OMG - An FO!

Yes, believe what you are seeing! I actually have an FO! Don't ask me why it took me five months to get these socks completed, 'cause I really don't know. What is really important is that they are D-O-N-E!

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks (Favorite Socks)
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (Colorway P105)
Needles: Knit Picks Fixed Circs Size 2 (cuff) and Size 1.5 (foot)
Started: October 20, 2008
Finished: March 22, 2009
Mods: I did a straight Knit, Purl Ribbing on Cuff instead of Twisted Rib Stitch

Isn't it amazing just how different these socks are? The pooling definitely did it's own thing from sock to sock. Fraternal twins for sure.

What Ya Think?

Back in January I went and got my eyes checked. Since I had insurance I decided to get new glasses. Can I tell you just how thankful I am that I did this when I did? So while I still don't have any knitting to show off, I thought I would show off my new glasses.

Without glasses...
With glasses...

At Christmas I fell in love with Mary Beth's new specs. Normally I go with frames that blend into my face, but I felt like the bold frames looked good (the fram is made by Legre. Believe it or not, I actually love wearing these glasses! What ya think?

5 AM

This is one day I was happy I didn't have to go out in this....

This is what I saw when I looked out my front door at 5am. I guess old man winter just had to get a real snowstorm to us in NYC before spring started in a couple of weeks.

Changes

Last June Becky posted on her blog that she wanted to start a Traveling Scarf event. The first seven people who commented they were interested would get to participate. The idea was that you would start your own scarf in the rib pattern provided and then it would get passed on to the next person on the list. Eventually your scarf would have 8 segments total.

So, last Thursday I met up with Kim for lunch. I was really excited about it because she was bringing me my completed Traveling Scarf. I have to say that I totally LOVE it!!! All the color choices were perfect. I love how bold/bright they are. This scarf has been wrapped around my neck for the past two days. The Koigu yarn is so soft and scrumptious. I thank all the wonderful ladies who worked on my scarf. It is perfect.

In addition to receiving my scarf, Kim gave me these really cool circular needles. They are square and have the most flexible cord I have ever seen in a needle. Way cool. Oh, but the surprises didn't stop there. While Kim and I were goggling over my scarf I see this person approach us out of the corner of my eye. When I look at her I realized in was Misa! My mouth fell open and I was so surprised to see her I was actually speechless. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me that day so I didn't get a picture. It was a really really really nice surprise.

As the title of this post says, there are some unexpected changes happening in my life right now. As of yesterday I was laid off from my company. I got the call from my boss on Tuesday night within 10 minutes of walking in the door from work. Needless to say I was very upset. I have been with this company for 10.5 years which is really unheard of these days. I never imagined I would now be out of a job.

I signed off on my separation agreement yesterday and found out what my severance will be. I will have money coming in from my company for 3 months. I will also be joining the thousands of others who are claiming unemployment. I am still going to try and continue with my Paralegal Certificate. I have 3 classes down and 7 more to go. Today I am doing much better than two days ago. As Kim told me yesterday, "When one door closes, another will open". Very true.

Before February Comes

I want to thank you all for your well wishes. I am soooo feeling better. I even started back to my running this past weekend!

I can't believe February is right around the corner. Can anyone tell me where on earth January went? I thought it would be good if I shared my first FO of 2009 before a new month rolled around next Sunday. So, in it's unblocked state, here is what I call Berries and Caramel Shawl.

Pattern: Something Mary Beth created, but Iadded a different edging from her Beauty & The Bead Shawl. The edging came from Nicky Epstein's "Knitting On The Edge". For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the pattern I selected.
Yarn: Lumpy Bumpy Yarn (Colorway-Berries & Caramel); Shepherd's Shades (Colorway-Chestnut) (1 skein each)
Needles: Bamboo Circs Size 15
Started: December 31, 2008
Finished: January 3, 2009

My goal this coming weekend is to get it nice and blocked out so I can't started wrapping myself up in it! I know with the blocking, the main part of the shawl will spread out nicely and be in a good proportion to the edging.

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting with the Lumpy Bumpy. I purchased the yarn during mine and MB's outing to the knitting shop in Georgetown, SC. Every yarn in the store was 20% off that day. I couldn't stop myself from going back to the Berries and Caramel colorway. It was calling out to me and it couldn't resist from hopping into my basket.

Missed Me?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Sometimes I don't miss myself either. It's really amazing what slipping on the ice, bonking the back of your head on a concrete step and hear your co-workers and doctor refer to it as Blunt Force Trama. I have survived my concussion and am feeling a bit more back to normal. At least the headache's have subsided. My landlord is very lucky I wasn't seriously injured. I mean he's the one that shoveled the snow at 8pm, didn't put salt down and left all the water to freeze up like an ice rink, which of course resulted in me falling on my a**.

So now that I have recovered, I want to present to you my final FO of 2008.

Pattern: Burnished Tunic (Knitscene Fall 2008)
Yarn: Berroco Cuzco (5 skeins)
Needles: Size 11 Circs
Started: December 27th
Finished: December 31st

First I have to say I love the Cuzco yarn so much that I bought more on sale in a beautiful red! So soft and scrumptious. I still can't believe I knit this sweater up in 4 days. I heart bulky yarn. The only modification I made was to leave out the horizontal purl lines across the body. My womanly figure didn't need that aspect of the pattern and I feel the design of the sleeves, collar and vertical pattern line across half of the sweater was enough.

A note to anyone who may knit this in the future, there is an error in the pattern that the magazine hasn't published. I've notified them and told them exactly what the error was, but all they can seem to do is take turns emailing me and asking if I still need assistance with the pattern. The error is in the placement of the markers at the beginning of the pattern. For sizes 39 1/4 and every other size after, the markers can not be placed evenly around the stitches or else the vertical patterning will not work out. So for example on size 39 1/4, the markers need to be placed at 29, 25, 29, 25 not at 27, 27, 27, 27.

I'd like to thank Miss Panther for taking the time out of her busy schedule of napping to pose with my new sweater!

Gift Knitting Roundup

Before the new year got to far ahead of me, I thought I would share the remaining Christmas gifts I knitted! All items were started and finished in December.

First up are Turn A Square's #4, #5 and #6. Two of them went to my nephews and the other went to a co-worker. I used Cascade 220 Superwash and Noro Kureyon. Since I already knew I was not going to have enough Kureyon for the 3rd had (first picture here), I knitted 2 rows Kureyon and 3 rows Cascade (instead of 2 and 2). Hats were loved by all.

I also knitted up some wascloths. I used Euroflax linen from my stash. The pattern is a Seed Stitch pattern. I can't remember where the pattern came from but it's in my Ravelry info. One thing that is so true about linen is that is does soften up with each washing! These washcloths make a nice light exfoliating cloth. I gifted these to my sister's Mary Beth (yellow), Kathy (purple) and my mom (blue).

The last 2 things I knitted up were a couple of very cute cable purses. They are done in a chunky yarn and knit up in a day on size 17 needles. They are even lined with a black cotton fabric. I purchased the handles in SC at Knit-N-Purl. Two of my neices received these and I know for sure one of them loves it. I witnessed her using it many times before I left SC!

Next time I'll be sharing my last FO of 2008 and my first FO of 2009. All were completed while on holiday in SC.