Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Waiting...

Last November we put a bid on a house.  We are still waiting for a closing date.  In the meantime, we starting boxing up stuff we aren't using--cycling gear, books, craft supplies, more books, etc.  Since one of my missions this year is to use up or donate some acrylic yarn I have in the stash, I thought I would try my hand at a mobius cat bed.  The cats won't mind if it doesn't turn out right & it gives me a chance to try something new.

The Cat Bordi instructions are quite good.  I'm liking this project alot so far....even the tricky spots.  skIt's just small enough to go quick & challenging without making me nuts (I think I typed something like this in my last post....there must me an underlying theme here).

I have finished the mobius part & have started on the bowl.  Then I discovered that if I want to finish this project & we still haven't moved, I'm need to unpack my size 9 DPNs.  Thankfully I remember which box they were in.

I haven't been working on the cable sweater much.  Too many distractions with cats & boxes.  Plus I have been trolling the web trying to get ideas for a craft room in the new house.

Time to go.  I have a pesky cat doing all kinds of naughty right now.  Apex says "Meow"

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year = new project

I was a very good knitter over the past couple weeks.  I finished some projects that had be languishing on needles, in a bag waiting for a final detail, or just plain ignored.  I finished Jason's socks.  I started & finished a watch cap for him to make up for the 'made it too big' hat that I also finished.  I added a crochet edge to Salta's pirate sweater so she stops shaking it off on a walk (unfortunately, I think I should have made it one size smaller so it is still a little loose & good for neighborhood walks only.)

Jason learned how much a sweater costs during my last trip to Webs.  I went primarily to look at the square knitting needle sets & was disappointed to find that all of Santa's elves had already made selections for the holidays.  As a result, we looked at yarn instead...for a sweater that he picked out. He decided on the cabled sweater from Erika Knit's book "Men's Knits". Yes, I'm aware of the sweater curse & all, but we are in the process buying our first house so I think we will be ok.  He picked out a bulky sweater with just enough cables to not make me crazy from boredom (from non-stop stocking stitch) or from trying to concentrate on my counting of rows or stitches.  We found the yarn the pattern specified (Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed) and counted the number of balls needed (11) and discovered the sweater would cost $220!  Needless to say, we made a substitution.

Today is the day I'm casting on using Valley Yarn's Berkshire Bulky in a Heather Gray colorway.  Goal is to have it finished for February.