Sweet

Is it still called Sweet 16 when it's a boy's birthday? I think so. Today is Glenn's sixteenth birthday. I just don't know how he went so quickly from this





to this:




Happy birthday to my kind, intelligent, handsome, loving and generous boy who has, at times, had the weight of the world on his shoulders and is coming out on the other side all the better for it because of his hard work and perseverance. He's no longer a little boy but almost a man looking at colleges and leaving our home in the next two years. Glad I didn't blink.

Contemplation

There are a few things I've been contemplating lately. One of them is NaBloPoMo. In case you don't know what that is, it's posting one blog post per day for a month. A whole month. That's thirty or thirty one posts. That's a lot! In case you hadn't noticed, this is a knitting blog and there's not a whole lot of knitting going on on a daily basis. No let me rephrase that. There's not a lot of progress going on on a daily basis. I do manage to knit, at least a bit, every day but who the hell wants to see a few rows of a sock per day? I don't even want to see that and it's my blog! I suppose with the holidays coming up I could muster up some other things to write about. Now you see why this is still in the contemplation stage and I'm not in the process of writing daily.

Another thing I've been thinking about is doing a podcast. I love knitting podcasts. I probably listen to about ten different ones that I thoroughly enjoy and I'll listen to others when someone suggests them. The thing is this...I don't sound like a podcast person. Everyone's relatively soft spoken with no accent to speak of and they sound nice and sweet. I don't. I'm a loud and raucous New Yorker who can be very opinionated at times. But then I think there's really no other knitting podcasts like that so maybe it's a good thing. Hey I'm not looking to be the Howard Stern of knitting podcasts but I'd like to do one that would be a little edgy. Edgy knitting though? How frigging edgy can knitting be? I also know that once I start podcasting, it has to be done regularly whether it be weekly or bi-weekly and I don't know if I'm up for that kind of commitment.

On the knitting front, those Selbu mittens are whipping my ass. I've done the cuff and about seven rounds and man, it's not easy. I can't even imagine a whole sweater of this. First off, they look like they're going to be too small for me. That's ok because Patrick would love these so they'll be a Christmas present for him. I can't get the knitting with yarn in both hands thing so I'm constantly dropping one yarn and picking up the other. It's going slowly. Very, very, very slowly. This morning I've promised myself to do ten rounds per day. That should finish these up in about two weeks. I hope to get more done per day but ten rounds will keep it moving along and not make me want to throw the whole thing under a bus. I hope.

Crazy

I must be crazy. Absofrigginlutely nuts to think I can do this.




Those are a pair of magnificent mittens aren't they? I got the yarn, have the needles but I'm not sure I have the experience or the talent to complete these. Maybe it's just the peace and quiet I need to sit and do this just one stitch at a time. I've done the cuff and five rounds above the cuff but I'm nervous about going on. There are approximately sixty rounds for this mitten. Then....there's another friggin mitten! I started this and have to pick up and drop the yarns with my right hand with each stitch. Do I need a fair isle class? Oy I'm having a bit of a time with this. I'm sure I'll get through it but I'm just feeling a tad overwhelmed and under prepared.

In the meantime I cast on the Lotus Cowl for one of Glenn's school friends. It's weird to use a needle above a size three and this is a ten! Well at least it'll be a fast knit!

Harry Potter opens tomorrow and I can't wait!

Homestead

These are The Weasley Homestead socks I knit for Patrick.






I really liked the way they striped and I love how the pattern matched the yarn so well. It's an exaggerated rib pattern which really looks great with the BMFA Gingerbread Dude yarn. Patrick loves them and he's going to wear them when we go see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows on opening day.

Kristin and I are starting our Selbu Mittens. Actually she's way ahead of me because they yarn I chose wasn't suited for the mittens. I got 2 balls of Webs Valley Superwash DK which I'm really liking. I've just started the cuff of the first mitten but I'm really excited about doing my first color work. OK I'll admit I'm a bit nervous too. I'm so clumsy I'm sure that I'll make a twisted mess out of this but I'm going to take Kristin's advice and keep one ball on each side of me while knitting. Hopefully that will help. Hope to have something to show you soon!

Duuuuude!

Anytime I hear this I think of the sea turtle in Finding Nemo. Or Jeff Spicolli. Well this post has nothing to do with either. This is the Gingerbread Dude.



This may be the most appropriately named yarn I've ever seen. It really does bring to mind gingerbread to me. It's Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Gingerbread Dude in medium weight. Patrick asked that I make him a pair of socks and this was the yarn he picked out. This is the yarn I've been saving since last year's trip to Rhinebeck. I was going to make myself a pair but I can't think of a better person to use this yarn for.

I'm making the Weasley Homestead socks so he'll have a Harry Potter inspired pair of socks to wear to the premiere next week. Yes we are a family of Harry Potter dorks. Ok maybe it's just me and they're all along for the ride. Yeah that's exactly what it is. It's a quick knit which will probably be done within three days of me casting on.

The yarn I'd picked for my Norwegian inspired mittens is the wrong size. The gentleman at the store told me it's sport but it's really more like fingering and much too thin for this pair of mittens. I ordered a couple of skeins of an alpaca blend from Webs in a dk weight so it'll have a bit more heft to it. It should arrive right around the time I finish up Patrick's socks. Lucky me!

Mitts

Glenn asked me to knit him a pair of mitts for a friend of his so I decided to do Lu's Mitts which I found on Ravelry.







Lovely aren't they? They're a mock cable looking pattern and a very easy knit. If you follow me on Twitter, these are the mitts I had to cast on three different times. The only thing I had a problem with is that the pattern called for it to be fifty cast on stitches on size five needles. They seemed too big so I went down to size four needles and forty five stitches. The yarn is Araucania Toconao in a gorgeous red. For some reason the label doesn't have a color on it. The yarn is as rich feeling as the color is rich looking. I love how these came out and hope that Glenn's friend likes them too.

I'm still working on a striped Harry Potter scarf for Patrick which I hope to have completed today then I'm starting on my color work mitts. I'm skeered but excited to get this project started. Glad I'll have Krisin doing them with me so if I get into a bind, I can ask for help!

Three

I was really hoping to post these yesterday but the day just got away from me. I can assure you that I finished them before the end of Socktober so that brings the sock count up to three pair for this month. It's a tad short of the five I wanted to complete but I'm not complaining!



Love these socks! They were quick and easy with a gorgeous pattern to them which you can see more easily here:



They yarn is a mill end from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock. I thought it was a very Christmas looking sock but nobody in the house agreed with me. I asked several other people and they all said it looked like a Christmas sock. Oddly enough, in my house is all guys and the others I asked were all women. Isn't that funny?

Currently working on a garter stitch scarf for Patrick. It's gold(ish) and maroon(ish) for the colors of Gryffindor! The colors aren't exact but close enough that it won't be questioned.

Also my friend, Kristin, and I will be working on a pair of mittens together as a knit along which should be great fun. I met her on Twitter and we've managed to meet in person once so far and she's an absolute sweetheart. You can find her blog here. She also has a podcast so look for Yarngasm on iTunes for a wonderful knitting podcast.

As for the mittens, they're a Norwegian pattern and will be my first color work knitting. I'll be using the Peruvian Alpaca I got at Rhinebeck a couple of weeks ago. They're only black and white but it's a start!