The redirect

Have you ever started a project and got about halfway through when you thought to yourself "this would look so much better as ...."? It doesn't usually happen to me because I tend to plan ahead and deliberate about the next project while I work on the current one (or as of late, four). Well, it happened to me this week. I had about ten minutes to kill off in between kidster taxiing so I sat down with my socks. I had the weather channel on (Why? They never get it right.) and was listening to the forecast of teens and negative degree wind chills. I happened to put my feet up and this was the view.

Normally I take my shoes off the second I come in the door, but like I said, I knew I was leaving again in a quick 10. I thought how funny it was that this yarn that I seemed to have no use for matched my sneakers. Then I thought about how I don't have any mittens. I have thin fleece gloves for driving and thick insulated gloves for snow, but no mittens. So the socks were redirected. I've had the peekaboo mittens pattern queued for about as long as I've been queueing in Ravelry, and what I had so far was perfect for changing over. Here are my mittens, that are just as good as gloves but better! The cuffs are a little long since I decided not to rip back the progress I had made on them as socks, but rolled up they fit just fine, perfect actually! And just in time too, it is 18 degrees with a -5 windchill today! I guess they got this one right.

Why did I do that?

I've done it again. I now have four projects going at once.

The first project was Auntie Mitts in the Atacama I had used for the scarf. I hadn't decided on a hat pattern (and still haven't) but needed to get knitting. I found one skein that was much lighter than the rest with very little of the gray and red in it. I thought it might look nice in this lace pattern and it does.

I had planned to wear them with the cast on edge at the fingers because I like the gentle scallop it has. I am mostly done with the first one, but have put this aside. I'm now thinking of just some wrist ruffles (cuffs?) instead. So while I muddle it they have taken a back burner to the other projects.

My Nimbus is going along nicely. The back was a piece of cake. Then I made the two fronts at the same time. Figured it was the best way to make them the same size! I'm about to start the sleeves already!

Then last Friday night I started this heart, a new pattern I found on Ravelry. I was at the point where the decreases start for the sweater, and being beer night I decided I had better wait for a weeknight or else I might end up with three armholes! I finished this little guy up Saturday and it is so cute, even without felting. (Apparently the designer thinks my photo is cute too because she put it on the pattern page!!!) I am hoping to make more and turn them into some sort of Valentine's Day item. Maybe a wreath, maybe some conversation hearts!

And to top it all off, there are the socks that I am making in the KAL. I am rationalizing this one away as not really being a WIP because we only get one step every Friday. It's done later that night (beer and all!) and then I have the rest of the week to work on the other items.

So as far as the WIPs go, lets look at this rationally. The socks don't really count since the that week's step gets finished right away, right? And the mitts don't count either since they are in hibernation, right? With the sweater being my weekday knitting and the hearts my weekend project (with each heart getting finished by the end of the weekend), I really only have one WIP which is the sweater!

All right! I think I'll be ok this time. I promise I wont get stressed out. And I also know that I am not casting on anything new until at least the sweater gets done!

Finally!

I'm making socks.

Most of you are thinking..."what's the big deal!", but this will be my first foray into socks (finally, I know). I am in a Yahoo! group, one of too many, and there is a learn-to-knit-socks type of KAL that started this weekend. You get one step every week so that you have plenty of time to ask questions if you get stuck. I like that set-up and I've cast on with some Galway in a weird melon color I can't seem to find anything else to do with.

I have to say that I am not at all intimidated by socks. And I love knitting with dpns. (Magic loop will have to wait, lets try one new thing at a time here!) There is really no reason I haven't knit them before except that I just haven't knit them before. The KAL wants us to use worsted weight yarn so I'm assuming we'll be making boot socks. That's fine because I have tons of worsted weight yarn in my stash that needs to get used up. My only issue is that I am a jump right in type of person with, as you know, limited knitting time. It would be nice to make some Monkeys, or Jaywalkers, or some of these lovely socks designed by my friend Shortly, no? OK, ok, one thing at a time.

So far, so good. Look like mittens to me!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Thank you old friends (as in been around for a while) and hello new ones. I want to thank all of you for encouraging me, staying with me, and most of all humoring me for the past year. It has been fun and I look forward to my posts and reading yours now more than ever!

By the way, this is an actual cake made by my almost sister. Her website is here!

The best lasagna I ever made!

I know I've said before that I don't cook. I think that might not be exactly right since I usually muster up one or two dinners during a regular Hubster-at-work week. I have about three recipes that I do and they usually involve casseroles or crockpots.

Hubster likes to look online or clip recipes and have me try them. I think that way if they bomb it goes against my less than perfect track record instead of his (smirk). I try to look them up online and read the reviews. I usually take them for what they are worth since everyone's tastes are different. I especially laugh over the ones that say "My picky 3 year old asked for seconds!" since I have a picky three year old and he never even eats it, never mind asking for seconds.

So it was with a casual acceptance that I made the newest experiment: Crock Pot Lasagna. Hubster found it in the Kraft Food & Family magazine (online recipe here). I have a lasagna recipe but haven't made it in a few years because it takes about an hour just to put it all together. Plus I'm not a huge fan of baked pasta dishes, I don't like dried out or crusty edged pasta.

But this lasagna was excellent! Moist, saucy, delicious, serious comfort food. My only change for next time, and there will be a next time, is to add some garlic. It took only 15 minutes to make just like the recipe said (another pet peeve, when it takes you twice as long as they say). My picky three year old ate it and my even pickier five year old actually did ask for seconds, no kidding! I took a hand count on whether or not to make it again and I am proud to say I got four out of four votes! If you're looking for something super quick and yummy on a cold winter night give it a try. And let me know how your family liked it!

Bean head hat update

I want to send special thanks to all my Fiber Friends for their advice on a beret pattern. It seems though, that instead of helping me narrow down to one pattern, I've come up with even more lovely choices to choose from. Plus I've found some more that are in the running too, like Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, and the Orvieto Hat! Oh well, it's a good thing I started something else in the meantime. I hate to waste that precious knitting time. I'll keep you posted about the hat.

The bean head hat search

Remember my scarf I just finished? And remember that thing I have about wanting matchy things? Anyway...I am on a search for a hat pattern. And maybe some gloves, mitts, or fingerless somethings, too. But I am having a time of it, even with the help of Ravelry. I'm hoping you can help me.

Here's the issues:

I want to use the Atacama in my stash to keep things all matchy.

I do not like the way Atacama knits up in stockinette since the color repeats are so short. I love the way it looks in the scarf lace pattern though!

I have a ridiculously small head. A bean head. Yes, it's true. OK, well, maybe not that bad, but I am tall (5'9"), have broad shoulders, and a long thin neck, all of which emphasize the slimness of my head.

I'll wait for you to stop chuckling...

I do not look good in caps. If you don't believe me then look at this. (I can't believe I'm showing you these!)

And I have bangs. Been cursed with them ever since my mother gave me my first haircut. Except for a little feathering stint back in the 80's, I can't seem to shake them even after 37 years. Jeez, I need a new look! But I digress...

So I have been thinking that something with texture or a beret of some sort. Give some dimension to my head and puff it out a bit. But not too puffy or we'll be in the same "look-how-small-her-head-is" situation. I've only been able to come up with these three possibilities:

Ripple by Wendy Bernard

Ruche by Susan B. Anderson

Fountain Hat by Phoe M. White

So I need your help! Do you have a hat pattern in mind that might solve my head problem? Should I keep the Atacama for mitts and go with another yarn for the hat?

HELP!!!

Twins!

Scarves, that is.
I knew one of my Christmas gifts was a new coat from my mother (since I had picked it out, tried it on, and brought it back from Ohio with me a few weekends ago!).

I knew that I had a good yarn candidate in my stash. Boy, that doesn't happen too often! Once I started the pattern I was sure I had made the right decision. The various shades of gray (so my favorite color to wear, it seems) and the little pops of maroonish red in the Atacama knitted up into a really nice fabric.I also knew halfway through knitting the Mustard Scarf that I would be giving it away. Those pops of red kept reminding me of my Mother-In-Law's maroon leather jacket, and her struggle to find a nice neck warming accessory to match it.

It was finished the morning of Christmas Eve. I steam blocked it and attached the button just before we were leaving for our big Christmas Eve celebration at Hubster's parents' house. I gifted the scarf to a very thankful MIL then realized that I hadn't taken any photos!!!

What to do?

Make another. And I did. This one's all mine.
Sorry for the bathroom shots. It's the room with the best lighting!