Organized Knitting Club 30 Day Challenge

I've been feeling overwhelmed with all of my responsibilities, Most of it comes from not using a planing system. My school gives us lesson plan books that also has space for personal planning. I tried to use it for school & personal but it just wasn't enough. I just received my Julie Morgenstern Franklin Covey Planning System. I'm starting to feel the effects already. I've transferred my school calendar & family calendar into my planner. I've started to make lists. I'm a big list person. My brain was cluttered & now I feel I can relax.

I'm also taking care of the clutter in my house. I'm taking the Organized Knitting Club 30 Day Challenge of organizing my knitting space or room. Since I don't have a knitting room, I'm organizing my bedroom which is where I store my knitting stuff.

Here is where I keep my knitting stuff. There was quite a bit of non-knitting stuff in there too. You can't even begin to see how crammed & messy the drawers are but they are packed very full.



I completely emptied all of my stuff on my bed. It covers half of the king sized bed.



Here's how it looks now:



I have my needles and stitch markers on the top shelf. I use the highlighters to color code charts. The second row has WIP and sock blockers. My books are on the bottom shelf. In the back you can see my Tom Clancy collection & my colored pencils that I'm keeping out of my kids' hands. These are the only two non-knitting things in the top part of the cabinet. I still keep pants in the larger bottom two drawers.

The side drawers have more supplies. The top one has lace yarn & beads. The next one has other knitting notions.

The bottom three drawers have most of my sock yarn.



I haven't tackled the top of the cabinet yet.

I also dejunked another side of the room. All in all I threw out 5 grocery bags of trash & have 3 kitchen trash bags of stuff to donate. Armed with my lists, I'll tackle other parts of my room over time.

Knitting Update

It has been forever since I posted. I just haven't felt like writing. I've had the blahs.

I have two socks that I'm currently working on. One is The Master Coriolis sock by Cat Bordhi. I've had her book for months now but didn't take the time to sit down & start on any of the socks. But the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry challenge this month was to knit a sock using a new to you heel. So, I took the challenge & cast-on Feb. 1. I finished the first sock yesterday.

I learned several new construction techniques with this sock. She begins with a garter stitch toe . . .



. . . and continues with the gusset increases going around the leg.



The sock has a traditional heel turn & toe-up heel flap. The sock ends with a seed stitch and 4-strand bind-off.



The second sock spirals in the opposite direction. It was a quick knit - I think the first sock took less than 9 hours which is really fast for me. Of course, using 2 strands of fingering weight yarn speeds it up too. Here's the completed sock.


Pattern: Master Coriolis by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett in the Mirage Storm Colorway
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony, US Size 5, magic loop

I'm working on a pair of intarsia socks - my first color work. This pair of socks is for my BFF, T.



The main color is Knit Picks Bare (75% superwash, 25% nylon) with a strand of Zephyr (50% wool, 50% silk). The contrasting color is Fleece Artist Somoko in Blue Lagoon. The blue semi-circles are two halves of a heart 'cause I want her to know that I love her. There are lace hearts on the instep as well.

I do have some other stuff to blog about but will close for now.

TTFN

2008 Resolutions

I had helpers when I was wrapping presents last week. All three of our cats "helped." How could I get frustrated with them? They did slow me down a bit though. This cat's name is Trouble. She lives up to her name.


I have some knitting resolutions for 2008. Here they are in no particular order:

- Knit at least 1 pair of socks a month

- Complete the Sweater Sampler by Jacqueline Fee in The Sweater Workshop

- Make my DH a red v-neck sweater (plain?? or cabled?? Aran??)

-Have less sock yarn in my stash at the end of the year (Right now, I have enough for 46 pairs.)

-Have 3 or less WIP at a time - a travel sock, a more complicated sock, & a non-sock project

-Enter 2 or more projects into the Antelope Valley Fair.

-Keep up with the fiber club mailings so that yarn doesn't enter stash status (The Loopy Ewe Sock Club, The Woolgirl Sock club & the 7 Deadly S(p)ins). The sock clubs mail once every 3 months; the S(p)ins club mails every other month.

I have non-knitting resolutions also:
-Clean my bathroom at least once a week
-Keep my bedroom clean
-Wash, dry, & put away one load of laundry a day
-Keep up with the daily Pray as you go podcasts.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Barcelonas are Finished

20071222_3065.JPG, originally uploaded by Needles2007.

I have a FO to show off. It is a present for my mom but she doesn't know about this blog so it's okay.

The pattern is by Mona Schmidt called Barcelona. It was the November SKA Mystery sock. I used Knit Picks' Essential in Grass and Harmony size 1.5 DPNs.

The pattern drove me crazy because I couldn't memorize it so I was reading the chart for each row. I'm also not happy with my YOs. I really am glad I did this pattern & love the result.

I have more FOs to blog about after Christmas.

TTFN

Wonderful Surprise

Friday was an awful day. I was so mad that I couldn't see straight to drive home. It still gets me really angry but this post is not a rant. I was so wonderfully surprised when I got home & there were two packages waiting for me. One was from Knitpicks - yarn for a Christmas present. The other package was unexpected. It was a sock club package from Woolgirl. I had forgotten all about it. The yarn is from The Unique Sheep Leili yarn (wool & mohair) in Spruce Spring colorway. It came with wonderful surprises too! Included were 2 Cider House packages, mint candies, a glass ornament stitch marker, and a Christmas tree tape measure. This package turned around my entire day. This is my favorite yarn club.

I have finished most of my Christmas knitting. You can see progress on my projects on my new sidebar thanks to Casey at Ravelry. If you are reading this in a blog reader, go to my blog page & check out the new progress bars.

Multimedia message

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Needles2007.

I'm sorry about the pixelated photo but I fell in love with this tree & only had my cell camera with me.

See, California does get fall colors but they only last for a day or two where I live because the nasty wind will come & blow all the leaves away.

The tree was a beautiful golden color (like a golden apple) & the sky was a dark grey. There is snow on our mountains in the background.

I've been knitting but I can't blog about them yet - they are Christmas surprises. Most of my gifts are completed or they are pretty close. The problem is that everything I have left is for people that live with me so it limits the time I can work on them. It's all good though because it makes it that much faster to get back to socks for me.

Swatch

100_2935.JPG, originally uploaded by Needles2007.

I'm test blogging this photo. It is a swatch for my men's felted clog. I'm using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Daffodil & Iron Core to make a sunset color. Whatcha think?