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!

Brief Hiatus...

Not from knitting silly! But from knitting-related content.
I will hardly ever mix politics and knitting on this blog, but today, I must explain to you why I am knitting charity items like mad.

This Diary Should Never Be Written from DailyKos (an admittedly very left-leaning blog).
The thing is though, that this shouldn't even be an issue. No matter what side of the fence you're on- conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat. We got into this war, and our soldiers are fighting it honorably. It's their job. They are putting their lives on the line in service to our country.No matter what your position on the war is, please do not take it out on the soldiers. For them to come home and be poor and homeless, it's a downright embarrassment to our country.
And THAT is why I have gotten so involved in knitting charity items for the homeless veterans.
In fact, I even took on the 25-item challenge. Sadly, it is not going so well....
4 are done!
3 are on the needles!
21 finished items to go (but 3 will be done soon!).

/end political soapbox rant, return to knitting next time!

UFO Sighting!

I have not been knitting much lately because I feel like I've been either a- at work, b- in Milwaukee, c- job-hunting, or d- packing. The bad news is that I took on the 25-Item Challenge for the Knitters for Barack Obama General Charity Knitting!!
So far, I have the four washcloths picture in my previous post, and a washcloth and hat on the needles. 4 down, 2 in progress, only 19 to go! Crap.
Big News! This knitter is relocating at the end of this month!!! Hence the packing, job-hunting, and Milwaukee travels. Not fun.
In other news, I love the KnitPicks Harmony Options. I totally want the interchangeable set.
I have finished (about 95%) cataloging my yarn on Ravelry. I now know that I have too much yarn. I have started planning stash busters- there will probably be a post about that soon!
I want to try the Bernat Cot'n'Corn yarn! Cotton and Corn???
I also got some awesome yarn from a shop in Connecticut thanks to one of my Ravelry friends. I have not cataloged it on a Ravelry yet, but I'll give you guys a quick shot of one of the yummy skeins of yarn (the tags even have pictures of the sheep the yarn came from!!!).....it is being given a cat scan. :)
That's all for now.... but stash busting coming soon!!

In addition to all the washcloths, I'm also working on a hat for the homeless veterans for the Knitters for Barack Obama charity event. Please excuse the silly picture(s). :)
I am using Bernat Softee Chunky yarn (stash buster #1!!!) in Gray Heather, with my new KnitPicks Harmony Fixed Circular needle in size 9 (btw, I LOVE the Harmony Needles!!!). The pattern is loosely based on the Hot Head pattern in the first Stitch N Bitch book. I changed the yarn, changed the needle size, changed the number of cast-on......but still doing the 2x2 ribbing. :)

The beginnings of another washcloth for the Knitters for Obama General Election Charity Project! This one is the Darrell Waltrip knitted cloth, and no, I'm not a fan of Nascar (Darrell who?)...I found the pattern thanks to the wonder that is Ravelry!
This is using Peaches & Creme Worsted in Shaded Denim. Next time I think I want to use a more variegated yarn, but it's not bad for a first attempt!

Finally, another Feather & Fan....this one is made out of Peaches & Creme in Potpourri Ombre. I am not sure if I like this. Eh, it used up some yarn.

Lots of updates!

Well I've got lots of updates: WIP, Yarn, New Totebag, and finished objects!
Currently I've got a market bag on the needles, it's a really nice relatively easy pattern, and it's working up quickly (okay, so the size 13 needles help). I'm planning on making more for Christmas presents this year in an effort to be more "green."
I celebrated my 25th birthday last week and to celebrate I bought some yarn (Audacity!) from Black Bunny Fibers, and some needles from KnitPicks. I bought some of the Harmony fixed circulars in 7, 8, and 9. I have the Options in nickel, but I don't know if I like them. I might look into getting a Harmony interchangeable set in the next year or so. I also got a size 1 needle in both the Option (nickel) and Harmony (wood) to try my luck at Magic Loop with socks (eventually).
I joined Team Obama in the Knitting Olympics on Ravelry- now I just need to pick my project!
Like the preemie hats in the primaries, the Knitters for Obama on Ravelry have started up the charity knitting for the general election. This time around it's for homeless veterans. We're making hats, scarves, wash cloths and lap blankets. I finished 4 cloths with many more planned.
I am trying to get all my yarn, needles and patterns organized for my upcoming move sometime before the end of August, it's been quite the task!
And now, for the WIP, Yarn, Totebag, and FOs!

My latest WIP is a Market Bag. I'm trying to be more "green"....and plastic bags are just awful for the environment.
I'm using the Market and Bottle Bag pattern/kit from Peaches & Creme. I'm using the Gumdrops color scheme. It is not my favorite, but it was my favorite of the colors offered. Just because I knew that I would probably want to make more (and I really do!), I got some more colors of the double worsted: Mocha Swirls, Seabreeze, Blackwatch, and Daisy Ombre. I think I'm going to make market bags for Christmas presents this year.
I started the bag at Stitch N Pitch. Right now I'm getting to be pretty close to being done with the "mesh" part of the bag. It was a pretty quick knit, and the double worsted is a great choice for a market bag. The mesh is very stretchy. This was also my first project knitted in the round. Hooray!