Too Much Yarn

I'm thankful for...

a good job so I can afford to buy all the too-much-yarn that I have. But really, I'm thankful for Ravelry, which led me to a knitting hobby and meeting all of you. Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. It's a two-day holiday plus I'm taking Monday off - so I have a 5-day weekend. I don't have to cook, but I'm preparing a few dishes to bring to my husband's brother's house. We are usually there for a few hours so I'll be bringing some projects, but what??? I have to go pack... Have a wonderful day!

p/s There are other things I'm thankful for, but this is a knitting blog!

NEW blankets...

Yep - you got that right. I'm crazy! Over the weekend, I cast on not one, but two blankets. The first one was just a concoction of ideas in my head. I like knitting the mitered squares but I want a blanket fast. Then, I was using the Berroco Vintage while knitting a pair of mittens for my son and decided that I really like the yarn - it's ACRYLIC and wool and it's extremely soft and nice to work with. I checked out WEBS and was able to get the yarn at $5.25 each while it's $7.50 at my yarn shop. I selected 11 colors. They will be arriving today or tomorrow. But I couldn't wait. I already have 2 colors at home, but I needed more. I bought 3 colors that I didn't get from Webs and started this. My sock blanket is knitted with size 3 needles. These are with size 8. Blankie is a 31 stitch square (15 on each side). These are 61 stitch squares (30 on each side). And thus, the new blanket is born:

I have not used the 2 colors I had originally! I may start on the 4th square. Checking Ravelry, there are tons of patterns like what I'm thinking, but none just like it. I may write the pattern up. Each square is 7.5 inches on each side. Each skein will yield 4 squares. With the 16 colors I have at my disposal, I'm planning on 64 squares. I think this one will be finished in less than 6 years!

The next blanket is one that I've stashed the yarn from one of the LYS's events and these yarns were 50% off. I don't have a photo of the yarn, but it's Noro Taiyo, in color #9. The pattern is from the Knit Noro book:

The blanket is the Modular Afghan:

My yarn color will look more like this blanket, of the same color:

It sure isn't my favorite palette of colors, but it was the only color left with 5 skeins - the rest were just singles or two's or three's left. However, the pattern is asking for 6 skeins... so we'll see. If I ever get there, I may look for a destash of this color. This is where I was when I took a photo.

But I have two, now! The second one is white with a slight green middle. The third one is going to be green. That's what I love about Noro yarn - I can't wait to see the next color popping out. But I also HATE working with Noro yarn. It's rough and the plies are not even. This yarn is cotton, silk, wool, and nylon.

And so, readers... that's what I've been messing with. But only after I finished one David Socks.

I also cast on the Holidazed sock #2 - plan to finish this by the end of the month if my blankiemania doens't take over my knitting time!

The Retreat

As I have mentioned, we were at a retreat in Hager City, Wisconsin last weekend. It is merely a couple of miles across the Mississippi River from Red Wing, Minnesota, a popular resort city, especially in the Summer. There were a total of 11 women from my Thursday Knitting Group. This is the second annual retreat; I was not available to join them last year, when they went to Lanesboro, Minnesota. This is the house from the outside:

The view near the edge of the property.

This is the room where we spend most of the time knitting:

There were lots of good, healthy food. But no one seems to have over-eaten. With the exception of Yvonne's Chocolate Chex Mix, we did not consume much of the chocolates or cookies. There were a lot of wine consumed, but no one was so intoxicated that they couldn't knit.

On Saturday, we visited Riverside Alpaca Farms. Since it was Yvonne's "big" birthday, I had connected to Dana, the owner about surprising Yvonne. Dana was great. She had "Happy Birthday" balloons and a banner up. Yes, Yvonne was surprised. She wondered who told Dana, but eventually, she figured it was me.

Here's Dana with a pregnant Eleanor and Eleanor's baby, Rose.

Rose is about 16 months old. Gestation period for an alpaca is 377 days!! Here is Sara, the ever socializer/leader. She has to know what's going on. As Dana described her, she's got a Type-A personality. She was checking out my phone to make sure it's suitable for taking photos of her group.

Who took this photo? Not me! I have a "What's Sara doing?" look on my face...

Later that evening, we had Yvonne's favorite cake - Carrot Cake for her birthday celebration. We had champagne, too!

And much, much, later that evening, as we were knitting in the room I showed you earlier, we heard some noises in the kitchen area. Four of the gals have gone to bed, so we didn't think it was them up in the kitchen. We ignored the noise the first time we heard it. A few minutes later, it happened again. Purple Kathy and I went out first and smelled something and Kathy spotted the fan sparkling and smoke was coming up from the motor. I told her to turn it off, but it was already off. We went to look for the circuit breaker and eventually turned shut it off for the area. Kathy called the owner and 911. 15 minutes later, 3 fire trucks and the Sheriff were there. Cat made sure all the empty wine bottles were out of sight! While anticipating for their arrival, we wondered if the firemen would be cute! But when they were there, I was just too embarrassed/shy while some of us giggled and chatted with them. After they confirmed the house won't burn down while we're asleep that night, they left. Some gals continued with their knitting but I went to bed.

The next morning, everyone was knitting in the kitchen/dining area:

And here's the culprit fan!

and one last shot I want to show you. My mitered squares blanket met a buddy. This is Jill's "It's not an Afghan" - she hasn't decided if it will be a shawl, afghan/blanket, table cloth, bed spread, or a car cover, so for now, it's called "It's Not An Afghan". The blankets played well together.

 

Progress...

I'll tell you more about my weekend in another post, but I want to share with you what I've done. I knitted an inch of the Baby Cardigan. I knitted 5 squares for my blanket. I did not cast on my Holidazed Socks. I knitted quite a bit of the David Socks:

I finished Buttonwillow! I haven't woven in the ends or block it yet.

And, I cast on Shur'tugal. What do you think of the stitch definition? I'm thinking of starting over with Socks That Rock.

And if you can't wait to hear about my weekend, here's a snippet from Jill's Chat at http://jillsknit.blogspot.com/2011/11/annual-fall-knitting-retreat.html

The Firemen just left

It is now 12:30 a.m. The firemen just left. The fan had sparks and smoke. We called the fire department. They checked that everything was fine. We can go to bed...

We saved all the yarn (and wine!).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Getting ready for the retreat

I'm so excited. I'm going on a retreat about 1.5 hours from here with 10 other women from my knitting group. Yes, these are the celebrity knitters who are featured in the latest issue of Inteweave Knits Weekend. I'm bringing a lot more projects that I will knit, but I don't know what mood I'll be in! So, I have 8 more rows on Buttonwillow - which includes the bindoff row...

Two socks in progress - both Anne Hanson's patterns:

The Baby Cardigan:

And the Mitered Square blanket:

I've found this bag I bought years ago that is perfect for this project. But I don't need to haul the whole bag there. I only brought 20 mini's - that should be MORE than enough:

I doubt there will be WIFI there so I'm not bringing the ipad for better blogging experience. But I have an unlimited data plan on my phone so I can do just that!

But before I forget! We have a winner!

The Random Number Generator says comment #14 is the winner. Congratulations to marilynknits on Ravelry! Please PM me your address so I can send you Socktopus! I'll contact you on Sunday night if I don't hear from you by then.

Third & Final post of the day - A Giveaway!

If you also follow Jennifer's blog, http://amphibiaknitter.typepad.com/ (the link feature is not allowing me to hide the URL!), she gave a detailed review of the new sock book, Socktopus on this blog post: http://amphibiaknitter.typepad.com/amphibiaknits/2011/10/best-book-ever.html (yes, you have to go past the pets and monsters photos!)

I will try not to repeat what she said, other than, it's the BEST BOOK EVER - well, sock pattern book, i.e. It's the first book that I felt like "I want to knit every single pattern in this book!". This book also prompted me to think about joining the sock club, http://www.socktopus.co.uk/knitloveclub/. This club is based in United Kingdom... While I have no qualms about joining for the patterns, I'm concerned with the yarn that will come with each shipment as you know I don't need more yarn! But Jennifer and Ling, who works for the Socktopus are sending me samples of the yarn. I have a feeling I will like it, but I'm waiting for the yarn to try it. Ling's from UK may get here before Jennifer's due to the unreliability of Canada Post.

Anyway, what do I like about the book? I like the photos! They're big, they show the finished socks nicely, and the book itself is not heavy and bulky. Here is a sample. I hope it's OK to post them...

The instructional parts are also clearly shown in photos: (here's one showing how to cable without a cable needle for left and right twists)

and most of all, I like the patterns. Alice is bold in knitting lace patterns with variegated yarn! I now will have more choices other than Monkey or Spring Forward!

And like Jennifer, I have two copies. One of myself, and one for one of lucky readers (you have a good chance if you read my blog because I don't have a lot of people reading it anyway).

So what do you have to do? You have to send me a skein of yarn for a chance to win.. HAHA! No! NO MORE YARN! All you have to do is to post a comment and refer a pattern, if you are knitting for a gift this holiday season. The deadline is Wednesday, November 9, 10:00 p.m. Central Time Zone.

And if you didn't win, this is the cover you'll be looking for at your yarn shop, bookstore, or your favorite online bookstore.

A few years ago, I did attempt to knit Shurt'ugal. It was the pattern for a quarterly challenge in the Socks That Rawk group. I had selected to use Socks That Rock Lightweight in Grimm's Willow Wren, but it was just not showing the cables. I'm not sure if the sock had been frogged or it's still occupying a pair of needles. I knitted this when I was in Cozumel a few years ago...

So Jennifer - is that the first pattern we should tackle since we have both attempted to knit it?

Dream Projects in Progress

Since last week, I have been casting on like nobody's business. And worked on my Buttonwillow Shawl, and worked on my hexiflat blanket. But the blanket has to go into hybernation. I've decided to bring the mitered square blanket to the retreat next weekend. The retreat is a vacation home that 12 of us are renting for the weekend, Friday - Sunday. It's about an hour and half or two hours drive from my house. The town is on the Mississippi River but I don't know the address yet. And of course, I will blog about it when I get home. At this time, there is no WIFI that I know of, but I do have my phone that I can blog with and I have an unlimited data plan. We are also going to visit a yarn shop or two and an Alpaca farm. I digress...

On my Buttonwillow shawl, I have 12 rows left and the bindoff row (which itself could be a weekend's worth!!). I was hoping to finish this before the retreat, but looks like this guy is going on a trip, too.

New Cast On's: This is the SKA Mystery Sock by Deb Barnhill. I have knitted two of her sock patterns before. I've also chatted with her on the SKA weekly chat last week. Love to hear her speak - she's Canadian and could be Jennifer's neighbor! Well, I just know she's from Nova Scotia when I was knitting her Coupling pattern. This is just clue 1 on Sock #1 (Sock #2 not started yet) in Bugga in Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

The second sock caston is by Anne Hanson - David Sock - named after her husband, Tom (haha - I mean, David). Again, in Bugga, Fierce Snake. I'm knitting the size 60 caston, but it feels big on me. It may also be John's socks.... (sigh... that means, the odds of finishing it diminishes...)

BUT! Surprisingly, I received this comment from Anne herself, on my project page:

So maybe I need to finish this socks - it's like the Teacher is checking your work... But of course, she may not be checking on me again. I'm still embarrassed for going up to her at Sock Summit - I was like a crazy fool, blabbering like a fan (which I am!)

Up next, hopefully, the first sweater that I will finish! Deadline: Nov. 14!! I decided against the Sanguine Traveller yarns that I had picked out. In fact, I destashed two skeins of the green - I just couldn't knit green (sorry, Christy!). So, I went with blue. Picked up these Madelinetosh DK yarn which my LYS is now carrying!! YAY!! She will be carrying DK and Pashmina - luckily, the colors she has for Pashmina is not to my appeal! So here's Baltic and Oak.

And what I've done so far:

Then, there is a scarf that I couldn't resist. This will be for a co-worker. She likes jewel-toned colors:

This is Cafe Scarf - I have no idea what the yarn is - there are 33 yards to a skein and I will end up with a long scarf when the skein is done. It should just takes me 2 - 3 hours for this scarf. I think I'm almost 1/2 way done.

On the same trip as the Madelinetosh, I saw this sample mitten that I couldn't resist - because it's knitted in chunky yarn with Kid Serta. I decided to knit a pair for my other co-worker. She likes red and Fall colors.

My son came home this weekend (it was a surprise, though he did not plan it as a surprise. He told his sister on Tuesday that he's coming home. She did not tell us - in fact, she didn't even realize as she did not read her messages on Facebook!!) Anyway, his school colors is green and gold and I had picked this yarn up when I was in California many years ago for the baseball team, Oakland A's. This is Claudia HandPainted in Fingering.

I asked him if he would like anything knitted. He said how about mittens with the part that you can open and close on the finger part... like this:

Sigh... why did I even ask! I want to knit him socks! So Vicki - sorry - I guess I will be knitting mittens, just not in Hazel Knits - unless... you can suggest any Artisan in these colors - I do have Good Morning that I can use for the yellow:

Otherwise, looks like another trip to Amazing Threads - maybe I can use Berroco Vintage - they have lots of nice colors... and it has acrylic and wool so I don't feel bad when he throws them in the washer/dryer or if he loses them! I'll save my Claudia Handpaints for something else...

OK - I have one more blog post for the day... don't forget to read that one!

 

October Destash

I sold my set of Addi Lace Clicks!! YAY!! I love the mechanism for attaching the needles to the cables but the length of the needle suck!

Paca Peds from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club:

Hazel Knits in Cat's Eyes (actually, traded for another skein)

Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Imperial Moth (used for mini skein swap)

Two skeins of Bugga in Frog-Legged Leaf Beetle:

And the single skein of Shibui Stoccata: (the Turquoisy skein)

 

Dream projects for the next 2 weeks...

It is November 1 and that means, it's time to cast on! I currently have these projects in progress that I want to work on:

The Holidazed socks. One down, one to go:

The Buttonwillow Shawl. Pattern says to do 16 repeats of Chart A. I have extra yarn, so I'm on the 18th repeat. Then, there are 6 rows for Chart B, and 11 rows for Chart C.

Maybe the Cookie Hex socks (lowest priority right now)

New Cast On's.... The SKA Mystery Socks by Deb Barnhill. I have knitted two pairs of socks designed by her, Coupling and Azure. I gave Sock Thief 5 skeins of yarn to choose from and he picked the Bugga! This is the yarn he picked!

This month's SKA Challenge is Man Socks. Sock patterns have to be designed with a man in mind. So for myself, I'm finally going to knit David Socks by Anne Hanson in Bugga, Fierce Snake.

And finally, my sister is going to Toronto on November 17. I have a nephew who was born last December (he's my cousin's son). My uncle had sent me some Sweet Georgia yarn from Lettuce Knit. I think I'd better get started on the baby sweater I had purchased yarn for at Sock Summit. I'll be using these yarns - Sanguine Traveller in Ireland and Between Midnight & Dawn.

The pattern I have in mind is designed by Laura Chau (from Toronto!), called Sweet Bunting. This photo was ganked from Ravelry's Sweet Bunting pattern page.

So, am I crazy? I'm going to a weekend knitting retreat on Nov 11 - 13. These will be the projects I plan to work on. I'll also bring my hexiflat blanket to work on, in case I'm bored with the other projects!