A no good very bad week

Such is my life this week... so much more than 1 monday, definitely a weeks worth or more shoved into a very small time period. I am single after almost a year, but I have the very best of friends. My roommate called out for Shrimp Fried Rice when I came home crying - and when I got to knitting on Thursday night, there were cupcakes and wine waiting for me!



That's the remains of the second cupcake and the second glass of wine I had - before I had to go back to work. I would have pictures of finished objects for you - cause I started out this week finishing up 2 projects and binding off a third - but life has interfered and I'm driving up to Charlotte to see Aimee who conspired with Kim of Knitch fame to shore up my sagging spirits with sugar and wine.

Friday FO and shop sample knitting!

As promised, I have a FO to show off to you - and I don't want to hear anything about where the other one is, there definitely has been a serious lack of FO's here at OliviaKnits. I am happy to have finished 1 sock, much less a whole pair! And at the same time, this is something off of my Mission Possible 2008 list so I feel like I've been accomplishing SOMETHING recently!



Pattern: Elfine Socks by Anna Bell (free pattern!!)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Pale Pink (1 skein per sock), leftovers, yes, but I haven't weighed it yet.
Needles: Addi Turbo size 1's... Magic Loop (called for by pattern)
Notes: This pattern was actually my second pair of Toe-Up's. The pattern calls for Magic Loop as well and a short row heel. I put the sock down sometime last year, so this one has been in my WIP's for quite some time. I can see the change in gauge from my knitting from last year, so when I cast on the second, I'm probably going to have to do the foot using 0's, and move up to 1's when I get past the heel.

And on to the next thing! I was at Knitch last night, for the Thursday night group and Kim had some new yarn that she needed shop samples knit up from and since I have nothing else to knit on (wink, wink) I picked up 2 skeins of yarn. Both are sock yarn and Kim said she didn't care what pattern was used as long as it was a free pattern. So I have some quick thinking to do, cause I'd like to cast on at least one sock perhaps even today! But that's not really what you guys want to see is it - you want to see pictures of the yarn don't you??



Any guesses?? OK - here they are!



Panda Silk by Crystal Palace

AND!!!!!



Yep - Socks that Rock! Eggplanted is the colorway!

They sent her a box this week with all different types of yarn, and Kim let me grab this one to knit up a sample for the store! I can't wait! Kim said she placed a HUGE order, but it hasn't arrived yet.... there goes the yarn diet!

WIP Wednesday

Hey there,
I thought I would try and keep up with the WIP... and maybe by Friday I'll have something that's finished to show you, but I make no promises at all.



This is the Everlasting Bagstopper - pattern off of Knitty.com.... No progress since this photo, but it's coming along very nicely. I'm knitting it using Peaches & Creme instead of the hemp yarn called for, but as this project for me is a stashbuster, that's what I had. The yarn is white, but I couldn't get a decent picture with a flash, so I had to leave the flash off.



This is the April sweater of the month from Knitch, my LYS... I bought the yarn, Manos silk, and the pattern came free. It's a top down raglan, with the top part of the bodice being a lacy stitch. The jury is still out on this one, I'm finally getting a hang of the pattern, but we'll see... I have made a couple of small mistakes, that I might have to start over, but I've got to think about it a bit more.

Mainly what I've been working on is my Elfine socks. I picked them back up again this past week and have been making quite a bit of (photoless) progress on the first sock. I am thinking I may do ONE more pattern repeat and then do an inch of 1x1 ribbing and be done. The original pattern has 2-3 rows of garter stitch as the bind off, but I think I do like the ribbing on the top of socks much better. I do promise if I finish up the first sock to make sure I get a picture of it for you.

Until next time!

Random Photo Monday

Some pictures I took recently and thought I'd share with you!



Teddy drinking out of terlet in my bathroom.... he was a cute kitten and somewhere in the past year has grown incredibly!



A purple Iris from a couple of weeks ago - all the flowers are gone now on my irises... but they sure were pretty!



And finally - one of my amaryllis... these still have blooms on them, but they're definitely at the end of their run, but I do have a few more around the yard, and some of the other ones are bloom later than these ones.

Negative Progress

I declare today to be "negative progress day". I tried to finish off my clapotis last night only to realize that I did not have enough yarn. I might need 15 yards to finish it, so when I left today to go knit at Knitch, I left the clapotis in Time Out! Then while I was at Knitch, I frogged my Wicked sweater - I lost the pattern and I wasn't too happy with it... and I had begun a sock, but wasn't happy with it either and frogged that as well.

You win some, you lose some.

The return to blogistan

Hello there and sorry for the very long delay! I wish I could tell you how exciting my life has been these past 2 months, but I would really be making it all up. I went to Pittsburgh for my Great-Aunt's 90th birthday and took a few pictures, but they're still loaded on the camera.... and then I kind of fell into a super-funk. I'm really not sure what did it either, it might have been the 4 skeins of sock yarn I took with me to keep me busy (instead they just mocked me and stole my mojo) or it could have been the weather, I'm just not sure. Things have taken a turn for the better - spring has sprung and things are blooming, and I am no longer forced to blog from my office! My old laptop decided to start slowing down, and my dad decided to take pity on me and bought me a "new" (reconditioned) MacBook... so I am actually blogging from my knitting room! I am hoping that this will help me to blog a bit more often....

Talk to you soon!