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.

Shhhhh Don't Tell

Today was my first day back in the office since being out sick the beginning of this week. While I am feeling better than I have during the past week, I am not quite a 100% but I can tell I am on my way. My head isn't spinning as much as it has been and I'm not as fatigued.

Anyway, last night I did cast on for my second Country Garden Monkey sock. I only did the twisted rib section before hitting the sack with Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows (I am almost finished!).

So I just have to tell everyone that I really did work very hard today. Honest. During my 10 shift I managed to get four of the six pattern repeats completed. I'm telling you, it really took a lot out of me! I don't know if I can handle another hard day like today. LOL One thing that I noticed about this sock is the pooling of the blues and pinks on the diaganol. I love it. As of this writing, I have completed the fifth pattern repeat. It seems like I'm sailing with this second sock. Yoo Hoo!

So I was reminded a few weeks ago about this blue sweater I started last winter. I am completing the Pretty In The City Romantic Sweater from the Family Circle EasyKnitting Winter 2004/05 issue. I have even had the yarn to knit this sweater since Winter 2004/05. I have yet to successfully knit a sweater that I like on me. So when I started this one I was very optimistic. I was really on a roll with the back. As you can see from the picture below I am actually almost done with it.

Some may ask why I haven't completed this sweater yet? My answer is that I am stuck on the pattern. Fortunately my sister Mary Beth happens to have this exact same issue so when I was having difficulty interpreting the pattern she was a quick phone call away. After three phone conversations, I still couldn't figure out what the problem was. I even checked online to see if there was a correction to this pattern but I had not luck. The Family Circle EasyKnitting website is now someone's blog. Ugh.

When I go home for the Christmas holiday I plan on packing this baby in my suitcase. My sister and I will figure out what the deal is. I really can't wait because I really love the style of this sweater. I just hope it actually fits when all is said and done. So until then, this is my UFO sweater in hibernation!

A Tote, A Monkey and A Baby

I just have to say that I absoutely love my felted sheep tote. This tote has become my new knitting bag. I am so glad that I added all the pockets to the sides instead of just the two end ones (as the pattern originally calls for). Even though this tote is small in size, it just seems I can keep adding more and more to it and some how room is created within it. Almost like a bottomless bag! As you can see from the picture below, I still have room to add more stuff inside. Right now, there are three knitting projects inside this tote. I have decided that I am definitely going to knit the larger tote bag using the two skeins of Manos del Uruguay from my stash. I won't have enough yarn to do all the pockets but that's ok. I just love this bag so much that I can't wait to have a larger version of it.

Speaking of using yarn from my stash, I am in the middle of another project using two skeins of Knit Picks Palette yarn in cream from my stash. I had purchased the KnitSimple Fall 2007 a few weeks ago because I loved the baby sets in it. One of my girlfriends is expecting her first baby very soon and I wanted to knit her something special. While I was entering my stash on Ravelry this weekend, I decided to see what projects people were making with the Palette yarn. Low and behold, there is someone using the very same yarn I had in my stash to make the 3 piece layette set from this mag. I never would have thought to use this yarn for this project. Maybe because my mind has been whirling around in space for the past week or so? So I decided that I am going to make the ribbed hat and baby booties. I don't have enough yarn to make the ribbed pullover.

Last night I finished the first Country Garden Monkey sock. It looks awesome and fits perfectly! One thing that I enjoyed about knitting this sock is that I learned a different way of doing the heel flap/gussett. I found it to be very easy considering the last time I did a cuff down sock a few years ago I dreaded doing the heel flap. Anyway, I am planning on casting on for my second sock sometime today. I don't want too much time passing between these two socks. I have so much knitting to do over the next few months. I don't want the mate to get lost in all my Christmas knitting!

I'm Not Monkeying Around

So it seems to me that I am back on a roll with my Monkey sock. The picture I posted yesterday was of it back when I last worked on it. Which was I think Monday of last week. My knitting karma was off while I was on vacation and no matter what I knitted, I had issues. It seems I was doing more frogging that anything. The pic of it here was were it stood as of Monday afternoon. I am ready to start the foot.

As you can see I have chosen to complete these socks utilizing two circular needles. I have to say that I am loving this technique so much better that trying to works with four double pointed. I got this technique from Cat Bordhi's book "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles". She basically shows you how to do this. It is sooooooooo easy. What I love is that I can easily try on this sock for fitting. I am hoping to have this sock done by this weekend and cast-on the mate.


Besides knitting I have also been trying to get through the last Harry Potter book. I usually always read on my train ride into work, from work and right before I go to sleep. I am known to plow through an excellent book in two days. Unfortunately as much as I am loving and wanting to finish "Deathly Hallows", it is taking me longer than expected. I started a new work schedule a few weeks ago where I get up at 4:30am to be in work for 6am and it took me a few weeks to adjust to the schedule so when the book came out I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough at night before bed to read more than one or two chapters. Then I left for my vacation and forgot my book next to my bed. So it sat for a week without being cracked open. I have been really good about avoiding any spoilers anywhere so far and I hope it stays that way. I'm up to page 522 right now. I'm almost there!

Isn't this crab so cute? I bought it as a souvenir for myself from my Myrtle Beach vacation. My sister had this crab hanging one of her bathrooms at the house she just moved out of. When I spotted it, I fell in love with it. It just so happens that one of the places I did a little shopping was were her crab was bought from. I got it at a place called Lazy Gator in Murrells Inlet, SC. This place is awesome! There are so many cute and cool things in this place. I had a hard time deciding what to buy for myself. When I saw the crab sitting in a basket I knew it was going home with me. Right now I have it hanging on my cork board above my desk where I scrapbook. I find the colors very cheery to look at and it puts a smile on my face.

I would like to thank Shameka for the yummy tasty treat she gave me from Financier today at lunch. The Raspberry Chocolate Mousse was to die for! It definitely made my yucky day better. What scared me a little was that Kim took one look at it and knew what it was even though by the time she saw it there were only a few bites left. She knows her yummy treats!

Lastly, I received my Secret Pal 11 match last night! I am so excited. I can't wait to do some spoiling!

In My Knitting World

I honestly do not know where the past few days have gone! I've been wanting to get these photos up of all the fun stuff I knitted/completed while visiting my family in Myrtle Beach but I haven't had the time or energy. I've been feeling kinda blah the past couple of days. But alas, I knew no matter what, or how I felt, I would post them tonight.

So here is the before photo of my completed Felted Tote Bag (green) and Felted Sheep Tote Bag (sapphire minus the sheep) right before they hit the washing machine together:


And here are the final results:

I would first like to thank Mary Beth, my bestest sister, for taking the time to felt these bags for me the night before I got on the airplane to come back to NYC! I know we were both exhausted from our day at the beach and evening of shopping (I know it was a "tough" day for us, but hey somebody had to do it, right?). Mary Beth did all the felting work while I captured the experience on camera to scrapbook (Be on the lookout for the completed spread in the weeks to come). The bags turned out beautiful. I am officially crowning my sis as the "Felting Queen". I can't wait to start using them.

So what else did I do while on vacation? Well I completed knitting this small soft drawstring pouch(from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" book). I knitted this little project up so fast that by the time I was going to put up a progress bar, I was already done with it. I knitted this using yarn from my stash. I had one remaining skein of Plymouth Indicita Alpaca leftover from a shrug I made a couple of years ago. I ended up gifting this bag to my boyfriend yesterday. I had bought a couple of Myrtle Beach souveniers for him and wrapped them up in this. I am planning on adding some lavander (his favorite scent) to the empty bag to keep as a smell goodie next to his bed.

Oh yeah, I also worked on my Monkey socks. This picture is the stage my sock was in when I left Myrtle Beach. Country Garden has all 6 repeat patterns completed in this pic. As of right now I have finished the heel, flap and working on the gussett right now. I'll post an updated picture later. I am really loving the way this yarn is knitting up. The colors are truly beautiful. I can't wait to finish the pair so I can wear them.

I also started another Christmas gift while I was away. It's almost done. I ran out of yarn just before the end. Shameka had used the exact same yarn that I am using for this gift so hopefully what bit she had leftover will be enough to finish this project. If so, I will have 1 completed Christmas gift and many more to go!

Third Times The Charm...Right?

Doesn't the saying "Third Times the Charm" ring true? I ask because I am certainly hoping so. On Friday I began my one week vacation visiting some of my family in Myrtle Beach, SC. Since I had finished my second pair of Falling In Love Socks, I wanted to have another sock project to take on the trip with me. I decided to begin the Monkey sock. However, I wanted to do it toe up. I had requested from several people that have done this sock toe up if they could provide me with the pattern. I never heard anything back so I decided that I would attempt to convert the pattern myself. Mind you, have never ever done anything like this. So while I was sitting at LGA at 6:30am waiting for my flight, I casted on for my first ever Monkey sock using my recently purchased Cherry Tree Hill yarn, colorway Country Garden.

This is Country Garden about 30 minutes into my flight.

Around 2pm Friday afternoon, Country Garden had two lace pattern repeats completed.

After reviewing the completed work and discussing the pattern with my sister Mary Beth, we decided that some tweaking need to be done in order to get the pattern to look more like the true Monkey pattern. As a result, we had to back off 26 rounds back to the completed toe. Mary Beth was wonderful to have taken care of this for me.

Into the evening we sat around and knitted. I was happier with the results of tweaking the toe up pattern. It definitely looked more like it was suppose to. I was loving the way the colors were knitting up in this sock. By Friday evening, I had reached the beginning of Country Garden's cuff. While the pattern wasn't exactly like the Monkey, I was happy with the way it turned out considering I was writing the pattern myself. Here is Country Garden before I went to sleep.

Saturday morning arrived and I sat and analyzed Country Garden. I was no longer happy with how the sock was looking. There was something in the pattern that needed to be changed and I couldn't figure out what it was. I was becoming disappointed with how the sock was not exactly like the Monkey pattern cuff down. I decided that I need to start it all over. I was now going to knit the sock the way the pattern was written, top down. Mary Beth snapped this picture of me contemplating what I was doing.

It had to be done. While I was proud of myself for attempting to figure out the Monkey toe up all by myself, I knew in my heart that I would never be truely happy with the way the sock was looking if I had continued with the way it was. So now, I was starting the Monkey for a THIRD time. Early Saturday evening my mom, Mary Beth and I had all started the Monkey sock together. Here is a snap of what our socks looked like by the evening hours. From left to right the sock are Mary Beth's, my mom's and mine. What is funny is that this is a Monkey in three different stages. Mary Beth's had one lace pattern repeat, mom's had two and mine had three. We thought that was pretty funny.

So anyway, today has been a better knitting day. I had started a "no brainer" Christmas gift knitting project last night because I was frustrated with the Country Garden. I had backed off and redone so many pieces of it that I had to put it aside and do something different for a bit. Today I picked my sock back up and have now completed 4.5 of the lace pattern repeats. I will post a pick of it tomorrow.

In the meantime, if anyone has the Monkey sock in a toe up pattern please let me know.

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

Since I have been rummaging through my stash these past couple of weeks, last night I found the ambition to actually organize ALL of my stash and catalogue exactly what I have. I have so many project ideas running through my head and I definitely wanted to know what I could use out of my stash before heading to the store. It truly is amazing when one decides to take on this task because you find all kinds of goodies that you may have forgotten that you had bought way back when. For example, I found a couple hanks of Manos del Uruguay that I know I bought a couple of years ago for a specific project. Now, I can use it for something totally different! When I got home late this afternnon I finished up writing out what I have and now all I have to do is transfer it to my computer so I can assign the yarn to specific projects. I am very organized so having this electronic list will help me in the long run so I get through my stash. That way, once I clear out some of the stash I can have fun shopping for some new goodies!

Speaking of buying new goodies...I had placed an order through Blue Moon Fiber Arts a week or so ago for Socks That Rock yarn. Kim had given me this recommendation and after receiving my order I can not wait to knit with this yarn. The colorways are so rich looking and the yarn is soooo soft!! The picture really doesn't give this yarn justice. One thing that is great about this yarn is that you get 360 yards per skein for a great price! I had a very hard time deciding what colorways to get. I settled on starting with Mustang Sally and Lucy In the Sky. I eventually wany to get the colorway Tide Pool. I spotted it the other day while I was browsing during some downtime at work. I can see this colorway made into Monkey socks.

But the yarn purchasing didn't stop there. Yesterday after work Kim and I headed over to Seaport Yarn (Kim calls it one of her "Yarn Crack Houses"). The last time I was here I ran in & out for some circular needles. I didn't have the $$$ to purchase yarn at the time so I didn't want to drool over yarn I couldn't adopt and take home with me. However, yesterday was a different story! I felt like I was in heaven when I entered the sock yarn room. Ahhhhh, look at the Jitterbug...look at the Lorna Laces....Oooohhhhh the Cherry Tree Hill. I selected and compared, put back and reselected until I had what I needed. I was a very good girl though. I walked out of the store adopting 1 lonely sock yarn by Cherry Tree Hill. The colorway is Contemporary Garden and when I spotted it, I was feeling the Monkey bug biting me. When I expressed my desire to Kim of what to do with this yarn she confirmed that it would look very pretty as a pair of Monkeys.

I have made great progress with my second Falling In Love Sock. Between Wednesday and Thursday I was able to finish the gusset/flap heel and completed 2 pattern repeats on the cuff. This is now my third Falling In Love sock, so I feel this one is moving along nicely. I only have another 50 rounds to do and this pair will be complete. Ooooo, then here comes a Monkey.

Lastly, while organizing my stash and unfinished objects, I came across the very first sock the I ever knitted. Notice I didn't say socks. Yes, that is right. I only ever finished 1 sock. Why you may ask? Well I think it was because when I tried on the sock, it was big on my foot and I got discouraged about completing the second one. Now after looking at the sock at least 3 years later, I realize the knitting of the sock was actually well done. I even did the heel and toe in a different color. I once again tried on the sock, and while it didn't suddenly shrink when it was hibernating for the past 3 years, I didn't think it was as huge on my foot as I remembered. It definitely isn't a sock to wear in shoes, but it could possibly become a sock that I would wear around the apartment when it's chilly outside. So, I am now thinking that I may actually complete the 2nd sock after all this time. It can't remain as a lonely lost sock. Hmmmm, maybe I could find a recipient for this sock that would fill it out better than I do. We'll see.