You know you're a knitter when...

*You ask strangers to feel their sweaters, or get uncomfortably close to them to see the stitch pattern.
*You can’t do ANY work on the computer until you’ve read the Yarn Harolet Blog, and the knitting pattern of the day and checked to see if there's anything new on Ravelry.
*You don’t go ANYWHERE without your knitting bag, even if it’s the grocery store.(even though you ALWAYS have a sock you're working tucked away in your purse just in case you have to wait somewhere).
*You literally dream about knitting.
*You can somehow manage to include the words, “yarn,” “needles,” or “knitting” into EVERY conversation.
*The family no longer freaks out when you bring your knitting out in public because their just so used to it that it’s not strange any more.
*The husband asks if you want to visit yarn stores that you're near when you're traveling, knowing that you probably had it on your mind anyway.
*The people I get email from with have learned to put “knitting” in the topic box of an e-mail so that I’ll open it up ASAP!

Home again

I really enjoy long drives when my hubby is driving, and truly look forward to driving vacations with him. I tend to get a lot of knitting done and it's fun listening to the radio, singing along, talking to my honey, and knitting at the same time. It would take a month of knitting at home to get all the things worked on that I do in one trip, and it certainly makes the time go by a lot faster. This is a shot pretty near the beginning of the trip home of the projects on the needles. The rest of the pictures I took after returning home.

This sock is the 2008 September Socks that Rock club entry, Cloning Anenome Rib. I finished it Friday at Nanny's. I actually cast on and did about 2 inches of the cuff of the second sock while in the car on the way back. I absolutely love these colors. It's an easy cable pattern every 4 rows on the leg, and easily memorized, I don't even have to look at the pattern anymore.

This one is the 2009 September kit entry, Knetted. I finished this one in the car yesterday, cast on the second sock, and got the ribbing portion at the top of the cuff finished. Establishing the pattern after that involves a lot of counting and looking down at the pattern and I do get a bit queasy in the car if I look down at a pattern too much. I decided to wait and leave this one for home. The colors on this one are so beautiful and subdued, perfect for the autumn and winter. This one is an ankle length slouchy cuffed sock, and I didn't think I was going to like it at first when the kit came, but it seems to be growing on me.

This is the Cat mitten that I bought at the yarn shop in Davenport along with this yarn. I finished it down to the weaving of the top which I was able to do in the car. The thumb needs to be done but that is another project for home, as it'll involve looking at the pattern too much for me to do in the car without getting queasy. We went back to the yarn shop on Friday where I got green yarns for the fisherman's friend mittens which are by the same designer. I normally don't use anything as heavy as this Worsted weight yarn but it's working out quite nicely in this project. It's making a very warm and soft mitten. I also got some Helen's lace yarn for a shawl that's in my Ravelry Queue and a beautiful hand painted sport weight for one of the cowls I've been wanting to make. It was a very fibery trip as well as being wonderful to see family and of course, the fantastic Thanksgiving feast!

Turkey Day Fun

Everyone in the family that had to (and was able to) come got to Nanny's and Poppa's on Wednesday. Thursday was a group effort at making everything come together for the delicious Thanksgiving Turkey feast. Here are some random shots from around the "Flock".

Poppa was talking on the phone to one of the family that couldn't make it (Jenn), there were several that were unable to be at this annual reunion, they were definitely missed. Thankfully the absences were all temporary and we all hope to see the missing family next year. We even had an unexpected phone call from one of the family that had been missing the last two years...a very nice gift on Thanksgiving.

The "kids" are all grown up now!

On Wednesday Mark had taken me over to a small local yarn shop. I'd picked up this mitten pattern as well as the yarn to make it with, and as if I didn't have enough projects going already, I found the time to sit and knit when we were all talking and socializing or watching TV. I had never worked on anything with 2 circular needles, one of the ladies at the shop had given me a lesson on how to do it, it's actually quite easy. I also love to do Fair Isle knitting (2 color) so this is a perfect project for me.This is the start of the mitten on Thanksgiving morning. I did get a bit more done that evening after the older "kids" (actually young adults) went to a local Casino with Mark as the Designated Driver.

Over the river and through the woods

...to Grandmother's (and Grandfather's) house we go. Belle and Rose were none too happy about the prospect of us being gone, even though they thoroughly love the cat/house sitter. They reminded us that we should bring home some of Nanny's famous turkey from the Thanksgiving feast. I look forward to the knitting time in the car on the way to the annual family reunion and this year was no different.

Being the incredibly knitting and fiber tolerant (even enabling) husband that he is, Mark rented a car that had a built in yarn ball holder. How perfect is that!? I made quite a comfortable "nest" in the front seat and knitted my heart out until darkness fell, and even knitted a little bit by the light in the car. Perfect!

After working on the two sock projects I brought (with some other things to knit, too, in case my attention span warrented a change of projects) for about 4 or so hours, this is how they looked right about Pittsburgh. The left one is the 2008 Socks That Rock September kit, and the right is the 2009 September kit. I'm switching off trying to get both pairs finished before I get home. Yeah Right. These are both the first of the pairs.

And this is how they looked when we got to Nanny and Poppa's house. Much closer to being finished but not quite to the point of making my toe decreases. That's ok...we're going to go do some errands this morning which means more time in the car to work. I'll get the advil ready, I knitted so long yesterday that my fingers are speaking in tongues.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving full of food, fun, and family. :)

Project update

After 3 weeks of pretty dedicated knitting, I finished the scarf made from Mrs. Montague's lace pattern designed for Queen Elizabeth I. Knit picks markets this pattern as part of the 3 pattern set called "Elizabeth I", this one is called "Dainty Bess". I blocked the scarf before bed last night and it was ready to unpin this evening. I used Cream colored Gems Fingering weight Superwash Merino yarn from www.KendigCottage.com. It was an easy pattern with a great yarn to work with, soft natural wool fiber, and even machine washable and dryable since I'm planning on using this scarf frequently. This scarf was motivated by Franklin Habit's lace knitting class that I attended, see the earlier blog post.

This is a picture of a few sections of the Shetland Style rectangular shawl I am spinning the yarn from the dyed fiber I bought at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival we went to a little over a week ago. The pattern is from the book: Victorian Lace Today, it's "Miss Lambert's Shetland pattern for a shawl" and is an 8 row repeat, every other row is purling so it's simple. It's difficult to visualize before blocking but I'm loving it so far. I've spun another bobbin of singles for the next skein of yarn for the project, I'm working on the next bobbin for the 2 ply yarn now. It'll probably take another small skein as well, so I'm continuing to spin. Spinning has gotten me enthusiastic about doing even more spinning and working through a little bit of my fiber stash.

I also got out all my wheels and cleaned and oiled the wood on them and checked to make sure they were all in good working order. I will try to get some more spinning done between finishing up some unfinished knitting projects that I'd like to have in the "finished" column prior to the end of the year.