Sometimes I Can Be

... 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

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.

So Close

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.

I'm a crochet demon

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?

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!

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.

Happy New Year!

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!

A Tale of Two Sweaters

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 ...

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!