Excellent Mail Day!

I’ve been stalking my mail box for my shipment from Knit Picks. B bought me the Option needle set plus another size 1 circular needle. It finally arrived today along with the new issue of Knits. Double bonus day!!!

I haven’t knit a stitch on my Cece because the yarn and the bamboo needle combo just wasn’t working for me. I’ve been anxious to get back to it using the new needles.

I got another #1 needle because I’ve been a crazy sock knitter recently. (I still need to take pictures.) I love the pointy tip and the very flexible cable of the Knit Picks needles. I’ve been swapping my only set of #1 as I switch from one sock to another. Now I can have two socks going at once. Yeah! I can finish B’s socks and have and easy sock on the needles.

I ‘m off to go play with my new needles. And flip through Knits again.

Yum! Yarn cakes!

I love yarn cakes. They look so pretty and good enough to eat. It is such a lovely color of red. I love red. (Blue is my favorite color. I just have an unusual obsession with red. A secret love affair.)

My friends and I have SnB tomorrow and I need an easy project to do. I don’t think I could concentrate on the My Boyfriend Socks or my Must have Cardigan with all the gabbing we’ll do. I’m starting an easy project. Simple socks. I’ll be modeling my socks after Black Dog Knits Picot Eyelet Socks. But instead of a top-down I’ll be doing a toe-up. I will use the toe-up to get all I can out of the yarn.

Languishing projects:
Must Have Cardigan – I can’t decide if I want to continue knitting the body in one piece or rip it out to knit as separate pieces.
My Boyfriend Sock – I just have’t picked it up in the last few days.

New WIP

I started my favorite sweater. The Must Have Cardigan. I fell in love with this sweater years ago and just had to knit it. I bought the yarn with a gift certificate even before I had the pattern. Both the yarn and pattern have been marinting in the stash as I chose other projects to knit. This past week I pulled the yarn out of the stash. After swatching and swatching some more I found the right needle. I searched the internet and Ravelry for tips and tricks. For some reason I chose to knit the sweater in one piece. I’m not sure what I was thinking. It takes so long to knit just one row. I have more markers than I know what to do with. I know once I get further along I’ll be able to remove some of the markers are the pattern starts to unfold. But it is just getting past the beginning that has been the hardest. The sweater has sat untouched for several days and I try to cope with these first rows of the patterns. I keep wondering what I was thinking when I decided to knit it as one piece. I’m just frustrated because I’m not seeing the progress I would if I was knitting it in pieces.

While I sat onthe couch with the MHC just inches away from me I was practicing my crochet. I’m a super beginner and had fun practicing. I’m still not too sure about adding a new color or weaving in the ends. It has been fun practicing but no real projects are in the works yet. Practice makes perfect.

So so so excited!

My invite arrived in the mail this morning.  I’m getting ready.  The batteries are charging.  Time to go through the stash.  Figure out those projects, past, present and future.  Oh, so exciting.

I could’ve

This past weekend there were many projects I could have worked on. Many many projects. These are the only ones that need to be done now. (Except I’m not event thinking about the one for my mom.)

I could have worked on friend K’s graduation socks consedering her graduated 3 weeks ago.

Or I could have worked on the “Welcome to your new House” gift for some griend moving into their new house next week.

But instead I decided to fix the collar on my Wrap Jacket. The collar knitted up way too wide. It was nearly large enough for a hood. I ripped it out and started over with few stitches and worked half the increase. I think it turned out much better. Picture will come soon.

Up next: Mom’s scarf. After 4 starts I think I’ve found a pattern for the yarn she picked out.

Harry Potter bookmark

The bookmark was a birthday present for a friend. She and I have made several trips to the book store to buy the latest Harry Potter. I’m sure we will do the same with the final book. I don’t even want to imagine what will happen in the final book. It has been so long since I read 1-4 that I’ve been thinking about rereading all 6 books before #7 comes out. I started the first book last night. We shall see if I can finish them before I pick up the 7th book.

The bookmark: I started it last fall and have been making slow progress on it since my friend’s b’day isn’t until May. My first round of stripes came out kind of wonky and the transition between the two colors wasn’t very smooth. Although I would love to have my own Harry Potter bookark I don’t think I’ll be making one soon. It took a lot of patience on my part to work with that small tube on tiny needles with some of the thinnest and slipperiest thread/yarn. So as soon as I forget about all the issues I had with the bookmark I’ll make myself one.

Wrap Jacket: In timeout. It has been very very bad.
New Project: Law school Graduation sock for a friend

WIP – Wrap Jacket

Pattern: Wrap Jacket from Ella Rae (Book 1) 
Yarn: Phildar Frimas
Color: Quetsche
I’ve finished both fronts and the back.  I worked the fronts together until the neck and shoulder shaping.  It went rather quickly once I decided on a size. Or I’ve just been a mad knitter wanted to get the project done.  I increased the cast on stitches to make it easy to knit the pattern at the bottom of the sweater.  I added enough stitches to make them a multiple of four.  Then decrease those extra stitches just before the shoulder shaping.  I forgot I had added the stitches until it was time to place the pockets.   Oh well.  I decided to take care of it just before the shoulder shaping.
I’ve just started the sleeve.  Again I needed to add a few stitches for it to be a multiple of 4.  I’ll decrease them in the first stockinette row with the other decreases.
I’ve been thinking about the collar and what I should do.  The collar is knitted in pattern in two halves then attached to the neck edge.  I’m thinking about adding a couple extra stitches for a stockinette edge to make it easier attaching the collar.  The Frimas is a very fuzzy yarn and seaming two stockinette edges together will probably be easier than trying to seam the pattern edge.  This is what I’ll ponder as I knit the sleeves.

New Yarn

I added some cotton to my stash.  I think it will become Cece.  I can’t wait to get started but I have some other projects to finish up first.

a labor of love

I handed the newly finished blanket off to my friend just two days before her little guy arrived.

Moving on over

I decided to try my hand at wordpress.