A Bitter Knitter

Here comes a super quick blog post... I'm going through the WIPs that I haven't blogged yet and sneaking a few minutes to write a blog post while my toddler (almost two!!!) spends some time with her daddy at the park. Today's blog post project started as this yarn: It was a birthday gift from my little sister.  Berroco calls the colour "Dreams." I love aqua.  It was cool to see all the colours in the skein as I wound them into balls.  (You will have to take my word on the colour... it's really hard to capture, in part because of the sheen of the yarn.) And as I wound them, I knew that I wanted to turn this yarn into a drop stitch scarf.  The pattern is " Shimmer Wave Scarf " by Kate Hiester which is a free pattern on Ravelry .  I used all but a foot or two of yarn on the scarf and it came out seven feet long and six inches wide when relaxed.  The colour changes subtly from row to row showing off the contours of the drop stitch pattern...

I last blogged two months ago, and in that two months I have accomplished a big whoppin' NOTHIN'.  I have no new finished projects to show, much less any photo-worthy progress on any other works in progress. Instead I have started and frogged multiple things repeatedly.  In this process I have learned: That reading the directions is important.  All the directions.  While this sounds really obvious, it's amazing how many times I keep learning this lesson.  Guess it's not sticking... Before casting on some ridiculous 600+ stitches using Judy's Magic Cast-on, it is useful to read the direction that says to switch the positions of the tail and working yarn.  Uh-huh.  Because otherwise your working yarn is on the wrong side to start the project, and then you have to pull it all out and do it again. I actually ended up saying "forget it" to that cast on and doing a different provisional cast on, only to discover that the pattern and I don't g...

I now have completed three pair hand knit socks!  Here are my completed Joy in the Journey Socks : I loved knitting these... I finished them on Sunday, so I suppose you could say that I am now "joyful."  They are mirror images of each other, which is fun.  They are my thirteenth completed project;  I have been a knitster for almost seven months now.  Alas, with these finished, the only projects I have OTN now are stealth projects and hibernating projects... so I suppose that means that I need to start another project just for the sake of blogging, right?  Hmmm... maybe something using the yarn I picked up at my LYS during Knitter's Anonymous last month ?  I still need ideas, by the way... if anyone has any... In the interim, however, how about more pictures of the puppy?  He had to wear the "Cone of Shame" for two weeks--he finally got it off today! This one is my favourite.  I love how he's using the cone to shade his eyes:

I don't generally post on sequential days, but, behold! a second post in two days. Red-Headed Sister and I spent mid-day at the park. We fed the ducks and geese,  blew bubbles,  Sorry, photo vanished... and played on the swings.   Then we came home and watched movies.  Of all the photos I took today, this one is my favourite: Sorry, photo vanished... I got nothing done for school, but it was an excellent, relaxing day, and I did get the heel turned on my Monday Sock .  See? The foot of the sock is my least favourite part... alas.  But that's what's next.  Tomorrow Husband & I are headed out to Mom & Dad's--Husband is helping Dad fix the fence (they hope to finish it all tomorrow, I believe), and I've got laundry to do and need to revise my presentation.  My Most Wonderful Linguistics Professor is going to let me rehearse my WAIL presentation for her on Tuesday, so that means I have this weekend to make revisions and get...

Let's see... when I last posted ten days ago, I had just finished three hats for niecelettes and nephewito.  While I have multiple projects in progress (ahem... hibernating...), I was in the mood for something new, and by new, I mean things I haven't done yet.  So here's what I've recently cast-on: Item Number One: My first ever pair of toe-up socks.  I'm calling them Summer Fog Socks , and they're made using the Wendy's " Summer 2008 Socks " in " Lavender Topaz ," making these also the first ever item not knit in a solid colour yarn, and is the finest yarn I've worked with yet, with the smallest needles.  Size 0!  The socks are biasing, but I won't know until I get farther along if that's going to be a problem.  Other Ravelrians agree to the leans-to-the-right bias, but there was no clear consensus as to whether it will block out or not.  But I'm contemplating switching the pattern for the other sock to use a k2tog whe...

Very little knitting has occurred since my last post as the semester is now in full swing.  However I have cast on for the second Creta sock (the one in taupe) and did get a few rows done on BIL's scarf .  As it turns out, I'm going to be keeping the taupe socks and giving the multi-coloured ones to Older Sister. The main reason for this post though is to show off my Valentine's day present.  (I'm going to take this time to mention that I am married to the best guy ever .  Y'all may contest that and argue that you have good guys, too, but mine is the best.)   This is my present: seven sets of four inch double pointed needles in Harmony wood from KnitPicks.  Here's a close up of one of the sets: (Sorry... picture vanished) (I believe that you can click on the pictures to embiggen them.)  Aren't they pretty?  And they're only four inches.  The one's I've been knitting with are seven, so I'm excited to not have to slide the needles...

Well, I have finally finished all the Christmas presents!  I showed you mom's mitts, and now here's Red-Headed sister's Hufflepuff scarf .  Finished.  Let me say that again.  Fin-ished!  Knitted, blocked, and fringed.  (It took four months to complete.  It's a good thing she loves it!  I will never make one of these ever again.) Wait--I take it back.  There is one more Christmas present I've promised: a blanket for my husband (a Chocobo blanket ).  But crocheting all those granny squares are gonna take a while, too.  But he's agreed to wait patiently. I got several more rows done on BIL's scarf , and the texture is showing up beautifully.  It looks awesome.  I have almost one foot done, and would like to have it done in the next few weeks, so that BIL can wear it while it's still wintry outside. Oh, and a picture I forgot to post from the trip to visit family.  My knitting "helpers" decorated my pattern b...

It's been quite a while since I posted...  School starts for me on Wednesday, so I'm trying to finish knitting Christmas presents. I have finished Mom's mitts .  I finished those yesterday and Mom loves them.  (I like the colour combination, but knitting with the yarn itself wasn't the best.)  (Photographed by Red-Headed Sister)  I also was able to get a significant amount of work done on Red-Headed Sister's Hufflepuff scarf.   Several trips in the car and time sitting around allowed me to get almost finished.  I'm now half way done with the last yellow stripe, then one more black stripe, then wash and block and add tassels.  Older Sister got a picture of my niecelette "helping" me knit it. And I finished my third star-crossed slouchy beret .  This one is for me.  I had help with this one as well--both from my niecelette and her second cousin, three-year-old Lucy.  While knitting it, I didn't have a cable needle wi...

Christmas came early this year... I've already opened most of my Christmas presents... One of the coolest things that I got for Christmas is Dragon NaturallySpeaking. That's right, at present I'm not touching the keyboard at all. The possibilities are endless... This gives a whole new meaning to multitasking. Just imagine... I can now be typing/blogging/doing homework while knitting/cooking/who knows what else! Isn't it marvelous?!  Here's where my nerdiness really shows... I am thoroughly enjoying being able to talk to my computer. It's like being a Star Trek character... Now, if only it would respond when I addressed it as "Computer"... Ha ha ha... seriously though...   On a knitting note, the secret is out. My unbloggable project is no longer so, which means I can now tell you what it is. The Unbloggable Project on which I have been working for the past several months and a Hufflepuff scarf for Red-Headed Sister for Christmas. In a nutsh...

So here I am again... procrastinating doing homework (like writing the lesson plan for the lesson I'm giving tomorrow: 2nd Grade: Family Heritage)...  I made myself promise  not to knit anything today, so I was really  unproductive!  (See?  I should have let myself knit! I would have at least accomplished something! ) As promised, however, here are pictures of the hat that I knitted for my friend, modeled by Red Headed Sister who now wants such a hat for herself, or for me to teach her how to knit.  (I told her I'd teach her over winter break.  Any suggestions on a simple beginner knitter pattern?  She's a muggle at present...) Well, I really ought to get back to lesson-planning... BAH...