Oh the Shame of It All!

My level of knitting this week: Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  I could have been knitting--perhaps better to say that I should have been knitting.  Instead I opted to scrapbook.  In my defense, I was making a gift (which should have been started in November instead of two weeks before Christmas).  At least 8 pages are now complete and I've assembled two small non-scrapped mini-albums of snapshots.

Do I feel a twinge of stress?  Sense of impending doom?  Well, that's too extreme, but I seriously need to get my ass in gear this weekend or I'll be up till midnight on Christmas Eve!

I'll bypass any detailed talk about Wednesday night.  Silly ol' me decided to walk home in a blizzard.  With no hat.  With no boots. (In all fairness the day had started with rain).  Thank heavens for woolen socks!  Needless to say, neither knitting nor scrapping took place that night.

So I'm off to finish my projects.  Hope your day is a good one and filled with Christmas cheer. :)

"Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful . . .

"But inside the knittin's delightful . . ."

Haha!  "Let It Snow" is my fave Christmas tune.  In fact, we've had our first wintery blast this week and today there's even more snow.

So as I hunker-down indoors, I'm desperately trying to finish my Fern & Waves Scarf--oh so close! 

I'm also trying to work on my Bernat project at the same time.  That's going more slowly than anticipated (and I can't really show you that progress, but rest assured it will show up on my Rav project page, my flickr page or wait till I post about it on Bernat blog).

To make matters worse interesting, my sock looks wonky.  I'm loving the 2x4 ribbing on the leg and the striping actually looks quite nice.  As for the cuff ribbing . . . well, that doesn't quite look as nice. 

Doesn't the cuff look really loose?  When I made the boys' socks, I always used 1x1 ribbing on smaller needles and then worked the leg on larger needles.  Sadly I didn't change needles with my own socks, so the leg's 2x4 ribbing looks more snug. 

So what does this all mean?  To the frog pond goes the sock!  I'll just re-cast and skip the 1x1 cuff and instead dive into the 2x4 ribbing.  That'll work.

Now I'm off to shovel more snow  :)

Mind the Mess

It's just  some of my scrapbooking stuff.  One of my little ones was sick today and it was my turn to stay home (dear hubby did his duty yesterday).  I decided to take advantage of the time to work on a special scrapbook--so I'm not showing you any of the finished pages.

When I started scrapping a few years back, I used to make sketches and it would take me forever to complete a double page spread.  These days I don't scrap as often as I'd like to; however, when I do get the chance, I'm more laid back about it.  I let the pictures "talk" to me .  

I guess some knitters do the same thing too.  They let the yarn "talk" to them to discover what the yarn would like to be.  I don't think I can hear my yarn talking.  Rather, when I start a project usually its the pattern that attracts me first .  Then I search for yarn to fit the pattern.  Guess everyone works in their own way.

Happy knittin' (or scrappin')

Making Merry, Good Cheer and All That

Yeah, Christmas cheer has come to my house at long last!  In dribs and drabs, the decorations have come out of hiding during the week.  Right now I'm listening to Nick at Nite's Classic Cartoon Christmas whilst I type on the laptop.  Earlier I went shopping for a few little items.  Wrapped a few presents (even finished some knits but I'll post those later).  Some of those gifts are heading to the post office on Monday.  Later I'm off to a staff Christmas party.  And apparently there's a winter mess--at the very least snow--heading our way sometime 'round midnight.  Tis the season after all.

Christmas is generally my favorite holiday.  Why so long to get into the seasonal spirit?  Why so lackadaisical this year?  Then it hit me: no snow.  I need snow to get into the season.  Usually we already have a sprinkling of the white stuff by now, but almost nothing thus far. 

Last year I was also making lots of ornaments.  I think that helped me get into the spirit.  The  little balls were a free pattern at Canadian Living website.  The pattern originally came from the book Handknit Holidays.

And the cutest mini-stockings.  I loved making them!  These were also a free pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits (who incidently makes the cutest toys!  You gotta check out her website).

And I even started a few items that never got finished.  I found the patterns in my MIL's old Canadian Living magazines circa 1980's (I guess the magazine used to put out an issue devoted solely to Christmas crafts and gifts).

I even finished knitting most of the pieces for the snowman and the reindeer too, but I just never got around to seaming and assembling.  Everything has been languishing in a ziploc bag.  Maybe when I'm off for the holidays . . . three more weeks! :)

Ugh!

You can probably ascertain that I might possibly--maybe--have a knitty addiction . . . oh, who are we kidding?  I likes to knit.  A lot!

I also like to blog.

I also like to "socialize" on Facebook.

Of the latter, I have been unable to login for the past 48 hours.  Every time I try, I get this "site maintenance" message.  Yes, I 've reported my problem to the powers that be at FB, but its still really, really annoying.  Is this the way to cure an addiction?  Seriously . . .

Back to my other vices . . .

(origin unknown but came from a torrent of wallpapers)

New Project

So I cast on for a new project: socks for me!  It's been so long since I've made socks, that the 2.25mm dpn's feel like uncooked spaghetti strands in my hands!  With regular use, my hands should get used to the smaller sized needles.

I'm using Bernat Sox.  While I liked the colour in the ball, not sure I'm lovin' it in a sock.  What do you think about the colours?

Guess I'll have to reserve judgement till I've gotten further into the sock.  After all, the colour changes can vary from the cuff to the main leg. 

The pattern is a ladies' vintage ribbed sock from Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Sock Book.  I've made the child's version a couple of times (remember these socks and these ones--the latter is a Rav link).  I really like the ribbing.  I think it makes for a better fit. 

These socks represent a "first" of sorts.  I don't think I've ever made a pair of socks for myself.  Wonder how long it will take me?  The one good thing about my feet is that they've stopped growing.  Once I've found a pattern that works, the rest will be easier.

Happy knitting!

That Time of Year?

Hard to believe that November is drawing to a close.  Christmas is rounding the corner, along with all the requisite activities: cookie baking, decorating and gift shopping; staff parties and gatherings of family and friends; and community events such as our local Santa parade and tree lighting.   A few neighbours have even put up their outdoor lights and decorations.  As for me, I'm not quite "there" yet.  Hence this is the extent of "decorating" to date:

When the spirit hits, I'll dig out my lovely decorations and start putting them around the house.  But. Not. Yet.