Updatextravaganza!

I have a confession to make. In the last few weeks there has been lots of knitting and lots of yarn craft room organization, but not so much blogging or picture taking. Laziness, I sort-of have it (at least I have it where photographing and blogging are concerned).

So, my last blog post was more me posting about my knitting resolutions and pictures of yarn and stuff. But I promise, I've actually done some knitting, too.

I mentioned in my last blog post that I worked on a Mitered Hanging Towel. That is about 95% done since I have two things to do: weave in ends, sew on button. Then it will be done. Not sure exactly who this is going to be for yet. I don't think it is going to be for my towel exchange buddy, but I'm not sure (or I'm being sneaky...lol). Pattern: easy-peasy, piece o'cake. And it turned out cute. This could be a useful thing to knit multiples of, since you can never really have too many hanging towels.

I also mentioned in my previous post about buying KP Imagination in Seven Dwarves for the infamous Clapotis. I don't really have any inclination to knit a Clapotis right now made out of fingering weight alpaca and merino wool yarn though. But I did have an inclination to knit a Clapotis RIGHT. NOW. What better yarn to knit this with in summer? Cotton, of course! I decided that I must knit one out of Peaches & Creme Raspberry Swirls (a pretty mixture of dark brown, light brown, burgundy and a little bit of light pink, at least on the cone I have). I also decided that Raspberry Swirls was way too pretty to use for anything kitchen related, or even face cloth related.

I nicknamed my Clapotis the Raspberry Chocolate Clapotis and even included a picture of raspberries and chocolate for my Ravelry project picture. :) So getting used to the kfb was awkward and clumsy at first but now I've got it down. Now it's just more or less mindless stockinette stitch. But by mindless, I actually mean mind-numbing. It's still somewhat of a novelty, but I'm definitely going to be working on a more stimulating project after this...dropping stitches is fun though! :)

I'm hoping to have this done so that I can actually use it in summer. This is definitely going to need an aggressive blocking since it's curling like whoa. Blocking won't fix all the curl, but it should fix some. I may be making a trip to the Home Depot or some other home improvement store to pick up those foam rubber interlocking boards to block on...

I made two Grandmother's Favorite dishcloths for my mom. I didn't bother taking a picture of them though. I used Peaches & Creme Spring Meadows. They turned out cute and she was thrilled to have some dishcloths that weren't all faded and gross. I cast on another in Spring Meadows too, and I'm about 75% of the way done.

Since we're going to be moving soon, I decided it might be a good time to start digging through my yarn craft room. I also started panicking about my animal fiber yarns because I keep finding those #@&%$! Asian Lady Beetles (aka Japanese DEATH BEETLES) all over my craft room...all of them dead, which is weird. So I went to the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago and picked up three boxes of gallon knock-off Ziploc bags, and then I found some Xtra Large ginormous sized plastic storage bags, probably most used for clothes, but I bought a box of 2 to try out. Majority of the balls of cotton yarn I have are now sitting in those two bags, and the cones are going into a Rubbermaid bin. Score. I also have most of my wool/alpaca/animal fiber yarns in knock-off Ziplocs. Phew. I got tired just thinking about it. When I was digging through my yarn closet, I found a box marked "scrap skeins," but by "scrap skeins" I apparently meant 5 full skeins and 2 partial skeins of Caron Simply Soft Brites...clearly that means scrap skeins, I mean, clearly. My fiber friend Autumn is so kind as to take most of them off my hands (I'm keeping the Rose Violet, but getting rid of the Rubine Red, Watermelon, Berry Blue, Grape, White and Blue Mint)...great colors, but since I only bought 1 skein of each, totally useless to me. They will be useful to her since she makes tons of purses and has kiddos who will like the bright colors. It's a win-win all around! However, in the "scrap skeins" box, I also found 3 full skeins of Caron Felt-It Yarn that I bought in 2007. I started to worry because since I didn't know those were there, I also didn't have them in plastic. So I wound up one ball of the yarn, and one thing led to another and all the sudden I've got 3 inches of knitting done on the bottom of what will be a bag. I just kind of made it up, but it's pretty similar to the Booga Bag pattern I guess. I'm calling it my Booga Bag Cheap Knock-Off, because I wasn't really following the pattern anyway, and instead of using the recommended yarn, Noro Kureyon, which goes for about $9 a skein for 110 yards, I'm using Caron Felt-It which was significantly cheaper per skein for 93 yards. :)

So far this has been totally mindless. I used a size 9 needle for the bottom and am using size 10 for the rest of the bag. I have no idea how it's going to felt, but it will be an experiment! I will probably have yarn left over so I may try making a little matching clutch-type thing to carry credit cards, driver's license and cash so it can be stashed in the bag neatly. I am not sure what to line the bag with, but I'll see what my mom's fabric stash holds before I rush to Joann's or Michael's. The last thing I need is to get hooked on buying fabric...

Well that's pretty much it for now. See? I did get a lot done. Sorry about the less than stellar picture quality this time, I was playing around with my camera's "night" settings because when I used the flash it looked washed out, and no flash it didn't show up. Someday I'll learn to just take the pictures during daylight and we'll be fine. Till next time...

Um, oops.

So back in January, I blogged about my 2010 Knitting Resolutions (it's been a while since I've dragged out that link!!). So far, I have officially crossed off #11 (Take pictures of the Wedding Roses filet crochet afghan). #2 (Knit at least 10 things from my queue)is coming along nicely (I have 4 things crossed off already: the Sutro Heights Hat, Simple Burp Cloth, Waffle Knit Dishcloth, and Fantasy Naturale Market Bag. I am 65% of the way done with a 5th item: my February Lady Sweater. Once the sweater is done, I will be halfway done with my 10 item queue challenge AND I will be able to cross off #6 (Knit a Sweater). I might even be able to cross off #3 (Learn Magic Loop) when the sweater is done because I might do the sweater sleeves with Magic Loop. #7 (Work on a crochet project) is happening too, I just haven't worked on my crochet project for a while...

However, #1 has been a complete failure so far. I broke my yarn diet. Oops. But I think I broke it for a good cause- some special edition KnitPicks yarns!

Here's the KnitPicks Felici (fingering weight) in Rainbow.

Can yarn get cuter? I really don't think yarn can get cuter. Nothing is more fun than some rainbow stripes.

Along with that there were a few other purchases:

Some KnitPicks Imagination in Seven Dwarves...

I have wanted this for a while now, and I think I am going to cave to the pressure of the Clapotis (as soon as I finish some other projects) with this yarn.

...and more KnitPicks Imagination in Ruby Slippers.

As a die-hard Wizard of Oz fan, I think I might actually have to turn in my fan card if I didn't order this yarn. It is SO pretty. As an extra tidbit of trivia (who says this blog isn't educational??)- the ruby slippers were NOT in the original book. In the book, the Witch of the East had a pair of silver shoes, but since the movie was filmed in Technicolor, TPTB in the movie biz changed the silver shoes into ruby slippers so that they would show up better in the movie. See? You learn something every day!

Some KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Grass...

This yarn is going to be an Xmas present for my mom (ha! this fulfills resolution #10). I know I will do 198 Yards of Heaven (rav link) and I'm going to do a hat to match but I have not decided the pattern for the hat yet (and it's June, so I have some time). :)

And finally, I saw some yarn in a stash on Ravelry that I knew I HAD to have. It was the now-discontinued KnitPicks Memories (rav link) line, and it was shades of brown, white and a little gray....the name of the colorway was SMORES!!

Also named Smores? My diva of a tortoiseshell cat. :)

Seriously HAD to get a yarn to match my cat (though you can't see the white on my cat in this picture, it's on her chest and tummy)!! Luckily, I found a nice person on Rav who was destashing it.

I came up with a really creative way to photograph my yarn from now on too so that you all don't have to see my ugly carpet (I just love generic apartment carpet!). Some people put their yarn into a bowl, and others use a posterboard. Me, well I do neither. My method includes a box, some books and a roll of wrapping paper. I unroll the wrapping paper with the white side facing up, place some books on the edges to keep them from curling, and then put a box on its side where I then attempt to balance the roll on top of the box. Works like a charm, but isn't very kitty friendly since kitty likes to sit on wrapping paper. Distract kitty with a piece of yarn, THEN it works like a charm. Also, I've taken to using natural light. That, combined with my Red Green-style background and my photos are A-#1.

Uh, so back to the resolutions. #1- Broken. Oops. #2- Working on it! Almost 1/2 done with 10-item-queue-challenge! #3- Might be accomplished soon for FLS sleeves. #4- Not yet... #5- So far I've failed. I started a lace scarf and frogged it, and haven't re-started it. But the year's not over yet... #6- All that's left on my sweater is the sleeves! #7- Crochet project has begun, but is not off to a great start yet... #8- So far I have totally succeeded! #9- I've looked all over the city for RHSS in Magenta. It apparently does not exist and I refuse to order online and pay for shipping. It might happen this year...but is not looking likely. #10- I've planned for Xmas gifts, but have not started knitting any yet. #11- Yay! I succeeded!

So, uh, on to knitting. Over the weekend, I knitted a Mitered Hanging Hand Towel out of Peaches & Creme Blue Swirls for the main color and Light Blue for the top. I joined a hanging towel swap through the Peaches & Creme group on Rav, but I don't think this towel will be going to my swap buddy. I also knitted a Light Blue Grandmother's Favorite and am more than halfway done with a Grandmother's Favorite in Blue Swirls to complete the "set." I'm not sure exactly what this "set" is for yet, but I just have to finish up the rest of the Blue Swirls cloth, sew the button on the towel and weave in the ends on everything and I'll photograph it. :) I also am going to knit my mom some more dishcloths since I noticed yesterday when I was at their house that the daisy ombre (yellow and white) cloth was more of a dingy white and no yellow at all, definitely needs replacing!

So hopefully I'll have a post with some finished object pictures soon, rather than just pictures of yarn and my cat, and me rambling on and on about what I hope to accomplish by Dec 31, 2010. :)