleeve is finished and already seamed, the other is about 30 rows from completion. After that it's just a matter of doing a few seams, knitting the neck band, and sewing on a button!