Finishes and Beginnings

Yay, my second pair of socks for 2014 are finished.  If this keeps up and I don't lose my sock knitting mojo, I may actually meet my goal of knitting 12 pairs this year.  Here are my finished Cranberry Biscotti.  I rather like this pattern and may do it again, only more scrappy.  I did end up running out of the pink yarn before finishing the second sock, so I switched to a purple, and I think they look quite good:

So, since I finished that pair, a few days later, I cast on my Valentine Socks (for the record, they are called that for the color and the month, nothing else).  They are going to be based off of Kebnekaise Socks, but with some modifications.  For one, I will be doing them toe-up, using a Fish Lips Kiss Heel for the first time and staying in regular st st instead of knitting the sole in reverse st and with 2x2 ribbing at the top.

In other news, I finally got more hours at my security job!  It turns out that a guard at Direct TV is quitting, so there were several hours available.  I know the site supervisor, having worked that site before, so he had not problem giving me the hours.  I may end up working there full time it they can find someone else to work at Allevard, the site I am at now.  So, I will be working form 16-36 hours making 9.50 an hour.  So, I will only be working at Taco Hell two days a week!

Man, Its Been a Long Time!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted anything on here! Close to two years.  Well, to catch up, I am on a hiatus at Marshall University, still working on my BA in History.  Lots of knitting and spinning going, which I will get to later and really beyond that, not too many changes.  I am back living with my grandmother, so expect to see ranting about that from time to time.  So, recent knitting.

I have several projects currently on the go, including a pair of socks, two shawls, and a blankie made from leftover sock yarn.  The socks are Cranberry Biscotti, which uses small amounts of at minimum, three different colors to make a very visually interesting sock pattern.  (Just a warning, most patterns I link to go to Ravelry).  I used three different leftover sock yarns, a Knit Picks Stroll Tonal and two colors of Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.  I think it looks quite cool:

The upper pic is of the yarn before I started and the lower pic is my current progress; I am halfway through the gusset of the second sock and hope to finish it in a few days.

Another project that I am working on is a Lacy Prairie Shawl.  The cool thing about this shawl is that it is being knit out of my handspun yarn!  I participated in the Tour de Fleece this past year and while I didn't finish my fleece (which was 3.5lbs) but I did make some serious headway into it and now have over a dozen skeins to knit with.  Here is a pic of a day during the tour:

 And a pic of my current progress (it is currently in hibernation, first due to Christmas knitting and now I am on a bit of a sock knitting jag.)

I also have a Haruni being knit from more Cascade Heritage Sock and with added beads.  When I when to MDSW in 2011, a friend I made there gave me several items in a RAK, which included a tube of crystal beads.  I am using them on the border of the shawl, following what someone else did that I saw on Ravelry.  This pic is not up to date, it is actually a bit bigger, but will do for now.

I also have a sock yarn blankie in progress, but don't have any good pictures of it yet.

So, there are my current WIPs.  I also have a few UFOs, but since they are not being worked on right now, will not feature on this post.

I am also trying to participate in the 365 project this year, so hope to post a picture every day.  It will mostly be pictures of either my knitting or my cats, but should still be interesting (I hope).  In fact, my second picture, of the CB socks is my picture for the day.