Winter!

Ironically, the weather took a couple of months to figure out it is supposed to be winter and now we are having below normal temperatures for this time of year. This morning we had a wind chill of 0 (degrees Fahrenheit). Whew. Little chilly.

It feels like I haven't been knitting too much within the past couple of days until I realized that I have frogged one project (so long orange and blue tie!), started another (baby stuff for my cousin, Emily, using the orange and blue yarn), completed another (mom's socks, finally), finished the baby hat and started another. The second one is for my other cousin, Katy, who is not pregnant (not yet, at least) but who will want a hat when she sees Emily's. Lots of sibling rivalry there. I do love that 3 of my cousins and me all went to schools that had orange and blue for their colours. It makes it easy to make things. Find the perfect yarn and you have something for everyone.

I'll have to figure out something else to make for the baby shower. Maybe some type of blanket as well as some boots out of the same yarn.


Here is a picture of Lily modelling the hat. She is so not thrilled with this.

And a picture of Mom's Christmas socks which I did get finished by the end of January. Oops.

I've started on another pair of socks. This time I am working with my Kool-aid yarn and size 0 needles. Ugh. I love the colours but the needles are the smallest with which I have ever worked. I don't want to do a simple stockinette stitch with them but that is all that I am coming up with for ideas. Blah. I might put that aside for a little while and work with some of the stuff I picked up during the Austria trip.

Snow (again) and sun!

It would probably be worth it to check the weather when trying to make plans with someone. I definitely didn't and suddenly we have an inch of snow on the ground.

This picture was taken earlier this morning but now the sun is coming out. It is so pretty! All of the trees have snow stuck to their branches and the pine trees are all lightly frosted with snow.

I hope to go hiking in the Bio Reserve while it is so nice. (I know, some might not consider high 20s and snow nice, but I do!) Hope someone else agrees. . . .

Yesterday (you may now start humming the Beatles)

So I was planning on getting things accomplished yesterday like riding the horse, laundry, going to the FP Conservatory, etc. Number of things complete: 1 -- riding the horse. My jeans will soon be able to stand up by themselves.

What I did instead of my original goals was waste time. Large amounts of it. In the morning, I relaxed and lounged. Finished one of the many Terry Pratchett books I have checked out from the library. Finally, got ready to go out around 11 but then Mom and I had brunch. Went out to the barn around 12. Somehow, in the cold weather yesterday, rode for 45 minutes. (I think we were both frozen by the end of it. Java kept looking at me like I was nuts.) Then went to the Soup Loft in town to have something warm for lunch. THEN (and this is where most of the time was wasted) I went to my LYS.

Now, something happens when you go into a LYS. My theory is that time warps. Suddenly, you have spent an hour in there when you only intended 10 minutes. I got there around 2 so I could thaw and spend a little time chatting and working on the shawl. Well, then Kim had to run to an appointment so her dad came in to mind the shop. He doesn't know knitting so I decided to stick around for a little while longer. Isn't it inevitable that, when the owner leaves, things suddenly get crazy?

Two women came in looking to re-start knitting again after a long break so they wanted a pattern, yarn and needles. Luckily, Kim has tons of samples out so they could just point at what they thought looked good. So that was easy. Then two people who are in the "Beginning to Knit" class came in with problems. I sorted them out and they hung out for a while. Then another woman in the same class came in for help with binding off. She had accidentally knitted the stitches twice instead of knitting 2 then slipping the one over the other. So we had to rip it out and start binding off again. Luckily, she picked it up quite easily and was able to finish it before she left (her finished bag was so cute!). She was there for a while, too. Then a couple more people came in just to look around. Then, a person from Ambercrombie and Fitch came in to look for yarn samples and with the example of a swatch Kim is going to be knitting for them. Note: They had told her that they would be there by 1 so she was expecting to be there. They ended up getting there at 3. Luckily, through all of this, one of Kim's assistants who hadn't been able to get there before 3.30 arrived and couple help the A&F girl.

It was definitely an exciting afternoon but not what I expected at all! Never got to the conservatory. When I looked at the clock and realized that it was 10 till 4 (it closed at 5 and would take me 45 min to get there), I gave up on it. Now, I hope to go there on Sunday. We will see if anything else comes up instead. Thankfully, I am not working this Sunday, too. Three in a row would be a little much. Hell, 2 in a row was.

Knitting news . . . I worked on the shawl until it needed to be sent to time out. I was getting a number of extra stitches so will have to solve that problem a little later. I worked on Mom's socks some more. (Can't wait till those are finished!) Currently, I am working on more blanket squares for the library program though those are being crocheted. It is giving me a lot of practice with crocheting.

Unsettled

Franklin Park Conservatory, Chihuly,
originally uploaded by Mike and Rani.

Do you ever feel like you get into a rut at work, at home, etc etc? I think I have reached that winter rut. I can't settle to any book that I have already and nothing at the library looked interesting. Even though I really like the shawl I am working on, I want to start another project but don't know what. Blah, I hate the winter blues.

I think I will go to the conservatory in Columbus tomorrow. They have a Chihuly exhibit on right now and I love his stuff.

Snow again!

It is flurrying again! :) I am very excited. It hasn't felt like winter without some snow on the ground.

My program on Tuesday went really well. I had three ladies come and one brought her granddaughter. Two knew how to knit and crochet and one was relearning. Once she started, her hands definitely remembered how to do it. We made 3 blanket squares that night. One of the ladies was going to rush home and look through her yarn stash to see what she could use to make squares.

Speaking of stash . . . . I was worried that I might not have enough yarn for people to use and would have to buy some. Then I started looking through my stash . . .

A full tote bag and a shopping bag! (I think I had enough yarn.) This is just the junk yarn and none of my good stuff! I don't even know where all of this was hiding!

Peacock shawl . . . I was finishing up another pair of Fetching last night so not much progress has been made. I am on the 96th row and the feathers have started to appear. I love it though I need to pick up more books on tape/CD because it is definitely a project that I can't knit and read at the same time!

Warm up America!

I am really nervous for tomorrow.

I work in a small branch library which is relatively new (opened in Sept. 2005). Before we opened, the only library service this community had was the bookmobile. Most of the time we don't have a huge number of participants in our programs. For instance, the last program I had (free blood pressure checks) only had 2 people come. One of those was a library employee who I begged and the other was a man who came in to use the Internet. Discouraging to say the least.

Tomorrow, I am having a program for Warm Up America!, a really great non-profit foundation. The whole point is to make enough 7 x 9 inch squares to make up a blanket. I am going to be teaching people how to knit or crochet if they don't already know how to do so. It should be a lot of fun since I love teaching / infecting others with the yarn sickness ;)

No, what I am nervous about is whether or not anyone will actually come. I've had a couple of ladies say they will but we have had other people say they will come to events then not show up. Blah. I always get very nervous before each of my programs and it looks like this time is no different!

Oh, the shawl is flying by. I can't get enough of it! I am on the 90th row and the 3rd of 8 total charts. You can really see the feathers starting to develop. But I should set it aside tonight (gasp) and make some squares for the blanket tomorrow. Time to practice different stitches!

So addictive

Can I just say that I love this yarn and this pattern? It is so easy to fly through it. I am already on the second chart. I just want to work on this lace all day!

AND, it is snowing!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. It is very small flakes of packing snow. I went out to feed the horses and my tracks were almost completely covered in 15 minutes. If it keeps up like this, we might have whiteout conditions. Too bad I have to go to work today :( Definitely going to be calling the severe weather number to see if the library will be open.

I'm in love . . .

. . . with this yarn!

I think all of the other projects will have to take a back seat for a while. Time to start the shawl!

Cable Crack

So apparently I am addicted to the cable crack. Seriously, once you start, it is hard to stop. I finished the pair of Fetching for Carolyn on Thursday night, weaved in the ends, blocked it, the whole nine yards. By Friday afternoon, I had it in the mail and had started on a pair for myself with a couple of modifications. I increased the number of cables around the wrist and lengthened the glove a little beyond the thumb. By the end of the evening, I had one finished and the other started. If I get time today, I will probably be done with the second one.

Kim from the yarn store called yesterday to tell me the yarn I had ordered had come in! We only ordered it on Wednesday! I am planning to make the Peacock Feathers Shawl with Cherry Tree Hill's colorway, Green Mountain Madness. What could be better? Some of my favorite yarn and lace that makes peacock feathers :) Looks like I am back on the lace crack. So addicitive. . . .

2 Balls

kool-aid yarn,
originally uploaded by bookworm knitting.

Get your mind out of the gutter! :D These are my finished product from the Kool-Aid experiment. The one on the left is Cherry, Orange, Pink Lemonade and Lemonade. It doesn't look quite so orange in real life. The second ball is the one from before just all balled up.

OTN: Fetching (still) for Carolyn. I cast on the second glove last night while waiting at the airport and am almost done. By the end of Ugly Betty tonight, I should be finished.

I met my friend at the airport yesterday and drove him and his boss to their hotel. (They were in town for a conference.) Then proceeded to get sort of lost trying to find a restaurant. I hate one way streets! We finally found a place (Barley's near the North Market) which was a brewery and had some very interesting beers. The dinner was wonderful (sooooooo much food) and the conversation was fun. It was nice to catch up. When we left, I ended up getting horribly turned around and slightly lost. Again, I hate one way streets. I turned too soon then had to make my way back. Ugh, definitely don't like city driving! Though it was worth it to see a friend from college. :)

This kind of stuff amuses me

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Procrastinate more. Get your resolution here.

FOs and my loathing of weaving ends

I've come to realize how much I dislike weaving in ends. I've had a ton of small projects done (2 hats, a purse (not felted yet), brioche stitch scarf, one pair of socks, one Fetching glove, etc) but never finished finished them because I needed to weave the ends. Well, last night I finally made myself sit down and finish everything that has been hanging around for the past couple of weeks.

It felt really good to have a bunch of completely finished projects. I'm now able to felt the two purses I made and will be able to send them out. I'll post pictures of some of the things later.

OTN: Still trying to finish up the mystery yarn. It is like the yarn that never ends! Two hats and 2 long scarves later there is still plenty of yarn left! I am trying to make a pair of Fetching with them but it kind of results in a bulletproof fabric so that will probably be frogged. The next project for it is another hat with a different stitch. I am thinking of making one that will match the Liesel scarf. Hmmm, we shall see.

Also OTN: A pair of Fetching (boy, am I obsessed!) for Carolyn also using up some stash yarn that I used for the one Forest Canopy Shawl. I don't know what all of this stash-busting is about but I like it. More room for the new stuff! ;)

Kool-Aid is kool

I am having so much fun with Kool-Aid! In the process I covered my fingers in purple but here is the result:

I am soooooooooooooo excited! Can you tell by the number of exclamation points I am using?! These colors are Black Cherry, Grape, Blue Raspberry and Lemon Lime. I can hardly wait for it to dry before I can think of using it.

The colors are a bit uneven but I figure, for my first dyeing project, it looks pretty good. I still have 1 skein of undyed sock yarn left which I am planning to dye yellow, red, orange and pink though I might change my mind and use the Black Cherry instead of the pink. Have I mentioned that this yarn is really nice to feel? I am so excited!

How Anne are you?


How Anne are You?

FO fiend

I've finished up another project, the second of two felted bags which were Christmas presents for people. Now they just have to be felted. I know to whom they are being sent so, once everything is dry, off to the post office for them! I just have to decide who gets the Liesel scarf and the brioche stitch scarf. I have enough of the colored yarn from the brioche scarf to start on a hat and finish up with the blue of the Liesel. (I made sure the brioche scarf had a small section of blue at each end just for this reason.) I'll add pictures of the finished project later.

Next project (I have so many going right now) is a pair of Fetching for Carolyn. They will probably be made of the blue Liesel yarn. Can you tell I am really trying to use it up?

We actually had a small snow fall last night! The first in a long time. Unfortunately, it went up into the 40s today so it all melted. :(

Florida for a day

knitting at the pool,
originally uploaded by bookworm knitting.

I can't even believe I was in Ohio on Friday, Florida on Saturday and on Sunday am back in Ohio. Definitely a whirlwind trip! My parents and i went down to FL to see all of Dad's cousins and for a birthday celebration for Cousin Pat who is 75. As Mom said, it is better to get together for a life event than for a funeral. I am just amazed that she could rip Dad away from home.

I spent the time on the plane knitting and reading. I finished the scarf I started (in Charlotte airport no less). I had no idea that the yarn would pattern up but that is exactly what it did. I knitted it in stockinette stitch before but there was no pattern. When I did it in a brioche stitch, *poof* pattern. It is kind of a spiral pattern of green. In addition, it used up almost all of that kind of yarn! I have a little left that I am planning to make into a hat or a start of a hat.

In other news, I got my KnitPicks needles on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I so wanted to start using them but didn't want to risk them being taken away on the plane so I decided to hold off until today. Guess what I am going to be doing for the rest of the day :)

Blue Liesel Scarf Finished!

Blue Liesel blocked,
originally uploaded by bookworm knitting.

The scarf is done and blocked. Thanks to the blocking you can really see the leaf pattern. I made the scarf the length of my "wingspan" but that was a pre-blocking measurement. Turns out blocking made it a little longer (duh)! I really like the pattern though and happy to use up some mystery yarn.

My next project is going to be a scarf made out of the Brioche stitch to use up some different mystery yarn. That yarn has purples, dark pinks, greens and some blues. It is the same kind as the mystery blue yarn. Just wish I had the ball bands. The second scarf shouldn't take long to make especially since I am going to be flying to Florida this afternoon then flying home late Saturday. Nothing like whirlwind trips to visit the relatives! Have to be home for work on Sunday.

Project Spectrum!

Lolly at Lolly Knitting Around has initiated the second round of Project Spectrum. I thought this idea sounded like a lot of fun and useful for getting me out of my colour ruts. What can I say? I like green and blue!

These are the colors for the next couple of months. It seems like it has a whole lot of flexiblity and time to do each project. I've definitely signed up for this knit-a-long

February / March
Blue, White, Gray

April / May
Green, Yellow, Pink

June / July
Red, Black, Metallics

August / September
Brown, Orange, Purple

Finished my first project of the year, the Liesel Scarf made out of the mystery blue yarn from the stash. It ended up being a tad longer (and wider) than I originally planned. Oops. The pattern was just so much fun to do. I am definitely going to be sending it to someone for a late Christmas present.