Cindy Sleeves

Here is my pitiful little start for the sleeves for Cindy. I'll be taking Cindy, the tote, strawberry hat, and black socks projects on my trip. I'll have hours and hours to work on whichever project I feel like at the time.

Felted Tote

I guess I thought I didn't have enough projects going, so I started a tote that will be felted. http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/bags/s-on-t-tote.html I will be using the teal Cascade yarn I bought in KC and some pink for the stripes.

Strawberry Hat

Next month at work, we're going to have Spirit Week leading up to our annual awards dinner. Thursday will be Crazy Hat Day. I selected the Strawberry Hat from http://thegoldenfleece.com/free_patterns/strawberry_hat.htm to knit for my hat for that day. The pattern says to use green for the seeds. I just can't do that. When I made a pair of beaded strawberry earrings a couple of years ago, I did some research and discovered that strawberry seeds are neither black nor green, but various shades of light brown. Silly people.

First Pair of Real Socks

Here is my first pair of real socks, in progress. I'm using the Garter Rib pattern from SKS.

The process is going well. Some people have said a beginner should not use black yarn. I can understand they they say that, but it hasn't been too bad for me. I'm just excited about the prospect of wearing a pair of socks I knit myself.

From The Studio

This is the yarn I purchase at The Studio in Kansas City last weekend. It's Cascade 220. They were nice enough to roll it for me at no extra charge. I was worried about not having the labels until I set them up for the picture and discovered that they had tucked the label inside each skein.

My plan for this yarn is to make a felted bag. This isn't enough for the size bag I want, so I may add a pinkish shade of wool as stripes.

An Olathe Purchase

Here's a picture of a spontaneous purchase I made while on my Olathe trip. Strawberry flip-flops. Those who know me well know that I can't stand flip-flops. I like me feet to be completely covered and protected, as a general rule. But they had strawberries on them! How could I resist?

I certainly won't be wearing them to work. I'll probably just wear them around the house, to take the garbage out, and maybe a quick run to the store.

'Class' Sock

According to SKS, I am now a sock knitter. Woohoo! I have measured my feet, chosen my needles and yarn, and cast on for my first 'real' sock.

I had a good time in Olathe. Lots of laughing happened. My sister took me to The Studio in Kansas City. They are very friendly there. I bought some blue-green Cascade 220 wool there that I will make something to be felted with. We went to another yarn shop (can't remember the name) that I wasn't very impressed with. By the time we got to the one in Olathe, it was closed. I'll just have to get up there again. Now, my sister is not a knitter, but she was very impressed with what she saw in the stores. Both of my nieces know how to knit. I helped the younger one a little bit.

Cindy & Dishcloth

Here is my first dishcloth. I think it turned out better than the two washcloths I've made.

Here is a link for what the Cindy pattern looks like. http://www.berroco.com/239.246/240/240_cindy_pv.html

I might get started on those sleeves this evening. I'm already packed for my weekend trip to Olathe. I'm going to hate missing Saturday morning knitting at Panera.

Cindy Front

The front of Cindy is done. I'm more hopeful about this sweater than any of the others I've made. The challenge of the sleeves is next. I won't get started on them today. I woke up tired this morning - some kind of crazy dream with a lot of walking in it. Maybe it's trying to tell me something. I did, however, exercise this evening. But now I need to get to bed. Hopefully, restful dreams for me tonight.

Sock Books

I went out for breakfast this morning. When I got home, I just didn't know what I wanted to do. It's not like I don't have enough things to do--there's always housework! and knitting and beading--I just couldn't decide which I wanted to do at the moment. So, I checked my budget and decided I could go looking for the Sensational Knitted socks book. I had a coupon for Jo-Ann and a coupon for Border's. I went to Jo-Ann first since it's closer. They didn't have the Sensational book, but I found Knit Socks! It looked good and I wanted to use my coupon.

Then, I went to Border's. They did have the Sensational book. I needed a cup of coffee, plus I had a coupon for a free dessert, so I got a cinnamon roll and coffee and started reading. Oh, did I mention that I also picked up my favorite knitting magazine? Simply Knitting from the U.K. And this month it comes with a free magnetic needle case. I'm not sure why this is my favorite mag; I've never made anything out of it. Maybe it's just all those pretty pictures.

So, I'm all set for sock knitting, except I might need to buy some more dpn's. I read somewhere the suggestion for knitting two socks at the same time on dpn's, section by section. That might work for me.

I think my next step might be to make the Class (mini) sock from the Sensational Knitted Socks book in all of the methods. Then I can pick my favorite method and plan carefully my first actual pair of socks. That means I might just rip out the two I've already started. Yikes!

Lunchtime Shopping

I decided to go to Hobby Lobby at lunch today. I wanted to get some more double-pointed needles. I've been looking at different sock patterns. Some call for a set of 4 needles and some call for a set of 5. Some call for size 2 and some call for size 3. I already had a set of four size 2 dp's, so I decided I wanted to buy another one plus two sets of size 3's, four each, so that I would have plenty of needles. They only had one size 3 set left, so I got it and the size 2 I needed.

Fortunately, I planned ahead and had printed my Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon. I wanted to get some sort of sock knitting book, but I didn't see any. So, I got this Modular Knits book instead. I got to pay 10.77 (plus tax) rather than 17.95.

This is crazy, but I remember that there was some pattern in the book that caused me to want it, but I can't remember what it was right now. I left the book in my car, so I wouldn't be tempted to read it instead of working this afternoon.

One Step Forward . . .

And then guess what! Yup - frogging.

I had the upper left of the front all done and it was just fine. Not so with the right front. From the time I started it, I had problems. Here you see that I have ripped out clear back down to the beginning of the armholes. I was so hoping to be able to get the front finished this evening, so I would be ready to start the first sleeve. :(