I CANNOT WAIT!

I want in on the Ravelry, but I’m #1912, so I got another two weeks or so to go before I can finally get in to the site I keep hearing so much about!

*impatiently waits*

Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve updated. Things have been BIZZAY and I really need to update our joint blog. But I’m here so I’m updating this one first. You lucky readers you

Things have been kinda nuts and up in the air, but overall really good. We got moved in with the help of Ryan and his neighbor (they got it done FAST!) and we’re getting settled in now. It’s been pretty laid back since I’m working part-time and don’t really have a set schedule yet, and Nathan is in the process of job searching.

Speaking of jobs….I’m working at a yarn shop! It’s the perfect job for me at this point in life. I don’t feel overwhelmed with details, my boss, Ellen, is great, and I LOVE the atmosphere of the store better than the other local stores. She’s also keeping her store as environmentally friendly as possible, with local and/or “green” yarns. AND, she’s really made an effort to have affordable, quality yarns, so I have a lot of choices to pick from even if I’ve only got a little bit of fun money!

This month, I’m essentially getting her online store up and running, and once that’s up (by September 1), I’ll be doing order fulfillment. So if you want to order any Crystal Palace yarns or needles, order them from k2tog and I’ll get to pick them up from the warehouse, package them up, and send them to you! I am so excited about seeing the warehouse! I’ll be in heaven!

As far as projects are concerned, I’m still working on Wicked. I only have two more rows till I take off the sleeves and continue with the body. I am sorta surprised that I’m actually sticking with this project. Normally I get bored and end up putting it aside. I think the colder weather up here is motivating me!

I did start another project, though. I’m working on an Irish Hiking Scarf in Cascade Venezia (super soft merino & silk blend) in a deep purple color. It’s going to be a store display for September and then I’ll be wearing it all winter, haha.

On the home front, since I’ve had more free time than I’ve had in, well…. forever, I did some baking yesterday! I made whole-wheat/semolina rolls and corn bread muffins. YUM! We were out of bread, but I had the stuff to make it, so I did. Although, I have to admit, I screwed up my first attempt at bread-baking here. In our old apartment, I could turn the oven on and let the dough rise on to of it. Well, that doesn’t work for this oven!! The dough started BAKING in the bowl since the oven was releasing so much hot air. I don’t know if the stove is slightly defective or what, because I’ve never had the top of an oven get so hot like that. I mean, the bottom of the dough was actually turning golden brown! Unfortunately it wasn’t edible so it got tossed *sigh* The next day, the muffins got made first, since those don’t have to rise. Then I just turned the oven on warm and it was perfect.

Well, I gotta go. Time to get ready for work!

 

Here it is!

~2440 stitches down, 1 million to go

What I’ve done so far (I cast on 244 st and I’ve done about 10 rows to equal about 1.5 inches of work – this is gonna take a while!!). Underneath is the sketch.

The design

And this is the design! Up close and personal! Like I mentioned before, it’s loosely based on the Shapely Tank by Joan McGowan-Michael, but I essentially just took the short-row shaping technique that she uses. The front is going to have a little arm shaping (enough so it’s high enough to not show too much cleavage), but not much. The back is going to cut straight across also, but a little lower. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to just do a garter edge at the top, or do something a little fancier. I think I’ll end up deciding once I get there. I might not WANT to do anything fancy by that point!

The straps I’m thinking will be a skinnier version of the straps on Mariposa and possibly a different stitch pattern that’s a little sturdier than stockinette (I really need to get a Stitchionary). Maybe Seed or Moss stitch.

The shaping will essentially be a flare from under the bust. Then for the bust shaping, I’ll use the short rows.

We’ll see how it works out! Especially considering I have still not finished a single garment yet.

 

Wristies (Wrist Warmers)

A new pattern has been born!

This one is super easy and could probably be knit up in an hour or two by a fast knitter. It’s a great pattern for using up leftover yarn since they are pretty small. I don’t know the exact yardage, but both of them barely put a dent in my 7 oz skein of Caron Simply Soft.

You can find the pattern link in the sidebar if you want to go print off a copy!

I’ll probably come up with some variants of this pattern and add them to the pattern list (I’ve already been thinking up ways I can add crochet or knit embellishments) . I was originally planning on making them with cables, but scrapped that idea so I could just get them done quickly.

I’ve already gotten compliments from my dad and my co-worker, and Nathan wanted to steal them this morning…I guess that’s a good sign!

 

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately, I spent the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 sick. Blah. I suspect it might be strep throat, but the rapid test came up negative, so I’m waiting on the culture to see whether I’ve actually got strep. Otherwise, I’ve just got a really weird sore throat (no stuffiness or cold symptoms) and major tiredness.

At midnight, Nathan woke me up to wish me a Happy New Year and give me a kiss. He’s such a sweetie

I did manage to be somewhat productive in that I finished “Little Earthquakes” by Jennifer Weiner (one of my Christmas presents) AND finished BOTH of my little Wristies (they’re small for wrist-warmers, so that’s what I’m going to call them). I love them because they don’t get it my way, but they actually are pretty good at keeping my hands warm and cozy. I can even knit with them on (I was knitting the second one with the first on one of my hands, teehee).

Nathan loves them too since he wants me to make him a pair now!

The pattern is simple, so my next post will hopefully be the pattern and pictures.

 

I’m gonna be keeping myself busy in 2007!

I got a set of circulars thanks to my dear hubby!

I LOOOVE these needles! I switched the sweater over to the Boye needles so I can see all my work stretched out as I work on the sweater.

I’m still getting used to having the wires attached, but I like that the actual needle part is shorter and doesn’t get caught on blankets/pillows/couches/husband/person that are near my elbows.

Speaking of the sweater….I am DONE swatching! I don’t have it down 100% perfect, but as long as I’m paying attention to what I’m doing, I can get it right and usually fix any mistakes I do make. Plus, since I’ve got it mostly down, the mistakes aren’t as noticeable.

After Chauntel & Tracy’s help:

Finished! (the extra mini-swatch was done on the circulars to make sure the gauge was still right because ny straights were *slightly* larger even though they are supposedly the same size):

I stopped by Chauntel’s house on Saturday to say hi and borrow some knitting books. She gave me a TON of yarn (yippeee!) and so far my favorite is this mill-end cone that is a beautiful lavendar color. I already started on a scarf for MIL’s (other MIL – not the one I made the belt for) birthday in January. On my new circs of course!

(The ball is the largest center-pull ball I’ve ever done – and by hand!! LOL)

Lastly, a non-yarn creation

Christmas Breakfast!!

I hope you all had lovely Holidays! Hooray for a short week

PS: Oooh, I almost forgot….the last crochet project I did was the java cozy for my mom. I love how it turned out and she loved it too!

 

Updates and Patterns

I’ve been tweaking with my sidebar (so easy in the new Blogger!) and notice that there is now a FREE
PATTERN section!

Which means…..*drum roll please*

I finished writing the pattern for the purse!

Also, I’ve been meaning to check out Google’s relatively new Document & Spreadsheet thingy, but I haven’t really had a reason to. Turns out that it’s very handy for publishing patterns or other documents (plus, if you use the new Blogger or gmail, all you have to do is sign in to use it).

Here’s the pattern, courtesy Google’s fantabulousness. (PS: check out the knitting Kangaroos on this holiday Google Doodle).

If you make the purse, please send me a link so I can see! And if you find any pattern errors, let me know.

 

The Purse!

Here it is! Happiness!

I love how well the crocheted scallop edge adds the perfect feminine touch, but the wide ribs give it structure. I am kinda amazed that I actually made this!

Everyone really liked it at knit group, so I will post the pattern for everyone! (I’ve got a good chunk written out already).

This was SOOO much fun to make, it went pretty quickly (it’s a really nice yarn to work with), and it looks so great. Even though the blocking took for-freaking-ever, I’m super happy with how well it worked. YAY!!!

I can’t wait to see how my sister likes it

 

Getting my knit on.

Now for the promised pictures!

First off, I am jumping on the fan bandwagon and posting my signed “Knit 2 Together” book. I LOOOVE this book! I’m so glad I got it as my first real knitting book. I can’t wait to get started on a project from the book…although it’s gonna be probably a month till I do. *sigh*

Now on to the meat of this post: I did my first blocking! And I took pictures to prove it. I read Eunny Jang’s recent post about blocking, and it really helped. My only complaint was how freaking loooong it took to dry! But it’s a little thick and I did put a towel under it (on top of a very large, thick plastic bag), so that might be why.

Pre-blocking:

Soaking (I used no-rinse “Soak” in the Flora scent):

Draining:

Expressing the water:

The pinning process:

I only blocked the side strip (which will make up the side panels and strap) on the sections that will be sewn to the side.

All blocked and writing the pattern (which I will share when it’s all done and I know it looks good!):

Here it drying the rest of the way on a clothes drying thingy, with the scarf for my mom next to it (don’t mind the mess). It’s amazing how much better it looks! I can’t wait to get it finished.

And to top it all off….here are my first real cables! I’ve been wanting to figure out how cables work, and I finally did. Yippee!

They are attached to my sad looking little tester swatch, but there they are and they are cute I put my handy-dandy new cable hook thingys from Knit & Pearl (Clover brand). I really like how they work.

 

Necessity = Mother of Invention

Projects

My original holiday gift plans have been totally turned on its head (thanks to over-estimation and sickness) and last night I had a near panic attack about how I was going to manage getting everything done in time (this unfortunately involved yelling at my husband, but he’s much better than I and forgave me and even did the dishes for me when he had already made dinner).

So, I have a new plan.

Unfortunately, the beanies-by-Hannukah got tossed out the window. Nathan and his step-brothers don’t typically exchange gifts anyway, so they’ll get beanies after the holidays “just-because”. And this after all my agonizing. Oh well. At least I’ll know what I’m doing this time!!

The shawl for MIL was not going to get done in time, so it became a large belt (she likes them). The “shawl” wasn’t really long enough anyway, so this is what I did:

I borrowed the corset lace-up idea from a pattern in SnB Happy Hooker.

I’m quite please with how it looks. I just hope it fits. If not, there’s enough holes in it to make it tighter. Or she could also wear it as a scarf.

Now, on to my last two fiber projects… Sis #2 gift and Mom gift. I decided to knit these two items since I’ve made crochet gifts before and I wanted to add a different feel (plus, I think I made a scarf out of the one of the yarns I’m using and I don’t remember for sure who I gave it to, so if it’s the same person, at least it’s a different pattern).

For Mom: A ribbed skinny scarf using Homespun yarn (2×2 rib).

I decided to make it ribbed to give it a little extra texture and thickness. Plus, I know how to do that already.

For Sis #2: A ribbed purse.

I’m branching out on this one…..it’s a 4×2 rib! This is actually a yarn I bought pretty much cause it was on sale (and it looked cool and fancy). It’s an Italian yarn made of 60% virgin wool, 30% Alpaca, and 10% acrylic. I’m not making a scarf because the yarn does irritate my skin a little and I don’t want to risk it irritating my sister’s skin. I can work with it without too much irritation, though, so that’s good. I am making a simply pocket purse with a flap and I think I’ll add some sort of border to the flap using crochet.

This project is also going to be interesting because it will by my first project with… *gasp* …a decrease! I’ll need to decrease a bit once I get to the flap, especially since it will have a border. The only thing I haven’t decided what to do about is the handle. I think I may buy one, or make one out of something other than knit. If you have any ideas, let me know! (If anyone reads this anymore…I’ve had a comment dry spell lately).

Patterns and Pattern-Writing

Lastly (and slightly un-related to the rest of this post), I have been wondering about patterns and pattern-writing. When does an altered pattern become your own? Case in point: MIL’s Shawl-turned-Belt/Scarf. Since it is now a completely different item (even though I followed the pattern exactly except for excluding the beads, making it shorter, and adding some chains), can it become my own pattern?

I wouldn’t call a pattern my own if I changed something simple on a complicated pattern (ie: altering a border on a detailed blanket, or excluding beading). On the flip side, if a pattern is simple, and I make a couple alterations to spice it up, I would call it my own (ie: changing the patterns on a basic granny-square blanket pattern).

I’ll have to look around some more and see if there are any websites that address this (maybe crochetme.com or knitty.com will have something about it…). Again, if you know anything about this, please let me know! I’m curious about it, before I start posting my patterns.

 

Another Crochet Me Project

This one I found in the archives and it’s a combo knit/crochet project that looks very do-able since the body is just stockinette. I just have to figure out whether the length would work for me and how to change it so it does….

Ice-Blue Ribbon (Pullover)