Wow, December already, huh?

Where did the month go?  Where did I go?  Well, I might not have met my goal to blog everyday, but I did blog more often which was really my goal!

I hope everyone had a terrific Turkey Day.  I was visiting family and had a fine time.  In my last post I showed you the gifts I finished at the last minute.  Well, here they are with their new owners…

My nephew’s new obsession is the lasso. Well, you can imagine the fun he had when his aunt and uncle handed him 2 gloves connected by a very long cord!

And T seemed to really love her blanket!

I got a good bit of knitting done while traveling. No pics right now but very soon!

I did hear from my SIL that she did get the package with my niece and nephew’s birthday gifts. Then I remembered that I never posted L2′s Wonderful Wallaby.

She said they were wearing them this weekend and really liked them.

And, when I got that picture off of my husband’s camera I was also able to get these:

These were the socks that I knitted for the 4th year I was in the Hogwarts Sock Swap. The pattern is Heather Colorwork Socks #347 by Rebecca Hatcher. I used Trekking Pro Natura. I really enjoyed making them for Angela.

Harder than it looks…

I got nothin. I want to have more…I really do…but I got nothin.

I continue to make progress on the blanket but I have not touched the cardigan again since I started it a couple of days ago. I hope to get more work done on it this weekend.

Oh! Oh! I thought of something! Entrelac seems to be a new theme in my life these days. I’ve never really been interested in it, having only tried it once before. However, I was intrigued by this pattern and decided to give it a go.

The pattern is A Step Above from Knitter’s.

And then a lady came into the shop asking for help on a entrelac scarf. And then another lady came into the shop asking me to show her how to do Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style.  Course, I got sucked into that one, too.  I really love it so far.  Pictures will follow soon.  Anyone else do Entrelac?

How did I get so lucky?

A little over a week ago I was getting ready for a trip to Vegas (business for J) and I received a package in the mail. My first thought? I must be sleep-buying because I don’t have any memory of what this could be. Inside I found a beautifully handknit pair of socks, a thing called a Furochic (a reusable cloth gift wrap inspired by Furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth) and a sock washing bag for a washing machine. Next thought? What sock swap did I forget that I was signed up for? And then I opened the note inside. It was from my Sockapalooza 4 sockpal… Sockergirl! Can you believe that completely out of the blue and out of the kindness of her heart she sent me a pair of socks! What a PAL!

I apologize for the worn look of the socks…I put them on the day we left and haven’t had a chance to wash them yet.

In other news, I have been knitting…just not photographing or blogging.  Ugh!  Here are some of the things I have finished:

Cardigan for Baby Boy

pattern: Tulips by Lindsay Pekny with modifications
yarn: Jeanne by Plymouth
mods: ribbing all the way around (to make it more “masculine” and 4 buttons instead of 5).
I hope to get pics from the mom (hint, hint) soon.

Matching Booties

pattern: Christine’s Stay-On Baby Booties by Christine Bourquin
yarn: Jeanne by Plymouth
no mods

And I finished Bellatrix

Pattern: Bellatrix by Monkeytoes (free download on Ravelry)
yarn: Lang Jawoll Cotton

Monica for my niece

pattern: Monica by Christine Schwender
yarn: Cascade Sierra
no mods

Wonderful Wallaby for niece’s 2nd birthday

pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Carol A. Anderson
yarn: Cascade Sierra
mods: used seed stitch around hood and pocket

Pictures of WIPs to come.

The knitting portion of the program

My trip to Sweden last week was amazing…in so many ways.  There are so many things to show you that I thought I should divide it into knitting and non-knitting posts.  You’ll see why when you see all the knitting related photos I have!

So I didn’t really go to Stockholm having much planned to do EXCEPT to meet up with my friend, S, for a knitting tour of Stockholm!  Priorities, people, PRIORITIES!!!

Our first stop is Nysta. 

 

Great selection of beautiful yarns.  I am totally overcome from yarn fumes and somehow only walk out with Kalinka linen yarn. 

Never fear!  I clear my head by the time we pull up in front of Wincent.  There I find Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn in a color that S recommends and a Swedish bamboo sock yarn.  On the way out I see the prettiest little buttons…mother of pearl with this scroll-y pattern on them.  I wish I could show you an up close picture but I don’t have that feature on my camera.

Then just around the corner is Ljungqvists Garn.  I am just going to get the book of Norwegian patterns (hats, mittens and socks) but decide to buy some souvenir yarn, too, to make some mittens.  Now I just have to learn Norwegian…or bug S to death to help with the translation.

After lunch, we go to Garnverket.  There I pick up 2 skeins of Visjo ombre from the Ostgoterlands Ullspinneriet (course this doesn’t have all the accents over the letters so that is why I put the links).

In one of the oldest parts of the city, Gamla Stan, behind the Royal Palace, is a beautiful part of the city made all that much more interesting by the TWO yarn shops located there!!!

Anntorps Vav is our first stop.  This lady does a beautiful job dying her yarn!

I fall in love with a little sweater in the window and buy the yarn to make it.  Again, must learn Swedish but it will be so worth it!!!  (HELP S!!!)

Yarn shop #6!  WHEW!  Tired yet?!?

By this time I am starting to worry about what the credit card bill will look like when I get home, not to mention will I be able to get all this into my suitcase?  Sticka has gorgeous yarn so make sure you put them on your list of places to visit but I decide to start thinking small.  I saw these clasps (?) and think they would finish off a vest I started FOREVER AGO perfectly.   

And S tells me that she is saving the best for last (not to mention that it is on the way to her house)…Maria’s Garn.  As you can see, I can NOT resist the handdyed (by Maria) 75% wool, 25% bamboo sock yarn.  Could you?

S ends her tour of Stockholm’s finest yarn shops with a private tour of her yarn room!    I didn’t take pictures but I wish I had!  Amazing!  And what a house, too.  Sure, she was in the middle of remodeling but who isn’t!!  When I visit next time is will all be done, right?

A couple of days later I am shopping around Stockholm and we go into a mall.  As we are taking the escalator down, imagine my surprise to see this… 

I swear my heart skips a beat!  Well, once I regain my composer I realize that it is a restaurant!!!  Can you believe it?!?  That is just so cruel!

And this was what I worked on while in Sweden.  I started them the day we left which was the first day of the Summer of Socks 08 KAL.

Pattern: Bellatrix by Monkeytoes (free download on Ravelry)

yarn: Lang Jawoll Cotton 

I’m on the heel flap now.

So that is it!  My knitting adventure in Stockholm.  I’ll get around to the non-knitting post ASAP.  Thanks!

Ravelry killing my knitting blog?

ETA: I changed the title of this post because I thought that it might seem a bit too accusatory. And you can see that it really is my fault and in no way Rav’s fault. I really love that site and don’t want it to seem I’m saying anything bad about it.

Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but I feel that is happening to mine, anyway.  Once I get around to getting the info updated on Ravelry I am too lazy to then put it on here.  Ah!  There is the real problem, right?  I’m too lazy!  Must me just me cause I’m amazed at how many others are so good at keeping the knitting content of their knitting blogs up to date.  Oh, well.

With all that said, here are some other things I’ve been working on:

Baby Surprise Jacket using Knit Picks Shine Worsted STASH!! (gasp!)

My “Sensible Socks.” The yarn was given to me by my friend, Nicky, in order for me to make something other than crazy socks. Well…… This is the Ziggy pattern from the latest Knitty. I’m really liking them a lot.

This is the tote basket I made for my mother as a replacement for the sweater I have been meaning to finish for the last 3 years. Hopefully this will serve as a good substitute!

Another pair of finished socks.
Pattern: Show-off Stranded Socks (a free Rav download)
yarn: Salvia Sock Yarn
needles: 2.5mm

FINALLY pulled this off the rigid heddle loom!

And started this the same evening!!

I also started a pair of socks for the Summer of Socks 08 but I will put that in the next post…which promises to be another long one. Better start on it soon!

Starstuck!

How I spent my Sunday….

Yep, that’s the Yarn Harlot.  She made an appearance at the Philadelphia Book Festival and Jackie and I took a road trip to attend.  She is as great as everyone says and seeing all the excited knitters was so much fun!  Of course we stood in line to get our books signed and hold the sock.

Jackie and I knew we were both being knitting dorks (note: knit t-shirt, needle gauge necklace and goofy grin) but we were having a great time! 

Oh, and the sock I took with me was one I started the night before so I would have something a little more mindless to work on while in line for the Harlot:

Pattern:  Show-off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell

Yarn: JL Salvia in colorway 25

only mod was starting with a picot edge.

Really loving them.

While we stood in line we started talking to a fellow knitter behind us, Rosie.  We all went out to lunch together at Sabrina’s Cafe and Spencer’s, Too (located on Callowhill behind the Free Library).  Excellent food…really hard to decide what you want.

Continuing our knitter dorkiness we had to take pics out in front…

Notice how we look a little wet?  Yeah, not a banner day for weather.  But we didn’t care.  We were still high on the Harlot!

Oh, we decided to check out Loop while we were there.  I wasn’t really interested in getting anything until I saw the Schaefer Heather.

The tax free status on yarn aways helps, too!  And it was a good end to a great day!

 

Rainy, Lazy Day

Its sort of yucky outside but the perfect day to catch up on some things I need to blog about.

First, remember this?  The gorgeous yarn I won for simply leaving a comment on Tiennie’s blog?  Look at what I did with it!!!

Cider Moon Sidewinders
Sidewinders: A PerpenSOCKular Pattern by Nona
9-10M
US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Cider Moon Blizzard
No mods.
LOVE THEM!!!

Non-knitting:

 

Its a Puzzle Gourd…cool, huh?

Oh, gosh, I have other things to show you, too, but I’m just too lazy.  WordPress changed how you can put photos on here and its really just not user friendly anymore.  I hope they find an easier way soon.  Anyway, I will leave you with some more kitty photos.

Bonita being her normal, cheerful self.

Marmalade LOVES his alpaca mouse.

And everything is good in the world….

Not that there aren’t other things to report…

I did want to report that I FINALLY finished and got the HSS3socks in the mail and to their recipient!  And she likes it!  She really likes it!  She is Sally-Anne Skrewt or Twice Knit!  You can link there for the picture of the whole package (cause I forgot to take a picture).   But I did get a picture of the socks:

Pattern: Hiiumaa Mismatched Socks
Yarn: Louet Gems Merino Sport Weight in Ginger and French Blue
Needle: 2.25mm
no mods.

Gotta show you what has been distracting me for the past week:

Starting at the 3 o’clock position: Socks (white feet, ya know!), then at 7 o’clock we have Sophie and then at 10-11 o’clock we have Sassy.  These are some “feral” cats I rescued from a mom in my neighborhood. They were born just before Easter.  They have another brother but he escaped after I caught him.  Anyway, the other 3 are doing great and will be adoptable in about 2 weeks.  Anyone?  More pictures will follow.

To All The Blogs I’ve Read Before…

I just wanted to say hey to everyone that I’ve not said hey to in awhile.  I have sporadically been reading all the usual suspects and a few new ones but have not always left comments.  I know you’ve all been there before and you understand.  Also, to those who have left comments on this blog…thank you.  I appreciate you taking the time to comment even though I have been lax in responding.  Again, I’m sure you have been there. 

Speaking of blog readers, have you ever checked out what people are searching when they happen to come across your blog?  What do they call it?  Search engine terms?  Some of them are so out there!  I sometimes, when trying to avoid something that really needs to be accomplished, will Google what they searched just to see what else pops up.  Oh, what a time waster. 

And how many of you find that you might blog a little less now that we have Ravelry?  Sometimes after I have entered everything on there I just can’t even think about putting it all on here.  Or vice-versa.  I know not everyone is on Ravelry…but it makes you wonder what will happen when Rav goes public.  It would be terribly tempting to just say “go here.”

With that said, forever ago I put these up on Rav.

Summer of Love Lace by JC Briar
US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock –Flower Power
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
couple of mods: Added my “signature” ribbing on the bottom, as usual.

The only other mod was to add a couple of short rows on the bottom of the sock right before starting the decreases for the toe.  I hoped this would add more length to the bottom of the sock so that the tip of the toe didn’t pull under when I wore them.  So far it seems to be working.  They are certainly some of my best fitting socks.

I’m thinking that if I finish one pair of my Socks that Rock Sock Club socks (say that 5X fast) every month that I will be caught up before too long.  I’m working on, and nearly finished with, Lenore.  That leaves 3 that I will have to do and, hopefully, only one more kit will arrive by then, if my math is correct.

Oh!  And the others I finished sometime ago….

Rainbow Socks by Susanne Kitzmann (from the now defunct Magknits )
US 1½ / 2.5 mm Yarn
Zwerger Garn Opal Saphir 6ply
Colorway 1201
Ingenious pattern. A little fiddly on 1 circ but the results are worth it.
Only a few mods based on length of foot.

And with that I will leave with a little *sigh* over the loss of a great free pattern resource, Magknits.  You will be missed.  In the meantime, if you are trying to track down some of the patterns before they completely disappear,…I have removed this link per the comment you will find below.  I have only the highest respect for designers and their intellectual property and feel that this is the right move.  This, however, is not a comment on what others choose to do on their blogs.  Did I cover my butt well enough?  She did a great job getting together all the links to the patterns ”in memoriam” to Magknits.

 

Package

Nothing pulls you out of a blogging slump like getting a package in the mail.  Whew!  Thanks, Susan! 

I won’t go into the details but I’ll just say that I wasn’t having a very good day when I pulled into the driveway and saw the package.  My first thought was, “what did I buy this time!?!”  As I opened the package, it became obvious what it was.

My Hogwarts Sock Swap 3 package!!  My pal, Lavendar Kadavra (aka Susan), sent me socks from a pattern she wrote herself (seen top left), the best stitch markers (better picture below), lots of HP candy, a kitty notebook and stickers, some HP trading cards and Knitpick needles!!  SCORE!!

The socks really are great.  I believe that she handdyed the yarn as well as wrote the pattern, so WOW!  The yarn really is so very soft and it has this shine to it like it has tencel or silk in it.

And this is just the best bit…little tongues on my “snake socks.” 

And I had to show you an upclose of the stitch markers.  Aren’t they perfect?!?

Thank you, again, Susan for such a wonderful package!!

And where, do you ask, am I with sending my package out?!?  Oh, well, I won’t give too much away but I will say that I have contacted my pal to let her know that they won’t make it by the deadline. 

I mean, would you wake her up????