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.