When I'm not getting run over by kids on sleds

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. We went up to the Sierras for a week after x-mas day so I got lots of knitting in when my Monkeys weren't falling off the sled or getting run over by other kids on sleds. Monkey1 got a nice shiner right below her eye when she ended up doing a face plant after a particularly bad fall & Monkey2 & I got the wind knocked out of us when I failed to pull her out of the way before the kid got to us. The kid that plowed through us was flying and neither DH or I saw him in time. Thankfully the Monkeys are fine.

So I'm trucking along on my Twist cardie and am in need of posting to the KAL. I finished the left front just before x-mas day and the right front a couple days ago. I didn't bring my size 7 KP Options nor extra yarn so I had to wait 'til we got home to start the sleeves. I'm looking forward to finishing the sleeves so I can figure out if I'll have enough to do the hood option or if I'll end up w/just the collar (but it's a lovely one at that).

I also caught back up on my Grace sweater where I had to frog back. Now all I need to do is switch to the larger needles and start the leaf lace chart for the back. Since it looks the same as before, I'm not posting another picture.

I'm also working on Monkey1's Lindy Hop in Colinette Jitterbug Alizarine (aka Safety Pink) pullover here and there. It's a good project for the long drive to the cabin & when I can't do any focus knitting. I'm not sure when I'll finish this, but it satisfies the mindless knitting criteria for one of my WIP's.


'Cause what's not mindless knitting in my queue is the Secret of the Stole ii KAL swatch that I botched. (I'm not sure if it was a wise move on my part to join, but oh well.) I was being lazy and had been using the written instructions as a guide so I wouldn't have to count squares on the chart. Unfortunately, the written instructions had errors in them which I would've been aware of if I had kept up with all the postings on the KAL in either Ravelry or the yahoo group. In the end, I decided to plug on to see if the Malabrigo laceweight I had too much variation since it was a semi-solid colorway (eta - it's Marron Oscuro). If so, then I'll have to search for a solid laceweight yarn anyway and swatch again. If not, then I could at least get an idea of the fabric I was getting on size 3 needles.

The other lesson I learned from knitting the swatch (aside from getting used to knitting a laceweight yarn) was that the difference in my yo size before the ssk and after the k2tog magnified when knitting continental. I managed to even out the yo's when I switched to knitting English style in the upper half of the swatch. Unfortunately, that would mean if & when I knit the full size stole, it'll take me longer. Ugh.


So after finishing the botched swatch and running out of yarn momentarily while on vacation for my sweater projects ('cept Lindy Hop), I finally got around to knitting my first Woolgirl sock club kit. I love the Miss Babs sportweight yarn and the pretty Waterfalls colorway. Monkey1 wants a pair too, so I'll have to either buy a similar colorway or wait 'til Miss Babs releases it for the general public since I believe all the extra skeins had been bought out long ago on Woolgirl.


And DH will finally be getting a pair of socks from me. I just don't know how long it'll take me. I decided to do the Gentleman's Plain Winter socks in the Dream in Color Smooshy Cocoa Kiss. (It took a trip to somewhere with different lighting for me to pick up the cocoa part of the colorway.) I figure I would rather plow through all that St st after the ribbed cuff rather than get bored with a textured pattern getting to the end of his size 13 feet.

The other reason why I'm not sure when I'll finish his socks is that my last 2007 Rockin' Sock club kit came in before x-mas and I want to start those socks and my Cookie A Marilinda sock kit I got from Scout's Indie Swag a few months back. One of this month's Socknitters Anonymous themes is to knit a Cookie A sock and I'm itching to do one, especially now that Maaralinda is available for purchase outside Scout's club.

So for now, I think my knitting plate if full for the beginning of the new year. I've got some knitting resolutions I've been forming, so we'll see if they'll stick.

Otherwise, I hope everyone has a happy new year!

The one official Christmas gift

Technically, it's a thank you gift that I foolishly offered to my makeup board Secret Santa (SS) which she gladly accepted. Otherwise, I am officially wisely refusing to knit any x-mas gifts this year. If I make any, they'll be quick & very small (eg baby-sized).


Pattern: Rainy Day Socks
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in pale pink (my SS said she likes pink)
needles: size 3 KP circs
no mods

I went with relatively quick and fairly easy. I made Tapmouse laugh 'cause at the Monday lunch knitting group, I threw sock 1 to another knitter who wore the same size shoes as my SS to see if they would fit. Being a good knitter, she lined them up next to her foot to verify that the socks were long enough although I did already plan to wash them before sending.


I find it ironic that while I recently bought a bunch of brown yarn, I'm currently knitting in mostly blue.

Top left is Monkey2's sock. She picked the blue Crystal Palace Merino 5 while we were at the Purlescence Pajamarama sale. Yes, I dragged her cute little patootie with me at 6 am that morning and royal blue is very much her color.

Top right is the start of my Waterfall sock. Not too motivated still despite the fact that these are on size 3 dpns. While winding the skein, I found a knot approximately a third of the way through and not at a more convenient spot like smack halfway through or a quarter way through where I have a decent hope that I would finish with that quarter section to spare. Oh well, hopefully I won't need to get to that section 'til right at the toe.

At the bottom is the start of the back section of my Grace sweater. Most of this was knit at last week's Tea and Sympathy at Purlescence. This time w/o the monkeys in tow. I hope to get more of this sweater done this month as I'm going to do an experiment and not knit any socks this month...with the exception of Monkey2's second sock, of course. Which means that while I started the Waterfalls sock, it's going to go nowhere this month.

The other reason for the temporary sock knitting ban is that I joined another sweater KAL. I'll be redirecting the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran I bought at some online yarn store sale (sadly, I forget which one) that was slated for the Cardigan for Arwen. I find that I am way too lazy to do the math adjust the short row shaping on the sleeves since the pattern has the same sleeve for all sizes.

Last but not least, here's my birthday yarn from tapmouse. It's a superwash merino/mohair blend from Liisu Yarns with the lovely name of Waves of Memories. This like my other merino/mohair blends will be aquiring a fine ripening in my stash 'til I find a pattern that will befit its loveliness.