Today is March 28, 2010. I decided to update my blog before a year has gone by. I think I stopped blogging when I became involved in Facebook. Now, I have joined a Yahoo group for machine knitting and the rules suggest having a blog. It's important to follow rules.

Yes, I now have a knitting machine! Hence, the picture above. I've had it for a few weeks and am taking lessons. I will be making a lightweight kimono to wear around the house as my first project.

The Temperance socks in the previous post have been finished since August. I wear them about once a week. They fit well once I get them on, but putting on and taking off are a little strenuous due to the short row heel. I don't plan to make any toe-up socks again.

I went to a class at Knitting in the Heartland in Overland Park yesterday. I learned some nifty stuff, like knitting backwards, crochet cast on, and Norwegian purling. It was fun, but being with family was even funner!

No SSS For Me

Second Sock Syndrome, that is. A lot of knitters struggle with this issue. When I get a first sock done, I can usually hardly wait to start the second one. 11 more rows and I can start the heel. I'd like to think I could get this one finished before my gallbladder removal surgery, but that's just a week and two days away, so I'm not sure. I should have lots of knitting time while I'm recovering, though, although I should be studying, too. Well, I shall try to be balanced.

It's Saturday morning and I'm at Panera, waiting for other knitters to show up. It's 8:30 and no one else has arrived yet. It makes me think that maybe no one will. And that's okay. At least I'm getting some quality knitting time, except for that I'm on the computer, too. Sometimes I like to multi-task. This is actually what I do when I'm at home, too. I have my little baby laptop on while I'm knitting. I can't seem to find time to update my blog lately except while I'm at Panera, waiting for other knitters to show. It's a very nice day, so maybe they're all outside somewhere enjoying the beautiful weather.

Temperance at Panera

I was knitting at Panera, waiting for others to show up, and decided to amuse myself by taking a picture of the sock I'm working on.

Now that others, there are six, are here; I will continue my knitting.

Swap

I attended a Swap Meet yesterday with my Knit in Public (KIP) Meetup Group. It was my first Swap event. We were supposed to bring two hand-knitted dischcloths to swap. I only had time to make one because of my studies. I was a little worried about only having one and it being a little plain maybe, but I had confidence in my sister KIPers and it didn't seem to be a big deal.

I enjoyed seeing what kinds of 'dischcloths' others had chosen to make. It was inspiring and I have ideas for what I wil make if we swap dischcloths again some day. I received a dishcloth and a bar of homemade soap from SugarBunnyBlvd. http://www.sugarbunnyblvd.com/ The dischcloth is blue/green/purple, my favorite colors, and the soap is Milk and Honey Oatmeal. At some point in time over the years, I got lazy and stopped washing my face at night. I decided that would be a good way to try my new washcloth and soap. Oh my goodness, it was such an enjoyable experience! The washcloth is stretchy and soft, and the soap smells good. I can't wait to wash my face again tonight.

In other knitting news, a few days ago I decided I was tired of working on the brown Temperance sock, so I decided to start another one. I'm using Panda Cotton in an Ivory color. Wow, it is soft and I am so looking forward to wearing these socks! Hopefully, this pair won't take me as long as the Temperance socks are and I will be able to wear them this summer. We'll see, though, because it's a lace pattern . . .

Time

It's time I updated my blog. Way past time, actually. Since my last post, I've had a birthday and started a brown sock - five times. And other things like work and school. Oh! And I got a Little Baby Laptop. That's what I'm using now. I'm sitting on the couch, knitting, avoiding my homework, watching The Weather Channel, and updating my blog.

I like my LBL. I've been taking it to KIP on Saturday mornings and I'm going to take it to school tomorrow night. I'm just about finished knitting a dischcloth. I can't post a picture of it yet because it's for a swap on Saturday. It's nothing spectacular.

I will be posting a brown sock pic soon. After so many starts, I will be glad to have one done. And as I've been knitting on the brown sock, I've been planning my next - oh - six or seven pairs! I'm actually starting to gather a stash of sock yarn. Horrible!

Finished Kites

Socks, that is. It's a little difficult to see the pattern but you can at least tell there is one. It's diagonal diamond shapes. I just LOVE wearing hand knit socks!

I have pictures of the damage; I just haven't gotten around to posting them. I fell down a driveway and konked my head in the street four days after Christmas. The wounds on my forehead looked the worst but the one on my wrist took the longest to heal. I'm still not right, though. My knee and the muscle on the back of my left thigh still bother me occasionally. I think I need Yoga.

32 weeks until graduation!

Yarn Dilemma

After some deliberation, I resolved my color problem on the black hat to be felted. I decided it would be easier to knit the whole hat in black and then duplicate stitch the colors on. It would be rather time-consuming to duplicate stitch all of the diamonds around the hat, so I decided to just put an emblem on the front of the hat. The emblem will be better than the diamonds, anyway.

So, now that I have that figured out, I have been working more on the black sock. Until I ran out of yarn. Well, I didn't really run completely out of yarn.

This yarn comes in 50g skeins and 'they' say that 50g will make one sock, so I bought two skeins. I have decided that I like my socks a little bit longer than most patterns call for, so when I came to the end of the first skein, I didn't have quite a whole sock. Fortunately, a local knitter friend has an extra skein of the yarn I need. So, when I can get that, I will be able to finish the black socks.