This pattern is for a pair of leg warmers, knitted simultaneously on two circular needles. With this method you will never again find yourself struggling through "Second Sock Syndrome." Which, obviously, happens with leg warmers and mittens, too...anything in pairs. You can also use this method for sleeves. My favorite tutorial on this method can be found HERE. This pattern assumes that you are using this method, but you can do the same thing with one leg at a time on two circulars, or you can use 4 or 5 dpn's. Whatever you prefer.

I used Cashmerino Astrakhan by Debbie Bliss which is the most blissfully soft boucle you can imagine!! The dancer in your life will love them!

One more note before you begin. This pattern will help you create leg warmers that will fit a teen or average adult. To make them larger or smaller just increase or decrease your cast on stitches by a multiple of 4. Finished leg warmers will be aprox. 13" when finished. For longer leg warmers, use an additional skein of yarn.


 
Suggested Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan, Color 31022 (Teal), 2 skeins.

Suggested Needles: 24" or 40" 

I received my Ravelry.com invite over a week ago. I love that place!!! I knew it would be good, but I wasn't expecting it to be THIS good! I've been able to organize all of the projects I've completed in the last year+ with photos, yarn type, special notes, linking to the pattern if I had one, etc. When I enter a Work In Process I can keep track of what percent of the item I've completed and I can update the photos as the project grows. On each of my project page, if it is a known pattern, Ravelry tells me how many other people are working on the same pattern. Then, I can find out which individuals are using it and which yarns they chose and I can read their notes to get ideas or to prevent problems. This was especially helpful last weekend when I was knitting Hedwig for Oliver (he is going to be Harry Potter for Halloween) and I couldn't get the pattern to work correctly. I discovered that everyone else had the same problem and I learned how to solve it. That saved a lot of time and possible heartache.



I think he turned out great, if a bit chubby.

I've finally finished one of the Clessidra Socks, which I started last May.



It was so tedious at times and I ended up starting over six times. I was trying to learn how to knit both socks at one time on two circular needles, but I'm new to cables. It was too many new things to learn at once and I ended up with a mess. Knitting sock number two is always so difficult! It's tough to stay inspired. So, next time, no matter how complicated the pattern, I will knit both socks at once. That way I'll know that they are identical, too, which doesn't hurt.



Next, I'm going to learn how to get good photographs of my socks!

WIP:

1. Second Clessidra Sock 1%
2. Weasley Sweater for Fletcher 30%
3. I need a new project!

Calling all knitters!!! Have you heard the news? There is a new site out there, similar to myspace, but devoted entirely to knitters!!! It is still in the beta testing stage, so there is a quite a wait to get in. The site is currently running on inadequate servers but within the next couple of weeks they'll have it up and running on their new, bigger and better servers, and will be able to let us all in! I'm 22196 on the list. There are 12083 ahead of me in line and 5772 behind me. Those number change by the moment. If things go according to schedule, I should be creating my own page at ravelry.com within 3 weeks!!! Go HERE to sign up.

I'm knitting very quickly on the Weasley Sweater from Charmed Knits. I've completed the body up to where the sleeves attach. I'm a little worried that I got carried away and it will be too long, but it seems that longer is coming back into style, so maybe it's a good thing. It took a little bit of figuring for me to translate it back in my mind to the way the pattern is written. I avoid sewing seams like I avoid food poisoning, so there was no way I was going to knit the sweater in pieces and then sew them together! Uh-uh! I'll have to sew the shoulders together, but I think that's it! Hopefully I'll be able to do a 3 needle bind-off instead of sewing. Or, perhaps I'll be able to use kitchener stitch, which is very fun to do. For the sleeves, I'll pick up stitches around the edges of the armholes and knit them to the wrist on two circular needles. I haven't read far enough into the pattern to know if this is going to be easy to do or not. I just haven't figured out why people still create knitted objects in multiple pieces. Since we now know how to knit a sweater without a single seam, why would we do any other way? That said, I LOVE THIS BOOK!!



As soon as the Weasley Sweater is done, I'll finish the Clessidra socks. Then, I'll wear them together!

Vacation ended nearly two weeks ago! The best part of it was all the great reading. Since then I've been swamped with swimming lessons, community theatre board activities (ugh), enjoying my family in summery ways, and this really great moonlighting job that eats up every spare moment of the rest of my life. I'm taking a much needed break at this moment as I have made significant progress this evening and my brain is tired.

Not much knitting getting done but I'm suddenly obsessed with the idea that I must knit a Weasley Sweater, or two or three. My book of patterns will arrive tomorrow! In the meantime, the Clessidra Socks are coming along nicely, if slowly. I have a couple of bags in the works that need to be finished but I really don't want to work on them right now. I am fairly confident, however, that they will be finished someday as I don't tend to leave unfinished projects around forever. Things eventually get done. So, therefore, I am justified in my plan to start a Weasley Sweater the moment I can get my hands on enough yarn. That could be tomorrow.

I found this video this evening, on the blog of a fellow knitting fellow. I love knitters.

Summer is well underway. My days are filled with time at the lake, reading good books, doing Landmark Education homework, and quality, quantity time with my kids. I'm cherishing every moment.

I have several knitting projects in progress, but none to report.

I've been reading some fun books. After 7 months of looking at Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, half finished, I finally finished it. It was a lovely book. The kind of book you want to savour because the writing is so beautiful. I followed this up immediately with a book my daughter recommended called Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It's a young adult vampire romance novel. I read it so I could get a good idea of what she is interested in reading lately. I came away obsessed! We borrowed a copy of the sequel, New Moon and each read it in a day. The third book will come out in August and we are already fighting over who gets to read it first. The fight it just for fun. I'll let her read it first. That way I can enjoy it on my own time table. Because of the vampire romance novels, I have been inspired to re-read Wuthering Heights. I love Wuthering Heights! I had lost my copy somewhere during the last decade, so picked up a new copy at a used book store. We leave for vacation tomorrow and I plan to bring Watership Down, Wuthering Heights, Eat Pray Love, and a Gene Wilder memoir with the delicious title, Kiss Me Like a Stranger.

I attended the Landmark Forum in June. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to live more fully and create a life of endless possibilities. The Forum was fantastic! Since then I've been attending occasional seminars. Fletcher went to the Forum last weekend and came away transformed, and both of us will take the advanced course in September. The things that are different in my life now are subtle, but to me they are powerful. The most powerful is that I am finding peace through choosing, or accepting, the things that I normally spend a great deal of time resisting, like depression. And constant interuptions. My new mantra when I hear "Mama!" for the millionth time that day is, "I choose this interuption." The distinction is remarkable! The truth is, while the interuptions make my brain feel fried, I want my kids to come to me as often as they desire. So, now I'm just accepting that my brain will be fried sometimes.

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to sing with a jazz trio. I performed 6 standards and had a wonderful time! I was stiff and nervous and underrehearsed, but I am welcoming the next opportunity. Even seaking it out. In the past, I wouldn't have pursued this because I would have been too afraid of looking bad. So, there is another shift in the way I live my life due to my time at the Forum.

Fletcher and the girls will be swimming with dolphins next week while we are vacationing in Miami! Woohoo! I'm looking forward to checking out the Art Deco architecture and some good Cuban culture. Other than that, we're playing it all by ear. I hope to have lots of adventures to report when I get back!

Every once in a while I get this urge to sell something. So, a couple weeks ago I loaded a bunch of nice old clothes onto Ebay. Half of them sold and after getting everything shipped off I made a whopping $30. Woohoo. So, since that was such a success, I figured maybe I should start knitting through my stash and come up with some handmade things I could sell. I haven't sold any knitted things since my yarn shop days. So, I got to work on some bags. I first started with a bag I knitted years ago and hated. I still hate it. But a friend liked it and wanted me to finish it for her. It took me until just last week to finish it becuase I don't want to give her something I hate. Here it is.



My next project was a little verigated bag made from single ply Pure Wool in Blauer Reiter. I love the way that yarn felts! The handle and other additions are Lamb's Pride by Brown Sheep. It doesn't felt as nicely. I'm going to add a closure of some kind.



Lastly, I finished this bag made from several bits of old skeins. Some Alpaca Boucle, some Lamb's Pride, some Prairie Silk, and then some lopi. I'm not sure what the cream color is, but had my fingers crossed that it was mostly wool and would felt. I'm relatively pleased with the results. Here is is plain...



With all the additional flowers I crocheted...



And then with the flowers more attractively placed by Oliver. I think I should trust his eye and sense of balance between simplicity and over-the-top...



So, none of these are worth selling. I'd just be wasting more time in the Ebay fashion. But, I love how fast they knit up and that I'm knitting through my stash. Plus, it's a great way to avoid the more difficult and time consuming projects I still have on the needles. I think I'll be continuing to avoid those projects for a while with some more bags. My dad found me some old wooden handles that I plan to figure out how to use.

I just finished this sweater for a new baby. I wanted it to look like tiger stripes. It doesn't. But that's okay. I'm still pleased with the outcome.



OTN:

1. The Clessidera socks for me. Beautiful, but take forever.
2. A Clapotis for a friend. I took a break but need to pick it back up again.

Here is a picture of Fletcher finishing his first 5k race a few weeks ago. He took first place in his age group. This boy is fast!



Here is a video of the kids singing at the end of the year celebration.



Tonight Sophia has her last piano recital of the year. She and Fletcher will be playing a duet together. I plan to get some video of that. Imediately following the recital I leave for Seattle for 5 days to go to a Landmark Education seminar. I'm really excited and nervous but I will learn a lot! Hopefully I will come home a better communicator and a better parent/partner. Maybe I'll even figure out how to acheive my third goal...that illusive one that I'm still working on but befuddled about.