Bonus Knitting Time

The best part about traveling is the extra time that I have to knit. I don't have any distractions (I'm looking at you, internet.) so I get a fair bit of knitting done. I am knitting on a Monster Cowl out of yarn from Another Crafty Girl. If you haven't tried her worsted yarn, you should. It is a dream to work with.

SSK Meet-up

On Monday, I was lucky enough to be able to share a visit with my SSK roommate, Hannah. You may know her from her podcast, Traveling Sock Knitter. I actually had Monday and Tuesday off of work for a trip to Indianapolis that fell through so when Hannah let me know that she was going to be in town, I was very happy that I didn't cancel my vacation days!!

We had lunch at Farrens Pub and we were able to hang out and knit there for four and a half hours! It was a little like being back at SSK. It is so strange that we lived in the same town for years and never met and now she lives half way across the country! We definitely lamented all of the time that we could have been hanging out and knitting! We talked about the exciting announcement that there will be another SSK. We are both putting our names in and we are planning on rooming together again if we both get in. We also talked about maybe having a VKN (virtual knit-night) some time in the future with Denise, another fabulous woman from SSK. So Denise, if your ears were burning on Monday afternoon, it was because we were talking about you!

As I said, we knit for quite a while but I knew from experience that if I wanted any actual knitting to get done, I would have to cast on a new project. My current project, the Bay of Fundy Scarf in Sweet Georgia's Tough Sock is just not suitable because of the of the cabling in it. I picked up the Sweet Georgia yarn at SSK from Rebecca Danger's booth but she does have an online shop or you can pick some up at The Loopy Ewe.



So I cast on for a Sockhead hat using a Zauberball while I was in the parking garage waiting to go into the pub. The Zauberball has been in my stash for a while and I think the hat is going to be kind of fun since it will be striped in some lovely neutral colors.



Our lunch flew by far too quickly and I realized that I need to make an effort to get out to local knit nights so I can have some knitting friends that don't live far away. I'm so thankful that I got a chance to see Hannah and I look forward to the next time I am able to hang out with an awesome knitter/friend.

Using Deep Stash

I am working on, you guessed it, another cowl. It is the Incus cowl, which is part of the Trio of Cowls ebook by Kirsten Kapur. I am looking forward to this finished cowl because it should be big and cuddly, even though I am a little short on yardage so I will probably only be able to do nine cable repeats instead of the ten called for in the pattern.



I am using Socks that Rocks Heavyweight in the Star Sapphire colorway. I have had this yarn kicking around my stash since May of 2008 so I thought it was high time that I used it for something. The downside of having a stash is that I am often distracted by the lovely, new yarns that I buy and I forget that I have some awesome yarns hiding in my yarn cabinet. So, fellow crafters, remember to show a little love to the deep stash ever now and then!

There really should be a title to this post...

I'm participating in another KAL. It's like I just don't learn, or I never give up hope...pick whichever option fits your philosophical leanings. The dyer at Another Crafty Girl is having a KAL with her muppet-inspired yarns and I just could not resist. I am working on a Herringbone Cowl by Lauren Osborne in the Sam the Eagle colorway. I opted to use Simple DK, the new superwash merino single that Another Crafty Girl just started carrying and it is lovely to work with. It is a tiny bit thick and thin but that is the nature of a single & it is so soft and cuddly. The herringbone stitch usually produces a fairly stiff fabric but with this yarn, it is still nice and cozy and soft.



I'm nearing the end of the cowl so this is probably the first KAL that I am actually going to finish. I picked an easy pattern & I have had lots of time to knit while watching TV this week. It has been a pretty somber week as I found out that a friend has stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the spine. I haven't felt like doing anything other than frying my brain with TV, knitting and occasionally hysterically crying. Fortunately my friend has started treatment & is the toughest person that I know so everyone is hopeful but it is a tough situation. I hate not being able to fix it.

Awkward. I didn't expect to write about that on the blog, but I did so I'm not going to edit it out.

In news that will shock and surprise no one, the stash is winning. I keep adding to it faster than I am using it up. I will admit that I am adding to it at a slower rate than I have in previous years but I really have to step up the knitting to meet my goal by the end of the year. Here is something lovely that just made it into my stash:



It is Another Crafty Girl's Squishy Aran base in the Punky Brewster colorway. I just love a yarn with that many colors in the skein.

Just a bit of blog housekeeping, the books that were up for grabs in the last post are going to be going to their new home with bellamoden on Monday or Tuesday, depending on when I make it to the post office.

I hope that you are well. Until next time, hug your loved ones close and do something that makes the world a bit brighter.

If at first you don't succeed

...try another knit-a-long! Yep, despite failing at stash dash this summer and the SAL/KAL that finished in February, I am doing knit-a-long with the Knitting Blooms podcast.

The Mach Madness Knit-a-long is a bit different so I thought I would give it a shot. I signed up for the challenge and Tina, the podcaster, looked through my stash (posted on Ravelry) & picked out a yarn for me to use. The pattern was totally up to me. Tina picked a yarn that I have had for several years, Keegan Lane Yarns Big Footsie Toasty Sock in the Shy Violet colorway. I purchased the yarn at The Loopy Ewe but they don't carry Keegan Lane Yarns anymore but you can find Keegan Lane Yarns on Etsy.

I am making the Old Shale Scarf by Tiennie because I wanted something simple and easy to memorize so I can pick it up and put it down at will without getting lost. Here is a photo from the start of the project.

The scarf is now about a foot and a half long now. When I actually work on the scarf it goes quickly so there is a chance that it may actually be finished by the end of the month.

In other news, who wants to see a baby? Anyone? Here is a photo of my mom with my faux-niece's baby.

My mom has long been sad that neither my brother or I wanted to have kids because it meant no grandchildren for her. I felt bad for her but, you know, not bad enough to have a baby. Fortunately my faux-niece stepped up to the plate and delivered a bouncing bundle of adorable baby that my mom can cuddle to her heart's content.

For the knitters out there, yes, my mom made the purple blanket that is wrapped around the baby. It is the Basket Weave Blankie kit that mom got from Herrschners. I don't know that she would use the yarn that came in the kit again because there were numerous knots in the skeins which made for a frustrating knitting experience.

Vacation!!!

Right now I am on vacation and I am taking full advantage of the knitting time. I just finished another Sockhead hat. I don't know when I started the hat but it was in progress and mentioned on the blog in September so it was probably started at the end of August or the beginning of September. I'm not quite sure what derailed the project but I am guessing stockinette boredom since I was near the end of the nine inches of stockinette that I needed to finish before I started the decreases. The hat is made in the Ice Cream Sandwich colorway of Crafts Meow's Soft Serve yarn that I picked up at Stitches Midwest several years ago. My camera had a hard time focusing on the project so I had to use a sort of bad photo but it was one of the few shots of the hat that was actually in focus!


I am currently working on a Hitchhiker for The KnitGirlls SAL/KAL but it is in timeout. I have a problem with sticking to larger projects all the way to the end. I tend to get bored and I either start a new project or I pick up an old WIP to work on. Right now I have 22 or 23 of the points finished so I am a little more than halfway finished. This is obviously not a current photo, but I'd rather include an old photo than have no photo.


In non-knitting news, I went to a holiday party earlier this week and had a wonderful time. One of my coworkers hosted the party at her house and I think that everyone had a nice time. I didn't take any photos but her house was lovely and all decorated for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I managed to get my Christmas cards in the mail before Christmas this year and I have all of my Christmas shopping finished so I should be in good shape for this weekend. My brother and sister-in-law are hosting Christmas dinner this year and I am looking forward to seeing them.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Yes, I pay to get disappointed. Wait, is that not normal?

Knitter, know thyself. That is the lesson that I learned from participating in the Fall in Full Color club this year. For those of you not familiar with a knitting club, you pay a lump sum and then (at least with this club) every month you get a pattern and yarn and it is a wonderful surprise that feels you with knitterly glee. Unless...yes, unless you are a knitter like me...a picky knitter. I have often said that I wouldn't join a club because I am so picky but I somehow thought I could change that and have a grand adventure and broaden my horizons. Not so much. I have enjoyed one pattern but I didn't want to use the yarn that came with it because is was a cable and textured pattern and a highly variegated yarn that somewhat obscured all of the cable and texture. I can appreciate several of the yarns that came in the club kits but they were definitely not for me. Just to clarify, there is nothing wrong with this club for other people. It is a great club for other people, it just isn't a good fit for me. December is the last month for the club so at least when 2012 gets here I will not longer being paid to be disappointed. I'll still be paying for a gym membership that I don't use but that is a different issue. 

Enough of the grumbling, and thanks for sticking with me to the actual knitting content. Yes, there have been more hats, all of which will be given to a charity. What can I say, they are super quick to knit and I like feeling productive.

There was a Starving Artist beret made out of Malabrigo Chunky that has been floating around in my stash for several years. It took exactly one skein of yarn.


There was a 1x1 rib hat, no pattern needed that used about a half of a skein of Moda Dea Tweedle Dee that has been hanging around the stash for a couple of years.


There were two hats that I made out of one of the yarns from the Fall in Full Color club. The colors are not for me but I can appreciate that if you love fall colors, this yarn will make you happy. One of the hats is a no pattern 1x1 rib brim & the rest in stockinette. The other hat is a Twisted Rib watch cap.




Now brace yourself, there has been non-hat knitting as well. I know. Shocking!! I participated in a knitalong (KAL) of the Fresco Basket Whip cowl for The Knitabulls video podcast. I made it out of some Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight that has been kicking around in the stash for a few years.


Finally, bolstered by the success of the Knitabulls KAL, I joined The Knit Girllls spinalong/knitalong. I am not a spinner so I am just doing the KAL portion of the SAL/KAL and the knitting started today. I am knitting the Hitchhiker out of the yarn that Cloudlover dyed for the SAL/KAL. When you put the pattern name together with the fact that there are 42 pattern repeats the inspiration for the pattern seems obvious. Well, obvious if you have read the book. My progress is tiny but I like the way it is shaping up.


So what have we learned today? I'm super picky and that occasionally ruins some of the fun that I try to have and causes me to whine. I have managed to knit up some of the ridiculous amount of stash that I have. I like hats. I ramble too much.

If you made it to the end, bless you. May your day be delightful and full of laughs.

Knitting Ninja Skills

I am officially a knitting ninja. I was starting a new hat project at work (on my lunch half hour) and I realized that I needed a stitch marker. I didn't have one in my knitting bag but I really wanted to knit so I scoped out my desk and found a solution.



I got mad skills, yo! The hat in question is Twistygoo by Lisa Beamer and the pattern is available as a free download on Ravelry.

Doing It in Public

As some of you may know, Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day and I did indeed do it in public. On of the local yarn stores hosted a Knit in Public event at the Farmer's Market and I thought about going. However, I like to do it in public with a good friend so I had breakfast with Nerd Blossom (yes, that is what I'm calling you now) and she watched while I did it. Then she took a picture. *Naughty* [Yes, I officially have the sense of humor of a 13 year old but I crack myself up...so I'm just gonna roll with it. Blame it on the night shift.] Here is said photo:



The project that I am working on is Stephen West's Pogona in Bellamoden's Fahrenheit 451 colorway. Unfortunately, Bellamoden no longer dyes yarn so I won't be able to get any more of this gorgeous yarn. More importantly, check out all of the sugar in the photo. Yes, Nerd Blossom has a problem...a sugar problem! She was spaz-tastic but that is part of her charm.

In other knitting news, I have a photo of the Noro scarf that I completed for Stash Dash in all it's "where did that neon come from?" beauty.



I really think it is the last Noro scarf that I'm going to make. Yes, Noro has beautiful color changes but having to deal with the knots and the thick & thin spots in the yarn just took the joy out of the project. So, dear reader, if you hear me talking about making another Noro scarf please direct me to this post!

Houston, we have an Etsy problem! Well, not really a problem so much as a "I don't need that but I'm totally buying it because it makes me happy" situation. I happened to catch a Piddleloop update and treated myself to a new bag. Okay, it was two new bags. Okay, it was two new, large wedge bags. I know, I know...that was greedy of me and I should feel bad about it, but I don't. When the package arrived, I tore it open and found this inside:



Oh, did you want a closer look?





And how much room does it have?



Tons. I'm a very happy NerdGirl! Until next time, be excellent to each other and knit on dudes.

Progress

I was finding it difficult to bring myself to work on my Red Scarf projects and then I was feeling guilty about not wanting to work on a charity project so there was a lot of knitting avoidance going on. I wasn't working on my charity projects so I didn't want to work on a project for myself despite the fact that I have several waiting in the wings that I am really anxious to get started on. My relief from the seemingly endless cycle of working on a couple of rows and then dropping the knitting in disgust came in the form of a Norma post. Now that I know that I really don't have to make five scarves and that the OFA might be better off if I only make one or two, I have relieved myself from the prison of a project that I hate (otherwise known as Red Scarf #2). I don't know if I will always dislike Cascade Superwash or if it was just an unfortunate combination of yarn, needle size, and pattern but I really did not enjoy that scarf at all! I resented it taking time away from other knitting projects that I might love if I had some time to devote to them. So, I cast off the start of the scarf and gave it to my cat to cuddle with. Now, I am happily working on Red Scarf #3 which is now the new #2 and that will be my last Red Scarf. It is the cabled scarf and I think that it looks really good despite the fact that it is my first cable project. I will have to get a picture of it tomorrow since it has grown about a foot and a half since the last blog photo.

In other knitting news, I got a call from the lady that is teaching the Magic Loop sock class in October. She just wanted to make sure that I didn't need any help selecting a needle or yarn for the class and she wanted me to work up a swatch gauge before class because we are going to write up our own sock pattern in class! I had just assumed that we would make an average test sock that wouldn't necessarily fit so it is nice to know that I should be getting a usable pair of socks out of the class. Maybe this weekend I will swing by the LYS and get my supplies so I can get the gauge swatch out of the way. This will be a first for me as I haven't ever made a gauge swatch before. All of my projects have been things that I didn't have to pay attention to the gauge...scarves and shawls are great in that respect.

I Heart fake vacation!

My employer has a policy that if you don't use the three personal days you earn every year on your anniversary date by your next anniversary date then you loose them. Right now I am enjoying a fake vacation because this is the last pay period before my anniversary date and I needed to use up my personal days so I took off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...and bonus...Monday is a holiday! I love having time off work with no plans to leave town. I get to hang out with friends that I don't normally see because of my wacky work schedule and spend a little time knitting and watching movies or TV on DVD. My current DVD favorite is season one of Psych which is the funniest show I have seen in a while.

Today I went to lunch with my friend Meg and her two month old daughter Haley. This is the first time that I have seen Meg since Haley was born, mostly because Haley had to have emergency surgery and then she couldn't be around a lot of people because her immune system was compromised while she was recovering from the surgery. It was lovely to catch up in person and Meg let me hold Haley most of the visit! Now, I don't want children of my own but I adore babies and my heart went pitter patter when Haley fell asleep while I was holding her. Meg is doing well and she said that she has gotten into a good routine so it should be easier for us to get together semi-regularly for lunch. Did I mention that Meg wants to learn how to knit? She wants me to teach her and I am a little nervous because I am still a beginner myself. I will give it the old college try though because I love the idea of being responsible for creating a new knitter!

I talked to my mom yesterday and she agreed to take a knitting class with me at the LYS. She is a lapsed knitter but she is an active crocheter who is working on a huge afghan for my brother. We are taking a sock knitting class! I am so excited to learn how to knit socks. The class is on the magic loop method as no prior sock knitting experience is needed. I am sure that eventually I will take the top-down sock class or the toe-up sock class but you need some experience working on double-pointed needles to take those classes so I will have to save them until I get a little practice in on the double-points. I am already coveting a lot of the sock yarns at The Loopy Ewe so this class is probably going to cause me to do a lot of damage to the ol' bank account.

I am still working on the scarfs for the Red Scarf project. I have the first scarf completed and I ended up really enjoying working with the Plymouth Encore worsted. I am not enjoying the Cascade 220 superwash as much but it is working up into a nice scarf. I started on scarf number three which is my very first cable project and so far, the cables look like cables! I was talking with my mom about my quest to find a good machine washable yarn to make these red scarves out of and I almost fell over when she professed her love for Red Heart! I guess I have turned into a bit of a yarn snob because Red Heart feels so scratchy to me. Mom said that when you add up the fact that the yarn is cheap, readily available, and can go in the washer and dryer you just can't beat it. I think mom would have a fit if she knew how much money I spent on some of my yarn. Oh well. Of course, I wouldn't trade the afghan she made for me out of Red Heart for the finest yarn in the world so I can't be too much of a yarn snob.


That will about do it for me today but here is a picture of scarf number three. Cables rock! I will try to get a better picture once the scarf is a little bigger so you can see more of the cable detail.

What to do...

I finished the first red scarf but I need to bind off...the problem is the only bind off I know is a bit untidy and leaves the finished edge a bit wonky and lopsided. I started on another dishcloth for my mom using up the scraps of leftover dishcloth yarn. I am crocheting it so it is going pretty fast. I won't post any photos of it since it is a sad mis-matched scrap project. So to the knitters out there, please post your favorite bind-off method in the comments! Hopefully it will give me the inspiration that I need to bind off scarf number one so I can cast on scarf number three [which should be an adventure since I am going to teach myself cables for the third scarf!]

Keeping busy

This weekend I kept myself busy knitting, canning, and shopping for books. I went shopping on Saturday for Red Scarf 2008 yarn and some old books on canning. I ended up with a Ball Blue Book from 1969 and 1979 and a U.S. Department of Agriculture pamphlet on canning from 1971. I ended up with two different yarns for the Red Scarf 2008 project: Encore knitting worsted weight color 174 and Cascade 220 superwash color 809. I decided to use the knitting of five scarves as a chance to try five different yarns so that I can expand my fiber knowledge a bit. I also ended up getting a skein Noro Silk Garden in color 252 and color 243 after running across a pattern for a cute hat in the Yarn Harlot's archived blog entries. I was catching up on all of the old entries that I had missed since I didn't start reading her blog until late 2006. I am really anxious to try the hat pattern but I am making myself wait until I have all 5 scarves knit since they have a due date!

On Sunday I went to my parents house to put up more tomato juice. We have now put up over 70 pints of juice and eaten about a bazillion tomatoes this summer and that is off of 7 plants. Dad said that by the middle of the week there will be more tomatoes ready but Mom had excused me from helping since I will be working and/or sleeping getting ready for my night shift. After Mom and Dad cooked a delicious meal of hamburgers on the grill, tomatoes, cottage cheese, potatoes, and gravy [for the tomatoes--if you haven't tried the combination I would highly recommend it]. Yum! Having a home-cooked meal definitely makes all of the hot sweaty canning worth it.

When I got home I cast on with the Encore using the Yarn Harlot's one row scarf pattern which I also found in one of her archived posts. I really like the pattern and it knits up fairly quickly, at least it seems like it. Maybe it just feels like it is going fast because it is such a nice break from the Broken Muppet shawl. I had convinced myself that I liked the Suri Dreams but after working with the Encore I know that I do not enjoy Suri Dreams! It feels sticky when I knit with it so I will be taking a break from it while I work on the scarves for Red Scarf 2008. Here are some photos; the first is my progress on the Broken Muppet and the second is the Red Scarf that I started. I am a lot farther along on the Red Scarf than the photo shows...I actually have about 8 1/2 inches done.

Knitting or lack thereof

I am sad to report that right now the only knitting that I am doing is on a dishcloth. It is a pretty little dishcloth but the pattern doesn't show up very well since I am using a variegated yarn...so it is a little frustrating to knit. I am close to finishing it so here is a picture:
I only have about another inch of pattern and then 4 rows of knit before the bind-off. I am waiting rather impatiently for my order from Knit Picks to get here. They are very timely with their orders, I just want instant gratification which won't happen until someone figures out how to download yarn. Maybe Willy Wonka has a cousin that specializes in yarn! I am getting some lovely lace weight yarn (Shadow--Jewels Heather) to make a scarf and some super bulky yarn (Suri Dream--Gloxinia) to make a caplet. Now if only the mail person would cooperate and deliver my yarn.

A little progress

Congrats to Amber and her husband Kevin on their baby girl who was born at the end of January. I still have the baby shower present that really need t0 get out; I took it to the post office and none of the boxes fit so I needed to try to scrounge up a box that will work so I can get it in the mail. If I had know the flu was going to strike me down and prevent me from attending the baby shower I would have just had the gift shipped directly from the store. Maybe I can get it accomplished tomorrow before I start my new shift. Tomorrow, I will begin as the night rover which means I work Monday through Friday from midnight until 8am unless someone needs me to cover their night shift...then I work their shift from either 4p-2:30a or 6p-6a depending on when we start 24/7 coverage.

Okay, so I have been pretty lazy this weekend: I only worked on my gray wrap for about an hour and I didn't work on the hat at all. Of course, I am at the 5" that Brigitte said to make the hat so I guess I am technically off the hook for that one until class on Tuesday night. I have spent the week-end watching movies [Sherrybaby, The Devil Wears Prada, and Jesus Camp], watching TV on DVD [Bones, Season One], and re-reading some books [Harry Potter books 5 and 6]. I should have done something productive with my weekend or at least I should have spent some time with friends but I was feeling pretty grungy and when I feel like that, I just like to be alone. I need to finish my photo scavenger hunt for Swap-bot because I need to mail it out soon! I also have a Beautiful Skies swap to do but I already have the pictures done for that one; I just need to have them printed and sent out.

Oh, here is a picture of the gray wrap so far: