Sigh of relief!

I am so happy. I only have one more ufo from my original list. Andy's hat is done, Malden's sweater is done, Craig's never ending scarf is done, and Mom's calorimetry is done. I am a very relieved knitter. I only have my socks to finish. Of course I also have the log cabin blankets that are a continuing charity project.
I am disappointed that my batteries in my camera were dead so I have to rely on my brothers to actually take pictures of these gifts while being worn and email them to me so I can post them here. It could happen!!
Tomorrow I am going to buy a replacement needle for my socks. Right now one of the needles is really hard to work with. I knit tightly and the join is not smooth at all making it difficult for me to really get in a rhythm when I am working on them. I am debating between going to Micheal's or buying from Knit Picks. I love my options needles so much but I am antsy to get back to my socks. Decisions, decisions!

UFO list progress report

Hi and Happy Monday!

I know I just posted my ufo list in my last post but my knitting diet challenge has helped my whittle away a couple of the projects. I'll find out tomorrow about my weight ; ) .
Here is my list of UFO's as posted last post with an update
1. Craig's Ohio State scarf - only one more red striped section and one and half more gray sections.
2. My socks- haven't touched
3. Malden's sweater redo - starting later this week
4. Mom's calorimetry
5. Andy's hat - haven't even thought about it!
6. My crocheted Log cabin square for the Charity Log Cabin round robin- being mailed tomorrow!

Craig's scarf is my Achilles heel as far as UFOs go. I work on it for a couple of nights then I am so bored I have the work on something else. This is to avoid poking my eyes out with my new Options. So tonight I will be back knitting on it. I am getting sooo close to finishing it I... must... press... on.

I just noticed that I am more worried about my UFOs than I am my homework. This is a bit disturbing to me. But I suppose it is the price one pays when they have such an addiction.

My UFO list

I joined a weight loss challenge on KH. Here are the guidelines
To join, you have to pledge the following:
1.) To work on an UFO at least 1/2 hour each day
2.) To pick up an UFO instead of nibbling
3.) To decrease your stash along with your weight
4.) To post pics of your FOs
5.) To share your joys and frustrations whether weight or yarn
6.) To share links to free patterns you are working on that are terrific!

In order to keep myself honest I thought I would post my ufo's here.
1. Craig's Ohio State scarf
2. My socks
3. Malden's sweater redo
4. Mom's calorimetry
5. Andy's hat
6. My crocheted Log cabin square for the Charity Log Cabin round robin

Craig's scarf has the most time in it but still has the longest to go. I am probably about18 inches away from being done.
Malden's sweater is a pretty simple fix I just need to reknit the bottom portion to make it a little bigger for him. His neck is much bigger now than when I first measured him and the collar of the sweater was absolutely choking him.
Mom's cal is the same thing I just need to make it bigger
Andy's hat was a complete disaster and I frogged before I even gave it to him. Thankfully he doesn't really mind but I want to get it done soon as it was a Christmas present. The log cabin square has to be done by the 14th so i can mail on the 15th. I am not too worried about it but I need to get it done!

My goal for this week is to work on Craig's scarf instead of nibbling at night and get it done! I am pretty sure I can do it.

Another FO well almost!

I cast on last night for Kendra's calorimetry while watching Jeopardy with my Mom. About 2 hours later I was almost done. By the time I went to bed I was casting off with this bind off. I just need to sew on the button I bought today. I love love love this pattern! I actually didn't follow the pattern to the t. A lot of knitters on Ravelry said that it came out humongous if you cast on 120 stitches as called for in the pattern but that it came out perfectly with between 80-100. I arbitrarilly chose 88 and am so glad I did. It fit my head stretched so hopefully it will be perfect for K! I have a big head and a lot of hair. K has a lot of hair and an average sized head.

Here are my specs I used Paton's Soy Wool Stripes in Natural Geranium. I cast on 88 stitches with I think size 8 needles. It took me about 3 -3.5 hours to knit. I still have a little less than half of a skein left. I will be making more in the future! I love the button I chose, the picture is bad. I really couldn't get my camera to cooperate tonight! Today was filled with Christmas shopping and decorating the house with Mom. Tomorrow is going to be Holly finishes her Christmas knitting day in my house. The only other thing I need to do besides sew on the button is make Andy's hat. I've decided not to make the gloves for Kendra. Unless I really get inspired this week and the yarn goes on sale! I found her a really cute Amaryllis kit at Lowes so it kind of takes the pressure off. They both will get a head covering of some sort, along with a sweater for their dog, she will get the flowers and he will get a tin of peppermint bark . I think they will be happy with it. If not I know I tried!

A F.O.

I have one less Christmas gift to knit because I am done with Malden's,(the dog) sweater. I really just needed to seam it but the vague directions of seam leaving 3.5 inches for the arms slowed me down a bit. Where do I leave the 3.5 inches for the arm was the big question. I searched online and measured dog sweaters and finally * think* hope*and* pray* I have the right place. It really doesn't look like much but I am sure it will look great on him. I modified the Need for tweed dog sweater pattern from the Lion Brand Website. I didn't want it to be all garter so I made the top stockinette with a garter boarder. I used Lion brand Wool Ease thick& quick in Pine.



Here is a really bad picture of the dog who will be receiving the sweater. He was playing with a cat toy and would not stay still for a picture but you can see his coloring.
I'll be sure to post a picture of him wearing it. He really loves being dressed up!
I'm currently looking for a pattern for Malden's daddy aka my brother Andy using the same yarn. I am pretty sure he will be getting a hat. I was tempted to make a scarf but the time crunch makes me nervous about starting something that will have to be 6 feet long! Malden's mommy aka Kendra my SiL will be getting a Calorimetry & Fetching both from Knitty and both knit with Paton's SWS or that new yarn at Joann that looks like Noro.

The joys of being a knitter at Christmas!

Today while I was out running a few errands I realized that Christmas is only 26 days away. I know you might be thinking well of course it is, today is last day of Nov. But it really hit me! Holy smokes do I have a lot of knitting to do and fast! All I can say is the stores and radio stations have really desensitized me to the whole holiday season. This summer I saw Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff displayed. The day after Halloween a local radio station started playing Christmas music every weekend. So now I am frantically trying to see what I can get done and what will be put on the back burner. I can't believe I have wait until now to think about all of this. Last year I was finished in Aug! My list of almost FO is pretty slim! I have to re knot my sister's no sew fleece blanket. I gave one to my SIL for her birthday and she loves it but all the knots were coming undone. I have to seam my bro and sil 's dog sweater. I have about another 2-3 ft on my other bro's scarf. If I ever finish it, it will be a miracle! It is such a boring knit! I haven't even thought about what I am giving Mom, bro and Sil. I decided I would put off the tree skirt until next year so I can actually spend time making it the best it can be! Somehow I don't think it is fair to only knit something for their dog! Mom is hard this year since she is losing weight. I really was hoping to knit her a sweater but she keeps shrinking so I have no idea what size to make. I might give her a swatch of the yarn I want to to use, a picture of the pattern and a lovely card saying it will be knit when she is at her goal. In fact that is exactly what I am going to do! Of course I will get her other gifts but I think this is a good compromise!
I was so tempted today to just get gift certificates for everyone but somehow I just can't quite bring myself to do it. We've always been really big on Christmas gift and everyone really appreciates when I knit them something. It just wouldn't feel right to hand out cards to Barnes and Noble or Dicks.
I hope all of you are farther along in your gift knitting than I am. I'll post pictures one I have actual FOs.

I had no idea

that it had been over a month since I have written anything here. I told everyone it would take me a while to get used to the idea of blogging. Life has been nutty here . I finally got the first oddball blanket a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of pictures. I used Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red. My stitch is called Loop Pattern. I found in the 365 knitting stitches calendar on Dec 14th. The blanket is on it's way to Cristy in Georgia. If you want to know more about the blanket you can read all about it here
I am also going to be knitting on the 4th oddball blanket. It has a while until it gets here. I will be sure to post when it does!! :)
School is a hectic as ever. I only have a few more week of this semester- yippeeeee! I will pretty much be done after Thanksgiving. My professors this semester don't require us to take the final if we have an A average. Which I do after much hard work and about a million and a half flash cards.

The socks I had started in my last post were finished. However they were terribly wrong. I mean really really wrong. It was a horrible mathematical error of almost epic stupidity. I misread the directions for the decreases and decreased the ankle by 20% instead of 10. Of course with the after thought heel I was completely unaware of my mistake until I had finished and the sock recipient ( my sweet Mom) couldn't get them over her foot. I was so embarrassed! I frogged them and am now working on the same pattern with different yarn. I really was so upset by my mistake I can't look at the other yarn for a while. I know it wasn't the yarn's fault but something had to pay. I really enjoyed knitting socks. I have learned from my mistake and I am sure it will never ever ever be repeated by me! I love the colorway of the new yarn I am using. I'll post pictures soon.
Maybe stupidly I have started knitting a Christmas tree skirt for my brother and sister in law. Who have everything. Or if they don't have it they go out and buy it. I never really know what to get them and this is the first year they are living in their house so I just decided one day to make them one. I was going to make one for my Mom too but she loves the quilted one we have had for years. I am using this pattern. It's marked as advanced but I am not sure what is advanced about it. I guess I will have to see as I progress. I am hoping to have it done early so they can actually use it this year, but I will be happy if I finish it by Christmas. I have to knit 6 identical panels so this might get a little boring. I hope it turns out and more importantly that they like it! As I said earlier I am just never really sure what to get them. I was so happy this year for their birthdays, which are 6 days apart, they got a puppy. I put together a gift basket filled with puppy stuff. I gave them a paw print kit, a kong Wubba (Bentley's favorite toy), a bag of rawhides, a puppy toothbrush and toothpaste, a blanket, and a dvd called Bow wow tv. The dvd was a hand me down from Bentley. My 85 pound lab was scared of it. It basically is a dvd for dogs to watch while they are home alone. I put it on one day while I was getting ready to leave and he came running upstairs and hid in his bed. Which is exactly what he used to do when I vacuumed. I tried it a few weeks later and got the same reaction. I have no idea what the dogs that are barking are saying but my B doesn't care for it. Apparently Malden the
puppy barks back at them and really seems to like it! This further convinces me that Bentley doesn't understand that he is a dog.
Well all you readers out there in blog land I am tired. It has been a really long day and I really need to get some sleep. Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo,
Holly