Wednesday Update

Seems I've only been able to make it to the old blog on Wednesdays lately. I like this Wednesday update theme I've got going on because I know I will write the blog at least once a week. Not that I ever run out of things to write about, but for some reason this is working for me for the moment, so I'm going to go with it for another week.

So, without further ado, here is the Hubby's vest - done!

Pattern: Vest from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Yarn: Nashua Creative Focus, Worsted, Colorway: Evergreen

I actually finished it Saturday, but haven't had the five minutes required to write up a post about it. It did end up being quiet a slog, I think because I was just not fond of this yarn. It's really hairy and consists of a fairly loosely spun single. This meant I could not knit this without looking at every stitch. The minute I would look away I would put the needle through the yarn. For me, a big flat piece of dark colored stockinette that requires me to look at every stitch equals torture.

The attached i-cord around the neck and arm holes ended up going pretty quickly, after I finally settled on a plan. Getting to the plan only took four false starts and enough ripped out stitches to equal roughly both armholes.

However, the Mr. loves it. I think he has worn it every day since I finished it. You can't get any better endorsement than that!

By the way, there are only these two pictures because as soon as we stepped outside to take them it started to hail. Every time we tried to go out for pictures on Sunday, it would rain or hail, so we finally gave up. This will just have to do!

In addition to the vest, I also finished a hat and a pair of socks for A. this week. I'll take pictures of both projects and post them soon - hopefully before next Wednesday....

The only old WIP I have now is the Malabrigo Kiri. I'm afraid that one is going to sit around for awhile since I am just not that into it. Recently, a friend kindly pointed out this post to me...doesn't look much different does it? Ah well, I'll get to it when I'm in the mood.

I am now off to start another pair of socks, this time for my new sister-in-law. I'm going to meet her for the first time next week. Since she is a knitter I thought she might like to have something I knit for her. I know I love it when other people knit things for me!

WIP's and other Wednesday Goodies

I think I like this "reporting on my WIP's" Wednesdays. It has motivated me to at least try to put some time in with them.

This week. I made some real progress on the vest. Sorry for the weird angle of the picture.

I finished seaming the vest and have started the edge. It turned out, even though I followed the pattern precisely and the pieces were blocked to just the right size, this was going to be pretty short for the Hubby. So, we agreed that I would add a rib at the bottom to lengthen the entire vest. I was glad I had started with a provisional cast on at the bottom, because it made the ribbing seamless.

Maybe I'll have this thing done by next week?

In addition to working on the vest and the little socks I wrote about last time, I also knit 2 small samples for the pattern line and wrote up the pattern for those samples. I feel so productive!

As we move closer to the June TNNA show, I anticipate fewer of my projects will be things I can blog about. I'm sure I'll find something to write about though. For example, this last week I received a gorgeous hand knit lace scarf from my friend Robert for my birthday.

I am not sure of the pattern, but the yarn is Blue Moon Socks that Rock. I think the colorway is Midsummer's Night. Isn't it gorgeous! I don't know how he knew that is one of my favorite Blue Moon colorways. I guess he does know me pretty well and I am pretty predictable, so no real mystery after all.

Thanks so much Robert! I am already enjoying wearing this one and look forward to using it a lot!

Another pair of Fred Flintstone socks

I finished another pair of socks for V. late last week, but am just now getting a chance to post some pictures:

Pattern: Basic socks, with some slipped stitches thrown in to make it more interesting, Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock, Heavyweight, Colorway: Fred Flintstone

These are made with the left-overs from these socks. I love it that the girls still have small enough feet that I can get a pair of socks for one of them out of the left-overs from an adult pair of socks.
I am happy to report that these are as popular as the first pair. I finished them on Friday and they are still on her feet now! I'm going to have to sneak them away when she is in the bath tonight and wash them.

Happy Birthday to me

Every year, on this day, my mothers brings me daffodils. She says they are my birthday flower and who am I to argue? Aren't they cheery?

I am a big fan of birthdays and think one should always take time to celebrate. It is, after all, the one day each year that really is all about you. In my case though, I think my mom deserves to celebrate too. I have always been told that I was born after 72 hours of un-medicated labor! I still have a hard time thinking about that, especially now that I have experienced labor and childbirth myself.

I think I was born before the "natural" childbirth revolution, at least the version that happened in more populated areas. I remember in the early '80's my mom would laugh a little when folks asked her if she had us via "natural" child birth. She would say "In the small town where I had the kids, that's all there was!"

I had a big post planned for my birthday, but I'm not feeling it. Don't get me wrong, I have had a wonderful day. Lots of good food and good company! Too wonderful actually to interrupt it and blog.

So, I am going to go back to enjoying the last bit of my birthday. I'm nearly finished with V's new socks, so there will be some cute sock pictures soon...

Wednesday Round-up

I have so much to talk about today I'm having a hard time getting started. Let's see...first I guess I'll update on my WIP's, since it is Wednesday. Two weeks in a row...perhaps I am actually starting something...

Not many pictures today, but here's the latest:

Happy Socks - done, see last post
Vest for Hubby - I actually finished knitting the pieces and they are now blocking. As soon as they are dry, it will be on to seaming and then all 600 miles of that i-cord edging. We'll see if I make any progress before next week.
Malabrigo shawl - I finished 1 more repeat

With the completion of the socks and making real progress on the other WIP's, I went ahead and started, and completed, some other stuff.

First, I finished a sample of a hat for the pattern line. I like the way it turned out, so now I just have to take a first stab at putting the pattern together...and I am going to try making some other sizes.

Next I started another pair of socks for V. She wears the other pair I made her EVERY DAY if she sees them, whether they are dirty or clean. I have to hide them to get them into the laundry. I have nearly finished the first one and wanted to measure it against the first pair, but of course she has them on her feet and is at my mom's right now. Maybe tomorrow, if I can wrestle them off of her.

Finally, I made this washcloth:

Pattern: Jonathan Livingston Seagull Cloth, Yarn: Cabled Cotton from Elmore Pisgah

I received this yarn from a very nice woman at Elmore Pisgah, also known as Peaches and Creme. For the last couple of years they have been sponsors of the knitting guild's shop hop. In a recent conversation I had with the Peaches and Creme lady, she mentioned this cabled cotton and asked if I would like to try it. She sent this ball for me along with the items for our event.

I have to say I love this yarn! It has a lovely texture, nice drape, the colors is super saturated and it was great to knit with. I'm thinking about buying enough for a sundress for one of the girls...someday, when I have more time. You can buy it directly from their web site for a great price.

In other news, yesterday I had jury duty. I was sort of looking forward to it until I checked with the court house and learned that you can not take knitting needles into the Multnomah County Courthouse. How weird is that? I can knit all the way across the country on an airplane, but can not knit in a courthouse.

Since I was never selected to go to a court room, I got to sit for 8 hours in the jury room...not knitting! It was so weird. I did read almost all of 'The Friday Night Knitting Club" so at least I got to read about other people knitting. Sigh. It's just not the same...

Finally, I have debated with myself whether to get all "braggy" and talk about the wonderful gifts my knitter friends gave me last Saturday. I decided the gifts are just too good to keep to myself - even though I think the three ladies who gave them to me comprise 90% of my blog audience.

So, the deal is that tomorrow is my birthday and today is Katrina's. To celebrate, Katrina, Amanda, Chrissy and I went out for some good food and good knitting last Saturday. I also left with some really great gifts.

The first thing I opened was an adorable card from Chrissy with a lovely note that concluded with "This card entitles you to a skein of your choice from the Handmaiden Wall O' Temptation". Oh, if only more of the cards in my life had words like those written in them! I should explain that at the time we were at Dublin Bay, which is Handmaiden central. I finally, after much deliberation, chose this:
It's a skein of Cashlana (90% Wool, 10% Cashmere) in colorway '"Fruit Punch". That's some seriously soft yarn and it is going to make very luxurious socks!

Next was a skein of Amanda's own hand-spun yarn and some gorgeous stitch markers she made.

Can you believe she just started spinning a couple of months ago? She actually learned how to Navajo Ply so that she could keep the colors separate. I love it! This yarn is going to have to be something very special.

Finally, Katrina gave me a box with many wonderful things, including this:

It's called "Flat Feet" and is a piece of machine knit cloth that is hand painted. The idea is that you start at one end and unravel it as you re-knit it into socks. Very clever! I saw this at TNNA in January, but had not seen it in any stores yet. I can't wait to try it out and see how it re-knits up.

I am, I think, a very lucky woman to have such thoughtful and generous friends! Thanks again ladies.

More on the birthday tomorrow.

Happy Feet

I have very happy feet today for lots of reasons. First, it is officially spring and it actually feels like it today. I tried to take some nice pictures of all of the budding and blooming things in our yard on the actual first day of Spring, but it was so dark that my crummy little camera kept using the flash - outside, in the middle of the day! Those pictures were not worth posting...

Today though, it is beautiful, so I have included a picture of a magnolia bud.

I can say, without a doubt, our magnolia tree is the best feature of our yard. It is beautiful when in full bloom, which usually happens around the first week of April. Seeing this little bud today reminded me that it's coming soon!

Another reason I have happy feet today is they are going to take me downtown to a fun evening filled with knitting and good food with some of my favorite knitters in the world. Yeah!

Finally, the other reason I have happy feet today is that they are wearing my new "happy rainbow" socks.

Pattern: Same basic pattern, Yarn: Opal Feeling, Colorway: 1705

I love these socks. They made me smile every time I worked on them. They also garnered many comments and questions whenever I worked on them in public, from knitters and non-knitters alike.
The great thing about this yarn is how nice and perfect the stripes are. It made it very easy to make identical socks. Yeah for spring and spring socks!

WIP's Wednesday

I have seen a lot of folks out in knit blogland showing their "works in progress" on Wednesdays. I thought "What the heck, why not?" So, in no particular order, here are the WIP's I am owning up to:

This is the Hubby's vest. The back is complete, as is the front up to the split for the v-neck. Once I finish the front, block the pieces and seam it, I then have to add about 600 miles of attached i-cord edging. Sigh. This will likely be on the WIP list for awhile.

This is the Malabrigo Kiri Shawl. I think it has languished mostly because I have found it pretty boring. However , when I pulled it our for the photo shoot, I was reminded again how wonderful the yarn is. I may need to get back to this soon.

Finally, these are my current socks-in-progress. Again with the plain pattern, but boy am I loving the "happy rainbow" yarn, as the kids call it. This yarn is a lot thinner than the other sock yarn I have used so far, but is making a very nice fabric. I took this picture yesterday and have since turned the heel on sock #2 and am almost finished with the gussets. These should be finished soon.

Also, I have a few design ideas rolling around in my head. If I can pull them together and, if Chrissy likes them, they may go into the Gardiner Yarn Works line for Fall.

Not too bad...oh yeah...I have a couple of dishcloths going too...that's really it though, I swear...