Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Only 2.....

Wow....I have ONLY 2 wip's OTN right now! This feels weird. This is new. I normally have 5 or 6 WIP's going at any one time...having so few is going to take some getting used to. This feels weird, and yet I still don't have the urge to cast on any new projects right now. This is very weird...lol

First, we have the Earl Grey socks I'm knitting for DH's birthday gift. I had gotten caught up in finishing Adamas, so these socks got conveniently 'forgotten' about for a few days.....oops. Now I'm back to working on them and I'm only on sock #1, but I only have another inch to knit in pattern before I start the toe. I tried this sock on DH's foot last night, and it was SOOOO pretty. The cables were beautiful and it looked like a really good fit (so far...lol)

And here we have the beginnings of some really pretty socks for me. The pattern is 'Carolina, Last Queen of Naples' by Monkey-Toes. The pattern is beautiful, easy, and fun to work. The yarn, however, is just WOW. It's from Yarn Lust on etsy, and it's her Merino/Tencel 50/50 blend in the Melancholy colorway. Absolutely stunning shades of Green, Pink, and Blue. I HIGHLY recommend this seller, she was really nice and I had the yarn in my hands 2 days after placing my order. Plus, there were some extra goodies in my package that were MUCH appreciated. I will definitely be buying from her again.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Ribbit.....Ribbit.....

I've decided that my Icarus Shawl is going to go off to the frog pond. I was moving papers around last night, and my post-it that I was using to keep track of how many pattern repeats I had done and what row I was on got lost. I could very easily figure out what row I was on by looking at my stitches and comparing what I see to the chart, but I still have no idea how many pattern repeats I have done. Plus, I did have a bit of a mistake several inches ago (that I was going to fudge with a darning needle and yarn before blocking) but If I frog, then all of these little problems go away. I wasn't completely happy with it, so that makes it easier to frog. I'll probably start on another Icarus soon.

Friday, January 25, 2008

That was F&*#@!$ Quick!

So....6 hours later and it's completely dry! My lace weight Peacock Feathers shawl took twice as long to dry, that's why I was worried that Adamas wouldn't be dry before bedtime tonight.

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!! I love it! This is one of my most favorite projects that I've knit. I think, though, that may have more to do with the absolutely gorgeous yarn than with the pattern.

Screw Waiting....

I decided to go ahead and use the pins. This morning I put Adamas in a nice bath, and then put an old comforter on my bed and pinned out the shawl. I have a fan on it in hopes that Adamas is dry before DH and I want to go to bed tonight.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Done! but not finished......

My Adamas Shawl. I completed the knitting of it this morning, but I still need to block it. I started on this project a few days after Christmas, so it took just barely under a month to knit this. I really enjoyed this pattern. It was simple and straightforward, and yet still busy enough to hold my attention and keep me interested in knitting it.

The pattern is written for Lace weight yarn and size US5 needles. But I wanted to use yarn I already had, and I've been wanting a shawl thicker than lace weight, so I decided to use a fingering weight yarn (BMFA STR lightweight in Korppi) and size US6 needles. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I can't wait to get it blocked. Problem is, I want to block it NOW, but I hate doing all of those pins and I don't have any blocking wires. So, I have to decide if I want to just suck it up and use the pins, or wait until I can buy some blocking wires, which could be a few weeks.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

He's a Dirty Trash can Full of Poop..........

So, the kids are watching 'Surf's Up', and one of the little kid penguins says "He's a dirty trash can full of poop" about the movie's bad guy, and I thought it was just a really cute line. Come on....read it to yourself in a tiny cute little kid voice. The cuteness of it all will put a smile on your face :)

Anyway...
I've started working on a pair of socks for DH's upcoming birthday. DH's birthday is on February 4th, so I've got a few weeks to get these done. I'm knitting him the Earl Grey sock pattern form the Yarn Harlot. The cables are difficult to see unless the sock is on, but once the sock is on, the cables are beautiful. I was going to say more about these socks, but before I could write it one of the kids needed me and now I can't remember what it was. I hate it when that happens.

I'm still working on my Adamas shawl, and with every stitch I fall deeper in love with the yarn I'm using. BMFA did a wonderful job with their Raven series, and the shades of green and purple they have in the Korppi colorway are BEAUTIFUL! The shawl still looks like the last pic I posted of it, it's just a few repeats larger now.

And, as for Icarus......oops. I haven't worked on it in the past week. I've been having too much fun with Adamas and Earl Grey.

Friday, January 04, 2008

What's the strangest....

If you have some kind of stat counter on your blog, what are the strangest search keywords used that have landed someone on your blog? Looking at the search keyword list on my stat counter, I've come to realize that there are very few people who can spell 'Little Bunny Foo Foo' correctly, and there are a surprising amount of people out there looking for pictures of a Baboon's Ass. The strangest one on my search keywords list, is Whip Porn. That guy got to see a post of mine titled 'WIP's and Yarn Porn'....lol That must have been a disappointment for him....LMAO

I want to say thank you to those who have commented and emailed me to wish me well. I have high hopes that this antibiotic is kicking this infections ass. It's stronger than the one I had before, and this one is supposedly designed to stay in a persons system fighting bacteria for two weeks after they finish the pills. I have another Dr's appointment soon, so we'll find out then how things stand. At this point I'm just hoping that the repeated ear infections haven't caused any permanent damage to my ear.


Despite my ear/sinus crap, I have been knitting.
I've started an Adamas Shawl using my STR lightweight in Korppi. I am currently on my sixth repeat of chart 2. It's really working up quickly, and it's a rather simple pattern, so it's good for working on during the evening while DH and I watch movies. I tried to get a good pic of all the subtle colors in the yarn, but I couldn't come close. In this pic, you can clearly see certain shades of the purple, but there are several more subtle shades of purple, and a few subtle shades of green, too. This yarn is really beautiful.


I also have a FO. The Anastasia Socks are finished. They are going to be given to my best friend for her birthday (which was on the 2nd, but between illness and work we haven't had time to get together to celebrate yet). I finished these on the 1st, so they were a pretty quick project (just about 1 1/2 weeks). I think I'm going to knit a pair for myself. This is a pretty pattern for showing off multi-colored sock yarns, and have several of those in my stash waiting patiently to be used.