Saturday, October 31, 2009

October Roundup

What did I finish in October....

Hmmm....

Well, DS#2's room was finished and all the re-doing of various rooms is now done. For just the moment, I'm sure, but still it's done.

Let's see....on the knitting front....

I felted a pink and black Lucy bag and it's all dry and ready to go...

Hmmm....

I guess that's it.

Huh....

Not much to say about that, is there?

Wait, I'll list some excuses...

I'm working on 4 projects, usually knitting on at least 2 on any given day.
1. an afghan
2. a vest with endless ribbing
3. a pair of socks
4. a scarf that's the closest to being done of all the four.

Okay, so not much done but lots of things being worked on.

There, I feel much better.

Being myself

We don't really "do" Halloween at our house, but usually go to our church's fall festival where the kids play games, win prizes, and get candy. This year they also had a costume contest.

I wasn't allowed to go as myself (said the kids), so about an hour before we left I was thinking...

What can I do to easily take my knitting with me?

And I decided to go as an Obsessed Knitter.




Easy costume...I just went around putting on one of everything I've made. (I chose a short sleeved sweater since I knew that all that other wool would make me hot.) And, as every knitter knows, nothing that you knit for yourself matches, so neither did I.

The best part? I took my knitting with me (that's my "nothing-at-all" scarf that has grown quite larger.) It was actually quite a good way to knit a scarf and I got quite a lot done over the course of the evening.

So....maybe it was a costume, or maybe it was just me being myself. You decide.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cake and...nothing at all

I tend to not read many blogs besides the knitting ones, but occasionally I run across an interesting one that I add to my list. Two of my favorites are about food.

Cake, to be exact.

Bakerella makes some beautiful things, especially her cake pops. And what can be better than cheesecake on a stick?

Last week, though, she helped out on a marriage proposal. You can see the question here and then the explanation here. It just made me tear up, I tell you.


Another blog always good for a laugh is called Cake Wrecks where "professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong". While divorce isn't at all funny, Divorce cakes are. And how about these Literal LOLs?


Being inspired by all this cake-y-ness, DD#2 and I decided to make our own cake using fondant for the very first time.

What's the purpose of fondant, you ask? Well, it must be to look good, 'cause it sure isn't to taste good. Yuck.

We made lots of colored fondant, so we put on lots of stars (hey, we weren't eating them anyway, so the more the merrier.)



It was a fun experiment but I don't picture us doing that very often. It's a lot of work for something that doesn't taste good.

Move along, now, there's nothing to see here.



Nothing, I tell you.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Place the State, round the corner

I've checked out a few more knitting links, but then I moved on to this Place the State game. (I guess you call it a game, it might just be called "how dumb are you today?)

Anyway, I used to do this every couple of days, just to see if I got any better. The basic idea is to place a state in the correct place in the USA. I've found that it all depends on what order they come in.

If I get several easy, coastal states to begin with, it's easier to fill in the rest. But to start with a boxy state like Colorado or Wyoming that doesn't attach to any border, and forget it! I even had trouble with Indiana, and I know where it is. (I've even gotten Maryland wrong--I attached it to the wrong peninsula).

How can you do?

In knitting news, I've rounded the corner, or rather, the heel, of the first 6th Sense sock.



The yarn is very dense and springy and is knitting up a nice sock. The heel is a garter stitch short row heel that has wraps, but no picking up of them. Lovely.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Black hole

Lately, I've been organizing. Not my yarn, but my patterns. First I worked on the printed patterns. You know, the ones that you print out, lay down on the desk on top of all the others that have accumulated.

They were sorted, stapled, hole-punched, and put in the correct binder. The "socks" binder has the most patterns. What does that say about my knitting? (I know. I like to knit socks. Sorry, it's late. Moving on.)

Now, I've moved on to checking my knitting links to see if they still work. (What a black hole that is!) The 'net is moving pretty quickly at the moment so I thought I'd do it while the going's good. It's quite amazing how many links no longer work. (And how many I never categorized further than under "knitting". That's a wide open subject.)

Here's a couple of links I just finished checking:

Nonaknits tutorial on Japanese short rows and a random stripe generator.

There's just time to check a couple more links before bed!

Monday, October 26, 2009

I'm resisting

After taking a picture of my ball of Cherry Tree Hill bulky loopy mohair, I set it on this table.



And it's been sitting here for the past week....mocking me....

"Make me into a garter stitch scarf," it says. "You know you want to"

"Come on, it won't take but a little while..."

So far I've been resisting, but let me tell you, it's been hard.

Instead, I've cast on for a new pair of socks. (Move out of the way, CTH Mohair--it's socks time!)



It's getting close to heel time.
Yarn: Collinette Jitterbug frangipana 145 (who knows what color this is really--I can't read it).
Pattern: Sixth Sense Socks from 6SoxKAL
Fun, fun, fun, I love this pattern!

The afghan is also coming along. It's on square 10 with 2 or 3 left to go. (I'm sure there's more than that since I bought 3 balls of green and just finished the first one. )( The triangles are getting bigger and bigger, so I might just have 3 squares left.)(Obviously, I'm undecided.)



The projects are all going along okay, as long as that CTH just keeps its distance!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Random knitterly things

Here's a list of the knitterly things that I've done in the past week, as told by some bad pictures.

1. The Lucy bag was felted.

Before:



After:


(A bit over-felted, but I think it'll still work.)


2. Sweaters were washed and laid out on the new rug to dry.



(What else is a clean living room for?)


3. Gloves were knitted, and tried on, and hoped that they would fit.



They were finished (except for those pesky ends).




All hope is lost, and they are crazy big. Too big even for 6'4" son's hands (although that one is mine.)



They are in timeout as I figure out what to do with them. (There's plenty of yarn, so if I thought these ones would fit a real sized person, I might donate them to charity and start over. But, since that's not really true, I might rip out most of them. Or all of them. Or, try washing and drying them in hopes that they would shrink the right amount.)

4. A ball of yarn was wound.



After looking on Ravelry, it doesn't look like it's enough for a shawl, like I hoped (Again with the hope!), so I'll save it for a scarf.

5. A new yarn store was visited.






The Yarn Garden in Annapolis was a fastinating place to visit. I did good--coming home with only two skeins.

6. Some loose ends were hidden.


(I know, I know, I should hide them all as I go. But forget it! That's only a good suggestion if I'm making it, not if I have to follow it!)

7. Some point protectors were purchased.



The afghan is getting too big and I'm afraid I'm going to lose some stitches. So far, they're staying on. Plus, they're purple!

8. Some more ribbing was knitted.



Not many rows, but this was at today's field hockey game, and it got really cold really quickly!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Three years in the making

(Warning: No knitting content. If you don't want to see slightly blurry remodeling photos, then just skip this post...)

I've been putting off this post for a good long while, but finally I'm getting around to showing you what room I remodeled before DS's room.

It was a long time coming on the road to finishing our living room. We spent one Christmas with boxes of wood flooring as a coffee table and another one with only subflooring.

In the good days (before all that), this is what the room looked like. (Apparently I didn't take any photos of the room by itself, so here's a couple with some people. You can ignore them, if you wish.)

I had a typical 80s living room--all country blue and mauve. (DD#1's senior prom pic). I had cross stitched the picture behind her head and crocheted the afghan on the couch. (I had years of crocheting obsession before I switched over to knitting.)




The walls were a slight blue and the woodwork was all a country blue. (DH and DD#2).



I'm just showing you this you so can see one of the pics we're saving for blackmailing DS#2 later. Yes, he really was sleeping like that.



Last winter, DS came home, looked at the state of the floor (or lack thereof), and decided to get me moving by helping out. The helping out really turned into doing it mostly himself, and he did a really great job.

This is the beginning, before we hammered the first nail.




Here's the hallway. Not much room for maneuvering, is there?




Before we did the floor, I painted the walls a creamy beige. The woodwork was painted a color called "baby bear" that sounds really cute but turns out a bit too pink. I lived with it for several months, but then finally decided to repaint it in a chocolate brown which was a MUCH better choice.

You can see in this picture the stairs and light switch are the lighter color and the door is the darker one.



I bought sticky-back tile and redid the foyer floor.



Here are the finished stairs. (Ignore the dirt. And the dog scratchings on the door that I already have to repaint.)



Then, DS left me and I had to finish the quarter round molding by myself. All these little pieces had to be cut and the corners mitered (I like mitering much better in knitting than in wood).





We finished the floor by the end of February, enjoyed it for a couple of months, then DS#1 came back home and DS#2's stuff moved into the living room while we painted his room. Over the weekend we finally cleaned it out again and I rushed to take pictures before it gets messed up again.

You've seen pieces of the floor and the rug, but here it is all together (with a new slipcover and the beginnings of a new afghan.)












My kids have been warned: We ARE NOT starting any new projects.

AND I MEAN IT!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Where things get rather messy

I have two projects going on at home, and let's just say....

they're rather messy.

The first are the I-cord gloves from nonaKnits.

Here are thumbs.



Here are the other eight fingers, skewered on a dpn. They're in order and the same type (i.e. the pinkies) are pinned together in hopes I don't forget what's what.



Here are all 10 fingers, ready for the joining.



But I'm nervous, so I've been putting it off. What if the fingers aren't the right length? Or what if they're all right but one humongously long index finger? What if I really want each tip to start with red, rather than the haphazard way they were done?

In-between knitting fingers, I've also finally started my Curve of Pursuit afghan. I've been wanting to do this pattern for a couple of years, and finally decided to make one to go in my living room.




Picking up the stiches around the square gave me fits, though, and I had to do it several times until it was passable. I'm using 3 size 3 circular needles, but soon will need to buy a 4th pair.





Look at all those ends to weave in! This will definitely be my least favorite part of the project!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

On and on and on

I had about 4 days of being a good blogger, and then slid back to my slacker ways....

Anyway, DS#2's room is officially finished, and he moved back in last Weds.



The woodwork and dresser are both bright blue, but the yellow and green colors show up correctly. He's been really liking it, and has even been doing his homework there.

Now, if only we would take care of the "leftovers" in the living room. You know, the things that you don't know what to do with and it takes too much brain power to figure it out. So, they just sit there taking up room and collecting dust.

My take-with-me knitting has been the ribbing for my Mirepoix vest. The ribbing that goes on and on and on and on....



The stitch marker shows how much I knitted during an hour's game.

On and on and on....

DD#2 was wondering if it'll fit me. I assured her that it would as the ribbing is very stretchy.

Except.... now she's put the seed of doubt into my brain and it won't leave. Soon, I'll have to try it on.

It needs to fit me, though, since to do major changes will effect the bodice, which will be in fair isle and I'M NOT AT ALL NERVOUS ABOUT THAT, ESPECIALLY SINCE I HAVE TO STEEK IT AT THE END AND THERE'S NO DO-OVERS.

In the meantime, I'll just knit.

On and on and on.