Knittypants

Boo!

This is the first yarn package from the Sweet Sheep. The little Dracuduck is pretty cute.

You know I really wasn't sure about this yarn. I'm not a huge lover of green and I'm picky about purple. It's a Halloween special by LoveSticks, the color is Frankensock and the yarn is definitely scary!

Anyways, I went over and had a peek at  Sockaholic's Blog (maker of LoveSticks) and she has some some socks knit in the Frankensock (scroll down to near the end of the post). They are actually pretty cute even with the freaky green. They remind me of wicked witch socks.

Hmmm... maybe I will like this yarn after all.

Allright, Happy Halloween everyone.

Tea Cozy for my Grandfather

Sorry for the not so great pictures, it was a rainy day and I was in a hurry. This is my tea cozy for Grandpa, finally finished! It's being modeled by my daughter's too small teapot. Grandpa's is a little bit bigger so hopefully it will fit just right.

I wanted to do some fancy stitchwork for this cozy but in the end Noro Silk Garden won my heart and simple stripes became the new plan. I just forgot one small detail, tea cozy's have holes in them for the spout and handle to poke out, screwing up my simple stripes. What to do? I didn't want to try and make the back and forth knitting match up, way to finicky for me.

The answer, steeks. Problem solved and I learned a new technique, too. I was so scared to try steeking, but it ended up being a lot easier than I thought (the fact that this project was only a half skein's worth of knitting, rather than a complicated fair isle piece helped, too.

I used this tutorial which was just right. Lucy Neatby's tutorials have helped me out a few times now. She words things just right and makes knitting seem easy for me. I think it's probably time to invest in some of her DVDs.

Anyway, I want to tell you the color # for the Silk Garden, but I've lost my ball band. Which breaks my heart because I want more! I love these colors together. Do any of you Noro lovers have a guess at which # this is? Please!

Hot Date

I have a date with Hudson tonight.

P.S. Have you been over to Kim Hargreaves site lately? You should go.

Sleeves

I thought I would be knitting Flicca right now, but as I was waiting for my needles to come I used my time to work on Anastasia who had become quite neglected. Then out of nowhere I was hit with this out of control urge to clean up my WIP's list. No more almost finished sweaters lounging around waiting for seaming and zippers. They need to be done, done, done!

I figure this finishing urge is like a cleaning urge when it happens I should go with it, so I am and as you can see I have two Anastasia sleeves all finished up as well as a good start on my first  Ribby Cardi sleeve. (the first picture's color is more accurate than the second)

Well, I had a good start on my Ribby Cardi Sleeve. Bah! Cast on a totally wacky number and didn't notice till I was starting to bind off for the armholes! I've restarted the sleeve and just finished it up tonight. Hopefully, I can get the next one done before the weekend ends, and then there will be a lot of blocking and seaming going on.

Please, feel free to nag me if I don't produce some finished sweaters soon. There are 4 of them all together that I want to get done, and really, it's not a lack of knitting time, just a lot of procrastination on my part.

Central Park Hoodie

Finally, here it is. My Central Park Hoodie, easily my favorite knit. I've been wearing this all the time, it's so warm and toasty.

I knit this in Briggs and Little Heritage, the color is their Anniversary Twist. This Hoodie was very economical, $15.50. The yarn was 1.50 a skein when I bought 2 other Briggs and Little yarns, and the buttons were 5.50. The yarn is rough, definitely not for next to the skin, but so far there has been no signs at all of pilling, this is one hard wearing sweater. I don't prefer the rougher yarn, but it's great for a jacket.

Mods: I short rowed the shoulders and did a 3-needle bind off. This is such a great way to seam the shoulders, I will be using this from now on. Also, I carried the cable up the hood and grafted the hood together and I knitted the button band in one piece. All these ideas were helped along greatly by all the tips from the knitalong. I can't imagine knitting without the internets, how would I ever figure things out.

One complaint, the hood is too small for my fat head. I think I have been in denial about my actual head size for a long time, every single hat I've made has been too small and now this hood is too small. I am making a commitment to measure the actual size of my melon and make head coverings that fit!

Gift Tags

I've been meaning to show these beautiful gift tags that Nomayne from My Kind of Getaway sent me. Aren't they pretty. And I love how practical they are, too. Thanks so much Nomayne.

Fondle My Hearts

Ok, I realize that might not be entirely appropriate, but the hearts just beg for a patting. Kid Silk Haze, it draws one, like a flame draws a moth. You just have to see if it's as soft as it looks.

So Cheesylove is finally getting her 5 seconds of fame, took me long enough. I really like this sweater, although since I did most of the knitting and finishing over a year ago before getting pregnant, I can see how my knitting has improved in  my current projects. I really worked hard to make the side shaping and ribbing work together, I remember getting out my notebook and planning where to work each purl and knit stitch so that the shaping didn't end up sloppy. But, it's very hard to get a decent picture with the black yarn. The sleeves ended up too long and I have to roll them up. The neckline feels a little thick, but for the most part I'm happy. The sweater is wearable and has taught me a lot about knitting sweaters. Plus, the hearts are a lot of fun, both the knitting of and the wearing.

Cheesylove from Knitty. The body of the sweater is knit in Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool while the hearts are knit in Kid Silk Haze. Both yarns are wonderful too knit with and I will use both again. The Jo Sharp is a bit sturdy knitting up, but it softens nicely once blocked, and although I don't like it directly on my skin, just a light tee is needed, doesn't bother my arms at all. Oh, and I left the ruffles off. The sweater's cute enough without adding ruffles and I really don't need  eyes drawn to my hips.

Well Hello Again

Did you miss me? I didn't mean to disappear for so long. Seems the longer you stay away from blogging the harder it is to get back in the groove. I kept meaning to sit down and write an awesome re-entry post, but it just wasn't happening. Then I decided I'd better just sit down and post. Do you ever do that? You want to do something perfectly, so you keep putting it off and 5 years later your son still doesn't have any pictures in his babybook. I'm trying hard not to let perfectionism keep me from getting things done, but I still find myself falling back into it every once in a while.

I mentioned before that the kids were visiting their grandparents the last week of September. I never realized how exhausted I'd been feeling, but when my older 3 left and it was just Simon and I in the house all day, the quiet was bliss. I felt my energy returning and like I was able to take on life again. I had one day of yarn shopping which was so much fun. Being up close to yarn and touching and seeing is wonderful for my visual self. All goals and plans of limiting yarn buying went right out the window! But did your really expect anything else of me? Then Peter, Simon and I spent 3 days in Kelowna with our friends. The majority of our time was spent wine touring which was something I've never done before. As much as I missed my older 3, I really appreciated all the one on one with Simon and the time to really enjoy my husband. I've been missing him lately.

While in Kelowna I visited my great grandfather, who was in the hospital. He has been unwell for a while and getting worse. I wanted to see him since it may have been one of my last opportunities. Peter accompanied me to his hospital room and it was one of the most difficult experiences I have had. He was in a lot of pain and didn't recognize me. I held his hand and prayed for him, but I wished I could have done more. He died the next day. I still don't know where to put my thoughts about everything. It shook me a lot more than I thought it would and I will be mulling things over in my mind for a long time. I wasn't very close to my grandfather, but death is such a personal thing I felt like a peeping tom or something, but at the same time I'm glad I was there and able to say goodbye.

The last week has been about getting things back to normal with the kids. We never really get to normal, something always throws us for a loop, but we try.

And that gets me all updated. I'm sitting here in my jammies with a cup of tea, I have about an hour before the kids get up and I am hoping to get a head start on them today. Talk to you soon.