Potato Chip Scarf

I finished this potato chips scarf, pattern from knitpicks.com. I used bling bling and carman, one is bernat and the other is patons, I think. I'm pleased with the results.

My girl, Miss Emily, had to give it a try. While it does go well with her fur coat, it's not for her!

Final Parcel Mailed! Now on to knit gifts for home...

I forgot to take a pic of the no-sew throw. It turned out nice too. But it is happily sailing off to it's recipient as we speak. Here are the final projects for the last parcel outta here!

It a hat for my brother (matches his green neck gaiter I knit him earlier) A hat and neck gaiter for my nephew.
A dish towel and 2 dish cloths. I really like this ripple pattern!
A pair of felted clogs for my sister-in-law. These were the first pair that I did that actually fit me... I know too many people with big feet!

And another pair for my niece. Yup, I did them for the whole family. I hope they like them.

Now on to projects that don't have to be mailed. I have 2 more pairs of clogs to do, a potato chip scarf, 3 neck gaiters, a pair of cable booties and a few dish cloths... And that should just about do it.

Post FO Completion High

Does anyone else find that when they finish a project just before bedtime that they need some wind-down time before getting to sleep? I finished the second slipper for a pair of felted clogs around 12:30 on Sat. night. I didn't get to sleep until almost 4 am! I was so wound up! I know my list is overwhelming me. And I should have been knitting for those 3.5 hours.... UGH! I need my sleep if I'm going to keep up with my list. Already I've narrowed it down. I'm okay with that. Although it's kinda sad, given that I started Christmas knitting in August. I finished another clog last night, all except the sewing up the bottom and the weaving in the ends which I left on purpose so that I would be able to sleep. I took a ripple pattern dishtowel I'm working on for my brother and sister-in-law to bed with me to keep me from getting too high on FOs. It worked. I knit for a bit longer but got to sleep at a sensible time. So that's my new trick, leave the last bit to do the next day to prevent the FO high.

Speaking of FO highs, I finished and felted another purse. Pre-felted:

And Post-felted:

Man I love felting things! I just love how they turn out.

One more clog to go and that will be the last big thing to knit for the group of gifts I have to mail. Just a couple of hats, finish the dish towel and knit another dishcloth, add a pom-pom to a hat, sew in 2 sippers and possibly knit a neck gaiter.. oh and finish a throw that is made out of fleece (I'll post it when it's done, it's not knit but it's still a nice idea) to do by Monday for the mail. I have another list then for the final week into Christmas. Sadly, I will be knitting Christmas Day for my step brother, his finance and step sister.... Next year I must plan better!

No more socks for this Christmas!

I finally finished the pair of socks I was working on. I started these things back in August! Good lord I'm slow! Anyway, they are done. They are cute. And I'm happy with the results.

Now on to something quicker! I finished the sock yesterday and immediately started another pair of felted clog slippers. These are for my neice. They are purple with a light grey cuff. The cuff should felt fuzzier than the rest of the slipper since it's lopi yarn. I think the effect will be nice. Amazing how quickly I got this one done, eh? No wonder I like doing these!

Oh shoot, I forgot, I still have the heel and foot to do for one more sock... I have a pair of wool socks I'm doing for my sister in law. sigh...

Oh my arm!

I woke up this morning with pain in my right arm. My first thought was that I was having sympathy pains for my mom's husband who fell yesterday and broke his collar bone. Poor bugger! Said he was in so much pain that he didn't think he could lift a fork. But wait, no this pain was real. Holy crap, did I knit too much yesterday?! Impossible, I still haven't finished that damn sock! (But we are on the toe decrease, so the end is in sight). I have too much knitting still to be done! I don't have time to deal with a stiff, sore right arm/hand. I have a ganglion cyst in my right wrist. It rarely bothers me but can be aggravated from time to time. This was not the time for it to decide to act up!

Okay, my grandmother knit like a madwoman her whole life and she never had that carpal tunnel syndrome. No older person I know in my family has that carpal tunnel, you shouldn't get it from knitting. Repetitive computer use I can see... (maybe I should stop typing now). That can't be it. Exercising your hands should be healthy for you. My grandmother does, however, have the worse arthritis.... Oh, god, I'm too young. I drink milk, get lots of calcium and vitamin D. I shouldn't be getting the arthritis yet. UGH! I don't have time for this!!!! Not now, wait until after Christmas, then my hands, arms, shoulders can crap out.

And then it dawns on me... after being up for hours.... I shoveled snow yesterday. This is a snow shovelling related soreness. I'll take 2 Advil and get back to my knitting. All is right in the world again.

Snowday! and The 9 Row Frog

Monday night when I went to bed the snow was flying. We were forecasted a good old fashioned maritime storm. Now some maritimers may complain about the weather but I love winter. I love everything about it. Snuggling in with a good hot chocolate (preferably spiked!), warm socks, scarves and fuzzy slippers, the short days, the way the sun sparkles on the snow, the long nights, perfect for candlelight (you'll see the problem with this in a moment), soups, stews, skiing, you name it and I love it. I suppose it comes from not having grown up around snow yet knowing the whole time that I was Canadian. My first winter in Wolfville NS was a bit of a shock... like when they didn't cancel classes for what I would have called a blizzard! And waiting out all night in a snowstorm for supersub tickets under a blanket with Yolande and Super Keaner. Ah, those were the days.

Now as an adult with no kids (arranging childcare for snowdays can be a hassle, I know), I look forward to snow storms because they are an excuse to stay in my pajamas and snuggle in while waiting the storm out. But alas, I have dogs. And dogs must go out to use the facilities. And big dogs think snow is big fun. At the height of yesterday's storm my two illustrious beasts decided it was playtime. They frolicked like deer, pounced like bears on salmon and ran around like lunatic. All of this was heightened by me joining them to scoop the poop while I could still see it. It was too windy and stormy to video them but this is how they came into the house.

I spent a good part of the afternoon picking off snowballs, mopping floors and telling wet dogs that they were no longer welcome on the furniture. It took them a good 3 hours to dry out, all the while continuing to ask to go out again.

After all was said and done, the house looks beautiful. Certainly inspiring for Christmas knitting.
Hey, can you find my light reindeer? I think I'm going to have to dig them out a bit today. There are 2 of them out there.
Now you would think that a day so stormy that we couldn't leave the house, so why even bother getting dressed, would be a great knitting day. Well I worked on one sock. Yup, one whole sock. And I still didn't get it done! I finally got into a rhythm around 9 pm only to discover at midnight that I had dropped a stitch a few rows back. I decided dealing with it before I went to bed, so I would have a fresh start today, was a good idea. After I slowly frogged it back, stitch by stitch (I can't just pull out the needles, frog to where I need to and then pick up the stitches. I get too befuddled and end up fighting to pick up the right stitches) I ended up with 9 rows of fingering weight yarn frogged back. UGH!!!!!! I swear I am never going to get these damn socks done!
And the culprit of this mistake?! Candlelight. I decided to embrace the beautiful winter evening and light some candles while watching the last of the snow fall. Lesson learned, sock knitting by candlelight may not be a wise idea. I think I'll wait to further 'embrace' the winter season until after I have my Christmas knitting done.

Maybe I should follow a pattern... and some success

I started knitting some fetching fingerless gloves but then thought that if I sent these to a teenage girl living in Newfoundland or Ontario - they'd wear them in the middle of winter and end up with frostbite. Teenage girls tend to be more about fashion then common sense, especially the 2 on my Christmas list. So I thought I would make the fingerless gloves into mittens. No, I have never knit a pair of mittens before but how hard could it be. Just knit up to a point, and do a toe like decrease and Kitchener the tip, pick up for the thumb hole, knit the length of the thumb and Kitchener the end. (I love the Kitchener stitch - did I mention that?)

I had some really nice yarn I had gotten from Granny Tan when she did some de-stashing that I thought would do nicely. It was a worsted weight which is what the pattern calls for but it knit up small. I was worried as I did the cuff but I could still get it on my hand no problem so I knit away.

Yup, it's a sad sorry excuse for a mitt. However, the yarn is quite nice and soft. I will frog this and the yarn will become something else. I need to do a hat and neck gaiter for my nephew...

For my niece (one of the teen girls on my list) I decided to do a lacy hat. She may actually wear it in the middle of winter which is better than nothing. It's not really built for warmth but it's very trendy and like I said, is better than nothing. Granny Tan found this pattern for me http://jenniferhoel.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/lace-and-cables-cap.pdf I think she found it off of Ravelry which I still haven't done anything with... ah, in the new year. I'm thrilled with the hat. It's done in KnitPicks Palette yarn, colour "grass". I wish I had time to do a scarf to match...
Now back to doing felted clogs. They are so gratifying, I get them done quickly and they seem like such a substantial gift!