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Thursday, January 31, 2008

I made someone's day

First and foremost- Ravelry ate my brain. Holy crap. In a good way. Holy crap. Enough said. Well all most enough said, I am lookiewhatimade over there.

Lots of knitting going on here. I am determined to finish this sweater- scroll to the 19th- before I go to sock camp this year. Here are the colors I am going to use for the tartan:

The pattern is Tartan Jacket from Zoe Mellor's Colorful Knits for You and Your Child. This is the second time I have made this sweater, here is my first version of the tartan:

I wear this sweater constantly and it has stood up to wear so well for about 9 years. I blogged about it here. I should mention that the color chart is as knitted and it not the same as photographed in the book. In my current version I will knit it as photographed in the book in STR Heavyweight Bluemoonstone, Lemongrass & Sunstone- the main color is Lover's Leap.

The bottom sweater (the original) is in Magpie (moment of silence) for the body and Lambs Pride for the tartan.

Last but certainly not least, I was awarded by both Emily & KT the "You Make My Day Award". Thank you ladies I love you both muchly, you have both made me laugh so hard, and care so much. You two have made my life a much more beautiful and inspired place.

Instructions are "give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

Okay so, without further ado and pithy commentary (and in no order, other than how they came into my brain):

January One Hola Chica! This one rocks it about as hard as one can. Heart as big as all outdoors. And a tot on the way. Some people were just meant to be parents. The knitting and level headed-ness are awesome,

Angry Chicken The one and only. 3 little ones and SO productive. Shame!

Posie Gets Cozy Clover Meadow and beautiful crafting? Get out!

Yarnstorm If you sleep with her book under your pillow you will have the sweetest dreams.

Six and a Half Stitches Sublime. Structured and dreamy simultaneously. Quite a feat.

Hop Skip Jump The animals? Divine! And awaiting a baby boy any moment.

Hello Yarn In my dreams, I aspire to be her.

Amuse Bouche Yummy food and lovely pictures.

Gerrie Congdon Such dedication and what an eye. Sigh.

Bemused Jan is such an inspiration.

Say la vee Too good.

Pea Soup Just perfect- and the view? Stunning!

Knitiot Savant My Secret Pal. Nough said!

Emma Very Happy Belated Birthday, you wonderful woman !!

Special Bunny Blvd Such a lovely gracious human. And the mothering? And the productivity? Oy. I am in awe.

There are so many more folks that I wanted to give this award- I was supposed to limit it to 10 but splurged on 15. Thank you, for the award and for making my day!

Love you all to bits and pieces!

KT

Posted by K.T. at 03:24 PM | | | Leave a comment | TrackBacks (0)

Comments

I'm honoured, thank you!

And I must just say, I love that you dreamt about Jane's Allotment Quilt.

Last night I dreamt about dyeing yarn. It's so good to have this blogging community and know that someone else understands.

Posted by: suse | February 1, 2008 02:27 AM

Wasn't picking just a few the hardest thing ever? I am glad you bothered to find the instructions - I totally forgot to include them.

I've opened most all of your picks to peruse - there are lots I haven't heard of.

Posted by: Emily | February 1, 2008 03:35 AM

As always, you are too kind! Thank you for making MY day!

Posted by: Cara | February 1, 2008 05:42 AM

Thank you, how kind of you!

Posted by: Alicia P. | February 2, 2008 10:23 AM

I love you ya know.

I think that is the greatest compiment I've ever had in my entire life. I will treasure it as I do you. :)

Hugs and kisses dear friend.

Posted by: Laura | February 3, 2008 08:19 PM

I love you ya know.

I think that is the greatest compiment I've ever had in my entire life. I will treasure it as I do you. :)

Hugs and kisses dear friend.

Posted by: Laura | February 3, 2008 08:19 PM

I love you ya know.

I think that is the greatest compiment I've ever had in my entire life. I will treasure it as I do you. :)

Hugs and kisses dear friend.

Posted by: Laura | February 3, 2008 08:26 PM

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Part Two


Here is what I decided to do...


Weigh knitted sock and leftover yarn from cake #1


Done! 196 grams


Weigh cake #2.


Done! 200 grams


Rip back sock to heel.


Done! Look!



Then I will add about 3 more inches to the leg of this and then switch to cake #2 for the foot. So the leg will differ from the foot yet both socks will be the same.


Scintillating, no?

Posted by K.T. at 01:40 PM | | | Leave a comment

Comments

Sounds like an excellent plan to me!

Posted by: Emily | January 23, 2008 09:28 AM

Trust me folks, if you got the chance to touch these babies, you'd wish YOU had size 14 feet so's you could steal 'em away from this vixen-y knitress!

Posted by: kt | January 23, 2008 09:49 PM

Gorgeous! heh Sorry about the double comment on the prior post! Too little too late, looks like. Sounds like you'll be very satisfied with the end results and won't have to reknit the entire sock. Whew! :)

Posted by: Laura | January 25, 2008 05:18 AM

You Made My Day! Go tagging iffen ya want. (see my blog for details)

Hasta Viernes, chica!

Posted by: kt | January 30, 2008 10:24 PM

Monday, January 21, 2008

Like being pecked to death by chickens

When I went to Sock Camp last year, a very good family friend came out from the East Coast to help take care of the boys. Really an awesome, giving move that left me free to go to camp and not worry. As a thank you I said I would knit him socks- appropriate, in my eyes. And then I forgot.

Long story short, I remembered and then our friend said: "Why don't you just knit me a scarf?" To which I replied: "You may indeed get a scarf in the future, but I AM going to knit you socks!" See our friend has size 14 feet. This was a challenge I was not going to hide from. I was going to rise to the challenge and then gloat and brag and make everybody listen to me rattle on about how I knit size 14 socks.

It is still my intention to do that and in order to torture you all, I need your help first. Ha! It is a lot like Brutus asking Julius Caesar :"Hey, could you sharpen this for me?"

Here is the rub: In 2006, I bought 2 skeins of STR heavyweight in Henpecked (at the same time, thank you very much). Do you like how I made it sound as if that was all I bought ? (kt- be quiet!)*cough* I took one skein and made it into a cake, then made that cake into a very nice sock, with my very first short row heel, nonetheless. The heel was ripped 3 times but no holes! So last night I took the second skein, wound it into a cake and in the midst of winding started to feel a wee bit queasy.

Here is the yarn left over from the sock (wish I had made the leg longer), next to the second skein. See the problem? What do I do? Please weigh in.

As I see it here are my choices:

A) Frog the whole thing (which I am willing to do ) and then intersperse the two skeins in the new pair.

B) Frog to the ankle, knit foot in the new skein. Knit other leg from skein #1 & from ankle down from skein #2.

C) Just knit sock #2 from skein #2 and be done with it. (this option appeals to me the least)

It just makes me madder than a wet hen when you can't unsee things.

Love you all to bits.

ps: I only have myself to be upset with. If I had actually thought about it I could have known this was going to happen, as I can see clearly in this picture down) Smacks forehead.

ETA: Choice A should read- A) Frog the whole thing (which I am willing to do ) and then intersperse the two skeins in the new pair. I just can't get the formatting to behave- sorry!

Posted by K.T. at 01:17 PM | | | Leave a comment

Comments

Do what is in your heart to do ! It may take longer, but you will be happier.
He's a really good friend then ? !!!

xxx

Posted by: Emma | January 21, 2008 06:13 PM

Hmmm. Maybe the dye-pattern just looks different because it is in a smaller ball? If you did frog and start over, you could make the leg longer like you wanted to - but that is going to be some crinkly yarn after all this time. Maybe you could start the second one to evaluate the difference and then make a decision? Emily = not all that helpful. :D

Good on you for thinking to use heavy-weight.

Posted by: Emily | January 22, 2008 05:50 AM

My vote: Option "C". No looking back. You loved him then, you love him now. He will love the socks until they wear out and then cry just a little every time he sees those worn out socks in the sock drawer (as I do when I see the first pair of hand knit socks I ever had but can't bear to throw away). Knit on! XOXOX

Posted by: Laura | January 25, 2008 05:07 AM

My vote: Option "C". No looking back. You loved him then, you love him now. He will love the socks until they wear out and then cry just a little every time he sees those worn out socks in the sock drawer (as I do when I see the first pair of hand knit socks I ever had but can't bear to throw away). Knit on! XOXOX

Posted by: Laura | January 25, 2008 05:16 AM

Just a little test

Making sure our blogging software is still working.

Posted by K.T. at 07:47 AM | | | Leave a comment

Comments

Post me some pictures of the KTs together already!

Posted by: Emily | January 21, 2008 10:57 AM