Its Done!

I finished Yosemite, this past weekend! It looks good, but I think I will give it just a hint of blocking with a little steam, before I wrap it up. I was working on this, yesterday, while I was with my mom. She says that it just looks like my SIL and that it should be perfect for her. I saw her the same day, and she was shivering she was so cold, so I'm sure this will be good for her as the yarn is worsted weight knit with size 5 needles and then cabled and ribbed, too, so the fabric feels nice and thick.
While I was with my SIL, I needed something else to knit (and the sleeve only needed to be bound off, so not much knitting left there.) I picked up Cambridge Jacket, again. I finished the first front and then started the second. Right now, I have this piece about half way to the arm hole bind offs. That's 10% of the sweater knitted in just over 1 day! I am now sure that this one will be done in time for Christmas. :)
I was also surprised by something yesterday. I was getting ready to leave my parents house and put on my Selbu gloves. The patterns on them are so beautiful and my mom was commenting on how nice they look. I smiled at her and said, "I might have made you a pair, but they come out best when knitted with wool." She is "allergic" to wool and so I figured that I'd hear, "Oh, well that's okay." Instead, she said, "Well, on my hands that might be alright. Can I try one on?" After trying it on, she said that she could wear them! I now have a smaller project that I should be able to make for her for Christmas. I love making those mittens, have yarn in my stash already and they don't take more than a couple days, if I concentrate solely on them.
Upon finishing Yosemite, I have an entire skein plus just a little more left over. This should be plenty to make my MIL a new hat. She is still dealing with being very cold all the time and has very little hair as a result of chemotherapy. The hat that she has been wearing is an old, yucky looking acrylic that bugs her. She won't wear it when she leaves the house, either. She needs something warm, so I'm thinking of knitting a cabled stocking cap that is rather plain around the edges. (ETA: I have been searching Ravelry for just the right pattern and think that I will probably knit this.) I knit a somewhat lacy hat out of a fuzzy yarn a couple years ago. It stretched out and then started to look matted. Since this yarn has a little wool in it, it should keep its shape, and since it is a smooth yarn, there should be no problems with matting. I plan to start it right after I finish Cambridge, however, I may take a short brake to make a mini sweater from Berroco's Minutia-08 pattern to take as my white elephant gift to my work Christmas party which is next week.

NaKniSweMo Ends

I managed about 20% of Morrigan during this month's KAL. The point was to get it done, but I feel really great about the progress that I've made! I've knit 4 of the 18 balls into the project.

Soon, I need to get back to the 2 sweaters that I'm knitting as Christmas presents. I have Yosemite and the Cambridge Jacket to finish before then.

I have, however, been working on Cambridge some this month. There are some times where I like to knit during another event. If the other event is something that needs my attention, then I've been knitting the simpler pattern of it, otherwise, I've been working on Morrigan. With all the great progress that I've made, I wish I could just keep working on it instead of changing back to presents! :) However, it's all so much fun that it doesn't really matter and I love to make things for others.

ETA: NaKniSweMo may be over, but I've signed up for NaKniSweMoDo for 2009 on Ravelry. This will be my first project to work on once the Christmas knitting is finished.

A Lovely, Long Weekend

This weekend I went to Lake Retreat, in Kanaskat, WA, with a group of friends form church. Saturday was lovely. Oft and on, there was SUN! The camp is on the west side of the lake and most of the benches face the lake. So, when I was trying to find a sunny place to sit outside and knit, most of the benches put the sun at my back. However, I did finally manage to find one that let me sit with my face to the sun. It was a great half hour, or so before the wind picked up and I went inside to warm up.

I have been working away on my NaKniSweMo project, Morrigan. It is starting to grow and the pattern is getting easier and a little faster to work! The cabling truly is lovely and the fabric so soft. I took it with me on the women’s retreat this past weekend. Everyone who saw it was awed by the complexity. I have almost 2 inches of the body done and figure that it is probably around 6.5% of the total project. I finished the first ball of yarn on Friday night and began the second after my friend untangled it for me.

I also took the Cambridge Jacket with me. We had 4 lecture style meetings while there and I like to be able to keep my hands busy. Morrigan is too complicated to fully focus on the talk, so I needed a simpler project. This one really worked well. I managed to finish the back a few minutes after the 4 and final session! It looks great and I had many compliments on that one, too.

On Monday, I knew that I would be tired from staying up too late at the retreat, so I took the day off ahead of time. I planned to knit on Morrigan some more, but ended up having a great time outside. I raked the leaves off our porch and flower beds, pruned some of my plants back, divided another plant and put away some little fences that I use to keep the neighbor kids out of the flower beds in the spring and summer. I have procrastinated for many months and finally did it! It looks great and I am happy to have it done.

Little Progress

This week has been a difficult one. As such there has been little knitting progress. I get migraines and they are worse when it is getting darker outside. They are also worsened by strong chemical smells. At work, lately, there has been a tar smell in the building. (A neighboring building has been re-roofing using a tar based product. Our building's ventilation system is set to bring in "fresh" air but can be reset to recirculate the air, instead. However, they have not reset the system until there is already a very strong smell in the building.) During the time off that I've taken due to said migraine, I did get a little further on my Alpaca Sox, getting the heel turn and gusset decreases finished on the first sock.
In addition to not feeling well, I hit a wall with the sweaters that I've been knitting. The colors for the fair isle work are not working together as I planned, so I'm waiting on it until I can go look for a different color to use. The mostly cotton yarn for Yosemite bothers my hands after a while and I'm getting tired of the same thing! :) However, I did pick it up again for a while today and have just another 2 1/2 rows until I start working decreases and binding off a few stitches. That will make it new and interesting and I'm sure to get much done on it in the next week or so.
I needed a cast on fix, today, so I started another present. I'm knitting the Cambridge Jacket by Ann Budd (Interweave Summer 2006) in Elann's Peruvian Wool. On the large, size 9 needles, this was a great quick satisfaction project. I have knitted through 2 of the 18 balls of yarn, in just the first day, and am almost to the bottom of the arm holes on the back! I'm not sure how much more progress I'll make as I do want to cast on for the NaKniSweMo KAL. I want to make Morrigan, from "No Sheep for You." I have the exact yarn, yes even the color, as the one in the pattern and have been excited to start ever since I decided on a project. I just finished looking at my Ravelry Projects page and I already have 10 projects started, but I am going to start something new. Ooo, I can hardly wait!