Remember how excited George was at the beginning of Stewart Little? He knew this was the day he was getting a new brother. I felt exactly like that when I woke up this morning. Except I’m not getting a new brother. I’m getting socks! That’s right! SOCKS!  Seven glorious pairs of handknit socks, to be exact. Oh, I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for this day for two years!  Since May 2006, I’ve knit seven pairs of socks for my wonderful friends. I enjoyed fashioning these garments of comfort, utility and luxury for Debbie, Sheryl, Sam, Elizabeth, Heather, Michelle and Laura. It was really fun getting together for each of their SockDay celebrations. Everyone would joke about how my day would come last, and wasn’t I sad that I had to wait so long?  No. I wasn’t sad. I knew my day would come, and I honestly didn’t think about it much. Not only that, but the reason my day is last is because I’m the youngest…what’s to be sad about?!  Three months ago, when we celebrated Laura’s SockDay, I realized I was done. I didn’t need to knit any more socks for my friends. My day was just around the corner! I was nearly light-headed with the thought of it! And the day is finally here.

I spent most of the day by myself. Tim’s company picnic was today at Indiana Beach–not my favorite place in the world, so I was happy for an excuse not to tag along. He took the kids and I’m sure they are having a blast. Unfortunately, being alone makes the time drag. I mean really really drag. I watched a movie. I knit on my Faux Russian Stole. I did laundry. Sadly, I cleaned the house on Thursday, so it didn’t need cleaned again, or I might even have resorted to that. Finally 4:30 arrived, and I headed out. We met at Khana Khazana at 5:00, a little Indian buffet restaurant that I adore. Unfortunately, I didn’t do my research ahead of time….they didn’t open until 5:30. Sigh. So, rather than wait, we went around the corner to Noodles. Yummy. Not everyone was able to be there, but all 7 pairs of socks were.

Aren’t they beautiful???!!!  Everyone definitely has a good sense of what colors I like. Here they are close-up.

These are from Debbie. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces in the Tuscany colorway. Just like my triangle afghan.

These are from Elizabeth. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK. Yummy and soft. I don’t know what the colorway is.

These are from Heather. We think the yarn might be a lighter weight version of Extra Stampado, but we aren’t sure…and she wasn’t there to ask. (Curtis’ band was playing tonight. I can’t blame her for wanting to support her son’s musical ambitions.)  

These are from Laura. I have no idea what the yarn is, but I know they are Turkish style socks. The patterns look sort of Peruvian to me, though. Gorgeous! She even blogged about them.

These are from Michelle. I think she gets the award for socks done first. She says she’s had them done for two years!!! Since the very beginning. They are definitely me. The yarn is Bearfoot (one of my favorites!) and I think I even have this colorway is my stash! She knows me so well.

Next are the socks knit by Sam. The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in the Mardi Gras colorway. Very soft and squishy.

Finally, we have the socks Sheryl knit. The yarn is Fiesta Boomerang. Lovely stuff!

Ladies, thank you all soooooo much for these socks. I love them and will mourn deeply if any of them ever developes a hole! From the bottom of my heart (and my feet) THANK YOU!!!!

So, I received my Ravelry invitation this morning, and I couldn’t be happier. Except that now, I can say with great confidence, I’m not going to get a darn thing accomplished for the rest of the day today. Forget work. Forget doing the laundry. I just want to enter my stash, knitting library, WIPs and more into Ravelry!

My username is gaeacreations, so if you’re there, drop me a note!

The Papiro top is done!  I finished it and did a quick steam block this morning. Here it is:

It is a designed-on-the-needles top-down raglan with yarn over increases. Eyelet edges at the hem and sleeves (to fulfull my Year of Lace commitment). I used about 7 balls of Laines Du Nord Papiro. This yarn is really nice. Even though it knits at 4.5 sts/inch, it’s a very airy cotton, so it doesn’t feel heavy at all. Perfect for summer. The texture of the yarn is wonderful–not unlike Mission Falls 1824 Cotton.  If you are taking the Shawl Knit Along class at River Knits, you’ll get to see the top in person Tuesday evening because I’ll be wearing it.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there’s a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!

Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I know this made the rounds a long time ago, but I didn’t have a blog then.   So, what kind of knitter are YOU?

I have a December tradition. Every December, I look through my list of works-in-progress (however old some of them may be) and decide their fate. And with December rapidly coming to a close, it’s time to make some decisions about a few projects.

First, the Lift and Separate from Big Girl Knits. I have 10 balls of Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I was planning to use for this sweater. Actually, I think I will have only used 8 of them, but that’s not the point. The point is this: as much as I *love* wrap sweaters, one made in this yarn would never be worn. The yarn is fabulous. The pattern is fabulous. The combo…not so much. You see, I would plan to wear a cami under the sweater, and if I got hot (as I inevitably would in an alpaca-blend sweater), I would feel too self-consious about my arms to take the sweater off. So, I’m thinking maybe a cotton blend for this sweater would be better. Thankfully, I only have part of a sleeve completed.

But the yarn has told me in no uncertain terms that it wants to become the Cardigan for Arwen from the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I’m not a huge fan of the way it is constructed, but I’m a smart knitter. I think I can come up with another way. Notice that this type of sweater is more like a jacket. I like that. It makes me happy.  I’m thinking about raglan shaping, though I’ve always wanted to try Elizabeth Zimmermann’s seamless set-in sleeves, and this might just be the perfect opportunity.

Second, the Aran Weight Lace Cropped Cardigan. Pattern free from Elann.com. I’m using Classic Elite Lush. I changed the pattern a lot. I hated the way it was written and I didn’t like the lace pattern they used on the arms. Now I just hate the whole thing. This yarn is wonderful and soft and perfect. The sweater is not. The yarn hasn’t told me what it wants to be instead, so I think I’ll just rip it out and let the yarn age in the stash for a while longer.

Third, Babies and Bears for Grown Ups using Manos del Uruguay in a variety of colors. Again, I love this sweater, and I love this yarn. I just don’t love them together. I have the Noro Kureyon that I reclaimed from the ill-fitting Rambling Rows Cardigan. That yarn wants to be a Babies and Bears for Grown Ups. I think the Manos ultimately wants to become a fair isle yoke sweater, but not right away. It will be perfectly happy aging in the stash for a while too.
Fourth, Diagonal Rib Shawl using Dzined hand dyed wool/hemp/mohair. I hate knitting this pattern so much. I’m just not a huge fan of ribbing, so doing an entire large shawl in it is like trying to dig my eyes out with a wooden spoon. Not fun. The yarn, however, is fabulous and far too nice to let go to waste. It will be something someday, but it hasn’t told me what. I can be patient.
I also like to spend some time in December deciding which projects I want to move to the top of my list. Projects I’d like to finish during the following year. Some projects, like the Denmark Gefjon, have been on this list for a very long time. This year, the additions to the list are: Victoria’s Pi Afghan, Victoria’s Pi Jacket, and Aaron’s Wonderful Wallaby. I was hoping to have all of these done before winter. So much for that.  I may move the long-languishing Russian Prime to this list as well. I need to dig it up and see where I’m at with it.

Finally, I always start a new project on January 1. Always. It’s not always a project that gets finished, but I always start one. Tomorrow, I’m going to start a shawl. My original plan was to knit a shawl from Victorian Lace Today. However, after much thought, I’ve decided on the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace, using laceweight cashmere from Hunt Valley Cashmere.

I think 2007 will be The Year of Lace for me. I very much enjoy knitting lace, and it’s been a long time since I knitted a shawl. (I know…I know…you are looking at the December 4 post thinking, “What? That’s a shawl.” Yes, it is. But I knitted the body of it almost 2 years ago. I just had to do the edging, and that doesn’t count as a big lace project. In fact, this lace edging was just mindless and boring.)

Anyway, once I finish the Faux Russian Stole, I definitely will start something from Victorian Lace Today. The projects in that book are stunning. I am particularly fond of the half-hexagon. But, some of the rectangular stoles are quite nice as well. I just don’t have the perfect yarn for any of the projects in my stash.

On that note, I have three more skeins of cashmere to wind before midnight. Then, I have to resist casting on until the clock strikes 12!  Somebody help me!
 

Why I haven’t posted in over a month:

When school started, my life got crazy. Even though I work from home, my job revolves heavily around the school year. In the last month, I worked more than double my usual hours, so blogging had to take a back seat. I’m hoping I’ve settled into a good routine, so I should be able to keep the blog a little more updated.   

Why my Lorna’s Laces triange shawl isn’t done:

I don’t think I need to elaborate on that. The picture says it all. And, this happens *every* time I try to work on the shawl.

Why I need to knit a felted kitty bed:

As if the picture above isn’t reason enough, here’s another one:

Yes, that’s Diego, the same kitty from the shawl picture (plus Buddy; yes, he’s fat). Diego loves knitted items. Period. He would rather lay on something knitted than anything else. That’s my mom’s felted Market Squares bag he’s laying on. I think he needs a Mobius felted kitty bed.  (See, I can’t resist new projects! I’m doomed!!)

Why my head and hands are ready for winter:

Well, okay….so only one mitten is done.  But I have a good excuse. I’m teaching the Flap-Top Mittens (from Handknit Holidays)as a class right now, so I can’t finish the second one until Tuesday evening in class. The hat is my adaptation of the Tweedy Toppers from the new issue of Knitter’s. I didn’t have enough of the pink tweed yarn to knit the entire hat, so I sort of made it up as I went along. However, I took good notes so I’ll post instructions for my version soon.

Another note about the picture: in the background you can see the newly-harvested corn field that backs up to my back yard. The farmer was out with the corn picker yesterday, and Aaron (my 5-year-old son) was absolutely fascinated. He stood at our patio door watching them “harbess” the corn all afternoon. And, now that the corn is gone, we can actually see the woods beyond the field and the pretty fall colors in the trees.

Why I’m done writing for today:

I can smell pancakes cooking in the kitchen, and I’m hungry! How wonderful is my husband?

It was sort of a dull weekend around my house. Saturday was Purdue Football day, and Tim took Victoria to the game. I stayed home and made salsa. We (and by “we,” I mean Tim and the kids) planted a garden this summer. Mostly peppers and tomatoes, with a few varieties of squash thrown in as well. The squash didn’t make it. Some kind of bugs got to them before we did. The tomatoes fared a little better. We had a fair harvest. Nothing crazy, but enough to keep Tim eating fried green tomatoes and BLTs for a couple of weeks. The peppers, on the other hand, went nuts. We had tons of peppers this month. Salsa and sun peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros, along with a few bell peppers. They were beautiful, green, red, and yellow.

Aren’t they beautiful?!  This is only about 1/4 of our total pepper harvest. We had a few more tomatoes than those shown here, but not many. So, in order to make salsa, I had to go to my dad and ask him for some. Fortunately, his neighbor planted something like 60 tomato plants. If you’ve ever wondered what a 5-gallon bucket of tomatoes looks like, all scrubbed clean and sitting on a counter, wonder no more.

So, I figured I’d start making salsa around noon on Saturday and be done by 4:00, when we were supposed to go out with Tim’s parents. Did I mention I didn’t have any help in this salsa-making mission? Tim and Victoria were at the football game, remember. I started chopping the onions. I figured it would be best to get the least pleasant part out of the way first. Then, I started on the tomatoes. Contrary to my estimates, by 4:00 I had only just finished chopping the tomatoes! I still had peppers to chop and garlic to smash. So, Tim and the kids went out with his parents. I persevered in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove for hours making salsa. My last, smallest, hottest batch looked like this:

This was the batch containing a habanero and a few salsa peppers. I was afraid to put my head over the pot to smell it for fear the heat would singe off my eyebrows and eyelashes! But, by 7:30 pm, I had made and canned 2.25 gallons of salsa.

I enjoyed the rest of the evening, sitting quietly in the living room. Knitting on Victoria’s skirt and watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Here’s Victoria’s skirt (yarn: Berroco Keltic; pattern: I’m making it up as I go):

She wants me to make a One Skein Wonder to go with it. I need to get more yarn to finish the skirt anyway, so I might as well get enough for that. Sunday morning, I was knitting the skirt, and FOUR rows from the end, I ran out of yarn. Grrrr. Oh well. I’ll grab a couple more balls when I go to River Knits tomorrow evening.

Yesterday, I mentioned that I started the Lift and Separate from Big Girl Knits. Well, here it is, on the needles:

The yarn, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, is heavenly! Really wonderful stuff. And the color is not quite as dark as it appears on my monitor. Anyway, it’s nice stuff!

I had a nice morning today. Elizabeth, Michelle and I (you can see a pic of the three of us on the River Knits homepage) got together to plan some wonderful upcoming events for River Knits! Last year, we put together a Yarn Rave (or, as some shops call it, a yarn tasting), which was a huge success. So, we’re planning another one for November 3. And, we have another River Knits Retreat in the planning stages! We’ve reserved the location and have contacted a possible instructor. It’s very exciting! 

Sadly, I can’t think of anything else to talk about right now. Which means, I suppose I should go in the family room and spend some time with…the family. Lord, please tell me “Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses” is almost over!

On this, the unofficial last day of summer, I’m thinking about fall. I love fall. The only thing I love more than fall is winter. But, fall is a really close second. Kids are back in school (thank God!), the air is less humid, I can wear jeans again. It’s great!  Today, I even put on handknit wool socks as soon as I got out of bed. It was 52 degrees! That’s cool enough for socks. And I still have them on, even though it is now 71. I’ve also been knitting quite a bit today. I finished the rib/lace cowl/gaiter/dickey thing that I started in June. It really only took about 4 hours to knit the entire thing. There’s no reason I shouldn’t have finished it much sooner. But, it’s done now. It’s very warm and soft and wonderful. I can’t wait until it’s cold enough to wear it. I have just enough of the wonderful Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre left to swatch for Hush. I want to start that sweater soooo bad, but I just don’t happen to have $200 for yarn laying around right now.

For the first time in my knitting life, I have three pairs of socks on the needles. It took me a very long time to come around to sock knitting. I just plain didn’t like it at first. I liked the socks, just not knitting them. Now, clearly, I’m addicted. It only took me 6.5 years to get there. I’m working on a new pattern. Lovely lacy socks. Fingering weight yarn. I haven’t decided what kind of heel I want to use. I usually use a short row heel, but I think these socks might need something a little fancier than that. Anyway, once they are done, they will be available in three sizes, in two or three variations. The first pair has been really fun to knit. We’ll see if the following ones keep my attention as well. Maybe I need to find some test knitters.

On that note, I’m going to go make sure my children aren’t grinding play dough into the carpet. And then, barring any play dough accidents, I’m going to knit. Imagine that.

I know, I know. Just what the world needs. Another knitting blog. Well, get over it.

I won’t bore you here with an intro. If you want to learn more about me, you can check out my Meet Amanda page. For now, let’s talk knitting!

I’m currently working on several projects. Wait…I’m always working on several projects.  But, the projects I’ve been workingon most the past few days are these.

This scarf

is for my mom. It’s unfinished in this pic, but I completed it this morning at about 5:30 am. (No, I don’t usually get up that early…) It’s from Scarf Style, using Rowan Cashsoft and Lantern Moon ebony needles. Talk about a luxurious experience!

Speaking of luxury, I’m also working on this shawl

using a Lorna’s Laces sampler bouquet. The colorway is Tuscany, and the shawl is a triangle knit from the center out. More on this in another post.

Finally, I’m working on this Market Squares bag for a class I’m teaching at River Knits.

It’s a gift for my sister Jessica.

Future projects: On Tuesday, I went to River Knits, as I do every Tuesday evening, and was met by a wonderful surprise. The new RYC Classic Style book had arrived! We first saw some of the designs from this book at TNNA in Indianapolis, where I fell deeply and passionately in love with Hush. It has lace, it has beads, it has ruffles. It requires 10 tons of yarn. Really. 10 tons. Okay…26 balls (more than 2800 yards) for the largest size. YIKES!  So, I’ll be saving my yarn money for a while until I can afford to knit this sweater. But, I WILL knit this sweater. I’m leaning toward a different yarn, though. Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre. I first saw this yarn at TNNA as well. I even received a ball of it to bring home with me. I’ve been knitting a little lace cowl, and it’s absolutely heavenly. You can’t go wrong with alpaca, kid mohair and merino. Yummy!

I also want to talk for a minute about podcasts. I realize I’m a little late jumping on the podcast bandwagon. But, I can’t get enough of them!  My absolute favorite is Lime & Violet. I love love love them! They are a riot!  I also really enjoy Cast On, Eureka (not knitting), and some others. I need more time to explore the podcast world.

Hey, this blogging stuff is kind of fun! Who knew?!