For me too

I've been knitting lots.
Lots and lots.
Socks and socks.
There's slippers,
And there's arm warmers,
And amazingly,
Even with all that all on the needles at once,

I'm knitting myself a sweater.
:)

Holiday Time!

Shit.

I LOVE the holidays. I really love to give presents, I love all the yummy food and cozy houses.

But... Leading up to the holidays are crazy knitting times!
I'm totally broke right now so I'm knitting from the stash and trying to knit as many presents as I can this year.
So... Here's the list:
Dad - Arm warmers, CO 40, k2p2, size 8 needles, going for ~2 feet long
Bro1 - Socks, Limbo Mexico, CO 48, size 4 needles, short row heel to save time
Bro1's wife - thick socks with superwash mission falls

Bro2 - Pot Holders? Socks? Scarf? Haven't decided yet.
Mom- Pot holders? Socks? Gloves? Dunno...
Yaya - Socks or potholders.
In laws - Socks? Hats? Possibly fingerless gloves... Oh, and that skirt...
Uncle - Potholders

K - What do you knit for a man who spends his evening like this? A hard drive cozy?

Btw: Anyone need a 14.4 Kb modem?
There is one in that pile ---------------------------------->


For some reason we've been doing 'winter cleaning' lately. I cleaned my room at my mom's house, and found a bunch of old computer bits, which has somehow led to K being on the living room floor surrounded by his old computer parts cleaning out his own boxes. And threatening me with slow modems, IDE cables, and non-ergonomic mice. eeeek!



Well, back to knitting. 35 days to go.

Shit.

Finshing to Starting

I finished mom's socks which I started about a year ago! I'm headed towards the finish-line on K's socks. I'm turning the heel on the 2nd pair. I really want to start a pair of socks for me (found awesome striping yarn...) and I need to make a couple of hats for christmas presents... and probably a couple pairs of socks.... Oh and a nice little capelet for me out of yarn I've been hording forever...

Oh wait. Maybe I should also finish all the stuff I started last year?
Here is a recap of what I was supposed to knit this past summer...

* 3 pairs of socks - Done!
* A shrug/small sweater. One that flatters/hides the cleavage, possible in alpaca. - Finally found pattern! See! still on track!
* City of Lost Children Sweater for K. - Waiting for yarn order.... Testing is pretty much done.
* Christmas Presents - A few pair of socks, finish a skirt I started last year -None of this is done yet. I still have high hopes for finishing that freaking skirt...
* Baby stuff for Chrishan- Totally done! she's due any day now!

Well, while I don't have a good track record of promptly finishing anything, I do seem to get things done eventually...

Striped Brioche Scarf

This pattern is cool because its ALL knit stitches! It knits up fast and the striping keeps it interesting. This pattern will work well for any sport to worsted weight yarn. I used Noro Silk Lite alternating 2 balls of the same colorway to get the striped effect. This could be done with any 2 balls of different colors too. Or don't stripe it at all.... :)







This is what I used, but the pattern will adapt to any yarn and needle size needed!
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Lite #2075- 2 balls 275 yards total for 6.5 ft scarf
Needles: Size 8US
Gauge: 3.5 stitches per inch in pattern

K1B = Knit one Below, or "Knit one through the stitch below the next stitch"
Click on Pictures to make them HUGE

Cast on a multiple of 2 stitches from Ball 1. I used 18 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Rows 2-5: K2 *K1B K1*
Change Balls
Rows 6-9: *K1 K1B* K2
Change Balls

Repeat rows 2-9 until desired length.
Bind off.

Notes:
-On the 6th and 10th rows the K1B of the previous row is worked K1B and the single K1 as K1 again (these are the rows directly after the ball/color changes).
-There are few enough rows between the color changes to run the 2nd color up the side. Just twist the 2 strands when you get to that side on rows when you aren't changing colors
- The K1B is done by putting your needle under the next stitch and knitting. Trust it! It works!
-To make a nicer edge you may consider slipping the 1st stitch of each row instead of knitting it, but it may be difficult to do on the color change side.

Knit both ways...

I'm not a toe up sock knitter. Never done it. May do it someday if I find a pattern I like...
But here I am, knitting up an ankle of a sock. "How did you manage that?" you ask. "Since you have never knitted from toe up and don't plan on knitting toe up any time soon?"

Easy... I un-picked, cut off, and picked up stitches on the cuff of K's socks. Shit.
Scared the life out of me but he wanted a couple more inchs on the leg so I threw in a life line just under my ribbing.

See it?

That white line was where my ribbed used to end. I am now knitting back up the other way. It seems to be working. I just need to figure out how to get the 2nd sock to match, because I suspect a bind off edge on ome sock and a cast on edge on the other will look/feel weird. I'm contemplating doing a provisional cast on on the 2nd sock and also knitting up after having knitted down and therefore having both have a bind off edge at the top while maintaining my 'top down' policy for the majority of the sock. Opinions?

Multiply some crazy

SO I spent 2.5 hours standing on a football field with 2000 students yesterday after we were evacuated because someone let off some undetermined gaseous irritant in one of the hallways. Bloody Freaking Hell.
I even had fairy wings on. More on the halloween costume another day....

I came home today to find This:


In my Living room!

Yep, its an antenna.
Yep, we do have cable.

K got a digital receiver thing, and he's testing the random selection of channels we can get, so now I get to watch all the weird alternative pbs channels.....








SO I started knitting some samplers of the future sweater for K. I finally found yarn I like, its New England Highland (or shetland, I haven't yet decided on the weight, scroll down for all the colors...).












So far so good. He seems to like it (or at least to think it looks like his old sweaters) I was amused by the ladies at the yarn shop. It went like this....

Me: I'm looking for yarn to knit my boyfriend a sweater, Do you have a knitted swatch of this fingering weight wool?
Yarn Store Lady: You would have to knit that yarn on no larger than size 2's and you would have to cast on something like 400 stitches. Maybe you should look at thicker yarn for this.
Me: But we live in California and he layers under his sweaters, and this looks just like the wool in his other sweaters....
YSL: But that is a lot of work for a boyfriend...
Me: (finally understanding) Well, We've been together over 12 years, so I think he can have a nice sweater now....
YSL: Oh! That's different!

Oddly enough I'm leaning towards using the thicker wool, but I bought both weights to knit sample of though. I'm still going to be knitting on 3's and 4's. At least he is not a big man!