I lurve this yarn!

Paton's SWS, natural plum coloray. It is rockin' my world! Behold some fingerless gloves for my stepmom:

I am going to make her a matching caliometry. Yes, yes I am. Because I am not going to steal the 2nd skein of SWS for my own use! totally!

I am trying to be good and just make myself some mini-warmers from the yarn scraps-- I had to make a mini-warmer to use up enough yarn for the stripe to repeat on her warmer #2, I can't stand it when a 2part thing doesn't match. I may get another mini-warmer from the end of the yarn, and I many not. It's OK, I only need one for myself! I DO NOT need to steal the 2nd SWS ball for my own. She needs a matching hat or caliometry. I DON'T NEED ajdjfo@#$%!!!!

maybe I can get christmas pressies done?

enlarged? to show detail....


Well, the OSU dishrag was done a while ago... but the apple one (on the right) was started yesterday, finished today. So maybe I can get a couple-three done by next week? The purple one was started at "The Bee Movie" and finished during my interminable wait (2 hrs., no lie) at the doctors.

Oh, and the wad in the upper left is what was left of the skein after the 2 red cloths. I'm afraid the gauge on cloth #2 was a leeeetle tight, in order to ensure there was enough yarn to finish. Dunno what I'm being stingy for, I have 2 more red skeins in the stasheroonie.

Xmas freakout!

I'm a-startin' to shop for the christmas. All the niece/nephs are getting books. Dunno what else I'm buying, I'll decide after the Black Friday ads come round. But the point of this post: as I was thinking about what to get people, I'm all like, "oh, I'll just knit that person a scarf/hat/dishrag." Then I realize AAAAAA xmas in 1 mo. 6 days AAAAA how will I get it all done???? So the scarf I'd started for me? SHOVE. My poor hubbie's Extermiknit (knitted Dalek?) SHOVE. It's all xmas knitting all the time up in this joint, my kittens.

To that end, I splurged on some Patons SWS for to make my mom a calorimetry. I floated the idea of a headband by her, and she seemed willing to accept one. I hear tell they knit up quick. Then I was thinking, some purple SWS would make a fine hat for my stepmom... or another calorimetry, can't decide. And of course, another ball of red cotton jumped into my bag, for teacher's dishrags. AAAaaaand I was thinking I might finish my former Red Scarf Project red scarf for gifting, and maybe another scarf in uber-chunky yarn (for time's sake) ooooooo! or some of that Homespun I've got left over!!!

With all those projects suddenly jumping to the fore, I'm beginning to think, holy crap. To prioritize, I will probably have to dog off Ravelry, because I find myself just trolling there, reading comments, making comments, playing with the pattern/yarn links. Gotta knit me brains out. I just hope my wrist holds out... just got another shot in it to "calm it down" (that's what my doc always calls it) and it's killing me tonight.

So the game plan: quit goofing around on the Rav; commit to serious progress on each project; have some backup plans just in case; go ahead and take some knitting to work; quit goofing around on the RAV, ALREADY!

Pix of the yarn later, it's very pretty!

I'm a slacker blogger

thanks to Ravelry, and my projects keeping me busy. But let's face it, Ravelry is so much better at keeping track of my projects, with everything indexed and linked. The level of detail you can use is stunning, and far more complete and standardized than my random posts. It's a cataloger's dream. But I still want to maintain my 'blogger cred', and my pithy prose is worth transcribing (HAR DE HAR), so here's my latest project:

A hat for Mr. Nick, in the yarn he picked at the Knitter's Mercantile at their summer sale. It's GGH Bel Air, olive colorway, and it's not plied at all so this hat is going to fuzz to hell and back (esp. how he likes to pull and stretch it.) But, who cares? Yes, the yarn was kinda pricey for a kid's item, but I got it on sale, and he loved it, and loves the subsequent hat. He's worn it non-stop since yesterday, and I love him for it!

Specs: GGH Bel Air, olive, strands held double. It's the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, done on 11 circs, modified with 4 extra stitches around and 3 extra rows long. If it lasts the season I'll be impressed; then I'll make another one next year!

bonus postie

Just had to share my Brain Slug, inspired by Futurama. Cribbed the pattern from a gal on Ravelry. Hubby has thieved it & taken it to work, where it was a big hit. People offered him $$$ for me to make them one-- he declined on my behalf. Specs: Red Heart Super Saver, Spring Green colorway, with trace amounts white/black. Sz 6 dpns; antennae/legs are I-cord, picked up off the body & the ends are tunneled down in, to add bendability. Eye is fake intarsia; I put the white on, carried the green across the back, then picked it up again. At the next row, I would just stretch the white back to the beginning. It's why the eye is puckered! Black dot is duplicate stitch. Oh, and I stuffed him before I finished the head; the pattern calls for stuffing through his bum, but the hole was .5" so yeah, not.

more mittens

Just finished these for Miss Margo, they match her coat. Specs: Wool Ease, azalea pink colorway. Sz 6 dpns, 32 sts for cuff, 36 sts total. 14 sts for thumb. Custom fit to her little mitts.

quickie piccie

A quick roll brim hat, for A4A:

Made out of Licorice yarn, red colorway, 48 sts on sz 13 circs. Already gone out...

A roll brim hat for Margo-Ree, she picked the yarn:

It's done too, just no pix of that (plus isn't the picture of ms. Pringle adorable?) Specs= Lion Brand Boucle Wild Berries colorway, uhhhh... 48? sts on 10.5 circs.

Socks, big whoop, for a future A4A drive:

Specs: Patons Classic Merino, Good Earth colorway, on sz 5 dpns. 36 sts around. I was VERY disappointed in the yarn, because it had a full break in it, AND a frayed almost-break. I started sock 2 & had to stop near the heel because of the first break, then I started a 2nd sock 2 and had to stop in about the same place because of the fray. I started a 3rd sock 2 and FINALLY got a complete sock. Stoopid.

But, I used the partial socks to finish off my masterpiece:

See the handles? Good Earth, yay. This is a felted Candy Corn bag, from the Lion Brand website. I did it in Patons, natch, with White, Paprika, and Old Gold. And I actually felted it! My first felting project and it turned out pretty well. I washed it the hot/cold cycle 3 times, but there's still some stitch definition left. Next time I'll get it better, but for now it's awesome, and I'm no longer afraid of felted projects. woot for me!