Fuzzy Noodle Knits

Out of the Box

So, anyone who knows me or has simply read my blog over the years can tell that I’m seriously going out of my box color-wise with these Atumnal "Leafing" socks. I NEVER. knit with colors like these. In fact, I thought it was looking pretty darn ugly until a couple of co-workers gushed over it! I acquired the yarn in a trade (BMFA STR "Rocktober" light), which is how I ended up with something so….no shockingly bright. But that’s good…we all need to be pushed a bit out of our comfort zone! I knitting these as part of the "Rocktober KAL" on the BMFA board on Ravelry.  I’m doing the toe decrease on the first sock as we speak…I’ll immediately cast on for the second so I don’t get SSS. Even though these are not “my colors”, I’ll be glad to have a pair of socks to go with my brown Birkenstocks!

Jaywalker

Pattern: "Jaywalker" by Grumperina
Materials: Opal Handpainted in colorway 20; US size 1 needles
Finished: September 27, 2008

A Low Key Week

Since the Hub has been gone all week, I've been enjoying quiet evenings with the cats and knitting.  I had grandiose plans to work on lots of projects, but I decided that I wanted to continue the WIP finishing streak that I've been on.  On Sunday I finished the first sock in a pair of Jaywalkers that I started way back in September 2006:

 

I'm actually almost done with the second sock...it's all I've been working on in the evenings.  Last night I did go out with the girls (shopping and dinner) so I didn't do much knitting.  Chuck comes back tonight, and I'm really excited to see him.  I really missed him this time...usually I'm fine, but this week was a bit of a rough one personally, and he wasn't here to comfort me, and I needed that.  Ah well, he can make up for it when he gets back! 

Happy First Day of Fall

It'll be an 80 degree day here of course.  Mother Nature knows that I just finished another wool project.



Pattern: Silk Kerchief by Kate Gagnon (Zeitgeist Yarns)
Materials: 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM, US Size 3 needle
Finished: September 20, 2008

I added a button on one of the points and use one of the YO’s as a button home to anchor the scarf behind my neck.

Jawbreaker

Pattern: "Jawbreaker" by Kendra Cray from Interweave Knits, Winter 2006
Materials: Colinette "Prism" yarn in colorway "Alizarine"; US Size 10.5 and 11 needles
Finished: September 20, 2008

This is perhaps the best fitting sweater I have made. Everything is perfect, but I had to make mods for that to happen!

Mods:

1. Added 3” in length. The pattern is written for this sweater to hit top hip, but that’s not a flattering look on me, so I added the length to bring this bottom hip.

2. The armhole for my size looked way too shallow. I modified the it by knitting the armhole a size larger. I also knit the cap on the sleeve a size larger.

3. I added a bit more length on the collar so the short side would lie flat. I tacked down the collar at the shoulder seam on the short side.

While I really liked the yarn and the collar, I was really displeased with the fact that each skein had no less than 2 knots. That’s a bit frustrating.  Other than that, this is going to be my new favorite sweater, and it's surprising to me that a bulky knit (which I've been dismissing for so many years) simple sweater is one of the best looking and fitting garments have ever made!  I guess you do learn something new every day!

All By Myself, I'm Gonna Be, ALL BY MIEEEE SEEEELF!

Um...sorry about that.  Sometimes I randomly break into song.  So, yeah...I'm going to be an Oracle World widow starting on Sunday.  At first I was kinda upset...the DH gets to spend 6 days in downtown San Francisco, my favoritest town ever.  Then I thought....hmmm...6 days at home, with my stash, a DVR bursting as the seams....I WIIIIIIIN!!!  Especially since he leaves at 8am on Sunday...so I get a whole weekend day thrown in...what am I gonna do?!

Well, knitting of course, duh!

I have some projects I want to finish up in a bad way...like this little gem I haven't blogged about due to laziness, and I'd like to knock out the second Mingus sock...after all, Wool Sock Season quickly approaches.  I'd also like to start a basic sock using this yarn...I REALLY need to have maroon and gold socks because every Friday is Maroon & Gold day at work, and I always feel incomplete without matching socks.  I would also like to get started on the Baby Sirdal sweater.  I think that sounds like a completely reasonable list =, don't you? ;)

The Jawbreaker sweater is blocking as I type.  Tonight I'll knit on the collar, and hopefully get it all seamed up!  Saturday looks like great photo shoot weather!

Jawbreaker: The Sweater the Knits Itself

I finished the left front of Jawbreaker yesterday...AND a sleeve, and I swear I had a life and did stuff this weekend!  This thing is just flying off the needles.  I'd love to have this done by the end of the week...my photographer is abandoning me for Oracle World on Sunday and I'd like to have pics before then.  He'll be gone nearly an entire week, and I'd love to have that time to work on some baby knits.  Just think....home alone with my entire stash for 6 days.  Heaven!

Speaking of my stash, I am making a concerted effort to get as much of it on Ravelry as possible.  This is quite the endeavor I have found.  Until recently, I have only been putting new procurements on Rav, but I realized that I am forgetting what I already have, so by putting it up on Rav, I'll remember what I've got, and begin to shop my stash more.  With that said, I'm finding some things I am never going to use, so I'm putting them up on the Trade/Sell portion of my stash.  Right now I've got some Schaffer Anne and enough un-spun Icelandic from Schoolhouse Press to make a jacket (plus some single wheels for coordinating colors).  If you're interested, just drop me a PM.  Right now, I'm looking to trade for some superwash worsted or chunky (maybe like Dream in Color Classy or Knit Picks Swish).  My goal is to knit as much from my stash as possible for my new niece/nephew.  Trading counts! ;)

Has that particle accelerator asploded the Earths yet?

No?  Well, then take a peek at the right front of Jawbreaker to tide you over.

Still here?  Ok... here's a super cute picture of my cat, who had a very brief moment of photogenicness last night.

In pictures he usually looks like a Cylon (blue animal eyes photograph red) or like a giant blur (we think he has kitty ADHD).  Here, he just looks cute.  I won't tell you that was super naughty at 2am this morning...or maybe I will.  He and Sam decided to have a WWF match in our bathtub.  If they could have smashed folding chairs over each other I swear they would have.  Bailey makes us laugh though...he's literally half the size of Sam, but has twice the ammount of piss and vinegar.  Emphasis on the pissy part (my friends and family know about Bailey's Diva moments...and he's a boy).  Ahh...what would life be without our furry boys providing much needed, yet oftem poorly timed, comic relief?  Oh yeah, peace and quiet at 2am.

Happy Family News

I'm going to be an Auntie!!  My husband's younger brother and his wife are expecting their first in February.  They are about 17 weeks now...there were some concerns at the beginning that held back my announcement, but it looks like they are in the all-clear, and now I can go all Auntie Crazy now!  You see, I am an only child and the DH only has one sibling, so I will only have nieces and nephews from Andy and his wife.  This is a recipe for major child spoilage...you know I'm going to be that Auntie that spoils the pants off the kids!!!  I'm already doing baby shopping, scoping Etsy for sewing patterns (check out these Monkey Pants...how flipping cute!), and of course...filling up my Ravelry queue with tons of baby things.

As all knitters tend to do when presented with a new member of the family, I want to make EVERYTHING I see, but here's a list of things I want to have done by the time baby is here (all Rav links to preserve the suprise):

This darling sweater...I'd like to have it done by Chirstmas as a gift for "Baby" (to wear next Christmas).  I'm planning on knitting the MC in red.  My mother-in-law is Norwegian, so there's lots of scandi sweaters in the family, the newest one will need his/hers too!

This hat is a must...and if it's a girl (they will find out at 20 weeks, so I'll knit if after I find out) I will use this yarn...if a boy, this one.

Also this hat...not sure of the yarn yet, but I'm sure there is something in my stash that will work.

No matter the gender...baby has to have a pair of these and these.  I've got tons of Denim, so maybe it'll get a couple pairs!

This little onesie...I have gender neutral red and teal yarn for it...haven't added it to my Rav stash yet.

Booties!  These for a girl, these for a boy.

This is an awesome new jacket...and this jacket is really great too.

The big project will be the christening gown.  I haven't decided if I am going to use Stark or Baby Ull yet.  I'm still debating the merits of each uarn in this gown.

Of course...more sweaters will be added to the list once I find out if it's a boy or girl.  The above projects are a must no matter what gender.  I'm so excited to start knitting baby things!!!  I think Jawbreaker will be my last project for me for a while, minus the occasional sock ("purse knitting").  I also have been comissioned to knit 5 hats for a co-worker for Christmas...and I've already started one, so I should be on track there.

In my own fertility news, I start Clomid next cycle.  I really didn't want to go the whole fertility drug route, but there is nothing medically wrong with me or my husband, so I guess this is the next step.  I'm most worried about the chance of multiples...10%!!  I have always been an odds breaker, and all my friends who got pg while on Clomid have twins, so I'm freaking out a bit about that. Anyway, we'll see what happens...send me "one baby" thoughts please!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Knitting.

Enough with politics for the moment, we shall have enough of it in the next couple of months!

I finished the back and knit half of the right front on Jawbreaker Sunday!  Man...it's been a while since I've knit on anything larger than a 7, I forgot how fast it is! As I'm knitting, I decided that I need to make two mods to the pattern…I'm adding 3” in length because I thought a longer line would be much more flattering, and I like to have my butt covered (many of the FO’s I saw on Rav needed extra length, IMHO). I am also doing the arm hole for the larger size…9” depth seemed too shallow for me. In fact, it seems too shallow period.  A 9" arm hole would strangle my armpits...and distort the ease of the sweater I think.  After my disaster with Petal, I'm super-ultra-sensitive about making sure all the elements of this pattern will fit properly.  I do NOT want to have to re-knit pieces like I did with Petal.  I am loving the Colinette Prim...that color is just fantastic.  I've had this in my stash for 3 or 4 years, and I'm really glad I'm finally doing something with it!  I noticed though these skeins are within the same dye lot, there is a lot of variation (like, all of the sudden I got purple when I started a new skein) so I'm trying to work two skeins at a time, every two rows.  On the back you can see the bottom third is solid pink (one skein), then I added in a new skein which had a lot of white, so I added in a second skein to rotate with, hoping to break up the white, which I think it did.  Well, that's what you get with hand dyes!  I'm excited to get this sweater done because Fall came all of the sudden to Minnesota, which is fine by me!