Knitting Resolutions

In the spirit fo the day and the faint whisps of snow falling outside my window, and even the nice cleanness of my apartment (although far from being finished it is nice to be this clean) and of course because next to me, curled up in her favorite blanket (yup she has a favorite) is my lovely Lilu, I've decided to make a list of knitting resolutions:

1. Knit Fearlessly. I know that this was the theme for many around the web for last years resolutions, but I did not partake. I do tend to knit what I want and not shy away from things, however, there are times that I do things, say cast on the way I always do, instead of casting on with the way the pattern tells me to.
2. Knit down the stash. I, like many other knitters, have an affliction. I have a HUGE collection of yarn. I love buying it and looking at all the pretty colors and inspiration. But before I got buying more yarn, for small or large projects, I want to knit down some of it. Making things with the yarn I have before going off and staring more projects.
3. Knit a lace shawl or lace object. It's difficult, its hard, but it looks so cool when its done, so I must be fearless, and knit one up.
4. Knit my Jacket. I have had a project on my list for over a year now, its a long coat, I hope to get this knitted up this year.
5. Knit Family Stockings. Knit some family stockings for Angie and her family, it's a belated belated Christmas present.
6. Toys and knacks. I always find them so cute and fun, I want to do more little things, toys, dolls, knick-knacks, and give them to folks as little presents, or store them up until next Christmas/Birthdays and get them out the door.
7. Animal Scarfs. I have two scarfs that I want to do, chicks and rats (odd I know but those are perfect for some friends of mine) and I keep putting it off, so I should get it done.

I think that's it, or at least for now. I'm sure I will come up with millions more but that's the current list.

Happy knitting New Year!

Holiday Trials and Tribulations

The holidays are usually filled with knitting for me. Knitting Christmas stockings, or starting new projects, sitting around knitting and talking to family. But this year it has been a bit less. Things have either been so rushed that knitting wasn't super enjoyable, or I have been so busy that I haven't really gotten a chance to sit down and knit. First was Thanksgiving, I went back home (and had some amazing as usual food) and worked on some socks. I have finished one pair, the second is sitting half finished, hopefully I'll get back to that shortly. However there was another piece of knitting goodness on my Thanksgiving trip. I visited the Knapps and saw the beautiful preservation of my blanket. Apparently, little Sebastien sleeps with my blanket every night, and it gets washed regularly, just thrown in the washing machine. And this blanket looks brand new! Yay knitting skills! Here are some photos of the little man enjoying his nerdy blanket:

After that there was a bit of a rush getting some knitting done for Christmas. I'm sad to say that little of it actually got done. The first was a set of pot holders. The first pot holder was just two sides knitted seperately and sewn together (this is the plain one) the second was actually double knit, in a simple checkerboard pattern. It worked rather well I thought. So I decided to actually do a design in the double knit. It didn't want to work, the pattern was a little lost in the garter stitch (rose pattern) and I ran out of yarn so it's a little short. Here are some of the photos, (sorry they are so dark):

I decided to knit the other design ones with a stockinet stitch instead of garter, and for the longest time it didn't work, I couldn't get anything to be the way I wanted it, but now, I managed to get a stockinett going. It's nice. Takes forever though. The Checkerboard pattern I had one color in the back and one in the front, switching when needed, same with the rose, and it worked but not for stickinett. Now I move the yarn front and back for each stitch allowing for one half to be knitted and the other purled. It's interesting work, but it looks nice. Not sure if it's thick enough, but it will work for at least a table pot holder :)

The last thing that I did I took from the web which took from Starbucks. It's a nice wreath made from yarn balls (or rather styrofoam balls covered in a bit of yarn.) I think it's really pretty and I love it. Now to just have a box to put it in when I take my Christmas stuff down on New Years. Here it is:

I think that's it on my knitting news for the moment, got more things to make, food to eat, and cleaning to do before the New Year is upon me. Or at least get as far as I can before that day!

Finished Stuff

Let's see. The first thing that I finished a while ago was a pair of socks for a friend of mine. I can't remember if I told the story, but she told my boyfriend that she wanted some socks, but he forgot to tell me until 2 days before the wedding. (2 being at work days I might add) so I was unable to get her socks for the actual wedding. However I did still make them and I finally gave them to her on Friday night. She was estatic! She jumped up and down and gave tons of hugs. While everyone else just looked on in wonder about why I was this crazy person giving her a pair of socks. Oh well I don't care what everyone else things, so long as she's happy.

The second thing I finished was my quick knit baby blanket. Simple basket weave and soft yarn. I got it all finished, blocked and everything. Turns out Sara didn't have any blankets yet so I even guessed the right thing to knit, and she loved it. Hopefully I will have a picture of the precious little girl wrapped up in it soon. (Unlike Kegan who still owes me a photo, shakes fist).

Now I'm ready to head out to Seattle for Thanksgiving. I went back and forth so many times on what to take. First off I wanted to work on a second sweater for myself, fixing the "mistakes" I had on the last one (the red one in a previous post), but then I realized that I should use this opportunity to do more holiday knits, like the little presents that I want to send folks. But lots of those presents involve either complicated patterns not suited to travel, or the opposite, super simple fast patterns that involve tons of different colors of yarn, which is also not suited to traveling. So I think I've decided on socks. Tiffany loved hers so much, and they are fun to travel with. I will knit a pair (at least) of socks over Thanksgiving, then when I get back I will work on those little odds and ends gifts for everyone. At least I think that's the plan...I'm not packed and ready to go yet, so in reality who knows :)

Unless I manage to post again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Spooky and Soft

So I don't have a picture of my socks yet, but those will come soon. What I do have is the beginning of the baby blanket I've been working on. Its so hard to figure out the right size, but the nice thing about the baby blanket is that size doesn't matter as much. More importantly they can't out grow it. Sure they could not like it anymore, but I carried a blanket around for a long long time. So I hope the baby grows to like it. Right now it's got two skiens done and I think one to go (the photo is with it only with one skien)

And for halloween I made a ghost! It glows in the dark and maybe next year I'll make a few more and have them hang from the ceiling fan!

Before the Winter Rush

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted, and I didn't really even write all about my Peru trip either. Oh well. The news of the day is the finishing of a two big projects and the beginning of the winter season.

The two big projects that got finished are my skirt and sweater. Now both of these have been "finished" for a while from a knitting persepective, but they took a while to get the ends woven in and blocked, but I finally took the time before picking up some more knitting. First the Skirt (it's been sitting unfinished the longest):

The skirt is super cute and it fluffs out a bunch when I walk. I did have to get a slip for it as you can see in the first picture, it does have a bit of see-throughness without one. But all in all I'm quite happy.

The second finished project I'm more on the fence about how happy I am, its my sweater:

The problem I have with it is the way that it gets worked the back is longer than the front, yet both sides have the same # of rows. As far as the bottom edge is concerned I don't mind it at all...but the sides with the big wide stripe at an angle, I'm not so sure how I like that. Beyond that its a big comfy sweater and its nice and warm. Maybe I will try again someday and do a different pattern, or no pattern and get the rib worked in there so it can be fitted instead of baggy.

I also finished my first pair of socks! They are going to be a gift so I don't get to keep them, but still hurray! I originally couldn't do socks, but I read somewhere that christmas stockings are the way to go since they are bigger. So I knit one, found some of the problems I was having and went on to make several christmas stockings (I think I've made 6 total, I love making them so festive) then I managed to make a single sock but somewhere lost the momentum to make the second one and now I think I've even lost the first one. But this was a project that needed doing and so it has been done! I might make a few more this winter season, who knows.

My goals for the winter (aside from a few stragglers) are small and short, and stash reducers. I want to make some halloween and fall decorations, some chirstmas gifts, and some little knicknacks. For the most part I want to eliminate some of my stash yarn. I did end up buying some yarn but not much. It should be a fun season. The bigger of the projects (but still a stash buster) is a baby blanket for a gal at work. It'll just be in the reddish color that was used for the binary blanket and worked in a basketweave stitch. I'm thinking I might add some embelishments in the middle, but for now I just want to make a light but very soft blanket.

Hopefully I'll post more as my stash turns into cool knitting projects. Lots for christmas presents/random gifts. Let the season begin!

Planes trains and automobiles

Alright, so I've finally got a nice rainy weekend to get through this all, so my knitting blog is being hijacked for my trip to Peru updates. Don't worry there's some knitting intermingled throughout, but I've got some trip reports to write!

Photos for day 1

Day 1. Alright, there were no trains, but there were planes and automobiles. It all started at 4:30 in the morning, woke up, watered the plants and headed out to the airport an hour later. This was for my first flight to Miami (about 3hours) after arriving there I got to spend about 2 hours of my 10 hour layover (yes you heard me...10 hours) before my parents arrived. There was a little miscommunication but we met up alright, then after a long long time of just sitting in the airport, with nothing open, we flew out at Midnight to get to Lima, Peru. There we were whisked through customs and sent to wait again (this is now 4:30am) for our final flight to Cusco. At this point in time I have had little sleep on the planes and really just wanted to go to bed, but we arrive at Cusco at 10 and we're out and about walking around town by noon...so there´s no sleep for me. But before I get to Cusco, I have to tell you about one of the weirdest sights...picture two guys, with backpacks...out of each backpack is a pole with a monitor screen on it, facing the same direction as the guy. These guys walk up and down the place advertising the mini cooper...then for an added attraction you can play a racing game on the screen...as they stare at you? its kinda weird...but very entertaining. OKay, now in Cusco...starting with a fight into the Andes. Thankfully I was able to stay on the flight. I get to my seat, 5J which is an aisle seat, I get to the aisle seat and I see someone sitting in it, I say I believe that's my seat and we seem to get confused and I sit at the window (I'm thinking we traded) then another lady comes up...we all have seats 5J listed! AHH. Apparently the flight wasn't full because they just moved her over to a different section and all was well...phew.

Cusco is approximatly 10,700ft above sea level, and filled with people, its one of the longest lived in cities in the world. (My mom tells me that its a world heritage site) Its not a large city, not like Lima which we saw at the end of the trip, but its also not a small 3 house "town" like some of the places we went to during our walks. Let me digress a little and tell you about our approach into Cusco. This city is high up in the mountains and yet down in a little valley, so what do you do as a pilot? Bank super hard, skimming the rim of the valley and land on a short runway (awesome). We then got out, walked down some stairs right on the tarmac which is something I've always wanted to do. The airport is small, under construction and selling shots of oxygen for those travelers not used to moving around at such high altitudes. I almost wanted to get one just for the fun of it. We then got our luggage and went to find our guide. This was the last time I got to move my luggage on my own outside of the hotel room. On the one hand not having to carry everything is nice...but there are times when I just want my luggage with me you know? Did it get on the boat, no idea I could never be 100% sure it got off the bus or left the hotel since I never saw it, but oh well, this trip pampered everyone in many ways.

Once arriving at our hotel we had the afternoon to relax, have lunch, don't do anything strenuous as you enjoy the alitude. Oh and have Coca tea. That will help with the altitude, that and coca candy. (Later there were also Coca leaves, about the only thing missing was the powered stuff ;) ) At the hotel there was this older woman who was spinning yarn with a drop spindle and selling her wares in the courtyard. It was interesting to watch her work. Even though I have no spanish skills, it wouldn't have helped. Carlos (one of our guides) told me that the women wear different hats and that the hats mean different levels of "western education" (Of course there are tons of what I called "modern" people who looked like any other person, but there was a handful of people who were sticking to the older more traditional ways of life) This woman's hat told us that she had no western influence, and therefore wouldn't speek spanish anyway but Quechua. So needless to say the people I wanted to talk to in regards to knitting, and weaving...wasn't going to happen.

We met up with the rest of the group, and started our walk for the day, an evening walk through the town of Cusco. I know that this isn't a unique or rare thing, but not having them really in Seattle or Denver I noticed it. Everyplace had tons of street vendors. Not just shops that spilled out a bit, but little carts selling juice and snacks, or locals selling fresh pineapple. What was interesting here is that there were "Rent a cell phone" people who would sell you some minutes on a phone and you could call whomever you wanted. Being a newly claimed "Heritage Site" there are certian rules for building in Cusco. All roofs had to be made with the red titles. No thatch or corrigated metal, or american shingles could be used. I thought it looked really nice, but I'm sure it annoyed people. I have several pictures of dogs, honestly I wish I brought a counter with me. I had to have seen thousands of dogs walking around, laying in the sun, doing whatever. As my mom would say they were useless dogs. Didn't herd sheep, scare off birds...nope, just pets running around town. Each of the dogs in Cusco however were no strays, they just aren't allowed in the houses during the day, but are let in during the night time. The cats (which I only saw 2 or 3) apparently just stayed inside. (Probably hiding from all the dogs). The streets were mainly cobblestone but everything had a nice rustic feel.

Of course there are Incan walls which have been used to build some of the current buildings. There are also several churchs in Cusco, and these are the impressive. HUGE churches with more gold, silver and jewels in it than I've ever seen. To be honest, going through London and seeing the Crown Jewels...these weren't as impressive when compared to the churches here. The walk around town saw a mix of ancient and modern, Spanish and Incan. In additon to modern shops there were places selling more traditional stuff. There were also women who are dressed in all traditinal gear and often with Alpacas or llamas. You can take thier picture, or take a picture with them for just a sol or two. I did it once and got a picture with a baby alpaca. (See the hat she's wearing? She has some western influence)

That's most of day 1. At the end of it all I was exhausted. After dinner I had a huge headache (more from traveling less from altitude) and I took a long nap. Felt better afterwards and for the rest of the trip.

Just in the nick of time!

Finished! And what perfect timing. I leave on Thursday and the mother is being induced tonight. So huzzah, all ready to go. One of the guys on my team, Kegan, is having a baby boy and now that baby will be loved with a knitted blanket. Probably the smallest blanket I've ever made, but that means its probably the right size instead of being super big like the others. This blanket was both easy to make and frustrating. Each of the little squares are done seperately which made them easy to complete. Maybe an hour per square, so I could knock them out fast, but even with the slip edge there was a lot of picking up bindoff stiches which was kinda hard. And the multicolor edge was alway un-even. Could never make an actual square! So that was a problem, the overall orange edge (which I couldn't decide to go with the orange light colors or the dark green/purples until the very last minutes) helped to conceal this fact but you can still see it. I'm giving it to him today, I hope he likes it!

This blog seems to have become a knitting for babies blog. But I promise that with my trip to peru coming up super soon, there will be other knitting stories. I have some 8 hour flights and I even have a 10 hour layover, so lots of knitting will get done. I am kinda torn on what to take. There's my sweater which needs the body done...but also it will be finished soon...there's starting my sweater jacket but I would need to select yarn and then there is knitting a lace shawl which takes time and concentratation but the yarn is super light... decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah baby, work it!

Here's what you get when you ask a mom who is a photographer to take a picture of something you knit for them... you get a ton of pictures both showing off the jacket as well as cute baby pictures. It was an awesome photo shoot with the little guy. Like most models he was fussy to, refusing to wear the hats I made for him. Maybe he knew they would clash with the jacket, who knows. Regardless I've selected a few that make me smile. The jacket still looks alittle big, but that will keep him pleanty warm in May with the snow (yes I did say snow) falling outside. Hopefully it warms up so that my plants will survive the two weeks I'm gone without worrying about bring them inside. Stupid Colorado. But on with the fashion show!

Isn't he a cutie? After a month or so of harassing I finally got the picture I was asking for! It's Curtis's little boy, staying warm in a nice knitted jacket. Yay!

(On Another note, my binary blanket has made it to China and back, sadly no pictures got taken by the parents during the trip of the blanket next to something noticable Chinese, but that's okay, we all know it happened)

Colors

So I owe an update on some more yarn dying (Cotton this time, and failiure) and my current set of projects. Also the various thoughts I have on what to bring to Peru. But alas that will have to wait just a little long, however I ran across this yesterday and just had to make mention of it...

Several years ago a guy friend of mine wanted a scarf, him not being a boyfriend there was no hesitation in making the scarf (there is a curse for those of you who don't know) I asked him what colors he wanted and he responded with "green". After going to the store I had found a yarn that I liked and was ready to buy it....so I went back to him and asked "what kind of green?" He of course had no idea what I was talking about...what do you mean there are different greens? I ended up finding a website for a computer RGB key card that had some 20 different greens to show him how wrong he was about there being just one green. Well this little comic reminded me of it yesterday so I thought I'd share:

There are several cool other little charts and whatnot about guys versus girls, actual colors, and the spelling of Fuschia, or fucha, or fuchia...you get the picture at: http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/

Multiple Projects

I've had several people laugh at me and ask me why I feel the need to knit something for every couple I know who's having a baby. To be honest there are lots of reasons, first every baby should have something hand made and something that has a lot of love and caring built in. Second it gives me a break from whatever project I'm currently working on. My sweater that I've been working on is now in the long dull phase, just trying to get length, so its nice to have a break from now and then working on other things. Lastly, gives me a chance to go through my stash and dwindle it down. Especially the smaller scraps of yarn that aren't big enough for other projects. 

As you may have guessed...I'm knitting another baby project. A baby blanket...I tried this pattern once before and failed at it, but I've learned more now (and it seems to be paying off) I started the blanket this weekend, its knit in a series of squares...when I was laying out the yarn I thought it would look alright...but it turns out that I hate the color combination...not sure what I was thinking. I didn't even finish the red portion before I gave up and decided to look for more yarn. (You can even see that my pick up and knit was off too, because its not really a rectangle) Anyway I grabbed the yarn that my sweater is made of but in different colors and started a new set. The squares are smaller but the knitting is faster, so I think it will work out. I can always make more squares until I get the size I am looking for. Interestingly, the pattern calls for a slip edge, which makes it easier to pick up and knit...but you also have to pick up edges that have been bound off...so I don't know how that's all supposed to work. But I'm managing. I've got three squares done now.

The blanket pattern calls for 12 of these squares to be made, then they are all attached together (and all those pesky ends are woven in) Lastly the entire blanket gets a solid edge attached to it. I'll have to see what yarn I have left to see if its possible to put one of the lighter colors around the edge, otherwise it might be one of the darker colors. (Purple and green). Overall I'm much much happier with the color combination this time, and the yarn feels more baby friendly to me. Like I said its a fast knit, made those 3 squares in about a day.


One final note. The color work on my sweater is done, now it's just a matter of time to get it all finished. I figured when I had a few hours to sit down and knit I would work on finishing the baby blanket (I have till mid May) but when it comes to doing little knits here and there and during lunch or whatever I would work on my sweater. Hopefully it will be done soon!

A days work for color

So I got bit with the artistic bug. I had to do something different, new, and creative. I decided to try my hand at dying yarn, Easter egg style. Here's the account of my weekend's adventures.

I started with several kinds of wool  yarn. From what I have gathered reading on the Internet, wool yarn is easily dyed with things like Easter egg dye and kool aid, but natural fibers like cotton needs something a bit stronger. I followed a tutorial I found online (Kathryn Ivy) until my book arrived, I suggest reading it if you're going to dye yarn, this is just quick notes of my adventures.

First I took my 2 different kinds of Peruvian wool (100% wool) and unwound them into hanks. I started trying to use my yarn swift, but that wasn't the easiest thing, so I switched to a two wine bottle method. Worked much faster and much much easier.

Since I moved my yarn to the floor with the bottle method, I got lots of kitty help from Lilu. Mostly she just wanted to sit next to me and get petted every now and then, but of course, cats and yarn, especially moving yarn....well she had to grab it from time to time. Was really amusing, and of course there is always time for kitty yoga while knitting too.

After all of that work, I hung up my white yarn on the drying rack (even though it wasn't wet yet) just to get a picture of what I had, plus it was a good time to get things cleaned up and organized before the next big stage...actual dying.

This stage involved cutting up a trash bag and putting it on my counter, mixing up some Easter egg dyes, and filling my sink with vinegar and cold water. The first step is to prepare the yarn, so it was soaked in vinegar water for an hour, then its ready to accept some new colors! I was amazed at how clean everything ended up being, there wasn't much in the way of "shoot I got that everywhere" which made me really happy. Plus it will give me confidence when I go to the chemical cotton dyes which WILL stain everything, unlike the Easter egg dye that's designed for children to mess around with.


After the color is added to the yarn, it gets thrown on the stove to get stemmed. I have a collider resting on top of the pot and the yarn goes in there. It gets steamed for 30 min. I thought I was going to be behind on my coloring, but no. I managed to color almost everything while waiting for the first few to get steamed. It gave me time to do some actual knitting and cleaning while I was dying yarn. The hot yarn then gets taken out and put in a sink to cool, once its cool, you put it in warmer than the yarn itself water and makesure the color doesn't run. Add some wool wash to keep everything nice and soft (and get rid of that vinegar smell) and the drying process starts!

After all was said and done I refilled my rack with beautifully colored yarn. The one thing I didn't care for, and I'm not sure how easy it is to correct, is that the yarn seemed to always be a bit pastel. You couldn't get a really vibrant big bold color, it will be muted a bit. (And the colors in the water are much brighter than when they are dried) But I'm happy with the colors I got and I'm excited to see what other adventures I might have. I went back to Target to get some more Easter egg dye, got lots of different color options. Neon, some actual greens, a brown, lots of variation. So I'm looking forward to it next time. I have some more ideas on getting really creative. I don't have much more white wool left in my possession, but maybe next weekend or the following there will be some more snow (like today!) and I'll get back to dying. In the mean time, it took a full day to get this all done. Would have been faster if I had made my hanks the day before, but still enjoyable, creative and a fun way to spend the afternoon!

Froggy

So I ripped out the body of my sweater again. The rib stitch was too loose and looked bad. If it stretched at all there would be lines down me, if it didn't stretch then there wasn't too much point. So I undid it. Started fresh again (the pick up and knit is much easier after 6 times) Thankfully, this is a faster stitch. I'm already back to the length I ripped out yesterday! Now on to the adventure of doing the rest of the body

Shh, don't tell mom

I'm not a shopping sort of girl. I don't go gaga over shoe sales, or new cloths. In fact I hate to shop for those sort of things, I have shirts from 6th grade and basically my shoes are worn until they are falling off. Though I love electronics the expensive nature of them prevents me from pulling the trigger. I looked at my awesome camera for almost a year before I dared to purchase it. But when it comes to yarn...I can't resist. The softness, the colors...the ideas and projects going through my head... I am helpless to fight it. Well today was especailly bad. A local store is closing down, and therefore selling things at 44% off. I went down there and saw that it's a really great store. Some of the yarn I could resist, but clearly there was lots that I couldn't. Most are the higher end that I normally don't buy because of the expense. But I managed to buy 35 skiens of yarn. Now some of it was bought with the intention to dye is this Easter (most of the whites) and some are for other projects and some will be decided later. My stash is getting big...really big... gotta knit faster!

What starts with the Oscars and ends with St. Patricks day?

A baby jackets! A friend of mine challenged my to knit something during the oscars. I started thinking of hats, then got reminded that yet another co-worker just had a baby. And babies are small, perfect oscar event. Although I did start during the oscars (and maybe a bit before) I didn't finish, wasn't close. Its done now though, right before St. Patty's day, which is perfect because its green. I was trying to help work down the stash, but that didn't work. I ran out of yarn on the second sleeve so I had to buy more yarn...boo. Definatly not a yarn stash reduction (doesn't help that I went to a yarn shop in Boulder and bought some amazing alpaca)

But the jacket is now finished, being blocked, and should be ready for gift giving on Monday!

Pick up and knit...yeah right

Yeah, I met the deadline but traveling did not go so well. I did the first pick up and knit (you read it right... first...) and I didn't like it, so I undid that and tried again. It turned out okay, but there was no more time before my flight so I decided to knit as long as I could on the plane. Didn't look the greatest but I had blocking hopes. Then during the first night at the hotel, disaster struck. As I was moving my yarn around, the link between my two loops came loose and in the middle of my work was now a bunch of dropped stitches. Something like 20-30 of them came off. Well the lighting, the tools, and my mood were not well suited to fixing it there are the hotel. (The messy pick up and knit didn't make me want to keep going either) So I frogged it. Then I did 2 more pick up and knits before I left for the airport, didn't like them and didn't feel well so I just slept on the plane. Today (after fighting a really bad head cold) finally felt well enough to start knitting again. I finally did a pick up and knit that I don't hate, and started doing some knitting. Only have about 5 rows done, and its time to do some cleaning, but the progress looks hopeful. We'll see where I am in a week or so.

Met the Deadline

I'm heading to the airport in a few hours... aside from not forgetting anything in my frantic packing the biggest thing on my mind was knitting. As you probably know I've been working on the sleeves of my sweater, well the next step is a bit more involved. I have to measure, mark spots, cast on and pick up and knit a bunch of stitches. Not really something I can afford to do on a plane or in an airport. So I had a personal goal: Finish the sleeves and cast on the body before leaving for the airport. Well this morning I finished the sleeves!

I am basically finished packing so I have 2 hours to cast on and get ready. Hopefully I'll make it. On the sleeves the most exciting thing is the technique I learned while reading my color book. When working with stripes especailly in the round, you get a noticable jog where the color starts and ends (see the left picture below) but if you knit one round in the new color, then slip the first stitch, this border gets blurred and much more seamless (see photo to the right).  I was a little skeptical that something so simple could really help, but there it is! There's some stuff you can do when weaving in the ends, but that's for another day. Not gonna try and get that all done before my flight. Now on to the body!

But Mommy it's cold outside!

As the snow falls softly out the window, every mother is bundling up their little ones. Trying to make sure they stay warm for whatever outting they are off too. Some are the lucky ones, who get adorable hand knit hats to wear. Not only do they stay warm but they are stylish too! Little B Pumpkin, how cute. There's also Little B trying to be a gangsta in his pimp pea hat. I'm tempted to get a cork board and put up all the baby photos I have of little ones with my knitted gifts in my cube. I'm not a mom, but it'll look like I am with that display!

Olympic Goodness

One of the many things that's great about the olympics is lots of sports to entertain me as I knit away. Sleeve 1 is complete, finished it this afternoon. Removed the crochet cast on and have started the second sleeve. What I find hard or at least time consuming about the first sleeve is the constant measuring (or in my case trying on). Every hour or so I need to get into a tank top and try on the sleeve. Today it got to a point where the length seemed questionable. Sometimes it seemed too big, others it seemed too small. So I pinned the other side and put both arms through, and determined that the length was well done. Binded off and moving on.

In other related news....I'm a yarn-a-holic. I saw a pattern today, couldn't resist. (I was doing so well too, knitting down the stash, not buying any more yarn) but this pattern caught my eye... I'm gonna make some blue bears. And there's nothing you can do to stop me!

Stripes

In between cleaning, watching the olympics (sadly I am not on a team for the Ravolympics, but I don't have enough time for it anyways), playing in the snow, and catching up on my sleep. I am almost finished with the first sleeve. The stripes are all finished and now I just have to finish knitting the red to the desired length. All in all I am pretty pleased with the stripes. The jog is showing and I found a way to stop that from happening in my color book, but alas it's too late for this sleeve. Maybe the next one or the body I will attempt the knitting "fix".

Trying it on With Lilu

Close-up of colored Stripes