Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap

Cheryl from MA. sent me this wonderful swap package. I received 2 lovely soft light blue washclothes, a soap wrapped in the same soft yarn. Some candles in an elf cookie scent. A new notepad just in time because I am about to run out of my current one. A lovely snowflake mug with some delicious hot cocoa mix. A pretty silver ornament and 3 skeins of Pattons SWS. Thank you Cheryl for a lovely package. The package arrived yesterday just in time for New Years.

Hodge Podge

Wow, it's been 10 days since my last post. Sit back-relax and let's get caught up! I've decided to cut back a bit on my activities with Weight Watchers. I work as a leader, receptionist and location coordinator for two different locations. My full-time job was starting to interfere with one of my meetings and in the future I could see it getting only worse. I called my boss and told here that I needed to give up my Wednesday night meeting and also the location coordinator position for that location. I'm not sure if the members know or not. I'm still working on the Monkey socks for the Monkey Swap 3 exchange. I just finished the first pair this morning. It took me about 11 days to get one pair knitted. I really didn't do a whole lot of knitting over the weekends. I have all the extra goodies to go with the socks so now it's just a matter of finishing them. Lately, I've been using my Weight Watchers scale to measure the knitted sock and the leftover yarn to see if I have enough to do the second sock. This morning when I weighed them, they both were so close. This is going to be interesting. I just hope that my gauge doesn't change. In Hogwarts Sock Swap news, i'm waiting for Victoria to give me her address so that I may send her package off to her. The socks have been done for weeks now. I finally also decided what else I am going to include in her package. I'm not saying a word because I know she reads the blog and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. Stay tuned for pics later though. I am anxious to finish the Monkey socks so that I can start on my ISE5 scarf. I don't know if I mentioned or not but I decided to do the Montego Bay Scarf from the Interweave Knits Summer 2007 magazine. I have picked Handmaiden's Sea Silk in the Sangria colorway. Last Saturday, knitting daughter, her friend, DH and myself trekked up to Milwaukee to visit Ruhama's. Well DH came along for the ride. Knitting Daughter and her friend went into the shop with me. I was very much lighter in the pocketbook. My main reason for going there was to score some yarn for the Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap. I had finally decided on the pattern, which I am going to knit the Clapotis. I looked at all the projects on Ravelry to determine what yarn I wanted to use. I had narrowed it down to two- Colinette Jitterbug, or Koigu KPPM. Once we were in Ruhama's I had a hard time deciding which colorway to use. The girls decided for me. They chose something in Koigu KPPM. I'll post pictures a bit later. I purchased 4 skeins but am debating about making a return trip for the 5th skein. I figure that both scarves should be a quick knit and I should be able to make the beginning of December deadline for sending them off. By the way, both pals are overseas and in the same country no less! While we were at Ruhama's knitting daughter found some yarn that she liked and asked if I would get it for her. She decided that she wants to make a scarf. The only stitch she knows is the knit stitch. I casted on 25 stitches for her. She is finished with one skein and is working on the second one. I'll have to get a picture of the scarf and maybe her knitting it! She is doing much better this time than the last attempt. I've only had to fix it one time, and so far there are no holes!

On to the Monkeys!

I should have posted this a few days ago. Over the weekend, I finished Victoria's socks. They are washed and blocked. But most important of all they are dry! I just need to gather a few more items and also get her muggle address so the owl can deliver the parcel. I absolutely love these socks and everyone else that has seen them. Once Victoria has received her parcel stay tuned for the pics of her socks. I casted on a yesterday for the Monkey Swap 3. I just finished the cuff during lunch and am now on the leg. I am knitting these in Colinette Jitterbug in the Florentino colorway. Click the link to see the color. I also have been in constant contact with my pals for the ISE5 and Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap. Both pals seem wonderful. For my ISE5 pal, I've decided to knit the Montego Bay Scarf in Handmaiden's Sea Silk, Sangria colorway. And for my Christmas Around the World Pal, I'm going to do the Clapotis or another Montego Bay scarf in Sea Silk as well but I haven't decided on the colorway.

Did Someone Place A Charm On My Sock?

I swear someone must have placed a charm on Victoria's sock. I had to frog it once because I had messed up big time. Then I messed up again but I swore I wasn't going to frog it again. I was more than 4 inches into the leg. Then it happened again. I had to rip back again, but this time it was 6 rows instead of 2. I am still trying to figure out how in the world I got the pattern to work out with 2 stitches missing. If someone could explain that one to me I would be forever grateful. Victoria, you're second sock is misbehaving but I am hoping that that it will behave now. Just this morning, I finally turned the heel. Now to shape the gusset and onward to the foot and toe. Sign-ups are now complete for the International Scarf Exchange 5. Dorothy says that there is enough people signed up from around the world that we should all have an international pal. That should be pretty cool. I am anxious to get my pal's information so I can purchase the yarn and put it in queue to be knitted up after the Monkey Socks. The hostess for the Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap is going through and doing the matches also so I should have that information also. That one is going to be a little bit tougher to decide what to knit. There are really no guidelines that say you must knit a scarf or a sock. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what I come up with. Either that or I will post a question on the blog and ask what everyone is thinking about knitting up for their pal. My Sock It To Me Pal has been patiently waiting for her socks. They have been completed, washed and blocked and are now ready to be put in the post. I got the box but want to add one more goodie to the box which I am thinking about doing tomorrow and will hopefully get it in the post tomorrow. Saturday, I had my first foray into dyeing. I took a class to do some Kool-Aid dyeing at Fiddlehead Yarns in town. I had a great time and Nan is such a wonderful teacher. I am going back to Fiddleheads tonight because Nan is going to be there and has offered to help me fix my Sven Sveater. The collar is a bit wonky and doesn't look right. I tried this morning to find my container of yarn that contains the leftover from the project but DH decided to bury it in the back of a closet amongst millions of boxes (ok, not millions) so that I would have to go through everything just to get to my yarn stash. I am hoping what we frog will be enough to fix the sweater without having to get any more yarn. I figure I might have time though to go on an excavation to get at those boxes by the time I finish the sweater. Tonight, I DD's first high school dance. She is so excited. Her best friend is coming over to the house to get ready for the dance. I'm excited for her also. She doesn't it know it yet, but I'm going to be taking pictures of this momentus occasion. I still haven't started on the socks for my monkey pal. I want to finish Victoria's socks first. I find that I do better when I work on only one project at a time. At least then I can remember where I left off.

Christmas Around the World Knitter's Exchange Questionnarie

1. Are you religious? No 2. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? Intermediate 3. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? At the moment, knitting is my only hobby. It 's more of an obsession. 4. Favorite color(s)? I absolutely love orange. I also like the fall colors but more of the burgandy, oranges, yellows and browns. 5. Do you collect anything? knitting books, sock yarn and knitting bags 6. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? Not that I know of 7. Do you have any pets? Does a husband and 2 kids count? 8. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate 9. Cookies or Sweets? Both, I have a terrible sweet tooth 10. Do you knit socks? Yes, I love to knit socks 11. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) I just love to knit anything, scarves, socks, sweaters, hats. 12. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? We have an fake tree that we put up every year. This year we are going to a 4ft tree. 13. Favorite holiday treats? Christmas cookies, anything with chocolate 14. Favorite holiday smells? My all time favorite is by Yankee Candle called Christmas Eve. It reminds me of my grandparents house when we were there sleeping over on Christmas Eve. 15. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate. Traditional 16. What are your favorite holiday traditions? Locking myself in the bedroom and wrapping presents with a movie. Daughter and I going to Christmas lane on Christmas Eve to look at all the lights. Christmas shopping with my husband and daughter but not the two of them together. Flour fights when making Christmas cookies. 17. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....” being with family and taking time to enjoy the season. 18. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? Shiny with silver glitter 19.What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given? I really don't remember a favorite gift 20. When do you start your Christmas? The tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving. So that's the official start for me. Christmas shopping starts then also. 21. Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? Sometimes I send them. I buy them. 22. What is your favorite Christmas dish? My grandmother's dressing. 23. Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Listen to them sing. Offer something to drink and a donation. 24. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning 25. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? With family. We don't have a lot of friends.

Deadlines

I thought that I would have a posting where I put all my knitting deadlines down. I have a tendency to forget what is due when. October 5th Sock It To Me Sock Swap October 31st Hogwarts Sock Swap 2 November 1st Monkey Swap 3 December 22nd Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap

Frogged Yet Again!

The Uptown Boot Socks are going to the Frog Pond again tonight. Don't get me wrong I love the color but the pattern is just not working with the color that I had chosen. I was going to use Claudia's Hanpainted in the Peppermint Mocha colorway but it's just not working. I even took a photo of the sock just to see if the pattern would show up in the photo. Nope it didn't show a thing. So it's back to the drawing board. I am going to try to locate some yarn in a semi-solid color. I should have been almost finised with the second sock by now. Since I can't work on The Uptown Book Socks, I figured that I would start on Victoria's socks from The Hogwarts Sock Swap Two. I received the gorgeous Slytherin yarn and just have to get it wound up into it's neat little pancake balls. I've all ready picked out the pattern. I am going to try to keep that a secret since Victoria is probaby reading this blog. (Hi Victoria!). I'm eagerly waiting to find out who my pals are for the Monkey Swap 3 and the Christmas Around the World Swaps. The Monkey Swap is open until August 31st but I'm not quite sure about the Christmas Swap. I think that I am done signing up for swaps for now. Although there is going to be an ISE5 swap that I have been throwing around the idea of participating in. I know I need to start getting photos on my blog. That's coming. I need to post the photos of the wonderful socks my pal Lori sent me from the Sockapalooza sock swap they are simply gorgeous. More about that in another post.