Turned

While watching the Woman's Marathon live from Beijing, I turned the first heel on my socks.  They're looking good so far, but, at this point, they seem a little big.  I hope my gauge didn't change when I started knitting without actually looking.  It's taken 4 or 5 years, but, yes, I've finally learned how to knit without watching my work.  For straight stockinette stitch anyway.

The colors in this round of photos are more accurate, the grays aren't as blue as they look in the previous photo.  Enjoy.

Ravelympics moving along

My first Ravelympics project, the socks, are moving right along.  Last night I was able to complete the toes.  Later today, after taking care of some household stuff, I will begin the arch expansion which allows the sock to fit the hind foot.  I may actually finish these before the end of the games!!!!

I'm not entirely sure I'll even be able to start the snood and bag in time, but, we'll see.

All Done!!!!

Yay, I finished my socks!!!!

As expected, they fit perfectly, and they fit in my boots.  I've entered a third project into the Ravelympics.  At the moment, I'm not sure I'll finish any of them, but, I can try.  So, now I've got a pair of socks, a purse, and a snood.  I'm supposed to start casting on for all these tomorrow, at 5 am, oh boy, I don't think I'll even be UP that early.

Off to finish playing with the pattern for a snood.

Socks are almost done, and just in time

So, I have been a bad girl with my socks and haven't been posting pictures and updates, so, here they are.  These next two pictures are from about a month ago.  There's about a half inch of black ribbing on the leg.

And this picture, is from today, there's 3.5 inches of ribbing.

And, now, because some people might be confused.  Why the black legs?  Well, these are for a uniform, and, part of the uniform kind of implies that the socks need to be black.  Well, I don't know about the rest of ya'll, but, my hubby tends to steal my socks unless they're obviously not his, and the size alone doesn't seem to tell him that, so, need colorful feet.  Of course, there's also the issue that black, at sock gauge, is REALLY hard on the eyes.  Do you really want to knit a whole sock in black?  Yeah, I didn't think so, me either!  As to the just in time?  I got a job, it starts Monday.  I'm SOOOOO excited, school paid off.

There's an event on Ravelry that is set to coincide with the Olympics.  It is the Ravelympics 2008.  Yes, that's right, they intend to do this event for EVERY Olympics from here on out.  This is along the lines of the Knitting Olympics, but it's knitting and crocheting, and tatting, and spinning and dyeing and what-have-you.  I am entering 2 projects into three, and maybe 4 events, haven't decided yet.  If you're on Ravelry, and haven't heard about this yet, GET OVER THERE!

Got Feet?

So, I've finished the heels on my socks, and have done the first round on the legs.  Took some time to decide if I wanted ribbed legs, or plain legs with a ribbed cuff.  Finally decided on a ribbed leg.  So, now time for 5 inches of black ribbing!

Shapely!

Yup, you guessed it, I finished my Shapely Tank.  Finally.  That also means I finished my class, with an A, so excited.  Do still have to take a board exam before I can get a job with what I learned from the class, so, it's not all done, but, I'm taking what's left of this week to just chill, relax, reconnect with the hubby who was feeling a bit left out.  Oh, yeah, you want a picture, don't you?

Shapely Tank, is actually written for a sport-ish weight yarn, and, as I'm kinda petite, even a sport weight yarn makes me look even tinier.  So, I found this awesome lace weight rayon yarn, and after some tinkering with the pattern to adjust for the different yarn sizes, I cast on.  Some difference, I had to cast on 128 for the smallest size, and wrap multiples of 13 for the short rows. For the waist shaping, I decreased 7 times every 6th row, and increased 7 times every 9 rows.  I'm a DD cup, but I also like negative ease, so I placed the bust short rows for only a D cup.  This makes the fit taught but not pulling.  I think next time I knit this pattern, I'll do a C and a half short row.  I also figure, next time I do this pattern, I'll do it in the round instead of flat.  I hate seaming, and it was even worse with this boucle, ended up overcasting instead of mattress stitching.

I've also begun the arch increases on the Martinique socks.  No new pictures.

So, I've finished the toe increases for my next pair of socks.  The initial intent was for them to match, but, I didn't start in the same place in the color repeat, so, that's not happening.  It's ok though, no one should see the socks but me, unless my boots will need to be cut off.  And, if my boots are needing to be cut off, I'll be worried about other things that the feet of my socks not really matching, you know?  So, here's a picture.

I'll get to the Shapely Tank finished when school has calmed down a bit.  Until then, no more pictures of it.

Yay, the sock is done.

So, yay!!!!  I finished the sock.

I don't need to alter the pattern at all, afterall.

What I do need to do is bind off looser.  Use a US 7 for the bind off, that's twice as large as the needle the rest of the sock is knit it, but, it's still not loose enough, and I had trouble stretching the sock over my heel and instep.  Still haven't sewn the seams on the tank top yet, so, no pictures.  Soon, I promise.

For now, how about the sock?

Yikes, over 6 months?

Ok, I've been bad.  Very, very, bad.  Yup, it's been more than 6 months since I've posted an update, and I only have an excuse for the last 2. 

You see, I've been back in school again.  An intensive program that occasionally takes all my time.  I have been able to get some knitting in though.  The new program requires that I wear boots, and commercial boot socks were driving me nuts, so, I bought New Pathways in Sock Knitting Book 1, and a whole bunch of sock yarn, and embarked on my first sock I actually plan to wear.  So far, it's just a prototype in "waste" yarn to see if there's any tweaking I need to do to the pattern.  There's only one so far, a slightly pointier toe.

I'm also nearly done with my altered Shapely Tank.  Sorry, no photos of that one yet.  I promise, I'll be better about writing!

Startitis, or, step away from that catalog

So, at the moment I have only one project on the needles, and it's driving me nuts. Like many knitter, I am not monogamous when it comes to my projects. The BSJ has been finished for a while, and I finally got a picture of it.

Because I currently only have one project on the needles, my more fingers are just itching to start something else. I've thought about matching shawls for certain members of my family for a special outing in April. I already have the yarn, but I don't have the appropriate needles for it yet.

I suppose it's a good thing though, as I'm a week behind on Hanami (pictures later). And, of course, Secret of Chrysopolis has started, and Secret of the Stole starts on Friday (group closes on the 4th, join now!), both of which I don't have yarn for yet. Oy, am I overextended yet?

Hanami Progress

Yay, I'm only 1 day behind so far on the Hanami knitalong. Here is the week 2 progress.


Making Progress.

Owwie, that hurts.

So, I've had a bit of an adventure.

Saturday night, after dinner, I got a bit of an upset stomach. As we were out with friends, and I almost always tend to over eat with friends, I thought - at first - that I had simply had too much to eat. The next day, the general ache settled down to lower right side pain. I still wasn't all that worried, as I've had pain in that area before, and while it's painful (occasionally enough to send me begging for pain meds) it's really not life threatening, or even all that debilitating. I sent DH out to pick me up a pizza for lunch, from a place that advertises that you can walk in and walk out, no waiting, as long as you just want a basic pizza. That's what I wanted, so he wasn't gone that long. By the time he got back, I had totally lost my appetite, and even the smell of the food was trying to make me sick. At this point, I'm not focusing on the bad things, but it is in my mind that it could be. I was trying to say the pain was too low and too centered for what the symptoms sounded like, but the pain HAD killed my appetite so it was time to be seen.

I went to the urgent care knowing they didn't have the diagnostic equipment I needed, hoping they'd just take my history, and what I thought it was, and stop the pain. Boy, was I stupid. I found out there that my symptoms were text-book for appendicitis except I didn't have a fever. The pain is not quite in the right place, but that didn't mean that it WASN'T appendicitis. The urgent care sent me to the ER with a note stating the doctor's strong suspicions. I was in the ER for a while, but they did mention early on that they'd probably be admitting me (whoa! slow down, at that point there hadn't even been any imaging). The one thing that pissed me off though, was that they checked, re-checked and then checked again, my pregnancy status (or lack there of, let me say again, I'M NOT PREGNANT, but for some reason, the staff didn't believe that even when their own tests said it).

Eventually they exhausted all the tests they could do, and still had no sure idea of what was wrong, so, I did end up getting admitted to the hospital itself, as opposed to just the ER. Monday morning, the internist and surgeon came to see me. The surgeon decided he'd have to go take a laproscopic look around, and while he was at it, he'd take the appendix out anyway, even though he wasn't convinced it was the source of my problems. So, Monday night (keeping track, I hadn't eaten since Saturday night) they take me down. While inside, they found what they think is the source of my problems, the remains of cyst which had burst. It was not the first, and not even the first to have burst, and it likely won't be the last, but next time I won't have to worry about it maybe being the appendix, and can, therefor, ignore it safely.

I did take knitting with me, because I'm never without knitting. I had Hanami, and the BSJ. With all the pain meds, I was too out of it for lace, so worked mostly on the BSJ, when I wasn't napping. Even being much simpler I was having trouble focusing, so only got a few rows done. I do have a picture of it now though.

Ugh!

I took some pictures today, so that I could update my Ravelry (me)profile, and flickr is having a conniption fit! Their uploader lets me try to upload as much as I want, but continually gives me their oh-so-nifty error message stating "Bonk! [what the hell is bonk?] None of your photo's made it." and then asks if you want to try again, or just go to your album. Obviously, yahoo wasn't ready for the problems that would be caused by making everyone move servers, all at once! For the record, I abandoned my Yahoo albums a long time ago, didn't even transfer the pictures that were there, so, why are they picking on me, huh?!

Oh yeah, back to the pictures. Remember that mint green blob from August 3? Well, it looks a little better now. It IS acrylic, so it doesn't block all that well, but, well...



And, I joined Secret Of The Stole. Did a swatch the other day, mainly just to check needle size. The swatch is in Knit Picks Shimmer Stained Glass. I will almost certainly not be using this yarn, but I will, most likely, be using another Knit Picks lace weight, and, I wanted an idea of the proper needle size, so I'd know if I need to buy a new set of tips. The 5s are fine. Oh, yeah, and I needed the swatch for some sort of contest or something. Here's the swatch. Part of the reason it looks so bad is that it's variegated.

Some FOs

Today I cast off Logan's Blanket. Somehow, I had an extra live stitch at the end of the last repeat of Ocean Waves. I must have added one too many rows somewhere. There's also the problem of the join between the cast on and cast off not being completely seamless, but I doubt that anyone not familiar with the pattern will ever notice. No picture until it's washed and killed (being acrylic, and silly me somehow forgot that stockinette curls). This one shall be given upon the baby's birth this time!

I finished the first week's worth of knitting on Hanami too, and I actually have a picture for you.



While trying to figure out how to get that picture, and not wanting to be without a project for work, I cast on a BSJ using the leftover's from Logan's Blanket. No pictures yet.

Some Pictures

Yay, I have pictures.

First, is Swan Lake, AKA, MS3. Please ignore the mess in the background, it's really hard to find places to take pictures here. I didn't block it very hard, and as such, it turned out quite small. I haven't trimmed the ends yet because I haven't decided if I'm going to re-block it harder, for more length.



I also joined the Hanami Knit-a-long. This week we're asked to knit about 70 rows. I cast on a little early because I forgot which day the start was, but here's my progress so far, 1 day in. Please forgive the glare, next time I'll turn the flash off and use natural light.




Back to knitting.

Yikes, it's been a while

Ok, so I've been a bad blogger, but thought I'd update.

Swan Lake (MS3) is finished and blocked. No pictures yet, maybe later today. My first doily is done - minus the finishing - as well.

I'm nearly ready to start the border on Logan's Blanket and I hope to get that done, because I'm really sick of dealing with baby stuff right now (so why am I wanting to do a baby surprise jacket you may be asking, well, the answer is, I don't know). I know, I know, everyone likes babies and making baby things. Unless they were wishing they were making it for their own baby. That's me right now. I won't bore you with all that's involved there, this is a knitting blog.
Later

Mystery Stole 3 Progress

I finished the latest clue on the mystery stole on Sunday night, but I haven't been able to get a picture until tonight. It's not the best picture, mainly because I'm running out of room on the mattress and I have to stand on the frame of the bed to get a decent angle. Anyway, here it is...


I've also started knitting doilies, I don't know why. No pictures yet.

Wooot, two posts in 1 week

Wow, a new record for me, two posts in less than 7 days.

My DH (Dear Husband) has suggested, yet again, that I try to sell my completed knitting. As you know, this is a HUGE complement, although I'm not all that sure how practical it is. I definitely won't be able to quit my job doing selling knitting. Even so, I've begun doing research. Step one was to purchase so more technique books; Marianne Kinzel's First and Second Book[s] of Modern Lace Knitting. I'm sure many people would simply see these as pattern books, IF they knit the patterns as written or only with the written adaptations. I plan on using them for the charts, and the techniques. My next planned purchase would be the Barbara Walker Treasury (all four books) this is a rather expensive purchase, considering our current financial situation, so, it'll have to wait a bit. I'd also like to purchase some charting software, or something, maybe, as you can see, I'm not so sure at the moment.

Oh, yeah, and I have some pictures today.



This blob is a blanket for my nephew, who has yet to make his appearance. So far, it is just a standard knit-from-the-center square. When it's a bit bigger, then I'll pick an edging. Knit from baby acrylic in "baby" or mint green.

And, the picture everyone wants to see lately is, the Mystery Stole 3. This is at the end of clue 4, with just a little bit of clue 5 thrown in because I was so excited, I started knitting, and only then remembered that I wanted pictures. Well, that's all for now.

A Productive Weekend

Today I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I wasn't one of the fanatics who stood in line to buy it at 12:01 am, I waited until the next day, calmly walked in, found the display conveniently placed right next to the entrance to the check out line, checked out and left. The whole thing took less than half an hour, from the time I decided to go. The reading of the book took about a week (no snickers from the peanut gallery - that means pipe down you in the back), but what do you want, this girl actually has to work, and was splitting the non-work time between her husband, the book, and MS3.

Speaking of MS3

I also finished the first part of clue 4 of MS3. This took me a bit longer than it should have because I decided I wanted to add more beads to this clue than were included, and I need to work out where to put them. It's coming along well, don't you think? I do still have the second part of clue 4 to work on, but I should manage it before clue 5 comes out.



That's hopefully a picture of how I'm managing the beads. There really isn't much of a contrast between the beads and the yarn, so not sure how visible they'll be.

My First Post

Ok, so I got sick of dealing with all the hassle of hosting my blog myself, so here I am, gave in and got an account.

Right now I'm working on Mystery Stole 3 (hereto forth to be known as MS3) and a blanket for my soon to be appearing nephew. I hope this time around to actually have it done before he makes his grand entrance.



On MS3, I finished Clue 3 last night. Dry blocked it currently measures 19" wide by 20" long. I am working it on Knit Picks Options size 4 and Zephyr Sage.

Sorry, no picture at the moment of the baby blanket. That's all for now.