C-R-O-C-H-E-T!

Well, I've decided to put off the pretty pretty lace scarf for a while. I attempted it first with this beautiful yarn

and a size 3 MeiMei Pro Bamboo 24" Circular needle. And it didn't work because the cable on that needle was too thick. Attempt #0 (not quite 1, lol): Fail.

Attempt #1- After I received my pretty size 3 KnitPicks fixed 40" Harmony Circular, I re-cast on with the pretty yarn. I had two repeats done, and was working on the third when a stitch disappeared, and after tinking and counting and trying to figure out what stitch disappeared, I finally just decided to frog, and re-wind the yarn. Then, as I blogged about here, I decided to knit up a quick dishcloth as an instant gratification to make myself feel better about lace attempt fail #1. :)

So, I cast on again, for lace attempt fail #2...and I didn't even make it through the first repeat before I realized that I was again missing a stitch. Sigh....so, I frogged again.

This time, I decided I was going to forget the Shimmer yarn and try a different lace yarn (because as one knows, I've got too much yarn that I don't need as it is). I decided on the KnitPicks Gossamer (ravelry link as this yarn is now discontinued).

The only thing that I accomplished with this yarn was proof that my long tail cast on sucks hardcore and cannot be used. Boooooooo.

I decided to take a break from the lace knitting with lace yarn to mull over what my next project should be.

I decided that one again, an instant gratification project was necessary. :) So I pulled out some Peaches & Creme worsted weight in Shaded Pastels (because I don't even really LIKE that color scheme, but I've got 12 skeins of it...so I'm always looking for excuses to use it up. Only 10 skeins left.....).

While I was knitting up my Feather & Fan, I decided that my next step was going to include CROCHETING! (gasp!)

So tonight, I chained up what I needed to, and crocheted up the first 3 rows.

And that's all the info I'm going to volunteer since the crochet project may or may not be a gift in the near or possibly not near future!

Oh, except I will let you know that the crochet project involves the following:

So far, so good. Though crocheting with a hook this big is kind of a pain in the rear. But I think the finished project will be a happy success. :)

Lace Attempt #2 - Fail...ish

Well, the bad news is that I already had to frog my pretty lace scarf. But it really was more or less my own fault for just being careless and not paying attention to the stitches on my needles. And it was only into the very beginning of the 3rd repeat. I spent about 35+ minutes trying to figure out where the dropped stitch was and how the hell I dropped it, before I just gave up, and frogged it. I figure I didn't really lose a whole lot of work in the grand scheme of things. So yes, I'm sad, but I saw a few lace projects on Ravelry where the knitter noted that they made so many mistakes, they just frogged the WHOLE THING. I'd rather frog not quite 3 pattern repeats, learn where I made my mistakes, and re-cast on later. Whew. So that is what I will do....sometime this week.

After that lace yarn fiasco, I didn't want to cast on right away again, I figured I needed something to do that was an instant gratification type project so that I didn't decide that I was a total failure as a knitter. :) So I pulled out my trusty size 6 needles and a cone of Peaches & Creme cotton and knitted a Garter Dishcloth with Pointy Corners (ravelry link) which is basically your standard Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth. I like this pattern better than the regular because of the short-rows that allow for a pointier corner. Call me a perfectionist who likes my dishcloths to have all four corners pointy. Which is odd, given that I got a D in high school geometry.... Anyway. Quick, useful, and instantly gratifying. I actually use these as facecloths in the shower. More exfoliating than a regular washcloth, in my opinion, and I can make them out of fun colors. This one wasn't so much a "fun colors" as it was "oh hey, I've got this 787-yard cone of Aqua Mist because I just frogged another project so I could get my needle cord back...let's use some up!" I do like the Aqua Mist though. Next time I think I'd go for a more fun set of colors, but right now I wasn't about to be picky. Or use Teal Ombre since it too closely resembles that lace yarn....

Last but not least, I found a fun "counter" to add to my blog: The KnitMeter! Can be normally found on the right hand side of the blog, but for your enjoyment, I am adding it to this post. Ta-da!

I'm going to try and knit 1500-2000 meters this year. So far, almost 400 meters in almost 2 months. That puts me on track to knit...let's see...200 meters a month, 12 months a year....2400 meters (there's that pesky math again!). Not bad...not bad. :)

And I lied when I said last but not least before, but oh well. If you have a fiber related blog that you'd like me to link to, I'm trying to compile a list of knitting/crocheting blogs that I follow and would like to start a "Fiber Blogs I Read" sidebar. Just let me know! :)

Olympic knitting project, some FO's and a new template to boot!

I hope you all like the new template! I had fun picking out my template...I think it makes my blog more fun looking than it used to. I had a hard time finding a template that fit my blog without having to make a lot of obnoxious changes. But I persisted and success!

Anyway, on to the knitting content, which there has been a relative amount of lately.

As you know, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics started on Friday! On Ravelry, the Ravelympics started as well. I didn't join up on a team, but I'd had a blast doing the 2008 Summer Ravelympics, so I figured I would use the Olympics to at least start a project I'd been wanting to work on for a while. I had narrowed it down to three choices: The February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link), Bella's Mittens, and the CashSilk Fern Scarf (Ravelry link). As you may remember, I attempted the CashSilk Fern Scarf last week without success. That was mostly because the only size 3 needle I had was not pointy enough, and the cable was too thick, so even once I got the stitches off the actual needle, there wasn't a ton of room on the cable...so back to the drawing board. At the beginning of the year, I blogged about staying on a yarn diet. I am ashamed to confess that I broke my yarn diet again, but this time it was so I could order from KnitPicks in order to get the size 3 needles I need. I picked up some skeins of Wool of the Andes too since those are a- inexpensive and b- good workhorse yarns. I'm developing a bit of a yarn snob complex and I like worsted weight wool a lot better than worsted weight acrylic...but I digress. In addition to the Wool of the Andes, I bought a two 40" size 3 fixed circular needles, one Nickel Plated and one Harmony Wood. And who could resist this???

Now I promise that aside from that Magenta Red Heart SuperSaver I need for another project, I really am sticking with my yarn diet for a while. Because now I really am broke...that KnitPicks order ate up my Christmas money. :)

Anyway, back to the CashSilk Fern Scarf (I have now named mine the AlpacaSilk Fern Scarf, because I am using KnitPicks Shimmer yarn which is 70% Baby Alpaca and 30% Silk. Mmmm....

More yarn p0rn:

So I cast on to the 40" Harmony Circular needle. It was rough going at first. I have never used a yarn even remotely this small, and I think the smallest size needle I've ever used was a size 5 and that was almost 3 years ago. After about the 4th row of the pattern I was about ready to frog already! But I persisted, and gradually it got easier. Hooray! I made it through one pattern repeat (12 rows, and half of those were purl rows).

I am feeling very good about this project so far! I love the color, and working with the tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny yarn is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be! I am not sure that I will be done with this by the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics however. I am thinking a more realistic goal will be to have this done by the end of Lent so that I can wear said lace scarf to church on Easter. :)

Anyway...before I decided on the AlpacaSilk Fern Scarf as my Olympics project, I was also contemplating the February Lady Sweater. However, the gull lace pattern on that sweater involved lots and lots of slip-slip-knits (SSKs). I was very fearful of the SSK, so I decided that before I could even contemplate doing the February Lady Sweater, I would need to master the SSK. A quick trip to my Cloth of the Week Yahoo Group helped solve that problem! In the December 2009 COTW, there is a pattern called Amelia that calls for SSKs everywhere. If you are not a member of COTW, I can not say enough good things about it. As the group name indicates, there is a new dishcloth pattern every week with a variety of techniques. I have knit a number of the COTW patterns and while I have not loved all of them, I have learned a lot of new techniques I might not have otherwise attempted. Plus, a dishcloth is useful way to learn a technique, in my opinion. :) So after I found the Amelia pattern, I went to KnittingHelp and found a quick video tutorial on SSK. After watching the video once through, I realized why I had been so afraid of the SSK...I had gotten very poor instructions on it initially! Live and learn...after I knitted the entire Amelia cloth, I am now a master at SSK. :)

I picked the Mocha Swirls colorway in the Peaches & Creme Article 930 Worsted Weight Cotton. I adore this colorway, but now I have this weird craving for Neapolitan Ice Cream....

Please excuse the fact that I have not yet woven the ends in yet. :)

Finally, I finished this scarf a while ago but hadn't gotten around to photographing it yet. I bought some Malabrigo Chunky Yarn in Brilliante a while ago at Iris Fine Yarns in Appleton, but never found a pattern that claimed the yarn.

At the end of fall, I realized I wanted to make a scarf of this, so I dug through Ravelry in search of the perfect pattern for this yarn. I stumbled across the Scrunchable Scarf pattern and decided that this WAS the pattern for the yarn. It didn't take long using size 11 needles and both skeins of yarn. Soft, cuddly and warm.

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I will make some more progress with my lace scarf this week and I will try to post another project picture at the end of the week.

Sigh...cats.

This afternoon, I came downstairs and was greeted by this in the living room!

I followed the trail of yarn to the kitchen....

And was greeted by this!

And then this!

The culprit, however, was nowhere to be found....until I followed the yarn back to the living room and what do you know??

Smores, you are a bad liar and I'm not buying your "I'm innocent" look. So much for the rest of my sparkly wool-ease. :)

Lace Attempt #1 - Fail.

As I blogged about in my 2010 Knitting Resolutions, I really want to start knitting lace. I have queued a number of lace patterns on Ravelry for a while, but either I didn't have the right yarn, didn't have the right yardage, didn't like that specific pattern, etc. I finally, finally, FINALLY found my ideal pattern. Hooray! I decided on the CashSilk Fern Scarf (ravelry link) because I liked the relative simplicity of the scarf, but it is a gorgeous scarf.

So tonight, I decided that I was going to cast on for this scarf. I dug through my craft room, and found a size 3, 24" circular needle, and then dug through my yarn to find some lace yarn for the project. I considered using the Cashmere/Wool Laceweight yarn that I bought as a 26th birthday to me present from Mad Angel Creations, but I decided against it for now...I'm not sure I really "see" this pattern with this yarn, though I could end up proving to be wrong. Instead, I picked out this beauty- KnitPicks Shimmer in Turquoise Splendor.

So, I cast on the required number of stitches, and knitted the first row. The needles I picked out (MeiMei Pro Bamboo)...NOT working. I think I need a metal needle of some sort. Unfortunately, my KnitPicks Interchangeable needles only go down to a size 4, and this requires a size 3. I checked some other Ravelers project notes, and going to size 4 doesn't seem like a good plan. So for now, the project is halted until I can get a metal needle with a pointy tip. Possibly a KnitPicks fixed circular either in the Nickel-Plated or Harmony Wood, or maybe an Addi Lace. We shall see.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and figure out a different project until I can get my hands on the required needle. :)

Baby Gift Extraordinaire!

My main project for this week was to accomplish two things: 1. Finish up the baby blanket that has been sitting on my needles for over a year waiting to find a recipient. 2. Make two burp cloths to go along with the baby blanket and the onesies I bought for said baby.

Check and check. Man, I rule.

I even have pictures, because I am just that awesome.

First, the blanket. I did not use a blanket pattern for this one, just a stitch pattern and some simple math. I used the feather and fan pattern, which is, for this blanket, multiples of 18 + 20. My major mistake with this was GAUGE. And a gauge swatch that lied. This isn't a baby blanket so much as it is a small rug. But by the time I realized "oh crap, this is too big" I was almost out of variegated yarn and was over halfway done. No way was I going to frog that much work. So, it's an all-purpose, take-it-everywhere blanket. Use it while kiddo is playing on the floor, use it while kiddo is playing outside, use it when kiddo gets a bigger bed...okay maybe not the last part, but you get the idea.

Another mistake I made was mixing and matching my yarns. I used Caron Natura Baby Rainbow Ombre yarn for the varigated, and Red Heart SuperSaver for the solid. No, the problem isn't that acrylic melts babies. No, the problem isn't that Red Heart SuperSaver is actually the devil incarnate. The problem is that Caron Natura and Red Heart SuperSaver aren't exactly the same yarn weight. So the needle size I picked (US 10.5) was a bit too thick when it came to the SuperSaver, even though it was perfect with the Natura. Live and learn. Next time, either a- don't mix and match Natura and SuperSaver, or b- use a smaller needle size. That would have solved the overall size of the blanket too. Oh well. Anyway, so along with the Baby Rainbow in Natura, I used SuperSaver in Petal Pink, Pale Green and Light Blue (oh, what original names!). I had initially planned on panels of yellow, but see aforementioned "running out of variegated yarn" and that is why there were only three solid panels. :) Aside from the things I'd change if I could re-do it now, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and only hope the recipient likes it too.

The two best pictures I got of the afghan are just before I finished (a few more rows to go):

and just after I finished and folded up the blanket.

To accompany the blanket, I made two quick burp cloths out of Peaches & Creme worsted weight cotton in Spring Meadows. The first one I used a pattern called Plain & Simple Burp & Wash Cloths (ravelry link). The medium called for 36 stitches and the large called for 41, but I settled on "medium plus" and cast on 39 stitches. Quick, mindless knit. I like this color scheme for baby girls.

And a close up to show off the colors a little better:

The second burp cloth I made using a dishcloth pattern and just continuing to knit it to make it a long rectangular rather than a square. This was made using the Waffle Knit Dishcloth pattern from Homespun Living. Again, a pretty mindless knit. My trouble was actually getting the hang of the P2, K1 for the first few rows, for whatever reason I was having a difficult time with that particular row. Aside from that, the pattern was, I think, a success. I like the texture of this one a lot, and I will probably make some dish/wash cloths using this pattern.

And another one to show off the whole cloth:

All in all, I feel pretty successful in completing these projects this week (and last!). Hooray for me! Now, I am going to try and make some baby hats for Laura & Elizabeth so I can ship off that baby blanket as well. Then my project choices are wide open!

Oh, and what kind of a Wisconsinite would I be if I didn't send off some Green Bay Packer onesies along with the blanket and burp cloths! Not a big Packer fan here, but the recipient's parents sure are....

Now I need to find two more skeins of the Red Heart Super Saver in the colorway Magenta. I have located it online at Joann's and Knitting-Warehouse, but not locally. I only need two skeins, I'm not gonna pay shipping. I am going to have to do another craft store round next week in my question for this seemingly non-existent yarn. Who saw that one coming??

Wedding Roses Filet Crochet Afghan, pictures available 2+ years later....

So I'm sure a lot of you were puzzling over the "Lauren Knits and Crochets" in this title since there isn't a whole lot about crocheting. Here's some crocheting!! Yay!

Once upon a time in 2007, I briefly mentioned this project, which was a 30th Wedding Anniversary/Christmas Present for my parents. I did (as you might be able to figure out) finish the afghan a few days before Christmas, but since that was in the days before I had a digital camera that didn't require 4 AAA batteries and was a pain to load pictures with, I never photographed it. Even after we bought our digital camera, I just kept forgetting to take pictures or ask my parents to take pictures for me. So when I was writing my 2010 Knitting Resolutions, I added photographing this afghan to the list in hopes that I would inspire myself to go photograph it.

Lo and behold, that day was today! And there was much rejoicing!

Some projects specs before I show the photos:

I got this pattern out of the American School of Needlework's The Great Big Crochet Afghan Book that I bought when it was clearanced at Annie's Attic. In the book, the suggested yarn was Red Heart Super Saver and the suggested hook size was a 4.5 G hook. I started this project by doing only one square to see how it looked and see if I could get a rough idea of how the pattern went before chaining on the amount of stitches that the pattern required to make the afghan. For my "swatch" I used Walmart Mainstays (anyone remember that yarn????) in a beige and a size G Boye hook which I believe was 4.0 instead of 4.5. The pattern worked well with the yarn and color, but the product was a little to scratchy. I also did not have enough skeins of the Mainstays, and Walmart had discontinued Mainstays. After going to look at the other inexpensive acrylics and acrylic blends, I decided on the Caron Simply Soft because I really liked the Autumn Red. My parents have beige couches and an Oriental area rug that has a similar shade of red as the main color in it, so this was a pretty perfect match.

I began working on this in April 2007 with the Caron Simply Soft and a 4.0 Boye hook again, but I just felt like using a hook that small would end up with a very tightly gauged afghan. I switched to a Bates 4.5 G hook, frogged again because it wasn't working out, and then finally decided on a Bates H hook and it worked much better. I finished the first row of panels with the H hook.

I put the project away for the summer months as it is very difficult to work on an afghan when it's upwards of 85 degrees and humid all the time. :) I pulled it back out in fall, and worked on it a little bit at a time, but only got halfway done before December due to being distracted by other projects and shiny things (ha!). In December, I set out to finish the afghan. I also was not sure what to do with the border. So I brought it to my knitting group and asked if anyone had any suggestions as to what I should do. Pretty much we thought that maybe I could extend the natural border, but then I ended up doing nothing at all.

So I finally finished up the last row of panels and then single crocheted one more row at the top.

All done!

2010 Knitting Resolutions

So, I think I've been struck with a bout of insomnia over the past few weeks. It really is starting to suck. However, last night while I was staying up too late for my own good, I came up with a list of ten "2010 knitting resolutions" that I posted on Ravelry in my "about me" section.

I figure this is another good place to post those 'resolutions' so that I can try and hold myself accountable for them. I listed 11, so we shall see how I do by the end of the year.

So here are my 2010 goals (again):

1. Reduce my stash and try not to buy more yarn unless there is a very specific project in mind for said yarn. My budget is really limited right now so that shouldn't be a problem. Also, according to my stash on ravelry, I have 236 stashed yarns. Um, yikes. I can't really imagine that I am going to need more for a while.

2. Knit at least 10 things from my queue since I have been adding stuff to my queue pretty much non stop since I joined Ravelry (in July 2007!) and I haven't knitted many things from my queue. Since the beginning of the year, I have deleted a few items that I either a- won't make, or b- what the heck was I thinking when I queued that anyway?? Of course, then I found more stuff to add....so I'm pretty much back up to 13 pages of queued stuff. Oh well. That should make it that much easier to find 10 things to knit then, right?

3. Learn Magic Loop because I really hate using DPNs and try to avoid using them at any cost. I also really hate switching needles when I am working on a project, for example hats. I also am not sure where some of my normal sized DPNs went and I don't really want to buy more (see limited budget), and also, a few weeks ago I got out my size 9 DPNs and now I'm missing one, thanks to a certain kitty. I am fairly certain this does not happen with Magic Loop.

4. Learn how to make socks (see aforementioned Magic Loop). Another thing with socks is that there are so many fun and cute sock patterns, socks are portable, and also, my feet are cold ALL THE TIME from about November until April. Also, I've already got some sock yarn: some Wonderfalls inspired sock yarn, some Barack Obama inspired sock yarn, and various KnitPicks sock yarn that helped qualify my orders for free shipping. And their Gelato color scheme, because it was super cute, available for a limited time only, and it's named Gelato, for pete's sake.

5. Do a lace project. Lace scarves are pretty sweet. I also have lace yarn, because I bought some before I really understood what yarn weights were....did you know that someone wrote a book called Charmed Knits (as in, Harry Potter)? And there's a pattern in there for an Invisibility Shawl? I want to make that!!

6. Knit a sweater. I love sweaters and I wear them all the time- from about November until April....first on my list is the February Lady Sweater. As luck would have it, February is coming up!

7. Work on a crochet project, in addition to knitting. I like crocheting, I'm just not very good at it. However, on my trip to Loop with the Emilys, you may remember that I bought a crochet hook. I do have a specific project in mind for that. :)

8. Update my knitting blog at least twice a month, or more if possible! In order to update a knitting blog, one must knit. I guess this is kind of a two-part resolution!

9. Knit/crochet a blanket for MYSELF. I've made a blanket for my parents, a blanket for my sister, and various baby blankets for people...and I have a knitted bedspread from a friend, and a crochet afghan from my aunt-in-law, as well as a really ugly, 1970s retro, scratchy-stands-on-its-own-acrylic afghan that is in Andy's trunk that my late Grandma made, which is pretty much the only reason I have it. But I don't have a blanket that I've made for ME. This may be the exception to the "knit from stash" rule, since I really want to make a pink and brown blanket and I don't have any pink and brown stash yarn that is in blanket quantity.

10. If I decide to knit any Christmas gifts, deciding this in October or November isn't usually a good plan. I never knit well under pressure.

11. Finally, and this should be easiest, take pictures of the Wedding Roses Filet Crochet afghan because I made it in 2007 and still have not taken pictures and posted them on Ravelry (even though I have a project page for it). It really was one of my favorite projects to make! This is on my to-do list for this week since my parents are out of town and I'm going to stop and check on their cats. Now, I just need to remember to bring my camera to said cat-sitting trip.- DONE!

Okay, so #11 is kind of a 'cheat' resolution, but I really need to remember to do that!

So hopefully, by December 31, 2010, I will have accomplished at least 6 of my goals, with any luck I will have accomplished all 11!

My latest adventure- the Washington Heights Hat!

Well, as you may remember from my last post, I was looking to make a hat as winter is upon us in full force here in Milwaukee. I had queued up a bunch of hats on Ravelry, but the one that I just kept coming back to was the Sutro Heights Hat. I felt that the simplicity of the pattern would work well with the yarn I had picked out- Lion Brand Wool-Ease in White/Multi (Sparkly!).

I began on the hat, cast on 85 stitches and began the ribbing. The pattern calls for a worsted weight wool yarn, and size 7 needles. Since the Wool-Ease is 80% acrylic, 20% wool, I knew the blocking was not going to be an option after the hat was finished, so I needed to make sure it fit. To be on the safe side, I went up a needle size, and used a 16" size 8 Harmony Wood Fixed Circular from KnitPicks. The ribbing was somewhat tedious, and I guessed when I got to about an inch.

Per the pattern, I knitted four repeats of the pattern, and began to decrease. All was good, until I got to the last two rows, and I realized I really should have used DPNs to decrease since the cable on the 16" is not long enough to fudge any sort of Magic Loop. It was somewhat of a disaster, but stubbornly, I finished off the last two rows, threaded my tapestry needle and finished up the hat.

I tried it on and immediately noticed a problem: It was too big to be considered a "beanie" and too small to be considered "slouchy." Crap. I looked on ravelry and google and found there's not a good way to "shrink" the Wool-Ease. I put on the hat anyway and mulled over what to do. Finally, I decided in the interest of being a slight perfectionist, that my only real option to avoid being annoyed for the rest of the winter was to rip out the hat so that I could remove some of the rows. I decided to rip back to row 3 of the fourth repeat. After I verified that all of the stitches had made it back on the needles, I doubled checked row #3, and skipped ahead to row #9 to begin the decrease. It seemed to be a better "beanie" size this time around, so I kept going. I finished row 15 in the pattern, and switched from my size 8 circular needle to size 7 DPNs to finish off the hat.

Success! I finished up the hat, wove in the ends and it was the perfect beanie size. Hooray! I now have a hat to wear, and it matches all three of my coats.

As for the name. In the pattern, it is noted that Sutro Heights Park is a park in San Francisco and that's what the hat is named after. Since I've never been to San Francisco, and this hat is to battle the cold cold un-ending Milwaukee winter, I thought it might be clever to name my hat after a Milwaukee neighborhood. I vetoed the Hampton Heights Hat, and named it the Franklin Heights Hat, but then decided on the Washington Heights Hat, named after one of my favorite Milwaukee neighborhoods.

And now, here's the required self-portrait of me with the hat.

I enjoyed this pattern a lot, and I may make it again. Probably not for myself, but possibly for a gift or if I really need another hat. Knowing Milwaukee winters- it's a definite possibility. This was also the first time I knitted from a chart, and I thought it was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I have filet crocheted from a chart before, so that helped. I think knitting this hat from a written pattern might have actually been more confusing, but the chart made it simple. Now, to get printer ink so that I can print out the pattern and keep it in my binder, rather than having to follow along on the computer screen....

Now, I'm trying to decide what my next project should be!

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!

Christmas Fun!

So, I have no idea where the camera charger is so I haven't been able to take pictures of my knitting stuff. 

What's being knitted?

1. Knit Knack Scarf Exchange Scarf

2. Front/Back Cross Scarf

3. Feather & Fan Baby Blanket for Stacey

4. I'm trying my hand at crochet again! Whoa!

In the meantime- a Christmas fun survey! :)

Welcome to the Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends! Okay, here's what you're supposed to do (and try not to be a SCROOGE!). Copy this email and paste it into a new email (or a blog post!). Change all your answers. Then send. Tis the season to fill out stupid surveys!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? A little of both, depends on the gift.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial- real trees are not kitty friendly (or maybe TOO kitty friendly!)

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Thanksgiving weekend or the first weekend in December but this year I've failed to put it up yet....

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually later than I should. ;)

5. Do you like eggnog? No!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? When I was 7, I got a really awesome stuffed Garfield. I've still got him! :D

7. Hardest person to buy for? My father in law since he hates everything. :D

8. Easiest person to buy for? Me! Umm....I'm not sure, probably my dad.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Like I have time to send out Christmas cards at all...

11. Worst Christmas gift you received? Um, anything from my crazy great aunt...lol. :)

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL!!!

13. When do you start shopping? Later than I should! I haven't started yet! Crap!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? We're doing a White Elephant this year!! Yea!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies! :)

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, my artificial tree comes with them! :)

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night

18. Home on Christmas? I'd prefer it that way!

19. There was no 19, so I added one- What is your favorite Christmas TV Special? Tie between 3, of course! Garfield Christmas, Claymation Christmas and Charlie Brown Christmas!!

20. Angel or Star on top of the tree? I don't have a tree topper, but at home we have an angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Mostly Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The fact that the stupid radio stations have a playlist of something like 5 songs. Holy crap. There are enough songs out there that they don't have to play the same ones twice!!!!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Um, yeah, we don't really have a theme, more of a hodgepodge. Lots of Snoopy and Garfield ornaments though. A few Scooby Doo ones too.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Wasn't this question already asked? Ohhh, dinner...um, I don't know. Chinese food, lol. :)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Peace on earth, I'm a closet hippie.

26. Who is most likely to respond? I dunno.

27. Who is least likely to respond? I dunno.

Feel free to post this on your blog if you want! :)

Sorry, that hiatus was not so brief...

Okay so I didn't mean to take this long of a break from blogging. Right now I'm currently unemployed and knitting like mad. Today I went outside to get my mail, and got locked out with no shoes, no cell phone, and no house keys. I walked circles around the house trying to figure out how to get inside again but of course no windows were open. I ended up back at the front door again- where the door still stood open but the screen door was locked. In desperation, I started pressing on the screen itself and voila- the lower corner popped out of place. Haha! I managed to unlock the screen door through the corner of screen. Who the hell locked the screen door??? I didn't even know it COULD lock. And that's been about the most excitement I've had all week.
The hat that I was modeling in the previous post is still not done as I can't find my Stitch N Bitch book that has the pattern in it. It's in a box....somewhere. Hopefully I'll find it soon.
In the meantime I signed up for another Knit Knack exchange- this one's to make a scarf. I found the perfect pattern and pattern kit so I'm busily assembling an order to put on a gift card I got (because with no money it's usually hard to justify buying yarn) so I can get the pattern and yarn. Unlike in the last exchange we're not going to exchange goodies because we're all broke, but I suggested that we make a mix CD for our buddy, and that seemed to be a well received suggestion. I can't wait to get a mix CD from my buddy, I hope it has music on there that I would have never heard of/bought for myself.
And now for the pictures!

13 cloths going to the homeless veterans project!! I have 2 more done too, but not photographed as of today as I haven't woven the ends in yet, and I can't find the camera charger either.
So what's all there? Well first let me say that any of the diagonal cloths are the Grandmother's Favorite pattern. And all of the yarn used is Peaches & Creme Worsted Weight unless specified otherwise.
So....starting in the top left corner:
1. Grandmother's Favorite in Pink Lemonade
2. Grandmother's Favorite in Sea Mist #1
3. Grandmother's Favorite in Sea Mist and White
4. Grandmother's Favorite in Shaded Denim
5. Rice Paddy Cloth in Olive

Middle Row:
6. Grandmother's Favorite in Sea Mist #2
7. Fiesta Rib Cloth in Earth Tones
8. Grandmother's Favorite in Faded Denim
9. Grandmother's Favorite in Black

Bottom Row:
10. Seed Stitch in Double Worsted White
11. Grandmother's Favorite in Lemon Lime
12. DW Cloth in Shaded Denim
13. Grandmother's Favorite in Faded Glory

Woohoo! Yay me!
The two not photographed are also Grandmother's Favorite- one in double worsted white, and one in worsted Yankee Doodle. 15! Yea!

Stack o' cloths!

The finished DW Cloth. It was the death of me. Not a fan of the pattern. Also not a fan of the shaded denim either. I did kinda like the argyle-esque pooling though.

Also, not so recently, but fairly recently, I bought a ball winder. Winding yarn is addicting. And now lots of my yarn is in cute little yarn cakes like this one.
This particular yarn cake is made out of Peaches & Creme Worsted Weight in Lemon Lime. Awww, cute!!!

I got this yarn on Etsy, when I was browsing just for fun (that never ends well now, does it?). What is so special about this yarn, you may ask? Well, the colorway is "Jaye & Eric" which can only mean one thing....WONDERFALLS!!!! Yes, it's Wonderfalls yarn!
In fact, the etsy seller has decided to do a whole color scheme based on Wonderfalls. I hope I find a job soon so I can buy more Wonderfalls yarn.
For those of you who are familiar with the show, the orange-red in the yarn stands for the Wax Lion, and the blue is for Niagara Falls.

I got more Audacity yarn! Yay for BlackBunny Fibers!