A disastorous evening

This is what one night of working on my current sweater yields. This is one of the sleeves and about 4 hours of work (I know I am a bit of a slow knitter, but it is all about relaxing when I knit). All was going well, and my goal was to finish the increases and then off to bed for the night. I was about finished when I realized, GASP!!!, I had forgotten to switch back to the larger needles when I was done with the ribbing on the cuff!!! I was so mad at myself for this little thing that will cause me to rip it all out.



Here is a close up of the back of the ribbed cuff. I was not real happy with how my increases were looking on the ribbed part, but I continued to push forward because I hate frogging!! So when I realized at the end of the evening the needle mishap, it was actually a good thing. Now I can redo the ribbing on the cuff and figure out how those increases should actual be done. All is well that ends well. This is the part where I turn a negative into a postive by saying that I learn something from my knitting. It is better to take one's time in starting back in on a project that was laid to the side for a extended period of time. Now I can also work out those little increases on the ribbed cuffs to make it come out better, or at least to my liking.

For now, keep on knitting!!

Happy New Year!!

Well, well, well, the New Years weekend is about to begin! Time to make our list for our New Years resolutions. I will start (now this does not mean that I will be very good at sticking to it), since I do like to make lists, either mentally in my head, or actually on paper.

1. Stop smoking - this one I have never actually attempted, but have been seriously thinking about it for several months now. So I think mentally I am just preparing myself for when I do take that first step in the actual doing part. I just know that I am so weak willed in this area and failure at most things makes me very disappointed in myself.
2. Blog more often - I am not even going to try and say that I will blog so many times a week like some other bloggers that I read, but I do want to make a better attempt at posting more often.
3. Exercise more - I have got to use that stupid gym membership that I pay for every month no matter what!!!
4. Give up pizza - now this one I have actually accomplished for about a month last year, so it is a doable goal.
5. Knit matching sweaters for my family in time for a Christmas picture next year - Since I know how easy and fast knitting a sweater the Elizabeth Zimmerman way is and I only have 6 family members in my immediate family circle, I also think that this is a doable goal. Or is this one too dorky for my family members to go along with??
6. Drink more green tea - I should not even say more, since I have not actually tried the green tea - but I do have some at home and just need to give it a try ( I am sorta of a picky eater/drinker).
7. Pay off more credit cards - I so need to cut up these suckers, but again, I am so weak. I usually do really good for several months when the new year comes, then I get bored or restless and just have to go shopping...got ...to...stay...strong..!!

That is enough of a list for now, I am already overwhelmed..

I am glad that the holidays are about over, now I can get back to some serious knitting. As I stated in earlier posts, I did not stress myself out over the holidays and try to knit something for several people. I had only one person ask why I did not make them anything and that was my mom, so that does not count. I did complete some Mason Dixon dishcloths and gave them away to some co-workers and my daughter Sirena. Sirena so loved them and wants to know why she can not knit some like that. I still have her working on the knit stitch and she has to know the purl stitch before proceeding. Maybe her and I can get together now that the holidays are over so that we can continue with her lessons.

Last nite I picked up my second sweater that I had started back in October. I will post pics when I get home later today, but lets just say that you should never rush into picking up a project that has sat around for a while. All my knitting that I got done last night has to be frogged!!! I was so upset with myself for this waste of time, but alas, I did learn something from it, which I will tell you about later.

For now, Keep on Knitting..!!

I am still here..

Just been so busy with the Christmas season have not had time to make a post or to knit much either. IT is CRAZY!! The good part is I am almost done with all the shopping. I will be taking two kids out tonight to shop for their Dad and maybe a few last minute gifts for the final touches.
It may snow later this week here in Kansas City and I do not want to have to get out in that mess.

More good news this month, I have finally been able to teach my oldest daughter Sirena how to knit. She is the married child that is out on her own working full time and attending college part time. She actually expressed a interest when she was with me at the local craft store a few weeks back. After I got over my shock that she wanted me to teach her again how to knit (the first time did not go so well as she really did not care), I bought her some wooden needles and the Peaches and Creme yarn so that she could make a dishcloth. As soon as we got home I sat her down and taught her the knit stitch and she picked it up immediately. I then sent her on her way and told her to continue with the knit stitch and check back with me a week later. And low and behold, she was just about finished with the ball of yarn when she returned, holes and dropped stitches and all, but how proud she was of that little tattered piece of fabric that she created all by herself!! I am so excited that I now have a actual family member that can hang out and knit with me this winter. Oh the fun we have, can not wait for the winter to begin now!!

Well that is it for now, I wish all of you who may read this blog, even though I have not been good at posting any posts, A MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

For now, keep on knitting!!!

Thanksgiving is over...

Now I have to get into the Christmas spirit. Was not feeling it this past weekend/long holiday at home. Thought about putting up the tree yesterday, but I was the only one home and it did not feel right or merry to do it all myself. We are supposed to have a cold front move in by Thursday with some snow maybe. Hopefully that will put me in the mood for Christmas and I will drag the tree out this weekend then. That could be nice, put on a pot of coffee and spend the day inside where it is warm unwrapping all the holiday decorations from the past.

Sad to say, I did not work on any of my knitting this last weekend. I did get the laundry done and the house put back in order from having all the family over. You know, putting away the china and silverware that you only use once a year. Why do we do that anyways? THey are way too pretty to use only once a year. Oh well, such is life. I would feel really guilty if something broke.

I know I did not post any pics from last week's yarnoholic meeting. MOnica was so almost done with her blanket and promised that it would be done by tomorrow. She had today off and I suspect she is working on it. Deana made alot of progress as well, she got the two halves to her first stocking done and was already working on the second. I am so proud of her!!

I got the heel part started on Sirena's stocking, but that is it. Hopefully I will be able to work on this evening. I just always hate that part about the gussett and picking up the stitches, but once that is accomplished then it is easy breezy!

For now, keep on knitting!

It is Tuesday

And you all know what that means if you have been reading this here blog at all. Tuesday at work is my yarnoholic meeting with some of the gals. Today I brought the camera because I hear Monica has finished her crochet baby blanket for her neice that is due in December. Can not wait to see that and take pictures of it.
Deana is still pluggin along on a stocking for one of her boys and hopes to be able to get the second one completed by Christmas as well. But she only works on her crocheting at the weekly meeting. We can not convince her to do her hobby at home as well. Although she has a good excuse now for not having any time in the evenings since her hubby and her are fostering two boys that they are going to also adopt, so we can forgive her.
I have put down the second fair isle sweater and started a stocking for my oldest daughter Sirena. I made one last year for Valerie, Jeff, and my new son in law Aaron. I did not like the yarn I used for the boys though. It was the lion brand suede, which is a okay yarn, but then I knit Valeries in the Noro, which is one of my all time favorites since I discovered it around that time. Aaron's came out way too big, I was also learning how important gauge is at that time. He loved it anyways, how nice of him to be so kind to me.
The holidays are coming, and I really have not started any knitted Christmas projects except for the stocking. I really do not think that I am that good yet that the recipeients really like what I make for them, so I will not torture them, or myself for the stress of trying to make something in time. I want to enjoy the holidays this year, not come to hate it if I try to do too much to make it all perfect.
Keither and I did get the Christmas lights put up outside this past weekend. I always want to have them up by Thanksgiving so that we can have our own annual lighting ceremony on that evening. See dinner is always at our house, and last year with all the kids being practically grown up I did not make that tradition such a big deal. Then by the end of the evening when everyone is getting ready to go home, my neice or nephew (not sure who it was) asked why we had not done the lighting ceremony yet. WHAT?! You all really like that, well lets get out the door and stand on the sidewalk and have someone flip the switch!! YIPPEE! So I am not a dork and the family does care about these silly little traditions!

That is it for now, I will take pictures today and post later. KEEP ON KNITTING!!

Ugly Sweater

I am going to be brave and post a picture of my ugly sweater!! Nobody can laugh either, it was alot of work! But as I said in the last post, I learned alot from it. So there you have it. I will be taking it to work tomorrow, horrors or all horrors, to show to the other gals in the yarnoholic meeting. It is Tuesday and some of them have been asking to see it. I will put on a brave face and endure.

I have already started another one since this one was so much fun. I am using the Cascade 220 (lovely yarn I must say), got it on sale a few weeks ago at the LYS.
I knitted a swatch of the colors I am going to use also. Glad I did, as the first one was not very well received by the hubby. He was right, I just hate to admit that. But I do know that I am not very color coordinated. Check out the picture below. On the bottom half is the first choices of color, on the top half, I switched the dark green and dark blue around. Made a huge difference in my humble opinion.



Well, that is enough for now. More later.

For now keep on knitting!

Been awhile

Okay, so some people that do actually read this blog have pointed out that I need to update. So here goes.
I have not forgotten about my blog, just have been busy with projects. I completed 6-7 scarves for our office fund raiser, and sold all but three, so I gave them away to folks in the office. One of my yarn buddies won the felted bag I knitted, so I was very happy about that since she had been eyeballing it the whole time.
I also finished by Icelandic sweater from the Opionated knitter book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I have not taken a picture though, because I am not very happy with the colors in the yoke section. I ran out of the black of the main color of the sweater and had to just finish knitting it witht he pink and grey colors I was using. There is not much contrast in those two color combinations, but I am going to look at as a learning leasson and call it my prototype sweater, so maybe I will post a picture just to remind me of life's knitting lessons.
I did learn a lot from doing this project though so let me list though out ( I am a person who likes list).
1. I can knit and finish a sweater of this size
2. You should knit the ribbing for the cuffs and body on smaller needles than the one used for the rest of the body.
3. Always buy more yarn then you think you need, and the bonus of that is you can build up your stash for more color knitted if you do not use it all.
4. Two color knitting is a great way to work out your brain since you have to learn how to knit with both hands, the English way (right hand) and the Continental way (left hand).
5. Elizabeth was so right in her book on the part about knitting the left hand way, it would be slow at first, but you would pick up speed astonishly fast! I was so happy when I was doing this part of the sweater, but it was a brain and hand work out in the beginning.
6. Even though I am not happy with the colors of the sweater, I am very happy that I was able to complete this project.

So there you have it.
Keep on Knitting!

Just another day

This week I have not been very good at working on my knitting projects. Stayed home sick on Monday, and thought that I would maybe be able to work on some of the projects while I was sick, but just could not manage much progress on them as was feeling so ill.

Then the rest of the week has been spent getting ready to go out of town to go camping and ATV riding with the family. But I will take some projects with me to work on while on the road and at the campsite. I think I will take that wool sweater I started this last winter and try to make a dent in that project. It is from Elizabeth Zimmerman, and knitting in the round is just so easy and makes so much more sense then making a bunch of flat pieces and having to sew them together at the end. Just can not stand that finishing part.

This sweater will be like the Icelandic wool sweaters I so admire. I admire them because as a kid our family was stationed on the NATO base there in Iceland. Needless to say I did not appreciate that little island at the time. So I will be trying my hand at the fair isle knitting when I get to the chest area. Going to make my own design as EZ recommends.

For now, keep on knitting!

Friday 9/29/06

The weekend is here again, Yippee! I have been busy this week. I have finished the baby sweater except for the finishing of the sleeves. I always hate finishing, but this one is so easy, just two seams at the top and then sew the buttons on. Will have to get that done this weekend.

I also finished a felted handbag (will post pics later) and started a new one. It is made out of the Noro wool yarn, which is to dye for! The second one will be offered in a raffle ticket sale at work at the end of October for our annual fundraiser for charity. I am donating the yarn and my time and have high hopes that we will make a good amount of money on it.

I have also volunteered to knit some scarves for the event as well, the only thing we are stuck on is how much to sell them for. So far we have not come to a agreement on what is a good price that we think folks will pay. We want them to sell, but we do not want to sell them too cheaply.

Well, off to more knitting, I will be busy busy for the next month it appears, but that is okay, this is such a enjoyable hobby for me.

For now keep on knitting :-)

Saturday 9-23-06

It is Saturday, the freaking weekend! I would love to say that I can use most of the day to sit and knit, but that is not going to happen today. We are going to my sister-in-law's for a end of the summer barbeque. Should be fun, her boyfriend, who is our bestest man friend ever (mostly because he is car mechanic and keeps hubby's work truck running, saving us lots and lots of moolah), has a huge gigantic smoker!!! I hear there is going to be smoked turkey, brisket and ribs. Should be yummy!

I am still going to take my current WIP, the baby surpise sweater, and might be able to get a few more rows in. Almost done with it, I think I have less than 10 rows to go. I did not get to knit last night, we had my daughter Sirena and her hubby Aaron over and my son Jeffrey and his girlfriend Shyla for dinner. We all made homemade calzones, and they came out delicous! Oh, I did do something knit related last night. My wonderful son-in-law, Aaron, fixed my button link on here for the Knitting Path, so a big shout out to Aaron! THANK YOU! As you know this HTML stuff, if that is even the right computer language, just absoulutely freaks the crap out of me. Before this blog, I would of thought of myself as fairly computer literate, but not anymore. I have a renewed respect those people that can do all that behind the scenes computer mumbo jumbo. So check out the pictures above from our calzone making from last nite. Top pic is Sirena and my hubby, Keith. Second picture shows Shyla and Jeff. Third one shows our own family computer geek AARON!!

For now, keep on knitting!

It is Tuesday!!!

Tuesday is probably my best day that I want to actually come to work. Why you ask? Because it is the day that I have our yarnholic meeting. Some of us gals at work get together on our lunch hour and meet in my office to knit and crochet. Currently there are three active members, Monica, Deana and myself. I am the only knitter.
I started this group in the office a couple of years ago. I offered to teach anyone that wanted to join how to knit. The first meeting was pure chaos! We had 11 or 12 individuals and only two that knew how to knit. Everyone had ordered the lion brand learn to knit kit with the hat and scarf.
Needless to say we did not get a lot accomplished that first day. A few dropped out immediately, I think because of my lack of skills in trying to teach everyone at once how to cast on from the get go. I think now it would be easier to cast on for them myself and then teach them the knit stitch. That way at least gets everyone started on a project alot sooner that fussing over the cast on for the whole hour of the meeting.
Anywho, there are still other knitters in our office, and they show up occasionally to join us. Just talked to one in the elevator this morning and she said she would be joining us again soon. She only likes to knit when it is cold outside. So I hope to see her in the next few weeks in our meeting.
I also brought my camera in today and hope to take some pics of us working our projects to post on here.
Oh yeah, another thing, I am currently trying to figure out how to make changes to my template on this blog. I was accepted into the knitting path blog ring and had to add their button my web page, but it is at the bottom of this page. I am trying to figure out how to get it in the sidebar and add some other links to this page. Guess I will have to sit down one night this week and read thru all the "how to's" on this blogger.com site to figure out. Not as easy as I thought, all that computer language scares me!

For now, keep on knitting!!

P.S. I started on another baby surpise jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman this weekend, more than half way finished now!!

Hey Hey Hey! Made it thru the first day of my blog. Had my daughter Valerie help me upload a image of those wonderful nesting felted boxes I told you about yesterday. Photo is not has good as I would like, but we were in a hurry since I was working on her laptop and she wanted to be blogging on her on her own site with her friends. So here is a shout out to Valerie, THANK YOU VALERIE, you are the best!
Above is a sweater that I made and gave to my best yarnoholic buddy at work for her son. Hope he enjoys it!

I have tried several times to get my two daughters to knit with me. I actually taught the youngest, Valerie, but she is a leftie and has not taken it to like I was hoping. THe other daughter, Sirena, tried once, but has been so busy with her full time job and going to college in the evening, and being married that I have not pestered her as much to try it again. She did however express a desire to try again as soon as her schedule will allow here. So I will take that as a postive step in the right direction.

I myself had to teach myself how to knit. I already knew how to crochet but had not done it in years. I always had trouble with counting the stitches in crochet and never really got into it that much. About 5 or 6 years ago I was at the craft store and picked up a learn to knit kit. Went home and sat on the couch all weekend trying to get the knit stitch, and was so proud of myself for accomplishing that. The rest is history now. I have knitted several items from whatever pattern catches my fancy. I am no expert by any means, but am usually willing to try anything once.

I am currently thinking about trying to design my own pattern. Our family are boaters in the summer, and I have been wanting to make a swimsuit cover up. So I think that if I actually put this in writing it might help me buckle down and actually start working on a pattern of my own. Wish me luck!

For now, keep on knitting!

Okay, I have finally done it. After reading a lot of other knitter's blog's I just had to take the plunge. So here I am on my own blog. Not sure what I am doing yet, but determined to figure it out. I am anxious to post some of my recent finished knitting items as well.
Last weekend I worked on my first felted project, some felted boxes from the new Mason Dixon book. They turned out fabulous I must say! Although every member of my family, immediate and extended, had to ask the same question when I showed them my work, "What are you going to do with them?" What!? What do you mean, what am I going to do with them?
Well, for one, they are a set of three nesting boxes. They can be used in my home to catch whatever small or a little bigger items I can think of. They can be used as a home decoration in the scheme of my mismatched home decor in whatever room I choose. They can be given away as birthday gifts, holiday gifts, or to whomever I feel is worthy enough of my hard work of knitting these lovely boxes.
The first small box of the set of three, is now sitting on the nightstand of my lovely hubby. He comes home with lots of little do dads from his work (i.e. nuts, bolts, screws, scraps of paper) where they usually get put on his nightstand and can roll off, lay there for eternity, or drive me crazy because it looks messy and dirty when I occasionally clean up on his side of the bed. So there, lots of little uses for these wonderful nesting boxes :-) !

For now, keep on knitting!