It's been a while

So I turned into one of those bloggers that goes all hot n heavy for a while and then fades away. Ah well. I have actually been knitting, when not being a v busy full time working mom-of-two - check out the lovely stuff on ravelry (where I am DeniseE). Also set up a site for family pics so you can see what all I've been up to.
so anyway
did I miss anything?
what's new with ye all?

Last post of the year?

Maybe!

UPDATED TO ADD PICTURES

Though I have been making some progress :)
Finished my Argosy scarf...here it is pinned, blocking

this you have to see - I ran out of yarn mid way through the decreases...so I substituted some other pinkish sock yarn - v obvious I'm afraid. I considered ripping out and making the whole thing shorter, and then decided instead to just finish and block it and see. So after all that blocking and pinning, I discovered some left over original-coloured sock yarn (see there to the left of the orangey bit?)(still with me? Am not explaining this very well). So now I have the option of ripping out and redoing my blocked scarf (still pinned), or wearing it with a big un-matchy bit at the bottom. Hmm. TBD...

Babette is coming along well! I have about 20 4-round squares to go, they are quick in themselves but that's still a lot...an evening or two should knock that out then 'just' sewing and weaving in ends...am determined to finish before baby makes an appearance*. The nursery is shades of blue/lilac, so this blanket would go a long way to 'girling up' the place, if it turns out to be a wee girl.

And seeing as it's coming into frigid season here in Merrilen, I cast on for a hat last night - haven't the patience (or probably time) to make one of those cool slouchy berets, but I thought the Beaufort would be both pretty and quick, dug out some dark red Paton's classic wool Merino, and hope to be done by the weekend. UPDATE - knit this up in a day - and the lace pattern stretches out really nicely :)

*No more false labor scares - am getting tons of exercise walking to and from bathroom and eating loads. Heartburn - check. Bloated - check. Stretch marks - check. Excited - check! Here I am:

what a find!

Just came across Knotions and The Inside Loop while checking, again, to see if Knitty winter patterns are up yet. I plan to cast on for this, for me, as soon as I finish my current scarf,
which, seeing as it's being knit on teeny needles with skinny yarn may make future knitting projects destined for the new decade...

Would love to show you pictures if my camera would cooperate.
Got about 10 dozen cookies made last night, then ran out of eggs...considered sending himself out in the cold to store but as he had been warned that none of the cookies were for him, felt it would be pushing my luck...although we'll have dozens of cookies in the next day or two when I get back from the swaps, hmmm.

Joined a great new group on Ravelry - Selfish Knitters. Moderator andreainblue has a great philosophy: " my litmus test(s) for The Worthy is determining whether or not the recipients would ever spend an equal amount of time/money on me."Makes you think eh. From now on, knitting for kids (mine) and my Mum. Oh and ME, and that's it.

Ahhhh feels good!

Thank Youuuuu!

To my new friend Cheriwan (real name Jillian - rechristened "Jennifer" don't ask) who vvv generously sent me the following in the recent Ravelry swap:

Don'tcha love opening mystery boxes with wee individually wrapped presents inside?? Some lovely yarn (have always loved working with Crystal Palace yarns!) in pink (looks more red in pic), v. handy looking stitch markers, skull yarn notions bag (love.it.) funky bubblegum girlie card and bookmark - candy! And 2 patterns!! Yay She even went to the trouble of ordering me things from etsy - have included the links.

Thanks again Jillian!

Best. Mittens. Ever.

bob02
Originally uploaded by muffinm

Saw these on Ravelry - so cute!
I know I won't have the time to make these this winter, but maybe I can knit while the new baby sleeps, will have so much spare time being at home for a couple of months...ahem... :)

What's new with you?

Wintry weather setting in here...worked at home last Friday and enjoyed this - this - and this - And wore my new socks!

Made them way too big though. They are practically slippers - I always do this, none of my knit socks are fine enough to actually wear with normal shoes. For once I actually used the whole ball of yarn though, have maybe 2 yards left, instead of the usual small ball that you hate to throw away (the thought!) but can't think of anything creative to do with. Though there's always these.

Right now am back working on the Babette, crochet blanket. Hit All About Yarn on Saturday to get in more pink n green yarn supplies. Am on the home stretch, in terms of making the squares. The sewing and weaving-in-of-ends awaits...New pics coming.

A year already?

Yayyy been blathering on here (intermittently) for a year now. And I still have stuff to say!

Well - the knitting is going good - deep into scarf season, my favourite. I recently finished a skinny clapotis and a short entrelac scarf for my friend's 5 year old - and am on my second entrelac scarf, all looking lovely and - thankfully - not boring to knit. I am using Noro matsuri for the scarf on the needles now and it's a lot of fun to see the colours developing. It's a cotton/wool blend - so no wispy bits to stick to my winter-chapped lips. (Note: I have been listening to this on audiobook while knitting this scarf, so will probably always have some weird associations with this particular garment...)

In sad knitting news - Himself washed and tumble-dried the purple cardi :(

let's just say it is now a wee bit snug...It may be stretchable, or maybe I'll have to wait to wear it when I drop some of the baby blubber. Speaking of, am now nearly 7 months along.

I tested presumptive for gestational diabetes though, have to do the follow-up this weekend. My major in college was Human Nutrition, I should know better*(she says, still scarfing down Halloween candy).

In other sad knitting news - the hat and scarf I donated to the school's fund riaser? They were put on sale for $2 each! I nearly bought them back in annoyance. I should have added labels saying they were handmade especially, washing instruction etc. But didn't. Ah well. Last I checked they were gone. No update on this accursed item...

In other sad news, my Tivo died :( And even though I have 18 months service paid up, the only option to access it is to buy a whole new Tivo box. Ranging from $150 to $350. Grr. And I had loads of stuff saved on there that I was going to watch sometime. Am a big fan of 'Murder TV' as himself calls it. I particularly like the Oxygen show "Snapped" where some long suffering women off their men. Usually following laundry-related mishaps...

Rare trip to the movies last weekend, to see Zack and Miri make a porno. I really liked it, Seth Rogen always cracks me up. The only reason I mention it here, though, is for the surprising amount of knitted and crocheted items on view - it's set in wintertime Pennsylvania so afghans/scarves/hats/sweaters are in nearly every scene. Good a reason as any to check it out :)

The Columbia Sip n Knit celebrated 2 years and counting last Wednesday, still going strong. I've been a member just over a year, and I love it. A nicer bunch of ladies (and Textillian!) you couldn't hope to meet. Lynn even had cake for us - and surprises from her trip to China!

Last night I experimented with a new cookie recipe for the 2nd annual cookie swap at Stacey's house next month: Cherry chocolate Yumsters, I think I'll call them. Himself thought I was having a 'craving' he should know by now that I kind of always crave cookies, and now I have an excuse to eat them (see*!!)

Some FO pics

I already put these up on Ravelry but am nothing is not a showoff ;P

Here's my Grandiflora sock,

Made from the Opal Harry Potter Tonks Yarn - here she is on the label, cute eh:

And donated some knits to charity (daycare 'yard sale' for Make-a-Wish):

this scarf, that was languishing half finshed for over a year...

it started existence as a trial-run for this.

This hat - too big for any normal headed person

And (blush) the beleagured Baby surprise jacket!

Neat things

I have all kinds of neat things I'd like to show you - and have finally uploaded pictures.
The blue&green flat feet socks are blocked and ready, hopefully my friend's legs are as slim as I think they are...and if time permits this weekend I may even break out the bead stash and make her earrings to match. Sure all the best-dressed folks have socks that match their earrings nowadays.

The pink/red lacy scarf for a friends birthday (already a week overdue, and she lives in Europe) s done done done, scarves are so boring to make, even when pretty. But for this one, one skein made a nice-length scarf (about 5 ft). I read somewhere the optimum scarf length is approximately equal to the height of the wearer...so if she hunches over a bit while wearing 'twill be perfect.

A couple of Friday's ago I got that serious burning-wallet feeling and ordered myself some yarn from Little Knits and from Webs. Little Knits should be arriving today (I should have paid for expedited shipping, I have nowhere near the amount of patience required for online shopping) and (most of) the Webs order arrived last week. Lovely lovely sock yarn, including the Opal Harry Potter yarn in Tonks, that are on their way to becoming the Grandiflora socks as we sit here. yay!

I think my knitting blah period is well and truly over for the year. I love the Autumn.
So what are you working on? Don't send me to Ravelry - comments please!

sock knitting season again

That wee nip in the air makes me want to sock-knit again. I am still wearing sandals, even in October, because I have a nice pedicure. But this weekend I want to get a cute pair of clogs to show off my knitting prowess (ahem) while still having dry feet, and, of course, comfort. I gained eight pounds last month (new readers: not quite as bad as it sounds - am in 6th month of pregnancy) and hefting this girth around in my usual high heel boots isn't going to happen this winter.

So right now I'm working on some knee socks for my work friend P, a workaholic who has about 2% bodyfat and always looks like she is about to freeze solid in winter. She's only a couple of inches taller than me (who isn't) but I will probably double her body weight by xmas (and yes, am only carrying one baby. I get all-over-body pregnancy, where my legs arms and ass gain weight in sympathy with my belly) and I think a pair of woolly socks might just keep her around through another winter. Last year she got these:

and this year, hopefully, a completed pair of these:very plain vanilla pattern - toe up with short row heel...the heels are a little untidy and the toes don't match, because I cast on the first sock in June and decided at the time (I guess) that I could commit the method to memory. Hah! These are knit from the flat feet pre-dyed sock blank, round and round and round in stockinette...Colour is great though. They don't look too great in that picture but they haven't been blocked yet...

Already looking forward to the next thing, here's a lovely pattern I bought off Ravelry today: Grandiflora socks, which should hopefully work with ultra-patterned sock yarn. Yay!

Look at what I found online today, tucked amongst regular boots on sale:

Knitted boots, but with outdoor soles...

And also: it's breast cancer awareness month. My dear friend Flibbertygibbet has made quite a commitment, and I am very proud of her.

Sunday update

Finished 'Hey Teach' - I tried to wear it yesterday but it was realllly humid here. I am pretty happy with it - except it seems a bit big - when it blocked out I had to stretch it a little to let the lace show - but this made it very wide. And I am already on the unusually wide side what with being 'with child' and all...

On Wednesday at S&K The Other Denise very nicely wound my Blue Heron rayon metallic for me - and I started to make the Drop Stitch shawl pattern that came along with it...Here's how far I got till I lost confidence in it. The wee little 3x2 in. picture that came with the pattern didn't look anything like what I was making, plus it was looking way too pointy. So I frogged it. Yarn is pretty slippy and tangly, so not sure what to make now - maybe Jeanie? Or another Clapotis?

Meant to show you the yarny gifts I got recently:

from my ole college friend J:

a needle-felted doggie to match my real dog :)

and from work friend P:

a necklace made, I believe, from Bernat Matrix -

clever way to use this yarn, and it's a pretty striking necklace. Plus now I have an idea what to do with the several balls of this stuff I picked up a couple of year ago, thinking I was getting a great bargain (hah!)

I'm off to Ft. Collins Colorado tomorrow, for the week. Have already scoped out where I'll be buying my souvenirs: here and here.

Red scarf progress

Almost 1 skein thru my 3-skein red scarf. Am getting fed up with the pattern now - don't have a whole lot of patience when it comes to the middle boring part of a long and skinny scarf. In fact, this may end up being a 2-skein scarf...

Here's the patterned bit at the bottom - maybe I should have continued this all the way up? It curls a lot, which will come out with blocking, but makes for unimpressive-looking progress.

Also finished another pair of my 48-stitch-around fingerless gloves , in about 3 days of commuting. Love these. Now I know what to do with all that left over sock yarn, yay!

Darn Ravelry

So yesterday, while on a conference call at work, I decided to skim through Ravelry to pick a scarf pattern for the upcoming red scarf drive. Still thinking. Then, ignoring the notion of the large stash in an ever-expanding corner of my closet, I clicked on several of the yarn stores advertised to find a red yarn bargain. Ah Ravelry, what did I ever do without you...

Not 2 minutes later a big ugly message pops up - Warning - Virus Detected

And that was that. All access to The Internets, gone. E-mail, gone. Went to talk to the IT guy, and 5 minutes later: computer, gone... :(

So see? Ravelry can in fact be bad for the health...knew it ;)

lovely stuff

Got some lovely knit gifts this week - a book I've been wanting to read for ages, from my lovely friend Celine, who I haven't seen for 2 years and miss lots, and got myRavelry May Day International swap gift all the way from East London, thanks Estieknits :)
Yay! Gorgeous yarn in my very favourite colourways, some organic black chocolate mmmm and a notebook for knitting notes - much better than the backs-of-receipts I generally rely on :)
Finished one of the hiking socks. It looks real skinny but fits me pretty well - Himself is not here so I measured the foot against one in his sock drawer...And here's my little girl...

Stitch n Pitch!

Way back last century when I met the young lad who would one day become Mr. Needle-dee, I was a most-unamericanised Irish lass. One of his passions was baseball, about which I knew 2 things. 1. Babe Ruth 2. the phrase 'home run'. That's it. And as far as I knew babe ruth was some kind of cheerleader. When we started dating in the US* one of the first places we went was to Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia to see the Phillies** play the St. Louis Cardinals***.
Anyhoo, the home team won, and my love affair with the game began. Also my rather one-sided love affair with certain players, but mostly just with the fun of it all, outside on a summer's day, all the stats, the stories, the $7 beers...

And now, two of my great loves are together at last - Stitch n Pitch!
The closest games are:
Nationals June 20 ****
Orioles July 19
Phillies August 5 *****

I'm also posting this on the Ravelry board - but who's up for for it??

*I met him in Ireland, long story
** A pretty shockin team at the time, but they won that game
***This was 1996. Why yes, I do still have the ticket stub
**** in the snazzy new stadium
*****2 days before my birthday :)

Again, unfaithful to purple cardi

I'm about 4 inches up the second side of the purple cardi, but was enticed away by Sheila's yarn. My Ravelry queue shows me that the Flutter-by socks have been there more than 4 months, and the pattern recommended variegated yarn. I had cast on 64 as the usual sock cuff ribbing, so added in 6 to have multiples of 10 for the butterflies.
This shot gives you an idea of how vibrant the yarn is. Wow.

KnitPicks delivers!

A box of yarn from KnitPicks came this week. Happy Days! Here's my Ravenclaw/Hogwarts swap sock yarn:

Eek! Now I am starting to panic - these colours are not at all what I wanted - and yes I know, I did order them myself and the colours are as described...I thought the variegated yarn would be more blue/brown. Instead it's blue/violet...off to the lys this weekend I guess (darn ;) )

I also got 10 balls of this: Palette in Rainforest Heather

Which is going to be the Printed Silk Cardigan from the current Interweave Knits. That's the plan anyway...

After I opened my lovely KnitPicks box I was inspired so I went along to the Sip n' Knit at Borders. Deb and Lyn had also got yarn in the mail and were similarly stoked. This was posted near the cash registers - now we're official!

I love my knitting group. If you live anywhere within a 50 mile radius, come join.

While there I volunteered to make a wooly pully - helmet liner for the troops. Cascade very generously donated 10 balls of Cascade 220 to our group for this project. Here's my progress:

Purple cardi is still on the go of course. Inching my way up one front. I got to the decreasing part and called it a night at Border's.

I do find it hard to concentrate on knitting/crocheting just one thing at a time. Here's my Noro Transitions scarf I made last weekend:

I like it...but it may get frogged. I don't like the way the ends are very small bands of colour compared to the rest of it. And I have come to dislike the alpaca bits a lot. Too hairy and fuzzy. Maybe I'll make this into a striped vest along with that creamy coloured aran I got in Ireland? Still looking for just the right pattern.

And here's what happens when Mommy is so busy knitting that DS's bedtime sneaks up:

Fell asleep on the kitchen floor, playing with his Lightening McQueen. Ahh.

January gifting

Off to Ireland to see the folks this Saturday! I've managed to make 3 pairs of socks (for my 2 sisters, and my future SIL), including these lovelies, finally finished:

I didn't make socks for Mum (just before I started blogging I sent her a clapotis, so she's good!) but I picked up a couple of crafting books for her. This one is my favourite:

My sister (who's having the birthday that spurred this visit) is a huge Marilyn fan...I am trying to resist casting on for this thing for her - I have enough to do between now and Saturday (e.g. my job).

Speaking of my job, got some huge, good, unexpected news this evening as I was leaving. It never rains but it pours...more anon.

Fibonacci Fetching

En route to Florida I made a pair of Fetching.

I was disappointed in them though - the cables barely covered my wrists and the tops were very gape-y round the fingers. Now, seeing as these are the most popular pattern on Ravelry I've no doubt this is more to do with my technique than any deficiency in the pattern. Anyhoo, I decided to make another pair. I remembered the Knitty Gritty show on the Fibonacci number sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and decided to make stripey gloves based on this. This required an additional 8 rows onto the Fetching pattern, so I added one cable repeat, and two more rows between the end of the cable and the start of the thumb:

They're tied here with a wee ribbon as they went straight to my SIL, but I think they turned out well. Also - they covered my wrists and so should be much warmer. Still pretty gapey round the top though - any suggestions how to avoid this? Smaller needles for cast-off maybe?