Socks, always socks

I just love knitting socks. They're so portable, quick, and the entire rainbow and all its permutations are available in yarn. They can be solid stockinette, or lacy, or cable filled, or fair isle..... anything!!

I've put aside a pair I'm knitting for myself to start on a pair for my daughter's boyfriend's mom. She likes greens, and I think this will fit the bill nicely.



Harmony dpns, size 1, KnitPicks Stroll Tonal sock yarn in Canopy.

Pictures

Two and one-half repeats of the nupp pattern, instead of the three and one-half indicated. I wanted this to hit at the top of my hip, not mid-hip or lower.



We went to the Broken Arrow Loops to look for buttons. These are the ones my Hubby picked out - he has such a good eye for the little details!



Happy happy joy joy!!!

Bonnie Kate is finished!

I am really happy with how this cardigan turned out. It's just about perfect. Tomorrow I'll take pcitures, and show you all the beautiful buttons my Hubby picked out for it. :)

Musings on Valentine's Day

A co-worker and I were talking about Valentine's Day, and whether or not he should go all out for his girlfriend, as this will be their first one together. He was asking me how important to women this day is. That, I told him, was a very personal thing. Some place great importance on it, while others find it to be of little interest. I told him the best thing to do was to be honest with her, and ask her upfront how important this is to her. Tell her that he didn't want to mess up by not knowing how she felt about it. She might be having those very same questions about how he feels about the day, too. Just talk it out.

After all, Christmas was just a scant two months ago. If you believed all the commercials from then, a man was supposed to show how much he loved the lady in his life by getting diamonds: one for the past, the present, and their future! After all - he loves her!!!! But does that mean in just two months he has to show that again?

Or from the women's point of view, she may have just spent gobs of money on a flat screen and surround sound for her fellow at Christmas -- after all, she loves him!!! Does that mean a year's subscription to Netflix is the only way to show her love in February?

My take on this has changed over the years. As a young bride, Valentine's Day was important to me because I was more insecure then. As time went by and I matured, I became more secure in my husband's love and a gift wasn't as important. Just knowing we could spend the day together and chose to spend it with no one other than our special someones was enough. Well, okay, dinner out was nice, too. I won't fib about that! But it brought back to me something my mom told me before I got married, and I'm sorry it took a few years to stick:

"Suzy, make your anniversary the most important holiday in the year." To me, she meant our anniversary should be more important than Christmas, than our birthdays, than Valentine's. Those are days that are imposed on us by the calendar or by birth. But our anniversary? The day we chose to get married? That is the most important day there is.

Good advice then, good advice now. Thanks, Mama.

And the grand total is....?

$4,302.30. That's how much we spent on the upstairs bathroom renovation. We began shortly before Halloween, and just finished up this weekend with the last bits. It was completely cash flowed, and that feels so good!

Wonder how much we saved on contractors and the like, by doing all the work ourselves. Probably a pretty penny. I am glad we're done with this reno, though. I need to rest up before we start another. LOL!

First nupps

It's been a bit of trial and error, but I may have found a method that works to my satisfaction. I follow the pattern K yo K yo K and turn my work and purl the five stitches into one, then return to the right side of the work to continue.

Nupp rhymes with soup

That was the first thing I learned after watching a Knitting Daily TV YouTube video. The second thing I learned was that nupps are really not that hard. Not that I was overly worried about learning a new technique, after all, all knitting is created one stitch at a time. I can handle that.

The trick is to keep your stitches loose, and I mean loose, for the nupp to turn out right. Off I go; I've got nupps to knit. :)

Busy busy busy

What a weekend! We were quite busy on Saturday, what with this errand and that, and then Sunday was a play/work day.

Sunday, Richard, Katie, and I hopped into BOB (the Challenger, Big Orange Beast) and tooled down Route 66 to Pop's, in Arcadia. There we met up with our son, Roger, and his girlfriend, Chelsea, to enjoy a lunch in the diner and to peruse their over 500 brands of soda pop.

On the way home, we stopped off at several landmark points of interest, and Richard took BOB's picture. We think BOB really enjoyed the run, and stretching his pistons out over the road.

I still managed to get the vacuuming done, and the laundry, and to knit a bit on my Bonnie Kate. The raglan increases are complete, and the armhole stitches put on waste yarn. A bit of straight knitting and then on to the eyelet panels.

Bonnie Kate coming along

Working top down, have hit the raglan increases, headed down to the arm stitches which will be held on waste yarn. :)

My Classic Lines Cardigan. :). KnitPicks Cattail Heather Shadow (mc), Shallows Shimmer (cc)

Moving on

Since the Classic Lines Cardigan is finished, it's time to move on. Next on the needles is the Bonnie Kate Cardigan by Erica Jackofsky, available through KnitPicks. I chose KnitPicks Simply Cotton Worsted in Duchess Heather.

First swatch is washed and in the dryer, then I'll see how the initial usage of size 6 needles works out. I'm using needles from the Denise interchangeable set my friends Dana and Roger bought me for my last birthday - first time to use them for an entire sweater. So far so good! I'd never used Denise needles before, being a mostly KnitPicks harmony wood/metal needle kind of gal, but the Denise's are very nice. No snagging along the needle/cord join, and they feel comfy in my hands. Bodes well, indeed!!

Classic Lines Cardigan is done!

This has been a long time in coming. I joined the KAL on May 2, 2009. For a while I kept up with the knitting and was on track. Then, life kicked in, and other knitting projects wooed me away from what was endless rounds of lace weight stockinette. I would put it away for lengths at a time, come back and knit for a bit, only to put it away again. I even had to order another skein of the master color to finish.

But today, I have finished it as it was intended to be: a buttonless steeked cardigan. I'm going to purchase a batch of hook and eye closures so that I have the option of wearing it as a sweater, but I'll also be able to wear a shell under it and have it open.

That it's done is a major accomplishment for me. A steeked cardigan was something I had never attempted before, nor knitting an entire garment in lace weight yarn. I am very very pleased with the results.

It's in a bath right now, soaking away contentedly. I'll block it tonight and buy the hook and eyes tomorrow. If it dries in time, I might even be wearing it on Monday.

Here are the pics of how I applied the front bands and hid the steeked edges, and a shot of it before going into the drink.


Front band, right side of garment


Front band, inside of garment, edge whipstitched down


Sandwiching the steeked edge between the front band folds


Pre-soak. I love it.

I loved this pattern so much that I am going to order another round of skeins for it and knit it as a sweater, no steek. I won't have the contrast color stripe this time, it will be a single heathered color.

Thank you, KnitPicks, Allison Backus, and Kelley Petkun, for a great pattern, yarn, and knit-along.

The crown moulding has been caulked, needs to be painted, and then the baseboards. Door into Roger's room needs painting, then hanging, last door will be the closet door. The closet floor needs to be tiled, but that might just have to wait a while. We are about up to "here" with bathroom reno, and need a break.

aaaaaand.... we're steeked

Whew. Time to call it a night now.

Inside, reinforcing stitches

First cut

More cutting

Completely cut. :)

It fits!

I finished the picot-edged neck, and I'm ready to steek. Well, I will be after I run my stabilizing stitches down the front. But the best part of all this is, when I test tried-on the cardigan: it fit!!! It actually fit like a dream. I'm so very happy.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2011

Let's make this year a great one, shall we?! It's gonna be a wild ride. :)

Got a little knitting done tonight while waiting for the new year to come in. It's the Classic Lines Cardigan that I've been working on for over a year. The KAL is long over, but I'm still plugging along.



I'm ready to do the neckband now, 9 rows with a picot row then 9 more rows. After that comes the steeking!