Late and everything runs amuck.AKA - I HATE WINTER

It snowed last night (AGAIN!!!) I went out the door this morning at 5:30 to do my morning walk and a foot of snow greeted me at the cellar door. Thank goodness only 6 inches of it was real snow and the rest was blown around snow. I had to shovel part of the driveway so we could at least get to the cars and so the kids could out the driveway. I did that, started walking, checked my iPod which said 6:01. Of course I didn't believe it, since my iPod keeps resetting itself.By the time I got downtown, the clock on top of the church said - 6:10 -......great already behind the dime!

Let me give you a quick run through the rest of the day, get home from my walk - my hair is standing up straight, need to rewash it-hubby is already in the shower, have to wait, get out the door - 10 minutes late, back out of the snow filled driveway - I drive off the driveway, have to get coffee - but the car window is frozen, go to get gas -the little door flap to my gas cap is frozen shut (I was comedy routine trying to get it open), end up picking up my co-worker 15 minutes late!!! UUUGGGHH!! WINTER ROTS!

cast on for Hedera Socks today with my Knit Picks Essential, on my new KP Harmony needles. I love the neddles. People either love or hate them nothing in the middle. They are definitely a great take along project, if I can ever learn how to memorize a pattern. (remember I am pattern impaired!)

I've decided today that my work is starting to interfer with my knitting habit. I wish I could get more time in, but I doubt it is going to happen. I guess that's why I love long car rides, and vacations. Oh well, next one is around 6 weeks away - Vacation that is.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

I wore the February Lady yesterday to church and today to work (1st day back after vacation).
I was so happy in it - all day! Not too hot, not too cool, just right. (I feel like Goldilocks!)
This is first sweater I have ever made for myself.Ok, it's the first sweater I have ever finished for myself. I've tried before but always have ended up frogging it. I know I will definitely be making another February Lady for myself - hopefully in a black with longer sleeves.

There is something wonderful about wearing a sweater you've created, especially since it is fit to your specific body. It is AWESOME!~! hence the happy happy joy joy!

I've already cast on another sweater, Hey Teach (Knitty, summer 2008) and I already am in love!!! This will be a wonderful sweater for work, spring and part of the summer.

I'm not sure if you have heard the Happy Happy Joy Joy song, but if not, here's a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWyXKT5qt4.

Until next time! :)

A Bad BAD girl, February Lady/ Hey Teach, sox yarn and a swift

Well, so much for blogging every day/night. I guess I'm not doing so well......what a bad BAD girl!! My lower lip is pouting .......boo....hooo....hoo!

I've been on winter break this week and have kept my knitting going, although not very many things have been finished. The big finish was the February Lady today!!! Too many problems with this sweater, it's still a little too raw to talk about....maybe next time. Now even saying all this, I ADORE this sweater. it is gorgeous.....just with some short sleeves.

My next tackle is going to be Hey Teach from Knitty. It seems so appropriate, so I'm going to cast on tomorrow morning. YEAH!

Now the sox yarn....... the BOY.....who in just a few weeks will officially be of the driving age ~ actually there is NO way that I should be calling my 6 feet 1 inch tall son a BOY. He decided to tell me the other day he would like a pair of socks! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? This child of mine has feet the size of small cars. Seriously, he wears a size 14 shoe most of the time and his feet are EEEE wide!! UGH!! And to add insult to injury he wants the socks to be yellow, not pastel yellow, not school bus yellow, but bright bright BRIGHT yellow with Lime green stripes. So.....Finding this yarn has been a real challenge....oh yeah he wants them to be mid-calf high as well. NO sock yarn, (I'd be knitting them until 2020!), no merino - NOTHING! I finally found some Plymouth Worsted in bright yellow and lime green. I think they knit up quite quickly now that I have found the yarn, and will be a birthday present. I am planning on stripes, based on the Fibonacci series. My son is a HUGE Dan Brown fan, so I think he will enjoy them.

Finally, a yarn swift. My husband recently ordered me a ball winder, but I held back from buying a swift. When he asked me why, I told him that I would keep using my "Men-swift" - meaning him and the BOY. And I would prefer to buy one at a garage sale, I will put some friends on it this summer and today I found a picture of one that someone made out of Lego's. I am definitely going to set the kids on that one!

Busy, Busy

The last week and a half have been crazy busy and just plain crazy. Work has been wild, and I never seem to have enough hours built into my work day but I am really trying not to bring it home(haha!) I have succeeded so far but I think I may have to break down this weekend and do some school work just to catch up.

2 weekends ago, my dear hubbie drove me over to Fiber Options in Renselear Falls. Great shop!! Excellent layout and they have their yarn displayed beautifully. All you want to do is run your fingers through it all! It definitely fed my yarn addiction.


Here are some pictures of some things I have finished in the last few days. This is a bag I made for Marg. I call it Marg's Reversible Purple iPurse.

The mitts are made from Lumpy Bumpy Yarn by Charlene. Great yarn - super soft and very warm.

RESOLUTIONS!, toe-up socks and continental

RESOLUTIONS:
Happy New Year!! (Almost Chinese new year that is!) I have this thing about people making resolutions because they usually break them within the first week or two. I have really tried not to make any (resolutions ) that I can't keep. So for that very reason, I have put off on posting my resolutions until I could be sure that I would be keeping them.
here they are:
1. EXERCISE ( lose at least 50 pounds) - hence the renewed knitting to keep my hands busy so I am not eating (12.5so far)
2. LEARN NEW KNITTING TECHNIQUES - hence doing cabling again and starting my new toe up socks
3. BE DILIGENT ABOUT BLOGGING- the reason I have been on here all week. This one took a little longer to put into place. Blogging is something that will come of my tech skills up and hopefully I will be able to find some applications to classrooms.

TOE-UP SOCKS:
Knitting today:
I grabbed a pattern from Knitty Summer 2006 called Widdershins. It is toe-up ...using Judy's Magic Cast On here. WOW - not the easiest thing I've ever done. I tried it 3 different times and finally figured out that I can do it if I don't keep the yarn in my hands or on my fingers. this reminds me of something David Reidy (Sticks & Strings) just recently said " If anyone tells you there is only one way to do that (KNITTING wise) , they are wrong!" Thank goodness or I would probably never be a knitter. which leads me into my third topic today:

CONTINENTAL:
I have always knit continental style, little did I know. I learned to knit from my mom, who sat across the room from me and she was a right handed crocheter. She really didn't have too much of an idea except that she had seen her grandmother do it 50 years previous. Watching to the best of my ability, it only seemed natural that I would put the yarn in my left hand.

I didn't really realize that I was "odd" until some time later, when another knitter saw me and commented that I was knitting backwards. I've also heard that I knit "WRONG" and that I was creating my stitches "Strangely". None of it made any sense to me, everything I created always looked right when I was finished with it. It wasn't until one woman who was SERIOUS knitter, told me that I knit GERMAN style, and that many people called it Continental style. At the same time she commented on how quickly I knit - (isn't that the truth).

Over the years, I have struggled through various techniques, various stitches and patterns trying to make them work for me but now I know, it doesn't matter - because I can make it work NO MATTER WHAT!!!

The Mitts did it AGAIN!!!

ever wonder how stupid you can be while reading patterns? ever lose your place in the same pattern repeatedly? ever wish that your brain worked a little better?
Ok, Ok...I know... trick questions - right?
The silly, stupid, aggravating Christmas Eve Cabled Mitts did it to me again!
Last night I finished (or so I thought) the second mitt (I was so proud of myself).I tried the first one on, left one, the I tried the second one on, also a LEFT!!!! HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID!!!!!! I put the thumb for the wrong right aka left one on wrong!
Needless to say.....I started again and finished the real right one tonight. AND this time it's right - really right!!
But as Beks said, you're halfway done with a pair for you! (what a kid!)

I've picked my next project.....SOCKS from the toe up. I've done them the other way so it's time to learn a new technique. Hopefully I'll read this pattern better than the mitts pattern.

I hate frogging!!!!

DId I ever mention I hate FROGGING??? BTW - FROG is my fav curse word.

I worked one Christmas Eve Cabled Mitt last night. It was progressing great.
Put them down for the night, marked the pattern so I wouldn't get lost. All seems good - right?

Woke up this morning, had my coffee, shower, picked up the mitt and it looked weird, strange , definitely not right. SO I tried to figure out where I was in the cables.....yeah right!! Not for the life of me (mind you the last time I cabled was probably 8 or 9 years ago - and I think I only did it once!) !!!!UGH!! The more I looked at the pattern it looked as though I had down 2 back cables together. So i checked the pattern and lo and behold, that's what the pattern called for....but it didn't look right !! SO I Frogged the whole thing right back to the cuff and started again. ( This FROG occuring right after I had to completely frog one complete Latvian inspired mitten becuase I put the thimb in wrong AND the tension was too tight!)

I did get it finish the first mitt today. I decided to change the pattern and make that second back cable to a front and it does look much better. Maybe it's just me but oh well~ I am about up to the cable part again on the second one, but after what happened before, I decided to wait until I could do it all in one sitting.