2 Finished Projects!!

I finished the yellow "Baby Stripes" sweater, tonight!!

When I finished it, I went on to finish the Huskies socks. They fit well and dh likes them. I was going to wait to give them to him, but had to see how they fit!

Knit...Knit...Knit...

I've been knitting quite a lot, lately, but have no pictures to show for it! On Sunday, I started knitting a sweater for a coworker's upcoming baby shower. I wanted something that would be machine washable, so I'm using the softest yellow, acrylic that I could find at Michael's. (Usually, I hate acrylics, but there are some good uses for them!) I have it almost done, but need to finish the last sleeve. When I was tired of knitting on it, I stopped and sewed as much together as possible. I even knit on the button & button hole bands and finished the collar. It has been a quick knit, which is a great way to take a break from some of my other projects.

In other knitting, I have the second Huskies sock almost done...Maybe tonight, or tomorrow. As I wanted to give them to him before Easter, I'm right on track. Phew, what a relief!

My shawl hasn't come very far since I last posted a picture. Its getting up there in the stitch count, so its starting to take a while to finish a row. I still love it, but there are only certain times that it can be worked on. Green Gable has been getting some work put in, as well, but I am still not down to the bottom of the armhole, yet. This is the project that seems to really be taking way, way too long.

I have so many projects I'd love to start, right now, but am making myself finish at least some (maybe 2? :) ) projects before I allow myself to do that! Finishing the project always feels so good, but I often feel like I have to drag myself through the last eighth, or so, of the item.

Oh, I almost forgot! I now have 2 friends at work that are meeting with me on Thursdays to knit! It has been so much fun to work with them. My one coworker said that she wanted to learn, and she has ended up showing me a new way to cast on. Both are working on their own at home, and doing a great job.

Birthday Celebration Movie Night

After work and dinner, last night, I had the exciting opportunity to go out with several good friends from church. We had a wonderful ladies night out. First, we went to see “The Ultimate Gift,” which I cannot say enough about. It had a great storyline and I thought the acting was done very well. There was no language, sex, or senseless violence in it! Maybe this filmmaker is getting the right idea. It is a real tear-jerker, at times, and having the theatre pretty much to ourselves (remember, a group of women, right?) added to the teary-ness of it. Throughout the movie I kept hearing sniffles from those seated around me. Somehow, there’s less embarrassment at such a thing when no men are present. (Probably because they like to poke fun, huh?)

When the movie ended, we headed over to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream & to present birthday gifts to the guest of honor. (On Sunday, my dh brought home 7 hanks of yarn from said birthday girl, saying that she kindly asks if I could wind them into center-pull balls for her. I did this after work, last night.) My gift consisted of her wound yarn and 2 more skeins that I pulled from my stash. She loves browns and greens, and I just happened to have 2 skeins of brown 100% alpaca left from a project. They will make a great, soft scarf. I knew these 2 would be a hit, as baby alpaca is the yarn that she loves to pet when we go to yarn stores! Anyway, we stayed at the ice cream place until almost a ½ hour after they closed. We had such a great time.

My Favorite, Current Project

I have been working on my Civil War Shawl, lately. It has become a favorite project that I just can't wait to pick up. This is because of so many factors. First, I love the pattern. The pattern changes a little every so often, so it really holds my interest. If it were all the same, I think I'd go crazy! Second, I love the yarn. It is just perfect for the pattern as it is super soft and the wool/silk mixture catches and reflects the light beautifully. Being so lightweight, the fabric is coming out very lacy and beautiful. Third, the pattern is complicated enough that this does not make good commuter knitting, so the project is maintaining its newness, as I can only work on it during the weekend. (This is when I get time that is somewhat uninterrupted!) Its going very well and I am looking forward to each new step in this creative process.

She Loved Them!

We had the Birthday party for my MIL on Friday night. She loved the socks that I made! She didn't try them on, but I'm sure they should fit. We had a quiet little party with just 2 of her 7 kids showing up. (My husband & his next oldest brother.)

Everyone brought some little thing as a gift, which she loved. We sat and played Five Crowns, a card game that is her favorite.

Yesterday and Saturday, I worked on my Civil War Shawl in order to get this week's assignment done. I finished the assignment, photographed it, and then kept knitting on it. I have about another 1/2 inch completed than shown in this picture. Its turning out beautifully, and the KAL is keeping me going on it. (At least, its reminding me to get some done each week. This in itself keeps the project in my mind and as something that I still want to work on!)

They're Done!

I finished the Malabrigo Gloves, last night! They are very warm. I wore them when I went to go to church for Worship Team Practice. They felt so good and soft, I didn't want to take them off!

My first Huskies Sock is also completed. I've cast on for the second one, but haven't quite finished the toe. I did not get a chance to knit on them this morning as I had to drive myself to work! What a pain. (I try to Vanpool as often as possible, as I like to have time to knit and really don't like to drive.)

Today is my MIL's birthday. As such, we're going to have a quiet little party for her. I'll get to see how the Blue & White Socks fit. I'm so happy that I found something she likes to give her as a birthday gift.

Tomorrow morning, I have choir practice. We are trying to finish rehearsing for our Easter Cantata. I'm looking forward to it as we're going to be practicing with the actual music, rather than a CD with some other choir's voices on it. Its going to be great.

Secret Pals

Secret Pal 10 has begun! I'm getting excited to start buying special things for my pal. I just love the anticipation of sending and receiving. Waiting to see if she will love the items I send is always fun, too. Hearing from my upstream Secret Pal, was fun. I had barely received the email for my downstream, when I received the email from her! She sounds as excited as I am to be in this exchange.
Last night, I decided that I would try finishing up a UFO, or two. I did finish the first Huskies sock on my way home from work, and then started on #2 last night. I crochet cast on is not too easy to do in the limited light of the vanpool, so I cast on and worked the first row. Between finishing #1 and starting #2, I worked on my gloves, a little. I was knitting while watching Star Trek Voyager with dh, when I realized that I had not worked the gusset for the thumb correctly. Since I was watching TV, I didn't realize it until I started on the first finger! This meant that I had to frog back to the middle of the gusset & rework it. I did manage to get it re-knitted and get 3 of the fingers done, too! I'm really hoping that this UFO will become a FO, tonight. I'm so excited to get these finished. It looks like I will have almost 1/2 of the ball of yarn left, so I may make a hat to go with the gloves. There was a little frost on my car, this morning. The cold weather made me wish that the gloves had already been finished.

Sock almost finished!!

I have 1 of the Huskies socks almost finished. I may even get it finished later on today! These seem to be taking a long, long time. However, I only have a little yarn left at this point. I started the ribbed cuff after taking this photo, so I actually have about 1 inch more finished! They're looking great & I think that they will be well loved.

A Knitting Weekend

This weekend, I finished knitting the first Malabrigo glove and started on the second. Past that, I worked a little on my Civil War Shawl, Huskies sock & Green Gable. I didn't get much done on any one project. Then, on Saturday, I met a friend at Village Yarn and Tea (one of my favorite LYS and the closest to my house) for tea and knitting. I wanted to knit something small for an exchange that I am finishing, so I bought a skein of yarn at the store & knit the larger "Spiral Bag" from One Skein. I finished it that same day, but didn't have time for any other knitting. The bag came out great, but I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it. Silly me!

A Yarn Gift

On Wednesday night, I arrived home to a package from Jen, from the International Tote Exchange III. In it, there was a skein of Malabrigo in a dark purple colorway. The yarn is so beautiful and soft, I just had to start something with it. I went through a few books, looking for a small project, and came across a pair of gloves in the One Skein book that I had been wanting to make. That same night, I cast on for them. I haven't had much time at home to knit, and these don't make very good commuter knitting, so last night I worked on them for about an hour, getting 1 finger and most of another knitted. I'm very pleased with the way this yarn is feeling as it is knitted. Its also much stronger than I thought it might be. I've often had singles, like this, break too easily. However, I had to go find some scissors to cut the yarn at the end of the first finger! This was a very pleasant surprise. (The color is much deeper than seen here. The flash washed it out some.)

Huskies Sock

Since beginning the Huskies sock on the 4th, I've knit the toe and most of the foot. Only one more inch to go, before starting the heel. I'm looking forward to the stitch being a little different as I work a short-row heel. I am doing the entire sock in stockinette, which gets a little boring after a while. However, it makes for great commuter knitting, since I can either look out the window (and knit by touch) or watch what I'm knitting, taking time to admire the way the colors are pooling. It has been a fun knit and is going a little more quickly than I thought that it might. The sock will be about 10 inches in diameter and about 11 inches in length. I split the yarn into 2 equally weighted balls so that I can just knit until I run out of yarn on the cuff. I'm hoping I have enough yarn to make it as long as the foot, but doubt that. Instead, I'll make it as long as possible by not using a hem for the cuff and using ribbing, instead.

One FO, 2 new UFOs

This weekend, I did manage to finish the Blue & White socks. I stayed up a little late, last night to get the ends woven in, but they look great!

On Friday night, I finished all but the hood on my cardigan, and for that I only have about 11 inches left to finish knitting. I'm excited to see this project almost done, as it will make a great Spring jacket. Our weather is warming up, after the snow last week, and so it is feeling like Spring, again. This will be some good motivation to finish the sweater.

I started 2 new projects this weekend. On Saturday, I went to my LYS to return the extra 2 hanks of yarn from the cardigan, and ended up exchanging them for some of Elisabeth Lasvold's Hempathy. I'm going to make the Green Gable for my mom for her birthday, in June. I finished off one of the six skeins of yarn on Sunday afternoon. Its looking good. She saw me working on it, and absolutely loved the soft hand to the fabric and the lace at the front neckline. I asked her a few questions about the style, which she answered as though the sweater was for me, but with an answer like, "If it was me, I'd..." This was perfect!! Then, she had a favorite sweater drying in the bathroom, so I measured it for length and width at the underarm. Green Gable should be very easy to knit to those specifications. I really want to make a new favorite for her.Finally, I started the Huskies socks. I am using my favorite pattern, Wendy's Generic Toe Up Socks, which I have re-calculated the number of stitches to fit a foot that is 11 inches instead of 8. I finished the toe, as seen here, and then worked another 1/2 inch or so on my way into work, this morning. The yarn is so soft and squishy. These socks would be hard to give away, if they would fit me. Of course, they won't, though as they will be way to big!

Shawl Begun

I started the Civil War Shawl, yesterday. I knit to row 45, this week's assignment. It felt like a quick knit, which I love. I started out with a size 5 needle, but that was way, way to big for this lace weight yarn. I went down to a size 2. Now, it looks great.

Before I could get started, I had to finish a few more stitch markers. I needed 15, and only had 12. (There are 16 repeats, but I use 1 plastic coiless safety pin for the start of the round.) These little flowers were fun to make, especially since no 2 are exactly alike. I do plan to make 16 more, so that once I get up to the point where there are 32 pattern repeats, I'll have one to mark the beginning of each repeat.

I also had some time to work on my cardigan. (Still no pic, but maybe soon!) I have a little over half the sleeve decreases done. This is one project that I really want to finish. With our recent bout of cold weather, it will be a great layering sweater, or once it warms up, will work well for a casual, spring jacket. The colors are working out perfectly, and whenever I knit on it in public, people always make positive comments about the pink/purple with the brown.

Off and on for most of the day, yesterday, we had snow! It almost never snows in the Seattle area, but here it is almost March and its coming down, again. I love to watch it, and like the sound of the silence that is so easy on the ears. My dh took our cats outside (normally they are indoor only pets) so they could experience the cold, wet, white stuff! I don't think that either of them liked that

too well!

Over night, we had 3 1/2 inches come down. See?