Knittingupastorm: December 2006

Friday, December 29, 2006

I might just make it the end of the year with a FO! This is for Maddie and I am using knitntonic's drive thru pattern. Pretty easy and I am sure I could have made it without the pattern, but I am lazy and want to finish it quickly, so following an already written out pattern is the way to go for me.

I am using Patons Decor for the main body and Patons Merino Classic wool for the stripes that I had in the stash. If it fits her (crossing my fingers!) then tonight I'll knit the button band and sew the buttons on. Other knitting news? The toe decreases for my second striped sock is well under way, and maybe, just maybe I will finish up those too. One can hope, right? RIGHT.

Have a good one.

posted by Lisa @ 9:38 a.m.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Whew, the holidays are over. Now on to New Year celebration and then regular blogging and knitting will resume.

Hope ya'll had a great holiday and 'see' you in the New Year!

Bye.

posted by Lisa @ 10:23 a.m.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Disclaimer, right out the gate - in the past I have posted how crazy I am about being organized and since a disclaimer has been put on this post, I do not want to hear anything! In January 2003 I asked my friend Lisa if she knew how to knit and she said yes. Sometimes I wish she would have said no, sorry, I don't because like most knitters, I am pretty much obessed with the craft right from the get go. On this fateful day I went to Romni bought myself some yellow 5.5mm DPNs, thick 100% dark grey wool and a sock pattern book to make socks for my husband Chris. Each sock took me about 6 hours +, and now, almost four years later I can make a pair on 2.5mm in about 6 hours. My speed and knowledge of the knitting process has improved greatly.

Now, the reason for my little story, since January 2003, I have knit a total of 106 items for myself, friends and family. I think that is quite a lot. 30 of these projects are sweaters, 26 pairs of socks and coming in 3rd is 18 scarves. Wowza. When I look at which year I produced the most it was in 2005. This year I knit 14 sweaters, half of the total for the four years I've been knitting. In 2006 I knit the most socks and in 2005 the most scarves. How do I know this? I have an excel spreadsheet which contains every bit of information one needs to know about WIPs and FOs, stash, etc.

I love keeping track of this kind of stuff! My offer to send you my excel spreadsheet is still on the table for those who want it. Use it all or take what you need.

Have a great day.

posted by Lisa @ 10:29 a.m.

Monday, December 18, 2006

My husband's brother was married on Saturday and here are some pictures. My older daughter and my wondering nephew:

Three generations of the ladies on my side:

At the church with Chris, me and Julianna. Maddie is not in this picture because she was too busy running around:

We all had a great time! Now on to preparing for Christmas - wrapping gifts, buying the food, etc. When will it end?

Knitting news? I started the Drive Thru sweater for Maddie using Patons Decor in a very deep claret/red colour. The body is done and the sleeve will be cast on tonight. The only problem I have is, to decide which three colours I want the stripes on the yoke to be. I am terribly bad at figuring this kind of thing out. I am meeting the SnB gals on the 20th and hope one of them owns one of those colour wheel things that I can use. If not, trial and error will be my second option. More work, but hey, Maddie is worth it.

Julianna will get the same sweater except hers will be a bit easier to choose the colours because the main cardi will be knit in black. A much easier colour to choose accent colours for. Anyhoo, have a great day!

posted by Lisa @ 9:28 a.m.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

What do you guys think is going on in this picture?

A) Did Chris eat too much at our party on the 9th?
B) I shrunk his jeans in the dryer?
C) He grew much taller from the last time he wore the jeans?
D) None of the above

Any guesses, anyone? The answer is D. He was getting dressed to go to hockey on Tuesday night he met me at the door and asked me if the jeans he was wearing were his. I am not sure how he missed the fact he was wearing my jeans, and that he had to confirm they weren't his. I am wondering why he couldn't figure it out before asking me. They were way too tight, too short and he couldn't even button them up! Oh, BTW - thank God he couldn't button them up.

The girls and I had a great big laugh. Thanks Chris!

posted by Lisa @ 9:14 p.m.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Can it be true there are two new FO to show? Yep, I am trying to live up to the name of my blog, well at least for a short time. I finished the socks for Chris:

And the thrummed mittens for my friend who loves them. The pattern in the IK 2006 Winter issue was much easier to follow than the Fleece Artist Thrum mitten kit I used the first time around. I never thought I would make another, but here they are:

So there you have it, I can still knit and finish things. But then again don't hold your breath for too long, because I doubt anything else will be finished until the new year.

Have a good one.

posted by Lisa @ 9:08 p.m.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

What is this you ask? My mom decided she needed to clean the corner of her stove and to get to it needed to kneel on the glass top stove top! Thankfully she wasn't hurt at all, that is of course if you don't count her pride being hurt. It took about 1 month to get a replacement and thankfully Christ could install it so the cost was only for the part. My mom lives with us, so she could use our stove or I just made her dinner. We are now back to normal.

I am very happy to say the first thrummed mitten is done and the 2nd one has been started - thank goodness. Not a big fan of making mittens, but these seem to be less painful to knit then any others I've knit in the past.

When Chris saw me making them, he inquired when he would be getting his socks and commented that I am not a very focused knitter. Very observant, Chris, very observant. Soon darling you will get your socks, don't worry!

posted by Lisa @ 3:02 p.m.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

It is unbelievable how busy people are in December, and my family is just as busy as the next. Yesterday I finished my Christmas shopping and now I have to wrap all those freaking gifts. What a pain. Using up a vacation day to check this chore off my list is well worth it. The malls were pretty much empty, hardly any line ups and I am freaking done. Woo hoo. Enough bragging for today.

Knitting content? Not much, but some. The Christmas gift mittens are done and only need a bit of weaving in, the clapotis is blocked and I have to weave in the ends. I started a pair of thrummed mittens from the Interweave Winter 2006 magazine for a friend. These are whippping up quite quickly, unlike my last pair which felt like a huge chore to finish. The IK pattern seems to be a big easier and quicker. I'll try to snag a photo because they are turning out nicely if I do say so myself. Once the thumb is done, I all immediately cast on for the 2nd.

Have a good one folks.

posted by Lisa @ 8:46 a.m.

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