Just a stop on the path . . .

Just in case you were wondering where I've been - 

No, that's not a weird looking hat - it's part of my baby sweater project for Knitting Camp. In between, there have been bits of one of these:

What is it, right? 

A Bea the Basement Monster from Rebecca Danger's Big Book of Knitted Monsters, 

Just something for the charitable toy drive at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild. 

And, of course, more purple requested socks.

Yes, nothing really changes but yet, I feel like I'm knitting all the time!

I'm really looking forward to Knitting Camp, though. It is a bit intimidating, though. What if the knitting is too tricky? What if I bring boring projects? Well, time will tell.

 Knit on, with confidence as Elizabeth Zimmerman would say!

Sliding in sideways, with a cup of coffee in one hand and knitting in the other . . .

This has been one heck of a weekend - not actually busy but very full. From early on Saturday morning to late Sunday night, from snow to sunny, kids working, driving places - jampacked is the only word.



I finally fought my way through the button bands on Baby Alban's sweater. My advice to you is don't do the extra six stitches in the ribbing and just do regular picked up button bands. I ended up knitting the button bands about six times total and ended up stretching the one side - the left, button hole side - out. I think that this will fix up in the blocking. Tomorrow, blocking and sewing on buttons.



Not too crazy about the buttonholes, either. By the way, my daughter picked these bluebells on the way home from the park today - right after it began to snow again.



I finished the lace border on the Paws to Remember scarf. I think it will be more of a "Paws to Remember" shawl when it is blocked but, luckily, the recipient is tall!



The Saturday Seven was all sock related. My husband finally gave up four pairs plus my Halloween socks and two pairs of Ironman socks I got in goodie bags at races. I hate these socks - they are slippery and feel very artificial. Give me a plain old cotton pair any day! I have one more week to get things over to Saint John the Evangelist for their big sale. I recommend it.

I also recommend attending "Stitch, bitch and die!" over at the Bryant Lake Bowl. It was very silly - but fun is fun and the beer was great. Try "It's Greek to Me!" for dinner - it's great, too.

One final look at 2007 . . .

From the first blue sweater of 2007 . . .


. . . to the last warm hat and mittens, the final accounting is a total of 16 knitted items.

My favorite? Probably the Flower Basket Shawl. It was great fun and a learning experience.

My least favorite? Probably the Edged in Lace shawl done as a baby blanket. Too much garter stitch!

My favorite sock? The Lupine Lace socks. They became addicting.

So, Evelyn A. Clark won the knitting trifecta this year at Chez Daisy.

Looking ahead? I am going to finish the Back to School vest, my Interlocking Balloons scarf from Scarf Style, the red knitted bag from "25 Knitted Bags", my red cotton shopping bag, and, possibly, Andy's Big Brown Sweater. Oh, and the socks I am working on right now. That should hold me until about July, especially as I have to pop two baby sweaters into the mix. V from over at Spin/Knit is working on a sweater a month. I'm not shooting for that (I prize my sanity!) but I think I can get at least one project a month. Let's give a cheer for knitting - after all, it keeps me off the streets!

A Blessed and Peaceful New Year to you all!

Baby sweater on the way!

I know that I am a boring, traditional-style knitter but when there is such a cute, addictive sweater like this, who wouldn't be? I've been fighting a cold and the dreaded, post-vacation laundry but when I get to knit, this has been the project. I did have a set back when I took it to a Spring Formal meeting last night (my daughters' school doesn't have a Prom but a Spring Formal - a sedate, dinner-dance kind of thing) and accidentally raised the FRONT of the neck instead of the carefully-marked BACK of the neck.

So, when I finally got home, I ripped the whole neck out while watching TIVO-ed episodes of "House." Now, it looks much more comfy. I have some errands to run and then I'll finish it off later today. There is a lot of weaving in but that is a relaxing kind of task, I think. Like driving home after a really good party!

I have had a small problem with my Knit Picks Interchangable Needles. I think the longer actual "needle" part of the needles makes for a longer circular needle. Even with the 16-inch cable cord on the needles, they are quite a bit longer than my ADDI Turbos. Usually, I would have no problem using a 16-inch circular needle for a neck. This one seems to stretch things out a bit. I think I might actually switch to DPs to finish the neck. However, this is probably just a wild hare . . . I might not take the time to dig out my double points and put everything on new needles.





I also wound up the roving I dyed last week. I think I am going to use the barn red roving to knit some felted mittens - but with a few changes so they will fit Youngest Child. Sort of a Love Child Mitten resulting when Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas has a fling with Symeon North's Mad River Mittens.

Too bad the snow is on its way out now - I am just getting back into knitting mittens!

Yet another day late . . .

I think our family just needs to stay home for a while. Two weekends ago, we were in Washington, D.C., and this past weekend, in the Brainard Lakes region of Minnesota. Needless to say, cross country skiing was on our menu.

We were at Clearwater Forest, a retreat center/camp near Lake Mille Lacs in Minnesota. Lots of snow. So much snow, in fact, that we drove up a day later than usual. We went with a group of families from our church so that older kids had pals to buddy around with, toddlers had plenty of playmates and knitters had lots of company! Great snow, good food and blazing fires in the fireplace made for a nearly perfect (too short, really) Minnesota vacation. Going up to the lake has an entirely different connotation when you are skiing on it!

I did collect some great giveaways, courtesy of Oldest Daughter. She stayed home to work, take a class and dogsit. When we returned on Sunday, I cornered her and "helped" her clean out her closet. Then, we moved on to the bedroom floor. Soon, we will take Berlin . . .




Not only did I fill a trash bag with actual trash to throw out, I filled a trash bag with the following items to give away:

3 pairs of shoes: Big ones. The kind of shoes where you say, "Oh, you went shoe shopping, dear?" and hope she didn't spend too much money.

3 skirts. Wild, fluffy shirts with a lot of orange. Not that I mind orange . . .

3 bags - one purse, one tote bag from Carnegie Mellon University, a prospective college and one book bag.

8 shirts. I hate ironing so I was glad to see these go!

2 vests. Ditto.

1 bush hat, one red belt and one "Study for the PSAT" book. So, should she be marooned in the Australian outback, she could stay cool, keep her pants up and study while waiting to be rescued.

Now, on their own, none of these are objectionable. It was only en masse that they really stuck out. This is one of the best things about the Saturday Seven. Sometimes, it gives you a chance to really look at the big picture. We didn't argue over a single item to be given away and she still has plenty of shoes, clothing, books, etc. We are truely a blessed family to have so many possessions.

My own personal excitement over the weekend was getting into the multicolored yoke on a Norwegian-style baby sweater I am knitting for the baby of a friend of mine. I haven't been posting about it because I wanted to keep it secret but Melissa was on the weekend trip with me and I was caught out. I don't care, I love this sweater so! Pictures to follow as soon as I get my ballwinder & swift back. You know a sweater is fun when you are willing to wind yarn from skeins into balls by hand!

Who's that yarn?

I got a very nice comment about what yarn did I use for my first sweater of 2007. Guess what? I forgot! I gave the remaining skein away with the baby sweater (along with an extra button) so they would have it on hand for mending, new buttons, etc. And I completely forgot what the yarn was called. So, for a few days, I was scouring yarn sellers' sites, looking over all the baby yarns.

I originally bought the yarn some time ago for another project at a local shop, Borealis Yarns, which is not my usual yarn shop. Their web site didn't have much information and I couldn't get over to the actual store. Tonight, I saw it THE YARN online - it was:

Plymouth Encore: a nice soft, baby fluffy 75% Acrylic and 25% Wool yarn. It knit up at 5 sts per 1 inch. They recommended a US size 8 needle. I used my new Knit Picks size 6, 16 inch circular needles as well as set of Brittany size 6 double pointed needles. The yarn came in 200 yds/100g balls - I used two and 1/2. My heathery-denim color is listed as color 658.

So - the mystery of the missing yarn is solved. I recommend it for items that are liable to get washed a lot (like baby sweaters) and the recipient might not want to spend a lot of time on handwashing (like new parents.)

Oh, and I've been spending my time with the mystery patterns from Knitty.com. I'm currently knitting up the Mad River felted mittens by Symeon Noth. Love, love love them! I'll post some pictures tomorrow - too many late nights knitting makes for cranky days at Chez Lazy.

First sweater of the new year!

I finally finished my baby sweater project for Andy's co-worker. I started this the day after Christmas using my great Knit Pick Interchangeable needles. These needles are lovely and I had no problem with my order. A friend told me her needles did not fit her cables and she had to send them back.

Luckily, nothing wrong with my set. I love their nice sharp pointy tips! It was a real pain to go back to my dull wooden DPNs to do the sleeves.

Now, if I could only make my Violet's Pink Ribbon sock go as quickly. It's a nice pattern but hard to remember where I am. Rounds go so slowly that a picture this week would look just like last week. You'll just have to imagine it.

I am dying to start a new sweater project but I also need to finish my blue/green Interlocking Balloons scarf this month as well as a cool little red bag I started some time ago. Must . . . finish . . . projects . . . aughh!