Knitting Along

Yeah, I know. Guily of blog neglect, again. My excuse this time is sleep deprivation. You know that night shift hubby has to work...It sucks. I have no right to complain about not getting enough sleep, Lord knows the poor guy needs more sleep in the worst way. But you know what, it's a big change for me to. I now suffer from mild insomnia (mild because I do get 4 or 5 decent hours of sleep). Not because I'm scared being in the house along, I just can't get used to the big 'ol king size bed empty. Anyhow...No sleep for both of us equals two crankies at each other's throat. We haven't spoken for two days now. Not because we can't, but because we don't want to. *sigh* The benefit to that is my house is spotless. *Anger motivates me to Clean.* Our 8th wedding anniversary is Dec.2 and we're going to Virginia Beach for a little over-nighter. Not sure where we're staying or what we're doing, I left that all up to the hubby. My only stipulation was the hotel room be ocean front (I'm a beach girl). So here's to hoping we'll get a little R&R together.

But enough about the boring stuff....You want knitting and yarn, and I got it!

I've been busy joining knit-a-longs. First up, the Warm Hands kal. I joined this one because of the Latvian Mittens I will be making. They got pushed back (explanation below) but how about some more fingerless cuffs for now?

I had to make a quick trip to Holly Spring Homespun last week. Kathy (the owner) is such a sweet gal. We talked each other's ears off, and I love it. Definately one of my favorite shops. Kathy is doing a new kal-with tutorial on her blog for these gloves. I tried hers on and loved them. So I grabbed the yarn and pattern. The yarn is Tahki Shannon (LOVE it, must buy more) and Debbie Bliss Astrakahan, which I do not like. It's very soft, yes, but the "nubbles" are a pain to knit with. And weaving the ends, ugh! I knit both yesterday afternoon, and love them. I'm thinking I need a matching hat.
While there, I bought some sock yarn to make socks for the Hubby's sister for Christmas. She's one of the few family members I think would really appreciate handknit socks, so I don't mind. Now if I could just get them started...

I've made progress on the Essential Stripe top as you can see.... I really like the pattern, well written and easy. At first I didn't like the color sequence I did at the top, and then I remembered I'm using the rust color for my neckline. Problem solved. I've kind of abandoned this project to work on something a little more complicated. I'm saving this for my "mindless knitting" time, like knit night or something.



Something complicated huh? I mentioned pushing back my Latvian Mittens, here's why...



Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks. I'm using Dale of Norway Falk (sportweight) on size threes. It's hard to tell but that's midnight blue, not black, that I'm using. It's going interesting to say the least. I'm still having some tension issues, but not enough to rip back and start over. The thing is, with this being my first "real" fair isle, I've come to accept it's not going to be perfect. If I ripped it everytime I didn't like it, really, they would never get done. So I'll leave it for now. That cuff was my second attempt. And I've knitted a couple more inches tonight after I took the picture. Oh yeah, I joined a kal for these too.... Norwegian Knits Along.

And if that wasn't enough, I joined the Jaywalker Kal. I started these socks last month with some old opal yarn, but didn't like the color at all. I ordered some Socks that Rock yarn (Yeah, I caved...) It should ship Friday, one of the colors I wanted had to be dyed for me and is still drying. How's that for service?! I only ordered two skeins though :)

So you've seen what I've been working on, how about some stash aquisition now? Sunday, some of my knitting gals and I went on a trip to a new yarn shop in Emporia, Knitting Chocolate.


This is the only picture that came out. How I managed to take a picture of a window with not a bad glare, and all my inside pics suck, I'll never know. Anyhow... Everything in the store was 20%. With the store being new, there wasn't too much in stock. Melissas has plenty on order though, and she has a little list for me too. *Shhh* Like Emmy, I too thought it was going to be a quick visit. Two hours later, we all walked out with bags.


My first Noro project. Three skeins of Kureyon and a felted bag pattern to use with the noro. Love it!


This is some Schaefer worsted weight wool yarn in colors Sprinkles and Snoopy's Crayons, 280 yards each. I bought it with the kiddos in mind, but since the colors don't match their new winter coats, I'm thinking some fuzzy feet are in order. What do you think?


Cherry Tree Hill bulky wool, end of mill (is that what it's called? They forgot to give me the label after winding it.) Anyhow, that's 1208 yards, for under $25. I could go crazy felting with it.
Last but not least I bought the last of my SP6 goodies.... Speaking of Secret Pals, Mine has been kind of quiet. (not meaning package wise, just in general) I hope you're still out there!

Finally, I will leave you with this picture, taken for Crazy Aunt Purl. After all that shopping, we had lunch at the Cracker Barrel. My first time there. So I had to get this massive breakfast sampler and try everything! I tasted the grits (first and last time), but everything else rocked! My favorite part was the biscuits and gravy, followed by the hash brown casserole. I took home eveything that didn't get eaten. Including the extra biscuits and gravy that belonged to all of us, hehe.


Phew!!! I wanted to catch you guys up and now I feel like I'm forgetting something. Hmmm... Oh well....Have a great Turkey day. Gobble Gobble Gobble!

*My keyboard has a serious lag tonight so don't mind the typos that I missed.*