Froggin' A Blog

So this is a lot like frogging a project that you've been really excited about working on.  You've put your love, sweat, and tears into it and then you realize that it just doesn't fit right.  So you have to start again.  And that's what's happened here.  I'm starting again or really continuing some place new.

Blogger been a great stepping stone for me and I am very happy to have found it.  But it's time to move into a bigger house, so to speak.  So I say good-bye here and hope to say hello to you at my new address.  It's the same blog time.  Different blog channel.

You can find me over here at http://whendidibecomeaknitter.wordpress.com

I look forward to see you all there.

Ribbit.

There's Red Everywhere!

This weeks red and orange.

This one is from my friend.  She's looking out for red & orange now too.

These two are from my Huband

And finally a few from me.

Definitely one of my favourite red things!                                                                                                         

I realize there's no knitting in this one, but Blogger has been misbehaving for some of us yet again and when I should have been taking photos, I was trying to figure out how to login.  The good news, my hubby did some fancy things with the computer and now my login button seems to work again!!!

I'm going to sneak in one more red entry for the month and I'll put tons of red wool in that one ;)

It's About the Finishing

 I go through phases with my knitting. Sometimes it's all about the "starting." I see things and must cast them on. During those time I show very little self control and cast on as much as I want. (This is usually followed shortly after by me realizing that I have too many things in the needles and then I have to try to sort that out.)

But sometimes, it's about the finishing. I love these phases. My focus seems to be stronger and I can look at pretty things and think "when I am finished project X, I can cast on that pretty thing." Thankfully and happily I am in the mood to finish things. It's also a long weekend here, which is helping with the finishing of things.

First is the Boneyard for my Grandmother for Christmas. It's not blocked yet, but will be by the end of the day. I am so happy to have it finished and it is slightly different then the one that I made for myself. (Watch for comparison photos after the blocking is finished.) It has left my right wrist a shade tender so it's off to the lighter WIPS for me.

That brings me to the washcloths. I am happy to say that they clearly did their job and distracted me long enough to finish the knitting on my Urbana. (Still no blocking done yet, but this week for sure.) And now, they want to be finished. I am currently working on the 7^th of the 14 that I am making. And probably by the time I am ready to post this the first Tardis will be complete.

First is finished!

I am hoping to have all these projects blocked and photographed by Friday, so check out the FO Friday post to see what I accomplish. It's so very good to have goals.

FO Friday (Almost)

So it's almost a Finished Object Friday.   I say almost because there is blocking and edging that need to be done still, but the knitting is finished and I just can't wait to show it off.

I present to you a knitting complete Urbana!!!!!!

It's so big that I couldn't fit it in the picture.  I'm not sure how long it is yet.  I will measure it after I am done blocking it.  That will have to wait until tomorrow as we are having friends up tonight and the only space that is large enough for me to block it in is the living room and I don't want people to have to step over it!  The original pattern called for a key hole which I omitted due to the size of the finished object.  But, the knitting is finally finished and I am very happy with it.  

Better photos to follow after the blocking is complete.

Project Spectrum Red

I stumbled upon a group over on Ravelry called Project Spectrum.  It's a group that has dedicated each month to a different colour.  I loved this concept instantly.  Really, what fibre person doesn't love colour? I decided I had to play along.  This months colours are Red & Orange.
So off I went and since I am incapable of being separated from my phone, it means I always have my camera with me.  I didn't think much of the whole thing as I left, but very quickly after walking out of my house I realized that the idea of looking for colour was having a huge impact on me.  I was seeing red and orange everywhere!  I was seeing colour everywhere!  I mean really seeing it.  I had to stop myself from taking pictures every 10 seconds.  I think that as many of us do, we become so familiar with our regular surroundings that we stop noticing just how pretty and interesting they are.  But not yesterday.
So, here are a few of the things I snapped yesterday.

These are oranges!

And not leave the knitting completely out of this post

This last one isn't from yesterday, but I had to include it.

This was a lot of fun and I have already set up files on my computer for the rest of the colours.  I am dedicating Thursdays to colour.  Next week there's more red and orange coming your way.

WIP Wednesday May 18th

So there is some exciting news in the WIP front. First, my Urbana has finally reached the point where I am finishing rows in a reasonable amount of time! I am thrilled. And I am not ashamed to admit that on Monday, when I realized that I still had 60 rows of decreasing to do before I could bind off, I just about burst into tears. For a brief moment, I prayed for the wrap to spontaneously combust into a ball of wooly fire or that somehow a plague of lace weight eating locusts would magically appear and eat the accursed thing right out of my hands. ANYTHING so that I would be finished with it. Of coarse the only thing I could do was just keep on knitting, (and knitting and knitting.) So that's what I did and wonder of wonders, I may be able to finish the knitting this afternoon. I am so happy to have today off work and the afternoon slated for knitting with my BFF and Little J, (who really tries to help us while we knit.) But there has been progress of the best sort and I am becoming a happy knitter again. This is all I have left to deal with!!

Also, The Year Of Projects challenge is starting to take shape. We have our own group now called Come Blog A-long on Ravelry. Come check us out. It's got a lot more attention then I thought it would. I'm amazed that other people think that it's a good idea. More updates about that as things take shape. I have my projects picked. But as always I think I've overestimated what I'm capable of and will have to remove a few things. (Or I may just continue on in my fibre induced madness and try to do them all.) Either way, it will be an interesting challenge.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

I decided on Thursday what I needed in my knitting life was a distraction from my ongoing and seemingly never-ending projects. The Astrick is still sitting in the naughty chair for being such a misbehaved piece of knitting and the Urbana has sadly not finished itself while I wasn't looking. Both socks still need their mates and I want to have all of this and a second Boneyard finished before July 1^st and the Blog a-long starts. But, the mojo wasn't there and when it's gone, you need to find a way to get it back. So that was my mission on Thursday. Find my mojo. And I did.

I was reading another blog, which sadly I can't link to right now. (I am still waiting for comments to reappear after the little temper tantrum that Blogger had last week and I'm not sure whose blog it was that I was reading at the time but I do know that they had left a comment on my WIP Wednesday post.) And there, in the blog post, I saw washcloths. Really cute washcloths. I have a dishcloth pattern that I make. But these were different and cute and would be an excellent addition to Christmas gifts especially if I asked my friend to give my a few bars of soap. (She makes her own bars of soap in her kitchen, it's amazing) So it was decided on the spot. My mojo wasn't lost, it was just hanging out with the washcloths.

This pleased me for a number of reasons. First, more Christmas Knitting. YAY! (You can tell it's still very early in the process since I am making these to be additions to other gifts and not the whole gifts themselves.) Next, stash knitting (and even better) cotton stash knitting. And finally, fast easy knitting that will act as a palate cleanser and let me get back to my other projects. So off to Ravelry I ran to get some patterns.

But here's the thing. I'm me. And me being me means that I am not making two or three or even five washcloths as my distractions. Those numbers are way to small. I'm making fourteen. That's right, fourteen. When completed there will be 5 Dragonfly cloths, (those are already finished,)

 4 coffee cup cloths. (One down three to go.) 

3 flamingos, and 2 Tardis cloths. (What would the plural of Tardis be anyway? Tardii? Tardises?) 

That will be a set of three for my mom, my mother in law, and my sister in law. Also for the first time I am making a gift for the work staff exchange. Each set will also have a bar or two of soap and I will be down a few balls of the dreaded cotton. The Tardis washcloths are for us. (Just finished the second season and cried like a baby when Rose was left standing on the beach.)

But that's it. That's may palate cleanser. Some might argue that's a whole meal, but what can I say. It's where the mojo took me. And clearly it's working since I'm thinking I will finish typing this and maybe knit a few rows on the Urbana. And if it was your blog that had the washcloths on it. Thanks for the inspiration.