Questions..

Linus wanted to show his version of the Sock blanket…

And now mine…don’t worry I wont post about it all the time but I’m just so proud of the color theme.

I’m going to try and do sections of color to give the blanket some interest and shading.

The contest turnout has been amazing! Thanks for all of the participation. To answer a few of the questions…

Why do you keep your angora in the freezer?

I bought the yarn at a fair, not a fiber festival just a summer fair, and felt nervous that there might be little critters in the yarn. I feared introducing the new yarn to the old yarn and having a critter attack. (So I placed it in yarn quarantine, the freezer, hoping to kill anything. Until Julie pointed it out, I had not considered that the freezer is much colder than the temperatures that bunnies are typically exposed to and may have compromised the fiber by freezing it. I should knit with it soon and see how it is.

Do we get pictures too?

That would be a big undertaking. But it’s definitely a possibility. If I show you mine, will you show me yours?

How are our guesses going? Anyone close yet?

As of yet, no one has hit the mark. A couple people have come pretty close. I’ll give you another hint. The total ends with _ _ .1 miles.

I think you should all be brave and face your stashes. I’d love to hear how much you have, and it doesn’t hurt that much. If anything it makes you appreciate what you have. It motivates you to use the yarn that’s been hiding at the back of the closet. Or even, part with something you can’t imagine what you were thinking when you bought it.

And you know, it feels like shopping when you go into your Ravelry Stash and flip through page after page. And even better, if you find something you want, it’s there instantly! How awesome is that?

From 7 to 4

When thinking up this month’s challenge, I consulted The Boyfriend for possible ideas…his thoughtful suggestion; “Knit all the yarn!” This comes on the heels of the living room reorganization which revealed the two giant duffle bags I’d been hiding at the end of couch in a corner of the room. Oops I forgot about those, that’s felting yarn and it doesn’t count in my 5 bins. Why I don’t know, but it just doesn’t.
Knit all the Yarn would be impossible, unless I attempted to make a hideous scarf on giant needles, holding quadruple yarns… no that’s just ridiculous!

This January I’ll be attempting to Complete 4 Christmas Gifts. As a knitter I feel it’s my responsibility to knit gifts for those I love. This year I only gave two knitted gifts and I think some people (parents and husband) would’ve appreciated something. I’m starting now while the Christmas spirit is still in the air, since I’m not usually motivated to knit gifts until 25 days before Christmas which doesn’t leave enough time to do something for everyone.

And to wrap up last months challenge…I needed to successfully complete 47 blanket squares by December 31st to finish the Seven Square Challenge. ON the 31st I had 48 and currently I have 51 squares so that was a successful challenge. It almost should be a sub-challenge for each month since I really need to stay on top of my square knitting if I want this crazy blanket to be finished before next Christmas.

Bender's Game

Bender’s Game….aka…hilarious version of Fellowship of the Rings crossed with Dungeon and Dragons.

While watching it I finished off square 47.


These are the squares from the last two weeks. I needed to be on 42 last Friday and 49 for this Friday. Right on. Wait the movie also includes Star Wars. Hilarious!!!

The Truth

Let’s be honest for a minute…knitting squares at Christmas time isn’t the most exciting thing to do. I know I know that’s not what you wanted to hear but it’s true.

Instead I worked on my mother’s secret present which I didn’t finish and socks. Imagine that, me knitting socks.

I can’t seem to stop and they’re so mindless and wonderful. And then you get to have heel fun and then they’re mindless again. I just love to knit my socks… and I’ve begun to consider the possibility of knitting socks for other people. I had thought socks were a $25 yarn plus 20 hours of knitting, @ $10 an hour which…that makes for a $225 gift and who knows if the receipt will like them or if they’ll fit or wear them or ruin them in the wash. So I had said no socks for anyone but me. Now I’m up to 12 pairs which really is enough for one person but I’m not about to stop sock knitting. I seem to have sock knitting perfected and can whip out a pair in less than a week if it’s a simple pattern like Monkeys. So perhaps I’ll knit the family and some close friends some socks. We’ll see.

What do you think about knitting socks for a sock knitter? Is that odd? I have a pair from my mother-in-law and I love them just as much as the others. Would another sock knitter feel the same or would they be like, “thanks a lot for giving me something I make myself”? I’m not sure.

But either way here are the socks I’m working on right now…Denna Socks. They are my own design and it took hours to come up with something that suited this two color yarn. I’m beginning to realize that I like either highly variegated multi colored sock yarns or simple tonal colors. Designs are easily lost in contrasting two color sock yarn.

I’m also working on some socks using the Knitpicks Bare yarn that I dyed last fall. I since learned that wool and silk will shrink in the washing machine. And then continue to shrink each time you wash them. My Perrin socks that I knit in October immediately after dying the yarn looked like this (on the left).

After 6 or 7 wearings they look like this (on the right). They’re about 2” shorter than they used to be, the lace on the cuff and picot edging has closed in. The foot itself barely fits me and they are nearly felted without any stitch definition. They are also dense and cushy. I just wish I had known this would happen and could’ve saved myself the time of intricate lace work.

So this second pair in the Knitpicks Bare will be for me since I’m sure to hand wash them. I’m also compensating by knitting them on larger needles and even looser than normal. Which is a funny concept since I’m the loosest knitter I know. I like to tell myself that just means I’m relaxed about it.

Yesterday Pamtastic stole me off to Webs. I threatened to only spend her money. It didn’t work, it never does when it comes to yarn. I was pretty good and mostly got sock yarn. Shopping with other people’s feet in mind is hard work.

I definitely had a color pallet in mind as I was shopping…yellow and black, but somehow the greens snuck in there as well.

Blogging From Bed

Here I am on day four of a wonderful cold. Last week my friend who was moving away came to knitting with a bit of a cold and being as she’s the only sick person I’ve been in contact with, it’s clearly all her fault!

As soon as I realized I was getting sick I took Cold-EEze to try and head it off. It didn’t work since I’ve been out of commission for the past two days. The Boyfriend is a trooper, sleeping on the couch and making sure I have the right kind of tissues, drinks, and food. Now if only the TV people would cooperate and show Law N’ Order nonstop I’d be all set. It’s been ages since I last watched TV without the DVR and yesterday in my cold medicine stupor I repeatedly tried to fast forward through the commercials.

As if the Ice Storm and a Cold weren’t enough, we’ve now had about 8” of snow dumped on our heads. It’s been beautiful to watch coming down and hopefully no one will have to travel in it. I was actually laying here last night, watching the giant snow flakes, envisioning the lovely knitting photos I could take in the morning with snow covered trees in contrast to my brightly colored knit socks. I think I’m going through knitting withdrawal.

In the Seven Squares a Week Challenge, I should be at 35 squares as of yesterday. I currently have 41, so I’m well ahead of the challenge. I did do a large square this week which takes four times as long as a regular square.

Power Shoe Cozies

We have power! I’m human again with my computer on my lap sitting warmly in my living room. K&K opened their home and their hearts to us. They treated us like family for three days. I feel like we can not thank them enough.

Many including my office, still do not have power. There’s been talk of a “black Christmas” as some towns need to have the entire power system rebuilt. Thankfully we do not live in one of those towns. Nearly all the Christmas shopping has been done, anything that could be purchased online was.

And President Bush got a shoe thrown at him. How funny is that? I was surprised by his reflexes and then wondered what took the Secret Service so long to get in front of him. January 20th can’t come fast enough. Although I do feel a little empathy for the man. How must it feel knowing so many of your own people are counting the days until you’re gone? I’m sure when he dreamt of being President when he grew up that didn’t include being the least popular president.

Cozy’s are 70% finished. I have 6 of the 7 knit and just need to felt them. (Secretly I love the color work one, in the upper left corner and may not want to give that one away so it might need to be 8 cozies) I hope The Boyfriend got all the wine already so I can block them on actual wine bottles.

And in blanket news: here are 6 of the large squares. I'm really enjoying work on them. But still unable to attach more than four squares together.

Knitting by Candle Light

This morning I snapped awake at 6am even though it’s my day off. With nothing better to do, I jumped up and got ready for the day. I headed downstairs and saw a sheet of ice had covered the world as we slept.

As I walked toward the kitchen the power went out and it was black. In New England the lazy winter sun doesn’t grace our sky’s until well after 7 and with the cloud cover it might as well have been midnight not 6:30am. I lit the gas stove for tea and found some candles. With my yarn and needles in hand I pulled up a chair by the back door listening to the rain fall and knitting by candle light

In other news…I’m pleased to announce that I have 31 squares for the sock blanket. 7 more for this week should been 28 so I’m doing well. I have only knit four squares together out of fear of commitment. I don’t want to attach them all because I’m not the best at envisioning the end results. With my luck I’d end up with clumps of contrasting colors in an unattractive fashion.

Also have two finished wine cozies. I’m working out the design and will offer it free in the near future.

Here it is…Friday

And I’m very pleased to report that I have a grand total of 22 squares for the sock blanket. I needed 21 by the end of Friday. Placed edge to edge they take up about 12” x 12”. This is going to be a long project! Yesterday I learned that my partner in crime has fallen behind in her square count. Hopefully some public taunting will motivate her to catch up!
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Tonight we had another Seacoast Knitter depart. She’s be a Mid-West Knitter now. She’s holding up the blanket that was one of the super secret projects I’ve been working on. Everyone knit a square that expressed their feelings for her.

I knit the Knitters square and a second lace square. The lace is something I've always said I'd never do. SImilar to socks. And she pushed me to knit socks and you know I loved them. So I decided to knit lace for her incase I would love that as well. I didn't but at least I attempted it.

I hope the blanket keeps her lap warm for years to come and provides an instant hug from us all when she needs it.

Another year wiser?

Last night marked my 28th birthday. As you can see I’m another year older but just as silly as usual. The Boyfriend got me a zip and snap blanket. I feel like a penguin wearing it but man is it toasty.

Although I’m not a fan of birthday’s, at least not since I turned 25 and realized I’m not a kid. The Boyfriend was firm with me this year, “the day will come weather you want it to or not, so you might as well use the excuse to do something you want.”

It made sense so we did dinner with friends plus Mum. I had a very nice time.

Melody sent me a wonderful Birthday poem,
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Happy Birthday to you.

You are a Michaud.

You make pretty knits.

And to boot they all fits!

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Yesterday I finished felting the final project. Pencil grips for my aunt's students. 30 of them in a variety of colors and sizes. Which now leaves me with 10 hibernating projects. I know for the normal person that seems like a lot but for me, that’s amazing. Decagon Decision was a success!!

Onto the Seven Square Challenge. This will be a weekly challenge to complete seven sock blanket squares each week, one per day. I’ve already been working on the blanket for 17 days and currently have 15 squares. So I should have 21 squares by this Friday.