What we won't do for our kids :)

I turn 35 in 16 days. Pretty scary, eh?

Famous!

On the way up to Mt. Shasta for vacation, I finished up my pixie hat...kitchnered it up expertly, if I do say so myself :P, and put it on my head...only to find out it was too big, lol. Ah well, I love it regardless.

Here are a few pictures of the hat and my most recent scarf in action in the snow, lol :)







My partner got some pictures of the back and sides of my hat and one with my hat, scarf and mittens all in the shot! Of course, when I'll get a copy of it to post, who knows, lol.

Mittens ho!

So, I've never knit mittens before.

But, I'm going to the snow (as everyone knows and is tired of hearing about) and I decided I needed me some warm, bulky, squishy wool mittens. I found a knit-flat mitten pattern that looked interesting and cast on with some of my faaabulous new bulky wool yarn I got the other day. It's Plymouth Galaway Chunky in color 705...a very dark blue. I'm not usually one for blues, but this caught my eye and I thought it would make nice mittens :)

Here is the cast-on and ribbed wrist knit...going to start the thumb soon!


OoOoh! Making the thumb was totally cool :) But then, you can to crochet down the side to seam it up and well...um...I'm not a crocheter...so it's a bit wonky...but I love it anyway :)


Wonky crocheted-up thumb and some more of the hand knit...I was just all aglow :) Kept exclaiming, "I'm knitting mittens!"


Trying them on mid-hand length. Yes, my thumb curves weird. My sweetie's always making fun of my weird curly stick-out thumbs :P But the mitten fits perfectly thus far!


All the knitting is done! Now, how the heck do you do a three-needle bind-off again?


All sewn up and on my hand! Perfect fit...perfeect warmth...perfect gloves (even if the seaming is sooooo not perfect, they're still perfect to me! )


Mitten shadow puppets :)


Laid out flat and beautious on the couch :)


And because everyone loves kitties! This is Annie right before the flash interrupted her slumber and she glared at me then cleaned her toes :)


The other bulky yarn I bought on Friday :) This might become a hat? Maybe..... So soft! Bulky! Wool! Warm! Colors! Yay!




Yup. I made me some mittens :) Can you tell I'm proud? :D

Friday fondling

After a pretty tough week, I decided I needed to fondle some yarn.

I went to the LYS for which I got several gift cards at Christmas. I started walking around the smallish shop, fondling every skein in sight with the following criterion in my mind:

1) worsted weight or larger, preferrably bulky even. I have waaay too much thin yarn in my stash.

2) Wool or a significant wool blend. I don't really have that much wool and whenever I knit with it, I find it a joyous, springy experience, so I wantes some more.

3) Soft. Duh, of course that one has to be in there somewhere :P You're reading this blog, you shoudl know I'm queen of the tactile-world!

So, I fondled. I squished. I read labels on things of sufficient girth and softness to see what fiber content I was looking at. I fondled and squished some more. When my short trip around the entire store was finished, I had four skeins of yarn in my arms. Huzzah! The week's dreariness and stress forgotten, I grabbed my bag o' bulky wool and left the shop revived and ready for whatever the weekend can throw at me :)

Pictures of the yumminess tomorrow :)

Luscious garter scarf

I'm going on a vacation to Mt. Shasta in a few weeks to play in the show with my sweetie. I decided I needed a WARM scarf to wrap about my head and neck whilst pummeling said sweetie with snow balls :)

Digging through the stash, I came across a treasured skein of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks tussah silk and merino yarn that I bought at Stitches West in February 2007. So soft! Such scrumptious colors. I knew this was my scarf. I'm a big fan of the garter stitch...it's so squishy and textured and just easy as pie, so I decided my scarf would just be plain garter stitch. This would also allow the yarn to shine, rather than a stitch pattern. It ALSO gave me the opportunity to practice knitting and purling backwards (easy as pie, really :) ) and holding the yarn in different positions while knitting. It was fun and easy and good practice.

Behold! The most luscious, soft, silky-draping plain ol' garter stitch scarf of love.

Holiday knit-o-rama

Pictures of a few Christmas gifts I made this year. Nothing spectacular, just more utilitarian. But utilitarian is good :)

This was the Fuschia scarf o' doom I made for my Aunt. These first few pictures don't do the color justice, but you can see the stitch pattern better. It's the One Row scarf :) I do love this pattern and I expect I'll make another one for myself in a not eye-bleeding pink color one of these days.





Here's a better representation of the BRIGHT color.





I also used this yarn and some multi-pink Opal sock yarn together to make a groovy ear warmer/headband thing for my Aunt. Sadly, no pictures. She seemed to love them both, but after opening them, she decided to wrap the scarf around her head instead :)



Remember this shawl for my mother that I started back in April? Well, I finally blocked the damned thing so I could give it to her for Christmas. I didn't know until I was done soaking it and pinning it out on my son's floor that you aren't supposed to wet-block cotton. Ooops. Oh well, it came out nice anyway and my mom loved it!







The look on my mom's face when she opened the package was priceless :)



Each side is probably 5 feet long, so she had to wrap it a few times around her shoulders, but it looks good on her anyway. The coloring goes well with her skin-tone, just as I had hoped!



One day in passing, I found a pattern for something called the "Magic Scarf." It's just a plain ol' stockinette rectangle, but you cast off in such a way that, once you're done, you can pull the two ends of the scarf and it becomes three times as long and lacy. I wanted to try it out...and well, I had this Wool Ease Thick & Quick sitting around, so I put the two together into a scarf for my sister who just moved to Ohio a few months ago. I think it's really pretty!

I had another ball in the same color, so I also made her an ear warmer/headband thingie for walking my furry niece and nephew in the snow.







Currently, I'm working on a plain ol' simple as can be garter stitch scarf for myself. Why? Well, I have plans in a few weeks for a SUPER DUPER AWESOME vacation in the snow and I need a warm scarf. I'm using a skein of Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks tussah/merino dreamy yarn, so it's just scrumptious. So soft, an amazing drape to the fabric and I am in deep lust with the colors. No pictures now, but I promise once I'm done :)

Bad blogger

It's cold.

No, It's really cold. For California...it's COLD. I have a heater going under my desk and my big heavy wool coat on and cords and hig heavy socks and...I'm COLD.

*shiver*

I am taking life in stride...which is surprising me. The ex wife and I observed a special ed class for the boy to go to yesterday morning. In a lot of ways, it was just a regular classroom...but it was also a SPECIAL ED class...only a few students, several teachers....and it scared the heck out of me that my boy will be in that classroom.

He starts on Monday.

Actually, it's a really great, mild classroom and they follow the school district curriculum, so he will still get his education and learn what he needs to learn. Yeah, it's a special ed class, but they were adding and subtracting when we observed...and the boy can barely count to 30 : He'll have some catching up to do educationally, but I think he'll like it. He said he thought the school looked a lot better than his current school and he was excited to start there next week.

I hope it goes well.

*fret*

Not a lot of knitting has been happening...which isn't a good thing, because I have to finish the hot pink scarf of doom for my aunt! That's the last present I have to make...unless I somehow whip it out and am able to make her the matching hat I wanted to make her :)

I'm stalled on my Mr. Greenjeans sweater because my needle broke and then I got into holiday knitting and haven't gotten a new needle yet. But, after christmas...yes! I'm up to where I start the cables on the body, so hopefully it will wiz by and I'll have a groovy new sweater to wear in 2008 :)

I also REALLY REALLY want to make myself this hat :D

Click on the picture for the pattern :) I will, of course, make it in orange alpaca with brown trim.

*shiver*

Did I mention I'm cold? :D