And yet again, I wandered away from posting. I’ve been preoccupied with some good and some not so good things, so I will just seize the moments I have and call it good.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fingerless mitts I was working on. I’ve been wanting a pair, but nothing was quite what I wanted. Wrong size, wrong gauge, too frilly, no thumb – you get the gist. Anyway, I started playing around, and (3 or 4 prototypes later) came up with one I like. It’s a very simple pattern, with a little cable, and just enough variety every few rows to keep it from being boring. I knocked the pair out watching discs 2 and 3 of season 6 of CSI, and I am by no means a speedy knitter.

I’ve written the pattern up into hopefully intelligible English, and the wonderful Sheri @ Close Knits wants to carry it in her shop! I knit up a store sample for her (in the yummy Araucania Azapa) and they took WAY less than a skein, I’m guestimating ~125-ish yards? I’ll drop those off today, and another set for me will be in the works soon-ish.

I did take a picture, but I’m not loving it. I can’t photograph them well on my own hands, so I am hoping to get a good shot at the shop later. Im the meanwhile, this should give you a rough idea of what they look like.

As fast as these were to knit, I am experiencing an intense love affair with the Hemlock blanket right now, and do not want to knit anything else. I resent any time I spend on other things (work & sleep are highly over rated!) and can’t wait to sit down with it again. I started one once before, but the love wasn’t there. I ripped it, and it sat in a corner, waiting until that “someday” moment that I would pick it up again.

That day was Tuesday – the 4th anniversary of my Mom’s death. I wanted something to divert my hands and head. Something that would be interesting without too intense, yet not so boring my attention would drift. I have always found Emily Ocker’s cast on fiddly – no offense meant, just wasn’t working for me. I was never quite able to get the smooth results I’d seen so many others achieve, so I decided to see what else I could use. It was worth the efforts.

Daniel is a genius! His version of the Disappearing Loop Cast On was exactly what I was looking for – it was simple, it made sense to my hands, and the result is a less “belly buttony” cast on, with no visible hole. I practiced it a time or two to make sure I had it right, and away I went. I knit on Hemlock a good chunk of the day, and I am now sneaking in a round or two every chance I get. As those rounds get bigger, that’s getting harder to do

I haven’t taken any pictures of it yet, but I doubt anyone reading this hasn’t seen their fair share of this blanket by now. If you really feel the need to see something, you can look at the Ravelry pages here or the Flickr tag set here.

There you have it, the past few weeks (mostly) in a nutshell. I’m going to finish my delish Vanilla Chai tea, and then off to the outside world for a bit.

Happy weekend!

No, I haven’t already lost my steam. I am still blogging, the past few days have just been really busy and rather than post 2 words for the sake of hitting “publish” I just skipped it.

I finished up the Malabrigo Birthday Cowl the other night, and it is all ready to be packed up and sent up north with the Waterfall scarf from the other day. I made this one only 7″ high instead of the recommended 9″ but otherwise followed the pattern as written.

I only have two pictures of the FO because frankly, I have tried taking pictures of this thing in every available form of light (natural and man made) and the color refuses to show true. Photoshop color correction hasn’t even been friendly to this colorway, so I gave up and what you see here is untouched.

In person, I think this color (Roanoke Gold for those keeping track at home) is much smoother, and while the colors are strong, they aren’t as “pushy” as I think they look in these pics.

As always, it was a pleasure knitting up the Mmmmmmalabrigo. Since the cowl took up so little of a single skein (and I started with 2 in this color as it was originally intended for another project), I have a bunch left that I’m not quite sure what to do with. I was considering making the Waterfall Scarf for me in this colorway, but the thought of a matching set of hand warmers to go with the cowl is also swimming in my brain.

While it’s great I have these ideas swirling around, the past 2 days I have had zero desire to actually knit anything. For example, I sat in the yarn room yesterday morning, pulling out all kinds of wonderful fibers and thinking about the variety of things I could knit up and nothing called out to me. I flipped thru some books, and nothing jumped out and screamed “knit me now!” I have things in queue on Ravelry, I have things I’ve shelved in the past in favor of other knits, and yet, nothing! There are 2 projects that are long stalled sitting in project bags in the closet, and a project I SO wanted to do that I started and ripped and vowed to restart just sitting there and my hands are empty. It’s kind of a weird sensation.

I was reading on Plurk last night and this morning that I’m not the only one hanging out in knitting blah-land. It seems quite a few people have been feeling the same way. It seems really off kilter to me though since these crisp days are perfect knitting weather so I am wondering what’s in the air – any thoughts?

A couple of weeks ago, Aimee was knitting up some Applewood Malabrigo (random flickr link for color) worsted into a Waterfall Scarf from the 101 Designer One Skein Wonders book. It’s a perfect carry along knit for public knitting, so with very little coaxing, I cast on for one too.

My version was in Malabrigo chunky, and I did it on size 10 1/2. If I followed the pattern’s theory (which called for worsted weight yarn on 10’s) I probably should have used larger needles with my heavy worsted weight yarn, but I went with my gut and I am really glad I did. I looked thru the project pictures on Ravelry and for me, personally, many of the FOs were too drapey looking.

I finished knitting it Saturday night, and since I left the book at home I had to call home to have the bind off read to me. I jotted it down and proceeded to bind off, then drop the 1st column of stitches. I tried the second and discovered I screwed up the bind off. Joy. I picked it out, and tried again (giving myself a brain pain in the process) and finally was able to drop the rest of the stitches. I think it came out really pretty.

Since this one is a gift, I’ll definitely be knitting it again – I want one for me! I probably won’t do mine in chunky Malabrigo because let’s face it, I live in NC. It’s a fast knit that is perfect for on the go or public knitting. It’s just a twisted garter – the magic in in the bind off. It only took me 10 days to knit up because I barely had time to pay attention to it. Once I plopped on Wendy’s couch for some movies and hang out time, I blew threw the entire second ball of Malabrigo during the 1st movie, and bound off and dropped stitches during the second.

Tomorrow, my Knit Happens purchase – but I can only show off 2 of the 3 items because one is a Plurk Swap gift. Something is better than nothing though, right?

Baby steps… that’s what I’m taking. I have been thinking about writing again, starting posts in my head and never getting around to actually doing it, so I cut yesterday’s post after my thank you’s to leave myself a bit of content today and to try and give myself an enticement to write. I’m here now, so I guess it worked.

Our side door neighbors are very sweet people. When I found out they were expecting a girl, I decided to knit them something. June 21st was the last time I posted any status on that baby sweater, mainly because despite the easy knit, it was growing slowly. Turns out, I don’t like knitting plain stockinette in all bubble gum baby pink

One night, as the baby’s due date was looming, I was sorta challenged by Wendy and Megan to stop procrastinating and just finish the stupid thing already. There was a bet that I couldn’t finish it by 1am EST that night, and hourly progress pics were required. It was exactly what I needed.

click to “embiggen” all pics, as usual

I finished the sweater, and had about enough left to make a matching hat, so rather than leave that small amount sitting, I took the pattern from the sweater, and applied it to a simple roll brimmed hat

not yet washed, so it looks a little wonky shaped

I sewed some buttons on the sweater, and viola, matched set! The pictures were taken pre blocking, and of course I forgot to take pictures again before I gifted it. Ravelry link to the sweater here, and the hat here

I was going to move from that to the Hypotenuse shawl I had been working on, but due to unfortunate events, it is no more. I will eventually repurchase the Alpaca Silk and make that shawl – I loved knitting the pattern and how it was coming out, so this is not the end.

I picked up the two up toe ups I had started and decided to make them Seaweed Socks (rav link). I have some of the 1st repeat done, and hope to spend some time on them this week. Pics as there is something more than toes to show. I was going to start the Nanner socks (rav link), but have decided to try project monogamy for awhile as my knitting time is still kinda limited. (Erm, mostly monogamous that is…. there’s a small side project I have brewing that will take a good long time. but it’s ok – a big project in small chunks which can be a diversion here and there. I may or may not blog that project as it grows, may just wait until it’s done in 100 years )

So there you have it, 2 posts in two days. Back to work tomorrow so I’m playing it by ear. I do have hurt books to talk about and a trip to a new sorta LYS as well, so it’s possible. For now, I’m going to work on the socks (or maybe that side project?) and call it an early night.

Let’s skip past the whole guilty babble about not posting in forever, shall we? We all know the routine – meant to, wanted to, got distracted, life got in the way. But hey, I’m back. And in time to celebrate my 3rd year blogging!

Tomorrow (on the actual anniversary date), there will be an official contest post, and some news. (No, I’m not pregnant, stop that!) Today though, it’s mini catch up and a weekend review.

Mary was here this weekend, and we had fun. There was good food, good beer, and big laughs. “Big” & “laughs” are each linked to her blog because despite the fact that I posted at the very same time she did on Friday night, and the fact that Google Reader picked up my feed for that post, it vanished. Don’t ask, I don’t know. And no, I’m not going to try to figure it out – some things are best left a mystery. Here is photographic evidence of some of the food and beer though…

There was actually very little knitting – I wove in the ends of one of my March Hats for Alex on Friday night, and decided to step away from the needles on Saturday evening as they didn’t seem to be a safe mix with the Monkey… Even so, it was great having Mary here. Next month – her house!

Yes, there was an FO or two while I was MIA. I took 2 amazing classes at Charlotte Yarn last weekend, and learned SO much. Both classes were great fun (thanks to the cast of characters in both classes and awesome teachers) and really did a lot to kick my knitting drive back into gear. Aimee taught us Double Knitting and Jane taught us Fair Isle. The fair isle class had the bonus of steeking, and learning to knit backwards. I can not even begin to describe what that seemingly simple bit of knowledge did for me. Not only do I find my stockinette to be crisper and more even, but the hand motion will help me in learning to knit continental, as well as improve my ability to knit 2 handed when I fair isle.

I do have some swatch pictures as well as a shot of the fair isle hat I’ll send to Hats for Alex as part of my March batch.

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It’s much better than the 1st one I did a few weeks before Jane’s class, no doubt! It’s no where as awesome as Trillians amazing cardigan (ravelry link), but hey, at least I started! And someday, I too will create something as amazing!

I’m off to start something else (details during the week probably) and since it’s Sunday, that means it’s Netflix night with my honey. Such a great way to end the weekend! (even if we did lose an hour… can someone tell me why the change has to be in effect on Sunday morning, instead of Saturday morning, which gives us no time to readjust before we have to go back to work? Seems silly!)

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for contest details – it will be open all week, with THREE winners announced next Sunday. (yea, 3. It’s my 3rd year blogging, so it seemed appropriate)

Nope, no typo – I actually spent a good portion of my week in bed with the flu. Ugh! The days kind of blurred together (thank you Zicam Flu!) and finally somewhere Friday night my fever broke and I started to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I ventured outside for about an hour yesterday to the Charlotte Purls meeting since it was the Purly Valentine secret swap exchange. I got to give my gift to Wendy (blogless!!)

click to see it on Flickr with notes

Paula was my Valentine, and she and I have dinner plans for Wednesday night before BAM to swap gifts (I was entrusted with her package since she wasn’t able to join us on Saturday) and so I can introduce her to Wednesday nights at BAM. It’s nice to have so many knitting group times and places to chose from!

After that, I came straight home, and took a 3 hour nap. Seriously. I feel much better but it will probably be a few days before I feel totally human again. Today has been laid back, I did a little graphic work for a friend, and after I finish this post, I’m curling up on the couch with a CSI marathon. I haven’t had needles in my hands in a few days, so I’m not sure what I will actually work on. You can bet it will be something though!

The eye searing felted slippers FINALLY dried, and I guess they are a success! He has ignored his Crocs and his Vans since I these dried and I shaved them down some for him. I love that he loves them MAYBE there will be additional requests for knitted items from him in my future?

I also want to thank Kristin again for my wonderful prize! I don’t have a picture of the book, but I have been reading it slowly, and savoring it’s wealth of ideas and information. This was a great gift that came at a perfect time, as we slowly but surely make this house our home. (You can see a bit of detail and a pic of the book here, and while you’re there, stay awhile and check out her blog!)

And last, but certainly not least, thanks to all for the continued good wishes for my girl. We’ve watched her a few days off meds, and while she certainly isn’t in puppy perfect shape, she is doing well. Some days are good. Some days are not so good. On her good days, she is a little slow, and has a slight limp as she favors her rear right. On her not so good days, she prefers not to move much, but can for things like going out and eating/drinking. So far, the better days out weigh the less than good ones, and as long as she is comfortable, we’re happy. The vet said that as some time passes, we can try and walk her a bit more on the good days, to help restrengthen her back, but otherwise, it’s just watch her and make sure she isn’t suffering. We’ll be keeping a close watch, and doing whatever the vet suggests to help her feel better.

It’s time for my afternoon dose of decongestants and a refill on my tea so that’s it for me…

Updates, I have a few…

Trinity:
It is looking a lot like she will have good days and bad days. Since she tweaked her hip/back/knee a few days ago, she has been slower moving but not square one bad. As always, her personality is sweet and loving and she seems to be handling it all better than maybe her mom is… We will continue to keep a day to day watch and see, with a positive attitude that given time, she will get better.

Hats for Alex:
JUST under the gun, I got 3 hats in the mail to Trillian42 for my January submission. Each month that you send at least 3 hats, your name will be entered into a drawing for that month. I didn’t get know about the project until a bit late in January, but still made it a point to get 3 in, and have committed to trying very hard make at least 3 a month all year. I didn’t manage to get a shot of the 3rd one I finished, but here’s 1 and 2 for January

I have my 1st for February almost done (Cristi and Aimee said I cheated because I started in end of January, but it didn’t do me any good, since it is now Feb and it isn’t done yet.)

Felted Clogs 2:
Also, despite my craptastic planning and an odd shortage of Lambs Pride Brown Sheep in Onyx, I still managed to finish knitting the felted clogs for the man of the house. They have since been felted and are now drying – final FO shot once they are done and on his feet, but this should do for now

The weekend:
Yesterday I ran over to Charlotte Yarn to pick up the last part of my Charlotte Purls “My Purly Valentine” swap, and hung out in the shop for a couple of hours, with Aimee, Cristi, Corey, Lisa (blogless!), and Jane. Always a good time! Plus, as an extra special bonus, I got to meet JP who was visiting from Alabama. (I’m hoping it was more than a visit and that his possible plans to move here pan out because he is an absolute doll!)

I’d love to show you what I bought, but the secret can’t be shared until February 9th. I will show you this though:

which will have to suffice until after our exchange when I will reveal the contents, as well as what’s in my package.

The house:
My final update is really just a little vent really.

A few weeks ago, I noticed a small bubble in the flooring in the 2nd bathroom upstairs. We don;t use it often, but I happened to catch it, and brought it to our builder’s customer service guys attention. He (and if I’m being honest, everyone else who saw it) kind of made me feel like I was being picky, but sorry, we’re not paying pocket change for this place and I was not going to let it go until it was checked out.

They sent someone over, who lifted up the flooring (we took default linoleum in this BR, intending to someday do it ourselves in something else – as I said, we don’t use this bathroom much) and said something along the line of “uh, we have a problem”. Yea, a problem indeed.

Seems the original flooring folks laid a very thick (1.5 inch!!) coat of Ardex down to level the flooring (read, cover their stupid mistakes rather than fixing it). They were trying to cover up this:

“This” being a box support that was higher than the rest of the flooring – hard to tell from the shot, but the gap was rather pronounced. They tried planing it, didn’t work, so they ripped that out and built a new one.

Stay tuned – they come back Friday to finish it up…

And finally? I WON!!!
I usually don’t win blog contests, but this one I really wanted to win – and I DID!!
Over on Reclaiming the Home, we were asked to post 5 recipes and a random winner would be chosen. The prize was one I really was interested in and sicne I have recently started reading and enjoying this blog, I thought I would give it a shot.

Imagine my surprise on Friday when I saw this:

I can’t wait for the book to come MANY many thank to Kristin for the contest (and the newest addition to my google reader daily reads and Ravelry groups)

And now, I’m off for some pre superbowl food shopping, and then hanging with our company (and my knitting of course! What will I be knitting? Good question!!)

Go Giants!

ETA - OMG!!!!! I’m shocked and amazed and THRILLED!!!!