Knitting Mojo

I have to say there is nothing like a few fun projects with a few good knitting friends to bring back your knitting mojo. Yesterday I spent the day at Pick Up Sticks. A 2 hour class turned into a 5 or 6 hour knit and chat time. It was so nice!

I have all these plans in my head now of things I want to do. Projects I want to finish. Projects I want to rip off the needles (ahem a certain pink tee that was a gift from hubby--and will become something else!)

I have added progress bars to the sidebar. I used to have them but when I changed the blog layout they were of course lost in the abyss. They do not reflect my REAL number of unfinished projects but I think it will keep me honest about the bin stashed in the closet. I will finish one of those projects and then add a new one from the bin until I at least feel most of the way caught up.

As far as finished projects go here is my dipped infinity hat and scarf! Ignore me in the picture. My hubby was laughing that I took a picture of myself and says I look very uncomfortable and I told him he wasn't here to help me.



The hat is a little short but I knit until I could knit no more (as in no more yarn)



I do have a little bit left over that Connie found kickin' around a the store and once I untangle it I want to add about an inch to the bottom edge so it covers my ears better.

Last night I went to the movies with hubby. We had a pass given to us for Christmas that included popcorn and everything. I was excited to go out of the house to watch a movie. There aren't too many movies that I think "I have to see that in the theatre" I am usually quite content to wait and rent it and curl up on my couch. Last night I was reminded of why I like to stay home.

1. No teenage kids that are determined to prove to everyone how cool they are and how little they care about what people think of them so they talk and swear and giggle and shout across to people they recognize across the theatre. Then at the end of the movie walk out talking about how people sitting in front of them were so loud it was really annoying knowing full well they were sitting in front of me and they were the annoying ones.

2. No lady a few seats down from me who's cell phone is ringing and who actually ANSWERS IT! I understand that sometimes people forget to turn the ringer off or something but if my phone ever rang in a movie theatre I would be embarrassed and turn it off a.s.a.p. Not this one though. She answers her phone. "Hello? I'm in the movie theatre" SO GET OFF YOUR PHONE!

3. My couch. My PJs. My knitting. I think those seats are more uncomfortable than ever.

4. Popcorn and drinks that were too expensive at $12 are now $21 (plus 72 cents for butter). This one I just don't understand. Fountain pop and Popcorn! How does it cost that much?

I think all of those might actually be summed up with number 5.

5. You only watch the movie with people you WANT to be with and not the people that drive you crazy.

So now that this short story has gotten a little longer than planned I will bring it back to my point. I think I have decided that going out to the movies is not a relaxing way to spend my evening and I will wait until I can rent it.

Bad moods are contagious

This morning when I left for work I was a little later than I like to be. Don't read that to mean that I was late because I had lots of time to get to work but I like to be there early.

Anyway I came to one of the busy streets I take. It was 2 lanes and another lane merging on. I was coming straight through a light in the left lane and a person coming on the merging lane decided the person in the right lane was going to slow. So she pulled directly across into the lane that I was in. Cutting over the 2 lanes and just missing the front end of my truck. I gave her the horn and wished I could have given her a piece of my mind. We got to the light up the road a little and I could see that she had a bumper sticker on the back of her car so I moved close enough to read it. This is what it said...

"Happy people are hiding something"

So is she trying to infect me with her bad attitude by being rude?

P.S. sorry if I am passing on the negativity but I wanted to let it out!

You know you love a pattern when...

I know for sure that I must really like the pattern for Dipped Infinity because I spent a good portion of the Vikings game (yuck) knitting the hat to match the scarf. And after lunch today it looked like this.

But without hesitation or procrastination....Here we go again.

I was running out of yarn a little too quickly (I knew it was a little close) so I decided to use more of the darker colours and I had to pull back almost 4 inches.

But the scarf is blocking upstairs waiting for me to wear it.

It must be love I tell ya!

Weakness continues

I have been neglecting my husband and neglecting my house work because I can't seem to stop myself. I'm am hooked on Dipped Infinity.

I love everything about this pattern. I am hoping I have enough yarn to make a hat a to match it but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I also have some Tanis Yellow Label upstairs (ok a lot) in purples and I might try to do this. I think it is so gorgeous (hubby disagrees but what does he know) we shall how things go because my WIP list is in the 20s now.

1 out of 2 ain't bad

Ok just call me weak! I was so good all weekend about not casting on Dipped Infinity (you can already guess where this is going) The weekend was when I was alone without a husband to say "what are you knitting now?"..."what about the baby sweater?" I could have hidden my shame and only knit on dipped infinity when he was not around/at work etc. but no!

I resisted all weekend, I resisted last night while I was at Pick up Sticks for knit night (at this point I knew I was bored of my little cardi) but last night after having a few long days at work, a hot bath and a glass of wine I thought what better way to relax before bed than to have that satisfying feeling of something new.

Ah... that's better!

Now the only problem is that I'm preoccupied with it. Such a simple and interesting pattern. Last night before bed I had only cast on and knit the first row. So I took it to bed and thought I will only knit one more round....one round of over 200 stitches .

I'm being good....(so far)

I am resisting temptation so far. But I'm always looking....thinking about just testing my gauge....thinking etc. But I have finished my plain black hat.

Not a great picture (of me, of the hat, lighting) but you get the idea.

I am hoping that it isn't too big for the person who will have this hat. It fits me but it looks big when it it not on because it is slouchy fabric. I'm worried that I will be knitting this again. We shall see.

So one down and one left before I can cast on Dipped Infinity....Sigh.

(And here is Oscar watching T.V. with me yesterday. One of his favourite shows - The Dog Whisperer)

When the Cat's away....

I am relaxing on the couch with Oscar tonight. I have my knitting here beside me. I have "chick flicks" ready to watch. Hubby has gone to his mom's for the weekend and I have to say I am loving the thought of just having some time to myself.

I know I have to do some house work tomorrow but I plan on doing a LOT of knitting. I hope things go as planned.

Part of this plan is to finish a hat and the Ribbon Edged Cardigan. I thought that casting on for the Dipped Infinity Scarf could be a reward for finishing those two projects and would push me to work fast but.....

Is it motivation or temptation? hmmmm

Sick Days

Thursday I had a migraine and ended up staying home. I worry a lot of the day when I am away from work. Strange maybe but I find it easier to be at work than to take a day off. Anyway I spent Thursday sleeping and looking online at all things knitting.

This was not good for my plan to finish as many UFOs as I can stand before starting sometime new for myself. I saw so many things that I thought I need to have/make.

I was reminded however that is important that I start to finish what I start because I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. I moved downstairs to the couch. I curled up with the throw we have on the back of the couch I realized I need to finish one of the blankets that I have on the go at the moment. If I pulled the throw up to my neck my toes stuck out the bottom. If I covered my feet my neck felt cold. I ended up sleeping the whole night on the couch and I was curled in a ball on my side. It is funny how you can feel so comfy as you fall asleep but wake up so uncomfortable. The side of the couch was putting pressure on my knee and I was so stiff in the morning.

On the other hand I have remembered how much I love Sirdar Baby Bamboo.

I'm working on a late baby gift for my brother in law's baby who is now 7 months. Yikes how did she get to bes 7 months already. So I am knitting the 12-24 months of the Debbie Bliss Ribbon-Edged Cardigan. Such a cute little sweater and a simple but sweet stitch pattern.

The first picture is closer to the actual colour of the yarn.

What a way to start the week

I'm back to work after my 2 week holiday. Yesterday I made my way to work (a little later than I usually do--can you tell I was hesitant?) and the roads were snowy and slippery. There was more traffic than there usually is (a product of the snow and leaving later). I got to work and always seem to have a lot of things that I am taking with me (purse, lunch bag, work bag, and often a small knitting bag). So as I make my way into work carrying all of my things (including today a pair of mittens and shoes that wouldn't fit into any of my bags) I stopped to pick up some things in the mail room. There was more than usual but I thought I could handle it in one trip instead of coming back. By now I'm sure you can see where this is going but... I dropped some of my stuff which included a pile of paper that went everywhere. So I re-thought things, put everything back my mailbox to come back for. I went back, picked up my pile of things got almost all the way back to my room and dropped some of the paper again! Not a great Monday. Particularly the first Monday of the new year, the first Monday with a new boss, and a few other little surprises that seemed to throw me off my game more than they usually would, but I muddled through my day.


Now today started with me making breakfast (a new years resolution to eat breakfast everyday). I'm heating some water and waiting for it to get hot enough to poach my egg. I went to the fridge....no eggs. Is this a sign of how my day today is going to go? Because I have a presentation to do today at my staff meeting, another first in front of my new boss.


So I'm off to work now and hope that today goes smoothly.

Happy New Year

What a beautiful sight to wake up to this New Years Day morning.

I am not one to make a lot of new years resolutions but I have a few in my head of course. I sat down to catch up on reading some of the blogs and can't help but notice I'm not the only one who has not been posting with the same frequency.

I finally finished the baby sweater for my neighbor who's baby is now 3 months old. I ripped and re knit this sweater 3 times and only due to stupidity. We are a Toronto Maple Leafs family at this house but next door is a different story. The little one's Daddy is a Bruins fan (yea I know) so I made them this little number

This is hubby helping out. He made the buttons for this project. He claims that he is not into arts and crafts but this is not the first project he has been in on. In fact he takes an interest in quite a few things that I do. Particularly if there is math involved or a problem to be solved.

Happy New year knitting everyone!