Happy Halloween!

Be Careful What You Put In The Closet



 While rearranging the closets yesterday, I happened upon a couple of Lopi Books that I thought I remembered having just couldn't remember precisely what they were.  Franklin Habit put the notion in my head a couple of days ago on his post and pictures of his yoked sweater he is knitting.  I found the book I was looking for and another which had a sweater in it that I wanted to knit for me many years ago.

 I love this sweater.  It is actually shown on a man and is knitted out of Lopi yarn, but I have loved it for quite sometime.  The top part is done by combining two colors of Lopi to get the tweed effect.  I'm putting this back in my mind for a future sweater to knit.

I just so happen to NOT have any Lopi for it, but what is evident is that I do have multiple of colors of unspun icelandic from Schoolhouse Press that I think would do nicely for this sweater.  Now, let me be perfectly clear...I'm putting it on the list NOT  casting on anytime soon for it, mainly because there are way too many things in front of it.  But, it might be a nice winter project or a 6-8 week project should I have the need for one in the future.

 Something else that caught my eye in the big Lopi book was this scarf from multiple colors.  The scarf is done in seed with a cable going up the center.  What struck me is that with the seed stitch, you really cannot see where the colors blip when you change them.

Since I now can count on one hand the amount of twopers that I need to have done, I am doing a little something different on the last four.  Instead of plain old garter, I'm changing it up a bit with some textures and patterns.  And these Encore leftovers are the willing participants. 

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Very soon, I'll be back to knitting for ME!!!!!

I Have A Confession To Make

Sometimes, I fall asleep in my good ole recliner with my clothes on.  It happens mostly on the weekend after I stay up really late.  I shut off the light, telling myself I'll just snuggle a little in my electric throw for just awhile, just to get warm, then I'll head downstairs for my jammies and bed.  Next thing I know, there is traffic in front of me and the sounds and smells of the other two guys getting up.

Now, for me, it is not such a bad thing.  It happened this morning.  And since, my intention was to tackle the closets and get some summer tanks and clothes put away and some turtlenecks and long sleeves out, and with me already being dressed and not having to go out in public, I just brewed me some coffee and started in. 

One of the closets is in the yarn room which definitely needed a little attention as well, but that would have to come later.

 

After unearthing some clothes from in front of the shelves and finding candles that would come in handy and a knife set that neither I nor the Tall Guy knew we had, room was made in the yarn room closet for some books that I don't go to very often.

 I've been wanting to get a taller bookcase for in the yarn room to accomodate all of my knitting books, but we just haven't managed to get up to Oak Express to get one.  So I made do with re-arranging to the top shelf the ones that I go to most often (EZ, Schoolhouse Press) which just wasn't happenng here.

I have a ottoman that sits in direct line to the top shelf of the bookcase, which makes for a nice resting place to look for a book and peruse it for what I might be looking for.

As it happens, more and more books kept making their way to the yarn room closet shelves.  Of course along the way, I had to look some of them over again.  One can forget what great patterns some of them have.  Remember the Shetland Books, Radicals???  They still have some great sweaters in them!

I found something else that I actually forgot I had, but I'll tell about that in a later blog down the road.

 I pleased with the closet books, but unfortunately as soon as I get Baby Boy B to go through his closet, the shelves may not be as easy to get to, but I can deal with that.

 The books are now nicely put on the shelves how I want them.  Baby Books all together, Schoolhouse Press books together, Lace Books together with Shawls close at hand as well.  There is an order that I can find them when I want to and I am quite pleased with myself.

And in the end the yarn room looks a little better.  And I got a shower and into todays clothes.  I'm pleased with what I got done today.  There is more on tap for tomorrow.  I hope some of it involves knitting!

Update!  Cardinals win the World Series!

Just in case you wanted to know.  Tomorrow, it's back to knitting!

There is not much that I would skip knitting for, but Cardinals baseball and family.  I did knit last night, but scooted out early to a late multiple inning.  What a finish to the game.  Only one more to go tonight and we are hopeful.  Makes for some great knitting on scarves!  By the way the count is now 42.  Only about five more to go!

Happy Birthday Sue!



Wednesday Website

I did not renew most of, well all of my knitting magazines subscriptions. Frankly, I am running out of room to store them. Couple that with the fact that I have just not been all that impressed with what the magazines have had to offer.

Instead, if my lys carries the magazine, I look at it there and if I really want to knit something out of it, I buy it from them. I do like it when a knitting magazine has an edition I can download to my iPad though. I have done that on certain issues.

One of those magazines that offers it is Vogue. Something Vogue does right is to give us the total issue preview so I can see all of the designs are. Good going Vogue.
http://vogueknitting.com/magazine/holiday_2011_fashion_preview.aspx

This One Is Going To Be For Me

 I bought this Liberty Wool a couple of weeks ago.  Just enough for a scarf for me, but for now it will have to wait until I get the other twopers done.

The scarf pattern is called Molly and is from CEY.  I hear that it is a fairly easy knit with just enough to keep me from being too bored with it.  Mine won't be as long as this one as the shop didn't have a fourth ball. I'm okay with that.  I am anxious to see what the colorway turns out to look like.  But for now, it'll have to wait.

There Are A Couple of New Books Coming

I've pre-ordered mine from Schoolhouse Press.  You can too if you want.

 I've been waiting for Principles of Knitting since around 97.  In 1996, I attended my first Knit Camp.  At the time, I couldn't decide between the Reader's Digest Knitting Reference book and Principles of Knitting.  I chose the Reader's Digest version.  And have kicked myself ever since.

But come later this year, I will finally have it.  I can hardly wait.

I always love books from two of my favorite knitters and of course Schoolhouse Press.  It wouldn't matter if they published the history of paper, I'd buy it. 

I am not real comfortable with two color knitting.  Probably because as with all things, it I don't practice it enough.  But, with the possible release of this in December, it might be a nice thing to practice in the deep cold winter!

These Scarves Are Kind Of Fun

Although I am not getting any sweaters finished while knitting them, these scarves now are taking a life of their own.  I am having to do a little creative thinking with the yarns that I have. 



 I was unable to get another skein of the variegated yarn so with some help from my friend Debbie at the shop yesterday, we came up with a purple Brown Sheep.

Despite me not knowing how this would turn out, I really am quite happy with it.   There are more ends to deal with, but over all this is turning out to be a pretty neat combo.  I am alternating the sides that I start and stop the yarns every 3 sections so the joining rows really are blending in.

I am almost to the point in the scarves that I am looking for maybe some patterning to a few.  I pulled these odd ball Encores out of the yarn room.  I am giving thought to some of them going longwise.  Only problem with that is that the rows will be reallllllllllllllllly long.  Perhaps I'll only do ONE of those!

I Didn't Go Overboard!

 I only bought one set of the 16" Knitter's Pride Interchangeable needles from Webs.  Mainly because since they are so new, and because frankly, as my mother would say, I'm needle poor. I bought them in a size 6 since I don't have the 16" fixed Knit Picks size. 

 The tips as you can see are a lot shorter than the Knit Picks tips.  The thought is that accomodates the 16" length a little better. 

The literature also indicates that other interchangeable needles may not necessarily work on the Knitter's Pride needles.  But of course I had to at least try them on.  I didn't try knitting with them, but I can imagine I might at sometime.  Of course, the longer tip will make the length of the cable and tip longer than 16".

My feelings at first glance/try?  I probably won't buy anymore of them.  I am not crazy about the cable.  Mine towards the screw part seem to have something on them, maybe glue.  The cable just doesn't have the feel that I am used to.

And most of all, lets face it.  I have a set of Addi-Cliks regular points, a set of Addi-Cliks lace, a set of harmony needles from Knit Picks and most of a set of the metal interchangeables from Knit Picks.  Along with a very large assortment of regular old circulars.

My needle buying days are over I do believe.

I've Got Scarves Everywhere

This bag has about 30 of them in it.  The goal is to complete two a week until the 2nd Thursday in December.  At the moment, I am only one week behind.  With a little luck this weekend, I am hoping to catch up.

I've got several in varying states through out the house and car.  One would not want to be caught without knitting should one not be driving. The plan is that they be done by this Sunday.  Which means working on them at the shop on Saturday.  Scarves are nice to work on at the shop.  I can talk, knit, look at the yarn and accomplish a lot of knitting on them.  Best of all, they are yarns that have come from the shop, so at least it is their yarn I am knitting on.

 I'm waiting on a skein of the red to come in from Webs so I can finish this scarf.  It's coming USPS, so I am hoping that the postman will deliver tomorrow or Saturday.  The other yarn needs to go with me to the shop on Saturday.  Stupid me, thought I could remember all of the colors in it last week, but in actuality when I was at the shop, I wasn't 100% sure.  If it is the same one, it should be quick to knit up this weekend.

 This mohair scarf is in a drawer next to my knitting chair! It's one that when I just have a little time to knit on, then I reach in and pick it up and knit for a bit.

This Taos scarf is my car knitting project, normally.  I keep it in the back seat within hand reach.  If I get stopped in construction or train or long stop light, I reach back and pick it up and knit on it.  At the moment, it followed me into the house.  This could be finished easily in the next night.

By the time I get all of these blogged about finished, I'll have caught up to where I should be on Sunday.

Truthfully, I'll be glad when this little project is finished so I can solely knit on some sweaters.

Happy Birthday Jean!



Following The Herd

I'm giving serious thought to the Cranberry Capelet.  Kristin over on Knitionary has one that she knit out of Venezia that made me bring this pattern out of the file.  I have some red Venezia that needs to be knit up that would perfect for this!  And it fits my current knitting criteria - knit from stash.

Colors for Fall -
  And I think Fall has definitely come to Central Illinois today.

And of course you all know which my fave is don't you?

Of course!

And I'll be having me some of this

I Love This Yarn!

 It is Cascade's Dolce and they are discontinuing it.  Thats a shame because it really is the softest feeling yarn.  It is totally going to feel so good on.  I am giving real thought to hopping over to Web's and buying some more in a couple of colors to have for some future sweaters!

 I know I have said it before, but what a smart idea it is to use the cables and the holders from my Knit Picks needle set to hold stitches while you knit on the back of a sweater.  Then when you are ready you just pop off the ends and screw down the needles and you are ready to knit.

 Can you tell where I switched needle sizes for the waist and then the bust?  I can, but I'm okay with that.  I think blocking will help and unless it is sprawled out like this, I don't think you could when I was wearing it.

 Here it is up close.  It was a gorgeous day yesterday for taking pictures outside of knits!

I always worry about how these decreases are suppose to look when it is in pattern.  A gander at the picture in the book had be confident that I was doing it right.  You would think after all these years of knitting I would feel comfortable with it wouldn't you?

These Guys Are Gonna Make Some Great Dads

Not because they are mine, but really, at 28 years old, they love to get down with my great nephew and great niece and play or help them put their bday presents together. 

It's been quite a weekend.  Started out with a wedding on Friday afternoon.  The couple who got married were in their late 60's/early 70's.  What a beautiful afternoon wedding it was.  I got to catch up with friends at the reception which was so nice.  The evening ended with Baby Boy A being at home when I got there.  The grand dog stayed back in Iowa with Baby Boy A's wife who is getting ready to take her Boards tomorrow.

Yesterday, we got together with my niece and her kids to celebrate the September/October birthdays.  Another nice evening of catching up and just being with family. 

Today, is another fantastic day in Central IL.  We have had about a week and a half of great sunny warm weather and we are enjoying it!  It's a pity I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I've enjoyed the heck out of my three day weekend.  I might just have to schedule one of these again in November, even if it isn't sunny and 80!  It's a great mental health break.

Cardinals Win - On To Milwaukee

It's A Three Day Weekend!

I really need a day (tomorrow) to sleep in as long as I want (read that as probably will wake up at the usual 4 am) and knit until I absolutely have to get dressed!  Coffee, knitting and chai tea are on my agenda tomorrow.  And I promised myself, I would not look at work email until I go back to work on Monday.

I was supposed to be at a wedding tomorrow afternoon and evening, but my cousin is in town and I am getting together with her and the other cousins tomorrow night. 

Baby Boy A and the granddog will be in town tomorrow for birthday party/wiener roast on Saturday.  We are celebrating birthdays for Sister-in-law, neice, great niece and great nephew.  I got to go down the pink aisle at Wal-mart tonight and buy Barbies.  The great neice is finally 3 which is the minimum age for Barbies....love shopping for Barbies.

Best of all, it's suppose to be sunny and nice this weekend!  I can deal with that.  All too soon, it will be Monday!

The Split

I'm pleased to say that my beloved Cardinals have now split the winning games with the Phillies.  It was tough, but they did.  I'm just not so pleased that they are going back to Philadelphia to finish it whichever way they go.  Win or lose, I wish it could have been at home.  Unfortunately, I won't know which way it goes until I get home on Friday since I'll be attending a friend's wedding that day.

 The other split came with my Long Collared Coat.  I promised myself that when I made it to the armhole where it has to split off from knitting back and forth, that I could go back to knitting on my Bloomsbury Jacket until I get to the split on it.  I'm trying really hard to work on those two things when not at the shop.

Unfortunately I really want to cast on something but.....I'm trying to be better.  Lets see how long it takes before I split from that way of thinking -

This is my friend Janine from camp.  Check it out.  She is a fantastic color person and even better

in her fair isle expertise.

http://www.interweavestore.com/Knitting/Magazines/ColorKnits-eMag-MAC.html?SessionThemeID=7

It's A Great Day For Fall Pictures

Alas, this lovely plant had to be sacrificed when my new window went in the basement bathroom.  Little by little, the Tall Guy and Baby Boy B are getting it done.  Basically, I leave plants alone outside and look how much this one has flourished...not any more bye, bye :(

What happened to this tree?  It is always so beautiful in the Fall for picture taking.  It seems to have just went to crumpled and crisped leaves.  No pretty yellow, green and red that we are used to.  Could this be those nasty Japanese beetles at work?

My Long Collared Coat in progress.  The sunshine made for some great pictures that really show the true colors of this yarn from Chris over at Briar Rose.  It is going to be great with blue jeans to throw on to go out to the shop on Saturdays and run around in.  Course, I think it will look good with black, navy and brown too, so it could be a great coat for in and out to work.  As long as there are no other jackets under it.

I was kind of wondering about the phoney seams on it, but sure am glad now that I started doing it.  The coat lays so nice with them added. 

There is a lot of garter on this until you get to the armhole split.  I still have a few inches to go.  I am so ready to not have these long rows of garter to do.