SP Stuff

Here are my holiday SP goodies! Oh great. It seems I just don't have the hang of getting decent pictures in my blog. Is there a tutorial for that somewhere? The photo looks fine in Flickr, but I can tell this is going to look B-A-D on the blog! I resize my photos to 640 x 480 in Adobe, then upload to Flickr. Does it matter what the original setting on the camera is? I think DH has been messing with the settings on the camera, but I thought I would still be OK taking pics at a lower resolution since they always end up 640 x 480 after resizing. Aaaah! I just took at least 15 photos, resized and uploaded and they are all going to look HORRID!

Anyway, back to SP stuff. The sock yarn will probably become Grumperina's Jaywalker Socks. I've seen some really great ones lately! The mohair will probably become a wrap, as long as I can find a suitable pattern for 2 balls. Otherwise, it will be a scarf! Since it's a dark charcoal gray/black I should get a lot of use out of it if it becomes a wrap.

Behold my shiny new gauge check/needle sizer with my useless, crumpled old one in the background. Thanks, SP!

SP, SP who are you???

I have a bunch of other photos, but will save them for another day.

Knitoversary and SP Goodies!

I was hoping to get a SP gift before I went out of town for Thanksgiving. I squealed with delight when I saw a package in my mailbox today! What a haul! (I'm camera-less again today.)

a ball of Lana Grossa sock yarn in blues/green/yellow
2 balls of kid mohair which I am very excited to try
some dark chocolate Hershey's nuggets-yum! I've only eaten half of them so far
nylon reinforcement thread
a tape measure in it's own little case-no more flopping around in my notions bag!
2 Addi turbos for doing socks on 2 circs-I'm very excited to try this!!!
a box of stitch markers-some are jingle bells!
a sturdy gauge checker/needle sizer-I'm so happy to trash my paper one!

THANK YOU, SP! I am so anxious to find out who you are!

Saturday the 26th is my one year knitoversary. Instead of going shopping the day after Thanksgiving last year, I cracked open the learn-to-knit kit I picked up at Michael’s earlier in the week. I had been wandering around Michael’s and got sucked into the yarn department where there were several people talking about scarves. I hid the kit in the closet for a few days because I knew my husband was going to give me grief about it. (“Knitting is for old ladies.”) Knitting was about the only craft I hadn’t tried (I did a brief stint with crochet in grad school, but that was quickly abandoned). It was an innocent start to a hobby that pretty much consumes my every waking moment now. I can count on my two hands the days in the past year that I haven’t knit for at least a few minutes. In one year I have completed the following: 3 sweaters, 1 purse, 6 scarves, 2 dishcloths, 6 baby hats, 1 adult hat, 2 ½ pairs of socks, 1 pair of slippers, 1 womb. Hmm, I must be forgetting something! No cozys (cozies?), ponchos, or legwarmers, thank you very much.

Goals for my second year of knitting: a bigger lace project, intarsia, a cabled sweater, and mittens.

I have managed to keep my stash under control. I learned my lesson with quilting fabrics-I have a couple of big boxes that I will probably never use now that I am a knitter. I would have almost zero stash if it hadn’t been for a 50% off sale at a LYS.

I have a long car trip ahead of me over Thanksgiving. Sadly, I am driving by myself. Nine hours of good car knitting (round trip)-WASTED! I wonder if I can get autopilot on my next car. I plan on working on a counted cross-stitch snowman while I’m out of town. I don’t want to mess with yarn around my mom’s cats, and this will force me to work on something else for awhile.

DH took the camera to work again today. Elizabeth suggested that maybe it’s time for another camera. Great idea! I’d love a second digital camera (Santa, are you listening?). We have more than enough film cameras, though, since photography is one of my other hobbies, although it hasn’t gotten much attention lately. I have an SLR, a point and shoot with zoom, a point and shoot without zoom, and a broken lomography camera that takes 4 photos on every frame.

Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble gobble.

What is the deal with my husband taking the camera?

It seems like every time I want to update my blog, the man finds a reason to take our digital camera to work. I took some pics on Saturday but didn't get a chance to upload them, plus I have FO's to show!

Sitcom Chic: Finished! Except for the button.
Rib and Cable Sock #1: Finished!
Basic Cable Hat: Finished!
45 stamped Christmas cards: Finished!
Flower Petal Washcloth from Weekend Knitting: Started last night.

Blah blah blah. This is just no fun without photos.

FO Flashback: The Weirdest Thing I Ever Knit

Because I'm too lazy to drag out the camera to get current photos, I'll show you something I knitted in May 2005. This is Womb, a gift for my father-in-law's 60th birthday.

What does a man need a Womb for, you ask? Well, my FIL is an ob/gyn with a good sense of humor and this was the PERFECT gift to give him at his rockin' birthday party. Of all the gag gifts he received, I like to believe that this one was the best!

I admit, when I first saw this pattern I was a little scared. But then the big birthday was approaching and I realized what needed to be done!

(The blanket in the background was knitted by my grandmother for my bridal shower last year.)

Saturday Updates

It's really hard to get a decent photo around here anymore. I hate that it gets dark so early. Our place doesn't get much light to begin with.

Sitcom Chic is almost done! I knit one side band on last night and hope to get to the rest today. The band really stops the curling.

Rib and Cable sock #1 is still sitting there, doing nothing.

Here is the baby hat I finished on Sunday. I don't know who I will give it to yet, but it's always nice to have a few extra on hand as gifts. I have joined the Cover Your Head Knitalong (see sidebar). Basic Cable from SnB Nation is next.

I also joined the Scarf Style/Wrap Style knitalong. I wanted to make Midwest Moonlight for my mom for Christmas, but the 50% off yarn I bought (Cascade Elite Miracle, 50% alpaca, 50% tencel) just isn't looking right. I frogged my first attempt because it was too wide, so I cut off a repeat and this is the result. I may frog again and turn this into a Branching Out or Misty Garden.

I just picked up this cross stitch piece from the framer this morning. It's a gift for my grandma's birthday at the end of the month. She collects turkeys. This picture looks rather horrid for some reason. I assure you, it looks nice in real life.

No Camera

I finished another umbilical cord hat on Sunday. We spent a fair amout of time in the car this weekend, and those hats are great for working on in the car. Saturday I was riding in the dark and stupidly put my knitting in the trunk before we started our journey. I was getting really jittery with nothing to do. Luckily we had to make a pit stop. I pulled out this hat and worked a couple of inches in the dark!

DH took our camera to work today, so I don't have any pictures for you right now.

I got the cutest card from my holiday SP yesterday! Thank you!

That's all for now. Boring, I know. I need photos.

Books, Books, Books

I went to Joann’s on Monday, 40% off coupon in hand, to look for a specific item for my Holiday SP. I was browsing in the book section and this is what I found, with the rather frightening dust cover already removed:
I know I absolutely do not need any more knitting books. I already have enough projects to keep me busy for years. Plus I always find a couple of things I’d like to make from every Knitty issue. Do I need any more temptation? But. It’s. Just. So. Pretty. And only $15! (I must mention that I did not find the item I was looking to get for my SP. Which meant the coupon was all for me!) I really like some of the hats in this book. The 2 color candy cane hat looks like a good way to try out a new technique. I also really like the ear flap hat for some reason. I really want to make myself a hat from a luscious chunky yarn. And I like the 2 color patterned bags.

Let’s visit my knitting library.
Knitting Pretty. One of my first books. Another 40% off Joann coupon. I’ve made the Company Dishcloth and a pair of slippers from this book. Not one of my favorites, but it’s good for beginners because the patterns don’t have many abbreviations. Not all of the patterns have pictures of the finished product, and that is pretty annoying.

SnB and SnB Nation. SnB has such clear instructions and it’s easy to read. What more can I say? Lots of helpful tips. I’ve made numerous Umbilical Cord hats and a chunky scarf. I have the yarn for the Basic Cable hat and will start that soon.

Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I’ve made the hourglass sweater (love it!). I drool over just about everything else.

Weekend Knitting. I have the yarn for a flower petal washcloth for my cousin. Haven’t started it yet. Yet another book I just love to look at. I have the (non-cashmere) yarn for the cashmere sweater. I should work on that after Sitcom Chic is done. I would love to make a pair of wrist warmers using the Cash Iroha-I drooled over that yarn for the hourglass sweater, but I couldn’t justify the cost. I think I (or maybe my SP?) could handle buying one skein for a pair of wrist warmers, though!

Scarf Style. I have the yarn to make Midwest Moonlight for my mom for Christmas. Better get going on that. Someday I’d like to do Ene’s Scarf as my first big lace project.

At Knit's End. I am savoring this and reading only a few pages at a time.

Knitting on the Road and Sensational Knitted Socks. I haven’t knitted anything from these yet and don’t have a specific pattern in mind yet. I’m just addicted to sock patterns and yarn for some reason. Must finish Rib and Cable Socks first.

I love to talk about books and patterns and dream about everything I would knit if I didn’t work, eat, or sleep.

Progress Report

Here is my first Rib and Cable sock. I haven't worked on it since Saturday. I have a few more rounds before starting the toe decreases. Sitcom Chic is all in on piece! I didn't bind off the underarm stitches as was written in the pattern, but instead will kitchener them just like the Hourglass Sweater. I get to start the detailing tonight and hopefully will have this baby finished sometime this weekend.

FO Flashback: A couple of baby hats

In my continuting quest to make you all think I knit more than I really do, here are a couple more FO's.

Quin's Baby Hat

I made this for a couple of dear friends who had a baby in early September. The pattern is from Knitty Gritty. I think it's just so cute. I didn't really enjoy working with the suede yarn though.

Riley's Baby Hat

This is my fourth Umbilical Cord Hat from SnB, although you will see, this one is missing it's key element. I don't like making I-cord and thought the hat was cute just the way it was. I made this for DH's cousin's baby shower.

I got a cute e-card from my SP the other day!

I've been spying on my downstream pal quite a bit. I think I'm going to hit one of my LYS's this weekend to get some yarn.

If you're lucky, I may have some WIP photos tomorrow.