speedy knitting..

Wow.. this seems to be knitting up really fast. ( maybe I'm knitting faster from all my anxiety!!) I'm at the halfway mark right now and just added the second ball of black yarn. I'm hoping I will make it to the end without having to purchase that one more ball of yarn and only use a few yards out of it. I actually like working with this yarn. I think I'm going to stock up on some for later use. There are a few more projects that call for this wieght yarn that I have on my queue. Also my brother would like me to knit him a red scarf and I think this yarn will make a nice warm fluffy scarf for him. After I finish knitting this and if I really like it I might make a few in different colors as gifts. (^_^)

anxiety....

Well the last few days have been very stressful and so there isn't much knitting to show. I did start my entrelac wrap though.
The other night I woke up with chest pains and shortness of breath. Took a trip to the ER to get checked out. They did all the tests, blood, exrays, monitors. My blood pressure was high but since I have no risk factors they told me it's anxiety and gave me a prescription for anti anxiety meds. I was also told to see a physician as soon as I could and I didn't want to take anymore days off from work so it went to a local doctor later that evening. He said it could be my thyroid.. told me to take my blood pressure everyday and keep a log of it and see him next week. So that's what I have been doing the last 3 days. I still feel breathless now and again. Knitting does help to make me feel a little calmer. I'm trying to figure out if I have some kind of anxiety trigger. Who knows.

slowness...

Here is the progress on my socks. I just finished the funny little heal gusset. This gusset starts from the center of the sole rather then the side of the ankles. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do next. The photo on the pattern is showing a slip stitch heel flap, but the directions just say knit the heel back and forth on needle #2. Humm.. I'll have to research this online because the next sentence is talking about decreases.. I'm confused..
















The next project I'm planning on knitting is this entrelac wrap from knitscene magazine, the winter 2008-spring 2009 issue. My yarn budget is super small and so finding the right yarn has taken a while. I ended up purchasing Lion Brand Alpine wool in black and natural and decided to dye the natural in reds and purples. I'm not happy with how the purple came out so I am going to over dye it today maybe add a little blue in with the purple and see what happens. I notice that the colors were muted that the yarn didn't seem to take the dye well. Usually the colors are very bright. I'm also going to use less water in the dye solution. ( fingers crossed heheh)

I love these sweaters!!

Here is the new project I'm working on. Only it's not so new. I started this last year in October when I hear I was going to have a new grandson. But as I was knitting it I realized that he wouldn't be about to use if for about a year and decided to put it away until a later date and work on projects that he could use for the winter of last year. So it has been 9 months now and it's time to get this finished so he can use it this year. I picked it up yesterday after I finished my Leaf Motif Jacket and worked on the reverse cable pattern on the front. I was able to complete that in an afternoon. I go to work later today and will get at least part of the sleeves done. All that is left is the cable pattern on both sleeves.




















Anthropologie always has the nicest winter sweaters. Here are a few that I liked. There were a lot more and some really cute dresses.

Complete.. almost..

Hot off the needles.... I just finished tucking in all the ends and now she just needs a wash and a little blocking and ta-dah.. and winter jacket. I started this project as a way to get rid of all the left over balls of yarn in my closet, but once I started I didn't want to add all the colors that I had.. so I went and purchased more plum and one skein of black to finish it. Now there are more left overs... hummm. Anyway I'm happy with the out come.
Pattern: Leaf Motif Jacket by Mellisa LaBarre found in Vogue Knitting Fall 2009
Yarn: Lion Brand thick & quick, colors Fig and black
Needles: size 13 circulars. ( the longest ones that I had)
So you know what that means... I get to start a new project today!!

Sunday Morning

Progress on my Vogue Leaf Motif Jacket. I'm trying to finish the second sleeve this morning before work. I enjoyed my Sunday morning watching Sunday Morning on ABC. Then browsing some beautiful knitting patterns on Ravelry . So many beautiful patterns are making my ravelry queue grow even bigger! One of the patterns that I queued is Bonnie Sennott's Rising Fog shawl. It's a beaded rectangular shawl.. something I would like to knit after the holiday knitting is finished.

knitting and rain...

Last night was my knitting group meeting. I working on the jacket while there. I encountered a problem at the point where I did the last Russian join.The yarn slipped out from knitting with it and made a hole. It was about 2" back so I ripped and rejoined the yarn making sure this time that It was joined well and knitted on. I'm now 2" shy of finishing the body. Next .. on to the sleeves..




















Lately we have been experiencing some pretty intense rain storms here in Florida. The clouds actually look black. This picture was taken right before almost hurricane type rain. The only difference is that the wind wasn't as intense and the storm was short and didn't last hours.