{spend time idly}

norovember Category

five day weekends rule!

the mondays after a five day weekend? mmm, not so much. nor tuesdays for that matter. especially when other coworkers are still on vacation and i have to cover for them. i’ve been so busy these past two days, i’m surprised i’m still alive! and you all have been updating your blogs and making it even harder for me to get around to updating mine. shame on you! no really, thanks. you saved me from having to commit seppuku at my desk and ending it all.

ok, enough with the sarcasm as i have a long post for you. it’s mostly photos, you lucky people. first, let me showcase one of my two latest FOs (and possibly the last one you’ll see for about a month).

me, the bump, and some legwarmers
me, the bump, and some legwarmers

yarn: one strand of silver sport weight alpaca from a touch of twist and one strand of grey munsell merino 150 rainbow color no. 136 leftover from the somewhat cowl

needles: US8 denise interchangables magic loop

pattern: cast on 48 stitches and do 1×1 rib

(more…)

###

two legs equals?

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

warm and soft legwarmers
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
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!
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
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!

###

where does the time go?

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!
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...
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
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
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!

###