Place your bets

Go ahead - place your bets. I'll take bets until February 14th.

I don't know what the prize will be. It will be a surprise. No, Mom, it will not be a sweater. But I do have 11 months to collect stuff to throw into the package.

I have until December 31st to finish, all the way, not just the knitting. They must also be sewn up and wearable.

To help you figure out your guess - I work 50 hour weeks, I have a very busy travel schedule for my SCA hobby this summer, I'm remodeling my house and I'm easily bored. The list of available options is listed here so you can leverage your guess based on the apparent difficulty of the patterns, if you choose to do so. I will not be buying anything new but I do have a large amount of undesignated yarn that could become something.

I have 2 inches done on the back of Beadwork. I have 1 inch on the body of St. Bridget. I have 8 inches on the body of Mary Tudor. I have about 3 inches on the body of the Poetry in stitches cardigan.

so - Are you feeling lucky?

There are no pictures because I have, of course, misplaced the camera.

I have completed the first sleeve for the Laela sweater. I have started the cuff of the second sleeve.

My plan, after finishing this sweater is to finish the Mary Tudor body. We'll see how I feel about the sleeves after I finish the body.

Terri thinks I can knit 5 sweaters in a year. Should we take bets? There could even be a prize for the person who comes closest to the actual number of sweaters knitted.

Sweaters that will count are those that I started this year or that weren't more than 3/4 completed December 31.

Shelves!

I have shelves. I hope that I will soon have organized shelves. But it is nice to have floor. I still need a chair of some type. The TV, cable and Tivo are up and running.

I started the first sleeve on the lopi sweater. I haven't quite got the body to the join point but it is about 2 inches away, about 1 hour of knitting. Tonight I'm going to work on finishing the baby sweater and Saturday will be dedicated to sewing.

There may be pictures this weekend. I'll cross my fingers!

I did it!

I found my missing patterns. So now I just need to gather my yarn and cast on for the Dale of Norway Knit Along. Just as soon as I finish the baby sweater. :) I have to knit up the necksides/shoulders, sew it together and add the spots. I should have that done my Monday. So I'll only be a week behind the other knitters.

I'm taking this as a sign that I should focus on finishing up the stuff I have before procuring more. I'll take any sign, really.

I hope to add a list of "FINISHED" things soon.

Knit From Your Stash 07

I am a lemming. Well that and I think my stash is out of hand.

So I am officially not buying yarn from now until Knitting Camp (assuming I get in) and then from after Knitting Camp until the end of the year.

I have enough sock yarn, sweater kits and I haven't even allowed myself to contemplate the 'unassigned yarn' in my stash.

I got into the Socks that Rock sock club and that is enough new yarn!

I don't even need to buy yarn for new babies that are born in the coming year. Really.

Valkryie Knit This said I should just knit faster. I couldn't knit faster without mechanical implants. I could quit my job and stay home and knit - but that would inhibit my desire to have a place to store my yarn.

My beloved mother agrees with Valkryie - she just wants to live vicariously through my stash. And laugh because she isn't storing it. I love you too.

And if there is something that comes up in the next months I have a short reprieve in July.

And if I actually finish a bunch of the lovely things in my stash I will have a new wardrobe.

Oh the shame

So the excavations in my sewing room continue. At this point I believe that I could knit a sweater a month for a year and still not knit up all the sweater kits I have in my stash.

And that doesn't even include socks, shawls or other lace bits.

I think I might have to just stop buying yarn (gasp)

I joined the Dale of Norway KAL (I already had two of them and a baby sweater gather up) and I can't find the patterns. I have the yarn. But the pattern book has disappeared. Both patterns are in the same book, of course.

The reorganization continues this evening.

No string things

Today I worked until 8:30pm. This left little time for much other than email. Of course I find time to come here and leave a note.

I haven't managed to get much done in my room this week. I have carried a couple of things upstairs but that is all. I'm tired and I just want a nap. I think I need more sunshine. I definately would not make a good vampire.

Weaving nearly woven

Aaron's belt is almost done. I just have about 20 inches left and I have to decide how to finish it. I'll probably find a buckle, or more likely a D-ring.

I hope to get more time to re-evaluate the work list this weekend. I will finish the baby sweater first and then sew together my Rogue sweater. Then I'll split my time between Mary Tudor, Beadwork and a cabled Lopi sweater. And I have several hundred pairs of socks to finish/knit.

This should be REALLY frightening once I get a real look at the stash. Maybe I don't really want to do this?!

Oh - sure I do.

Shhh

Don't anyone tell G(Liz) that I have been sorting out stuff and organizing it on the new shelves in my sewing room. I hope to start my list of knitting projects which are kitted up and ready to go sometime Monday. I still need a couple of shelf units. I might take the shelves off the old sewing room walls and move them upstairs. We may start calling the sewing room the shelf room.

I had a great weekend.

Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday. The cake is in the oven. I hope it tastes good. The batter was delicious.

I found my weaving patterns and I've started weaving. It's much fun and the anvil turned out great. I need to make the rat's ear bigger. Fun for me.

Bombing around

I spent this evening driving around town. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't forgotten half the stuff and then had to go back out. And it was cold.

I got a new knitting book called Traditional Aran Knitting by Shelagh Hollingworth. I am looking forward to getting a chance to read it. I also got another book from my mother for my birthday. It is called Shopping in the Renaissance. I need more time to read my new books!

I need to re-prioritize my to do list. I'll do that on Monday. I wish I had gotten more done. I probably would have except I have this house to finish. It is still not done. But it is getting closer.

I should also make a list of the sweaters I have kitted up and ready to knit too. Maybe it will keep me from buying more yarn, just from shame.

Long weekend, still haven't finished the baby sweater. I have to work on the belt for Aaron the rest of the week. The baby sweater will have to wait.

I hope to get a lot of the belt done tonight and Wednesday. It would be nice if I could get it done by Wednesday and finish the sweater by Friday. I'm very deluded.

My friend gave me some nice sock yarn from the Yarn Pirate for my birthday. Very pretty and will make me very nice socks!

Nonsense post

Your Birthdate: January 7

You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy. And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you. Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights. You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice! Your strength: Your self sufficiency Your weakness: You despise authority Your power color: Maroon Your power symbol: Hammer Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Woohoo!

Now I can't find the cord for the camera so I can upload the pictures I took of my birthday presents.

So here is the list:

SP9 - Some REALLY nice purple silk/wool. It is a GREAT purple. Some really nice hand dyed yarn, new knitting needles and some great chocolate cookies - they were so good I only got two of them. I don't know where my pal finds the great cards. They are so pretty. And two little books. I started reading one of them last night.

My friend Liz gave me a knitting calendar.

My mother bought me a book.

My brother and his wife sent me a bag.

And my birthday isn't even until Sunday!

Soon - Friday!

I'm still working on the baby sweater.

Last night I helped my friend steek the sweater she made. It is beautiful. We then sat up late working on our sweaters. It was hard to get up this morning. It sure was nice to sit and visit though. I need to get back to knit nights.

My SP9 sent another package. This one arrived promptly before my birthday. :) I have pictures and I'll post them later. I got some really lovely yarn and fingerless mitts. They will be really nice to wear while typing. I've always wanted a pair like that. I just never got around to making them for myself.

Such nice stuff!

Finally Photos!

Here is the package from my Secret Pal 9! All wrapped so nice!


Here is what was in all the lovely packages!


Here is what my kitten thinks about all the excitment.

Here are the sleeves for the baby sweater. The baby was born on Saturday. I'm knitting like crazy to finish the body so I can sew it up!


Here is a very bad picture of the body. I'm now on the second row of lady bugs. There are three rows of lady bugs before I get to the neck. Perhaps by the end of the week.

Who am I kidding!?

Happy New Year!

I welcomed the new year, sitting in my living room with some great people. We just say around watching TV and visiting. It was very nice. All things considered, while it was really nice to go to S&M house for chili we could have stayed at K&L's place and saved ourselves all the driving.

We got snow last night.

I hope the new year brings as much fun as the last one did.

I painted the library/den this weekend. We should be able to start putting the floor down soon. Yay! Soon the piano will be moved and I can start working on the dining room!

I had pictures of the baby sweater to post today but the battery on the camera needs to be recharged first. It lost charge completely just as I got the camera plugged into the computer.

I found my needle case Saturday. I was very pleased. Now I just need to find the new pages I bought for it. I'm also thinking about getting some new options needles. I relly like them. I want to get some of the smaller sizes. They aren't the nice interchangable ones but they have nice joins. Very smooth.