Long time gone

Wow I hadn't realized it had been so long since I posted here. With lots of therapy and a lifestyle change I've been able to get the pain in my shoulder under control. I discovered a great chiropractor that was able to relieve the tension in my neck and found that if I build the muscles in my shoulders and upper arm it really takes the pressure off the torn ligament resulting in much less pain.

I have a new job that is mostly office work so I don't have the heavy lifting to do anymore. I still knit and crochet but not obsessively like before. Right now I'm making 150 pineapple sachets for my daughters upcoming wedding. I'm up to 75 now and the good news is I have the pattern memorized. The bad news is that I am so sick of pineapples I don't care if I ever see another one!

New afghan

I started this afghan a long time ago and it got forgotten in a tote. For some reason I kept messing up the count on it and having to frog so I got frustrated and shoved it away. I've been on a clean up campaign of either finishing or frogging all the partially finished projects so I decided to take another stab at this one. It's a time consuming pattern with the color changes around the edges but looks quite nice now that the strips are almost done. It's called Spiral Skyway from the ASN booklet Definitely Different Afghans #1288.

Step 21

My shoulder is starting to feel a bit better so I started on another pair of Step socks in colorway #21. I've gotten one done so far. It's slow because I can only knit for 15 or 20 minutes then I have to take a rest but the good news is my physiotherapist says it's good exercise!

No knitting happening

I've been having pain in my right shoulder for a few months now and have gotten a diagnosis of a torn ligament so knitting has been put on hold for awhile. I can do it in short spurts but find the crocheting is less annoying. I can still only do that for about 15 minutes at a time! So all that lovely sock yarn is sitting in it's tote waiting for a better day.

Making no progress

My company sent me to Edmonton for what was supposed to be a 3 day trip to help move that division to a new site. The trip turned into a week and now I'm going back for another week leaving next weekend. I took along a ball of sock yarn and needles but never got a chance to even get started. I'm still plugging away on a pair of Kroy socks for my daughter's boyfriend that are so boring! If I could knit on the plane I would be sooooo happy. I may try taking my knitting along this time because my husband will be taking me to the airport and I can pass it back to him if they refuse me.

Step 05 done

I finished the first sock in Austermann Step colorway 05. This yarn doesn't knit up anything like what it looks like in the skein! It's so hard to tell by looking at it in the skein just which colors are going to be the larger stripes. I really expected this one to be more of the browns and russet colors.

Finished Lava Rocks

I have one more pair of my Xmas socks done now. The Lava Rock Step socks are finished! I'm working afternoons this week so I've had time in the morning to get some sock knitting done. I think I like the colorways of the earlier numbers better than the newer ones. The new ones only have a 3 color stripe repeat and it isn't nearly as interesting. My favourites so far are still the original ones called Melba.

4 more Steps done

I have 4 more socks done with Austermann Step. They are left to right: 14, 11,03 & 15. I have the pair finished in the 15 so I have one Christmas present finished now! I'm way ahead of what I had anticipated so far. It's nice to have some breathing room! The 14 doesn't show the colors well in the picture. It's actually pretty shades of jade, amethyst and beige.

2 Step socks done

I've managed to finish 2 single Step socks so far. It sounds strange but I seem to be making more progress by jumping between 5 or 6 or I've lost count how many socks I have on needles right now. When I get bored with one I just put it down and pick up a different sock. The repeats seem to be different on almost every colorway so it keeps it interesting. The only down side is that the repeats are really long so making matching socks means unwinding a lot of extra yarn to find the right spot to begin the second sock. It doesn't help that I just started in on the skein without giving a thought to how I would know where to start the second one. A smart knitter would have started at the beginning of a color change but that would be a smart knitter, not me!

Step 03

I scrounged around and found 3 more needles to cast on one more of my Austermann Step colors. This is #03 and is mostly mossy greens. Not sure who these will be for, probably me!

More Step

I just happened to be driving by the store that sells Austermann Step this morning and somehow I ended up in there buying 3 more balls of it. They have all of the colors now and I picked up 21, 05 & 03 as well as a couple balls of Kroy in Winter Eclipse that I hadn't seen there before. I'm out of empty needles right now so getting started on more socks is going to have to wait but I can't stand not being able to see what they're going to look like!

Last Austermann Step

This is the last Austermann Step colorway that I bought. It is number 11 and consists of peaches, browns and beige. I really like this one and may keep them for myself!

United Way Afghan

I finished the afghan that I said I would donate for a raffle for the United Way. It didn't have to be done until the end of October but I have 5 pairs of socks to do before Christmas so getting it finished and out of the way is a good feeling. I found the pattern in the back of a book of afghans put out by Vanna White. It's called Zipper Tape and went quite quickly. I may do this pattern again when I have time.

More Step yarns

I've knit a little bit of another 3 of my Austermann Step yarns just to see what the pattern repeat is. I don't see any logic between the different colors at all. Some have quite a few stripes before a repeat and some have only a few. The ones with the long repeat are really going to be interesting when it comes to trying to get a second sock to match!


This one is all denim blues and is number 02 on the label. The repeat on this one is really long, I made it all the way to the top of the heel flap before I got a repeat.
The color number on the ball band of this one is 15. The colors look very muted and stone like.
This is number 18 and I saw it somewhere listed as Lava Rock for the colorway.

Austermann Step #14

This is one repeat of the Austermann Step colorway #14. It's a plum color, forest green and creamy beige.