What's This?

Some of you know that I work for a company that operates within investment banks. Well we all know times are tough, and in my office it's really bad. For reasons I'm not going to discuss, but let's just say hours are being cut (have been for months) and today extra hour cuts took place. So when I was booted to the curb at 11:15am this morning, I took the opportunity to go pick up some yarn I needed for my latest knitting project.

Sunday I started the Top-Down Raglan Cardi by CosmicPluto Knits! From my stash bin, I pulled out the two cakes of Manos Del Uruguay that was hiding in there. I've had this yarn for a few years and was thrilled to have a project to use it.

I'd like to give you a wonderful sounding name for the color, but it is simply Color: S. How original! For the remainder of the body and sleeves I am using Paton's Classic Wool in black. I am loving how the black is making the purple pop.

My sister knitted this a few months ago so I am taking advice of what she did to ensure a great fit for myself. The one thing I am doing differently is that I decided to started the black higher up on the chest instead right below the bust. I figure this would be a better position for the line since I'm a busty gal and would flatter me better. I am also going to be knitting the body longer than what is recommended and curve it over my hips some.

I'm thinking it might be off the needles sometime over the weekend.

Whoa Hoa FO

I wasn't fibbing when I mentioned yesterday I was gonna have another FO! This was a UFO from June that, once again, I came so close to finishing and then the heat of summer set in before I could.

Pattern: Ribs and Lace Tank (Interweave Knits, Spring 07)
Yarn: Berroco Touche; Colorway - Black (7.5 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 4 & 10
Started: June 4th
Finished: September 28th

I made no modifications on this knit. I know some people didn't do as many lace panels as called for, but I kept it the way it was written and glad I am did. It has a nice skirty feel without being a skirt. Covers the hips nicely. I made the straps a bit shorter than stated and kinda wish I took off another inch or so, but am happy with it very much. It fits, which is a plus and doesn't look too bad on me either. I was asked if there would be a modeling picture. My response is, there will be when I have someone to snap the picture.

Four Days

It took four days and every bit of the six skeins of yarn! Friday night Wicked became on official FO. I took the opportunity between rain drops to take it outside for a photo. I wanted the true colors to come through in the picture. As Becky mentioned in her comment, this is definitely a "Wicked" Wicked. Here's the lowdown:

Pattern: Wicked
Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino; Colorway - #130 Petal (6 Skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 7
Started: September 23rd
Finished: September 26th

I enjoyed this fast easy knit. It was my first top down raglan sleeve sweater and now I understand why so many knitters love knitting them. It was so nice not having to seam when the knitting was done. I am in love with the yarn. It's a supersoft, non-splitting, warm yarn to use for winter sweaters.

So what are my concerns? Well I do not think this pattern flatters me at all. I kinda had reservations about it before I started but decided to plunge forward. I'm glad I did but at the moment I don't like it on my body. I think when I lose about 30 pounds I will like it much better. Those who have extra something something on top may understand where I am coming from. Will I wear it at Rhinebeck? Most likey even though I think it will look awful. I can be one of those "Fashion Don'ts" that you see in back of Glamour magazines.

What issues did I encounter with the pattern? Well I first cast on for one size larger than I actually ended up knitting and when I got to the last few stitches of the first row I realized I was short 4 stitches for the pattern. Not a good start. Booboo number one. The next issue I encountered was when I went to knit the sleeves. I was smart this time because I checked to see how many stitches I would need for the pattern. Again, if I had followed the instructions I would have encountered that I was 2 stitches short for the pattern. No where does it tell you that you need to pick up 2 stitches when reattaching yarn for the sleeves. Booboo number two. Finally, I am very happy that I did not decide to add the front pocket pouch. I would not have had enough yarn at all. The pattern calls for 600 yards for the short sleeve sweater. I purchased 624 yards. I was on gauge and would not have had enough. In my opinion, Booboo nummber three.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'm busy working on a UFO and goal is to finish it today!

Rainy Goodness

Today is a rainy day here in NYC! I woke up at 6am to a torrential down pour praying that water didn't come into my home, 'cause it's been known to and my landlord doesn't know what to do to permanently fix it. So needless to say I tossed and turned and finally couldn't take it any more after an hour. I was awake and there was nothing I could do about it. I thought that at least I would be up if water began to sneak in and I'd be able to catch it before disaster struck. Fortunately that didn't happen.

So what has been happening? Why knitting of course! First I got to show ya'll the new sock I am knitting up. They are Leaves of Grass Anklet Socks, but of course I don't do anklets unless they are my running socks, so I modified the pattern. I'll give the specific mods when all is said and done. For now, here is where sock number 1 stands. I started it last week and haven't worked on it since Wicked came into my life.

Here is what Wicked is looking like now...

Not too shabby for three and half days. I just joined my last skein of yarn. I still have to finished the bottom edge and then do the cuff's on the sleeves. After trying on Wicked earlier today, I decided not to add the pocket. This yarn is doing it's own thing and is busy enough. I don't need to add another eye buzzing thing to the front pooch area!

Wickedly Pink

Ok folks. The yarn for Wicked arrived in the mail yesterday and I immediately swatched and casted-on for my official Rhinebeck sweater. I know a certain someone has been dying to know what yarn I was going to use. Well here it is in all its glory...

Not bad for two nights of knitting, hunh? I have just separated the sleeve stitches from the body and knit a couple of rounds to hold it all together. I've got 4" of stockinette before I start the waist shaping. I have decided to do the short sleeve version and not 100% sure as to whether I will add the pocket yet. We shall just wait and see.

Oh yeah. I guess you want to know about the yarn? Well it is Artyarns Supermerino in Colorway #130 Petal. I absolutely freaking love this yarn!!! I got a good deal on it at Fabulousyarn.com - 15% bulk discount (got 6 skeins total) plus another 10% first time buyer discount. I think all in all I am knitting this baby for only $42. This yarn is worth every penny too. It is so wonderfully soft and is going to feel awesome next to my skin. I will knit with it again for sure.

Christmas Sewing

The past few days I have been vigorously Fall cleaning my apartment. Lots and lots of purging, dusting and organizing was had. While I am not done, I've made good progress. So I thought that since I had accomplished so much, I would reward myself with some craftiness. I spent some quality one-on-one time with my beloved sewing machine this afternoon.

Over twelve years ago I had sewn a few quilted tree skirts. Five to be exact. The picture below shows you the first one I had ever completed. The women in my family loved it so much that they all wanted one. At the time, since our family had grown so much in size, we picked names out of a hat for exchanging Christmas presents. It was made sure that each year I got someone else's name that had not yet received one of these skirts.

It may have been a few years since I have sewn one, but it isn't something I have forgotten how to do. I have enough fabric to make four more skirts right now. I have all the squares cut out for the skirts with the exception of one of the beige fabrics needs to be cut up for three of the skirts. For the most part all fabric patterns are the same with the exception that one skirt will have a different beige fabric than all the rest. The same goes for for one of the white fabrics. Other than that, they will be identical.

I spent probably close to three hours sewing up the squares for one of the tree skirts. Each skirt has two panels to be sewn. I did both panels for the one skirt. The picture below contains both panels but I have them stacked on top of each other.

I am quite pleased with the pattern combination. I look forward to finishing it, but before I can, I must do a little shopping at my local Joann's to get the remaining materials needed for all four skirts.

My goal is to complete all the tree skirts within the next month or so. I want to sell three of the skirts to those who would like to have one in time for Christmas, either for themselves or as gifts. I would be willing to make more this year, but only if I am asked by someone who didn't get one of the three. I now my mom and sisters absolutely treasure theirs!

Swans A Singing

Can you believe I have another pair of socks done? What's going on with me? One would never know that up until last year I hated knitting socks. Now I can't stop. I'm trying to burn through my sock stash because there is always some other sock yarn I want to purchase. I refuse to have a sock stash that would take me over 100 years to knit. I'm being a good girl and am not going to buy any more sock yarn until Rhinebeck. I can probably get at least 2-3 more pairs done by then. Hunh?

Here's the lastest addition to my collection:

Pattern: Swan Song Socks by Wendy Johnson (Free Pattern @ The Loopy Ewe)
Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn; Colorway - French Navy Over Topaz (Won this yarn in one of Kim's blog contests a while back)
Needles: Knit Picks Fixed Circs Size 1.5
Started: September 3rd
Finished: September 16th

What can I say? I looooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeee the yarn. It is absolutely amazing to knit with and I want to give a huge shout out to Kim for giving this fabulous yarn as a prize. Thanks Kim! It was dreamy to have my fingers upon and my feet are going to appreciate it in the cooler weather.

The pattern is a toe-up, which I am a big fan of, and is super easy to follow. The only thing I wish I had done was knit the socks in a size 1 needle instead of the 1.5's. I originally started them with size 2's. Got all the way to the gussett increases and decided it was going to be way too big. Went down a half size and got a much better fit in the foot, but with the pattern only being on the front side of the leg, the back tends to be a little baggy. With all that said, I love these socks!

This morning I started another pair of socks. Will share another day.

On the Titled Duster front, I seamed the sleeves up last week and was going to attached them this weekend, but the humid heatwave that came through made it so I didn't want to go near this knit at all. Maybe this weekend since the temps are down in the 70's now.

I am also patiently awaiting my yarn to arrive so I can start knitting Wicked up and hopefully finish it in time for Rhinebeck. The store didn't have enough skeins in stock of the same dye lot. They said they already had an order placed for it and asked if I wanted to wait. I said absolutely. Hope it arrives this weekend. We shall see!

Who's Got Knitting Content?

The other day someone had mentioned to me that when they went to my blog they had wanted to see my knitting and what they got was horses. I laughed and teased because I rather liked my horse pictures. This person knows that I love them dearly and couldn't resist the teasing.

I know it's been a few since I've posted any knitting content. I really haven't had much to show since I displayed my progress on my Diamond Lace Top. I probably would have posted about some knitting sooner if my work hadn't decided that all Blogspot sites were "Malicious" and forbid me from posting or commenting. So that left me to do my posting/commenting at night after a long day and some days I just wanted to go straight to bed.

But alas, here is a knitting content post. I hope my particular someone approves and is happy now. She is in my mind as I write.

Here is the final installment of my "Summer of Socks 08" socks:

Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks (Favorite 25 Socks)
Yarn: Sugar Bunny Boulevard - Katherine; Colorway - Juicy
Needles: Knit Picks Fixed Circs Size 1.5
Started: August 14th
Finished: August 29th

This pattern was super easy and I am happy with the end result. My only word to the wise is that you go up a needle size when you knit them. I found that the cabling tends to make them a bit snugger that usual and could possibly be difficult to get them over your heel.

I love the Sugar Bunny Boulevard yarn. The coloring is wonderful and the feel of the yarn is supersoft. I've mentioned to some that the yarn feels "thinner" than most fingering yarns. I just think certain shoes will have to be avoided when wearing them. I'm afraid of rubbing holes in the heels. Anyway, I would purchase this yarn again because I do love it, but I plan on knitting a shawl with it (you get a generous yardage of 560). The super softness would feel wonderful wrapped around my shoulders!

While I didn't get to knit as many completed pairs as I had hoped for my first participation in Summer of Socks, I am happy with the six pairs I did finish.

Hay is for Horses

Imagine you are driving along some country rodes. You are amongst nature and all it's glory. The roads you are roaming around on are all dirt and gravel, barely enough room for two cars to pass side by side - in some places impossible. Then all of sudden you see this...

This beauty looked right at me and decided she would pose...

Isn't this stud a handsome one?

Over Labor Day I went back to Indiana to spend my four day weekend. We did alot of driving around and on Sunday afternoon we were touring a place called Crosley's. This is a huge amount of land that many go to hunt and fish.

You should have heard me when I suddenly spotted these horses. They were the last thing I expected to see. You could literally reach out and touch these beauties. These horses belong to the Christian Horse Farm in the area.

I had another great trip and as always time flies way too fast when you are enjoying yourself. I did manage to get some running in on this trip. I ran my friends challenging 8.5 mile Crosley Loop. A good portion of this run is trail running in the woods with some serious hills. I mean hills that you are running up but are so steep you feel like you are barely walking up them. The last few miles are along the highway and again major hill climbing. Let me tell you, I was very happy to see the finish line inside the county park. This was extremely challenging! I finished in 1 hour 40 minutes and have been only the 7th person to have successfully run this loop. I felt very empowered.