Quick knits are good

I started my Christmas knitting this week. I hate the idea that I should be knitting pressies. It is not fun having that hanging over my head. I have in the past knit a few presents for a special people. If I see something that I know they will love and appreciate, I knit it. I only knit for people who understand the time, effort and love that goes into the item. Before long though, people start having expectations. I HATE knitting with expectations.

I have however found several VERY quick projects that I like very much.

I made a beautiful drop stitch ribbon scarf in about an hour. Then last night, I made a cowl for my Sillinesss. Not for Christmas, but just because I love her and she neeeeeeeds it apparently. The cowl is so soft and lovely and fun and fast (and affordable!) that I decided to make at least 2 more. No pictures until after Christmas for the obvious reason...

Recipe for perfection

MMMMM.

I think this may just be the perfect Friday night.

I'm sitting here alone amongst all my favorite things. I wish I had a working camera to capture the perfection.

1. Schlafly's Coffee Stout - It's empty now, i finished it several minutes ago. It was scrumptious. I hate that I can only get it for a couple of months in the winter, but I guess it wouldn't taste nearly as good if I had it all the time.

2. Jeni's Ice Cream - So rich and creamy and such amazing flavors.... Mads and I spent a heck of a lot of money bringing it back from Ohio in a cooler of dry ice. I have it hidden in the basement deepfreeze to keep the rest of the household out of it. Tonight's spoonful (because that's all I eat at a time) is Gravel Road. Salted Carmel ice cream and smoked almonds. OMFG, it is soooo good with the coffee stout!!!!!! almost as good as the Goat Cheese-Cognac-Fig that is waiting for tomorrow...

3. While typing I made a some hot cocoa. good European sipping chocolate, milk and of course Bushmills 10 yr. I have a few drops left from when I was last in Ireland... 5 years ago. I still can't believe it has really been 5 years. I want to cry!!!! I think the alcohol and a bit of freshly whipped cream should take care of that though....

4. 84 Charing Cross Road - It's on TMC tonight. I love the book. I love the movie. I feel a kinship with her. I'm forever calling (or emailing) across the pond for lovely things that I just can't seem to get my hands on here. Or if I can they are just not the same. This week, a case of my favorite liquor left Scotland and is making its way to my house. And a couple of pretty things are on their way to Amanda in York so she can bring them to me over winter break and I don't have to pay the ridiculous international shipping....

I miss home!!!!!!!

5. The best bit is in my lap - Blame Dean, that's my new baby. I've started a sock yarn blanket (as have at least 6 other people in the shop and we all blame Dean). I must be insane! The way I knit, I expect this to take me until I'm 40. Even so, I've been pleasantly surprised by how fast it is going. And how addictive it is. I seem to eat, sleep and breathe this blanket. Literally, the squares pop up in my dreams now. All other projects have temporarily been abandoned.

I've joined several swaps to get more pretties for my baby. I got my first package for it today. 10 baby balls of Wollmeise, the first of which is going into row 3 right now. I've heard so many good things about this yarn. It's so hard to get and I'm not willing to part with my bugga (which it the only way I'll ever get it!). The colors are so vibrant and it is knitting up so nicely! This could be bad...

but i'll never give up my bugga.....

never.

time flies

So ten months have passed. I am never good at sticking with things, but I have new things coming up that may call for blog posts.

I did finish that sweater. It is warm and cozy and I LOVE IT! It was worth the stress. It really only took 2 weeks. And that is through a bout of vertigo and while working on several other projects and being, well, me.

I made extra long sleeves and am so glad I did. The sweater is warmer than my winter coat!

In the last several months I have actually knit on a bunch of stuff and finished some things too! A blanket, baby sweaters, shawls, socks... I've started several more sweaters that I may finish some day.

I'll leave it at that for right now. I have too many things to write about... new projects, old projects, other events... I can't think of it all now.

especially since it is knit night tonight!

Thank all higher powers for Thursdays!!!!

Hate the pattern, LOVE the sweater

I lost 4+ good knitting days to stupid room spinning motion sickness. Thursday night at knit night, I finally got a bit of knitting in before the meds i was taking stopped working and i started getting queazy every time i so much as caught SOMEONE ELSE knitting out of the corner of my eye. It was aweful!

I, however, have nearly finished my sweater. 

This is the first time I've paid more than $6.00 for a pattern, and its the worst pattern I've encountered. Not only did it take me a week to get it emailed to me, but then I had to rethink more than half of it.

It took me 2 days to adjust my thinking to the pattern. I am a chart girl. I will always be a chart girl. There are no charts and it would take me longer to make one than my time is worth. So i'm winging this one. 

Every time I look ahead in this pattern, I get dizzy and confused. It is not sectioned out into parts. You just sort of happen on, say, a sleeve, in the middle of a row...

Rnd 40: C4b slipping 1st st pwise, , k to 2 before marker, ssk. [Move the piece away from the tips of the needles, and with a separate strand of yarn, cast on X sts for sleeve. Work 8” (or desired length) in stockinette st. 

Break yarn from sleeve. On RS, with strand from body 

of sweater: k1, k2tog, k to last 3 sts of sleeve, ssk, k1]. 

then you start knitting the back. 

the sleeve only connects with one stitch on the underside! I think not!

Right, so needless to say, I (with a bit of help from my dear Mad) am reworking the pattern a bit. 

I have knit up to the sleeve join, and am almost finished with the second sleeve. I want to finish the sleeve and (hopefully) up through the shoulders tomorrow. 

I intend to wear this sweater to Sticks N Stitches Columbus next weekend. 

Vertigo sucks when you have a new sweater to work on.

But the drugs aren't half bad. 

Time to go back to sleep.

Heaven trapped in a skein.....

Look what arrived in the mail today!

EEEEEEEEEEEEK!

If you think its pretty, you should FEEL it!

Its my Fiery Searcher Beetle Bugga! from my favorite dyer, The Sanguine Gryphon. 

If you can ever manage to catch an update either on her site or on LoopyEwe, I highly suggest you snag it! 

Early birthday pressies are the bestest.

oh, I almost forgot. I finished my sock today, and started a blanket. FUN!

SNOW DAYS!!!

The last two days, I've been home due to SNOW!

Now, snow is one of my all time favorite things.  If I could live in an igloo surrounded by a foot of snow 365 days a year, I think I would.... okay, maybe just for a year or two, but I'd jump at the chance.

This winter, this is the first snow that has stuck to the ground. I got up this morning and did my usual jumpofftheporchfacefirstintothesnow angel. It was FABULOUS!!!!

Then I sat on the deck in a snow-filled chair and knit for an hour. 

Of course it was then time for Drumgray Hot Cocoa and a warm Ceridwen bath.

HEAVEN!

I wish every day could be just like this one!!!!!!!!!!!

In knitting news, this time off has helped me nearly finish sock 1 of my Orkney Ocean Toes.

 This is my second pair of that pattern. Last year I got the greatest book ever and the greatest sock yarn ever, and I made beautiful socks. They were stolen by my mother. They are the softest socks ever, are wearing extremely well, and only get softer with every wash. I wanted a pair for myself, and I need them SOON! I'm doing my best to whip them up asap. I'm on the last chart now and hope to have the first sock done by saturday (yay for knit night!). I'd love to have the done by the following knit night (you never know, it COULD happen! STOP LAUGHING AT ME!).

For my birthday this year, I'm getting the stuff to make a hoody. Not just any hoody, but the Lyric Tree (rav link!). I've been dying to knit this. Madalene is getting the yarn in for me and I've got needles on order too. Hopefully it will all come in next week and I can cast on next thursday.

EEK! I'm excited!!!

School is apparently back on for tomorrow so I should probably go to bed now... 

I'll dream of knitting Scotland inspired socks and the kilt hose to match them (someday! sniff). 

What will you dream of?

Once Again

Wow. It's been more than 6 months! 

Amazing!

I've had so much going on that I doubt I'd ever catch up. Instead, I'll just, um, start over!

It's a new year so I can do these things, right?

I just finished a ton of projects. 

Over Christmas break (teaching does have its benefits) I knit:

1. A pair of fingerless gloves of my own designing.

The yarn is from the amazing Sanguine Gryphon. It is a dk weight organic wool called Free Range and named after chicken breeds. It is very soft and lofty. pills a little bit, but anything I wear 18 hours a day does! They are so warm! and I stopped the fingers just short of my knuckles so I can do almost anything in them, knit, type, drive, teach. It's been so cold lately I've been putting them on as soon as I get out of the shower and not taking them off nearly until bed time. Simply LOVELY!

2. Yoga Socks.

My favorite aunt is a Hatha yoga teacher in Michigan (doesn't she have cute feet!). She was talking about how cold it can get in the yoga studio (not in her private studio in her basement, she has HEATED FLOORS! and I am jealous!). I decided to whip up a pair of these for her. They aren't wool and won't be terribly warm, but it will be better than bare feet. I did the pair in one night while she was here so they are tailored to fit her feet exactly as she wants them for maximum traction. Next, I think I'm going to make her a pair of matching footies to wear over them. 

3. A pair of nearly knee high socks using the Houdini pattern as a guide.

It is AMAZING! I wish I could do all my socks this way! It was so much fun! and I completed them SOOOO quickly. i guess using thick yarn and big needles helps with that though.......

4. a baby sweater and hat

A friend from uni is having a baby! Well, actually there are entirely too many babies coming, but that's another story. When I heard K&J were expecting I immediately thought of the Baby Yours pattern. I had to knit it. I used a stretchy cotton that i thought may have too much texture and wouldn't show the cable. Boy was I wrong!!!! It popped so well I thought I'd fall over!!!! I love it and intend to make at least 3 more for the additional babies arriving before summer hits. 

After finishing so much in such a short period of time, I'm out of projects on needles. I have a few long term projects going, but I haven't yet started anything to work on daily. 

I should do that. 

Happy Knitting!!

Will I see you?

Click on the pic to get details!!!!

See you there!

Me???

Yes, I have actually been starting and finishing projects.  Here's the Proof!!

Spilt Milk Bog Jacket. all edged. and I even put a little teddy bear button on it!! I still hate teh kitchnered part, but I'll live. 

     

And here's my coriolis socks. 11 days to make the pair. I LOVE them. they fit perfectly!!!!!!

and the ruffly anemone cuff is really cutsie. (Thanks for modeling them for me Cassie! I hate my legs and I just can't lose any more cute socks to my mother!!)

  

And in addition to those, I've started 2 more pairs of socks (polar opposites, yay!) Fairy Tales and Highland Reels...........

and I've pulled K2P2 out of hibernation... proof of that too!

It was Stitch N Pitch here in St. Louis this weekend. My camera batteries were going very slowly so I only grabbed a few pics, but i'm going to try to steal a few more from friends.....     

The socks next time.....

progress and decisions

i know i've been mia for a bit, but with good reason. 

i'm actually finishing projects!

what has gotten into me??????

the spilt milk jacket is all sewn up and ready for edging. i'm kind of not happy about the kitchnering. I am really tempted to pull it all back out and do it again. i want to knit one more row and then kitchner it. right now there is an extra purl side and i'm just not happy. perhaps i'll weave in all the other ends and wait to show the girls at knit night.

in the mean time, I used my dye pot luck to very quickly knit up 1 coriolis sock. love it! did it in 4 days.

Me, a sock in 4 days.......

now i'm trying to decide if I want to knit the second one up this week, or start my fairytale sock from Gryphon's sock club.......

decisions. 

summer's here. still only the two part time jobs for now. that means a negative yarn budget (knitting from stash only! and perhaps i'll swap/sell a bit of it on rav, too), but plenty of time to knit!!!!

somehow i have a feeling that i'm going to become a permanent fixture at my fave yarn shops and starbucks too.

not a bad way to spend summer.

Finished Objects and Photos

Please don't faint! Yes, I know it is totally out of character for me, but, yes, I did accomplish several things today, including some knitting stuff!

I finished the toes on both of my Ocean Toes Socks. Me! I finished a pair of socks in under a year!!!!!!!!!! They are very pretty, however, i hate the star toe. hate it. pulled out the first finished sock with its very stupid modifications (i really need to think things through once in a while!) and did it as Cat directed. Really though, it just doesn't fit my wide flat fat toes very well. 

my mother on the other hand (modeling them in my photos) LOVES how they fit. she may just get them and i'll make a pair for myself with the standard toe. don't tell her that though! 

i'm thinking they may go in her teacup for mothers day. she'll be ecstatic.

I love them! SO PRETTY!

Well, I finally took a picture of my EZ bog jacket now that it is 65% finished.

I love how this yarn pooled!

 I tried alternating balls but i really just liked this better. I can't wait to finish it. I bought some darker blue Heirloom Easy Care 8-ply to edge it with. 

I think that may be all for now......

happy knitting

heel and foot are finished on sock 2. now it is down to 2 toes. i'm trying to decide whether i retry the star toe or just do the standard... ah well, maybe i should wait until i'm not so sleeeeepy.

baby boggy is coming along, slowly but surely.

pics soon.

done did it 'gin

so as i was finishing up the heel on the sock, i realized i messed the chart up somewhere in the middle . i tried laddering down.... not happening. so i frogged it a bit, went too far, couldn't pick the stitches up again, and ended up pulling out the whole heel and a bit above it. ah, oh well, i should have a bit of time tonight to work on it, and then there is always knit night!!!!

but then again, there is baby jacket!

the colors made an agreeable pattern on the bottom. i like it. it reminds me of the book spilt milk. a fave book, definitely.

but now as i continue up into the top part, i added stitches for longer sleeves (i think maybe too many, but i can always cuff it, right?) and the color pattern completely changed. it has now started a layering of colors. as long as this pattern keeps up, there is going to be a gradual color change striping up the sleeve. I'm very excited about that!!!!!!!

i'm taking pictures tonight, and i'll post them soooooon.

happy knitting!

Socks, Songs and a baby jacket

I'm still loving the Gareloch socks. And last weekend I took them on an outing to the Missouri Tartan Festival in St. Charles. After I finished my amazing bangers and mash from the Oz Highland Farm,  the sock came out to warm in the sun (and get a heel). As I was pulling it out, a wonderous thing happened. The band, Highland Reign, finished their set with the pipes and High Road to Gareloch. Fate? Perhaps I should be calling Jan and planning a trip back to stay with her for a bit. i'm terribly homesick again. 

Well, seeing as I'm never very good at finishing things, and this sock is chart after chart after chart, and I'd been drinking a bit, oh yeah, and the fact that i'd forgotten to grab my socks from my desk at work..... I cast on a new project at knit night last thursday. A bog jacket. 

It is a very pretty light blue and white that I swapped with bartons15 from Ravelry. 

I took it with me  to the midnight brew n view showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Friday night (you have to appreciate mindless knitting!), and I knit it (when not napping) most of Saturday as I recovered from the oh-so-long week on Amanda's couch. I'm 1/3 of the way through it. sort of.

today, i'm procrastinating (its cleaning day) by reading through the rest of the pattern and embellishments. trying to decide on what i want to do with it. longer sleeves and collar are a must. i'd do the i-cord edging too if i could find the right complimenting yarn. It is bigger than I originally thought I would make it (i re-cast-on several times because I couldn't decide). It is more toddler sized than the original baby that I thought i'd make. 

pictures soon. i hope. 

a well, i should do something now. laundry, at least.

happy knitting!

ONE DOWN!!!!

YAY! I finished the first of my ocean toes socks! It went SOO fast. and I'm not anticipating much second sock syndrome at all! 

Look how pretty!

Too Much to do... too little time

Wow, what a long time it has been!

Sticks n Stitches went really really well. The Blues are already looking at next year for another (hopefully bigger) event. We sent over 50 squares to Warm-Up America. YAY! 

I'm working too much and knitting/spinning far too little. 

It is definitely spring. There are babies being announced EVERYWHERE! Friends, cousins, co-workers.... it is a never ending  list. I've finished a few bibs I had knit up but never followed through with buttons and things. I've got booties started (little sky practice sock from Cat Bordhi's Pathways), but it seems that it takes me forever to finish them.... how sad is it that i get second sock syndrome on 2 hour baby booties!!!! heaven help me, especially with 4 more pairs to go... not to mention the matching hats??????

I started on socks for myself. Also from Cat's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Ocean Toes. I'm doing them in the Little Traveller - Scotland from The Sanguine Gryphon

I've got the beginnings of them up on ravelry... they are listed as Gareloch.... named for the lake/inlet the my former Scottish boss/family now live on.

Anything else going on? I don't think so, not that I can remember right now...... perhaps later, then.

happy knitting!

Sticks N Stitches Update

The StL Blues' Sticks N Stitches is next Sunday evening, Feb 17th at 5pm! I'll be there at 330 to sit and knit with all of you! 

The goody bags are really shaping up.

They've had some really AWESOME donations from some of the local yarn shops. The bag itself is worth the price of the ticket! Not to mention that you get a great seat, hotdog, soda, and hours of knitting fun!

oh yeah, there is a hockey game too! 

t00w00t

So today, after a very very strange day, I went into Best Buy. I got to exchange my camera!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!

the new camera is really great for close up shots. you know what that means....

BETTER YARN PORN!

i'm sure you can tell that i'm not in the least bit excited (yeah right!)

so here, to celebrate, are a few pics i've snapped

my dusk-at-a-loch inspired yarn (Sanguine Gryphon) surrounded by Pride of Scotland tartan  sitting next to a picture from the house on Gareloch at dusk

it is amazing how things match so perfectly.

and my new Newsboy Cap from Stitch n Bitch Nation 

made from Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo and Tofutsies

and last but not least, my second spinning project. This is the first yarn to come from Morgana, and the first attempt at plying. its a bit itchy (llama) but came out very nicely after a little wash.

YaY

So I just have to do a bit of bragging.

I got the greatest pressies.....

My mom bought me the New Pathways for Sock Knitters book by Cat Bordhi. I had looked through it a few times, but was waiting to buy it. I can't wait to start the Coreolis socks. However, even more pressing, are the Ocean-Toes. I liked them well enough, but really, OMG I have a wondrous yarn in mind... In my b-day card, mom left me $20 for yarn to go with my book. You all know the extent of my sock yarn stash. (It has recently called to be moved to yet a larger bin!) But I could not resist. 

I clicked an ad on Ravelry because I was intrigued by the name - Sanguine Gryphon. Well, up pops this beautifully dyed yarn and roving. I figured, what better way to spend my bday money! and then I saw it!!! It was, well, exactly what I wanted, yes, the Little Traveller Superwash Merino Sock Yarn that I mentioned the other day. IT'S HERE ALREADY! AND SOOOOO SOFT! and SQUISHY! and the colors match my scarf and wooly exactly!!!! When I opened the box, I was (almost) without words.  there was a little note inside as well. "it was inspired by a beautiful photo of dusk over a Scottish lake." 

i'd put up new pics, but they won't transfer from my new camera.... have i said yet how much i'm NOT liking this camera...