Still obsessed

and almost done. I probably won't finish before we leave for the airport tomorrow night, but it may be done before we land in Puerto Rico. I have 2 hours of airport knitting and 6 hours on the plane to work on it. I usually can't sleep when I fly so I plan to knit.
Off to pack now.

Obsessed

I thought my next project would be the Gathered pullover. I started it as soon as I finished the Harmony sweater,I made quite a bit of progress
and then I reviewed my Ravelry queue. I was looking for projects to take on our anniversary cruise. You know that agonizing decision, how many projects do I take, big, small, simple, wool or cotton. My thoughts and sights fixed on clapotis. I've wanted to knit it since I first started knitting. 3 years and 1 aborted attempt and now I'm obsessed. I'm determined to finish it before the cruise so I can wear it and enjoy it. Although we're cruising Southern Caribbean and I know it's expected to be 75-80 degrees, inside on the ship the air is usually so low, I freeze. What better way to stay warm.
Wish me luck, we leave Sunday night. I envision a lot of late night, lunch and early morning knitting....and I still have to decide what knitting to take.

Finished

TA!! DA!!




I met my goal and finished seaming the Harmony sweater last weekend. I'm very happy with the finished results. I've had such a phobia regarding seaming, which led to major avoidance of a lot of great sweater patterns. I can now say, I'm no longer afraid. One thing I did not realize is that it takes so long. I figured an hour or 2, wrong.

Pattern Stats and observations:
Harmony Cardigan Pattern from Trendsetter Yarns
Size 36
12 skeins Trendsetter Harmony Yarn
Size 10 addis.

The pattern was straight forward, however, there are no schematics on the pattern. When I was ready to block, I guess-timated what I thought would work. It worked out, but since it was my first time, I was unsure the whole time it was blocking.Thankfully I read Marie Grace's post on blocking and setting in sleeves the day before, what a confidence booster!
There is no finishing on the neckline so I added a slip stitched crochet edging to finish it off. The biggest problem..they totally overestimated the amt of yardage needed. I had 4 EXTRA skeins left ( actually 6, when I bought the pattern I thought about knitting a bigger size). Now I routinely buy at least 1 extra skein, but 4...I've already returned the extras.

Up next, Gathered pullover.

Sundays are for seaming

...after basketball, a trip to Joannes for buttons and a trip to Costco for major grocery shopping, but after all that, Ill seam up my Harmony sweater. It's finally dry and I can't wait, wish me luck, this will be my first major seaming project.



I also finished one sleeve of the hubby sweater. The sleeve looks HUGE, I hope it fits, I really don't want to rip it.

A is for Amber

According to dictionary.com

Amber: A hard translucent yellow, orange, or brownish-yellow fossil resin, used for making jewelry and other ornamental objects.

According to me:


This is my beautiful daughter, my Amber.

I've joined the abc along to help motivate me to post.

Oh, I did complete my goal for Saturday. I sat and knit most of the day. The back and both fronts are blocking now. I should finish to sleeves today. Next goal is to have a completed sweater by the weekend.

Saturdays are for knitting

It's Saturday and raining; must be time to knit.
Goal: 1. Sit on chair ALL day and knit.
2. Cast on sleeves and make a lot of progress.
3. Occasional breaks for meals and biology.

Let's see how well I accomplish these goals.

Later!

It's a new day....

and a new year. Happy New Year to all!!
I haven't been blogging, but I have been knitting.
I'm working on a new sweater for me. I saw the completed version in my LYS and I had to have it. So far, the back and both fronts are done. I plan to knit both sleeves at once, if all goes well, I'll have a new sweater soon.


I haven't finished the hubby's sweater, for some reason I have no motivation to finish it, despite some under the breath comments from him. I'm gonna try to work on it and gift it to him on our anniversary cruise later this month.

I don't do resolutions, but my hopes for this new year are to put more of my "free" time into knitting. I'm working on reducing my stash. I've sold some things on ravelry, and I plan to put more goodies up over the next weekend. I also want to slow down on buying until I'm "ready" to start a new project.

Many blessings to all, thanks for sticking with this rare blogger.

Just in time

The dining room floor is all done and not a moment too soon.

Wednesday morning 8am:



Wednesday night 8pm:




Happy Thanksgiving!!

Major stash sale

Just in time for those xmas gifts!

Check out my trade/sell tab or Ravelry, or my flikr account.

Thanks

Back from Hiatus

I'm back from an unexpected hiatus, I haven't been anywhere, just haven't had the will to post. Now that I'm on ravelry, I'm not sure if I should maintain the old blog. In one respect, I love blogging because it enables me to meet you folks that love knitting the way I do, on the other hand, I'm not a prolific writer and trying to think of what to say sometimes puts me off. If there's anyone out there that would like to share a blog, I'm up for that.

What have I been up to? Well work has been hectic and I'm still negotiating a new contract, so that's taken a lot of my time and energy. I have been knitting, which has allowed me to keep my sanity.
I've finished my monkey socks and a couple of these seaman caps.

Current works in progress:
I'm 1 1/2 sleeve away from finishing the hubby's sweater.

I've started started the tangled yoke sweater, unfortunately, I'm thinking of frogging because I really don't like knitting with silky wool.

Next up my new crafting hobby, quilting.
My most local yarn store is actually a quilting store and every time I shop for new yarn, the pretty fabric calls out to me. I finally succumbed and bought this cute mini purse kit.
After I finished it, I decided to try my hand at a baby quilt for my daughters best friend's baby. I've already signed up for classes so stay tuned for more progress.

Our biggest work in progress is this,

My hubby ripped up the carpet in the dining room and is putting down tile. Deadline is Tuesday, we are expecting 30 people for Thanksgiving dinner, wish us luck.


That's about it. Coming soon, a hugh stash sale.

Success!!

I'm so excited, I finished my Indigo Ripples skirt and it's my favorite knit to date. I wore it to work today, my negotiations skirt, and I received nothing but great compliments. A successful knit does a lot for a knitters confidence.

I made some mods based on feedback from knitters on Ravelry.

Indigo Ripples skirt
Interweave Spring 2007
11 skeins Rowan Denim
Size 5 Knit picks options

1. I substituted sssk for the sl1k2togpsso.
2. I knit 16 1/2 inches of the stockinette portion.
3. I knit 50 rows of the lace then knit the ruffle.
4. I crocheted the tie with the yarn doubled.

The ruffle and the bind off takes FOREVER, but it's worth it. I love the finished results!!

Sockapalooza??

Sockapalooza???
No I didn't join, but I did receive some socks from the very gracious Michelle from Miknits. She originally knit these gorgeous socks for her sock pal. As she finished the first sock, she had second thoughts because her pal stated she didn't like neon socks. Michelle offered up the socks to the first person who asked for them, and that would be me. I'm the proud owner of these Speedway socks knit with vesper yarn. I have them on lock down, because my daughter thinks they should be hers. So many many thanks to Michelle for not frogging and sending them to me.

One Monkey down

One to go. I finished the first Monkey sock 2 weeks ago and the second sock is on the needles and has become my negotiations sock. I'm involved with some heavy union negotiations at work and we meet 3 days a week to "hash" things out. I was a little hesitant to knit during this meeting, but the first 3 days were all training. I got there early the first day, so I pulled out my sock and knit until the meeting started. Then at each break and lunch I pulled it out again. I didn't want anyone to think I wasn't paying attention, so I didn't knit during the meeting. By the third day, I knit throughout. Everyone is fascinated with watching the sock progress, which made me much more comfortable and gave me the courage to keep knitting during the presentations. Once we really get involved, I may have to put it away, but we'll see.

I'm also working on the Indigo Ripples skirt, I'm on the mindless stockinette portion which makes great TV knitting.

I made the mistake in taking my daughter, the 14 year old, with me to the yarn store. Mistake, because I acquired another project. It's not like I don't have a lot of projects on my to do list, just check out my ravelry queue. She just had to have this bucket bag purse, which she initially wanted for her birthday, no sweat that's the end of September, by the time we made it home, the end of September turned into the end of August. She wants it for the first day of school. I guess the skirt will go on the back burner. Here's a photo, it's very cute, she saw the shop sample and fell in love. The bottom is finished and ready for seaming, then pick up the edges and knit up the sides.

Fifi is still waiting in the wings. I'll cast on when the skirt is finished.

Ok, off to work for now.

Finally got that Monkey off my back

NO, not my monkey socks, my neckdown KP&S top down cardigan.

Knit with Cashsoft DK, I don't remember how many skeins. This yarn is so soft, and it grows with blocking. After looking at my archives I realized I've been knitting this since October. Why did it take me so long.... well, this became my mindless, soccer knitting. When I got home, I always put it down for another project. That's when I had 3,4,5, things going at once. I decided to stop that foolishness and concentrate on one thing at a time and now it's done! Finito.
I decided not to add the ties to the neckline, instead I have some pewter clasps to use as a closure. I just have to look through my supplies to find them.

Overall, impressions: it's a very easy and mindless pattern, and if you knit it consistently, it really wouldn't take that long. I'm happy with the end result.

Whew!!

I'm currently in the midst of a 2 week vacation. Unfortunately, we are not going anywhere this summer. I'm trying to get all of the "spring cleaning" done, that I didn't do in the spring. So far, I've cleaned and organized the hall closet "aka stash closet".
That was an eye opener, I realize I have a healthy stash, but ummm it's really healthy. However, it didn't stop me from adding to said stash yesterday.
I visited a new LYS and I couldn't walk out empty handed. I bought some sock yarn, and this beautiful alpaca silk." Eventually, it will be an Icarus.

I made another stop to pick up some Rowan denim for the Indigo ripples skirt."> I've been obsessing about knitting this for a few weeks now. I'm resisting casting on until I finish the cardigan,( 1/2 of a sleeve left) and cast on for Fifi.
Speaking of Fifi, I've knit a swatch ready to cast on.
Lastly, after seeing these everywhere, I've joined the crowd.Monkeys">

Enough, I'm off to knit, and plan my next yarn store crawl.

Up next

Fifi:
The pattern picture does not do justice this this number. I would have never considered this top if I had not seen Nonnahs or Tetenknits finished objects on Ravelry. I will definitely add length to this number, but otherwise no changes.
I just need to swatch and block and I'll be ready to start this by the weekend.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Finished vest

I'm reposting this from the fitted knits along blog.
I finished my turtleneck vest and I love the results. I shortened the turtleneck to 3 inches, which is perfect for our California weather. Other mods: I added 2 inches to the length and I did increases from techknitting's website instead of the recommended ones in the pattern.

Contemplating crochet

I learned the very basics of crochet when I was 11 or 12. My best friend's mom taught us how to chain, single crochet and double crochet. I vaguely remember crocheting a bright yellow vest. I remember being very proud of myself at the time.
Now 30+ years later, I think it's time to really learn how to crochet and read patterns. I've been following the weekly crochet lessons on crafty daisies blog. I've been checking out all of the >larger than life bags around blogland and I'm thinking about making one of these as well.

Yesterday I bought my first crochet book, all of the hooks and yarn.

Tonight I plan to cast on (?) chain on? Whatever it's called.

An invite

The turtleneck vest is blocking, pre blocking I'm very pleased with the results. I should have a FO picture later today once it's dry. Here's a few pics.



I got my invite from Ravelry yesterday and I've been spending a lot of time familiarizing myself with the site. It has a lot of great features. I guess there is some kinda controversy because of the invites. Some folks believe it's an exclusive club and you have to be one of the "in" bloggers to get an invite. Nonsense in my opinion. I signed up the first or second day it was announced, I am by no means a popular blogger and I've been accepted. I guess some are just impatient.

Next up, I'm not sure, finish my cardi, rusted root, socks, or maybe a chevron scarf...