Mitten!!!

I have a mitten! Look at me, I can knit mittens. Well, I can knit one mitten. I have cast on the second one. There are a couple of problems with it, as it seems a little short and the thumb a little large, but I will wear it with pride. I will make the second one perfect, I know it.
My in-laws were here a lot over the Thanksgiving weekend, so I was not been able to knit as much as I usually do. I even had Monday & Tuesday off and still did not get much done. They finally headed for home Wednesday morning. I was just exhausted by the time they left. I was too tired to knit last night and tonight I have been running like crazy. I had a job interview on Tuesday and I was offered the job today. I am so excited. I plan on staying at my current job through the end of the year. I have a bunch of forms that I need to fill out and send in to make it official.
I have not worked on my mom’s pillow at all. I am worried that I am going to wait until it is too late and then I will not get anything done. I do not want to sabotage myself. I think I am a little scared that I am doing it wrong. Maybe I will just do a striped pillow. I am going to try to go a little further on the pattern I created. If all else fails, her birthday is in March!
Isn’t life just too exciting?

Happy Thanksgiving

I just got back from walking my dogs. I wanted to get them worn down before the big feast. It is a lovely day here in MN. The neighborhood was quiet. No doubt people are sleeping in, making food or have left for other destinations. The silence allowed me to think about what today means. I am thankful that I have a roof over my head and food on the table, especially since I know there are those who do not. I am thankful for my husband, who is preparing the feast and for The Girl, who is in her room blasting her music. I am thankful for my dogs who provide me with unconditional love and comfort. I am thankful for our kitten who, even though she gets into my yarn, is too darn cute for words. I am thankful that my in-laws arrived safe and sound. But most of all I am thankful that I have lived to see another Thanksgiving. A little over a year ago I was not sure that I would make to the New Year. So I want to wish every one a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Knit On!

No Knitting Mojo

My knitting mojo is on vacation. I could not knit at all on Sunday or Monday. This morning I was trying to work on a toy for one of my dogs for Christmas and I had to rip it up twice! God, how depressing, I could not get more that 7 rows either time. Actually, I might have ripped it up 3 times. Uff Da.
I had a therapy session today and I always feel better after I talk to her, so hopefully tonight I will be back in form. I have my Knitter’s Guild meeting tonight, so we will see. I will be working on CD’s Christmas socks. I have 2 inches of ribbing. I think I will stop there. The pattern calls out 3 inches, but that seems like a lot of ribbing. I do not think any of his other socks have that much ribbing. Does it matter how much ribbing you have on socks? I have to say, I get really bored with 2x2 ribbing, although it is better than 1x1 ribbing.
CD moved all my yarn upstairs so my in-laws do not see it. So my area looks naked and that makes me sad as well. I like to be able to reach over and just pull out yarn and fondle it. I know… it is a sickness!
I do not know if it will even be able to come back downstairs until after the holidays. We are going to set up the Christmas tree where my chair currently resides, so there will not be room for all my yarn. Well, actually I did not have all my yarn down there, just the stuff I was “working” with.
I have a ton of stuff to do tonight. I have to pick up a pie and beer and wine for Thanksgiving dinner. I do not actually do any of the cooking (my husband cooks everything), but I have been tasked with delivering the aforementioned items. I came into work late and will have to leave on time (or a little early) to be able to get everything done before I go to the Guild meeting. I suppose I don’t have to go to Guild, but they are going to talk about machine knitting. I do not think I will ever use a machine to knit, but I have my grandmother’s machine in my attic and I want to know what to do with it.
I joined a new blog ring (I am not sure of the correct blogging term). It is called Knitting with Classics. In December we are reading Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” and then we knit something that goes with it. It will be too much fun. I love “A Christmas Carol”. I will keep you up to date what I am knitting for the book and I will also try to put an update on that blog as well.

Yarn shops and knitting status

I have to stay out of yarn shops! I went into the 3 Kittens on Tuesday afternoon to look for some ribbon yarn for The Girl's poncho. I did not find any I liked, but I still spent $65. How does that work?
I bought a kit of Sue the Sheep. I don't know why except it was really cute. Lord knows when I will have time to knit a sheep!







I also bought some sock yarn (Lorna Lace) and lace weight mohair (for mittens) and a mitten pattern. Why would I spend $4.50 on a mitten pattern? I do not know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course, I have a bunch of patterns at home that cost me nothing and are just as good. I think I fall under some sort of spell when I enter a yarn shop. Sigh.


They are going to be pretty cool mittens though. Here is the swatch I made up with the yarn next to it.

















I did finish the jabot for my mother-in-law. It is quite nice, but I still need to block it.




I am working on my mom's pillow. So far I have knitted 7 inches of stockinette for the back. Only 3 more and I can start the actual pattern. Yeah!! Maybe tonight I will get there. I am also working on my nephew's hat and a pair of socks for CD. So many projects, so little time.
I did not get any of my stuff put together over the weekend. I do not even know what I did over the weekend, but it seemed to go by really fast.
The In-laws are going to be here in one week, so I do not know how I am going to get all their presents blocked and wrapped. Arrggh. Thanksgiving seemed so far away when I started. I might have to start working on some of that before I continue with my mom's present. I figure I have until 12/15 to ship it down to AZ.

Ain’t got time to Blog

I have been excessively business and have not been able to blog. Plus, I have stuff I want to take pictures of and just have been too lazy to get them done.
I knit a hat for my nephew a couple of weekends ago when he was up. It was a little too big and I was very irritated with it. It was made out of acrylic because it was what I had in the colors he wanted. Sigh…
I also made a couple of more little hats for the Caps for the Capital. I am pretty sure that the one is too small, so I may have to give it to Cubs for Kids. I already have hat for them. I just have to make a scarf and sweater to go with!
I cast on the pillow I am going to give to my mom for Christmas. I was going to do it in the round, but I think it is going to be too hard with all the color changes. I am not very experienced with the whole color work deal and I am finding it very frustrating to do it in the round.
So, I plan on ripping it all out and starting over. I will work it flat, which would be better anyway because I really was not sure how I was going to finish it off so the pillow form could be removed. I just wish I knew what the hell I was doing. Sigh again…
I have been working on a little lace jabot for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Last Saturday I was in the NU Outlet and I found some Artful Virtue 100% cashmere for $10 a ball! I had to buy some (3 balls) and I am making the jabot off of the label. It takes one ball. So I have 2 for myself! Yeah! It was going really well until last night. I could not knit worth a damn last night and had to rip back two times. I kept getting too many stitches. I actually do not know how I managed it. So I finally just quit and went to bed. This morning I was able to work on it just fine. It is too bizarre. I want to get it done tonight if at all possible.
I also blocked my cable purse the other night. This weekend I plan on putting it together. Wish me luck!
On Saturday morning I knit up pieces for a flower pin for my sister-in-laws shawl. I have blocked them as well and I am going to attempt to make them into a flower.
I am going to try to get some photos up so you can all see what I am doing.
Here is the only one if have right now. It is the hat I made for my friend’s little girl.