New Years, New Mitts

I stayed up fairly late (for me) last night finishing up the increase sections of the Endpaper mitts. This has been my favorite project so far. I stepped out of my color comfort zone and am so happy I did. All I have left on the first one is to finish up the contrast ribbing on the thumb. The goal is to zip through the second one just as quickly so I have an FO for the New Year - I think it's a good way to start the year off, don't you? Second in line is the Tangled Yoke Cardigan which I started what seems like a long time ago (pre-holiday knitting era) and which I want to finish as soon as possible. It's difficult after knitting through so many small projects to tackle a big one but I've got some brand new O-wool burning a hole in my knitting bag for the Minimalist Cardigan. I've got sweater-lust big time and the only cure is to finish a couple off before it gets warm (ha!) in Seattle. Safe and Happy New Years to everyone! Cheers!

Post-Christmas Funk

The last week has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride. Christmas was great but taking my sister to the airport was hard followed by an even harder few days of work. The end of month/end of year push at work is unpleasant to say the least and coupled with returning from a short holiday with family... well, you get the idea. On the upside I picked up this rockin' Japanese knitting book at Kinokuniya and although I can't read Japanese there are some great charts and diagrams I can hopefully follow. I also got to get together with some of the gals from my knitting group (thanks Katie!) for a good block of group knitting time as our regular group won't meet until after New Years. There's nothing like four kinds of cheese and a pear cider to get you in the knitting zone. My endpaper mitts are moving right along and I should finish up the first one tomorrow (pictures I promise!) . Knitting is in high gear at chez moi as I'm trying to ignore the impending return of homework and forget that my older brother is in the hospital with a hopefully not-too-serious heart condition. Really, not so serious as it's possible my mom has the same one (as she found out through stroke-like symptoms this year) and it's treatable by medication. I'd like to ask for good thoughts his way, aim them toward the greater Wichita area, and a speedy recovery and return to his family in the New Year. So you see, I wasn't kidding about the rollercoaster ride but the knitting is keeping me in a wonderfully Zen state and really, that's all you can ask for in times like this.

Covet! Post-Christmas Edition

Knitting Motherlode
Originally uploaded by zombiegirl1

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with limited insanity and beaucoup delicious vittles. Rather than posting about the things I am in covet-envy for I thought I would post about gifts I received. My sister picked up Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush and I'm already drooling over all of the pretty patterns. I've got a yen for vintage items so this is perfect. In addition to that she threw in a couple of skeins of pretty pretty sock yarn. Araucania Nature wool in one of the multy colorways (Ranco) and Alpaca Sox in a gorgeous blue-gray color. I'm already contemplating the patterns for these even though I have three (!) projects on the needles at this very moment. The man also stepped in with GREAT generosity and gifted me with all four volumes of Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. That's hours of stitch pattern perusal and swatching. I've already spent a good deal of time flipping through them. It's hard to believe that New Years is next week and I'm back to class. It's also weird to think that I've been knitting less than a year and I'm so completely enamored with this craft. Knit Happy!

Knit on, lightning speed!

Citrine Socklets
Originally uploaded by zombiegirl1

Yes, I did say that my Holiday knitting was finished. Yes, I lied. I did think I was done but now that my sister is here for Christmas I feel the need to send yet another gift back home with her. I had started this pattern before and decided I didn't like how it was turning out, that, and I dropped a stitch and decided to throw a hissy fit rather than calmly pull out my crochet hook. Second time around I'm pretty satisfied and hope Grandma will be too. Pattern: Citrine Socklets from Holiday Gifts IK in Rowan Cashsoft DK in a pretty dusty rose color on #2 (3.0 mm) needles. I think I cast on Friday night and I'm into the foot, pretty good for being out all day yesterday.
Did I mention how great it is to have my sis here? She's a knitter too so I've been able to troll my favorite yarn store without worrying about the person with me. I also get to experience having another knitter with me on the sofa while watching movies. There's a lot of knit-speak going on at home right now and it makes me uber-happy since the knitting group doesn't meet till after the New Year. Hooray for knitting siblings!

The Last Knit

Covet! Wednesday

Happy almost Holidays everyone! I know you're all probably scrambling to get everything done before next Tuesday but take a break, have a nice cup of coffee (or tea if you're into that kind of thing) and give yourself a minute. Take a deep breath and tell yourself it's okay if things aren't perfect. Okay. I've been a little scrambled myself lately and pulling out my knitting project to take a breather is perfectly fine even if I am late getting down to UPS. I've done a little browsing for myself over the last few days in anticipation of some Christmas scrilla. Yay. Yet another Etsy shop has made me drool and wish that shipping overseas didn't take so darn long. All the pretty fibers has gorgeous handspun fibers and they all look so good it's hard to choose, and the colors! Beautiful jewel tones and Autumnal colors to bright candy-colored yarns. Did I mention she's got spinning fiber too? It's a bit spendy but that's to be expected for handspun and hand-dyed yarns. I say go for it, you deserve a treat after all of the pre-holiday madness, right?

If you're looking for some cool holiday crafts to do with some of your older younguns, or by yourself, take a look at Custom Paper Toys. He's got some amazing movable paper toys, I love the bobble-head reindeer rockin' out, as well as free downloadable pdfs. The instructions look easy to follow and most print out on one sheet of paper. Enjoy your crafty holidays and don't forget to take some time for yourself! Happy knitting!

Ugh.

100_0050
Originally uploaded by zombiegirl1

I am so incredibly not into Mondays. That is all.