And now, the Sweater!

But first, a word from our sponsor - -
Here are some progress shots of the Rhiannon socks:
The back:






















The front:



















And the cuff:





















Believe it or not, these are all of the same sock, taken with the same camera. I guess that orange is so wildly psychedelic that the camera just couldn't figure out what to do with it.

So, on to the sweater -
So far, I've used almost 2 skeins of Wool of the Andes, and here's some progress pics to show:














The first picture is a detail of the Mossy Diamonds pattern. The second one is just a general progress picture. The pattern is from Knit Picks, and is here.

I picked Wool of the Andes white. Mom works as one of those "Pink Ladies" in the hospital where she lives, and in the summer time, they crank the air conditioning. The front desk is right under a vent, and Mom spent most of last summer looking for a nice white sweater to wear. Since it was summer, and she lives in the desert, you can imagine what kind of luck she had. I'm hoping to have it done by her birthday (as I've said before), so we'll see. I've been working on this since Tuesday night, and I'm making pretty good progress. Once I get to the waist shaping, I'll know better.
And now, my current favorite lolcats:


moar funny pictures

About Mom's Sweater

I am in the midst of a freak out! Mom's birthday is March 8th. I'm pretty sure we'll be traveling that weekend, my sis wants to have a party in Mom's home town, where all her friends and relatives can attend. Fine. Great. We're even working on a surprise for her with 2 of my cousins. That'll be great fun. BUT. . . . .
I have the pattern, but the yarn is somewhere in route. People I have a MONTH!!!!! How the HELL am I going to knit a coat in a freakin' month????? As you can tell, I'm having the meltdown now, cause I won't have time to later, I'll be too busy knitting.
YIKES!!!!!!!

Avoiding work. . . .

So, I thought I'd blog a bit, since I haven't done so in quite some time.
Where to start? I'll skip all the boring bits. Jan 6th I came one step closer to 50 - it's now close enough that I can actually see it on the horizon. I'm now 49 - and I'm not sure how I feel about that. 50 always seemed so old, and now that I'm about to be it, . . . . . I'm not sure. I certainly don't feel 50. And I like to think I don't look 50. So. Guess we'll wait another year and see what happens.
I got some very nice yarn for Christmas - a gift certificate to my sister's LYS netted me some loverly sock yarn. It's been dutifully added to the stash, and I'm eager to knit up some socks.
We moved in November. No gory details here, but we now live in the same city in which I work. We have a nice house, but had to pare down the animals a bit. We now have only one dog and one official cat. The others all found lovely homes. It's a good move for us, the kidlet is enjoying her new school, and the new opportunities that have opened up for her now that she's in the city of her choice.
And now for some pictures:
current socks are Cookie A's Rhiannon in Trekking XXL 145 colorway:



Pay no attention to the messy desk.
This is the "wrong" side of the cuff. I've never worked a purl cable before, so it's kind of interesting doing a cable that you can't see until you flip your work over.

I've finished the Monkey socks. These pictures aren't the greatest - but you get some idea of the colors.




I'll get some good sunlight and re-take. I love these socks! If you haven't done this pattern yet - DO IT!!!! They knit up faster than any other socks I've done. I used Opal sock yarn in a new colorway that has orange and purple and green and blue and is just the most amazing yarn. It's soft, and washes like iron. It's all I can do to not wear these socks every single day.
I'm still working on the Strikke-along sweater, although it seems to have lost all its charm. I keep thinking I'll pull it out and work on it, but then I get distracted.
I'm also working on a pattern that I want to submit to Knitty, so we'll see how that goes! Who knows, I might become a designer. hahahahahahahahaha!!!

In the queue (as they say in Ravelry) I love the sweater KnitPicks highlighted in the last newsletter my sister bought the pattern and the yarn, and I'm going to knit for mom's birthday - March 8 deadline on that one! She'll be 70, and needs a sweater to wear when she volunteers at the hospital in the summer. They CRANK the airconditioning, and all those "Pink Ladies" freeze to death. She spent most of last summer hunting down a white sweater, and never found one, so I thought this would be nice. I like the length and the fitted waist. I'm going to add pockets, because mom won't wear a sweater without pockets. Next in the queue is a request from my sister. Seems she's jonesing the sweater I took to her house at Christmas. I've still got to find the magazine I knitted it from, but she's buying the yarn. I told her she might get it in time for next fall.
OK, that's it for now - knitting (and work) call!

Sometimes I sleep

And sometimes when I sleep, I dream.
And sometimes when I dream I solve problems.
Last night I did all 3!!
I hadn't slept in 2 nights (up every. single. hour.) and I was so exhausted last night that I barely made it through Heroes (but WOW, what a show!), then went to bed. Those of you who, like me, celebrate insomnia know that being tired doesn't necessarily mean you will sleep. But, last night, I laid my wittow head down, and went to sleep. (OK, there MAY have been some chemical agents involved, but no laws were broken, I swear!)
The next thing I know, it's 2:30! AM!! I'd been asleep!! Not only that, I solved a knitting problem that I've been obsessing over for about a week.
You see, I want to knit something light-weight that I can warm in the microwave, and either place inside gloves or gauntlets, or just put on my hand and continue knitting while my poor, aching thumbs get some much deserved heat and comfort. (Hate the arthritis, but what a knitter to do???)
Last night, I came up with 2, count 'em, TWO!!! Ideas! WOO HOO!!!!! There will be more later, cause I'm still working out the details, but I couldn't wait to get up this morning and get the yarn and needles (I even dreamed which yarn! LOL) and start. One is harder than the other, but much more versatile, and I think will work better. Either way, I think I'm becoming a knitting designer. LOL How freakin funny is that?!?!?!?!?!
Bonus cat picture! Since I don't have knitting to post, I'll post Karma instead:

Strikke-Along goodness

Ya know, sometimes I just feel like if I could get untangled from stuff long enough, I could do important things, like surf the 'net, post in my blog, visit cyber friends. But these days, that just doesn't seem possible.
As you will no doubt recall, I had ordered my yarn for the Strikke-Along in 2 parts, so I could spread out the expense. The final batch of yarn came some time around the 18th or 19th, and I've been knitting on my sweater since then.
First picture:



It's got a right nasty pucker that you can't really see in the picture - seems there were some very tense rows there for a bit, but I've decided that since it's right at the part that'll be across my butt, and the rows before and behind are a bit looser, it will all work out in the end.
I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done this weekend. Saturday was spent mostly sleeping (note to self: GO TO BED AT NIGHT!!!) Sunday I did this (or had it done, more accurately):



I have wanted a tattoo for nearly as long as I can remember, and I finally discovered something that meant enough to me to have it permanently inked onto my body. Guido (yep, his real name) was a wonderful artist - he helped design the tattoo based on my description of what I wanted, and he knew exactly what I meant when I said "shaded". It was 2 hours of pain, and I didn't realize how good I am at meditating, but I have some MAD skills! It feels about like you'd think - like someone sticking needles in your skin, and what they say is true - the shading feels completely different. I am so completely happy with it, and I'm so looking forward to the part where it doesn't hurt any more!

It's Friday

And it's been a long week, so I'm not stretching for a clever title. Here's a pic of the yarn for the Strikke-Along (so far):

The soft grey will be the background color, the black, red and yellow, the borders. I will complete the order with a really pretty soft teal color. Also in the pic are the Knit Picks needles I needed for the sweater. I have millions and millions of needles, but never have what I need when I start a new project. It's beyond me. I thought there were only a limited number of needles in the universe, but apparently I was wrong! I'm really excited to be starting this! The prayer shawl is almost complete, I'm hoping to finish it this weekend, then I want to start on the Cookie A socks - Rhiannon. I've been so focused on the Prayer Shawl - totally unlike me to only have one project. I need to finish the Butterfly Argyles (and figure out what to do with all the extra yarn I bought for those!!)
I'm in Ravelry as 'debsnm' come find me and add me as your friend - I have so few. I can definitely say that I'm having a great time playing around and exploring Ravelry. Adding my needles became a problem - I have more needles than I know what to do with. Maybe I'll try to do an inventory this weekend and get accurate counts 'n stuff.
Garnstudio has most of their Fall/Winter 2007 stuff up. If you're interested at all in Nordic knits, or looking for something for Julie's Strikke-Along (button on the side bar), or just want to knit something really warm, check them out. Patterns are free, and seem to be pretty easy to follow. I'll let you know about *that* once I start my Strikke-Along sweater!

Prayer Shawl, part 2

Here are the first pics of the prayer shawl: This is how it looks most days sitting by my desk:


Here's what it looks like all spread out:


It's either 1/2 done or 2/5 done, I haven't decided yet. This yarn is Lion Brand Homespun, a yarn I was obsessed with for a while. I knitted this really, really strange scarf out of it, and had 5 skeins left over. It's soft, and not heavy (even though it's a bulky yarn) and I'm fascinated with this color. It's called 'Colonial' and I can't decide if it looks more like the deep ocean or the deep forest. Anyway, it's working up really nice, and I hope she'll like it.