Knitting Obsession

Even my brother wants to know why I haven't blogged

....and he has a kid and everything. I have no such excuse, other than the R word, which continues to suck my time continually but in A Good Way, and really I don't have any other excuses. I can't even say that I have kept up with other blogs because...I haven't...so I expect my subscriber list is rather skimpy right now. I'm flying out to California to see my nephew (and my brother and sister-in-law) soon and I think I will archive all of the blogs I am behind on so I can read them on the plane. I have many big plans.

So, knitting! I did finish all of my Christmas knitting, which was amazing. My sister-in-law loves bright colors, so I made her Haruha in a bright J.Knits sock yarn in colorway Kansas:

This is blocking. It is pretty wild, but I am very happy with it. It pooled in an interesting way, almost stripy. The knit itself was fast and fun.

For Mom, I finally, finally made her something out of the brown-gold mohair that she has been coveting. This is a simple wrap, which I think needs a little more length, but for now is working out well. The yarn is Misty Mountain Farm Brushed Mohair, in an unknown colorway, which has been marinating since MD S&W 2006.

I'm certainly glad I managed to take a great picture of the one BIG mistake, which is the double row of garter stitch from when I put the wrap down in a fit of "can't take anymore" and picked it back up weeks later.

Since Christmas, I've been casting on innumerable projects and have developed severe second sock syndrome. I think I have 8 single socks hanging about. I also have a bit of a lace fetish going, which is keeping me hopping until my sock mojo comes back. The Ravelry Helpers are doing a KAL, for Tiger Eyes (that is a .pdf!), and here is mine (well, now it has about 5 more repeats. But I don't have a more current picture):

This is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Sierra. It is tasty. I love the slight halo the mohair gives it. The pattern is a lot of fun, but I am always a little thrown off by the row in which you create the eyes, since you end up knitting and purling into the same giant yo four times, and it's kind of tricksy (for me). But fun nonetheless and currently marinating.  PS-I love my new camera. I "lost" ("lost"= intoxicated at New Years Eve ball and left it on the table when finding cab-hi Mom!) my other one. I lurve this one. It has image stabilizer. Good for the trembling hands.

I did also start the Kitri Mantilla, which is a kit I picked up in Rhinebeck last year. I got it with the Kitri sock pattern, but the mantilla has been calling me. This is truly my first large and real lace project, real in the sense that this is the smallest yarn I have ever worked with (unless I count crocheting doilies on size 20 yarn, which isn't that small really). It was agonizing the first two rows, and now I am getting a bit of a rhythm. I think I am going to wear this undraped, that is without the gathered area at the bottom, because really. I don't need to accentuate my booty that much. My booty is a little smaller since dropping 30 pounds, but let's face it. It's still there. The mantilla will still be gorgeous and as I am a fan collector, this really makes sense to me. Here's a pathetic cell phone blurry shot, with Bob as accent.

Let's see....I'm sure I have something else new on needles....oh! I started my first double knitting project. This was a wee challenging to me at first, but now it is humming right along.

I kind of love it. I love the bright colors. This is Uncle Argyle's Scarf from "Son of Stitch and Bitch" and the designer is Lindsey Hendricks, who I KNOW in REAL LIFE and who autographed my book. Sweet! Notice how I was able to cover up my mistakes with rotten duplicate stitching. Well, hopefully you can't notice it. Because otherwise what would be the point?

Tootsie is not impressed.

Hope to see you soon!

Look! It's another laub sock!

Oohhh, ahhh. These were such quick socks to make! Either I'm getting faster or (more likely) it was just because these were on size 2 needles rather than size 0. Overall, a very enjoyable knit and I loved this yarn. I wrote the pattern myself, if by "wrote" you mean "took bits and pieces from 5 or 6 books about knitting socks and smushed them together." I didn't think through the pattern and how it would end up on the instep and as a result have a couple of narrow purl channels that look a little like ladders rather than P2 ribbing.  Also...notice anything? Note to self: cast on using the beginning of a repeat in colorway, rather than guesstimating where in the repeat you started sock 1 and thus ending up with ALMOST but NOT QUITE matching socks. AGAIN. All part of the process! Here is an extreme close up of the beaded rib pattern. Pretty! I also really like the eye of partridge heel

and I will definitely make it again.
These will be going to Mom in a couple of weeks when she comes down to cheer me on for the Polar Bear Plunge.

This is my current sock in progress...a new old sock. The crimp in the pattern on the lower left side is where I put these socks away many moons ago. I picked them back up day before yesterday when I finished the laub socks so I would have a pair to work on before Project Spectrum started. I love this lace pattern and the yarn (Lorna's Laces in brick) is to die.
Kristen reminded me that there hasn't been a progress pic on Kerry in a while. This is because I haven't been working on her too much...but here is a progress pic, not much different from the last one. I have two more inches to work before I start shaping the front.

This picture is a little overexposed...the color isn't so purple. Kerry is still fun, but requires a bit more dedication. I will have to motivate myself some way!

Trekking is my new best friend

I finished my slightly-too-big Trekking socks, yarn courtesy of Amanda Cathleen.  I really love the way these turned out even though they are a little big...they are the first socks I have completed for myself and that tickles me. The pictures are a little blurry...I can't WAIT to get my new camera.

Details:
Yarn: Trekking XXL in color 104
Yarn source: Amanda Cathleen :) Thanks, hon!
Gauge: 7 sts/1" on size 1 Susan Bates Quicksilver needles
Pattern: Stephanie's standard pattern from her book "Knitting Rules"
However, I have one concern. Those of you who are sock knitters may be able to help me out:

I wore these socks for the first time today with a pair of open back clogs. Is it normal for them to pill and fuzz like this right away? Why does this happen...is it gauge, need for reinforcing thread, or something else? Or is it normal? Is there anything I can do about it? Also, how do you care for your socks? Can you really machine wash them? That freaks me out a little bit.
Even though I have two other pair of socks on needles, I cast on for a new pair. The yarn is from Mom for Christmas, and so the socks are for her:

She said she loved the colors, and they will certainly suit her. These are my own pattern, with a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks" (beaded rib).

These have been fun but are throwing me off a little with the continuous ribbing. It makes it look so skinny and kind of silly looking, but I know they will look different on feet or blockers. The yarn is Austermann Step in colorway 1, laub.
Tomorrow, I'm going to lay out my plans, as it were, for Project Spectrum. I'm pretty excited about participating in this...it looks like fun and it will be good for me to learn more about colors and how they work.
Oh, and Amanda Cathleeeeen...

Start stalking, babe.

Can I play with my swift for hours on end? Yes, yes I can.

And now for the shameless drooling and ogling and showing off of my Christmas gifties. It may seem like my family read Stephanie's letter to muggles the other day, but actually they were acting on "clues" in the form of catalogs with items strategically circled and in some cases starred. However, they just took that information and used it as a GUIDE and therefore I ended up with super fun stuff that I wasn't really expecting. I REALLY wasn't expecting both of these items...maybe one.

That is a Beka swift, in case you are wondering (scroll down on that link). I had never heard of them, but honestly I like it a lot more than the umbrella kind, not only because it's not as ungainly but also because my parents ventured into a real, live LYS to pick it out all by themselves.  This is the first victim of the yarn winder.

Toe up BRC sock, we hardly knew ye. Rest in peace. See you in your next incarnation, hopefully with a well-fitting heel flap.
While my parents were having adventures in yarn stores, they picked out a skein of Austermann Step and some little goodies:

My mom really likes these colors, which is good. I like knitting her socks. She wears the first pair I made at night a lot of the time so I know she appreciates them. Plus, with the jojoba and aloe, the yarn is so soft. I immediately wound it into two roughly equal balls using an ancient postage scale for help.

I was also having fun with the macro setting of my camera; can you tell?
Then I knit up a teeny, weeny swatch (didn't I say I wasn't going to do that anymore? Why am I so impatient to finish swatching? Remind me of this when I whine about how the socks don't really fit my mom so much as they fit a mutant) to see what my gauge would be with my Bryspun 2's.

Today I wound off a skein of BWA yarn for Kerry and the swift blew my hair around in its swiftness. The only thing keeping me from winding off every blooming skein in my stash is the knowledge that it isn't very good for the yarn. But that's the ONLY thing.

Did you notice the candy cane looking tube in the background of the Step and gadgets picture?

Hurray! Blocking wires! Oh, joy and rapture! Never again will I crawl around on the floor with 200 T pins in my mouth and bad words in my throat waiting to come out only to end up with a scalloped edge where there should be no scallops. These are from my Aunt Barbara, a smart and beautiful woman, and quite an inspiration to me. She is quite the crocheter, but since I started out that way I don't hold it against her.
Christmas, for me nowadays, is more about spending time with family and surrounding yourself in a cocoon of love. But sometimes it's also about the fun stuff.
Red scarves (3 only...I gave up on 4) are blocking on my guest room floor, to be sent off soon. Then I will start on Dulaan as well as get back to Kerry. I really want to finish Kerry by the end of January...I think that will happen, as she moves pretty quickly when I am knitting on her steadily. Remember....Knit from your Stash 2007 starts soon! Better get those orders in in the next couple of days (says the girl who MIGHT be ordering two sweaters worth of Cascade 220 tonight).
Happy New Year!

Heaven is a gray and white cat sitting on your chest

Whoo, Chloe is a heavy girl. She must have missed me over the last two days because she is giving me a lot of love right now, all up in my business.
How was your holiday? I had a wonderful Christmas, spent in PA at my parent's house. There was a lot of quality time spent with family, and a reminder of what a blessing it is to be so close to the ones you love.
The girls and I had Kitty Christmas a little early. Here is one of my gifts to them; a crinkle sack thing that is open on both ends and filled with something to make crackly noises like grocery bags. Since they love to lie on the grocery bags and it always makes me nervous for fear that they will eat the plastic, I knew they would like this. Tootsie made the first inspection, with Chloe in the background:

Then came an interior inspection by Miss Priss Brynn:

And, finally, the use which I knew would be the most popular:

All is right in the world when there is something soft and crinkly to sit on.

In knitting news, I had a little blog contest. As I suspected, I did NOT need to go to the random number generator. Kristen and Aija, packages will be in the mail tomorrow. Unfortunately, trek is allergic to cats so I can't send along a package to her. She requested that I donate her prize to another person who entered. Mom, who also commented, doesn't count (she doesn't knit socks. She does knit pretty scarves though). So that means just Kristen and Aija. I hope you like your little packages!

I finished the first of the toe up BRC socks, following Wendy's pattern. I....kind of hate it. Not the pattern...that was very well written and easy to follow. I hate the actual sock.

I hate the heel with a burning passion. It just doesn't feel right on my foot, like a heel flap does. The cuff, which I made an effort to knit loosely so it wouldn't feel like a rubber band around my lower calf, flares and slouches. For some reason, I feel like there is a rubber band around my ankle instead. All of this means only one thing: I am a top down, heel flap kind of girl. Not that
there's anything WRONG with a toe up, short row heel kind of girl. No, no, no. To each their own.  Needless to say, I will not be knitting a second sock following this pattern.

Now that Christmas is come and gone, I can reveal my one gift.

Mmm, wet goat! This is a lace scarf, made from Crystal Palace Kid Merino (gift of my sister-in-law). The pattern is also from their website but I used different sized needles and made the scarf quite a bit longer. Here it is blocking:

And here is a terrible picture of it dry and the mirror is streaked and I'm wearing the wrong color shirt, but you get the idea, and I know my mom won't let me take a picture of her wearing it.

Tune in tomorrow to see why I'm so happy that I will never have to pin a *scarf* with roughly 200 pins and still end up with scallops. Santa was very good to me this year....my family is so thoughtful and took my "I just want fun stuff this year since I don't really NEED anything" statement to heart.

And finally.....what could this be, Amanda Cathleen?

Didn't I say I wasn't going to do Christmas knitting this year?

Somehow, I find myself doing "just one gift" but it is one that I can whip out in a matter of seconds (OK, 2 or 3 days) and will be much appreciated. I'm not sure if the recipient reads this blog so no information about it yet except...smells like goat. Note to self: get some Soak before Christmas. I am having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year...I decided not to get a full size tree as the last time I did it...well, let's just say 2 years ago the dessicated corpse of the tree was still on my porch in May  due to sheer laziness and fear of getting impaled by old needles and that put me off trees for a bit. However, I wanted SOMETHING

preferably not this so I picked up a little 4 foot Norfolk pine. I put lights on it yesterday and put out all of the Christmassy candles and candle-holders and am slowly but surely getting in the spirit. When I start playing carols it'll be complete.  In the next couple of days I am going to finish the weeny tree and put up my Nativity and I'll post pictures then....

These pictures are from Hampden, a smallish neighborhood in Baltimore that is known for it's outlandish holiday lights celebration each year. On 34th street. (Not even kidding).  Seriously, click on that link. It is WILD. These are from last year...we are going to have to make sure to go again this year to see if things are even bigger and better.

How are you getting into the spirit? Kicking and screaming like me? Or does it slip on like a comfy pair of pajamas?

The Sea Monkey has my money

I'm back from California! I had such a good time. I think I have "Finding Nemo" memorized now, and I spent a lot of quality time with my extremely gorgeous and smart nephew, all of 22 months old and just a terrific kid. Along with the family time, I got a lot of knitting done, and there MAY have been some yarn acquisitions. Shocker!
First, unbearable cuteness. I taught my sister-in-law how to knit when I was out there this past summer. She has a great eye and picked out some Jamieson's Shetland Heather to make a hat for my nephew, who shall be known for the purposes of this blog as CBE. (Cutest Boy Ever). She had made great progress and on this trip I taught her...dun dun DUN...double points. Progress shot!

Hello, CBE! I miss you already. Once the hat was finished and the ends were woven in, we decided that it was a little short so I picked up and knitted on about an inch more of the blue, and here is the final result:

I have a better shot of the hat but I had to use this one as CBE is reading to us as well. I cannot express the way I feel about this child in words!!! For a very first completed knitting project (there is a garter stitch scarf on needles too, have no fear) I think my sister-in-law MoCBE (Mother of...you get the idea) did a great job. We went to Monarch after an aquarium trip and she acquired more great wool with good projects in mind and I...I may have gotten some schtuff...

You may recall that my "rule" is to only get stuff I can't get here in Baltimore. I have never seen Celestial Merino Dream (from Lucy Neatby) and I saw it over the summer in Monarch and have wanted to look at it again since. This is colorway sugar maple. This will be some yummy socks. The other item is a suede bag bottom and pattern from Somerset Designs (the round purse pattern) and some Jamieson Shetland Heather to make up the bag.

Then, after the aquarium which was after Thanksgiving, we held Christmas for the California folk. By the way, you will have to trust me when I tell you that this

is a great white in captivity at the Monterey  Bay Aquarium (can't use a flash in there...it bothers the shark...tell that to the 5 or 6 people who were flashing him anyway. People!!). So rare to have them do well. This was an immature male and the tank he was in was full of tuna and sun fish bigger than he. It was really intense to see this shark up close. They are one of the few animals that really scare me because they are so predatory and their eyes are so black...but they are just doing what they do.

ANYway, back to the yarn. My intelligent and beautiful baby bearing sister-in-law (and brother) gave me this for Christmas:

That would be 5 balls of Crystal Palace Kid Merino (oouhhh!) and a hank of Koigu KPPPM (ahhhh!) and three needle felted kitties that look like my kitties. Yay! Hurray! I was very excited. I have plans for a lot of this already. Please excuse Brynn's head on the left there. She was psyched about the yarn as well. (Kid mohair smell good!)

Oh, and I made a little progress on Kerry:

I'm lying. I made a lot of progress on Kerry. Almost 12 inches done...3 more to go and I can divide for the back.  This is the only project I worked on despite bringing 4 other things with me (3 socks and a red scarf). When I left, you may recall that I had just finished the garter ridge above the honeycombs. Now I am well into the cables and moss stitch. It's a lot of fun and I love, love, love this wool.

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable day!

Red Scarves and cable RULES

Can I get a WOOT for cable contractor guy who came out today and fixed my cut cable line? Yay! I never realized how much I liked being able to hop onto the Internets without any delay. But, as some of you pointed out, I have gotten a lot of knitting done over the last 3 1/2 weeks without the distraction of "Dexter" or "Amazing Race" or bloglines or Television Without Pity or any of that. I also managed to get a nice horrible back spasm right in time for my flight tomorrow to California. Good timing there! With the help of the nice physician assistant who gave me some good drugs today, I will make it through the flight so help me. I am going to CA to spend Thanksgiving with my brother, sister-in-law, and ridiculously cute nephew. My parents are coming out too so it will be very fun. I am really ready for the time off from work as well...it's RSV season and the kids are sicker. One of the best inventions of recent years is hand sanitizer like Purell...I use that stuff constantly in and out of work as well as scrubbing my hands all the time. Our hospital (and most now, I suspect) has those dispensers everywhere and it's great to see family members and even patients use it too to help keep germs down.
So! Knitting updates!
I have finished three scarves for the Red Scarf Project...
This is done in Caron Simply Soft Shadows in a twin rib pattern:

Don't mind that cat hair in the middle there. These all need a wash and a good block.

This is in Patons Soy Wool Stripes and the pattern is Stephanie's slipped rib pattern:
And this is the old standard (lots being made), the Irish Hiking Scarf, in Patons Classic Wool:
I am working on a fourth, which is a pattern I threw together. I'm making it in Caron Simply Soft:
I'm calling it "Braid and Post" and it's pretty fun to knit though a little time consuming with the braided cable. I also completed Trekking sock #1 (this is the yarn Amanda Cathleen sent me!). It is a little bit big on me...I'm not sure if I measured my foot wrong or what. I am using just a basic sock pattern like you would find pretty much anywhere. I probably should have made a bigger gauge swatch and measured better, but oh well. It is still quite pretty and I will cast on for the mate tomorrow in the airport.

Remember Kerry the last time you saw her? She was so sad:
She's feeling a little better now:
The honeycombs still seem a little loose to me. They are supposed to be pretty dense. But I've made my peace with the fact that I am a loose knitter and I refuse, refuse, refuse to do this sweater on size 4 needles. So, I will keep on going and when I've completed a few rows of the cable section I will put her on waste yarn and measure to see if I am somewhere on the right track.

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! I won't be posting again till next week, but this time it's because of extreme 22 month old cuteness in California and not cable!

In which she whimpers about Rhinebeck...

Yes, I am obviously a wee bit jealous of all of you that are going to Rhinebeck...I take solace in the fact that I live 15 minutes away from MDS&W when it comes around (usually right around my bday too) but I still would like to see Rhinebeck sometime. I actually was going to go to it this year, but the Head of the Charles regatta is this weekend in Boston so I will be there! I will console myself for missing NY by going to Wolcott and Co. and Mind's Eye Yarns as they are both in Cambridge near where I will be staying and watching the races. Brynn doesn't really care what I do, but she is sad that she won't have a lap to sleep on.... otherwise life is good for the girlies.
Would you like to see some progress pics? Of course you would! I mentioned a little while ago that I was a little sick of one of the scarves I was working on for the Red Scarf project...I think it was a combination of not liking the needles I was using and boredom with the stocking stitch. So....

say bye-bye to that scarf...and I cast on for a new one with the same yarn but in a twin rib pattern. I have made quite a bit of progress on the Soy Wool Stripes scarf with Stephanie's pattern from Oct. 12, which she assures me will block out to look like hers.

I also am making progress on Kerry...I decided that I needed to limit myself to one set of repeats at a time as all of the honeycombs sure do hurt the hand. I have, I think, 2 more repeats of honeycombs before I can go to the set up for the cables. Looking forward to that!
And my Trekking sock is coming along. I really like the yarn a lot...it is keeping my interest with the variegations...and at least I feel like I am participating a little bit in Socktoberfest!
Those of you trekking to NY...have a terrific time! Don't buy too much! I'll be back Monday evening and hopefully will have a nice post Tuesday or so about Boston.

Sneaking into Saturday Sky

I don't belong to Saturday Sky. I always look at the pictures and wish I could remember to take a shot every Saturday-ish and blog it. But I know I would often forget. However! I was up pretty early (for me on a Saturday that I don't have to work) and this sky! Zowee!

This is the view from my porch...looking up the hill to the park near my apartment. And what woke me up at the ungodly hour of 8:30 am (I know, I know...but Saturday! Not working!)? It wasn't Tootsie knocking my glasses of the bedside table so I would get up and feed her, as per the usual. It was actually the sound of many, many feet pitter-pattering past my window...the Baltimore Marathon was being held today and the course goes on the road in front of my apartment. You can barely see the legs of one of the many participants in this shot.  My parents came down for the day and we went
to lunch (it was Mom's bday yesterday. Happy birthday Mom!!). By the time they got here the marathon was over in my neck of the woods...the participants were winding their way through Fells Point and Canton by then.

In knitting news, I seem to be suffering from KADD (Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder) as I have cast on for two more projects despite the fact that I have, at last count, 7 things on needles. I have been drooling over the Patons Soy Wool Stripes that I bought a couple of weeks ago and when Stephanie posted a cute, easy scarf pattern today two days ago I decided to cast on for it...this is for the Red Scarf project despite not being red. I know I am following the instructions but my scarf looks nothing like Stephanie's, but I really like the ribbing....and I am in LOVE with this yarn. It is so soft and pretty and feels so good on my hands.
Oh yeah....and I cast on for a new pair of socks in the Trekking that Amanda Cathleen sent me recently...

Doesn't quite fit on Gump's foot!