FOs Party!!!

I finally have a set of Finished Objects!!! Color me stupid excited!

Firstly, I had some Candy Cane yarn that an ex-coworker gifted me. Handspun from Stockannette in Indianapolis. Very cute yarn, 90 yards and it was just sitting there. He got the yarn at the Handspun Christmas marketplace last year (I know because I went too and bought another skein of yarn). So I found the Mile-A-Minute scarf and casted on. This literally only took me an evening to complete.

Taking up my entire Seats-6-table plus a box added to the end

Up close - slipped stitch pattern

It took about 3-4 soakings in the sink to get the red to stop leaking out. About the 4th round, the water ran clear and my kitchen smells like wet sheep. Which isn't a bad thing.

Next!

My friend's socks are DONE and DELIVERED!

M. Tosh yarn... purty

My Dichotomy shawl is DONE! I got this 90% done on the trip to Florida...car knitting and all. It's lovely with one mistake that I missed. A friend offered to use crochet to fix the hole so it will be a lovely shawl to wear in the winter. It's my Game of Thrones shawl as it's made with Lorna's Laces in Winter is Coming. Beautiful. I want another one.

Squee!

I have a chemo cap that will be done this weekend. Just finishing the decreases. It's a pretty lace pattern, so I hope my friend likes it.

To leave you... here's the cap with a happy happy dog in the background watching me.

Children's knitting books that I want to keep!

My friend's twins (age almost-7) are learning to knit so for their birthday, I got 2 very cute knitting books. So cute, I kind of want to keep them for myself!

Extra Yarn

This is such a cute book about a little girl who finds a box of yarn and always has leftover yarn, no matter how much she knits. The illustrations are amazingly good, with the distinct knit pattern making up the actual knitting.

Annie and the Swiss Cheese Scarf

Alana Dakos has a lot of patterns out on Ravelry that I love so I thought her book about a little girl learning to knit would be good for the twins. It's wordier than Extra Yarn but it's an entertaining book complete with how to knit instructions in the back.

I hope the kids like them! (I did!)

Podcast Spotlight: The Lost Geek

This is another fairly new podcast from Indonesia and Arlin's voice is so pretty and soft, it's a joy to listen to!

The Lost Geek is not as geeky as you would think. There is a lot of knitting and wonderful information on living in Indonesia. I am starting at the beginning (there are currently 35 episodes) but she is gaining her voice rather quickly so I imagine the newest episodes are pretty strong.

This is a short little plug, but still... it's a podcast I'm enjoying and would recommend!

Podcast Spotlight: KnottyGirls KnitCast

I've been catching up on podcasts while I am on vacation and the KnottyGirls KnitCast has reeled me in. I'm trying to start at the beginning - it's a fairly new podcast - but find that I'm listening to the newest ones as well.

Through this podcast I found out about the Sunnydale Yarn Club and I managed to snag a spot in Season Two's club! Very excited because seriously what is better than Buffy AND yarn?? They also do a Mean Girls Yarn Club and I think I want to get in on that as well. The colors are just beautiful.

Jen and Laura are geeky and talk about the very things that I love, including Downton Abbey, Doctor Who and superheroes. There is a lot of knitting talk as well, so it's not all geek stuff. They've pointed me in the direction of some lovely patterns that I've already claimed on Ravelry. The sound quality is good, their interaction with each other is great and they have had some really good interviews as well.

Check them out!

Beach Bum

I've been in a Florida for a few days now and this is my first actual DOWN time. I love vacation but I think I need to plan in more do-nothing time.

On this trip, I think I brought too many projects :) I must have felt that my fingers would be flying and I'd get everything done. Silly knitter....

palm trees! beaches!

On The Needles (or projects drug to Florida)

Finishing my friend's second vanilla sock. I pulled this out in the car to knit on and two of the needles pulled out, so I started it over. I'm past the cuff and on to the leg, about... 3 inches in. I'm hoping to get it completed on this trip.

My Dichotomy shawl was my main car knitting. Easy to remember pattern, larger needles and worsted yarn. I haven't worked on it anymore, saving it for the return trip home.

I brought my mom's Christmas present - as yet named in public - but haven't touched it.

I also brought my Hermione socks to work on. Haven't touched :)

And lastly (see! I told you I brought too much!) a freshly wound cake of NC yarn that will become my North Carolina Adventure Socks using the Simple Skyp pattern.

My main goal is to finish my friend's sock so I can get the pair to her. I have 5 more days!

All Queued Up

Have you seen the Wonder Woman sweater yet??? It's a free pattern and holy moses, I want to make this!! In the library because someday.....

I have a few patterns that I've already done back in the queue. I'm hoping to make some projects that I can auction off to raise money for the charities I walk for. Contacting the designers to make sure it's ok and then we'll move on from there. I'm hoping to have something up for auction every quarter but we will see.

For Your Eyes

The only time the TV has been on here in FL is to see the season finale of Heroes of Cosplay. I love this show! I'm not a cosplayer but I'm in awe of the craftsmanship. I am fully dedicated now to learning my sewing machine and learning to sew.

In Your Ear

No new audiobooks this trip as I've been listening to a lot of podcasts. I'll throw those out in the next updates because they are good ones! I bring my little iPod speaker on vacation with me so I can have something to listen to, music/podcasts/books. I can't stand the jibber jabber of TV so this is perfect. And hey, my view is the ocean. What more can I ask for?

My view for a week