Happy Holidays! Strike Over!

So the strike is over and everything has turned to a mad rush for last minute Christmas shopping! Well, at least for people that didn't get out the city earlier! New York was so empty this morning!

I lucked out on Wednesday by working at home. Thursday morning I went back to work, but had to drive around Queens for 30 minutes in the cab trying to get a 4th person so we could get over the bridge to Manhattan! Getting home wasn't a problem this time, my fiance had driven up from Jersey so we just drove home to Queens. Course he was stuck in traffic at 3pm on the Jersey Turnpike when they announced the strike was over.......but hey, better late than never!

But who cares about all that strike stuff......it's time for Christmas!



It's going to be a busy holiday! We have tons of family to see. Both of our parents are divorced, so we have 4 families to fit in! Luckily I took off from work all next week, so I'll have plenty of time to rest (and knit)!

Happy Holidays everyone! I'll see ya guys next year - hopefully with a finished pair of Log Cabin socks!

Hey! Can I Get A Ride?

Fun, fun, fun. That is the way my day went today. Woke up to no subway service in NYC due to the greedy union calling a strike. I mean, I'm all for the workers getting their raises, but when so many people are just trying to get to work to provide for their families and buy Christmas presents - this just totally sucks! I managed to get to work in a minivan with 6 strangers. Luckily it only cost me $10. Left my apartment at 9am, got to work at 11am. Getting home wasn't so easy however. I was planning on taking the LIRR, but that didn't work out. Then I figured I'd just jump in a cab with 3 other people, that didn't work either. So I ended up walking home. So I walked from 39th and Broadway to 31st Ave in Queens. For those of you that are lucky enough to not live in NYC and aren't familiar with the area, that means I had to walk about 5 miles and had to cross the East River via the Queensboro Bridge. And let me tell you, it was not a fun walk when it is 20 degrees outside and you are walking for 2 hours! The last time I had to do this was during the blackout in 2003, and I thought I'd never have to do it again! UGH! I brought work home with me tonight, I am NOT dealing with this again tomorrow. I guess it could have been worse though, it could have been snowing!

And now back to our normally scheduled knitting content:

I started knitting the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays this past weekend. I had the yarn sitting around from my Rowan mag subscription from last year. It was supposed to be a capelet, but it wasn't the best looking capelet, and I'm not really a capelet kinda girl. So the yarn is now socks. Yay socks! Boo MTA and the Union!

Secret Pal 6 Reveal

I received my final package from my wonderful SP Melissa from melknits this weekend. It was filled with tons of wonderful goodies!

I received 4 balls of plymouth baby alpaca brush, 2 balls of sockotta, a pattern for a hat and socks for the sockotta, woolwash, a cute little basket, and some Christmas coffee and tea from starbucks. I'm sure the caffeine will help me stay up to knit "just one more row"!

Here's a detail of the cute little basket! I put a dime in the picture so you could see how small it really is.


Melissa also sent along a little "newsletter" telling me a little about herself and her family. What a creative reveal! Thanks Melissa for everything!

The secret pal I had to spoil was ALSO named Melissa - the hostess called it the "ring around the Melissa's". So as my first SP draws to a close I am so happy that I had a good experience. I didn't exactly know what to expect and now I have made two more knitting buddies - it just happens that both of them are named Melissa!

Blocking Board is Getting All the Love

My blocking board has been getting tons of love lately. I haven't put it away since I brought it back to my apartment a month or so ago!

The Opera scarf is giving the board love tonight. I finished tonight at SnB and it feels good to have one more project off the list.




I think this is going to be my last Christmas knit. I was planning on making my Dad's wife a pair of socks, but it's going to take a bit of work to have them done in time. Plus she started knitting herself a little while back and has only made some novelty yarn scarves. Since she keeps saying that she would like to learn how to knit sweaters, I thought it might be nicer to buy her a beginning sweater book and offer her some lessons. I think she'd appreciate the socks, but I think buying her a book or even some more yarn will be even better. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

So Christmas knitting is officially over! Now I can go back to my regularly scheduled selfish knitting!

Two Down, Two to Go

So I managed to make it back from Minneapolis in one piece! On the way there, I was fine, but on the way home the anxiety kicked in a bit. Luckily my boss offered me her 1st class seat and I had my knitting with me. I was so distraught that I knit a whole repeat on branching out before I realized I dropped 3 stitches on the first row I had started with. But I'm home now and don't think I'll have to go on any more business trips for awhile. It was good to experience a new place, but man was it cold! It was like -6 degrees yesterday! It felt like a heat wave when I got back to NYC - and it was only 34 degrees!

So I managed to finish up Branching Out on the plane and blocked it tonight. I'm so excited to have 2 gifts down and only 2 more to go! The pattern was a lot clearer once it was blocked and I hope it stays that way when being worn.



Today I received my package from Purl with my beautiful Alpaca and Silk from Blue Sky. What great timing. I am doing the Opera Scarf from Blue Sky, which is a free pattern offered on their web site. It seems like a pretty quick knit, so I hope to have it finished by next week if not sooner. I was going to cast on tonight, but I still have to pack to go home to NJ. I am going to Fiona Apple in Philly tomorrow night - I can't wait!


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, yummy yarn!

Goodies

Yesterday I picked up my yarn sample book from Habu Textiles. Habu's yarns are absolutely amazing! They have everything from silk and wool to pineapple, copper, silver and steel. I visited their showroom in NYC a couple weeks back when I was doing some research on a top secret project and I was in heaven.



Today I received The Knitting Answer Book from Amazon. I had placed the pre-order ages ago and I thought it was supposed to come out in October, but I guess I was wrong. I've scanned through it very quickly, but I like what I see so far. I strongly suggest adding this to your knitting reference library even if you've been knitting for years. The book is small too, about 4 x 6, so it's even easy to slip into your knitting bag when knitting on the town. Oh and did I mention it's cheap too - only $14.95!



Branching Out is coming along very well. I can't wait to finish! Judging from trying to wrap it around my neck, it's about 3/4 of the way there. I hope to have it done before Wednesday.

I found a very nice free scarf pattern from Blue Sky Alpaca to do for my Grandmom too. I ditched the glove and sock idea - I think she'll get more use out of this. It's made out of their Alpaca/Silk blend and I'm really excited about trying this yarn out.

Monday and Tuesday of next week it's off to Minnesota for Target meetings. Ugh! I almost wish I had gotten it over with the first time. Wish me luck! I'll just pack lots of knitting and hope for the best.

One Down, Three to Go

Finished seaming Backyard Leaves tonight. I hope my mom likes it!



Pattern: Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style
Yarn: 4 balls Karabella Aurora 8

I really enjoyed this pattern. It went fairly quickly and the chart wasn't too hard to master. I'm glad I got to make this one as a gift, I probably wouldn't have made one for myself. I'm more of a stripy scarf kind of girl.

Progress on Branching Out is going well. I'm at repeat 22 and need at least 22 more to make a decent length scarf. I don't want to make it too long though, it's not exactly a "wrap around your neck 3 times and wear out in a blizzard" kind of thing.

Now the problem becomes what to knit next. I'm thinking about making either the Log Cabin Socks (I have yarn already) or making the Vintage Beaded Gloves from Handknit Holidays for my Grandmother. Thing is, she lives in Florida - though she usually visits for at least 3 month during the winter. This one is a tough call. Any suggestions?

Don't Ya Hate It When.......

Don't ya hate it when you are really looking forward to finishing up a certain leafy scarf on the train ride home and end up running out of yarn with only 30 or so rows to go?? I sure do! I was soooooo close to finishing backyard leaves Wednesday night, but a little yarn shortage squashed those dreams. Luckily, I had some half knit legwarmers at home that didn't mind being destroyed:



So I picked the scarf back up tonight and finished up the lousy 30 rows, wet it down and pinned it to the blocking board. Hopefully it will dry overnight and will be ready to be seamed tomorrow.




Thankfully, running out of yarn didn't totally devastate my holiday knitting plans. Since I had planned on finishing BYL on the train ride home, I stuffed my knitting bag with yarn for Branching Out. I've done about 10 repeats so far and am aiming for 4 repeats a day. I'm using Rowan Kidsilk left over from one of my sweater projects. It might be a little thin, but it seems to be working out OK so far, plus this isn't exactly a scarf that my Aunt will be wearing for warmth. I started out with size 8 needles, but the lace seemed too loose so I ripped it all out after a repeat or two. I went down to size 6 needles and it looks a lot nicer now. It's going to need a nice blocking though.



So it's round 2 for the Christmas gifts already so to help me along and keep me motivated, I've joined the Who Wouldn't Love A Handknitted Gift knit-along. Whew! That's a mouthful.

Progress Report

The Christmas scarf is coming along better than expected. I have been a good little knitter and have done 2 repeats a day, if not more. I only have about 4 more to go on the second half. I might even have it done by Thanksgiving so I can get started on Branching Out for my Aunt.

And I have some news on my second Lucky:

I finally ordered my blocking board with some moola that I got for my B-day last month and starting blocking Lucky last night. I'll tell ya, I don't know how I ever survived without one before! Blocking is so much easier and more pleasant. Finished sweater here I come! The weather is finally just starting to get cold, so my cashmere lucky is right on time.



Now I just have to block my fairisle sweater, finish the neckband, and sew it together and I'll have another FO. That will be my reward after finishing the parade of Christmas knits.

And finally, my knitting buddy Mia found this link online and I thought the concept was very interesting - a completely knit wedding. I don't think my fiancee will go for this though......

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I'm Sorry, But I Had To

I know, I know. I'm not usually one to fall and do what everyone else it doing, but I'm so very curious where all of you guys are from. Please indulge me and put your little pin on the map as you have probably done 200 times before! Or just leave me a comment and tell me I suck for jumping on the bandwagon. I'm just way to curious and I've been debating whether to put it up or not for two days now...........there was way too much time spent thinking about it and not enough time being spent on the knitting of Christmas presents. So to end the dilemma, I posted the map, now it's up to my loving readers to post a pin or not post a pin.





Whew! Now that is out of my system here is some progress on backyard leaves (though it's kind of a crappy picture). I've almost finished the first 11 repeats (10 done - could have gotten one more done if I hadn't thought about the map so long!) I should hopefully have the first half done by this weekend. My goal is to have this completed by next week if not sooner so I can start on my Aunt's Branching Out. Then I've added a pair of socks for my Grandmom and a Knit your own Rock Star - Henry Rollins for my sister. So now that my list has grown, I better get my butt moving.

Christmas Gifts: Round 1

Started knitting Christmas presents this weekend. Started with "Backyard Leaves" by Annie Modesett from Scarf Style. This one will be for my Mom. Luckily I had 4 balls of Aurora 8 in my stash left over from my college thesis project.



It started off a little bit shaky. I got through 1 1/2 repeats and decided to rip it all out. I was knitting a little too tightly and had made several mistakes in the chart. I should have really frogged after 1 repeat, but somehow I thought it would get different. I asked my finance several times if it looked OK and he said it did. Then he fell asleep and when he woke up, the scarf was no more. He seemed a bit more disturbed than I was. I started over, and things are well on the way. I figure if I do at least 2 repeats a day, that should leave enough time to knit my Aunt "Branching Out" in Kidsilk Haze.

Leaving for Minnesota Tuesday night for a business meeting with Target. Not really looking forward to flying - I get MAJOR anxiety attacks. I hope I'll be able to keep the nerves under control with my knitting. If security even thinks about taking it away from me I'll be in tears! Backyard Leaves is at least involved enough that I have to pay complete attention to the chart and counting. The less room I have to think about other things, the better.

Update 11/14: Trip to Minnesota is cancelled! What a relief! Though I don't get away totally clean - it's been rescheduled for 12/5. Oh well. At least I will be able to go to SnB tomorrow. It's our last night at Ten63 before they shut their doors. Sniff....

First Pair is a Charm

Yay! Finished my first pair of socks tonight. The second one fits a bit better than the first, but that's not a big surprise.



Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple - Beginner's Mid-Weight Socks
Yarn: 1 ball Lana Grossa Meilenweit 70% Virgin Wool 23% Polyamid 7% PBT

I was thinking about why it took me so long to knit my first pair of socks and I came up with one conclusion. When I was in college, my knitwear professor brainwashed us into not ever wanting to knit socks. She went on and on about "Why would anyone want to spend so much time knitting something they can go buy 5 pairs for $1?" For whatever reason this stuck in my mind for 6 years. I was even offered money last year to knit a pair for a girl I used to work with - I turned it down! Yes, I turned down knitting for money! So sad.

I'm not even sure why I listened to that professor, she was a bit weird anyway! "Why would anyone want to knit socks!?" Well, for one, this is the most comfortable, warm pair of socks I have ever owned! No more sock phobia here! Thanks again Secret Pal for the great sock therapy!

Sock progress

I've made a bit of sock progress over the past couple of days, though not as much as I would have liked. I finished the first sock last Thursday and the second is well on its way (turned heel tonight! woo hoo!). I hope to have a complete pair by tomorrow, but you never know.



The second socking finishing party might be put off until I put away all the junk in the background of the pic. It's been sitting around in my apartment for about 2 months now. Guess it's about time that I put everything away, I'm sick of looking at it.

Bought Handknit Holidays this weekend in preparation for Christmas knitting. I don't usually like Holiday knitting books, but this one is so cool I couldn't resist. I especially love the tree skirt made from Manos - however I'm not sure I would like the $ total after buying 22 skeins to complete it! Maybe next year after I win the lottery..............

Thank you so much to everyone for your engagement wishes! It is so nice to have such a warm community to share our happiness with!

Socks and Big Announcement

Yay! Socks! I am almost finished my first sock and I am so very very happy. How could I have missed out on socks for the past 5 years? I just don't know. I have about 2 inches of jersey left before I start shaping the toe. They have gone very quickly considering that I am knitting on size 3 needles. I should really be starting my on Christmas presents for the fam, but I just can't put my sock down. And don't even mention poor butterfly. She has been neglected for a week now.



Today I found a new online knitting magazine through Fig and Plum . It's called anticraft. It is very anti-cute and anti-pink. It's nice to see a different kind of knitting mag pop up. It's not for everyone, but it's one to watch for sure. I loved the little blurb on theCurse your Boyfriend sweater. And I definately must have the Snowball's Chance in Hell armwarmers!

And now for the big announcement.......

I'm engaged!!!!!!!

The big day happened on our birthday in New Hope with the sheep cheering him on. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise for my Tuesday night SnB girls. Next fall will probably be when everything goes down. He is so excited about planning the wedding. I am soooooo glad I will have help and won't have to do everything myself.

The Happy Couple


The Goods!

Boo Hoo! Vacation Over

Yep, back to the grind in NYC today. It's hard to believe that I am back in such a noisy place after spending several days in the quiet quiet quiet mountains. Luckily I grew up in the country, otherwise it would have been total culture shock! The scenry was just absolutely breathtaking! Overall, we had a very relaxing vacation and our b-day was good. Thanks to everyone that wished us both a good one!

Here are a few photo highlights of our trip:

This was our B&B in Stockton, NJ

Our buddies in Stockton running for some chestnuts

View from our window.

Our B&B in Kinderhook.

Now this is a staircase!

View of the Hudson River from Olana

Martin Van Buren's home

And of course my vacation would not be complete without purchasing some new yarn:

We went to a nice little yarn store in Chatham and I picked up 5 balls of Kathmandu DK and Scarf Style. The DK will be used for the turtleneck shrug by Teva Durham. I thought this book would be great to have for making Christmas gifts since my family has hinted that they want something handmade this year. Guess I better stop being selfish and start knitting for others. Christmas will be here before I even know it and I'll be breaking my wrists trying to get everything done!

I also worked on my socks a little bit. Haven't gotten to any of the exciting parts yet. Have about 5" of jersey to go before I turn my first heel.

Yay! Secret Pal Presents

First I'd like to start off by thanking everyone who left nice comments about Blackberry and my scarf with sleeves. It's so nice to be loved!

I received a package from my Secret Pal this weekend. It probably arrived in Jersey last week, or even the week before, but I hadn't been back there to pick up my mail for two weeks. So here are the goods......

Seems my SP got my hint that I wanted to knit some socks! Not that I made it very hard to guess! I love the color of the yarn and it feels like it will be warm and soft on my little tootsies. I wanted to start my socks right away this weekend, but my DPN were in NY. Receiving gifts in the mail is such a wonderful thing - especially when it involves yarn! Thanks Secret Pal! Look for my new pair of socks here soon!

Even though I wanted to start my socks pretty badly, it's good I didn't have some double pointed needles at my disposal. I was preoccupied with the front of Butterfly this weekend. I'm moving along pretty quickly and hope to have it done within the next couple of weeks so I can move on to something else (like socks!)


This Wednesday is both my boyfriend's and my birthday, so we planned a little vacation. This is the first B-day we are spending together so we thought a little trip was in order (not to mention that I will be on the verge of a nervous breakdown if I don't get some time off from work!). On Wednesday, it's off to New Hope, PA for a day of antique and yarn shopping (plus B&B we are staying at has a sheep pasture! So exciting!) Then on Friday and Saturday its off to Kinderhook, NY on the Hudson. Already did my research on some yarn stores up there too. No sheep pasture in Kinderhook, but we will be staying at the first law school in New York built around 1785. So we'll have a nice dose of history, yarn, sheep and food. I should have lots of pics to post when I get back, though I don't know how much knitting I'll be getting done.

A Surprise Finished Object

Another finished object! I am on a roll!


Found! 5 years in the making!

When I was getting my living room situated on Friday night, I found a WIP. I had completely forgotten that I finished knitting this project and only needed to sew the sleeves onto the long scarf like body. I don't know how I ever made it through 60" of fisherman rib without being bored out of my mind. This was my second knitting project started about 5 years ago from Rebecca issue number 12. This pattern has recently been republished in their special edition Soft Kid Mohair book. It is also available for free here.


Pattern: #17 Scarf with Sleeves from Rebecca #12
Materials: GGH Soft Kid: 70% super kid mohair 25% polyamide 5% wool
Knitting Time: Well, I started sometime in 2000
Notes: I don't remember much about knitting this actually. I remember running out of yarn because I made the scarf part wider than the pattern called for. I remember having some trouble with Rebecca's english translation. Otherwise, my memory isn't much help after 5 years!

So maybe, just maybe I'll have my fairisle sweater from Vogue up here soon. I just finished reknitting the front neck. The first time around I started decreasing too early and the neck drop was too low. Now it's just a matter of blocking and finishing the neck band.

Boo hoo! Rhinebeck, the trip that never was........

This weekend I should have been happily dancing around yarn and sheep and wool and sheep.........you get the point. I should have taken off for Rhinebeck Saturday morning, but it didn't happen. With all the rain we have been having for the past week, I decided that I didn't really want to walk around possibly soggy fairgrounds. Then my boyfriend (who was supposed to drive the Jeep up Friday) got a 103 fever because of before mentioned rain. He has been working outside in it for the last week and it didn't do a body good.

So there I was on a Saturday afternoon and in New York City - a sunny New York City may I add. One thing I do appreciate about rain for 7 days is the blue sky afterwards. All the junk in the air has been cleared out - well at least for one day. I'm sure tomorrow will be back to drab grey/blue.

But all was not lost. My boyfriend felt better by Saturday morning and drove up to join me. We went to the Botanic Gardens in Brooklyn and took a walk around my old neighborhood. It was so nice to finally have some sun! I also checked out a fairly new yarn store in the area called Stitch Therapy.


Yay! Sun and blue sky!

Rose Garden

One of many

A Finished Object

Finally, as promised, a finished object! I finished Blackberry tonight and am pretty happy with the results. It needs to be blocked better before I can actually wear it, but I needed to get it up while it was hot off the needles. I was a little worried that the sweater might be too bulky looking on me, but I liked the way it came out. Sometimes bulky sweaters are hard for people to wear and even though they are quick to knit, sometimes you lose out in the end when it makes you look like the pillbury doughboy!



Pattern: Blackberry by Jennifer Thurston
Materials: 7 balls of Rowan Big Wool (Color 24, 100% Merino 87yds/100g), Sz 11 needles
Knitting Time: September 22 - Oct 10 2005.
Notes: Used 1 more ball than the pattern called for, so you may want to buy an extra just in case. When picking up around the neck for the ribbing, you might want to pick up a few more stitches than recommended. The ribbing pulls in rather tighly and needs quite a bit of blocking to prevent rolls in the body above the ribbing. Rolls are the last thing you want in a bulky sweater! Also, my bobbles look a little off, but nothing that a little blocking can't fix.

I also received some presents in the mail over the past week:



My 600 grams of silk sari yarn won on ebay. I paid $10! I couldn't pass that up. I actually didn't win the auction, but the winner couldn't pay up or didn't want it so I got a second chance to purchase. This may become a bag in the near future.



I received these two books from Crafter's Choice. They were the last of my free selections. I've wanted the toy book for awhile, but didn't want to spend the money on it. I love the little dog door draft blocker! I've had my eye on the yarn dye book for a few years also, but just never purchased it for reasons unknown. When I actually get some time, dyeing will be my next thing to try.

The Joys of Living in NYC

Yes, the joys of living in NYC.

Tonight it took me about 2 hours to get home due to some "credible" information that terrorists were planning an attack on the NYC subway in the next couple of days. First we heard that the NYPD had arrested a man from Iraq w/ plans and info on the bombing. Then we heard from Mayor Bloomberg that they did not have anyone in custody. Then we heard that there was an arrest in Iraq yesterday. So which one is it????? I don't doubt that they did in fact have some credible information, and I'm glad they let us know (we usually don't know til after the threat is passed) but they could at least get their stories straight.

So my co-worker and I decided to jump onto the bus, not because we were scared to get on the subway, but because we knew it would be a huge headache to get home that way. Everyone had the same idea - luckily we were the first stop. I heard someone on the bus ask if the subways were running again. I don't think the trains ever stopped running in the late afternoon - in fact I hear them going by outside - though not as frequently.

This just goes to show how misinformation can make things crazier than they are. Luckily, we got out of work before things got more chaotic! I would just hate to see what would happen during a real emergency. Luckily I was spared 9-11. I was here for the blackout a few years back - but that just involved a lot of walking.

So now onto the knitting news...........

I finished my second Blackberry sleeve the other night and am ready to block, stitch up and start the neckband. But I ran into a little problem - I didn't have enough yarn for the neckband. No problem, I thought, I'll just run over to the LYS on my lunch. I had just bought the yarn 2 weeks ago, so I crossed my fingers that they would have at least one ball left. When I got there, the shop owner confirmed my fear. They had sold out! In fact, she said that was the only color of big wool that people were buying! NOOOOOOOOOO! But then she checked one more time and found 4 more balls in a box. SAVED!!!! So if anyone is making Blackberry out there in blog land, make sure you buy an extra ball of yarn for this one. I'm making the XS which calls for 6 balls. I believe the Small also calls for 6 - and if I couldn't make it for the XS, the people making a S might have more trouble. So I wanted to come straight home and finish up the sweater tonight, but then life in NYC happened...........

New Stuff

I'm almost finished Blackberry from knitty. I've been working on it for almost two weeks and hope to have it stitched up soon. I really like cable work and bobbles. I think I may have to do a traditional fisherman sweater for my boyfriend. That would make him happy since he complains that he hasn't gotten a sweater yet. (I'm a very selfish knitter! There's nothing wrong with that right?)


progress

I picked up some new reading material lately. The first comes from the antique store. I was wondering around when I came upon these wonderful needlework magazines from the 20's. The seller had a whole stack that ranged from 1918 to about 1928. I leafed through to find the ones that had the best knitting projects in them, but there were also a lot of interesting crochet, embroidery, and sewing patterns. I'm getting such a kick out of the advertisements too - some almost seem brainwashing.....



My second selection is Alterknits by Leigh Radford. I had a coupon for 15% off a book at BN, so why not pick up another knitting book to add to the collection?! Most of the projects are very interesting, and there are little blurbs that get you to think about your knitting in new creative ways. Sometimes I feel like I am in such a creative slump and this just may be the book to help me out from time to time. I mainly picked it up for these two projects:



I just loved this corset sweater! The front isn't too exciting, that may get a little bit of a rewrite, but I just loved the back!

I also loved these little lanterns:


They are made out of Habu textiles Shosenshi Paper and Paper Moire. I've been wanting to get up to 29th Street to try out their yarns and this may just be the type of project to start out with.


In closing, just want to remind everyone that hockey season starts on Wednesday! I can't wait! Go Flyers!!!!

Finished sweater on its way?????

Here is my progress on Blackberry after the weekend. I knit the back on Wednesday, most of the right front on Thursday, finished the right front and the left front on the train home on Friday, and started the sleeve on Saturday. I think I might just have to pick up bigger needles more often. I think I may have done the bobbles incorrectly on the sleeves though. Somehow I ended up with the bobbles on the wrong side. Need to frog two rows tonight and have another go.



I would have more done on Blackberry if it wasn't for...........curtains! Yes, I finally have gotten my curtains up! I was so sick of being able to look over into my neighbors apartment all the time! The roman blinds were good, at least when it was daylight. When it got dark I might as well not even bothered to put them down. Now I can finally have privacy in my living room. I also put together an ikea bedside table and my lovely bf helped me to put up the blind in the kitchen. It's only been a month, but the apartment is finally starting to get organized. Now I just can't wait for my bookshelf to be delivered so I can get all my knitting books out of boxes.


Sorry neighbor, no more peep shows!