Checking In

Just want to say, "hi." My job is kicking my boo-tay and I've been working a lot of 10 hour days and some weekends. I haven't been taking pictures or blogging, but rest assured, I have been knitting. When the mayhem first began, I wasn't knitting... but then I realized that I was losing time on holiday knitting and knitting actually made me feel better - so I started a sock and went back and tackled the icarus a bit more. I'm now on the 3rd chart (just finished row 6) - so I'm making some headway. It doesn't look exactly the way it is supposed to look, but that's okay - my mom will never know, right?

Pictures of the fiasco to come, I hope.

Neglectful week

I've been neglecting this blog and my knitting terribly this week.

First off, I finished the second Endpaper Mitt on Tuesday night. Have a peek:



Pattern: Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. I've renamed this version the Mint Chocolate Chip Mitts. I used Nature's Palette in chocolate and teal and sizes 0US Crystal Palace Bamboo dpns and Size 2US Brittany Burch wooden dpns. You can check out ravelry page for a little more info, if needed.

And yes, I casted on for the second mitt Tuesday (I stayed home sick) and finished it that same night. It's a fun, quick pattern that everyone should try :)

Work has me swamped - I haven't knitted since Tuesday and don't see myself even thinking about the needles again until Sunday. Take care and have a wonderful weekend :)

The Best Intentions Always Go Awry

Have you ever hung your head over the toilet after a knitting mistake(s)? Well, now I can say that I have. The pain, the agony, the heartache - but maybe I should start at the beginning.

I was working on the Icarus Sunday night. I finally finished all of the repeats for the first chart and was ready to move onto the second chart. I decided to run a lifeline - you know, just in case. I've never used a lifeline before, but thought that this would be the best time to start. I've worked on the body of this shawl almost exclusively for the last 2 weeks and didn't want to lose all of that hard work. So here's the lifeline. Go ahead. Look closely.



It doesn't take much to see that I completely absentmindedly threaded the stitch markers with the lifeline. I discovered this after I started knitting the first row. So in the middle of the first row, I decided, "well, how important is this lifeline anyway?" and just jerked it out. Now I can cook with gas.

Well, the second chart's repeats kind of stagger the first charts - meaning, they do not start and stop at the same stitch (at least, not by my calculations), so of course I get off a little bit with the stitches (I always do when I don't have stitch markers - and I can accept that). Well, on my way back across the wrong side, I keep coming across these yo's. Why are there yo's? There aren't any yo's on the chart. These must be dropped, I think to myself. So for about 4 or 5 repeats, I'm consistently dropping yos- and thinking, "wow, my stitches are going to be way off... I wonder why I put all of those yo's in there?"

Well, those yos were supposed to be there. Yes, boys and girls, I don't know what I was thinking, but everything is way off right now. I told The Boy, "I think I'm going vomit" and had to sit over the toilet for a minute or so. Now I have to figure out how to fix it. Should I just move on and try to line the pattern up the way it should? Or should I tink back the 2 rows (and 300-something stitches for each row) and try to do it correctly? I'm still thinking about it and am a little cautious to pick it up again. So I started another pair of socks and am working on the second Endpaper Mitt a little more. Ugh.

Sammy sums up my feelings perfectly:

Can't think of titles anymore

I was true to Icarus last night. I've decided to only do 4 repeats of the first chart (instead of 5) for a couple of reasons: 1)I'm using slightly larger needles than called for; 2)I really, really do not want to get sick of this knit, and am worried that I might if I keep chugging along.



I put together a small knitting kit for a coworker. She wants to learn to knit, so I grabbed an extra circular needle and gathered some old 'learning' yarn that I have laying around. Maybe on our lunch breaks I'll be able to help her. Yay!! Maybe I'll finally have someone around who will knit with me :)

Today I have a crazy long day (got here at 7, will be here until 8:30pm), so I'm going to take a break in the middle and visit Hill Country Weavers. I invited a coworker, so maybe she'll take me up on it.

I'm thinking about going to my parent's house this weekend, so that will mean tucking away Icarus and winding more yarn for other gifts that have nothing to do with my family. I have no problem with that.

I only got to watch a hair of Pushing Daisies last night... but guess what? A character KNITS. I kid you not. And apparently, he knits a LOT in the episode from last night, so I'm hoping to catch a repeat of it this weekend. So tune in to Pushing Daisies!

Progress... Bit by bit

Last night I was loyal to Icarus... however, I only knit a few rows (maybe 6?). It was inevitable that it would slow down; each row adds more stitches, so it takes longer and longer to complete a row. I haven't been very gung-ho about doing anything these past few days anyway. There are some personal things going on (not super, home-related personal, but job-personal... if that makes sense). I am attempting to not bring any of that to this blog, but it affects my happiness, which affects my craftiness (what craftiness I do have), which affects blogging (I hope I'm using the correct word - I still have a hard time with 'affect' and 'effect' - hang in there with me, please).

However, tonight is Ghost Hunters and Pushing Daisies, so I have a hot date with the couch, remote control, Icarus, and SammyTheDog. Cannot wait. Pictures? Well, I can't wait to get my hands on this:



6 days is not soon enough!!

Jinxed

I shouldn't have jinxed it; yesterday I said that I didn't want to knit anything but Icarus. Immediately after I knit a row or two I had to put it away. I picked up my Pomatomus for the first time since I started on it and finished the first chart. Then I picked up Icarus for a few more rows, and called it an early night. I hope it just a little slump and not anything major.

But that's all. Oh, and Sammy says, "hello."

State of the Icarus

The great thing about this knit is that I just do not want to put it down. That revelation could also be a bad thing, because I don't want to start anything else! I don't even want to browse the web to find anything else to start!





There was one minor/major catastrophe over the weekend. Somehow I got my needles turned around and purled on the RS (instead of the WS). Now there's a ridge of purl stitches running right along the front of the shawl. You can kind of see it here:



My mother will never notice it. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. That's what I get for watching Nip/Tuck while knitting. One can't be expected to completely pay attention with that kind of stuff happening in the background.

But let's take stock in the holiday gift-giving list. I'm adding my aunt to the list, because she's going to be staying with us at Christmas.

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to block.. but I might make something else for her instead)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens finished!
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 (cast on)
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: Hat - need to pick a pattern
The Boy: ??
Aunt: Branching Out? Some pretty scarf, probably.

We have some pretty big holiday plans this year. A trip to New Hampshire is in the works, as is a cabin in Arkansas. More details as the time approaches, I'm sure. I'm extremely excited, because I loooove New Hampshire. The last time I was there (early last December), there was no snow. But this year, we're going a little bit later (only by a few weeks, but still) so I hope I get to see some pretty powder. And did I mention that I wanted to move to the Northeast? I do, I do, oh I do, I do. Maybe we'll just decide to never come back to Austin and stay up there forever. I'm sure my boss would love that, seeing as I have an orientation session the day I get back from vacation.

Proper Introductions

While the Icarus is going along smoothly (finished the next repeat, no major catastrophes -yet-, yay!), it looks very similar to the last picture and I don't want to be too redundant. And since I don't really have anything else going on the needles, I thought I'd do something a little different today. I'd like to properly introduce you to Sammy, my shih tzu.



Sammy is 5.5 years old. He was given to me in August 2005 by a friend of my mother's coworker, who was, for whatever reason, unable to care for him. He's been an absolute delight since day 1. Sammy is incredibly smart - he loves to play fetch, dash around the room, and bark at the doorbell. He also spends a lot of his time doing this:



Laying at the foot of our bed and napping. A little tidbit is that when neither The Boy or I are at home, he gets put away in his kennel. For a long time, we'd let him stay free, but he would often rip up window blinds in his fervor to keep people away from our home. Even when we would keep him in the bedroom and not let him run around the entire apartment, he would continue to chew the bedroom blinds instead. So, after a lot of replacing and as much scolding (to which he acts pathetically), we decided that since dogs are indeed cave dwelling animals, then it was not cruel and unusual punishment to ask him to stay in his kennel. The good thing is that most days he only has to stay in there a few hours because The Boy and I have staggered work times.

A minor issue that we deal with is his chewing his toys. He chews his stuffed animals and plastic toys to bits (rips off appendages, specifically) and then swallows the goodies. Which then leads to rushing outside and to expel said appendages. It's not pretty. So we're slowly taking away stuffed and plastic toys, and replacing them with tough-skinned tennis balls and a blanket that I knit for him last year.



Yes, he does chew on this as well, but so far there has been minimal shredding and absolutely no ripping - meaning no piece of his blankie has ended up on the lawn yet.

Because Sammy spent the first 3.5 years of his life with another family, I'm a little sad that I wasn't involved in his socialization. He is a little frightful of strangers and other dogs, and it's hard to get him to calm down sometimes and be kind to others. But we're still working on that. And the important thing is that he is incredibly sweet to The Boy and I - and we will love him forever.

Winding Yarn

Have I whined enough about hating to wind yarn from hanks into balls? I really, really, really dislike it. Monday night, I began winding the beautiful Baruffa Cashwool in perwinkle purple in anticipation of beginning my mom's Icarus Shawl. I had a glorious hour while watching Heroes and winding with absolutely no problem. After an hour, knots galore. Where did they come from? I wasn't doing anything different than before - but the knots just kept coming. I spent another hour just trying to get anywhere. I went to bed (angry) with this much wound:



Two little balls. And those weren't even wound well. You can see how loose the strands are and imagine the knots once I start tugging on them.

Tuesday I went home and tackled the yarn again (in a bit better spirits). I worked for at least another two hours on this and finally got it done! I could have wept tears of joy. Anyway, I began Icarus:



I completed the first chart and am now beginning the repeats on it. Loving it!! The charts are easy to read and follow; the pattern is intuitive. The yarn is so soft and lovely in my fingers; the new Addi Turbo needles are a dream. What more could one ask for? This is why I love to knit. Now if I could only get the winding part down... I would love for the entire process to be enjoyable. But there's still one big, sticky part that I dread. Would an umbrella swift change my life??? I can only hope.

Finished

The mittens are finished.



A few specifications:
Pattern: Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo DPN sizes 0 (US) and 1 (US)
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering Weight in Black and Neptune Blue (1 ball of each)

Very lovely, very fun, great colorwork practice. Would definitely recommend.

Last week I casted on for Pomatomus socks in a yarn I haven't used before - Dream in Color's Strange Harvest.



Now, I'm no expert, and the blog world is afire over this yarn... however, I wasn't impressed. I love the color - it's very fall-like and makes me think of pumpkins. But it's very splitty (there are a few stitches in there hanging on by a thread - literally) and fairly course. While it was very exciting to pick up a hot new yarn, I'll definitely be trying out other lines in the future.

Taking Things Too Far

I didn't mean to take it this far. This weekend started out innocently enough. My knitting assignment Friday night was to finish the decreases of the first Anemoi Mitten and then finish the thumb. Friday night I decreased, Saturday morning was the thumb.



The above picture is actually the reverse of the mitten. I like looking at the floats :p

But Saturday night I took things just a little too far. I cast on for the second mitten and knit, knit, knit. Sunday: more of the same. I didn't knit all day, by any means, but I did do a little more knitting. That knitting added up to this:



Yes, people, that's a nearly complete second mitten there. All that is left is the thumb. I don't know how it happened (or even why), but I knit my happy little heart out on that thing yesterday. And it's almost finished! I almost finished my second holiday gift! woohoo!

Misadventure tale: I didn't just knit this weekend. On Saturday, I went to the fabric store to pick up a few things. I've decided that I'm going to sew my coworkers stockings for their holiday gifts (and stuff them full of little fun things). So I decided that I should go ahead and pick up the pattern and some practice material. The pattern was originally priced $12.95 - but I was surprised by the fact that my total purchase was $12.99. Yes, the pattern was reduced to $1.99... can't beat that, right? Saturday night I cut out the material (very carefully of course. Yes, I put all the pattern pieces on the correct pieces of the material and they all turned out reasonably the same size) and sat down Sunday afternoon to piece it all together.

Or not.

I cannot read pattern instructions. In fact, I think those instructions are wrong.* Dead wrong. I think I'll try again tonight or later this week. Brace yourselves, because I am! Of course, I didn't take a picture because there was nothing to take a picture of... except some cut out fabric. Whoa is me.

In the knitting front: my Loopy Ewe package came in on Saturday, but due to bad timing, I wasn't able to get it. The mailperson came so late in the day that I guess he just dropped off the packages to the apartment office straight away, because they promptly closed. By the time he left a slip in my box, the office was already closed and I was unable to pick it up. And I don't know if The Boy will be able to pick it up this morning before work because of his classes... and I know I probably won't be home until after 6 - which is when they close. Life is hard - especially when you're waiting on yarn :(

*Yes, I realize that the pattern probably isn't wrong. It's me that's dead wrong. Just throw me a bone here.