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.

Baby Blue

Here is my latest knitting project. I am knitting the Heart Baby Blanket that I found on Ravelry, but the pattern is free on the internet at Knitting on the Net.

Does the yarn look familiar? It should. It's the same Classic Elite Provence yarn that I used for the Provence Throw that I finished in December. I think I had about 8 skeins still sitting in my stash. So when I found out on Saturday that a daughter of a friend of mine recently had a baby boy (first grandson of the family), I thought knitting a baby blanket in this yarn was going to be perfect (plus I am stash busting).

This was my knitting project on Sunday. By the end of day, I had completed 13" on the blanket. I have been working on it all week and right now I have completed five rows of hearts.

I'm not sure how long I am going to make it. The pattern says knit until desired length. I think I'll shoot for 40", but we'll see what happens. I am almost at the end of my third skein of yarn and it's not long enough yet for my liking. I am getting roughly two rows of hearts, including the 8 rows of garter stitch in between, per skein. I'll see where it stands at the end of the fourth skein.