Random thoughts

Since I'm procrastinating about doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and since Blogger decided to work for me tonight, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures.

First, here's what I've been knitting. A Christmas gift for my best friend down the road, out of Paton's SWS. I didn't blog about it because hey, that would spoil the surprise! (Always a last minute person, I gave it to her with a note "it needs another day of drying time".)



Here's the baby sweater that I was working on. I finished it about an hour after the deadline. (Too late, too bad, so sad. Other presents were given, so it's all good.) The body seems out of proportion with the arms, so I might cast on the bottom and knit downwards.




Next is another pair of CIC chain link socks. They have more chain links on them because I was afraid that I'd run out of yarn.



Here's a couple of knitter-ly birthday gifts that I received:

a 1000 piece puzzle called "Knitter's Stash". This makes me a bit afraid. But hey, with all the different colors, it might not be as hard as I think.



Here's the 2007 Pattern-a-day calendar from my best friend down the road. It hasn't been opened yet--I'm going to try to just look at one pattern per day. (I didn't take a picture, but you'll have to trust me that it's still sealed.)



A special shout out to my twin cousin Ruth whose birthday is the same day as mine!

Happy Birthday! Don't worry, we don't look nearly as old as everyone else our age. (And you will always be older than me!)

Glitch fixed

While knitting this latest set of handwarmers, I noticed a glitch in the pattern.


I checked the pattern a whole bunch of times, but there was still this error:

Left hand: Finish thumb:
Round 15: K1 and leave on needle, BO 11(13,15) sts in purl, K 5(6,7), [yo, SKP] 5 times, K to end.

The pattern has been fixed, but here's the error in case you just want to pencil in the changes.

Along that note.....

I've noticed a dramatic upsurge in the number of views per day. If you're reading this, and found my blog through a posting of my pattern, could you please post on that list about the error? (I don't know if that happened or not, but it's a possibility.) Thanks a bunch!

CIC socks

A pair of CIC socks from the 6 Sox KAL gang. These are using the toddler chain link pattern using Paton's classic merino and size 4 dpns. Quite fun!

Denial

Lest you think I haven't been knitting, I want to reassure you that that's mostly what I've been doing.

Not Christmas shopping, or cleaning house, or cooking supper. That will have to change after 2 college-aged kids come home this week. My DH has more than one reason to rejoice in their arrivals. He usually says, about once a day (around suppertime), "thanks SO MUCH, son (or daughter), for coming home.

Sigh. I REALLY need to go grocery shopping. But instead, I knit.



Here's most of a baby sweater, minus the sleeves. Needs to be done by Friday, so there should be plenty of time. Unless, of course, I plan on grocery shopping, cleaning house, Christmas shopping. Oh yeah, and work and do the social studies presentation that's due Thursday...err....assist DD#2 with her SS presentation. And then there's always the pesky "what's for supper" problem. Otherwise, plenty of time.

I'm deep into denial.

In the meantime, here's another pair of diamond handwarmers, just because.

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever lost something, maybe not even realizing that it was lost, only to have it show up a year or two later?

Was it missed? Was there much rejoicing when it was found?

Or....

Was it like my recently found object when I thought,

What is this??????

DD#2 was wearing my felted clogs that I made 2 years ago and have worn constantly. She likes to skate around the kitchen floor (if I can figure out how she can do that and clean the floor at the same time, then I'm good to go!) The other day she came up to me and asked what this pin was. It was sticking out of the inside layer of the sole.

Doing a little pulling, I extracted this safety pin that I had used as a stitch marker when I had made them 2 years ago! I had felted them with the pin in between the sole layers, never noticing it, and it was only now working it's way out!



And somehow, amidst the pulling and extracting, I committed myself to making DD her own clogs.

How does this happen?

Projects

Hey, Heather E.! I hear you have a project that's not quite turning out and looks vaguely like this:



(Actually, I do too, since those are my afghan strips.... :)

Give me a call, or email me. I don't promise I can fix it, but maybe I can get you back on the right track. (Or I might be able to tie the yarn into really tight knots. It'll most likely be one or the other.)

------------------

Is it a bad idea to start a new sweater for me when the teal cardie isn't done and it's in the midst of December? How about if the idea's only in my head and I'll lose it if I don't start soon? How about if I already have all the yarn and don't have to spend any money? (Have I justified myself enough yet?)

Now, if you agree that I can start my sweater, can I use the my new set of knitting needles that I strongly suspect (since I ordered them) that I'm getting for Christmas?

Oh....the temptation......

Mittens for Akkol

The December CIC challenge is Mittens for Akkol. Mittens for Akkol supports an orphanage in Kazakhstan. We're knitting mittens for kids from toddlers up to 16 yrs. old. Check out the cute button that Suzann made!



Thanks Suzann!

I'm hoping to get to these later on in the month (once Christmas knitting is done. HA!)

Ik kan u horen!

Before I discuss today's painstakingly loaded pictures (have I mentioned how I feel about Blogger lately? Not lovin' it so much), I have something to say....

Those who live near or far and think I can't hear you laughing--I SOOOOOOOOO can.

To the one in Texas: "Hey, ya'll. I can hear ya'll laughing. Don't tell me that you muffled your sound with your winter coat, when I doubt that you even have a winter coat, ya'll!"

(Of course, that may not be correct--hasn't there been bad weather there recently? There's been bad weather all over recently--as I can attest. Not because I've experienced it, but because I've been trying to change DS#1's plane reservation in the midst of it. Feeling a bit guilty that I'm tying up the phone lines while stranded passengers are trying to get through--and Somebody must be getting through, since it certainly wasn't me. But needing to get the plane changed so that he's not either a) stranded in FLA over Christmas or b) misses his last final exam that I need to change the reservation for. Finally got through and got it changed, but let me just say...that's one Expensive Final Exam! Where was I.....)

To the one in the Netherlands:
Ik kan u horen!
(Which I hope means "I can hear you!". I'm putting all my trust in an online language traslator since I don't speak a word of Dutch.)
Controle uit Valeria blog.
(Check out Valeria's blog. She promises to post pictures soon. Right, Valeria? Oh, and if she sees flying penguins near Amsterdam--she's going to send them back. And stop drinking wine. Hmmm...)

Niets houdt van een weinig druk.
(Nothing like a bit of pressure.)
(Please tell me I didn't say that your feet were smelly.)

To the ones who live down my street:
Well...nothing. I haven't heard you laughing yet. That may be because you know I'm not above arriving at your house with some afghan strips and demand that you sew them together.... Just sayin'.

(If anyone wondering about my afghan the answer is no. I haven't touched it since. Surprised?)


On to the pictures.....

If you notice the date of this post, it is Dec. 2. I actually took this picture on Dec. 1.



You can notice the following items about the picture:
1. My Christmas tree is up. On Dec. 1 I put the tree up. Applause, please. (This is a big feat. It's up almost 2 weeks earlier than normal. It may be because I bought it in October and it's been sitting in the middle of my family room since.) The lights are already attached, and the branches fold down like an umbrella. The wonders of modern technology.

2. It is in my newly painted dining room. Those driving past will have to look into my windows, through the living room and into the dining room, but trust me, it's up. The walls are painted Ginger Peach (yellow) with the woodwork a pleasing green.

3. My carpet has been ripped up and the plywood floor looks oh-so-lovely. The boxes of wood flooring sit in the middle of my living room (which is why the tree is in the dining room.)

4. At this point I'm thinking it'll be like this until after Christmas because of the water leak under the sliding glass doors. That needs to be fixed before I do the floors. In the meantime? A mess.


My second picture is bags of wool. (This is as close to knitting content as this post will get.)



My dad went to an auction-of-sorts and got this for me. 100% wool from Ireland (we think). The same color in two weights. How great is it when even my dad sees wool yarn and thinks of me!

CIC package

It's Nov. 30th and the CIC vest/sweater challenge is done today. Here's what went out in the mail:


You've seen all of these before, but it's fun to see the pile they make all together. They've been sitting around for several weeks now--apparently waiting for the last minute rush at the post office.

Next challenge is mittens. I'm still debating that one--there's already too many WIPs.

Birds

For as many times as I've tried to upload these pictures, you'd think there's a specific blocker:

"Warning, warning, birds coming through. Direct them towards the south, but by no means let them through to this somewhat northern blog. Or if they get through, make sure they have friends. Multiple friends. Three or four friends. Then when one is deleted, make sure the pack stays together and all get deleted."

This time I think I've won and these birds will stay somewhat northern, at least for today.

All this work concerning birds, but there's not really any knitting content. Rather, this is DD#2's crafts for the day.

Here's our turkeys that graced the Thanksgiving table.


Here's my new winter nametag. Pretty snazzy, huh?


If anyone sees these birds flying south, send them back this way, please.

Mashed Potatoes

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Oridnary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Yippee!

Check out the new button that Marie made for CIC!

No idea for a title

Goofy Blogger tonight. The program, not me. It loaded 3 copies of each photo instead of just one. Does it somehow think that each picture deserves a second, and third look? That I might forget a comment and need another picture to go with it? Moving on...

DH's socks are done. They are fraternal socks rather than identical. I must've tried them on his feet at least 5 times, trying to get the length correct.

Is it correct?



Nope.

Not even when he tried it on--over and over--with each time me knitting another couple of rows--is it long enough now?

I guess he was trying it on using the gingerly "don't pull too tight while it's still on the needles. If a needle gets losts, I might get poked with it" method.

When done, he tried them on with a "put on the socks" method. While the method is to be expected, the heel now comes up the side of his leg.

I told him that it would be easy to fix. He figures that they'll shrink in the wash and then they'll be fine.

He forgets Murphy's Law #42: Things only shrink when you DON'T want them to, not when you DO.

I'll keep my needles ready.

-----------------------

First picture of my machine knit afghan. The strips are done. Now all that needs to be done is the sewing together.




(Stop that laughing--I hear you!)

Daiily Progress

I'm back to knitting a bit each day on each of these projects.

DH's second sock is past the heel with the end in sight. (It's always in sight when past the heel, then I realize how long there is still to go. But no ribbing. Or heel stuff. Just decreasing at the end. And that's always the icing on top.)



My teal cardie has been sadly neglected. I had thoughts of wearing it by now. Humph. It's close to the armpits, though, ready for separation. Should go faster then, right?



Today is the first day of Knitting Unto Others. I hope to drag out the afghan tonight.

If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, I may've gotten stuck in the closet trying to find the afghan bag. Send in a search party. With chocolate.

Knit Unto Others

I decided to participate in the "Knit Unto Others" KAL that's being hosted here.

Here's a quote from their site:

"At a time when we enjoying large Thanksgiving dinners with family and friends, shop until we drop for the coming Christmas season, it will be good to step back and think of others who may not have enough to keep them warm. The basics of life are very hard for some people, right here in this country to come by. A warm hat, scarf or mittens can do more than warm fingers and ears, it can lift someone up and show that someone cares. Do what you can from November 18-December 2 and join our Knit Unto Others campaign."

I figure that since I knit for CIC throughout the year, that this time I'll pick something different.

Here's my two thoughts (and if I get past them, then Good For Me! But I won't hold my breath.)
First, a couple of women in my church have started a prayer shawl ministry. That's basically knitting a shawl that will be given to someone in need, praying as you're knitting for the comfort and well-being of the recipient. Here's some more information on the prayer shawl ministry. It's a good challenge for me--I have to concentrate--not so much on the pattern, but on the prayer. Here's what I have done so far:


It's Lion Brand Homespun, 54 sts, K3, P3 ribbing. I'm not a big fan of Homespun, (and didn't want to be complaining the whole time instead of praying), but so far so good. The yarn knits up with a nice stripe, which is an added bonus.

The other thing will be a machine knit afghan. Pictures to be coming later (after I drag it out of the closet.) I'm planning on giving this to Warm Up America.

Oven Mitt Birthday

Since I'm a mom that believes in embarassing all children equally, I present DS#1 at one year old:



Here he is at 20:



(Notice that I could actually find a non-baseball picture of him. Not as easy a feat as it sounds.)

Yep, my oldest turned 20 years old today.

Sigh.

Boy, do I feel old.

Oh, yeah, and I miss him and wish him a Happy Birthday down in the sun-soaked state of Florida.

This may seem like an odd present, but since he's living off-campus for the first, I decided to make him an oven mitt and pads.

Here's the huge before-felting version:


I used Paton's Classic wool (one whole skein for the mitt, most of another for the pads) and a mitten pattern on huge needles. I tried using a duplicate stitch afterwards for the "U", but it didn't look right, so I ripped back and knitted it in.

Here's the finished product:



It ended up shrinking the right amount.

Think he'll know how to use it?

New things

It's becoming very fall-like around here. This is the view from my deck. (NOT the view straight out, which would show a brand new house that was hidden by the leaves, but now that they're falling, I'm going to be able to see it oh, too well.)



I've been working on these doll soakers. I'm writing up a pattern that I meant to have done before I loaded the pictures, but seeing that I'm halfway I'll just show the pic and post the pattern later.



Aren't they cute?

The next is a CIC sweater from (insert 10 minutes here as I realize there's no bookmark, search the house for the pattern, realize that it's a pdf file so no link listed on the bottom, then google for the link. Whew!) Guideposts Knit for Kids .



Each side is supposed to be done separately, then seamed together. Instead, I knit the bottom together in the round, then am doing the top half separately. The theory was that since I'm using scraps then it'll have a more cohesive look. Not true, but it was a nice thought.

Here's the last new thing that I'm working on: Socks for DH. He's liking the bold stripes, and if I can get the sizing correct, they'll be a winner.

Ralph

Less than 24 hours later, DD had her scarf completed. She put the fringe on and wore it the next day.

The fringe is pretty cool--it quickly unravels into 2 different colors. It totally doesn't look like 2 different strands when you're knitting with it.





"Mom, can you make me a hat?" came next. (Actually, we started out with her knitting the hat, but she's never knitted in the round or on dpns before, so I didn't want to ruin her for life.)

I knitted the hat, but took three tries.
1. Too tight
2. too big
3. ok (but running out of yarn.)

Here's the result (modelled in my newly painted dining room. Don't inspect the woodwork too closely--it needs another coat of paint.)



I made a chemo cap like this over a year ago (check it out here).

This time, it's a bit smaller (and two-toned.)

Basic recipe:
Paton's Bohemian, 1 skein. Cast on 42 sts loosely (I used size 15 needles).
Join in round, using size 11 dpns and work 6 rows of seed st.
Change colors and increase 3 sts, working for 4 1/2 inches from cast on edge. (Do another inch if either a) it's for an adult sized head or b) you're not afraid of running out of yarn the way I was--I started with a partial skein of orange.

Decreasing:
K7, K2tog around.
K 1 round.
K6, K2tog around.
K 1 round.
K5, K2tog around.
K 1 round.
K4, K2 tog around.
K3, K2tog around.
K2, K2tog around.
K1, K2tog around.
K2 tog around.
Cut yarn and draw through remaining loops. Hide ends.
Convince DD to let you take a picture of her. (Bribing with chocolate if necessary.)

There you go--one hat.


Oh, and the title of this post? Well, the scarf's name is Ralph. I'll report back if the hat gets named.

Seven Hours Ago

Seven hours ago this yarn was bought. DD#2 decided to knit a scarf from Paton's Bohemian to match her new winter coat.

Here's what it looks like:



She's actually knit more after the picture was taken--a total of 27" to be exact. In that amount of time there was also a nap. Hers, not mine. (Although mine was nice too.)

Nothing like being excited about a project to make you knit faster!

More handwarmers

As I said in my previous post, I've been fiddling with patterns and such.

I had decided to redo the Diamond Handwarmer pattern so that all the counting is done on the even rounds, and the odd rounds are plain knit. Why I didn't do this the first time, I don't know.... Or rather, I do. I like to do things the hard way.

While I was at it, I made 3 sizes to allow for different weights of yarn.

Check out my pattern here. (It's a pdf file.) There's also a link in the sidebar.

If you try it out, please leave a comment if you find any errors.

Here's a pair I did for me. Idea courtesy of DD#2.



These two pictures were taken right before leaving for work. I may or may not have been late for work. (If you're a co-worker and reading this, let's just say that I cut it close.)

I had to take the picture quickly (and hide in the ends), because I gave the following pair to the knitting teacher at work. Knitting people never seem to get handknit items for themselves. It was fun to give a "just because" gift.



They were knitted from Paton's SWS 70% wool and 30% soy yarn. Lovely and soft. I had to redo one about 4 times and part of the other twice to have enough yarn.

Proof

Most of the time I've been fiddling with patterns and knitting and stuff. Not much to see other than a pile of tangled yarn.

Here's some proof, though, that I've finished something:



the latest CIC sweater. I think that's actually the current challenge--imagine that!

Somebody stop me

All these pictures have something in common besides
a) they're all of yarn and
b) the yarn is all at my house.

The common factor can be spelled with 4 letters

S...A...L...E...

That's right, there was a sale, and I was weak.

I'm on a couple of email lists that send out sale notices. Very dangerous. If only I keep from looking I'm okay (well, duh!), but if I look....
Well, you can see what happened.

(To justify myself a bit, they were not all bought at once, but...they were bought before the previous skeins were knitted.)

Here's some cones from ebay that I've always wanted to try:

I hope to dye it first, (and soak in hair conditioner--it's not very soft.) This should be a caretaker's shawl or two.

Paton's Classic Merino was bought during a sale at work.


It's a nice yarn to always have around.

Cascade Sierra cotton/wool blend:


I meant to buy 5 skeins of the boysenberry, but during an incredibly slow internet process (I actually left it alone for a day before buying it the next), 2 skeins ran out and got substituted with the green. It was going to be a summer sweater, but now? Dunno.

This ribbon yarn was purchased sight unseen from the same place. Why? It was on sale.


What I'll do with it is unplanned. Maybe a funky scarf or two.


More White Buffalo from ebay:


This purchase was 2 skeins gold and 4 skeins brown. Good yarn for CIC sweaters or such.

Since I got the above, I also got the Paton's Anna thick and thin, just because I could save on shipping.




Finally, here's 4 skeins of Opal yarn I got on ebay:



A previous unknown fact is that my DH would like a pair of wool socks (who knew?). My sock drawer is starting to get full, so it'll be fun to knit for someone else. He gets to pick from these colors.

While all these yarn purchases were fun (and were a good deal. REALLY!), I have enough yarn for awhile. If you catch me purchasing yarn, please stop me!

Done!

Done! My socks are done!

It's not even Saturday evening yet (the completion date) and my socks are done!



I even ripped out the Kitchnering plus 2 rows on the first socks to make a not-quite-so-pointy toe.

Now.....what's next?

Music to my ears

In the blink of an eye, this little girl has grown up.



This little girl turned 18 over the weekend.

Here she is playing with one of her favorite presents--a kitchen with a whole set of dishes. And a phone. Notice how well attached the phone is to her ear. She's a quick learner. She can also make a great chocolate chip cheesecake, maybe that's what she's practicing in this picture.

Anyway, she came home last weekend--her first time home from college. True-to-form, she was too busy this weekend to take a current photo. (Remember her orange Rogue hoodie from last fall? I have yet to get a picture of her wearing it. I almost made her model it, but it was too hot of a day.)

She uttered some wonderful words this weekend. Really, music to my ears.

Talking about majors (she's currently a Chemistry Education Major), she was wondering how hard it would be to double major.

"What in?" I asked. Wait...could it be? "Is it math?"

She gets a sheepish look on her face. "I was thinking about it."

Statistically speaking (I couldn't resist), what a freshman is majoring in does not necessarily mean that's what she's going to graduate with, but at least there's hope.

And also, I'm still proud of that Chemistry Education idea. I mean, really. Who enjoys Chemistry at all, let alone enough to major in?

That math gene had totally passed DS#1. He picked a major based on avoiding any Calculus.

I was losing hope with DD#1. Then, out of the blue!

Music to my ears.

Seven days and counting

There's an outside chance that I can actually finish the current 6SoxKAL before the current challenge ends--seven days from now.

Here it is:



I'm past the heel on the 2nd sock, with the easy part left to go. Assuming, of course, that I don't drop any more stitches. I've dropped two since the heel. Almost ripped it back, but I managed to fix both drops.

DS has an away soccer game today, so there should be plenty of knitting time.