Merrily I knit Along....

Knit along... knit along... Merrily I knit along.... all the way to Christmas! ~ Please sing that last line to the tune Row, Row Your Boat.......


I know I said that yesterday was my last post for the year, but I started the Gap-tastic Cowl Pattern yesterday morning and I'm zipping right along! I just had to show you the progress!
It's such a change to work on size 13 needles and with bulky yarn that I'm just amazed at how fast it's going! Hint... if you want a quick project to make for yourself or your... try this! I have a friend that may be getting something like this for her birthday next year...........

I couldn't find the yarn recommended in the pattern. I made a quick trip over to M's (you know... the craft store...) rather than going all the way over to my favorite yarn shop! The store did have Lion Brand Wool-Ease but not in Chunky. They only had Thick & Quick. The Thick & Quick is really nice stuff; nice & smooth and would knit up super duper fast... but... it was $7.99. Gasp.  I needed 3 skeins & for a GIL (girlfriend in law) that's a lot. Considering the amount of effort I just made driving to the store to get blue yarn (her favorite color) and by spending the next couple of days knitting her a present....... OMG did I just sound like Scrooge? Yikes........

I think I may be okay here because her favorite color is blue & this yarn I bought is a nice blue.  Yes.. I am a yarn snob.......

It's soft and has some texture..... what's not to love? AND it was on sale for $2.99 each. Yay!

It even has a lovely name.. Ocean Tide..... just saying that makes me feel better about it. Until I pick up my needles and then I'm not so happy. It catches on my tips. A lot. I've split stitches and it's a bit frustrating to work with. BUT I like how it's looking. I really do.
Oh, I know... I'm sounding a bit (a lot?) Scroogey, but........ I'm just hoping I get this done & wrapped before Christmas morning... I think she'll love it!
I learned from my last few things I've made in the round.....
*When I cast on, I use markers every 20 stitches I cast on for reference points! Makes counting easier for one thing! I leave them on after I make sure I have the right amount when I'm ready to knit!  I then just follow the pattern (in this case it's Seed Stitch) and if I mess up along the way, I just have to go back to the last marker. As I knit around, each marker is my check point.  IF I get to the next marker and my pattern isn't right, I only have to mess around with 20 stitches to make sure I'm in the right  pattern!  I especially learned my lesson doing the Jacques Cousteau Hat ~ crazy K3, P2 pattern anyway!
So that's it... I'm officially done for the year! I will post pictures of this when I get home from Michigan and having a wonderful Christmas with my family!

Happy Holidays to you!

Christmas is Right Around the Corner!

Christmas is only five (5) days away! Whoop! AND I'm going to be driving for almost two of those days.... so why in the world am I starting another new Christmas project?
What?! Am I nuts? What was I thinking?
Apparently I wasn't.........
Why is it that when I have time to knit, I can't find anything I want to do. Like way back in November when I was struggling to start something..........
Now that I'm running out of time I suddenly have found lots of things that yeah! Oh! I could make that! It won't take long! I can start now!
I suddenly have a pile of yarn on my table and am furiously matching needles and yarns to patterns and... and... and.... and...... that's only on one cup of coffee. Oh my.
I want to make a cowl for GIL (Girlfriend in Law) but then if I do that I need to make something for DIL (daughter in law) and then there is her two kids.... and.... and.... uh oh.
Maybe I should just start small?
Okay... I'll start there! I'm going to make GIL the cowl and go from there.... start small, think big I guess!

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gap-tastic-cowl. Sorry about the blurry picture... I tried to make it big enough so you could see it, but... just click on the link!    It's my favorite price for patterns.... FREE!
AND it's made with chunky yarn and using Size 13 needles. Should be a fast knit. Keeping my fingers crossed.. oh wait! No I'm not! Can't knit like that!!

Maybe I am a little nuts for starting this 5 days before Christmas and knowing I will be driving and won't be able to knit for some of that!
Well..... there never is a dull moment here in my head so I'm off to get some chunky yarn and then to knit, knit, knit before I drive, drive, drive!  Hmmm...... I wonder if I held two strands of medium weight yarn together that would be bulky and I wouldn't have to go to the store.... yeah.... ONLY 1 cup of coffee this morning...........
I'm off and running now so on that note.... I won't be posting until after Christmas because I'm heading NORTH! We have no Internet and no cable and hopefully we will have snow! Lots of time to start on projects for next year! Aaaaarrrrggghhhhh............

Merry Christmas to all!

Safe travels if you're heading out!

Another Thing to Check off the List!

You know how Santa has a list and he checks it twice? Well... me too! Imagine that huh?
I have a list of things I need to get done. Things I want to get done, and actually, a list of MUST get done. Guess which list wins?   Yep. That one. The non-existent one. The list I tend to ignore. Sigh.
Well........ I made a list of Christmas presents I MUST get done..... it would just be bad (bad, bad) form to show up Christmas morning with no present for the Paternal Parental Unit (Dad). I would feel bad.  I'm pretty sure PPU would be okay with it, but how nice would that be? Yeah... not happening!
I'm done with the rest of the family. Been done for a while now, but for some reason I just kept putting off Dad's present until the last minute. Yeah.. I know Christmas is still six days away, but...... believe me, it's last minute for me! I'm not normally this comfortable waiting this long to get something done.
I usually obsess and tend to freak out if I'm not done weeks ahead of time. Um... yeah....
*insert drum roll here please* I'M DONE! I finished PPU's present! Yay! Six days to spare! Go me!
I actually made him a neck warmer a couple of weeks ago and then last week decided to make a hat for him as well. I picked a pretty easy pattern ~ just time consuming and with a different rib pattern than what I normally use so it took a bit longer. My friend RW whipped this hat out in a lot less time than I did, but hey! I'm done!!

I like how the top swirls in and the knit 3, purl 2 ribbing makes it super warm & kinda sproingy! It stretches & then bounces right back!

It even looks like the one that RW made... kind of......

The Boy decided to pop it on his head to get it all "warmed" up for PPU! He had to give it a test run to make sure it was good enough!

HERE is a link to the pattern and here is a picture of RW's (just because I think they are so awesome!)

So thanks again RW!! You were right... it was a really easy pattern and the results are pretty awesome! Can't wait to post a picture of PPU wearing his hat........... but now I gotta wait for 6 more days!  ~Which may give me more time to work on the rest of that list...............