Holiday Knitting Cancelled

Well... The projects I'd finished as of Sunday are the ones that shall be gifted. My poor hubby's gift will not be in that group. Ice storm. Stepped on the top step, landed on the bottom step on my, well, bottom. Hurt nothing but my wrist - but oh boy. Still hurts a lot - not driving yet- but sadly one of my first thoughts, accompanied by an internal Homer Simpson scream, was Aaaaaaa. I can't knit now!  

Luckily, I have the best husband ever who has been taking fabulous care of me. He'll understand about the sweater. 

{this moment}

{a single photo. no words. a moment to savor and remember from the week}

{see http://www.soulemama.com}

Completed project!

My dear teen finished the needle-felted pumpkin I got her at Rhinebeck this year. I thought she'd like trying it and she did a great job with the kit. 

I finished the orange and black striped socks just before Halloween but forgot to take a pic. They looked great with the black Doc Marten Mary Janes! 

The Weasley sweater is coming along. I have concerns about the sleeves, but it will all work out. 

Let the Holiday Knitting Race Begin

It's November. How did that happen? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was frantically finishing a Rhinebeck sweater? The weather has turned. We've had to fire up the heating system. The brilliantly colored leaves I look at daily out my kitchen window are gone - casualties of the windy weekend.

I don't mind the colder weather. I like snuggling up in my knits and flannels. I love wearing all my hand-knit wool socks. Fall is my favorite season, and Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. But it's also Holiday Knitting Season. This year, my dear Harry Potter {Books more than the movies} obsessed 10 year old daughter is getting a Weasley Sweater. The back is done. The front is half done. I cannot wait to see it finished. I have visions of wrapping it in brown kraft paper, tying it with twine and topping it with a stuffed owl before tucking it under the tree.

Once that's done, I'll be back to the monumental task of knitting up the Fort sweater for my dear {6'2"} husband. Fingers crossed!

Fiber Overload

Thursday. Arrived at Dutchess County Fairgrounds for our pre-NYSW festival class. Beautiful day, piles of luscious fiber in a pile in the center of a circle of whirring spinning wheels. It was a great class taught by Jillian Moreno. I know so much more about yarn construction now.

Then it was back to the hotel room for some pizza and knitting. Our brains were full! 




Friday Morning:
My eyes open with a random thought. I grab my phone from the nightstand and do a quick check in the map App.
Me: You know... Web's is only 2 hours away.
Pause
StringthingGirl: Let's do it. {it's her birthday today, btw} That's what we're doing today.

A few hours later, we crossed the threshold.

I know why people say "I was high on yarn fumes" 

Yarn. Yarn. Needles. Spinning supplies. More Yarn. Amy Herzog.

Yup. Spotted the lovely creator of CustomFit in the check-out line. I'm a few rows from being done with the first sleeve. Not in time for the festival tomorrow, but I didn't think it would be done.

Spent some time this evening plotting tomorrow's fun. Can't wait!

Rhinebeck Week

It's Rhinebeck (officially New York Sheep and Wool Festival) Week! I should have been spinning... I should have been knitting the sweater. Nope. I had to stop on Friday evening and make this bag. I have been thinking about this bag pattern ever since I saw it a week or so ago and pinned it to my "Want to Make" board on Pinterest. A quick trip to the fabric store and downstairs to the printer and I had everything I needed. Three hours later, I had a bag. A fabulous 241 Tote by Noodlehead. I have been knitting and spinning so much in the past few years that I'd forgotten how much I love to sew.

In other news, it's Rhinebeck Week. By this time Thursday morning, I'll be in a spinning class. Not that I'm at all excited. To celebrate, I've put my Roadtrip to Rhinebeck sock pattern on sale half price for a week! 50% off! You can get a great sock pattern for $2.50 this week! Coupon code: NYSW

Getting Ready for Rhinebeck

I have a Rhinebeck sweater. I'm working on another. I really need to stop that and get my wheel out, since I'm taking a class (I sound so blase about it... quite the opposite!) I was lucky enough to get a coveted spot in the sold-out Jillian Moreno, Yarnitecture: Building Exactly the Yarn You Want class. I'm feeling half excited, and half terrified that my spinning isn't up to snuff, and that I'll be shamed out of the class. Luckily, fiber folks tend to be accepting, kind, and helpful. I can "spin a consistent yarn" as the class requires, it's just that I spin the same yarn every time.  Boring.

This is where I am with sweater #2.  It's a pattern from the new Amy Herzog CustomFit system. I couldn't stop myself from casting on and knitting like crazy. Using some lovely Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Shire Heather .I'm about 15 rounds away from splitting and shaping the arm holes. I have a week. Plus work. Plus kids. Plus spinning. No pressure, right?

In other news, I've had sales of my Roadtrip to Rhinebeck sock pattern to strangers. Non-family/friends have bought it. ::Happy Dance:: 

{I really do love these socks. As soon as Rhinebeck is over, I'm back to designing - I've got a Fingerless Mitt pattern bounding around in my head, begging to be knit and written up.}

Roadtrip to Rhinebeck Pattern available!

Holy nerves. I've published Roadtrip to Rhinebeck.

Beta testing Roadtrip to Rhinebeck

My dear test knitters are approaching the slightly tricky but very cool part of my sock pattern. The leaf motif on the back of the sock begins at the bottom of the heel - perfect for when you wear your open-back clogs (or birks). I hope they don't have a problem with the instructions. I can't wait to get this pattern out there!

First leaf of Fall

My kids hate me for it, but I love Fall. The crisp mornings, the changing leaves, the back to school, and best of all I can start wearing all my hand-knit socks again. 

I have sent a sock pattern out to some beta testers. I plan to post a sneak peek in the next few days. I really love this sock. I hope others will too!

Snow and Seeds

It's snowing.

Again.

I think we've made up for the past two years where we had little to no snow. It can be done now. Really.

I went out for the mail and was surprised to find what had looked like flurries had covered the road and the yard. No wonder the birds were complaining for me to fill the feeder.

We have a fabulous window feeder that allows us to easily fill it and to view the birds up close and personal. The birds don't even seem to care when we stand next to the window and watch them eat. The cardinals are the only ones that are shy. I do love the little chickadees.

Ah well. The upside to that trek to the mail box was that there was a Burpee seed catalog waiting for me, which made it all worth while. I will be sitting down with the curly girl tonight to start planning this year's garden. Happy times.

Second Sock Syndrome

Sock one. Dog in the background
hoping for a treat.

I love knitting socks, and have never suffered from second sock syndrome. Until now.

I am forcing myself to make the second sock. I don't like this pattern. It's not a bad pattern. It's well written. It's creating a very pretty sock. Great designer. But it has a yarn over at the end of two of the rows in the lace pattern. I hate that. It's making me crazy. I was trying to do the pattern as written - needles included - since it's from the Sock Knitters Master Class book. The yo at the end of the row on 4 double point needles was making me pretty stabby. Not a good place to be when you're already holding little weapons. I switched to my standard circular needle and it's better now.

The upside, is that I love the Knit Picks yarn I chose. 

Of course (never fails), the birthday for which these socks are being knit is approaching very quickly. Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight...

Sky Scarf

I'm actually keeping up with the row (ok. Two rows - across and back) a day depending on the color of the sky - sky scarf project. This year so far has been pretty gray. I'll be happy to add more blue!

Blizzard Mittens

So many people got whomped by this storm. We got a mere 5-6" out of it. No complaints! It was a whole lot easier to shovel that last night before the cop for home than it would have been to clear his parking spot of 12+ inches of the stuff.

Finished up a quick pair of mittens for my curly girl so she'll have toasty hands when she goes outside to throw snowballs at the dog.

She's baking a cake today and getting ready to play with some decorating icing. Good times!

WinterFest

My BKF and I took our kids (Well, I took the younger of my two. The teen declared that it was just too cold out for her to go.) to Winterfest at The Lands at Hillside Farms. Alpacas were pet, chickens were chased, ponies were ridden... the girls even braved the "stinky" cow barn and were rewarded with calves!

There were ice sculptures and ducks to see, and even a woman spinning some Alpaca fluff. L, who is nearly 10, was quite pleased to be included in the "oh, we're spinners, too" statement.  She was thrilled with all the animals - from the cows to the barn cats. We'll be watching for more programs from this farm. It was a lot of fun for all of us - moms, two year old and pre-teens alike.

Love this chicken. Makes me want a backyard coop!

One of the ponies near the barn - not the one L got to ride.

This old greenhouse made me want to shoot artsy photos!

Monster time

Met up Saturday with my BKF for coffee, chatting and a book exchange. She loaned me The Big Book of Knitted Monsters. I was able to *finally* finish Irving. He's nearly done - just waiting for a belly button and a mouth.

Cold

Close-up of the reverse stockinette
of the toasty-warm sweater.

It's cold here in NEPA. Really cold. Freeze your nose hairs when your take a breath cold. It was a whopping 1 degree out this morning when I took the brats to school / bus stop. At least the high school had taken care of the mess that was their drive way. I made it in/out yesterday with the 4wd (I lurve mah Jeep!) but apparently, many people got stuck. Janitors had to be called to help get folks out, and C's fav teacher was late because traffic was so backed up.

I'm in the office today. The cop fixed the heat in the Jeep last night after we froze on the way to/from the movies.*  It only needed some antifreeze (pfew) and now it's all toasty again. Would not have enjoyed 90 minutes each way with no heat.

The only upside to the cold is that I get to wear my lovely wools. Today it's cold enough to warrant the reverse stockinette stitch sweater made of kitten-soft Cascade 128. I adore this sweater. It's boxy and short and has a lovely cable/twist on the back. Maybe I can add a photo of the back later. I love this yarn. I have one skein left, I think. Oh... what to make. I'm thinking a cowl of some sort - it's just SO soft - it begs to be against skin.

*Saw The Hobbit. In 3D. It was amazing. The casting was perfection. They could not have done a better job with Bilbo. Now I have to go back and reread the book. It's been ages. Can't wait for part 2 to be released.

Slip-n-Slide

The call of the Sock Knitting Master Class book was too great. I'd drooled over it for too long. The Hitchhiker shawl only used about 8 rows of the 2nd skein of yarn, so what else do you do with the 'left over' yarn but make socks! I'm a bit farther than that now - after last night's Bones marathon with the cop who was unexpectedly off work last night. I'm about to start the heel. Exciting stuff.

Of course, these days, Slip and Slide is more than the name of a fabulous sock pattern. It snowed last night. Again. Happily, it was only a few inches of powdery fluff - stuff I could sweep off the steps with a broom. Miracle of miracles, our road is in better shape than most in the city right now. This never happens. Usually we wait for days for the appearance of a plow. I am just really happy that the cop gave in and allowed me my 'dream car'.  I'd missed my Blazer a lot. ::a lot:: I've used the 4wd on my new baby many times already this season - including today - just to get traction on the slick snow-covered high school driveway. I'd had a bad feeling about weather this season. The last few years have been too tame. We're due. At least I can enjoy it a little again now that I have an appropriate vehicle.

Socks and Sweater

Let the selfish knitting begin! My Christmas gift {Thanks Mom and Brother!} order from Knit Picks arrived and now I have a horrible case of cast-on-itis.

Downloaded the sweater pattern {Sullivan} that's been in my queue for ages. I've got a whole pile of Wool of the Andes in Shire Heather just waiting to be knit up into a sweater.

Yarn for THREE pairs of socks, and the Sock Knitter's Master Class book to work through. Only two sets of the socks yarn for that though... the other is a wonderful blue that is going to become TARDIS socks. YES!