Not going to make it

It is January 31….

and I just don’t think I’m going to finish my January socks in January.  I’m almost there, but I have to say that I have to force myself to knit these – its just such a slog project.  Do you have any of those?  I made the committment to do this, so I don’t want to give up, but I definitely found other things to do on my commute this week to avoid knitting.   Reading, blogging, sleeping, staring out the window….but not knitting. 

Larry suggested that to motivate myself to finish that I open the next bag and see what my February project is.  I don’t think that’s a good idea because if the February project bag has yarn or a pattern that I’m excited about, I know I’ll bail on these and shove them in the basket and start the next pair.  So I just need to finish these – I don’t have too much, right? Just the foot.  Just the eternal foot.  Sigh.

What is going to make it harder to finish is a new project….

I frogged the Adamas shawl this week – I just wasn’t loving it, and was already avoiding it – not a good sigh for a big lace project.  I’ll find something I am excited about with that yarn, but this wasn’t it.    But last night on the way home I was thinking about shawls, and wondering what shawl I could make.  I was wearing my Shetland Triangle (I’ve been wearing my shawls as scarves lately) and started thinking that a non-laceweight shawl would be nice.  I thought about the stash and something popped into my mind.  I checked Ravelry when I got home….and decided on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls.  This pattern has been in my queue for a long time – I was going to use Ultra Alpaca for it – but then I decided that it would be great in Brooks Farm Primeo which has been in my stash for a while…and so far, I really like it…

This is a great pattern for watching TV, being tired and not paying attention.  Pretty much garter stitch and yarn overs for a long time – and then a lace finish.  I’m really enjoy it, and love the feel of the yarn.  The color is a really deep red – not the pinkish color in the second picture.   I’m excited about it, and that’s the feeling that was missing on the Adamas shawl so I know I made the right decision to frog it.   

So this weekend will be split between forced knitting on the socks, and happy knitting on the shawl and Acer.   And making pumpernickel bread.  And watching football and eating bad for you things and drinking good beer.  Not a bad weekend at all!   Hope yours is wonderful too!

On a roll…

Get it?  Was that a really bad pun or what!  Larry and I actually made this last weekend – it was a recipe from Bon Apetit  – or Cooking Light – of course, I made it a few days ago, and now I can’t find the recipe.  Which is going to drive me crazy because they were amazing.   They are made with whole wheat, oatmeal, flax meal – all that good for you stuff but they were really delicious (even the kids liked them!).   We had such a fun time making them – I haven’t made yeast bread in a while – that we ordered a bunch of flour from King Arhur Flour to make rye, pumpernickel and other good stuff.  But I do hope I find the recipe for the rolls. 

So the title actually referred to the knitting going on, not just the baking…..because my basket was empty, and I was in the mood for lace, I just had to start something…

This is the Adamas shawl, and the yarn is Claudia Handpaint Silk Lace

This is a terrible picture of the shawl, but it really is a good one of the yarn.  I tried four different shawls, and two other yarns before I decided on this.  I was going to do Honeybee Stole, but the whole provisional cast on was a drag (204 stitches!) – I am a lazy knitter sometimes.  So I poked around Ravelry, and saw this shawl – gorgeous, right?  Its the same colorway so I thought I’d be a lemming and do the same shawl.  I had a false start – I started it with the needles the pattern called for but didn’t like the fabric so I started over on a smaller size.   And so far so good!

And because the knitting basket had some more room, I also started Acer.

I love this yarn – it just has a great wooly feel, and the color is really beautiful.     

I got all this knitting done because I was out sick yesterday – I had something wrong with my eye, so I had to go to the doctor.  So I sat and watched TV and knit – and switched from lace to sweater when the lace started hurting my eye.  Today it  is snowing/sleeting, so I worked from home  – so I’ll be able to pick them up again after work – skipping my commute really adds to knitting time! 

Well, lunch break is over, so I need to head back to work…but I thought I’d leave you with a little bit of spring…the Paperwhite Narcissus Larry gave me for Christmas just started blooming…

Have a great rest of the week!

Speechless

I have never seen this since I started knitting, and I’m sort of speechless about it, but this is my knitting basket….

Isn’t that scary?   What happened?  Well, do you remember the Aleita shell I was making?   I started knitting it again today after a long break, and here is it now…

Yep, frogged.  I honestly don’t know what happened, but as I started knitting it, I really started looking at it – and then I tried it on – and it was too big.    I started thinking and I’m not 100% sure I did a gauge swatch – ok, well, I guess it is safe to say that I didn’t.    So I don’t have anything the the basket, and the only thing I actually have on needles is a a pair of socks on the needles, but commute knitting is never in the basket…so I have an empty basket, and no idea what to do now.  I’m a little scared to start a sweater today – I think I probably should take a day or two to recover and get my good knitting mojo back. 

There is another reason my basket is empty – I did finish something, rather than frogging it.  I haven’t blocked this yet, but thought I’d share something a little happier…

This was a great project – and I was really happy to finish it.     I used this project to get a little better at Fair Isle, and I learned how to knit Continental so I could hold a yarn in each hand…

Pattern:  Three Tams, Tam A
Yarn:  Cascade 220 (White), Noro Kureyon (colorway #233)
Started:   January 16, 2009
Finished:  January 25, 2009

This was a great pattern – and I may try one of the other charts.  It was really sort of fun to knit both ways – but I do need to practice a bit with knitting continental – I found it hard to hold the yarn with  consistent tension.  I also hard a hard time with purling continental but eventually got it.  Having videos on YouTube really helps!   I’m going to block this later, and will post pictures to Ravelry once it is dry.

I went to knitting group yesterday, and Lauren (blogless) brought the Swallowtail shawl she had finished (beautiful!).  It really got me in the mood for lace – but I can’t find anything that is really calling to me.  How sad is that – I have a bunch of yarn, a million patterns – and I’m just not sure what to do next.  I think its a case of having too many choices.    I was thinking maybe a rectangle vs triangle – but again, can’t decide on anything.  But I’m sure Il’l find something soon – and then I’ll cast on for that, and for Acer.  Just maybe not today – just in case my good knitting mojo is still on vacation.

Well, I’m off to look through  patterns and stash – I hope your knitting is going better than mine!  Have a great week!

Just a little big…

You know, I really need to start reading Ravelry posts BEFORE I start a project….

What do you think?  A little big?  Yep – and this was mentioned over and over on Ravelry.  Which I would have seen if I had looked instead of just jumping in.    How about some details to distract you from what a mess this is?

Pattern:  Turn a Square
Yarn:  Cascade 220, Midnight Heather and Noro Kureyon , Colorway 233)
Started:  January 19, 2009
Finished:  January 21, 2009

I really did like the pattern, but man, this was a big hat.  But fortunately, everyone has different size heads…

So Dan got a blue hat, and not the green one I planned for him.  He was pretty happy about it  – I even got to see it in action on the train tonight (sorry for the blurry iPhone picture – it is hard to take a picture on your iPhone when the train is moving!)….

This was a really fast knit, and I enjoyed it – so I was really disappointed it didn’t fit.  I need to figure out how many to decrease so it fits Larry.  And now I’m not sure what yarn to use to make him one since I don’t think he and Dan will want the exact same hat (although I definitely have enough yarn left).   Good thing he has another hat to wear while I figure this out…

So now I think I’ll go back to my Fair Isle hat, and then I have a decision to make – start a new sweater or finish the Aleita shell.   I’m really torn – I just have the top of the shell to go, and I’d love to have it to wear to work, and I could probably get it done in a few weeks.  But the call of a new sweater, new yarn….so hard to resist! 

This was a fast week – I really do love a four day work week.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have it all the time?  Have a great Friday!

Back again…

I got back today after a really wonderful weekend away with Larry.    We really had a great time, and it was good to get away for a little bit, and just relax and not worry about the day to day stuff.   I won’t bore you with details about what we did, but how about a couple of highlights….and I’ll save some knitting related highlights for last.

We stayed at a B&B – I’m not going to link – the B&B was beautiful, but the service was less than wonderful, so I can’t recommend it.  If you plan on staying in the Brandywine Valley, and want to know which one it was, let me know.  The service sucked – but the room was beautiful and cozy, so it wasn’t all bad (not having heat or water was a little bit of an issue!).    We went to see some local art, Winterthur, and had some really good meals (it is all about the food for me!).   We especially liked The Whip  – very good beer, very good curry.     We saw a little of the area, and had lots of time to relax together (and watch the football games together!).    Today, on the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe’s, one of my favorite stores, and stocked up on some goodies we just can’t get at our normal grocery store.  

On the way down on Saturday, we decided to stop at Kennett Square for lunch– and for a yarn stop at Wool Gathering.  What a cute store!  I really liked it – they were nice and chatty without being too much so.  Very nice yarn too!  They had a nice table in front of the windows and people were there knitting – it looked so nice – I wish I had a cute little yarn store like this to knit in.   The shop was well worth the stop, and I’d go there again if I was in the area.

I have to admit – I purchased just a little…

OK, this is really not a great picture – but this yarn is so hard to capture.  This is Peace Fleece in Ancient Ferm  – check the link it sort of shows the color a little better.   Judging from the stash pictures on Ravelry for this colorway, I’d say everyone has a hard time capturing it!   The yarn is a green/brown/woodsy kind of color, and I really like it.  I bought it to make a really cute sweater I just saw recently – Acer.  This is a top down cardigan – so I’m excited to make it since I haven’t made one of these before.    I’m going to start it as soon as I finish the stuff I have going in my basket – I don’t have a lot so I’m hoping to start this in February.

I had a request from Dan to make him a hat – so I thought I’d make him a Turn a Square – so I bought him some Cascade 220 in Hunter Green, and some Noro Kureyon – the colorway is #199.  They look odd together in the picture, but I think it will turn out really nice….well, I hope they do.

I also bought another skein of Noro Kureyon (colorway #233) to make Larry the same hat with some of leftover Cascade 220 I had in the stash… 

I couldn’t resist when I got home though – I just had to start one of the hats…

Such a cute pattern – and I really shouldn’t have started this since I still haven’t finished the Fair Isle hat – but I messed up on the chart, so I have to tink back a couple of rows.  So starting something new sounded like more fun – and a good way to end the weekend.

All in all, we really had a great weekend, and I’ve so glad we took the opportunity to get away.   I hope you all had a great weekend too!