Next on the needles

I mentioned that I went to the Knitter’s Review Retreat last fall. In addition to the wonderful workshop I enjoyed visiting the vendors. It’s much smaller than any fiber festival, so you get a good chance to really talk to the vendors. One of them was Kathryn Alexander who designs some of the most colorful creative things I’ve seen. My mother in law loves her work. So I decided to get a kit for a hat for her for Christmas. As you can infer, by the date and title of this post, the hat was not ready for Christmas. Fortunately she was excited by the picture I printed from the website and was willing to wait. However, she isn’t willing to wait forever. So with each finished item she sees, or hat that I’m working on, she asks, “is mine done yet?” To which I have to answer honestly. So, I need to start this. I have to admit, I am stalling. It’s entrelac, which I’ve never done, and a LOT of little skeins that need to be wound up.

But I need to bite the bullet and get going. So this is what’s up next:

Finishing!

Yup, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Could be a while before I post again! I don’t know if any one really follows per se, or notices my absences. I have a lot of blogs in my feed reader, and while some are more regular than others, I rarely remove anyone from my feed. I guess I’m hoping anyone who has subscribed to my blog has the same philosophy.

I was a little concerned when I found out that Google Reader was going the way of the buggy whip, but was pointed to Feedly and have become a total convert. I have it on my phone, my computer and my iPad. Yup, I have an iPad! I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve wanted one for a LONG time, and I’m really enjoying it. I use it for work, we’ll be scoring softball games on it, and I’ve been looking at the different knitting apps that are available.

So, back to the knitting. I have been doing quite a bit lately. Looking at my ravelry page (which is only somewhat representative, as I just realized) I have a bit I can talk about, and a bit more I think I need to photograph. I’m taking advantage of a beautiful Mother’s Day that happens to be devoid of softball to get a few things done.

I’ve got a few projects on the needles, but because they are gifts, I’ve got to keep them under wraps for a bit longer.

I think I’ve mentioned before, my daughter loves hats, and loves the ones I make for her. A few months ago, Wendy Bernard released a fun pattern The Honeycomber, and the combination of color, floppiness and a huge pompon called my name. I thought it would be fun to make E & me matching ski hats that coordinated with our coats – so same pattern, different colors. She thought it was a great idea. I was about to type “like she’d say no to a hat,” but I must say, she will tell me if she doesn’t like something – it’s nice. She knows I like to knit, but it’s frustrating to make something that won’t get worn or used.

So, back to the hats. The color choices were simple. I have a bright orange ski coat (the better to be seen when I fall into a snow bank) and E has a green one with pink contrast on the zipper. We headed to our local yarn store, The Warm Ewe, and picked out our colors. In March we took a road trip to New Hampshire for a little spring skiing, and I cast on in the car:

When I got to the corrugated ribbing, I realized, I’d never done it before! Which of course I had to tweet – what else is twitter for if not to announce new experiences! It was a little tricky, but by the time I got to it on the second hat it went much more quickly.

So at this time I’ve got one done:

And one more moving toward the finish line:

I’ve got more in the queue, and more to finish, so hopefully I can find the time/motivation to post here more frequently.

Travel knitting

I seem to have created quite a queue of finishing projects for myself. I’ve knitted all the pieces of my ruffled cardigan and finished the Lintella as well. I need to block and assemble the cardigan (now that I found the sleeves that I’d managed to misplace for three days), block the Lintella, and I need to block and assemble my Dale of Norway sweater that I was working on last winter.

So what’s a good idea in a situation like this? Starting a new project, of course!
I am traveling for work this week, so I really did need something portable, so it does make sense.

I’ve been reading through What Would Madame DeFarge knit for a while, and had a skein of Malbrigo sock in my stash – so it seemed like the right time to start Bertha’s Mad, Mysterious Moebius.

Last night, after ironing and packing*, I cast on and started knitting. The first few rows had me a little nervous as it seemed rather tight, but now at row 5 it’s moving along nicely.

I’ve got some plane time, so I hope it will keep moving. I’m certainly enjoying it!

I recently discovered that my local library lends e-readers, so I checked one out and put some fun, light reads on it to try it out. So far I have to say I like it, maybe more than I thought I would.

* so I may have cast on before ironing or packing, but it seemed integral, both to to the trip and to my sanity.

Summer?

Wow, this summer flew by – a sentiment I’ve heard by many people this summer. We’ve had a wonderul one – filled with softball, sand and swimming. And a bit of knitting, but not as much as I’d hoped.

I’ve been focusing on two projects this summer. My Lintilla, and a baby sweater that I haven’t even posted to my ravelry projects yet. I’m in the home stretch of both – the sweater needs to be seamed up and finished and gifted. The Lintilla is just a few rows away. It’s been a wonderful car project and one that I can work on while chatting. We have some wonderful friends with a lake house that invite a group of us for an annual “boys’ weekend” every year. The boys grew up together, but the wonderful thing is all the “girls” get along too. This year our host had gone to Iceland and brought back some Icelandic wool that she wanted to knit into a pair of gauntlets. She’d asked me to help her with them. While she hadn’t knit in some time, it came back to her pretty quickly, and she had one done before the end of the weekend. It was fun to knit not alone for once! I even took advantage of the beautiful setting to capture a progress shot:

I’m glad I stuck with the yarn and pattern – it really does make for a lovely fabric!

I did finally finish my Djinni in a Bottle Socks and I love them. I have a feeling I’ll be wearing them shorty – the nights are getting cooler!

The pattern is wonderful and I love the yarn:

I’ll have to get some pictures of the baby sweater – it’s a lovely pattern from Ann Budd: Ruffles Baby Cardigan – it’s lovely, but a bit tricky with the ruffles!

Wednesday WIP: Socks

A few weeks ago, I was reading Turtle Girls’ Blog and she mentioned a mystery knitalong that she was running with her friend from Dragonfly Fibers – the Djinni Sock. I was smitten, but knew I had to finish my monsters. I picked out a nice purple (before I read Christi’s warning about not using a dark color), and loved it as soon as I saw it:

I cast on Saturday night, and am now into chapter 2. This is a fun pattern, definitely one that needs my attention, but I’m really enjoying it. Here’s where I am as of right now (via phone pic):

Rut Race Progress: Not so much on the physical activity. Two meetings this week have kept me out till after 9:00 Monday and Tuesday. However, I am focusing my time and energy a little differently at work, which is helping a bit on my productivity. So, no complaints at this point.

Rut Race: Days 1 & 2

It’s no secret that I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the monsters I’ve been knitting. I love them, but I do like some variety in my projects. When I entered my latest project in Ravelry I realized the monster I finished yesterday was the 4th one. I’m done with monsters for a while. The good news, is they both came out great:

Now we just have to wrap, and deliver!

So, I’m still working on the Lintilla, thanks to those who recommended I stick with it! I’ve also cast on a new pair of socks. However, tonight I’ve got something else to talk about.

The other day I read a post by Kim Werker. She posted about how she’s been feeling bleh, cranky and frustrated since January. I could definitely relate. I’ve felt basically the same – I know I need to do something, but wasn’t sure what. So Kim wrote about the Rut Race. I’m in.

Yesterday was my day one. Since skiing ended, I’ve been going to yoga on Saturdays and trying to go on Thursday nights. I need to find a way to fit more into my week. Yesterday I got my bike out and went for a ride. That felt great. It’s not everything, but it’s a start.

So as part of the rut race, I’ve got a few things I want to accomplish:

• Ride my bike 3-4 times a week
• Practice yoga 3 times a week
• Get my house in order
• Find my inspiration to be the best at what I do
• Learn to ride a unicycle

Yup. I want to learn to ride a unicycle. So does E. She and I went two weeks ago, and she tried it out. I was too self conscious to try. Tonight I committed to give it a whirl. The people there are really nice and helpful. So I got up and was able to ride a bit while hanging onto the wall. I’m pretty pleased with that. We’ll go again next week, and I will try again!

So anyone else need to get out of a rut?

More Monsters!

So, as I stated in my last post, E and her teacher thought it would be great if I could knit a monster for her science teacher’s new little girl. I do love making these little monsters, so it wasn’t a tough sell. I did think it was time to change up patterns, so I went looking and found this one: Presley Cash from Rebecca Danger. I really liked the idea that she had specifically designed it for her own newborn, and it is JUST SO CUTE! So, after some discussion with the ten year old, I pulled some yarn from the stash (should I mention that it was actually E’s yarn that she’d picked out last year), and cast on. I had thought it had taken me a long time to finish, but as I’m concurrently updating my ravelry projects while I type this post out (and I wonder why I never get anything done), I realized I’d actually finished it in 11 days. And during that time I had the world’s worst head cold. Not really, but the drama keeps us laughing at my house. So last night I finished the second leg and assembled the little monster:

The assembly was fun, no one really understood the way he’d go together. The teeth had me a little concerned, but the directions were great, and once I started, they came together.

I immediately sat him down with Tabitha (who I’ll write about another day):

So, because Mr. N has an older daughter, I feel like it would be best to make her a little monster too. I seem to feel a strong need to give older siblings gifts as well as new babies. Could be because I was the oldest, could be because I’m a nut. Not sure which.

So, we picked out another skein of yarn last week, that I’ll be winding tonight to start a new monster.

I have been perusing the patterns, but I think I may stick with Iris. I thought the embroidered eyes worked on her (the big sister is only three), and I seem to be pretty partial to this pattern.

Wednesday WIP: Slogging pays

As suspected, once I hit the color-work on my Dale Sweater the yoke was going to fly by. I cast off the second shoulder this evening:

This is when I’m really glad I knit the sleeves first. I’m not sure I’d have the will to continue after pushing through this body.

Here’s a close up of the unblocked yoke:

What’s amazing is once the knitting is complete, the taupe really seems to pop. When on the needles, it was very hard to differentiate it from the white.

I’ve got a lot more to do, least of all sewing in the ends, but next step after blocking is STEEKING! Now that I’ve done it a few times, I no longer dread it. I can’t wait!

I didn’t realize that the sweater had a cord at the hem, so I’ve been searching for accessory kits and debating the value of a Dale Zipper. I think I’ll wait till it’s blocked so I can measure the opening.

We got some of the leap year day snow storm today, but I didn’t get any pictures. If there’s still snow in the morning, I’ll try to capture it. I hope if you were in the path of the storm you are staying warm!

Finally Colorwork!

So, the slog through the miles and miles of white stockinette (or 20 inches – which still felt like miles) is finally complete. As I suspected, once I got through it, the color work would seem to fly, simply because I lack any sort of self control and would have to keep going. The other night I cast off the center stitches for the collar, so now I’m working back and forth. That has slowed my progress down. I also think the realization that I will have a LOT of ends to weave in has caused me to knit a bit slower. That said, I am creeping toward the end:

This project has certainly been an adventure. I’m hoping the blocking process cures a lot of ills. I noticed at one point that my gauge seems to have varied on occasion. I’m sure it had something to do with my moods:

While I’m sorry that I didn’t finish this sweater in time for the winter (and with the weather this week, I’m not holding out hope that we’ll see any significant winter weather anytime soon), I have still managed to enjoy the season. Sunday I got a nice full day of skiing in:

2012 – Here we come!

It’s been a wonderful vacation week here at Casa Knitalone. Chad & I took the week off between Christmas & New Years, as Eliza has had ski camp/practice nearly every day. So, we got to ski nearly every day too! I took today off, as we’d decided it was going to be a short day to allow time for homework and music practicing. I did some chores, and rewarded myself with some knitting breaks.

Because the snow hasn’t been as plentiful this year, and the weather isn’t always cooperative, I’m not always skiing when we are at the mountain. I’ve been taking advantage of the forced down time to work on a couple of new projects that I cast on last week. A friend of ours just had a little girl, so I thought it would be fun to make her a little sweater. Because she has a big brother, I wanted to make him something too. I thought this would be a good chance to make one of Rebecca Danger’s Monsters. I’ve been eying them for a while, waiting for an excuse to make one. I swatched for the sweater first, but the lure of Iris the Gourmet Monster proved to be too much. I’ve finished the parts and have planned a trip to the fabric store for the necessary supplies to finish her.

I did work on the sweater as well. I picked up the pattern at my local yarn store, The Warm Ewe. It’s an original design by Lorraine, the Ruffled Baby Cardi Today I finished the back:

The irony of these two projects is that I had hoped to have some variety in my yarn weight and needle sizes so that I could give my elbow a bit of a break. Somehow, both managed to work best on size 5 needles. – The same size my Dale Sweater is worked on. Oh well, I guess I just have to find another project.

Last night we went to the mountain to watch the torchlight parade and fireworks. Unfortunately, the fog was too thick, so the fireworks were different to say the least. The sky turned different colors. It was pretty, in it’s way. I tried to get a picture of the parade, but didn’t fare too well:

We’ll be skiing again tomorrow, and my lessons start on Thursday, so it looks like ski season is here!