My Knitting Life: 02

Welcome back for the next installment of "My Knitting Life". I am a wee bit late with this post as last Friday I left work thinking I had food poisoning, but as it turned out, I had the stomach flu. Ugh. Needless to say, I spent days in bed not feeling human at all. I went back to work on Tuesday, but in reality, I am still not 100%, but will get there.

So let's get on with my knitting update.

Finished Objects

Nope. Nada. None.

WIPs

#1: Saltwater Taffy Hermione's Everyday Socks
Started: February 25, 2017
Yarn: Three Irish Girls - Adorn Sock - Saltwater Taffy
Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Sock by Erica Lueder
Needles: HiyaHiya Sharps - Size 1 US

Last week I only had the beginning's of a sock. Just the cuff and a couple of rows into the leg. This week is a whole different story.

I have a HO and half of the second sock completed.

As soon as I finished the first sock, I weaved in the ends and immediately cast on for sock number two. No second sock syndrome here. I am pretty sure the next time you see this sock, it will be an FO!

#2: Goldfinch Shawl
Started: March 1, 2017
Yarn: O-Wool - Sport - Devil's Pool, Paw Paw and Watermill
Pattern: Goldfinch by Andrea Mowry
Needles: HiyaHiya Sharp Interchangeable - Size 6 US

One of my last purchases at Rhinebeck last year was this yarn from O-Wool:

In reality, both my sister and I purchased this yarn. As we walked by the O-Wool booth, we noticed a completed Goldfinch shawl on display. It was beautiful and was immediately decided we had to knit it in the exact same colors as the one on display. Luckily for us, they still had a few skeins of the colors we wanted. We both thought we would knit them together during the Christmas holidays, but that didn't happen and we didn't mention it to each other again.

Then on February 27 my sister posted a pic to her Instagram of the shawl she had just started. As soon as I saw it I said "You started WITHOUT me!" and immediately fell down and started to throw a temper tantrum. I kid, but I did pull out my yarn the next day and caked it up because I wanted to knit this baby with her and had some catching up to do.

This is as far as I had gotten before I got sick.

The setup and first two color sections were completed as of last Friday morning.

My goal is to have this shawl completed by the end of the month!

Stash Enhancement

#1: Orange Flower Yarn - Fingering BFL - Guava and Light Peach

I am planning on knitting "Find Your Fade" by Andrea Mowry and these two babies are the first I have selected for it. I am not sure what will be added to them to complete my fade. I love that the Guava contains these orange, red, brown specks. I will most likely pull in these colors more with my other yarn choices. Not sure.We shall see!

#2: Lamby Toes
Merino Moon Pie - Kitten's Choice

Sweet Pea Sport - Experiment 091

I am planning to knit the Sweet Pea Sport into "Hermione Hearts Ron" Hat by Christy Aylesworth for Inside Number 23's Harry Potter KAL.

So, this is where I leave my knitting with you for another week. While I am knitting away on these babies, I can't help letting my mind wander to all the other lovely things I want to knit. I also need to think about setting some knitting goals to deal with all my long standing WIPs and stash. Will share my thoughts over the next few weeks.

Until then, I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I'll be sitting here knitting all things warm in preparation for the snowstorm we are supposed to be getting on Tuesday. Winter is definitely trying to get it's last hurrah in for sure!

2014 FO: Hermione's Everyday Socks

While looking through my Ravelry project list, I am still amazed that I only managed to knit up two pairs of socks in 2014.

The most socks I ever knitted in one year was 12 pairs back in 2008. Wowza! I was a knitting machine back then.

But I digress. Today is all about showing off one of my last FO's of 2014, the Hermione's Everyday Socks.

Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder (Free pattern)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Rare Gems Colorway
Started: December 4, 2014
Finished: December 28, 2014
Needles: Knit Picks Circs - Size 1.5 (Leg), 1 (Foot)

The socks grew up from this...

To being this...

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock really is one of my most favorite sock yarns to knit. With each skein you are guaranteed gorgeous coloring and exquisite stitch definition.  

I purchased this skein when I visited Rhinebeck 6 years ago. It reminded me of the gorgeous fall leaf colors. I really treasured knitting with it.

The pattern itself was a delight to knit. Very simple, but yet when combined with the right colorway yarn, is full of dimension and texture.

The only thing I wish I had done differently was knit the leg on size 1 needles and the foot on size 0 needles. The smallest size to cast on is 64 stitches and with using my standard needle formula for socks, they turned out a tad big on me. I may also consider taking the stitch count down if I choose to knit them again. In the end it's ok. They will be house socks and I will love them each time I place them upon my feet.

I do have one more FO to share before we get too much further into 2015. Hopefully I will get it on the blog soon!

It's A Wrap!

Oh man it's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone!

I did manage to get the tree done.

Rudolph even got some lights.

After work last Monday night and over the next two days, I spent all my time preparing to host Christmas day dinner for myself and my honey's family. Including us, there were a total of 12 people. This was my first time cooking for this many and while it was a lot of work, I enjoyed the end result of sitting around the table with loved ones enjoying the home cooked meal that I put so much thought and effort into. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Only after the table was all set, I could then focus on finishing cooking the dinner.

Our vegetarian dinner included a total of nine dishes, plus one dessert. I am still amazed that I managed to pull that one off, especially since according to my honey, they were complex dishes. Even better, is that I managed to get them to the table warm or, oh my gosh, even hot!

My menu included (all recipes are linked):

• Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup
• Festive Kale Salad with Wheatberries and Tempeh
• Vegetarian Portobello Wellingtons
• Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes
• Maple-Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Mushroom Walnut Stuffing
• Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Cranberries
• Quinoa with Cauliflower, Cranberries and Nuts
• Green Bean Casserole
• Peanut Butter Pie (Made my own Oreo Cookie Crust as follows: 25 Oreo's Pulverized in Food Processor. Mix with 4 Tablespoons melted butter. Shape in pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes. I also did not make the Hot Fudge Sauce and forgot to purchase the chocolate for the shavings.)

With it being a vegetarian dinner, I wanted to include a variety of items. I think I succeeded. I was told everything was delicious and here I was just praying it would all be edible.

I didn't take pictures of everything as it was finished. I completely forgot. But I do have these:

The soup I made the day before and reheated.

Leftovers I had the next night.

Somebody enjoying the rest of the green bean casserole.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie I managed to make on Tuesday.

After dinner, gifts were exchanged, dessert was consumed and before we knew it, our guests were departing for the evening.

Between myself and the help of some elves (my honey, his mom and his cousin) all the dishes were cleaned, dried and put away. I tried desperately to clean all the crumbs up from the floor and sofa's before going to bed. After our house guest departed the next morning, my honey and I went into cleaning mode and we got the place all back in order.

I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday recovering. I had sleep I needed to get caught up on and didn't feel overly ambitious to do too much. The remainder of the long holiday weekend was spent on the couch knitting.

One of these items may have been finished during a Harry Potter moviethon! Will have to follow-up with a FO post.

All in all my Christmas was wonderful. It was all I had wanted and hoped it to be. I have to give my honey a huge thank you! He was the most supportive person during the days leading up to, during and after Christmas. He helped me whenever and wherever he could. He never hesitated to help. I am truly blessed to have him as my partner in life!

With that I leave you with one of my favorite photos from Christmas day:

Hope everyone had a beautiful holiday! Tell me, what were some of your highlights from this holiday season? Any traditions old or new?

New Socks On The Needles

After I completed my Mystik Spiral Socks, it took me about a week before I started itching to cast on for my next pair of socks.

A couple of weeks ago I was home from work not feeling well when the desire hit me. I immediately went stash diving in search of the perfect yarn that was going to ease my woes.

When I came up for air, I had this beauty in my itty bitty hands and immediately marched it over to the ball winder.

Be still my beating little heart! Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock in Rare Gems. I purchased this lovely during one of my last trips to Rhinebeck and it's sadly the last of it's kind in my stash.

This yarn is growing up to be a Hermione's Everyday Sock (Free Pattern on Ravelry) and it is everything I thought it would be.

Oh the coloring and stitch definition!

And how quickly this pattern knits! I made it down to the heel flap in two days!

By the end of my self imposed four day weekend, the foot was starting to emerge.

By last Friday evening the foot and toe were complete. All that is left is to knit/graft the toe closed.

I quickly snapped a picture this morning before work. Please ignore my practically ornament less tree. We finally put on the additional lights last night and after being completely exhausted from it, one ornament landed on the tree. If you look reeeaaaal close you might be able to spot it!

Tonight I am planning on sitting down and re-watching this youtube video to refresh my memory on how to knit kitchner the toe closed. This is the ONLY way I will ever close a toe again. I completely stink at sewing it closed (envision multiple undo's and pulling of my hair). When I came across this technique a year ago, it saved my knitting sanity.

Sock number two will be on the needles soon. I am also in the middle of some unexpected Christmas gift knitting. I look forward to sharing that with you soon. It's going better and faster than I anticipated which is good because my brain is in the middle of planning our Christmas dinner menu. We are hosting this year, first time ever! So easy knitting is what I can handle right now.

By the way, does anyone else notice a particular theme with my knitting these days? Here are a couple of clues: