Talking on Tuesday

I started my Tilted Duster!!!! It is going so quickly too. I am knitting it in a nice chocolate brown worsted on size 8's which gives me 4 1/2 stitches to an inch. I finished up the back, right front and started on the left front yesterday. I can't wait to finish it.

Great News!!

Well I think I have told everyone who I can call about this news but yesterday I found out that we are PREGNANT!!!! We have been trying for 8 months now and I had just given up and thought I was too old. God gave me a surprise. Well, not really he has told me I would have another. I mean I have dreamed about her, but I just let myself tell myself that oh that is just wishful thinking. Silly me to let doubts creep into my head. I mean who put the dreams in there in the first place? DUH to me. We are super excited. I am going to wait until the new year to go to the doctor since our new and cheaper insurance will kick in then.

As for knitting, I had to frog (well in the process of frogging as I need yarn) my youngest son's sweater because he grew! I was all done with his sweater and ready to sew in the ends and all then I tried it on him and it fit but a little too snug. He grew and inch! I am making it 2 sizes bigger now lol. He might be able to wear it longer now or at least until I finish knitting the silly thing.

Knitting Obsession

I have had other hobbies before.... beading, macrame, quilting, crochet .... and not one of them has hit me like knitting has. For years, I sewed my own clothes. I even designed a few outfits myself but I had to give it up because of babies. Those baby things take up a lot of time, you know? You can't really say, " Hey, you there, Baby, I just need to sew this one last seam then I can change your diaper, so you can stop crying now." No, you can't. You have to stop what you are doing before you get to that seam and if you are caught in the middle than be careful not to pull it out from under the sewing needle. I just pretty much have to give up my hobbies whenever I had a baby. They just weren't portable enough.

Now, knitting is something that is super portable and stopable in the middle. You can be in the middle of a row, stop what you are doing stick your needle stops on the end and do whatever the baby wants or needs at the moment. You can sneak in a couple of stitches while waiting in line at the store. You can sneak in a couple of stitches anywhere, really. As long as you remember the yarn is on the right needle then you wont ever make the mistake of going the wrong way.

Another thing I like about knitting, is the design element of it. I love thinking up designs. I see a shirt in a store and take the bits I love about it and replace the bits I hate about it and viola I have my own design. I see so many designs in my head of sweaters I want to knit and they are all my own. I found EZ's Knitting without Tears and she has made making my own designed sweaters a dream come true. I can now make a sweater with my own gauge and design. No longer do I have to follow a pattern that I can't seem to get gauge on. Just make my own gauge swatch, do a little math and I can make it my own.


I looooooooooooooooooooooooooove knitting.

OTN

Right now I am knitting my Bella sweater.

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Worsted
Colorway: Terra Cotta and
Needles: US 5 and 4
Size: 38 1/2

I love this yarn but I have noticed it gets a bit heavy after I get about 5 inches of the sweater done. I am having to knit it on straight needles, which I don't really like, because my Knit Picks options are metal and they were just too slippery for this yarn. My hands were starting to hurt and I figured out it was because I was physically trying to keep the loops up on the needle while trying to also keep it from sliding completely off the needles. So I switched to some generic size 5's I had laying around. I now know that I have to buy a set of wooden needle points too in case the yarn is too slippery on the metal ones.


All that to say, when this project gets too heavy for me I switch to a pair of socks. Love these socks btw. I think they are my best ever.

Tilted Duster

Has anyone seen this sweater Tilted Duster? It is in the new interweave knits mag. I haven't had a chance to go pick it up yet but I am in love it. I love the button closer and the half circles on it. Quite a few other people are knitting it on Ravelry, about 7 others and I love the yarns they have chosen for it. I am thinking I will use this yarn, in the chocolate colorway. I really want to use the slate colorway but since this will be my first sweater, I don't want to use black. I need to finish my mom's sock before I order the yarn and start it. I am halfway up the cuff now mom. I should be sending it off to you next week! I finished the first one while I was visiting her and she wouldn't let me take it home with me. She wanted to keep it lol. I think she liked it. It really is a pretty sock. I will take pictures when it is done.

Socks!

The completed infamous Monkey Socks....








New sock....After posting the picture on the blog
I noticed this weird swirling effect the yarn is doing
I have to say I really like it.









My last sock looks so much better then the first one I ever did. I am so glad they are shaping up and looking better each time. Practice makes perfect I guess. I was listening to a pod cast I like called Stash and Burn. They were talking about things that are intimidating to knit and how when they first knitted they thought, oh I will never knit a sock that's too hard. LOL It's funny, what some perceive as hard other's perceive as easy. A sock is what I graduated to after knitting scarves. I look at sweaters and say oh not sure if I can knit that it looks so hard. I have the book Knitting Without Tears now and I just need to take the leap. It really isn't that hard if you break it up in pieces. I saw this cute shrug being made on knitty gritty and I have the yarn for it. I think I will make it next. I am going to make it longer though probably to my waist but still just put one button on it. I liked the way it looked with one button. It is a navy blue chunky yarn and I was thinking of getting maybe a huge, pale, pink rose button. I like navy blue with pink. I think it would look classy and also use up this yarn. I bought it for a patten in a book I have but the pattern has a mistake in it. I don't want to knit it now because I am not experienced enough to see mistakes sooooo now I have this yarn sitting in my yarn box. I hate having yarn that has no purpose in my stash. It is nice yarn, thick and soft, that will be perfect for this sweater pattern. I will start it after I finish my sisters stole.