They're off!

No races here. Haha I would lose. Lately I am not fast at anything.

Off as in off the needles. First up:

The easy shawl is ready to be blocked. I just pinned it out a little to show you, but I really need to run some string along each of the sides and block it that way. There are no points, so I need that string to keep it straight. I wish I had one of those boards.

Up close this yarn is so pretty. All shiny and soft. I'm not sure my blocking skills are up to par with the beauty of this stuff. We shall see I guess.

Next item off the needles:

Super easy Bearfoot socks. One down, one to go. I am doing them in a simple K6, P2 rib with my default 64 stitches. I love working with Bearfoot yarn too. So soft and cozy. I am in desperate need of another pair of brown socks. A lot of my favorite outfits right now are brown, and I only have one other pair that matches. I should have the other one done in a few days. Sorry they are not very special, and the picture is probably going to take first place in the Most Pathetic Picture Ever Awards. That color just refused to be photographed (and I was too lazy to keep messing with it on this yucky dreary day).

This is almost off:

I have almost filled my spindle, so I should probably transfer the yarn to something else. Since I have nothing proper to wind it on, I guess I will be hunting for a good old toilet paper tube. That will have to work for now. (about as super cheesy as my ultra-ugly-made-them-myself-wire-hanger-sock-blockers) I may have to invest in some real equipment soon. This half-hiney stuff gets a little embarassing.

Yarn?

or something else?

Me and my spindle are getting aquainted. At this point we were not getting along very well. Totally craptastic stuff isn't it?

But then....

things started to get a little better.

A better close up.

Ok, all you spinners out there, I know it isn't great, but it resembles yarn a little bit, yes? I have no idea what these fibers are. They were all given to me to practice on and none of them are labeled. I do know that the lighter blue/green stuff was much easier to work with than the first two. I have some yummy looking cream BFL to try next. Wish me luck!

The "easy" one

Well, I am officially working on one of my older UFO's for February. It is my "easy" shawl (as opposed to my harder laceweight shawl - yes the one that I am still not on speaking terms with). This UFO challenge has been good for me (Thanks again Kat!). I should be finishing this one up soon.

It is the After Hours Shawl from Briar Rose Fibers in Sea Pearl. I don't know why I didn't finish this earlier (I know. I say that about all of my UFO's). This yarn is just gorgeous and the pattern is very easy. I am modifying it by making it much smaller and leaving off the fringe. I want it to be the size of a shoulder shawl to throw on over a blouse or turtleneck. I think tencel is some yummy stuff! So soft and shiny. I wonder how it blocks. I really want to block this thing wider vs longer.

Pretty stuff huh?

I am making a little more progress on the Lopi sweater. I would be done by now if the pattern weren't so doggone confusing. (at least to me hehe) I am not giving up, and I hope to have it done in time to wear it yet this winter (don't worry, winter is very long in Michigan).

I will be home all day today (again). The Monkey is sick (he was yesterday too), so I am not getting any of my errands done sigh.... and I have lots of them this week. His birthday is on Thursday, so I have extra stuff to do for that. Oh well, at least I have knitting. :)

Quickie

Sorry, but I only have time for a quickie post today. This week has been crazy again. I did have a little knitting time and I am happily chugging along on the Lopi sweater.

I did make a stupid mistake on the chart and had to rip a few rows, but I am back on track now. I would really like to finish the fronts this weekend. Hopefully I will have some knitting time tomorrow because I will be at a volleyball tournament all day today.

I also started a new pair of socks, and I am working on a pair of slippers for the hubby. That's all the knitting for today.

Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers for my family. The funeral and dad's surgery went well. I'm just glad this week is almost over...whew!

A cartoon

Ok, I swear I am the star of a new cartoon. Or I might be the knitting coyote, and the roadrunner is kicking my butt over and over again. I feel like the anvil is falling on my head, for the eleventy-billioneth time. Yeah, that is how my knitting was going for a few days. Ugh.

First, I found a mistake in an old project. I started these socks like ages ago. I finished the first sock, but it didn't fit anyone here. So I put it aside to see if it fit my mom (elf feet, except no curly toes), and if it did, I would knit her the other sock. Well, it fit. So....I started the 2nd sock (after hunting for the stitch pattern for over an hour. I really need to keep a journal! DUH!). Everything was going fine until I picked up the gusset stitches. My stripes in the yarn were not matching with the first sock, and they had been until the gusset. So I compare the two socks. OH MY GOSH!!! I never turned the heel on the first one. I just picked up the gusset stitches right after knitting the heel flap. AND I KNIT THE WHOLE SOCK WITHOUT NOTICING IT! What a loser! So now, I have to rip the entire foot out of the first sock and reknit it WITH A HEEL TURN! Crap, I just found a mistake in the second sock too. I am ripping these, I give up. The anvil has landed on this one for the last time.

Enter second knitting problem. I picked up the Swallowtail shawl the other night. I have not worked on this in ages. I really have to be in the mood, and be able to concentrate, without distraction, to work on lace. Also, I am not accustomed to working with THREAD. Yikes that laceweight yarn is fine! Well anyway, I was knitting along (about 45 min worth), and things were going fine. I go to knit the next row and the stitch count was off at the end of the row. So I think, well I can tink this and fix it. Well, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! After tinking for about 45 min, I decide to rip back to my last lifeline. In other words, absolutely no progress after almost 2 hours of work. Sigh. I could have cried (if I hadn't been so mad!).

Yeah, today might be better right? My dad is having surgery, so I will definitely have some knitting time at the hospital. I am actually making some good progress on the Lopi sweater.


I have the back finished and one front almost done. Yay! Things are looking up. I just got a shipment from the Acme Knitting Company (maybe I can get rid of that roadrunner hehe). Just kidding. By the way, I always hated that cartoon. I did not think it was funny. I felt sorry for the coyote and that smug little roadrunner just needed a good slap (or a good jab with really sharp knitting needles).

(Please forgive the blatant overuse of capitals. A frustrated girl needs her capitals.)

Hedera

Quick post today. You get the bare minimum. I apologize for the bad pic and lack of links. My aunt passed away last night so it is a little bit crazy around here.

I finished my Hedera socks this weekend. This pattern is so nice. Easy to memorize, great looking and a fast knit for most people.

I did shorten the heel flap, it seemed way too long in the original pattern. I used two skeins of Koigu on size 1 Addis. Go ahead, make yourself a pair. I will make the knee-high version (Sodera) eventually, but I think I will wait until I have my new Knitpicks circulars. It will be easier and faster with sharper points.

I am working on another UFO. I thought I would quick finish some socks up, until I found a bonk-to-the-side-of-the-head-stupid mistake on them. Yeah, you won't even believe this one!

I am not a model

Here is the proof (giggle).

I love my new sweater. I still have not blocked it. I know, terrible of me, but I have had SO MUCH other laundry to do. The sweater is last on the list. It doesn't look that bad pre-blocked, but the seams and neck band need a little help. I also need to get some buttons for it, I just haven't had the time or the desire to get out for them. I can't even decide if I want white, colored, or metal buttons yet. What do you think? This will definitely be a spring/summer sweater....what would look the best?

This is the only part I like about doing laundry.


I just love seeing all my handknit socks lined up on the rack like that. It just makes me happy. Can you tell we really like to wear our handknits here. This is less than one weeks worth of sock laundry. I say why choose store bought if you have these lovelies to wear. I am almost done with the Koigu socks too,. Yay, one more pair to choose from soon!

Nostalgia

There has been a lot of reminiscing around blogland lately. I wonder why.....

I am feeling a bit nostalgic myself today. My wonderful father-in-law passed away one year ago today. He was such a nice man, and I miss him.

Some of this remembering is hilarious. Did you read Laurie's blog today? I almost snorted pop out of my nose on that one. Hehe, do you smell something? Do you just want to dance or do aerobics in a snazzy outfit? :)

Jen also posted some memories. Wow, I could relate to those! Moon boots, snowmobile suits.....what else? Legwarmers? Gauchos? Shag haircuts? Bad perms? No you are not getting any bad pictures of me. For one thing, I don't actually have any, and for another, even if I did, I am not as brave as Laurie. (giggle, she has the most embarassing best pics ever!)

I do have some great memories, but I think some of them could start with the phrase "you know you're a redneck when" (imagine an amazing hillbilly accent there). We lived next to my grandparents when I was young. I think we moved "to town" when I was in 4th grade. My grandma was my very best friend. She was just the greatest. We spent hours and hours together. She taught me to sew, garden, crochet, iron, bake, can, freeze, feed the animals, clean their stalls, gather eggs, ride a pony, drive a pony cart, and many more.

Horror of all horrors, I actually learned to "clean" chickens. Now you city folk, cleaning a chicken does not mean giving him or her a bath. This is what happens when the chicken needs to go from clucking to dinner. My gramps would kill the buggers and then gram and I would pluck 'em and clean 'em. You city folks should know, chicken does not just grow in those little yellow, neatly wrapped packages. It starts out with feathers a beak and ugly feet. We would have to put them through a plucking machine, and then....(squeamish people turn away here) clean out their undesirable insides. Then on to the freezer they went. Not a fun job, but part of farm life. Hope I didn't scare ya all to death there. My gram was a saint. She let me make her dozens of crocheted potholders, ugly quilt squares, and yucky cookies. She was the best! She helped me to love crafts after all, which led to knitting, yay! Yeah....lots of my memories are so much better than chickens!

Big Ole Update

Well, we are still snowed in here, well sorta. They are just advising people not to go out unless necessary. We continue to get snow, and the temps are in the single digits or below. It now looks like this out my windows:


It just keeps getting deeper and more slippery on the roads here.
School was cancelled again today. Two days in a row is unheard of here. We are not wimps. We live in Michigan!


I looks beautiful from INSIDE, but yuck, this weather pattern can move on anytime now!

I do like the amount of knitting I get done when I can't go anywhere.


I made another hat for The Monkey, because he was so crushed that he lost his other one. He loves the new one, although I think I could have made it a tad bit longer.

I also started a new project for The Sporty One. She got a new coat and didn't have a hat to match.


So far I made her a bulky earflap hat, and started a scarf. I am going to embellish these a bit more with the contrasting yarn, and maybe make her a pair of mittens too. Wow can you knit something quick in this big ole bulky yarn! Fun stuff! She is bugging me like every 5 minutes to finish them, so I guess I will be working on this project today.

I actually have more progress too. A LONG-IGNORED UFO is now officially sewn together and just needs blocking. YAY FOR ME! This thing has been haunting me for way too long! I also made some progress on the Hedera socks. I would have even more progress if I had not been surfing blogland and obsessing over knee socks! I want to knit some, but haven't really found a cuff-down pattern yet. I keep seeing lots of toe-up versions which are gorgeous, but as of yet, I have not mastered the toe-up sock. I am also concerned about yardage. How many yards do knee socks actually take? Help me out readers! I need to make some knee socks!

Blizzard!

I live in Michigan, and wow is the weather nasty here today! We are under a blizzard warning.


That is what it looks like out my window already, and it is supposed to get much worse! (sorry for the bad pic, but it is snowing like crazy out there, so I took it through the window) It is deep already here, I am sure we have over 2 feet on the ground in spots.

The forecast says more accumulating snow, winds picking up to 40mph, blowing and drifting, dangerous travel conditions, and wind chills between -10 and -20. I guess I will be staying home today, YIKES! Everything around here is cancelled for today anyway, and probably will be tomorrow too. Parker lost his hat yesterday, so I think I will be kntting him a new one. Maybe I will haul out one of my shawls in honor of the UFO challenge too. Have a good weekend and happy knitting!