Quite a day I've been having!

Wow! I just finished these a few minutes ago. These are my dad's socks that I started on 7 January. They're made out of Trekking and took a lot of yarn since he has big feet, lol. I don't have large sock blockers so I just threw them on the floor and took a snap with the crap camera.

Also today, I finished the rib and seaming on the jumper. So all in all it's been a dad knitting day!

In the sock club spirit, I've opened the next envelope. The process was scary - what evil socks would I get that I couldn't knit??? In the end, it wasn't so bad - Broadripple Socks in King Cole ZigZag followed by the plain KnitPicks that we dyed with the Kool Aid (I'll get a pic up soon)

I only have one WIP now (the evil Donegal blanket) and I dont want to knit it, lol. So onwards to bed followed by some casting on tomorrow!!!

Total time!

Well, the month is over and I can safely say that I DID NOT purchase any yarn, whatsoever.

I was gifted a ball of Opal but thats a gift and doesn't count.

So the total so far stands at 1236yards of yarn used in January. I don't know if this is good or not, but I'll take it. (even though it was less than December's total of 1581 yards which was 0.9 miles) Naturally I couldn't bring myself to refinish the rib on the jumper last night, so what would have been more yards will be carried over to today once I finish reseaming the thing. I hate reknits :(

So here we go:

Used 391g
Yards 1236
Bought 0g
Gifted to me 100g
Mileage 0.7 miles.

Rib in my future

I've been sitting here (in this one spot and not online) since 1.30 this afternoon. I've been redoing the rib on my dad's jumper and as of 8pm I have 4cm done. In 6.5 hours, I'm only half way!!!! Its evil, and horrible and there's too many stitches!!!!!!

The other project on the go at the minute is my dad's second sock. I managed to get the heel done on Wednesday night and the majority of the leg last night. Right now, I'm about to embark on a lot of 2x2 rib... for far too long!

There's nothing but rib in my future it seems, and I'm ITCHING to cast on something new. If, however, I do start a new project the jumper and sock will never be finished.

Sigh. Off to the rib again it seems.

Bit bored.

I was a bit bored of the sock last night and didn't want to continue the rib of the jumper, so I started this. It's a nice feather n fan pattern and is coming along nice and quickly.

Off to knit some more and watch the rest of Atlantis!

Death of the jumper!

We went to Starbucks after work last night for Nicky to disassemble the jumper. 3 hours later the cast on edge was no more. Unfortunately, the darn thing just wouldn't rip out so... I took the scissors to it and cut off the rib. I cut the jumper!!!!!

Its currently lying in a tesco bag for life on a needle, waiting for the new rib to be put in.

Did I mention that this is only the back of the jumper??? It's going to be a repeat performance next week for the front!

I may faint at the thought of cutting it again, lol

Remember, remember the Jumper in November??

Remember I knitted a jumper for my dad's birthday last year?? Well as it was an inch or so too short, he hasn't worn it much.

Tomorrow, the jumper is being taken apart at the bottom seams, cast on edge is being undone and its being frogged for a good 2 inches! I don't have the guts to do it, so Nicky is, lol.

At least if its the correct length it'll actually get worn... and all these extra balls of yarn will be put to work!

Jumper take 3

Well I finished the jumper yesterday - just a smidge over 9 balls of click DK to took... it also took 2 months but thats what happens when you aren't sticking to one project at a time.

I quite like this jumper, I managed to do it all myself without Nicky having to come to my assistance (although I did need guidance on the v of the v-neck though) but apart from that its all my own hard work.

I asked my brother to put the jumper on, its not his cup of tea since it doesn't drown him, and he hates having to model knitted stuff but tough, lol. Its what he has to do if he wants a knitted Peruvian ear flap hat a la South Park

Jumper take 2

Well, I managed to finish the sleeve last night, now just to sew that bad boy up, do the ribbing (ick) and ta da!!

I don't know the name of the stitch i ususally use to seam things, but Nicky tried the matress stitch a few weeks ago and liked it - out comes Knitting for Dummies and i shall find instructions on how to do it nicely.

Overall so far, the jumper hasn't used that much - only about 450g of sirdar click dk. Not bad for a manly jumper, lol

Jumper

I've been knitting my dad a birthday jumper for a while, and am nearly at the final hurdle. Its a raglan sleeve jumper and i was raglaning away when it dawned on me that this was not what i had done for the first sleeve. I skipped a paragraph in the instructions first time round.

So tonight, i'm going to rip back to the cast off, pick up those stitches and carry on - totally forgetting the paragraph that was omitted first time round. hopefully itll be finished tomorrow at SnB, giving me time to block, seam and do the v-neck ribbing before his birthday on 15 November!

Socks or slippers??

I started mary jane's during the week - quick and easy AND more importantly helps me destash 2 50g balls of paton's moonglow. I got one done on Friday night in starbucks with Nicky and started the second.

However, I was watching Supernatural on Friday when I got home and for some reason had an urge to cast on socks. I haven't knitted socks since the start of the summer where I finished 2 pairs in rapid (for me) succession and put myself right off them.

So now I have a dilema. I'm over 3 wip's now (blanket, jumper, mary jane's and the socks) and I would like to have 3 again. Do I finish the MJ now and work on the sock OR do I just let the MJ lie there for MONTHS before finishing it and therefore miss out on using another ball of yarn?

Oh yes, and when do I finish the jumper? Time is running out on this one!

Here we go again!

It was my foolish intention that I would not buy yarn in 2008. Please note the word "foolish". I did not succeed in my 2008 quest but did however manage to note all yarn's incoming and going from the stash. Some months I got more than I used, others I used more than I bought. Some months the totals were the same.

My intention for 2009 is to USE MORE than I actually BUY. I'm not vetoing the purchaing, just trying to restrict it. I would LOVE to not buy yarn but asking that of me is like asking people not to breathe - ain't going to happen. I just want to be able to say on 31st December 2009 that I used a lot more than I bought.

My pitfalls ( and occasionally successes I imagine) shall be noted here, and I'm going to start the whole experiment off now too.

So far, for October I have:

Bought 250g
Used 321g
Completed 2

the bought yarn was straight in and out which is the overall aim of the whole thing.

I'm halfway through another project so hopefully it'll be done by the end of the week and I can do some serious knitting on my dad's jumper!