FO: Just Enough Ruffles

Other than knitting feverishly on the Ribby Pulli, I managed to start and finish a project in less than 48 hours. While it was not big needle knitting, the Just Enough Ruffles Scarf is knit up in some lovely Malabrigo, which feels like butter when you're knitting it. I started it a week ago on Sunday and knit all day Sunday, then came home on Monday and finished up the scarf. I want to knit a couple more. They go so quickly and so much fun to make! I love the ruffles, which make me feel all girly, but not too twee, just right.

Pattern Specifications:

Pattern: Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau

Yarn: Malabrigo yarn in Chestnut colorway, 2 skeins (used about 1.5 skeins)

Needle Size: US 9 (5.5 mm)

Modifications: None, knit as written, including short rows. I guess it's true, if you (read: me) do short rows and it hasn't been a year, it's a lot easier for me to work them. Although I did have to make an emergency call to my friend Susan for so some short-row help.

December Knitting Goals

Yes, it is that time again. I do find that having knitting goals helps to keep me more focused, as opposed to just knitting willy-nilly and casting on for tons of projects.

1) To finish the Ribby Pulli- should be doable. I'm fairly close .

2) Finish my sister's scarf. I finally cast on for the black scarf of doom for my sister, as a replacement for the scarf my sister lost last year. I'm about halfway through, so I really should get crackin' on this thing. I sort of hit a lull, but it's about time this scarf accompanied me to work again for my lunchtime knitting breaks. I'm using the Tipsy Rib scarf pattern (pdf) by Flint Knits and I love how it's working up. I gave my sister a choice of patterns and the Tipsy Rib was my favorite and she picked it as her scarf-to-be.

3)  Finish the Good Luck Cowl . Should be very do-able.

4) Possibly knit a hat out of the leftovers from fingering weight yarn I used to knit the cowl.

With Christmas coming, I don't think I will tax myself with too many goals for December.

Happy knitting all.

NaKniSweMo Wrap-up

NaKniSweMo came and went. And while I was "unofficially" participating, I did try very hard to finish my Ribby Pulli, but I did not complete the sweater. I did get much further along than I started and I'm pretty happy about that. I finished both sleeves, attached the sleeves to the body and began working the body back and forth and split for the neckline.

I'm assuming that my row gauge is different or I am not completely following the pattern correctly regarding the decreases, because I have still have about 4 inches left of the body to go. All in all though, it's not a bad go.

There's been a lot of progress since the picture above and I feel like I am in the home stretch. I'm really loving the Silky Wool . This yarn knits up so wonderfully and the garment is very lightweight, but has a nice amount of warmth. Not too hot, just right. I can't wait to wear it.

Now, that NaKniSweMo is over, I will still be working on finishing the Ribby Pulli. I also cast on for a new cardigan, but I haven't made much progress on it. For December, I really want to focus on some accessories. A cowl has been cast on using fingering weight yarn and it's going pretty nicely. I'm pleased as punch to work on a pattern that my friend, Chris , designed. It is the Good Luck Cowl and I love how it's turning out. I'm about halfway through, but I do hope it fits. I am wondering if I should have added an additional 10-20 stitches, but we'll see what size it turns out when completed and blocked.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did here. I cooked most of the dinner and my favorite part of the meal was sweet potato pie. It took a good amount of time to prepare, but oh, so worth it.

And that is all for me tonight. Talk to you soon. . .

FO Report: Artemis Socks

Hi all,

I'm happy to be back and with a finished project. A pair of socks using MaryKay's  yarn. I really adored the pattern, although I opted to not make a pair of fraternal socks, but identical socks. Of course, I loved working with MaryKay's yarn. The colorway, DrinkMe, is beautiful and I couldn't wait to cast on with it. But after casting on for the first sock and making great progress, I let the sock linger.

I finally finished up the socks a week or two ago. When I knit up these socks, I think I should have made a smaller size. The foot on one sock is larger than should be. Or I suppose I could have knit the sock a bit tighter on a smaller needle, hmm don't know, but I love the socks. They're a bit large. I could always give them to someone else, but I doubt that will happen. I may try to intentionally felt them, we shall see. I did love the pattern. I'm sure I will knit them again.

Project Specs:
Pattern  Artemis Socks  by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Red Rocks Fiber Works Snowmass Sock Yarn in Drink Me colorway
Modifications: none, knit as written using 64 stitches

I'm happy to have knocked a project off the needles. I am still working on the Ribby Pulli. Both sleeves have now been finished, now to join them to the body so that I can begin yoking! :-)

Please be sure to check out my friend Mary Kay's new yarn shop. You've heard me talk about her yarns before. They are so beautiful to me. She truly has an eye for color. Now, she's not just available locally, but worldwide. You can find Mary Kay at her Red Rocks Fiber Works online shop. Mary Kay doesn't just do yarn, but also does fiber. You won't be disappointed!

Sweater Knitting Weather

With the advent of cooler weather, I've gotten the fever for knitting sweaters. I decided to unofficially join NaKniSweMo. Unofficially, because the moment I sign up for these things, I seem to not follow through. I've made progress on my Ribby Pulli finally. For some reason, when I started this sweater last year, I put it down for awhile, when I started a different sweater. Then I seemed to have sleeve aversion, as the Ribby Pulli is a bottom-up raglan and when I cast on for the sleeves, I kept screwing up the ribbing. It's actually a simple 2x2 ribbing, but it starts off as P2, K2, P2 and since the amount of stitches isn't a divisible by 4, I kept getting hung up on my ribbing. Really silly, but at the time, I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

Here's a pic of my Ribby Pulli in case you might have forgotten it, heh!

 and now with added sleevage:

So I've got one sleeve down, one more to go. I can't wait to join the body altogether.

And if that wasn't enough, I also started another project, a cardigan, the Meringue Yoke Cardigan by Ann Budd. A sweater project which I'd queued in Ravelry awhile back and egged on by Joan , I felt the urge to cast on for this sweater. The yarn was a purchase from a fellow blogger who was destashing, using worsted weight black tweed silk. I'm loving the yarn, but as I have cast on for the entire body, each row is a bit slow going for now. My first priority is finishing the Ribby Pulli though. 

Thanks everyone for all of your well wishes. I made it through the procedure and actually have no recollection of the procedure, which is nice. I'm just waiting for the lab results now. I'm also happy for the election results, obviously.

I'll be back with more blogging and even a FO post.

Election Day

Hi all,
No time for a knitting post today, but hopefully a bit later this week.

Lots of things have been going on in the background, some of which have been health issues. We (meaning the GI doctor and myself) believe it may be a lactose intolerance peppered in with acid reflux. Tomorrow I will be having an upper endoscopy procedure in the afternoon.

Many things are on my mind. School is always busy, but this term is much better in terms of subject and teacher, a happy mix. But what I'm most concerned about is the state of our country. This is a time for a change and I hope that everyone who has the opportunity to vote will get out and vote. Help others vote if you can and make sure your vote is counted.

I voted early on Thursday and tomorrow I will anxiously await the results of this election. I pray the time for change is really happening.

Post with knitting coming soon, I promise. I even finished a pair of socks during Socktober.

Remember to get out and Barack the Vote!!

Sockin' Away

Hey peeps,

It's been a minute since I last posted. I thought I would pop in before the next term of classes start today. This past term was really hectic and I didn't exactly enjoy my instructor. The class is now over, which is good and I finished all of my deliverables for the class and passed with an A, so I suppose it's all good? Hmm, well, whatever, now it's time to study Employment Law, something which is really interesting to me.

I've been knitting socks like a fiend lately. It might have a little something to do with Socktoberfest, which is once again hosted by the lovely Lolly. There is also a Mystery Sock KAL hosted by Kirsten of Through the Loops over on the Ravelry group. Of course, I started a new pair of socks, to now have 3 pairs of socks on the needles. That number is a bit much, even for me! However, I'm working to complete at least one pair of socks this month.

Clockwise (from L to R): Artemis socks in Red Rocks Fiber Works in Drink Me colorway, M2's candycorn sock in Red Rocks Fiber Works in Jeni's Choice colorway and the Mystery Socks in Claudia's Hand Painted in Caribbean Blue colorway.

Here's a closeup of the Artemis socks. After my last blog post, I determined that I jacked up the lace and had to rip back to the ribbing. Now I'm at the heel flap of the sock, so this one is moving along very well.

Last up in the current sock trifecta are the Mystery Socks KAL hosted by Kirsten Kapur of Through The Loops. I really like how the socks are turning out. This mystery is more of my speed than lace.

I'll be back soon with tales of yarn acquisition. Bye for now.

Not in a Blogging State of Mind

Whew, it feels like September just flew by. I know I said it in my last post that I was busy. I'm sure everyone else has been busy too. I just didn't think I'd be away from the blog this long. I have been missing the blog and feeling the need to reconnect with my peeps. I just never seemed to have enough time to get everything done.

Even though the blogging has been scarce, there's been knitting aplenty! I've really been hitting the squares (for the Barn Raising Quilt). I think it's time to slow down on the squares and finish up some sweaters. I still don't have a finished object to show and that is starting to wear me down, because I'm close, but not yet done with anything yet.

Flutter Sleeve Cardi is still going. I'm finished with the body knitting; however, the cardigan band stitches are held off to the side while you knit the front(s). Afterwards, you knit the stitches that were on hold up to the length of the cardigan. Dude, this part is so boring. It takes all of my energy to keep knitting it. I'm just wondering why the heckfire I didn't just knit it with the front altogether, instead of as an additional step. I have a feeling that I will not be knitting the additional flip of the cap sleeves to allow it to be turned up and tack on a button in the center of it. I think I will just do the seed stitch border on both sleeves. I'm getting to the point where this sweater needs to be finished soon.

Hey Teach is moving slowly, but I'm close to being finished with the first front. When I cast on for this cardigan, I read many others' comments of making the sweater a bit longer, as it is a bit short for my taste. I added more length (than was necessary for my short stature and even shorter torso) and now the sweater is a bit too long, but oh well. I guess it will have to be ok, because I'm way too lazy to go back and rip the back. If that happens, this sweater may never be finished.

Although my sock knitting mojo hasn't up and left me, I feel like I'm barely making progress on my socks. Probably because all of my knitting with tiny needles has been on the barn squares. Hmm, things to ponder. Anyhow, the Apollo and Artemis socks by Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops are moving along. I initially started out knitting the Artemis sock. While the idea of fraternal socks is cute, I'm more of a pair girl. But (and there's always a but), I did not take into consideration while I was knitting the second sock that I did not pay attention to the directions. The directions start off with Artemis and then there is a spot for the Apollo socks. I knit the first sock following the Artemis sock pattern. The second sock, I read the pattern, but I didn't pay attention to which one I was knitting, until I knit a repeat and thought how different the sock looked. It turns out I was doing the second pattern and not the first. Hence, I am now knitting fraternal twin socks. I thought about ripping them out to begin again, but really it might be sort of fun to go against my nature, every now and again. Besides, I actually really like the look of it.

The second pair of socks are for M2 in Red Rocks Fiber Works colorway, Jeni's choice. I have taken to calling them candycorn socks. These socks are knitted in stockinette. They are moving a bit slowly, but there is no deadline for these socks, so they'll be done when I get them done.

For Socktoberfest, Kirsten (of Through the Loops) is hosting a Mystery Sock KAL on Ravelry. I've signed up. Because really, what's one more pair of socks?! Ha!

Well, that's it for me today, but I will be back soon.

The One Without a Title

I've been away for a little while, not physically, but mentally, I took a bit of a blog break. I kept thinking about blogging, but the physical act of actually blogging wasn't really happening. As a quick catch-up, since last we conversed, I've become a year older, visited with a blogger friend in town (Deborah) who was here for the DNC, had unexpected visitors in town for the DNC, watched Obama give his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, started a new school term and M2 is now a sophomore.

So yes, life is quite busy, but the knitting, the knitting is easy. Heh, well, maybe not all of the knitting being quite so easy.

I finally picked up the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan again, in an attempt to actually finish something soon. I am now on the second front, about halfway through it, although I am currently screwing up the short tows. Once I get that resolved, I hope to to get this sweater squared away. I would like to finish this before fall is over.

During the Ravelympics, I cast on for a new project. I was never an official participant of Ravelympics, but I had high hopes for finishing Hey Teach. Hmm, that wasn't possible. While I do love the look of this pattern, I prefer for the designer to spell things out. I know this is a manner of personal preference. However, I am not one of those knitters who can look at my lace pattern and not follow the pattern. I don't love charts, I like it written out. When it comes time for armhole shaping, the pattern requires you to figure it out on your own. When I am forced to actually graph out the lace pattern, let me just tell you, I was not a happy camper. The graphing made it easier to see the decreases, but my poor, addled brain did not appreciate having to do it.

I'm currently on the first front. The piece pictured is the back and it was the longest. This one is not as simple as the Flutter Sleeve Cardi, which actually has the sleeves built into the fronts, which eliminates the need to knit sleeves separately.

I have still been working on Barn Raising squares, albeit a bit more slowly than the frenetic pace I maintained during the summer road trip.

Socks are on the needles too. I finally kitchenered in the toe on the first Artemis sock and have started a pair of socks for M2. Both socks are knit out of  Mary Kay's yarn. Hopefully I will have some pictures toshare with you next time of the socks.

Now, I go back to the crazy life of a midterm and assignments to prepare for and a college friend in town that I haven't seen in over15 years. Back to go stick my head in the sand for a little while.

Bring on the cuteness!

So I don't have a whole lot of pictures of my nephew, but I did get this video of my nephew dancing. Too cute, so I had to share.

Squares Squared

I was knitting like a madwoman on vacation. Mostly in the car. Although I did help drive, M did the most of the driving and I got to get a lot of car knitting done. In the car, I worked on squares. Whee fun, but it is easy portable knitting. I did finish the first Artemis sock too, but that was the only sock knitting I did on the trip and I didn't have that much to do on it.

For Stacey's squares project, I knit 3:

For the squares exchange, the rest of the squares I knit out of one skein of Colinette Jitterbug, for a total of 5 squares (2 were already exchange):

So far, my stack of squares is small, but this is just the beginning of my squares:

I'm still knitting on squares, but the obsessive knitting on the squares is taking a backseat to a new project, to be discussed soon.

Have a great weekend all.

Where I've Been

Whew, it's been a minute since I last posted. I got back in town last Sunday night and then right on in to work the next day. I thought I would get back here sometime last week, but it definitely did not happen.

The road trip was awesome. We stopped along the way and visited with one of M's cousins in Tulsa,OK. Our first destination was Atlanta. The family reunion was great and we all had a wonderful time there.  While in Atlanta, we visited The World of Coca-Cola, took a tour of the CNN Center, went to the King Center and went to the top of Stone Mountain, stopped by Knitch and took in a Braves baseball game for M's birthday.
 

A pic of all the family at the World of Coke

At each family reunion, they typically occur over a long weekend. On Fridays, we have a bbq or picnic. We spent Saturday at Stone Mountain, had a sack lunch there and then attended a banquet. Amazingly enough, I even managed to get a picture of my mom, sister, nephew, bil, M and M2.
 

After Atlanta, we headed on towards Greensboro, NC to spend a few days with two of M's sisters that live there. Then we spent a lot of time here

on the road on the way home.

We stopped along the way, the first night's stop was in Memphis, TN. A trip to Beale Street was in order, since we were so close and all. We stopped by the Riverfront the next morning before we left.

En route to Tulsa again for another visit with M's cousin, we stopped in Little Rock, AR at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and also visited with one of my former college friends there.

 I think the success of this trip was that we took our time driving and didn't try to do too much driving in one day. When we arrived home, we weren't terribly tired. Since then, we've just been getting back into the swing of things. There has been some knititng happening and I'll cover that in a subsequent post.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, I had you all spoiled with pre-blogging. I love blogging in advance. But this past week, I was barely able to keep my head above water. Work picked up the past couple of weeks, as it is audit season and I had many class obligations. The least of which is finishing up a paper as we're driving to Atlanta today in just a few hours and will be gone for ten, eleven days.

I can't wait to see my nephew Chason, and visit with my mom and sister. We're having a family reunion in Atlanta, so it will be lots of fun. And then we'll head on to Greensboro, NC to visit two of M's sisters. Good times with family, I can't wait! I think I need a vacation. I'm even excited by the road trip.

With all of that said, a good friend of mine is getting married in August and I had a bridal shower to attend. Because the groom and bride had been living together, as well as having established households prior, they were not registering anywhere. However, the theme for the bridal shower was wine. The bride and groom both have Italian heritage and they wanted a wine collection. I had no problem giving a nice bottle of wine and we put a tag on it for the deemed special occasion we signed up for. This is a friend that I knit baby socks and a hat about 3.5 years ago for. I know she likes it when I knit something for her, so I went searching for a wine bottle cozy pattern! Later I thought this might be bizarre, but once I started I was committed to finishing it. The bridal shower was on a Sunday afternoon and I started it on Saturday morning, worked on the ribbing for a few hours. Went home did some other chores and then worked on the cozy for the rest of the night into the early morning.

The wine cozy was really simple. It was just working a tube or the cuff of a sock down for 8-10 inches and doing a bind-off. Just lovely and fun and it was worsted weight yarn knit on size 5s. I opted to do stripes, as a way of using some scrap yarn, of which I have tons. It was super simple. I also decided to knit it in the round. Because I was knitting this with tight time restrictions, I didn't want to worry about having to seam it up and weave in a million ends because I striped the cozy.




I used a Knitty pattern, which as I stated before, is just real simple.

The bride was quite surprised and happy and loved it. That's all that counted in my opinion. My gift was one of the first to be opened and during the rest of the gift opening ceremony, everyone kept commenting that theirs wasn't a knitted winebag, but . . .It was pretty funny.

Lastly, I was the recipient of a lovely gift from Senorita RosiG just for commenting. She makes some of the best soap and sent me a bar of her handmade soap, which I was sad to use all up because it smelled so good. M wants to buy more, but sadly Miss RosiG makes it for her consumption and not for sale anymore. I just feel privileged to have had a bar. I also received some handmade balm and a skein of Morehouse Merino laceweight. That was a lovely mail day, as I hadn't expected anything, so it was nice to receive it. Thanks again Rosi!





Well, peeps, I'm outta here. Need to get some shuteye before the big drive. I'll be sure to take some pics from the ATL.

Summer of Socks

I thought I signed up for Summer of Socks this year and it turned out I didn't. Oh, well, no big loss there really because it's not like I would win the contest for the most socks knit during the 2 month time frame. I'll just consider myself a member in spirit.

I don't know if you all hadn't noticed, but I was missing my sock mojo for a few months. It might have possibly been related to knitting the boring black/grey socks for M forever, or so it seems. I'm so happy they are done. I think I am saving these for his birthday (at the end of the month) or I may give them to him sooner, just not sure. He even asked me the other day who the socks were for and I told him they were for me. He mentioned that he liked those socks and they were close enough to black that he would wear them. I wonder if he's been reading the blog again, hmmph.


They may end up being a surprise or not, either way, they are done and now I'm happy to knit something fun again.



Project Specs:
Pattern: Men's Sock, using basic sock pattern, upped stitch count to 68 sts for M's foot
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Project start date: February 2008
End date: June 2008
Modifications:
Considering this is a basic pattern I've been using for years, no real mods, just changed stitch count from my usual 64 to 68 for M's larger feet. I still love using Trekking, although it's not as soft as other merino sock yarns, but it blooms wonderfully after washing and is a good workhorse sock yarn for socks that will get a lot of wear. And trust me, M is hard on socks.




Now, next up are a pair of socks that I am just loving! I am using a pattern, Apollo & Artemis by Kirsten of Through the Loops, which gives you two sock patterns for the price of one. I'm using some of Mary Kay's Red Rocks Fiber Works sock yarn in the Drink Me colorway and I am in love. The pattern is simple, but has a pretty lace insert on the sides. I'm knitting the Artemis sock pattern and the yarn and pattern are a perfect match.

Boy Colors?

So M2, the now 15yo, has selected sock yarn from my stash, no less, for the two(?) pairs of socks that he is requesting. I used to be able to get by with quick socks for him. A little ribbing, barely any cuff, turn a heel flap and get on down to the business of knitting a foot and you were done. The socks were done before you barely knew you got started. Now, his feet are growing (aargh!now we're up to a men's size 10) and wants a pair of shorty socks and a tall pair, read long and tall like his father's socks.



To be fair, I really don't care what color socks the boy wants to wear. If he wants to wear the crazy colors, then it's all on him. I will wear them, so I guess why wouldn't a boy wear them? I dunno. It just strikes me as odd, that he chooses the colors that I've picked out and love and really are for me, as opposed to the more sedate colors that I would assume a boy would prefer, and that M, his father, prefers.

M2 even selected my CampWannaKnitKnit colorway and I told him that I just couldn't bear to part with that one, so he has chosen two other Mary-Kay colorways. I do have to say that the boy has good taste. And the black and blue socks will be shorties, so perhaps there will be enough for me to get some anklets out of them? ;-)

Just Like Potato Chips

These squares are so addictive. You can't just knit one. They're even more addictive than beloved cotton dishcloths, if you can imagine. I'm knitting them for the Barn Raising Quilt. My knitting group has decided to exchange squares as well. I have to knit at least 9 squares to give away, but I keep using sock yarn leftovers that I don't want to give away! These squares go so quickly, I've decided to have two on the needles, one for leftover yarn for me and one for squares to give away.




The two that are pictured are squares 2 & 3. The first square, I gave away to Cynthia, since she was here from out of town and all. But I'm currently on squares 5 & 6. It will take me some time to finish this quilt, especially because I will be making the quilt larger than the pattern calls for. It looks sorta small with only 40 or so required squares, so I'll just keep going bigger until I have a size that's satisfactory. I'm enjoying using my leftover sock yarns in this quilt.

I've got to hurry up and get one square to Kim. I want my beaded skully square. Aren't they awesome?

Here and back again: a recap of 4th year Camp

Many people attend various knit camps and learn techniques from knitting instructors. In my circle of friends, camp takes on a different significance. Each year we head for the hills (or also known as mountains out here in CO) and with several knitting projects in tow, we prepare for camp.

Stacey is usually the ring leader with planning Camp, which includes oh-so-fabulous swag.

This is the house we stayed in for camp this year:



Pretty nice, right? Yeah, I agree. We had 15 ladies this year, including Stacey's niece, Miss Mimi.




I believe it is safe for me to say that we all had a ball. The time spent with good friends, relaxing, hanging out and knitting is unbeatable. We had lots of wonderful food prepared, including a traditional Hawaiian meal prepared by Kim, yummy crepes by The Knitty Professor and a southern breakfast with an egg/sausage casserole and cheese grits by the Beach girls! :-) Good food, good company and yarn, how can you go wrong?

Mary-Kay dyed a whack of yarn and after her orders were filled for stores, she had a lot of yarn leftover and what better place to sell it than to a group of women at camp who all love her yarns? I don't know how many of you could pass up all of that beautiful yarn waiting to greet you when you walk into the house. Lovely stuff and I believe everyone walked away with at least one skein.




This year's campgoers were treated to some wonderful swag, as per usual camp standards! :-) We had the pleasure of MaryKay dyeing yarn for us in an exclusive Camp WannaKnitKnit colorway. Isn't it purty? In addition to receiving Red Rocks Fiber Works yarn, we also received Piddleloop bags, yay! I've never had one of their bags before, so I'm excited to have one, with a pirate theme no less. If you didn't peep it on the pic of all the camp attendees, we had special shirts made up this year for camp with a logo. Sweet! I love my shirt and will be wearing it often.



We did something new this year, working on a group craft project. It was quite fun and I really got into it. We made dpn holders and as I typically knit socks with dpns, I use dpns a lot. These were fun and easy to make and I already have a set in use!



This was the laid-back, relaxed attitude that camp inspired. Shouldn't everyday be like this?

Estes Sheep and Wool 2008

This past weekend, I managed to escape the daily grind and hang out with my knit sisters. A lot of fun was had by all. We took off work on Friday and drove up to Allenspark and spent the night, so we were prepared to be up and early for Estes Park Wool Market. Estes was a lot of fun, as always. Some of the best times are seeing old friends.

This year wasn't all about the shopping. It was more for companionship, although a little shopping was done.

The Estes haul was small-ish in nature this year, although of course, I didn't attend Estes last year. I did a little shopping at my favorite vendor, Plain & Fancy Sheep and Wool booth. A couple of skeins of the sport weight were purchased for a shrug.



And this year, I also picked up some fingering, which I didn't recall seeing in previous years.



This year I bought my dream yarn. More Elsa Sheep & Wool cormo yarn. It might be nice if I knit with the laceweight I bought over 2 years ago. The yarn purchased this year is a natural, undyed color. I love it!



We stopped at Oskar Blues for lunch, as per our custom. We all like to stop for the wondderful sweet potato fries, yum!

That's it for now. I'm still working on the M socks. I was getting close and found a huge mistake and had to rip back quite aways. But still I keep pressing on.

Knitting (Somewhat) Merrily Away

Lots of work, between the real-paying job and school work, there's been some knitting.

I started on a Persephone scarfby Mim of MimKnits. The yarn I'm using is Handmaiden Sea Silk in the Midnight colorway. I'm loving the yarn and the pattern, a perfect combination.



I have been working on the Flutter Sleeve cardi as well. I finished the back of the cardigan and am up to the left cardigan. However, I'm a bit stuck with the short rowing this pattern requires. Hopefully I'll get some time to stop at the LYS get some help. If anyone has any videos, links, etc., I'm appreciative of all help.



Lastly, I started a scarf sometime in March. The pattern is Trekking is for Necking, a pattern designed by Jenn Jarvis. My friend, Kim, finished a scarf in Trekking. I opted to use some of my sock yarn stash and make a scarf using Colinette Jitterbug in the colorway Raphael.



I really like how it's turning out, but I tell you what, you do feel like it will never end. But hopefully I will have it done sometime by the end of the summer, or early fall.

June Goals

Reminiscing on my May goals momentarily, the success rate was pretty poor.

1. Knit three dishcloths. I might have to start changing this goal altogether from three to possibly two, because I have yet to accomplish this goal in two months. I did manage to knit 2 baby bibs and two dishcloths. The basic dishcloth is sort of my favorite, with a basic eyelet pattern in garter stitch. One was actually finished this month and the other in May. For these, I like to use the leftover scraps from other dishcloths, bibs, etc. They are pretty eclectic, but I like to call them rag cloths and they are easy to knit and good for using up the odd bits of cotton.






2. Finish the Caribou Cherub Thujas. I'm actually pretty close with finishing this pair of socks, but it looks like the first sock is a bit short. I'll have to go back and rip out the toe and reknit a bit longer.



Heh, no ripping, I say. I finally finished the second sock, but honestly it was not as pleasurable as other knits. I was merrily knitting away on the second sock, when I ran out of yarn. What I mean is that, of the yarn I purchased, each skein is 200 yards. Since the yarn is sportweight, I cast on fewer stitches than normal and used less yarn on the first sock. I was able to knit the second sock down to the heel flap before changing to the second skein of yarn. When that happened, the two skeins were markedly different, although it didn't appear to be so when I moved to the second skein. I looked down on the foot of the second sock and it appeared much darker than the first. That was really a bummer, especially as I really liked the first sock, but these socks are a bit heavier to wear with regular shoes, so they will be house socks or with clogs. Since I'm behind in blogging projects, this will serve as my FO report as well.

3. Start a Barn Raising square. All of my friends are doing it, why shouldn't I? Heehee. Nope, didn't happen. I do need to start at least one for June.

4. Pick up either the Hanami stole or the Enchanting Juno stole. Or perhaps start something new? :-) Hmm, I did pickup the Hanami stole again, but promptly put it down after a couple of rows because I realized I was reading the pattern wrong and need to rip back. Haven't gotten to that yet. But I did start a new lace project and decided to rip Enchanting Juno. Perhaps I'll start it again at another time or not.

June goals

1. Start a Barn Raising square. Since members of my knitting group are knitting squares for each other to put in our individual blankets, I need to have one completed by the end of the month to pass on to a special friend.

I won't even mention dishcloth cotton this month. The dishcloth cotton stash is getting low. I think I'm down to five actual skeins and I have scraps to knit two additional dishcloths, but that's fine.

2. Finish M's second sock. I finally kitchenered in the first sock and after more than a month, cast on the second sock yesterday. Since school is back in session starting last week, I managed to make some headway on the first sock with a mega-reading session tonite at a local cafe. I'm going out on a limb to finish the pair by Father's Day. I think I can, I think I can!



3. Continue working on my Flutter Sleeve Cardi (oops, haven't mentioned that one, getting stuck at the short rows currently).

That's about it for now. Life has been busy and blogging has been taking a back seat. My theory is life to be lived. I'll catch you all on the flip side.

Dishcloth Cotton Jag

Hey all,
Thanks to anyone who was able to help out my dear friend Mary-Kayand her yarn sale. I am sure she's thankful and glad there was demand for her yarns. I think she such a talented dyer and her colors are swoon-worthy.

As for me, I was in a bit of slump for a week where I didn't touch any knitting. Part of that was just that I spent my evenings either blogsurfing, spending time on Ravelry, or doing nothing. I didn't even feel compelled to cook or any other home duties. Now that my "break" from classes is coming to end, I'm starting to feel more refreshed. Also, hanging out with my girls tends to rejuvenate and fuel more knitting desires.

The weekend before Memorial Day weekend, I remembered that we were having a baby shower for a co-worker who's having a girl. I rustled up a couple of baby bibs and even managed to sew on buttons too. It must have been the short tie frame and I knew I wanted to finish them on time. Once the deadline passes, my enthusiasm for a pattern or project tends to wane, so it's best to strike while the iron's hot and all that.

Both bibs are from Mason-Dixon Knitting girls.

1st baby bib=knit in Peaches & Creme Country Garden colorway


Second bib knit in Bernat Cottontos


Both together now, say aww! :-)


And last in the cotton jag, for the moment, is another dishcloth. I found it on the Harvest Moon Designs blog quite awhile ago, and it was a free pattern. Now, I am not able to locate the actual pattern. This was also knit in Peaches & Creme in the Desert Sunset colorway. I really liked the pattern and how it turned out.



I also recently cast on for a simple dishcloth pattern. I like to use these especially for the leftovers from dishcloths and I just knit 2 or 3 leftover skeins into a dishcloth. As they are for my kitchen, I don't mind if it's not a fancy pattern. Nobody in the house seems to care one way or the other as to a fancy pattern or plain garter stitch. I figure I might as well do brainless knitting on those dishcloths.

I cast on for a new sweater, a summer cardigan too, but I keep forgetting to take pics. I will have to do that soon, as I have finished the back of the cardigan and have cast on for a front now

That's all for now. Must dash to work!