A little more...

Believe it or not...the progress shown represents several hours of knitting and audiobook listening. I'm not sure if I'm really this slow of a knitter, or if it's because I keep stopping at really good parts of the book without realizing it. I think I zone out, and then realize that I'm just sitting there in the chair staring at my knitting ....instead of actually knitting it ...but still...here are the little skiers...almost complete...only 4 or 5 rows of them left. I realize now that in future patterns I will look for more even distribution of colour...I mean....it's really annoying to work those parts where there are like 15 stitches of the same colour. I was told to twist the yarns at that point...so that I don't have HUGE loops of the carried yarn on the inside, but I'm not sure if I'm doing that correctly...whatever....it will still be a hat when I'm done...even if it's not technically knit properly right?
The whole twisting thing is a pain though...I much preferred the snowflake parts where you didn't have more than 5 or 6 stitches in a row of the one colour... I'm not sure if I enjoy knitting colourwork as much as I enjoyed the cables...but I do love the effect...so...perhaps there really will be more projects after this one....mittens...yes...I do want matching mittens :-)

Back to where I was

Well, here's where I was with my hat at the end of last night. I'm pretty much back to where I was before I ripped it all out and started it again. It didn't take tooooo long to get back to this point. I just haven't had as much time to sit and knit in the last little bit as I seemed to the week before. I'm really enjoying sitting on my rear and knitting while listening to this book series.
The 4th comes out in late 2008?!?! You mean it's not going to end at the end of this book and be all neatly tied up into a fabulously happily ended story?!?! I don't know if I can take it!!! More importantly...what am I going to listen to between now and then? Hehe, I'll be on search for a new book...or...series...hmmm

So, what do you think of the colours? I think I like it, even though there isn't as much contrast as with the caramel colour. I think I will like it when finished. I'm going with it either way, I want to see what those skiers look like!

Decision made...but...is it the right one...*fret, fret*

I change my mind...I ended up knitting half the hat and ripped it out...I polled EVERYONE...and came up equal with the caramel..vs..brown votes..doh! Yep...I'm calling it caramel now...a girl at work called it that...and so now I can stop calling it the yellowy gold colour...phew!
I'm now going with brown...doh!!! it's downright painful.....a coworker held up the caramelly colour to her black sweater and said..."ohhhh you could make another one with this colour and black"...that's what decided it...

and I realized...that now with the help of audiobooks...I knit much faster....mostly because I've been shirking all household duties...(well...the weekly cleaning hasn't been done yet...ugg) and knitting whenever life allows....

There is actually a slight chance (albeit slight) that I might actually finish this hat THIS WINTER!!!! but...I'm not holding my breath :-)

Sooooo, on another knitterly note, we were at small group tonight and Jane said "I have something for you if you want it" hmmmm what could it be???? And she gave me this! 5 skeins of mohair...It's not a brand I know...and I've never knit with mohair...but it feels very nice...very different....I like it.
She said she wanted to give it to someone who would enjoy it....and that she'd had it a long time and knew that it was just sitting there....it made me wonder if there was something that I could knit for her out of it...since she obviously loved the yarn enough to have it...but just really knit anymore.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas...the ball band says that it's double knit weight...but cuz of the fuzziness most new yarns I've seen like this end up listed as bulky (or am I confused) ...and there are 170 yds per skein....50g....5 skeins......

The only thing I've run across so far is Wisp but I'd love some more ideas

Thanks for the comments on the hat! I still don't know if I'll be happy ..but...it's just a hat right??....really...I should just order another skein of the teal...and knit one in each colour...then I'll never have to decide again!!!! Well, if that's the plan...I need to go download another book :-)

Happy knitting!!

Indecision

I still can't decide...so I knit some more...with brown this time....here is two days of knitting...knowing most of the time that it would be ripped out....I've never done that before!!!
Must be the audiobooks...I'm quite content to sit and listen and knit...for hours! ...but really....I need heeeeeelp! Which colour combo would you use? Teal and brown...or teal and hmmm beigey goldy stuff... I wish it were as yellowy as it photographs..it's more gold...but whatever...
what do you think?? Anyone?.....anyone?.....Bueller?........ nope...nobody there huh....doh....

Cross-Country

I decided on Serengeti (yellowy beige), to go with the Woodland sage (teal) instead of the Cocoa (yep..brown)...I actually like the look of the cocoa better....but I don't think the colour work will show up as well...or have the "right look" with the cocoa....sorry for the glaring flashy photos....
I randomly knit with both....and decided....I hope it's the right decision...we'll see...the colours look very different in the picture than they actually do....the teal is much darker than the pictures show...... Grrrr...I'm not sure if I like the colour combo I picked ...I either love it...or shrug at it...I'm not sure....I asked H...and he actually likes it...it was his original choice for the combo anyways....we'll see if it looks nice once more is knit I guess...whatya think???I'm having some tension issues (having never really done more than a pocket in colourwork before). I'm trying to carry the yarn loosely in the back...but still....wherever there are single stitches they seem to be getting lost...pulled through to the back...you know? Hmmmm, hopefully I will get this worked out and I won't have to rip out too much of this hat....I'm really enjoying knitting with audiobooks...I tell ya....why oh why didn't I find this before! Sooooo relaxing!

Just needs buttons!

I'm so very pleased! I'm finished my niece's birthday present!.....and only 12 days too late! Well...actually...it will be even later than that by the time she actually gets it...because it still needs buttons. Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out..and even though at the end when I was past deadline I was totally tired of knitting it...that was really just at the end...and just because I can get unduly stressed about crafty deadlines.... I really enjoyed knitting this. The cables were fun, and more interesting that plain knitting, and it actually seemed to go by really quickly because of the constant change in the pattern.A slightly more close up look at the cable pattern....nice basic first cable project....Now...I'm officially free to play with thisI can't wait...it's so soft.....yes...it's from knitpicks....I know some people just hate them....I had a lady yell at me that knitpicks was "ruining the knitting industry" but...really...they sell yarn that I can afford...so I buy from them....otherwise I'd be limited largely to acrylic and lets face it...sometimes you want more than acrylic...... now I'm off to try and roll these babies into little balls....by hand.....because even knitpicks doesn't have a ballwinder and swift that I can afford hahahaha!

Delivery!

I had the most delightful little box on my front porch when I got home from work today...it's my yarn order....it's knitpicks gloss....merino and silk...it's sooooo soooooftThat's brown "Cocoa", teal "Woodland Sage" and yellowy browny beige "Serengeti" The colours are a wee bit off from my camera...the serengeti isn't really quite as yellow as it looks here.
I'm trying to decide which two colours to use for the cross country hat. I definitely want to use the Woodland sage...but not sure whether the cocoa or the serengeti will be better suited for the colourwork....I'm very open to suggestions...having never worked with colour before....

I really like the teal and brown combo..but worry that there won't be enough contrast...but then...the teal looks nice with the yellowy one too..and definitely will have contrast...and it's closer to the original pattern colours which is really the reason I fell in love with the hat...doh...I just don't know! Maybe I'll knit a patch of each and compare.....again...VERY open to suggestions...
I also added on this cotton linen blend.....just because....only one skein...no idea what to make of it...I just wanted to try it out and see how it feels....its very liberating to buy just one skein with no idea at all what to do with it...just because....I don't think I've ever bought yarn without already having a pattern picked out to use it with (unless there was a full bag blowout or something and you end up buying R2 Rag,...whatever that it....and yes....it's still in the cupboard...2 years later...what AM I could to do with that stuff!).....back to the CotLin.....yep...not a clue...but whatever it is ...it will be fun I'm sure!
And a sweater stone...and I tried it out on my hairiest sweater...did a pretty good job....the pilly stuff came off in these think puffy strings of wool fluff..and now I ask you...could skilled hands turn my sweater fluff back into yarn to make a new sweater....is wool recyclable??!?!?!! How cool would that be!
I finished the last sleeve of the baby sweater the other day...but...I just casted on the hood tonight...and I have about an inch done....I have about 7 to go...and then another 4....Hopefully I can finish it this weekend and then...wooo hooo...shiny new project for me!
I'm so excited!

I have sleeves!

Yep...the sleeves are both done...just the hood left...just the hood...

I'm so excited....

I can't wait till I have this sweater all stitched up...

...hope little one likes it!

My yarn order hasn't arrived yet...which is a good thing...I can't be distracted.

I NEEEED to be DONE!...sooo What's next?

I really need to be done this sweater. Really, really, I'm now officially tired of it. I think almost every project I do goes through this stage at some point.....probably because everything starts so happily...then life or work gets a little busy, and it gets set aside...for months....so when I come back I always feel like I'm tying up loose ends...does that make sense?

Hmmm, My next project...I really want to just work on one thing. I think I should try that. Having only one thing on the needles for awhile. I always seem to have a bunch of things happening at once, so inevitably at least one of those projects ends up getting dropped in a corner somewhere.

Sooooo, what should my next project be...I'm waiting on some yarn that I ordered to make the cross country hat from knitty. (I've never done colour work before...should I be scared?)

I still need to restart my Lacy little top (from way back in Nov 2005...ouch!)

And when I actually finish the hat...I'll need some mitts to go with it. I've got the pattern for Fiber fish.......but I really don't understand what the corrections to the pattern mean.... what does "w&t." mean?

The other pattern I'm drooling over (remember I've never done colour work before) is Anemoi Mittens

Oh...how beautiful.....mmmmmmm

Yes...I'm about 3/4 done the second sleeve on the 2 year old baby sweater...still the hood left to do....the seaming....then....and only then....will I be free to knit another.....

Cabled baby cardigan....and cards...and Christmas stuff

I'm a little further on the baby sweater (man...the two year size is really BIG! I would have expected this size for about a 4 year old...I guess I just don't know kids). I don't think I'll be able to get it done on time...since the birthday party is 2 days away...and I still have to make two sleeves and a hood...oh...and I'm sitting here typing.....but...so far...I'm pretty happy with it.

I made a few cards over the holiday too! I had too! My sweet sweet husband bought me all that stamping stuff for Christmas...how could I resist :-)
The brown ones are my favs...can ya tell....actually...it's the first time I've actually used ANY of my stampin' up patterned paper.
I thought I'd post a few Christmas pictures....these are of our own little Christmas eve night together. It was lots of fun, and the first time we'd spent any holiday time just the two of us....I think it might start a tradition because we both really enjoyed it....plus ....the Chargers won!!!H was reaching under the tree to get a gift for me and had to move Pablo the penguin....I think the picture looks like they're dancing hehehehe....this picture and some of the below ones are taken with the new underwater digital camera that H gave me for Christmas! I've been so spoiled...I also got the most comfortable down pillow in the world!
More pics taken with the new camera...we were playing with it in the housing...and apparently didn't take the sticker off of the lens area...there was some black print on it...I think that why the fogginess...what can I say...we were all excited :-)
Harold wrapped up all the stamping stuff he got me in a couple of boxes that he filled with the confetti from our paper shredder....he really outdid himself this year...so inventive....I kept wondering why I hadn't had to empty the shredder in a while...but...didn't clue in...hehehe

Me digging through one of the confetti boxes.
A whole big pile of stamping stuff...and my new dive camera....oh what fun....then it was off to bed....and a wonderful nights sleep on a super duper down pillow....

2008

Happy New Year!