Projects Por Fin!

It's time to post and show some finished works. I've been knitting away it seems, getting ready for the holidays. Project #1, laptop cozy (Alterknits), hip and stylish, modeled here by its owner, Sara. She picked great colors and the dimensions came out just about right. A little too much shrinkage lengthwise (after only about 8 minutes!) but some tugging and stretching did the trick. We like the slightly skewed lines. In exchange, Sara helped me roast, peel and skin over 200 peppers from my garden (yes folks, that's 200, not 20)! Long, skinny sweet Italian peppers now safely in the freezer waiting to be turned into something. More holiday gifts???

Now, drum roll please....my first lace project! The traveling vine scarf (Knit Scarves!). This is "Miracle" - a gorgeously soft Alpaca/Tencel blend (50/50) from Classic Elite Yarns. (I hope the recipient doesn't read this blog.) This was a labor of love and concentration. Jeez, no chatting or la-dee-da-ing around with the lace. At least not for a newbie like me. Much time fixing mistakes, yet much learned. A delightful project... I will definitely take up lace again.

Now I'm on to more knitted gifts. Smaller projects will travel with me to Guadalajara next week taking advantage of airport and airplane time. Ok, I am taking books, too, people. Latina authors to boot. One must not let one's hobby overtake her profession, mind you. Well, I could just take knitting books, come to think of it. :) Ciao!

On the what?

First, I must say, sorry no pictures. I did make some progress over the past few days, finishing a pair of socks and working hard on a selfish sweater that has been giving me trouble. I am hoping to be to the sleeves on the sweater by the weekend, as the body is knit all in one piece...but isn't a raglan. I will divulge what the project is as soon as I determine that I plan on finishing it! It's a great pattern but a bit difficult at times.

Okay..enough about knitting. On to the conversation I had on my cell phone on my way to work today. First, here is a little background. So you girls know that Steve and I found the dog for us. And we have been distracted training her and having a great time watching her personality come out more and more each day. She was so skittish for the first week we thought we had a meek one on our hands, but it turns out that she is full of spunk but still very well behaved. And then today, while I was on my seemingly endless drive to work I got a call from Mr. Fire fighters mom. You see, when I work nights and Steve is at work, she goes to his parents house to play with their dog and to stay the night. That way she isn't left inside our condo all alone for extended periods of time. Not that we don't think she could handle it but why should she? They love having her around and consider her part of the family. And they love that she helps keep their 11 year old dog a little younger.

So, back to the conversation. My phone rang about 20 minutes into the commute from hell ( not normally but for some reason it was tonight).

Me: Hello. How's it going? (I got that newfangled caller ID so I knew it was her)
Her: Hey there what's going on?
Me: Nothing much, just on my way to work. Oh, Missy and I went on about an hour walk and I just left her back at your house at 4:30pm.
Her: Sounds good...hey, did you know where she was when I got home?
Me: Um....she didn't jump the fence and go visit Shania did she? (Shania is the neighbors dog).
Her: Nooo...
Me: Well? Where was she? She didn't get out and you couldn't find her did she?
Her: Noooo....
Me: Um...where was she then?
Her: Well, when I got home I dropped my stuff inside the house and went back out front to grab the mail. That's when I heard a bark from the back of the house.
Me: yeah....
Her: And when I turned around I looked back at the house and there she was on the roof of the garage!
Me: On the ROOF!

Yep, that's our skittish, meek and timid dog that walks backwards away from you with her tail between her legs if you walk towards her just right (even if you have treats in hand). She's scared and timid one minute and then wild and on the roof the next. She is definitely a girl! What the hell are we gonna do?

stuck

Thank goodness I am not knitting Christmas gifts this year, because I would be failing miserably. I can't even seem to manage to get done what I need (want) to get done for myself....where the prize at the end is a new sweater...something I need desperately since I am a bad shopper. I am working on an orange sweater, a teal sweater and green socks...all of which are in various stages of completion...and I am thinking about ripping them all out! Well, except the socks because I HATE the yarn and if I rip now I will never make the socks. Knitpicks Essential sock yarn is on my list of sock yarn NEVER to knit with again. I don't like the feel (scratchy). I guess I am a snob when it comes to sock yarn... give me Cherry Hills, Mountain Colors, Trekking XXL, Koigu and countless others and I will be happy but I am just not satisfied with discount sock yarn. Other yarns are fine...just not ones that belong on my feet!

I am hoping to post better progress in a few weeks but damnit it ain't happening now. Maybe I just haven't gotten desperate enough for the sweater(S)....

Off to attempt to finish my last sock working with the scratchy bad yarn...At least it's my LAST time.

Hope you all are having better success and are more highly motivated than myself.

Hugs! Hey, how was your girls weekend together?

Babies, birthdays, and Christmas

My friend Kerri had a little girl in early November. I'd been working on a baby blanket for her. Even with a gauge swatch, it turned out to be 29" square after blocking, not the 32" I was hoping for. As a result, I had a skein of yarn leftover! So I quickly knit up the baby hat from "One Skein" and baby socks from an online free pattern. Both patterns were super easy and fast! I like that. I love the hat. If it weren't so darn cute, I'd be tempted to knit one for myself, but I think that would be a fashion don't. I still have more yarn and don't know what to do with it. I think after Christmas I'll take leftover yarn from projects and knit baby hats and donate them to the local prenatal unit. Tiny hats are fast and those babies (especially the ones born addicted to meth) need a little bit of warm love in their lives.

You will notice an axtreme difference from one half of the blanket to the next. This is not a photographic error. Its the yarn. From one skein to the next. Same dyelot. Totally different colors. Argh. I can't stress about it. It'll be fine.

I've also knit Rich's birthday present. I can't unveil this until next week after said birthday. It was a great knitting project to knit and I have enough yarn to make a matching one for me.

I finished my mom's Christmas present, Hannah's, and am halfway through Jodi's and Emma's. That just leaves Rich's, my dad, and all of my girlfriends. I think I can do it! I'll put photos up of the nieces Christmas slippers once they are felted because they are so darn adorable! Couldn't be cuter. Even though felted ballerina slippers are high on the cute quotient, I can safely knit a pair for myself and wear them around the house and no one need be the wiser that I have the cutest feet.


My sister announced that my two baby nieces want scarves for Christmas. This won't happen. why not? Because they are getting felted ballerina slippers and Kate dolls and a book each. They may get scarves next year. I did knit them scarves earlier this year, but they are only for dress up I guess. They are total rock star scarves and I have no photo of them. Jodi help! But here is a photo of the matching rock star flip flops (or slipper slops as Hannah has deemed them):

Okay back to laundry and knitting. Hope you all are well.