Knitting: Sometimes organization is bad

Mostly it is good though.

Case in point... I had the brill idea to make a pattern/project binder for 2010. Sort of like the ravelry queue. And while ravelry is still a genius and I am its slave... I need tangible. I need something that I can carry around with me and touch and feel. I know this is weird because with the Iphone I can actually carry ravelry around with me. But anyway... binder it is.

So I started planning. I had 2 projects in the binder. The lovely Welig Gloves and The every way wrap. Both started around beginning of January/end of December? Anyway, I was a good girl and soley worked on these 2 projects. I finished the gloves. And decided to start a simple sock project to go along with the wrap. I cast on Spring Forward. It took it's place in the magic binder.





Then I did a dumb thing and went to knitters mercantile. I bought this fantastic self striping/patterning yarn by Regia. I went to a friends to watch movies, needed something even more simple, so I cast on for another sock! That has no pattern though, so no insert into the binder. I will write it up though for prosperity, and to OH yeah, make the 2nd sock match the first. har,har, har.

The pic is of the in progress, but the 1st sock is actully complete.

Then, I went on Ravelry forums and started reading the January challenge for SKA and I cast on another sock! It's a made up pattern from BW stitch dictionary... and I haven't gotten far on it. The sock yarn is alpaca and is super slippery and fine to knit, so these may get frogged or take forever, not sure.



THEN... if all of this wasn't bad enough... my first shipment for the Rockin' Sock club came on Friday. Holy crap, do I love this yarn. It''s this gorgeous red/pink with a bit of bluey/silver, some orange and pinks and it is way too fabulous! I was actually leaving the house on Friday, pulled my car over in front of the mailbox because I saw a package. I sat there on the wrong side of the street facing the wrong way and opened the amazing. I was in love right there. It was like this was the most perfect yarn in the prettiest of colors and I felt like it was made just for me. I checked the patterns quick too and they were stunning as well.



Instead of running back into the house to immediately wind and cast on (which was truly a thought), I went about my errands. I didn't even cast on for a whole day! But then I just had too. It was staring me in the face and I knew I couldn't knit on anything else.

So, I cast on Flabella. I read through the pattern multiple times and on I went. Until the 1st freaking row. Yes, this pattern has bobbles, which normally I don't like, but they look so pretty in the pattern, I knew I had to knit them and would be pleased at the end. Well, I had problems, after about the 4th bobble, I decided to give up. I plan to potentially still knit this pattern someday, but in the mean time, I decided to cast on the other pattern that came with it, Cascadia.



It's a toe-up so not my fave method, but I did it. And for all of you that know me and know my relationshp with Judy's Magic Cast on... I actually did it. First time ever it actually came out fairly well. I just have one little hole to fix up instead of the usually craziness that happens when I do it. So, I felt better about that... then onto the pattern. It's just awesome. It's pretty and easy to memorize, the directions are written very well and the charts are awesome. So I'm half way through the foot (I think). And the yarn as knitted is still amazing and lovely.

Oh yeah, back to the binder... so on my lazy Sunday morning, I notieced I had patterns skattered about and thought I really needed to wrangle them in. So I put some random patterns in another binder. And I started putting the "I REALLY WANT TO MAKE THAT!" in the 2010 binder and lo and behold it has grown!

I think it is mostly due to ravelympics. If I get on a crazy knitting roll during this time, I want to be sure to have enough projects in my "queue". So I've picked a couple to knit, since Vivian is going to be knit another time. I have the twilight mitts to knit with Jackie and Karen. I thought maybe another sock pattern to go with the SKA Feb. challenge. And then I forgot about this cowl I want to make AND there's a blue moon team too and the criteria there is just to use Blue moon yarn, so enter in another project! Of course I could merge the Blue moon and ska into one thing and have my blue moon entry and the ska challenge be the same pattern.

Anyway... at this point in time... the binder has gotten out of control. I'm pretty confident I can finish the twilight mitts during ravelympics. I MIGHT be able to squeeze the cowl in, too... but much more than that is probably hopeless. I need to slow down and concentrate on one thing at a time, not sure if that will ever be possible, though.

Oh well, at least I enjoy what I do!

Knitting: The toilet

So, no I'm not knitting a toilet, or on the toilet, or even a cover for the toilet... but I feel like my knitting is in the proverbial toilet. I have become lackluster with projects and ideas and knitting in general.

Now don't get me wrong, I love to knit and talk about knitting and read about knitting and just be a geek about knitting... but lately... so unmotivated to do actual knitting.

I think it's partly the whether and that time of year. Days are shrinking, my house is a cluttered catastrophe. I've put off so many things for so long and they are really biting me in the butt. So as unmotivated as I am to knit, I'm even more so to clean and declutter. But it is something I have to do... and do it soon!

I need to reorganise my house, my life and my knitting. I start 3 day weekends very soon, I think some of this can be accomplished.

Onward!

Knitting: Unfinished projects, starting more projects and lot of eating!

That is what this weekend has been about.

Friday-Met up with Lindsey at Temptations. I bought some shibui sock yarn cause i've been dreaming about it. It's a lovely shade of green and should go nicely with my almost finished sweater. Then we went to Red Lobster. I had a great meal. It's been ages since I been there and it totally hit the spot. After that I came home, did a little work on the OpRag. Crashed early cause I was tired.

Saturday--it started out pretty rough. The tow truck came to get my car and take it to MAG in Dublin to be looked at. Well, like a dingbat... I took the key for it off my chain, then the driver asked me to move the car down to the pullaround area, so he wouldn't block traffic. Then he left and I came back in the house. I got ready and Brian left for work, I gathered all my stuff and where were my keys? I totally panicked! I strongly felt like I had left them in the rover. SO I call Brian and ask him about the red truck of death... will it make it to Dublin. He says, no, but drive it to where he is on 256 and take his truck. So then I look for the red truck keys... can't find them. I'm losing patience and the clock is ticking because I need to get to the bank before it closes. Finally I decide to call MAG to ask them to look in the rover for my keychain which houses the keys to my 2nd car, house, work, desk, computer, etc.... LIFE! Now every time I call the service guy, it goes to voicemail, so I PLEAD with the operator to ask someone to go find him because i have to know. She tells me there is nothing she can do and transfers me... he picks up. HALLELUJAH! I ask him, he goes to look, I'm on hold. While on hold, I remember putting stuff from the rover into a bag, maybe I threw the keys in there. He comes back can't find them, thanks for trying... and I go out to the garage, grab the bag and they are there! HALLELUJAH again!

So I get it together, and take off. I get to the bank, drive thru line looks long, I decide to go inside... holy crap... line from HELL! seriously, I counted there were like 35 people in line... and this counting was after I had been standing there awhile, so a few people had already gotten through. Sooo banking done, Cath invited me over for movies and knitting, so I went over there. In the meantime, Brian and I had texted each other about dinner and decided to meet at Taj Palace. I've been craving Indian Food for awhile. It was HEAVEN. And I tried a new dish, Aloo something. It was a spinach and potato dish. It was tasty, but it was actually better mixed with my curry sauce, too.

After that, home to knit... do some more rows on the OpRag.

Sunday--Met Molly and Betty for brunch, it was yumtastic. Then we went up to Blendon Woods for the hike. Martha was already there and then Lindsey got there. Off we went. The trails were quite snow and ice covered. We hiked up and down hills and by a stream that wound around. So then after awhile we were at a cross road. The group wanted to go towards the Nature Reserve area and I had enough at that point, so opted to take the trail we came from and head back. It was a nice solitary walk. I stopped a few times and took some photos (to be uploaded soon). Then I waited in my car for the gang to catch up and we went to Baja Sol to knit. And eat.

Then I came home and am knitting some more. I'm almost to the point of joining for the body.

So as far as unfinished work.... I haven't worked on my entrelec socks. I haven't worked on my Schooner sock #2. I haven't finished seaming my sweater. I've been slowly working on this opulent raglan. Not so big a deal, but it just feels like I should be going faster and that it would be further along.

Well, I have to go find the camera cable so I can get these pics uploaded and show all my advetures.

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 by candlelight

I feel so old fashioned. I wonder if this is how the Amish do it. So we've lost power due to high winds. They were between 65-80 mph I think. As I drove home from Cath's house, there were trees and branches and leaves everywhere.

I was surprised at how many smallish trees were snapped. They were broken about 10 inches from the ground. It was weird all these trees in diff areas were broken in the same spot. Anyway I arrived home, it was still light out but I had to put stuff away and take care of the hyper dogs. I went in search of candles and got them all lit up.

I decided it was enough light to knit though. So I've done a few rows on the CPH. It's almost 9 pm so I may head to bed soon. Sure hope I wake up in the morning with no alarm.

Oh and while at Caths we cast on for the mystery stole 4. I got through about 5 rows. The beading is quite a pain. But I'll keep working. Although I don't want to take too much time away from the cph. It'll all get done eventually.

Well a few more rows then bedtime.


Sent from my iPhone

Knit nights and STUFF

So last night the GANG got together again. I was fortunate enough to meet a member that hadn't been able to come for some time and let me tell you, she was a CHARACTER. She had everyone cracking up to no end. Audra brought her mom, Sandy as well. And our new friend Jackie came back, but her friend Staci couldn't make it. And Brandy was able to come again too! So it was a great group, though I did have to duck a few minutes early. Was trying to make it home before Brian went to bed, but by the time I got there, he was already long gone passed out. I even brought him ice cream, but he was dead to the world!

As for knitting progress... I actually went BACKWARDS! I was really not liking the work I put in on the sleeve, so I pulled it back out... alllllll the way back out. Recast on the extra stitches and got about an inch done. Was very frustrating, but I know it will look better. Of course, now that is just THAT much more time it will be taking me. Argh! I only have a couple more weeks until the birthday. BUT... I do have a 3 day weekend, so I'll be knitting up a frenzy-hopefully!

I resumed working out today. I signed back up at Curves on Tuesday, but couldn't go Wed. and Thurs. because of the knitting groups, so today was the day. It felt good. My muscles are still warm from the workout. I felt some in places that haven't had that type of movement in some time, so it REALLY felt good. I can't wait to start going on a regular basis as they are closed for the weekend due to the holiday. They are also getting a new stretching machine in, so I'm interested to see how that will work. Michelle told me today it doesn't require you to lay on the floor, which I felt was great because it's the last stretch and the one I hate the most. It hurts my back being all laid out like that, nevermind the fact that I feel like a big blob lying there.

In FIBER news... I purchased a GORGEOUS feeling tweedy wool, alpaca, donegal blend at the Merc the other day. It's a blueish color that I'm ok with. WIsh it was the same shade, but in green, I'd REALLY love it then, but no worries. It will go great with Jeans and Khakis. My main concern now is whether or not I can get the correct gauge. It SAYS its the right gauge on the tag, but... I'm not totally sure. I will definitely be doing a swatch this time.

Well it's getting later and I'm hungry and the husband is taking me to dinner. YAY!

On blogging hiatus

So lazily enough, I've been on a blogging hiatus. Not TOTALLY on purpose, but kind of. There are always lots of things I want to write about, but haven't taken the time to do so. I have been keeping paper journals however, so not all thoughts are lost to the abysssssss.....

I still need to finish the p-burgh series (it's on paper). And write about lots o'projects i've got going on now.

A couple of years ago, my BIL Patrick gave me a couple of knitting books for Christmas. One I already had, so returned and got something else, but the other was a REALLY gorgeous book, called Knitting Nature. I remember looking through it thinking everything was so unique and interesting. At the time the book seemed out of my league. A lot of pattern type stuff and what I would called intricate knitting. So years ago (in my knitting infancy), I thought the book seemed difficult, or wasn't sure I would make anything from it. Then I "lost" it. Actually it was stuck in a box in the trunk of my car for um.... years! :(

Then when it was moved out of trunk, it ended up in a diff box in the garage and I found it 2 days ago. Looking back through the book again, years later, I realize, these patterns aren't difficult at all. It's just a different perspective, I think. Also, maybe the fact that I've KNIT a lot more since that time and have gained a lot of knitting confidence. I am determined to say that I can knit anything I have directions to. I can knit anything that I have the PATIENCE to is the main part of this verse. Anyway, I started on the Shell Tank from the book. It's moving right along. I got a bit bored with the back, so I started on the right front Pattern panel. And depending on what I'm watching on TV, have been switching back and forth between the back and the panel piece.

Here are the first pics of said sweater.

No time for knittin' Dr. Jones!

The line is truly "No time for LOVVVVE Dr. Jones." It's from a movie.

This has been a busy week. Early on I had hopes of knitting a lot...but that dwindled as the week wore on. I did some knitting on Monday, or was it Tuesday??? That's it, my week has been a blur. Anyway, stopped by the Yarn Shop on one of those nights, met up with Audra. I wanted to pick up the BUCKEYE colors to knit another felted bag. We mused around a bit, then finally home, where I did start said bag. PS... am not liking the way I created the base, so I may rip and start again. I'm kind of making my own pattern up as I go. Anyway, I think I need to start over!

Then I had to cancel plans to attend the Wednesday night get together with the "west" side knitting group, which is really a grandview knitting group, but whatever. And I'm on the east side so.... does it matter really? I got tickets to a fabulous show, Angels and Airwaves. It was amazing, blew me away and my eardrums, too.

Then plans to knit on Thursday never happened because I was trying to help Aud download her pics from her camera so she can do her inventory and upload pics and such... only we had a few probs... but we had pizza and chatted and that was all good too!

And now it's FRIDAY?! I can't believe it, I am thankful that it is here because I am ever so tired, this has been a long exhausting week!

Today is the final day of my Ravelry swap and I need to get my partners stuff in the mail TODAY! I have everything put together, I just haven't been to the post office yet. Oh gee. So much to do!

Instant Gratification!

So I guess for me, this weekend was all about the instant gratification. I put the sweater project down after working into the wee hours fri night/sat. morning. I was DETERMINED to get to the cable row before the wednesday night meetup!

So I did it and then didn't touch the sweater the rest of the weekend.

Instead, I knitted a bag on Saturday afternoon. I LOVE the colors, but don't like how it felted out. I plan to do another round with the washing machine. Heavy agitation and hotter water this time.

On Sunday I decided to work up a pair of slippers/clogs. They take 2 strands. I'm using a multi color from Paton's merino and a fuzzy mohair. I have plenty of the patons, but the slipper/clog used all the mohair. So I have to get another skein of that. ONLY, I'm on a no shopping until Pittsburgh rule right now, so what to do?!

But I was pleased to have almost finished the slipper yesterday. I just have to bind the cuff and knit the outer sole. Shouldn't take long and I had plenty of time to do it yesterday evening except I was being lazy and didn't feel like going to find another circ for the join. Perhaps tonight.

In other news, Brian helped me pick up the living room yesterday and we did a VERY thorough job of sweeping the floor. It looks very nice now. It's like a whole different house when you don't have bits of chewed up whatever from the dogs!

Pictures to come later!

Bag that!

Saturday I was in the mood to work on something new. I put the sweater down and started the Buttonhole bag from Mason-Dixon knitting. It was quite an easy project that worked up really quickly. After tossing in the washer to felt, I was a little sad that it didn't felt quite the way I wanted. Of course, maybe if I leave it for longer it will? I don't have much experience with Lamb's pride bulky, but I would have thought it would felt really quickly... but no. I even did a pre-soak in warmish water. I thought it would help break down the fiber a bit before the agitation stage.

I may go back and try another go 'round with the washer.

I was also thinking of doing another of these bags. I can definitely see it in Scarlet and Grey (GO BUCKS!). I can definitely see making some modifications, as well. Maybe do a round base instead of the oblong one. Or make it even more oblong and it would be a perfect needle carrying case. :)

Pictures to be posted-later!