my very first mittens

First Mittens
Originally uploaded by my_weezy

With this being the first week of school I have been missing in action. Today was the first full day with the kids. All kids were here, minus one and stayed until 1:50pm. It was a good day. Only one cryer when he saw mom outside the window at the end of the day. Moms just can't stay away. :)

Anyway, not much on the knitting front. Still working on the market bag and the 9to5 socks, which I really like. Very cool pattern. No pics of them, yet. When I finish the first sock I will be sure to post.

So, since I hadn't posted any pics in awhile I thought I would show of my first pair of mittens that I knit last fall. They are the only mittens I have knit,actually. I bought the yarn at the House of Seven Gables gift shop in Salem, Mass when we visited there last October. I cannot remember what yarn it is since I lost the ball band awhile ago. They are very warm and got a lot of use this winter. They went perfectly with my winter white North Face fleece.

Anyway, that is it for today. It is Friday and time for happy hour. I am off to get myself a margarita!

Cheers!

A knitter is born

I am so proud.

A friend, who I taught how to knit last year brought me her first finished scarf today to help her bind off.

Yay!

Even more exciting, she had a large skein of yarn and new needles with her to cast on another.

She plans to make three scarves, two for her nieces and one for their mom. Very cute.

I mentioned that I still needed to teach her to purl. She decided she'd rather enjoy having gotten the hang of the knit stitch and make a few things before learning something else. :) I can't argue with that.

The teacher next door to me has also been wanting me to teach her to purl and shaping. She is tired of only making rectangles in garter stitch!

I think I have made myself a little knitting group at work. :)

is it time for bed yet?

I am exhausted.

I stayed at the school until 530pm today getting things ready for our first day with kids on Monday. We had Meet the Teacher today, a planning meeting, and had to get all the paper stuff ready. Welcome packet for parents, lesson plans, schedule, class list. Urg. It didn't help that all my files from last year were erased from the computer over the summer. I was sick the last week of school and didn't backup my files!

So, I haven't knit since Tuesday...I think. Maybe Wednesday. I know for sure I didn't yesterday since I fell asleep when I got home at 400pm and didn't wake up until this morning. See, I really am tired. And, I have come down with a cold. No fun.

I did start another pair of socks. Actually, I started them a couple times since I messed up the first time and had to frog it all and start over. I kind of missed where it said to do a 2x4 ribbing, not 2x2. Oops. 2 inches worth! I will try and work on it a bit tonight if I don't fall asleep early again.

I picked up a sandwich from The Kitchen Door for dinner. Chicken salad. It is usually the yummiest sandwich but right now, for some reason, it is not tasting very good to me. In fact it makes me sick just to look at it. I thought I was hungry. I seriously think it is because the register guy said "tuna sandwich" when he rang it up. I know it is not tuna. It doesn't smell like tuna but when I take a bite, I swear there is a bit of a tuna taste to it. I hate tuna.
It's all in my mind yet it is turning me off my dinner.


*Random*
My hair tie just broke and inside the stretchy material is an i-cord! Who knew? There's lot of it. Very weird.

shedir is finished

Pattern: Shedir by Jenna Wilson, Knitty
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: US 3 circ and dpns

I've finished it. I stayed up way too late last night to get it done. Too bad I am not that happy with it. It is really long and the top is a bit pointy. I really wish I had followed my gut instincts and made it with one less of the repeated rows before the decereases. I am hoping the pointyness will go away with blocking. The length, well, I can always roll up the edge or maybe the hubby will like it. He has a longer head than me. :)

It's a pretty hat, I love the pattern, but there will be some modifications done to the next one, I think. Especially if I want it to fit on my short, round head. I am thinking the pointy may go away if I only did one round straight between the decrease rows rather than two as the pattern calls for.



Here is a view from the top. I took it last night in really bad lighting, so excuse the crappiness of it. It actually looks yellow. Huh. The pointyness of the hat goes away when worn, so I am not that worried about it. It is, of course, pulled over my eyes to get this nice top-of-the-head shot. Hehe. Oh well.

back to school

Its that time of the year again.

It was back to school with me today after a relaxing and restful extended summer. It was "teacher detention" as someone on Ravelry perfectly coined our in service training days. The kids don't actually start until next week. So, it was a lot of sitting and talking and a little bit of chatting with those we hadn't seen all summer. Not too bad. We at least are an all prek school so we don't have to sit and go over last year TAKS scores!

I took my knitting with me, which was good, since it kept me awake. It has been awhile since I have had to get up that early! I will probably be in bed by 9pm tonight. I took the market bag and got a few rounds done while I listened to new teacher introductions and school expectations for students and teachers. I had another teacher longing for her own needles which she had left at home.

So, more of the same tomorrow and then we get to work in our rooms the rest of the week. Woohoo! There is a lot to get done. And the knitting will be heading back with me.

knit blogs galore

My knit blog list of must reads keeps getting longer and longer. I keep adding, it seems, almost daily. I have been going through the knitting blogs ring and finding some really great ones and from there finding even more. (I have a lot of time on my hands. Work doesn't start until Monday.)

Yesterday, during a read through the ring, I came upon thechemicalgrrlchronicles. I read through quite a bit of her back entries and I was hooked.

It doesn't happen often...really.

Anyway, she mentions Yarnival in her latest post. I had never heard of it before, but clicked the link anyway. I am so glad I did. It is really a great idea and a great read. It has links to patterns and links to other blogs that are all worth checking out.

Very cool.

Go to januaryone to see the lastest issue. Really, you'll love it.

another wip

I used to be really good at only working on one knitting project at a time.

What has happened to me?

At this moment I have four different projects going on and none really close to being finished.

1. I can't bring myself to finish the ruffled surplice. I hate seaming, and I have only done it once!
2. I frogged a lace washcloth I made in a HCW class and restarted with some revisions to not have to make a lace edging. Going simple. I like simple.
3. I am about half way done with Shedir.
4. And now I have begun knitting the french market bag.

I had it in my queue and I bought the brown Berroco Ultra Alpaca I needed on Sunday morning at HCW. ( I am sad I didn't get to enjoy a Bellini with the others there. Husband was patiently waiting in the car for me and he had to get home to pack for his business trip.) I cast on yesterday and have already knit up the base and am a few rows before changing to my green yarn for the rest of the body. Which reminds me, I need to wind up a ball of that to be ready to use. It knits pretty fast and it is good mindless tv knitting so it will be done before the shedir, which requires my concentration or I cable in the wrong direction.

the ball of yarn

Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Originally uploaded by my_weezy

Since I started buying skeins that needed to be balled up, I have always hand wound center pull ones since I lack a ball winder and swift. I found a tutorial video on KSOS awhile back and continued to use that technique. Until now.

Last Saturday, at the knitting meet up, one of the other knitters had these beautifully rolled up balls of yarn that she was using for her scarf. There were green, brown and a lovely shade of orange, all thrown together in her bag. They were all different sizes and, I don't know, there was just something artistic about it that I loved.

She mentioned how she hated center pull balls because they always seem to get knotted. She is so right! I always have that problem, so I decided to make a regular 'ol ball out of my Berroco to use for my Shedir.

You know what?

I absolutely love it so much better. I keep it in my bag and I can pull out what I need very easily, no tangles, no having to yank really hard to get it to come out. On top of all that, it looks pretty. Even my lopsided ball.

FO and WIP

Jaywalker socks
Originally uploaded by my_weezy

They are done. They fit perfectly and are exactly the same size! I am so proud of myself. :) I really like the way they turned out despite the pooling on only one of the socks. They aren' t truly a matching pair. I have to get over it, though. They are done and that is all that matters, right? Hmph.

I began another project on Thursday. I have been chugging along all weekend on this new one. Shedir. From Knitty. I am really liking it. It is going to take me awhile to get it done, though with all the cableing. I am using one of the skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca I have had sitting in my stash since last year on size three needles.

Yup, gonna take me awhile to finish.

contest alert

*beep*
Please excuse this interruption.

Do you like yourself a good contest where the possible prize is yarn?
Then go to shutupimcounting and enter. Pretty easy.
If you do, put me down as your referral.
Thanks.

(Sally, I gave you a referral.)

We now return to our regularly scheduled program.
*beep*

a little bit of knit

Last night while watching Big Love, I manage to turn my heel and pick up the gusset stitches of my second sock. No SSS here! :) This sock may actually get done in the next couple of days. This is good since I promised my husband a stocking for Christmas. I really need to get working on that. I have picked out a pattern from this book, Christmas Stockings. I just need to go and find the yarn I need and get started or there will be no stockings this year, again. Our cat is the only one with her own stocking. Joey is a spoiled kitty. Just look at her...doesn't she look spoiled? She can't even be bothered to have her picture taken.

back to work

I have been busy with work stuff this week. Registering kids for school. It takes quite a long time. My back and neck ache from sitting all day on very uncomfortable chairs, so my knitting has been put on the backburner for now. I can't bring myself to sit and knit after 8 hours of sitting. I did take my sock with me today and got a few rounds in during the lulls. No pics. Will hopefully have a pic of my pair of finished socks soon.