More projects finished up and another one well in hand

I had the good fortune this week of being able to give away two gifts. The first was to my grandma which I blogged below. The second was a gift to Alicia, a work colleague. She has been so helpful to me during a difficult year in a new job and I wanted to do something to thank her, so I made a scarf. I hadn’t made a scarf since probably two years because they’d become a little boring. I decided to try my hand at an easy lace pattern. The yarn was very nice and soft – I generally work with Cascade 220 and Nature Spun and this was a pleasant change of pace. The blocking did wonders for the lace pattern too.

Lace Leaf Scarf


Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk
Needles: size 9 Clover bamboos
Pattern: A winter edition of Family Circle Easy knitting – probably Fall/Winter 2006

Alicia seemed to really love the scarf and she told me the next day that the scarf was the first thing her husband noticed when he was her at the end of the day.

I finally got around to finishing the Moccasin Socks from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Alamanac. The yarn would have been prettier had I worked this with a traditional sock pattern. Because the sock is worked back and forth in rib rather than in the round, the pattern ended up looking more like urban camo than some nice. I love grafting/kitchener stitch, but there aren’t often opportunities to do this for more than 10 or so stitches. The bottom of the sock is grafted together along the entire length of the sock and you can see in the picture that I grafted too tightly. These turned out a little large too, so they are good bed socks or warm socks for walking in the winter. The yarn is nice though – I usually use Trekking XXL for my socks and this too was a nice change.

Moccasin Socks



Yarn: Lang Jawoll Sport
Needles: size 4 Addi Turbo circulars
Pattern: Moccasin Socks

The Gaffer’s Gansey has been coming along really well. I love the pattern on the chest. I have completed seven repeats of the ‘v’s’ and my best guestimate is that I will complete 10 of them. I completed what you see in the pictures in about 10 days and I have slowed down for two reasons. First, I am kinda nervous that I am developing tendonitis in my right wrist. I blame my laptop keyboard and not knitting (because, come on, seriously, knitting wouldn’t hurt me, right?), but still….And my second reason is that I am also a little nervous about steeking sleeves. I have successfully completed crocheted steeks before in an EZ fair isle cardigan that worked well, but I did have a sleeve disaster two years ago. I am still emotional about it! But I feel pretty confident about the pattern. I also wish I had started this with a metal circular rather than bamboo– I’d be able to knit a little more easily with that given the yarn. I wanted to get started and this was all I had in the house. I hope to show some picked up stitches on a successfully steeked armhole on one of my next posts.

Gaffer’s Gansey:





Gaffer’s gussets:



Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Sapphire Heather
Needles: size 7 Clover bamboo circulars
Pattern: Gaffer’s Gansey from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Workshop

None of the pictures reflect the color very well. I am not the best photographer, but that's my best for now. I took a pic of a good yoga book that I just picked up from the library. I have never really done yoga before and it seems like a good starter book. I have made a resolution to get up earlier so I can do a few more things in the morning, like a little yoga.

I finally posted on Zimmermania and the result has been many hits from around the world – so cool. Now my mom isn’t the only one reading my blog and having so many more visitors makes me feel like I need to spruce up my blog, hence a few more photos of FO’s and a WIP. Thanks too for the comments.

Oy vey, Christmas is almost here

Christmas is less than a week away and I am looking forward to two glorious weeks away from work. I think those were my exact words in looking forward to a week off at Thanksgiving. We will be spending the official holiday in Minneapolis and then heading to Wisconsin for a few days - during which time we will be celebrating my husband's birthday. It is a big one, but I won't disclose it out of respect for his advanced years.

My mom-in-law just is recovering from getting her spleen removed. For an organ with such a low profile (what the hell is if for?), it sounds like it was connected to every other organ she has. So, she's laying low recuperating. Probably seeing some Andy Griffith, maybe a little Elimi-date. We'll see if we can get some candids at Christmas. I am sure she'll be back to her socks before you know it. Here's the offending organ:



For those of you who know me, I had to use this sketch drawing of a spleen because I can't look at the real deal. Sue's a trooper though - I am sure she'll be ready for the holiday cheer and ready to put this whole thing behind her by the time we get there. She's just taught her sis how to knit socks. I need to get everyone to use their digi cams so I can blogs their projects.

The Hollyberry Lace Leaf Scarf:



This is turning out beautifully. I can't wait to see it blocked because it is a little floppy at the moment. This is my first experiment with lace and I have unknit as many rows as I have knit. I keep getting one extra stitch and then I am unknitting. This requires some concentration.

The pressure is off of finishing this before Christmas because it just won't be done, so why try? To quote Homer Simpson, "kids, you tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try'." A finished product will come together over the holidays. I have to finish this scarf, a pair of socks, and get some plans together for the Gaffer's Gansey. I can't believe I nearly forgot....that gorgeous quilt in the background was made Mr. Knits a Living's grandma (aka Granny). This is just one example of her beautiful quilting.

And then I fell in love with this yarn:



To make some fingerless mitts:



These are "Dashing: from Knitty:

I am going to use Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 6280. I hate it when colors are numbers. There are so many people thinking up names for lipstick, nail polish, paint....why can't all yarn have names of the colors?

I am waiting for pictures to be sent to me from my folks so I can blog our Sunday b-day bash. I wonder if they feel guilty for not following through on a commitment they made to me.