Yes readers he struck again.  It has taken me a while to get the guts to report this because quite frankly I have not been able to look at it.  The particular incident happened while Pete and I were at his holiday party.  This sock was in a zip lock bag and was in another bag.  All that I can think is that it was not zipped all the way and he (meaning Zack) had to do some serious digging.

 

This sock my friends was knit on size ones and I have not finished the second one. 

I have to go now and put the sock away and do some deep breathing.  Maybe some yoga.

 

Happy Knitting (make sure your zip lock baggies are ZIPPED)

 

Why?  Because I got a nasty flippin cold on Christmas day and it will not go away!  I know that it was Santa.  He apparently gave Pete a bunch of healthy elf dust while sprinkling icky cold dust on me.  Somewhere up there Santa is sitting and laughing his butt off as I try to fumble my way through life while constantly sneezing.  All I can say is that I deserve an alpaca next year for my trouble.  I am going to write my letter to Santa as soon as I am done posting this.

On to knitting news. I have a few items to share.

I will start with the Ornamental exchange that I had signed up to do.  It was fun and I had a good time making my ornament.  My only issue with the ornament I made was the snowflake that I put on it.  Actually, Pete had the issue which then made me have an issue.  I finally said "screw it" it is supposed to be handmade.  Sheesh!!  Here it is in all of its Xmas glory....... I secretly miss it.  I was fond of this little fella.

 

 

This was knit with some left over Noro I had that Zack had not found.  I just did the snowflake with white wool.  I sent this off to my recipient with some candy and loaded the box with good cheer towards knitters.  I received this in the mail from my ornament pal! 

She sent three felted stars, a handmade book (which would be perfect to make pattern notes in) and catnip.  Zack is in love with the catnip and I think he wants to marry it.  He has been rolling on the bag and whispering sweet nothings to it in a purr tone.  Weird.  The gift came from Seattle and was created byBethieee.  How sweet she was for thinking of the kitties and Pete.  I LOVE the stars.  I may have to make some more for my tree.  You could just do a tree with tons of cute felted stars and I have three to start with.  Woo Hoo!  Thanks again Bethieee!!

Moving on to other knitted items.  I made three dish cloths/face cloths.  I made one of cotton and the other two out of cotton chenille that I had left over from a bably blanket that I knit a couple of years ago.  These went with bath soaps and stuff that I bought from my sisters Body shop party.  If you have never been to the Body Shop they have nice stuff and they have lotion type stuff called body butter.  Well, Pete's grandmother (not Mylda) opened hers and told me that she did not have anybody to enjoy that with.  ICKY!  I had to explain that it was skin lotion for moisturizing!  ICKY!  I think she thought it was some weird sex goop.  Like I would give that to a 75 year old woman with back problems.  ICKY!  Here are the cloths........

 

The bottom cloth is from Weekend Knitting.  It was fairly fast and huge!  The other two are patterns that I got from two dishcloth books I have. 

Now I will show you my scarves.  I thought we were going to run out of gifts so I slammed these out in two weekends.  One weekend for the blue and one weekend for the brown. 

The blue is from Larkspur Funny Farm here in Colorado and I used 200 yards.   I cannot for the life of me find the pattern for the blue scarf but if it comes to me in a cold medicine induced dream and I will rush back and post it.

 The other is Alpaca that I buy in the Alpaca Store in Nederland and I used the branching out pattern from Knitty. Since the yarn was a little thicker than lace weight it does not appear very lacey but I love it.   I got to keep the brown one and have worn it all over the place.  It was a little itchy  at first but now that I have worn it in it is perfect. 

I am currently working on a few other projects.  I hope to finish them soon and post about them and prove to everyone that I am not a knitting slacker.  The cold medicine is kicking in so I had better post this and run before I write some weird stuff that I will not remember in the morning.

Happy Knitting.

 

 

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth but the holidays have taken me hostage!

I am driving to Cody, Wyoming today and expect an actual post next week.  (Don't anyone pass out from shock or anything.)

 

Happy Holidays form the kitties and me!!

 

Hey all you knitters out there! 

I am still alive and kicking.  I am embarassed to look at the date of my last post.  NOVEMBER 1ST!!  That is really bad.  There has not been a lot of excitement at my house.  I am still trying to figure out a perfect finishing touch for my wine bags.  I used two balls of NORO for the lovlies and had brought down my stash count. 

I also had the idea of making a shawl out of Brooks Fiber (500 yards) and a size 15 circular and this is what I came up with.

This is Fiber Trend's Easy Charlotte Lace Shawl pattern and it flew!  This sucker is HUGE!  Now I know what 500 yards and size 15's will get ya.  I think someone will get it for Xmas.  Woo Hoo that was three balls out of the stash.  (Some of you out there are wondering why all of the past tense with yarn use.  Hang on.  I am getting there.)  However, the same weekend that I finished this up we went to Winter Park and I had to visit the Yarn Nook in Fraser.  They have lovely stuff and they carry local yarn which I try to buy a little bit of every time I visit.  BUY LOCAL!  However, who could not buy when they look like this......

So that leaves me with 2 1/2 balls of stash depletion.  Woo Hoo

I received my scarf from the International Scarf Exchange I.  My pal did not send me anything but an angel did.  I received these lovely items from the Australia way.

About a month ago I bought two new books that I am in love with.  I have been drooling over the projects that they offer the ordinary knitter and I finally got so excited about a few that I jumped right in.  Since I really do need to decrease my stash I decided that I would take some Noro and try this.

This is from Handknit Holidays.  My attempt is not so glamorous and I have not figured out what I want to do for a handle.  Here is a picture of one felted and one waiting to be felted.

The bag that has already been felted is still a little long.  I am thinking of running it through the washing machine once more.  I knit the second one a little shorter to see how it turns out.  I have also been debating on handles and if I want them or not or if I want to take a ribbon and tie it around the top.  I will keep you posted.

I have also been compelled to try this.....






Sorry for the blurry shot but a little fuzzy someone could not help himself.  Can you see the foot! This is from Alterknits.  It is a bag that has been felted from a sweater.  I have a few sweaters lying around that I had gotten from the thrift store with the idea of recycling the wool but this seems like more fun than ripping out the sweater. 

Here is the sweater that I am going to use.  You can see that I had started to rip it out at the top. 


Then on the non felting front I have started another Clapotis from Knit Picks Sock Garden.  Here she is .....




I am not sure if I like it or not.  It is super soft and will probably feel great around the neck but I am not sold yet.  This may be a gift.  What is important is that I am using stash yarn! 


Happy Knitting.

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the stash........to date it totals 555 balls/skeins of yarn. 

Part 1

Part 2

 

That is right folks.  This entry is pure filler.  I am doing the google needs thingy.  Read this while I prepare my other exciting post which involves felting, cutting a sweater, flashing stash, a WONDERFUL RAOK thank you and yet another clapotis!

Kristen Needs

Kristen needs a new connection petition

Kristen needs to settle down (This is true when I remind Pete that we need to save more for retirement)

Kristen needs a little break (always)

Kristen needs book money for class but has no skills besides (*&%&(* (due to this being a family     blog I could not finish the sentence and must remind my readers that this is a meme and not my real personal view.  I  could never do THAT for book money. EW)

Kristen needs set up an algegriac equation to solve, where x= the amount of cardboard Kristen needs to add.

Equation: 3/2 + x = 18/5
Solve for x to find the answer.
15/10 + x = 36/10
x = 36/10 - 15/10
x = 21/10 m²
  (I have no idea what they are talking about?  Is the cardboard for a blocking board or are they making room for more stash?)
 
   
 

Now I am sure that many of you have a special man that you would like to handknit something for this holiday season and I may have some patterns that you would like to borrow.  I was on ebay a week or so ago and I found this.

 

Here are my pictures

These are the Birch Leaf socks from A Gathering of Lace.  I have to say that they are very, very comfy.  They were knit on 1-1/2 size needles and while they were a pain to use ( I broke two) I really like the feel of the finished item.  They are nice and snug.   I knit them with some type of wool (I cannot find the tag at the moment) and they are slightly itchy.  Does anyone have a cure for that?  Hey, what do you think of my sock inspector?  You are asking  "Does he ever stop?"  The answer is no. 

This is the other inspector but she does not have much interest.  She is licking her lips for an entirely different reason and those reasons are Pounce snacks.  Believe it or not she was next to him the whole time.  She is the kitty with manners.  She does not try to eat my socks.

Here is my lovely scarf.  This took 2 1/2 skeins of manos.  I could have made it longer but I was tired of knitting it.  If I had to do it again I would use a slightly smaller needle but all in all I like it.  Actually, LOVE it!

I am keeping both creations.  If I can get the socks to be a little less itchy they might be a gift but they fit me so well that it seems meant to be!



Happy knitting!

Hey all you knitters out there,

The Scarf Exchange is going again and this time you could knit a scarf, scarf with mittens or a scarf with a hat.  You will receive a hand knit scarf plus mittens or hat from somebody else as well.  I did the first one and it was a lot of fun.  I found myself getting very picky with my scarf that I was sending to my recipient and I did learn a thing or two along the way. 

If you are interested go here.

I hope to see you all there.  You just may meet a few new friends on this little adventure!

P.S. Picture problem is a disaster.  I fear Pete may be kicking the server guys butt any day now.  It may be ugly.  Not only are my knitting photos being posted but robot progress posting is on hold.  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES......and then join the scarf exchange!