Finally a real update!

This will be a photo heavy post. I know I said I'd update Monday and Wednesday mornings because of the lack of children those mornings, but I'm finally getting around to it now. I actually updated Ravelry yesterday too so it helps that I already have all my photos ready to go.

It has been a knitting-busy summer; I've just had lots of other stuff going on too. I didn't join the Summer of Socks, but I have done a lot of sock knitting. Below we have the Feather and Fan Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks. I mentioned these back in May and June. I didn't finish them till the end of July.
Speaking of July, at the county fair my Monkey Socks won Champion in the Adult knitted clothing category. The yarn is Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber Softee Sock in the Mean Girl colorway. I absolutely loved this yarn. I can't decide what to do with the leftovers.Because of the way you move pictures around in this, things are in kind of random order. These are the most recently finished socks. They are Priscilla's Dream from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Knitpicks Parade.
These are Ruffled Ribs baby socks from the Better -than-Booties Baby Socks pattern from Interweave Knits. One down, one barely started, but they go fast. They're tiny.
In progress we have the slipped stitch rib socks done toe-up. This is one of the six-stitch patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks. If they turn out ok they will be a birthday or Christmas gift for my mother-in-law; if they don't turn out as well as I hope, they'll be mine.These are the Waving Lace Socks, also from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Schaefer Anne. I don't know the name of the colorway. My dear sweet husband bought this yarn for me on his recent trip to Nashville. Since I didn't get to go, I told him he had to bring me back yarn. I told him, "Just walk in and tell them you need handpainted sock yarn. They'll help you out." When he picked this out, it was still in the skein. He's disappointed with how it's knitting up; it was REALLY pretty in the skein, but he doesn't think it's as pretty with the colors all jumbled up. I still think it's pretty and it's certainly heaven to work with. I'll be buying me some more Schaefer Anne!

Getting back to the county fair, these entries also did well. My Sherwood sweater made for my ds last fall. I might pick up the edges of the arms and knit some more length onto them so he can wear it this winter too. It won Reserve Champion in the children's knitted clothing.
My Sophie Bag I made last fall won Champion in the felted/fulled category.


There has been some stash en- hance- ment, but I swear it wasn't my fault! The Tofutsies on the right was a birthday present. I started a pair of socks with it, but didn't care for how it was pooling so I'm waiting for it to tell me what it wants to be. I'm considering another pair of Monkey socks because I really enjoyed that pattern.

The rest of these yarns came home from the Knit Out and Crochet 2007 held at the Metropolis Mall in Plainfield. The Tuscany Grande was in a scarf kit door prize along with size 17 needles. The Fleece Artist Sea Wool was actually someone else's door prize. I was teaching this extremely nice older lady to knit--actually "reminding" would be a better term; she had knitted before--and she gave me her sock kit door prize as a thank you for teaching her. I thought that was extremely nice of her and it was completely unexpected. I've heard a lot of good things about Fleece Artist, but this is the first time I've even seen it. I am trying to resist winding it into a ball because then I'd just want to cast it on and I have too many projects going right now. (I'll address WIPs in the next update.) I don't know the name of the colorway, but I'll probably try the pattern that was on the label. There were also some extremely bendy sock needles in the kit, but I don't like dpns so I may never use them. I can not be blamed for the Caron Fling on the right. It was in the registration package. It will probably make a perfectly nice scarf for someone for Christmas.

Screw it.

You know what? It's been a long time since I updated, but I don't care. Screw it. I don't have much time to spend on this today either. I'm slating Monday and Wednesday mornings for official updating with pics and everything (both kids will be in school those mornings...BWAHAHAHA!). Really, I've had a whole lot going on this summer so blogging just hasn't been a priority.

In catching up with the blogs I read on google reader (love that!), a couple of them had lists of either things for which they were thankful or silly little things that make them happy. Here's my list of 5 things for which to be grateful today:

1. I'm healthy. No major aches and pains to complain about. No diseases as of yet. Woo hoo!

2. My kids are healthy. A little quirky perhaps, but on the whole very healthy little boogers. If only they'd eat veggies. *sigh*

3. I am married to one of the best men ever. Really, I don't think I tell him nearly enough how much I appreciate him. He's truly one of the best people I've ever known.

4. Knitting/crocheting. It's rhythm relaxes me and makes everything seem right. And if it's not working I can always frog the project and knit/crochet it again or turn it into something totally different! Case in point, the Big Sack Sweater which was frogged to become the Very Cropped Top Hoodie which has now been frogged to become a pillow cover without a fancy name. (Maybe I'll provide links if I feel like editing this post tomorrow. Don't count on it.)

5. Knitting podcasts. Laundry is folded much more quickly and painlessly if I can zone out to a podcast while I'm folding.

What 5 things are you thankful for today?

Finally got started on MS3!!!

My yarn finally arrived on Thursday. I was a little leery about using black, but it turns out to be a heathered black with bits of blues and greens. It's quite lovely. I've only wound up one skein into a ball so far.
I only got the first 50 rows done yesterday. This pattern is a challenge. It is the most complex lace chart with which I've worked, and placing those darn beads is quite fiddly. My almost four-year old likes to sit on the edge of my chair when I'm knitting and hold my hair or just lean on me. I can NOT stand for her to be there when I'm doing a beading row. The little tiny hook, trying to catch all the strands of the laceweight, and not drop anything is a bit more than I can handle when she gets to jiggling her feet or wiggling around.
Above is the gauge swatch. It turned out a bit airy, but I think it will work. I liked it much better after blocking it out.

In FO news, I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl out of Koigu KPPPM. This is a horrible picture so just imagine a better one until I can get a better one taken. Ugh.
The WIPs are still going, but I haven't been working on them diligently. I've been distracted with lace. The feather & fan socks are still stalled out on the cuff. I did several rows on the Bellatrix socks while the kids played at the park, but didn't make very much progress. When I get caught up with the Mystery Stole 3, I'll devote more time to the socks. They're really my out and about projects more than sitting at home projects.

FiberArts club was awesome on Wednesday. We had three brand new people, one of whom decided to join the homemakers' club. One of the others was already a member of another extension club but wants to learn to crochet and/or knit. The third for now will probably just be one who comes to sit and knit rather than join homemakers.

*sniff*

That's me sniffling away since dh gave me his heinous virus. I've got it much more mildly than he did, but then that's typical. I have a kick-ass immune system, and his immune system is about as strong as an hour old kitten. So I'm just sniffling a lot, raw throat from that lovely post-nasal drip, and running a low fever. I'll live.

I started another pair of socks, the Bellatrix pattern from July's Socktopia. It's a pretty quick knit so far. I have four more pattern repeats to go before I get to the heel, but I've been distracted trying to finish my Forest Canopy Shawl. I have 8 1/2 rows to go. I should be able to finish it today if I just sit down and do it. I'd love to have it blocked before the FiberArts club meeting tomorrow; however, I also need to clean the house and get to the grocery store before then, so maybe I won't get it done and blocked, especially if I can't get myself off the computer.

The Mystery Stole yarn still hasn't arrived. I'm hoping for today or tomorrow. It only has to come from one state over. Even though I chose the cheap shipping option, I wouldn't think it would take too long. I picked up beads for it yesterday. I hope they'll look good. I had trouble finding the 8/0 beads locally; there just weren't many choices in color. I'll try the ones I got, and if I hate them, I'll just rip back and do it without beads.

Shipped

My midnight heather Alpaca Cloud for Mystery Stole 3 has been shipped. The shipping date: Two days from now. There must be some kind of wrinkle in the space-time continuum at Knitpicks.

So much going on

I just haven't felt like updating so now my blog is sadly neglected. Let's see if I can do a top 10 things-going-on-to-distract-me-from-blogging list:

1. My dad has cancer. This really sucks. I can't say too much about it, or I will get really upset.

2. My mildly autistic ds has been enrolled in a study at the Christian Sarkine Autism Center at Riley Hospital for Children. We just found out he was on the placebo--good news because it means the recent improvements we've seen in him (which have been subtle but are definite) are just a result of his maturing and reaping the benefits of speech therapy and preschool. He now starts phase II of the study and goes on the medication. I'm somewhat excited, but also a bit trepidacious as I know that I need to be on the watch for real side effects now. I'm hoping that he will be communicative about any discomforts he may experience. The drug is an antibiotic previously used at large doses to treat tuberculosis. Decades ago when tuberculosis was more of a problem, it was noted in the schizophrenic (and some other mentally ill population which I can't currently recall) population that their symptoms of social withdrawal were improved. The results of the initial study of this drug in small doses with children with autism were encouraging enough to implement this slightly larger study in which my ds is participating. We are specifically looking for improvement in speech and social engagement.

3. Point #1 above seems to have the effect on me of withdrawing into reading and knitting to avoid thinking about the possibility of losing my dad so my housework--as well as the blog--is suffering. Short of making and sticking to my to-do lists, I don't know what to do here.

4. Ravelry. When I am on line, I'm either on ravelry or . . . .

5. Google reader. Reading blogs. I love it, but it is kind of a timesuck. And then that darn Yarn Harlot seduced me into. . . .

6. Mystery Stole 3. It's a knitalong where participants are given a supplies list and then given only parts of the pattern every week. It's all I can do not to call knitpicks customer service and scream, "Why is my order still pending?! It's been over 12 hours since I placed the order!! Get a move on!" *blush*

7. Sock knitting. I finally finished the Monkey Socks out of Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber in the Mean Girl colorway.

Still working on the Feather & Fan socks in Tofutsies.

Started Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks. These don't look like much yet.

I also have four or five patterns for socks in my ravelry queue (oops! make that six), and I'm sure I'll add more. It may be a Very Socky Christmas this year. *wink*

8. I keep thinking about casting on for my stripey sweater. It'll be a set-in sleeve top down following the procedure outlined in Knitting from the Top by Barbara Walker. I really want to make it, but I'm chicken to cast on and mess it up. What a goofball I am!

9. The four-corners dishcloth. (Pattern link in the linked blog's left sidebar.) I've finished two and I'm partway through a third. They're very fun to work.

Yes, that is a CONE of red, green and white Sugar n Cream. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I do, actually. I thought I'd make dishcloths for everyone on our Christmas list, gather them up to look like bows, and attach them to the packages. Corny as hell, eh? Yeah, it didn't happen either.

10. Forest Canopy Shawl. The yarn is Koigu KPPM? KPPPM? I have no idea how many P's should be in there, and I don't feel like going to look at the label. It's multicolored. It's pretty. It's been moving along pretty quickly, though I know it will slow down as the rows get longer. I'm enjoying it very much. I just hope the two skeins I have are enough, or I will have to make modifications.
I can't wait to finish and block this puppy. It doesn't look like much here, but it's going to grow so much and be so lacy and beautiful when it's blocked!

And that's what's been keeping me busy lately. I'll try to keep up with the blog a little better.

Another quick and dirty c&p post

Ok, I'm cheating and copied and pasted this entry from the Sybermoms Stash KAL blog. This blog needed an update, and I hadn't posted these footies here. I did have to reload the photos, but otherwise it's a completely plagiarized post. If I can plagiarize myself, that is.
These are my toe-up footies with baby cables. They are basically exactly what I intended when I bought the yarn. I followed the toe-up method outlined in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. It already used my favorite short-row heel method, and the toe was pretty simple too. I did them two at once also, though I did the first couple rows on dpns then I transferred them to the 32" KP circular and used magic loop. They seemed to take forever, but at least they were both finished at the same time. I used Lang Jawoll Cotton Jacquard. Oddly enough, it didn't become a stash yarn till May. *blush* I guess I just don't like my stash yarns that much. The last three projects I started were done with yarn purchased on free days in April and May. I only bought the one skein of the yarn intending to get a pair of footies out of it. If my feet had been much longer I wouldn't have made it. In the picture above you can see all that was left of the yarn after binding off! They are perhaps a bit lower on my heels than I would prefer, but they stay on and they feel great!

In other progress, I have one and a half Monkey socks done. I just started the second feather-and-fan sock. In the planning stages I have a striped set-in sleeve sweater from the top down using yarn that has been in the stash for 3+ years, plus a ball I picked up at the LYS anniversary sale last week. It counts as a birthday present since I bought it the day before my birthday, and dh has referred to it as my birthday yarn. I also am making it a goal to finish the VCTHoodie that I started back when it was still wintery out. Dh ordered a new camera which should come next week, and in the mean time he has somehow managed to repair one of the camera disks. I expect to spend much of the weekend and next week photographing my stash and WIPs to add to Ravelry.

Big Dummy

I jammed my thumb while closing the windows on the porch last night. I don't think it's broken; it's probably just sprained or strained. I used a little too much force upward to make sure the window closed, and wow, did it hurt! I have pretty good range of motion. It's odd what hurts: putting the lid on a Tupperware cup, pulling up a zipper, when I try to lean on that hand while putting together ds's train track on the floor. It does NOT hurt when knitting. This is great news because I've started a third pair of socks. I'm over a third of the way through the foot of the feather-and-fan pair, and halfway through the cuff of the second monkey. I was flipping through my summer IK and decided to try the toe-up method featured in this issue. I'm doing them toe-up and two at once. I did the first step for each sock on dpns, then slipped them to my 32" size 1 circular, and I'm really enjoying them. The pattern calls for a 2x2 rib once you get to the patterned part, but I'm going to do that rib as a baby cable. These are just going to be footies to wear around the house. I think anyway. We'll have to see how far the yarn takes me. I am using Lang Jawoll Cotton Jacquard in a brown/grey/teal colorway.


Now for a few pictures. This is what I'll call an heirloom rose. It's off a start from a rose my mom brought up from our house where I grew up and I think it may have come from the farm where she grew up. It only blooms once, but it is just covered in blooms. It has that old-fashioned rose scent. I love the way it has taken over this fence. Anyway here is another view. The bush inside the fence is an old-fashioned lilac. It was a disappointment this year. I thought its buds were bitten by the late freeze, but then no, they looked like they would open. Then we got a long dry and hot spell and the buds dried up. *sigh* The roses don't appear to be affected by either the freeze (though I did have to cut them back severely this spring) or the dry spell. This red one, Showbiz, always looks great and does well until it gets hit with black spot. This yellow one is Sunflare and though it doesn't look like much now, you can see it is loaded with buds. The last pic is the first bloom of Pretty Lady. She will be covered with blooms shortly too.
I can't believe I almost forgot to show off my baby bluebirds! This is them on Monday afternoon. I haven't checked on them since, but momma bluebird has been busy in and out of the box keeping them fed.

*grumble* Damn camera! *grumble*

I didn't think it would take us this long to decide on a new digital camera. Sorry about the lack of updates. I'm *this* close to buying a $20 kids' camera for myself just so I can take pics for my blog. There are some pics of my roses on the camera disk that the computer won't read, but dh has to recover them using the laptop, so any updates just have to wait. I finished the monkey sock from the previous update and I'm about four repeats through the cuff of the second one. (Imagine pictures here. That's all you're going to get for a while. *sigh*)

I also knit a feather-and-fan sock through the cuff, heel, and gusset only to discover that it wouldn't go over my heel. So it's been frogged, the yarn went in time out for a day and a half, and then I cast it on again using bigger needles. I really like this pattern. It's easy, it's pretty, and it's going really fast on the bigger needles. *grin* I'm almost done with the heel flap now. The yarn is Tofutsies in a pink, turquoise, green colorway. I've been trying to figure out of what it reminds me. I think of childhood candy whenever I look at it. Sweetarts, maybe? I posted the yarn in a previous post so you can go look at it and tell me what you think, though the colors don't show as well in the skein. (Ooops. I posted the yarn on the Sybermoms Stash KAL blog, not this one. Here's a link to that entry.) When I was knitting it on the smaller needles, the turquoise was pooling more so it looked mostly blue. This redo is pooling the green more. It looks a lot different, but I still like it.

I have made NO progress on anything else. It doesn't help that my other projects are on BIG needles and I do NOT like working with BIG needles (i.e. 11s and 19s). I've been trying to teach myself to throw in the style of the Yarn Harlot. Someone (I can't remember which blogger now) had video of the Harlot on her blog. She was so amazed at the speed that she slowed it down and narrated how she thinks Stephanie achieves such speed. Anyway, I can't do it and it's frustrating. I like my method even if it means I have to take breaks now and then for the tendinitis to calm down. (I generally can't manage more than a day or two without knitting, so it doesn't get a whole lot of opportunity to calm down.)

I would like to make the sweater on the cover of the Summer Interweave Knits, but with short sleeves. I have 7 skeins of artyarns supermerino so I think I would probably have enough if I start the sleeves right below the yoke. What I'd like to try is doing a provisional cast on and working from the yoke upward, then going back to the body and working till I run out of yarn. I just don't know if that would work.

SHEness, and The Muggles just don't get it.

I am a SHE--Sidetracked Home Executive for those unfamiliar with the term. It always seems that things never really get done at my house because I'm easily sidetracked by something else when I'm in the middle of doing something. That is, when I'm not playing hooky by knitting or reading anyway. For example, yesterday dh and I were very busily cleaning up the house for our Mother's Day cookout which we were hosting. I was in the middle of cleaning the pit next to my chair where UFOs go to die when dh mentioned that I might need to check on the bluebirds in the bluebird house because he'd seen a broken egg and maybe some predator had gotten to them. So I got righteously indignant at the thought of some stinking raccoon killing my bluebirds the first stinking year any clutched in that box and marched outside with my stepladder (I'm short) to check the box. The birds were fine. Momma bluebird flew out of the house when she heard me approaching and all five eggs were fine and accounted for. So I headed back to the house past my irises whereupon I remembered that I needed to replace the irises in the vase inside the house, so I got some scissors, headed back out, and cut some irises. And bleeding hearts. And Johnson's Blue geranium. Oh, and some columbines. I finally finished refreshing the bouquets in the house, so I got back to business cleaning in the bathroom and needed to get some more toilet paper to restock the cabinet. So I trotted off to the laundry room where the spare TP is kept. I remembered whilst there that the laundry in the dryer needed to be jerked and hung and the remaining laundry dried. So I did that, interrupting dh so he'd bring me some more hangers in the process. Then I decided to throw the kids dark clothes in the washer, intending to bring down more darks from upstairs to fill the load. Many minutes later after straightening the laundry room, I remembered for what I'd gone there in the first place and headed back to the bathroom to finish cleaning it only to recall that I was actually in the middle of cleaning the pit next to the chair before any of the bluebird/flowers/bathroom/tp/laundry room craziness began!

So that's why I never seem to get anything done. I get lots of tiny steps done toward accomplishing things, but then I'm sidetracked by something else. Right now I should be working on the monkey sock, but I was folding laundry and folding my yarn over cable socks when I remembered that I forgot to tell my mom how to care for her socks I gave her (they're NOT superwash wool) so I called her. We chatted for a bit about Purdue day tomorrow (homemakers' choral festival) and she mentioned that she didn't think my MIL was planning to get over here to watch the kids at the time that *I* thought she would be getting over here. So then I had to check in with dh via IM to make sure his mother was in fact going to be here when she was needed. And then of course since I was in the computer room, I had to check my email. Then I remembered I wanted to write this blog entry so I started on that. The dryer buzzer went off reminding me that I'd forgotten to jerk and hang the damp shirts I'd gotten out of the dryer earlier. So I went to do that and now I'm back. This SHEness is exhausting! And that darks load I was going to start yesterday? Just started it about an hour ago. *sigh*

On to how The Muggles don't get it. The Yarn Harlot frequently refers to non-knitters as "muggles" so I'm going to co-opt her use of it here. The muggles in my family tolerate my love of yarn and obsession with knitting. They wear and use the handknit items with which I gift them. Or some of them do. My mother appreciates the knit socks anyway, though I'm not sure she really uses the felted bags all that much. Anyway, I was knitting away on the monkey sock with my Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber yarn in the Mean Girls colorway that I picked up at Threaded Bliss a few weeks ago. (It is really unseemly just how much I love this yarn--the softness! the colors! the perfect variegation! I just love it a little too much perhaps.) So being taken with the yarn as I am, I trotted out to the patio to display its loveliness for the admiration of my mother, MIL, and SIL. "Look how pretty this yarn is! Isn't it just so pretty?" I exclaimed, expecting their faces to light up with the delight I feel when admiring it.
I expected at least that someone would reach out and want to feel how soft it is and admire the colors more closely. Nope. Each of them just said, "Yeah, it's pretty." Much in the way one might comment on the weather, "Yeah, it's sunny." *sigh* Yarn is so unappreciated by the muggles. They just don't get it. I didn't even bother to get out Lilac the Tapdancing Midget yarny goodness from Lime & Violet's etsy shop for them to look at. They wouldn't understand why I love it.

Oh, yeah. I finished the Horcrux socks last week too. See the lightning bolt? The pattern is based on the speculation that Harry Potter's scar may be the last Horcrux. We shall see in just a few months whether the speculation pans out. The yarn is Lang Jawoll colors. The pattern is one of the Six Sox Knitalong patterns.

And these are the socks I gave my mom yesterday, the Springtime in Paris socks which also happen to be a Six Sox Knitalong pattern. One is inside out because you can wear them either way. Inside out the pattern is supposed to look like little Eiffel Towers. Worn stockinette side out it's supposed to look like the drops of spring rain dripping down the window of your hotel room in Paris. The yarn is Knitpicks Sock Memories in Grandma.

Short n Sweet

. . .is done and blocking. That is all.

Just for AMG

This picture is for a knitter at Sybermoms who just got this same yarn in a swap. Not the greatest picture, but I was trying to be quick.
I worked on these till I got them to the same point so I can now work on one repeat on one sock, then one repeat on the other. Of course right now I'm not working on them at all since I have to finish Short n Sweet, the Lotus Blossom Tank, AND sew a skirt by next week at this time. *twitch*

A quick C&P

I know I haven't updated in a while, but I just posted this to the Sybermoms Stashalong Blog so I thought I'd see if a cut-and-paste would work. IT DID! Woohoo! Twice the posts for half the work!

This post is going to be photo-heavy and prose-light.
First is the sock froggie blanket--a variation on the sock monkey blanket in The Happy Hooker. I'm glad it's done. I don't care if I ever crochet/knit with mint green and pale yellow again. It doesn't lie perfectly flat, but I'm not worried about it. I'm hoping to have it in the mail to my friend later this week.

Springtime in Paris socks. To the left we have the detail shot flipped over so you can decide if the supposed-Eiffel tower details look anything like Eiffel towers. To the right is the progress on the sock so far. This has gone very quickly and is making me a convert to the magic loop technique.

The yarn-over cable socks. I have darn near perfectly matched up the stripes and am at nearly the same point so as soon as sock #2 is caught up to sock #1 I will be able to work them semi-simultaneously so they finish at the same time. I will be so glad to get these finished as I HATE HATE HATE the dpns.

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the 4th lace repeat. I want to have it done to wear on Easter with the Short and Sweet (I think that's the name) bolero/shrug thingie from The Happy Hooker. The tank is in Shine Sport and I will be ordering Shine Worsted for the bolero thingie. And I need to make the skirt I intend to wear with them. Sure, I'll be done by Easter. No problem. *twitch*

Ok, these aren't knitted, but I like this so I wanted to post it. It's a Roll Your Own needlecase from SnB but modified for dpns. I like it. Too bad I hate the dpns so much.

Wow. I really need to post more often.

I'm way behind. I finished Shedir. It ended up taking me a little over two weeks. The side picture doesn't really do it justice I think. The cabling is much prettier on, and the star on top is a very nice detail. I learned to cross the stitches without a cable needle. If I'd continued using the cable needle, I think it would have taken twice as long to complete. I'm really glad to have finished it, and I'm pretty proud of it. I don't know if it qualifies as more complicated than Sherwood, but it was a bit of a challenge. The chart was actually pretty easy to read. I put in markers to separate the repeats. I think I would have gotten lost and screwed it up if I hadn't used the markers.
This is the lovely star pattern on top. I couldn't get a good picture of it on, so I had to stuff it with a small knitting bag to get the picture. That's why it looks like it has strings hanging off even though it is entirely completed at this point. I'm just really proud of this project. I would actually consider making this again. It was enough of a challenge to keep me entertained, and it progressed rather quickly. I would, however, use a different yarn. The yarn is natura Advantage 100% Deluxe Acrylic, 3 ply sport weight. I don't know if this yarn is still manufactured since I bought it over 15 years ago, tried to learn to knit, then happily forgot about it. I did enjoy taking pictures of my dd wearing the hat. I couldn't get any good phots of the details of the hat while she wore it, but I think her expression in this photo is priceless! She's such a stinker.

What else have I been working on? This stripey sock! It's a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I did the heel differently; it's the same heel used in the baby socks I made a couple months ago. I find the yarn-over/backwards yarn-over method much easier than the wrap & turn method. I like doing this toe-up too. I think these socks will actually fit me! I need to get me a digital scale so I can measure out the yarn till there's only 50 grams left and make sure I have enough for the second sock. I still haven't figured out the stripe repeat yet. It started with orange stripes, then THREE pink stripes, then THREE orange stripes, and now it's been TWO stripes the rest of the way. What gives? How does this make sense? I keep thinking at some point I'll run into a section of three stripes again, but so far that hasn't happened. How am I supposed to make them match? I don't know if I can have totally not matching socks. I think that would bother me a lot. We'll see. I will be taking a break from the socks for a little while since my wrists started bothering me this morning. Darn teeny needles.

The other project that I've been spending a considerable amount of time with is the Very Cropped Top Hoodie from Magknits. I'm using the yarn from my frogged Big Sack Sweater. Rather than making it a truly very cropped top, I put the body on waste yarn so I can pick it back up and add length after I make sure I have enough yarn to finish both sleeves. It might not end up being a hoodie at all if I run out of yarn. No biggie.

If you're wondering how the Lotus Blossom Tank is going, just scroll down a couple entries. It still looks like it did. I just can't bring myself to work on a summer top when there's several inches of ice/snow on the ground.

Progress

I have been working on things since my last post. In this shot you can see the cabling on Shedir. The color in this picture is not at all true. The actual color is flat black, hence the inability to see any details in the previous picture of this project. It's more fun to work on now, and I'm learning some new techniques for crossing stitches without using a cable needle. It's still not automatic, but it's easier than using the cable needle.

Here is the sock. It's coming along nicely. I think I only have about an inch before starting the short rows for the heel. It's hard to tell with the dpns since I can't try it on as easily as if it were on 2 circulars. I might have to put some waste yarn in it to try it to make sure before I start the heel. I'll rip it back if I turn the heel too soon and redo it, but I'd rather avoid that if I can. Once I get to the ankle on this sock, I'm going to do the other sock of the pair up to the same point so I can make sure they end up close to the same length. I'd hate to have a short one because I ran out of yarn.

Any of the other stash projects that are in progress have experienced NO progress over the last few days. I cast on the Very Cropped Top Hoodie with the yarn unraveled from the Big Sack Sweater. It doesn't look like much yet so I chose not to photograph it yet. I will leave you with a picture of my knitting chair:

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds. You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life. Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Stash WIPs

I'm participating in a Stashalong with others in the craft forum at Sybermoms. The idea is to avoid buying yarn as long as possible. Probably every knitter/crocheter has a stash of yarn they've bought for projects that were abandoned, projects that were never started, leftovers from completed projects, yarn we fell in love with at the store but for which we couldn't find the perfect project, etc. If you click on the link, you can go to the blog for the Stashalong. As a result I have a lot of projects on the needles that are from yarn that's been in my stash.

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'm about halfway through the third lace repeat. I think this will be very pretty when it's done, and it's been fairly interesting to work on. The yarn is Knitpicks Shine sport in Cream. I had originally made the Honeymoon Tank from this yarn, but decided it was too bare for me. Just not my style. I'm thinking this one will be much more me. I love working with Shine. It's not as hard on my wrists as most cotton yarns, and the modal gives it a beautiful sheen. This is also the first official stash project cast on from scratch.

These socks were cast on well over a year ago. I can't remember exactly when. I originally started them for a pair of boy-girl twins. Sadly, I'm sure those babies have outgrown them by now. I had completed one of the blue socks on dpns, decided that it would take forever and I'd likely get bored before completing four socks on dpns, and cast on the second blue and first of the pink onto 2 circulars. Then I got bored. The truly pitiful part of this is that I got bored with only 5 rows to go before the toe shaping. These took me no time at all to finish. I will hang my head in shame for leaving these OTN for so long when they were really so close to completion.

This is a hat for a friend who has cancer and expects to be losing her hair shortly. It is from the special breast cancer issue of Knitty. The name of the pattern is Shedir, and it is the second in the issue. You'll note from the picture that it's a lovely cap with several cable crossings, none of which you can see in the picture of my work thus far. I hate working with black, but my friend requested black. I will deal with it. Maybe I'll get an OTT-lite for Valentine's Day out of this. (Yes, that's a hint if you ever read my blog, sweetie!) I'm taking a break from it right now to work on. . .

Toe-up Socks! These are the yarn-over cable socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
by Charlene Schurch. The yarn was an impulse buy when I was picking up a second ball of yarn for the Branching Out scarf for stepMIL. I haven't figured out the striping pattern yet. I thought it would go from maroon/orange to maroon/pink to maroon/yellow, but it went back to maroon/orange before the yellow showed up. Interesting. It's a cotton/wool blend yarn. So far it is not bothering my wrists too much. I started those yesterday and that's how much I had finished yesterday afternoon. I thought I'd do them on dpns for a change, and I really just don't like them! I'll stick with them since the only other size 1s I have are a knitpicks circular which I could use for magic loop, but I would hate it if it turned out to be slightly a different size.

As it is these next socks are on a susan bates size 2 (2.75 mm) and a knitpicks size 2 (3.0 mm). I'm hoping that won't matter too much. I hate hate hate hate hate these socks. They began as doubleknit socks a la extreme knitting. Once I'd mastered the technique, I got bored with it. It also seemed to hurt my hands, but that might be the yarn since it's 100% acrylic. (The self-striping seduced me, and I neglected to check the fiber contents on the label.) I'm bored with them, and I think they're going to come out too big since the nasty acrylic doesn't seem to have much stretch at all.

That actually is it for things on the needles at present. I'm not counting the Big Sack Sweater from Stitch n' Bitch because it will be frogged. I discovered that I already had a sweater almost identical to it. Dh had given it to me a few Christmases ago. It's oversized, has raglan seaming, and has a rope cable going up the center front just like the Big Sack Sweater. The only differences would have been the color and the rolled edges of which I'm not a huge fan anyway. The only other thing actually on a needle is the dishcloth which I've discussed before. I haven't felt like throwing lately, so I haven't worked on it.

The best thing about all of these projects? None of them have a deadline so I don't have to be monogamous with any of them. I think that will work out nicely.