More Green

It's a new month. March, already. Crazy. Still more of the same though. Basketball - both boys and girls - continue, as does hockey, but I am less involved with the hockey. The spring sports (lacrosse, baseball, softball) have gotten under way, and the power struggle for the field house has begun. And I'm still knitting green things. St. Pat's is fast approaching, and I think I might actually get everything done. And more besides.

I got the body of Kaylee's sweater done the other night, and tried it on her this weekend (it fits!!) So now I can get going on the sleeves.

And here's where I'm at on the second of the Ireland Crack socks.

Haven't knit on it since Wednesday night before the girls basketball game, for those who like to know, we play Richmond Hts on Thursday. Back to the sock, I should be able to crank that out today. Yay finished socks! Now I just have to figure out what pair to start next...

Friday, I decided that while waiting to measure Kaylee, I needed a quick easy project. So I started a hat. And this is what I had by the end of the night:

I think it's pretty sweet, if I do say so myself. It's destined for Kaylee's dad, that way the whole family has a handknit for St. Pat's. I need to get a picture with it on to give you a better sense of it, but for now you get the idea.

And because that was so quick and satisfying, I decided on Saturday that I wanted to make another hat (this is the downside to being exclusive to just 2 projects for a few weeks, startitis inevitably sets in). I've also been itching to knit with some handspun. So I grabbed my first ever, the blue/green Erin that's a bulky weight. Printed off the Urchin pattern, and started after the boys basketball game on Saturday night (once again for those interested, we play again on Saturday night against Kirtland). I got through half of the hat and went to bed.

Sunday, I compared the hat in progress to the Bulky Tam I did recently, and thought that it was going to end up too short, not covering my ears. So I ripped it out and re-started with more stitches. After the Amazing Race and most of the third Lord of the Rings movie, I had 6 wedges, which I deemed large enough. Sadly, I now think that it's too big.

Hard to tell from that photo I know, but in attempting to model it both on me and Ellie, I figured out that It really would be too big. So now, I think that I'll go back and do the pattern as written and it'll probably end up fine. Sometimes, my knitting makes me feel really stupid.

So yesterday, my nephews came to play. And since Aunt Ellen was here, they thought it was a good idea to play Attack! with her. I'll throw in some shamelessly cute pics too, can't help myself.

Oh, and I finally managed to snap a finished picture of Peggy's Christmas slippers, because I finally got around to making them and Mom's flip-flops non-slip (I'll get some modeling shots from Mom soon).

Hopefully, next blog will have some more finished objects!

The Big Reveal

I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as I did, and that you've all recovered. This should be the first post of the week, probably have 2 more later, at least that's what I'm planning. We'll see if I get them done. Anyway, this is my ode to all my Christmas knitting that I'm sure you all grew tired of hearing about. Now you get to see it all. Well, almost all of it. There's a gift that hasn't been gifted yet. And another that gets it's own separate post...

Alright, knitting. I made a lovely scarf for my sister-in-law Rachel for her birthday. What? I know I said Christmas knitting, but Rachel's birthday was the 22nd, so it's close enough.

It's the Diagonal Lace pattern, out of Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Flamme. Amazing yarn - merino, alpaca, silk. I love the way it came out, and by reports so did Rachel.

Next, we have a sweater for my beautiful niece Sarah.

It's the Garter Yoke Baby Cardi. Easy peasy pattern, much like the February Baby Sweater - just without the lace. I used Cascade 220 Superwash for ease of care. I'm hoping that it fits - or will fit. Not sure that Sarah was accomodating enough Christmas morning for a fashion show. I almost didn't want to send it off, it was too dang cute.

Speaking of knits for kiddos, Mason and Elliott both got hats. Mason got a Toasty Topper made from more Cascade 220 Superwash (it's a great yarn, what can I say?)

Really quick to make, got most of it done in an evening at Ellie's watching Home Alone and then Santa Claus (a favorite of mine from when I was a kid). And it does its job - in the 20 or so minutes that it took for Paul to load up the car that Mason had it on, he was unable to remove it from his head. I'm sure he'll figure out a way, but initially it was stuck on, he just didn't want to pose for photos.

Elliott got a Hot Head Hat. I made some modifications from the original pattern, knit it top down and sized it for a small one.

It turned out great - but I'm biased. I used Encore worsted double stranded for the top, and then for the flames I used a strand of Swish DK in a bright red (the actual name of the colorway eludes me and I can't find the ball band) and two strands of a fingering weight yarn dyed by my friend Rebecca in "En Fuego". Worked perfectly.

Onto some footwear. I made my sister-in-law Peggy some Fuzzy Feet slippers.

No, she doesn't have feet the size of a dragon, the slippers are knit huge and then felted down. I just didn't get a pic of the finished product before gifting them. I'll get one when she brings them back to be non-slipped. I was crunched for time and didn't get to put on some latex caulk as a non-slip bottom. Next year I'll plan better (hahahaha!).

Sticking with the footwear theme, I made my Mom what I consider to be a bit of a gag gift. Anyone who knows my mom will understand why I laughed when I found this pattern and knew that I had to make them.

Ta da! Felted Flip-Flops! Well, in that photo they're not yet felted, and I haven't gotten a pic with them on Mom yet, maybe next post. I found the pattern on the Loopy Ewe a few weeks ago (yes, this was the late addition to the Christmas knitting list I was griping about) and had to have it. I thought that they would be super quick (not so much) and super easy (not hard, but not as easy as you would think). Still, I think they're great. They're also awaiting the non-slip process.

So, that's about it for the secret knitting. I survived, almost made all my deadlines (stupid Moose Mittens - they'll get a post of their own, they've earned it). The gift yet to be gifted will get face time after it's been gifted (Liz, if you're reading this, you need to come visit! It's your turn!) Tune in later for the post about my amazing Christmas present!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Hope nobody is sick on jelly beans yet. I have been chastised for neglecting the blog, so today I will make up for it with a nice extra long post. And to my beloved family - you don't need to read much more because it's all about knitting and spinning and I know that you are not interested.

I do not yet have a sock for this week. I know, it's Sunday and I don't have a sock. How is that possible? Well, the Knitting Fates were against me this week. I think I may have angered them with my flaunting of the fact that I'm ahead on my sock count to date. So they threw their heads back and laughed at me. And still are. Here is the first Jeweled Step sock.

It's pretty right? The yarn is very gorgeous (Seacoast Handpainted in "Ambergris") and great to work with. I chose this pattern from the New Pathways book because it matched the gauge I got (see, I even swatched and still the Knitting Fates decided to screw with me). So I cast on for this sock last Friday night. Yeah - it was that long ago. And things were going well, until I looked at it and looked at the picture in the book, and re-read the directions, and said, "Crap, I did this wrong." And proceeded to rip out the arch expansion. And then, just to make sure I was clear, I re-read the directions and said, "Crap, I was doing it close to right, I didn't need to rip. Oh well, this time it'll be perfect." And re-knit.

Saturday, I continued re-knitting and almost finished the arch expansion without any trouble. Didn't work on the sock on Sunday (went to see Brigid's Cross at the East Side Irish American club with friends - yay for Guinness!), and then picked the sock back up on Monday evening at Meagan's house. Knit the heel, and got the part about the wing stitches, and realized I had skipped a step and forgot to add some stitches. Boo.

Tuesday at work, I ripped back and fixed the problem. And re-worked the heel and turned it and everything, and decided to try the sock on. Crap. The arch expansion triangle thingy is supposed to go up the side of the foot (the name of the sock architecture is after all, Sidestream), and instead, it was smack dab center of my foot. Hmmm. Hmmm. So I put aside for the trip out to SnB. Then I pulled out the book and started reading line by line to figure out where I went wrong. Yeah, forgot to move the markers after I added the stitches and so therefore worked the heel in the wrong place. So, it was time to rip, again. I spent the first hour and a half at SnB ripping and reconfiguring the stitches so that they would all be in the correct place. And somehow I was a stitch short. How it happened I don't know. But I fudged it and added one, I was not about to rip and redo again.

So on Wednesday, I re-knit the heel. Again. And started to turn the heel. And about a third of the way through, I look down at my lovely sock, and realize I've dropped a stitch. Way back 5 rows ago, in the part of the heel that's already been turned. Which means that there is no way to fix it without... you guessed it, ripping. Yay!

So I said to myself, because the Knitting Fates are seriously messing with me this week, instead of just ripping back to the mistake, I'm ripping back to fix the number of stitches correctly and it will be perfect and they can stop laughing. So I did. And when I ripped back, put the markers and the stitches in their correct original position, I counted. And had the correct number of stitches. WTF?!? Like I said, they're seriously messing with me at this point. Trying to cause insanity from knitting.

So, on Thursday I sat down with the sock. And re-worked the hell (that's 4 times now, if you're counting) and moved on. Got to the leg, and re-read the instructions for the patterned bit, and realized that I had been soing it wrong the whole time, that the first time I had done it, way back before ripping at all, it had been right. So, in my attempts to not take scissors to the sock, I put it down, and walked away. And did other things. So it remains incomplete. We'll get there eventually, I'm just so sick of it I can't stand to knit on it.

Alright, enough with the saga of the sock. Onto happier things. I did manage to work on some other stuff this week - just to maintain my sanity. This is Elliott's Tomten - about to start the second ball and start the part with the armpit holes and what not. Yay.

And this is the first of the Fuzzy Feet pattern. Just what I needed to get my sock mojo back - or so I thought. I finished it in less than 3 hours. Yay fun. I just need to do the other one so they can be felted and become the slippers they're meant to be. More about that later, when the time comes.

And Friday, I started another sock. Well, I ripped out the sock the Noro yarn had been, and am re-knitting it in the Spiral Eyelet pattern, and am liking it much more. No pics because I'm thinking this will be a gift pair of socks. But it's really pretty so far.

And now onto spinning. On Monday, at Meagan's, I managed to finish spinning up the spindle kit wool. Here it is. So pretty, I love love love it. I don' care what the family or non-knitting friends say, I like spinning, you cannot buy this at a store, and even if I had a man, I would still knit and spin, so enough with the comments already.

And here's the "Erin" wool that it will be plied with, when I finish spinning the Erin. I can't wait.

And for the record, I kept my Lenten sacrifice, I did not buy one single bit of yarn the whole of Lent. And the major bingeing has to wait a week, because Knitting on the Square is closed this week for the Maple Festival (but, on the bright side, the week after, everything in the store is on sale!). But, this did come in the mail last week.

It's the first of my Hill Country Yarn Sock Club skeins. I paid for my membership way back in Decmber, so this does not count against the Lent thing. It's their DK weight yarn in "Lilacs". It's so soft and pretty. Can't wait to finish the socks in progress so I can make these.

Alright, I think that's it for me. Thanks to those of you who made it through. I'll have to start posting more often to avoid such long and tedious posts. Happy Easter again!