Malabrigo Mittens

I finally have a finished project to share! I haven't had a ton of knitting time lately, but Winter is here (it's snowing out RIGHT now) and my hands have already started to crack and bleed, so mittens seem like a good thing to make. Here are the details:

 

Project name: Malabrigo Mittens
Pattern Name: Wool-Ease Mittens by Stephanie Taylor (A free pattern on Ravelry)
Yarn: 85.3 yards (82 grams) of Malabrigo Chunky Yarn
Needles: US 10 (6.0 mm)
Size made: Large

I have made mittens from this pattern several times now. It's a great stash buster and the mittens work up pretty darn quick. It's just hard to go wrong with a chunky mitten! I know knitting a heavy wear item like a mitten from Malabrigo is just asking for it. I suspect these guys will look like pilled up messes before the winter is over, but for the time being I am enjoying these soft and warm mits!. Some times you just have to go for it!

Is there anybody out there?

I am still here! I know I have been quiet the last two months, but I am still here! I am currently working full time and I headed back to school this fall. The schedule has been hard to handle and I pretty much just work, study and attend class. So even when I think I have a little time to do an update here, I tend to stutter to a stop as I don't have a clue what I would talk about. I think everyone hits that point with a blog from time time. It seems like the only way to get your mojo back is to jump in and start babbling!

So I am actually making pretty good progress on my class-load for this semester. I finished my Excel 1 class, my Access class, and my Computer Careers course. I am hoping to be done with my Introduction to computers class tomorrow, and that will just leave me with my online Word class, and my Excel 2 class. So far I am doing really well, but boy am I missing just hanging out and knitting while watching some crappy tv! I know it will all be worth it in the long run. I really need to get out of my job, and this is a great direction to head if I want a new career. Maybe one day I won't dread going into work everyday.

I have been picking up a little knitting the last week or so. I knit up a pair of mittens for my niece and I kind of wanted to keep them, so I immediately cast on a pair for myself! I am making mine out of a ball of chunky Malabrigo that came from deep in my stash. I will have to take pics and post details this week. I know I will regret knitting mittens in Malabrigo as they will be a pilled nightmare in no time, but boy are they soft and warm. Sometimes you just have to do it even though you know better.

I have also whipped out a couple of crochet items. They go so fast! I have a scarf I made for my neighbor's child, and a cowl I knit from stash. So hopefully I will get some pictures taken this week and will be able to give a proper show and tell.

So that is pretty much what my world has been revolving on lately. I am looking forward to getting back into the blogging groove!

Slow Going

I was hesitant to even take a picture of my progress on my sock, as it feels like you can't really SEE any progress, but there is a little movement

School has got me jumping and I find I barely have time to breath lately. I start two more classes this week which will put me at 5 classes. October will be BONKERS. I am a little concerned my hair might fall out or start on fire or something. I have very little positive to say about the college I am attending, but I like the subject matter I am studying. I guess that is good. I just wished my instructors and my college didn't suck harder than a Dyson.

Sigh.

Cooking it up!

I have been falling in the health trap that I knew would happen with school being here. I am tired and anxious - and that translates into stress eating and grabbing whatever I can find and stuffing it in my mouth. I was determined this weekend to cook some healthy food up to eat this week, so I didn't explode out of my jeans and have to live in sweat pants until the semester was over. 

Searches on the Internet found me some great Weight Watchers friendly recipes. I made a crock-pot of Skinny Slow Cooker Hearty Vegetable and Bean Soup which turned out just fabulous. I chopped up all the ingredients and threw them in the crock pot and just studied away while my dinner cooked. 9 hours later my brain was melted from all the studying, but I had an awesome dinner of hot homemade vegetable soup. The only alteration I made was to throw a little more ground pepper on it when I ate it and then I threw a small hand-full of oyster crackers in there when I ate it. I scooped the soup into two cup Rubbermade containers and had 7 servings left after a generous dinner. I froze half and put the rest in the fridge for lunch for the next few days. I love that I could put fresh veggies in the soup and I could control the salt an seasoning. It turned out just so good and it was really filling.

Then today, when I couldn't stand to study another minute, I made Make-ahead, Healthy Egg McMuffin Copycats. I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and purchased the pan on Amazon along with the deli-quality wax paper sheets. (They were a splurge - but I wanted them and they will last forever!) My Amazon order arrived this week so I was just itching to make these, but school had to come first. So the pan and papers along with the recipe sat on my table for the last several days - taunting me. So today was the day and it actually went great! the eggs came out perfect and they taste great. I used a slice of lunch meat instead of turkey sausage, but otherwise I followed the directions (which were just Eggcelent!) and they turned out perfect. I tried one for my dinner, put one in the fridge for the morning, and the other 10 are in the freezer for the next two weeks breakfast.

Again - I love that I can control the ingredients and that I am not eating something processed and of questionable origins. I also love that it was easy, inexpensive, and I have a breakfast that I can nuke and take on the road. Win Win Win!

Ghoul School Progress Report

I have been studying all weekend like a woman possessed, so knitting time has been minimal. (I think I knit two rows on Friday?) But I have made progress since my last post, and thought I would share what I have done.

I tried the Eye of Partridge heel this time around and I am so happy with it!I love how it looks on this yarn and I think my stitches picked up much cleaner. I love seeing my technique improve. I am still working away on the decreases and heading down to toe town. I suspect it will be a few weeks before I get to sock two. School is kicking my butt - and it's hard to work in the quality knitting time.

Did I mention how much I love this yarn?!?! GnomeAcres yarn is so yummy. ♥

Summer Days

It's the last legs of summer here in Minnesota. We are warmer than normal for this time of year and I find myself trying to enjoy every moment of it. When I am not studying or working I try to go out and enjoy my yard.

I have been planting sunflowers the last couple years as they make me really happy. They are so pretty and the birds just go bonkers for them. This year they have turned into squirrel feeders and these awesome huge sunflowers are largely getting bent from the weight of a squirrel climbing up it's stalk and eating away like it's some giant buffet I planted just for them. But we have a few that are still reaching for the sun and I really enjoy their smiling faces.

On the knitting front, I am still working away on my Ghoul School socks. I finished the ribbing on the cuff and am knitting away on the sock. I am trying to decide how long I want them to be before I start the heel flap. I am leaning toward making these a bit shorter, partly for speed and partly because I think I will lean toward wearing these around Halloween (since they are pretty Halloween/Autumnal tones) and we really don't need the warmth/length in the fall that we would need in January. And I tend to wear two pair of socks during the winter anyway, so yeah. I am leaning toward these being a bit shorter.I love the feel of this yarn and am really enjoying the knit.

Other than that I have just been working my job ans studying for school. My on-line class has been very challenging in that it is run pretty poorly. The test I was supposed to be able to take this week was not open to me to access, so I studied all last weekend for it and then went in to take the test only to find I could not. When I e-mailed my instructor I got no response. Several students (including me) also left messages in our discussion boards and got no response there either. So mostly my online course has been a study in frustration. I will be starting my third class this next Monday and hopefully things will start to really chug along for me after that.

Time to do some knitting.

Ghoul School

 Starting my next set of socks and I am trying to take my time so I don't stress myself out over something that is supposed to be relaxing end enjoyable. Why do I stress out over knitting?!?! Seriously. I need to think about that a little bit.

So I decided I wanted to make some Halloween type socks, and picked up a skein of "Smell my Feet" yarn from Gnome Acres. I balled the yarn up and decided to knit a mini swatch going up one size of needles from my last pair of socks.

 

So I knit up a little swatch and measured it out. Looks like going from a size 1 to a size 2 needle changes my gauge from 9 stitches per inch (what I got on my last socks) and I am now knitting 8.5 stitches per inch. Heh. Not a huge difference, but I find the knitting feels a lot faster on the size two needles than on the size 1. 

So today, while recovering from some minor food poisoning, I sat myself down. watched a movie on Netflix, and cast on for my new socks. I am calling the socks "Ghoul School" since I will be taking 6 classes this semester and working full time. I suspect I will be bery much like a zombie before too long.