Huh.

It's funny how quicky things can change.

I did not get to Germany to meet with my husband, or to Alsace/Lorraine to celebrate my 40th birthday with my mom. Instead, we were diverted back to JFK after 3 hours in flight because of volcanic ash closing the Frankfurt airport. We spent three days in Brooklyn hoping to get out, but eventually gave up. As a tangential result of that, I am now going through a marital separation and am living in a new apartment in downtown Rochester. Yikes.

What has NOT changed, however, is that I am still woefully behind on my attempt to knit 40 items in my 40th year, but in the face of everything else that's happening, that seems like small potatoes.

Here's a glimpse of an item that I HAVE completed, a 3 hour baby cap made out of yarn leftover from the Tulip baby sweater. This is a view from my wonderful second story roof-top deck.


Below are the softest socks ever, basic sock pattern with ribs. Photo also taken on my roof-top deck.


And finally, the citron, also taken on my roof-top deck (did I mention the roof-top deck?! Love. It.)

Knit on, all.

Eastward Bound

My 40 in 40 goal is not off to a good start. So far, I've only completed two projects, and one of them was finished _before_ my birthday. Yikes! Here is the completed project #2: My Vampire Boyfriend socks, complete with Spike in the background.

I'm off to Europe tomorrow to visit my husband who's working in Bonn for three months, and to celebrate turning 40 by renting an apartment in Northeastern France for a week. I'm really looking forward to it. My mom is coming with me to help me celebrate, and we're planning to eat lots of cheese and bread, and drink lots of wine. We're hoping to visit the champagne caves in Reims, do a day trip to Paris, drive the Routes des Cretes in Alsace, and also do some walking and lounging.

I have lots of projects in progress, and am hoping to finish some on the trip. I'm almost on the last section of the Citron shawl, using malabrigo laceweight; I have two potential pairs of socks to bring along: the Midsummer Night's Dream socks and a basic sock pattern; and I'm also knitting my 14 year old neice day-glo green legwarmers in scary acrylic (I won't be bringing those to Europe).

Happy Knitting!

Spring!

Crocuses in our backyard:

My attempt at finished item #2: Floral Brocade Mittens by Cheryl Burke (mitten on the right, compared to full sized mitten) - I used the needle they suggested and my guage was way off. I ripped back to the cuff, and now I'm reknitting with size 2 and it's going much better.


A real finished item #2: Sock #1 of My Vampire Boyfriend socks, done on size 1 needles, in Dream in Color Smooshy, color In Vino Veritas. I started out knitting a little too tightly, so the cuff is a bit tight, but I think that'll help the sock stay up. I love these, especially the bitemark holes in the cables, which you can't see in this photo.

Return of the Blog!

The blog is back, Baby.

I was recently reading http://dominiqueknitting.blogspot.com/, and I was inspired to emulate her attempt to knit 50 projects in the year that she turned 50. I'm turning 40 next week, so my goal is to complete 40 items.

I've decided to start counting at the beginning of the month because I finally finished a vest that's been haunting me for years: the Downtown Cap Sleeve Cardigan by Jen Ronning for Webs.

I bought the yarn and the pattern at Stitches East in Baltimore in 2008, and I couldn't wait to start it. The yarn is lovely, the pattern is cute, but there was no chart, just the written instructions, and the bobble pattern was not in synch with the leaf pattern. Plus, there was shaping. Every time I put it down, it took time to figure out where I was the next time I picked it up. Hence, it sat, and sat, and sat. But now it's finally done. Yahoo! Only 39 more projects to go. Do socks count as 2 items?

Next up, My Vampire Boyfriend (Spike) or Floral Brocade Mittens. Both are on the needles. Stay tuned to see which one wins.

Closing up Shop

I started this blog to track my knitting projects and now that I can do that on Ravelry, I'm going to close down the blog. Look for me on Ravelry at Librarianknitter. I'll leave you with this picture of the Valentine's Day chocolate I bought my husband. Only in fishing-obsessed Central PA . . .

Trellis Love

Behold, the finished Trellis for the "nephew formerly known as Tiny G," who's not-so-tiny anymore.

I'm so happy with how this turned out. I love the Knitpicks Shine (worsted), and the pattern was challenging enough to keep me interested but quick enough to finish in time for xmas. The package goes out today, including knitting supplies for my sister-in-law who's caught the knitting bug.

My goal over the break is to catch up on my hibernating projects (the hedgerow socks, the daisy afghan, and the Jamieson's stole). We're driving to western NY for the holidays and then taking a quick trip to Jacksonville/St. Mary's Georgia (cheapest warm place we could to fly to from State College). I should have plenty of knitting time.

Happy Holidays!

Year without a Santa Claus

Greetings from Heat Miser/Cold Miser Central. It's that time of year when we harken back to Christmas Specials of yesteryear, and I couldn't resiste posting this pic from Halloween 2004 (we're supposed to be the Miser couple).

As for knitting content, there's not much. I've been knitting like crazy, but don't have many pics to show for it. My daisy afghan squares are sewn together but now I have to weave in all of the ends and decide how to do a border with only two small skeins of leftover yarn. I started the Trellis sweater for our new nephew who's only 7 months old, but is a BIG BABY (in a healthy, totally appropriate way). I'm making the middle size, which will probably be too big, but I'd rather have it too big than too small.

The Kauni cardigan is done and blocked and just needs to have buttons sewn on, (or, as they say here in central PA, "needs sewn", as in the kitchen "needs sweeped") but I'm so disgusted that it's too small that I'm trying to avoid it. If it fits my mom she's getting it for Christmas. I still don't know what happened. The size I made had a 55 cm chest width on the pattern, which, according to Google, 55 centimeters = 21.6535433 inches. 21.6 doubled equals 43.2 circumference, which should have been plenty big. I got guage so I thought I was fine. But, even after blocking, I only got a 20 inch chest width, and 40 inches around is very different from 43.2 inches around. I could wear it open, but I went to all that work to make a cardigan that now I can't wear buttoned. Seems stupid.

On the bright side, I made two quick, fun hats over the Thanksgiving holiday. They're the Chicabean pattern by Rogue. They're great for using up sweater leftovers. I like the second one better, but I screwed up and knit the first row instead of doing ribbing, so that's why the edge curls a little bit.