Ever Have One of Those Days?

Did you ever have one of those days where you're knitting before you leave home to go to work and are reaaaaaaaally close to finishing up a project, and you think (just for a moment, mind you) "Boy, I sure wish I could stay home this morning and finish this up"?

This morning was one of those mornings. Because of the switch from daylight savings time to standard time, I'm going to bed even earlier than usual and waking up really early. So, at 5:00 this morning I was in the recliner, watching a National Geographic documentary on Netflix, and knitting happily away on my arm warmers.

Much to my dismay, when the time came that I had to stop knitting and get in the shower, I had only FIVE ROWS left to finish up my arm warmers. FIVE ROWS. *beats head on monitor* I guess the good news is that it won't take me long to finish them up after work today, but I really hate to have to put my knitting down when I'm that close to the end!

So, now I'm thinking "what next?" I'll start another Regular Guy Beanie for charity, but for myself I want to knit a set of Christmas Lights I found on Ravelry. I have scads of brightly colored skeins of acrylic yarn I've accumulated over the years, and I think this will be a great way to use up bits of it. For the "plugs" and "wire", I'm going to use up some of the huge stash of sage green Red Heart I bought years ago to crochet the infamous "Boyfriend Afghan".

Wait, have I ever told you about the Boyfriend Afghan? Several years ago (before I learned to knit), I crocheted quite a bit, mostly afghans. I was dating (quite seriously) a guy who admired an afghan I was working on and said that he'd like to have an afghan for his living room. "No problem," I said, "What color?" He chose sage green, and I bought enough Red Heart acrylic to knit a large afghan to drape stylishly across his couch.

Before I finished the project, the relationship went up in smoke. I guess this was the crochet version of the "boyfriend sweater curse" in knitting. *LOL* So, the more-than-half-finished afghan went into a large blanket bag along with the remaining unused skeins of sage green yarn.

After I began knitting, I dug out all the yarn I'd purchased and stashed during my crocheting years. My first surprise was how much acrylic yarn has improved (thank goodness!) since I'd bought all these garishly hued skeins years before. The next surprise was finding the long-forgotten Boyfriend Afghan. What on earth will I do with all this sage green acrylic yarn???

I've been taking a little more pleasure than I should in gradually raveling out the unfinished afghan and using the yarn to knit Regular Guy Beanies for the homeless in my area. I've used some of it for other small projects as well, and it is a perfect shade to put knitted plugs and wire on my knitted Christmas Lights.

I think the lights will be perfect to string around the counter top in my office. After we close the office for the holidays, I'll take them home and add them to the decorations in my apartment.

Hmmmm. I just remembered that I tossed out my well-worn door wreath after my last holiday decorating session. Wonder if I can find a quick 'n easy door decoration to knit for myself? I think the holiday spirit has officially kicked in! *going to Ravelry now to search for door decorations*

Swiffer Cloth Success!

I finally managed to knit a Swiffer floor cloth with the shape and size I wanted! Only took me five tries. *LOL* This final version is a slight variation on the "Purly Lace Swiffer Cover" available on Ravelry. I put the instructions for my variation over in my "Freebies" patterns (see link at the right of this page). I have a couple more of these to knit for little gifts, then I can get back to my other projects. In fact, I'm already halfway through the next Swiffer cloth. Once I figured out what to do, they go really quickly!

Camping and Knitting

Last weekend I had another great camping adventure with lots of relaxing and knitting time. I finished my second pair of Dragonfly Socks (see my sock-knitting blog for photo), and knitted a bit on a Purly Lace Swiffer Cover.

Not only is the Swiffer cover a pretty simple project to work on, but I think it will make good small Christmas gifts, too. I'll let you know later how the pattern works up. I'm doing this first one in Peaches 'n Creme dishcloth cotton in the Juanita Rose colorway. It's looking pretty good so far.

I've also started a Baby Surprise Jacket. It's my first Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, and all I can say is "Thank goodness for Ravelry!" If not for their BSJ group, I'd be completely lost! Zimmerman is a knitting icon and no doubt was a genius, but her pattern writing style assumes that I know a lot more than I know. *LOL*

I didn't work much on the baby jacket while I camped; I knew that I'd probably need to consult with Ravelry and had plenty to work on with my socks and Swiffer cover anyway. I just took it along in case I got bored with my other projects. Much like my habit of carrying more than one book on a trip.

Now I've started another pair of baby socks with my leftover yarn from my Dragonfly socks. I think everyone who's learning to knit socks should start with baby socks. You can learn the basics of sock construction without getting into mind-numbing stretches of knitting the same pattern for rows and rows and rows while working your way up the leg.

Speaking of which, I'll close for now (on my lunch break) so I can knit a bit before having to get back to work. *LOL*

Weekend Outlook

I work a flex schedule in the summer, so today is my last day in the office this week. I just checked Weather.com to see what the forecast is for the next three days. Is it weird that I'm glad there's a chance of showers and thundershowers each day?

Here's why I'm glad:

1. I don't need to do any shopping this week, so I can devote Friday to cleaning, laundry, and cooking next week's meals for freezing. (I just love to come home in the evening on a work day, pull a home-cooked meal out of the freezer and pop in in the microwave.)
2. That will leave most of the next two days open for....KNITTING! *happy dance*

I just love to get in the recliner on a gray, rainy day with a big 'ol glass of iced tea (I need to make a fresh batch tonight), a good audiobook on my Zune (which is ready and waiting), and my knitting (which is ALWAYS ready and waiting).

I currently have a big stack of UFOs because I'm trying to finish up my summer sock knitting. I've finished three pairs (see my sock knitting blog for details) so far and have nearly reached the heel on a fourth pair. After I finish the current pair, I want to knit at least one more pair of summer socks before I get back to my other projects.

I've been tracking my sock knitting time for the 10kH project and am now beginning to wonder if I should change it to 10,000 hours of just KNITTING instead of 10,000 hours of sock knitting. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. Even though getting back to my other projects will cut into my sock knitting time (and my 10,000 hour goal), it's a long-term goal anyway, so it won't really matter. Okay, decision made: leave it as 10,000 hours of knitting socks. Moving on.

I bought Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Workshop for myself and have cast on the famed Baby Surprise Jacket as my first Zimmerman project. My first reaction on reading that pattern was "Okay. Now where can I find help with this?" *LOL* Luckily, my beloved Ravelry has an excellent BSJ Group, complete with its own Wiki. I've already joined the group and anticipate using it a LOT while knitting my first jacket.

I hope to spend some time this weekend just reading through the Knitting Workshop and absorbing the differences between EZ's style and other knitting books I've read. She's a legend, and I'm looking forward to learning more about her and her techniques.

All in all, it's shaping up to be a good weekend. Hope yours is great, too!

Back In The Groove

As I was saying in my last post, I've been dragging a bit lately, not being very productive at anything, not even my knitting. I began to wonder if I'd started associating knitting with pain, since I'd used knitting to preserve my sanity last year while waiting for back surgery.

Thankfully, my productivity is a bit better now. The weather is still icky (flurrying right now, in fact....big fluffy lazy flakes), but I'm able to pick up my Diagonal Lace socks and knit contentedly on them while listening to an audiobook or a KnitPicks podcast.

Had I told you I can listen to KnitPicks podcasts through my TiVo? That's a pretty neat TiVo feature. I'm not sure how I ever managed to keep up with any television series before TiVo. I never seem to be able to watch broadcast television when it's actually broadcast anymore.

Back to my knitting....today it occurred to me that it might help to toss in a charity item, so today I'm casting on a knit hat to be donated to a local charity that provides blankets and warm clothing to homeless individuals in our community.

I'm going to use the "Regular Guy Beanie" pattern on Ravelry. I'll keep you posted.

Knit Purl Gurl and a WEBS Giveaway

One of the blogs I follow is one written by Knit Purl Gurl. I learned about her in a Ravelry group called Moving Beyond Rectangles that I joined immediately upon becoming a Ravelry member. She's the group administrator and gave me a warm welcome when I joined. When I learned about her blog I put her on my blog list and have always enjoyed reading it.

Currently she's hosting a wonderful WEBS giveaway on her blog. It's a beautiful Bamboo Interchangeable Knitting Set. All my interchangeables are nickel plated and I enjoy using them, but would love the opportunity to try a set of bamboo. I currently have only one set of DPNs in bamboo, but enjoy the way they warm in my hands so quickly.

To enter the giveaway, go to Knit Purl Gurl's blog by clicking HERE and following her wonderfully clear and simple instructions. Hurry, though, because the entry period ends Tuesday, October 13th at 11:59 pm EST. And good luck!