Finally!! FO's

I FINALLY got the baby blanket not only finished, but photographed and sent too! And the baby's only 4 weeks old. Amazing! The blanket I knit for his 4 or 5 year old sister is still folded up in my bedroom. I possibly should have sent that along, too, but I've not exactly sure how late in childhood a blanket is an appropriate gift. Anyhow, on to the good stuff.



And a really blurry shot that sucks, but at least it shows the blanket in its entirety.



Frankly I'm too lazy to type out all the yarn information, and actually I don't even know the colors offhand. The ball bands are long gone. If you're really curious you can check it out on my Ravelry project page. Here are just the basics-

Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy in various shades of blue with a bit of black and tan
Needles: Size 7 circ's
Pattern: baby size Modern Log Cabin Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting
Mods: Instead of using the 4 colors the pattern called for, I used something like 8 and just put them in where I saw fit.

I can't tell you how thankful I am to finally have that monkey off my back! It shipped out today and should arrive on Friday morning.

Next order of business: Zombie Socks!



It was really hard to even *try* to get the pattern details or an accurate color, but here's my attempt.



Pattern: Zombie Socks by Emm1e on Ravelry
Yarn: BMFA STR lightweight in Rook-y from the Raven series
Needles: Size 2 circ, worked Magic Loop
Mods: I did 5 pattern repeats on the leg instead of 3 and had to add a few repeats onto the heel.

These socks are also my first pair for the 52 Pair Plunge....which I joined with some crack-pipe aspirations in my head. I am SO far behind, but I'm not too pressed about it. I'd rather enjoy what I'm knitting than feel like I'm knitting with a gun pressed to my temple. Tonight I plan on finishing the first of my second pair, the Spring Forward socks from the summer Knitty. Pictures of that to follow.

In non-knitting news, guess what I'm doing right now?!?! Oh yeah....I'm just sitting here watching DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER!!!!!!! Evidently A&E has decided that while Dog may be a bit of a "character" he may not be so much of a racist and have put his show back on the air. You know what this means!! My obsession can continue! I knew the new season was starting in July, but you can imagine my surprise when I heard that familiar riff and the voice of Ozzy as the show came on tonight. I totally spazzed out. Big time.

Alright, off to work on my sock!

Freak of Nature!!!

The baby shower at which my blanket is supposed to make it's debut is next Saturday. How did I miss this?? I'll refrain from posting a new picture because it would be depressing. If you're really interested in the progress, scroll down a few entries and look at the last picture of it. The only difference between then and now is that the blanket is currently balled up in an ice bucket that it was thrown in as we were bringing things in from the van. Shit. I'm off to knit.

Je pense que je suis "jinxed"

Last week at Stitch n' Bitch I was asked if my Log Cabin baby blanket wasn't terribly boring to work on considering that it's all garter stitch. I said no, and at the time that was the truth. Since that night, however, progress seems to have come to a screeching halt. Up to that point I had been completing about a section a night. Currently I'm about half a section away from where I was a week ago. This is not 100% due to it being a boring project. I really don't even find it boring at all since I usually work on it while I'm catching up on my days DVR recordings. Something happened though......that's for sure. Here's where I'm at now.

You may notice that there's VERY little difference between this picture and those of my previous entry. Really though, it'll be done after not too long. After this top section that I'm working on now there are only 2 more to go. They involve a little intarsia action so the monotony of working on the really big sections will be broken up. I'm thinking it's not going to be quite as big as I had thought.

And here's one of those random FO's I promised.

Pattern: Noro Hat by Saartji de Bruijn

Yarn: Noro Kureyon No. 185

Needles: US 8 circ's

I don't think I modified this hat in any way. I started and finished it back in January so my memory on it's production is a bit questionable though. I do recall that I thought it was coming out HUGE but in the end it all worked out. Oh, and something is fishy with my camera so please excuse the amount of fierce blur in some of these pictures.

In non-knitting news, I signed up for an Italian class through the Italian Cultural Society of Washington. The Monday night class I wanted to be in got cancelled because of lack of space so I had to take Wednesday nights. That means no more Stitch n' Bitch for me for the next 10 weeks. My class started tonight, but after driving around for 2 HOURS I still couldn't find the building so I ended up coming home and missing it. WTF???

Oh! I also went to see the Yarn Harlot on Monday night. Typically, I left my camera at home. It was much fun, though. I started a new project while I was waiting there.....because we all know that's exactly what I need to be doing. I'll have more info on that later on.

I'm Baaaack

Yes, yes. I know it's been forever and a day since I last posted. Sorry. All I can say is that I'm one of those people for whom the more time there is to do stuff, the less stuff gets done. Conversely, if I'm super crazy busy, I go into frantic mode and manage to get absolutely everything I need done and then some. I'm still adjusting to not having such huge deadlines always looming over me and when given the spare time, I just kind of flit around trying to decide what it is that I'm really supposed to be doing. Anyhow, that kind of explains it.

Sooooooo.....I have lots and lots to share. My game plan to get myself back into the swing of blog maintenance is to post a little spread over a few days. Seeing as how I'm so all over the place, some of the stuff may be (severely) out of chronological order, but oh well. To start, I'll begin with the present.

Most of my sock club subscriptions have expired, which is a little sad. I had some massive issues with Paypal that kept me from being able to renew anything. Maybe that's for the best seeing as how my sock yarn stash has grown to legendary proportions. I think we all know where my heart really lies, and *that* sock club is still in full swing. Yes, I am referring to the 2008 Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock club. I don't really remember if I ever even posted my first shipment....I'll have to investigate that....but here's the second.

and a semi fugly close up of the yarn

The colors really don't show well at ALL in these pictures. My house s so dark and with the schedule I was keeping, sunlight and I were distant strangers. I really like the color, and am liking the pattern too. I wasn't sure about it when I first looked at it, but once I really saw the details of it I'm digging it a lot more. I'd really like to say that these socks were completed, but a little touch of masochism got in the way. It looks a little like this.....

It's a Modern Log Cabin Blanket! Excitement.

I recalled that my impregnator nephew and his fiancees baby is due quite soon. So, in my brilliance, I decided to make a large, multi-colored, smaller gauged blanket for them. Smart! It's actually coming along quite nicely......attractive, more complex looking than it really is, and yet still on the easy knit/semi-speedy side. The only issue I'm really having with it is that some of the joints are a little......icky.

I'm hoping that when I wash it and all that good finishing stuff, I can kind of conceal some of the messiness. If not, eh, it's really not all that noticeable unless you're really looking at it.

Well, that's about it for now. I have my camera charged and ready to go so hopefully I'll be spitting out some FO shots soon. Not that I'll actually be spitting out FO's. That's one of the joys of not blogging for a long time. I have a lot done already:)

Christmas Knitting in Review....plus some other stuff

FINALLY I found my friggin' camera cord so I was able to upload some pictures. My grand plan was to post one of those murals of all my 2007 knitting. As I went looking through my old pictures, I realized how haphazardly I've photographed a lot of stuff, how many things I haven't taken anything but baby progress shots of (helloooo...Lady Eleanor? And that's a kickass project, too), and finally, how many things I just haven't bothered to take pictures of at all. It's bad. So, I decided to scrap that project. I now have a new New Year's resolution to treat my projects right and give them the photoshoots they deserve. This is, of course, somewhat dependent on my developing some picture taking skills that don't blow. I'll work on that, too.
Ok, so since I'm not doing a year in review, I can at least cover Christmas.

First:

These technically weren't Christmas gifts, but they were knit right along side all the others and gifted......so I'm just going to throw them in here. This set was knit for Sara's baby. I still have to make another set in pink for my nephews daughter. I made a tiny mistake by mentioning that I was sending a gift and hoped it would get there by Christmas in their card. Oops. I better get that started soon. Here's the info-

Pattern: Suede Bootys and Suede Baby Hat by Candi Jenkins

*available on KnittyGritty site

Needles: US sizes 2 and 3 for boots, 6's for hat

Yarn: Berroco Suede in colorways I'm not sure of and Berroco Plush in Creme

Second:

A cashmere neckwarmer knit for my awful sister. I won't go into why exactly I would knit such a thing for someone like her, but those of you who know me well understand the motives behind such gifts This is not the best picture. I took it super last minute while ppl were gathering downstairs for Christmas Eve.

Yarn: Artyarns Cashmere 5, unknown colorway

Pattern: Neckwarmer from Pretending Sanity

Needles: US 8's

Third:

The super secret super project. This is one the Colinette Ab Fab Throw kits in a colorway that's called Santa Fe something. Needle size 11. Making this makes me want to go buy one for myself REALLY. BAD. Maybe even 2 of them. I already have one that I made about 5 yrs ago but its just the vertical stripes. Not too interesting. I'd like to make this pattern and one with the mitred squares.

Fourth:

This is the scarf and hat set that I knit for one of my other sisters. I have yet to give it to her because she didn't show up for the family party and I really don't see her. I'll have to mail it, I guess. I really like the hat and am eager to make one for myself.

Pattern: Scarf-basic seed stitch, Hat-Monk Hat over at RedThreadsUntangling

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and Eros Glitz...don't know colors

Needles: Scarf, 15?? Hat, 10

If I did this again, I would have used a larger needle on the hat. I had to do it fast and I the 16" tens were what had sitting near me. It is QUITE dense, but still very nice.

Okay, there it is. Soon, b/c I'm really, really going to work on this, I'll have some pics of what all I'm working on now. Till then......Happy New Year everybody:)

Grace Elizabeth

My nephews girlfriend had her baby on.....some night this week. I'll say Wednesday. That sounds accurate enough. Luckily, I had finished the baby blanket. I didn't exactly wash it or do any pf the nice wrapping bits that I had thought I might do, but hey, the thing gor finished. For me that's pretty good. I still was able to box it up in tissue paper with a book and letter congratulating the girlfriend on surviving such a horrifying event. As I was leaving for the post office, three things occured to me.

1) My box wasn't securely closed.
2) I had forgotten to photograph the blanket.
3) I did not have their address.

Oops.

After some time of making calls, finding and looking through books, unpacking and repacking,an impromptu photo session and a short trip to my grandpa's house the box was ready to go.
Here it is, in fairly bad positioning on my grandpa's office chair.

Here is my crappy attempt to show the colors. It's not too bad of a representation, but it could be better.

In the letter I descibed it as an "all purpose blanket that can be stretched out to fit over big things or balled up to throw into something small, like a car seat." That's a loose cover up of my previous thoughts of " Ooops! This blanket has some super funky measurements now that I have it off the needles! What do I do??"

Anyhow, it's done and shipped. Yay for baby Grace being born safe and healthy. In a related story, I was emailed pictues of the baby yesterday. I literally recoiled when I saw them and it took me a moment to realize,"Oh. It's just a human baby." God bless all those who can look at babies all crusty faced and peely skinned and be proud. I think I'd have to give it a week or two before touching.