That continues. I am working on the first sleeve. I should have had it finished by now, but after finishing last night, noticed it was WAY too long. I’ve frogged it back to the bind off and am decreasing quicker to get a shorter sleeve. It’s hardly any knitting at all.

I’m going to seam both of them this weekend. It’s sweater weather here in MI, at least for right now. It looks like we’ll have a little warm up next week, but we’ll be settling into cold soon enough.

After seaming, it’s on to sock knitting and perhaps some holiday knitting too.

I had checked out Weekend Knitting from the Library before we moved and liked enough projects to decide to buy the book. I still love the flower washclothes and think they’d be so great for gifts. I know everyone knitted them last year ;o) but I still like them.

I may try to talk Eric into a yarn buying trip soon. I want to get some wool to start on Emily’s winter knitting (and maybe mine) and I want to see if my LYS has cotton chenille. If not, I know a place where I can order it locally.

First, the easy stuff. I finished my sweater last night. Hooray! I knittied through Casper The Movie on ABC family and The Girl with the Pearl Earring from Netflix. All that’s left is an attempt to block it (though I understand that acrylic doesn’t usually block well, but I’m having some serious rolling issues andwould like to try and stretch a little more length).

But, in any case, here it is:

I did make some stash progress, even though I did have to ad two balls of yarn to it. The pink you see is down to about a quarter skein.. They gray/grey was divided into two-a ball and a partial skein. (This was one of those HUGE skeins of yarn, nor average sized at all) and now the skein is gone, leaving only the ball (which I did knit part of the front from). My hope is that once I turn out a baby sweater and perhaps another cradle purse (Emily says she has too many babies for the one cradle she has) that most of the remaining four balls of yarn will be gone.

It feels good.

My dilemma follows. I pulled out my sock last night. I intended to start knitting it’s mate. I made a screw up on finishing off the toe and decided to fix that before moving on. I ripped back a few rows, knit on a bit and finishe dit off again. But I don’t like how I finished it. I am considering ripping it out AGAIN and doing a kitchener stitch to finish it. I’m sure that’s the right idea.

Also, I am unhappy with the fit. I KNOW I’ve tried ont he sock half a dozen (okay, maybe more than that) times to check the fit and I’m sure that has stretched out the top of the sock. I’m almost sure a wash would fix the problem. I’m using Regia 4 ply funny steps that is part wool, part cotton so it would very liklely firm up agian, but I’m half afraid to wash it and have that not happen and have it be too late to rip out and reknit.

In other news, it would appear that I won’t have enough of the moda dea to knit a pair of socks, so I’ll have to buy another skein.

And more sleeve knitting.

And more sleeve knitting.

Why does it feel like sleeves take forever? I am dreading finishing the last 11 inches of sleeve knitting on this sweater. I would say that I would like them to be done by Sunday, but I’ve learned not to say stuff like that. It never works out that way and I hate setting deadlines that I’m not going to keep.

FWIW, my ankle is smaller today and I’m less hobbly(hobbily? Hobbley?) I was even able to drive Em to school without issue. However if I’m up and about too much, my toes start swelling agian, which is a little weird.

The good news is, I have a TON of sewing to do for Emily and now that my ankle is better, should be able to get some work done. I wanted them all finished by school and now she’s been in three weeks and I’m not finished.

In other news, her school called today and asked me to pick up another volunteer(sp) day. Urgh. I don’t really WANT to pick up that particular day, but I guess I should. It probably sounds selfish, but I look forward to those couple of hours alone. The week in question Emily has a field trip one day, I am scheduled the next day and they want me to pick up the friday. Urgh. I’ll do it just because I know that some parents are taking three days and I’m only taking two. Not looking forward to it though. I need those days to recharge. Emily can burn you out sometimes.

None of the sweater in progress. I have finished the front, back and the neck and am working on the first sleeve. I have no idea when it will be done. I confess to being UBER bored with it. I want to get through it. Emily is excited about it being done. I told her I’d have enough yarn to make at least one baby sweater, which she’s thrilled about too.

Anyhow, here are my feet.

As you can see, the one on the left, totally normal foot. The one on the right, not so normal. We are now debating when or if I should go to the doctor. I would imagine if I don’t start to feel some sort of improvement within the next day or so, I should probably make sure it’s nothing more than a sprain. Le sigh.

Day two stuck on the couch. Emily and I are bored to tears. If I watch the THree Muskateers one more time, I”ll throw myself out the window.

And finally, the poncho…

I know plenty of people are tired of them. This will likely be the only one I make. It’s cute, it serves its purpose and Em likes it. She likes it double as a skirt too. ;o) She’s inventive, that girl.

I’m looking forward to returning to my socks once this sweater is mostly done. I will likely work on a dollie sweater along with it.

I have not been reading or scrapbooking. I did finish a page earlier on this week, but find that sitting at the desk isn’t working with my sore ankle. Poor me.

To match our new healthier eating lifestyle, Eric and I have discussed exercise at length. Eric has always enjoyed playing racquetball and I agreed to give it a try. We met up with friends last night at a local racquetball place. It was fun.

Until…..

The weak Workman ankels flaired up and I rolled my ankle over 20 minutes into our hour long court rental. My right ankle looks like it has a goiter and I can hardly hobble around the house. Eric was sweet enough to stay home today so I could be off my foot as much as possible. Hopefully I’ll be better by tomorrow. Emily still has an awful cough and I’ll have to make a game time decision on whether or not to take her to school tomorrow.

Bah!

I am knitting away on the front of her sweater though. I’m about an inch for the armhole bind off on the front. The back of the sweater seemed to knit up so much faster, which doesn’t make any sense. It’s the same thing up to now.

Also, for those interested, Joann’s is having their knitting and crochet needles/hooks 40% off this Saturday. Our local Joann’s, etc carries clover needles, which I like quite a bit (much more than the crappy metal stuff I’m using) so I may show up on Sat. to pick up a few more pairs of DPNs. Who can beat 40% off of that? Of course, I will have to decide on whether or not that is in the budget.

We may try to hit the Renassiance Festival this weekend. I guess whether we will or not will depend on Mr. Weakie the Right.

You know that sweater? The one I was knitting to use up stash?

Yeah.

That one.

I started out with three of the four colors needed to make the sweater. I had a fourth skein that would have worked weight wise, but we’ve already established that it’s “ugly yellow” and hence wouldn’t fit. I picked up a pretty foamy green at the craft store. Flash forward. I’m knitting away on the front last night and notice my ball of white is getting small.

Very small.

Very, very VERY small.

Sigh.

You know what this means? A skein of white acrylic to finish off the sweater. What does that mean? I’ll have used two balls of yarn and added two. Not such a good stash reducing experiement, is it?

In good news, I found my sock. :o) Hooray!

I planned on knitting during our trip up north this weekend, but only did two rows on my sweater. I just couldn’t seem to do anything. That is the luxery of being up north, you don’t HAVE to do a darn thing and it works out okay.

Emily is staying home from school today. S he’s sick again. Not feeling that bad, but has a cough, sneezes and a runny nose, three of the sixitems on the DO NOT SHOW UP TO SCHOOL WITH THIS list. I might run in quickly and turn in my book order. They have a Kevin Henkes six pack of books that we HAVE to have. Emily and I both love Kevin Henkes.

Now…off to find a pattern that will use up those other two balls of yarn………

Aaaaah yeeesss..

Knitting.

After saying last night that I was sure to knit a few more dishclothes, I opted to cast on for Emily’s new sweater.

Please don’t take the following as a bashing of acrylic yarn. This is merely my opinion.

So I have all of this acrylic yarn. Many many skeins. I taught myself to knit from what was available at Wal-Mart and like minded stores. Besides some good cotton now and again, you’re limited to acrylic yarn. Let’s be honest.

So, I bought it. Some is okay, some is awful. But I’m too cheapFrugal to just toss the stuff and you can only knit so many baby booties and hats to give away to charity.

I’m knitting with god knows what brand of yarn now. Both colors (pink and white) are so STIFF! Emily could wear this into battle and be protected from flying bullets. If not that, she won’t have to hang it. It’ll stand in the corner on it’s own. It’s like I’m knititng cardboard instead of fabric.

I know that Acrylic is a good choice for her. It will take abuse and the washings that abused clothing items need.

The bad news is, I’m going to have to buy another skein. I have four skeins of worsted acrylic. ONe large gray/grey, one pink, one white and one awful yellow. I can’t bring myself to use the awful yellow. It’s in the car (where it will stay until I find some awful project to use it on).

In any case, I’m about 3.5 into the six inches I need before doing my armhold decreases. It’s not flying, but moving along well. Emily is already excited.

In other news, friends gave me a gift certificate for my birthday that I can use at Amazon.com. I would like to add a knititng bit or two to my library. What would you reccomend? I’m going to buy Knitting Without Tears as knitters across the board seem to think that this book is a must have, but what else? Any ideas?

In order to use up my odd balls (okay, my entire stash is odd balls) I’ve been focusing on small projects lately. I’ve done two washclothes and a swatch bunny since Sunday.

While small, having three FO in a week is sort of fun. I probably will knit another dishcloth or two before moving on to something else. It’s nice to be moving through the stash.

The dishcloth and bunny aren’t much to look at. My bunny doesn’t look much like the picture. I’m no artist and trying to figure out how to sew it and where didn’t work out that well. Emily loves it though.

The dishcloth turned out as planned, but the varigated yarn hides the patter (flying geese). I’m going to give a circular cloth another go. I tired one last week, but it didn’t have good finishing instructions and I wasn’t able to puzzle it out on my own. I would like to figure it out becuase I think the grandma’s would enjoy some pretty dish clothes.

Found a sweater pattern for a pretty simple sounding child’s pattern made out of acrylic blend worsted yarn. I think I may have enough worsted acrylic to make a sweater for Emily. I’m going to dig through the pile tonight or tomorrow and make sure. I’m not sure if the colors I have will look right together. I might have to supplement with another skein.

Emily is enjoying the heck out of her poncho. I had no idea she would. She’s wearing it constantly and when she isn’t, she covering and wrapping her babies in it.

knitty.com

The new Knitty is up! Hooray! I was just looking wistfully last night and knitty wondering when their new fall offerings would appear and there they are. Today. As if by Magic.

I’m so happy to see so many patterns in larger sizes! It’s so frustrating to find a beautiful pattern that you’d love to knit, but sadly, you are an XL (or llarger) and not included in the sizing.

I want to make:

Cozy

Zig Zag

and.
Blaze

I’m thinking that little sis would love a couple of Hallowig in different colors too.

Great issue!!

I would show pictures, but Emily is being disagreeable today. It looks really cute on her and will look so nice with her little blue corduroy skirt. I don’t know if she’ll be able to to wear it at school.

Once I got my needle slipage issues worked out, knitting it was easy and I didn’t have to modify anything. I just sized down the needles. The Pattern reccomended size 13 needles. I did it on a 10.5 and managed to get a poncho the right size for a child who wears a 6x. It took about 1.5 balls of cotton tots. When the model is feeling helpful, I’ll get a picture up. Until then, you’ll have to imagine.

No fringe, though I’m sure she’d love it, but just more stuff to get dirty and tangled. She’s an active four year old.

So what’s next?

??

Stay tuned.