Computer trouble
You'll see some delays on my blog for now, because I have computer trouble at the moment. My laptop made an unscheduled landing on the ground and the display is busted. Thanks to some advice I hooked up another monitor, which eliminates that problem for now, but now I'm far away from the modem, which requires running an ugly internet cable down the stairs. At the moment I'm using my husband's computer, which doesn't let me load any of my camera's pictures without installing the software and I'd rather not do that. But like I said, I hope to have those kinks worked out soon too, it just takes me a little longer. In the meantime I'm proud to say that the baby quilt is done, so are the booties and they will be presented to the proud parents this weekend. Don't worry, I already took pics to show to you later. The cable set was a success. The recipient was very happy about it. Now I'll make her a pair of my little mini key chain socks as a thank you. Can't take credit for this idea, Anja does that every time she makes a sale or a swap on her etsy account. Neat, I think.I'll take my camera to work today and hope to catch the legwarmers in action, since I forgot to take a picture of them again. I guess it's partially because I'm not too crazy about the colors, but that didn't matter to the new owner of them. She loves them and wears them proudly.
Set is done
Thanks to a day off and a three hour trip into South Carolina I have some more FO's to show you. I finished the mittens and the scarf to go with it, now the set is complete. I really wish the camera could capture the braid pattern better, but once I push that button and review the picture it seems all washed out. 
The next thing on the needles are another pair of baby booties. This time in pink. Those are for a new mom in our unit who just had another baby girl this last weekend. I also wanted to whip up a blanket, but on such short notice (I know there were 9 months in the making) I was more leaning towards a rag quilt in flannel. We'll see what the sewing closet spits out at me when I tackle it this afternoon. Stay tuned. 
Much better choice
Thanks to some good advise I tried the so called scarf pattern and look how much better it's turning out. I was experimenting with repeating the knit row on both sides to make both sides look the same, but desided to go with the original pattern form the Sheep in the City. Thanks a lot for it and baaaaah. Even though the pattern won't all be the same in the set, the color will still hold the whole theme together. I'm wondering if it's possible to knit this pattern in a round? Maybe next time I'll try it the long way. that should make it look good too. Ohh, the possibilities....
Do I need to explain that the before is on the left (maybe this time the pattern is a little more visible) and the after is on the right? Didn't think so. :)
It's another FO show off day. I got the two hot pink ponchos done and can show them off. Unfortunately I have no good model to show them off so the chest of drawers has to do the job. Here they are:
All I used was 4 balls of Red Heart KOOKY 90 % Acrylic/10 % Polyester in Pink 85g=3 oz per pack/99m=108yds, worked on 8mm Addi acrylic needles with gold sparkles. Trust me, the looks I get with those needles are intereting. Another thing I wanted to show you was the lovely bag for my sock knitting project I got from Keri the other day. It's in my favorite colors purple of course and has a lacy draw string. In the inside there are several pockets to hold my DPN and other small things you might need. Very nifty idea and I feel honored to own one of her bags. I love being a guinea pig sometimes and get test projects. Yumm!
Another thing I was wondering about is, if anybody has a pattern source for not just knee high, but thigh high socks/leggings/... whatever else you might call them. It's an odd request, but I'm always up for a challenge and wouldn't mind giving this crazy idea a try.Labels: FO
On the needles
On Saturday I had a day off and took a little trip with my family to Tallahassee, FL to visit the dealer for my husband's soon to be motorcycle. The first one got handed over to the owner and he wanted to be there and get a chance to straddle it. Well, boys and their toys. That gave me about 4 1/2 hours of knitting time in the car!!!! I was working on this mitten and I'm just waiting on the recipient's approval for the size before cutting it off and closing it up and starting on the maid.
Once done with this and only half way to our destination I had to start on the matching scarf.
I really wish the braid pattern would show more, but this is the first time I actually pay attention to the way the yarn zig-zags across. The little lumpy looking spots in there are the braids, so the hat, the mittens and the scarf all have the same pattern. When they are all done I'll shoot a family picture of them all to show them off. I'm also on the second half of the second little poncho and it's growing up sooo fast. I also don't want to bore you with a picture of more acrylic until it's all done, which should be sometime today (?).
I got another set of legwarmers done. They are knitted on the machine and just need to be sewn up in the back. The first pair is already in use and I have to see if I can catch the model. I forgot to snap a picture before they left my house :( That won't happen again (I hope).
Otherwise at the moment my life is kinda hectic for reasons I can't reveal yet. Ssshhhhh. Opsec, for all that know what that means. Sigh. Then there are the taxes, a visit to the dentist who wants to crown my little six-year-old, disagreements with loan applications and so on. It's no fun at times, but that's where the knitting needles bring some peace to my hectic schedule. Which, reminds me .... gotta run (again).
Chunky Knits
First is another FO for this year. It's a cabled hat made of Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn. For all of you that are naturalists, you might want to skip this post, because nothing, not even the needles I'm using, has any natura content. Sorry.
The third Bea Ellis hat looks just like my first one, the light blue one, so I didn't think you wanted to see antoher picture of it. It already went to it's new proud owner and therefore not available for interviews anymore.
The next thing I'm working on is a poncho for a 2 year old little girl. It's Red Hearts Kooky yarn and the color is actually hot pink, but as you can see on the two pictures, the colors seem very different.
This picture is to show you the basic principle I'm using to sew the pieces together, so it's not rocket science, just basic knitting. I'm still thinking wether I should make a fringe around it or not, but that might just drown that poor little girl in pink yarn. I need to find a model, that will try this thing on for me, once it's finished. At the rate I'm going I might just be able to put the collar on it tonight and show it off soon.
Labels: FO
Look what I found
I found this yarn yesterday at Walmart and Big Lots. Sorry, but for a quick yarn fix, this is the only thing we have available in this back a.... town of ours. I'm sure Keri can sing a song about this too, right? I didn't have time to drive 40+ miles to make it to a yarn store, so that is all I have to show for. 
It's to make this:
Somebody wants ponchos for her grand children and I wanted something fast and chunky to make it in time for my Feb. 22nd deadline. Which one is nicer with the yarn? At least with the little bit of different blobs of color I don't have to worry too much about pattern. I'm just going to knit it up, probably in two rectangles, and let the color do all the work for me. I'll keep you posted what the finished product will look like. I can't wait to cast on, but I still have other things on the needles, that have to be finished.
I only have another inch or so to go on the third Bea Ellis hat, before I have to decrease. I'm such a fanatic, addict, ... whatever you might want to call it. I have to be outa here in about an hour and I'm leaving my laundry to be folded later and the dishes to be washed later, just so I can take the finished hat with me. I'm sure you will understand, right? Please tell me you know why I'm doing this and understand and support my decisions?.... Thought so! ;)
What I'm up to?
It's been a couple of days since I've blogged, but don't think I've been lazy or something like that. Here is another FO for this year.
The light blue hat on the right is the one you've already seen, the darker one on the left is the new one. I ran out of yarn towards the end so the very top of it is in blue. Aren't my models cute? Those are my FO's too, but that was a couple of years back ;).
I'm currently working on a third hat just like this ones for a friend, a hat/scarf/mitten combo (unfortunately in acrylic) and some legwarmers (photos will follow later). Also in the wood works are some little girls ponchos and maybe a crochet table cloth. We'll have to see about the last one though. Tomorrow first thing I'll have to work on my taxes and then I'll go yarn shopping for those ponchos. They have a deadline. The acrylic hat I might open up again, because the pooling of the colors is just a little to boring. We'll see, maybe a braid or something will change that and liven up the pattern of the colors. Any suggestions for a scarf with a color repeat of 75 stitches? Maybe it's time for ""My so called scarf"?
