2008 roundup

Here's where my monthly roundups come in handy. I was able to look back and add up all that I've knitted this year. Here's my list:

6 pairs of adult socks
3 scarves
4 pairs of baby booties
2 shrug
1 shawl
2 baby afghans
3 adult sweaters
11 dishcloths
1 camera bag
1 pair of mittens
a bunch of chair socks
1 hat

I also made a bunch of toddler stuff for charity:
15 pairs of socks
3 vests
8 sweaters
9 pairs of mittens
9 hats


My trend is to make lots of smaller stuff and not as much larger stuff. I don't see that changing in '09, either (blame my short attention span.) However, I'm tossing around the idea of making an afghan for me, which definitely won't be small.

My goals for '09:

1. I'm going to try steeking. (I'm already feeling the anxiety). I might do a teddy bear sized sweater to attempt the steeking without having to do all the fair isle knitting that a larger sweater would require.

2. I will finish that sweater made with my handspun yarn. (after I start it, of course.)

3. I will knit enough from my stash that my yarn will fit in the four bins that I have. (Rather than in the four bins plus those bags over there. Oh, yeah, and that bag over there.... It's not like I have 20 bins worth, or anything, so I should be able to achieve this goal.)(Wait, I only have 3 bins. One is for roving.)(Does that mean that I can now buy another bin?)

4. I will try to knit for others at least once a week, aiming for Sundays (but it's okay if it's another day.)

That's good enough.

Happy New Year!

December roundup

Here it is, the last day of December. My, how time flies.

I didn't go overboard on knitted Christmas gifts, and they were done ten days early. And I didn't add any on at the last minute. These are the socks that I haven't shown to you yet, for my friend with the tiny feet!



Patons Kroy yarn, size 1 needles(which worked much better than 2s). Basic pattern, but with a short row heel and a star toe.

I'm making an attempt to set aside Sundays to do some charity knitting, and as a result I did four hats and a vest. (If I wanted to go now and hide some ends, I'd have a couple more hats. Instead, I'll put them on next year's count so it looks like I've been knitting really quickly in '09.)

A pair of moc-a-socs for a niece to be born in March.

Three dishcloths.




Also, I've worn out (and thrown away) the first dishcloth that I've made for me (and used).

A pair of Kroy socks for me! (And a partridge in a pear tree).

Opportunity was there, knitting was missing

I had two appointments today: the eye doctor and the dentist.

Last Tuesday I managed to poke myself in the eye and lose my contact. It's taken until now to get an appt. and then will take another week for the contacts to arrive. In the meantime I've been wearing my regular glasses. Uggh. Sometimes I double layer them with my reading glasses, and sometimes I double layer them with my sunglasses. Sometime I have my glasses on my nose and my reading glasses on the top of my head. It's an attractive look. Especially when I'm at work.

I went straight from the eye doctor to the dentist. I was informed that the dentist was running 45 min. to an hour late and I could reschedule if I chose. Forget it! It's way more trouble to reschedule the appt. (and then remember to go) than to just sit there for another hour.

Which I did.

Except....

I managed to forget my knitting at home.

Both places had uninteresting magazines from at least six months ago. One place had a Time magazine that I read the last time I was there.

(The last time I was at the dentist's, I was told I'm grinding my teeth. I totally denied that I was doing that. However, in the next few days I've discovered that in fact, I am. Not while sleeping. Not while under stress. But, I find myself singing a song in my head and grinding my teeth in rhythm. Seriously? How weird is that? Is this just another way I've found to fidget--this time with my teeth? Is this what happens when I don't have my knitting around?)

Two things this has taught me:
1. Knitting will save my sanity and my teeth!
2. Always keep some spare knitting in the car!

And how was your day?

Who?

Nov. 17:

Remember this? This was a Christmas present for my brother.

It unrolls to something very long.

15 feet, to be exact.

Did anyone guess that it was a Doctor Who scarf? Doctor Who is a British science fiction series that has been going on for at least 18 seasons. There are different versions of the scarf that the Doctor wears, but this is from season 12.

I followed along on the pattern, trying to buy the correct colors (almost everything is Vanna's Choice yarn. See my Ravelry entry for more details.) This was started on Oct. 21 and finished on Nov. 17. Not too bad!

However, I made one really big mistake. The pattern calls for doing the colors by the number of ROWS, and somehow I read that to be the number of RIDGES. I was sure I was right, but somehow I was wrong. Anyway, this meant that the stripes are each TWICE AS LONG as they were supposed to be.

When it's 15 feet long, there's no such thing as a do-over!

Dec. 26:

My brother almost guessed what this was. First, it was a "hmm....I wonder what this is.....", then he rolled it out and put it on. He thought it reminded him of a scarf that Doctor Who wears. That's guessing very well after not having any idea of what it was! (I won't hold my breath that he wears it, but it might be handy in a snowstorm!)

Our recent trip

This will be mostly a non-knitting blog post, as I catch ya'll up on what I've been doing.

First, work. At a retail store. During December and before Christmas. When several people have either quit or been let go. 'Nuf said?

Next, we took a trip to Miami.

Our main stop was here:



To see this:



If you look closely, you can see DS#1 on the big screen, shaking hands with Donna Shalala, the president of UM, congratulating him on his GRADUATION!



Phew!

Even though he has that professional baseball career, he still has a slightly panicked, "gee, what's next in life" look to his eyes. Plus the whole "I'm glad finals are finally over so I can catch up on sleep" look around the edges.

How many campuses have palm trees growing? (Probably a lot in the south, but it's new to me.)





While in Florida, we decided to take a trip to Key West. Here we are at the buoy that designates the southernmost point of the continental U.S. (Take a close look-- DD#1 and DH are in this picture--they don't show up very often as one is camera shy and the other is never home.)



We went to Mile 0 of route 1, which starts the highway which goes up to Canada, I believe. (Not completely sure, but I think so.)



We spent some time at the beach where DH took some cool photos. Here's one:



The weather was overcast and breezy for most of the time. However, it still didn't seem like mid-December. It just didn't seem right looking at Christmas decorations while we had flip flops on. It was a shock to arrive back home in 30 degree weather, with the temperature in the teens this morning. It is Christmas time, after all.

(I guess it's a totally non-knitting post. I'll save the knitting photos, such as they are, for the next one.)

Announcement

Just a brief Announcement (with a capital "A").

The knitted Christmas presents are done.

You may go back to your normal activities now (and I'll try not to add any last minute items.)

Continue on.

Kntting for others: Two hats

In effort to continue my "Sunday knitting for others" for more than one week, I worked on a hat yesterday. And started another. And finished it today.



I'm using up my White Buffalo stash (yarn brand, not fiber). Both hats are 48 sts, 3x3 ribbing, knit until it has a big cuff, decrease using smaller needles (Note to self: Must buy larger dpns).

There is only one wheel of teal White Buffalo left, so I think I'm going to leave that alone and start something else.

Hmmm...what to knit, what to knit.

Birthday Spoils

Just thought you'd like a peak at what I got for my birthday this year from the people that know me the best.



An expresso machine and some chocolate (yes, I haven't eaten it yet. Maybe tonight. I have to plan these things out.) It's taken me two days to take the picture since the expresso machine always needs to be cleaned. I'm getting good use out of it already.

Also, the new 2009 page-per-day calendar from the Yarn Harlot. (I haven't opened that either. I've been good. And DD#2 has been guarding it since she thinks I should read it one day at a time like it's designed. We'll see. She has to go to bed sometime.)

I also received 3 more penguins for my penguin collection. We've named them Happy, Confused, and Slim.



DH and I both happened to have the day off so we went to the mall in an attempt to go Christmas shopping. We didn't get much accomplished but we did have a nice lunch. And we made it back home in time for the school buses. The kids made me cake and we got takeout for supper. The evening was spent knitting and watching TV. Ahhh....what a nice day.

And here's a Shout Out to my twin cousin--Happy Happy Birthday!

Knitting for others

I've been tossing around an idea of making Sundays in 2009 a day of knitting for others. I tend to do a reasonable amount of charity knitting anyway, but I thought it would be interesting to concentrate on doing it on a specific day each week.

So, I decided to try it out last week. I spun a bit more homespun to finish the hat, so last Sunday it was spun, washed, and dried and I finished this hat.



52 sts, size 9 needles. 1x1 rib, just enough homespun to finish it.

The problem I had, though, is stopping.

I then cast on for this hat:



White Buffalo 3 ply unspun brown mixed with rust sock weight. 48 sts, 1x1 rib, size 11 needles.

And then, there's the vest (this was not done all on Sunday. The vest was just finished today).



White Buffalo 3 ply unspun brown mixed with white handspun (not mine). Normal "What's in my pocket" vest pattern, size 4 (that looks much larger), size 11 needles.

Not that it's a problem continuing my charity knitting throughout the week (I already have tomorrow's charity knitting picked out). It's just I can't seem to stop.

Anyone want to join me in 2009?

You Nork Mets

Look what came in the mail:



Sock yarn from Knitivity. The color is called You Nork Mets. How cool is that?

I wasted no time in winding it into a center pull ball.



The next day, I knitted it up.

Usually when I buy a skein of yarn, I buy it with a pair of socks in mind. After the socks are knitted, I have leftover yardage that I use here and there as the mood hits.

This time, I used the leftover bits first.




Little baby booties with Mets socks attached.

Pattern: Baby Moc-a-Soc from Bekah Knits, following the pattern as written. I had the Moc part already made up in Baby Ull so when I was ready to make the Soc part, it was a quick knit.

This is going to the soon-to-be newest Mets fan (aka nephew due in March).

Now....what to do with the rest of the yarn?

Earlier this week....

Being only three weeks before Christmas, I had many plans for today. Instead,

I did nothing, nothing, nothing
I did nothing all day long
I did absolutely nothing
How do you like my nothing song.

Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse

Oh, I did nothing, nothing, nothing...

I woke up with a headache and drank two cups of coffee. That didn't help, so then I took two Tylenol. That didn't help either. If I could've backed it up I would've taken Excedrin first, but with two cups of coffee already in my system I didn't want to add the equivalent of two more. So....I waited the four hours and then took Excedrin and now feel back in the land of the living.

In the meantime, I managed to knit about four rows, take two short naps, and do a bit of reading. Sigh. I had plans for today.

Earlier in the week, though, I was more productive.

I finished the toe of my second sock. Not wanting to make the error of cutting the yarn too soon, I let it marinate overnight.



The next day, I tried it on and decided it was the same length as the other (I had counted the rows already, but I still was apprehensive). I then cut the yarn, weaved in the ends, and wore them to work.



I used a generic sock pattern using Kroy sock yarn with 56 sts on size 2 needles. If I did them again, I would switch down to size 1 needles since the resulting fabric feels a bit loose.

I say generic, but I actually switched it up a tiny bit, this time doing a short row heel (I'm beginning to get the hang of these) and a star toe. I'm excited on having a new pair of socks to wear.

Happy Early Christmas to me!