Done!

I did it!  I finished my last 2 Christmas gifts on Sunday.  I had decided a week ago yesterday to get out the sweater that I was pretty sure was almost finished that I had started over 2 years ago for my son and finally finish it for him for Christmas.  I finished it in 6 days.  It seems sad that it languished for so long with so little to finish it off.  Once I got done with it, then I could get the last pair of Christmas socks finished, which I did Sunday evening.

My son's gf also finished off her socks.  She decided to go for an ankle length sock & she has loved wearing them to bed.  So she decided she wanted to do several projects - 2 scarves and 3 pairs of socks - scarves for her, I believe, socks for her mother, my son & a friend's son who is just 8 years old.  So we went to the yarn store last week, I showed her around explaining different things to her about the various yarns, etc.  She chose yarn for 2 of the pairs of socks and then the 3rd pair she plans to use the other 2 half skeins of yarn left from her own socks for her mother.  Then we went to Hobby Lobby and got some cheaper/less expensive yarn for the scarves.  I have lent her 5 pair of needs from my own collection and have cast on all the projects for her, put them all in ziplock bags with a note on the outside as to how many rounds should be done on the socks for instance before we put in the heels.  With that and row counters, she should be able to take her knitting with her while they drive to my in-law's next weekend in FL.

I took the gifts for my in-law's, my son & his gf to their house tonight so that they can take them with them when they leave on Friday.

I decided to take a group picture of all the gifts I finished this year for Christmas gifts.  This doesn't include the crochet items I made this year or a shawl that I had already given away, but I think it makes a pretty impressive group.  What do you think?

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Another pair done - almost feel like I might be able to finish in time!

I finished the 3rd granddaughter's socks Thursday & started on the gusset for the 4th granddaughter's socks.  I also put the 2nd heel into my son's gf's socks.  This is her 1st knitting project and maybe this weekend it will work out to be able to get her socks up above the ankle and then teach her to purl so that she can put some ribbing on the socks.  I think she is just planning for them to be about ankle height, so she is nearly finished if that is correct.

 

About 2 weeks ago my oven died, so yesterday part of my day was spent in shopping for another stove.  I got this stove.  Then I waited to get my son to pick it up for me in his truck, but he had a very low tire on his truck, so we waited about 3 hours for Wal-mart to get that fixed..  Delivery just doesn't work for me with both of us working days, etc.  There is no one that I can have wait here to let them in nd I can't usually take time off from work.  I might be able to after the 1st of the year by taking the 1 vacation day I will probably have, but I don't want to wait that long.  I need another oven for Christmas baking.  I still have my old stove hooked up to the gas in the kitchen, so just had my son & his friend leave the new one in the box at the top of the stairs, then after they had left, I took down the dog gate & scooted it across the floor to the kitchen, got a Stanley knife & opened the box, then found a good sized dent/scratch in the upper top right hand side.  It is where with a little bit of paint, with it butted up against the end of the counter, then I won't hardly be visible.  So I have contacted Sears about getting a partial refund.  They told me last night that they would give me 5% back, but then when I looked online, I saw that the same stove had an online discount of 5% for yesterday.  So I printed that out & think I just might see if I can get 10% because of that.  That would be about $60 instead of $30.  I know that it will only cost me about $2 to cover up the damage, but I still don't want to pay full price for a damaged stove.  Will see what he says when I get there.  There was absolutely no damage to the box, so this was done before it was boxed.  And I have pictures of the box as well as the damage.

I set up a hair appointment on Friday and will finally get my hair cut again after 3 months since my disastrous haircut back in September.  There are still sections that may not even be long enough yet, but it should for the most part be good.  So 2 weeks from tomorrow!  Just in time for Christmas!

I have gotten through my first semi-annual "big" inventory at work!  I don't know that I helped a lot since there were only certain things I was allowed to do being new.  But I helped count parts, checked serial numbers on parts, and helped the person over Advance Exchange as she read off serial numbers and I marked them on her lists.  I personally didn't think it was as bad as they all seemed to think, but maybe that comes from either me doing the inventories for my other jobs over the years or because I wasn't given as much responsibility.  I know today I was glad to be able to start putting tickets back in the system so that I wasn't just sitting there twiddling my thumbs.

I stopped at my LYS (Local Yarn Store) on my way to shop for the stove and thought I would check into some sock yarn to make me a shawl/capelet/poncho for wearing at work this winter.  I was envisioning something that might have points front & back, but only hit at about elbow length on the sides so that it would be warm for my shoulders, while still not getting in the way while I am working.  I didn't want to have to come up with my own pattern though, so I bought 2 skeins of Lang Jawoll Magic in color # 84.0079 - a black/green/turquoise colorway and then searched Ravelry for something that might work.  I found this pattern and think I can just stop it at the right point by trying it on periodically as I work.  Right now it probably shouldn't even be in the works, but it is!  I don't know many knitters that can resist the temptation.  Right now I have it on straight needles and I have some Chiaogoo needles on order for it to eventually be worked on.  I still have at least 2 projects to work on for Christmas gifts, so will be putting it aside now that I have it started to do that, but I think this will be my gift to myself as soon as I get those done for being semi-patient.  I do have a crochet project that I started for my niece that I will have to get back to as soon as I get done with Christmas stuff, but I just might finish this first so that I can have it.  I usually am a bit cool at work already and am afraid it will get worse.  I am thinking that with the wool, this will possibly be warmer than even my acrylic sweater that I have been wearing.  And I am thinking I will put some buttons or something on it to hold it closed in the front without having to fiddle with adjusting it all the time.  Will see.  But I didn't want anything that I had to pull over my head at all.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!

Amazing Siberian Slippers finished and other socks in the works

I originally started to post this about a week ago, but then didn't get it finished, so have started a new post.

Last  Sunday I finished the Amazing Siberian Slippers for my mil, then I re-started a pair of socks for my youngest granddaughter.  I had been using the waffle stitch pattern, but since I have already made a pair with that pattern this year, I decided I needed to do something different.  So I am doing a pattern of my own making that is tuning out like little leaves or petals that work out into diagonal rows.  Every 4th row I use my cable needle & I move 1 stitch to the right & 1 stitch to the left, then skip several stitches & do it again.  Then I move up by 4 rows & do it again, but centered between the one of the previous pattern row.  Kind of like this (hope it comes out):

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The X's are the stitches I move to the right & to the left - 1 each way.

I am going to have to just guess at the length for now - might have to re-work hers and her sister's if I don't guess right since I really need to get them finished and they won't visit their dad for another week.  And even then, I might not get to see them since I might have to work an overtime day for end of year inventory & I need to go shopping for a new stove.  Mine died a week ago yesterday.

I was telling my grandkids about it on Friday - at least 2 of the granddaughters - had stopped by our daughter's thinking I would be picking up 1 granddaughter for the night, but they weren't visiting Dad this weekend.  So 1 of the 10 year old granddaughters is selling coupon cards - last year I bought 5 of them - 1 for each grandchild, but then we didn't really end up getting much use out of them with my finances going down after I ended up back on unemployment for a year.  So I told her that I might not be able to buy 1 this year, but if I did, it would just be 1 for all 5 to share, but I would have to see after getting a stove bought since my oven had died.  The 12 year old granddaughter pops up with - you mean there is just a hole?  I assured her that no, the oven .just wouldn't work anymore, but I am able to use the burners.  I can make the peanut brittle that the 1 granddaughter says I have to make again, but I can't bake rolls or anything like that!

I had a disturbing episode after posting the picture of my Siberian slippers on facebook - a person asked about getting the pattern and I gave the link to my friend's page where she sells the pattern.  This person then a bit later comes back & posts that she found the pattern for free on the internet!  This is a pattern that my friend spent many hours writing up, while extremely pregnant with her newest child, stressing over trying to get it written up before she went into labor.   And she is helping support her family with the money she brings in from writing patterns.  So far the person who posted that she had found the pattern for free hasn't responded after being asked to tell her where she found it for free, which I still hope happens.  This is a stolen pattern, if she really did find it for free somewhere!  And this diminishes things for all us crafters!  Now don't get me wrong, I love it when I can find a free pattern!  Especially this past year when I wasn't working.  But some patterns are intended to be given away & others are not.  This pattern was not!

Last Monday evening I went to a Christmas program that my next to the youngest granddaughter was in.  So it was another long day.  But nothing like the long days my dh has put in all week.  He put in 5 days of 15 hours and 1 of 8 hours, for a total of at least 83 hours.  Might have been a little more since I think he says he usually works 15 ½ hours on those days that he does the long ones.

I wore my handknit socks with sandals almost all week to keep from causing my right big toe from hurting any more than it had to.  I fell on Thanksgiving day & messed up my right big toenail, but didn't find it out until a week ago yesterday when I went for a pedicure and as the tech took the nail polish off, he unearthed my torn nail & bruised toe.  I decided yesterday to take off the nail polish again to make sure it hadn't gotten worse, infected or anything all week with not being able to actually see it for the nail polish.  I did good yesterday, but was still tired this morning & cold, so laid down on the couch & covered up with a quilt.  When I woke back up, I caught the nail on the quilt & tore it some more.  So it is pretty sore tonight.  I went to the store & got some super glue to glue it back together again & then since I couldn't find any finger cots at either of the stores I stopped at, I came home & cut the thumb off a pair of latex gloves so that I could put that over the toenail to try to help protect it - especially when I am sleeping.  Will see.  It is loose from the tear to the tip of my toe on that side of the nail.

I decided to tear out & restart another pair of socks for the blood sister of the granddaughter that I mentioned her socks earlier.  I had been doing 3 four stitch cables up the socks, but not only was it pulling them in severely, but it was annoying me because I was losing count of the rows (6) for the cable when doing the heel and my left index finger kept getting a sore area on it.  I don't have time for this with Christmas just 3 weeks away, so I took it out & am doing a V shape that I am continuing around the ankle - it means I move basically 2 stitches on each sock every row - 4 if you count the other 2 that end up being moved because of the 2 that I am moving to shape the V.  Much less than the 12 that I was doing differently before.  I may still do the other pattern later, but for now I'm not going to.  I just need to get them done.

My son's gf got her 2nd sock to the point where we can do the heel, so I will get that part done for her this week and then get the 2 socks on the same set of needles so that she can work on the legs.  She has done them 1 at a time so far, but told me she wants to do the rest 2 at a time.  She will need to learn purling for the ribbing, if that is what she wants - which I think it is.  And we only have about 19 days to get her to doing it if she plans to work on them while they drive to FL for Christmas.  They leave on the 22nd & should arrive at my in-law's on the 24th, then back here about the 28th to the 30th.  She says she wants to make a scarf next.

Have fun & Happy Crafting until the next time!