52 week challenge prize package!

All I can say is "Wow!" ... and "Thank you, Laura!" of course!

Laura sent me this amazing and very generous prize package. :-)

Lots and lots of my favorite types of CPY yarns, her wonderful 50 states/50 socks book on CD which I am already looking forward to casting on for several socks (the ones drawing me in right off the bat are the Maryland blue crab, and Adrienne's amazing Bling which I will be blinging up with lots of beads!), books, a DVD, a bracelet and knitting needles.

Thank you!!!

Now, when am I going to find the time to knit all this great yarn?!?!?!?! I really need to get a move on if I'm going to finish a January project!

-Cathy

Tabi toe-ups number 2

Here are my second pair of tabi toe-ups, tweaking my 'recipe' a little to fine tune. This pair is going to my daughter. Matsu means pine in Japanese, and I chose that name because that is the colour of the yarn...spruce.

My first toe-up Tabi socks!

I decided I really need to learn how to knit socks from the toe-up, and since I wear mostly tabi socks, these are what I have created. I call these Knowledge is Power! because the knowledge I've gained from these simple socks is empowering, and my sock knitting universe has been significantly expanded!

Rainbow Over Lahaina for January

I'm taking a break from the sock for Fred and have started Adrienne's "Rainbow" pattern again using CPY Bamboo Cotton in "misty greens". I decided I had used the wrong size when starting it with the Amerika yarn. I am double checking the size and loving this yarn. I hadn't used it before and it will definitely use it again. It is so nice and soft and I think shows the pattern nicely. I believe this is the correct size for me and am so happy I won't have to give it away since I sure do like it. Amazing how much easier it is to knit when the directions are followed. :)

Starters

First project was another block for our afghan project in my Aran knitters group.

Second is the begin of the Solid Socks mystery by Lisa Stichweh, somewhere at clue 2.

Again, Mystery socks from SKA by Debbie O`Neill, clue 1.

Start of necessary socks for me.

Finshed, for me :-), warm, blue, green, everything ok, colour is more as shown in the first picture.

January project

I finally finished the big December project so I can start the KAL!
These are socks for my brother:

Started: 1/8/10
Yarn: Knitpicks DK Superwash Bare and Cinnamon
Needles: 2.5mm
They go fast with the DK yarn and he is getting 4 pair, each with different colored toes and heels!

January progress

Brown Sock

It's much bigger now. This is for the family Yeti, and I'm running out of yarn. I will knit the foot until 1/2 the yarn is knit (by weight), and then continue with a solid brown.

Another cast on
Inspired by the beaded socks and the leftovers socks on the Ravelry SKA group, I'm revisiting a pattern I did for South West Trading Company a couple of years ago. The pattern is Jester Socks. I've added beads to the cuff and decreased more stitches due to heavier yarn.

January Project in progress

I started the Shalom Cardigan in Berocco Comfort Chunky on January 4th. The top picture is after the first ball and the bottom picture after the second ball. I'm adding the 3rd tonight. I have no idea how others have made this with only 3 balls. I will definitly need 4 (and hopefully only 4!). I do love it so far and the pattern is super easy to follow. I love anything that is worked seamless and top-down, so this is my kind of sweater!

Jill (jaerrt on ravelry)

Progress on Antarctic

You asked for it, here's my progress, a bit over halfway, heading down the homestretch. It's very soft and sheer, and I love it!

hey, let's see some more progress!

january is moving along! what are you all working on? let's see some progress pictures! i will be posting my very boring guy sock as soon as i download it from my camera. BORING! but i must get it done.

January project

For my January project, I'm knitting a scarf. It's the one row pattern by the Yarn Harlot, pattern is here. Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, off-white, needles US 8 / 5.0 mm.


And here is the finished second clue of the MMKKMMystery kal.

First Cast On!

I have no idea how people are finishing things so fast this month! I guess I feel slower because I'm doing a mystery sock and I am hoping and praying I can get them done before January is over because they are my only January project. All of my other projects I'm doing this month were started in December (and earlier, tee hee).

Pattern: SKA January 2010 Mystery Sock by Debbi O'Neill
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk in Butterscotch
Cast On: January 1 (I just got the pictures ULed today XD)
Needles: 1 40 inch size 0 Addi Turbo circular

I am LOVING this yarn so far and I can't wait until I can cover my feet in it!  I've never used a size 0 before, but so far my sock seems to fit fine. I'm doing the medium because I knit looser than most and it's coming out as I would have expected the large to come out, which is good.

I got the beads at Bead Wrangler. They are, I believe, the size 8/0 Smoke Topaz Rainbow Matte.

I have no scale to track how much yarn I've used, so most of my projects will be socks. I thought I saw something on here for sock rules for the previous KAL. at least a 4 inch leg, and fitting a woman's medium, right? My foot is 9.5 inches long so that isn't a problem! =D

12m/12p/12boy - January - Brenda (Owlsrook)

Completed January 2010 Projects to date:
Here are my two completed short row diagonal scarves - each done in Kroy XL Sock Yarn. "Clover Colors" and "Cameo Colors" are the yarn names. I used 3 balls of yarn for each scarf with a tiny bit of the 3rd ball left over from each scarf.

Yardage for each scarf approx. 490 yards each. The pattern is "DI.VE TESEO",
Triangle/Short-Row Scarf. (CYPF121).

I am waiting for my order of Crystal Palace yarns to come from Little Knits, so don't know if it will arrive in time for me to have a CPY project in January or not yet. In the meantime, I am off to pick something else to knit....hummmmm.

Show-off Stranded Socks

OK I cast on my first project for 2010 on New Years Eve. I have about 4" done right now on the first sock and just wish I could knit faster! This is the "Show-off Stranded Sock" pattern from Ravelry and also my first pattern I'm hoping to complete using magic loop. I am using Flusi das Socken-monster yarn from Regia in #01802. I just really liked the primary colors and didn't realize this is little kid sock yarn! LOL

I had been hoping to start with a Crystal Palace yarn project but my order from Yarnmarket didn't come in until yesterday (My LYS doesn't carry - boo hiss!). I do have some lovely yarn waiting for the next project though and can't wait!

Thank you and cast ons for 12/12/12 KAL

Woo-hoo! First off, I want to thank you all again for announcing that I was the winner of the 52 week challenge. It was a great year of knitting and this is such a fun group to participate in.

I have already cast on two projects for 2010 and they are both using CPY yarn!

#1 is the SKA mystery sock for January which incorporates texture other than ribbing and knitting with beads. I cast on 1/1/2010 and am using Lacquer Red Panda Cotton and assorted red "Magma" Miyuki seed beads, size 6/0:


Here is my first sock through clue 1:

I know the beads aren't popping out much because I purled them after putting them on using the crochet hook method. On the second sock I knitted instead of purled and they pop out more on the right side. I may or may not fix the first sock... I hate ripping back!! :-)

I also started a sock from Nancy Bush's book "Knitting on the Road" which I received for Christmas. I cast this sock on 1/3/2010. This pattern is called "Friday Harbor" and I am using Sky Blue Maizy yarn:


This sock is moving along quite quickly; I'm glad I have it to work on while I wait for clue 2 on the other sock.

I hope we have another UFO KAL this year because I am leaving some UFO's by the wayside as I cast on fun new projects!! :-) I'm going to need some motivation to get back to those.

-Cathy

Joining in

New year, lots of new projects. I'd like to join the 12 months, 12 projects, 12 yarns contest/program/fun/etc.

And, my first project is the really beautiful Moonchild sock by Adrienne Fong. This is what I had after my first evening (in which I couldn't put it down. Love this pattern!).

winner of the 52 week challenge kal!

it's been a long 52 weeks for some of our blog members who have been playing our 52 week challenge kal. we started with 19 contenders and ended with 9 wonderful people who managed to complete at least one project each month for the entire year. i bow to your greatness!

congrats to bianca, brenda, cathy, debi, jody, kadezmom, lorraine, maz, and peacockmom! each and every one of you deserves to win the grand prize but unfortunately, there can be only one winner. dr laura has the prize package of 52 items (one item for each week of the year 2009) packed and ready to go. using the old "names in a hat" trick, the grand prize goes to (major drum roll here):

*

*

*

*

*

are you ready?

*

*

adrienne! (oops! wrong person)
i am such a tease =P

*

*

CATHY

a huge congratulations to her! Yeah! WAHOOO! way to go!!!!!!!! cheering from the crowd!

but wait, i have more good news! dr. laura feels that you all deserve a prize! so i need all 9 finishers to email me at

carefreekal at gmail dot com

with a mailing address. i will send the list on to dr. laura who will be sending each of you a surprise!

a huge thank you to laura for providing all the prizes for this "challenging" kal! thank you to all of you who participated. i applaud your efforts!

Progress photo of January project

Here is another progress photo of the shawl I an working on in Jan. I was concerned that I might not have it finished in time. I think I will be o.k. I am already over half way done with it.

Julie

12m/12p/12boy - January - Brenda (Owlsrook)

January 2010 - Projects in Progress photos - I am doing two short row diagonal scarves which were each cast on New Years Day morning - working them both at the same time, and they should be done this week, as these are quick to knit. Just garter stitch, so very quick. Each scarf is being done in Kroy XL sock yarn and I am using 3 balls of yarn for each scarf which is 166 yards per ball, so about 498 yards for each scarf. I am about three quarters of the way through them both, and almost forgot to post my in progress photo which I took New Years Day Evening.

The Green toned scarf is Kroy - Clover Colors and the Bluish/pink one is Kroy - Cameo Colors. They are both about 5 1/2 inches wide.


Brenda in Alberta
Owlsrook on Ravelry

SKAJAN10

Here's mine.
Panda Silk in mint cream solid for cuff [and of course planned for heel & toe]
Mini-Mochi for sock body - Tropical Ginger. (one of my faves)

it's further along now, and i'm into that lovely mauve band you can barely see starting on the needles.

it's a new design i'm calling either 'play it again Sam', or more simply 'ZZig'.

New Year, New Project

So here is the progress picture for my January project - cast on Thursday night. It will be a cardigan or a vest - I haven't decided yet. Working in once piece from the bottom up. The variegated yarn is a hand dyed wool mill end bought many years ago at the late, great Straw Into Gold retail store. The coordinating solid is Crystal Palace Sierra.
I'm suspect this won't qualify as a project made from Crystal Palace yarn, but we'll let Susan make that call. The label is pictured above. A clue as to just how long I've owned this yarn - $21.50 for 1.8 lbs of hand dyed chunky wool - that's about $.75 per ounce!

January Progress Photo

Here's my first new project for the year. I cast on last night and I'm pleased with how they're turning out so far.
Lighthouse Gansey Socks (Anne Hanson) in Briggs & Little Durasport 'Smoke,' 2.25mm dpns.

First January Project.

These are a late Christmas gift for my son-in-law, who I was supposed to see in January. They fit the SKA challenge of texture consisting of just knits and purls.

The yarn is Prism Saki. It is a slightly heavy fingering yarn. My own pattern.

first frogs of my new year

First attempt was Margaritaville and I somehow missed a stitch and tinked a few rows before taking it all off. Second pattern is also Adrienne's and is called Rainbow Over Lahaina. Great patterns and will knit each one of them for sure. The yarn is Regia Amerika Las Vegas (I think) and I won it from our own Destiknit in her blog yarn give away last October. :) Much prettier in person than these pics show. I was so excited to begin knitting the feathery pattern with the peacock colored yarn that I didn't read carefully enough and skipped the first 5 rows before the start of the pattern. No wonder it was so hard to do the ssks and the k2togs! I need to skein it and then wind 2 balls so the yarn will begin at the same place to match the socks. That's the plan. Meanwhile I am going to start a sock for Fred called "Hayrick" by Anne Hanson using yarn I dyed last year with Landscape "saltmarsh" dye. The color is much deeper than this pic shows and hopefully will show up when the finished socks are photographed.

MMario

MMarioKKnits (also known as M2K2)and MMKKMMystery are both groups on yahoo.com. The first has a lot of patterns, charted and written out. Some of the patterns have been knit, some haven't. In a way it's a big group of test knitters. The second is the KAL.

Designer page on Ravelry - MMario
and Rav fan page - mmario-fan-knitics

One of these days I plan to knit the Spanish Armada shawl.

If I remember correctly, I first came across MMario in the Ravelry newsletter/groups in the spotlight section. The group was mentioned together with lace and Dragonriders of Pern, so I just had to find out what that was about.

i'm tired already!

just from watching all of you cast on!

fyi, when i said to "label" your posts "12m/12p/12boy," i meant that you should use that in the bottom window of your post where it says "labels for this post: eg, scooters, vacation, etc" NOT to title all your posts that. it would be super boring that way. so, please title your posts whatever you want =).

i have a pair of boring guy socks and a boring guy sweater sweater started. i need some lace and bling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps...where is mmario's mmystery shawl kal at?! help!!!!!!!!!

lace kal

I'm doing the MMarioKKnits MMystery KAL too. Needles US 6, Bernat baby yarn. Hopefully will be done in a couple of months. Now to come up with something for January. Maybe something from 50 Socks-50 States book.

12 months/12 projects/12 balls of yarn KAL

I have been very busy casting on new projects. Nothing like a lot of UFO's so there's always a choice of things to work on! After knitting for 2 days, I took off a few minutes before the sun went down to take some photos.

Panama Shawl (Misti Alpaca Lace), Monkey Socks (Knit Picks Stroll Multi), MMario Mystery Shawl (Knitivity Down Home Sock Yarn), Saskia Shawl (Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids), and Winter Mystery Shawl 09 (JaggerSpun Zephyr).

I'm having a ball!!
Deb
GablesDeb on Ravelry

12 months/12 projects/12 balls of yarn KAL

Wow! I had a very busy day yesterday. I started a pair of Monkey Socks that I have wanted to make for a while. I am using KnitPicks Stroll an I love the way that it is working up (although I haven't gotten much farther than the cuff). I also started and knit the first clue in the MMario Mystery Shawl 2010. I didn't get much farther than the cast on and first few rows of the Panama Shawl and the Winter Mystery Shawl 2010 before I started falling asleep over my needles. I will post photos as soon as I can (hopefully later today).

Deb

December project finished

My final December project was a pair of socks, made completely of yarn left over from other projects. There are 8 different yarns in the socks.

The top is garter stitch worked sideways. The slip stitch pattern is from Barbara Walker's first treasury.

Happy Ney Year and January Starts

Hi, everyone. Happy New Year! I hope you all have a healthy and wonderful 2010. My start for January is a "Gathered Scarf " from Ravelry. It is actually made from a sweater that the kids won't let me get rid of. They were always on top of me when I wore it. I have never recycled this way but the kids are excited to see it in a new way. It uses two size needles and it is super fun to do. I also have a skein of Cocoa Mint Panda Soy for this month. But, I can't pick a pattern.

Any ideas? Darin is still un-employed and we are only living on $175.00 a week due to an adjustment in his baseline. He worked for two weeks last summer and was $98.00 over the minimum (for a family of four.) EEK. So, no yarn budget until he gets work. But I have some stash. I will pray for you all if you pray for me! Have a fun day. xxooxx, Jody

Antarctic shawl

Started my Antarctic shawl with some lovely Alpaca laceweight yarn from my daughter.