February Square

I love this blanket in a year thing. I can pick something really challenging but it's only a little square so I'm not committing a lot of time to it. Very good idea. If anyone's interested here's the Ravelry group.

This square is the True Love Knot Pillow and it was a bit of a challenge. There's just a chart and a key, no words. It required a lot of stickies to keep my place, a little frogging and a bit of bad words but it only took three or so evenings and then one to block.



I still haven't decided how these squares are going together or in what order but I'm thinking there will probably be an applied Icord edge around the whole thing. But then again I don't even know what I'm doing for March yet, so these ideas are still rather fluid.

I do know that this design really made it clear how some cables are actually made and since I've been working on a little design project of my own, that information was definitely one of those light bulb moments.

Lazy Weekend

We didn't do too much last weekend, sort of a lazy, sit on the couch and watch movies kind of weekend. I did manage to knit this bonnet for a co-worker's new baby girl. It's a really fun pattern and there's a great tutorial on the figure 8 cast on.

Top Down Bonnet by Hello Yarn

I made these Mary Jane's for the baby, too. I used up some of that left over yarn, you know the bits you can never throw out. I have to do something with the ends and get buttons.

Mary Jane booties

I finished my Nutkin socks. I really like how the pattern changed the look of the self-striping yarn.







I bought these shoes. So comfy and you can see my socks.





And I bought a dress for BDE's wedding next month. It's so funny, it matches our living room in Delaware. I brought Mr. Truck with me and he's really good to take shopping. First, he doesn't let me take more than three dresses to try on because I'll get too confused. Second, if it doesn't look good he tells me right away. "Take it off, it looks like a potato sack." "Take it off, you look pregnant!" This isn't always a pleasant experience but he's always right. This was his pick and I think it looks pretty good.




After shopping, we went home and sat on the couch some more. We did see some pretty good movies, though.

D is for Darning

I think I've mentioned Mr. Truck's sock issues before and how his goal is to have 365 pairs of socks every year. A long time ago we had this running joke about darning socks, something I swore I'd never do. You see, my Grandma darned socks and I remember them being lumpy and uncomfortable as well as funny looking. But I did buy this darning egg at an antique store as a gag gift. We've been using it as decoration ever since.


It opens up to store needles and thread. As you can see, mine is empty.





But now I have holes in my hand knit socks. These were knit out of Wool-ease sport weight that was left over from another project about four years ago. I've been wearing them as house socks and shoveling snow socks. And I'm actually considering darning them or just throwing them out. What do you think?

Knitting Guilt

I think we've all done it. Gotten to the end of a project and then gotten distracted or bored or just busy. After the big Christmas rush, two of my projects just got put aside. I couldn't forget them because they were sitting there mocking me. This one was sitting next to the computer cabinet waiting to be sewn together. It was even blocked once. All I had to do was seam it up.




And this one was next to the bed staring at me every night. Almost done, just the button bands and the seams.




So when I couldn't stand the guilt any more I made myself sit down and just finish them. Here's the Peapod for Reese. In yellow this time.




And the Apres Surf Hoodie for me. This took a long time to knit but it wasn't really hard. Thin yarn on very small needles, but the lace pattern is easily memorized. The yarn is Beaverslide Light Sport Weight and it's a single ply. It's a bit coarse and has some stuff in it, I think it's straw or sticks or something. But when it's washed, it just blooms beautifully and is soft and a bit fuzzy but not too much to hide the stitch pattern. I love it.




And it's a good thing I finished Reese's sweater. She has officially outgrown all but one sweater that I've made her and Cherry Pie says she needs more. Poor baby has to wear store bought sweaters and my reputation will suffer.

C is for Cakes and Cameras

I've already talked about the beautiful yarn I bought at Rhinebeck and it's finally time to make my sweater. I spent an evening with the first hank hand winding it from my swift. I've gotten pretty good at making center pull balls with two pencils and it's not a bad job. Kind of relaxing. I finished knitting the first ball the other day and decided to wind the second hank. Just as I dragged the swift up from the cellar Mr. Truck said, "Wait!" and disappeared. He came back with a small box and said, "I was going to give you this for your birthday but I think you need it now." Look a ball winder!



He actually went on line and googled yarn ball winders and then compared them and bought me this one. I'm so excited and yet I can't believe he did it. Of course, he has seen me look at them every place I've been. So we made a yarn cake. Mr. Truck turned the winder and I did the swift.




And I can take pictures of them because I got a new camera. The old one was not working very well, it would only take two or three pictures and then turn itself off, very frustrating, and no, new batteries did not help.

A Very Special Request

I love my husband, I really do. He is something strong to lean on when I'm weak and something soft to land on when I fall. He is the other half of me. We are truly soul-mates. But.... has one major flaw. He doesn't wear sweaters. Never. And no hand knit socks for him. I did make him fingerless gloves once and he might have worn them. I never saw them on his hands. I ask him a lot, can't I knit you a sweater? Nope. A couple of weeks ago, it was so cold and we were in our vacation condo, you know, the one where we have to walk the dogs, no nice fenced in yard to let them out. And after the fourth or fifth time of putting on all the clothes we own, or so it seemed, Mr. Truck said, "I really need a hat." Did I hear that right? He needs a hat. So I made him two, in two days because it's the first knitted thing he's ever asked me for. They're not special hats, he's a plain kind of guy, but he wanted a brim to roll up and it had to be long enough to cover his ears. Just a hat. It doesn't even require a pattern or much thought. But they were made with love and a bit of excitement because it's the first time Mr. Truck ever asked me to knit something for him.






And I've actually seen him wear them.

B is for Bread

Back when I was a young mother with small children I stayed home with them all day. And I knit. But I also baked all our bread. Since I was still a bit of a hippy then, I put all sorts of things in the bread, sprouts, wheat germ, oatmeal, to get the children to eat something that was good for them. I also put that stuff in the cookies, but that's for another story. I learned from a book, no internet then. And I found that kneading the dough and watching it rise and serving it to my family was soul satisfying, something like knitting. Now the children are grown and I go to work and we have a bread machine and I don't bake bread so much anymore. But it snowed a couple of Saturdays ago and I though bread would warm our house and my soul and I made the easiest bread, Italian. The smell of the yeast and kneading the dough and watching it rise then punching it down were so rewarding. And the bread was delicious.







My recipe, such as it is.
Mix one packet of dry yeast in one cup of very warm water with one teaspoon sugar and one teaspoon salt. Put one tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl and add about two cups of flour (the whole loaf takes about four to six cups of flour depending on the humidity) and mix in the water mixture. Stir and stir and stir adding more flour until you just can't stir it anymore. Dump it out on a well floured surface and knead and knead and knead for about ten minutes adding more flour until the dough is smooth and shiny and not a bit sticky. Put it in an oiled bowl and let it rise in a warm spot for an hour all covered up with a damp towel. Punch it down, that's fun, and roll it out into a rectangle sort of shape and roll it up pinching the ends closed. Make a few slices in the top to allow for expansion and let it rise (covered) again for another hour. Bake at 400 degrees F for about twenty minutes. It will sound hollow when you tap it. It's good warm with real butter. Better with home made soup.

I Found the Only Way I'll Ever Knit an Afghan

I joined a KAL. It's called A Year in a Blanket and the idea is to knit one square a month for a year and by the end of the year, you'll have enough to make an afghan. There are some amazing ideas and squares being made. You should go check it out. I need immediate gratification so knitting a whole afghan was never for me. I know my limits and it would end up stuffed in a closet, never to be finished and I would always feel guilty about it. I figure that if I don't finish this one, I can still make pillows. But what to make? Well I've always loved cables and the aran sweater look so I pulled out my copy of Harmony Guide Cables and Arans edited by Erika Knight and spent an enjoyable snowy Saturday afternoon on the couch looking and deciding. I came up with my first square, Woven Diagonals, although Mr. Truck says I knit a lattice.




It's about 12 inches square so if I make twelve of them I think it will be a nice size for sitting on the couch. And it only took a couple of evenings so I got my immediate gratification.



The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cloud. Very affordable for something of this size. Now to decided what I should do for February.

First FO's of 2009

Well that's not such a witty title but I have no other.
My winter coat is camel color and I realized I had no brownish hat to go with it, but I did have brown yarn. So I knit one. Now Mr. Truck says most normal people would go buy a hat, but I don't understand that concept at all.

Flora

And then I made some more socks. We're having a little read along/knit a long in the Outlander group to get ready for the Dragonfly in Amber swap so I made Dragonfly Socks.

And I finished my Chevalier Mittens. This one is drying on the radiator cover. Doesn't everyone dry things there? Sometimes when I'm really cold I sit on it.



And I just had to show you how much Dunkin liked his Christmas presents. He walked around with both of them in his mouth for about a week. See his tail wagging? And now he knows the word duck. But neither of them squeak anymore.

A is for the Agony of the Tech Support

It all started with this last week.





I broke one of the last two coasters we own. Being a knitter I thought I'd just knit some, so I found these. Now just print out the pattern with the new wireless printer Mr. Truck gave me for Christmas. We had set it up and printed before and it was a beautiful thing. No more running up the stairs with the laptop and plugging everything in. (Mr. Truck is very worried that I'll fall down the stairs and hurt the laptop.) But this time it didn't print. Somehow the printer had lost it's connection. After six hours with tech support, it printed two pages and never printed again. Back to the store it went.




We got a different printer but it wouldn't connect to anything. Best Daughter Ever's fiance (who is an IT person for a very famous something you would recognize) spent hours here and couldn't figure it out but we ended up with three routers because now we couldn't connect to the internet without being plugged in. We called the router tech support, the internet tech support, and finally the computer tech support. We reset everything, restored some things and did config ip a lot but it seems that the laptop has lost it's ability to connect to the internet wirelessly and needs some sort of a transplant at the laptop hospital. So I can only connect by plugging in and now I'm stuck upstairs in the office. But we have a diagnosis and hope.

Mr. Truck gave me this, too.




And again, I needed tech support. This time it was in the form of two teenagers. Great niece and nephew (they are really great, in more ways than one, their father is our nephew) showed me in less than five minutes how to work my shuffle. Much easier kind of tech support. "Aunt Sue, just do this. See? It's easy." And it is.




I've even downloaded a book for a little read along/knitalong in preparation for our next Outlander swap and I've cast on the Dragonfly socks. And, inspired by Amanda, I've knit a mitten and part of the other one, too. But I have to say that calling tech support all the time does interfere with the rest of my life including the knitting.





And if you're wondering about the fiance part, the wedding is in March.