FO Friday

It's been a good week for insomnia, but not much good for anything else. Here's what I finished:
Project bags. One to add to my collection, one for someone else.

Lace and Cables socks, aka Iron Knitter pair #5.

Active UFOs:

• Paintbox Quilt: All 80 squares are done. Waiting for next instruction to be posted. May replace the sashing/backing fabric with nicer stuff than what I bought originally.
  
• Social Butterfly Socks: Clue 6 has yet to be done.
  
• Stackable Cats: Knitting is done. Felting will be done today.
  
• Central Park Hoodie: is now the Susie Hoodie instead. Swatching done. Cast on is done but nothing else at the moment.
  
• Iron Knitter sock 6: The pattern for sixth and final pair will be released tomorrow. This woman in Louisiana is crazy fast and will undoubtedly win the competition. I'll knit them anyway.
  
• Know It All Bag: It's from the new Knitty. It has a built pattern display/row counter. I haven't yet scraped together the money for the electronics, but I expect that'll happen pretty soon. I'm spinning one of the bag yarns, and this is about 75%done.
  

FO Friday

maeve
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I got the idea of posting my finished objects once a week from somebody's blog. I didn't think I had that many UFOs until I saw that this pair of Iron Knitter socks was the only thing I completed in the past week. The design's called Maeve and the picture doesn't show how cool and intricate it actually is.

Active UFOs (things I actually intend to complete and not things that are stuffed in plastic bags and stashed behind the chair in the sewing room):

• Paintbox Quilt: I'm up to date on my squares. One more week to go on square making. I have the fabric and batting to complete it.
  
• Social Butterfly Socks: I'm done through the current clue, 4.
  
• What Happens in Vegas Socks: KAL starts April 9. I've got clue 1 and have finished it.
  
• Project bags: one for me, one for someone else. They are mostly cut out except for the fabric I needed for the someone else bag. I got that fabric yesterday.
  
• Stackable Cats: One of the three is done, except I need to resew the front legs. The second needs to have the pieces felted. The third has the body complete, but nothing else.
  
• Central Park Hoodie: ready for swatching.
  
• Iron Knitter sock 5: Clue gathering starts at 1700 today. Yarn selected and wound into cakes. Swatching complete!
  

Looks like there are several possible pictures for next week.

New yarn shop in Marietta

It must be a sign of economic recovery. Instead of hearing about yarn shops that are closing, I'm starting to hear about new ones that are opening.

Lovin Knit Yarn Shop and Studio
255 Village Pkwy NE Suite 610
Marietta GA 30068

If MapQuest told me the truth*, it's off of Johnson Ferry a bit north of Paper Mill. This means it is not close enough to be a major temptation, but near my usual back-roads route to the Cobb Galleria. That's where Stitches South is held, so perhaps I'll check it out when I go there next month.

*Online maps have been known to lie. I once spent an hour driving randomly around Parma, Ohio, thinking I was in a completely different part of Cleveland. Stupid online map put the airport in the wrong place.

Decisions, decisions

decision
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Instead of the many productive things I could be doing, I am trying to make a decision that does not need to be made for over a month.

The pattern calls for blending filament to be used. It looks like it'll be part of a spiral that goes down the leg and around the foot. It is meant to add a little bling to the socks (it's a Las Vegas theme).

I don't think the silver (far left) goes well with the yarn, so I dug out some other fibers. The next one in is copper. It's a closer match than silver but it still shows up well. Next is gold, which really doesn't look much better than silver.

Then we have the glow-in-the-dark colors. The white pretty much disappears in normal light. The yellow has way to much green in it and doesn't work at all. The orange isn't as obnoxious as a single strand as it is on the spool and it almost blends with the yarn.

I think I'll swatch both the copper and orange glow.

Good (not great) Mail Day

goodmail
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

The not great part has nothing to do with the quality of what I did get today. The not great part means the post awful still hasn't tracked down my box of books from Amazon that they claim they delivered 10 days ago.

Maybe those books are on the way, so I'll be positive and focus on the good things:

• a Coronation Street tape kindly supplied by my brother, Bob.
  
• two Bob (the dog, not my brother) Olympic pins from Ravelry. I already have the yellow one from 2008. If somebody reads this and wants it, leave a comment and I'll send it to you.
  
• goodies from Material Whirled, including a bag of merino roving (colorway Girlie Girl) and two pins I had to have. One reads: "Don't mess with me, I have pointy sticks". The other reads: "SPINNING because Knitting isn't weird enough".
  
• goodies from Knitters Brewing Company. They name their yarns after alcohol. The pink is Watermelon Punch and the yellow is Beer Goggles.
  

Beer Goggles is part of a mystery knitalong, and includes a cute stitch marker and some Kreinik blending filament. It's silver which normally I like, but think gold or copper might look better with the Beer Goggles. I probably have something that will work, but where in the heck did I stash it?

Watermelon Punch came with a really cool twisted stitch pattern. Maybe that will tide me over until the books appear. The one I was really anticipating was the translation of the German book on twisted stitches. C'mon post office! Find that box!!


ETA: I've heard nothing from the post office. I did contact Amazon and you know what? They are replacing the whole shipment for free and even upgrading the shipping so I'll have the books in a few days. It wasn't Amazon's fault and they fixed it anyway. Amazon, you rock. Post Awful, you suck.

To Do List

skp2
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Knitting:

• Find the appropriate yarn for swap secret item. This should be Job 1 because of timing issue.
• Iron Knitter sock #4. Doesn't have to be done until 3/20. Fool people into thinking you've slowed down. Mwahahahahaha!
• Mystery Knitalong (see picture). Both socks done on both clues. Watch for clue 3 to appear. Kit for the April knitalong is on the way. Make sure your smallest steel crochet hook fits through the beads.
• Finish Home Sweet Home sign.
• When the rest of this list is done, gracefully admit defeat on another Winter Olympics sweater. The one from four years ago is frogged and the yarn waiting for a new project (pretty yarn, too bulky for a sweater for a bulky person). The one finished last week is gi-freaking-normous. The plan's to transform it into a Central Park Hoodie.

Sewing:

Paintbox quilt square for this week and last week. Fabric's been chosen and just needs to be cut.

Latest incarnation of the sock project bag (now with see-through bottom).

Project bag for swap person. Remember the timing issue and get cracking!


Okay, pancakes first, then I get cracking.

Confessions of a sockaholic

I declared February to be a month where I would only buy things that were absolutely necessary. I did pretty well with that. Here we are, four days into March, and I've made two completely unnecessary yarn purchases. I needed some yarn to fulfill a swap obligation, so I went to Knit Picks. I couldn't just buy the yarn I needed. Sock yarn was on sale and it's so inexpensive, I bought enough for two pair. At least one of the yarns was solid so it'll likely work for one of the remaining Iron Knitter challenges.

Then I had to read a new Ravelry post in the Knitters Brewing Co. group. There's another knitalong coming up next month. It's Las Vegas themed with cute socks that use Kreinik blending filament. Shiny! I had to do it. I had to buy the kit because I think it's a good thing to support someone who enables offers such fun sock making activities. I couldn't buy just the kit, I had to buy something more. Come on, I had a coupon! My kit's in a nice yellow color called Beer Goggles and the other yarn is in a wild pink multicolor called Watermelon Punch. My stash needed something wild in it since I knit up that skein of Christmas Balls.

You wear those?

frootloop
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Someone was watching me knit a sock from some less wild yarn than these and asked me that. Yes, I wear them, but mostly just around the house. Very few pair of socks fit well inside my shoes, so that's why I don't wear them outside much.

I'm definitely a process knitter and tend to lose interest when the process is complete. This pattern was fun and the yarn was fun, too. Now I'm going to put them on my feet to keep them warm and go find some other fun process to do.