Vacation Knitting

Yes there is knitting on this knitting blog! I took several projects along on my vacation and actually got a fair bit of knitting done. I am halfway through my first Harry Potter scarf in Gryffindor colors. This is a fast knit (each section of color is about equal to one episode of Lost on dvd - give or take the times I have to stop knitting to go "No Way!") . I also cast on for my second sock (the socks I'm not really knitting) and it is progressing along just fine (probably because I'm not really knitting it). I'm very pleased with Charlene Schurch's pattern book so far. More details when I present the finished socks (which I am currently not really knitting but when they are done they may "just appear").

Here are the socks not being knitted.

**Please ignore the horribly broken and ugly thumb nail and concentrate on the serious bling bling on my finger. This was a Christmas present. It is an eternity band with the stones being my children's birthstones separated by diamonds and the whole thing set in platinum. SWEET! I have always wanted a "mother's ring". This one was designed by hubby and I and matches our wedding rings. :) Now back to the knitting...**

I also took along my Shoalwater Shawl which I totally ignored.

In honor of the massive amount of Harry Potter knitting I will be doing in the next few months I have joined the Another Weasley Along which is hosted over at The Blue Blog. I have promised Harry Potter scarves to my children's schools for their auctions and of course I can't knit Harry Potter scarves for other kids without knitting some for my own and my nephew - so I may never actually escape from this Harry Potter knitting black hole I have been sucked into. Fortunately I have at least 6 more episodes of Lost on dvd. After that I don't know, I may have to resort to watching the rest of season 8 and season 9 of Little House on the Prairie. I hope Little House works for Harry Potter knitting! ;)

I also joined the Evelyn A. Clark Knitalong because I have just completed the Leaf Lace Shawl (which is what the group is working on now) and the Shoalwater Shawl is her creation as well. I have a bunch of her patterns and I'm sure I will be knitting several of them in the future. They are very well written and pretty too. I've never done a Yahoo Groups knitalong before so we'll see how this goes. I like the blog format much better so far...

Just before I went on vacation I also joined the Stashalong that Kim is hosting over at Knitter in Progress. When I came home and checked in at the Stashalong I had a minor panic attack when I noticed that one of the rules was NO YARN BUYING FOR THREE MONTHS!!! I am going to have to ask for an exception or something because my birthday falls within those three months and my LYS gives a good discount for yarn you buy on your birthday and I can't really miss out on my one time a year when I can get a good discount can I?? Can I??? And I'm pretty sure I will need more Harry Potter yarn and I did make a promise to the schools to knit the scarves BEFORE I joined the Stashalong so what if I have to buy more yarn for that??? Help! Panic! I'm going to email Kim......

Thanks goodness I did some gratuitous yarn buying during my vacation. Well my Mom actually PAID for the yarn - I just picked it out and played the role of yarn enabler for her as well. :) My Mom knit a multi-directional scarf out of Silk Garden over the vacation - that was one visit to the (very tiny) LYS. I was restrained on that visit. I only got one skein of Cascade 220 superwash in a pretty turquoise color. Which will become a hat of some sort - possibly the Beehive hat from one of the SnB books. HOWEVER, on that first visit I did notice some lovely Cherry Tree Hill Zebra Caribe in the Moody Blues colorway. Over the next few days my Mom and I brainstormed about what I could make with that yarn - you know, IF I had bought it. Well - luckily my Mom needed another skein for her scarf and another project to keep her busy after that so back to the yarn store we went where I snatched up all of the Cherry Tree Hill I could find. I think I have 5 or 6 skeins. I'm not really sure, I was in a bit of a yarn induced high at the time. I'm thinking about making a sweater - just winging it and making it up as I go along. We'll see... I've never used any Cherry Tree Hill yarn before so this should be fun!

My Mom got the yarn to make the Poster Boy bag (also from the SnB books) so I decided I had to try felting too. Which is why I ended up also getting three skeins of Shadyside Studio Wools. I have never seen this yarn before but I like the look and feel of it as well as the colors. It is 100% wool - hence the felting idea - from the Natural Dyed line. I've got one each of Logwood (purpley color), Lac (raspberry), and Fustic (a sort of mustardy yellow). I think I will make a simple striped bag using one of the SnB felted bags as a general guide.

Somehow some sock yarn also jumped into my bag. It's some Regia Multi Effekt which I am pretending I might make into socks for one of the men in my life but will hopefully end up for me. :)

My Mom claims that teaching me to knit has been a hardship on her budget....

I have decided that 2006 should be the year of me. Seriously, 95% of what I made last year was for other people. And while I enjoy giving - and my hand knit scarves and hats were very much appreciated by all my in-laws and family - my head is cold too! My feet are cold! I don't have any sweaters! I need some hand warmers! So, step aside people it's all about me for now!!

Any votes on how fast that resolution will crumble?? Especially since I have a nephew with a birthday coming up and Harry Potter scarves to knit for auction (did I mention those are gi-normous??)