Tiptoeing toward the finish line

Tiptoe sock 1
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

At some point I finally figured out I could knit in the car if I didn't have to look at the project. Which pretty much limits me to projects in stockinette stitch, but it's better than nothing.
This enabled me to work on my TipToe socks on the drive up to the inlaws for Christmas. The scarf was out of the questions what with reading the pattern and counting the stitches. One sock was on the needles and the other was on a lifeline. I had worked them both to the heel, done the duplicate stitch tulips, then continued on. The one sock was mostly finished during the drive and I kitchnered the toe at the house.
Of course they were put aside for the scarf, but dragged back out as soon as the scarf was done. I finished knitting sock number two during the disappointing Giants' game. Now I just have to weave in all the stupid little ends, which makes me wonder, "What was I thinking?!"
I think I will wait until after I've cleaned them up to chart the tulips for the toes. That will entail more duplicate stitch and more ends to weave, but I think it will really enhance them and be worth the effort.
My poor neglected fingerless mitts will be the fall back project.

Scarf Accompli

finished scarf
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

Yipee! I finished hubby's scarf at around 1 pm. That includes tying all the fringe and stuff. He's very happy and is already wearing it (in the living room). It's nice and long, around 91 inches, but it might have stretched already. The good length means he can wear it a number of different ways.
Finishing stuff is fun.
Now I can move on to the TipToe Socks. They are so close, I should just bust them out already.

Disaster Averted, and the end is near

I almost lost a knitting needle at my in-laws, which would have been a disaster not only for the lost needle but because production on Hubby's scarf would have come to a halt until my MIL had found it and mailed it to me.

The near miss occurred because I left my knitting on the coffee table at bed time, a stunt I could pull because my MIL knits, the nephews had left, and all the dogs get locked in bedrooms. So when we were packing, the scarf wasn't in my knitting bag and I had to carry it out by hand. We weren't even half way down the mountain when I realized the needle was missing. Hubby wisely started turning around even as he asked if we should go back. It was in the driveway (with my circular row counter still attached!) so I was able to snap it up. phew!

Last night he decided he wanted fringe. I went with 9 inch long (before folding) two strands per hit, which is 46 each side. It's not done yet, but I cut them all anyway to be sure I'd have enough. The ball of yarn to be used it getting smaller and smaller, which is very exciting all around. The scarf is about 78 inches long at the moment, not counting fringe. And, as I said, I'm not done yet.
Puppies are in time out. They decided to go for a little swim (mind you, it's 38 degrees out and has been in the 20s lately). The surprising part is Baru led the charge. I put them out and was sitting in front of the window taking pictures of my yarn (man that sound's weird) and I looked out and they were gone. Hubby had to go out and call them.
Baru came fairly quickly, but Samson was being stubborn. When he finally came up, he was trapped on the porch so he could dry out a bit, boy was he annoyed about that. The worst part is he left his new ball down in the ravine. He's only had it since lunch time. Hopefully he put it down in a place where he can get it the next time they run off.

I told the world

To date no one has probably read my blog because I didn't tell anyone it existed (not even my mom, although I probably mentioned it to Hubby.)

But yesterday I received my invitation to Ravelry. When you set up your profile you can enter the URL for your blog. Since I actually had one, I entered it. Then thought, "Hmm, guess I'll start having to update that thing." Then I went and told my Boss, who doesn't knit but wanted to know why I had finally made the switch to Firefox.
So here I am. Obviously the novelty wore off very quickly last time, we'll see how it goes this time.
Current knitting project is a double basket weave scarf for Hubby. It's slow going because I haven't been able to ingest the pattern since it changes every row.

Bear's basketweave scarf
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

I swatched the scarf that was a free pattern on Interweave Knits which is 28 sts. He wanted it wider, so I found the stitch in The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery and figured out the pattern for 46 sts. Turns out this is only between 5 and 5 1/2 inches wide (unstretched) and he was questioning that width, but I pointed out it would either be half as wide again or I'd have to switch patterns. He said to keep going.
Of course this has put a halt to all other knitting. Sigh. I'd really like to get my top down fingerless mitts done.
But this is not the day for talking about the mitts. Really I have to save content for the future if I'm going to keep this thing up.
In the mean time, admire my beautiful Samson.

A Blog is Born

Probably not the most unique post title, but what else are you going to use for your first post? So here I am with my shiny new toy, let's see how long until the novelty wears off. :-)
Why have I started a blog? It was sort of an accident. We were eating lunch at work and I was regaling my coworkers with yet another tale of my puppies' destructive exploits and one of them said "You should have a blog!" because the stories are generally funny and I apparently have a lot of them.
I've known what blogs are for a few years. Around the time I learned to knit I discovered knitting blogs. I've even imagined sometimes what I would write on a blog if I had one. And I've heard that it is good to keep a knitting journal for your own reference, but I've never felt like dragging out my old paper journals, besides it's hard to put pictures in them.
So I wandered over to Blogger and before I knew it, there was my new blog. It doesn't hurt that it's free.
I think I'll keep it focused on my knitting and my puppies. That should keep it fun and easy to write. Obviously I can expand that if I want.
To get us started, here is a picture of the pups in question.

And here is a picture of my sock in process.

Jitterbug in Burnt Charcoal on US 2.
I've named them "I heart husband". They are stockinette stitch with little reverse st st hearts on the ankle and foot. When he is laying on the couch watching TV he will see the little heart and know I love him. You know, in case the fact that he is wearing handmade socks is too subtle to get that message across.
I'm sure getting my money's worth out of this yarn. This is the third time I'm knitting this one sock. I started with 64 sts. After I turned the heel I made him try them on to check that the heel flap was long enough. It was, but he declared the general fit "fine." When I delved, he admitted they were baggy. So I ripped back to the ribbing figuring I'd decrease down to 56 sts, but instead of swirling nicely the black started pooling in a nasty blob. So I tore it all out, cast on 60 sts and then decreased down to 56 a few rows after the rib. The swirl came back, which was the goal. They seem to fit fine now.

Ok, I think that's enough for now, don't want to over do it on my first post.
And I can already see that this will all probably be interesting to only me (and my mom).

Ack! What have I done?!

Well, now that I've gone and created a blog, I suppose I'll have to actually come up with content. Good grief, what have I gotten myself into? Next I'll be creating a Facebook page, I can see this digital life business snowballing out of control.
But this is stuff I'll have to figure out later. Considering I'm at work, I should actually do some.