Frogged the last UFO this morning

Apparently I thought that there was a lot more time to this month than there really is. Just goes to show how busy I am at work. Where the heck did the month go? Last night I thought it was Wednesday. Maybe I am itching for it to be the weekend again? lol.

So yeah, I frogged the last thing this morning. It was a simple shawl made out of the LionBrand sparkley mohair yarn. I set it aside some time ago because I made yarn overs in the wrong place and it was *so* obvious. I'm kind of bummed because it was three balls worth of yarn. I was more than 1/2 way done with it. *sigh* oh well.

But now everything is off the needles, so to speak, and I can now start anything I want. I'm seriously debateing on having a project at work, in the car and one for around the house. But I can't decide if that will be too much. I also have to start thinking of another gift to give come July but I don't know what this person would appreciate. A hat, should I try to make socks, or just look on their Amazon wishlist?

knitters block?

Cause I seem to have it, lol.

This weekend I was sick. And with all this talk about the swine flu, who knows if I got it or not.

Last week I had the problem with the sock heel. So I decided to rip it and be done. Then I could have kicked myself once I figured out my problem.

So I got some knitting magazines from the library. I really like Knit Simple from Vogue. I can't tell if it's cause they have a lot of patterns that I could see myself wearing or the bright colors most everything was done in.

I found a couple patterns for lace shawls and stoles

I decided this weekend that, Yes, I am going to frog the MS KAL 5 stole. So I found a pattern to use the yarn with. It's simple and elegant looking. I hadn't invested a TON of time in the MS KAL. It's not that the pattern isn't pretty, but I think that, at this place in my life, where I have a lot of brain power being expended, I want something with a simple repeat and this new pattern has it.

There is one more UFO hanging around the house. It's the start of a simple little mitten for DS. I'm gonna frog that as well. The rest of this month is going to be used to organize new projects, go through my little stash and possibly give some up. Most of my stash of other yarns is acryllics. I bought it all with the intention of making blankets and stuff. Maybe I should finally start a blanket? That should be simple, right? LOL, I have been thinking of starting a modern log cabin blanket.

Other than the one project (which I still can't share of photo of yet) I have finished nothing else. I didn't even finish the bobbin I started earlier this month. This has been kind of a poor knitting month now that I think of it.

Frogged the toe up :-(

I just do not *get* the pattern and I can't visualize how it's supposed to turn out since I've tried it twice and I don't think it was coming out how it was supposed to. ... I think I'm gonna need someone to show or explain IRL to me what it's all about.

In the meantime I think I'm gonna need to clear out the cache so to speak. I'm thinking of working with my handspun but I don't know what do work with it yet since it's still so thick and thin. ... I wanted to do something other than a scarf, but I am thinking that might be my only option right now.

A little more about that darn heel

That short row heel is kicking my butt. I got to a point where I was going back and forth and either p or k 2tog and it wasn't making sense. I shared my pain with some knitting friends and one of them told me that the way it was written up couldn't be right, it didn't make sense. *shrugs* I don't know. So I tinked back to a certain point again. I think I'm gonna give the slip stitch heel a try. That's gotta be easier on my poor brain right now.

Why are things being hard on me right now? Perhaps it's because I feel like my brain is being pulled in a bunch of different directions right now. Honestly I'm surprised it hasn't exploded. I'm overworking the poor thing. Little more than a month to go and I can give it a rest. ... Maybe, lol.

Butchered my short row

on my green vanilla sock. I probably should have learned how to purl through the back of the loop before going at the heel enthusiastically. So I ripped it back some and stuck it back on needles until I can focus on it. (Today is sooooo not the day) I also ended up with extra stitches. Like two or three, at least.

In other news, I did spin for about an hour last night. Felt good to spin. I jumped on that and started spinning like I had not been on any spinning hiatus. I'd say bobbin is about two-thirds full.

I've also got the urge to knit a sweater. I don't know where this urge came from. Maybe because I see flowers blooming on southern blogs and it's still snowing up here. :-P

I seen this one called the Coraline Tunic and feel it's just gorgeous. But I think I better start with something like the Boxed sweater from knitty.com. Although I don't know if I want to spin all the fiber for it. ... If I do make the Boxed sweater I would make it longer. I'm not too thrilled at the idea of a sweater that short. The sleeves are fine though :-)

What is this?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my first toe up sock.


It's gonna be a vanilla sock and I'm going by guidelines on a pattern by Wendyknits. Her Nanner pattern to be exact.

I tried the double knit cast on, the figure 8 cast on and I even tried to comprehend Judy's magic cast on. I couldn't quite get any of them. The double knit on looked terrible. If I had some time alone and quiet I could probably figure them out. While I was on youtube I spotted something called Turkish cast on. It looked promising but the video didn't quite do it justice. So I searched on the net and came across this blog which had a great picture tutorial and explained everything. The video I was watching for the other cast on's didn't do a very good job of explaining the beginning and end of the cast on.

But the Turkish cast on. Oh I love it! And so simple. Why aren't more people singing the praises of this cast on?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.

I'm the cook this Easter. First time making an Easter dinner. It's gonna be unconventional to say the least. But it will be yummy.

Last night we colored eggs. DS blazed through the eggs so fast. Next year I will have to boil more so it lasts a bit longer.

I still have the dye jars sitting on my counter. I'm going to use them on some yarn I have and try my hand at Easter egg dye dyeing. I'm still working on a project that can't be mentioned just yet. Would you believe the last time I worked on it was Friday? I looked at it once or twice but I didn't touch it.

We still have to do the egg hunt. That will happen as soon as grandma wakes up.

Today is supposed to be another gorgeous day out. I think another bike ride is in order. Yesterday we went out on a trail we had never been on before. It is nice. Asphalt path and it goes through the woods and past a field. There were even a few creeks running. I'm proud to say that DS can ride his bike for one mile and not be tired out. When we got back home he wanted to ride his bike some more. I love that he's so active. I can hardly keep up with him though. :-)

I love this sock!

Can I wax poetic about this sock? I'm serious.


I love it. It fits me perfect! It's a vanilla sock pattern.

I took this photo last weekend. Since then I've decreased the gusset on the second sock and I'm on the home stretch. I'm a bit perplexed by the second sock though. The heel flap on the first one had 20 stitches on each side. The second on had 15. However, it is the same length as the first one. *shrug*

This month I also knit up a hat for a friend to give to charity. I finished it at the tail end of the month.


Yup, it's another "an unoriginal hat" I really do enjoy knitting this pattern.

I also knit up a mess of washcloths this month but I can't take any photos of them because they are all being used. Shocker huh?

I did some spinning this month. I managed to fill a bobbin full with some colonial top. I think it's about 6 ounces spun and I'm going to try navajo plying the whole thing this weekend. *This* is gonna be a treat. I've got the general idea on navajo plying down. Now I've got to learn to keep everything even and not over spin it.