Still working away...

So, I've spent this week working away on my first lace project and I am proud to report that I am halfway through! I love this pattern and this yarn- it's turning out to be one of my favorite projects so far :) Since my knit picks order has not arrived yet I haven't cast on anything else. I figure that when my order arrives it will coincide perfectly with the beginning of August and the new monthly Cookie A. KAL. So, I will just keep faithfully knitting away at the lace.

Complete Understanding

I now know why knitters sometimes have many projects going on at once. As I said before I would consider myself to be a monogamous knitter...that was until I started my first lace project. Which, in the span of 2 days I have had to rip and restart 4 times!!! The lesson I have learned is this- one does not do lace, especially for the first time, in the presence of any distractions, including but not limited to- pets, children, talkative partners trying to engage you in any sort of discussion, engrossing movies or reality TV shows. Now, since I really do feel the need to knit in the presence of these distractors I guess I will have to find myself a distraction-able project and save the lace for after the kids go to bed!
I'm thinking that the grocery bag dispenser might fill the knitting-during-day-time-hours need. And my lace will become my "after dark" project ;)

I'm Done Jaywalking

I finished up Kid 1's socks this morning and they fit like a glove. This means in a few months time they will be put away for kid 2 :P I was very happy with the pattern and the yarn used. Kid 1 made a good choice there! I will probably attempt the adult version of this pattern when my new yarn arrives. I think the Essential Multi in princess would look nice.


I am very excited about my next project- my long anticipated foray into knitting lace. We'll see...

So, I put my knit picks order in today and now I sit back and excitedly wait for my package to arrive so I can begin my Xmas knitting.
My final selection included:
Crayon in Cashew and Imperial to make teddy bears for the girls.
Essentials Multi in Fruit Punch and Princess for some more socks.
Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather to make a hoodie for my sis.
Palette in Lipstick,
Risata Sock Yarn in Grass and
some yummy Gloss Sock Yarn in Woodland Sage. These 3 I have plans to use for a Cookie A. sock knit- along. I probably would have preferred to use one of the kettle dyed yarns but I had some specific colour requests to fill :)

So, now I am working away so that when the box arrives my needles will be empty and ready to go.

Xmas in July

So, today I have started thinking and selecting my knitting list for Xmas. My goal is to include in all of my gifts something that I knit. So far I have chosen the usual socks and mitts as well as some beautiful lace shawls and a sweater or two. I have a lot more to decide on, but that should keep me busy for now! Next I need to decide on yarn and then---YAY!!!--I get to go shopping :)

Knitting monogamy

I have recently discovered something about myself- I am a monogamous knitter. I cannot have more than one project on the needles at once...I just can't. I have a compelling need to finish one item before moving on to the next. This however, is not just manifested in my knitting life...:)
This is what I am working on now- a project for kid 1.
She chose this yarn- Classic Elite yarns- Summer Sox Varigated in Huckleberry.

Garlic Bag

My small box that I use to store garlic has been spilling its contents on the counter for months. So, I am using my new knitting passion to remedy this situation- much to my partners delight!

I couldn't find a pattern anywhere so I made my own- well, adapted it from another pattern- here it is!

DIRECTIONS

With size 1 needle, cast on 42 sts. Join and continue around as follows.

Row 1 - knit all sts
Row 2 - purl all sts

Row 3(eyelet row) - [k4, k2tog, YO] repeat to end of row
Row 4 - knit all sts
Row 5 - purl all sts

(Change to size 5 needle for netting portion)
I also changed colour here
Row 6- knit one row

Row a: [k2tog, YO] repeat to end of row
Row b: knit all sts
Repeat above two rows until netting section measures 4ish inches

(Change to size 1 needle for bottom of bag)

Row 1: knit
Row 2: k, ssk, k until 3 remaining st, k2tog, k1
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until 12 stitches remain.
Close bag

My first grown up socks!

So, as usual, I always put kids first and the same is true with knitting. I honed my sock skills knitting a couple of pairs of socks for kid 1 and 2 before trying my hand at socks for me. It was probably a really good thing because these socks came this close to being a disaster. I did have to rip and redo the foot of the first one, but other that that there were no problems.
The pattern was easy to commit to memory- which meant that I could watch TV and knit at the same time :) And the yarn was beautiful and great to work with.
I am very happy with how they turned out :) I am now very excited to try another pair of socks.