A Little Bit of Progress, At Least!

I was not able to get as much knitting done this past weekend as I would have liked, unfortunately.  But I did finish the Landscapes scarf done with one strand of Lion Brand Landscapes yarn and 2 strands of Lion Brand Fun Fur.  The fringe is pure Landscapes.  The picture does not show the Landscapes yarn in the body of the scarf very well.  It actually shows up much better in person.  I have received many compliments on this scarf at work from the "Lunchtime Stitch and Bitchers."  Also, the Moda Dea scarf is about halfway done.  I plan to put a very generous fringe on it.  There was not enough progress on the Glamour Wrap to take a picture of -- only a couple of rows, so I will save that for later.  I did some digging in my yarn stash this weekend, too.  I have plans for several more projects (surprise, surprise!) My dad loved his Seafarer's scarf so much that I am going to knit him another one to match a different coat.  And since it is so cold outside, I have been feeling the need to knit up another batch of "No Hair Day Hairy Chemo Caps!"  While checking out the www.headhuggers.org website, I noticed a new pattern that has been posted there.  It is the "Floppy Brim Hat" or knitting Pattern #12 on their website.  It is so cute!  I think I will have to make at least one of these in this next batch of chemo caps.  Also, Spunknit has some great ideas for chemo hats on her blog, "Innane Knitting Babble" (check her out on the link in my sidebar).  Last year, I got the  idea to knit these chemo hats from her and I made a batch to take to the Hematology/Oncology center.  The patients loved them!  Cheers to Spunknit for promoting such a wonderful idea!  The next idea I have to knit is a scarf made out of the leftover yarn from the "Merry Cruisemas" shawl I knit for my "Other Sister Debbie" (see the December 26th blog entry for details of this shawl). The yarn is Lion Brand Trellis and the color is "Night Life."  I am going to make a skinny scarf out of the leftovers -- just something to brighten up all of those black sweaters that I seem to wear all winter long.  And I have more project ideas, too!  I know you are surprised about that!  ;)  But I will wait until the weekend to tell you about those.  Until then, happy knitting!

Snow!

This is the scene that greeted me this morning when I woke up.  It finally snowed last night!  It wasn't much, but it is still pretty to look at.  Now the weather forecast is calling for an ice storm this weekend.  Ugh!  I hate ice storms!  Unfortunately, we get a lot of them here.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that we are close enough to the ice/snow line that it will end up being more snow.  At least I do not have to work this weekend so I don't have to worry about getting out in it.  I do not have much knitting progress to report on.  This has been a busy, hectic week, and I have been too tired at night to do much knitting.  But I am off today and I plan to get enough progress done to show by the end of this 3 day weekend!  If the ice storm does come, I plan to knit and watch movies and drink hot tea -- exactly what I need after this long, hectic week!

How Embarrassing!

The spell of unseasonably warm weather has ended here, and the temperatures have plummeted from highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's back to highs in the 30's and lows in the teens.  The drastic weather change brought about an embarrassing situation for me.  As the heavy winter coats came back out, so did the hats and gloves.............and scarves!  So why is that so embarrassing for me?  Well, out of all of the scarves I have knit over the last couple of years, I find that I do not have a warm scarf for my own neck.  The scarf that is now draped around my winter coat is a store bought one!  GASP!  On Saturday, I was asked 4 different times if I had knit that scarf, and I was very embarrassed to have to say, "No, I bought it."  Well, there is only so much embarrassment that I can handle in one day, so I decided that I had to remedy that situation ASAP!  As soon as I got out of work, I hurriedly ran to Michael's to see what I could come up with.  I wanted a couple of quick and easy portable scarf projects.  The glamour wrap is a really fun project, but it is hardly portable since I have a huge bag of leftover yarns that I am using to knit it.  When I got to Michael's I was pleased to see that there were new yarns in the store.  I ended up with Bernat Bling Bling in Cabaret Crimson to make the scarf in the new Bling Bling leaflet. And I also bought Moda Dea Cache in the color Rave to mix with Moda Dea Dream (no color name -- color #3503) for another scarf.  And I really liked this color of Landscapes yarn from Lion Brand -- it is Deep Sea.  The Landscapes is a bit more expensive than I wanted considering there is not much yardage, so I compromised somewhat.  I have started that scarf mixing the Landscapes with black fun fur and larger needles to stretch the Landscapes a little further.  I hope to finish the Landscapes scarf later on today so that the next time somone asks me if I knit that scarf, I can proudly say, "Yes, I knit it!"

First Knitting Project of 2005?

 Since I'd been finishing up some odds and ends of old projects, I had not really thought about what would be the first knitting project of 2005.  Not until I this morning when I changed the day on my Knitting Pattern A Day calender, that is!  The Sat/Sun January 8 & 9th page features the "Bias Knit Cocoon & Glam Wrap."  Wow!  This just might be it!  And the best part of it is, I can use stash yarns for this project, and I have just the yarns in mind.  Only my color scheme will not be acid green and sun yellow.  Alas, that combination would leave me looking like I had a bad case of jaundice.  Instead, I have the more complexion friendly combination of fuchsia, teal and blue in mind.   I did not make any real resolutions about knitting this year, just a couple of "decisions".  First, I would like to use up stash yarns whenever possible (to both save some money and make more room in the "art studio"). And second, I am determined this year not to saddle myself with any "restrictions" forcing myself to finish a project that does not "feel right" for some reason.  After all, knitting is what I enjoy and what I do to relax, so why should I force myself to work on something that I have lost interest in for whatever reason?  After all, I can always use that yarn for something else that does excite my creativity.  And this Glamour Wrap does make me want to grab up those knitting needles and start clicking away!   

Welcome 2005!

In preparation for a brand new year, I have erased the projects in my sidebar.  It is time to start with a brand new slate.  It is time to revisit and re-examine all of those unfinished projects and on hold projects and determine whether or not to abandon them completely or keep them.  In some cases, it is an easy decision.  Maybe the garment was coming out too small, or too big, or it just didn't look quite like I envisioned it.  In some cases, it is not as easy a decision.  Maybe I like the garment, but it has some bad memories or "bad karma" associated with it.  It is hard sometimes to make that decision to abandon something that has so much time and effort and "me" into it.  But sometimes it is necessary.  If I want to be honest with myself, then I need to admit when I know something isn't working, for whatever reason, and call it quits and go on.  Life is like that, too.  As 2004 comes to a close tonight, I for one will not be sad to see it go.  It has without a doubt been a very bad year for me.  And as 2005 begins in just a little over 5 hours, I have decided not to make a bunch of resolutions, but instead make a bunch of re-evaluations.  Like those knitting projects, it is time to re-evaluate and re-examine those things in my life that are no longer working or no longer turning out quite like I anticipated.  I will salvage what I can and say goodbye to what I cannot.  I am reminded at this very moment of The Serenity Prayer which pretty accurately sums it all up for me at this moment in my life --"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  Here's to 2005.  May it be the best yet for us all!

"Some Assembly Required!"

Well, Christmas Day 2004 is now a memory, but what a fun memory!  I thought I would start out by showing you a picture of my 2 sisters and I that was taken last night.  And as promised, the Mystery Shawl story is revealed!  The shawl was actually a "Merry Cruisemas" gift for my best friend Debbie, also known as "Other Sister Debbie" (so as not to be confused with the "Original Sister Debbie" pictured above).  Debbie is taking her 2 sons on a Carribean cruise as her Christmas present to them.  They leave Florida tomorrow.  This is Debbie's first cruise, so I had to make her something extra special to wear to the Captain's Ball, and the Trellis shawl seemed just perfect for the occasion!  She was thrilled!  Also as previously promised, there are pictures of some of the fast and easy scarves that I made as well as a couple of the seafarer's scarves.  There is a funny story that happened yesterday that I just have to share!  I was supposed to be off from work Christmas Eve, but ended up working unexpectedly due to a coworker's family emergency.  Consequently, I did not finish my nephew Keith's seafarer's scarf.  Undaunted, I put the balls of yarn into a gift bag along with the instructions "Some Assembly Required."  Well, Keith thought that was absolutely hysterical and laughed about it all day long.  I think that he enjoyed opening that present more than he would have the finished product!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that you have lots of great memories of your Christmas Day 2004!  And now I must go finish Keith's "Some Assembly Required" scarf!   :)

Christmas Party!

Last Wednesday we had our annual Dayshift Lab Christmas Party Luncheon at work.  Just about everyone showed up, including most all of the off duty personnel.  We exchanged our Pollyanna gifts, ate lots of delicious food and had a really good time.  You will recognize the Pollyanna Poncho and the Ribbon Scarf, which Lisa hired me to knit for her to give as her Pollyanna gift.  The last picture shows about half of the lab standing out in the hall exchanging gifts.  I could not get everyone in the picture, but one of these people in this picture will be the recipient of the "Mystery Shawl" which I will take to work with me on Thursday, the last day I work before Christmas.  I can't wait!  In the meantime, I am still busily knitting away.  I have finished 6 of those fast and easy Homespun/Fun Fur scarves.  I knit them with 1 strand of Homespun and 2 strands of  Fun Fur.  I cast on 10 stitches on size 35 needles and knit until I run out of Fun Fur.  The result is a nice warm snuggly scarf ready in just about an hour!  They really came out pretty!  Talk about a great idea for a last minute gift!  My favorite combination was Homespun Modern and Fun Fur Peacock and Sapphire.  I will take pictures of them all and post them later.  Right now, I am off to knit, knit, KNIT!