I've not felt much like knitting when at home for the past while. I continue to work on my socks on the bus. I've finished the first Kroy sock and just need to graft the toe on the second. It currently looks much like the picture of the first sock I posted a couple entries ago. When I get the toe finished, I will post pictures.

I've picked up a sock that I started a while back. It is Studio June yarn (http://studiojuneyarn.com/ although the site is under construction, she can also be found on Ravelry). The colorway is Christmas eve. It has a nice magenta with a dark purple and beautiful green. There is also a bit of black. Overall the colors are quite dark and pretty. I've got about 2 inches of the first cuff finished. I'm using bamboo number 1 (I think...I'd have to go look) and they are very bendy. I'm not sure I like using them and might switch to metal when I finish the ribbing. As long as I do the same on the other sock, they should turn out OK.

I didn't do much knitting this weekend. I had made some progress on my second Kroy sock during the week, but haven't really felt like knitting while hanging out at the in-laws this time for some strange reason. I just felt lazy.

I did start a test swatch for a shawl I want to make, but more on that once I get it started.

I grafted the toe of the first sock made from Patons Kroy and wove in the ends. I had much of yesterday to do whatever I wanted, but I ended up sick and didn't really even feel like knitting. I did get the second sock cast on and have a half inch or so knitted. Since I started it yesterday, I was able to knit on the bus on the way in.

All I need to do is graft the toe...and make the other one. The toe looks kind of long on this one. I will have to try it on before grafting. The yarn is Paton Kroy Sock yarn.

Not the full sock entry I had been planning, but more of an update on what I'm currently working on.

Last week I cast on a pair of black/grey self striping Paton's Kroy sock yarn. I made the cuffs too long so I ran out of yarn before finishing the toe. I purchased some straight black to finish the toe. Then I will start the second sock with the second skein of the striping stuff. I ribbed the top two inches before stopping the ribbing. I like how they are turning out. Pictures later. bedtime now.

OK, time to talk about projects That I couldn't talk about before Christmas.

A gift for James
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150589728476170&l=e5e663ca18
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150589727181170&l=3561536a29

This is a crocheted alligator for my nephew. It is meant to be a pull toy, but I left it to his parents if they wanted a string tied to it.
The pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aligator-toy

A gift for Lucy
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150589741066170&l=162b456486
The pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daisy-dragon

Such a cute little dragon. I may have to make another for my daughters to play with. Valerie liked it even when it was half finished and really wanted to play with it. She knew even then that it was a dragon. There was lots of sewing bits together on this one, but it went surprisingly well.

A gift for Charlie
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150858145191170&l=8c196558cb
This is a "blanket buddy" that I thought might be appropriate for Charlie as he is only 6 days older than my baby.
The pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-pears-the-blanket-buddy

The last post was about a hat I was knitting for "Baby 2". Baby 2 is now Cordelia and 5 months old. She was a large baby, so the hat never fit her :(. I should make another, larger one for her to wear next winter. It should be easy to add a repeat of the pattern or two.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150345549711170&l=1453efd0c0
This was some of the first color work I did. It was also my first experience with "duplicate stitch" for adding the black. That was not knitted in, but embroidered on afterward to duplicate the form of the knitting.

Another gift: I found this pattern a while ago. http://www.needyl.com/knitting/knit-baby-blanket-pattern/
I knew right away who to make it for if she ever had a baby. So I made this for J and Oli when I heard they were expecting.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150654878146170&l=6def8df88a

That is some of what I've been working on since October. I will post about several pairs of socks soon.

I finished the project started in my last post. I really like how it turned out, but again I cannot talk about it until after Christmas. I took pictures, so I will be able to post pictures of it later as well. 

Last night I cast on this hat:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-sheep-hat

My apologies if you cannot see the pattern in the link, but a free registration to Ravelry is required to get onto the website. The hat is a newborn hat (for Baby2) which is green on the bottom with white sheep on it and blue on the top. The one in the pattern is incredibly cute. The colors I have (leftovers from the last project with the addition of two colors that I need but didn't have) aren't quite the same as what are shown in the link (which are beautiful), so I don't have that nice variegated look to the grass. Just adding two colors rather than buying more yarn for the whole thing was the more cost effective way to do this project. 

I cast on the hat (bottom up) and finished the solid green around the bottom. I started the color work of the sheep, which didn't seem too bad, but working on it this morning on the bus, I noticed that one of my sheep is 5 stitches wide rather than 6. I will have to take out the 3 rows I did with the sheep and be more careful in my counting (I have an extra stitch between two of the other sheep). Since this is a hat for a newborn, that really isn't all that much work...even though I hate tearing things out. I think I'll be much happier with the outcome if I take the time to fix this mistake.

I decided to make this hat, mainly because it is so darn cute, but also because Greg got to be geeky with Valerie's first hat with one that said "Hello world" which I believe has something to do with his first programming exercise. This way I get to be geeky with Baby2 in that she gets to wear something I made that has sheep on it. Won't it be funny if Valerie turns out to be the crafter and Baby2 ends up being the computer/technology geek?

I guess time will tell.

Yesterday I started another craft that I will talk more about after Christmas. I had to take one project that I had been working on (a humpback whale) off of my size 3 dpns so that I could get started on it. The project called for DK weight yarn and size 4 needles. I'm working with worsted weight yarn and size 3 needles. So far it looks like it will be OK. The next size up I have is a size 6 circular needle. I'm trying to avoid buying needles that I'm likely to use only on one project, but I suppose I'm likely to do more projects with all the cute patterns I'm finding.

Today I purchased two new drawer units that will hold some of my stash. Last weekend I bought a bunch of roving to use for needle felting. I'm wrapping it into multiple small, tight balls for easier storage. This will also be useful for me when I need the fiber as I usually use smaller amounts of fiber. Now to figure out my next project and return to needle felting. I have done a few projects this way already and will need to go back through the last several months and post what I've done.

I continue to work on the entrelac blanket. It is a good, easy project for me to work on on the bus, so that's mainly where I'm working on it at the moment while I get a couple more detailed projects finished. I can almost complete one "block" on the journey there and another on the way back.

and I've got some catching up to do.

I'll start with what I'm currently working on. 

With baby 2 due in a few months, I ran across this pattern: http://www.nikkiinstitches.com/entrelac-knit-baby-blanket/ 
Even though I didn't want that many more baby blankets entering the house (Valerie received tons when she was born), I couldn't resist this pattern. I never made a baby blanket for Valerie, so I figured that if I wanted one to be for Baby2, I should also make one for Valerie. I'm currently working on the first one. The colors are purple, red, grey/silver and black. The fiber is a cotton/acrylic mix. The pattern is entrelac, which looks quite nifty, but really isn't that difficult to do. You work each "square" in its entirety before moving on to the next. There is a fair amount of picking up stitches (10 for each square) but it really isn't as bad as I had feared. The rest is knitting and purling with some purl 2 together (to join each square to the one next to it in the purl rows) and some slip stitches and then passing the slip stitch over the next knit stitch (again to join the square to the next square).

I will likely end up lining the blanket with flannel or linen and edging with the same backing fabric.

The second blanket will be the same, but the colors are green, red, blue and yellow jewel tones. The yarn is all cotton and quite gorgeous. 

I will give Valerie the choice between the two blankets and the other blanket will be for her baby sister.

I started a crochet project at the weekend. It should only take another evening or two to finish it (I can see why people like crochet). I won't be posting any details of that or pictures until after Christmas. 

Crochet will definitely not be returning to the top of my list for crafting as it still is hard on my hands. 

It seems I just cannot handle doing two blogs right now. The little bit of crafting updates I do (the baby takes too much time to do much) will go to my main blog englandbound.