Reviewing my year

At the end of the year I do my very best to review my New Year's resolutions before I make new ones. So, here goes:
1. Exercise 3-4 times a week to lose weight (Angel is going on a diet and going for more walks.)
This was a success. Angel is at her goal weight and although I have only dropped about 10 lbs, I have gone down four pant sizes. I toned a lot and I can jog a 15 min mile.

2. Trim down the clutter in my house by selling or donating a big bunch of it.
I gave away tons (literally tons with a fridge, freezer, oven, 2 fish tanks and a dishwasher) of items to freecycle and goodwill but I have miles to go.  This will be a continuing process into the New Year.  I think we are going to assign a room a month to de-clutter. Hubby hates this idea but after moving his parents and mine, we have realized we have got to pare down.

3. Knit down my stash without buying a crap ton more. 
This one is open for interpretation.  I knit up 10,363 yards and I purchased  3,371 yards. Sounds great till you realize this is a "Katie" story.  Between swaps, gifts and yarn that I won, my new yarn total is 7,864 yards. Before you say swaps shouldn't count, I should confess that I swapped new yarn that I won or was gifted this year for other yarn so it still counts.  Plus none of that counts the fiber I have purchased.  I think I broke about even.  I did knit up lots of old yarn though so I will still count it as a win.

I think I am planning to keep these resolutions for the next year.  It took longer then a year to gain and it will take longer then a year to slim down.  Hugs to all and happy New Year!

Superfluous Knitted Parade

So my unexcused absence is just that.  I have not blogged for 6 months. I should go to blogger boot camp. Mea culpa.

Now, lets talk about what I have been knitting while gone from here.


This is the Ruched Yoke Tee by AnneLena Mattison out of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
I am going to knit this one again.  It is FAB.

 
This is Kiki Mariko by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne out of scrap yarn, mostly Lambs Pride.
I plan to make another one of these too.

TPHPE by Heather Zoppetti won me first place in the fair

 
Henry here was made from the  Wasabi the Gregarious Pug pattern by Rebecca Danger

I made pairs of SOCKS

Dragonfly Socks by Jocelyn Sertich in Yarn vs Zombies Damsel only took me a month to knit.

These 2 pairs of socks were made up in my head. The yarn is local from both. Top is Beyond Basic Knits and the bottom (Hubby socks on my feet) is from Solitude Wool.

 
Bugs is learning how to knit.

I will write more later about what's been going on. I think I am going to make Sunday my blog day.  We will see how that works out.  

And Breathe

This month has been like going into labor. There are moments of calm followed by painful progress that leads to a permanent change to life as you know it.  The only problem with this analogy is that you KNOW when you are done with child birth and every time I think I am at the end of this craziness, one more thing happens.

At the beginning of the month of madness, I was expecting to go through some big changes at work, lose a hubby to a crazy class/ work schedule and have my mother move 120 miles further away from us. All this has now happened plus

• We received Mom's stove, dishwasher and fridge that were all newer then ours which required finding homes for our old machines and install the new ones. Dishwasher still isn't quite right.
• The guy who was mowing our lawn and my mother's one acre lot quit and Bear had to take over mowing both.
• Bear took a renewed interest in the fire hall and has been volunteering at least one night a week
• I got a kidney infection and was laid up for almost a week.
• There has not been one week where I have workout all three times.
• Two friends have gotten the news that they have cancer.

There has been ups and downs but all and all I am glad to see the end of it. Knock on Wood.

Oh, when you have a Kidney infection and really good pain meds, there is little else you can do besides watching Firefly and knit on socks.






I think after this month, I deserve a pretty top and another pair of Monkeys.

Monkeys!

Right now my life is full of monkeys.

These are my Monkey Socks, pattern by Cookie A.  I frogged them out on May first (it was just a bit of ribbing anyway) to knit them for the Stockinette Zombies Two Balls KAL.  I was knitting on them at Bugs' spring concert (which means all the kindergarteners in the school to stand up on stage and sing.) I thought I kinda liked these socks and then the magic moment happened.  The kids on stage were singing "I'm a Believer" and they started doing the Jerk dance moves (which with 5 year olds go much faster.)   I realized as I was laughing at the kids that I had the pattern memorized. WOO HOO!!


Boo has a collection of monkeys and this last week he named them all.

Going clockwise and starting at the top they are: George the Big Monkey, George the Monkey Two Tags, George the Monkey No Tags (because hand knits don't have tags) and George the Monkey One Tag.

George the Monkey No Tags was made by SecretlyAMermaid but she never made a project page.

Then he named his Zombie the Podcaster that I knit him (which was previously deemed too scary to be his friend.)


This is George the Zombie No Tags.

Pretty methodical for a 3 year old.

Knitting Tip of the Day

I cast on two new projects this week.  One project is Monkey (socks) by Cookie A.  They will be pink and I am super excited but I don't have a photo to share yet. This is mostly because I have been obsessed with starting my second project.



Adriatic Cardigan By Amy Christoffers  is such a cool pattern and I just recently got enough Cotton Fleece in Prosperous Plum.  I hauled the magazine to bed with me Saturday night, read it all the way through and cast on.  I could not get past line 11 of the chart without messing up some how.   I ripped back and went to bed.  This morning I knit and ripped out lines 11-15 twice, the second time after sticking a crap ton of stitch markers in to help keep my place. The lace just wasn't looking like the photos. I went to spend lunch and did a bit of birthday outlet shopping with my mom. While out, I decided I should go to Ravelry to see who else knit this and if they had any problems.

Since I linked it above you may have already spotted the problem.  I didn't look for the Errata.  I should have been working off this chart.  So, your check list before you start a knitting project,  swatch, careful not to twist when joining in the round AND always check for errata before casting on.

P.S. My swatch for this project is a sleeve.  Since this pattern is knit sideways and starts with one cuff, I just figured I could swatch and if I get it right, keep on knitting sweater.  I would never recommend someone else do this because cotton shrinks and I never wash my pseudo swatch.  I am living on the edge.

P.P.S. I will be at Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday.  Stop me and say hi if you spot me.  I may be buying some fiber.  I will go into my spinning in another post.

Hello MO FO

If you have been reading my blog for the past six months, you will note that I didn't show any  pairs of finished socks photos.  This is because since the Friday before Rhinebeck (October 14, 2011) I have had the same sock yarn on the needles.  Well, I am here to say that those sock are my new FOs.

Doing decreases today at the National Zoo (with my Jessa Lu bag)

Left spins clockwise and Right spins counter clockwise

So comfortable I almost don't want to give them away

I will be giving my Mom her new socks after I soak and block them. I think I am going to make myself some Monkey Socks next.

So I now have everything knit up from last MDSW.  Yea me! Now I just have to knit 1,000 yards of lace before September 29, 2012.  Do you think I should knit a Top or a lace shawl? I am taking suggestions.

Megan, from Stockinette Zombies, mentioned this idea of knitting up everything you buy at one fiber festival before the same festival the next year. She thought it was a thing that lots of people do.  I haven't heard of anyone else doing this but me.  In fact, I thought I made it up as a way to keep me from overspending last year.It worked well and I will be doing it from now on. I recommend that everyone think about trying it sometime. It really makes you think before you buy AND it challenges you to knit it up.

Day Zero

Today is day zero of the mad month.  It was a normal Sunday so I cannot call the beginning of the crazy time till tomorrow.  So, today was pretty normal.  I didn't go out of my way to do extra cleaning as I feel like today I need to conserve my energy.  I did dishes and laundry but there are more of each waiting for me.   I actually spun on my friend's wheel and I am going to attempt to ply tomorrow. Then I am going to make myself a hat and since it is undyed wool, I am thinking I may dye it beofe knitting it up. We will see, I may just knit it up plain.

I have got a lot of sock knitting done since my last post.

This was about 3 inches of a cuff on April 19th.


Most of the cuff was done here this morning. Side note: on the right is my 6 year old son, Bugs, replacing batteries in his toy.  He had my 3 year old son, Boo, handing him batteries, screwdriver and the cover like Bugs was a field doctor and Boo was the nurse.  In my head played, Suicide is Painless until my kids started singing Bob the Builder. Sigh, kids these days have no culture. Giggle.

Back to the sock, this is the last photo for the night:

Hard to see here but I have turned the heel and actually as I am typing, I only have one more decrease round until I am done with the gusset.  I am excited that I should actually go to Maryland Sheep and Wool with all the yarn knit up that I purchased last year. (Well, I will have leftovers but I am not counting them.) Yea me!!

P.S. Apple Blossom is coming up again in Winchester, VA. Please, don't forget the post I wrote last year about Cole Brother's Circus.  Wild animals should not be tormented for our enjoyment. Please, find a way to show your family and friends that the circus is best when there are only humans and possibly domesticated (well treated) animals.  For example, Big Apple Circus or Cirque Du Soleil.