Grabbing the bull by the horns

Once in a while, all you can do is hold on for dear life and go along for the ride. Life has been crazy busy for a while but I think it is finally starting to slow down a bit. I'm looking forward to a long holiday break with lots of knitting over the next few weeks.

So, what have I been up to lately? As the picture at the start of this post shows, I rode a mechanical bull on Thursday. In honor of my friend Megan's 30th birthday, we kicked off the festivities with a midnight bull ride to usher her into a new decade. It was a lot of fun but I wish that my work Christmas party hadn't been the same night. The food at the party was amazing and I had a little too much to eat to fully enjoy being spun around on a mechanical bull.

We continued the festivities Friday night with drinks and dancing to round out the birthday celebration. Saturday, I took the day off and focused on knitting e.'s Christmas present socks. I am now to the toe and should be able to finish them tonight. I must get them finished by Wednesday or else I will not be able to give them to him until after the New Year.

Sunday, very little knitting took place as p. had gotten tickets to go to the ballet to see The Snow Queen. It was an interesting production but I'm glad we got to maintain p.'s tradition of doing as she puts it "something cultural around the holidays."

On the knitting front, I am nearly finished with e.'s garter rib socks. I haven't worked much on Wicked this past week and need to finish Jamie's Christmas present hat. I knit a Mason Dixon dishcloth for my grandma and am hoping to squeeze in knitting her another one. Waiting in the "I'm dying to cast on but will wait until I finish e.'s socks" wing is a lovely skein of Yarn Love Joan of Arc in the Fling colorway that is destined to become a pair of Dublin Bay Socks. I was originally going to use this for plain stockinette socks but I like the little bit of visual interest that the lace panels give without competing with the vibrant colorway. I'm also really looking forward to doing an eye of partridge heel.

Pay It Forward

Would you like a handmade gift from jsins? Yes?
Want to bank some good karma in 2008? Yes?
Then read on...

I've just signed up for the Pay it Forward exchange, at Yvonne's Tales of an Arthritic Knitter blog. I'm really excited to take part in the exchange and to spread the handmade joy.

The concept is as follows:
"It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

I hope you leave a comment to join in and receive a gift as well as to Pay It Forward. It's an excellent way to share some good will and handmade goodness in the new year.

A little test for the Jane Austen Fans

Your Score: Elizabeth Bennet

72% romance, 65% sauciness, 43% etiquette, 71% intelligence

You believe in true love and standing up for yourself. You're also witty and reasonably well-read. What you don't have time for is kowtowing to society's expectations of you. So what if your hem gets a little muddy? Let the neighbors click their tongues! You've got better things to do. Like dressing down that tall, snobbish gentleman in the corner, or traveling 'round Derbyshire, or chatting with that pleasant young officer, or nursing your older sister back to health, or trading witticisms with your father, or keeping your crazy little sisters in line, or..... Ideal matches: Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Colonel Brandon Guaranteed heartbreak (their hearts): George Wickham, John Willoughby, Captain Benwick Not worthy of your affections: Mr. Collins, Henry Crawford

Link: The Jane Austen heroine Test written by SarahKath on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Romeo, oh Romeo, where for art thou, Romeo?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (U.S.) full of family, food and knitting. I had a great Thanksgiving day and enjoyed hanging out with family and friends and then was felled by cold from hell that has had me doing couch duty pretty much since Friday. I've even been too sick to knit! Once every couple of years, I get a really bad cold and, since it has been a couple of years since the last one, it hit me this year. On the one had, it hit me when I was already off work so I didn't have to worry about taking any sick days. On the other hand, it hit me over the holidays when I was at my parents and looking forward to hanging out and having a good time with everyone. I'm finally starting to feel human again and have managed to make my way into the office today but I just can't wait to get back to being 100%. At least I had my brother's dog, Buddy, to keep me company on the couch when I was down and out.




In more exciting news, I hit one of my knitting goals and finished Juliet the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The vital statistics for this sweater are as follows:

Cast On: Sunday, October 14, 2007

Cast Off: Saturday, November 17, 2007

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky gray (5 skeins)

Needles: Knitpicks Options 10 1/2 on a 32 inch cord

Project notes: Juliet was a quick and enjoyable knit and was completed in 4-5 sittings. Upon reading a number of the knitter comments on Ravelry, I knit the small size rather than the medium that I usually knit in Zephyr Style patterns. I didn't know whether or not this style of sweater would suit my shape and originally planned to do the longer version. However, I went with the short version upon trying it on for size and am really glad that I did. Being fairly large chested, I think the longer version would have looked like a maternity top and stopped the cropped version at my waistline. I also really enjoyed working with the Berkshire Bulky even though it seemed stiff and itchy when I got it. It really softened up after winding and knit up beautifully. However, I would caution anyone who is thinking of using this yarn for a project to buy at least a skein more than the project calls for because I found a lot of joins and knots in it during winding.

I have cast on for Zephyr Style's Wicked using Cascade 220 Heathers in Ocean Heather. I am about 9 rows from separating the sleeves. (I would be much further along but my recent illness has precluded any knitting progress over the last 4 days.) I am knitting the worsted weight version with short sleeves and will be doing the pocket, which is my favorite part of this pattern. I also swatched for the Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel but decided to go with Wicked instead as I was taking it to my parents for the holiday. Buddy (the aforementioned 4-legged member of the family) has no problem with sitting on my lap and not bothering my knitting but I thought it might be tempting fate a bit too much to try it with an angora yarn (or even having the WIP sitting around the house) as he does really like to chase bunny rabbits.

In blogging news, The Comfy Bev selected jsins for a "You Make Me Smile Award." Thank you, Bev! I have greatly enjoyed getting to know Bev through her blog and through the No Sheep for You Secret Swap and am honored that she enjoys checking out the blog. I'd like to pass along the good cheer to the following knitbloggers who inspire me with their knitting, crafting and blogging:

Kristina of Brouhaha Knits

Adrienne of Real Life: Live and Unscripted

Robin of Yarn Crawl

Dawn of A Simplified Life

Happy knitting everyone! I am hoping that I feel up to picking up the sticks again tonight.

Oh the weather outside is frightful but the knitting's so delightful...

Well, we've gotten our first snow of the season here in the 'burgh. It is truly prime knitting season now. What is better on a cold, snowy day than sitting with a cozy knit on your lap? (O.K. perhaps sitting on the beach with a mojito and a knitting a cute little summer top but I've got to make due with what I've got.) I actually really like fall and winter. My wardrobe is definitely more suited to it as I love sweaters and boots and velvet. I'm much more blase about spring and summer clothes. I'm ready to sit in front of the fireplace with a stack of movies and my knitting until spring.

This post marks the pictural debut of my Not So Montego Bay Scarf. Generally, I'm not a big fan of knitting scarfs but the lure of beautiful Handmaiden lace-weight yarn overcame me. This version is Not So Montego Bay because I am knitting it with Handmaiden Camelspin, which, if you haven't tried it, feels amazing, rather than Sea Silk. I'd have never thought that camels were so soft. I'm knitting this version in the Lily Pond colorway and modified the pattern by decreasing 5 lace repeats to accommodate for difference in yardage between Camelspin and Sea Silk. I also have a hank of Sea Silk in my stash in the Paris colorway that is destined to become a Montego Bay Scarf. I'm enjoying the mindless nature of this pattern at the moment. I don't think it will be my quickest knit though because I can also see myself becoming bored with the mindlessness of it as well.

My knitting goals for this weekend are to finish up Juliet so that I can cast on for the Elizabeth Bennet Cabled Cardigan from Fitted Knits to take with me to my parents' house to knit over Thanksgiving. I will be knitting the EB Cardy using the recommended Cloud 9 in a Salmon color that I ordered last winter when it was on sale at WEBS.

And in other exciting news, THERE IS A LYS OPENING LESS THAN A MILE FROM MY HOUSE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (jsins checking account screams in agony and her atm card tries to run away.) I can't wait to check it out. I am going to head over there after work today. The LYS is called Natural Stitches and it's located in the Village of East Side in East Liberty at 6401 Penn Avenue. (Pittsburgh, PA 15206 in case anyone wants to get directions to the store online.) If you're in the 'burgh, you should stop by and check it out.

Have a great weekend everyone and happy knitting!!!!

La la la la la la, La la la la la la...

My cherie amour, lovely as a summer day... I had a wonderful weekend! I went to the Stevie Wonder concert here in the 'burgh. That Stevie sure can bring it! The music was amazing, the joint was poppin' and I was boogie'n. (Hey, I'm from Pittsburgh. We use 'n for just about everything.)

I have some much belated thanks to my AWESOME Secret Pal!!!!! I received my second package recently and, once again, it's like she knew exactly what to get me. I've been thinking alot about trying to create my own knitting pattern lately and, lo and behold, my secret pal sends me a graph paper notebook and a set of pencils to get to it. I immediately hopped online and ordered two of the Barbara Walker books: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns and Charted Knitting Patterns. Now all I need is inspiration to strike.

Also included in the package was some lovely vanilla sugar scented lotion, shower gel and body scrub. Last but not least, was a beautiful sock yarn, Country Sock. It is in a great springy colorway that I think I am going to save for when I am heavy into the winter doldrums to cheer me up. All I can say about this yarn is "Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?"

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU, SP!!!!!!!

I also owe a huge thanks to Kristen of the Finish Me group for the awesome notions holder that she sent me for the September UFO Challenge. This little hippo is perfect to hold all of my notions. THANK YOU KRISTEN!!!!!

I also have some knitting progress to report. After a short hiatus, I've picked up the garter rib socks again and have started the heel for the first sock. This is the first time that I have knit 2 socks at the same time and the first time that I have knit a sock using a different yarn for the cuff, heel and toe. I'm hoping to finish these up by Thanksgiving so that I can move onto other projects.

I am also plugging away on the fair Juliet. I should only have 1 or 2 more lace repeats to go before I can wrap this baby up.

I am also working on the Not So Montego Bay Scarf and will try to snap a pic of it this week to show my progress.

On a sadder note, I frogged the Lady Detective Hat. I was able to do a really good job of dealing with the double stranded Noro when I got to the second two skeins and realized that the trick was to rip it out slowly while winding one strand onto my ball winder and the other onto my swift. However, I was not that smart when I started to rip it and now have two balls of badly (and I do mean badly) tangled Noro Kureyon that I would like to be able to salvage. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this problem? Thank you to anyone who can pass along any suggestions.

Have a great Tuesday!

And now for something completely different...

I saw the following meme on Bespoke by Brouhaha and thought it would be fun to give it a whirl. Feel free to do it yourself if you would like.

What's in a name?

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) = Kelly Explorer
YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav. ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) = Vanilla Oreo
YOUR "FLY GIRL" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of last name) = jsin
YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) = Red Dog
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) = Lynn DuBois
YOUR STAR WASH NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) = Sinje
SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, put "The" first) = The Purple Martini
STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) = Burberry Snickers
WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names) = Kay Edward
PORN STAR NAME (name of first pet and name of first street you lived on): Kelly Weber

Still knitting and trying to find some time to take some proper pics.

I'm still out there knitting. I am working on Juliet, which should be finished this weekend and cast on a Montego Bay Scarf in Handmaiden Camel Spun last night as the weather here has taken a turn toward winter and snow is in the air. I also have a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk that is intended to be a Montego Bay Scarf as well but fell in love with an acid green colorway and the extreme softness of the Handmaiden Camel Spun when I was at the Ravelry meet-up at Knit One last night and cast on for the scarf as soon as I got home. I haven't gotten much new work done on the garter rib socks and will return to them as soon as I finish Juliet. I have to frog my Lady Detective Hat and reknit it as I goofed up on my calculations and double stranded Noro Kureyon for it. I could fit at least 2 heads, possibly 3, in it at this point. I am going to frog it this weekend and cast on again as I need a new winter hat and I love the way it looks, just not the size. Fortunately, it is a quick knit and I should be able to finish it in a day or 2. I am going to use the leftover Noro to make a matching My So Called Scarf.

I had a great time at the Ravelry meet-up. It was nice to hang out with other knitters and chill out for an evening. The folks at Knit One were super nice and got pizza for the group. I hope that we can make this a regular event as none of my friends knit and it was great to be part of a knitting community.

I must take pictures this weekend. My Secret Pal, PurlyGirly, sent me an amazing package and I must get pics to post a proper thank you for the awesome surprise. I am also setting a new blogging goal for myself to post at least twice a week for the rest of the year. Hopefully, I will actually post more than that but I'd hate to set a goal that I can't accomplish.

Happy knitting everyone!
jsins

How jsins became a knitter: A tale that includes a couple of firsts, the last and the latest

I have a little tale to tell of how jsins, she of the limited attention span, went from declaring that she would never knit again to becoming the intrepid and obsessed knitter that she is today.

In a time long, long ago (1999ish), a career hobbyist was at Joanne Fabrics with her friend Mary Jo who was picking up supplies for her daughter's Girl Scout troup craft project when she spotted a brightly-colored variegated yarn in rainbow colors. Feeling inspired, she went to her local library and picked up a book on how to knit so that she could make herself the most amazing technicolored scarf that the world had ever seen. Excited about how cool her scarf was going to be, jsins immediately went home, opened the book and had her mother dig out her knitting needles. She knit and she knit and she knit.

Then she got bored and the scarf when into a basket next to the recliner chair in the living room. Every so often she would pull the scarf out of the basket and knit on it some more only to become bored with it again and set it aside. After about a year of such behavior, she had a garter stitch scarf that measured somewhere around 10 feet long. She was quite over knitting the scarf but stuck with it due to stubborn perseverance and a strong desire to prove to her mother that she would indeed finish it as there was much doubt. Upon casting off, jsins declared that she would never knit again and had her mother do the fringe. The end result was this:

A number of years pass by and one spring day in 2006, jsins once again ends up in a Joanne Fabric and while roaming around the store happens into the yarn section. Again, the yarn calls to her and she feels inspired. She purchases a few skeins that are on sale and heads down to the Barnes and Nobles located within the same shopping complex. Once there, she makes her way to the craft section and proceeds to pick up another knitting book. This time it is Stitch and Bitch: The Knitters Handbook by Deb Stoller. This time, jsins learns not only the knit stitch but also how to purl and knits the ribbed scarf from the book for practice but does not finish it before taking the leap to knitting in the round. Heading to a LYS, she picks up a few better yarns and proceeds to embark upon a project that is a bit more interesting than a garter stitch scarf (not to diss the garter stitch scarf as I still wear my 10-foot behemoth to this day) and a love affair with knitting is born. In a single weekend, jsins creates the following:
While knitting the Adults Only Devil Hat, jsins learns how to knit in the round, seed stitch, who to pick up stitches, do i-cord, increase, decrease and cast on additional stitches. The monotony of endless garter stitch is over and an intrepid knitter is born.

Now, jsins has a number of FOs under her belt and the career hobbyist who bounced from hobby to hobby, new project to new project, has a hobby that can keep her interest long enough to finish a sweater (Egads, who'd have thunk it?) and to tackles socks with very thin yarn on extremely tiny needles. Why just last week she finished the following:

With Rusted Root, she tackled lace and stuck through even the portion of knitting a sweater when you knit and knit and knit and it doesn't seem to grow at all! She's learned how to customize a garment through shaping so that it fits her just the way that she wants it.

Upon casting off her UnRusted Root, jsins immediately cast on for Juliet and has progressed to the start of the lace portion. This is her first garment using bulky yarn and she is quite enamored with how quickly it is knitting up but must admit that she is also looking ahead to what she will cast on next.

A restful weekend and a little bit of knitting

I actually got to catch up on my sleep this weekend and to put a little bit of time into focusing on my UnRusted Root. Another couple of hours knitting and it will be done. Here is a pretty crappy progress pick from Sunday. I have since finished another 1 1/2 lace repeats. It should only take another lace repeat before I can do the ribbing and consider this one finito. I am loving the fit. I was a little overly conservative and made things bigger than I needed to when I was knitting Green Gable and the lessons learned on that sweater really show on UnRusted Root. It fits perfectly. Although it's not even finished, UnRusted Root already tops my list of best knits ever. I so hope that I can finish this on Tuesday so that I can have it washed and blocked to wear it on Thursday when I go to the Bob Dylan/Elvis Costello concert.

In other news, I catch up on my netflix movies while knitting this weekend. I watched 300 and Four Brothers. 300 is really well done with amazing visuals (including but not only the really hot half naked men featured prominently throughout the film.) I enjoyed the film but it is not one that I will have to add to my dvd collection at home. Four Brothers was good as well but not overly memorable. It had an interesting twist by having the brothers all be adopted and of different races but other than that it was a typical "find the person who killed my ..." revenge film. Not a bad background movie while knitting but not so great that I would recommend that you seek it out right now. I did not watch Suze Orman's Young Fabulous and Broke although I need to because it felt too much like homework after a really rough week.

In movies that needed to be added to my dvd collection, I hit the jackpot at the previously viewed section of Blockbuster last week and added Hot Fuzz, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Little Miss Sunshine, The Holiday and Marie Antoinette to my personal movie stash.

I also went out to Penny's for an excellent roast supper on Sunday complete with lamb, roasted potatoes, ratatoulle, creamed leeks, mixed veggies and gravy. It should be the perfect time of year for turning on the oven but, oddly enough, it is currently 90 degrees in Pittsburgh. Where is fall? I am definitely ready for sweater weather and being able to turn on the oven to make a proper meal now and again. It may be a while before we can have another roast supper if this weather holds up.

Flash your stash

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

Things have been crazy busy and a pain in the ass over the last week or so. It just sucks when the times when you most need something to calm you down, like knitting or a good stiff cocktail, are when you get the least opportunity to do so.

I haven't made much progress on the knitting front lately. I ended up stuck on the PA turnpike Tuesday night and would have had 5 hours of prime knitting time but, having believed that I would either be in meetings or driving the entire time, I neglected to bring any knitting. I actually thought about taking some with me but decided not to. Important lesson learned, always take your knitting with you when you are traveling as you never know when you will be parked on a major roadway for 5 or so hours. Plus, it is nice to have a distraction when sitting in your car alone in the dark on a turnpike. Otherwise, you sit and think about all of the terrible things that could potentially happen to you and have happened to countless other people that you have read about in Ann Rule books and see on Dateline. (Note to self: perhaps I should cut back on Ann Rule books and not stop to see what's going on in primetime news shows.)

I have embarked on a new knitting adventure. I am undertaking my first attempt at knitting 2 socks at the same time via Magic Loop. (I always knit my socks using Magic Loop but this is the first time that I have knit more than one at a time.)

Imagine how much further along they would be if only I had grabbed them to take with me on my road trip.... (Will never leave house without backup knitting project again.) These socks are a Christmas present and also my October socks for the Sock a Month KAL.

I am hoping that I will have a lot more knitterly progress to post over the coming days. I am going to the Bob Dylan/Elvis Costello concert next Thursday and would really like to be able to wear my finished UnRusted Root to it. Will I make it? Only time will tell.

What kind of knitter are you?

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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Some travel, some knitting and a big shout out to my Secret Pal!

I must start out this post by saying a big THANK YOU!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! to my Secret Pal! My package was perfect. I feel like we must have been friends for years for you to have picked out such great stuff that so suits me!



The Girls' Book How to Be the Best at Everything is so me that it's not even funny. I showed it to my roommate and he had quite a good laugh at how appropriate it is. I immediately dived into it and now should be able to survive in a horror movie. I think I'm going to read through this one item a day until I am finished. SP, I love this book!


My first thought upon seeing this yarn was that it reminded me of the ocean. Upon reading the card, I learned that my Secret Pal had the same thought when she saw it.


There were some very cute pins that accurately depict me as I am both a bit of a black sheep and a pack rat.

I love this candle. It is White Pepper and Spice scented. Very appropriate as I am one of those people who likes a little bit of food with my pepper to begin with.

Some very cute notecards,

And last but not least, two peanut erasers and j sticky notes.

Thank you so much Secret Pal!!!! Having spent much of the last week on the road, the package you sent was a great welcome home present!!!

I've done a lot of traveling lately. I was in Minnesota and Wisconsin for work most of last week. I rented a car for the first time ever. It was a bright yellow Chevy Cobalt. At least, I didn't have to worry about losing it in the parking lot.
I got to check out the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls.

And take in a little nature.I also went to the Mall of America and, deciding that I would only spend a bunch of money that I shouldn't if I started to check out the shops, chose to spend the evening in the amusement park. The rides were pretty good for being in the middle of a mall. I would highly recommend checking out the amusement park if you are at the Mall of America. After 5 p.m., it's less than $15 for an unlimited ride ticket.

Then, I went to my parents' house this weekend as my brother was in town.

Let me introduce you to my nephew Buddy. He may look sad but he actually lives like a king. I think the "poor pitiful me" routine helps him to get away with a lot and therefore he uses it to his best advantage.

When he is not begging for food,
He snags the most comfy spots to snooze.
Or charms his way into getting petted, getting food or sitting on your lap.

In the midst of all this travel, I was able to finish my Monkey socks.

Here is an in-progress shot of them Saturday.

And before I left my parents' house on Sunday, I was able to call them an official FO!!!
I was overly ambitious in my knitting goals for the week. I ended up doing a lot more driving around than I had anticipated on the trip and was only able to finish the Monkey socks. I am hoping to get the Unrusted Root off the needles this week.

Progress Report

I am plugging away on UnRusted Root. I didn't get much knitting in this weekend as I was extremely lazy and spent pretty much all of Saturday snoozing and watching movies. For some reason, I tend to get very sleepy when the weather changes. I did make a bit of progress and have reached the point of starting the waist shaping. I am hoping to be able to finish UnRusted Root on my business trip to Wisconsin this week. In addition to UnRusted Root, I will also be taking my Monkeys with me. I have cast on the second sock and am into the first lace repeat. If I am lucky, I will also get these Monkeys off my back while on this trip. In wishful thinking, I am also taking another sock yarn with me in case I can wrap up both of these projects and need something else to knit.

As for movies, I went to see 3:10 to Yuma at the theater yesterday and give it two thumbs up. The story was really well done and the acting was spectacular. I am a big Christian Bale fan and he did an excellent job but I have to say that this film really belongs to Russell Crowe and Ben Foster. The story was gripping and, even if you aren't a big fan of Westerns, it will keep your interest.

I also watched alot of DVDs this weekend. I watched the second disc of the first season of Shameless. This is a British t.v. series about a very unorthodox family in Manchester. It is both hilarious and, at times, quite dramatic.

I also watched Hot Fuzz this weekend. This film had me laughing hysterically and, even shouting "oh my god" at one point. (For those of you who have seen the film, it's a scene that involves Timothy Dalton and I think you can easily pick the one.) If you get this DVD, I would definitely recommend watching the bonus features. They are nearly as funny as the film.

Greetings from the 'burgh!

Have a great weekend everyone!! And Go Steelers!!!!!!!!!

In a moment of weakness, I broke.

I've been doing pretty well about not buying yarn but the lure was too great for me today and I bought the yarn for Juliet by Zephyr Style. I was buying something online to complete my first SP11 package that every LYS I went SP shopping in was out of and I gave in to temptation. I don't feel too badly about it because 1. what's done is done and 2. because I was frugal about it and went with the Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky at WEBS that was $4.99 a skein. I went with the grey colorway. I just have a vision of this little cardi in grey with a crisp white shirt. I'm hoping it arrives by next Monday so that I can take Juliet as my travel project when I head to Wisconsin for work. It looks like it is a quick knit that I may be able to finish on the trip. I plan on taking it (if the yarn arrives) and a sock project. If the yarn doesn't arrive, I'm hoping to have finished UnRusted Root and begin Ms. Marigold by then.

An FO Frenzy!

In the ongoing effort to organize and simplify my life, I tackled my UFO basket this weekend. I set a goal of finishing at least 2 objects in it and actually finished 3. The leaves only 4 UFO items remaining in the basket!!!!!

Friday evening when I got home from work, I decided to tackle the Cozy V-Neck Pullover with Deep Ribbing from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. I started knitting this sweater in April when the Pittsburgh weather was still pretty cold. When May rolled around, the temperatures drastically increased making it impossible to endure working on a long sleeved sweater knit in Cascade Pastaza. All in all, this was a pleasurable, mindless knit. The ribbing gets a little tedious after a while but the sweater knits up quickly enough that you can push your way through it. I have a bit of a jog in the middle of the bottom where the final stitch to be bound off fell. I also found the seaming of the neckline to be a bit fiddly. I am a big fan of layering in the winter and expect to get a lot of wear out of this sweater.

On Saturday, I started with my oldest FO, the Ticuna sweater vest by Berroco. You can find the free pattern here. This was my first large project having only completed hats before this point. I started two sweaters at the same time and as a newbie knitter, had to let one fall by the wayside. The only work that remained on the Ticuna vest was to pick up and knit the armbands, which I was able to finish fairly quickly on Saturday.

Next up was a project that will be a Christmas present. These slippers are made from a pattern that was my great grandma MeMe's. I started these quite a while ago and put them aside when the lure of other projects was too great to resist.

Feeling like I had spent enough time with the UFO basket, I went back to working on my UnRusted Root. I am actually a bit further along than this picture indicates because I finished the sleeves and picked up and knit the neckband after trying it on for fit. I like to go back and do the finishing on a project as I am working on it so that, when I do the final bind off, I'm done. I started doing that with Green Gable and find that it allows me to finish a project without it spending any time in the UFO basket if I do the finishing as I go along.I would say that I had a very productive knitting weekend. I'm hoping to be able to replicate it next weekend as well. Christmas is just around the corner and I need to pick up the pace on my projects if I am to get everything finished that I would like to by the end of the year.