Heading West

Packing ensues in earnest this afternoon as I leave tomorrow morning for sunny, hopefully warm Scottsdale. I am pretty excited, though I am really going to miss all the boys I'm leaving at home.

Another source of excitement - plane knitting! Forced to sit for hours on end leads to only one thing - knitting! With Ace I haven't had much time lately, so I am looking forward to some uninterrupted time with the needles. I cast on for the sleeve of a sweater. It is kind of an experiment. A modification of the Sugarplum Pullover from Handknit Holidays. I'm doing a folded hem, just because I love them, and doing a different yoke pattern to use stash yarn only. We'll see how it works out! It is fun because of the needles I'm using - my brand spankin' new set of Knitpicks Interchangables!!

Hubby surprised me with it last week. I have only knit a few rounds, but love them so far. The yarn just glides.

The sleeve will be coming on the trip along with a sock. How can I travel without a sock?? Recently, I spied a sock over at Nova's that I loved (scroll down for the orange one). The pattern is the Pony Express Socks and I think I may have to take some yarn to make these with me....The chart doesn't look too bad, and I like to have options - sweater sleeve or sock!

A third exciting thing - with my change back in mid August of my eating habits (mostly veggies, very minimal if any dairy and all organic), I have dropped about 22 lbs total. I feel a ton better and have lots of energy. Bonus - all my old shorts fit! I actually had to pick and choose which I was taking with me! It was pretty thrilling. Things that make a girl feel good. The only disappointing thing was that a pair of favorite cargo capri pants are now so big I can't even wear them. They fall right down.....(pretty cool!!)

So, I will be back next Tuesday all tan and refreshed (I hope!) ready to knit and blog!! Have a wonderful week!

Finally Friday

Why is the first week back after a vacation so hard? Getting back into the swing of waking up before the sun, making my mind think about complex things like queries instead of spells.

I have made it through the week and am looking forward to doing some recovery this weekend. Work was crazy - my usual lunchtime knitting didn't happen, and the after work hours were spent mostly at the kennel. Most of the staff is in Saratoga, NY at a dog show, so I'm left holding down the fort (and all the dogs!)

In puppy news, 12 days to go! P-Day, as we have dubbed it, is slated for August 22nd. We take her on Monday for her XRay to determine how many puppies she'll have. Judging by the size of her, there are quite a few in there! Here is a before and after shot. Plus, she still has more growing to do!

Lichen Rib Sock #2 is about halfway down the leg, and Whip is a few inches past the armholes. They pretty much look the same as the last pictures I posted, so I didn't see any point boring you with more of the same!

Our CSA delivery this week was a bounty. (no outside shot due to pouring rain!)

(as usual, click for the details)

The corn is delicious, the cherry tomatoes tasted like someone had sprinkled sugar on them, and the green beans were crispy and fresh. Yum. I still have to use the zucchini and the eggplant, but that is what the weekends are for! Real cooking! Hubby has been wonderful in that he has made me some wonderful dinners this week. I have just been too tired to do much!

Everyone seems to be receiving their Sockapalooza socks, and I've really enjoying looking at all of them as they arrive at their new homes. One non-palooza pair that really peaked my interest are these Petticoat Socks. Areli did a wonderful job. I keep forgetting about this pattern. Weekend Knitting is such a treasure trove of patterns - with all the other sock dedicated books I have, I never remember those poor Petticoat socks. One day.

Megan, as we all know, has her unique approach to knitting socks that has started to catch on. Her Single Sock Liberation Movement now has it's own Flickr group! Look at all those single lovelies. Personally, I think Denise is the most liberated I have seen so far. Take a look at this post with all her single socks! Lots of inspiration there. She has knit so many different colors and patterns. It will be fun to see them come together as pairs eventually.

Me, I'm still a pair sock girl. I have a very hard time putting something down for any length of time and being able to pick it back up again to complete it. I'll stick with my "Traditional Sock Pair Knitter" status for now...

A Smattering of Randomness

Not much more knitting progress, so nothing photo worthy (I'm really, really, really hoping for a close to FO tomorrow!) so this post will be a collection of randomness from this week....

Yet another great CSA delivery!

(as always click for details)

Two heirloom tomato plants, broccoli and some beautiful rainbow chard topped off this week's package. There were strawberries, but those went really fast! I really love being surprised every week as to what we'll get. Never have I eaten so many greens!

To go to the total other end of the food spectrum (I need something to balance out all those greens!) - since when did the little messages on Hershey's Kisses get all hip?

The "I hate Mondays" is a favorite....

If you are a person who grew up with the Transformers cartoon (along with such classics as the Smurfs, Super Friends and Tom and Jerry) you will love this in depth movie review here. I must say I laughed out loud several times.

If you haven't heard already, there is a 40% off all in stock book sale at KnitPicks. Not sure how long it will last, but even books that never get discounted anywhere else (we're talking Elizabeth Zimmermann here!) are on sale. Consider yourself enabled.

A Little Recycling

I manged to finish up Whitby #1 last night - kitchnered and all. With a few inches of #2 under my belt, I took a little break.

Sock blockers are something that I never really thought I'd need. I just wash and hang them dry. My foot lets the sock know what shape it'd like it to be. But, with all these here blog photos, sock blockers would be a great asset. Not so much for shaping the sock, but for showing off those patterns that just look blah laid out flat. Not that I'm against taking pictures of my own feet, but having the blockers would give me another option if say, I had a head cold or something and didn't' want to be flipping my head over to take attractive foot shots.

Enter Maryann. Her super easy sock blockers took no time. The tutorial is here in case you want a pair of your own.

I happened to have a couple of doggie placemats laying around that we haven't used in a few years. Now, they have been re-purposed into handy dandy sock blockers! I still have a little trimming and refining to do, but they work great!

The Street Smart Hoodie also made an appearance last night. I actually cast on for the front! I am going to make it in one piece rather than a zip front. It will probably end up being some kind of V neck. The placement of the edge stitches looks like it will just be another ridge in the center to continue the pattern. That ridge can then be split to make the edging for the V neck. That is the plan anyway!

The heat and humidity has finally broken. We are about 25 degrees cooler than yesterday with a lot less humidity. The weekend looks beautiful, so hubby and I are planning to take the clan (yes, all FOUR dogs) on a hike at Purgatory Chasm. Pretty ominous name, huh? I've never been, but I have heard that it is beautiful with some nice trails. The camera will be coming along with us and I should hopefully have some nice nature shots.

In a little Public Service Message - please go check out Etsy. It is an amazing place full of amazing things. All handmade, all done by wonderful, creative people. Both Aija (with her famous Etsy Fridays as well as Deb want to spread the word about Etsy. I'm happy to oblige. Both hubby and I have purchased a few things from the site ranging from T Shirts to pottery bowls to gifts. It is a great place to browse and be inspired. Just watch you wallet....

Speaking of creativity, I also hope to be creative enough to think of a few shots for Megan's Fiberlicious group on Flickr. The shots that Ashley put up today are my favorite so far - take a look!

Much of the Same

Not much pictorially to report on here. Both the Turkish Stocking (thank you again for all the comments!) and the Big Hubby's sock are progressing along. They don't look a heck of a lot different. See previous post and just imagine a few more inches on each. I'm trying to set goals with the Stocking. Now that I have knit one, and taken more than copious notes on the process, the second is not as thrilling. I know what is happening and when - that element of surprise (not a great thing for knitting) and adventure is missing. Don't get me wrong, I am loving knitting it and though I have no idea how I will show these off, I will wear the completed pair. The second sock so-so's have set in. So, I set goals. I know how many rows until the heel flap - I try to do at least x rows per knitting session so I make steady progress. The chart has pretty much been committed to memory, so the knitting itself goes a bit faster. New projects taunt and call me. Yarn from the stash beckons.

Being the knitting monogamist that I tend to be (more than two projects on the needles at once really stresses me out!) I focus on the project at hand and get it done. For right now, it is the Stockings. Hubby's socks do factor in every once and a while when I don't feel like knitting two handed. The poor Street Smart Hoodie lingers waiting to be worked on again. If I let something sit without being worked on for too long, I loose all interest and end up ripping. This will have to be addressed this weekend. I'm not so good at dividing up my knitting time, but the Hoodie deserves some additional rows before it gets pushed farther to the back of the line.

Because the coming of Spring (it is 28 out right now and was quite a bit colder this morning - I know Spring has to come eventually, right?) renewal and the rebirth of just about everything takes place. Hence the knitter turns to "birthing" new projects. (bad pun, I know) Elspeth has a great post on thinking through a new project. Many of the things she mentions I do myself. Some are great new ideas that I will surely take to heart before my next project starts. If all goes well, my next pair of socks will be a self designed pair for my sister. I kind of feel like I cheated her as the Stockings were originally supposed to be for her. With the yarn bounty at Sheep and Wool I think I will let her pick the yarn and colors she'd like. The day before we'll browse through some stitch pattern books to see what looks good and go from there. Barbara Walker's Second Treasury is on my list of things to look for, along with some more Nancy Bush

Speaking of Sheep and Wool, it is exactly a month away. Must knit faster!

Has it Sprung?

With all the snow we got this past weekend, I can now see grass on our front lawn. A day of 50 degree temperatures and rain will help that melting right along. Mid 50's are predicted for today and tomorrow and even into the mid 60's next week! Has spring finally arrived? Knowing Mother Nature and how she loves to tease us here in New England, I'm sure we'll have one more snow before it really sets in (we've gotten an inch or so of snow around my birthday before which is mid-May!). The warmer temps (however temporary) lead me to think of spring knits. I'm not much of one to wear short sleeve or sleeveless knits, but I do like lightweight sweaters that I can wear to work (where it remains arctic like all year). When I reorganized the craft room a while back, I took a look at what I had for sweater yarn stash. Not tons. I have the Nature Wool I got at Stitches this year, the frogged Gap Sweater that is a 50% wool/50% acrylic blend, 1200 yards of a merino/angora DK weight, and about 1600 yards of creamy colored Naturelle 8/8 which is a heavy DK cotton/linen blend. I haven't really thought about patterns. The Gap yarn is probably going to be a licorice whip, but the others....any thoughts? Spring and summer sweaters aren't my usual (or comfortable) domain.

In the meantime, the garter stitch socks are pretty much done - just a tiny bit left. The past few days have provided me with little knitting time. The Turkish Stockings remain as they were. I did re-write the chart, and now am waiting to get started knitting it.

Last night I did manage to knit an inch or so on the Street Smart Hoodie. With the back approaching completion (I am at the point where I'm going to start shaping the armholes) I figured I should start thinking about the front as it's the only piece left to knit! (and the hood too) The picture in the pattern doesn't really show you the front from a good angle.

I don't think I want a zip front (though I'm still undecided) but I'm not sure how it would look with the same knitting minus the zipper (just a plain pullover hoodie). I did, however, find nice finished shots with a full 360 degree views here, here and here (hooray for Google!). If I do make a closed front, I was thinking of eliminating the innermost two cables and just having the outside one on each side. Maybe do a column of knit stitches in place of the inner cables. I think the four cables with no zipper would be a bit much. Thoughts? I may also go the half zip route again (ala the Urban Aran). It's a style that just works really well for me. My motivation to knit on it has upped a little - three projects going was too many for me to divide my attention and limited knitting time between. With the garter stitch socks essentially done, I can now go back to my sock +1 WIP formula. The yarn is airy and light enough I think I can get spring and early summer wear out of it if I finish it in time.

I am really tempted to start another pair of socks. Inspiration is everywhere (have you seen these and these over at mustaa villaa?)and it is hard not to get startitis. But, I have vowed to use up as much of my sock yarn stash as I can before the Maryland Festival (did you see they put the new catalog cover art up - not quite as cute as last year, but another nice pick!) so I won't feel quite as guilty buying more. I guess I'll see how the Turkish Stockings progress and go from there.

Happy Spring!!

Tranquility

I know I promised knitting today, but the garter stitch sock is pretty much the only thing making any progress at this point. Just imagine it with a heel and half a foot....(plus I forgot to take pictures in the sunny daylight yesterday). Pictures soon.

Reading through my Bloglines today, I came across one post by Jessica and one by Gabriella about how knitting is calming and therapeutic. How it gets you through the hard times, and quiets frazzled nerves. It made me think about why I knit (sometimes a bit obsessively) and what I my knitting gives back to me (besides a nice FO!)

My knitting time is pretty limited to a couple of hours each night while watching TV, or maybe a bit during the day on a lunch break if I can tear away from work. More often than not, my lunch is eaten at my desk! Weekends I squeeze in a bit more time with the sticks and string, but not as much as I'd sometimes like. Things like cleaning the house and laundry get in the way!

After a day at work in front of the computer, then working at the kennel, my mind is pretty full and tired. Knitting for me is an escape - a way to make my mind settle down and get back to a normal pace. I remember a time a long while back, way before knitting, where my mind would just race. I couldn't fall asleep very easily as I just kept thinking and couldn't stop. Now, for at least a little while before bed, I relax my mind and let the stresses and worries of the day fade to the back. Sometimes the intensity of following a pattern or chart is just what I need. Other times, mindless stockinette or garter stitch fits the bill. Either way, knitting can indeed calm a restless mind. That is what my knitting gives back to me.

(picture at the top of the post is of our summer 2005 trip to the Outer Banks. It is supposed to be in the mid 60's here today, (I'm excited, but it's also supposed to snow on Friday - gotta love New England!) and there is nothing like a dose of warm weather to get me thinking about the warm and sunny days of summer. We head back to the Outer Banks in August.)