Progress!

I have been making progress on my 2 WIPs this week but color work....I'm not so sure about it! Any tips? I haven't done very much of it and I'm afraid. So far, I don't feel like I'm very good. The color-work portion seems to be lumpy and tight in comparison to the stockinette body. Ick. I don't know how to fix this. Is this normal? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As far my socks (sock) goes, I'm almost done with the foot of the first sock and will be forced to turn the heel. Ahhh...a lot of scariness with my projects lately. I have very specific instructions on how to make a basic heel, so I think I've got it under control for now...you'll probably hear me whine about in the next day or two ;-).

I have to say, I don't know why anyone wouldn't knit a sock toe up. It's awesome to be able to try it on as I go. I guess knitting a sock cuff down is like knitting a bottom up sweater. I always feel like I'm taking a gamble when I do that because it's hard to gauge fit when you can't actually try the piece on.

As I knit on the Mangyle and the sock, I daydream about swatching for my February Lady Sweater or my Central Park Hoodie. I'm not even exagerating when I say dream-- I'm literally dreaming that I'm winding my skeins of yarn to begin swatching. I know, I'm totally crazy! Oh well, I'm just selfish and want to knit sweaters for myself! I'm the only one who truly appreciates my knitted FOs. Well, that might not be totally true but I can appreciate all the hard work and time that goes into knitting them.

Good enough to wear!
So, last night, while watching True Blood, I decided to cut the bound off stitch edge of my Hey, Teach! I re-bound off with needles that were a couple sizes larger than what I used to knit the project and it seems to have fixed the problem. This morning I sewed on the buttons, with little reinforcement buttons on the back of the button band to anchor them down. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!
I also started my very first pair of socks! I used the Magic Cast On with the Magic Loop method to start. I'm following Fleegle's Toe Up Sock pattern. Finally have a use for that lone skein of KPPPM that I had in my stash forever. Of course I had to buy a second skein to knit a complete pair. Hopefully, I don't get too bored and actually finish!

"Hey, Teach, how do I fix my tight neckline?"

I finished my Hey, Teach! yesterday morning. Once I completed the finishing, I tried my new sweater on and, to my dismay, the neckline was bound off much too tightly. Oh man....and I wove in all the ends so well that I can't find the end to rip the bound off edge back to re-do it. What to do, what to do....

I was thinking that I'd just snip a few of the stitches on the bound off edge and try to rip from there. Does that sound like a good idea? Any suggestions? Help! Once I'm happy with the neckline, I'll pick out buttons and sew them on.

I knit Hey, Teach! out of Knit Picks Shine Worsted. I've never knit a garment with this yarn before. I've noticed that it sheds a lot so I'm thinking that it will probably pill quite a bit. I'm wondering how it will wear shape-wise. Will it stretch out and loss it's shape? What's your experience?

My next project is Mangyle. I've cast on and knit a few inches of the back. The main color is black and the two contrasting colors are cream and gray. I've never knit a sweater this larger. I hope it doesn't take me forever. I'm just itching to start my February Lady Sweater!

I'm in the home stretch!


Almost done with Hey, Teach! I just need to finish up the second sleeve, attach them to the body of the sweater and add the trim. Yay!

I decided to make 3/4 sleeves instead of the pattern's short sleeves, seeing how it's Fall already. I used the modification found here to do so. Thanks stashnstitch for doing all the math! I'm about half way through the second sleeve at this point and hope to finish it today on my lunch break. Then maybe, just maybe I'll get to the finishing tonight. We'll see how far I get today.

I'd really like to finish because a) I want to wear it, b) there are projects in queue that I'm dreaming about! I'm speaking literally here....dreaming about! Is this normal? Does this happen to anyone else? Do I just not have enough of a life to warrant dreaming of something other than knitting? Well at least I'm not dreaming of shooting up heroin or something equally disgusting.

What are you knitting? What are you dreaming of knitting? Let's have a little contest to make me feel more "normal." Leave me a comment and tell me both what you're working on and what you're longing to work on. There's a prize for the winner! Go!

Buffalo's short for Alpaca...

Ok, well not exactly. I was in Buffalo, NY for a wedding this past weekend and couldn't resist visiting a few yarn shops. I got a couple of recommendations from the Buffalo Ravelry group: Have Ewe Any Wool and Knitting Karma. I really enjoyed my tine spent at Have Ewe Any Wool. It was a neat shop full of ladies talking about Ravelry! They had beautiful yarns and....an alpaca. I kid you not!

The shop had an event where a local farm visited bring along their yarns spun from their alpaca's fleeces. It was very lovely! And then there was an alpaca. Yes, an alpaca. He was a little skiddish but he allowed us to pet him a bit. He was adorable!


After my fun with farm animals, we headed over to Knitting Karma down the road. I was less impressed with their product selection but the women there friendly and very willing to help. Not to mention, they had animals too--2 green macaws! Buffalo LYSs are obviously animal-friendly!

Then the last stop was to Elmwood Yarns. Sadly, they are closed on Sundays so I didn't get to check them out. Sad day!

Today I had to see a hand specialist for elbow and wrist pain that I've been experiencing for the last month or so. On my way back to the office I decided to stop at A Good Yarn. I picked up a skein of Koigu PPPM. The colorway is close to the that of a skein that I already have in my stash so I figured that I'd try a pair of fraternal socks! Imagine that-- I was never interested in socks. We'll see.

I also picked up 3 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in New Age Teal. Was able to find a dye lot that I already had 2 skeins of so I was very pleased! I plan on using this stash for the February Lady Sweater. Just another project in my endless queue!

Look What I Got!

It's a needle gauge pendant! The needle sizes are laser inscribed on the back! You can get your very own at Debra's Garden. I placed my order on Friday and it arrived yesterday! I ordered the Khaki/platinum color. I really wanted the sterling silver version of this unique multi-tasker but, alas, I do not have the means at the moment...This version will do!

I meant to put in on this morning but I was running late, as usual, and forgot! Darn it. Still knitting Hey, Teach! Haven't been too into it because I kept screwing up the lace on the back panel and needing to tink back and re-knit said rows. If only I would use a life line-- I'd be able to save a lot of time by safely ripping those rows out. Sigh.