the need for two legwarmers, silly! and behold, they are complete!

warm and soft legwarmers

well, they're blocking which is good enough. hopefully i can wear them soon and get a photo of them in action. right now they are hanging up in the bathroom almost dry. see that cake of yarn there in the middle? that appears to be the never-ending skein of alpaca. seriously, i BARELY made a dent in the darn thing. what am i going to do with all that extra yarn? it's sport weight and i can't imagine wearing it unless it's an accessory. suggestions? or maybe someone wants to do a swap for it? exotic (no gelatin) candy for about 400yds of alpaca? let me know.

anyway, last week i was working the box office for project playwright II so i had a lot of time to knit while waiting for the first act to end. i started up some glittens (gloves/mittens) for my friend marc.

one glitten in progress

i've actually finished this glove and started on the second one. i'm going to do both of them and then put the mitten tops on them just so that i can make sure they are knit the same. all the specs are on the projects in progress backpack page.

and who wants a picture of a cute baby in something handknit??? i do!

aw! what a cutie!

here we have baby H enjoying his new sweater. it IS a little big on him (considering i made the largest size) but he's a fast growing boy and i'm sure he'll get plenty of use out of it. won't you?

yep

i think that he agrees.

well, i have tomorrow off from work so i have a lovely 5 day weekend ahead of me! much relaxing, socializing, and knitting to take place. thankfully, KP and i are heading to our family on LI for thanksgiving which means i don't have to clean the house or bake unusually high quantities of food. tomorrow, i'll be knitting with the spiders and again on friday so expect to see many more pictures in the coming days. i did cast-on for the 3-hole shawl but only knit two rows on it so far. when i have more progress, i'll take a picture. no need to bore you with what i have for now.

happy holidays!

###

it was a busy weekend for me. i got a lot done by spending most of the weekend in my apartment... but sometimes you need those sorts of weekends, no? friday, i stayed home from work with a sore throat that seemed to be a combination of dry air and allergies because it's totally gone now after much rehydration and rest. i had a chance to do all the laundry on friday which opened my weekend for crafting!

mmm, seaming AND pocky

saturday was world pocky day. 11/11 looks like sticks right? so i dug out my almond crush pocky and sewed up the chocolate brown baby ribbed jacket.

yarn: debbie bliss merino aran (5 balls)
needles: US8 for body and US7 for ribbing
pattern: ribbed jacket from debbie bliss special knits for babies

all done and into the mail on monday or tuesday! then when i was done with that i decided to work on altering some old jeans of mine so that i can wear them during my pregnancy. i got these maternity panels on joann.com a while ago but hadn't the time to install them until now.

here await the jeans for alteration

i hate ripping seams, so tedious

first you have to rip the sides of the jeans down, cut across the bottom, and then sew in the panel on the bottom then up the sides. there was a point when i actually didn't think that it would work. in the end, i'm satisfied with the results. it took FOREVER for me to install it but i think that the next time will go faster.

saturday night, KP and i enjoyed some movie time which meant more knitting and then today there was nothing but star wars on cinemax. you know what that means, right?

more blocking

here we have the mistake rib scarf and a matching headband which i was able to eek out of the last of the yarn... i'm on such a roll, i'm almost afraid to acknowledge it. now, all i have on the needles is the second leg warmer but i can guarantee that won't last long. i have two projects lined up to start: some glittens using knitpicks swish superwash in dark navy and the 3-hole noro shawl.

###

look what's ready to be seamed up.. and just when i planned it to be. it's amazing to actually see me on schedule. very strange indeed.

all blocked and ready to seam

and here's a shot of the ribbing. i decided to slip the first stitch of every row to give it an icord edging. i'm not sure if i like it, but it was an experiment and i'm ok with that.

look at that ribbing

so, i'm going to seam it up this weekend and it'll be off in the mail on monday! huzzah! baby H will be quite warm this winter. now, just gotta get going on that scarf and those leg warmers and i can start on the 3-hole shawl and some christmas knitting.

###

can you believe it's november? what the heck happened to 2006?! i feel like new year's was just a month or so ago. time is really flying.

speaking of flying, my fingers have been doing a lot of that lately. not only have i been coding like a mad genius at work, but i've been knitting every night. it's so nice to be back into a routine again. the first trimester of my pregnancy really had me down and out, but now i'm back! i feel pretty normal nowadays with only the growing stomach to show that i'm really pregnant. no weird cravings, no insatiable appetite, just normal. it's kind of nice!

so here's the progress on the latest projects:

getting close!

i'm really cruising along with this baby ribbed jacket! i finished the second sleeve last night and started working on the right front (that spot where you see the needle hanging out.) i think that i should be done with the body of the sweater tonight! i have the money pit at home and will probably watch it and knit tonight if all goes according to plan. i haven't seen that movie in years but it gets quoted a lot around my household.

growing...

the mistake rib scarf is growing slowly. i keep switching back and forth between the two balls of yarn i have because they are from different dyelots. i do one big chunk, then another so that, in the end, it will look like it was intentional to have big blocks of different color texture. i should have alternated on alternate rows but i didn't realize the difference until it was too late... and i hate ripping. so there ya go.

the second angel sock (no picture.. use your imagination) is past the heel and cruising through the foot. i now work on this on the train some days when i don't feel like reading. this morning i got a lot done on the way into work! so, needless to say, i never finished a pair of socks during socktoberfest, which is a bummer, but i was into the spirit of the thing anyway, and i certainly learned a lot from lolly on sock making! so thanks for the great KAL, lolly!

i still haven't casted-on for the second leg warmer yet, but i will as soon as i get through the body of this baby sweater. the recipient of the sweater is waiting patiently for it, so i might as well get it done ASAP.

not to be left out of the whole KAL thing for more than, like, 3 seconds, i joined the norovember KAL. it's also very much like socktoberfest in that there's no pressure, but if you can knit with noro in november, then do it and join the KAL! i've been dying to start my japanese 3-hole shawl forever. you may remember it?

the 3-hole shawl

it's basically one REALLY long rectangle of wavy stitch with three holes in it. your arms go through the first two holes and then the rest of the shawl wraps around your front and your left arm goes through the third hole. this way your arms are free to do things. great for breastfeeding, if you ask me. this is from the fall/winter 2005 let's knit magazine in japanese. thankfully, i know enough japanese to do this pattern easy peasy, and it has a chart. no problem.

and this is the yarn i'll be using (from the stash, of course):

noro silk garden 225

so, once the baby sweater is done, i'm going to cast on for this bad boy. i hope to finish up the angel socks soon too, because i have some christmas knitting to get going on as well. november should be fun! thankfully, i have a nice long thanksgiving weekend at the end of the month and a week of working the box office for the next madair production (come see the second annual Project Playwright!) to get lots of knitting done. huzzah!

###

you'll find the island of missing scarves! or scarf, as it may be. poor zigzag scarf was stuffed there for months on end! how did i do that? i usually put all of my winter items in one spot. oh well. KP found it. he's good at that sort of thing.

back in its rightful place

sorry to say that it wasn't in the closet balled up in the corner partying with other handknits. if you've lost a handknit, it's possible you will find it in the spot you're least likely to think of so get an outsider's help or opinion. when i was younger, i always had my mom look for things i lost because i could never find them myself! i'm glad i married someone who is willing to look for things for me. i seem to be blind to the areas i never think it's going to be in.

knitting update:

baby sweater in the making

this is the sweater for my friend's baby, H. it's actually MUCH further along than this. i already divided for the front and am working through the left sleeve. it's a quick knit and i'll have plenty of yarn leftover. maybe a hat too?

one down...

here's the first of two leg warmers! man, are these fast knits, or what? i was really surprised how quick i was done with it. i'll cast on for the second one this week after i finish at least one side of the baby sweater.

the second angel sock is almost to the heel (i've been working on this at lunchtime or on the train) and the mistake rib scarf is about 12" long but i have much more to go on it. i'm not in a rush to finish this scarf so i'm willing to put it aside for other ventures.

speaking of other ventures, has anyone else felt that their yarn stash has grown considerably this year? geez, i took one look at mine the other day and felt overwhelmed by what i had. then i read jody's entry about taking stock of her festival yarn and using it up before the next festival. she is keeping a list in the sidebar of her site and crossing the yarn off the she uses. brilliant idea, i thought! i'm going to take it one step further, though, and take stock of ALL the yarn i have.

i know. i know. the idea spooked me out but i got down and did the dirty work. here be the list in all its glory: the stash (it's also over there on the sidebar if you need it.) seriously, this is EVERYTHING that i have. most of it is photographed so if you want to see it there are links at the top of the page to my galleries. i'm also going to float the items that i'm currently using to the top. if i don't use all the yarn for that project, i will re-inventory it and keep it in the list. yarn that gets used entirely will be struck through. hopefully this little experiment will keep me from buying anymore yarn and on track to having "just what i need" instead of "everything that i want."

laugh, if you must. those of you who know me know that i'm a sucker for color and fiber. it's gonna be tough. i won't deny it. but maybe this list will shame me into submission... maybe.

###