Brr it's getting cold out there

Less than one week til Thanksgiving. I am very much looking forward to the holiday/family break. What I'm not looking forward to is the cold.

The cold has hit the Northland. That does not make for a happy me.

However, it does put me in the mood for making mittens, hats, scarves, etc.

But I can't make anything because I'm still working on Christmas gifts.

*insert woe face*

One of my friends pointed me towards these fingerless mitts. Susies reading mitts.

They look simple and elegant, which I think will be perfect for the person I'm making them for.

Last night I cast one on. I haven't made much progress on it. I did finish the first fingerless on the other pair I'm making. I still need to put the thumb gusset on it though.

Today I tried tidying up this shelf that yarn and fiber have slowly been accumulating on. MMmmm, it's not looking too much better. But it's a start. I have a grand plan of clearing the clutter and tidying up my itty bitty yarn stash. I don't think it's gonna happen anytime soon though.

So ... yeah ... not a lot of progress this week. I've been feeling a bit run down this week. Since I'm concerned about getting sick during the holidays I've been taking it a bit easy in hopes that my body will fight off whatever has been going around work my son's school.

And on that note, I'm going to go pour myself a glass of orange juice and get ready for the night.

I have a goal

I have two more Christmas gifts to make, plus one in reserve. Then I want to make the little man a hat. That's all small stuff, right? I wanted to get that stuff done by the end of the month plus finish up the fiber that I'm currently spinning, which isn't much. But I haven't decided how I want to ply it yet.

Then I have the Pi Shawl from Wendyknits. I'm one repeat away from finishing up the third chart. Yay!

Then I have a sock of doom currently on the needles. Oy! This sock I have sent to the frog pond twice. I just finished the heel flap and need to pick up the stitches. But my word, I'm so not enthused with this sock. I'm sure it will be fine when I'm done.

The goal is to have all this stuff done by the end of the year. One side of my brain tells me I can do it, the other side is screaming at me, that I'm putting too much pressure on myself.

I blinked at November was half over. So that leaves me about six weeks before the end of the year. When I say that it sure doesn't sound like a lot of time left.

Busines trip

It feels weird to say this, but I had a business trip last week. It was my first trip that I had to stay overnight somewhere for my work. The weeks going up to it I was a slight mess. The night before and the morning of I was so anxious that I had could barely stand still.

First time being away from my son since he was born. I know, that probably sounds slightly pathetic but I am not a traveling gal. I like sleeping in my own bed each night and the fridge is always stocked with foods I like.

Anywho, it ended up being a good trip despite some hold ups. I came back home with a lot of notes and a lot of things to think about. I was pretty glad to have gone and even happier to be back home.

I didn't do any driving on this trip so my hands were free to do some knitting. On the way there I was working on some Dashing mitts for a Christmas gift. I like the pattern but I got confused when I got to the twisting cable bits. So I ripped it back and started over again with a different version of cabling. I messed up a cable so I ripped it all again and rolled the yarn into the ball and put it away. I ended up pulling out the Pi Shawl that was a mystery KAL with Wendyknits.net.
First I had to remember where I was since I had put it away. It's been a few months since I've touched it. I'm in the third clue and starting repeat 10. I call it four row purgatory. I have got a renewed interest in it now. The repeats take me a while though. Then I seen in the next clue the repeats need to be done nine times. Oy! Just got to take it one repeat at a time.

I'm not sure if I'm going to try the dashing mitts again though. The yarn has some silk content in it and I have only bamboo needles. Very sticky combo. Unless I try for a magic loop technique so I can use my metal Options needles I think I will search for a new pattern.


I've got the shawl on a 16-inch circular. Can't recall what size needle, but it's the recommended size from the pattern. The picture doesn't quite do it justice. The yarn is KP bare yarn that I dyed. The yarn was originally bought for a mystery KAL. The one that people threw a fit over at the end because it had a Bible verse on the last clue of the pattern. ... Uh yeah, some people just look for stuff to Bi&^h about, I think. It was a lovely verse to go along with the pattern. Granted, I didn't finish it, but it was a nice project when you seen it all put together.

Anywho, that was a slight diversion. I have seen the Pi shawl finished and it is lovely.

Progress this week

I need to think of a proper title for this weekly wrap up. Here goes. ...

I did get all that was on my needles finished. Both fetching mitts are done and they have thumb gussetts. The worst weight sock has been kitchenered. I do see a weaving in ends party in the near future. I would like to get the second worsted weight sock done before my road trip on Wednesday. I still need to decide on what to bring with me for working in the car ...

I didn't touch my spinning wheel though. There is one more full bobbin of fiber that needs to be plied. If I can, I will get that done before I head out.

I don't imagine I will be getting much done this weekend though. Got to get my ducks in a row at the house. My two guys will be left to their own defenses. I'm kind of nervous.

That reminds me, I should check online and see if there are any LYS in the town I'm going to. Gotta get a skein to remember the trip!

Waltzing scarf

Me and a bunch of my online buddies did a KAL/swap and used the Waltzing scarf. It's a fabulous scarf pattern.


This was my first time using Malabrigo yarn. It was divine to work with. I don't remember what the colorway was called. But it was mostly blues and some purple bits. And so soft. So very soft.

I believe I did 35 repeats. By the time it was blocked out it was at least six feet long. Blocking was a bit interesting because I couldn't find any T-pins. I may need to invest in some blocking wires. I did do a couple modifications. One purl between the repeats instead of three.

The people I showed it to loved it. It was hard letting it go but I did ship it out this past Tuesday. My swappee got it yesterday. She loves it! Which makes me really happy.

I rediscovered podcasts and my MP3 player

As soon as the weather turned cold I started listening to podcasts. I have missed out on a lot. I've debated on going back and listening to all the back episodes. I'm going to catch up on my favorites but probably start out with the most recent on some of the new ones.

I download them on Itunes at my work but I have an RCA MP3 player so I can't transfer them, which is a bummer. I really like my MP3 player. However I have run into some problems when I want to put podcasts on my player. I can't connect it to my work Mac and this new Windows media player is not the same as what I was using on my older laptop. Why doesn't the new Windows media player have a podcatcher in it? That boggles my mind. Not everyone is an Apple freak with a i-something.

I did figure out a solution. I'm now downloading the MP3 players either directly to my desktop and I can drag and drop the file and sync the MP3 player.

Oh! I am in love with my MP3 player again. It's funny how something as this makes me so happy.

The podcasts I'm listening to are:

Stitch it!
Sticks and String
Knitmore Girls
CogKNITive
Cast On
Knitajourney
The Knit Wits podcast
Round the Twist with Carin - videocast
BarknKnit

I've just started listening to:

Knitting Pipeline
Crooked Row

I'm sure there are a few others but I don't have my list right in front of me. I forgot how much I enjoy listening to them.

November goals

There are a few items for gifts I'd like to get done by the end of the month. They are not big items. It's a few Christmas gifts and a few birthday gifts.

Then there is the spinning that I'd like to finish up. I want to finish the gillyweed that I'm working on. I have 1/3 of the braid left. Then there is some stuff on the bobbins that need to be plied up. Wow, I can sure tell the difference in my spinning since the beginning of the year.

Then I have a road trip coming up next week. It's silly of me, but I would *love* to get the two current projects I'm working on done before I have to go. Then I'm not sure what I will bring with me on this road trip. I'm gonna be passenger for the majority of the trip. I'm tempted to bring a pair of vanilla socks that have been on the needles forever. It's the kind of knitting that puts me to sleep. That might be just what I need.