Holiday Charity Knits?

Do you charity knit for the holidays?

Last year I participated in Knit Unto Others, which is hosted yearly by Carole & Margene. The concept is to charity knit during the last two weeks of November. At the end of the month, you send them an email stating what you knit & where you donated it to, and your name is entered into a drawing to win a prize from either Carole or Margene. Last year, I did win a prize from Margene, but honestly, just knowing that someones head was kept warm because of hats I knit, was gift enough.One of the charities I’ll be knitting for again this year is Christmas Knits to help One at a Time Ministries, and Lynda just reminded me on her blog post that it’s that time of year again. I’m sure there’s a hat pattern or two I’ve been wanting to try that would be perfect for this charity. How about you?
On the health front, my doctor asked me to try some medication for the FMS and after being on it for 2 weeks, my pain levels have dropped by about 40%. YEAH! I’ve had a “bad” day here & there, but my overall daily pain is much improved. I’ve had no side effects from the medication (that I’ve noticed) so that’s great, and DH has especially noticed a change in me since he can now give me a squeeze now & then without me screeching in pain.

The other good thing is that the NutriSystem diet is working. My body resisted for the first 10 days though, but now that it knows I’m sticking with it and not cheating, it finally gave up some pounds and as of today, day 15, I’ve lost 5.5 pounds. Some of the food is great and some of it is not so great, but I’m sorting through it so I can customize my next order. The best part is that I’m not ever hungry. That is definitely a first for me. I’ve never been on a diet where I haven’t been completely miserable, and honestly it barely feels like I’m on a diet right now.

In actual knitting project news, there is actually quite a bit going on.

Recently Completed:

• Cable Wave Scarf (my own design)
• Thuja anklets originally knit for DH are now Thuja anklets for me
• Exact same hat as I knit last year for my nephew, but now in a larger size
• Practice baby booties from Cat Bordhi’s latest book

In process:

• Fiber Trends Felted Clogs
• Glittens for sister are in the process of being reknitted in a larger size
• Candy Wrappers socks have been started, frogged and re-started
• Hat for charity
• Tangled Yoke (still needs to be blocked)

After seeing this list, I think it’s time to buckle down and get things blocked, felted, and photographed. Sheesh.

Jillian shared this on her blog and I’m passing along to all of you as well. There’s a Veterans Day yarn sale going on over at Sonny & Shear. Use the coupon code VETERAN to save 20% off of your yarn purchases now through November 17, 2007 and all orders over $40 have free shipping. There are a lot of wonderful things that are unfortunately sold out, but I did snag some Lorna’s Laces & Dream in Color. How could I not?

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GP’s & FO’s

Most of the time I seem to share my GP (Guilty Pleasure) of purchasing yarn, but today, it’s something completely different.

Go ahead & click on it, take the tour, and sign up for your free account. I did and believe me, I may sleep better knowing everything is a bit more organized now.

One other Guilty Pleasures will be happening on Saturday. I’m going to see the Yarn Harlot! Obviously I will provide photos and details on that next week.

Finished Objects!

Pattern: Shedir by Jenna Wilson
Source: Knitty.com Fall 2004
Yarn: Rowan Calmer colorway 492 (1 skein)
Needles: Addi Turbo (2) 24″ circular needles size US 2 (2.75 mm)

Comments: I originally attempted knitting this with size US 3 needles, but halfway through I was running out of yarn, so I frogged it and cast on again with my size 2 addi turbo needles instead. I didn’t love working all the cables with the less pointy Addi turbo because frankly I believe the Knit Picks pointy tips are better for this, but what did help with all that cabling was knowing how to cable without a cable needle. I love the finished hat, but I don’t think I’d knit this again since my hands ached with all the cabling and I was stressed most of the time knitting it that I was going to run out of yarn. Speaking of the yarn .. it is FABULOUS! If it were less expensive, my stash would be filled with every colorway.

Pattern: Garterlac Dishcloth by Dave
Source: Criminy Jickets
Yarn: Peaches & Creme Ombre in Raspberry Swirls
Needles: Knit Picks Options size 7 US

Notes: Once I figured out how the triangles and squares fit together, and what order they were worked, this knit up very quickly. This was my first attempt at entrelac, and I liked it so much, I’m knitting more! Thanks for a great pattern Dave. I predict that I’ll be including these in many Christmas packages this year, and I also predict many will end up in my kitchen too!

I found out through Judy’s blog that if you purchase Cat Bordhi’s latest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, you might want a set of stitch markers that utilize the letters A through H. Since I DID end up purchasing the book because of Judy’s subtle blog-post coaxing, (although I’m still waiting for Amazon to ship it) I obviously also needed a set of these stitch markers. Of course Judy had the solution by giving the link to J.L. Yarnworks Etsy shop, where she sells the very thing, but upon doing a further search I fell in love with the stitch markers and row counting bracelet at Hide and Sheep’s Etsy store, so I placed a custom order with her.

My order arrived very promptly from Hide & Sheep and not only is their customer service fantastic, but the items I ordered were even better than I expected. Everything arrived in its own tin and not only is the quality of the work outstanding, but no detail was overlooked. I especially love that on the bracelet, there is a small “hook” to hold stitchmarkers. She has quite a large variety of stitchmarkers and bracelets and she even does custom orders, so you should really check her out.
One last very important thing, if you’d like to be entered in a drawing to win some fabulous prizes, please go to Noolie Knits and donate to the Light the Night walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. All the details are in this blog post and although last year she raised $1,218, this year she’s only raised $555 thus far and there are only 17 days remaining. Please let us help her exceed last years number!

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Tuesday This ‘n That

Labor Day was fairly uneventful around here, since it’s honestly too hot to do anything. If you read any blogs from others Californians, then you already know that we’re having an extreme heat wave. For example, last night at 7pm it was 90 degree INSIDE my home and I’d had the air conditioner on since 8am that morning. In addition to the hot weather though, my health has taken a turn for the worse and in addition to my normal Fibromyalgia symptoms, I’m battling the return of all my Epstein-Barr Virus symptoms. Supposedly it has returned because my immune system sucks, so I’m attempting to remedy that with a 30-day trial for what I hope to be “miracle” vitamins.

Laura recently asked me about the sock I was designing to see if it were complete. I’m on the verge of posting about it, but not today, so here’s a sneak-preview photo.

Wendy wrote a post last month regarding this light tent. I’m feeling tempted into purchasing it. Although my photos are alright, I would love for them to better. Also, with this tent, maybe my photo assistants wouldn’t steal my props. Currently I photograph everything outside by placing a few sheets of white tissue paper on my backyard patio or walkway, and I keep it from blowing away with a few rocks stolen from the base of my water fountain. Unfortunately, my golden retrievers think they are my photo assistants and just for giggles they like to steal the rocks off the tissue paper when I setup between photos.

All setup and ready for it’s picture

Kya nonchalantly standing near the photo setup acting all innocent

The little thief stealing the rock from the bottom left corner

The yarn in the photos was recently acquired from Jenny of the Stash & Burn podcast. She was doing a de-stash and I decided to pick up these two skeins of Lamb’s Pride Worsted in the Prairie Fire colorway. I’m considering using this yarn to make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. They’ve changed the guidelines this year to sending in a maximum of five scarves and they need to be received by October 15th, but they are also recommending no mohair scarves. There is 15% mohair in this yarn, so do you think it would be alright to use this, or should I find something else?

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Sugar Free Cabernet?

My first pair of socks are complete for the Sock A Month KAL3 . Isn’t it ironic that the pattern I used was designed by one of the KAL hostesses, Chrissy, AND my KAL group leader, Karen, is who the pattern was designed for? Typically I’m not a huge fan of purchasing sock patterns since there seems to be an abundance of free ones all over the internet, but the proceeds for the purchase of the pattern went towards Karen’s Walk for Diabetes, so it was well worth it!

Sugar-Free Cabernet Socks

Pattern: Karen’s Sugar-Free Diabetes Socks

Pattern Source: Gardiner Yarn WorksYarn: Berroco Pure Merino; Cabernet colorway

Needles: (2) KnitPicks Circular size 1 US

Notes: The first time I knit this pattern, I followed the pattern as written, but this time I converted the pattern to knit these toe-up. I had no clue what I was doing in the heel section and got very lucky that it all worked out. Thankfully, Judy emailed me her toe-up heel math, so my next pair should go much better. I love the pattern stitch detail in how the finished product looks, but also that it’s easy to memorize! I’ve knit with this yarn twice before when I made the Backyard Leaves Scarf & the Fetchings and although I did love the yarn during those two projects, I didn’t really enjoy knitting with a worsted weight yarn on size one needles for these socks. I do like the finished project, but in the future I’ll probably stick to lighter weight yarn when knitting socks.

While knitting these socks, my KnitPicks Circular cable came out of the needle at the joint. Not Cool!! DH was sitting there when it happened and asked if he should get the super glue. I guess he figured the duct tape wouldn’t work. I contacted KnitPicks today and they are sending me a replacement needle in the mail tomorrow.

Yes, this photo sucks, but it was very late last night & I wanted you to see the obviously wasted knitting time in making socks that are too big. This is the beginnings of the Pomatomus pattern that I’m attempting to knit toe-up. I’m using regular sock-weight yarn & size one needles as I always do, but there are 68 stitches total instead of my usual 64 and obviously it made a huge difference! I already ripped back & now am casting on with my size zeros. Oh what fun?

One last very important item! Christine is doing Project Snuggle again this year, and I’m very excited to be participating. I’ve never knit anything like this before, so it should be fun.

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Scarves, Scarves

First of all, let me say that I should’ve posted about this FO the first week of January when I could have had it finished. And in all truth it was finished except for the blocking. So when I removed the last few stitches from the needles & bound off, I stuffed it into a ziploc bag where it spent over two weeks suffocating & gasping for air!

And why?

… because I was dreading the blocking. Sad, pathetic, and all true!

Thankfully I came to my senses & spent some time huddled over a bed layered with two beach towels, a tape measure, a container of pins, and the scarf which was painstakingly pulled & poked at until it submitted.

Pattern: Argosy by Vyvyan NeelPattern Source: Knitty.com Winter 2006 issue

Yarn: Rowan Tapestry (70% wool, 30% soybean); colorway Pot Pourri

Needles: KnitPicks Options size 6 US

Notes: Since I couldn’t get the Noro Silk Garden at my LYS in any decent colorways, I opted to use the Rowan Tapestry. It was wonderful to work although I would have preferred if it had striped in the same way that the Noro does with larger color blocks & more color changes. The only part I disliked about this was blocking. I’m sure the lace blocking wires would’ve helped me keep the points straighter, but I just couldn’t justify the expense right now so I sufferred through with the tape measure & the pins… UGGH!

Today you can find me at the post office to finally mail the scarf I knit for the Red Scarf Project 2007. I posted about it originally here when my fat self modeled it, but because it couldn’t be mailed until January, (and I had to wait for payday) it’s getting one last mention on my blog before it’s on it’s way!

Goodbye red scarf. May you keep a college student warm enough to get through the rest of the school year.

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