I seem to be knocking out the small projects right now. I guess this is somewhat in preparation for the much anticipated (probably only by me) month o’socks. Somehow I feel like I cannot start anything serious until March 15. I suppose between now and February 15 I will need to work on a few WIP’s.
I decided to knit these maine morning mitts out of the malabrigo I had left over for the hat. I am glad I did, they turned out all soft and wonderful!
Yep, they are done. And someone doesn’t want to take them off. Luckily they match a lot of what she wears.
I cast on 44 stitches, next time I will go for 48. I worked a short row heel and the toe is the no kitchener that I just learned. Perfect for quick kids socks!
I’ve done it again. Sorry to say. The results are just so worth the pain!
I picked up favorite coworker’s phone line this morning as she had stepped out of the office. The person on the line asked for favorite coworker. I told her I was not favorite coworker. She went on to speak to me as if I was favorite coworker so I interrupted her to let her know that favorite coworker was out of the office. She said “That is ok, you’ll be able to help me.” She then asked for the number of one of the grad students. Now, I have nothing at all to do with the grad students and unless I know the student personally I would not know their number. To top it off, this particular grad student is studying in another hospital completely. So I told her that I could put her on hold for favorite coworker as I did not have the number.
Her tone got nasty as she told me that she didn’t want to be put on hold, she wanted the #. I told her that I don’t have the number as she is at a different hospital, and I have no way of looking that up. (Understand that this woman and I both have exactly the same resources of looking up numbers.) She told me that perhaps I could give her the number of the doctor who is mentoring this student. I told her that both the student and the doctor are at a different hospital and I don’t have access to their phone numbers any more than she does. She told me she had just called that hospital and those people weren’t at that hospital. I told her all I could do was put her on hold or have favorite coworker call her back.
And then……she called me useless!
Oh I was steamed! I hung up the phone and was shaking. Not a nice way to start the day! Favorite coworker came in and I told her who had called and that I was just called useless. Favorite coworker shot this woman an email letting her know the numbers. I, quite frankly, continued to stew while having a little more coffee.
Shortly thereafter I received a call from the woman again. I am happy to say that she apologized for her attitude. I was surprised to hear the apology. She tried to explain herself. I could not tell her I thought it was OK. I’ve never treated anyone like that on the phone and I was not about to tell her that her attitude was excusable. I just thanked her for her apology and firmly mentioned that she should have an email from favorite coworker indicating the numbers.
I might still be a little steamed.
Bugs socks have been so dubbed after reading a letter from my aunt about a mom dubbing her daughter “magenta yenta” for the daughters love of super bright girly colors.
I don’t want to show you knitting today. So I’ll just show you a Bug.
I knew I could do it! I’ve pushed to get these done this weekend, but I certainly got bored towards the end. These are my January Mystery Socks for Sock knitters anonymous. I know it is hard to see, but they are beaded through the legs. The beads are a purple color that mimic the flecks of purple/blue in the yarn. This provided me with the opportunity to work my first official eye of the partridge heel and a new toe technique which creates sort of a pinwheel look and requires no kitchener stitch. Yarn is Koigu PPM in painters smock.
A close up of the toe:
Now, in an effort to use up scrap yarn in order to have an ACCURATE record of my stash bust 2009, I ‘ve decided to knit my scraps into scrappy blankets. I started one but am not overly pleased with it. So I decided to do a granny square crochet one instead. But that one isn’t turning out how I prefer either, so I started another with a smaller hook size. This one will be for Bug and incorporate the more girly colored yarns I have laying around. She should just love it!
Big thanks to Iowakathy for taking awesome pictures today….
I’ve completed a central park hoodie,
And as an added bonus, I also finished the most awesome hat!
The hat is the snowboarder hat that rocks, using 2 strands of malabrigo worsted held together. This was a fantastic knit!
I get my wish, I get to knit a Sylvi coat. After much thought and deliberation, I’ve even chosen a color. You know, I really wanted an off white coat, but on additional contemplation I realized that if I spent all that time knitting an off white coat and then accidentally dirty it, I will be very very sad with myself. So, I’ve chosen the color wine from this page. I really liked oregano and pewter, but I already have a gray coat and I am not sure I could look at the oregano for that long. I am sure I will feel this way about wine (the color) as well but I think it will be quite elegant.
Now, frankly working with bulky yarn and needles hurts my hands. So I am going to offset this by knitting a stole that I’ve been eager to knit for years. The Scheherazade stole. I’ll be using malabrigo in paris night colorway (deep navy blue).
If all this wasn’t cool enough, I’ll be doing this with one of my favorite knitting partners, and we have agreed to start on March 15.
And….if THAT isn’t news enough, I am fixing to show you 3 finished objects this weekend!
Accurate or not, what do you think?
Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test…
22 Impressionist, 20 Islamic, -3 Ukiyo-e, -25 Cubist, -18 Abstract and 2 Renaissance!
People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.
I’ve been working on an awesome cabled hat, I am about halfway done. The picture is poor but the cables are good!
My central park hoodie is blocking right now and has been for over 24 hours, it just won’t dry:
But I did buy buttons in hopes to finish it this weekend:
I am in such a quandry! This is a very very serious issue so you should take me very seriously. I am serious.
I’ve fallen in love with this coat. I love it enough that I am willing to sell off some of my cherished, coveted, and fought for wollmeise yarn in order to fund the yarn for it. That much love! That is a LOT of love!
I just can’t decide on a color and I can’t decide which colors of wollmeise to put up for sale.
And also, it goes against my serious attempt to knit from stash. Does it still count if I sell almost as much yarn as I am buying in order to fund it?
We were so fortunate to have Bernie the bear come visit Bug and her mom this evening. When we got home, Bug showed Bernie all her toys and how to play with them. Mom made veggie biryani but Bernie and Bug decided they couldn’t possibly eat such a thing so they made egg sandwiches instead. They spent some time playing together and then sat down to read all 3 books at once! Bug read all the words she could and Mom read the rest.
When it was bedtime, Bernie got his teeth brushed and then went upstairs with Bug to sleep. He was provided with his own pillow in the shape of a stuffed sheep and his own blanket, but soon crawled under the covers with Bug.
In the morning we will have to get dressed, get all bundled up, see how cold it is outside, and come back to school. We’d love to have Bernie come visit again sometime, the visit seemed so short!
I struggle, frequently, with not sleeping well. Since Bug’s room is so darn cold, I tend to keep the heat up high so she stays warm. Thing is, even on the coldest nights she comes downstairs in the morning quite warm. Her hands and feet are downright hot to the touch and she does not seem the least bit uncomfortable.
So I decided to start turning the heat down a bit at night in order to save on the heating bill. (Not that I think it matters because I am positive our company is dirty and dishonest, but that was the intention). Lo and behold, I am sleeping WAY better at night!
or two from the rather bad day I had today. (Nothing really wrong, just your typical busy Monday frustrations).
First of all, a little uplift to my day, I am participating in a 3 month fiber swap and I received my first swap package today! a bit over 4 oz. of superwash BFL, some sachets with what I think is peppermint and chamomile? and some natural wool I believe. Gorgeous! What fun it is to get a swap package!
Additionally, crafty coworker reminded me of a story about Bug today which I am not sure that I shared.
One evening, as Bug and I were deciding what to eat, she told me she wanted “pickled peppers.” I giggled, and then decided to call her bluff. I said, “OK Bug, I’ll give you some pickled peppers, but I am not sure you are going to like them.” She told me indeed she would, and that she’d REALLY like to have pickled peppers for dinner. I really think she had no idea that I might have some around.
She doesn’t know my secret love of pepperoncini’s though….
So I got down a can of pepperoncini’s and told her to come have some. She said, “what do they look like?” She came into the kitchen and I handed her a pepper. She looked at me, started to giggle and handed it back. I said “What? I thought you WANTED a pickled pepper!” She said, “HHmmm….maybe I am not hungry for those after all, but I want to see YOU eat one!” So I did, much to her delight.
One of the first pair of socks I ever made has developed a large hole in the heel. They are Thujas made out of lion brand wool-ease. So nothing to lose sleep over. And to be fair, I gave them to J and he has worn them almost every single day for 2 winters. So it is to be expected. I told him I was not going to fix them. He could throw them out. I’d make another pair instead. Now he is walking around the house with a pair of handknit socks with a large hole in them.
You know, it is NOT his only pair of handknit socks!
I couldn’t resist taking a crappy camera phone picture of my first completed RPM sock. This is a fantastic pattern which I will be knitting again. I love the swirls, I love the speed of it, and I love that it looks good with strangely variegated yarn.
Does it even need an explanation?
Miss Bug has been bugging me about taking down the Christmas tree. Now, I’ll tell you a little secret. As much as I like having a tree, I don’t much like putting it up. Luckily Mom was out this time and helped, so we did indeed have the beauty of a tree this year. In preparation for Bugs annoyance at having it taken down, I decided to start warning her that it would be coming down at some point after the New Year.
Apparently I didn’t get to it fast enough. She started to ask me when it would come down. I told her “soon.” You see, I hate taking it down even more than I dislike putting it up. So, I procrastinated a bit. I began by bringing the boxes up with me when I came in from the garage but there they sat next to the tree. I am not sure what I was waiting for them to do…I already know that I don’t have any fairies who come and put things away for me.
I don’t have any fairies, but I do have a Bug. She found a package in which she knew what belonged in it, and began taking ornaments off the tree by herself one morning while I was out shoveling. She took down the ornaments that were not “breakiful” and she took down the ones that belonged in the box she had found (which were breakiful btw…). She then proceeded to set the box on the floor and accidentally kick the box across the room which sent little glass water drops flying all over the floor.
I took this as a cue. A cue that when I got home, we needed to take care of the tree. Mind you, I’d been up since 5 AM and had shoveled twice, spent a full day at work, and was exhausted, but we took down every ornament and put it in its proper labeled box. She actually was a huge help. She’d hand me a box, I’d read the description, she’d help me look for the ornament, I’d package it up and she’d set the box in the full pile. Only one broke and it wasn’t one of the ones I find important. She made the process far more fun than it usually is and she kept me on track, kept me focused. I even managed to get the boxes into the basement. I won’t tell you where the empty tree is right now…but I will tell you that “When are you going to take the tree to the basement?” is a common refrain in the house right now. (It’s HEAVY! Don’t judge me!).
I finished the 3 ply superwash BFL from dyeabolical fibers. I have 333 yards of fantastic looking sockweight yarn. I love it!
I had the opportunity to go to a knit and crochet guild meeting on Saturday. I got to meet new knitters, and learn something I have wanted to learn for about a year now. You see, there was a wonderful spinner there who knows how to hand card. I had no idea that I would go to this meeting and learn to hand card, but she was eager to teach me. So we sat down and had a hand carding lesson, and then I was sent home with some angora and alpaca to blend. It was awesome! Let me show you what I made!
My ingredients:
The white is angora, the blue is some slightly felted alpaca I believe.
I made these:
Pretty soft little birds nests of fiber. The white are merino and angora, the blue is alpaca and angora.
I couldn’t resist spinning the light blue, and I ended up with this:
It was just amazingly simple to spin! This was a very exciting lesson as I’ve wanted to learn for so long but was too chicken to try out my hand cards myself.
In additional spinning news, I began some superwash BFL from dyeabolical yarns. picked it more for its lofty smooshyness than for its color, but I am liking both. This spins up like a dream come true! It is super easy to draft, turns into the thinnest single if you just breathe on it, and somehow makes a squishy yet thin single. If I keep this up, I am going to end up with 3 ply laceweight rather than 3 ply sock weight!
I’ve got 1/3 done and I plan to complete 1/3 today and 1/3 Tuesday.
I’ve got a back and 2 front pieces of the central park hoodie. I’ve started the sleeves now as well. Wanna see?
I’ve also got a full beaded leg on one of my mystery socks. Can you see the beads? They blend in.
In fall down mode, Bug insisted on some pink yarn for her own pair of socks. Once again, this was entirely her choice from the yarn shop. You know you had better knit your kid a pair of socks when she goes searching for yours, holds them up, and says “Mommy, I WISH I had socks like these!” Repeatedly.
Bug is fascinated by the “wall o’ koigu” at the local yarn shop, and has had her eye on this yarn for….well….probably a year.
I think it is a garishly bright color but she is in love.
So, back in December 2 of my very dear friends gave me a gift certificate to blue moon fiber arts, which is by far one of my favorite yarn shops. I purchased some sock yarn with the certificate, and waited….and waited….and waited….and due to the terrible weather on the west coast they weren’t even able to dye yarn for awhile, while at the same time being backed up due to a huge sale…so I waited some more. Monday my yarn finally arrived and one of the hanks was so absolutely gorgeous that I could not help but cast on right away.
So, I bring you RPM’s in socks that rock mediumweight colorway spawn of braun.
Isn’t that the coolest? The colors are spiraling with the pattern. I love it!
188 yards of 3 ply 70% wool 30% seacell. I have another 4 oz. to spin, but this one was a pleasure!
And a wry laugh
But I did not.
4 oz. Creatively Dyed wool/seacell. I am not sure how I ended up with 3 bobbins of such distinctively different colors, but I am pretty sure that the 3 ply is going to be gorgeous! I anticipate so much depth in the color.
You may have read how I have been participating quite heavily in Sock Knitters Anonymous in order that I will knit more of my sock yarn stash, have more socks for myself, family, and friends, and possibly win prizes. My goal each month is to knit 2 pairs in the hopes that I get 2 entries in the monthly drawing. Well, they drew for November last night, and I woke up to a message that I had won a hank of sock yarn from String Theory Yarn.
Now, being that I haven’t won anything before, I wasn’t sure what the procedure was in picking up my prize. I contacted them through Ravelry and Karen created a coupon code for me. They made it so easy, especially since this was also their first time donating. Want to see what I got? (Dad, I heard that comment about the name…)
So…go give String Theory Yarn a visit as a thank you from me for donating to Sock Knitters Anonymous.
Up for January? 2 pairs of socks. The theme this month is beaded socks, socks from an online magazine, or January mystery socks. I didn’t want to do beaded socks so I chose a pair of Monkeys and the mystery socks. I didn’t realize before I balled up my yarn, that the mystery socks were beaded too! Well, I love the pattern, so I am going to go with it.
I’ve begun my central park hoodie. I have to admit though, I really haven’t worked too hard on it yet. You see, I just cannot seem to avoid my desire to work on WIP’s! Yarn is Dream in Color Classy, colorway Chinatown Apple.
I’ve been working hard on my WIP’s in an effort to clear some of the off my plate in the new year. I always have a project going at work, I work on it during my breaks, and it really is amazing how much I can accomplish in that hour.
Yesterday I was working on the red bull and vodka scarf, as is typical at work right now. I am a bit more than halfway done with it. It was about 9:30 AM, first break of the day. As I am knitting along I feel this odd snap and off the needle the stitches came. Horror! I’d broken an addi bamboo. Size 3. Bummer, how am I going to knit at work???
I attempted to use the broken needle anyhow, but the stitches just flew off the other end. I then decided I could find a solution to that. I keep a small knitting basket at work, and in it I had a needle stopper. I shoved that on the broken end of the needle and voila, a workable set until I can get a replacement!
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 