Sky Scarf - February Update

Time for the sky scarf update.  I now have completed all of January and all of February.  The past couple of weeks have seen an increase in the number of days with blue skies, so that's been reflected in the scarf.  Out of all of the colors, I seem to be going through the light gray and medium blue the fastest.  I'm not sure at the point if I will need to order extras of any of the colors to make it through.  

Time for tea socks

Over the weekend, I finished my tea time socks.  They worked up beautifully and turned out thicker than I expected.  They will make excellent boot socks.  The yarn was The Plucky Knitter's Superwash Merino Sport Weight in the colorway Tea Time.  I know that this skein has been around for several years and I haven't seen her offer the base recently with the addition of the Primo base she has been carrying.  I used 3.00mm needles and approximately 170 yards.

With the completion of these, it brings my 2012 yardage up to 290 yards.  That looks like such a small number - especially since my goal is 12,000 yards.  However, the blanket will be around 4,000 yards.  I added several rounds in over the weekend!

From Webs, Sh*t Knitters Say

Webs Yarn Store created this video, Sh*t Knitter Say.   I think that these knitting statements are pretty true!

Snow Motivation

All of this......

....has lead me to knit a lot on these.....

....and they should be an FO by the end of the weekend, especially since I'm off in a bit to knit group for the morning.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Snow! Snow! Snow!

We have finally had some snow that seems to be sticking around for a while.  Most of our pathetically small snowfalls this year have been around for 12 hours or so before it warms up enough to melt the entire thing - as if it never happened.  Today has been a different story; we woke up to a few inches and I've been grateful for it.  This winter hasn't really felt like winter because of the unusually warm temperatures.  I normally can't get away with wearing a down vest through most of January in central Illinois.  This snowfall is very good news for us knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists.  It's generally been too warm to wear our hand knits, so now we can break them out for a few more weeks of cooler weather and take advantage of those day where we are stuck at home with nothing to do but craft. 

For me, normally the winter months are a flurry (pun intended) of fibery activity.  You know - those Saturdays when you can hole up at home on the couch with a pot of tea, some knitting, and the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice for 6 glorious hours of interrupted craft time.  There haven't been many of those days this winter, and I think a couple of snowed in days might be what the doctor orders to get back into the grove of things.  I'm close to finishing my tea times socks.  I can work on the blanket a bit.  I might even start the magazine weeding project.  Since I have to go back to work for the afternoon, I am think about being home and knitting.  In fact, that may just be my plan for the weekend....

PS- Is that not the coziest looking birdhouse right now?

The best time to frame...

The best time to frame an answer to the letters of a friend, is the moment you receive them. Then the warmth of friendship, and the intelligence received, most forcibly cooperate.

~William Shenstone

Sampling of a few of the cards that will be going out in coming weeks.  On an average week, I probably send 10-20 cards in the mail.  The designs normally vary, as do the recipients.  Going through my card stash the other day though, I realized that I need to make more 'guy' cards.  The designs for men seem to be harder to come up with.  I wish that there were some more male themed stamps sets that did not involve ties, boats, stripes, or trees. 



Tea time over the weekend

Over the weekend, I worked on my tea time socks. I finished the first one and I love the way the colors have turned out. It didn't really pool at all - a testament to The Plucky Knitter's dyeing skills. I've moved on to the second sock. I'm through the ribbing and onto the leg portion now.

I checked the grams remaining and I could have made the legs a little longer on each, but that's okay. These socks are the first I've knit with my new size 3.0 Signature Needles. I'm loving them - serisouyl, how did I knit socks without them before? Answer: I didn't knit as many. I've found that, for me, socks are easier to control on the Signatures and I haven't broken a single one of them (opposed to the wooden ones that I broke constantly). I've love to have these socks wrapped up before the weekend.

And then...back to the blanket!



Lincoln = Distraction

A few days before Abraham Lincoln's birthday (Feb. 12), I was looking through books at the library and came across Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.  The first night that I picked it up and started reading, I read half of the book in one sitting.  Last night, I finished it and thought that it was thoroughly entertaing without being to gorey.  I'd recommended it.  It kind of markes me want to read a Lincoln biography next...

Since I was spending the last few evenings reading, I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done.  I'm halfway through the leg portion of the Tea Time socks and will probably get back to them tonight.  The Adeline blanket is also coming out of timeout.  Last time I worked on it, I was sitting there, crocheting along when I noticed that the more recent three rounds looked different from the others.  I was right.  I had accidently flipped the blanket after finishing a round and started the new round on the back side.  It's a subtle difference between the two.  Unfortunately (but forunately), I noticed it and couldn't let it go.  Out came the rounds and then they were redone....this was the point at which I picked up a library book. 

Time to get back to the projects now that the book is done.  I feel a case of startitis coming on that I'd like to avoid for a couple of weeks.

Valentine's Day Scarf

What do you get for a BF that has exacting standards regarding color and style of handknits?

You weave him a scarf of course.  This one is made from The Plucky Knitter's MCN Fingering. 

Vital stats:

Warp: Prepster
123 g start / 35 g left= 88 g used.
88 g = 277 yards.
Weft: Prepster
122 g start / 38 g left= 84 g used.
84 g = 266 yards.
10 Dent Reed = 86 ends
Total: 542 yards.

Magazine Conundrum

I am currently having a Magazine Conundrum...

I've been knitting & crocheting now for about 8 years.  I've amassed quite a collection.  What do you do with all of the ones that you accumulate?  I am never going to knit and crochet everything I want out of them.  And now that Ravelry exists and there are so many designs published straight to the Rav platform, I see and cast those on faster than the ones in magazines.

I don't really have an answer, but it is getting the point where I need to find one because I am running out of room.  Options so far:

• Recycle them all.  If I need a pattern in the future, I can get an e-version.
• Go through all of the magazines.  Tear out the pattern instructions I am interested in and recycle the rest of the magazines.
• Keep them all and buy more storage.

Right now, I am least inclined to the last option because I rarely knit the patterns out of magazines.  I enjoy reading the articles, new techniques, and forthcoming products, but I do not necessarily buy them for the patterns.

Thoughts?  What do you do?

To send a letter...

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. 

~Phyllis Theroux

If you haven't sent any valetines yet, now is the time to do so!

"I wanna go fast"

Sport weight socks go fast....even faster if you don't restart them!  Here's the progress on my tea time socks:

Over the weekend, I started working on these while traveling through O'Hare airport.  I started on 3.00mm (US 2 1/2) with 52 stitches but by the time that I made it to the heel, it was too large.  I had been telling myself that they'd be fine, but they were too large.  It would have been okay if they were going to be lounging around socks, but this wasn't my intention.  Restarted with 48 stitches on the same size needles.  I forgot how quickly they go when compared to socks on US 1.

Warm Winter Wishes Handmade Cards

The weather this winter has been....well, not really like a traditional winter.  We've had numerous days in the 40s and 50s and there really hasn't been many ocassions to break out the handknits to keep warm.  I was worried that I wouldn't have enough winter themed cards during the colder months, but as it turns out, I didn't need to worry that much this year. 
 

 

I made a few designs just in case though.  I took advanatge of the Dazzling Details glitter to add some festive cheer to the cards whenever there was a snowflake.  Here's hoping for one more good snowfall before the end of the month.  Can we have just one?  It would be nice to make it through the winter with at least some snow on the ground and it would help to stop all of the spring flowers that are already coming up!

Still chugging along...

The Adeline Blanket is stilll chugging along.  I have added several more rounds to it.  I feel like I am making slow progress though.  Completing each round now takes around two hours and I then I weave in the ends before moving on to the new color.  It is surprisingly warm though!  I'm glad that I am attemping to finish this during the winter months.

When it is completed, I am hoping that it will be large enough to use as an adult size lap blanket - big enough to curl up with on the couch.  I'll be washing it and blocking it out as well, so it might grow a bit more during that process.

I have yet to decide what the border on it will look like.  Of all the colors, I have the most remaining of the silver (a whole extra skein to be exact).  Right now, I'm leaning towards a simple scalloped edge on it - using the extra silver color.  I thought about leaving it without a border - just having the last round be the end - but now I wonder if that would be too simple or too unfinished. 

Thoughts?

Letter writing is...

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company. 

-Lord Byron

Nothing to knit? Knit vintage stash.

What do you knit when you don't know what to knit?

Answer: You knit vintage stash.

That's right, Vintage Stash.  It could be called Vintage Stash if...:

1. You don't remember purchasing it.
2. You remember purchasing the skein for a project, but that project has now gone so far out of fashion/vogue that you would never knit or crochet it.
3. The company has changed its labels or logos.
4. The company no longer exists (becomes vintage by default).
5. You've moved house with it.
6. I'm sure there are many more (feel free to add them in the comments).

Just because stash is Vintage, it is no less loved.  Case and point:

 



The Plucky Knitter Superwash Sport in the colorway Tea Time.  I purchased this in Fall 2009 from a destash on Ravelry I think (see, it's been so long I can't remember).  Rule numbers 1, 3, & 5 apply here.  I love the colorway and the name is so appropriate.  It reminds of taking tea at Fortnum & Mason's St. James Restaurant on Piccadilly in London.  If you are ever in London, I recommend making a stop there! 

As for a project, this will turn into socks.  I'm debating between the Duckies (rav link) pattern or just plain vanilla.  I'm going to wait and see what it looks like once I start working with it.

Postcards & Script Handmade Cards

Who doesn't like to receive something other than bills in the mail?  In a homage to the dying art of writing letters, a few friends and I actually hand write letters to each other each week.  One of the designs that is soon to go out:

For Christmas, I received a Big Shot which allows me more flexibility with embossing and die cutting.  This card uses Wild Wasabi as a base and I embossed sheets of Perfect Plum with a 'handwritten script.' The main image stamp is from a retired Stampin Up set ("Postcards" I believe).  It's stamped in Wild Wasabi and punch out with the large circle scallop punch.

 

In the same theme, I took another image from the set and recreated a postcard look.  Wild Wasabi base, Pink Pirouette and So Saffron punch.  Background paper is from the retired SU DSP Afternoon Tea.

Sky Scarf - January Update

 

The Sky Scarf is complete through January!  I can't believe how fast the project is going despite the fact that you only knit two rows a day.  It's been my lunchtime project - two rows every day.