Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The one where I talk about the knitting that I haven't done!

Did you see Knitty Gritty yesterday? They did the cutest little felted purse! I want to do it. It has swiss darning involved, though. I wonder if that is really as easy as she made it look. I've never felted either. I would probably have to make the purse a little bigger. I just never can see the point of a small purse.

I haven't been knitting because yesterday I had a docs appointment. He said baby could come any time! Cool beans, but that means no socks are gonna get finished if he comes early! Oh well, just means I will have to knit while he is napping! I'll get into the flow of things I imagine. Then I found out that work is way behind. I used to be glad that it was so busy because it kept me occupied for the endless weeks of bedrest. Well how am I to knit if I have to work? Don't you hate when real life interferes with knitting? :) But.........the more I work, the more money I have, the more money I have, the more yarn I can buy!!! YAY!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

The one where I start

So here it is. My official attempt at a blog. I have NO clue what I am doing, so keep the expectations low, please. At least for a while. I hate when bloggers don't blog often (ok so I'm addicted to reading blogs, sue me), so I will promise to try to blog regularly. If anyone reads. Oh well, if not, I'll have a nice little diary documenting all of my knitting escapades. For now, I'll shoot up some pics of stuff I have done so far. Don't look for WIP pics any time soon. The camera is packed in the "off to the hospital baby bag" and I refuse to bring it out because I don't want to be birthing a baby minus my camera :) So, here goes. The stuff that I have photos of that I have knitted recently (or not so recently).

My first socks!

Too cute huh? Well, I think so. They were knitted with hand-dyed yarn from my LYS. (I just loooooooove her dyed yarn!! Check this out.) Knitted on size 5 needles, I used Kathy's pattern called "Simpley Socks." And I finished them both! (You will see that I do have a big case of one sock-itis). If you search her blog, she has a great instructional KAL to help if you have never knit socks!


Another pair of socks in progress......and this is where you will see my problem begins.

Yep, just one finished. That sucks. The other one is completed down to the heel, and I just cannot make myself pick them back up. I last worked on them on my honeymoon (hey, we had a long drive!). That was in January, 2006. They are in Moda Dea Sassy Stripes with the top in Rasberry Lion Brand Fun Fur. Size 2 needles (therein lies my problem). They are VERY warm and comfy. Well, at least this one is.


I am now bothered by the fact that I did not even remotely try to "match" the second sock. Apparently, I am the only one on the planet not worried about my socks not being identical! That sucks, too. Now its going to drive me crazy. I refuse to frog the mate. I will just have non-matching socks. Its a "design feature."

Almost Argyle pattern, by Susan Lawrence (if you haven't checked out her blog, do it! Love her!) These are a little further along than in this picture; however, they will be frogged I am afraid. Not that its a bad pattern, I'm just a bad knitter who can't figure out how to get it to look right! Love the pattern and the socks are cute as all get out, I just need a little more experience under my belt first I guess. Knit on size 2 needles (see, told you the size 2 is my downfall), Knit Picks Essential, pumpkin color.

Finished.....Christmas presents for my girls for last year. I can't take credit for these all by myself, hubby did help me! Yep, he knits too. Or at least he did. I'm sure when things calm down here, we'll both get back into the swing of things.


And here I am:





Knitting this
little beauty....



Its the Bobble Snuggle pattern by Kathy at my LYS. Scroll through her blog here (Tuesday 29 November, 2005 blog post), and you can see it on. Too cute. I knitted three obligatory scarves when I started knitting a little over a year ago, and then I did three more for my kid's teachers. Not even a thank you note! Good thing we don't knit and give for the glory. I also made myself a pair of fingerless gloves, and a pair for my mom for Christmas. Made my sister a pair of anklet socks for Christmas and a pair of fingerless gloves. I can't believe it would be time to start (HA! Should have been, more like it) knitting for Christmas presents again. Not gonna happen this year, baby takes priority. No deadline knitting for this chick :)

I also completed a beautiful Dale of Norway sweater, but failed to take a picture before I packed it away. I have the yarn for two more DON sweaters also, I assume those will get started after the baby is born and when its cold enough to knit with Ara again. Also currently on the needles, but away for post baby knitting, this beautiful Lily Chin pattern (first picture). I'm almost done with it really. Did the front, the back, and I have either a sleeve or that very top peekaboo part on the needles. Quickly to follow those, with the yarn just waiting are these patterns: Sweater girl, Sleeved poncho and bolero in Nolita (1st and 3rd pictures).

I know, my stash is insane. I so need to go on a yarn diet. I guess I technically am, its not like I have purchased recently. Right now, I am knee deep in a sock obsession. And this is my WIP for my middle daughter. Size 3 needles, simple stripes yarn from Knit Picks. And.....I am going to start my Wyatt socks. Those are going to be the socks that I finish out my next 13 days of bedrest with. I don't know what pattern I am going to use, I am overwhelmed with sock patterns and I want to do them all. But, hopefully having all these patterns in the queue will help me knock down my sock yarn stash. We won't even go there. Not today at least. Shortly, I will be starting my first toe up socks! I joined a cool new KAL and I can't wait to get started. They look like a pretty cool group of people.

So that brings us up to date. I promise, it wont be this long and boring every time I blog. Just had to bring us all to the same playing field.