Knitamazoo(tm)

I have a serious problem. I really do. You see, I started knitting a year ago because as an avid crocheter, I decided that I wanted to learn a new method for manipulating yarn to make wonderful things. (I can’t believe that a year has gone by already but that’s another problem.) My problem is this knitting. It has become an obsession and I can’t stop starting (see I told you I was insane) new projects. I confess, this weekend I became weak and cast-on yet another project. The lure of a fresh project on the needles was just too much for me and I caved. I am so ashamed.

But I do have a finished project and an almost finished project. (I was hoping that might make me feel better about starting a new one, but no. Sigh.) Anyway, I sat down yesterday, darning needle in hand, sewed the shoulder seams on the dickey and wove in the ends. I’m really happy with how this turned out and I hope that my Dad likes it too. I didn’t weave in the tail from my cast-on at the collar. I’m not sure if it is going to be too “thick” for my Dad’s liking. If it is, I’ll then be able to undo the cast-on edge a little easier and remove some of the collar and make if more of a mock-turtleneck. And if he likes it as it is, well then it will take me 2 minutes to weave the end in. One Christmas gift finished!

I also finished up one of the bed socks on Friday and am almost done with the mate. The gusset decreases are finished and it’s just down the foot to the toe. Too bad there isn’t a hockey game tonight. I’d finish it for sure! I just love how soft and warm the Elsebeth Lavold Angora yarn is. These are great socks to wear around the house when those temps dip. It’s been quite warm lately (mid to upper 60’s) so I have no use for them yet. But I’ll be prepared when that white, wet stuff falls from the sky.

So what new project did I cast-on for you ask? Why a pair of fuzzyfeet to keep my toes extra warm this winter! Apparently there is a new knit-a-long going for this project started up by Laurie, a.k.a. Crazy Aunt Purl. I didn’t know about this KAL when I purchased the yarn for my fuzzyfeet but it seems that I jumped on the bandwagon without knowing it. But how fun it is to knit gigantic socks! We had the King Kong Thong and now I’m knitting socks for Kong. At least that’s what they look like. I should have put something in the picture to give you some perspective as to how large this thing really is. I can’t wait to finish knitting them both up and then felt them. This is the first time I’ve used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted and I’m really surprised at how soft it is. With the mohair I was expecting it to be a little more rough or itchy but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m sure these will be done by the weekend. The picture here only shows about 1 1/2 hours of knitting.

Saturday we went to the Kalamazoo Nature Center and hiked some of the trails. My wonderful hubby took my up part of a trail that according to the map is “difficult.” But he said that the map claimed the view of the valley was spectacular especially in the fall. So up this vertical slope we went. Two twisted ankles later I stood atop this hill (as much as I’d like to call it a mountain I can’t). Now the view was very nice but not what I was hoping for. I took a picture but it was a little too hazy and the colors were not vibrant. Now I had to get down from this precipice. Hubby offered to go down in front of me so he could catch me if I fell. I told him no, that I would just end up taking him down the hill with me. After making it down the hill I got to thinking about it, and I realized that I should have let him go down in front of me. That way I could have used him like a sled to get to the bottom. All my best ideas always come too late.

We did see some lovely color as we were walking through the woods and I leave you with two pictures of the fall foliage.