Knitting is the best therapy

Hello knitters.

Gah-lee, it feels good to be blogging again! I have been busy knitting socks and other fun things. My son plays hockey and he wanted a team hat. I decided to knit him a small hat in his team colors.

 

I cast on 80 stitches and ribbed for about 4 inches. Followed by another 4 inches of just knitting. Then I reduced stitches until it was small enough to close the top. I used acrylic yarn, Caron one pound yarn. With the mud all over the place from the melting snow, acrylic yarn would be the easiest for washing. Plus, I have a lot of left overs for a pair of hockey socks for next year! My son says it is the warmest hat he has. <3  

I have always loved the helix sock pattern. However, whenever I have made this pattern I have done the adjusted version by Neuroknitter for size 1 needles.  A friend gifted me this sock yarn by OnTheRound signature sock yarn. It is a heavier yarn and I was able to use size three needles which worked perfect for the original helix pattern.

 My son is turning 7 in a month. If you have read some of my past posts, he loves hand knit socks. I was knitting a pair of socks for a friends birthday and he asked if I would knit him a pair for his birthday. I said we will see. Of course I had already started a pair and I have been keeping it a secret.

 When he was sleeping, I put the sock on his foot and it is way too small. I will have to take the toe out and add some length to the foot. Whew, good thing I checked.

 My knitting audience. I love these guys and they love to cuddle!

 I started a pair of striped socks for myself. I love this yarn (I left the label on my dresser so I have no idea what brand or colorway they are.) I started knitting continental style about 6 months ago. I really enjoy this way and I knit in a more rhythmic way. My gauge is quite a bit tighter now and I have had to adjust my patterns accordingly.

I love this picture. On Valentine's Day, someone posted this by the elevators. What a way to show love for all! I took a heart and placed it on my office door. I smile every time I see it.
Have a great one knitters!

WIP Wednesday

Sorry, I am late to the party! Joining Ginny's Yarn along today.

This is a bit of a weird post. The past couple of weeks I have been working really hard to getting my knitting spot ready. We bought our first home last October and wanted to replace the deck. The deck was in bad condition and really needed new floor boards and a new stain job.

Here you can see our little buddy on the nasty old boards.

I took a couple of days off of work, sanded the rails and spindles. After I stained them the deck was starting to show some promise. I also stained new boards in the garage.

 Finally we put in the new boards and added some furniture.

 Lets just say this is my favorite place to knit and just be.

 Enjoy your week!

Birthday Parties, Easter, Family & Knitting

Hello knitters!
Wow, it has been forever since I last posted. So much to catch up on! Well, we had Nolan's 2nd birthday party! He was absolutely spoiled by family and friends! We had so many people travel from near and far just for his birthday. It truly amazes me how much this little guy can make everyone come together! I have said it before and will keep saying it, Nolan is AWESOME and here is my proof:

Here are pictures from his celebration at daycare...

I will (attempt to) limit the number of pictures but here are some from his party at our place:

For those of you who helped us celebrate Nolan's birthday, I truly thank you for everything! Paul, Nolan and I are truly lucky and thankful for having such amazing people in our lives.

On to Easter weekend and what a great weekend it was. Paul, Nolan and I went up to La Crosse. We met up with Paul's cousins family (The Martinez family) and his parents. Paul and I took Thursday, Friday and Monday off to make it a REALLY long weekend. We got to La Crosse Thursday night around dinner. Friday we went out for a traditional Wisconsin fish fry and it was delicious! Saturday Morning my mom, Nolan, Paul, Claire and I went to Clear Water Farm for a Easter Egg Hunt!

 Finally, I promise the number of pictures will decrease but here are some more from this weekend:

We  have such a great time with family. It was so hard to come back to work on Tuesday!

On to knitting, I have started a new project. Paul's cousin was working some yummy socks so I decided to start them as well. The design is called Tadpoles. They looked great with the sock yarn she used. Mine are a bit boring because of the sock yarn but I am still in love!

My friend also taught me how to make my own stitch markers. Check out these bad boys:

Well I have more to blog about but I will save it for next time!

Until next time keep knitting.

horrendously long scarf... will it ever end?!?!?

Yes I realized today I just finished the 10th set of the pattern. Which is only a 1/3 of the way done!?!?! What a horribly long, annoying, scarf...... Well I guess I should have known that because its a SCARF. I never knew it would be this tedious. Well I am hoping tonight, I can start working on my socks on the side... keep me excited and knitting. With Christmas only weeks away, the scarf may be my only project for Christmas. Sad.... But on the flip side, I really like how it is turning out. I hope the color contrast is okay. I really hope she likes it. With all the blood, sweat and tears.....

Baby hat and mittens

Here is a picture of a baby hat I made for a friend.

This is a free pattern on Ravelry called Bear and Panda Hat and Mitts by Linda Cyr. I found this pattern to look good but kind of a pain to make. I am sure there are plenty of knitters that feel that way about all sorts of patterns. Anyways, its complete. They received it and loved it. I have made the panda version as well and attempted to make the mittens. They look good but I am not a fan of knitting mittens.

I have also started a scarf for my mother-in-law. It is found in the Knit Noro book. I was unable to find the exact yarn as in the pattern for a reasonable price. I found some close to it for a lot cheaper. Here is how it is starting out:

I love the contrast in colors but it may be a bit much. We will see how it turns out as the more colors are introduced. This pattern is very long. It repeats the same thing 14 rows, 28 times! I hope I will have it done in time for Christmas.

As for me, well I had a very busy weekend. We had a wedding back home. It was a lot of fun. Very relaxed and comfortable. Then we took my son to pick apples for the first time. He had so much fun. He was such a good sport! He even picked out a pumpkin.

My car's check engine light came light up on the way back home. Awesome. It seems like money does not grow on trees but if it did, it would make my life and I am sure yours, a whole lot better!

Tonight I am trying something new. Tonight is the local knitters guild meeting. I am going to attend. Ironically it is within walking distance of my place so with the weather being so beautiful I am going to head on over.  My experience with knitting groups has been very different depending on the group. Sometimes, when you knit with others, they seem very (overly) impressed with themselves. Like before, I was at a knitting store and was trying to find buttons for the baby teddy bear hat above. This women there was rude, and said she would have made something different for a gift. For me, I take everything to heart, so this was so upsetting to me. Of course now I am completely over it and think nothing of it. I guess it just caught me by surprise.


Well my lunch is now over. Enjoy and happy knitting.