The Knitting Frenzy Continues...

Two more quickie projects:

First, I just got an email from one of my college students - she recently delivered a 10-lb baby boy! Ouch!! He is quite the cutie and I am absolutely thrilled for her. I wanted to make her a little something and thought these might come in handy:

Because, as we know, spit happens. Burp cloth is monogrammed because I figure if you have to drool, you might as well do it in style. (details/specs on ravelry.)

Note: I am digging the periwinkle and must make something else in this color soon.

Second, a basic shawl/throw/lapghan for my mom's cousin. She is in an assisted living facility and is beginning to fade, and I wanted to make her something soft and cozy.

I hope it gives her a little comfort.

Actually, there was a third thing too - I knit a second teeny tiny mitten to complete a pair for my SIL. I attached them to a teeny tiny piece of wire with teeny tiny wood clothespins. Unbearable cuteness ensued, but you'll have to take my word for it as I forgot to take a picture ;)

My procedure is at 12 pm tomorrow - wish me luck!

Knitting as Sanity

Still feeling miserable :( Thank you for your kind wishes. I'm having a procedure done on Monday that is *supposed* to help, so we shall see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On the bright side, while I did miss a few holiday get-togethers, I have spent a lot of quality time with family. Also, have been treating pjs as outerwear - I highly recommend this. And, importantly, rekindling some very close friendships with my pals, addi and Clover ;)

Other than whining and mindlessly trolling Ravelry, here's what I've accomplished this week:

1) Redo of last December's Calorimetry, only with a new skein of 127 Print purchased for me by hubby. The tan one is the newer, smaller version:

Mods: Cast on 100 st, size 6 needle, 9 repeats of Row 5. This time was the charm - it's a perfect fit. New plan is to rip out the red one for the SECOND time and reknit it with these specs.

2) Rip out Textured Baby Jacket (Lois Dakin) and repurpose yarn as a Personalized Baby Blanket (Erika Knight) for dh's cousin's new baby girl:

Nice yarn for a blankie, soft and washable. Pretty sheen to it too.

3) Continue making Christmas dishcloths, only now it's for next Christmas :) I'm thinking it would be nice to bundle these in 3s for small gifts:


So, I got the teacher scarves done, but the backpack, afghan, and loafers have been bumped up to the next holiday. Under the circumstances, I'm okay with this outcome. And who am I kidding - that afghan twarn't happening any time this year anyway hehe.

Merry Christmas!

"Christmas is...freezing."

I've been in the hospital over the last week and, luckily, I made it home just in time for Christmas. Nothing life-threatening, just painful, tiring, and extremely inconvenient.

No knitting to show, and I'm too tired to write, just wanted to send my warmest holiday wishes to all my knitting buds (and their pups, of course) :)

Happy, happy Christmas and New Years!

Dogs, snow, and knits on Thursday

We got a little more snow today. Another day off for the kids, and for me, an excuse to drink hot chocolate and knit like a mofo.

"You want me to do what? Out there?"


"Noooo!"


My Christmas knitting scheme has completely fallen apart, but I am okay with this. Maybe because the same thing happens every year? I don't know, but here's what I finished the last few days:

Teacher Scarf 1:


Based on the Spring Butterflies dishcloth pattern - I just halved the pattern (CO 25 st), did 2-1/2 repeats, a whole bunch of garter, then 2-1/2 more repeats. I used just a little over one skein of Paton's Classic Merino and it was a super fast knit, about 72". I love the way it looks on - the garter looks so organic.

Teacher Scarf #2:




Just one skein of Malabrigo makes a 59" scarf. This gorgeous pattern is very fast, and totally easy to memorize. And heavenly soft in the Malabrigo, but you already knew that :)

Desperation Dishcloths


What can I say? A last ditch effort to produce yet a few more gifts! Trying to get a small stack of these (though a stack may end up meaning "two") made for my cousin. Random patterns, Christmas colors.

After this I have about half a loafer and one neckwarmer left to knit and that's it for the gifts. Oh, a a few more teeny tiny mittens, now that I found some teeny tiny clothespins to clip on them - cute cute!

Hope you are surviving the holiday knit countdown too!

Got sock yarn?

...then go make some teeny tiny mittens:



tee hee. so cute. perfect project for those pesky oddments of sock yarn.

What else? Dogs on Thursday!

Big man, small dog. Some men have a "thing" about little dogs not being cool. Luckily, my husband is not among these:



(You know you blog too much when your husband sees a picture of himself with his head ineptly cut off and remarks, "There's a good one for your blog.")

I've also heard that some little dogs have a "thing" about men. Clearly not the case here:

Napping with Dad.

With one exception - don't try to come between Frisky and Mom or you will SO feel the wrath of chihuahua!


Honestly!

Dogs on Thursday and Ravelery-ing

"Oh, Mom, why does it have to be so cold out?!"
Poor Frisk - it's just too frigid for him to spend more than a minute or two outside. And anyway, all the good smells are covered up by that doggone snow. *sigh* Get used to it, little buddy.

With the end of semester upon me I am juggling the needs of my stressed out students, my finger-drumming diss committee, and my busy schoolchildren, not to mention trying to be ready for that big holiday that's coming up. Naturally, I find myself spending more and more time on Ravelry, aka my fantasy dream world. My favorite new pastime is clicking "friend activity" so I can see what y'all are doing - and then queue it too. Heck, you guys have great taste! And I am such a sheep.

I heart you, Ravelry :)

Dogs On Thursday

Frisky: A Dog of Many Moods

Alert:



Vigilant:



Hyper-vigilant:


Yeah, he's a little high-strung...when he's not napping.

Happy DOT :)

How to Find the LYS...

...anywhere! Have you seen KnitMap? I just spotted the link at Crochet Me and thought I'd pass it on. I wish I'd had this on my last vacation!!

Finished another hat in Plaid (see it on Ravelry) Love this yarn! Must get more on closeout at Webs...

Mad about Plaid!

I bought this skein of Rowan Plaid while in Montreal at a conference over a year ago because I loved the sample hat the shop had on display. It came from the Plaid pattern book, which I decided not to buy as it was $15 and the hat was the only pattern I would have used.



I've looked at this skein often, loving the colors and the feel of it and wondering if I should just give in and buy the pattern. Yesterday, I finally decided to improvise instead. All I really wanted was a cable/rib look. It was pretty easy and now I'm wondering why I waited so long. I guess I was worried about the decreases at the top and how that would work with the cables, but it was actually pretty intuitive.



I'm not sure how closely this hat resembles the one in the book, but I'm really happy with it :) This yarn is fabulous for cabling - and it's discontinued, so it can be had for about 1/2 price! I'll be picking up a few more skeins for sure.



Fight the power! lol

Four Words...

...seamless top down raglan! After years of not being a "sweater knitter" I'm convinced this is my sweater salvation. Now granted, my red one is temporarily on hold due to holiday knitting, but at 70% done it's the closest I've come to finishing a sweater in years. And look! A real live baby sweater:



Unblocked, and a bit washed out by the sun. It's actually a celery green.



Knitted in about a day for my overdue neighbor. Check out the pattern here, and my mods on Ravelry. So easy!

Jacki has also just come up with a version for bulky yarn, shaped even more like a tiny Japanese kimono. Cute overload! I may have to keep this top-down raglan vibe going - my husband's cousin just had a baby girl and I'd love to whip up one of these in lavender.

Next up: I'm casting on for a Malabrigo pattern that I can't blog about (but I'm posting the details on Ravelry) and the felted backpack. Also, the men's neckwarmer man-ia continues, see below. Holiday knitting, ho!



Note artful staging featuring "manly" colored backdrop. Brown yarn is Misti Alpaca Chunky, green is Malabrigo Chunky in Olive. Man alive, this is a quick project!

Boston area knitters, please click!

If you are in the Channel 2/WGBH or Channel 11/WENH viewing area, click this link to request that the TV show "Knit and Crochet Today" be added to the lineup. It's a bit dated, but episodes feature Amy Singer, Kaffe Fassett, and Lily Chin, so why not? Beats another 1/2 hour of Teletubbies...

Dogs on Thursday on Friday

Caution: Dog-Only Post. Cuteness will ensue.



"Cold weather afoot - better start hibernating now!"



"Are you still here? Go find your own couch!"

And later....



"ZZZZZZZZZ..."

A Loverly Bunch

Lots of knitting and some insanity happening here. Want to see?

(Come on, sing it with me…)
"Oh, I've got a loverly bunch of wips and fos...


(Muffler that boy #1 asked for this am - yeah, I'm good.)

There they are just standing in a row...


(Psst, here's another shot.)

Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head...


(It is a little big - "comfy," we'll call it.)

Give 'em a twist,
(But don’t drop that stitch)
And now I’m off to bed."


(The scarf that is, as Erickajo puts it, "endlessly entertaining.")

And so with my selfish knitting winding down, the Christmas countdown begins - did someone say 42 days?
-Felted backpack for nephew
-Double thick earflap hat for dh
-Ripple afghan for the 'rental unit
-Monkeys for my boys (monkeys, not socks - don't ask)

Also, overdue baby sweater for overdue neighbor. The kid's even giving me a little leeway, and I'm still not finished!

So, how is your holiday knitting going? Are you frenzied, relaxed, or abstaining this year?

It's Starting to Look Like Something!

Looks a little like an actual sweater, yippee! Keep your fingers crossed for me. It's been a long time since I actually finished a sweater - 3 years - and that one ended very badly. Ook. Before that, it was about 20 years. So finishing would be good.

The multidirectional scarf is also growing, and I still love the pattern:



Next in the queue is this:



Also from Knitting in No Time, it's knit side-to-side in one piece. With this:



Isn't he cute?! He also came to me from England, all 400 grams of him. He's so big he needs his own chair! Yo Yo: I adore you (even though you are acrylic.) Apparently, one of him is enough to make the whole sweater!

In the "Any Minute Now" queue is this quickie shawl I'm crocheting for my mother's elderly cousin:



She is in a nursing home and is always cold.



I also knitted her a fluffy little scarf which she's hopefully received by now. It's so nice to knit for people who really need it :) Speaking of which - is it Knit Unto Others Time yet?

Glittens!

Good heavens, I think maybe I have posted every day this week! Extreme work avoidance - great for the blog, yes?

If you like to knit mittens or gloves and are looking for something new, run, don't walk, to Kathy's blog to see her fabulous glittens pattern! Be sure to check out the pictorial, and scroll all the way down to see the gauntlet version. Great job, Kathy! The chihuahua is pretty cute too :)

Knitted Stamps! And Dogs on Thursday

Look at these!!



Don't they just make you want to mail all your handknit gifts?!

And in the DOT department, I give you: "Portrait of Small Dog in Autumn"



"Brrrr! Sure is chilly in here, Mom!"

What's the Big Whup?

Why has it taken me so long to make up my mind about this silly scarf? First, it was this. (Family brought me back to reality; it was a bit weird-looking.)

Then, it was this. I love the look of this pattern (my so-called scarf) but - and this is my second time attempting it - I simply can't manage to persist past a few rows. I'm just not feelin' the lurve.

So, on to this:


The multi-directional scarf. I think this is the pattern the yarn was made for :) Love it. (Note: I have been referring to the color as Geranium when in fact it is called Regency. Oops.)

One thing this process has accomplished is help me to see that what I appreciate most in a pattern - interesting shaping, construction, and/or texture. Stockinette, or even garter, is a-okay as long as there's someting to look forward to along the way ;)

Other finishes:



Simple crochet scarf from Happy Hooker Crochet. I don't care what my family says about this one, I love it. It's a keeper. Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (cotton/wool blend, divine). Note my fabulous work-from-home-day outfit, complete with bedhead hair. Pretty! Here's a shot sans moi:



Also, this:



Seminole Indian shirt for boy #2s 3rd grade social studies unit. I am not so much the seamstress, but at least it's done, yippee! Design goes around to the back and was fabric-markered by every member of the family, including Nana.

Blue! and purple!

Blue! and purple!, originally uploaded by YawnOver.

Also Good!! (See Red! below)

Red!

Red!, originally uploaded by YawnOver.

I had no idea how much I liked red! Check out the mosaic maker at fd's Flickr Toys. Thanks to cosmicpluto knits! for the link :)

Dogs on Thursday: Sure, He Looks Cute...

...but beware the dark side:

When In Doubt, Cast On Something New

A while back, I was turned on to this book by some lovely ladies (book pushers and arm-twisters, all of them) at a Knit Night I sometimes attend:



I know, I know, Reader's Digest, yawn. At first glance, it looks like one of those late 1990s-early 2000s-era "HIP CHUNKY" knit-type books. Many of us, or at least, I have, come to the realization that the only thing "HIP" about chunky knitwear is how giant it makes your HIPs look. But, some chunky things are good:

Chunky cabled throw from the book:



Chunky vest from the book:



Just plain Chunky:



But I digress.

The book has a few real winners in it, not all of them chunky, including a black lacy wrap and - just what I've been looking for - a super cool top-down aran weight seamless raglan. So, rather than choose from amongst my current holiday gift knit projects when looking for some Red Sox knitting, I opted to cast on said sweater for myself*:




I've been looking for a comfy seamless sweater pattern, and this one is fun and fast. It is a lot of stockinette but so far the shaping has held my interest. I can't wait to get past the armholes and see how it all fits together. The yarn is Paton's Classic Merino in Rouge Red, and it was even on sale! (I love me some yarn on sale.) Obviously, the Knitting Fates were guiding my hand as I swiped my credit card.

I'm not a stripe person, but it would also be lovely in a Noro stripe as shown in the book. A cotton blend like Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece would also be nice. I'll see how this one turns out.

Also, in Seamless Knit News: If you have Cobblestone in your queue as I do, go feast your eyes on this version. Didn't she do an amazing job? Makes me want to go cast on now...

Also,this afghan. Yum!!

must...resist...!

*(Didn't someone just blog about that? The inexplicable need, when gift deadlines loom, to cast on something for yourself? I know someone did but can't remember who...obviously their words resonated with me, the Selfish Knitter hehe.)