Knitting Update

I have been knitting my butt off. Well.... my arms. At least I was until I got sick, even then I was still trying to knit between bathroom runs (that sounds worse then I thought it would and is a bad pun). Ah, well..... fact of life, everyone gets sick from time to time. I've been sick for seven days! I'm feeling better and only have been feeling sick later in the day, but now I have a swollen lymph node in my underarm and it's bad enough that I'm typing with only my left hand because my right arm is painful and useless. It feels like it's starting to get better though and I'm hoping to resume knitting. All my knitting probably made it worse because my arms were sore to begin with. Anyways. I'm working on several things at once and the fear is creeping in because I'm pretty sure I have bitten off more then I can chew. That and my husband bestowed a gift on me that is the bane of knitting. A Nintendo DS. 

I must admit I've been trying harder to get Link to the end of the Phantom Hourglass game then I have been trying to get everything done. I also bought a book. I Am Legend. I didn't even know it was a book until I was searching on iTunes and happened to see it in the audiobooks section. The preview grabbed my attention and I would have bought the audiobook, but I thought I could read it faster. Maybe I should have bought the audiobook because I could have listened to it while knitting, but I love reading and it seemed like such a lazy cheat to listen to it. It's just not the same as a book in your hands and the adventure in the words on the page that you get lost in.
The gifts that I have on my list are 10-12 mini sweater ornaments, 6 pairs of socks and one baby blanket. The socks are proving to be the most time consuming. In the two weeks since I got my yarn I have only finished one sock and am halfway through a second one (that doesn't match.... it's a different pair). I have spent most of my time working on the baby blanket. It's is the Circle of Friends baby blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by the owner of PurlSoho (a great book to have.... lots of good things to knit).

I hand dyed the yarn myself because I couldn't afford the 14 skeins of Rowan Wool Cotton. Instead I went with KnitPIcks Bare DK weight superwash merino wool and the Jaquard Acid Dyes that they also sell. It was easier then I thought it would be and I only have one skein that didn't come out the way I really wanted, but it will work. I also decided to go with blue instead of the two purples that they use (in fact it's the light blue skein that was less then up to par). A few of the skeins are variegated, but I'm okay with that because it gives it a handmade look. If you like the variegations in hand dyed yarns then you know where I'm coming from. The orange came out variegated as well as the maroon, but I had to mix brown and red for that one and there are a few spots the red grabbed stronger then the brown. The orange is a single powder (no mixing needed), but for whatever reason came out variegated. Maybe I'll presoak my yarn a little longer and squeeze more to remove the bubbles and see if that works better next time around. The light blue came out variegated too, but I was using the same dye as for the dark blue and used just 1/4 of a tsp to try and make it lighter, but then it started looking dark so I pulled it. Where the yarn was tied with string there are sections of really light blue and a little white. I had another skein that I could have used and tried again, but decided I could be happy with what I have (stop being such a perfectionist..... I'm trying). I have three and a half out of seven panels done and am confident I will finish before deadline to ship.
The socks...... are a different story. All the sock are from Charmed Knits: Projects for fans of Harry Potter by Alison Hansel and are the House Socks. I'm doing the narrow stripes version and am doing one pair of each of the four houses. Another pair follows Harry's Sock from Dobby's collection (starting on pg.100). I like this sock because it's the first time I've made a hell like this one. It requires wrapping to form the heel instead of the sl1, K1 then pick up and K heel that I'm used to doing. A little more challenging, but the end result is a little cleaner and more like the socks you buy.
The last are the mini sweater ornaments which I'm taking the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but for a set I'm doing them in the colors and with the lettering of the Weasley Sweaters from Charmed Knits. Those are really quick knits that I can finish all in a day or two so my only real concerns are the socks, but I have resolved that if I can't finish them in time that everyone will get the mini sweaters for Christmas and I'll send the socks later. So not a real big emergency, but it would be nice to be able to give the socks on Christmas.