Finally moving

We're packing up the U-Haul as I type! We leave bright and early tomorrow morning. We won't have Internet access until Tuesday but that's ok. That gives me time to unpack and get pictures and all that good stuff without getting distracted. :)

I have been feeling the sock itch these past few days. You know, that inevitable burning sensation to knit a sock (man itch and burn and socks...sounds like athletes foot :) ). I can't justify starting such a time intensive, for me..a sock newbie, project when I have yet to finish up the wraps. I still need to do two more fish and finish the wraps but I had to do a sock. I dreamt about it the other night. Yeah, I dreamt about knitting socks. And that's all I was doing. Sitting in a chair knitting socks.

So I started one anyway. :) Bwahahaha. A toddler sock ot be exact. Last time we were in Salt Lake and I bought yarn I copied off a sock pattern out of a book at the library. I had lost mine and was on a roll so I had to get a pattern. I can't remember the book but the cover has four pictures on it and I think it's gloves and some tams etc. A very basic pattern. I pulled that out the other night and my first skein of sock yarn and started. I was almost done though when I realized it was on the wee bit small side so I frogged it. The good thing about small things is it's not heartbreaking when you do have to frog it. :) I re cast-on yesterday afternoon and decided to do an ankle sock. I think there is something so cute about little kids ankle socks. I'm on the gussets right now. I started at 3 when Dr. Phil was on. It's taking a bit longer than I would think a small sock would but I rationalize my slowness by pointing out that not only am I packing a house to move but my 17 month old daughter was AWAKE during said knitting time. As as my toddler of a husband. yeah, things took time yesterday. hehehehe

So until Tuesday adios! I plan on knitting many pairs of toddler socks and the wraps. I'm going to try and work on the wraps mainly but honestly, who can pass up a quick sock? Not me.

One fish, two fish

I finally got pictures of 2 of the 4 fish I did for the MM yarn trade. I'm a slacker and am just barely getting these off but the tradee knows this so no worries. I have decided I do not like this pattern. It's easy enough but it lacks. There are easier ways to do the entire thing including the fins. The author doesn't tell you how to seam it up at all. Nor does she tell you how to do the eyes and mouth. I ended up changing some things around on fish 2 but still haven't figured out the ideal way to go about it. My sister wants some toys from the same book and I am hoping that they are nothing like this dinky pattern. :)

Yarn cakes

I bought a ball winder and Oh.My.God. The sheer joy that sucker brings me is silly. I have almost reqound every single thing of yarn in my house. :)

I bought some yesterday when I bought that. I got three things of Cascade 220, one Cascade Quatro, and two things of sock yarn (Lana Grossa and Magic Stripes). Enough chitter chatter...yarn p0rn!


Ok in order from top left to right: Brown Cascade 220, unknown color Cascade 220, Magic Stripes Sock Yarn unknown color, Lana Grossa sock yarn unknown color, Blue Cascade 220, and finally unknown color Cascade Quatro. Beautiful stuff huh? :)

Slowly but surely

I wasn't able to work much on these last night. Our heat is controlled downstairs. See our apartment is the upstairs of an old opera house. Downstairs is the landlord/building owner's business. Apartments one and two (which we do rent) are part of the original building (dressing rooms!) and all the heat was added later on. So our heat is also the downstairs heat. When we first got it turned on they warned us it would get hot and fast. Boy they weren't kidding! So in an effort to control it a bit they set a timer on it so now it only clicks on twice a day. Sometimes that's all we need but usally not. We had three blankets going last night. Brrrr! So anyways, my hands were frozen and I couldn't manuver like I needed to. I am loving this yarn! Both the orange and the purply red color have subtle changes throughout that you can't really see in the picture. The two ends are squished up so you can see what the actual piece is starting to look like. I have decided that it is indeed going slower. I have yet to know if it's because there are 3 or if it's cause I'm not knitting at my normal spped due to temps outside. I need a couple more inches and then I start decreasing... I can't wait! I love the shape these take on once decreases are started.

Stitch markers galore!

Last night we were driving home when we decided to stop by our business partners house. Lucky me! I sat in the living room with his wife who is also a fibery type gal. She had started making some stitch markers to sell on EBay but had no luck. She had been meaning to give them to me for months now and as she was cleaning ran across the bag of them! Woo hoo! There are tons. The bags are not consistent. Some have only one style in them while others have five variations of a theme. Some only have one. I have hooks to hook into an actual stitch or I have hoops to go over the needles. I LOVE them!! I'm in another Magic Yarn Ball swap so some of these will be gifted. I am so excited to be able to send some lucky mama some beautiful hand made stitch markers!

The blue one on the top row is a turtle..it was a set of four. The bottom one on the end are crosses..big ones and little ones.











The second set on the top row are double sided. One side is a sun and the other is a moon.



This set is my favorite!!! I love the fact that it spells out knitter. The lady who made them has her own set for when she crochets. She needs more needles so more often than not she has to snake away a needle from something she's working on and place the WIP on a holder. By the time she gets back to it she can't remember what needle she was using. Her solution? Stitch markers that have a letter block in the size needle she was using. So ifshe was using a J hook she just slips on her J marker to her holder and off she goes. I thought that was a cool idea. I might make me some with needle sizes.


And here are three newborn size wraps. The mama got back to me and I cast on for them two nights ago. We had a long distance drive yesterday where I was the main driver so I didn't get to work on them. This was what I did in the first night. That's the front ribbing and I am onto some increases now. Thank god for long needles! I'm doing all three at once. It seems to be going faster but honestly I can't tell. I hope it does!

Swim swim

As part of a trade that I am slow on I made up another fish. I've actually done four...in all different sizes but only one is seamed and stuffed. I like it. It turned out far better than my first one but I am still not a fan of this pattern. The author doesn't tell you how to seam or place the fins/tail. It makes it kind of hard. I hope the mama who is getting them likes it. I think he's cute. :)

I decided I was going to wear a scarf this winter. Something simple but fabulous all at once. I decided to use my red tweed for it. A very simple pattern. 3 rows garter stitch, k5 on the edges with a stockinette niddle. I am loving the way it is coming out. It's going to be super long! It's not too wide either which I am glad about. As trendy cute as those super skinny or super thick scarves are they scream nonuseable. To me at least. :)



I pm'd the mama I am making so many covers for to ask if she would like a couple in newborn size. Those babes were tiny and I knew that smalls would be too big. She pm'd me back to say that NONE of their covers fit so newborns would be perfect. Woo hoo! I think I will end up doing all of them in that size just because they are so tiny. I need to get three done up and sent so that she can try them out. I would hate to make all those and get them sent only to find out that they just won't work.



And non-knitting....we're moving. To Colorado. On Tuesday.

Oh the sadness

I finished my sock!!!! It doesn't fit though. :) It's a bit too tight and a tad too short and my toe is ugly. There are some other issues along the way but nothing horrible. I am going to frog it though and make it into something else. This yarn is definitely more suited for toddler socks. Or something related to a toddler. Although I'm frogging it I still get the pleasure of saying...............










I knit socks.


See the ugly toe? Not my best Kitchener. I also messed up in my decreases and ended up fudging it a bit so there is quite a drastic decrease...hence the pointy toe.

You can see the pull in the fabric here. The pattern called for 56 stitches but I think it would be better using 60. At least for an akle sock. There isn't much give in the short amount of ribbing. Not a good pattern in my opinion. :)

Here you can see the funky pull throughout the decrease. Again...too tight. Despite it's ugliness I sure do like it. And man is it toasty!