I'm a Knitting Dork

Well, I felt like a total knitting dork last night when I realized, 3/4 way through the 2nd mitten on my daughter Caroline's Octopus Mittens from the 60 Quick Knits book, that I had knit two LEFT mittens. I forgot that the thumb is supposed to go on the other side for right mittens. It's not like the book didn't provide a right mitten chart, I just forgot to look at it. I suppose my only trace of an excuse might me I'm used to knitting socks, which are the same for each foot, so naturally I forgot that hands are different. That and the fact that I haven't knit a whole lot mittens in my life, so even though I've been knitting for almost six years, I'm still learning. I'll post a picture of them when I'm done.

Baby Hat

Aug10 048, originally uploaded by KristintheMom.

I have been working hard this summer, despite my promise to myself to knit less and read more. Old habits die hard, and hey, when Ben's therapist Deana has a baby on the way, one simply must knit for it. I didn't learn to knit until my kids were toddlers, so I missed the whole baby knitting thing for my own kids. It's just not the same. I made a hat, sweater and socks for the new little guy (due in October) out of Berroco Vintage. LOVE it. I think this might be my new favorite yarn. It's washable, feels great and is very affordable!

Hedgehogs R Us

I've completed two hedgehogs for the girls this week. This is a picture of the first one. One thing about these two hogs - Rob says they seem to have a weight problem. Yes, they're kind of obese, but the girls love them. The pattern was pretty easy to make and I'm even considering making another for Ben's ABA therapist's baby due in October. I've found that I'm really starting to gain an appreciation for Lion Brand Fun Fur. Maybe it's not the thing to use on garments, but for animals and pillows, it rocks.

Incredible Upside Down Cassidy Sweater

Love this sweater. Bought the Cascade 220 and started this thing back in July and finally, early this morning, I finished it. Go me!

MUST Refrain from Visiting Yarn In Stores . . .

because I feel guilty if I don't buy anything. I'll admit, I stopped by a needlework store yesterday just to check it out and lo and behold, they had yarn there. I was the only customer in this huge store, and the employees seemed very happy to see me. But I couldn't leave with a clear conscience no matter what. I felt obligated to buy something because I know how much retail stores are hurting these days and I really want stores that sell yarn to make money and stay in business. But, as I said before, I have enough yarn. In fact, I have way more than enough. I could knit comfortably for at least the next two years and not buy another skein. But I found I could just leave the store. I felt bad for it. So I tried to pick out something I liked, that wasn't too expensive. I ended up buying another skein of sock yarn, because I just don't want to knit another hat or scarf, and I sure as heck don't want to shell out the money for a sweater's worth of yarn until I knit up most of the other stuff. The skein I bought was Mountain Color's Bearfoot in Juniper. It's a nice hand painted kind of green, and it's machine washable. I guess it was the lesser of two evils, but I guess I learned my lesson and that is, don't go into stores that sell yarn!

chevronscarf

chevronscarf, originally uploaded by KristintheMom.

This is the Chevron scarf mentioned in the previous post. Made it in Socks That Rock Mediumweight, Fred Flintstone and Farmhouse.

Man, it feels good to be frugal!

april09 079, originally uploaded by KristintheMom.

For once, I used up every last bit of something I had. I knitted the Chevron scarf a while back, and was disconcerted by the amount of leftover yarn I had. Surely, there had to be something else I could do with it. I was pretty sure I couldn't knit a whole pair of socks for me with it, but maybe, just maybe I could knit a pair for one of the kids. The only real way to do this would be to knit the socks toe-up. So, with a little guidance from Wendy Bernard's book, Socks From the Toe Up, I took the plunge. These socks were knit for Katherine in my leftover Farmhouse colorway. Look for the upcoming socks for Caroline in my leftover Fred Flintstone colorway!

All the Octopi

april09 005, originally uploaded by KristintheMom.

Here are three baby Octopi I made. The yellow one I made for Caroline a while back, the mint green one I made for Katherine, and the pink one is for my neice Nikki, when we stayed at her house. Needless to say, the girls were very pleased.

New Obsession

Hi all, just been doing a little knittin' around the house lately. I find it's a good excuse to watch tv and ignore housework. It's more fun anyway! I'm making good progress on my two current projects, the Back To School U Neck Vest from Fitted Knits, and my Monkey Socks. I'm knitting the Monkey socks during the day, and the vest at night while I watch Colbert Report, CNN, Wife Swap or Clean House. I've joined the Ravelry group Vestuary, and I'm pretty sure I'll be done with the vest by the end of Feb, at which time I will post pictures. I've found a few new patterns that have recently caught my obsession, one of them being this one:
http://www.jimmybeanswool.com/freeKnittingPatternScarvesToThrowMonth5.asp
I love it. I don't know why exactly. I love it so much that I made just a very small little order to the Loopy Ewe to get some Dream In Color Classy in the Dusky Aurora colorway so that I can knit it. Okay, so I ordered two balls of it, because I felt sure that after I knitted this wonderful scarf I would want to knit myself a hat http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/meret-mystery-beret## or some fingerless gloves http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/evangeline## to go with it. I like to match, what can I say? I've been pretty good otherwise, though I almost gave in when I saw that Lion Wool was on sale at Michaels this week. But I stayed away! I'm being kind of frugal! Maybe Suze Orman is finally getting to me.