Clickity, click, click, click ...

It's been one of those kind of weeks.

Starting with the New England Nor'easter last Saturday I stayed at home with my knitting most of the time working on the Christmas gifts.

Completed;

Handwarmers fit for a young man.

And finally finished the sweater for the 5 year old granddaughter which I had started last JULY.

And yes I'm still knitting more gifts only cast on the needles this week ...
 (don't ask me about the others waiting around for me to finish, okay?)

A shawl and more fingerless (handwarmer) gloves/mitts...

Seems like it never ends doesn't it? ... clickity, click, click, click.

It's done and it Fits!

Yahhooooo!! My Drape Neck Summer Top actually fits.



And I'm so happy about that. The projects info is on Ravelry here. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2011.

Now what should I do next? Another sweater or finished one of the many projects I've already started.

Ah yes, I confess I'm itching to "cast-on."

When I get up at 3:00 am ...

What else is there to do?

Of course, I can always keep knitting in my sleep!

Watching the flowers grow ...

while I knit. And there just isn't anything else to say about that. Except ...



It would be nice if the knitting gods surprise me when I'm done (this is the back) and this sweater will FIT!

I Crochet but I also knit & knit & knit ...

...

Cindy modeled my Ragg Cape last night. She thought it fit but I hope it doesn't and looks too big on her. Because I made it for ME you see. I'm probably twice the size of Cindy in circumference. So if it doesn't fit me; don't laugh.



Okay it just barely fits but I'm hoping to loose some weight. Honestly I'm working on it. Always working on it anyways.

I really don't like the way the arms blocked...

Baggy looking. So it's being re-blocked as I type.

Yesterday my colleagues at MIT Mathematics gave me [and another colleague] a "going away, so-long, good-luck" dessert party. They really surprised me with a super gift too. A 12 month membership in The Yarn of the Month Club. Every month I will receive four generous samples of the newest yarns available for the season. I can swatch with 'em and see how each feels and how each knits up. I've already received my 1st month of samples and this morning I knit 'em up. Blocking them now. But here's the pictures I took before blocking. I'll show "after" pictures later.



This one is made of Cotton and CORN ...





And I couldn't leave Community Knitting at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn last night without buying something ...

Like 15 hanks of Spud & Chloe ...

The cardigan? Oh it's Megan from Blueprint Crochet.

So, can you guess that today I'm going to crochet?

So much to do ... so little time!

That's the story of my life.

And it takes time to keep producing those hexagons too ...

Of course it's my own fault that there's so much to do. I keep starting something new before I even finish the ton of things I've already started. Such as this little green number I started last Summer ...

Well I did get all the pieces seamed this week and now I only have to pick up the stitches to do the collar section at the neckline and sew in all the ends & the two buttons. I intended to have it done for St. Patrick's day. And IF it happened to fit me [over a turtle neck jersey of course] I'll wear it on Monday. But will it really happen? I have that "Sculpture with Wool" class I'm giving tomorrow, so where is the TIME going to come from?

What else happened this week? Well ... I wanted to start some Spring cleaning [not that kind of cleaning] by using up left over balls of yarn or give it away. But who would want it right? Well some of it is so pretty, I might just roll it up and put it into a bowl on the coffee table. Gosh, how original is that, huh? [I'm not serious; I'm sure you have a bowl sitting out somewhere already.]

And then I discovered a project to use up the left-over sock yarn. You know how there's usually a small ball left after knitting a pair of socks for the small to average foot ... too big to throw out, yet too small to make another pair of socks? Well maybe one for a baby, but not always. Depends on the yarn company it came from. I can knit some sock earrings, but that doesn't take much more that a few feet.

See this is just a SMALL pile of the left overs [there's more, trust me] I have stashed away ...

Well I discovered the Tissue Sweater Cozy by Kmkat.typepad.com!

So in my spare time, I've whipped up just a couple ...

And a couple more to sew up along the edges and into the "gift giving" basket they'll go. Now isn't that a niffy idea?

Oh gosh ... there's more to show you but I just suddenly started feeling a little "overwhelmed".

I better go fix dinner. Let's hope there's some wine to go with it!

Catching up while falling behind ...

What a busy weekend. And all of it involves something to do with knitting too!

This month's STR Club arrived and is no longer a spoiler so I'm posting a picture of my goodies now .... well, I think most people have already received theirs & done this already. The colorway is Firebird. Love the color! But once again, I'm not into the sock pattern. I'll look it over more thoroughly before I give it a thumbs down. It might surprise me and knit up nicely. So I'll let you know. But I can't even begin to knit this one until the Math Whiz is done.

Thursday night I got my Mystery Stole 3 swatches done. Well I only needed to do two. The first one is on size 4 needles with only 2 pattern repeats and the 2nd is on size 5 with the beads knit in with 3 repeats. I tried out the matte black beads and the shiny black beads on the Zephyr Ebony lace yarn. I love this yarn. It's wool & silk and feels so nice while knitting as well as after blocking.

Can you tell which beads I'm using? Bet you can barely see the matte black. Didn't think so ... which is why I'm using the shiny black. You can see those at the point of the 1st row of yarn overs. The matte is in the middle row and just blends right in. It would make no sense to use them here. Okay, I'll use them in another project someday, 'coz I'm really liking the fact that I'm knitting with beads. I'm on row 51 of the mystery stole and have only 49 rows to go before the next clue comes out next Friday. BTW, I can only do this lace knitting early in the morning with no TV on or DH up and talking to distract me. Even then I've developed a twitch in my right eye lid. What's up with that? It stops after I've put the knitting down and away, LOL. I hope it doesn't happen every morning while I'm working on this. I need to do at least 10 rows a day in order to get them done before the next clue comes out.

FOB here ...

but I can't give you a picture of me modeling it until Thursday night's Community Knitting at SSFY. It's not for me tho. It's for my Mom. She use to wear a shawl/jacket I crocheted for her years ago. But since she lost so much weight in her shoulders it keeps falling off so I knit this one for those colder evenings during the Winter in Florida. It has cotton & nylon in the yarn so it won't be too hot but just warm enough to keep a chill out. I'll ask someone to take some pictures since the DH just doesn't do as well in that department. Hope Kendra will be there 'coz she's pretty good at it. In fact, she took a good picture of me with the felted sign at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn. Will show you that below.


But first, here's another new project ... a WIP. A little Summer Cardigan in green Shine from KnitPicks. Their green is more like a Kelly Green to me ... I like it! The back is almost done already. Can I possibly get this done before the Summer is over?

Here's the sign hanging in it's permanent home. I think I'll do some more shopping at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn ...



Yup, I see more yarn coming home with me. Don't you? Some for a felted vest and some for another Lily Chin jacket. Haven't taken the pictures yet though. No time right now, but I'll tell you more about it after Thursday night when pictures of the pink & orange jacket are taken.

I did take a picture of a little blanket I bought there ...

It's a Crispina by Fuchsia, Inc. They make new items from old used items, such as wool sweaters, denim jeans, corduroys and t-shirts. This blanket is from wool sweaters. And I love it!

It was perfect today sitting outside to knit altho it was cooler and breezier. So I just covered my bare little toes with my little woollen blanket and knit while DH read his book. Cozy huh?


In fact, that's where I'm going to be for the next hour or two. Hope your weekend was as lovely as mine.

See ya in a few days ...

with knitting needles in my hands!