Ta-Da!

Another project finished! I'm very excited about this one. I think the last time I knit a hat for myself was back in 2008!

Sandy...

Here in the east coast we are all preparing for hurricane Sandy. Personally, I'm hoping that we're all over-reacting and that Monday morning we laugh about it on our way to work. If I didn't have kids I probably wouldn't worry so much.
Yesterday I was able to leave work a bit early so I headed off to Target to buy a few things. While I was searching for items for "survival" such as batteries, canned goods, and water, which they were completely out of, I also bought things assuming nothing would happen such as Halloween candy, cheese, and frozen goods. Cautious but optimist, I guess. I did manage to get water at Whole Foods, by the way. Phew. And hubby went off to buy a shop vac since we could get some water in the basement. With hurricane Irene, it really was no fun mopping all that water up. It took hours and hours...
The good news is that I have lots and lots and lots of yarn, and many projects to work on!
Stay safe, everyone!

Mistakes...

I try very hard not to make mistakes in my knitting projects, but I'm sure that all you experienced knitters out there know that sometimes, it just happens... I tend to knit while watching TV and yes, I am guilty of sipping wine while knitting as well. And I also admit that sometimes, while knitting on the train after a long day in the office... Well... I have fallen asleep. So... I was very disappointed yesterday when I realized that I had made a mistake while knitting my Stashy Hat. I have been known to ignore small mistakes and just keep going but this one was so obvious I had to fix it. Last night was spent backwards knitting about 5 rows in order to fix this. I'm glad that I did it because I'm really happy with the way this hat is turning out. This was supposed to be my mindless, easy, knitting project but I guess it's not so mindless after all...

Socks

Knitting socks always amaze me. I always start out thinking that there is no way this is going to become a sock, and soon enough, it starts taking shape, my chin drops and I say "Ha!". The Hubby's socks are taking me forever, but I am so happy with they way they are turning out! These are my first toe up socks and I'm totally hooked. I do think next time I will try to knit two at a time, though. The Hubby is loving them so far. Oh, and that's our cat Peanut in the back. Isn't she cute?

A very good weekend...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was packed with errands, but also lots of fun things.

1) I finally finished my Canaletto Cowl! I blocked it so when it'd dry, I promise to share a picture. My only regret is not binding off loosely... :(

2) My local yarn shop had a huge sidewalk sale on Saturday! They were selling bags of yarn for $10! That's $1/skein! I went in the morning and got two bags. I had the hubby and kids sitting in the car waiting for me so I felt a bit rushed. In the afternoon I decided to go back and got 3 more bags. I can't wait to find projects for all this new yarn! Here is a picture of the new addition to the stash:

3) Saturday evening we spent around a fire pit at my neighbor's house, roasting marshmallows, eating smores and having a good chat. So much fun!

4) I cast on my new project, the Stashy Hat by Thea Colman.

5) Oh, and I have been making progress with the hubby's socks too!

Have a great start to the week, everyone!

The Cowl that Never Ends...

Every night I pick up my Canaletto Cowl and tell myself that this is the day I'm going to finish it... And it doesn't happen. This has been going on since the weekend. It's so frustrating to be so close, but not able to end it. I don't think I realized this was going to be such a big project when I first started knitting it. I had just finished the Onda Cowl, which only took me about a week to knit, so I thought this one would be quick as well. I'm ready to be done and to start wearing it!
Wish me luck... I think tomorrow I'll finally finish. I only have 4 rows left after all...

Barbra and the Weekend...

Let me start out by saying that Barbra was amazing on Thursday night. The whole evening was magical. We had amazing seats, she sounded wonderful (despite a cold), and she looked gorgeous. I wish I could re-live the evening. Thankfully, the show was being recorded so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a DVD or TV special in the future.
I had many knitting plans for this weekend... None of them happened. Family always comes first and with S having a slight fever on Friday/Saturday and T deciding to take short naps Saturday and Sunday, I had very little knitting time. I wanted to block S's sweater, and I wanted to finish the cowl I have been working on... Oh well... Hopefully I'll get my act together for next weekend. I'm ready to move on to new projects. I'm thinking it's time for a new hat for me...

Crochet...

The past few nights I have been working on this crochet baby blanket that I started, well, hm, in March... This was my first real crochet experience and putting it down for a few months did not help me. I can't understand the pattern at all. Even though I've figured out what to do to keep going, I'm really struggling with the corners and fudging my way through. I'm thinking of changing this into a stroller blanket. Big enough to cover baby, but short enough not to drag on the floor or get caught in the wheels...

In other news, I am in countdown mode for Barbra Streisand's Back to Brooklyn concert that I will be attending tomorrow night. I adore her and have been a fan for many years. I'm so glad I have the chance to see her perform one more time!

Cardigan

It's done! S is going to be so happy when she comes home from school! I can't wait to take a picture of her wearing it. I could not have finished this cardigan without the help of this article from Knitty about seaming and this tutorial on sewing buttons from Craftstylish. I lightly blocked the cardigan before seaming but I'm thinking I should probably do a full block after S gets to try it on. Here it is, button and all!

Day Off...

I have been really looking forward to today. It's Columbus day in my neck of the woods and I happen to work for a company that gives the day off. The kids are in school and daycare and my husband is at work. I wanted to declare today as my Day of Knitting, but things didn't quite start out the way I planned...
Since everyone was so crazy yesterday I didn't really get a chance to clean and tidy up around the house, so I had to spend this morning doing that. It does go a lot faster with no one else here, but still... I was grumpy. This was supposed to be my fun knitting day! And how does the house get this dirty and messy anyway? Arrgh!!!!! But now that it's over, I'm happy I did it and am ready to start my Afternoon of Knitting.
My main project is to seam a cardigan that I knit for my daughter. I finished knitting it months ago, but have been putting off the seaming... Actually, I've been sort of dreading it... I don't know why, I just do... I have tons of unfinished projects laying around the house... I actually frogged some of them recently because I was knitting them for the kids and, well... they got bigger and the garments would no longer fit them...
Anyway, here is a picture of S's cardigan. I loved knitting this. It's done in one piece and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I also have the perfect button for it. Hopefully I'll manage to sew that as well!

Is there a full moon tonight?

Seriously. Everyone in this house is acting crazy today. Baby T decided he is a screamer. Yes. This has become his main communication method. If he's upset, he screams, if he's having fun, he screams, if he wants something, he screams. Oy. But that's not all. He decided today would be a good day to cut his nap time in half...
Sweet daughter S has been bouncing off the walls with some strange kind of energy as well... Running around the house, throwing things, acting jealous of her brother...
What a way to end the weekend... I am tense, dreaming of the moment that we can put the kids to sleep so that I can relax and enjoy a glass of wine...

Not all is bad. Hubby is making Pasta e Fagioli soup and baking a loaf of bread in the kitchen. T and S looked adorable in their footie pajamas, Revenge and Amazing Race are on tonight... And I have tomorrow off! A whole day to myself! Sometimes, you just need one of those, right?

Here is a picture of some of the goodness from today:

Blog Frustration

Now that I am starting to get the hang of this, I decided to go all crazy and add a Ravelry button to my side bar. You know, so that you guys can find me. You'd think it would be an easy thing, right? Not so much. 1-1/2 hours later, I finally figured out a solution, thanks to a post in the Ravelry group for people using Blogger. Anyway, I got no knitting done tonight but I'm happy I didn't give up. Now click away!

New Look!

Hey, don't go away! It's still me! If you haven't noticed (or if you're new here) I changed the look of this blog. I liked the design and color scheme I had before but I found that it was a little busy and hard to read. I hope you guys like the changes. I also changed the title of the blog...
What do you think? I'm totally open to suggestions and comments!

Lunch...

I am so glad it's Friday! I have been a very naughty girl and stayed up late knitting and watching TV every night this week. Going to bed late is normal for me, but this week I really pushed it, going to bed past midnight some days. What you don't know is that I wake up at 5:30am. Yes. You heard that right. 5:30am. Why? Well, there are two kids to that need to get ready for school and daycare, lunches that need to be put together, etc, etc, etc. I also have to be out of the house by 6:45 in order to catch my train...
During my lunch break I try to knit... or read blogs about knitting... or both. Today I did both. I chose to work on the socks I'm making for the hubby today. I love them, but I'm sort of regretting doing them in the large size version. My gauge is perfect, but they seem so wide... But now I don't want to start over so hubby may have to live with it... Anyway, knitting during my lunch break is very relaxing, but I have to admit that since I'm so very very tired, I started to get a bit too relaxed... My eyes really wanted to shut down for a while, so I had to put the knitting down and write this post to wake myself up. Now it's back to work!

I almost forgot!

The Canaletto Cowl is also coming along really nicely. I wish I had picked a softer yarn for it, but I'm sure it will make me very happy when it's wrapped around my neck this winter. I'm making the larger size. Can't wait until it's done. It's really hard going from the small needles of the Gansey Socks to the bigger ones for the cowl!

It's working!

Somehow this magic loop thing really works! And somehow, I'm not screwing it up! Hubby's sock is starting to take shape and I'm loving it... Can you see the detail of the pattern? Hard to believe it's all knits and purls. Also, I love the yarn I chose for this sock. It's String Theory's Caper Sock. Very soft!

Yay!

I am beyond excited! I never ever ever win anything. I hardly ever enter any contests either. Lately I have been entering all of the "win me" contests for the Knit Simple magazine. And guess what? I won something from the Fall 2012 issue. A super awesome knitting tote bag. Lucky lucky me!

Just like magic...

It's hard to believe it, but I did it! I really did it! With a little help from the web, of course. I found some great videos that helped get me started on the socks. Here is a video on Judy's Magic Cast On from knitpurlhunter:

And here is a video on just knitting in the magic loop technique, also from knitpurlhunter:

As I'm knitting this I find it hard to believe that things are going to work out. I guess I'll feel better after the sock starts taking up shape and I feel more comfortable with the technique. I keep thinking that I must be doing something wrong...

Making the best of it...

My sweet son T came home with a stomach virus last Tuesday. Poor little guy. Thankfully, it was a 24 hr bug and he was fine the next day. On Friday evening, my husband came down with it. I thought maybe he got it because he was the one who stayed home with T that day. Boy, was I wrong! Last night, my daughter S woke up in the middle of the night and... I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't fun.

I'm home with her today and even though I will be checking work emails throughout the day, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take a break from my Canaletto Cowl project to try and master a new technique. I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to figure out the magic loop technique. I promised the hubby some socks and since Fall is here... I better get a move on it. I picked the Traditional Gansey Socks pattern from the book Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson. Hubby has approved the pattern and yarn choice. I'll let you guys know how it goes!