Knitting for Europe

I'm going to Europe next month and am already starting to think what knitting I want to bring along.

Since my current sock project will be done by then, I'll need another small & portable project for my carry-on. I decided on Hedgerow and bought some Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn in the Peacock Colourway. That's a nice I'm-on-the-French-Riviera color, right?

I'll have to pack something else, too. Muir? A baby cardigan? A baby blanket? Hmmm...I'll try not to get carried away. ;)

Happy stuff

This is the little peanut who got my knitted baby blanket. Nicholas arrived yesterday and is absolutely perfect. :) I'm mildly obsessed with him already so I'm sure he'll be the recipient of many knits--I already have one as #1 in my queue.

In knitting news, I'm about 1/3 of the way through with the 2nd sock. We hit a ton of traffic going to see Nicholas today and I could have gotten about 4 hours (!) of knitting done in the car but was too excited to concentrate on the pattern. I'll knit on it some more over the weekend and will hopefully be done with it by the end of the month.

socks and rambling

The university where I work always closes for six Fridays during the summer. It's fabulous to have three-day weekends but you have to work four long days (with short lunches) in order to avoid taking vacation time. It's a pet peeve of mine that library faculty have to do this but subject faculty do not. Let's not go there. I'm telling you this because it means that I do very little knitting during "summer hours." I have just enough time to eat and do a little something--like listen to the radio or read a few pages of my book (which is, right now, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini rather than my thesis work. shh!).

Anyway, this week we don't have to make up Friday's hours because we have Friday off as a holiday. Ahh, the luxury of having a normal lunch, an extra hour of sleep, and a few more minutes to myself at the end of the day. I was hoping I'd make some good progress on my knitting but today was the first time in 1.5 weeks that I picked up my needles.*

I did the beginning of sock #2's toe before leaving SC and then avoided the project because I was unhappy with how loosely I'd knitted the four stockinette rows and didn't want to face the CO again. Today at lunch, I ripped out what I had, re-CO, and finished about 3/4 of the toe increases. Not bad. Tomorrow I should be able to start the foot.


Just so there are some pictures in this post: Hazel now (almost 6 mos) & then (just over 2 mos)

*Monday was a beautiful day so I read outside at lunch, successfully avoiding the second sock. At night, the neighborhood dogs had an impromptu play date and I spent the rest of the evening with Hazel, who was getting spayed the next day. On Tuesday I didn't do any lunchtime knitting because I was preparing for an important meeting and at night I sat around the living room watching Hazel spacily look around, fight off sleep, and sleep. I felt so bad for her and am glad she's pretty much herself today. Poor little thing.

Soaring right along

Sock #1 flew off the needles. I brought it along for my weekend in SC and knitted happily for most of Friday night's airplane experience.

Sunday morning I bound off the leg stitches and did the provisional CO for sock #2. (This is the second sock I've finished while at my in-laws' house--maybe I should there go more often!) Though I was happy to avoid casting-on on a plane, I didn't take advantage of my unexpected speed and ended up reading on the return flight.

I was planning on also bringing some yarn to begin a flower-shaped washcloth. I have never had *any* desire to knit a washcloth until I borrowed the book Weekend Knitting and immediately saw this really interesting-looking pattern. Thanks to a former co-worker I have plenty of cotton chenille yarn so I figured, "Hey why not?" It's small, it's portable, it uses up stash yarn. We'll see how long it takes me to CO.

At this month's guild meeting, we had a speaker from Lion Brand and got a LB tote bag and goodies. The bag is big enough to carry a small child so I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I'm sure I'll find a use. Anyone who knows me well knows I love my bags! Inside the free tote bag was a free ball of cotton yarn, an old issue of Knit.1, and some loose info. I was interested in the ball because I was eying a Cotton-Ease baby blanket a while back and Maize was one of its colors. I rather like it and will figure out something to use it for.

I just want to point out that my puppy has good taste. Hazel loves yarn, and not just because she's trying to get my attention. When it was colder she would try to chew on my lace scarf if I left it draped on the couch. When I tried to take a picture of the freebie yarn, she stole it off the the coffee table before I could get a shot. I'll have to move my knitting baskets! Bulldogs are supposed to be calm and lazy so hopefully Hazel won't be quite so hyper when she gets older. When we first got little Penny, she used to sit on my lace charts but now happily sits next to me while I knit. There's hope...

Love the sock

I love this sock. The lace repeat is not complicated; 3 of the 4 rounds are the same and the fancy bit each 4th round is easy. The yarn is just fabulous and I *love* the colors and the way they're appearing (a dark bit getting used through a light stitch or vice versa. I must be easily amused).

<--The bottom of the sock is stockinette. Look how pretty the yarn is. I'm using a Creative Couture holder for the first time. I knew these things existed but I always preferred my ziplock bag...until I saw that my mom stuffs her WIP inside the bag. I suddenly saw why it would be useful and had to buy one. I put my yarn cake right in the bottom and pulled the yarn through the hole. I knit the sock, place it in its WIP holder (see below) and then put the whole thing--with pattern--inside this clear thing and zip it up. It's just perfect for socks!

I asked for this fancy WIP holder for Christmas because I've had WIPs slip off the needle during storage (not fun). I was so happy that my mom bought it for me! This is the first I'm using it because my last pair of socks were/are being worked on circs. I really love this little tube and can't imagine knitting another pair of socks on dpns without it!

I haven't had a picture of little Penny in a while so I had to include this one. She's been such a snuggler this weekend and has been keeping me company on the couch. Love her!

First toe-up socks

I needed something pretty to work on. What better than colorful socks? I bought this hand-dyed yarn a few months ago from Fiber Optic and the hank has been patiently waiting for its turn on the needles. Monday night I swatched it for Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Socks. I washed the little square and measured it the next morning--perfect! Exactly what the pattern calls for, 8 sts/inch.

I brought my dpns and yarn to work and attempted to start the project at lunch. The designer calls for a Turkish Cast-on (or Figure-8 or any other toe-up method) so at first I was concerned because I had neither crochet hook nor waste yarn. Since this is my first pair of toe-up socks, I had to look up instructions. I found a very helpful tutorial on Knitty--written by the sock designer herself--and attempted the Figure-8 CO since it required fewer supplies. I tried repeatedly and could *not* create the appropriate number of sts.

After work I again tried repeatedly without any luck and decided that I would have to use a crochet hook and the article's third method (supposedly easier). Indeed I was able to make the "Easy Toe," which begins with a provisional crocheted CO. I made a rookie mistake though: I made a crochet chain, knitted all 24 sts on to my first needle, knitted 4 rows of stockinette, and....oops. The next instruction would have left me with 48 sts rather than the required 24. I ripped it out, kind of glad for the practice run. I restarted, picked 12 sts out of the crochet chain, knit the 4 rows of stockinette, and cut the chain with scissors (I couldn't get the chain to "unzip" as it was supposed to). Sort of voilà! I put the project in my work bag and went to bed.

Today at lunch I encountered more problems. About two minutes into my break I dropped a dpn on the floor and spent 5-10 minutes crawling around trying to find it. I heard it clink when it fell out of my live sts (ahem) so knew it had to be somewhere. I finally found it and knitted on my merry way.

Tonight I finished the toe!! What I find amusing about the whole thing is that despite all of these problems, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself!

(Sorry for the 3 computer-camera photos)

FO: Sea Foam baby blanket

Pattern: Feather & Fan baby blanket (link)
Started: February 13, 2009
Finished: April 4, 2009
Gifted: May 31, 2009
Size: Approx. 23" x 36"
Yarn: 8 balls of Knit Picks Comfy (109 yds per 50g ball; 75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic) in "Sea Foam"
Needles & Gauge: 5 sts/inch on US #5 needles

I knit this blanket for my nephew-to-be, sister, and brother-in-law. I had a really hard time choosing a pattern because I wanted to make the "perfect" gift for them. I ended up making a Feather and Fan blanket and I just love it. I CO 136 sts, did 5 garter ridges, knit in pattern (with 5 edge sts each side) until the blanket was about 1" shorter than I wanted, did 5 garter ridges and cast off.

I chose Comfy because it was a mostly-cotton yarn (good for a summer baby!) and can be machine washed and dried. I would have liked to knit a blanket in an all-natural fiber but didn't want to use wool so that caused a problem. Knit Picks's description and a color card sold me on the yarn and the color I ended up buying.

When I began I didn't know if I was knitting for a boy or girl so I chose a color I thought would work for either sex. It's a really nice ocean color and I think it worked well with the pattern because it looks kind of seashell-y. :)

I think bringing Sea Foam on the plane trip to Vegas saved me because I got a ton of knitting done at the airports and on the long flights. That ended up being *really* useful because getting a puppy in early March really cut into my knitting time and I don't know if I would have made my deadline.

Old blog posts here.

See baby's picture here. :)

Inspiration?

I'm searching for inspiration. I just saw the Summer 2009 issue of the Twist Collective and loved almost every single pattern. I've been finding *tons* of appealing projects and think it's time to start working on something other than a dog sweater (which I haven't been doing all that much of, by the way).

Catskill Ridge is a very pretty color in person and a nighttime/indoor picture doesn't do it justice. However, it's now at most 1/4 done and I'm going to either rip it out or put it aside. We'll see.

I am going to start working on some socks, I think. Hmm...

Kinda blah

I keep meaning to post a new entry on this blog but keep stopping after writing a few sentences. I feel like I haven't been doing much knitting lately and, even when I'm in the car with the project and time to knit, I don't. Must be in a bit of a funk...

I while back I looked at Elann's collection of free patterns and found a pullover made out of Reynold's Olé Olé yarn. It's 60% cotton and I thought it might be a good for this time of year. I bought purple yarn and started knitting the back. I have no motivation to work on this project so think I'm going to frog it.

(Right now it's an unimpressive 10" of stockinette.)

This morning, instead of studying for Monday’s final exam, I looked around on Ravelry for something I could knit using 9 balls of Olé Olé yarn (15 sts/in, 720 yds total).

Moebius knitting

I always have a nice time at my knitting guild meetings and wish my grad class schedule allowed me to attend more of them! Last night Ann (of Infinite Yarns, a LYS) taught how to make Moebius scarves/shawls. She brought along some yarn that we could purchase for the project and I decided on a blue skein of Araucania Ruca Multy.

Araucania Ruca Multy is a beautiful soft yarn that is made of 100% sugar cane. I couldn't resist it. I bought it at the beginning of the meeting and went over to wind it into a ball before the lesson started. That went smoothly until the skein was about half done and then it turned into a tangled mess. About an hour later I had it hand-wound into an old-fashioned ball (thanks in large part to two lovely ladies from Ribbonesque, another LYS).

Then the knitting began! Moebius knitting is not at all intuitive. I was glad there were people nearby to help clarify things. After you cast on, you join the yarn and then basically knit in a ridiculously tight loop for a few rows. Then it all opens up and your hands stop hurting. ;) The finished product is a big loop with twist.


I just wanted to learn the technique and have decided that I'm going to make this beautiful yarn into a lace scarf instead of a Moebius one because I think it will get more use.

My guild is doing some fun stuff this year. Starting this month, we're going to start a KAL where we'll make 12 mystery squares that eventually become a 30" x 40" blanket. Also, we're all going to read The Friday Night Knitting Club and discuss it at our July meeting.

I knew we'd be doing a hands-on activity and so didn't bring anything of my own to work on...Muir and the socks require charts and are therefore not ideal for group knitting anyway. I've been really exhausted lately and just wanted to snuggle on the couch but have been squeezing in some knitting time.

Here's an update: Muir is now about 1/3 of the way done. I knitted on it a bit over the weekend and brought it to work with me several days this week. I'm currently chugging away on the 4th repeat of the chart. Bavarian Twisted Sock #1 came to work with me last week. I'm done with the cuff and am on row 12 of the 1st repeat of the chart (28 rows of chart, repeated 5 times). I put it aside with plans of placing a lifeline in case I screw up now that the real pattern is about to begin. Yes, I use lifelines more than the average gal.

Okay, I'm going to go enjoy this lovely spring day. I took today off!

Gift done!

I just finished the "surprise" project I've been working on! The shower is on May 31st so I completed it in plenty of time (despite my post-Hazel fears of not being able to do so.) *phew* Will blog on the FO after I gift it. In the meantime, take a look at it on my Ravelry page.

Not much to report

As you might have guessed from my last post, I haven't been getting much knitting done lately. When I don't get to knit, I start fighting off the crazy urge to buy more yarn and cast on for new projects. I know this makes no sense but I can't seem to help it. Right now I'm fighting the "Submit Order" button over on elann.com, where I have the following items in my cart:

• Ilga Leja's pattern "Queen of the Waves"


• Needful Yarns Cable Due (in "Blue Mist") to knit the shawl mentioned above


• Elann.com Peruvian Sierra Aran (in "Plum Heather") -- to make Ingenue, which is in the book I got for Christmas).

I will not give in!! I am determined not to spend any more money because buying and caring for a puppy is pricey. I have, therefore, decided that I will focus on my knitting deadlines:

• My surprise project *must* be done by May. I haven't made much progress since we added a furry/wrinkly daughter to our household and I must admit that I'm getting a bit nervous about finishing it in time.
  
  Hazel has been preventing lunchtime knitting because I've been driving home to take care of her and her small bladder. Thankfully that will be changing shortly because we just found someone who will drop by our house during the day. A baby dog is so much work...I can't imagine how much is involved in caring for a baby human! Hopefully I'll get lots of opportunities to find out when I spend time with the little nephew who's on the way!! :)


• Muir should be done no later than October. I simply must wear her to one of the upcoming weddings and that one is furthest off and therefore a safer choice.

Meet Hazel

I probably won't be getting much knitting done for a while. Hazel is a 2-month-old English Bulldog and we just picked her up today! She's a complete sweetie and is working hard to get my 5-year-old Shih Tzu to like her.

Excited

I just got my monthly knitting guild newsletter and am totally excited because I realized that I'll be able to attend the next two meetings. My class is cancelled next week so I'll be able to go and then in April, the meeting is during spring break so I don't have class then either. Very exciting indeed! I'll bring my "surprise" project and hopefully get lots done.

Speaking of my knitting, how about an update? It's been a while since one of those...

• My "secret" project has taken up most of my knitting time and I'm about 1/2 done with it. Can't go into details, but do look at my Ravelry page for pictures and updates. :) I brought it on my February trip to Las Vegas and got a lot of knitting done in the airport and on the plane. Like many of us knitters, I couldn't just bring one WIP with me. What if I ran out of yarn? What if I got sick of the project?
  
  To be on the safe side, I originally packed into my carry-on 3 spare balls of yarn for the above-mentioned project and 1 spare ball of yarn for the sock I'd thrown in my bag. (I came somewhat to my senses and took out 1 skein from each project.) I did use one of the spare "surprise" skeins.
  
  
• The Bavarian Twisted Stitch Sock that I packed was completed neglected on the trip but I guess I was either being overly optimistic or just wanted to have another knitting option... It's being knit on two circs and I'm maybe 10 rows into the cuff of sock #1. The picture is nothing great but I hate picture-less posts and it is documentation of the 12" of snow we got on Monday that is now mostly gone...go figure.
  
  
• Though the surprise project has taken up most of my time, beautiful Muir is back on the needles again. I brought it to work this week and am now, after 10 months, up to the 4th chart. That means I'm almost 1/4 of the way done. Three weddings are coming up and I'd like to wear it to one of them (June, August, or October).

FO: February Lady

I'm finally posting about my finished February Lady. Because of color difficulties (see saga in previous posts), this beautiful sweater ended up being a "vest." Instead of knitting the sleeves as directed, I did a few rounds of crochet.

I am completely in love with the way the body turned out and totally wish it had sleeves but it just wasn't meant to be.

Pattern: "February Lady Sweater" by Pamela Wynne
Source: Ravelry [link]
Started: November 14, 2008
Finished: February 8, 2009
Modifications: Made into a vest.
Size: XXS (35")
Yarn: 3 skeins [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in #99 - "Stone Blue" (color "15 02 04")
Needles: US #7
Gauge: 4 sts/inch in stockinette. Yarn label says 4-5 sts/in on US 7-9

I'm wearing February Lady today and am very pleased with it. The drape is amazing! And I'm so happy with how the seams turned out--you can't even tell where they are. I think I may knit this pattern again (with a yarn that is not hand-dyed), complete with sleeves.

Above: "Look! No seams!" and a close up

February Lady update

Isn't she beautiful so far? I've been knitting the back and the fronts separately (Is that what you're supposed to do with this pattern? If not, I'll just have sturdier seams than everyone else!) and now the back and one of the fronts is finished.

I was so happy to see that I have plenty of yarn left over to finish up the left front so that's what I'm working on now.

I haven't decided yet whether to make February Lady a vest or short-sleeved or 3/4-sleeved. I guess I'll have to see how far my yarn goes and how close of a match the extra ball is. For the record, the the extra ball looks *much* closer than the ball that came with the original purchase but it's not quite perfect. We'll see.

Look what came in today's mail

Okay, so Green Gable arrived a couple of weeks ago. But the others arrived today!! I'm totally excited.

I've had my eye on Ursa for a while now and finally broke down and ordered the Berroco pattern book, Ultra Alpaca & Ultra Alpaca Light. It's the only project in there that I really like but that's okay.

Berroco: Norah Gaughan Vol. 3 is another story entirely. I *love* Eastlake (the reason I bought the book), Calvert, and Cire-Perdue. I also like Loppem, Assemblage, and Eastscarf. Linear is kind of nice too but I can't picture myself wearing it...

Let the race begin

I'm going to be an aunt!! I found out a while ago now and have been looking for the perfect baby blanket pattern to knit for the occasion. It's been kind of hard because (a) my sister isn't going to find out whether she's having a girl or boy, (b) she said she doesn't want to get a ton of green and yellow stuff at her shower, and (c) I want to make something that suits her tastes. My mother assures me that she'll like anything I knit for her, but I want to make something that she would like if she saw it on the street, ya know?



After weighing my many options, I finally decided on a blanket that you'll be able to follow on my Ravelry page. I'm afraid my sister might actually look at my blog since we recently talked about it so I'm not going to post any details just now (I almost didn't even post the yarn because I want her to be completely surprised...but oh well). I originally wanted to use the same machine-washable wool I used to knit Dublin because I knew that it stood up well to heavy use, but since it's going to be a summer baby I thought cotton was more appropriate.

I chose to buy worsted weight yarn rather than the DK weight yarn called for in the pattern. The color, Sea Foam, should work well for either a boy or a girl and reminds me of the water in the Caribbean even though you can't see it so well in these pictures. The pattern is classic and the blanket should be highly usable. After looking through tons of patterns and asking my mom and my husband for their input, I chose something completely different so I hope it's well received!

Editor's note: Pattern changed three times since my "decision" and I hope everyone likes it!

lunch blogging

This has been a tough week. Grad classes started up again and I am completely wiped out. I went to class three nights this week and, to exhaust me even further, I had stuff to do between work and class each and every one of those days. My eye has been twitching since yesterday!

I'll only have class twice a week from now on. This week was an anomaly but, as you might guess, knitting has taken a bit of a back seat as I start up with homework again. On Monday afternoon I tried to get some Muir done before things started up and ended up destroying the previous two days' worth of knitting by having to rip back to my lifeline. *sigh* This weekend is booked but I might be able to get some knitting done in the car. Hopefully actual knitting content will be posted soon--I do have some!

Update on yarn saga

The extra ball of yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit arrived in yesterday's mail. I held it up to my sweater and it's much better than what I had but I'm not sure it's quite the same as the others either. *sigh* My plan of action:

1. Rip left front of cardigan back to where I joined the dark ball of yarn. Secure stitches with waste yarn.


2. Knit up the rest of the sweater body.


3. Use leftovers from sweater body to complete left front of cardigan.


4. See how much of the sleeves can be knitted with remaining leftovers.


5. If needed, use newest ball of yarn. If not needed, return it for a refund.

Wish me luck!

What to do?

There. Do you see it? One of the balls of Malabrigo is totally darker than the others.

I was happily knitting away with it--and yes, I noticed it seemed a little darker when I joined the new ball--when all of a sudden it was completely obvious that I would never wear the sweater like this. And ripping back and alternating rows for a while wouldn't solve the problem because the sleeves would still be way too dark for the body and one side of the cardigan front would have odd dark stripes in it.

I emailed Eat.Sleep.Knit to see if they have any balls of yarn closer in color to the rest of my sweater. Since someone might ask, all 4 balls of Malabrigo Merino Worsted are Stone Blue #99 and all of the labels say "15 02 04" so they should match. This must just be one of the downsides of handpainted yarn...

OTN

February Lady


I haven't knitted this in a while. I worked on it some yesterday and today and the body is now more than 1/2 done - it's 12.5 inches from back of collar to bottom of back.

Muir is officially out of hibernation. I can't believe it's been over 9 months since I last put her down. She came to work with me on Friday and I did 2 rows during lunchtime. I had no trouble following the chart or completing the stitches, but it's slow going. It took me about 20 minutes to do 2 rows. Some of that was reacquainting myself with what the chart symbols meant and making sure I had the right number of stitches on my needle (always 125). I did 2 more rows today and am on chart 3 of 13, row 5.

Bijouterie. Well, my first attempt was unsuccessful. I think I bought the wrong kind of wire. I contacted Romi and asked her for reputable online places to buy the materials and she wrote right back and told me about Earthfaire, which sells a kit just for this pattern (minus beads, which is fine since the ones I bought will be fine!). I ordered it last night and can't wait for it to arrive!

FO: Midnight Socks

"Have you seen my socks? Where are my socks?"

My husband kept laughing at me because I have must said that to him about a million times this week. I was madly knitting to try to finish my Midnight Socks in time for my mom's birthday and had been bringing them into odd places to get just a little bit more done--and then forgetting where I'd put them down. (I planned to gift them today.)

What really ended up being funny was the fact that the birthday trip is now postponed to wintry weather. Oh well! At least the project is no longer hanging over my head. My mother will get them next weekend instead.

Pattern: "Vivace Socks" by Elizabeth Sullivan
Source: Ravelry (my method) or this link
Started: November 26, 2008
Finished: January 8, 2009 (Sock #1 was finished on 12/30/08)
Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 1 skein [80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 4 oz skein] of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering weight in the Midnight Colourway.
Needles & Gauge: 8-10 stitches per inch on US #1 (2.25 mm)

It usually takes me forever to knit socks so 1.5 months isn't bad. And one sock in "13" days--mostly 6--is even better (even if my right pointer fingertip hurt from the way I hold my needle while knitting). For a while there I thought I wouldn't gift the socks but after I got the foot of #2 partially done they started growing on me. I really like them now. I finished most of the toe decreases by the time I left work on Thursday (love knitting at lunch instead of doing homework!) and finished it up that night at the monthly knitting guild meeting I rarely get to attend (see comment about homework), and finished and washed the pair when I got home. Yay!

The pattern is really just plain old stockinette with a bit of a fancy cuff. I had some trouble tacking down the cuff while knitting, as directed in the pattern, but sewed it down afterwards without any trouble. Here are some close-ups. (Sewing, then inside of sock, then RS of sock)
I hope my mom likes them!
See old posts here.

What I've been up to

I didn't get much knitting done over vacation despite my intention of adding a few projects to my list of 2008 FOs. The only thing I made any progress on is Midnight Socks. I managed to finish the first one and get about halfway done with the leg of the second before heading back to work last Friday. Yesterday I knit on it a bit more and today at lunch I got up to the heel flap.

I'm disappointed in the way the socks are turning out and keep asking my husband if he thinks my mom will like them. He says yes but I'm not sure I like them enough to gift them... Let me explain. After I was well into sock #1, I read somewhere that hand-dyed sock yarns look best with textured patterns. That explains why Chaussettes de Montréal looked so fabulous (ribbing and cables) while this pair looks so....eh. Too bad I hadn't seen that info earlier!

I'll finish the project and then decide whether or not they'll go to my mom. (I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish them in time for her birthday on Saturday...) I tried on sock #1 and it fits perfectly and is wonderfully comfy so I might just keep them for myself if I don't think they're gift-worthy. I know I'll use them, regardless of how pretty they are. :>

As you can see, I was a very lucky knitter this Christmas. I got Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard, a cone dispenser (to hold cones of yarn), thingys to hold dpn projects-in-progress, point protectors, and a
Ravelry t-shirt featuring Bob in a pile of yarn. [After Christmas, I used gift money to buy the current issue of Knit.1, a color card for Knit Picks Swish Superwash, Kookaburra wool wash, and some sock yarn.]

My absolute favorite gift, which is not necessarily knitting-related, was the digital SLR that my hubby bought me!! As always, he picked out something fabulous and completely unexpected and I look forward to learning to use it better. I'd like to think that I have a decent start on that because I already have a "regular" SLR and took some photography classes before the whole 2nd MA/tenure thing started up again. Please excuse the two camera phone photos--hopefully the new SLR will mean more snazzy WIP/FO shots on the blog. ;)

2008 FOs

• Special Olympics Scarf


• Chaussettes de Montréal


• Toddler's Pullover


• Saartje's Bootees


• Maude Louise


• Ravelympics Socks


• Little Lambs baby blanket


• Dennis's Socks


• Classy Slip Up Socks


• Felted Ice Cream Pint Cozy


• Pullover for Penny


• NYE FO: The Silver Rose

2008 Reads

• My life, by Bill Clinton (audio)


• It itches: a stash of knitting cartoons, by Franklin Habit


• Medieval Europe and the world: from late antiquity to modernity, 400-1500, by Robin W. Winks and Teofilo F. Ruiz


• Rome, by M. Rostovtzeff


• The consolation of philosophy, by Ancius Boethius


• The lucky one, by Nicholas Sparks


• Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver (audio) [!]


• The first urban Christians: the social world of the apostle Paul, by Wayne A. Meeks


• Selected Works, by Cicero


• Free-Range Knitter: the Yarn Harlot writes again, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


• Plato's Republic, translated by C. D. C. Reeve


• Rome, by M. Rostovtzeff


• Ancient Greece: from prehistoric to Hellenistic times, by Thomas R. Martin


• Chasing windmills, by Catherine Ryan Hyde [#]


• Body Surfing : a novel, by Anita Shreve


• The Abstinence Teacher, by Tom Perrotta (audio) [!]


• Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl" [!]


• The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, by David H. Richter


• Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


• On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill


• Origins of the First World War, by James Joll


• Michelin Must Sees : Montreal


• Germany, 1866-1944 - by Gordon A. Craig


• The Declaration of Independence and other great documents of American history, 1775-1864 - edited by John Grafton


• Grounding of the metaphysics of morals, by Immanuel Kant


• Ornamentalism: how the British saw their empire - by David Cannadine


• 1848 : the revolutionary tide in Europe - by Peter N. Stearns


• A concise history of France, by Roger Price


• Meditations on first philosophy, by René Descartes


• The scientific revolution : aspirations and achievements, 1500-1700 - by James R. Jacob


• The foundations of early modern Europe, 1460-1559 - by Rice and Grafton


• Rewind, by Laura Dower [!]

* KEY: [!] = Highly recommend and [#] = Disappointing

Merry Christmas!

I'm having a hard time believing Christmas is here. The past few months were kind of a blur and the holiday just snuck up on me. I took my last final exam last night (4 essays in 3 hours, anyone?) and today arrived at my last day of work in high spirits. I have almost 1.5 weeks off, starting now!! Woohoo!

On my way home I stopped to do some very-last-minute shopping and am now good to go. All gifts are wrapped and ready for the car. The newly-groomed furry family member has a new snowflake sweater to sport at the families' houses. The pie I made is in the fridge, waiting to be transported. All is lovely.

During my vacation time, I've got lots of lovely things planned but should have plenty of knitting time. I'll be able to knit February Lady while watching tv, socks while in the car, and now...Muir! I mentioned that she was returning and I plan to take a good look at her on Friday.

It's snowing

At lunch today--instead of working on my reappointment paperwork or revising the final paper that's due tomorrow or studying for Monday's final exam--I knitted the heel of a beautiful hand-dyed Midnight Sock, listened to the radio, and sipped tea while watching big fat snowflakes fall outside my office window.

(Okay, so I worked on the paper tonight and will go to work early tomorrow. Sometimes you just need some knitting in the middle of the day so you don't pull your hair out. ;)

I ended up knitting most of the heel flap. Yay! These socks are hopefully being gifted in January and I should have plenty of time to complete them.

While it took me ages to knit half of sock #1, that's allowed because I was also working full-time and taking two grad classes. I took a couple of days off around Christmas and, between longish car trips and time on the couch, should be able to get some knitting done then.

Unfortunately, the following were not meant to be done by Christmas:

• February Lady Sweater. I was hoping to wear this on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but that'll never happen at this point. I'm at most 1/2 done with the body of the sweater and still have to knit two sleeves. *sigh*


• Christmas hotpads for the aunts/uncles. To keep my sanity, I've decided that I will gift felted hotpads in Christmas 2009. It's absolutely impossible for me to knit twelve 11 x 12.5 stockinette squares and have them felted and dry by Christmas Day...

Green stuff being added to blue

Muir has resurfaced! It's been a while. I haven't had much knitting time lately, as evidenced by my lack of posts, but I'm itching to knit some lace. And I want a rectangular shawl. Muir fits the bill and I dug her out of the knitting basket with hopes of starting her before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, the Christmas hotpads are way behind schedule. I don't know if it's realistic for me to finish 10-12 of them with multiple papers and final exam looming. We'll see...

One blue project is done (the Special Olympics scarf, which is in the picture below) and February Lady is getting knitted when I get a chance to watch tv. The pattern is easy enough for me to do while following the plot of The Office and I'm enjoying knitting with the soft Malabrigo. The sock is good travel knitting and comes with me in the car (when I'm a passenger) and on the bus.

I was looking forward to attending my guild meeting tonight but had to be responsible and stay home for the reasons mentioned above. (Boo to being an adult!) I had all of my stuff together and ready to go. :(

In the picture you see the charity scarf I was going to hand in and yarn, needles, & notions needed for the hands-on workshop about fixing mistakes, sewing on zippers (something I really want to learn!), and more. I emailed someone to see where I can send the scarf and will now finish up this blog post so I can work on my papers.

Blue, blue, blue

Everywhere I look, I see blue: a blue charity scarf, a blue sock, and a blue cardigan.

I'm really not enjoying the Special Olympics Scarf at all. It's knit with Red Heart yarn and doing two strands at once keeps leading to tangling. Ugh. I'm trying to finish it in time for the December guild meeting (it's due by the end of the year). It's currently only 28" long.

I restarted Midnight Socks. You're supposed to knit the CO edge together with the sock's 13th row to pin down the hem. When you fold the leg in half at this point, the picot edge looks pretty instead of like random holes (as seen above). I followed the pattern the first time around (with some difficulty) and decided to rip it out once I was 3" from the picot. I had gotten a lot of the sock knitted while on the bus on Wednesday but the part where I'd tacked down the CO edge looked wrong and I was unhappy with the way the color repeats were coming out. I pulled it off the needles and started again. I'm now about 2.5" from the funny-looking row that will be the picot edge.

The February Lady Sweater. Ah, I love her so. I measured from the center back of the collar down to my needles and I've got about 8" done so far. I'll keep knitting away on this while watching tv. I'm very pleased with it so far.

FO: Maude Louise

Pattern: "Maude Louise" by Kristen Hanley Cardozo
Source: Ravelry (my method) or this link
Knitting Started: May 28, 2008
Knitting Finished: September 29, 2008
Sweater Done: November 7, 2008
Size: 32" bust (approx. 960 yds required)
Yarn: 5 skeins [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in "Black Forest" (color "19 03 05")
Needles: I used #10, 9, 7 (pattern calls for US 8, US 6, and US 3)
Gauge: 4 sts/inch in stockinette. Yarn label says 4-5 sts/in on US 7-9

Note about pattern: If you use the version of the pattern that I did (still up 9/08), watch out for the lattice stitch pattern. For the waist, the RT instructions were missing four small words: "knit the skipped stitch" - I had, luckily, placed a lifeline here just in case so it wasn't too big a deal. For the sleeves, the chart was correct but the written out directions had RT and LT reversed throughout. I knitted about 5 rows following the written out directions before ripping back to the beginning of the design.

I didn't do the top part of the sweater as written (just plain stockinette instead of texture). If I knitted this sweater again I think I'd make the sleeves a little shorter and fiddle with the top of the button band a bit. Overall I'm really pleased with the cardigan and hope to get lots of use out of it. It really is a lovely pattern!

This was the first time I knit with Malabrigo (bought from Eat.Sleep.Knit) and *loved* working with it. After being 3/4 of the way done with the sweater I learned that it tends to pill so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it stays attractive after many washings. This yarn matched its description as an "incredibly soft single-ply merino wool" and I'm glad that it was "hand-dyed in Uruguay by a women's cooperative" – the yarn cost was not prohibitive for me and I'm glad I could help women make a living.

I wanted to have Maude Louise done in time for the start of Fall weather, but it wasn't meant to be. I finished it up last weekend and washed it before taking most of these pictures. It was crazy windy outside and between rain showers so we had to be quick...and finish up the photo session inside by the front door. Maybe I'll add a new picture or two sometime in the future. :)

FO: Chaussettes de Montreal

Pattern: "Cable Rib Socks" by Erica Alexander
Source: Favorite Socks: 25 timeless designs from Interweave, p. 72-75
Started: September 26, 2008
Finished: November 13, 2008 (Sock #1 was finished 10/12/08)
Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 1 skein [80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 4 oz skein] of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering weight in the Spearmint Colourway. Look at this blog post.
Needles & Gauge: 8-10 stitches per inch on US #1 (2.25 mm)

Modifications: The pattern calls for 16 sts/inch so I had to do some math. I casted on 60 sts instead of 66 and modified accordingly. That mostly entailed knitting one less [k2, p1] repeat between each cable. "Design element" added.



Pictures edited 11/15/18.