December 2003 Archives

December 31, 2003

New Year's Resolution

With so many items on needles, it's getting hard to justify starting new projects. So, for 2004, I'm resolving to complete at least one overdue UFO per month. To be considered for UFO reduction, a project must have been started at least 4 months prior. The featured UFO for January will be the black embroidered Debbie Bliss jacket. This project was started back in July. The actual knitting portion of the jacket was completed in September, and it has taken over three months to embroider the flowers on the front of the jacket. By January 31st, this jacket will be totally completed and ready to wear.
In sock news, I'm past the heel on the first sock.

I'm enjoying the completely random striping in these socks. The second sock probably won't match the first one, and that's ok. A pair of crazy striped socks can be even more fun when they don't match exactly.

Posted by crsattic at 1:18 PM | 2 Comments

December 30, 2003

Sock in Progress

Here's the current sock.

The yarn is Lion Brand's Magic Stripes. The color is Jelly Bean Stripe. And the needles are US 0. I'm 5 inches into the first sock and have yet to see a stripe pattern repeat so we'll see if I end up with a matching pair or two different socks with the same color stripes.

Posted by crsattic at 9:34 PM

December 29, 2003

Finished Christmas Sweater

Here is Mike's sweater, finally finished.

He's very pleased with it, but I'm afraid that it's too big. It hasn't been blocked, so maybe that will help fix it. Now that it's finished, I can start on some socks for me. I'm using some Magic Stripes yarn that I received for Christmas. Pictures and more updates later this week.

Posted by crsattic at 5:18 PM | 3 Comments

December 25, 2003

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Posted by crsattic at 5:57 PM | 1 Comment

December 24, 2003

This End Up

The sweater saga continues. I was seaming the sides today when I realized I had made the mistake to end all stupid mistakes. Remember yesterday when the neckline seemed really big before I knitted the collar in. There was a good reason for that. When I did the shoulder seams, I sewed the top of the front to the BOTTOM of the back. Crap. So, I've pulled out the side seam, the shoulder seams, and the collar. I'll just finish knitting the second sleeve for right now because I don't think I can screw that up too horribly. From now on gifts which are more difficult than a garter stitch scarf must be finished at least two weeks ahead of time. Last minute knitting just seems to lead to very dumb mistakes.
May your holiday be filled with wonderful knitting projects which come out perfect on the first attempt.

Posted by crsattic at 11:13 AM | 1 Comment

December 23, 2003

Michael's Sweater

Thanks for the helpful comments yesterday. The alterations I made to the pattern fixed the shoulder and armhole seams so that they matched up and matched the sweater diagram. However, the alterations changed the neck opening by making it a half inch deeper and taking away an inch from the width. My initial worry was that this would make the neck opening too small. Since all of my freaking out had to do with the body of the sweater, I decided to go ahead and sew up the shoulder seams and knit the neck so I could better tell if it was going to work or not. Here's the sweater after the shoulder seams were sewn up.

As you can see the neck opening is huge! If I shifted my shoulder a little, I could get a Jennifer Beals Flashdance look going. Next, I picked up my stitches, knit the neck, and

-voila!- the neck looks fine. Now I just need to finish those sleeves and pop them in and we'll have an actually decent looking sweater which just might work.

Posted by crsattic at 9:42 AM | 1 Comment

December 22, 2003

Problems and Doubts

I've asked my husband not to check out my site between now and Christmas so that I might discuss his present. And it needs discussing. I originally started this sweater for him in June. I finished the back and half of the front, then put it aside when more pressing projects came up - and when it became obvious that it would be a Christmas gift rather than a Father's day gift. Since I started this sweater, my husband has lost over 30 pounds which makes me really worried about this sweater fitting him. The pattern is from The Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits. All of the patterns in this book have a gauge in regard to stitches but not to rows. I substituted a yarn which gave me the correct stitch gauge so I wasn't worried. When I was shaping the neck this morning, I realized that, as written, the front of the sweater would be about 2 inches longer than the back. It's possible the yarn I used did not have the same row gauge as the yarn in the book. Or, there could be a mistake with the pattern. Either way, this isn't reassuring me that the sweater will come out right. To fix the problem, I started my neck shaping about a half inch earlier than called for and cut out about an inch of bind offs. I'm hoping this works. This is the first sweater I've made for Mike and I'm just praying that it turns out well. One part of me wants to just tell him what it is so that I can compare pieces to him now to see if they fit. That way, if I need to rip, I haven't put any more time into it. On the other hand, I know it'd be a great surprise for him to get a finished sweater on Christmas day. I think, I'll keep it a secret, and just keep comparing it to his other sweaters and to me for now. Maybe, with Christmas almost here, my project anxiety has gotten much higher than it needs to be and most of my worries are unfounded. We'll see.

Posted by crsattic at 11:51 AM | 1 Comment

December 19, 2003

Top Down Mitts

I love knitting baby items, because they work up so fast. A pair of mitts for Charlotte took less than two hours. I made these mitts by making a no heel version of Wendy's toe-up socks. I used size 8 dpns and less than one skein of Dublin by Passport Yarn Co. Here's the finished product.

I left a long tail on the end of the second mitt and tied it to the first one to keep the mitts together in Charlotte's coat.
I've also been plugging along on my husband's gift. It's on size 11 needles which feel huge after all of the socks on size 0s. It's about halfway finished, and he's working through Christmas eve, so I think I'll get it finished in time.

Posted by crsattic at 7:06 PM | 1 Comment

December 17, 2003

Another Pair Completed

The Christmas party yesterday went well. The restaurant had pool tables, so Mike and I got to play pool for the first time in over a year. Charlotte had a blast playing with the balls that had been cleared.
My Stitch 'n B*tch book did come in the mail, so I took a break from my knitting to read it. The content is good, and I like the patterns. Several of these items will end up as future gifts for one of my sisters. I only skimmed the techniques / how to sections, but they seem very thorough. This book is also very inexpensive. I bought mine on amazon for under ten bucks. So after a rocky start, yesterday ended up very well.
Here are the latest finished pair of socks.

Finally, all of my Christmas presents to be mailed are finished. Now, I get to finish some stuff for Mike and Charlotte.

Posted by crsattic at 12:10 PM

December 16, 2003

Hairballs and Bare Baby Buns

Thanks for the positive thoughts Christine; I really needed them. I started feeling better yesterday and got all the beds changed and a lot of laundry done. I've really fallen behind on laundry, and I hope to get caught up by Wednesday. Our washing machine is very slow, particularly for cold water loads. A full load can sometimes take two hours to finish washing! Anyway, everyone went to bed last night on clean sheets. Then, I was woken up this morning by one of the cats coughing up a hairball on my bed. After I got this cleaned up, I went to check on Charlotte. My daughter was asleep in her crib with her bare butt sticking up in the air! No diaper! Of course her clothes and sheets were wet, so I had to wake her up while she and the bed were changed. Oh well, add another load of laundry to the pile.
There is the potential for good things to happen today. My husband's Christmas party for work is later this morning, so that's one less meal we've got to make. (Yeah!) I ordered the new Stich and B*tch book from amazon last week, and I know that it reached the post office in my city yesterday morning. Maybe that will be waiting for me when I get home this afternoon. I'm also past the heel on the latest sock, so perhaps I can get that finished and packed today. Wish me luck.

Posted by crsattic at 10:08 AM

December 15, 2003

A Long Weekend

Sorry for the lack of posts, but it's been a rough weekend with little knitting getting done. My husband found out Friday that he needed 164 cards for work the next morning. We spent about 5 or 6 hours Friday evening getting these finished. Since Thursday, Charlotte has had 2 or 3 molars start to cut through and she's become sick with a really bad cold . I picked up the cold Saturday, so the two of us are making a pretty miserable pair. On Saturday night, we got about 5 or 6 inches of snow. While my husband was out Sunday morning, someone skidded on the snow and hit his car. Due to the weather, the car rental place was closed, so currently we're without a car. Hopefully, we can get one today.
With all of this craziness going on, I did manage to get a little knitting done. Here are the current toe-up socks.

I had planned on mailing these out today, but now it will probably be Wednesday or Thursday before I can ship them out. So much for beating the last minute rush at the post office.
In other knitting news, Sarah at yarn covered couch is trying to organize a children's sweater knit-along for charity. You can get more details and let her know if you're interested in participating here.

Posted by crsattic at 1:11 AM | 1 Comment

December 10, 2003

Trial Wrap up

One rainy morning this past October, I was driving straight on a road when someone pulled out in front of me from a subdivision on my right to make a left hand turn. This led to the totaling of my car. It was a scary experience. Charlotte was in the car with me and there was nothing I could do to avoid the collision. Unfortunately, the other driver wasn't very pleasant, yelling at me while I called 911 and tried to calm down my daughter. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to appearing court yesterday. Not only did I have to see the other driver again, but I was also going to have to testify about the accident as I stood in front of a courtroom full of people. It was enough to make me feel physically ill. Fortunately, the driver worked out a deal and I was dismissed from my witnessing duties without testifying. Unfortunately, they didn't work out this deal until we'd been waiting for almost 3 hours.
Going to court resulted in less knitting time yesterday, so I still have about 3 inches to go on the first Opal sock. I'll post pictures Friday.
I'm joining Amy's Great Stash Redistribution Project. It's a good idea for getting new yarn free while giving away yarn you'll never use. If you're interested, the signup deadline for the first round of trading is today.

Posted by crsattic at 9:26 AM

December 8, 2003

More Socks

I finished two more Christmas presents over the weekend.
Here's the blue hat

and the Jawoll Jacquard socks.

The heels do not match perfectly on the socks, but I didn't think it was a big enough deal to rip out and redo. So much Christmas present making has led to the tired, stressed out mom winning out over the perfectionist. At least for this time, almost perfect was good enough for me.
My reward for finishing these two gifts was getting to start on the Opal socks.

The yarn for this pair is Opal Lollipop #1010. I only have about an inch to go before the heel, so maybe I'll have a finished sock by Wednesday.
I have to go to traffic court tomorrow for the accident. I'm only a witness, but I'm really dreading this. I have to see the other driver again and relive the accident. It's been bad enough to give me car accident nightmares. At least this should be over by tomorrow.

Posted by crsattic at 2:00 PM

December 5, 2003

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We got our first snowfall of the season last night. It changed to rain during the day, but we should get more snow tonight. DC just got rain, so all government employees, including Mike, went in today. We needed new tires before the icy weather hit, so Mike was gone nearly all evening yesterday waiting at the car place. With all of the craziness, I didn't finish the socks or the hat last night. (I am past the heel and only have about 3 inches to go.) After these, I have one more pair of socks and the gloves that I need to finish by the 14th. I'm reevaluating my gift list and know that I don't have time to knit everything I'd planned. Plan B went into effect today, so I've been making Christmas soaps and putting together baskets. I have a few more soaps to make, but I need to buy some more soap base before I can finish. I also need to get some for the candles for the baskets, so I'm hoping stores will be open tomorrow. Keep warm; and I'll be back again Monday, hopefully with some finished knitting!

Posted by crsattic at 11:05 PM | 1 Comment

December 3, 2003

Yipes! Stripes!

It seems the best way to get out of a slump is to start a new project, so here is the beginning of a striped glove.

I'm up to the thumb on this soon to be Christmas gift.
I've also finished half of the foot for the 2nd sock in my latest pair.

By the time I post Friday, I want to have these socks and the blue hat finished. If things are going really well, I'd also like to have one glove finished.
I was making gingerbread men to hang in the window when I discovered that dpns work really well for making holes to hang the cookies by.

Just an idea in case you don't have a straw on hand.

Posted by crsattic at 6:32 PM | 2 Comments

December 1, 2003

Holiday Slump

As the Christmas countdown continues, I notice that my gift list isn't getting any smaller. Normally the thrill of finishing everything just in time to send for Christmas would get the adrenaline pumping and the knitting needles flying. Unfortunately, I just feel burned out on the Christmas knitting. I know there are over a dozen projects for me to work on, but I just feel too tired to care. Has anyone else reached this point? Needless to say, not a lot of knitting was accomplished this weekend.
I did manage to finish a sock.

I'm casting on for it's match tonight.
My knitting blahs have affected my desire to blog as well, so Sloan volunteered to step in for me.

Posted by crsattic at 3:25 PM | 1 Comment

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