i HATE picking up stitches....

so....i hate picking up stitches....i hate it i hate it i hate it

loathe it even
yes, loathe is the right word for it....
but its a necessary evil....well for doing the sweater.....
so i did the neck
pattern called for picking up 130 stitches......i had 114, yet somehow ended up with 124...maybe i just miscounted the first time? but no, i picked up stitches as i was knitting....i wasn't about to rip it out and start again....i HATE it! its so annoying...maybe i just don't know how to do it right, i mean, that's a possibility....i'm still a newbie when it comes to this knitting thing....most, if not everything, i've knitting til now didn't require picking up stitches....something else did...i think the dog sweater...anywho
here's the neck....124 1x1 rib for roughly 1.5"

ok....so neck done...
i had already dealt with the annoyance that is picking up stitches for the arms....i have a big hole in the armpit somewhere...can't see it in the picture.....it'll take some clever weaving in to fix it....but i can do it....
here is the sleeve i have kinda half done already.....i'm close to the end of a skein so i decided to start the new skein on the neck and then use it for the arm....the huge open neck hole was bothering me, now i feel better
but yeah...so here's the sleeve so far that ive gotten done...and here's a better closer up of the armpit
so far so good i think....i'm pretty dern proud of myself for getting this much done at all.....granted its a week after the due date, but whatever....i thought maybe i could get it done for tonite, have him wear it nye, but, alas and alack...i have failed to reach yet another deadline.....but i didn't pick it up at all during the week except for last night, and i've been too busy at work to knit thru lunch....so whatever...
ok soooooooooooooooohere's what the total picture looks like so far
not bad if i do say so myself....

it doesn't look as big as it should on me for some reason...i mean its a men's xxl and technically i'm a men's l....but it really is just hanging on me like a shapeless sack....soooooooo i think it'll fit....i'm not too worried about it anymore.....i hope the neck is ok...maybe i shouldn't have done and inch and a half...i don't know...that too is roomy on me....he's got a big neck...

so as you can see, i have a sleeve and a half left to do...i have to decrease down to 56sts and i think i have 80something....not too much longer to go....uh yeah there is....double pointed needles drive me nutso....not to mention the shooting pain i get down my forearm....i definately knit toooo tight on those things....i try to losen up, but then the stitches slip off....and i'm using the bamboo because i feel it holds the yarn on better...i don't know...
wish me luck...i hope i finish it soon.....

christmas has come and gone....

and the scarves and hat have gone as well.........to their new owners...

all who seem to love them! or at least really really like them.....
one coworker (the bamboo one) is wearing her's today....and apparantly her fave part is the lable....go figure....but she likes it....
and the pink wavy, she said her granddaughter tried to steal it from her.....

and my aunts liked their's....the argosy one.....didn't get the reaction i thought...but oddly enough, she had bought me this beautiful yarn that was very very similar to the yarn i made her scarf out of.....and the sws yarn aunt LOVED it...she said those were her colors, and even my uncle had said that those were her colors when he looked at it....

i'm glad they were all a success

notice how i said the scarves and hat have gone....

the sweater is still in my knitting bag....one sleeve on dpn's and the other sleeve still on scrap yarn and the neck waiting to be finished :(

i'm bummed i haven't finished it yet...but he wanted to hang out sunday, and who am i to deny him me? i mean really....monday night was the first night i went to bed the same day i woke up since thursday night....up to the wee hours of the morn and i still couldn't finish it...i know i'm a slow knitter, but seriously, i thought the sleeves would go by so much quicker then they're going.....ugh......

i didn't give it to him....i had said i was going to give it to him no matter the status of it, but i didn't have the time or energy to wrap it up....so if he comes over tonite then maybe i'll present it to him....then he try it on and i'll know how long to make the sleeves at least, or if it doesn't fit at all and to scrap the whole thing.....i'd much rather present him with a finished product...but whatever....i can't knit it in front of him if he doesn't know about it....but if he knows about it, it won't be a surprise....well it is a surprise, but, the reaction would be better if it were finished....
bummer

remind me to post pics of this unfinished garment later.....

maybe i should tell him about it, so that it doesn't fall by the wayside....i'd like to have it finished while its still cold out.....

making it worthwhile....

so....today is the last day at work before christmas....time to bring in all the gifts for the coworkers.....and see their reactions when they open....and to find out if you're right about whether or not they'd appreciate it....

first off tho, a new addition to the co-worker presents....last night out with louie he was picking up some wine for his coworkers and i thought, "ya know, we usually go in on a gift for boss guy, but i haven't heard anything yet, i'll just pick up a bottle of wine..." so i'm walking around the liquor store, finding out that theire not allowed to sell hard liquor after 10, and i don't know anything about wine....besides the fact that i don't like it and it gives me a headache...but daddy loves it....long story short, i found a bottle of wine called king david....perfect! his name is david (and then i found out today he buys wine using the same selection method, purely on the name, case in point, he bought my boss lady a bottle of wine called evil b/c of the name) and i said to boyfriend "i'll go home and knit a wine cozy for this! there's patterns online" yeah ok, it was 11 by the time we got home....didn't matter, went online, found a pattern, grabbed my size 8 dpns (i hate dpns) and some worsted weight yarn, asked the boyfriend which color, he chose the patons sws in like the charcoal color (not sure the exact colorway) and away i went.....away away until 330 am....and ya know? it was totally totally worth it....no label in it, if it went on the inside, he'd never be able to see it....so i just put the wine in, put it in the bag, and gave it to him this morning....he didn't take it out, i don't blame him, wine gift bags don't leave much to the imagination.....i wasn't sure if he'd appreciate something knitted, or even realize it had made it....altho he does see me knit during lunch sometimes...and during work last christmas time....a couple hours later, i hear my name and i go to his office, he's sitting in there with bitch ap supervisor and they both say "king david that's a great name..." and then he said "and i assume you made this?" (not in a snotty condescending way, but more in amazement) and i said yeah, and he said "that's talent" and i walked out probably glowing....and then later on i was talking to boss lady and she said she was in boss guy's office with someone else and he pulled out the wine, which i assumed to show off the name, but no, to say "she made this. she made it last night" and then he said to the other woman in his office "you should walk by her cubicle, she was knitting a sweater and it looks like something you would buy in a store"

let me just tell you
i don't think i've ever gotten a better compliment (i know it wasn't too my face, but you know, he still said it....) and when he saw me knitting during lunch he stopped and looked and he had an in awe look.....
so...ya know, that got rid of any worry that he wouldn't realize i made it and accidentally regift it with a bottle of wine to someone else....

i think i would have turned beet red if he had said that directly to me.....and ya know, other people have said things like that, like i should sell things and what not, but those are just hats and scarves....this is my first ever sweater.....it felt great to hear it.....

and i have pics of the wine cozy at home....i post later....promise

and here it is:

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the scarves....i realized i didn't take pictures of the final product....i just used some curling ribbon to tie around the scarf and put it in a cute little holiday themed decorative box (christmas tree shops hooray) and i made some care instructions tags....i went to michaels and bought a punch that looked like a tag....and mom has loads of cardstock (she has all this stampin up stuff....) and little punch that looks like a christmas tree....so what i did was i punched out tags in red and green , i wrote the care instructions on the green and punched 3 trees out of the bottom and put the red behind it and tied it up to the ribbon around the scarf....simple and cute....and i put a candy cane in there too, ya know, to be festive....

i gave lena her scarf first (the wavy) but she refuses to open it! even after much pleading and begging....then i gave keri hers (the red/black patons rumor one) and she said "i have to try and keep my mom from stealing it" and she really liked it....i gave susan hers (the bamboo one) as far as i know, she hasn't opened it....then i gave boss lady sue her's, and we had already given her a group gift, so when i handed her the box she said "you're so sweet!" and hugged me, and opened it and it was like that long kind of excited gasp and she said "its beautiful!" and hugged me and said i'm so sweet and hugged me again (ok find so i'm trying to kiss ass for like a promotion or something, whatever) and she said "i'm going to wear it all day!" which she's not, but thats ok, she currently has it hanging on her jacket outside her cubicle....she loves it! (her's is the drop stitch one...) its my fave of the one's i knit....i'm glad she loves it....and! she apparantly crocheted us scarves too! how cute! great minds think alike....

so all in all, the knitting was a big hit! and it makes it worthwhile...esp the fact that i got 3 hours of sleep from knitting the wine bottle cozy....he seems to really appreciate it and like it a lot....and ya know, who needs more than 3 hours of sleep when you can get the best compliment a knitter can get? or at least, a knitter who doesn't think she's really that good....

scarves scarves everywhere and not a drop to drink!

oh....and a hat too....

so i finished up my holiday knitting, well, ok fine, the bulk of it....i finished my scarves.....i still have to do the sweater.....lets start with the finished stuffs....

sooooooooooooooooo i saw on crafster this hat that someone made based on a hat at banana republic...i thought it was so cute....and i wanted to knit something quick for my sister because ya know, she got me these labels....and i thought i should make her something with said labels....so i made this hat....
but, she's got a big 'ol melon head....ok fine, that's kind of mean, but, whatever...her head is a bit bigger than mine, and this hat was kind of short on me....but i loved it with this big button.....we have this huge tin of buttons....but nothing large enough, and now that the rag shop is closed and joanne's is too far away, i tried michaels anyways, and i found this bag with vintagey type buttons, and i looked through and there were a few big buttons, but mainly small ones, but i saw this black one and thought it would be great, and it had a couple of large flat white ones too i thought might work if i were so to choose to make this hat again....and as it turns out, i decided to make the hat again.....for my sister....and i had picked up this blue when michaels had this crazy sale on yarn....and i thought the blue was nice, but what to do with it, so i tried the hat again, made the buttony seed stitch part longer and made the whole hat longer too....and its nice and long and covers the ears quite nicely...and then found a use for the large white buttons that came in that bag 'o buttons....see? big flat white button and it totally works on the hat.....don't ya think?
i think so.....i hope she likes it....she hasn't seen my grey onen yet....and i might admit that i do look so freakin adorable in said grey hat.....so, we kind of look alike, so she should look good in the blue one, and blue is her favorite color.....
i wish i had taken a picture of what the label looks like inside, oh, wait, i have one of the label in my hat somwhere....let me look for it....i found it! its a little blurry....i took it on my cell phone.....but hooray for hand knit! very exciting.....
so, then i had started out wanting to knit for my 3 aunts, and 3 coworkers, 6 scarves, then found out we're not exchanging with one side of the family, so that's 2 aunts and 3 coworkers- 5 scarves, then i decided i really should knit for one other coworker who's cube is right across from mine and we talk all the time and like, she's my sis at work ya know? so that makes 2 and 4......and whilst knitting one for one of my coworkers i decided i didn't like it, and knitted another one.....sooooooooooooooooo i ended up with 8 scarves, well, i only knit 7 this christmas, one i knitted last year but i'm gifting it this year......

ok, so on to the scarves....first up we have the scarves for my co-workers...

this one is the one i ended up making for my boss lady sue...i had started off with the my so called scarf (which will make its appearance later on in the post....) but instead i made this scarf i found on ravelry....just browsing about, looking for something knit with worsted weight yarn and free....did i ever mention i love ravelry? i mean, you can search by yarn and find patterns, its awesome!
anywho, here's the scarf i knitted for bossy lady, knitted with patons decor on size 10s....i fell in love with this pattern....and it went quite quickly too i might add....i made a few mistakes along the way, but, i don't think they're noticable, not even to me, i mean normally i see my eff ups and non knitters can see them....












and this is what i did with the label.....i put a lot of them on an angle


ok and now here's a scarf for lena, one of the ladies in my department....she takes the bus, so i wanted to make her a nice warm smushy scarf, so i used the bernat softee chunky and ever since i saw wavy from knitty i just really wanted to knit it, and this worked out great, i did it on size 11s and it turned out real nice and smushy.....so here's my smushy pink wavy for lena:

and here is the one i made for susan, she rounds out the sales audit department.....she's a short little woman, which is good because the scarf is only like 4ft long.....i used bernat bamboo, i think on size 10s? i think size 10s.....oh yeah just a basketweave pattern, nice and simple....

and this is for the last of the aero peeps...this is for keri....my "work sis"....she's seen me knit for everyone, i thought i'd knit for her too....granted i owe her armwarmers from last christmas.......yeahhh...........its patons rumor in spanish heather, 3 skeins on size 13s........

now the 2 scarves for my aunts.....one is argosy with plymouth encore colorspun and the other is yarn harlot's one row handspun in sws in natural crimson....

so the aunt i made the sws one for lives down the shore on the bay, so i think its kind of appropriate that it looks like a sunrise....

and finally, we got here the my so called scarf i had made and the scarf i made last year.....the my so called scarf i am going to gift to my boyfriend's sister.....

and this one i am giving to la abuela de mi novio.....its made with manos del uruguay....and his grandmother (and mother) was born there.....i hope she likes it.....i have to learn how to say i knit this for you in spanish....

and now, a sweater update................

i have like 5 inches left to do on the body, and the sleeves.........can i get it done in 8 days???????