Lotsa squares

I have been knitting squares, and squares, and more squares. These are all for the Oliver's Blanket project on the Mason Dixon Knitting site.

First, All of them piled up waiting to be mailed:Next, pictures of them drying after washing them all (I couldn't mail them without washing them first!!)

Next, here are closeups of all of my special MasonDixon squares. Each is based on one of the patterns in their book, or on their website. We have:

The Ballband square:
The Moss Grid square:
The Big Dotty square:
The Log Cabin square:
The Tailgate square:
The Mitered Square square:
The Baby Genius square: (my own reversible version of the Baby Genius pattern)
And finally, the Nine Patch square:

Some of these took a little swatching and reknitting to get them the right size, but they are so cute, it is worth it. Some of them (like the Nine Patch square) are identical to the real pattern, just done on small needles with thin yarn. Others (like the Mitered Square square) are adaptations of the original. I suppose I could have knit with sewing thread on pins and made the original Mitered Square Blanket pattern turn out 4" in size, but even I'm not that crazy!

They are off in the mail today, just in the nick of time. I enjoyed making these, and was a little disappointed that I ran out of time before I used up every scrap of my leftover sock yarn. I mean, look at all of this:
There's enough there for at least two more solid squares. And all the little odd pieces left over could make at least one more square with about 2 or 3 rows worth of each color. And yes, that's another plain square, about 2/3 of the way done, that I started when I thought I had time for "Just one more" before I had to mail them.

What am I going to do with all my knitting time now?

ps Sorry about the crappy pictures. I could have done a little better, but I'M ON A DEADLINE HERE!!

Ramblings

I've been busy knitting, but have spent too much time on Ravelry so I haven't had time to post anything here.

The project of the moment is working on 4" squares to donate for the blanket mentioned on Mason Dixon . I am using up all of my leftover sock yarn. I started out by making the basic garter stitch square shown on the site, but then I came up with a great idea to make some extra special squares. I'm not going to say exactly what my idea was at the moment, but lets just say that I am pretty excited with my idea. I am planning on sending them in about a week before the deadline, unless I run out of yarn first. I am hoping that by sending them in a week early, I will still be able to get them there on time, even if I space out and forget for a couple of days. My usual thing to do is work on a project like this, and then forget to send it in until it is too late. I have lost $50 rebates because I forgot to mail in the rebate form until it was too late. But THIS time, I am going to do this. These squares are too perfect to not follow through for once.

In non-knitting news, I am not only registered for classes next semester, I have actually PAID for the classes!!! I wasn't able to attend classes at all this semester because all of my school money was used to go back home when my dad died. But this coming semester is all set. I am very excited.

Other exciting news involves my oldest daughter. She is a senior in high school and is taking classes like Anatomy, Chemistry, College writing, Pre-Calculus. She got her first report card for the year, and she has a perfect 4.0. She actually got a 100 in Anatomy. When we went to pick up report cards and talk with the teachers, one teacher shook my hand and told me he loved me. He said she was the model student that every teacher hopes to get. She is extremely excited. She is planning on becoming a Pediatric Neurologist. She sure has the drive needed for that. Daughter 2 is extremely intelligent and has been tested to have a very high IQ, but she doesn't fit in so easily in the school environment. She did a lot better than usual this year though. She was even only about .3 points away from being on the honor roll. That is a huge achievement for her. The main thing that hurt her was a low grade in Chemistry. All of her other grades were good, and she even got 3 B's and an A. Hopefully she'll get that chemistry grade up next semester, and she'll be on the honor roll for the first time ever.

Sorry this has been a long rambling post with no pictures. I wanted to get something on here to help get me excited about blogging again. Not that I've ever blogged very regularly, but I would really like to. I'll include here a picture of Jeffrey, our new baby boy. He is almost 6 months old, and we all love him to death. He is a Papillion.

This is when Jeffrey hid on the table away from the big bad carpet cleaner.

And a closeup.

New life for an ugly yarn

This is a hank of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi in the Somerset colorway. I loved the color in the hank ...


But hate the way it looks knit up.




Four packages of grape koolaid later, I have this ...


I'm not quite sure about the pattern (one I made up), but I am LOVING the yarn. I had never kool-aid dyed before, but it was super simple, and the results are just amazing.

Now if I can only just decide on a pattern.

Lace Blouson

I am halfway finished with the Lace Blouson pattern from the Interweave Knits Summer 04 issue. It is a tank top made from hemp yarn. I have the back finished, and I am absolutely loving it. The yarn is fingering weight and it is knit on size 2 needles. On my 18W body, that means I had to cast on 184 sts for the back alone. Definitely not a quick knit. But it is so worth it. I just hope it fits ok when I am finished.

I am using Hemp for Knitting's Hemp Natural . I wasn't sure if I would like the hemp yarn, so this was the cheapest way to try it out. For the 47" chest size, I used around 174g of yarn. The whole cone was 500g for about $30. So I should have plenty to finish.

Clapotis scarf

Pattern: Clapotis

Yarn: 1 skein (560 yds) Schaefer Anne

Colorway: Random

Size: 7" x 96"



Modifications: I used a fingering weight yarn on size US 6 needles and made it scarf-sized by working Sections 2 and 4 (Increase and decrease rows)4 times and section 3 (straight rows) 29 times.



The scarf is beautiful, but the yarn seems a little scratchy to wear around my neck. Maybe once the weather is actually cold, it won't bother me.

No Knitting

I have no new knitting to report on. I have only been able to knit about 1/2 of a sock in the last week. I had lots of knitterly plans, but then life intervened.

I live in Michigan, but I was born and raised in Maine, and my whole family is still there. I received a call last Saturday around noon telling me that my father had a small stroke. They weren't sure exactly what damage may have been done because of medications he was on, but it didn't seem to be something too major. He had had a few mini strokes about a month earlier, but they didn't tell me since they were waiting to find out more about what was going on first. I received a few more calls during the day that convinced me that it would be a good idea for me to take a trip home. Around 11:00 p.m., as I was planning for the trip, I received a call that he was gone.

The next morning, we got up early to start packing. My husband loaded up our dog Bruce to take to stay with family while we were gone. When they arrived home around 10:30, my daughter came in crying and said that Bruce was dead.

Both my father and Bruce had some health issues, but neither were expected to die any time soon. My father had emphysema for quite some time and was on oxygen, but he was hanging in. Bruce wore a diaper because of a birth defect that caused him to not have control of his bowel and bladder, and he had a lot of problems with overheating, but he was a happy little guy and seemed to be doing just fine.

I just arrived home today after my trip to Maine. It was really nice seeing all of my family. I had seen my parents last summer, but I hadn't seen my brothers and sister or nieces and nephew in 5 years. We managed to combine a lot of fun in the trip, and had a nice barbecue with close family and friends only instead of a funeral. My father was cremated, and I have some of the ashes with me. We are planning on scattering them in a place that he loved to go to whenever he visited us here.

We aren't sure exactly what caused Bruce to die. He was only 4. It seems like he either had a heart attack or overheated because of stress. My sister-in-law buried him at my mother-in-laws land for us. It was easier to forget that he was gone while we were off in Maine, but now that we are back home, we are starting to notice his absence. He was the best dog that we have ever owned. We had him since the day he born.

Since today is only my first day back, I am still worn out and not able to do much of anything. My husband took the girls to see Harry Potter, but I stayed home because I didn't have the energy to go. I'll see it sooner or later, but today I didn't even care to go. I wore myself out with too many late nights and two 16 hour drives halfway across the country.

I am hoping to have the energy to get back to knitting tomorrow. I received my package from KnitPicks that has the yarn I plan on using for the Mystery Stole #3. And after stalking the mailman for one week and being gone a second, I haven't even had the energy to open the box today. Now that's tired!

Gentleman Socks finished

Pattern: Gentleman Socks


Yarn: Trekking XXL in color 100


Started: Saturday, June 30, 2007


Finished: Thursday, July 5, 2007

Gentleman Sock number 1

As of 8:30 p.m., Gentleman Sock number 1 is finished. This has got to be one of the best yarns that I have ever knit out of. The colors never really repeat exactly. I can't wait to see how sock number 2 will turn out because of this. The pattern is really nice with this yarn also.

Gentleman Socks

This is my newest WIP. It is called the Gentleman Sock . I am making it out of the same yarn that is used in the pattern, but in a different colorway. I am really loving this yarn. The colors are really nice, and I never know what is coming next. I started this Friday night, but had to frog it on Saturday morning because I cast on too many stitches. I restarted in Saturday afternoon, and the above picture shows the progress since then.

Sweet Mary Jane

This is my finished but unblocked Sweet Mary Jane Cardigan.

I have problems with blocking. Its not that I don't want to block it, its that I have nowhere to do it. I can't pin it to a bed because we all have waterbeds. I can't pin it onto a rug because we have 2 cats and a dog, and no unused bedrooms. Usually I just lay things out in the bottom of the tub, but I can't stretch out the lace this way. So for now, it will sit while I try to think of something. I like how it turned out, but won't know for sure on the fit until it is all blocked out.

Jitterbug Hourglass Eyelet Socks

These are a version of my own Hourglass Eyelet Socks that are done in Colinette Jitterbug. I absolutely LOVE this yarn. Because the Jitterbug is a little thicker than most sock yarns, and because it has a smaller yardage, I made a few minor modifications to the original pattern:

Jitterbug Hourglass Eyelet Socks:



Size: The first change I made was with the sizing. I normally would have made the larger size, but I made the medium instead. The finished circumference for the medium in Jitterbug is 7.5 inches.



Materials: 1 Colinette Jitterbug (100% merino wool; 267 m per 100 gm skein), color: Velvet Plum



Leg: Work only 5 full pattern repeats of the Hourglass Eyelet pattern. Piece will measure approximately 3 1/2 inches.

Everything else in the pattern is worked the same as the original. A link to the pattern is on my sidebar. I really love the way this yarn and pattern work together. Good luck if you decide to try it and show me how they turned out. For anyone on Ravelry (If not, go there NOW), my name there is cindysknits.

Thelonious Sock

I haven't blogged for a while since my daughter stole her camera back from me. No sense in posting if there aren't any good pictures to post.

Here is the first Thelonious sock finished. Unfortunately, I have only the one done. Too many other things in the works at the moment, and the pattern requires a lot of chart reading that I haven't had the time and energy to do at the moment. I LOVE the pattern, it just requires more concentration than I have at the moment. As you can see though, it is well worth the effort.

Pattern: Thelonious Socks by Cookie A

Yarn: Claudia Handpainted in Honey colorway

School is out for me and for my daughters, so hopefully I will get to the second one soon.

Happy Birthday/Mothers Day 2 me!!

It's not really my birthday or Mother's Day, but today is the day that we are celebrating them both since it is about a week after my birthday and a week before Mother's Day. My husband took the day off, we went yarn shopping, and then we are having lobster and a fruit tart for dinner. Right now, we are between the yarn shopping and the dinner. Here are pictures of my spoils.

This is what $95 will buy you:

Here are the details:

Thelonious Sock pattern by Cookie A, which I have been drooling over for a while, and some Claudia Hand Painted fingering weight merino in a colorway called Honey to make them with.

Two skeins of Colinette Jitterbug, in Velvet Plum (darker and more purply than it looks here) and Velvet Leaf (also darker than it looks here).

And last but definitely not least:

I touched this and just knew I had to have it. This is two skeins of lace weight Malabrigo in Hollyhock. This stuff is so soft I just fell in love. I am thinking of making the Ocean Waves Shawl with this, if there is enough. If not, I am sure that I can find another scarf or wrap to use it for.

When I came home and showed my oldest daughter, she said that I spent $95 on 3 pairs of socks and a scarf that I have to make myself. What kind of attitude is that!? I guess I just haven't been teaching her the right way to think about yarn.

I finally finished my winter semester at school a few days ago. I now have almost a full 4 months off. Guess what I am going to be doing?

FOs

I have finished objects to report. First off, I finished my English Research Essay. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too. Secondly, I finished the first Jaywalker Sock. See:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too. The top of the sock is a little looser than I would like, but it is probably because of either the yarn, or the shortened cuff. Its not bad enough that I would rip it out, but if I made one again I would either use a smaller needle size for the ribbing at the top, or else cast on a few less stitches and then increase on the last round.

Hopefully I will finish sock 2 in a few days. One of my next English assignments is to watch a movie. I should be able to handle a sock at the same time.

Making progress

I have been making good progress since yesterday.

Here is my English research paper:

Ok, maybe not much progress on that. But here is some good progress:

I think they are coming along very nicely. But now I have to put them up to get that research paper done. It is due Sunday at Midnight. Yikes!!

This is what I should have been working on last night and today:

That is Geography homework and a research paper for my Literature class.

This is what I have been working on instead:

These are the Jaywalker Socks with a few minor modifications. The yarn is Panda Cotton in the fern colorway that was purchased from Simply Socks Yarn Company . I am pleased with the store, the yarn and the pattern. I think working on the socks instead of the homework was a wise choice!!

I am hoping to get some of my homework done in a hurry so that I can continue on these little socks. I am so happy that the semester will be over in only about 5 weeks. I am taking classes that are required but that I am not really very interested in, so the work is harder than normal.

Newest FO

Here are pictures of my newest finished object.



Pattern: Rabbit Proof Scarf from Morehouse Farm Merino Knits

Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr, Lace weight Merino/Tussah Silk, Ice Blue, @400 yds



Here is a closeup of the lace

I have a couple of other FO, but nothing ready to photograph yet.

I don't have too much to show because I have been busy designing my next sock pattern. I have been finished with the actual pattern since last fall, but I have been trying to find the perfect yarn/color combination since then. I missed Knitty's summer issue deadline, but I should hopefully have everything finished in time for Knitty's fall issue deadline. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!