Now What?

Aside from some ends that need to be woven in my Crackghan is FINISHED.

I started this blanket on July 8, 2014 ... finished July 7, 2016. This was entirely a coincidence. I couldn't have done it if I planned it.

Now what do I do? Start a new one?!?

I've also been working on a Yogini Bolero for myself, using Patons Decor. I'm about 60% done. I'm not in a rush to get this done, but I'd like to have it done by fall.

Knitting Warmies

My friend put in a request (when he was a little tipsy, mind you) for a toque. I promised him after Christmas was done I'd knit him one. I don't think he believed me, but I did. The other day my husband met up with him and I had him deliver the toque. I got this text from my friend ...

"The toque is awesome. Thanks Samantha. I will wear it with pride."

Very sweet. Just in time for the snow too, because the temperature dropped and we got our first real snow fall of the season. It's been a pretty dry winter so far, but apparently we're headed for quite a bit of snow in February so I feel better knowing my follically challenged friend will have a warm head.

Ethan requested a new scarf last week, saying "My face is bigger than it used to be, I need a new scarf" so I decided to grab part balls of Patons Decor I had in my stash and knit him one with stripes. I started with one that had random stripes by my OCD brain couldn't handle it so I frogged it and went with this diagonal pattern.

Ezra is very helpful modelling beside it for me. :)

Undine 3.0 and 4.0

So it seems I have been turned into a bit of a sock knitter. Valerie warned me it could happen, and while I have knit socks in the past I have never knit four pairs in a row and never knit the same pattern consecutively. This must be the right pattern to push me over the edge. I'm even planning to knit my huge footed husband a pair (not Undine, but something manly). Me and socks? Who knew?! (Other than Valerie, I mean). I do have to put the socks aside in order to finish a couple other projects I have on the go, but soon after there will be more sock knitting.

Undine3

Undine4

My feet are going to be so warm and fancy! :)

Undine #2 FO

Today I finished the second pair of Undine socks ... and I cast on for a 3rd pair. I rarely knit a whole pair of socks, never mind three pairs in a row, but the pattern is simple and I have it memorized and I can knit at work on break or while I watch TV at home without having to worry too much about messing up.

Voila!

And pair #3 ...

Undine

Okay, I'm trying something new here. Wish me luck. I'm using the blogger app from my phone to post rather than my laptop. I'm not sure how well it will work.

I've been working on a pair of socks for a knit-along. It's the UndineKAL over at Wandering Cat Studios. Today I finished sock numero uno. It fits perfectly. Let's hope sock number two goes as well.

Little Miss Ezra has been living with us for just over a month now and she has fit in perfectly. She owns the dogs and everything else in the house too. She is everything a spoiled kitten should be. :) 

Cloud City Update

I can't remember which knits I have shared, so if I am repeating myself please forgive me.

First: Cloud City. It's an old picture as I'm into Chart 2 now, but it's looking food. :) I didn't take the picture sideways, so I'm not sure why it turned up sideways. Oh well.

Cloud City @ the divide for sleeves

Second: I've done a few more baby knits. This cute white and teal one as well as a mossy green one in which I have no picture of. It's the same top down design as this one, but mainly moss stitch, which is one of my favourite knit textures. I will need to go button shopping soon.

White & Teal baby cardigan

I have been keeping up with my H.I.I.T training schedule for the month. Today's workout is fierce. I'm not looking forward to doing it, but I am looking forward to having it finished.

Terrifying. LOL

Tomorrow is the day Michael flies home. These last two weeks have gone so slowly. Sometimes his time at work flies by and is easy, but this time it has dragged on and on and on and on. I can't wait to have him back in Ontario.

Pause Ended

I got the clarification for the sleeve count on Cloud City, so I can officially un-pause it. However, Michael flies home tonight and knitting lace with him around is almost as impossible as knitting lace with the kids around, and today (after school) marks the beginning of the kids' March break, so I've officially re-paused it. They have a week off school, so I won't be touching it at all for at least that long. Once they're back in school I will work on it while Michael is off gallivanting or whatever. I just don't expect a lot of progress over the next two weeks.

In about an hour and a half I have to head to the airport to pick him up. Well, I don't really have to leave that early, but I keep trying to get the truck to the car wash but every time I drive by there's a HUGE line up. I'm thinking there won't be much of a line up at 11:30 at night. HA. Winning.

His 3rd flight of the day ... and the longest three hours ever

I finished the baby hat and cast on for a baby cardigan. I figure I might as well have something on the go I can concentrate on while I've got busy people around me.

I hate waiting. 

On Pause

Cloud City is temporarily on pause while I await confirmation regarding a stitch count for the sleeves. I can see it peeking at me from atop my piano, just waiting to be picked up and knit on. I am really looking forward to getting it done. I know it will still take some time, but the yarn (Wandering Cat Yarns House Cat) is so soft I can't wait to wear it.

I decided to cast on for another baby hat to add to my collection. I headed to my yarn totes and when I opened them I realised two things: #1 - I really need to organize them and #2 - There is a lot of old yarn in there I will never use (so, part and parcel to #1 I'm going to donate it). Anyway ... I found a lovely sport weight teal to knit the hat. I think I will make a baby sweater with it as well. Maybe white and teal striped.

I have been looking at sweater patterns to knit for myself once Cloud City is done. I have found a couple I really like. Nice and long and cosy looking. Perfect for a summer night, once the sun has dropped, when I'm sitting on the deck or camping.

My favourite two (so far) are Big Sister and BlueSand Cardigan. They're both knit in DK weight, which will be nice. Another one I adore is Holden Jacket but it is an aran weight knit, so it would be better suited to wear in the autumn and winter. At least that's the theory I'm going with.

Today was a run day. Sensei and I headed to the local indoor track and ran 5.4km. It's nice having an extra person to run with. It keeps me motivated. The other day he sent me a text saying he had done a run and I had almost convinced myself I didn't need to run that day. Who would know, right? Then his text came and I thought "well if he ran I have to." You know, since I'm the one who kicked his ass into getting running again. Don't worry he repays me by kicking my ass (figuratively) at karate class. Tuesday's workout in the dojo was a tough one. It felt good though. Can't wait for tomorrow's class.

Seventeen

Good morning and happy Monday! The weekend was good, an hour short thanks to daylight savings time, but good nonetheless. Waking up at the new 7:15am was difficult this morning, thank Maude for coffee.

I didn't get as as far with Cloud City as I had wanted to (must be that missing hour), but I did manage to get to row 17 of Chart 1. Knock wood, except for a minor error which was easily sorted, it's going well.

Today is dedicated to laundry and housework. I'll be making time for yoga and knitting as well, but I've got to get the boring stuff out of the way first ... so I better go and get it done. Cheers!

Did I say Lamb?

Maybe I jumped the gun on the lamb thing, because the very next day we had some rather lion-like weather. Snow, freezing rain, just a generally yucky winter storm, and after a day of higher temperatures (-4C ish) the temperatures plummeted again. Minus double digits again. When I woke up this morning it was -19C. So yeah, maybe I should have said lion. Or lamion. Or liamb. Either way it seems like the lion and the lamb are getting along and conspiring against us.

I was getting pretty far in the first birthday sock. I had the heel turned and had picked up stitches for the gusset and then the worst thing happened. I realised I dropped a stitch somewhere in the heel and I tried to pick it up and fix it but my efforts were fruitless. I had to frog it. I'm not saying I won't cast on again, but I know at this point I won't get them done for his birthday so I will be focusing my attention on Cloud City.

Birthday Sock FROGGED

I finally got Cloud City cast on again yesterday. I'm ready to start into the charting, but I've got a little boy staying home from school today and tonight Lily is having a friend sleep over, so I'm not sure how much I will get done; aka how much uninterrupted knitting time will I have? Hopefully I can get at least the first chart done by the end of the (very busy) weekend.

Ready for the charting!

TGIF ... Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

In Like a Lamb

Welcome to March. The month where everyone begins to get excited about Spring ... and then we get slammed with another snow storm. I'm not worried per say but March has started out very calm. Very lamb like and as they saying goes "in like a lamb, out like a lion" (or vice versa). Though it is windy today, so maybe that's a lion's roar and this truly is the end of our wintery weather.

Today feels weird. I don't have to run today. I might run anyway, but I don't have to. There's no pressure. I am definitely going to do yoga at some point, but the running thing, I'm not sure yet. My Sensei just sent me a text asking if I felt like working out (karate) but I've dedicated my day to laundry, grocery shopping and ensuring my children don't die from neglect*, so I won't be hitting the dojo this morning. Oh yes, it totally benefits them to have a wicked cool and fit mom, but I'm thinking clean clothes and food are pretty important too. LOL 

Knitting. Yup. I have been. I knit yet another super cute baby hat. Lily has made me promise if she ever has babies I will make her babies rainbow coloured items like this one.

Not sure why it is sideways ... weird.

Last night I cast on the first sock of Michael's birthday socks. I'm hoping to have them done by his birthday (which is in 23 days) but I'm not holding my breath. The socks are my "while the kids are home" knit. I'm re-casting on for Cloud City (test knit for Valerie) today too (aka "while the kids are at school" knit). These two projects are going to be my main focus for the next little while. Hopefully they both go smoothly. I don't foresee any issues, but it is me and sometimes my brain likes to eat cotton.

WCY Alley Cat Sock - Maine Coon (I think)

The sock looked like that *insert arrow pointing up* last night, but I made a mistake and started a 2x2 rib over 72 sts rather than the 1x1 rib I had planned to do. Simple mistake really seeing as the baby hats I've been knitting are 72 sts and 2x2 rib. I've cast back on and got it right now.

Have a great day!

*In case some idiot decides to read my blog and jumps to a conclusion ... I'm making a joke ... my children are not neglected. They are happy and healthy and loved. Fed and clothed. I'm just a little behind on the laundry.

Yes, I'm a Knitter

Today at karate class it came up (while I was sparring) that I'm a Knitter. My sparring partner suddenly got very excited and said "can you make slippers?" Um, yeah, of course I can make slippers. His reaction "Oh I want some! Make me some! I will pay!" ... one million dollars. Sorry kid (he's 24) you can't afford me. Of course I didn't tell him that at the time. He may be 24 but he's a much more experienced karateka than I and I didn't want to get my butt whipped. So I just smiled and kept going. He'll forget about it because, like I said, he's 24.

Another baby hat.

My 2015 run streak officially finishes up today. It has been a fantastic month. My grand total is 130.4km, which is about 50km more than I ran in the February Run Streak in 2014.

Today I opted to run my final day outside. I ran to the dojo and had planned to run back, but the 90 minute sparring class really tuckered me out. Plan B was to take a cab home but when I said I was going to call a cab my Sensei (and new-found run buddy) offered to drive me home.

Here are a couple of pictures from my run today. It was cold, but so beautiful outside.

As I headed out the door.

Looking across the Grand River

Yes. I'm running tomorrow.

For now I'm going to sit back, relax, watch a movie or something on Netflix and knit (but not slippers for a 24 year old, lol).

Cheers!

Weave Me a Story

I've been a busy girl this last week between karate and running and all the other life stuff I've done, I have not had much time for knitting (though I did finish a baby hat on Friday evening while babysitting my sister's two rug rats). Today after my run (9.4km today) I got to weaving in more of the ends of Owen's blanket. This is going to be a long and tedious job.

Ends

This week I had karate class three times. Usually it's twice (occasionally once/week), but this week our class hours were tweaked a little bit. Same with the upcoming week. I'm really working my ninja skills. :)

My run streak challenge is going well. In the first 7 days I ran 30.4km. That's pretty good, I think, then you get crazy guys like my husband who will run that (and much more) in one day. He was teasing me in a proud hubby kind of way. LOL

Saturday was Selfie-Saturday for the challenge group on Facebook ... mine wasn't too exciting. Just me on the treadmill before my run.

Snow Day!

Last night at bedtime Ethan told me he was going to do "crossies" all night in the grand hopes today would be a snow day. It must have worked because when I woke up at 6:10 this morning and checked the board of education website they had announced a snow day. I've asked him to do crossies (fingers crossed) on my next Lotto Max ticket ... it seems he has some kind of magic touch.

It took me two hours to shovel out this morning. The snow was a foot deep at the lowest points and up to my hip in other places. Pretty gross. The good news is Wiarton Willie predicts an early Spring. Ethan has crossies for that too.

Looking out my front window this morning.

There's a car under the mound on the right. LOL

My run streak began successfully. I did a 5.1km run yesterday. It was good. :)

I finished the baby hat yesterday and started another one. It's just a simple rolled brim hat; stockinette stitch. 

I am headed to the treadmill in a few minutes to get my run in for the day. Tonight I have to take Owen to guitar. The roads are mostly clear, but his guitar teacher works from home and he lives on a side street which is probably not ploughed yet. Thank Maude for 4x4.

Run Streak 2015!

Today is the official start of the February Challenge I'm participating in. It's a Run Streak. I'm going to be running "every damn day" of February. ("Every damn day" is the motto of the group). I did this challenge last year and it was fabulous. Fun too, if you can believe it. My minimum distance for each day I have set for myself is 3km (last year it was 2km) but I'll be running a few longer distances. I'd like to get in 100km this month. Last year I did 83.5km. I know you think I'm crazy and that's okay. :)

My OCD loves February this year. It's a perfect month. It begins on a Sunday (in my world, this is the first day of the week) and ends on a Saturday (the last day of the week). So perfect. So pretty. So symmetrical.

Yesterday I knit up this cute little baby hat. I used Patons Kroy Sock on 3.75mm needles. It's so soft and stretchy. How cute is it that it's smaller than Dozer's ear? Granted the boy has giant ears, but still ... such a tiny hat. 

Another hat (same pattern) in Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat Sock. I forget the name of the colourway, but pinks! It's good to have a balance of boy/girl items in my baby knits stash.

Have a good one folks!

Done and Done

It's the last day of January. This month has flown by. Zoom zoom.

To celebrate I give you two FOs!

Surpris is finished. All it needs is a couple buttons. I haven't decided on colour yet. Ideas?

Last week I knit up this little boy bonnet. It needed the ties, so I did that this afternoon after weaving in all the ends of Surpris. 

Later this week I'm going to work on Cloud City (the test knit for Valerie). I have not made any progress on it, but it's going to have to wait until the kids aren't around because I will need to concentrate. So until then I'll work on another baby hat. Probably just a simple rib knit hat. :) That ought to keep my hands busy enough while I watch American Horror Story (Season 4) and not so busy that I'll be inclined to screw it up. :)

A Little Progress & A Race

After a week of meds kicking my butt, last night I finally felt well enough to do some knitting. Nothing complicated, but I fully completed a sleeve on Surpris and I'm hoping to get the second sleeve done today after I get the laundry taken care of. Though I haven't decided if I'm going to wash/dry/fold or flick a lit match on it. ;)

This morning I took my last pill. Hooray. They taste as evil as they look. I don't chew them (or taste them for long) but they have a horrible bitter casing on them. Eew.

This morning I registered Michael and I for our first race of the season. We're doing the Grimsby Half and 10km (respectively) on February 16th. I don't know why I volunteer myself to get up so early in the morning for a race ... in the winter ... races should start later. I am now registered for three races so far this year. The Grimsby 10km, Around the Bay Relay (3 Person) in March, and the Hazel 5km in May. I'm sure there will be more, they're kind of addicting.

Surpris!

The other night I was enjoying my evening sipping wine and browsing knitting patterns on Ravelry. I found quite a few adorable and lovely patterns. One I couldn't wait to cast on for. It's Surpris by Yarn-Madness. She has a lot of patterns I could get excited about knitting, but for now I'm just doing this one.

I'm using a smaller needle (4mm) with a DK yarn for this little sweater, though the pattern calls for 4.5mm needles and worsted yarn, so while aiming for a 3 month size I knit the 6 month size. I'll let you know how accurate my guess was on this. So far it seems good.

Lily picked the colours. :)

Tonight while Michael is out at karate I'm going to work on my test knit of Cygnus. I can't wait to get it knit up. :)

2FOs

It happened.

Finally.

I'd say at long last, but in the grand scheme of things it really didn't take that long. I began on November 25th, took a short hiatus to knit a couple smaller items, and yesterday (Jan 18th) I finished the final square on Owen's blanket. I still need to weave in the ends, but for all intents and purposes I'm officially labelling this as DONE. Stick a fork in it.

11x11 Square Pattern

Hip to Be Square

I also have another FO to share. I started weaving in the ends on the blanket, but got bored and wanted to do something I didn't have to actually look at so I cast on for a Fuzzy Brim Baby Bonnet. Less than a movie later it was finished. :)

Fuzzy Brim Baby Bonnet

Next up is a test knit for the lovely Valerie. I'm going to wind my skeins into balls later today. Michael is fascinated with winding yarn so I'll let him help. It's a job I'm not overly fond of so that's win win.

Happy Monday!