… your husband wakes you up, not with a “good morning”, but with “I need a cardigan”.

My uncaffienated brain tries to reconcile this statement with the fact that Dan hates cardigans and is always overheating. In response to my muffled, groggy request for clarification from under the covers, he said “you know, a smoking jacket with patches on the elbows – for around the house”.

Now this totally threw me. Elbow patches do not mesh with the image of the Thurston Howell III red velvet number that immediately springs to mind. It took a minute or so to sink in that he was talking about a late 60s chunky shawl-collared cardigan with leather patches.

Well, I’m quasi-awake by this point – mentally doing an inventory of the chunky wool stash and trying to remember which magazine in her extensive library has that pattern.

I mumble something about stripes and Lopi.

“Fine.”

Apparently, it doesn’t take a cold day in Hell him to get him into a cardigan, simply a frigid October morning on our 5th floor balcony.

I’ll go have a rummage through the stash later and see what I can come up with.

* * * * *

Now that I have a steaming mug of coffee beside me and motor skills returning to my extremities, I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been working on this week.

Building duties have been keeping me busy, but I’ve still somehow managed to finish a couple of pairs of socks:

Hidden Hearts

This photo shows the actual colour:

Pattern: Hidden Hearts by Jeannie Cartmel
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, P818183; Broder Medicis 2-ply lace, Midnight Blue (held double)
Needles: 2.25mm

You’ll notice that these socks actually have a short-row heel – not my favorite heel, but the lace pattern is stretchy enough that it does accommodate my high instep. I had been going to change the heel, but decided to keep to the pattern instead of driving myself crazy.

Other than lengthening the toe to 3″, the only other modification I made to the pattern was to do a twisted rib (K1tbl, P1) instead of the regular 1×1.

The colours remind me of African violets – gorgeous.

The other pair I whipped off sprang from a “What the heck am I going to do with you?” moment with a big ball of partially felted, variegated Lopi-ish wool from a frogged thriftstore scarf (originally purchased for my Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan project, but the variegation looked weird.)

I had been assessing potential sweater yarns in my stash and this ball just stuck out like a sore thumb. Doesn’t match any other yarns, too rough, too felted, too … hey, wait a minute… worksocks!

BadgerDan can felt a pair of socks simply by looking at them, why not make him a pair that’s already half-there? Nobody’s going to see them in his boots anyway and it gets the eyesore out of the stash.

A bit of swatching, pattern browsing and calculations later, I came up with this:

Whirling Woolly Worksocks

Pattern: Thuja by Bobby Ziegler
Yarn: Recycled Icelandic Wool, Variegated White/Grey
Needles: 5mm DPNs

There were definitely some changes made for gauge with these (14sts per 4″!). Ultimately, I cast on 28sts, did 2″ of ribbing, 8″ of leg, 18 rows for the heel flap and reduced to 26 sts on the foot.

Not the most attractive of socks, I admit – but they’ll keep the hubster’s feet warm.

Work has also been progressing on my sister’s February Lady Sweater:

I’m actually almost finished the main body right now and should be on to the sleeves later today – might actually finish it this weekend.

There is one sad realization that I had to come to last night while knitting Robin’s sweater.

I’m running out of yarn.

It looks like the body of my Zen Pullover (same yarn) will have to be sacrificed for the sleeves of the FLS.

**sigh**

Oh, well – it needed to be re-knit anyway.

I dug around last night and found 2 balls of really chunky cream Shetland that will work for the new body of the pullover.

Yep. With some 8 or 10mm needles, those should do nicely.

TTFN.

On this weekend of numerous fiber festivals (Rhinebeck, Creativ Festival, etc.) that I (yet again) will not be able to attend, I have decided to focus on some simple things that bring me joy (not necessarily in this order):

1. Electric Purple Koigu Socks

(It might not look it in the photo, but I do assure you that the yarn is, indeed, electric purple.)

Pattern: Hidden Hearts by Jeannie Cartmel
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, P818183; Broder Medicis 2-ply lace, Midnight Blue
Needles: 2.25mm

I’m using the leftover laceweight yarn that I dyed for Mystic Star held doubled for the toe (elongated to 3″), heel & cuff of these socks because the colour was perfect and I only have one single gorgeous skein of the Koigu.

(Trust me, if I could’ve, I would’ve cleaned Lettuce Knit completely out of this luscious yarn.)

2. The Magic of Blocking Lace

The transformation of crumpled mess to gorgeous lace never ceases to amaze.

My Autumn Leaves Scarf blocked out to about 7″ wide and 61″ long.

It also looks fantastic with my Levi’s jacket:

Pattern: Feuilles by Eric Hinsch
Yarn: KnitPicks Palette, Autumn Heather; Patons Kroy 3-ply, Col. 305 (Khaki Green)
Needles: 4mm Brittany Straights

3. Trees That Match My Wardrobe

This is the view from my 5th floor balcony. Oh, how I love this time of year!

4. Wool Blankets, Sweaters and Socks

It’s October in Ontario. See above.

5. My New Haircut

I feel so sophisticated. And a little like Audrey Tautou.

6. Lace & Ruffles in Chunky Yarn

There is just something deeply satisfying about knitting lace in thick wool on chunky needles.

My Solstice Stocking

Pattern: Ruffled Lace Christmas Stocking by Kathy North
Yarn: White Buffalo Elenka, Cream; Reynolds Lopi, Gold
Needles: 6mm DPNs
Hook: 6mm

That crocheted ruffle just cracks me up.

7. The Perfect Beads

I finally picked up the beads for my Wings of Horus Shawl this week – they’re #8 Miyuki beads in a matte gold colour that works incredibly well with the cotton/ramie blend yarn.

They remind me of Egyptian jewelry, which is entirely appropriate.

8. Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I use the recipe from “Eating Gluten Free” by Shreve Stockton.

(A really good basic GF cookbook, btw. The buckwheat pancake recipe is the BEST! I just sub out the buckwheat with teff flour as it’s a no-no for me.)

9. A Place For Everything & Everything In It’s Place

Those of you who know me well, know that I abhor doing dishes and laundry. However vital, it simply takes too much of my valuable knitting time.

This week, I have actually managed to thoroughly clean & organize my kitchen, keep up with the dishes & get all of the piled-up laundry washed, dried and put away. We can actually see the floor in the bedroom – it’s positively amazing!

An uncluttered house = uncluttered mind. Or at least in theory… it sure as heck feels like a weight has lifted off of my shoulders.

10. My Wonderful Husband

Tomorrow will be BadgerDan’s and my 11th wedding anniversary and as much as I like to grumble about him, he is the love of my life.

We’ve been through quite a lot together these past years and marvel at how we’ve (a) survived and (b) haven’t killed one another yet as we are both *quite* headstrong individuals who think in very different ways. (We have been known to have some very loud arguements, only to find out afterwards that we were actually arguing the same point.)

He is the Mathematician to my Visionary, the Costello to my Abbott and the Yang to my Yin.

And even though we won’t be going out for dinner tomorrow night (we’re actually on duty this week & next while the building managers are on vacation), we *will* be cracking open the bottle of 2007 Folonari Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso in the cupboard.

I love you Honey. Have a cookie.

Or rather from Nuts to Books…

So, with no further ado, I present to you the long awaited pattern for the “Little Knitted Acorn Project Bag”!

Little Knitted Acorn Project Bag

Click on the above link for the PDF instructions and enjoy!

My humblest thanks go out to my testknitters and the people who have been patiently waiting for me to get around to writing out the final copy… and then re-writing it when the original died along with my Dell laptop. You guys rock.

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that things are finally settling down enough for me to start transforming my patterns and ideas from jumbled notes & sketches into tangible instructions that others can follow. That and having a computer that can not only keep up with me, but actually do what I tell it to do, when I tell it to do it! (If only the husband was as well trained…)

As of right now, the pattern for the Classic Crocheted Shawl is being tested and should be available for download soon. Progress!

In addition to my new computer, I’ve acquired another couple of useful items recently that have made me squee with joy:

This would be my “brand new” Singer 306K (circa 1955) picked up for $20 at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store. It fits in my Nana’s sewing machine table perfectly and BadgerDan is on the hunt for a new pedal (the current one is kinda wonky) and some of the missing attachments for me. Colour me happy

However, not as happy as my new spindle makes me!

I picked up this gorgeous little guy from Butterfly Girl Designs over on Etsy. Now I just need to get some fiber worthy of spinning on it!

Now to bring on the yarn pr0n…

As I mentioned in my first blog post of the year, I have given myself some rules for stash enhancement and that also entails that I share with you my yarn acquisitions, full price or otherwise, lest the guilt monster haunt me for life.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the following was a bit of a splurge – but it was a special occasion. And I felt entitled as I completely missed WWKIP day.

Cables & Lace Dragon Toes in “Strife” and Lizard Toes in “Beltane”. Incredibly, it was the first mail we received at our new address. (They are destined for a pair of socks & a scarf – as soon as I’m able to stop petting them.)

I also ended up purchasing the yarn for the Lover’s Knot Wedding Afghan (2 (400g) balls of Phentex Worsted in “Natural” and 1 (125g) ball of Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in “Chocolate) due to a lack anything suitable in my stash for it. As it was for a wedding gift with next to no yarn leftover from the project, I think I can let myself off the hook for this transgression.

However, what follows now is the Yarn Score of the Century found at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store:

20(Twenty!!!) balls of Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb and 4 200g hanks of Worsted Wt Wool (I think they’re Romni Wools house brand, but could be wrong.)

All for the grand price of… $16 CDN.

(I’ll allow you a moment to do the math.)

Needless to say, I think I broke the landspeed record getting from the cash register to the car and after getting home, spent a good 3 hours jumping up and down.

Deciding to share the joy, I subsequently gifted about 10 balls of the Lacey Lamb to various knitterly buddies of mine over on Plurk, still leaving me with at least 5 shawls-worth. (That delicious wine colour has Mystic Roses written all over it.)

There has also been some forays into dying, both project-related and otherwise:

Not having enough yellow yarn in the stash (read: next to nil) to do the Sock Knitter’s Anonymous September 09 Mystery Sock (the challenge this month was the colour “yellow”) written by the illustrious Nancy Bush, I had to improvise. A little digging around yielded a couple of skeins of cream mystery 2-ply “workhorse” wool and a box of Gold Tintex Dye.

The resulting combination henceforth officially dubbed “Mango Margarita”:

Not too bad for a fabric dye. (The socks, btw, have been worn and washed with little to no colour-bleeding – so far, so good.)

Yesterday, after colouring my hair, there was quite a bit left over and inspiration struck. I re-skeined 2 balls of some seriously ancient laceweight wool and had a bit of fun.

Following the same directions as for hair – I did one in solid and one “a la Jackson Pollock“:

It worked – who knew? (lol)

Last, but not least, some books magically made their way into my library…

In separate trips to the local Value Village, I scored these (both in hardcover and $3.99):

Family Album by Kaffe Fassett & Zoe Hunt

Welcome Home by Kaffe Fassett

Thus, bringing my Kaffe book collection up to 9 (not including Rowan publications.) MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! One day they will all be mine!!!!! (Ahem.)

My friend Betty (of Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton) sent me her extra copy of A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen and earned my ever-lasting love and devotion.

And on the “free for the taking” bookcase in our building’s party room I found a copy of this:

Knitted Shawls, Stoles, and Scarves by Nancy M. Wiseman

Note to self: check bookcase every Wednesday after little old ladies needlework group.

Wishing a very Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians (and happy Diwali to those celebrating it).

TTFN.

{Note: *Wince* I realize after reading this entry that my writing style leaves plenty of room for improvement. I’m working on it. Really.}

Okay, time to update you on the rest of the little stuff I’ve been up to these last months… and there’s a lot of it, so stay with me here…

I decided to opt out of the Dishcloth KAL group I was involved with, but did complete the KAL cloths for May:

Daisy Dishcloth

Cabbage Patch Cloth

A summer top managed to make it off my needles:

Pattern: Coachella by Fathom Harvill (Knitty, Summer 2007)
Yarn: Teal Braided Cotton from Stash
Needles: 3.75mm, 4.5mm, 5mm Circular needles

I used the Extra Small size instructions, worked the first 3 rounds of collar on 3.75mm and the last 2 rounds on 4.5mm to transition to the larger needles.

We needed a rug for our “Library” (dining room area):

Pattern: Tweed Shells Rug by Katherine Eng (from Scrap Yarn Rugs)
Yarn: Chunky Thick/Thin Acrylic blend from frogged 2nd hand, handknit sweater-coat; Olive Green Cotton (Sleeves from frogged Sweater) – Yarn held double throughout.
Hook: 10mm

The cats just love it.

I did a wee bit of spinning with my Rakestraw spinner and decided to make a flower pin with it:

Pattern: Crocheted Rosettes/Flowers by Lion Brand
Yarn: My own handspun, 8.5g 2-ply lt worsted wt.
Hook: 4mm (row 1); 5mm (row 2)

The Oddballs Ravelry Group was doing a CAL for the awesome Inga Bag and since I found had all these little pieces of DK acrylic in my stash (don’t ask – NO frickin’ idea) I made them into a “magic ball” and voila:

A new project bag! I even lined it:

The liner is made from an old black t-shirt. The bottom of liner is square and double thickness for strength.

It seems I’ve been on a bit of a hat kick lately…

I improvised this baby hat for one of BadgerDan’s clients who just had a baby girl.

Spring Cap was the Woolly Wormhead KAL hat for September. I’ve actually been wearing this one alot.

The Emerald Star Cloche is my version of the her October KAL hat.

This beret was made to match these mitts, which the husband dubbed “Dr. Suess Mittens”. Aren’t they hilarious?

I whipped off a pair of wristwarmers (aka knittin’ mitts)

and… a few scarves…

Mmmmalabrigo Scarf

Manitou Passage Scarf

Peacock Track Scarf

This last one is a great mystery CAL scarf by Charles Voth (aka StitchStud of the Stitch Stud & His Bride Podcast).

There have also been socks. Many socks.

Summertime Blues Socks

Lichen Rib Socks

Kaffe’s Cross Rib Socks

Tuffy Slipper Socks

Redwood Forest Socks

Southwestern Socks

Fabled Sunrise Socks

Nancy Bush Mystery Socks

Plus one holiday stocking:

My 2009 Sampler Afghan is almost done with just 2 more squares to go:

June Squares

Pattern: Eliot Square by Julie A. Bolduc

July Squares

Pattern: Kingfield Square by Julie A. Bolduc

August Squares

Pattern: Jupiter Granny Square by Patrizia Pisani

September Square

Pattern: Amazing Grace by Bonnie Pierce

October Square

Pattern: Carousel Square by Priscilla Hewitt

You will note that I have changed to single monthly squares. This is due to running low on the lighter main colour wool. The 4 singles will make a transition row in the middle of the afghan – see? Design feature. I’ll be starting to sew these babies together fairly soon.

Thus finally bringing us to my current projects:

My sister recently saw my Noro/Kathmandu February Lady Sweater and made with the grabby hands, so I promised her I’d make her one for Christmas.

I’m making Robin’s FLS in Cascade 220 “Dune Heather” for the yoke and Briggs & Little Heritage “Sheep’s Grey” for the body and sleeves.

So far, so good.

It’s soon to be mitten weather around these parts and I’ve begun a pair of Jared Flood’s Green Autumn/Druid Mittens (aka the cover mittens from Vogue Knitting, Fall 08).

I’m calling these my Forest Witch Mittens and they have been quite the challenge so far. After swatching AND knitting a cuff twice, I finally ended up going down 5 needle sizes to Size 0/2mm so that the mitts would fit my relatively small hands. The yarn is a dark green heather 3-ply wool from a frogged 2nd hand sweater-vest.

Knitting is slow – but with all the cables, to be expected. Got to say, against my better judgement, I’m finding those itty bitty bobbles amusing as hell.

The Sock Knitter’s Anonymous October Challenge calls for, among a couple of other options, “Socks for Men” and, being a good knitter wife, I allowed BadgerDan to choose a pair from some of my vintage sock pattern books.

He chose the last pair on the right – Regent Man’s Socks No. 2058 (from Hand Knit Socks by Regent, Vol. No. 20)

Yeah… once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I asked him

“Really?”

He replied

“Go large or stay home”.

Lesson learned and challenge accepted.

Regent Hose for Hubby in all their intarsia glory are being made on 9″ long 2mm DPNs using the following stash yarns: Opal Designer Uni 4-ply, Dk Brown; Lang JaWoll Color, 82.0198 (Green); & Patons Kroy 3-ply, col 390 (Taupe).

Yep. Bobbins. Up to 9 of them at any one time. On 2mm needles.

He’s lucky I haven’t stabbed him with one yet.

My newest project is a great little lace scarf I’m test knitting for my friend KnittingDragon (of the Sweaters for Dragons Podcast & talented dye-master of Cables & Lace) which I’m calling “Autumn Leaves“.

Pattern: Feuilles by Eric Hinsch
Yarn: KnitPicks Palette, Autumn Heather
Needles: 4mm Brittany Straights

I will be using a yet to be determined contrast yarn for the end lace sections as I’m a little short on yardage.

Project update complete.

**THUD**

Tomorrow… yarn pr0n & a free pattern.

As for now, I need to go prepare a peach crisp and some gluten-free biscuits for Thanksgiving Dinner at the parents.

I had been going to title this entry “What I did on my Summer Vacation” but as we are now well into October this one seemed more fitting. These last few months have been truly manic – full speed and stop with nothing much in between.

Without getting into to too much detail, lifewise, this is what has been going on in a nutshell:

- The death of my laptop left me bereft of a computer life until BD surprised me a couple of weeks after the move with blue one of these, which I love and immediately dubbed my “Not Mac Feegle” or “Feegle” for short (So I like Terry Prachett, okay?)
- We moved to our new apartment.
- 2 days later, we began work as the Asst. Managers of the building. (Huge learning curve for me, but I’m getting the hang of it.)
- 3 family weddings (one in Victoria, BC!) and a baby shower.
- Health issues with FIL & some minor ones for both myself & BadgerDan.
- Cats ruined our 2 expensive couches, forcing us to throw them out.

Plus a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn’t bear mentioning. As usual, I’ve been using my craft as a coping mechanism and as such, quite a bit has flown from my hands these past 4 months. I won’t go over everything as it really seems to freak you guys out – I’ll just touch on a few of the biggies. If you want to see everything, just head over to my Ravelry page – they’re all there.

I’ll start with the stuff I left hanging from my last post.

Sock Madness Round 6 kicked my butt and I conceded defeat due to a very unfortunate yarn choice that couldn’t be allowed to live:

EEEEEEEEK! (insert Psycho music here)

I adjusted the pattern to 48 sts with a DK yarn, and my “Snow on the Mountain” version turned out absolutely lovely:

Pattern: Fire on the Mountain by Julie Sprague
Yarn: SandnesGarn Peer Gynt, White; Twillings of Stamford Freedom Spirit, Air
Needles: 3.25mm DPNs

I haven’t knit the final Sock Madness pattern yet, but I will before next year’s competition.

The 52 Pair Plunge II challenge was successfully met with the completion of 5 more pairs of baby socks and 4 pairs of adult ones…

My Kiilla Socks (yes, I changed the yarn):

SuperMeida Socks:

My Cable Rib Socks:

And a pair of WendyKnits Cabletini Socks :

My friend Elaine & her hubby over in Nebraska welcomed their new son Cpt. Adorable not too long ago who became the recipient of the majority of the wee baby socks and this Cowichan Baby Sweater:

Still waiting on a photo of Baby G in the jacket, Elaine .

My little Grand-Nephew is taking his sweet time making his appearance, but his shower was great fun. My contributions were the BSJ & Baby Huntsman Socks of last post and this:

Because every kid needs a binkie (preferably bulletproof).

Pattern: Radiant Star Afghan from The McCall’s Book of Afghans
Yarn: GAP Cotton Sweater (frogged), Taupe, Navy Blue, Olive Green
Hook: 4.5mm

The Zen Pullover has been done for a while:

But I find it a bit snug in the body, so I intend on ripping back and reknitting the body on 8mm needles when I feel so inclined.

Wings of Horus is coming along nicely, I’ve finished the 4th clue and am well into the 5th one now:

Gorgeous. I can’t wait until I hit the 6th and final clue with all the beads .

Onto the weddings…

My cousin Jeffrey and his lovely bride Susan were first to celebrate their nuptuals

and I did end up making them an afghan:

Pattern: Lover’s Knot Afghan by Lion Brand
Yarn: Phentex Worsted, Natural; Loops & Threads Impeccable Worsted, Chocolate
Needles: 6mm Addi Turbos

(I added 10 rows of garter stitch to bottom and top of afghan and an additional thick garter border of dark brown around the entire afghan.)

I believe I finished it with a day or two to spare before the wedding. We had a great time and even allowed ourselves to be photographed for posterity…

I think we clean up rather well .

A week before my cousin Tessa’s wedding – my Aunt Kay (who is an amazing quilter btw) called up my mom and offered to fly us out to Victoria for the weekend so we could attend. Stunned, that Friday found yours truly (on a plane for the first time in about 16yrs) with her mom on her way to British Columbia and a stay in one of the oldest, most elegant hotels in the country – The Empress.

We had a wonderful weekend catching up with family that we hadn’t seen in literally decades and wandering around downtown Victoria.

Tessa’s gown was one that had been passed down in Kay’s family – first worn almost 100yrs to the day of the wedding. She looked every inch the Edwardian bride:

Absolutely beautiful.

As you can well imagine, less than a week is not much notice for someone like me who always makes her gifts. Thankfully, after a panicked phonecall to my aunt in BC and finding out that not only is Tessa’s favorite colour blue, but that she is also a knitter, I decided that I could manage a set of thick woolen placemats:

Pattern: Placemats by Debbie Bliss (from her knitting magazine, premier issue)
Yarn: Chinook Carded Pure Virgin Australian Wool, Royal Blue (504)
Needles: 12mm River John Swing Needles

Tessa and her hubby are also expecting their first child pretty soon – so I have some more baby knitting to do!

A lovely fibery souvenier also followed me home from this trip:

Oh, but yes. Qiviuq. SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (ahem.)

Never in a million years did I think that the teasing of my Uncle Dan that if he was going to the Yukon, he’d better darn well bring me back some qiviut would be taken seriously.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To all my family in BC – Danny & I hope to come visit really soon.

Wedding #3 of my other cousin Connor (Jeff’s brother) to his charming Annalynn was a couple of weeks later.

(Unfortunately, this time I forgot my camera and cannot regale you with photos.)

What I can share with you is their gift:

Pattern: Delft Pillow by Eunny Jang (Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2008)
Yarn: Cascade 220, Charcoal Heather (4002); Naturally “Perendale” (DK, 8-ply), Cream (col. 64)
Needles: 3.75mm 32″ Addi Turbos

I really cut it close on this one – it was still slightly damp when it was wrapped.

Other wedding news: my sister and her fiance Danny (yes, it does get a little confusing) have set a date for next year. They just moved in together and have adopted a wee fluffy puppy named “Roxy” who my mom assures me is a little angel. Robin – I want a photo of the cuteness!

Well, I think that is more than enough for today.

Tomorrow (before we head to my mom & dad’s for Thanksgiving dinner) I’ll update you on the projects I’ve finished recently, what I’m currently working on, the progress of my 2009 Sampler Afghan, some yarn pr0n and perhaps have a free pattern available for download.

A demain mes amies.

“May you live in interesting times.”

With all the ups and downs our little family has gone through over the last 2 months, trying to keep one’s head on straight has been hard enough, let alone trying to blog about it.

I’ll give you a cliffnotes version of what’s been going on and then give you the project/stash enhancement details.

- Competing in Sock Madness 3 (I’ve made it through to the Semi-Finals!)

- Yarn Crawl with SilverPheonix in Toronto (we had so much fun! He blogs about it here.)

- Elderly Father-in-law hospitalized & undergoes brain surgery (he had a subdural bleed resulting from falling and hitting his head). He’s home (and doing well) now after scaring the pants off of us after a month & a half of surgery & rehab.

- WE’RE FINALLY MOVING!!!! Unbelievably, we scored the assistant building managers position of my In-Laws’ apartment building. We move in June 1st. The new apartment is IMMACULATE, has a balcony (which being on the 5th floor gives me the willies), and the building has laundry facilities! (Can you hear the angels singing?) Best of all 50% off of the rent and the opportunity of maybe running a building of our own in the future. Sweet.

- My laptop (or rather the harddrive thereof) DIED. Subsequent tries by my beloved to repair the ancient Dell Latitude resulted in 2 more fried harddrives. We have since decided that this is my laptop telling us to “Leave me the hell alone and let me die in peace!”. BadgerDan is allowing me to share his laptop until he can get us some new MacBooks. No more screwing around. We did a backup a while ago, so I didn’t lose too much data (I hope.)

- Our nephew Richard and his girlfriend Shannon are going to have a baby boy (first baby in the family in a *very* long time and soon-to-be big brother Eric doesn’t know what he’s in for). Yay, baby knitting!

- My cousin is getting married at the end of July and I’m thinking a blanket will be a good gift. If I crochet it, I might just be able to get it done in time.

A whole bunch more has been going on, but those are the biggies.

Okay, lets get to some fun fibry stuff!

First, some shout-outs:

My darling SilverPheonix gifted me with these:

Organic 2-ply Laceweight Alpaca from a local breeder! A 4 oz skein each “Li’l Miss”(brown) & “Verdy” (cream) which I assume to be the names of the individual animals.

and he *made* me these gorgeous stitch markers!

(There was a bunch of other goodies in the care package too – spoiled me rotten, you did, David! Thank You!)

Remember all those finished socks from the last post for the Sock Knitter’s Anonymous February Challenge? Well, I *actually* WON some yarn!

This is a wicked 100g skein (500m) of Yak Wool 4Ply in “Electrical Storm” donated by Ruth (Cinders over on Ravelry) of (Black Cat Fibres) all the way from Lancashire, England. I can’t stop petting it.

Katkoe of PaperandYarn sent me an adorable little set of flowery stitch markers to brighten my day. Which they did, but I just can’t get a good picture of them. They’re real cute though. Thanks again!

Some purchased Yarn Pr0n:

I was a really good girl (and I have David to back me up on this), yarnwise at least (lol) while on our Yarn Crawl and only fell down when I saw this absolutely GORGEOUS skein of Koigu KPPPM over at Lettuce Knit. I think it looks like African Violets, don’t you? I paid full price for it, but as it was a special occasion, we decided it doesn’t count .

In the interests of full disclosure, I’ve also purchased the following yarn:

- 4.5 balls of Bouquet “Marina” Superwash Wool (around $2.50 from the Salvation Army) I needed it to make my FIL a pair of gloves (detailed later).

- A mixed bag of yarn which included a few of balls of Kroy wool & some misc. acrylic ($4 from the Salvation Army)

- A ball of Cream Georga 100% Mercerized Wool from Walmart (I paid full price for this one, but needed it to make these socks as a future project, I already had 2 balls of the dark grey and don’t want to mix with a non-mercerized wool.)

- 2 BAGS (20 balls) of Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit col. 417 “Promise” (which I scored at an unbelievable 70% off). I don’t have plans for it yet, but by the Gods, 2400m of DK Wool should be enough to make *something*!! Maybe even something “Rowan-esque”. Ain’t it purty?

See? I’ve been good.

If you follow me at all, you won’t be surprised that I’ve been working on a whole whack of projects since my last post. So consider yourself warned that this section is heavy on the photos and content.

I’m going to detail the misc. stuff (in chronological order) first, then the Sock Madness Rounds, followed by what’s currently on the needles and what ended up in the proverbial Frog Pond. Sound good? You sitting down? Let us begin.

Miscellaneous FOs

SilverPhoenix Hat – a surprise gift for David given to him on our trip to Toronto.

Pattern: Louisa by Kristi Pedersen (West Coast Creative)
Yarn: Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit, “Air” (Shade 506); Filatura di Crosa Zara, light grey (Col 1494)

Quilted Windmill Cloth – the March 2009 Mid-month cloth for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL Yahoo! Group.

Pattern: The Windmill Dishcloth by Sew-Funky
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton; Jewels, Delft Blue, Light Blue

FIL’s Manly Gloves – Danny’s Dad lost one of his leather winter gloves, so I offered to make him a new pair. When I asked what colour, 3 voices responded in unison “Grey. Plain.” *SIGH* Let’s just say that I would rather give myself a lobotomy with a plastic DPN over making these gloves again.

Pattern: Gloves for Service Men by the American Red Cross (vintage pattern from 1942)
Yarn: Bouquet Marina, col. 6750 (Steel Grey)

Pleated Beret – This was the April Vertical KAL Woolly Wormhead hat. It worked up fast and well, but just looks *wrong* on my head. I don’t know why. I’ll take it apart later and reuse the yarn for something else. I’ll try the pattern again with a different yarn some other time.

Pattern: Pleated Beret by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: FibraNatura Oak, Tyme (40255); Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK, WaterLeaf (019)

Highland Hose – They’re finally DONE!!!!!!! And OMG I love them!!! I reversed the cables on the second one to make them symmetrical.

Pattern: Rose’s Hose by Rose Singerman (from “Sock Hop: Socks to Make Your Feet Dance” by Joseph Madl for Philosopher’s Wool)
Yarn: Hayfield Falkland, col. 16004 (250g)

Illusion Egg Hunt Cloth – the April KAL Cloth for the Yahoo! Monthly Dishcloth KAL. I used up scraps to stripe the “eggs”. Trust me that there are a lot of better looking versions than mine .

Pattern: Illusion Egg Hunt Dishcloth by Deborah C. Tilley
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, Natural; Lemon Swirl; Denims; Natural Ombre

Malachite BSJ – A jacket for the new grand-nephew! I forwent the buttons and did some i-cord ties instead.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Georga 100 percent Cotton, Green Multi; Dk. Green Cotton from frogged Old Navy Sweater

April Squares – The April CAL squares for the 2009 Sampler Afghan.

Pattern: April Square by Julie A. Bolduc
Yarn: Chunky Homespun from frogged Equadorian Sweaters

Mystic Star Shawl – is COMPLETE and FRICKING GORGEOUS! Couldn’t be happier (although I thought that last clue was going to kill me). I assure you, there are beads in there.

Pattern: Mystic Star by Anna Dalvi
Yarn: Broder Medicis 2-ply laceweight wool (from France) handdyed to a midnight blue by me.
Beads: #8 Miyuki Clear Beads

Little Acorn Bag – I crocheted up this little project bag on a whim. (Little did I know where it would lead…more on this later.)

Pattern: Little Acorn Project Bag by Brigitte Read
Yarn: Light Brown Mystery Tweed from Stash; Noro Kureyon, Col. 149
Beads: 3/4″ Wood

Absinthe Socks – a pair worthy of the Green Fairy, don’t ya think? A couple of modifications: I ran 2×2 ribbing up the back of the leg, made the cuff longer (total 18 rnds instead of 12) and reversed the middle cables on the second sock.

Pattern: Absinthe socks by Sara Morris (Knitty, Spring 2009)
Yarn: Scheepjes Invicta Extra, Electric Green (discontinued)

BadgerDan’s Bad-ass Driving Gloves – My beloved had his birthday at the end of March (his 49th – I love you honey! *duck*) and these are what he wanted me to make him. Had to do an inter-library loan to get the pattern, but it was definitely worth it. (I plan on getting my own copy when I do my “book binge” this year.) The only thing I modified was shortening the straps to 7″ and replacing the D-rings with a button closure.

Pattern: Driver by Robin Melanson (from Knitting New Mittens & Gloves)
Yarn: Gjestal Selbu Husflidgarn, Col. 312 (black heather)

April Showers Cloth – the April Mid-month Cloth for Monthly Dishcloth KAL Yahoo! Group. I “intarsia”ed the contrast border.

Pattern: April Showers by Deborah C. Tilley
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, Green Twists; Forest Green

May Squares – The May CAL squares for the 2009 Sampler Afghan.

Pattern: Rainbow Crochet 6″ Square by Sarah Bradberry
Yarn: Homespun Wool from frogged 2nd hand Equadorian Sweaters

If you’re wondering, the 2009 Sampler Afghan currently looks like this at the moment:

I whipped off a bunch of baby socks in leftover yarn (details in the links):

Spring Stripes Baby Socks

Woodsy Baby Socks

Reese’s Pieces Stripe Baby Socks

Baby Huntsman Socks

Cosmos Baby Socks

Dr. Who Baby Socks

Which bring us to my latest FO – the Little Knitted Acorn Project Bag

When I shared my crocheted acorn bag with my Sock Madness friends, a few of them requested a knitted version as they don’t crochet. Always willing to assist, I offered to write one. And this is the result:

I consulted with the original designer and she gave me the green light to offer it as a free pattern. As soon as I hear back from my test-knitters and get the pattern re-typed (my master was nuked with the rest of my laptop), the PDF will be available as a Free Ravelry Download and I’ll have a direct download from here as well. (Providing, of course, I can figure out HOW to make it work.)

So, if you’re interested, stay tuned!

Sock Madness

This year’s Sock Madness has been a lot of fun so far. We’ve just finished up Round 5, with only 2 rounds left to go. And I’m STILL IN THE RUNNING! I guess all the practice has paid off (lol).

In retrospect, I do admit that some of my yarn choices could have been better…

(As the designers are always better at explaining their own patterns, I’ve provided links to the Sock Madness blog posts in the pattern notes for each.)

Round 1 – Tropical Mer-tini Socks

Pattern: Tropical Mer-tini Socks by Ronni Smith
Yarn: Austermann Step, Col. 09
Needles: 2.25mm

Round 2 – Tokena Socks

Pattern: Tokena by Tricia Weatherston
Yarn: Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Heather, Cajun Spice; Paton’s Kroy 3-ply, Col. 390
Needles: 2mm DPNs (cuff, heel, toe); 2.25mm DPNs (fair isle)

Round 3 – Talia’s Wings (The Manly Version)

(A little note: BadgerDan requested a pair be made for him during the competition – these would be them.)

Pattern: Talia’s Wings by Heatherly Walker
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Marmi, col. 7001
Needles: 2.5mm circs

Round 4 – Lucky Diamond Socks

(After I finished this round, I made the following modifications to my socks: Lengthened toe by 1″ and lengthened cuff to 1.5″.)

Pattern: Lucky Diamonds by Melissa Goodale
Yarn: Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Ultra 3ply, col. SU0107A-081(Blues); Paton’s Kroy 3ply, col. 374 (Dk. Navy)
Needles: 2.25mm circs

Round 5 – Fine Feathered Feet

Pattern: Dimpled Diamonds Socks by Deborah Swift
Yarn: Opal Rainforest 4ply, Owl
Needles: 2.25mm, 2mm

Next stop…the Semi-finals!

Which brings us to what I’m actively working on right now:

Works In Progress

The Zen Pullover is slowly taking shape:

I’ve opted to sew the sleeves and instead of working the back & front pieces seperately, picked up and am knitting the body in round top down. I hope it will fit – if not, I’ll just pull it back and add more stitches. It is a “Zen” pullover after all…

I joined yet another Mystery Shawl KAL – this one is called “Wings of Horus” by Kalinumba and involves solving riddles before you can open the PDF Clues. Due to Sock Madness demanding my attention, I’ve only completed the first 2 clues (the 5th one was just released):

If the yarn looks familiar – it should. It’s the same yarn I used for the now frogged Casablanca Shawl. Doesn’t it look like falcon feathers? The last clue will have us adding a whole bunch of beads – I’ll have to find some golden ones I think.

Sock Knitters Anonymous is running another mystery sock KAL – this one by the famous Yarnissima! The pattern is called Kiila and I’ve finished the first clue (again, delayed by Sock Madness).

The yarn is a discontinued yarn from KnitPicks called “Memories” in the “Redwood Forest” colourway. Here’s a close-up:

And since the only knitting book to somehow escape being packed away for the move is my copy of “Favorite Socks” and I’m so close to finishing the 52 Pair Plunge II (it ends May 31st and my current total stands at 43 pairs), I have a couple of pairs on the go from there:

SuperMeida Socks (Meida’s Socks by Nancy Bush) is using up one of my oddball, single skein, “what was I thinking” yarns – Cascade Sassy Stripes in a forgotten colourway that I can’t find the name of. It just reminds me of a superhero costume. The toe is some closely matching dk grey 4-ply Kroy.

Here’s what it looks like with a foot in it:

The stitch pattern reminds me of Wonder Woman for some reason…

And begun today…

Cable Rib Socks (by Erica Alexander) which I’m altering a wee bit by knitting them out of the Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester Aran (Cosmic Dawn colourway) from my frogged Thrum Socks (I kept the mohair roving to spin – hey it’s Fleece Artist and I’m thrifty!) on 3.25mm needles. I’ve reduced the stitch count down to 42. So far, so good.

This brings us finally to:

The Frog Pond Report

Even after changing to yet *another* yarn, the Dogwoods in Spring Mystery Shawl didn’t want to cooperate – so into the pond it went. Eventually, I hope to find the right yarn.

Believe it or not, it’s taken me over 7 hours to complete this blog post. I really do need to start contemplating blogging on a daily basis…

That is, if my “times” don’t get any more “interesting”.

TTFN.

Holy smokes! Here it is, the middle of March & I haven’t posted since my birthday.

In my defense, our internet connection went down in February, followed by my laptop having a meltdown (BadgerDan was able to resurrect it, but we are seriously looking at new ones right now for both of us.)

When last we left our intrepid knitter, she had just discovered the Sock Knitters Anonymous group over on Ravelry and was working on the January Mystery Sock Pattern…

The Beaded Mystery Socks are now done:

Pattern: SKA January Mystery Pattern by Sheryl Giles
Yarn: Lang JaWoll Color, 82.0198 (2 skeins)
Needles: 2.25mm
Beads: #8 Miyuki Glass Beads, Gold-lined Brown (8-135S)

As are the Strange Bedfellows Socks:

Pattern: Coupling by Deb Barnhill
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering, Fern Green; Misti Alpaca Handpainted Sock, Taos
Needles: 2.5mm circs

I used a “Judy’s Magic Cast-On” Toe instead of Short-row one as in the pattern & did the foot in plain stockingette.

What they don’t tell you is that SKA is *not* a 12-step program and will lead you down a slippery slope, as I soon discovered…

First, I thought, I have time to do another pair for the January Challenge…

Rolling Thunder Socks

Pattern: Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding (from Knitty)
Yarn: Austermann Step, col. 01 (approx. 1/2 ball – 45g); Patons 3-ply Scotch Fingering, Butter Yellow & Dark Burgundy
Needles: 2.25mm KnitPicks Classic Circulars, 2mm DPNs (for 3-ply sections)
Beads: Amber A/B #6 Miyuki Beads (6-257)

I shortened the leg by 1.5″ and reduced to only 68 sts at the gusset to accommodate tighter gauge and needles of 3-ply.

Hey, it’s stash busting right? Sure.

Enter the February Challenge and a designer that I had lots of patterns by, but had never gotten around to knitting…

Naniboujou Socks

Pattern: Naniboujou by Chrissy Gardiner (from Knitty, Winter ‘08)
Yarn: Cascade 128 Solids in Dark Brown (1108), Rust (2414) & Cream (8010)
Needles: 4mm

Chunky yarn, why not? (I used the 4.75″ size of the pattern)

Nice and fast, neat pattern, Husband loves them.

Which soon led to some simple kneesocks…

Ribby Retro Socks

Pattern: Ribby Retro Socks by Chrissy Gardiner (Knitscene, Fall ‘07)
Yarn: Sean Sheep Armytage, Greens; Bucilla Tapestry Wool, Col. 011
Needles: 2.75mm DPNs

Hey, why aren’t you using the “good” yarn? Okay, I thought, let’s do some really nice ones…

Knotty or Knice Socks

Pattern: Knotty or Knice Socks by Chrissy Gardiner (Interweave Knits, Fall ‘08)
Yarn: Stonebarn Fibers/Gypsy Girl Creations, Cattails (2 skeins)
Needles: 2.25mm

I worked a toe-up flap heel (a la Wendy Johnson) instead of the short-row one as written (added a stitch to the sole needle sole to accommodate this) and then added 15 rnds of K1B, P1 ribbing as I felt they needed a cuff.

This yarn was actually the first yarn I ever bought from The Loopy Ewe.

Why not a cabled pair?

Tilted Cable Socks

Pattern: Tilting Cables by Chrissy Gardiner (Interweave Knits, Winter ‘07)
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel, Col. 5020
Needles: 2.5mm

I again knitted the foot in plain stockingette and lengthened the heel flap from 32 rows to 36 rows for my high instep.

Here’s a close up of the cables:

How about another stash buster pair?

Kaibashira Socks

Pattern: Kaibashira by Chrissy Gardiner (Knotions)
Yarn: ONline Supersocke 100 Highland Color, Col. 840 (45g); Paton’s Scotch 3-Ply Fingering Wool, Kelly Green (18.4g); Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro 2-ply Laceweight, Black
Needles: 2.25mm DPNs

I held the laceweight and 3-ply held together to recreate the effect of the Supersocke yarn and to bring up the gauge.

And darn it, I need a pair to go with my big ol’ grey tweed sweater…

Squares & Stripes Socks

Pattern: Squares & Stripes by Chrissy Gardiner (from Lion Brand “Just Socks”)
Yarn: Sandnes Garn Smart Superwash DK, Grey Tweed (2 balls); Mission Falls 1824 Wool, Raven (005)
Needles: 2.75mm DPNs

Enter the March Challenge and another mystery sock kal…

March Mystery Socks

Pattern: SKA March Lace Mystery Sock by Kristi Schueler
Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints, Cherry Berry (9926)
Needles: 3mm DPNs (leg & heel); 3.25mm DPNs (foot)

I used the 42 stitch option & we have one more clue (the cuff) to go on these.

Did I mention that the new Spring 2009 issue of Knitty is out and fricking incredible???

I couldn’t stop myself…really!

Absinthe Socks

Pattern: Absinthe socks by Sara Morris (Knitty, Spring 2009)
Yarn: Scheepjes Invicta Extra, Electric Green (discontinued)
Needles: 2.25mm

And how about some baby socks?

Sporty Striped Baby Socks

Pattern: 44 stitches, 2×2 rib leg, flap heel, reduced down to 40 sts for foot.
Yarn: DGB Confetti Superwash, Col. 193
Needles: 2.5mm DPNs

Yarrr!! Baby Stockings

Pattern: I started out with a standard Judy’s Magic Cast-On Toe, 32 sts (3″ foot), short-row heel and worked 1.5″ of the leg in stockingette, then on a whim incorporated the central pattern from “Jack Sparrow’s Favorite Socks” by Pamela Northrup, worked 3 rounds, then did 1/2″ in 2×2 rib before binding off. Leg measures 5″ to the bottom of the heel.
Yarn: Opal Pullover & Sockenwolle (10g sample ball), unidentified colourway; Paton’s Scotch 3-ply fingering wool, Black
Needles: 2.5mm

These just crack me up to no end.

Good news? I have 29 pairs already done for the 52 Pair Plunge II ending April 31st. Bad news? I think my husband wants me fitted for a straight-jacket.

By the way, the first round of Sock Madness 3 is tomorrow (maniacal laughing…)

It wasn’t just socks I’ve been working on during this period of radio silence…

There has been sweater knitting:

Austermann Abotanicity is finally off the needles!!!!!!

Pattern: Abotancity by Cassie Rovitti (Knitty, Winter ‘07)
Yarn: Austermann Step, colour 06 (4 balls)
Needles: 2.75mm, 3.25mm & 3.75mm circulars

I made mine short sleeved by using 2.75mm needles and decreasing every other row to 83sts then knitting even until I hit 4” and will need to put some darts in at the back as it’s a little big on me.

I finished half of a mohair sweater before deciding it wasn’t working:

(I took it off the needles, but haven’t yet pulled it apart, just in case I want to give it another go.)

And started what I’m calling my Zen Pullover:

It’s the “Rectangela” pattern from Berocco that I’m doing in Briggs & Little Heritage, Sheep’s Grey.

I mean how pretty is this?

There have also been dishcloths:

February Monthly KAL Cloth

Pattern: Kiss Me Cloth by Lisa Milan
Yarn: Scrap Dishcloth Cotton in Pink, Bright White & Variagated Pink
Needles: 4.25mm

(It is *very* pink to my “non-pink-person” eyes, but isn’t really all that aesthetically or technically offensive.)

February Mid-Month KAL Cloth

Pattern: Circle Cloth by Hakucho
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, Sage Green & Green Twist (+ a scrap of lighter green when I ran out of the sage)
Needles: 4.25mm

And the March Monthly KAL Cloth

Pattern: Pot O’ Gold Dishcloth by Emily Jagos
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, Banana Yellow
Needles: 4.25mm straights

For some reason, I decided that I immediately needed a new spring scarf to go with my green Levi’s jacket and after a stash dive, came up with this:

Grizabella Scarf

Pattern: Wear-as-a-Collar Scarf by Sally Melville (from Scarf Style)
Yarn: 3 Novelty yarns from stash (your guess is as good as mine)
Needles: 6.5mm straights

I am thoroughly surprised at how much I actually like it, for a novelty yarn scarf.

There has been crochet:

March Squares for the 2009 Sampler Afghan

Pattern: March Square by Julie A. Bolduc
Yarn: Chunky Homespun from frogged Equadorian Sweaters
Hook: 8mm

Thoroughly by accident, I stumbled upon a crocheted lace shawl mystery CAL and one “ooh shiny” moment later had this done:

Dogwoods in Spring Mystery Shawl

Pattern: Laceweight Mystery Shawl 2009 by Tracey McCorkle
Yarn: SouthMaid Mercerized Crochet Thread, Size 20 (White)
Hook: 3.5mm

which I took apart and re-did yesterday in some ancient 2-ply wool from the stash because the mercerized cotton was playing hell with my hands.

I plan on handpainting this shawl when it’s done.

And talking about shawls…

Last post I mentioned Mystic Star and how I wouldn’t start it until after the other ones were done.

Yeah. Then I saw a gorgeous clue 1 done in midnight blue accented with clear beads on Ravelry.

In the span of 3 hours this happened:

These

went in here

to look like this

and a bit of a blow-dry later, became this:

It now looks like this:

I just have clue 4 to finish and it’s done. Stunning.

(I also signed up for Mystic Roses, but honestly won’t be starting that one for a while – it’s the same size as Mystic Waters & I don’t have the yarn for it at the moment.)

It just goes to show you what happens to a knitter when you limit his/her internet useage!

In other news, my extremely wonderful & talented friend Silver Pheonix from over on Plurk & I will be meeting up in Toronto for a bit of a takeover yarn crawl on Friday. You have been warned. (Muahahahahaha)

Sock Madness and David within a 24hrs of each other. Be afraid, be very afraid. (I can’t wait )

Just got home from a fantastic dinner with BadgerDan at our favorite local restaurant (& a stopover at the Chapters bookstore).

My birthday gift?

It’s a Samsung S2 Digital Audio Player, aka “The Pebble”. Now if we can just fool the software into thinking that I’m running Windows instead of Linux, I’m all set.

As for what I’ve been up to these last couple of weeks – hooboy.

Where do I start?

How about some FOs?

My February Lady Sweater is done:

and it fits like a dream:

It’s knit out of “the good stuff” – 2 balls of Noro Kureyon (col. 150) and 5 balls of Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran Tweed (col. 120). The buttons are mother of pearl, natural side out. I think this is the nicest sweater I’ve made to date.

Hot off the needles today is my Hemlock Ring Blanket:

The result of much late night lace knitting, ripping out and redoing on larger needles – OMG soooooo worth it though.

Some small stuff:

The first pair of the promised “oodles of baby socks” to an online friend of mine who found out over the Christmas holidays that the IV was successful and is finally pregnant with her first child. YAY!!!! (Elaine – expect socks – lots of ‘em!)

There are definitely more where those came from!

A rather whimsical hat came off the needles one day – I call it “Booberry“:

The pattern is Candied Plums by Kathy Zimmermann (Knitter’s Magazine, Winter 2008 ) done in Estelle Woolly Bully, Ocean

I had some leftover yarn to use up so I gave it a try. Not my favorite, gotta say. It’s blue. It’s a hat. It functions. It might get frogged back and re-knit – we’ll see.

The January Mid-Month KAL Dishcloth is done:

I love me a sampler cloth, don’t you?

Okay – those are all the FOs, now a slight detour into the garden towards the frog pond…

The Scarlet Aran Scarf just wasn’t happening so riiiiiiiiip. I don’t think I’m in a scarf knitting mood at the moment. Will revisit at a later date.

and sadly… the Serendipity Stole (aka MS4) has also succumbed to the pond. Many factors fueled this decision, but mostly it was due to assessing the yarn and not thinking that it could hold up in the long run. I’ll probably end up using it for stockings, as they wear out anyway. Beads, I can always reuse.

Speaking of beads:

My Beaded Mystery Socks are almost done, here they are at the end of Clue 3:

I plan on getting these done over the weekend.

I also started another pair of socks using the Coupling pattern by Deb Barnhill from the 2007 Summer Knitty and some oddballs:

(Note: I’m only doing the lace pattern on the leg of these ones – the feet will be plain stockingette.)

As a little birthday gift to myself, I signed up for the Mystic Star Shawl KAL. (I will have the whole collection – oh, yes – they will be mine – muahahaha!)

I won’t start on it until I get the other “Mystics” done first though. After Mystic Waters, Mystic Meadows is next in the queue.

If you haven’t noticed – I’ve been trying to get the old UFOs finished up before starting on too many new projects. I overdid it a little last year with the lace and want to reign myself in a bit. I have been planning though…

Top Row: Mystic Meadows, Goddess Knits Halloween Mystery 08, Mystic Ice
Bottom Row: Mystic Star, Mystic Waters, Tessa Shawl (Shetland Faroese Shawl)

I’ve been working a row here and there on the two shawls in progress and hope to get more time in on them now that some of the bigger projects are off the needles.

I still have one other “largish” project to finish up – my Austermann Abotanicity Sweater – which needs about another 10 lace repeats on the skirt and then the ribbed sleeves. Should be done before Spring, I think.

Which is good – because I really want to start on this:

Right now, I’m currently standing at only 6 projects OTN and frankly this productivity is making me a bit jumpy.

Hey, at least its progress…

…she blogged.

My personal mission this year will be to knit/crochet only from stash and get it down to the point where I can upload it to Ravelry.

I make the following exceptions for Stash Enhancement:

1. Thriftstore yarn.
2. Discounted oddballs @ 40% off or more.
3. The occasional ball of happy dishcloth cotton.
4. One or two splurges (aka sock yarn) on Worldwide Knit in Public Day.
5. Any yarn won in a contest/draw.

I think this is a feasible, realistic plan that I can follow.

In keeping with this plan, I hit the ground running (or crocheting) this year:

The January Squares for the 2009 Sampler Afghan are the first FO out of the gate:

Followed closely by a completed Lopi Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan! Yep. Done.

What had been taking me *forever* to complete ended up taking 4 days (I had to give my hands a day or two of rest in between sessions) to complete. And holy smokes – what a stashbuster!

The Lopi stash which once looked like this:

is (after setting aside what I need for my Hemlock Ring Blanket) now down to just this:

Not a bad start I think.

Speaking of the Hemlock Ring…

I’ve managed to make it to the first Feather & Fan repeat:

My Seaweed Socks are done too!

First Pair of the year. (And super comfy too, I might add.)

I have signed on for the 2009 Monthly Dishcloth KAL Challenge over on Yahoo! rather than doing the Weekly one this year. This means only 2 cloths a month and those are done 10 rows at a time with my morning coffee. Infinitely more manageable and those not to my taste can be given away as gifts.

January Cloth #1 – Ice Skate Dishcloth

Completely by chance, I stumbled upon Clue one of the Sock Knitters Anonymous Ravelry Group’s January Sockdown! Challenge. They have the occasional Mystery Sock KAL and this month’s KAL is a beaded lace sock designed by Sheryl Giles (aka Emm1e) who also did the Zombie Socks for last year’s Sock Madness 2.

What can I say? Mystery? Beads? Lace? SOCKS? Potential Prizes? Umm…yeahhhhh…

I’m soooo loving these socks! Already halfway through with Clue 2 (which was released today). Gorgeous.

The socks beckon…must go knit now…

And see if Maverick will let Mommy put the blanket away…

First off – our Holidays were wonderful. It was great to have some time with my family for a change – we don’t get to see each other that often. Everyone loved their gifts, and as promised here is what I made for BadgerDan:

A Pair of Varsity Socks (which he immediately put on as soon as they were unwrapped) and

an authentic WWII Watchcap (which he asked for).

BadgerDan made(!) me a truly fantastic handstitched leather satchel – it’s huge (14″ x 14″ x 6″) and has more clips than you can shake a stick at. In a word – SQUEE!!!!

My travel project for the Holidays was my Highland Hose, and I actually managed to finish the first one:

These, my friends, are what I call “kneesocks”!!!

In anticipation for the new year, I’ve been going through my projects and wildly finishing off WIPs, ripping out those that needed it and gathering yarn for some new ones.

I present to you – my completed 2008 Mission Falls Sampler Afghan!

and (finally) my completed Mystic Earth Stole!

Relegated to the Frog Pond was my Casablanca Shawl – I had run into some mistakes (all mine) and didn’t get back to it. I can always knit it again later.

I also took apart my Lopi Vintage Vertical Stripe Afghan (9.75 feet is WAY too big for a blanket) – reballed the yarn and made a new plan of attack. Using the blanket as a massive gauge swatch – I calculated that 165 sts/84 rows would give me a blanket measuring approx 5.5 ft x 3.5 ft. Much easier to deal with. And since it seems that I don’t really do “random” all that well – I sorted the yarn into colour groups and plugged them into a Random Stripe Generator using 1 row & 42 rows as the parameters. I tweaked it a bit in my spreadsheet program, reversed the stripe sequence for the 2nd half of the blanket and voila! One pattern chart to follow. I’m restarting this one at Midnight tonight.

This allowed me to free up yarn for a Hemlock Ring Blanket that I couldn’t resist starting on:

I’m using all browns/beiges/creams radiating out from darkest to lightest.

Unfortunately, I can’t go any further on it until I get a certain ways into the VVS!

The 2009 Sampler Afghan yarn is ready to go:

This is the result of frogging two chunky homespun & handknit sweaters from Equador that I found at the thrift store. It has way too much vegetable matter in it for a garment – but perfect for a camp blanket for BadgerDan! By using an 8mm hook and this year’s CAL’s 6″ square option I should be in pretty good shape. I can always border it with any leftover Lopi from the VVS.

Hmmm, what else??? Oh yeah! I started an Aran Scarf for the Red Scarf Project:

Today I organized my remaining WIPs and did a little mending that I’d been putting off.

So to sum up the year I have just gone through and counted all my Finished Projects from 2008 – here’s the final tally:

**big breath**

Blankets (3)
Sweaters/Tops/Vests (5)
Lace Shawls (6)
Bags (11)
Hats (9)
Socks (29 pairs)
Mitts (2 pairs)
Slippers (5 pairs)
Dishcloths (42)
Stuffed Toy (1)
Bottle/Tea Cozies (2)
Charity Blanket Squares (3)

Total Completed Projects: 118

Holy smokes is that a lot of yarn!

I’ve learned a lot this year and am very thankful for all the new people who have come into my life. **hugs**

Let us meet this new year with strength, hope and the will to see & make positive changes in our lives and the World.

Happy New Year Everyone!