Breathing Again...

Well... there's one sock! Think I had enough for #2?

I did! Thank God I did!!!!! Both socks are stunning and while I had a near heart attack knitting the last one, worrying with every stitch that I was going to run out of yarn, I didn't- even had a little teeny bit left over!! The pictures of the socks here pay homage to the pattern name- I'm standing on a map of Connecticut! This is one of those patterns you knit to impress the heck out of your friends-- it's a lot less complicated than it looks. (And it looks so pretty!!!)

Pattern: "New England Socks" by Nancy Bush from "Knitting on the Road"

Yarn: Cherry Tree Supersock in "Natural"

Needles: US 0

(Do socks ever look bad on Sock blockers?) With the New England socks off the needles and my heart returning to normal palpatations, I also squeezed out a few more projects this week - behold... HATS O PLENTY! (I'm almost caught back up to the goal again!)

With the socks done I can turn my focus on to more interesting pursuits- like the pretty pink Powder sweater that's been sitting in my Ravelry que for quite some time. I'm not loving the yarn so far- and it sadly won't knit to gauge so this sweater is going to require a little "gauge math" to ensure a pretty finished product. Cross your fingers for me that I'll be pleased with the results! Below is the waist band completed (and blocked!) as well as the gauge swatch.

And that, ladies and gentleman, was my very productive week! It's amazing what you can get done when you assume breathing normally again!

Anxiety Attack

I am at MAXIMUM anxiety levels right now. In fact if I inserted a fancy little graph to show you my anxiety out of 100- it would be off the charts.

I'm knitting the New England socks, sock#2. I've got a pattern and a half of the repeat as well as the toe to complete and I just don't know if I'll run out of yarn or not. There are moments when I think to myself that it will be fine and then there are moments where I'm nearly breathless in fear that I won't have enough and THEN WHAT? I could order another skein of the yarn from the infamous Loopy Ewe - but it kind of defeats the purpose of stash busting (and creating room in the stash to justify further Loopy purchases) as well as running the risk of a mismatched dyelot. (Alternatively all would not be lost as I do have other pattern ideas for the extra yarn.)

And so I knit on, trembling in fear of what might be. Running out of yarn would be bad.... very bad.

We shall have our verdict soon- cross your fingers!

Rain Can Be Good Too!

Many good people in Calgary are currently bemoaning all the rain we've had. While I agree that I am SO. OVER typhoon season here, (or so it feels), the rain has served one very useful purpose- time to knit. It's too miserable to go outside- and thus provides the perfect opportunity for prime knitting time.

Check out what I accomplished this weekend!

Uh yah, that would be a blanket, two socks and two hats. Holy productivity Batman!

First on the finished list was the Runk Baby Blanket.

Pattern: Leisure Arts "Baby Chevron" by Kay Meadors

Needles: US size 9

Yarn: Bernat Satin in White and three Blue variations

Notes: There's no doubt about it, the pattern knits up beautifully, and the finished product is pleasing. However with each color change comes endless ends to weave in- and well, the lazy knitter in me just groans at the mere thought of it. I also ran out of white yarn earlier than expected and only knit this approximately 34" vs. the regular 40" blanket size I knit. Personally I like the smaller size, (ends the pain earlier), but kind of felt like I was cheating to be done so much shorter than normal.

Here's another close of shot for your viewing pleasure:

As if that wasn't exciting enough to get that off the needles- I also made HUGE sock progress on the New England Socks - like sock 1. This is a stunning pattern and one I'm certainly going to be proud of upon completion...

... that is if it ever does see completion. (Sorry no full frontal sock shots until #2 is done up.) As usual, I'm having my traditional "OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO RUN OUT OF YARN BEFORE I FINISH THIS SOCK" panic attack.

Does this look like enough yarn to you? EEK. I'm motivated to knit this sock as quickly as possible only so that I can see if my fears are confirmed or not. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do if I'm right about freaking out. I suppose I can hunt it down on Ravely, (what did knitters ever do before Ravelry?), but let's all collectively cross our fingers and hope it doesn't come to that. The leg is a lot longer than a typical sock I make-- and it's got me in panic mode!

There's even more finished items to view! The whisper lace sock is finally cast off for one and cast on for the other. (Personal rule- always immediately cast on sock #2, or you never will.) I'm regretting the variagated yarn selection. The pattern is quite intricate and pretty, but completely lost in all the colors of the yarn. I had anticipated it to blend a little more subtley- but I suppose you learn something each time you knit.

And lastly- as if all of this wasn't already blowing your knitting minds- I added two more baby hats to the total. (OH LORD am I behind on this!)

They're cute, they're simple- they're baby hats.

It looks like the weather is promising to be gross right through to the weekend again- at this rate I'm going to RUN OUT OF STASH YARN. (But I don't mind, it just means I get to buy more sooner- and OH DEAR LORD do I want to buy yarn badly right now.

That's it for this week- feels good to have taken a big chunk off the "to finish" list!