Gryffindor

I finished these in record time and have just not gotten around to taking pictures of them. They were quite fun, and I did manage to get them both out of the 1 ball of red yarn.

First I tried to have my 4 year old take pictures of them....


He thought that was just the best thing ever. So maybe he gets me after all...

Better late than never!

So, yeah, I haven't blogged in a while. Insert all of my previous excuses here, I don't want to repeat myself, and I think they all apply. It's been crazy. But anyway...

Remember a while back when I blogged about how Project Linus sent out a request for blankets in Colts colors?
Well Janet and I got together after a very (VERY) busy garage sale at my house and turned these...

...into THESE.

Our knitting group rocks! I was hoping we might have enough blocks for 2 blankets, but we ended up with enough for 3. Considering what a very short time we had to throw these together, I think we dod pretty good. They were nice and snuggly, too. There is a row of blocks that you can't see over the top of the banister.

A couple days after we turned them in we found out why they were doing it.

It turns out Peyton Manning donated upwards of $50 million to the St. Vincent's Children's Hospital. They re-named it after him and had a big event. You can see a kid with Peyton who has a Linus blanket HERE (It's not one of ours, though).

Go Colts!

Noro longies finished

Thank you to all of you who responded to my what should I do about these pants. You were all right, they look cute I think!

Yarn: Noro Kureyon 132 and black Lamb's Pride

It was a bit of a pain in the ass to get the legs to match all the way down. I pulled out 2 small balls and started in the same place, but toward the end, after the red, the purple stripe wa a lot bigger on 1 side than the other, and the place where the black stripes started would have been purple without any green, (that ball barely had any green on it at all) So I frogged back and took out some of the purple stripe, and then grafted some green from somewhere else in the yarn to get it to match there.
Here's the back. You can see one set of short rows fall between the black stripes, but I think it works well. They've gotta go somewhere!
Detail

I *really* like how these came out.

Stitch 'n' Sip

Our local group of knitters went to a little get-together thing at Eric's house yesterday

It turns out that people don't drink or eat that much when they're knitting. But it was a great time anyway!

You know, I had my camera with me the whole time but I kept forgetting to take it out and get some pictures of the party. whoops. I should have Kinneared everyone.

Our local chapter of Project Linus put out a request for some Colt's colors blankets. Peyton Manning and some other Colts players will be handing them out at a local hospital.

We pooled some yarn and this is what we came up with yesterday. I'm hoping we have enough for 2 blankets eventually.

Incidentally, my daughter who is autistic got a Project Linus blanket at the end of a special needs camp this summer. She chose a nice thick quilty PINK one, and she loves it! It was really awesome to see all these special kids get their own blanket and walk away with it. They were all full of smiles. It's a great charity so if you have some extra yarn or fabric, go make a blanket!

I was going to finish the Noro longies but after doing only a couple rounds and making a mistake before I'd even had a drink, I decided to put them away for some plain knitting.

I cast this sock on at Eric's and this is how far I got. I haven't made a plain sock in so long, I'm impressed with how fast it went! And I really like the colors together. Go Gryffindor!

While I didn't drink a LOT... I did have a couple margaritas and a beer so I decided it best not to try to turn the heel, so instead I cast on this scarf for aforementioned daughter (did I mention she likes pink a LOT?)

It's impossible to photograph this particular pink. It's neon but not as amorphously bright as it looks. And it changes colors a bit, though of course all I got through was the really bright part. It's better in person. This is that yarn that was originally $32 and I got it free. I love free!

Not bad for 1 day! I was there from about 4-10:30? more or less. I also wound up a couple skeins of laceweight and stopped to eat occasionally. It was great, and after I got home I didn't have to frog anything (even better!)

Stitches 'n' Scones booty

I went with DD and my friend Angela and her daughter to Stitches 'n' Scones this morning for the big sale. They give away 75 gift bags, first come first served. So we were there when they opened (but we weren't the first).

Here's what we came up with....

The pink fluff on the left was in my goody bag. I has a tag on it that says Yarn Baby and nothing else. The original price on it (which I didn't realize until I got home) was $32!? I really like the yarn, and I picked it to make a very very pink scarf for my special needs DD2 who love love loves pink. But still.... $32?! Shouldn't it be cashmere or something?

The fiber on the top is Fleece Artist Merino. C picked out the greenish one, I picked the pink. Those weren't on sale but they were still a great price.

The middle stuff was in the clearance section and my yarn pusher friend Angela and some other yarn pusher friends talked me into buying it. It *was* a really good deal, but I still felt guilty because it was NOT for *ANYTHING* in my queue and I'd made a rule about that. But, it was really cheap and it was pink (and DD2 really really REALLY loves pink... did I mention?)

The fluffy ball on the bottom right was in DD2's gift bag. I have no idea what she's going to do with it, it'll probably be a scarf some day, but she's a bigger collector of fiber than a knitter of fiber. (I don't have *any* idea where she might have gotten that trait from.)

The really dark green and grey balls are wool for a Dark Mark scarf. I've been looking for the perfect colors for that, and I haven't wanted most of the greens I've seen. That one is almost black it's so dark. I love it. (It's Galway, btw).

And the red and yellow balls are Fortissima Socka, for Gryffindor socks, of course!

All that was $65, which is cheap but I was feeling guilty about it until I got home and saw my very first license purchase in my in box... yipee! So I came out pretty good for the day, not quite even, but I'm very happy. And now I wish I hadn't put back that gorgeous lavender wool from the clearance rack that I just wanted to cuddle with.

Hedera

I finished Hedera socks a few days ago but had to get help for the photo shoot.

In honor of the absurd pictures on the pattern...
Because the upside-down, sandal wearing photo showcases the knitting *so* well...

They really are SO much better than they look on the pattern pictures.

And believe it or not, I didn't alter them. Well there are a few less repeats in the ankle, because I like shorter socks, but, that doesn't even really count.

The yarn is really so very cool. It's Vlnap a.s. Sockenwolle Unipo Superwash, and I don't know where I got it. It is actually mostly purple and green and not really very blue at all.