Knitting Psychos

Yall, I made my goal!!!! Now go visit my page and look at the blinking 100+% graphic!

Now that I’ve made my goal, I have a couple of teammates who are still below theirs. If you’re still feeling generous and want to help out a couple of fellow knitters & teammates of mine, please visit the team page and click on “Betts” or “Kristin”. Everyone else has made or surpassed their goals. If you donate to them but still want to enter the contest, just email me & let me know how much you donated, and I’ll still count it.

On to the knitting content…

I finished my Monkey socks! I suspect I could’ve knit about half a repeat more to make them a LITTLE bit longer, but the pointy heel flap always ends up under my heel anyway, so I”m sure they’re fine. lol. This is SOS08 Pair #5, I think, and 52 Pair Plunge II pair #8. I’m hoping to kick it into sock overdrive after the walk. I’m trying to knit the pennants and I REALLY need to finish Sheldon before I start anything new, plus the Pink Ribbon Socks for cpurl.

And here is what I’ve been knitting. Pennants for our tent deocrations. THese are undecorated, and I’ve found that I REALLY suck at duplicate stitch, so these are probably going to look pretty crappy. lol I’m trying to make them look good though. We’re putting initials for all the people we are walking for, honoring, and remembering. If you have someone you would like us to walk for, please send me their name, and I’ll make one for them. I need to get them to my teammate by Sunday, though, so she can add it to the rest of them, so let me know ASAP.

Lady Eleanor is complete!! I finished knotting her fringe on Friday, but I walked a million miles yesterday and a few miles today, but I took a nap and have generally been lazy. Soo.. a post is a few days late.

The Fringe! If you can tie a knot, you can do this fringe. It IS, however, very tedious. I can understand why people wait to put it on, but I really think it makes the shawl.

The shawl, folded up, without a flash. Kind of blurry, but I still think it’s pretty. I did not block the shawl because I liked the texture of the shawl without blocking.

This shawl took me over two years to knit. I started it in April 2006, when I still lived in Texas. The shawl is very warm and it was nearly impossible to knit on the thing during a Texas summer. After summer comes Christmas, and there was just never time for it. I decided to finish it for the UFOlympics, and with all the walking we’ve been doing, I was afraid I wouldn’t finish it. I made it work though!

Now that it’s done, I’m at a loss. I have plenty of other WIPs and UFOs to work on, but I want to cast on something new. But I really want to finish some of the things on the needles. I’m working on the foot of my second Bleeding Heart Monkey sock, and I need to knit some pennants for tent decorations. I also need to pick up where cpurl left off on her socks, since we decided to switch projects. (She’s knitting my Koolhaas since I got in a fight with the pattern & she got in a fight with her socks.)

J & I are planning on doing a KAL for Hey, Teach! and the DFW group is KALing the February Lady Sweater .

In 3-Day news, here is where we think we’ll be calling Home Sweet Home for a couple of nights in a couple of weeks:

** Note: This post was written this morning, but I wrote it as a “page”, not a “post”, so it didn’t show up on the main blog page. I am a moron, and that’s what I get for trying to post before I go to work.

I have no brain power anymore. I’m tired. SO tired. Training is going well, and we’re almost done!! I think we get our 3-week training schedule tomorrow. THREE WEEKS! I’m still taking donations. You guys are awesome, and I’m already up to almost $1200. Only $1000 more to go! Please make a donation online, or print out the donation form to mail in, by visiting my 3-Day page, and don’t forget to enter the contest!

Since the last post, I have finished the Sweet Tart Anklets:,

I finished a set of washcloths for my friend, Jenny’s, birthday,

I finished a book,

and made some progress on a baby blanket, which is for one of like 50 4-5 people who I now know are pregnant.

I knit on my Olympic UFO (Lady Eleanor), but haven’t taken a picture. I just started Tier 24 of 35. It’s too big to really take with me, but I’m taking it today anyway so I can knit on it at Knit Night.

The night before last, I washed all of my handknit socks, so I could start wearing them again. This looks brave, but I just soak them in the machine, then spin ‘em out. When I washed these, I fluffed them in the dryer, but then laid them all out on towels to dry. it’s been hot here, so they dried pretty quickly.

Check out some spiffy yarn! One of the skeins of hot pink STR (Lightweight in “Hot Flash”, which will be temporarily retired in a few days) is actually a contest prize!

And, last but not least, I finished one of my Monkey socks for ME. I call them Bleeding Heart Monkeys because the colorway is STR Lightweight in “Bleeding Heart”. I LOVE them!! These are for me. I only have one pair of Monkey socks, lovingly knit for my by KitchKnits. I’ve knit the pattern three or four times, but it’s always been for other people. This pair is for ME!

Last weekend, the team and I went on a scheduled 21.5 mile walk that turned out to be about 23 miles before we even made it to the Ferry Boat. We walked from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, all the way to Tiburon! I still can’t believe we somehow managed to do that. This weekend, we’re walking 12 miles tomorrow, and I forget how many on Sunday.

With just over a month to go until the walk, I just wanted to post a reminder/update to let everyone know that the contest is STILL ON!! Please consider making an online donation by visiting my Personal 3-Day Page. If you don’t want to make an online donation or need to pay with a check/money order, you can also download my donation form (or ask me, I’ll send it to you!) and mail in your donation.

To refresh your memories, every $10 donation gets you 1 entry into the contest. $50 = 5 entries, $100 = 10 entries and so on. I get emails that a donation has been made, but please email me at 3dayunraveled@gmail.com with your name and donation amount so I can keep track of you for the contest!

There are also ways to gain bonus entries:

1) donate a prize,
2) post a link to this post on your blog/podcast and tell everyone about it,
3) someone mentions they found me via your blog/podcast

It’s pretty easy. I also have some fabulous prizes! Some of them have been donated by some fabulous people, and a lot of them are out of my very own stash.

I’ve created a Flickr Set with photos of all the prizes (except two. Not pictured are the skein of yarn + pattern from The Loopy Ewe and an official Team Unraveled t-shirt in your size!):

I’m proud to say I’ve gotten to $1000 as of today!! Thank you to everyone who has donated. It means the world to me!! Only $1200 to go! Don’t you want to help me make my goal?

Wednesday night, I was Joeless and finding any excuse not to go to sleep. I don’t know why, but I just DID NOT want to go to sleep.

I cleaned. I wound yarn. I started projects.

Here’s my current WIP round up:

1. Team Unraveled Koolhaas. This is the yarn I wound before finally giving in and going to sleep. The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted (yum) in Geranio. It’s pretty! So far all I’ve finished is the ribbing. I didn’t want to start the cabled pattern while at Knit Night - it seemed to be a little too complicated for that.

1. Sweet Tart Anklets from the Rockin’ Sock Club July 2008 Shipment. The yarn is STR Lightweight in “Goody Goody.” I think I’m using a needle that is a teensy bit bigger than what I normally use, because these are awfully baggy. It might be the pattern, too, a bit, but I really think it’s the needle size, even though my gauge SAYS it’s a US 1.5. I need to turn the heel, then do the gusset/finish the foot, and I’m done with this pair!

1. Flip Flop Dish/Washcloth. This is going to be a birthday gift, provided I get it done in time. It might end up being a LATE birthday gift. haha This is also a crappy picture. It looked fine on the camera. Oh well.

1. Stockinette socks for my mom. STR Lightweight in Braun’s Forest. Not much done on these. I cast them on, then got sidetracked by the Sock Club kit. lol.

1. Bleeding Heart Monkeys! STR (are we noticing a trend here?) in Bleeding Heart. These are going to be short monkeys. I think I’m almost to the heel flap. These too have been dropped in favor of the RSC kit.

1. Moderne Baby Blanket for one of the 800 3 people I know having a baby sometime in the next 9 months!! The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy in Ivory, Honey Dew, Lilac Mist & Flamingo. In case you live under a rock, or don’t read the blog, this pattern can be found in the book Mason Dixon Knitting.

Not pictured is Sheldon, who just needs to have his shell put together and stuffed!

Okay, fair warning - you’re going to get like, three blog posts today. I have things I want/need to blog about, but I want them all in their own separate posts because… well, because. lol.

First things first - I’ve been tagged!! I’m never tagged! I normally see memes on other people’s blogs and steal them rather than actually get tagged, so… this definitely needs to be posted. Thanks to Mitchypoo for tagging me! (Aside, my nickname when I was a kid was Amandapoo. lol)

The Rules: Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. They, in turn, answer the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Not much! lol. I was working at Winn Dixie as a grocery sacker (or maybe by this time I’d been promoted to cashier. I don’t remember!), and I was a junior in high school. I’d just started talking to Joe online in the game we met in, and um.. enjoying my summer break before Senior year.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today? Organize the photos rof the 3-Day Contest prizes so I can post them, knit on the Flip Flops dishcloth, get my stuff ready for tomorrow’s walk, take a shower, relax.

1. Snacks I enjoy: pretzels & cream cheese, chips & salsa (if at Chili’s, it must also have a side of Ranch dressing!), cheese & crackers, cookies, ice cream…

2. Places I’ve lived: Wisconsin, Texas, California

3. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Donate $$ to my fellow Team Unraveled members who also haven’t met their fundraising goal (lol), pay off my bills, buy a house, get married, open my own yarn shop, put together trust/college funds for all of my friends’ kids, buy houses for all my friends who don’t have them or pay off the houses for the ones that do.

Since the rules state that I need to tag 5 people, I tag cpurl17, leftcoastknits, Tasha, Dawn, and Liz, but if you want to play along, go for it! Leave me a comment so I can read your answers.

So, I’m FREE!! I’m taking off work today, and we’re going to take the ferry into San Francisco and spend the day there. Then tomorrow? I get to sort of do the whole thing all over again for a training walk. 20 miles tomorrow, from somewhere in SF to Tiburon. Can you even imagine? I believe I’m going to die. But this will at least give us an idea of what one of the days is going to be like. LOL

Last weekend was a short weekend. The girls and I took Saturday off and headed up to Dixon to go to Lambtown, which is a fiber festival (think yarn and spinning fiber, not like.. Metamucil, which is what one of the ladies at work thought when I told her about it. ahah) that’s held every year in July.

I didn’t get very many good pics, but here’s one of a very huge bunny:

I also learned how to spin my own yarn on a spindle. It’s very… beginner-y, but I like it.

I want a spinning wheel now, but that won’t be happening anytime soon.

• Another Sheldon (like….. yesterday.) (oh, and I need to find the first one. Oops) Found the 1st one! Cast on the 2nd one.
• A set of washcloths (by August)
• The 2nd Spring Forward Sock (ASAP)
• Koolhaas (By the beginning of September - another Team Unraveled Headgear!
• As many pairs of socks between now and Sept. 1 for SOS08.

Right-Click the button & Save As.. to download now.

Hello! It’s me again!

• I’m still training for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. 9 weeks until the event! NINE! If you would like to, you can still make your donation here. We’ve gone on a couple of training walks with the Warming Hut Hotties, and they are TOUGH! Good for training, but tough, for sure.

• Vesper Sock yarn

• WendyKnits

• Nanner Socks (ravelry link)

• Visit me on Plurk!

• Woolgirl.com

• Dream in Color Smooshy [rav link]

• Farmhouse Yarns Fannie’s Fingering Weight [rav link]

• Tulip Baby Sweater (Baby, rav link) (Adult, rav link)

• Lizard Ridge

• WEBS

• Sundara Yarns

• Loopy Ewe

• BMFA

• Monkey

• KitchKnits (Here’s her post about the Pay It Forward socks.)

• Lime & Violet

• Here’s that list of knitting podcasts that I was talking about. http://knittingpodcast.blogspot.com/

• 52 Pair Plunge II [rav group link]

• Summer of Socks 2008 [rav group link]

• Sweet Georgia Yarns

• Garter Rib Socks (Ravelry Link)

• Austermann Step

• Baby Socks

• Bobbles 4 Boobies (Ravelry Link)

• Manic Purl Podcast

• Knitters Wading Pool

• Doubleknit

• Knaked Knits (I found it ! I downloaded it.)

Find me on ravelry as knitpsycho, or email me at helloDOTlovelyATgmailDOTcom, replacing the words with their symbols.

I finally finished my Nanner socks!!

Please ignore my really in-need-of-shaving legs, heh. The pattern is by Wendy Johnson and was only available to a very select group of people for a very short period of time. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in “Butter Peeps”, which I purchased from Woolgirl.com. I knit the socks 2-at-a-time on Magic Loop, which was great until I got to the heel. I hate knitting the heel on 2 at a time. I really lost my stride after the heel turn on both socks, and that made the rest of the knitting seem to take FOREVER.

As a reward to myself for sticking with it (I knit on nothing else but these socks), I promised myself that I could cast on with a skein of my Vesper yarn in a simple stockinette pair of socks. That’s exactly what I did:

The colors are kind of off in this picture, even though I edited it … it’s closer, but not quite. The dark blue is darker. The aqua is not so eye-searing. The yarn is Vesper Sock Yarn superwash, and it’s the June 2008 sock club colorway, Lovely Lollipop Sky. I? Love it!

I cast the sock on at Knit Night tonight right after I got there, and this is the progress I made while sitting there. I heart stockinette socks in a fabulous striping yarn!!

Also, for those keeping track… the Nanner socks are my 3rd pair for the 52 Pair Plunge, and Pair #1 for SOS08.