Hourglass, version 2.0

The sweater is finished! And it looks good! It's a veritable doppleganger of the pre-felted one.

But the memory card is full and I don't know where my card reader is, so you'll have to just take my word for it.

Get thee to a Staples! (And other random ramblings)

I need to get an additional memory card. The current card is full of pictures that my husband took over the summer, but he doesn't know how to download them to his computer, and I don't know for sure where the card reader is anyway, especially since said husband keeps "cleaning up" various areas of the house (including our computer room) and not telling me where he stashed stuff that I used to know the location of. And the reason I am posting the need for a memory card for the digital camera on my knitting blog is because I owe pictures to the interweb. I have a sweater in progress to replace the one Hubby threw in the wash (RIP, celery green hourglass sweater), and I finished a cute scarf made from fun fur and skinny ribbon, and I'm working on another scarf with the silk/wool yarn leftover from one of Hubby's stocking stuffer presents. I also have some ideas percolating for a number of other accessories, so I plan to give pictures of the development and progress thereof.

We've sort of started a knitting group at work. I got an email from one of the IT ladies, who heard I did some knitting, and we meet on Fridays in the main lunchroom. Today she called me to ask for some help with getting cast on for a pair of socks, since she has never worked with dpn projects before (I avoid double points whenever possible, but know enough to help out.) And we saw the lady who started the knitting group, and she told us she is leaving! Next Friday is her last day! And I am sad! (You can tell I am emotional because of the plethora of exclamation points!) She is funny and friendly and totally cool, but she is leaving to go to grad school! So I have become the default 'master knitter' (which, I totally am not. Master Knitter is an actual designation and all, which I have not earned in the slightest. So I guess I should encourage the group to call me the Lead Stitch Bitch or the Queen of all Needles or something.)

My sister's birthday is tomorrow and I had intended to make her a knitted rat, but that kind of didn't happen, so I feel like a lousy sister. Maybe I can work really hard to get one done over the weekend and leave it on her desk on Monday.

A Knitter's (k)Nightmare (or "Why My Husband is Supposed to Stay Away From My Laundry")

I finished the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in approximately two weeks. I used the Moda Dea Bamboo Wool in Celery. I got many compliments on the sweater when I wore it to work and to happy hour last Friday. The pattern is very flattering to any body type, creating the look of an hourglass figure even if your body type doesn't sport hourglass-like curves. The yarn is soft and comfortable, and drapes in the most gorgeous way. Absolutely fabulous, and I became totally enamored of this sweater, vowing that it would be worn again and again and again.

Yesterday, since he was home for the week and the kids were occupied with the computer and videos and games received during the Christmas gift bonanza, Hubby decided to "help" by doing my laundry.

He was setting aside anything that should not be tumbled dry. Somehow, the bamboo hourglass sweater did not get set aside and instead joined the permanent press load. Warm water, cool rinse, regular agitation. Then it went into the dryer. Tumble dry, low heat.

The Moda Dea website says that the bamboo wool is wonderful for felting projects. I would be happy to submit an example of how nicely it felts. I will do so as soon as I stop crying about the dense, minisweater laying on the drying rack in my laundry room.

New year's resolution, a week early

OK, I am getting back on this ride. I have been knitting many, many, many things and I have posted Not At All for so many months. My resolution is to actually take a picture of finished projects and post them in a timely manner, even if I do a craptastic job of updating my "in progress" part of the sidebar or my commentary about what I'm working.

If you want to give me a virtual kick in the ass to post, or if you want to give me totally undeserved compliments to keep me from spiraling into a stupid funk in which I cannot find the energy to pick up needles (horrors!), please email me at khhandknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Knitting Mitzvah

Thanks to some urging from Beth (of So the Fish Said and Playgroup Dropout), I am knitting some bears for sick kids.

I don't know how much my small thing really helps, but at least it's something.

Speaking of small "somethings" that can add up to signficant ones, be sure to click on my idealized self over on the sidebar. The MamaKaren avatar will take you to Design Her Gals, a site that has stationery, apparel and other custom items. A portion of the money made by the site supports research and treatment for late stage breast cancer patients. Check it out!

Happy (hectic) holidays!

OK, I haven't posted since before Thanskgiving. Because I was busy knitting!

The Christmas bazaar at the school was fun, but not very profitable. I sold a custom poncho, one belt and a scarf/hat set. I brought the remainder into work the following Monday and sold two more scarves (a bias knit, fashion one and a warm, drop stitch one with eyelash yarn accents) so I came close to recouping my booth fee.

Current projects-in-progress include an awesomely soft pair of legwarmers (JoAnn's Beautiful combined with a light worsted) and a black and red scarf from some clearance Lily Chin yarn from my LYS.

Christmas netted me $100 in gift cards from Michael's, so one of the projects I've had my eye on may get done after all.

The Mathmatician scarf

I decided to try some Moebius knitting. My first attempt was a skinny ribbed strip grafted from end to end. It turned out OK, but I still felt the need to create a cowl that was knit in the round, despite my complete confusion whenever I looked at the directions for a moebius cast on. I finally found instructions online that used a few rows of waste yarn, which made all the difference in letting me see what I was doing.

After my cast on row, I changed off colors after each number in the golden ratio sequence (2 grey, 3 blue, 5 tan, 8 grey...) and liked the look so much that I'm working on a matching hat. Stay tuned for the final photos...