November!

Well, first here's my answer to the topic of the week for the Amazing Autumn Coffee Swap:

With Halloween coming up this Friday, tell us what you think of when you think Halloween! Do you love it? Hate it? See it as a sign of Fall? Are you a total sucker for candy and little kids in cute costumes?

Well, I don't get all gung ho about it... I typically don't dress up or do much decorating... but I am a total sucker for the candy and little kids in cute costumes. We carved a pumpkin and turned on the light and waited and waited for trick or treaters to come by. Alas no one did. Oh well, more candy for me I suppose. Here's our pumpkin:


Otherwise this weekend has been one for casting on. Before I show you what I've started this weekend though, I'll give you a poorly lit FO shot of the socks I finished a couple weeks ago. I started these sometime around when I moved back from Germany and the first sock sat in my knitting pile all alone. About a year later I decided I should really knit the second sock so that I didn't have to worry about my gauge changing. Luckily it hadn't and I know have a wonderful pair of socks.


Ooh... it's really blurry too when the picture is bigger. I need to take another one when I have natural light. You can't tell how pretty the Wollmeise color is!

Anyways, on to what I've cast on. Reading some knitting blogs lately I came across one discussing NaKniSweMo -- National Knit a Sweater Month. I read on and decided to join in. So at midnight on November 1st I cast on for the February Lady Sweater and hope to finish it by the end of November (or at least in time for Christmas).


I've gotten reasonably far -- I'm just about to separate out the sleeve stitches-- and am excited about how it's going. I'm a little nervous that it may be too small, but I won't be able to tell until I separate offthe sleeves.

I also cast on a cute little neckwarmer for my mom out of Misti Alpaca chunky.


It's turning out so dense and soft and I absolutely love the pattern. I make have to make one for myself too!

So that's all I've been up to for now. Hopefully there will be a lot more FOs in the coming weeks. After all, Christmas is less than 2 months away and as always I have big plans as far as knitting and crafting goes.

Disorganized, Disheartened, and Discontent

(Sorry guys, this one is going to be a downer. Jump to the end of the entry for a nice picture of C and I at my friend's wedding if you want something happy.)

Life sucks right now. I feel like my job is screwing me over and I really just want to quit. This job has almost made me hate chemistry (which is pretty impressive since I've loved chemistry and known I've wanted to do it FOREVER... and even biochem (which I hated with the passion of a thousand suns) didn't make me want to choose a different profession). C keeps telling me to just quit, but I feel like I need to have something else lined up first, because I really don't want to go without health insurance or an income for too long. I really don't want to look for a new job though. I have seriously considered just becoming a bank teller. At least it still involves math.

The working long shifts and at night has taken a toll on both of us. We've become very irritable and even little things can set us off. We haven't gotten into any huge fights (mostly because I think we each know where the irritability of the other is coming from), but it has put a damper on some of the little time we get to spend with eachother. C may have an opportunity to move to day shift (though still the 12 hour shift and odd schedule) in a couple months, but I don't see one opening up for me where I'm working. At least that would be an excuse to look for a new job other than "I hate my current employer." It will be odd looking for a job while being currently employed though... I've never had to do it.

All of this stress at work has led to me being somewhat lazy at home. I just don't want to do anything (even knit really... it's been more than a week!). I feel like I have stuff all over the house (which I do, really) and even though I have all these big plans for organization, I never feel like implementing them. I'm too tired, or just don't want to do anything that feels like work.

I also have been really lazy about my 101 in 1001. I realize I still have a ton of time (969 days according to my countdown), but Ihttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=967788185531302294#
101in1001 haven't been doing a lot of the stuff I said I would do once a week. Like go to the gym. It opened 2 weeks ago and I haven't been there yet (though of course, there have only been 2 nights in the past 2 weeks that I've been not working and in town and one of them was C's birthday). I may have to re-examine my list and eliminate some of those goals.

I have so much half finished stuff lying around the house too. Lots of craft projects. I feel like I can't accomplish anything right now (whether at home or work). Sigh, well I'm going to end my complaining rant now. I'll leave you with some fun pictures!


C and I at my friend Jennie's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and I'm so glad I was able to share the day with her.


The shawl I'm knitting for my friend Jennie. It was supposed to be done for her wedding, but obviously it's not. It's turning out really pretty though and I am quite happy with it.

OK, that's it. Hope you guys are having a better time of it than I am. I'll try to keep this updated, but I've been gone every other weekend and working almost the rest of the time. Time for bed for me though.

I'm Becoming a Smurf

So I think my fingers are now permanently blue. But the good news is that I finished my first of the Sidewinder socks.

The increases and decreases on the heels and toes don't really match (the decreases bump up a lot more than the increases) and that kind of bothers me.

Also the toe join is weird... because the Kitchener is done from the wrong side.

Here is a close up of the increases/decreases on the toe.

OK, umm. I guess that's all I really have to say for now. The first sock went really quickly, so I think I'm going to try to finish the second one the beginning of this coming week. I'm going to save the second of the Simple Trekking socks for the flights home because I'm doing them on my bamboo needles. Hopefully airport security will be ok with that. They should be.

Long Time No See...

Sorry I've been away for a couple days. C left on Thursday to head back to the States and I wanted to spend some time with him since we don't know when exactly we'll get to see each other next.

Lots of knitting has been accomplished in the last few days though, so get ready!

Cast-On: Summer Solstice.. 21 June, 2007
Finished: 2 July, 2007
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Wollmeise Superwash Sock in Campari Orange, medium
Needles: Inox 2.5 mm dpns
Pattern Notes: The first sock's cast-on was a little tight, so I cast-on over 2 needles for the second one. Otherwise I absolutely love this pattern and will definitely make it again!!

I also finished one of the Simple Trekking socks. It's very comfy, though I think the thin stripes obscure what little pattern there is on them (there are 2 sections where the ribbing switches from k2p2 to p2k2... can you see them??)

And because I was in the mood for something new, I also cast-on for Nona's Sidewinders.

I'm through Act II and they are turning out really cool so far except for a few things:

1) I didn't do the first couple M1R increases correctly in the toe so there are a few small holes

2) I accidentally did the first 22 rows of the leg in garter stitch instead of only 14.

3) The yarn turns my hands blue.

I also joined the Mystery Stole 3.. but I have no yarn for it, and I haven't ever really done a big lace project... so I'm putting it off for now.

So that's all the knitting news there is for now. There will probably be a lot more in the next week since I don't have much else to do, haha.

Munich and Socks

Yesterday C and I headed down to Munich and met up with Elemm and Cashyie from Knitters Uncensored for a yarn crawl and just hanging out. I, being the bad blogger that I am, didn't take ANY pictures while in Munich. Here's a recount of the day though with some pictures. Cashyie brought me an awesome present since today is Canada Day (Happy Canada Day Cashyie!):

Coke, Canadian Whiskey, and a cute little garter stitch scarf!

We then headed to various yarn stores around the city. I won't rat out anyone else's purchases (haha) but I bought a few skeins of Lana Grosse Royal Tweed in varying brown/grey colors for a scarf:

I also bought some yarn for my Facebook secret pal, but I won't post it on here in case she reads my blog. After hitting up the yarn stores Cashyie had to head in to work (grad school sucks, haha) and Elemm, C and I headed to the Victorian Tea House and drank some tea (and coffee) and discussed things like Wollmeise. Because C and I hadn't really been in Munich for much other than Oktoberfest before, Elemm was kind enough to take us to some touristy things like the gardens at Schloss Nymphenburg and the Hofbraeu Haus. The Hofbraeu Haus wasn't so bad tourist wise because we went upstairs in the beer garden. Elemm had pulled out his Jaywalkers and several people came up to talk with him about them. It was fun. Another knitter came and joined us...Celina (thanks Elemm).. and all of us (except C) had a good time knitting for a while. I turned the heel on my second Monkey and started on the gusset:

while Elemm finished his Jaywalkers. Celina was knitting some doll clothes. It was then time to head back and unfortunately I slept through some great knitting time on the train, haha. I did get some knitting done when I got back to my apartment though, and my tv knitting is coming along:

Simple Trekking socks (tv knitting)

So that was my day in Munich. I really want to thank Elemm again for being a great tour guide and putting up with going to touristy places. We had a great time!!

ETA: The scarf from Cashyie has found a new home with the french cat that C got me for Valentine's Day. Now it looks even more European!

Train Knitting

So this has to be a pretty quick post, because it's C's birthday today. But I thought I'd give you a few pictures of the finished Tubey, of the Monkey socks, and from my trip to Freiburg this past weekend. So here you are:

Cast-On: ??? End of April 2007
Finished 20 June, 2007
Pattern: Tubey from Knitty
Yarn: Lana Grosse Numero Uno and Numero Uno Tweed
Needles: 5 mm dpns and a 5 mm circ
Pattern Notes: I did an i-cord bind off for both the sleeves and the bottom. The back is a little too wide on top and it poofs out a lot. Also, the green yarn was slightly thinner than the black and made a little too airy of a fabric on the 5 mm needles. I'm not entirely pleased with it, but the pattern was good. Maybe I'll try again sometime.


Otherwise the Monkeys are progressing OK. I finished the first one while we were in Freiburg and cast on for the second on the train ride home. Trains are excellent places to knit. An old lady came up to me on the train ride there and looked at my sock and said "Schoene Muster" (nice pattern). It was cool. Anyways, here are some pictures of the sock:

With some Bio-beer in Freiburg

Freiburg loves knitted socks!

I cast on for the Simple Trekking socks as an easy tv sock. I'm only about 10 rows in. And the picture really sucks, haha.

Well... to finish the post, here are some pictures from the weekend. I'll post again later when I have more time. It's been kind of crazy around here though since I move in 3 weeks, and am applying for jobs in the States while being over here, etc. Hopefully later this week I'll have time.

Freiburg pothole cover; view of the Freiburger Muenster (church) from Schlossberg

Yes, that "gargoyle's" hole is in his ass; stone crocodile in the canal

Pretzel mosaic; skydiving launch from a mountain near Freiburg

A wood mill built in 1621; pretty wildflowers

Summer of Socks Preview... and a little more

Well since the start of Summer of Socks is just around the corner (aka TOMORROW!!!) I thought I would tell you a little about the patterns I'm looking at and the goals I have for the summer.

First of all: Goals. I talk a big talk, but really I haven't done much sock-wise. All of the (3 pairs) socks I've made (successfully) have been top down, heel flap, either stockinette or some knit/purl rib combination, and on 5 dpns. Yes, I've started both the Jaywalkers and Snicket socks-- and had no problem with executing the stitch patterns themselves-- but they were too small and I only reached the gusset of the first sock of each before having to frog. So here are my goals (in no particular order).

1) Do a toe-up sock. There are a couple patterns that I want to do that are written for toe-up... so I hope this will be accomplished easily.
2) Do a lace sock.
3) Do a cabled sock.
(Both 2 and 3 will be accomplished easily based on the patterns I'm looking at)
4) Try something other than dpns-- though this would require purchasing some circs, so we'll see.
5) Short row heel

OK.. now for the patterns that I'd really like to do (also in no particular order).

1) Monkey
2) Jaywalkers
3) Snicket
4) Zokni
5) Brigit
6) Elfine
7) Aran Twist-- from the Sockamaniac Sock-a-long Yahoo! group
8) Cable Twist
9) River Rapids
10) Sidewinders (though I've been having trouble getting gauge)
11) Vinnland
12) Mock Crock
13) Wyvern
14) Leyburn
15) Bayerische
16) Simple Trekking
17) Clessidera
18) Ampersand
19) Rhodie Gus

Right........ so that's more than a pair a week if I want to do them all during SOS. And some of those are really complicated. But those are just a few of the free patterns I've seen online that have caught my attention. I'm really excited about this though and have quite a few long travel days ahead of me in which I can get a lot accomplished. Hopefully.

I also wound my Wollmeise into balls (I recently discovered that the nice "center pull" ball that I made is really tangled, so I decided to just wind the Wollmeise into a ball as to not subject the beautiful, squishy yarn to the same fate) in preparation for Summer of Socks.

On a Tubey note, since 5/6 people said to just finish it in green.. I decided to follow your advice and am working diligently on it. I hope to finish it tonight (not much to do.. maybe another inch, bind off, and weave in the ends).

Since I'm at work right now I'm not going to take the time to add links for all the patterns-- and I have a few pictures of my Wollmeise being all pretty and balled up. I'll add these later today once I get back to my apartment.

ETA: Links and:

My version of a swift-- computer chair with a stool on it

The balled up Wollmeise... oh so pretty

Campari-Orange colorway. I am OMG in LOVE with this color! It's going to be my first pair of socks for the SOS-- monkeys

Birkenrinde

Gewitterhimmel-- the colors didn't show up very well. There is a beautiful subtlety to this colorway.

A little present for myself for the start of SOS. 2 sets of 2.5 mm (US "#1") 80 cm (32") addi turbo circs!!! Yeah, I was in a LYS today and saw that they were pretty much half the price of what I could get them for in the States.... so I bought them.

Big Feet and more

Well, I got a lot accomplished on the C-socks in the last few days. It went so quickly that I amazingly didn't have second-sock syndrome!

C-socks with the Snicket socks for size comparison

I would be a lot further... but I decided that I shouldn't neglect Tubey so I finished the ball of yarn I was knitting off of.

I've knit about 9.5" of the body so far. I want it to be a fairly long sweater, so am expecting it to end up at 19-20" (I'm short..).

As for the Snicket socks... they're still where I left them. So far the majority of the poll is saying to redo the heel and finish the sock. I'll probably end up doing that, I just really don't feel like it at the moment. Which is really too bad because I really enjoyed the pattern.

I'll leave you with a little teaser. I knit up a swatch out of the sample skein of Wollmeise I received with my package of sock yarn. I have an interesting idea that involves buying more of her sample skeins....