Distraction

After a long work day, I settled down on the couch tonight for some relaxing knitting. Only to have Bandit barking every 30 seconds at the folks walking their dogs outside. After 15 minutes of his LOUD pleas for attention in a "All the other dogs get to go for walks" manner, I caved and took him to the dog park. There's a big muddy drainage ditch to the neighboring pond in the dog park that he just loves. He buzzed through the standing, murky water several times and waded for quite awhile. Needless to say, he was drenched and filthy afterwards. I had to admit defeat - he needed a bath tonight. Less than a repeat done on Cozy tonight, but check out my newly cleaned pup and complete lack of knitting content!

Clean puppykins :)

It's Growing

No new pics tonight, my apologies. Cozy has grown to 34 inches in length, and the Neverending Sock grew by a few rounds last night over a few rounds of Carcassonne online. That means that the shawl is over halfway completed according to the pattern specifications. :)

I really want to make a yarn store trip tomorrow to a new to me place in Westfield. My yarn cache has been really depleted lately, and I need some new stuff for Flash Your Stash on Saturday :D

That's IT!!

As in, that's it, I'm not going to my closest yarn store anymore! For the second time this year, I've missed huge sales. Now, you may say, "Christina, how could a bargain hunter like you miss a big sale let alone two?". Unfortunately, it's all too easy when I didn't receive the sale notification via email until the day AFTER the sales ended. Both times. *sigh* Luckily, there are several other yarn stores in Indy, and I have had good experiences ordering from the internet. Just. So. MAD!

Spoiled Knitter

The last piece of the office makeover has been completed. Saturday night, Hubs and I ordered a new couch and end table to create my perfect knitting space. Big comfy couch, bright light for knitting by, and a place to set down my knitting if the urge to nap arises. I can't wait for the couch to be delivered; we've worked so hard on the office and just want to enjoy it now!

I was off work Friday and had no plans excluding an afternoon hair appointment. All afternoon and evening, I schlumped around the house wearing an oversized long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans with really fancy curled hair. All afternoon and evening, I was glued to the last few episodes of The L Word Season 1 and Battlestar Galactica Season 1 while knitting Hub's socks. After 6 or so hours, here's my progress on the first sock:

The Neverending Sock

Friday and Saturday night, I worked on Cozy. It grew considerably to 28 inches. After every 8 row repeat, I kept holding it up to the light to admire my handiwork. This is a beautiful pattern!


Length view


I'm ready for my close-up!

Any plans for knitting yesterday were thwarted by a migraine. instead of knitting, I slept and was very addle-brained. Eventually, I did pick up Hub's sock and knitted a few rows. Nothing major.

I'm toying with the idea of posting weekly reviews of knitting notions, books, yarn, and the like. Stay tuned and perhaps I'll start this week :)

Roonil Wazlib

What the heck is that topic you may ask. It means, I want to break into sweater knitting. Specifically, I'd like to knit a Weasley sweater for me. Or, Wazlib sweater if your self correcting quill stops working. :) I'm thinking a dark blue tweedy colored yarn. I can't make up my mind on having the big initial on the front though. Can't help but think that the least thing I need on my torso is a big "C" meant for "Christina" but only looks like its for "chest". Thoughts, oh dear readers??

Tagged

I’ve been tagged for my top 7 songs as Loki mentioned in comments. Having a rather musical ear, I’ll stick with the songs that I like the most for musical merit and not personal emotional value. Assuming the Strongbad "Techno" email is out of running as a song, here are my top 7 in no particular order:

1. It's Magic by Eric Dolphy: Jazz flute/sax/bass clarinet(!!!) musician from the '60s. That guy could rock, errr, honk a bass clarinet! This song is a beautiful example of his wonderfully expressive technique.
2. Golden Slumbers by The Beatles: Ugh, how to pick my favs from my absolutely most favored band? I'm stuck on the lyrics for this song at the moment. Dark yet comforting at the same time.
3. I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles: Simple, I love the bassline and have spent great amounts of time trying to get my clumsy self to be able to replicate it. Bah on my gimpy left hand pinkie finger!!
4. A Mad Russian's Christmas by Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Ok, yeah it’s technically Christmas music, but I love the blend of orchestral and rock music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
5. Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC: Great driving song. One of the few AC/DC songs that has a small bass break.
6. In My Room by The Beach Boys: I absolutely love three and four part harmonies and, in my opinion, this song has a wonderful use of harmonies. The idea of having a protective, cocoon-like “world where I can go and tell my secrets to” describes how I feel about my home. 
7. I Will Survive by Cake: No, not the original girl power disco version. I love the bassline in Cake’s version.

I am the non-forwarder of forwards, the breaker of chain letters, the shredder of junk mail; thus, I tag no one. Have a good one, ya'll!

Gettin' Cozy

Spring is in the air, and snow is on the ground. Indiana didn’t get the memo that spring starts today, and now our nice budding trees are buried in snow. At least I don’t feel guilty about knitting in weather like this!

Cozy grew a bit over the weekend. I’ve finally gotten into the groove of knitting it. Rather than hunching over the dining room table scrutinizing a web printout of the pattern, I set up my music stand by the couch in the office and wrote each pattern line on a separate piece of cardstock. Much better, well, as long as Bandit doesn’t battle me for the prime spot on the couch. Oh, and can I just say that the Knitpicks Andean Silk is WAY easier to knit with than the Andean Treasure? Not splitty at all! Cozy is now 14 over inches in length. Two skeins down, 7 more to go!

Bandit getting cozy with Cozy

Also on the needles are the Hub socks. I made a bit of progress on these Friday night while playing D&D, but frogged it after seeing that I didn’t like the stitch pattern. Let me just tell you how painful it was to rip out 5-6 rows of 90 stitches on teensy needles with twisty yarn. Gads!

Speaking of twisty yarn, I knitted something from stashed Cascade Superwash yarn over the past few nights. My mom lamented to me on the phone Sunday night that her Irish hiking fingerless gloves were starting to felt on the palms since she’s been wearing them so much. I told her that I’d knit another set for her to ease her concern for her beloved fingerless gloves. Mom likes to seam them herself, so here’s the “finished” product after a few hours of cussin’ at twisty, hard on the hands yarn. Luckily, after knitting two (now three) sets of wrist warmers, scarf, and three iPod cozies, the Irish Hiking pattern is embedded in my brain permanently.


Just nevermind the dog fur

Secret to My Success

I finally learned the trick for me to successfully knit the Cozy shawl pattern. I had to knit something harder than it before I could do a simple lace pattern. Prior to knitting the DNA Scarf, it was taking me around 3-4 hours of quiet concentration to complete an 8 row repeat of Cozy with carrying a lifeline every other row. Heck, tonight I was able to rip out three repeats while watching CSI and some shows on HGTV. Looks like I should be able to finish it before Mother's Day now!!

Warm Fuzzies

This week, I've had a lot of warm, fuzzy moments. Saturday, I started a pair of socks for Hubs. After pouring over the few stitch patterns I felt comfortable tackling, I asked him for his input. To that he replied that he had no preference and for me to pick something I'd enjoy making and he'd wear them if I made them. Awww.

Monday night, I had to completely step outside my comfort zone and spoke my concerns in front of a bunch of people (details on this entry to my personal blog). Afterwards, I called my dad and told him about the situation to vent and get guidance. Dad told me that he's proud of me for taking the actions that I did. That really means a lot to me :)

Tonight, I have literal warm fuzzies. The DNA scarf is finished and blocked. Blocking it helped 100%; evened out some wonky areas and blended the cable and ribbed sections.

Scarf spread out on the dining room table


Finally!! Detailed pictures of the cable

I love how this scarf turned out. It really stretched my abilities and was a great challenge. The Knitpicks Andean Treasure yarn really looks lovely knitted and is super soft. It was kind of splitty and a bit of a pain to fix mistakes though.

Next project up will be blowing the dust off Cozy and continuing on the Hub socks.


Wee sock beginnings watching Ghosthunters with me tonight

Sign my Frappr map, please :D

Fooey on Deadlines Anyway

Ok, so my artificial knitting due dates didn't work for me. Apparently, even when I try not to be, I'm a process knitter, not a product knitter. Oh well.

I did get quite a bit of knitting time in this weekend. I cast on a pair of socks for Hubs in the grey Knitpicks Essentials yarn. Not much to show, only about half an inch of k1p1 on double pointed needles. OhhhOohh!

The DNA scarf saw quite a bit of knitting time, too. Only one more cable repeat and 8 rows of moss stich left. And blocking, I have to get it to lie flat!

Only one repeat left!

Don't get me wrong, I've really enjoyed knitting this pattern. However, I had my first major cussin' session with it on Sunday morning. I learned a valuable lesson, don't attempt knitting charted cables without caffeine while watching Mythbusters. Somehow, I increased one stitch and couldn't find my mistake for over 45 minutes. *grumble* Eventually, I just started ripping it out and it was fixed. Woot!

I also spent quite a lot of time oogling the shawl patterns in the Folk Shawls book I picked up Friday. I think the Sarah Blanch, Aran Pocket, and "Oh-My-God-They-Killed-Kenny" shawls all go on my must knit list.

In blog related news, please sign my Frappr map. The link is located to the um...right side (sorry had to tell my left from my right there) under the Knit Alongs & Webrings section. I love those maps and thought I'd set one up for my little blog, too :)


Bandit quickly tired of modeling his new bed

Stumbles and Falls on Her Way to the Plate

Well, CRAP. There's just simply no way I'll be able to finish the DNA scarf today. I was lulled by the sweet siren song of sleep and did so for around eleven hours. Whoopsie! Oh, plus I forgot that my SUV REALLY REALLY needs and oil change. I'm surprised its not mumbling "oil can...oil can" at me like the Tin Man. Depending on what we have to do this weekend, maybe it will be done by Sunday night. *sigh*

Here's my progress after last night, only four more cable repeats to go!

Steppin' Up to the Plate

I'm timeboxing myself tonight. Its a work time management approach that's helped me hit deadlines. I've given myself the deadline of finishing up the DNA scarf by tomorrow night. It has been on the needles for what, three weeks? Time to kick myself out of being a process knitter and finish the scarf before spring starts :)

Tonight, I picked up Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. After browsing through the patterns in the store, I fell in love with the Kilkenny Cable and Aran Pocket shawls. Can't help but mentally call the Kilkenny shawl the "Oh-my-God-They-Killed-Kenny" shawl. Guess that's a must knit item for me, pretty and a South Park overtone.

Back to the DNA scarf and hours of Tivoed CSI episodes!

75% There

Office renovations are almost finished. I've moved all my office stuff back in and all the computers are set back up. I nearly started having the shakes after no internet connection at home since Saturday night!

Here's the nearly finished product; click the picture for an enlarged version pointing out the improvements yet to be made.

The paint we used was American Tradition from Lowe's in "shark loop". Love that name! The desks are from Office Max's Revolution set. New TV was the only one that would fit that was in stock in Best Buy last night. Tasks left to do will be to take the spare desk and couch away, set up my bright knitting light, and order a new couch. Prime knitting space :D

Speaking of knitting, I've made a bit of progress on the DNA scarf. Its to the middle ribbing. Half of the cable pattern is completed!


Half the DNA scarf watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire tonight

More knitting coming up this week!!

Strange Silence

This week’s posting will be rather scarce. Hubs and I are finally decorating our office with freshly painted walls and all new office furniture. All of our computers are unplugged and stored on the dining room table, so no way for me to give updates from home. Needless to say, no knitting is going on until we finish the room. However, I’m hoping to get a comfy new sofa and bright lamp for a little knitting spot for me in the office. I’ll update when we’re finished with the room.

Oh, the Humanity

The Scene: Last Saturday night, our laundry room. Enter tired knitter to take out a load of delicates including the superwash wool Olympic socks (her first pair. Mood is hopeful.

Knitter: Hrm, these sweaters said "Handwash Only" but they're made from cotton. I say that's safe for the washer and dryer.

Knitter takes 3 sweaters out of the washer

Knitter: Cool, sweaters came out ok. Just lemme grab my socks from the bottom of the basin.

Knitter stretches over the washer, grabs the socks, and a look of horror comes over her face. She holds one of the socks in front of her face; its nearly as big as her head.

Knitter: OMG! These socks are big enough for an elephant and are paper thin and holey!

Knitter tries desperately to smush the socks back into shape for drying. Five minutes pass and the socks are nearly dry and no smaller.

Knitter: Crap! I have to shrink these. How can I shrink these??

Knitter looks to her right and sees the destroyer of many well fitting clothes, the dryer

Knitter: Well, they have to get smaller somehow.

Knitter hopefully chucks the socks into the dryer. Ten minutes later.

Knitter: Eureka! My socks are whole and human-sized again! Thanks, dryer!!

Close scene, Knitter exit stage laundry room door

One major lesson learned by me, Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock yarn should be knit on needles smaller than US#2.

Yarrrrrrn

New Yarn!

Woo-hoo! Knitpicks sock yarn was delivered this afternoon. I was a bit amiss to see the entire box CRAMMED into the mailbox though. I had to put my SUV in park, lean out the window, and pull with both hands an inch at a time to free the yarn. Really have to wonder if it was easier to smush the box into the mailbox rather than, say, leave it on the doorstep. *groan* Anyhoo, grey yarn is for Hub's socks and the dark blue is for mine. The beige will find a new home with my mom as a pair of socks for my little sister. Apparently, the sock bug is contagious. I must be carrying a particularly virulent strain of sock knitting bug as my grandmother in Pennsylvania wants to pick up "Sensational Knitted Socks" to brush up on sock knitting (and get that whole heel turning thing).

I haven't been knitting much this week as my right thumb joints and wrist took to making odd popping noises Monday and having a migraine last night. I have three out of ten finished repeats on the DNA scarf, not too much progress for me unfortunately. However, I did stop by a yarn store last night and picked up the baby blanket pattern and got notions for the blanket and new socks. Lots of projects lined up, just not enough time!


Hey..is the flash on?? *click* Ouch, yeah it is.