Where Did They Go?

I'm neck deep in my Christmas knitting right now. Even though I said I wasn't going to do much this year that somehow morphed into 4 pairs of socks and a hat. Thankfully I'm finished with 3 of the pairs of socks. Including one slight mishap in which I ran out of yarn before I finished the toe and had to add on alternate toe yarn.

I think they actually turned out all right with the alternate yarn toes though. I like them.

I know these are not the best pictures. Lately I have been struggling with getting enough light for photos.
The last pair of socks is on the needles and I'm working away on them. (Hopefully I can still whip out the hat quickly too.)

It has made me think though, where do these gift knits end up? I, like most of us who gift knit, try to only knit for those who are knit-worthy. But I have also been known to whip up a quick ribbed hat as a gift for someone's new boyfriend or girlfriend who is showing up to Christmas, who I want to have a gift to open.
All this self-inflicted knitting has led me to ponder where these knits have ended up. I love when I get feedback from people who use my knits until they wear out but some of these quick hats, I never see or hear of again. I wonder if they are pushed to the back of a closet. Or thrown out. Or maybe they are beloved. Someone's favorite hat. I don't know and I likely never will but it's interesting to think that they are out there in the world, those stitches knit with my hands.
How about you? Do you know where all your gift knits have gone? Do you ever get feedback from people about their knits?

Attention span of a gnat

As we approach the holidays I'm finding my time filled to the brim with things that require attention. Shopping for loved ones, my car needed new tires so I had to take care of that, groceries need to be purchased so we have something to eat, etc.
I'm finding that I have a limited number of attention points these days. Part of it is because I was taken down by a terrible cold complete with lots of sinus junk but also, I just don't have the attention to spare.
I've been trying to be kind to myself, allow myself extra time to rest to get over this cold and therefore, I have nothing to show you. Nothing interesting to see here. But I thought I should at least check in so you know that I'm still here, still trying to find time and attention for knitting. Hopefully more to show soon!

Bookworming, It's a Thing

I've really fallen back in love with reading this year. I set a goal to read 12 books last year on goodreads and I barely made it. So, the one goal I have stuck with this year is to read more. I set my reading goal at 18 books and I have blown it out of the water. I'm currently at 33 books and I have no intention of stopping now. I've really gone back to my book worm habits this year and I am loving it.
I'm loving the escapism and I love listening to audio books when I'm doing other things, which is helping me to really move through the books. Just like with my spinning, even a few minutes here and there can add up.
I just started Fawkes by Nadine Brandes because I joined a book club! I've always wanted to be in a book club and have never found one but this one seems perfect. It's online so I don't even have to get out of the house to attend. The creators chose this month's book but we will get to vote on next month's book.
The November book is Fawkes and even though I'm a bit late, I joined last night and started the book. I like it so far and I can't wait to get farther into it and see where it goes. So far, I've only purchased ebooks this year (and tried to read books I already own) and I like that they're easier to store. Plus, I love the whispersync. If you don't know what that is, when you own the ebook and the audiobook you can read and listen at the same time. Then you can stop listening and just read if you wish (I tend to do this if I get to an exciting part because I read faster and get annoyed that the audiobook is too slow) or just listen. Like I said, I enjoy both and I love being able to go back and forth.
I know this isn't really related to any of my crafting except that I've been reading WHILE I craft a whole bunch this year, but I'm thinking about talking a little about the books I read here.
I tend to focus on fiction/fantasy and lately have been into more Young Adult fiction than anything. So if some short book reviews or book recommendations are something you're interested in, let me know. I would also love to know what you are reading, leave me a comment with your book recommendations. I love adding to my Amazon Wish list and I told my husband all I want for Christmas is items off my Amazon Book wish list this year.

Even a Few Minutes Will Add Up

Time seems to keep slipping by me. My focus lately has been on getting my house in some sort of order since we are hosting my in-laws for Thanksgiving and to be honest if anyone came to the door right now I would hide. Housework just isn't a priority for me, I prefer crafting.
But since I know we will be having people over, I'm trying to get some sort of order from our mess. That means crafting has taken a back seat and I'm finding very little time or inclination to do anything once I'm done for the evening. I'm just too tired.
I have tried to squeeze in just a bit of spinning once in awhile though. Even if it's a few minutes, it slowly adds up to progress. As evidenced by this:

A full bobbin! Yeah! This is some Merino from Gritty Knits that I lost the tag for so I have no clue how long it's been lying around. It seemed very autumny when I started it though and I love the singles, although I'm not a big brown person. I think the red tones are making up for it. I spun it all onto one bobbin so I will eventually chain-ply it but for now it will rest and I will just spin something else since plying requires too much effort when I'm tired from a long day of work then deep cleaning and cooking supper.

Slacking Spinning

You may have noticed that spinning has been pretty lacking around chez Kalkette. It's true, when all the family stuff happened right at the start of Tour de Fleece, my spinning got put on a very back burner. I tried several times to get back to it but it seemed to be a struggle every time and so I let it go. 

That means I didn't even finish one skein of yarn from the tour this year which is a little hard for me to believe.
I did try to keep plugging away when I could and I finally, finally finished the fiber I started at the beginning of the tour.

It's a braid of Superwash BFL from Freckle Faced Fibers in Guinevere and the colors are washed out here, it's a much deeper, rich purple and green with hints of brown.
I've realized I'm not a big fan of spinning BFL (Blue Faced Leister) so I have either destashed, or spun what I had but I found this braid of Superwash BFL in my stash and decided to keep it and spin it.
The reason I'm not a big fan of it is because I seem to get a really dense yarn and therefore much less yardage than I anticipate which can be frustrating if I have a project in mind. With this being superwash, I thought it was worth it to try once more. I also did everything I could to ensure I got the yarn I wanted. I split the braid and carefully predrafted each piece, taking my time so I could get the results I wanted.
I went into this hoping to knit some handspun socks from this braid and once it was spun and chain-plied, I think I can safely say it's ready to become some lovely socks.

So lovely. The skein has been removed from the Niddy Noddy and washed now so it's ready to go. But check out this little surprise from when I did this photo shoot.

Surprise Bumblebee! It was hanging out drying its wings and I didn't even notice it until I was picking up the Niddy Noddy to head back into the house.
Hopefully this finished skein will help motivate me to get back to the wheel sometimes and enjoy my spinning more.

Speedy Socks

So far, I have valiantly resisted casting on something new. Except this purse sock.

That's really only because I finished the other purse socks.
I can't believe how fast these are going. I worked on them for less than a day and I was past the heel turn. Of course, after that they got shoved into my purse and ignored for the last several weeks so they aren't too much farther than this. I don't feel like I had that much knitting time over that day either, but they seemed to fly along. Maybe because I'm knitting them on 1s rather than the 0s I was using for the Vesper socks.
I've got a big fiber weekend planned and I'm hoping these will get some more progress. Even though they're the most "boring" of the projects I've packed, I would like to tuck them into the Christmas box so I would like to get them done so they're off my mind.
You'll notice that the photo of these socks is in the nice, sunny grass. It isn't like that anymore. It's been gray and rainy all week and this morning I had to scrape snow and ice off my car before I could drive to work. Not the ideal way to start your day in October. Perfect weekend to have a trip that involves plenty of outdoor time right?
Not so much but I'm going anyway. More on that next week when I'm back and hopefully relaxed and refreshed from an unplugged weekend away.

Wolkig in a Handy Set

I keep meaning to get here and post something and then I was having issues with my pictures uploading and the weather has been that sort of rainy gray we get in the fall so I couldn't get any decent pictures anyway. Basically I've been a hot mess lately. But I have been finishing things.

I finished my purse socks which look a little goofy because they're afterthought heel socks. Which means for me they don't sit very nicely when laid flat but they fit your feet just fine. I don't really count purse socks as a project because they just kind of hang out and get worked on whenever until they're done. These actually ended up being afterthought heels, which isn't my favorite heel, because I was out of the house and didn't want to bother trying to knit a heel so I just stuck in some waste yarn and kept going.
I think these will go in the Christmas gift box because I finished them the day this arrived.

A new skein of the exact same yarn. I really enjoyed knitting it and had several family members request the socks so I purchased another skein of the same yarn when it was available. It will likely hang out for awhile though. I'm in no rush to knit the same socks quite so soon.
As a part of my dig-out-and-finish-UFOs project, I also dug out my Wolkig cowl. (I promise it's not this vibrant, it was the light. If you check out my ravelry project page, the picture of the yarn is much more color accurate)

I stopped originally because I decided that rather than using the whole skein for the cowl, I could knit some short little fingerless mitts to match the cowl. But I wasn't sure what pattern to use or how I wanted to do that. I decided it couldn't be that hard to figure something out. So a little finagling and I had these.

Some little fingerless mitts to match. They really don't look like much do they?

Just a bit of twisty knitting. But when I put them on, they're very cute and match the cowl well.

I did decide to make the garter sections twist in the opposite direction because I'm complicated like that. You can read my project page on Ravelry for these mitts to get the directions on how I knit them.
I'm glad I finished them when I did because the weather has turned cooler and much more fall so I'm ready to cozy up with knits.
The UFO bin is looking a little sparse (there are definitely still things in it, just not as many) and I'm not sure if I will continue with the finishing project or start something new because I'm getting the "new project" itch.

Tropical Bird

I've been having fun digging out old UFOs and working on them. Since they're already partly finished, it makes it quicker to get them done. I finished a few things that need blocking before I share them but in the meantime, I can share something I've been working on that I'm really enjoying.

I fell in love with the Pincha Shawl pattern on Knitty from the first time I saw it, but I tried it in several different yarns and I just couldn't find the right one.
Eventually, they got ripped and the yarn was shoved back into the stash. Finally, I got the idea to try it with some self-striping yarn. I have a good deal of it since I've been in love with Vesper for ages and have been buying it faster than I can knit it. So I chose a skein I knew I wouldn't like as socks but that I thought would be fun as this shawl.
I find the pattern to be pretty fiddly to knit as I have to pay close attention but I absolutely love how it's coming out!

It reminds me of the feathers of a tropical bird. I'm trying to knit one "feather" a day and the original pattern calls for a total of 12 feathers. I will continue if I have more yarn which I'm not sure about at this point. But hopefully, I will be able to dress as a tropical bird in the near future. That should be a nice addition to a winter wardrobe which will combat the dreary gray days nicely.

Maple Leaf

After the great feeling of accomplishment when I finished my Find Your Fade, I decided to take out another languishing project and get it finished.

I dug around until I found my Maple Leaf Knit Shawl.
Thankfully, I was also able to find the original printed pattern where I had marked every row I had done. So I was able to pick it up again and get going on it.
It wasn't long until I was ready to finish it.
Doesn't look like much right off the needles though.
I should say this isn't directly off the needles. I also wove in the ends. ALL the ends. There were a lot. I had been doing a few as I went along but the end of the last three points led to a total of 25 ends to be woven in. That was not my favorite part!

So I dug out my blocking boards and after a good soak, pinned it to within an inch of its life.

I love blocking, it's like a special kind of magic.
The best part though, is when you get to unpin it and enjoy it!

So pretty and just perfect to finish now as we head into fall.
I'm not entirely thrilled with the gradient but that's my own fault because I decided to use all of the first color and then guessed at where to start the third. But it looks like a colorful leaf so that's what I was going for.

I wonder what other projects I can find to finish.

Just a Small Hello

2018 Tour de Fleece was a complete bust for me. With all the family things going on, which involved lots of travel, I just didn't get much done.
I literally did not finish one braid of fiber. It's sad but it was what needed to happen this year. Hopefully, I will have a chance to rock the tour next year.
Instead of dwelling on how frustrated I am about not getting any new handspun from this year's tour, I have been in the mood to finish things. It doesn't come around very often, new projects are much more exciting than boring old projects but I dug around in my current UFOs pile and came up with several things I hope to finish.
The first was my Find Your Fade and I'm happy to report that I did finish that. It's huge and cozy and I love it already, although I haven't blocked it or taken any photos yet. I'm very glad I wove in the ends as I went because that meant when I cast off on Sunday afternoon, I had only one end to weave in, the very last one. And I took it to Knit Night. It turned out to be perfect timing because we sat under an air conditioner vent and it was freezing at Knit Night! I was so glad to have my cozy Fade to wrap around me.
There's several other things waiting for my attention and I'm working on a couple of them already so hopefully I will have some lovely new things to show soon.
In the meantime, I thought it was a good idea to at least get a post up to show that I'm still here, still knitting and still planning some cozy fall projects.

Tour de Fleece 2018

Things are a bit rough right now as my husband and I deal with some heavy family stuff. I don't really want to go into details here but suffice to say that I'm spending much of my time driving back and forth to his family. 

I am trying to participate in the Tour de Fleece this year though so Saturday morning when I got up I wiped down my wheel, cleaning off at least a year's worth of dust and dirt and re-oiled it then prepped my fiber and started to spin this lovely bit of business that has been in my stash for ages.

It's Freckle Face Fibers Superwash BFL in Guinevere. I purchased it from someone's destash years ago and it has been languishing ever since. partly because I am not particularly fond of spinning BFL anymore. I liked it when I was first starting and the longer staple length made for easier spinning but I tend to make it too dense now and I'm always disappointed by the yardage I get. Since this is Superwash I decided to give it a try anyway and split the braid lengthwise, then drafted one of the balls I wound up from the split and started spinning. I'm thinking it will make beautiful socks and I am hoping for something that will work to knit into socks. We'll see how it shapes up.
The biggest trouble for me right now is time. When I am at home I'm often too tired to do anything more than wash my face and collapse into bed. But I am trying to find a few minutes to spin here and there. And maybe that's all my goal needs to be this year, just try to find a few minutes for spinning each day.

Knit Night Trillian

My fiber-related mojo lately has lent itself more to my spinning. Which is good because I have lots of fiber and may have brought home some fleece from Shepherd's Harvest recently too. But because spinning takes time and I haven't actually finished anything completely, I don't really have anything to show off. I am considering it training for Tour de Fleece though. So far I'm just joining my local knitting group's team but that may change as time goes on. I've been thinking about digging out my supported spindle again lately. I miss supported spindling and I can do that even when I want to just sit quietly with my feet up after a long day.

Meanwhile, I went to knit night last night and I decided to start something new. None of the projects I have on the needles were really calling to me. Partly because some are big and bulky and I didn't want that heavy weight on me and partly because I just didn't feel like knitting some of them.
Since I decided I wanted something new right before I left, I decided to grab something that was already wound up. I ended up with this beautiful skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino DK that I got at Darn Knit Anyway last summer.
They wound it up for me in the shop. I also grabbed a needle I thought would work and hustled out the door.
Once I got to knit night I knew the trick would be to find something that would work with the colors in the yarn, be easy enough to start and knit at Knit Night while chatting and work with the single needle I had grabbed.
Thankfully that part was easy. I searched Ravelry and found a pattern in my library that I hadn't knit yet that I had been wanting to. It seemed simple and would look good with this particular yarn. So I cast on. It's Trillian by Martina Behm. A beautiful part of the Hitchhiker's Pattern collection.

I am in love with it! The pattern is simple, just a two-row repeat once you get it established and it's turning out so great. I think the needle I'm knitting it on is a little small but I'm liking the fabric and I'm looking for more of a decorative scarf than a warm bundle around my neck so I think I will be fine size-wise too.
The best test is that even after knit night last night, I didn't want to put it down and go to bed. I think this one will be a definite win!

Sometimes

Sometimes I say things to myself like: I should wait to make a new blog post until I finish that project and have something to show.
Then I don't, so no post gets written.
Or: You should really do the dishes before you sit down to knit. And then I don't get any knitting time at all.
It seems to be a recurring theme with me. The feeling that I have to have things done before I can "reward" myself with some down time. But the thing is, there's always more to do. There's always 10 more things to add to my to do list and 15 more things I "should get done" also.
At the end of the day, I still find myself sitting down for a bit and listening to an audio book or reading or watching TV. Something where I enjoy a bit of time but I guess I'm not allowing myself to use that time for knitting if I don't feel like I got "enough" done that day.
I really don't want to be that way to myself. Knitting is soothing to me (mostly, there are those frustrating projects that make you want to shred the yarn with your teeth of course) and something that helps me relax and rest. Which we all need. You can't do the work you need to do if you are so exhausted you can't move or end up sick because you haven't gotten enough rest.
So I'm going to try to remind myself this week that sitting down to knit is a good thing. A necessary thing for my mental health. And something I want to do. So I'm going to do it.
Especially since May is Mental Health Awareness month and I know all of us, even those who don't suffer with mental illness, could use a little focus on ourselves and doing something that makes us happy once in awhile.
How about you? Is there something you're keeping from yourself that you use as a mental health break? Is there a way you can change your thinking about it so you don't feel guilty about taking that time for yourself?
I will be focusing on allowing myself to rest when I  need to rest and often, that will include some knitting.

New Pincha

As I've mentioned before, I've been feeling very lackluster when it comes to projects. I've always got my purse sock going and while I love the simplicity of a plain stockinette sock (almost always in self-striping yarn) I sometimes crave something more. 

We're going to be traveling this weekend to visit my in-laws and some friends. My husband will be doing the driving. That plus some down-time while we're with said friends and in-laws led me to wanting a new project. I briefly looked through everything that was on the needles and nothing really fit so I decided to go ahead and start something entirely new.

I've had my eye on the Pincha shawl for some time. (Linked to Ravelry but it's available on Knitty really.) It seems like such a unique shape and a really fun and unusual knit.

So I went stash diving. I found it difficult to find something that I thought would work for this pattern. I wanted something with some contrast between the colors in the variegation but not too much that it was shocking every time the colors moved. 

I finally settled on this skein of yarn in my stash. To be honest, I've lost the tag so I'm not absolutely sure what it is but I think it might be Schaeffer Anne. It was already wound into a cake so I thought it would be handy to grab and work with and I loved the jewel tones in it. I do have a little issue with mohair but I've worked with this yarn before so I hope it won't be too bad. If nothing else, maybe I can knit the shawl and give it as a gift.

I sat down yesterday afternoon when I had a little time and knit the first section which is called the first feather. I really tried to reserve judgement on how it was working until I had finished the first feather and I'm still not sure what I think.

It's difficult to tell in photos. It really just looks like a bit of a jumbled mess of garter stitch. It doesn't look quite so...wonky in person. I don't know that this yarn is quite right either though. The stretches of color are so short. If you look at the pattern pictures, it seems like their color repeats are longer and that might make a difference for how it looks knit up.

It's unusual, that's for sure and I do like the colors but I'm not sure it's right for this pattern. I will have to make a decision soon because we leave this afternoon.

The construction calls for a ton of short rows so it's all counting and turning. I'm not sure it will be the right project for this weekend either so I tossed another skein of sock yarn into my bag just in case I finish my purse socks and need to keep knitting. 

I am a little fascinated by how it works and I'm interested to see how the next feathers will work now  that I'm done with the first one so I definitely think I want to knit this pattern. Possibly in this yarn, possibly in something else. I looked over the project pictures on Ravelry and there's one knit in what looks like self-striping yarn that looks really fun. That gives me something else entirely to think about.

Fighting that Minnesota "Spring"

After I finished my Shamrockin' socks I immediately reached for another skein of Vesper because, let's be honest, I have a lot of it and also, it's beautiful.

Since the weather here in Minnesota has been decidedly un-springlike I chose something bright and fun. This lovely skein is from last year's Vesper Rainbow club.

Rainbows after rain was the March 2017 rainbow colorway and its sparkles and bright colors were just what I needed. Since I was still on a bit of a finishing high I was able to crank out the first sock pretty quickly.

I was at the toe last week actually and it was very awkward to take a picture so I decided to wait. 

In the meantime, I also got a pretty good jump on the second sock over the weekend.

I've noticed that if I'm excited because it's a new project or just a fun knit, I can make much faster progress and I haven't felt that way much with my projects lately. That's partly my own fault. Every project seems to have that middle part where it feels never ending and you have to sort of slog through. Sometimes I let myself get distracted at that point and wander away which leads to not getting it finished. (It may be more often than "sometimes")

Can we talk about another of my odd little quirks? I prefer to rewind the ball of yarn before I start the second sock. I don't absolutely have to if I'm out and am ready to start the second but I greatly prefer to, it just looks so much neater. Does anyone else rewind in between? Let me know if I'm the only oddball. 

Carrot Patch Brownies

I'm trying to make more time for my knitting as it seems to be what's keeping me sane at the moment. Everything is in fits and starts though. Usually when I do have time to knit, it's just a round or two and then I have 11,000 things I have to go and do. But progress is progress and that helps my sanity immensely.

Since I keep having to pick up and put down my knitting, I have been sticking almost exclusively with my simple stockinette purse sock. It's at an awkward place right now so I will wait and share it next week and instead share the fun little dessert I made for Easter.

I saw it online somewhere and I thought it would be SO CUTE! I think it turned out well and I was happy with it.

I made a pan of brownies and removed them from the pan (thanks to parchment paper underneath them). Then, I frosted them with chocolate frosting and pressed crushed animal crackers onto the frosting to look like dirt.

Finally, I dipped strawberries in white almond bark tinted orange so they would look like carrots. I even tried to drizzle lines across them so they would look more like carrots. Then added them to the "carrot patch" and put some mini Cadbury eggs so it would like they an egg hunt in the carrot patch. 

I especially wanted to share this with my niece because I thought she would get a kick out of them.

She did. I'm happy with how they turned out and they stayed nice and fudgey too. Which is perfect for a brownie in my opinion. This was all gluten free as well. And delicious!

I used the Aldi chocolate baking mix as directed for brownies (with oil not butter) and milk chocolate frosting in the store brand from CashWise/Coborn's. Then I used Kinnick kinnick chocolate animal cookies to crush for the "dirt."

Wait a Second, It isn't Tuesday?

I started writing this post on Tuesday but then an incident happened where our washer died and I had to drag the sopping clothes out and wring them out so I got sidetracked and forgot to finish. So you're getting this on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. We'll just say that for this week, Wednesdays are for spinning.

Quite some time ago, Hobbledehoy put up a pre-order for some Lord of the Rings Battlings. If you know me, you know that I love the Lord of the Rings and so, I placed an order. 

They were, of course, just as lovely as I had been imagining when they came. This set is the Rivendell Forest and they're lovely blues with touches of yellow. There's even a few places that are such a deep blue it almost looks black. My original plan was to spin it all onto one bobbin, spin the other set onto another bobbin (yeah, there's two. You didn't think this was all I got did you?) and ply them together. Once I saw them in person though, I decided I didn't want to do that. The colors are very different and I didn't want to tone them down too much. In either case. I didn't really have a plan but that didn't stop me from spinning up the lovely Battlings. 

Doesn't it look wonderful? I love the little hints of sparkle and how it goes from those pops of yellow back into the deep, rich blues. Such lovely fiber. (Don't mind the furry little legs of my assistant back there. My dear cats pretty much never let me do anything alone. Taking photos is included in that.)

At this point though, I needed to decide what I was going to do with it so I let it "rest" on the bobbin for awhile. And I thought about it. 

Eventually, I was watching the KnitGirllls podcast (probably my favorite podcast. I just love the interactions between Leslie and Laura, it makes me feel like I'm hanging out with a knitting group, even when I'm knitting alone). Laura was discussing how she had recently used some 100% silk thread to ply with and it got me thinking that maybe that was the right choice for this fiber. After all, at only 2 ounces, I didn't want to lose any yardage or tone down the colors by plying it back on itself. 

I thought about it for a bit. Then, I did some research on where I could find some silk thread. I ended up finding out that our semi-local (to me) JoAnn Fabrics had some. I decided to check it out the next time I was nearby. Then, I got a coupon in my email for 60% off and made a point to be nearby to get some thread. 

So exciting! 

There were limited color choices but I thought this bright royal blue would be good with the blues in the singles. I was completely and totally guessing on yardage. I had no idea what to expect! At one point during plying I thought I would have way too much thread leftover. Then, I thought I would completely run out of thread. Eventually, I had my lovely new yarn plied.

I just love it! It's a little unusual. Sort of lumpy and bumpy but I think that's really fun. You still get the great color changes but the thread adds something too. So, which ran out first? The thread or the singles?

The thread. But there wasn't much left of the singles so I didn't try to do anything with it. Just a few yards so I was pretty good on my guessing.

I really feel like this was the right choice for this fiber. It turned out so beautiful!

Now that it's off the Niddy Noddy though, it does need a bath, it's pretty curly. It feels a little bit scratchy because of the thread so I'm not sure what I will do with it but I really love it. I've got about 330 yards so a decent amount of a light sportweight or heavy fingering weight yarn. I can't wait to see if it puffs up in the bath!

Sometimes Finishing is the Hardest Part

I love to start a new project and I always have the best intentions. 

Like earlier this month, I started knitting my Shamrockin' sock yarn from Vesper in the hope of having new Shamrockin' socks for St. Patrick's Day.
Yeah. This is the look I got when I tried to finish them up on Saturday.

I'm pretty sure that's a no.
I did finish them now and as soon as it stops snowing (I know!!! It's supposed to Spring!) I hope to get some pictures taken.
Meanwhile I'll just be over here starting another new project. I did finish these socks after all.

Fancy Frogging

I've tried to post a few times and have had a problem with my pictures working. But it seems to be ok now. We'll see.

I definitely seem to have the winter blahs again this year so I'm fighting it with bright knitting.

Although as you can see, there's been some frogging too. Poor little Skew sock was too tight. I've only knit the pattern as written but I tend to be a tight knitter so I have to consciously knit more loosely or they don't fit. I wasn't. I decided that most of the pattern would lend itself *fairly* easily to an increase of stitches so I'm knitting it with 80 stitches around instead of 72 now. I'll let you know if it helps.
It sure looks fancy all piled up with curly yarn though doesn't it? Very pretty. Almost made up for the fact that it needed to be frogged. Almost.
In the meantime, I will try to soak up the sunshine and reasonable weather when I can, and make it through the winter once more. The days are already getting longer so we are on the way.