I'm a bad secret pal!

Last Friday I received my last package from my SP7 pal, and I never even blogged about it!

Um... oops!

My wonderful secret pal was Meg and she did a wonderful job of spoiling me! Throughout the exchange we realized that we had quite a few things in common... which always makes things more fun.
In this last package I found a great basic sock pattern that included several variations to build on. I'm so excited about this pattern, especially since it came with a ball of Trekking XXL yarn! (The girl knows my love for the Trekking!) It has the most beautiful shades of blue and I can't wait to put it on my needles. There was also some lovely bath stuff in a white jasmine scent. Even hubby dearest thought this stuff smelled great. Score!

Not pictured here are two little gifts for Owen, which I thought was the sweetest and most thoughtful thing for Meg to do. She gave him a dinosaur that lights up and a bouncy ball with a dinosaur inside. The reason they're not shown here is because they were immediately confiscated by the child and played with. The ultimate sign of a good gift. *grin*

Go over and check out Meg's blog! She has such an upbeat personality that really shines through. I've enjoyed perusing her past entries and have added her to my blog reads.
This is what is currently on my needles. The background is my In Full Bloom sweater that is going really well. I'm about 13 inches in and only have 2 more inches until I separate for the arm holes. The other project there is a sock using Sockotta yarn that Mom bought for me to make her some socks. She bought a skein of it for herself and a skein for me, payment I guess? I just finished the gusset decreases on it and I'm pleased with the sock so far. I did a seed stitch rib on the cuff... I think that's what it's called, at least.

This is the sock that is going with me everywhere. I have a new job (long story) and my lunches are only 30 minutes, but I usually have 10 minutes to devote to my sock at lunch and when the phones aren't busy and there aren't issues to resolve I'm allowed to surf the net, read a book, or KNIT! (I asked.)

I'm looking outside our little home office window at the pasture across the street and I remember what drew me to this house. The sky is grey from all the storms we've had today and I fall in love with this 8 foot window and the view that comes with it every time I pass it by.

FO Frenzy

There have been a rush of finished projects lately and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write about them!
First, the infamous Obot for Owen. This was completed the day before Easter and was presented to my boy in lieu of a huge basket of sugar candy. I love this robot and the great thing is that it wasn't nearly as scary to seam as I thought it was going to be!
The pink socks you may recognize as a Project Spectrum project from last month. They were actually finished a few weeks ago, but they've been busy being on my feet and so therefore not in top modeling condition. The orange socks were my first socks using the Magic Loop method and they did work up quickly. I used #2 US Addi Naturas and though I like the needles, I don't know that I'd use them again for socks. The join isn't very smooth and I found myself wrestling with them with every row.
The orange socks came with me and Owen to the park last week. It was so nice outside and the sock just begged to spend some time in the swings. Plus, we found a fellow Project Spectrum April friend there.
Orange sock, meet yellow flowered tree!

Obot, interrupted

Owen's Obot is almost completely done. All that's left is stuffing and seaming, and that's the part that I'm feeling the most nervous about.

I realize that Owen really doesn't care if his Obot is perfect, in fact it'd be cuter if it's not, but the Mom in me wants a perfect Obot for her kiddo. Nevermind the fact that this is based only very loosely on the pattern in the New Knits on the Block book and that a hundred small things have already been changed. I still want the best Obot ever.

And that's why the Obot has been sitting in this condition since Sunday night. I purchased the stuffing for him on Monday morning but haven't brought myself to actually begin the stuffing and seaming. I may need an intervention at this point, but I'm not entirely sure. I should see if Sarah would come over to be of some moral support, or maybe I could just drive to the yarn store and be guilted into finishing it, or maybe I should just shut up and do it. Any way it goes, this will definitely require homemade rice crispy treats.

Knitting it up!

Laura at Affiknitty wanted to know who makes the Baby Alpaca Grande. It is made by Plymouth Yarns and it runs around $10 - $13 per skein. I used two skeins for the scarf I made but I like my scarfs extra long. (This one reaches to my knees, perhaps a tad long but almost perfect!)

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Mom called me yesterday and told me that she was in the process of putting together her sweater made from Big Baby. It's a very exciting thing to be putting together a project... and things get even more exciting when you start counting pieces and realize that things don't add up! Front, back, sleeve, sleeve, sleeve. Yep, Mom made three sleeves! We decided that this was a great way of making sure you have enough yarn for a project! She's since unravelled the third sleeve but she toyed with the idea of tacking it onto the back of the sweater before showing it off at the yarn store!

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In knitting news, I decided to hide Owen's seed band sweater in the craft closet for a while. The majority of people said that they would put it away and though I feel a bit guilty, I had to agree! I've never really put away a project like that, but it felt really good to pick up something I actually wanted to work on.

Owen's robot is coming along! It has a head, back and half of a front. He's getting excited about his "obot!" and I love that. I show it to him whenever I work on it.

I started working on my first April project spectrum item. It's a pair of orange socks that I'm working in magic loop style. This is the yarn and needles from my needle exchange pal and also my first time using the magic loop method. I just kind of figured it out on my own since I didn't want to spend $10 on the book. I'm already on the gusset decreases and it seems to be moving along rather quickly. The process is still a bit clumsy and odd for me, but it's becoming more familiar.

I think I'll be casting on for my sweater today! I've been procrastinating because it's worked in the round so I have to cast on an overwhelming amount of stitches, but I just need to do it and get it over with. Oh, and did I mention that the first 6" is ribbing? Oh well. It's so stinking cute that it'll be worth it!

March's Pink Items

Pink Scarf: 2x2 rib, size 13US needles, Baby Alpaca Grande (color 2567)
Burgandy Mini Scarf: 1x1 rib, size 8US needles, Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (color 12)
Pink Socks: Come to Silver sock pattern, size 4US dpns, Debblie Bliss Cotton Angora (color 24)

I've never been much of a pink girl. Anyone who knew me as a kid could tell you that I avoided pink like nobody's business. I was a tom boy who preferred comfort over frills and tree climbing more than tea parties. My sister had those things covered, thanks.

I loved blue and green, and I think that I always will choose those colors over others. But lately a disturbing trend has been noticed. Pink has snuck into my wardrobe. I have a few pink shirts and even a pink sweater! Heck, I even have a pink earring/necklace set that is way too cute. But I'm still a little hesitant about pink and I think that's part of the reason why I chose to do March's Project Spectrum in all pink. It was going to be a challenge!

The pink sock yarn was a Jimmy Beans Wool purchase from last summer and it is making up into some really luscious socks. The big pink scarf yarn was a Christmas gift from Mom & Dad who knew how much I had been drooling over that yarn when my sister used it to make her first scarf. It was a dream to work with and the most touchy feely yarn ever. And the burgandy yarn was a gift from my Secret Pal and Mom really wants to steal this from me.

I don't know that I'll ever be that pink-loving girly girl... but I'm a little step closer!