The Sleeve

I'm still working on my first sleeve. There's just not that much to say about it at this point. It's coming along just fine and I'm doing fine on time for the project.

To distract you from the lack of interesting information about the sleeve, I will tell you a story. A true story. The other day Mickael and I were at WalMart and after we parked and were heading across the parking lot, a squirrel came running out from between two cars and crossed in front of us. I have no idea what the squirrel was doing in the parking lot because the part of the parking lot we were in was about as far away from trees as you could get. It would have made more sense to see the squirrel closer to the trees at the edge of the parking lot. So anyway, the squirrel ran right over to an Infinity SUV and climbed through the grill and up under the hood! It was the strangest thing. We have no idea why the squirrel did this, but this incident combined with the time I saw a squirrel and a duck sitting together on the sidewalk by the golf course has made me very distrustful of squirrels lately*. I mean we already know ducks are shifty, but if squirrels are fraternizing with them, I think we should keep an eye on the squirrels too. Also, I'll be slapping the hood of my car before I start it up to leave Walmart just to give any squirrels a chance to leave before I start it up.

*On the day I saw the squirrel and duck together, the duck chased me after I ran by so clearly the two of them were discussing something they didn't want me to overhear. At the time I was more concerned with the duck than the squirrel since I was attacked by ducks as a small child, but apparently squirrels are also untrustworthy wildlife.

Hexipuffs!

It's time for a Hexipuff update! I've got 15 of them now so I only need eleventy billion more to make The Beekeeper's Quilt! (I'm planning to make mine bigger than the original, but how big will be dependent on how long I keep going on hexipuffs.) You can see my color scheme now, or my lack-of-color scheme, since I'm using pale neutrals. I've got one fluffypuff (Shibuiknits Silk Cloud), three silkypuffs (Hand Maiden Sea Silk), a fuzzypuff (alpaca), and a half and half puff because I ran out of one color mid puff. I'm starting with my leftovers, but eventually I'll buy yarn for this project and I'll get some less solid colors. I'll probably also make stripypuffs and I might embellish some of the puffs just for fun. I'm keeping the finished puffs in a little box but I'm running out of room and I'll need to find someplace else to store them. Some people have been putting them in large bowls, but I'm afraid if I have them in a bowl Caleb will walk off with them. If I use a large basket without a lid, Logan will walk off with them. I've got to figure out a safe place for them, where they won't get squished or stolen!

Blazing a New Trail, or Sleeve

I've completed the body of my cardigan! It really needs a good blocking. I'm now working on my first sleeve and I think I'm making them long. I tried on the cardi once I finished the body and front bands (it fits!) and I'm pretty sure that the long sleeve idea is the right way to go for me on this sweater. I'm going to double check other Vitamin D projects on Ravelry because I'm sure at least one other person has lengthened the sleeves. Hopefully there will be pictures so I'll know if what's in my head is what it will look like or notes if they ran into any problems when they knit them. How did we ever knit without Ravelry?

I realize the picture is hard to see but it's overcast here this morning and we actually got a tiny bit of rain earlier! Makes it hard to get good pictures, but we need the rain so badly, I'm not complaining.

Blazing into the Weekend

I'm within sight of finishing up the body of my cardigan. My goal this weekend is to finish the body and the front edging (just discovered yesterday that there is a front edging, it's amazing what you find when you read the directions), and start a sleeve. I'll be working the sleeves in the round and before I start them, I'll try on the cardi and decide if it's going to be 3/4 sleeved like the pattern calls for or if it's going to be long sleeved. I love the 3/4 length, but for some reason, I'm thinking long sleeved on this one.

Of course there might be a hexipuff or two churned out this weekend also, you never know! Hope you all have a great weekend and if you're on the East Coast, put on your water wings and hold on tight!

A Little Bit of Glory

Not much has been done on my cardigan since you last saw it, but it's slowly getting closer to being finished. I've started the decorative increases at the lower edge now. Pardon the fingers, but I couldn't get it to show without holding it. On the other hand, this is probably the most accurate picture of the yarn color I've gotten so far because when I was adjusting the color of the photo, I adjusted for my nail polish color (seeing as my hands are right here with me and the sweater gets put back away after it's morning photos). I didn't really get anything done on it last night because I got distracted by organizing my computer. I've got more work to do on the computer, but I'm ready to finish up the body of the cardigan so I hope to get back to knitting tonight!

What's This?

I wonder what could be inside this Cinderella lunch box? It turns out that lunch boxes are the perfect size for yarn, double points, a row counter, a darning needle, a stitch marker, and a little bag of stuffing.

Know what it's for yet?

Hexipuffs! It's my little take along kit for making hexipuffs. Finished hexipuffs get unloaded at home, but the little lunch box is perfect for hexipuffing on the go. I get bonus points because Caleb is horrified that I'm walking around with a Cinderella lunch box. As you can see, I've made four* so far and I think I've figured out a system that works for me. It takes me just about 30 minutes to make one, from casting on to weaving in the last end, so I should be able to crank out one every day in the carpool line. On days when we have other activities, I might get even more done.

*I've actually made one more hexipuff, a red one, for Caleb. As soon as he saw the first few he announced that he wanted one of his own so I let him pick out yarn and made him one. He likes to squish it in his hand.

The Blaze of Glory is On Fire!

I got a TON of knitting done this weekend! I'm most of the way through the body on my Vitamin D cardigan now! I tried it on when I divided the sleeve stitches from the body and it looked like it was going to fit the way I want it to. I'm also doing fine on yarn - only on my second skein now - so I should have enough to make long sleeves if I decide that's what I want. (The pattern has 3/4 sleeves, which I love, but I'm thinking of doing long sleeves for this.) I'll finish the body and try it on again and decide then.

I have to go now though, Logan is doing his pre-winter shedding right now and my dark hardwood floors are covered in white fuzz. If I don't vacuum, I'll have white fuzz in my sweater.

Gray Tabby in the Snow

I finished up Mickael's socks the other day! I started these in April and they have been my drag around, knit in public project. There hasn't been a big rush on them seeing as our low temperatures haven't really been below 80 degrees for months. He's just not wearing wool socks too much right now. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Gray Tabby and the pattern is my own New Fallen Snow. I adapted it to fit Mickael's foot and I switched to stockinette stitch for the foot instead of staying in the stitch pattern.

Of course now I need a new portable knitting project. Hmmmm, I wonder what that could be?

(As of right this minute, I haven't made a single hexipuff. Later today? That's a different story.)

Blaze of Glory

Work continues on my Vitamin D cardigan and I'm getting closer to separating the sleeves from the fronts and back! I didn't actually work on it at all yesterday, I was finishing up another project that I'll show you tomorrow. Even though I skipped a day, I feel like I've got a pretty good start on my cardigan at this point.

I know Logan talked yesterday about the dog/cat mingling that happened the other day, but there were a couple of things that I was very happy about in their encounters. First of all, Shibori tends to be kind of shy around dogs that are not his, so for Shibori to come out at all and then to growl and hiss at Logan (instead of just running away), was pretty brave. It had to help Shibori's confidence that Logan's response was to back away slowly until he was hiding behind me. The other thing that made me happy was Logan's response to Shibori. No, it wasn't the most manly thing to do, but it showed me that Logan respects the hiss and growl from a cat. This will be good whenever Logan gets a kitty of his own. We're not quite sure how much cat interaction Logan has had because while the breeder we got him from had house cats, she left it up to the cats to decide whether they wanted to interact with the puppies or not. Apparently there was a kitten there while Logan was there and the kitten was more social with the pups, so the chances are probably good that Logan has done more than see a cat, but we just don't know. The important thing is, he realized that Shibori meant business and he respected that, backed off and no one got hurt, which could easily happen accidentally due to Logan's size.

Logan's Big Day

Yesterday was big! Huge, I tell you, so Mommy said I could blog again today. We got a new roof yesterday and you would not believe the noise they made! Then, after Daddy left for work, one of our somethings called a smoke detector (do you think they have bacon detectors?) decided it needed new batteries. Mommy can't reach it without hauling out the ladder and really the roofers were making so much noise that it wasn't really bothering us that much so she decided to wait until Daddy got home. With all the noise and stuff going on, I suggested that we go to my friend Barclay's house. Mommy says it's actually Grandmommy and Big Daddy's house, but I know that Barclay is in charge. So I gathered up Mommy, with her string stuff, and Caleb with his Wii games and took them over to Barclay's house. It was pretty quiet over there.

I had a lot of fun there. I tried to show Barclay how to play by bouncing around at him, but Mommy says he's an older doggy and doesn't really like crazy puppy games. Also she thinks he's smaller than me, but I think her proportions are off. I mean he's like 20 pounds! That's huge! Mommy says I weigh about 80 pounds, so he's way bigger than me! (Mommy just reminded me that I don't know how to count past 3 since that's how many scoops of food I get in my bowl, so maybe I'm bigger than Barclay after all.) Anyway, I followed Barclay around a little bit and I shared his water bowl (he's nice that way, he lets me drink from his water bowl and also I used his backyard). Then I decided to try to figure out the Mystery of Barclay's House. You see Barclay's food bowl is on the floor by his water bowl. The mystery is, whose food bowls (they have two) are sitting on the window seat in the kitchen? And the even bigger mystery is why hasn't the food been eaten? Why has whoever just left it there? That's no way to treat food. (I'm not allowed to eat it, I've tried.) There is also a smell at Barclay's house of another animal besides Barclay and Grandmommy and Big Daddy, but I have yet to see this mysterious creature. I've done a little bit of looking for the creature before but I haven't had much time to look and I'm a little afraid it might be some blood thirsty, terrifying behemoth who might rip my throat out, you know, like a duck. I think the neglected food might belong to this animal. I started looking for the mystery creature and using my keen investigative skills I found that the scent was primarily located under the bed, but it disappeared into the darkness there.

After lunch, I was actually able to make contact though! Grandmommy was coming from the bedroom back to the kitchen where she and Mommy were doing the string things, so I went to check on her (Grandmommy) and see if she needed me to help her carry any bacon or anything, and there it was - the mystery creature! It came to me and we touched noses and it didn't try to kill me or anything, despite being at least four times my size (Mommy says we really have to do something about my sense of proportion). Mommy said it was Cinnamon, Grandmommy's Siamese kitty. The Cinnamon kitty thing was nice but he didn't let me give him a proper butt sniffing greeting. After we touched noses, he went back to the bedroom and I didn't see him again, but Mommy and Grandmommy told me what a good puppy I was to be so sweet to the Cinnamon kitty thing. I had finally found the mysterious creature who ignores it's food!

Completely tuckered out after all the drama of touching noses with the Cinnamon kitty thing, I soon fell asleep beside Mommy's chair. When I woke up, I sat up slowly and blinked and looked around - you know how it is when you wake up, it takes a minute before you're ready to get up and shake it all out and go. Well, before I could get awake enough to even stand up, I realized I was being watched! This wasn't the Cinnamon kitty thing either! It had green eyes and spots and when it saw my eyes were open, it growled and hissed at me! I did what any 80 pound Golden Retriever would do, I backed away slowly until I was hidden behind my Mommy. The bloodthirsty beast (not a duck, either) kept hissing and growling at me, so since I had Mommy protecting me, I barked at it several times. I mean, really its language was terrible. Mommy said it was the Shibori kitty thing. Shibori must mean Spotted Doom that Curses Like A Sailor because this thing was just cursing a blue streak. I don't speak kitty, but let me tell you, this thing was using seriously inappropriate language in front of my Mommy, so I just stayed hidden behind her and barked at it. The Shibori kitty thing finally left me alone and went away and I was just relieved to have survived the encounter! I mean the Shibori kitty thing was sneaking up on me while I slept! Can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't woken up? I know, it just sends chills up your spine!

I'm glad to have solved the mystery of the food and the unidentified scent, but I hope I don't have nightmares about green eyes and spots! It was a very eventful day and even though we went home before the roofers finished, I just fell asleep like a rock.

Oh, Mommy says I have to give string stuff details, so Little Leaves, August Knit Something of the Month, finished last Friday, blah blah. I don't think it would protect against the Shibori kitty thing so I can't see what use it is. I'm checking into doggy kevlar later today.

Blaze of Glory

I started my Vitamin D cardigan last night. I didn't get very far because I kept making stupid mistakes. It's not that it's difficult, I was just tired. I'm hoping to get back on it once I get some caffeine flowing in my veins here in a little while. Oh, and the name? Well I might be crazy attempting a fingering weight cardigan in a month, but if I fail, at least I'll go down in a blaze of glory.

Camp Loopy Project 3

This is the last project for Camp Loopy 2011. If I can finish this one, I'll have done them all! The project this time is to knit something using at least 800 yards. Any project you want, as long as you use 800 yards or more. I'll be doing the Vitamin D cardigan out of Madelinetosh Sock in Vermillion. If the yarn looks familiar, it's the same yarn I used for project 2, in the same colorway. It's a great color and when I saw that they had more of it when I was ordering for project 3, I jumped on it. I have until September 15 to get the whole cardigan finished, but I've already done a gauge swatch and marked the pattern for my size, so later today, after the groceries are put away, I should be able to start.

Logan's Day

Mommy said I could blog today! She took my picture and everything. Actually, she took several pictures of me and this is the one I chose to share with you. Don't I look sophisticated and elegant? Guess what I was doing 30 seconds before she took this picture? I was racing around the house like a greyhound. I tuck my ears back and run and I look just like a greyhound. A big one, that has crazy, curly, ruffle fur and more hair on my tail than a pack of greyhounds. But otherwise, I'm practically a greyhound clone. Sometimes when I'm running it's hard to stop. I usually use walls and furniture to stop when that happens. Mommy isn't really a fan of me slamming into the sofa at top speed, but a dog's got to stop somehow.

Mommy says my Caleb will be going back to school soon. They have been getting stuff together for him but none of it tastes good. Mommy got him some new shoes, but then she tried them on and THEY FIT HER! Mommy could not believe that she and my Caleb wear the same size shoes now. I wonder when my feet will be big enough to share shoes with Mommy? I wonder when I will get shoes? Oh, that reminds me, I need to get Mommy to cut my toenails. I don't like it when they get long so if I chew on them in front of her, she'll cut them for me. I've got her so well trained!

Have a nice weekend! Mommy says she'll be back Monday with the string stuff!

Little Leaves

I'm working on the short rows now and they're moving right along. My goal is to finish this up by Saturday morning so I can get it blocked and still have time to knit a gauge swatch for Camp Loopy Project 3. I think I'll make it. If I have extra time, I'll see what I can get done on Mickael's second sock. I'm to the heel flap on that and since the foot is stockinette, it should move along fairly quickly from here on. The sock has been my drag around, public knitting project but I think hexipuffs could fill that requirement. Since Caleb will be starting a new school year soon, maybe I can start a new portable project too! (So far I haven't started a hexipuff. I'm holding out and being a good knitter!)

Logic

Logic says that when you are going to start a sweater in 5 days, and you plan to knit that sweater in one month, you spend the 5 days getting ready to knit that sweater. You print the pattern and mark your size. You read through the pattern and make sure you understand what's going on. You knit a gauge swatch so you know what needles you'll need, wind your yarn, and you get everything ready. You might try to finish up other projects that are already on the needles, like the Knit Something of the Month shawl or the socks you started for your husband four months ago. Under no circumstances should you find a new pattern and fall head over heels in love with it, to the point of buying it, printing it and stash diving for yarn for it. That's what you should do, logically speaking.

Logic and I have never really been on speaking terms.

When the Beekeepers Quilt pattern was mentioned in one of the Camp Loopy threads (I think, but I'm not sure, there are a couple of people doing this for their project 3), I fell in love with it. Never mind the sweater I'm starting next Monday. Never mind the poor Babette laying on the floor of my sewing room, 25% sewn together and the rest just waiting for me. I want to knit hexipuffs! I've even been in the stash to pull yarn - I'm doing it in whites, ivories, almonds, creams, pale beiges, tans, dove grays, pale stone grays, faded driftwood, and any other pale to light neutrals I can find. I'm going to use leftover sock yarn to start with, but I'll have to add more yarns at some point. And just to prove that I haven't completely lost my mind, I haven't started knitting hexipuffs yet, but it's just a matter of time I'm afraid. I'm way too in love with the idea of fluffy, squishy hexipuffs to resist for too much longer. Even the name makes me giggle a little bit. How long can I hold out? We'll see...

Little Leaves

I'm zipping along on my Little Leaves AKA Knit Something of the Month for August project. I realize that it doesn't look like it's zipping along, but you start on the longer, outer edge on this project and work towards the shorter, inner edge, so I am actually zipping along. I've got less than 10 rows before I start the short rows for the top part of the shawl. I thought about adding more repeats of the lace (I've got plenty of yarn), but the more I looked at projects knit by the pattern compared to projects with extra repeats (don't you just love Ravelry), the more I liked the original proportions. The bead rows really slow me down (I'm using clear beads with silver lining - they look like water droplets), but I've only got one more. I'm still hoping to get this finished by this weekend, so you'll probably be seeing more of it this week. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go get Logan, he's licking an electrical outlet.

My Kingdom for A Glove

With apologies to Richard III, my Kingdom gloves are all finished up! The pattern is Kingdom (it's free, from Knitty) and the yarn is Madelinetosh Sock in Vermillion. This was my second project for Camp Loopy. The only change I made to the pattern was to start the pinky finger about 1/2 inch before the other fingers, in other words, I worked the hand section a little farther on the other finger stitches. I also picked up stitches from adjoining fingers, rather than casting on new stitches for each finger - this meant less finishing at the end because I didn't have little seams to sew between each finger. The pattern is very well written and while it's also complex, if you follow directions carefully, you should be fine. When you're deciding which size to make (there are five different sizes in the pattern), choose one that will give you negative ease. A mitten can be loose and a little floppy, but gloves need to fit snugly or you won't be able to use your hands at all.

Project 3 for Camp Loopy begins next Monday and while I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing until then, I will tell you that the yarn will look familiar. I'm using this same yarn, in the same color for Project 3. Love. It. Also, my photographer was quite concerned that I give him credit for the picture, so you should all know that today's picture was taken by Caleb.

A Finger

It occurs to me as I write this post, that gloves are pretty funny looking while they're being knitted. I've started the fingers now. What you see here is the pointy finger in progress for the left glove. I'm still on track to get these finished up by the 15th, even though right now there's yarn tails and stitch holders all over the place.

Have a great weekend and I hope to have a finished pair of gloves when I come back next week!

The Glove

I got quite a bit of work done on my second glove yesterday and I'm now only a few rounds away from starting the little finger. That's the one change I've made to this pattern, and I don't think I've mentioned it. If you look at the back of your hand, your little finger actually separates from the hand about 1/2 inch before the other three fingers (pointy, middle, and ring). To fit this, I knit the pinky finger first, then picked up the other stitches and knit for another half inch before knitting the other fingers. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's not hard to do. I'm through the hardest chart now and fingers are fiddley but I don't feel like they take too long. I definitely feel like I'm on the downhill side of this second glove.

In nonknitting news, the DFW area has a record of 42 consecutive days of 100+ degree temps, set in 1980. As of yesterday, we have had 32 consecutive days of 100+ degree temps this year. There's no sign of a cool down, but at this point I feel like we've gone this far, so let's just keep going and break the record! I might be a little bit competitive, but I'm not exactly sure who we're competing against at this point.

August Knit Something of the Month Club

Since August started yesterday, I was able to start my August Knit Something of the Month Club project. It's shawl month again (last month was theoretically sock month, but I switched gears and did a scarf instead), so I'm doing Little Leaves. I'm using The Woolen Rabbit Kashmir in the Pussywillow colorway which is Merino, Cashmere, and Nylon. I can't find exact percentages for the fiber content, but the yarn has a very nice feel to it, different from Bugga or Smooshy with Cashmere. This is also the first of my Knit Something projects to use beads (there's one more coming up).

Just to add to the fun, the information for the third Camp Loopy project was released yesterday and it will run from August 15 to September 15. I'll show you what I'm doing on August 15, but for now we'll just say it's going to be big. I feel like I will need to devote as much time as possible to it when August 15 comes around in order to get it finished in time. This means that I will be working exclusively on finishing my second glove and finishing Little Leaves before the 15th. If I can get these two projects done (and the glove HAS to be done by then anyway), then I can work on the final camp project as much as I need to. I'll try to alternate them, but you'll be seeing a lot of these two projects over the next two weeks!

The Glove

The second Kingdom glove is moving right along. I finished up the cuff and have started the palm. I'm almost to the top of the thumb gusset and so far my notes have been good enough for me to know what to do to make this one match the first. I did get the thumb gusset on the correct side, so I will have a right and a left glove - almost always a good idea! The deadline for this project is August 15, so I'm still doing fine on time. Assuming my notes are good enough all the way through, I should be able to knit this second glove faster than the first because I won't have to keep trying it on to double check the fit. It's supposed to be 108 degrees here this week, so it's probably a good thing I won't have to try them on too much. Wool gloves are so practical for this climate!