Yay!

Ok, so "it" really, really is done and looks good and has started its journey with all the other goodies to Michigan. I'm now on pins and needles waiting to see if I did good or not. I've had a lot of fun with the Hogwart's swap, but I'm ready for a break from swaps for a little bit.

Meantime, I gifted my remaining lovely blue variegated bamboo to someone wishing to try out some bamboo which leaves me much relieved because I no longer need to figure out what to do with it! Yay! I SO love the RAK group on Ravelry!

And while I haven't had much time to devote to the dh birthday socks, I have been plugging along at them here and there and I took a new picture just to remind myself how much further along I am that I used to be.


Before


Currently

Speaking too soon...

::sigh::

Ok, I got a little ahead of myself with the "hat is finished" happy dance. After doing a little blocking I realized its WAY too big. Back to the drawing board... Ok, the knitting needles, but you get the picture! Well, maybe you don't.

Picture if you will... The exuberance turning to despair, the sulking for days until ready to pull myself up by the bootstraps, I start taking the hat back apart. At least I've got the join already done! :) I'm basically knitting off of the other one as I am nearing the end of my patience with this project and if I have to do anything else with it besides just finish it, I may cry and that would be bad.

I'm nearly halfway through, which is good! Also, I can mail my package out after I'm finished with it and I have my coachella/fusion concoction to finish, which I'm very much looking forward to... so yay me (in a few days anyway)! Meantime, back to knitting...

Perhaps there ought to be a Ravatar that says "I knit so I do not pull my hair out".

::sigh::

Look what I did!!!

After nearly two months worth of dust collecting on it, I finally set up my ball winder and used it! Here's my first two...

Can you tell I'm just a little proud of myself? LOL Winding yarn is so fun!

Spice Girls moment

In the interest of getting all my HLBOES points for my blog this week I was briefly thinking of doing a Spice Girls thing and just saying, "HLBOES, blah, blah, blah, Go Ravenclaw! Blah, blah, blah, wizard power!" But that would just be silly!


So, instead I thought I'd mention that inspired by the assignment to finish a project, I've been working on finishing other projects. I finally finished the socks for the wee ones. I do have to confess I did it much faster than I thought I would due to the fact that somehow the skein of yarn I was using was missing the last 4 colors of the repeat so I couldn't do the other sock of the 3rd pair. Lucky me, I guess.

Also, I decided to give dh a pair of socks for his birthday (maybe a couple pairs depending on how long they take). Mostly I did that so that I HAD to finally a) learn magic loop b) learn two at a time socks c) learn how to do toe-up socks and finally d) do something with the 3 pairs worth of black sock yarn that I've had for at least 6 months now.

I restarted a certain hat due to gauge issues. I think it may have something to do with the kinda slippery properties of the yarn, but who knows for sure. I'm nearing the halfway point on it though so I suppose I ought to try to finish putting everything else together for a certain ::coughcoughHLBOEcoughcough:: swap box. I do have a few things already just trying to figure out where to stop myself, I've got so many ideas.

HLBOES hat

Started: 2/7/09

Since I can't hide the project on Rav from my spoilee, I'm going to blog about it on here to be published after she gets it. I'm doing the Hermione Cable and Eyelet hat from the Half Blood Prince. I'm using Paton's Silk Bamboo and sz 5 needles. I'm casting on the extra 22 stitches so that hopefully it will compensate for the fact that I'm using lighter weight yarn. I'll keep you updated.

2/28/09 - Finished the hat today! Had to frog it just after I finished the ribbing the first time due to gauge issues. I restarted on sz 2 needles with the extra 22 stitches again. It seems a little big around, but the length seems to be good thankfully without any extra repeats beyond the ones in the pattern.

3/12/09 - So after doing a little blocking and realizing the hat was enormous, I ended up re-knitting it straight off the old one. No extra stitches this time, still knitting it on size 2 needles. Interestingly due to some goofs I did on the repeats, I ended up using more yarn than I did the first time. But it is really, really done for real this time! The combination of yarn substitution and pattern totally threw me for a loop.

HLBOES - Charms assignment - and after

Evanesco!



I was up pretty late last night finishing this assignment. Thankfully binding off didn't necessarily require my eyes to be open the whole time or I would have had a disaster to clean up this morning! So glad this is finished! Will probably add some modeled pics of it later.

Later...
 

3 days!!!

Three days to Twilight and I'm trying to sorta keep myself busy knitting. The only problem with keeping busy knitting is that unless I have something else to engage my head, I'm sitting there knitting and dwelling on the fact that there are 3 whole days and a few hours until I get to sink into a semi-comfy theater seat and immerse myself in Twilight. 3 whole days!!!

Speaking of movies, here's a funny story. As a brief intro, we sometimes refer to Robby as Bob. One day last week, Sammy is demanding that Robby do something for him, but Robby is distracted with reading a book and doesn't respond in a timely fashion (according to Sammy). After a little while Sammy tires of trying to get Robby to cooperate and says, "I'm not happy, Bob! Not happy!" If you need help with that reference you need to watch/rewatch The Incredibles and pay close attention to the scene where Bob gets fired.


Oh, and here's a pic of my most recent FO, which I'm very proud of! This particular one is not mine to keep, but I fully intend to make myself one soon! Just not sure if I want to go with the black or purple Simply Soft Eco. Ok, my first choice was the dark red (autumn red, I think), but there wasn't any left. FIRST I've got to get some more Christmas presents taken care of though, right?!?

Realistic deadlines

Ok, so I have one pair of my Warm Woolies socks finished. I finished the cupcake, which was a piece of cake. ;) And I'm nearly finished with Gir. Should have him done tomorrow for mailing. A little late, but not nearly as late as I thought it would be. I've taken a step back in the knitting for the twins. I'm still going to make them sleep sacks maybe as Christmas presents, but for right now I'm going to just make them some hats since their birth day has been moved up nearly a week.

So after I've finished those projects, I'll have plenty of time to work on socks for the kids and figure out what to make for my Guilty Pleasures/Good Karma Swap partner. I'm so excited about this swap. Its my second one and my first(Starbucks and Yarn Swap) was very cool. At least the putting together my package to send my partner was. Haven't had the pleasure of getting my package yet, but I'm on pins and needles about it!