A Treat for My Feet

I decided I needed some quick stash-busting knitting after my mittens. I had some leftover yarn from the Icewine Mittens and figured a cute pair of slippers would be just the thing to use it up. So I cast on for this cute Mary Jane slippers, no problems. I knit a whole slipper, no problems. Finish the sole of the second and then, yup, I run out of yarn.

I check the Knitpicks site and of course the color was not going to be back in stock until mid-March. Well that seems like an awful long wait for a quick knit. So I check out ravelry to see if anyone has that colorway to trade. Nope. I post a note on the destash boards, no luck. Then I look at Knitpicks again and surprise! the color is back in stock. But we're talking about a $2 ball of yarn and it seems silly to pay more for shipping than stuff so clearly I need to buy more stuff! I start throwing things into my shopping cart; yarn, cables for my interchangables...

Wait! This is crazy I am trying to thin out the leftovers from my stash not add just to save on shipping with things I don't love or need! So I revisit the stash, find some Mission Falls 1824, also in purple, from the time I frogged that poncho. Really I should have left my knit poncho wearing days to the ones my grandma made me when I was a kid. Ah, the 70's......

So now do I frog the slipper and a half I already made or just throw them into the abyss of Knitting Projects Gone Wrong? Neither, I did the blasphemous and threw them away. Gasp! Throw yarn away!?! Yes, I did. In my quest for order and simplicity in my home I could see no point in holding on to them. They were not worth the effort or the end-results to salvage the yarn so they had an "unfortunate accident" and met their maker. "Unfortunate accident" is the euphemism I use to describe the fate of items that end up in the dumpster. I have been given enough random stuff from my folks that needed trashing over the years that I needed a euphemism. Before you go thinking I am ungrateful brat it was more like "We don't care what you do with it but we want it out of our house" type stuff.

So with first slippers gone, I restarted and whipped out these super-cute slippers. I just love applied i-cord it makes edges look so finished. I may have to make another set in cotton for the summer. Let me go look at the stash to see if I have enough....

The Stranded Mittens Strike Again

I decided that since I got a new red coat this winter and I knit Porom in white then I needed new mittens to match. I chose the Anatolian Mittens from the book Folk Mittens that I knit in KnitPicks Telemark. I have to say that I love the way they came out and they are one of the favorite things that I have knit to date. Check out how I actually managed to keep the pattern continuity on the thumb. I am quite impressed with myself.


Of course as I was working on the thumbs this past week we had a warm spell that drove the temps into the 50s. These are amazingly warm mittens the stranding makes them doubly thick and I thought for a moment that they would have to wait until next year to be worn. But this is Boston and winter won't really be over for quite a while and the mittens have already been out for a spin.

I Knit Socks!!!

At this moment, some of my friends are doing happy dances at the thought that I may have finally broken my long-standing well, stand against knitting socks. But aha! I don't think these really count. But now we no longer have to worry about Soggy's feet getting chilly and him catching a cold.

And now for a gratuitous adorable niece shot.

Ice, Ice Baby

I have been a bad blogger. It has been a rough winter so far here in Boston. According to the local news station last night we already have gotten more snow so far than the yearly average and then they had to say "and winter is only half over!" I should never watch local news and stick with The Weather Channel. The snow is bad enough but this year we have had some serious cold stretches so when it's over 35 it feels down-right balmy. And as I write this there are large puddles of slush that are icing over and are sure to make for a treacherous walk to the T tomorrow morning.
Between the weather and the economic climate I think I have a touch of the January blues. I am a natural-born homebody so my inclination to stay home and curl up is pretty strong. But I am knitting away. I am working on the Anatolian Mittens from Folk Mittens. They are coming along quickly so at least I will be facing the cold in style.

I have also been asked to do a very special project. See the situation is this - Soggy's feet are cold. Therefore Soggy needs slippers and Auntie Sarah is a sucker when it comes to her niece . Some of you have seen Soggy before . His feet are not filled so I am not sure what size they are but they can probably be into stuffed into a sock ornament. I may have even said that I would make him a hat and scarf too. I mean really, do we want him getting sick?

Oh, did I even mention that I treated myself to a share from the Hudson Valley Fiber Farm for my birthday a few months back? So when I feel those January blues creeping in I go to their new and improved website and check out my sheep and goats. The Lambcam isn't up yet but there are some sweet photos that make me happy. I think my favs right now are Martha and Nan.

A Stitch in the Right Direction

I mentioned in some earlier post that I was knitting a scarf for my brother. A normal statement for most people but for me it is well, huge. My brother and I have had had a difficult relationship for about the past 20 years so to knit for him is a big deal. But I dove right into the project with no second thoughts and never set the project aside to work on something else so maybe that is a sign of something. Like growing or forgiveness or some of that other junk.....we'll see -it is a new year after all.

We met up today with for me to give him the scarf and he seemed properly appreciative and wrapped it around his neck right away, could have also been the fact that it was something like 20 degrees out today.

Here's some knitting details on the scarf itself Irish Hiking Scarf knit with 2 skeins of Cascade 220. I forgot home something like a simple cable just looks so classic and in this colorway it just came out as such a good manly scarf.

I wasn't sure if my brother would want his photo the blog so I went and found another volunteer on Boston Common who was more than willing to take over modeling duties.



And a close-up

A 2008 Straggler

I can finally show one of my projects that has been done for about a month or so but was a gift that I only just now was able to give to my friend.

These are the Icewine Mittens knit in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes. I would have taken photos of me modeling them myself but apparently I have freakishly large hands and luckily Meg has petite hands so that my slightly on the small side mittens, fit her just right. I have to remember to go up at least a needle size (or two) from what the pattern states since I tend to knit a wee bit tight when doing stranded work.

I really like the way they came out and Meg seemed to as well. But then again I had just had one of my favorite comfort food meals (meatloaf and mashed potatoes) and a yummy beer at The Publick House so maybe I just imagined she liked it since I was so perfectly content.

Happy New Year!!!

I am a few days late in ringing in the new year blogwise. I kept writing and deleting and writing and deleting a post on my New Years Resolutions. The "Big Resolutions" are all sealed up and will not be opened until next New Years Eve. But there is kind of one theme or more like a motto that I have adopted for this year, "No Excuses"

I am the truly a queen of making excuses. I will grab my gym bag in the morning and will have come up with six reasons why I can't go that night by the time I make it work. I do it with lots of things not just the gym and that is the habit I need to break. I have art that needs frames, a table to be refinished, rooms to be painted and the list goes on.

So 2009 is the year of "No Excuses". I have been to the gym twice in the new year and it's only the 5th! That's huge! But then again so is my ass....

So you will be seeing some long languishing home decorating projects here on the blog. And of course more knitting! It felt like I knit a whole lot more than the following mosaic shows I am pretty proud of myself for trying some new things: lace, stranded work with some silly projects thrown in for fun. Oh, and my niece loved the knit food I gave her. Did you know fairies really like strawberries? And I have one more 2008 project to post but I haven't sent them off to Meg yet I had to wait for her to return from visiting the penguins in Antarctica! But if you peek you may see it below!