Reflections

I was looking at my 2009 Finished Objects list and it is impressive, lots of socks, but only two sweaters. This was a challenging year for me and my knitting. Starting the new job created lots of tired nights and no knitting. I think 2010 I will work on quality things I love! I really need/want to finish mom's sweater. I am off now till January 4th, and will dig it out one day and really think about what I need to do. I started a pair of "mostly" brainless socks for Joe on Christmas Eve. I wanted something to work on during downtime at Christmas. The yarn was purchased at Rhinebeck; a merino/bamboo blend. Joe really likes the bamboo, because it wicks the moisture from his sweaty feet. I had wanted to give him more than one pair at Christmas, but oh well!
The pattern is K6, Seed 3. I think these will be shorter socks, because I only have 420 yards.





I got the Brioche book from my brother for Christmas. I was pretty excited, since it was not
supposed to be out till mid-January. This book is not for the faint of heart. But it is nicely
laid out. Lots of tutorials, stitch guides, and then patterns. It is like reading a foreign language.



Joe got me a nice Canon camera for Christmas. Yea!
We had a nice Christmas. Sandy and Destiny were here from N.C. Destiny has grown - again!
When you see the pictures, you will notice she is the tallest of the bunch, except for maybe Joey.


Sandy:


Destiny, Mom and Dad:


My brother Joel, and Joey (checking out Joey's Christmas gun from Santa):



My sister-in-law Vicky, who loved her "socks of kindness" socks:


Joe and Tiffany:



Tiffany and Destiny:


Joe's sister Donna, her boyfriend Jeff, and oldest daughter Mandy


Middle sister, Jeanine, who hosted Christmas dinner this year:


Little sister, Mindy, and her boyfriend Rich:

Knitting my fingers to the bone!

I'm knitting my fingers to the bone to try and get the Christmas socks done.
I have 2-3 more repeats and then decrease for the toe, and then blocking.
I really wish I could take this week off of work to get done. The yarn is from
Hemlock Fibre Fest- Maple Creek Farm - silk/bamboo/wool. The pattern
is Socks of Kindness, found on Ravelry. These are some of the
nicest socks I have ever made. Good combination of yarn with pattern. Wish
you could see them in person. I have some more of that yarn from Rhinebeck
this year.




Ruth finished up the Tomten...I love her choice of buttons!



Martha made a pretty cowl of of silk/cashmere/wool yarn we dyed when
we were at her house for her sister-in-law.
Very very nice!



Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year dear blog readers!

I am off between Christmas and New Years. I hope to sit on my
fat a** and knit knit knit.
Would love to finish up the shawl.....I haven't shared pictures of that in a
long time, but I do work on it quite often.
It has been 10 years already since everyone thought the world was
going to stop when all of the computer systems turned to 2000.
My, how time flies!

F.O.

Merry Christmas season!

Ruth has mostly finished up the Tomten for her little granddaughter -
she needs to do I-cord edging yet. I think it's adorable!

I finished up the first sock of a pair I'm making for Christmas. This sucker took
me a long time and I am really hoping I can get the other one done. Cross
your fingers for me.

I had a Christmasy weekend. Shopping w/mom, dad and Tiffany.
Fake tree up, real tree up - but not decorated, and the house decorated.
Did not put up as many decorations this year as we hope to be under construction
doing the kitchen on December 26th.

Merry Christmas season everyone!

Special Stuff

I am very privileged to be the proud owner of some two-ply yarn that Ruth spun from our trip to Rhinebeck. I believe it is Romney, but I could be wrong. I washed it and wound into cakes today.
If I calculated right, I have about 300 yards. (I think Martha has some, too). Thanks ,Ruth.
Now I need to decide what to make. Joey said I should dye it because whatever I make will get too dirty looking. Joe helped me unwind a huge tangle on the swift and decided it is perfect sock yarn for him. Now that I think of it, it is similar to LopiLite--he has one of my first socks made from the LopiLite. It is too precious for socks, but I'm not telling him that. This picture is awful.



I finished up my Sister-in-Law Donna's socks. Very plain jane socks. Made from Dream in Color Smooshy. I had a lot leftover, which I would have made them a little longer. Her birthday is on Christmas Eve, so these are birthday socks, not Christmas socks.


I also finished up a quick hat in worsted Malabrigo for Joe. The color is blue/teal.
I did a lot of ribbing so he can be nice and warm.


I am working on some other socks and an experiment. More later.....

Martha made her son Tom some fingerless alpaca gloves.
Pattern: Urban Necessity, by Colleen Michele Meagher, which was published in Mag knits
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca-Light knitted on size 5 needle


I love these. They are so professional!

Ruth is still working on the Tomten jacket for her granddaughter, and she has
started an Anne Hanson sock pattern.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Tiffany and I went shopping on black Friday and had
a blast. Bargains galore! Not a very knitful weekend, but oh well, there is always
next weekend.

have a happy week!

Holiday knitting season is here!

Actually I've been making presents for a while, I just don't have much to show for it.

I am almost done with the purple socks for Joe's sister. Started a hat for Joe,
Mitred mittens for Betty that may or may not get done. Mom's sweater may or
may not get done. I am going to concentrate on it over the Thanksgiving holiday
and make a decision.

Ruth is almost done with her granddaughter's Tomten...very cute.




I will have a picturlisciuos post next week after the long holiday, hopefully a mass
of FO's.

Happy Knitting..stay tuned.

French Press Slippers Rock!

I whipped up the French Press Slippers in no time last weekend - and sewed them together on Monday. Pattern can be purchased here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/french-press-felted-slippers.

I used some old (and I mean old 4+ years) Elann Highland Wool yarn I had in the stash. There is enough yarn left to make Tiffany a pair. I did not want to give her the first pair as they were experiments. I have to get some fabric paint to put on the bottom so they are not so slippery.
I made the medium size. I really thought I screwed up and was going to have to give them to someone with big feet but I just kept felting and felting and eventually they became my size!

I got gauge with size 15 needles - can you say uncomfortable! I adore them and will wear them often - always take slippers along to the holiday gatherings so this year I have some real special ones to bring.





The 2nd purple sock is almost done - I'm cruising down the foot - I will save that for brainless knitting this week.

Marcia:
My friend Marcia recently completed her very first sweater. She did yoke sweater with knitted in sleeves. We used the EZ percentage system to figure out the size. I am so proud of her - it fits perfectly. She used a superwash wool from KnitPicks. I wish you could see it in person - it is
absolutely stunning.



Ruth and Martha are on a sister weekend so no updates from them. I know Ruth has been spinning a lot this week, and I have not heard from Martha. I'll let you know what's brewing
with them next week.

Happy Knitting.......stay safe.

An update, at last!

Up and Running at last!

Ruth, Martha and I went to Rhinebeck and had a wonderful time. We spent most of Saturday there, and we were cold! But the cold brought out the fashion show....meaning, most everyone that walked by was wearing some wonderful piece of handknit finery. Most of it was absolutely stunning. We stayed in Kingston. When we had continental breakfast at the motel, we met some other women who came on a bus. They were from the "north country" in New York.
Here are a few pictures of our finds:

Me:





Most of the yarn I got is for socks. The soft gray is oh so soft and will be a sweater for me
...some day.



Don't you just love the mugs! My tea tastes so much better.

The medium size bag was a real find...not very expensive,
lined and oh so cute!


Ruth:

Ruth got a lot of "stuff" to wind and spin.


this batch had a lot of gold color to it and it wonderful.

She got bags and bags of stuff and I'm not sure what the proper name for
all of it is....but I know she will be busy for a long time spinning!




Martha:

This is a vest she made prior to Rhinebeck that she wore there. She got the buttons at
Rhinebeck. the vest was fab and fit well.



this is a picture of the back of the buttons, she puts felt on the
back and it makes a nice sturdy edge....
this is the technique:
Connie I tried to take a close up of the reinforcement and it came out blurry. Basically, I try to make the circle of wool felt the same size as the button and button band. I Blanket stitch it on and then sew on the button through the felt. That is the "technique".





She got lots of goodies, including a sheepskin throw, mug and yarn.

Ruth and Martha purchased the pattern for Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing cowl.
Martha made one and gauge was a little off, and then she made a 2nd one
that looks great on her. The baby doll was a nice practice piece, don't you think!



I just finished up an eyelet cowl from a little piece of cashmere I got at Rhinebeck.
from Ellen's Half Pint store.


I adapted the pattern from a stitch pattern in The
Harmony Guide Lace and Eyelets, page 43,
Eyelet Twist Pattern. Cast on 104 stitches, got almost
3 pattern repeats. Two rows of garter on each edge.
I need to block it so some of the stitches lay properly.

I am sure glad the computer is up and running...I really missed
it. Posts will be kept up on a regular basis now.

It is in the 60's here in Western NY today and so nice out.
I've washed windows and have wash on the line. Started a pair
of felted slippers. Not sure how they will turn out....more next week.

So!

The computer keeps crapping out on me...new part from Dell expected today. The camera still does not work, but I have taken pictures w/Tiffanys....
What does all of this mean? A nice, newsy post should happen this week. It's been way to long.
Ruth,Martha and I spent our fall vacation at Rhinebeck, and what a wonderful time we had.
We all have very different things to show - I will have pictures later.

I spent most of Saturday winding yarn, some of it behaved very badly on the swift. I do not
enjoy the winding part, keep thinking I could be using that time to knit.

So my loyal readers .....stay tuned......

Happy Fall

Happy Fall! I have a new job and come home from work almost completely brain dead everyday so not much knitting going on....boring to post about....and to top it off, something is mucked up with our camera so I could not even take pictures of the socks I just finished. Austerman Step socks for Joe. They turned out very nice. I used Wendy Johnson's Temptation heel pattern, and will not use it again. It leaves a little weird edge on the heel that I hope will block out. It was nice not having to pick up stitches though. Other than those socks, I try to work on the shawl once in a while, and have started a new pair of socks in a merino/bamboo/silk blend. Just finished the ribbing and the yarn feels wonderful sliding through my fingers.

I hope I can share some pictures next week.....

Brrrr....I need to wear socks today

Brrrrr, it did not even get to 70 degrees here today in Western New York, cloudy, rainy,
whine whine whine....I know. But is it too much to ask for August to feel like August?
It's time to get the handmade socks out....
I am starting to head down the heel on Joe's Austerman Step (Temptation pattern from WendyKnits) socks. The pattern is k4, slip one. The temptation pattern is interesting....
don't pick up stitches around the gusset....there is an increase on both sides before the heel is made. I have hardly knit at all this week. I have a new job and my mind is mush by the time I get home. Only knitting I have done is on the bus.


Ruth and Martha have done a little bit, and I will share in their own words:

Ruth:
I went to my spinning class on Saturday.
I was the only one there as the other student could not come. The private lesson was divine. Deb taught me about blending fibers. I am sending a photo of the fibers I
blended and spun all from the same three colored batts. They look quite
different-the photo is not so good. She also taught me how to andean ply
off of my wrist. That is very cool. Last night I spun some Louet pencil
roving I bought quite a while ago and that is the other photo--still on
the bobbin.




Martha:

Here is a pathetic attempt to complete this sock. It has some
elements of the sock pattern even!! Ugh, I struggled with getting
the heel done properly, and after trying about 5x I gave up and just
kept knitting mistakes, to keep things consistent. The yarn is from
Ruth, it is gorgeous, huh? The pattern is Francie, by Rebekkah
Kerner, found on her blogsite, http://bowerbirdknits.blogspot.com.









We celebrated Joey's 21st birthday yesterday. We had the family at 4:00 and the
friends at 8:30... Got to bed about 3:30 am and as you guessed...I'm pretty tired.
It was a lot of fun. he has nice friends, and they all thanked Joe and I multiple
times for the evening.

Joe requested cheesecake.


Mom and dad had fun and seemed in good health.




oh, and in case you're wondering...Joey really cleaned himself up nice before those cute girls got here......

Socks - Complete!

The WeeSocks are done, and they are not so very wee, are they?
They are very long, very soft, and oh so wonderful!

Look, twins!







I started a pair of socks for Joe out of Auterman Step (it has Jojoba and Aloe in
the yarn), and am just starting the heel. I am using Wendy Knits Temptatation
sock pattern which has a different heel - no picking up! I'm just starting so I
have no opinion if I like it or not yet, I will let you know next week.
I am using a K3, slip 1 pattern, which is nice for mansocks.

Jeannine has been helping me with mom's sweater, it's coming along slow
but sure...(thanks, Jeannine!!!) no pictures to share. We're in the experimental
neck stage....

I have not done much knitting,but that's ok. I'm enjoying the summer.

My baby turns 21 next week - go figure!

Have a fun, knitful week....

Hi there

Long time no blog, huh? Last weekend our computer got an awful virus that after SEVERAL hours and $90 later, it is finally fixed. I have not been doing an awful lot of knitting. The 2nd WeeSock is almost done...thank goodness. I am (finally) sick of them. Working a bit on mom's sweater....and started an Elizabeth Zimmerman Dickie for EZ class. I am too tired to take a picture.

Ruth and Martha have socks to share.

Ruth just finished her first WeeSock. Her colors are a bit different than mine. She did a top down, K3, P1 rib. Very cute!



Martha finished up EmmaLouise's socks. Reminder she created this pattern out of the sweater she just finished for EL.




I am bone tired and need to sign off now. Lots of swimming and LOVING summer this weekend.
I have hauled countless loads of laundry up the basement stairs, thru the house and out to the clothesline. Have actually filled all of the lines twice today!

I'm going to work on the weesocks a bit more before I hit the sack.

Take care knitting buddies....