I’ve been in a great cleaning/organizing mode lately. I still don’t get much done, but I’m making a bit of a dent. I managed to return the contents of one box to their file cabinet drawer (it’s been how many months since we moved?), I put up my bulletin & white boards, I made a list of WIPs to hang on a clipboard on the wall (so it can threaten remind me what needs finishing), and I cleaned up the top of the yarn-case where knitting gadgets (needles, stitch-a-day calendar, i-cord maker, notions, etc) live. I’ve also been going through the knitting library a bit, trying to decide if I really want to keep all my Half-Price Books finds.

I was getting close to going through the basket o’ WIPs (not to be confused with the crate o’ WIPs, which also needs going-through), when I discovered the Mother Bear in-the-round attempt. Nearly finished, just in need of her head and arms (well, and her skirt and scarf too - the Build-a-Bear’s I bring home can be nekkid, not so for the Mother Bears I make). So I pulled it out and got to knitting. The head is now mostly finished (need to seam the other side and give her a face), but we got stalled when attempt one at adding an arm failed miserably (too few stitches picked up - it would have looked like the Ernie doll I had as a kid). The goal is to get this finished by the weekend so I can drop it off at one of the shops while I’m treasure hunting.

Socktoberfest has now officially begun. Amelia’s socks are progressing nicely - I turned the heel earlier this weekend and finished decreasing the gusset stitches on this morning’s bus ride.

There are also more pumpkins to be made. I also want to make the pumpkin basket from the new issue of MagKnits. I see lots of orange yarn purchases coming up…

so, the other night when I broke the challenge, I went to Needlework Unlimited to use the gift card and work on filling up the punch card. I got 4 skeins of Rowan Denim for Tasha, Barbara Walker’s 3rd stitch dictionary, and a legwarmers pattern by Oat Couture.

Saturday, dh & I went to see Bodyworlds at the Science Museum. it was a really interesting exhibit. (the veins/arteries only ones were really bizarre, but cool at the same time).

anywho, on the trip to the museum, I swatched the Denim. and, like the Svale, I’m getting the required sts in about 3 1/2″ instead of the 4″ it should be. *sigh* let the math begin.

in sock news, I finished the heel of sock #2 this morning on the bus. and it looks TONS better than the first heel. I didn’t really remember what I’d been shown in the class, so I followed the instructions in Sensational Knitted Socks. it turned out wonderful - no holes! so I’m thinking I’ll frog the first heel and make it bee-yoo-ti-ful too. and then I’ll start the cuffs on both of them (well, I’ll probably start the cuff on the 2nd one tonight, cuz there’s nothing else to knit on the bus home).

tonight, I’m going to do one arm/side seam on Eli’s sweater. and maybe the other one too, depending on how things go.

I also need to figure out what I’m doing for my trip down to Madison June 3rd.

I was in a bit of a knit funk. I’m starting to get out of it though.

I finally finished stripe 19 (of 19, per pattern) on dh’s HP scarf last week. He’s not a fan of it though (too thick for his liking). ah, well… so, anyone want to buy a HP (first movie style) scarf? or trade it for books/yarn/something?

I also started working on the xmas hat for my BIL again during the Super Bowl. (I was waiting for Grey’s Anatomy to come on.) I had just started the third wedge when I picked it up, I’m now a bit into the 4th wedge - just 1 1/2 wedges to go! I’m hoping it’ll be done by the Opening Ceremonies.

so, yeah… I joined the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Olympics yesterday. I must be crazy. This gives me what, 2 days to figure out a project that will be challenging AND finishable in 16 days!? Yikes! I’m thinking of joining one of the teams, but I’m torn… There’s team Knitty, the Irish team, the US team(s), the MN team, the WI team, one of the food teams (chocolate or cheese, most likely), one of the project specific teams (of course, I’d have to pick a project first…), the undecided Librans (I have a Libra ascendant - that’s gotta count for something!), team DPNs (they are handy for poking, no?). How does one decide? (hmm… maybe team libra is a good choice!)

In preparation for said Olympics, I have unpacked my yarn. I bought this at Pamida Monday night and put it together. Last night I finished unpacking all my yarn into it. (Well, at least all the yarn that I’ve found. There might be a few bits of it still acting as packing material somewhere). It’s pretty much full. I like it.

Now, what project do I want to knit? I’m thinking something with cables. And I know I can whip up a hat in a few days to a week, so I don’t want to go too much bigger than that, project wise. I’m thinking legwarmers, socks, a hat, or something else. I’m limiting myself to stash yarn (that should make it challenging!). I’m so undecided. and the more I think about it, the socks scare me, cuz it took me bloody forever to get the foot of my sock done for the class I took - and that was three weeks. for a foot! argh!

so I finished my sister’s hat the day after I posted last. and I’ve decided I want it. good thing there’s plenty of yarn leftover to make one for myself. ;)

I bought one of those Nifty Knitter dealies - you know the rings so that you can do ‘cheater knitting’. because someone on another forum posted her legwarmer that she made on them, and well, they were cute. and my legwarmers are destined to never be finished otherwise (seemingly). anywho, so I played with it and made a tiny hat on the tiny ring. well, that hat was so lacy. grr. (and when pulled just right, it kind of took on a bell-like shape. dh said so too, without me commenting on it.) so I ripped that out - I might try again doubling the yarn (I thought I used worsted…). so yeah, I’m torn on them. I really don’t want to have to double yarn or buy the thick chunky yarns just to use on them. we’ll give it a bit of a longer trial run, I guess.

other than that, the knitting has kind of slowed a bit. I started a swatch for the AAY purchase (it’s Bouton d’Or of some sort), but haven’t gotten much further than that. that and I got sick last weekend (and have been all week).

I figure I’ll have plenty of knitting time next weekend - I have a dance competition and my dance school has hired a bus to take us down to it - so plenty of knitting time. now, to plan the bus knitting… (oh, and I should probably practice my dances too, hey?)

well, the move went well enough, though I’m still mostly unpacked. we pulled up the floor in the living room only to discover that the floor is in need of help. (there’s hardwood under a subfloor. the first section we pulled up that was on the edge looked great. the middle - well, it looks like they overdid the sanding to the point that there are wafer-thin boards and a big hole. not sure what the story behind all that is, but…). the room that’s destined to be my office had the carpeting ripped up as well - so now I have linoleum with pits of foam glued to it. ugh. I really don’t want to get all unpacked til I have a ‘real’ floor, but who knows how long that’ll be.

so the yarn is still in boxes (labeled, so I can find it later.) the WIPs are in a crate so I could find them easily. and there is slow progress.

I’ve made it further into the Tychus hat for my BIL. I’m somewhere in the 3rd wedge - woohoo, about half-finished. I’ve also been working on my sister’s wooly-bear hat - started swatching it last week, actually CO on Friday night, and knit when I wasn’t being made to drive on the way down to see family. I just finished the orange stripe on the bus-ride to work this AM, so hopefully the hat will be done soon. that makes 2 xmas hats that weren’t quite finished in time. in other news, I finished another hat. just before we left for the weekend. this would be the ‘hat for me’ which ended up being way too big on me (I dind’t really bother with a swatch). turns out that it fits mom wonderfully (cuz she, in her words, doesn’t wear hats the way everyone else does.).

so, with ‘my’ hat being given to a new owner, I bought some yarn while checking out All About Yarn in Coon Rapids last week. nice store, which is good, since I think it’s the closest to me now (unless Maple Grove is, but we drive thru CR more than MG so I’ll probably end up there more often). what’d I buy? 3 balls of something that was on sale. I forget what it’s called. but that hat will probably be my next project.

oh, so we visited family over New Year’s weekend. mom loved ‘my’ hat. and the kids loved theirs. Amelia’s is a little big, but Lilin’s & Eli’s fit nicely (which means they’ll outgrow them instantly, I’m sure). I forgot to get a picture of the kids in their hats - maybe my sister will take and send me a pic soon (hint hint)