November 2003 Archives

November 26, 2003

The Turkey Countdown

My husband has a job where it is very difficult to get time off, so, rather than face all of the holiday travel traffic, we get to have a nice Thanksgiving at home. For the first time since we've been married, we won't be running from one parents' house to the next for dinner. While I enjoy starting our own holiday traditions, I'm terrified of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. About the only thing more worrisome than cooking the turkey is what to do with all of the leftovers. We have a 14 pound turkey for two adults and a one year old, so I might be eating turkey every day from now until Christmas. Does anyone have leftover turkey recipes they care to share?
I finished the child socks. One ball of yarn was dyed better than the other, so while the pattern matches on both socks, the color isn't quite the same. One sock has more white spots mixed in.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a pretty bind off? I'm knitting the sock with size 0 needles and binding off with a size 3 to ensure my bind off isn't too tight for getting the sock on, but this results in a sloppy looking finish. Any suggestions?
Somewhere between making rolls and pie, I'll start another sock today. For those who will be celebrating tomorrow, happy Thanksgiving.

Posted by crsattic at 12:21 PM | 1 Comment

November 24, 2003

Now I Feel Like a Real Knitter

Over the weekend I finished my first pair of socks.

I'm very excited that they match so well. (If I hadn't read other people's blogs I probably wouldn't have thought about matching the pattern on the two socks.) I started on child size socks using what yarn was left over from the first pair. Here is the first finished sock.

I'm casting on for the second of the pair today.
I also finished the black ski hat. Next on my list is another ski hat in blue. I'm also trying to finish the embroidery on the black jacket. I'd like to use some of the embroidery yarn in some bucket-o-chics, but I need to make sure I use as much as I need for the flowers first. About 14 flowers to go.
And for your viewing pleasure, here is Charlotte pushing the cats around in her stroller. Sloan is resting on the shelf under the seat, and Ferris is in the actual seat part.

Posted by crsattic at 1:44 PM | 2 Comments

November 21, 2003

Weekend Knitting

My second black crocheted ski hat is almost complete.

I have about ten more rows before it's sewn up.
My socks are also close to completion.

I finished the heel last night and now only have about seven stripes left. I plan to finish these two today, so by Monday's post I should have at least three of my gifts knocked off! Still remaining on my mailing list are 4 pairs of socks, 6 hats, one sweater, and a pair of gloves. We'll see if everyone gets their knitted gift or I just save it for their birthday. The other two gifts are ones that aren't mailed and have already been started, so I'm not worrying about them currently. I bought needles for some bucket-o-chics and got the rest of my sock yarn today, so I'm ready for a nice weekend of knitting on the couch. My only problem is which sock to start next.

My choices are plain red Regia, multicolored Lollipop Opal, or blue and green Jawoll Jacquard by Lang. Any preferences?

Posted by crsattic at 4:28 PM

November 19, 2003

One Down, Sixteen to Go

I've joined alison's gift along and was somewhat embarrassed by my lack of progress given that of the other participants, so here is the first finished Christmas present, a black ski hat.

I'm also working to knock out my first pair of socks. This picture shows the color much better than the last.

Yesterday, I broke down and bought the bucket-o-chic pattern. I've seen a lot of great variations on other blogs that use yarn already in my stash, so I decided to make a few for Christmas gifts.

I'm thankful to have all of this gift making to keep me busy. My car was totalled and right now we just can't afford payments on another one which means I'm no longer working for the paper. (Delivering papers was a great job for a mom with a young child. Charlotte would sleep in her car seat while I worked.) I enjoy being a sahm, but it's hard when money is tight and I know I'm not contributing to our income. Making gifts lets me feel that I'm giving something nice to loved ones and saving us some money. (My stash is large enough to cover many of my gifts.) I have the yarn, now I just need Charlotte to let me knit.

Speaking of Charlotte, you didn't think I could get some pictures without her jumping in, did you?

Posted by crsattic at 3:22 PM | 2 Comments

November 17, 2003

Christmas Projects

We just returned from visiting friends and family in Michigan, so I have a lot to catch up on.
I finished the first sock of my pair, and I'm happy to say that it looks and feels like a real sock. Wendy's pattern is very easy to follow, and I love that there is no sewing needed. I also love self patterning sock yarn; I had a hard time putting this project down. Now I just have to try to make a matching sock. Then I can say I'm a real sock knitter.
For the plane ride I brought a crocheted hat to work on. The hat is made sideways with smaller stitches at the top to act like decreases. I doubled my yarn to make the hat thicker / warmer.
My mother received the Extreme Hedonism neckwrap for her birthday, and she loves it. She says the wrap stays warm for quite awhile, and the herds and heat help to relax the neck and shoulders. I recommend this pattern to anybody who wants to pamper a loved one for the holidays.
I'm plugging away on the holiday gifts, so hopefully by the end of the week there will be some progress on my side bar.

Posted by crsattic at 4:21 PM

November 12, 2003

Socks

My husband had Tuesday off so he took me up to Alexandria to try another yarn shop for needles. I found my needles and had a wonderful time looking at yarn and patterns. In addition to my 2mm Pony Pearls I bought two balls of Schoeller Stahl sock yarn in color 9069 to start a pair of Wendy's Toe-up Socks. Here's my sock progress so far.

I was able to start on the socks last night because I finished my secret project, Geane's Extreme Hedonism. Here's a picture of the finished project.

I used Lion Brand Jiffy and US 6 dpns. I had to change the number of stitches because my gauge was different from Geane's. Other than that everything was straight from the pattern.

Posted by crsattic at 9:30 PM

November 10, 2003

Haiku

The body to Haiku is now complete.

I've enjoyed working with dpn so much on the secret project that I've decided to knit the sleeves right onto Haiku rather than knitting them separate and sewing later. Picking up stitches isn't easy with Charlotte around though. She currently enjoys playing tug of war with my knitting. She'll pull on the yarn, the needles, even the piece itself. Luckily I haven't lost any stitches so far. I'll start the sleeve tonight during bath time, so she'll be otherwise occupied.

The secret project is almost finished. I'll reveal it and post pictures later this week.

Posted by crsattic at 11:25 PM | 1 Comment

November 7, 2003

LYS Trip Gone Bad

I went to two of my LYSs today in search of the new Rebecca Baby & Kids magazine, the Debbie Bliss Cashmere Collection book, and size 0 dpns. Let me tell you right away that I do not impulse shop in yarn stores. I always have a list of what I'm looking for and rarely buy items not on the list. So I was disappointed to find the first store had not received either of the books and was out of the needles. I went home and found the next store on my list which carries the Rebecca magazines and tried to call them. I got a wrong number and several busy signals. I decided to go ahead and try this place anyway. I'd found the store listed on several sites with the same address and phone number, so I didn't think there'd be any problem finding it. We sat in rush hour traffic for nearly an hour just to discover that the store no longer exists. So, if you are one of the few knitters who goes to the LYS for a certain item and is not really interested in browsing learn from my mistakes. Always call ahead to find if your item is in stock and if you can't reach the store by phone, make absolutely sure it still exists before you try to shop there.

Posted by crsattic at 8:27 PM

November 6, 2003

Quick Baby Projects

Here's the finished baby hat and booties.

The booties are from Debbie Bliss Quick Baby Knits. I used the pattern for the triangle-edged booties minus the triangle edge.

Posted by crsattic at 9:32 PM

November 3, 2003

A friend of mine got her first grand-daughter on Friday so I'm working on a pair of booties and a hat for the baby.
Here's the hat before sewing up.

I post finished pictures of both later.

Haiku is coming along well. I've just finished the second armhole.

I also have a surprise project on the needles. It's my first dpn project, and I'm making good progress on it. I'll post pictures once it's finished.

Posted by crsattic at 11:09 PM

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