Wednesday, February 27, 2008

My Cocoa Swap package came!

My swap partner Michelle spoiled me rotten. Here is what I found waiting on the doorstep for me yesterday. Cocoa Swap The first thing I saw when I opened the box was a sock pattern called Butterflies & Blossoms. It reminds me very much of spring. How did my partner know I just bought a whole lot of sock yarn at Stitches? Here is everything as it came out of the box. I was too excited to take pictures systematically as I opened things.
Cocoa Swap goodies
Can you see my new buddy Blue Beard? Here's a better picture of him sitting with my new hot chocolate mug.
Blue Beard & Kitty Mug Isn't he adorable? I just love him and so does everybody at Hooks & Needles Yarn Shop. Michelle also sent me gorgeous stitch markers and a nice spring like note card.
Stitch markers from Cocoa Swap
There was lots of hot chocolate, several flavors from Hershey and a can of Green & Black Organic Hot Chocolate that is made from bittersweet chocolate. I am really looking forward to trying that one.
Cocoa Swap goodies
I love wolves and here they are on a dark chocolate bar with cranberries and almonds, two of my favorites. There was also a very cute nail file.
Cocoa Swap goodies
And last, but by no means least, were the knitting goodies.
Cocoa Swap goodies
A cute little lamb measuring tape, Chibis (always very useful and I didn't have this size), stitch markers and ... Cherry Tree Hill Yarn in the absolute perfect colors for me! There was a lot of Cherry Tree Hill at Stitches but I didn't buy any. Maybe fate was trying to tell me I already had some coming. Thank you so much Michelle. This was an absolutely fabulous swap package. I hope your swap pal spoiled you rotten too.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Off to Stitches!

I can't believe it is finally here. Didn't sleep worth a darn last night worrying about whether I packed everything I needed for class and clothes. Got the car filled up, washed (it is now raining of course!), went to the laundromat to dry my clothes since my dryer decided that heat was an unnecessary extravagance and then went off to Girls Night Out to sort out my knitting bag, work on GAA and on the socks. Oh yes, I also made sure that my neighbor knows I am expecting my swap package so it won't have to sit on my porch and wait for me to come home.

I did promise to post pictures of Harry and also the wristwarmers so, better late than never, here they are.

Here is Harry holding the bag containing Emily's fox stitchmarkers.
Harry and here's a picture of him all wide-eyed in his new home in Toronto. I hope he is staying warm!Harry2

Unfortunately, you can't see the Celtic knot on the picture of the wristwarmers. I guess I am going to have to knit a solid color pair so you can see the details.100_0553
Jen says she loves them and so does everyone else who has seen them. Hope they aren't getting any bright ideas that I might be making more to send back east!

Last but not least, here is the progress on the Great American Afghan, block #1. Already I am learning lots of new skills, not the least of which is duplicate stitch. By the time I finish all 20 letters (socks x 4) I should be an expert.100_0564

Okay, my snooze alarm has just gone off for the 3rd time so it is time to hit the shower and then hit the road. Hopefully, I will see some of you at Stitches. It is going to be a blast!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My swap partner got her package!

Was thrilled to receive a note from Emily today as she let me know she received her Mmm...Hot Cocoa swap package. Since I still haven't managed to post a picture of Harry, swing on over to her blog to check him out. She got a great picture of him and he is oh so cute even if I do say so myself.

Still waiting for my package :-( About a week and a half ago, my partner got in touch and said my buddy was almost finished but I haven't heard anything since. Hopefully he will arrive soon since I don't want him to have to wait on the porch while I am off at Stitches.

I am still working on the first square for the Great American Afghan Tink-a-long LOL the knitting itself went reasonably smoothly but duplicate stitch is something new to me and it is taking more concentration than expected. I only have 1 1/2 letters done with 18 1/2 more to go! Yikes. Will try to post a picture of the square when it is done. I am also working on Jen's socks. I have turned the heel on the second one and have two repeats of the pattern done on the leg. On the first one, I did 10 repeats on the leg, went up a needle size, did 5 more repeats and need to go up in needle size again to finish it off. It's a knee sock so the increase in needle size is to make it fit over the calf. Hope it works. At least I shouldn't suffer from second sock syndrome since they are both in progress at the same time, right?

Time to get to the laundry and do some housework. I spent the last two days in San Francisco and am heading to Stitches on Thursday so I suppose I should work part of the time even though this is my vacation week. Take care everyone, have a great week.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Ta da!

Well, it was supposed to be Ta Da! with pictures but the camera is not cooperating. Since my last post worrying about all the WIPs not making any progress, I have actually finished two, count 'em two, projects. Harry the Hedgehog went into the mail yesterday, heading for a climate completely foreign to him. Snow is not something we find down here although it is not all that far away. On the same day I completed Harry, I also completed Jen's wristwarmers. They too went in the mail yesterday, along with a bunch of horse stuff, clothes etc to the tune of 40 pounds!! Yikes, I knew that box was heavy but ... I mailed two items yesterday and it cost me over $60. Oh well, job security, right?

Those two items were both finished on Thursday so on Friday I got brave and ripped out about 15 rows on the sock with the too short gusset. Got the gusset finished yesterday and started the short rows this morning to turn the heel but I have mangled something, not sure what. My plan for today is to figure out the problem, fix it, then finish at least as far as the heel flap before switching over to the first square of the Great American Afghan. Yessss, you knew I would have to join in on that as well, didn't you? For right now, I am watching the store for Kaylee while she attends her son's soccer game. Time to get to work. Hopefully, I will be able to update this post with pictures later today once Kaylee arrives. Have a great weekend!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

WIPs, WIPs and more WIPs

And not a finished object in sight, sigh.... I decided it was time to take stock of just what I had on the needles and to try to figure out just why I wasn't making any progress on anything. Of course, the fact that I was sick for nearly 3 weeks and that work has been crazy since before Christmas might have something to do with it but I think the following pictures might be more to the truth of it.
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First off, I have Jen's socks The pattern is Loopy Laces designed by Wendy Johnson and the yarn is from the Coffee Swap 3 package I got from Gil This particular sock is waiting for a needle that I ordered from KnitPicks on a friends order. The order seems to be lost so currently the sock is in limbo. Why am I waiting on another needle? I wanted to do knee socks so I needed to increase the diameter of the sock in order to fit over the calf. I didn't want to change the pattern so ... Larger needle, larger diameter, right? Hopefully it will work out. The second sock is also in limbo at the moment because I got over cocky and figured I could knit while watching TV. I did the increases for the gusset but when I looked at the pattern again for the heel turn directions I discovered I had increased on every row instead of every other row for the gusset. Haven't yet been brave enough to just rip back to the appropriate spot and I am too lazy to tink back that many rows. Jen just may get these socks sometime in July at this rate. Hopefully, she will think they were worth the wait.
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My Spring Shawl Surprice designed by Lul is languishing on Clue 1 while others have already completed Clue 5. Why, you ask? I have a couple of errors in a complex row and all I need to do is tink back one whole row and start over but there are a few other projects that have taken priority. Not to worry, I will eventually get back to it but for my current lace fix there is ....
Secret of the Stole II clue 1
Secret of the Stole II. I thought I was going to keep up on this one. I was actually several rows in to Clue 2 when I discover a dropped stitch about 10 rows back. Kaylee from Hooks and Needles Yarn Shop is convinced I can just drop down a section of stitches and reknit that section back up again. I haven't felt clearheaded enough to do that yet so this project sits in timeout as well. (Did I mention I have been working 10 hour days and that my day starts at 1 am? That explains the lack of clearheadedness if you know what I mean.)
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The project voted most likely to actually reach the finished state sometime in the near future is a pair of wristwarmers for Jen. In fact, she was asking about a projected finish date when I talked to her yesterday since "my arms are cold out here Mom!" You can't really see the details in the picture due to a combination of flash and the color pattern but there is a lovely Celtic knot on the back of the wrist. The second one is now several rows farther along than shown in the picture. I think I am about halfway through the knot. Since I have a limited amount of this yarn, I am waiting to see how the second one turns out before finishing off the first one. Thank goodness for KnitPicks options. I can just leave the first one on the cable while using the size 4 tips for the second project.
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Oops, can't forget Harry the Hedgehog. He is for my Cocoa Swap partner. We have to make a Winter Blah Buster Buddy for our partner and I think he will fill the bill. He has been the quickest project so far. I started him last Tuesday and felted him last night. Now my only worry is whether he will dry in time to be stuffed and mailed off next week.
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Then there is Jeannie. This is a gorgeous pattern but my lavender yarn just doesn't want to play. I have been having a terrible time finding out what this yarn wants to be. It is lovely to knit with but I just haven't found the right project. The unfortunate thing is that it is supposed to be for a birthday present the end of this month but I don't think it is going to happen. Anyone have any suggestions? It is a lovely merino laceweight hand dyed by Royal Hare in Santa Rosa, CA.
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This gorgeous Panda cotton is just waiting to be made into a herringbone dishcloth. Oh, and the Lily Chin Mock Cable scarf has been my in car project since last March. And there is the top down raglan I am supposed to be working on and .... Well, you get the picture. It is time to get my buns (or fingers I guess it should be) in gear and finish some of these darn works in progress. After all, Kaylee is starting a KAL for the Great American Afghan soon. I can't skip that bandwagon, can I? Hmm, I wonder what color scheme I should use ....