Week in Review

Let's begin from where we left off...

Wednesday Night:
Sadly, these socks:
did not get finished at Wednesday night's knitting group. I actually got all the way to the ribbing before I left for the evening.

Thursday:
Continued with above mentioned socks.

Friday:
Finished the socks Friday night at my parents house while I was house sitting for them and watching their crazy dog, Luke (who actually tried to eat one of the socks).
I'm calling these the "Harry Potter House Socks Gone Wrong" because it looks like if I had just kept with the red and yellow they could have come from an HP movie but by adding in the pink things go terribly awry. I used the Perfect Fit Hiking Socks pattern (Rav link) with some of my own heavy modifications. And these things are *BIG* but they're going to charity so I know they will be put to good use.

Saturday:
Picked up work on the Rivulets socks (Rav link) after a night of minimal sleep (Luke woke me up at 3 a.m. to take him out and then was up for good by 6).
I'm now past the heel but the going is about to get real slow because now the pattern is executed all the way around the sock instead of just on the top. Still a great pattern and lovely yarn. Just not getting as much playing time as other stuff.

I also started a super secret stealth project for a belated birthday gift for a friend.

Later that evening my parents arrived back home with my brother and his fiance in tow. They had all just gotten back from New Orleans where my brother had interned during the summer. I brought him a special present:
His sweater! The pattern was a test knit that I had worked on during the summer (I'd give you the link but the designer is trying to get this pattern published). Like a good brother he donned the knitwear (in 100% wool none the less) in the July heat for a quick photo shot. I think he liked it...as was evidenced by him wearing it for 10 more minutes under his own free will. I had to take it back from him though so I could block it, I just wanted to make sure it would fit. I'm pleased with how it turned out and maybe he'll move to Vermont or Boston, MA so I can make him and my future SIL plenty of handknit sweaters!

Sunday:
After church I finished the secret project for my friend.
This is Logan's Sad Marshmallow S'more. My friend Logan found a picture of an amigurumi s'more with this sad marshmallow inside on the internet. I asked if he wanted it for his birthday and he said no (but of course this really means yes) so when I finally had a hour or 2 to spare I whipped up this little guy. Logan loved him so I'm really pleased with how he came out...So pleased I'm going to post the pattern for you.

Logan's Sad Marshmallow S'more
Needles: U.S. size 3 straights and DPNs (I knit mine all on DPNs by simply turning the work on each row and not joining it in the round except for the top and bottom of the marshamallow)
Yarn: Less than 1 oz. each of light brown (graham crackers), darker brown (chocolate), white (marshmallow), and black (face) (I used some old acrylic yarn I had lying around but really any type will do)

Marshmallow:
With white yarn cast on 10 stitches using a provisional cast on.
Row 1 (RS): K
Row 2 (WS): P
Repeat these 2 rows until piece measures approximately 3.5 inches. Do not bind off.
Thread provisional cast on stitches onto a needle.
Fold the piece so the 2 needles are laying side by side and the wrong side is facing out.
Using a third needle do a three needle bind off (the white piece should now form a circle.
Turn inside out so the right side is now facing.
Using the DPNs pick up and knit 15 stitches in the round from one edge of the circle.
Row 1: K
Row 2: *K1, K2tog repeat from * 5 times
Row 3: K
Cut thread and run a length through the remaining stitches.
Pull very tight.
Using black thread sew a face onto the marshmallow. I used french knits for the eyes and back stitching for the mouth (be sure not to pull back stitching too tightly or it will get lost in the knitting) but you could create your own unique marshmallow face.
Stuff marshmallow well.
Using the DPNs pick up and knit 15 stitches in the round from the other edge of the circle.
Row 1: K
Row 2: *K1, K2tog repeat from * 5 times
Row 3: K
Cut thread and run a length through the remaining stitches.
Pull very tight.
Weave in ends.

Graham Crackers (make 2):
Using light brown yarn cast on 20 stitches.
Knit every row until piece measures approximately 3.5 inches (or makes a nice square).
Bind off.

Chocolate:
Using darker brown yarn cast on 10 stitches.
Knit every row until piece measures approximately 3 inches (or makes a nice square).
Bind off.

Assemble and enjoy!


Monday-Wednesday:
Usual work stuff with the added bonus of a head cold. I didn't even go to knit night on Wednesday because I was so stuffy. I did start another pair of charity socks using the Perfect Fit Hiking socks general pattern only with 2 strands of yarn and more of my modifications.

Thursday:
Enjoyed my favorite Mexican foods from Frontera with several good friends.

Friday:
Knit night at Rare Purls. By this point I'd already finished the first (new) charity sock so I cast on the for the second one. These socks go quick. Just look how far I got in one night:
It's a little hard to see but I'm already to the gusset increases for the heel.

As for the rest of this evening I see a little more knitting and nice hot bath in my future.

I Spoke Too Soon

After raving yesterday about how great things were going, this morning it all came back to bite me in the butt. It wasn't any one thing, just a bunch of little things. Let's start from the beginning shall we.

7:30 Cat wants me to feed her so she steps on my face to wake me up. (In retrospect this kind of makes me laugh.) Feed cat, go back to bed.

8:00 Wake up to see if I got an email from my private lesson student who was sick on Monday and may have to cancel today. No email.

9:15 Drag self out of bed. Check email. A response. He is coming today. Decide to stay up because I need to reskein and label yarn before going to see my mom.

9:30 Begin redesigning all labels.

10:00 Finish labels. Put skein of yarn on PVC swift to be wound into a ball. Once it's in ball form I will rewind it onto the swift then twist and label it.

10:05 Realize I began pulling from the wrong end of the yarn. And that the PVC pipe swift sucks at being a swift. It won't turn fast enough and is pulling the yarn.

10:10 Start trying to wind from other end. Realize you had the right end the first time. Yarn begins to tangle.

10:30 * Wind a little yarn onto ball winder, take ball of yarn off the winder, wind by hand through the tangled parts, re-wind onto the ball winder, repeat from * 3-5 times. Decide to finish winding mass o' tangled yarn by hand.

11:00 Take a break to make reservations for birthday dinner with friends on Friday. Find out that there are 5 other large parties there so can't make reservations. They will have to make room for us when we come. Fantastic. (Please note sarcasm.)

11:05 Continue hand winding yarn.

11:30 Teach private percussion lesson.

12:30 Eat lunch.

1:00 Call mom and tell her you got tangled up (literally) this morning and are running late to hang out with her. She tells me not to worry about coming over. She's had a rough morning too. Her inside kitty's heart murmur is worse and a friend's baby boy died of some as yet unknown genetic disease that almost killed his big sister 2 years earlier.

1:15 Finish hand winding 1st skein of yarn. Pull out old, wooden, hand made swift to finish making other balls of yarn. Will use PVC swift (now PVC skeiner only) to make hanks.

1:30-3:30 Finish winding other sock yarn into neat hanks for selling.

3:35 Decide to re-skein lace weight.

3:37 After winding a tiny bit of the lace weight into a ball realize this is going to take a long time and contemplate scrapping the idea. Realize it might be easier to wind yarn from old, wooden swift onto PVC skeiner.

3:38-4:00 Tinker with getting the set up between the swift and skeiner right so that the swift will turn smoothly and the skeiner will catch the yarn correctly.

4:00 Handle on skeiner breaks. Wonder if the screw has been stripped. Realize the screw is fine, it's just been turned so many times in the PVC pipe it's made a bigger hole and now just turns and turns in the little hole without being grippy. This happens, of course, after you already have several, several yards of yarn wound and cannot take the arms of the windmill off to remove the broken handle.
Picture of broke a$$ handle.

4:02-5:15 Continue to mollycoddle yarn onto skeiner. Handle flops in the way. Turn the windmill by hand. Yarn snags on old, wooden swift. Pieces of swift are literally flying off. Stop and stoop to fix swift, then yarn, then start turning skeiner again. Yarn begins to fly off skeiner in loops because it's too tight and is pushing the first few rows over the caps and off into mid-air. Pray that this will just work long enough to finish this one skein. Also, say a lot of words that are unbecoming of a lady.

5:16 Decide never to reskein lace again (unless there is machinery involved).

5:17 Remember that sometimes, when your life is moving in the right direction, Satan will try and attack you the hardest. Feel bad about the curse words. Pray for forgiveness and some relief from horrible, broken equipment. (Not that I feel like some spiritual vigilante armed with dye, yarn, and set of needles but I have prayed a lot about my little business and seen some wonderful results. So maybe I am a spiritual warrior of the yarn-y persuasion.)

5:18-5:35 Picture and label all yarn. (I'd post a picture off all the new colors I dyed, which were really lovely, btw, but the light was terrible and I need to fix them.)

5:37 Feed screaming cat.

5:43 Rush to knit night.

6:00-8:15 Sell lots of yarn, hang out with friends, finish left front of test knit sweater (see below), chat, drink frappacino, have a good time, make up for most of the crappy morning.
8:30 Drive through Wendy's and get Caesar salad for dinner.

8:45 Eat.

9:05-9:45 Upload pictures, cuddle with cat, write blog post.

An Open Letter and More

An open letter to my cat, Penelope:
Dear Penelope,

Please stop puking right by the front door. I know that you don't always like the food that I feed you but enough is enough. Also, I know that you puked up water this afternoon. You're just being difficult now. I know that you think doing this will make me more likely to buy your favorite foods but really it just makes me want to throw you out in the below freezing temperature. That is all.

Love,
Your Growingly More Disgruntled Mother
Penelope has taken to running around whenever I try and take her picture. She probably knows that the evidence these would contain would be condemning.
Ok, other stuff:

I had knit night last Friday at my house.

My friend BK choose Bella's Mittens as her second ever knitting project. She's ambitious, and doing great, I might add.
I helped her work our using DPNs for the first time (with splitty alpaca none the less).
Those pictures are only funny if you're read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

As with any good knit night we had some "inspiration."
Later that weekend (Saturday to be exact) we had snow flurries (pretty hard to see in this picture but it happened).
Because it was a long weekend I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. on Monday morning to finish my Burnished Tunic! I'm so excited about this and can't wait until it finishes drying so I can seam under the arms and wear it. The temperature has been hanging out in the 20s and low 30s (Fahrenheit, that's -6 to 0 Celsius) so it would be nice to wear something so warm.
I used Shepherd's Wool in Beaches doubled throughout on US size 11 needles from Boye NeedleMaster kit. I tried it on before I washed it and blocked it. It's super warm. I think I could go to Alaska in just this sweater and be ok playing out in the snow. Ok, maybe not that warm but definitely good for the weather we've been having around here lately.

Backing up just a little, on Saturday I went to a knit in at Kay's house (she owns an online yarn store in the area and invited me to knit night on Wednesday's and has taken me as a guest to the Atlanta Knitting Guild). The knit in was to help create centerpieces for Stitches South. I picked up a kit and have been knitting now and then on this:
It's destined to become a giant pink and white Calla Lilly. I'm excited that I'll be able to contribute to Stitches but knitting with 4 strands of yarn is killing my hands! Luckily that makes the knitting go super fast.

And...
The Warm Woolies children's sweater continues to grow.

I'm off to lay some warm wool across my lap and knit!