Month: September 2012

Awww-tum

Happy Birthday today to one of my favorite readers.  I spent today making pasta sauce and chili sauce, something I think you might approve of.  It was a great day to make the house into a tomato scented sauna; something that only happens when you have 2 pots of tomatoes simmering on the stove, canning water boiling and 2 pans of tomatoes roasting in the oven.  Try it, I promise you’ll love the way the house smells!

I also snuck in a little knitting and reading while everything was simmering today.  I probably should have done a load or two of laundry, but hey, I can’t do everything.  I should have a finished sweater to show you shortly.

As for my Leftie, I finally decided I am going to keep my gold Leftie.  The brown and pink was donated to a auction that we have at the school every fall.  I hope people bid on it!

Pattern:  Leftie 

Yarn:  Lisa Souza Hand dyed sock yarn in Aww-Tum and Lisa Souza Handspun in  Squash Blossom.  I bought this at either Sock Summit or Stitches Midwest last year… sad that I don’t remember which one.

Modifications:  Just one.  I decided I didn’t want to weave in all the little ends on this go around, so I experimented with some I-cord edging.  I decided I didn’t like the way the attached I-cord looked as it joined the main color.  So instead, I worked the I-cord in the contrasting color independently of the body of the shawl until a contrasting color row.  If you enlarge the photo you might be able to see that the I-cord sort of floats along next to the shawl.  I should have gotten a close up of the edge this afternoon.

This makes 2 finished projects for the month.

Go Figure

I almost titled this post “Who Woulda Thunk?” but it was killing me to use that bad of grammar in the title.  I know, I’m strange that way.  I’m really not sure that “Go Figure” is any better, but at least it’s not using made up words.

I digress.  Who would have known that finishing items would be so much fun?  In the last 2 days I have finished 2 projects!  I’m about to block each of them…. well I will as soon as I’ve finished this and have cleared off a flat surface that I can block on top of.  Both shawls will be donated to silent auctions in the area.  I’m excited to take pictures as I think they both turned out great.

 

A 1st Day of School picture to distract you from the lack of knitting photos.

 

I’m moving on to finish one of my sweaters that got abandoned when the Olympics started.  I just have some ribbing on the front and on the sleeves to do. I have a February Baby Sweater for Addie that I would like to finish before the end of the month.

I’m also thinking of another knit a long for October, the Houdini Socks.  I love the idea of knitting the footprint first.  I’m not sure that I’m crazy about the leg pattern on this particular sock, but I think I’d just swap out for ribbing.  Would you want to join in the knit a long?

Another fun picture. They’re so excited to see all their friends again!

I also need to figure out a October sweater.  I’m thinking something simple and maybe small.  I’ve got 1,000 yards of bright red sport weight or 540 yards of a pink dk weight that I could use that are calling out to me.  I think it’s indicative of my busyness that I cannot make a decision.

Burning the Candle

I seem to be burning the candle at both ends lately and I don’t see the end in sight until next month, and only then for a few days before it starts up again.  It’s a good busy so that makes it doable.  However, it does mean that I’m missing the local knitting group that I usually go to as well as the knitting community in general.

As for my September sweater, I’m planning on finishing up old projects instead of starting a new sweater.  I know my knitting time is going to whittled down to very little by the end of the month as I’m working on a very big event we are having at my place of employment.  I love the idea of being able to show actual finished projects.  Some things I just need to photograph, others need to be seemed, blocked and photographed.  One needs a little more attention.

I really loved having friends that I could work on my Olympic shawl project on with even though they are half a continent away.  I spoke with Knittymuggins today about doing another knit a long in October.  We’re thinking this time it might be socks.  I’d love a way to include you in our knitting conversations.  I’m not sure that I can explain just how much fun it is to work on a project knowing that you can always text someone else and ask how many leaves they have finished or get pictures of the works in progress.

I’m also talking to them about a laceweight sweater for January.  It’s a little insane, but I think it would be a great layering piece for me.  Since I’m planning on a lot of home made Christmas presents this year, I think I’ll be ready to settle down with a project just for me.