Knit In Progress #8
Malabrigo Azul Profundo #150, 100% Merino Wool 
Cable Beanie, design by Marianne Garrison (LYS)
Needle Size to gauge: Size 8 One Size Only
Start Date: Mid-November
Target Finish Date: Ongoing, until I get bored with it
Special Note: Hat is tight-fitting. The cable design is very simple to follow. Malabrigo Yarns are incredibly soft.

There’s this cache of these brimmed beanies and Button Hats for Christmas gifts and winter knitting that I’m building. Also included would be fingerless and closed mittens. Scarves included.

Mindless Knitting!

Knit In Progress #7
Crystal Palace Yarns Taos 100% Wool 
Button Hat, inspired from Flower Hat by Miriam Pike (LYS)
Needle Size to gauge: Size 6 (S) or Size 7 (M)
Start Date: Late October
Target Finish Date: Ongoing, until I get bored with it
Special Note: Hat is loose-fitting with rolled edges. Taos Yarn colorways are just fantastic for this type of project. Yarn is so soft and light.

This purplish hat has been promised to YS (Youngest Sis). 2YN (2nd Youngest Niece) gets one too. Hers still needs to have the buttons sewn. OS (Oldest Sis) and Lola (Grandma/Mom) will get theirs next, soon.

Morse Code to YS: I need KIKIAM! That’s why you’re getting all these knit stuffs. Do you hear me?

Remember this and this in regards to Lizard Ridge?

Well, it’s done! Seven months in the making! Phew!

Special Notes:

• Try not to use darker yarn, specially ones that need to be sewn together many times over. It’s hard on my poor getting-older eyesight.
• Instead of 28 squares, I added 2 more to make a 5-square, 6-row afghan. Big enough to cover a queen size bed if I had really blocked the whole piece.
• It was the right decision NOT to block the piece. I love the 3-dimensional look and FEEL of the blanket.
• What Laura Aylor, Lizard Ridge’s afghan designer, did not realize (or maybe she does now) that her design had inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of knitters to re-create such awesome looking afghan.
• Lastly, I’m ready to make another Lizard Ridge. This time, it will be the 2nd version I’ll be making. The afghan will be my gift to Mr. Wonderful (for his next year’s birthday).

The crocheted edges were very appropriate to the whole knit design.

Finally!
Buttons sewn on.
Shrugs sent off to Mom and OS (Oldest Sis) yesterday.

Now, I’ll just finish YS’ (Youngest Sis) red shrug this weekend and it already has buttons waiting to be sewn on. Buttons are totally different from the ones on my Mom’s and OS’ shrugs.

Also, I finished My Precious’ afghan over the weekend. Right now, it’s just all spread out being lightly blocked. Heavy blocking isn’t necessary as I like the bobble-waves look making it look and feel 3-dimensional. When it’s ready, I’ll finally put a FOFO (Finished Object/Finally Over) stamp to it. And blog about it. Soon.

Knit In Progress #6
Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece 
Marianne Garrison Design (LYS)
Needle Size 5 to gauge
Gauge 5 sts +1″ stockinette stitch 
Start Date: Early August
Target Finish Date: Ongoing

Special Note: Knitting this little shrug is so much fun and a cinch to make. I’ve already finished a small-sized two-tone pink one and a medium-sized blue one. I love this shade of blue ~ Blue Paradise. The pink one is Blush; the darker pink: A Mistake!  Both shrugs are just waiting to have a button sewn up on each of them. Actually, I haven’t bought the buttons. I’ll have to wait till I come back from the marathon.

Then, I’m in the middle of knitting a red tweed-looking piece called Rosy Paintbrush ~ very pleasing color piece. The pink one goes to my mom; the blue one (a bit late birthday present) to my oldest sis (OS); the red tweedy one goes to youngest sis (YS). I’ll send my mom’s and (OS) the week after the marathon. YS will get hers a week or so after that.

About the 2-tone pink shrug, the yarn was on sale and I grab two of them not even looking at the dye lot. I’m such a blind bat! After I’ve finished knitting the piece did I only discover the different shade. My mom is more blind than I am and so will not mind at all. hahahahahaha!

 Edges look more like cables

 I made this longer

 YS will love this

Phew! The blocks are done. All 28 of them! See KIP #3.

It’s now time to get the ends tucked in; blocks stitched together. There should be 4 blocks across and 7 rows of panels down. The original pattern called for 24 blocks to which I added 4 more blocks. My son would benefit from the extra length.

I had no color scheme for this afghan. At first I thought I’d use all the male-oriented colors of blues, blacks, grays and greens. But then, I don’t think my son could care less as long as predominant colors are not PINK! So I just went ahead and grabbed as many different colorways available.

And there would be NO BLOCKING these squares. I went to Ravelry to see what knitters have done to their Lizard Ridge afghans. Of all the ones that published their gorgeous afghans, there was only one (sorry, can’t remember her name), as far as I know, that didn’t block hers and it looked fine. So, since I hate blocking, I’ll follow her route. Besides, my son wouldn’t mind, as whatever mom gives him, he would accept.

The time management I’ve put in and stuck to for this project is on track. And I’m really happy about this. There’s still enough time to put it together in time for my son’s birthday in late October. And that’s the main goal.

This project is a Lily Go creation. Remember KIP #1? Lily gave this to me as a ‘thank you’ for test-knitting Falling Leaves top. I really love her pattern as the instructions are easy to follow; although the rate of difficulty is stated as intermediate.

Knit In Progress #5
Sunshine Top, Size Small
Lily Go Creation
Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy #013, Hemp/Cotton/Modal; fingering weight
Needle Size 3 to gauge
Gauge 30 sts×40 rows 
Start Date: Early May
Target Finish Date: Mid August
Completion Date:  ________________

Special Note: I took my time with this project; didn’t rush myself into completing this project as I have the Lizard Ridge afghan squares I’m still knitting at this time. Someone I have in mind will get this outfit.

KIP #4 was completed 2 weeks later than target completion time of April 25th.

I wanted to keep this tank top for myself but I owe my dear college friend this one. AWR will be surprised, but she deserves it. She remembered my birthday, but I forgot hers and didn’t even send her any card nor called her that I received her card. Her birthday was just 2 days after mine, in April! I’m such a bad, bad person!

Hopefully, AWR will like it. It’s on its way to her. Even when this project was finished, it took me another month to put on the buttons and more weeks after, to take photos. That’s how bad I am. Doesn’t that prove to you what a great procrastinator I am?!

Hey folks! I’m still around! Don’t go away!

I apologize for not posting for…..over a month?! Such a shame, huh? My website must have gotten soooooo boring, I can understand if my readers (who were few to begin with) decided to abandon me.

So, what have I done during my blog absence? Nothing really boring, mind you. I have kept up with knitting, dancing, still working nights, still on track with my walking training for the Portland Marathon in October. I’ve incorporated jogging a bit in my walk training, but am trying not to aggravate my knees.

This past Wednesday, I went to a knee/hip specialist to find out what the status is on my knee condition. Had x-rays done. The doctor took one glance at the x-rays and told me I have no ligament nor bone problems. I don’t even have any sign of arthritis. That’s wonderful to hear.

However, because I have Baker’s Cyst on both of them, there’s something that’s generating fluid build-up to the back of knees. I’ve known that I had Baker’s cyst ever since my rowing days. The first specialist I went to told me to stop all physical activities and see if the fluid would go away. I did that, stopped ALL activities for 6 years, until I got sick of the over-25 pound weight I put on. That first specialist also recommended that I had a choice of pain killers (steroid-type) or fluid aspiration or surgery to overcome the Baker’s cyst. I didn’t like the choices so I just laid off physical activities.

The fluid never went away on both knees. I dabbled with safe workout, but reality check was I’ve put on extra weight that I hate. I wanted to be fit again. Six years of exercise hiatus will not make one fit in a matter of months though. It finally hit me that walking IS a form of exercise. So, here I am today, excited and stoked about getting back to fitness.

This knee surgeon I went to this time around suspects that I have a tear in the meniscus and recommended an outpatient procedure called arthroscopy. Although it’s an outpatient procedure, the recovery may take a bit longer. I cannot afford that, as at this time when such a procedure would take me out of the marathon. I will have to postpone the procedure till after the marathon, if ever I decide to go forward with it.

This walking business seemed to have taken over my life. I even joined a fitness school, right after the Eugene Marathon, for my cross-training. The fitness program is SUCH a killer. It involves a combination of weights, aerobics, gymnastics at high intensity with emphasis on safety for 45 minutes. But it can be scaled to your ability and any physical, or health issues. I love, love working out on weights. I’m really enjoying this fitness school. I have a long ways to go though, as I get winded just 10 minutes into the workout.

So, there you have it. This is my excuse for being away from writing my blog. I can’t wait to resume it though. I’ve missed mentioning alot of stuffs happening around me, my life, my family and friends.

I hope you all come back, all 5 of you, to my blog. hahahaha!

I have fallen off the fast-moving knitting wagon. Let me assure everyone (that is, if anyone is still out there checking out my blog), that I may have fallen off  but I’m brushing off the dirt, hobbling, scrambling to climb back up the wagon. It’s a race to get back on it.

Speaking of race………Yup! The race bug got me. I have already entered 2 races, a 5K on Mother’s Day for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Re-run Run and this last one, a 3K. The latest one, yesterday’s, was a fundraiser for the Greenhill Humane Society, called Bark in the Park.

My walking partner’s 2 dogs entered. I was to take her 4 year old Libby while she took 1 year old Matthew (Libby’s son). It was chaotic for me, me who is not used to handling dogs. I keep telling people around the start line to forgive me as I’m really a cat person.

When the race started, Libby wanted to be with her owner and was dragging me around to get to her. Boy, those bird dogs can run! As we met up, we exchanged dogs thinking Matthew, who usually is unpredictable and scatter-brain unless he sees birds, will be less attached to VC, the owner. I was more wrong than right. When he saw his mom dash off, he wanted to be with her or near her. He took off dragging me. Remember, there were people in the race……with dogs…….on the bike path……a bike path narrow enough for only 4 people wide. Matthew was worse to handle than his mom. If I slowed down, he would nudge my elbow to push me on. It was only a 3K (1.86 miles) race, but that was more exhausting than if I did a 5K.

After the race, there was agility demo, which the four of us entered. Libby was better at everything. Matthew was fine until we came upon the tunnel. So, VC and I switched dogs again. I got Libby to go through the tunnel. The guide told me to wait at the other end of the tunnel and dangle a dog treat. Libby was used to these ability tests and I had no clue whatsoever with what to do at these things. So as I went to the other end and peeked in, Libby smashed onto my face before I could even flash the treat. Shock was both on our faces.

Overall, I’ve never seen so many dogs of all kinds and sizes. They were amazingly well-behaved. I felt comfortable enough in what I’d call, ‘my slight phobia with dogs’.

Libby (left) and Matthew with VC, just before the race. 

Oh, before I forget to mention, as Matty and I were rounding up to the pond filled with geese, ducks and ducklings, Matty lost focus. He kept looking to the pond and at one point, decided to go towards the water while we were just a few hundred yards from the finish line. Without looking down to him, I kept yelling, ” No birds! No birds! No birds!” People at the benches nearby were having a great laugh at that.

Guess I digress from knitting. Yes, I’m still knitting up squares for the afghan. Yes, KIP #4 is actually finished. I have yet to take photos. Sorry! And I’ve started another KIP ~ will blog about that soon.