What a bummer.

Hey look! A new post!

I made these socks for my mom as her end-of-tax-season present



They're the Merino Lace Socks from Interweave Favorite Socks. I used Fleece Artist Seawool yarn and 2.5mm Addis.



I think these socks are just lovely. The pattern was interesting enough to keep me going but not so complicated that I had to carry around the chart.



The pink is girly but classy. The seawool is soft, not at all itchy. I'm not sure how durable it will prove...time will tell.

Coming up next, the Jester Blanket!

Do you think I can get yarn delivered to Africa???

I've been having an awful time with technology. Yesterday when I got home from work my iPod stopped working. Today when I got home from school my Treo stopped working. I think this is a sign that I truly am meant to move to Africa. I think I could really like Africa. I might have to put aside my passion for new music and movies. I would have to subsist on BBC world service.

I'm sure I could ship my stash over. Yarn's pretty light. I could even use it when packing to help cushion things in my luggage! But what happens when I burn through my stash? And what am I going to do with knitted items in Africa? Mail them all to people in the US? Hmmm.

I made some toddler socks a while ago:

From the same Socks that Rock mediumweight that I used for Melisa's fallen leaves wrist warmers. I also made Tracie an earflap hat like mine:

Aren't we cute? :) I've made some other stuff. I need to take pictures of it, though. And I'm wrapping up a totally AWESOME baby blanket for Heinze baby #3.

socks by the sea

My mom went to the beach last weekend with my Aunt Jill and their friend Kris. They "camped" in Kris's trailer. Though it was chilly, they seem to have fun. And they all had their hand knit socks to keep their feet warm!

In honor of the new year, I've set a couple of goals for myself. In the hopes that it help me stick to them, I'm going to list them for you now:

1. Eat out or take out once a week. When I told my sister about this, her response was "Is that a lot or a little?" Poor girl, you have no grasp on NYC life. To be clear: that's a little. I think the hardest thing is going to be to avoid getting take out on the way home from school after a 12 hour day. But the eat out part is going to be equally hard. Often on days off from work, I would eat out, sometimes for multiple meals. The point of this goal is to save a little money.

2. Read more. This is such a vague goal that I've made a book-buying rule for myself. No more new books onto my book shelves until I read some of the un-read ones up there already. I did a count. There are currently 16 unread books on my shelf. Do I think I'll read them all this year? No. But I would really like to have half of them read.

3. Begin to tackle color-work in my knitting. (Yes, a knitting-related goal!) I want to knit a fair-isle yoke kid sweater.

I think that might be it for the goal department.

I've been knitting. Right now on the needles: a pair of monkeys for a friend's bday made from Shibui Knits sock yarn in a luscious raspberry color; a pair of merino lace socks for me(???) made from Fleece Artist SeaWool; an alpaca hat for a friend back home. And I still haven't quite finished the plum tweed sweater. All that's left is one button band, sewing up the armpits, blocking and finding buttons. That's so little work, it's a shame that I haven't touched the sweater in probably a month. Probably because I have no motivation. I tried on the sweater after the first button band was done and realized the fit is AWFUL. So, once it's done, it's probably just going to sit on the shelf in my closet. It's a bummer. No pictures of this knitting. How about some pics of one of the gifts I finished last month?

February Baby Sweater in Classic Elite Provence for Hannah's 1st Birthday

I love the way this sweater turned out! The yarn is slightly shiny. I'm so happy to have found the bird buttons and it fits her!

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Now playing: Chicago Public Radio - #303: David and Goliath
via FoxyTunes

(thank god)

Christmas is over. I made a lot of gifts.

For a while there, I was knitting like a maniac. But I think everyone liked their gifts. The February Baby Sweater fit little Hannah perfectly! Melisa liked her embossed leaves fingerless gloves--I was so worried she wouldn't.

But the gift knitting continues. Tamiko's bday is in 2 days, and in the holiday knitting frenzy, I forgot about it. So I'm casting on a pair of socks today. They'll arrive late, but that's better than never.

Bulky yarn n'est pas pour moi

Ugh! I've been knitting up this bulky hat today and it's totally killing my hands!!! Maybe I chose the wrong needle size. I'm using Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Hand-dyed and size 11 addis. Seriously, my right thumb is having difficulty typing. I'm about to give up on this hat. I wanted to make one of Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hats for a xmas gift, and I found this beautiful yarn at Yarntopia yesterday, but this is turning out to be a huge PIMA!*

Mondays seem to be for blogging. This past week has been crazy. And this coming week promises to be just as crazy, if not more so. But one week from now, 1/2 the craziness will be over. One week from now I will be done with fall semester. Hard to believe. A little scary to think of the stuff I should accomplish in this week.

I've been having a bit of knitter's ADHD this weekend. Flitting between the plum cardi (almost done--one button band, arm pit grafting and buttons to go); the February Baby Sweater; the Embossed Leaves wristwarmers; a newly cast on pair of socks using Kaffe Fauset Regia sock yarn.

I saw an awesome movie last night--Enchanted. Oh did I ever laugh! Sorry no pictures today, I'm being lazy.

*Pain in my ass--I learned this term last week from a nursing student who visited our floor last week...hehehe :)

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Now playing: Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth
via FoxyTunes

in class...

Perfect time for words about those pictures. First, the progress on the plum tweed sweater. Cruising right along on the yoke. Not sure how I feel about the length of the body, but I'm just going to go with it. When I first added the sleeves and body together, I thought I would never get through the row--so many stitches! But the only way to make it less is to do it, so I'm chugging through.

Next: I've started a February Baby sweater as a gift for a friend's kid--I really hope it fits a 1 year old. I'm not sure....we'll see. The yarn is Classic Elite Provence cotton. So soft and shiny! I love it! And the pattern is fantastic, of course. I'm a bit worried about having enough yarn. We'll see how that goes.

Third project: Finally some pictures of the Embossed Leaves wristwarmers. Love these. The yarn is Socks that Rock mediumweight--too thick for socks, I think, but great for wristwarmers. These will be a great xmas gift, I think.

Lastly, it's snowing today!!! Can you see the snow? Look closely--you see those faint white streaks? Especially in the second picture. Earliest snow in my time here. Yea for snow.