Happy Birthday

Here are the gifts I did for my office mate's birthday. Notice the close up of the charms. The purse is from Stitch and Bitch and the washcloth and soap sack are from Fiber Trends. I used Stork from Dale; this is such a nice cotton yarn usually used for baby clothes.

Happy Knitting!

Sleeves are Done

The sleeves are finished. WaHoo! I decided last night that nothing was going to get in the way of finishing them. I even remembered to figure out how many extra rows I'd have to put in the sleeve cap to match the armscye. For some reason my stitch gauge was right on but my row gauge wasn't (on my swatch) so at least I've remembered to make the row adjustments throughout the sweater. All that is left is to sew the pieces together and make the neckband.

Now I can start on the Simple Knitted Bodice.

Happy Knitting!

Sleeve Purgatory

So many knitters refer to the knitting of sleeves as being stranded on Sleeve Island. I feel it's more like Purgatory. An island can be pretty and surrounded by water. Sleeve Purgatory just feels like what it is: One step from H*ll. I can't even bear to take a picture of the sleeves for my eyelet cable sweater; I'm afraid they would show no progress. I am (finally!) less than one inch from starting the armhole decreases so there is an end in sight; at least an end to the relentless double Irish moss stitch and no shaping. The saving grace? At least I'm knitting the two sleeves at once. So I really have to look at it as though I've done more than 28 inches of knitting instead of less than 15. See, I can be positive.

Happy Knitting!

Who's The Boss?

This yarn apparently is! I've heard other knitters talking/writing about yarn wanting (or not wanting) to be something specific. I had never really run into that problem. Until Sunday. This yarn is beautiful and I wanted it to be this scarf. It, however, wants to be something different. I tried a ribbed pattern and another diagonal garter stitch pattern and none of these worked. So the yarn is going into the stash until it learns to behave or decides what it wants to be.


So this yarn is now being promoted to the Sundays are for Gift Knitting and will just be a garter stitch scarf. Even I can realize that that's what it will be with all the little "flags" of ribbon sticking out. Even though yesterday was Monday and I wasn't supposed to be knitting because of a broken blood vessel in my hand, I did cast on and work four rows. Just to see if I could. And if the yarn would behave. I was really worried I had lost my knitting mojo.

Here is the new car knitting bag. Perfectly clear and just the right size for the projects I keep in the car. It's actually a makeup bag from Wal-Mart.

Happy Knitting!

The Yarn Harlot

Friday night the Yarn Harlot was in Salt Lake City. She is so funny and such a quick wit. Her presentation was one of the funniest things I have ever had the opportunity to sit through. Especially funny was her story about knitting at the hospital while waiting for a friend. I think that story is told on her blog somewhere. A friend went with me and we had the best time. As a matter of fact at church this morning she said to me, "This guy isn't nearly as entertaining as Stephanie." Yep, church attendance would be much higher if all the speakers were as entertaining as her. If she's going to be near your town, and I mean even in the same state, go see her. Even if you have to stay in the town overnight it's worth it. She is so charming. I'm excitedly waiting for her post about SLC and hopefully the pictures she took of the shawl at Silver Lake.

Here is my favorite new knitting "tool"--my new Homedics Foot Spa. Life doesn't get much better than knitting with my feet sitting in a hot bubble and jet bath. I highly recommend this way of knitting. Now if I could just find someone to massage my feet while I knit. Oh well, this is the next best thing.


And here is September's KAL dishcloth. Yes, I've resorted to doing two at once because 7 rows a day just isn't satisfying enough. I do have other projects I work on daily, but there is just something about the dishcloths that calls to me. Maybe it's the quick fix for this junkie.

And for all you sock fans, Lime and Violet have a free sock pattern on their current blog page. See the link in my sidebar. If you haven't listened to their podcast I would suggest you do. They are so funny it's unbelieveable. It's too bad they have to work at real jobs instead of podcasting everyday.

Happy Knitting!

Voodoo Car

After reading this blog I've been thinking maybe someone out there has a voodoo doll of my car. I won't bore you with all the details of my poor PT Cruiser's short life, but let's just say I spend a lot of time with rental cars and none of it my fault. Yesterday my car had a broken passenger window and I figured the demolition guys had done it (they started demolition before we moved our cars and with no warning). It appeared nothing was missing. My wedding ring, my bluetooth headset, the camera battery charger, the CDs, they were all there. Nothing appeared to be missing. Until I was stopped at a redlight. Then I realized my knitting tote was gone. Just three inches of a burp cloth knit with dishcloth cotton. But the Addi Turbos, I'm going to miss those! Until I can get to the store to replace them. I'm just really, really thankful my Lantern Moon Destiny needles were in a project at home.

Hello, Kitty

Here is the kitty bed and the catnip mouse I made for my office mate's cat. I used Brown Sheep's Naturespun worsted, double stranded, and some fun fur. All stuff I had left over from other projects. The catnip mouse was such a quick knit--less than 1/2 hour not including the stuffing and tail. I had actually learned to cable without a needle from watching Annie Modesitt on Knitty Gritty. It is so much faster than using a cable needle. Of course I've had a lot of practice what with the Eyelet Cable out of Lush. Which is well on the way to being done! Hopefully I can get it done before the Sexy Knitters Club KAL starts. So there are more late nights for me.


Here is the Paton's Soy Wool Stripes scarf finished. It will be a Christmas gift for someone as yet to be determined. I forgot to measure the scarf, but I bet it's somewhere in the range of 6 feet long and about 6-8 inches wide. Three skeins of SWS with maybe three yards leftover. The Patons website says this yarn can be fulled (felted) so I'm going to take what little is left, make a swatch and try it out.

Happy Knitting!

It's Not a Puppy

These are Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

I ordered the skein on the left (Lagoon) and it came; and also in the same mail delivery, but different box, came the other two skeins (Highway 30 and Country Clare) which I hadn't ordered, but had been delivered to me by mistake. And this is where the puppy comes in.

This is me on the phone with Blue Moon the next day: "Can I please, please keep the extra two? Just charge my debit card please. Please. Can I keep them?" And they let me!!!! Afterwards I realized I sounded like a kid begging to keep the puppy/cat that followed him home. I absolutely cannot wait to knit these up.

And here are my Trekking socks, finally finished. The second one's entrelac section turned out larger than the first one and not nearly as neatly knit. I have no clue what I did wrong, so these will be worn only with pants--no skirts. I do love the colorway. And in sad sock news, I made my Koigu Jaywalkers too long in the leg area and ran out of yarn just before the toes. The store had had one last skein of the color just a few days before, but when I went in to purchase it, it was gone. So the toes will be purple. I don't feel guilty buying another skein of Koigu because I have a darling baby hat pattern which uses just over 1/2 skein of Koigu, so I'll be getting a baby gift out of my mistake. Pictures when the second sock is done.
Here is the S. E. X. for the weekend--minus the Koigu. I attended my first ever Fiber Fest. It didn't even tempt me to learn to spin which looks way too complicated for me. And too many steps--spinning apparently isn't the end of it, the stuff then has to be plied. But the yarns available! The pink yarn and the green yarn on top of the pile are Nature's Palette by Hand Jive. The vendor told me it's a good substitute for Koigu. The dusty rose happens to be just the color of the Eyelet Cable sweater I'm knitting. The multicolor is Wildefoot. The dark mauve is Cotton Fleece and the tan is Bulky Lamb's Pride. I definitely am going to be setting aside some money for next year's local Fiber Fest so that I can stock up on more of the specialty yarns none of the local stores carry. I can see now why everyone who has attended one of these events goes home with a trunkload of fiber.

Happy Knitting!