Christmas 2005

Ahhhhhhh….it was a good Christmas. Georgia was beautiful considering we drove in the afternoon the terrible ice storm had melted away. There were broken trees and cars off the sides of the roads everywhere but we were glad to be there. The day after we arrived, my mother took mercy on me and drove me to the Yarn Garden in Lawrenceville. Once again, we arrived about 30minutes until closing and stayed about and hour. There I found the Cathay for the Picovoli pattern and Cashmerino Aran for Tubey. AH!! What was I gonna do? Easy. I wasn’t going to buy the Cathay. If worse comes to worse, I’ll order the TLC cotton plus for that baby. I’m not really sure how that design will fit me. I am very small chested so I keep seeing myself in a droopy unflattering tee that I knit for a sexy knit along. I did however see one of the girls had knit orangina out of Patons Brilliant and it looks incredible!! I have that yarn in the stash so I may have to knit that while I’m at it. (ps that was the pattern I originally voted for in the sexy knitters club knit along).

Anyhoo, after much debate, Mom and I settled on 12 skeins of Cashmerino for Tubey, and 2 Noro Kochoran for a Booga for Mom. They also had Stephanie’s book so I HAD to have it. As we were waiting for the Kochoran to be wound into balls I realized they had…wait for it….metal/rubber swifts! Being the fool I am I didn’t buy one. I know Iknow!!! I’ve been ebay lurking for months for one of these things and its right in front of me and I don’t buy one! Ahhhh! Despite this I had a serious yarn buzz for the rest of the day. Yay for yarn!

That wasn’t the last yarn store we visited on this trip. We drove to Chattanooga for a day’s visit with my SIL and her family and they were kindly enough to walk us around the little historic shops and such which is where The Genuine Purl is. It was a lot smaller than I thought, but they had a great selection in there. I ended up buying some dpn’s for the booga and one skein (630 yds) of laceweight silk/wool. Oiy its beautiful. Its really difficult to shop in a yarn store with someone who doesn’t knit. I guess when its Mike, its okay. How many hours of torture did he put me through at endless record/hobby stores?? Too many to count I tell you. The kids are, well, kids and have yet to understand the potential satisfaction knitting can bring although Maya has requested to learn to knit. Hooray!!

Later, back in GA, Mike and I took a day to scoot around and visited All That Yarn in Snellville. Here we learned that Karaoke and knit-ins work well together (we imagined there might be some wine involved in there somewhere) and I broke down and bought the Magic Loop booklet. I also bought 2 skeins of Cascade Fixation for some socks for my mom. I begun knitting on them that night (using dpn’s) and couldn’t get the ribbing to, well, rib. ?? After casting on 3 times and knitting and inch into the cuff I gave up, shoved it in my bag. I’ll try again soon as I really want to make Mom some socks.

Earlier that same day, Mike and I drove to a JoAnn’s where I looked for a bag handle for the Knitting Tote. What I ended up buying was a pair of handles and a dowel and also 6 skeins of Lion Suede for the tote. Sorry, but every yarn store I went to HAD Berroco suede, but at $10.50/ball!! Too much for this budget considering all the yarn I planned on buying on top of all the yarn already purchased. The Lion Suede cost $4.85/ball. Now its on sale for $4.78/ball I believe. Still, it was a better deal than the Berroco yarn. I’ve knit about 4” of the bag and the fabric is coming out okay. The colorway is really pretty, but I’m a little worried about the making up. It involves grommets and stuff.

So now I have what, about 100 projects ready to be knit?! I’m not feeling burn-out coming on or anything but I am a bit worried. I breezed through the back on Aaron’s sweater and have finished the cuffs on the sleeves (2 at once) and then I stopped to work on the Tote. I feel guilty about that. The way I’ve been making it okay with myself is by saying “well, we live in Florida and it was warm enough for just a t-shirt today.” Also there’s the, ”I need a knitting bag before I do anything else. If I have my knitting bag, I can really transport my projects.”

Hello, my name is Veronica and I’m a knit-a-holic.

wear-everywhere

wear-everywhere
Originally uploaded by samuraisqurl.

Okay, quick post. I HAD to post a picture of the Quechua to document its soft fiber perfection. This is what I plan to knit with it. I loved the look of this sweater ever since I first got the magazine (spr 2005 Interweave Knits). The pattern calls for Hemp. Yummy and eco-friendly but a bit more expensive than the alpaca blend. I had put the yarn away since we will be going to Atlanta this weekend for 10 days, but now I'm thinking I'll bring it at least to knit a gauge swatch. I'm planning on some yarn store shopping while in Georgia so I wasn't planning on taking a lot of knitting with me. There is also the Berroco knitting tote. Its cool! Its fun! and best of all its functional. Well, my only problem with that is finding purse handles with a 13" wide bar. Sigh.
Something else I'll be looking for is yarn for Tubey and Picovoli. I've joined the Sexy Knitters Club, but there is no button because I can't figure out how to upload the saved image from my hard drive. I need code. I can cut and paste. I can't upload. Sigh. Anyway...Christmas knitting is done and I'm having a blast starting the next 3 projects on my list.

Still no pictures....Poo! The camera is MIA. Oh well, I guess you'll have to wait for pictures of the Quechua I got from Elann. Oh! It is soooooooooooo beautiful and I can't wait to knit it up! I'm going to make a pullover from an Interweave Knits mag. But, per my agreement with DH, it must remain wrapped until Christmas Day. That's okay. I really wanted to knit a gauge swatch but there is enough for me to knit. I am about 1/2 way finished with Nate's Cigar mitten and then I'll cast on for Dad's. Maybe instead of going down a size in pattern, I'll go down a size in needle.....?
Meanwhile, I have a cold. Poo poo. So do the kids but they seem to be faring better than me. I'm itchy and stuffy and runny and FREEZING. The sucky part is the only medicine that works well for me gives me a buzz so I have to wait til Mike gets home to take it. After I took some last nite it took all my focus to knit through my increase rows and then make mental note of where I stopped. After a fitful night on the couch, I awoke to find all the tissues were gone! Nothings more fun than going to the store when your sick unless its going to the store while your sick with two small children who are also sick. I stopped knitting on Cherie out of guilt. There is only one more week until we leave for Georgia so all gift knitting must be finished and shipped in the next 6 days. Wish me luck and pictures of everything soon!

Christmas is coming.........

Yay!! It's December! I can't believe this year is almost over. My baby will be 4 in a couple of weeks! Sigh.
I've been knitting a lot. I planned on making Cigar for my dad. After beginning, it seemed the thing was too small so I frogged and jumped up to a size L. Well, now I think that its too big. Now I have one large glove. Hmmmmm. DH thinks that a pair would be perfect for BIL Nathan. So now I think I'm going to end up knitting 3 more of these! It only took me 2 days to knit it, but I'm ready to move on and the weird sizing has turned me off (so what if I didn't do a gauge swatch?). I guess I'll just suck it up and cast on for the size L mate. I'll probably make Dad's pair a size M. By the way I think that pattern is brilliant.
In other news, I have cast on and completed the ribbing bottom of the back of Cherie. The wool is sooooooooooo nice. I was worried that maybe casting on for size 34 bust would be too big, but now the ribbings done, I'm worried its gonna be tight. (I did a gauge swatch for this one.) Knitting that has been addicting and took up most of my day today given I was sidelined from more "active" activities due to a killer case of PMS. I hate hormones. Headaches, cramps, dizziness, fatigue.....I'm beginning to think I should check myself in for some sort of scientific observation.
So Christmas is coming and although I hadn't really planned on asking for anything, I've found something I REALLY want.....
These are freaking beautiful!!
I especially like the carpet bag with the unicorn on it. Sigh. I'm only sharing this little secret with you because I know there is very little chance I will be getting one of these for Christmas. Besides getting a bag, I was considering sending myself to her and offering her my meager skills in trade for room and board.