Done At Last, Done At Last-Thank God I Am Done At Last!!

I am finally finished with my sweater. It is so worth the effort and the wait. I am wearing it today on what may very well be the last chilly day of spring(one can only hope!). There are only a few things I will be changing on my next effort which will be as soon as I can get to Carol's Knit Studio for more Misty Alpaca. Next time I will be using a solid. The varigated has always shown up better in the pics than in real life but still it bugs me a little. Secondly I will change the neck just a little. I seriously need a size 5 Addi Turbo in a much shorter length so that when I get to where the neck narrows up then I can switch and I won't end up stretching out my stitches like I did on this one. Also I will start the neck itself just a little lower and do some short row shaping to raise the back neck and lower the front just a little. Other than that I am so happy with this perfectly soft, custom fitted dream of a sweater. PS-I love the cabling I did up the sleeve decreases although next time I may do the decrease stitch 1 stitch in from the cable instead of right next to the purl stitch.

Here is a pretty project that I have had on the burner for a few weeks. First I had to order the crystal beads from the internet and wait for them to come in. Then I had to find Delica's I wanted to use. Luckily I found some at Hobby Lobby on sale that worked perfectly. Then I could not find the right thread!! Finally I seemed to have everything-no wait-I could not find my Thread Heaven to pretreat the Nymo. But I made it anyway and except for being a little big on my wrist and the toggle is slightly to long for my taste I love it. The pictures don't do it justice -it sparkles so wonderfully. It has kind of a victorian feel to it although with different beads it could take on all kinds of moods. I learned a lot of things about beading I did not know such as the peyote stitch and following beading diagrams. I will use Thread Heaven next time or use the alternative thread suggested which I think was Fireline. I will make the toggle only 8 stitches long instead of 10. I also understand the pattern now so hopefully I will not make the same little mistakes I made early on in the project. I will also work on a better surface than my lap and not spill the beads several times!!! I also worked on my Last Horcrux socks a bit this week and am now well into the foot. I have tried them on and they look pretty good although I would have liked them a little taller. I should have made the ribbing after the lightening bolts a little longer. I don't like the way the dutch heel fits my foot. It is too narrow and the decreases are under my heel not along the edge. I love the yarn I used tho as it has so much color but none of it pools or stripes at all. Off my feet the socks don't take a great picture as the ribbing draws in and the lace does not but I did not have anyone to take the picture of my foot when I had it on!! These will be summer socks but I need to find the right shoes to show them off!!

The rest of my week was occupied by work, work and more work. I stayed late 2 nights out of 4 and came home dog tired each and every day. The weather has been dreary and cold. Thank goodness I still had my winter walking appearal at hand cause I needed it every day. I am still in the middle of "Voyager". I will probably finish this weekend, just in time to use my extra 15% off at Barnes & Noble for book 4. I also have 2 free movie passes so I may go to Bricktown and see a movie or 2. I am on call so I have plenty of time to kill. At least once I go buy the rest of my spring plants, go buy more beads, more yarn, more...more...more...!!!! Till next week then...

Knitting up a Storm!!

This was my fun project of the week. It is a fairly small washcloth called Garterlac which I found on a blog written by a guy knitter. Here is the link for the actual page that the PDF file is on.

http://criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2006/07/garterlac-dishcloth.html. I will also add his blog to my links list. This washcloth was easy although it took a lot of counting to get started and the washcloth never looks "right" until the very end. You just have to trust the pattern. I never found a single error in the pattern and never felt lost in the pattern once I started. I will be making others for myself but probably won't use this as my Marine washcloth as it is more time consuming. I will be testing it out myself this week to see if the smaller size is still good enough to get washed with.

My other knitting for the week was also productive. I got the sleeves onto the circular needles with the body. I have gotten about 1.5" more knitted. You can not see it well but I am knitting a cable between the raglan decreases. I think this is going to be a nice touch. The color on screen still screams out at me and I am not seeing that in the real thing. I probably wouldn't make another sweater out of this handdyed again but would definitely make one out of their plain alpaca. The sock is the April/May edition of the KAL called the "Last Horrucks"-a reference from the Harry Potter series. The pattern looks like lightening bolts. The yarn I am using is Regia Bamboo which is 40% woll, 45% bamboo and 15% acrylic. The pattern is very stretchy so I only had to cast on 60 stitches on size 1 needles. I am at the point in the pattern where I should be starting the heel but I think I may make the ribbing a little longer before starting that. These have been fun although you really have to count in the pattern section. I had to rip out more than once because I was not all that focused!!

My other projects did not get done this weekend. I went and finished buying the beads for my braclet but they did not have the thread it called for. I have some in my apartment in OKC so I will bring some home and work on it next weekend. I did not get my DH's birthday card made-I still need some supplies which I will try to pick up after work next week. I did get 4 tomatos planted, 3 peppers and some herbs. I did get alot of weeds pulled and got in good walks all 3 mornings.

I got a little read this week-work just got in the way!! Claire has just gone back to Scotland and met up with the older Jamie. She was overjoyed to find that he never remarried and they promptly reconsumated their union. She brought him pictures of their daughter thru time so he could see. Wonder what he thought of seeing photographes for the first time?

I am leaving you with this pic of DH and the cat sleeping the other night waiting for me to come to bed. I rarely get a good pic of DH but I get to see him like this alot!!

Enough for the Army,Navy & Marines!!!

After a week of clouds and several days of rain, the sky has cleared to a beautiful blue. I went and bought myself a new camera for my birthday and was dying to try it out but this pic was taken on a very grey day so it is not the best. I bought a Nikon D40 SLR and am loving it!! It is actually easier to use in Auto mode than my point and shoot digital and takes way better pics. I promise to get out the manual and keep learning what I can do with it. Heck I may even go buy a digital photography book at B&N.

My knitting week was fairly productive. First of all-I got the chain link socks done. I have even worn them already. They are a little loose but no one but me will ever know. I will only be wearing them with long pants in the winter. I got about 1/2 the way up the body of my alpaca sweater. I am so afraid I will have to go buy another $20 skein of the yarn in order to finish. I should know for sure by next weekend. God I pray she has just one more skein or this sweater could be very very odd.

This picture explains my title for today. When I was a kid whenever my mom cooked a lot of something, she would always say "I made enough for the Army, Navy and Marines". Well my washclothes are so far only for the Marines but I figure I have made at least 30 of them since Christmas! Right now I am not sending them off to anyone so they are stacking up. I figure at about 2 a week this stack is going to get huge fast!! I wish they would come out with new colors to keep things interesting. After I do the one on my needles now I may try the entralac dish cloth I found online. It looks confusing to me now but maybe with some quiet and patience I can figure it out.

I finished "Dragonfly in Amber" this week and am starting on "Voyager" I have really gotten addicted to reading again and need to balance that expense with my crafting expenses!! I also bought beads this week to make a braclet I saw in "Bead and Button". I still need 2 colors of seed beads before I can whip that out.

Well that is all for the week. By this time next week I hope to have the sleeves attached to the body of my alpaca sweater, the new KAL socks started, 2 more washclothes done and many more chapters read. Everybody have a great week.

Greensleeves

I have sleeves!! It only took 3 tries but finally I have 2 sleeves that fit nicely and are ready to attach to the body that is yet unknit. I plan on doing a plain raglan body but when I do the decreases I may try to work in a cable. The neck will still be ballet style but that depends alot on how far my yarn goes. I should be able to cast on for the body this week. I also made another washcloth this week. I have started making girly colors although what is on the needles now is about as masculine as any I have made. I have not sent any off lately as DSIL is close to coming home. I will either pick someone to send them to off of anysoldier.com or wait until he is redeployed which will be very very soon-less than a month. I also worked a little on the chain link socks but did not get as far as I would have liked. I bet I can get them done this week which is good since the new KAL is just around the corner. They are calling for any sock yarn, even variegated and I am itching to try my Bamboo yarn. I only made 2 freindship star blocks as my sewing machine is acting up and is going to go back to the dealer again to be worked on.

The weather has been good but my walking has had to be curtailed a little. My sciatica is really acting up. About as bad as it has ever been. Thank goodness I am not trying to walk the OKC marathon this year as I would be wanting to be pushing it about this time to be ready. Everything is in bloom and I even cut flowers to bring in the house today. I have daffodils, snowdrops, asparagus, redbud and Bradford pear trees in full force and most of my perrenials showing lots of green. The birds are really active building nests and mating like crazy. Jack the cat is wanting to be outside alot more and we have to call him in at night or he would stay out a lot longer.

I am in the middle of the 2nd book to the Outlander series. The peices of the story are coming togeather and I eagerly await my reading time after work each evening. I even got the 3rd book bought since I had an additional 25% off coupon that was about to expire. So until next week folks!!

I must be "Drain Bamaged"

It seems that I can not make anything only once. I can not start something and knit it thru to the end without ripping it out and re-doing. This is the 3rd time for the Alpaca sweater. First I knit the body with the Chickknits lacy cardigan and didn't like it for reasons explained in prior blogs. Then I knit one sleeve with the lacy design and really really didn't like it. I then knit a plain sleeve using the Knitter's Handy book of patterns, thought I had it the way I wanted until I got to 17" and decided it was a tad bit to fitted. So I ripped again and now I finally have a sleeve about 1/3 of the way up that I am sure will work. Then I can do another without to much headache. Of course I still have to do a body and that could be frogged another time or 2 I expect!!! Part of my problem was that my gauge was not 5 stitches per inch like I thought but maybe more like 5 1/3 stitches per inch. It would have been alright if I was not aiming for a fairly fitted design but I did not have a lot of room to play with the size I was making. Luckily the Alpaca is holding up well to lots of frogging and knitting!!! If I get this done I will at least have a master sweater design for any Misty Alpaca, worsted weight!! I did actually get some productive knitting time in this week. I progressed on the 2nd chain link socks to the mid foot area. All the gussett decreases are done and I only need about 2" of plain knitting before the solo chain on the foot which is right before the toe decreases. I should hopefully get this sock done this week. They ought to be giving hints about the next KAL sock soon. I hope it is something I would like to use my Regia Bamboo color yarn on. Also I got 2 washcloths done while at work this week. I am starting to use more girly colors as DSIL is almost ready to come back from Iraq and I will probably not send him anymore bath supplies. The last thing they need to do is drag extra stuff home on the plane!!

The weather has been up and down all week. Saturday was to die for with clear skies, 70+ degrees and almost no wind. The Bradford pears are blooming and the early daffodils are in full glory. My redbud tree is just minutes away from being awash in purple glory. This redbud grew from a tiny seedling in my garden and I transplanted it to my front yard about 8 years ago. Then the neighbor kids accidently backed over it playing football and broke it off near the ground. When it grew back it became multi-trunked which I actually like. This will be the first year it should bloom very well and I am anxious to see it in full regalia. Sunday was very rainy all day with about 1.5 inches of rain falling on much needed dry ground. It was a real worm strangling rain. I should know since I had to walk around all the dead worms on my walk thru the neighborhood this morning!! Many of my perennials are starting to green up and I have some of my other bulbs wanting to bloom so many pictures over the next few weeks will be uploaded here for all to enjoy.

My news on the home front this week is very good. Brooke has been trying to get into nursing school for sometime and was on the waiting list for the next class starting in the fall. She got notified early Tuesday that she has made it in and she was beside herself with joy. She deserves this as she has worked hard since she made the decision to go back to school. Of course I have never seen her fail once she sets her mind to something. She is a force to be rekoned with once she has her mind made up!! So in 2 years I should finally have someone else in the family who understands all my medical talk and hopefully won't be to bored by it all.

Do Overs!!

As per usual, I am going to start my Alpaca sweater over. The reason? Well the lace design got a little lost in the softer yarn. Also the way the pattern is written there is a large wedged shape area under the arms where there is no lacy design. I want to go back and use different yarn and work the lace pattern into this blank section. So now the Alpaca will become a nice plain raglan sweater with 3/4 length sleeves and a ballet style neck. Then I will use the pattern from Chickknits to make a sweater out of something like KnitPics " Shine" or another smoother yarn like possibly Classic Elite's "WoolBamboo" Also my other knitting project-the Chain Link Socks are a little further along. I have the leg done and I am ready to turn the heel. I am hoping to have them done in the next 2 weeks then I can knit a little more on the sweater before starting another pair of socks.

I did get a pic of Maddie wearing her Wonderful Wallaby sweater although the pic is from a distance. I chastized my daughter to get better pictures so I can post them here.I thought the sweaters would have been quite a bit too big but it does not seem to be the case. Lucky Grandma!! Katie did tell me that she loves when I knit for her and that sure warmed my heart!!

Speaking of the Granddaughters, both had an eventful week. Katie scored the winning goal in her soccer game. She said the goalie was not looking and she just snuck in!!! Way to go girl!! Maddie aged up in Girl Scouts to full Brownie. She seemed pretty proud of her sash and badges. Maddie told me she wished that we would come visit for another holiday and I sure wish we could but probably not soon with the move in our future. Once we move we will be so much closer which will make it easier to get to them.

Spring is still springing forth!! Today was awesome and I got out in the yarn to get some clean up done. In fact I was able to walk 2 hours everyday this weekend. I even had to strip down half way thru the walk to stay cool enough. I am not sure how I feel about Daylight savings time starting so early this year but I guess I will find out next week!!

Last week I finished reading "Outlander" which I did enjoy despite it being quite the romance novel!! I had to run out and buy the next book in the series but found that it was not all the easy!! It took me some figuring to decide that "Dragonfly in Amber" would be next to read. I am not sure how I was supposed to know since they are listed in all different orders in the fronts of the books. Also the story must have some huge time gaps in it!! At the end of "Outlander" Jamie and Claire are in France and she hints that she may be pregnant. According to the Synopsis on the book cover of "Dragonfly in Amber" she already has a grown daughter so I am anxious to see how it transitions back to Claire being back in the modern times. I will have a struggle balancing reading and knitting after work this week!!

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.