Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Winter finally found us!

Amy mentioned that it seemed funny to see a picture of New York in January with no snow. Well, Amy, does this look more normal? I think we have had snow flurries every day for the past two weeks. This picture was taken last week. There isn't a lot more snow but there's enough for me!

While I was taking pictures of the snow, I decided to use it as a backdrop for a couple of knitting projects. The picture didn't turn out too well. The little cabled hat is one I started back when my daughter had knee surgery. I think that was two years ago. I dug it out of my UFO box and finished it up. The pattern was from a Yahoo group I used to belong to. I think I'll put tassels on the ends. It will probably be sent to a charity. The other object is a fingerless glove that I made using a skein of Manos de Uraguay that I had to buy because I loved the colors. It has a nice cable but you can't see it in this picture. When I make the second one, I'll take a better picture of it. The pattern can be found here.



This last picture is a hat made out of some 100% wool that was given to me to use for charity. I'm going to send it to Afghans for Afghans. I'm too lazy to figure out the URL but if you google, you'll find their website. The red color goes with the accents in my dining room.

Right now I'm on the bind off row of another Calorimetry from Knitty.com. I made this one in Symphony by Plassard. It's the same yarn that I used to make the multidirectional scarf that goes with my good wool coat. I might even have enough yarn left to make another pair of the cabled fingerless gloves to complete the set.

I'm also thinking about making a Fair Isle sweater for Ariane. I started one from the new Knit It! magazine but it's knit flat and even though I can now knit and purl with both hands, it's awkward to purl. I started one sleeve to see how it would come out and I won't feel too bad ripping it out and starting again. I found a sweater in a Creative Knitting magazine that is knit in the round and has the Fair Isle pattern in the yoke. I'm going to try it. I'll post more about it later.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

6 Weird Things...

I was tagged by Bianca to answer the "6 weird things about me" meme. I almost forgot to do it but here are my answers -

1. I have double-jointed thumbs. They bend in at the joint. Very annoying when they bend in unexpectedly and you are holding a hot cup of coffee. Believe me, I know.



2. My hands are very long. They measure 7 3/4" from the base of my palm to the tip of my middle finger.

3. I hate monkeys. They creep me out.

4. I hate the feel of microsuede.

5. I love to visit cemetaries and read the headstones.

6. I can float in water for a very long time without getting tired.

I'm not tagging anyone for this meme but feel free to answer it if you so desire.

I finally finished the scarf for the Red Scarf Project for Orphans.



I used one skein of Plymouth Encore (lost the band so I don't have the color), cast on 28 stitches and did a k2, p2 rib until the skein was gone. You can see how much yarn I had left from the little ends that aren't woven in yet. It was 4" wide by 58" long.

I've been trying to finish up some UFO's. The only problem is I keep finding new ones and getting distracted by them. Hopefully I'll have some FO's to report soon.

And finally I'll leave you with some pictures of the ice storm damage that we had on Monday. By the time the storm hit NY, it was pretty wimpy but we did lose power for 2 hours. And a lot of tree limbs came off the pine trees in the back yard.



If you look way to the back in this next picture, you can see a large branch that is sticking right into the ground. Good thing no one was standing under that one!



And here is Scott dragging away the elm branch that fell on his truck. Luckily, it didn't do any damage.




And that (as they say) is all the news that is the news.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

First FO of 2007!

See I knew the wrist warmers were very close to being done. I finished them up this morning.



The pattern can be found here.
.

Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Wool in an unknown colorway.
Size 7 double pointed needles
I cast on 36 stitches instead of 30 because they seemed narrow.

Very easy and quick to make. There is still a lot of this wool left so I'll make something else out of it. Maybe a Calorimetry to match the wrist warmers.

I am going to try to finish up the knitting on the felted bag tonight. And hopefully make some progress on the Komi mittens. If you want to see the pattern I'm using for them, go to my January 2006 archive and scroll down to the January 18th entry. I have only done maybe 4 more rows than is shown in that photo.

I need to reply to some of the comments that were recently posted.

Amy - I am so not an expert on stranded knitting. I like doing it but I make mistakes all over the place. I know if you try it, you'll pick it up immediately.

Dee - yes, the Calorimetry is done in worsted weight wool.

Michelle - yes, it does look like lips! I have the same yarn in green. If I make another one in that color it will look like frog lips!

Thanks, Christine and Bianca for your kind words!

Okay, I'm off to do some knitting and watch my DVR of Knitty Gritty. Boy, do I love DVR!

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Bored, bored, bored.

I'm bored with all my current knitting projects. The k2, p2 scarf for charity is done to the half way point but I can only do so much ribbing. Plus I made a k2, p2 hat to go along with the Lusekofte Cap but I made it 1/2" too short so I have to rip it back to the decreases and redo it. I can't do more k2, p2 right now!

I need to make two more Calorimetrys but guess what? The pattern is k2, p2!! I'm not swearing off k2,p2 for life but I need a little bit of a change. I also need to sew up two pairs of booties to send out for charity by the end of the week. And I'm not even going to discuss the 3, no 4, pairs of socks that have been started lately.

I went to my knitting group last night and was all set to start a cabled headband from the book "One Skein Wonders" edited by Judith Durant. I had to start with a provisional cast on which consists of using a crochet hook and scrap yarn to put your stitches on the needle. The instructions were very clear so I had no problems with my cast on. Then I tried the pattern and it was all downhill from there. You start each row by slipping the first three stitches. Then you do your knit and purl stitches to set up the cable. Well, if you slip the first three stitches on the row, you end up pulling your yarn across these stitches to get to the knit and purl stitches. A couple of the other ladies and I discussed it and we think it is supposed to make an i-cord border on both sides. I was going to just keep knitting and see how it turned out when I realized I had lost two stitches. I didn't see where I dropped them, they were just gone. So I ripped it out and worked on the k2, p2 scarf for the rest of the time. I'll probably give the headband pattern another try sometime but not right now.

When I got home, I decided to dig out some UFO's and finish them up rather than starting another new project. The three projects I picked were the Potluck Wristers that I had started for Ariane back in October, a felted bag in Lopi, and a pair of Komi patterned mittens from "Knitting Marvelous Mittens, Ethnic Designs from Russia" by Charlene Schurch that I started last year.

So far today, I have the wristers done except for the thumbs, and I have about 12 rows and the handles left on the felted bag. I can definitely get these two projects done in the next couple of days. The mittens are a different story. I only have part of the first cuff done on them. But after doing the stranded knitting on the Lusekofte Cap, I can't wait to try it on these mittens.

So that's my knitting saga for today. No pictures because I haven't finished anything. Maybe I'll have some pictures to post before the end of the week. It will feel great to finish up some of the many UFO's I have on the needles.