Another Baby Cap

I got a little excited about the instant gratification from the baby hat the other night, so I made another one. I made some pattern modifications, so mine is a little different from the original. I used a thicker yarn and bigger needles, and left off the i-cord tie. Although it was oh-so-cute cute, I was low on leftover yarn, so I just bound off and left it naked at the top.

It was a nice project.. not too mindless with the color changes, but not too complex that I couldn't watch The Way We Were on OnDemand. (Moment of silence for such a great movie!)


Pattern: Errsie's Easy Beanie, Free
Yarn: Remnant Caron Simply Soft in Orchid & Iris
Needles: Size 7 circs
Time: Two evenings of TV knitting

It's way too big for it to go with the other newborn cap donations, so I'm not sure where this hat is eventually going to find a home. For now, it's just going in the closet, but I'm sure a worthwhile cause will find me. I really like the Afghans for Afghans idea, but they request that you send only wool items - and this baby is 100% acrylic. So, I'll just be patient in finding this cap a new home.

**Edited to remove the link to the pattern per the author's request, as she's now charging $3.00 for it & doesn't want people to be able to access it for free. I apologize for this. When I found the pattern on ravelry, it was listed as being a free pattern. If you want to use it for free, you'll need to contact her directly.

A fun way to spend a Saturday..

I went to the Ann Arbor Fiber Expo today with Amy. We got there bright & early to make sure that we got the best finds.. and we did! I was really excited to see all the fuzzy animals. They had llamas, alpacas and bunnies - what could be better??


When I got home, I started to kinda feel bad about all my recent yarn purchases, so I decided to whip up a baby hat from my stash as my act of attrition.



Project Specs:
Pattern: TLL Basic Knit Hat Pattern, Free
Yarn: Universal Yarn, Classic Worsted Long Print, Color 9728
Needles: Size 7 circs
Time: Two episodes of Law & Order SVU
Total Cost: Stash yarn, baby!

She's alive!

Yay for surviving this past week. My mock trial went well and the midterm is over. I used to think that never having midterms in law school was a terrible thing. Your entire grade for the semester is based off of one exam. Too much pressure, right? Wrong. Trying to find time in the middle of the semester to study for an exam is even worse. There's definitely a reason why law school is set up the way it is - and that reason was apparent this week.

The exam was horrible. The prof had led us to believe that it was going to be open note, and less than 24 hours before the exam, we got emails to the contrary. Plus, there was a change in format. So not cool! The exam was still being written about 15 minutes before the test, and it was so obvious while we were taking it. I can't tell you the number of times I had to make notations such as, "Assuming that X is true.." because the questions were written so haphazardly. I had this prof last year and thought she hung the moon. Not so much this year. I'm very disappointed.

Anyway, I have a FO to show! It isn't much, but it has been turned over to the FO pile, so I feel that's an accomplishment in itself.

This was my "knit a few rows at night in bed" project. I got the yarn on sale at my LYS and thought that I could use it to make something my church's shawl ministry. There's a lack of things for teenagers and men, so I thought I could turn this into something cute for a pre-teen with the bright candy apple green color.

I used Rio de la Plata Faded. It's a thick and thin yarn, so I wanted the scarf to have a messy look but I didn't want it to be the typical ribbing or garter stitch. Also, because the yarn has so much texture variations, I also knew that I couldn't have something complicated. So, I picked this little beauty!


I'm pleaded with the end result. I think it looks like some of those "haphazard" scarves that seem to be trendy lately. But, I'm even more pleased that I've actually been knitting and have something to show for it!

Final Specs:
Pattern: Sinful Knitted Scarf, Free
Yarn: Rio de la Plata Faded, 2 hanks, $10 total
Needles: Size 10.5 addi turbos
Time: About two weeks of bedtime knitting

Contest Winners & Thank yous

I'm proud to announce the winners in my first ever blog contest! In no particular order:

• Carrie Penny
• Kate
• Elaine
• Donna

I put everyone's name in a list, and then used a list randomizer to sort it. The first few names were the winners. Congrats ladies!

And to everyone else who entered the contest - thank you so much. You have absolutely no idea how much it meant to me to read all your inspiring stories. It made me realize that I can get through whatever it is that I'm facing, and do it with grace. You are all inspirations to me.

Also, BIG, BIG shoutouts to Jen and Amy who sent me the cutest care packages when I was down in the dumps. I love you guys. You're the greatest. (I would post pictures, but I tore into the packages like I was a 12 year old at Christmas.)

_________________________________
Update: It will likely be awhile before my next post. I'm in the middle of crunch time at school. I have a mock trial this weekend, a mid term next week, a major paper due after that, and somewhere in there I have to take the ethics portion of the bar. (Insert favorite lawyer/ethics joke here!) Plus, I still have to find a job for next summer.

I sent out 82 resumes this week in addition to the ones that have already went out in the past weeks. 82! Between resume paper and the stamps, those suckers get costly. Don't they know they are dipping into my yarn budget?!

A small little FO

This past week was the lightest one I've had this semester, and I loved every minute of it. I was home from the library by 11:00PM almost every night, and when I did come home - I brought zero (count them - ZERO!) law books home with me. It was fabulous!

I actually got to do some knitting and I was much happier because if it. I worked on a sweater for me and I finished up the last i-cord on a baby hat. I used some of the leftovers from the Tulip Sweater kit. I know that I've raved about Dream in Color yarn before, but if you're ever in a position to use it, do it! It's slightly pricey, but worth every single penny of it. The variegations are beautifully subtle and it's so soft & cushy. I have some left overs in other colors too, so I'll probably make at least another baby hat out of that.


Final Specs:
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy
Pattern: Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Children's Cotton Hat
Needles: Size 7 double points
Cost: Umm.. all stash yarns, so free??

P.S. Don't forget to enter my contest! Be sure that you leave me a way to contact you back in case you win.

P.P.S. Go over to Sarah's blog and wish her a happy birthday on Monday. She's one of the most wonderful women that I know and deserves a lot of birthday shout outs on her big day.

Lemons into Lemonade - A Contest!

First off, thank you all for your lovely comments to me about the loss in my family. Your positive spirits mean more to me than you know. It's so reassuring to know that people out there that I've never met in real life can care so much. (I've chosen not to address nor delete the negative comment from an anonymous reader, and I'm still allowing anonymous comments from now on hoping that it doesn't happen again.)

So, now that I have a small fortune worth of secret pal stuff bought and paid for (and non-refundable), I wondered what to do with it. I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and have a contest. All you have to do is leave a comment about something that you did to turn a bad situation into a positive one & you're entered. You can talk about something that happened to yourself, or something that you helped another person deal with in their own life. It's the positive karma that I'm looking to read about.

However, there's a catch. I'm tired of hearing about rules, so there are no rules for the contest! If I think that your story is just plain awesome - you're going to get more entries. If you post about it on your blog - more entries. Just let me know! The point is that I'd love to hear your stories about the goodness that surrounds us. You can definitely leave an anonymous comment, but if you want to win, make sure that you leave me contact information too.

I might pick one, two or ten winners. I'm not sure just yet, but since there are no rules, I can make it up as I go. I'm not going to tell you exactly what's in those packages, but let me just say that one of the items rhymes with Naddie Lurbos.

Free yarn! Free needles! Free Gadgets! Oh my.

The contest ends on or about October 12th because I just like that date.

Secret Pal

I got kicked out of secret pal for not blogging. I didn't blog because I haven't knit. At all. However, I did send things to my pal and apparently that doesn't count. At all. I did comment on my pal's blog from time to time and apparently that doesn't count. At all. I did send her emails from time to time (which she sometimes would respond to) and apparently that doesn't count. At all. All that matters is that I blog. Nothing else.

Life lately has been chaotic, and apparently I was supposed to blog about nothing. However, I hate reading that. I like to read posts with pictures, a pattern, and yarn specifications. I like to read happy posts about pretty projects.

No one wants to read about me being stressed out with school. No one wants to read about how not one, but two, family members died this weekend and I'm stuck in Michigan away from those that I care about most. That just brings down your day. People go to knitting blogs to read about knitting. And I just simply haven't been knitting.

I think the part that stings the most about being kicked out of Secret Pal is that they just don't care that I was trying. I sent a gift a few weeks ago, and I actually sent one this morning before I was forcibly removed. My pal has now been instructed to mark the gift as returned. I figured that I had time to either 1. Blog about nothing, or 2. Send some gifts. Apparently, I chose the wrong option. Silly me. I would have thought that a present was better than a silly email any day.

I had a great pal. She was so kind and understanding. However, I will not sign up for this again. Any group of women who can't understand that life sometimes happens isn't a group of women that I want to be associated with any longer. Additionally, anyone who thinks that blogging is the most important thing in life when you're faced with TWO unexpected deaths in your family while you're 600 miles away - isn't someone that I want to be associated with either.

So Secret Pal, here's your update. I hope the rest of you have a great day.