beads....lots and lots of beads

A LONG time ago.....I purchased the yarn and pattern for the photosynthesis shawl. It's a pretty, beaded leaf pattern with a laceweight and about half a million beads. It sat in my stash until this week, when I was inspired to do something about it, since it was raining buckets!
So.....here's my progress on photosynthesis.....

I know, lace is hard to photograph before it's been blocked, but, take my word for it....this is 13 of the 16 rows of leaves in the first pattern, and I'm happy with how it's turning out......

This week, more of the same, just bigger.....

Miss kitty approves

yes, she got in there all by herself

I got nuthin'

This week was a bust.....pretty much everything and everyone got cancelled for one reason or another, which was just fine by me, since I wasn't feeling perfectly good anyway. Nothing serious, just some crummy sinus thing that made me run out of gas completely about 10am and hang on the couch the rest of the day. Not even any knitting to show for it.

I did finish the points on the sunflower. No pics, though. Right now, it's a balled up mess of lace in a baggie. Too big to block until I can do it out on the deck on a sunny day.

I also went to Madrona.....maybe I've just been going for too long, or maybe their emphasis has changed a bit, but it seemed to be more spinning stuff than knitting. As much as I'd love to learn to spin, I just don't NEED one more thing......(or the stash that goes with it). I ended up shopping a bit and coming home empty handed. Nothing really called out to me.

This week, I'll be digging at the stash again....I think I have something in mind.
We'll see what mood strikes me.

working the sunflower

This week, it was painfully cold. So cold that the only going outside was for dog potties. So, there was a great deal of progress on the sunflower. I'm up to the tips now. I didn't realize it when I started, but each of the petals is knit individually by attaching the yarn and casting off. That's a LOT of end weaving.....just sayin'

since we woke up to this today.....

I'll probably be making more progress....
It's going to have to wait to be blocked, though. It's a big piece and there's no place to do it in the house.
Next up.....I'm working my KP stash, so I think it'll be the dogwood sweater kit I have. That ought to be a good challenge.

This week....MADRONA. No classes this time, but I can't resist the call of the marketplace. I'll probably be shopping on sat am, with a little side trip to a couple of Tacoma nurseries.....After all, this snow WILL melt eventually, and it'll be back to gardening!

sunflower....

This week, my excessive spring fever took over. When digging through the stash, I found this little project from knitpicks....it's a sunflower shawl (or in this case, table runner).

I know, it doesn't look like much right now, but you can see where it's going.....The center is done, and I'm working on the petals. This is a long, kind of complicated, lace project, so it'll keep me busy for a while. I was a little tired of socks, so......

My next destash mission is to work through all the knitpicks yarn I have hanging around. They're all kits, so the patterns are chosen. I have a colorwork sweater, and a couple of the sipalu bag kits.

Madrona in 2 weeks!!!!!!!
just sayin'                   

not much knitting content....

I'm afraid that's going to be the case as long as the weather is good. Too much yard work, too many projects......

I did make some progress on the sock yarn blankie.

as you can see, it's growing. It's a fun, easy project and I can add a square here and there when time allows. It'll be ongoing for quite a while, so.....there ya go.

I rooted through the stash this week too.....nothing really caught my eye, but I did dig out my sipalu bag kits. I'm thinking this colorwork bag will be my next project (or two). It's one of those patterns that looks REALLY complicated, and that makes it hard to start. I'm sure once I get going, though, it will be fine, and I'll be cranking it out like crazy. It's supposed to rain this week, so we'll see......

Looking forward to madrona in less than a month. Only shopping this time. Maybe something special will catch my eye. After digging through the stash a few times, whatever I find will have to be REALLY special, just sayin'.

I know, I was MIA last week

bad me!!
I have been working on things, though, in spite of the depressingly foggy and cold weather.....
good time for knitting, I guess.
I finished my astral shawl. It's blocking as we speak. Just can't seem to do the colors justice, but I do like the way it turned out.

 

It's much more blue and purple than this picture lets on.

 

I also rooted in the stash and came up with some wild purple and pink self striping. It was part of a "Cheshire cat" kit a while ago that didn't come with a pattern. I had seen this pattern on ravelry (and it was free), and thought it would be perfect for this skein. So, without further ado.....

valentines socks

One of them still needs a bit of a toe and the ends woven in. This yarn was much heavier than I thought, which actually worked out to be a pretty nice pair of socks. Some fun self-striping, a little intarsia practice and wala! Socks in two days (or so).

 

Now, I'm back to the stash to see what catches my eye. I've been doing pretty good so far just rooting around, but........Madrona IS coming up. I might have to break my rule just a little bit. After all, those are indie dyers you can't find ANYWHERE else, right?????

 

new year, new knitting

Fresh blog look too....
Every year, I try to set myself at least one knitting goal and one new technique to learn. Last year, my challenge was to tackle double knitting, and I did that with a great craftsy class that really helped me (finally) understand it.

This year, my technique of choice is brioche knitting.....another year, another class. Just so happens, there's a craftsy class on brioche, and it was even on sale. Merry Christmas to me!

Another one of my "goals" is to knit down the stash. Although I'm not quite to SABLE, it's close.....
I'd like to reduce the stash by half by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes......

In my "knit from the stash" theme....I've been working on the astral shawl.
You can see miss kitty is helping as well. The pic just don't do the colors justice, they're actually much more blue/purple, in a really kinda cool blue/ purple kind of way.

I'll keep plugging away at this one, and my sock yarn blankie. Up next....I'm thinking I'm going to dig out that Cheshire cat kit from a while ago. It's two kinds of stripey pink, great socks, with a little twist.
;)

into the stash!

yet again.......

Back in September, I succumbed to a nice little loopy ewe kit. It was the astral shawl and a skein of blurple malabrigio. After my sock disappointment (I have somehow lost half the pattern), I needed a new project and this surfaced.

I've cast it on, and it's just a tiny little thing right now....so no pics, patience....

As you can see, miss kitty was unimpressed....

socks....DONE!

just in time.....
finished the green socks.

I'm not really sure what'll happen next.....I have a couple of sock things in the stash I might work on, or maybe a shawl, could it be a colorwork sweater kit that's been in there forever, or something beaded?????

Gotta go dig and see what strikes my fancy........

still knitting socks.....

one is finshed, one at the heel, so it'll be finished this week. They take a long time, because they're BIG. One more pair to go. The next one should be easier, though, worsted weight on size 7's. WAHOOO!

After that, it's back to the stash......

Also looking forward to madrona. (and the flower show). Neither are that far away - first part of feb. Gives one some hope in the crummy winter.......

workin' the socks

This week, it was all about the socks, for ME!
After seeing this self-striping yarn on a popular blog, I just had to have it. It's been a long time since I've knit with self-striping, and I loved the colors. So, off to ebay, the only place it was available.
It arrived last Saturday, and I cast on right away for some simple toe-up, plain-Jane socks. These will be nice and warm, since it's currently 17 degrees here. They went pretty fast, and they're all done. No second sock syndrome here.

 

I also rooted through the stash a bit and found some knitpicks sock yarn I've been hoarding for a while. They'll make a good pair of man-socks, and one is already half way done.

 

I have to say, my experiment with lorna's laces solemate was a complete fail. The yarn is not as thick as I'd like, so it really doesn't keep you warm, and both projects turned out really small, even though they seemed the right size while they were being made. Not sure what happened there, but I don't think I'd use it again for socks or gloves, maybe a shawl if I liked the colors. DH says his socks feel "plasticey", not sure what that means, but I don't think it's good.

just sayin here......

 

 

This week, more socks and more stash knitting.  It's supposed to MAYBE snow again. The difference this time is that the ground is completely frozen, so, snow or rain, it's going to make a HUGE mess for a couple of days until everything thaws out.

 

working the stash (and other things)

So, after finishing the man-sock, I decided I needed a little treat. I rooted through the stash (don't ask me how long that took), and found this little scarf kit that had been in there, well, a while.
It was a fun little knit, and finished in a week......Madtosh sock, special loopy ewe color, the pattern is nefertem. It's more purple than it looks here, bad lighting

 

I also succumbed to my yarn desires this week and bought this fun self-striping goodie off of ebay. Yes, it's the same color that the harlot used to knit her socks. Fell in love with it when I saw it on her blog and couldn't help myself. I divided it equally in half and I'm working on a toe-up plane jane  sock, and it's going very quickly......

Also a bit off on the color.....

 

When this is done, it's back to the stash. I found some worsted that I bought for slipper socks last year, a knitpicks sock kit, and another dark green potential sock.

 

Don't worry, I'll have PLENTY to do, even if it does snow this week.......Have I said how much I hate snow????/

 

Ok, sucked it up

and finished the man Christmas sock.....
no pics, it IS a present after all....but they're BOTH done and put away.
YEAH!!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be....it never is.

Next up.....after rooting through the stash a bit, I found a cute little shawl made with some nice, squishy mad tosh. I think I deserve some nice mad tosh knitting after that......

I'll leave you with  a pic of miss kitty, who has entered her rebellious teen aged phase, and woke me up at 4am by standing on my head. Anyone need an extra cat??

has anyone seen my motivation??

It seems to be missing.......Yes, I still have ONE Christmas man sock to finish and some slippers to knit and felt. Think I can do it? Think I wanna do it?   not so much.....don't know why, just don't.
It's pouring rain today, though, and the stew is in the crock pot. I think I'll suck it up and finish the sock (gotta start it first)

Maybe I'll feel better when it'sdone....

This week, I worked on the blankie  bit, nothing to see though.

OK!!!Off to sock!!

I'll leave you with a pic of sweet baby Yogi. He turned 3 just recently......time flies.....

cat house

This week, I decided to make our little kitty criminal a new house. She loves to burrow into the towels while we're taking a shower, so we thought she'd like her own little cat cave.....
We were right

 

I was pretty proud of myself.....this was knit with some stuff in the stash that I had bought at a yard sale about a million years ago. It was originally intended to be some kind of afghan. It felted up like a dream, and I think it turned out pretty darned good, so does miss kitty.

 

Next week, back to Christmas knitting. I'm inspired by my felting success, so I think there's going to be some slippers in my future.

plugging away at the blankie.....

yesterday was a dark and stormy day here, so the only activity, aside from making chili, was knitting on the blankie and watching movies. It's making some nice progress, nothing much new to see, though.....

We also went to a craft fair/bazaar and bought miss kitty her very own catnip mouse, after which, chaos abounded. This morning, the cats are all lying around, wasted, and the mouse is no where to be found.....

I also have to take a moment to rant, just a bit......When did the day after Halloween become Christmas???????
I went out to run some errands on Friday, only to find that we had jumped into some kind of time warp continuum that took us straight to Christmas! decorated trees, Christmas carols and all. YIKES!!! I know it's a shorter shopping time this year, but honestly......At least when I worked retail, about 100 years ago, we weren't allowed to put up Christmas stuff until the day after thanksgiving, and,  honestly, that was bad enough. It gave me a lifetime case of Bah-humbug. So, let's put the Christmas stuff away for a bit and have thanksgiving first, OK????

And while I'm on it.....I HATE spring ahead and fall back! Almost enough to consider moving to Hawaii or Arizona!!!!

Ok, rant over......
we will now return you to your regular programming......

back at the blankie

well, I finished my Christmas leftie, and I'm back at the blankie......not much progress, though....I found some nasty sinus crap this week (or maybe it was just and air quality issue), and spent the better part of 2 days doing absolutely nothing. I'm feeling better now...the fog has lifted, both literally (weather-wise), and mentally, so back to work on the blankie.....

We're supposed to be back to the rain this week, so there will probably be more progress. Now I just need to get miss kitty to leave it alone!!!!!

I still have one Christmas man-sock to finish - not much enthusiasm there......Maybe I'll work on it a bit at a time.....one blankie square one hour of sock knitting......

another leftie!

the same one from last week, with the leftover bugga leaves. It's almost done, just a little diversion from a bad kitty that caused it to fall off the needles for a short amount of time. No pics on that one, it's put away now, safely in a drawer.

hard to believe that innocent little face hiding there could be guilty of anything, huh???

Next week, finishing leftie, back to the blankie, some Christmas socks, maybe......
have to see what the weather does.

Christmas knitting....

Done!
This week, I finished my little leftie (love it), and returned to Christmas knitting. I made this pair of gloves for my sister from some leftover bugga that I had from a sweater. They are thick and warm, and I  think she'll love them. Yes, that right hand ring finger is a bit short. If you remember, she lost it to a dog bite a couple of years ago, so she really appreciates having "custom" gloves.

 

I also had enough leftovers from the bugga to make her a matching leftie.

Dug around in the stash (I have a LOT of stash), and found this nice complimentary color to do the background...both yarns are 10 percent cashmere, so I think it's going to turn out great.

 

 

I'll be working on leftie this week. We'll see how far I get, though. The weather is supposed to be nice, so, I'm thinking last chance to paint outside and plant my bulbs.

 

Next up, knitting-wise.....finishing the other man-sock.

 

 

Leftie

Ok, I'll admit it, I couldn't wait......my only excuse is that it was raining and miserable and I NEEDED something new.....so, I cast on with my cute little leftie kit I bought at OFF last weekend.
It's really a fun, kind of mindless knit, with just enough interest in the leaf pattern to keep you on your toes. I made some pretty good progress (before the weather got better).

I might finish this up this week, depending on the weather, of course, and then I ABSOLUTELY have to get back to Christmas knitting. Another pair of gloves with some leftover bugga, and, I think, another of these lefties, hopefully with the leftover, leftover bugga to be the leaves.....wouldn't that be kind of a nice set? I think so.......

I'll leave y'all with a couple of miss kitty pics.......warning.....cuteness ahead.

 

she's totally outgrown her box......

 

yes, that's the same box.....