A Couple Christmas Gifts Revealed!

Are you ready to see some results of my Christmas Gift knitting? Since I won't be in town for the holidays, I wanted to go ahead and spread some holiday loving to my dear friends. So here we go...

First up is Lisa's gift! She was the first person to receive one of my handmade gifts. Lisa came over on Friday for our 2nd Annual Christmas Cookie Baking event and it was no time like the present to give her my gift. I chose to knit her the Ruffles Scarf and a Basic Hat jazzed up with some sequins. The scarf was done in Classic Cotton (3 skeins) and the hat was done in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (Little over 1 skein) and Berroco FX (half of skein). This was the first gift I knitted way back in August. I must say, Lisa was thrilled with the gift!

Next up is Shameka's gift. I surprised her at lunch today. She too received a Ruffles Scarf and a Basic Hat without the sparkles (She already has a hat like that one). I used Berroco Touche (Fushia - 4 skeins) for the scarf and a little over 1 skein for the hat. Now I bought this yarn in August while I was vacationing in South Carolina but these two items didn't get done until just recently. Of course, any of ya'll who know Shameka knows that she loved the color choice for her gift!

Stay tuned to more Christmas gifts revealed. I have a few more surprises in store before I get on that plane Friday morning!

Lost????

Yes, it's been a bit since I last posted anything. The past couple of weeks I haven't felt up to par. Been sick with what my doctor calls the *Killer* virus. Funny thing is, when I saw her last Tuesday, she told me that I should be back to 100% in 4 - 5 days. Amazingly, I was. By Monday I felt normal again. Thank goodness!!!

So I have been asked if I am *Lost* in my Christmas knitting?!?! The answer is yes, and I don't know when I'll be found. Right now I have Christmas projects in progress spread out on my kitchen table. The bad news is, 3 of them have mistakes and I haven't had a chance to fix them. With being sick for 2 weeks, I just put them to the side and moved onto a different Christmas project.

However, there is good news. I finished knitting Provence Throw over the weekend. Now all I have to do is weave in all those ends before Sunday. I am meeting the recipient of this blanket for a Christmas celebratory lunch then and will get a picture of it to share with you all. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Very warm and I have enough yarn left over to make another one. Remember this yarn was purchased several years ago and was going to be a different blanket back then, so I needed many more skeins. Now I have extra. I'll have to decide what I am going to do.

I think between now and when I get on my flight to South Carolina on the 21st, I will be living, eating, breathing knitting. It's ok though. I always have a way of finishing everything even if it's on Christmas Eve!

Yarn Enstashancements!

Look what showed up in the mail for me over the weekend! I really don't know who or where this came from, but I'll take it (smiling with an innocent look on my face). Ya'll will notice that I got this green thing going on right now. I think it has to do with someone's sock yarn that has mesmerized me. I am not known to be a *green* kinda girl, but I am finding myself being drawn to the dark green lately.

I am really into knitting cardigans for myself right now and while I was perusing some old magazines looking for a particular pattern, I came across this sweater. This Zippered Jacket is from Vogue Knitting, Winter 2004/05. I am going to knit it with Knit Picks Merino Style yarn in Pine.


This yarn here was actually the real reason why I was shopping at Knit Picks again. I wanted to get ShineSport yarn in River to make the Peapod Baby Set. My girlfriend had her first baby in August and I wanted to knit something up for her son for Christmas. This blue is really as vibrant as it appears in the photo.

Then I was perusing the *Clearance* yarn and came across these beauties. Yes it is actually shades of green! What makes this yarn for me is the deep green. This is Knit Picks Gossamer yarn in Leprechaun. I have a total of 1,320 yards and I am looking to make my first shawl with it. I have no idea what pattern right now, but I'm sure in time it will come to me.

So yes, I kinda had a falling down at Knit Picks last week, but I absolutely refuse to place an order unless I can get free shipping. The ShineSport yarn didn't cut the mustard when it came to meeting the $45 requirement, sooooooooooooo can you blame me for tossing the other yummies in?

Our First Snow!

Well Mr. Weatherman got the forecast right! This is what I saw when I looked out my door this morning. Isn't it pretty? While some of my New Jersey friends already had their first snow a couple of weeks ago, this is the first for NYC. What I loved the most when I stepped out my door to snap these pictures was the silence that came with this winter wonderland.

Oh Ribby Where Art Thou?

I am so thrilled that I returned the Terra Cotta yarn to Knit Picks and picked up the Sea Spray colorway. Here are my Ribby Sleeves as they have stood since last weekend. I am finding that knitting these sleeves seem to be taking forever. When I did CPH's sleeves I felt like they whipped up in a jiffy. Maybe because it's just straight stockinette instead of *fancy* cable work? Oh yeah, that reminds me that I decided to only rib the cuffs on my Ribby. I didn't really like the ribbing going all the way up the sleeve. I wanted it to look more like a jersey I guess or maybe it's just the thought of the ribbing sleeves clinging to my arms?!?! Hmmmm.

Anyway, I have decided that by the end of this weekend the sleeves WILL be done. I really want to have everything done (with the exception of the zipper) on Ribby by the time I fly to SC for Christmas. What? That gives me 20 days.

I believe I am now up to date with showing off my knitting projects. Off to knit land! BTW, there are still 2 spots left in my PIF.

Pay It Forward

I just read about this "Pay It Forward" crafty thing on Kim's blog. I think this is a great idea and signed right up on her blog. So here is how it works, and I am just going to take the description from Kim's blog:

“The idea of the exchange is I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

So here you are guys. An opportunity to get something homemade from me. The first 3 people to comment to this "Pay It Forward" post saying that they are participating will get an item from me. If for some reason I don't get 3 responses (because you know, I don't know alot of people who read my blog), I will randomly pick 3 people in my life to receive something from me when they least expect it and I know in my heart they will follow through with the PIF. As I fufill each PIF, I will write a post about it once that person has received their item.

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?

Friend or Foe?

On this last day of the extended holiday weekend I chose this morning to relax on my couch and work on some Christmas knitting gifts. While I was knitting away in my own silent little world, I heard this scratching noise. I immediately stopped what I was doing and sat breathlessly while waiting to see if this noise would happen again. What was strange about this noise is that it sounded as is it was coming from right above my head. The scratching noise did indeed occur again, which is good 'cause I think I was turning blue from holding my breath in anticipation. I immediately looked up from my couch and this is what I saw:

Can you believe it? Fawkes had flown in from I don't know where. She decided that hanging out on my wooden divider between the living and sleeping area was a good place to perch. I have to say I was extremely relieved when I saw this flash of hot pink! I didn't want to imagine what else that noise could have been.

Anyway, Fawkes is telling me that I should be working on her heel instead of all this Christmas knitting! What am I to do?!?!? I'm hoping to get the heel going on Fawkes this week.

My Winnings!

Ya'll remember when I won Becky's "New Puppy Advice" contest? Well I recieved the amazing yarn from her stash on Wednesday. After I won, she let me choose which color I wanted. As soon as I saw the "Midnight" blue yarn I knew it was my choice. Ya know, the blue will just bring the blue out in my eyes more and, of course, I thought it would go really well with a nice pair of blue jeans.

So here is my question to you all. I have 10 skeins of this beautiful Rowanspun 4 ply yarn. I have a total of 1620 yards. The gauge is 26-28sts/38-40 rows over 4 inches on size 3 needles. What should I knit with it? I have no idea. I am open to any and all suggestions. Until then, it will marinate happily with all my other yummy yarns.

Thanks again Becky!

Is It Christmas Already?

No, it's my final package from my Secret Pal 11 spoiler! Can you believe all the goodies that Marsha included? This is a five themed package. As you can see there is "Sock Knitting" - it included 4 skeins of yarn in my favorite colors and the Vogue knitting "Socks Two" book; "Tea Time" - it included "The Book of Tea", Honey Sticks to have with my tea and a box of tea "Gingerbread Spice" (which I haven't even seen this in my stores); "Yummy Stuff" - it included a HUGE 1+ pound of chocolate (which I have to admit I taste tested last night and it passed with flying colors); "Christmas Stuff" - it included very cute Christmas stocking needle protectors and Christmas tree shaped dishes; and "Fun Stuff" - it included adorable Mary Engelbreit notecards and a tea light holder!

Thanks to Marsha I really feel a great success with SP11. I have so throughly enjoyed getting to know her and look forward to being able to correspond with knowing who she is now!!! Marsha was a fantastic spoiler and I thank her with all my heart. This was sooooooo much fun!

Thank you Marsha! You are the best!!

Chevron FO

Yes folks, that is correct. I have another FO to add to my list. Friday night I decided to complete the last inch of my Chevron Scarf. I had wanted to start the Left Front on my Ribby Cardi that night and needed my size 5 needles to do the ribbing. So instead of "borrowing" the needles from Chevron, I just sucked it up and finished her off. So here she is all wrapped up amongst herself. She's being a little camera shy. I honestly don't blame her though. I would hide too if I were a little warped. She just needs a good steam bath that's all. Hopefully she'll be ready to show her beautiful colors in a few days!

On Sunday, I had paid a little visit to JoAnne Crafts out on Long Island. As you can see from this picture I have picked out the buttons I will be needing for my Knitty Thermal. The pic doesn't really do the buttons justice. They have a bit of shimmer and really pick up the color of my Gloss yarn just beautifully. While I won't be starting this until I finish my Ribby, I am just happy I have all the things I need for it now.

I just finished the Left Front of my Ribby tonight and will be casting on for the Right Front later. Looks like I will be in sleeve island by Friday!!!

CPH FO

My Central Park Hoodie is complete and finished before my deadline! It took me a little over an hour on Saturday afternoon to finish seaming the other sleeve and seam the sleeves onto the body. It was so unbelievably easy! No problems at all and everything looked perfect on the first try.

I thought I would be showing you all pictures of me modeling CPH, but unfortunately on Sunday I forgot to bring my camera out with me to Long Island. I didn't want to delay showing off CPH so here are pics of my couch modeling it.

I started CPH on August 31 and finished on October 27. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in colorway Cranberry. CPH took a total of 10.5 skeins to complete. I did not incorporate buttons on this one. I made the size 36 version of this and was way too far into knitting the body when I read it fit snug. CPH does fit me, a bit snug in the sleeves (just gotta get the flab off and it will fit better). I am thinking about putting in a zipper, but until then I will use a pin to keep it closed.

I am really happy with how CPH turned out for me. I have fallen back in love with knitting sweaters. So much so I have started my next one already.

CPH Where Are You?

Here is a little CPH completion teaser. No I am not done yet, but by the end of this weekend I will be. Tonight after work I had settled down with my oh-so-fantastic OTT-Lite and needle to start the seaming on my sweater. I took my sister's advice and used the Mattress Stitch to seam the hood and sleeves. As you can see here in the picture, I managed to finish up the hood completely and seam one sleeve into a tube in preparation for attaching it to the body.

I must say that I am an individual that dreads seaming anything. BUT, after doing the little bit I had to tonight, I am beginning to think it's not as bad anymore. I question, is it because I am a more experienced knitter than the last time I knitted a sweater? Is it that my sister gave me some great tips on how to do this? Is it that I did it in the best light possible with total peace and quiet? I don't know, but I sure do hope that I feel this way about seaming after I get those sleeves attached to this baby!

My plans are to seam the other sleeve into a tube tomorrow and if I have time before I get totally exhausted at the end of my day, I will try and attach the sleeves. If not tomorrow, then Saturday will be the day. I am hoping to have some pictures of me modeling CPH on Sunday. We shall see. I am anxious to finish!

I'm Having A "Hot Flash"

The correct amount of marinating time for Hot Flash in my stash was approximately 24 hours! I guess I didn't want her to get too cozy and comfortable in there. I just happened to be organzing and cleaning up my knitting stuff last night and came across the pattern that Hot Flash was destined to be.

Since I had finished up Mustang Sally socks, I decided that I didn't want to have to wait to cast on for my new socks. (Waiting = Having to Get Yarn Balled) Before I turned off the lights for the night, I sent a text to Shameka to see if I could borrow her winder today. Of course she came through for me! Thank you sweetie!

The last time a I wound yarn I had a bit of a fiasco, I decided that Hot Flash was going to be wound using my tried and true method to avoid any disasters. I thought I would share with you guys what I go through to ball my yarn. Of course the above pic is of this beautiful yarn hanging off my neck. Isn't it great how I color coordinated my top with the yarn? The pic to the right here is the yarn spread across my floor. I unwrap the yarn from around my neck several times to avoid choking myself to death. Can you imagine death by yarn?!?!?

Then here is the result of my hard work. An almost perfectly wound ball of yarn. (I say almost because nothing is ever perfect in my mind) Oooo isn't the color puuurrrrrtttyyyy?

So while I'm winding away my mind is pondering on why I love STR yarn so much. I asked myself if it was the colorways, the yummy feeling of the yarn, the consistency of the yarn, what? My answer is all of the above. Out of all the yarn I have knitted with so far, this one is my favorite right now.

So let me ask all of you. What is your most favorite yarn you have knitted with up until now and why? It doesn't have to be sock yarn. It can be anything. I'm curious because I know there is soooooo much yarn out there that I have yet to knit with and who knows, maybe I'll get an idea for a future yarn purchase.

Here is what Hot Flash is destined to be. The pattern is called Fawkes and for those of you who are "Harry Potter" fans know who Fawkes is. The pattern is a Socktopia exclusive and I came across it while perusing Ravelry one day back in August. The stitch motif is a rising flame on a garter rib background.

Ride Sally Ride

Yes folks, you can believe yours eyes! I have completed a 2nd FO this week. Mustang Sally socks are done done done! Woo Hoo. I absolutely love them.

This was the first time I knitted with Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock yarn and I can't wait to knit with it again. This yarn lives up to its name. It totally rocks! Mustang Sally is turning out to be a popular colorway. Shameka and Deb, as in Chappy's Mom, both bought it this past weekend at Rhinebeck.

So the pattern for Mustang Sally was a combination of a couple different techniques. I chose to knit them toe-up utilizing the way I knitted my Falling Love Socks toe-up and adjusted the pattern/stitch count etc. to accomodate the pattern of 2x2 Rib. This was the first time I ever ventured out to try something like this. I had never ever thought about "creating" my own sock.

Even though I wasn't able to attend Rhinebeck this year with everyone, I did have a personal shopper helping me out. See what Kim brought back to me??? This is Socks That Rock in colorway Hot Flash! The name suits this yarn perfectly don't you think?. I immediately fell in love it with as soon as she showed it to me at lunch today. This is the first yarn I have in Mediumweight from STR. I'm gonna have to let it marinate for a bit until I decide the perfect pattern for it.

Now this yarn here Kim didn't purchase for me this year. A few weeks ago I had been blog "snooping" and came across a post of Kim's stash on her blog. I immediately spotted this awesome pink and black yarn. That's right, I spotted it on the back of the table amongst all the other lovely yarn she has in her stash. I took a chance and asked her if she could tell me what yarn it was. I wanted it, but I didn't even know if she still had it in her stash anymore since the post was from February. Kim bought this yarn at Rhinebeck last year. She told me she would see if they had it this year and if they did she would get it for me. She told me today that the Gypsy Girl Creations yarn didn't come out at Rhinebeck until Sunday and by then she spent all her $$$ (Hmmm I really wonder how that happened?!?!). She so graciously offered to me out of her stash. As soon as I saw it in person today I had no problem whipping the cash over for it. Kim thank you soooooooooo much!!!!! I think I'm gonna make another pair of Monkeys with this yarn.

SWS FO

So where did the weekend go? I mean I get a three day weekend every weekend, but I sure didn't get any of the stuff I really wanted to get accomplished this weekend. Friday started off well, but when the afternoon hit I curled up in bed with a book I picked up at the library and before I knew it I woke up at 6:30pm.

Saturday started even better than Friday. I got up early and did my laundry, went for a 3 mile run in the park, hit the post office and went to CVS to get some cleaning supplies. My goal for the afternoon was to clean clean clean and then knit knit knit. No sooner had I walked back in the door from CVS and turned on the water to clean my dishes then my phone rang. All of a sudden I had afternoon/evening plans and all that cleaning and knitting when out the window.

Sunday started of the worst of the three days. I had wanted to get to the gym before Lisa came over at noon for a few hours of knitting together. Well, my inner body clock didn't wake up until 10:30am. The gym went out the same window all the cleaning and knitting had gone on Saturday. So I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do this weekend. I keep telling myself there is always next weekend.

After Lisa left today, I curled up on my couch with Provence Throw and finally watched "We Are Marshall". BTW, what a great movie!!! Afterwards I spent some time finishing up my SWS hat. Finally another FO. It's not my CPH but at least it's something. This hat comes down over my ears so it will definitely get its wear this winter.

Stay tuned for a CPH FO. I will finish it next Saturday. I just need a day to myself to get it done.

Pictures From Yesterday

What's Up?

Is mercury in retrograde? Are all the planets not aligned properly? What is the issue today?!?!?!

First, I know I haven't posted since last Wednesday. Friday was a little hectic for me and I didn't really knit too much over the weekend. After I had done my running around in the morning on Friday, and having lunch with Lisa, I jetted up to AC Moore to get some stuff for Christmas gifts. While I was there I picked up a skein of Patons SWS colorway Natural Slate. I had spotted it and decided I wanted to do a hat for myself since the cooler weather is upon us now. I knew this was going to be a very quick knit so I didn't hesitate. Plus, I fell in love with the beautiful gray coloring and I rememberd my sis writing on her blog that gray this season is the new black.

Anyway, after I got home on Friday night, I sat down with CPH to work on the button band. I had decided that since the hood was going to need seaming I was just going to knit the bands seperately. So the pattern told me to pick up 150 stitches evenly across the left front. I thought no problemo. I've picked up stitches before. Well let me tell you, I started at the tippy top of the hood and picked up all the way down to the tinsy tiny bottom stitch of the ribbing and I only managed to pick up 104 stitches. Hmmmmm (I said to myself). I looked closely at what I had done and noticed that everthing laid flat. So what did I do? I went ahead and took charge of my knitting and said "Who needs to pick up 150 stitches?". I managed to completed 6 rows of the ribbing before I put it away for the night. I was happy to be one step closer to finishing CPH.

After I hit the gym Saturday morning, I sat down to finish up my CPH. I looked down at the ribbing edge where the button band started and noticed that the band was curved up, even though I picked up stitches in the tinsy tiny last knot of the bottom stitch. I said "Hmmmmm". I immediately dialed 911 for help! That's my sis of course. After her and I had a lengthy conversation about picking up stitches I tore everything out that I had done the night before to start all over. Mary Beth told me another way to pick up stitches and I have to say it turned out beautifully in the end. But the drama doesn't end here. I went about picking up the stitches again for the second time. I was very careful and battled the new way of doing this to get my stitches that I needed. When I was done I did a stitch count not once, not twice, but three times and guess what I came up with? 188 stitches picked up. I pondered on what to do. It looked beautiful. No puckering anywhere, nothing looked wrong. So again I decided to take charge of my knitting and decided "Who needs 150 stitches when 188 does just as good, if not better, for me?" By the end of Saturday I had the left side of the button band completed. I was going to leave the right one for Sunday.

When Sunday came my knitting plans changed a bit. Instead of doing the right button band of CPH, I decided to start my SWS Hat. It's very simple with a ribbing band and then stockinette stitch on top. By the time my train pulled into Long Island at 5pm, I was into my decrease rows. SWS will be done by the weekend no doubt.

Did I knit Monday?!?!?! Believe it or not I only knitted a couple of rows on my Provence Throw. Nothing to brag home about. Tuesday I picked up my Chevron Scarf again while I was at work. Between yesterday and today I am up to 55.5". I got very excited today because the light pink yarn finally crossed over to the other side of the scarf. I couldn't believe it! It's been teasing me and teasing me and then BAM it's there.

Last night I did pick CPH back up. I wanted to at least pick up the stitches before I went to bed. Let me tell you. I had issues with this. I don't know what was going on with me but knitting was not working out for me last night. At first I did not pick up enough stitches, so I had to fix that and I eventually did (after counting 188 stitches about 20 times to ensure I had the right amount). Once I was assured I had my correct number I followed the pattern and started off with a P2. I got all the way to the bottom of the band and noticed that the P2K2's didn't align with the left side. So I backed off the 188 stitches I just did and started with a K2 this time. When I reached the bottom of the button band I noticed that I was ending with a P2 instead of a K2. I said "What the heck?!?!". I counted my pairs to just ensure I actually did have the 188 stitches cause at that point I just wasn't sure of anything anymore. While doing this, when I got back to the beginning of the row I noticed that four stitches in I did two K2's instead of one. So this left me backing off almost 188 stitches, again. By this time my fingers were hurting from doing the picking up stitches part. I was so frustrated as I was backing off, but was determined to get it fixed before I went to bed. Needless to say, I managed to fix my problem and knit 6 rows.

Tonight after work I resolved myself to finishing the right button band. And I did! I took awesome photos to show you all. I am quite proud. The two sides line up perfectly. All the knitting is done and now I just have to seam the hood and sleeves.

So you are probably wondering where are the pics of these projects? After reading all this text I would be wondering. Well remember all the way at the beginning of this post when I asked if mercury was in retrograde or something? Well my knitting issues that I've been having didn't end there. I was now having computer issues. At first I couldn't get my computer to recognize my external hardrive, where I have all my pictures saved. After 15 minutes of tinkering I fixed it but then I couldn't get my computer to recongize my camera to transfer these pictures. After another 15 minutes or so I managed to get the pics off my camera onto my computer. I was sooooooo relieved! Oh but it's not over. I went to upload my pictures to this post and Blogger is having issues with picture uploads right now and just so ya'll know "They are aware of this problem and are working on resolving the issue".

So there you have it. There are no pictures with this post. I am so sad about it because everything is looking great. Hopefully tomorrow everything will be back to normal.

Update! Update! Read All About It!

Oh isn't she coming along nicely? I feel like a proud parent. Chevron is just growing and growing by the minute. This totally addictive knit is up to a whopping 37"! This has been my commute knitting during the past week and I love seeing people's eyes on the train watching me and wondering how the heck I am knitting it. I had one co-worker ask me the other day, "Oh that is so pretty but where is the light pink coming from?". At the time I was knitting with Backstabber and had Hard Rock inside a bag. My response was, with a smile on my face, "It's magic!". She looked at me strangely, and honestly I would have too, and I then showed her the other skein of yarn. I think she was a bit relieved to know I wasn't loco!

I am so glad that Kim joined me in the Chevron addiction craze! You should check her's out if you haven't already. She's using a great Tinkle color!

CPH is progressing nicely. It's the only project I worked on last night. My sister called me while I was at the gym last night and she actually mentioned in her message that maybe I was not answering her call so I could knit. Like I would ever do such a thing?!?!? At least not to her. LOL

Anyway, you can see in this pic that the hood is moving. I have completed 7" of the 11" needed before decreasing. Woo Hoo! I think I definitely will be making my deadline of mid-October. We shall see. I'm off to unwind, eat and knit!

Blocked and Seamed

So my mission on Friday was to block my CPH. I took my sister's wonderful advice and pinned the pieces to my mattress. This worked perfectly, and really, I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. What's also great with this is that with steam blocking them on the mattress, everything will be dry in time for you to put the sheets back on the bed and hunker down for a good night's sleep!

I didn't get a chance to seam the shoulders together this weekend, so after I got home from work and the gym tonight I made it a priority. I used Shameka's idea of single crocheting the pieces together. I am very happy with the results. Using this technique made things a bit easier for me, since I dislike seaming with a passion. I'm sure the more I do it the more it will agree with me (hopefully).

Now I am working on the hoodie. I've picked up all the stitches and have worked five pattern rows. We'll see how it goes this week!

I Ccacacaaan't Stop

Oh my goodness! I can not stop knitting this scarf. It's addictive. I got really excited when I started to see the light pink color start to slowly creep to the other side of the scarf. I keep holding my breath in wonderment of whether or not the pinks will completely switch sides and then back again. I can't wait to see how this scarf turns out when it's all done.

Right now I am at 16"! I'm roughly 23% done with this baby. The more of it I knit, the more in love I am with it. I can't wait for the cooler weather to be upon us so I can wear it.

I was so happy to read everyone's remarks about how this turning out. It's nice when I "hear" the feedback of how much you guys like/love the colors. And again, there will be absolutely no snatching of this scarf at all! LOL Startitis is coming ya'lls way. And really guys, don't fight it. Anyone can complete this knit while working on other fun things!

A Chevron We Will Go

At around 10:20 this morning I ran up to the 24th floor to pick up my newly balled yarn from Shameka. We usually have lunch together around 1pm, but I couldn't wait to get my hands on this yarn. I wasn't kidding yesterday when I told ya'll the Chevron Scarf would be on my needles by tonight. I went to work today fully prepared to start this scarf. By 12pm I had cast-on and completed the first 4 rows of the pattern. It is not unusual to walk by my desk and see my knitting sitting next to my computer. While some people surf the web endlessly during their downtime, I knit. Even if it's only a couple of stitches here and there, I am just happy to be able to knit.

By lunchtime I had 2 pattern repeats completed. I think Shameka was a bit surprised to see that I actually had started it. I had told her when I picked up the yarn that I wanted to start it asap. When she sat down at the table I looked up at her and told her I wasn't kidding about getting it going. I am absolutely loving knitting this pattern. This is definitely one of those "brainless" knitting projects and it is workingup fast. The picture here is where the scarf stood at 4pm when I was getting ready to leave work for the day.

I was a good girl and didn't knit while on the train ride home. I decided to use my 45 minutes reading a new book that I started last night. My commute home is one place that I can really knock out several chapters of reading. Besides, I knew that I would be knitting tonight before bed.

The picture below is where the scarf is now. I wasn't sure at first how I was going to like having the light pink on one side of the scarf and the hot pink on the other. The more I knit the more I am really liking the effect. This picture doesn't really do the colors justice. I will have to take a picture of it in natural light and post it.

A New Knit?

Everyone is talking about Rhinebeck! Can't believe it's only a few weeks away. Well I am probably one of the only few that won't be going this year out of the millions that are. But that's ok because I know there is always next year! Besides I have a couple of personal shoppers volunteering to shop for me. Thank you guys!

Many people are saying how they aren't buying any more yarn until Rhinebeck (at least that is what their mouths are saying, but I think their brains haven't processed that information LOL). So when I saw this yarn online at Blue Moon Fiber Arts I knew it was coming to be in my stash (but it won't be in it for long). I'm one of the few that can make purchases right? I could have easily waited for my personal shopper to try and get me this yarn at Rhinebeck, but I didn't want to wait. I can be a little impatient sometimes. Yes I could have saved shipping $$$'s, but then that would have meant I would of had to wait. Why torture myself?!?!

The top yarn in this pic is the colorway Backstabber and the bottom one is Hard Rock! Love the names and love the colors. I knew right away that Hard Rock was going to be a quick seller. The color combo is awesome.

So what am I going to knit with this lovely yarn? I have decided to use it for the Chevron Scarf from the "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" book by Joelle Hoverson. I am going to start the scarf with Backstabber and it will get alternated with Hard Rock every 2 rows after the initial 4 rows of the first color. Then the scarf ends with 4 rows of Backstabber. I am very excited to start this project. It will definitely be on my needles tomorrow night after I get my balled yarn from Shameka tomorrow. Yes I haven't purchased a winder yet. It's on my list. LOL

SP11 Delivery!

Look what I got in the mail on Saturday? It was another delivery from my Secret Pal spoiler! The theme of this package was pink, and personally, I think it was quite the appropriate theme for October. Everything was wrapped in some sort of pretty pink paper!

A variety of items were included in this package. I can't wait to try the Blackberry tea! I've never had this flavor and since I enjoy sweat teas I'm sure this one will be a winner. My pal included 2 skeins of Incredible yarn in Autumn Rose. I love love love the colors! I'll probably knit up a scarf with this. Not sure yet. Also in the package was a little pink candle, some Trader Joe's Oatmeal & Honey Soap (sounds yummy hunh?) and this cute little pink zipper bag, which will definitely carry some knitting notions. Thank you so much Brytomart! Your package put a huge smile on my face!

Fifth Avenue Mile

The weather could not have been more perfect for a road race yesterday! The highs were in the low 70's. This race (Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile) is the shortest race offered by the New York Road Runners Club and it is one of the best. This is the only time runners get to race down Fifth Avenue. The race is only a mile, but there sure is a hill you have to climb and once you reach the top it is all downhill to the finish line. This is the second time I have run this race and I love it because you don't hold back. This is the time to see just how fast you can run a mile. While I can say my finish time was much faster last year, I am not disappointed with my 9:00 minute mile yesterday.

As for the knitting front, I have yet to block CPH. I started to do it yesterday and realized my method of pinning the pieces to towels was not going to work. I need to get a board in which I can push the pins into so the pieces will stay in place. I am disappointed because I really wanted to block, seam and start that hood. Now I am not sure when that is going to happen.

So in the meantime I have been knitting furiously on the Provence Throw. As of yesterday evening I have worked 21.5" of the 55". I just started my fourth skein of yarn and it's starting to get a little weight to it. I'm still planning on lugging it around for my train knitting right now.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. BTW...my sister's kitten came home on Friday night. She was able to get her from the woods around 10pm. Kitty was out for 11 days and she is very happy to be home where she belongs. Hopefully she learned her lesson. I am so happy for Mary Beth and Kitty.

Taaaa Daaaa!

Lookie lookie! What do we have here? Oh my, I think it is TWO completed CPH sleeves!!! These babies are hot off the needles. I finished them not more than 5 minutes ago. I am so thrilled that I did both sleeves at the same time. There's nothing like knowing you don't have to cast-on for the second sleeve. While I don't mind doing it for socks, because they are alot smaller, sleeves are another story.

So what is happening next with CPH? Well hopefully tomorrow I will find some time to block the body and sleeves. I really want to get that done, stitch everything together and get started on the hoodie part of CPH. The hood will be on my needles this weekend for sure. OoOOoohhhh Shameka (calling out to my darlin' friend)!

A Little Bit Of Everything

I really didn't get much knitting done this weekend. Everytime I sat down to knit on Friday evening, I just felt sick to my tummy. I think it had a lot to do with getting to bed really late and then waking up really late in the day. My system was all out of wack. But, tonight I was able to make some good progress on my CPH sleeves. I have completed 8 increase rounds and only have 2 more to go (that's going to be a total of 16 rows more). After that I will be working on finishing the sleeves up to measure 19" before I attack the sleeve cap.

Today I managed to finally bind-off my first Mustang Sally sock. I used a new technique for this. I completed the sewn bind-off. I am really impressed with how it turned out. I didn't have to worry about it being too tight or too loose. It was just right. I must remember this technique for future socks. I will cast-on for the second sock by the weekend. I'm currently working on another Christmas gift and I want to make some good headway on it before I pick-up Mustang Sally #2. Plus I want to give CPH some TLC this week. As soon as I finished the sleeves I will block everything and seam. I can't wait to start the hood!

So as I said earlier, I didn't get much knitting done this weekend. On Saturday Lisa came over and we did some scrapbooking. Or should I say, Lisa scrapbooked and I printed pictures. I printed enough pictures to create 5 more spreads. I did manage to finish "At The Exhibit" spread on Saturday though. I had everything done last weekend except for the journaling. Now my scrapping count will increase to 2 more completed. This spread is from my visit to the Skyscraper Musuem in Battery Park. It's amazing that there are actually musuems we can go to in the city for $5. In addition to the Burj Dubai building exhibit, they also had a section dedicated to the Twin Towers. It was awesome to see photos from when they were being built.

My Fav's

All this talk the past couple of days about seaming and finishing of our wonderful knitting projects made me think about my favorite knitting techniques books. I thought I would share with you all my 2 all time favorite/reliable books that I have fallen back on many times during my 5 years of knitting. They are "The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques" by Nancie M. Wiseman and "Vogue Knitting Quick Reference".

The Knitter's book is one my sister Mary Beth turned me onto a few years ago. This is a fabulous book. It gives you detailed step by step instructions and awesome color pictures. It also gives you the "Benefits" and "Drawbacks" to doing the techniques listed in the book.

When I first started knitting in 2003 I sat my butt in Barnes and Noble one day looking through all the knitting books. I was determined to go home with a book that was going to help me in my time of need and despair. I loved the Vogue Knitting Reference book (ya know the big one) but I wanted something smaller that would be portable. That is why I love the Quick Reference guide. Just like the Knitter's book, this one has great colorful pictures and detailed instructions.

I have a third book that I won't even mention it's name here. I bought it because it had some things I needed more detail on at one time. The thing that I truly dislike about this unmentionable book is that the pictures are all in black and white and handrawn. I think I have only referred back to it 1 or 2 times in 5 years.

So anyone who asks me for some reccomendations on reference books to buy, I would quickly tell them these two! What are some of ya'lls favorites?

This is a picture of the Knitter's book TOC. Look at all the great topics!

And here is the Vogue Knitting TOC. What is great about this, is that each Chapter is broken down even more once you turn to it!