Happy 2008!

I have a lot of stash yarn. One dresser and and two plastic storage towers full. A lot of it is really nice stuff - I have a friend who spins but doesn't knit, so I get a lot of her stuff. For 2008 my goal is to actually use some of this stuff! I'm not going to call it a diet, because then I will just want to buy everything I see. But right now it feels like my hobby is buying yarn, not knitting. This year I want to be able to call myself a knitter again. I want to organize my stash a bit better. Right now my organization relies more on just remembering that I purchased yarn at some part and having a vague remembrance of which bin it got put into. I think organizing the stash will help me rediscover some of the yarn I have.
I am finally finished with all of my Christmas knitting. My poor father was the only one who had to unwrap a ball of yarn on Christmas day! I finished the red scarf from last year, finally, along with a matching hat for my mom. I didn't get any pictures. Christmas at my parents tends to be complete chaos with all of my brothers kids, so I didn't bring my camera home. My dad got to unwrap one sock and the cuff of the second. The finished one fit, which was nice. I thought I had the second one finished on Wednesday, but after sewing in all the ends I realized the second one was a good inch shorter then the first, so I had to rip it back to the toe decreases and add that inch. Everyone loved their gifts. When I visited my brothers house later that day my SIL was wearing her socks. She absolutely loved them!
I am currently working on Juno Regina from the Fall 2007 Knitty issue. This issue had so many fabulous patterns. I attempted to make it with Cashwool, but that felt like knitting with floss. I had trouble working with the yarn because it is soooo thin. I'm not good with lace weight to begin with, and I think this is a little thinner then other lace, so I had to take it out. I am using Bristol Yarn Company's Buckingham (sorry, only link I could find!), which is an alpaca silk blend. It's a sport weight, so the scarf will end up being more of a wrap, which is perfect. It's a pale blue shade that is absolutely gorgeous. If the light and camera cooperate today I will try to get pictures.

Status Report

My sister-in-laws socks are done. The fact that it only took me a week to knit the second sock makes the fact that it took me 6 months all that much more pathetic.

I have turned the hill on the first sock for my dad, hopefully I will finish it this week so I can get the second one done in time for Christmas.

I am watching the most depressing hockey game I have ever seen. The Blues are loosing 9-4 to the Avalanche. It an attempt to cheer myself up, here's a picture of Purl in her reindeer antlers. She kept them on for about 1 second before she decided they were evil.

I think she's stinkin cute in them.

Da Da Da

(It works better if you can imagine the dramatic music along with the da da da)

I finally finished the first sock of doommy doom doom, other wise known as Child's First Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. It took me close to six months to finish this sock. I cast on the first time on June 14. After knitting the cuff the first time I decided it was too big and ripped on with 8 fewer stitches...
which caused the sock to get stuck on my leg when I tried it on after the gusset. So in all fairness, I've knit this sock twice in that time. But now I have one finished, so ...

That's right! I cast on for the second one! This photo was taken after I had completed two repeats on the leg. I now have 4 1/2 repeats out of the 6 I have to do for the leg. Good thing too, because I decided that I am going to give them to my sister-in-law for Christmas. She is taking care of 4 kids right now while my brother is in basic, so she definitely deserves some hand knit love for the holidays. The yarn reminds me of Monet's Water Lillies, which is her favorite painting, so it's perfect.

I also decided to make my dad a pair this year. The only knit item he has from me is the first scarf I made out of cheapo acrylic, so it's time he got something.

The leg is now about 7 inches long now. I am using Austermann Step in a denim colorway (my label says 20-200115, but that's not on the website. I think it's 21.7789-20). I am using size 2 needles, which is nice. Unfortunately I sat on my sock bag, so I broke one. I need to go by my LYS to pick up some new ones.

However, I'm not going anywhere tonight. It is snowing and yucky out. It has given me opportunities to wear my new hat, though. It's only a little bit itchy, right where it touches my forehead. It only covers about 1/2 inch, so it's not bad. Also, I could find merino itchy if it was on my forehead. It's my curse as a knitter - I don't like to wear winter hats. Since this one's so pretty I will make an exception.

Remember my mom, the crafty one? She felt bad for me because I haven't had a Christmas tree in two years. My cat likes to pull off all the ornaments, and Purl just likes to destroy things. So she made me one!

It's hanging right over my couch and is so pretty and festive. I think it's what put me in the mood to knit for other people this year!

Finally, some temptation. These ladies are enablers! I know the list is meant to be given to other people for ideas, but I just want to buy something from every store they listed!

Not so Bad

I decided that I couldn't wait for yarn to come in the mail, so I went to my LYS and purchased four balls of pace by universal yarns to start my flower basket shawl. It is a sock yarn, so nothing too fancy, but it is working out much better then the lace wight was for me. I have finished two repeats.

The yarn is a dark brown, which I like for now. I may decide to over dye it later, if I can. We'll see.

He who shall not be named was is town this weekend. His plane landed in St. Louis Friday night at 8:45 pm, and he called to see if I wanted to have dinner with his parents and him that night. It went well. I brought Purl over to his parents on Saturday so she could play with their Swiss Mountain Dog, Jackie. They are close to the same size, and only a month apart in age, so they are a lot of fun to watch together. His mom is a spinner, so she made me yarn for Christmas. It is beautiful.

This picture really does not do the yarn justice. There is 400 yards of the dark brown and 200 yards of the peach. It is 50% alpaca, 25% merino, and 25% angora. I can't wait to knit with this stuff.

His parents had a party last night for a friend that is leaving for Officer Training School next week, so I went to that last night. It was odd, because I kept getting asked when we were going to get married. It wasn't really the time or place to say we weren't together anymore. His plane back to Oakland left St. Louis at 6:45 this morning. He has a gig tonight in San Francisco. I am glad I saw him. I am ok with how things ended up finally. More importantly, I am ok.

Today I have watched 8 episodes of the Dog Whisperer. Poor Purl doesn't stand a chance.

FO's and Christmas!

As promised, here is a picture of the finished sock. I still need to weave in the end, but I still consider this finished.






Same sock, different view. This one lets you see the stitch pattern a little bit better.

I got almost through chart A on the shawl, then I missed a stitch. So I frogged. And the yarn got into a knot. And the dog that never gets into bags, decided to get into the yarn bag. She got the Fino. She tried to blame the tangled mess on the kitty, but the yarn had a little too much drool on it to be the cats fault. She also ate my Christmas cookies, so if anyone wants a large rotti/st. bernard puppy, I might know of one you can have.

I bought my SIL some wine glasses from the Foundry, designed by Ware with a Flare. She's not a big drinker, so I got glasses with big bowels. That way she can drink other stuff in them.

These are from my co-workers. God-bless them. Deb from Needle and Distaff is going on a cruise this January, so I got her some Trekking sock yarn. It's their soy/wool blend - I can't remember the name and I can't find it online. Sorry.
This is the best present by far. Here is Drew (the dog I drove to Sullivan) in my parents house. They were dog sitting for my brother's family. She is looking longingly at my father. She has really taken to him and my brother, and is great with the kids.

And just in case any one was worried about Purl, here is her Christmas present. This,

turned into this.

Purl missed her cat while we were in Rolla.

But Pretty didn't really miss her!

Christmas Knits

So that whole Christmas sock thing? It's out the window. If I could figure out the provincial cast-on, I might still be working on them, but for now, no Christmas sock. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have finished them anyway, since today is Christmas. Instead, I decided to start Ethereal Fichu. So far I have started this 4 times, and since on row 24 I have an extra stitch, I guess I'll be starting again. I am using Alpaca with a Twist's Fino, which is probably the only reason I am willing to start this a 5th time.
I spent Christmas with my parents this weekend. Poor Purl took 8 walks in 3 days. Now that we are back home she is sound asleep on my bed, pretty much unwilling to move. My parents had all of the nieces and nephews Saturday and Sunday - there are 4 total. My brother and sister-in-law work weekends, so my parents and hers usually split the kids to help out. The oldest nephew (3) had a children's choir concert in church on Sunday, so my parents got all 4. I need a vacation from this vacation! Luckily, my parents had wine, so I survived. Plus, I got books! About Knitting! Socks! Santa brought Sensational Knitted Socks, Knitting on the Road, and Knitting Vintage Socks! I am very excited about this. I also got season one of The Dog Whisperer. This will hopefully teach me some useful information for Purl.
I hope everyone's Christmas was as good as mine.