The matches are out!

The knittyboard SP6 matches that is. I just got mine and sent off a super-secret email....and no....I'm not going to tell you who it is just in case she's good at snooping on the internet for info. So now I'm very excited to hear from my upstream SP. *sigh* Maybe there'll be a message when I get up in the morning.

So....updates since I went to SoP today and actually got some knitting done.

I finished the heel gusset on my second twisted swing dancing sock. This second one is taking forever! I feel like zoomed through the first and this one's just dragging. I want to get it done for sit and knit on Thursday though.


My leaf lace shawl in Tidepool has been languishing in a ziploc bag for the last month or so. Finally pulled it out today and did a whole pattern repeat while I was at SoP. Also discovered that my dental floss will not work as a lifeline with this yarn. Poo. So folks, watch as I attempt to knit lace without the use of a lifeline. Kids, don't try this at home. It'll only end in tears. But here it is in all of it's noodley glory because someone on the knitty boards wanted to see what lace looked like unblocked. Lovely.


Started the ombre alpaca blanket from LMKG tonight. I'm modifying it slightly since I bought local alpaca yarn that's a worsted weight and they only had 4 colors available instead of the 7 the pattern calls for. I'm about 4 inches into the first stripe using the natural dark brown and it's just luscious. Like knitting a big cup of rich brown coffee.


And house hunting had a slight set-back when the house I wanted to see this weekend was very suddenly taken off the market due to an offer being accepted. Double poo. Guess I'll have to keep looking.

Off to bed with me!

promises, promises

And here I am! A woman of my word....a little late, but better late than never. I come bearing pictures of FOs and luscious sock yarn. We'll go oldest to youngest this time.

First up is the Cleaves that I made last summer after my yarn vacation. It's out of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Persian Peacock, a beautiful rich teal color. The picture stinks, but I forgot to have my mom take a picture of me in it while she was here this weekend so I had to resort to the bad bathroom mirror pictures. Please ignore the little light colored spots...shows how badly I need to clean my bathroom mirror.


Next up is my Mango Moon sari silk shawl. So pretty and distinctive and it can double as a really long scarf. I didn't get pictures of the scarf that I made for a coworker out of the leftovers, but it was the same stitch pattern, only narrower.


Next on the runway is my beat-up old teddy bear Gus. Gus helped my through many tough times in collage, and is looking a little worse for wear because of it, but he can still model a baby sweater with the best of them. This is the child's placket sweater out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts knit in Knitpicks' Crayon in red. I did the smallest size and it only took about 1 1/2 balls of yarn. This is going to get mailed to my cousin this week along with the spiral baby blanket I made and posted about months ago.


And just so you can see the lovely grey January sky here, I decided to take a picture of my mini-sweater outdoors. I still don't have the button sewn on, just held on with a safety pin, so I still need to attach that and sew a snap on the inside since I'm kind of going for the double breasted look here. Other people must have bigger rib cages than I do, but I like how it looks. I may still do some sort of edging around the bottom and the sleeves, but for now it's done. This was the minisweater off of Glampyre's website done in some some superwash La Perfecta from Textiles A Mano. Got this yarn on the yarn vacation too.


Not exactly an FO, but getting there. My twisted rib socks in Knitpicks' Dancing yarn in Swing. So they're my twisted swing dancing socks.


And now for the sock yarn. Be ready to drool. Maybe put a towel over your keyboard for protection.


I apologize for the bad lighting. But it's the best I can do for almost 10 PM. Seven skeins of assorted Socks That Rock and Cherry Tree Hill. Left to right we have STR Carbon Dating, STR Fire on the Mountain, CTH Peacock, STR Carbon, CTH Northern Lights, STR Ruby Slippers, and STR Lapis. I just want to pet them and snuggle them for a while.


And I finally made it to Touche this weekend with my mom. Bought a whole bunch of Alpaca to make the Ombre Alpaca Blanket from LMKG and two balls of some locally dyed superwash wool in a color called Fairy Forest. Then we went to SoP and I bought three balls of Noro Aurora in a grey/cream/brown colorway to make an entrelac scarf (like your's Erin, but I'm going to make mine narrower).

And there you have it. Enjoy! Don't expect an update like this for a good long while because I need to do some serious knitting and whittle the stash down....and I've signs up for SP6 on the knitty board so that will keep me busy for a while.

updates and a promise

I managed to finish my first twisted sock when I met a coworker at SoP on Monday. I'm about an inch into sock 2 right now. And that's all that I'm working on at the moment. All other projects are stalled.

I've been impatiently waiting for all of the lovely yarn I ordered to arrive. I got two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill supersock in Peacock and Northern Lights. Those came about 2 days after I ordered them. Then I was bad and visited the Socks That Rock website....and ordered 5 different colors. I finally got the confirmation that they had been shipped this Tuesday, a week and a day after I ordered them. I'm really hoping that they come today so I can take them to sit and knit tonight for everyone to oooh and aaah over. Got one skein each of Carbon Dating, Carbon, Fire on the Mountain, Ruby Slippers, and Lapis. At least one of these is destined to become the Jaywalker socks.

And now for my promise. Ahem. *raises right hand* I promise that I will take pictures of all the pretty yarn and every single one of my finished projects that I haven't posted yet (if I can find them all) and post them by Sunday afternoon. So I'll see you all on Sunday!

and again

Another load of dishes done. Yet I still manage to have dirty dishes in this sink. How does that happen? I haven't eaten a meal since I loaded the dishwasher. I'm baffled.

Turned the heel of my twisted dancing socks at SoP last night. I'm working my way out the gusset right now and I've got about ten rows to go before that's done. Really want to get that out of the way before I go to bed this morning.

progress at work

Monday night at work, I got to sit in a 1:1 for the last 8 hours of the shift. I managed to completely finish my dad's hat (the Yarn Harlot's hat that she posted just before Christmas) and start on the twisted rib socks out of my Dancing yarn. This pattern is so easy that I can't believe I didn't try it sooner. I'm already about 3 1/2" down the leg and I might get the heel turned tonight if I pop the second half of Fellowship into the dvd player.

Other stuff done....finally got the Chistmas tree down and packed away in it's box. Put all my clean clothes away. Cleaned out the clothes in my closet that either a) no longer fit or b) that I haven't worn since I moved here 18 months ago. There was quite a pile and I'm going to drive it to the hospital in the morning. One of the day shift nurses is going to take any clothes people want to donate along with the Christmas present to our bosses (any money we contributed) to a local women's shelter. We do the donation thing in our bosses' names every year rather than 40 plus people giving them a bunch of knick-knacky stuff.

All in all, it's been a good night.

*sob*

Decided to try on my Conwy sock just to see how much farther I had to go for the foot. The stupid thing wouldn't fit over my instep!!! So it had to be ripped out completely. No salvaging was possible. So the Bittersweet shepard sock has gone back in the drawer and is now serving a timeout.

I'm going to take my Swing Dancing sock yarn to work tonight and start some twisted socks like the ones my mom knit me for Christmas. It's a free pattern at knitpicks and since I already own a pair, I know that it'll fit me.

Now excuse me while I go drown my sorrows in a cup of tea and the end of Apollo 13.

slogging away

Not much done in the way of knitting lately. Here's the rundown.

Conwy socks
I'm maybe an inch past the heel gusset of sock 1. It's going faster now that I've finally memorized the pattern.

Dad's hat
Making a stocking hat to match his scarf I made him for Christmas. Maybe have 6 inches done.

Leaf Lace Shawl in Tidepool
Just started and I'm loving the color, but dang! I hope I don't go insane from knitting with laceweight yarn.

Peacock Feathers Shawl
Not even started yet. I'm kind of scared of this one now that I've seen the pattern. There's 9 charts. Nine charts!! I knew I was going to have to get over my fear of charts sooner or later, but right now I'd rather it was later. Just need to bite the bullet and get it over with.

Brienna's baby blanket
Bought yarn for this on Friday. And I think I managed to talk her out of the boring dishcloth baby blanket. I'm going to do it in a basketweave pattern instead or I'll go completely insane.

Besides the baby blanket yarn, I also bought 4 1-pound cones of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn. I love having this on hand for making dishclothes and they were such pretty colors...I couldn't resist.