Whew.  Its been a while, but I've been busy.  I'm done Juno II, and just cast on Juno III at Threads tonight.  I'm also working on a Woodland Shawl, but there's not much progress there yet.  Its going to be my interesting knit when I get to Juno III's boring middle.  No pics yet as there's not much to see.

I have a coat pattern on order, but will likely not start that until fall.  Spring is supposedly around the corner.  Also have a hat kit I picked up at Threads a couple weeks ago, but I don't think that will get cast on until fall either.  It needs the same needles as the Junos, and they are priority now.  

I have a super secret project in the works that I can't show pictures of yet.  Its a long, easy knit though, so there will be plenty of time for pictures later.  That's about it, the Junos are keeping me hopping.  So, without further ado -( Pictures! )

Oh dear.

I get a little money in the fun fund and immediately go blow it on knitting stuff!

But, its so much fun, I don't really feel bad.  Last night I put in an order from knitpicks to get the ballwinder I've been wanting (to replace the one hubby broke!), a few more cords for my needles (sometimes I have way too many projects on the go) and the yarn for 1 baby blanket, 3 baby sweaters, a stole for mom and another for MIL, a hat and mitt set for me, and a couple other miscellaneous items.  I totally forgot that the Canadian Dollar isn't worth what it once was (compared to the US) so I'm glad I'm babysitting today - that $30 is the exchange I wasn't expecting!

Anyway, no pictures or anything, but I will be snapping photos for Ravelry once the box arrives (and I'm back home) so I'll splash them up here for you guys to see too!

-bluealto
 

Finished up Alex's tie for the wedding in 6 days.  I knit it in 2 days, so its clearly not hard.  *g*

-bluealto

Been busy on the knitting front, though with little to show for it.

I signed up for a couple of mystery stole projects, and skipped the first one (SOTSiii) entirely because it started at a bad time for me.  Then, actually started the second (MS4) but gave up near the end of the first clue because I wasn't enjoying it.  There was nothing wrong with the pattern, I just don't like extreme knitting!  And trying to get a lace/bead project in invisible yarn (okay, not quite invisible, but very very small) done during naps and such was what I call extreme knitting.  It was starting to stress me out a bit, so I stopped.  I've kept it as is, and am still collecting the clues, incase I ever want to pick it back up again.  I hold to my pledge to never frog in anger, (or despair!)

I've also been plugging away at Juno and I think I'm nearing the 3/4 of the easy knitting mark.  I pull it out when I only need to keep 3 or 4 braincells on my knitting at any one time.  (A dishcloth I'm knitting continental style to try and get my hands used to that technique is what I knit when I've only got 1 braincell to spare.)

I've also finally started baby sweater I'd planned for my soon-to-be neice.  This is the EZ February Sweater so far:


Its a nice pattern, but it didn't tell me to start the buttons at the neck (which I should have done) so I'm going to do button hole loops later, and I couldn't for the life of me get the sleeves to work in my head the way the pattern says to do them, so I just finished the body first, then continued the sleeves as I would have done for any other seamless raglan.

Its also taking much more yarn than I anticipated, but I didn't swatch, so guess that's my fault!  Luckily, I bought enough for the baby sweater AND a hat for me, so I'll have enough even with the gross miscalculation.

A quick and dirty project to keep me otherwise entertained is a tie for Alex to wear the my BIL's wedding in 7 days.  I realized a few days ago that I don't have anything "weddingish" to dress him in, so I'm going to let him run around in a collared shirt, some slacks, and a knit tie.  I'm hoping the cute factor will distract from the fact that the tie is much too dark for the shirt...


So, no FOs yet, but I'm chugging along on a lot of things.  I really like having mulitple projects on the go!

-bluealto

I had some good opportunities to knit the last few days and made some more progress on Juno.  I know, I'm paranoid, but I can use all the lifelines I want!  Lol.



I gotta think up a couple more projects - I've only got Juno and a plain sock on my needles.  (Besides the dishcloth I've always got on hand, and the scarf I just cannot find the motivation to continue.)  Must find more to do!

*edit*
Ooh!  Forgot Sophia's Treasure Bag - I knit this for my BIL's stepdaughter.  The new baby is going to be spoiled with knitted things I'm sure, and I didn't want Sophia to feel left out.  I've also got her a very cool copy of the Beauty and the Beast for her to "read to her little sister."  



-bluealto

Well, it's done and I'm glad of it! By the end I was pretty bored with it. I think that's it for feather and fan for me for a while! Baby's not due until December though, so I still have time to pull off a sweater!

My first ever crochet baby dress is done! yay! I think it turned out very well. Though, as usual, I can't follow a recipe to save my life. I had to keep the sleeves short and just add a scalloped edge, because long sleeves wouldn't have been nearly as cute! 
Clearly I have some kinks to work out, because the hat I made to match is GINORMOUS! Again, varied from the pattern after I realized it was not going to work at all (looked more plate-like than hat-like) and added the ruffle to the bottom to give it a girly finished edge. Not thrilled with it, so I'm going to try another hat to match.



Nothing has really happened with Juno, she's just waiting for some attention.  I've been distracted though.  Found these bins on sale at Canadain Tire, and thought they'd just fit so nicely on the red shelf downstairs (which they do) so picked up six of the blue lidded ones.  We have a few more of the smaller ones too, so it looks like my stash can expand!  *g*

Okay. Juno is back on track.  There wasn't really too much wrong with her to begin with.  I mostly fixed the problem the night I discovered it, but since I couldn't make it perfect without ripping back, it wasn't good enough.  Just adds credence to the adage "Friends never let friends rip angry."  I stopped when I got really, really frustrated and took a break from the project for a while (aka, avoided it like the plague for 2 days) then came back to it with a more open mind.  I fixed up one stitch and went on my merry way saying "nothing's perfect."

Its going to be fine.

I'll be the only who knows where the mistake is.  Really.

Onward we go!!!

-bluealto

Screwed up Juno last night.  Tried to fix a minor error and ended up making a big mess.  Gotta go back about a dozen rows, but my lifeline is about 30 rows back.  I was thinking of putting a new one in, but figured "Hey, I'm on the easy part..."

Pants!

So, I'm ignoring it for now.  I've got lots of other stuff to keep me occupied.  I'm DEFINITELY buying some split ring stitchmarkers next time I'm at Lynne's.  BLARGH!

-bluealto

I've had a great time knitting-wise this week. 

I signed up for the Secret of the Stole III after thinking that was the one lann was trying.  I haven't switched to hers, because then I might feel too competitive when I know she's going to whip that puppy off!  Lol.  So, instead after knitting just half of the lace from Juno, I've decided I should join an interemediate lace along!  *shakes head.*  Its going to be fun though. 

Okay, enough knitting, back to real life.  Maybe I'll get a post up in my blog about what ELSE I'm doing these days.  Probably not though!  I never update anymore...too busy knitting!

-bluealto

Its slow, but Juno is coming along.
Its much easier now that I don't have to increase anymore, and I'm using stitchmarkers.  That makes it harder to put in lifelines though, so I'm sort of playing with fire...

Anyway, done row 22 of Chart 3.  I'm getting there!


I hate that it looks like I'm knitting a big gstring though...

-bluealto