Knitting again!

Welcome me back to the land of the knitting! :) Last night was my first knitting in almost 2 weeks...it's been tough! I only worked on my project for about 30 minutes, but it was still wonderful to have the needles back. I am working on the orange boucle scarf that I talk about
here.

On another note, Bailey has yet another new outfit! Here she is in her new pink coat. Isn't this SO cute?! She wasn't too terribly fond of it, but I love the fur trim on the collar. It's just too adorable!

The kids and I are finishing up the lapbook on halloween today. We got everything all cut out and prepared on Friday, so we should be done today.

Oh, by the way, my mom is doing a giveaway, so be sure to head over to her blog and check that out. She's giving away some handspun (some alpaca and some merino) as well as a book on slip-stitch knitting.

I got myself a new cd the other day that is awesome! It's by Emmy Rossum, who you may know as Christine Daae in Phantom of the Opera. She has an awesome voice and her style is somewhere between Enya and Imogen Heap. I would highly recommend checking out her album, Inside Out. Here's one of her songs...her first music video from the new album (released on the 23rd).

Argh Matey!!

Well, the wrist brace is off and I am on my way back to normal life...hopefully :) I haven't actually started knitting again, but we're closer! It's difficult to replace knitting in your life. I was totally unprepared for it! What do you do when you would normally be knitting?! I have gotten some reading done, but I am mostly just worrying over the Christmas gifts that aren't getting done as Christmas creeps ever closer. I have gotten a lot completed in anticipation of the holidays, at least compared to last year, lol. I still have my knitting bag out of sight, but I can feel my strength returning and my project ambition is as high as ever.

On a more exciting note, I won a contest! I never win contests, and I am so thrilled at the prize...yarn! I was over at Carol's blog and she had a contest where you could guess the number of days until she received a job offer that she accepted. So, I guessed 49 and I was right! :) Here's the post and there is a picture of the yarn. I chose the purple-y one (sorry Suzanne!) and can't wait to make some socks with it! Isn't it gorgeous?!



I was at Wal-Mart the other day and couldn't resist this dog costume for Bailey. Isn't she adorably piratey?! She lost the hat immediately after this photo, but she contentedly left the little dress on all day.










I am loving this weather, aren't you? It's finally raining, and it's finally fall! Well, the kids and I are going to make a lapbook for Halloween so I had better hurry up and print it out, cut it out, and do that with them :) Will post pics of that when we have actually completed it.

Fall leaves and knitting woes

I am really bummed out today-I can't knit! I have tendonitis in my right wrist and it has really flared up since this weekend. I spent most of the weekend knitting non-stop on a gift that had to be finished (I did finish, by the way), then spent Tuesday morning at our knitting class that my mom and I teach, then by Tuesday night at our weekly knitting group meeting I was sore...but knitted anyway...so I think it was just a bit too much. So, I am trying to avoid my knitting at this point and give my wrist a rest. I had my knitting bag open earlier and the UFOs (Unfinished Objects) were calling to me so I had to put them out of sight. Zip the bag, put it away. I can, however, show you what I would be working on if I could be :)

First off is a boucle scarf. I think the colors are beautiful and the knitting turns out to be more of a fabric/felted look than actual knitted stitches. Its going pretty fast and I love it.

Next is a pair of toe up socks I have just barely started, as you can see. These are the third of six pairs I have to get done before Christmas :) Now you understand why I am so irritated about knitting time lost!





For the past week I have been working on a paper leaf garland. I have made one before, about 5 years ago, and it turns out so beautifully that I had to make another one. As you can see from the picture, I have traced a leaf shape onto different colored cardstock. I then traced another leaf shape on the inside and have yet to cut all those out with a paper cutting knife. I have 12 leaves of each color, then the inner leaves will double that number. The garland should be long enough...I hope! It takes a while, and it is tedious, but the end result is well worth it. Once I get a few more completed I will post more pictures.

Knitting and patterns

First things first- finished socks! Well, almost finished. As you can see, the one is still on the needles. I am waiting for Aubrey to come home and try them on so I can know if this bind off method is stretchy enough for socks or not. But, don't you just love the way the yarn patterned itself? I am really pleased with it. OK, details:

Yarn: ONline Supersocke (Sunset Colorway, #830)
Needles: Size 2 circulars
Pattern: (Stitch pattern) Yarrow Rib Socks from Vintage Socks, (Sock pattern) Toe up with slip-stitch heel by Wendy.
Started: September 30
Finished: October 11

This toe-up sock pattern came out really easily and eliminated some of those lingering issues that I have when I make socks. For one thing, I never know just where to start toe decreases since I rarely make socks for the same person 2 pairs back to back. This made that such a non-issue, I am definitely doing my next pair toe up as well. Another huge benefit (one which is solely psychological, of course) is that after finishing the foot of the sock it feels like you're home free! You just fly around and around to the top of the cuff. I even had extra yarn with these and there went that "am-I-going-to-have-enough-yarn" stress! So the benefits of toe up were practically endless for me! :)

The past few days have been spent printing patterns that my mom and I have had but never got around to printing. We bought binders, dividers and labels and I spend this morning finishing up all the pattern organizing. Its so awesome! I put the patterns in page protectors and divided them up by topic. I can't wait to try and find a pattern now! :)