Sunday, December 26, 2010

what do you get when you avoid the mall at christmas?









Lots of knitting done!



Bee fields in all it's glory. I'm on the third set of charts and doing pretty well, thank you very much. This is QUITE an accomplishment. The pattern is great, but I definitely consider this advanced lace knitting.




Santa was also good to me, having brought me my knitpicks wish list. The yarn for the luminaria scarf (couldn't resist) and some misc goodies, cable needles and the book wrapped in lace.






I also self-santa'd a bit and splurged on the yarn for the moonstruck sweater - Gaea in the color "in the navy", and dreamweaver yarns had a post-christmas sale, so I bought the pattern for ishbel, and some puppy snips. The discount paid for the shipping.

In the end, a good time was had by all. Now, on to new Year's and possibly some resolutions.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Ho! HO! HO! It's a FO

I've finally finished my christmas knitting and, the cabled sweater is finally finished too, except for a few buttons. (I just can't bring myself to stand in line at joann's right now).
This is Paton's Must Have Cardigan (with puppy). I think it turned out pretty well, although I do like a longer sweater. I added some length already, but it could have been a bit more. It's OK, though.












After last week, I couldn't stand it any more. I went and joined the Unique Sheep little mermaid KAL. I'll be doing mine in laceweight, with the carribbean gradience colorway and beads. It's starts some time in march, so I have something to look forward to!

Right now, there are so many temptations out there. Coookie A. has a new sock club, and so does Janel Laidman (she has 2). Janel's offers a patterns only option, and one of the clubs comes with 2 patterns, one for a sock and one for a non-sock. I chose the pattern only option for the Art and Sole club. It's a great way to dig into the stash and have some potential christmas presents for next year. (at least that's what I'm telling myself). I'm still undecided on the cookie A club, but I think I'm going to pass on the loopy ewe this year. It was fun and cool, but I'd like to focus my efforts on individual kits like the one woolgirl puts out, or KAL's like the unique sheep, as opposed to a club where you get both yarn and pattern without choosing. (like, I REALLY NEEED more yarn). I'm also thinking about Madrona in feb. and of course, sock summit this summer.

The mailman was good to me too. The yarn that a little doggie is obsessed with is knitted wit, shades of grey. Loved the colors and it's for the january CSK.
The bags are a christmas gift from my friend Amy. She and her daughter made them, and I think they're great!












This week, I'm back to bee fields, after having ripped it out yet again and re-started. It's NOT going to get the best of me!
(ever tried to knit lace with a boxer puppy wrestling in your lap?)



Speaking of puppies......I think we need a bigger bed.











Ozzie is unimpressed.....

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Last minute christmas knitting

I looked at the calendar last week and just about had a heart attack! There's only 2 weeks to christmas!!
This week brought some easy christmas last-minute knitting. Some kids felted slippers, and a hat for my neighbor. (not the one from the lands end catalog, but i'll have to do!)













Also, a future felted clog for DH. (The other one will probably happen today!) I sent him my knitpicks wish list last week. Might as well get what I need/want.













I'm just about done. I wanted to knit DH some socks, and I may still do that with some thick worsted - he loves thick socks. They'll go pretty fast. I want to use my new mad skills I learned from Cat Bordhi last week and make him a personal footprint.
We might just do that today. It's supposed to rain more today than any time in the last 2 years, so I think it'll be INSIDE activities this afternoon.

Last week, the mailman brought me some goodies. The new Cookie A. book, knit.sock.love (very nice) and some Malabrigo silky in acorn that I ordered a LONG time ago (the price was right) to make my cloudchaser.
I still need to finish the cabled sweater, but it's set aside for the last minute holiday stuff. It only needs some sewing and a button band.


I also hear that the "Mopsy" is in at Blue Moon, so I'll be stalking their website to make the "moonstruck" sweater. I've probably already lined up more projects than I could ever do in 2011, but I'm also looking at the little mermaid shawl KAL from the unique sheep. I'm kind of a sucker for KAL's, gradience yarns, and beads. What more could you ask for???

Ozzie can hardly wait until all the holiday madness is over! At least he doesn't have to spend tomorrow afternoon standing in line at the post office!

Sunday, December 05, 2010

knitting like crazy

the snow and turkey day are finally gone. I feel like I lost a whole week of my life last week. We didn't go anywhere except to pick up our turkey dinner and work out on friday. It felt good to finally get out of the house.
Good news, though. I've got a bunch of christmas knitting done.
Socks for my sister (knit in 3 days during a snowstorm)





They're the mad color weave pattern in STR pepe la plume.





A really cut fox scarf for a little boy I know. It was fun to make.















I also knit a scarf for my neighbor for her birthday. It was THURSDAY ya know. (she reminded me about 100 times) No pics of that. Just pulled some funky noro novelty stuff out of the stash (not even sure how it got there) and did a quick garter stitch scarf. Now she wants a BLUE hat with ties for christmas, so I'm doing a "thorpe" in a nasty acrylic, but it IS going fast.


Yesterday afternoon, I was very excited to take a class with Cat Bordhi at Yorkshire Yarns in Tacoma. The owner of yorkshire is quite a character and she loves to have great classes. She said she "stalked" Cat, and when another LYS closed that cat was scheduled to teach at, she emailed her right away and got her to come to yorkshire.
We did personal footprints and I loved it! Cat is a patient, fun, teacher and I highly recommend taking a class from her if you can. She makes you think entirely differently about your knitting.










The sweater is taking a bit of a break for some last minute christmas knitting. All the parts are done, just need to sew and put on a button band.


On the doggie front, Yogi started obedience yesterday. Good thing you can't flunk out on the first day. There were just SO many intersting people and other doggies, and smells, and stuff.............
He has the attention span of a gnat.






The bed just keeps getting smaller.
Look at that giant foot. It's Yogi's.
Gonna be a BIG boy!