MIA

ok, i know i've been MIA for a while. let's just say, on a personal level, things haven't gone too smoothly for a while now....

but i never give up hope that things will get better. they sort of have to, i think.

news on the family front - daughter is a senior in high school, and filling out college applications. her grades are mostly A's, which is lovely to see... and it'll help with the whole financial aid thing, we hope.

son is a freshman, plays football, and got braces over the summer. at his parent teacher conferences, all the teachers said how wonderful he is, and his lowest grade was a B+. mom is pleased.

on the knitting front...... let's see.

i finally finished the striped socks - yay me!


I traded, on ravelry, for a skein of the Noro Kureyon sock yarn, and made a shawl out of that:


Daughter and I went to the WI Sheep & Fiber festival, and I purchased some yummy cotton/rayon laceweight from Creatively Dyed - and I made a shawl out of that, as well:


let's see, what else...........
huh. did I show off my ene's scarf, made with bare laceweight that I dyed up myself? that came out pretty nicely too!


I'm still working on my mom's sweater - up to seaming all the parts into one sweater, then pick up the button band... hard to stay motivated on that one though, sorry mom!

and my newest project, started last monday, is a KAL for a shawl by a raveler named Pangea - it's a fingering weight, and i'm making it purple for son's football games (since I have 3 more years of football to go to)


I guess that's all for now - now I feel like i'm all caught up, and bored all of you with my knitting. i feel the need to cast on something new, since i finished my socks, and pangea doesn't release the next clue till tomorrow..... hmm, what to make, what to make? I bought some seacell laceweight, i think that one needs to be roadtested!

things I've been working on

not much to report, except my various craftiness - school starts in 2 weeks, football practices start tomorrow... did you know that someone actually makes a mouthguard specifically for kids with braces? who'da thunk it??

anyway... i'm making another pair of toe up socks, 2 at a time, magic loop.... i love the idea of it, and i think if i keep practicing, i'll get better at it...



and then, 2 days ago, one of my mystery shawl KAL's started... this one's a challenge - i thought i was pretty good at the lace thing, but have never tried to knit something as fine as this yarn! it's like knitting with carpet thread...
but the first clue is done, beads and all





and that's life in the not so big city this week - maybe by next week, i'll have pictures of mom's cardigan (back and one of the fronts is done)

i'm not a political person

generally, i won't discuss politics with anyone - it's just not worth the fight...

but my son called me in to see this tonight, and it's pretty funny - anyone remember rick astley?

Barack Roll


and if you don't want to get political, listen to mother

YAY!!

I finished the ene's scarf! it's blocking all over the spare bed - I'll try to get photos tomorrow in the sun - the ones with the light in the room were disasterous (and really really blurry)

endings and beginnings

i finished my son's socks. purple and black stripes. they're kind of funky - he seems to like them. that's the ending part.

beginnings..... my baby got braces today. for the first time, he smiles and shows his teeth.

go figure.

mini socks!

my son actually agreed to me making him socks - once I found this pattern.
because it's only half a sock, it only took a day - one down, one to go!



they're fun to make, because they go so quickly!

YAY!! I finished something!

I've been working on the Goddess Knits Mystery KAL for ages and ages..... though realistically, it's only been about six weeks. I finally finished it this morning, grafted the edges of the edging, and it's blocking..... all over my bed. it needs to be dry by tonight!

long time, no blog

wow... couple of weeks already. ok, so what's been going on...

i finished the sweater for the yarn company. can't show it, because they haven't had their sample show yet. didn't take pictures, anyway, since it was a top secret project. but they're paying me in yarn, which is pretty cool.

speaking of which, i need to stop buying any yarn.... LOL, it's getting a bit embarrassing... i have more yarn than i can knit up in a handful of years... so stash busting, here i come.

my anniversary KAL is coming along - just finished row 66 of 96 for the 4th clue. then just have to do the edging... that's going to take me ages. it's too big to be able to spread out, so the next picture i'll be able to post will be when it's blocking, or fully blocked. it's gorgeous. i love malabrigo. it feels so nice to work with, and the colors are amazing... i have blue, and green/white.... oh, and purple white that i traded for.

then there's my ene's scarf.... now that i have that one under control, i'm really enjoying working on it, even though i keep putting it aside for other things, like the sweater, and the KAL. but i finished the first repeat of chart 3, and the rows get a little shorter each row, which means it'll go faster and faster, once i get back onto it.

someone came up with a chart to calculate how far along i am on the round shawl - i'm just barely at the 64% mark, but i'm there. ene, i'm at the 55% mark, as shown by this cool chart someone else came up with, to calculate how much you've done on triangular shawls - and that one works out by how many rows in the total pattern, and if it's top down or point up. very cool.

my son is getting braces. he needs them BIG TIME. i juggled the budget for a while, and worked out how i can do it. i'm sort of proud of that. and he's so excited, because his bite is the one thing he's really self conscious about. so yay for braces.

and that's all - i have a seriously huge project going on at work, going to single handedly rearchitect 16 websites... really cool stuff.... it's nice to be appreciated.

and that's all the news that's fit to print for now. back when i actually have some pictures to show off!

too cute

my niece and my son and a very large hamburger

   

progress, of a sort

Ok, so this week has been a bit hectic - great big project at work that I'm in charge of - it's the work I love to do, but this is gonna be HUGE!

on the knitting front.... i ended up frogging casablanca - just wasn't feeling the love.

i finished chart 2 of the ene's scarf, but that's mostly been sitting this week,

i finished clue 3 of the goddess knits KAL - i'm loving this one, love the feel of the malabrigo, though i'd like to not have to tink as much!





and the sweater - i finally got the back done, the front done, and have rejoined the 2 pieces to work some 5" or so on the shoulder, then I can bind off 2/3 of the stitches and just have the sleeve again - this sweater absolutely positively has to have a chart to keep track of rows, increases and decreases, or it's a disaster - good thing i'm methodical that way. no pictures, though, because i think the owner wants it all on the QT. I just hope they like it!

win a few, lose a few

i got clue 2 for one of the KALs. truth? it's just not doing it for me. I'm not feeling the love.

so i frogged it. life is too short to knit something you don't love.

on the other hand, i not only finished the chart 2 for the ene's scarf, i finally took pictures! because it starts at the long edge and comes to a point, it still too long to really spread out on the needle to see the lacework, but i'm feeling the love on this one!

and the knitting goes on

I have too many things on the needles. that's all there is to it.

1. I started Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style on WWKIP day - i'm using some laceweight that I dyed up myself in peacock blue/lavender/old rose. My intention was that it be peacock colors. It isn't. It is, however, more like stained glass colors, and I like it. I just finished chart 1 last night.

2. I'm in the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl KAL - clue 2 came out Saturday, I finished the clue Saturday. I'm using Malabrigo laceweight in a color they call saphire-garnet, which is really purple and green. i'm loving it.


3. I'm in another mystery shawl KAL, called Casablanca - clue 1 came out Friday, I finished the clue Friday. That one's getting knitted up in Knit Picks Shimmer lace yarn, in a color called Sherry - it's really pretty.


4. And as if that wasn't enough, I agreed to test-knit a sweater for some friends... in light fingering yarn. right now, i'm on rows that are 250 stitches from end to end, and the rows just feel endless. On the other hand, as I go from one colorway blending into the next one, the colors are coming out really interesting (and pretty).

it's going to be a week of lots of knitting, with nothing getting finished. Not too sure how I feel about that. I like finishing things.

yay!! I finally finished something!

this is my shetland garden shawl - I'm pretty pleased with it. started may 1, finished june 19.

huh

so i'm working on this shetland garden shawl... loving the pattern, it's intuitive, has a nice rhythm, really well written

until i got to row 156.

and frogged it.

and knitted it.

and frogged it.

and knitted it.

and frogged it yet again.

turns out i dropped a YO back on row 155.



time to knit row 156.

again....

sivia...... i don't do your patterns justice!

another sock warrior

I had the best time yesterday! First, I met another sock warrior, Sandy, who was born out here, but moved to Sweden! To me, this sounds like such a cool thing to do.... but when you talk to sandy, life is fairly 'normal' there - just in a different language!

and she gifted me with some amazing yarn!



then, for WWKIP day, i joined up with with some initters who were by my local library.... and since i was waiting to hear from the designer of the shawl i was working on (so couldn't work on that), I started ene's scarf with some yarn i dyed up myself in peacock blue/lavender/old rose.



and the best part of all is that it didn't rain until after i was home again.... i'm so tired of rain!

ok!

things I've finished -

my toe up, magic loop, 2 at a time socks!


my french market bag (needs to be felted)

clearing the needles

I'm getting there.

Karan got her socks, and apparently likes them - of course, i have no memory of what patten i used for the lace.... once of the ones from my book. LOL, i hope she posts a pictures so i can see what i did (i think it might have been the big diamonds)

finished the french market bag - it just needs to be felted. it'll be interesting to see how much smaller it gets, because right now, it's huge!

chocolate cherry socks... i'm FINALLY up to the final ribbing at the top of the cuff, and then they're done. i'm glad. i need to be able to work on something else..... but they're nearly done. my goal for today is to do laundry, felt the bag, and finish the socks.

then, all i have left on the needles is my poor, neglected shetland shawl...... i want to get back to that!

i really need to FINISH something!

so i've put the socks aside for the moment (as i'm on the home stretch) and gone back to my french market bag... 2 handle pieces done, 2 to go, then graft and felt.

i can do this!

THEN i'll finish the socks.

then get back on the shawl.

did i mention i joined 2 lace shawl KALs? i'm clearly a glutton for punishment.

past the heel and up the legs

that's where i am on the toe up socks. this is still pretty cool.

the book is frighteningly chatty - it takes like 17 PAGES to turn the heels, which is just insanity. once you get it, though, it's a pretty ingenious method - just plan on having a ton of small stitch markers (the no snag pony tail elastics work really well, just get the small ones)

so now, i'm on the leg part - i think the heels seem a little pointy, like i probably calculated too many short rows.... so i think i'll work out my own formula, and try that the next pair.

but i'm happy with these.... and yeah, i'll be glad when they're done - i feel the need to work on something different, which is warring with the need to finish these.

i need to learn to knit with my feet.

teaching an old dog new tricks

this is so cool. i'm actually knitting socks, 2 at a time (no second sock syndrome), toe up (no toe seam to graft) on one circular needle! (magic loop).

and i can see this is going to be great... the shawl KAL that i've joined, it's a circular shawl, and instead of having to putz with DPNs and all that, i'll just do it magic circle. one needle, start to finish!

i ordered some malabrigo lace yarn last night - kind of peacock colors... and it was a couple of dollars (per skein) cheaper than webs. YAY!

pictures soon - i'm so happy with this whole 2 at a time thing, i may never knit socks the old way again!

pictures!!

wow, almost a month

ok, so let's see what's been going on....

on the needles, i have the french market bag, in icelandic lopi wool... i need to do about 4 more inches and then the handles.

i also have a lace shawl designed by sivia, that got stalled out, too.

because i was in sock wars. it was run less than efficiently, which is a pity, and even though i'm a fast knitter, i got killed off in the first salvo - it isn't how fast you are, it's how fast your assassin is. i had a fast assassin. but it was a ton of fun, and i made some new friends.

one of them, we met up today and did a raid on the yarn store in burlington...
check this out:


and this is us 3 dead warriors - Andrea, Gracie and me



and to my ex, if he should stumble across this? Thank you for sending that nonsense to my attorney - you saved me the trouble of it.

chart C is done too

not sure if i just need to pay better attention, or if i'm just not as good at this as i thought i was..... had to frog back 4 rows at one point, then had problems with another row...... so now, i knit a row, count the stitches, then purl/lace back and count the stitches again......

at least i catch problems fast that way (unless i suddenly lose the ability to count, of course)

And chart B

And I'm about halfway through chart C.

Sock wars starts Friday - I'm ready, got a whole box of sock yarn... loathe to use the tofutsies, though, because it's pretty expensive stuff and the chances of me being the last knitter standing it pretty much nil.

But i'm thinking about it.

out with the old, in with the new

seems like i'm giving away some of the shawls, even as i'm knitting a new one!

the koolaid one will go to my stepmom for mother's day. my mom doesn't wear them, though for her b'day i'll end up making her a sweater... that's what she'd like.

so here's the new shawl i'm working - yarn dyed by me.



this is chart A. they go up to G. but hey, it's a start!

a prayer for april

not the month. a person. a friend of a friend. she's very ill. i agreed to make a prayer shawl for her, through a mutual friend of ours. I'll be sending her this shawl.



so any one who reads this, who has the faith of prayer.... please join me in sending prayers of love, well being, and peace of heart to april.

thanks.

a koolaid shawl!

it's done - and it's funny, it looked SO scrunched up when it was done, but not blocked.

blocking is magic. that's all there is to it.






so i'm off to the post office - benny lost his arm before he got back to his home in new york, so he's all fixed now.

then i need to finish the big thing for the knitter's swap, get the medium thing made, the smalls should be easy - i will probably knock them out today, just to get them done... i'm usually one of the first to send out swap packages, i think i'll end up being one of the last! and it goes to norway, which will take a little time - sorry henriette....

on frogging and quitting

i'm not a quitter. at least, i don't think i am.

i started a KAL about 4 weeks ago - dyed up my own yarn for it, the whole thing.

i've tried to do clue 4 nine times.

ripped it out 9 times.

i'm done. i frogged the entire thing tonight. i re-wound the yarn, for use in some other project (no sense in wasting 880 yards of fingering weight)

i'll figure out something else to do with the yarn. i am SO not enjoying the pattern, it's no longer worth it to me.

so i quit.

and ya know? i think it was the right thing to do, this time. not always. but this time? yup.

i'm turning 50

yuk.

it sounds so old!

my daughter spun me some yarn - that was pretty cool. first time ever.

so i think i want to run away for my b'day.

i don't do idle

so i had to start something new.

i had this fingering weight merino yarn that i dyed with koolaid, and it came out an awesome blue-green (that's blue raspberry and lime)



but what to do with it? It was only 440 yards, which wasn't enough for the tuscany.... aha, swallowtail shawl. says it uses 437 yards. i can do this. it looks like a fairly small shawl, but i can always block the heck out of it!

here's what it looks like with the beginning chart, and 3 repeats of the second chart... i'm really liking this one, and SO happy I finally figured out what to make with my koolaid yarn!

tuscany done!

i love this pattern - it's a simple set of repeats, so it's supremely portable, and on laceweight, the whole thing fit into a gallon sized plastic bag to carry along.

the yarn was dyed for me by a craftster member in Germany, which means the color will never be replicated....

and i'm done. it's blocking, and it's done. yay me!

definitely a yarny day!

it's dreary out there.

but in here, it's a yarny beautiful day - in a craftster swap, my friend amanda was perusing my wists, and saw that i really wanted some of those old time wooden soda crates for yarn cubbies. and she found some on ebay!

check this out, is this too cool? i just rearranged things in my craftroom, so that these are on the top of a dresser, and i have other yarn boxes (sport weights, and sock yarns) on top of those - it looks like i have my very own private yarn store!! WOO HOO!!

huh - too much time gone by

now i know it's been a hectic, busy week. i haven't posted anything in all that time.

updates on the crafting - Benny the monbkey is done. i hope alie likes him. she apparently liked the purse with 'stuff' that i sent to be there ON her b'day... 5 year olds can't be expected to understand that i'm making this thing for your b'day but it isn't done yet.






on the mystery stole - i finished clue 2. still not sure i like *this* yarn with *this* pattern.... but i keep reminding myself that the handpainted merino, flower basket shawl worked out really well. so here's the end of clue 2, and clue 3 comes out today - 5 clues in total.



and i'm still working on tuscany - up to the 11th repeat, which i think is the original size, but i have more yarn, i'll keep going - i tend to like the shawls to be bigger. this one might be for my stepmom. depends on if it's done in time.

i guess that's all for now....

sundays are for sluggards

at least, i feel like a slug. of course, if i take a step back, i'm working on benny the monkey for alie, and need that done by around my b'day for her.

I'm working on a new mystery shawl, and finished clue 1 on friday (the clues come out on wednesdays).




i'm working on the tuscany shawl, and am pretty much back to where i was when i frogged the entire thing - at least this time, i'm not irritated by errors!

and then there was the felted bag. i think i liked it better with doubled worsted, instead of this bulky wool/mohair blend - this one feels a little shaggy... on the other hand, i won't worry if it gets shaggy cause it started out that way! but it's done! yay!

mystic light KAL

so i finished clue 1 tonight - i really mangled the last 3 rows multiple times, it seemed like i was going backwards there for a while, as i had to frog yet another row.

but it's done,and i like it - i was worried that the yarn was a bit too busy, and would distract from the pattern (which is really quite nice) - and it might well be. but in the pictures, you can see the colors AND you can see the pattern.

lace and cables is an amazing combination, by the way - if i ever get a creative juice and try to design my own, i'll have to hold that thought. cables and lace. lace and cables. it's nice!

so i made a claim

in the ongoing wish swap - and dyed some yarn for the recipient. and i really hoped that she would like the colors (dark to pale purple)

and according to the USPS site, it was delivered yesterday.

and she's gone till tuesday, which means she's received, but she hasn't.

anyway, here's the yarn... i hope she likes it.



on my own crafting front, i'm working on the felted flower bag, this time for me - i loved the one I sent to superhooker in a swap last year, and always wanted one for me. the body, handles, vines, and leaves are finished, and i'm on flower number 5 out of 6. i should be able to felt all the pieces this week, and hopefully put it together by next week.

i think i'm getting burned out on the swaps.... i received a disappointing package in a swap that was really supposed to be a high quality one, and for now, it just seems more rewarding to make things for myself - at least i know that i worked really hard on it, ya know?

i'm not a total slug!

about 2 weeks ago, i agreed todo a personal swap with another craftster member - her aunt makes these amazing stained glass tiles, and she was going to have one made for me that had a dragonfly.

i promised to make a crochet hook roll.

and procrastinated an awful lot.

tonight, i said enough is enough. and made it. no pictures, of course, because that would have been TOO organized!

but it's done, packed up, addressed (shoot, forgot a note)... well, it's going to the post office tomorrow.

yay, me!

secret of the stole is done!!

wow. 9 clues, 2 months... and it's blocking across an entire bed!! i'm thinking i need to get 1 panel of the foamy insulation for a blocking board - cause if i keep doing big projects like this, the bed isn't big enough!

2 months, and i still like it. good thing, huh? it would have been nice to be one of the lucky people who won a prize, but really - the designer shared this pattern with us, as well as clues and puzzles... so for 2 months, i got to belong to something cool. i can live with that!

not to mention the stole, which is awesome - check this out....