August Already?

It's hard to believe how quickly the summer can get away from you! Especially when you start to think about holiday knitting. You see, hen you're a slow, easily-distracted knitter like myself, you have to start your holiday knitting early. I've got some of mine finished, believe it or not. Still have a few things to do, but not many. I stopped on my holiday knitting to make a "Regular Guy Beanie" for a young distant cousin of mine who was fascinated by my knitting during a recent family visit. Since I made a beanie for him, I also had to make one for his younger brother. Which meant that I needed to make something for their sister as well. Both beanies are completed, and I've finished about a mitten and a half. I should be able to finish those up this week. Speaking of mittens, have you discovered the Cloisonee pattern by the Yarn Harlot? It works up pretty quickly, and I love that it looks more complicated than it really is. :-) I'd started a "Bigger on the Inside" shawl for myself, but laid it aside to get these little "cousin projects" finished. Then I have another UFO that I promised a friend some time ago. I really need to finish that up before going back to my shawl. But I wanna work on my shawl. It has little TARDISes (TARDIi?) On it and is just the thing for a Whovian like myself. So many projects, so little time!

I-Cord and More I-Cord

It's been a very busy week, so I'm behind on my blogging again. (BAD blogger!) Last Friday night I did finish up my arm warmers, and I am very, VERY happy with them. I'll try to get some photos of them sometime this weekend.

Because the holiday season is upon us, I immediately started knitting the christmas lights I mentioned in my last post, and they're turning out really cute! I've finished knitting the bulbs and have started on the i-cord. Seven feet of i-cord. Sheesh, can anything be more mind-numbing that seven feet of I-CORD? *LOL*

Oh, well, it's good TV knitting at least.

Last Saturday I dropped off the Regular Guy Beanies I'd knitted for the homeless at a local charity that does good works. I hope they'll help someone who needs a big of warmth this winter. I'm going to continue knitting them, of course. I decided a long time ago to devote two hours each week to knitting for charity, and this seems a good productive way to spend my charity-knitting time.

Okay, lunch break's nearly over, so I'll hush for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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*

A Leisurely Week Off

Last week I took my last full week of annual leave for 2010. I'll have a good bit of time off during the holidays, but this was the last full week before Christmas.

It was a fairly uneventful week, to say the least! I was battling allergies (I love Fall, but boy does it give my allergies a fit!), so a lot of my time was spent in the recliner with a remote control and knitting in my lap. Not bad for a vacation!

I managed to finish up several small projects I had in my UFO basket and completed from start to finish one charity hat and four decorative facecloths. I also got another few feet knitting on the feather and fan scarf I've been noodling along with for a long time. I completed several small Christmas gifts and am generally well pleased with the knitterly progress made. :-)

Now I need to finish up one more Christmas gift hat, another few hats for charity, and the feather and fan scarf so that I can get back to knitting SOCKS! *missing sock knitting* I still haven't started my "Egg-stra Special" socks, and I really, REALLY want to get my hands on that yummy yarn!

Speaking of which....even though I promised myself I wasn't going to indulge in any more yarn until I got rid of some of my stash, I caved and bought a couple of skeins of some lovely yarn at my LYS that should work up into a nice Baby Surprise Jacket. (As if I need yet another project right now...*LOL*)

Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying the knitting guild meetings I've been attending? I love knitting at home in the recliner, but it's so great to talk to other knitters about what we're all doing and picking up tips from them. They're a great group, and I'm having a great time!

Well, lunch break's over now, so I'll get my nose back to the grindstone. Happy knitting, everyone!

Cricket Returns!

Actually, I've not been away....just awfully busy! *LOL* That's no excuse for my lack of bloggage, though, and I apologize. September has just kind of slipped away from me somehow!

I've been knitting lots of goodies, though. Did I tell you that I joined a local knitting guild? We meet once a month, and I've now attended two meetings. I'm enjoying it a LOT! It's good to sit with like-minded knitters and learn things.

During our last meeting, one of the members asked if anyone would be interested in knitting a scarf for charity. Just a simple garter-stitch scarf, nothing fancy. She supplied the volunteers with the necessary yarn, and I knitted the scarf during my last camping trip of the season. It took no time at all, and I hope it will be useful to someone.

I'm also knitting up several Regular Guy Beanies to take to a local shelter so that they can distribute them to anyone in need of something to help keep warm this winter. If you have a Ravelry account, you can click here to see the pattern. It's simple, quick, and doesn't use much yarn. When I mentioned in my guild meeting that I was knitting these, the owner of my LYS gave me some yarn from her yarn amnesty stash to use for the beanies. Wasn't that sweet of her? (Shameless plug for my LYS: if you're ever in Abingdon, Virginia, be sure to stop by A Likely Yarn. You'll enjoy it, I promise!)

Let's see, what else have I been knitting? Spa mitts and soap sacks for Christmas gifts, started a pair of socks, started a TARDIS (you Doctor Who fans will know what I mean), and I started a Scrunchable Scarf as a gift for my great-aunt's 100th birthday in November. She's a gifted crafter, crochets and knits and sews and does just about anything you can imagine.

So, you can see that I've been a busy girl. Still, that's no excuse for not blogging, so I promise I'll try to do better. :-) Hope you're all having a great week!

I'm Back

So sorry I've been away so long....my beloved little MeggieDog was very sick and passed away on February 24. She was nearly 16 years old, and I brought her home when she was 5 weeks old. So, you can imagine how lost I've been feeling.

I still miss her terribly, but am improving a bit at a time. In the past few days I've started a couple of very simple knitting projects that don't require a lot of attention just to get my hands (and hopefully my mind) active again.

I'd finished my first "Regular Guy Beanie", so now I've put another one on needles. I'm going to do this one in stripes. I'll try to get some photos up in the next few days. I've also started a simple cabled hot water bottle cover. I've just discovered the joys of sleeping with a hot water bottle at my feet on frosty nights. How the heck does that thing stay warm all night??

More later....have a great weekend, all!