Mystery Solved and Decisions Made

Pattern: Mystery Socks by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM

Needle: US 2

Start: October 7, 2008

Finish: November 11, 2008

I made these socks not knowing what they would look like in the end; they were 'mystery socks'. A designer (Kirsten at Through the Loops) posted a part of the pattern once a week for the month of October. It was a fun project and I tried to keep up with the weekly 'clues', but of course, I got distracted. I always do. They turned out nice - a little fancy for my taste, but it was a fun to watch the pattern appear as I knit along. They will find a good home, I'm sure.

And since I know you all were really worried about my brown dilemma, here's what I came up with (and thanks for the suggestions!): start one project with fun bright colors and start one project in brown.

So, I am making some of those fingerless mitts with the flop-over mitten thing in Noro (like these):

still havethe flop-over part to do

And I am making a vest with one of the browns. I am making up a pattern as I go, so we'll see how it turns out. It will be a zip-up vest; I am aiming for something like this . This is what I've got so far:

Brown

I have a problem: too much brown. I look in my closet and see lots of brown, especially in the sweater department. I decide I want to make a sweater, something in blue. Or maybe green. Or red. I take a look at my yarn stash. This is what I have in quantities large enough for a sweater:cream. tan. brown. brown.

When did I become so boring (no need to answer, Molly)? Ugh. I am trying so hard to be good and use up the yarn I have. But its all so blech. See, the thing is... I am always drawn to the natural colors of yarn, but that's not necessarily what I wear. I mean, I can only wear so many brown things.

So whats a girl to do?

Dreaming

Pattern: Dream in Color Shrug by Kay Dahlquist

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy

Needles: US 10.5

Start: 9.19.08

Finish: 10.7.08

I finished this shrug almost a month ago. I really love the pattern and the yarn, but I'm not sure if I'll really wear this very much. I haven't worn it yet, but the weather hasn't really been appropriate. The sleeves turned out to be a little bit too big - they are kind of loose and I wish they were tighter. I guess I need to bulk up a little :) And the bind off is too tight. So really what I need to do to make it wearable is to undo the bind off and do a sewn bind off so that it isn't so tight under my armpits. But that involves undoing and finding/picking up A LOT of stitches, which is not one of my favorite things. And the doing the bind off itself will probably take forever. Its one of those things that I will eventually do, but it might not be until next spring when I actually want to wear the garment. The shrug itself was really simple to make - its just a big square that is then folded and the sides partially sewn together to make the arms. The lace pattern was really easy to memorize, too. Its a really is a cute shrug and I love the color of the yarn. I think it will look really cute over a black dress.

Speaking of black, I dressed up as a raven for Halloween. My costume involved hot glueing a lot of feathers. Sister dressed up as a picnic which involved a lot of fake grass. Our house was a mess for a couple days during the creative process, but it all got cleaned up. Molly didnt' get a photo of her costume, but I did!

You're right, I have been knitting

I've been knitting and not writing about it. Time has just been flying lately... I don't know where October went. Or September for that matter... I don't even remember September. Anyway, I've been doing a little knitting - mostly smallish projects. I made a Koolhas hat for my friend Seth when we met up in Wisconsin for a little adventure a few weeks ago. I used a ball of Cascade 220 that I had leftover from my Tree Jacket and I lined it with fleece so it wouldn't be scratchy. I was happy because Seth really liked it - he wore it the whole weekend and kept showing it to other people. I tend to knit for other people whether they appreciate it or not - and I wasn't sure if he would - but its always a good feeling when people really do appreciate it. I only got one really crappy photo of it, though:

The photos from the beginning of the post are from my trip home. I had an terrific time. I packed a lot in for the short time I was there. And for missing my flight to WI. But we won't talk about that. Anyway, we went to a wedding of one my high school friends and saw lots of other friends there. We took a little camping trip up to Door County, where the weather and the colors were spectacular. And we went to a Packer game and tailgated with some other friends. The Packers won and the UW band played during half-time. It really was a blast! It was a perfect fall getaway... it made me all the more homesick, though :(

I made another hat, this one for myself. Its the Urchin Beret pattern by Ysolda Teague. The yarn (Lumpy Bumpy by Farmhouse Yarns) I picked up here in Albuquerque when I came for my interview. It was 'souviner' yarn because at that point, I wasn't sure if I'd be coming back. I absolutely love the yarn and the pattern suits it perfectly. I've been wearing this hat quite a bit already.

And now I'm working on a pair of socks... it is the Mystery Sock pattern that was part of Socktober fest. Right now I am about 70% finished with them. I wanted to finish them by the end of October for Socktoberfest, but now its November and they're not done... I've only got the feet to do on each sock, so I should have them finished pretty soon.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend - the weather is lovely here. I hope it is wherever you are too!