little bit of crazy leaking out

The mittens have been moved to the back burner until I can finish more of my “out of town” Holiday knitting . . . gotta prioritize here.

for Turkey day:
A wool hat for my Uncle Tom. He lives in AK and I will see him on Thanksgiving. I started it last night; many, many, many times actually.

I’m thinking of making a few felted pot holders as a hostess gift for Thanksgiving, too. I’ll dive into the Cascade 220 stash of leftovers and see what I have.

to be shipped out of town:
2 felted bags (1 felting, one half knit)
1 hat (have yarn and pattern)

local delivery:
1 felted bag for Mom (done)
1 pair socks for Hubby (started) (solid sock KAL)

after the holiday:
6 pairs of socks for Daughter’s 6th b’day (Jan 5th, have yarn for at least 3pr, need to stash dive for the rest) (solid sock KAL)

other knitting on the horizon:
I made Hubby a knit hat last year, it is huge, I need to rip & reknit.
Hermione Hat & Mittens for me. (another weasley KAL)
Mittens for daughter (warm hands KAL)
Esther Williams hat, possibily as a gift for daughter’s teacher. (ew KAL)

I have already started doing a bit of pre-planning for next year, I’m thinking of making a shawls for the women, socks for the men, I don’t know . . . I just wanna have most of it done earlier, like by September . . . a girl can dream can’t she.

I have been going thru all my craft supplies, trying to simplify. A few things are going to Daughter’s school and I am putting the rest up on e-bay. I already sold off a bunch of outgrown never used sewing patterns, feels good to let this stuff go. I am trying to go thru the sewing stuff first, then the scrapbooking and knitting, unless I get sidetracked. Holey moley, I have a lot of craft stuff

If you want to take a look click here.

Yesterday I was reading on Mason-Dixon Knitting about the Perfect Sweater Project and how Jessica had gotten her bosses at The Fiber Gallery to discount the Cascade 220 for the Perfect Sweater, then I realized that The Fiber Gallery is in Seattle. So, today, I hopped onto I-5, dropped the kiddos off at Grammy and Grampy’s house and headed on over.

It is a very nice shop, when you walk in is smells of . . . potpourri(?) which I came to find was from the locally made soaps they sell (I bought a lavender soap, mmmm), the woman who was working was very friendly and said that quite a few people had come in in the last week after reading about the shop on Mason-Dixon. They stocked quite a few yarns I had never seen (or don’t remember seeing) before, but I was there on a mission . . . Cascade 220 for felted bags. After the last felting episode, I decided to go back to what I know and use the Cascade 220 with the Noro I already have, like Mom’s bag. I picked up 4 skeins of Cascade 220 and a card of sock reinforcing yarn (along with soap mentioned above).

I took a browse thru the patterns, they had a ‘plus size’ folder, and found a pattern company I had never seen before, online or in real life, Vermont Fiber Designs. Where have they been all my life? They size most of their patterns from XS to 6X! I picked up The Cable and Rib Cardigan #129 and The Cable and Rib Turtleneck #119. While surfing their site tonight I also found several more I want but didn’t see at the shop. I will have to wait until I finish my holiday knitting to start either of these . . . but . . . oh boy!

As I was checking out the woman asked if I would like for her to wind the skeins, I said no, that I has a swift and ball winder at home and I would just do it later. She smiled and said that I seemed like the type but she thought she would ask anyway. What does this mean? This is the second time this has happened recently . . . do I have OCK* tattooed on my forehead? This makes me laugh and worry at the same time, am I totally out of control? Nah, that couldn’t be it.

*obsessive compulsive knitter

Thanks to Jessica for posting the link to the Interweave Knits Winter preview.

Of course there was a knitted tie . . . sigh . . . but, there were a few things I think I will end up putting on the “to be knit” list.

The Mowat Mukluks by Jennifer L. Appleby are interesting, but I’ll have to get a better look at them.

I really like the Faire Isle 101 Pullover by Mary Jane Mucklestone, but I’m a sucker for the U-neckline.

Pearl Buck Swing Jacket by Kate Gilbert is another one I’ll have to take a closer look at.

Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt, cute socks, nuf said.

Love, love, love the earflap hats!! I see myself making many, many hats.

aakkk!!! I over felted!

I put bag #2 in the washer with a pair of jeans, washed on hot, checked as the 1st agitation was finishing . . . hmmm . . . looks good . . . needs a little more, started the second agitation halfway thru on the dial, checked the bag as it was rinsing . . . OH NO . . . grabbed it out and finished rinsing in the tub and spent the last 10-20 min trying to block it out a bit larger. The bag is now blocked and sitting in the bathroom drying.

Oh, did I mention, I can only find 7 of the 8 holes the handles are supposed to go thru . . . arggggggg!

My last bag took 3 trips thru the washer, it was Cascade 220 and Noro, this one is Lamb’s Pride and Manos.

Yesterday was a big day for the family.

In the morning Daughter had her last soccer game of the season. I was quasi in charge of the end-of-season party so I had to leave early to pick up the cake and Hubby had to get the kids to the soccer field, on time. He did, without too much to-do and the kids played three quarters before the game was called on account of rain. I know, usually soccer is played rain or shine but for 5 year olds there is a point where they are just too wet and too cold to play happily. Daughter’s team did win, 3-0, the first win of the season. So, the season ended with 1 win, 3 ties and 2 loses; though I don’t think the kids even realized it. After the game we all headed over to a local pizza joint for lunch and awards and cake . . . gotta have the cake. ;)

When we got home I told Daughter that if she would clean her room we would all go to a movie that night, not sure what came over me but I was just in a go-to-the-movies mood. She did, so after dinner we went to the discount theatre ($4.50 all day) and watched Madagascar. Cute movie, kids were thrilled. We hardly ever go out like this and since the discount theatre has moved in we will definitely be doing it more often.

The first @#$%^! mitten is done! I will call this the “3rd time’s a charm (sort of) mitten”. I knitted the thumb gusset . . . you guessed it . . . 3 times; the first time I just plain lost where I was, the second ended up wrong because of what I consider to be ambiguously written instructions and the third was correct. I finished the hand of the mitten only to have it be too short when Daughter tried it on . . . frogged back, added a few rows for lengthe and then decided to do a more toe-like mitten top and reknit it. Daughter tried it on, and again, too short. The toe used less rows to finish so it ended up being the same length as the first time. I frogged back, knitted a few more rows for length and reknit the hand a THIRD time. This time it fit. Knit the thumb and the stinking mitten was finished . . . woohoo now I get to knit a second one . . . aren’t I lucky.

While at my daughter’s soccer game on Saturday morning I was really wishing I had a pair of my own mittens. So after the game I went and bought some purple Cascade 220 so I can start on the Hermione Mittens (and Hat). Yes, I know they are supposed to be red, but my name isn’t Hermione and I like purple.

I also picked up the yarn to make Hubby a Slytherin PoA Scarf, not that I think he would be in Slytherin, the colors just suit him better. I went to Great Yarn because I know they carry the Encore that is recommended in the pattern, only they don’t. They carry the Encore DK and Chunky, not the worsted, they carry Patons Decor. So, I bought Patons Decor, same fibre content and the colors are close enough for gu’ment wurk. ;)