Trick or Treat ~

For Halloween, I thought I would post some pictures of a scary knitting combination that I witnessed this week. My sweetie E was sick this week, and so she had on many layers to keep her warm.



Although she tried to nab my Apple Laine Funny Lady socks as soon as I cast them off, I loaned her another pair for getting well. These are knit out of Knit Picks Andean Alpaca, and they are cozy warm. I have a few pairs that I've knit, and they are my favorite for wearing in the snow. These are a peachy shade of warm & cozy ~ a favorite color of mine....



The Fuzzy Feet were knit a few years ago as well and I'm so pleased to see the kids wearing them still. The turquoise and hot pick are favorite colors of sweetie E....and a bit scary matched with my peach alpaca!!!


Happy Halloween! May your scariest "Trick" be nabbed socks and your "Treat" be alpaca!

Cashmere Cast Off ~

Remember when I was knitting hats by the river this summer? This one is a great pattern, Windy City, and I think this is the third one I've knit. Very fast knit, especially when you get some time to knit!

Well, I'm just now getting back to the beautiful 100% cashmere lace hat.

It turned out beautiful, and I still love the color. The yarn is soft, but not as soft as I would imagine 100% cashmere to be....

but still lovely....in so many ways!!!

Christmas knitting continues ~

I have a few items to finish before Christmas ("a few" you ask?), although I made a healthy start during my river knitting weekends (Bravo!) so I am in good shape.

So I dug out the Packers' hat I started... and I thought I was much farther on it, but I'd just knit 2 rows.... so I knit as far as the first color change last night.

whoops, perhaps I'm not as far along as I thought!!!

Cast On Commitment ~

I haven't knit a blanket (or afghan..I'm still not sure if there is a difference between the two terms) in several years. In fact, I'd say I knit my last adult blanket before getting married 20+ years ago. I recall fondly picking out the yarn (a lovely tan and caramel acrylic variegated/no lot number color - lordy, did we really knit with that?) with my mum, and she wanted it to be a neutral to match all things in her home... and it did.... and it still does, as it is on the back of the couch in their living room ~ as full of cables and baubles as it was back then.... my first cable project....

Now I'm stepping up a bit in the blanket category, as I've chosen a lovely grey cashmere blend. Although I'm sticking with a cable pattern, as some things do survive the test of time!

I've cast on, and will be committed to this blanket until it is done.

It helps that the JitteryKnitter (of The Beast fame) is also casting on for a blanket this week... so we will be committed together....Go team Go!!!! (we should have a team name, eh? Other than "nutters who think they will stay interested while knitting a blanket")

Thirty and counting ~

As I moved my Sock Summit socks from "On My Needles" to "2009 Completed Projects" on my blog's side bar, I was pleased (thrilled, actually) to see this is the 30th finished project of the year! That feels really good, and I'll even allow myself a bit of an "atta girl" grin.

Pictured here snug in my Fiber Trends clogs from a few years ago...(I do need to fix a hole in the bottom of the left clog....not sure how best to do that fix....) There are still so many projects I want to knit, and so many yarns I want to try out...and stitch patterns and techniques...hmmmm, I'd better quit grinning and start knitting!

First Sock Summit Cast Off ~

Whoo Hoo! How exciting that my Apple Laine Funny Lady socks that I cast on Saturday evening of the Sock Summit are now done! They are so beautiful and the yarn is so soft and colorful.

The twist was perfect for knitting and I enjoyed this yarn so much.


The cuff is a simple knit 2 purl 2 rib, as I'd started something more complex after the heel turn but the colors were too lively to show off the texture, so I switched to a simple rib.


I think I'll celebrate by casting on a new project!

Choosing is hard ~

I'd like to knit my mum an afghan or blanket (not sure the proper definition here) for her to wrap up in when she's in her glassed-in porch. It is a beautiful sunny room where she does a lot of reading and watching the birds enjoy the bird feeders. She also has a great view of her back yard garden there. The blanket she has there now is a sturdy one, knit by my Aunt Ruth, deep hunter green with some cables for interest. It is showing some wearing and pilling, as I think it might be acrylic or acrylic blend of some sort.


I have over 1300 yards of a beautiful blend of alpaca, wool and a wee bit of cashmere and silk, in a lovely grey. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "She'll have to hand wash it" and I think she would anyway...but I'd give her washing instructions.... The yarn is Panache by Knit Picks (yes, another discontinued yarn... my stash is full of discontinued yarn...go figure....)


The pattern has to have some cables or other interesting twist so I don't end the commitment after 4 inches of blanket...Some of my greatest friends have knit blankets, and the all have a nightmare before they are done.... I am trying to avoid any of the nightmares of "bad yarn" or "bad pattern" or "boring pattern" yet I keep searching for the perfect pattern. I've searched Ravelry and found some great baby blankets...but they would require more yarn than I have to convert to an adult size...there are also some afghans there, but they require too much yarn...



So I think the lucky winner might be from the Yarn Girls as there is a blanket pattern that has cables and fits within my yarn amount....


So, prepare for a commitment of casting on soon....

Teeny tiny needles ~

Wow.....after knitting all week on size 6 needles for mum's woolly socks, I feel as if I should get out a microscope to focus on my size 1 needles for my sock summit funny lady socks! What a difference it makes!



I'm so close to casting off.... here they are with my remaining sunflowers that blew over in our pouring rain..



and are now cut flowers in our kitchen.....


beautiful pairing of colors!

Cast off ~

Record time to make mum's woolly socks! Partially due to the Christmas deadline push, partially due to the luscious yarn that continues to beckon me to knit with it, partially due to thinking great thoughts of mum and how cozy she will be while she's wearing thousands of hand knit alpaca stitches filled with love

...and, of course there are the size 6 needles...yes, I suppose that would be a rather large factor on knitting socks quickly!

Here is my dear H modeling the cozy socks and taking such fun pictures (she's the "daughter that rocks" on my blog sidebar...she's very clever at many pursuits!)

Old favorites ~

As I knit knit knit on mum's woolly socks, I notice that dear H is wearing one of the first pair of woolly socks I knit for her. That makes me smile inside & outside when I see a family member wearing something I've knit for them. I'm sure that is true for all of us knitters, right?

These socks were knit out of bulky Cascade Fixation, another discontinued yarn, although I think you can get a few remaining colors at Little Knits. (I just looked, and this varigated is still available!)

They were a very fun knit, and I've knit baby hats out of other colors of bulky Fixation as well. Ahhhh, oldies but goodies.....

Indian Summer knitting ~

Just the cat and I outside on this beautiful autumn afternoon. After all the pouring rain, it is so great to be able to be outside enjoying the crisp air and the fall colors (that haven't "fallen" on the ground yet) and knit on mum's woolly socks.

I do hope to finish them this weekend. Can you see my Sock Summit coffee mug I'm using? What great memories of that delightful weekend!

Great progress on mum's socks too ~ running low on yarn!

They are looking so beautiful, and oh-so cozy warm!

Heels turning ~

Yippee! I knit both heel turns today on mum's woolly socks! Here they are with my very well used Crazy Toes & Heels book...

Knitting on size 6 needles sure makes socks go very fast indeed!

Bravo for Christmas knitting!

Mmm Mmm Good ~

Pouring rain again today, cold and wet...perfect day for knitting... Plus, sweetie says, "Today would be a great day to have home made chicken noodle soup, with home made noodles" and so he set off to make the most perfect soup, with the most perfect home made noodles.

We can't find our pasta press, so he rolled out the noodles with our rolling pin, and cut them with a big knife. His work made the house smell heavenly all day as the rain continued to pound on the sky lights.

The soup was marvelous ~ awesome ~ perfect ~ yummy.

Double bonus that I was able to knit most of the day!

Dreaming of gussets ~

As sweetie E lays sleeping by the fire place, all cozy in her chicken pajamas...I'm sure she is dreaming of the gussets I'm knitting in mum's woolly socks. We were having a nice quiet evening together, until I realized she was sleeping!


I did a fair amount of knitting today on the way to a conference in Seattle, and on the way home. A perfect case of road trip knitting! A big Thank You to Debi for driving so I could knit. I hope to turn both heels of mum's socks this weekend! The Christmas Knitting projects are of the utmost importance!

Keep moving ~

I'm knitting toward the heels on mum's woolly socks ~ I'm hoping to knit to the heels this weekend... Knit Knit Knit!!!!


(I love these little ghosties and jack-o-lantern mugs....all from my mum!)

Funny kids ~

You might remember the other night when I wasn't knitting...as I was baking for Bosses Day. Tonight I'll get to knit a bit on mum's socks, and oddly enough my kids are baking ~ and "oddly" is quite a good description of how they bake together.

They are baking brownies using a recipe from the neighbors. I wish I would have video taped it...

Instead of a brownie pan, they are using a muffin tin...not sure why, and not sure how they plan to adjust the time needed in the oven... (this could turn out badly....or not?)

Knitting funnies ~

I forgot to mention this hysterical birthday card from Debbie Doo. It came with Mr. Fuzzy and they both cracked me up!

The inside says, "Don't get unraveled, have a great birthday"

Pretty funny, eh ~ cracks me up that the sheep's name is Jeff....

Why I didn't knit last night ~

I had great intentions of knitting on mum's socks last night, but, alas. I was called into service.

Baking.....

for bosses day celebration.....today (Wednesday).

Since I have the best boss in the world, it seemed worthwhile to give up a night of knitting for a night of baking. These are the famous "espresso-banana-chocolate chip muffins" (Does it count that I've been thinking of knitting while I'm baking?)

Mr. Fuzzy ~

I received this great kitty in the mail this week, hand knitted by my dear friend Debbie Doo. She's been my friend since we were in kindergarten together. She is a knitter, too, and we have fun sharing projects, yarn & patterns. This pattern is called Cat Bookmark, by Twins.

This little guy cracks me up.

What a smile, although he is flat as a pancake!

Very soft yarn, I think it might be alpaca?

How fun is he!!!!

Big Ten Knitting ~

Just to set the record straight, I am thrilled that Michigan State beat University of Michigan last week in college football. When the two state rivals meet, I am always rooting for Michigan State, always. You may recall in a previous blog that State has an awesome Fight Song that includes, "...Fighting with a Vim..."



Michigan State beat Illinois on Saturday, and that is exciting too, however I was not able to see the game out here on the west coast. But we were able to watch Michigan ~ Big Ten football, which is still pretty fun to watch...



they almost won, and had an amazing second string quarterback in Robinson....and mum's woolly socks are getting bigger...

Woolly Cast On ~

Yes, now that it is the weekend, I've cast on mum's woolly socks! I'm using the 100% alpaca Decadence by Knit Picks, that is now discontinued (I still think discontinuing perfect yarn is so sad...)

I do hope I can finish these before Christmas! Knit knit knit!

Woolly request too ~

Oddly enough, it seems that woolly socks are in demand. On our vacation to Michigan, I learned that my mum's woolly socks of two Christmas's ago are wearing thin as they are well loved and worn often. I darned the heel of one while I was home, and had a request for another pair as well.


I'm choosing Knit Picks Decadence, in Winter Rose colorway...Decadence being another discontinued yarn....so sad to discontinue a perfect 100% alpaca..... A "cast on" announcement to be coming soon....