catch up

Hello friends!

It snowed all day yesterday and it was so beautiful. The snow plows must have been down our road at least once, but with all the cars parked on the street, they can't clear it all. We helped two people push their cars out today! I've realized what I really like about winter is a deeper sense of community. When I see people shoveling their sidewalks it makes me happy because they are, in part, doing it for the welfare of others.

anyway... now to share all of the recent finished objects that I have finally photographed :)

The first is a test knit that I waited to share until the pattern was released.

The pattern is Frostweed by Julie Zaichuk-Ryan and it is a lovely textured mitt.

I used some yarn I had dyed last summer and a complimentary color also from stash.

They are super cozy and squishy. A very satisfying knit!


Another project I finished awhile ago, with a not very good photo at all:

Pattern: Pendulum by Amy Miller
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk in Turquoise and Charcoal

I am not entirely happy with this shawl. I think in part it's the yarn. Though it has beautiful drape, the wrapped stitches stand out like eye sores when the it's laid flat. I just felt the yarn was too slippery for my taste, which I suppose is the silk. I do like wearing the shawl wrapped around like a scarf.

Project: I ♥ Canada a basic vanilla pattern
Yarn: ONline Supersocke 4-fach Walking Color
Needles: 2.25 mm

These socks received their name because this is yarn I purchased on our Canada vacation last summer! I am wearing the socks now and they are already favorites. They have a well worn feel to them, that favorite sock feel, without looking worn out. I love them. I will have to find this yarn again!

I knit this pair one at a time. I am trying to always have a single, vanilla sock on the needles at all times. It's just perfect for taking along.

a modified eye of the partridge heel

This is pair five of thirteen this year :)

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: iKNITiatives in Visions of Spring Flowers
Needle: 2.25 mm
Modifications: used a Fish Lips Kiss Heel
Pair 6/13

I entered this one into the Ravellenics's Sock Hockey! I am super stoked I finished them in time. But honestly...they were so fun to knit! Once I gained confidence in myself, I was able to knit the chart quicker and even memorized it towards the end.

Fish Lips Kiss heel

 oh! and what's on the needles now:

It's Zwerger Garn Opal Vincent van Gogh in The Red Vineyards at Arles, based off of colors from its namesake painting:

via wikipedia

one of my favorite yarns for many reasons xx


It's Bookclub tonight and I'm hosting so I had better finish getting ready :) have you read the Mortal Instruments series?? I am obsessed. 

bye! xx

skiing the snowglobe

I have quite a few projects to share but they will have to wait until next time. I came down with the crud at the beginning of the week and haven't been up for taking photos. Even worse, my coworker is also very sick so I had to cover her shifts this week.... thankfully I had Friday off and spent the whole day resting. I have been knitting and reading a lot - I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. It is excellently written and I highly recommend it :) I started the second book last night and am already halfway through!

The weekend before I became sick, Scott and I had a few days off together and we went cross country skiing! I have only skied once before, and that was on a high school field trip, but I loved it!! I am so happy we finally went... it was gorgeous at the pass. We love snow and it was renewing to be around so much of it.

Lolo Pass is only about fifty miles from us and it's a place Scott grew up around.

I only fell a few times, which I am very proud of :) the first day we went, it was sunny. The second day we went, it snowed the entire time!!!

it was so peaceful.

During all that car time, I made good progress on a pair of socks :) here is an Instagram photo of them finished:

sort of :) Berny wanted to enhance the photo xx

hope you are all well, don't catch my cold!

sock drawer claims one more

Woo! one more day in this work week for me! I covered a few days for my co-worker and so I will have a four day weekend :)

I finished a pair of socks that are perfect for Valentine's Day:

Pattern: Socks on a Plane by Laura Linneman
Yarn: A Yarn Loving Mama in Volcano of Love
Modifications: I used a Fish Lips Kiss Heel instead of pattern's written heel
this is pair four of thirteen pairs I hope to knit this year!

I learned to cable without a needle and that was pretty thrilling :) It made it much faster to knit and waaay less fiddly.

the heel:

I really enjoyed learning how to knit the Fish Lips Kiss Heel and it fits me very well. I want to knit more socks with this heel!

   

As far as WIPs, I knit on I ♥ Canada a lot this week:

(sshhhh...I knit on it while I was working... I kept it with my coat in the file room, and every time I needed a little destressing, I knit a few rows....)


and I cast on a pair of Monkeys:

It is a pattern I've been meaning to knit for a long time and am finally doing it! The yarn is handdyed by iKNITiatives and the colorway is called Visions of Spring Flowers. 

This pair is for Sock Hockey in the Ravellenics! Are you playing? 

About the knitting journal, it was a gift from a friend:

the front

I have never kept a knitting journal before, but now that I am, I find it incredibly handy. I glue the tag with a sample of the yarn to each project page, along with pattern information, modifications, amount of yarn used, and so on. In the first few pages, there's a list of the monthly sock patterns I want to knit, and on another is a record of things I have actually knit this year.


The first Ravellenic project I completed was an Aerial Unwind:

I decided Rockefeller just wasn't for me. It's a little nostalgic, as it was my first mystery KAL.... but I'm over it!! I plan to dye the white yarn, and knit socks from the other two skeins! The yarn is Mountain Colors if anybody is curious.

Doesn't the middle skein remind you of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles??


In other news, it appears Knit Picks is discontinuing their Felici sock line, or at least, discontinuing all current colorways and possibly returning with new colorways. It frustrates me that a public announcement is never made about yarns they will no longer make.

I did panic..... :

I hope everybody stays warm and dry this week! xx

Spring is Coming!

hehe... I knew that if I made a fuss about our spring-like winter something would happen...and it snowed!! I am very, very happy :) We are also expected to receive below zero weather this week so I'm planning to make some crock pot stews soon.

Last night I finished my Spring is Coming socks:

Pattern: an improvised, basic vanilla sock, 64 stitches, cuff down
Yarn: Crazy Zauberball in Spring is Here
Needles: 2.25 mm Hiya Hiya Sharps, 32" circular
3/13 pairs for 2014

I LOVE them! The Crazy Zauberball is my new favorite yarn. There is just something wonderful and cozy and happy about how the color changes from one to the next...

 

I still very much enjoyed knitting these one at a time, and I'm planning my next OAAT pair.

I am still working on Socks on a Plane. I knit my first Fish Lips Kiss Heels on them and it went so well! I forgot to take a photo, but maybe next time I blog they will be finished! The FLK heel fits me very well and I am planning to use it again. However, one of my problems with toe up socks is the soles always end up longer than a pair that was knit cuff down! Does that make sense? It drives me nuts when I wash the week's worth of socks, and I can tell which ones were knit toe up. They still fit me well, but the foot really grows when wet. Where I am going with this is, these Socks on a Plane socks have super long feet!!! I suppose my remedy is to just start the heel sooner. Does this happen to anyone else?

Last week I noticed I had forgotten to cross a cable about twenty rows down. At first I was going to leave it because I didn't think I would be able to fix it! I did a little Googling, frogged down, and am so glad I did!!

It was very thrilling and so much easier than I expected. The biggest thing is being able to read the cable and know when to cross. I used two dpns to rework the stitches.


I have learned my yarn diet lesson: it does more harm than good...

from left to right: Liberty's Yarn Jabbersocky in Yule, Liberty's Yarn Sockingbird in Montol, Black Market Wool in No Use for a Name and H2 Go, iKNITiatives in Visions of Spring Flowers


I think I would have similar results if I ever went on a real diet. No chocolate bar or bowl of gravy would be safe. 

It's safe to say I'm ditching my yarn diet. I did go about one whole month without any yarn purchases though :) and then I went waaaaay overboard (I still have a box coming in the mail). I did look at my expenses in January and am planning a budget (this is boring stuff, I know). It will feel better buying yarn without overspending.

Ok! I must make a taco dip to bring to the Superbowl Party!!
Go Peyton! :)
xx