EyeKnit

I have been crazy at work-- we are trying to hire an office manager, and the sorting through resumes, setting up interviews, doing the interviews, stressing about the process etc is too much. I am in a perpetual state of catch-up. I have been doing a lot of small knitting projects-- a couple of hats with scrap yarn that were originally for our KnitWits charity project. I'm bad at charity knitting, though... because if I have a small cute hat, and I am going to visit a small cute baby, I can't help but bring the small cute hat... and look at the adorable result!



I've also been working on Jonathan's other sock-- seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on that one.

Lots of snow in NJ this weekend-- not as much as they were predicting, but plenty nonetheless. Sam loved to look outside and point out all of the "no." You can differentiate "no" (meaning snow) from "no" (meaning... duh... no) based on whether he's excitedly pointing at the white stuff or shaking his head vigorously when asked if he wants a new diaper, or if he wants to eat anything besides blueberry soy yogurt. He's really rather cute.

We all got to wear our matching snow hats:



Speaking of hats, I've been knitting some.



The hat on the right was my car project a while back-- I finally brought it inside to finish it. It's just a plain hat, made with WoolEase, and will most likely go to Hudson Cradle with our other KnitWits charity stuff for a baby that needs it.

The hat on the left is for my patient who is starting chemo... it's made with the KPPPM that I used for the lacy poncho. I was inspired by Alison's February Fix-A-Thon, and since I wanted to use the needle from the poncho (I tried magic loop technique for this!), and knew I wasn't ever going to finish it, I thought I would go ahead and reuse the yarn as well. I used it double-stranded for this hat, which looks much better on a head than it does on my kitchen floor. I am really wishing all good things for this patient and his family. I'll send the hat out tomorrow.

My real Fix-It project will be the blue sweater with the freakishly tiny sleeves.

jw, you SO WISH you were my secret boob pal :)

Here's the bag, pre-felting. Yes, occasionally, there is a bad picture taken of Sam. This is one. Unfortunately, it is the only one I have that shows the size of the bag pre-felted, so I used it. Cute pics to follow.



Sam and I had the day off today. We did a bunch of errands this morning. One of our stops was Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up a zippered pillow case. (I also stopped at Michael's-- they carry some knitting books now, and I used my 40% off coupon to buy Adorable Knits for Tots- very cute things in there!)

Once we got home, the felting began. Sam liked watching the pillowcase "get a bath."



Hey, Mommy-- I think it's done!



I've felted before-- but it's one of those things in life (like vision shaping) that is still amazing to me each time I do it. Here's the finished product.



There are a few changes I'd make if I did this bag again... but nothing major. I'm very happy with the way it came out. Felting is fun!

Yep-- 2nd half of the bag went much quicker than the first-- it helped that I knitted through an entire movie Saturday night... to the point that I can't even remember what movie it was... wow... Ooh... the one with the guy from Scrubs-- "Garden State." Yep, knitted all through that, and all through the movie "Collateral" last night. Felted bags are GREAT projects for not paying 100% attention.

I finished the body of the bag (I will try & take a picture with something for perspective tomorrow... it's pretty huge... I'm anxious to felt.



After "practicing" I-cord bind-off in my head all day at work, I was able to come home and put it into action on the bag. I have half the bind-off left to do, then i-cord for the strap, and into the washer it goes. I can't wait to see the post-felting result.



I am officially in "what should I start next" mode.

I always find that the 2nd quarter of any project is the hardest. The initial enthusiasm has worn off a bit... but I'm not yet at the point where I feel like I'm making progress toward finishing either. So I knit and knit and knit and knit, and it doesn't feel like I'm getting much done. That's where I've been on the bag for my secret pal... knitting around and around. It's finally starting to look longer though. I haven't measured, but I think I'm at the halfway point (it's supposed to be 17" high). I should be pretty close to finished by Sunday's Stitch & Chat.



If I need to start something different, I think I'm going to finish the charity hat that I have on the circular needle, and start a hat for one of my patients who is starting chemo.

Here's my secret Boob-pal bag, Take 2.



The pattern is from my knitting calendar-- I don't have the official name of the pattern, or the calendar... but I like it. How's that for specific?

I didn't swatch-- the bag is felted, and I figured I couldn't be far enough off to make a difference (I'm using the actual yarn called for in the pattern!)... but after a few inches of knitting, it was looking really small. So, I measured and found my gauge was way too tight (like 4+ stitches per inch instead of 3).

Rather than going to a larger needle, I decided to keep the same needle, and just adjust the pattern to make the bag the right size-- my logic is that the tighter stitches will make the post-felted fabric a little thicker, which I think will work well for a bag. The other logic is that I didn't have the right length needle in the larger size, and didn't see myself having time to go buy it in the near future, so I worked with what I have.

So far, so good.

It's been a crazy week. Just stupid work stupid crap stressing me out. I don't want to talk about it.

Suffice it to say, I was counting the minutes until our "KnitWits" gathering at the office this afternoon. I had such a good time, and hope everyone else did too.



This is Lauren working on a very cool skinny scarf.



Carriellen continued working on a sweater for her husband Jay (and may I just add that Jay fully deserves this sweater, because he made about 7 dozen cookies for our gathering, AND provided little baggies and twist ties so that we could each take some home... what a guy!)



Judy searches for inspiration in my knitting calendar... (it is possible that I have confused Lauren and Judy-- if I did, I'm sorry guys. You know how that happens sometimes when you meet two people together, and they kind of meld in your head? Anyway- you are both too cute and too fun & I think it's awesome that you are knitting!)



Sue shows off her almost-finished poncho (this is for the other poncho recipient's sister)



I worked on the second sock for Jonathan. I'm finished with the ankle, and am ready to start the heel shaping. I tried my best to convince everyone that sock knitting is something to be embraced, and not feared.



When I got home, I accidentally left my knitting bag where Sam could get to it. He thinks that me running after him yelling "Hey! Put that down!" is about the funniest thing he's ever seen. Oy.

Carriellen brought a whole bin of yarn to give away. We are hoping that some of the KnitWits will use it for our charity project to help the babies at Hudson's Cradle. I controlled myself mostly, but grabbed a ball of a rainbow variegated yarn, just because I thought the colors were cute. Tonight, it became a knitted ball.



I've also started the project for my secret Boob-pal... yay... will post photos soon.

I felt a little anxious when I finished the Irish Hiking Scarf for my dad. I am waiting on an order from Romni Wools to do the gloves for my grandmother (for the record, I have little confidence that this is being sent to me), and I am waiting on an order from Kaleidoscope Yarns, to start a project for my secret Boob Pal... and I felt like I had nothing to work on.

Of course, this is totally unfounded. I have about a billion works-in-progress to work on. It just didn't feel that way at the moment.

I picked up the sock I had started for Jonathan in Toronto. As I started working on it, I remembered something very important. I LOVE knitting socks. I love it. I knitted the sock until I went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to work on it. I felt sad when it got long enough that it clearly was going to be for Jonathan and not for me. Today, I finished the first sock of the pair.



I love knitting socks. I'm going to start the second one now, and see how much I can get done before my package arrives from Kaleidoscope Yarns on Tuesday.

Quick question: I get how to do the kitchener stitch, but get stuck with those last two stitches-- when one is on the front & the other is on the back needle... what do you do with those? No matter what I seem to do, it always looks a bit sloppy.