Happy Ground Hog Day....a week late.......

I am sorry that I completely forgot that last Monday was Ground Hog Day....time to see if we were going to get more knitting winter time or more knitting spring time......either way, I am knitting and so is punxsutawney phil!!!

I finished those pink, grey, black and white socks........

I love them!  I am also trucking along with my burberry socks

and......I finished my "A Day to Remember" shawl....it is blocking!

On Thursday, I decided at the last minute to make a Ninja Turtle Hat for Antonio.  I was not impressed with the way the pattern was written, but I expressed my concerns to the designer and she refunded my money paid, and I was very thankful......I know it would be better for me to have a picture of Antonio modeling this hat...but I will get one eventually....for now, you are going to have to make due with a picture of me wearing it.

Last week I told you that I started Chateau for me....well, I restarted with a smaller needle size and I am looking forward to getting it done.....all the Biggo that I ordered came in:

I also got some Dragonfly Fibers  Djinni Sock yarn....in a gorgeous Spooky Colorway:

I also got yarn for Loopy Academy Semester 2.....we need to make something with stripes (not self striping yarn), something felted, and something with slipped stitches in the pattern.....all items need to be at least 175 yards.  For the stripes, I am going to use Malabrigo Sock yarn in Black and Tiziano Red to make Foolproof (yarns to the far right in picture).....for the felted, I am going to make a Felted Circular Hot Pad with Cascade 220 in the Glamour colorway (the middle red skein).  Lastly, for the slipped stitch, I am going to make Pin Striped Socks (and my friend Tami is going to knit along with me) with the Tumbleweed Aurora self striping yarn in the Campfire colorway (the skein to the farthest right):

I also got started on a new KAL that a friend talked me into...the great thing about this KAL is that you only get one clue a month....so far I have had 2 clues....January clue and February clue.....now, I am not done with the February clue, but I am loving the way this yarn is knitting up....it is the skein I won from Camp Loopy last year....Mrs Crosby Hat Box in the Summer Bloom Colorway

I got some new project bags that I am in love with from AwesomeGrannie....I got the Frogs in a large bag and the Birds in a medium bag.....I love the matching insides so much....they are so happy!

Oh, and my  first package of yarn from the Strickmich!Club 2015 came in....it is Wollmeise Blend (an MCN blend) in the Tulpe colorway...the pattern is awesome too and I cannot wait to cast on.  I do want to join in on the KAL that Martina is doing with the club, so I will at least wait till the 14th of this month to cast on....the funny thing is that this past Monday, I was thinking how badly I wanted to try the new Wollmeise Blend yarn and I ordered a skein....in a dark red....so I guess I will just have more now when it finally comes in :)

Well,  think that is all I have for the knitting....I wanted to show you a picture of a non yarn related stash enhancement....my daughter went to Buck-ees and got me this coffee travel mug....I LOVE IT!!!!

Well, that is it for now.....during the week it did not feel like I was getting enough knitting in...but now that I have typed it all out and uploaded the photos...I feel pretty accomplished!

Here is some motivation for you!

HAPPY SUPER BOWL!!

Yes, I know that not a lot of knitters are also football fans...but you guys know me...I am a football fan and MY TEAM WON!  It is not that I am so much a Patriots fan, but I am an anti-sea hawks fan (sorry sea hawks fan)!

I knitted on my socks during the Super Bowl....I just need the ribbing on the cuffs on both of these and I am done.  I hope to finish today so I can post it as my last FO for Down Cellar Studios Podcast Pigskin Party.

Last week I told you that I had a small surgery scheduled.....everything went fine and I have had some extra knitting time....not as much as I would have liked to have...but I am knitting more and more each day it seems.  I was pretty far behind on my 'A Day to Remember' Shawl....so I redid the numbers and was till behind and I am almost caught up...I think I have 8 more rows to be completely caught up....I am at about 56.9% and need to be at 64.18% by the end of the day....we will see how that goes.

I worked just a little b it (maybe 30 min and 3 rows worth) on my 2nd weigh it shawl

I also cast on something new....but in order to defend myself (yes, sometimes I feel I need to defend myself), I want to tell you about a new knitter to our lunch group of knitters....I knit with 4 other ladies at lunch and sometimes we are asked if they can come and knit with us (most need to be taught how to knit).....yes, we vote them in (everyone has to agree).....so our newest member to be voted in is Marla....she is super sweet and has really picked up the knit stitch very well.  I started a hat for her since we were not ready to teach her to purl yet, so I cast on and did the ribbing (but no, this is not the item I am defending having cast on):

She has already knit 4-5 inches on this hat and is doing awesome....she saw that Darlene and I were knitting socks in self striping yarn, so she really wanted to try that....I did not want to throw her into Judy's magic cast on or kfb stitch...so I cast these on for her too (no, this is also not the item I am defending having cast on):

Marla and Darlene came to my house during lunch on Thursday of last week...they wanted to see how I was doing after surgery and Marla wanted to see my messy stash....well, she also went shopping in my stash....over $200 of shopping in my stash....I was fine with it...some of the yarns I will replace with the exact yarn and others I will not....Guess what happens after that?  Knit Picks has their Biggo yarn on sale......well, since I was on a yarn diet, I kind of thought up in my head that if I sold $200 worth of yarn, I could buy a little yarn since it was on sale...so I got 11 skeins of biggo in black (and broke my yarn diet after 29 days)....I have always wanted to make the Chateau Shrug with this yarn but did not want to pay $8.49 a skein for it....the shrug will take 8 skeins, and then I have 3 more to make another gaptastic cowl for me, and I already had 3 in my stash for a gaptastic cowl for Paige or Bizzle....now, I do not have the yarn I just ordered yet, but since I had 3 skeins in my stash....I cast on the Chateau....yes, this is the item I am defending for casting on....

Then, do you remember back in July when Darlene got me that Beaver Slide Mule Spun Yarn and we were going to make the INK cardigan?  Well, I did cast it on and I did like 3 or 4 rows.  Darlene had gotten much farther than me...but she was not feeling the yarn for the INK Cardigan, so she told me she was going to rip it and do the Hitofude Cardigan.  Well, I have one OTN in Black, but I love that cardigan so much, I want to do a second one and I will use the same yarn that Darlene is using...so I ripped out INK, did a tiny gauge swatch, and just barely did the cast on the other day and this yarn is awesome!

I also gave myself a new goal....now this is all Darlene's fault...she had to show me a picture of a sock drawer on Instagram of all hand knit socks and now I want to have a drawer like this for myself...so I think you will see a lot more sock knitting from me.

I have a few stash enhancements to show you....I got a new case for my new sock needles.  This case is from Graces Cases and it holds the 5" size 0-3 interchangeable set.....it is pretty cute.  I have some material like this with a sheep on a balloon.....super adorable!

I also got some magnetic board, a magnifying ruler, and a long piece of magnet I want to cut up for my Knitters Pride Pattern holders....

Well,  I think that is about all I have....I did make 3 dishes of Lasagna for Super Bowl and I have lots of left overs too.

I leave you with a few of pictures that have a theme that remind me of my few days past and I hope it is also what my future has in store for me....PJ's, my fur babies, and my darling grandson too!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!

Finally, Some Knitting Time!

Well, almost all the sickies are out of my house, and I seem to have been able to fit in some knitting time this week.

I finished Antonio's socks....I also broke one of my new dyakcraft 3.5" Darn Pretty Needles, but DyakCraft is replacing it....no worries.

This past week was Darlene's birthday....we all know how much I love her and how much she does for me....so I wanted to get her something awesome (as awesome as she is).....Darlene watches The Walking Dead...and she loves Zombies....back in December, Susan from Desert Vista Dyeworks had a whole line of "Zombody's......"  There was Zombody's Love Ewe, Zombody's Poppin the Cork, Zombody, It's Cold Outside....But Darlene's favorite was Zombody's Kissing Santa Claus....I ordered her this yarn on December 6th....but it did not make it to me till January 20th.  I also got her a set of Signature DPN's.  While I prefer Magic Loop, she prefers DPN.....well, she loved it all and cast on right away...that always makes a gift giver feel good.

It all even went perfect with her Knit One, Sip Two wine glass and her ZOMBIE Bag by Awesome Grannie Project Bag.....

 She is truckin right along!

At the same time, I ordered myself some Poodle Skirt Yarn from Susan....now, this does not count as breaking my yarn diet, because I bought them back in December!

I also got myself some new sock knitting needles....I got the DyakCraft Heavy Metal Set.  The set comes with one set of tips in each size 0, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3....but I do not use 0, 2.5 or 3...so I asked for two pairs of 1 (2.25 mm), two pairs of 1.5 (2.50 mm) and two pairs of 2 (2.75 mm)....they are so wonderful at DyakCraf, that they said yes!!

Here is my set....but my 1.5's and 2's are both on pairs of socks already......

I started on my poodle skirt socks right away....and I started with my 1.5's....Darlene is so awesome, she made me a new medium bag set for my socks along with needle holders....I have always wanted needle holders....and I love them!

Once I finished the heels....I jumped up to my 2's....this is my first fish lips kiss heel.....I enjoyed knitting it.....so far it feels good....I need to finish an entire sock before the jury is out on this heel.

Since I freed up my 1.5 needles.....I was just in a sock addiction mode....and had to cast on my turtle purl yarn in the trench coat colorway (which is like burberry!)....I cannot get to the small stripe of red/burgundy!  So here are my 1.5's at use again!

Then......Darlene talked me into starting another Weigh It Shawl....I thought I would try the Weigh It Shawl 2......so I pulled out my Volcanic Eruption in Yowza and cast on

But I really like the shape of the Weigh It Shawl better....so I frogged and restarted.

Then, Darlene saw my Volcanic Eruption and she wanted to make a dark colored one....she she went through her stash and wound up her Masquerade and started that one as a Weigh It Shawl.....

I also have a skein of Masquerade in Yowza (and Katahdin).....so now I want to cast on with my Masquerade.....do you see this vicious cycle I get myself into?

Besides the shawl and two pairs of socks, the only other thing I have knit on was the 'A Day to Remember' shawl....It is coming along nicely....I was 9 days behind when I pulled it out this past weekend....so I will need to redo my calendar/chart so I can still get this one done by early February.

I have been doing pretty good on my yarn diet (hey, I made it 26 days so far)....then, in my inbox this morning was a link to some gorgeous self striping yarn for the super bowl....no, I cannot get the yarn in time for the super bowl....but my mother loves the seattle seahawks colors...and I want the patriots yarn for socks for me and Antonio....what is a girl on a yarn diet supposed to do?

 

Stay tuned for next week to see if I bought any!

My last knitting item is a stash enhancement from a wonderful lady in the UK.  Her name is Amanda (she is moo2moo on ravelry)....she and I are both on the RAK thread in the HiyaHiya Forum....she offered to make bags for some members and being the bag ho that I am, I jumped on the band wagon.  She asked me all sorts of questions as to what I wanted and sent me pictures along the way....well, my bags came.....I LOVE THEM.  They are part corduoy, and they are pink, purple, black and grey.  She has the cutest stitching on them too.  There is a top part that either just folds into the bag, or comes up with a drawstring closer....One of the straps on my crocheted bags broke, so this is a perfect filler....I have carried this large bag around since the day it came.  Thank you so much Amanda!  I hope you like your Hunter Hammersen Book I had sent to you as a RAK!

Well Ladies and Gentlemen....that is all I have.  I have a small surgery scheduled for this Wednesday so I hope it gives me some great knitting time......I will leave you with some cute sayings I got from Alice on the LSSK group (and I am sneaking in a picture of Antonio with a donut....I watched him most of this past weekend because his great grandmother was out of town).....

 My family knows better than this....they will not get hand knit items if they do this.