Forgive Me

I've had some really cool people staying over for the past week. Mostly Trotter who is also a knitter, but also these people.

Yes, I'm in there, too. I had a spa party, and these are just a few of the crazy people that decided to attend. Needless to say, little knitting has been done this past week and the twins deadline has been moved up to Oct. 3rd. Things to do before then...

1. Make the purple pieces of a raglan sweater into a sweater.

2. Knit the baby boy's sweater and put it together

3. Finish all the work I have to do for the awesome finishing class I'm taking at Yarn To Go.

4. Finish Allie's wedding afghan (After 2 months sitting alone for the months of August and most of September, it's sad and wants to go to it's new home.)

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Mail Call

I got this in the mail today. I got all three skeins from my favorite new shop http://www.thesweetsheep.com/xcart/home.php
Why I love this shop...with my sock came a card (think hallmark), with a free mini skein of Katia Bamboo, and a 10% off coupon. Unfortunately, for everyone else they seem to be sold out of the 2 side skeins that I bought, All Things Heather. This yarn is sooooooo soft and I love that I bought a sport-weight gauge (The better to knit last minute presents in). The skein in the middle is the shop's version of sock yarn called Sweet Socks. It is also very nice. I love that the colorway is called lollipop. The colorway of the All Things Heather on the left is Tequila Sunrise (like I was going to pass that up). The one on the far right is Raspberry Truffle. I love all three skeins and can't wait to try them out. I still have to rip back on the Satan socks. I'm putting it off for a rainy day, and since it rarely rains in Mississippi, I may be in luck. Think that's all that could have come in the mail today? Nope, I got the new Debbie Bliss book, too. I classic Debbie Bliss with some cute baby stuff. I got it because I have five or six baby showers coming up in the future and I've got to get cracking on some cute sweaters and such.
In other news, I think I've found the worst use of Blue Sky Alpacca's Cotton. Knitty Gritty had on today an episode oo about this, a Sushi Bathroom set. All I can say is, "Sad."

Why knitting while watching naked men might not be the best choice

I've learned through various theater experiences, that taking knitting to a musical/play can be a good thing. I've knit all the way through "To Kill A Mockingbird" and during the intermissions of various other plays. I wished I had my knitting during 1776 so I could poke my own eyes out and maybe burst my eardrums too (There I am getting all Oedipus on you). However, knitting even before the start of the Full Monty, not the best of choices. Because I was paying attention to the people surrounding me, namely Nikki commenting on other audience members, and the strange man who sat down next to me; I knit Hannah's socks together. As if I needed another why Hannah's socks are Satan, I have one. Not only did I knit them together, but I didn't catch it until I did at least 5 more rows. See, that's what even the expectation of seeing naked men will do to you, it'll make you knit your socks together. Tommorrow is offical rip it out day. I'll also be knitting out the baby hat I let Eli and Chloe help with. Their uneven stitches at the bottom are driving me crazy, as are the fugliness of the crown shapping. Hopefully, Crider's baby can hold off one more week, just one more week.
Being at the Full Monty means that I missed out on my Thrusday Night Knit Night at Yarn Studio. Sadness...but I'll catch all of you but Laura (the other one) next week.

Mom's Scarf

Here is the start of Mom's Handspun scarf. I cast on 25 stitches on size 7 Clovers and began working in the foaming waves pattern from 365 Stitches a Year. I've made decent progress, but I haven't gotten to the pink part of the skein yet. I'm not going to get a chance to work on it tonight, but I promise to work on it some tomorrow and update you on my progress then.

Endless Socks

On the far left are Hanah's Socks. I am firmly convinced that Hanah's socks are possessed by Satan. These are the socks that will never end. They were concived in May with Sock Garden Yarn from knitpicks and all seemed to be going well. They're going to be a Christmas present for this year and I got cocky. "Wow, I started these early, there's no way I can't get these done in time." Better yet Hannah had requested them in this colorwave so I knew that I couldn't lose. I knit my socks on two circulars from the toes up (double points and I don't get along). Before I knew I was ready to turn the heel. It was only the last week in May and I had returned from Maryland Sheep amd Wool ready to knit new more exciting projects (I think I bought out Morehouse). So Hanah's socks became less of a focus and a stand in line and wait project. But the heels were soon turned (eye doctor's appointments) and I was moving on to the cuff. Now, I hate the cuffs of socks on a good day, but they still remained my wait in the car/appointment/game duty socks. Somewhere in this period is where I am convinced that the socks became possessed. However long I work on them, they refuse to grow to the proper sock length. Now if these were socks for me I would have switched over to ribbing already and then quickly bound off. However, these are socks for someone else and this someone else likes long cuffs on her socks. The cuffs are stuck at 5 inches and refusing to grow any further no matter how much ESPN I watch. I'm getting a bit frustrated with them. I even took them out on the porch and knit them there, but they are stubburn. So, in typical Laura fashion, I decided to move on with life.
The second picture is a skein of handspun yarn. I don't spin, but my mom does. My mom has been spinning since I was born, maybe longer. That is some of her handspun yarn and since she rarely knits, I've decided to grace her with a scarf handknit out of her handspun. She's out of town motorcyling with my father and her B-day is fast approaching., so now's the perfect time to raid her stash. I'm thinking of using it in a lace pattern, which will keep her warm enough in the Mississippi climate.

This is one of the Snuggly Fair Isle sweaters I'm knitting for a teacher at school (she's having twins). It never seems to fail that I'm behind on presents of various sorts, so I decided to start this project early. The babies are due in November so it seems like I have plenty of time. Of course, by starting on the twins early enough to finish, I've been neglecting other more tardy presents, including an afghan for a wedding. It's around halfway done and because it's already late, it might get postponed to even later. Sorry Allie. The twins sweater was a fast knit though, it took less than a week, so I might have time to finish all. In other news, two of my best friends are coming down for a visit and they are also due some tardy presents. For the one, I got that cool new scented yarn called Lang Emotion http://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Lang_Yarn-Emotion_Color_Yarn-2463.html in the Gingseng scent. I'm thinking of making an eyemask for her (I'm also having a spa party that weekend). The other, Jenny is already a knitter. I'm going to take her to the yarn stores in town and see what catches her fancy. Unfortunatly, she's on tour (she works for Sesame Street Live) and has a 40 pound lugage restriction on her bagage. I'm thinking about teaching her how to knit socks. I owe her big time because she's bringing me back Kinder Eggs http://www.kindersurprise.com/home.html which they sell in Costa Rica. Odd since they're made in Germany, but they are my favorite thing ever, so I'm super excited.

First Blog

I'm been wanting to start a knitting blog for some time now, but fate had not been on my side. I moved down to Mississippi last July and we moved into our house the last week in August. We were just setting stuff up when Katrina hit. Luckily, I live far enough north in Mississippi that there was very little damage, but it did mean that stuff like internet service was postponed. Then our developer had issues. Sooo... to make a long story short, I finally got broadband this week. I'm super excited to be starting this blog, plus I'm hoping it'll help me stay organized and sane. This way I'll be able to keep track of all the projects I finish and the lack of progress on all of my UFOs. Next blog I'll have pictures and everything, If I can figure it all out.