WIP-it Wednesday (December 21st 2011)

Another WIP-it Wednesday update!  I have been wokring my way through an alphabet of socks in 2011 (I'm following this KAL on Rav) and we are getting down to the end!  Right now I still have U, V, W, X, and Y cast on and in need of completion plus I need to cast on Z.  We have until January 14th 2012 to finish.  I'm not sure if I will make it!!

Here are some pictures:

To see more great WIP-it Wednesday reports please check out Tami's Amis

FO Friday (December 16th 2011)

Another FO Friday report for me!!  I'm on a roll!!

This past week I finished up my 12 Days of Christmas Afghan!  I started this back in January and knit one square each month.  The squares were designed to be dishcloths but I liked the idea of doing the squares in acrylic and making and afghan out of it instead! After each square was knit, I blocked it and then did a round of single crochet.  Each month I added the new square onto the afghan so that once I was done with the December square all that I needed to do was add a two round single crochet border on the entire afghan.  I like this blanket!!  Here is the FO:

To see more fabulous finished objects head on over to tami's amis!!

WIP Wednesday (December 14th 2011)

I'm finally posting a new WIP Wednesday post again!!

These are two projects I have been working on all of 2011.  They both come from the 2011 Block a Month group over on Ravelry.  I still have to finish the November and December squares, sew those on, and add a border - then these two are all done!!

Afghan #1:

and Afghan #2:

To see more great WIP-it Wednesday projects check out Tami's amis

Healing

So on Thursday night I took the big bandaging off my thumb and switched to a regular bandage.  The incision is not too bad looking at all.  It is a little bit sore but not nearly as bad as I thought it might be.  Here is what the incision looks like:

And I tried knitting again yesterday!!  I worked on a couple squares for my 12 Days of Christmas afghan.  I thought starting with the larger needles would be a better idea than sock needles.  I managed to knit two squares yesterday.  I knit a few rows and then took a break for a while.  It wasn't too unconfortable at all.  By the end of the day my thumb was beginning to ache but for the most of the day it was good!

FO Friday (December 9th 2011)

I am finally back to posting a FO Friday blog! 

I have finished my Around the World crochet quilt!!

 

Here is a link to my Ravelry page about this afghan.  It included 1225 two round granny squares which were then all sewn together.  I made it for a friend of mine to give to his wife for Christmas.  He paid me for the yarn, the postage to mail it to him, and some for my time.  I think I may have made about two cents an hour making this :)  Good thing I do love making this blanket (I have made several)

 

To see more fabulous finishes please head on over to tami's amis!!

I'm Back!!

I have taken a break from blogging and it is about time to get back on track here!  My latest news is that I had surgery on my hand yesterday to release a tendon in my thumb.  I had a trigger thumb and had a cortisone shot in it a few months ago.  That worked temporarily but the pain and discomfort came back.  My next alternative was to have what is called trigger thumb tendon release surgery.  It was a quick day surgery.  I checked in a 7:30am, the surgery was at 9am and we were on our way home before 11:30am.  I have a huge bandage on it right now.  Here is what that looks like:

I can take this bandaging off in a couple days and can start wearing a "normal" bandage on it.  It hurts right now and I am taking some pain medications (make me fuzzy and sleepy) but the pain is not too bad.  Knitting is off limits for a few days!!  And typing is tricky!  I will be able to get back to knitting once I have the small bandaging on it late this week.  But I suspect that it will be slow going for the first while.  I'm going to go into withdrawal soon!!

Mourning Doves

I should have been posting this over the past couple weeks but just didn't get to it... A little while back I figured out that I had a Mourning Dove nest on the ledge outside my office window.  It turns out there were two eggs under the bird and it has been a great few weeks following this adventure!!  I got the first pictures on July 21st. It has been tough getting pictures since the nest is tucked in nicely below my window.  But that hasn't stopped me from doigng my best to get some shots!  I have also learned something about mourning doves - they mate for life, they have several batches of babies each year - two eggs each time - and they take turns sitting on the nest.  So here are a bunch of pictures:

This is what I saw outside my window back on July 21st (I am in an old office building as is evident fromthe lovely window!)

Two mourning dove eggs

Chick number one has hatched on July 28th!!

Not too pretty quite yet!!

Papa bird coming in to relieve Momma bird (I need to wait until this trade off and get some pictures when neither bird is on the nest)

Both birds have now hatched (July 30th)

They are getting a bit bigger now (and many of my pictures are krappy...)

Here is today's update!  They are both giving me the eye and staring me down!!  They are getting quite large now and I wonder how much longer they will be in the nest??

Here is a picture of one of the parents waiting for me to bugger off and quit taking pictures so they can get back on the nest (I love this picture!!)

WIP-it Wednesday (July 27th 2011)

Here we are for another WIP-it Wednesday update.  I have two updates to show today.  Both are socks (any surprise there??) and neither have a whole pile of progress to report  - a little progress but not much.

First up my L is for "Lacy Mock Cable Socks."  I am about half way down the heel turn on the first sock.  Here is the picture (and this is what it looked like on the last update):

Second up is my M is for "Mash-up Magic Toe-up Socks."  I have a few more inches complete now but still have a long way to go.  The two skeins of yarn still do not look anything alike even though the ball bands say they are the same.  They will make an interesting pair of socks one day!  Here is the picture (and this is what it looked like on the last update):

 

To see more like this please visit Tami's Amis 

A Year of Projects - July 24th

I am back to my blogging!  I have been away at a conference for a week and then we had family in to visit so I got very little done on my Year of Projects items.  And to top it all off I have managed to get a repetitive stress injury to my left thumb - I got this from knitting of all things!! Apparently knitting socks at a marathon pace while travelling did my thumb in and I have cut back on my crafting significantly :(  It is still sore but not as bad as before! 

I did however finish off a small item from my list.  I made a set of four Cabled Napkin Rings to give to a friend for her wedding shower yesterday (she loved them!)  They were a nice, quick, and easy knit.  I quite enjoyed the project.  I started out using cotton but I didn't like knitting with that so I switched to some acrylic - much easier to work with and they look nice (as far as I am concerned)  Here is the link to my Project Page and here are a few pictures:

Cabled Napkin Rings before being sewn up

They look like they are floating!

On the napkins

Packaged up and ready to gift!

A Year of Projects - Week 1

Here I am for my first update on my Year of Projects extravaganza!!  I have been busy this first week working on some existing WIPs but I did get some work started and done on my YoP list!

First up I started working on Natural Beauty Wrap using some Misti Alpaca lace weight yarn.  So far it is coming along beautifully!! I had a lot of trouble with this yarn when I tried knitting with it so I thought I will try crochet instead and this is working out wonderfully!  Here are a couple progress pictures after three rows were completed (clicking on either picture should take you to my Rav project page for more details):



What's done so far.



Close up of the stitches.

Second up was the Cabled Headband.  I only have a small 50g skein of some mystery yarn so I tried out the guage to see if I would be ok.  I think I'll be fine but I'll check the yarn weight along the way and keep track of where I am at half way through the skein.  And it all worked out well.  This was a really quick and easy project!!  It took no more than a few hours to make!  Here are a couple pictures (clicking on either picture should take you to my Rav project page for more details):

FO Friday (July 8th 2011)

I have another Finished object to show off :)  I finished up my I is for "I Shall Name them George" Socks earlier this week!

Pattern: I Shall Name them George

Started: May 5th 2011

Finished: July 4th 2011

Needles: 2.25mm circulars

Yarn: South West Trading Company TOFUtsies

Modifications: None intentional. 

And I finished my first project for the Year of Projects blog-along.

Pattern: Cabled Headband

Started: July 6th 2011

Finished: July 6th 2011

Needles: 5mm circulars

Yarn: Gala Mix Fiber

Modifications: None. 

To see more fabulous finishes please head on over to tami's amis!!

WIP-it Wednesday (July 6th 2011)

Here we are for another WIP-it Wednesday update!  I made some more squares (about twenty) for my ATW afghan but I didn't get too much done on this over the past week since it was too warm to think about sewing squares onto a big afghan in 80*F + weather...

I have however finished my I is for "I Shall Name them George" socks.  You can check back on FO Friday to see them :)

I have started making a wedding shawl for a good friend of mine.  She selected the Peacock Shawlette and I started it on Monday.  So far I have only done up four rows...  I plan to get some more done in the next few days.  It works from the bottom up so it starts with 273 stitches cast on and every other row it decreases by four stitches.  I will pick up speed as I move along!  Here is what it looks like now:

All scrunchy

The beginning of the pattern (not much to see yet!!)

And I have cast on two new pairs of socks...  I am still keeping up the pace (barely) at the A-Z Sock Challenge on Ravelry.  I cast on my L is for "Lacey Mock Cable Socks" a little while back and finally have a little bit to show now:

And I have also cast on my M is for "Mash-up Magic Toe-up Socks".  These are my very first two at a time toe-up socks (with a gusset heel).  I am using two circulars instead of magic loop.  The yarn is supposed to be the same but I couldn't locate a place where the two skeins looked alike when I cast on.  So fraternal twins they will be.  I am actually not that fussy about having my socks perfectly matched - too stressfull!  Anyway, here is my progress so far:

I have made no progress on my K is for "Knitmore Girls Vanilla Socks" but I am going to be travelling over the next week and they are coming with me to work on.  I have a five hour bus ride followed by airport waiting time, and then a two hour flight on Friday (and repeating to come home next Thursday) so I will get a lot done then!! 

To see more wonderful WIP-it posts head on over to Tami's Amis!!

And on the weight loss front - I am down a total of 6.6 pounds :)

I is for "Icelandic Horses"

In 2003 I had a chance to visit Iceland with my Mom and a cousin.  We went to visit relatives and friends there and stayed for three weeks. It was amazing!  One of the highlights of my trip was having an opportunity to ride an Icelandic horse.  A relative of the family we were staying with had a herd of horses that they needed to move from one pasture to another.  The easiest way to do this was to ride some and lead the others (there weren't many horses - only four or six)  What a fun time!  We had to ride for about 12km :)  Man alive was I stiff the next morning (I don't get to ride often!)  Here are a couple pictures of me riding:

These are interesting horses.  They are native to Iceland and the breed has been kept 100% pure in the country.  They are also susceptible to diseases that they have never been exposed to.  If a horse is taken out of the country to be shown it is not allowed back into the country.  The horse also has five gaits intead of the three typically found in horses.  The ride is very smooth! 

A Year of Projects

There is a group over on Ravelry that have decided to knit (or crochet) and blog their way through a book (or a selection of patterns of their choosing) over the next year (beginning July 1st 2011 and finishing June 30th 2012).  I decided that I don't already have enough on my plate and thought this to be a great idea!!

Here is a list of the projects I am going to make through our year long Blog-a-long.  I have not finalized the order in which I will make these but I do have the patterns printed out and the yarn selected. All of the patterns are in my queue or I already own them.  All of the yarn is coming from my stash and I am not buying anything new to make any of these projects.  I am ready to roll!  I think I may start with something small and also have a larger one on-going.  We shall see (I also have several WIPs that have been on-going and will compete for my attention over the next year).

I'll post on Sunday with my progress (and I plan to post each Sunday over the next year with my continual progress on this) - what did I choose first and how is it coming along??  Come back on Sunday to check on my progress and see what I selected!! I'll create a page that will have all of my progress is one place (alnog with my weekly posts) I'll cross things off the list as I finish them (and I will add in a link to the post that shows my completed project blog entry and my RAV page).  I will indicate projects that are in-progress with an **

Wish me luck!!!  And please check out what other people have planned for their year of projects over here!!

1) Saroyan - use Plymouth Suri Alpaca
2) Midsummer Night's Shawl - crochet lace OR
2) Maia Shawl - crochet lace (either one using the three skeins of purple Misti Alpaca lace)
3) Natural Beauty Wrap - crochet lace - use pink Misti Alpaca lace 
4) 198 Yards of Heaven - use Cascade yarn
5) Summer Shawlette - use Berroco Comfort Solids and Heathers
6) Aimili - use Bernat Alpaca
7) Abundance Table Runner -use Bernat Soy
8) One Skein Shoe Rug - use some of my Lion Brand Suede
9) Eleanor Cowl - use Tree Frog Alpaca Sport
10) Hearts Entwined Lace Scarf - use Tree Frog Alpaca Sport
11) Fetching - use Lion Brand Wool-ease 
12) Owl i-pod cozy - use leftover WW - light color to show off the cables
13) Owlings fingerless mittens  - use light pink Vanna's Choice 
14) Owl coffee cup cozy   - use WW scraps for this - small amount needed
15) Calorimetry  - use Bernat Berella
16) One Ball Shawl - use silver blue Vanna's Choice
17) Cabled Napkin Rings - use WW scraps for this
18) Juneberry Triangle - use Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
19) Sunday Morning Shawl - use Carnival Effects Fair Isle 
20) Baktus scarf - use Needles
21) Crochet hook roll - use Patons Classic Wool 
22) Crochet hook roll - make a second one of these but for DPNs use Plymouth Yarn Encore Colorspun Worsted 
23) Kable - use Plymouth Yarn Encore Colorspun Worsted 
24) Cabled Headband - use Gala Mix Fiber

100 Days, 100 Words - Day 1

Today I am going to start my 100 days, 100 words posting.  My list of 100 words can be found here.  The first word on my list is APPLE.  I love apples!  I love them raw, baked in an apple crisp, baked in a pie, done up as apple butter, applesauce, and this list can go on and on.  I really do enjoy apples and I mostly eat them raw for snacks.

There are so many varieties of apples too, but my favorite has to be a Gala apple!  My favorite way to buy them is fresh from an orchard. Every fall there is an orchard that brings apples to the place I work and people can go and buy apples from them.  For the past four falls we have bought a bushel each time.  The apples are so good! They are a nice, healthy, perfect little snack!!

WIP-it Wednesday (June 29th 2011)

Here we are for another WIP-it Wednesday update!  I made some more squares (about thirty) for my ATW afghan but I didn't get too much done on this over the past week.

I have however made some progress on my I is for "I Shall Name them George" socks.  I have the first sock completed now and am ready to cast on for the second sock.  Here are the before and after pictures:

And I managed to finish my J is for "Julie's Soft Socks"  I made them with a DK weight yarn and the hubby is wearing them around the house as slippers - he likes them :) They don't quite match but I am not too concerned about that (and neither is the hubby)!  Here is a before and after picture of them:

To see more wonderful WIP-it posts head on over to Tami's Amis!!

And on the weight loss front - no change this week.  At least it's not a gain...