Sweet Nothing Swap!

I've had a busy week, and next week will be even busier because I'm going to Minnesota for work from the last week of the month to mid-March... but I wanted to share my package for my swap partner and the awesome stitch markers that I got!

I'm really proud of the tiny tin that I made. It's a little lopsided, but the top can be used as a pincushion! It took me an afternoon.  I loaded it with chocolate, those little posits that are really good for flagging patterns you like in a magazine, and some stitch markers that I made.

Then, I packed it with a funny Valentine's Day card, some beads that I had left over from my gauntlet mittens, and some tea.  I'm psyched that my partner liked it. 

I got a nice letter and these handmade stitch markers from Kitsune of Kit's Knits. I love swaps so much!

You can see all the swap results at the roundup over at Yarn Miracle.

Watermelon Waltz Socks

I started on a new project with a pretty zauberball that Ash gave me for Christmas.  I did some two at a time toe up socks, and then I realized...

... they looked kind of boring.  So, of course, I frogged them - even though I was about to turn the heel - and started again! This time striping the sock from both ends.

It went along great! I love the look of the two stripes! And then... this. Are those stripes!? They don't look like stripes!

I can just get over it.  It doesn't look too bad! And then I noticed... you can see my "jogless" jogs! You have to look pretty close, but they're there.  And I can't unsee them.

I mean, my life is going pretty well if the biggest problem I have today is the fact my jogs are showing. 

Oh! And the name! I picked watermelon because the socks are green and pink, and waltz because each stripe is three rounds long.  I'm really proud of my wittiness here :B 

Let it Snow!

This big snowstorm has been my first one in New England.  Although there has been snow, it hasn't been this big yet.

Because I have a long commute, I played it safe and worked from home yesterday in case things got really bad. Dan even came home early! When we went to bed (shamefully early in the night) the snow has stopped, and we wondered if all the hype was for nothing.)

Then we woke up to this.

Oh hai, snow, how's it going?

Hope everyone is safe and warm! I know the areas south of here are even worse off.

 

I Finished My Hat!

Okay, so it's not MY hat, it's Dan's, but anyway, it's done!

I really like how easy it is to make the garter stitch in the round. I saw tutorials for doing it without purling, but I actually don't mind purling, especially if it means not turning my work over.  I always get confused when that happens! You just work with two threads, and try not to forget to pick one up when you reach it... Not that I ever did that, noooooo.

I took more pictures in the spirit of the last "photo shoot" - I put the hat on his head and took photos while he was playing video games.  Yep, we have a special relationship.

I love natural light and all, but my camera just wasn't picking up the blue.  I keep saying I want to get curtains but if we're going to be moving anytime in the future... I will regret spending a weekend sewing curtains.  So I did my best to block the light from the blinds and got this:

I still have half a skein left, so the next time we go to Portland I'll have to pick up another and make myself some alpaca mittens. It's been chilly around here, and the other morning when I was getting snow off my car I swear I got frostbite even though I was wearing my super-expensive new gloves I got for Christmas.

Sweet Nothing Swap!

I joined the Sweet Nothing Swap at Yarn Miracle - if you're interested, you should join too.  I'm already planning what I'm going to make!

Signups end on the 31st, so there's still time.

Sharing a Project

I've been working on something for a long time but just never blogged about it.  It's something I've been working on for about a year.

The layman's term is "Rock Island" but I have been referring to it as "The Lacecide Pact." Why? Because three of us in Hooks and Needles decided to start this together.  The first meeting, we were literally in tears over the pattern.  I think I knit the first repeat of the first chart 6 times before I was confident that I got it right.

Oh, and did I mention that you knit that first chart 71 times? What!? Ain't no one got time for that.

Except I do, apparently.  I hit my 50th repeat today, a little over a year after I started.  If I make this my only long-term project, I might even finish it this year!

It doesn't look like a shawl.  It looks like a very long centipede.

I'm not sure if my friends have been working on their versions, I lost touch with one and the other is in grad school (and, I love her, but she has serial startitis) so our KAL might have turned into a KAL of one.

So, phew, my secret is out! I'm sure everyone has projects that they just don't blog about.  Right now, though, I only have this shawl and my hat.  And my carpal tunnel, which keeps me from knitting too fast.

Have a great week!

A Blue Post

Not because I'm sad, but because I looked at all the pictures for this post and noticed they were so blue! It's a theme!

Thursday morning there was a gigantic snowstorm, and I had my first "Wicked New England Commute."  It normally takes me an hour to get to work, but that morning... 2 hours, 20 minutes.  Everyone asked me how it went.  I told them "On average, less than 30 miles per hour."

But when I got home... holy crap.  The snow was beautiful! Of course, it was dark and raining, so I couldn't really appreciate it on the icy way home, but after the steps were shoveled it just looked awesome.  My ride into work the next morning was good too - dark and snowy, with the trees covered.  I almost wish that I could've taken photos of that but... not gunna risk it.

And today, I'm about halfway done with Dan's hat! It looks darker than in the photo, but I wanted to get an action shot! The conversation was like this:

Me: I'm gunna put this on your head while you play video games and take a picture.
Him: (Not looking up) Okay.

Me: Thanks Dan!
Him: (Not looking up) No problem.

My boyfriend is cute.