This is the afghan that never ends....

...it just goes on, and on, and on.....


I started this last year for my MIL and made great progress on it, until it got bigger and warmer. To warm to have on your lap during the summer months. I have made a deal with myself that i can't start anything new until this is finished so I have been trying to work on it every night while watching TV. Doesn't require any real though at all, so hopefully it will be finished soon. I will finish it, i will finish it, I will, I will, I WILL.


Also, finished a BSJ for the new baby. Briefly considered adding a collar, but I don't think I will be that motivated. Or have the time. Cute, no?


Also, finally bought buttons for the Tomten I knit for Sweet P eons ago. I wasn't in too big a of a rush because, well, I didn't really check my gauge, and lets just say it will be at least another year until it will fit her. Oops. Over all I think it turned out really nicely!

Other things will also be put aside temporarily to knit up some projects that have a deadline. They are small and will lend themselves well to all of the sitting and waiting I will be doing at the doctors' offices from here on out. Everything is fine, but because I see my primary OB and an OB that specializes in Gestational Diabetes at EVMS, I'm now seeing one doctor or another every week to monitor blood sugar and fetal development.

P.S. For anyone interested, I couldn't decide between the ring sling and a Moby, I found one of each barely used for GREAT prices on Diaperswappers. I'll try them both. Mobility with the new baby is a real priority and it seems that these might work for different situations. Thanks for all of your input!

Actual Yarn

Recently I've been doing lots of spinning. My husband very thoughtfully gave me a 1 yard niddy-noddy, nostepinne, and two toy wheel spindles last November for my birthday, even though he had no idea what anything but the spindle actually did or functioned as. I already had a toy wheel spindle that I hadn't touched in a month or two but his gift renewed my interest. The spindles are kind of heavy, 1.5 - 2 oz., good for plying and thicker weight yarn, but I really wanted to try something lighter so I went on a spending spree and ordered lots of fiber from some really great shops on etsy and a lighter spindle. So I present to you what i consider to be my first real yarn.

It's a 50/50 superwash merino/tencel in the "Fraises" colorway from Squoosh. Very pretty. I didn't plan out how I was going to spin it in any way, so unfortunately to me it came out kind of muddled. I've got about 200 yds of sport to DK weight. Can't find any pattern that I like to knit this into, so it will sit until I find something.

So after doing my part to stimulate the economy, I now have 5 spindles, and quite a bit of fiber. I have some superwash merino hanging to dry that I will try to get pictures of if the sun ever somes out.

I also did lots of christmas knitting which I will not detail here because there was alot of it and, well, I don't feel like it. If you feel so inclined, it's all on my Ravelry page. What I am working on right now is Kingscot. Jaeger Extra-Fine Merino DK. It's yummy. But also difficult to take good photos of because of the color which is indigo. I've completed the back and left front but you'll have to wait to the sun to come out for more pics.

In other news, we are oficially in nesting mode here at the house. The new baby will be here in a mere three months (!) so it's time to rearrange bedrooms to accomodate. And take down wallpaper. Fun. But I'm very much looking forward to painting and having everything in it's place. In addition to the bedrooms, I will finally be tackling a small makeover of the mezzanine level of my house. Hubby is very skeptical of my color choices so I have recruited a more expert opinion. Paint samples this weekend!

Catching up

It seems I have gotten a bit behind again. The end of December and the first part of January have been very hectic. Between the holidays and my family member's surgery and ER visits and stomach bugs, there was precious little time for anything else. I did manage to finish the the Raglan Lace Cardigan for Sweet P. Buttons and all. To prove it, I took photos. I would show you the photos if blogger would kindly cooperate with me. Not today, I guess. It turned out well except for the fact that the neck is WAY to small. Rather than rip and reknit, I decided that when she wears it we will simply leave the top button unbuttoned. I generally chalk these kinds of mistakes as learning experiences and leave it as is. I know that philosophy would make some people loopy, (you perfectionists out there, you know who you are :) but this way I know I can go back and see what I did so that I can avoid it in the future.

I also, dyed my first hank of yarn! With koolaid! On the stove! Exclamation! Again, photos will have to wait til blogger fixes their problem, but Hoo Wee, was it fun. I almost didn't have enough patience to wait for it to dry and wound into a ball to knit it up.

Mostly Finished

Cabled Cardigan. It's seamed, and the collar has been knitted on. Unfortunately, I am unhappy with the width of the collar and will be ripping the bind off and adding rows. I loathe ripping. Really loathe it. I get so relieved and satisfied when I finish a project that when I realize there is something wrong with it I get really irritated. It must be done though, because I actually want to wear this sweater. Other than the collar I am really quite pleased with it.

More fun FO's and a lessons learned in stranded knitting coming up. Don't' touch that dial.

Chug Chug

Nothing new has been started here. The first of the California socks is finished and the second one is almost halfway complete. But then I had an itch to work on something thicker than fingering weight and picked up a cabled sweater that I've been working on since the winter. Boy, before I had the baby I sure could finish projects at light speed! Now it's really just a couple stitches here and there if I have a few free minutes during a nap or after bed.


Anyhoo, the sweater is out of Peace Fleece, whose color I can't recall at the moment, using pattern instructions from a Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns . Peace Fleece is very roughly spun but knits up surprisingly (to me) smooth and fairly soft. I'm not really worried about that because I don't mean it to be worn next to the skin. I love the heathered, tweeded look of it and found it very reasonably priced. I've read that it wears like a bullet proof vest and the stitch definition is great.

It's a belted, low V-neck cardigan with a shawl collar The cable I used was from the Vogue Stitchionary Volume 2 number 58. It's meant to be a sweater jacket so I planned it to have quite a bit of ease. The fronts back and one sleeve is finished and I am chugging away on the last one. So close to the finish line, I've gotten antsy and want to just be done with it already so I can have it put together by the fall.