irishelf knits

Fall Love & a Recipe

2011-10-05T17:29:00.020-05:00

I love fall. Actually, I love all the seasons, but right now I'm really love fall. The air is pleasantly cool and crisp, the leaves are turning bright red and orange, and its still sunny when I get out of work. What's not to love?

The new season also has me contemplating all the warm, hearty food that I was skipping in the summer. I started to crave something hot for breakfast to counter the chilly mornings. My autumnal food craving inspired me to experiment with one of Robert's and my favorite breakfast foods, steel cut oatmeal, and combine it with a fall classic, apples. The result is simply delicious.

Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oatmeal

4 cups apple juice
1 cup steel cut oatmeal aka Irish oatmeal (I use Country Choice Organic)
2 tbs cinnamon (you can add more or less depending on your preferences)
2 small to medium apples cut into small chunks

In a medium sauce pan bring the apple juice to apple a boil.
Slowly stir the oatmeal into the apple juice. Continue to stir and allow the mixture to boil until its thickened a bit, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the apples and cinnamon.
Lower the heat to medium and allow the oatmeal to simmer, while stirring occasionally, until it reaches the consistency you desire, approximately 30 minutes.

The oatmeal right after I stirred in the apples and cinnamon.

The oatmeal freezes and refrigerates well. It will last several days in the fridge. I highly recommend making this over the weekend and refrigerating it in serving sized containers so that all you have do each morning is microwave and enjoy.

Gettin Ready for the Cold

2011-10-01T20:33:00.000-05:00

One of my coworkers claims that if squirrels have bushy tails early in the season we will have an especially cold winter. He claims that the tales are looking extra fluffy this fall and thus I am preparing.

Bavarian Tulip Mittens from last year's fall Interweave Knits are ready

Scarf in Old Shale pattern using my handspun underway.

Ok maybe I'm not entirely convinced by that squirrel tails can predict the weather, but its as good a reason as any to knit.

FO: Sewing Machine Cover

2011-07-16T15:34:00.000-05:00

My sewing machine and I don't always get along. When I first got it for my birthday a few years ago, I had to send it back because the stitch selector didn't work. And then for a long time we were good, for the most part at least. More recently, the feed wasn't working, and Robert and I spent a whole evening poking around inside the bobbin area. I dusted it, and it still didn't work. Robert dusted it, still didn't work. I was looking into repair shops while Robert dusted the inside again and viola it worked. Yea, my machine was that dusty. It was then that I realized I'd have to buy or make a cover.

After procrastinating for a respectable amount of time, I looked around at patterns on the internet and bought fabric. Using this and this tutorial as my guidelines I made this:

My version doesn't have a pocket, but I did a lining inside and then used double folded bias around the edge. Isn't it adorable? Can you tell those are little birds kissing? Here's a close up so you can really appreciate the cuteness:

Now I can leave my sewing machine sitting on my desk, ready to use, and not have to worry about it getting super dusty again. And it's so darn cute it makes me happy to look at it. Maybe it'll make me sew more, but then I'd have to remove the cover.

Tour de Fleece Week 1

2011-07-10T18:10:00.000-05:00

Since I have a wheel now I decided it would be fun to participate in Ravelry's Tour de Fleece, which is a spinning event that coincides with the the Tour de France. And it just happened to start at the same time as my vacation so I did lots of spinning this past week. Here's one very full bobbin of merino/silk, and I have another well under way.

I also spun in the car on my Bosworth on the way to and from the Cape. It didn't even make me motion sick, which knitting and reading sometimes do.

I enjoyed my vacation week in Cape Cod tremendously, but its back to work for me now. Besides I had to come home to get this:

Its a Gripping Yarns Rose spindle in East Indian Rosewood. It's beautiful and so delicate. It's smaller than I thought it would be, but since I've never seen a supported style spindle in person I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. I also love the little sample of merino/silk she included from Corgi Hill Farm. Now I just have to learn how to use it or maybe I'll just continue to admire it.

Spinning Tuesday: Bells of Ireland

2011-06-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

So after sitting around for weeks, I finally washed my green BFL from Corgi Hill Farm. Isn't it pretty? Spun and plied on Lendrum. I have about 300 yards of DK to Worsted Weight yarn.

Another New Toy

2011-05-24T08:08:00.001-05:00

I just go these:

Yep, those are hand carders, which I found used on etsy. They're quite old, and at first they turned my wool brown because the teeth were rusty. But I've now worked enough greasy wool through them that the rust has been cleaned out. Now, I get fluffy white rolags like you see above.

The motivation to buy carders was that I finally decided to do something with this:

That is a whole bunch of wool I was given by an acquaintance with sheep. He gave it to me a year ago, and I just let it sit around because the thought of processing 3 fleeces was kinda scary. But now that I have my wheel it actually seems doable, and I'm having experimenting with preparing my own fibers.

Its definitely a different spinning experience, and I've been practicing long draw drafting. My earlier attempts at long draw weren't all that great. It just didn't work well with the fiber I was using. However, this fleece is suited to woolen spinning with its short downy fibers, and I've been having a lot more success with long draw. It's a good think I figured out how to spin this stuff because I have a lot more to do.

FO Friday: Annis

2011-05-20T10:25:00.030-05:00

I have something to admit. I am not a process knitter. Of course I enjoy the process of knitting, but mainly I knit because I want the finished thing not just for the sake of knitting itself. Annis, however, is one of the exceptions. Recently, I had a hunger for lace. For whatever reason I really wanted to do a whole bunch of yarn overs and decreases just because it is so fascinating to see them grow into the pattern as you knit. So I searched through my stash, matched yarn with a pattern, and cast on.

To satisfy my lace craving I picked Annis from Knitty 2010 and used Dye Dreams Panda Sox in Seashore, which I bought at the CT Sheep and Wool Festival last year. I loved the pattern, its simple and pretty. But this was my first time doing nups and at first they were a giant pain. After some research though I started knitting them very loose on the right side and then used a smaller needle to knit the stitches together on the wrong side. This made the nups so much easier, and while they're not perfect I think they look pretty good for my first experience with them.

As typical with lace, it took a good blocking to open it up and make the shawl really shine. Now its lovely and drapey. I think the bamboo in the yarn helps with drape and makes it shiney. These photos don't really do the color just. In the sun, the color ranges from deep turquoise to blue and has lovely sheen.

I didn't really need another shawl, but I do love it. It should be perfect for all those cool spring and summer evenings I'm waiting for.

WIP Wednesday

2011-05-18T16:56:00.000-05:00

First, an update on something posted before:

The Corgi Hill BFL is plied. I decided to go for a basic 2 ply, and it looks lovely on the bobbin at least. Of course it still needs to be skeined and washed but the spinning at least is done.

I also casted on a new projects recently. (Don't worry, I've finished stuff too but that's for another day)

The beginnings of a the Beautiful Baby Sweater from 101 Luxury One Skein Wonders, which will be going to one of my co-workers who's having a baby towards the end of the summer.

FO Friday: Mother's Day Nutkins

2011-05-13T10:04:00.032-05:00

Like so many parents, my mom and dad are hard to shop for. Fortunately, my mom can usually be pleased with one of my knits. So when I realized that Mother's Day was approaching back in April I offered to give my mom any of the projects that I was working on at the time or to make something else for her. When I mentioned I had a pair of socks on the needles she made her decision very quickly.

These are the socks she choose, Nutkins made with Dream in Color Smooshy in Beach Fog. As many have said Smooshy is a lovely yarn. The colors are vibrant and the yarn is smooth and springy. It even holds up well after wearing and washing. It's just perfect for socks in my opinion. The pattern was great too, though I decided to do my regular heel rather than the short row heel called for. I'm a little sad to give them away, but of course my mom deserves them.

WIP Wednesday

2011-05-04T11:30:00.002-05:00

A half granny square shawl using Plymouth Zino. I lost the tag so I'm not sure what color this is, but it looks nice in the pattern.

Two bobbins of corgi hill farm BFL. I'm still trying to decide if I want to navajo ply them or just do a 2 ply. We shall see...

WIP Wednesday

2011-04-27T17:06:00.000-05:00

My latest projects...

A diamond rain vest in Knitpicks Comfy for my sister. The back is already done so just the front to do.

And...

Nutkin Socks in Dream in Color Smooshy. They hardly count as a WIP since all I need to do is close up the toe on this sock and then weave in the ends. Yay progress!

My New Toy

2011-04-25T20:51:00.000-05:00

This year I got my birthday present early.

Its my very own spinning wheel! A Lendrum double treadle that I found used on Ravelry. The former owner is moving across the country so my family and Robert all chipped in so that I could give it a new home.

I have to say I am in love. In the two weeks since I got it I've managed to spin a lot of fiber. First, there's the 4 ounces of Romeny that I spun the very first weekend I had it. Its now 120 yards of plush 2 ply aran weight yarn. Its feels soft and squishy and I plan to knit it into a ribbed hat.

There's also the alpaca/silk I bought at Rhinebeck last fall. Its now 260 yards of DK weight 2 ply. The loose blend of the fibers gives the finished yarn a tweedy look, which I love.

I also learned how to Navajo ply on it and made 2 mini skeins to practice

On the wheel now is Corgi Hill Farms BFL in Bells of Ireland. The BFL is very nice to spin. The long fibers make it easy to draft, and its pretty soft.

This picture was taken Friday, and that bobbin is almost full now. If I keep this up I'll be plying by the end of the week. Good thing the Sheep & Wool Festival is this weekend :)

Comfort and Joy

2010-11-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have been a bad blogger of late. It turns out that working full time eats up a lot of free time. My job is very busy, so I have no spare day time to blog. This is complicated by the fact that I've been doing holiday knitting recently. So much of knitting can't even be shared right now.

But tonight I did a little something for myself. I wound up 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Greenline Worsted in Ysolda Red. I plan for these to become a hat and mittens. The colorway is a bright, bright red. This little phone photo (my camera is dead of course) doesn't even come close to portraying the glorious, almost neon, red of this colorway. But I have Christmas carols stuck in my head and this colorway makes me feel cheery so I had to share anyway.

Hopefully, my camera batteries will charge quickly and then I can share a better in progress shot soon. I hope everyone else if enjoying the holiday season and finding their own little bits of joy.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

Yikes it's been so long since I've updated. Working seriously cuts into my blogging and internet time but I've still been enjoying lots of fiber related goodness. Like I went to Rhinebeck for the first time, and it was awesome! I only did a day trip on Sunday and can now understand why people go for the weekend. There is so much going on that I just couldn't get to everything. I walked around all the vendors and animals but I missed out on the events since I was so busy fondling yarn and fiber.

I did get lots of goodies. The one I'm most excited about is my new Bosworth spindle made of Tasamanian Rose Myrtle. It weighs 26 grams and spins beautifully. In the picture its wearing some baby camel fiber, another Rhinebeck goodie.

I also went to the Stitches yesterday. I didn't sign up for any classes since they filled up so quickly but I wandered around the market place for awhile. I loved the Miss Babs booth and simply could not resist getting some of their lovely spinning fiber. I picked a wool, bamboo, and silk blend in their 'Up up and away' colorway.

And tomorrow marks the beginning of Knit a Sweater Month! Rather than start a new project I'm pledging to finish my current sweater project before November is over. I have a pretty serious head start so maybe I'll actually succeed. Below are the fronts of the Minimalist Cardigan from the Fall 2007 IK. They're coming along nicely and the back is already done.

I'm using Berocco Ultra Alpaca. What is truly amazing is that I bought this yarn to make this sweater probably two years ago. How often does a knitter buy yarn for a project, get distracted by other things for a long ass time, and then actually use the yarn for the intended project? This is a first for me at least.

A Perfect Morning

2010-10-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

There is no better way to spend a chilly October morning then sipping a hot cup of coffee and reading about yarn. Well, maybe it'd be a tinsy bit better if I was actually knitting but this is great too. I'm enjoying one of my last days of unemployment by reading Clara Parkes The Knitter's Book of Yarn.

I picked this up from the library recently since I've heard so many great things about Clara Parkes books (btw the Hartford library has a surprisingly decent collection of knitting books). I've read the first two chapters and have to agree that is book is pack full of useful and interesting information. Clara Parkes clearly knows her stuff. For each fiber she discusses its properties, what sort of projects it's good for, and advice for what to look for in yarn. There is also lots of great information about some smaller yarn companies and farms.

As a beginner spinner I find the fiber information incredibly useful because she discusses things like how much twist a particular fiber needs. Angora, for example, needs lots of twist to keep its short downy fibers together. And apparently many commercial yarns skimp on the twist to save money which is part of why angora yarns shed so much.

This book makes me desperately want to fondle yarn so I have to break every now and then to wind yarn into cakes for a new project and to ply some singles I finished last week. This is a corri cross from Fiber Story in play room. I spun the singles on my Spindlewood mini and am using my Kundert to ply.

So far I'm pretty impress with myself. The singles are much more consistent than my last yarn. I fumbled a bit with the plying at first but I've settled into a grove now and its progressing nicely. The finished yarn will be fingerweight-ish and I have a lot of it. Four ounces apparently makes a lot of fingering weight yarn. But it'll be perfect for a lace scarf or shawl.

Also since this yarn is almost done, I won't feel guilty about buying more fiber Sunday at Rhinebeck. Total win!

Project Round Up

2010-10-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

OhSewCrafty recently posted that rather than making a Rhinebeck sweater she's challenging herself to finish WIPs she has laying around. Recently, I've been really tempted to start Audrey in Unst with some beautiful alpaca yarn my brother got me from Peru. But I've been inspired by my fellow blogger to instead focus on finishing some of my projects before I start a new one.

First up, I have an FO! I finished sewing down the cowl and weaving in the ends of my Somewhat Cowl last night. Its currently drying on my bed, yay!

I'm also contuneing to knit away on the Earl Grey Socks. The first one is done, and I started the second yesterday. I'm already 3 inches or so into it since I only worked on it during knitting group last night.

I even dug out a project that had been hiding in the stash bin for quiet sometime. These are Bella's Mittens by Subliminal Rabbit. Yes I know, they're from the Twilight movies, and yes I did like the Twilight books, and yes that does makes me either a huge dork or a 15 year old girl. What of it? These mittens are going to super cozy and cute and perfect for my walk to work this winter. I just dug them out last after knitting but I've completed another dozen rounds so they shouldn't take too long.

Also I just want to say how happy I am with the response to the jojo cowl. Its already been faved 99 times and queued 25. Thanks everyone, I'm glad that people like it!

jojo cowl

2010-10-04T12:37:00.002-05:00

Almost two years ago my mom gave me a single skein of Knitpicks Imagination. I liked the colors but had no idea what to do with a single skein of fingering weight yarn. It sat around for a long time while I waited for inspiration. Then finally it came to me, a cute little cowl to help keep the chill away.

I pulled out the stitch dictionary, experimented, and I eventually settled on a stretchy slanted rib, which also makes it easy to loop around twice for days when you need a little snuggle.

I really like the way this simple stitch helps break up the colors and creates a rainbow zigzag on mine. It also looks great on the wrong side.

Its so simple and quick that I decided I'd share. It only took me a couple nights to complete so its a great way to use up small skeins of fingering weight yarn. With the holidays coming up it's make a great little gift too.

Materials

1 skein Knitpicks Imagination in Gingerbread House

size 4 16" or 24" inch circular needle

Cast on 160 stitches

Row 1: Knit all

Row 2: yo, K2tog to end

Repeat Row 2 until piece measures about 7 inches.

Knit one row.

Loosely bind off, block if you want, and enjoy!

Pipes in the Valley!

2010-09-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

Today was Hartford's 9th Annual Pipes in the Valley, their Celtic music festival. Despite the heat it was so much fun. There was all sorts of cool stuff there.

Like Highland cows, which are the cutest cows ever. Their long coats are adorable but with the temperature hitting 90 today I felt pretty bad for them.

There was an itty bitty owl from a bird rescue place. I forget the name, but these little guys are native to Connecticut, how cute!

Robbie bought me pretty new earrings

There was music. That's the Red Hot Chili Pipers accompanied by local pipers. It was definitely cool hearing covers of rock songs with bag pipes.

Of course, I knit during the show. I brought my latest sock project along. My friend Katie won VIP tickets so we got to hang out in the 'VIP Garden' and drink free Ten Penny Ale, yum!

Ah, there's nothing like ice cold beer and knitting on a hot day. Now its time to cool down and hope I didn't get sunburned.

One of Those Days

2010-09-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days that just starts out with things going wrong?

This morning I opened the fridge for my usual morning orange juice. While shuffling things around to get to my oj, a jar of pickled eggplant antipasto fell and the plastic cap snapped. Pickled eggplant splattered all over the fridge and kitchen floor. Then I almost broke a wine glass while loading it into the dishwasher. Not a promising start to the day.

I'm changing plans for the day. If I start cutting out the pattern for a new skirt or peeling sweet potatoes for dinner I'll probably just cut my finger off. Instead, I'm going to make a cup of tea and work on this pretty little thing.

This is my first Earl Grey sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in brown Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I started these on Friday and I'm already on the 3rd repeat of the cable pattern. I usually find guy socks to be very slow. All that plain stockinette or rib just seems to take forever, but these socks feel like they're going quickly. The little cable panels keeps things interesting, and the stockinette makes this a fast knit.

Now hopefully I'll manage not to break anything else before my much needed yoga class tonight. Maybe I should put my tea in a metal mug just to be safe.

Sweater Bath

2010-09-15T10:00:00.004-05:00

Fall, the time to get sweaters ready to wear again.

FO: Orange you Wicked?

2010-09-13T15:00:00.005-05:00

Robert commented recently that I seem to be in a finishing mood with my projects. Maybe its having finished law school and the bar but he's right. For whatever reason I feel compelled to wind up knitting projects that have been lingering around.

One example is my new Wicked, which I choose to model staring majestically out my window because well my I just look tired or my eyes are closed in all the photos where you can see my face...

Hmm, I really need to work on self protraits. But I just discovered the timer function on my camera and I consider this an improvement over past efforts. Here's another shot that shows the color more accurately:

I started this one last fall because 1) I felt this lovely orange malabrigo deserved better than sitting in the huge plastic tub of yarn in my closet and 2) my apartment was getting chilly and a new cozy sweater sounded perfect. I made good progress at first but then it languished when I became distracted by Christmas knitting.

Its little different from my pink wicked. I love my pink wicked but with its wide neck that doesn't like to stay on both shoulders it seems rather 80s-tastic to me. I avoided that this time by going down a needle size, and the tighter gauge did just the trick. The neck stays where it should, though does threaten to show off my bra straps. I also decided to not do the twisted rib pattern. This is mostly because I didn't really want two sweaters that were the same, but also because it annoys me that the numbers in the pattern don't match up at the bottom. This results in the twisted rib pattern not coming out quite right unless you have the foresight to count your stitches and adjust them accordingly. I was feeling much too lazy for even this little bit of extra counting and math so I just did plain 2x2 rib instead. I also did short sleeves since I had only three skeins of yarn. I could have made the sleeves a little longer since I still have a half ball left, but I'm happy with the sleeves so I decided not to bother.

Overall, I'm very pleased. Its finally getting cool enough for me to wear this now. This is a great addition to my sweater wardrobe for days when its a little chilly but I don't need a full sweater. Plus it's so bright that not even the horrible Hartford drivers can miss me.

yoga and knitting

2010-09-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

It's yoga month! This probably doesn't mean much to a lot of people. I've been doing yoga pretty regularly for about a year now. In celebration of my yoga-versy and yoga month I've put together a list of poses that I think are great for knitters or really anyone who spends lots of time sitting. These are all pretty simple poses, if you do yoga you've probably seen them before. For those of you don't do yoga, give some of these poses a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how much better they can make you feel.

Note: Just to be clear I'm not a yoga instructor. I've included links yo yogajournal.com to show how the poses should be done, but the best way to learn how to properly do a pose is to attend a class. Also don't do anything to hurt yourself. I'm certainly not as stretchy as the yoga journal models, and don't expect yourself to be, just do what feels comfortable for you. Of course, enjoy!

Bound Angle/Cobbler's Pose- Feeling a little stiff in your hips and pelvis? I love this pose because it helps stretch out these areas after a long day of sitting. One of my favorite things to do is lay down while in this pose to let my hips gently relax.

Standing Forward Bend- I love how this pose stretches the back. It's also very refreshing since it helps send fresh rush of blood to your head. I do this pose all the time, whenever I feel I could use a little refreshment.

Modified Half Moon- This is great for stretching your side and arms, but I could only find the description for a more difficult version. Here's what I recommend you do: Stand or sit up straight. Raise your hands above your head and gently clasp your right wrist with your left hand. Lean your upper body to the left. You should feel a stretch in your right side. Hold for a few breathes. Straighten you upper body, and then repeat for the other side.

Cat to Cow Stretch- Inhale into cow pose and exhale into cat pose. The combination of these two poses gently flexes your spine and opens your chest.

If you'd like to learn more yoga poses and get some suggested routines I'd suggest you look at Essential Yoga. It's a great book with very clear descriptions of poses and the benefits of each. If you're interested in DVDs check out Yoga for Beginners for some great intro level routines. Barbarba Benagh gives clear descriptions of each pose and how to move into it, which is great for anyone starting out. Shiva Rea's Flow Yoga for Beginners is also good for anyone who knows some basics but is still looking for beginner level stuff.

Enjoy!

Progress

2010-09-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

That is the view from my bedroom in my pretty new apartment. I could do without the creepy brick building in the foreground but I do like that we can see the capital through the trees. And well, the apartment is beautiful so I'll deal with the creepy building next door.

I've been so busy settling into the new place that my knitting has been suffering. I have no new FOs but I have been making some progress. First up, my somewhat cowl:

It has a sleeve- it almost has two. Soon I'll be working on the neckline and then it'll be done. I tired it on after finishing the body and I'm much happier with the fit. Reknitting is always painful but worth it. As long as I don't slack off I'll pretty new sweater for the fall.

Second, I have a cardigan going for my sister. This is my first bottom up sweater and I have about 6 inches of the body done.

It has been sadly neglected because during the move it got stuffed in a bag and then I forgot about it. But I dug it out today for pictures and hopefully having it within view again will help motivate me to work on it. I promised my poor sister this sweater years ago so I really need to stop procrastinating on it.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-08-28T08:28:00.000-05:00

Remember that mysterious wordless Wednesday post back in June? Well, it has been given to its new owner and I can finally share what it was.

A shawl for my wonderful mom who just had her birthday this week. I made it using my handspun merino and Cascade EcoWool. My mom admired this roving when we bought it at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival. She liked the bright and cheerful colors. So I decided that she would have to be the recipient of whatever I made with it.

Having so little yarn I knew I had to combine it with another yarn to make anything substantial. Looking around, I was inspired by Emilee's Handspun Showcase Shawl to make one for my mother. The simpleness of the pattern also made it perfect bar knitting, and I was quickly able to finish it.

It's still much too hot to need a wool shawl right now, but my mom loved it and I was pleased as punch that she liked it.

Crochet- The Solution of Many Problems

2010-08-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

Shortly after the bar exam Robert and I went to Cape Cod for a week. It was wonderful. We slept in, grilled, rode a sea doo, swam, watched movies, and spent lazy days doing nothing at all. But I poorly planned my knitting for this trip. In my post-bar haze I brought only two projects, both of which soon needed a change in needle size and forgot to bring extra needles.

As soon as I realized my mistake I tired to think of new projects with cheap supplies so that I buy everything at the nearest craft store if the need arose. Crochet creeped into mind. Plastic hooks and cotton are plentiful at all craft store. I looked at patterns, queued potholders on Ravelry, and thought about whether Joann's or AC Moore was closer. I was ready if the unthinkable should occur.

My worrying was unfounded. I had to go home for two days mid week and grabbed the required needles then. But it was too late- I wanted to crochet. I packed my hooks and bought three balls of Sugar n' Cream- in white, ecru, and natural twist. I told myself this did not count as stash because I was using it right away and I could even give away the final project.

It had been a while since I had crocheted- almost a year actually. I had to look up how to do the stitches and had a few false starts. But for the remainder of our vacation I had no fear of running out of projects.

The square ones are the Topflappen by Eva W. and the round one is the Spiral Hotpad from Carol's Crochet. Crochet goes so quickly that I had two of these done before we even returned home. I even have enough yarn left to make another one or two.

I consider them a success- they are simple, quick, and look nice. I've decided that all those people who I feel deserve a Christmas present but I never know what to give will be receiving crochet potholders this year. Yet another problem solved with crochet. I wish all life problem's has such delightfully simple and enjoyable solutions.

Packin Up

2010-08-13T09:00:00.001-05:00

In just over a week Robert and I will be moving to a pretty new apartment across the street from his new office. We're both really excited about the new place, and are so ready to move out. (Seriously, can you just give me the keys already?!)

Since he's already working I've put myself in charge of packing. Part of this mission that I tackled earlier this week was consolidating my knitting/spinning/sewing stuff. I did not exactly succeed, and I tired really hard. I even threw stuff out, like this tangled mess of unidentifiable yarns.

But it wasn't enough for my plan to work. Thoughts like, 'What if I need that half skein of cotton fleece someday?' and 'This mysterious gray yarn is really soft, I'm sure I can use it for something' started to fill my head, and it was just too much for me to overcome my hoarding instincts.

I was hoping I'd be able to fit all the above mentioned supplies into these 3 plastics bins, except of course for my sewing machine. Instead, its all yarn except for the little bit of spinning stuff I managed to squeeze in there. I'll just have to figure out something else for the fabric and other supplies.

So there you have it my stash, bigger than some and smaller than others. And it's coming with me regardless of how much closet space it takes up.

A Catch Up FO: Pink Braid Socks

2010-08-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy the past few weeks that I completely forgot to post a project I finished it earlier this summer.

These are the Braided Gem Socks from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn in Dream in Color Smooshy Petal Showers. I really like Dream in Color Smooshy because well its so smooshy. Also the first pair of socks I made with it have held up very well. They are a year or two old, are worn constantly when its cooler out, but show very few signs of wear. So I have faith that these socks will also last me a nice long time.

This was my first pattern from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, and I really liked both the book and the pattern. The books has a bunch of really great patterns and good advice for matching handpainted yarn and patterns. The pattern itself was easy, fun, didn't have any mistakes I noticed, and compliments the yarn very nicely. It was interesting but simple knitting.

What in particular is so special about these socks? Well they are pair number nine, but more importantly they were made completely with gifts. The yarn was a birthday gift from my sister, the book and the needles were gifts from my brother. Thanks guys! My family are total enablers when it comes to my knitting, and I love it.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-04T10:00:00.002-05:00

This week's edition: Things I can do now that the bar exam is over...

Spin

(Corriedale Cross in Play Room from Fiber Story on my Spindlewood mini)

Crochet

(Potholder in Lily Sugar'n Cream)

Read for Fun

(What can I say, I love Jane Austen)

Eye Candy Friday- Swatch It Edition

2010-07-30T17:00:00.041-05:00

I'm not really a big fan of swatching. I usually avoid it as much as I can. I don't swatch for socks or most small projects. But for sweaters I feel it is a necessity. Its especially important here since I'm planning to cast on for a sweater without a pattern.

I actually kind of enjoyed making this swatch. I learned that I should go down a needles size from what I was planning. I want this to be a pretty warm fabric, suitable for say walking a dog in chilly Autumn weather. I think the slightly denser fabric from the size 7s is better for my purposes here.

I also tired out a few different rib variations in an effort to duplicate a ribbing I like from a store bought sweater. I had fun playing but I just don't think this yarn has enough stitch definition to make anyone appreciate the differences between brioche rib, fisherman's rib, and a few variations I made up at the tipy top. They all look pretty much the same in this yarn, and not really any better than plain old rib. I was intrigued by the slipped rib near the bottom so I cast on another swatch to continue to play with it.

I wanted a more pronounced rib so I experimented with it some more. On the right is the 'right side' and on the left my 'wrong side.' I like the left one better since it looks neater than the right side and the other ribs I tried. It also creates a thick squishy fabric. As I was working I realized that this is basically just a plain old slip stitch rib. How wonderfully simple is that? I don't know why I didn't think of it when I was working on the first swatch. Its not exactly the same as what I originally had in mind, but I like the look of it in this yarn and its close enough. I'd really like to make this in a variegated yarn now as those always look so nice in slip stitch patterns. But we're moving to a new apartment in a few weeks so I really, really should not buy any more yarn since that just means more stuff to move. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm suppose to be using up stash with this project not acquiring more yarn.

Almost there!

2010-07-26T12:00:00.024-05:00

This picture captures what I've been up to recently pretty well: bar review, reknitting the somewhat cowl, and dreaming up a new project for that brown yarn. Come Thursday I'll be done with the bar and can toss those green books in the trash (or return them to get my deposit back and use it for wool). Actually I'm ready to toss them now as I don't think I could possibly learn any more law at this point. The bar exam starts tomorrow and the only appropriate thing to do at this point is get a nice dinner with my beau, head to bed early, and hope for easy questions.

Good luck to my fellow bar examinees out there!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

Ribbit!

2010-06-25T11:05:00.001-05:00

I remember reading through Stitch n' Bitch way back in college when I first got a copy. Somewhere in there Debbie Stoller explained the origin of term 'frogging' for ripping back. My mind must be going because I can't remember if she said its because somehow the noise of ripping back a project resembles the noise frogs make or that 'rip it' and 'ribbit' sound similar. It must be the latter. I've heard plenty of frogs and they do not sound at all like the sad little noise of ripping out knitting. Frogs are actually quite loud, especially when its summer and you're trying to sleep in a house that's next to a marsh.

Regardless of the origin of the term, I am currently faced with having to do some frogging myself. Below is my Somewhat Cowl, which has been keeping me company while I listen to bar review lectures.

While I working on it, I started to think it was coming out a touch too big, and that perhaps my gauge had changed when I switched to knitting in the round. Turns out I was right. I decided to wash the incomplete body to check on everything and my gauge is looser on the lower half of the sweater. I tired on the sweater and, as I expected, in the back there's a loose flab of fabric. Sometimes, its hard being right.

Of course, this issue was possibly made worse by my inability to count. I added a couple stitches because I thought I needed to have the right number for the ribbing. Turns out I was wrong about that the number. I fudged the ribbing a bit since I was feeling lazy.

Now I could ignore the extra fold of fabric. Its not so bad as to be unwearable. Actually most people probably wouldn't even notice it. But I still have a few more weeks of bar lectures and if you're going to knit a sweater you might as well do it right. So my poor little somewhat cowl shall be partially frogged.

But at least I have pretty socks that are going well to knit on the beach this weekend.

Spindling away

2010-06-01T09:31:00.000-05:00

I've been continuing on my journey into spinning and I've managed to finish two yarn within the past few weeks.

First up is the fawn coopworth wool I bought at the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival, which became this pretty little yarn.

Between these two skeins I have about 95 yards. The weight overall is probably worested, but it gets kind of bulky in some spots and dk-ish in others. It's pretty and rustic and I'm quite pleased. It's also the first yarn I made with my Kundert Spindle. Having a better spindle made a huge difference for me, and is at least part of the reason why this yarn came out nicer than the black Shetland.

My current plan is to knit this up as a hat, probably Buttonhead from Knitty. I have some faux leather buttons that I think will work well with the rustic nature of my yarn, and of course look really cute.

I also made my first foray into colorful rovings with another Sheep and Wool Festival purchase,

I like the barber pole look of many hand spun yarns, and wanted to achieve a similar look with this yarn. I though this would look nice since the roving had such bright cheerful colors. To do this I split the roving in half lengthwise and started spinning each half from opposite ends, with my Kundert again. While the same color did meet at certain point I did get my barber pole at others.

From this yarn it also became apparent to me that setting the twist really can make a huge difference. I got Maggie Casey's book Start Spinning for my birthday and followed her directions for setting the twist with this yarn. I don't have a before picture, but I think the yarn looks so much nicer now. Here's a closer view:

Overall, I'm happy and I really like it. My spinning is more even in the these yarn and I was able to spin thinner. I ended up with about 85 yards of yarn that is probably DK to Worested in thickness, but have no idea what I'll use it for.

Eight!

2010-05-25T08:03:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned not too long ago, I recently had a sudden uncontrollable need for blue and pink stripe socks. I'm happy to say that this need has now been satisfied.

I learned two new things, and this is particularly pleasing because its been awhile since I've learned any new techniques. That doesn't mean that I know everything, just that I've been too lazy to take on a project that requires me to learn something new. But with these socks I learn how to do helical stripes and a short row heel. Neither of these are really all that hard and I can see my self using them again in the future. The stripes are a great way to stash bust the little bits of extra sock yarn I have lying around. The short row is just a nice alternative to a flap heel. I'm not sure which one I prefer, we'll see how well the short row heel wears. But it is very nice looking and actually was not nearly as finky as I thought it would be.

Overall, I love them. They're simple and cute, and make a great addition to my collection.

Something I've learned about Spinning so far...

2010-05-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

Expert spinner I am not, but I am now on my fourth yarn and am learning more and more, mostly by trial and error and experimenting, and though I'd share my thoughts...

1. Sometimes its easier to work with a little portions. I've found when I try to work to big a piece things get a bit more complicated. The fiber gets caught on yarn I'm spinning or something else like that.
2. Some pre spinning prep can make life easier. Trying to draft from a large clump of fiber can is hard, its getting easier for me, but I find that splitting up roving or doing some predrafting makes it easier for me to get the yarn I want. At this point I'm really just trying to be consistent.
3. Having the spindle spin at the same time you're drafting is a pretty exhilarting feeling.
4. Relaxing is key. So this one night, this one really special night, I *might* have had some wine before I picked up my spindle. I stopped worrying about whether my fiber would get tangled or if my spindle would drop and all the sudden I was drafting at the same time my spindle was spinning. AND IT WAS AMAZING! Seriously, it made me really happy. Of course I ended with some funky parts that were over or under spun, but I stopped worrying about it and went with it and that made a huge difference. Since then I've been able to practice more and gotten a lot better. I even got myself a new spindle as a little birthday/graduation present to myself

This a Spindlewood redheart square mini. It weighs in at only .7 oz and I was kind of amazed by how tiny it is. I already spun up the little bit of test fiber it came with it, and it is fast. Its so different spinning with something that is half the weight of my Kundert and I had hard time keeping up with it. In the background you can see my other little present for me, Corriedale Cross fiber in Playful from Fiber Story. I love the colorway and am excited to try a new kind of wool to see how I like it.

FO: Law School & the Energy Hat

2010-05-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday marked my last law school exam ever. It was evidence, a pretty basic law school class that I put off taking until the very end. With law school over, I have a couple weeks where I plan to take it easy before I start my bar review course.

I also just realized that I never posted about my finished energy law project. This is the finished hat:

The pink is not my handspun, but my professor requested that it be made for a six year girl when I talked to him about my project and I felt the pink and the flowers made it more six year girl appropriate. Hopefully it fits, the fabric turned out very thick, with little stretch to it.

In the end I calculated that this hat took me about 17 hours to spin and knit. According to my math this means I burned about 1700 calories or the equivalent of 3/50 of a gallon of oil while making the hat. This means that I used significantly less energy than a conventional piece of clothing takes. But, in full disclosure, this does not include transportation costs or energy used in processing the wool. Since I wasn't involved in these processes its difficult for me to say how much energy was expended it these processes. The trip from Vermont to me would have taken about 13 to 14 gallons on the average USPS truck but since I couldn't find an average carrying weight I wasn't sure how to divide this up between my 4 ounces of wool and everything else on the truck. As for processing I really just have no idea how much energy or time that takes, but it looks like I'm going to learn more about this process soon.

More on my impending wool processing education another time, for now I'll just enjoy not having homework to do.

Weekend Update

2010-05-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

I have been consumed by finals recently. But here you can see the little pile of projects that lives on my couch slowly making progress. You can see my second stripe sock. Turns out short row heels aren't all that bad after all. I used the tutorial that Cosmicpluto has her on site, which you look at here.

I've also been doing a fair amount of spinning with my new Kundert Spindle. I feel like my spinning has vastly improved since I got my spindle. I can now draft while my spindle is spinning! Sometimes, at least. I'm almost done making singles with the 4 oz of fawn coopworths I got from Purple Fleece. My plan is ply it, and hopefully end up with a worested-ish weight yarn. From there I don't know what I'll do with it, but I'm really loving this spinning thing and have been looking around a lot at spindles, wheels, and (of course) more wool.

CT Sheep & Wool 2010!

2010-04-24T17:47:00.002-05:00

Today was an absolutely perfect for the Sheep and Wool Festival. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. The Tolland Agricultural Center was full of vendors, people, and of course sheep!

This year I went with my mom and we had a lovely time wondering around looking at all the booths. Of course we indulged in a little yarn and fiber goodness. Since a wheel is not in my immediate future, my mom was nice enough to treat me to a pretty new spindle. I picked out a Kundert spindle with a walnut whorl from The Wheel Thing's booth:

It's very pretty and I can't wait to spin with it so its good that I also got some lovely fiber. On top some fawn colored Coopworth from Purple Fleece, and below is some pretty merino that came from some place that I sadly can't remember the name of.

And of course I could not be around yarn and fiber all day without picking up some sock yarn. I choose Panda Sox from Dye Dreams in their Seaside colorway, which is a little shiny and generally beautiful. I'm imagining this becoming a lovely pair of socks with cables or lace.

Robert got out of going this year because he has papers to write, but he has been subjected to me showing off my pretty new wooly things so he didn't get to escape completely!

Crisis Averted

2010-04-17T08:52:00.001-05:00

I'm sure everyone was really worried when I recently wrote that I was almost out of sock yarn. I know I was. But then something happened. I was about to pull out the yarn to make a cute little cotton cardigan and underneath was my leftover blue Dream in Color Smooshy. I stared at it for moment, and thought, "That ball is so full you can hardly tell I already made a pair of socks from it, there has to be someway for me to get another pair of socks out of that." Then I remembered my leftover pink Piece of Vermont yarn, had a sudden uncontrollable need for pink and blue stripe socks, and cast on.

Rather than do jogs and all that stuff, I looked up Grumperina's posts about doing helical stripe socks. This method of stripes of fantastic. Super easy and look how pretty even the inside is:

I have been loving the stripes and all that, but I did hit a bit of a wall. I decided to try out a short row heel, and I'm just not really feeling it. Short row heels look nice but I'm so familiar with flap heels that this way feels finicky and complicated. I plan to solider on with it, but I need to find a little bit of time where I can just sit down and focus on figuring how this works. Sadly, such time is in short supply and my poor little socks have received little attention the past few days. But at least I have socks on the needles again, still have my one skein in reserve, and the CT sheep and wool festival and my birthday are both approaching so hopefully my sock yarn stash will be revived. Everything is good, well, except for fast approaching finals that could be better.

Seven!

2010-04-08T11:52:00.000-05:00

At last, there it is. A full week's worth of hand knit socks to keep my feet cozy and comfy. This long awaited moment arrives thanks to the completion of these lovelies:

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock in Carrick
Mods: Did a slip stitch heel rather than plain stockinette, Added a repeat of lace to the cuff

This was my first time knitting a Cookie A pattern, and I can see why this pattern at least is so popular. The lace pattern was simple and addictive, and the directions were clear and easy. I had the lace memorized after the first repeat, and throughly enjoyed knitting it. I also liked working with the Adorn sock yarn. It wasn't splitty, didn't bleed, and was nice and soft, overall a very nice yarn. The other nice thing about this sock is that it fills a gap in my sock wardrobe. I didn't have any lacey spring/summer socks but now that I have these I'm sure they'll be getting lots of wear. Plus they match my favorite blue shoes :)

PS- it is really hard to take a decent picture of your own feet while standing up.

The New Twist Collective is Up!

2010-04-07T13:27:00.000-05:00

I'm sure by now everyone has seen the new spring/summer Twist Collective, but I just took a few minutes to look through. It is lovely as always. I have to confess I've never actually made anything or bought a Twist pattern, I just love to look at them. Twist Collective always seems to bring together such a great collection of designers for each issue, each issue I am sorely tempted to cast on one of the beautiful designs.

I am especially enarmored with Azami and Cecchetti in this issue.

I know summer is approaching and these are both long sleeved so they are not particularly practical but I'm having a really hard time not going to Webs and buying a bunch of their bright pink Southwick to cast on for my own Azami just like the one pictured ASAP.

Oh and let's not forget the socks. I have a serious sock addiction and it pleased me to no end to see they had a whole section devoted to socks. My favorite is Sweetgrass.

This sock could very well be in my future except that I'm almost out of sock yarn. I only have one skein left and I had a different pattern in mind for it. I may have to end yarn moratorium soon as not having any sock yarn is a serious problem that can not be allowed.

My first handspun!

2010-04-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

I made yarn! I finished spinning my 4 oz of shetland wool last weekend. At first I wasn't going to ply it and then went back on forth on whether to ply or not. After a few days of contemplation I decided to ply since the thickness of my singles varied so much and I hoped that plying would help even it out a bit. I think it worked overall, a few spots came out very thick, but mostly the finished yarn ranges from a worsted to bulky weight. Also plying was much easier than spinning. I was able to do all the plying in a single evening. I am immensely proud of my yarn and can't wait to get my hands on some more wool to spin, but first I need to continue working on this project (also I'm trying to be patient and wait for the CT sheep and wool festival at the end of the month). The next step is to knit this up into a hat.

Energy Project Progress

2010-03-28T16:14:00.001-05:00

The spinning continues, and its going even better today than yesterday. I spent part of this morning perusing the Beginning Spinning Group on Ravelry, and learned quite a bit. Using my new found knowledge I split my huge ball of roving into two smaller ones and this has made spinning it quite a bit easier. I'm also getting somewhat more consistent results, though the thickness still varies quite a bit. But I think the project is going very well, and as an added bonus, spinning doesn't seem to bother my wrist. I've spent a couple hours this afternoon spinning with no pain at all, where as spending this much time knitting, crocheting, or typing on a computer without a break frequently causes pain in my right wrist or hand. Overall, I am really enjoying spinning and feel immensely proud of my little bit of yarn, as I'm sure Robert could tell you since I keep showing it off to him.

Spinning Ambition

2010-03-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

My energy law professors is rather eccentric. He doesn't like people to take notes during class and the final is whatever you want it to be. Seriously, whatever you want it to be from writing a paper to drawing a comic book. He gives no guidance but encourages students to incorporate something that they're interested in or good at. Well clearly for me that means there has to be knitting involved!

I've been rather intrigued by our discussions that involve how much oil goes into making something. For example, it takes a gallon of oil to make a gallon of corn based ethanol. With all my knitting and sewing I've been thinking how much oil goes into making the clothes we wear? Is making your own clothes an alternative that would use less energy?

As a little experiment I've decided to make an item that uses as little energy as possible to make. I'm doing this mostly by cutting out all the middle men and trans ocean journeys usually involved. I bought some wool roving from Contented Butterfly Farm in Vermont on etsy that's from a sheep names Sage. I plan to spin it, knit it, and do some math to see how much energy I used in this process compared to an item of conventional clothing. Of course this requires me to spin, something I'm not really experienced in. However, after a half hour of spinning this morning, I took the picture above and I think its going quite well. It's at least not as thick and rope like as my first attempt at spinning.

Also, for an idea of what goes into an item of conventional clothing check out Patagonia's Footprint Chronicles. It tracks the average journey of some of the items they make. I find it fascinating, this is a company that actually makes an effort to be environmentally responsible but a huge amount of resources still goes into every item of new clothing they make.

Done!

2010-03-19T12:14:00.001-05:00

Just in time for what is suppose to be a beautiful spring weekend I have a cute new top to wear. The pattern is McCalls 5388, which I really liked. The instructions were clear and the top went together pretty easily. It just took me forever because I kept running out of stuff that I needed, like thread and elastic, and had to do a couple trips to Joanns before I was done. The top is quite long. Its tunic length, that kinda weird length that some people try to wear as a dress even though they really should wear pants.

I'm debating making another one of these tops using some green seersucker I got from fabric.com, or I may make one of the other variations included with the pattern. If I do I'll probably make it a couple inches shorter and possibly bring in the neckline a tad since sometimes my bra strap showed. But overall I am very pleased and hopefully I'll get to wear it out this weekend.

Oh la la!

2010-03-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

This is a French seam. Isn't it just perfect? It's pretty and neat and shows no raw edges, and thus no fraying of the fabric. This is my first time doing French seams and I am now quite enamored because in addition to all those great features just mentioned its also super easy. It's basically just 2 seams. The second one in-cases the first so that the raw edge doesn't show. I would explain more how this is done, but there are tons of great tutorials out there already.

Wardrobe Refashion

2010-03-05T17:03:00.003-05:00

Has anyone else seen the Wardrobe Refashion? No, its not a spin off of Project Runway. Its a website where a people have pledged to not buy new clothes for a certain period of time, ranging from 2 month to life. They'll either make their own or buy used in order to escape the clutches of the fashion industry. I am quite intrigued by this concept, but I don't think I currently have the time to make this sort of commitment. It does inspire me to try and make more of my own clothes, as evident by the mini shopping spree I did on fabric.com recently...

I loved the cute little blue flowers on this fabric and think it will make a perfect summer top. (Oh summer, how I miss you...) The flowers are hard to see in this picture but I assure you they are super cute. I'm thinking the short sleeved option for McCalls 5388 will be adorable. This may be what I do tomorrow with first day of my spring break. Though it looks like I'd have to get elastic for the sleeves, but that's a problem easily remedied.

My other potential spring break sewing project is making this green vine fabric into a skirt.

But the problem here is that I can't decide what kind of skirt I want to make. I'm up in the air if I want to use the tutorial for a full gathered skirt from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing (One of my favorite sewing blogs) or make a simple wrap skirt. Decisions, decisions.

FOs and Shifting Focus

2010-02-21T14:07:00.000-05:00

At last I have pretty new FOs to post! My uptown boot socks are a success, especially because I learned how to cable without an extra needle. I had not intended to do this at first, but after one row of trying to use a cable needle I realized that method was just too slow and cumbersome for a pattern with so many tiny little cables. I did mess up on the cable pattern. I didn't actually read the whole thing before starting (oops!) so I cabled to the back on Row 7 instead of two the front like you're suppose to. Of course I didn't realize this until I had finished one sock, and didn't seem worth the effort of frogging when the results are still very pretty!

I used Plymouth Happy Feet, the same yarn I used for my Froot Loop socks. I still love this yarn. Its squishy, colorful, easy to knit with, and cheap. My Froot Loop socks have gotten a little fuzzy, but have otherwise held up well and I wear them all the time. I expect I will get tons of use of these pretty cablely socks too.

I strayed a little bit from knitting recently and made a skirt. I've been spending a lot of time recently looking around at sewing patterns and fabric and decided that I should test out my rusty sewing skills and the pretty sewing machine my parents gave me last year with a simple project. I suspect that this is at least partially a result of me imposing a yarn buying moratorium on myself to save money and use up stash. Rather than actually saving money, however, I've just shifted the focus of my shopping from yarn to fabric. Oh well, at least I have a pretty new skirt.

I used Vogue 8606 because I liked the wide waist band on the skirt and pants. The pattern is also nice because it only used one yard of fabric. The fabric is a suede I picked up from Joann's. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I wore it out Friday and I thought it looked great my black boots and purple cardigan, a la above. The fit is good, though there seems to be a bit of extra fabric in the front. I'm considering making a khaki one for the spring and summer so perhaps next time I'll add some little darts in front.

Don't let anyone tell you...

2010-02-15T15:38:00.000-05:00

...that the needle arts are for sissies. See those little reddish dots below? That's blood. I pricked myself while hand stitching down the yoke of a skirt to the zipper. I actually had no idea I was bleeding until I noticed those strange little dots. Hardcore, I know.

More on the skirt as well as a finished pair of socks coming soon!

Progress

2010-02-03T17:19:00.003-05:00

So I stopped my whining and did some knitting instead, and now my second uptown boot sock has a heel! In addition to having a heel, the gusset has been finished since I took this picture. I'm just a few inched and a toe away from having a new pair of socks. This will place me only one pair of socks away from my goal of having a pair of hand knit sock for everyday of the week.

It helps that in one of my classes the professor doesn't want us to take notes, weird but true. I see this as a perfect excuse to knit during class, and he doesn't seem like the kind of professor who would mind anyway.

For those for you familiar: yes I did take this picture in the law school library. Sometimes I knit there too. I can only take so much case law after all.

Winter Doldrums

2010-01-26T21:40:00.004-05:00

I seem to be in a bit of a knitting funk recently, or maybe I'm experiencing some form of ADD. I could also still be burned out from Christmas knitting. Whatever it is I have not been doing very much with my knitting recently. Normally, I faithfully knit away at one project, sometimes two, and progress is fairly quick. Currently I have three that I've been switching between with the result being that I don't seem to be getting much of anything done.

This picture illustrates my current experience fairly well. It was taken around New Years. I have only done a few inches since it was taken, a very sad progress rate indeed.

The other two projects are a sweater and a pair of mittens. They are going equally slowly, and I am feeling equally un-enthused about all of them. These are all fairly old projects that I am trudging through since I'm not sure what else to cast on for. Hopefully, when the spring patterns come up I'll feel more inspired and excited about my knitting, but for now at least I seem to have the winter blahs.

A Quick Break from Studying...

2009-12-17T15:39:00.006-05:00

As far as I can tell environmental law is even more confusing than tax, but since I think I've sorted out how the Clean Water Act works and I just can't stand the thought of reading the word "superfund" one more time I'm taking a quick break to present these socks, my one and only knit Christmas gift this year.

Knitting so many gifts last year was a pain. So this year I decided to limit it to one gift that I really wanted to make. Plain black socks were not the most exciting knit ever, but I think the recipient might get more use of these than if I had used a more fun color or pattern.

But also... I tired spinning! After spending a significant amount of time watching videos on youtube I was able to make my very first hand spun yarn. It's been washed and dried since this picture was taking, but is still waiting for me to wind it up and, of course, make something with it.

Here At Last!

2009-11-18T09:22:00.005-05:00

Everytime I look at the Ravelry page for my pattern it makes me happy, and when I see that someone has actually queued it I do a little happy dance. So far three people have queued it, which makes me immensely happy. I'm hoping to write more patterns in the future. I have a bunch of ideas I just need the time and the yarn to actually put all this stuff together.

Knitting-wise I sadly have no pictures of my current project, a pair of up-town boot socks for myself using what is probably my favorite budget sock yarn, Plymouth's Happy Feet. But I do have pictures of a lovely package I received the other day.

These are Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock in Georgia Peach and Carrick. I ordered this way back in August and was afraid for the longest time that my order was lost. Several emails later I discovered that everyone else was just ordering from Three Irish Girls at the same time and everything got backlogged. It was a long wait but I'm in love the Georgia Peach colorway, its so pretty! And well I just had to buy it since I was born in Georgia. The yarn itself is squishy and lovely and I desperately want to cuddle it whenever I see it. Also the gals at Three Irish Girls threw in a coupon for free shipping and a sweater stone so I'm pretty pleased despite the wait.

Once I'm done with my current socks and my Christmas knitting, I'm considering making the Knotty or Knice socks with the Georgia Peach. The Carrick has no particular fate yet, but I'm just pleased its finally here.

The Better Baby Booties

2009-11-14T14:52:00.005-05:00

At last here's the pattern for baby booties I made for a charity auction. These are a seaming and grafting free bootie that are very easy and quick to make. They require only fairly basic skills like decreasing, knitting in the round, and picking up stitches so knitters of almost any skill level can make them. Enjoy and happy knitting!

Materials

1 skien Blue Sky Cotton, or other worsted weight yarn

(Note: This pattern does not use an entire skien and is a good project for using up odd bits of yarn.)

Set of 5 Size 3 DPNs

Gauge

4.5 sts = 1 in

Gauge is not critical as this pattern can be easily adjusted to fit a smaller or larger foot.

Directions

Sole

Cast on 9 sts. Knit these 9 sts in stockinette stitch for 29 rows slipping the first st of each row. Piece should measure about 4 inches (Note: If you would like a smaller or larger bootie simply change the length of the sole and adjust the number of stitches you pick up in the next step.)

Instep

Using a new needle pick up and knit 15 stitches along the long edge of the sole. This is now needle 2
Using another needle pick up and knit 9 stitches along short edge. This is now needle 3
Using another needle pick up and knit 15 stitches along the other long edge. This is now needle 4. There should be 48 sts total
Knit all sts in the round until piece measures 1" from edge where stitches were picked up.

Welt

Knit the 9 sts of needle 1. Purl back across the same 9 sts.
Row 1: k2tog using the first stitches on needle 1 and 4, k7, ssk using last stitch of needle 1 and first stitch of needle 2
Row 2: purl
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until only 32 sts remain

Cuff

Resume knitting remaining sts in the round in 1X1 rib until ribbing measures 2 inches.
Loosely bind off and weave in ends.

Tiny

2009-11-05T09:28:00.007-05:00

The month of October was taken up with making baby things, and I have to admit baby items are pretty freakin cute. They're so little. First I made a hat and booties for my cousin and his wife who are expecting their first at the end of the month. I still need to put the package in the mail, but this should be one cozy little baby.

Yarn: Mission Falls Superwash Merino- 1 skein was just barely enough for both items. I had to shorten the cuff of the booties in order to finish them. But I think they came out cute, and they're so tiny which makes them even more adorable.

Hat Pattern: Sweet and Simple Baby Hat

Bootie Pattern: One Strand Booties

Then there are these little cuties...

I made these for a fundraising auction hosted by the law school's public interest group. They do this every year to raise money for summer grants to students doing public interest work. The knitting group decided to put together a baby set to donate for the auction, and I volunteered to make booties.

I had not been entirely pleased with my first pair of booties since they required grafting on the bottom. I set out to find a new pattern that didn't required any seaming or grafting, and could not find exactly what I wanted by searching around on Ravelry. After some contemplation I came up with these. A bootie that is completely free of seaming and grafting and requires only that you weave in two ends to finish. The skills needed for this are all pretty basic too, picking up stitches, decreasing, and knitting in the round. Overall I am quite pleased with my design and feel rather clever. Once I take some better pictures I plan to put together a nice pretty pattern to release it.

It's getting looooong...

2009-09-23T16:47:00.002-05:00

But it's not done yet. As you can see the scarf is coming along nicely and will be done shortly thus giving me a finish date weeks before my brother's bday. (YES!!)

What's next? I've had this single of Mission Falls 136 Merino Superwash for almost a year and have been unsure what to do with it. But I at last have plan. I'm making this little lovely into a baby hat for my cousin and his wife who are due in November. I like the gender neutral green for a baby, and its machine washable, so perfect! I still need to pick out a pattern though so let me know if you have any suggestions!

FO: Ubdulating Rib Socks!

2009-09-17T12:00:00.000-05:00

I seem to be in a sock mood of late so when I finished my last pair I soon cast on another pair, and finished them just yesterday.

This is the Undulating Rib socks in A Piece of Vermont's wool/bamboo sock yarn. Unlike my last pair of socks I love this pattern and yarn combination. The bold rib pattern works well with the muted pinks, purples, and grays in this yarn. I often had to stop knitting just so that I could admire how pretty this is. Can anyone tell I am totally in love with these socks? Because I am. These are easily my favorite pair to date. These are also my fifth pair for myself which means I am only more pairs of socks away from my goal of having enough handknit socks for everyday of the week, awesome!

But alas I must take a break from working towards my goal. For one thing I'm out of sock yarn, but also I have other knitting that needs to get done. Like making this yarn into a scarf for my brother's birthday in October.

I had best get knitting :)

Knitting News: Knitting Up a Poem

2009-08-18T10:17:00.004-05:00

Recently, I decided to add a news filter for knitting to my google reader so that in addition to my regular reading I can see what sort of knitting stories are out there. Today I came across a story from the Guardain about the Poetry Society in the UK literally knitting a poem in honor of their 100th year.

This sounds like a pretty awesome and I can't wait to see the results, which will be unveiled in October. Apparently, they're still accepting help too so if anyone is interested you can head over the Poetry Society's website here, (they're taking crochet letters as well) and also check out the Ravelry group for people particpating here.

You can also read the poem that inspired this projet, "How to Knit a Poem" by Gwyneth Lewis, on the Poetry's Society's website here.

Summer Knittin' & a FO

2009-08-11T14:16:00.005-05:00

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy. I have two weeks left at my summer job, I've moved, and of course I've been knitting. I even finished these socks as part of the Sock Knitter's Anonymous July Challenge

Pattern: Show Off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell
Yarn: Aisling Yarn in Being There that I got from the CT sheep and wool festival

Overall, I liked the pattern and I'm happy with my socks. I'm still not convinced that this yarn and pattern combo are ideal but I didn't feel like ripping them out and just went with it. I think a yarn with shorter lengths of color would take better advantage of the stranded pattern and provide more visual interest. The long colorway here results in the strands blending in and not popping like they should. I did enjoy the different heel construction though. It was the first time I made socks without doing the conventional heel flap so it good learning experience for me.

In other news the new Fall Twist Collective is out, and I love soo many of the patterns in this issue. I don't even know where I would start if I was going to make one of the sweaters, they'll all beautiful.

FOs: Cape Cod Edition

2009-07-07T18:08:00.004-05:00

I had a super relaxing 4th of July weekend with my Robbie and his family (Many thanks again to Doreen for letting us come!). It was sunny for the first time in weeks, AND Robert even humored me by letting me take a picture of him with my current sock project at the beach. The pattern is the Show-Off Stranded Sock by Ann Campbell and I'm using the Aisling yarn I got from the CT Sheep and Wool Festival.

I've been rather productive in the past week. I finished my Froot Loop Socks, and while I didn't finish them on the Cape I did pack them and take a picture from the top deck of the condo. I really liked this pattern. It's so cute and easy. I also liked the yarn a lot. Plymouth Happy Feet is such a great deal, it only cost about $10 for enough yarn to make a pair of socks. The yarn held up great, is nice and squishy, and machine washable! (but I have not yet tired to wash them so who know how they'll hold up)

I did finish one project over the holiday, my very first crochet project! I recently decided to learn crochet and with some help from my mom and her 30 year old learn to crochet book I was gone.

I made the one skein scraf from the "Happy Hooker" and used a skein of Patons Classic Mernio I had sitting around so it was even a stash-busting project, score! I don't think crochet will replace knitting for me, but I feel crochet has its uses so its good that I learned it.

FO: Retro Reduc Shrug!

2009-06-21T19:33:00.004-05:00

At last I finished something! I was right, its the retro redux shrug, below is me modeling with my sister's dog Maddie who didn't really feel like being in the picture. (Maddie is a little camera shy.)

I made the smallest size using Berroco Love It. I didn't make any modifications except that the collar isn't as long as it should be since I ran out of yarn. I am very happy with the way that this shrug turned out. The pattern is so easy. The shaping is done just by changing the needle size so its very easy. The most annoying part was picking up all the stiches for the collar. I had to redo it a couple times to get the right number, but once ?I got past that it was a breeze to finish.

I also liked the yarn. Its soft and easy to work with, but it can be a little splitty at times. I'd use it again, but the woman at Saybrook Yarn told me that its being discontinued so I'm not sure I'll be able to unless I stock up soon.

But regardless I am very happy with how this turned out and it'll be perfect for summer- if summer ever actually gets here.

WIPS and Gratuitous Sheep

2009-06-18T18:32:00.008-05:00

Yikes, its been so long. Since last time I've had finals and started working full time so things have been busy. I've been knitting but sadly I haven't finished anything. But soon I should have a few FOs to post about like these:

Those are my central park cardi, a retro redux shrug, and the second froot loops sock respectively. I'm betting that the shrug will be the first one done. I only need to knit ribbing of the collar and weave in a few ends. The central park cardi is done with the knitting but we're fighting. I got rather frustrated with the seaming and thus decided it was time for a break. I also figured it could wait since the weather would be getting warm soon, but I may have jinxed New England because its been cool and rainy here recently and the forecast for the next week is more of the same.

Oh well, hopefully it'll get nice again soon. In the mean time here's a random picture of sheep from the CT Sheep and Wool Festival last month (which was a beautiful day)

knitting on airplanes = ok

2009-05-10T10:31:00.005-05:00

Summer is upon, as are summer travel plans for some. Thus now seems like an apprioprate time to share this post from the Evolution of Security blog, which Robert sent me yesterday. Evolution of Security is the TSA's blog, and based on a quick persuing is actually fairly interesting and down to earth.

The post explains that a few items commonly thought to be forbidden are actually allowed onto airplanes, such as knitting needles, nail clippers, and corckscrews (but only the kind without the little knife). And apparently needles made of any material are allowed. Personally, I became rather less concerned about being allowed to bring my knitting needles on board when I got through secruity with a pair of scissors and a pocket knife. But that may just be because I don't look particularly threatening. But anyway, feel free to break out those lovely metal needles and click away as you put your summer travel time to good use!

What to do?

2009-05-02T17:17:00.002-05:00

I have a bit of problem that I'm going to confess: I have a lot of stuff. Somehow over my (almost) 24 years I've managed to accumlate quite a bit in terms of wordly possessions. In anticipation of moving sometime this summer I have slowly been going through my room trying to weed out things I don't need. I threw out that binder of papers from the write on competition last summer, I have a bag of clothes ready to be donated, and I listed a bunch of my old college books for sale on amazon.

But then I come to my knitting. I have a couple of old projects that are finished but never reason. This sweater in particular comes to mind:

I finished it the fall of 2007 and have woren it maybe once, and I was at home by myself. The only reason I made this sweater was to use up the yarn. This yarn has lived a very toturted existence. I first made a sweater with but then realized I didn't have enough of it. I then made a vest with it and it was much too big. And since completeing this third incarnation it has sat around in my room and somehow developed a mysterious hole in the collar.

Sadly, I don't really like this poor sweater. The yarn is itchy and rough, a poor choice made when I was began knitting. The sweater isn't all that flattering and doesn't fit well. So what do I do? What does a knitter do when they have a completed project that they just don't like but have no need or use for the yarn? Should I toss it the donate bag? Probably but I feel bad tossing something I made.

So I'm curious what do other people do in this situation? Toss the unwanted project and move on or hold onto it in case someday another possible use is thought up?

Happy Spring!

2009-04-27T07:29:00.006-05:00

One of the unfortunate aspects of spring semester is that finals time starts just as the weather becomes nice. So I often get stuck in the library while everyone I know who is not in law school goes out and enjoys the sunshine and warmth. We had a beautiful weekend in Connecticut, and I just couldn't spend it couped up. Saturday morning was filled with yarn and sheepy goodness because Robert and I went to the Sheep and Wool Festival. I had a great time and succomded to the prettiness of some of the yarn (but I am pleases to say that I stayed under the budget I set for myself)

First up, I got sock yarn from Aisling Yarns in "Being There." The booth had a lot of great colors but I ended up going with this one because I didn't have anything else quite like it in my statsh already.

I also picked up two huge hanks of sportweight alpaca from Times Remembered, which is based in Slate Hill, NY. I am such a sucker for alpaca, its just soooo soft that I can't resist it. I'm thinking of making the Gathered Pullover with this.

But of course this weekend was not entirely dedicated to buying. I had plently of car time to spend knitting thanks to the Sheep and Wool Festival and then an improptu trip to the shore to see Rob's parents because it was just too nice to be in Hartford. I spent the time working on my Froot Loop socks, which I am quite pleased with. This pattern is super addictive, I love the cute little cables and O's that it forms.

Oh and yes I did manage to get some study time in too.

Summer Dreamin'

2009-04-13T20:50:00.005-05:00

Way back when at Christmas my mom and brother gave me the same book by accident. My brother offered to exchange the copy he bought for something else. After a month or two I figured he'd forgotten about it completely, but then along comes Easter and my brother gave me the copy of Lace Style that I requested.

I've been seriously covenanting some of the patterns in this book for awhile and am psyched to have it. I'm thinking the retro redux shrug, in maybe a cotton-wool blend, paired with this adorable dress from Heather Ross would be super cute.

Perfection. The perfect outfit for cool summer evenings on the Cape, strolling along the beach or downtown Hyannis with the man. Le sigh, I totally wish that it was summer already!

I've got a new toy...

2009-04-05T16:33:00.006-05:00

It's a knit kit! I first found out about this handy little device on the Twist blog and instantly wanted one.

Well, I got my wish on Friday. Robert brought me lunch at work and surprised me by bringing this in addition to my falafel wrap. (I know, he's awesome)

I already like my knit kit so much better than the little pouch I usually carried with me. For one thing, it is much attractive then the kind of ugly pouch I used. But more importantly, it's just so organized, and it has everything in it that I usually need: scissors, crochet hook, tape measure, etc. All in one cute, convenient, little container.

I believe Robert got mine from Sit n' Knit in Bloomfield in case anyone is curious.

By the way, I did finish Robert's socks and he has worn them a few times. I just need to remember to take a picture of them sometime so that I can post about them.

Another Option

2009-03-22T12:07:00.006-05:00

I've recently thought of a third option of what my next project should be. My best friend Rachel is getting married in October and her shower is going to be in August. I bought some white JaggerSpun Zephyr not too long after she got engaged with the intention of making her a shawl. But I have not yet decided on a pattern. Currently I'm thinking of either the Autumn Vines shawl from Living in Stitches or the Hanging Vines Stole from Heartstring Fiber Arts.

Here are the designers pictures for anyone not on Ravelry, Autumn Vines on the left and Hanging Vines on the right. The right one is a blanket size version, so obviously the shawl I make would be significantly smaller.

I feel like starting Rachel's shawl would be the best project to start since it has a deadline. I am incredibly bad about meeting deadlines (still working on Robert's socks, but I am about to start the toe decreases) so the earlier I start the better. So votes or other suggestions?

Random Sheepy Video

2009-03-19T07:54:00.002-05:00

This is not directly related to knitting but it does involve sheep and herders doing some pretty cool stuff. Its pretty impressive.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

To My Robbie...

2009-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday & Anniversary!!!

Today is Robert's birthday and tomorrow marks our one year anniversary. Robert often likes to tease me that he had to work harder to get me than any other girl in the past because it took me awhile to realize that I liked him. But this marks the time when I finally came around and succomed to the charms of the man. (Yesterday he asked to be called the man rather than the boy, I figure I should humor him at least for today)

Sadly his socks are not yet ready for either of these occassions and I already gave him his other present, which was a replacement for his favorite hat that was found on the sameday that the new one arrived. But I do have another surprise in mind for him for later.

Tomorrow is also my sister's birthday, so Happy Birthday Karen!!

btw: the top picture is of us from a camping trip at Mongaup Pond in New York last fall. It's very pretty up there and we're going back for Memorial Day this year :).

All I Wanna do is Play With Yarn

2009-03-12T10:34:00.005-05:00

It's spring break right now and what I really should do is start some outlines for class and go to my externship this afternoon. But its just so tempting to sit around, knit, and relax. Earlier this week the boy and I spent a few days in Vermont. We visited some of his friends in Burlington and then drove to Okemo for a few days of skiing. Which was awesome because it snowed Monday and the mountain was virtually empty.

On Sunday, we lesiruely made our way down to Okemo via Route 7. Its a pretty drive and I highly recommend it to anyone in the area and with some extra time. Along the way Robert basically made it his mission to find an open yarn store for me to visit. We eventually found Vermont Beads and Fiber in Middlebury. A very cute little store where I got this pretty skien of sock yarn.

The socks for my boy are coming along nicely. I will soon be starting the heel of the second sock so its possible that I may actually be able to give him the socks on his birthday or our anniversary.

Since I'm so close to finishing the socks I've started to contmeplate what my next project should be. I'm a little socked out right now so my new pink yarn will have to wait. I'm considering the Eyelet Cardigan from Blue Skys Alpaca. I already have the yarn for this and it would make a cute little spring cardigan. I could also make Icarus out of some pretty light blue Malabrigo lace weight yarn I have in my stasth. There are other options too but these two are the most appealing to me right now. Any thoughts or suggestions for making this choice? Or maybe even another option entirely?

On Snow Days and Self Protraits

2009-03-03T14:46:00.007-05:00

Wow did it snow yesterday! As a result of this late season storm I didn't have work in the morning or class in the afternoon. I did decidate a little bit of this newly found free time to studying but I also managed to finish my handspun mohair scarf. It turned out cute and is of course super soft and warm. I'm not used to handspun yarn so this was a little hard for me to work with, but I am pleased with the result.

This is not the most inspring photo ever I know. I spent a few minutes trying to take a photo of me wearing it but I ran into a problem I imagine many a knitter has: trying to take a decent picture of your self. I love my little camera but since I can't see the screen and take the photo at the same time I usually have a wierd look on my face or something. Here are some photos that could have been good but just didn't come out quiet right...

The first one is too dark to actually see the scraf. In the second I have more hair than face which makes me look like a Cousin It wannabe, and the last one is blurry and washed out. I really should just make the boy my photographer but he's at work right now.

Speaking of pretty yarn from small producers, the Twist Collective has an article written by a yarn farmer in their new issue, which I found to be very interesting.

FO: Blueberry Socks

2009-02-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

Next to my family's house in Georgia there was a blueberry bush that seperate our yard from the neighbors. I always liked to pick the blueberries during the summer. They were a beautiful deep blue and it fasniated me that the juice was purple. My mom would often make muffins using what I picked.

The entire time that I was making these socks the color reminded of blueberries. The yarn just has the prettist variation between deep blues and purples like the berries I picked when I was a kid. I am quite pleased with them, they're simple, warm, and cozy. I thought about using some sort of pretty pattern but I started these just after finals so I wanted something simple to work on.

Next up, I know I should start Robert's socks but I'm feeling a little tired of tiny needles. Instead I'm going to make something using this handspun yarn that his mom gave me for Christmas, possibly Glampyre's new Reclamation Scraf.

The yarn it from a family friend who owns alpacas and spins and sells her own yarn under the label Cold Spring Alpaca. This is a woman that I definately would like to meet sometime (I'd also love to meet the alpacas) but for now I'm just happy to have some of her beautiful yarn.

In Need of a Good Home

2009-02-08T17:15:00.001-05:00

So that hat I mentioned recently is now complete! Yay! That's one project off my incomplete list. It's a modified turn a square. I cast on fewer stitiches and did not increases after the ribbing. But I currently have no idea what to do with it. I perfer things that are more girly and the boy's head is a little too big for it so the poor little hat is just going to have to hang out until I either remember to give it to its original intended recipient or think of someone else.

Next up are my blue socks, which only need to graft together to make them complete. I always forgot how to do it though so I need to look up kitchener stitch again before I do it. (I really like the tutorial they have of it on knitty if anyone else has this problem.)

Recently, I did something that was not in keeping with my goal of reducing the amount of yarn I have, but was necessary for another purpose. I bought yarn,

The boy's birthday is in March and I really want to make him a pair of socks. He loves toe socks so I may try to make those for him, but I am a little concerned about that prospect. I want these to be finished on time and I'm afaird that knitting toes may be a stumbling block. So I may knit him a pair of daigonal cross rib socks from Favorite Socks instead.

In Defense of Knitting: Why Knitting Really is a Habit for the Frugal

2009-01-27T14:10:00.002-05:00

This past New Years Eve I spent with my boyfriend at his father's house. It was a nice relaxed evening, complete with a fire while it snowed. We made a big dinner, hung out with his family and then went for atv ride in the freezing cold. In the boy's family it is well known that I knit, and at one point during an overall pleasant evening I got into a rather heated debate with his father's girlfriend.

Beth was asking me about knitting and how could I make myself things, isn't it cheaper just to buy them, how do I have time, wouldn't my time be better spent studying, etc. I may be in law school but its still hard to argue with someone who's feeling the effects of multiple champagne cocktails. This discussion bothered me. Yes I may spend more money on yarn for a sweater than I would on a sweater that I buy at the mall, but I still consider the yarn to be a better investment. There are a couple of reasons for this, and I just want to lay them out for all those naysayers out there.

1. Better Quality

Comparing a hand knit item to something you buy at Marshalls is like comparing apples and oranges. They're both knits but they are in entirely different categories. The clothing that I buy is no where as nice as what I make. That sweater from Ann Taylor Loft may have cost only $30 but its not 100% wool. At best its a wool synthetic blend and it was probably made in a sweatshop in Thailand.

The proper comparison to make would be items from upscale brands that are made of natural fibers. A sweater from Banana Republic can easily cost $100, but I can make a very similar sweater out of wool or another natural fiber for half that. To me this is frugal because it can save money to have nice clothes that will last a long time rather than having to replace them every year. And I know that my sweater wasn't made by exploiting people as an added bonus.

2. Better Gifts

We all know someone that is really hard to shop for. One such person would be my brother. He has everything, and what he wants I generally cannot afford. So to spare my wallet and still give my brother something nice I like to knit gifts for him. Knitting gifts is time consuming and its best to make sure you're giving to someone who will appreciate your work. But with proper planning you can give that hard to shop for person a special gift for under $25. For my brother I tend to go with socks, a nice skein of superwash yarn costs me $20 and my brother has warm feet for the winter. It's win-win.

3. Income Potential

Most people don't use their knitting skills to make income, but it is possible. There are many knitter who design and sell patterns and other who sell their work on sites like etsy. I realize that doing these things will not make me or most other knitters rich, but it could help offset the cost of yarn and needles. And it's good to remind those "Beths" out there that knitting is a skill that has money making potential.

4. Enjoyment

This is the most important one as far as I'm concerned. I'll concede that it is significantly less time consuming to buy a sweater than to make one, and maybe I would have done better in my Business Organizations class if I didn't knit during it. But the time commitment is really not an issue for me because I enjoy knitting. Its relaxing and gives me something to do with my hands when I'm feeling fidgety. I honestly do not think that I would work or study more if I gave up knitting. No one can study all the time but at least when I'm knitting I'm being productive. I'm making something useful rather than bumming around the Internet watching videos on youtube. And being productive even in this small way and the enjoyment knitting brings makes it a worthwhile use of time and money.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Sock Knitting

2009-01-22T22:58:00.001-05:00

I have a conflicted relationship with sock knitting. Much like fellow knitting law student Emilee, I'm not really a huge fan of knitting socks. I find them to be fiddely. Sure its easy enough to make the cuff and then flap but then you need to remember the proper way to turn a heel and pick up stitches and then decrease those extra stitiched you just picked up. Now I'm not saying that knitting a sweater is straight forward either but at least the needles aren't so darn tiny and fragile. I know I've bent several sets of DPNs out of shape.

But then you know wool socks and are just so nice. They're cozy and warm. I have one pair of socks I made that actually fits, the others suffer from gauge issues and picking up too many stitches, and I wear those socks all the time. I'd wear them everyday if it was socially acceptable to do such a thing. I sincerely believe that the key to happiness in a New England winter is wool socks and a good pair of boots.

So how do I deal with my dislike of sock knitting but love of the end product? I knit them anyway and hope that I'll learn to love the process. I do think its growing on me.

But more importantly, does one sock count as an FO?

Varied Interests

2009-01-20T10:53:00.003-05:00

If you looked at my Google Reader you'd see that I have a wide variety of interests. I have the usual assortment of news and cute baby animals. It all started with knitting blogs of course. That's where my true love lied. When I started law school I decided I should start following some legal news too. But then I started to add some baking and cooking blogs. And most recently I've started adding some personal fianance blogs.

Finanance was never really my thing. I was raised to live frugally thanks to my mom. But I was a history major and minored in women's students and was fortunate enough to have parents who paid for university. I made sure to pay off my credit card each month because that's what my parents always told me too, and that was the extent of my financial know how. So I didn't really give much thought to money until recently. The prospect of graduating law school with about $80,000 in debt made me start to think about money a bit more. But then my boyfriend suggested that we look into buying a condo together. And as excited as I am about this prospect it also made me realize that I needed to get my fianances together and get an idea as to what the hell is going on if we were really going to do that. Thanks to some help from aforementioned blogs (Get Rich Slowly mostly) Im getting myself together. I'm working towards simplifying my life by getting rid of things that I don't need and saving up for when the boy and I are ready to get a place of our own.

So in the interest of furthering these goals I'm now going to focus on finishing up projects in progress and working on things that I already have yarn for. I don't have a huge statsh but I have enough to keep me busy for a while. First project to tackle, that darn red and gray hat I was going to give to the boy's brother for Christmas.

Belated Postings, they're just my style

2009-01-13T10:48:00.004-05:00

You know you can get a lot of knitting done when you knit class. I managed a project a week during November thanks to this technique and a wanning interest in federal income tax. But thanks to my camera batteries never being charged and my own forgetfulness I have only two pictures to share and they are both of the same pattern. The blue one was for my sister and the striped one was for the boy's brother's girlfriend. But I haven't seen her in ages and thus have been able to give it to her and it now languishes in my bedroom waiting for a better home or use.

I have to have any FOs for the new year, but I'm working on it. I have a pair of socks in Dream in Color Smooshy Midnight Derby that will probably be the winner of that honor. Unless I get my act together and finish the Central Park Hoodie (which I have been working on!) but that seems doubtful.

Happy Late Birthday to Me!

2008-05-29T10:00:00.003-05:00

Finals seriously messed with my birthday this year. Rather than actually celebrating on my birthday I took a final and celebrated the day before and after and the day after that. It was a birthday week rather than just a day. But because of the craziness I've neglected the poor little blog. Here are some pics of my bday loot, I really cleaned up this year.

Realizations

2008-05-03T15:18:00.005-05:00

I'm coming to a realization. This is something that I suspected before. Lace scarfs are not the most exciting thing in the world to knit. They do have that vaguely addictive quality of there being a slight difference every now and then, but when you're trying to go through 440 yards of lace weight yarn even that get tedious.

Another important realization is that I will not have my mother's day gift done in time. To the right is the flame lace scarf from knit and tonic, which I intend to give my mom someday, like in June when I'm not spending as much quality time in the library. Or maybe I'll have it done by her birthday in August. The surprise has already been spoiled since I worked on it last time I was home, but at least I know she'll like whenever its done. Of course, moms seem to like anything that you make them, I guess that's just part of the job.

FO! Springy Scraf

2008-04-21T08:20:00.004-05:00

At long last I have another FO to post. This pretty little thing is the Gift of Friendship scarf by Christine McKnight. I used knitpicks shimmer in Happy Dance, which I believe has been discontinued, on size 4 needles. The lace pattern was very simple and easy to memorize as there are only two different rows. The yarn though was very slick and that made the knitting a little annoying at times. I would recommend this yarn though because its so wonderfully soft and it blocked very nicely.

Given the simplicity of the project this took a really long time for me to make, almost 2 months, but my goal was to use up all 440 yards of the shimmer which I did.

Next on my to do list? Well, yesterday I swatched for Green Gables so I think that's what next. I've had this yarn sitting around for about a year so its probably about time that used it.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
Needles: size 7 in the round
Guage: 5sts/1in

I've only used Cotton Fleece once before for a Loop d Loop ballet tshirt. In that pattern I found the yarn to be very drapey, perhaps too drapey. I'm hoping that the tighter gauge of the tee will make it fit better. I also find Cotton Fleece to be a bit splitty at times, but nothing too annoying. But I do like how soft it is and the price doesn't hurt.

gettin springy with it

2008-04-01T14:11:00.007-05:00

I love living in New England and having the four seasons. But towards the end of each I always have a hankering for the next. I love spring and all I want is for it to be May and for everything to be sunshine and flowers.

Perhaps this is reflected in my desire for new knitting projects. I'm tired of my Central Park Hoodie. I want it finished so I can making something light and fun for spring. So the other night I decided it was time to swatch.

Yarn: Classic Elite, Classic Silk
Color: light purple
Needle: 5
Guage: 5 sts/ 1in

Maybe this is because I don't work with much cotton, but I was rather surprised that the stitches grew a bit when I blocked my swatch. Working with this stuff was pretty nice, not too hard like some cottons and the swatch is pretty soft. My plan is to make Sahara with it.

Yet despite all that talk above about how much I long for spring I did just order 4 skeins of ultra alpaca to make the Minimalist Cardigan. I love that stuff so I just couldn't resist that Webs sale.

taste the rainbow

2008-04-01T13:56:00.006-05:00

So last night I sat down to write a post and simply could not think of anything to write. I was so hopped up on diet cherry Pepsi and chocolate that mind was going 3,000 miles a minutes but it all went out too fast to make the connection down to my key broad. I don't have much sugar or caffeine in my daily diet so I can get a little wired when I do have some. Today I'm having a bit better luck with focusing thanks to the lack addictive substances in my system

Sadly, not much knitting has been going on the past few weeks. I did manage to finish these socks out of SWTC's tofutsies on size 2s. They're pretty basic, but I did make an eye partridge heel for the first time which is so pretty in the multi-color yarn. The SWTC It's really lovely stuff. Very soft and nice to work with. It's not nearly as tough on the hands as knitting with 100% cotton. It's even machine washable and didn't pool very much. I'm wearing them right now and even though they came out a touch big I really like them. Plus I might have enough of the skein left to make another short pair. Next time though I think I'll go down a needle size.

My other projects, however, feel never ending. All I want is to be done with them and move on to other things. More on them some other time, like when I don't need to finish my civ pro reading for tonight.

what the snowman learned

2008-02-09T17:23:00.000-05:00

You probably can't tell from this picture but its snowing a bit here. Honestly, I love the snow and can never understand why everyone moans and groans when a snow storm comes this way. I think they're beautiful and could sit around watching the snow fall for hours if I didn't have a mountain of homework to do. Maybe its because I spent a good part of my childhood down south where I think it snowed about twice before we moved northward that I love it so much. Having grown up without snow makes it seem so much more special and magical to me when it happens. Or maybe I just love the opportunity to cuddle up in warm woolen knitwear that snow provides. If its the later then the snow has perfect timing because I now have some new FOs to keep warm in.

This shot shows both my new foliage and wicked. As so many have already discovered Wicked is a super cute and easy pattern. I made the second smallest size, though I probably could have made it the smallest since the sweater came out a little roomy. Yet its exactly what I wanted: cute, warm, and cozy. This is partially thanks to the Nashua Creative Focus I used which is 25% aplaca. The yarn is a touch itchy but with a cami underneath its fine.

I would recommend that for this this size you do one less increase round before separating the sleeves. The number of stitches I had for the sleeves and body were what they were suppose to be. However, these numbers didn't work as nicely they should have for the crossover rib at the end. Its a minor problem so I didn't go back and rib everything out just to fix this. But if I make another one I'll keep in mind that the math might not work out exactly as I like and will have to double check it.

Foliage though came out great. I do have one word of caution and have adopted a new rule: do not drink and knit. Especially if working on lace. Thursday night I went out, had a couple beers and somehow convinced myself that a shot of tequila was a good idea, possibly because a cute boy was buying. Another good rule would be to not let cute boys influence my alcohol intake but I doubt I'd actually pay attention to that one. Rather than crawling into bed and hoping for the best in the morning I decided to stay up, knit, and drink water. I'm too embarrassed to show what I did, but when I picked up my knitting the next day I was rather confused. I had to rip out a couple of rows to avoid some wonky looking lace.

And now I'm going to steal an idea from Green Apples, a blog that I just love and read all the time. Recently, Jess was explaining that one of the advantages of always posting about her swatches is that she can easily look up the information later on, which is truly an excellent point. So here goes...Yarn: Queensland Kathmandu Aran
Colorway: 146
Needle: 7
Gauge: 4.5 sts/ 1in

I feel in love with this yarn when I made a hat with it for my mom. Its very soft and squishy, not the least bit itchy or scratchy. My mom reports that her hat is super warm and wearing well. So really this stuff is pretty much awesome, which is why I had to snatch some up when WEBs was having a sale on it recently. The swatch did grow a bit when I washed it. I believe it had originally knit up to 5sts/1in so it expanded just a bit. I purchased enough to make a sweater so I think I'm going to make the Central Park Hoodie. I've always loved the pattern but was just waiting for the perfect yarn to come my way and now here it is!

pink

2008-01-11T16:40:00.001-05:00

As I turn out projects it gets harder and harder to deny that pink is my favorite color. I'm actually not sure if I bother to deny this since I'm not 12 and trying to be a tomboy anymore but that's besides the point.

What is the point? That I have new pink mittens. My favorite pink gloves are developing holes in the fingers, probably because I got them two years ago while I was London and have worn them nonstop ever since. So I decided it was time to figure out how to make mittens. I didn't really use a pattern so I messed up a little bit. The thumb either needs to be lower or the hand should be longer. But they'll do the job of keeping my hand warm when walking to and from school.

Also in the interest of keeping my extremities warm I decided to cast on for a pair of socks. Normally I don't do socks, but while picking out yarn with my mom we were both rather taken with SWTC's tofutsies. She offered to buy me a skien and who am I to turn down yarn? So now I'm knitting it and can't help but think that red, orange, and purple is kind of a bizarre color combination.

Seriously, who came up with it? I'm not entirely sure I like it. I like fun colors and all but this might be a little too fun. And it begs the very important question: who's crazier SWTC for dreaming it up and making it or me for picking it out?

Happy (late) New Year!!

2008-01-05T10:53:00.000-05:00

Christmas was a success everyone liked their hand knit presents. Although I did decide to recall my brother's hat to add an extra 2 inches. Apparently he has a bigger than me (what a surprise ;).

With all the presents out of the way I'm back to making stuff for myself. Right now I'm working on a pair of mittens in SWS and a pink wicked, which is coming along nicely and a bit further than this shows. And of course I'm using my pretty new knitpicks options, which were a gift from my brother. I'm totally in love with them. I actually think that I'm knitting faster than I did with my old needles.

It seems to be the general custom around knitting blogs to make a list of accomplishments from the past year. I kind of like that idea. I don't feel like I've really I've accomplished all that much in the past year, but I did try and learn new things. So here we go...

Accomplishments of 2007
*completed my first patternless sweater
*learned short rows
*made my first lace project
*made my first sweater that I really love

What I hope to do in 2008
*conquer colorwork (or at least give it a try)
*make a larger lace project
*learn magic loop
*give socks another chance

balls

2007-12-09T20:34:00.000-05:00

My roommates in college were incredibly attached to a particular video game. They played it obsessively and often a good time on Saturday night meant having a few drinks and playing Dr. Robotnic's, or as my friends liked to call it: balls.

Today I finished my torts my final. It is an absolutely wonderful feeling, even though I have no idea what sort of grade I'll get. But to celebrate I made balls.

A different sort of balls than my friends, but way more to my liking since I was never any good at video games, except for Mario 3. But aren't the balls pretty? On the left is Ultra Alpaca and on the right is Knitpicks Shimmer in Happy Dance. It took me three episodes of Grey's Anatomy to do them both. Most of the time though was devoted to the Shimmer, since hand winding 440 yards of lace weight yarn apparently takes a while.

A Christmas Story

2007-12-04T18:01:00.000-05:00

You know what? I had absolutely no intention of knitting Christmas gifts for anyone this year. Everyone was going to get UConn law gear and that was that.

But then I remembered that sweater I had started for my sister and still hadn't finished. I felt bad, not bad enough to try and figure out the sweater, but bad none the less. So I made her a scraf out of some purple mystery yarn I had. I made the scarf and I thought I had used up all the yarn, but then I discovered more of the mystery yarn. So now I feel compelled to make a set of matching hand warmers.

Then I was ordering some new needles off of knitpicks, and they were having a sale. I just couldn't resist a couple of hanks of lace weight yarn. "I'll makes scarves," I thought "One for me and one for Mom." Perfect.

But then I went home for Thanksgiving. I wanted to make sure that my mom would want a scarf. In my mind the conversation we would have went something like this...

Me: I should make you something. I haven't knit you anything in a while.
Mom: Oh that would be lovely.
Me: Anything, in particular you'd like?
Mom: Oh no, I'd love anything you make me.

The actual conversation was remarkably similar, which is odd since my imaginary conversation generally bare no resemblance to realisty. However, there was a key difference. Mom said she wanted a hat. A hat. Ok I love knitting hats, I can handle that I said. It was then decided that we need to head to the LYS to get yarn for said hat, and as a bonus they were having a sale over Thanksgiving weekend. All the more reason to go.

But my brother was home for the holiday and rather than sit at home and try to will all those leftovers to go away he decided to come along too. And while we were there wondering around I was seized by an explicable urge to ask him if he wanted me to make him something. It was probably being surronded by all that yarn, it does funny things to the head. Rob decided that he would also like a hat so he picked out yarn too.

So here I am in the midst of finals and somehow I decided that making everyone gifts was a good idea. You know how much I have done?

About this much:

I have half a hat, a torts outline, and half a contracts outline.

Everything will be fine. I will not panic...

a sentance of sorts

2007-11-13T00:48:00.000-05:00

Look at this! Who wouldn't want to go to school here?!

But the beauty of campus aside, its been pretty busy. Silly law school professors want to make me learn things and this has cut into my knitting time.

Luckily, I am a master procrastinator. For the past couple days my method of choice has been watching "Chuck" online and working on a new pair of fuzzy feet. My old pair have a giant hole in the toe. They've been well loved and I still do love them. However, since I now have to pay my own heating bill holey slipper socks simply aren't going to cut it. I've just started the toe decreases on the first one. Hopefully I'll be done soon because my place is pretty chilly.

shippin out to boston

2007-10-30T00:30:00.000-05:00

Yay my beloved Sox won the World Series!

In celebration I'm considering knitting a pair of red socks.

musings

2007-10-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

For months now I've had an intense desire for a brown cardigan. Why? Well, maybe because my little black cardigan gets so much use, and I just want it to have a buddy. Perhaps a brown cardigan seems like it should be wardrobe basic, and my wardrobe is just incomplete until I have one. Or it could just be because I got a pair of super cute brown flats a couple months ago and I just want to expand the options of what I can wear with them.

Regardless of the exact reason, I've decided that my next big project should be said cardigan. After months of looking at patterns and dreaming up the features of the perfect cardigan (seriously I put a lot of thought into this) I've deiced upon Chicknits' Ariann. I've even picked out my yarn, Knitpicks Andean Silk in Chocolate.

But I'm not going to start it quite yet. I bought all this yarn in October and I've decided that I simply must do something with some of it before I can start a new project. The red yarn is Malabrigo in Vermilion to make Foliage and the gray Lamb's Pride is to make a new pair of Fuzzy Feet. Sadly, my old pair had a giant hole in the toe. I over felted them so they wore a bit quicker than they should have. The pale yarn is Malabrigo lace weight in Bluesurf. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with that so I won't worry about it quite yet. But I want to make at least one of the above projects before I continue my brown cardigan quest.

However, before I even get to that I need to finish this hat for a charity auction in a couple weeks,

all for swinging you around

2007-10-17T20:05:00.000-05:00

There she is! All done and just hanging out drying is my tilted duster. I tired her on before blocking and she was quite cute and cozy. However, the duster was not without some battles. The sleeves are set in which I've never had to deal with before, and my sleeves seemed a little big for the armholes. But with some basting action and then several attempts of careful seaming I was able to get everything to fit. I think I redid the first sleeve three or four times before I was happy with it, and it was definitely one of those experiences that I feel would have been much better if I had a little rum in diet coke. So the seaming isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone will notice but me and it doesn't bother me enough to rip it all out again and do it over.

But for some seam-free fun I started Knit and Tonic's Le Slouch so that I could answer the eternal question: do Irish girls look good in berets?

And the answer?

Well, maybe. I'm not completely sure I like it yet. Its not that I don't like it, I think its pretty cute. However, I also think its just a touch too big so I'm considering frogging it and making it again with smaller needles. But then maybe Irish girls and berets just don't mix after all.

suffer for fashion

2007-10-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

I'm done! I have loads of civ pro homework to do for tomorrow, but the important thing is that I'm done! I just finished the Tilted Duster from the Fall IK. Unfortunately, none of the batteries for my camera feel like working right now. So pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.

So what's next? Well, I'm also working on Le Slouch in a pretty purple, and that should be finished soon if they stitches ever stop slipping off my dpns. Luckily, I've started the decreases and this shouldn't be a problem for too much longer.

I've also done some major supporting of my new LYS. I have projects in my mind for all the new yarn so I don't feel too guilty about splurging a bit.

Pictures coming soon, I promise.

two at a time

2007-09-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

So how does a busy a law student managed to get all her homework done and still find time for knitting?

Very easy jobs apparently.

Working in the law school bookstore isn't very demanding it turns out. Everyday I pack up my backpack to bring to work with books and my computer but no yarn. At work there is often nothing to do but sit behind counter and stare off into space, however instead of staring at nothing or obsessing over how much coffee is left I actually do homework. Of course sometimes the temptation to refold the sweatshirts is overwhelming when faced with personal jurisdiction and estoppals but then I think, "If I get through this, if I survive, than I can knit all evening."

So far this tactic seems to be working, because I'm getting my homework done and plenty of knitting. I've finished the back and fronts of the tilted duster and now I'm making good headway on the sleeves. I've already done 4 of the 7 increase rows so I'm making steady progress, and am really quite pleased with myself.

Now if only I could get myself to work on my SKB or that sweater for my sister I'd be all set.

makes me wonder

2007-09-22T22:23:00.001-05:00

All right, so here's my shooping tunic. It's all done, and in under week. Too bad it looks better on my bed than on me. The cowl neck is a little too floppy, and its just HUGE. I didn't think it was that big looking at other FOs but I felt a little silly when I tired it on because of the neck. Seriosuly, it just wasn't working for me.

I'm not completely giving up hope. Perhaps if I wash it and everything it will look better. Maybe? Please?

Hopefully, my titled duster will turn out better. I got the yarn earlier this week, and I just love the color. It has touches of all sorts of other shades through out it. So when you look at it from far away it looks like a plain tan, but close up it has reds and purples and yellows playing through the fabric.

My guage was off, and 16 sts/4ins instead of 17 on size 9s. But I can't really go down to 8s because my 8s are kind of broken. So I had been planning to make the 36" size but now I'm going to make the smallest size which with my guage should give me about a 34" finished size instead, which is actually more of I wanted anyway. So we'll see if I can actually make a sweater that I like this time.

take what ya take

2007-09-18T10:08:00.000-05:00

So what happens when you're two days ahead on your homework and you have a whole Sunday with nothing to do?

Lots and lots of knitting. Or finishing as the case may be.

I've finally finished my blackberry, or perhaps I should call it strawberry. It only took me 3 months and that's with about half that time no work being done on her at all. The only modification I made was leaving off the bobbles, because I'm just not a fan of those things.

It's been a couple days now and she's still drying from the blocking. However, I did give her a quick try before blocking and I am happy to say that I did not look like a strawberry in it. She was quite cute actually, it'll be the perfect sweater for wearing around the apartment on those chilly days when I'm too cheap to turn up the thermostat.

Next to my strawberry is another calorimetry. I got a hair cut yesterday that I'm not overly thrilled with and decided that headbands will be a good accessory until I feel like risking the scissors again. On the plus side, I now have a cute headband that matches my sweater.

I'm still waiting for my Peruvia for the tilted duster, but in the mean time I've casted on for the Shopping Tunic. I'm using wool-ease in charcoal since that's the only super bulky yarn that I can afford, but I'm still excited about it.

Power Out

2007-09-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

Yikes, this is sad. It's been since June that I last posted?!

Well despite my abscene from blogging I have been knitting. I made this adorable little guy for my friend Scott's birthday. Since taking this picture my little hedgehog got eyes, a nose, and went to his new home where he is loved very much. He was quite the talk of the evening. Apparently, most people are not aware that you can knit a hedgehog.

I've also been working on knitty's blackberry. My camera doesn't feel like working so no picture right now sadly, but all I need to do is seem it up and add the border.

Next on the list is IK's tilted duster. I've ordered the recommended Peruvia in a beautiful tan color that has hints of purple, red, and green in it. Hopefully, it'll get here soon.

I'm also going to start the shopping tunic as soon as I get the pattern. So right now my knitting consists of a lot of waiting around, but I'll up and going again soon.

Nice Guys Finish Last

2007-06-08T16:14:00.001-05:00

At long last I have finished the socks for my brother. And it only took 8 months or so. I am definitely not a sock knitter. All those tiny little stitches get a bit discouraging after awhile.

Now on to newer and better projects. I ordered the hedgehog pattern the other night so I'll be starting that once it gets here. I also cast on for Knitty's Blackberry today using that red yarn that I've had forever. It's nice to be knitting with big needles, I feel like I've already gotten a fair amount done.

Call it in the Air

2007-06-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

Yikes! So its been awhile since I last posted, I know. Its been a pretty busy month. I did finish the Clementine Shawlette in time for Mother's Day, and had every intention of posting a finished picture but I forgot to do that before I gave it to her. But She loved it. My graphing of the two ends together came out a bit wonky though, so I guess I need to work on that :-/

Since then I finished a calorimetry, which is a gift for a friend of mine who's birthday is in July. I really wanted something that was quick to knit because I fell like I've really fallen behind on the knitting recently. So this was the perfect little project for me. The yarn is Lamb's Pride in I forget what color. It was a partial skein that I've had laying around for awhile. But my friend likes purple so hopefully she'll like this, and I may even have enough of the skein to make another one if I feel like it.

The little red swatch there is Kraemer Yarns Mauch Chunky in Strawberry. I've had this yarn sitting around forever with no idea what to do with it. The swatch knit up at 3sts to the inch on size 6mm needles, any suggestions? Because I still have no idea what to do with it...

Earlier this week I also went out and bought yarn for a new project. This stuff is for the Fibertrends Huggable Hedgehog. A friend of mine has been saying for years that he wants to get a pet hedgehog, but he still has yet to do so. So when I came across this adorable pattern I knew I had to make it for him. His birthday isn't until September, but this is another project that really need to be on time so I want to get an early start on it. Actually, I can't really start it yet because I don't have the pattern. I need to order it from somehwere because none of my lys carry the pattern. But if I'm going to pay shipping for this I want to get yarn too, I just haven't decided what yarn to get though - hence the delay.

If You Don't, Don't

2007-05-03T01:53:00.000-05:00

I can hear it know: "Quizes?!" you prostest, "Where's the knits?!"
Well, the knitting is not going too well right now, in that its not really going. Due to an upcoming final and two 10 page papers I haven't been able to knit. So instead I present the best knitting quizes I found while procstinating.

<

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Shetland Wool. You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code