Stash: More sock yarn

So, in doing a favor for a friend yesterday, I was tempted by the gooey sock goodness at the merc and bought another skein of Tuscan Grove yarn! :) I heart it, so many pretty colors.

And when I got back to my car, I realized I had a couple more skeins I bought recently and hadn't posted about.... So I brought them all back in to work with me and photo'd them. Please see below.

Beautiful purple Wildfoote


Pretty purplish Tuscan Grover


And lastly the newest Tuscan Grove...


Interestingly enough, the two purples look very close to true color on screen, but that last one is much brighter in person. Anyway... I keep buying all this darn sock yarn and I'm working on sweaters... what the heck!

Maybe I should add to my 2009 resolutions to make and FINISH more socks, too!

Bringing up the resolutions... good pal Lindsey pointed out the other day that since I was resolving to finish things in 2009, that maybe have a resolution to learn cast on's might be counter productive cause then I might be tempted to start MORE stuff. And I whole-heartedly concur with that statement, however I had decided with learning new cast-ons, I was just going to make swatches of them. Probably in a cheap ol' acrylic or some "waste" yarn. I just really want to do them, so I can understand the method as well as the different feels of the cast ons and why they might be useful for different projects.

And just so you know... I'm a big fan of doing my crochet cast on lately. This is where you make a crochet chain over the knitting needle to cast on. It goes so quickly and when you are casting on for like 200+ stitches... makes things go much faster and you don't have to worry about not having a long enough or too long tail. The downside of this cast on is it leaves kind of a chunky edge. I'll pic-post that later as I don't have it with me right now. But for ease and speed, I'll take it.

In real knitting news... I cast on the sleeves for the Green Verena Cable sweater the other day. I decided to do them at the same time on one cable needle. They are back and forth and it's pretty easy. Plus, now I don't have to worry about them being sized differently and I don't have to be as concerned that my row count is off and I'm cabling in the wrong place. So bonuses all around. Of course with the good, now the bad... it's taking for effing ever! Seriously! Each sleeve is a 54 stitch cast on and so in theory it's 108 back and forth and it seems forever to get through a row. But.... I have a long weekend and hopefully I can get some good knitting done, dependent on the eyes and how they are feeling after surgery.

I might start a mindless sock that I don't need to "see" this weekend. that I could probably do by feel. LOL!

Happy New Year all! Brian and I will be out tonight and I'll update for project 365 tomorrow! Be safe!

Knitting: The new year with EZ?

So I've been meaning to post this for a few days, but let's face it, I've been lazy. Well not so much lazy and just not feeling like being online. I spent the last few of my days off knitting away. Well except Sunday. Was feeling allergies quite a bit, so I medicated and dozed on the couch most of the day. Am better now, thank grace. After the month long 2008 Yuck (nov-dec), I was REALLY done with being sick.

Moving on... I've made mention of knitting along with Elizabeth Zimmerman in 2009. I've toyed with starting the Almanac. I'd really love a big crazy Aran sweater which is the January project. I have 2 summer babies coming along one in June and one in July(they're still baking in their respective ovens right now), so I'd love to do the February baby stuff as well... after that it was like a "we'll see" sort of thing. Over this past weekend, I did a lot of reading, Knitting w/out Tears, Knitter's Workshop, Knitting Around and the Almanac... and what I realized is this... I don't really want to MAKE these patterns. I mean reading about her techniquie and why she did things the way she did was really great. I've picked up many useful tips and things to try... but as for the patterns, I'm not SUPER crazy about any of them. I mean they are all "okay" but I feel like I'm at a point that I can pretty much create what I want in the sizing I want.

Now let me step back for a second. I feel like I can do this for my size specifically. And I'm thinking of making baby stuff... well here is where I might be a little stuck, ya see, cause I don't have a baby of my own and I don't have baby measurements, so creating baby garments might not be quite my forte just yet.... but that's ok. Good pal Julane is walking through 2009 with Barbara Walker and all her genius. And she'll be trying to take what she can through BW's top down techniques, etc.

I think what I really want to learn in 2009 is some of the different cast on methods, Tubular, etc. I'm also interested in the Portuguese style of knitting, not that I'd like it, but I am curious. As I said previous, I want 2009 to be one of my FINISHING years. We all know I have a lot to finish! I still need to make up my schedule. I think if I get my projects and their respective yarns together and get them in a calendar book, that MAYBE I can get it done.

I also need to make a list of WANTS. What I WANT to make, for myself and for others. Then I can schedule those as appropriate as well. Here is where my major project detours come in... new issues of magazines or knitty come out and I see all sorts of new stuff! And then I have a whole new list of wants to make.

And for is phenomenal as ravelry is... sometimes an old fashion notebook or journal is better. it's tangible and real and if I physically write it out, I feel a better "stick-to-it-iveness."

I have another long weekend coming up... so that will be my plan. Also look forward to my 365-Photo-A-Day. Hopefully Lindsey and I can keep each other on pace to get the whole year done up right!

I'm excited for 2009. 2008 was a pretty darn good year, it had it's frustrations but overall it turned out ok. I look forward to 2009 being good, too. At least I hope for that. I'll take the downs as part of life as long as there is always and upside... and let's face... we'll always have knitting!

Knitting: Photo friendly

Another great thing about knitting is I can align it with my other love, photography. Now back in the day, I could take really great photos... but these days they are just kind of meh. I do photo my knitwares often. I like to see the progression and share with my flickr friends and ravfriends and anyone that wants to look.

The thing about photography and capturing the moment, it is something you do have to practice, like knitting. Of course, some people have that EYE for it and I feel like I used to, but I lost it. Anyway, I think the more pictures you take, the better you get. And that was a really long side bar to get to my main point.

I bought a new camera the other day. Found a good deal at Target on a digital camera; brand, Polaroid (I may have mentioned this already). So due to the busy week, I really hadn't had much time to play with it and learn about the camera.

Yesterday, I did read the booklet. There are 31 different scene choices... hello options!!! So that would be the good on the camera, now the bad. I've noticed it SUCKS serious battery. It came with batteries and after taking very few pictures and viewing a bit, the battery indicator had dropped. Now who's to say the batteries were any good, who knows how long they've been boxed. So, hopefully if I buy new batteries, maybe I'll get more life. However, I did notice after the camera was off for a bit, like a day, the battery indicator went back to full. So maybe it drains on continuous usage. The other bad that I've noticed so far is that upon turning it on, it takes a good 30 seconds or so to be ready to shoot. So if you need a quick action camera to be ready, this probably isn't it. I'll keep playing with it though.

The BESTEST thing about this camera... is the USB cable. So a couple of months ago, my little jerk dog, at my USB cable. Yes, she did, bit the end RIGHT off. And there was no way this could be fixed. So I had to buy a new cable, only I've been unsuccessful. And then I just let time slip by. Well today, I finally got the Polaroids cable out and it looked just like the cable to my Sony, so I got the Sony out and VOILA! It fits!!! SO very exciting. And funnier still, Brian griped at me for buying another small (POS) camera that I end up wasting money on, etc.... He said, I should have purchased a cable for the other camera instead of buying a new one. So of course when the cable worked I had to throw it in his face. TWO FOR ONE!
Wahhhoooo!!!

This also means, I can finally download pictures from our vacation (thanksgiving) and whatever else is on the Sony. YAY!

Back to knitting, I've taken a few updates of the progress on my sweater. Here they are. Took one with the mag and one with my row counter.

Knitting: The Holidays

First, I'd like to say Merry Christmas Friends! I hope everyone is doing well and having a nice holiday season. For me it's been a little up and downish. And I say that because I mostly mean frustrating. But you know, life is like that most of the time.

this is probably going to sound like I'm whining... and that's not my intent... but it is how I feel, so here goes.

My largest disappointment of the Christmas season is A. not having my gram around and B. that my family celebrates together very early. I miss the days of celebrating christmas ON christmas. That was when Gram was alive and oddly enough she passed the same year Joy and John got married and I think that next year or around then was when they started heading to California for the holidays because his parents moved then too. So ever since, for like 10 years now, they've enjoyed the holidays in the warmish sun of Central California. Now of course I don't begrudge them this family time. I think it's wonderful that John's family can all get together and be together. Especially since his dad's birthday was the day after Christmas. So they got to celebrate doubly. It's nice. But it is disappointing that we usually get together about 2 ish weeks before christmas... except this year, our christmas was on the first weekend of December, the week after thanksgiving! That was just weird. I wasn't even in the Christmas mood yet. And since John lost his mother last year and his dad this past February, they've moved their family celebration to NYC/New Jersey area.

So, ever since December 3rd (?), I've felt like Christmas was over. I hadn't finished a bunch of stuff I had wanted to knit for folks (that's ok, I set unreasonable deadlines and start too many things... this we know). I didn't stress about it. They are all projects that will be finished sometime, some day. Anyway, Christmas with the in-laws was last night. And while I was dreading it, a little bit (ok a lot), it really wasn't too bad. I took my knitting. We watched Kung Fu Panda, we ate (sort of) and then exchanged gifts.

I'm definitely glad I had the knitting! I would have been so bored without it. Plus it helped keep me calm and relaxed and probably less annoyed over all. Knitting is GOOD! When we came home Brian gave me a gift, he'd been dying for me to open, it was the WII Fit, so we played with that a bit. It's fun. I like the skiing game, but I don't like the ski jump! I sucked big time at that. I also tried the yoga and it said I had an excellent center of balance! I got 3 out of 4 stars. So there are only like 4 or 5 yoga poses that are unlocked, but after you build up points, I guess you unlock more stuff. So I guess I'll have to do more exercise and open more games. Plus hopefully this will get me back into yoga! I love it and I love how I feel when I finish it, but darnit am I the laziest person ever!?!

I worked on my Cable sweater from the Winter 2008 issue of Verena. I love it so far. I think I've done about 5-6 inches. I should be further along, however, I tinked back about 10 or 15 rows yesterday. I realized I did line 17 (cable row) too early, like on line 13 or 14... and when I realized it I was on row 26, maybe. So yeah, tink, tink, tink. But it's ok. I wasn't sad or angry, I just ripped away. I considered leaving it and just correcting the rest of the way, but I thought later on the spacing would be too noticeable. So I made up those rows and then some. I plan to do more today. My goal is to finish the back by tomorrow. What an accomplishment that would be!

This all depends on our agenda today. We talked about going to a movie, The Spirit. It opens today. And while I really want to go... at the same time, I'm thinking wouldn't it be nice to stay in all day and do nothing but knit?! Yes, yes it would!

I also made breakfast. I planned on doing it at a more brunchy time, but I was STARVED! See for dinner last night, we had spaghetti. Only my father in law thought it would be brilliant to use HOT SPICY ITALIAN sausage in the sauce. Holy crap... was it ever HOT! I seriously took like 5 bites and didn't eat anymore. I felt bad and I thanked him for making dinner, but I just couldn't eat it. He offered to make something else, but I told him to sit and relax and enjoy his meal, I would eat more bread. So I got another piece and while that was sufficient for then, I was STARVING by the time we got home. And with little motivation, I didn't want to cook food. So I drank a yogurt smoothie which was good, but like I said, this morning... STARVING! So I made sausage gravy and biscuits. It was quite yummy and filling and now I am content. Well if I'm going to get that remaining 20 odd inches done, I better get to it.

Peace, Love and Happiness to everyone and your families!

Knitting: similar to baking

Baking, what you say?!

So today instead of knitting, I thought I would be crafty and bake some cookies. We are going to the in-laws for supper so I would make a variety and take some there. Great idea, right? Well, no wrong!

I found this tastey sounding recipe for chocolate cookies. Now for my whole life I've been looking for a good chocolate cookie recipe. If you've ever had the Archway chocolate cookies, this is what I'm talking about, similar to a sugar cookie, but chocolate instead. Anyway... I found this recipe to try. And the cookie taste is not quite what I wanted, but it's not bad. Here's the problem. My cookies alllllll oozed together. So basically I ended up with one big pan cookie, but you could see the round/square lines where the should have been separated. No biggie I tell myself, I'll just keep these and not give them away. Oh and PS, I put LESS on the next cookie sheet, some of them still managed to meet up and meld together.

Moving on, snickerdoodles, these will be fine, I make them all the time. Guess what... the all mushed together too!! SEriously.

Again, I put less on the next sheet, some were ok, others, not. WEIRD. So in my quest to make like 3 more cookie types, I decided to take a break. I have lots of knitting to keep me occupied!

So how is baking like knitting... well as I learned today, sometimes, things don't turn out how you would like them too. You could be knitting perfect little stitches or rolling beautiful little cookie balls in sugar, but when you get to the end something might go awry. It happens, it's life. No use crying about it, except we'll be eating more cookies here and giving less away, I suppose. :)

PS, sophie taste tested and she approves!

Knitting: the learning curve

So, last night a few from the Thursday clan met up because this Thursday we'll miss our night together due to the holiday. We had a new person/guest. A brand new knitter, like she knit her first stitch last night--brand new! I find it amusing and awesome the reaction from people as they first learn and I remember back to those days of being a new knitter myself. And what is kind of funny is most people have the same reaction. Either uber excitement or horror. Our gal was of the excited variety.

Starting a new adventure can be fun and exciting and maybe scary. And with knitting, I learned something I thought would be very difficult (it wasn't, I tricked myself for years). So when I completed my first finished object, a HAT. I couldn't believe it. I was elated! I made a piece of CLOTHING! And though I made outfits before for myself, via regular material and sewing, it wasn't the same excitement. I couldn't believe how easy it really was and how for so long I tricked myself out of knitting. From that first hat I made another and another and another. With each one, I slightly modified the design. From there I moved on to some fluffy scarfs (maybe). I don't even remember and back then, Ravelry wasn't born yet.

I am still a learning knitter. I think we all are. We tackle new projects and techniques as we go along. My latest feat has been fair isle. It scares some people, different yarns and starnds everywhere... and long ago, I think it probably scared me a little too, but I must say, having done it, I fell in love. It took me years to feel comfortable with my knitting (from where I started) and being confident to deal with stranded knitting. But now I feel accomplished and I love color and the relationship and the patterns and variance keep me "entertained" while I knit. So, stranded colorwork is good for me. And small segway into growing as a knitter, in my opinion, this is the great thing about knitting groups, we all get to see and feel each other's projects and I think those relationships feed our confidence in ourselves and allow us to step outside the boundaries of where our knitting feels safe. These relationships challenge us to take our knitting to another level. Now in some cases, we may say... WOW that is good for you... but I'm not there yet, or good grief, I don't think I'll ever do that!


Which leads me to my next topic.... the dreaded lace! I have some friends that have made beautiful amazing pieces. See here and here and here. But I have attempted to make some lacey type things with little success. It is definitely something that takes more patience than I am willing to give it. Don't get me wrong, I can MAKE lace, but it wears on me and it becomes unfun and I get frustrated, so for now, lace is on my backburner. I would rather keep the fun in knitting and knit what makes me happy... so fair isle it is! HA!

But back to the learning curve... as I was saying, I still learn almost daily something about knitting. Take for instance reading about cast on's a few weeks ago, I had this epiphany that I had been doing the knitted cast on WRONG for umm... yeah, years. When I brought this up last night, Julane did mention something about, yeah that sounds ok and then she said she thought one was the cable cast on and one was knitted, etc....

So of course I looked it up and low and behold, I was in fact doing the KNITTED cast on, correctly and what I recently read the author confused it with the CABLE cast on, which in turn made me feel like I had been doing it WRONG for years, when in fact, I had not. But again, it taught me a new technique. Cable cast on! And to take things a step further, this is where I get a little annoyed with pattern writers or magazines and other sources. I wish they would tell you the cast on of choice for the pattern and WHY you should use this cast on.

Now... some projects, the cast on is irrelevant... but others it is very relevant, say for instance if you want to pick up stitches later... then you need the provisonal cast on, sometimes called a crochet cast on. And here is another non-standarized thing, I consider the crochet cast on, where you actually use a crochet needle to cast RIGHT onto the knitting needle. I'll have to make a video to show the technique, but to me that is a crochet cast on. Others say crochet is what I consider provisional, which is where you make a crochet chain and pickup the back loop stitches of the chain on your knitting needle and knit away. Later, you pull the crocheted chain out and pick up the live stitches and knit on from there.

The point is this, knitting is old, old, old... and people the world over have been knitting for centuries and with all this handed down knowledge, terms and changes are bound to occur. Couple that with the fact that we all hold yarn a different way, some of us knit continental, others knit english and as long as the end result is what we want, we are successful, and that is just the way it should be.

Of course if it isn't, we tink it, rip it, frog it... see, different words mean the same.

But ahhh... the newness of knitting. It's fun all over again.

Knitting: All about the bags!

Well, most who know me, know I love bags and purses. I wonder if that is why I like knitting so much... it has it's own line of accessories and BAGS, BAGS, BAGS! Why do I like bags... who knows?! But I do. I have a massive collection of purses that I cycle through often. Although this past year, not so much. I've stayed with just a couple and not switched out as often. I also haven't purchased as many purses. I guess I've used my money on yarn instead... and that's ok, too.

For Christmas this year (which was had by my family a few weeks ago), my little sister Sarah got me a couple new bags! I kind of new I was getting them, but I wasn't sure of the color, so it was a great surprise to see the lime green theme! And funny thing I've gotten a lot of compliments on both of them... and not just by knitters.

Last week in the cafeteria at work, I had the clear bag with my Clapotis in it and some lady walks by and says, "cute purse!"

I was like, "Uh, thanks?" And I hesitated because I wasn't sure if I should tell her it wasn't a purse... it was KNITTING. Anyway, I refrained and went on with life.

So back to the bags, they are a line called Knitpickers. Michaels carries them. Sarah works at Michaels and gets a discount, even on clearanced stuff, which these were because they were bringing in the new colors. Very cool.

What I really like about the bigger bag is the handles. They are long enough to wear on the shoulder and they don't slip off, but they aren't so long that they are a bother-perfect! The smaller clear bag is good however it just has a small handle and I wish that was a bit bigger or had a strap so it wouldn't tie up your hand.

But they are both great and I recommend!

Knitting: it's what I should be doing

But instead I give you YP (yarn porn).

And, I guess I'm of the procrastinating sort. I have all these projects tugging me in different directions. And I have all these ideas spinning 'round my head. I'm at one of those points where there are so many things calling out to me and the spinning, spinning thoughts, that I end up doing none of it and just sit quietly and contemplate... and procrastinate. It makes me feel like a terrible person.

But, then I get over it! :)

In SHOPPING news... it's been a good holiday season for myself... I've treated myself well. Due in large part to a wonderful bonus from work. However, I haven't been totally selfish... I did give to the kids as well. Although I do want to buy a few more presents for toys for tots or something. I was thinking about that yesterday.

Anyway, stash enhancements.

I finally got a ball winder and it works great! I've had a swift for some time, purchased awhile back on Ebay. Another great knitter I know, Cath has one just like it. So I copied off her. I've been just hand balling (so to speak), but oh the winder, what fun. Although arm crampiness ensues. But, I was able to wind a few skeins for the sweater I cast on. (dies of shame-but whatever I have a sickness!)

I also rolled the gorgeous yarn Brian picked out earlier this year for his SOCKS he's been whining at me every month about. It's a Judy Ditmore Interlacements yarn. (can't find photo) Yummy indeed. I can't believe I'm going to knit beautiful socks for him to wear in his nasty workboots. But the man needs warm feet and well, I'm just nice like that I guess.

Speaking of socks, my last knit picks order, I finally got the MORE SENSATIONAL SOCKS book. High recommendation from Julane and I've looked at it a dozen or so times, so finally, it's in my collection. I was trying to pick a pattern to knit last night... so hard, so many options! geez! I think I finally settled on the decorative ribbing, which is kind of funny because I'm really not a fan of Ktbl these days. It's a huge part of the Clapotis and quite frankly is getting on my nerves... so what do I do, pick a SOCK pattern that has Ktbl. When will I learn, really?! But here's the thing. I don't want to do a whole sock of K2P2 Rib or some variation. I want a little design element to it, but I can't do anything TOO fancy because the yarn is so beautiful and I don't want to muddy it up with a weird pattern. Plus I think it might be hard to see due to all the colors. So, that's that.

And continuing in the vein of socks and shopping. I bought more sock yarn, yesterday. Like I really needed that! oi! Again with the sickness. I finally decided to try some Lornas Laces. It's beeeyyoootteeefull!


I also bought Wildfoote from Brown Sheep Co.


I did this all at my last stop of the day (or so I thought), Temptations, which let me tell you has a new frequent buyer program---YAY! Where has that been all my life! :) They also have this ridiculously gorgeous new stash of sock yarn. Prism was the name out of St. Pete FL (funny cause we vacay there and I'll have to check it out next time we go!) They really had some amazing colors and the yarn, aahh... beautiful and squishy...much love. But with that love, comes a bit of a high price tag. So I resisted and didn't buy, see I was a little GOOD! Definitely click that link, you'll see all the colorey goodness there and trust me, get somewhere that you can feel it up!

I did also add some Trekking to the stash though. Man, I LOVE their yarn and hadn't purchased a Hand Art one yet. SO I got a lot of good stuff yesterday.


And because I had the Iphone camera out and was taking pictures of yarn here are a few more for you. First is a lovely Nore Kureyon Sock yarn I got for a steal on Ebay. The color is S180. I don't yet know what I'm going to do with it, socks, scarf, hat??? Whatever, but it sure is pretty! I love the colors!


And lastly, awhile back in one of my rav groups, I received this GIGANTIC skein of Fiddlesticks Country Silk. And by gigantic, I mean 800 Meters!!! It's a 50/30/20 blend of Wool/Silk/Nylon. It's really nice and I like the ply. The color way is "wine" and it's a hand dye from Canada, but sent to me from France because that's where Rebecca lives. Anyway, it's very pretty and I'm not sure what special project to make with it yet, but I decided to ROLL it up. Then I'll be ready when the perfect project comes to me. Anyway the rolling... yes, THREE balls! That's how big it was.... CRAZY!


Oh and one more... I found the cutest little fair isle sweater pattern I thought I would make for Addie. I decided on Berrocco Comfort, 50/50 Nylon/Acrylic. Very soft and I think will knit up quite nicely. She has a Feb Birthday, so I should be able to finish Sheldon and Sweater by then. Plus each skein is HUGE so I should get a hat out of it too!


I really feel like doing more picture posts, but I really must get knitting.

Knitting amongst friends

So, I am often amazed at the people I know. Take the folks I knit with usually on a weekly basis. They are just all so unique and intersting and funny and I have some of the best times with them. We knitters are good people.

I guess when I first started going to different knitting groups or even just OUT KNITTING IN PUBLIC, I was hesitant that I would "fit-in." I think some of my childhood shyness creeps in every once in awhile. But I went out into the knitting world and now there are people that I really enjoy being around and have a great time with. And yes we KNIT when together, but these are people I could see just hanging out with or catching a movie with or whatever. Anyway, I'm thankful for these friends, these knitters.

And often times, after we depart or later after the group disbands for the evening, I still laugh at what happened while there. I think of all those funny things so and so said, or that story about, whatever and I find myself laughing. We don't need alcohol to laugh and act silly... just some yarn and sticks and we are happy chicks. :)

Laughing and knitting, it's what makes my world go 'round.

I find myself less stressed, I'm in a good mood and overall I feel really content with life right now. Many times in the last however many years, life was a roller coaster. If work was great, then home wasn't, or if home was good, work wasn't. But now... things are mostly even most of the time. I kind of like it.

So, work is good
Home is good
Knitting is good

I'm looking forward to a couple of knitting weekends coming along in the new year. I have one scheduled in January with some pals. Then in February, Audra and I meet up in Pittsburgh with my sister and we go to Camp Kwonokee (???) for a retreat. I will hopefully get a LOT of knitting done. If I can keep my mouth shut. I find if I start talking... I don't get much knitting done. I don't know why I can't do both at the same time, but let's just say I'm challenged.

So knitting and knitting with friends and in groups, it's good stuff.

And I'm already thinking ahead to the new year and resolutions. I've made mention of this to a couple of people, so please hold me accountable.

For 2009, I resolve to FINISH MORE PROJECTS and start less stuff until I do finish! Now this means I will still START new things in 2009, but I do plan to finish everything I started in 2008 also. It's 30-ish projects (I think). Hopefully, by the end of 2009, my Ravelry projects will have more completed projects instead of all WIPS. We can hope, right?

I also plan to get started on gift knitting WAY before it's due.

Knitting, it's what's up!

So, I am still amused how the knitting either awes or shocks people. I've been known to frequent our small cafeteria at work with my knitting and lunch FOR lunch. I get a lot of stares. And on occasion people comment because they are interested or are like WTF?! What's with all this knitting and like why in the hale would you want to do that. Anyway, it strikes me as odd.

I mean I wouldn't walk up to another hobbyist and get in their face and mock them, now would I? No, I think not.

So, I decided I needed to drop more stitches and started Kate Gilbert's Clapotis. I got a taste of dropped stitches with the November Mystery Sock, "Butterfingers." While I didn't finish my butterfingers sock yet because I didn't like the yarn I was using on it, I still have the desire to knit that pattern with a different yarn. I'm hoping to have those socks done by end of January, that is IF I can find the darn pattern, because between here and there... I have lost it!

Speaking of lost items. My knitting supplies and stash is in desperate need of a makeover and organization! I have needles, here there and everywhere. I have yarn stashed in many places. I have all my WIPS (which keep growing) in various locations and bags ad nauseum. So yes, organization is on the frontier. I'm seriously considering this upcoming holiday to do just that. Get the house in effing order! I have 5 days off in a row and while we talked about embarking on another trip, me thinks we should just stay home and clean and game. Or maybe B will go ski and get out of the house and I can whip it in to shape. We'll see.

But, back to the Clapotis, so yes, I cast on today. Have no pics yet, just have the tiny corner done, 15 or so rows. I should be working on it now but instead and wasting time online-eek! I was going to order from knit picks and go with their silk blend (name escapes me now), but have since decided to destash and use some of the 10 skeins of Noro Kureyon that I have.

In other knitting news... I'm slllloowly working on the Aguona Laptop bag. It is coming along and I'm still loving knitting it. I've just been fairly distracted and keep getting interrupted as of late. Because the rounds are so long, it's best to have TIME available to ensure accuracy.

Ok, that all being said, I'm off to work the clap and pics to come!

ETA: promised a pic and here it is!

I'm really not dead...

I've just been sick for near a month now. It sucks. It's the cold that never ends, with the massive ton of goo and snot that is produced en masse from where, I don't really know... but I blow and blow and blow my nose and it just keeps coming. And I won't go into the coughing fits. It's just not cute.

I am back to work (real work) though and feeling much better in the not achey sense. Still have random cough/choke sessions and still have a head full of snot, but no feverish sweats, so I think it may FINALLY be clearing up. Little by little day, by day.

We went on vacation (yes while sick). Had to the room was already paid for. I had wanted to visit some knit shops in NC and the only one I found in the town we were staying was closed over the WHOLE thanksgiving holiday weekend. :( It looked like a really cool store. But oh well. I had looked up a few others several weeks before we left, but I forgot all that info and didn't plan well at the last minute, so I didn't make it to any other LYSs. I bought no yarn on vacation, which is good cause really do I need any? Um, no... I have yarn for daaayyyyysssssss and projects to boot, so it was ok. I did shop a lot though, I bought many christmas gifts and for myself several pairs of shoes, well ok, ONE pair of shoes and 2 pair of crocs for beach/pool where. They were on clearance! And the shoes were on sale. So bonuses galore. Oh and I bought a pair of UGG clogs that were also on clearance. They are very cozy and comfy.

I have finished several things lately, not any of my WIPS, really, but new stuff started and finished though.

I made a hat for B.
A hat for me.
Slippers for me.

I feel like there's another thing or two also, but can't remember.

Current WIP is the laptop bag. I was going full steam on that for a few days, but have stalled out on knitting (altogether). I didn't do much knitting on vacation, or while I was home sick (did a little). I mostly slept while home. So hopefully I'll get my butt in gear to get those sticks a moving!

Work has been going extrememly well except for being insanely busy. I guess that is all for now. I will have to try and update more often.