It's A Contest!

Take a wild guess at how many photos I've taken with my Cybershot since I got it in April. The person closest to the correct answer will win a prize which is yet to be determined. Good Luck!










The contest will end next Monday night, December 5th at 10 pm CST.

Warm Hands, Cold Feet

My new mitts are felted & dry!!
2 finished mittens
1 pink pillow cover
Even though this yarn really lost a lot of dye, they are still a deep red. I love them. Araucania felted very nicely. And the ends I forgot to weave in? They disappeared, just perfect. I think I'll be making some more of these...maybe for next Christmas??










And Casey wanted to be the center of attention today (which he was :).

Sluggish Sunday

First, I've started my contribution to the solid socks knit-along. I originally wanted to knit orange socks but quickly realized I purchased the wrong type of yarn for socks. Luckily, my secret pal 5 sent me this solid pink sock yarn so I dove right into it. Slow going though considering they're knit on size 1 dpn's. Don't expect a finished pair anytime too soon.










Second, last night I finished up the BIG felted mittens and they're in the wash machine as I type....oh shoot...I forgot to weave in some of the ends....too late. They are looking fantastic however. The ends were on the inside up at the top, I'm not too worried. The ends are felting up with each other. Here they are pre-felting!










And lastly, I started a super secret Christmas gift with the Cashsoft DK and is this stuff D-R-E-A-M-Y to knit with! I think I love cashmere, is that what's making this stuff so soft?? I had to rip out what I began but I'm already back to that point again.










Now I think I'll go hit the treadmill so when Kyle gets home we can eat dinner. Hope everyone had a relaxing, fun and productive weekend!

Just Saturday

Kyle, Casey & I have been using this long weekend to relax and prepare for the upcoming holiday while also spending time with each other. One of our projects was to capture a nice holiday photo. This one is an indication of what we came up with.










I took a quick trip over to my LYS this afternoon with my unfinished mitten in search of the Araucania I need to finish it up. Jackpot. Apparently they no longer list dye lots for their yarn so I went with the skein that appeared closest to my mitten, it's a near perfect match. I'm nearly ready to settle in for a nice night of knitting cuddled up next to my 2 boys.

Recovering

We had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday, Kyle deep fried a turkey and we had a lot of other food along with it. As you can see the weather cooperated, it was sunny but cold.













And here's what we have today. Bam...Snow. And you can see Casey wanted nothing to do with it, he wanted to be inside.










I put out some Christmas decorations today and I've been doing a little knitting too, maybe I'll have photos tomorrow.

Mitten Mania

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I finished my Hermione mittens on Sunday night but I haven't blocked them yet. Maybe today.
Pattern: Hermione's cable-and-bobble mittens from knit.atypically.net
Yarn: Cascade 220 color # 4192
Needles: Size 6 bamboo DPN
Started: November 6
Finished: November 20













My felted mittens are another story....
Do you see that little bundle of yarn above the thumb? That's all I have left. I still need to do all the decreases on the hand and knit the thumb. Does anyone out there have a little bit of Araucania Nature Wool Color # 25 dye lot # 1204 they're willing to part with???? Anyone? Bueller? I might have to make a trip to the shop I purchased it from last winter and hope they have some. It's happened before!

I'm In Love...

I found it in a giant size bar!!!

How Long Have You Been Knitting?

Recently Novaks8 asked me how long I've been knitting. I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I was taught almost 3 years ago (Dec 2002) by my mom who at the time said "Wow, you're knitting awfully tight but you'll loosen up". I guess I did because now my gauge is always spot on. She has a great dishcloth pattern which I used, knit a few and then quickly moved on to a fuzzy fun fur scarf which has long since gone to charity. I did a lot of digging on the internet and purchased a few basic knitting books that next spring (2003). Then I took a sock knitting class in September 2003 and have been hooked on those ever since. I also love knitting felted items but have yet to knit a garment, any suggestions for a 1st? I'm very lucky to have a few great friends who knit since knitting with friends is much better than knitting alone and they're smart too, I ask them for help all the time.
How long have you been knitting?










As you all know, my kitchen cotton stash has grown lately.

It's Cold, I've Been Busy and Knitting Just a Little

For some reason the end of the week always brings busy nights. I'm not complaining though. Last night my book club went to dinner at Cafe Biaggio in St. Paul, very good. I had the chicken with Marsala wine and mushrooms with a side of pesto and spinach gnocchi. The food was very rich with flavors and all the wine is Italian, it's definitely a restaurant I want to visit again. I think the ambiance is as yummy as the food since there is local art on display and the few walls that are not original brick are painted deep rich colors. Much of the seating is salvaged church pews and there's even pillows on the benches!










On my way home I noticed my local gas station finally had gas for under $2 per gallon. Yay!!!...how much is gas in your area?













I have forged ahead on the Hermione mittens but sadly was not able to finish before I hit the 12:30 showing of Goblet of Fire. I think it was the best HP movie yet, just as I like book 4 the best of all. Tonight I'm headed to blogless Nikki's for game night...I hope we're having Ross-a-ritas!

**Update**We didn't have Ross-a-ritas but we did have good wine, super good (and lots of it!) food and had a lot of fun playing games. It's all good.

November YOM

I received November's Yarn of the Month last week and it's all soooo soft! All of the samples contain either vegan or commercial silk. Clockwise from upper left: Cash Iroha by Noro, Andean Silk Twist by Knit Picks, Soft and Fluffy by Aurora Silk and Orchid Line by Harrisville Designs. My local Yahoo group has given me some good ideas on how to use all the samples I'm getting so hopefully after the holidays I'll get cracking on something. (Ya right)










I've been a bit frustrated with the right Hermione mitten. The placement of the gusset stitch marker doesn't line up with the increases. Has anyone knit these and do you have any help??

If you're reading this...go place a pin on my map!!! Thanks :)

My Tuesday

I finished Hermione mitten #1, it's a bit long for my taste but since it's a seasonal item and I'm just too darn lazy it's going to stay that way. I really like how Beth altered the pattern so the thumb gusset started right after the cuff. I wish I had seen that before I started. Oh well. I can definitely say it's not the best thing I've ever knit plus it hurts my hands like when I'm knitting cotton. Must. continue.










This afternoon I plan to work a little on this book, this sock (or Hermione mitten #2) and munch on the limited edition Ghirardelli peppermint bark and drink Diet Coke. How much better could today be? It's rainy & yuck outside, apparently a snow storm is headed this way.













Does anyone out there need a 50g skein of Jaeger Trinity? It's 40% silk, 35% cotton & 25% polymide fibre. Shade 438 Lot 2711. I bought it to make the blueberry hat and it just wasn't turning out the way I wanted. For sale or trade, make me an offer.

I Love Yarn

Here is my new stash from yesterdays shopping trip. Much of this yarn will become Christmas gifts so no details until 12/25! The only yarn which will be for stash increasing purposes only is the Emerald Blue Malabrigo, I couldn't pass it up since it was in the sale bin!! Do you see that new Chibi down in the corner??? It's translucent orange, super cool. And I picked up some birch cable needles since I was using a size 1 dpn which was spared from when my needles were eaten by Mr. Tugsley. Must go knit on the Hermione mittens......

Where Are You?

Please add yourself to my Frappr! Map, it's super cool! I want to know where my readers are from. Thanks to BoogaJ for this one.

All Thumbs

When I was at Moto-Knitters Thursday night I needed to take my mitten stitches off the needles so I could use them for the thumb. I didn't have any stitch holders so I borrowed a few coffee straws from Betty's Bikes & Buns. It worked! I haven't ever knit the thumb before I've finished the rest of the mitten but it's what the pattern called for so I did it. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have at least this 1st mitten finished. I've been so busy this past week, Thursday night was really the only time I spent knitting.










Today I went shopping with my mom and we managed to visit one of my favorite yarn stores...pics tomorrow ;-)

I've Been BEEsy

Since I took this photo I've finished the 3rd installment of this project (pictured at the top in it's earliest stage). Like I said the other day I've also been reading Bee Season for bookclub and I've enjoyed it. I love spelling bees so this book was right up my alley even though it's much deeper than just the bee. Bee Season has been made into a film which begins today...if it's in the Twin Cities I may just have to go!










To catch everyone up to speed, this 'secret' project is for Christmas, I'll show a FO photo sometime after 12/25 ;-).

Sky High

The sky last Wednesday morning, couldn't pass this one up. Tonight I get together with the moto-knitters so I should have some progress pics by the weekend if I can get some in the daylight. It's so hard now with daylight savings...dark in the AM dark in the PM. Oy.

I Went Yarn Shopping!

One of my LYS was having a sale last weekend so of course I had to check it out. I found some Artyarns Supermerino and Ultramerino 4 in these fun hues. I know a while back I said I was on a yarn diet...I've decided this is stupid. I make good money and I'm an adult so whenever I feel like buying yarn I will. So there.

In the Sewing Mood

I was in desperate need of a new wallet to hold my license / credit cards and last week I found this tutorial on splityarn. It sewed up in a snap and I love it! Thanks Caro!

Warm Hands Progress

I've been knitting most of the weekend since we have our yard work up to date, no plans plus it's cold and damp outside. Watching Ultimate Fighter 2 marathon yesterday helped my progress tremendously. I officially have 4 projects on the needles. I like it that way, I can rotate projects without becoming too bored. I've also been reading Bee Season because book club meets Wednesday.

OK, back to mittens. This first one will be a felted mitten ~it's huge right now. I put a quarter there for reference. See those wonky stitches just above the cuff? That is where I ended last winter before I stuffed the mitten into a bag for a year. I didn't really notice the stitches until I was a little ways into the mitten and was unwilling to tink. Plus I figured it will be felted so the wonkiness may disappear. If not it will be a nice reminder to get my act together.













And my Hermione mitten, just a start.

Hermione's Mittens

Thank you all for your help on my mitten choice, the results were 5 for the bright pink and 4 for the lemonade dyed yarn. Most everyone agreed the best match would be for the little skeins down below. But...I ended up finding a skein of Cascade 220 in a light pink #4192 (top of the stack)that I'm using which matches better than they all do. I like to have my accessories match for the most part so I'm really sorry I didn't take your advice about contrast. I did however draw a winner from all of the comments...Rebecca...you won your choice of the 3 remaining color choices. I hope you like pink! E-mail me with your choice and your address and I'll mail it out next week.










Thanks again for all your comments!!!

Solid Socks

I'm not sure why I do this to myself but I've joined another knit-a-long. This time it's the Solid Socks Knit-a-long hosted by Pixie Purls. I've been eyeing up this pattern for a while and just haven't had the need to cast on, until now. Alison of Brainylady wrote this basic cabled socks pattern and was gracious enough to post it on her blog. I purchased the yarn well before I was on my yarn diet so it's just been waiting and waiting.










I'm going to have to lock myself in the house for the entire month of November in order to finish all these socks!

In other news...I won a contest over at amandamonkey's world of stitch! My father-in-law's little dog, Mr.Tugsley once ate my birch DPN's and broke the yarn on a pair of birthday socks I was knitting for my mom. I think Amanda felt bad for me cuz I've never seen them on my mom's feet ;-) (maybe they're too itchy??) Here are the socks Mr T wanted to eat...










Thanks Amanda!!!

Casey Has a New Toy

A 4-square ball 50% off at Target: $2
Seeing my dog pick up the big thing in his mouth: priceless










He's such a nut.

I Need Your Help

I need help deciding which of the unmatching pinks match the vest best (the yarn is on top of the vest) or would suit my vest the best. To refresh memories, I'll be knitting the Hermione mittens (will I have them finished in time for the opening of The Goblet of Fire??).
This is the first candidate...hand dyed with strawberry Kool-Aid.










Contestant #2, hand dyed with pink lemonade Kool-Aid.










And contestant #3, Merino Style yarn from Knit Picks...the closest retail match I could find.










So what yarn should I knit mittens with 1, 2 or 3?

November is Here!

So how did I do with my October goals? Not too shabby considering I also knit one sock for Socktoberfest. Let's go back in time for a minute...

My knitting goals for October:
*Finish my HP bookscarf
*Knit blueberry hat for little Andrew
*Make 2 Christmas gifts which I already have the materials for and they're quick knits to boot.
*Finish at least one of my retro rib socks
*Work on the felted mittens I started last winter
*Finish up the 2nd of my sock yarn / kidsilk haze mittens

My mittens will be my first project of this month which is perfect since I'm participating in the Warm Hands knit-a-long.

Here's a photo of todays clear blue November sky~