Happy Saturday!

I hope it's as beautiful in your part of the country as it is here! We've had a week of just plain cloudy and rainy weather and now it has all cleared away and everything is sparkling.

I got a lovely package from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe this week. She always includes a few extra little goodies and is the most thoughtful person to do business with.

These are Interlacement Tiny Toes and they are the most saturated colors I have seen! The top is the Summer Fruit colorway and the bottom one is the Southwest colorway. I have really been coveting that Southwest color! This may be a little corny but we're planning a roadtrip/vacation in a couple of months to New Mexico and I wanted to have this yarn to knit on when we're there. :) I LOVE both of these colors sooo much!

And here is the progress I've made on my Fiesta Knee Highs:This is pretty much the only thing I knit on all week. I'm following the basic formula found here. So far so good!

And I leave you with one last picture for the last day of February/March Project Spectrum (blue, black, and white):

Next up will be green, yellow, and pink for April/May.

Housekeeping

Or, more accurately, blogkeeping, because if you ever stepped foot in my house you would know that I have yet to perfect the art of housekeeping.

Anyway, you'll see I've switched over to the nifty haloscan commenting/trackback manager thingy so that I can actually reply to your comments! and just because I just typed the work trackback doesn't mean I know what it means! uh, I always do first and learn later. :) Unfortunately, when you make the switch you loose all comments from Blogger :(

I've also gone all high-tech and got me a real live blogroll! Trust me people, I am NOT a computer genius at all! pretty much everything I've done to my blog I've learned from here. Of course, now with the new Blogger template editor it is so much easier! I'm really glad I switched.

However, there is a little finagling to be done to put a new banner image in. Here are the instructions I used to put my new banner in. Actually, what is in the main post didn't work for me but there are more ways to do it listed in the comments further down. For my banner, I just made an image in Photoshop that was 660x200 pixels (I'm lucky to have access to Photoshop at work). Unfortunately, I don't how you would do it if you didn't have Photoshop. And just FYI, if you do want to customize your blogger blog then it's best to start with the Minima template.

Thank you all for the nice comments on my new look, I'm glad y'all like it! Please let me know if anything is looking weird or not showing up correctly. I've noticed that my Percent Bars (which I got from Lickey Knits) are showing up fine on my 15" monitor at home but not on my 21" monitor at work. For some reason, the filler inside showing the percent is not FILLING up the bar box verticallywise. Hopefully, it's just me seeing that.

Hello

Well folks, all I can say is that it was time for a change! I was going to wait until my blogiversary next month but I got too excited when I started playing around with new banners. I also went ahead and changed over the new new blogger template style so bear with me while I get everthing back to normal. If you're reading this on bloglines and wondering what the heck I'm talking about then come on over to the old bloggy and check out my new look! ;-)

The Diagnosis: SSS

Looks like we have a case of Second Sock Syndrom:

On the left, Monkey socks in Yarn Pirate merino/tencel; on the right, plain stockinette stitch socks in Fleece Artist merino. I just finished the Monkey sock last weekend and wore it around the house all evening and I noticed my foot starting to feel really warm. When I took it off, my foot was all red, puffy, and itchy. I think I might have gotten heat rash or something (except it didn't look like a rash). I don't think I am allergic to the tencel because I never noticed anything with my hands when I was knitting it. And I'm wondering if it might also have something to do with this sock being a bit too tight. I think I'll wash and block it to see if it loosens up a bit.

And (big surprise!) here is my swatch for some knee highs that I want to start today:This is some Sunshine Yarns merino sock in Fiesta. I just totally fell in love with the fun colors! I'm going to have a 6 stitch cable bordered by a purl stitch on either side running all the way down the back of the socks.

Boy, I don't know about y'all but I have been BUSY lately. Work, life, and all that. I'm looking foreward to just chilling out today.

Green, green, green!!

Happy St Paddy's Day! Pattern: Waffle Rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks book
Yarn: Hill Country Instant Gratification Superwash Sock in Pecan Orchard
Needles: US #3 dpns Isn't my hubby cute in his new socks! I had to snap this pic while he was watching his motorcycle racing so the pics are the best because I had to use the flash. Green isn't really his color. In fact, he doesn't really go for any bright colors (he likes everything blue or grey!) but he'll only wear them around the house so it didn't matter. And besides...it was some sport weight stuff that I had lying around here. Sport weight is so quick! and I wanted quick for those size 10.5 feet!

It's kind of funny but I gave him my Pomatomas socks that I made because they stretched out so much when I wore them. Has anyone else had this problem? Even though they weren't a perfect fit he really enjoyed wearing them....said they were so much warmer and more comfortable that regular socks. Awww! so I knew I had to make him a real pair that fit him perfectly.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sneaky knitting

What's this? More socks on the needles when I already have two other pair going?!

Well, these are special socks. They're man socks. Yup, I'm knitting my hubby some socks. I thought I would have them done in a week's time. In fact, I really wanted to finish these for my February for the Sock A Month KAL. They would have been done if I hadn't gotten royally distracted by Flair. Oh well, it's already been in the 80's here for two weeks now and way too warm for hubby to want to wear wool socks. See......
Now, to finish up those socks!

Flair

Here it is! my finished Flair.....I am so pleased with how it turned out!!



I also like the look with a long sleeved shirt underneath:

I didn't add a button at the very top because I knew I would never wear it buttoned up all the way but I like how it looks like this: Pattern: Flair from Knit and Tonic Wendy

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Graphite; nearly 4 skeins

Needles: US #7 Addi Turbo circulars

Notes: Because I'm such a copycat, you can read about the mods I did here. Thanks for the inspiration Lara!

I have to admit that it was not love at first sight when Wendy first put the pattern up. It looked so boxy and the angle of her pictures never showed a good view of it IMHO. But when Lara made hers up a little more fitted looking I really saw the potential for this to be a great sweater. I made the smallest size by the way and I'm glad I did.

Secondly, I was doubtful about the Blue Sky cotton yarn. I used it for my Licorice Whip sweater and it has pilled to the worst degree! but I gave it another chance because hey, this yarn is so soft and yummy! you know what I think the difference is? it's the gauge. Licorice Whip was knit on US #9s which made for a looser fabric more prone to pilling. I think the tighter the gauge the less pilling there will be. I love the tight fabric that the #7s produced.

Oh and FYI, you better try it on as you go to make sure it's fitting correctly because if I had followed the directions exactly as written I would've had a MAJOR crop top look going on!! I mean, it's already got a little bit of a cropped look, which I think is good but you don't want something that ends above your belly button! I added an extra 1.5 inches in length but I know I'm long waisted so I pretty much have to do that for everything I knit.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

New Knitty!

Spring Knitty! There are some good knits in this issue. I love this shrug! And these knee-highs!....oooh, ahhh

Huh.

See my progress on my Flair? well, there should be only 4 button holes there but I already have 5 and am going to have to do two more. I'm thinking maybe I didn't count properly between button holes. My row gauge seems to be correct. I hope it doesn't look funny with so many buttons! Oh well, at least they're even.

Another new project

Okay, I hate to admit it, but it took me a little while to figure out what some of your comments meant regarding the "What Not to Wear" cardigan in my previous post. You'll be glad to know that this cardigan was featured as what to wear in the shopping spree portion of the show. Whew! I couldn't have y'all thinking that that gorgeous, cashmere sweater was dumped into the trash or featured in the infamous "360 mirror"! hehe! I wish I had a better picture of it but I am determined to actually make this.

In the mean time though.....
I am a shameles copycat!! I just loved Lara's Flair so much that I had to make one for myself! yes, yes, I know! I told you I wanted to make the Phildar Swing Jacket next....but this will be a really quick knit, I just know it! and you know I can't resist a quick knit. I am still going to make the Phildar Swing Jacket (PSJ) because even though Wendy calls Flair a "swing cardigan" I think it really has a different look. I actually already have the yarn for the PSJ and will probably try and swatch for it this weekend. I just have to make this before summer gets here so I can actually wear it!
And just to show you that casting-on isn't all I ever do (though lately it feels like it is..heheh), here is a little progress shot of the Tatami Kimono.

I zipped though the back portion pretty quickly but have slowed down quite a bit on the sleeves. Those are size US 3s that I'm using! It's hard to tell much from this picture but it's knit all in one piece and you don't drop the stitches until the very end.