Knitter Weather

Today was the second day in a row that I had to scrape ice off of my car. This time I thought about it ahead of time and remembered to wear a hat, scarf and gloves! It was the first time out for my Shedir! I love this time of year!

The Fir is progressing slowly. I've been working on simpler projects recently - mostly socks. I love the mindlessness of socks some days. I'm still trying to come up with something wonderful for my fiancee's mother. I just don't know where to begin since I've never met her. *sigh*

I'm so excited about taking a quilting class on Saturday! I'll be making a queen size carpenter's star quilt. I got the fabric, washed it and pressed it two weekends ago. Its going to be beautiful! :-) I'm really looking forward to having something to do on a Saturday too. Chores get old quickly. It will be nice to get out for a change.

Irish Eyes

Plaited Cable Scarf by NJ Niemeyer
I've misplaced the ballband on this yarn. Its a wool acrylic blend of some sort.

This is an awful picture of the color, but a decent shot of the cables on the scarf I completed this afternoon.

And progress has been made on the Fir Cone Square Shawl thanks to "The Devil Wears Prada" from the e-listening library and episodes of "M*A*S*H" and "What Not to Wear."

There's a sock ready to have its heel turned when I get around to thinking about it, and another colorwork mitten on the needles, but they may be laid aside for Christmas Knitting in the near future. I really should finish the lace scarf and I need to think of something for my fiance's mother... hmm...

Finally working on the Fir!

I had every intention of starting this in January. Here it is almost October. Ah well. Here's the Ravelry link. My Fir Shawl.

I've also posted pictures of some of my other back projects. Please peruse there, if you can.

Here's my favorite finished sweater for those of you who aren't on Ravelry.

Pattern: Samus, from Knitty.com
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Tweed in grey and maroon

One Colorwork Mitten!

Again, ignore the date, my camera is screwy.

This is the first of the colorwork mittens! Its a little small for my hands, but I'm hoping it will block a bit larger or that it will fit one of my friends. :-)

I got a delivery from Knitpicks today with the Harmony circular needle tips so I can finally start my Fir Cone Square Shawl! I'm about 8 rows into it now! Hooray!

Adventure Knitting!

I've finally taken the plunge into colorwork! I found a cute mitten pattern on Ravelry called Herringbone Mittens with Poms and decided it was time to try. Other than misreading the chart and forgetting to increase for the thumb in the appropriate places, its going well so far. I'm using some grey and red alpaca from my stash so they'll be nice and warm when winter hits. The photo is w/o needles because I'm in the process of ripping back to fix my lack of increases.

Plymouth Yarn Indiecita Alpaca in Grey and Burgandy

Yes, some digital photography has been restored to me. Ignore the date on the photo. I haven't bothered with changing it on the camera yet.

And, yes, that is a very shiny ring on my left hand - my beloved Chris proposed last month and we're now engaged! In fact, the other project on my needles is a gift for him so I can't tell you about it because he sometimes stumbles onto this blog. Once he's got the gift, I'll make sure to take pictures! I'm hoping to catch up on some of my Ravelry project pictures... at least the projects I haven't given away already.

I've got an itch to start a sweater, but my sock yarn is also calling my name. I just placed an order with Knit Picks and should be recieving needles to start a shawl as well as more sock yarn. I also need to find yarn for a Christmas scarf for my future Grandmother-in-law. I just met her this weekend and she's a lovely woman. I can't wait to knit for her!

Sorting the stash

I'm mostly unpacked in my new place. I vacuumed the living room floor today and promptly covered it with yarn to be re-sorted into recognizable categories within the stash bins. There's now a "WIPs" bin (for things I don't really feel like working on right now) and a "good yarn" bin (for fun and exciting future projects) and a "dishcloth yarn" bin full of cotton. Small bits that were cluttering up the bins were placed in a nice ceramic pot to be knitted into my labyrinth rug. :-) It was refreshing to have all my friendly yarn out again. I'm starting to itch for a new project... what shall it be?

Boxes, ho!

My apartment is filled with cardboard at the moment. I've got lots of boxes to pack for my move north on Wednesday. Today is filled with laundry doing, dish washing, and other chores that lead to more packing. I've sadly begun packing away the stash. My poor cat doesn't know what to do with himself. He hates all of the commotion. (And I think he misses the stash too.)

I'm surprised by how fast the summer has flown by. I finished that cable braid sweater months ago and still haven't gotten pictures. Most recently I've been working on dishtowels and washcloths for my new place. The movie-going scarf is complete, as is a matching hat. I also made Knitty's "Shedir" from the leftover Silky Tweed from the cable braid sweater. I also finished one experimental sock from the self striping sock yarn my friend gave me.

The next time I post I'll be in VA! I'm looking forward to finding a new LYS and new knitters to play with. :-)