Merry Christmas!!

Well, the Christmas weekend is just about to come to an end, and, let me tell you, it was a busy one. Having to work all weekend really messed things up. I certainly did not get enough sleep, but what are you going to do, right? So, here are a few pictures from my Christmas-time happenings. This first picture is one of me (on the left), my to brothers, Mike and Matt, and my sister, Melissa. I was trying to have a nice picture taken of the four of us, but you know, those boys, they always have to ruin it (I made my mom take another one, where my brothers weren't looking like morons). Anyway, Christmas Eve involved opening some presents from above siblings, which included some gift cards and this....

That's right, my friends, it's Socks That Rock yarn!! Oh yes, I was very very happy. That's one skein of Scottish Highlands and one of Chapman Springs. Both so much better up close and in person than the pictures on the internet. I just happened to have the ball winder in the car, so my sister and I wound one up. So, now it's all ready to go when I finish the Monkey socks (which I made good progress on this weekend!). Today, when we did the rest of the gift opening, I received more knitting goodness: Knitting Rules! and Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of A Knitter by the Yarn Harlot. I also got Socks Socks Socks. All very good purchases. So this was a very Knitty Christmas. Most excellent!

Finally, here is my favorite picture that I took this weekend. It is a picture of my sixteen year old cat, Buster (he lives at my parents house). My mom has this village set up on a table in the living room, and Buster insists on sleeping in it. We call him the village cat. Because he is so old, he pretty much sleeps all the time, and this is where you have been able to find him for the past month. What a nice cat.

Anyway, that was my Christmas, it was busy, crazy even, but in the end, very good. Now, it is time to look forward to next weekend, when I have five days off, in a row, from work. That's a lot of time to knit!

What a Christmas!

Well, here are some pictures of what has been going on in the life of Jen's knitting. I was working ever so diligently on my skinny alpaca scarf (and boy do I mean skinny!) I am using a pattern from Stitch N Bitch Nation. It's the Warm Fuzzies Scarf, which is a mock-cable rib pattern. I love how it looks. This yarn is perfect for it I think. I only have about another 12 to 18 inches on it. I could have been done by now, if it weren't for the damn sock yarn that was calling my name...the Austermann Step.

So this sock has been taking up all of my knitting time this week. I pretty much have been knitting it with every spare moment that I have. I am using the Monkey pattern on Knitty. It's a really nice sock. The yarn is fabulous and the pattern is easy but I think it looks very impressive. I plan on casting on for the second sock tomorrow. Poor Trekking socks....will you ever be finished? How can I ever knit you when I am in love with another sock? Well, at least the Trekking sock is the one I take to work on while at work. Someday it will be done.


Finally, today was Christmas in Apt. 105. Alex and I did some gift exchanging this afternoon, and it was grand. I got a yarn ball winder!! I am so so happy. I wound some Knit Picks sock yarn that was already in a perfectly fine ball, but, you know, I had to try the thing out. :) Then I wound the last ball of the baby alpaca. Oh, how I love this gadget. I was talking to my sister a little bit ago and she is mad that Alex bought it for me, because she got me one too. I told her it's fine, she can return it and buy me sock yarn! :) Sock yarn that I can wind myself! Hooray for Christmas. Alex was also quite generous his year as he also bought me an iPod. I cried. That is a good Christmas for me! I know I probably sound greedy, but honestly, who doesn't like getting awesome presents! Alex was happy with his loot too, which included cologne, Rolling Stone supscription and some wine he really wanted. So, it's been a good day here!

Anyway, that's all for now. Tonight is more Christmas-y festivities with home-cooked dinner made by me, and some Christmas baking. Tomorrow there is work (blah) and then off to Grayslake for family time.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

not dead, just busy. . . .

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted on the knitting blog (or any blog for that matter). Life is busy these days. With Christmas and work and everything. Ahh! I have gotten some knitting in over the last couple of weeks. Not a lot of knitting, but some knitting. I have no pictures to prove that I have been knitting, but hopefully those will come soon. Let's see. . . .

The Trekking Socks are moving right along. I turned the heel yesterday so I feel like I am making some progress there. I would probably be done with them by now if I had not started on another pair of socks. I couldn't help it though. I had new sock yarn and a new pattern from Knitty (I am knitting the Monkey socks). Maybe by favorite socks to knit ever. Because I have been so busy knitting those by Alpaca scarf is also sitting somewhere around here unfinished. It's probably sitting under a pile of Christmas presents that need to be wrapped. Oh well, I plan on using my very long weekend at New Year's to do a lot of knitting. Christmas weekend will bring very little knitting since I have to work...all weekend....and on Christmas....but I have known since last January that I had to work on Christmas, so I will now stop complaining.

Alright, as is customary in the land of me I will know use this 30 minutes before I leave for work to work on knitting a sock while watching the news.

Have a good day kids!

Knitting Revealed.

Well, last night was the 4th Annual Froooond Christmas Party. I am happy to say that it was a very good time. There was drinking and eating and chatting and presents, and well, much goodness. Here is the secret Christmas knitting that was gifted at the party. The black, grey and white scarf was for Mel. I think it looks camoflauge. I knit that one with three strands of yarn held together, plain ol' garter stitch and I knit until I used up the whole ball of white. It is a very very long scarf, but Mel is very tall and everyone loves a very long scarf. I am pleased that she was pleased!!!


Then, I knit a hat and scarf for Mary. I knit these two things a forever ago (like in early November). Mary was also very pleased. With the scarf I alternated between moss stitch and garter stitch (I think....I knitted it so long ago). The hat I just made it up. The hat really is more like a beanie. It's a little tight. Fortunately Mary has a regular size head, so it fit her nicely!! I really do like knitting Christmas presents. I don't always have the time. I am glad that I was able to get these doen though. They turned it nice and all involved were happy!

In sock news, I have finished my first sock (finally!) and casted on for the second sock. It's still the Trekking XXL sock that I was knitting through Indiana a month ago. I just cant's get excited about this sock. I don't know why. Hopefully I will finish them soon. Of course, I now have more distractions that will keep me away from the Trekking sock.

What, you ask? Well let me tell you.

Yesterday morning my sister, Melissa, and I went over to I'd Rather Be Knitting in Long Grove. Now I had gone into this Yarn Shop a while back, when I was first learning to knit and I had total sticker shock and ran out of there much faster than I had walked in. But yesterday we went armed with coupons. They were having a sale this weekend on yarn. You got to spin the Wheel of Discount and then use your 5% off coupon on top of that. My sister and I both got 15% off. It pleased us greatly. So, here is what I came home with: some really nice baby alpaca, and some really nice sock yarn. I am very excited. The baby alpaca is going to turn into a very nice scarf for myself. It matches my winter coat quite well. I don't have a lot of it, so it will probably be a little scarf, but who cares? It will be the softest most wonderful scarf in all the land. So, there we go, so much for knitting the other sock this weekend!!

Well, that's all I have for now. My Sunday will consist of lunch with Alex's parents, some knitting, and trying to stay away from any more mice that have taken residence in the kitchen. Icky!

Happy Sunday!!

the baby sock continues.

I did, in fact, cast on the second baby sock yesterday. And, I am pleased to say that I am making some very nice progress on it. The fact that I went to the doctor today and they were way behind schedule helped my knitting out a lot. I am hoping I can finish it tomorrow. I think I can do it. After the baby sock I am not sure what to knit. I have that other sock on some needles, but I am not sure that I am feeling it. We will have to see. Perhaps it is time to start that whole "Knitting for Jen in '07" thing. It's almost '07. It's time to knit myself a whole bunch of awesome-ness. Something to think about anyway.

Well, back to knitting the baby sock!

more baby knitting. . . .

Well, this weekend did, in fact, involve quite abit of knitting. I finished the baby booties to match the hat I made. I crocheted the top with the white yarn after sewing up the

booties. I think they are great! I made up my own pattern for them and I think they turned out nice. The picture makes them look like they are two different sizes, but I swear they are the same size!

I finished up the baby sock a couple days ago. I plan on casting on for the second sock this afternoon. I know that I better start it today or this sock will never have a partner. I am using a free pattern that I found here. My sock, of course, looks nothing like the picture, but I like my sock anyway (it's the Ruffle Ribs sock). I am using some Trekking XXL sock yarn. I like that yarn.


Yesterday I also started and finished some secret Christmas knitting. I took a picture of the finished product but I don't want to post it until the gift is given. We wouldn't want to ruin anyone's surprise!!

Alright, well that's all. Back to sitting around, thinking about how I have no desire to leave my apartment today (it's 16 degrees outside!! icky!).

so much snow!

There is a lot of snow. I mean, a lot. You know what that means...a weekend of staying in my apartment and knitting my little heart out. I plan on finishing some baby booties, casting on for a second baby sock, and maybe something else. I am toying with the idea of knitting a couple of scarves. Maybe one for myself. As you can see, I am going to need one if I decide I want to clear the snow off the balcony. . . .

Crap, that's a lot of snow. Well, that's all I've got for now. Maybe some pictures of knitting tomorrow? Yeah, I think I can make that happen!

so much knitting! and so little sleep.

Well, yesterday I woke up in the middle of the night. After screwing around on the computer and trying to go back to sleep I did what I always do when this happens to me....I knit. So I managed to finish Peter's vest. I think it's pretty nice. I was at his house on Sunday and even though I am going to give it to him for Christmas I made him try it on to ensure it would fit. Yes, I measured him before I knit it, but I was super paranoid that it was going to fit him. That's me. The paranoid knitter.

I know. I'm crazy.

So, after finishing Peter's sweater vest I was ready for something new. So I knit a baby hat. Which, really, is not that new because I know 800 people who have had babies in the last year (800 being an exact number, of course). I never can find baby hat patterns that I really like so I winged it. It turned out pretty good. I used Bernat Baby Boucle. I started with a seed stitch border and then when I switched to the purple yarn I went with regular stockinette. Normally I am anti-pom pom but I thought the hat looked kind of like a Santa hat, and so the ball had to be put on the top. I decided to name the hat Jenna Baby (named after the baby Jenna so is the recipient of said hat). See, it's like Santa Baby, the song, only it's Jenna, well, never mind. If I feel the need to explain myself then it is probably not that funny or witty. There will likely be some matching booties or something to go with this hat in the very near future.

In sock knitting land I have made no progress on the socks. None whatsoever. But what are you going to do?

This week is a short week at work. Hooray for the short week. I think on Friday and Saturday I will have lots of knitting time and this pleases me greatly. I think I have declared that I am doing nothing on Saturday. Nothing but knitting, that is.

and more socks!

Well, I have been knitting, knitting and knitting. Ok, that's kind of a lie. I have been working, working and working and have been far too tired to knit over the last few days. I did finish bith sides of the vest I was working on, but there is the pesky finishing. I am hoping by the end of the weekend it will be done. My goal of it being done by Nov. 4th was some kind of joke. Oh well. Now I am working on some socks. I am using Trekking XXL in Muted Rainbow. I really like it. I am using size 0 needles, which are definitely the smallest needles I have ever used. Here is a picture of my sock driving through Indiana this weekend. The picture is very Yarn Harlot-y, but I don't care. It's a nice picture of my sock. I am hoping to gift this sock to someone at Christmas, that is, if I can finish the other one in time...we will see.

socks!

I have been quite the busy knitter over the last few days. I finished my socks this evening. I really liked the way they turned out. I bet they will be even greater once they take a trip in the washing machine. I adapted a pattern I found on Knitty (you can find the pattern here). Now it's on to knitting more socks!

The other day I got some yarn in the mail. . . . .
And so far it has turned into this. . . .
It's one side of the vest I am knitting for Peter. I could have had way more done but I was busy knitting socks for myself! :) I am hoping to have the vest done by November 4th. That's a couple weeks away but I don't want to try to kill myself to get it done. I have things to do. Like perfect my Crazy Cat Lady Halloween costume and get ready for some Halloween goodness this weekend.

Back to knitting. . . .

So Many Clothes.

I have finished some American Girl Doll clothes over the last couple of days. This hot red and blue number I got out of one of my Creative Knitting magazines (July 2006). I made the sweater more of a cardigan because I figured that would make it easier for a four and a half year old to get it on her expensive doll. I knit it up in just a couple of days and I am pleased with it.

I also knit a couple other outfits. These patterns I found on the internet for free. The little halter dress I changed the stitches up morstly beacuse I was kind of bored with the pattern and I had just seen on Knitty Gritty a pattern with butterfly stitch and I wanted to try it. So, I threw it in the middle of the dress. It's a little weird, probably would look way better if the whole dress was that stitch rather than just a few rows, but I don't think the American Girl Doll will complain.


I kind of wish that I had an American Girl Doll or some doll of the 18-inch variety to ensure that they will fit. I am a little crazy when it comes to that kind of thing....always so worried about the fit factor. Again, I don't think the American Girl Doll will complain if her dress is a little big. :) So, there you have it. The American Girl Doll dress collection. I think that Lily will be happy with her new doll clothes. I know I am happy with her new doll clothes. Small, quick easy....you can't beat it. The knitting for the week is as follows:

1) Socks! I really am in the mood for some sock knitting. I have not knit a pair in a long time. Pictures soon!
b) Vest! Lily's brother, Peter, is patiently waiting a knitted vest. He asked me to knit him something long ago and this Christmas he will finally get something. So, he is getting a vest. We talked about it. He likes the idea. He wants an army man or knight knitted on the front and I had to tell him I don't do that kind of thing. He is getting your plain, run of the mill, cable vest. I know he will like it. The yarn for that came in the mail today so I will be starting on that tonight or tomorrow.

And, back to knitting. . . . (and watching bad MTV). Who said that?

Coasters and Cozies

Well, here are the coasters that I knit on Sunday. I quite enjoy them. I saw them on an episode of Knitty Gritty on DIY a couple of weeks ago and thought "Hey, I think I can knit that." Some leftover yarn and a couple hours later I had my set of four coasters. I think my friend Claire will enjoy them...they will match her kitchen. I used yarn I already had, which is always a good thing because a) I use up yarn I am tired of looking at and 2) I will soon have room for more yarn, which really is the key factor in this equation. You can find the pattern for these coasters here. I used some cheap 100% acrylic yarn that I had in my stash (I used TLC Essentials, Worsted Weight yarn in two different colors: 2672 Lt Thyme and 2916 Island). I am quite pleased with the result. I definitely will be knitting up some more of these for Christmas gifts. Ah, the Christmas knitting. Will it ever end?

I also knit a couple of wine cozy as part of my let's use up some yarn and get some Christmas knitting done at the same time plan. I found this pattern on Knitty.com. You can find the pattern for this wine cozy here. I really really like the way it turned out. I more than like it, I love it. I know that I am going to have no choice but to knit one for myself!

Hmm, in other news, my sister, Melissa, thinks my knitting blog is out of control (and not in a good way). I think she is off her rocker. I think it's smart. I knit a lot of stuff and then give it away, and I think it's nice to remember what I have knit. Just wait, in a year she will have her own knitting blog and then she will want to be my knitting blog friend!

And with that, it is back to knitting. I am working on some American Girl doll clothes for a little girl who is going to be getting one of these dolls for Christmas this year. I find patterns for these dolls to be few and far between in the land of free patterns on the internet, but I like what I have and I think everything will turn out nicely. We will see. . . .

A New Blog. . . .

Well, I have been thinking (nay, dreaming) of having my very own knitting blog for some time now, and, so here it is. I look up way too many patterns and spend too much time reading about knitting on the internet to not join in the knitting blog fun. So, I intend to use my new blog for much knitty goodness: pictures of things I knit, pictures of things I wish I could knit, track the progress of my knitting, and keep up with all my knitting buddies (which is about...hmm, three people).

Anyway, that's it. More later on the fabulous coasters I knit yesterday. I want to keep them for myself.