Kris Crafts! Christmas 2005

I m way behind on FO pictures, as well as WIPs. Today will be for FO s.
I just finished up with updating my gallery for 2005.

I knit and crocheted 56 items last year. Very cool. Anyway, I owe you a picture from way back, January of 2005.

I crocheted slippers for my sister for Christmas (hers was the first gift I completed), but couldn t post pictures because my sister absolutely can not be trusted to not click on a link that says Michele, don t click here.
Anyway, here they are:
I also finished up the Faroese Shawlet on December 23, but completely neglected to either block it or post a picture. Here s an unblocked picture:
I am happy to report it is drying on my blocking board as I type this.

I m going to sneak in some non-knitting stuff here on Friday, after we went to the cross-stitch store, we had a nice lunch at Karl Strauss, then shopping at the Carlsbad Outlet stores. Lots of fun, and I got Nine West boots that look a lot like in chocolate brown (I couldn t find the actual pic online). They were only $20!

!! Super deal.

I also picked up these cute Sketchers:
Love them.
Anyway, back to knitting. I finished Fitzgerald a really long time ago and never posted about it.

Pattern: Fitzgerald, Noro Knits and Ann Budd s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns (modified drop-shoulder)
Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool in 16, six skeins
Modifications: Added length - Brad is tall!
Time: 10.25 hours for the back, 8.

75 for the front, 6.25 for the first sleeve, 6 for the second sleeve, 2 for the collar, and 3.75 for the finishing, for a total of 37 hours.

I also whipped out a Dulaan hat - I bought an extra skein of Rob s hat yarn so I could use it for a kid s hat. I literally cast on right before seeing Brokeback Mountain (an excellent movie, I highly recommend it - I cried a lot, so bring some tissues). I had to stop in the movie because I got to the decreases way too quickly, and I didn t want to do those by feel.

I appear to be picking up knitting speed - this exact same hat, same yarn (in charcoal), also knit in a movie theater (watching Hitch) took 2.25 hours, and this one only 1.75 hours.

This is my final FO of 2005.
I didn t realize that today was a holiday for most business except for mine, so I belatedly decided to take a floating holiday today. Since my vacation started a day late due to work I had to get done, this returns me back to the 10 days of no work (for the price of four vacation/floating holiday days).

I m totally not ready to go back to work tomorrow - it seems like I didn t get nearly enough done at home! It was really nice to be able to just hang out with Brad, no homework to do. I m also going to miss this face:
I worked hard on Wednesday and Thursday to finish up the Christmas gifts for and .

I also made version for me and my sister.
(Marisa s is green, Miyon s grey, mine is blue, and my sister s is red).
I got the idea from Martha Stewart Living - I want to say June?

If anyone really cares, I can go look. Basically I did was make lined pockets, stitch them to the front of a plain canvas bag (from JoAnns), covering the edges and handles with ribbon. If I had to do it again, I d get a size of ribbon that was slightly bigger than the handles, instead of exactly the same size as the handles, as it was near impossible to keep the cream handles from showing through.

All very cute, but frustrating to sew into all of the nooks and crannies of the canvas bags.
For the lined notions bags, I used a tutorial found . The only difference is that I serged all of my pieces first, serging some sew-in interfacing to my black fabric at the same time.

Also, after step 4, where she says she pressed everything to keep it flat, I also top stitched on the sides of the zipper to keep the fabric from getting caught in it. My corners aren t fabulous on the bags, but they re still cute. The fabric is knitting themed fabric I got from - .

Last night Miyon and Marisa came over for our usual knit night (though it s been on Tuesdays more often than not). I had just gotten the pattern for the annual ornament in the mail (the ONLY thing left on the sidebar countdown). They helped me make decisions on fabric, which I m going to tea dye today.

I originally tea dyed pre-blogging, but I gave myself ! Only problem is that we threw out all of our crap tea, and there s no way I m using the good stuff to tea dye. There will be a quick grocery run this morning for crap tea and I ll do my dying.

We plan to go to Carlsbad today to visit the outlet stores, and hopefully swing by a cross-stitch store. As luck would have it, the pattern is simple, and won t be too long to make, but it calls for beads and thread that I don t have. I called the Needlecraft Cottage, the knitting/cross-stitch/needlepoint store in Pacific Beach, and they don t have the specific floss color.

I can order all of this stuff online, including the chart, but I m kind of hoping I can get this done by tomorrow, so I don t have to be a total fraud and stitch 2005 Prime; on an item I finished in 2006, even if it was the 2005 annual ornament.
I don t know if I mentioned that I have the entire week off. We ve been going to the gym, but I learned something very important this lie around the house vacation.

I planned WAY too much stuff for myself to do, so every day I feel behind. I m on vacation, and I feel guilty that I m not accomplishing anything! Clearly, I need to learn to relax.

Anyway, there s a knitting thing going on this morning, but I m going to have to pass and have a Brad day instead. I ve been tied to my serger and sewing machine for the last two days, and this is the only time in the entire year when one of us isn t in school (he s on the quarter system, I m on semester). The fact that he suggested that we go to the outlet mall today is shocking, and I can t waste it.

We ll probably take in a movie this afternoon too.
Oh, and the decision on the Jaywalkers, which Marisa and Miyon helped me with: I ll be starting over on the Lorna s Laces. We all agreed that my Jaywalker relationship is perilous as it is, and although I can be sure that Socks that Rock from have great Jaywalker vibes, if it doesn t work out for me I ll be crushed.

I want to finish by Feb 14 (the end of the KAL) so I needed to make a choice. We ll see when I finish it - last night, instead of casting on for Jaywalkers, I started on my sister s River. Kid silk haze will cure the knitting blues!

My sister wants to start knitting socks, and loves the 3x1 ribbing that did. After giving her the pattern over IM (basically giving her links to the toe and heel that she should do (I love the one s in ), and then discussions of stitch count and cast-offs, I now think that this will work for my Socks that Rock in Hard Rock, otherwise known as the yarn that will never be Jaywalkers. Of course, now I m talking about having four pairs of socks going right now (Waving Lace, Jaywalkers v6, 3x1 rib, and the Log Cabin socks).

I m feeling so unfocused with the knitting these days.
Finally, in the how can this possibly be comfortable category, my darling doggie:
Two mittens, two thumbs.
Whoo hoo!

I leave today for Seattle for a training class. Hopefully by the time I get back, all of the gifts will be in the mail. That s Brad s big job this week.

That and write the Christmas card letter, and mail out the Christmas cards. He s done with finals, he s got the time.
I m taking the Faroese Shawlet, Jaywalkers, Waving Lace socks, and the second sleeve to Grace with me.

More than enough for four days, three nights, right? I ll probably have to be working from my hotel room in the evenings, so I m really not going to have all that much time besides actual travel time. Actually, I think I ll leave the Jaywalkers at home - reading this list now it sounds like a lot to lug around.

While I ll follow Cara s advice and go a little farther before freaking out on the pooling, I m 5 repeats in already, so I think I can only give it another 5 before I decide it needs to be adjusted somehow.
I ll probably blog from the road, but I m not going to mess with pictures. I ll be back Thursday evening.

The ladies at Black Sheep clearly think that I m nuts.
I went last night for my final chibi installment (these were purchased in three trips) and went ahead and cleaned them out. I m still explaining to them about the small bent tipped needles, and they seem shocked that the picture of the on my blog resulted in me sending these across the country.

My chibi is included in this picture, which I immediately unwrapped after taking the picture, so I don t accidentally send it to someone. One is for my , one for , who is giving me a leftover skein of her precious cotton ease that I need, one is for , who is going to spin my 20 g of roving for me, and the last four are for - which I guess everyone is going to have a chance to win (well, maybe only three of them). If you re in San Diego and wanted an orange chibi, Black Sheep did say that they were going to order more.

Sorry. *blush* As of the 20th of November, Common Threads didn t have any, but it might be worth a call.
Look!

Ahh, the magic of blog photography. Except
I would have finished that up too last night, except I got home at 8 pm from my killer spin class, and by the time I had showered, eaten, and knit the rest of the top of the mitten, the call of my bed was too loud to ignore. If I m crazy, I might finish that up today after work, then magically pack for Bakersfield so we can be out the door by 7:30 or 8 pm.

I have it on good authority that the thumb will take one hour or less. Then the remaining roving can go out the door with the Christmas packages.
I am two hours away from completed Christmas knitting.

This is where timing comes in handy - the first took me 5.25 hours, I m 3.25 hours into this one, therefore I m reasonably sure that I have about two hours left.

Whoo hoo! There are still three things more to go for Christmas, but they re not knitting, and one of them is actually for me and Brad (our annual Christmas ornament). I would really like to finish the mitten before we leave for Bakersfield either Friday night or Saturday morning, but if not I ll finish it up Sunday evening.

I want Brad to be packing and mailing while I m in Seattle next week.
Here s where I get kind of crazy - I m going to have roving left over. I thought it might be cool to be able to incorporate it into some sort of matching hat (not for this Christmas!

), but I would do that with yarn, not roving, because I don t see why anyone would want a poufy head. The thing is, I don t spin, and I m probably the only person in the knitting universe that isn t really tempted to start. (If I were to do anything else, it would be weaving).

I ll probably have about 20 grams of roving left - so I guess what I want to know is a) would someone spin it for me as some sort of trade? It s Fleece Artist Merino roving - I know merino is harder to spin, but that s all I know and b) would I be able to get enough out of 20 grams to maybe duplicate stitch vs to match the mittens, or maybe just work it into the cuff? So is it even worth it?

Okay, lots of questions and comments yesterday, and rather than try to answer them individually, I thought I d just do it here. First, I have done magic loop - in fact, the other socks I m working on now, Waving Lace socks, I m doing with magic loop. I hope to find a favorite method between magic loop, 2 circs, and DPNs.

I think I m beginning to realize that every method is a pain until you have a bit of fabric done - nothing starts elegantly.
On to the tubular cast-on my reference is . I highly recommend this book - if you can only have one technical reference in your knitting library, I d get this one because it s the most comprehensive.

The weird twisty tubular cast-on that I talked about is actually in the current Interweave Knits in addition to the Knitter s Handbook, as the sock pattern in there uses it. Interweave calls it 1x1 rib cast-on. Miyon and I gave up on that one because we were both having issues with the twisty cast-on being really hard to tell if you twisted it at the join.

If you like pretty pictures, has nice illustrations for the yarnover tubular cast-on that I mentioned yesterday (though I think it might be called kitchener). I actually used these instructions for this cast-on up until now, though The Knitter s Handbook does have it. The tubular cast-on in is very similar, but instead of yarnovers at the very beginning to increase your stitches, you re picking up those extra stitches after the first three rows are worked.

I ve never tried this method myself - the yarnover method has worked for me, so I haven t tried the other way (and there may be more ways, I don t know). I m not far enough on my socks to know if the join is weird yet, but I think only working two flat rows of knit 1, slip 1 instead of four might have made it okay. I do love the tubular cast-on, it looks very finished and stretches with the ribbing, but I do get lazy and skip it in places that it would be highly appropriate (like these thrummed mittens, for instance) due to the extra time investment.

I ve used it for sweaters before, and I think that Nancy Weisman is wrong when she says that you shouldn t use it for 2x2 rib - I ve done it with excellent results. I ve also done it with less than great results (Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton), so I think that should be decided on a per-project/yarn basis.
an article that talks about Nancy Weisman s way.

is one that uses the yarnover.
Anyway, that s all I know!
dc:title="First, to brag" Of Christmas knitting!

Whoo hoo! Not that I don t have other things to do before Christmas, but whatever.
I m already halfway done with thrummed mittens.

These are done with Cascade 220 and Fleece Artist merino roving. What a difference! My first thrummed item was made with Briggs and Little Tuffy, which is really rough (good for thrummed slippers) and some random, not very nice roving, and it was not fun at all.

I like my materials much better this time around, and I m enjoying it. I split my roving down the middle lengthwise before I started so my mittens should have about the same variation in color - one won t be more gold or burgundy than the other.
In not as great news, I seamed Grace s shoulders, and pinned in the completed sleeve.

Too long. I have no idea how that happened. Anyway, Brad thought it was a fairly easy fix, and I explained the ripping back and reknitting of the sleeve cap.

His next suggestion? Cut it off of the bottom and reknit the ribbing. I m kind of impressed he even thought of it (even though it won t work due to sleeve increases).

Grafting is out of the question too, as the sleeve has lots of texture and it s just not worth the pain. Oh well. Glad I checked before a) I knit the second sleeve and b) I seamed.

Thanks for all of the kind comments about the dress and River! Being a software engineer (and working with them), the standard comment was something like Your hair looks nice! I almost didn t recognize you.

I spent most of the day yesterday working on my dress for the Holiday party. Here s a picture early on:
Since then, I ve sewn the dress, the lining, and the foundation piece with boning. I just need to install the zipper and sew those three things together.

Brad got to go to JoAnns twice yesterday, first to pick up more interfacing (I underbought the first time), then he got a frantic call from me while he was in Costco. I had got extra fabric caught while serging my lining, and with a serger, you can t just pick the stitches out - the blade had sliced up my lining. He found more for me and stood in the incredibly long cut line again.

Husband of the Year! I hope to finish everything but the bottom hem today. I figure I can get Marisa to pin it for me when she s here on Tuesday.

After I had my fill of sewing, I settled down to whip out a Christmas present. This is an ornament from Handknit Holidays. I made up my own tree and duplicate stitched it in (I have no idea how you would do intarsia in the round).

The whole thing only took 1.75 hours, and I used stash yarn leftover from my .
Then I finished up my first Grace sleeve, which I only had 45 minutes left on.

I evaluated my remaining yarn and realized that while I may be able to eek out the second sleeve, there is absolutely no way I have enough yarn for the button bands and collar. I ordered another ball from the ebay seller I got it from in the first place (she says its the same dyelot), and because I couldn t stand the thought of paying $4 shipping and handling for a $4.50 ball of yarn, ordered enough Cork in chilly and gleam so Brad and I can have Log Cabin socks from Handknit Holidays.

The idea of socks for Brad s size 13 feet out of sockweight makes me a little ill, but Cork, I can handle. I really suck at this no buying yarn thing - I turned a one skein necessity into eight skeins total.
I m thankful for the fresh baked peanut butter scones with ooey gooey chocolate centers that I baked this morning in the kitchen of the home I m lucky enough to share with my wonderful husband.

ETA: The scone recipe is from , Chocolate Peanut Butter.
I m thankful for my wonderful family and friends, and the fact that I m lucky enough not to have to worry about where I m going to sleep, how I m going to eat, or who to count on when I need support.
April is done!

I had myself a bit of an April marathon on Friday night, and then finished up fringing on Saturday morning before we went off to Temecula.
Pattern: April, (prices are Canadian)
Materials: Black rayon thread, red beads, also from Swallow Hill Creations
Dimensions: 3 Prime; wide, 46 Prime; long not including fringe
Time: 9.25 hours of knitting (8.

5 hours for the knitting, 45 minutes for the fringe)
1) It says to knit for 36 Prime; or so - I just knit until my bead supply ran out. I like the length I ended up with.
2) The pattern says if you drop a stitch, to rip out your work and start over.

That might be fine if you re on the fourth row but after that, no thanks. I put lifelines in, though I didn t use them, I did feel better with them there. Also, if you drop a stitch, it is difficult to work it back up with a crochet hook.

Instead, I d tink back the row or two until I could recover the p2tog that I lost. You can t tink back in the traditional sense, where you put the needle in the stitch below and then tug on the working yarn. Instead, I d pinch below the stitch, tug the working thread, and then recover the freed loops.

It s very important to pinch firmly.
Yesterday, Miyon and I met up to do some yarn store hopping on our way to visit Marisa at a craft fair she was participating in. The first yarn store we went to was a brand new one, Knitting on the Beach in Solana Beach.

Unfortunately, we didn t check the hours, and they re not actually open on Sundays. Seems weird to me. Anyway, the peek inside looked promising, so we ll be back to check it out some other time.

Next it was off to Black Sheep. I decided that I want to try my Jaywalker knit-along socks as two socks on two circulars. Since I didn t have Addi circs in 2s (I m a tight knitter, so 1s are too small), I had to pick those up.

Then I was pulled in by Clover and their damn cute notions. Black Sheep had both the new orange chibi and the green locking kacha kacha counter. Despite the fact that I found a locking clicky counter (not clover) at Rhinebeck, I couldn t resist.

I was going to resist the orange chibi, but it comes with small bent tipped needles! Not the huge giant ones that you can t use for socks in the green chibi.
Then we had to find more parking (we should have asked Black Sheep if we could just leave the car for the fair since we spent money in their store, but we didn t).

We went to Common Threads just to see what was going on, and we were pleasantly surprised. They re clearly starting to move away from their color organization. It looks like it will take a while, but just seeing some of the yarn organized by type made us very happy.

They have also started carrying Lorna s Laces Shepherd Sock! Ironically, they had Motherlode, the color I had on backorder for Miyon for about three months (she did finally get it). Only six or so colors so far, but I m excited that they ve started carrying it, as the local selection of sock yarn so far is lacking.

They also expanded their space. The new room looks like it might be their new classroom, in addition to a kitchen. We found the shop cat there, with the best seat in the house:
Leilani would be jealous.

Then we started wandering around the booths. We saw some cool stuff, but managed to arrive at Marisa s booth without having purchased anything. We visited for a while, and then started walking back to the car.

We saw a booth with tons of different scents of soap, lotion, body lotion sticks, lip balm, etc. and we couldn t resist. We spent a good 15 minutes smelling everything and talking to the owner, who crocheted washcloths to go in little gift packages.

Once she found out we were knitters, it was all over, as she switched her sales pitch to talk about how her products don t have mineral oil in them, and won t hurt the yarn. We were sold, and walked out with some yummy scents. We were so close leaving with nothing!

Oh well.
I was going to save up pictures, but then I figured that I d post them all, and then take tomorrow off.
Here s River, blocked and with that rogue stitch repaired:
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Trance, 2 skeins
Needles: US 10.

5 Boye circulars, US 6 Brittany DPNs for knot
I said I would wash Celina s gift, block River, and block the mistake rib scarf yesterday. I managed to wash all of the colors without putting in Celina s gift, so there went that then once I pinned out River, I realized there was no way that the scarf would fit on the towels as well. All of these long things that I can t fit on my blocking board!

Anyway, so here s River:
It blocked out to 21 Prime; wide and 72 Prime; long. Just perfect - I m really glad that I added in the extra repeats (I did 16). You could probably get more length with blocking if you only do the specified 12 (instead of the 50 Prime; the pattern specifies), but I imagine you d have to sacrifice some width.

I should be able to unpin it tonight, and then I can put the mistake rib scarf down, assuming I have the energy after class. I m still coughing, which is annoying the crap out of me. I can t really get back into cardio exercise until the cough has gone away.

I did some work yesterday, but I did start the beaded scarf, April, another Christmas gift. I got the materials for this from Stitches West last year - it s knit using rayon thread and beads, from (prices are Canadian). Decoration only, which is good, as the recipient would never need an actual scarf.

It was a slow start (especially if you factor in the stringing of the beads). The pattern recommends winding off the rayon for the fringe first (to make sure there s enough), and letting it sit on the winding card while knitting the scarf, so the rayon will unkink. I borrowed a and wound the fringe around a DVD - I just have to hope I finish the scarf before we want to watch the Incredibles again.

A smarter person would have removed the DVD from the case first .
Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from attending the first two knitting for newbies nights that hosted, but I was able to attend last night for the third. and I were the first two there (we just can t hide our enthusiasm!

) I didn t have my camera, but Miyon took pictures which I ll link to when she posts them.
ETA: here s the !
Miyon has crossed from the world of enabler to pusher", first taking/sending brand new knitters to the fancy shmancy LYS for yarn (and they did get some fabulous stuff!

) then lending a pair of Addi Turbos out. Once you go Addi
There were probably around eight of us total, with varying degrees of experience. Some of them had just learned to knit at the last night at Miyon s, one learned last night, and everyone had different projects in the works.

If you ever need an ego boost, helping out newbie knitters is a good way to get it! The it s funny cause it s true quote of the night directed at me was you ve only been knitting a year and you re already this crazy?
I worked on my mistake rib scarf for an hour.

I made excellent progress on it, but I have to say, the actually knitting of this scarf is leaving me cold. Luckily, it shouldn t take long at all:
That s about 20 inches. I rewarded myself for that hour by pulling out my second feather and fan sock, which hasn t made its photo debut here yet.

I ve just finished turning the heel, and have to pick up the gusset stitches (meaning it s been booted from the purse knitting spot until I get that done).
To answer question from yesterday - I was totally on schedule for Christmas. I started in January, I had a list that I ve been checking gifts off of all year long, and I was looking good.

Then happened, and I got a month behind. No problem but then I started adding people to the list. Not good.

Especially since it now looks like me working weekends is somewhat of a permanent thing, as we re behind schedule and we have a major deadline in January. My general plan is that I ll work the weekends up until Thanksgiving. I am then taking my four day weekend, end of story.

We ll see what kind of ground I can make up in those four days .
dc:title="One sleeve down, one to go" I walked by this at least five times before Brad finally couldn t stand it anymore and told me he got me something. I walked into the kitchen (past them again) and asked dishwasher detergent?

I did finish and block the multi-directional scarf. Somehow it grew another 14 Prime; to 86 Prime; long (6 Prime; wide)- I can t imagine why I was that far off. Brad tried it on, and he thinks it s fine - the recipient isn t as tall, but was a football player, so I think it should be fine.

This was done with almost four skeins of Noro Kureyon in 51, using the pattern. It took me 9.75 hours.

is also blocked.
That took 8.5 hours with the remainder of the Fleece Artist Kid Merino from the Flower Basket Shawl I knit a while back.

Final dimensions were 7 Prime; by 76. First, the reservoir near my sister s house:
Those were the only red leaves in the area. I did get to see beautiful autumn leaves on the way back from Rhinebeck, but was unable to capture anything on camera worth showing.

The first place team in the Fleece to Shawl Contest was called Ladies of the Weavening.
The guy we talked to from the men s team, upon learning that neither of us were from New York, asked us what brought us to the area. We told him we came for the Sheep and Wool Festival, and he seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would fly or drive to come to it.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning we ate at Double O, a restaurant right across the street from the festival. I can t recommend them enough - the food was great, and our waiter on Saturday night was fabulous.
Also, I got recognized twice on Saturday while out and about at Rhinebeck.

The first one was Sarah from and the second was Anj from . It was pretty cool. I can t imagine what it must be like to be someone who has many more readers, though - must be hard to shop!

Anyway, yesterday, Michele and I went to her closest LYS, which turned out to be closed. She assured me that I wasn t missing anything, and we headed off to Wild and Woolly.
I m kind of torn on this store.

The selection of yarn is great, with probably one of the most complete Rowan collections. I saw a knitted baby blanket sample that I loved, and wanted the pattern. We had to ask three separate salespeople before they finally told us that the pattern was a shop pattern and was only available with the purchase of the yarn to make the blanket.

While I guess I understand the concept (though it does seem to me that they could have gotten some money out of me selling me their xeroxed pattern with no picture when it was clear that I was not in the market for baby yarn), we shouldn t have had to ask three people and spent 10 minutes ourselves looking for the darned thing. This was the only store I ve ever seen that has had enough Manos of many different colorways to make sweaters, so it s likely that they re just used to bigger spenders than me and my sister.
Final count: 8 yarn stores, one huge fiber festival.

Result: so much yarn that I barely fit it all into my previously half full suitcase.
Michele and Ed will be coming to San Diego early in March - I find it s easier to leave when we have plans for the next trip. We have so much fun together!

My plane ride home was uneventful - lots of knitting to be done. I m halfway done with the multi-directional scarf (Christmas present) in Kureyon 51 that I started on Sunday:
I started on the right front of Grace (I had finished the left front on Saturday night) while watching Bewitched, one of the most boring movies ever:
Then I finished up another three repeats of River, bringing me up to seven. I m still on my first ball of yarn, but I m getting close to the end.

Pictured with it is the clutch I purchased in Northampton that I plan to use with River:
I m totally late leaving for work this morning (I m on flex time, but I m normally there by now). I m dragging a little this morning - I came in last night at 8:30 pm. I m not looking forward to my work email!

Not that they re a bad thing, but I m fresh out. Thanks so much for all of your kind comments on all of them! I have four things crossed of the 10 WIP list, and have made good progress on October goals, so far.

I ripped out collar. While it s cute standing up on the model, wearing it like that for one day (back in April) made me wish it were a little longer so I could . I had originally shortened it to make it a better length for standing up.

I lengthened it this weekend, and did a tubular bind-off instead of the basic chain bind-off I had done before. It s not perfect, but looks better.
I decided to go ahead and do Fitzgerald s collar, while I was in that collar mood (at least I can do the actual knitting of ribbing while reading, if not the picking up of stitches and binding off).

Brad liked it an inch shorter than the pattern indicates. The tubular cast off looked better with the smoother Araucania Nature Wool (instead of Noro Silk Garden), but I had to kind of stretch it out so it would lie flat, making it look a little messier.
I also blocked Butterfly s collar again, this time aiming for an arc shape.

It still doesn t lie flat on its own, so I m going to cheat and tack down a couple of the points in the back. Of course, unless it gets cooler fast in (link is for the weather) I won t be wearing either Butterfly or York.
To keep with the WIP management plan, I ve decided not to cast on for the next multi-directional scarf until Branching Out is finished.

They use the same needles, and while I could use my Denise needles for the MD scarf, or even 40 Prime; long Addi Turbos that I have, it makes more sense to just finish BO first. I thought I was going to be making a color choice, but after pulling out both the Noro Silk Garden in 201 and Noro Kureyon in 51, I realized that the Kureyon is much more guy friendly. In a convenient bit of luck, this year in the M family gift exchange, we drew the very same married couple that I was making things for anyway, one of them being this scarf.

I m also going to hold off on starting on River until the back of Grace is completed. By holding off on starting on two deadline pieces until non-deadline pieces are completed, I m either motivating myself well, or shooting myself in the foot. Time will tell.

Especially since the MD scarf is now due on Thanksgiving instead of Christmas (they do the M family gift exchange early.) Exactly seven days until I leave on vacation.
dc:title="Okay, I m done with the FO storm" Finished dimensions: 6 Prime; wide, 78 Prime; long
And I m not done yet - I finished the thrummed slippers for Grandpa M.

The second went faster than the first, since I had already figured everything out, and I m so relieved to have them done. We went to watch the Michigan/Michigan State game, which gave me time trapped in a sports bar with nothing to do but the slippers (I purposely didn t give myself options).
Yarn: Kit including Briggs Little Tuffy, 1 skein in Oxford, 88 and 60g of carded fleece.

Modifications: None, just adjustments for errors in the pattern
came over last night ( had a last minute conflict). After dinner, I did some more blocking. It s amazing how much fun blocking is when you don t want to be knitting the thrummed slippers.

Anyway, I soaked the front and back of Fitzgerald with Here and There Cables in Eucalan, and then laid them out. Fitzgerald wanted to grow, badly. My swatch (yes, I swatched) did not grow at all, so I was surprised.

I pinned Fitzgerald out to the right measurements, though I ll definitely be seaming the shoulders and basting the sides so Brad can try it on before I start the sleeves.
Here and There Cables is just too long to get in the shot, but here s a partial:
The cables look really pretty spread out a little, which is really hard to see in this photo.
I did in fact work on the thrummed slippers, when all of the blocking was done.

I m really bummed about having to knit a second one after the first one is finished. If a party invitation comes your way that has the words logistical nightmare in the title, don t go. John s lucky I like him most of the time.

Any party that requires the identification of poison oak, sliding around in rocks, and napkin hoarding among the women can t be a good thing.
Edited to add: Miyon wrote up the party much better than I could have - check it out . Keep in mind that I m still the same old Kris and stayed the heck away from everything to do with feet.

After the logistical nightmare, I had to work. Fun for me. I do have a picture, however - the front of Fitzgerald is finished.

I finished it Saturday evening while reading a chapter for my grad class. The neck is curling badly in the picture, but you get the general idea:
Half of a skein of the Araucania Nature wool (there was a knot about halfway through) was just horrible. Every two rows or so, I d come upon a section that had a ply or two broken.

ANW doesn t split splice well, at least not for me. So after having to tink back to the beginning of the row to cut out the bad part and rejoin a couple of times, I finally ripped back to where the problems first began and started over with a fresh skein. If I end up with extra yarn, which I m pretty sure I will, I ll just toss it.

This problem robbed me of movie theater knitting on Friday, though.
I first started on Gpa M s thrummed slippers back in . I had only done one thrum row before I cast them aside to work on Rosita full time.

I picked them up again last night, despite them being the least appealing WIP I have going on right now. and were over for our almost weekly Tuesday knit/TV night, and I figured if you were going to knit things you don t like, it s better to do it with good company. I ripped out the thrumming I had already done, which did not result in pretty hearts, and tried again.

I have no idea what I was doing differently (I swear I was twisting the return stitch before) but my results are much better now.
This is the cuff and the heel of the thrummed slipper. I m using a pattern that I got in a kit from a knitting store in Canada.

So far, there s been one error, and now I have another problem. I just turned the heel and have picked up all of the stitches. I have to decrease a couple of rows for the foot, but it s clear from the directions that they didn t think about where I was after having finished the last instructions, so I don t know where these decreases should actually take place.

I ll look for some sock patterns with heel flaps for help - this is basically an ankle sock with thrums.
Lani made the most of Miyon bringing along a comfy purse.
My dad came down to visit yesterday(he s here until this afternoon).

We went out for dinner, but in normal fashion, spent a lot of time on the couch. Brad needed to watch the original version of the Manchurian Candidate for one of his classes. I got Here and There Cables finished:
I need to block it, but need the floor of the guest room (which my father is sleeping in).

At 70 Prime;, it is too long for my pretty blocking board. I ll give the specs when I have my final, blocked picture.
Birch is on the third set of needles.

First, I transferred it to Boye circulars. The join was much better, but the cord is horrible. I know boiling should help, but I haven t done that yet.

I then put Birch on my Brittany straights. It is definitely different knitting on straight needles. I m kind of sad - knitting Birch should be so much more fun, but the needle issues are getting in my way so far, and making my progress ridiculously slow.

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments on Rosita. asked what s next? Well, the answer is simpler things.

I spent Friday swatching for Birch, , and . Madeleine is still in the works, though I put it aside to cast on for , and then in a moment of weakness, Soleil as well.
Yesterday, I had a work function at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

I have to admit that I have some moral opposition to horse races (though I m much more passionate about irresponsible dog breeders and pet stores). It was still fun, though, and the horses are just beautiful. Pure, solid muscle.

Brad was taking his last final while I was at the picnic, so Sam went with me instead. He did place some bets, and was actually pretty successful, especially for a guy that picks horses based on their names. Brad and I got home about the same time and decided to use the movie tickets that my sister thoughtfully sent us and went to see Wedding Crashers.

Hilarious movie. Anyway, stupid me thought that the air conditioning in the theater would be a welcome change from the heat, but they had seriously under conditioned for the almost full theater. I was knitting Fitzgerald (by feel) and had to eventually put it away because I got too warm.

Oh well.
I m knitting this in lime green Adrienne Vittadini Marissa, a pima cotton/silk blend.
This sweater isn t actually so much Fitzgerald as it is a modified drop shoulder sweater from , since my 5 spi gauge with Araucania Nature Wool doesn t match the 4.

5 spi that Fitzgerald calls for. Also, I m going with 5 Prime; of ease instead of 10 Prime;, thanks to some help from and Andrew. (I was thinking 7 Prime;, she said 6 Prime; looked just a little big on Andrew, so I m going with 5 Prime;.

) I ll follow the instructions for the Fitzgerald collar, otherwise I ll be following Ann Budd s book. I ll credit them both when I do my final project run down (months from now). I used the tubular cast on for this (the same one I tried and scrapped for Madeleine, but had successfully used for York).

With worsted weight wool, this cast on is fabulous, DK weight wool cotton, not so much.
Birch is going on the needles as soon as I buy Addi Naturas in a US 6 (I wanted to yesterday, but didn t leave Del Mar early enough to run up to Encinitas). Or, until I decide to knit it on the 14 Prime; Brittany straights that I have.

I guess we ll see which comes first. I ve got a little post-monogamy project explosion going on over here.
dc:title="Big day today!

" I finished up the first skein of yarn for the Here and There Cables scarf from Scarf Style. I m using . Here s a good picture of the cables:
I m one third done, at 21 Prime;-22 Prime; inches.

This scarf is a yarn eater (calling for 800 yards), and my sister and I discussed that earlier. Rather, I said I really want to make this scarf, it s really cool - oh, I know, I can make it for Collin! Wow, this takes a lot of yarn.

Michele said, Isn t that a lot of effort for your husband s cousin s husband? and I said but I really like the scarf! One skein (and almost eight hours) into the scarf, and I m over it.

Of course, now I m committed. I love the way it s turning out, it s just that a scarf that takes 800 yards also takes a lot of knitting (though I cheated and have 726 yards - it will be a little shorter, but the pattern is for a 72 Prime; scarf anyway). Oh well.

It is a fabulous scarf. We just return to the theme of how I m not going to do this for Christmas next year. Period.

I m finished with my first real lace project. I m glad that I had read many bloggers talk about the unblocked, unremarkable lace fresh off of the needles and the magic that happened with blocking. When FBS came off of the needles, first I was hit with a whew, finally finished that cast-off row (that took forever) but my second thought was eh, it s alright, I guess.

Not very impressive, huh?
I love it.
Needles: US 9 Addi Turbos, US 13 Denise Interchangeable needles for the cast-off
FBS is a Christmas present for my mother-in-law.

I m now dying to start on either Kiri or Birch. I have a little dilemma - I was going to knit Kiri because, well, I didn t want to buy the $20 magazine. very nicely offered to lend me the magazine, though, so now I m torn.

I figure the main considerations are:
a) the rows getting shorter instead of longer (point 1, Birch)
c) possibility of annoying the crap out of a new knitting bud by taking too long to knit, and therefore return the magazine, for Birch (point 1, Kiri)
Tough one.
(The astute among you will notice I do not have enough dog-free blocking space for Birch or Kiri in the horrid blue carpeted room. Never fear - my birthday is late July, and I know exactly what I m getting.

A blocking board. Our birthdays are full of un-romantic gifts - we usually get each other the gadgets we desperately want. Last year, Brad got a grill, I got a serger.

This year, he got an ultra fancy electric shaver; I m getting the blocking board. )
Yesterday I started on the Flower Basket Shawl from Interweave Knits Fall 2004 (after I studied all day, I swear - I did every single practice problem that my professor recommended). Anyway, I got to midway through the second lower repeat, and messed up.

Tinking didn t get me to my mistake (I was still a stitch short after tinking back two rows), so I took it off the needles and ripped back. Getting it all back was challenging and frustrating, and now I know my lesson. I put in a lifeline now that everything is back the way it s supposed to be (at the end of the first repeat) and I ll keep on moving it throughout the shawl.

I love the yarn, but it doesn t frog well at all (Fleece Artist Kid Silk). This shawl will be a Christmas present for my mother-in-law.
Nice lace blob, huh?

I am blocking the fronts of the Phildar Ribbon Cardi. Marisa and Erika assured me that the length looked fine. I believed them, but my sleeve shaping is definitely longer than it should be, so I might have to rip back regardless to shorten that (it is that long to fit in the cable pattern - to shorten it, I d have to start the armhole shaping after I start the cable pattern).

When the fronts are dry, I ll try them against the sleeves to see how it is.
I m almost to the point in the back where this any changes I make to the front are relevant. (I knit 26 rows on Saturday, just while waiting for things).

Hopefully I can figure out all of the length issues this weekend - in the meantime, I can start on Carla again, as I got the needles from Marisa that I needed. Well, that and take my final exam on Wednesday - there probably won t be much knitting until Thursday.
2.

Finish Mary Ella Not done - I didn t even touch it
6. Make one item for the Dulaan project Done
8. Keep the yarn stash at the same number or lower (this might take a miracle, as there are 15 skeins of yarn in my Elann shopping cart right now) Not done - I knitted up 19 skeins of yarn, but with the elann purchase, and then the cotton-ease hoarding, I purchased more than that.

Oh well.
1. Stop knitting long enough to do everything I need to do in the last weeks of school (final projects, studying).

2. Start on the Phildar ribbon cardigan
3. Start on Carla
4.

Knit at least two repeats on Mary Ella
5. Cut the quilt batting for Michele s quilt
6. Knit the Flower Basket Shawl for Brad s mom
7.

Knit the Fleece Artist socks for Kenzie
8. Knit one item for the Dulaan project
9. Keep the yarn stash at the same number or lower
Obviously, I had a bit of a spurt of activity last night to get everything done in April.

I felted Sheri s clogs and refelted Kevin s (Brad thought they were a touch too big, and lucky him, the refelting got rid of the red fuzz). I also finished up the Dulaan hat that I had started the day before with my leftover Lamb s Pride Bulky in Blue Magic (only 1.5 hours for a child sized hat in bulky yarn!

)
Kevin s clogs, drying again:
I did work on my programming homework during programming class. I m really frustrated at how long this assignment is taking me - I could do it in 30 minutes or less in Java. In C I m spending so much time looking up how to do things and I can t get over how awkward string handling is.

Anyway, during my stats class, we had presentations on random topics where business meets statistics. I m blown away by the amount of people that can present about what their companies do - doesn t anyone care about proprietary data? Anyway, I couldn t work on my C homework and pay attention, so I pulled out my knitting.

So, now I have completely knitted clogs:
These went a lot faster than Kevin s, by about 2 1/2 hours. It was such a relief to put this pattern away! (It s a great pattern, I m just currently sick of it.

) There will be a felting party soon.
San Diego Humane Society update: My mom is donating $100 to the - with the money that I ve collected at work and online so far, this puts me at $380! Only $120 to go to meet my goal of $500!

Remember, knitters get put in a drawing for two skeins of Lorna s Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway of their choice from . There are only four people in the running for it so far - you have until May 6th to donate! (My walk and the drawing are on May 7th).

My dad has been writing a blog of his own - !
dc:title="These clogs aren t done yet?" As my going away gift from work, I got this:
I thought it was a pretty good gift, and everyone laughed when our executive assistant explained that she picked it out because I like to knit, and I have a dog.

These are probably the two things that most people know about me. Leilani wasn t especially impressed with it, though:
It did make for great sitting around and talking knitting, as the base of the bed is just a stockinette square. Here s Leilani critiquing my progress:
At that point, I was almost done with the base.

I was supposed to pick up stitches and knit up the sides. As you might be able to tell, it is a bit too small to have sides on it, which makes me wish I had picked the flat method, which would have involved an intarsia border (something new for me). Instead, I picked up stitches all around, and I ll be knitting on a mitered border at some point.

It s a quick and easy knit, but it is chenille, and the yarn sheds like crazy.
In the car, I did my non-social knitting, the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. It s not a difficult pattern; it just involves a lot of counting.

I finished up Brad s father s pair, one on the way up, and one on the way home.
They are HUGE. Here s Brad s size 13 foot for comparison (same size as his dad s, which is very useful, as Brad will get to be my foot model for felting).

I hope to felt these soon. I ll put full specs up once that s complete, but in case anyone is wondering, I used Lamb s Pride Bulky in Dark Charcoal and Blue Magic.
I m so tired.

This has been a rough week - the time change (I miss Hawaii; they don t observe DST), my slightly nutty gym schedule, my complete desire to be done with school, the first week in a new project at work. I have five class sessions left, though stats isn t meeting for two of those. We re supposed to be working on our stats project during that time (though there s a San Diego knitting meet up one of those days).

It is blatantly obvious that I need to get my butt in gear for my project. We have to do a multiple-regression analysis - basically I have to analyze many different causes for something. The example in class was ticket sales at a baseball stadium (what percentage of available tickets are sold in the season).

The factors that could influence that are the payroll of the team, if there s an all-star on the team, if they were in the play-offs, etc. I m kind of at a loss for ideas - the best one I have so far is housing prices in San Diego (and I didn t even come up with it, Brad did). I welcome any and all contributions.

I would prefer something that no one else is likely to do.
Like an ass, last night I lost my car after class. I wandered around for 15 minutes before I found it.

Even the fact that it was a Seinfeld episode didn t make it any better.
I did get some knitting done. I finished up my third reverse bloom washcloth.

Sick of them yet? I certainly am. I had kind of intended to make a fourth with my leftover yarn, but I m not sure I will.

Maybe I ll put it aside for later, or maybe throw it away. Maybe someone else wants to make a three shaded washcloth. Or not.

A sweater with no zipper, but look!
I had woven in some ends before I went to Miyon s yesterday, and then finished weaving in ends and knitting the collar while I was there. It was a huge help having two opinions on when I should bind off the collar - no offense to Brad, but I trust Marisa and Miyon more in this area, so I was relieved to have it done before I went home.

Miyon and I ordered zippers - now I just have to wait for them to arrive!
That wasn t the reason I went to Miyon s, though - yesterday was our day to start knitting Mary Ella. Or, in Marisa s case, let us benefit from her being the pioneer.

This is what I have so far:
I did a couple more repeats after I got home - while at Miyon s, I noticed that I had put an extra bead in an area, and I wanted to see if I could break it off rather than tink back. That s when I switched to York. I did in fact get the bead off (with a pair of cuticle nippers) so I continued with the knitting for a little while longer once I was home.

Then, just for good measure, I finished up the 7th Christmas gift.
This is another washcloth made with Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille - I got really upset with this one, as I had not one but two stitches break. I m going to knit two more washcloths, one in my last remaining skein (this one NuMei, not Crystal Palace) and one with the remnants of all three.

I might keep this washcloth and give away the next solid colored one, as there were some problems with this one that resulted in a less than perfect finished product.
I worked on it during happy hour with some co-workers last night, and then finished it up when I got home. It took longer than I thought, 4.

25 hours, but I had to rip out a petal due to talking and knitting at the same time.
The chenille is a little wormy, but I was anticipating that. Maybe I ll get better at controlling the worms as I knit more of these.

The washcloth took 30 grams (32 if you count the 12 ends I had to snip off) and I have 17 grams left. I should be able to make a third washcloth from the remnants of two, but I ll definitely be able to make a fourth from the remnants of three (I have three shades of pink).
The most annoying thing about this project was the large amount of ends.

I should have had ten ends to weave in (a bit much for a one skein project), but I had a knot in my skein, so I had to weave in twelve. , , and I met at the local Coffee Bean last night to start on reverse bloom washcloths. First we had to wind a whole bunch of cotton chenille (we all have three skeins).

We got a lot of funny looks, and a nice police officer hopped up to help when part of my ball winder went flying through the air. (It was fine, it was just the removable metal thingie that guides the yarn - it had come loose.) Anyway, here s the start of my washcloth, my sixth Christmas present.

These are going to be quick Christmas presents - I bought some nice soap in Julian to go with mine (I m giving them out singly, while Marisa and Miyon are both giving out the full set of three).
Interesting observation - I have two skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille and one skein of cotton chenille from . Marisa and Miyon only have NuMei.

I started on one of the Crystal Palace skeins, and I was the only one with a lapful of chenille fuzzies when we were done knitting for the night. It could be me manhandling the yarn, but I ll be able to tell when I get around to my NuMei skein.
Anyway, I finally managed to get a decent picture with my left hand of my right wrist warmer.

Common sense would say that I should ask Brad to take the picture, but I can never remember to ask him when he s in the house.
I m on fire - about a quarter done with Christmas gifts on March 1st. I finished up the while my sister and Ed were off riding up a mountain five times.

I used a touch under two skeins of in Denim Spray, for a scarf 7 Prime; wide and 56 Prime; long. It took me much less time this time around, 9.75 hours.

The first scarf was a little longer, but took me 16.5 hours. I attribute the new speed to the Addi Turbos - if you re going to use this yarn, you have to use the right needles.

I hated working with it with my Denise Interchangeables.
The scale was quite useful - I had weighed to figure out how much yarn a repeat took (12 grams) so I could tell when to stop. I have only 6 grams left, and I m throwing them away.

We re off to spend the day with my mom and her boyfriend in La Jolla before I come back home to race to class. Before I go, some nauseating pictures of Leilani:
I just had a three day weekend, I have to work today, then I have the next four days off plus a weekend. I decided not to take today off due to limited vacation days (I had more, but didn t want to completely wipe out what I had), but I feel pretty dumb right now, getting ready for a one day week.

I m half done with Amanda s multi-directional scarf. I m knitting it in the exact same yarn as before, Sirdar Snowflake Magic Chunky in Denim Spray, and it is much, much easier with Addi Turbos. I m kicking myself now for sticking it out with the Denise Interchangeables last time.

Here s my sister s progress, in Noro Kureyon in color 95:
She s enjoying knitting with the Kureyon, though she cheats by yanking out an entire color from the center so she can see what comes next.
Knitting was interrupted with a massive cleaning out of my closet. My sister was a huge help, and I m donating a ton of stuff to Goodwill.

Our closet looks great now, you don t trip over shoes anymore (it s a walk in, and we were having trouble, you know, walking in). I hate all kinds of cleaning, but it feels really good to be done. dc:title="What on earth possessed me?

" The fun fur is dead! I have officially removed every sign of it from my stash. How?

Well, first I finished the mittens:
Specs: Partial skein each of Lion Brand Fun Fur in Citrus, Caron Simply Soft in Sage. They took me 6.5 hours, and the pattern is an adaptation of the one in Ann Budd s book, , using the Fleece Artist Favorite Mittens decreases.

I figured that I was on a roll, so cast on for the scarf. Same formula as ever, 16 stitches, US 15 needles, double stranded. I finished up the first skein of caron simply soft and started the second, and used 2 full skeins of fun fur and finished up the last of the first skein.

It took me 3.5 hours. So, my fourth Christmas present is done!

Obviously, we re a bunch of couch potatoes in this family. Well, my dad and I went to spin class while Brad was at work and Michele and Ed were biking up some mountain. After that, we had dinner with John and then became couch potatoes for the rest of the night.

was nice enough to post her spreadsheet for everyone. I m going to add on her idea to track monthly additions and subtractions - I was keeping track this month as a residual from the contest, just to see, but I like the idea of tracking it continuously.
Thanks for all of the comments yesterday - my sister was happy.

She really is a fabulous gift giver.
Speaking of my sister, she got the oddest comment on her yesterday. She s not a regular blogger, and she got a comment yesterday basically saying that she was letting down her audience.

Weird - and seriously, when did people decide that it was the responsibility of bloggers to keep them entertained?
No work today, whoo hoo! My dad arrived last night, today is conveniently my off-Friday, and Michele and Ed are still sleeping.

I figured I d sneak in this post while I could.
First, the birthday present from my sister. My birthday isn t until July 24th, but she couldn t wait to give it to me, and it was probably best.

I totally would have bought it for myself by then .
It s a gently used knitting bag, which is the best knitting bag/purse ever! I carried it all day yesterday and absolutely loved it.

In the bag is a skein of wonderful wool from in boysenberry. I ll use this for my Hurry Up Spring wrist warmers from Stitch n Bitch Nation. When I have the time, that is.

Here s the finished hat - a very unexciting 3.75 hours on US 8 and 9 needles using partial skeins of Caron Simply Soft in Sage and Lion Brand Fun Fur in Citrus.
I should be done with these in another hour!

Then on to the scarf (and the last of the fun fur!)
Last night, came over after I went to spin class. I showed her all of my grey wool and the York pieces, and then they all went into the washing machine for a Eucalan Lavender soak.

I have to say, I love the method of filling the washer, letting them soak, and then spinning the pieces out. They weren t all drippy and soggy; all of the stitch holders stayed in place without problem, and everything will definitely be dry before my sister comes. Miyon helped me pin out Steve s scarf to 6 Prime; wide, so I m now counting that as a completed Christmas present.

I didn t mess with the ribbing on the York pieces at all.
Miyon and I knitted to Friends reruns. I had cast on for the next Christmas hat at lunch time, so I pulled that out and worked on it.

I m about an inch away from the decreases now.
When I pulled it out at lunch, Meng asked, I thought you were never going to touch that stuff again! Alas, I have three skeins left of fun fur for a Christmas present, and I want to knit them all up before the end of February so my stash can be declared a fun fur free zone.

I have to say - if you want a furry scarf, I highly suggest Patons Cha Cha or Plymouth Firenze instead. Anyway, this hat is made from Lion Brand Fun Fur in Citrus and Caron Simply Soft in Sage. I should get it finished up tonight.

I ll be meeting up with quickly to exchange items (I have some kits for for her and her friend Erika, and she has Rowan 37 and three skeins of Araucanian Nature Wool for me). We like to order in groups to save on shipping. Anyway, Marisa won t have time to knit with me tonight, but she ll be knitting with Miyon on Friday.