Around and around and around we go.....

Here's my sock in a semi-completed form. It's really done except for weaving in the ends, except that I need to re-do it. I spent a whole day working on short heels of the right side. Finally got it right with scrap yarn, went back and knit on the sock, and messed up the left side. Back to the scrap yarn.... and around, and around, and around..... I wish I kept count--it's must been 20 times. Finally got both sides to match (whether they're right or not is a different story....) Finished the cuff. Hmmm....the heel's too short. Gotta rip out the cuff to put 2 more heel rows. Plus, the ribbing at the top is kinda loose. Need to reknit that on smaller needles anyway.

Speaking of ripping out.....started over on DS's hat again, this time adding 13 stitches. Well, it's now large enough for my head, but it's double thickness (Allison's NYC Street Cap), so I don't think it'll be big enough when it gets done. And I made such progress today--it was the perfect thing to take to DD#2's basketball doubleheader. (Who ever heard of a 4th grader playing 2 full games in a row? Although they did win both.)


Amongst all that frogging, I did have a couple of packages arrive. First this super-soft, handdyed merino yarn from handpaintedyarn.com. They're for custom soakers, so have to take priority over the sock and hat. Gee, too bad....


Today I received this beautiful "spun in the grease" wool from Marilyn. There's also another, larger skein that I got to set the twist! (Don't ask me to explain that, I just blindly following instructions.)

Timeout

I have not one, not two, but three things in timeout. First is the knitting needle that DD and I so happily made several days ago. Got stepped on. Bought a replacement dowel rod--but..... how to remove the old one?--it was superglued.

Next is my toe-up sock. The wraps on the heel just don't want to cooperate. I knit, and frogged, and knit, and frogged. Got out separate needles and yarn and knit and frogged. Found different toe-up directions and knit and frogged. Finally decided to try the real thing again. Better, but not great. So last night I decided to keep going and started the ladder ribbing. Now by the light of day..... It's still in timeout.

The third item is a new hat for DS#1. He emailed me "mom, can you make me a hat?" (He's at college. We really do speak when he's in the same house.) Ah.... music to my ears. You betcha! His specifications:
".....dont worry about putting little balls or tassel's on it, just make it a straight up hat....if i could chose a color, id like navy blue and black. you can make any design on it you want as long as it isnt like kiddie cartoons or my name." Why did he feel the need to warn me not to put kiddie cartoons on an 18yo's hat? I dunno. Maybe I should put Mickey Mouse. or Tommy from the RugRats, or Bullwinkle on his hat just for spite!

But that's not the reason it's in timeout. I've been knitting and knitting, and it finally got long enough to try on. Hmmm...is his head smaller than mine? Measured it against a hat here that's too small for him--and it's the same diameter. Rats! Hence timeout.

I was complaining to this same DS about 2 hats that I had to completely reknit in less than a week. He said "There ought to be some way to check to see if you're making the right size before knitting the whole thing." Well....ummm.....errrrrrrr.......there is......it's called making a gauge swatch. But in each case I have a good reason! Really! How do I know if a 15" diameter hat is going to fit on my 23" head unless I make it? Especially when it's knit top down?

On to good news:
I've been stalking the mailbox for 3 days now, and my brand new roving has arrived! No, I don't spin, but I'm meaning to try. Now that it's in the house, though, I'm afraid to start. So it's been sitting for two days while I get up my nerve. Plus I cut the end of my thumb. Cutting a bagel. While saying "don't cut your thumb, don't cut your thumb, owww, I just cut my thumb!"



That's Jasper inspecting my roving.

CIC vests 

What to do when it snows....

Knit! What else?

I have five Children in Common (CIC) vests done and in the mail today. They were rather addictive! Taking about a day to do each one, I kept thinking "hey, I have time/yarn for another!" The bottom three crazy striped ones were made from Reynolds Lopi that I found in a thrift store. The top two were done with a worsted and combined with a lighter weight wool yarn. The one with the fish on the pocket was my favorite. I dyed the grey yarn using blue,green, and purple Wilton's icing colors for the fish and water.

After finishing the vests I was at a standstill--no UFOs in sight. Time to cast on for socks. I've only done top down socks before, so decided to try Kim Salazar's Firefighters socks . Did the Figure-8 Cast-on for the first time (Okay, for the first thru fourth times, but I did get it finally.) Here's a picture showing how the cast-on looks after several rows, then after it's been tightened up. All that, and no Kitchnering involved!

Ladder sock cast on

Ladder sock after snugging

Crafting project

Over the holidays, DD#2 and I made some dowel rod knitting needles. How cool are they? Took my knitting gauge to the store to figure out what size to buy. DD#2 now has size 8's, I have size 11's, and a set of 10.5 dpns. Just sharpened the ends with a pencil sharpener, lightly sanded the whole thing, and made polyform clay ends. (And that 's much harder to do. Thought we'd be experts by the number of times we've seen clay on the Carol Duvall show.) Super simple, and cheap--the most expensive item was the sandpaper!

What can I say, I'm a leftie!

So, it was a couple of days after Christmas with nothing to knit. Thought I'd try this cool pattern for a Nautilus hat 'cause, after all, I need a hat! Plus, the more I work with wool, the more I need a wool hat! There are different sizes to this hat, but since my head is huge--doesn't fit any store bought hats, that I needed to make an XL size. So I cast on with Cascade 220 in Christmas Red. I knit the whole hat, put it on, and voila! It was too big. So, this time I went with the pattern and made the Large size. Fits great! Love it! Hey, wait, the spirals spin IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!! Yep, that's right. I didn't realize it until I completely knit the hat TWICE! Being a leftie, I still find that most things turn out okay if I just follow the directions as stated. I don't switch much around, other than things like Left front, right front. Socks turn out okay this way. But not the spirals. Hmm...I wonder what else doesn't actually turn out as okay as I think it does?

Sublime Shawl

Shawling around

I made my first shawl for me using 2 skeins of this yarn called "Sublime". We have a brandnew AC Moore in the area, and it so exciting to see some wool! This is 78% Mohair and 13% wool and knit up lickety-split. I've been debating getting a third ball and making it bigger. Or maybe fringe? It's patiently waiting until I reach a decision. And who knows how long THAT will be. Making decisions has never been my strong points. Stewing endlessly over decisions--now THAT'S where I excel!

DH says that this blog sounds like I'm talking to myself. That's right! Why not do it on the computer? I do it in the car all the time! (and in the shower, and while washing dishes, and...well, you get the idea.) (I do?) (Yes, you do.)

Felted clogs

Here's my fiber trend felted clogs. I used 3 skeins of Brown Sheep Naturespun. I was aiming for the bumper and soles to be all out of blue, but ran out of yarn. I had to do more ripping out on these clogs to get the two clogs to match! Felted well, and quickly, and turned out just the right size. My only concern: Do I have to keep the kitchen floor clean so I don't get the clogs dirty?

Purple felted clogs before felting.


Clogs after felting. (Check out my first sock yarn socks made with Hot Socks!)

Catching up on projects

Working on getting this up-to-date... This isn't strictly this year's work, but I wanted a record of it somewhere. I made four felted oven mitts for Christmas this year. Well, I only needed two, but two were over-felted and hence the four. I used Kate Gilbert's Gifted Mitten pattern with Paton's Classic wool and 2 strands of yarn on size 15 needles. Loved the way the thumb is crocheted closed, and did this method to seam the side, then chained 22 sts to make the loop.

green oven mitt before felting 

Felted oven mitt

I over felted this one--boy was it quick! So my 9 yr. old DD is now the proud owner of an oven mitt!

My Scene girl poncho

This is the first thing I've knit in my "knitting year" of 2005 (anything after Christmas counts!). I used the poncho pattern here . I was all set to use sock yarn just as advised, but DD wanted this made in Red Heart acrylic worsted weight instead. Okay, we can do that. Adjusted the number of stitches and made the neck opening to accomodate the huge head.

First Post

Why is it that the hardest thing to create a blog is to come up with a name? I finally gave up on a creative name--it's 7 days into January and I want to make a knitting journal for the year. So on with the show!