So much knitting... so little time.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia are coming!!! I have always loved the winter Olympics more than summer for some reason (considering how much I detest snow.. it's a wonder). This one proves to be particularly polarizing since Russia is so blatantly against homosexuals and the rest of the world isn't.

It's also time for the Ravellenics! My first ever time participating. The events are up and I'm planning my strategy. I might have to assign more work to my team mates so that I have more time to knit in February. Priorities, people. Priorities.

I think my events are: Mitten Mogul (I need another pair of fingerless mitts OR I will make my sister's mittens that she was supposed to get at Christmas), Cross Cowling (I need the gap-tastic cowl. Made one for my sister and since I can't snatch it off her neck, I have to make my own) and possibly Scarf Super-G. The Hat Halfpipe is there so I can see how many chemo caps I can whip out for the Firewalker Project. How long is the Olympics? Surely I can do this!

As added events, I plan on, if I make fingerless mitts for myself, to make cabled mitts as a challenge and to enter into the Cable Cross Country.

So to the patterns I think I'll be doing!

The mittens will be Warmest Mittens and I did just get the needles I needed for these. The yarn will match the cowl I already made my sister which was Studio Tricot Cedrone.

 
Not sure of the cabled mitts yet because there are tons of patterns and I haven't decided yet. I'll post once I figure it out.

The cowl is the GAP-tastic cowl and it's beee-you-tiful! I know I have gray bulky yarn but that seems...meh so I'm going to stash dive a bit and see what else I can come up with

Sister's cowl

For the Scarf event, I want to make a damn statement. And that statement is:

The rainbow pride scarf. Pretty sure I have all the colors but have about 19 days to get everything I need.

The hats are basic chemo caps. I'm going to try and see how many people I can get to make the hats between February 7th and the 23rd.

That's it for now..... but come back. Gnomeacres is doing another Make-A-Long!

Did I add to my stash?? *sigh*

In Chicago, I found (with the help of my friend!) a few knitting stores. Since I must find local shops when I travel, I had to go.

The first one was ok. I was looking for more local, fun stuff and they had the traditional labels you see everywhere. They had some Noro on sale, so I got a skein.

Onward to Stitch(es) and yowza. Big, bright store! I found yarn that I can't find in Indiana and didn't want to order online without squishing it. Madeline Tosh and Sweet Georgia! Beautiful stuff and there was a sale going on.

I also got a cute new knitting bag. I spent way too much and was very happy!

We headed to Vogue Fabric store too and I wasn't as enthused since I don't sew. My imagination just wasn't as kickstarted but I want to learn to sew and plan to this year.

Chicago was a good trip! Even got to go downtown to see the Christmas decorations...

What a good town :)

Kool-Aid....OOOOOHHHHHH YEEAAAAHHHH!

I went with another round of kool-aid dyeing. I have acid dyes but need to get all the proper equipment for that and kool-aid takes pretty much zero effort. So ... kool-aid. Plus my house smelled awesomely fruity during this....

I choose 10 cent packets (not even real kool-aid!!! just "drink mix" from Kroger) of pink lemonade and black cherry. Set it up and knock it down.

I have bare yarn from Knit Picks, fingering weight, so I can make socks. We have black cherry on the left and pink lemonade on the right. Five packets a piece, mixed with boiling water. Hint: don't stand over lemonade when adding hot water. Wow.

I can't get a great photo to really show the brightness of the pink but it turned out well. I left the white portion deliberately, hoping for a neat variation of colors.

And now I need to make more socks.

A Tale of Christmas Socks

For some reason, I was determined that my mom, my sister and I each have a pair of handknit Christmas socks for Christmas morning. I'm not that bright.....

All yarn by Gnomeacres!

I made myself socks first with To Be Jolly. Easy peasy.

Ordered up Mistletoe and Under the Tree for my mom and sister. Slower going because work was entirely too busy and I have a hard time knitting the same pattern over and over. But I got them finished while I was in Chicago after Thanksgiving with friends. It's amazing what you can do when you are forced to relax in a hotel room and you don't watch TV.

The lighting wasn't great but here's the finished Sister socks:

Onward to my mom's socks. Mistletoe turned out to be a beautiful colorway. But it took even longer to knit because of work and holiday obligations. Did I mention that I was silly? My dog, Eva, got horribly sick on the 21st with vestibular syndrome and, since she's almost 100 lbs, she ended up in the animal hospital because I couldn't take care of her. Tons of stress but I was determined to finish the socks. Mom said not to worry, but I couldn't NOT do this. I couldn't leave mom with just one Christmas sock!

Christmas Eve, at 11:59pm, I finished mom's second sock.

And we all had Christmas handknit socks on Christmas morn......

The End.