When I Put My Mind to It

I actually can get things done. Here’s one FO finally! The Triangle Scarf… now called “My Favorite Scarf” finished while there is still snow on the ground. LOL!

Pattern: Triangle Scarf by Ginger Luters Yarn: Poems Worsted in colors 556 and 558 Size 6 circular needles

This is actually a really quick pattern to knit; but it took me longer because I was working on other things.

I also made progress on some little socks for my grandson:

Annd the bad front to delve has been sent to the frog pond. Hopefully I can get it restarted today. What’s in your knitting basket? Happy knitting!

Un-Done

I suppose there are plenty of Chicago area bloggers who posted today about the Snow or March’s definite lack of lamb-ness in it’s almost departure. So, I won’t go there today. I’ll just say that I’m feeling a little housebound.

All you knitters out there are probably thinking, ‘sounds like a perfect excuse to knit’ and you are probably right! So why am I sitting here in front of the computer?

Good questions? Could it be that the un-done-ness of all my projects is making me feel a little like procrastinating even more? Probably right again!

Sigh….

There’s nothing I’d love to do more than post a finished FO, except that I don’t have any. I took a quick trip to see my parents this weekend (cut shorter than I had hoped to ensure getting home ahead of the nasty weather). That kept me from working on much for the last two days. I made a little progress on the scarf, the little striped socks and the falling leaf socks, but the Delve sweater front ended up in time-out and probably won’t come out until it’s ready to be frogged. You see, I’m off by one stitch and it’s only been two repeats of the eyelet row; seems like the best course of action is to frog.

Here’s the kitties thoughts on visiting ‘grandma and grandpa’s’ (there was a dog and a three-year old in the house)

"we are not moving from here"

Oh, and it’s baaack…. (okay so I went there anyway)

Evil Snow Mound I certainly hope it won’t take another three months for that thing to melt!

Be Square

Linda got a few samples of Kollage's new circular and double point square needles in at the shop yesterday. Of course, I couldn’t help poking thru the pile. So I’m standing there with the square size 2.75mm dpn’s in my hand and she asked me if I’d like to test them…. Silly question! So I brought them home and cast on a little pair of socks…. The square needles are made of coppery brown aluminum and are very light. So far I don’t notice much difference from working with regular round needles. They seem just as comfortable as round needles. I like the tips. Not too pointy, but not dull either.

My assessment is that if you are looking for 5” dpns in a smaller size but don’t want to worry about breaking the thinner wood, these might be for you.

I’ve been slow with my knitting projects this week. I finished the back of the Delve sweater and started the front. Here’s a peek…

I need a bigger blocking board if I’m going to keep knitting sweaters! The falling leaves socks are taking a bit longer than I’d hoped. I’ve had to do a little bit of ripping again, since I seem to have a bit of trouble following the pattern. For some reason I do fine with the first half of the pattern repeat, but keep messing up the second part; especially if anyone even looks in my direction while I am knitting. Probably shouldn’t be trying to work on this one in public. I’m also at a decision point about the heel; do I do the afterthought heel the pattern calls for or forge ahead with a flap heel? Either way; I doubt I’ll get them done before the end of the month, sigh.

Old Socks, New Socks

Green, red, and blue socks…. Presenting the finished Couplet Socks:

Yarn, Poems Sock Yarn color 958 Size 2.50mm dpn needles Basic 7 stitches per inch pattern by Ann Budd; eye of partridge heel Started: March 2, Finished March 17

These were a really quick knit even with a whole weekend of ripping and re-knitting to get the colors to combine nicely in the stripes. You can see the effect I was trying to avoid a little bit on the blue / purple heeled sock, right before the start of the heel where the two reds were starting to get really close in color. Despite that little issue, I might have to do more of these.

And on to the next pair;

After reorganizing and taking stock of my sock yarn stash, I decided to stick with my previous plan for the next pair and I cast on Weds for these:

The Falling Leaves Socks from the Lucky Lurker Sock club 2007 by A Swell Yarn Shop. The pattern and yarn was a gift from a swap I did last year. So far the socks are working up nicely. They are eventually going to go to DD#2 who has been waiting somewhat patiently since September when I promised that I would make her another pair of socks to replace all the ones that were worn out or tortured in the laundry by her boyfriend. So they are on the needles.

Overall, yesterday wasn’t a very good knitting day. During my pre-work knitting I wrestled with the start of the diamond lace pattern on Delve. It took me about 24 rows to get the 12 row pattern right. Then I went to work, but it was too busy there to do any knitting (between the shop having a sale and giving a private lesson). But, I did give it a good try at knit night. I pulled out the triangle scarf thinking it would be a good thing to work on with all the conversations that go on. Nope! I couldn’t get my brain around how to start a new triangle … that took two attempts. I did manage to finish one triangle but decided maybe I should put it away and not tax my brain further by attempting to do the other triangle with reverse shaping. So I pulled out the falling leaves sock to work on. I finished a couple rounds and noticed the pattern wasn’t looking right, tinked back, restarted then it was time to go. Got home, “finished” the pattern repeat… still not right, tinked 7 rounds and decided I was done knitting for the night. I had a little better time with it today and was able to make up for all the lost rounds. Just for fun, I might try to get these done by the end of the month and make March a record 3-pair month. (March madness indeed!) We’ll see. (The colors are more accurate in this pic) And on the subject of things that are nearly impossible to do… One thing that is almost impossible to do around Chez Nana is to get a really decent picture of Zelda with her eyes open. She has shutter sense like crazy and almost always waits until the second the shutter closes to blink. Because of her black face, this usually results in a picture where she looks like she has no eyes. Today she was camped out in the office looking really cute so I fooled her. I used the shutter delay setting and called her name and got her to look up at the camera right before the shutter closed, but before she realized that the first click wasn’t the real deal. So here she is eyes and all, looking totally sweet: (Oh, hai mommy... are we going to post the blog nao?)

Have a nice weekend!

You Might Have a Sock Yarn Problem …

IF You check your stash on ravelry and more than half is tagged as “sock”. . .

You knit one pair and buy yarn for two more then queue three patterns. . .

AND

Your storage system is labeled like this:

And looks like this: AND

(there are still more skeins in another basket)

AND

You can’t decide which yarn to use for the next pair you plan to knit…

You might have a sock yarn problem

(Sigh...and I thought the sock-a-month KAL would be my twelve step solution!)

Next post, the finished couplet socks!

Pile o’ Undone

I had so wanted to post a picture of the finished back of Delve. Not. I had also planned on finishing the couplet socks over the weekend and having a post about that. Not! After driving myself crazy over the color combinations of the stripes and frogging back to the cuff (or beyond) four times, I finally managed to get to the start of the heel on the second sock. If I’m a good knitter girl, maybe they’ll be done in a couple of days. Sigh Between recovering from an ear infection and aforementioned stripe obsession, very little progressive knitting actually occurred this weekend… I think this sums it up best:

For those of you who are of Irish descent like me or those who just wanna be…

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind always be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, And the rains fall soft upon your fields, And until we meet again, may God Hold you in the palm of his hand.

…. And may all your WIPs be happily finished! Happy St. Patty’s day and happy knitting

I’m a Very Busy Knitter

I finished the Celtic Knotkins! I liked this pattern pretty well, but wanted to put my personal stamp on it. In addition to the picot edge, I also modified the heel and toe to use the more traditional style just because that’s what I prefer over the short row heel. I also did the eye of partridge version of the heel flap because I thought it would be pretty with this yarn. I like how these turned out. Pattern: Nutkin Sock; by Beth LaPensee Yarn: Knitivity Down Home Sock in Shamrock Size 2.75 dpn needles

These will be perfect to wear on St. Patty's day!

The Knit Out event is coming together; but it’s still a bit of a bumpy ride. I have a feeling that it’s going to keep me busy and make me crazy all the way down to the very end.

Somewhere during last week’s craziness, I succumbed to the siren call of some skeins of Poems I had sitting out in my work room, (I think they were there to be photographed, because they weren’t in my stash on ravelry) and cast on for a scarf. Here’s the result so far:

Triangle Scarf (pattern by Ginger Luters) Poems Worsted in colors 556 and 558.

This project barely escaped tragedy last night when Saucey unceremoniously deposited all of her (previously eaten) dinner on and near the ottoman that most of my knitting lives on. I was mid-row on Delve and trying to count (because I thought I missed a decrease) which is not a very good thing to be doing when the cat decides to explode very close to your knitting. I’m happy to report that having your various in-waiting WIPs safely tucked into knitting bags and baskets is a good thing. The bag got a little soiled and ended up in a nice luxurious soak after I rescued the safely contained knitting. WHEW! That was a close call… (Note to self; might need to re-think keeping knitting projects on and around ottoman)…So after a little initial yelling, a lot of cleaning and apologizing to the not-feeling-so-good cat, my knitting is safe … and I actually have the right number of stitches. I’m almost to the yoke part of the back so I need to re-read the pattern to figure out the shaping before I start the rest.

There’s also a new pair of socks in the works. I think I might have mentioned that we got the Poems sock yarn in the shop, and, I started a new class this week, so I needed some plain socks to work on for demonstration purposes… nobody said that they couldn’t be striped! I’m using both ends of one skein of Poems sock in color 958 to make the two row skinny stripes…so far …. I like!

You Read it Here First!

Gosh, I think I should be knitting right now. But there’s so much to do! You see, I have been sort of putting together a little event for the shop. Well if by little you mean that it’s going to be held at a nearby mall and includes a fashion show, contests, demos, lessons and possibly even a book signing or two. Whew! I haven’t mentioned it before, because until yesterday’s meeting, it wasn’t real for me. But now that a contract has been signed and the date is going to be announced by everyone involved… it’s REAL… And it’s only six weeks away, and, I’m in charge (yikes!). The event is the North Suburban Knit-out and Crochet event 2009. We’re going to take over the Northbrook Court Mall in Northbrook, IL for a whole day on April 18th and show the world what knitters and crocheters of the new millennium are all about. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that everything we’re planning works out! I’m pretty sure I’ll go through all sorts of crazy before the event gets here, so send good yarny vibes my way too. So maybe I’ll just take a wee break from all this planning right now and go knit a few rounds on my sock. Happy Knitting!

Oh, My Goodness!

It’s March…. and this is what greeted me when I looked outside this Morning:(there was some across town yesterday, but none here) oh, and it’s also 18 degrees out…. I had to put my boots on to get the newspaper for goodness sake! BTW, that mound at the end of the driveway has been there since Christmas. It's much smaller now, but still there! I am officially complaining once I figure out who is responsible for this. (“Miss Golightly… I must protest!”- Mr. Yunioshi) Sigh… weather rant over.

Since the last post, I have knit, frogged and re-knit the same section of sock #2 of the Celtic Knotkin socks twice. A couple of factors came into play. In comparison to the second sock I realized that the cuff on the first one was sort of a disaster and the leg was too long. Then I made a mistake on the pattern in the second sock, so I decided since I was going to end up re-knitting sock one anyway, that I wanted to tinker with the pattern a little bit. I had one of those flashbulb moments at knitting group on Thursday and so I ripped it back to the cuff and started over with my revised pattern. Well, I ended up going back to the original pattern because although I liked the result of my experiment with the pattern modification, the leg was coming out too tight and rather than waste more time tinkering and trying to resolve that problem, I decided to just get the pair knit. So, I ripped back to the cuff and started over a third time. I have turned the heel and am halfway down the foot, so I feel like some progress is being made.

I plan to revisit the ‘new” pattern variation at some point; I kept good notes and have a pretty good idea of how to fix it… I just didn’t want to play with it anymore on this pair. Did I mention I really love this yarn? It seems like I didn’t have to play with starting points or any of that other trickery to get a consistent patterning. Maybe I just found a really good pattern / yarn combo, or maybe the stitch count is perfect for the color repeats… whatever it is, I like the way the colors are playing nice. I also forgot to post this:

This is the yarn my DD#1 brought to me when she visited and the potholders her girlfriend sent. They are trying to spoil me! Well, I need to go get ready for work. I hope your March is less snowy than mine!

At the Finish Line and Beyond

In the last week or so I’ve finished a couple of projects: Like these: Sweetheart Socks; Pattern: Color Collision by Chrissy Gardiner from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn in Classic Elite Alpaca, size 2 dpns; I liked the unusual construction, but I would probably change the foot to knit a regular heel and toe if I do this pattern again. Then I whipped up this little guy for the “hatchling” as DD#1 is referring to her baby-to-be. So quick and easy and fun; I used a little bit of this and that from my stash. The pattern is Sheep in Sheep’s Clothing by Frankie Brown. I found the pattern through a ravelry link. Too cute and fun! I can see more of these coming off my needles in the future. I also did these:

These fingerless gloves were my entry for the one skein challenge. They didn’t get the popular vote, but they were very commented over. The pattern is my own and I’ll be making it available for a small fee once I have found a test knitter. (Anyone?) ; Pattern: Fingerless Mitts Plan and Fancy; Yarn Claudia Handpaints Fingering in Begonia, Size 2 DPN. And since that wasn’t enough to chase the grey out of the February days, I cast on for these: I am calling them my Celtic Knotkins; Pattern: Nutkins by Beth LaPensee; Yarn Down Home Art Socks by Knitivity, Size 2 (2.75mm) needles And I cast on for my next sweater I’m calling this Desire; Pattern: Delve from Rowan #43; Yarn Summer Tweed, Needle Size 6. I got gauge with the size 8 needles the pattern called for, but apparently the swatch was not completely forthcoming and when I started the back it was on course to be about 3” too wide (which would have given me an additional 5.5 inches on the circumference with seam allowances). Frogged and restarted, much happier and closer to the actual desired circumference on the size 6. I've only knit about 3 repeats of the plain lace pattern, and it's pretty boring to look at right now. So no picture of this.

And because this project has been sitting in the on-deck circle for a while and winter is still here, I cast on for a pair of Mittens: Pattern Honeycomb mittens from Homespun Handknit by Linda Ligon. This is one of my favorite go-to pattern books. The yarn is Lambs Pride Worsted and Twillys Freedom Spirit. Size 6 dpn.

Alone Again

It’s back to just me and the kitty girls. I had a lovely visit with my daughter and got a few things done while she was here. We kept it really low key due to her fighting a virus and still having the challenges of early pregnancy. On Wednesday we took the train down to Chicago to visit the Shedd Aquarium … we saw all sorts of interesting creatures there… the aquarium features amphibious and aquatic life from the marshes in IL to the Congo in the Amazon. The centerpiece is a large Caribbean tank which features a team of divers (at set times) who answer questions about the inhabitants. There is also another exhibit featuring the larger sharks, etc which we didn’t see due to time constraints, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visit there. We also ended up seeing the remains of the winter festival in one of the downtown parks. DD took all of the pictures since I forgot my camera that day. Here’s a glimpse of our day: Then we did a lot of hanging out at home and spent a thoroughly lovely morning on Thursday baking banana bread and watching Roman Holiday on TV. The cats approved of that sort of activity as seen from the lap waiting queue. She also got to come to knit night with me and see the store and meet some of the knitters and crocheters I hang out with. And just in case that wasn’t enough, we had an inventory to do on Friday and DD got the honor of helping with that and with the One Skein Challenge event on Saturday. She was enchanted by the shop and satisfied that I’m happy with my work. And I wasn’t the only productive one while we were hanging out. She finished this cute little guy being inspected by Saucey: I’ll have to save my knitting accomplishments for the next post because this one is getting longish. I had a great time with my daughter and am looking forward to our next visit in August.

One More Down

Project that is …. The Loop through Scarf is finished: Pattern: Garter Stitch Loop through Scarf by Marci Richardson From 101 Designer One Skein Wonders Yarn: Dream in color Classy, Visual Purple Size 4 needles

It's now on display at the shop

I also finished the super-secret one-skein project that I have been designing for our One Skein Challenge at Prairie Arts and Fibers this weekend. It will be unveiled during the event on Saturday so if you are in the area, stop by, otherwise, you’ll just have to settle for this sneak peek: I cast on my swatch for Delve and plan on having it on the needles sometime soon. And last but not least, the Color Collision socks had to be frogged and restarted. I got through the heel turn on the first sock and could no longer deny their tiny-ness. So, I frogged them and started over with a bigger needle. I'm thinking there should be a rule that pattern designers should disclose whether they are tight or loose knitters with the gauge information. Anyway, this time the size is much better; I am back to the heel. You can see the cuff from the original sock in this picture: I'm leaving for the airport now to pick up DD#1 when she arrives for her visit. I am so excited! Hopefully I’ll be able to post about our adventures, in the meantime, Happy Knitting!

A Few Things

I finished the Cover Girl sweater! Only 3 days behind schedule… not bad! Pattern: Knit it Down, Creative Knitting, January 08 Needles: size 9 circular Yarn: Moda Dea Cartwheel in Ocean Fit: PERFECT.

The only modification I needed to make was to lengthen the sleeves about 2 " (after I snapped the pic) from the pattern instructions, otherwise I made it the way it was written.

Love, love, love this sweater. Hopefully Mr. Skilling will make good on his promise of some 30 degree weather in the near future.

The sweetheart socks (color collision) are coming along. Next though, I think I’ll finish that Loop Through Scarf that has been hanging around on the list for a while now. Then, I’ll cast on for…. Well, I’ll see what jumps up and down from the on deck bin!

I am finding it a little hard being by myself sometimes (take above photo as proof that some things are better with help). I’ve been missing my hubby a bit and even with a busy schedule, the house seems just a little too empty. I think the cats know this because they have been trying their very hardest to keep me company. They are rarely more than a room away at any given time. But mostly, they have been hanging out here: And pretty good about taking turns at it!

Off Schedule

Things here at Chez Nana were a little wonky last week. I ended up “working” every day. Three days at the shop as normal and two days away from the shop doing work related activities… not that I’m complaining, just ‘splaining why I haven’t’ be online lately. I had a lot of catching up to do over the weekend, and I was knitting, knitting, knitting whenever time allowed because I really wanted to get my “cover girl” sweater done by this past weekend. I almost made it; but, since the "sleeve fairy" didn't visit last night, I still have one sleeve left to do: Which is okay, because temps have been in the 40-50 degree range and I wouldn't have gotten to wear it right away. My favorite forecaster promises there's more cold on the way, so hopefully it will be ready to go when that front arrives.

Sunday during the superbowl, I succeeded in finishing the Horseshoe Cables socks, (despite an unfortunate need to tink back 5 rows due to last minute touchdown). It just took me three days to take sock #2 to work and take a picture of them together. They are both hanging out at the shop now. (the right hand picture is more the actual color)

Then, I cast on for a new pair of socks from the Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarns book. I cast on for one pattern on Monday, but I ended up frogging that one and then casting on for a different pattern on Tuesday. I’ve knit about one half of the leg so far. The construction on the sock is unusual and a little fun; you knit a garter strip, seam it, pick up stitches around the edges, work some ribbing, then work another garter strip after the ribbing. I’m not really sure how long it will take me to knit the pair. I might have to cast on a plain Jane pair as a back up for my SAM socks. This is what it looks like so far:

The pattern is called Color Collision Socks and the yarn I’m using is Berroco Alpaca socks in color 1862 (reds, orange and pinks). There are also a couple of smaller projects lurking in the bottom of the knitting bag that I plan to knock out this week. Linda wants me to do a vest and a baby sweater as samples for the shop and I’m thinking I can do that, but I should probably get a few of my personal projects out of the way first. We’ll see how that goes! Might wait on the baby sweater until a certain DD#1 comes to visit because she might want to claim it after it has been in the shop… so I think she might get to pick the yarn for that one. I think I touched on getting good news from TX a few weeks back, but it is official that DD#1 is expecting her first baby this summer, so there is some baby knitting to be done. I have a few ideas, but I’m going to let her look through some patterns while she’s here to get a better idea of what to make.

Care and Comfort

It seems that the cats need for lap time has increased significantly since my DH left for Alaska. I don’t know if it is coincidental or a direct result of his absence. Either way, they have been mostly orderly in taking turns. Saucey gets the AM time and Zelda the PM times. Having the cats “need” me in this way hasn’t hurt my feelings much (or my knitting). Basically it extends my knitting time to have a cat on my lap. I’m less able to jump up and go do something else like log on to the computer and play around on the internet (it cuts way down on snacking too!) or housework, or chores…. With the cold weather we’ve been having it has been kind of nice too, because having a cat on my lap works like a space heater. I get nice and toasty and it doesn’t cost any extra in utilities. So about my knitting . . . I’m nearly finished with the horseshoe cable sock, except for the unfortunate incident while waiting for the car to be serviced where I had to tink back 6 rounds because I couldn’t get my head around the fact that 16 is divisible by 4. But it’s all back on track and behaving better now. (I have about half of the foot left to do) After I finished the MIL sweater I cast on for my next sweater project. It is the “Knit it Down” sweater which I am nick-naming “Cover Girl.” The pattern is the one on the cover of the January 2008 issue of Creative Knitting and I’m actually knitting it not just in the yarn, but the same color as the designer used; which is extremely rare for me. I’ve waited nearly a year to knit this sweater even though I wanted to cast on for it the day I bought the magazine. (Okay, before I even got out of the parking lot of the book store). Basically, the delay was because I had to track down the yarn and then by the time I got the yarn, I had plenty of other projects and potential projects to do so this one got stuffed in the back of my stash. Now it feels like a reward. The yarn is so soft and nice to work with and the color is so pretty. I think this one will knit up really fast, too. So far I have gotten almost to the end of the yoke/shoulder shaping. (The picture is the first bit of knitting I did on it I've worked about 3 more inches since). Oh, and once my bangs get done growing out I will totally look like the model in the picture too (wink, wink). (Okay, maybe only in my mind I will). Oh, and I started to put together a care package for my DH, do you think he will need more than what’s in the box? (Have a great weekend)

Fini