Four Days.

I hope everyone's Christmas/holiday (don't really want to get into all that!) knitting is going well. I only knit two things as gifts this year, the second of which will be finished tonight.

I don't feel as Christmasy as I normally do. I think a part of this is due to the fact that I am not baking holiday treats like usual. (My decision. I don't need the extra calories or the temptation.) I did manage to spend an entire Saturday afternoon making some polymer clay ornaments though:





This guy is my favorite:



and has (sadly) already been given away.


We are heading to Chicago until the new year, but I will to post photos of the gifts I have made, and maybe some other holiday goodness, using my parents (dreaded) dialup connection.

Hanging around.

So I haven't been very active lately, either on my blog or in real life. I think the cold weather has a lot do to with it. When it gets dark so early, I just don't want to leave the apartment! And we have had so much snow... doesn't anyone else remember hearing that it was supposed to be a mild winter?

I have done a little knitting, mostly a few small gifts, but nothing else worth mentioning. I'll post some photos after they have been given. (I refuse to use the word "gifted". Where did that come from anyway? I never heard it used before last year or so.)

I really wanted to finish my Manos cardigan in time for the holidays, but it doesn't look like it is going to happen. I'll make sure and post a photo if I happen to go into some kind of knitting frenzy and finish it though. (Don't hold your breath...)

Photos.

Opal 6 ply socks, color #1128. I am very pleased with these socks. They fit great, and the 6 ply yarn was so quick to knit up. I started them on October 8th. Not lighting fast I'll admit, but fast for me. I did 2x2 rib all the way down the foot, so I think they might have gone even faster if I hadn't! (I have never found a comfortable and speedy way to switch between knit and purl.) They also match better than any other pair I have made, surprising since I wasn't concentrating on it much.





"Must-Have Cardigan" from Hip to Knit. I am using Manos del Uruguay, as called for in the pattern. I have two sleeves finished so far, and have cast on the left front. (I only started this a week ago, so it is going for a record of "Sarah's fastest finished object")

Better.

Thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes; I am feeling much better today. I'm mostly past the pain stage and into the "these stitches are annoying" stage.

I'll spare you the details of my surgery, but I will say that the nitrous oxide wasn't horrible; not as good as being completely out, but a hundred times better than being fully consious. It did make me shake really bad while I was coming out of it, but that was about the worst.

Actually, I have a funny story about the nitrous. The nurse forgot to have me sign the consent form until after they started the gas. The had to sit me back up and help me hold the pen and clipboard to sign something that may or may not have resembled my signature. My husband said that sounded like something out of a bad sitcom. Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up!

While sitting around totally bored but in too much pain to get off the couch I finished a pair of socks and started a sweater sleeve. I'll have photos of both of those soon.

And the hits just keep coming.

**This post has been edited down from a much longer, much whinier version. The original post included:

1. My husband lost his job.
2. I am having surgery on Friday. (On my tooth/jaw/sinuses. It is as fun as it sounds, folks.)

We join this post already in progress...

I am nervous about the whole thing since they are giving me nitrous oxide instead of knocking me out completely. (This is because I have to be awake to follow some commands - plug my nose and blow - at certain times.) I have had general anesthesia twice and it didn't concern me as much as this. I am afraid of the "out of it" feeling that is supposed to be a good thing will freak me out. Anyone had any experience with this? I need to know that I am not going to die from a panic attack. (Which had been a very likely occurrence for me in the past.)

But Look! I knit something! Here I am looking thoughtful in my new hat.



Hmmm. Is there any chocolate in the kitchen?


I used two yarns from the Joanne Sensations line and this pattern from the knitlist. I have to say I am impressed with the Joanne yarns. The white is Dolcetto; the variegated, Cosetta.

Meet Belinda.

Belinda* is my first Knitted Babe. She was much more difficult to make than I had expected. Not necessarily the knitting part, but the finishing part. I did knit the body in two pieces like the book instructs, but I found sewing them together neatly was really frustrating. Although I had so much trouble putting the face on so that it didn't look scary when I was only working on the front piece, so I don't even want to think about how hard it would have been if I had knit the body in the round. One thing I did change from the book was to make her limbs i-cord instead of rolled stockingette stitch.

Her pants, by the way, and made from a pair of my husband's old restaurant work pants I found in the Goodwill pile. (It was difficult to find a stain-free area - the nice Goodwill people wouldn't have wanted them anyway!) I just sort of plopped her down on top of them, cut around her legs in a pant-shape and sewed up the seams.

Here is a close up of her face:





I sewed the pieces on and took them off so many times that I had to cut new ones since the felt was being to tear away at the edges. The hair is Opal Sock yarn (Rainforest Owl) that I knit and then took apart.

All that being said, I am very pleased with how she turned out.

*If you are an old-school GoGo's fan, you might understand why I named my Babe Belinda.

My Mom is my enabler.

Mom and I both took the day off work last Friday so we could have some time together. (Something that does not happen often enough since she lives four hours away.) We hit a bunch a yarn, bead, and quilting stores and had a blast. Not surprising, we didn't come away empty handed.





Some highlights include my first purchase of Manos del Uruguay wool for the "Must Have" cardigan in Hip to Knit, orange and brown Brown Sheep Nature Spun for some Knitty Pumpkins, and some holiday sewing patterns.

I have already made three different swatches for the cardigan and none of them are on gauge. Being one to ignore problems rather than deal with them, I have moved on to a sock I had started out of Opal 6ply and left my ball of Manos sitting sadly in the spare bedroom. But I am still looking forward to wearing that sweater, so I'm sure I will pick it up again soon.

Shrugs.

It's a good day - the sun is shining and I had an empty memory card to take photos with. (It's the small things in life, ya know?)

My two most recently finished projects are shrugs based off of this bell sleeve shrug from Beatknit Patterns.



Bernat Denim Style yarn


3/4 sleeve
Red Heart Tweed yarn


The reason I say "based off of" is because I had to improvise with the length of the sleeves on both. With the tweed one, (which is not so rainbow-y colored in real life BTW) I followed the pattern as written and quickly realized that since it was based on arm circumference and not length, I was going to come up short on both yarn and sleevage. The yarn was something I have been holding onto forever and didn't really want to buy any more of. So it became a 3/4 sleeve shrug with crab stitch crocheted cuffs so they wouldn't roll.

On to the next shrug; this time I wanted one that fit correctly. I purchased three balls of Denim Style yarn instead of the two which should be sufficient according to the pattern. I lengthen the back part to get the sleeves long enough to roll slightly at my wrists. Perfect. (I ended up using more than half of the third ball.)

Lesson: This is why it is good to knit tops when you are tall like me (5'10") - since I could have never found a shrug in a store that had long enough sleeves!

Distraction.

Have you ever done Sudoku puzzles? They are very addicting, and great for passing little bits of time at work when there is nothing else to do. Or way too much time when you should be doing something else. Whichever you prefer. The site I linked to above has one of the best tutorials ("solving Sudoku document" in the righthand column) plus a new puzzle to print off every day.


In the world of knitting, I am surprised at how quickly I have gone from having zero projects in progress to too many. I did finish something though, a bell sleeve shrug that is waiting to have its picture taken. I need a sunny day to do so properly, plus I need to make some room on my xD memory card. It has been full for a while but I have been too busy lazy to dump the photos onto my hard drive.

Walk for hope

Last sunday, Mom and I walked in the Especially for You Women's Race against Breast Cancer in Cedar Rapids. It is the 4th year we have been able to take part, since my parents are usually in town that weekend anyways for the Iowa football game. (Gotta love season tickets...) We are part of one of the largest teams, organized by a coworker of mine who has survived breast cancer. Apparently there were over 8,000 participants from 23 states in the walk this year.



The sticker I had on my back.



Mom and I crossing the finish line.
She is wearing her Elliott Sadler hat;
I am in my Noro Silk Garden ribbed beanie.


So what you are you planning to do for Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

Found the camera charger!

So I was finally able to take a photo of my new project in progress, the Liesel scarf:



The pattern is available here.



It is a 10 row repeat that is "easy to memorize", according the the directions. Hmmm... well, maybe I am slow or something, but I have an idea of what is coming next but there is no way I could keep knitting without the chart in front of me!

The yarn I am using is totally different from anything I have tried before. I suppose it could be classified as a borderline novelty yarn; it's called Riso, by Lana Grosse. It was a birthday gift from my parents and I've had it for a few years now waiting for the perfect pattern. I tried to find it for sale online but couldn't, so maybe it is not made anymore. Here is a (kinda crappy) close-up so you can see the structure of the yarn:



it is 50% cotton and 50% acrylic



I also really really want to thank everyone that left me nice comments on my cross stitch and sewing. I know I should answer/comment more in return, but never feel like I bring anything interesting into the conversation. But I do appreciate it, even if I don't respond!

One more project complete

I finished another non-knitting project last week. It is a counted cross stitch that I started in July of 2004. I have such a love-hate relationship with cross stitch. I love looking at the kits and patterns and love the finish product. I even think I'll love working on it. But when I am in the middle of one it starts to drag on and on... This is actually the first time since high school that I have attempted a cross stitch project. I probably never would have picked it up again but I visited a friend out of town last summer and saw all her beautiful framed work I had to give it a try again myself.




(it is about 4.5" square)


I do have a few more kits purchased while I was still enamored with the craft last summer, so I will probably work on those eventually.

Knitting: (Yay!)

I have to say I have missed knitting while I was finishing up these old projects. I've started a shrug and a lace scarf - more on those soon. I need to find my digital camera battery charger before I can post on them. Blog post with no photos=boring!

Sewing Sunday

I have been wanting to work on some sewing projects for a while now. I finished two things this Sunday, a needle roll and a knitting tools case.





the tool case closed


and opened, with a few of my gadgets inside

I am totally in love with the tool case. It has 11 pockets total; some open and some zippered. I kind of made it up on the fly, which is impressive considering my meager sewing skills. Yay me! I just wish I could sew more often, but it kind of takes over the entire kitchen when I get my machine out. And makes a huge mess. (But just about everything I do does that...)

By the way:

If anyone is interested in a very nice, brand new, men's Harley-Davidson denim jacket, click the link!

What is the best way to start the football season?

With new socks, of course!





(Oh, and a 56-0 win against Ball State at the home opener.)


I am going to be taking a small break from knitting, to finish up a bunch of projects I have going in other crafty areas. These areas include cross stitch, crochet, and sewing. And maybe a few others. And I probably should do some laundry. And some cleaning. (I think I have too many hobbies...) But I still will be posting photos here of course.

But seriously, I will feel a lot better about starting a new knitting project knowing that there is not a pile of other things waiting to be finished. I'm sure you can relate.

Is is sweater weather yet?

Actually, the answer is no, as demonstrated by the soccer shorts and t-shirt under my new sweater:





Specs:
Top-Down Raglan construction - no real pattern used.
Debbie Bliss Merino Aran yarn purchased (on sale!) from the Creative Corner in Des Moines last summer.

It turned out a little bigger than I had planned, especially in the neck area. But it is very comfy, and I'm sure I'll wear it a lot around the apartment this winter!

I learned a few things for when I try my next top down sweater. I was increasing every other row for the raglan sleeves, but by the time I got to the underarm depth I wanted, the body was too wide. I think I will try increasing every row next time, and see what happens.

Other news:
We finally got our wedding photo proofs! Now the is the big project of designing the album. Then waiting 4 months to get it! =(


Other Other news:
I don't want to get into what is being rehashed over and over elsewhere, but I just wanted to say that the (lack of) government response to the hurricane victims is another tally on the growing list of "Why I am ashamed to be an American".

a little love for the Hawkeyes

In honor of my family's favorite fall activity, I am making a pair of Hawkeye football socks:



(Regia Nation 5391)

Well, not quite a pair yet... but I am working on the second one now.

I did an afterthought heel for the first time on this sock, and I am happy with the way it turned out. The stripe pattern looks so much better than it would have with another heel type and it fits good too!





(Oh yeah, and the best thing about knitting socks? You can wear colors/patterns that you might not normally wear on a sweater since other people can't see them in your shoes! ;-)

More bunny fun.*

*Obviously, I am lacking in the title creativity department tonight.

I was finally able to felt/full my Fiber Trends bunny at my parents house two weekends ago. I am pleased with how he turned out, but next time I have to be more careful when sewing the seams. I thought they would disappear a little more after the felting than they did. (Oh, and the right foot was sewn on a little crooked, but I was able to twist it around enough to look normal!)





and even with my less than professional embroidery skills, he has a cute face:




I have been keeping busy around here. I think we are kind of realizing that summer is winding down. A few weekends ago Steve and I went to St. Louis to see a NASCAR Busch series race, and two weekends ago my parents and I went to Indy to see the Brickyard 400 and tailgate. Loads of fun!! I can't believe that everything I was looking forward to this summer is oooooverrr. (whine.)

Steve and I are going to the Iowa State Fair on Saturday. Yumm... Fair food. Dangerous!

Surf's up

specs:

Regia Cotton Surf from Carodan Wool Shop
size 0 dpns
"eclectic" heel
short row toe

I think these are the best fitting socks I have made so far. The yarn is very soft; softer than other cotton blend sock yarns I have felt. I can't wait until it is cool enough to actually wear these! Mark this yarn down for one I will definitly use again...

Happy Birthday to me.

Yeah, it is that day again. I have been asked numerous times if I feel any older, and not surprisingly, I don't. But Steve was kind enough to point out that I am now closer to 30 than 20. D'oh! I can't be angry at him for that comment though, since he got me some cool gifts.





Those Opal sock yarns are from the new Rainforest collection. He even remembered the specific colors I mentioned when I first saw a photo of the set. From left to right: fish, owl, ladybug. How sweet is that? I guess I don't have to feel guilty about how much sock yarn I have if he is supporting my habit! =)

The DVDs are the first two seasons of a funny yet obscure cartoon called "Home Movies" from Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. I have been wanting these for a while too!

Oh, and I did finish the second Cotton Surf sock. Photos coming soon.

/whine

Look! Knitting!



Regia Cotton Surf



This is my first time using sock yarn with with some cotton content. I have to say that I love it, and will definitely be looking to purchase more. I do have some Sockotta that I haven't used yet, but the Regia is soo much softer.

I redid the toe three times before I was happy with it. I found that I really like square, short row toes much better than when a pattern has you decrease down to 6 or 8 stitches.

I started both socks in the pair from opposite ends of the ball, so the second one should be finished shortly. Yay!

knit first, then vent

It has been so hot here the last week or so, I really have not felt like knitting much. Especially my merino wool sweater - which just needs one and a quarter sleeves but is waaay to warm to be sitting in my lap. But I did whip up this little dishcloth one night while watching Ocean's 11.



fabulous, isn't it?



OK, I really need to get a few things off my mind. This has absolutely nothing to do with knitting, and I hate to mix even the slightest bit of politics into this blog, so feel free to skip. Do you know that feeling where your mind is just too full of stuff to even think? I've got that right now.

1) Something, I am not sure what yet, happened a few blocks down the street from where I work this afternoon. Whatever it was, it involved the bomb squad and about a half mile of road being totally shut down, including the only street entrance to the VA hospital where I work. I took the bus this morning, so I didn't have to worry about being trapped in the parking lot all evening but it did give me a slightly panicky feeling of "well what if I couldn't get out?"

2) My cousin, who is studying at Oxford for a semester, was safely out of London when the bombs went off July 7th. But she was back for a day trip and ended up (I'm sure you see this one coming) a block or so away from the second "failed" attack. It gives me the chills just to think about. What bothers me the most is she has this awesome opportunity to study abroad but now has to plan activities around not getting blown up.

3) Speaking of being blown up, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen since my second or so year of college. He had lost his arm in Iraq. Honestly, what do you say to that? Especially when you believe he shouldn't have been there in the first place?

4) Another cousin started boot camp for the Marine Reserves this week in California. He has been on my mind a lot, but I know this is what he wants. I can't let myself think any farther than that. Especially in conjunction with any of my other points.

5) I just finished My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult . A very good read, especially since I work with some of the medical things discussed. I was totally hooked by the plot and the characters, and thought I had it all figured out. But the story took a sharp left turn at the end, and has been replaying in my head since I finished it. I won't say any more about it, in case anyone wants to read. If you have read it, did you have the same reaction?

"bunny fun"

Rabbits seem to be a recurring theme in my life right now. There are dozens of them hopping around our apartment complex and my building at work eating the landscaping, we see them all over the neighborhood when we walk to the rec center or grocery store, I found an old pair of Joe Boxer pjs with little pink bunnies on them, and I just finished knitting Fiber Trend's Bunny Fun pattern.

I found the pattern in a half-off bin at Ben Franklin when Steve and I were searching for vellum for the invitations. (We cleaned them out of light pink and heart print almost two months ago - last time I was there it wasn't restocked yet!) I used the Cascade 220 I purchased in WI specifically for this project. It was really quick to knit, and lots of fun too.



four bunny pieces - front, back, and two feet



sewn together, and basted with cotton yarn inside the legs


As you undoubtedly guessed, it still needs to be felted and stuffed. I am leary of felting in the apartment's washing machine, mostly because you have basically no control over the settings. I am going to be visiting my parents in the beginning of August, so I might wait until then to felt it. If I can be patient. (But I wanna do it nooow...)

Thanks for your patience.

I’d like to thank all the people who sent me email or left comments on my wedding. I really really appreciate it.

For those who are interested, the entire day was wonderful. Not fairy-tale perfect – which isn’t really my thing anyway – but perfect enough for me. I am surprised at how quickly it all went. If you ask me, the ceremony lasted about 4 minutes and the reception no more than an hour. If you ask anyone else, the ceremony was 25 and the reception was 4 hours. I wish I remembered more! Now I just have to sit here and wait patiently for my photo proofs to see everything that went on.

I finished the thank you cards tonight. Besides the photos, I think that was the last wedding related thing I had to do. Awww. I am a little sad. Is it a little premature to be looking forward to when I might have a daughter who is getting married so I can help with the wedding? Yeah, I though so.

But honestly, the best part of the whole thing was having a week off work. We went up to Lake Geneva WI for five days and enjoyed the sun, water, and unhealthy food. It was nice and relaxing - a good use of every single vacation hour I had saved up!

We found a yarn store somewhat nearby (Needles 'n Pins Yarn Shoppe in Delevan, WI) and stopped by one afternoon. (heh. Wonder who’s idea that was…) I only purchased a few things: a skein of Cascade 220 for a felted bunny, the somewhat difficult to find Regia Jubilee in India, and my first ever Koigu KPPPM. It was a great shop - I could have spend a fortune and a few more hours there.





I have a ton more photos I want to post, but don't want to bore people with them. Sometime in the future I am going to set up and online album and just post the link.

OK – thanks everyone for indulging me. This is very shortly going to return to a proper knitting blog. Tomorrow, actually, if I can get my act together!

I'm sure you will forgive me for not posting

...when you hear that my wedding is in two days (June 26th).


Here are a few shots of a few things that have kept me busy these last weeks. The guestbook is a little different. "Scrapbook-style" is the best way to describe it I think. Each couple/group/family has a designated page to sign and the photographer has a matching list of groups to photograph, so the pictures can be added in later. I am pleased at the final result, and hope it works well.





One of the favors I have are these little heart tins with pink and silver M&Ms. I don't think you can read them here, but half read "Sarah and Steve" and the other half reads "June 26, 2005". Pretty snazzy, eh?






Oh yeah, I finished my Opal socks last week. See, I do still knit. I received this skein as a drawing prize from the Opal Chatters yahoo group. Yay me!






(OK, so there are still needles in the toe of one. It needs grafting and I do not have the patience for it now!)

It's good to pay attention to things.

If I had been, I wouldn't be knitting the short row heel on my second Opal lollipop sock for a second time.

I knew something didn't look right the first time around. Mainly, the stripe pattern, which had matched perfectly up until the heel, was suddenly waaay off. Instead of stopping to think what of what might be causing it, I spent my time pulling out lengths of yarn to "skip" and sew in later to keep the color pattern (mostly) correct. I probably had a yard and a half of loops inside the sock when I finished the heel and stopped to really look at it. Hmm... D'oh!


I then remembered that the first sock heel was done with 60% of the total stitches, instead of 50%. Brilliant.

So I ripped it out and tried again. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the stripes are matching now.

In the mail, out of my hands.

What a relief. I mailed my wedding invitations yesterday morning and they are finally off my mind! They turned out well I believe, simple but effective. Here is a sample of one:





Now I can't wait to receive the RSVP cards. It will mean something in the mail besides credit card offer!


I finished the first Opal Lollipop sock last weekend as Steve and I were driving home from Chicago. (Got the marriage license!) Ya know, I never realized how freakishly long and narrow my feet were until I started knitting socks! ;-)







In other knitting news, I read on Libby's blog that Lion Brand Cotton Ease is being discontinued. Double Dang. I need to go buy myself some to make this sweater before my color selection becomes limited.

It's very slowly becoming a sweater

I have only worked a few rows at a time, every other day or so. I really am starting to miss my knitting time, but feel there are just so many other things that need to come first right now.

On the plus side, I finished printing my wedding invitations and all of the assorted paraphernalia that accompany them. They are going to be stuffed this weekend and mailed (cross your fingers) on Monday. I will definitely try to photograph one to post here before they are all mailed out.

For the record: while I did have fun wandering around scrapbook and craft stores picking out all the perfect pieces for the invitations, the writing/printing/cutting/gluing process was waaay more stressful than I anticipated. Mostly because I never (and still don't) felt like they were "good" enough.

Ouch.

My right hand has been bothering me the last few days. Not from knitting (although it has kept me from knitting), but from overuse of my trusty adjustable pipettor at work. Part of the problem stems from a graceful incident six years ago in which I closed my thumb in a heavy metal door. (I'll leave out the gruesome explanation of my injury.) It still bothers me on an almost daily basis and since it is my "pipetting thumb", it doesn't get much rest. I think I might go buy a heating pad to wrap my hand up in. That sounds like it would feel fantastic right about now.

Enough whining. I have photos to show you!



Cashmerino raglan sweater; at the end of the increases.



Opal lollipop sock #1

My apologies.

I know I have been a bad blogger lately. It's not that I haven't wanted to post - mostly that I've felt like anything I've wanted to post was not interesting enough or knit related. Well, so what? This is my blog, I'll write what I want! (Does it sounds like I've convinced myself yet?)


I have been knitting, just not much. The weather has started turning nice here in Iowa, and it is hard for me to sit still and knit while the sun is shining. I am about halfway through a sock (the first of the pair) I started almost a month ago. I also restarted my top-down seamless raglan sweater and am almost finished with the increases. I'll take a photo of each soon.


Now, on to another reason I haven't posted lately: I am getting married June 26th! All the planning/shopping/worrying as kept me quite busy. Besides the normal anxieties, the ceremony and reception are taking place near our parents homes, about 4 hours from where we live. So I can't do most of the stuff directly (thanks for all the help Mom!) except on weekends. And we are going to be driving there almost every weekend this month. Cross your fingers that everything comes together smoothly for us!

Weekend Diversions

Lately I have had a strong urge to learn how to use the drop spindle I got ages ago on eBay. So after finding a few good websites, some with video clips, I managed to produce this:






I can't decide if it is really pathetic or a good first try. Using the drop spindle was a lot more difficult that I expected (and I didn't expect it to be a piece of cake). I think I just need to get past the initial learning curve and things will go more smoothly. There were a few short moments while I was spinning this when things seemed to "flow" well - there wasn't too much or too little twist, the yarn wasn't too thick or thin, and my drafting triangle was working nicely.

Now I can't wait to try again!

Sock Dreams

(Maybe I should re-name this blog.)






I finished my Ripple Rib socks. They are made from Cestari 70% cotton, 30% wool DK weight yarn. I tried repeatedly to take a close up of the rib pattern on the cuffs but never did get anything worth posting.

I have already started my next pair of socks, and will take a picture once I charge the batteries in my camera. (For the record, they are plain stockinette stitch in Opal lollipop)


What? My top-down raglan sweater? Oh yeah...

When it came time to increase and place markers for the sleeves, I realized that somehow I had cast on 14 too few stitches and had to frog the entire thing. I'm sure you won't be shocked when I say I haven't started again yet.

What's wrong with me?

Mollie says, "It's no small thing."



I am still here and knitting. Not loads, but some. As proof, I offer the collar of my Incredible Custom Fit Raglan Sweater. (Plus some pink flowers in apology.)





I am using Debbie Bliss Merino Aran that I purchased on clearance last summer. Some of you may realize that this is my first sweater.

Well, maybe someone would if anyone actually still read this blog.

The reason I haven't knit a sweater is not for lack of skill (I hope), but for lack of interest. I have been thinking about knitting a sweater for a while now (read: years) and figured it was about time. Of course, it is going to be way to warm to wear a wool sweater by the time it is finished. But that sort of practical thinking never seems to phase me.

I am also thisclose to finishing a pair of cotton/wool socks - I am making a promise to myself to post a photo of them as soon as they are done!

Third times a charm.

I hope, at least.

This is the third time I have written and posted this entry, but Blogger seems to have eaten the other two. (BTW, does anyone one else who uses Blogger find it strange that the spell check doesn't recognize "blog" as correct? Kind of annoys me.)

Anyway, I finished my yoga mat bag. It was a fun, fast project. Now to see how often the mat actually makes it back into the bag after I've used it.





Also, here is a shot of my Opal 6ply socks next to each other. I think they might be the best matched pair I have completed so far. I did manage to sew up the holes in the gussets without making them look worse.





What's next?

Well, I have enough Dale Svale yarn to make a tank top, but am still searching for the perfect pattern. And then more socks of course. =)