I’m sticking to it!

Despite the reciept of a gift certificate to Woolen Treasures yesterday, I didn’t buy any fibery goodness as I *knew* that would lead to my not following through with the intentions stated yesterday. I knew once I had new yarn in my hands I would be compelled to cast on something new and I am going to stitck to making the mates to my orphan socks and mitten! For, it is Mating Month! (*snicker*)

I crawled on the leg of this sock for a very long time. In fact, I’m pretty sure I cast on for sock number 2 right away so that was back in July if I recall correctly. But, over Christmas holidays I got an inch or two done, then was able to finish the heel flap on New Year’s day and the gusset at SnB on Monday night and I’m about 1/2 long the instep and will hopefully be closing in on the toe perhaps by this evening???

I only got to knit about four rounds yesterday. So, really most of that foot was knit on Monday between SnB and socializing afterwards with people visiting from Portland and Illinois. I kind of overdid it. That seems to be a common problem for me with this pattern. I’m not sure if it is the US0 needles or the stitch pattern or just the combination of both. I’m getting a tighter gauge on this second one too, LOL! I think it’s because these were the socks that killed my Swallow Caesin needles - of the 5 in the package, I have 2 that are not broke. So, I’m on metal ones now from Wright that I picked up at one of the Hobby Lobby 1/2 off sales so that I could buy two packs so I would have 5 needles to use (they are sold in sets of 4). But, the sock will probably fit better than #1 as this ribbing is *very* stretchy and I like my socks somewhat snug.

This evening DH starts with his writing group. They will be meeting the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month. So, I think tonight I will be heading over to knit at Textiles a Mano. I’ve been home alone soooo much lately because my back/neck have been acting up and while I’m still not feeling stellar in that department, I know socializing often helps somewhat just because it lifts my mood a bit so instead of staying home all by myself I might as well get out of the house since there is something going on that I would enjoy doing. So, I will likely be going the 1st and 3rd Monday evenings for sure.

FO Friday? Not Quite!

Aside from it needing blocked, it doesn’t look too bad. That is of course until you measure the size - 11.5 inches across by ~9-9.5 inches deep. My head circumference is 21.5 and I kind of like the fit on me because it won’t cause hat hair, but it’s secure enough it isn’t going to go flying off. Grandpa’s hat size is 7 3/8 which translates roughly to a 23 inch hat circumference. That is of course for hats that don’t have stretch etc. That means the hat just matches his head circumfrence and should fit a little snugger than on me…

However, will those three rows of corrugated rib ever lie flat, even with blocking? That was the end of my yarn. If I ripped back past the last increase round I did (oh yeah, I did this hat from the top down, ala Susan’s live dangerously, don’t swatch hat pattern - there is PDF link in the right hand column) I would be sure to have it snugger (and it is alpaca so it doesn’t have the bounce back of wool and, might it grow in the blocking process???), the Norwegian Star motif would have to be a little shorter going from the 14 st version down to the 12 st version. Couple that with the decrease in circumference by 8 sts and I should be able to get another 2-3 rounds of corrugated rib in there at the bottom which would hopefully make that curl a little easier to block out…

Please note, the problem with sizing on this hat is all mine, and not of the base pattern. But, I was worried about making the final circumference 10% smaller because of the stranding and the alpaca. I was afraid if I went that small it wouldn’t stretch enought to fit and I figured a little large was better than too snug. Add to that the fact that it’s hand spun and somewhat early hand spun and measuring gauge was really kind of like throwing darts. Thus I have this alpaca hat dilemma…

I did do the entire straight part of the hat yesterday. Though I was pretty dilligent and did not much else from about noon onward through almost 10 pm. Well, I took some breaks to give my wrists a rest, but not much. Oh, and also to add into the equation - DH is staying home from work again today…

So, what would you do?

1/2 FO Friday!

While I’ve been busy distracting you with a virtual attendance at what has been decided to be the first annual holiday knitting tea, I’ve been busy knitting. Ashley was needling (ha!) me a bit on Saturday night about the number of WIPs I have laying around the house. Well, after she left on Saturday night I cast on for another one, LOL!

I was lacking good TV/Movie/Visiting knitting and I had a project that was coming upon a bit of a deadline. So, I cast on for the sock pictured above. It’s a design exclusively for No No Kitty Yarns and is knit in her Kona Superwash DK weight yarn on US 4s and US 3s in the Graffiti colorway. It was a blast to knit with and I had sock #1 done by Tuesday evening! That’s less than four days - late Saturday night to early Tuesday evening! I think that is one of the fastest socks to fly off of my needles. I now have the pattern written up and will be anxiously casting on for #2 and follow my pattern to test it. I think Danielle is planning an early New Year pattern release extravaganza. I’m thinking I’ll call the pattern Dimple socks and it will contain both clog and standard heel flap directions. Like the name? Have suggestions for something else?

Here’s a closer look at the ribs…

It has distracted me from holiday knitting though so I need to get my butt in gear. Especially because I have this coat on the way, which means I *need* new winter accessories pronto… Hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, the whole shebang! Please, please, feel free to leave comments with pattern, color, and/or yarn suggestions. I think I want to go with colors that contrast with the green as greens next to my face can be a bit fickle as to whether they wash me out or not. But, you can see a recent pic of me here to see my hair color and complexion. It’s slightly yellow because it was taken in our yellow-y bathroom under incandesent lights. But it should give you an idea of my current looks.

Alberta Grows!

Grandma’s Alberta Seaman Scarf has grown by leaps and bounds since you last saw it. Of course that was roughly six weeks ago. I confess that it didn’t really get any attention until last Wednesday. I had gotten distracted by the mittens and holiday prep and illness etc. But at SnB on Monday night I pulled out the provisional cast on with some tediousness and started the ribbed section. The provisional cast on would not unzip with the mohair so I had to pick out each stitch indivdually. But it was easy and realatively painless while a few of us bitched about current events in our lives and caught up with all the events of the holiday weekend.

I have roughly another inch or so to go on the ribbing. It was suggested that you knit the ribbed section to be 70% of the circumference of the wearer’s neck, but I have no clue what g’ma’s neck measurement is. She is somewhat short and relatively petite these days so I’m thinking the smallest of the range given (10 - 12 inches) will be appropriate. It doesn’t fit me well at 10 inches, but I’m a sizeable woman (though another 5 pounds lighter despite the holiday and a two week hiatus from water aerobics).

I’m still not positive how happy I am with the yarn. I *love* the color combination, but it seems awful stripey. Though a few said how much they liked it on Monday night. Since it’s a scarf and the same number of stitches across over the whole length I guess it isn’t the worst thing to appear a bit stripey because it’s the same over the whole thing. But, I’ll reserve final judgement until after blocking.

In the meantime, here is a close up shot of the pattern semi-blocked with the aid of my feet while I took the pic…

Snow-filled Weekend!

No, the northern Colorado front range did not get snow as forecasted. But, I got to spend time with Snow TWICE in one weekend!

First, she heard that it was just DH & I for Thanksgiving so she invited us to join her band of merry makers on Thursday. And, a wonderful day it was. I had a big dinner planned and most of the groceries purchased to make a special meal for DH & I already, but since DH is vegetarian I don’t usually get the oportunity to have turkey - let alone pie (and 3 kinds at that from a legendary local bakery which most people just cannot compete with) and fart loaf!

Following for the food fest (I was actually pretty proud of myself for not overindulging much and staying comfortable full) G planned an outing for the late show of Pride & Prejudice. It’s no BBC mini-series, but was it was pretty good (there will be a more thorough review at some point this week at Culture Catalog - probably later today).

Then, on Saturday I cooked our delayed feast and invited SIL3 over as we discovered on Thursday that the remaining siblings were scattered throughout the state on Thursday and we had assumed she had gone to celebrate with her boyfriend, but had not. DH was not feeling well (we think he *might* have given himself food poisoning trying a bit of his homemade cheese from a batch that wasn’t cook quite properly - don’t worry he’s kept careful track of these things and won’t be giving out wheels from questionable batches). I think he’d learned that if it doesn’t smell like the type of cheese you made it probably isn’t a good thing to try a bite. So, I got to scratch one dish of the day’s meal and made a feast for SIL3 & myself. It was great and I sent some leftovers home with her so I’m not eating only thanksgiving leftovers this week. I have plenty but will be able to mix them up with other things.

Following that massive cooking and cleaning frenzy I went to Snow’s house again for knitting and conversation. We were of the delusion that we could watch a movie, but it just wasn’t happening. We’re all too talkative, LOL! I also discovered that g’ma’s mohair lace seaman’s scarf is not a good visiting project. I kind of already knew this, but I made such amazing progress on it on Wednesday night at DH’s write-in that I thought it would be okay. However, in the two hours or so I was at Snow’s I only got 1.5 pattern repeats and the seed stitch edging and BO done. I’m going to try real hard to not cast on for the second mitten until I at least have this gift off of the needles.

It is SnB tonight and I’m looking forward to hearing of everyone’s holiday adventures over the weekend. Two of the gals were on rather lengthy road trips for the holiday and I’m sure they will have stories to tell. I will pull out the provisional cast-on for g’ma’s scarf and start the ribbing sometime today and I’m sure I’ll be able to handle doing the ribbing while visiting and listening to tales.

I have no pics for you and I’m sorry. However, yesterday was spent cleaning and decorating. I’m still not done. I’m doing it in stages, but now I have to alternate cleaning and decorating with baking, for I have a holiday knitting tea to put on Saturday afternoon! I’m not usually much of a baker. I prefer cooking to baking and DH is the opposite so that usually works out well. However, I’ve planned the menu for the tea to give me an opportunity to par take in recipes that are special to me at the holiday time and we haven’t really done that before, despite my not spending the holiday with my family since 1999. Not to mention DH is involved with the last days of NANOWRIMO and trying to complete his novel, but his being sick this weekend has put him quite behind. So, it’s up to me and I’ll be able to do it just fine, I just don’t enjoy baking as much as cooking.

I hope all those who celebrated this weekend had a wonderful time!

We Have a Mitten!

I have completed my first colorwork piece. Okay, so technically it is only half of a project. But, I did it! I’m soooo excited and I *love* it! It even fits my semi-man-hands (of the things I got from my dad, it was his hands and his depression - thanks Dad!). It seems my floats were tensioned well as there is still some give to the fabric. I did run into a little trouble though…

The book recommends using k2tog and ssk for the decreases at the tops of the mittens. However, some of the ssk decreases threw off the pattern a bit. From what I can tell of the photos of the mittens in the book this was not a problem for that pair of mittens.

It isn’t drastic and I certainly won’t be ripping back this mitten. But I’d like to know for the other mitten and perhaps any future colorwork projects (yes, Ashley, I’ve been bitten and there will be more in my future) I’m wondering if there is a better left-leaning decrease to use or some manner in which to reduce this problem?

Oh, and it didn’t give directions on what to do for the final round when you decrease to one stitch between the 3 “seam” stitches on each side of the hand. So, I did a centered decrease as described in some of the patterns in Stahman’s book. So, I slipped two sts together as if to knit to the right hand needle, knit the last stitch and passed both slipped stitches over that one together. It looks great! I’m proud of myself for remembering that somewhat more subtle centered decrease.

Also, thanks to all of you who have signed my Frappr map! Some of you I knew were out there reading, but many of you I did not know. So, I have several new blogs added to my “test drives” folder in Sage. I look forward to watching your knitting and spinning over the coming weeks and months.

I hope all of those celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow have a pleasant and safe holiday!

Mittens from Halland Commence

Well, I’m sloooooow at stranded knitting. But, it’s not going too bad. I ended up going with to the write-in and knitting while listening to a book on my Nano. They did a 30 minute challenge to see how many words they could each write and my smart ass husband asked me how many stitches I made. I seriously didn’t keep track, but I’d say at most, I probably completed 3 rows, but probably more like only 2. That’s only 100-150 stitches per 30 minutes… Slooooooow….

But, I’m new to it more or less. I’m liking this pattern because aside from the initial block you rarely have more than three stitches of one color in a row so you are fine just floating over three stitches. It doesn’t catch on my rings or anything. I’m also spot on gauge-wise, though I’m not positive if my floats are quite loose enough or not. Though I was able to pull the cuff over my hand onto my wrist so I suspect I’m okay. Plus, it should loosen up a tad when I block it I guess.

I have the initials done as well…

I think I’ll follow Heather’s example and put them on the inside of the wrist instead, as I love the design on the cuffs and think that is better for showing off to the public than my initials. Especially considering my initials suck for making 5 sts high by 3 sts wide letters - KRS! It sucks! I’ll do the date on the other mitten though I will probably just do either 2005 or 1105. I’m leaning towards 1105 since it’ll be easier to squish the ones in there and not have to expand the box. Plus, the 2 has got to be nearly as sucky as the K!

I’m glad I found a project that I’m looking forward to working on. Almost to the point that it is the only thing I want to work on today. That said, there is a pair of flannel PJs that I really want from Target but ours doesn’t have my size (well, I might be able to wear the size they have in, but I like oversized PJs) so I’m going to Loveland to check out their Target. And, yes, I checked online and they are out and it says nothing about being backordered or restocked etc. And, I *must* have these PJs. Mom and Amber say so!

Finally!

There they are. The FiberTrend’s felted clog slippers for my sister’s size 11 feet pre-felting. As the woman’s large said to size 10 I went for the smallest of the men’s size. The majority of the foot on those was stuffed with a t-shirt and not a normal size t-shirt. A plus sized t-shirt in each foot!

Here are a few more shots to give an idea of how large these are…

Just click on them to see larger versions of them.

I was planning on felting these when DH is around seeing as his feet are closer in size to her feet than mine are. However, I’m thinking I’ll probably be impatient enough to felt them this afternoon. Plus, DH just isn’t around much these days with all the NANO activities.

I did do some spinning this weekend. I’ve found it is good for when I’m more than a little fed up with goings on around the house. But, I’ll post more about when I have the other 2 oz done and everything plied.

Gargantuan Knits!

I’m taking a page from Melanie as far as holiday knitting goes. Well, sorta. These were all in the queue before this post was made, but her post kind of spurred me on…

The big green thing is what I hope will be a slightly fluted rectangular felt basket with perhaps a slight turn over at the top. That said, I just flew by the seat of my pants on it without doing any swatch felting. But, I figured it isn’t a high science sort of thing. It’s three skeins of Lamb’s Pride Worsted knit doubled. If it turns out I’ll fine tune and write up a pattern probably. I’m hoping it will be roughly the right size for holding holiday cards as they arrive, but it isn’t for me. If it turns out as planned upon felting it will also be acting as a gift basket for one of the recipents of DH’s homemade cheese and liqueurs. See, I just designed the labels and occassionally had to remove the cheese from the brine and put it into the cheese fridge. But, other than that I’ve had no hand in it. So for family at least I want to contribute something handmade as well.

On the right, the peacock and brown huge thing is a single soled Fiber Trends Clog in the pre-felted state. I put one of my size 9 shoes in the shot for scale. Look how huge that slipper is! LOL! I can actually stick it on my head with my face peaking out the area for the seam in the middle of the sole. It would almost make a really cute hat/hood thing if it weren’t for the nipple-like toe sticking up out of your head, LOL! (okay, I come from a wierd family where we try a lot of things on our head if it looks like it’ll fit - sue me!)

I have the other sole completed and on the needle up at the top. But, I haven’t decided if I want to attach that one or just do the top part of the second one and do the soles later. See, the soles are definitely NOT television or movie watching WIPs with all the short rows and such in there. But, part of me wants to finish one and felt it and make sure I made the right size. See, my sister has size 11 feet, so I made the man’s medium, but I’ve since seen at least one post about this pattern with Lamb’s Pride and the need to go down a size on the pattern. But, won’t the clogs match better if they are felted together? And, if I did do the wrong size, what am I going to do with only one?? It would be foolish.

Oh, and the observant out there will notice that the sole on the needles is not attached to a double worsted yarn, but is instead being knit from a bulky yarn. I’m tempting fate here. I didn’t swatch and felt yet again and made a somewhat drastic yarn substitution. So, I may have two strikes against me on this one. That said, those two parts were both knit last Saturday. So, it isn’t like I’m thowing out a ton of time if things don’t work out.

The LYS didn’t have any brown Lamb’s Pride and that is pretty much their only worsted weight felting priced yarn so I went with this. It’s Patons some or other and is 100% wool. I don’t trust Knit Pick’s colors online or in thier catalog enough to pick out the proper turqoise/teal/peacock color I know my sister will like and I knew Persian Peacock or whatever it is called from Brown Sheep was going to be perfect. But, I think I shall be placing my first order with Knit Picks next week and will be sure to include a Wool of the Andes color card in that order in case I need to knit another pair of felted clogs for her. I’m a Knit Picks virgin, can you believe that???? Shocking, isn’t it????

I hope everyone has safe and enjoyable Halloween festivities this weekend!

Thank you!

Thank you all! You are sooo kind and loving!

This week has just been a bad one.

That said, I did manage to get a decent Internet connection yesterday and updated the Spinning Gallery. It includes the washed and blocked Alpaca yarns, plus my largest skein I’ve spun so far that I spun at the end of last week. I’m giving you a sneak peak here, but I’m pretty sure the recipient of this hank of yarn reads this blog so I’ve altered the photo to keep part of it secret…

It’s 300-yds 100% wool 2-ply yarn. I won’t tell you the color (though if you don’t know me in real life you are safe to go look at the 2-ply yarns in the Spinning Gallery to see it unobscured). This is by far my best yarn to date. I *love* it and am so happy to have a nice yardage like that. I like it so much part of me wants to keep it. But, the recipient is much more fond of this color than I am so I know it is going to a loving home and will become some beautiful gloves or mitterns or a hat or a scarf or anything else you can make with 300 yds of sock-weight yarn.

This also marks my first completed holiday gift so far. There are several in progress - grandma’s scarf (I haven’t touched it in over a week), grandpa’s hat has the yarn spun, a felted basket for gifting DH’s cheese and liqueurs (I did the labels for those), felted slippers for my sister and last night we bought some heavy weight cotton canvas in various prints to sew small tote bags for gifting cheese and liqueur to others.