I have cast aside all my projects to get some instant gratification. I cast on this morning for Vanessa's Tiny Felted Bag. I made myself a Special Companion awhile back that I use for my business cards. Tisha has been oohing and ahhing over it for some time, so I thought I would make her the little Kureyon purse for her cards. I started it on the subway this morning and I am already 1/4 finished. That's what I'm talking about!

I am also revisiting the IPod cozy. The one I made came out a tad too short. I have left it sitting on my kitchen table just waiting for inspiration to strike as to how to fix it, but it's not going to happen. So I will make another one add some length and voila my husband will be happy, he has been quite patient about the whole thing. Maybe I should buy an IPod Mini to go in the first one, hee hee.

I wanted to join the Pant-a-Long that Alison is hosting, but when I got my hands on the pattern I discovered that it was definitely not made for my hips. Yes, I could do the math to make it bigger but I figure I will use it as an inspirational project. I've been going to they gym again the past few weeks (having taken a break for the holidays and rush here at work) and I am started the low carb thing that has worked so well for my husband. I carry my weight well and always get shocked looks when I tell people my weight, but I would like to see the other side of 200 again in time for my 35th birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, be sure to go wish Julie over at Booga J a happy one! She toils so endlessly to keep our Knitting Webring in order as well as designing some of the coolest bags out there!
Thanks Julie and Happy Birthday!

I can't deny I've become something of a quiz junky. I did this one today, thanks to Brooks over at Bruxknits:


You are plastic.
Futuristic, milky, and silky, you are willing to go
where no crafter has gone before. You can do
just about anything, with strength agility, and
pretty colors to boot! While you are good at
slipping and sliding out of sticky situations,
remember to stay where and when you are needed.
Don't overdo it on star gazing when there's
earthbound knitting to be done!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Well there's good news and bad news. I did a bit more on the towel at the Ranger game on Saturday. I've used almost 3 hanks on what should take a little less then 8, so I suppose that's progress. My best friend Maribel went with us and I asked her when the baby is due (the shower is on Saturday), she said in 8 weeks. That's a freakin' lifetime. So I happily picked up some packs of Onesies at Target yesterday for her to take as my contribution to the shower and I will work on the towel set as a gift for when baby comes. Whew!

On the bad news side, I was working on the wedding shawl and I reached the end of a skein and it was no where near where it needed to be. I only have 4 skeins and it was less than a foot completed at the end of one so I ripped it out. I will have to come up with another plan for the wedding gift. Any suggestions? The wedding is on the 6th of March.

Back to good news, this left me open to work on Sonnet, which I did this morning on the subway coming in to work. I completed the first armhole and am proceeding to the back. I love this pattern. I loved it when I did Haiku Christmas before last and I love it even more as an adult pattern. It's also cool because it's so familiar, having done the smaller version. I love knitting it side to side, it's such a different view of sweater construction yet so logical.

Robert Heinlein wrote you - your stranger in a
strange land, you.


Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Not surprising since he is one of my favorite authors. Thanks to Roxi over at Yarn Junkie for the link to this poll.

Still chugging away on the towel. I finally finished a ball yesterday. My goddaughter came over and brought the knitting kit that I bought her for Christmas. She wants to make a teddy bear for her mom, but is having trouble with the cast on. I am taking a half day at work so I plan on working with her on it this afternoon.

Distractions

I have been horrible, I have been extremely neglectful of my knitting. We spent the weekend shopping for a new car, which we now have, more on that later. I have also been way too caught up in the DVDs we've been renting. We joined Netflixand we have been renting things like crazy. My husband and I also went out for Valentine's Day which we haven't done since we had kids. We went to dinner and a movie, 50 First Dates, which was actually really good. Although I always have my knitting nearby I have rarely picked it up. I suspect it is the rebel in me working against the oppression of a deadline. I find that I do not enjoy projects that have a deadline as much as others. Mind you it is a self imposed deadline. It's not like someone is paying me to complete it by a certain date, hell the recipient doesn't even know she's getting the gifts, but I want to have it ready for her shower which is next weekend, in Florida, which means it must be shipped.

I finally had a successful swatch for the shawl, I did it on 15s and it came out quite lovely. Since I cast on however I haven't even finished a full pattern repeat. The towel is chugging along but between my laziness and the small gauge, it's not very far along. I am only up to the second row of boxes. I just have no inspiration to work on these projects in the evening. As I said to my husband I normally would switch off to a small project that I could finish in a day or two to get out of this malaise but I am too close to the deadline to allow myself the luxury of working on something else.

Yesterday we bought a new car, ok new to us. It is a '97 Dodge Stratus and is really quite pretty. It is amethyst which is cool because it's purple, but dark enough so that my husband still feels it's masculine. My dear husband has been trained well, he was telling me about the large compartment between the two front seats. He said that it would be perfect to keep a small knitting project in so I would always have something in the car. You gotta love him...

"The Soldier"


Which Firefly character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Mal


Which Firefly Guy is For You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yes, neither one of these quizzes have anything to do with knitting, but the show Firefly is my newest obsession. Unfortunately I never watched the show when it actually aired, it was canceled after 11 shows, but I have now seen all the shows on DVD and I am devastated that there won't be more. It's a great show. I highly recommend it for people who like westerns, sci-fi or Buffy fans (it's by the same creator and has the same humor and character development). There was an episode where one of the characters receives a knitted hat from his mom, so I guess 500 years from now there are still knitters around!

Not much on the knitting front, I am working on the towel but it is slow going with 136 stitches on size 5 needles. I really need to pick up the pace on it, but I can't seem to get excited by it. I haven't even gotten past the garter stitch border yet...

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to
keep you close because you are so softhearted.
You love to be comfortable and warm from your
head to your toes.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


That's what I felt like this weekend! I had a really relaxing 2 days, very unusual for me, at least since I had kids. On Friday my husband and oldest son went ice skating. So I spent the evening with the baby. I put him to bed around 8:30 and I watched this Norwegian film Elling. It was cute and quirky. I had finished the Cotton Chenille washcloth on the subway home that night so I worked on Sonnet. I was still on the garter stitch portion so it was easy to do while reading subtitles. I had finished most of the laundry during the week so aside from some straightening up I didn't have much housework to do (really, really unusual). Saturday I actually worked out at the gym while Avery had his Fencing class. My husband had taken Ian home after his class so I had no one else to look after.

Saturday and Sunday I didn't knit much and it was all on Sonnet. I finished up to binding off for the armhole. I really should have worked on the shawl but I was just feeling too damn lazy. I did wash the washcloth. I was curious to see if it would hold up to machine washing, since I am giving it to a new mom. The label says handwash, but the pattern in Knitting for Baby says it is machine washable. I popped it in with a few other items that required the gentle cycle. It came out beautifully. It is really soft and the stitch definition on the basketweave is much more defined after washing. So this morning I cast on 136 stitches for the towel. Let's see how long this takes on size 5 needles. The shower is the 28th. Will I be able to pull it off?

Stay tuned....

My cotton chenille arrived from Numei. I started the washcloth right away, as it is also my gauge swatch.


I am doing this on 4s. I will have to go up to 5s to make the gauge, although it really doesn't matter much on a towel. I am not used to working at such a small size so my hands get tired pretty quickly. I try to switch off to Sonnet when I don't feel like working on the washcloth but at the moment I've been quite lazy and so not much is done on Sonnet.



I haven't played too much with the shawl. I think I will use the Wave and Shell Shawl. I don't have a ribbon yarn to work with but I have a nice, super soft white acrylic that has been hanging in the stash that might work with the right needle size, 10s however weren't it. I am going to go up to a 13 and see how it goes. I would love to do something more lacy and classy with a lace weight yarn but I just don't have the time, since the wedding is only a month away. Oh well next time...

My weekend was really busy so I didn't get much done on the knitting front. The boys started their classes at my gym here at work. The little one takes Tumbling Tots and the big one takes Fencing. I am looking forward to some good knitting time during the Fencing class but this weekend my husband had to work so I spent the better part of the hour chasing after the little one since he decided the gym was really a playground.

I am just about finished with the IPod cozy. I will felt it tonight. I really wish I could have done it in the round but I didn't have large enough dpns. I had double stranded the wool so I was doing it on 13s. It looks pretty good though. I took the principles of the construction of a bag done in the round and adapted it to flat knitting. It is not as smooth looking and it took more sewing than I like, but I think once it is felted you won't see a difference.

I am very excited because according to UPS my cotton chenille should be arriving today, so I will start the washcloth tonight and use it as the swatch for the towel.

I did work on Sonnet a bit. I really love this yarn. It is Bernat's Satin in Sable. It really is one of the best feeling acrylics I have ever worked with. It's very smooth and soft, but it holds a stitch really well.