Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday the 13th was my birthday. I'm now closer to 40 than 30, but I feel great! I had a wonderful day, with much knitting and relaxing, and even cake and ice cream!

I treated myself to some new yarn! I bought a skein of Malabrigo Twist in Purple Mystery. I can tell you l love knitting with it! It is the squishiest, softest, prettiest yarn I have worked with to date. I love it!! I made a hat, but couldn't finish since I didn't have enough yarn. So I had to go back today and get another skein. That's ok though, since I was able to get the Madeline Tosh I had was eyeing but didn't buy. I bought it today!  Here's a photo of my Malabrigo.

I also needed to pick up some green sock yarn for my March socks.  There was not a huge selection of green sock yarn but there were some lovely  yarns there. I picked up this:

Cascade Paints. It has a bit of silk in it and it's very thin. I guess they're perfect for the changing season and I look forward to seeing how it knits up.
I don't have a photo of my Madeline Tosh yet, but I'll get it up soon. Int he meantime, here's my second hat of the year, my hat for February: Chloe.  (RAV Link)

This is a big hat that rests on your hair. I like it! The bow is made with the band and it's very clever!

Still working on my mitts and my socks for this month. I've been having trouble with the chart on my socks. After ripping back to the cuff for the 3rd time, I found a different heart pattern I could insert and I'm almost to the heel now. The mitts are cruising along, I'll have one mitt done after I finish up the top ribbing and the thumb. I feel very productive this month!

True Love and Fern

True Love doesn't truly love me. It's my second sock pattern for the year, my theme for February, and I'm having one heck of a time.
I love the hearts and the little bit of fanciness on this sock. I have a deep purple yarn to knit it in. Should be a match made in heaven, pure gorgeousness. Right?
WRONG
First of all, the sock is toe up. I don't want to knit toe up.  When I cast off, the cuff is too wide and baggy. I don't like the way they fit. So I decided to "re-write" the pattern and make it top down. Not really a problem, except the chart is wrong! I figured it out pretty quickly and fixed it.
I've frogged the first 5-10 rows 3 times now. Seems like my heart pattern count is off. I don't know why. It bothers me. It seems like I have this problem a lot. Hmmm. Well, I will power through it and get these done. I wanted them done by V-day, but it probably won't happen. Unless I knit on them monogamously and step away from the computer for a few days.
I did finish a project! It's called Fern  (Rav link), and it's my second cowl of the year. I used Andes wool in a red/green mix and a size 9 needle. This was a very quick and easy knit. I had it memorized pretty early on and knitted while watching TV. It only took a few days, and I blocked it lightly.

I don't know how crazy I am about this yarn and this pattern. It will probably go into the gift pile. 

I also started my mitts for the month. They are quick and easy and I am nearly half way done with the first one. It has a small bit of colorwork: hearts of course! I'll probably be on soon with an FO photo.

Sucess! January Roundup

I finished all my goals for the month of January!! Yay! One month down, only 11 more to go! Can I do it? We'll see if I have still have this mojo in a few months.

I did finish my Pinstripe Socks. I did a shortrow heel. KP's Imagination in Evil Stepmother was my yarn of choice. These were a very quick and easy knit. I like them, and they fit well.

 

I also wanted to join the Fingerless Glove Fanatics group on Ravelry on knitting 2012 pairs of Fingerless gloves in 2012. I only plan on contributing 12, but I may do more. Some gals have already knit three or four pair. Since mittens don't count, I decided to make the January KAL. I used Baby Ull in this cheery orange color. 

My 11 yr old is the model for these. I used a size 2, and they are even a bit baggy on me. I must be a VERY loose knitter. All the other finished projects describe these as slightly tight. Hmmm. That's ok. They will work well when I practice the piano in the cold garage! 

So the roundup for January, just a reminder of my knitting accomplishments

• Jan Cowl
• Pinstripe Socks
• Icewine Mittens
• Straightforward Mitts
• Simply Slouchy Hat

I feel very good about this past month and all I got finished! I am even working on projects I started in 2010 (the last time I knit in earnest!). These projects will be my in-between or need a break projects. I know I can whip out a pair of FG's, a hat, and a cowl in a matter of days. Socks take a bit more, and I want to finish my Pink Rivers soon.
See you in February!! .

Bearded Hat and Other Stuff

I have FO's!!! Yay!!!
I finished my cowl for Januray. That's two projects down for the month. I'm proud of myself so far, though it's only been one month of my goals. But I haven't really knit in so long, so I'm excited to once again to see things come off the needles!

Here's my January Cowl. It's aptly called January Cowl! I used Vanna's Choice in oatmeal tweed. I don't really like the color, but that's all they had when I went. It's horrible when you have to get your yarn from Wal-Mart since all the good LYS' are about 45 min away. Goes with living in the boonies, I guess. LOL.

My 11 yr old is the model. She's short so this looks very long. It falls to my waist. It's nice and warm and thick and scrunchy. For an acrylic, this yarn is a very inexpensive nice one! I used nearly 4 balls to complete this.

This is the cowl folded up. I sewed it up with a twist, so it's an infinity loop, and I think it lays better. You can even pull it up over your head if you were so inclined.

I made a hat for the month, as well. This is the Simple Slouchy Hat (Ravelry link) and I used....Vanna's Choice in black. It was pretty quick, but it takes forever to knit up 12 inches on a size 8 in stockinette. It doesn't help that I was distracted. The model is my 8 yr old daughter. I think it looks very cute on her!

I love how big and slouchy this is! I might have to make more. I know my 11 yr old wants one, probably in pink.

I'm officially 50% done with  my pair of socks for January. In fact, I cast on for sock 2 this morning and am working through the cuff fairly quickly. I had a hard time with the heel. I forgot how to do a short row heel and had to restart it a few times until I got the hang of it. It turned out pretty good.  The pattern is Pinstripe (Rav Link) and I used KP's Imagination in Evil Stepmother on size 2 needles.

I really like how these are working up, and once the pattern is established, they are good for  TV watching.

Finally, you want to see my beard, right?
Well, when I saw this , I thought it was great and I had visions of me walking through Wal-mart and driving around town with this on. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out. It turned out a bit big, and I had some problems trying to understand the pattern. And I wanted a hat with the beard knitted onto it, and this was just an attachment. But I was able to tuck it under the brim of the hat I just made and take a photo. At least there's that, right?
Here you go:

 

I look like a lumberjack! This was fun to make and I really wish I could wear it around. I know I'd get some looks!! 

 

But this is really cool, right? I might have to fiddle with it some more to get it to work right. It's too funny!

So you can see, I've been busy, busy! I have a week to get sock 2 done, and I should be able to do that easily. I'll show the finished pair once they're done. Ok, off to knit some more now!

River Sock Frustration

So, I want to knit 12 pairs of sock this year, and I'm pretty much using the patterns that are in my queue from Ravelry. I want to narrow it down, at least bring it below 200, LOL! 
To start on January's sock, I needed to finish up the sock I already had OTN. I could have been done by the end of 2011 if I would have checked my notes and cast on the proper amount of stitches.
In turning the heel for sock #2, I discovered this mistake and had to frog the WHOLE thing and start over!!!  URGG!! This was probably around the 27th of December, and I knew I would have been able to finish the sock by the 31st.
So instead, I put the sock to the side (out of disgust) and on the first I cast on for my mittens. I worked on them, cast on for my cowl. and looked at the offending sock.
I worked on it,  still a bit disgusted. I finished one mitten, cast on for mitten two, and worked on my cowl. All the while knitting a few rows on the sock here and there. I figure if I finish at least one of my projects, I can put all my attention to knitting the sock.  But then I just wanted the sock to be an FO and figured I would just crank it out, right?
I turned the heel, no problem this time. I picked up the stitches to form the gusset. And then the trouble starts. Am I such a newbie I can't read the pattern? I think so. The gusset is off. I need to rip back to the  picking up of stitches and redo the gusset. This sock is really trying my patience.
Out of disgust, I wound my skeins for my January sock and cast on. It's slow going, but I know I can pump these out fairly quickly. I'm going to need to, seeing as I only have 2 more weeks in January to complete my goals for the month. I'll finish the Pink River socks...someday. I do  like the pattern enough to want to finish them.
My January sock is called Pinstripe, a very easy 6 stitch repeat with a slip stitch in there. Nice! I'm going to do a short row heel. And since these are on 2's, it should be a bit faster.
I'll have my mittens done in a few hours of knitting time. It helps that I can listen to audio books on my ipod (downloaded from the library, don't you love free books?) I just finished the Hunger Games Trilogy and now I'm listening to The Help. Hopefully I'll be back on with an FO update by Friday. In the meantime, here's a peek at my finished mitten #1:

The top and bottom of the mitten. I'm using Vanna's Choice on size 1 needles. It makes a thick, warm fabric, probably not waterproof, but hopefully windproof!