Phoebe:
And Ricky:
"mph - yummy measuring tape" - Ricky
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
losing my mind and my purse
Can you believe that I walked out of knit nite without my purse? Yep, made it to within 2 blocks of my house, pulled into a gas station to get gas (daily gas wars - gas is cheapest after 8pm), and no wallet/purse. I drove the rest of the way home, rousted hubby from his Xbox gaming with my BIL, and made him drive me back to the yarn store. Luckily, F was still there and she let me in and my purse was on the sofa in the back. I have absolutely no idea how I walked out of there without it. Clearly, there is something wrong with me.
On to more exciting (and blog-relevant) news - did you see that my co-blogger actually blogged? She's got a lot of catching up to do - 3 months worth of knitting. Gladys has a lot of great things to show off so keep your eyes peeled.
Hubby's socks are fixed. I took off just over an inch in foot length and they fit much better. That means that he'll actually wear them now!
And in a moment of weakness, I, ummmm, cast on a new project. I started with the Austrian socks but the yarn I chose is a single ply and doesn't have enough stretch to execute all those twisted stitches and cabling. So I ripped it out and cast on the Friday Harbour socks. But the cuff isn't stretchy enough to fit over my *ahem* shapely calves so I might rip that out, too. If you've got some Briggs & Little sport, it's got some limitations. Otherwise, it's a great old-fashioned-rustic-eastern-Canada-scratchy kinda yarn.
If you don't count the just-cast-on sock, I now have 14 WIPs (down from 22 last week). I feel sooo much better.
On to more exciting (and blog-relevant) news - did you see that my co-blogger actually blogged? She's got a lot of catching up to do - 3 months worth of knitting. Gladys has a lot of great things to show off so keep your eyes peeled.
Hubby's socks are fixed. I took off just over an inch in foot length and they fit much better. That means that he'll actually wear them now!
And in a moment of weakness, I, ummmm, cast on a new project. I started with the Austrian socks but the yarn I chose is a single ply and doesn't have enough stretch to execute all those twisted stitches and cabling. So I ripped it out and cast on the Friday Harbour socks. But the cuff isn't stretchy enough to fit over my *ahem* shapely calves so I might rip that out, too. If you've got some Briggs & Little sport, it's got some limitations. Otherwise, it's a great old-fashioned-rustic-eastern-Canada-scratchy kinda yarn.
If you don't count the just-cast-on sock, I now have 14 WIPs (down from 22 last week). I feel sooo much better.
Ricky sez: "I'd feel better if you rubbed my belly"
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Working backwards
Yes, Dotty, I'm still here!
I'm home sick today, and wearing the acrylic sweater that my mommy knit for me 25+ years ago because it makes me feel good when I'm not feeling well.
It's been so long since I've posted that I'm just going to start from my recent FOs, and work backwards to Christmas, over the next few weeks.
First up, and finished this week: Coriolis socks in Noro Silk Garden Lite. I used the online pattern because I didn't want to be flipping pages all over the place when I was on the SkyTrain. With this thick yarn, it knit up super-quickly. I cast on last Friday, and finished them on Monday.
And did you notice that they're on the super-funky sock blockers that you gave me for Christmas? I also used the super-cool sock bags that you gave me, as well, for carting this project around. Man, I was spoiled this Christmas -- thanks!
Next up: I bought some delicious Lucy Neatby yarn out of the Three Bags Full 30% off orphan basket last November. They went beautifully with the Roundabout sock pattern. I just flipped the pattern around for the second sock, so that it rotated the other way. (See my ravelry page for the project notes and pattern mod.)
And finally, a Christmas knit -- the Online Linie Solo scarf that I made for my sister-in-law. This was annoying to knit -- I'm not sure I'd even call it knitting as much as it was picking -- but it went quickly and looks gorgeous. Just two balls for a really funky scarf.
I'm home sick today, and wearing the acrylic sweater that my mommy knit for me 25+ years ago because it makes me feel good when I'm not feeling well.
It's been so long since I've posted that I'm just going to start from my recent FOs, and work backwards to Christmas, over the next few weeks.
First up, and finished this week: Coriolis socks in Noro Silk Garden Lite. I used the online pattern because I didn't want to be flipping pages all over the place when I was on the SkyTrain. With this thick yarn, it knit up super-quickly. I cast on last Friday, and finished them on Monday.
And did you notice that they're on the super-funky sock blockers that you gave me for Christmas? I also used the super-cool sock bags that you gave me, as well, for carting this project around. Man, I was spoiled this Christmas -- thanks!
Next up: I bought some delicious Lucy Neatby yarn out of the Three Bags Full 30% off orphan basket last November. They went beautifully with the Roundabout sock pattern. I just flipped the pattern around for the second sock, so that it rotated the other way. (See my ravelry page for the project notes and pattern mod.)
And finally, a Christmas knit -- the Online Linie Solo scarf that I made for my sister-in-law. This was annoying to knit -- I'm not sure I'd even call it knitting as much as it was picking -- but it went quickly and looks gorgeous. Just two balls for a really funky scarf.
Monday, January 7, 2008
I'm on a roll
You can't stop me now! May I present FO #3 of 2008:
Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl/fingering in colour Baby Neptune (one ply white and one ply blue); 28th pair of socks knitted in my entire life
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Pattern: generic toe-up
Notes: These have been otn since April 2007!!! I don't like the way the yarn knitted up. It was definitely prettier in the skein. No more marled yarn for me. I found 2 huge slubs and one poorly plied section in one of the skeins. I actually had to rip back the sock to discard a bunch of yarn rather than have 2 joins 1" apart right in the heel. Blech! The yarn is soft and nice to knit with.
So I picked the repair job as my next WIP project thinking that it would be quick to do. These were the first pair of socks for hubby and only the 4th pair I'd ever knit so I messed up somewhere and ended up with a super long foot.
Just unpick the toes and about 1" of the foot and reknit the toes. Sounds simple, no?
I'll just say that frogging a short row wrapped toe is a real PITA. It took me over an hour to get one toe frog'd and probably another half hour to untangle the whole mess. I soaked the yarn to relax it and now it's ready to go.
You'd think that after the weekend yarn binge that I'd be all out of money. Not quite... Some yarn that I ordered in Dec finally arrived and when I was at Michaels buying ornaments for next Christmas, they had Patons Kroy at 50% off.
Clockwise from top left: Regia 6ply in navy blue/oatmeal/dk grey (375m per 150g skein; one skein is enough for a pair of hubby sox), Patons Kroy in muslin & flax (for Anemoi mittens - yep, already planning my Christmas knitting) and country jacquard (more hubby sox)
My supply of sportweight superwash yarn for hubby sox (I used my very last skein for his Christmas socks) is replenished which means I can knit him anniversary socks for our 10th wedding anniversary plus he'll get socks for his birthday and Christmas. Yipee!
Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl/fingering in colour Baby Neptune (one ply white and one ply blue); 28th pair of socks knitted in my entire life
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Pattern: generic toe-up
Notes: These have been otn since April 2007!!! I don't like the way the yarn knitted up. It was definitely prettier in the skein. No more marled yarn for me. I found 2 huge slubs and one poorly plied section in one of the skeins. I actually had to rip back the sock to discard a bunch of yarn rather than have 2 joins 1" apart right in the heel. Blech! The yarn is soft and nice to knit with.
So I picked the repair job as my next WIP project thinking that it would be quick to do. These were the first pair of socks for hubby and only the 4th pair I'd ever knit so I messed up somewhere and ended up with a super long foot.
Just unpick the toes and about 1" of the foot and reknit the toes. Sounds simple, no?
I'll just say that frogging a short row wrapped toe is a real PITA. It took me over an hour to get one toe frog'd and probably another half hour to untangle the whole mess. I soaked the yarn to relax it and now it's ready to go.
You'd think that after the weekend yarn binge that I'd be all out of money. Not quite... Some yarn that I ordered in Dec finally arrived and when I was at Michaels buying ornaments for next Christmas, they had Patons Kroy at 50% off.
Clockwise from top left: Regia 6ply in navy blue/oatmeal/dk grey (375m per 150g skein; one skein is enough for a pair of hubby sox), Patons Kroy in muslin & flax (for Anemoi mittens - yep, already planning my Christmas knitting) and country jacquard (more hubby sox)
My supply of sportweight superwash yarn for hubby sox (I used my very last skein for his Christmas socks) is replenished which means I can knit him anniversary socks for our 10th wedding anniversary plus he'll get socks for his birthday and Christmas. Yipee!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
FO #2
So far, so good. I am finishing things.
Pattern: Wendy's generic toe up
Yarn: Trekking XXL in colour 109 (it's all P-La's fault)
Needles: 2.5mm (foot & leg) and 2.75mm (cuffs) dpns
Notes: I tried to use my new Harmony dpns but I found them too 'sticky' with this yarn
That's 1 down and 14 more to go. I should have another FO tomorrow (only half an inch left).
I frogged the Feather and fan shawl, Odessa hat, and the partially knit spiral tube sock. I still need to frog the finished spiral tube sock, the Irish Hiking scarf, and the novelty yarn scarf. At least, I've pulled the needles out of the projects so that I can't even claim they're OTN.
My lys had a belated Boxing Day sale this weekend. I went first thing Sat morning. What a zoo! I showed up 15 mins before the door opened and there were already people inside (???) and a line-up of about 10 people outside. By the time the doors opened, there were at least another 20 people behind me. Now, this store isn't too small but with tables taking up most of the floor space, there's only 2 narrow aisles to walk down so 30+ people means that it's very hard to move around. But it was sooo worth it.
When I got home, I hauled my loot into the office and dumped it in the chair. After I entered the yarn specs (into Ravelry) for one yarn, I reached over for another skein and there was Phoebe making herself comfortable amongst my new yarns.
From left to right: my Xbox game controller (we were playing Halo), Phoebe-girl, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Old Rose, Nature's Palette in an Odd Duck colour, Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit (wool & tencel) in Amethyst, hubby's Xbox controller, and Dream in Color Smooshy in Ruby River.
The Smooshy has some great yardage - 450yds per skein. That's a lot for a hand-dyed yarn. It's made of Australian merino so it'll be interesting to see how it wears. I want to cast on so badly but I must finish a few more socks before I'm allowed. Pout!
Pattern: Wendy's generic toe up
Yarn: Trekking XXL in colour 109 (it's all P-La's fault)
Needles: 2.5mm (foot & leg) and 2.75mm (cuffs) dpns
Notes: I tried to use my new Harmony dpns but I found them too 'sticky' with this yarn
That's 1 down and 14 more to go. I should have another FO tomorrow (only half an inch left).
I frogged the Feather and fan shawl, Odessa hat, and the partially knit spiral tube sock. I still need to frog the finished spiral tube sock, the Irish Hiking scarf, and the novelty yarn scarf. At least, I've pulled the needles out of the projects so that I can't even claim they're OTN.
My lys had a belated Boxing Day sale this weekend. I went first thing Sat morning. What a zoo! I showed up 15 mins before the door opened and there were already people inside (???) and a line-up of about 10 people outside. By the time the doors opened, there were at least another 20 people behind me. Now, this store isn't too small but with tables taking up most of the floor space, there's only 2 narrow aisles to walk down so 30+ people means that it's very hard to move around. But it was sooo worth it.
When I got home, I hauled my loot into the office and dumped it in the chair. After I entered the yarn specs (into Ravelry) for one yarn, I reached over for another skein and there was Phoebe making herself comfortable amongst my new yarns.
From left to right: my Xbox game controller (we were playing Halo), Phoebe-girl, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Old Rose, Nature's Palette in an Odd Duck colour, Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit (wool & tencel) in Amethyst, hubby's Xbox controller, and Dream in Color Smooshy in Ruby River.
The Smooshy has some great yardage - 450yds per skein. That's a lot for a hand-dyed yarn. It's made of Australian merino so it'll be interesting to see how it wears. I want to cast on so badly but I must finish a few more socks before I'm allowed. Pout!
Friday, January 4, 2008
my first 2008 FO
I have my first FO for 2008. I picked up a free leaflet yesterday and I had some Bernat Bamboo in the stash so I whipped this up yesterday night.
Pattern: One Skein Scarf by Denise Cozzitorto from Stitch'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker
Yarn: Bernat Bamboo; 3 skeins in colour rosehip
Hook: 6.5mm (K)
Notes: The yarn is ok. I think it's going to fuzz up quite a bit. But it's very soft, glossy, and drapey.
Take a deep breath before you look at the next picture:
Compare it to my WIP picture from this post. I'm obviously getting worse. Eleven of the projects in that post are still WIPs. Yikes! The Bonita shirt doesn't count cuz I did finish it and it turned out too big so I had to frog it.
So here's my list of WIPs and my plans for them:
1. Trekking socks - Finish
2. Louet Gems socks - Finish
3. socks for Pauline (commission) - must Finish
4. Wyvern sock - Finish
5. hubby's CTH socks - not so much a Finish but more of an alteration
6. spiral tube socks - worsted weight socks with no heel?!?!?! What was I thinking? Frog!
7. Canal du Midi socks - Finish
8. Juno Regina - Finish
9. not-a-cable cable scarf - Finish
10. Irish Hiking scarf - not my colour; not needed as a gift; Frog
11. Birch-like shawl of my own design - would like to Frog but it's an ugly mohair blend yarn; Finish since I'm so close to the end
12. Feather and fan shawl - only a few inches knitted; Frog
13. Icarus shawl - ya can't frog mohair so it's a Finish
14. novelty yarn scarf - Frog
15. Lacy Entrelacs scarf - Finish
16. Odessa hat - Frog
17. Endpaper mittens - Finish
18. Brea bag - Finish
19. Bonita shirt - was finished, then frogged because it was too big; Finish
20. Arwen cardigan - Finish
21. Silk Lace Nightie - Finish
22. Afghan - too hard to frog (it's a fuzzy yarn) so maybe Finish? Maybe get my Mom to finish it? She's between projects, right?
So that's 5 frog's, 15 to finish, one alteration, and maybe pass the afghan to my Mom. That's a lot of projects to finish - wish me luck.
Pattern: One Skein Scarf by Denise Cozzitorto from Stitch'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker
Yarn: Bernat Bamboo; 3 skeins in colour rosehip
Hook: 6.5mm (K)
Notes: The yarn is ok. I think it's going to fuzz up quite a bit. But it's very soft, glossy, and drapey.
Take a deep breath before you look at the next picture:
Compare it to my WIP picture from this post. I'm obviously getting worse. Eleven of the projects in that post are still WIPs. Yikes! The Bonita shirt doesn't count cuz I did finish it and it turned out too big so I had to frog it.
So here's my list of WIPs and my plans for them:
1. Trekking socks - Finish
2. Louet Gems socks - Finish
3. socks for Pauline (commission) - must Finish
4. Wyvern sock - Finish
5. hubby's CTH socks - not so much a Finish but more of an alteration
6. spiral tube socks - worsted weight socks with no heel?!?!?! What was I thinking? Frog!
7. Canal du Midi socks - Finish
8. Juno Regina - Finish
9. not-a-cable cable scarf - Finish
10. Irish Hiking scarf - not my colour; not needed as a gift; Frog
11. Birch-like shawl of my own design - would like to Frog but it's an ugly mohair blend yarn; Finish since I'm so close to the end
12. Feather and fan shawl - only a few inches knitted; Frog
13. Icarus shawl - ya can't frog mohair so it's a Finish
14. novelty yarn scarf - Frog
15. Lacy Entrelacs scarf - Finish
16. Odessa hat - Frog
17. Endpaper mittens - Finish
18. Brea bag - Finish
19. Bonita shirt - was finished, then frogged because it was too big; Finish
20. Arwen cardigan - Finish
21. Silk Lace Nightie - Finish
22. Afghan - too hard to frog (it's a fuzzy yarn) so maybe Finish? Maybe get my Mom to finish it? She's between projects, right?
So that's 5 frog's, 15 to finish, one alteration, and maybe pass the afghan to my Mom. That's a lot of projects to finish - wish me luck.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
on a diet
And I'm not just talking about a yarn one either but that is the main one around here these days. I've decided that I really don't knit sweaters. I wear them a lot and I like knitting them for others but I don't seem to have much interest in knitting them for myself. So no more sweater yarn buying.
And my mantra for the year is "frog or finish". I'm either going to frog an existing project or I'm going to finish it. Seriously, I'm running out of knitting needles. There are some lovely things in progress that should really see the light of day. I hope to dig out all my WIPs after we de-Christmas this weekend.
Speaking of finishing things... I was at my co-blogger's for New Year's Eve and I started the second purple Trekking sock while waiting to ring in the new year. I got to work on it a little more while we were at my parents' house for dinner yesterday night (I blame the sock for my mahjong losing streak; hubby kicked ass). It's just past the heel and maybe I'll finish it before next Wed so that I can wear it with my clear clogs to knit nite.
Juno Regina is taking a wee break.
I've used about 30g (out of 100g) of yarn. It's just over 24" so I think that even with less yardage and using smaller needles, I'll end up with something pretty big.
There has been no knitting today. Our dining room is in the middle of a big purge. I have emptied and dismantled a kitchen island that really was too big and ugly for the dining room. It ended up being a repository for all sorts of junk. So the junk is being sorted into keep, recycle, and garbage. We will move the nice china cabinet (currently in the alcove beside another storage unit) to where the island used to be and a new unit will replace the china cabinet. To hide all the stuff in the alcove, I am proposing a curtain (hubby wants red velvet which I think will be a giant cat hair magnet). Right now, there is china and crystal all over the house - in the guest bedroom, all over the kitchen counter/stove, under the dining table... I am hoping to assemble the new storage unit before hubby gets home from work. He'll help me move the furniture around and then I want to get all the breakables back into the china cabinet before a cat (or human) knocks something over.
And my mantra for the year is "frog or finish". I'm either going to frog an existing project or I'm going to finish it. Seriously, I'm running out of knitting needles. There are some lovely things in progress that should really see the light of day. I hope to dig out all my WIPs after we de-Christmas this weekend.
Speaking of finishing things... I was at my co-blogger's for New Year's Eve and I started the second purple Trekking sock while waiting to ring in the new year. I got to work on it a little more while we were at my parents' house for dinner yesterday night (I blame the sock for my mahjong losing streak; hubby kicked ass). It's just past the heel and maybe I'll finish it before next Wed so that I can wear it with my clear clogs to knit nite.
Juno Regina is taking a wee break.
I've used about 30g (out of 100g) of yarn. It's just over 24" so I think that even with less yardage and using smaller needles, I'll end up with something pretty big.
There has been no knitting today. Our dining room is in the middle of a big purge. I have emptied and dismantled a kitchen island that really was too big and ugly for the dining room. It ended up being a repository for all sorts of junk. So the junk is being sorted into keep, recycle, and garbage. We will move the nice china cabinet (currently in the alcove beside another storage unit) to where the island used to be and a new unit will replace the china cabinet. To hide all the stuff in the alcove, I am proposing a curtain (hubby wants red velvet which I think will be a giant cat hair magnet). Right now, there is china and crystal all over the house - in the guest bedroom, all over the kitchen counter/stove, under the dining table... I am hoping to assemble the new storage unit before hubby gets home from work. He'll help me move the furniture around and then I want to get all the breakables back into the china cabinet before a cat (or human) knocks something over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
