Slowly Getting Back to Normal

Hello?   Anyone there?  Is thing still on?

I'm back.  Back in my house and moved in enough to actually think about knitting again.  The less said about the chaos of the last two weeks is probably better.  I'm in.  The house isn't perfect yet- we're living through a lot of "trades people" visits, but the point is I'm home.   If I get the longing to go roll around in my stash naked- I could.  In theory.  Not that that has actually EVER happened, but should the desire arise- I can do it.  (Probably best to do it when the tradespeople AREN'T here, but I digress.)

There has been a bit of knitting here and there- mostly to maintain sanity- but it's been light, so there isn't a tonne to report on.

I knit the final hat of the Pink Hat project.  I officially feel confident to say that I don't have enough pink yarn to get me through one more hat.  The final tally gets me to 18 hats for charity.  I'm pretty pleased with myself about that.

With the pink yarn gone, and a large part of my acrylic stash busted down, (GO ME), I actually procured some new yarn for the 2014 hat project.  (Which may begin in 2013 if I find myself just needing to knit a quick hat instead of something more complicated.)

 

This is one giant ball of yarn.  I'm probably going to HATE this colorway when all the hats are said and done, but I thought I'd try a new challenge.  This time I can knit any pattern I want- they can be the same or not- but I need to knit this ball down to nothing before the end of 2014.  (It feels weird and EARLY to be thinking that far ahead on this, but honestly- I didn't think I'd actually finish the pink project as early as I did.)

Move in day had many surprises, but the most pleasant one of all was my yarn from the Loopy Ewe showing up in my mailbox, the perfect "Welcome Home" present.

I wound the first ball, so eager was I get going on the project, that I realized I hadn't photographed the yarn until after!  Whoops!  It took me longer to actually sit down and swatch the Argyle blanket but as of today I've cast on the project and am ready to see where this yarn is going to take me.

The pattern is somewhat "involved", meaning it's going to be something that I have to pay attention to rather closely to avoid errors.  Hopefully it'll be a quick and painless knit.  It seems like a great project to "restart" my knitting mojo on a regular basis again.

The mitten is at a standstill.  I've knit about 8 rows on it since move in day.  The act of paying attention to this chart has been a little more than I can take surrounded by chaos.  And so, it's going to sit for a little while until things calm down for me here.  (But not to worry- I would like to get these done BEFORE the first snowfall... hoping of course that's not until AT LEAST Nov 1.  Work with me here weather!)

So- that's where we're at.  It doesn't look like much, but it IS something and it's a slow start to a more regular schedule.  (Hopefully that means a more regular blog schedule again.)  It feels good to be home- but it will feel better once everything is finished.

Glad you stuck around- I'm happy to be back!  (Fall feels so empty without knitting in your hands... how do Non-Knitters live like that!?)

Calm Before the Storm

Three. More. Sleeps.  We move home in three more days.  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am.  I can probably shock you a little though- I'm so excited about getting home that I've been unable to concentrate on knitting!

We are in the "calm before the storm" phase of things.  We're planning the move- but we aren't ready to actually do anything yet.  And so, I'm just sort of frantically passing the time until I move back into my space and make it mine again.  In my brain I'm planning where I'll put things and where things will go in their new spaces... and I can't do much else.  (Sleep included...)  Until then, sadly, this blog and my knitting progress will suffer.  Brace yourself, September could be a little slow on blog posts- but not to worry, I have EVERY INTENTION of coming back once we're settled back in and I can pick up my needles without the "I really should unpack that box" guilt.

There has been progress these last couple of days.  2 more pink hats have appeared.  (The easiest thing to concentrate on right now- hats!)

I'm so close to having these yarns used up!

I can safely say I've used up all of the light pink yarn, but I think I can still get in ONE MORE hat with what remains, if I wait until I can get access to my white leftover yarn at home.  So there will be one more hat, bringing this year's total up to 18 hats.  Not too shabby.  (I'm trying to think of what I'll do next year... and I have an idea... but that's another story for another day.)

I have also made progress on the mystery mitten- getting one off the needles (a sneak peek at the palm- because that's not what we're really all curious to see here) and casting #2 on.

I'm trying to motivate myself to sit down, even after I finish this post and just focus on getting the cuff finished and mitten started.  It would be REALLY nice to get to the thumb before the big move... but I'll have to keep you posted on that one!

I also, after many agonizing emails to my poor suffering MiL, chose a yarn for the argyle blanket.  I was unable to find the color I wanted in a local shop in town (I went to 3!) and so I ordered Ultra Pima from Cascade from the Loopy Ewe and will begin that project just as soon as the yarn arrives.  (And my house is in a reasonably finished state...)  The leaves are starting to change colors and I find myself really inspired to knit blankets again.  (This is my curse.)

Wish us luck on Thursday- I'm really ready to go home!

The People Have Spoken

Thank you all for your votes!  I always find the input of others so valuable- and this time I really think we've chosen a winner here.

The 3D Argyle Blanket will be next up on the needles- I just need to get a yarn that has enough sheen.  I'd really like to shop locally for my yarn this time, although if I can't find "sheen-y" enough, I'll default to Knit Picks "Shine" which is very "sheen-y".  Hopefully I can squeeze in a LYS run next week.

Next question- GREY or BLUE?  (Vote in the comments this time!)

While I was patiently waiting your voting results, I've been knitting a few bits and bobs here, biding my time before the next big project.

Mother in Law's mystery mittens are moving along nicely.  They're still a surprise- but I can give you a sneak peek on mitten #1.

I also knit 2 more pink hats for the hat total, that brings us to 15 hats now and I can probably get at least one more, possibly 2 in the yarn remains.  (Although I may need to bring in some white to get that last hat- so will have to wait until the stash and I are reunited.)

I managed to also volunteer and quickly knit up a section for the WCOBB charity blankets.  These spooky bats seem to compliment the "Halloween" theme this blanket has.  I'm still waiting on 1 more blanket to show up, but I understand that's been delayed until further notice, so I will just happily knit on other things in the mean time.  (Hopefully it doesn't show up while we're trying to move home in 2 weeks!)

And, I forgot last time to show you the 2 finished hats I had for my dentist.  He had a little GIRL- so he got the purply-pink one and I kept the blue one for the next baby I hear is a boy.

Busy fingers around here.  I'm trying to make the most of my time because in 2 weeks, as I mentioned, we're scheduled to move home and the amount of unpacking and organizing to be done is staggering.  And, quite frankly, it's going to hold up the knitting progress a fair bit.  (Brace yourselves, Sept might be a light month on blog posts.)  Cross your fingers for us- we're really pumped to get back to our "normal" lives.

Thanks again for voting!!

Baby Blues

Well... it's official!  Baby cookin' in my friend's belly is a little BOY and I've set to work trying to decide what I'm going to knit for her expected little guy.  (Coming around New Years!!)  I need to get started on this project now in order to be done before Christmas.  And so I spent my "nap time" on Ravelry looking at all the baby blanket options and narrowed it down to my favorites.  As usual, I'm undecided and so I turn to YOU, dear blog readers, to help me choose.

Here's what I've narrowed it down to.... (None of these pictures are mine- I've taken them from Ravelry posted by other users.... I hope I'm not committing a blog sin by doing that.)

1) 3D Argyle Blanket : I've had this sitting in on my "favorites" list over at Ravelry for a looooooooooong time.  I love the look of the blanket and, bonus, it should be a reasonably easy knit.  (Famous last words...)  The key here is to buy the right yarn, that will have enough sheen to highlight the changes in the stitch enough to really show off the argyle.

2) For a Bonny Babe: This is a classic looking baby blanket.  The cabling shouldn't be too troublesome and there's a lot of seed stitch in there that this blanket will need little to no blocking.

3) Star Light, Star Bright: Another blanket that has been in my favorites for awhile.  I worry here that the pattern could be too feminine (scalloped border) and so I'd probably "dumb" the border down to make it less "girlie".


4) Alphabet Blanket:  I saw this blanket ages and ages ago and bought the book, so enamored was I with it.  And then I saw the COPIOUS charts that accompanied the pattern and chickened out.  Now I'm less frightened of the pattern and am seriously considering knitting it up.  Am I insane?

  

5) Dishcloth Farm/Zoo/Circus Animal Blanket: This would be similar in style to the "Baby Beef" blanket I knit a long time ago.  Except I would use the same pattern author (her stuff is so cute!) and knit various animals based on the theme I go with.  By using the same author, the patterns should all be around the same size and will make the 'figuring it out' portion of this blanket less challenging.  This has the potential to be REALLY cute... but it also requires the most from my brain power.

SO.... what would you choose to knit?  HELP ME DECIDE!  Vote now!  (Voting closes by Wed Aug 28th at 12:00 pm)

And lest you think you're being used just for opinions these days- behold- ACTUAL KNITTING CONTENT.

The Mystery mitten has seen some progress... although sorry- it still remains a mystery.  (The 3rd time was apparently the charm!)

And I knit another hat to work on that pink stash!

I'm expecting another charity blanket to show up today, and one (HOPEFULLY) next week.  (The blanket is delayed and I'm worried it's going to show up just as we're moving back into our house and then I'm going to hold it up.)  After that I'm going to take a charity blanket break for awhile and start focusing on my mittens and whatever blanket we decide I'm going to knit.

Looking forward, as usual, to see where your votes will lie!

Charity Week

Well, as promised the days since my last blog post have been dedicated to charity knitting.

The WCOBB blankets showed up on Friday and I immediately set to work getting them out the door.  (I hate having them sit around.)

This is "Speed Bump".  (I really like it when a blanket has a cohesive pattern through out.)

And this is "Square Dance".

I hit a bit of a snag with Square Dance and actually ran out of the yellow yarn too early.  (oops)  You're supposed to knit 6 inches in your section and I only made it to 4.  Thankfully a quick dive in MiL's stash gave me a light yellow to throw in the mix and finish my pattern.

I also finished my hat quota for the year!  Say hello to Ms. November and Ms. December hat!

There's still a fair bit of yarn to keep going on hats, so despite being done the minimum, I still need to bust down more stash in the pinks.  (I want it GONE before 2014- GONE I SAY!)  I will say this, the charity projects have really helped me bust down my acrylic stash this year.  I'm going to start a project to get rid of the red acrylic before the end of the year too, but I just need to get home first.  (More on that in a minute.)

I'm still waiting on one more blanket that should be coming soon- but since it hasn't arrived I also cast on a quick hat for my dentist, who I'm seeing this week (just for a mouth guard fitting... apparently I'm stressed....) and will be a father for the first time when I see him again.  It's a long story but I sorta know my dentist from a past life in University and we were kind of friends.  Anyways, I thought it would be nice to give him a hat for his little bundle of joy- so I'm knitting an Easy Peasy hat to give to him.

(Funny story- they actually called me to come in early this week and I said no.  Not because I couldn't, but because the hat wasn't done!  Haha!)  I feel like last time we talked he told me he was having a girl, but I might whip up a "boy hat" too... just in case.  In my experience you can never have too many baby hats anyways.

We are still out of our house, and hoping this renno will get done soon.  Sadly our "move back in" date got pushed back from the long weekend until Sept 12.  Please cross your fingers and send us mojo that we'll be back in for Sept 12.  I REALLY MISS MY HOUSE... and okay, I miss my stash.  I've been diving in MiL's stash a few times already, and well I'm sure she doesn't mind, I'd still like to get my stash cleaned out too!

I'll finish this post on a happier note... here's the kiddo and I lying around the park.  (Cute story: I laid down on the blanket while we were hanging out in the sun, and he came over, cuddled in next to me and laid down too.  It was so sweet- and one of those special "mom moments" you can never fake.  In short... it was awesome.)

Stay tuned for more projects coming soon!  (Probably a fall blanket to kick off in Sept if my friend will get back to me on the sex of her expected little one.)

Focused

It turns out there's not one, not two... but THREE charity blankets making their way to me in the next few days.  I realized that I could not focus on getting those out the door without also getting my act together and getting my other projects done.  And so, with determination and a fierce focus, I caught myself up!

Say hello to the Stripey Blanket!

Yarns: A mish mash of everything left over in my stash.  I do know there's some Koigu KPM, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in there along with various other fingering weights.
Pattern: I made this puppy up!  Just a bunch of stocking stitch and garter stitches to pop the accent color.
Needle: 3.00 mm
Notes: 2 Rounds of single crochet border to complete the blanket.  (I am SO happy I kept the border simple, it keeps the blanket "cohesive"- more of a border than this and it wouldn't have turned out as nicely as I think it did.)

I would have thought that a stocking stitch blanket would have bored me to tears.  But it didn't.  Maybe it's because I also had something complicated going on a pair of other needles, but I reveled in the simplicity of this project.  It was so easy to just pick this up and knit.  There were no charts to consult, no pattern to remember, hell I didn't even need a row counter!  I made a strict rule with myself to weave in the ends after the 3 different color sections before starting again.  That made finishing the blanket so much easier because there weren't so many ends to make my crazy to weave in.

I'm also pleased the way the colors look, and the way I've done tiny stripes in each section.  This was great not only for stash busting, but also to add some interest to the blanket without over doing it.  MiL and I have already discussed combining some remaining sock yarns and doing some more of these great stash down projects- so there may be another blanket on the horizon.

Also say "Aloha" to the Maui Socks, started back in March on my trip to Maui!

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in "Hummingbird"
Pattern: Sock Recipe: A Good Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl McPhee
Needle: US 1
Notes: This is the first time I've successfully attempted Kitchner Stitch.  Repeat: I have been making socks for a lot of years now and this is the first time I've successfully put in Kitchner stitch.  Confession: it wasn't even so hard once I started doing it!  So yes... kitchner stitch on socks from now on I guess.

As a challenge to myself I made ZERO notes when I knit these.  The only time I consulted a pattern was to make sure I turned the heel in the middle, otherwise- this was done from my head.  I relied on the previous sock to guide me as to when I had done enough stitches.  It was hard to "let it go" but also, again, made for such an easy knit.  I could just pick these up and knit- no thinking about what needs to happen next.

I love self striping yarn.  I know I've said it many times before- but I stinkin' love the stuff.  It could be in the ugliest colors of mustard yellow and puke greens and I'd still be as happy as a pig in mug because I love watching the stripes come together.  My one stipulation is that I can't have mis-matched socks.  I just can't- and as usual, I've gone to great pains to line up all the stripes pretty closely on these socks.  (Even breaking up the yarns at the heel so that the pattern stays the same.)  Someday I might be able to make mismatched socks- I'm not there yet.

"Ola" Hats!  I also caught up on hats, because I really just wanted to knit new things with a clear conscious.   Below are August and September finished for the pile.

AND, after a second disasterous attempt on the mitten for the MiL (who does not have wrists the size of an elephant OR a bear...) I just set the mitten aside and knit October's hat too.

Let's not talk about the mitten okay?  Let's keep this positive.  I need to measure MiL's wrist with the latest failed attempt to see just how many needle sizes I need to go down- and so I've decided to just knit hats this week.  I'm hoping to hit the magic number 12 before the blankets arrive on Friday.  I'm absolutely going to have enough yarn to go over the 12 mark... so I'm just going to keep on going with that project for a bit.

I'm sorry for the long post.  I've been long over-due to just focus and finish these things.  For the first time in a long time, you'll be excited to know that there are new projects on the horizon.  New ideas.  And yes, I'm sorry in advance, a friend is due in January, a new blanket.  I'm really proud of myself for just getting all of this done this last week.  It feels so good to look ahead to new projects without other works in progress obstructing my view!

UH-OH Daisy!

I've, as my son loves to say, had an "uh-oh Daisy" (oopsie daisy), and despite having enough projects on the go and need to be finished, I cast on something new.

I'M WEAK OKAY!????  Don't judge me.

I blame this on the Stampede blanket, which just sucked the life out of me.  I just wasn't excited about what I had to knit and so I cheated and cast on the mittens.  (The mittens were supposed to come once the border on the Stripey Blanket had been crocheted, plain socks finished and August hat knit.)  But I just wanted some excitement.  Something to be looking forward too, and so I cheated.

Pictures of this project will be vague, as they are for my MiL and I'd like to surprise her at the end.  But the mystery mittens are finally on the needles.

I wasn't entirely bad, I did make some progress on other projects.

Stripey  blanket is getting it's crochet (*sad sigh) border.  I wanted to keep the border "masculine" and after much searching and failed attempts at something else, I just decided to go with a skinny single crochet border.  I think keeping it simple was the right call.  I'm close to finished on this one.  A good "nap" (by the kiddo) should hopefully get me to "done".  It will need to be blocked again but it will be easier to block this time.

The socks are also close to the finish line.  I'm just about ready to begin the toe decreases on these and then, during another nap time, I'll teach myself to kitchner stitch and embrace it.  (Despite avoiding it like the plague all these years.)  God I hate kitchner stitch.  Sorry.  I said it.  I'm not taking it back either.  But, I will conform, and I will learn... I will just do so kicking and screaming.

I'm re-motivated to get these finished... mostly because I just found out that not one, but two charity blankets are making their way to me sometime soon and I need to knit a section for each.  It really drives me crazy when people keep the blankets past the 2 week mark so I try to "bang out" my section as quickly as possible and not be the person holding up the party.  Good thing both blankets are simple stitch patterns.  I did a bad thing for this today though, and instead of dipping into my stash, opted to buy a color(s) (there was a 2 for 1 sale) to add to the blanket.  I feel guilty because I really need to whittle down the stash, but it's a little tricky to get to my stash at the moment due to the Renno.  (Which is still happening... cupboards this week!)

Lastly- I stupidly picked up the wrong end of my DPN case of various, unmarked needles sizes, and dumped them all in an unrecognizeable pile on the floor.  I'd like to tell you I said "uh oh daisy"... but I did not.  (Thankfully Mr. Repeat-Everything-Mommy-Says wasn't around.)  I'm going to have to find my "needle sizer" and painstakingly poke these in every hole trying to decipher which size is which.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much I don't want to do this.  Behold- DPN CHAOS!

Hopefully I will have some finished item announcements on here soon.  In the meantime I'm still here.  I'm still knitting.  I'm just lacking a little focus!

Summer Normal

Well, Stampede has come and gone and things are returning to their more normal pace around here.  I always find it's a little hard to concentrate on knitting in the summer.  There are just so many distractions!

I find knitting at night seems to disappear and nap time knitting only seems to occur when I finish doing 85 other things first.  That isn't to say there hasn't been some progress- it's just at a slower pace.

In a fit of productivity, I blocked the stripey blanket a day after I cast it off.  (I'm convinced my body has been invaded by something that actually completes things on time!)  Stupidly, I did not take a pic of the blanket blocking, (I've been blogging how long and I drop the ball on this!?!), but I did get my MiL to snap a pic of the yarn I purchased (and sent home with her to wind), to do the border.

I know it seems a little counter-productive to buy a new skein for a stash down blanket, but it was necessary.  There just isn't enough yarn to finish a crochet border on the stripey blanket.  And this blanket, it NEEDS a crochet border because it's going to curl, most likely even after blocking!  And so, I tried to get the closest yellow to my original that I could.  Given that I bought the original yellow something like SEVEN years ago... the fact that I even got the same color family of yellow, is nothing short of a miracle.  (Original yellow was Koigu, this yellow is Spud & Chloe- but same  weight.)  I hope that it won't be too obvious that the two are different.  It they are- I'm just going to have to live with it!  Um.... any suggestions on a MASCULINE style crochet border?  The blanket is definately more masculine than feminine and I'm struggling a bit to come up with the right "guy border".

I've also been cruising along on my plain Jane socks that I started way back in Maui!  As predicted, I finished the first sock on my car trip to Saskatchewan.  I've decided I need to learn how to graft toes properly, (I got dinged on it this year in the judging...) and so I've left the toes to graft some afternoon when I can devote my undivided attention.  Instead I cast on sock #2 and have already moved at a decent clip on that one.

In the hopper, and hopefully on the needles soon, (after the socks), I'm going to cast on some mittens that I promised my MiL back in Feb.  I've been throwing the grandkid at her as much as I can in order to hopefully deflect from the fact that these mittens are super, SUPER... S U P E R late.  ;-)  I also need to knit a couple of hats for August and September.  We are (fingers crossed) hopefully moving back into our place in mid Aug.  Getting unpacked and settled will be the priority... which means even less time for knitting!  It would be nice to get a jump on both of these projects!

My summer is certainly moving at a slower pace, but it's not to say that it's come to a full stop.  Small projects seem to be the right key to enjoying the weather and staying happy with my stitches.  Hope your summers are as pleasant as ours has been so far!

Circle the Wagons

Happy Stampede everybody!

(Me on the right, my sister on the left... I do not normally dress country, Stampede is a "country costume party" for 10 days in Calgary)

Now that we've sort of dried off, the flood waters have receded, we're all feeling a little bit like having a party.  Thankfully Stampede time allows Calgarians a little respite from the flood misery and opportunity to let their hair down.  (Or hat on... choose whichever applies to you.)

First off, because I know you'd hate me for dragging it out any longer... the results, for me, of the knitting competition.

It turns out the Misery blanket was worth the misery!  I'm very happy with this 1st place red ribbon.  This was a hard fought (with myself) ribbon and I'm damn proud of this one.

The socks also placed, just further down with a 3rd place white ribbon.

The competition was pretty stiff this year, and a 3rd in this category makes me feel pretty damn good about my socks and my skills.

This year I felt the "overall winner" was very deserving.  Their submission, (which they designed themselves) was outstanding and every bit a "#1 overall" piece.  It's lovely!  (It's also in my queue!)

And so with another Stampede behind me, it's time to start formulating a plan already for next year... hmmmmmm.  Any suggestions?

Progress continues to slowly... um... progress on the stripey blanket.  I'm nearly done the colorful section (1 color section of each left) and then I'll need to decide how I'm going to border this one.  Here's a progress photo... that probably looks like the same blanket essentially.

A quick trip out to Saskatchewan (wedding) this weekend means I'm going to have a bunch of knitting in the car time... so I'm hoping to progress quickly on the Maui socks.  It would be nice to have those off the needles this summer too.

This has been sort of a disjointed post- but I thought I would leave you a picture of my two favorite cowboys at a party we attended last week.  (Parker's first petting zoo... he loved it!)