k is for krista

We Do Knit, Here.

I've been working on the baby Tomten jacket but it's all garter stitch and occasionally drives me crazy.  It is moving along pretty quickly, though, and I have nearly finished the hoodie.  Don't you love the color?  I'm using Naturespun in Antique Turquoise.  The plan is to also make some little pants and possibly booties in the same color.  I have a ton of this yarn bought on clearance at my yarn shop, but the other two colors are pink and blue, and I don't want to jump into that until the next ultrasound, which is going to be next week!  Any guesses? 

I also made myself some new dishclothes, also garter stitch, but so easy and quick they only take a couple hours to do.  Pattern found at Dishcloth Boutique.

Reality Check

When Steve and I were trying to get pregnant, I kept having these notions of what I would be like, once we concieved.  I really wanted a baby so badly I thought I would become this amazing Earth Mother, peaceful with the world and content with my life, spinning in circles in a sea of daisies.  Well.  It's just not happening.  I don't FEEL pregnant.  I don't feel this amazing bond with my unborn child.  I don't have enough energy to spin in circles, and it's January.  There are no daisies to be found.  I really worried that I would never feel for this baby.  Until today.

My secret pal sent me the sweetest baby socks and mitts that I have ever seen.  I can see my baby's feet and hands kicking around wrapped in these beauties.  The front is the bear's face and the back is it's butt!!!  Ha ha ha!!!  I love them so much.  And secret pal, these are my very first pieces of baby clothes.  They will always be a sweet, sweet memory, and will make their way into baby's hope chest after they have been enjoyed many times.  You are awesome.  How did you know exactly what I needed?

Oh, yum yum yum.  I am in love with you secret pal.  I dream about being your best friend, and exchanging delicious candy treats on a regular basis.  Maybe it's just the chocolate talking, but I really think we have a good thing going.  I really think I want to move to your country and live next door and eat chocolates from this company every day.  I don't even care what it will do to my ass.  I am in love.

Purple is perfect.  I think I will make some bedsocks.  Or maybe a cap.  Or maybe...could be anything, you know. 

These, my friends, are handmade socks.  They are pink and I think they are the most perfect socks I have ever seen.  I am guessing they are Pomatomus socks, but I can't be sure.  I took off my socks and put these on immediately, and my feet are toasty warm.  That is really saying something because the Arctic blast hit us two days ago and I cannot get the apartment warm.  I love them, and I think I am going to wear them for the rest of my life.  I am one happy camper.  Secret pal, you are so awesome, but who are you?  I am desperate!  I have your name on the package, but I need your blog!  I want to know more about this great person who sent me exactly what I needed when I needed it.  Thank you so much.

Promised Pictures and Finished Objects

First off, I promised to post pics of the presents I got from my secret pal.

Mmmm, Chocolate.  It had crunchies and small, small bits of hazelnut.  It was gone in about 5 seconds flat.

Pure new wool and the cutest potholders I have ever seen.  Thanks again, SP!  I love love love the potholders!

Also, I finished the first thing on my list of incompletes!  Knit From Your Stash Hooray!

My Mother's Christmas socks, just a little bit late.  The pattern is Simple Trekking Socks, which I totally loved.  The point where the picked up stitches become a gusset don't have a hole at all.  The pattern is easy to follow and works very well for the Trekking yarn.  I will be keeping this pattern on hand for this yarn in the future.  Next up, the hunting mittens.  Then Dad's bed socks.  I'll keep you posted.

Better Late Than Never

When I picked up the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits there were a ton of patterns I knew I would knit.  I made it a point to take some notes and figured I would give you a little review of the magazine.  All notes are as they appear in my notebook.

A Cardigan for Arwen-cute!  love it!  must knit it!  -sizing is imperative; no closures

Equestrian Blazer-dress or casual -perfect for any occasion

Retrograde Pullover-neat idea -no man I know would wear this.  Steve says,"If you weigh 3000 lbs you'd look okay, otherwise it will just bag and make you look like a stick."

Refined Raglan-looks stiff; would use a different yarn -generic; perfect for a gift

Rambling Rose Cardigan-TIGHT!  (in a bad way)

Provincial Waistcoat-yes!  must knit!

Corded Yolk Pullover-we get it, Annie.  Now make something we would actually wear.

Arctic Diamond Stole-must knit!  -love the geometric lines

Wine and Roses Mitts-must knit!  so adorable!  -I would actually wear them constantly!

Cowgirl Slipper Socks-perfect quick gift

Tweed Beret-also a great quick gift -for me, too

All else- eh.  Take it or leave it.

There is a great article on steeking.  I have not tried this yet, but I think I want to try it out.

Pornographic Fibers, Part I

Hiya gang!  I'm going to be out of commission this weekend, so I've auto-timed my posts to go through without me.  My nephew's football team made it to the state championships and we are going downstate to watch.  I hope they win.  Seriously, this kid needs a pick-me-up.  He's got the general I'm-a-teen-boy-and-nothing-seems-to-be-right-in-my-pitiful-limited-life malaise.  You know the deal.  I can't remember the last time he goofed off or even laughed.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Go Golden Knights!

I'm getting my yaarn shipments in the mail and I could not be happier!  Today you get this:

Which are going to become these:

  Sorry the pictures a little blurry, but you get the idea.  Oooo, colorwork!  The work here is a little fancy for my taste, and I would really be intimidated if it weren't a small project.  KUO officially ends today, and I am knitting like a fiend on Mom's socks!  They MUST be done and I have to get onto Dad's scarf!

An Update Of Sorts

Finished: One (1) hat for the Dulaan Project.

Hello!  How's your day?  Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  My mother-in-law refuses to relinquish the title as chief turkey cooker, so we will once again be having The Big Eat at her house.  I am (once again) in charge of sweet potatoes.  Every year I make candied sweet potatoes with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  YUM!  Hello fat ass!  How are ya?  You just keep getting bigger and bigger, dontcha?  Anyway, I decided this year I will be making something a little healthier.  I found a great recipe for a baked sweet potato and veggie casserole.  Hope springs eternal. 

I am thankful for:

1.  My family's patience with my craziness.

2.  My husband, who is as crazy as I.

3.  Improvement in my life in all aspects.

4.  America.

5.  Knitting.

6.  Yarn. 

7.  Sheep.

It's really that simple for me.  What are you thankful for?  Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, take some time to reflect on all that is good, bad, and ugly in your life.  Post it.  Share it with the world.  Start a trend.

Into the Swing of Things

Still no pictures.  I'm really, really sorry about that.

While roaming around in blog-land, I came upon the Simple Trekking Socks being work on by Margene, and I thought, "How absolutely, utterly perfect for my mother!"  Actually, I thought, "I can totally get this done by December 25th and maybe have time to make that scarf my father wants!  Sweet!"  So I went to my LYS, picked up some Trekking, and cast on that very night.  LOVE IT!  It's perfect. 

I began the socks the evening of the 16th.   Throughout Thursday and Friday I made incredible progress on them and kept thinking that if I had not signed up for Knit Unto Others I probably would have them done in a week.  You see, I made up my mind that during KUO I would only work on that.  I wanted it to be a knitting Lent.  A time to separate myself from my personal projects and focus on others that are less fortunate.  As progress on the sock continued, and I found myself rising out of my knitting slump that I posted about last week, I began to get angry, nay, furious with myself for this looming commitment.  How could I have signed on to this?  I have so many Christmas presents to do and I will only be leaving myself 3 weeks to get them all done!  What was I thinking?!?

Now, being the stubborn person that I am, I find myself stuck with my promise to focus the next 14 days to charity knitting alone.  After all, I have signed up for the Dulaan Project, so this will be an excellent chance to complete that promise.  As I began the first hat I began reflecting on how fortunate I am instead of thinking about the less fortunate.  There was a time all I could afford was cheap acrylic yarn and discount needles.  Now I am knitting my charity knitting on spare balls of pure wool that happen to be lying around.  I have the luxury of buying Christmas presents for the people I do not have time to knit for.  I have options and choices that I did not have 3 years ago.  My life has improved in so many ways.  I am fortunate and blessed to have the time and quality materials to knit unto others.  With this new train of thought, I find myself looking forward to Christmas rather than the dread of holiday hassle.  I am going to continue my charity knitting for the prescribed 14 days in an effort to carry my goodwill throughout the holidays.  I encourage you to do the same.

Knitting Blahs.

It's a fear that I dare not speak aloud.  What do you do when you have all the latest publications, all the trendiest books, enough yarn to clothe the neigborhood-and you don't want to touch your knitting needles?  I just feel, well, blah about the whole thing.  I'd really rather read a book.  I suspect there are a couple of reasons for this and they are all directly related to existing knitting projects.

1.) Hunting Mittens.  I did not finish them in time for Steve to take hunting.  There now sits one mitten with ends waiting to be woven in, and one mitten stuck at the gusset.  I can't even look at them.  (This is a problem because now I have no motivation except the fact that Steve may go hunting in January for a couple of days.  Otherwise, they are not needed until next year.)

2.) Thrummed Mittens.  I can't figure the thumb gusset out.  Increasing 2 stitches every 4 rounds would be a total of 24 rounds until the gusset is done and that seems like too many rounds.  I do not want to forge ahead until I have mentally figured it out because there are thrums involved.

3.) Leaf Lace Shawl.  Not bad, actually.  I don't want to pick it up unless I can do a right and wrong side in one sitting-just to save my own sanity.  I can see myself now setting it down and a couple days later gaily knitting away with the entire thing backwards. 

4.) Rhinebeck Sweater.  I made a mistake in the cables.  It's only by 2 rows but I have started decreasing and I am worried that I will screw up the entire shaping by ripping.  I really don't trust myself with this.

5.) Socks for Mom.  My mother has NEVER asked me for anything.  She has never had a particular Christmas or birthday wish in her entire life.  At Rhinebeck this year I had her try on one of my Trekking socks.  She agreed only because it was fresh off the needles and hadn't touched anyone else's feet.  (I get it honest, I swear.)  Then she asked for a pair of socks for Christmas.  I have the yarn, I have the goodwill, I just can't figure out a pattern to save my life.

There you have it.  Does it make sense to you?  It does to me!  With the exception of the hunting mittens, I can't seem to work through the hard parts of my knitting, and now I have run out of living room space to run away to another project.  I know I can work through the problems (I've worked through far worse), I just don't want to.  This has never happened to me before.  I've never looked at my knitting and thought, "Eh.  Take it or leave it."  What do I do?????

edited to add:  I cannot believe I have won two prizes!  I really don't win this kind of thing!  Thank you all for voting for me!  It has definately turned my blah day into a shiny one!

Happy Thursday to All!

It is officially the weekend for me and I am pleased!  Of course, the problem with working a compressed week is that you have to take your first day off and do all the stuff you couldn't do during the week.  Things like laundry, dishes, shaving your legs...you get the picture.  Those four days are completely absorbed by work.  Thank goodness I have a husband who doesn't freak out at the first sign of stubble(and the next couple of days after that).

So, Steve is away for his annual hunting trip.  Yes, I have the apartment to myself this whole weekend.  Well, me and my ghosts.  Yup, we're haunted.  The other night Steve heard a girl whisper in his ear at the exact same time a man said "hey" to my back.  We were in different rooms when it happened, and we were both sufficiently freaked out.  I don't think they like fighting, because we were having a "discussion" at the time.  I came home tonight and said, "I am kind of scared by this so if you could lay low that would be great."  Hope that works!

Anyway...how to spend my weekend off?  I know the house has to be cleaned, but the place is small and that should only take tomorrow morning.  Groceries are easy.  Steve refuses to eat Hamburger Helper and I love the stuff, so that is going to be my menu.  It's the only time of the year when I get to eat it.  Mmmm-mmm!

Hopefully there will be lots of knitting involved.  Kerry sent me my SP9 prize and it is so cool!  It is Adirondack Yarns Thrummed Mitten Kit.  I think that will be my weekend project.  (Sorry, no pictures, my camera has run out of juice and I cannot seem to make the blinky-button-thingy blink in order to recharge.  I may possibly need a great deal of rest this weekend, too.)

I May Be A Genius...

...or at least a savant.

I thought it would be a nice gesture to make fingerless gloves for Steve's hunting season.  I started with this pattern, but Steve is 6'8" and the pattern did not fit him well.  I also was not happy with the holes that the prescribed Make 1 method created along the thumb gusset.  So I chucked it.  I kept the same yarn and needles, and went on to make the wrist bigger, the thumb gusset more secure with a different Make 1, then made an index finger and the rest into a mitten.  I can't believe I basically designed my own pattern.  I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's advice that the basics of shaping are no different no matter what size you make.  As long as your increases are even, you just have to do more...it won't actually change the shaping of the garment.  This is critical advice, especially for someone who's husband has a hand the size of the knitter's HEAD!

Hopefully I will have a pattern for the mitts soon.  I am knitting the second one based solely on my notes to see if it makes any sense at all(not likely), then if you want one, just leave me a comment and I will email it to you!