Pain, Pain, Go Away

It would figure that when I have the most to accomplish my body conspires against me.  Big holiday coming up and I figured I had lots of time to knit and sew and play with my spinning wheel, read....You get the picture.  I even figured now (this started about 2 weeks ago) was a perfect time to tackle painting the living room since it would force me to finish in a timely manner, and I even gave hubby permission to give me a hard time if I started slacking off.  I may have a wee-bit of a problem with sticking with any one thing at a time.  I don't see anything wrong with it. From my point of view, it keeps things interesting and fresh.  Other members of this household have been known to throw around "A.D.D." like it's a bad thing.  Seriously.  Give a girl a break. 

Anyway, everything was going according to plan, even with weekly visits to physio to deal with my plantar fasciitis, until it wasn't.  My shoulder and neck started screaming at me.  I started to lose sleep because I couldn't get comfortable.  My physiotherapist tortured worked on me with kindness.  Because "as long as it hurt while you're doing the exercises, it's all good".  Yeah, OK.  It was helping, whatever she would dream up for my new regime.  Then my back gave out.  Will I ever get a break?  Lots of good meds, more visits to the torture chamber, barely making a crack in the pain.  I'm working through it.  The back pain is still fresh, and probably a direct result of me doing too much when I was having a good, semi-pain free day.  Standing hurts less than sitting.  Because of that, I actually braved the stores and did my one day of Christmas shopping. Took a friend for support in case it turned bad. 

I am very pleased that I did get the living room painted before my back revolted.  The little front hall beside the living room looks dingy in comparison but I honestly don't know if I'll be in any shape to get it finished before Christmas.  We have tentatively scheduled a tree-hunting party for one day this weekend.  Time is running away from me.  Surely I'm not the only one that feels this way.  After all, there is still knitting and sewing that needs to be done. 

Christmas in Killarney

N. Christmas in Killarney - make something green

So I did.  I cast off a forest green wool hat this evening.  Moratorium on Christmas music is still on until December 1 at Chez Moi but I'm stocking that basket. 

I also knit one warm woolen mitten (minus the thumb)  from the Shetland fleece I spun on the  weekend.  I am already wondering if I will have to spin more before finishing.  That would mean hand carding.  (Did you picture my eyes rolling skyward? That's where they went.)  Even with only 21 sts on 5.5mm dps, these mitts are super thick and eating up yarn like it's going out of style.  They will be pretty awesome when they're done, though.

I've been trolling Ravelry for some ornaments to knit and I scored at least 3 patterns that I can foresee making in the very near future.  It just occurred to me that baby socks would also quality for something small.  Hellllloooo!  Why haven't I thought of them before?? Sheesh!  I love it when this thinking thing actually produces some successful results.

FILL YOUR HOLIDAYS WITH MUSIC” STASHDASH

So there has been knitting, a little bit anyway.



A little hat I came up with, knit with my handspun.  I am pleased with it. Daughter has attempted hatnapping.  She failed, but with no small effort on my part. 

Then there was a pair of socks that finally got finished, so they qualify as a WIP crossed off my list.  YES! 

And I even managed to spin some fluff.  Shetland fleece.  The picture was taken before I sent the skeins for a little swim. Navajo plied, chunky.  Probably will end up as mittens.

Today I even managed a couple super-easy dish cloths to stash bust.  I usually buy the 400g cotton balls so it takes a while to work through them, but considering that I can't get a single wash cloth out of the little ones, it's worth it. Happy to say that I'm all done with this colourway.

Now for a wee little confession.  While my stash busting efforts should be applauded, there was a little accident in the acquisition department. Completely unintentional, I may add.  A full bag of 100% wool, all for $10.  It begged me to take it home with me.  It's chunky wool, probably destined to be a rug or a car blanket. Preferably sooner rather than later.  This is a decent sized bag!
So all in all, I'm well on my way to filling my Holidays with Music.  It feels good.  Now I just have to decide if I want to work on another WIP or start something new.  Yardage weigh-in will take place tomorrow. 

Friday Felines

Zeus and Thomas

Getting Ready for Winter



My long janies, finally done!  Yay!  I'm quite happy with them, and their woolly goodness.  Briggs&Little Sport, knit on 2.5mm circulars, 343g worth.  I am planning on making another pair, higher in the waist.  These ones are short enough not to show above the waist of my jeans.  I think I may even write out the pattern as I knit the new pair. These long janies count as one of my 3 WIPs for the Stashdown (see below). Have I said how thrilled I am that these are finally done??

Also, because I am a joiner, and once again, A Little Yarn On The Side came up with a really good one, I am taking part in "FILL YOUR HOLIDAYS WITH MUSIC” STASHDASH.

1. Find a cute holiday-ish basket that will inspire you to fill it with yarny-goodness
2. Between November 1 and midnight of December 31, fill it with any combination of the following:

A. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - knit something small (less than 6 inches or thereabout)
B. Frosty the Snowman - knit a snowman of some sort or something with a snowman on it
C. Toyland - make the toy of your choice
D. My Favorite Things - make “warm woolen mittens” in your choice of yarn and size. Mini mittens do count
E. Here Comes Santa Claus - knit a Santa or something with Santa on it
F. A Marshmallow World - spin the fiber of your choice
G. Silver Bells - make a bell or something with a bell motif
H. Jingle Bells - make something (such as an ornament or stocking or whatever) that can have jingle bells attached to it
I. Blue Christmas - make something blue
J. White Christmas - make something white
K. Oh Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree) - make an ornament to hang on the tree, or alternatively make a tree
L. We Three Kings - finish 3 WIPS or finish 3 items if you don’t have any WIPs
M. Joy to the World - finish your oldest WIP
N. Christmas in Killarney - make something green
O. Nuttin’ for Christmas - make Grumpy, the Lump of Coal
P. What Child is This? - make something for a baby or child
Q. Twas the Night Before Christmas - make a Christmas stocking, stocking ornament, or socks
R. Christmas Shoes - make a pair of slippers, booties, or socks
S. I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas - make a hippopotamus or other toy (crochet) (knit)
T. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - make something red
U. Good King Wenceslas - make a crown or hat
V. Deck the Halls - make a decoration
W. It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - make your favorite pattern  
X. Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel - finish eight WIPS or 8 items if you don’t have WIPs
Y. Twelve Days of Christmas - finish twelve WIPS or 12 items if you don’t have WIPs
Z. Ring Out, Wild Bells - finish ALL your WIPS
Bonus Challenge: Knit 6,000 yards of yarn in any way you would like
So it's like this:  since the beginning of November, I've spun a full bobbin (yes, only one; don't judge me) of a Shetland fleece I bought two years ago at a Back to Back Challenge, which has been a spinning UFO for quite some time.  The goal is to finish what I have carded, and possibly finish carding the rest of that fleece and spin that, then knit it up into some glorious project.  I'm working on a hat even as I type this.  I plan to tackle more WIPs.  The items with motifs will be a no-go, I'm quite confident in stating. Knitting mittens, decorations, items in specific colours?  Sure, why not??  This will definitely be one of the more fun challenges I've participated in.  Again, I will aim for that bonus challenge, but in weight and not yardage.  My first 343g is done!

Are you going to join???

Oh, almost forgot.... Let me leave you with a Feline for Friday Felines:

Shorter days

With less and less brilliant leaves clinging to their branches it's hight time to get into winter knitting.

 

My daughter told me I have to stop knitting things she likes if I want to keep them for myself.  Does that mean that I am destined to end up only with ugly knits?? Doesn't seem right. 

This hat counts towards the Mad Halloween Dash, even if I will never reach that finish line.  Knit from handspun merino, it's really soft and cozy!  46 grams' worth subtracted from 2824g leaves me with 2778 g to go.  I did forget to weigh the hat and thrum mitt set I made for a friend's birthday, so that and a pair of socks would bring that total down, as well as the wool long johns I'm working on for myself, although it will be a while yet before they are done (I'm about mid-thigh on both legs).

Friday Felines

 

 

It Fits!

You'll have to pardon the blurry picture, but here is Rylie in his birthday sweater.  A bit of room to grow, too, which is more than I can say for the sweater that a certain other grandmother knit for him, but hey, it's not like I'm competitive or anything!  See that smile?  He likes it!  A lot!  Which makes me deliriously happy.

Finished Object

Yay!  It's finally done.  Granted, it was finished being knitted a long time ago, but I just got around to sewing in the ends today.  Then it went for a good wash pre-blocking.  Not one, but two four-legged supervisors made sure I was doing it right!  Ta-da!

I think Knit-Wit was pointing out an edge I may have missed pinning.  Sheesh!

Two on guard duty.  Actually, I booted them right out of the room in case they got inspired to start removing the pins.

 

The pattern was a modified one from here: http://knitalong.net/?page_id=35.  I honestly don't remember where the lace edging came from.  Perhaps a free pattern from Knitting Daily?  Regardless, it was super easy.

 

So, although I am not counting this toward my 4000g of the Mad Halloween Dash, I am counting it as one of several projects I wanted to get completely finished before Halloween.  Another is my white Aran cardigan that needs sleeves; unfortunately I misplaced that pattern booklet but I have hope that it won't take me another 20 years to find it.  Yes, friends and other strangers, that is in fact how long that cardigan has held UFO status.  Sad but true.

 





Friday Felines

 

Talk about creature comfort.

More Socks and a Kitten

Just a little over a month to go to Halloween.  Although I'm not exactly "dashing" along, progress is being made in the Halloween Dash.  I completed another two pairs of socks weighing in at 332g. Subtract that from my previous total of 3156g and I'm down to 2824g.  I also have a pair of skinny socks about 3/4 done and a pair gloves for which I need to knit three more fingers. Can't count them until they're done though.  I'm thinking a cotton sweater should go pretty quickly and put a nice kick into that total. I will be stash diving this weekend for something appropriate. 

I can't miss out on posting a picture of a little someone for Friday Felines.

Friday Felines

This ended with fur flying.  Knit-Wit going for Zeus's throat was the final straw before the royal rumble began.

And then there are moments like this, when he looks so innocent.  But only when he sleeps.  LOL

Dashing Along

I am pretty pleased with how quickly I managed to knit this little sweater.  It's for my grandson's third birthday, at the end of this month, so I had good reason to get my knit on.  It's from the Debbie Bliss book "Cotton Knits for all seasons".  I've made some minor modifications, for ease of knitting, and to accommodate the yarn I was using, since this was another stash buster.  First, I didn't use cotton.  My yarn of choice was Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends, 70% Acrylic and 30% Alpaca.  There is an excellent chance that this sweater will end up going into the washer and dryer so I hope the amount of acrylic will help keep this close to it's original size.  For that reason, and the fact my gauge was a little off, I aimed to make it a little bigger.  (Fingers crossed.)  Rylie's mom is not a knitter, nor has she ever thought about knitting, so I know that sending her the label with wash instructions will be pretty pointless, but here is hoping.   This sweater is very soft and I hope Rylie will like wearing it.  I made the collar shorter and didn't do the short rows (hate short rows!) so I just winged it.  Hopefully it's not "choke-y" around the neck.  Kids hate that!



 



 

For such a small sweater, it's pretty hefty, weighing in at 491g.  Since my previous total was 3647g, I am now down to 3156g.  Yay!

 

That would be Knit-Wit helping out by keeping the pattern book open.  What a good kitty!  Mind you that is not what I was telling him when he wouldn't leave the knitting needles or yarn alone.  Got to take the good with the bad.  He'll be in his teenage months only so long...

Friday Felines with a Knitting Kick

Thomas is such an opportunist!  I took out the drawer with all the zippers and when I went to put it back, Mr. had already made himself a nice nap corner.  Because what are ribbons if not more decorative with a little cat hair?

Zeus and Knit-Wit battling it out, again.  Didn't appreciate the interruption by the looks of things.

Dinner time at the zoo.

Now for an update of my Halloween Dash.  I haven't figured out my actual goal yet, but I suspect I might start by trying for 4000g since I want to use partial balls of yarn and that would make too fiddly to figure out the actual yardage used.  Weight is easier since I have a scale. 

So far, I have knit two pairs of Briggs and Little socks for my husband, each weighing in at 176g and 177g respectively.  Not a bad start.  I'm working on another pair of socks, these ones considerably lighter, which might not be in my favour as far as this tally goes.  It's a skinny pair, and we know a ball of yarn for those only weighs in at 50g, but the yardage is considerable.  It all adds up, the way I look at it.

So I have only 3647g to go.   I can do this.

Mad Scare Yourself Halloween Dash!

Apparently, I'm a joiner.  It's been some time so I almost forgot.  But then Toni over at A Little Yarn on The Side had this nifty idea to get the needles moving again.

"Halloween is just over 2 months away, and what better way to frighten a knitter than to do one or more of the following:

1. Knit 4,000 yards before Halloween
   
2. Knit up the most challenging pattern in your queue.
   
3. Use the most difficult yarn in your stash--mohair, splitty, so black you can’t see even the biggest garter stitch--whatever is most difficult.
   
4. The personally-scares-you challenge of your choice.

Complete one, two, or all as the mood takes you!"

That's a direct quote from her blog.  I think you should play along too, after you pop over to visit her at her blog and say Hi.

I think I will start my Dash tomorrow.  I haven't touched knitting needles in close to two weeks, with this past week being a complete write off since my Mom was visiting.  Frankly, I've kind of slacked off once I finished that second pair of Kroy FX socks.  I have all kinds of TV series on DVD  as background noise so it's just a matter of finding fitting projects.  I have way too much mohair in my stash still, even after the King sized bedspread.  I think I will pick a lace project to work on once the kids start back to school and my days are blissfully quiet again.  And I "need" a cardigan or two.  And then I could start working on some Christmas gifts...

Yesterday, I remembered how much I like sewing.  Mom had brought all sorts of items that were in need of alterations, and I worked some miracles if I do say so myself.   

Friday Felines

Friday Felines

Rough housing!

Don't be a quiter!

What!?

A moment of peace!

Friday Felines, A Day Late

Knit-Wit

Pandora

And finally proof of knitting. Socks, both made with Patons Kroy FX.  I am really liking this yarn, with the exception of this smaller yardage, and the rare splitting.  I like pointy needles for sock knitting so maybe using ones less pointy would fix that problem.  Both pairs will be residing in my youngest child's sock drawer until the temperature drops. 

Friday Felines

Knit-Wit.

Another Huge DONE!

I am SURMOUNTING THE STASH.

Talk about a stash buster!  18 balls of Sirdar Deluxe Mohair, gone out of the stash.  It was well aged.  Yay!  It fits a king-sized bed.  If you read the previous post and took note of my panic, worry not.  I decided to short-change the pattern by two rows and managed to cast off with a tiny bit of yarn left over.  The sigh of relief was very dramatic as my daughter can attest.   I am thrilled it's done. It will be going to the Exhibition in a couple weeks and after that will most likely live in my daughter's room.



Now I am contemplating my next knit.  From the stash for sure, but I'm not prepared to work on UFOs at the moment. I'm thinking another project with yarn that is taking up a lot of room, one that's been lingering around longer than necessary. 

I'm on a mission to reduce the monstrous stash.

HELP!

I'm "that" close to finishing that lace blanket.  Ran out of yarn.  Sirdar Deluxe Mohair in white to be precise!    It's discontinued!  EEEK! 

Can anyone out there help me??

Done!

My March Sweater Madness sweater is finally done.  Actually it's been finished for a couple weeks but I'm sure you've noticed my lack of blogging.  Laziness is the short answer. 

Anyway, here it is:

It fits.  I like it, and so does my daughter.  I'm going to have to keep a close eye on it lest it end up in her closet!

Currently I'm working on a mohair blanket.  It's getting really big and since it's been so hot the last few days, I've been avoiding working on.  I want it done though because it's a major stash busting project.  It's bright and it makes me happy.  It's a feather and fan lace pattern I got out of one of those little knitting mysteries. Don't make me look up my notes.  I will tell you later when I post a photo of the finished item.  I had to cast on over 260 stitches, and it reaches to my shoulders so far.  Yup, it's going to be pretty big.

I'm itching to get started on another (read new) project!  But truth be told, the Olympic sweater has been staring at me from it's basket so it might not happen for a few weeks. 

Friday Felines

Here we are, Zeus and I, all comfy surrounded by wool. I know you can't tell from my crazed expression, but I wasn't feeling very well and having Zeus choose to snuggle with me instead of running off after getting his pat-pats was very comforting. Long live the cat!