New yarn and new ideas!

So, I didn't really accomplish any sort of Christmas knitting this year, but that's okay with me. I have lots of time on my hands now, and a lot of stash to knit from...however, that didn't stop me from buying some new yarn and new supplies yesterday. :)

Yesterday, I got together with Emily B and Emily H in order to go searching for some new crafty things (ie yarn). Emily H stopped by my house yesterday, and we headed over to Beans and Barley on the East Side for lunch. We met Emily B there, but there was a 45 minute wait for a table. We decided instead to head over to Alterra on Humboldt instead where there were tasty sandwiches and soups, as well as yummy drinks. Although, it took them a while to make my hot chocolate....but I digress.

Next was a stop at Loop Yarn Shop, which coincidentally happens to be right next door to Alterra. Perfect.

We spent a while browsing and looking at all of the different yarns. I was on a quest to find some yarn to make Bella's Mittens, while I do not like Twilight and Kristen Stewart actually makes me want to punch babies, I LOVE these mittens. Originally, I had hoped to find some Malabrigo to make these mittens, but while they had quite a bit of Malabrigo chunky at Loop, there just weren't any colors there that jumped out at me as something that needs to be made into Bella's Mittens.

I finally settled on some Lamb's Pride Bulky by Brown Sheep in Winter Blue. It's really pretty and should be really warm.

I also found an S crochet hook at Loop! I was very excited. I have wanted to make a 5 and 1/2 hour throw by LionBrand for a while, but last year the largest hook I could find was a P hook. Not quite big enough for triple-stranding the yarn. But yesterday I was successful!

So, the trip to Loop was successful. I do like that store and I like that it is right next to Alterra. :)

Even though a trip to Loop only would constitute a successful yarn shopping day, later on in the day, Andy & I had to run errands, and I also ended up taking a trip to Michaels out on Brown Deer Road on a quest to get the yarn for the Jayne Hat (ravelry link) I am planning on making. I settled on Vanna's Choice in Brick, Rust and Mustard.

I also found some Lion Brand Wool-Ease, it is called White/Multi which basically means it is white with a sparkly strand in it too. :) I am going to make a hat out of it, but I'm not sure what pattern to use yet. I am thinking possibly the Sutro Heights Hat, or maybe a cabled hat of some sort. White, sparkly yarn will go with my black coat, my red coat AND my gray coat. Yay!

Here's hoping for some projects to be posted soon!

Baby Blanket Finished, finally!

So I finally finished the 2nd of the two baby blankets that I made for Jamie's twins of the Simply Perfect Baby Set from LionBrand. It took a lot longer than it should have, but I am going to admit that it was a combination of laziness and forgetfulness. So there you have it. I am happy to have finished them though, hopefully the girls will like using the blankets much more than I liked making them, haha. :)

I do, however, have about 1/3 of each cone leftover of the Pink Lilacs. I am thinking of making some bibs or something for the girls, maybe hats. I am doing my very best to not go anywhere near the post office until after Christmas, so I have some additional time.

I took pictures of the 2nd blanket (I did not get a picture of the first blanket), but hey, they are identical....so just pretend that the pictures are of both.

As I most likely will not post again before Christmas...Happy Holidays to all of my readers!

Bringing the Blog to Life!

So it's been almost a year since I actually posted on this, and even longer ago since there has been knitting related content. I am going to do my best to start keeping this up again, of course that also means I will have to actually knit things too.

So, what have I been doing over the last year?

Well, not a whole lot on the knitting front.

According to my ravelry projects list, I have done a few things over the last year but nothing major:

24 blanket squares for a blanket exchange project using the Reverse Mitered Dishcloth pattern. It was extremely easy to get the hang up, and since we had to make 10" squares, it was easy to measure as I went along and use whatever yarn and needle size I happened to have handy. I used a number of different yarns that I had in my stash: Bernat Satin in Sapphire, Bernat Super Value Ombre in Wine Twist, Caron Simply Soft in Light Country Blue, Wool-Easy in Blush Heather, Rose Heather and Dark Rose Heather, Patons Astra in Bright Lilac, Lip Pink and Copen Blue, and Red Heart Soft Multi in Sweet Pea. A lot of those yarns I have had in my stash for a long time, so it was really nice to use them up!

A Scrunchable Scarf using Malabrigo Chunky in Brilliante. If you have never used Malabrigo before, I highly recommend that you find the nearest yarn store that stocks it and buy some, or just pet it for a while. It is soooooooooooooooooo soft, and warm and has gorgeous colorways. I had never used Malabrigo before this, I had bought the Brilliante at Iris Fine Yarns almost two years ago but I could not find the right project for it. I finally just put my mind to finding something that would be good for this yarn. The scarf was really a quick knit, I used size 11 needles and it took only a few weeks (and that was with knitting it for not very long every day). It is done now, but needs to be blocked before it can be worn. Wisconsin winter has come on in full force, so this scarf will be perfect!

Two box stitch baby blankets (roughly based on the blanket in this pattern, the Simply Perfect Baby Set from LionBrand) using Peaches & Creme Worsted Weight in Pink Lilacs. One is completed, and the other one is about 85% done. Why two? My friend Jamie had twin girls born on Aug 22, 2009. They were 10 weeks early, but now both girls are home and are doing very well. I went to go see Jamie and the babies in Ohio over Labor Day weekend, and I brought her the first blanket, but the second blanket has been sitting unfinished for a few months now (oops). I am forcing myself to finish it so that I can send it out to her and the girls can actually use it!

I will be finishing the Feather & Fan baby blanket (of DOOM) finally, once the second box stitch blanket is done. One of my friends is having a girl, and I am broke, so she is getting the blanket. I think it will be perfect for her and she is a knitter so she will appreciate it. It's also easily washable so it won't be hard to take care of!

Finally, the other remaining thing on my needles is a scarf I based off the Fantazia Bath Ensemble using Peaches & Creme Premium in Abbey Rose. The modifications I made is to cast on 25 stitches instead of 29, and use a 2 stitch border instead of 4. The back scrubber called for 19 stitches, but I thought that would be too narrow. I am trying to knit both halves of the scarf at once so that the ends match. I am about 1/4 of the way done with each side so this could be a long process!

I did a bunch of dishcloths/facecloths over the last year or so too for mindless knitting, but nothing extraordinary or really worth mentioning.

Hopefully it will not be another year before I update. I need to take pictures of the scarves and the blankets, so with any luck I will have those up before the new year!