Socks Are Go!

Well, I put it out there in the universe via the blogosphere that I intended to complete (by the end of January) the socks from the sock blank I received from a friend on the west coast and......

TA DA!!



"I did it! I did it! Yeah, I did it!" (Apologies to Dora the Explorer.)

Here is one from a side angle:



I like the way the blue subtly striped along the cuff.

I knit them from the toe up because I wanted to try using up all the yarn for once. The cuffs will have to be rolled as they go too far up my calf without any sizing and I don't want to stretch out the bind off too much. (That's ok, I haven't worn socks that far up my calves in quite some time anyway!)

I'm glad to have completed them because they really do feel lovely on my feet. The yarn is very soft and the socks are quite thick, yet supple. Really nice!

On to the scarf I'm doing in brioche rib. I can knock that out of the park tomorrow and be on to the afghan in no time!

Happy knitting!

It's Snowing In My Bathroom!

Really! It's snowing in my bathroom! See......



.....because I'm sure I wouldn't have been silly enough to try and snap a photo of myself in the cloche & cowl I knit without checking to see if the mirror was clean.

(Let's pretend the mirror got that way just this morning as folks were brushing their teeth to go to work/school, shall we?!)

Even though I think I look doofy (combination of "dufus" and "goofy") in hats, I am appreciating this lovely little hat I knit from the book Boutique Knits. (Did I mention it is currently -2*F here?) I think it goes with the cowl I knit just fine. When I wear them I feel like a girly girl, which is fun to feel like now and then.

WIP UPDATE: I have completed the first of the socks from the sock blank and have put the second sock onto the dpns. It will be done by the end of the month (which is Sunday for those of you who may be in denial about the fact that the first twelfth of 2010 is quietly, yet swiftly, drawing to a close!) Photos to come when both socks are completed.

Soon to be on the needles: Yesterday I received an afghan kit from my knitting pals. It's the New Traditions Afghan from Knit Picks.



I'm looking forward to casting on!

Happy Knitting!

Wisconsin Treats!

My postal carrier brought me a lovely package today!



It arrived from Madison, Wisconsin as the result of a lucky connection with a random number generator and a comment I left on a blog, Caffeine Girl. I really enjoy Deborah's blog (as I do so many!).

Included in the package was some beautiful yarn called "Sandy's Palette - Canadian Worsted." I will have to live with the yarn for a while to begin to see what it wants to be. (My initial thought is that it wants to be a hat, but we'll see....it might want to be a cowl....)

Also included were some very beautiful stitch markers made by Deborah, a Wisconsin Badgers water bottle, a key chain from Madison, a magnet of the state of Wisconsin, a "Badger Claw" (cashew, caramel and white chocolate treat - YUMMM!!) and some artisan, hand crafted dark chocolates made by a gal in Madison. What a wonderful box, all in celebration of Deborah's blogiversary!

Thank you so much!!!

Sixty-One Degrees

According to the Farmer's Almanac website, the high temperature in Chula Vista, California on this day in 1966 was a perfect 61*F.





Seems to explain my love of mountains, water and temps in the low 60's!!

Painful, But Necessary

Well, I'm afraid that the sock project which has been languishing in my WIP basket finally guilt-tripped me into taking it to my knitting group on Wednesday. You may remember them from earlier posts:



As I was struggling to knit them on the 2 circular needles I was thinking about what it was that kept me from working on them. Although Christmas knitting DID need to get done, it seemed there was something more to my having set them aside. Then I figured it out.

I had to admit that I really do not like knitting 2 socks at once on circular needles. I'm much faster on dpns. The 2 socks on 2 circs method slows me down because I am constantly having to fiddle with untangling the yarn(s) and needles.

That problem was further exacerbated by the fact that the yarns, in this case, were coming from a singular source (the sock blank) which made it all the more difficult to keep them from tangling and getting into weird/difficult to knit with positions in relation to the needles. At some point, I suppose, the process became too inwardly frustrating, so I set them aside.

So, I decided at my knitting group to seperate the Siamese twins in order to transfer them to dpns. It seems like a no brainer solution, doesn't it?

Well, let me tell you, it was a difficult process during which I think I recalled every swear word I ever learned (in any language, real or imagined).

Because I had to begin unraveling the sock blank at the wrong end, it didn't really want to unravel. I had to perform intricate "pass the balls through the loop" manuevers at each end of every row. Because of this, the yarn was twisting as well. And the yarn was already VERY kinky because it was being unknit from the sock blank.

I started the seperation surgery at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. The yarn was ALL over my living room (in my attempt to keep it from tangling up as much as possible). I did have a couple errands in the middle of the day....but it took me until 8 p.m. Wednesday to have two balls of yarn and two socks, one now on dpns while the other waits on the original circs.



Truth be told, I may have to set them aside once more until I recover from the process of seperating them!

What I learned about sock blanks:

1. I love the colors my friend used to dye the blank with. The potential to make whatever color and patterns you want is priceless and well worth it! The yarn itself is lovely, and after what it went through on Wednesday, I'm guessing it's quite sturdy as well!

2. If I ever find myself in possession of another I know now that I had better seperate the two balls of yarn BEFORE beginning the knitting process. I won't attempt to start two socks on two circs again....the method is just not for me.

Anyone else out there ever knit a sock blank? What did you learn? about the process? about yourself as a knitter?

Happy knitting!

The Beauty of Winter

Scenes from my part of Iowa this morning. We awoke to freezing fog...a favorite subject of my lens!


















Happy shooting!

The Rosy Side of Life

I've been working on a project from my stash. I discovered some lovely Andean Treasure (100% Baby Alpaca) in a lovely colorway, Wild Rose (the state flower of Iowa I might add!) I have 6 balls with which, given the wintry weather of late, I decided to knit myself a fetching set of mittens, neckwarmer and hat.

The mittens,



are an uber easy, super quick knit with an ingenious design for the thumb gusset. The cuff is knit in K1P1 ribbing and then 7 stitches of that ribbing continue up the "hand" section of the glove to fit in place of a gusset. Isn't that genius? I hate doing gussets, and the set in thumb works, but isn't as comfortable as a mitten with a little stretch for the thumb. This solves the problem very nicely!



One can easily knit a pair in a weekend.

After I completed the mittens, I searched around for a hat pattern. It turns out I like the ones I'm seeing which others have knit from the book Boutique Knits. So I ordered a copy from Knit Picks and am currently awaiting the arrival of the book.

In the meantime, I cast on for a neck warmer to complete the set. I decided since the yarn is rather luxurious and the hat will be something a little more special than a simple beanie, I wanted the neck warmer to be a little "frilly" too. (After all, this yarn, besides feeling decadent is quite the girly color!) I looked through my stitch dictionaries and found the pattern for "Opulent Cables."



I wanted the guage to match from the mittens, so I stayed with US #5 needles. I had never knit this cable pattern before, so I wasn't sure how much the cables would cause the fabric to shrink up. I originally cast on 135 stitches, but it resulted in a size which would not go over my head. The current WIP is 153, having doubled the reverse stockinette stitches between the cable repeats. (I originally planned for only 2 stitches between cables, now there are four.) I do hope this one will fit!

That's what I did with part of the "no school, inclement weather" days we had Thursday and Friday (mittens) and over the weekend (neck warmer, twice!). . .

How was your weekend?

Happy knitting/shooting!

[p.s. I forgot to mention that I'm the lucky winner of a blogiversary give-away by a gal in Wisconsin! I believe the prize is a beautiful hank of hand-dyed yarn from another lady in Wisconsin...which is in blues. I'll be sure to post a pic when the package arrives. Maybe it will be here just in time for my birthday next week!! won't that be a fun treat??!! Thanks Deborah!!]

Reverse 911

Well, it looks innocent enough right now.


(click on photo to make bigger!)

The view out my front door shows the white stuff is coming down yet again. It's piling up....I'd say we have 2" already and the height of the storm is supposed to be this evening when most the accumulation will take place.

However, the county sherrif and local police department just "reverse 911" called us with a recorded message warning about the weather and the deteriorating roads over the next 24-36 hours and advised no travel.

Yikes! I had no idea that they could do that, but I think it's kind of nice/cool. I hope it will keep people home and safe.

Looks like knit night is off again.....darn it!


(here's one with a slower shutter speed in hopes of catching the falling snow...which just looks like blurry white lines. Oh well!)

New Year, New Projects

Happy New Year from frigid Iowa! We're breaking all kinds of records, some of which have stood for over a century and are now shattered.

You know what I discovered is warmer than a scarf yet lighter weight? A cowl!




I knit this one over the weekend from Knit Picks' "Andean Treasure" (100% alpaca). It has a ruffled bottom which tucks into my coat. I knit it on US #5 and #7 needles. In retrospect I should have used #7 the entire time, but I was trying to make the yarn go further. (I was using up stash and had 1 and 1/3 balls for somewhere between 250 and 275 yards.)

The alpaca is lightweight, but keeps my cheeks, nose and ears toasty warm. It doesn't seem to inhibit my ability to turn my head when I'm driving. And when I get inside (say, at the grocery store) I just slip it down and it rides around my neck comfortably until it's time to return to the frozen tundra which is the local landscape of late.

My goal is to design one that is long enough and has enough circumferance to be used as a wimple/hood in the event I need to pull it up during precipitation. I have 5 balls of the Andean Treasure in wild rose color which I purchased on a closeout sale from Knit Picks. I want to knit the cowl/wimple/hood and a pair of mittens to go with it.

In other knitting news, I finished the socks I was knitting for DH. It is the Dream In Color Smooshy yarn in the Cocoa Kissed colorway. I think they turned out well!



I was reminded that one needs a certain level of dedication to knit socks for a guy on US #0 needles. (I hate to think how many stitches are in them!) I also pondered what it would be like to knit with the square needles Leslie now has for sale at Ewephoria in Poky. I'm hoping to get a pair of dpn's in the new square needles for my birthday later this month. I'd definitely put size #0's to good use, and probably a pair of US #1's as well.

We were surprised by a 2 hour late start for school this morning. (My kids don't ride the bus, but I can appreciate not wanting little ones out at the bus stop when the actual temperature is -18*F and the windchill is hovering around -30*F.) Since the weather pattern is in place for a few days, we may be starting late more days this week.

It has been too cold to go out shooting photos, though that is one of the things on my resolutions list. I want to shoot more "art" photos than simply doing what's necessary for work.

Also I've resolved to write daily. I have help via The Daily Writer and a book of meditations I'm reflecting on in my journal. I went on a 4 month sabatical from writing and found myself really missing it the last month or two. I'm very glad to be getting back in the habit. Hopefully it will improve my skills for work as well.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
Stay warm!

Needle Give-Away

The folks over at favecrafts.com are having a give away of this lovely knitting needles set! Check it out here.

Phew!

Well, the end of a four-day holiday weekend is drawing near. Apparently it was a bit much for some.......

Merry Christmas!

From snowy Iowa....where the winter weather warnings are piling up! Have a wonderful holiday and stay warm and safe wherever you are!

Ok, Now I Get It!

Sometimes it's hard for me to accept what seems like "hype" or "PR" of products.

Growing up, I began to be responsible for my own clothing purchases in 8th grade when I babysat regularly and then got a summer job at the Dairy Queen. I learned pretty quickly that I could either buy 1 pair of "designer" jeans, or 3 pairs of "plain" jeans. To me, jeans were jeans . . . especially when you compared the fabric and construction. Levis seemed just as good, if not better in quality, than the Calvin Kleins advertised by Brooke Shields.

In knitting I learned pretty early on that I really do prefer natural fibers to acrylic. And even among acrylic yarns, some are better (softer, easier on the hands to work with, etc.) than others.

So when I heard everyone swooning over Malabrigo, I figured it was just another form of hype--a fad which would fade and everyone would look at the Malabrigo in their stash a year or two later and wonder why they had spent money on it.

Boy, was I wrong! One sitting with the luscious fibery treat and I have to say....I get it! I think it's the sort of thing you don't really understand until you do knit with it for yourself. It is the softest wool I've knit with! It's smooshy and dreamy and delightful. I'm making my daughter a scarf from it.



I figured with everything going on in our little corner of the world, and not knowing what's up with hubby's job....I just needed a little extra comfort and a dash of joy....if only for the few minutes I steal off and on throughout the day to knit on this scarf!

(Still no official word when/if job changes are coming. The governor did sign the executive order today and we are still awaiting word as to its specific impact. I do appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes though....keep them coming!)

In other knitting news....

I finished an Elizabeth Zimmerman hat for DD. It's the "Very Warm" hat from Opinionated Knitter. I used up the left-over alpaca from her thrummed mittens and another color of alpaca for the inner lining. Should be very warm crossing campus.



Progress on DH's socks is slow....and hasn't happened much the past few days what with the malabrigo on the other needles. I'm using Dreams In Color Smooshy in the Cocoa Kissed colorway for them.



All the hand-knit Christmas gifts (and the ones we bought too!) have been put into the mail yesterday afternoon. Hopefully they will reach their destinations before the end of day next Thursday.

Happy Knitting! (8 more days until Christmas!)

Blue Christmas

Looks like the Christmas season might be a bit blue at our house. My hubby is anything but in the spirit after more news reports about the governor's impending action. (Mr. Culver says he's going to sign an executive order next week which will eliminate severl IT jobs in the state under the guise of "consolidating" government. Doug's job will likely be elimanated. Ho. Ho. Ho.)

Nothing says, "Merry Christmas" like standing in line at the unemployment office.

I know he's uber stressed and beginning to be depressed as well. If we didn't have kids who need medical insurance it might be a bit easier to swallow. I am quite worried about him.

So, it appears that I will be frantically looking for a full-time job with benefits. As will he should the ax fall.

Here's my resume if anyone knows of anything!

Ready, Set, Snow!

I'm all prepared to get snowed in. I made my Target run where I procured:



and



I have pulled together all my Christmas card writing supplies including: the cards, address labels, stationery, stamps, and written letter for 2009.

I have my stash and a variety of knitting projects to work on.

School is letting out at 12:30.

I have gifts to wrap, wrapping paper and tape so I can begin working on the gifts that need to be boxed and shipped by Saturday.

There's food/drink aplenty on the premises.

I think I'm all set for the blizzard to hit!

Happy knitting/crafting/riding out the storm!

Impending Storm

I'd just like to say that the big winter storm which is forecast to dump 8"-12" of snow on my area had better hold off long enough for me to get to Target at 8 a.m. tomorrow! I plan to pick up Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince which I may watch 2 or 3 times if the storm is lengthy.

Yes, I'm a huge HP fan!

And this afternoon I found a bootleg trailer for the final two films.



Dh Preview One - The best bloopers are a click away

Enjoy!

Weekend Projects

I worked on a couple of really quick knitting projects over the weekend. The first is a totally self-indulgent luxury item.



Quite a while ago I won a lovely prize from the wonderful ladies at Romancing The Yarn.

It was two balls of periwinkle baby cashmere from Elan.com. The label says it is 60% baby alpaca, 30% merino and 10% cashmere. I can tell you it feels FABULOUS! I finally settled on making myself a pair of fingerless mittens because we keep our computer room much cooler than the rest of the house (and that's saying something considering the thermostat is set at 64*!!)

I found the pattern, Swirling Gauntlets on Ravelry. It's written by Susanna IC and is available as a free download.

The results are amazing! Warm, lightweight, functional and quite fetching if I do say so myself. I love them!!

I also finally heeded the siren's call and pulled the leftover bits out of my basket from the hat I knit my niece. There was just the right amount to make her a scarf.



I used a US #8, 24" circular needle (love my KnitPicks Options!!) and cast on 160 stitches. Then I just knit back and forth in garter stitch, changing yarns at the end of each row. (Thusly it makes its own fringe at each end!) Easy peasy!

Now.....what can I accomplish today....???

Happy knitting!

Love's Limits

If you look back to May 6 you'll see my initial post regarding the Elizabeth Zimmerman blanket I intended to knit.

It started out swell! I was so full of enthusiasm and love for all things EZ, after all Elizabeth is one of the knitting elites....a pioneer, an inspiration, a revered oracle of all things knitted.

Well, I can tell you, row upon row of nothing but garter stitch is d@mn boring!

Over the summer my love for the project waned.

The blanket languished at the bottom of my WIP(works in progress) pile.

Until one day in November I realized that there really were a limited number of days left until Christmas and if I truly intended to give the #$@^& thing as a gift, I'd better pull it out and get busy.

So here it is, finished at long last!




I'm afraid only a knitter is going to look at it and realize how much time went into the thing. But I do hope when my nephew cuddles up with it he might one day realize his Aunt Kim's love for him has no limits, not even endless rounds of boring garter stitch and more finishing work than she's ever put into any other project!

I decided I can't leave my niece hanging when it comes to hand knits for the holidays, so I started a quick pair of socks for her as well. Fortunately six year old feet aren't all that big and this pair will take me about 4 evenings of knitting while watching t.v.



Do you suppose I should've been making something for my own kids??

A Few Close-Ups

As promised yesterday, here are a few close-up photos of some of the items from my Reducio package!

I Got Crabs!

We went to visit DD at college and spend some time with my brother's family on Saturday. It was a great day excpet for the fact we blew a tire just as we were getting back into town at the end of the day.

After a 50 minute delay of changing tires, we arrived home where my family was convinced someone's package had been delivered to the wrong address. It was for Emma Densaugo....which as it turns out, is my Harry Potter name for the Reducio swap group on Ravelry!

I was very excited to see a package! And it contained some really awesome stuff too!



I chose to be in Hufflepuff for this swap since I have socks from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw already. How cool that my partner beaded the sock!! The theme for this swap was "A Weasley Christmas/Yule", thus the stocking as well.

In addition, my spoiler (Katt) put in: a mini skein in a gorgeous red, Tazo teas, some stitch markers, a really cool art card she made that features some dyed fabric and feathers, and some incredibly cute crab cakes, with the most adorable crabs I've ever seen!



(I know! Right?! You're ooohing and ahhhing as well, aren't you?!)

Her note, written in verse, gives a little i.d. to each one. How fun, eh?

I'll post some more close-up photos tomorrow!

Happy Monday!