Is it Time to Knit Yet?

Newest addition to the bookshelf

When I went to SnB this Tuesday one of the girls had a new book, and I couldn't believe it because it isn't supposed to be out until October!  Well I heard where she got it and I hurried down there the next day to snag my own copy - good for me there was still one there for me.  So now that I have the book, of course I will have to dust off my Icarus and get it finished to deal with the guilt I feel when I look at the cover!  After that I think I may try and tackle the Forest Path Stole that is in the book (YES!!).  It is a really nice book, and if you aren't blessed to find it at your LYS for some odd reason, well get on over to Amazon and order your own! 

And Congratulations again Miriam for making the cover!   

Chevron Scarf

When my Socks that Rock Silkie yarn came with my club kit earlier this year, I tried to make socks with it.  I tried two different patterns and then I realized it was just not meant to be.  I had do find something else to do with it, so I jumped on the Chevron scarf train.  I'm a little late, as about a zeelion knitters have already made theirs.  Mine is a little different though, being that I only used one colorway.  The thing I liked most about this yarn is the way the wool and the silk took the dye differently making it look like there were a lot more colors in it than there really is.  Would I buy it again?  Probably not, but it is still beautiful yarn as is all the Blue Moon yarn.  I just love their good old plain superwash more.  For socks.  The pics are more of The Baby helping me yesterday - it took a lot to get her to just stand still and not jump on the bed!

• Pattern - Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
• Yarn - Socks that Rock Silkie, colorway Walking on the Wild Tide, 1 skein
• Needles - US Size 5
• Took me - 6 weeks, actual knitting time about 2 weeks
• Comments - I like it!  This was really a good, easy knit that went well with movies and recumbent biking.

Show Your Colors

Last week I decided to try and clean up my knitting karma - I figured I was screwing it up by starting so many projects without finishing much.  So I picked up my Show Your Colors shawl and got to work.  I was able to finish it on Saturday night and got it blocked on Sunday7 and I'm pretty darn excited about the end result!  It isn't very large, about 54 inches across and 31 inches from top to bottom.  The yarn is my own handspun, and now I forget where it came from - I think it is Snake River Fiberworks, and I definitely do not remember the colorways.  At any rate, you can see the finished yarn here.  I did a 2-ply which maybe isn't the most fantastic choice for how I used it, but I still love it anyway.  Of course there isn't much that I've knit out of my own handspun that I don't love, so take that however you want to ;)  I started this back in June, do you think it took me long enough?!  It doesn't help that it just sat around for about a month.  The Baby had to help me model it,   I think she is a pretty good helper.  Anyway, here's the stats:

• Pattern - Show Your Colors Shawl by Amy King
• Yarn - My own handspun, about 600 yards I think
• Needles - US Size 6
• Took me - 2 1/2 months, about a month actual knitting time
• Comments - The lace pattern is k2tog with yarnovers the whole way across, I did ssks after the center stitch instead.  It also calls for a picot bind off, I just did a regular bindoff instead.

Wonderful Wallaby finished!

I 'cheated' a little, but I knit away and finished it last night!  The pattern says to do a hood and long sleeves, but I decided on shorter sleeves and just a collar.  I did shorter sleeves because I thought I might run out of yarn, and then The Boyfriend decided it shouldn't have a hood, so that was that.  I still have a whole skein of this yarn left now, instead of using it all up like I wanted to.  I love the way it turned out, too cute!  I like how it pooled a little at the top too when I had more rows and started knitting back and forth. Anyway, here's the stats, and excuse the mess in the background:

• Pattern - Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations
• Yarn - Andes, 1 3/4 skeins
• Needles - US Size 7
• Took me - A whole two days
• Comments - I like this pattern so much, it is simple but so cute.  I may even have to make one for myself!

Wonderful Wallaby and other stuff

I have started yet another project!  It is a pullover for The Baby, the Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations.  I didn't get my pattern from there, I happened upon it at the Wool Cabin, lucky me!  I'm loving it so far, I started on it yesterday morning and got about 8 inches into the body.  The yarn I'm using is Andes that I got at Black Sheep, which is surprisingly nice for just plain old wool.  I like the colors and I like the way the fabric is knitting up.  As always when I knit something for The Baby, I start drifting off thinking about all of the cute sweaters and shrugs and boleros I want to knit for her, so needless to say I am currently planning a few more projects for her. 

I have also made some more progress on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan .  I finished both sleeves and joined them to the body, and got another 4 rows in after that.  Things will be progressing slowly now on it, but I will still be plugging away at it.  Hopefully the Wallaby won't get take over too much of the knit ting time!  I'd like to get to the cable chart soon to cut into the endless stockinette that has pretty much taken over my life at this point.

All tangled up

I have been going like mad on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan since Friday and I am making some very good headway.  I was able to knit on it a bit while The Boyfriend drove us out of town this weekend, yay!  I did most of the work on Saturday though after getting back home.  I have finished the body up to the point of joining with the sleeves, and I have started one sleeve as well.  I really love working with this yarn - I am using the Felted Tweed that I just happened to have in my stash, only mine is deep dark red and I love it.  The picture makes it look brighter than it really is.  It feels so nice in my hands and it is just so pretty to look at, I think I'll be sad when I am finally done knitting with it.  I guess I'll probably get over it once I can actually wear it.  Besides I have more of the same yarn in a different color that I'm already planning on using!  Things will probably slow down once I get the sleeves and body joined and I have rows with 300 + stitches.  And I really should get to cleaning up my house and yard.  Maybe I should just hire someone to clean while I watch them as I continue my love affair with Felted Tweed in a Tangled Yoke...

Contest winner

So wow!  You guys were all so close in your guesses, but only one person hit it on the nose.  That would be Nichole of Saving Nine - congratulations Nichole!  I have 40 pairs of socks in my sock bin, I almost couldn't believe it myself when I counted them.  And I see no stopping of sock-knitting around here either!  I better think of giving a few pairs away or at least knitting them for someone else for a while maybe.  Thanks to everyone for playing along, it is always fun to have a contest :)  Tomorrow I'll have my weekend progress, mostly on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan - it is starting to look like it could be a sweater!

Belated Blogiversary contest!

So my Blogiversary was back in May and I totally missed it, being that it is now August!  Oh well.  Well I'm still going to celebrated, even though it is belated.  And what better way to celebrate than to give away stuff?! 

Heather mentioned the other day that she would like to see my sock drawer.  Well I don't have a sock drawer for handknit socks at the moment, but I do have a bin.  So I dumped it out and here it is.  Now the contest part - you have to guess how many pairs there are!  If it seems like this has been done before, it has - I'm stealing the idea from Margene - she did it a while back.  I don't have much to give away right now, just this pretty ball of Ja Wool sock yarn - it even comes with it's own reinforcing thread!

So guess how many pairs of socks I own, win sock yarn .  If more than one person guesses right we'll do a drawing for the prize.  I'll pick a winner on Sunday so you have today and tomorrow to guess.  That's it, have a good weekend!  We are heading out of town for the afternoon as my loverly sister is taking The Baby for a sleepover - I owe you sis!!

Pumpkins!

We picked all this from the garden last night.  There are 8 pumpkins and 2 delicata squash - yum!  There are still quite a few of each out in the garden, but I think we'll pick the rest as we need them.  We don't know what we're doing when it comes to these, this is the first year growing them.  I'm just happy that they actually grew!  I can't wait to have one of the delicatas, they are probably my favorite sqaush.  And I'm hoping these pumpkins will be good for pies, I think all of us here are hoping that!

Garden stuff