Saturday, November 24, 2007

Music to Knit By

Sometimes the best place for me to knit is right in front of my computer. I get the audio stream from this internet radio station from London, England. http://www.classicfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=421143&spid=13479 It is, by far IMO, the best classical music radio station I've ever heard. That includes the station that I listen to on XM radio. It's not the most comfortable seat in the house, but when I want to get some serious knitting done, its where I am. I can't watch tv and knit because I get distracted and stop what I'm doing. I honestly don't know how other knitters do that! How can you watch tv and watch your knitting at the same time??? London is about 5 hours ahead of us here in the EST, so often its the middle of the night over there when I'm listening. Its wonderful stuff. If you can, take a listen!
On the knitting front: I finished the one sock for my sister and cast on for the second. Almost finished with the scarf for Patrick. I dont know which will come first..the end of the yarn for it, or me being tired of working on it. ;) I have a scarf for my MIL thats knit out of Alpaca with a Twist and its a very soft, pretty lavender shade. I really should finish that too. I'll get a picture up of it when I get it done. I saw the most beautiful scarf!! Its called the Irish Hiking Scarf and its similar to the cable scarf I'm working on now, but its wider by a couple of inches. http://www.helloyarn.com/irishhikingcarf.htm I'm presently trying to find the perfect yarn for it and have posted questions on Ravelry and on Knitty. I just don't know yarn that well yet so I asked for advice and opinions. I want something in an Aran weight (18 sts/4 inches), a solid or semi solid color and something that is not scratchy-picky. I hate that and I won't wear it. One person said she used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. Unless I find something better thats what I'm going to use. Neighborhood Knits, in Dearborn, carries that so I can go scope out some colors. I gotta love it and be excited about it..or it'll languish in my closet undone. tsk.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Will she finish??


This project is currently keeping me from finishing my Christmas knitting, which I started in the summer. Good intentions, ya know? I have two that I have to finish, and possibly two more if I can. I love knitting this scarf with this beautiful yarn. Its Debbie Bliss Cashmere and every inch of it is gorgeous. What is showing now is one skein. I measured, and I get 10 inches exactly out of one 45 yard skein. I have 6 of them, so my scarf will be around 60 inches long. I might not knit it that long. I know me, and I get bored rather quickly. So, I might be able to knit some mittens out of the leftovers when I decide to stop.
I have a feeling I'll be knitting wildly the week before Christmas to finish my gifts and be swearing I won't do it again next year. (ha!) I have my Loopy Ewe swap project I need to do as well, but thats not due until February. I took it to work last Wednesday and left it there accidently. argh!! Its coming along really nice. The yarn I got for it, Interlacements Tiny Toes, Taiga, which is varigated greens, was a good choice, IMO, for this project. Its turning out very pretty. (hehe...hi Karen!)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Addicted

From being on the Loopy Ewe site on Ravelry, I caught a discussion of Great Adriondack Soxie sock yarn. I went and checked out and its absolutely beautiful! Heres the link: http://yarn.com/webs/0/0/0/0-1001-1294-1323/0/0/2818/. I got Serengetti. The colors are so vivid. There's 360 yards per skein, so I'll probably knit the socks toe up. That way there'll be no drama on my part wondering if I got enough to knit them cuff down. Ask me how I know this.
I'm gettin' in deep here with sock yarn and yarn in general. I tell ya, I'm addicted! I have a lot of it and it's waiting for me to knit up. I swear I'm going to do it ALL and not buy any more yarn. Then along comes this great new yarn that I haven't heard of and it's so beautiful and I can picture it knit up and I WANT IT...(sigh) and I get it. I desperately need a yarn swift and a ball winder. I can't keep running over to my yarn shop and ask if I can use their winder for yarn I didn't buy there. Its tacky. I probably have around 20 skeins I need to wind. Maybe more. I don't have the nerve to count them all. I just know over at the Loopy Ewe (my favorite online yarn shop) Sheri's going to have Wollmeise yarn up soon and I want that too. Its very hard to get. I gotta be strong!!!!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Pink/Rose Mittens for Barb


DSCF0296
Originally uploaded by LeslieD1
I made these for my SIL for Christmas this year. They turned out so nice! I love this yarn and have bought more in another colorway. I wish the pic was a bit clearer, though. I took this on a pillow case (no, really) at night with an overhead light on. Considering the crummy conditions, I guess it came out ok. But I'm getting a new camera and from now on, only taking pics in the daytime. I've got a couple more things to photograph and post and will do it when I have a bit more time. Thanksgiving is Thursday and I have waaay too much to do, as usual. Lookin' forward to Saturday when its all done.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Socks that Rock!


I've been working on these for a long time. These are Socks That Rock, lightweight, in the colorway Scottish Highlands from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I LOVE this yarn. I bought one skein and its about 340 yards. I made the one sock, and was afraid that I didn't have enough to make the second. So...I started the second one toe up and that took me forever to find a toe up pattern that I could understand AND do. Tada! I found Judy's Magic Cast On on Knitty.com and using the Magic Loop, I finally got it going. I'll knit until I'm out of yarn. If it's a little shorter at the top than my other one, thats fine. That's the beauty of knitting toe up. You knit until you're out of yarn. :) I'm finishing my Christmas knitting and then I can finish those socks and start stuff of my own. I'm in the Loopy Ewe Swap, and I've barely started my project for that. She's going to love it!! I'm so excited to give it to her. I hope she likes it. I have so many things I want to knit. Lotsa projects in my queue. I bought some 100% Cashmere yarn from WEBS yesterday 50% off!!!! Impossible to pass up that deal. Its Debbie Bliss and gorgeous! The color is a pale gray. I have about 315 yards and a cable scarf pattern. I'll be starting that soon, too.
I gotta take more photos of my yarn..better ones. I think I'm going to ask Santa for a new camera. I've noticed a lot of people on Ravelry take yarn pics with a Canon Sure Shot. I don't know if thats just a coincidence or what, but that's the camera I want.
I'm off work this weekend and am working funky days next. I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for our family so Sunday and Monday are going to be organizing and shopping days. Hope to get some good knitting in too. I'm on a deadline here!!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Under Construction



Still trying to get this site up and running so it looks comparable to everyone elses. I get impatient and frustrated trying. WHEW. My daughter has given me a lot of her time to help me. So...I'm going to put her pic up along with mine. This was when we were on our way home from Toronto last year after Christmas shopping for the weekend. We were on the Via train from Toronto to Windsor. I think we were a bit bored on the train by this time. :) Lovely picture.

I'm still trying to get yarn pics up. I took some, as I said in my last blog, but I want to take better ones. Might have to ask Santa for a new camera, I think. So, once I get them they'll be put on here all at once, probably.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Photos

I took some pics of my yarn and some of my projects to try it out. Got a little bit of help from Katie, my daughter, and Patrick, her boyfriend. They're uploaded to Flickr and on my Ravelry site in the proper place. They came out pretty good, but I know I can take better pics. So, I gotta experiment a bit, I think. Its going to take me a whole afternoon to photograph ALL of my yarn with the labeling information for Ravelry, and then get them all up there. I like that feature where its like a yarn/project/needle inventory. I also love seeing everyone elses stuff. Some of it is so impressive it's intimidating! It can be inspiring too.
Today is my husbands birthday and we celebrated with family and dinner here at our house.
I have tried..unsuccessfully..to knit a pair of socks for my sister for Christmas. The first pair were Jaywalkers out of Lornas Laces Black Watch. Beautiful yarn. My BIL saw me knitting them and said "she'll never wear them". Curses. Tried Cascade Fixation..on US 5 because I couldn't get the gauge on 4's or 3's. Screwed up the simplest sock pattern. Noticed the HUGE mistake when I was all the way at the toe of the second sock. I just couldn't bear to rip it back to the cuff..where the mistake was. Stuffed them in my closet. grrrr. My final try is with Lornas Laces Sport, Aslan. Beautiful stuff. Don't care what my BIL says. So far I've had to rip them back 3 times. 3 TIMES!! I get past the heel flap..the heel..and picking up the gusset stitches and screw up every time. I'm getting it right this time, dammit! I'm running out of time because I want to finish them and my other Christmas stuff too, which I'm almost done with. I want to knit for myself SO bad and I will as soon as I finish this stuff. Plus..I have things (notice I said things..plural) for my Loopy Ewe Swap that I'm in. The project is due in February. Second week, I think. Knowing me..I'll need all that time to finish them.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Easier than I thought

Its official! I've finally done something related to blogging with NO help from my daughter. Yes, folks, its true! However..I do need her to show me how to post pics. I've got a lot of stuff that I've knit and am knitting and I'd love to show it here, and on The Loopy Ewe and on Ravelry. I'll get to that very soon, I hope. I'm sorta kinda new to knitting. Been at it about 3 years. Learned when I was 9 from my mom and it didn't stick. (no pun intended). I re-learned when I saw a lady in a shop in North Carolina knitting behind the counter. I went to KnittingHelp.com and re-taught myself. I LOVE that site. So informative and easy to follow. I'd recommend that site for anyone that wants to learn to knit or purl.
Well..thats it for now. This is completely new to me...work in progress, so bear with me while I learn this stuff as I go along. Great to be here!