Goals for 2008

I hate New Year's Resolutions. They are such a trite way to identify areas in your life that may be lacking and failing to live up to them only leads to feelings of guilt and inadequacies. I refuse to participate in mainstream guilt trips, so...

Goals for 2008:
~ Blog once a week.
~ Knit from my stash.
~ Prevent squalor from taking over.

Three is enough. Anymore than that and I will get overwhelmed and stop doing everything.

Time for knitting!!!

This past year, I decided to knit for Christmas for my family. I knit anyways and I knew I would save all kinds of money by buying the yarn early. It worked out almost perfectly. Don't worry, everything was finished in time to be wrapped, but those last few days were hell.


Dad: Scarf

Men's Cashmere Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight in Copper, held doubled throughout.






Sister Sets:
Both of my sisters requested hats and I also made them fingerless gloves with the left over yarn.

Danielle's Hat and Mitts

Hat: Basketweave Hat by Vermont Fiber Company
Mitts: Adaptation of Garter Stitch Cuff Fingerless Gloves from Weekend Knitting

Yarn: Zara by Filatura di Crosa, 3 skeins





Autumn's Hat and Mitts

Hat: Coronet from Knitty
Mitts: Adaptation of Garter Stitch Cuff Fingerless Gloves from Weekend Knitting

Yarn: Zara by Filatura di Crosa, 3 skeins





Ed's Hat and Scarf:
My brother-in-law wanted a scarf to go with his black leather jacket. I had enough yarn left to make him a hat too.

Yarn: Encore by Plymouth Yarn

Scarf: 2x2 ribbing
Hat: my own creation




Mom's Shawl:
My mom requested a lace pashmina type shawl to keep her warm. This was the piece that gave me the most trouble. Not that is was a hard knit, but it was just so boring and the color stared to drive me crazy!!! The yarn was excellent, KnitPicks Andean Treasure in Lilac Heather, soft and supple and warm. Mom loves purple and as much as I enjoyed the feel of this yarn, by the end of the second skein all I could see was grape jelly. Ick. The pattern was Lace 1,2,3: Andean Treasure Shawl, a simple Feather and Fan lace stitch that went on forever. My problems stemmed from the difficulties I was having with the needles. I started out with an Addi Lace Circular, thinking the tapers of the point would help with all the k2tog's, unfortunately, trying to knit back was proving difficult because the yo's would NOT slide past the join. I tried another cricular, this one a Clover Takumi Bamboo, same problem. I finally bought 14" birch straight needles and was finally able to move faster. By Dec. 22, I was only 1/4 done with it, but at least this was the last piece. I spent the next 48 hours knitting non-stop. The few breaks I took, my MIL stepped in and worked on it. The only time it wasn't being knitted, was when we were both eating or sleeping. It was finished and blocking at 2 am Christmas morning, wrapped by 9 am and opened at 1 pm. She loved it, but there wasn't time for a picture. I'll get one the next time I see her.

This year- I'm knitting clogs to felt. I should be done by June.

Hi! Still there?

Look! I'm alive! Knitting has happened, I promise. I even have proof for you.

See? I knit. I do. It just most of the knitting I'm working on is Christmas Knitting and that cannot be blogged about until it is gifted.

I knit this sweater for a co-worker couple who welcomed their first child at the end of September. Mateo went to his first high school football game last week and was rockin' the knit couture.

Sweater: Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, modified, of course.

The body was knit in the round to the armpits, as were the sleeves. Sleeves and upper front and back were done back and forth, then I only had to sew the sleeves to the body along the raglan shaping. I left the front left seam unattached, then picked up stitches up one side of that seam, around the collar and down the other half of the seam to make a button band since babies have HUGE heads. Some simple yo button holes and a stockinette rolled collar finished it. The embroidery on the back was done with duplicate stitch.

Yarn: Berroco Touche in Ganges (dark blue) and Jeanne from Plymouth Yarns (white).

Hat: Basic Baby Hat- my own fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants pattern. I made a hat, just small for baby. And if you ask me for the pattern, I will SuperPoke you.

Yarn: Leftover Touche and Jeanne in gray.


And look! Another baby sweater!

Another Placket Neck Pullover, this time in Rowan's Felted Tweed in Herb. This one was for another co-worker who is having a little girl in January.

I love this yarn so much that I am knitting a sweater for myself form the same yarn. This one to be exact.

But Christmas knitting must be completed first.....

Just call me "Coach"

That's right! I have been asked to be an Assistant Field Hockey Coach at the high school I work at. I'm thrilled to be back on the field with my stick and a group of wonderful girls who seem genuinely interested in learning the sport or improving their skills. I went to a few games last years and the pain I experienced from just watching and not participating was excruciating. But not this year. This year I'm out there teaching, running around and getting burnt to a crisp. I love fall!

Go KNIGHTS!!!!

Just poking my head in...

The last eight weeks have been hell, what with work and school and ending up with a righteous head cold. I've earned a 2 weeks reprieve from school and work should at least be interesting--seeing as my new job is not yet defined. I get to make it up as I go along-teehee!

I received my packages from my wonderful No Sheep Swap Pal who turned out to be none other than Chrissy from Gardiner Yarn Works!! Lucky me! Thank you so much for everything, Chrissy. I do have photographic proof of my goodies, but no way to get the photos from my camera to the lappy. Maybe next week--when I have time to breathe--I'll look for the photo transferring thingy.

Knitting has happened. The Hug-Me-Tight Shrug has been pulled apart, frogged partway, and remade into something that is beautiful and fits me. Now I have lots of leftover alpaca that is in timeout until I want to look at it again.

There are babies aplenty growing in my life and I have one sweater finished and two to go with pretty quick deadlines, plus Christmas knitting to finish. And all I want to do is knit myself a shlumpy weekend sweater in natural gray/brown colors. Don't have yarn or pattern yet, I just want one for fall.

I'll try to be more timely with my posting, but life keeps getting in the way. You know how it is...

trying to resurface

i'm desperately treading water, trying to resurface and get my life back together. i have spent the last three weeks drowning in new responsibilities at work and wondering if i'll make it out alive. i seem to be doing more than just surviving, i had three people compliment me on the job i'm doing and how it is so much better than last year. that means a lot to me.

knitting has happened, but not much. i'm 1/5 done with christmas knitting and i have 2 things i need to yank back and fix. RSC 3.0 should be arriving soon. and i'm still waiting for my no sheep for you swap pal to send me a present.

in the plus side, they want me to change departments at work. i'm still thinking about it. it really depends on what happens with the other part time person i work with...

too many things are up i n the air right now and i have too many things to do to think/make decisions...

throw me a buoy, would ya?

Jury Duty

I had Jury Duty today and it was quite silly. We we're welcomed by a sitting Judge who thanked us for our service and told us how rewarding serving on a Jury could be. There was some "jury" joke about meeting your future spouse at Jury Duty, but we were warned not to tell our current spouses so as not to upset them. And then we were allowed to watch an uplifting video about the personal and self-esteem rewards of jury duty. Lame. All in all it was a wasted four hours, but I'm free from it for at least a year. Yay me.

On a fiber related note, my shrug is 100% knit and 75% sewn up. I just have to add the large lace border. (It's the 'Hug-Me-Tight' from Knit2Together, knit in Filatura di Crosa Adina Mix.)

I'll post pictures as soon as the camera is located again. It wandered off.

Slogging thorugh

Nine days until the end of the semester from hell. NINE DAYS, people!!!! I'm not sure I'll survive. I don't know what possessed me to take five classes this semester (yes, I do--I just don't want to admit to my faulty logic in a public forum) so instead I will say, knitting has been done, yarn has been procured, RSC 2.0 has arrived and the No Sheep Yarn Swap has been entered. And that's all you get until finals and papers are out of my hair.