Winter Cometh....

....well, for a few days anyway. We've been having some sleet and a few flurries on and off this morning and it sure is COLD!! The high for today: 32 degrees! Yesterday the high was 80...I'm not kidding you.

See, here I am in short sleeves modeling my finished Yarntini Scarf (yesterday):

And here I am taking a picture of myself while it's snowing/sleeting and 30 degrees:

Snow here is such a novelty. I get soooo excited when we get to see some of the white stuff flying through the air!

So, my Yarntini Scarf!!! I absolutely love it!

Pattern: my own based on the stitch pattern from Jaywalkers

Yarn: 1 entire skein of Yarntini superwash fingerling sock yarn in Grape Ape

Needles: #3 Knit Picks circular

The dimensions ended up being 5" by 72" after blocking. The colors of this yarn were incredibly hard to capture. The purples keep coming out bluer than they should be. Anyway, I just can't say enough good things about this yarn. It is soft, squooshy, non-splitty, and you can't beat the colors! I will definitely be going back to this yarn in the future.

Super quick

I have a new winter hat! It took me about 4 or 5 hours maybe.

Pattern: Make Make yarn hat pattern

Yarn: Olympus Make Make

Needles: #6 dpns

Mods: the gauge seemed to be way off in the pattern. It called for 6 sts per 1" but I did the calculations and that would make the circumference of the hat 17" and my head is 22". So I went with a gauge of 5.25 sts per 1" and it fits really well. Also, I took note of the issue that Alyssa had with her hat being to short (beanie length) so I added about an 1.5" before starting the crown decreases. Blogland is terrific! I just really love the color and subtle striping of the yarn!

And here is my contribution to the last several weeks of fall. The one bush in our yard that had some pretty leaves:
We're expecting an arctic winter blast this week so I'm sure this is the last I'll see of my (very poorly taken care of) roses as well. It's been very warm lately so I think they're a little confused.

Pomatomus

Here they are; all finished!!

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A. for Knitty

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Moody Blues

Needles: #2 Addi Turbo circular

I finially have my own pair of Pomatomus!! I've been really wanting these socks after all of the gorgeous versions I've seen out in blogland. They weren't the quickest knit in the world but the stitch pattern is pretty easy to memorize. I used almost the entire skein for these socks and was a little worried I would run out but I kept the faith (mostly, ha!). And these were my first socks using the Magic Loop method.....I like it! I don't mind dpns but it seems quicker because you're making fewer needle changes as you knit.

Check it out! It's the scarf I've been dreaming of ever since I got this Yarntini self-striping yarn! This stuff is hands down the softest, most luscious sock yarn I have seen so far. I highly recommend treating yourself to a skein!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Everybody, Meet Mr Stegs and Trice.....

Aren't they cute! (Trice on the left, Mr. Stegs on the right)

Pattern: Dinosaurs by Jennifer Thurston
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Grass and Green Apple; less than one ball each
Needles: #4
Mods: almost none except I knit the legs in the round instead of flat.

These were really fun to make, although they took a little longer than I thought they would because of all the finishing. They will be for one of my best friends who is having a boy next spring. I just found out about it so I was really excited to make something for her. Jennifer, if you are reading, thanks for the patterns! You did a really good job on them! I definitely want to make Bronty too but I think I will save that one for the baby shower (and I have to admit, the three needle bind-off scares me a little....I'll get over it though).

Back to knitting...yay!

Thanks everyone for all the well wishes!! I really appreciate the kind thoughts! The good news is that I am recovering nicely and not having too much pain at all. I'm just glad it wasn't my hand or something that would prevent me from knitting during my recovery! LOL! that would be really terrible!

Anyway, so I've been knitting.....and you know what I decided to pick up? the Pomatomus. I just couldn't bear to rip so much out so I decided I would keep going a little more and see how it looked.....and I had just enough!! I weighed the finished sock and my remaining yarn and I will have enough for the second as well but I don't thing there will be much left over (that's a good thing though!). Here's a sneek peek. I've already cast on for the second so that I won't get distracted. hahha And I got a package from Jessie at Yarntini with some goodies that I ordered from her! They arrived while I was in the hospital but I had my husband bring them up to me to that I could ooh and ahh over them (you can see where my priorities are!). She puts together such a beautiful package with extra little treats and a hand written note! These two are self-striping fingerling superwash in Blue Hawaiian and Grape Ape! I'm REALLY diggin' the Grape Ape and am actually thinking of make a scarf out of it instead of socks. I'm thinking maybe a chevron pattern similar to what's used in the Jaywalkers pattern. And I definitely want to make a real pair of Jaywalkers with the Blue Hawaiian....so cool and tropical!

Recovering

Hey everybody! I just got home today from emergency surgery and a six day hospital stay. Turns out that abdominal pain was something serious after all. Anyway, I will post again soon now that I will be home recovering for the next 2 weeks. Hope everyone else is doing good...I'm looking forward to catching up on my blog reading.

Warm hands today

Thanks everyone for the advise on my Pomatomus socks! I think I will probably rip back to the second repeat but I'm not going to tackle that just yet.

Well, I didn't get to either of my goals this weekend....but I have a very good excuse! I was having some abdominal pain since Friday and felt sorta lousy all weekend. I went to the Dr on Monday and they thought I might have appendicitis but fortunately it wasn't....whew!! I mainly just sat on the couch and worked on the Clapotis and a little bit on Fetching:

Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath from Knitty

Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Zara in Charcoal; 1 ball and a couple of yards from a second

Needles: #7 dpns

These were super quick! only took a couple of hours for each glove. I had started these a long time ago with a different yarn and I really screwed something up on them and threw the project aside and forgot about it. But I really needed something warm for my hads at work so I picked up some new yarn and started a new pair. I gotta tell you, this yarn is soft and all but I doubt I will ever use it again. It was really splitty and the plies came apart and would pull out really easily. Very difficult to work with...and it's not a cheap yarn. Anyway, it's nice to have an FO and now my hands will be warmer at work! YAY!

And I got something in the mail yesterday that cheered me up after having spent 3 hours at the doctors. Look how gorgeous this yarn is! It's Sunshine Yarns superwash in Avacado. I love it!

Need advice

Friends....I'm afraid there might be some frogging in my future.
Everything was going great with my first Pomatomus sock until I got halfway through the heel gusset and noticed how little yarn I have left. There is only 1/2 ounce left. I've used 1.5 ounces for the leg and heel flap and the first part of the gusset decreases. So, what do you think? Should I just rip now or continue on until I know for sure I'll have enough or not?


You see, the pattern calls for 3 repeats of the stitch pattern for the leg before starting the heel flap. This definitely makes for a long leg on the sock. Doing 2 repeats of the stitch pattern would make the leg shorter but still plenty long for a respectable sock. In fact, as I was doing the leg, I nearly chose to only do 2 repeats but then told myself that I wanted to follow the directions exactly. I just haven't made enough socks to be able to eyeball how much I'm going to need for the foot. :(

Christmas is a comin'!

Okay, I am setting some goals for myself for this weekend.
Must complete:
1) Counterpane Accessories bag
2) Mr. Stegs (I actually finished knitting the pieces for this over a month ago but I've been lazy with the finishing)

Both of these things just need to be sewn up! It's amazing how quickly I loose interest in a project when it comes time for finishing.

Anyway, I've started a Christmas present. It's a Clapotis for Grandma. She's one of the only ones I have yet to knit something for so I want it to be really special. I using KnitPicks Shimmer double stranded in the Grape Hyacinth colorway with #6 needles. I'm thinking that even though it's a fairly big project it should be relatively quick to knit. I think I've started early enough so that I won't be rushed. My list of gifts to knit this year is pretty short and most of them are already done.

Ooooh and I'm so excited about what else I got with my KnitPicks order! It's 10 balls of Swish Superwash in the Bordeaux color to be used for the Lucy in the Sky Cardigan. I probably shouldn't start it until I've finished Forecast but....we'll see.
Oh, and sorry for the bad pics.....looks like I need to get a tripod if I want to take pics during the week. It's nearly dark when I get home from work now. :(