Goodbye 2015

Goodbye 2015...as I'm looking forward to 2016.

Let's see what happened this past year (not necessarily in this order):

• Prepped our house for an addition
• Decided against addition
• Prepped house for selling (staged and painted)
• Sold house in less than 24 hours
• Moved 
• Spent the summer living at my Gram's house 
• DH was laid off (still looking!)
• Built a new house
• Made countless decisions about new house
• Moved into new house
• Was given a larger team to manage
• Completed a leadership development program
• Finished 11 knitting projects
• 3 of which were socks (love!)
• Knit my first hat for a well loved doll without a pattern
• Knit for someone I've only known for a few months
• Hosted Christmas with both sides of our families
• Didn't take a vacation (won't repeat that again!)
• Learned, what I call, the Fish Kiss heel (really called Fish Lips Kiss Heel)
• Got through the year without foot surgery, unlike the past 2 years
• Tried new food/drinks this year (guacamole, whiskey, oysters)
• Put baking items on my Christmas list (who knew I'd enjoy this kitchen SO much I want to cook/bake!)
• Joined my first sock yarn only club called "Coloring outside the box" and loved every skein!
• Was given a new VP to report into (still trying to figure this person out)
• Enjoyed my favorite cutie and all the times at the playground
• Threw a minion party, including a cake with Bob

Now to enjoy a New Year's Eve cocktail in front of our fireplace!

Pumpkin Anyone?

This hat caught my eye for a couple of reasons, quick knit and that I have a special 3 year old that could be interested in wearing this.

I showed this special cutie a picture of it in the Knit Simple magazine. I talked about it and how it showed the little boy wearing it and asked her if she wanted one. The reply I got was 'sure', so I said I'll make you one...the reply "make me one Aunt Dawn".

You got it!

I bought the yarn at Northampton Wools. Of which is one of the cutest shops I've been in. I didn't realize it had a whole additional level, of which is a can't miss!

Pattern: Pumpkin Hat #06
Found in Knit Simple Fall 2015
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted & Solids
Needles: US 9
Ravelry Page

Someone LOVED it!

Longest Summer...ever.

I don't think it helped that my knitting project was a shawl, that I HAD to knit, but found it a bit boring.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the knitter that developed this pattern (have knit many of her patterns)...I really like how it came out...it was just the process of knitting it I didn't like.

In the shawl's defense this summer has had us in a tiny house, staring at boxes, trying to patiently (ha!) wait for our new house to be finished.

Please pardon the picture - we have NO space for an indoor photo shoot. Where the right point is a bump in what I was laying it on. I also need to take some better photos, maybe when we are not in the middle of a heat wave.

Pattern: Windward
By: Heidi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Buffalo Wool Sexy
Yardage: ? at the moment
Needles: US 5mm
Ravelry Page

I need to find my scale, so I can weight the skein that is left. I want to make a pair of fingerless mitts.


Now on to a quick knit. Happy knitting!

What a ride...

Well, we ended up selling our house in a mere 16 hours. We moved 3 weeks later. I have to admit it was a tough time for me. While I was out straight working, my DH was left to handle the last of the packing, cleaning and unpacking.

We are currently living in a house my family owns. It used to belong to my Gram and Grandpa, so it has so many wonderful and happy memories. While leaving the house I called home for 17 to move into a temporary house was more emotional that I thought it would be, I am grateful we are not in an apartment or worse.

We've been able to fit, into an already furnished home, ALL of our furnishings! No easy task, and we feel cramped and are living out of boxes & off of clothes racks...but again, it could be a lot worse.

Our focus has been on the new house. Every day there is a new development. I went on a business trip for 4 days in early summer and in those 4 days all the framing went up!

The stage we are in right now is the finish stage, painting, molding, flooring then cabinets and counter tops. We hope to be in sometime in early October.

I just hope we both still have our sanity by move in day!

As for the craft front, again glad that knitting can be a relatively small hobby. It doesn't take up much space. I have 99% of my stash in big plastic tubs that isn't readily available, so I preplanned my knitting for the summer.

I kept out the largest single skein I owned out, during our month of staging, and subsequent month of packing up.

That would be Buffalo Wool Sexy, 800 yards. I bought it at the last Stitches East I went to.

Knowing that I wanted to create a shawl and fingerless mitts that matched. I went pattern shopping to find a simpler shawl pattern.

Windward by Heidi Kirrmaier fit the bill!

More details here. It is hard to see the pattern, maybe this weekend I'll ask DH to take a better photo.

Happy Knitting (in cramped spaces)!

House to a home and back to house...

17 years ago tomorrow, we purchased our first home.

It wasn't a big & fancy house, but it 'fit the bill'. We knew we could turn it into a home just the same.

We hosted parties and holidays. We had friends, family, even the furry ones come in our front door. We turned this house into a home by the events we had. We created a lifetime of memories that will forever be with us.

We had highs and lows in this home. It got us through the worst times, when what you want cannot be provided - even with medical intervention. When you celebrated the accomplishments, when you got the opportunity to hit the ceiling with the champagne cork, you knew you were home! The times you needed just to curl up and have a few hours of stress feel life tucked away with a good book, it was home!

As we lived in our home we improved it every year, ourselves.  There was the fun 'vacation' week of gutting the bathroom. Remembering the hottest summer ever that we built the stone wall, or hand dug for a pool in time to close it for the season, or took down the pool, built not one but two decks...we painted and painted and painted.

We put in a new roof, windows, boiler, new electric, shed, footings...we bled, sweat and nearly gave up. But we didn't!! We kept being determined to finish the plan.

Shall we take a trip down memory lane with some of our proudest accomplishments...

We built a shed:

Built two decks:

 We always knew we had a place to go. Called home. One of my favorite pictures is below. However, the pool is now gone and it doesn't show the new roof, walkway & windows.

Now that we have packed up 60% of our home, we've turned it back into a house. It's time for someone else to love it like we have over all those years.

Tomorrow we open our house for others to view what will hopefully turn out to become THEIR home.

Cheers & fingers crossed!

Progress and moving boxes?

I can't believe my last post was 3 weeks ago. I'd say time flies when you are having fun, but I don't call the last 3 weeks fun.

We were going to start an addition to our house this month, having completed all the requirements, then decided not to. Instead we made a bigger decision to sell our home and move.

For those of you that really know me, it was a rough (aka emotional) few days as we finalized this decision. However, now I'm in it whole hog!

In light of all this change I've turned to knitting, or shall I say purchasing with a side of knitting?

These are Poste Yarns from Simply Sock Yarn Company. I want to use the top two to learn another new technique this year, with turquoise toes, heels and cuffs. The middle is black - even though it shows navy. The bottom is navy and orange, my two favorite colors!

The Heartbreak Hotel socks are coming along. It takes a while on a 1.5 mm needle and 72 stitches around...oh yeah and packing up a house we've been in for nearly 20 years!

Turned Heel

Goal complete!

Thank you Daytona 500 for allowing me to sit and knit these heels, without feel guilty that I should be doing something else! (for the record it was laundry day and we did that during the commercials.)

The Fish Lips Kiss Heel may have just become my go to heel.

Knitting along with these stripes

It was a heavy travel week for me at work, so by the time I got home I was lucky to spend 15 minutes knitting then off for some shut eye.

I'm still making good progress though. I CO twelve increased to 72 and knitting on US 1.5mm.

This is what they looked like at the beginning of the week:

and tonight:

The goal for tomorrow is the Fish Lips Kiss Heel (or as I keep calling it the Fish Kiss Heel!).

Valentine Striped Socks

Well, you should have figured that if I finished one pair of socks I'd immediately start another pair.

Since Valentine's Day is at the end of this week let's bring on the appropriate colors:

Bright pink, purple with black. These are not my normal colors, but when Alison from Simply Sock Yarn Company show this on her blog, I had to nab one in the next limited update.

Pattern: Basic Toe Up and I will add FSK heels
Yarn: Poste Yarn Stripes
Colorway: Heartbreak Hotel
Yardage: 393 yards, 100 grams
Needles: US 1.5mm
Ravelry Page

Finished my striped socks

Hot off the needles!

Pattern: Toe up Socks by Sarah Peasley with Short Row Heels
Yarn: Desert Vista Dyeworks Viso
Colorway: Tiki Bar
Needles: US 2mm
Ravelry Page

Love them!

Home stretch with the stripes

Well, it took a bit longer than I expected, and gave, for my thumb to heal up. I was being so careful in just knitting a few minutes each day, for a bit of unwinding from my crazy days, but the pain came back. So, I stopped for another few days before I was back at it.

Here is what they look like currently:

The problem for me is how long it is taking for these socks to be completed. I started them on January 3rd, they should have been done at least 2 weeks ago. Grrr.

I am hoping to finish these during this upcoming weekend as we have a snowstorm on its was that is starting on Saturday and ending Tuesday. This is after already having over 4 feet of snow already. I think many of us in New England are ready for Spring!

Heel Stripes!

I rested my thumb for longer than I really wanted, but I figured if I didn't it would just lead to more painful knitting.

So, I gave it nearly 10 days of no knitting, then started on Wednesday just knitting a few minutes at a time, resting, another few minutes then rest.

It paid off with completing the heels 3 days later (yesterday).

This is what they currently look like, literally 7 minutes ago. Completed short row heels (new technique learned already this year) and nearly 2 inches up the cuff.

I'm not really liking the short row heels, as I really wish I had taken the time to do the Fish Kiss Heel, but there is always learning that in the next pair. Also, I could have probably done the heel flap as I'm getting really good yardage out of this skein as I still have half of it left, so these will be some tall socks.

The stripes are really pushing me to keep knitting to the next color, however since I've spent most of the day watching the snow come down and knitting, it is time to give the thumb a rest.

ETA: I know that Fish Kiss Heels are short row, however it is a different method than what I used.

No knitting, Just shopping

My nice striped socks look exactly like this past Sunday's photo.

Reason being a silly thumb ligament injury. I'm trying to be positive about this injury and hoping that 5 full days of no knitting help out. I really need to knit to get my piece of mind back.

So, what does a knitter do when down for an injury...buy yarn!

I managed to buy one of Simply Socks Yarn Company's Valentines Day kit. Included in the red bag was:

• Yarn from The Cyborg's Craft Room, colorway Tainted Love
• Chocolates from DeBrand
• Yarn Mug "Life is Short, Knit the Yarn"

Then, I had to buy this:

 From left to right:

• Opal, Daydream 6-ply
• Valentine's Day Kit yarn (see above)
• Poste Yarn, colorway Heartbreak Hotel, 6 stripe yarn

It was a really good post office day!

Stripes

I am enjoying watching these stripes appear.

As you may have noticed in the last post, I'm knitting from each end of the cake, so they will not match. This may surprise those of you who know me and my OCD really well!

I've decided that I want to learn other toe up sock methods this year, as my learn something new this year. Different ways to CO, BO, turn the heel, so with this pair I'm going to work on a short row heel, instead of the heel flap.

We will see how far I get this week, as it is going to be a busy one work wise...at least for the next 5 weeks. Yikes, look at the time I need to get to the office. 

Stay tuned!

2015 and a new pair of socks

I found this yarn from following Susan B. Anderson's blog. The dyer is Desert Vista Dyeworks and you can find her shop here.

It is nice, bright and very cheerful! I fell in love with the colors, and even though it was wool I decided to purchase it anyway. I have grown up thinking I was allergic to wool, so I figured if it turned out I couldn't work with it, I would give it away.

When it arrived, I took it out of the packaging and held it for a while, put it back into the plastic bag and into the larger stash bag it went.

Fast forward 3 months, to this past Wednesday, I just decided to take a chance and just start knitting with it. I had come home from a long day, in which it was in the double negative digits from the wind chill, and went stash diving. I found this near the top of the stash bag and felt it was just so cheery and colorful during this dismal weather day.

I ended up putting it on my swift and making it into the cake. I took the time to run it through my fingers and I remember saying well, if I have a reaction it would be quite the ending to this day!

The next night I knit what you see here. No big reaction. Hmm.

Now, I'm not going to say I'm not not allergic/sensitive to wool, as I'm being cautiously optimistic. I know in the knitting community there are many opinions on the word allergic as well as fibers or the dyes, or the wool wash, this isn't the forum I'm going to go into all that. I'm only going to write about my experience.

Time will tell. In the meantime I'm really enjoying these stripes!

Details:
Yarn: Desert Vista Dyeworks Visio
Colorway: Tiki Bar, 6 Stripe
Yardage: 462 Yards
Needles: US 2MM (of which I wish I had gone down another size)
Ravelry Page

I thought I was finished back on November 3rd but...

I decided to make these socks longer.

I mean I had the yarn so why not. Right?

So, New Years first project begins with a frogging of an existing project? I think that is what is bothering me so much.

However it didn't take long to add a few more inches and Viola!

I really like this new length for these. The yarn is a bit thicker fingering weight, so it makes for a warmer sock perfect for this time of year.

Now I need to get going on the first 'real' knit of 2015!

Final Project of 2014 and it wasn't my socks

So, you probably know I finished my blueberry socks on Christmas Eve (see prior post). Well, they were not my last project of 2014.

My oldest niece, just a couple of weeks prior, had asked for a pair of fingerless mitts. I think it went something like a FB post stating these are nice looking....how could I resist knitting up a pair.

The pattern in her request and the yarn color wasn't going to work together, so I chose another pattern (took a big risk in this if she was even going to like this) and then had to change the yarn since the swatch I did in the new pattern didn't work well with the yarn (it wasn't going to be warm enough).

Talk about not only changing her requested pattern AND yarn. This might be an epic fail.

Well, we celebrated with her yesterday....I think she likes them. She put them right on and they stayed on for quite a while. Although I forgot to get a picture of her in them!

Heck, she even asked how I did the cabling. Music to this knitters ear!

Pattern: Mom's Cabled Mitts by Jessica Jensen
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarn - Sundance
Colorway: Slate Blue
Yardage: A skein for both (I need to do a final weight of what I have left)
Needles: US 6
Ravelry Page

Having knit 2 pairs of socks in a row in US 1.5 & 2 mm going to this size needles felt like I was working with pencils...although it does make the project go faster!

Since it is the New Year, I need to pick what my 'learn something new' is going to be. I have a couple of ideas, but nothing nailed down yet. Stay tuned!