Quick Question

I'm still working on my blog. Is anyone having problems seeing stuff on it? I know I still have a problem with my Knitting Blogs button. Also, I can see my Yahoo avatar at home but not at work. Everything else appears okay right now on the two computers I use. How about you all - does anything not show up for you?

I'm still alive

Just a quick post, to say I haven't had time for posting or knitting.... I've been working like a madwoman, and BHE is under the weather. I worked briefly yesterday while the kids were napping, went home to fix dinner, play for awhile, get them in bed, and then back to work for about 3 more hours. Fortunately my office is only about 3 miles from home, but yikes!

I've finished both sleeves on the FIC, including correcting the cuff on the first sleeve, which I had knit with the wrong size needles. I've woven in all the yarn end on both sleeves and in the center front, so those wouldn't get caught in the front steeking. I had every intention of steeking the front and neckline, and picking up the neckline stitches last night, but that didn't happen. I worked on a sock some last night, while I was waiting on a report to print, but lost (!) one of my size 1 steel needles. How can something like that just disappear? I'll keep looking for it today....

I did make it by a thrift store this weekend and scored on the wool sweaters! One of them is actually a very nice hand knit cardigan. It makes me a little bit sad that a hand knit would end up in a thrift store. It doesn't look like it was worn much, or was taken care of very well, but if it were well cared for, it shouldn't have ended up in a thrift store. Regardless, I did end up with two lambswool sweaters, one merino, plus the hand knit woolen for about $15! I'm already contemplating the possibilities :)

Lastly, one of my local yarn stores (no website) is closing. They will reopen a couple of blocks down the street sometime in a month or so as a new business - still yarn, just adding partners and changing names, etc. As a result, they have yarn on sale 35% - 70% off, and books and patterns 50% off. I'm eyeing a Jordana Page briefcase/messenger style bag.

Status Report

I'm still plugging away on the FIC. After started the second sleeve, I realized I didn't switch to the smaller needle size for the cuff of the first sleeve. Just as I was finishing the second sleeve, on the smaller needles, I started watching a tivo'd Knitty Gritty where the guest demonstrated an I-cord bind-off. I decided to try it on the cuff after two rounds of ribbing in the black, and I love it! Pictured on the left is the newly finished second sleeve and on the right is the first sleeve that still need the cuff to be reworked.

Most of my time and energy are being sucked up by my job, and what little free time I have at home after the kids are in bed is spent vegging out in front of the TV. After sitting in front of a computer at work all day, the last thing I want to do is more of that when I get home, so that's why I haven't been blogging much. I'm caught up on most of my shows, except for Veronica Mars, which I'm four weeks behind on! I didn't watch Lost tonight because TBHE rented The Prestige. It was really good! Nice twists throughout the movie and a couple of great ones at the end. I love movies that make you think!

OK, I'm exhausted and have another super busy day tomorrow, so off to bed!

Help!!

I've been working on my template and sidebar tonight, I lost all my links when I switched to the new blogger. I got most of my buttons back on (not linked), but my "knittingblogs" button will not show up, no matter how I try to get it there! I've tried copying and pasting the address where it is posted on my flickr page, I've tried posting it in blogger, and then copying that web address, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Does anyone have experience with this since switching over to the new blogger?

Secret Pal 10 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I like natural fibers the best, especially the soft ones. Not a big fan of crunchy acrylics or scratchy wools.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? I have the KnitPicks Options set, so all my circulars are there. My dpns are stashed here and there in knitting bags and drawers, so I could use something to keep them all together.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I was taught to knit about 15-20 years ago by my Aunt Ruth. I think she taught me just to cast on and knit. I think my mom taught me to purl and cast off. My mom was more of a crocheter, so I basically learned other techniques from books and magazines. I would consider myself somewhere between intermediate and advanced.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, my Amazon wish list is linked on the sidebar.

5. What's your favorite scent? I like mostly fruity scents and also vanilla. I think jasmine is about the only floral scent I really like.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Yes! I love any kind of chocolate, but especially dark I also like the sour gummy candies.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I also embroidery, quilt, and sew. My SP9 pal, April, sent my my first spindle and roving. I haven't tried spinning yet (as of mid-February), but I've already bought more roving from Etsy, and won some batts on Ebay. I'm not really sure how to do it, and haven't had time to sit down with the Spinners Companion book she sent to figure it out. I do think I'm going to love it, though, and think it's just a matter of time before I end up with a wheel.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I can play MP3s. I like all sorts of music! Right now on my iTunes I have big band, lounge music, alternative, jazz, blues, a little bit of pop and dance, some country and some classical. I'm a big fan of anything strong on piano, but not a big fan of rap or heavy metal.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I lean towards cool colors, especially blues, greens and purples. I also really like a deep red.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I'm married with a son who will be four years old in two weeks, and a daughter who is just over 18 months. We have a six year old dog, Chloe.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? I do wear scarves, hats, and mittens. The only poncho I ever knit is too big, and is in the frog pile.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Right now I'd have to say sweaters, specifically cardigans. I also have a lot of sock patterns on my list to do.

13. What are you knitting right now? A Fair Isle Cardigan (I hope to be finished in a couple of weeks), a pair of plain toe-up socks, and a stockinette & lacy cardigan that was finished long ago, except for the blocking and seaming.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? It depends on the project. I mostly use circulars, but I like my Bryspun straights for lace knitting, and I like bamboo dpns for socks. I haven't tried socks on circs yet.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes to both!

17. How old is your oldest UFO? 2 years?

18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect? Dragonflies and Ladybugs (not the real bugs, LOL)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I subscribe to Interweave Knits. I am constantly adding books to my Amazon list. I like Trekking XXL and Austermann Step sock yarns, but none of my local yarn stores carry it, so I only have 2 Trekkings and 1 Austermann.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I want to try entralac, and there are several different sock techniques I want to learn.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I'm a fairly new sock knitter, the ones I'm knitting now are my third pair. I wear a size 9M shoe.

23. When is your birthday? March 25.

Blogger Woes

I updated my template as I was having trouble seeing my banner and some other elements with the old template. Now I've lost several links as well - I will get everything back to normal, but it may take a few days, due to the work load mentioned in my previous post.

On a related note, I'm only working until 6 tonight - my stitch group meets tonight, and I need the R&R in a bad way!

Happy Knitting
PL

Keep on Knitting

Fair Isle Progress: I've finally finished the first sleeve! I steeked the armhole and picked up the sleeve stitches just over a month ago. It seemed to go pretty fast once I got about halfway through. Obviously I had a decreasing number of stitches along the way, so I'm sure that's why.

I think I'm going to go start the steeking on the second armhole as soon as I finish this post, but I may not pick up stitches tonight - we'll see how far I can get :)

In January I also knit a sock (yes, one). I knit the entire sock, toe up, on size 2 dpns. I started the second one, decided the gauge seemed a little loose on size 2's, so I frogged out the second sock and started over with size 0's. I got about halfway up the foot and decided the sock felt too much like body armor. So I frogged it and started over on size 1's. These are my first socks knit from my own hand painted yarn, actually from any hand painted yarn, so I'm really learning a lot. (My very first pair of socks were knit out of worsted weight cotton/acrylic blend following a pattern from Knitty Gritty. My second pair were the Simple Stripes Fair Isle Socks from KnitPicks on size 2's, and the stranding makes them fit a little differently than single yarn socks.) If these work out with the size 1 needles, I'll frog the first sock and reknit it to match. I also don't like the way the picot edging is curling on the finished sock; I don't know if I need to switch to a smaller needle for the rows that are folded to the inside, decrease the number of stitches, or sew it down a row further than what I did. I plan to experiment with the second sock to fix this, but any tips are welcome and encouraged!

In non-knitterly news, my work schedule has picked up. Some of you know I work for a CPA firm, and I am officially in tax season now. I'm going in early, working late, working about half a day on the weekend, so my knitting time is really suffering. I take the sock every day with hopes of working on it at lunch, but I usually end up just eating quickly and getting back to work. I've set a pretty aggressive deadline for myself to have certain projects completed by Feb 15, and I don't like to let myself down. I have more goals lined up for once the Feb 15th one is met. I can't wait for April 17th!

Thirty-Nine Miles

Or, a marathon and a half. That is how much yarn I have in my stash, and does not include any of the acrylics (since I will probably donate those), or any of the half-used, left-over skeins from finished projects. It's a little scary to know how much there really is, but also neat to have cataloged (almost) all of my yarn, and I found a lot I had forgotten about completely. In fact, I'm certain there is still more to add that I just haven't happend across yet.

I used the yarn stash template spreadsheet I found on Katydidknits. I had thought of creating my own, but chased a few links and found hers, and she included columns for everything I could think of, and then some!