Moving on...

My first pair of socks is officially finished! And I managed to make it in under the two year mark. No pictures yet because I didn't have time to get pictures during the good light, but I'll try to get some soon.

In other news (that I think most of the few readers I have already know), I recently resigned from my job. I don't have a new one lined up yet, but this means that I should have plenty of free time to participate in the Knitting Olympics. Now that I've finished the socks, I'm trying to think of what project I want to tackle. I think a whole sweater is a bit ambitious, and I'd like to do something other than socks, so I'm thinking a sleeveless or short-sleeve top. Right now, these are my top contenders:

Diagonal Stitch Top is probably at the top of the list right now.

A sleeve-less version on the (rather boringly named) "Short Sleeve Top #5 from Vogue Knitting Summer/Spring 2005 is also a top contender.

The next possibility is the Flower Back Sweater (I think I'd do the high back version).

Another possibility is Rusted Root, but I actually think I like it better in the long sleeve versions. If I do a short-sleeved one I think I'll do the modified neck as the really high neck usually isn't very flattering on me.

I'd love to knit Coral, but I don't think there's an English version of the pattern out there yet and I don't know anyone who speaks Danish.

I hopefully I'll be able to knit from my stash (the whole no job thing and all), so that may dictate which one of these gets made. I need to do some looking and some swatches.

Anyone else planning to participate in the Knitting Olympics? What are you planning on knitting?

Lilikoi.... in the yummy form

I picked up this lilikoi fruit in my walk around the neighborhood yesterday. I wasn't sure if it would be ripe, but it was amazingly sweet (for a lilikoi that is). I didn't take my camera with me, so no pictures of the vines and flowers, just the fruit for breakfast this morning.


Just cut


Digging in



All pau




Alas, no knitting to report. Stopped by Aloha Knitters on Thursday for a few minutes to say hi on my way to pick up food; it was great to see so many people. Welcome back!

Tagged!

I've been tagged, twice!

1.) What was I doing ten years ago?
Just finishing my sophomore year of college, headed home for the summer with a friend to work at my mom's winery.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today, yesterday (when I wrote this, but forgot to post):
Farmer's market [done]
Walk [done]
pick up around the house[a little]
do some knitting [nope]
find our state tax refund check [done]


3) Snacks I enjoy:
just about everything... apple and peanut butter has been a recent common one

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off some debts and buy a house (heck, around here that might only buy a condo)

5) Places I have lived:
Philo, CA
Whitter, CA
Studio City, CA
Redondo Beach, CA
Honolulu, HI

6) Jobs I have had:
babysitter
all-around helper at winery (answering phones to cleaning barrels to bottling wine)
after-school program coordinator
special ed and substitute teacher
HR assistant
lawyer

7) Peeps I want to know more about:
Nearly everyone has been tagged by now, hopefully no duplicates here:
Tink
V-Spot Girl
Tina
Any one else...?

Free Patterns! Yay!

My wrist and shoulder have been bothering me a lot this week, so I've been avoiding knitting. I did a bit of work on the sock this weekend (one pattern repeat).

But, I thought I'd share this little bit of knitting goodness that Susan posted about (she saw it on notmartha): Knitting Daily has a free pattern book comprised of the top five knitting patterns the readers voted for. It’s only available to download until May 14. It includes the Sunrise Circle Jacket, which has been on my to knit list since it came out (I even got so far as to swatch for it). There are also some great versions over on Ravelry. I'm often not a fan of the finished products made from variegated yarn, but some of these look great. Here are a few of my favorites which show some of the yarn choices;
from Cleo; from Pediaknits; from schmidtly.

A mini update, some random finds, babbling...

Honestly, I really would like to blog more often than I do. Unfortunately, there often isn't much to report in the world of knitting around here. I am trying to avoid the second sock syndrome, hence I'm slowly plugging away at the second embossed leaves sock. As the other Aloha Knitters can attest, it was a slow start, which took weeks just to cast on and knit three rows/rounds. The first challenge was remembering the ribbed cast on called for. Then, once I figured that out (thanks Barb), I joined immediately, forgetting that you knit two rows flat before joining (I might have just left it, but I think I need the little bit of extra width this provides at the calf). Then I just kept managing to be off on my stitch count. But finally I managed to get going. My ribbing was one off on two of the rows, but really, no one is going to see the top of the sock anyway because these will always be under pants. But I'm going now, and trying not to lose what little momentum I have.

But, I may be in need of some instant gratification projects. I was thinking about knitting up a few felted coasters for my desk at work. But then these nested bowls also recently caught my eye on Design Sponge (actually, I think I saw the link on notmartha.org)


Another thing that I'm really liking is this rug from craftster.org


I was also thinking that maybe I might find the motivation to blog more if I did Project Spectrum.

And then I saw what color it was for this month. Orange and Yellow. No offense to anyone, but those are my least two favorite colors. I think my I own clothes that are every other color but those two. But, July is Purple month. Maybe I can use that as a goal for finishing the second sock.

Never mind, I was looking at last year's 2006's PS.

I think I can find some stuff for this year, April/May covers Earth Tones (green, brown, metallics). And now I have until August/September to finish the sock :) I should start carying my camera around with me.

Videos

Here are the two videos I mentioned at knitting tonight

My First Sock (and a sunset)

It only took about a year and a half of very sporadic knitting (with no knitting done for about a year in the middle), but I have my first sock. I'm not sure I love this pattern with this yarn, and my fat calves stretch it out a bit, but overall I'm happy. Now the goal is not not fall victim to the second sock syndrome.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves, Interweave Knits Winter 2005
Yarn: KnitPicks Essentials Tweed, Plum
Needles: Size 2, Clover Bamboo





And, since I finally got around to uploading pictures, I thought I'd share this one from a few months back of sunset from our apartment.