when life gets in the way of knitting

Things have been a bit slow in the knitting front lately. I've been focusing the majority of my efforts on decorating the house. The Living Room is for all practical purposes complete, and the Bedroom is well on it's way. I'm also painting a faux wallpaper on the Powder Room wall, which I'm unsure about at this time. I'll just need to complete it and live with it for a few days before making a final judgement. I'm also getting busier with my Master Gardener training and will be volunteering for the program by the end of this month.

My sweater has been set aside as of late because I can't make the neck look decent. It looks more like a tall boat neck which is so not the look I'm going for. I've already taken it back once and although this version looks better, it's still not wearable for me. I may need to research some patterns and see how the neck of a sweater is normally done. I should have knit my first sweater from a pattern instead of the recipe from Elizabeth Zimmerman, so that I had the basics down. Oh well, it's all a learning experience.

Most recently I've begun to knit a pair of basic socks for myself out of Koigu KPPPM 537. It's the perfect colorway for spring socks.

first socks!

I've completed my first pair of socks! They are for my mother for Christmas. She's always cold and loves wearing um...festive...socks. So I think she'll really appreciated them :) I knit them from Patons Classic Wool Merino "Regency" on size 8 dpns.

I've also started a garter stitch scarf as a gift for my cousin. I'm using Patons SWS "Natural Earth". I love the feel of this yarn, and I love that it's a blend of wool and soy. It has a tendancy to split so I need to keep watch. I initially tried it on size 8 needles and liked the results, however I thought I'd experiment with size 11's and loved the modern chunky texture that was created. I felt that the mixture of the muted colors with the soft, but chunky texture resulted in a perfect scarf to be given to a gay man :)

In other news, I completely frogged my Koolhaas hat. I don't think I'm doing the Kbtl correctly. It just comes out as a bunch of bumps without any real pattern. Oh well, I guess I need to do some more research and come back to it.

thanksgiving knitting

I've been busy in the knitting department for the last couple of days. I started and completed one sock for my mother for Christmas. As of now the other sock is well on its way. These socks are being knit in Patons Classic Wool Merino "Regency" on size 8 needles. I know, it was suggested that I use size 5 but my gauge was WAY off. I obviously knit too tight and need to correct that.

I had to rip back the half-inch or so that I worked on past the ribbing of my Koolhaas hat. I could read part of the design in the hat and the rest was completely jacked up. Maybe now that I have a feel for the pattern I can make it work. This whole "knit in the back of the loop" thing has me crazy, I feel like I'm creating a purl stitch instead of a knit stitch.

I've also added a couple of photos of my My So Called Scarf, one in detail. I'd like to finish it soon, however it appears to be on the back burner for now.

Oh, I had a request for a doggie sweater at Thankgiving dinner today. It'll be so much fun! Right after I make one for my little Kyan :) I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Stitch on!