Knitter in Progress

Happy Halloween!! Sorry the picture is dark, but it was the best way to let you see the spider. I still can't believe I carved that thing. Part 2

What Color is Your Brain? GREEN: At work or in school : I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest. With friends : I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity. With family : I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests. Take this quiz ! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

HAED Magic Witch QS--finished 10/28/06 Stats: Piece--Magic Witch ACEO, S Butcher(artist), charted by Heaven and Earth Designs Fabric--25 count white lugana Stitches--1 over 1, full crosses, 31350 total Time--April 1, 2006-October 28, 2006

Booking Through Thursday Christine wants to know... Do you make notes in books as you read them? In college I did in everything I read. When I teach I make notes in the teacher's edition. In my personal reading, I rarely make notes in my books. Why or why not? In college it was a way of isolating important information. In teaching it's a way of emphasizing something I want to teach or knowing when to insert an activity. If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them? In college and teaching, I made notes in both fiction and nonfiction. Now if I make notes in something it's usually nonfiction--like a knitting pattern book. Booking Through Thursday Do you read in bed? For how long? Do you fall asleep reading? Will a good book keep you up all night? Yes, I try to read every night for at least an hour. I have stayed up all night for a good book many times. Where do you keep your nighttime reading? Do you have a special table next to the bed? Ar...

Sorry I've been MIA this week. DH and Little Diva are on vacation, SO needless to say free time is few and far between. Also, I've been stitching like a fiend in hopes of having a happy dancing big finish by Friday! Today's SBQ was suggested by Vash (http://seasidestitcher.blogspot.com/) and is: Which way do you stitch, i.e. do you stitch /// followed by \\\ on top, or the other way around \\\ followed by ///? Are you left- or right-handed and do you think that this affects the way that you stitch? I stitch /// followed by \\\. I'm right handed but I don't think that makes a difference. I was taught to stitch right slant then left and that's what has stuck. This question looks familiar--did we have it before? If you were to come across a sampler chart that caught your eye and appealed to you, would you or would you not stitch it if it had a morbid or “creepy” saying on it? If not, why? Look who you're asking! Morbid. . .creepy. . .bring it on! That is...

Bailey(aka--BB) Kahlua(aka--Cracky) First--totally unrelated to stitching or knitting. I'd like to wish my kitties, Bailey(aka BB) and Kahlua(aka Cracky), a very Happy 10th Birthday! They are my first babies and now they are the senior citizens of our house :) If I can get them to sit still for a picture, I'll put it up(they still have loads of energy and it's difficult to catch them sitting still in the same place at the same time). Magic Witch 93.3% Magic Witch. . .still not done. Very close to being done--a mere 2090 stitches away. I have a new start already to take her place, but I refuse to start it until she is finished SO that's what I'll be working on this weekend.

One down, one to go! I have finished one of my peds and will be casting on for number two sometime this weekend. The yarn is STR Farmhouse. This yarn was actually already a sock that wore out on one of the heels so I reclaimed it for this project. I just love the colors in this colorway. I cannot wait until I finish Magic Witch(which is what is taking up a majority of my time), because I have the sock bug--bad. I want to start some more. I think my sock burn out is finally on the way out.

I promise that tomorrow I will have a Socktoberfest and Magic Witch post. This week has been crazy busy and next week doesn't promise to be any better with Diva and DH on vacation for the week. I guess we are heading into that time of year where things just start building up. I'm trying not to even think about November yet--holiday shopping, Thanksgiving, the usual grind, and Nanowrimo. Very busy. I lifted this from Laura : 48 Things You Could Care Less About 1. FIRST NAME? Kimberly 2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No. And my maiden name was the most unoriginal name ever--EVER I say. 3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? It doesn't take much to get me to cry if I'm in the right mood. I'd say in the last month. 4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No, not anymore. I type almost everything and my handwriting has suffered(but my typing speed has much improved LOL). I really have to make an effort to have legible handwriting anymore. 5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? I'm no...

If all goes well, she will be done next week. I'm at 27480/31350 which means I only have 3870 stitches left!! Magic Witch 87.6% ***** Today's SBQ was suggested by Lee (http://lakestitcher.blogspot.com/) and is: As we all know, stitching in the winter can really be rough on the hands. What do you do to treat your hands well in the cold winter months? Do you have any suggestions for creams or soaps? Or perhaps a special regimen that you would like to share? I use Udderly Smooth, because it goes on smooth and absorbs quickly. I also like Oil of Olay Quench. That's really all I do to take care of my hands all year round, not just in the winter.

Here's my progress on my not pedestrian peds(these socks are in some reclaimed STR in Farmhouse): Socktober Socks I also bought some yarn(for my Stashalong free day in October)--all Lorna's Laces(3 skeins old Rose and 2 skeins of flames). The Old Rose is for Bayerishe(unless the yarn I ordered from another LYS comes in soon) and pink is not normally one of my colors but I need a light colored solid for the socks and October is Breast Cancer Awareness month so this yarn fits the bill for both! I have been coveting the Flames colorway forever--that and Black Purl are my Lorna's Laces favorites--now I finally have enough for some socks, I just need to find the perfect pattern. I ordered it from Yarn 4 Socks . They are giving a discount to all the Socktoberfest participants(see Lolly's blog for the code) and I have to raise my needles to them. They had great prices on Lorna's and they are super fast with shipping. So run, don't walk over there and order some So...

Since the finishing of Magic Witch is looming on the horizon, I am in the process of trying to come up with a rotation that would fit both my knitting and stitching habits. I need to find more of a balance but I still need to feel like I'm making progress on everything. Knitting is much faster than stitching so doing something like 2 weeks per project wouldn't work for me. Anyone have any ideas--anything that works well for you? UPDATE: Thanks for all your comments--they definitely gave me food for thought. Cynthia : If I don't have some sort of rotation/schedule, I get NOTHING done. Seriously, maybe it's the way my brain works or the fact that I have two kiddos that demand a boatload of my time and attention. Left to my own devices when I have free time, if I don't schedule something, I just sit and stare into space or at the TV and I hate wasting time. Laura , Dede , and Margene : I like all of your ideas and I think I'll probably come up with something...

Your Element Is Earth You excel at planning and strategizing. You could be a champ at chess or Survivor. Well grounded, you are able to be realistic and rationalize. On the inside, you have a hard core. It's tough to phase you. You are super productive, and you are able to think anything through. Focused and super charged, your instincts are a good guide for your next step. What's Your Element?

There are only so many hours in the day and although I pride myself on being able to get a lot done in a short amount of time, sometimes something has to give. This month it's been reading. I just haven't had time to read; I'll get through my second Poe and maybe Magician's Gambit and I'll have to be happy with that for the month. See, Cynthia , I can't do it all--even if I really, really want to ;P Here are my five choices for this latest challenge: (1) Magician's Gambit(Eddings) (2) Castle of Wizardry(Eddings) (3) Enchanter's Game(Eddings) (4) The Premature Burial(Poe) (5) The Pit and the Pendulum(Poe)--DONE--I've actually read this before(always read it in October when I was teaching school. Poe is perfect for Halloween short stories. Booking Through Thursday Tell us about a book that you had to read, but didn't want to, but that you ended up liking. Something for school, perhaps? A book from your Mom for Christmas that she insisted on you...

Well, I didn't get her done in September BUT she WILL be done before the end of this month and I guess it's fitting that I finish a witch cross stitch before Halloween :) Magic Witch 81.9% Today's SBQ was suggested by Sharon (http://crossstitchobsession.blogspot.com/) and is: When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take? When I start making a lot of mistakes I need to take a break. Usually the more tired/distracted I am the more mistakes I start making which frustrates me and gets me making even more mistakes. I usually need to put the piece down for at least a day or two. I'll try working on something else OR switch to knitting instead to give myself a stitching break.

When did you start making socks? I knit my first pair of socks in April 2004 My First Pair of Socks Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class? I taught myself how to use the double points and my Utah knitting group taught me how to turn the heel and some other tricks of the trade. My absolute favorite basic sock patterns are in the book/pamphlet, Classic Beginnings Socks for the Family by Michele Wyman. It's been my sock knitting bible from the beginning. What was your first pair? A basic top down sock made from some kind of Regia I believe. How have they "held up" over time? What would you have done differently? I still have them although the tension is too loose and they have lots 'o mistakes. I keep them and wear them to remind myself how far I have come. I'm not sure I would have done anything differently--my first pair of socks was a milestone for me. It was exhilarating, frustrating, rewarding--all at the same tim...

This will be my second year participating in Socktoberfest and I've set myself up with quite an ambitious sock schedule. There are three projects on deck so far: 1) The Not Pedestrian Ped pattern from Teri . I'm using some reclaimed Socks that Rock in the Farmhouse colorway for these. I actually got a headstart on them last night; it's the first time in a long time that I've spent the evening knitting instead of stitching and IT FELT GREAT!! 2) Arrgyle from Moth Heaven . I'm using some Knit Picks essential sock yarn in gray, burgundy, and black, as well as some of the bare superwash sock yarn. It will be my first time with intarsia, so that will be a challenge in and of itself. 3) Bayerishe from Eunny . I'm planning on using Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in the turquoise color. I had to order the yarn and I'm just waiting for it to come in so I can start. And if you're looking for inspiration or a tutorial, hop over here for a gansey sock pat...