Durrow: Sleeve Started!!

Since my Worship Team Practice at church was cancelled for last night, I knit, knit, knit, and the back of Durrow is finished!! I'm still surprised that it has gone so quickly! (It needs a good blocking, but there are still live stitches, so I haven't done it yet. I will probably follow the directions and block it after I've finished.)

Having finished the back, I started on the first sleeve. It took me a while to figure out how to do the increases, but I did finally figure it out and
have been knitting away on it quite happily, since then. For today, a day off from work, I plan to set aside Durrow and work on the Mystery Stole until I have clue 6 finished! The clue came out this morning, of course, so I'm anxious to work on it.

By clicking on the picture of the started sleeve, you will be able to see the stitch markers from Danielle at Mad Caterpillar. They are staying out of my way while knitting (as they have no pretty danglies on them) and contrast the yarn so well that I never forget to change from 4x2 ribbing to the charted pattern. I love them.

In Exchange news, I received an email earlier this week saying that my Sockapalooza pal will need to be replaced by an "angel" because she broke her arm and collar bone. I don't mind waiting and my heart goes out to this knitter. I know that I would be soooo bored if unable to knit! I also received an email from my Secret Pal Hostess saying that she plans to get the matches made and emailed by the end of the weekend. I am almost as excited to start as I was for my first time in Secret Pal. I'm already collecting a few little things that I think any knitter would like and am planning on making this a great exchange for her!

Stitch Marker Package!

Today, when I arrived home from work, I found a Priority Mail package waiting for me. There were many things inside it, yarn, sock patterns (made especially for me from my measurements!) stitch markers, tea and some other things. It was great!

New Stitch Markers

After my husband left for his softball game, tonight, I pulled out the beads, wire and tools to make some stitch markers. Here are the sets that I finished tonight!


















Unfortunately, I had to spend about 40 minutes cleaning off my sewing/craft table before I could work! It seems that I never really know how it gets so bad...I guess I'm less organized than I thought! After all that cleaning, I was also able to use my swift & ball winder to finish winding the rest of the yarn (only 2 skeins) for the Green Tea Raglan. I finished off the last one that I had wound, while riding in the car this afternoon and was disappointed that I didn't have another with me.










I was on a roll, so I also decided to finish the French Market Tote. I used cardboard and a seal-able plastic bag to give it a sturdy bottom and then used this fabric that I had in my stash to line the bag, creating a pocket. I hope she likes it!

Lace Wing Scarf

I kept telling myself that I would not start a new project, but I just couldn't wait to start this scarf. It is the Lace Wing Scarf from Let It Rain Yarn, knit in Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Tweed. This yarn is so soft that it is making the perfect scarf. I have about 14 inches knit, already! The lady in the shop said that the pattern was designed to be a first lace pattern for those that want to learn lace knitting, or a simple knit for those that have already knit lace. I found, however, that the pattern was not very easy to memorize. It took me about 14 pattern repeats before I really down! (Its only a 4 row repeat, but the the 5 stitch edging, there is pattern work on all 4 rows.) Now that I have it down, I'm zooming along, having a great time. On size 7 needles, the scarf seems to grow by several inches in a half hour! (It probably isn't that much, but it seems like it!)

When I arrived home, Saturday, there was a package waiting for me from Fire Mountain Gems, containing some bead that I had ordered to make some more stitch markers. I made these on Saturday night. (Click the picture to see it bigger.) They may or may not go for some exchanges that I have coming up!

More Stitch Markers

I've been working almost solely on my CWS, lately. I did get 2 full weeks behind, so I'm trying really hard to get caught up to the rest of the KAL. However, I needed a break, last night. So I worked on these! Some may be for an exchange, or not. I really could use 16 more markers for my CWS. The repeats are getting long enough that having 2 repeats between each set of markers really are too many.

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?

A Restful Holiday

Since I had Monday off for President's Day, I spent the day not doing much of anything. Of course there was a little laundry to be taken care of, but I worked on making a bunch of stitch markers, too! Some of the ones that I finished are here and may go to a partner in an exchange. Also finished are about 12 markers that I intend to use on my Civil War Shawl, once that KAL begins.
I, also had the opportunity to finish reading Katie's Dream, which I had begun over a month ago and just never found the time to sit and finish it. Yesterday was a great day for relaxation.

Sock Progress!

I've been knitting almost exclusively on the blue & white "Sock-It-To-Me" sock. I have the first one done and just finished the toe of the second one. I've decided that they will be a birthday present for my mother-in-law, who loves my hand knits, but is afraid to wear the last pair of socks that I made as I told her that it is best to hand wash them. These will be machine washable so I'm sure they'll get much more use. After all if they aren't used all the time spent knitting, seems like such a waste.

On Saturday, I went shopping for some green beads to make stitch markers. Here are the ones that I found. They're bright green glass with parts that are cloudy & parts that are clear. I might even do something with some of them, today!

Stitch Markers

Last night I finished the bag for the Tote Exchange. It looks great.

After finishing, I started to work with some wire and beads. I want to make myself some stitch markers and found some jewelry findings at Michael's last Sunday that should help. Here are the finished markers:

They were fun and quick to make. I may have found a new hobby!!