A Notion to Knit

Cloche happiness on the way.

I started this Side Slip Cloche today. I'm using a French wool yarn that I thrifted a few years ago. I don't really know much about it since the labels are all in French and I cannot find anything online when I search. But, I thought it was somehow very romantic to use this thrifted French yarn, that seems vintage, for this vintage style hat. It's very interesting watching the ruffle come together. I can't wait to see this finished.

I haven't forgotten about an update for the Hourglass Sweater. Ughhh.

Neckline procastination ended ...

As I mentioned, I pulled out my Hourglass Sweater again to work on the neckline. And I finished! I think I'm going to be very happy with the neckline. I wove in all of the ends and sewed up under the arms. I only have two concerns but I'm going to leave it as is until I wash the sweater. I left a strange strand or something tangled after I sewed up the one under arm that was already taken care of and I can't really tell what's going on with it. So I decided I should leave it rather than cut and who knows what might happen? Also, the arms are much longer than I remember. Regardless, I will show a picture tomorrow after washing and drying it. After wearing it a bit, I'll know what I think about the sleeves. Yay, finished sweater!

See you tomorrow.

caught it! among some knitting.

I realized that yesterday was actually Tuesday after calling the post Monday. It took me a bit though, apparently I was more sleepy than I thought. Although, holidays tend to confuse things too. Or is that just me?

So, I pulled out my Hourglass Sweater again and undid the hemmed neckline. Then I ripped out to where I had placed a sort of lifeline, maybe about 10 rows back. So, it's sitting on the needles right now. I also read through people's comments about knitting this on Ravelry and am going to try again. Actually, I'm going to do that after I finish this blog entry.

My *happyhappy* book in the mail yesterday ...

I was actually trying to rip open the package at stop lights and took it in to look at as we had lunch. I wanted this book so bad and it has so many good patterns in it! My first two wants are hats of course. I want to knit the Side Slip Cloche on the cover and the Sideways Grande Hat.

Tomorrow I'll have something to show of the Hourglass Sweater. See you then.

monday

Today I mailed off another package that had been waiting for a long time. Actually it will be fun in the end because it was a return (one of the Never Not Knitting calendars I received for Christmas) to Amazon so there will be credit. I am going to either order a 2009 Moleskine calendar (everyone locally is out) or the remote for my Nikon. Anyway I am very slow about mailing off packages and very happy that I'm almost caught up with that stuff. On the other end, I received a book that made me *so* happy in the mail - something that nobody locally seemed they will ever get. I'll show you tomorrow, I think you'll be surprised that I couldn't find it too.

I bought the pattern for the Shoulder Warmer I mentioned yesterday. Tonight I swatched for one yarn possibility, a French wool/nylon mix that I don't have much information on. It's not quite dry but I think it stretched too much for the gauge I was looking for, but I do have some other options in my stash. -On a side note, I've had one large bin of yarn in storage since we moved almost two years ago. When I made the decision to leave those particular yarns in storage it was because it was stuff I didn't anticipate wanting or missing. But I wasn't ready to get rid of the yarn. Well, that actually was the case until the last few months. Suddenly I think of this yarn or that yarn that I wish I had from there. So weird. It's at the very back and so, is to hard to get a hold of easily.

Last, I pulled out my Hourglass Sweater to work on the neck. That has been the hold up for the last year and a half, fixing the neck. Both times I've knit it following the pattern, the neck turns out floppy. This time I'm either going down a needle size (or two) or changing the number of stitches I use. Before I do anything though, I'm going to look at some notes on other people's Hourglasses on Ravelry for any suggestions.

'Night.

Top of the mountain.

Mountain of knitting projects on the needles anyway.

My current carry-along project so it isn't really in a hurry.

Watermelon socks for me. The yarn is Claudia Handpainted and the color is Watermelon. These are simple stockinette, yay for mindless knitting. And I am completely in love with this yarn. It is so soft and smooshy, I hope it stands up well too. I had never even seen any of this yarn in person until my annual yarn shop visit in San Antonio.

The beautiful Alhambra scarf for my Mom.

The Handmaiden Camelspin is very luxurious. I think it's great for something like a scarf. Alhambra knits up quickly too. After taking the photo above, I made my way through two more repeats quickly. It's interesting to see it coming together. I think I'll want to make another one of these in the future. And yay, my Mom likes how it's coming along. She chose the yarn and I offered up several patterns that I thought she might like (thinking that was a starting point to see what she was interested in). But, Alhambra was the one!

Those two projects are getting most of my attention right now. I have several other things going and I need to take stock of them so expect to see them soon. Among those, I plan on pulling my Central Park Hoodie back out tonight. When I was last working on it, I was needing to rip out part of the left side (I think, maybe right side) because I got carried away knitting the ribbing before beginning decreases in comparison the back (which is complete). The hoodie knits up quickly but I got sidetracked by my trip to Texas and the holidays.

In the middle of all the projects I currently have on the needles, I'm dying dying to start this.

So, that's me for today. 'Night.

After 2 days

I didn't blog for a few days. That last day I was running late enough that I just stopped, meaning to return a bit later and .. didn't. It occurred to me that late was late whether it was by 2 minutes or 12 hours. And then it didn't really get better for me. I've found that it is really stressful trying to get here 'in time' with the odd hours I keep plus getting it all together. And things here on my end are stressful and unhappy even aside from that lately. But to top things off on my scale of bad, I noticed that on Bloglines I'm one reader short this week. And while in the big scheme of why I blog and life, that really isn't important, it is one more slap in my face to how bad I've been feeling. So, I believe I've never really mentioned looking at that before and I won't again. But that is what's been going on with me. Now, some knitting that is happy to see. No more blech.

These are some finished items, some holiday knitting that has made it's way out to new homes.

The Simple Yet Effective Shawl knit in Araucania Ranco Multy. I wanted to show a view of it stretched out to see. The color is really gorgeous and it softened up really nicely once washed. I didn't measure again aside from when I was close to finishing this, but I think that it turned out a bit smaller than in the pattern. The Araucania Ranco is a tiny bit smaller than the Noro so I think that's why. Regardless, it is still a good size for a neck scarf or I even thought a head scarf/wrap. Very pretty and warm.

Last shot of this ribbed hat! I wanted a good picture to represent it in my Ravelry notebook and now I have one, yay. Once more, this was knit from Lamb's Pride Worsted in Fuschia. I didn't follow a pattern, I just cast on 88 stitches in 2x2 ribbing and knit until it was long enough. On the last row I k2tog, p2tog all the way around and then cut the yarn and finished. Keep in mind I have a large head as far as the 88 stitches in ribbing goes. :-)

Ribbed handwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. These are so scrumptious. The yarn is Paton's SWS in Natural Wood (I think). They are just so soft and comfortable, even more so after washing.

One more picture though I do like Candie walking in the background. As I took pictures on this day, she seemed to make her way into the background of every scenario at least once.

So, that's me. I have some things on the needles to share later. Probably too many different things on the needles! Tomorrow ...

procrastination meets distraction

I'm terribly distracted by the end of "The Dark Knight". I know, need to start blogging sooner. But I took lots of pictures today, will share in a bit.

random Wednesday

1. It's late and I've still not taken any of my photos for the day! And as I was deciding to make today 'random', I realized I actually have 3 to do on Wednesdays. Eep.

2. I'm thinking about casting on a pair of Toast (Ravelry link)- cute, a pair of toast. I'm not sure though. I have several socks on the needles and a new flower basket shawl that I started last week. Then, I have an endless list of to-do knits. I should write it all out and prioritize. There are two things for my Mom, a pair of flip flop socks and Alhambra, that I'd like for her to be able to use this winter. Prioritize.

3. We're in the middle of watching "The Dark Knight" tonight. It's really very good, intense too. Last night we watched "My Best Friend's Girl" again. Still, so funny.

4. Last month I got the first "Kill Bill" soundtrack and it is so good! I really like the music that Quentin Tarantino puts into his movies.

5. I have a scarf that I crocheted awhile back and have been meaning to add to my Etsy shop. I just need to add fringe at the ends and I think I'll post it tonight or tomorrow. It's a yummy red color.

6. See you tomorrow!

a pretty little gift

E, a good friend of mine, gave me this necklace as a gift. She said she thought of me when she saw it, hee. I like it a lot. I adore Scrabble so of course I like the knit tile and the little skein of yarn charm is so cute too!

Thrift shopping recently, I found two plates that I had to have. The pretty retro flowers above are a close up of the plates. I've found that all of the dishes I'm drawn to turn out to be Mikasa. Who knew?

I have a little list of things that I needneedneed to show of finished items. Biting my nails I'll get photos, I just need to adjust my sleep schedule, which is entirely off right now. That, combined with the usual bleak days doesn't really allow for good photos. Anyway, my current focus is a Fetching. A gift, so nothing else for now.

Also, a huge *hug* and thank you to Katie for giving me the Spreader of Love blog award! I will pass this on soon. Thank you!

Last and completely not following any reasonable order .. I forgot to mention that I did go back and get these. Yay, I'll actually be able to use them soon. And I promise that I will show you at least one of the finished items that I haven't showed. I really have to get on the ball, I realized last night that aside from finished items I have many new projects on the needles that I haven't accounted for on Ravelry or here. Eep. (That was such a long sentence!)

See you tomorrow.