Finished Projects Updates

Yikers! I have been a very bad blogger when it comes to posting my finished projects. I just scrolled back and realized I hadn't posted a finished project since May!! Bad me!! (Sorry Ellen!! - have to say that before she chastises me at knitting group ;) )

OK, first up is the Gail shawl. I loved knitting this shawl as it was very different from any of my other previous shawls. I may actually knit this one again as a Christmas gift for someone else, but this one I am definitely keeping for myself!


Pattern: Gail (Nightsongs) Rav link
Yarn: Fresh from the Cauldron - Silk Sock
Colorway: The Volturi
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: completed 7 repeats and then the edging. The pattern called for a double YO at the center stitch. I thought that made to large of a stitch and changed it to a single YO.

Here's a nice close-up of the motif. Believe it or not, the yarn is a variegated colorway. The dyer blended the colors so smoothly and the changes are soft enough that it worked beautifully in this lace pattern. I couldn't have been happy with the results!



Here's an outside shot so you can see the colors a little better.



Next up are just a few dishcloths. I was on a kick. I had made one for my sister a while back and last time I was over her house I noticed that it was seriously on it's last life! So I gave her the top two that are pictures and I kept the bottom two for myself. I'm thinking of making a whole bunch more and giving them as part of family Christmas gifts this year.







Next up, I test knitting a baby sweater pattern for my friend Sheila over at Wullenstudio and Sheila Rovelstad Designs. What a fun knit and you can knit the smallest size with one skein of her sock yarn!! I made this sweater to give as a baby gift for my cousin's wife, who is pregnant, but they are holding out till the baby is born to find out if the child is a boy or a girl. Since the sweater design really leans more toward a girl I"m holding on to it and going to start a more boyish sweater here soon.


Pattern: Bebe Sweater (test knitted the pattern for Sheila Rovelstad Designs)
Yarn: Wullenstudio Sock Yarn
Colorway: Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys
Needles: KnitPicks size 2 (30 mm)



Lastly is a birthday gift for my friend - KnitRedSox. OK, so she's a July baby and a wool cowl isn't really ideal - BUT there's a good reason for this. She has just recently moved back to the Chicago area and the winters up there can be brutal, so it will be put to good use in a few weeks I'm sure ;) Plus, her favorite color is purple! (Miss you Girl!!)

I cannot tell you how many times I frogged and started this cowl over because it just didn't look like it was coming out right. I looked on Ravelry on other people's project pages and no one had any comments about errors or anything, so I casted on again and worked through one full repeat during at a knit night. I showed some of the gals there the directions and what was coming out on my needles and it wasn't looking like the picture on the pattern. Finally I gave up for the night and decided to give Ravelry another look-see in the morning. On the actual project page is where I saw a more explicit explanation of the pattern directions and finally understood the pattern, but thought the pattern directions could have been written more clearly to reflect that! Well, I was finally able to get the cowl finished and the birthday package put all together and shipped out :)

I just may have to make one of these cowls for myself as well!!

Pattern: Darkside Cowl Rav link
Yarn: 100Purewool
Colorway: Storm
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony size 8
Modifications: none

Too many things on needles!

I know I said I would get updates posted on Thursday, but you all should know me by now! I'm a little late when it comes to bloggin'.

First up is the Moss Bark Shirt Sleeved Cardigan. It's all sewn together, but I can't seem to get the collar band right. I may have to rip it out and knit it again. Finally a piece of knitting that I can wear!! I have been making things as gifts for year that aside from 2 pairs of socks, I do not have anything that i have knit for myself! I want to get this collar right so that I can take this on my trip to the Windy City on Wednesday.


You all know I made the Fairy Blanket for niece Jules. Well she has an older sister Gabbi and I promised her that I would make her a blanket this year. So, here is Gabbi's Ocean as I have dubbed it :) The pretty blue-green teal colors of a clear Caribbean ocean *not that I have ever seen one YET in my life, but one day* At first she told me blues and I thought - perfect! I have several blues in my stash! Thank goodness I didn't start right away, because my older sister went our shopping and found a beautiful comforter for Gabbi in the Teal and Seafoam green colors you see below. I was shocked when we found the exact matching colors in yarn!! I am on round seven on this crochet project. I should be working on it more that I have been, but Christmas is still 57 days away *HOLY SHIT!!* OK, so I better get to hooking or I'll still be crocheting this blanket come Christmas Eve!!


Apparently, Frisco is trying to claim this blanket as his own. What he doesn't seem to realize is that Gabbi is bigger than him and solid muscle. She's built like a brick house just like my father. Man, I wish he had passed on those genes to me instead of the boobs!

This skein of yarn was a gift from my friend Stacey for helping her out with a group on ravelry and for my limited tech savvy skills when it comes to graphics. It's a skein of Sheila's yarn, KnitsWithSticks, in, at the time, her newest color! The colorway is called Woolly Bully in purples and greys. Sheila knew these were my colors too and tempted me with a skein of this at one of our Wednesday night S'nB nights. Stacey saw my reaction to color and bought one for me, and then Sheila dyed a deeper color skein for me since she knows I like the darker colored skein. Aren't friends great!!

I love her yarn and this colorway so much that I just had to cast on with it. Since I already had 4 pairs of socks on needles, I decided to make a lace scarf with it. The pattern is the Tiger Eyes Scarf. These colors are perfect!! I'm farther along then this photo,but I don't have an updated photo yet :)



OK, so remember that Christmas list I made up of what I was going to make for everyone? yeah, well they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions! That list will be changing - A LOT! I guess I was a little over ambitious when I created it. Now I'm thinking I'm going to make my family all new Christmas stockings. I have no idea how long my Mother's had the ones she's been using, but it's about time for new ones. So, I cast on and I'm about 1/3 of the way down the leg of this stocking.



Here are the socks that I've been mentioning. First up are the Red Dwarf socks. Ever watch that show on BBC?? Smeggin' hysterical! I can't seem to find it on my cable guide though :( I was going to purchase the DVD box set of the show till I saw the $140 price tag. Not right now!! I just realize I goofed when I was knitting up the toes, but oh well. These are just for me so they don't have to be perfect, just as long as my toeseys are warm!



I have also been fondling this Jitterbug yarn since the night I bought it at the Elenganza Midnight Madness sale. So, I went ahead and cast on the Falling Leaves socks. Because the yardage of Jitterbug is so skimpy, I went Toe-up, 2-@-a-time. I am lovin' how this yarn knits up. There's a bit of pooling going on. What I think is funny is that because I am doing 2-@-a-time and knitting from both ends of the skein it's pooling on the top of one sock, but on the bottom of the other! Well, there will certainly be no mistaking these are hand made! I just sooooooo Lu-huv this colorway!!



Rember these Horcrux Socks??



Well, they now look like this! I went to go try them on again before I started the heel flap and they were too small!! *CRY* So, to the frog pond they went, rip, rip, rip and cast on a second time. That's OK though. They knit up pretty fast, but I doubt I'll be wearing them on Halloween this year. Oh well.



My last pair of socks are the Classic Sock for my dad. These have been on my needles forever! The yarn is so thin and the direction call to cast on 96!! But, I have knit the heel flap, turned the heel and just about done with the gusset! Now I'm worried that I might not have enough yarn!! The pattern called for 1 skein, so that's all I have! The leg was suppose to be 9", but I stopped at 7". I still don't know if I have enough to finish the feet though!! YIKERS! These will be Dad's Christmas present along with some Benny Hill CDs I found for him.



As much as I love Sheila and the yarn that she dyes, it can be very dangerous for me to be her friend! *laugh* I want to make this Children's Neck Down Bolero Jacket for Baby M when I go visit Mr. X. I couldn't find a colorway that I really liked for this pattern, so what does one do when they have a friend who is in the dying business? Well DUH! I asked Sheila if she could dye some of her DK weight yarn to the colors I wanted. I know that pink and lavender are really good colors on Baby M, so I pointed out the shades that I liked from the colorways that she already creates and asked her to mix those specific shades of purple and pink together and this is the gorgeous yarn that she created for me! This is yarn is sooooooooooooooooooo soft!!



My knitting group was having a class/KAL for this Bolero jacket, so I signed up and Sheila had my yarn all dyed up for me by Wednesday. I swatched and was ready to go! The pattern called for a worsted weight and the smallest size on the parttern was 2T. Baby M is only 10 months old, so asfter talking to Sheila, and very experienced knitter, we though a think weight yarn on smaller needles would do the trick. Hence the DK weight. I cast on and followed the pattern for the 2T with the DK weight yarn. By the time the class was over I have knit up to the point of the sleeve divide. When I took a look at it, I knew it was going to be too small. When I talked to Mr. X last night I asked what size Baby M was in and he told me she's in 18 months already. So, to the Frog Pond went all the knitting I had done today and I will need to recast-on one of the larger sizes. I think I will knit as far as the sleeves again and then wait to try it on her Thursday night before I try and finish the whole thing. If I try it on her on Thursday I should be able to finish it by Sunday.

While I was on the phone with him, he maded the suggestion that I knit her a new hat since all the ones I had knit for her last year are too small. He suggested a dark pink. Can you believe that I don't think I have any dark pink wool in my stash! *GASP* So, I just might have to drag Mr. X to a local yarn shop up there and he can pick out the perfect shade of pink and I'll whip up a hat while I'm out there :) Hopefully, I won't hear too much groaning out of him when I drag him there *giggle*

You know it's funny. I can get the feeling that people appreciate the things I make for them, but sometimes I can never really tell if they truely appreciate it or just being nice. Of course when people ask me for things, I know. So, if felt good when he asked.

Friday night I went out to dinner with my friend Stacey and then we hung out at my place. She brought me these sock blockers that she made!! Aren't they adorable? I keep telling her she needs to open up her own business and sell these!

We went to Five Guys for burgers. YUMMY!! Talk about a hamburger that's good enough to give you a heart attach - no joke! Which is why I go there VERY infrequesntly :)



We had a really good talk and she gave me a lot to chew on.

Stacey,
Thank you so much for the talk/advise on Friday night. You are so right about what I should do and about the fact that I'm scared to do it. Of course, knowing and squealching the fear to do it are two completely different things. Maybe we'll have to have another chat when I get back.
*HUGS*

Unexpected Doctor Visit

This weekend I started having these strange pangs on the left side of my belly just above the incision. They sort of came and went, but sometime when they came they were real zingers! My mom planned to leave today, so she wanted me to call the doc and see what she said. I called and the squeezed me in at 11:30 AM with a partner in the practice since my doc wasn't in today. She took a look and removed the tape pieces that were over the stitches. She said I was healing up beautifully and that I just needed to take it easy. She thinks the pain might be from an internal stitch. She gave me more meds and I asked for something other than percocet because the percocet was leaving me a little short of breath in the morning at that gave me flash back to Wednesday morning in the hospital. It would eventally go away, but who needs to added anxiety when you're trying to heal? *NOT ME!* So, she gave my Tylenol w/ codine, Motrin 800 mg and told me the motrin will enhance the effect of the codine. *good to know!* She also prescribed these patches to wear over the incision site that should help with the burning sensations I am having when I sit for long periods of time. They wanted another urine sample and drew some blood from me today. Apparently my red blood cell count was low in the hospital and she just wants to make sure it's going back up.

I did find out today that they remove 16 fibroids! 16!! *holy crap* She said two of the were about the size of her fist! She said all 16 weighted about a pound, so no major weight loss for me from the surgery *darn* Anyhoo, I am happy they were all removed, and that I am healing nicely. I just wish these pangs would go away!

Here's how Frisco is helping me recuperate. Doesn't he look so helpful?



I did manage to finsh my sister's Luna Moth Shawl the day before my surgery! I just love how it turned out. If I make one for myself I would probably add more beads :)


Pattern: Luna Moth Shawl (Ravelry)
Yarn: Bristol Yarn - Buckingham in a blue-green color (3 skein)
Needles: Knit Picks Options size 8
Modifications: Did more repeats, son't remember how many and added beads.

Check out the flowers that are decorating my living room! First up we have a bouquet from KozyKitty. She came to visit me Thursday evening as she was getting ready to head out of town for this week. Check out those sunflowers!


Next up is this gorgeous arrangement that I recieved from my knitting group. Look at how beautifully those roses opened up! And the lillies in both arrangement!



Last up is this arrangement I received from the staff at my NEW school! I couldn't believe it! I just love that hot pink rose right in the middle!



As I was recuprating I was able to crank out one dishcloth and finally finish My So Called Scarf! No pictures of the scarf yet, but here's the dishsloth and it was a stash buster. That's the best part!

Pattern: Chinese Waves Dishcloth (Ravelry)
Yarn: no clue, left over cotton stash yarn
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 7
Modifications: None

Lace and Socks and Yarn Crawl!!

I went on my first official Yarn Crawl this weekend with the Central Maryland Knitters Guild. We all met at the Barnes and Noble in Ellicott City at 8:20 in the morning! On a Saturday!! What was I thinking when I agreed to go?! I am so glad I went, my wallet obviously isn't, but I had a blast with all the girls!

We headed up to Eldersburg to meet up at another knitters house (Laurie) for breakfast!! She made us a yummy breakfast of blueberry muffins, and some yummy egg dish! Her home was warmly decorated! There were some gorgeous quilts hanging on her walls!! And of course, I barely had my eyes open at 8:15 that morning that I completely forgot to take my camera with me!

We hit four yarn stores between Eldersburg to Frederick! We started at the Knitters Nest, then it was off to Knittin' Chicks in Mt. Airy. Afterwards it was off to Frederick. We stopped for lunch first. Don't even ask about the troubles we had trying to find the Vietnamese Restaurant that Laurie's co-workers had raved about, and don't even think to ask about Laurie's navigation system in her car! I don't think Ellen, Laurie or I could tell that story without cracking up! OK, OK I'll tell you about the GPS system!

Laurie never learned to work her navigation system when she bought the car two years ago, because when she plugged in her home address the GPS system told her the location didn't exist! So she never bothered after that. Can't say I really blame her. Do you think if I called my mortgage company and told them that my GPS system (if I had one that is, I'm still old school and read maps, I know. Don't faint) told me my address was none existent and I shouldn't have to pay a mortgage on a place that doesn't exist that they would understand and release me from my mortgage and let me keep my house that is at a non-existent place??? Hmmmm....

Anyhoo, Ellen was sitting in the front seat and has a GPS in her car so she tried to fool around with it and she sort of got it to work. She managed to find a listing for a Vietnamese restaurant in the area!! We weren't sure it was THE one we were looking for, but since we didn't have an address or a restaurant name we thought "how many Vietnamese restaurants could there really be in Frederick?" So we followed the GPS to the location. For those of you that have not encountered a GPS system, I know, hardly likely but you never know, usually the system has a voice that tells you when turns are coming up. Well, we couldn't get Laurie's to talk! So we followed the map route and we turned into what looked like an office complex. We slowed down to read the building numbers when low and behind it spoke! It said "You have arrived at you destination!" ..... We were parked in from of a family doctor's practice! The three of us busted out laughing. And then Stacey and her entourage pulled up next to up and found us in fits of laughter. We ended up going to a Thai restaurant that we drove past. It was de-lish!!

After lunch we headed to Keep Me in Stitches. This time though, the GPS started talking and telling us where to turn! We did know where it was trying to get us though! Then Ellen turned off the voice.... or so she thought till it spoke again! You would have thought our car had just been filled with laughing gas. We were in fits of giggling again. Finally Ellen did turn the voice off!

I think Keep Me in Stitches was my favorite shop on the route! It was a small shop that was defiantly packed with yarns and at great prices! The last stop on the expedition was Eleganza Yarns. This was definitely the most unique building on the trip. It was a really old log cabin house turned yarn shop! Very quaint and the shop owners were very happy that we had put them on out route!

I came home with 12 more skeins to add to my stash. 5 of those skeins are earmarked for 3 pairs of socks, 4 are for 2 different shawls, and 3 will become baby items! Sorry, don't have a picture of them right now.

Now on to knitting news!!

Clue 3 is complete on the Secret of the Stole ii KAL!! Just 5 more clues to go. I highly doubt I will be knitting with cobweb lace again any time soon!!



Next up - my 2nd pair of socks!! Aren't they cute! The yarn is Tofutsies on size 3 needles. I think my other Tofuties skeins will be knit on size 2 thought. So far both pairs of socks are slightly looser than I would like, but I guess that's better than being too tight! And they certainly weren't knit for a giant, so that's a plus too. *giggle*

OK, all you sock knitters out there, how many more pairs am I going to have to knit before I really get my socks to really fit my feet?!?

I have to say though, wearing these 2 pairs of socks has certainly felt very different on my feet. I feel like I can feel each and every stitch on the balls of my feet. Is that normal for hand knit socks?? Will this sensation eventually go away??



Here's a pic of my baby. He was trying to help me knit up my lace project. *more like he was waiting for me to get up and leave the room so that he could pounce on my yummy yarn* But look at that face!

What do Super Bowl Sales, Knitting & Jane Austen have in common?

They were all in my weekend adventures :)

Yesterday, KozyKitty and I went to our LYS for their Fabulous Football Weekend Sale - 25% of EVERYTHING!! Did you hear me... EVERYTHING in the store. Last year, this sale was a serious danger to my wallet! I'm happy to say that I showed much restrain this year. I bought a set of Lantern Moon size 6 Ebony DPNs, a couple of skeins of Cascade Venezia in a gorgeous eggplant purple and some Debbie Bliss cashmerino chunky in a dark gray. THAT'S IT!! Can you believe that! I actually walked out with one little bag and spend under $90!! *pats herself on the back* I think we were there for about an hour. It was packed and I would say about half the customers were women from my knitting group!

On my way home I stopped by Blockbuster and picked up both versions of Pride and Prejudice (1995 & 2005). Sat in front of the tv for the night with my knitting and wishfully watch Mr. Darcy. They just don't make men like Mr. Darcy anymore.... if they ever really did to begin with, that is. Matthew Macfadyen *sigh* I mean, wouldn't you sigh if this was walking toward you?



Now that definately causes flutters in the lower extremities *wink* As hot as that is, I would definately, hands down, prefer to have this walking toward me.



Colin Firth. Now THAT it definately breath catching, moisture making, forget every thought in your head with the exception of jumping his bones and riding his like a stallion, swooning, down right S-E-X-Y! Oh my! *fans herself* Let me tell you, HE can eat crackers in bed! *fades out to a sexual fantasy here*

Moving on to knitting, which is the real reason you come here to read :) Here are two more FO for this year. The first is the WhoDuKnit Mystery KAL. (and a stash-buster to boot!!) This will be someone's Chrsitmas gift this year.


Pattern: clues were mailed to us, but there is a similar keyhole scarf in 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heather, colorway: Midnight
Needles: Boye size 8

Yesterday, I finished this little cutey. The Thumbelina Hat. I found the pattern through Ravelry. It was another stash-buster!

Pattern: Thumbelina Hat
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 8, size 8 DPN

And lastly, for today that is... my first official lace project!! One of my knitting goals for this year is to knit lace. I don't recall how I found this lace KAL, but somewhere in my net surfing, blog reading or Ravelry perusing, I came across the Secret of the Stole ii KAL (SOTSii). I joined, read all the requirements and set off to the LYS to find some yarn!! I came across a skein of Skacel Merino Lace in the most striking berry red color!

Silly me bought cobweb lace for my first lace project. The poor woman at the LYS where I bought the yarn tried her best to deter me from buy cobweb lace for my first project, but I just fell in lust with the berry-red colored yarn that I closed myself off to any sensible advice and bought it. Payment for my stubborness?? ... I have frogged and cast-on 5 times already!! *sigh* I somehow kept adding stitches or losing stitches! And I wasn't even drinking alcohol while knitting this lace, so I can't even use that as an excuse!!

I'm taking it much slower this time and counting and recounting my stitiches every other row, and I have learned all about "lifelines" with lace knitting. I WILL be adding these into my lace knitting practice! This first lace project has been so frustrating and yet I am determine to knit lace, so fuckin' crazy determined that I joined two other lace KALs! (Dem Fischer sin Fru & Mystic Light Mystery Shawl) Color me crazy! Dem Fischer has startered, but I am still waiting for my yarn to be delivered, so now I will be behind with both KALs! Luckily, Mystic Light won't be starting till March. Hopefully will have both of the other laces completed before I start this one :)

Here is clue 1 of SOTSii!


And now, I think I will go watch a little more of Mr. Darcy.... *fade to black*

Mother Nature's Beauty

We finally had our first REAL snowfall on Thursday. It started right around 11:30 ish. Then about 45 minutes later it was REALLY snowing. Big fluffy flakes. This was the pretty picture I saw when I looked out the windows of my media center.



Then I just couldn't resist and step outside the emergency exit door and took a few more pictures of the snow falling. Look at how big those flakes are! The only thing that would have made this all the more perfect would have been to watch the snow fall from the comfort of my own home, in my PJ's and slippers, wrapped in one of my afghans, and a nice hot latte in my my hands enjoying a snow day!





When I got home from work that day I found this at my door! *SQUEAL* I love when I get packages!



The first package was this Japanese crochet pattern book. The book is Crochet Motif Items. I bought it so that I could get the pattern to make this. I fell in love with that since I first came across it months ago! I had found the book on the Japanese site of Amazon, but I couldn't seem to order it. I was telling Joan at one of the S 'n B Wednesday's about how I was trying to find this book and she directed me to this site, and I found it and bought it!! Thanks Joan!!



Here's an update on my current WIPs.

The Wave Scarf is up to 26". I can't remember what number skein I am on, but my order for the four extra skeins came in. Of course the dye lots did not match the six skeins I had bought months ago, but by some miracle of miracles the new skeins match the older skeins what seems like perfectly! *PHEW* I was so pleased. I went ahead and used one of the new skeins and then brought the project to a S 'n B session and asked a few of the gals there if they could tell where the new skein started and/or stopped. No one could!!! So, just to be safe I am alternating skeins between the two different orders. I am hoping that over this nice long weekend, I will finish this scarf... maybe.... maybe not. Sorry, the pictures is a bit dark. I'll take a better one soon.



Next up, I joined the Secret of the Stole ii KAL (SOTSii). This is one of those KAL where you get a little bit of the pattern at a time along with a few clues and you need to try and guess the connection. This is my first official lace project. I am so excited about it! It was suggested that we use a solid, earthy color. I had purchased a skein of Skacel Merino Lace in Eggplant. I fell in love with the rich purple color. I got it at a 30% discount because it looked like some of the strands had been cut. We couldn't really tell without winding it up. The lady in the shop said she would give me a discount cause she wasn't sure, but that with the discount it would have to be a final sale. I took the chance because I loved the color so much and I didn't want to fall behind in the KAL. Oh, I sooooo shouldn't have bought that skein. It was a pure disaster trying to ball up that skein. I don't know what happened, but it kept getting tangled and my kitty kept trying to play with the yarn. I finally gave up and called a few of the LYS so see if any of them had the same yarn in the same color. *sigh* No luck, but A Tangled Skein, did have the yarn in other colors. So, I hopped in my car and drove down. I found this pretty berry color and bought it and had THEM wind it for me. Of course she had no problems winding the skein. So now I have this skein of purple at home that I don't want to throw away, but I'm also not looking forward to trying to untangle and wind. Anyhoo! I'm looking forward to working on my first lace project!!



Next up is the WhoDuKnit Mystery KAL. This project will only take about 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn. So I went stash diving to see what single skeins I had and found this beautiful blue that I bought eons ago. It's Cascade 220 Heather in Midnight. I just love the color! I'm currently in the middle of clue #3. Just 2 more clues and I should have a finished scarf!



Last, but certainly not least. The baby blanket! Look! I'm all done knitting and it's blocking on my dining room table. Now comes the part I dread.... seaming!! I have 4 skeins of this yarn leftover. Oh what to do with it... any suggestions?

So far to date, this is the piece I am most proud of, even if it was the most difficult to make - not talking pattern wise, the pattern was relatively easy.