So Warm

If you look at this picture you would think that the Provence Throw was done. Actually it isn't, but I wanted to show you all how the progress was looking. I am actually only 4" away from starting, and completing, the last 4 rows of the border. I am so excited. This will be the first blanket that I have completed. Doesn't it look toasty warm? Now that the weather has gotten cooler I have relished working on this baby because it keeps me warm while I knit on it. I believe I will be "Weaving In Ends" land this weekend. I know the person that is receiving this as a Christmas present will love it! BTW, isn't it funny how this is the only Christmas Knitting I am letting ya'll see?

Provence Throw & A Child's Growth Spurt

During my train ride home today I had an interesting thought occur to me. I was knitting away on my Provence Throw. I have been using this as my "Lunch Time Knitting" and "Train Ride Home Knitting" project lately. At lunch if I am lucky I get 2 to 2.5 rows done (we only get a 30 minute lunch break). On the train home, I manage to get at least 4 complete rows done by the time I arrive at my stop. That's pretty good to me considering I work across 204 stitches. While I was packing my knitting up in preparation to de-board the train, I took note that my throw looked noticeably longer. Then for some reason my next thought was, "Hmmm when I looked at it earlier today at lunch it didn't look too much longer than what it had been. Then tonight it had noticeable additional length just by doing 4 more rows. It's like a child's growth spurt! They go to bed one height and then in the morning you just happened to notice they grew." I know I am strange in this thinking, but these are the kinds of things that run through my head.

So as you can see, I have now completed 13 inches. I only have 42 more inches to go until it's done. I feel I am definitely making progress with this even with only knitting about 8 rows a day. If I keep this pace everyday, I do not see why I won't have this done by December!

As for my CPH, I did manage to complete the 6 inches of the Left Front. For some reason, about a half hour into my knitting I got extremely tired. Hmmm I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I get up at 4:30am to be at work for 6am to work a 10 hour day???? Nawwww, it couldn't be. So I stopped on CPH and crawled into bed to read a couple more chapters in the book "Good Guy" by Dean Koontz before I went off to snooze land. Tonight I will finish up the Left Front for sure. Will post an updated pick on that hopefully tomorrow.

BTW, I thank those of you who have shown such great interest in the knitting of CPH. I didn't realize it and since you want to really see the inch-by-inch blow of it I will continue to post updates no matter how minute they are. As to answer Sophanne's question in her comment yesterday, I haven't decided if I am going to do the sleeves in the round or not. I will look at the pattern instructions tonight and make a decision. I would really love to do it because I am one individual who really dislikes seaming. I do it when I have to, but if I can work a way around it, I am down for it.

Can You Say...

DISASTER!?! As you can see from the picture below, I have a bit of an issue. Isn't it a beauty? I think so. This past weekend I borrowed Shameka's yarn winder because I wanted to reball all the Provence yarn that I had. About half of the skeins I had bought for a previous afghan project that I took apart last summer needed to be rewound into center pulling balls. Now, I had four skeins that were still in the original state and thought since I had the winder I would go ahead and ball them too. Since I didn't have the swift, I improvised. I've done it before and had no problem. My method is simple. Place the skein of yarn around my neck and unravel some and wind, unravel some and wind. It really does work. However, on this skein I had it hanging off my arm as I wound it and before I knew it, there was a knot. As I was trying to work the knot out, the other end of the skein got all twisted in with it. Next thing I knew, I had two separate balls of knots on the floor. You can see that I attempted to wind the ball from the other end so I could maybe untangle it. Such a BIG mess! I'm just so proud of myself.

After reading responses from my post yesterday, I decided that some of you do want to see my blow by blow, inch by inch progress on my projects. So here is the first one. My Provence Throw. I just started the second skein of yarn last night. Even though I am knitting across 204 stitches it is actually knitting up pretty quickly. I am up to 6.5" right now. I'll be knitting to 55" in length. I'm really happy with it.

...and here is my Central Park Hoodie. As you can see, it doesn't look too different from my last post. When I took it to bed last night to work on it, I only got a couple of rows done before I had to put it to the side. My apartment has no air condition and last night my apartment was pretty humid. Even with my fan blowing on me, it was hard knitting on this. Tonight I am planning on devoting more time to it. The good news is that I measured it last night and I am up to 11.5". That means I am 3.5" away from starting the armholes. This is where I'll be knitting each part separately because of the armhole shaping. There isn't a way around it. That's ok though because knitting the body as one piece saves me from having to seam the sides and that it fantastic to me.

Finally, here is the link to the "Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks" pattern. Enjoy!!!

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.