2011 roundup

Just for grins, I collected the ball bands off of all the yarn that I used this year.

If it was earlier in the day, or if I'd had a nap, I might be tempted to add up the number of yards that I'd used. However, since I'm not that crazy, let's just say... a lot.

This year I again majored in socks, mostly plain ones. Here's a list of everything that I made.

For charity, I knit the following things for Mittens For Akkol:
11 pairs of adult socks
6 pairs of toddler socks
3 adult sweaters
2 balaclava hats
1 baby pullover
2 pairs of baby tights
3 pairs of longies
6 baby blankets

For gifts:
4 pairs of adult socks
1 cobblestone sweater
1 bellyphant cardigan and slippers

For me:
1 pair of socks
1 pentagon sweater
1 pair of long-awaited gloves
1 test pair of baby tights
2 swiffer covers
and I wrote a pattern for Baby Tights.

My knitting slowed down a bit this year, although I still carry it with me to all sporting events and believe me, there were A LOT of them.

My blogging slowed down also. We'll blame that on a combination of things.
1. Lack of interesting knitting
2. Joining facebook and falling down that rabbit hole
3. Switching to a new version of blogger that I don't like and don't care to use.

Looking forward to the new year, I'd like to finish up one last major UFO that I've had lying around--a fairisle vest.  For the first time, I'm going to knit all the items for an M4A grad.  The sweater is done, and most of the yarn for the other items is ready and waiting.  I need a new pair of socks, so that will be coming soon also.  (Need, as in "want to try out a new pattern", not need as in "my feet will go cold otherwise".)  And write a new pattern.  Or two.

I'd better watch it, this is getting dangerously close to writing some New Year's Resolutions, which I don't do.  Let's just call them "ideas" and move on.  And I will.

Happy New Years!  I'm off to knit (and maybe take a nap).

Sept.-Dec. roundup

To the best of my faulty memory, here's what I knitted between Sept. and Dec.

8 pairs of socks, 5 of which were for M4A sock challenge and 3 were Christmas gifts.  (Hmm...I need to make a pair for me!)
A Cobblestone pullover in dark green for my brother
A pompom scarf for my bannister to wear
A Bellyplant Cardigan and booties for my new nephew
A scrappy pullover using sock yarn for an M4A baby
3 pair of longies
And a pair of red and black gloves for me that was a two-year-long project.

Dear Family....

Dear Family,

If, while I am downstairs on the computer trying to catch up blogging from months of nothing-ness, you decide to take a nap, please LET ME KNOW!  You know I love naps, they're one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world.  It was eirie, going upstairs to get a cup of coffee, just to find that I was the only one awake at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Love,
Mom (who is now a bit more tired than you.  And is not sure that she spelled eirie right.)

Catching up...family news

Here are some family news items that happened recently. The younger two kids each played on a high school sports team this fall. DD#2 is a junior and played her second year on varsity field hockey.

DS#2 is a freshman and played on JV soccer.

He got pulled up to varsity for the playoffs, and for the first time ever they won the regional championship!  Here he is in their first playoff match wearing the hat I made for him.  (The observant among you will notice a couple of differences between this and the previous photo.  New number =new varsity uniform.  New cleats=replacement of ones that completely came apart in a previous game.  Oh the expenses, er, joys, of parenthood.)

I had several opportunities to wear the gloves I'd made, because the several games got really, really cold! I also had on a wool sweater, wool socks, wool hat, and a blanket (not handknit, but still really necessary.)(My ring finger on my left hand is a bit short.  Still wondering whether I should redo it.)

DD#2 is 16 yrs. old, but looks about 25 in her homecoming dress.  (Notice the bruises on her knees from a game the day before.  A field hockey ball is NOT soft, by any means.)

DD#1 and I drove through 5 hours of snow to visit my dad in PA over Halloween weekend. The roads stayed wet and not icy, so there was no driving problem.  We did a problem with the windows fogging, though, which can be attributed to the amount of hot air inside the car. :)

There was some time between seasons, so DD#2 played powder puff football.

Fall sports season is over, and winter season has begun. DD#2 has made the varsity basketball team and has gotten in several games so far. The bulk of the season will begin in January.  DS#2 is on the freshman team, and since he hasn't played since 4th grade, he has some catching up to do. Being 6'1" is a big help, though.

DS#2 got an early Christmas present--braces.

My dad and brother came down for Christmas, and we all got together for pictures.



Merry Christmas regular style...

...and Merry Christmas Ninja style!

Catching up...Christmas knitting

Once the socks were done for the M4A challenge, I concentrated on Christmas knitting. My plan was to make 3 pairs of socks and 1 sweater by Christmas, and I succeeded! The last sock was finished on Christmas day, but since the recipient wasn't there yet, I won! Unfortunately, In the flurry of activities, I forgot to take any pictures.

It figures.

The socks were plainly knit with nice yarn and the sweater was the Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood. I was working on the pullover and the last pair of socks at the same time, and both were made out of nearly identical shades of dark green.

Not my most brilliant plan as it almost bored me to tears. Now that they're done, though, I've been using some orange and yellow yarn to make a striped baby blanket. That's about as far away from dark green as I can get.

In the midst of all the Christmas knitting, I took the time to make a pompom scarf. I couldn't resist the yarn, and two skeins made a really nice, big, fluffy scarf. So far I haven't worn it, but it makes a nice bannister decoration.

Catching up... Bellyphant cardigan

In late September my SIL had a little baby boy and I decided to knit him a sweater. In late December, I finally mailed off the sweater. (In my defense, one attempt was made to hand deliver it, but no connections were made. For another excuse, I used worsted weight yarn in a pattern that calls for DK weight, so I figured it would be big enough for awhile...) This is the Bellyphant Baby Cardigan as found here on Ravelry.

Since the elephants were far apart and I didn't want long floats, I decided to do them as intarsia, using little balls of yarn for each elephant. However, I didn't do that with the gray yarn, so there were still long floats but just of one color. Next time I think I'll do the whole thing as fair isle and just make sure the floats are long enough.

The yarn is Berroco Vintage in gray and light blue. 2 skeins of gray and 1 of blue, I think? (the downside of blogging about something months later...faulty memory. Hey, I can barely remember what I did the next day, let alone once this much time has passed.)

I bought the slipper soles and knit the cuffs to match the sweater. The cuff is knitted separately and then sewn to the soles.

Here we have it: One elephant set that has finally been delivered and still fits!

Catching up....M4A boxes

Let me fill you in on some knitterly things that have been happening around here. In early November I mailed out 3 boxes to Mittens_4_Akkol for their annual sock drive. We got over 400 pairs of socks done for Nanci to take over --she's there right now, in fact. We also knitted items for their baby house. This is a collection of what I sent:

14 pairs of socks,
5 baby blankets
4 baby leggings,
1 scrappy baby pullover,
and 1 balaclava hat!

Score!

Working at a retail craft store during the month of December has it's definite disadvantages. I'm tired, hot, and covered in glitter for the whole month. Plus....no days off around the holiday. And I have no more answers to any questions for the rest of the day. All the answers have been used up. All.

I don't know what's the best paint to use on dough ornaments. Read the label or, better yet, buy some and try it out. That's what I do. No, we don't sell decorative clothes pins. Here's an idea...decorate your own! We're a craft store, after all. And if I have one more person ask me where the bathroom is...

Sorry, rant over... (if you can't tell, I just came home from work.)

However, there are some advantages to working there, not the least being that I can keep good track of the sales. The store has been clearing out the fall seasonal colors of Patons Classic Wool, and a couple of weeks ago I bought the blue and pink colors for $1.49 each. I've been watching the yellow and orange since then, hoping that it would go lower without getting sold out. Today they went on sale for 59 cents each!

I bought all that was left, so now I have:
  3 sk. petal pink
  4 sk. aquarium
  7 sk. yellow
  8 sk. pumpkin

SCORE!!!

So, if you're around a big box craft store that starts with an "M" in the next couple of days, see if there's any of this yarn left. But, don't ask where the bathroom is!

WHW Plain Wrap in Spanish!

My WHW Plain Wrap is now in Spanish!

I was contacted by okerilla in October who wanted to write a Spanish translation for my pattern. How nice is that? She did it very quickly, but I took forever in posting it. You can go to her blog, juntitos for a link, or you can go to my Ravelry pattern and download the pdf file from there.

And look at her pretty picture!