Another FO

This is for my pal in the Purse Swap 2, I just love this bag. I have to put in a lining but it is done. Made from Garn Eskimo, I had about 6 inches of yarn left...whew! I am hoping my pal will love this. I have a beach/ocean theme going, even the giftees that are going with, but I will let her post a pic when she receives it.

Size 16eeee

So size 16eeee...WOW
The smaller(heehee)sock is mine, size 6.5-7.5. The BIG socks are Austerman Step...for the Vintage Sock KAL. They are the Plain Winter Socks. The second ball was reverse wound so the striping on the foot is reversed from each other, I was rather upset about that. the socks used approximately 1.3 balls.
DH made the comment he has never had a sock that goes so far up his leg. Size 3 dpns, changed from 70 to 90 sts and altered accordingly.

International Tote Exchange 3

I forgot to post this, so sorry pal Sarah. I received this lovely purse from Sarah. It is knit from ribbon and she designed it. It is the right size for a night out, which I am hoping DH and I have soon as I have been working way too much. The goodies that came along with the purse:
my very first wash cloth (not ever, just knitted)
a lovely Afghan book of crochet afhgan patterns
two magnetic photo frames which went right up on my fridge
a magnetic purse closure( I am sure I will find a good use for this)
a sweater kit filled with the most luscious colors of cotton yarn and a pattern
(I am thinking of many uses for the yarn in lieu of the sweater. the colors are so pretty)

Thank you so much Sarah.

OK, so the stats;

Started Sat Mar 24 2pm, after no sleep, worked 12 hours overnight, driving time 2 hours, slept some, finished Mon Mar 26-11am. They are covering two KALs, Socktopia for March and they were the KNITOFF socks, and Harry Potter as they are the colors of the Hufflepuff House I was sorted into. The yarn was amazingly soft and silky. I am hoping to make a sweater with the same colorways.

And my official socks for March Socktopis. The themes they are covering is dance Revoltuion(the paper is Twist and Shout) and It Ain't Easy being Green. I tried very hard to match the stripes. The repeat is very long so it was a little tricky but I did it. This yarn is fantastic, Fable from Garnstudio, they have many beautiful colorways...I love it

No Pain, No Socks

So, how much pain is a knitter willing to endure to finish a competition? This knitter was surprised.
My Socktopia group was involved in a knitting challenge. At noon EST Saturday a pattern designed by the organizer (she designs beautiful socks)was to be released to a handful of us who were on two teams. We had signed up, listed our ability and and were assigned a spot on the team. Now this knitter(as taed in last post) had intended to take the night off from work but had overtime so could not. Friday was a busy night at work, got home about 9am and laid down for an hour as I did not want to miss the pattern release. Noon, 1215p..no pattern. There was a sense of panic on the message board as we commiserated no pattern, what would we do? The designer had been subject to a store in her area and the power was mixed up. Pretty much 1245 the pattern was released and we were off. I had some yarn dyed in the Harry Potter Hufflepuff House colors that was planned for the sock. I had gauged it out to size three needles(yes another swatch but only 10sts by 10 rows) and found in my tiredness it was wrong. After starting 4 times I settled on sz 1 dpns. I memorized the pattern after the first repeat and finished to turning the heel before leaving for work a few hours later for another 12 hr shift. I live approximately 40 minutes from work and DH drove so perhaps I could nap. Did I mention I had two pots of coffee already? Work was horrendous and I manged 1 rounds or so, frogged them, did them over, frogged 3...Came home and knit an hour fell asleep for 4-5 hours. As of 9pm Sunday sock one is completed sock 2 has head heel turned. I am planning on finishing at least half the foot before napping again, then up to finish the second sock. The winners finished their socks over night. Truthfully, if I had been rested and not worked I could have finished my socks probably in under 14 hours knitting time. I am loving them and will post the photos when they are done. Now we wait til 8pm Monday to see which team has more finished pairs. It was a ball and hope there is another one soon.
March challenge socks are also done. I have the following pics to post this week:
Knit off socks-Hufflepuff House Colors
March Challenge Socks-green
Civil War Shawl-through round 90
Vintage Socks for DH-VERY big blue
Dale body-anticipate finishing end of week
Salina, started back 4-5 inches done
Purse Swap-purse sewn together have to felt
That may be all...
I am working 10-20 hours extra every week which is cutting into life but giving me more opportunity to knit...
OK, more blogging later with many pics to follow

Pics

OK I will start with some pics, one until the morning. Socktopia is having a knit off starting Sat at noon EST, there are two teams and we will knit the same socks, not known until the start and which ever team finishes the most pairs by Monday wins. Not sure of finishing time. Originally I was planning on banging out of work Saturday night, but of course I have OT this week, so will just not sleep. I have my yarn ready, this is an ETSY purchase, it is Hufflepuff Yarn, I was sorted into the Hufflepuff House. SO two KALs will be taken care of at once and hopefully Monday there will be another FO. This is my yarn

Monday March 19

Hmmmm....what is there to report. I am still on the body of Foxie...almost done, but not yet. The sleeves are started though so when the body is done I am really nearly there.
I have to graft the toes of the Green striped sock and the Vintage sock for the man with the very large feet and then they are done. Pics will be up by the end of the week.
Wizard hat for HP KAL is 1/3 done, should be done by the end of the month, great fun, will never get worn but still great fun..
Purse for Purse Swap 2 needs to be sewn together and felted, I love it and hope my pal will too.
I have the coolest thing to send to my pal in the PRGE, at least I think it is cool, not punk, just cool.
I have one hat done for the YFC, I have used just my free days but no more than that so doing good.
Progress made on the Civil War Shawl, came 6 or 7 rows short of the assignment for the week, but close.
Monkey sock yarn wound and socks cast on but not much more done than that. I have the coolest thing for that swap. Need two more Monkey things, plenty of time to find them though.
I have boxes to mail off this week to PRGE pal,YFC Pal,Tote Swap Pal, next week, hat to YFC next week.
I am hoping to receive my tote from the ITE3 this week. Can;t wait, my pal designed it herself.
There may be more, but I am at work and waiting for a patient...
I will think a bit and add pics later.

Learn From My Mistakes!!!

So if you have been over here reading lately you may have seen some of my KALs have been x'd. The whole list rearranged itself as well. I was thinking and thinking and thinking(I hurt my brain) and finally realized I had deleted their photos from Photobucket so the buttons had no reference for pics so they got X'd out. SO I will be recopying buttons to Photobucket and hopefully they will reappear. WHEW!!
I am knitting many hours a day and seem to be making minimal progress so I have decided to finish some of the KALs up and retain a constant of 6-8, seems more manageable. Things are getting done, but with the warmer weather I need several hours a day on the bike and at the gym. Now I can knit socks while on a stationary bike but my actual bikes? I can knit while walking but running? On a treadmill? Is it worth risking my life for a pair of socks? Yes!!! no, Yes, No, yes? NO! maybe
Progress-as usual I will post pics later. But this week:
To toe of socks for the man with the very large feet(Vintage Sox KAL)....I seem to have more Austerman left in the ball than I expected so I will see how far it goes before getting into second ball.
Have finished 1.5 of March sock for Socktopia,we have a live sock challenge the weekend of the 24th, I may take time off from work, it sounds like fun. My March sock was frogged no less than 6 times!!! My MOJO left, ran away scared...but I find it hiding under a pair of old athletic socks asleep. I really love the yarn I used. It is new from Garnstudio.I didn't learn to knit on two circulars this week but I did do my very first short row heel. I didn't like doing it but I do like the look.

Foxie is so heavy, I am still on the body, wanted it done by now, but have also started a sleeve. I must admit I adore working with DPN's, always have. try as I might this circular needle two needle thing takes me longer so DPNs are the way to go.
I didn't make the 45 rounds for the Civil War Shawl as I frogged the entire thing 30 round s or so and began again. I found I had reversed my knitting several times. I am back to rd 40 and hope to make this week's assignment.

Those are the top projects, everything else has some work done but not enough to post or mention.
Oh I am in the midst of a Wizard's hat, perhaps when it is done and I wear it it will put a spell on my needles and every row knitting will produce ten rows finished....
Also I was so excited that the Kilcarra DH gifted me with will work for my Salina. Isn't it pretty? It is as much of a swatch as I care to do since I very rarely swatch.LOL

OK off to find the buttons again and see if I can get pics done, kitchen cleaned, laundry started and knitting area cleaned up. I do that every Monday and by Sunday night it is all gone again.
I will be back

Photo Update

em>These sweaters are from the Aran Sweater Factory and Mureum on Inish Moor, they are the reason my DH gifted me with several different colors of Kilcarra. The sweaters are amazing. The plain one, turtleneck, is very similiar to the sweater we brought back for for DS's DGF

These are FO for last week, White Choclate Covered Cherry Socks for Socktopia, Two Color Stranded fetching Mitts, abd this is the cuff for Feb/Mar sock for Vintage Socks, It is for the man with the very large feet, Austerman Step,it may end up being one skein per sock, LOL

Weekly Update and The Trust of Your Children

Hmmmmmmmmm...what does THAT mean? Well it has been a frustrating knitting week, so many WIPS to be worked on all at once. I have added a few KALs over there >>>>> and think I need a 12 step program....while much progress has been made on many items, if t all the effort was concentrated into fewer things more would be done. however, they all get finished at once this way.
DALE FOX is nearly caught up from the airport incident..there is still a few days before the neck shaping starts. My knitting spirit was joined by a wandering spirit this week and my left hand decided it would like to take part. Literally, I dozed with knitting in hand and when I awoke I was two handed stranding. I have spent a cumulative total of months I am sure untwisting yarn over the years. For those who do not two hand strand and opt out of bobbins you know what I mean...Sometimes I can get a very speedy rythm going and finish a round with an amazing speed, but after so many years of only single hand stranding it is a tiny bit slower. I have gained time not stopping and untwisting so more rounds get done. I love this sweater and am very pleased with the KP Telemark, other than some color decrepancies, I am just hoping it will steek as well as DALE yarn. I am trying to narrow down the sweater choices for older DS for his pick of Dales....
ELIZ 1 is still prodding along, she is so pretty but still needing of sleeves and more than half of the front. Gorgeous pattern and yarn.
I have decided to post pics when things are done, ie DALE body, Eliz front and back, etc
HIDCOTE is going to be my nemesis, I will not be undone though. It is needed for late September(Iam gooing to gift Mom with it) and I am confident it will be done.
CIVIL WAR SHAWL will have the 45 rows done prior to Sat as is the first assignment. I am in total love with this piece. I adore the yarn and could be a smidge happier with the color but waht can you do? This will have progress pics after each completed assignment.
SOCKS..we have perhaps 5 pairs of socks OTN.....I am sock overwhelmed.
If you check out the KALs>>>>>I can tell you each one has a project that is worked on for at least 1-2 hours a week. some get more time as time allows.
I did add to my FO 2007 list and you click and see for yourself.
OK, now I am tired...but will finish this.
I received the rest of the Kilcarra, lovely...the sweater I wanted to do from the APPLE color is the SALINA>>>but I am 2 balls short so my options are to go with my Rowan felted tweed as asked for in instructions or chance that I shall eventually find 2 more balls, I am sure I will in June but.....I really like the style of the sweater so may make the rowan and then chance finding the 2 balls in Ireland, LOL.
My new love is felting. I have a hat that was knitted 3 years ago and has been waiting to be felted and a pair of slippers from last year. Those along with the tote for my other exchange will be done within 10 days and able to post as FO....I have a goal to make before next February 16 after all.

So what does the title mean?
Younger DS, who is a true lover of life, came home from school and tossed his Ski and Snowboard Club hooded sweatshirt at me and exclaimed LOOK! He has an unusual name and never finds anything with it on it and the SS had his name embroidered on the sleeve. NOW comes the trust...I would like it so much better if it were a full zip, you can do that right? WELL of course I can, I have costumed local play productions, made 6-8 wedding gowns, had been offered a job in a bridal shop when I was 16 or so, made the boys suits and things growing up, blah blah....He was wise enough to say no rush, LOL. Of course I am off for three days and will get the zip put in so he can show it off to those who won't have a full zip, LOL. While the boys have been raised that costumes should be homemade and sequined and there isn't anything that can't be made from socks to houses, they still are sometimes in wonder that these things can be done...so sometime this week along with all the knitting, cleaning, working, exercising, bill paying, reading and living, there will be some time spent "steeking" a sweatshirt and turning it into a full zip hoodie....

Appropriate pics to follow, just tired now.
Thanks again to Carol and Katie for the wonderful packs o goodies they sent me. I am still thrilled to think people are picking out things for me...

Color Swap 2007 February

I am a day late posting this but...
This was only my second package EVER from a secret swap. Katie was my pal in the COLOR SWAP 2007 for February with a theme of tans and browns. My DS said you have package that smells like cookies...well how could one not tear into such a package!! Inside there was a feast for eyes and belly..
The packages were all wrapped in lovely pink tissue with brown ribbons.(I decided after my first pal delivery I would save the ribbons and use on packages I send out)



When the packages were unwrapped there was lovely Salty and Sweet Turtle Chex Mix, sugar free JELLY BELLY jelly beans!!!Three candlettes scented pound cake and vanilla frosting,hence my DS's comment, they are a delectable way to have birthday cake without the calories, also speaking of calories, there were Russell Stover ultra chic chocolates in the most elegant box...I have dpns that will live in it when the chocolates have been enjoyed....


And then there was a pattern for socks, crazy socks, a choice of either or both, I would love a pair of mismatched socks!!! AND 2 skeins of Koigu KPM...of course the shriek of glee when I saw this caused my DH to come in and see what was going on. I said this is the yarn I look at but never get, too many choices, am I worthy? heehee

I also received a blinking Valentine's pen...makes for interesting conversation as I sit mostly in the dark scanning high profile trauma cases with all these important medical people about and me writing info with my blinking pen..heehee



Katie included a lovely card as well.
Thanks so much for your generosity and thoughtfulness, Katie. Receiving two packages during my birthday month just prolonged the celebration(I must remember this next year, LOL)
I hope your pal was good to you.