Yeah, um, I swatched for the pretty, cabled cardi yesterday…

and while my width is good, my height is too big. Blast. So, I’m thinking about springing for some Addi Turbos and seeing if I can get a better gauge swatch with it. Almost all of my needles are Clover bamboo. I haven’t knit with Encore for a long time and It didn’t go very well. The Encore was clinging to the needles, which was annoying. Plus, my stitches don’t look very even. It didn’t feel very good, so hopefully the steel needles will be better all around.

I’ve been putting off finishing the grandma’s other sock until I try the completed one on a small foot. Pete’s bag is still in need of sewing. The doll, sorry Carrie, is still in need of legs and hair. I didn’t write any patterns. Wow, I was ambitious on Monday, wasn’t I? I did make some progress on the Manos Mitt. And that’s about it.

Today, I’m going to my LYS to see if I can talk her into ordering some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for Cable-Eight. That’s my knit-along news for the day. Does anyone else have anything to show or tell?

To avoid a complete dud of a post, wanna see something pretty?

My friend Katie has started making needle cases. This holds circulars and double points. (And short straights, I suppose). I love the fabric. She makes them in many colors, and a few of the local yarn stores are selling them. Way to go, Katie! She includes a little pouch with iron on numbers, so you can customize and decide what you want where, then label it. She and I worked out a swap- yarn for needle case. I’m quite happy with that. If you’d like one too, let me know, and I’ll get you in touch!

Shana is knitting a gorgeous cabled cardigan from the Holiday 2004/5 Vogue Knitting magazine. I really like it, so I dug through my mags and found the pattern.

I’d make it zippered instead of buttoned, and I’m not so sure about those upper pockets. I think it’d look great made out of the yarn I bought for Cable-Eight. Hmmmmm.

That my grandmother is Cinderella! That’s right, read it and weep. I’ll tell you how I know. Remember how the ENTIRE kingdom tried on the glass slipper before Cinderella was found, and it didn’t fit a single soul until her? She had a dainty, tiny little foot that was smaller than everyone else’s in the land.* Well, as I try to find someone that wears a size 6 1/2 shoe (like Cinderella herself), I’m not having any luck. I feel like the Grand Duke. But HE didn’t have the internet… HAHAHA! Therefore, this question is posed to those of you who I know personally, that live local. Do any of you have a size 6 1/2 foot, that would be willing to try on grandma’s sock and tell me if it fits? It would make me sooooo happy!

*I wear a size 10. I used to wear size 9 to 9 1/2, so either my feet are growing, or (my theory) sizes are shrinking. While admittedly, my feet are bigger than most every female I know, size 6 1/2 is dang small. Then there’s the issue of the beautiful princess having pretty little feet, and the ugly stepsisters having very large feet. Thanks for that. Did I need another reason to feel like an oaf?

This is Pete’s bag. I’m still ironing out how to close the flap, and here is an option that I think I like. What do you think?

It’s pinned right now. I’ll stare at it for awhile, and take into consideration any suggestions before sewing it in place. The loops are on the flap, and the knots come from underneath. He is in Italy, and I’ve heard (not from him) that Italy is notorious for pick-pockets, so do you think I should make something more secure? It needs to look masculine, as much as a felted purse-thing can, but he IS in Europe, and I think men carrying satchel/bags are more common over there than here in the States. I know I have some European readers, so feel free to speak up if I’m wrong.

As a catch-up for those of you who are new or don’t remember, my youngest brother-in-law asked me for a felted bag with these specific dimensions. He is currently living in Italy. He asked for it back in August, and it’s been a long process. The yarn, a dark charcoal Donegal Tweed by Tahki, is perfectly luscious felted.

Pete also asked for an Italian flag decoration somewhere on the bag. I looked for patches, my friend Gayle has looked for embroidery patterns, but in the end, I just knit one.

It’s garter stitch, made from Lamb’s Pride on little needles. Size two or three. It is also pinned. I’m thinking about moving it down to the very bottom of the side before sewing it on.

One of my favorite things on this bag are the secret pockets. The bag was knit separate from the strap, which was knit and then sewed on before felting. (Thanks to the great ladies at EB knit night for the idea). The strap goes all the way around the bag, and I sewed them together using the same method found on the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern, when they sew the two soles together. It worked beautifully, and the gap between bag and strap on either side makes for a perrrrrrrrfect little pocket on each side, closed by a square of velcro at the top. Hopefully, it will fit his cell phone, because he asked for such a pocket in his original email.

Although this has been a stressful project for me, I’m happy with how it’s turning out. I combined different elements from different projects I’ve knit to make something new. Having it work out has been very satisfying.

Last night, the girls and I met Nate at his office after hours with dinner. Then we played Laser Tag. Nate works in a large, practically vacant building with empty offices, meeting rooms, and hallways. There’s also a raised hallway/meeting room with separating doors that parallels the main hallway, so you can literally run circles through a maze of empty rooms with abandoned desks and portable half walls strewn everywhere. I don’t think it could be more perfect.

Wanna see more?

I didn’t get much knitting done over the weekend at all, and what I DID do, had to be ripped and redone a few times. But, that’s been par for the course on this project.

This is the second toe I’ve knit on this sock. It’s going to have to be redone, again, because I forgot the reenforcing thread. Not having the heart to frog it a second time, I turned to the other sock. They’re almost done. They’re lovely. I want my own, and the yarn is waiting for me…

Here are my goals for the week-

1. Finish Pete’s bag
2. Finish Grandma’s socks
3. Finish the Valentine’s doll for Carrie
4. Finish my Manos Mitts
5. write patterns for the lacy Noro hat and Lauralund like I continue to promise to do

Then I’ll be free once more, unless I’m forgetting something, to start Cable-Eight, a Harry Potter sweater, the Flower Basket Shawl, my Koigu socks, or anything else I might want to knit. With the exception of the pattern writing, I’m very close on all of it. It’s still probably a bit steep for a single week, but we’ll aim high and see what we get.

Good morning! I did better this week. That’s what I’m holding on to right now. Not great, but better. Better is good. Better can be the start of an upswing.

Monday, I didn’t exercise, but I did physical therapy.
Tuesday, my right hip was hurting really bad, so I didn’t do treadmill, but I did physical therapy.
Wednesday, I did 35 minutes of treadmill. Yay! And physical therapy.
Thursday and Friday were just physical therapy.

I’m still eating a lot of veggies. I’m revving up. I intend to exercise today, which will be twice for the week. I’ll take it. And next week, it’ll be better.

How are you doing?

My friend Katie, who posts here, continues to look great. She is swimming in her clothes, buying smaller sizes, and she said the most inspiring thing last night, so I thought I’d share… She said that when she signed up at Curves, her ultimate goal seemed unobtainable. But now, she feels she can really do it. I can’t hardly imagine anything more exciting than that. I think that for me, I’m dealing with some mental things that are acting as stumbling blocks. I think I’m afraid of failure, so I’m not trying as hard. It’s ridiculous. Thank you, Katie, for making it real. And good job!

I sincerely miss how good I feel when I’m exercising more, and eating really well. I want that energy and optimism back. There is no sane reason why I’m not doing it right now. Just the typical opposition that we all fight when doing something important with our lives.

UPDATE- I did it! 50 minutes on the treadmill! I feel soooooo good! Now I’m cleaning the mess Nate made in the garage so I can do weights next week.

The Kathmandu shrug!

She’s pretty, and she’s fun to wear. I love the feel of Kathmandu.

Now, knit-along news… who’s got some? Any Haydens? Any Cable-Eights?

I linked Jena yesterday as she’s started her Cable-Eight. I haven’t started mine, but my yarn has been given the big, muddy welcome from Abner, who came straight inside from apparently chewing on a wet and dirty log, and carried a skein around in his mouth for awhile ’til we could catch him. Jerk. So I guess I’m committed now, since I can’t exactly return it.

Oh, and if you read me through Bloglines, you should now be able to get to my site by clicking the title. Thanks to Jody for bringing it to my attention.

If I were feeling kinder towards myself, I could have titled this entry, “Live and Learn”, but I’m not. I’m a dork.

Yesterday, I was knitting on the Manos Mitt. Finished it, in fact. It’s stunning.

The second one is started and I’m three inches into it, but I put it aside last night to finish up Grandma’s Koigu socks. To be safe, I had decided to add two rows and then begin the toe decreases. (Thanks for the comments and suggestions to my Fingers and Toes entry, by the way. The problem is, the feet these socks are being made for are in St. George, Utah, so I can’t try them on the real deal before I decrease).

Getting back to it… So I’m adding the two rows, and I decide to try it on once more, just in case I was on crack or something the last time I slipped it on. Guess what? It was significantly smaller on my foot than it was on Sunday. In fact, it was exactly as long as it should have been. I’ve got 6 1/2 inches of sock, and 3 1/2 inches of foot left, thus adding up to my 10 inch foot. I sit, somewhat stunned, staring at my foot as I contemplate how in the world it could behave differently today than it did three days ago. Then it occurs to me, I was wearing nylons. On Sunday, fresh out of church, I was wearing nylons. Now, being too lazy to take them off, I thought to myself, “what difference can nylons make? None. It’s just like a naked foot, right?” No. It isn’t. And do you want to know what else? My Mother-in-law who was helping with this effort, was also wearing nylons.

The reason this is so humiliating is NOT that I thought I could get away with trying a sock on over nylons to get an accurate length measurement. No. The reason this is so humiliating is that trying them on, over nylons, and being completely confused at the result didn’t cause me to think that MAYBE IT WAS THE NYLONS!!! For goodness’ sake.

So today, I’m going to re-knit the several rows that I frogged on Sunday, (thinking that I had knit them too long), so I can start the toe decreases.

I debated whether or not to share this with you. I really did. I thought, “If I tell them, they may never take me seriously again. At some future time, when I really need help with something, I’ll get some snide remark (most likely from Gayle) about trying it without the nylons”. But then I thought, you all deserve a laugh today, as much as anyone. And I really don’t mind being laughed at when I’ve done something stupid. Usually. Besides, it IS possible (work with me here) that someone else might be in a position to make the same mistake. It’s possible. So, I’m doing you all a favor, right?

Moving on.

The Manos Mitt is soooooo pretty! And I haven’t started Cable-Eight yet. But Jena has!

Hey Hayden, guess what! I finally have, in my very possession: Yarn to make some Weasley Sweaters!

Hooray! It’s seven skeins each of Silky Tweed. I don’t know when I’m going to actually start them, but I have the yarn, and that’s a step.

And, it is not any great surprise that after seeing my felted clogs last week, mom decided that she needed some. Behold, her color choice…

This is Lamb’s Pride in Jack’s Plum and Ink Blue. I think they’ll be smashing.

As for actual knitting… the precious few minutes I was able to spend on the craft yesterday were spent on the Manos mitts. I still love them. I am under the impression that Manos is going to prove significantly warmer than Kureyon. At least it seems that way.