Thanksgiving

We had an out of town Thanksgiving dinner and got back late-ish last night.  Very low key but nice.  Just my parents and me and DH.  Everyone else was very busy with their own families and/or extended families.  We did get to talk with my girls (on the phone) after dinner and my dad and I won the spades tournament.  It was a very nice day indeed.  We are thankful for family far and near and for the bounties this year has brought.  I certainly didn't think a year ago that I would have done so much this past year.  I hope you all have much to be thankful for as well.  

 Oh, and Saucey is thankful for good news from the vet.  Her BS reading is down to 102 from previous 440 and weight is up 1 pound from when she was diagnosed.  We are going to work on her diet and keep her on the insulin for now, but the new goal is to get her off the insulin by getting her diet right. 

 Blessings to all. 

Too Pretty Not to Wear

I grafted the toes and wanted to wear these right away! Good thing it was early this morning. See; my toes are toasty on this snowy day. Bavarian (Pattern by Candace Eisner Strick from Vogue: The Ultimate Sock Book) Yarn: Claudia Handpaint Fingering in Thistle Needles: US 1.5 / Magic Looped

I still love this pattern. And I’m still trying to figure out if there is an error; but the good news is I found Candace’s email (from my class instructions from Stitches) and I plan on sending her out a message to figure it out. This pair really didn’t need to take so long to knit, but I paced myself on the first one for the class and I let other things (Goldilocks Socks) come between me and finishing the second one. I really need to go back to smaller numbers of projects on the needles at a time. Like only one big one and one sock project. I really have felt overwhelmed when I have too many things going at once and it really isn’t that practical for me. So, I’m going to try to scale back my knitting ambition and only peek at new patterns and yarns when the try to tempt me and seduce me into casting on right away. Like this and this and especially this (which has been breeding in my stash). I think there might even be a pattern/yarn match plan in there. But before any of that… I have a few little gifts and a sweater to knit. Back to it…. Happy Knitting

Just Right

May I present: “Goldilocks on a Fall Walk”

I'm really happy with how these turned out.  After all the fiddling with the size, it was well worth it.  You can sort of see what happened with the colors on the heels.  one side came out with the orange and carmel stripes and the other side is the blue and grey. 

And the colors oppose each other so it looks like I even planned for that to happen.  When I put them on the orange/carmel was on the inside and the grey/blue was on the outside.  The toes came out pretty close to the same too.  

Fun! 

Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina

Size 2 needles / magic looped

Yarn: Thank Ewe Hand Dyed in Geology gifted by Becca of Forward Motion

And the best part of all....  the fit is “just right"

Not Quite a Pair

I finished two socks last week, but they are not quite a pair… I got one each of the Bavarian and Jaywalker socks finished and the second sock of each pair started.

I also knit a pair of mittens for a shop display … here is a picture of one of them. I finished the second one at work on Thursday and immediately set up the display at the shop, I did take a picture with my cell phone, I put that picture on ravelry, but it is not good enough to show here.

Trust me. And believe that there really are two mittens knit. Or come by the shop and see for yourself!

And most miraculously, I have started the hoodie for DD#1, and I’m happy to say that I’m off to a pretty good start!

I have a new beginning sock knitting class starting tonight, but I’ll be using the previous class samples for this one since I have my quota of projects OTN right now.

Saucey goes to the vet tomorrow for her first follow-up since starting the insulin so say a prayer or think good thoughts for her.

And here’s a sure sign around our house that winter isn’t too far off….

Happy Knitting!

I take that back

Hangs head in shame... I still contend there might be an error in the Bavarian sock pattern.... just not the one that I thought it was.... after studying the picture it appears the knot-like branchy cable is correct and not the smoothly crossed one... not that it matters anyway, I'm knitting it as written ... with mismatched cables. On the bright side, I have two more options to reinterpret the pattern in different yarn! PS.... If you haven't already, get out and vote!

Still Struggling (warning: Longish Post)

So, the knitting pace has improved slightly, but I’m still struggling with finishing things. Just for the record though, the last week or so, I finished the Bye Bye Baby Bunting: [Pattern "Bye Bye Baby Bunting" by Dorcas Sokalow, available only at Prarie Arts and Fibers, Yarn Claudia Handpaint in Turquoise Jeans and Copper Pennies; Size 1 needles.] This was a “test” pattern I was working on for another knitter at the shop. It took me far too long to knit and seemed to be the source of some of my knitting frustrations. I just couldn’t stay motivated to work on it. I really liked the yarn choice for it, but due to my dislike of working things flat, combined with a very simple pattern repeat, I just couldn’t “love” working on it. Don’t get me wrong… It’s a cute pattern and would be a nice gift for someone expecting in colder climes or the winter months.

And I finished my Unbiased. I really like how it came out. This was sort of a whim to knit and the only problem I found was I just had too many other things going to work on it.

Pattern: Unbiased by Frabjous Fibers

Yarn: Frabjous Fibers Recycled Sari Silk

Size 9 Needles

It really shouldn’t have taken as long as it did.

Of the two pair of socks I’ve been working on, well, progress has been entirely too slow for my happiness. I am almost done with the first sock of the Bavarian that I’ve been doing for my advanced class. I really like this pattern, love the yarn choice and again, find it’s the distractions, and other knitting projects that are really keeping me from making progress. One thing about these though, there was a part of the pattern that just didn’t seem to be looking right to me. I just wasn’t sure and had to rip a couple times to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong. I was knitting it exactly the way the pattern/chart was written, and still, something about it just didn’t seem to look right. I checked the errata for the pattern, no errors listed. Okay, I kept knitting. But that little voice just wouldn’t be quiet. So, I paid closer attention for a couple repeats and “click” the light went on. The chart is wrong. I tested my theory… yup! After 9 repeats of the pattern, I figured out why it looked wrong … the twist on the left should mirror the twist on the right… instead it is identical, which means the crossing comes out looking like a tangled branch instead of a smooth crossing the way it is on the right. Since I was in the 10th repeat and that error was done on the front and the back of the leg (15 times if you are counting) and nearing the toe shaping, I decided this is one time to “love the result” anyway. So I’ll knit the second sock with the same pattern error. But I made a note on the pattern for future reference, because I’ve decided I’d like a pair in another color as well.

The other pair of socks I’ve been doing has been pattern and size resistant. I swatched a couple different patterns before actually casting on, because I couldn’t find a pattern I really liked with the yarn. After settling on Undulating Rib, I worked about 2 inches of the pattern but didn't like the way it looked, ultimately, I ended up going with the Jaywalker pattern. So far I am happy with the result, but I’ve had to do some adjustments for the sizing. I’ve decided to name this project “Goldilocks on a Fall Walk” The first time I cast on they were too big, the second time (I knit almost the whole leg!) they were too small, third time they are just right (so far). The striping is beautiful though…. Fortunately, Jaywalker is an easy pattern to memorize and knits up quick once you figure out the sizing. These should hopefully behave now.

In addition to these projects, the swallowtail shawl is waiting patiently for me to find some knitting time for it and I started on a little class sample for a class I’m hoping to do in December, the Heart Sachet by Vicki Sever.

It only needs four more squares. This is actually a really quick project if you can clear your knitting decks and work on it exclusively.

Besides knitting, we did a little traveling over the weekend and got to spend Halloween with the Michigan kids. We went trick-or-treating and had a nice visit. Here are a few of the pics we took: I tried, but really couldn't get all four costumed kids together in one shot. The twins were dressed as Count Dracula (Aidan) and a Knight (Braylen) the baby was Marie (from the Aristocats) and Jason was a Transformer. We had fun and it was much more satisfying than the trick-or-treating we had here at home last Sunday when only three kids rang our bell.

And finally, I think the biggest distraction of all the last couple of weeks is that our sweet kitty girl Saucey was just diagnosed with feline diabetes. She is not the first cat we’ve had with this problem, so I’ve been a little down. She’s still a youngish kitty, so it is just really hard to accept that she may not live as long life as we’d hoped. She and I have been through a lot together so we have a very strong bond. I just don’t want to think too hard on it right now. We started her on insulin injections yesterday after we returned from our trip. It’s too early to say if she is responding or not yet. I’ll have to take her to the vet for follow up later in the month.

Oh yeah....

I have a blog; where I’m supposed to talk about my knitting and stuff. And that’s part of the problem. My knitting has, shall we say, reached a state of inertia. That’s not to say I’m not doing any knitting. It’s just that, shall we say again, I’m not doing any measurable knitting. I’m not doing any photographable knitting. I’m not doing any brag-about-able knitting. Sob. It just seems to be taking an immense amount of time to finish anything. I get something on the needles and one of the following has been happening: a) The directions have a mistake b) I misread the directions and made a mistake c) I discovered part way through that I actually dislike the pattern d) all of the above e) I get distracted by the computer, a TV show, phone call, work, hubby, you-name-it; and NO knitting gets done. So, I have no photos, no accomplishments to share, and the cats have been sleeping all the time lately, so not even any cute cat photos to substitute for a knitting post.... Sigh, there you have it…so much being done; so little to show. I’ll try to improve on the situation next week.

Paging the Seaming Fairies

It seems like I’ve been on the go so much lately, but I have been fitting in time to work on things here and there. Here’s an update on what I’ve been knitting. Unbiased is done except for the side seams, the bottom seam and the handles: The baby bunting is very close to being finished; just the front neck and sleeves (oh and more seams to sew; sigh, there’s still a lot of finishing work up ahead for me.) Driver (gloves) is finished: (or at least for now, since upon trying them on, I discovered that I picked up the stitches on the wrong side of the band for the left glove, thus the strap goes the wrong way… fortunately, there’s enough yarn left to knit one more) Basic Socks Class socks are done: Blue Jean socks: New socks OTN: Advanced Sock Knitting Class Socks; Bavarian by Candace Eisner-Strick, from Vogue Knitting Ulitmate Socks book: (The yarn is more violet than the blue that it looks like in this picture) And last but not least....Undulating Rib by Ann Budd from Interweave Favorite Socks Book (no picture, too little to show) Whew! I really have been knitting!

Top Ten Reasons to Buy More Yarn

1. It won’t go out of style 2. It will never make your butt look big 3. Sock yarn gives you more bang for the buck 4. It doesn’t fit funny in the crotch 5. Even if you don’t have a project for it right away, you can love and pet it while it’s in the stash 6. There’s always a project for it (somewhere) 7. It gives you something to look forward to 8. Zero calories 9. You really do need some in every color 10. So much happiness in such a little bag Gaa, can you tell I’ve been clothes shopping? I’m at that age between doesn’t fit right and just not my style. (if you catch my drift?) What ever happened to basic stylish clothes that fit and flatter at the same time? Yeesh, even my old stand by stores are letting me down this fall. It’s enough to make me think I should spend more time sewing. I’ll try to get caught up on my knitting project progress in the next post. I need to get pictures. The battery died in my camera; so I’m behind on taking pics and today is a bad day for taking them. There’s a new sock class starting tonight, so I have to get cracking on that sample. Stay tuned!

Weekend Update

So the knitting accomplishments for the weekend: Finished knitting left glove and completed right glove to start of knuckle cut-out for the “Driver” class sample pair. Class 2 on Thursday will hopefully get us to the finger knitting ... there's still a whole lot of ends to weave, but that's next week!

Completed class sock #1 to beginning of toe shaping, knitted sock #2 through gusset to prepare for final class tonight. The lesson portion is toe shaping and grafting. This should be a finished pair by tomorrow. The next sock class will be an advanced class and hopefully I’ll be able to get that sample started tomorrow or Wednesday. Knit a swatch for an adult size Santa Cruz hoodie which will be for DD #1. She asked me to knit her one last Christmas after seeing the one I did for Eli, maybe I’ll get it done before December. Although this will probably be the only “Christmas” knitting I do this year; unless, of course a few washcloths or something small like that slip off the needles. (no pic though, not much to look at)

Call me thrilled though, because I did also finish both books I’ve been reading. The one for our book club (last Tuesday) called “Hot Flashes and Cold Cream” by Diann Hunt. I wasn’t especially fond of this one. The central character overreacts completely to turning 50 and I found very little I could sympathize with in her drama. Maybe I’m just more practical than that. The second I enjoyed a great deal more; it was “I Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven” by Fannie Flagg (same author as Fried Green Tomatoes). The central character was much more fun and likeable and the story was just a pleasure to read. You just really wanted to see what sorts of things she came up with next. An interesting thing to note is that both books shared a common theme about living your life to the fullest and not worrying so much about little things. Both ended up having a good message, I just thought the delivery of the one was a little too superficial and predictable for my taste.

Catching Up is hard to Do…

Playing off a refrain from an oldie but goodie (come-a, come-a down, doobie doo, down, down…) This is the part where I tell you about the rest of my vacation and catch up on what has happened since I got home. Well, that’s what I planned this post to be about anyway. So, I have managed to download all of the photos I took while I’m away. I even uploaded them to flickr and updated my ravelry with the knitting related pictures, whoo! Things have actually been sort of busy. I didn’t get much time to regroup before jumping right back into my regular schedule, so I’ve been trying to squeeze things in here and there. I think it’s Tuesday already. Yikes! That means tomorrow is October! So, the rest of the vacation was spent wandering around San Francisco (seeing some of our favorite places) with my youngest daughter Monday and my oldest daughter and her husband on Tuesday, finishing off with everybody meeting up at Giants stadium (aka AT&T Park) to see the Giants play the Colorado Rockies. Let’s just say it was a good night for baseball and the Rockies looked better than the Giants, whose starting pitcher Tim Lincecum had a rough night, but ultimately pitched well enough to set a new team record. The cool thing about the outing was it was my Grandson’s first Major League baseball game which was a fun thing to be a part of. Too bad “Papa” (DH) couldn’t be there too. He was extremely jealous back at home. DD1 and I made up our own stitch-n-pitch event during the game too. I got more of the spring forward sock knit between strikeouts. The only other Giants game I ever attended, despite living in the Bay area over three years was one of the last played at the old “Candlestick Park” so it was also fun getting to see the new stadium. The next day was my departure day, but we managed to pack in plenty of fun before I headed to the airport by going to the Oakland Zoo. I’m not sure who was the most excited to go to the zoo, DD1 or my grandson. Either way, despite many exhibits with animals hiding out from the warm weather, we had a nice time and all too soon I had to go to the airport to come home. I wish I could show you every picture I took, but there were so many! Here’s a quick montage to give you an idea of how much fun we had together… Oh, and did I mention that I finally finished Spring Forward between flights home? Here’s a quick look at the finished pair Since I’ve been home, DH has been naturally needing my attention (and the cats have been a little on the clingy side too). We went and saw the movie “Miracle at St. Anna” and checked out a local “Octoberfest” over the weekend. Since I have several projects in limbo due to various issues, I chose to work on baby gifts and finished this cute set and another blanket buddy for babies born last month to church families. I also attempted to read the book I was supposed to have read already for the book club meeting tonight *sigh* it’s not a good read for me. Monday was sock class and I was having a bad reaction to the latest change in weather and had a little trouble focusing, so my class project sock needed several times of being frogged… it’s currently sitting in time out. No picture as it is a bad knit and does not deserve to be called a sock… Today was catch-up on housework and time to start the project for the class beginning on Thursday afternoon. More on that in another post, as I need to get going and I’m sure you’re ready to go read someone else’s more fascinating blog!

Actually, here's one final picture that is probably my most favorite of all from this trip... god bless little boys! Oh, yeah (GO CUBS!)

Vacation so far...

I can't believe how fast this trip is flying by... but here's a little glimpse of how it's been so far...

Some knitting in the park (and a new friend)

Lots of fun and games...

Food...

(Seared cauliflower with a roasted red-pepper pesto...yum!)

Festivals...

and Family

Oh, and as promised, here's the finished Hey Teach

Quick Update

I survived my day of travel to CA. The flights were uneventful and I had a nice time in the waiting lounge in Milwaukee when an impromptu knit meet up sprang up between Me, Terry and Kate while waiting to depart. We had a nice time knitting and chatting together. I finished Hey Teach on Tuesday. It came out great and I have pics to prove it... once I can get them into interspace I am trying to figure out how to get my camera to work with DD's computer. Rumor has it that Saucey is at home pouting. That's about it for now, more when I get time and cooperation. .

Me and Ted

Are members of the not-so-popular “almost society”

He almost pitched a no-hitter last night which would have made history (back-to-back) after the one Carlos pitched on Sunday.

I almost got my “Hey Teach” done over the weekend. I finished off the knitting on the sleeves Sunday night. I had to wait for it to block a little before the assembly and knitting of the button/neck bands. Sigh Here's the rest of the pieces…

(ick, the picture of the sleeves is blurry, sorry) When I’m done here on the computer I’m going to go see how far I can get towards actually finishing it! Hee, hee

Because….

Tomorrow I’m leaving on another trip! I’m going out to CA to see my DD#2 and grandson#1 and then next week her sister (and hubby) will be coming out there as well. So I get to see both my girls!!! There’s gonna be a whole lot of spoilin’ goin’ on!

I hope to be able to do a post or two while I’m out there, because what Nana can resist showing off pictures of her pride-and-joy grandson either?

So now, I’m off to do some knitting and figure out what to pack… Oh, and on a totally unrelated note… if you’re a knitter or crocheter (or know one), and you want to do something specific to help out a Hurricane Ike victim, one of my favorite independent Yarn Dyers, Ray from Knitivity is in the process of trying to recover from Ike. He actually started his yarn business after he relocated to Houston as a Katrina survivor. He could really use some yarn orders to help with the repairs on his roof (and other basic necessities). So, if you love yarn and especially hand-dyed yarn, check him out. The orders might take a little longer than usual, but you won’t regret it, and of course, every little bit helps.

Inquiring Minds Wanted to Know

Thanks to the comments from Happy Place and Knitnana. They both wrote nice things about it, so I thought I'd expand the entry on the baby bunting to let you know why the front and back look different. I'm using two different colorways of the same yarn in alternating bands of stockinette/reverse stockinette which gives it sort of a horizontal corrugated effect. The yarn is Claudia Handpaint in Copper Pennies and Turquoise Jeans. The project is designed to showcase the yarn and possibilities for using it in projects besides (gasp!) socks. PS... I feel more like a snail knitter with all these things in the works and nothing getting done! I plan on finishing at least one thing by Sunday... I'll keep you posted!

The Rumors Might Be True

There have been multiple UFO sightings in my neighborhood. First an apology: the pictures are what they are, the sun is most definitely not playing nice with the clouds this week!

A portion of one front of the “Hey Teach” is hovering on the needles… (The back is finished though)

The Spring Forward socks are limping to the finish line… The Swallowtail Shawl is still in pupae stages… Shop samples and projects are piling up... Class Socks Bye-Bye Baby Bunting (This is the same piece of knitting, just both the right and wrong sides so you can see how the colors contrast)

Newly cast on projects are cowering in the corner…. (Unbiased)

Along with a certain “course” I’m taking that hasn’t seen any progress in months And new patterns are arriving daily… (hourglass) (Milk Chocolate) Candy Apple Double Identity ... Sigh…

I can only knit so fast...

What’s a knitter to do?