Christmas Spirit

It is September. That can only mean one thing this year.  That’s right…all Christmas knitting all the time.  I am in the Christmas spirit. I have been working on Christmas dishcloths, Christmas tribbles, Christmas laundry soap, Christmas blankie squares, and a Christmas scarf!  I have gotten a couple more dishcloths done. I have also gotten a couple of tribbles done. These will go in baskets with some “kitchen” goodies (measuring cups, hotpads, etc).  I also found a great recipe for laundry soap, so I have been making batches of that to give away in pint jars!  My laundry soap is 1 Bar of Kirk’s Castille soap finely grated, 2 c. washing soda, 2 c. baking soda, 3 c. Borax, and a small amount of fragrance (about 30 drops).  It smells wonderful and cleans better than anything I have ever tried. It is also diaper safe (a big deal in our house).

In working on the Christmas blankie squares I have learned a new skill.  Cabling.  I haven’t just learned to cable, but I have discovered that I hate cable needles.  I learned to cable without a cable needle!  I feel so daring!  The May square was my first attempt at cabling. I decided that I was not brave enough to cable without a needle.  I fumbled with the needle for two really badly done repeats. I decided that there had to be a better way. I had only ever seen cabling without a needle where you drop the stitches you would normally put on the cable needle, knit the others, and then pick up the dropped stitches. I decided I just wasn’t that daring.  Then I saw some reference to doing it the way that is described in the Confessions of a Knitting Heretic.  Well, I just got the book. I looked up how she did it.  Taking the example of a 4 stitch cable, she takes the first two stitches and slips them to the right hand needle. Then she knits the next two stitches. Then she puts her needle into the two slipped stitches (into the front if the stitches were to be held in front or into the back if they were to be held in back). She then slips all four stitches off of the right needle.  The two slipped stitches are now on the left needle. The other stitches are “dropped”. You then pick them up on the right needle.  They don’t hang out there. They are only off of a needle for a few seconds. That didn’t seem so dangerous.  I tried it out, and discovered that I love to cable that way!  For some reason, it is much neater and easier for me.  Not to mention that I don’t risk losing the cable needle. I ripped the first cables I tried and started over. The square came out great.

I have now done three cabled squares without the cable needle. It is making me feel so clever and daring (and as you know, that always makes me love a technique…when it makes me feel smart)!!  I am so glad I waited to do the May and July squares until after I bought that book.  I am thinking of writing an ode to Annie Modesitt since she has so transformed my knitting (or maybe that would just be weird)!!

I also got a great present in the mail, which made me think it was Christmas for a day!  I got my package for the Reducio 7 swap.  Included were a lovely little Hufflepuff sock, a travelling bag (which is lined and has a little bumblebee sewn into the lining…my pal’s patronus to protect against lost items), a train whistle, and some candy. It also had the Ribbit pattern, yarn, and a tennis ball to make a cute little frog!!  She did such a fantastic job on the package!!

 

Cuz that’s how I celebrate WWKIP day

Saturday was WWKIP day (or at least one of them). There was an event at our local mall.  DH agreed to watch the two boys (something he never does alone) so that I could go.  It was great.  I worked on my Shawl that Jazz. I got to the beginning of the ruffle on it. I am still on the first skein, so I am going to do the extra ruffly ruffle.  I might also make the ruffle a bit longer.  I learned that there is a local group that meets 2 Sundays a month.  I am going to start going to that. I am pretty excited. It is hard for me to go to group in Gainesville because the drive is so long. A 2 hour knitting group becomes a nearly 4 hour trip.  This avoids all that travel time, so I am able to go more often!  I am pretty excited.

We also had the option of making a donation and getting a goody bag.  The goody bag was great. There was a skein of yarn. It was Classic Elite.  It came with 2 soap sweater patterns. I love these things!  I can’t wait to make one.  I think my first one will be out of this yarn for my mom. I bought her some handmade soap at Hanks for her birthday (in January…yes, it is still in my house). I think I am going to put a sweater on that yummy soap!  The bag had all kinds of coupons and adds for local crafty places. There was some wool wash and lotion, a needle gauge, a ruler, and a button too.  It was pretty fun!

While I was there, several people were knitting 2-at-a-time socks toe up.  I have been thinking about knitting toe up socks.  I promised myself that I would not cast on any socks until I finished DH’s socks.  I had gotten to the toe decreases and realized I was still on my first skein of Lorna’s Laces (this was about 6 weeks ago). There is no way I should be able to get a whole sock for DH out of one skein of LL.  I had that sick feeling that the sock was too small. Naturally, I did what any good knitter does…I put the sock in a drawer hoping it would grow on it’s own.  While watching everyone knitting socks, I confessed that I had DH’s socks in timeout.   I was told to get them out, frog them, and cast on a toe up sock for DH out of the yarn.  I decided this was a fantastic idea as it kills two birds with one stone.  I have decided that I will not only do a toe up sock for DH, but I will go ahead and do it 2-at-a-time (on one circ).  I have an extra 47″ cable, so I just need some tips. I am going to make a Knit Picks order tomorrow and will add those on.  I ordered 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes today too.  I think I am going to ditch the Monkeymen pattern for know. I think I am just going to do a ribbed sock.  So my knitting disaster that I have been avoiding has turned into an opportunity to learn something new.  So, I celebrated WWKIP day by frogging a nearly complete sock!

I have also finished the second April Square. I have one more April Square to do. Then I have to do the May and June squares!  For some reason, I don’t love knitting the April Square. I haven’t been working on them. I am excited to try the May one. It is a cabled square.  I have never done cables.  Even that has not gotten me moving like it should.  Once I get this last April Square done, things should pick up on the blanket making!

 

Picking back up

In church last night, we were talking about an outlook on our spiritual life. One of the people in the group said that he views life like a video game. When you mess up, you have to start the level over.  He said he realized that wasn’t really the way it was. When you mess up with God, you can just pick up where you left off. I realized that I treat a lot of things that way. I haven’t been blogging because I got “behind” and didn’t want to have to do a big post.  I realized, I can just pick up where I am. I am probably missing a bunch of stuff, but that is going to have to be ok.  I am not starting this level over!

Thank you to everyone who asked about us during the household battle with the plague!  DH, LB, CB, and MIL/FIL all got sick. I didn’t, thank goodness.  Everyone spent about a week sick and then another week just feeling tired.  Everyone is better and my carpets are nicely shampooed.  Hopefully, we will avoid such a nasty bug in the future!

Sometime ago, I got the first installment of the Loopy Ewe sock club. It is wonderful!!!  It has a beautiful yarn, Casbah, in Ocean Currents. This yarn is so soft and so vibrant!!  It also came with a pattern (toe up) that I am hoping to try soon!  There were also other goodies including a tool kit that clips on to your knitting bag and candy!  It was a wonderful package.

I have still been working on squares for the blankets. I have three of each month except April. I am almost done with my first square. I set the squares aside because I am desperately trying to finish my shawl before the 24th, when we go to Wicked.  I am finishing the last repeat, and then I will need to do the border and block it. I am worried that it won’t be big enough.  I am also looking for something to wear with it. I should find something before next Friday!

I have also made some progress on DH’s socks.  I even got to work on them at Hanks SNB on day (one of my birthday presents way back in March was to get to go to knitting group). I have the first one almost done. I am a little worried it might be to tight. I have my fingers crossed.  DH complained that his other socks get a bit saggy at the end of the day. Maybe these will avoid that problem.

We did the Voluntary Pre-K screening for LB. He will start pre-K in the fall. He charmed the evaluators.  He scored very, very high, too.  He is so excited to start school. We have to keep reminding him that he is going to have to wait a while.

 

Drive by post

This is just a drive by post.  Both boys and DH are down with the stomach flu.  I won’t share details, but I am thinking I will be forced to shampoo my carpets this weekend.  Life is fun!

Anyway, I left you in suspense. I got a new laptop!! It is a Lenovo N500! I love it, but have had very little time to play with it.

I also got some pretty Malabrigo sock yarn this weekend. It is so lovely. I just wish pictures could do it justice.

 

Random things on my mind

I haven’t been posting a lot, but I have had a lot I have thought about posting.  Here are just a few things that I have been doing and have been on my mind.

1. I did the third January square. I am on target with my Christmas knitting right now. I have been thinking a lot about my next scarf project, but I want to finish my shawl first.

2. I am on the 13th pattern repeat of my shawl. I was almost done with the repeat when I dropped a stitch. I really couldn’t see where it was dropped. I just knew I was missing one. I ended up having to pull back to my lifeline (inserted at the beginning of the pattern repeat). I am so happy I am using lifelines!! I  am still trying to decide if I am going to do 15 pattern repeats or more.  I can’t tell how big the shawl will be when it is blocked.  I may do 20. I don’t think I could make it too big, but I would hate to make it too small!

3. At Christmastime, we tried LB on dairy again.  He didn’t react.  We then had CB tested for allergies. We learned that he had also outgrown his dairy allergy. Right now, we are dietary restriction free! It is such a wonderful feeling not to have to worry about labels and monitor food all the time.  Unfortunately, LB doesn’t like most dairy items.  He went for four years without them. He just never developed a taste for them.  We are working on getting him to eat more dairy.  CB, on the other hand, has started gaining and growing like crazy now that he can eat dairy (and drink milk).

4. I have been a single mom this week. DH was in Orlando all week. I don’t know how single moms do it!  My kids slept terribly all week. I am so exhausted!  DH is going to take them for some time on Saturday so that I can catch up on sleep!!

5. CB is teething. He also has a yeast rash on his little bum (due to teething). He is a cranky baby!  He has also started biting.  He would be a holy terror if not for being such a cuddle bug!  I can’t wait for this stage to pass, but I hope the need for hugs and kisses doesn’t go with it. He is too cute when he is soooo cuddly.

6. I started Weight Watchers in January. I weighed the same as I did when I delivered CB (which is way more than is healthy).  Since then I have lost 15 lbs. I am now at my pre-CB weight and in my pre-CB pants.  I have a long way to go, but I am definitely happy. My reward…maybe some Malabrigo. I am heading to Hanks on Saturday!

7. Paperback Swap: It is a website where you can exchange paperbacks with people all over the US.  You post your books. People request them. For every book you send, you get a credit that you can use to request books from others. I have a ton of paperbacks and love to read. I love this site!

8.  I listen to podcasts all the time. One of these days, I am going to list all the podcasts that I listen to with a brief “why I like it” blurb.  Keep an eye on the Pages for that list!

9. My new church. We started going to a new church in June. We feel so loved and accepted there! I absolutely love it. I am the Kids program director. The pastor and his wife are our age (early 30s). They have two girls very close in age to our kids (5 and 3).  We feel very loved and supported there.

10. I am getting something new tonight!  I will post about it tomorrow, but I am super excited.  It is not yarn related.  Can you guess?

 

Lots of FOs

I have been participating in the Reducio Swap on Ravelry. When I went on hiatus, the group was taken over by some very enthusiastic knitters. They have kept it going wonderfully, so I get to just be a participant (how fun!)!!  This is one of my favorite swaps.  I got my package from my pal.

Do you see all the goodies?  There is a mini-sock (I was in Slytherin this time), a snail, a slug, tea, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars, M&Ms, scrapbooking stickers, Fort Dodge Magazine (which my pal does much of the photography and writing for), a scrapbooking calendar, and a cat toy.  There are also scraps for my blankie. It is yarn that she dyed herself and the socks she knit with the yarn got second place in the state fair!  What a cool memory.

Here is a close up of the “Care of Magical Creatures” themed knits (just ignore the dirty window sill):

I have also been doing some knitting for my own pal.  I made a mini-sock for my Slytherin pal.  It is using the Knit Picks Essential sock yarn (so soft). 

For my Care of Magical Creatures item, I made a dragon. He is supposed to be a finger puppet, but he came out small.  Now he is a “wand pal” (or a pencil pal or a knitting needle pal).  He is pictured on a knitting needle.

I have also gotten two January Squares done. These are part of Hanks 2009 Year of the Afghan.  I plan to do three squares a month.  For Christmas, these will be gifts for DH, CB, and LB.  I have ordered some more yarn to make the third square for January and the three February squares.  As soon as the yarn gets here, I will get caught up.  I am making these with Knit Picks Swish Worsted. I love this yarn!  It is super, super soft.  I also like the colors.  It is a pleasure to work with.

I made a mistake on the blue square. It has a repeat over 6 rows instead of 8.  As a result there are 10 repeats (instead of 7). I think I like the green one better.  They both came out about 9×9 instead of 11×11.  I am going to wait to do any blocking until I have a few more squares done.  I want to see if the squares for the other months will be the same size or larger.

 

New Years = New Projects

For some reason, I have a terrible case of startitis.  Something about the New Year. I have been doing more tribbles and garterlac dishcloths.

I have another of the pink/blue (Winterberry) garterlac cloths on the needles. Michael’s was having a sale on all yarn. I got even more dishcloth yarn on sale today.  They were 2 skeins for $5 (that means I can get 2 cloths and 2 tribbles for $5!!).

I also did a tribble for myself (I really needed one…actually, I need several).

I also started a scarf for my niece Shay.  It will be for Christmas next year.  I got the sock yarn for it from the Sock Yarn from Stash Swap.  It is neat, but I don’t wear many of the colors in it. I had been looking for a pattern that would really speak to me for the yarn.  DH got me 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders for Christmas. I am doing the Sock It To Me Scarf. I really like how it is turning out.  It really looks like something my niece would buy for herself!

I had planned to go to Hanks today, but CB was with me. He was in a foul mood, so I decided to wait. I plan to buy some skeins of Lorna’s Laces in the Panopticon colorway (3 skeins).  I am going to start socks for DH. He has been wearing the big socks I made for him very frequently.  I have been dreading doing another pair because they are huge and take forever. They are also a bit boring.  I love the colorway, so I am hoping it will help me speed along.  They will be for DH’s birthday (in May, although I hope to finish them long before that).

I still have my shawl on the needles. I have done a few repeats. It is growing faster than I could have anticipated!  I love how it is looking.  I know it will grow more slowly the bigger it gets, but it is still surprising given the skinniness of the yarn.

It is really unusual for me to have so many projects going on at one time!  I normally have only one or two at the most. Right now, I have several. I keep thinking of other things I want to start.  I have been trying to use my queue on Ravelry instead of casting on, but I can’t seem to help myself! If only I could do nothing but knit! I might be able to get it out of my system!

 

There is no place better than the yarn store!

This morning, DH said he would take LB so that I could take my time at Hanks. I was really excited to be able to go without worrying about him! He has always been very good at the store, but he has been a bit difficult the last couple of days. Of course, LB was disappointed that he didn’t get to go to the yarn store. DH told him, “We are going to go somewhere way better than the yarn store.” LB wouldn’t hear it. He told his daddy, “There is no place better than the yarn store!” It was so cute. DH told him that he would remind him that he said that someday (like when he is 15). I totally agree with LB though… I had quite a good time! I got lots of pretties, too!

I have been obsessively searching for baby knitting for my friend’s upcoming arrival. She is having a baby in July in California. Not exactly great timing for covering a baby in knitted gear! I finally decided on a cute dress and matching booties (in addition to the already knitted booties). I found the perfect yarn for it! It is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK in Spring Frost.

I was planning on getting some more Lorna’s Laces sock yarns, but when I got there I was drawn to the Colinette Jitterbug. It took me forever to decide what to get. I finally got two different colorways. The first is Raphael. It is peaches and purples. Purple is a pretty standard color choice for me, but not peaches and oranges. I normally don’t like orangy tones. This skein just kept calling me. I love, love, love it! I have nothing that will match it, but I am going to make myself socks and wear them anyway.

Finally, the Jitterbug in Slate. I love the other colors with the gray being dominant. It is just crazy enough without being too crazy (a bit like me, I guess). It will also make nice socks for the boys if I decide to make them socks too. DH even liked this skein (although, he decided it was too much color for him). I can’t wait to knit with these! The yarn feels great. When I first started knitting socks, I only liked the smooth yarns. I have come around to the bumpier yarns. They make such a nice fabric.

LB was excited to see so much new yarn. He keeps asking when we are going to be getting the “windy umbrella” out so that he can “help me knit.”

 

Stop and smell the flowers

This week has been so busy! I have been swamped at work. I haven’t had any time to knit. I have been so exhausted at night, I can’t seem to concentrate. I have had no time for myself at all.

Since I don’t have much knitting to show for this week (none after the booties), I decided to post a picture taken with my new camera. I love this shot. These are the petunias that LB and I planted in the planters on either side of our front door. They have taken off. You can smell them when you come onto the front porch. My new camera does a good job with close ups like this! The colors are really true!

The only knitting thing that I have been working on is the Reducio Sock Swap. I have been putting together some information and new guidelines for the next swap. I have also been tracking down the few stragglers. I have made contact with all but one person. I will either be contacting an angel or putting together a package to cover that one this weekend. I will most likely just act as the angel for this round, especially since it is just for one person. Other than that, I plan to visit Hanks to spend my gift certificate, relax, and smell the flowers!

 

A new wee tiny knit obsession!

Hanks is really my downfall sometimes! On Friday, I got an email from my best friend from high school. She is having a girl! I immediately started thinking about little girly knits. Then I looked at the Hanks Friday Five. They had a link to Saartje’s Bootees. How I missed this pattern on Ravelry, I will never figure out! Everyone has knit them. Now I know why! They are easy and super quick. They are about the most darling things ever, too!

I had to finish the first monkey sock immediately, so that I could cast these on (silly self imposed rule…I already have two pairs of socks on the needles). Now that these are done, I can start on the second sock!

They are so tiny! I made the large size, but I think they are really a newborn size (now, I will admit that my babies were both around 8lbs, so they were larger newborns…). I used my blankie scraps. In total, it took about 25 yards of yarn (about 5g…a little more). I started the booties on Friday night. I knit about half of the green portion of the first before bed. I finished the rest of the knitting on the booties on Saturday and seamed them. I didn’t technically finish until Sunday because I had to go buy buttons (I didn’t have buttons tiny enough), but since the knitting portion was completed on Saturday I am considering them done on that day. The only changes that I made to the pattern were to use the cable cast on for the straps, to use a crochet bind off (coolest way to bind off ever!), and to crochet the button hole. Now I need for more people to have babies so that I can make more of these!! I just can’t help myself. I love wee tiny knits!