I finally realized that if I put just a quarter of the time I was spending on Ravelry into blogging, I’d probably have a pretty good blog going on! So, I am going to try to get back into this.
I still feel intimidated by all the other blogs I read, I just don’t seem to have the humor in my writing, or the interesting content, but I am going to try to improve – I guess I certainly won’t get there if I don’t try!
It has been a long time since I last blogged (I feel like maybe I should go to confession, but I’m not Catholic, so nevermind). The Christmas holiday same and went a long time ago, but resulted in a number of hand knit gifts – not all of which I took pictures of. I am going to go through what I’ve completed since the last entry, and what it OTN right now.
For Christmas, I completed a pair of Lombard Street socks for my mom. She brought me the yarn from her own stash, because with failing eyesight, she didn’t think she could knit with sock yarn. I really messed this project up though. I knit one sock, according to the pattern, but way too big for her size 5.5 foot. So I knit the second one shorter. It was the right length, but the heel looked freakishly long on such a tiny sock, so I tried again. I frogged all the way back to the start of the heel, and knit a short row heel. However, I forgot to make the 8 stitch adjustment to line things up properly for the patterns to flow nicely into the toe.
By this point, I was fed up with frogging, and just fudged what I had to make it look nice. The second one (which was originally the first one) came along with no problem, as I kinda knew what I was doing by this point. 
The color is a bit washed out, but it shows the detail better than the true color photos. They fit Mom like a glove, and I hope to make a pair for myself soon (with the correct foot pattern of course)!
I also made a scarf for my MIL, using Lion Brand Wool in Winter White and the ?? leaf pattern from the ?? issue of KnitSimple. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it, but it turned out very nice. While the scarf was in progress my MIL expressed an interest in a pair of socks. So, I sacrificed the Trekking XXL yarn I had bought for myself back in August, and knit her a pair using the Oriel pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. These turned out great as well, but in the hurry of finishing them up 15 minutes before MIL’s arrival, I forgot to take a photo as well.
I guess that was it for Christmas gifts, it felt like I was doing a lot more than that at the time.
Since Christmas, I completed a pair for my youngest DD (4yo) from Knit Picks Dancing.
I used a slipped cable rib pattern, and they came out nicely.
The pair only took one skein, so now I have one lonely skein that I don’t know what to do with. I might pair it up with the purple that is left over from doing the toes and heels of the last pair I did for her.
I currently have to WIPs, both for DH. The first is a cardigan sweater (the one in the middle)
, which I complained about here, out of Dale of Norway Falk Dalegarn in a chocolate brown color. I received much input about harvesting crinkled yarn, and put one of the suggestions to use. It worked perfectly. So after winding what seemed to be about 30 balls of yarn, I started work on the sweater again. I made sure I got guage before I went anywhere, and this was a good thing, because I needed to drop a needle size. I also dropped a size in the pattern. My husband wanted me to make the 44/46 inch chest pattern, which results in an actual size of 54 inches. After the fiasco of last time, and with a little more logic, we decided on the 40/42 size which results in an actual size of 49 inches. This seemed a little more reasonable.
The second WIP for DH is a pair of socks. He kept stating that he didn’t want a pair, he just wanted his sweater finished, but I knew he really wanted a pair, so I went out and bought some Regia Silk in Dark Blue. When he saw the yarn, he immediately agreed to a pair. I don’t know what it it about knitting for DH, but I guess it just shows how much I love him that I am willing to put so much energy into these projects. I started knitting the socks 2 at time, toe up on 90 stitches ( I forget where I got this number from) and I got about halfway up the foot when I decided to try them on him – he was travelling and unavailable earlier. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, they were too large around. So I frogged! And started again, two at a time, toe up on 80 stitches, and again he was travelling. So, again at about halfway up the foot, I tried them on again, and again (sound familiar?) they were too big. Finally, I decided I was tired of tempting the knitting gods, so I took a careful measurement of his foot – why I didn’t from the start I have no idea, and using the turkish cast-on, I cast on 10 stitches (makes 20 to start), and increased to 72. Luckily DH was in town for the remainder of the foot, and I got it completed with only ripping out the heel twice. I tried a true gusset heel, but that didn’t work (too long) and then went with the eclectic heel (too short). So, I added 4 rows and carried on with the eclectic heel. I would like you to know, that sock one is finished, and fits! 
I took very careful notes, so I could repeat this accomplishment with the second one. The second is at the decreases of the heel, and looking good so far. I just can’t wait to finish this pair. I could probably have made 3 pairs by now with the time I’ve invested in this one pair! You may notice the red thread running up the side – well I kept track of the rows I had knit by weaving it back and forth every 10 rows, I did the same on the foot, once I had finished increasing for the toe. I really like the eclectic heel. 
I like the simplicity of the short row heel, but I have high arches and as such I have a hard time tugging the sock over the bend in my foot. I plan to try this heel on the next pair I make for myself and see if it works.
I have a bunch of sock yarn in the stash that I am anxious to knit up, but I have not decided on a project yet. Although I do like the look of the SWTC Tidal Wave socks for ToFutsies.
Off to get kids off the bus. Hopefully the WIPs will have changed by the next time I blog, and hopefully 4 months wont have passed by then.
well, they actually were socks, (see this post) and they look kinda like socks, but boy were they a learning experience! Like I said in the first post about these socks, I was doing an afterthought heel and an afterthought toe (I did a provisional cast-on) in case I didn’t have enough yarn. Well, it turns out that I really didn’t even have enough yarn to have even thought about this project. I had so little yarn, that I had to make ankle socks. Then I went to one of my LYSs and bought some complimentary purple yarn to finish the toes and heels. I took out my provisional cast on, and started the toe, but forgot to knit a little extra before I started decreasing – oops! 
Then I did the afterthought heel described in this pattern and while they look okay, they really don’t fit my DD well at all. They were a hair too short (due to the mess up with the toes) and the heel just doesn’t seem to flow as well as I would like it too, nor does it seem to fit as well as the other heels I have tried – traditional heel flap, and the short row heel fromWendy of Wendy Knits. They keep scooching down her feet, and no matter how many times I re-did the bind off, it is too tight.
So, I guess these are going to go into the lessons learned pile, and maybe someday I will find a use for them. Hmmm, maybe I can stuff them with catnip and give them to my feline siblings (between my Dad and stepmother, and my Mom and stepfather, I have either 7 or 8 feline siblings).
I have been doing a little sock stash accumulation and I’m sure I can find something I am willing to part with. The only problem is that such little feet only require one ball, and I have two of everything. Maybe I’ll have to go out an just purchase a couple of single balls of sock yarn just for her – oohh! an excuse to go yarn shopping!
I got my new Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits today, and while preparing dinner (waffles – I wasn’t very inspired, combined with serious PMS) I paged through about 1/3 of it. I already have pages turned down for about 3 sweaters that I would love to knit – someday. I figure when my subscription runs out, I’ll be okay, because the patterns I am in love with will keep me for a year or too at my pace! Maybe once the youngest child gets into school things will change, but then I will have to go back to work, and oh well…
Yes, that is right, nobody in my family knows (well maybe my Mom, I can’t remember) that I have a blog, much less one that seems to center around knitting.
With three kids, and a husband that works late alot, I don’t have much time, so I’m not even a prolific blogger. During the day I come up with a lot that I want to blog about, but if I even get the time to sit down in front of the computer, I can’t remember what I was going to say.
As an example of my busy schedule, here is what I did last week:
Sat: Took the two girls to swimming lessons, then met my husband and son at the Tae Kwon Do championship that our TKD school participates in. We were there until six, but came home with 5 trophies! My eldest DD won a championship trophy (not in top 3) for board breaking, and a 3rd place trophy for sparring. My DS won a 3rd place trophy for forms, a 2nd place trophy for board breaking, and a 1st place trophy for sparring. For those of you interested, my DD is a red belt, and my son is a high-purple belt. After we returned home, we crammed down some dinner and ran off to the haunted house at our school, to return home at 8:30pm
Sun: We were off to soccer games by 12:45 to be followed by pizza parties. Returned at 3:30 or so to start carving 4 pumpkins – one adult and 3 kids (the youngest is 3) – not recommended! But here is the result:
Mon: Two oldest said they were feeling sick, so I let them stay home, only to realize by 10:00 or so that they couldn’t be feeling that bad, based on their behavior, so I took them into school. I then took the youngest DD and went shopping (I don’t even remember for what) and came home in time to put her down for a nap, and take a snooze myself. I had to go pick the kids up at 3:30 but came home instead of doing our usual afterschool activities (due to “illness” from the morning). I then spent all afternoon, and then after bedtime making cookies for DS’s school party the next day.
Tue (Halloween): Put oldest two on bus, took youngest to preschool. Spent 2 hours knitting and listening to Cast On (episodes 15 & 16 – I’m a bit behind) at Panerra, and drinking a cup of coffee while I waited for the preschool Halloween parade to begin. Went to the parade, then I went home and within 15 minutes of being home got a call from the school nurse that DS was complaining of a stomach ache, was white as a sheet, and needed to be picked up. So…I brought the plate of cookies into school, and went to the nurse to get my son. I came home, and crashed in the recliner while the youngest two watched TV. By 1:15 (the time his party was supposed to begin) DS said “I think I feel good enough to go to school”. I said “too bad!” The day finally ended with neighbors and their 2 kids coming for pizza, and all of us going out trick-or-treating together.
Wed: I went and volunteered in my DS’s classroom all morning, and came home to spend 3 hours working on laundry, preparing dinner, etc. before running out to pick up kids and do afterschool activities that kept me out until 7:45. I put youngest DD to bed, then ran out to do grocery shopping, and got home at 9:15
Thurs: It snowed last night! The kids were out sledding in our backyard at 8:00 am:
Fri: I was mush! I think I got about 3 or 4 loads of laudry washed, and a batch of crock-pot sloppy joes (courtesy of the FlyLady website) going – oh yeah, I also entered in (and reconciled) 5 months worth of checkbook “stuff” into Quicken. I also took about 1 hour out in the middle of the day to go pick my DH up at the car dealership where he had left his car for service. Then I had to leave early to pick the kids up at school, go pick the DH up at work, take him to the dealership, swap the kids to his car, and I went to my Friday night job, while he took the kids to TKD.
Sat: Here I am finally blogging. So, hopefully my weeks will calm down (who am I kidding) or I need to figure out how the prolific bloggers do it while writing a book, getting married, raising a number of kids, while also doing a book tour and knitting like a fiend, like Stephanie Pearl-McPhee! Wow, I wish she would let me in on her secrets!
So, I blog on the QT when I can find a minute here and there, and maybe someday, I’ll let on to my family!
I just realized I didn’t post anything for the whole of September. I finished my Icarus and then got caught up with the kids going to school – I now have 5 hours a week when I have all 3 in school, and I still haven’t gotten much done.
I did finish up a pair of socks for my daughter using the Cherry Tree Hill yarn in Brights. They turned out nicely, but were as much work as making a pair for myself. I thought that making socks for my kids would go faster, but my just barely 8 DD has Size 7 Womens feet. When I bought her new sneaks for school in August, I about fell over when I had to buy her size 7s. I wear a 10, but I didn’t get to that size until near high school. I think this kid will be in 10s by 5th grade at the rate she is going!
I have been having to deal with the fact that my husband feels I should be spending the 5 hours a week I have to myself working on improving the appearance of my house, or getting laundry put away (Hey, I get it washed and folded!), and NOT on knitting. I have to figure out how to get the house stuff done while the kids are around, and save that 5 hours for knitting! In hopes that I accomplish this feat, I have signed up for Soctoberfest 2006.
My mom is coming to visit on the 4th and she is bringing me a bunch of circular needles. She won an Ebay auction for Clover circulars, with all bunches of sizes. She is losing her vision, so the bigger needles are more what she needs, and she is willing to give me the littler sizes. I seem to add more needles to my collection than I do yarn. I have a hard time buying yarn without a specific project in mind, and a knowledge of how much I will need, so my yarn stash is pretty small.
I am working on a pair of socks for my DS (6yo) in a self striping camo colorway from Jawoll. I made one sock, and when he tried it on he complained that it didn’t go up the leg enough, and the foot was too small. So, I started another sock, made the leg part longer, and made the foot part longer – it fits perfectly, and then I ripped out the first one, and am re-knitting that! I am just doing a basic stickinette stitch for these. I thought about doing a 2×2 ribbing down the leg, but bagged on that idea. This pic gives a pretty good idea of the socks. Pardon the flash reflection. I like the appearance againgst the wood, but the reflection is a PIMA.
I have started using the Socks Soar method of two circular needles that Cat Bordhi uses in her book. I love this method, and have started to soar. The second sock was so quick to do. I plan on finishing the second (or is it the first/third?) soon – maybe Monday during my 2.5 hours at gymnastics while two of mine do their stuff.Okay, enough boring stuff. I am off to knit on a very boring baby blanket in not so nice acrylic, that I need to get out of the way before I start my next non-portable project.
Thanks so all who provided comments about how to harvest/recover used yarn. It has given me, and DH, new hope about using this yarn again for the sweater.
It is funny, this yarn is DK weight, and the first time I knit with it, I thought, wow, this is thin yarn, this is going to take forever. Which is did, but I don’t think that was because of the yarn. When I picked it up two days ago, after finishing Icarus, the yarn felt so thick, I couldn’t believe it. Of course I know that it will still take forever to knit the sweater.
I have finished Icarus. She/he(?) is blocking right now.
I know the center line is crooked, I fixed it just after I took the photo.
This is for my mom, whose birthday is in two days. I hope that I can get it dry and into the mail (overnight) tomorrow. Otherwise, it will be a day or two late.
I stayed up until 1:30 last night working on this. I finally went to bed when I was halfway done casting off. Then I picked it back up this morning – the casting off went so much faster when I was awake and could focus!
I was really unsure of whether the mohair would look good in this pattern, since it is so fuzzy. But it does. I am still in awe that I was able to create this shawl. I had never knit lace before, and now I am hooked. I am even more in awe of Miriam who designed this shawl! It is an amazing creation.
I have gotten about 4 books from the library on knitting lace and I can’t wait to do more. I plan to do a pair of socks for my oldest DD that will incorporate some lace next.
Well, I am finished with Chart 1 of Icarus. Here is how it looks as of right now.
I am using a yarn by Filatura Di Crosa called Baby Kid Extra, which is 80% kid mohair and 20% Nylon. It is kind of fuzzy. I love the feel of it, but am afraid that the fuzziness might hide some of the georgeous detail. I hope that with the blocking, the detail will show up better. I don’t know how well the next photo shows the detail, but it does show how irregular my stitches are. 
This is my first ever lace project. I have hope from all the other blogs I have read that the blocking will even out my stitches. I also have plans to add beads to the edging, but have not figured out where in the pattern to put them.
If there is anyone who has put beads on their Icarus is willing to tell me exactly how/where they put them, I would be most appreciative.
I am also about ready to start the cuff ribbing for my sock. Woo Hoo, I am almost done with a sock! I can’t wait to get started on the next one. I got about 1″ completed today during swim lessons.
I am using the Toe-Up sock pattern in Wendy’s Wendy Knits book. I think I really like this method, but am going to play around with top down, and also using the Knitty Magic Cast-On for toe-up socks.
I took my kids with me yesterday to the LYS and got some Clover bamboo needles, in size 1 because I really wanted to use 5 needles, and the set I was using only had 4 needles. I also made a couple of purchases of yarn.
I bought a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Brights (an end-of-day skein) to make a pair for my oldest DD and a skein of Trekking XXL in a beautiful purple/plum colorway for another pair for me. I also got a Wonder Knitter (spool knitter) from Clover for my kids to use. And of course I will be using it too.
Well this is my first blog. I am currently working on a number of knitting projects – my husband has asked me to limit them to one at a time – he just doesn’t understand. My father always boasted that I could multi-task as a kid, and I am just trying to live up to it!
My current projects include:
1. A pair of toe-up socks with Regia sock yarn – my first pair – one is almost finished
2. Icarus shawl for my mom’s birthday – just about to start chart 2 – her birthday is in 2 weeks
3. A sweater for my husband – the second time I have knit it (don’t ask)
4. A baby blanket for a future neice/nephew – due in early Sept
5. A prayer shawl for a neighbor
6. A shrug for my youngest daughter – just needs the ends woven in
7. A little clutch for those oh-so-infrequent dressy evenings out.
okay…maybe that is just a few too many projects at one time!
Pictures with more details will follow as I dig out the projects and the camera at the same time.
