A Busy Easter Weekend

Since Friday was a holiday, and I don't normally work Friday's, I received a Floating Holiday to take. So I scheduled it for Monday. It was very nice having a four day weekend. Now if I could just have it like that every weekend. Anyway, let me snap out of dreamland here and get back to business. This past weekend was very productive for me in the knitting department. I have 2 FO's to report.

First up is the Heart Baby Blanket. I completed it on Saturday and am happy with the end result. The finished dimensions are 29" wide by 32" long. I used about 3.5 skeins of the Classic Elite Provence yarn from my stash (believe it or not - after knitting 2 blankets I still have about 4 skeins still in the stash) and knitted the blanket on size 6 needles. Blanket was started on March 9th and completed March 22nd.

Last night I finished my Cable Rib Socks. I finished sock #1 on Saturday and immediately casted-on for the 2nd sock. I tried so hard to finish sockie #2 on Monday because I wanted to wear them so bad. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish them that night. But nothing was stopping me last night.

I used Knit Picks Risata yarn in colorway Ash - exactly 2 skeins (barely had any left on each sock). You start out with size 2 needles and then eventually go down to size 1 about midway in the leg. Socks were started March 15th and finished on March 25th.

I will definitely use the Risata yarn again for another pair of socks. I just wish Knit Picks would produce it a greater number of color choices.

I had so much fun knitting this sock that I definitely believe my sock mojo has returned. I am really impressed with the construction of this sock too. This is the first pair of socks that I have made that actually don't have any gussett holes. You know whenever I try my hardest not to have a hole there is usually one, even if it is the tiniest of a hole. I know it's there. Another thing about this pattern is the interesting heel flap. When working on the right side you slip a stitch and knit a stitch, slip a stitch, knit a stitch all the way across. Then on the wrong side you slip only the first stitch and purl all the way across. In my opinion this make a pretty sturdy heel.

The last thing I accomplished over the weekend was that I finished the collar on Thermal. The only thing I have left to do is sew in the sleeves and attach 2 buttons. It will be a FO this week sometime. I can't wait to wear it, but I also am allowing myself to cast-on for my Gathered Pullover.

Oh I almost forgot. Misa tagged me with this book meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 or more pages. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Third book in the series).

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence. 'I snickered.'

3. Post the next 3 sentences. 'Jacob wasn't smiling. His dark eyes were critical of my reaction. "It's a little bit more powerful than that.".'

4. Then tag 4 people. Purling Oaks, First Things First, Lisa's Creative Touches and Shameka Knits.

~Stab Me With Your Best Shot~

So who remembers the artist that sings the non-modified song lyric of "Hit me with your best shot"? This was running through my mind last night while I was knitting on my latest sock. You'll understand further down in this post.

Sock knitting has struck me again! After I washed, and hung, all my socks last Thursday night, I realized I needed more socks. I pulled the Knit Picks Risata sock yarn (colorway Ahe) out of my stash. I think it's been hibernating there since last August. I had purchased this yarn to make the "Cable Rib Socks" from the Favorite Socks book. After the New Jersey yarn crawl last Saturday, I sat down and casted-on for this sock before I went to bed.

Saturday, March 15th - Cast-on and knitted about an inch

Tuesday, March 18th - Good progress made.

Not too much further until the heel.

Thursday, March 19th - Heel flap done. Pick up stitches for the gussett.

Really getting to this part was no problem. The problem arose when I had to pick the stitches up on the sides of the heel flap and work them. Now, I have done this on 2 circs before, and while working the stitches before has been a little awkward, I was able to stick with the 2 circs only. This sock is another story. It was impossible to work the stitches with only 2 circs, at least for me (I'm not quite sure how my sis Mary Beth did it).

What was my solution? Well, I looked at my needle supply for size 1 dpns. Nope, didn't have any. Then I looked in my interchangeable needle case for size 1 needle tips. Nope, the smallest needle was a 2. At this point, I wanted to scream, but was afraid my upstairs landlord would think I was being attacked since it was 10:30pm. I refrained. My last option was to see what circs I had in my stash. Thank goodness I had another size 1 circ. It wasn't another Knit Picks circ (which I love using even more after last night). It was an Addi Turbo (now hate these needles with a passion compared to Knit Picks - yarn just doesn't slide smoothly over the needle - it was a bit of a struggle and just reaffirmed my love affair with Knit Picks needles). So for right now I am working with 3 circs to get past working the pick up stitches. It's just like 3 dpns.

So why did I have "Stab me with your best shot" running through my head at 11pm? Have you ever worked with 3 circs at once? I think this picture says it all.

At least at the tip of the sock, the 2 circs form a heart!

**Editor Note: After resuming work on the sock, I realize that the heel flap is a bit long. Hmmmm. After further investigation I have determined that I doubled the number of completed rows for the heel flap length. A big OOPS! This is most likely the reason for the difficulty I was experiencing. I have successfully frogged back to the end of my heel flap. Now I need to remove 32 rows and I will be back on track.

Something Done, Something Started & Guess What Arrived!

Yes Country Garden Monkey socks are complete! I actuallly finished them up on Tuesday night, but I got so excited about my Secret Pal package yesterday I decided to wait to post on them. I love love love the colors in these socks.

Ya know, you can see how pretty the yarn colors are in a skein but then you can REALLY see how pretty they are once the skein is balled. The color pooling is awesome. I am a big fan of Cherry Tree Hill superwash sock yarn now. I will definitely buy some more and yes, my feet are up on my desk at work. I couldn't resist showing off my new socks!

Now on to a new project I started last night. Back in 2002 I bought this Classic Elite Provence yarn in pale blue that you see in this picture. I had started an afghan with it. I had worked very hard on it and was plugging awayon it when I realized I had been twisting my knit stitches. Long story here but all I can say is that I was a new knitter and the person who taught me didn't catch this. It took my sister Mary Beth realizing this when I sent her pictures of a sweater I was making. So needless to say I never finished the afghan and it went into hibernation for a few years. Last summer I decided to undo all the work I had done on the afghan and reball everything. The balls have now come out of hibernation and I have recasted on to knit the Provence Throw (this is my name for it). The pattern is by Plymouth and they call it Turino Silk (because that is the yarn they used to make it - original hunh?) This project will be one I work on between all my other stuff. It will be something I do when I want to relax and do some "brainless" knitting. I am working a little slower on this because I have to work across 204 stitches. My mother made this throw also in Provence yarn and when I go home it is one of my favorites to cuddle under. Thanks momma for sending me the pattern.

So as I am sure, you have already guessed what arrived today! My landlord delivered me my Knit Picks yarn. Yay!!!! I am so excited. I bought 12 skeins of the Wool of the Andes yarn in colorway Cranberry. I will finally be making the Central Park Hoodie that Shameka turned me on to. I will be casting on for this baby this weekend. I chose cranberry because it was a rich color and when I look at it I feel warmth inside of me. The color makes me happy and I thought it would bring life into my "pale white" skin this winter. hehe

The one thing I decided to do differently with this sweater is to knit the body in one piece. I really dislike seaming and after reviewing the CPH KAL, I found instructions on how to do this. This will be my second piece that involves cables. I am glad I started with cables on socks first.

Besides any item I knit as a gift, this will be the first project I knit for myself that I am setting a completion date goal. I want to wear this sweater THIS winter. In order to ensure this happens I am announcing that I want to have this sweater done by mid October. I am a very goal oriented person and I feel that publicly announcing this date will really help me stay on track because everyone will be asking me about the sweater.

Finally tonight, I show you the Risata sock yarn that I purchased. The colorway is Ash. My sister Mary Beth used this yarn, and color, to knit the Cable Rib Sock from Intereaves Favorite Sock book. Even though I am using the same yarn, the same color as Mary Beth, my socks will be different. How do you ask?

Well I am extending the cuff up to my knees. I wearing knee high boots alot in the winter and I never have enough long socks to wear with them. So this will be my very first pair of knee high socks that I knit. This yarn is soooooo yummy to the touch. It is made up of 42% cotton, 39% superwash wool,13% Polyamid and 6% Elite. It has elastic in it! I'm not sure when I will cast-on for these, but I am sure it will be soon. I do need another travel knitting project now that the Monkeys are done.