Motivation

Well, it seems my little stash post last time around gave me a little incentive to finish a couple of projects. So that's what I did today. ALL day.

Hand cramp!

Monkey:



Uglets, if you dare:

don'tclickhere

So what's next? I don't know! Maybe a nice pair of manly socks for the boyfriend? Missing him like mad, by the way. Maybe another pair of lovely socks for myself? Maybe a lace project(eek!)? Or, maybe I will spend hours upon hours of my time searching through ravelry for the next perfect thing :)

Sock Disorder

Honestly, I don't think my sock yarn stash is that bad. It's bad that I think this way, though, because it gives me an excuse to buy more yarn. Who invented the thought that "sock yarn doesn't count" in regard to stash yarn? I need to give them a hug.



What is bad, is the fact that I have this many unfinished pairs of socks:



Ok, add two more, because I am also working on Monkey and the infamous Uglets. This is no good, peoples.

We had our monthly knit night in Lowell last night, and I have to say, it was AWESOME to be knitting outside and drinking watermelon beer. I got a lot of compliments on my Monkey socks, which I have been working on, and not working on, forever. I think it's something to do with the natural lighting. I do love them, though :)

Multitasking

Today I mastered the art of knitting and reading a book at the same time.

Let me set the scene. Here I am, nestled into my corner cushion of a sectional, surrounded by all things I need close. I have a book, my knitting, a glass of water, the remote, and tissues. I don't really need the tissues, but if I did need one, they are here. Whenever I get up and I see my butt indent in the cushion surrounded by all of these "necessities," it dawns on me that I am really lazy. But I digress. Anyway, I was watching Dog the Bounty Hunter(don't ask, I am a guilty pleasure tv whore) and knitting my Uglets,(really, they are too ugly to post pictures on here) when I glanced over and thought to myself that when the boyfriend is unavailable, it is the prefect time to read! So I nestled my book on my legs, propped my feet up on the ottoman, and read and knit.

This is all before I learned how to knit and watch tv. Go figure.

Whoa

I've been knitting a lot lately.

After I finished the Tanged Yoke Cardigan, my last BIG project, I spent hours and hours on Ravelry.com trying to find the next knitting pattern that I could get passionately into. It didn't happen. I spent more hours searching and searching. My knitter friend suggested plain socks. I decided to follow her lead and do just that, to get me out of the knitting rut I was in. So I knit these:



I used Cherry Blossom Fibers Mini Striping Sock Yarn from Woolgirl.com. The pattern was Yarn Harlot's Basic Sock Recipe. You can find that pattern for free on the DIY network website. I ended up giving these to my mom. I hope she likes them!

Next, I cast on for Owls, a really cool sweater pattern by Kate Davies. I knit the body already, but haven't quite cast on for the sleeves yet. I know I will! Not sure when, but it will happen! Sometime. I hope.

A few weeks ago, my previously mentioned knitting friend invited me to go with her to meet Ysolda Teague at the Hub Mills Store in Lowell, MA. It was great! I bought her book, Whimsical Little Knits, and ogled the cute patterns. This week I cast on and completed Tiny Shoes.



This is a photo of only one of the shoes, but I assure you, they are both knitted and gifted :) It took me a few tries to really get the pattern down. It's a little difficult for me, at first, to get used to a different designer's pattern writing style. I constantly feel like I over complicate patterns for no good reason. I will read trouble spots over and over again hoping that it will click. The way I usually get through it is by trying to knit it the way I interpret it. Most of the time, it's a V-8 slap to the forehead for not understanding it the first time. After I eventually got the hang of this one, it took me about an hour to finish each shoe. The big bonus was that I used leftover Smooshy sock yarn!

Get this. I also cast on for a lace(gasp!) project. More details on that one next time...