Happy New Year!

Lots of pictures for you this posting. I was away for the holidays, and came back with a sinus infection but lots of gifts. First, from the Lancaster Stitch 'N' Bitch: My secret santa was too kind! Becky got me a stitchonary, some tools, a cute ornament, a cookie cutter, and personalized hand dyed yarn!

How awesome is that!!! Its named after me, "Heather's Twilight".






From the family I got several knitting books and even some yarn! My family doesn't understand my obsession one bit, so the yarn and books were really hard for them to feel good about giving. Most notably, here are the skeins of Socks that Rock from my mom. Yummmmmm!! I can't wait to start knitting more socks!









Speaking of knitting. Over the break I was on a color mission. I am almost finished with one endpaper mitt, and about half way through one legwarmer. The mitts seem a bit small...but I think they will stretch...The leg warmer is turning out pretty nicely, very spring-like.









Not Christmas related, my husband was able to pick up one of these:









Not sure if we are going to keep it or not. There doesn't seem to be that much incentive at this point. Only one real game that he's interested in that isn't available for the 360, so maybe he will return it until there are more games. Who knows...

Long time...

...no write! It really does seem like a long time since I have posted. Thanksgiving was OK, not much really going on. For work, I got off Thursday, but Friday I ended up working from home. Usually I am more productive at home, so this was not a problem. Hubby and I went to my sister's house for Turkey Day. She is the BEST cook! Dinner was simply awesome...a true feast.

As for knitting news -- some ups and downs. I finished the purple tri-fold bowl, but messed my next one up. I started out fine...made my moebius, thought it was going well...then I notice...it looks much smaller than the others...It ends up only about 2/3rds as large as the other rims...but just as thick! So...hubby suggested, I just make a smaller version...but I think it is not going to end up well. I finished, but am almost afraid to felt it. I could only pick up 10 instead of 22 stitches along the sides, so the base of the bowl itself is small. Then when working the increases, the bottom ended up kinda wonky because of the weird number of stitches. -Sigh-

The good news is...I am about to turn the heel on my second Jaywalker sock, and started another pair for my sister-in-law. The second pair I started at Tuesday's knit night, and am on the cuff area now! Almost finished. I think though, I am going to finish the Jaywalkers, then use that set of needles to do the second of the new pair...then at the end I can just work both cuffs till I run out of yarn...and hopefully they end up to be the same length too. These pair are plain stockinette until the leg where I am doing a 3x1 ribbing. Then the cuff I will switch to a 2x2 rib for better elasticity. The Queen Kahuna cast of worked so well on my Jaywalker, I can see me using that exclusively for all of my toe up socks.

Maybe one day I will write up the little formula I use to do socks now. With every sock I have learned new techniques, but I think I finally have it down to a science. Oh! I almost forgot -- in other good and bad news: the color pooling (Scorponia colorway from Socks That Rock) in the second Jaywalker is ending up exactly like the first one...of course this is both good and bad, but I think I have finally come to peace with it. The second pair of socks (Seal Rock colorway from Socks That Rock) have many more colors, shorter repeats, and no pooling!

In summary, I guess you could say it has been a very sock filled weekend! (The Lorna's socks are still -almost- completed. I just can't bring myself to finish them up!)

Christmas Knitting

First up -- My husband got a little upset at me for not posting for a while. He has finished another square...but this time it's big enough to be used as a washcloth! It really did turn out well. This time he also did everything from casting on to binding off. Now his needles are freed up and I have procured his services for Christmas knitting!

Here are the colors I chose for the tri-fold bowls I am doing. it! I am using Cascade 220 and LOVE It comes in so many wonderful colors, and really is soft enough to use in a sweater. I will definitely be buying more in the future. The outer ring is the base color, and matched up with the contrasting color in the inner ring.

For an example: Here is my first completed bowl. And here is my next one (my husband is hiding under it). This second one is in the washer now!

I'm getting OLD!

Carpooling is great for knitting! However...there is one guy that I ride with that insists on playing hiphop. Maybe I am just getting to that point in my life where only old music appeals to me, but I just cannot stand hiphop! By the time I get to work I feel all angsty and agitated. No wonder he drives like a maniac! 6am in the morning is just too early for those types of feelings, it really sets the mood for the rest of the day. It's also a shame that it is too dark in the morning to accomplish any knitting, so I can only sit and listen for the entire ride. Soon it will be dark when we leave work as well...Maybe I should look into getting those lighted needles.

Yesterday I was greeted with a package from Amazon! Two new books: A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting and One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet. I am really excited about making mobius baskets and bowls -- the trifold rimmed one is my favorite!! I will probably have to ask Karen for help though, just paging through, it looks very complicated. The One Skein book I got for quick gift ideas...I am still thinking about Christmas gifts, and have yet to figure anything out! I also picked up the Mason Dixon book. I have started reading their blog online, and wanted to see all these great patterns people keep talking about.