Dad's 2nd hat

I finished Dad's hat just now. I remembered to take pictures (even modeled one for y'all). I really like how it fits and how you can unfold the back down some to keep your neck warm. I may have to make me one of the leftover yarn from my purple hat. We'll see. I want to finish the scarf and really get some work done on my sweater.



Your standard stocking cap. With misplaced stripes in the fold because I kinda forgot to put them in sooner but the way it fits my head you can see part of one of the stripes (and the very top is black too...)



Dad's hat on my head. For the record, that's not a little i cord at the top, it's the top of a wine bottle on top of my bookshelves.

**Alert Alert** I'm having a contest!

Ok, so I missed my blogiversary mostly because the first 9 months or so I may have posted once a month so it wasn't that exciting a milestone.

So, in looking around the 'net I keep seeing people talk about listening to podcasts. I DO know what they are but haven't really found any other than Lime and Violet (which I stumbled upon by accident). Granted, I haven't looked much either.

The contest is submit to me via the comments a podcast. There are no real rules. I'd prefer ones on iTunes but thats not necessary, at the very least though they should be mac-friendly since I don't have a PC. They should be knitting related (or something else you may think I'd like). You have til February 16th to submit them. I'll draw a winner at random out of all the entries. The winner will get something good. More than likely sock yarn but if you don't knit socks, just let me know I'll find you something nice.

That's about it I guess. Let me know if you have any questions or if I forgot anything. Now, go tell your friends :)

"Housekeeping"

Thanks to Robin I finally got my progress bars up there. However, to me, it looks sad not having anything in two of the boxes. But thats OK. I'm going to work on Dad's hat this weekend (the one that will hopefully fit!) and that should be done quickly and I know the sweater will not be quick work. And right now I'm only working on the scarf at work during lunch so I can also work on my sweater. I'd like to be able to wear it this winter.

I've decided that the Irish Hiking Scarf will be a present for a friend. I was sitting there knitting it watching some trashy movie on Sci-Fi and thought this should be so and so's scarf. So I think that's where it's going. I know the non-crafty people out there probably think we're all a little off when we say the yarn spoke to me but well, we know it does sometimes!

woo hoo!

I have finished a sleeve and it even fits! Tonight I'm going to begin on my second sleeve.

I would also like to report (and sadly there are no photos or even better videos of this) that due to the vigilance of my Big Orange Protector (commonly called Bartholamew) I have been saved from the Evil Pink Fleece that Lived on My Bed. I came home from work and went to the bathroom. Of course, both cats followed me in. Bartholamew kept trying to antagonize Pepper into playing but she was oblivious - this is not uncommon. She's really not the brightest bulb in the box. But she's pretty. So then Bartholamew ran and bounced up onto the bed with that wild eyed cat look. Pepper, still clueless, went into the living room. So then, having apparently used his psychic cat sense, Bartholamew sproinged across the bed and attacked the Evil Pink Fleece (this, BTW, used to be the Cozy Pink Fleece we - read Bartholamew - Liked to Sleep On). He then sproinged BACK to the other corner of the bed to stand vigilant and make sure it was dead. It wasn't. In fact it took not one but TWO more attacks before it was deemed safe by Bartholamew.

I know I will sleep much better tonight not worrying about being attacked by the Evil Pink Fleece. Thank the stars above that I have a clueless (but cute) Pepper and a great big and mighty Fleece Fighter.

OH, I almost forgot. Dad and Pat got their hat and scarf and love them. However, Dad's hat is a little big. I'm not surprised. I was worried about this and was prepared. I will get another hat whipped out and sent to him as quickly as possible. But here's the fnished items anyway:

Yarn Shopping

Gather 'round y'all. It's time for show and tell!

Mom and I decided to go and check out two semi-local yarn stores we just learned about. One (Tapestry) is not quite half hour away from her and the other one (Yarn Theory) about an hour. The plan was to swing by Tapestries and then hit Yarn Theory. Well, we missed Tapestry. It was hidden behind another store. So on to Yarn Theory we went.

Yarn Theory is a lovely little shop that Robin told me about. She said it was worth the drive. Well, Mom and I both thought so. Mom got some Lamb's Pride to make a hat for Luke, some sock yarn and some yarn to make a coworker a baby sweater. I got this:



That's Austermann Stepp sock yarn and the 2005 Interweave Knits. I thought it had some cute patterns in it. And it was on sale.

We then met Luke for lunch at a Chinese restaurant between the two yarn stores.

Mom and I found Tapestry with no trouble. I hadn't been there for 5 mintues when I fell in love. They had Manos del Uruguay. I HAD to have some. The problem was deciding which colorway. I wanted them all. And I wanted LOTS of it!! In trying to find my color, I found one that I thought was perfect for my sister. I mentioned this to Mom and she agreed. Her birthday is coming up so I almost just bought it. But then I realized that I do have a camera phone. So I took a picture and sent it to my sister to see if she'd like to have a skein. Mom and I browsed around and found lots of other nice yarn. She even found some for a sweater she wants to knit.

I got these:



That's my Manos del Uruguay on the left and a skein of Wool in the Woods Sparkle on the right. It's going to my secret pal for their last box. It's extremely soft and smooth and shiny.

Here's a close of of the Manos del Uruguay:



I love love love this color!! I think it will be a scarf. I wanted more. I wanted like a lot more. But I had no specific project in mind and I think I love it too much to felt it. Although if I find the right pattern, that may not be true. So for now, I will wear it lovingly around my neck. I suppose a girl CAN have too many scarves but I just have 2 knitted ones and a fleece one. This will be my third. Certainly, that's not too many scarves.

A few minutes after we left the yarn store my sister called me back. She did like the yarn and yes, if I was buying it, she would like it. So Mom and I turned around and I went back in to get the yarn for her.



A close up:



I'm afraid that even in the close ups the pictures just don't convey the beautiful colors of either skein of Manos del Uruguay.

That concluded our shopping trip.

However, I almost forgot to tell you. Thursday I went out and got the yarn for Rosedale, my cardigan.



A.C. Moore was having a great sale on Paton's Classic Merino. It's the colorway Wedgewood with some brown in the corrugated ribbing.

Dad and Pat's items have been mailed off to them and sometime after they get them I'll post pictures. I managed to forget to take pictures before they were mailed off so Dad's promised to take pictures for me.

Pictures!!

OK, here are some pictures for y'all:



one finished sock. This is the sock I've been working on (well, I had it almost finished until recently) since early summer. Ack! Yes, I do plan on making it's mate.



My Irish Hiking Scarf so far. Very simple and very beautfiul. Not that I'm biased or anything...



A close up



Finally, a photo of what we all did this week. And those are my legs they're laying on. Here in my house, we LOVE our wool blankie...

OH, I almost forgot, I finished Pat's scarf! But like Dad's hat, pictures will be delayed until they reach Texas.

but I didn't want a vacation

Well, this week I took a little time off. 4 days to be exactly. Did I have anything fun or exciting planned? no. Did I do anything fun or exciting anyways? No. (well that's debatable but I'll get to that). Did I PLAN this "vacation"? NO. I have some kind of icky general run of the mill virus.

Monday was fine. I felt fine, went to work and everything. Tuesday I felt very very uggy and stayed home. Since Wednesday was almost a carbon copy of Tuesday I'll combine those days, I slept during the morning - MUCH to the delight of Bartholamew who as he gets older gets lazier and these have been cold mornings, what would be better than curling up with Mom in bed for say 3-4 extra hours?? The afternoons have been spent dozing and resting on the sofa with intermittent blog reading and sweater pattern perusing. (Hmm, is it really a good idea to try to find a sweater you like under the influence of cold pills and a virus?) The evenings are much like the afternoons but with maybe a little knitting going on. And less blog reading. Seems to be people don't usually blog multiple times a day...

Today, today was different though. Bound and determined to go to work, I got up. I put my pants on. I eventually got my sweater on and fixed my hair (I use that term - fixed - VERY loosely). I sat there a tired miserable cold wreck and called in again. Then I struggled to stay awake til the doctors office opened at 8 when I called to see if I could still get flu medicine. About 1/2 hr later the very nice nurse called me back with more questions for me and said I may have to go in for a flu test but she'd see. 3 hrs later she called me back to tell me I'd have to come in. A few minutes later, a girl from appointments called me to give me a 345 pm appt.

At that point in time, I got dressed again (what? you didn't REALLY think I stayed in work clothes all day did you?) and went to the store for more juice and bread. I couldn't have been gone more than 20 minutes. By the way Bartholamew acted when I got home you'dve thought I had been gone for a week!!

So, I go to the doctors and they give me a flu test. For those of you lucky enough never to have had one of these it's not nice. They stick a very long cotton swab up your nose til they hit your brain then swirl it around for a while. UGH.

But the good news is, I don't have the flu. The bad news? I just have a general run of the mill virus. And a note for work with strict directions to stay home tomorrow too...

And now that you've read all this boring icky stuff, I don't even have pictures for you. I have no finished projects to share. No new "OH! I have to make this" items. Nothing. I'll make up for it soon somehow...

Now, I think I'll go put my jammies back on and curl up on the sofa. With my cats. Who I wonder if they secretly planned this so they'd have me here to snuggle with and sleep on all week... heathens...

Sweaters

There are way too many free patterns on the internet. Furthermore, there are way too many free patterns that I like that use yarn I can't really afford causing me to spend too much time trying to find a substitute.

Today, I gave up, remeasured myself and found alternate patterns with local not OMG expensive yarns. (The remeasuring was an important step here, I apparently was making up measurements for myself that were -thankfully - larger than my real measurements.)

After I finish Pat's scarf and maybe after I finish the Irish Hiking scarf, I am thinking about embarking on a sweater. A cardigan to be more exact. This cardigan actually. And I'll probably substitute the yarn with Cascade 220, or maybe the Paton's Classic Merino. I can't decide yet. But as I'm sure y'all understand, I want to cast on for it RIGHT NOW. Which is why I'm thinking the Paton's. They've got some variegated yarns that I just absolutely LOVE and think would look great in this... plus I have some scrap at home and checked and I can totally get gauge with it...

First FO of 2007

I have my first finished project of 2007! Socks! To be more specific Knitty's Broadripple socks.





So, that one is a little blurry but it shows more of the true color of the socks.

Now, I'm going to try to figure out how to make a list on my sidebar of all of my 2007 finished projects.

Edited to add: I just finished a hat for Dad but am going to wait to post pictures until I send it to him.

Last project of 2006

I finished my hat, and I love it! It could've been a smidge longer but that's OK.



Now for the obligitory cheesy-ass self portrait of me wearing the hat:



After I finish the second broadripple sock, I think I'll learn me some cables.

Happy 2007 everyone!!!