Planning for March

Next month will be really busy; my calendar is filling up quickly. I'm most looking forward to the second week of March, when Sarah and I take off for a few days for a trip to New Mexico. We've been planning it for a couple of months, and we're just going to eat, drink, knit, and buy yarn! It will be so nice to get away for a few days, and especially, to be away from work! I've been mulling over what project(s) to take. I don't want to bring too much stuff, but I surely don't want to run out halfway through the trip. Also, obviously, smaller projects would be best, especially since I'm only going to have carry-on luggage. And so, I'm thinking it might be time for me to attempt socks. They still seem daunting to me, and I'm not ready to become obsessed with them, as so many other knitters have claimed to be. I've still got a few weeks before I leave, so in that time, I'm going to work with the following links to see if socks are a good choice for my trip.
Knitty Socks 101
Magic Cast-on for toe-up
I've also considered bringing the yarn to make a back to school u-neck vest-that would only be three skeins, and I'm confident I could make a huge dent in it on the trip.
So the next three items on the list are the vest, learning to make socks, and Square Cake, which will be a wedding present.

Seasons

You can often hear me complaining about the lack of seasons in Houston, but I guess there's something to the fact that around this time of year, you can expect temperatures in the sixties to eighties, which really, is pretty comfortable. This morning, the boyfriend and I went to buy home improvement stuff, and while at the store, I spotted some beautiful flowers. On my back patio, I have a small flowerbed that until today was run over with primarily weeds. I bought some Impatiens, Marigolds and Osteopermums in yellow, orange and pinks, cleaned up the flowerbed and planted them-all by myself!

It's pretty nice to look out the window and see color.

Of course, Bella supervised to ensure the plants were properly handled.
In knitting news, I worked for a while last night and this afternoon to seam up one side of Twiggy Tweed. The other side is blocking, and I might seam it up tonight.

The colors are so much fun, and I'm pretty sure I'll do a little embroidery to jazz it up a bit., or at the very least, a little contrast color stitching.

Mariposa

The colorway of this Malabrigo is divine. It grows on me every time I knit a stitch. Of course, the Malabrigo itself is pretty wonderful as well.
Look.

The stitches look so gorgeous! This hat is going to be my new favorite knit.
I'm working on this, as well, as finishing up Jill's Twiggy Tweed (her birthday is fast approaching!)

Also, thanks to everyone for the shrug compliments. :)

FO: Shrug, New WIP

I finished. Finally.

Details:
Two Toned Ribbed Shrug, by Stefanie Japel
Paton's Classic Wool Merino in leaf green-1.5 skeins, Berocco Touche in dark blue-2.2 hanks
Size 8 Knit Picks Options circular, Size 4 KP Options circular
2 months
Made for me

As I've described in detail in previous blog entries, this was difficult for me, but mostly due to overconfidence with correcting a mistake. I learned a lot with this shrug, and it's my first large FO. I'm really proud of it, and I think the color combination is pretty rockin'. I cut the pattern a bit short, mainly because I liked the length of the ribbing, and didn't know how crazy I would be about the way it folded over around the neck. I haven't blocked it, but I might, as the ribbing looks a bit uneven in these pictures. We'll see.

Also, in search of an instant gratification fix, I cast on this afternoon for Stella's Hat in my Malabrigo Worsted. I wasn't sure about the colorway (it was a gift), but I'm loving it. It's so me.

Progress on Shrug

Here's what happened with my two-toned shrug: not only did I have an incorrect number of stitches when I started the ribbing, but I also have never used a circular needle before, so I didn't really join the yarn. So I had flat ribbing. I knew I could have joined it later with seaming, and it probably would have been fine, but I wanted to do it the correct way, and to fix the number of stitches I picked up. For whatever reason, the day I noticed the mistake, I was feeling particularly brave stupid, and I just pulled the needle out of the live stitches. COMPLETELY. Um, I'm no expert knitter. Where did that confidence idiocy come from?
Hence, the freakout I had. After pulling out the needle, I started frogging, and I stopped myself before I ripped the band-aid off completely. I put the shrug out of sight until I could calmly decide how to fix my problem.
That time finally came last weekend. I ripped back all the ribbing, including the stitches I picked up. Last night, I picked up my stitches again, and got 3 rounds of the ribbing complete. I joined properly this time, and all is right with the world. I'm so glad that this road block is gone.
I think I can finish the shrug over the weekend, and then I've got to finish seaming Jill's purse, and sewing the lining. So, two FOs are just around the corner!

Stash enhancement

The fabric I ordered from Equilter came in late last week.

I got one yard of each fabric. The inside of my sister's Twiggy Tweed will either be lined with the blue dots or the green/turquoise print on the left. I'm not sure what I'll do with the others yet, but I couldn't resist.
I also got another yarn gift from Jan. I helped her assemble a mailing list for her store, so she brought me this in return.

Classic Elite Inca Alpaca, 2 skeins

I'm not sure what I'll do with this either, but it's lovely.
Also, Le Slouch from the entry below: my friend April came over Saturday night for dinner (what a meal!) and she loved the beret, so I gave it to her. I wasn't sure how much wear I would get out of it, and I'd rather that it was enjoyed than sitting in my closet.

FOs: Le Slouch, Fetching

I meant to post proper pictures of Le Slouch as soon as I finished it, but I'm still getting the hang of this, so I'm just now doing it. The bright side of my procrastination, is that I now have a second FO to report: Fetching, made for my friend Jenny.

Details:
Le Slouch, by Wendy Bernard
Classic Elite City Lights, 1.3 balls
Size 8 dpns
2 days
Made for: maybe me, maybe a gift

Details:
Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath
Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, Snickerdoodle, 1 skein
Size 6 dpns
3 months (most of it being hibernation)
Made for: Jenny

Next up, I think I may be ready to make amends with the shrug. Also, I'd really like to whip up something for my mom before her trip (the scarf was too boring, so I frogged, and don't plan on restarting).

Confidence

Buried in a drawer in my office/knitting room/guest bedroom, was one half of a fetching set. I originally intended to give the set to my friend Jenny for Christmas, but I couldn't finish the thumb, not to mention a dropped stitch that I wasn't sure how to pick up, so I let it fester. And fester. This was way back in November. Forever ago.
The good news is that Saturday night, while needing a break from the severely monotonous stockinette CC panels of Twiggy Tweed, I decided to pick up the neglected glove, and give it some love (I don't know what's wrong with me, excuse the ridiculous rhyme). I was able to knit back enough to then pick up my lost stitch (with a crochet hook! I've never done that before!) and through some miracle or intoxication, I figured out how to properly complete the thumb. Wow. What a road block that was. So, feeling successful, I finished off the first glove, woven ends and all, and cast on for the second. I just knit in the waste yarn for the thumb, and I plan on finishing before the weekend. I don't have any new pictures of the glove, but here's one of the wip as it stood in November, which coincidentally, is close to where I'm at on the newer one.

In other knitting/yarn news, I just bought a ton of stuff on Knitpicks. I wasn't going to buy anything else, but I did use a gift card from Christmas, so it's not as bad, or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Only a month until my New Mexico trip, so seriously, no new yarn until then.

Feelin' good

Yesterday was one of those days that just kept getting better and better. I got a raise at work, a fabulous hair cut, followed by a brand new computer (it wasn't free or anything, it just happened to be ready to pick up last night) and sushi!!!
Ah, it was lovely.
No real knitting news to report, although I'm still finishing up Twiggy Tweed. All I have left is the CC panels for either side, and I'm contemplating a pocket or some other embellishment. I bought some really fun fabric for the lining from one of my stash enhancement favorites.
I get to have sushi again for dinner tonight. I'm the luckiest girl.