Snow!

We had only about 3 inches but it came down hard and fast! It was very beautiful! The winds have picked up now so it's getting hard to see but the snow fall has stopped. :-(

I  hope we get at least one good snow fall this year - 6-12 inches.

I have another FO! I finished my Sole Train socks! I am very excited to be able to wear them and to have another project off the needles.

I have now picked up an old UFO, another pair of socks that I started quite some time ago. They are called the North Sea Socks and I started them for the last Olympics. I now have the legs and heels completed on both and am working my way through the gusset decreases. 

Happy Valentine's Day! Bob and I got each other some Wockenfuss candy (it's great candy made here in Maryland) and I bought him a nook book by JD Robb - the newest In Death series book for the I Pad. (it's double good because I get to read it also). ;-)

That's all for tonight. I just had to announce the FO and the snow. 

Be safe.

Cleaning up and out

Apparently this time of year (this year) is going to include a lot of cleaning out, eliminating and reorganizing. DH was ready to put the Chrsitmas stuff (decorations, dishes, linens, etc) away under the steps this weekend. He came up with the idea to get rid of the old cardboard boxes and get all rubbermaid tubs to put the dishes in, so last night we bought a half dozen of the 8 gallon size and today we repacked  all of the holiday dishes  into the storage tubs and were also able to put another set of dishes into 2 more tubs. We are labeled, cleaned out and organized. Woohoo!

I have no FOs to chat about today though this weekend did see progress on both the Capall Dubh cardigan and the Sole Train sock. The sock is at the gusset decreases point and the sweater has been joined together and now each row takes a while. :-) in another inch the shaping will start. I feel like it's actually a sweater now that I can see clear fronts, back and arm holes. :-). The lacy back is going to look awesome. I considered altering the neckline to make it higher but this is going to be a "nice" sweater, not an everyday, snuggle in and get warm sweater so I decided to knit it as written.

In the spinning arena, I took my yarn off the bobbin and skeined it, then started to spin my sunrise rolags. I was going to ply that with a light blue but have since decided to spin finer and just ply it with itself. I think it will be great for colorwork.   The sunset yarn that I skeined needed up to be about 120 yards. That's more than I had anticipated. 

I have a whole bag of handspun yarns in the shed. Once I get my UFOs down in number I would like to come up with a plan for some of the colorful handspun I have already made. Some can be hats or mitts but I would like to settle on something else to do with them. Maybe get a commercial yarn and knit a sweater but with stripes of handspun? I am not sure but since I have so many UFOs. I am not in a rush. :-)

I have been successful so far in not signing up for KALs or test knits. I can seem to resist reading about them but so far have stuck to my plan and not started anything new. I have been tempted, though .....

Back to sweater knitting. I have to work in Baltimore tomorrow so knitting time will be limited. 

Stay warm and safe.

Goal Review

I thought I could track my progress (or lack thereof) as far as goals for this year better if I did a monthly review.

I have not purchased yarn! Yippee!! I received one skein as a gift but that doesn't count. I didn't buy it. and I put it away rather than cast on right away.

I have not cast on a new project! OOPS. That's not true. I did cast on Sunday Drive (the Alzheimers blanket). But that's for a good cause and is intended to be a longer term project. 2 rows per day is the plan and I have been very successful there.

I have finished 3 WIPs (the cowl, the Low tide Cardigan and the Iron Bridge sock) and am working away on 2 others (the Sole Train sock and the Capall Dubh cardigan).

I have resisted email offers and other temptations of yarny goodness so far. ;-)

I have spun almost every day.

I have taken photos and listed my stash on paper but I have not yet uploaded it to Ravelry. So, partial progress there.

I am not doing well at all with walking. The cold has just really gotten to me as have the increasingly frequent and severe migraines I have been dealing with. :-(

Over all I am pleased, especially with the working on UFOs without starting new projects or getting caught up in another KAL.

It's a new month

Time is flying! I can't believe it's February already! I am rather disappointed in the lack of snow so far this winter and the cold temperatures are wearing on me. I have not gotten out much to walk due to the cold weather and/or high winds.

On the knitting front, I blocked the shawl collared cowl and it feels wonderful against the skin.

 I still need to select buttons and sew them on, though. I finished the Iron Bridge sock and wore the pair the other day. :-). Perfect fit and lovely yarn and pattern. I am now working on the mate to the Sole Train. I have 4 of 6 pattern repeats for the leg knitted. Both of my fellow passengers on the Canadian Crazy Train ride chose purple for my socks but such different shades of purple! I like them a lot and I am getting to knit with new to me yarns. I am very glad I signed up for this KAL/swap. :-)

I thought I would add a couple of photos of the Low Tide Cardigan that I knitted for my friend's little girl. I have no idea why one photo is upside down ...

I have resumed knitting on my Capall Dubh cardigan. Angela and I will be knitting this together. I love the yarn and really hope that my swatch didn't lie to me and that the sweater will fit properly. The sweater, Sole Train and the Alzheimer's blanket are my current WIPs.

Spinning news - I finished spinning some sunset rolags made for me in a swap last year. I spent some time spinning some black merino top to ply with the rolag singles and hope to start a stash of fingering weight yarns to use for a color work project. I plan to buy a commercial yarn to use for the main yarn and then various hand spun yarns for the contrasting colors. I intend to include stripes and an actual colorwork pattern but haven't chosen the specific pattern yet. This will be a hat or mitts.

I am accomplishing my goal of spinning nearly every day for at least 15 minutes per day. Karen is also spinning and we share spinning news/progress by email. Melanie has gotten in on the spinning again, too, so I have lots of company and encouragement. I am enjoying spinning again and I feel good that I am using some of my huge fiber stash.

Work is going well. I am transitioning to the local hospital which cuts down on driving time and expense. This month I will be working more days per week locally than in Baltimore. I have more hours per day to spend on my own plans rather than commuting and that alone is a huge benefit.

When we had some snow the other day I snapped some photos of the birds enjoying the buffet we put out for them.  :-)

Happy Friday all.