Ackey Breaky

I think I will take a break from knitting for the rest of the day!!!! It took me 2 1/2 days to knit 3 washcloths and my elbows and back are killing me. Need a nap! But I know that I will be working on a warmer/snood thing for a friend before the night is over with.

Christmas Gifts Are...

a flogging slog!!!!!!!! I have to either start in January or not do it at all. Back is killing me, carpal tunnel is flaming, and I hate it!

Amen and Pass a New Project

One Christmas gift done and hand washed, don't know how long to dry. Friend hasn't sent me foot drawings to get a better sizing for a better fitting sock, nor the yarn for sons handwarmers. Guess it will be the 12 days of Christmas. Now on to two small bags and two washcloths, plus the extra two inches on the anklet socks. Wahoo. It never ends for the slow knitter!

Winter Rain Is Here

Gotta start finishing two knitted pouches for soaps, a hand warmer (yes I did figure third time was a charm for the first one, and some washcloths.

As a what the heck, I entered the Ready Set Knit 200th episode drawing. I figure that since I have nothing to lose in entering, I might have a bit of a chance, even though there are tons of people entering....

If anyone reads this the link is:

http://readysetknit.yarn.com/?utm_source=zoomerang&utm_medium=survey&utm_campaign=RSK200th

The podcast is great by the way...

Elizabeth Zimmerman

I know I just probably butchered her name but....What is up with this woman? It is like every knitting podcast that I listen to talks about her at least once. WTF? Is she a goddess amoung knitters? Are her knitting patterns compared to Julia Child's Art of French Cooking recipe? That is what knitting podcast people talk about her like. Can anyone illuminate me on what Elizabeth Zimmerman is for knitters?

Gift Wrist Warmers

Well, first time I started the first glove, totally screwed up about 2" up the wrist part. Tore it down and started over. Second time I am into the glove, I totally skipped a needle, tried slipping the stitches back but the whole thing would have been taking too much time, so I took the damn thing off the needles to go back before the boo boo and couldn't get the stupid stitches back on the needles. So I hope that the third time is the charm for getting at least the first glove done with. Was hoping to give these as a gift for a friends birthday but think its going to be for Christmas. Hopefully my friend is going to give me exact measurements for her feet so I can give her matching socks. But not holding my breath.

friggin a

I am falling behind on posts, podcasts, and everything else!

My second pair of scrap ebay yarn anklet socks have been put on the side. After an hour of looking through my printouts, Ravelry, and a comment on the persons paqe for the simple pouch, I actually found the freakin printout for the printout. I convinced myself to start the gift bags for soaps for my step mother while my friend gets back to me about her size 8 1/2 to 9 foot, with or without shoes issues. Suggestions from Ravelry has me asking her to trace her feet and mailing me the traced feet. Also waiting on her measurements for her sons wrists for wrist warmers, which I always thought was just a couple of seconds of measuring, here's the measurements and will send you yarn simple. Guess not. Well, if my ass is dangling in the wind, guess somethings will be on the simmer until next year. Does anyone out there feel the pain of knitters?

Also the pain in the ass email from the TSA on flying with knitting, throw that email out the flogging window. If it is not metal, you borrow or mail sharp objects to where you are going, your freakin fine. I spend 12 + hours in planes or in airports driving myself up the wall.

Can anyone please tell me why I am attempting to even knit for pleasure at times?????

Ah the joys of knitting

My brother brought over his dog and guess she found her inner cat. She had disappeared in the house and he asked me to check where she was. I went to the stairs, called her name, she comes prancing down the stairs with yarn wound around a leg and proceeded to lay on the carpet and just unwind the yarn all over, as you can
tell by the pictures. I actually had to soak the yarn to get the major slobber off of it and it is taking FOREVER to dry and its going to take more time to untangle the damn stuff. I kind of like this yarn, which is the the stuff I made the pouch out of, which I posted a pic of.
I emailed the TSA about knitting on a plane trip to Maryland, I don't want to read the whole 5 hours on a flipping plane. Metal needles are risky, no scissors, plastic or bamboo are safer but 'please bring a self addressed stamped envelope with you in case' bull hockey. Gotta remember to stick my lighter in the suitcase so that doesn't disappear. I really hate flogging flying! So I guess I am going to be bringing more than one book and save all my long podcasts for the plane trips. Maybe I can take a couple of chop sticks from work, see if I can use a pencil sharpener and maybe try to make some wooden double pointed needles out of them. It's an idea, right????
One other thing I am trying are knitting the anklet socks without the ribbing on the top of the foot and am finished with one sock. I feels more comfortable than the ribbing one. Boy I hate wide German peasant flat feet! Really gotta start playing with sock patterns to see what I can do. The lengths are good but its the width.

Midway Through Brain Farts

I don't know what it is but it always a brain fart in the middle of the knit project where I just don't want to do more but have to force myself to finish. I can't tell if I think something is brilliant and get a reality check or I just feel blah after it...

but I have finished a pouch that's kind of nice but need to do one or two more before I can start giving them away to friends.

Not That Ahead

I finished the first anklet sock and I am past the gusset on the second one. I am finally done with the orange, green, and white yarn! Yay! I am not really in the mood for knitting. Not sure if it is the second sock syndrome. Or the fact that after my mom and I had come back from camping this, not this weekend, but the weekend before this one. The Sunday and Monday were fine, but on Tuesday all hell broke loose. Our eldest cat first woke my mom up at 6:30am, then curled up and slept for a bit. Then threw up several times. And then by the time I got back from school, the cat was bouncing off the walls, hissing in closets, and everything else. Mom took her into the vet on Wednesday. No news on Vygr, the cat, until I was at class on Thursday. My mom had to put her down because at the time, the vet thought it was kidney failure and after a couple of days of not getting any fluid through the kidneys. My mom had to put down our cat. We found out today that she actually had cancer in the abdomen. So between second sock syndrome and a missing cat. I am not feeling the love of finishing another sock. Our other cat is very confused of why we are suddenly paying more attention to her.

Aran Fleck Yarn

Whew! I had bought two of the three do hickey's of the aran fleck at the store with about 15 full things of yarn. I had looked up on the red heart website, looking for the match for the yarn, and it was stating it was $2.19 per thing of yarn. I said what the heck I can take the 31 cents cut on the yarn. Well $5.00 for the two things of yarn, I look the color up on the web and got a reprieve! I was seeing prices from $3.25 to $3.99. The only difference between the stuff I have and this new stuff...Old has yellow, pink, blue, red, green flecks and what I think of is pure white. The new stuff looks more off white with tan and black flecks and a little bit more rough to the touch. But hey if my old stuff and the 10oz of new stuff can do some socks, a neck warmer, possible hand warmers and or a hat, good deal. I can always go back for the last 5 oz of yarn.

I Dunno

I am sooo tired of orange, green, and white variegated yarn and just want to get it over with. Am almost done with the first anklet sock and glad about it. Know the yarn is going to shrink because I washed my fingerless gloves and they shrunk. So hopefully I can still wear these after I wash the socks.
I went back to the store and the green yarn is acrylic and not wool. So I didn't get the yarn, plus they were slightly different in shade. But there is some Red Heart white yarn which has some flecks in that I might get, think its called Aran Fleck. I already have some of it and maybe I can make some socks, fingerless gloves, a neck warmer, and a hat to match. Maybe maybe not. But just checked the Red Heart website and if it is reasonable to the $2.19 price, I might get it. I have a feeling that it's $2.50 at the place I saw it at. So I am not sure... As I said who knows?

Hodge Podge

I scrapped my first anklet because I just totally screwed up the gusset and decided to up the size. Forgot that I had been used to knitting size 8s for my mum and forgot my feet are bigger than hers, or at least wider. Almost done with the first one. Got the stereotypical gap on one side of the gusset! Freak a duck! But I think it was because I just wanted to get the damn thing done with, so I did 1" of the leg, the heal, heal flap, gusset, and about an inch of the foot in one sitting. Not a wise thing.

Gotta go back to this place a couple blocks away. It's like a small diner in front where all the old farts go to socialize but a strange place to get knitting stuff and some other things. There is a green wool yarn I saw there the last time I was in there and really am thinking I need to go back. I mean for $2-$4 per skein, hell it's cheap. Maybe I can find a yarn winder there. Just have to look through everything. It's like going to Goodwill and finding a gold mine worth of stuff. Does that sound right?

Ankle Socks

Boy I had finished the heel, the flap and started to just knit happily along. Get an inch and a half along the foot, looked at the instructions, went oh shit, to realize that I had totally skipped the gusset. Fuck a duck! So I started to tear out stitch by stitch but decided to take the needles out and just rip. Thankfully I got close to the heal to start gusset. I am the only one who is going to wear these so I figured that I can put up with a cockeyed gusset. Was up to about 2:30 getting to the point I was pre gusset. Back is screaming and when I stopped, I had muscles in my right arm start to twitch. One bad thing was that I had switched from desk lamp to oil lamp, didn't secure the hood of the lamp, went to blow it out, hood slipped burnt the thumb part of the top of my hand and I have a nice burn/blister on my thumb where I hold needles. So think I will be using some ibuprofen before I try to finish this first sock.

Oh Happy Day!

I had finished the fingerless gloves on the 29th and promise to post a pic as soon as possible. I am attempting anklet socks that might be scrapped for regular socks but don't know yet since I have only done a 1/4" of the first sock. But hopefully they will match the gloves in some way, shape or form. Had to go to Michael's to get the correct dpn's and realized how much I hate working in retail. My mom bought a couple of things, maybe 15ish items. I was behind her. This impatient blessed witch behind me kept shifting, looking like she really wanted to be at the front of the line type of actions. She had asked if there was another cashier available. By this time I was really trying not to turn around and pop her one. By the time a second cashier came up, I turned around and said, 'ma'am do you want to go there?' I asked her two or three times and she was oblivious to me asking her if she wanted to go to the new line. All I wanted to do was tell her if she's going to open up the fat pie hole she has, then be a witch, why the fuck do you need to open your mouth in the first place? If she just waited a couple of minutes more she would have been through the flippin line!

I am sorry but I am not really good with impatient witches. I think that they should find their own freakin island and systematically bump each other off.

Anywho, I hope that the yarn I am using, which is pretty old, or oldish, isn't too thin for this pattern I am working on. Pics to come.

One Down One To Go

Finished up one fingerless glove and onto the next. Had to do 8 bind off/on stitches for the thumb instead of the 6 the pattern called for because my thumbs are kind of thick. Hands don't want to work due to trying to screw an Ikea chair together and my back is killing me...hopefully it's not a cold coming on.

Am listening to Knit Happens Episode 27 from PDX.fm, it's driving me mad! The host is interviewing Laura Irwin and Ms. Irwin is making me bang my head on the wall for all the 'you know's', 'ums', and 'likes'! Ooops, can't forget the 'yeah' and 'oh yeah'. Come on girl! If you are doing classes, those three things will be a definite no freakin way I am going to take any of your freakin courses.

You know...

Yawn

In shredding the wrist warmers...starting over...I feel unethusiastic about finishing them. But I hate to stop the project. It is like reading a book you thought would be good but is extremely borin, though you feel bad about putting it back on the shelf... But even though I know they will be good for camping on the Oregon coast, nights can be a little nippy.
But summer classes have started, mowed the lawn (which sort of throws off the wrists & back in the push mower), I just don't know. All excuses I know. But need to finish. Then maybe a set for my mom to match the socks I finished on the last camping trip.
The thing is that I want to go onto neck warmers, a pair of socks for me (to probably try to knock off some of the stash I had gotten a couple of years ago), wash cloths I needed to get done for last Christmas but didn't. The hat kit that I bought in Washington state 9 months ago. Does anyone have that lazy moment for general knitters?
Oh, magic loop seems to work fine. Need to work on thumb holes, might have to modify the pattern to adjust for my thick thumbs.
Note to self, need to find out how to knit socks on circulars, two socks on circulars, and from toe up patterns. Maybe the toe ups or doing two at a time socks would get me over the funk of doing heals. Anyone know anything to help me on these subjects?

Wrist Warmers

Sweet Jesus! I should just follow the damn pattern and not switch needles in the middle of the second one. So now I have ripped both of them to shreds and am determined to start again. Think I have learned how to do a magic loop and seeing if I can do it on my own. I know that the knitting news cast wrist warmer generator requires double pointed but I am going to try the magic loop. If it doesn't work, will go back to the double pointed.

Don't know why I am obsessed with knitting all of a sudden, except to get rid of some of my stash. Not sure if I should start knitting Christmas gifts or what now but who knows?

Knitting Podcasts

I am getting addicted to knitting podcasts, not sure if I am scarily so or not. But am staying up late listening/watching TheKnitGirlls podcast video and an apostrophe hit, eh, an epiphamy (hope that is spelled right!). Sorry that is taken from Robin Williams Hook and that slipped out. They were using what looked like zip up cosmetic bags to stick what they were knitting on in. I am taking the train up to Seattle for a ball game and want to knit on the train but didn't want to take my knitting bag with me. But a year or so ago I had bought a couple of what I call shaving kit sized things from Ikea, thinking that it would be a great thing to stick a couple of toiletries in to take to the camp showers so I didn't have to cart the whole travel bag I have for all the things I need for whatever. I took the ball of yarn, needles, scissors, and a measuring tape stuck it in this shaving kit type thing and it works. So I don't have to worry about needles running away, balls going everywhere, can stick it back into my travelling bag without worrying about where everything is. And it has two snaps so it can expand a bit. I also found that using one of those pencil cases, the ones that your kids use and can go into a three ring binder, also helps in keeping extra needles, one of those stitch holders, extra little stich count things (even though I get the cheap ones, I loose them consistently), and extra patterns I either scan out of books I have or off of Ravelry (just fold them up and stick them in). Well gotta go to bed, it's a little after midnight and I need to get up at 6. Not a morning person! Boy am I such a dork!

Amen for Camping trips!!!!

Finally got the socks from hell done with on the camping trip! Yay! Don't know why but these socks took me 8 months to do.

Now onto finish handwarmers. See Ravelry.

Exams Over

Exams are over, work is out for the summer (so I think), so I am avoiding facebook and trying to finish that bloody second sock! Am 4 rows to doing the foot of the sock and I decided to listen to podcasts, add a couple of extra knitting podcasts to my list, and try to work through this freakin sock. Hopefully I will get this freakin thing tomorrow. Once I am done decreasing the gusset dohickey, it will just take me a bit to knit through the toe. But right now I am running on fumes. So hopefully I will do to the foot tonight. Think my next project will be just something like a change purse to get chenille out of my stash!

Dreaded Heals

Dear heals,
I hate you....Why does it take me so much longer to do heals than anything else on the freakin sock? I feel like I need to dig a double edge through an ear drum or an eye to get them done... This is why dentistry is probably better than doing freakin heals for me! Thank goodness I am almost done with you!

First Post From Me

I had to change the format from egg hunting on facebook to something else. Will talk about a set of socks that I have missed three events in finishing and need to get them done. The socks of hell was a sock project for my moms birthday last November, didn't happen. Then it was for Christmas, didn't happen. Found out I didn't have enough of the navy yarn, the yarn company didn't have it anymore. So I had to order some black yarn to do heals and toes in. But when I got the first sock done, in the navy, realized FOLLOW THE PATTERN ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Got a pointed toe. Then I wanted to redo the first sock and get it all done by Mother's day. Guess not. Found it's hard to do projects with work and school and trying to knit on the bus. Another snag is I packed all my loose knitting stuff up somewhere and can't remember where. Bad bad knitter! So thankfully I had some materials I have been practicing with to make earrings and made myself a stitch marker.

Gotta get this freakin thing done with! More later.