I'm slacking like crazy... but I have a good reason

My entries did well in Auburn. Nothing too amazing, but the fact that my work was against that of little old ladies and women that may have been knitting for more years than I am old, I did really really well. I got 2 first places and a third. I got my entry fees back plus another $6. Yeah, I'm kinda rich from my knitting ;)

I haven't been knitting as much as I should lately. In August my mom became septic and she fought her way through an incredibly dark time and remains with us today. She isn't living a very full life at the moment since she's in convalescent and her medications are all out of wack (and that's affecting her mental status). She was doing quite well for a while but in mid September she took a step back and stopped working to come home. She's been in bed for so long that she can't hardly sit up on her own anymore. My fingers are crossed that we can get this whole situation figured out and I can have her back home where she belongs. Every prayer and positive thought that has come our way has helped, and I appreciate everyone's concern and love more than I could ever say.

I do have some good news on the knitting front though. A friend of my husband's saw my work in the fair and was so impressed that she has commissioned several pieces from me. Of course she picked a hat pattern that I too fell in love with, and since I need to know how the pattern knits up I made one for myself first :) Her yarn is different than the one the pattern calls for so I've been making adjustments throughout the pattern and it seems to going well. I've only got the brim to finish and that will be done, and then yes pictures will be added. She wants a matching scarf which I'm looking forward to doing. Mindless scarf knitting is something I could use right about now. I'm working on a time constraint now that we have a trip up there planned for 2 weeks from now. I've got a scarf to finish along with 2 Christmas stockings. It's only one pair of oversized socks and a scarf, how long could that take?? After that it's going to be time to start working on my fair knitting again. Seems like the fairs just ended and it's time to start up again. I may only enter one or two items this year because I have so many personal projects that I want to get done and those probably won't be getting placed on the back burner this time.... unless it's to play World of Warcraft, but that my dears is a story for another day.

Long time no update!!

The fair was several months ago, and that time has sadly come and gone, however I did amazingly well. Of my seven entries, only one went unawarded (because there were SO many fingerless gloves the judges were not impressed). Everything else won at least 2 ribbons, not to mention I received the overall high point in knitting ribbon! Go me!! Here's a picture of everything (minus the awesome blanket) on display with their ribbons.










A lot of my entries are in Auburn now, ready to kick butt in the fair up there. I've since finished a tank top, I have the finishing touches to put on another one, and will be starting on blankets for my mom and nephew soon. I actually have requests backed up now! I've been asked to make another sweater for a little boy who grew out of the last one I made. It's really touching to have someone appreciate your work so much that they want another one of your items. It's going to be a little while before I can get to it with everything going on with my mom's health (it's far too much to post here), but things are looking up and hopefully I can get a whole bunch of things knit soon!

Fair knitting is done, but I'm not!

Finished all of my fair knitting with plenty of time to spare. And while I'm sad to be done with it, I'll miss the pressure of knowing I have a deadline and pushing myself to do the best work I can in the shortest amount of time I can. I'm still keeping myself as busy as possible at work.. almost too busy if you ask me. A few times over the last few weeks I've had aching fingers and wrists. It's probably a sign of arthritis (which wouldn't surprise me, an "old lady" hobby must come with "old lady" side affects) or carpal tunnel (which really wouldn't surprise me either).

I've finished up a baby blanket for a friend of my husband's. I managed to fall behind on the deadline of that project seeing that now it's May and the child was born in March! The blanket is amazing though. It's a partially double knit blanket, the Hoover blanket from Knitty actually, done in a green and cream colored stripe. No plain blue or pink for the babies I knit for! Well, until we decide to have some of our own... if we have a little girl she'll be covered in pink until she despises that color.

I also recently found out that I've won some ribbons for the fair. That blanket that never managed to get any finished project pictures displayed won 5 ribbons including best of show and judges choice. I'm stoked! May 15th can't get here fast enough so I can go check out how my other items did. Here's a peek at the blanket, and a press picture too!



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Lately though, I've found myself drawn to hats. Yes I've knit a sweater during the time I haven't been writing... but I've been obsessed with hats. I've got a list of at least 20 that I'm just chomping at the bit to get knit. It's the completely wrong season for knit hats (summer here I come) but they're amazing and fantastic (not to mention reasonably quick to finish) and I can't wait to amass a huge collection by fall/winter.

Designing? What?!

So finally after several years of following patterns and not really being creative myself (yes I was creating knit projects but I was making someone else's vision), I decided to take on the task of designing my own socks. I mean how hard could it be right?? I knit socks all the time you'd think that I would have the construction of these darn things down... but alas no. I never realized how complex a top down sock could be! The heel flap construction thing just flew right over my head (mostly because I'm on a time schedule and I need to get these projects banged out ASAP, spending time doing a lot of math just isn't going to work). So I took a step back and opted for the super easy toe up formula and went with knitting a child size sock.

I already had the sock yarn picked out, it was just a matter of what stitch pattern would compliment the yarn and work for a little girl. So I got to thinking. When I was a little girl, yes I loved little frilly socks, but when I saw my mom putting on nylons I wanted nylons... not the white ones with hearts on them that I had but the ones that made my legs look all tan. I figured that if I was the daughter of a knitter who was making all these pretty cabled and laced socks for herself and other grown up women I'd want a pair just like them for myself. Not a cutesy version, but an actual grown up pattern made in my size. So that's what I made. Using a king charles brocade stitch that I modified to be worked in the round I put a panel down the top of the sock and one down the back to the heel. The sole of the sock is plain stockinette and I think they're lovely! Even as an adult I want a pair for myself!! The shades of red remind of my grandma's roses, even if the name of the colorway is hibiscus.








I also decided to design my own fingerless gloves. I found a stitch pattern I liked, expanded it and of course adjusted it to be knit in the round and give me a section of plain stockinette so that I could easily put in a thumb hole. They're SUPER warm and I can't wait to be able to use them in my office after the fair is over.

Chugging along...

Any time something needs to frogged its heartbreaking, so as much as I'm disappointed in my outside in socks, I'm still putting off the actual destroying of that finished item. I have moved on though.

I needed to do something that was quick to knit and would be satisfying when it was complete. So I settled on the Shroom hat from Knitty's latest issue. Using a super chunky yarn and size 13 needles (which took me 3 stores to hunt down) I sat down and cast on the hat. Two hours later and 6 rows from finishing I ran out of yarn! I still have yet to finish it. Yes I know it will only take a couple minutes to complete but when I don't get home until after 3am I really don't want to get everything out and taking it to work seems a little silly. Toting it around only to do 10 minutes of work just doesn't seem like it's worth the hassle... but just the same here's a picture of how the hat is looking right now:



Then Tuesday night I decided that I should probably get started on the socks I want to enter in the fair. Since my first set was (to put it nicely) a flop, I wanted to pick a pattern that would look just as good flat as they do on the foot. I went through years (literally) of knitting mags and patterns online before settling on the lacy sock pattern in Knitting lingerie. OMG! They're the perfect pattern! Between the way the colorway changes and the lace pattern itself it's perfect.








Tonight at work I'm working on a side project I've got going on, although I don't know if I should or not since I have so much fair knitting to do, but I said I would knit a blanket for someone so I've gotta get it finished. I'm working on the hoover baby blanket. It's taking FOREVER. I love the way it's looking, but the double knit center is insane! But I'm learning alot about carrying yarn and colorwork. So I guess all in all it's going well.

Double Dang Doo Doo

Finished the first of my outside in sock and I completely detest these socks. And because of the horrid construction (the heel is NOT knit continuously with the leg and foot of sock, the yarn is broken) I can't take it apart and make another sock without having to attach yarn into it. SO frustrating and annoying. I'm going to post pictures of my results because even though I hate it, it was still completed in an attempt to go to the fair. Time to go hunting for another sock pattern... FUN

FRUSTRATION!!

Ugh... So I got started on the baby blanket for our friend Annaleeen's baby (which she had early of course), only to find after 6 or 7 rows that I was carrying the yarn wrong. Yeay me. So I had to frog it and start again. BOO. Then while working on my outside in socks I lost a stitch. I very carefully ripped out row after row and could NOT find that darn thing. So I quit and frogged the whole thing and am now starting over AGAIN. Man am I glad I've gotten so much of my fair knitting done because at this rate it's going to take me forever to get the last few projects finished.

Good news is, now I've got the hang of carrying the yarn on the baby blanket and it's absolutely ADORABLE. I can't wait to get it finished and give it to the proud mama. I'm not a fan of the traditional blue for boys pink for girls thing so I'm making the blanket in green and beige. Its light enough colorwise to still be baby-ish but isn't so much that it's cutesy.

Back to the grind of this sock... Lets hope that since I've done it once already I can get through it rather fast this time.