So many things to share but guess who just realized she doesn’t have an ftp program installed on her work computer and thus cannot upload pics to her blog? Poo!

Pics to come include my newest nephew in the dragon hat and blue cardigan, progress on the white bonnet and booties (missing only the embroidery and ribbon ties), baby surprise jacket (in progress and probably done by the time I get around to posting), and agate slices I picked up at a sale last weekend.

I bought a 40″ Sony LCD tv (KDL-40S3000) a couple of weeks ago on mega sale (yay price-matching!). Wow. I’m using just my digital cable box at the moment and the picture is pretty darn good. When I viewed HD signals via antenna the pic was incredible. I plan to get a HD cable box tomorrow after my massage but am not sure I will stick with it. It’s only $7 a month extra but I don’t watch tv that much. We’ll see. I’m also going to set up Mister P’s upconverting dvd player and see how that compares to my regular dvd player. Geesh! All this work! Other things I like about the tv: lightweight, non-glare screen, matte-finish frame (so if what you’re viewing does have black box edges, they blend right into the frame and are less noticeable), fairly easy menu. Things I don’t like: crappy remote, buttons on top of tv (power button, eg, if you can’t find the remote), extra ports for a video game console are located smack-dab in the middle of the side edge and very visible. I wish they were a few inches lower so still easily accessible but less noticeable. All in all tho I really like the tv.

Work is going well but I swear I have more gray hairs now. I’ve also noticed the past week or so that my stomach regularly burns which is not a normal thing. Stress ulcer? WTF! The only day I dread going to work are Mondays which are super busy and I’m always super tired from weekend activities but who doesn’t hate Mondays?

Crum, work beckons.

Woe is me. I made fabulous progress on the Dale duck dress over the weekend then followed my gut and test blocked it. Sigh. My suspicions were confirmed that it had “grown” after the Fair Isle duck border and needs to be ripped. I thought it odd that Dale didn’t have you knit the FI section with a larger needle or at the very least switch to a smaller needle for stockinette. I am now left with having to refigure the pattern to conform to the correct size on the larger needle size gauge. It won’t kill me but I had wanted to just mindlessly knit. At least I have some time tho less than I thought with the due date in June, not August as I had thought.

I think I’ll leave the dress to sit in the punishment corner while I start a hat. Yes, another.

I know, I know. Can I be any slower posting pics? I’ll be more regular at least for a while since I’m going to be knitting baby items for friends and perhaps for myself down the road some. That’s all I’m sayin’. On to the FOs!

Would I make Noro socks again? Don’t think so. The yarn is uneven and splitty, the color runs too long, and the finished texture too “hard". I hear people say they’d use the yarn for lace-knitting but I don’t see why. Lace to me is delicate and airy. This yarn is anything but. As for the socks themselves, they fit fairly well. I really like that I ran ribbing down the back of the sock to help it hug my ankles more but next time will increase the height of the heel flap and thus the number of stitches around the instep so it’s a little less tight there.

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Noro sock yarn
Needles: US 1
begun who knows when, completed March 25, 2008

Unlike the socks, the yarns in the hat were a joy to work with. I love how the (Classic Elite?) Lush blooms. Again tho, this hat turned out bigger than I expected but I didn’t check gauge so will give this to an older girl or small-headed woman. Actually I tried the hat on myself and thought it fit quite well. The rather enormous circumference of my head taking up the attic space of the hat. Also, I had mentioned earlier that I was adjusting the height of the hat because I’d read it turns out rather long. That experiment turned out unexpectedly and well.

Pattern: Turkish hat from Hats On!
Yarn: Lush and Cascade 220 (teal)
Needles: US 4
begun March 27, completed March 31, 2008

Before I forget (again), I bought the coolest pop-up book for Spinning Geek’s kids, originally for birthday but now for Xmas. It’s all about fairies and how you can find magic in your own garden. Got that at Target btw.

The child’s hat is going well but I will need to rip 5 or 6 rows . . . I think. I was looking at it last night and the top looks a bit wonky. Did I get off the patterning by a stitch somewhere during the decreases? Is it supposed to be that way and when it’s done it magically looks like the picture? Stay tuned and find out.

Addendum: Oh, how I wish I had read this post before embarking on the Turkish hat from Hats On! I thought it was looking long but then again if I’m recalling correctly from the Shriner’s circus and that one guy from The Mummy, a fez sits on the head and thus has some room on top. Turkish hat = fez in my mind but I don’t recall why.

I just found out that HG is having a girl! Finally I have a baby girl to shower with knitted gifts—woo hoo! This weekend I will have to sort through my knitting patterns and narrow down my choices. Wait, what am I saying? I totally want to knit the Dale duck dress. Or the Debbie Bliss yoke cardigan. OMG, too many choices!

More knitting news: finished the Noro socks but haven’t taken a photo yet. Also redid the ribbing on the red and black FI hat with good results. Oh, last night after way too much Wii cast on for a new hat from Hats On! Of course. I am getting so much use out of that book. I’ll finish that hat before embarking on baby stuff although it may be hard to resist.

Can it be that I’ve not posted in nearly a month?! Geesh! I’ve had the nagging feeling that I need to post but that always happens at work and I’ve not yet taken a moment to create an auto link to blog posting. Lazy but not since my time has been spent on other things. Like work. That’s a big chunk. Then there’s knitting—yes, the same Koigu socks. I’ve reached the heel turn and need to sit down and study the other one to figure out what I did. Once I’m past that point it’s smooth sailing until the toe. Another time suck, and oh how I do mean time suck, is the Wii. I bought a package deal that included Mario Galaxy. I have been playing so much I feel like I have wiimotes growing out of my hands ala Edward Scissorhands. That’s got to stop however. I had massage therapy today and it’s clear that the Wii, or more precisely my overplaying of said Wii along with computer usage at the office, has lead to some extremely tight muscles. So more breaks at work and a time limit on game playing.

I do have some knitting pics of a fabulous Fair Isle sweater I found on mega clearance (something like $30 instead of $230). And I believe I took some in progress shots of the Noro socks. I also took some pics of patterns in a library book I had but that was a while back and I can’t remember the book. Goodness!

And now I’ve utterly lost my train of thought due to a phone call. Derailed and now headed to bed. YAWN

I think I’m done with hats for a while. Seven in a row is quite enough, thank you. I do love the green and white hat tho—looking at the photo almost makes me want to start another. Instead I’ll mush on with the Kureyon socks. They’re very simple and very boring in truth but I hope that the color shifting, which has just begun, will prove of enough interest.

Can you tell I’m tired while writing this? I keep drifting off and forgetting where I am so I think I should go to bed soon, don’t you? But first an update about life. The job is going really well. I’m beginning to settle into a groove and am getting a fairly good handle on the job. It’ll be even better after I reorganize a few things so less time will be spent searching and more time doing. The love life is peachy too. I’ll be going up to Mister P’s this weekend. I bought a new mattress set which will be delivered sometime Friday (don’t you love the “delivery window” concept? not) and will leave after that. OMG, I can’t believe I almost forgot to talk about my foot. Tee hee! Last week my doctor was rather amazed by my progress (I’m wearing shoe shoes!) and said I no longer needed to visit him and should be back to normal in about 6 months. Does that not kick ass? I’m hoping within the next couple of weeks I manage to fit into the black Naots I bought or else I may return them for something with a deeper bed to accommodate my still rubenesque foot.

Now off to bed!

Pattern: Danish Earflap Cap from Hats On! by Schurch
Yarn: Elann Highland Wool (blue & gray)
Needles: US 4 and 5
begun late January?, completed February 13, 2008

Pattern: All-Over Two-Color Patterned Watch Cap from Hats On!
Yarn: Patons Merino (spring green and cream)
Needles: US 4 and 6
begun January 12, completed January 20, 2008

Pattern: Fancy Silk Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Bush
Yarn: handdyed Henry’s Attic Treadsoft
begun December 16, 2007; completed February 2, 2008

Chicken sweaters. No joke.

I finished another hat over the weekend but am only a few rows from finishing a pair of socks so am waiting to post them together. I’ve become such a lazy slob. Exhausted more like it. My new job started last week and it’s going great. Good people, good environment. But with learning new things and the foot I pretty much come home, eat dinner and go to bed. Exciting, huh?

Potentially bad news: the mother of my college roommate called me last night to see if I’d heard from R at Xmas (strangely no). Apparently her family hasn’t been able to contact her since September last. No response to emails, letters and a disconnected phone number. It’s very worrisome. If she lived in Britain rather than an eastern European country I’d not be too worried but she doesn’t so I cannot help but think of the movie Hostel. Fret, fret.

Bad news: My investments took a hit and I lost a chunk. I’m considering withdrawing and putting it into a savings account until the economy stabilizes. You know, after the Democrats are back in power.

Better news: I switched from wearing the boot to a surgical shoe. Thank goodness. My right knee is killing me. Hopefully the s. shoe will alleviate that. Once the swelling goes down a bit more, I’ll be able to wear a normal shoe (as in my roomy clogs). I’m so close to that too. I can slide my hurty foot in first thing in the morning but since my foot swells as the day progresses, I’d start to overflow the clog like the blob. Ewww!

Good news: I bought yarn (Elann Peruvian Highland Worsted in a bright blue and yellow) to make a vest called “Swedish Pancakes". It’s featured on the cover of Monkeysuits. Then there’s the Kureyon sock yarn which I intended for a travel/work project but who has time to knit there?! Perhaps my purchase of Folk Knitting in Estonia which should arrive by the end of the month (I took a chance on an iffy Amazon seller—fingers crossed) will inspire me to start a new pair of socks anyway.

Did I not say I was on a hat roll? I’ve been doing them one after the other so have three new ones for show and tell. That makes five from Hats On!. Talk about getting your money’s worth. The red one is my favorite (look at that crown!). The formation of the earflaps was clever. The purple and white one I would wear if it looked good on me. I love the look of the herringbone braid but did make modifications to the pattern by eliminating the turn up cuff, thus the braid is at the bottom of the hat instead of the middle. It was faster to knit that way too—always a plus. The blue hat mystifies me. I made the medium (child) size using the same needles as I’ve used for the others but the darn thing turned out large. I even went down a needle size on the twisted ribbing (I thought it odd the pattern didn’t call for that). Oh, well, I’ll give it to one of my girlfriends, I guess.

So. I’ve made good progress on Xmas 2008. I’ll do a little something something for me now by either completing my socks or reworking the red and black tam. I have now determined I would like to wear it like this, but it then needs to have a larger circumference and greater depth. I wonder too if it would be better worked at a slightly tighter gauge. Oh, damn, now I feel like working on the tam but am way too tired. Way. I went to the doctor yesterday and can now walk, rather gracelessly, on my own 1.5 feet. In about two weeks I’ll switch from the boot to a surgical shoe (so counting the days). Since I got back last night I’ve been slowly putting my place into shape but have a ways to go. I’m glad I gave myself a few days to do that so I can have a day of rest before New Job Monday. ::YAWN:: must make a grocery list and then I’m going to bed!

Patterns: all from Hats On!
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino (worsted)
Needles: US 4, 5 and 6
begun January 5, completed January 9, 2007

Addendum: I recalled that I made mods to the red hat as well. I really wanted the checkerboard pattern in there but hadn’t realized that wasn’t part of the small size (darn those dinky baby heads!) until I’d already done the earflaps so out with the second row of snowflakes and in with the checkerboard and a few extra rows of 1x1. I like how the lanyard braid (new to me but now I can’t get enough of it) mimics the 1x1s.