WIP Wednesday - a sad day

I was so excited to blog today. I was going to babble on about my mittens and socks that had progressed so far over the weekend.

Tuesday afternoon found me frogging my mitten back to the yarn. I love the pattern. I have named the pattern. People who don't knit have been asking me if the pattern would be good for a beginner to learn. Such high praise for mittens not yet sent. I Rippit because I was not happy with the decreases and the detailing was roughly thrown in. I needed to refine the pattern so I did. I wrote up the Firebrick mittens last night in a fit of Insomnia.

Then this morning, I received a call from my friend to tell me about my the socks that I had sent her way yet again for her daughter to try on fit but were really snug. Well yeah, but my pal really would rather be a bit smaller than snugger. So I frogged that yarn all the way back to two small balls. Good thing the yarn frogs repeatedly like a dream. If you intend to knit and frog alot and want a fancy yarn then silky sock is your yarn. I am shelving the socks until after I finish the mittens

No-More-Humdrum Mittens Have Arrived!!

Wow time flies. I feel like it was just yesterday when I ripped into my package from my pal Margaret. Instead it is Tuesday and I should be at Knit Night, but thanking my lovely pal is so more important. Thanks so much Margaret! This was an absolutely lovely package and I can't wait to use the yarn. I have been wearing the mittens almost every day since.

These are the lovely mittens. They fit so great and Churchable had a ton of fun photographing them so hop over to my flickr account and check them out.

WIP Wednesday - on the road again

Do you ever find yourself saying something and a song pops into your mind because it has been playing in the background influencing the statements you say? Well one song in particular has been playing a bit too much in my mind. I keep coming up with odd sayings that relate to a video on youtube that churchable has been replaying for everyone who gets a second and can sit on the couch and watch it on the TV. Now I make comments about making a "tribute to the best chocolate milkshake in the world" since we were out of one ingredient so I got creative. And then while driving to Oly this evening, I stated to myself that I really like "hard rocking music me amigos". Of course when I tend to drive alone my music is way louder than when churchable is with me and it is totally European techno pop music with a bit or goth-influenced pop-rock-metal. Churchable on the other hand is firmly in the classic girl vocal alternative music and talk radio. When we enter Seattle airwaves space, we fight over who gets to listen to what station. I always vote for C89.5, but then it is the only station like it anywhere I have ever been.

This week I have felt productive, but I think these pictures will show you that I have not been productive with the knitting. I have been productive in getting food into the freezer so that I can knit more and cook less. I have also been productive in getting a pattern reworked and sent to my new tech editor and talking to my test knitter about specifics. Yeah me!

So hopefully I will get a bit more knit this week. I really want to finish something this week. Probably not done by FO Friday but hey maybe by Monday. So here is the current status:

The twisted flower socks have been plugging along pretty fast since they travel everywhere with me and now that they are on DPNs since Mr. Bun ate the cable on the circular, I don't feel bad doing one DPN worth of stitches. The above photo was something that I had been thinking about since the color is called Olive Oil. I thought I should put them on a bottle of oil to show them off.

Arwen has been plugging along. I finished seaming it before I allowed myself to cast-on the Zeebee hat that I made for Churchable. I hope the sleeve stretches a bit after blocking. I know my arms are bigger than Bud's but this seems a bit too small. I know I read all the reviews on this and decided against adding more short rows to make them larger but oh well. Bud has skinny arms. She is only 16.

I have picked the yarn for my mittens for the No More Humdrum mitten swap. The red is amazing. It is a beautiful Mountain colors colorway and then the black is one that I used way back when I first started knitting a pair of stain glass mittens. I plan on creating my own pattern. I have an idea and I will be releasing it out into the world once it is done.

In other news, the Spring Interweave Preview is up. I am so in love. I think the Spring issue is going to keep being my favorite issue each year. I also think I will keep making skirts each spring. Now to figure out a yarn.

No-More-Humdrum Mittens Swap 2 Questionaire

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? I have been knitting for over ten years. I learned to knit from an old Pakistani grandmother while I was home in Saudi Arabia on Christmas break. My mom had known that I was interested in knitting and so she found someone for me. My mom was so good to always find someone to teach me handicrafts that she did not know. That is how I learned tatting and crochet. I think I only had 2 lessons because after that it all made sense and I have been teaching myself since then. My first official project was a colorwork hat and mitts that I thought I could do since the pattern stated beginner. Because I did not know better, on that first colorwork project, I held each color in a different hand.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I would consider myself between intermediate and advanced.

What are your favorite colors? I love orange, red, browns and greens of all shades.

Any you dislike? I hate pink (all shades). I have issues with non red based purple. I prefer wine, burgundy and deep eggplant colors if you add any purple.

Do you like Latvian type patterns? I don't have any that I have done. Actually I don't have any mitten knitting books. I mostly have sock and sweater books.

Do you desire mittens for yourself, your "special someone else" or your child? Myself
What is the measurement from your wrist to the tip of your longest finger? 7 ½ inches
What is the circumference of your hand at it's widest point? 7 1/8 inches not including my thumb. 8 ¼ inches including my thumb.

What other things do you enjoy knitting? I knit mostly adult size sweaters.
What sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum) I prefer wood or bamboo needles. Right now I am in love with the Knitpick's Harmony needles. For small circumferences I have liked knitting with DPNs but recently I have been knitting everything magic loop. It allows me to knit socks so much faster. I still enjoy knitting with DPNs.

What’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make? Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Jang. I really want to do this for the steeking and I would so live in this sweater most of the winter.

What’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with? I really love indie yarn dyers. Right now I have a soft spot for all yarns that are not sock weight. I have amassed a large collection of sock yarn but if you want to get me sock yarn. I am dying to try Louet Gems solid color, Scout, Wollmeise, Yarn Pirate, and See Jayne Knit

What other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? Cook? Hobbies. Since knitting was my hobby and is now more of a job, my other interests are starting to pop up again. I have a spinning wheel but it is at a fellow bloggers house. I just don't have time to spend doing it daily to get back in the groove. I sew a lot. I am trying to sew more clothing for myself. I draft most of my own sewing patterns so that they fit me perfectly. I like gardening, but last year was just not the year for my green thumb. I think I had more of a brown thumb. This year might be better. I started forcing bulbs right before Christmas, they are going very well. I am also currently looking for the perfect bit of greenery for my almost no light but very moist bathroom. I killed the cactus that I bought as an experiment. Now cooking was/is my other great love. I used to have a food blog before I started blogging about my fiber arts. 2007 kind of zapped my desire to cook. Hopefully it comes back this year. Last year was just not the year for me to focus on my normal things.

Besides yarn, do you collect anything? Yarn, Fabric and Cookbooks? Do those count? If not I have a small grouping of classy lizards and frogs.

What kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? Anything you hate or are allergic to? I really like salty things and peanuty things. I am allergic to a lot of chocolates and other things because if they are made in the US they usual contain glycerin or paraffin wax. I can tell instantly upon bitting into the chocolate if it will make me sick.

Do you have any kids? Pets? I currently have no kids. We have 2 dogs – Frankie: a lab/pug mix and Lexi: a pure dapple doxie and a rabbit called Mr. Bun.

What is your favorite part of Winter? The snow. I love going on winter hikes in the snow.

What is your least favorite part of Winter? Driving in the snow or having a hard time warming up.

Weekend Wrap-up

Finally I have time when my computer is willing to be online. Yes I have a wee computer problem were my computer has an allergic reaction of too much time on the internet and shuts down. A solution will be coming later this week. This is probably why the "Big Silver" is working normally, it is scared of the sexy young thing that is winging its way here from Dell. I had about given up on this hunk of metal that I built my first new years with churchable, so I logged on to find myself a laptop with my specs at a decent price on Thanksgiving evening.

I have been busy. I have been documenting my time with photos but whenever I log on and sit down to edit photos and upload photos, things crash and so thus I have bided my time.

I attended the PDX blogger Holiday Knit-a-thon. It was really fun to meet everyone and catch up with other. Here is a photo to prove I was there. We met at Gino's which is owned by one of our members. Thanks again Deb.

I knit on my Tree Jacket while I was there. I am knitting it along with the Sexy Knitters Club. I had gotten to the end of the garter stitch section that day. Someone took a photo of me with it on and the neck around my face, but so far no one is fessing up. Since then I have taken pics for WIP Wednesday, which had a computer crash while I was uploading pics and editing them. And I finished it on Saturday night at church. It is currently blocking its little heart out. This is were I was on Wednesday.

We also held a yarn swap at the knit-a-thon. I got 4 skeins of yarn. Only 3 are shown below because, the other one was a simple skein of TOFUtsies that I took pity on and brought home.

Interlacements Peru

Handspun by Bobbi

I also have been working on socks for my Brother-in-law and his two boys for Christmas.

I also purchased my first skein of Malabrigo. I love the color. I hope ya'll like this sexy yarn photo. If you would like more, click on the pic and there are more on flickr.

My monkey pal flaked on me. Amazingly the angels jumped on it and the packages pummeled my front door the week of Thanksgiving.

I received a little monkey name Hoodwinked, which I thought was so aptly named since I missed out on getting a proper package. The socks were a lovely color of Koigu but they did not fit me, they fit churchable.

The last bits that I have to show you are my FOs for the week. I actually spent quite a bit of time in front of my sewing machine.

First up: A simple black A-line skirt

This is a simple skirt that I drafted from my measurements with a invisible side zipper and a faced waist. I don't know what the fabric is but it did not melt at the almost cotton heat setting. Most of my fabric stash is unmarked except that each box has a color grouping.

Second: Reversible Place mats

These are to be given to the bride and groom of the wedding we attended in Arizona. The reason we went on a big road trip to Utah and beyond. They were going to be folding a 1,000 cranes for their wedding, so I gathered inspiration from this. The fabric is quilting cotton from the local quilt store. Simple no pattern place mats.

Boxed and ready to go

Spread out. The other side of all the place mats is the color of the napkin.

Third: Pillows for a friend

Click on the photo to read the details.