HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!

Hope to have some finished felted bags by the weekend.

Happy knitting!

First Day

Started this post yesterday, but I didn't get around to finishing it til today (so it's dated Saturday, but actually it's Sunday morning.)

I finally got the second bag knit so I could felt the Booga Bag I finished the other day. Diagonal felted bag in Patons Classic Wool sage green. Booga Bag in Patons SWS natural green. This Booga is striped identical to my Booga, even though I didn't plan it that way.

My overstuffed Booga on the left, the new one on the right. Look at how much brighter the new bag is! There can be a BIG difference in dye lots, that's for sure!

I used two skeins, same dye lot, for the new bag's body. I had half a skein left from my bag, so I made the handle out of that. Look at the difference in the yellows between the two dye lots!

I am to the heel on my first Tropicana sock, but I had to put it on hold while I finished the baby blanket from hell. (Which I did get finished last night, wove in the remaining ends this morning, and now it's ready to go to the shower today. Pics to follow next post.) It turned out better than I thought it would. The yarn wasn't very co-operative when it came to putting it together, so I wasn't very happy with it. It will do. So maybe tonight I'll get to sit at the computer and try this short-row heel tutorial so I can continue on with my socks. (If I can't make this one work I'll try another one. There's tons of 'em out there!)

Knit Nite was fun last week. Heddy popped in for a little bit but couldn't stay for it all. We had a new face this week, which was nice to see. Nova Knitter was there with her gorgeous vest. She said how she threw out all of the ends she had left over, and she wished she had kept enough to make a little i-cord button loop for closure in the front. The new knitter was like, "What kind of Noro is it?" It was Silk Garden, and she reaches in to her tub and hauls out some leftover SG in the same colorway! That was too cool. (And both ladies have same first name. Even cooler! And I call her "new knitter" as in new-to-Knit-Nite. She's by far not a new knitter and what I class as a professional knitter. She makes lots of stuff for these guys, and by the looks of her stuff she had with her she can knit anything. Plus she knows how to do short-rows, so I know where I can get help if I can't figure it out myself!) We are on a hiatus until November 14, then it resumes every Wednesday night from 7-8 at the Liverpool Superstore Community Room til December 19. Hope to see more faces there. There are a couple of ladies who expressed interest in coming, so hopefully we'll see them there. (I made little slips with the time/place/dates on it to put in our yarn customers' bags.)

The Oldest One started curling Saturday. Last year was the first time they started the Little Rocks program here, and he wasn't old enough til this year.

He really liked it, especially when they got to throw some rocks. Here they had them trying to hit a rock that was already down the ice. He was so happy when he hit a couple! Most of the kids were having a hard time with the sliding thing, though. They find it awkward, but they'll get used to it.

He really likes it! I don't like having to be there at 8am Saturdays, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

Happy knitting!

PS One of our yarn orders came in Friday. There are some new colors in the Classic Wool and Decor. Also got Kroy Crayon Jacquard sock yarn for the first time. Now hopefully the On Your Toes sock yarn order will arrive this week!

What I'm Taking to Knit Nite

Tonight is Knit Nite at the Liverpool SuperStore Community Room from 7-8+. Last one til November 14th! Ga! If I can get this stuff wound into balls before it's time to go then I will take it with me. These will be work socks for my step FIL. I'm using the Briggs & Little Heavy Socks pattern and their Tuffy yarn. (80% wool, 20% nylon). The red should be enough to stripe several pairs. I chose red since a lot of work socks have red stripes, plus it goes with all of the grey Tuffies, the brown, and some of the blues. The other color is called smoke. Hubby will get some of these this winter, too.

This is my current sock project. It's Tropicana socks for me from some hand-dyed that I got on eBay well over a year ago at least. I think it's 100% merino, hand-wash. Can't remember. I took it outside to try to get a better color shot, but it's one of those colors that just can't capture well on camera. It's bright, but not quite this bright. I will have to take something else to Knit Nite tonight, even if I don't get the B&L wound into balls. This pattern has short-row heels, and I want to try it again, and I'll need to be in front of the computer looking at the tutorial when I try it. So, it's a simple four-row repeat that flies by, so should I get to the heel I'll be stalled til I get home. Need back-up knitting.

I'm also taking these, and yes, I share!

Impatiently waiting for the yarn orders to arrive. I wrote down some new Regia yarns today, too. Hope to get them ordered sometime in the not too distant future. They've got a new one out that looks really neat. I made up the signs for the new On Your Toes sock yarn today as well as the signage for the next two months Yarn of the Month. November will be Patons Astra, and December is any flavor of Briggs & Little, including the rovings.

Hope to see some of you local guys tonight!

Happy knitting!

Seventeen of Fifty-Two

I finally got outside on this gorgeous, sunny day to take a picture of the cabled baby sweater from this post. At least now you can see the cables. Darned indoor photos with flash! (It's over +20C today and nothing but blue sky! I love it!)

I also finally have my October socks and pair number 17 of 52 finished. I cast on the first sock at the end of September. I finished the toe on Saturday, cast on the second sock, and had the second sock finished on Sunday! Two days for the second sock, woo hoo! Doesn't happen very often.

Austerman Step sock yarn in color 11. I made the pattern up as I went. Here's how I did it if anyone is interested:

Cast on 64sts using 2.25mm needles. Round one and all odd rounds K3, P1. All even rounds just knit. Do this til you reach your desired length. (I knit a total of 88 rounds.)

Heel over 32sts. I did Eye of Partridge this way: Row 1 -- K1, Sl across. Row 2 -- Purl. Row 3 -- S1, K1 across. Row 4 -- Purl. I did these for a total of 43 rows, ending on Row 3.

Turn heel: Row 1 -- K1, P17, P2tog, P1. Row 2 -- K6, S1, K1, psso, K1. Continue in this manner til all end stitches are used. You'll end up with 18sts, and the last two rows end with P2tog and K2tog. (I only knit the first stitch on that first row, all other purl rows are just purled across. You don't have to knit that first stitch if you don't wanna, I just followed the turn from another pattern, and that's how they did it.)

Pick up 18-20sts for the gusset. Make sure you pick up the same amount on each side. (Sometimes I end up with one more stitch picked up on one side than the other, so I just have to remember to decrease that extra stitch on the first round after the pick-up.) You should have 32sts on one needle for the top of the foot, and the gusset stitches and 9sts from each side of the heel on the other two needles. Do standard gusset decreases til you have 16sts on each instep needle. (Needle 1 -- Knit to last 3sts, K2tog, K1. Knit across 32sts from Needle 2. Needle 3 -- K1, SSK, knit to end of needle. Knit one round.)

Continue until you are about two inches from desired foot length to start the toe. I did not continue the pattern on the top of the foot for this pair but just knit plain old stockinette. You could continue the pattern if you want to. Knit the toe down to 20sts and graft. (Standard toe. Needle 1 -- Knit to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1. Needle 2 -- K1, S1, K1, psso, knit to last 3sts, K2tog, K1. Needle 3 -- K1, S1, K1, psso, knit to end of round. Knit one round even.)

For this pair I did something new, too. I will wash and wear them a couple of times first to see if I like it or not. I find that my Austerman socks and any other thin sock yarn socks (like Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) always look like I have holes coming in the toes. I go to work, come home, take my sneakers off, and it looks like holes in my toes. (I do keep my nails cut, too, especially when it's hand-knit sock season!) Once they're washed they seem to go back to normal, but I'm afraid one of these times it will not be so. Sooo, for the heck of it I knit the toes of these socks with two strands of yarn. I found the spots I needed in the skein to match where I was at the toe. They don't look any different to the eye, but of course it's much more "stiff" at the toes. I haven't washed the socks yet or wore them for longer than what it takes to snap the pictures. I won't knit any other Austerman socks (cuz I have two more skeins!) til I have washed and worn these ones and see if I like the doubled toes. My feet are always cold in the winter, especially my toes, so it shouldn't be a bad thing, I don't think.

Got the new stickers on the truck. Hubby went to work yesterday for the first official day with the new company.


No more headache rack -- bye, bye, flatdecking!


The Boss Lady ordered some of that new Kertzer sock yarn, too. I heard third-hand that it was ordered, so I'm not sure what's coming other than variety bags. I think there's a variety bag of solids and two of the stripey ones. Plus the other lady that works there got the Boss Lady to call them back and tell them to send the bright ones since we have a bunch of blue and brown Austerman already.

Hope to have a diagonal bag finished and ready to felt tonight or tomorrow. The body of the bag is almost done, and the i-cord doesn't take that long.

I added a new link on the sidebar to another local knitter who attended Knit Nite last week. Check it out. Also did you see this neat sock pattern? I think I need some bright, firey sock yarn for a pair of these babies.

Also, pop on over to Dipsy's to spread some love. Her dear cat, Lady, passed away at age 18.

Happy knitting!

Odessa

I started an Odessa hat the other night, right before going to Knit Nite. This was the progress yesterday afternoon.

Bag from Japanese Handmade, an Etsy shop. Perfect size for this project!

Finished Odessa last night. Sorry for the crap picture, but y'all know my camera needs to be replaced, plus it's hard to get a shot of the top of your own head. The top picture is pretty much the true color.

Beadless Odessa by Grumperina from Magknits. I used Rowan Calmer in Coffee Bean. There's a small ball left over. Very soft, nice yarn to work with.

Heddy has added more nights to the Knit Nite schedule. Hope to see more people turn out over the next few weeks. (There is Knit Nite this Wednesday, none the week after cuz of Halloween, and none the week after that cuz the room was already booked. Then it resumes each Wednesday in the Liverpool Superstore Community room from 7-8 until December 19.) Trying to think of what I'll take next week already. Probably something along the line of socks/mittens/hats... Nothing that requires too much concentration to interfere with the chatting!

Took the Oldest One to the doctor yesterday. Finally, FINALLY after four years I have a doctor who says, "Yes, definitely, he's ODD as well as ADHD." That's good at the same time as being bad because it makes him very, very difficult to deal with. Apparently he rates him at a 5-6 out of ten now, and it usually becomes the most troublesome at ages 10-12. Great! Two weeks ago they increased the dose of his medication, and that does seem to have helped some. I guess it takes about a month to kick in, so this should help the current situation quite a bit. He's been having lots of trouble in school, but the past week seems to have settled down some.

On the way home we stopped at the local library, and he picked out a few books, even a couple of the Littlest One.

I have to work tonight and tomorrow. Any local knitters who want to visit me and take a boo at the yarn, I'll be there!

Happy knitting!

FO and a Half

Long time, no post. There really wasn't much going on, well, not in the knitting world. Last week was a crap week all around, this week isn't shaping up to be much better. Knit Nite was fun, though. Hope more people come out tomorrow night. I think I'll take a pair of socks to work on since I gab too much to take anything that requires much concentration.

I have an almost FO. I made another bag like mine, but it still needs to be felted. The sage green Classic Wool will become one of these, and I'll felt them together. (Whenever possible I try to felt like-colored stuff together to save on water/oil/power.)

I also have the cabled baby sweater finished. It didn't take that long to knit, maybe a week-and-a-half, and I didn't work steady on it. The pattern is from the book, "Babies in Denim" and is size 6-9 months. I used Sirdar Denim Tweed DK and followed the pattern exactly as written. I wasn't going to block it cuz it looked good as is, but I did end up giving it a little blocking. Made the seams flatten out more, so I'm glad I did it. (It has a rolled bottom edge. There as a choice of crew neck or rolled edge neck, and went with the crew neck.)

I also got to use some of the tricks learned from the Lucy Neatby class I went to -- had to duplicate stitch two stitches that were white and stuck out like a sore thumb. This was in one of the sleeves.

Now I have to finish the baby blanket from hell that I started. It's not going together as easily as I thought it would. I blame the yarn, but it's probably me. I'll fight with that maybe on Sunday and try to get it finished. I'd like it finished for SIL's shower on the 28th of this month. I also have a pair of Austerman Step socks on the go for me, in the middle of the first sock's heel. I also have yarn I got last year for a couple of hats and this set for me that I'm itching to start, too, and make the boys each some more hats and mittens sets, too. Plus there's a small list of Christmas stuff to knit, plus there's sleeves and finishing to do on an adult cabled sweater I started for the store last October... Oy!

Oh, yes, that yarn rep that was supposed to show up a couple of weeks ago never arrived. Too bad, cuz I was allowed to order in six of their sock yarn colors. The boss lady mentioned ordering it the other day, but I haven't worked since and don't know if she actually did or not. She also said she'd order some more Classic Wool since Heddy, Nova Knitter, and three other ladies bought like 22 skeins of it! (The new color I wanted for felted mittens for me sold out that day! I made sure I wrote that color down on the order list, along with a few more new colors. As soon as it comes in one skein is coming home with me.)

That's it for now. Last week did see the hatching of a couple of alien eggs, though.

Happy knitting!

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada

Hope all you fellow Canadians had a nice Thanksgiving today. We went to my BIL's for turkey dinner. Had to do it early this afternoon. Hubby is switching trucking companies and has a 7+ hour drive tonight. He starts his training tomorrow morning. The new company puts him in a hotel room for two nights and pays for his meals and travel.

I finally finished my second dishcloth. It's made with Bernat Handicrafter in Hot Purple, just a pretty standard basketweave pattern.

I also picked up three skeins of the cotton for three dishcloths for one of the people on my Christmas list. This is Soft Violet, Floral Prints, and Robin's Egg.

I started nephew's cabled baby sweater this weekend, too. It's knitting up quite fast, and I really like how it's looking. It's only two cable panels, and they're really easy to remember, so I don't need to look at the pattern. I did take a couple of pictures of the progress as of last night, but both were out of focus once transferred to the computer. I really need a new camera. I don't think I can wait til Christmas. I'll try to snap another picture or ten for next post. One should surely be in focus.

This is Fire Prevention week. Tonight is the parade, so I'll be taking the kids to that in awhile. Tomorrow night is fire truck rides. Sometimes I try to skip that because the line ups are so long. I figure their dad is in the fire department, so they've been on fire truck rides a lot more than most kids. I'm relieved that the dance on Saturday night has been deemed casual. Normally the men have to wear their uniforms, and there are no jeans allowed. I only own two skirts and one jacket/pants set and have one terrible pair of sandally shoes that can pass for dressy. Now I don't have to worry about it.

Happy knitting!

Felting

I have a flurry of FOs this week. Flickr is not co-operating with me at all tonight, so there's a few pictures I wanted to up load that I can't. (I keep getting, "Image not available at this time" kinda thing. Never happened before.)

First up are my new slippers. These ones are the old faithful Fiber Trends clog pattern. I used Patons Classic Wool in Bottle Green. Last time I used Briggs & Little and did the two-color clogs. They were a pain to felt, and they only lasted four months. I'm interested to see how long these last before I wear out the bottoms. I've been told that CW slippers last a lot longer than B&L.

I also made a couple of bags. They are both Sophies, and I used Patons SWS in Natural Denim and Natural Earth. The after picture is pretty accurate colorwise.

I really like working with the SWS, but the first ball of the Natural Earth had about ten knots. That yarn can be quite knotty, and usually they mess up the color sequence.

I also made myself a dishcloth with Bernat Handicrafter in Hot Pink. I have a shade of purple to make another one. I bought them back in the summer, hence the summer colors in the fall. (Although our weather here has been like summer! I love it!) I used one of my favorite patterns, Small Arrow. I foresee more of this pattern, too. I have a dozen dishcloths to knit for Christmas gifts (4 people, 3 each). We got some new Handicrafter colors in with our yarn order today, so I picked up three today for one of the recipients. Christmas is getting close quickly, I need to start soon.

As mentioned, we got our yarn order in today. We have three of the new Patons Classic Wool Tweeds -- Denim, Rich Red, and Chestnut. One followed me home (rich red), gonna be a new felted bag of some sort. We also got some new colors of the CW in, and you know what? Some of it followed Heddy home today, too. That stuff has a mind of its own, I tell ya. There are also a bunch of new SWS colors. We also got a bunch of Astra (not really any interest to me) and this stuff that Heddy thought had been declared a bio-hazard. I put it in the book and in the computer inventory, but I refused to stock it on the shelf! (At least it's wrapped in plastic. It's not the nicest feeling stuff in the world. We do have one sweet little old lady who is about the only one that buys it. She gets a lot -- she knits slippers for her entire family.)

Anyways, must go do dishes and fold laundry. We are going out tonight.

Any local knitters remember to check this out if you can. Also pop on over here and here to see some cabley goodness.

Happy knitting!

Official End of Summer

This past weekend was the last weekend for camping for the season. Summer is officially over. Everything is packed up, and a couple of friends winterized the camper for me. All over til the long weekend in May. I took knitting with me, but I didn't finish anything while I was there. It was mostly a working weekend, especially since hubby is still away. I did get most of a new bag knit. I still have to do the handle and then felt it, and I started these socks for me. It's a modified ribby-type pattern. If it works I'll post the pattern. I did get another brown stripe done on these after I took the picture. (It's Austerman Step.)

This child falls asleep in the weirdest positions. This was Saturday night at the campground. (I did put him in his bed. Didn't want him rolling off and hurting himself.)

And just a little while ago I was at the computer and heard heavy breathing.

I tried to lift the basket off a bit and take his picture, but he woke up. All he did was snarl about leaving him alone and hauled the basket back over himself. He didn't stay asleep, though.

Any local knitters check out this post over at Heddy's. Hope I can arrange someone to watch the hoodlums. Also, the Yarn of the Month at the store is now Patons Classic Wool. You'll get 10% off any purchase of in-stock Patons Classic Wool, and if you're a Preferred Client Card Holder you'll get 15%. (There is an order coming in late this week of next week, and there's some new colors of CW coming, including three shades or so of the new tweeds.)

Happy knitting!