Knitting

I've done a lot of knitting the past few days because I've been sick. I finished knitting a pair of no purl monkeys with Duet. They are pretty. I also made "Fetching" a pair of fingerless mittens with CashVero. They are gorgeous. I'm almost done making a spiral cowl with Malabrigo worsted weight. It's a pretty purple. I'm still working on the chicknits Basic hoodie which is going to be very nice. I really have to start working on Christmas gifts. I have a ton of yarn I can use to make mittens, socks, dishcloths, etc. I know that my father-in-law will love another pair of socks. I'm so into knitting for myself right now. I also should start making baby gifts for some people that are pregnant. Tonight I may start another hat for myself. I decided to tear out Hey Teach. I have a few ideas on what I want to do with it stored in my ravelry cue.

Obsession

I currently have enough sock yarn to make 44 pairs of socks. That's an issue.

Rhinebeck and yarn guilt

I went to Rhinebeck on Saturday and it was so much fun! This was my second year going. I bought a ton of yarn. I got enough yarn to make 4 sweaters, 6 pairs of socks, and a scarf. The fold rocked. I love BMFA socks that rock. I could pet and smell that yarn all day long. I wish I had all the money and time in the world to make anything I want. Right now I have so much yarn in my closet that I really can't buy anymore. If I had spent all that money on my student loans, I'd be a lot farther paying them off! It's an absolute addiction. Well at least I'm not addicted to drugs or alcohol right?! I'm currently stuck on the pattern "Hey teach" from knitty. I just don't get the lace. I'm debating whether I should tear it out and use that yarn for something else. I spent a ton of money on that yarn and I don't know where I'm going to be able to find a pattern that only calls for 948 yards of worsted weight yarn. I just finished the february lady sweater and it's blocking. It fit before blocking, hopefully it still fits after blocking. My currrent sweater project is the Chicknits basic hoodie and I'm doing the lace pattern. It's gorgeous in a turquoise blue cascade 220. I need to think about Christmas presents soon! See below 2 pictures from Rhinebeck. Lisa and I had a blast and the hotel room was cool. Can't wait to go back next year.

Random summer stuff

The summer has been very busy. I've been working a lot. My job at the school as a summer program nurse just ended on Friday, but I'm still doing shifts at WAVAC. I've decided to take my Saturdays back during the school year. I'm really enjoying working at the ambulance again. I did miss it.

We had a camping trip the first weekend in August. We went to Herkimer and stayed in a tent. The first day was beautiful and we got to do some tubing down the Mohawk river. The first time down was great. I had a little bit of trouble getting out of the river due to the current, but I was able to do it. The second time down was a nightmare. I got stuck hugging the shore and had a spider jump in my tube. I freaked out. I couldn't steer and had to have someone come and pull me back out into the river. Then when it got time to get out of the river, I couldn't cross because the current was strong. I had to have 2 of the firemen we were will come out and rescue me. It was scarry. I didn't go tubing after that. Saturday it rained all day and I was bored. We almost went home, but decided to just stay the night and leave in the morning. I had the worst heartburn I've ever had in my life and it caused me to start wheezing. Nothing would help it. I took 5 rolaids and it didn't touch it. Then someone gave me pepto and that helped. The next day when we got home I was helping lay the tent out in the front yard to dry and I got stung by a bee. Usually I love camping, but this trip kinda sucked.

Knitting has been great. I'm almost done with my CPH. I'm almost done with my first sweet tart sock from the BMFA sock club. I made a pair of hunting socks for my father in law. I also made a few dishcloths. Mostly I've been working on my CPH. If you have a ravelry account you can check my stuff out at cweigand. I also made a few pairs of socks in the beginning of the summer. I go back to work in about 2 weeks, and I think I'm ready.

Moths and Yarn

Moths and yarn do not mix. I have learned that from reading many yarnharlot books. While laughing like crazy, I realized I have never had a problem with moths in the past. Bugs aren't a problem in my house (except for spiders of course). The other night I was out making cheeseburgers on the grill after dark. I opened the door to come in and what followed me in? A. GIANT. MOTH. I about freaked. More so than I do with spiders. My husband was like, what's going on?? I told him, and he said oh yeah moths like to eat wool. I was like, no shit sherlock. So we both tried to find it and couldn't. I closed the door to the craftroom hoping that it couldn't get through that door and the door to my closet where all my yarn is. Some of it is in a plastic tote, mind you, but not all of it. So I went about my business Saturday night and Sunday. The intruding moth is still in the back of my mind. I'm knitting in the living room and looking at my wool to make sure there are no holes. I'm still freaking about this. I have hundreds of dollars invested into yarn which is mostly wool. Sunday evening I go out to help my husband with something. When I come back in I spot it. Perched on the window. AH HA! I grabed the fly swatter and beat it so hard the window shook. I did kill it. Phew. Now I have to be more careful when coming inside, and sympathize a little more with the yarnharlot when I'm reading her books. AND, I really need to invest in a cedar chest.

On the idea of not buying more yarn until Rhinebeck....that went out the window today. I bought some merino off of ravelry from someone in Florida who just so happens to be a teacher too! I couldn't pass it up because I've been dying to make the February Lady Sweater. Now, of course, I have the CPH in progress along with a shell and some socks. But that doesn't matter does it. Must. Buy. More. Yarn. Always.

Summer

Summer is great, minus the hot weather. I love being home and doing the things I dreamed about all winter long. I finally finished pressure washing and staining the deck furniture. That took 3 days. Right on to the next project, which was painting the office. I had to do that in stages and took most of the week. Plus, I started working my summer job being a nurse at the school's summer program from 12:30-3 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I've picked up some shifts at WAVAC as well. I did kind of miss it, but not all the drama. An ambulance corps/fire department is really just as bad as middle school with all of the he said/she said. Aren't we just all there to save lives and help people? I wish people would realize that. On the knitting front, I've finished 3 pairs of socks since I last wrote. I love Jitterbug yarn, and the Nutkin pattern. My shell has stalled out. I lost desire to work on it. I also decided to really not buy any more yarn until Rhinebeck (we'll see how long that lasts.) I rewarded myself for getting through the school year with a big purchas of 5 skeins of lightweight sock yarn from BMFA. Absolutely gorgeous. Last night helping my husband put rustoleum on the trailer was a chore. I pinched my finger real bad and I think it might get infected. I had rustoleum inside the cut and of course you can't get that off unless you use paint thinnner (which I'm NOT using inside of a cut). It hurts so bad. We'll see how that all pans out. My parents are coming today from TN. They are currently driving through Ohio. I hope they don't get here too late. I'm dying to show them all the stuff we've done to this house since they visited 2 years ago. It's been a lot of painting and other things. Well no pics for now. Like I said in my last post, if you want to see pics go to my ravelry page which is cweigand. Take care for now. Hope I can knit with a bum middle finger on my right hand :-(

Knitting

I find myself way to wrapped up with ravelry to update on here. I know, it's a shame, but here we go with some updates. I knit my first sock with Lorna's laces and absolutely love it. It's probably my favorite sock yarn now. I am now working on a Broadripple sock with Jitterbug yarn. I'm loving that yarn too. I got my new RSC yarn and it's my favorite color. I absolutely LOVE IT! I'm going to wait until school is out to start it so I can concentrate. I tried knitting 2 socks on 2 circs and I actually figured it out, but it's just not worth the trouble. Trying to keep track of 2 needles and 2 balls of yarn is too much. I'll stick to my DPNs. I may try the magic loop at some point. I made great progress on this shell I was working on, only to try it on and figure out it was going to be WAY too big. So I ripped it out and started over, 2 sizes smaller. CPH hasn't made much progress because I've been working on socks and slowly working on my moss grid hand towel with Louet Euroflax. I absolutely love that stuff and may decide to make myself a garment out of it at some point. I decided to try and sell my purple tank (Soleil) that I made because I don't think I'll ever wear it. So, that's basically it in a nutshell. Work is crazy with school ending. I'm ready for summer vacation and some painting and knitting. I gave up my Saturday's at WAVAC cuz I was sick of working on the weekends and I got cleared from PT. My tomato plants have been planted and are struggling because the weather has been so cool. It's looking up though because it's gonna be hotter than hell this coming weekend. Maybe sometime I'll post some pics. Otherwise those of you on ravelry my name is cweigand.

Yarn tasting

On Friday I skipped out on PT and went with Lisa to a "yarn tasting" at the Spirit work yarn shop in Rochester. It was fun, although I broke my latest rule to not buy any more yarn until I use up what I have. I have a very large box of sock yarn in my closet. It's really out of control. I bought some Lorna's laces, Wildfoote, 3 balls of yarn to make a pretty cowl, a ball of Cascade 220 superwash to make nice warm socks, and a hank of Euroflax to make a handtowel. At least I have a plan for each thing that I buy, I just don't have unlimited time to knit. I probably won't buy any yarn over the summer because I won't have the income I usually have during the school year. On a positive note, my PT is going well and they said last night that they may need to "kick it up a notch" the next time I go. I'm feeling good and feeling stronger and having less neck pain. Yay! Sometime when I get a chance I'll post some pics of my "stash!"

NYC

I don't have much knitting to update, but I have some news about the trip to NYC with the 8th grade Honors Trip. Mostly about the hotel. Don't stay at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Seacaucus NJ. The first night there was a school group (not ours) that was in the hall on my floor from midnight until 3am. I called the front desk 3 times and they said they'd send security up. Nothing happened. It was very annoying. I got almost no sleep that night. Saturday night they had a frat party in the hotel and they were staying in room on the same floors as our students. Why they would allow frat kids to stay on the same floors as middle school kids is beyond me. They were loud and obnoxious just as the first school group was Thursday night. Some of our kids got a very sexual education that night. The frat kids were passing girls from room to room and having sex with them. Some of the middle school kids were in rooms next to the rooms where people were having sex. Also, every time I tried to get into my room the key wouldn't work. So, I had to go down to the desk from the 8th floor and back up each time when only 1 of 2 elevators was working. Again, I would NEVER recommend the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Seacaucus NJ to anyone. All in all the trip was fun and I got a bracelet from Tiffany's. I also got to go in the backrooms in Chinatown with kids looking at fake purses.

Vacation?

So, it really has been a long time since I wrote. I'll write how my week vacation was, if you can call it that...

Our trip was quite interesting, pretty sure we weren’t destined to go. Sunday night Jesse went down stairs and found the hot water heater broken. He tried to drain it into the sump well and then the sump pump burned out (it was smoking and everything!). Of course this all happened after all the stores were closed Sunday night. Monday morning we had to run out to Lowes to get a hot water heater and a sump pump. When we got home, we couldn’t install the sump pump because the valve that goes on it was stuck on the old one and wouldn’t come off. Now, we had to go back out into the city to get the valve so we could at least get the sump pump working before we left (so the basement wouldn’t flood). It’s now 9:30, plane leaves at 11:10 and we haven’t left yet. Jesse and Jeremy get the sump pump working while I get the rest of the packing done. We end up leaving at 9:45 and make it just in time to board the plane (we had 10 min to spare). We hadn’t had showers or breakfast. What a pain. We left the hot water heater in Eric’s hands. He said he’d get it all installed and everything.

The trip was fun. Enjoyed the Opry and Graceland. Eric told us on Monday night the hot water heater was all installed and working fine. Jesse finally felt better.

We left on Friday and made it out of Nashville ok. Our layover in Atlanta was for approx. 1 hour. When we got to the gate in Atlanta we still had about 50 minutes and Syracuse wasn’t even listed at the gate yet. I checked with the lady and she confirmed that it was indeed the gate we were departing from. We decided to go grab some lunch. We came back and sat a few gates over from our departing gate. It was about 3:00 and our plane was scheduled to leave at 3:10. We got to the gate and the lady said the plane was gone. Gone! I couldn’t believe it. There was another person wondering why it was already gone too. I called mom and she said the plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 3:55! Boy was I pissed. So, we had to go to the Delta ticket counter and see what to do. The only options were to fly stand-by to Rochester at 5:30 and if that didn’t work we had a guaranteed seat at 9:30pm leaving for Rochester. Now mind you, our luggage and car are in Syracuse. So, we tried the stand-by and didn’t get on. We were stuck in the airport from 2:00 until 9:30. That was painful. We landed in Rochester at 11:00. We had to have Jeremy come and get us in Rochester. On the way home, Jeremy got pulled over for doing 68 in a 55. Luckily he didn’t get a ticket. We got home at 1:30am. Our bags were going to be delivered to us in the morning, so we were glad about that. They were supposed to be to the house by 10am. We hoped we didn’t get any calls because Jesse’s truck had no gas in it and my car was still in Syracuse. We were too tired to go down and get it. We did end up getting a medical call but we didn’t feel like going on it.

When we got up at 10:30 the bags weren’t here. I called Delta and they said they hadn’t gone out for delivery! I couldn’t believe it. I told the guy to have them hold the bags in Syracuse since we had to go pick up the car anyway. I then said I will NEVER be flying Delta again and hung up. So, we went and got the car and bags. Then went to BJs and then Jesse and I both had an appt to get our hair cut. We did that. Saturday evening we went food shopping at the super walmart and figured we’d pick up the pictures that we had sent there from mom and dad’s camera. They were pics of Graceland. Can you believe they didn’t have them? Their system was down when we sent them. I couldn’t believe ANOTHER thing had gone wrong with this trip. We should’ve just stayed home. Luckily I had uploaded the pics to Walmart’s website and was able to go home and re-order them. Jesse is going to pick them up tomorrow on his way home from work. Needless to say I’m glad the ordeal is over. It’s been beautiful here in Oswego. Upper 70s to low 80s. I’m actually looking forward to going back to work. We leave Thursday for NYC with the kids. Hopefully that is more relaxing than the week we just had.

As for knitting, not much has happened. Still missing my sister who's at Basic Training. :-(

Knitting and Birthday Update

Saturday was my birthday and I'm declaring it my last one. I turned 29 and I'm not entirely happy with that. My husband got me a beautiful ring (aquamarine in white gold with 2 diamond chips) and we had friends up and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. YUM! My RSC shippment came also. What a wonderful birthday present! I've been working on so many projects that I decided to put my funnel neck pullover into a drawer and tackle redoing the sleeves sometime this summer. I'm just so fed up with it. So now I'm rotating between sweaters (CPH and Alpaca Cardigan) and the legwarmers and new sock club yarn. I think for real this time I've decided to not buy ANY more yarn until Rhinebeck. Oh! Any my friend Lisa bought me this BEAUTIFUL purple sock yarn for my birthday. Loving it. Might do no purl monkeys with it.

Stupid Pullover

Ok, so I'm very frustrated and on the verge of giving up, but I'm not going to. I had to start the sleeves over because they are too tight and too short. For now, it's on hold. I really wanna get the Monkey socks done because the BMFA Sock Club shipment will be coming soon. I want to cast on as soon as I get it! So instead of sitting here typing I should be knitting! I'm off....

WIPs

Funnell neck pullover: done, but still need to sew together. Not altogether sure if it's gonna fit. I don't think it will :-( Monkey socks: almost done, just have to complete the foot. Eyelet Ribbed Cardi: plugging along. The DK weight yarn takes FOREVER to use. Started my Central Park Hoodie and I think that's gonna fly. I ordered more yarn to work on my Mitered Square Blanket and ordered yarn to make the Leg warmers featured on Knitty.com this Spring. I've been dying to make leg warmers to wear with my knee length skirts. They are going to look so cute. I was going to do lots of knitting/sewing today but I've been busy at the fire house with random things and I still need to bake cookies and make a nice meal for dinner. Hope it gets done today and hope it fits so I can wear it tomorrow.

Knitty update

I frogged my Citrus Yoke Pullover today. I decided to use that yarn to work on a funnel neck pullover that is made all in pieces. I'm not thrilled about all the seaming that will need to happen, but oh well. It looks SUPER easy to make. I'm trucking along on my alpaca sweater and have 1 monkey sock finished. My new decision is to not buy ANY more yarn until Rhinebeck. We'll see how well that works out. I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow so I can have the whole day to work on projects. Check out these new pics!

Finished projects and WIPs

I finished Soleil. I think it's gonna be ok. I guess I'll decided for sure when I get to wear it. Right now it's too cold to wear to work and see if it's comfortable. I still haven't decided how to make this whole blog/pic thing work so everything looks good. Oh well. I went to the Mission Rose in North Syracuse with Lisa and I bought a ton of yarn. It's a beautiful store. They have a very good selection of sweater yarn. I bought yarn to make the Citrus Yoke Pullover from the winter 07 Interweave Knits magazine. It's Berrocco Peruvia and it's a dark purple color. I also had to have this Cashmere yarn to make a ribbed scarf. The balls were $20 each and you needed 3, but it came in a kit with 3 balls for $48! I had to have it. Here's a pic of the finished product. It feels so soft against my skin and I'm going to love wearing it.

I've been working diligently on the Eyelet Cardi made with some beautiful alpaca that I purchased at Rhinebeck. I like working with the alpaca more now that I bought some addi turbo needles. I found the alpaca hard to work with on bamboo needles. It doesn't slide as easily as wool. Here's a pic of what I have done so far.

While working on these 2 sweaters I'm still plugging along on my monkey socks. They take some concentration so when I need mindless knitting I pull out the alpaca sweater. My vacation is near over. I go back to work tomorrow. Then it's a good 4 weeks or so until Easter when we get more time off. My poor husband is very sicks right now, I think he may have pneumonia. I've been taking care of him as much as I can. I hope when he sees the DR tomorrow they give him some good drugs so he can get better fast. In the mean time, homemade chicken noodle soup soothes the soul. Back to some knitting!

Finished Soleil

So I finished my Soleil, minus the crocheted border around the neck and armholes. It fits great except it's 2 inches too short. I'm going to hope and pray it will block out longer. If not I'm going to add some ribbing to the bottom since I didn't do the lace pattern. It looks beautiful, just a bit too short. Now I'm working on the Eyelet Cardi from Chic Knits using some beautiful brown alpaca. It's turning out wonderfully. I'll post pics as soon as I get a chance.

WIP

Right now I'm working on Monkey socks from Knitty using Wildfoote Soft Jazz. After being a little annoyed with the yarn at first (it separates quite easily) I've decided I love it! These socks are flying along and I'm loving the softness of the yarn. Good thing because I have 3 other colors. I've also made a little headway on the Soleil tank-top from knitty.com Spring 2005. I've decided not to do the lace pattern at the bottom and just did Stockinette. It's turing out quite lovely and I hope it fits. I've been losing weight so I hope it's not too big. I'm knitting feverishly to start the central park hoodie over break next week. I probably won't get to it, but I can dream. Maybe we'll have a snow day tomorrow! Wear your PJs inside out and backwards. I hear it really works!

Finished Serendipity

I finished my Serendipity socks. Only have a minute. Wanted to post a pic.

Sock progress

I have been so busy trying to get my Dragon Dance socks done. I am nearly there. I will post pictures when I am finished. The pattern was easier than I thought. It didn't take too much thought/concentration and I've been able to work while watching TV. I have so many other WIP that I need to finish. Actually, just 2. I am making a tank top out of some yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck and I am also making a sweater out of some alpaca that I bought at Rhinebeck. I want to get these finished so that I can make the Central Park Hoodie. I am feeling like I'm running out of time to get these things done that I can wear in the cold weather. I don't want to finish them and then have to wait until next fall to wear them. Of course as soon as you finish a project you want to wear it right away! I have a week off of work coming up. That will be spend knitting feverishly.

Rockin sock club '08! (caution spoiler!)

Red is the appropriate color for this blog. I finally received my first shipment of the RSC yesterday afternoon. I was so excited. The color isn't somehting I'd have chosen, but is still beautiful. It is called Dragon Dance! On the inside is a cute little picture with a special name that you have to look up to find out what it means. Mine is Falkor and that comes from the Neverending Story and apparently has something to do with good luck! The pattern that came with it looks easy, although I can't seem to get the yarn to stripe. I'm going to have to check out their blog and look for some more suggestions, otherwise I'm just not going to care. I like when it pools too. It also came with the binder which is nice, a bumper sticker, 2 buttons, and an emergency sock skein on a key chain! There is info about sock camp, which I couldn't go to anyway because I already have a trip planned for that week. It sounds like fun, but I don't know if I'd like to go by myself and not know anyone. I finished my Rosebud socks this morning and immediately cast on my new RSC yarn. This is going to be so cool. Lisa, I hope you like the pics!

Socks!

I'm working diligently on finishing a pair of socks in progress. The yarn really isn't that much of a dream to work with, but I love it just the same. I got it from the Rhinebeck show from the Maple Creek Farm booth. It was one of the best booths there, and next year that will be one of the first booths we visit. The make up is superwash wool/bamboo/nylon and it was only $14 for 350 yards. Not a bad price! The color is called Rosebud. The pattern I'm using is the jaywalker pattern and I love it. I already finished one sock and when I tried it on, it seems so soft and heavenly. I can't wait to wear them. I really want to finish the second one before my Socks that Rock come in the mail. That could be any day now. In fact (don't tell my husband this) I'm skipping out on drill so I can work on the sock! Wow, I'm really a nerd. Oh well. I'm seriously addicted. Check out the pics of this beautiful yarn. I also have some in lime green.

Finally Home!

It figures that there would be an issue coming back. In Philly we boarded the plane, and it was HUGE! 3 seats on each side. I had the 2 seats next to me all to myself. We sat around forever and didn't know why. Finally the pilot came on and said that the cargo door was frozen open and that we couldn't leave until they got it shut. So, after sitting at the gate for an hour, they had to disengage the door and then manually lower it. I thought "yes, we're on our way!" No such luck. They still had to fuel er up and then taxi. Well we were 8th in line to take off. Don't you think we'd be first considering we're already an hour late. Another 10 min and we're off. It was only a 40 min flight to Syracuse. It took forever for them to get us our bags (I imagine the door was frozen shut!). I didn't get home until almost 11:30 and to sleep after 1. I decided to stay home today with being sick and needing sleep. Plus, I have a ton of stuff that needs to get done. Needless to say I'm glad I left sub plans for today! Hope all went well.

Heading home

I will be heading back to Oswego today. My visit in Nashville was fun. My dad was very surprised and I got to spend time with my parents and my sister who will be heading to basic training in a month. I won't see her for quite some time. We went to the best Mexican restaurant ever located in Murfreesboro TN. I got to practice my Spanish by asking if I could buy some salsa. :-) I went shopping with my mom and bought new shoes and best of all new jeans! I haven't bought new jeans in probably about 4 or 5 years. Losing weight made shopping for jeans easier. My sister took me to a movie last night. We saw National Treasure 2 which was AWESOME! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who loved the first one. I've been sick, but I'm finally getting better. It's been very cold in Nashville, in the 20s and less. The sun has been out though which makes it feel much warmer. We don't see the sun much in the Northeast in the winter. In fact, this weekend in Oswego we got 2+ feet of lake effect snow! I can't wait to get home and see exactly how bad it is! Well I'm signing off for now. Gonna go shower and pack. Have to head to the airport at 2pm. I'm ready to go home, but not back to school. Wish I had been able to get an earlier flight. On a good not, STR sock club socks get shipped this week!!!!!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Leavin on a Jet Plane

Today I am hopping a plane to Nashville to surprise my dad for his 50th birthday. I hope he is surprised and happy! I'm staying with my sister tonight, and then she's going to take me to my parents house tomorrow afternoon. We are going to bake a cake for him too. I'm staying for the weekend and coming back home late Monday night. It's a good weekend for me to get out of Oswego because it's going to be bitterly cold with lots of lake effect snow. It's my first time flying alone, and I'm a little nervous. At least I'll have some time to do knitting while on the plane! I have a 3 hour block of time from JFK to Nashville. Hopefully I don't get stuck sitting next to a large person and have no room. Oh well, it's all worth it! I can't wait!

Locks of Love, etc

I have been dying to chop my hair for a few months now, but I've been waiting until I have 10 inches so I can donate to Locks of Love. I've done it before, this is my second time. I think I'm going to miss my hair, but it's going to a good cause. I can tell you that I feel so much lighter with all that hair gone. My hair is so thick and heavy. I picked out a new color for my hair as well. It's still a red color, but much darker. I think I liked the old color better, but we'll see. I'm sure I'll get used to the new hair style and color eventually.

This is me attempting to take a picture of myself. The picture doesn't do my hairstyle justice. It looked a lot cuter in person.

My husband "gave me permission" to chop 4 inches. I laughed and said that it's my hair and I will do what I want with it. I also told him I'd be getting rid of 10 inches. When I got home I said what do you think, and he said "it looks nasty." I know he was just joking, but still. Can you believe it? While I was gone, he was out looking for sticks in the field. He's into modeling for his train layout, and he needed to get sticks to make logs for logs trucks that are too scale. I decided to take some pictures last night because his desk is just crazy full of trucks, pieces, and parts here they are.

I've decided to take some pictures of projects that I've completed over the past year and some yarn that I have stored. First is the tilted duster. This was on the cover on Interweave knits this fall. I fell in love. It was so easy. Finishing was the most difficult part. I had some trouble setting in the sleeves, but it came out ok. I finished this after my trip to Rhinebeck and after seeing the Moving Mud buttons I wished I had got them to put on this beautiful sweater. I remembered how a customer told me you can send yarn to them and they will match buttons for it. I decided that was totally worth it. So, a close up of the buttons is in order.

They are absolutely beautiful! I love the Tilted Duster but I think if I make it again I would go 1 size smaller. It does fit, but it is a little big and it grows a little each time I wear it. I am still trying to work out the bugs in the sizing. I have some trouble with that. The yarn I used was from elann.com and it was Peruvian Highland Chunky in Forest Glade Heather. All in all the sweater cost me about $70 to make. Not bad for a fall jacket! I was dying to get this project done because I have a ton of yarn to use from the Rhinebeck yarn show. My next sweater project was Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty.com. I love the pattern, and it was so easy to make. I would totally make it again, except I would go one size smaller. Again, it grows with each wear, and kind of hangs on me. It does look ok, but it would be better a little smaller. I fell in love with the yarn at the Done Roving booth at Rhinebeck. This was the most delightful yarn I have ever worked with. I didn't have a single knot while winding the yarn into a ball. It was so soft and squishy to work with. It is Superwash Merino in the color Autumn Morn. This orange color was everywhere at Rhinebeck and I just had to have it. I also wanted to get colors that I haven't used in the past. I picked out a button from Moving Mud to go with this sweater. I love their buttons, but I almost wish they had 2 spots to sew it to the garment. I have trouble keeping it closed and it kind of flops around. I also had to take a close up of the button. Sorry the picture is so blurry. In the midst of making these 2 sweaters I also made a few pairs of socks. I also had to make a few Christmas presents. I decided this year not to make as many Christmas presents as I did last year. I enjoy knitting for myself much more than for others. I did make my FIL a pair of hunting socks, but I don't have a picture of those. I still have quite a bit of yarn left from Rhinebeck, but I am using it up slowly.

Last year my friend Lisa got me into making these Miter squares. Evenutally there will be enough to cover my king size bed in colors pink, green, and brown. I am using elann.com Sonata. It's also a dream to work with. I think it'll be beautiful in about 10 years when I get around to finishing it. Then the miter square fad will be out of style. I may decide to incorporate some more colors if I get sick of these 3. I also took a picture of my sock yarn stash. I have a ton. I also have 1 skein of the socks that rock and 1 skein of yarn from the maple creek yarn booth at Rhinebeck. In this picture in the middle are 6 skeins of wildfoote. I haven't used it yet, and everytime I look at my stash I'm dying to use it. I think that may have to be what I use next for socks. Currently I'm using a skein of yarn from the maple creek yarn booth. I'll have to take a picture of that when I get a chance. Well that's all for now. I must end on a note of excitement for the Rockin Sock Club. I know I won't see the first shipment for a few weeks, but I'm still really excited!

STR

I'm sitting here thinking that I'm so excited for the first shipment from the 2008 Rockin' Socks club. I've never joined a knitting club before, and love to knit socks, so this should be a fun experience. Just think, going to your mailbox to find a package waiting for you and it has YARN in it! Plus a pattern to go along with that yarn. How exciting! I know most of you out there enjoy getting stuff in the mail. Come on, admit it. I really enjoy using the STR yarn and my feet like them too. Can't wait to see the first shipment!

First Blog

This is my first attempt at a blog. I'm trying it out and seeing how it works. Check back often to see what I'm working on!