Can You Smell It?

You know that smell... It's crisp and fresh and oh so invigorating. I mean Fall. I LOVE this time of year. The weather is beautiful, the colors are beautiful and the food is super yummy. Oh, yeah, the food! The urge to bake has hit me hard. This week it's been biscotti and apple-pear pie. Later today it will be cheddar buttermilk bread to round out a nice hearty roast. Okay, okay, I really love food. But cooler weather has also prompted another desire: the need to finish some sweaters. First, I really need to finish the Basketweave Pullover, but I'm not wearing it so it can wait. Right? Second, my (un) Drop-Stitch Cardigan from this issue of IK. I spent two days blocking the thing and then another two days finding some quiet time to do the seaming. So how's it look? Like crap. Can we say too big? And no, my gauge (for once) isn't the problem. The yarn and the size I made is. I substituted a silk blend for the wool called for. I knew from my swatch that the drape would be, well, more drapey. I just didn't realize how much. And I think I'm making the wrong size for my taste. This has been the problem with everyother sweater I have made myself. Okay, my chest measures 43". So, you would think to make the 45"-47" size for a comfortable sweater. The problem that I'm realizing is that my waist is not proportionate to my chest. Which results in this: A big saggy mess that makes me look 20 pounds heavier than I am. I don't need this! Heck, I'm trying(hoping) to look 20 less! So, now what to do? I could rip the whole thing out and knit the smaller size and then put some short rows into the bust. *remember to go research this, Erica* But, this doesn't help with the drape. I guess it'll go back into the Pile for awhile until I figure something out. Oh the brighter side of things, XMas knitting is on: I can't say I really like this yarn, but the recipient likes funky stuff so it'll be perfect. These were originally bought as a possible yarn for my sock pal, but wasn't used. Speaking of that, Neysa reports that she got her socks in the mail, but hasn't looked at them yet. She promised herself that she'd finish her pals first. I haven't heard anything from my gifter yet, but since I know the mail can be pretty unreliable here, I'll give it another week before I worry. Have a great weekend!

Call It a Bust

Well, our weekend of fun didn't quite happen. All last week the boys and I were sick and I thought we were over it. Not quite. Reilly spent all of Friday and Saturday layed out on the couch I developed a horrible cough. Just walking the length of our apartment sent me into a horrible fit that would last about five minutes. We were disappointed but there's always this weekend. Thankfully we all feel completely better now. I spent alot of time knitting, obviously. Samus' body and one sleeve are finished. I haven't casted on for the other sleeve yet though. Instead I'm working on a pair of work mittens for Royd. They're in black and it's such a dreary day that I can't get a picture yet. And I have a finished object to show! Yeah! Here's the Leaves and Flowers Shawl that's been done for about three weeks or so and just needed a blocking. Full body shot how the pattern looks the best representation of the color

I've Been Busy. Very Busy.

Samus has come to my house to play and refuses to leave my fingers alone. I started Samus last Wednesday evening and have been having a hard time putting it down. I've already divided for the armholes and am almost finished with the left (maybe the right?) side. Cooler weather has made me long to wear this sweater. I guess I better get over my fear of zippers once and for all. Next up, I'm in a search for what yarn to use for either Mariah or Rogue. Both have been on my want list for quite some time, but never happened. Also, Royd has decided that he wants an Aran sweater, so I need to find a pattern and yarn for him. I guess he better take me shopping this weekend! I suppose it won't be a problem for that; we've got the time. He took off four days for our anniversary (tomorrow), but he's in the field and won't be home until late. Originally we thought to go somewhere to get away, but with money being a little tight lately, we decided not to. Instead we'll save the hotel money and do some local day trips and maybe get to come home with some souveniers. Almost forgot (again) to mention these socks: Trekking XXL in color 105

Look Elsewhere for Knitting

First, let me thank everyone for their comments concerning my last post. I do apologize for not emailing back, but my Hotmail account is on the fritz, again. Some days I can only read my messages and others I can't even get into it. Seriously thinking about switching everything over to Yahoo. Second, sorry for being so quiet lately. My weird funky mood continues and there hasn't been a whole lot of knitting going on. Here are my last four (out of eight) attempts for Friday Harbour. I think I'll just quit while I'm ahead. Nothing was speaking to me and I don't want to knit these unless I'm truly happy with the yarn. It's such a wonderful pattern that I don't want to ruin it with a pair I end up hating. Okay, okay, I could just order more yarn. But I kinda spent a little too much the past few months and am trying to be good and use what's already here. Which leads me to this: Acrylic yarn stash busting projects I went through a bin of yarn and pulled out all of the complimentary baby colors I could find that are oddballs. I then threw them in a bag and am just randomly crocheting squares with them. I haven't really thought about how I'll end up putting them together. So far I think I'll have enough to make four small baby blankets. Too bad all this work has barely put a dent in the acrylic bin!

Little Sweaters

I finally managed to snap a picture of the two of them in their completed sweaters. They've been done for a few weeks now, but I kept forgetting to get a shot when they were both clean, happy and willing to sit still. So much harder than one would imagine! Anyway, here's the details. Connor's sweater is the Aran Sweater from Knitting for Baby using Woolease. I made it in the 18 months size so that he can wear it through next spring. Reilly's sweater is a basic turtleneck knit with a strand of Woolease and a strand of Rodel's Universal. I should have made his a bit bigger since it fits perfect right now. Reilly was so funny when I finished the sweater and had him try it on. He made the connection that Mommy had made it, just for him. He kept walking around telling everyone what I had done. Aww... In other news, I'm exclusively working on the shawl. I've only a half repeat to go, but am thinking that I may just do one more. There's tons of yarn left and another inch and a half couldn't hurt. So maybe sometime next week it'll be done. I did start another pair of socks using the Trekking I had gotten in the States. To me it seems like a nice masculine color scheme, but Royd thinks it's too feminine. This from the man who keeps buying pink shirts! It'll probably get ripped out and put away until I decide who'll end up with them. There's some other socks I've been wanting to start, but have decided not to until after I start and finish my Friday Harbor socks. I'm just waiting for the yarn to arrive. Have a great weekend!

Progress Update

Two weeks? Jeez, I guess I've been a bit blah lately. I think it started with the weather we've been having this summer. Cold and rainy days on end makes it hard to get out and have some fun. I know poor Reilly has had enough of it. Then Royd was gone all last week at a training seminar. I'd forgotten how hard it can be to be the only parent. Well, I guess I'd better get used to it: looks like he'll be deploying next spring again. Fun. There hasn't been a whole lot of knitting going on here. I think I started about eight projects, with one being on hold and one I'm continuing with. I just wasn't feeling the other ones. I did manage to finish the Irish Hiking Scarf and the Snowdrop Shawl and just need to block them. As far as the Basketweave Pullover goes, I have to undo the seaming I'd done. Royd tried it on and wants it longer. Luckily with the stitch pattern, there's alot of play to block it out a few more inches. I just haven't felt like doing it yet. This is what I have been working on: It's the Leaves and Flowers Shawl using some Knitpicks Color Your Own. When I first saw it I knew I had to make it since I will definetly wear it. I like that it's just lacey enough without being too open and that it's done in a fingering weight yarn instead of laceweight. So far I've been cruising along, but now it's at that point where each row takes about ten minutes and I'm only maybe a third to half-way done!

My Plans For Today

Connor has taken to getting up very early lately. Today it was 4:15. Of course, he couldn't just eat and go back to bed or even play nicely. He spent the next two hours screaming. Nothing was really wrong, he just wanted to be up but was too tired to enjoy himself. Needless to say, I'm exhausted! So I'm taking it easy and putting off the errands until tomorrow. What will I be doing? Well, spending some much needed time with the BasketWeave Pullover and vast amounts of coffee. Yes, the end is in sight. I can't wait to finish this one so that I can start on his next one. He's picked out the Manly Sweater from Stitch N Bitch. We're trying out dark green, charcoal and cream. I'm not sold on the colors yet, but we'll see how it goes. I'll also be trying to decide what to do with this pound of mohair/wool roving I won off Ebay. And this merino tencel blend I bought from this Ebay seller. Oh, there may have been two pounds of merino in the box too.

Finished Objects Alert

First we have the Dublin Bay Socks in Knitpicks Color Your Own. This yarn was a pleasure to work with, very soft. I may have ordered some more to try out with some natural dyeing. This is the Candlelight Scarf I had been working on last week. It's real name is A World Lit Only by Fire, from the Lavish Lace book. I used some Universal from the local Wolle Rodel. I got a bunch of other stuff done this weekend, but will post about it later this week. I've just got to finish up a few tiny little things and then there'll be tons more finished objects. It feels good to get some things off the needles and out of the Finishing Pile. I guess it's time to start planning some new projects. Oh, wait! Already done, I'm just waiting for the yarn to get here in the mail.

A Tisket, A Tasket

A finished FlowerBasket! The color's off in this one. Closeup of edging, which could have been blocked a tad more. The pretty shot. I figured since I have the blocking board set-up, I might as well finish this up. I'm glad I did, I love how it turned out. Too bad it's not for me. It'll be sent out this week to someone in Royd's family since it had originally been intented for his Nanny. I guess I'll just have to make another one.

6 Steps to a Productive Weekend

1. Prepare all of the meals for the weekend on Friday afternoon. A flank steak, hot dogs, wurst, and chicken breasts thrown on the grill makes plenty of food for an entire weekend. A nice potato salad, macaroni salad, deviled eggs and grilled veggies rounds it all out. Three hours spent in the kitchen now, makes for less time later. 2. Spend a few hours on Friday doing all of the housework that has to be done. 3. Frozen coffee drinks make for a nice sipping treat. Caffeine also fuels fast knitting. 4. Give husband his list of chores on Saturday morning and let him run with it. Don't stress too much if he isn't doing it. Nagging only slows you down. 5. Occasionally give husband and children love and attention when needed. When they get completely bored, go for walk and get ice cream and toys. Then quickly come home. 6. When you think you cannot possibly knit another stitch, go get a sponge and cleaning solution. Go to ________ (insert word of choice: bathroom, oven, child's room, fridge drawers) and spend twenty minutes there. You'll quickly find renewed desire to go back to knitting. Following said steps will guarantee a very efficient and goal oriented weekend. In this time you can: Complete an entire child's sweater, Finish a front and back of another child's sweater* Knit about a 1/3 of a scarf** You can also get some much needed blocking done: A Branching Out, A Twelve Little Leaves doily, And a Egeblad doily. * I got about two inches into the vest for Reilly and realized that the yarn was much too busy. So I pulled out some random balls of Woolease in Terracotta and knit them together. I'm very pleased with the resulting color. **Same went for Connor's vest, but did not have another yarn that looked good with it. So, I found this scarf in Lavish Lace for A World Lit Only by Fire. I've renamed it The Candlelight Scarf for simplicity.

Crash the Stash

The past few weeks or so I've been feeling very uninspired towards my knitting. That's when I turn to socks since they're always exciting (at least to me) and it keep me going. So, in record time I was able to finish these in less than a week: Now what? I had no idea; my mind was blank. So I pulled out some of Knitpicks Color Your Own and some Wilton dye. I found Juniper Green a few weeks ago and wanted to see if I could get a green that wasn't bright or pukey. I really like what I ended up with and now I have a Dublin Bay Sock going on. Oh, you came here looking for finished pictures of my sock pal's pair? Hmph! Let's just say that there is some major surgery going on here right now and I'm not in the mood. Anyway, back to the uncreative brain functions. I spent the past two days sitting in my craft room, pulling almost every skein, hank, ball and tangled mess out of their nice, neat containers and threw them around. Sure I've got everthing cataloged on my computer and pretty columned paper, but I needed to touch and caress them. I need inspiration!!! Swatches were casted on, tore off the needles and bad words were said. Nothing. Okay, I don't have the largest stash around, nor the most extensive pattern collection, but it's decent and I thought I should come up with anything. I walked away last evening feeling defeated and torn-up. It's just yarn, I know. This morning I had a brilliant idea: have a stash sale! I could sell what I am not excited about and get some stuff I really need. No. Who wants one ball of this and one ball of that? Plus I'm not ready to part with most of my pets quite yet. Last alternative: charity knitting. Work with what I have and need to get rid of and do some good at the same time. Yes, it IS that bright Then it comes to me that I need to make the boys vests. What better way to use up the yarn that isn't enough for a sweater and too much for a hat and glove set. Wait! They do need those too! Okay, I'm wasting time typing, must go knit some cute kid stuff... Fall colors for Reilly, jewels for Connor and green if I run out for the ribbing

Time For Another Storage Bin

Yeah! I finally got all the stuff that I bought while we were back in the States. Here's the haul. Trekking XXL color 105, Lorna's Laces Shephard Sock in Glenwood, and Koigu in P800 Crystal Palace Kid Merino, Patons Grace for swatching, and Mode Dea Ticker Tape From the sale bin of AC Moore: Woolease Sportweight for some Aran socks and TLC Cara Mia Anyone spot the oddity of the bunch??? The novelty yarn it is! This just is really soft and I just had to try it out. I'm also excited about the Cara Mia. It seems like a great substitute for Cottonease, only more expensive. I figure it's on account of the 13% angora. So soft! Anyone know if it's discontinued? I can't find anyone who is selling it anymore. Just as well.

Playtime

Thanks for everyone's comments to my last post and the "problem". I'm glad to see that I wasn't overreacting; sometimes I do that. The past few days have been long, to say the least. Royd is trying to go to the promotion board next week and has been doing performance evals on all of his guys. What this means for me is that he isn't getting home until late (8:00 last night) and I haven't received my usual break in a few days. To top it off, he has Staff Duty tonight. This is a 24 hour shift for those not in the military. Now I'm just tired. So instead of doing the laundry and other much needed housework, I'm taking the day off. Other than making lasagna (yum) and some picking up of toys, nothing will get done. I gotta take it easy, right? I finished up the cabled socks yesterday morning. I'll show them off once they're done blocking. In celebration, I started a pair for myself. This is some of the yarn I picked up in Nurnberg. I've been dying to see how it works up, but had to wait for my 2.5mms to be free. Need to purchase another pair or two next time at store. Fun stuff-I'm not usually a huge fan of the self-patterning yarns, but this one's a keeper. There's been some spinning this morning too. I finished the olive roving and I figure I've got about 300-350 yards in all. I've been pretty anxious to try out the light weight spindle, but made myself wait until the latter was finished. All I can say is "WOW!" It spins great, goes forever and makes spinning a fine yarn so much easier. Sorry it's not the best picture, but it shows what it needs to. That's a length of Jaggerspun next to it for comparison. It's going to take forever to spin an ounce of two-ply. Okay, I'm going to the mailroom to see if I got anything fun.

What's Wrong With People?

This past weekend was a doozy; filled with upset and frustration. Saturday we went to a picnic and I got to meet the worst mother ever. Okay, maybe not the worst, but really, really bad. To sum up a complicated twist of events in a manageable sized post, I'll give you the highlights. Her son brought a toy along and when Reilly tried to play with it, she informed me that he wasn't allowed to because it wasn't ours. So, as I was trying to pry him away from it, her son proceeded to kick and hit Reilly. All the while she just stood there and waited. At this point, I just tried to brush it off. Well, once we had decided to leave and were talking in the car, some other things came up. Apparently when Royd had been watching Reilly there'd been another incident involving the toy. There was more hitting along with some choking and biting. Royd didn't know who the mother was so he just separated the boys and led Reilly away. I really wish he had told me this before we had left, because there would have been words said. Don't get me wrong, I do NOT live in a fantasy world and think kids get along all the time. I know that my son is bad about sharing too and can be quite rough with other kids at times. The problem is with the parenting. She never told him "no" or showed any concern that her child is a bully. Yikes! Too bad for her kids, they'll be poorly prepared and will just have more problems later on. So, that's where it started. I think that this incident really distracted me. See I was here on the socks: Now I am here: The rest of the weekend was about the same, but not really worth blogging about. Just your average blah stuff. I guess I was just in a funk, but am feeling much better. I managed to pick the Snowdrop Shawl back up after a three or four week hiatus. I finished the last two repeats and am now working on the edging, which is quite pretty. I'm off to try to get a few repeats done before the little one wakes up.

Ready... Set... Crawl!

And we're off! Wow, I sure did get a whole lot busier lately! I forgot how much time is devoted to keeping tabs on a mobile baby. He's been pushing himself around the carpet for a few weeks ago, but yesterday everything clicked. Such a happy baby! Okay, it's not all cute pictures today. I've been avoiding starting the sleeves for the cardigan for about a week. Two days ago, I figured I might as well do them. Once I sat down and casted on, they flew by. Now I just need to find a zipper and then I can agonize over that process. Oh, yeah, I decided to leave the cuffs as ribbing rather than the drop stitch. In the end I didn't like how big and airy they were.

Too Sick to Knit

It started out with a tickle in my throat Thursday night. By Friday night I knew it wasn't just an itch. Yuck! I'm sick! Saturday I alternated laying on the couch and the bed. Thankfully Royd stepped up to the plate without even whining once. He took Reilly out for a few hours so that Connor and I could have some quiet time together. Yeah, he was blessed with it too. By Sunday I was feeling at about 90% strength. To thank the Hubster, I made him pancakes and eggs; something I rarely do anymore. Since I was feeling better, but still trying to take it easy, I got to knitting. I finished one of the socks for my Sock Pal, and immediately casted on for the second. I also thought I'd try out one of my new spindles and the olive roving I just got. It's a bit more green in person, I just couldn't get an accurate shot no matter what I tried. But all those other colors are there, making it not so olive. The wool is a bit course too. As far as my spindle goes, I'm not hugely impressed. For one, I don't like the bottom whorl. Even after I got used to it and developed a rhythm, it was still cumbersome. Luckily I dropped it and the whorl came unglued, so I made it into a top whorl. Second, the hook isn't screwed in straight so it wobbled. Third, it doesn't hold all that much yarn. I could return it, but it's too much bother and I'll use it as a backup. Now I just need to test the other one. I started a block for the sampler afghan. I'll probably be donating this one to charity. I discovered that I don't have enough yarn to make it full sized and I'd rather not use this yarn for myself. For some reason I was under the impression that the skeins were 7 ounces, not 5. I'll be watching the sales for another yarn to use for me. And while we're talking about my "stupidity", for a lack of a better word... The French mohair that I got that I thought I would use for Kiri won't work. Well, KSH comes in 25 gm balls, and this comes in 50 gm. Duh! That's a big difference in yardage. But it will work for the two sweater that are on my wish list. I just need four more balls. Or I could just make a scarf...

Add It To the Stash

Goodies awaited me today at the mail box: I got the Sampler Afghans pamphlet to make, well, ya know. It's an attempt to use some burgundy acrylic that just sits and takes up space in my stash. The rovings and spindles came from Annie May's (thanks Rachel for the link). The olive green is some colonial wool and the small balls came with the spindles. I needed a new one and saw this package deal and couldn't resist. Plus the samples are silk blends. Yum. I think it's safe to say that I now have a spinning stash. This is the Kool Aid dyeing I did last week. I'm almost done spinning it and then will start a sock. I'm interested to see how it knits up. I finally settled on a yarn and pattern for my sock pal's socks. I'm using Regia Loop Color and the Rib and Cable Socks from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. I had to add six stitches into the ribbing to adjust for the smaller gauge and all is going well. Then there's this problem: I am on the sleeves of the Drop Stitch Cardigan. I dropped and pulled and tugged. I then held it up to admire my sleeve. Ugh! Do you see it? The edge is all flimsy and undone. I didn't even think about this before, I mean, I've done Clapotis twice and all... So all afternoon I played around with different cast-on edges and I'm not satisfied. They're either too firm or also the same way. I think that I may just leave it as a ribbed cuff. If any one has any ideas to a better (elusive) cast on, let me know.

A Knitterly Weekend

Saturday I drove out to Nurnberg to go yarn shopping with Kathleen. Altogether we visited three shops and one craft store. By far the best was the first in Erlangen. She had a wall of mohair! I am so kicking myself for not snapping a picture. The haul, quite modest if I say so myself, is below. Glorious sock yarn French mohair-perhaps Kiri? 400 gms of roving Sunday we drove back out to Kathleen's for a little cookout and got to meet up with Jean as well. I had a wonderful time ladies! We have to get together more often! Perhaps an invasion of the Phildar in Wurzburg? That is if I can hold out past this weekend...