Friday, August 31, 2007

Busy Week


I have finished my last pair of socks for August. These are my CTH Serengeti socks knit with my sister's pattern she designed for the new CTH Sockittome yarn. It is another great pattern (she is so talented, and I love being her test knitter!). I started them on 6/27 and finished them 8/31 (not the longest time it's taken me to finish a pair of socks). So this makes 6 pair for SOS2007, 15 pair for 52 PP, takes care of Project Spectrum (so did the previous 2 pair), and this is the 24th pair for the year (4 more and I tie last years record...I think I will be breaking it though).

And after completing my round of DishRag Tag, the dishcloth craze continued. I finally finished the Ballband dishcloth I started last year along with three new ones (now if I could just get someone other than myself to use them, I'd have it made).
I'm looking forward to my three day weekend (lots of knitting time). Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone and be safe. More later!



Sunday, August 26, 2007

Mandy Has The Back To School Blues

Monday is the first day of school for my girl. She is a Senior! How did that happen? This will be a very busy year for her (us). I thought I was getting no sleep already...I don't know how I'm going to make it through this early morning stuff again.

The Trekking socks are done! Monica gave me this yarn last month (she was going to knit a pair of socks for me with it, but gave it to me to knit instead). I knit them plain with 68 stitches on size 1 dpn's.
I think I will work on the CTH Serengeti socks now and finish those up this month. And Mandy wants me to knit the second Lorna's sock because the first one fits her "perfectly".




And I liked the dishcloth I knit for Lois
so well, I knit one exactly like it for myself.
Still no progress on the MS3. I've decided to make it symmetrical so I will have to knit the other half and graft them together (that is, after I finish the first half). That's all the news that I have right now. Have a great week.
CONTEST ALERTS!!!
You have till Friday to enter a contest at Hollyarn for some very pretty alpaca...click here ...leave a comment and mention you saw it here. Cool!
Wow there are so many blog contests going on ... here is another one. GoldenPurl wants to know what dates are important to you...don't forget to mention you saw it here.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Tag...You're It!!


This is on it's way to my next team mate (well it will be this morning on my way to work anyway). It was short but sweet...pretty good turn around time (if I do say so myself). The pattern I used was so quick and easy (even with the lace) and it gave me a cloth that is 9-1/4 x 8-1/2 (hope you like it Lois). Ignore that dark spot on the tote, I had to squirt it with some water to get my positioning lines off (it's dry now).



And now for the sock update... The three I started in my bout of startitis have progressed (well two have anyway) and I added another one. I'm knitting the new one in Pace- Orange. It's a cable/lace pattern available when you join this yahoo group. I've knit the recommended number of repeats, but I will be doing at least a couple more (I don't like short socks). I'm on the second sock of the Trekking yarn (at the heel flap and they match) and I can cast on for the second sock of the Lorna's pair. Sadly, the other Trekking sock in the Spiral pattern has not been touched this week.
Jacquelyn is having a blogiversary contest, mention you saw it here and I get extra credit for it (thanks).
Well, that's it for now. Go Team Sweet Sixteen! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

TAG....I'M IT!!!!


I received my teams DishRag Tag box today. This box has seen better days, let me tell ya. Laurie from Indiana knit me a lovely dishcloth (and I will do the same, I hope, for Lois), and sent me a card to keep track of my needles and a Dove chocolate bar (my favorite), and what I thought at first was a Reese's cup (another favorite) but is a lavender bath thingy. Ok, I'm off to knit a dishcloth for Lois!! I'll update on my socks next post! KNIT ON!!!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

It's A Bad Case

One of the worst seen... STARTITIS! And it's all because of those empty needles laying in my needle case. Friday night after I finished the Cider Moon socks, I was looking at my yarn stash and thinking about two of the new patterns that had just been released for groups I belong to and well, I had to. It became an uncontrollable urge. I started 3 new socks (with one more waiting in the wings). Here they are: Lorna's Laces Child's Play in the Charade pattern (the link is in her sidebar), Trekking 161 knitting plain (Monica recently gave me this yarn, and it seems it is getting most of my attention right now), and Trekking ? in the Spiralling Socks pattern (one repeat done).
Waiting in the wings is some blue Opal 6-fach (that I had been knitting in a cable pattern from the Socksx3 book but ripped) to be knit in the new Six Sox pattern called "I Love Gansey Socks". I told you I had it BAD! The problem is I want to start more. I have a few more sets of empty needles and yarn that wants to be knit and patterns Monica has designed that I want to knit up(boy that was a run on). See how bad it is? If there is an intervention for this, please don't set it up. I will find a place to hide with all my yarn.

Here is a picture of the girls (daughter and niece) in their Harry Potter shirts. The Gryffindor Lion they copied from on-line, all the other designs (Snitch, Sorting Hat, and Wands) were done free hand by them. They are so talented and imaginative. They got a lot of compliments on them as we waited in line to get our books.

And this is what the front looks like.
Well, that's it for now. I'm thinking I'll be getting the box for my turn at the DishRag Tag by the end of the week, so socks will have to be delayed for some fast dish cloth knitting. Until then....

Thursday, August 09, 2007

This, That, And Some Other Things


Well, I'm not done with the Cider Moon socks yet (but I am past the gusset decreases on the second sock, so it will be soon). Finished 8/10/07

And NO progress has been made on the MS3 since I transferred it to its new needle (I am such a slacker).

But as promised here are the "picture" dishcloths Mandy knit last week.
A red "M&M", a Transformer, and 2 Harry Potter. She is working on a Tweety Bird .
























No picture of Tweety yet. And I need to post a picture of the t-shirts my daughter and niece made to wear for the Harry Potter 7 release. They are cool. Our daughters are so crafty, aren't they Monica?
Click on over to Cass's blog for some contest fun. Yarn and books could be yours (or mine).
And wish me luck...I have a job interview tomorrow at 11am. Have a great weekend! More later.



Monday, August 06, 2007

Knitting Weekend and My Prize Arrived


I was busy knitting this past weekend. I finished the first Serengeti sock (pictured in previous post) and started a new pair with my yarn I won from Laura. This is Cider Moon Glacier in the Istanbul colorway. 48 stitches on US4 dpn's (knitting it plain and it's knitting up fast). The recommended gauge is 5.5 stitches and 7 rows= 1", I'm getting 6 stitches and 8 rows to the inch. This yarn is so soft (I hope it won't pill).



And on Saturday the prize I won in Kimberly's Bingo game came. She made my some lovely stitch markers and a abacus bracelet (for row counting, thank goodness it came with instructions). Thanks Kimberly!
Mandy was knitting "picture" dishcloths all last week (4 in total with a 5th started).

I hope your weekend was enjoyable! Have a great week!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Finishing Socks Left and Right

Last week I was on vacation while my niece was visiting which left me a lot of knitting time.
I finished this pair that I had started in March. They are knit in Lorna's Laces Tahoe in a pattern that Monica designed. The design is very visible on the leg and instep so all I can show are the soles.

And on Tuesday I finished the socks in Fleece Artist
Seashore. I used the Periwinkle pattern over at straw.com. This is the 3rd pair finished for SOS2007. A comment on the yarn...I loved knitting with it, but if you look a the picture you will see that the socks look totally different. The yarn became less blue and more yellow/beige the further into the ball I got. I don't mind that this happened particularly, but I wish I would have known that was going to happen. Is this normal for this yarn?
I have also started another sock designed by Monica that I'm knitting in CTH Serengeti. No picture of that yet (but I'm almost done with the first leg). It is so pretty, I can't wait for you to see it! **picture added 8/6/07. I finished the first sock over the weekend and started the second.**
I transfered my shawl to my new needle (it is great knitting with the proper tools). I'm still plogging along on clue #3 (will I ever get done? I hope so!).
Well piffle, Blogger isn't letting me upload pictures (I'm at work so the dial-up could be the problem and not Blogger), but Flikr did. So if you would like to see the socks you can have a look there. **thank you Monica for loading the pictures for me**
That's it for now. Happy Knitting!