Knitamazoo(tm)

After a late night of partying with friends watching a hockey game and lying on the couch until the ball dropped, I woke up this morning to this. Lots and lots of snow. It looks like a fresh new start to the new year. They are calling for more snow today and it could snow in amounts only measurable by feet for all I care since I have nowhere to go today. The plan is to sit at home and work on this.

“This” is my Mystic Waters Lace Shawl, a mystery shawl KAL that started last year, October or November, and finished up just before Christmas. Since I had Christmas knitting and secret sock pal knitting that just had to be done, I had to wait to cast on for it. I am now up through row 122 and I’m loving it! I wanted to work on it during my Christmas holiday, but with the inlaws here (and their dog) it was nigh near impossible to get any knitting done. So, while I have a few days off for New Year’s, I’ve been working on it all I can.

It still seems like Christmas around here, even though the decorations came down on Sunday. Santa made one more stop at our house yesterday and dropped off this. We’ve needed a new refrigerator for years. We’ve been talking about a new refrigerator for years. Finally this year when my husband won his fantasy football league, he said that his winnings would go towards a brand new refrigerator. Off to the store we went and picked out this beauty (which was on sale I might add). We absolutely love it and I’m so happy to be rid of the creamy/yellow one that has been here since we moved in 10 years ago. Now all of our appliances match and the kitchen looks good. There was some question about whether or not it would fit though the archway that separates the hall from the kitchen. We measured it without the doors and it would fit. What we didn’t know was that once the doors were off there were still a couple of pieces of metal that stuck out and the guys finally had to remove them in order to get it in the kitchen. I had to hide with the cats as I was afraid that it would have to go back to the store. But the delivery guys were fantastic and they got it in for us. It cooled down quickly and I was able to load it up yesterday afternoon.

In other knitting news, I’ve been working on a pair of River Rapids socks from Sockbug for myself. I knit this pattern for my secret sock pal and loved it. It’s an easily memorized pattern that makes wonderfully stretchy socks. I’m working them in Koigu KPPPM in a lovely blue colorway. I’m using US size 2 needles and I switched to size 1 for the heel and sole. The first one is done and fits beautifully! I can’t wait to get the other one done.

Now that the guests have gone home, the decorations have been put away for another year, the cats have returned to a normal state (well, normal for them anyway) and the snow has fallen, it’s time to put on some tea, wrap up in a blanket and knit til my heart’s content. May 2008 be a year of peace, happiness and prosperity for you and yours. Happy New Year!

Procrastination is definitely my achiles heel. I am a born procrastinator. I have always procrastinated . . . for everything. But not this time. I was not going to wait until the last possible minute to knit up the socks for my SSK pal. I made plans. I made schedules (you know, I will have the cuff knit by this day, the leg by this day, finish the gusset then, etc.). I actually stuck to the schedule. In fact I even blew the schedule out of the water by finishing some parts early. And my reward? A beautiful pair of socks finished . . . wait for it . . . 3 weeks before the due date!! I must admit that they are not totally finished. I need to kitchner the toe on the second sock and weave in the ends, but all of the knitting is finished and I can relax and knit what I want to now.

So, since I acheived my goal, I sat down yesterday afternoon and cast on for my Mystic Waters shawl KAL. It’s a mystery shawl with the “clues” coming out every Wednesday. I am 3 weeks behind, but only because I refused to let myself cast-on for it until the socks were finished. I knit around 55 rows yesterday and I am loving it! I don’t mind being behind most others in the KAL. It just means that I have the benefit of learning from their experiences, getting corrected charts before knitting them and seeing everyone’s beautiful progress pictures. I am using Baruffa Cashwool in a lovely dark blue and knitting it on US 4 Addi Lace needles. It’s a gorgeous pattern and I’m really excited about knitting it!

Now that the socks are done, I will return to knitting on Mr. Greenjeans. I am down to the ribbed cable pattern on the bottom of the sweater. This is a fun, easy pattern that it good for tv knitting. And of course the Malabrigo yarn I’m using is so incredibly soft that knitting this sweater is pure heaven. But last night I decided to knit a few rows on the Jersey Shore Weekender since I haven’t knit on it in awhile. No picture as it hasn’t changed much at all.

I am bound and determined not to procrastinate. (Well at least with my secret sock pal socks. I’m not so sure about the rest of my life.) I have about an hour between when I get home from work and when I need to leave to get to the LYS to teach. I decided last night to sit down and at least cast on the second sock. This done, I knit a few rounds of the cuff and flew off to class. I was blessed by only having two students, both of whom are fairly competent. While they were casting on, a lady showed up at the shop saying she was there for the felted bag class (this is our learn to knit class and I just started a new group on Monday night). I explained to her that the class was meeting on Monday and when we checked the class list, sure enough, she had signed up for the Monday class. As it turns out, she teaches painting on Monday nights. So since I only had two students, I had her pick out her yarn and I got her started on the bag. She had learned to knit many years ago so she just needed a refresher which left me time to work on my sock while walking my other students through the hat pattern. By the time I got home I was almost done with the cuff. I kept knitting on it after I got home and I’ve finished the cuff and started the leg. I am on a mission I tell you! These socks will be done by Monday!

Mr. Greenjeans (a wonderful pattern by Amy Swenson available on Knitty) is coming along nicely. I am using Malabrigo worsted weight in the Vaa colorway. I wanted to knit the size large but my gauge was off. I got gauge using US9 needles but I hated the fabric. So I went back down to the US8’s and got a fabric I liked. I’m getting a 1/2 stitch more per inch than the pattern calls for. So I did some very scary math and figured out if I knit the size 2X with my gauge, the sweater would come out just slightly larger than the size L. (Believe me, I did the math several times before I let myself cast on. Math and I have never gotten along.) When I put the sweater on waste yarn and tried it on, it fit wonderfully! I can’t wait to finish it and wear it. I am loving the cabled rib at the bottom. This is also the first time I have tried cabling without the aid of a cable needle. With a four stitch cable it really isn’t scary at all. In fact, I find it a lot less fussy and I don’t feel like I’m stretching out my stitches as much as when I use the cable needle. I am also in love with using YO’s for the raglan increases. I love the little lacey touch it brings to the sweater. Cables and lace, how can it miss!

It’s been awhile since I last posted. My toe is healing up nicely. I am finally hobbling around without the aid of my crutches. The toe is still buddy taped, but progress has been made. There’s news on the knitting front and stories from work.

Let’s start with work shall we . . . there is a technician who is fairly new to our team (abt. 2 months) and he’s not very well liked by anyone else on the team. Word has already come down that we will have to cut 2 people in the next 6-8 months and he knows he is on the list. So he is looking for another job. He had one job interview and they called him to tell him that he wouldn’t fit in there and that he had issues with his attitude. So now he is looking at another job and he asked me if I would give him a reference. I said I guess I could if he really wanted me to. He replied asking if I would give him a great reference. I said that great wasn’t the word I would use and then he asked me to lie. Now I don’t lie for anyone and I told him that. He then proceded to ask me to fib and I told him that was the same as lying. So he keeps pushing me and finally says to me, “You don’t like me, do you?” I didn’t hesitate . . . I replied, “No, not really.” After that we had a good discussion about things he needs to work on and he says he wants to change. We’ll see how that goes.

Now for the knitting news. I am a procrastinator through and through. I always have been and I don’t know if that will ever change. I joined the SSK (Secret Sock Knitters) Club at my LYS. We are to knit a pair of socks for our secret pal, send them little treats for Halloween and Thanksgiving, and then on December 1 there will be a little party at the LYS where we will reveal ourselves to our secret pals and give them their socks. I bought the yarn for the socks right after I signed up (a couple of weeks ago). I’ve looked through hundreds of patterns. I’ve cast on 3 different times. I picked a stitch pattern and decided to design socks. After knitting an inch or so of the leg, I decided the stitch pattern didn’t go with the yarn. So there they have sat. I know I have a deadline but I just don’t want to knit socks. I want to knit lace . . . I want to knit sweaters (especially since it’s getting cold here in Michigan) . . . I want to knit anything else possible except socks. I am in the Mystic Waters Mystery Shawl KAL and I’m dying to cast on for it, but I keep telling myself that I need to finish my socks before casting on one more project. So this weekend I decided that I would work on nothing else until I had finished at least one sock of the pair. And what do you know . . . it worked! Here is sock number 1 finished except for weaving in the ends. The toe is grafted and everything. I settled on the River Rapids pattern from Sockbug. It goes along quickly which is a big bonus! I even had time this weekend to work on my Mr. Greenjeans sweater. I have completed the body down to the cabled part. I have switched over to the smaller needles and have completed row 1 of the cabled rib pattern. I also finished frogging my Salt Peanuts so that I have the yarn to finish Mr. Greenjeans. I’m so glad that I frogged. I was just never going to finish Salt Peanuts. As much as I loved the sweater, the pattern was driving me nuts and I just know that I would never actually sit down and figure it out. I am so much happier using the lovely Malabrigo yarn in Mr. Greenjeans. I can’t wait to finish this sweater. But the socks are my number one priority and I have the same goal next weekend . . . no knitting for me until sock 2 is finished. Can I do it??

In an effort to thwart my grand sock knitting plans, I have managed to schedule myself to teach classes at my LYS for three nights this week and three nights next week. Tonight is the learn to knit class. According to the sign up sheet it is full, but not everyone has paid so we’ll see who shows up. I actually have one more student signed up than I normally would. So if everyone shows it will be a large class. Tomorrow is a felted hat class. This one should be smaller and a lot of fun. Thursday I finish up the mitten class and next Thursday start the next felted clog class. So not much knitting time during the week. I really want to cast on the socks and get the cuff done by the weekend so I can zip right along on the rest of the sock. What was I thinking taking on so much around the holidays? I need my head examined.

Last Saturday night, the hubster and I were watching some tv in our basement rec room. I had gotten up off the couch to take care of something and was navigating the obsticle course which is our basement when I whacked my right foot on the edge of the loveseat. I immediately let out a yell and crumpled to the floor. When I hit the loveseat I heard a very loud *SNAP* as did the hubster over the tv. He jumped up thinking that I had snapped my ankle out of joint and I told him to get me some ice. The toe next to the pinky toe is probably broken. I say probably because I did not go get x-rays. I figured they would take x-rays and say, “Yes, it’s broken” or “No, it’s not broken, just sprained,” buddy tape it to the next toe over and send me home after charging me an arm and a leg. So I’ve buddy taped it and have been hobbling around on crutches all this week. I won’t go into the gory details, but it is bruised and still a bit swollen. Ow!

This unfortunate accident is not without its good points. It forced me to lay on the couch all day Sunday with my foot propped up in the air, knitting. I have also spent almost every night this week on the couch, foot propped up, knitting. So here is the progress report . . .

The Fibertrends Felted Clogs are almost finished. I need to attach the second sole to the second clog, stitch up the soles on both clogs, weave in the ends and felt. These are such a fast knit! I’ve been going slower so I can use them to demonstrate in my class. Normally these can be cranked out in a weekend (or less!). Great holiday gift idea! Just imagine the look on the recipient’s face when they pull the pre-felted clogs out of the box! Priceless!

I think I may have finally settled on a pattern for my SSK Club sock. That has been a struggle. I’ve started 3 times now and hopefully this will be the one. I am working on the cuff for sock #1 so there are no pictures yet.

And finally, I have cast on for the Jersey Shore Weekender sweater. I swatched for this sweater back in August with some leftover Berocco Ultra Alpaca from my Mystery Sweater. I loved the swatch so much (especially since I got gauge!) that I got the same color for this sweater. It’s a lovely deep burgundy. I cast on the 154 stitches I need for the back and knit one row of ribbing last night while we rode out the tornado warning in the basement. The cold front has come through and it’s much cooler here today. I’m hoping for a freeze soon so that my allergies calm down.

Have a fantabulous weekend! *a-choo*

I don’t have children. There are reasons I don’t have children. I love children but don’t want any of my own. I like giving them back to their parents after I’m done having fun with them. I work for a Fortune 500 company, so tell me why is it that I have to deal with children all day at work? I’m just going to leave it at that.

The Coriolis is coming along nicely. I didn’t knit too much last night as I had to teach a knitting class. I’ll get to work on it some tonight while watching the first Red Wings game of the new hockey season! Now as long as I’m not blowing my nose every two seconds due to my allergies I’ll be doing ok. I hate to take a antihistimine as they make me dizzy and sleepy. Not a good combo when trying to knit.

I can’t believe that I am actually thinking to myself, “Hurry up winter!” I wouldn’t say it out loud for fear of being killed where I stand. But in ways I want it to get here so my allergies calm down. Of course then it’s the cold air and the headcolds that make me blow my nose 10,000 times a day. I can’t win!

I have another knitting class starting tomorrow night. We will be doing the Fibertrends Felted Clogs. So far I have 8 students signed up! That’s the largest class I’ve had to date and it will be a challenge. I already know one or two of the ladies from other classes I have taught so that should be fun.

Well I’m off to blow my nose again. Happy knitting!

Last week, I cast on some Socks that Rock and started a pair of Coriolis socks from Cat Bordhi’s new book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. After I knit the toe and started looking at the rest of the directions, I realized that I really wanted to do the swirling Coriolis but I had done a standard toe instead of the whirlpool toe required for the swirling Coriolis. I frogged and started over. Things were going well. I was well into the Coriolis part on Saturday night and sat happily knitting along while watching tv. Sunday, I realized that I had added a stitch several rounds back. I couldn’t figure out how to rip back and pick up the Coriolis so I ripped back to the end of the toe and started the Coriolis again. Zipping right along . . . by last night I was almost done with the Coriolis arch expansion section and figured I would try on the sock. Hmmmm . . . it seemed rather long. Now I know when I knit the heel it will pull in quite a bit but it still seemed too long. I measured my row gauge again and set about figuring out the length of the toe again. How I can screw up the toe calculations every time I knit a sock from this book is beyond me! My original calculation was 4.25″ for the toe . . . I couldn’t be more wrong . . . I did the calculation again . . . twice . . . and got 3.25″. So I ripped the toe yet again back to 3.25″ and am once again knitting the Coriolis arch expansion. Ugh! I think these socks hate me.

It totally amazes me how one day you can be perfectly fine, going about your business and then the next . . . whamo! you have a major allergy attack. This is the story of my life. I was doing fine this past weekend except for a sinus headache. That should have been my first clue. Monday morning dawned like any other day but by the time I got to work my allergies had hit with a vengence. My nose is so red from blowing it yesterday that I look like Bozo the clown. At least I remembered to bring in more Puffs Plus to work with me this morning.

Well, Clapotis II is now the bane of my existence. I was working on it Sunday getting very excited that I was getting so close to the end when I realized that I was not going to have enough yarn. Since I purchased said yarn over 2 years ago, my chances of securing another hank of the same color in the same dye lot are about 1 in a bajillion. When I purchased the yarn I noticed that I had way more yardage than the pattern called for. I figured I could add some length to my Clapotis and happily set off. Now I’m short and will have to frog the entire thing. It’s been shoved into a plastic grocery bag I’m so mad at it right now. (I don’t want to hear how it was my fault that I misjudged the amount of yarn I had and not the fault of the Clapotis . . . it will always be the knitting’s fault!)

In other knitting news, I was so mad Sunday that I wound up my Socks that Rock and started some Coriolis socks for myself. I am totally in love with this yarn! It really does rock! My only issue right now is that I didn’t realize I needed to do a different toe if I wanted the Coriolis to spiral all the way up the leg of the sock. So I have to rip back the toe and start again. At least I know my stitch and row gauge, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Now for the turkey. The hubster decided that he wanted to try some turkey burgers (eating healthier, less fat, blah, blah, blah) so he bought some at the store. He took them out of the freezer on Saturday and wrapped up two to put back in and wrapped two to defrost. He set them on the counter for about half an hour to get the defrosting started before putting them in the fridge. When he went back to the kitchen, he found them on the floor and one of them was more than half eaten. There were only two suspects and one was eliminated when he was the only cat begging to be fed at dinner time. Here is the mug shot of the infamous Turkey Burgler.

Well I managed to take some quick pictures this morning and get them uploaded so I could post them as promised. Aren’t you proud of me??

First up, Clappy 2. I can’t believe that it’s been almost 2 years since I started this! It has sat in my knitting basket for such a long time it must have felt so unloved. Well no longer! I just keep knitting and knitting and knitting on it. I’ve got this great urge to finish it for some reason. Here it is reclining on my kitchen counter. (Hey I just cleaned it last night and I have decent lighting in the kitchen.) I think I’ve dropped about 8 or 9 stitches so far. I was cruising along last night and was about to drop another stitch when I discovered that I have messed up the end of row 6. So tonight I’ll be tinking back row 7 so I can fix the very end of row 6. I just didn’t feel like dealing with it last night.

Next up are the socks I finished for the hubster. He says they are a little short in the foot and I’m hoping that they stretch out a bit. I don’t remember what yarn I used for these and I can’t find the ball band. He says they are really soft though and he is happy to have 2 pairs of socks to wear when he watches football.

I also went ahead and cast on for another pair of socks for him. (I don’t know what he did to deserve so many hand knit socks from me.) For these I am using Lana Grossa Meilenweit Tweed and following Cat Bordhi’s master Sidestream pattern from her new book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I did my Stitch ‘n Pitch socks in this pattern and love them! Here are the hubster’s socks in their infancy.

my fat cat puking his guts out 2 feet from my bed! It woke me up from a sound sleep and I sat straight up in bed. I reached over and whacked the hubster and scared the crap out of him. He thought something bad was happening. I tried to explain to him that something bad was happening but he didn’t buy it. So at 2:30 this morning I’m flipping on lights and doing my best hurdler impression over the piles of cat puke to get something to clean it up with. Not only had the cat left a huge pile 2 feet from my bed, but there was more in the hallway and then the entire second step down on the staircase was covered. Try hurdling over that while still half asleep. It only took us about 10 minutes to clean it all up (we’ve had so much practice that we are possibly the fastest Pit Crew in cat puke clean-up). After all was said and done, I couldn’t get back to sleep so now I’m tired and cranky. Not a good combo.

In knitting news, I must rave about my wonderful hubster! Over the 4th of July weekend we went “up north” and he actually took me to several yarn stores, went in said yarn stores and picked out sock yarn for another pair of socks for him! Yarn pr0n can be found here along with some pics of finished socks. As I was browsing the photo album this morning before writing this post I realized that I neglected to photograph the cabled toe-up socks that I’m working on. So that will have to wait for another post (which will hopefully be sooner than later).

We’ve been on a few camping trips in the last month and you can see pictures of our trips here and here. I would have included pictures in this post but I didn’t get them uploaded to my server and I can’t do it at work. We don’t have any more camping trips planned until August when we will be visiting the hubster’s mom down in Indiana. Til then, I’ll be catching up on housework and trying to knit up some of that lucious yarn!