a lot of catching up

There's been so much knitting and knitting related activities around here lately that are exciting!

~ Tuesday I had jury duty and I underestimated my knitting speed. I purposefully left the foot of a sock for that day and I finished it before we broke for lunch (I didn't bring any other knitting with me because I knew I'd be going home for lunch - I live about a mile from the courthouse). I was glad I brought a book to finish out the time! I swapped those socks out for another pair to work on after lunch.

As the subject states, yesterday, I blocked. A lot.
1. I had blocked a hat, fingerless mitts, and a pair of socks over the weekend, so I finished those up first (getting them de-furred, care cards printed out and wrapped up!).
2. I blocked a scarf (which thankfully dried very quickly - yay lace!).
3. I made an executive decision to try blocking my February Lady cardigan bigger (it's lace, so I'm fairly confident it will block to the size I want). I'll check on it later today and if it didn't work, I'll have to rip out the bind off and about 12 rows of garter stitch and then add in a few more of the lace repeats. Not a huge deal, but a minor pain.
4. I had started a blanket for William ages ago with some yarn from a scrapped project. Well, I decided quite a while ago that I'd have to axe that because the yarn would cost a small fortune. I took advantage of a sale online and bought (much less expensive) replacement yarn a couple weeks ago. The blanket is comprised of small striped mitered squares. I also happened to have some throw pillows that need recovering (I've been unable to find a fabric that is what I want), so after I bought that yarn I, stupidly, realized I could knit covers for the pillows and better yet - I could use the squares I already knit for some of them! So, yesterday I blocked one of the larger put-together squares (four mitered squares seamed together) to the dimensions I'll need for the pillow. I might have to add a border around the edge. It will take some fiddling, but that's to be dealt with after the hols. I just wanted to get the panel blocked so I knew what I would be dealing with.
5. I got those jury duty socks blocking too.

~ Since I allegedly finished my cardigan, I cast on another cardigan I've wanted to start for awhile (I promised myself I wouldn't cast on for it until I finished February Lady) - a short-sleeved dressier cardigan.

~ Stefanie Japel was selling some hand-dyed bamboo yarn scarf kits through her blog and etsy shop. I missed the first round completely. I missed the second round completely. I caught the third round and jumped on it. The kit arrived in the mail already yesterday and it is FABULOUS. I don't normally buy things like this because I generally can't afford them/can justify the cost, but this couldn't be missed. I'm SO excited to be able to knit these scarves after the hols.

~ The yarn for the last-minute gift idea I had for Jim arrived yesterday too, so I cast that on too. It's a hat, so it will be a quick knit, but then I have to do duplicate stitching, which hopefully won't take that long.

Then I'm done with Christmas knitting (with the exception of a pair of socks I'm working on, which won't have to be done until Jan. 1 and don't actually *have* to be completed - the recipient already has a hat and mitts I'm giving her. I can mail her the socks if needed, but I'm pretty sure I'll get them done (btw, Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn is fabulous! I bought a few skeins a while back, but this is the first time I've knit with it and omg. I love it.)

Phew!

christmas knitting

I do it to myself every year (or at least every year since I started knitting!). I tell myself to pick just a couple of people to knit gifts for because I KNOW I will not have time/inclination to finish them all (I start early, but I'm sorry - I'm just not the type of person who can start Christmas gift knitting in April...or even August...).

And then the crunch of the holidays gets closer and I start coming up with more gifts to knit because it would be a nice gesture, or I find a pattern and/or yarn that I know a certain recipient would love, or I just am plain insane.

I only planned two knitted gifts this Christmas: one for my MIL (I KNOW) and one for my boss. Then when I found out I'd be seeing my bestie January 1 who I haven't seen in years, I decided to go on a knitting frenzy for her (OK, technically not Christmas knitting, just ZOMGIMSOEXCITEDTOSEEYOUHEREHAVESOMEKNITTING-knitting, but it still falls into that time frame). So that is a few more projects. And then I got to thinking about other folks I could knit stuff for - a co-worker who is awfully nice and other various family members.

Of course add to this the various projects I have going strong for myself (on the needles and those I have planned - a couple of which I'd like to have done before the mini-holiday to see aforementioned BFF, so again, a time crunch).

I'm going to try to make an effort to get stuff done in a prioritized manner. I have a couple gifts done and a couple partially done and then we'll go from there. But it was making me laugh (hysterically - and I mean hysterically...it's that laugh that falls somewhere between maniacal laughing and crying) last night that I do this Every. Single. Year. When will I learn?

moar yarn!

I was chugging along on my Versatility. Y'know, 'til I ran out of yarn. *eyeroll*

I had this feeling after my first skein that I wasn't going to have enough. I bought four and according to the pattern, the yardage should've had plenty to spare, which is why I didn't buy an extra skein. According to the forums on Ravelry, I am not the only one having this issue. The designer can't make heads or tails of it, so no one has any clue what is going on other than it appears if you substitute yarn, you WILL need much more yardage.

Since I plan on wearing this as a cardigan, I couldn't even remove any repeats because of my height.

Rather than waste the cost of shipping on one skein (Knit Picks yarn, btw), I also ordered yarn for the February Lady sweater, which I've wanted to make for months, but haven't felt like spending the money on the yarn.

The thing that tee'd me the most about needing more yarn for Versatility is I "splurged" for the Cadena over the Wool of the Andes bulky because I only needed four skeins. Now I've had to spend $6 more (plus shipping), so it's ended up being rather costlier than I anticipated. For someone who really has no business buying ANY yarn, this is a big bummer. I hope I can find some really inexpensive buttons and ribbon at the local craft store to make up for it.

On the plus side, in it's nearly finished state, it is very lovely and I cannot wait to wear it out.

YAY. Premature worrying yesterday. My order arrived this afternoon and has been properly stashed (har).

CRAP

I placed a large Knit Picks order last week (I even scaled it back a little bit...see, I have some control). As is everyone who knits, I am always extremely eager to receive wool in the mail. This time I'm hoping and praying to the knitting gods that the shipping is slow. It was shipped from KP on Wednesday and the tracker says it was in Ohio yesterday with no new updates thus far. My experience is that it takes 2-4 days to arrive on my doorstep after the Ohio stop. The likelihood it arrives on one of the two days I DON'T want it to are looking mighty. Saturday and Monday Jim is home and can see what the mailman brings. Were it a simple envelope, I could easily hide that, but this is going to be a big ass box and I fear there is no hiding that.

Plan A is I've been devising ways to get him out of the house, but this is not at all likely. Plan B is that I have also been trying to think up lies as to what the order consists of, but I'm coming up short - there's only a couple of things in the order that qualify as presents. Plan C involves me trying to develop a plan where I'm outside when the mailman arrives (and Jim isn't) and I can stealthily throw the box into my car for opening at a later day.

Cross your fingers that my order either speedily arrives tomorrow or slowly arrives Tuesday. I need to plan my ordering days better, I think. I ordered on a Friday and their stuff usually gets to me in a week. In my eagerness to touch new wool I didn't even consider that. Bah.

oooh shiny

I'm oddly intrigued by this new (I think?) Glow in the Dark yarn. I may have to make a trip to Michaels to check it out. I'm a total Halloween hor anyway, so this may give me an excuse to knit something Halloweeny.

enamored

ENAMORED, I TELL YOU.

Is it possible to be completely infatuated with a knitted item (or two)?

Because I am. I want to whisk these socks away to a deserted island and have multitudes of babies with them.

Pattern: Knotty or Knice
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight
Colorway: Valkyrie

Further details in Ravelry :)

castonitis

I have an acute case of Castonitis at the moment. Nothing is holding my interest.

Jim's socks I'd been working on? Haven't been touched in weeks.

The vest I'm working on for myself. Can't abide the endless stockinette.

The half-completed Endpaper Mitts I began quite a while ago? Those actually did hold my interest the other day. The only problem with those is I must have absolute concentration to work on them and that's something I don't get very often around here.

So, I wound up some really colorful hand-dyed yarn, hoping that would quell it. Nope, had to cast that on: a pair of socks. Think that would satisfy me? Nope. Halfway down the first leg and they've already been set aside.

Thought maybe if I bought some yarn I've been coveting for a terrifically long time, that might tide my unfulfillable mind for a bit. Um, no. Because I can't knit it until it arrives.

I've contemplated casting on about a million other projects amongst all of that, but have managed to abstain.

And then today...my Fall Interweave finally arrived. I want to knit nearly everything in that damn magazine! So, I wound up and cast on the wrap because I do have (some, not all) yarn for that. And I think I found something to keep my interest for a time. I hope. However, I still feel like casting on a ton of other projects. Sometimes it's a bad thing having so many sets of knitting needles. Oh, and I'm going to have to make another Knit Picks order soon. The wrap which will run out of yarn gives me that excuse at least. *nods*

TV

This may be really, really old news, but I just recently discovered that HGTV runs old episodes of Knitty Gritty. This is very exciting for me because I don't get the DiY network (I used to ages ago and when they reshuffled the channels it got yanked out of my package...grrr)!

I am very sad that my local PBS isn't carrying the new Interweave Knits TV show though. Fail PBS. Fail.

Y HALLO THAR

God I fail at having more than one blog.

I got a free $25 for signing up for something and so...I spent it on yarn. I bought some Knit Picks Shimmer (in Stained Glass) to make a Clapotis (finalement!) and also picked up the Georgian Sampler because I thought the projects looked cute and quick(ish). It was a tough decision on which sampler to buy, but the colors in this one won out.

Currently I'm working on a yoga mat bag and the Lace Ribbon Scarf (in Knit Picks Gloss in Serengeti, which was in my stash), both of which are knitting up very quickly and easily. Clapotis will be cast on when the Lace Ribbon Scarf is complete.