Anemoi Update

Above is the most recent pictures of the Anemoi Mittens. I'm certain I would be finished with that first mitt by now if it weren't for a little mishap last night... I misinterpreted the length of the hand before decreasing - it says to continue with the repeat until your 1.50 - 1.75" from the tip of your longest finger and then begin decreasing. I took it as 1.5" past your finger, but I realized after 2 repeats that it should have been before your finger. So I ripped back and tried again. I'm not at the decreases and will (cross your fingers) take care of that tonight.

However, the mittens are lovely and warm - my goodness are they warm! The wool is very nice to work with (Louet Pearl) and I love the colors together.

TGIF - right? Work is stressing me out right now (you don't even want to see my face) and I want nothing more than a cabin in the woods with 0% humidity and a light breeze. Oh, and to win the lottery so I don't have to go to work ever again. Why can't I have that?

Since I don't see that in my near future, I can only look forward to this weekend! I was thinking earlier this week that I'm constantly just "looking forward to the next weekend" - even on Monday - and I lose time/activities during the week because of this. So it's my new resolution to enjoy my evenings away from work and to stay up a little later than 9:30pm, when possible. Last night was successful: I stayed up until around 11:30 and actually enjoyed it. We'll see how long this lasts! Now, I'll probably go home and crash immediately on the couch and then wake up on Sunday afternoon.

But this weekend craftiness will (hopefully) compose of:
-finishing the first Anemoi Mitten
-cutting out squares for the quilt
-blocking a stole
-beginning a shawl
-beginning a cross-stitch project!

Finished Austermann Step

IMG_0512
Originally uploaded by ktgdiddy

I actually took some pictures last night! Here are the specs for these socks:

Pattern: Wendy's generic Toe Up
Needles: KnitPicks 2.50mm (or 1.5US)
Yarn: Austermann Step 29-Ocean
Casted On: Saturday September, 15
Casted Off: Sunday September 23

I used my metal knitpicks for the first time in a loong time. I had been getting frustrated by their slipperiness (which is why I switched to bamboo), but for some reason just cast on with them with these socks and had no problem. Brava!

The yarn is pretty good too - just a little splitty, but held up well to any abuse I imposed upon it during the knitting process. And treated with aloe vera and jojoba oil? How cool is that?

These are my dad's Christmas present. We have the same size feet and the same bird legs, so I knitted them to fit me and they should be perfect on him. We'll see!


And just a peeksie at the Anemoi:

front:


back:


I apologize for the lighting on the second picture. For some reason, I thought it would look better without the flash on my computer - but of course I was dead wrong. I need a photography class or something.

But I love the mittens! I'm really enjoying working on them... I just can't work on them for too long at one time because my eyes start crossing and then I have to tink, tink, tink back. And then I start yelling. And that's no good.

I have a confession...

I love celebrity news... I love reading tmz and perezhilton. But I hate it when I see things like this:

http://perezhilton.com/?p=6180#respond

It makes my heart sink. It puts tears in my eyes and literally makes my chest heavy. There he was... in MY city, with a girl that is NOT me. If I had this blog anytime during the years of 2002-2004 then you would all know how deep my love is for this man. But... I'm feeling a little bit better now that I'm writing about it but it's still a little hard to breathe. He's dated other girls and guess what? It hasn't worked out yet. That's what I keep telling myself.

I'm a little worried about the Loopy Ewe. They've had a shortage of mailing boxes AND there was a Sneak Up the night before I made my last purchase: that spells trouble for the normal quick shipping. I'm fully aware that it takes about two weeks for a knitpicks order to reach and I'm not complaning at all about the (relatively) slow shipment - it's just the first time since I started ordering that it's taken this long to ship out!! Poor Sheri and the crew!

But now that I have the opportunity, let's recap the holiday gifts:

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to bind off)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens (cast on)
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: ??
The Boy's Sister H: Clapotis in Cherry Tree Hill Slate

My Mom: Icarus in Lane Borgosesia Periwinkle Purple
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: ??
The Boy: ??

With these new decisions, it only leaves three people with question marks. And they're all men - how about that???

Have I mentioned that I joined my first knit a long? I can't remember. It's Secret of the Stole. I plan on using Lane Borgosesia Cashwool Wine Heather. I haven't swatched yet (mostly because I haven't wound the yarn yet), but I'm sure it will be fine. This will be the first big lace project for myself... I'm a little nervous about knitting something in which I have no idea how it's supposed to look - what if I don't like it? what if it makes me look fat (which it will)? what if? what if? what if? - but I've decided that there will be someone out there who likes it and would be happy to take it off of my hands for me if the results are less than desirable.

I wore my clapotis for the first time today - and I've been getting a lot of compliments! I'm actually not the biggest fan of the yarn I used - I wish I would have used a fingering weight or a sport weight (which is why I chose CTH for the gifted one) and in a solid color. I love the colors of the Stained Glass, but... well, I think I would prefer something solid. Possibly in this color... or this one. Who knows? But after Christmas, I believe that there might be another Clapotis in my possession.

By the way, I've made another discovery about myself - a discovery in which I've felt twinges of recognition in the past and am now ready to put out there. I don't think I'm a big fan of variegated yarn. I like self-striping socks and I like solid colors. I'm not so big on the yarn that just randomly changes colors. Maybe I'm a weirdo? Maybe not? And I'm not saying that's set in stone - I could completely change my mind at some point and really embrace the whole idea. And maybe not.

Maybe I'm just a freak.

I Do What I Can

I'm doing the best I can with updating every day. The problem is, I'm not near fasciknitting enough to be posting every day :(

I did, however, make a few new purchases from The Loopy Ewe this morning. Please don't tell The Boy. But to be fair - most of what I bought is for holiday gift-giving. Most of it. I would say 99% of it. Or so.

I think I've decided on Icarus for my mom and Clapotis for The Boy's Sister H. That just leaves gifts for: The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend, brother, and the Boy to be found. I'm thinking possibly a hat for The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend - but am not sure. A hat or a scarf could do. I don't know him very well, so that's making it kind of hard. And my poor brother. I don't even know where to begin with him. I don't want to do socks because that's what I did for my dad. Although, I may have to just do the socks.

I'm in the middle of planning holiday vacations. My parents want to rent a cabin in Arkansas - which would be super cool. However, the Boy and I also want to go back to New Hampshire and squeeze in a visit. I'm hoping we can figure out how to do both... which I think we can. The good thing is that by the end of next month or so, we'll have earned a free flight from JetBlue, so we'll only need to buy one ticket... very nice. It's just coordinating our vacation schedules with work that will be a challenge. But we shall see.

Weekend fun

I wanted to wait to make this post until I had taken pictures of FOs and just started projects, but then I had to get real. I'm so slow when it comes to taking pictures that I know it probably won't happen any time soon. So I'll harp on them now instead.

Remember last week when I couldn't get the picture of my Austermann Step sock to show up in photobucket? Well, it's showing up now, so here it is:



The only difference now is that the pair is finished. I cast off on that sock Friday night and began the second on saturday morning. Sunday evening I finished the second sock. So there it is, my dad's Christmas present is complete. I feel a little cheap so maybe I'll get something else for him - but yay! I'll have something to give him anyway.

I also began on the Anemoi Mittens yesterday. I had quite an encounter with my ball winder yesterday and luckily (or unluckily, it depends on how you see it), The Boy witnessed it. Maybe I'll get an umbrella swift out of my fit? One would hope. Anyway, he assisted me with winding the needed skeins for the anemoi mittens and I cast on. I'm on to the colorwork on the chart. I was excited to start a new colorwork project - and this is a challenging one! It's kind of hard to keep up with where you are in the pattern and I kept getting my main color and contrasting color mixed up, so I've had to tink back on pretty much every row so far... but I'm excited to have an end project. And this is my first pair of mittens! Yay!

As far as holiday knits goes, I'm still doing a little planning:

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to bind off)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens (cast on)
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: ??
The Boy's Sister H: ??

My Mom: Stole or shawl... Am thinking either Icarus or Seraphim
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: ??
The Boy: ??

So as you can see, I don't have much planning done :( That's no good.

Constant Comment is a Wonder Drug

Yikes - blogger just told me that my last update was September 6... I meant to be more consistent with this blog. It just ain't happening I guess.

The big news? I got an invite to join Ravelry last week. It IS a pretty cool site, but I definitely haven't spent enough time trying to figure it all out yet. I joined a KAL (which stands for Knit a Long, more on it on a later entry, I think), my first ever. So we'll see. The hard part for me is making friends... I'm just not good at it.

In my last post I alluded to a new project:



Yes, that's the beginning of another pair of Endpaper Mitts. The photo is pretty wonky, but I promise it's the shape it is supposed to be. I still love the colorwork - I need to find more patterns like this! I broke down a week or so ago and bought the pattern for Eunny's Anemoi Mittens. I'd like to make them for Matt's sister. I've bought the yarn, but am just scared to wind them.

Yes, you read that correctly. I'm scared to wind them. Apparently, I don't know what the heck I'm doing when it comes to winding yarns from hanks because I just knot, knot, knot them up. I have a huge clump of mismatched yarn sitting on my dining table right now because of all of my screw ups... and I just do not want to mess up any more yarn.

However, Austermann Step is not in a hank, so I started on a new pair of socks over this past weekend:

But something weird is going on with photobucket (and honestly, I can't figure out how to put my pictures on here from flickr (der, I know). Anyway, the sock has zipped along and I'm already up past the ankle. They're for my dad and I'm going to make them extra tall (because men don't wear short socks, or so he says).

On to sewing: I haven't been. But I did buy this quilt kit and am about ready to start it. high five!

Anyway, enough rambling, back to work.

Not So Much

When I bought my ball winder earlier this summer, I really thought it was going to change my life. Not so much.

Before, to wind hanks into balls, I used the Nostepinne method. I took an old toilet paper roll, sat on the floor with the hank draped around my knees, and rolled away. It took forever, I got knots and tangles, both in the hank and the newly wrapped ball. Flash forward to the ball winder days: it's faster, but I still get knots in the hank (though luckily not in the newly wound ball). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong to get ALL of these knots that I've been having lately.

Now I'm convinced that an umbrella swift is going to change my life. Put it on the Christmas List and let's see if it does.

-----------------------------

On Monday I blogged that I'd finish the center pattern of the stole from VLT by this weekend and then add the border. Well, I finished that part on Monday. Now, I just need to add the border, block, and it can go into my stack of holiday gifts. I think I'll work diligently on that this weekend.

But I cast on for another project last night. Pictures to come. But let me tell you, give me yarn & needles, The Ghost Hunters, and 4 hours - and I'll come out with something!

The State of Things

Last week was the first week of classes, and it exhausted me. I won't go into specifics, but I will tell you that I had no idea it would be this bad. So, as a result, I didn't get much knitting done. The little bit that has been done has been this weekend. But I am here to report on the State of Things.

First, off... those anklets? Remember them? Well, I finished this morning.



They're not the cutest, but they'll definitely keep me warm. They're Wendy's Generic Toe Up pattern with Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries. Love the colors :)

Second. Large Rectangle from Victorian Lace Today:



I'm loving it. I've completed 31/36 of the repeats, so maybe by next weekend I'll be able to start on the border? We'll see.

Third. Serrano.



I haven't worked on this since last weekend, simply because I haven't had the time to sit and think about what I'm doing. I'm almost finished with the waist decreases and am about to begin the waist increases. But it's going pretty well. Definitely not perfect, but to my standards it's fine.

And look what I bought at JoAnn's yesterday:



Now I have no excuses! The best part is, because of a coupon that I had and a sale that they were having, the total purchase was just $1 more than the originial place of the cutting mat. How cool is that? So, now I should be able to cut straight lines... I'll make a quilt! (just kidding, not really, but why not?) Sammy would love a quilt.



In the background, you can see the afghan that Matt's mom got made for us. She took a picture of Sammy and sent it in to CVS, and they made a cute little blanket out of it :)