Sunday, September 28, 2008

AGH!!!!!

Ok. I'm taking deep breaths.

Remember the first sock I made for my dad's Christmas present this year? Remember how the yarn pooled on the leg, then striped perfectly on the heel and foot?


Remember how some people said, it happens, yarn pools. I accepted it and moved on.

I moved on to sock #2 and now look:
The damn thing is striping perfectly!!!!! Which means, it's not the yarn, it's ME!!!!!

And now I have to rip out the first sock and redo it, in the vain hope I can recreate my gauge and hope the yarn stripes. Otherwise, they'll look really, really silly. So much for getting a jump on my Christmas knitting. Am so annoyed! So annoyed I say!!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's coming...

It's almost here. I've been dreading it for months. And now I can see it. Literally see it.


(The scaffolding is just on the other side of my unit.)

The building we live in is under construction for some major renovations on the exterior. Two of the other buildings are all ready all wrapped up. It doesn't look pretty. At least it doesn't look pretty from the outside. I'm sure it's even uglier from the inside. But I'll be able to give you an official report on that in a few days I'm sure.

Meet Joss

Hello world. This is Joss. And she's sporting her new hat.
It's a little big now, but luckily she lives in Idaho where it's good hat wearin' weather a lot of the time.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

It's here! It's finally here!

After 8-10 long weeks, the yarn for my February Lady sweater is in! And it's so pretty! It's New Leaf Aurora Merino Wool. But before I can start it, I need to turn this:

into a baby sweater. I'm going to make the Easy Baby Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman. It's a smaller version of the February Lady sweater so it'll be good practice. I just hope baby Joss and I don't wear our sweaters out on the same day. How embarrassing would that be?

Project Update: Kellan's Quilt

After a day of trimming, pressing, sewing, a lot of ripping out, some minor swearing (surprising I know) and one broken sewing machine needle, the binding on Kellan's quilt is finally on. I see the light at the end of this long, fabric tunnel. And I'm happy to see it.
When the hubby came in and saw me working on the quilt, this is the conversation that we had:
Hubby: "Wow, what is that."
Me: "It's Kellan's quilt."
Hubby: "Isn't he like in junior high?"
Me: "Close, he's two and half."

Almost out of blankey time. I better get sewing.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Christmas '08 Project Update:

Dad's sock. One down.
One to go.
Stay tuned.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Silencing my inner Martha Stewart

I was invited to participate in a cupcake smack down this weekend. A cupcake baking contest to see who could bake, create, whip up the best cupcake. All week I kept thinking, I gotta figure out what to make. I gotta get to the store. But when Saturday afternoon got here (my allotted store/baking time), a funny thing happened. I really didn't feel like baking. Despite that I had found a fabulous recipe and was ready to bake, I just didn't want to. But I felt I had to bring something to the party. Now, for you those of you who know me, you know how I love to channel my inner Martha Stewart. But today, I wanted to keep her quiet. And that's when the hubby and I hatched this plan:


Yes, that's right, those are the Hostess Cupcakes, Ding Dongs and Twinkies that you remember from your childhood (or maybe still eat). We showed up at the party and saw the counter top full of all kinds of deliciously looking homemade goodness. I proudly took off the tin foil and said, "I call these, "Silencing my inner Martha." then I put down the patter as everyone said, "Awesome" and someone reached for a Twinkie.


The cupcakes were all delicious and pretty to look at. There was even a contest; Best of Show, Best Cake, Best Frosting. Me, I took home the title of Best Effort.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Possibly the cutest thing ever...

could be this hat.
Project: Lilly's Hat from Stitchmarker
Yarn: Hat - Nashua Chunky Wool/Alpaca in Espresso
Rose - Shibuiknits in Blossom
Needles: Hat - 6 DPN Rose - 2 DPN

This projects calls for size 10 needles, but I started on 8's and it just looked so big. I ripped out and started over on the 6's. It still looked really big, so I switched to the DPNs instead of the circs and it made all the difference. It's a super easy project as I did the hat, first rose and leaf in a day of good relaxing!
This hat is for a sweet little baby girl who arrived a few weeks early and caught my knitting a bit off guard! Now it's time to hunker down and get to her sweater!