Stritting

I have been stressed.  Let's not mince words, life has been on edge as of recently.  My new bank card hasn't come in the mail yet, so I'm forced to wait to cash back pay from last year and Christmas checks.  I had a test today, I've got a presentation tomorrow, and I still don't quite know how I'm going to bang out that term paper due in four weeks.  Homework for class A doesn't make any sense, I have to unload the dishwasher, and there's a pile of laundry in the corner of my room that won't wash itself.

So, my knitting has been blah.  I started this sock for W over the weekend, when the needles I was knitting Zucchi's sweater on broke:

The yarn is from the take and replace swap, just a simple stockinette sock with a kercheif heel.

And last night, I started a Jaques Cousteau Hat for my brother.

The pluses of these projects is that they're easy to do.  I can knit while I read, and in class, which helps me focus and worry less.  It's nice to have some easy projects once in a while, ones that I don't need a pattern for or whose pattern is just tres simple.

Socks All for Me!

Last night I finished my two socks.

I tried the first on.  It was heaven.  It was orgasmic.  I will never knit anything but socks again, until I can assure my feet will always be covered by socks as comfortable and squishy as these comfortable, squishy socks.

The second one...

I was not so lucky.

I don't know what went wrong.  I pulled, I tugged, I cried and prayed.  I felt like Cinderella's ugly step sister, desperately wanting the glass slipper to fit on my feet so I could go back to the prince's castle and live happily ever after.  No dice.  This sock was NOT coming on.

So, another knitting mystery to solve.  The socks were the same stitches, same width and length, same gauge.  I washed the good sock and pressed it flat to block (or something like it, I don't have sock blockers.)

And the other was punished severely.

Then, I went on a road trip, ate Stewart's Ice Cream for the first time, came home, and tried my socks on.

Apparently the bad sock learned its lesson in time out, because it slipped on.  It looks a little baggy, though, but oh well.  Viva la new socks!

Oh, and thanks a lot to Kathy and Emily for helping me solve my yarn mystery! I couldn't reply to your comment via email, so I thought I'd call you out in a post :)

Special Delivery!

Today at lunch I picked up a lovely little present from the Take and Replace Swap on Irish Eyes! There were so many nice things, but I took out these:

A skein of sock yarn and a wristlet.  Perfect since my old one (from my wrist troubles two years ago) was starting to get icky and smelly, and this yarn will be great for new socks for W!  I loved everything in the box, and I hope the person I'm sending it to likes the stuff I put in!

Anyway, I don't get out of work until after the post office closes, but I will mail the box to the next person tomorrow :)

Oh and I've encountered a bit of a mystery:

This was in the middle of the skein of sock yarn! What is it? Thread? It's not more yarn, that's for sure.  There's still 100g in the skein (well, 94 g...) but... it's just weird.  I want to know what it is! :D

Oh, and no quilting tonight - I'm driving across the state on a mission to rescue some cats.  But I should have a nice FO (or two) tomorrow.

Another collaboration finished - kind of

Once again, I find myself doing work for stop mo - this time with W.  And instead of knitting a baby hat at club (shame!) I made this:

Yes, it's a wee little Thorpe for a puppet! I got to put it on him and do my homework with him tanding by my teapot.

Tonight he gets his legs tuned up, his mittens on, and later on this weekend he will become a movie star! I'll make sure to post in the next 5-6 weeks, when the film is completed and up online.

I also got a belated Christmas gift from my friend at Hooks and Needles! Stitch markers!

I love the presentation! :)  She doesn't make them professionally, but I think she should - they're gorgeous.

Oh Happy Day!

Today is Ash's birthday, and I made her some smiley twenty-first birthday cookies.

And also, I got a very nice blog review from Tays Blog,  4.5 out of 5 stars! How nice, you can read the review here.

Strides in Quilting

I worked for six hours today, then spent two hours sewing.  While it doesn't feel like I've accomplished much, I have hit two milestones today.

First, I finished cutting the 40 edge pieces! I realize that I will probably need to go and find more fabric (Maybe twice as much, since I want to use this color for the back.)

Then, I finished cutting the pieces for my first flower! Yup, this is flower one of 25.

This quilt is going to be HUGE. Really, really big - but that's good, right?

I started cutting the pieces for the second flower, but my hands started to to hurt.  The rotary cutter is not so good for your wrists, I guess.

Now I'm off to eat veggie lasagna and perhaps some bananas foster afterwards :)  I've done so much today, it feel great!

First FO of the New Year, and Start of the Baby Hat Parade

It's Hooks and Needles tradition: the annual baby hat drive! I made my first hat this year, based on Algerian Action's Sweet.  I cast on 40 stitches using size 6 needles, and worked the pattern as best as I could (ha ha).  The hat might be a little small - the norm is 50 stitches on size 5 - but it looks like it will stretch to fit.  The only other change to the pattern I made was I only knit in stockinette for 4 rows, so, it's definitely smaller than it's supposed to be :)

I knit this with yarn donated to me from a friend of a friend, whose mother passed away.  I have about 5 skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in a sunny yellow, and I'm thinking about making a sweater with it.  Or more baby hats! :)

My goal this quarter is to make one baby hat every club meeting - so, two a week for the next 6 weeks.  If I just make plain stockinette stitch hats, I'll be able to churn out four a week- they really don't take much time at all to do!