Thursday, December 27, 2007

Not Quite So Lame






Well My Blog has a few changes. I spent quite a bit of time on it last night tweaking it a bit. I have a long way to go to get it just right. Anyway I have a few more pictures to share. Here is a dishcloth I have been working on. It's one of those WIP's that I work on when I'm sick of looking at my current project.










It's a slip stitch pattern you can find on http://diynetwork.com/


There are quite a few really neat knitting patterns on there under Knitty Gritty. I really like that show, it has some really neat projects. Here's another pattern I got on there. It's unter the show "knitting for charity." It's also under the link Teddy Bear Pattern. The one on the bottom is the original pattern and the one on top I modified. All I did was add double the cast on stitches. It's wider but not longer.







Here is a picture of my KAL sock. It's almost done. (WOO HOO) I just started the toe decrease this am waiting for the laundry to get done at about 4 am. The baby woke up and I laid down on the bed with her and she sprung a leak(hehe). Gotta love that!!!



Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Merry After Christmas



Well the Hubby Came through and got me a camera for christmas. He ROCKS!!!!! I totally love this camera!!!! It works great! This picture was taken INSIDE with NO FLASH!!!!! I about fell over. I been playing with is so much I used up the batteries it came with (hehehe). I was feeling pretty smart while I was opening the pack of batteries I remembered to grab.

I also got a new Sock knitting book, and (gasp) a new skein of sock yarn. The book is Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. I love it already and have just had time to thumb through it. I'll actually have time to sit down with it this weekend when me and the SIL get together and do our knitting thing.



I was goint to get New Pathways For Sock KNitters by Cat Borhi but I decided i wasn't quite ready for that one yet. I qued it up for the hubby to get it for me in feb for valentines/anniversary gift.











See, My sock Yarn stash is growing. Woo Hoo!!!!! I also bought some baby cotton yarn (that's what the sock is made out of) in 4 different colors. They are quite large so I should be able to make many different socks ( darn the bad luck).

The First is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Lupine colorway.
http://www.mountaincolors.com/

The other three are Trekking XXL by Zitron. I haven't found any sock patterns that have kicked me in the hind end for these yarns. But I'll find some I'm sure. (The new book might be helpful in that ;) )
Well until next time .....

Happy Knitting!!!!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Lazy or Busy?

Well, I guess i've been neglecting my blog a bit. I've been busy with all the christmas to-dos. I've also been too lazy (hehehe). The lil one has been keeping odd hours so there fore I have to keep odd hours. In bed by 9:00 pm and up at 5:00 am. It really sucks. My knitting and blogging time is after she goes to bed and I've been so wore out I follow her shortly. The cool thing is that she started walking today. (proud mommy grin).

I am almost done with the pair of socks i started for the sock down. I am at the gusset decrease on the second sock. It's been going good. No major frogging on this sock. I went to Uniquely Knits in New Lonton last Saturday and got 3 skeins of sock yarn. Now I just have to find patterns to go with them. (Major pain there hehehe).

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I need a life


I really need to get a life. All I did this weekend was knit, hehe. The weather was cold and windy and I had no ambition. I made the mistake of taking a nap on friday and ended up sleeping until 3 am. That screwed up my hours all weekend. Well at least i got some knitting done. I am on the down slope of my first sock on the KAL. I am about halfway done with the foot and have the toe to do. I was thinking about doing an anatomically correct toe but not sure yet. I really need to practice that one first. There are a few patterns out the if ya google or search whatever search method you prefer.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Kal and yarn shops


Well I'm about a third of the way done with my first kal sock. I really like this pattern but not in love with the yarn. It's too "busy" for this pattern. I'll have to try the pattern in a different colorway. The sock yarn is "self striping" and has too many different colors to show the pattern well. The nice thing about it is it dosen't show my mistakes at all(hehehe). Another thing is that I had to rip a few times and the yarn didn't seem to be impressed with that. It got a little fuzzy on the heel part. I will be going to a yarn shop that I found in New London. I live in rural MN and there is one yarn shop in Alexandria and one in New London. 25- 30 miles in the opposite direction (how lame is that??????). I would love to open my own yarn shop but don't have the funds for it. Oh well.
The other "yarn shops" I'm limited to are a Ben Franklin, JoAnn Fabrics, and a Wal-Mart. The BF isn't so bad it just is kind of spendy. When I wa in there last week the manager was on vacation and had neglected to order sock yarn, Or they had gotten invaded by a bunch of sock knitters(which is entirely possible. There was about 5 skiens in all.
JoAnn Fabrics has an ok selection if you know what you need. The employees don't seem to have a clue about what yarn is good for which project. They are really good at giving blank looks and shrugging.
And Wal-Mart is ok but has a limited selection also. I did find som knitting books on clearance so I'm pretty happy.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Sock down

Well i went ahead and did it. I joined a kal. My first. We'll see how it goes. I really like the pattern (Razor Shell Socks from https://mimknits.com/shop/) It was a little complicated at first but after a few rounds i got the hang of it. Not too bad for my 2nd pair of socks. I'm not sure i like the yarn I'm using though. It's a plymouth sockotta self patterning/striping yarn. The colorway seems to have to much white in it to look real good. Oh well. It was the only sock yarn I had on hand(yeah my stash sucks) so i didn't have a lot of options. They are socks and will go on my feet and won't bee seen by too many people so I think will be alright. I'll just have to get more sock yarn on hand(good excuse to go yarn shopping dontcha think?). The only yarn i have in abundance is cotton to make wash/ dishrags. I went a little nuts but they work really well for those teddy bears i have been knitting up. they come in a lot of colors that are interchangable for matching.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Camera works



Well i got my camer working and here are the socks i finished. To me they look real chunky. i think that may be that they were knitted with worsted weight yarn. And that they are my first pair. I'm sure the next pair will look better. Well at least i hope they will(hehehe). I plan on stocking up on yarn this month and hope to get some good deals on sock yarn. I know they're out there, i just have to find them. There are also a lot of free sock patterns out there that I want to try.


Here are a couple of sites that I looked at and i liked a couple of the patterns.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Socks are done!!!!!

Well I attempted to take pictures tonight but my camera took a poop. GRRRRRRR. Oh well. I'll just have to bug the hubby more for an early christmas present. (hehehe). I finished the socks today and another hat for the daughter. I am still working on a teddy bear and a couple of wash/dish rags. The teddy bear is one of the projects off of knitty gritty and is a knitting for charity project. http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/na_knitting/article/0,2025,DIY_14141_4826306,00.html
knitty gritty has a lot of neat patterns and projects on there. The only thing is the teddy bear i'm knitting now has been modified. I thought the pattern they had was a little to thin so i knitted twice the amt of stitches so it's wider than the pattern calls for. I am knitting it for my aunt's step grandson. I'll probably knit one for my daughter too. Well, thats all for tonight. I still have work to do on the blog.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Very First Post Dec. 1st

Howdy all. as this is my very first blog so I have no idea what I am doing. I started knitting about a year or so ago. My god mother Taught me many years ago(don't ask). I didn;t really get into it and put down the knitting needles and went on my merry way. I got back into it when my sister in law came up for the weekend and re taught me. (I bet the hubby is real impressed with her) I started knitting cotton wash/dishrags( love em and won't go back to store bought) does thak make me sound goofy? Knitting came in real handy when i was pregnant and didn't have much else to do. I worked at the time but not full time so i had time to kill and couldn't ride my horses. Right now I'm in a sock phase which i may not make out of sane. My first pair are just about finished and look like a 2 year old knit them.(ok maybe not that bad)
I have to get my camera working so i can get pics on here but will do that in the next few days. (I might try and talk the hubby into getting me a real nice one this christmas)
I will be posting a lot (I hope) as i have no life and a 9 mo old daughter. I'm also a stay at home mom (how boring) and self proclaimed horse trainer (i have only trained my own) and all around bum.