27 Days Till Christmas

Hey!  Did you have a fabulous Thanksgiving and Thanksknitting?  Mine was very nice.

Can you believe that Christmas is just a short 27 days away?  Me Either!  Are you trying to finish some Christmas Knitting?

Let me just jump into this knitting.........I worked my little fingers to the bone last week trying to get the Black Sweater done by Wednesday so I could give to Darlene since she is seeing her DIL on Thanksgiving.

I DID IT......Darlene just needs to seam the sides.....I know some of these pictures look grey or blueish but I promise this sweater is BLACK!

I should have moved my messy hair...but here it is on before any blocking:

So, what else did I knit on?  Well, I finished some socks from APRIL....They are my Eeyore and Piglet Socks....I would like to get all my socks off the needles before the end of the year so I can start the new year fresh....we will see, I am running out of time!

I also started my Yoga Shawl.  I do not know why I started this so late in the year....but I saw Leslie's from the Knotty Knit Wits Podcast and I really want one of these....I probably will not finish for forever, but I got one whopping repeat done....LOL!  I took a close up so "maybe" you can see a little of the triangle/chevron pattern:

That is all the 'knitting' I did.....but I did do some crocheting....I worked a little on Antonio's Crocheted Chevron Blanket.....I started this blanket with some skeins of yarn I had in my stash and then ordered more yarn from Knit Picks.....well, they are different.  The reds are different, the greys are different....but I am just gonna go with it....I do not think Antonio is going to care.

I also want to make some more of these blankets (I am really enjoying it)....Darlene is making one of her granddaughters and her soon to be Son In Law blankets with Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn......So I may have ordered 34 skeins of this yarn to make a couple of blankets....and it came in!

Oh, and Antonio wanted a Ninja Turtle....he bugged me for it all day Friday but I was tired (I will tell you why later) so as soon as we got up Saturday he said "Are you going to make my Ninja Turtle today?"  That boy things I can just snap my fingers and finish stuff.....LOL!   Well, I made him one:

This is a very tiny Ninja Turtle, but he liked it and he picked out the pattern here.

Well, that is really all the knitting/crocheting I did.....However, I also got my Yarn Room re-organized.  Some of you may remember when Paige came and cleaned out my yarn room as  Birthday present to me last year....well, I let it get super packed with yarn and toys and 'STUFF'.....I do not have a before picture (it would have been too embarrassing to be honest) but I do have an after panoramic pic.....I am pretty proud of myself!

For next week I hope to

1. Get my needles smoking on Paige's Sweater....she still wants it for Christmas (and I only have 27 days)....we are going to have to see about that!

2.  Work on Briochevron Cowl since I need to finish it for the KAL in Bags By Awesome Grannie Group

3.

That is all I have....I hope you all have a fabulous week.

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Coffe (or wine). Knit. Sleep. Repeat.

Hello everyone....I hope you have had a fabulous week!!!  I had a pretty good week...there is never enough knitting time, but oh well.....I am going to jump into my stash enhancements first.

When I ordered more yarn for Paige's blanket, it was Earth Day and Knit Picks was offering a free mug...well, they were back ordered for a little bit but my mug came in on Friday!  I love my new mug and used it pretty much all weekend!  You could replace the word coffee with wine also....yes, I may have used my mug for a little bit of wine in the evenings.

I got a lovely gift from Louise at Biscotte Yans.....some self striping worsted (the base is called Griffon), and a Lumos skein of sparkling merino in a beautiful orange!  I think I am going to make a hat with the worsted self striping..it is sooooooo soft....and probably socks with the orange.  Thank you Louise!

I also ordered some yarn from Amanda aka Yarn Enabler.  it is called "The Wayne"....as in Batman!  I go it for Antonio to make him a pair of socks....so I only ordered a 1/2 skein (how much yarn can his tiny feet need?)...but since Amanda is sooooo awesome, she sent me a whole skein....so I could make him a matching sockhead hat or something like that....so thank you Amanda, Antonio is going to love it all!

Lastly, I got in a new skein of Desert Vista Dyeworks Yarn in the ZomWhere Over the Rainbow colorway!  I love it!

Now, for knitting....I do not feel like I have a whole lot to show, but I really did knit a lot.....I worked on my socks...and the pattern said "MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT read the entire pattern instructions, panic and give up!!!! Just START AT THE BEGINNING AND LEARN AS YOU GO!!!" so that is what I did.....BZZZZZ....WRONG!  The heel flap had way too many decreases and the decreases were not 'closing the gap' and it just looked all wrong...I only had 8 stitches left on the heel when I finished the way the pattern was written....too long and too narrow of a heel flap.

So, I ripped and did the heel flap I know....and it think it looks a hundred times better.

Well, they were so much fun to knit on....I finished them....I finished my monthly socks but the 15th!  I was so amazed!  I think my new "ZomWhere Over the Rainbow" will be my June socks!

What else did I knit on?  I worked a little on Paige's blanket and have determined that if I do 2 rows a day starting today, I should be done on June 16th :)

I worked on my spire off and on during the week but I forgot to take a picture of it...I was going to work in it for the weekend but decided I wanted more mindless knitting so I work a little on my smooth move...I am about 55% done now.....but still a long way to go.

Then I wanted to work on more socks....so I pulled out my Eeyore's Rainbow socks.....I was just a little past the toes...and now I am just a little past where the heel will go.  I did not realize this was a 12 stripe pattern...and I really wanted to get through a pattern repeat, I kept knitting and knitting and knitting.....I am really loving these!

Well, that is all for the knitting.....I had a small car fiasco this week (over heated) but I had my knitting with me, so crisis diverted!  Other than that....my life has been pretty boring lately....which meant some extra knitting time....Have a great week everyone!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

May is right around the corner!

Yup, May is right around the corner....are you ready?  I am not!  I am not yet done with my April socks.....and I want to try to finish my test knit shawl before May....so I better get with it.

I hope you had a great week.....I had a fantastic week.  I hope you are ready for a blog packed with pictures!

First, I saw a video on my FB feed for a Steak Pinwheel Meal....I pretty much suck at cooking, but this looked delicious, I had to give it a try!

Mushrooms, onion, garlic.....CHECK

Lay it all out and roll.....

 Notice how my cutting board goes from a green color to a red color?  That is because rolling this up was a hot mess and I had to do a whole flip to a new cutting board...but I got it all pinned with toothpicks!

Now to eat.....

It was delicious....I loved it!  It was not cheap so I will not do it all the time, but I would like to make it again sometime!

Okay, this is a knitting blog so I will jump to the knitting.

I have a few stash enhancements....

First, some yarn from Wolle's Yarn Creations....this is a color changing cotton, this is like 4 pieces of colored sewing thread held together (no twist).  I am using this yarn for the test knit I am doing and it is a little hard to work with, but I saw a lot of people with this Cupid Colorway that is more like a terracotta and I had to have it.  She was so sweet to include some tea and a tape measure!

Next, I got my Miss Babs Knitting Tour first destination package...we are going to The Netherlands!  Yahoo.  The yarn is a gorgeous light blue...the pattern is called Metamorphose.  I want to do it, but it is pretty intimidating...I want to see someone's finished Infinity Cowl before I cast on.  Here is a link to the pattern and here is the gorgeous yarn.

I also got my Dishrag Tag Box.....remember I started a box back in March?  Well, the box has traveled around to many and now back to me.  My friend Vicki made me the cutest dishcloth....it is a ball of yarn!  Yes, a ball of yarn!  I love it!  She also sent me some yarn bras (we all need support), and the cutest scottie and cardinal stitch markers.  The card she gave me had knitting on the front picture...I love it all!  Thank you so much Vicki!

Right after I got my dishrag tag box from Vicki, Darlene let me know that our New Dyakcraft Rose colored needles were DELIVERED!  Okay everyone, you know how much I love orange (and I have the orange needles) but I am completely in love with these rose needles....I think I love them more than the orange ones!

And my last stash enhancement is a Bags By Awesomegrannie bag....she has soooooo many new bags in her shop, you should check them out....I got sheep...I mean, who does not love sheep?
Thank you Darlene!  You are too good to me!

Okay......I have an FO!  Man, it feels like forever since I have had an FO!  I finished my 3 color cashmere shawl and I love it!  But first, let me tell you about a bit of a dilemma at the end of this one.  I was 1/2 way done with the bind off and it was curling really bad

So I considered frogging and doing garter stitch to keep from curling...when I looked back at the pattern.....I realized I had done it wrong...her last 6 rows call for garter (not stockinette stitch) and then picot bind off....so I put my needle in all the stitches of the first row ( all 487 of them) and then I ripped......

I did 7 rows of garter (instead of 6) and then did a regular bind off with a size 10 needle.....I just LOVE IT!

Now for WIPS....I am still plugging away on the test knit for Susanna IC.  I only have about 15 more rows....I really hope to finish it this week:

I did a few rounds on my Eeyore socks

I worked on my April Socks.....Now getting to work on these socks has a story....Paige asked if I could pick up Antonio on Wednesday so she could go into work...I said sure.  I picked up Antonio and he said "Ga-Ma.....can we go to the park!?!"  and I said "Of course!"  so to the park we went....where I got knit a little and he got to play.

Then he got a little bored with the park (we were the only ones there) so he said "Ga-Ma, can we go to McDonalds and I can play there!?!"  and again, I said "Of Course!".

He made funny faces for his mother....

and I got to knit on my socks....I finished the 2nd heel while I was at McDonalds!

I knit a little more over the weekend, but not enough to finish them...I really need to finish them this week!

I also frogged this week......remember the Doodler I was working on?  It was the Stephen West MKAL late last year....well, I never finished the cable section and then there was going to be the picking up of stitches.....I was knitting this with my friends, Darlene and Shawna.....well, Darlene never went past wedge one...and Shawna finished the cables section....but she was ready to frog so I guess I was ready to frog too....this was 497 yards frogged....let's have a moment of silence please:

I went ahead and started the blanket for Paige that she requested...she is in love with it already (which always feels good).  Now, these big stitches are hard to constantly get on the needle...these are size US 50, but they are a circular, so when I slide the stitches to put them back on the 1" thick needle, it is difficult, so I am going to get some straights in US 50....it will help this blanket to go so much faster...it will be awkward, but faster!

Now......what do you do when you get a new gorgeous project bag and new gorgeous needles?  You cast on something NEW!  I cast on Pure Joy.  This is another Joji Locatelli pattern and I saw some of the test knit ones and they are all gorgeous!  I am using my Knitted With yarn in the Autumn Rainbow colorway with Madeline tosh Sock in Onyx as the contrast....this is going to be a gorgeous shawl.....oh, and I convinced Darlene to start with me :)

The needles even match the new bag :)

I think that is all I have this week....I leave you with some pictures of Antonio as a ring bearer at his Great Uncle's wedding....Oh, and I also put him to work at my house vacuuming...he loved it!  But he wanted to vacuum the outside more than the inside.....Have a great week!

 Here he is with is Great Uncle David:

Here he is with his dad, Mikey:

Vacuuming:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone!