Out of Touch

Wow. Missed November completely. Kind of wishing that I could go back and miss it all in real life too. Well, not all of it, just some bits. Not really a whole lot to recap, except the knitting, and there wasn't even a lot of that it seems. Maybe it's just me.

I have a new sweater. I've worn it once, and didn't manage to get any photos of it on me, so maybe this weekend - I have a feeling I need to wear it on Sunday perhaps...
Steeler Pink. Love it. Though I probably could have made the smaller size, and I had to go back and completely re-do the sleeves because they were ginormous on me as written. I even have enough yarn left over that I'm considering doing a cardigan out of the pattern and reversing the colors. Eventually.

I finished the Gryffindor socks, and have yet to wear them. Waiting for when I get to go see Deathly Hallows, which will be soon.
Hopefully. The color is way off in the photo, but it's crazy hard to get vibrant red and yellow to come out right. November ended up being the kind of month that knitting with handspun was needed. So I made a pair of fingerless mittens:
Susie's Reading Mitts, a pattern I've been wanting to do for a while. And they worked up so fast, I think I should make another pair one of these days. And yeah, I know that they don't match. And no, I don't care. It's handspun. I did try to go a little matchy with this one though:
Porom, out of the "Picnic Basket" yarn I did over the summer, made the scarf out of it, which is what I was trying to be matchy with. It's gorgeous, but it looks awful on me, and no matter which way I attempt to position it on my head it looks funny. So I think I'm going to frog it and find a different pattern. Good thing I like knitting with it.

I managed to get a sock done mostly during basketball scrimmages, and the hours of waiting in between basketball scrimmages (my work schedule the month of November was crazy, in the bad kind of way).
Tricky little stitch patterns to keep me entertained, though just plain stockinette with this colorway probably would have worked too.
I should probably start the second one one of these days... but I've got a lot to get done before Christmas.... hmmmm....

I busted out a hat for my niece during an evening of college football - that's always a good time, football plus instant gratification knitting.
It's not as cute on it's own, will be much cuter on Baby Girl, need to remember to get pictures of it on her.

I do have one Christmas present finished and am able to show it as the recipient doesn't read the blog.
The Whale Watch Hat, for Liz, whose favorite story is how she once gave a whale an enema.
I know, kind of random and gross, but she did, and she loved it.

I pulled out my neglected spinning wheel over the holiday weekend as well, and finished up the corriedale that was on it (I think I started spinning it way back in August, eek), and then Navajo plied it - which I still suck at, there are bits of the skein that I will have to cut out as they are not usable yarn.
But it's pretty. So I love it.

Last up is a sweater I started last week as a distraction.
It's a bit farther along now, as I put on a few inches yesterday, and now my left index finger is sore (stupid purling in the round!) but I'm too lazy to take a photo now.
There's almost 3 full hexagons done now, just to give you an idea of where it's at. And the color in the first photo is more true than that second one.

Alright, I think that's it. Basketball home openers this week - girls was Wednesday and it was a blow out of South, boys are tonight. Hockey continues, though the varsity season has started now - they blew out Ignatius yesterday in the first game of the weekend tournament. I'm hoping to find a bit of the Christmas spirit this weekend - and to get going on some presents. Hope everyone has a nice fist weekend of December!

PS - I had planned to add links to stuff, but Ravelry is having issues, so maybe later.

You can figure it out on your own

Too much of a slacker to take the time to write a real post, the pictures should give you a good idea of what's been going on.



Have a great week!

Fully Fall

So it's really and truly Fall now. It really feels like we're into it now. It was really chilly and rainy for about a week, and then we had some gorgeous weather this weekend. Fingers crossed that it stays mostly nice for a little while. I went for a quick walk in the woods yesterday, but didn't take any pictures to show you, maybe later this week.

So the Meet of Doom went smoother than I thought it would - only a few little problems. And then the football team managed to win the Homecoming game (the soccer teams split the day - boys won, girls lost). But then this weekend - on our very long trip - the football team did kind of badly. And I had to send a kid in the ambulance - broken arm. Boo. Seeding meetings are happening this week - so playoffs are right around the corner for everything except football. And I have my very first hockey game of the season (joy!) on Friday night. I can't believe we're at that point already.

I've been knitting away - the cold season is approaching so I feel like I should be going faster somehow - and making progress. The Corrie Vest is coming along:
I'm onto the increases. Though I'm worried that I misread the directions and didn't make it long enough before starting the decreases. But it will work out. I'm tweaking a little, and then if I have to, I'll knit a few extra straight rounds before starting the steeks (eek!) But I'm loving how it's looking.

And then I got an awesome birthday gift from knitting pal Meagan - a skein of Wollmeise - in Gryffindor scarlet and gold. So I started some socks. And then ripped them out because the pattern on the sock wasn't working with the striping of the yarn. And then started these:
Circle Socks. Which I've done before (Vacation Socks of '09). And got half the leg plus the heel/gusset to where it's at on the never-ending bus ride this weekend. The picture makes it look really red and orange, but I promise it's red and yellow.
This ones a little better, but still not true. Oh well, they're pretty cool looking.

And then, because I'm just that crazy, I signed up for a test knit. I couldn't help myself, it's such a pretty shawl, and I had the perfect yarn already on hand... whatever, I fell down the rabbit hole.
But see? It's pretty right? And goes pretty quickly once I'm into it. I started it on different sized needles and hated how it was looking, so on Wednesday, I ripped it out, and re-started. I've been doing a bunch of ripping this month apparently. And once again, I'm a sucker for leaves appearing in my knitting. You'll see more of this soon, it's got to be done by November 1.

Saturday evening - after the really long bus ride that followed the really terrible football game - I let myself start a new sweater. The pattern is called Pink - but I'm not using pink yarn.
Isn't that an awesome black blob? It too was started on different needles (I hate when swatches lie to me) and then ripped and re-started yesterday - really over this theme for the month. And that's where it's at - about halfway through the raglan increases. Once you get through all the increases, you join it for going in the round, and it ends up having a v-neck. It's going to continue looking like a big black blob for a while, but there's another color that will come in to play later. It's going to be awesome.

I took some time this week to play with beads and a crochet hook too.
That's one of the results. I actually made 3 different necklaces - but haven't taken pictures of the other 2. I wore one of them this week, and it was a huge hit, so I'll be making more for sure. Place your orders for Christmas now.

And then, that amazing knitting pal of mine Meagan, gave me my Christmas gift too. Well, I just happened to be at her house when it arrived in the mail.
That is one amazingly beautiful and ginormous skein of Wollmeise lace. OMG. It is going to become a sweater. You know, after the holidays, when I have more time. Ha! For now, I just pull it out of the bag (which is awesome - it's got the German translations for knitting terms all over it!) for petting every so often. It really is so beautiful.

I think that's about it for me. Catch ya later.

As promised

Just a quick one today, XC Meet of Doom is fast approaching (apparently there are 45 schools instead of 25, and 1300 kids instead of not quite 1000, how awesome is that?). Just going to post the picture of the finished items, as I have nothing else to talk about right now.

The Tammy Wrap:
The Goodale:
The Sleepy Hollow Socks:
The Horned Owl:
Two pictures for that one because it's little horns wouldn't stick out like they were supposed to, they folded down (probably due to me picking up stitches wrong) so I had to tack them back.

New projects are forthcoming, just need to nail them down. Hope everyone has a good weekend, and Happy October!