Projects for the new year

Now that the 1,000 pound hat on my shoulders is done I feel so light!  I am going to focus on working on my wips (works in projects). I'm currently working on my black shawl. I want to finish this fourth skein before I buy the last four to finish this. It is wider at the top but I can't stretch it out fully because stitches would fall off the needles.

Other projects I plan to work on is a scarf, my blue Rowan shawl, a poncho, and two more shawlettes. Plus I have to fix Grace's stocking. I have a calendar app that I have scheduled a week for each project. 

Once March comes this grand plan may fall apart as I will be going to the Pittsburgh knit and crochet show. Then in may I will go to maryland sheep and Wool Festival. It is the second largest show next to the New York sheep and Wool festival (aka rhinebeck). I fully intend  to run wild and buy a bunch of yarn. I can't wait!!!!!!!!

The hat is done!

2013 knitting completions

 

Finally!

Last night I started the hat! I shocked myself as I cast on and joined in the round by magic loop method and it went perfect!  Usually I have to restart 1-3 times to get it right. I'm quite excited as I have been tired and on stocking burn out. Now I just have to knit ribbing for 

12-1/2 inches. But it's ok because I love ribbing. I am starting to get the itch to start my Pavo-vicuña socks. 

It's done!

I finally finished Hannah's stocking. It took forever. It looks pretty good. I will  never use two strands of acrylic to knit anything ever again. What was I thinking? Now to the hat for Sam and Joel. As I said before they will share the hat. Ultimately it will go to Sam for college. I should be able to whip this hat out pretty quick since it's bulky yarn. I have to decide what needle size to use to make it thick enough. Then on to the socks for me. 

Wool

I have talked a bit about mitts that I made. But nothing I have knit has given me the feelings of deep joy that the Packer mitts gave me. The softness, not fuzzy alpaca/angora softness but it's own deep softness. The way this yarn knits up. It's beautiful! But what sent me over the edge was how warm these mitts are. How incredibly warm merino wool is. Are all wools this warm? 

I could feel myself in a sweater made out of this yarn. The thought of my upper body being as warm as my hands made me swoon. 

The other thing that got me was how stretchy the mitts were. No need for elastic or much ribbing. I just can't get over it. I think I have the mitts out of my system. It's back to the stocking. I finished the heel. Now the final slog to get to the toe. I think the heel looks ok so I will keep it. I don't know how long it will take to finish. I'm anxious because I want to start the hat and my socks. 

More mitts!

I don't know what comes over me but I made another pair of mitts. This time it's a record. I started Friday and finished both on Sunday. It would have been Saturday but the first mitt was too long and I had a hole and I dropped stitch. So I ripped out 2/3 of it and now they look better. 

I got this crazy idea that I wanted something I could wear for the Monday night Packer game. Well now I do! I didn't have a lot of yarn left but enough. I was nervous because I really didn't know if I would have enough. 

More thoughts about mitts

I

I am wearing the mitts I made because my hands are cold. They actually help. But it's my fingertips that really get cold. It got me to thinking maybe I could make myself a pair of warm ones with the flip tops. But for right now my fingertips are warming up. But these are mostly nylon and acrylic. Warm wool would be better. 

But I want the mitts to be hard wearing. I have a nice pair of 100 percent alpaca mittens. They are a bit big due to the nature of alpaca-it has no memory. I bought them for $20 at the wisconsin sheep and wool festival 2 years ago. They are double knit. The top layer developed holes from wearing them driving the car! The friction of the steering wheel on the mittens. I have mended them but they look bad due to the gray alpaca I used. These mittens are amazing when you shovel snow. Warmest things I have. 

I have never been a big fan of bulky weight yarn. But I think I am going to rethink that. The thought of having a thick warm throw as I knit or watch tv is suddenly appealing. Thick mitts or thick socks. I better stop before I cast something on.

Mitts are done!

I finished the mitts. I'm not real happy with the second mitt. I tried a new bind off that is stretchy. It is and i really like it. It was easy to. The thumb does not match. I kept doing seed stitch instead of 1x1 rib. The good thing is I learned something new. I will use this new bind off in almost all my projects.

I want to knit all the things!

As you know I started Hannah's stocking. I didn't get far before I was drawn away by another project. Hand warmers. I made a pair last year and gave them to Hannah who will probably never wear them. I may take them back and give them to Grace and see if she will wear them. Somehow I talked myself into knitting a pair for me quick.

So far they are quick. I just finished one in 3 days and need to sew it up so I can wear it. As soon as I finish the second one I will be a good girl and go back to the stocking. I will post a picture when they are done.

I was looking on Ravelry at all the newly posted patterns as I do everyday. There are that many!  I saw one for boot toppers. I've seen these before but they "sell" them as decorations for the tops of your boots. But this pattern showed them in a practical way. More like leg warmers and they can keep the snow out of your boot legs and if snow does get in it will not make your legs wet. You need to use wool though. Acrylic will soak up the snow and your pants will still be wet. I have this strong desire to knit warm things for winter. It's like a nesting urge. I have a pair of thick socks waiting to be knit. Then came these hand warmers and now these boot toppers. Winter is supposed to be extra cold and snowy this year. I want warm knitted things!!!!! Stupid stocking. Sigh....

It's done!

I finished it on Sunday night. It is not as long as I want it compared to Sam's. I want them all to be the same lenght.  Easy to do. The pattern says to decrease until there are 8 sttiches on each needle. Then I just knit round and round till it is the lenght I want. Then cinch closed. It looks like a stocking! Even though it's far from perfect, can you see how big the heel is? Yuck! I can see fuzzys from the black yarn I used for the lifelines. Lesson learned on that. I hope to remove the fuzzys as I rip it out after Christmas. I am excited that it's done. Now I can start on Hannah's stocking. Her color is more of a teal. I started the white fuzzy top today and will buy the other skein I need on Tuesday, my day off. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pointy sock

Ok, a quick updade on Grace's christmas stocking. How did I not see this sooner? Anyway I was very close to being done only 5 more rounds to go. Then I stopped and looked at it. Why didn't I take a picture? The toe had turned into a point. One side had turned into a 90 degree angle where all the decreases were! It looked stupid.the pattern called for two needles but I thought I could do it with one. Maybe, but I also noticed that I hadn't done the increases right. I was only doing one total when I should have been doing 2 on each side. Why am I such a bad knitter?
So I ripped it back to when I started the decreasing for the toe and used 2 needles (I had 48 stitches total) and put one needle in half the stitches and the other needle in the other half. I used different stitch markers that will not fall out as easy. I also noticed that doing this section will go fast because I will be decreasing 4 stitches each round, 2 per needle. So that made me feel better about ripping back. I really really want to start Hannah's stocking. I was afraid something like this was going to happen.
I also decided that when I am done with this I will hang it up for Christmas but then will take it back, rip it out back to the heel and re-knit the second half till I am happy with it. The heel is much to big. I said I would make them stockings and I want them "hung by the chimney with care".

Wasted time

Well I finished the "wrap" in the paco-vicuna yarn. Lets just say it was a waste of time. I ended up knitting a big square. I knew early on it would end like this but I hoped somehow it would magically grow. I am ripping it out. I decided to make socks out of the yarn. I thought about mitten liners but fear they wouldn't hold up. I found a sock pattern that uses bulky weight yarn. My only concern is I'm afraid wearing them on hardwood floors will be like walking on ice-very slippery. I do want socks badly but these will have to wait until I finish the stocking at least.

I am making more progress slowly on the black shawl. I can't believe how slowly it's going. Every other row it grows by 2 stitches. I'm regretting the stocking because I'm not crazy about how it's looking and I have a self imposed deadline to finish it by the end of the month so I can start Hannah's.

I figure if I finish Hannah's stocking by end of November I have 23 days to knit that hat for Sam/Joel. I decided that they will share the hat. They have the same head size. Neither wear hats unless bitterly cold outside so why make two when one will do?

I am frustrated by that pattern but I am looking forward to knitting those socks. Let's hope for a really cold winter so I can wear them a lot.

Swimming in soft squishyness!

It's been awhile but I do have an update. Nothing is finished yet but I'm getting close on one. Grace's stocking is past the heel and onto the foot working toward the toe. I kind of regret using 2 strands together. I should have just used 1 strand and gone down a couple of needle sizes. The stocking is thick. It might support a bowling ball! Plus the heel is to big. I'm using size 9 needles.

The other project is a black shawl. I am half done. I'm anxious to finish it before winter. I am happy with how it looks. It's so easy I don't even need the pattern anymore. I can pick it up at any time and know what to do.

I got the itch to cast on something new. I really want something for winter. I was going to make a throw for my lap but 200 yards just isn't much. I decided on the picture below. The pattern uses slightly more than 200 yards and it calls for bulky yarn.The yarn i'm using is called Paco-Vicuna which is a mix between an Alpaca and a Vicuna. Oh my is this yard soft and squishy!!!!! I love knitting with it and wish I had more. It's an easy pattern but it doesn't look like the pattern picture. I am basically ending up with garter stitch. I don't really mind but it's frustrating. I just want to knit on this for hours! If I knit hard I can have two warm things for winter. This picture shows about 1/4 done. The pattern has you do a 10 row repeat for a total of 17 repeats. This is 5 repeats in. I am aiming for 17 but we will see what I get. Sorry the second picture is so big. I couldn't shrink it. But you can see the difference between mine and the original. Where are those vertical lines in mine???

 

One more thing I want to mention. There is this yarn store in Washington State on an island somewhere called Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. They have some pretty good patterns. There is this one:

I really like it. It would make a nice spring/fall wrap. If you remember I started a poncho last year. I'm thinking of ripping it out in favor of this pattern. After thinking about it I had the idea to change the turtle neck of the poncho. My idea is to pick out the cast on and unravel it down. I'm thinking of turning it into a mock turtleneck. It's just to bulky and big for a turtleneck. I can't mess with it yet because I stole the needles for the Paco-Vicuna wrap I'm making. I also don't know if it fits well around my shoulders or not. I may still rip it out and use worsted acrylic instead for better drape. Maybe this yarn will be my lap blanket.

The the yarn for the picture above would cost around twenty bucks. Based on yardage alone I would need 6 skeins. There is some pretty acrylic at Joanns I think would look good in this. I really want wool for warmth but I can't afford it right now. I can afford the acrylic with coupons and slow buying. I also could make this one of my goals for buying yarn at Maryland. The pattern is $10 though. I had another thought. I really want more of the Paco-Vicuna yarn. The show I got it at is in Feb. Maryland Sheep and Wool is in May. Ugh! I may have to wait till the year after (2015) to get more Paco-Vicuna yarn. She comes all the way from Colorado for this show in Pittsburgh.

I woke up early this morning and my mind went to knitting. I realized how I am going to make Sam a new hat. I have this black yarn that I ripped a shawl out of and it is part acrylic and part wool. I don't remember the numbers. But I know I have enough yarn and that it's softer than the yarn I originally used and I will not do a double knit hat because it's bulky, but instead I will drop down a needle size or two and make it more dense to make up for it. I hope to have it done for Christmas again this year. But I won't think about it till I get the Paco-Vicuna wrap and Grace's stocking done. Making 1 hat will not take that long.

I think that's it for now.

Shawl Pictures

I should have included these in my last post but it was dark and late.

This is the simple black shawl.

It could take forever.

This one is the one with the leaf border. You can see the ball of yarn that is left in the skein. I have a few leaves left before I run out. This one will take even longer.

Shawls

Hi. It's been awhile. Not a whole lot to tell. I finally started working on Grace's stocking Friday. I am working on the fuzzy top part. So far so good. I will be glad to be done with the top because I'm not used to working with fuzzy yarn. Of the other three projents I'm working on, are 2 shawls.  One is a black simple triangle shawl using the wool I made Sam's hat out of (which I think he lost). I have 4 skeins so a shawl it is. I really like it and it won't be itchy like the hat was. I will remake Sam a hat but now that he is almost always cashiering and not pushing carts, a hat isn't as neccessary. I will make it in a yarn that is less itchy, less warm since it is a double knit hat and with cheaper quality yarn (aka mostly acrylic) so that if it gets lost, I won't be as upset.

The black shawl is coming along nicely. I am almost through 1 skein with 3 more to go. The other project is another shawl. It's a beige one with leaves as the border. That one is only 3 skeins but a thinner yarn and is much more slow going. Each section as as least 6 leaves to it. I plan to make as many leaves as a skein will allow (I am on the 6th leaf of section 1 with enough yarn left for another few leaves) then go to the next section. I want to use all the yarn. The last project is that blue sock. I put it away for awhile trying to decide if I should keep going and deal with how it feels after it's done or rip it all out and use the pattern I made my first two socks out of. Socks hate me. I haven't made a good one yet. The problem with the pattern I used first is that it is direction heavy and I have to look at my notes a lot and keep taking new ones. It's not a pattern I think I will ever have memorized. I wish I could conquor it so I can love knitting socks. I have some great sock yarn begging to be used.

We are going on vacation next month and I have to decide what projects to take. The black shawl for sure since it's so easy and I have the pattern memorized. The stocking to. Maybe that will be it. I plan to hit 2 yarn shops in South Carolina so maybe inspiration will hit and I will see some yarn or a pattern that begs me to knit it. I am such a slow knitter that it takes so long to use up any of my yarn to justify buying more. But If I finish these 2 shawls by next May, I will have reduced my stash by 7 skeins of yarn! Easily replenished at Maryland Sheep and Wool.

I will update as the shawls progress.

Finished some thing!

It's done! I got my new MP3 Player/Samsung ipod on Monday. It was really easy to make. I just did 2 by 2 ribbing on straight needles till when I folded it, it covered the player. Then I bound off till where I wanted the strap. I knit those four stitches then bound off the rest. I went back and knit the strap till it was the length I wanted. I bound off those 4 stitches. Then I seamed up the sides. Next I made the icord necklace. Finally I sewed on the snaps. I am not a sewer so I had no idea there were sew on snaps. Brilliant! I am very happy with it. Now, back to my shawl.

Blanket turned into a shawl x 2

After knitting 5 -10 rows of the blanket there was hardly any progress made. My 4 skeins wouldn't go far and I feared I would have to triple the number of skeins needed to get a decennt sized lap blanket. I decided to frog it and make something else. I found a shawl that takes the amount of yarn I have plus maybe one skein if I decide I need it. It is quite simple and it's coming along nicely. It will be black but black goes with everything so...Plus it's peruvian wool so it's slightly rustic. I like the feel the fabric is making, soft, squishy and stretchy. One of these days I will finish something. I really want a shawl. I have 3 on the needles and none are done.

This pattern is interesting and slightly boring at the same time. I have learned how to wrap stitches and do short rows. I hope I did it right. I could not find a video on what I wasn't sure of when it came to 'working" the wrapped stitches. I really can't tell very well how the pattern is coming along since I am using black yarn. I just finished one pattern repeat and will do 3-4 more. I have to do 2 rows 23 times. Then I have to work the wrapped stitches that occur during those 23 rows. I am getting close to using up the first skein I have. I love how the ruffles are made without really realizing it.

Well, the shawl is no more. I really liked how it looked but I am convinced I did something wrong. There were to many ruffles and no stright edge that goes around your neck like the picture shows. I decided to frog it (rip it out) and start a new pattern. I do not like this one quite as much but the pattern is easier. The other one was a yarn hog due to the short rows as I realized as I ripped it out. But I really did like the fabric I got. So now I am doing a shawl that is a cross between a shawl and Ruana. It's longer in the back than in the front. This one doesn't eat yarn and has taken a few rows to start showing the pattern like the picture shows. Here's a picture: We will see how thins one goes.

Feeling happy

I woke this morning early thinking about knitting. This past Christmas I knit Sam a hat. He has managed to lose it. A month of my knitting life gone. Maybe it will show up but I doubt it. I decided I will knit him another opn but it will be in softer yarn. I have enough yarn to make Joel a hat. But he might also complain it's scratchy so I decided to use it for something else.

When I went to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet show last month. I bought two handmade bamboo like needles for $2.00 each. The cords are 47" long. I wanted to try them. I have also wanted to make a lap blanket for myself. So I have a new needle, yarn and an idea. I checked the size of the needle and it is a size 8, perfect for worsted weight yarn (or in this case light worsted weight). I cast on 380 stiches. This needle is neat. The cord as you can see in the picture is clear. It reminds me so much of IV cords where the fluid drops through. The cord had no memory so it hangs limp. The needle is wood so it is grabby and I have to push the stitches a bit. But I really like them. The join-where the cord is attched to the needle is the smoothest I've had. Lace weight yarn might not do as well but I don't really know.

 

Casting on and using this needle made me feel very happy this morning. I don't know why. Maybe it was the needle. Maybe it was casting on a new project. Maybe it was using up yarn. Maybe it was a combination of all three. This is going to be a long project. I have a full 4-5 skeins to use up. It is slow going because of the large amount of stitches to be knit. I am looking forward to a slightly rustic blanket to keep me warm in winter and summer.

Stocking is done!!!

I finally finished it. I finished knitting on Saturday and sewed and wove in the ends. The only thing I have let to do is make a i-cord for a hanger thingy. Whew! Now to the other two. They should go easier. I am going to have to buy more yarn for them because I only bought one skein and since it calls for bulky weight and the yarn is worsted I will need to knit from 2 skeins at the same time. I am not worried about dye lots. Normally you should buy what you need for your projects all at once so you have the same dye lots. Some colors can be slightly lighter or darker from skein to skein. So if you are knitting say a sweater and you run out of a skein and go to another one with a different dye lot you may end up with a line showing where the last skein ended and the new skein started. But since I am knitting with both skeins at the same time, it would give a sligtly verigated effect I think. Since I am knitting I will need to find a system that keeps them from tangling together. I am looking forward to looking at a different colored yarn for awhile. I don't know if I will get all 5 done by Christmas but I decided that at least I will get the 3 done for the kids. I haven't found the perfect yarn for mine yet. I also don't have yarn for Joel's yet.

New Yarns

I wanted to show you the new yarns I have bought since Christmas. This first one I bought on clearance since they were doing away with the entire line. It's a sport weight yarn and I'm not sure what I will make with it. But I love the gray tones.

         This one is also a Knit Picks yarn. This one is 70% wool and 30% silk.                                        

                                          This I bought at my yarn shop. I am making a shawl out of it.     
      

                      
                                          This is the Pacio-Vicuna yarn I bought at the festival.

I must say that I have been very restrained since Chrsitmas. Two of these were from Gift certificates.

Progress, knitting show and news

I am finally making progress on Sam's stocking. I am past the heel and working on the foot. I figured I should probably compare the foot lenght to a stocking I have so it doesn't get to big. I am so glad I am past the heel and all the problems it holds. It's fun to just knit and knit and not worry. If I do make a mistake it's easy to rip back a couple of rows and start again. I did drop a stitch a couple rows back and I need to refresh on how to fix it. It's easy though and doesn't require ripping back.

I started a sock with one of the patterns I am using for the stocking. It has 3 sizes, kids medium, womans medium and womens large. I decided to make the kids medium forgeting that I am not a size 6 anymore. It is quite tight. I will use this as a practice sock but it hurts to do all this knitting just to rip it out and start over. I should have knit a swatch.

Last weekend I went to a knitting show. It was one exit up on the turnpike so it was close. It was held in a hotel. Last year they said they had over 2,000 people attend. Parking was hard but I found the last spot in the parking lot. I just went to the marketplace. You could take classes as well but I didn't have the money for that. I didn't buy much because I only had $50 to spend. The average price of a skein of yarn was between $20-$30. I could have gotten 1,000 yards of black yarn made of Australian wool for $20 but I am tired of knitting black yarn. I passed and am slightly regretting it. I could have made a short sleeved sweater.

I did buy one skein of yarn. When I go to these shows, I like to buy yarn from people/places that are different and you can't find their stuff in yarn shops. I bought one skein (200 yards) for $20 of Paco-Vicuna yarn. What is that you ask? It is a yarn made from a Vicuna who mated with an alpaca. Here is a link that tells you more: http://www.alpacaland.com/Paco-Vicuna.htm

I also bought some cords for my interchangable needles from Knit Picks. Plus I got this neat little holder for odds and ends like stich markers. I also bought 2 circular needles that were handmade of bamboo for $2 each. I feel satisfied with what I got.
.
I have news! I decided that I am going to the second largest and second most popular yarn festival next year! It is called Maryland Sheep and Wool. It is about 30 minutes or so from Baltimore. It is on a county fairgrounds. I went to the WI Sheep and Wool festival a couple years ago and really liked it. From what I hear it can get very hot that weekend. It is always held the first weekend in May. I can't go this year because I don't have any money. But I have a plan to pay for everything. I will save most of my birthday money and all of my Christmas money. That will be spent at the festival.

Since I now have a job, I figure I can justify taking $10 a month from my check and in 10 months I will have $100 that will go to pay for at least one night in a cheap hotel. I am really contemplating staying 2 nights and going to both days of the festival. It's only 4 hours away from home so it's not a bad drive. I hope to get a hotel that has a fridge and a microwave so I can bring my own food. I would leave after work on friday and get there around dinner time. I plan to buy my dinners and breakfasts out of the grocery budget and bring them in a cooler. The only meals I would have to pay for would be lunch and I would like to eat at the fairgrounds. I will collect pennies and nickles for the next year to pay for that. If the hotel gives contenental breakfast, that cuts my food expenses even further.

A few weeks ago I went to my local yarn shop and the owner was wearing a gorgeous shawl made from cashmere. I fell in love! I decided that I should have enough money to buy enough cashmere to make a shawl for myself. I decided that this will be an all season shawl. Great in summer going to cold resturaunts and people's houses and outside. Plus it will be good in winter in the house when I am cold and if we go to people's houses where I know it will be cold. The problem with cashmere.....the price. The average price is around $47 for a skein of fingering weight yarn. You do get the most bang for your buck from that yardage. But I want something thicker. I was hoping for sport or worsted weight. But the price skyrockets as the yarn gets thicker and the yardage gets real small.

I plan to go to the festival armed with 3 patterns for fingering, sport and worsted weight and decide what I can afford. I also hope to buy yarn from other places I have heard of but never had the chance to buy from. If I save well, I should have enough money to be able to buy what I want and not worry to much about prices. The cashmere will eat a chunk but that's ok. If the amount of yarn I need for the project I choose ends up costing me half of my money I will probably pass. There are so many vendors there it may take 2 days to see them all. I really need a plan so I can hit everything. Thankfully the festival is free so that is an expense I don't have to worry about. The show last weekend cost $15 just to get in before you bought any yarn! You did get s free magazine out of it though.

Well, that's all for now! Talk to you soon.

Stop and Starting

 

I haven't done much on Sam's stocking since the last post. I think I'm tired of it. Plus I have started 3 more projects. A shawl with this yarn.




 Plus another shawl that Joel bought the pattern for me and I had yarn in my stash . I really like it and it is fun to see it evolve.

The last project is a sock. I got a book on knitting socks on 2 circulars from the library. Her basic sock intriqued me because it is all ribbing from cuff to toe.  Her sizes are weird, childs medium and womans medium. What does that mean?! I decided to try the child's small and hope it is not to tight. But if it is ribbing all the way down, it should have enough stretch to make it work.



My sock

The first picture shows the needles. They are 40 inch needles. Clearly I don't need such large needles for one sock. But according to a picture of the sock book I have the sock will grow quite a bit as I knit it. I also wanted to show you the cuff so far.

Stocking unstuckings!

A lot has happened with Sam's Christmas stocking. I started it and got all the way to the gussett and got stuck. The pattern calls for a circular needle but I didn't have one small enough for the small number of cast on stitches I had. I decided to do it on straight needles. I also changed the number of cast on stitches to make it even bigger than the largest size. I finally put it on 2 circulars when I got to the heel flap and started knitting it in the round. I will have to seam up the rest of the stocking when I'm done. I did fine till I got to the part where you pick up the gusset stitches. I know how to pick them up, but then what? The pattern has you switch to DPN's. I can't knit on DPN's. I was stuck.

I decided to learn how to learn to knit a normal sized sock the traditional way. The book I have and the socks I've made are not traditional patterns. So I grabbed a huge skein of worsted weight acrylic (not normal for socks) and found a pattern that used 2 circulars (that I was using on Sam's stocking) and that was cuff down and started. Problem is, the pattern is for knitting 2 socks on 2 circulars. I just wanted to knit one sock. So I ignored the instructions for the second sock. I didn't know what cast on number I should use for a sock to fit me. The pattern gave an example of 60 stitches. Great! I just needed a number so I used that one. Needless to say Sasquatch could wear this! I don't care since it's just practice and will not be worn when finished.

I managed fine till I got to the part where you pick up the gussett stitches. It was the same place I got stuck before. The pattern was not clear and having instructions for 2 socks at the same time made things worse. I was very frustrated. I searched the internet again for a pattern that was more clear.
I watched videos hoping they would help me. They didn't. I called 2 yarn stores and asked if they charged to help me. I really didn't think it would be that hard or take long. They both charged so I decided to keep searching. I put a book on hold at the libray for 2 socks on 2 circular needles from the the same author of the book I own. I was hoping it would help me get past where I was stuck. I will have to wait a few days to get it. I  finally found a pattern that was clearer, used 2 circulars and was cuff down. I picked up the pattern at the place I was stuck at and started.

The pattern was clear and now I am past the heel and the gussett and and working my way to the toe. The picture shows where I am. I am very excited. I am anxious to get to the toe. It took forever to
knit the leg portion, below the ribbing, to the heel. The pattern said to knit 6 inches but I stopped at 4 inches. The leg was not what I needed to learn. When this sock is done I will have to mesh 2-3 patterns to make Sam's stocking. Hopefully when I am done I will have a "pattern" that I can confidently use to make the other 4 stockings. Yeah me!?

Stocking stuckings

I am making progress on Sam's stocking. But as I expected I hit a snag. I got to the point where I needed 4 DPN's. Thankfully I had enough circular needles that I used as DPN's. But my real problem is I've never knit a real sock. Oh, I've knit 2 socks so far and wear them all the time, but the pattern I use doesn't use gussets and heal flaps. Plus the pattern is toe up. This one used gussetts, heel flaps and is cuff down. I ripped the heel out once already. The second time seems to be going better but I really don't know if I'm doing it right. Plus, I am making it larger than the pattern calls for so my numbers are off and I have to use the pattern numbers as a guide. So far so good, till I got to the heel. If this doesn't work, I may rip it out and put it aside and go learn how to knit a sock the traditional way so maybe this stocking will make sense when I come back to it. I need to learn how to do this because this is the pattern I am using on all the stockings. So far the needles seem to be lining up right and I am able to knit in order. Will keep you informed how it goes.

I have a terrible desire to go to a yarn shop and buy yarn. It's a "I just had surgery so I want to treat myself nice and Valentine's Day is almost here and I'm not getting anything even though I told Joel I would like a gift certificate to a yarn shop for V-day". Problem is, I put myself on a yarn diet ("cold sheeping" in the knitting world) and I am waiting till my birthday to buy some. Between what I have and what was given to me over Christmas, I am swimming in it. Why would I want to buy more? Ahh..the addiction! There is soo much acrylic I have that I don't want. I also don't want to be like this person's yarn stash: It's very neat and color coordinated but it looks like she has a yarn store in her house! I like my like my yarn contained in one large tupperware container.

New Finishes

I have 2 new finishes. I finished the scarf and I made a pair of fingerless mitts. The scarf looks odd because I had to use two seperate colors. But as long as it will cover up my scar I don't really care. I really do love this yarn as both projects were made out of it. It's called Bernat Waverly. Joann's sells it. It's really soft and doesn't feel cheap like Red Heart does.

 I made the mitts for me but I realized they don't keep my fingertips warm. I never did understand the concept. So I will make the other one and give them to Hannah who said she liked them. Grace said she liked them to but really likes fliptop mittens and I do to. I just need to figure out how to make the flip top part on this pattern. These were so easy and quick. My knitting was good-finally!. I was worried about the thumb but sewing up the thumb area while wearing really does help you see what to do. I must say I was surprised the girls like these mitts since I made them. Hannah bought a beret hat yesterday (on sale for $2) and I was disapointed and told her I was going to knit her one for her birthday. She said she wanted one with color in it. The one she bought was a beige/creme color. I will show her yarn I was going to use and see if she likes it.

Back to working on my WIPS...

Knitting black hole

Here is one of the scarves I am making for my surgery. Problem is, it's only half done. You would think that bulky yarn and garter stitch would make for a fast scarf, well, it doesn't. I couldn't find the same shade of blue so I had two options: I could go a darker blue or go lighter with a white/cream. I choose the lighter. I figured it wouldn't look so stark up against the blue. You can see a little of it here. basically it's going to be half blue and half creamy white. It needs to be long enough to go through the loop and hang down a decent amount.

I have been working on the other scarf as well. I really like the feel of the yarn but it is as slow as the blue scarf. I am at 24 inches and need 42 at least. Then I'm not even done. I need to knit on the edging of ruffles. In the dark recesses of my mind I am contemplating not knitting on the ruffle. I can always do it later if I want, that's the cool thing about this.  It is very demoralizing to knit and knit and never get anywhere.

I'm doing a row here and there on the hat for Joel and a scarf for dad.

Toys and scarves

Look what I bought!

 

 

                                             
                                            The beige scarf, my thyroid scarf and Joel's hat.

                                                                      A scarf

                                                                      The poncho

I have two socks that I am working on that I didn't put in there along with a shawl and one or two other projects. I wanted something to put my knitting in to organize it and so I can let Daisy into the living room on a more permanant basis. It was 40% off and was $35.00 regular price. So far I really like it. I want to get some smaller ones to organize my odds and ends so I can get rid of the two baskets on either side of the rocker.

I started Joel's hat. I started two other things which will be gifts down the road. I am still working on what I now call my thyroid scarf.

It will cover up my scar quite nicely, if I can get it done. I am looking for the yarn in the color I have and I can't find it. It's after Chrsitmas so inventory is low. I have at least one more Joanns to look at before I give up and make it a double color scarf which I don't want to do. Problem is I don't have the ball band so I don't know what color it is called. It's light blue.

I decided that I am going to try and work exculsively on my 3 scarves in progress. This one and these two:

Not much progress made on either but I can wear these hopefully soon. I just knit a row of the maroon scarf and I forgot how soft and thick it is. I will work on this more. It's just that it is a very long scarf 47 inches long. That's why I don't work on it much. I fear I will never get it done. The beige one looks to be about half done. There is supposed to be 12 leaves and I have 6 done.