Saturday, December 29, 2007

Just for Fun







What kind of yarn are you?




You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Hey, a sweater!

PC270202

Yup. Done. Wore it for a little while on Christmas day, then I washed and blocked it. And now the sleeves are too long. Whoops. In retrospect, I should have taken a "finished but not blocked" photo of it on, and then again after blocking. Oh well. Nevertheless, it's totally comfy, and will probably be my new favorite around-the-house sweatshirt for a while. And I learned an Important Lesson about Row Gauge.

So, what's next? Not sure. I'm plugging away at the second cabled brown sock when I think of it, and have the concentration. I'm thinking about what's next and what's done, what I want and what I need from my knitting for the coming year, and what I've learned this year, in knitting and other things.

Anyway, I need to get out to the library and a couple other places before wearing my new sweater to knit night tonight. Have a good one!

Monday, December 24, 2007

It's amazing what an obsessive knitting weekend can do.

I'm getting a new sweater for Christmas. I've got about a dozen or so ends to darn in, and then I'm putting it under the tree for me! Pictures to come.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Xmas issues

Christmas knitting is done and mailed, both pairs of socks and a hat. The knitting was fun. Once it was over, I fell apart a little.

(Side note: I washed the red socks this morning and dried them in the oven. 200 degrees, about thirty minutes, turning frequently. It was scary and nifty and amazing.)

My family is not so pretty and nuclear as it once was. This is hard for me, and sending the three presents I made to two different addresses, one I've never visited, was difficult. This is also the first Christmas I haven't been down south for, and despite the fact that I'm really happy to be spending the holiday here in my new home, this is a huge change.

So I'm a little goofy and emotionally twisted. I need to find some knitting to help that, don't you think?

Oy. Ow.

I've got four ends to weave in. And then done. 36 hours for half a sock, basically. Although there were some mistakes that needed fixing. And I slept fed myself and husband and taught a 3 hour lecture in there. These socks are full of stories, I screwed them up so many times. Only one mistake didn't get entirely removed, and that's probably ok, because if it had, they wouldn't be done yet.

Tomorrow I mail Christmas, and then I get to knit what I want. I'm thinking my sweater's been awfully patient the past couple of days and my hands could definitely use a break from 2.5mm needles.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Snowy Knitting weekend

We were expecting much winter weather this weekend, so after I turned in grades Friday, I went to the store to stock the cupboards for the weekend, and then settled in for a cabin-fevery weekend. I had knitting to do, and tv on dvd, so I'd be fine, right?

Friday night I got my second sleeve on my sweater to match the first one. The SciFi channel aided in this, because they decided to show four hours of Firefly on Friday night. Saturday morning, aided by TiVo, I strung all three pieces together and did a couple of rounds to secure it. Here, look!

one piece!

This is huge. I am psyched. Saturday evening and Sunday morning, this happened:

unblocked quant

It's Quant, from the new Knitty, in a random ball of SWS I had in the stash. Quick and easy, Entrelac is pretty nifty. I am amused. I also kind of love SWS now. Well written pattern, too, this just flew from my needles. It needs blocked, but I have to take it off long enough to do that.

Of course, somewhere around the ending decreases on Quant, I realized that Christmas is a week from Tuesday, and for the first time ever, I am MAILING presents. Which means they really need to be in the mail by Thursday, thought I'd prefer to get them off Wednesday, and at the time I finished Quant, I had ONE pattern repeat done on the second sock of the pair. So the rest of Sunday was spent in Christmas sock mode, and I managed to start the heel flap before bed last night. This morning I turned the heel. Here we are at noon.

noon monday

I'll let you know when this gets finished. The first sock was ten and a half pattern repeats, I'm closing in on the end of the fifth. Of course, the 4.5th through the end are only on one side, which makes it faster. This can be done, but I don't get to touch the sweater till it is. Wish me luck!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Finished Kaylee socks:
kaylee

They're very pretty. The pattern is kind of exhausting, something's happening on every row, although only on one side. I don't think I'm a toe-up kind of girl, but that's ok. If I did them again, I'd leave the foot plain, I think the lace stretches vertically more than I want.

Progress pic for the sweater:
PC070195

Need to keep on with that second sleeve. I'm getting bored with it again, but I have tv on dvd that might get me going again on it.

That is, if I don't get distracted by this:
PC070203

Fawkes socks for Mom's Christmas. According to the pattern, I'm ready for the heel flap, but my current wish for longer socks is making me think about extending the leg. I probably won't, though, because I'd be cursing myself for that decision on the second sock. I'm wondering what it is about the red yarn, I'm having a hard time getting good pictures of it.

Oh well. I've been procrastinating housework and real work all day so far. Better fix that before it gets too late. Have a great weekend, all!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Finishing more.

No pictures, though.

Finished the Kaylee socks this weekend. You might get pictures eventually, but go back a couple months, look at the picture of the first sock. The second one looks just like it and I'm just kind of glad to be done with 'em.

Started a new pair of Fawkes in solid red for Mom's Christmas. Still love the pattern. Here's hoping they go quick.

I'm past the increases on the second sweater sleeve. I'm about to put it on my 16" circular, that'll make the rest of the sleeve go faster. I hope.

Walking about in the cold today I wanted knee socks. The Tyrolean Stockings from the fall Interweave might come out to play soon. I also wound my job application reward sock yarn into a bright shiny ball, because I'm getting close to done on that stuff and should get to play with neon-colored merino soon.

Casting about for other new things to do. Not really wanting to start anything right now, though. I think it's a year-end, semester-end kind of thing. Once the new year starts, I'll probably have a bad case of startitis. But right now I just want to get done what I've got going.