Long Awaited Spring!!

Spring has sprung!! I am always so thrilled to find the 1st daffodil of the year. I thought with all the really cold weather this year that they would be late in making their first appearance but lo and behold-she was right on time!! Actually maybe even a few days early since it is not even the 1st of March. Right now she is the only one but her sisters will be blooming all around her by tomorrow. We are due for another nice day tomorrow so I will get to enjoy them all.

I have started a new spring project. I feel like I am a little conflicted or maybe I have a split personality. The reason? I am using Alpaca yarn, known for its warmth, to knit a very springy sweater. I am using a lacy cardigan pattern I bought on line from Chickknits.com. I love the fact that I bought and paid for the pattern and had the PDF to download immediately. I like instant gratification!! Now if I could only buy yarn on-line and have it that fast. No-I guess that would not be good. My stash is big enough already!!

I am still knitting on the 2nd of the chain link socks. I am still on the cuff but making slow and steady progress. I would be further along but that darn book I am reading (Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) is taking up my precious knitting time. And those pesky evening patients at work have come in on schedule and not left me any spare time to knit there either!! But they will get done because I have so much more sock yarn to use up. I mailed the girls their sweaters Friday and I am anxious to hear what they think. I guess it is time to go. I have spent more time on my blog today than on my creative endevors and I need to rectify that immediately!!

What's Next??

What an awesome day outside. It is bright and breezy and balmy!! What a change from our 12 degree weather we had earlier this week. I wanted to find something springy to take a picture of but try as I might there is still not any real evidence that spring is just around the corner. Maybe by next week the Bradford pears will start to show bud or my first brave daffodil will pop up its head. But for now the best I can do is pics of Madison's finished Wallaby sweater.

I have now made this sweater twice. A few of the things I did differently on this sweater are that I did spit splicing of the yarn. Will I do it again? I am not sure. I am still very nervous that the splices will not hold especially on a blend yarn. I spliced fairly long grafts to help hold and now all I can do is pray that this sweater designed to be worn by a very active little girl will hold up during normal wear and tear. I also used much smaller needles to knit the last stitches under the arms before placing them on holders to be grafted later. This I will do again as my underarms look better than the last by far. I am contemplating doing this sweater again right away for me in wool. I am toying with the idea of making a cable go up the raglan seam and also where the garter stitch is now on the placket and up around the hood. I have a plan in place for even making the cable go all the way around the edge of the hood despite my use of a gusset to shape the hood. I will probably go with using Cascade in a dark color, maybe a black tweed I saw. If I have time tomorrow morning I may stop at Carol's Knitting Studio to check out the colors available. Maddie's sweater is now blocking out in the gusty wind so maybe it will dry fast and I can get both sweaters boxed up and in the mail this week.

I had a great day at our local quilt show Saturday. I bought some fat quarters. How could I not?? I bought a few new polka dots, some civil war repos to use in my frinedship star blocks and a few 30's fabrics. I also spent a big chunk of change on some Shiva paintsticks and some preprinted muslin post card backs. I really want to make some fabric post cards despite the fact that I have almost no imagination!! I sure wish I had some of the creativity that my friend Carol has. Of course her creativity cost her quite a bit more at the same booth as she bought a "bunch" of Angelina fibers to play with!!

Well enough of my musings for today. I have gotten all my fun chores done and must go do the less fun stuff before heading out to work for the week. Hopefully we will be less crazy at work this week and I can get more progress done on sock #2 of the Chain Links so I can move on to some more colorful socks that are just waiting in the wings to be made!!

I have not been able to post much because of work but I have been very busy on the side. I finished the first of my chain link socks and am ready to start the 2nd. They came out just a little too big and the colors are boring but I will still wear them with pride. The next pair I make out of this pattern I will try to find a little jazzier colors and taper the needle size as I go down the leg for a better fit.

I finally have pics of Maddie's sweater to match the green one I knit for Katie. I managed to attach the arms to the body today. There are still stitch holders everywhere and threads hanging off but the pictures give you the idea of the color. I am so much happier with this colorway than the green. I made Maddie's sweater the same size as Katie's but with a little more length in the body and arms. But to look at it right now I don't see any real difference-oh well. I think Katie's will be big on her and Maddie's should fit her better. Even with all their measurements I took over vacation it can still be hard to translate that to a work in progress.

I went and bought some sock blockers this weekend-not to block socks-bt to take better sock pictures. Lo and behold I found that having the blocker in the sock made it easier to Kitchener the toes!! I still can not do it without having the tutorial up from the Queen Kahuna site but once it's up I can do a mean Kitchener!!

The weather is still dismal and cold. I usually get my first daffodil blooming right on the 1st of March. I am not sure if that will happen this year but I will definitely be on the lookout for that first bright spot of spring!! The birds sure were busy today and at least that was cheerful right outside the window.

It's a Beautiful Day!!

Yes-it is such a beautiful day!! I have not been able to post for awhile due to work and weather issues but I have been busy with needlework nontheless. Since it was so nice outside I decided to take my current pics outside. First of all I have Katie's Wonderful Wallaby sweater completely done, blocked and all. I wish the pictures did it justice. Even tho I do not personally like the color combo she chose it is still a very nice sweater. The pattern is one I will continue to use over and over. In fact I am already knitting older DGD hers in a red/rust/brown combo and am up to where the upper part of the pocket joins back into the sweater. I wanted to take a pic but honestly there are just too many needles going on to show it well. So maybe next week it will be ready for its photo debut.

I have gotten my crazy color socks done and have moved on to the chain link socks from the Six Socks KAL that I recently joined. This pattern is fun but the colors I chose are pretty boring. One might call them classy and timeless but I won't be making any more dull colored socks soon!!!! This pattern has been a easy one to work despite working with 2 colors in the round. I only worked on these after work last week and a little at work one slow day. Hopefully I will finish this sock this coming week and start its mate. I want to be able to get the next KAL socks done before the 2 months alloted to I can start on time with the next pair.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday but DH and I are not into football in the least so for now I am being bombarded with a DVD of the Animaniacs that DH is watching. I have to admit tho that I am particularly fond of "Pinky and the Brain" I love when Pinky asks what are we going to do tonight and the Brain always answers " We are going to do what we do everynight, Pinky. Take over the World!!" So for now I am going to sign off and go take over the world.