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.
Well, phew! A bunch of items to talk about. I keep thinking I should see a billion projects going on your progress bar, but..wow.. no can do, 'cause you can sure do,do,do. The On My Needles doesn't keep going up, it's actually going down. I am proud of all you've finished this summer. It was A LOT. And, hey, you still have a few official weeks of summer to go!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! I have accomplished a good amount, hunh? I am proud of myself. I also have to remember that I am currently knitting 3 Christmas gifts right now too. On My Needles will probably go up 2 more projects by the end of this weekend. But that's ok because it will be my 4 projects I am allowed to have going at any one time because the blue sweater is hibernating unti I see you in December. By then everything but the throw will be done!
ReplyDeleteI bought that CPH IK issue for that very reason. Maybe if I watch you work through it (in 2 months-it'll be at least 4 for me if I try it!) I'll get brave.
ReplyDeleteDo you happen to have the link to the circular version?
Sophanne - welcome to my blog! Here is the linnk to the knit along blog for the CPH - http://cphkal.blogspot.com/. If you scroll down about halfway to the "Links" section on the right side you will see a link to "Knitting the body in one piece". These are basic instructions on what you need to do to do the body. I'll definitely be posting about it throughout my knitting experience. I am always a blog post away from helping!
ReplyDeleteWait for me. Wait for me!! I get my yarn on the day after Labor Day.
ReplyDeleteNah, I am just kidding. You have a deadline to meet. So, you will probably finish this one before me as well. The color is super-duper gorgeous. First the Cranberry soap, now the Cranberry yarn. I wonder if you have any cranberry lipstick??? LOL!!!
I LOVE how your monkeys turned out. The pooling is so cool! You got a lot going on! Have fun with CPH this weekend. I might start a new sweater too, but maybe not. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteWow Deb! Your really on a roll with your knitting. You've gotten so much done. I think it is so cool how all you knitter's can create such beautiful pieces that you can actually use. The Monkey socks look great and I love the color you are using for the CPH.
ReplyDeleteKnitting is something I would love to get into again...but it just doesn't seem feasable at this time to add another thing to my list. On the other hand, it would be a great thing to work on when I go to philly...hmmm. yeah I think that is a great idea. It is something that is definately easier to carry than my scrapbook supplies. lugging my bags on the train is hard enough without adding all the things I would need to bring for my scrapbooking. Not to mention, I don't always have the time to pick everything out for my spreads before I am off for the weekend. Carring needles and a ball of yarn is much easier and it will make the time on the train go faster. Deb your going to have to give me another lesson to get me started... hopefully I'll remember what I learned before...lol! I know you will be happy for me to start knitting again. It will take me eons to get to all you guys level...but in order to get good at anything you have to start at the bottom and make your way up from there...right?
Lisa - Ooooo are you being lured back into knitting again! There is absolutely no reason why a person can not balance more than one hooby in their life. I will be more than happy to teach ya again! Once you get the basics down we can move on to the fun stuff. Netx time we get together we'll do some knitting. Who knows, maybe you'll even join mine and Shameka's Friday night knitting meetup.
ReplyDeleteYeah Deb, I guess you can say I am getting lured back to knitting. I mean...after reading all you guys blogs and seeing what great things you produce, and me being the creative person I am... I would love to be able to do the same. Plus, I am here in Philly and as I was typing my comment to you, I realized that it would be a great thing to do while I am here. So, we will see how it goes. I will look at my practice knitting that I left months ago, when I get home and try to refresh my memory.
ReplyDelete