Some dreams do come true

Unfortunately it was my knitting nightmare! I went to my knitting group last night and was somehow distracted enough that I worked a cable in the wrong direction. Now, I have been listening to podcasts a lot lately and they have been interviewing the author of Knit Fix or reviewing the book (maybe these are old podcasts, I don't know how long ago the book came out and I'm listening to new and year old podcasts right now). Anyway, the author uses as her example of something in her book if you work a cable the wrong direction and need to fix it. Well, I could not believe that anyone would work a cable the wrong way and not notice it for so long that you have to drop stitches instead of tinking. Little did I know how easy that was to do! I managed to work the cable the wrong way and didn't notice it until it was time to work the next cable, which is 4 rows away with some increases in those 4 rows. I think a trip to the bookstore is necessary and I'll be the proud owner of Knit Fix before the weekend!

Lots, and yet nothing, going on

We got an offer on our house yesterday! Woohoo! In theory it's good news. In reality we have no jobs and no idea where we're moving yet. Hopefully we'll have some good news soon on the job hunt for my husband and then we'll have a location and I can start looking for a job. But until then we're just sitting around stressing out about the fact that we may be jobless and homeless in 2 months. In the meantime, I'm knitting and babysitting for a neighbor to keep my mind off things.

So, knitting-wise. I'm working on the Fawkes socks, the Socktopia August mystery sock, my husband's sweater, some washcloths, and super secret project #2. Super secret project #1 has been momentarily put on hold. I need to get some of these projects finished so I can concentrate a little better. I've got knitting ADHD right now. I pick up one project, do 3 or 4 rows, and move on to the next one. I think that I'm going to make the Fawkes socks a priority right now since I kinda hate working on them so I should just get them finished and out of my knitting bag.

Time to leave for my knitting group!

Ridiculous # of Posts

Can you tell by the amount of posts lately that I am jobless with nothing to do but knit? Well, there are 2 other things that keep me busy:

Cooper (the laid back pup):and Trapper (he requires much more attention):
Other than them, there's not much to do but knit. Today I got the very lovely call from my LYS that yarn I had ordered came in today. Of course I had to leave right away to pick it up. The yarn I ordered is Encore Plymouth that will be used for Super Secret Project #2. I felt like really treating myself, for absolutely no reason, and bought myself some Lattern Moon needles for that project. As you can see I also bought some other stuff. Some yarn for my secret pal and a one skein book that I just had to have because Stash and Burn is having a one skein contest and I have been dying to use up some of my single skeins. When I was finished there and thought 'Wow I just spent a whole bunch of money and I have no job!' I went to the quilt store next door to the knitting store. I really thought I wasn't going to buy anything but then I saw:I have no immediate plans for it but I just had to have it. A definite Vera Bradley knock off, but I think it will make a nice needle case or something one day. I really don't have the ability to think about designing a needle case right now. I am going to be dusting off my sewing machine soon for a project for my secret pal so maybe inspiration will strike then.

For my secret pal

Hey there secret pal! Sorry there are e-mail problems. Could you help me out and let me know what the error message says? The SP11 host had the same problem and I want to ask gmail what's going on. You can get in touch with me at my other e-mail address
juli (at) vims (dot) edu
The Fawkes pattern is from socktopia. Here the link.

Fawkes

More about this later, just wanted to get a picture up.

A little bit better

Ok, so I managed to fix some things but I'm not quite there yet. I still need to get a few more things done. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my progress bars and don't know how to get them back. Oh well, you'll just have to read my posts to see how far along I am. Off to figure out how to put up my wishlist link on the page. How do you like the new layout and colors?

AHHHH!

I had to upgrade my template with blogger and I lost all my sidebar stuff. It will take me a little while to try to get it back to normal, but I'll work on it today and hopefully it will be better by sometime today.

The knitting invasion

Knitting has officially taken over my life. I actually had a knitting nightmare. I had an enourmous tube of knitting, about as tall and wide as me. I realized a mistake about 2 inches from the cast on edge and since I don't know how to ladder down to a mistake, I had to frog the whole thing. Luckily I woke up about halfway through the frogging cause it was pretty upsetting! I think this might be a wake up call to learn how to ladder down to mistakes and fix them.

Later I'll post some pictures of my Fawkes socks. I don't think I've blogged about them yet, I'm having trouble getting decent pictures so I think I'll just post a picture where the colors look horrible. So, hopefully more later, if not then definitely tomorrow since my husband will be gone all day tomorrow and I'll have nothing better to do then blog and knit!

New Sleeves

I finally found a new cable pattern that I can live with for the sleeve of my husband's sweater.
I know it's very simple, but I think it looks pretty nice with the yarn and a whole lot better than the original cable looked:
Sorry the picture sucks, but I've lost all my old pictures and this one is from flickr. But, it basically just looks like the cable is pinched where the left and the right cross behind the center cable at the same time.

The grocery bag from hell

My grocery bag from hell is FINALLY finished. Two hour project my ass!!This is the last one I'm ever making. I guess it will be for farmer's markets and trips to trader joe's only. I'll never have enough for full grocery shopping trips. That's ok, I need the plastic bags to pick up after the dogs anyway.

I'm desperately waiting for the next installment of my mystery sock. Rumor is the lady in charge is sick. Very understandable, but I'm still impatient.

Super secret project #1 is finally underway and hopefully on the correct needles this time. I will have to get a bit further to figure out if the sizing is right though. So far it seems like it will be ok.

I've decided it's time to bust out my husband's sweater again. It will be a nice fall sweater if I ever finish it. I'm going to think about cable patterns today. I've also got puppy biscuitsin the oven and I'm going to go shopping for bread making supplies. What a crafty/homemaker day I'm having today!

Sick Day

I'm coming down with a cold or something cause my whole body aches today. I actually feel so weak I don't want to knit! But I think I'll suffer through and try to get some work done on my grocery bag since it's pretty mindless. Here's my progress so far though:
I'm just getting started on the handle. I'm making it super thin since I'm almost out of yarn. I'm going to make it a little wider and in garter stitch when it comes to where I'll actually hold it. All in all, it's been a pretty miserable project to work on.

I got some work done on the mystery sock as well:I'm waiting for the next clue, which is supposed to be up today. I still don't know what the lace pattern is supposed to look like, I thought it was supposed to be hearts, but it doesn't look like hearts at all now. I really like the cable on the sides. I didn't think cables would look nice on socks, but my mind has been changed. This picture shows the color much better than the first one:That's it for now. Oh, but I had to frog super secret project #1. I just recast it on this morning. I thought I had the gauge right, but apparently I didn't. OK, off to take my second nap for the day and hopefully my husband will make me some soup for dinner.

For my Secret Pal (and anyone else who would like to spoil me!), I think I've put a link to my wishlist on the sidebar.

Secret Pal contest

I'm participating in Secret Pal 11, if I haven't mentioned that a million times already. My hostess is having a contest so we can get to know our pals a little better. And it's a super easy contest, talk about yourself by answering a few questions, and what blogger doesn't love to talk about themselves. So, here goes:

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?
My knit picks chart holder. I just learned how to read charts and this thing has been a god send. It's really speed up my knitting since I don't have to constantly figure out what row I was on.

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If
so, how much and what type of project?
Of course I take knitting!! I take only one project, usually the smallest thing I'm working on. I like to think I'm going to do stash enhancement each trip so I don't have to think of running out of projects while I'm gone.

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?
I have done a lot of traveling. It would be really hard to pick my favorite spot. I think I've got 2 if that's ok. One would be the Amazon. I spent a month living in the rainforest, well 2 weeks in the rainforest and 2 weeks on a boat on the Amazon river. Being in the rainforest was probably the most comfortable place I've ever been. Usually I'm very afraid of being attacked by random wild animals, but for some reason I was amazingly calm and just in complete awe at what I saw around me.
My second favorite place is Heart Lake in Canada. It's a small lake shaped like a heart. There are houses on one half of the lake and then all the owners of the houses got together and bought all the property on the other half so they will continue to have very few boats on the lake and a great view. It's a great community of people there. I went there because a man found a leech, which is what I study, and he offered to have me and my advisor come stay at his cabin for a week while we looked for more. That's some real hospitality and everyone I met there was just as nice and accommodating as he was. The only problem was I don't speak French and we were in a very French area.

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?
My favorite right now is Favorite Socks. I do own it. I don't really look through many books I don't own so I can't really have a favorite that's not on my shelf.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?
Do I ever!! I listen while I walk my dogs, while I'm commuting 90 minutes a day in my car, when I'm running errands, when there just isn't anything good on TV, when I'm doing chores around the house. I listen to just about every knitting one I can find (and some other ones like NPR's wait wait don't tell me). My favorite is stash and burn. I think that insubordiknit will become a favorite once she starts putting more episodes out.

Well that's it for right now. I'm off to walk the dogs and listen to some podcasts, maybe I"ll get some knitting done. We've got house guests right now and spent the ENTIRE day yesterday at Busch Gardens so I didn't get anything done. Although had I thought it through a little better I would have brought my knitting with me. I get violently ill on roller coasters so there was quite a bit of me sitting with all the moms with babies while everyone else stood on line for 45 minutes for a 2 minute ride. I seriously think I could have gotten 3 hours of knitting in. It would have gotten soaked on the roman rapids though and the sweat dripping off my body (it was 95 degrees yesterday with over 90% humidity) would probably have felted the sock.

Secret pals, socks, and super secret projects

Of course there is more socky goodness to show off today. Here is my progress on the socktopia mystery sock:
I think it's looking pretty good. It's got 2 cables (on the edges of this picture) and a lace pattern between. The lace pattern may be hearts, but I'm not sure. I'm through 2 repeats of the leg with 2 left to go. I really wish I had figured out how to cast on 2 socks at the same time before I started this, but whatever, I'll figure it out for the next pair. The magic loop is going pretty well so far, no major problems but I'm not seeing how it's so much better than DPNs, maybe when I do 2 at once it will seem fantastic.

I got a message from my secret pal!! I'm such a dork and I'm so excited for my first ever secret pal swap! I took a trip to my LYS and got my secret pal a few things already. I also got myself a few things at the knitting store (of course!!). I got sock blockers!! Now I'll be able to take pretty pictures, hopefully. I also got 2 skeins of Claudia's handpaints in a new colorway, boot camp. . . I'm going to make some socks for my NARMY (that's Navy/Army) boy. I also got a cute knitted ladybug tape measure for my mom. She's got a bit of a ladybug obsession. I really shouldn't help fuel it, but how could I resist a knitted ladybug?

The only other thing going on with me is lots of super secret projects. If you notice, one popped with a progress bar after my last post. I've decided to begin Christmas knitting ridiculously early this year since me and my husband's life is about to be drastically changing. He's getting out of the Navy mid September and hopefully starting a new job, we're moving, I MAY be getting a job (if I can find anyone who wants to hire me), and hopefully we'll be trying to start a family when we figure out all the messiness of temporary health insurance. I'm trying to take advantage of the calm before the storm and get some hardcore gift knitting done. Super secret project #1 is a Christmas present for one of my sisters (not I'm not telling you which one). Super secret project #2, which will begin as soon as my LYS gets the yarn in, is going to be a present for a very good friend of mine. I can't say what kind of present cause it will give it all away and she just may find my blog. But, let's just say it will be rather time consuming and probably won't actually get finished, I'm going to try anyway!

I think this post needs another picture so I'm off to take one of the LYS loot.

Gorgeous

For some reason at 8 at night on Friday I decided I needed something a little different. I had been working on the grocery bag, which I'm starting to despise because it just doesn't seem to be getting any bigger even though it's knit using broomsticks. I grab my handy dandy knitting pattern notebook and pulled out this pattern. A chunky cabled beanie for those of you that don't feel like following the link. I had printed it thinking it was good for using up the yarn my sister spun for me. Here's the result.
Modeled by the fantastic Cooper:Modeled by it's intended wearer (me):

SOCKS!

Have I mentioned lately that I love knitting socks!
Pattern: River rapids by Sockbug
Yarn: Mountain Colors bearfoot, color: Juniper
Needles: US2 dpns (one on bamboo, one on knit picks)

Next up is the mystery sock from Socktopia. I'm using Lorna's laces and the magic loop (yes I broke down and bought myself a 40" US2 needle.

I still haven't worked on the grocery bag thing and I only knit a few rows on the cabled scarf. I think that I'll try my hardest to finish that grocery bag so I can put it away and start something else. I'm thinking a lace project, but probably another sock! And I really have to work on my hunny's sweater one of these days.

So, my big news for the day, besides finishing my second pair of socks, is the house is officially on the market. The realtor put the for sale sign in the yard last night. It should go online sometime today, but she still doesn't have a picture of the front of the house because we still haven't fixed a shutter. The realtor's husband is going to replace it for us and hopefully it will cost less than what the handyman's estimate was (over $200 to replace one shutter!!!!)

Everything is done that I need to do to get the house ready to sell so I just have a few things here and there to keep up the super cleanliness of it. In the meantime, I'm going to go watch baby shows and knit the day away. My hunny's last day of work is today then he's got a month of saved up leave. I really hope he has a job by the end of that month!! I'm sure he will cause he's the best, but it's still very scary to have nothing lined up yet.

Good thing the yarn store is 45 minutes away!!

Otherwise I'd be extremely poor!! I went today to get some sock yarn to make a mystery sock from the socktopia group. It called for a solidish color, which I have no sock yarn that's solid. So, I picked out some Lorna's Laces in a color called blackberry. It's a very slightly variegated purple. I'm going to knit up a gauge swatch tonight and hopefully get started on the cuff. But of course a million other things called to me. I did a quick walk through of the non-sock part and nothing really called to me. So I hung out in the sock part. I never realized how much sock yarn they carried. There is a little display bookshelf sort of thing in the sock area and I always thought it was all Claudia handpaints, but it's not. I picked up this one skein of orange and red yarn that I thought was Claudia but turned out to be Koigu!! I've been hearing all the podcasters drooling over koigu so I just had to get it. It's color P803 which of course does not describe it at all, but it's orange and red and pink. I think it will be perfect for the Fawkes pattern. Then since I was standing in front of the Claudia's yarn I got a second skein of Knitting sisters colorway. I had gotten a skein each for me and my sisters which would have been enough for us each to make a pair of ankle socks. But I think I want to make a pair of Jaywalkers out of mine. I'm going to search on ravelry to see if anyone else has knit anything in the knitting sisters colorway. I think it was a limited edition color or something. It's actually based on the colors of the business card of my local knitting store (Knitting Sisters). So, I don't know if many people out there have it. Actually you can see the color of the yarn here. Just scroll over the name knitting sisters fingering.

I spent last weekend in NY visiting family. Which was actually a pretty relaxing trip. Usually the family event is at the end of my trip and my mom goes all psycho trying to get the house ready, but this time I flew in the day of the anniversary dinner for my grandparents. We all went out to eat and pretty much the whole family was there, except for one cousin. The next day we had a very low key cookout with my sisters, brother, brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew. It was great cause me and my sister just sat around and knit most of the day. I've made some decent progress on the River Rapids socks. I have one sock done and I'm about halfway through the foot of the second one. I hoping to have them done by this weekend. I'll post a picture then.

Other than that things have been pretty low key for me. I actually went to work yesterday! I will probably work a lot the next 2 weeks and then I'm done there and I'll be jobless. My husband will be jobless starting September 17th. Our house is going on the market later this week. AHHHHHHHH! Ok, off to think about how stressed out I am right now.

Secret Pal Questions

Here's my questionnaire for my secret pal!!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I've become a bit of a yarn snob and only knit with natural fibers. No acrylic for me!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
My needles are all in their original plastic packaging that they came in and they're all stored in a basket. I keep meaning to make a needle case but I can't come up with a good design yet. . . one of these days.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting 3 or 4 years. I'm self taught from books and the internet. I guess I'm intermediate. I can handle cables but I'm not so great at lace yet.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I have an Amazon wishlist.

5. What's your favorite scent?
Currently clean linen. But I also love vanilla, lemongrass, sandalwood.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I have a ginormous sweet tooth. My favorite is white chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I'm a quilter. I can do some spinning on a drop spindle, but it's not my favorite thing to do.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like most everything but rap and country. I don't listen to much music though because all my CDs were stolen and I haven't replaced them yet, I listen to podcasts all the time. My computer can play MP3s. I have a few CDs on my Amazon wishlist if you would like to see what I like.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
My favorite color is yellow, but I seem to always wear green. I'm not a big fan of very loud colors and being a redhead I can't wear reds or pinks.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married, with no kids (but hopefully soon!) and 2 large (60 pound) dogs.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, hats, and mittens. No ponchos for me. I live in a pretty warm climate so heavy duty hats and mittens are rarely needed.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Currently, SOCKS!!! I've been bitten by the sock bug big time.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A pair of socks, an irish hiking scarf, and a sweater for my husband.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
But of course!! They're the best kind of gifts!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I love the knit picks needles. I'm a circular girl, except for socks. I knit those on DPNs. I would like to try the magic loop method though. I've got the book but no 40" needles smaller than a size US4.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I have both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Probably over a year, the sweater for my husband.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn and fabric.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I'm subscribed to knit.1 and vogue. I'd love to subscribe to interweave. I'd love to get the sensational knitted socks books. Some 40" needles in size US1 or 2. Socks that rock sock yarn or sundara sock yarn or pippi knee socks sock yarn, pretty much any indie dyed sock yarn.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'm going to start a great american aran afghan soon so I'm going to learn lots of new cable techniques. And I'd really like to give lace another chance.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I am a sock knitter, almost done with my second pair. I'm a size 7.

23. When is your birthday?
May 19th

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes, I'm pinsandneedles

Knit picks fairy

I was visited the other day by the knit picks fairy! I love the knit picks fairy! She gave me a book (Favorite Socks), 2 skeins of sock yarn in meadow multi color, and a collection of DPNs for sock knitting (do you see a theme!!). I can't wait to cast something on with my new DPNs.

Meanwhile I'm knitting on a few projects:

1. River rapids socks by sockbug with Mountain Colors Bearfoot juniper color. I'm not all that happy with it. The yarn is fantastic and I can never go back to that silly Lion Brand sock yarn. But my problems are that it's a little too big. They're not so big that they're falling down, but they fell like they're about to fall down any second. And the color is not showing off the pattern at all. I actually love the way it looks on the bottom of the foot in plain stockinette, but on the leg it's just a big mush. 2. I'm working on my grocery bag, which is extremely boring so I don't work on it too much.
3. And I'm working on my Irish hiking scarf when I'm too tired to pay attention to the sock pattern.

Other than that, lots is going on at home. We're putting the house on the market next week. Although we still have no idea where we're moving or what our jobs will be in 2 months. It's been a super stressful few weeks. OK, off to knit after a full day of scrubbing, pulling down vines, and making trips to the thrift store.