Yet Another Knitting Blog

I've been doing a little knitting.

2008-06-19T14:37:00.002-04:00

A few months ago I picked up some Mission Falls wool on clearance at my LYS. I wound up with 8 balls, and I made a few hats for the general election campaign with Knitters for Obama. We're trying to hit up swing states and focus on homeless veteran's charities.

For the most part, I used Ellen's Knit Hat pattern, although I sampled the London Beanie and The Boy Hat. The other patterns were great, but I liked the first one best for simplicity purposes. These hats are my purse projects, and I needed something that I can just throw in a bag and go.

Pattern Specs:
Patterns: Ellen's Knit Hat, London Beanie, The Boy Hat
Needles: Size 7 circs & dpns
Time: A few days a piece
Cost: $24 total, or about $3.50 each

I'm moving back to Tennessee next week, and I cannot wait. And when I say "move" - I mean, living/working there for the rest of the summer. It might only be 7 weeks, but it's going to be awesome. I can't wait to spend the 4th of July grilling out with my family.

Funk.

2008-05-31T22:10:00.008-04:00

I've been in a funk - both in my knitting and my personal life. I've had a lot on my mind, and usually knitting works to help bring me out the funk that's going on. Not today.

However - I'm trying! Since the Obama Knitting Mania, I've tried to keep working on a few smaller projects so that I'm at least being productive. I figure that one day I'll snap out of it if I just keep at it for awhile.

So I made these:

Project Specifics:
Pattern: Feather & Fan; Waffle Texture Ensemble
Yarn: Sugar & Cream - Swimming Pool & Landscape
Needles: Size 7
Time: About 2 hours each
Cost: About $1 in stash yarn

The photos don't do the waffle stitch cloth justice. It makes a great textured cloth, but I'd recommend people use a solid or semisolid color. I think it would make it "pop" a bit more.

I also made a hat...

I wanted something simple to work on while I was flipping back and forth between CNN and the Bourne Identity on cable. It really was a hard choice - Matt Damon being a badass or knowing what's going on with the Obama/Hillary neverending saga. In the end, Matt won.

Project Specifications:
Pattern: London Beanie
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool - Dark green & light green
Time: One afternoon of TV knitting
Cost: About $3 (yay for sales at my LYS!)

This hat turned out a little small. It fit me nicely, but it's for a charity knitting drive where most of the recipients will be men. I have a small head, and the other other adult that I've knit a hat for is the Boyfriend who has a HUUUUGE head. I realize that all men won't be competing with him for Largest Dome in North America, but I expect they'll be somewhere in between.

If I make this hat again, I'd cast on extra stitches and knit an extra inch or two before doing the decrease rounds. It's a cute and simple pattern with lots of room for variations.

My Noro Splurge!

2008-05-23T23:33:00.008-04:00

Why yes.. I do know how to knit things other than baby hats!

When Amy and I went to see the Yarn Harlot in April, we of course went yarn shopping. Busy Hands was having a sale, and I picked up Noro at 20% off. It was still a little on the pricey side, but I just couldn't pass it up.

I cast on for this scarf almost immediately, but it took nearly a month to finish. Between exams and 35 baby caps, I had a few other things on my plate.

I like how it turned out. I picked one colorway that was mostly pink and another that was blue/green.

Every once and awhile the colors would be too similar, so I had to do some split splicing to make the stripes a bit shorter. I probably have the equivalent of 1/4 of a skein leftover.

After blocking (although it really didn't need it, I just wanted to wash the cat hair off) - it wound up being 85" long. It wraps around my neck and still has enough "dangle" to make me happy. I'm a fan of long scarves.

Although it's allegedly summer around these parts, we didn't get out of the 50's today. If this keeps up, I might get to use this scarf well before the fall!

Final Specs:
Pattern: Noro Scarf by Jared Flood, Free
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, 4 skeins - $36
Needles: Size 8's
Time: One month of on & off (mostly off) knitting

Obama Knitting and a Contest

2008-05-14T13:20:00.006-04:00

I've been knitting as many hats for Obama as I can, but I've started to burn out a little. It seems that a few of us are experiencing burnout after making a blue million of these guys. So, I decided that I'd have a contest to help us chug through the final few states.

We still have primaries in Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana left to knit for. (The mailing dates have already passed for Kentucky and Oregon.) For every hat or bib that you knit for any of these three primaries, your name gets entered once in the drawing.

I realize that we don't all support the same political platforms, and I support anyone's decision to chose another candidate. However, this charity drive is to drum up positive support for Obama's campaign and to show that we've taken Obama's message to heart. Seeing hundreds of baby caps being donated to a local hospital is a change that we all can believe in!

Sign me up! How do I enter?
If you're on Ravelry, sign up for Knitters for Obama. There's a thread that discusses all the ins out outs which will help you get started. You can knit either hats or baby bibs. Just make sure you use soft fibers which are machine washable.

Just send either knittinggurl or knitnic a private ravelry message with the number of hats/bibs that you'd like to donate. When it gets closer to the mailing date, you'll get a ravelry message with the address to send your goodies. The moderators keep up with the tallies, and I'll put you in the drawing based on the number of donations that you have pledged.

Don't have ravelry? No problem! Email me at goldendomer [at] gmail [dot] com and tell me how many hats you'd like to donate. I'll make sure your name gets put in the hat!

Where do I find patterns?
There's so many free patterns out there for you! Here's just a few suggestions:

Bibs:
Simple Baby Bib

Hats:
Caps for the Capital
TLL Hat

The TLL Hat is my go-to pattern:

How soon do you need things?
The primaries are coming up quickly. We try to get the donations mailed to the contact person in each state 10 days beforehand.

Puerto Rico - Primary 6/1 **Mailing date will be very soon
Montana - Primary 6/3
South Dakota - Primary 6/3

The contest will end after the mail date for the last primaries!

Enough of this Babbling! What do I win?
I decided to go stash diving to see what I could come up with, and I remembered some Artyarn Regal Silk that I got on sale a few months ago. It's hard to part with this because I love it so much, but it's for a great cause!

The prize is for two skeins, 163 yards each. It's 100% silk and uses a recommended needle size of 7. The retail price of this yarn is $22 a skein, and you can get it for free for just donating a few hours of knitting time to a great cause.

Knit On!

Two-Thirds.

2008-05-09T21:35:00.007-04:00

As of 4:18 this afternoon, I am officially 2/3 of the way through law school. It felt amazing to turn in my last paper for the semester. I finished up exams Tuesday, but I still had a bear of a paper to finish. Before they unleash us onto the world as lawyers, we have to satisfy this enormous writing requirement. I decided to get mine out of the way this semester, and it feels like a HUGE weight has been lifted.

To celebrate, I got take out sushi, poured myself a giant glass of wine and plopped in front of the tv and knit another hat for Obama. I haven't gotten much accomplished other than hats these days.

These guys went to Kentucky:

These went to Oregon:

(I swear, I don't have a prejudice against Oregon. I hear it's quite lovely, actually. I had just pledged my hats to Kentucky instead, but at the last minute I realized I had extras so I mailed them out West.)

And these went wee wee wee, all the way home. Or, maybe just to West Virgina.

There's so many people involved with this project it's insane! West Virgina got a donation of a little more than 100 caps. Here's a picture of the loot that Melissa collected:

Knitting for Obama

2008-04-19T13:27:00.004-04:00

I'm in a Ravelry group called "Knitters for Obama." They got a little fed up with the negative media that was happening in this election, and decided to do something about it. In each state that still has a primary, they are collecting baby hats & bibs to do a mass donation in honor of Obama. We all know how much I love knitting baby hats, so I had to contribute a few.

The plan is to use the campaign colors (or, quite honestly, whatever you have in your stash). I ran over to Jo-Ann's and picked up some Caron Simply Soft in red and white, and some Vanna's Choice in Blue. They didn't quite have the right color of blue in Caron at the time, so I did a little mix and matching. I like the results!

These little things knit up pretty fast, so I'm hoping to get a few more than my initial pledge of 6 completed. They've collected about 100 for the Pennsylvania primaries, and the movement seems to be gaining momentum. If you're interested in donating a few, see this thread for details.

Yarn Harlot Visit

2008-04-14T11:00:00.007-04:00

On Friday, the Yarn Harlot was in Ann Arbor, and Amy and I went down to see. We did a lot of yarn shopping, and for the most part, I was good. I did accidentally buy some Noro to make a striped scarf while I was at Busy Hands. Oops. They were having a 20% off the entire store sale. Resistance was futile.

We got to the library an hour early, but we still had to sit in the overflow room. Rumors were flying that people started getting there as early as 1pm for a 7pm talk. I think I preferred yarn shopping. She was really funny, and I laughed the whole time. I must confess, I don't read her blog as religiously as others, but I didn't realize she would be quite so much fun.

We stood in line for hours to meet her. Literally. We were the last people to get in line, and we didn't leave the library until 10:30 at night. We happened to get in line behind people that were fun and chatty, so the time went by a lot faster than it could have.

It doesn't look like much of a line, but this was how many people were ahead of us after about an hour and a half of standing around knitting.

It was a great night, and I'm so glad that I went. Although there was one rather awkward moment of the night.

Random Lady: You could have went to the front of the line!
Me: (puzzled look) What? Why?
RL: Stephanie loves women like you!
Me: Like me!?
RL: Yes, Pregnant women!
Me: (Awkward silence)

Ummmm... I'm not pregnant. Apparently just fat.

(I did get my picture made with the Harlot, but it's an extremely unflattering photo so it isn't getting posted. Instead, look at my sock!)

It's much cuter than the bitter face that I was still sporting after the earlier comment.

St. Patrick's Day Socks (A Week Late)

2008-03-24T10:53:00.004-04:00

I knit as fast as my little fingers would let me, but I still didn't these socks finished by St. Patrick's Day. Silly school stuff - always getting in the way of perfectly good knitting time.

I finished these over the weekend, and I really like them. I'm loving the color! I've definitely been on a green kick in my personal life lately.

I can't wait to wear these socks! They feel really comfy when I model them.

(Don't you hate it that self-modeling sock pictures always make the model look like she has cankles?)

I had several comments (both in real life and on the blog) of people not thinking that these would fit around the wearer's ankles. Rest assured - they do. Honestly, I never really thought about it until so many people asked, but in pictures like this one, it really does look like there's an extremely small leg that's going to fit into the sock. However, the leg is made out of ribbing which stretches for eternity, so once you put it on, it fits perfectly!

Final Specs:
Pattern: Oak Ribbed Sock, from Knitting Vintage Socks
Needles: Size 1 dpn's
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici (Arugula), About $9
Time: 3 weeks total without a lot of non-knitting school time in there

Calorimetry

2008-03-17T13:55:00.000-04:00

I'd seen a zillion people make the calorimetry and it looks so cute on them! On me? Not so much.

I reduced the number of cast on stitches like people have recommended, but that wasn't the problem. I used some of my favorite yarn in one of my favorite colors, but that wasn't the problem either. It just wasn't... me.

However, as long as I live in the frozen tundra (aka Michigan), I'll wear this guy.

Finished Specs:
Pattern: Calorimetry from Knitty, Free
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Jewel Blue, $11
Needles: Size 8 circs

Total Random Content

2008-03-10T22:59:00.004-04:00

I'm in love.

I've been sick and cooped up in my house for the past few days and to entertain myself, I sat and knit and watched TV. Tonight, I turned the heel on a sock and I watched the season finale of October Road. I laughed and cried in so many cycles that I really couldn't keep track. There were even a few random shouts at the TV when I didn't agree with the twists and turns. I can't decide what it is that I love so much, but there's just something about that show that really resonates with me. Maybe it's the small town life that I've been missing so much lately. Maybe it's the soundtrack that has some of the best music of any TV show. Maybe it's just the close bond that the friends have. That's something I've been missing so much since moving North.

Whatever it is. I'm in love with October Road. I want to live in Knight's Ridge and be friends with them all too.

Just to throw in some knitting - here's a sneak peek of a sock:

Waiting Scarf

2008-03-08T18:58:00.008-05:00

Scarves are definitely my go-to project. When in doubt about what to cast on next, a scarf is always high on my list. Ironically, I only have two scarves that I wear that are handmade. The rest all get donated to charities. That's the fate of my latest scarf.

I started this scarf without a pattern in mind, and just kinda made it up as I went. This was my travel project for a few weeks, and I really only knit on it while I was doing other things, like sitting in moot court dress rehearsals, waiting on my oil change, getting my hair colored, etc. Because knitting only happened while I was waiting on things, I started calling it my waiting scarf.

I got the yarn on sale at Threadbear a few months ago. It's Mission Falls Wool 1824 in Rhubarb. It's normally about $6 a skein, and I got it for $3. Yay for deals!

Blocking really made a world of difference. The fabric doesn't even feel the same, and it blocked out really nicely. Here's the before picture so you can see for yourself:

Final Specs:
Pattern: No real pattern.
Yarn: Mission Falls Wool 1824, 4 skeins - $12
Needles: Size 8
Time: About a month of travel knitting

Multidirectional Scarf

2008-03-05T13:26:00.005-05:00

I'm so behind in blogland. I'm way behind in my blog reading, and it's been a month since I last posted. Oh well.. life gets in the way sometimes!

There has been some knitting happening even though it's not being reflected on the blog!

I finished up my multidirectional scarf and I've been wearing the fire out of it with all the snow and ice we've been getting lately. It "warmed up" to 40 the other day but rained all day and turned into sleet at night, so I refuse to count that as good weather.

Overall, I really like the scarf. I'm not a big fan of the sudden light purple streaks in the middle of the dark, dark purple spots, but I like the scarf in the end. Ironically, the stark contrast is what my friend Amy likes the best.

Overall Specs:
Pattern: Multidirectional Scarf, Free
Yarn: Austerman Murano, One skein - About $23
Needles: Size 9
Time: About three evenings of TV knitting

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P.S. I have yet to break my Lent promise of no yarn buying! I even held up through a HUGE sale at Threadbear.

Ash Wednesday

2008-02-06T09:04:00.000-05:00

I decided that this year for Lent, I was going to make a true sacrifice. None of this, "no chocolate" or "no caffeine" business for me. No siree! I, my friend, will be giving up yarn buying.

You read that correctly. I am about to attempt a feat so horrible, so gruesome, that only few will attempt it, and even fewer complete the mission successfully. From February 6, 2008 to April 27, 2008, I shall make no yarn purchases.*

People outside of the knitting world think that it's a light promise and that I'm not truly making a sacrifice. However, I know that anyone who reads this message will understand just how painfully difficult it is to resist a beautiful skein on Malabrigo that screams at you to take it home.

Plus, knitting from stash is going to help me out in the long run. I'm moving at the end of the semester, so my yarn will have to go into storage for the summer. That means that it gets packed, toted to the truck, unloaded into a storage locker, sits for the summer, loaded back into a truck and then toted into my new apartment where it gets unpacked. The fewer things that can be included into that vicious cycle, the better!

*Promise excludes yarn related items needed to complete a current project. For example, needles or stitch markers.

Snow Day!

2008-02-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

This morning, I woke up to this:

Yuck. Although it doesn't look like it, we got 6-8 inches of snow. (Those cars had been moved during the day, so they are deceiving!) I decided that the best thing I could do would to be stay at home and knit. :-) Life is terrible, I know.

Did I decide to finish one of the 15 UFO's that I have? No. I decided to cast on for another project. That's much more fun!

Back on December, I had an interview in Chicago. Sarah met me afterwards and we went yarn shopping. I didn't get the job, but I did get some fabulous yarn.

It's Austermann Murano in Blue/Purple. It comes in 240m skeins, so one is all you need for a scarf.

To be perfectly honest, I've never been a huge fan of the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, but this yarn seemed to be calling out for it with the really long self-striping sections. I like the results so far. There's really more color variation than shows up in the picture, and there's a black section that still hasn't came around too.

I'm about a foot into it and I'm liking what I see so far.

This is the last "free" weekend that I have for awhile and I plan to spend as much time as possible knitting. Wish me luck!
I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend as well!

Cleaning out the cotton stash!

2008-01-28T15:50:00.001-05:00

This Sunday at our Knit Night, Marcy was knitting ballbands & it inspired me to knit my own. As soon as I got home, I had to cast on. I honestly have absolutely no idea what colors I used, but I do know that the yarn was Sugar n' Cream.

I love this little pattern. It's so easy & I just love the end results. I really don't know that I've seen a completed one that I've thought looked bad. Although, there are some questionable colors out there, so I'm sure that it could be done.

Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth, Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Sugar n' Cream, less than half a skein of each color
Needles: Size 7
Time: About 2 hours
Total Cost: About $1

I was still in the cotton dishcloth mood today, so I cast on for another dishcloth and knit this one while I was reading for Criminal Procedure. I did more reading than knitting, but in my defense - knitting was much for exciting.

This is the Feather & Fan Dishcloth by Linda Smith. I'd never made one of these before, but I thought it was pretty. It was a surprisingly simple pattern. I noticed on Ravelry that a lot of people were getting rid of the garter ridge in between pattern repeats, and it looks fabulous. I'm definitely trying that next time.

I have no idea what I'm doing with these dishcloths. Maybe they will end up as a gift one day. For now, they are sitting in the "Finished Objects without a Home" box in my closet.

Pattern: Feather and Fan Dishcloth, Free
Yarn: Sugar n' Cream, about 3/4 of a skein
Needles: Size 7
Time: About 2 hours
Total Cost: About $1

P.S. I almost forgot to mention this groundbreaking news! Amy and I went to have our picture taken by Franklin for his 1000 Knitters Project. It was lots of fun, but I was really nervous to meet him. He came to Threadbear in Lansing, and 111 people came out for the photo shoot. Seriously.. 111 knitters came out in the snow to have their picture taken.

Imperfect Unoriginal Hat

2008-01-27T12:44:00.001-05:00

Have you ever cast on for a project that you were really, really excited to make, yet it just didn't seem meant to be? That was me and this hat!

It all started innocently enough. I spotted this beautiful yarn at my LYS and fell in love instantly. Amy had given me a gift certificate and it was burning a hole in my pocket! I saw The Yarn and I knew that it was destined to be an Unoriginal Hat. After looking over the pattern, I figured that this would be my "bag" knitting for the week - which means that it's my go-to project for those spare minutes you find randomly.

If only it went so well. After casting on 3 times because I couldn't properly measure yarn, I got started. About an inch into the pattern, I found myself with about 10 minutes to spare, so I broke out the knitting. The next thing I know, someone had come up to me, grabbed my knitting from my hands, said "let me show you how I do it" and started knitting on my project! I kid you not.

Instead of saying anything, I just sat there speechless watching this woman proceed to knit my hat completely out of pattern. Looking back now, I can think of all kinds of witty things, but at the moment - I could will no words to come out of my mouth. Nothing.

So, after that debacle, my hat sat in time out for a few days because I couldn't bear to rip it out. Frogging this on dpn's just drives me batty. Turns out, I didn't rip far enough back and I completely missed a cable crossing, somewhere along the way I dropped a stitch that could never be found, and then I crossed other cables too soon. Good times!

The point of the story is that at the end of the day, I didn't care. I thought about ripping it back and starting over.. but then I looked outside at the 2-3 inches of snow that had fallen over the past 24 hours. I decided that I liked my Imperfect Unoriginal Hat just the way it was.

Pattern: Unoriginal Hat by The Yarn Harlot
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Chunky in Whale's Road, $11
Needles: Size 10.5 dpn's
Time: About 3-4 hours of total knitting/frogging time

Sparkley goodness!

2008-01-25T14:15:00.000-05:00

A girlfriend of mine is celebrating a birthday today. When I made this scarf for another friend of mine earlier this month, she strongly started dropping hints that she wanted a scarf too. So.. I made her a scarf.

She has this really awesome hat that is charcoal and white with sparkles, so I thought I would make her a sparkly scarf to match. The colors look a little washed out in the pictures, but believe me, there's some serious sparkle in this sucker!

I tried a few different stitch patterns and then realized that I just needed to go plain old ribbing to get the full effect. It was a quick knit. I picked up the yarn Saturday and had all but the last few inches done by Monday. I finished up the last of it this morning, cast off.. and then whipped up a little sparkly gift bag on my new handy-dandy sewing machine!

I shopped the 50% off the clearance fabric sale at JoAnn's and picked up some silver fabric and lining. I just kinda winged the bag, but I think it looks ok. I only got 1/8 a yard of each, but I have enough leftover for another gift bag! Yay for remnants!

In Summary:
Pattern: 2x2 ribbed scarf
Yarn:

1 skein Cascade 220, Gray, $6.60
2 skeins Filtes King Australian Merinos, $8.60

Needles: Size 11
Time: One knit night and one evening of movie night
Total Cost: $24

Totally unrelated to knitting.

2008-01-21T15:53:00.001-05:00

For Christmas, I asked Santa for a sewing machine. I'm in love with my new toy. So far, I've made several small things that are almost done, and one thing that's 100% completed.

I made a skirt out of the brown flowery material, and I had a lot of leftovers, so I went back and got some muslin and made a little bag. I didn't really use a pattern, but I based the idea in my head off of this pattern. Mine isn't reversible though.

This has now been christened my new knitting bag. I debuted it last night at our knitting group and it held up pretty well. I can already tell that the sewing machine and I are going to be great friends!

Mysterious appearances.

2008-01-21T15:37:00.001-05:00

It's amazing what you find when you clean your apartment. I don't even remember knitting this, but obviously I did.

Pattern: Bib O' Love, Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Sugar n' Cream
Needles: Size 7
Time: I have no clue.

Benjamin's Cable Hat

2008-01-16T14:04:00.000-05:00

I made this hat for my brother at Christmas, and then made a second one to donate. Over Thanksgiving, I taught my mom how to do cables. She was so shocked at how easy it was. We then sat and designed a simple cable scarf for her to make, and she decided that it was going to be my brother's Christmas present, and I should make him a hat. So, like a good daughter, I cast on for a hat.

I did a little bit of a modification and added about an inch or so of ribbing at the bottom.

Pattern: Chunky Cabled Beanie, Free
Yarn: Less than 1 skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, Charcoal - $4
Needles: 10.5 dpn's
Time: 1 night of TV knitting

The only cute for a knitting emergency

2008-01-12T09:22:00.001-05:00

While studying for final exams last fall, I had a knitting emergency. You know the kind. The "I-Must-Knit-Something-Before-I-Go-Crazy" kind. So, I dug through my stash and pulled out some Lion Brand Homespun that I bought more than a year ago and had forsaken for more delicious yarns. I immediately cast on for a Diagonal Baby Blanket.

I've made like 3 of these things so far, so I hated to make yet another carbon copy, but - again, this was a knitting emergency. The requirements were that the project be simple and made on big needles. It really just fit the bill.

Again though, the stupid yarn was different dyelots when it said that it wasn't. So, some of my blanket is a different color. Oh well, what can you do? I wove a purple ribbon through the eyelets to spice things up a bit, and personally, I think it's really cute.

Pattern: Diagonal Baby Blanket, Free
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in lavender sachet, 2 skeins; less than $10
Extras: 1 spool of ribbon, less than $2
Needles: Size 13 circs
Time: About 2 weeks of random knitting
Total Cost: Less than $12

Have a great weekend everyone!

Another one for the collection.

2008-01-09T12:27:00.000-05:00

I'd like to apologize up front if this post sounds churchy. It isn't meant to be. It's just meant to be about things that are important to me.

I have to admit, sometimes it seems like I'm sending all my knitting off to others, and it makes me feel really selfish for a moment. Why shouldn't I be making things just for me? It's my free time, and as I don't have much of it as it is, I should be able to reap the rewards of my knitting. Then, there's times that I realize just how important my church's shawl ministry is. While we were doing Meals on Wheels on Christmas Eve, I noticed that a lady was wearing a beautiful scarf. Then, I noticed that the label on it said "UMC Shawl Ministry" and realized its significance. This lady had lost her son during the past year in an unexpected accident. The scarf was more than just a scarf. It was a symbol of all the love that we as a group had for the woman and her family.

That realization really spoke to me, and I've decided that I'm going to try to do at least one item a month for the shawl ministry during 2008. I don't do resolutions, so I'm choosing instead to call this one a goal. Big and/or time consuming items count as one thing, while baby hats will only receive half credit.

So, in the spirit of knitting for others, here's item #1. I did another So Called Scarf because I just love the pattern. To be honest, I tried about three different patterns and nothing at all looked good enough to me. The yarn really pooled and I was concerned that it wouldn't do that with the second skein and one side of the scarf would look different - it didn't. Both skeins behaved the same, so I lucked out!

I used Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Print. I packed really, really inappropriately for such a long visit, and found myself at Hobby Lobby itching for a new project. A knitter must have something on her needles at all times!

Overall, I was pretty happy with the finished project. I don't really care for the yarn too much. It just kinda felt weird in my hands, but it was a nice quick project for me, and that made me happy.

Pattern: My So-Called Scarf
Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Print, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 11
Time: A couple days of TV knitting with the fam
Total Cost: Less than $6

Mindless Knitting

2008-01-06T18:21:00.000-05:00

While I was home over break, my mom really wanted me to make my step-sister a scarf to match her newly decorated room. It's bright pink and bright green and is perfect for a 13 year old girl. She'd already picked out the yarn and told me exactly in Wal-Mart where I could find it. How can you say no to that?

You can't. I didn't even try. I just said "Yes ma'am, I'll pick that up in town tomorrow."

I actually made two of these scarves. One was made in an evening while watching TV with the fam, and the other was knitted on here and there - specifically while watching National Treasure 2. (Great movie! I loved that they set it up for a third movie by using my favorite random number - 47.)

Pattern: Garter Stitch Scarf
Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Wal-Mart No Boundaries, $4
Needles: Size 11's
Time: About 4 hours each

Another Scarf Completed!

2008-01-06T13:31:00.001-05:00

I'm back from Tennessee and I miss everyone already. I did a lot of knitting, a lot of eating, and a lot of visiting and loved every minute of it. I finished a lot of little projects, so I'm going to post pictures of them periodically because there's just too many for a single post.

The first thing I completed was My So Called Scarf for my friend Meredith's birthday. I wanted something easy but not completely and totally mindless, so this was a great project for me. I wrapped it up and tied a ribbon around it to make it cute for mailing. It seems that while I was in Tennessee it was freezing here in Michigan so the scarf came in handy for her.

Here's my mom modeling the scarf. She's so cute. She fell in love with the pattern and made me teach her how to make it. She's about a foot and a half into her first My So Called Scarf right now.

I love the stitch pattern, and the semi-solid Malabrigo really just did wonders with the pattern, in my opinion. I liked the pattern so much that I've actually made another one since. Details to come!

Pattern: My So Called Scarf, Free
Needles: Size 11
Yarn: 2 skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Velvet Grapes

One for the Handknit Hall of Fame.

2007-12-22T01:10:00.000-05:00

I survived another semester.

I always hate how when you turn in your last exam, there's never confetti & balloons and people serving cake. It feels like such a big deal to me, yet the proctors rarely even look me in the eye. That's ok, I'll find my own cake.

I'm back home in Tennessee for the holidays and knitting away. I've finished up a few things but forgot to pack my camera cord, so pictures will have to wait.

Here's a neat story. Al Gore is my hometown hero. Everyone loves him. Some people from my community went to Norway to support him when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize recently. They decided to take him a scarf from my church's shawl ministry - after all, who needs more prayer than a man who is trying to save the world & has won an Emmy, an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize in the past year? Turns out, they took him one that I had contributed!! He's definitely a man that I have admired for many, many years and I deeply respect the work that he's doing now. It's really cool to know that if only for a brief moment, he held one of my handknits.

Eyelet Cardigan

2007-12-02T17:23:00.000-05:00

I started this sweater in August when I was home in Tennessee for a few weeks. Mom and I went yarn shopping, and they had this sweater knit up in this color on a model. I fell in love with it instantly and had to make it - in that exact colorway. (Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Pickle) Of course, that yarn store was out of my color. So, I called my trusty yarn store in Lansing, and they shipped the yarn out to me immediately.

I was so excited. I cast on immediately, and then the project went on the back burner when school started. I need instant gratification during the semester, it seems. I finally finished it a few weeks ago, and I really like the turnout, although I have something funky going on at the sleeves that needs some repairs. It's too wide & likes to fall off the shoulders a lot. The 80's Flashdance look is so out right now.

I made some modifications from the original pattern. The sleeves and the body were supposed to be cropped, but I made the body long enough to cover my belly and the sleeves are 3/4 length.
I used wooden buttons that I picked up from Jo-Ann's. They aren't anything too special, but I figured that the eyelet pattern had enough "umph" to handle plain buttons. Plus, sometimes simple is better.

Ironically, I'm currently working on Tomato and it's in the exact same color, only a different yarn. Apparently I really, really like green lately.

Final Specs:
Pattern: Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Cardigan, $4.50
Yarn: 7 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, $66.50
Needles: Size 7 circs
Time: August-November off & on knitting

Thankgiving & Knitting Go Hand In Hand

2007-11-24T19:15:00.000-05:00

Warning: Seriously Picture-Heavy Post. Sorry!

I've been offline for the last week and loved every minute of it. My trip home for Thanksgiving was all that I could have wanted and more. I realize how much I miss my family when I go back home. I cried all the way until Indiana on the drive back today. *sniff*

Anyway! There's been knitting. Whole days of movie marathons with the fam allow for plenty of knitting time. There are now officially enough baby hats for all the babies that are expected to be born (in my hometown) in the month of December.

For all these hats, I used variations of this pattern and then just kinda made changes as I felt like it when knitting. For the most part, these hats are all made out of stash Caron Simply Soft (my favorite-est acrylic yarn). However, there's a little Knit Pick Shine Worsted and Classic Elite Premiere thrown in for good measure.

Also, I know that the black and yellow "bee look" might be a little disturbing to some people out there. However, black & gold are the high school colors, so they make a little more sense when put into that light. My little sister has already requested one the grandson of one of her teachers.

I also finished up two more scarves that have been my bedside knitting for awhile.

Yarn: Wal-Mart No Boundaries Yarn, 2 skeins
Pattern: Plain old garter stitch - cast on about 20 and go!
Needles: Size 13
Time: About two months of just looking at it resting in the knitting basket, about 6 hours of actual knitting time
Cost: Gift yarn - Free!

Before we all snicker & laugh at the Wal-Mart yarn, I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I don't shop there, but my mom sent this to me in a care package last spring. It's really soft & has a very pretty sheen. If I didn't live in the middle of Siberia, I'd actually keep this one for myself. It's just too thin to be useful here in Michigan.

Pattern: One-Row Handspun Scarf, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Free
Yarn: Adrienne Vittadini Nadia, 4 skeins - $11 (on sale!!)
Needles: Size 10.5
Time: About 1 month of travel knitting

This is another scarf that's going to the shawl ministry. It's very pretty, but just not quite the right color for my winter coat.

On a funny note, I posted this up on Ravelry earlier tonight and I went back to check something about 5 minutes later, and someone had already "favorited" it. Aww.. I feel special.

Believe it or not, there's actually more pictures to show, but they are just going to have to be brought out at a later date. I'm pooped from all the traveling. I hope that everyone else's Thanksgivings were as wonderful as mine.

(My family! Aren't they cute?)

Small little projects..

2007-11-11T01:40:00.001-05:00

I spent today going through my yarn and organizing it. It's nice to re-remember what all I have. Even though I'm on Ravelry, I don't have all my stash uploaded because I'm just plain lazy.

One of the things that I did was to put all my remnant yarns in one central location. That's what I use when I'm making baby hats, so having the colors all together can let me see exactly what it is that I have to work with. After doing that, I made a hat:

Pattern: My favorite trusty Basic Knit Hat, Free
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, Leftover from another project
Needles: Size 7 DPNs
Time: 2 hours

I'm in the Monthly Dishcloth KAL group, although I can't remember the last time that I actually did the KAL. One of the members just lost her husband so the group has banded together to make her an afghan. Every one is supposed to make the same heart cloth in whatever cotton they have laying around.. so I did.

Pattern: Victoria's Heart Pattern, Free
Yarn: SnC, Robin's Egg Blue; less than $1
Needles: Size 6 straights
Time: About 1.5 hours

I'm going home for Thanksgiving next Friday (YAAAAY!!!), and I'm hoping to have a few more hats done to deliver before then. Right now I've only made 3 newborn caps since my last delivery in August, and three just doesn't seem like too much.

I've been knitting for me a little too much and not knitting for others as much as I should. On that note, I'm hoping to debut my first completed handmade sweater this week!! I just have one more section of ribbing to go. The best part about it?? It fits.

Me v. the Postman, Round 1

2007-11-05T13:10:00.000-05:00

The post office refuses to leave things at my door, so if I miss the mailman then I have to go to the main post office to pick it up. Of course, that does not work at all with my school schedule, so if I'm expecting a package, I try my best to be home so that I can avoid that hassle.

I had a knit picks order that was supposed to arrive on Saturday (according to USPS tracking). It didn't. I watched the mailman drive away and I was left with no yarn. I was a little sad to say the least. I'm planning to make the Tomato sweater by Wendy Bernard and I really just wanted to play with the yarn. (Don't lie - you all know that feeling!)

This morning, I rushed home after my morning at school for the sole purpose of getting that dang package. I had my windows open so that I could see then the mail truck drove up. He arrived. He left. No package!! I went out to check my mailbox & there was a card telling me that I could pick up my precious yarn at 7:30 the next morning.

The guy never even bothered to knock on my door! Angry and desperately jonesing for a yarn fix, I ran back to my apartment to grab my car keys and I chased him down the road. That's right - it was me versus the mail truck, and I was determined to win. He finally stopped about a half mile down the road and I zipped my little Civic in behind him and whipped out the little orange "you have a package" card. He looked at me like I was a crazy woman, but he handed the yarny goodness over to me. He mumbled something to me about "just missing me" and I politely said, "I guess so."

So, needless to say, I'm now the neighborhood freak who stalks the postal workers. I am not sure that I'm ever going to be able to get deliveries again. I'm definitely on the blacklist. However, the yarn was all worth it.

I wound up with some Shine Worsted on sale, so the sweater is costing me less than $25 to complete. Plus, there was a miscount & they sent me one more skein than was ordered. Yay for free yarn!!

Have a great week everyone!

Another Baby Cap

2007-10-31T08:30:00.000-04:00

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..

2007-10-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-17T08:51:00.001-04:00

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

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

2007-10-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-02T14:00:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

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.

Knitting Absence.

2007-09-01T21:32:00.001-04:00

I haven't knit a stitch in more than a week. I think I'm in withdrawal.

Classes started back last week, and knitting time went from "lots & lots" to "knitting?? what's that?" Hopefully, I'll be into a schedule again soon so that I can actually squeeze in some therapeutic knitting. There's just something about it that takes me to a happy place, no matter how stressed out I am. Between taking way too many credit hours, and trying to get The Boyfriend's stuff out of my place (remember that??) and into a place of his own, I'm a tad bit overextended at the moment.

I've nearly finished my first adult sweater. It didn't come out quite as good as I would have hoped. It looks a little frumpy, so I might do a rip & redo at a later date. However, right now I'm stuck on the last & final step. I need to graft live stitches onto a stockinette panel and make it look seamless. I'm sure this has a fancy name, but I don't know what it's called, and therefore when I'm googling for answers, I'm coming up with nothing. Any help would be appreciated.

I have lots to blog about later. I have an awesome secret pal who sent me some cool stuff, I won a knitting book, I won some scrapbooking supplies, and I won some yarn for knitting Greensburg squares. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Details to come.

In search of advice..

2007-08-14T11:54:00.000-04:00

So, I'm at home in Tennessee & loving every minute of it. I've been busy knitting away, but since it's my first adult sized sweater, there's really no progress to report. (Plus, who wants to see a giant pile of black stockinette stich? BORING!) I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the week. I'm just working on the trim now, and I have another pocket to sew on. It's so exciting!

Anyway, I'm hoping to get some input from you guys. Here's the situation: since starting law school, I've become very selfish with my time. It's just the nature of the program - you have very little "free" time, and even then they guilt you into doing something law related. Anyway, I don't have time to give back to my community like I used to, and knitting things for charity is the closest I get anymore.

My church at home does a Shawl Ministry program where I send scarves, baby hats, etc. Anyway, this past Sunday, when I brought in some new things (here and here) to add to the collection, they gave me a check. I was hesitant to take the check, so my mom took it for me. The purpose of the money is so that I can continue knitting things for the program without taking away from my own fixed, student income. However, most of the things that I've been making have been made out of my leftover stash and a few gifted items, so only rarely has it been an out of pocket expense.

I feel like taking the money makes me even more selfish, but my mom says that I need to take it and buy yarn for more projects. So, the question I've been asking myself is - do I take the money & just go out sale hunting and stretch it as far as possible, or should I stick it back in the collection plate on Sunday? (However, option #2 just puts the money back in the general fund, not with the shawl ministry.)

I'd seriously appreciate your advice on this one!

Secret Pal 11 Questionnaire

2007-08-10T14:54:00.000-04:00

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Honestly, I don't really have a favorite! As long as a yarn is soft & cushy, I'm all in. I'm not too much of a yarn snob as long as it's going to be soft to the touch when it's all said and done.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

My straight needles are in a handmade needle roll, my dpns are in a vase, and my circs are currently hanging over the bar in the hall closet because they don't have a suitable home.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I've been knitting about a year and a half. For the most part, I taught myself from internet videos, with my friend Sarah filling in the gaps for me. I'd consider myself a beginner-intermediate; I've branched out beyond scarves, but I'm not brave enough to tackle lace yet.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Sorta. I have a few things on there, but it isn't really complete.

5. What's your favorite scent?

I like gardenias and jasmine. I like the softer scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

YES!! I'm a sucker for and and all things sweet. I like gummy candies a lot.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I like to scrapbook, although it's went by the wayside since I started knitting. I'm always up for learning new crafts. I don't spin, but I've been thinking of taking a class.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like all kinda of music. My iPod ranges from The Pretenders to Justin Timberlake. Some of my favorites right now are John Legend & Anthony Hamilton, although once I come back from spending 3 weeks in Tennessee, I'm sure I'll be on a country kick. Moral of the story.. I really do like all kinds of music.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

I've been on a blue & green kick lately, but I really like almost all colors. I grew up in Tennessee, so I find wonderful uses for even the most obnoxious of oranges.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I live alone with my cat Jasmine, but I invite The Boyfriend to come and visit when he behaves.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

Yes to all but the ponchos. I live in Michigan, so it's pretty much required by law here. For some reason, I've never really gotten on to the poncho kick.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

With the exception of all the mandatory baby stuff, I've been a sock knitting machine lately. (Well, maybe that's more like a sock yarn buying machine, but you get the picture.) And, who can say no to knitting a good scarf?

13. What are you knitting right now?

Babies & Bears sweater from Cottage Creations -- for a baby yet to be born
Lil' Red Riding Hoodie from Dominknitrix- for me!
Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts - for me again!
Chevron Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks - for me yet again!

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I've been on a kick lately with bamboo & metal circulars, but I'll use anything that isn't plastic. I don't mean to be a needle snob, but yarn on plastic does to me what nails on a chalkboard do to others.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

No. I keep trying to snag a deal on eBay but someone always outbids me at the last minute.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Over a year.. and I've only been knitting a year and a half!

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas. I love being at home with my family & having movie marathons in our pajamas.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Besides knitting accessories? Not really.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

Not really. Most of the books that I've been wanting, I have already. I don't have subscriptions to knitting magazines because of fear that my "to knit" list will increase faster than I can make things.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Definitely! I've been trying to learn something new with each project lately. I'd love to give a try at fair isle and lace knitting.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I just started knitting socks and I'm addicted! My foot's a size 9, average width.

23. When is your birthday?

July 10.

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

I sure am! My username is Amanda.

Where Have I Been??

2007-08-07T00:03:00.000-04:00

Wow. I'm whooped. In 5 days, I've been in 10 states, and I'm supposed to get up bright and early in the morning to drive to Tennessee. I made it back to Michigan tonight, but unfortunately my luggage didn't, so I might be putting off that trip another day. The last two hours of the trip are all on curvy highways, and I don't want to drive that at night when I'm tired. It's a really fun drive - You feel like a racecar driver on all those hills!!

I didn't check my email for several days, and I must say that I was floored by the number of comments that I've gotten in that time. I just love comments.. they really make me happy. Each and every one of them! Because of that, I always try to leave comments on someone else's blog when I read it, even if I don't have time to say something more than, "That looks pretty." There's something nice about knowing that someone reads the words that you put out there.

I have zero pictures to post, although I swear there's been knitting! I finished about half of my first adult sized sweater on the trip, although on the plane back tonight I got the sinking feeling that I might have to rip out the sleeve that's 90% done. It just seems like it's going to be waaaaay to big. I think I miscounted rows somewhere and added in one (or ten!) extra. (I've actually taken pictures, but since the sweater is made is black wool is just looks like a blob of material at the moment.) I'm pretty much spot on gauge, so I think I just flat out screwed up the pattern somewhere.

The road trip from Michigan to LA was surprisingly fun. It was nice to spend time with The Boyfriend when he wasn't studying for the bar exam, and when I wasn't trying to read for class. It made us remember why we're together in the first place. We spent three days driving, one day in LA buying him a new car, and the last day we drove up PCH and went to Malibu. He knows the way to my heart is through the beach. Five whole, uninterrupted days with each other was exactly what we needed.

Funniest experience from the road trip: On the second night we stopped in Beaver, Utah at a really nice little hotel that was recently remodeled. There was a soap dispenser in the shower for "Body, Hair, and Bath" soap. I tried to pay The Boyfriend $1 to wash his hair with it, but suddenly he was a shampoo snob & could only use my Pantene.

Tulip Sweater - Check!

2007-07-31T15:37:00.000-04:00

I realize that it seems that I've been a knitting machine lately, but in all honesty, most of the projects that I've been completing have been hanging out on the needles for awhile, just needing an hour or two of work to pass over into the "FO" pile.

For example, I got the replacement yarn for the Tulip Sweater weeks ago, and it sat on my table just mocking me for quite some time.

I finally got around to putting on the neckband and the icord tie. This sweater marked my first experience with icord. I have to say, I think it's kinda fun.. however, applied icord is just a pain in the butt. Literally, for every one stitch that you want to progress down the line, you have to knit at least 3. It takes forever!! But, it looks really nice & neat when it's all said and done.

It's all finished except for the 5 billion ends that need to be woven in - but, that's fun for another day. By the way, if you have not knit with Dream in Color yarn, you really need to! It's so soft & squishy and comes in the most amazing colors.

Final Specs:
Pattern: Tulip Sweater by Lindsey Pekney from Dream in Color (included in kit)
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy (Kit from Threadbear) - $32
Needles: Size 5 & 7 circs and double points
Time: About a week of TV knitting
Total Cost: $32

Everlasting Bagstopper.

2007-07-30T17:55:00.000-04:00

While I was out of commission because of the back problems last week, I took Sarah's advice of knitting on big needles. I decided that I'd use up some of the cotton that I've stashed, and I made the Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty. The pattern calls for hemp, but I used Sugar n' Cream instead because that's what I had within a 3 foot radius of the couch (and that was about as far as I could move at the time).

I used 2 full balls and a partial skein in the colorway Beach Ball Blue. I ran out at the top garter stitch portion, so then I just used a partial skein of Hot Blue that I had on hand. Mine is a little shorter than the pattern version because of my yarn shortage, but I think it still does the job.

Starting Wednesday, The Boyfriend and I are driving cross-country to L.A. I'm using the bag to hold snacks in the car, and to hold my sunscreen at the beach (and we all know that I need sunscreen!)

I'm hoping to make several more of these bags. Even though I always try to bring my own to the grocery, it seems like I always collect those icky plastic bags somehow. So, if I have more, I can keep a constant stash in the car for unexpected trips to the grocery. The next time, I think I'll do a solid color on both the top and the bottom to make the edges stand out a bit more.

Just a warning to anyone who might make this -- when binding off, use a much, much larger needle. I went from a size 5 to a size 8, and the bind off was still too tight & I had to rip it out. You couldn't even get a box of cereal in it! The second time around, I used a size 11 to bind off, and it worked perfectly. They tell you to use a "larger needle" in the pattern, I just didn't realize it needed to be THAT much larger.

Another funny thing.. you can see in the knitting where I took pain meds. Somehow I got off a stitch in the pattern, and didn't realize it until a few rows up. With all the yo's and k2tog's, I knew that I'd never be able to rip it back, so I just kept it. I think it's kinda hard to pick out unless you're staring at it. Oh well.. I've yet to make a perfect knitted item, why start worrying about it now?

Final Specs:
Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty - Free!
Yarn: Sugar n' Cream (2.5 balls variegated, 0.5 balls solid), $3.25 (on sale)
Needles: Size 5 and Size 10.5 circulars (already owned)
Total Cost: $3.25

Buttons make the world brighter.

2007-07-29T15:10:00.001-04:00

I feel kinda silly posting something "new" when all I've done is add buttons to things, but I just thought that they were too cute to not share. Buttons just make all things better.

The Child's Placket Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts got football buttons. These little puppies were on clearance for 50 cents at JoAnn's. I was torn between footballs and baseballs, but the clearance part really threw it over the edge for me.

Next, Lillie's Little Sweater got some cute heart buttons, although they weren't on clearance, they were still only a few dollars so I swooped them up. I decided to go with the white buttons, because getting something pink would have been a little too difficult to match.

When working on a cotton bag for the beach next week (Cali - here I come!), I found the Bib O' Love from Mason Dixon Knitting. I'd kinda forgotten that I'd made it. Yay for unexpected surprises! I picked up the little fish button at Hobby Lobby. It came in a 2 pack, so now I have an orange and green one for the next bib.

Finished Specs on the Bib O' Love:
Pattern: Mason Dixon Knitting (already in collection)
Yarn: Sugar n' Cream (less than one skein), Approximately $1
Needles: Size 7
Total Cost: Less than $2 including button

Updates.

2007-07-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

I completely just jacked Sarah 's idea and added a Flickr badge to my sidebar. Because I'm posting pics my WIP's on Ravelry, you might see a few things over there that I haven't posted here yet.

I also learned something kinda cool today, the more people link to your webpage, the higher your Google pagerank is. I've always tried to do links whenever possible, but now I'm going to make a special effort at it. I'm doing some blogging spring cleaning, and my next goal is to update my links on the sidebar. I've been kinda bad at it since I discovered Bloglines.

Baby Things Galore.

2007-07-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

As much baby stuff as I've had on the needles lately, you'd think I was the one expecting the baby! I know that once the fall semester gets back going my knitting time is going to go to less than a half hour a night, so I'm trying to get some things finished early. I'm never an early bird, so this an unusual feeling for me. (No one even knows the sex of the babies yet!! That's how on top of things I am at the moment.)

This is Lillie's Little Sweater from Cottage Creations. One of my LYS's had it knit up and on display in the shop, and I just loved it. I even bought the same yarn as the sample! (Somehow their version is still cuter than mine.) It still needs some buttons, but I can't decide what color/style will look good, so I'm putting that off for awhile. Plus, it gives my mom & I an excuse to go out to the craft stores when I go home to Tennessee next month. Any suggestions for button colors & styles would be appreciated!!

I really like the yarn, although I must say that if I didn't see it knit up already, I probably wouldn't have chosen it myself. It's Universal Yarn, Inc. in Classic Worsted Long Print. I'm a sucker for self-striping yarns, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's 80% acrylic and 20% wool, it's got an amazing feel and drape to it, and it's super affordable. (About $6 for 200 yards)

Another good thing about this pattern was that for the 0-3 month size, it called for 400 yards. I got 3 skeins just to be on the safe side, but I only used about 300+ yards, and I swear that it's closer to being sized 6-9 months. There's still enough leftover for a baby hat & I can take one back and exchange at the LYS for something yummy. (They did just send out an email announcing a big shipment of Socks that Rock..)

There's a lot of suggested variations in the pattern, so if I made this again, I could make just a few changes and it would look like a completely different pattern. I think a nice neutral color would look really, really nice in this pattern.

Finished Specs:
Pattern: Lillie's Little Sweater from Cottage Creations,$6
Needles: Size 7 circs and Size 7 double points (in stash)
Yarn: 2 skeins of Universal Yarn, Inc. in Classic Worsted Long Print, $6 each

Cost: $18 (with enough scrap leftover for a baby hat)

If Your Friends Jumped Off a Bridge..

2007-07-25T10:06:00.000-04:00

Would you do it too? For me, the answer is yes. When I was 18, my friends and I all went down to the lake and I watched a bunch of them jump off the bridge into the water. I was so scared, but I finally got up the nerve to jump. Turns out, of the hundreds and hundreds of people who have jumped off that bridge, I'm the only one to ever get hurt. I wound up breaking 2 bones in my back. Before then, I never even knew that it was possible to do such a thing.

Anyway, my back will never fully heal, and it will be broken even when I'm 85. My body's just learned to adjust, but from time to time, I do something stupid (namely not bending at the knees) and it gets hurt again. This is what happened Sunday. I've been on bedrest and pain meds since then, so I've had plenty of time to knit, yet I haven't seem to finish anything.

I have way too many WIP's, and I've been dividing my time between them - so, essentially, nothing really gets finished. I did finally take a few of the Rebuilding Greensburg blocks off the needles and get them packed up and ready to ship out. The deadline isn't until August, but I'm going to be out of town starting next week, so I thought I'd be a little proactive about it and ship them now.

I threw in two teen/adult sized hats that I had made earlier, and I also tossed in a small ball of worsted weight black yarn for seaming. I figured that would be something they couldn't get enough of. My contribution isn't much, but I'm hoping that it will help. There's one lady who's donating a whole afghan (seamed & ready to go!) made of Noro.

I didn't do a final count, but I think I wound up with about 20 squares. My squares are nothing special (most aren't even really square), but it takes the ugly ones to make the beautiful ones stand out.

There's still time to make a square if you're interested! It only takes a few hours and you can really make a dent in your scrap pile if you like.

Interesting note about the box that these are being shipped in: I'm kind of a treehugger, so I always like to reuse packaging if possible. This box has been previously used about 4 times while it was shipped back and forth between my mom and I this spring. I'd send home some charity knitting, she'd send it back with a care package. I think that it's only fitting that it get sent on to Kansas for what is likely to be its final journey.

Dishcloths, Burp Cloths, and Sunburns - Oh My!

2007-07-22T11:05:00.000-04:00

At any point in time, I have a half a zillion projects on the needles and stashed inappropriately around my apartment (and even The Boyfriend's apartment most of the time). Anyway, a few of those things finally came off the needles. Yay!

This is the DW Cloth. It's so easy & it makes for a great knit late at night when your eyes are sleepy and your brain is tired.

Surprise! It's another ballband dishcloth. I love these little suckers. They are a great way to use up scraps. There's 4 different colors of yarn going on here, and (to me anyway), it looks like it is supposed to be that way.

This is the Baby Genius Burp Cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I really like the simple pattern - it's an easy 2 row repeat. Although you really can't tell, I actually used two different colors of yarn in this one because I was running low on the varigated. I used SnC hot blue & swimming pool and alternated every two rows. Yay for having another thing for Baby Rush 2007 completed.

Why all the cotton knitting, you ask? Well.. it's because of this:

I owe a blue million balls of SnC & I really need to use some of it up. Plus, little dishcloths and things make nice gifts. I randomly sent a small pile to my grandmother a few weeks ago, and she's now decided that I'm her favorite grandchild - a title that I've been trying to convince her of for the past 20 years.

I know this is a very picture heavy post.. but I had to share this last one. It's too funny not to! I went to my friend Shelley's wedding this weekend. It was beautiful & everyone had a great time. Anyway, on my drive back to East Lansing, I had the windows down and the sunroof open because it was such a gorgeous day. Less than 15 minutes from home, I noticed that my skin was feeling really warm. And I looked down and saw this:

I'm sunburned from driving in the car! If you look really close you can see a white line from where my bracelet was sitting higher on my wrist. Awesome. So, when I get home, The Boyfriend tells me that he thinks it's impossible that I got sunburned like that in the car. I might have gotten sun the day before since the reception was outside. I tell him that I had 3/4 length sleeves on that day, so really, it was from the car. He asks again if I was sure ...

Yup! Pretty darn sure!

Ravelry.

2007-07-21T21:36:00.001-04:00

I got my Ravelry invite! If you're on it, friend me - my username is Amanda. (I have no idea how "Amanda" wasn't taken after nearly 7,000 people had signed up, but I'll take it!)

Wedding Presents.

2007-07-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

(Shelley, if you are reading this and you are not yet a Mrs., then stop now!)

When a fellow knitter gets married, you have to actually make them something. The typical gifts from Bed, Bath and Beyond just don't do the trick.

Shelley's wedding is tomorrow, so I thought that I would make her dishcloths for her kitchen. She says that it's "garden colors." Well, one person's sage is another person's spearmint, so I decided to stick with the more earthy, neutral tones.

Two of the cloths are the Ballband cloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting, one is the DW Cloth, and the others are just stitch patterns from Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. I also made a hand towel (top picture, far right) using the pattern for the Baby Genius Burp Cloth from Mason Dixon Knitting.

I stuck the dishcloths in a basket, and wrapped it with tulle. I hope that she likes it!

The baby sweater & I are BFF's again.

2007-07-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

The feud between me and the Child Placket-Neck Pullover has ended (mostly because I needed the needles for another project). I figured out that the best way to deal with the pattern-blooper fiasco was just to rip it out and then not use the pattern at all. From that point on, it got much easier and I was finished in no time.

I still have to find some little cute buttons to put on it. Although the pattern has buttons, it doesn't have buttonholes (?!?!) so, rather than trying to shove buttons through seed stitching, I added two real buttonholes to the neck.

One finished object for Baby Rush 2007! Yay. Would I make another one? Heck no. Love the yarn, hate the pattern confusion.

The yarn I'm using is awesome. It's hand-dyed from Woven Art, and I like the color graduations that go through it. I think it's kinda cool.

(These pictures are dark, so go here for a more accurate color.)

Final Specifications:

Pattern: Child Placket-Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Kona Superwash 100% Merino hand-dyed from my LYS, ($20 per skein of 520 yards, used about 200 yards)
Needles: size 7 circs and double points
Time: 1 day knitting, 2 days frogging and re-knitting
Cost: $20 (with enough yarn leftover for another!)

Has this ever happened to you?

2007-07-15T19:52:00.001-04:00

What a frustrating weekend! Can I just go back to bed and have a do-over?

First, The Boyfriend moved in his stuff for the time being and my kitchen now looks like this:

I've been packing boxes all week. I'm pooped. And the movers actually expected me to help me carry stuff too? Uhh.. no. That's why they get paid the big bucks.

So, I get to live with my little, one bedroom apartment looking like this until September. Thankfully, I'll be in Tennessee for most of August, so I don't have to live stepping around boxes for too long.

Then.. on to the knitting front. Sooooo frustrating. In an effort to get some things finished for Baby Boom 2007, I thought I'd make the Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm disappointed in this pattern for a number of reason, the least of which is that the "buttonholes" are made by pushing the buttons through the seed stitch. Huh???

Like any good knitter, I googled for an errata page, and found this, which had corrections to 9 of the patterns, but none for the Placket Neck Pullover. There's no corrections on my pattern, I'm good to go - right? WRONG.

The pattern is supposed to be so simple, but was written terribly. (Seriously, it isn't necessary to say ssk, k1, k2tog, and then in the next line tell us to knit stitches in between the decreases. It's repetitive and confusing.) I ripped out giant heaps of yarn on multiple occasions because things just didn't look right. Then, when I got to the placket on the neck, I knit a few rows before I realized that it was off center. Are you kidding me??

This was when I decided to go to google to see if anyone else was as confused by this as me. Turns out - there's a whole errata page just for this one pattern. Are you kidding me?? Why on earth would the authors make a separate page just for one pattern, yet leave up another "complete" list - with 9 of the patterns in the book - and not add this one pattern to it!?! And let's just say that the "errata" isn't something minor - it starts off by casting on a completely different number of stitches and then goes from there. So frustrating.

So, I have to frog out about 5 rows now (for the 3rd time). I'm not a happy camper. And to think, this pattern of only stockinette and seed stitch had me feeling like a total knitting idiot. I'm so glad to know that it wasn't me. This sweater is going into hiding until I see fit to look at it again.

Breathing a Sigh of Relief.

2007-07-14T09:16:00.000-04:00

Cancel Red Alert. Threadbear threw some yarn in the mail to me the other day after I called. I think that I'm so used to bad customer service these days that I'm still in shock. I'm pretty sure that when they told me that, I sat there with a bewildered look on my face for a good 15 seconds. (Not that I should be with them, the store is fabulous, and the employees are always so kind.)

The Tulip Sweater has been saved. Carry on with your Saturday.

Red Alert! Red Alert!

2007-07-12T18:17:00.000-04:00

So, here I am.. knitting along on the Tulip Sweater & surprise! It really looks like it is supposed to look! I finish the second sleeve and was about to start on the neck - and what is this?? I'm out of yarn?? How did that happen? See that little blue stragglely piece there? That's all that's left!

When I picked up the kit, I had noticed that the blue skein for the trim was about the same size as the other skeins of of yarn, but really didn't think too much about it. I was in possession of a Tulip Sweater kit! The only thinking going on involved how fast I could get home to cast on for that thing!

I called the LYS today to ask if they could maybe give me some more yarn. (Possibly kinda tacky, but I swear I'm on gauge and following the pattern precisely.) I have enough out of the rest of the colors to make more than half of another sweater, so I think this was truly an accident that I got short yardage of this one color.

I feel like they owe me enough yarn to finish the neckband and do the icord ties. Is that asking too much? The lady on the phone seemed very confused at the idea that there could be short yardage, and told me that a manager would call me back in just a few minutes. Four hours later - no one called. Hmm. I'm going to chalk it up to "they got busy" and stop by on my way home tomorrow after my internship.

On another note, The Boyfriend gave me a gift certificate for a LYS that I hadn't been to yet. I went this afternoon, and it was definitely a unique experience. I had wanted to get yarn for a sweater or cardigan for myself, but they didn't have enough in one color - in any yarn - for an adult sweater. Then, I figured that since Baby Watch 2007 has just jumped to FIVE babies (yes, FIVE!), I'd get some yarn for a baby sweater instead. They didn't have anything but acrylics, and then in not so great colors. The acrylic part interests me because their slogan is, "Naturally Nice Fibers." Intriguing. Another interesting note - the person working at the store had never heard of The Yarn Harlot. I repeat - she'd never heard of the Yarn Harlot. Blasphemy.

So, after pouring through the aisles for an hour and a half trying to use my free money, I wound up getting some Sockotta, Adrienne Vittadini Allegra in a coral color, and the best thing - I got some Addi Tubos in 1's and 2's. Happy Birthday to me! I have no idea what I'm going to do with the Adrienne Vittadini, but it was gorgeous and shiny and called my name. Maybe a lacy, light scarf?

Stripe-y scarf from long ago

2007-07-10T21:28:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! You guys are so great. I always love getting comments, but comments with birthday wishes are even better!

I'd forgotten that I'd made this scarf, but I really like it. & wanted to post it. I found it today when I was making room in my closet for The Boyfriend's stuff. (He has to be out of his apartment soon, so he's moving in for a few weeks until he takes the Bar Exam. He's studying 14+ hours a day now, so he's like the roommate who is never home. It's great!)

The pattern is a simple, knit one row, k1, p1 & repeat the second row. I blocked it & it stopped a lot of the curling, but I know that it will pop back up. It's to be expected. I started with this pattern before I knew any better.

The yarn is di.Ve Teseo. I really like the self-striping that it does. I've tossed the label already, but I'm pretty sure that the color was 25565 judging from the webpage. I'd picked this yarn up at Sit n' Knit before I left South Bend. The really great thing is that Nicole had a contest back last summer that I won. She sent me an amazing collection of yarns, needles, stitch holders, etc. One of the yarns was a partial skein of this same yarn! I was so excited. Of all the yarns and all the colors, she sent me the same yarn that I needed to finish off this scarf! Since I had some extra yarn, I was able to make my scarf extra long. I really like it, and I can't wait to wear it this winter!

Summary:
Pattern: Row 1: k1, p1, repeat, Row 2: knit
Yarn: 2.5 skeins Cascade Yarns di.Ve Teseo (maybe $25?)
Needles: Size 9 Brittany Birch Needles
Time: Who knows? This thing was on the needles for months

There's a little knitting going on here.

2007-07-08T12:10:00.000-04:00

I'm not normally a "show your works in progress" kinda girl, but I figure after the big whine-fest that I had last week, I should post something a little more positive. (Thanks for all the great advice, by the way!)

So, here's a shot is the first of my second pair of socks. It's made out of Colinette Jitterbug in Jay. It's short yardage (and I'm still learning socks), so I decided to just use the pattern on the inside label so that I didn't run out of yarn. It's just a simple pattern, but I've been warned that there was an error in the heel. I kinda avoided this entirely by just doing the same heel as I did on my first sock because I got confused by something in the directions, and I didn't have stitch markers with me at the time I was ready to turn the heel. I'm almost ready for the toe! Yay!

On Saturday, I picked up my Dream in Color Tulip Sweater kit from my LYS. I was so excited to cast on for this thing! It knits up really fast. Several of my girlfriends are pregnant, and one in particular is an especially good friend of mine, so I'm making this one as her "In Case It's a Girl" present. If she has a boy, it's going into the closet for someone extra special. It's too cute just to give to any ole pregnant lady.

It's kinda funny because The Boyfriend keeps looking at it and telling me that it's too small for a real baby. It's sized for 6-9 months & I'm gauge. I think he just thinks that babies come out weighing 30 pounds or something. I really can't tell you the last time that he actually spent time with a real baby, so his view is a little skewed.

I really like this pattern a lot. I'm tempted to put my name on the waiting list for another kit, but I think I'm going to pass for now. There's too many other cool patterns that I want to make first.

First pair of socks - Check!

2007-07-07T12:07:00.001-04:00

So, I survived my final exam, although I still think someone needs to re-think the exam schedule. Ours was Friday night at 6PM, but some poor schmucks were in there at 9AM taking an exam on Saturday morning. That's just not right.

My camera got returned from Sony with a "sorry, we can't fix it" note attached. I'm a little bummed. But then it hit me! I'd just steal The Boyfriend's for the time being. He'll never know!

I finished these socks a few weeks ago, but I didn't want to torture anyone with the camera phone pictures anymore, so I waited to post them.

I used a simple pattern that I picked up at my LYS. It has just a little bit of ribbing at the top, and the rest is just stockinette. I learned that I do beautiful k2tog's, but I really suck at ssk's. On one side of my heels, the stitches are so pretty, and the other side is more than a bit wonky.

I'm knitting another pair of socks now, and it's getting a bit better, but still leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe it's just one of those things that gets better with practice?

In Summary:
Pattern: Beginner Lightweight Socks, $4
Yarn: Trekking XXL in blues/teal, $14
Needles: Size 2 double points

On another note --- I heart Sarah. As I was sitting at home yesterday cramming for my Business Enterprises exam, the UPS man comes knocking on my door and delivers me a birthday present.

I was so excited! It was definitely the boost I needed during the day. (For the record, nothing is worse that sitting 3 feet away from a giant pile of yarn that you can't touch and having to read about the fiduciary duties that directors owe shareholders. Blah!)

Anyway, the books were so cool! I haven't gotten a chance to really sit down and look at them in detail, but Dominknitrix has a lot of instructions for techniques that I haven't tried yet. I'm really excited to sit down and learn some new stuff! Also, Naughty Needles has some really fun patterns in it. (I'm sure The Boyfriend will be excited!) I'm so excited to sit down with these books this weekend and pour through the pages!

100% Non-Knitting Content.

2007-07-02T22:30:00.000-04:00

If you only like to read pure knitting blogs, then move along. No knitting in this post.

I'm really frustrated and just downright depressed. When I was in grad school, I felt like I was surrounded by friends. I was involved in a couple of different groups, so there was always someone around to hang out with or to call if you wanted to go out and do something. Law school isn't like that at all. Chalk it up to the competitive nature of the curve, the fact that it's like high school version 2.0, spending 12+ hours a day in the library, whatever.

Anyway, I've just felt really lonely since coming here. I have a lot of acquaintances, but I don't have a single one of those "ride or die" friends as The Boyfriend likes to call them. There's several people that I think I could be friends with in another context, but the whole law school thing just knocks it out completely.

I got through all this loneliness by remembering that I actually do have friends, they just all live in other places. That worked until this weekend.

Someone that I thought was one of my closest friends got married this weekend. This friend was a guy, but there was never any of the weird "are we more than just friends?" moments that sometimes come with having a close guy friend. For two years, he and I went everywhere together. We even nicknamed one another "Hip" because we were always attached at the hip. We hung out nearly every night, we went on road trips for concerts, and for three years I spent time with him & his family during the summer at their lake house.

Anyway, I wasn't invited to the wedding. At first, I was OK with this because I thought that maybe it was a family only affair. Not the case. His sister posted pictures of the wedding online this morning, and the wedding was huge. There were 6 attendants on either side, and four out of the six guys were part of "the group" that I was in. Seeing all those pictures just felt like such a slap in the face.

I'm pretty sure that I will never say anything to him, as it is his wedding and he can invite whomever he wishes. However, my feelings are just really raw right now. I think it's the combination of being excluded, while also realizing that I really don't have those "back up" friends like I once thought. Seeing all the people I care about all dressed up and smiling into the camera, while realizing that I wasn't invited to be a part of it, was just downright painful.

Right now, all I want is to go home, sit on the back porch with my mom & a giant glass of wine, and have one of those talk-to-3AM chats that my mom is a world champ in giving.

Has anything like this ever happened to you guys? (Also, feel free to tell me I'm being a big baby about things. I might not like you for a day or so, but maybe it's what I need to hear.)

Maybe I should just be happy that I don't have to buy a wedding gift.

Funny sidenote: When I told this story to The Boyfriend, he lovingly reassured me that he would invite me to his wedding. Ha! We laughed for at least 10 minutes at that.

Upcoming Projects & Updates.

2007-07-02T10:54:00.000-04:00

As I was surfing the blogrings today, instead of studying for the exam that I have in 5 days, I stumbled upon McKnitter, who creates some really lovely stuff. (Keep reading, this does have a point!) Anyway, McKnitter linked to Lotus Knits who is having a contest - and I love contests! They want to see either your first finished object (which is here) or what you are planning to cast on for next. Everyone go enter!

So, here's where I must confess about how far I've fallen off the no-yarn-buying-for-the-rest-of-summer wagon. I just put my name on the list for the Tulip Sweater kits at my LYS. I'm not sure when the kit will arrive, but I can't wait to cast on for this thing!

So, dear friends, not only have I bought an unhealthy amount of sock yarn lately, but I have also pre-ordered yarn. It's very sad. However, have you seen the sweater?! My LYS actually does them in alternating colors, so you can switch it around a bit. Plus, I'm still working on my summer knitting goals, I'm just replacing a baby blanket with a baby sweater. That's ok, right?

I actually surfed around the knitting blogs this weekend to see others who are doing this sweater. It's one thing when the Yarn Harlot makes a sweater, but can the average knitter still make it? Well, turns out there are tons upon tons of people making this sweater, and they all are doing a bang-up job, and no one seems to be wanting to pull their hair out. Don't believe me? Here's a perfect example! (I've never made a sweater before, so I needed the reassurance!)

Also, thanks for all the suggestions about knitting books! I love getting comments & hearing what you guys think are great books. I still have a few more days before I have to order, so if you think of anything in the meantime, please let me know!!

What am I knitting currently, you ask? Well, I've finished these socks, and cast of for another pair with my Colinette Jitterbug in Jay. Supposedly, the camera is on its way back to me from Sony repairs, so I'm going to wait a few days before posting a picture.

This week is going to be filled with a whole lot of non-knitting because I have a final exam on Friday night at 6:00pm. Whoever thought that having a 4 hour exam on a Friday night at 6PM was a good idea is just a crazy loon. Wish me luck!!

I need some help!

2007-06-29T21:11:00.001-04:00

So, I need to order some books on Amazon for my step-dad's birthday in July. However, my subtotal is just shy of the $25 you need to get free shipping, so I figured that while I was at it, I'd buy myself a birthday present as well and pick up another knitting book.

However, I don't know what to get! Help!

I'm up for knitting just about anything, so any book with interesting patterns will do. Just to help you out, my book collection currently includes:

Any suggestions?

More Charity Knitting.

2007-06-26T13:07:00.000-04:00

(Ed. note: I swear I'm working on my camera issues.)

Here's some scarves that I knitted during my blogging vacay back in the fall & spring. They're all going back home to my church's Warm Embrace ministry. Tennessee doesn't get too cold, but something handknit goes a long way to warming the heart.

The first is Lion Brand Jiffy. I used dusty pink and alternated with the k1, p1 rows and knit rows. It makes a nice fabric, but I don't like the rolling. I originally bought it to match my cute gray wool coat that the boyfriend bought me for Christmas (yay!!), but I didn't like the color in the end. It reminds me too much of the mauve that my childhood room was draped it. Eck. I have some more of this leftover. If it doesn't become a square, then it might be knitted up into a hat. We'll see.

The second is Lion Brand Homespun. It's more of the leftovers of a baby blanket that I knit without blogging about. Oops. Since you can't see a whole lot of stitch definition, I just used garter stitch. This was my "car project" for about a month, so I needed something fast, easy & on big needles.

I've already blogged about the third scarf and my feelings about fun fur-esque yarns. It's best to move on.

The 4th & 5th scarves are made with Sensations Angel Hair. I know it's cheap acrylic, but I love knitting with that yarn. It's so freaking soft & cushy. And cheap. The pink one was inspired by the Republic Scarf, but I didn't add the button. I picked the wrong yarn for it. A button wouldn't have looked good. The second is called "Berry" and is more of an orangey color. It looks very fall-ish. I used a basket weave pattern with each box being 5 x 5 stitches.

However, I think I'm going to retire soon from acrylic yarns. They were good when I first started knitting because I had know idea what I was doing & it was best to waste less money when something wasn't really wearable in the end. But now, my finished objects are actually presentable, so I think I'm going to use up what is in my stash & start investing in better yarns. Goodbye Joann's! I'll miss you and your 40% off coupons. However, I think the hole in my heart can be filled with Threadbear.

I was tagged.

2007-06-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

I got tagged by Jen on a Birthday meme, but when I went to wikipedia to look for all the fun, exciting things that happened on my birthday - there were none. Although I think July 10th is a day to be celebrated - it is clearly a boring day in world history. Another interesting note - it always rains where ever I am on my birthday, even if just for a few moments. I used to find it annoying, now I just find it comforting.

So, rather than bore you with unexciting events in world history, I'll send you to a pattern that is SUPER exciting. Nicole has designed a fabulous (and free!) pattern for a pair of socks that are to die for. You must go look at them. In my opinion, they rival many of the "must knit" socks that are on everyone's lists.

Charity knitting.

2007-06-24T09:52:00.000-04:00

During my first year in law school, I really did knit a little - but I did go on a 9 month hiatus from blogging. I don't really have an excuse. I just kinda forgot to document things.

So, today I was having one of those weird "I-can't-sit-down-I-must-clean-everything
-in-sight" moments. I happened upon all the things in my charity knitting pile, so I thought that I would take a picture of a few of them.

The top row are teen-adult hats. The black/gray one is made of Lion Brand Wool Ease. The middle is of Red Heart in Ocean (don't judge! you know you have some in your stash too!). This hat matches the second knitted thing I ever made. The last one is Yarn Bee Luscious. It's leftover yarn from this scarf.

The baby hats are on the bottom row. The first two are in Caron Simply Soft in Orchid, the 3rd in Lion Brand Homespun. (It's leftovers from a baby blanket that I knit & gifted before I took a picture!) The 4th is another Caron Simply Soft in Iris, and the last two are some unknown fuzzy baby yarn that I got on sale for $1. I love using all my little balls of leftovers to make baby hats. You don't need too much, and it always looks so super-cute at the end.

The black/gray one has a funny story. I made it for the boyfriend for his Easter basket. It was the leftovers from a scarf that I had made him last winter. He loves to wear beanies, so I thought that he might enjoy a handknit one. Of course I waited to make it until the day before. After I was finished, I tried it on and it fit me perfectly. Perfectly! It was then that I realized I'd have to make another one. The boyfriend has a HUGE head. I mean HUGE. We have the same hat that we wear to Notre Dame games - mine is in Medium, but a small & a half would probably fit better, while his is an XL & an XL and a half would probably fit. So.. I had to stay up three hours to knit him another one so that the Easter Bunny could deliver one that fit. He loved his perfectly-fitting hat in the end - and the too-small one ended up in the charity pile to keep someone's (much smaller) head warm next winter.

Big Bad Baby Blanket

2007-06-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

I'm kinda in a finished objects drought at the moment. I've been working on my socks, and although I have one finished, I don't want to post it until I have its mate. I think it would be too easy to leave it on the needles and start another one at that point.

So, I thought I'd post a picture of something that I finished during my 9 month hiatus from blogging. I started and completed almost 90% of this blanket during Christmas break at home, and couldn't make myself complete the last 20 rows of seed stitch for the longest time. It's a great finished project, but those last rows are just murder to me for some reason.

It's the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch n' Bitch. Since I started this project in my hometown, I was stuck with the selection from Wal-Mart. I used Bernet Baby Coordinates in pink. It's a really nice color although the pictures don't look that way. However, I'm mailing my camera off for repair today, so I should be back to taking decent pictures soon! The cell phone camera just don't quite do the trick.

Final Specs:
Pattern: Big Bad Baby Blanket (already purchased)
Needles: Size 9 Clover circs
Time: 1.5 weeks of real knitting, 3 months of sitting around wondering why it wouldn't knit itself
Cost: Maybe $12-15? (I'm a little unsure at this point)

One amazing afternoon.

2007-06-15T18:48:00.000-04:00

Well, so much for trying to not buy yarn. In the past week, I've really just caved. I have zero willpower, but I do have skeins of beautiful yarn to play with.

After a great day at my internship, I decided that I would swing by Threadbear, on my way home. I've heard about this store from a zillion people, many of whom don't even live in the state! All I can say is wow. The store is huge. It's easily the size of the grocery stores in my hometown. Every yarn you could possibly imagine is there. I walked in and my jaw literally dropped. I had looked around on their website and thought it looked really cool, but nothing prepared me for what I saw on the inside. Plus, the employees and owners were absolutely amazing and truly helpful. It's a nice change of pace from what other knitters have been experiencing lately.

I wanted everything, but controlled myself enough to only buy two skeins. It's Colinette Jitterbug in Jay and Lagoon. It's gorgeous, bright colors and oh so soft.

And.. I'm going again next week.

Yarn Sadness.

2007-06-14T09:19:00.000-04:00

Destash is closing. People, why couldn't you have just followed the rules?

Baby Blanket with Racing Stripes.

2007-06-12T09:08:00.001-04:00

I finished my diagonal baby blanket this weekend. I just have to weave in the ends and I can add one more thing to my "complete" pile.

Even with the whole issue with my yarns being different colors in the same dye lot, I still like the result. It's like my blanket has racing stripes or something. Ha! All three skeins that I used are different colors (the label lies!), but luckily the first and the third are close enough in shading that it looks like I planned the mistake.

Finished Specs:
Diagonal Baby Blanket Pattern - Free
Size 11 Circulars - already purchased
3 Skeins Lionbrand Homespun (Fuschia) - on sale for $6 total
Total Time - about 10 days of knitting during my breaks at work and between classes

Updated Summer Knitting Goals:

1 not-yet-started baby blanket (pattern to be determined)
Finish up moderne baby blanket
4-5 UT Dishcloths for silent auctions that are going on back home
At least another 8 garter stitch squares for the Rebuilding Greensburg Project
At least another 10 baby hats for my church's Warm Embrace ministry
An unnamed gift for a friend. (Details can't be listed for obvious reasons!)

Jumping on the Sock Bandwagon.

2007-06-11T18:49:00.000-04:00

I cast on for my first sock this weekend. I've seen so many gorgeous patterns online lately that I just couldn't resist. Plus, it seems like the best colorways are in sock yarns! You don't believe me? I present you evidence here and here.

For my first sock endeavor, I decided on the Beginner's Lightweight Socks. I got the pattern at my LYS this weekend, and waited 0.3 seconds between getting home and casting on for them.

I'm using Trekking XXL in blues/teal and size 2 needles. So far, so good. I'm used to using bigger needles (size 6 is usually the smallest I go), so doing this feels almost like knitting with toothpicks. I picked a darker color hoping that it might hide some of my mistakes a bit better. That has the potential of being really faulty logic, but that's a discovery for another day.

(And no! That knitting is not being photographed on the desk I use at my internship. Not at all! Because knitting while I should be working is bad. Bad, I say!)

Major frustration on the homefront.

2007-06-08T17:30:00.000-04:00

Crap. My "use up my stash" project is not going well. I decided to make the diagonal baby blanket with some Lion Brand Homespun that I bought for $2 a skein. I wanted a simple project that I could tote around, and you don't get anymore simple that miles of garter stitch. The color is fuschia, which I like, but the freaking shades don't match, even thought they supposedly have the same dye lots! I got to the halfway spot and switched skeins when I realized the problem. Argh.

It's just a little bit of difference, but I can really see it. I'm debating finishing it up anyway and just letting it have its little idiosyncrasies, but I can't decide. Hmm..

And to think I was really excited about making a baby blanket that wasn't pastel. That's what I get for trying to be nontraditional.

Update: I decided to keep trekking. Now it looks like I have a nice stripe running down the middle.

One week in, and I'm already out.

2007-06-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

I just fell off the wagon. In a moment of weakness known as DeStash, I purchased yarn.

But, can you blame me - look at this stuff?! It's those gorgeous blues and browns that seem to be all over the place this summer.

I'm really going to be good for while, I promise. Well, that is until Sarah comes to town. I've already planned that week into the summer budget. But other than that - no yarn buying. I promise. Cross my heart.

Update: Just for those who want to know, this yarn is from Sunshine Yarns originally. They have an Etsy shop where you can buy the yarn. They don't have any more in the Tundra colorway like I have, but it probably doesn't hurt to request it. Sunshine Yarns looks to be a one woman show (and what a show it is!), and she had posted online a few months ago that she was planning to make some more of it.

It's a small world after all.

2007-06-02T21:35:00.001-04:00

I love blogs. The coolest thing has happened. Laura, the amazing woman who started the Rebuilding Greensburg project left me a comment. I know, I know.. it doesn't excite others in the same way, but it made me feel special. So, I decided that I'd knit up a few blocks this afternoon. Here you go! I'm up to 16 now.

(I really have to get my camera fixed so that I'm not using my camera phone anymore.)

So, it turns out that Laura will be in Michigan later this summer to meet up with some friends, so it's likely that I'm going to be able to hand deliver all my blocks. She was also telling me about some great knitters and a yarn store in the area that I should visit. (I love that someone from KANSAS tells me about great yarn stores in the middle of Michigan!)

My friend Sarah is coming to town later this month, and I'm pretty excited to have someone to go yarn petting with. Turns out, even she's heard of this great yarn store, and she lives outside of Chicago. I better get to knitting. If I can get a lot of this stuff marked off my list, then I can actually buy some yarn! Yay!

Updated Summer Knitting Goals:

2 not-yet-started baby blankets (pattern to be determined)
Finish up moderne baby blanket
4-5 UT Dishcloths for silent auctions that are going on back home
At least another 8 garter stitch squares for the Rebuilding Greensburg Project
At least another 10 baby hats for my church's Warm Embrace ministry
An unnamed gift for a friend. (Details can't be listed for obvious reasons!)

Mark one thing off the list..

2007-06-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

I finished a scarf with horrible yarn. Horrible. But, if I were a 9 year old girl, I can see why this would make me feel like a princess. During exams, my mom sent me a care package that had all kinds of goodies, including some Bernat Disco. I've never been a big fan of those fuzzy scarves, but I don't think she sent it for me to make a present for myself, so I knit it up while watching TV tonight on plain garter stitch on size 15 needles. So, even though I hated the yarn, I get to mark something off my list, I'm down two skeins of yarn, and I'm one step closer to my goal!

Updated Summer Knitting List:

2 not-yet-started baby blankets (pattern to be determined)
Finish up moderne baby blanket
4-5 UT Dishcloths for silent auctions that are going on back home
At least another 10 garter stitch squares for the Rebuilding Greensburg Project
At least another 10 baby hats for my church's Warm Embrace ministry
An unnamed gift for a friend. (Details can't be listed for obvious reasons!)

Summer Knitting Goals

2007-05-31T09:15:00.000-04:00

I have big plans for knitting this summer. Big plans, I tell you!

First off, I'm on a yarn diet. I cannot purchase more yarn until I use up at least half of what is in my stash.

Here are my goals for the summer:
2 not-yet-started baby blankets (pattern to be determined)
Finish up moderne baby blanket
***Everyone I know seems to be pregnant, so finishing these are a must for the summer!
4-5 UT Dishcloths for silent auctions that are going on back home
***I will have to break the yarn diet to purchase more orange cotton, but this is excusable.
At least another 10 garter stitch squares for the Rebuilding Greensburg Project
At least another 10 baby hats for my church's Warm Embrace ministry
1 scarf for my church's Warm Embrace ministry
An unnamed gift for a friend. (Details can't be listed for obvious reasons!)

This might be a little ambitious, but I'm going to give it a go. I feel like writing it down will really help me get a handle on things, and this also helps for accountability purposes. If I fall off the wagon, I know someone will scold me.

If I can keep this up and finish all my goals without purchasing more yarn, I'm treating myself to some really nice sock yarn that my friend Sarah recommended. I really, really want to learn to knit socks, but I'm putting the project off as a reward in hopes that it will make me want to work harder.

Rebuilding Greensburg Blocks

2007-05-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

What?? Two posts in one night after having nothing for months and months? This is craziness.

I just wanted to plug a great charity knitting project for anyone who wants to do something wonderful & use up some of those small pieces of stash yarn.

Laura Spradlin of Sugar Bunny Knits is collecting 8" garter square blocks to sew into afghans for some of the families whose homes were destroyed by the tornadoes that ripped through Greensburg, Kansas earlier this spring. She's hoping for a little more than 1000, and already has over 300!

The squares are coming in from all over, and before the end of the summer, there will be some coming in from right here in East Lansing too! I've made about 14 or 15 so far, and I'm just going to keep letting the squares pile up and send them towards the end of the summer. How many can you make?

These little things are perfect for using up those tiny balls of yarn that you really can't do anything with, yet refuse to throw away. Back in the fall, Nicole sent me a package for winning a contest on her blog (yay for random goodness!). It had all kinds of goodies in it, and there were tons of little balls of yarn so that I could sample some different fibers. I used them of all for these blocks.. they probably made 4-5!

Tennessee Vols Dishcloth

2007-05-29T22:32:00.001-04:00

Wow! It's been so long since I've posted on here that I had to go through some serious hoops before I could even sign in to this thing!

Anyway, I've been knitting as much as I can - and I survived my first year of law school! Whoo hoo! I'm celebrating by taking summer courses. What? Huh?? Anyway, I've been more than a little homesick. The other day I was looking at my bright orange cotton yarn, and a few hours later - I had this! It isn't perfect, but it really reminds me of home, and that's all that matters.

In case anyone is interested, here's the pattern:

Materials:

Size 7 (4.5mm) needles

Sugar n’ Cream Hot Orange

Sugar n’ Cream White

To begin, wind a few bobbles of yarn in both white & orange. It will make life so much easier! I recommend two small ones of orange (for the small spots under the top of the T), two medium ones of orange (for the outer edges), one medium one of white (for the middle), and two smaller ones of white (for the outer edges of the T).

CO 45 with orange

Rows 1-6: Knit 3 garter ridges

Row 7: K5, P35, K5

Row 8: K45

Row 9: K5, P35, K5

Row 10: K45

Row 11: K5, P35, K5

Row 12: K13, (white) K19, (orange) K13

Row 13: K5, P8, (white) P19, (orange) P8, K5

Row 14-17: Repeat rows 12 & 13

Row 18: K15, (white) K15, (orange) K15

Row 19: K5, P12, (white) P11, (orange) P12, K5

Row 20: K19, (white) K7, (orange) K19

Row 21: K5, P14, (white) P7, (orange) P14, K5

Rows 22-38: Repeat rows 20 & 21

Row 39: K8, (white) K3, (orange) K8, (white) K7, (orange) K8, (white) K3, (orange) K8

Row 40: K5, P3, (white) P3, (orange) P8, (white) P7, (orange) P8, (white) P3, (orange) P3, K5

Row 41: K8, (white) K5, (orange) K6, (white) K7, (orange) K6, (white) K5, (orange) K8

Row 42: K5, P3, (white) P7, (orange) P4, (white) P7, (orange) P4, (white) P7, (orange) P3, K5

Row 43: K8, (white) K29, (orange) K8

Row 44: K5, P3, (white) P29, (orange) P3, K5

Row 45-52: Repeat rows 43 & 44

Row 53: K45

Row 54: K5, P35, K5

Row 55-56: Repeat 53-54

Row 57-62: K45

Cast Off

I'm flippin' crazy.

2006-08-22T23:51:00.000-04:00

I started law school this week. I think I'm insane. I just finished one graduate program, now I'm jumping in head first right back into the deep end. I didn't realize how much work actually goes into it until now - and we aren't even out of orientation. You can watch Legally Blonde 17 times and read all the "How to succeed in law school" books that Amazon can ship you, but only now do I really get it.

Moral of the story is that the time in between postings is going to exponentially increase starting now. I'm going to try to keep a little something on needles in my locker at school (yes, that's right - we have lockers!) so that when I need to just break away I can knit for a little. I set my school/study/work schedule today, and I was careful to leave an hour every evening to take a walk or knit or just read anything besides casebooks.

Anyway, enough pity party for Amanda. I finished two more of the ballbands in my last weekend of freedom. I really love these colors, they are so bright and festive. It's hard to tell from the bad lighting, but the background colors are varigated subtly.

I've made about 6 or so of these things now. Washcloths are the knitting addiction of the month. Scarves have now fallen by the wayside.

Karaoke Cable Scarf - Complete.

2006-08-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

I finished up the Karaoke Cable Scarf today, and I have to say that it was not a moment too soon. For whatever reason, I was so bored with this and it actually felt like a chore to knit. I think it was mostly because I knit the majority of it while sitting in airports last week. It conjures up bad memories. I think my boyfriend's fear of flying is starting to rub off on me. I do like how it turned out. I made it a little over 6 feet long so that it would wrap around once and still be a little long. It's not too wide either, maybe only 4-5 inches.
Pattern: Karaoke Cable Scarf - Free
Materials: Caron Simply Soft (leftover from another project)
Time: About 12-16 hours
Cost: About $2 in stash yarn

More dishcloths.

2006-08-16T00:53:00.000-04:00

I spent the last few days adding to my dishcloth collection and I thought I would share. The ballbands are from Mason Dixon Knitting, and the lacier one is the July mid-month dishcloth from the Monthly Dishcloth yahoo group.

I kinda screwed up on one side and added two rows too many, but who cares in the whole scheme of things? I'm going to use it to wash off my makeup at night. My bathroom is done in white and pink, so I'm going to make several different patterns in pastels, and I thought this pattern would make a good place to start.

Lots and lots of nothing.

2006-08-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, in the past two weeks since my last post - I've moved to another state and spent a week at home in Tennessee doing lots of nothing with my family. And then I did more nothing.

This is the first summer my family has spent in the new house, and I have to say that it is beautiful. The back porch as two levels.. the upper level is for soaking in the sun, and the lower level is especially for the 3/5 of my family that is fair skinned and goes straight from pasty to sunburned with not even a hint of color in between. The view is absolutely spectacular. I spent hours and hours out here in the evenings. Most days that I was home, the temperature was over 100, so there wasn't too much outside time during the day.

This is the view from the upper patio:
And this is the lower patio. Apparantly we've taken to giving treats to all the neighborhood dogs, so anytime you step a foot on either patio, about 5 dogs come running for Beggin Strips.
What does this all have to do with knitting? Well.. all those hours on the patio spent fending off the packs of dogs was also spent knitting washcloths like crazy. Since I am moving into a new place, I thought I would make myself a housewarming gift and replace all my icky kitchen cloths with new, spiffy knitted ones.
The three ballband cloths are from Mason Dixon Knitting. The one that looks like a quilt piece is also from the Mason Dixon knitting webpage (I swear the pattern is there, just scroll down to the bottom). And the final one is the ever-popular Grandmother's Favorite. Since my hometown was so small and all my yarn was in a mysterious location somewhere within my new apartment, I was stuck with the cotton yarn that I could buy at Wal-Mart. I know, I know.. I shopped at the Evil Empire. However, in my defense it was the only option and it was my first slip up in nearly two years of not spending a dime there. Surely that can be overlooked just this once.

In other knitting news -- I taught my mom to knit!! She's doing pretty well. She's been a crocheter for years and I'm proud of her for wanting to branch out. She's almost got her tension perfect! She also taught me to do some simple crochet. I'm really bad. No seriously, really bad.

In summary,
Total cost: About $1 for two cloths (Peaches & Cream cotton)
Total time: 2-3 hours each (with lots of distraction)

An unexpected cable problem

2006-07-26T22:01:00.000-04:00

I'm one of those knitters who gets on a kick of something and can't seem to stop. The latest is a cables. I started this scarf tonight, and unless I'm just absolutely insane.. my scarf looks nothing like the picture on the pattern. My cables are the traditional twist while their picture makes it look more like an upside down V.

Don't get me wrong, I really like how mine is turning out. I stared at the pattern all night trying to figure out what I've done, and I get nothing. Any advice is appreciated.

Cables aren't really THAT bad..

2006-07-24T20:24:00.000-04:00

After getting a cable needle the other day, I was itching to learn how to actually use it. It was surprisingly easy. I found a pattern online that didn't look too difficult, and I cast on. It knit up in no time, although I did make it a little shorter than normal because it is going to my step-sister who is 12. It is another Christmas gift, of course!

Since I wasn't accustomed to using the cable needle, I probably should have started off on something that required a few less stitches to be put on the cable needle. Apparantly, I knit a little too snug, and it was a struggle to get all 8 stitches off the needle. It got better towards the end, but you really can't tell too much of a difference. It is a really lovely pattern.

As I was finishing up the scarf, Jasmine refused to get off my lap. So, to get her back I made her wear the scarf for awhile. She didn't seem to mind, but is giving the camera the meanest look I think I've ever seen.

Pattern: Quick Knit Reversible Rib Scarf - Free!
Cost: About $3 in Caron Simply Soft stash yarn
Time: 8-10 hours

Procrastination

2006-07-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

So, instead of working on my thesis that needs to be in final form in T minus 2 weeks, I finished up Block 8 on the Moderne Baby Blanket this evening. I must say that I think it is starting to look good.. although the camera makes the colors look horrendous (the colors are bright, but not quite enough to make you dizzy if you stare at it for too long).

Rumor has it that my family is getting me a replacement digital camera for my birthday. This is one rumor involving me that I am hoping is going to turn out to be true.

Non-knitting Weekend

2006-07-16T21:10:00.000-04:00

I didn't get much knitting accomplished this weekend, but I did get the knitting deal of a lifetime. I got a $5 coupon in the mail from Erica's in the mail this week, and it turns out that Saturday was their Sidewalk Sale, where you could get one item for 25% off. I purused through the yarns for about a half hour and talked myself out of several large purchases to keep with the whole Summer of Stash theme. (I've been really good about not buying yarn unless it was needed to complete a project that was well underway.) I wound up buying some size 7 double points and a cable needle and after taxes paid 20 cents for both. You read that right - 20 cents.

I had a little get together this weekend, and my girlfriend, Sarah, came bring goodies. She got me the most fabulous yarn for my birthday. It's from a company called Malabrigo in Uruguay. Its a Merino Wool and it is so soft and cozy. I've petted it all day. I really don't know what I'm going to make with this.. but it will be gorgeous.

Another Angel Hair Scarf!

2006-07-14T11:13:00.000-04:00

So, this was the last of the Joann's Sensations Angel Hair yarn. I bought 8 skeins at a great sale and paid $3.10 each, regular price $5.99. It took basically 2 skeins for each scarf, with just a little bit left over of each. I think I'll probably buy another one of each color (if I can find a sweet sale like that again) and make matching beanies.

This scarf (in beige) is going to a girlfriend of mine for her birthday. She's dropped numerous hints that she wants a handknit. The other day, one of her sons pulled my knitting needles out of my bag and started jousting with them. After a mini freak out and visions of little kids losing eyes (I'm a little frightened of all things mommy-related these days), I showed my friend her scarf but didn't tell her what it was for. She started oohing and gooing over it and said that it would look so good on her with her white pea coat. I told her I knew that.. and I was making it to go with mine! Ha! She was all sad after that. When I finished the scarf, I held it up next to my own white coat to see -- and she was right, it does look really classy. Imagine this paired with brown boots!

The yarn has a really awesome quality.. the stitches are in a creamy color, and the fuzziness is the light brown/tan color. Of course you can't tell how beautiful the scarf really is because of the whole Treo situation. It almost looks drab and lifeless, but I promise it really isn't at all.

Total Price: $6.20 (2x2 rib pattern - free)
Time: About 5 days of knitting during my lunch hour
Having a birthday gift finished a month early: Priceless

More Moderne Blanket

2006-07-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

Yes... I am still working on this dang blanket. It is just taking me forever. It's gotten too big to throw in my bag, so I can only work on a few rows each night. I'm never home these days, so I only work on it for about a half hour each night. This whole two job business with trying to write a thesis on the side isn't quite as easy as I was hoping it would be.

After the current block is complete, there's two more large ones that get put on the bottom, along with a long strip down the right. I'm pretty sure this thing is getting a border too. If I can finish before my big move in 2 weeks, I'll be a happy camper.

Cats and yarn

2006-07-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

And for the longest time, I thought the wet spots in my yarn got there because it was sitting next to a glass of ice water. Little did I know that it was because Jasmine was trying to eat the yarn.

I caught her in action this time! When I fussed at her, she just sat and looked at me with this blank expression. Believe me though, she knows what she did.

Birthday Blues

2006-07-10T20:26:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday, and I must say that it was possibly the worst birthday I've had in awhile. Not to wallow in my own sorrow, but no one remembered. Well, let me rephrase that - no one who actually lives in the same city I do, remembered. So after feeling sorry for myself all day, got take out sushi for dinner, bought myself a birthday cake and finished up a scarf. Having another Christmas present completed really feels good. And, not to sound evil -- but none of the jerks who forgot my birthday will be receiving handknits this year.

The scarf is yet another Sensations Angel Hair scarf. I know, this makes my third, but it is such an easy project, with amazing end results. Don't believe me.. look for yourself!

So, my boyfriend way outdid himself this year for my birthday. He met me at a friend's lake house for the weekend. About 15 of us were there to soak in the sun, and it was lovely (minus the fact that every single one of the girls there was engaged and could only carry on conversations involving weddings or invitations or caterers or dresses or... you get the point). Anyway, when he arrived, I met him at his car to help him carry his stuff in. He asked me to get his car charger out of the glove box. When I opened it up, I saw the infamous teal box and I knew it was going to be something lovely because he has amazing taste. This is what I found:

Then.. when I was only half paying attention because I was still in shock at the beautiful necklace, he says "hey look what I found back here!" It was another box that contained these:
I think more than one tear popped up in my eyes. He's such a wonderful man. I know I'm very lucky. I wore them both to work today even though they really didn't match my outfit. Not surprising, the same people who didn't acknowledge my birthday didn't notice my amazing new jewelry either.

Still chugging along on the Moderne Blanket

2006-06-27T18:18:00.000-04:00

I'm kinda an idiot when it comes to knitting. I got so excited to start this project, I just picked the same sized needles that I would normally use for this yarn, and started the pattern. Because the pattern calls for size 6 and I used size 9, you can imagine how big it is turning out. I'm only on block #7 out of #10 (and the last few blocks are huge), so my baby blanket it going to probably be a toddler or a young child blanket. Oops. It's still fun to make, so I won't cry over it too long.

Cartoon of a Moderne Baby Blanket

2006-06-17T03:42:00.000-04:00

In my fit of insomnia, I decided that I couldn't wait to "see" what my finished version of the Modern Baby Blanket was going to look like, so I drew a quick schematic so that I had a rough idea. I'm lovin' it already! I just started the first purple block (4th one total), and I'm hoping to at least knit through half of the 5th one before the weekend is out. I'm a little over booked, so that might be an ambitious goal. A girl can dream, right?

The colors from the photo that I posted the other day really don't do it justice. They are very much brighter and more vibrant in real life. Oh well, I guess that's the best you can expect from a camera phone!

I think my camera (and maybe my television remote) are the two things that I miss most after the robbery. But I did learn an interesting trick by accident the other day - my remote for the small TV/VCR combo works (sorta) for my living room TV. You can't do anything fancy, but you can scroll through the channels and adjust the volume. It tends to get a little annoying when you want to go from ABC Family (Channel 78) to The WB (Way down at channel 5), but it's definitely better than playing the "who's closer" game.

Moderne Baby Blanket

2006-06-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

Somehow, I was lucky enough to win a copy of the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have bought it myself, because of the name. Even though I'm originally from the South, I'm not into the whole country theme, and I really thought that was what this book was about. Boy was I wrong! I want to knit everything - in seven variations. The patterns are all really simple and things that you've probably seen a million times. However, they are hip and updated with lots of suggestions on how to get your creative juices flowing and truly make it "your own".

Using some leftover Caron Simply Soft, I cast on for the Moderne Baby Blanket a few days ago. It's just a variation of the Log Cabin Patterns, but a little larger. At first I thought all the garter stitch would bore me, but it really doesn't. I get so excited for the color change that I just keep knitting and knitting.. What did you say? These colors look familiar? They should!

When I finish the blue rectangle, I'm adding a dark purple and then the colors start to repeat. If I'm feeling feisty, I might add a yellow border in the end.

They have a great knit-a-long going, and when I actually get a camera other than the one from my Treo, I'm going to join. There are lots of really beautiful projects being created in this!

Pea Green Scarf - Done!

2006-06-14T15:09:00.000-04:00

So, I slipped up. My "home" project needed new yarn, and I was too lazy to drive across town and actually pick some up last night. I had a whole evening to myself, and I knew that I wanted to spend every minute of it knitting, so I worked on my "lunch" scarf. I finished up the rest of it during lunch today and I have to say that I just love this yarn!

For some reason, I had serious trouble with the bind off today. I was two stitches shy of the end when I ran out of yarn, so I had to frog a few rows.. then it kept slipping off the needle. Argh! It took a good half hour just to do that last row. Does this happen to other people, or is it just my bad karma lately?

Christmas Present #3: Check. (and it is only mid June!)

Price: $6.20
Time: About 5 hours

Progress Report on Ribbed Scarf

2006-06-13T15:39:00.000-04:00

Today, every bench within a 200 foot radius of my building was taken during lunch.. it was like everyone had the same idea of having lunch outside for the day. I finally found a nice, quiet bench in an area that I really didn't know existed.

It might be my new lunchtime home because I didn't get interrupted a single time. Generally, at least once a day someone sits down next to me to tell me about how they used to knit, or how their great aunt twice removed knits. That's nice and all.. and normally I wouldn't mind being social, but this is my time to be alone and enjoy my 45 minutes of peace before heading back to read more boring journal articles for the afternoon.

I made quite a bit of progress today.. I thought that I would share. I think I can finish it up by the end of the week by only working on it during lunch. That's my goal anyway.

2006-06-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

I finished the Yarn Bee Luscious scarf this weekend. I feel pretty impressed that I managed to finish it in a week with working two jobs, 16 hours a day and going out of town for the weekend. I know it is just a scarf, but it does make completed Christmas Present #2! I'm on a roll.

Total cost: $5.88 (Hobby Lobby 50% off sale)
Total Time: one week of knitting lunches and a couple of Saturday afternoon movies

I cast on for another scarf today and accomplished a little during lunch. I know that I've already made a Ribbed for Her Pleasure scarf, but this is the same yarn and I know from multiple froggings that this is the only stitch that I like with this yarn. Other people might have better luck, but all those fancy stitches just disappointed me. I'm using size 13 needles with Joann's Sensation Angel Hair yarn in Light Green. I'm really making some progress on the de-stashing.

Knitting Conspiracy

2006-06-09T14:14:00.000-04:00

There is definitely a knitting conspiracy going on around the Bend.

First, my apartment was broken into this week. They took a lot of stuff, including my digital camera for taking progress pictures of my knitting! They even let my cat run away in the process of stealing all my stuff. As if that wasn't bad enough, they destroyed several projects that were in progress, and threw unused yarn all around my apartment. The couch cushions were in the kitchen floor! The police officer's first question was "Does it normally look like this?" Are you kidding me? Who naps on the kitchen floor!?

Anyway, Jasmine returned minutes after sending up a little prayer for her safety. She was gone abot 12 hours, but came home in good shape. I was worried about her safety because she's always been an indoor cat and doesn't even have her front claws any longer. (Please don't spam me with comments about how this is inhumane. I tried the alternatives, and they didn't work.) Anyway, my baby girl is home now and I'm so excited.

Back to the knitting conspiracy. I think they are trying to ruin my lunches too. The bench that I park myself on every afternoon became a haven for lawn work today. I'd been sitting there, minding my own business when three lawn mowers and the hedge trimmer guy decided that my bench was the only area in the whole campus that needed attention. I lasted about 20 minutes and then I just had to pack it in early. It looks like the Yarn Harlot was having similar problems the other day.

Anyway, here are some fun pictures of the hedge trimmer guy and my scarf project. I had forgotten that my Treo can actually take pictures (and video if the mood strikes)!

Knitting in public can get you in trouble

2006-06-05T15:38:00.000-04:00

During lunch today, I went outside by the Dome to knit awhile before heading back to my lab to read more boring papers. I was listening to my iPod and working on the scarf that I started the night before, when two ladies walked up to me to inquire about what I was making. They were so excited that "young people" were knitting these days. Somehow at 26 I don't really feel like a young person anymore, but I digress.

It turns out that one of the ladies worked at the amazing new yarn shop that has opened up downtown within the last year. This is the yarn shop that I have grounded myself from after going in and realizing that I literally wanted to purchase every yarn in the store. I can eat Ramen noodles for a month, right? She was telling me about all the great yarns they have in now.

I want more yarn.

The Beginnings of a Luscious Scarf

2006-06-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

What? Two updates in one day? Shocker.

So, I started another project today and I thought I would share. I think this makes project #4 on the needles, but who's counting?

Anyway, this scarf is going to be a Christmas present for one of my girlfriends. The colors completely remind me of her, so there is no way that anyone else could ever wear it. Isn't it funny that some things remind you so strongly of a person or a place? I can't quite pinpoint it, but once I got about 4 inches into this project, I knew exactly who this scarf needed to belong to. I didn't buy the yarn with any intentions whatsoever, but it is nice to know that it is going to find a good home.

The yarn is Yarn Bee Luscious in Blueberry Twist. It's 100% nylon and very soft - and purchased on sale for $2.94 a skein. There's a small string that runs through the middle and lots of little wispy fibers that make it fuzzy. At first I thought I was going to throw it against the wall and just let it collect dust for awhile until my anger at it subsided. It was so difficult to get used to using. I am not an especially tight knitter - although I can cast on so tightly sometimes that it makes breaking out of Alcatraz look simple in comparison.

There is absolutely no stitch definition, so I'm just using plain ole garter stitch to make it simple on myself. I like how it is working out.. it almost looks like a watercolor or something.

To be honest, I'm trying to make all these easy, breazy projects to use up a lot of the yarn that I've collected since I first started knitting in February. I have to move at the end of the summer, and if the boyfriend sees how much yarn I really do have, I'm afraid it won't be pretty. Unfortunately, I like to make a little too much fun of his watch and shoe collection and this will just give him too much ammunition! No joke, he has more shoes than can fit on the top and the bottom of an extra long closet - and all the shoes are stacked and in individual boxes. My yarn collection definitely rivals that.

Christmas Gift #1 - Done!

2006-06-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

Of all the many, many scarves that I have made since learning to knit - this one was by far my favorite. I used Sensations Angel Hair and there is a big possibility that it might become one of my new favorite yarns. It's so soft with just a little bit of fuzz - perfect for the midwest winter! It is a 22%wool/50%acrylic/28%nylon blend. I purchased this on sale (of course!) for $3.10 for a skein of 120 yards. I used almost all of both. There's just a tad more left.

The pattern was the "Ribbed for Her Pleasure Scarf" from Stitch n' Bitch. I actually had tried probably four or five types of stitches with this before I decided on the simple 2 x 2 ribbing with size 13 needles. I love the way this turned out. Funny thing is that it almost looks like a stripe running through the middle of the ribbing. I like the unintentional effect!

This scarf is probably going to be gifted to a friend or a family member for Christmas this year. I have two people in mind, and I guess it will just depend on what else I can come up with before December. Both of the girls are pink fanatics and would look awesome in this color.

Total cost: $6.20
Time: a few evenings of watching TV and one lunch hour

A prime example of why we shouldn't rush..

2006-05-24T10:56:00.000-04:00

I am addicted to knitting. Last night when I should have been doing 10,000 other things, I found myself jonesing for an instant gratification knit. I purused through my stash and found some JoAnn's Sensations Life (a wool/nylon/acrylic blend) that I had scooped up on sale a few weeks ago. I decided that I was going to make the purse from the Lion Brand website. Somehow, my purse looks only a fraction as cute as theirs.

I'm not sure exactly what I don't like about it. The yarn is nice, but maybe I don't want to carry around a faux zebra bag? I really am not sure what it is about this bag that rubs me the wrong way. On a good note, the bag only took about 80 yards of yarn, so I have a skein and a half of it leftover. My gauge was a a little off, so I wound up making it 2 inches shorter than what it called for just because it was starting to look a little tall.

I think I'll keep the bag as a reminder of why patience is a virtue in the knitting world. You definitely get what you deserve on 1 night projects.

Total cost: $4.20
Total time: one evening of watching the Eastern Conference Finals

Diagonal Baby Blanket

2006-05-11T01:19:00.000-04:00

I think I am becoming addicted to finished objects. I live for casting off almost as much as I live for casting on.

I finished the diagonal baby blanket tonight. It doesn't look much in these pictures but the original pattern really shows its true beauty. Everytime I break out the camera to take a picture, my cat, Jasmine, thinks its time for her to be in the spotlight and refuses to move.

I used Yarn Bee Fleece Lite in Iris purchased at Hobby Lobby during the last 50% off sale. Four skeins of yarn (5 oz., 108 yards each) on size 11 circulars made this the absolutely perfect size. I even have enough yarn leftover to make up another baby hat.

The yarn is a lot like Lion Brand Homespun, only it doesn't have the silky threads. It's 97% acrylic (I am by no means a yarn snob) and is really soft on the skin. I absolutely love the color! It is mostly lilac but there are spots of very dark purples, pinks and whites that show up.

If I were planning to have a child in the next 3 years, I might just keep it for myself. But, alas, this FO is going into the "to be gifted" pile for the next time someone has a baby girl.

Total cost: $7.98

Yarn Bee Topkapi

2006-05-06T20:11:00.000-04:00

One of my girlfriends told me about a sale going on at Hobby Lobby this week, and somehow I miraculously left the store with spending only $20 but got enough new yarn for three new projects. I thought that I was hiding my yarn stash pretty well, but my boyfriend called on the way over and said "Don't you have enough yarn already?" Dang it! Gotta do a better job hiding it. He's not as oblivious as I once thought.

So, I picked up a new yarn for his mom since the last present got diverted to someone else. She's one of the trendiest dressers I've ever known, so I thought that I would make her a cute little skinny scarf with drop stitches. I'm sure that she has several dozen outfits to match it already. I used Yarn Bee Topkapi in the color Aya Sofia - it's Hobby Lobby's version of Bernat Matrix, only it has a little fuzzy component also.

She is coming out this way next weekend for her neice's graduation, so my goal is to have this finished before then. I think I can do it. I've barely put in 20 minutes at this point and I've gotten 3/4 a foot finished already.

Cost of project: $3.72
Time: About 3 hours

Angel Glitz Ribbed Scarf

2006-05-05T03:07:00.000-04:00

I bought some really awesome yarn at Joann's on sale last weekend for $2.10 a skein (regularly $3.99). The skeins only had about 50 yards in them, but for about two bucks you can't pass it up. The yarn is Sensations Angel Glitz in light blue - a mix of acrylic, nylon and wool. It's so soft and fuzzy!! There's this nice silvery cord that runs through the yarn that gives it a nice little sparkle.

When I first picked out the yarn, I thought I was going to make something for my boyfriend's mother (whom I absolutely love!), but everytime I picked up the yarn to work on it, I thought of my high school best friend, so I think that's some sort of sign that this scarf needs her as its owner.

Because the yarn was so fancy schmancy, I just did a 1x1 ribbing to keep it on the plain side, and I think it turned out nicely. The close-up picture is actually more representative of the true color, plus you can see a little of the sparkle in the yarn.

Not to bad for a scarf that cost $6.30!! I love a good bargain.