Three Twisted Stitches

Follow Me

2007-09-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Follow me to my new location!

For those about to knit, we salute you!

2007-09-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm in a rock sort of mood, so the title seemed fitting. Just think AC/DC, and rock along to your own version of the lyrics!

Today marks the final day of my posting to this blog. I shall be joining my sister at her blog (finally) which will then become our blog, and we shall rule the blogging world.

Too dramatic?

I'll tone it down a bit. Maybe.

However, I shall not leave you without a decent fairwell (and hope that whomever actually does read this, and keeps up with my sporatic posting, will follow me unto the next weblog.)

I HAVE PICTURES!!!

At long last, I have some pictures to show you what a good knitter I have been. I think I'll just go to town and upload them all, adding small captions underneath to illustrate them. Enjoy, and fair thee well upon thy travels to the new blog, http://www.twistedstitches.typepad.com/!

These two pictures (above and below) are of my mother wearing her cotton summer shirt. It looks so cute on her!

Here is my Eddie, knitting his first hat! I'm so proud of him... He still stands as my fastest learner. He'd be making leaps and bounds toward my skill level if he were a little more motivated to actually knit. He's a trooper for sticking to it, though!

The next four pictures are of me in my newsies hat from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. The first two are better pictures of the design of the hat, while the second two show the colors truer and the patterning of the multicolored yarn.

Here are a few blasts from the past: A Cardigan for Arwen, which is still in progress, will be picked back up soon. I hope to finish it this fall.

The Minisweater (aka Boobholder)! It's so close to completion, it just got too hot to work on over the summer. Soon, though, soon!

And the final blast from the past (the way-far-back-there-first-sweater-I-ever-started-and-most-likely-to-be-the-last-sweater-I-ever-finish past) the Cool Girls Knit hoodie! Alas, I have yet again run out of yarn. Can you believe this? I'm never going to finish this damnable sweater... But I can't wait until I do! Soon. (Do I sound like a broken record?)

Last, but certainly not least, is a new endeavor. I am beginning a project journal, to tie in with my index of yarn that I've used, and my pattern porfolio. I've got three projects in right now, and am just working diligently to add more.

And before I depart for the final time here, I'd like to give you a slight teaser.

A sweater, so new it still smelled of the yarn shop. A gift, returned. Read next time for the story of the emotional struggles of this poor sweater, and discover its fate.

Binding off (for good).

Bad blogger

2007-09-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

As Jessica said of me recently, I am as bad a poster as she is.

I'll make up for it, I promise.

Funny story: I was driving from my resumed weekly KI meetings with my roommate and my boyfriend. (I convinced him to come, and he actually knit!) We were headed to Meijer to stock up the fridge for the new two weeks. All of a sudden we heard this thunk and a scraping noise, like metal scraping on pavement. Lindsay pulled her minivan over and we all jumped out to inspect the mystery noise. Her flood light, which her father had told her was loose, had fallen out completely. Ed removed the light itself and we set to trying to figure out how to resecure the plastic panel the originally held it in. I found myself suggesting with no little bit of hilarity that we use yarn to tie it up. It was the only solution we could think of, so part of her car is (still, a few weeks later) held together with a bit of yarn!

In other news, I started and completed a shirt for my mom's birthday. I would love to post pictures of it, as well, but as luck would have it, I left my external harddrive at my house over the weekend, and it hasn't arrived in the mail yet. But soon, my friends, soon.

Speaking of soon, I will soon be switching to another blog soon. More on that later.

Current projects run in the way of a cotton variation of the Spartan Pullover in the 2006 Fall Interweave. It's for my boyfriend, and before any of you start booing and hissing over the fact that I don't have a ring, hush. He well deserves it and I know it will be appreciated. Besides, this way I might actually have some control over how it is washed!

Also, I will be (finally) finishing the second glove in Rachael's set, and working on a few Christmas presents. I know, it's a late start, but I have to do it sometime!

This will have to do for now.

Binding Off.

Brief Patterns

2007-07-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I've been falling down on the job lately. Delayed postings that are always somewhere where I don't have my camera, my knitting, or pictures of my work at all. *sigh*

Waiting for my next class to start. Maybe sometime soon I'll actually get a post up with something of interest.

Jessica's selling patterns now! Woot!

I'm trying to start on my own patterns, but we'll see how it turns out. The concept it really cute, but the execution may or may not turn out to be the same.

My mom's shirt is coming along nicely. I now just have about 16" of straight st st before doing the edging. I'll have to try it on her before I finish it off to see how long she wants it. Here's hoping it's done soon. MIA Pictures TBA.

Well, suppose that's about it. Ciao.

Binding Off.

Bored, stuck, and I forgot my knitting.

2007-06-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Argh. I'm sitting the library at Moraine Valley Community College right now. I just got out of my 8:00am class, which technically shouldn't have ended for another hour and 25 minutes. I can't really believe I'm about to say this, but... I wish he had taken up the whole class period. You see, I'm stuck here. I'm waiting for my darling boyfriend Ed to text me and say he's got a break from his 5 hour class so that we can break the monotony for each other. We carpool. I have to wait for him to get out of his second class at 2:25. It's 9:22. I do have to meet up with my friend Michelle so that we can start on our Economics project at noon, but that's 2 hours and 38 minutes from now. Can I really blow 2 hours and 38 minutes without going stircrazy?

I could. That is, I could have if I had brought my knitting with me. In my groggy and obviously delusional state at 6:30 this morning as I was preparing to leave to pick up Ed, I told myself "you won't have time to knit. You've got class and you should study for that test tomorrow." I studied. I will study more. But 2 hours of studying for a test that will take me around 30 minutes to complete is a little ridiculous. Oh how I wish my knitting were in my bag... but no, I had to just grab my wallet out of my purse and take off. How foolish!

In other news, Jessica has switched her blog to some other server (don't ask me the name, I've already forgotten it) that charges a small fee and allows her to sell her patterns. I'm tempted-- comtemplating, if you will-- to change. Actually, I probably will change. It's 5 dollars a month. I can do that, right? Yea, I can do that.

*sigh* With no access to my photos, or my camera, or my knitting, there is really nothing left to say here. Tis a shame... Farewell for now.

Binding Off.

Green with Envy. Or is that dye....?

2007-06-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

Jessica has failed me. Our pact for the dragon shawls has crumbled beneath the overwhelming drive for design. I at least started. Jessica got so excited about designing that she never even wound her skeins of handdyed! I'm shocked.

I can't, however, say that I'm appalled. Her design bug has been highly successful. So successful, in fact, that one of her designs-- a short cap sleeved sweater with a patterned stitch throughout and contrasting colored ties in Lornas Laces has been chosen for publishing by Lornas Laces! Congrats Jessica! I must admit, I am a little jealous.

I've also started to design a mini sweater, but we'll see how that goes.

Right now I'm working on a shirt for my mom in cotten from the Fitted Knits book, and I'm also making a minisweater for myself out of malabrigo, and have been finishing that elusive CGK hoodie that I started two years ago... *sheepish smile*

I just thought I'd drop by and let you know that I'm still alive and knitting. Unfortunately, I have homework to finish and it's nearly midnight.

Binding Off

Just Because

2007-05-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

So I don't have too much news. Just that I've finished both bunnies and am going to the post office to mail them 2morro. I may end up ripping back the arm warmers. Their a little too tight. Time to go up a needle size.

Just because, here's a coupla pictures of me knitting in the park by my apartment. It was chilly, but there was a gorgeous sunset, and the picnic table was dry, so I sat and knit for awhile. It was a retreat from my roommates, who were driving me up the wall. Very nice retreat.

I look really pissed, and this is partially because of my "lovely" (and I say that with the utmost sarcasm) roommates, partly because the sun was in my eyes and it's hard to smile when your forehead is scrunched into a frown because of the sun, and also partly because I tend to look really mad and serious when I'm concentrating.

It's the epitome of the brooding, dark artist. Except for the vibrantly red hair. And the fact that it only lasts for a few seconds before I think of something entertaining and break into a huge grin. Or laugh outright. I'm silly like that.

Something else that falls into the "just because" category:

My stash at the beginning of the semester

vs.

My stash now.

Look, Jessica, I'm growing up! My stash has now exceeded the amount of storage I have for it!

Bonus for moving into my own room next year: I get to have a whole host of new places to stash my yarn.

Minus: Lindsay, my future roommate, knits. I wonder how big her stash is...

The funny thing is the only conflict that I can forsee us having so far is whether or not I have too much yarn, and if stuffing it behind the DVDs is pushing it.

Binding Off.

Welcome to the World- Here's your first ball of yarn!

2007-04-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

This darling angel is the newest addition to the Reilly clan: Brigid Marion Ameling, daughter to my cousin Emily and her husband Ben.

These are a few of my ideas for tshirts for the knitting illini. At this point, I think Helena's design is winning (she got my vote) but these are just something i threw together in my boredom. Photoshop rocks.

"Knit Friendly"

"Knitting Illini"

"A Knitter without her Knitting is
like a turtle without its shell"

I'm nearly finished with the second bunny to go w/ Gabby. I'm hoping to have them sent before May, but that could be pushing it. We'll see how things go.

Binding Off.

Tears

2007-04-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

I'm slightly depressed for a few reasons today. One is that I had my wine & roses mitts in my pocket when I was walking to class today, and one of them must've fallen out somewhere on the walk, because it was gone when I got to class. I was close to ditching just to retrace my steps and look for it. After class, no luck. *sigh* That makes me sad... What else has me down in the knitting dumps? Ed's boxers. Somehow, with the alterations to the pattern, something went wrong. They weren't too big, or too small. But the front came down so low when he put them on that it made it looke, well, Ed said it best...
"It looks like I have a codpiece on."
Fuck.
I ripped it. Every finished piece, every sew edge. Ripped. Gone. Rolled into giant balls of depressing yarn. I wanted to cry.

As usual, though, there is always good news to balance out the bad. (Being a Libra sucks sometimes.)

I'm nearly finished with the first of 10 charts in the dragon shawl! Yay! It's really turning out... I'm happier now...

I'm not sure why I didn't mention this before, but I've been doing a research paper on the knitting trend in the US. It's been an interesting experience, and I had to turn in my final draft to my Prof. today. Some of the stuff I learned were a bit of a surprise, and at the same time, not surprising at all. If I had more time, I'd go into details, but count this a teaser trailer for a post to come!

Binding Off.

Little Roo and the Monkey

2007-04-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

My goddaughter, Ryleigh, (nicknamed "Little Roo" because of her inability to stop bouncing) clinging to one of my first endeavors into the knitting world- the monkey.

My Aunt Michelle, filling up spare time at Easter with knitting. (She loves the novelty yarns!)

Another testiment to my "pre-occupation" with knitting: I started another project. In my defense, I had just finished the baby sweater (shown below) and was nearing the completion of Ed's boxers. I deemed myself worthy of something small and compact and simple to carry with me. So I'm doing Jessica's arm warmers in Koigu sock yarn.

And now for something completely different: A prom dress made by me for a girl I know, Caryl Anne. It turned out beautifully.

And for my finale, I have completed Brigid's baby sweater. (The make-shift baby is a pillow and some rolled up towels. I didn't have one on hand, so I created one!) It's bigger than I expected, but that's fine. Newborns don't stay that size for very long, no matter how much you beg them not to grow up! The snaps were an afterthought. I had already dissassembled the mannequin. Whoops! Anyway, here she is!

Well, that's about all for now. Binding Off.

Ribbed for her pleasure

2007-04-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture on the Yarnharlot blog, and I had to post it! I want this shirt--- it's so funny!

Anyway, those are my two cents for today.

Binding Off (even though I just cast on...)

Apples, Bananas, and Honey...colored yarn

2007-04-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

THE BAKER IN ME

This issue has very little to do with knitting.

WARNING: Mouth watering may occur.

Banana Bread has been my signature baking treat for the past couple of years. Ever since I was little, I used to beg my mom to make banana bread. As soon as the banana's on the kitchen table turned a little too brown to be eaten, I'd start working on her, eroding at her, hoping that she would break down and bake. When I was old enough to start exploring the magic of the kitchen (to be honest, when I was brave enough. I was old enough years before I actually started...) I made the decision to take those old, brown bananas that had just turned a little to sweet, and make my own banana bread.

I pulled down the "ancient" Better Homes and Garden's cookbook from the shelf in our pantry and flipped to the banana bread recipe. Flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda and mashed bananas. The main ingredients to any banana bread recipe. As I got more adventurous, I added powdered cinnamon, and then a little ground nutmeg. The result? An addiction. My dad stashed the really ripe bananas in the freezer for when I come home, in the hopes that I will find the time to make a loaf for him. My aunt, who normally doesn't like banana bread, can't get enough of it. It's been awhile since I made a few loaves for my family, but periodically I sneak a loaf for my dad. Today, I had 5 bananas that had turned just a little too ripe. That itch for baking crawled into my arms and the project started.

Soon, the richly sweet smell of baking banana bread filled my apartment, spiced with the sharp scent of cinnamon and nutmeg. I can still smell the lingering aroma as I type...

The dinging of the timer set my mouth watering like Pavlov's dog, and I rushed to the oven, hot pad in hand, and pulled out the savory treat.

Oh, it smelled so good, and I KNEW it was going to be a good batch. I let it cool for a moment, then went to the fridge and pulled out a tupperware container of sweet cinnamon apple topping that I was left over from a birthday cake for my friend Nicole.

I sliced the bread and spread a spoonful of the apple topping over the crust. With trembling lips, I took a bite.

Lord, that is the BEST banana bread I have had in a long time.

And for you, I have the recipe for both the banana bread and the apple topping!

(I warned you... now stop drooling and start baking!)

Get the recipes here and here too.

IN KNITTING NEWS

I don't believe I haven't told of my misadventures with the baby sweater. When I left on Friday for home for the shower, I managed to leave the remainder of the yarn in the stash drawer of my apartment. Unable to finish the sweater, I took an emergency trip to the LYS with Jessica to grab some last minute baby soft yarn. While there, I recalled that I had two skeins of white and one purple in the Misti Alpaca DK 4 ply-- 80% baby suri alpaca, 20% silk. So amazingly soft, it reminds me of kitten fur. I borrowed a book of baby knits from Jessica, and whipped up a striped hat, mitts, and white booties with purple i-cord ties to give at the shower.

Since then, I've gotten this far with the sweater, and intend to finish this weekend:

This post is way over due, and I can't postpone it any longer.

Binding Off.

And Thus it Begins

2007-04-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Heere be Dragone----> there be my sanity, running away faster than a dragon flies.

It was cackling at me as it ran.

Stupid sanity. I hope it never comes back...

So I cast on. Worked about 25 rows, lost my place, ripped it all out, recast-on and worked another 25 rows. Hope to God I didn't lose my place. I just want to get to 31 rows, and I'll put in a life-line and call it a day. Is that too much to ask? I haven't even really gotten into the real dragon pattern yet and I'm ready seeing why it's labelled as "challenging".

Frogs have feelings too

2007-03-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

Don't ask about the title.
As I figured I might, the CGK sweater sleeve has been ripped back and I'll be casting it back on soon. For now, however, I'm going to switch my focus to finishing the baby sweater by next weekend, for Emily's baby shower. Which, I'm afraid to admit, I still don't know if I'll be able to make it to. I may be mailing her the sweater... it's unfortunate, but without my own car and Ed's worrying about me driving all the way to Indiana and back--- I'd say it's a fair bet that I'm SOL in the transportation department, unless I can device a complicated plan of bus transfers and carpooling. Le sigh...
I have so much work that I've been completely ignoring- I won't even say procrastinating, because that suggests that I have thought about doing it once or twice, but keep telling myself "Tomorrow-- do it tomorrow." In truth, I haven't even attempted to do any of it. I'll regret it tomorrow night, when I'm sitting at my computer, wondering why the hell I'm such a lazy ass. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the last few hours of my Spring Break freedom before returning to the Hell Hole. (I figured that would be an appropriate name for my apartment, seeing as my roommates act like little devils, and they keep the thermostat set to "sweltering" as a rule.)
Somehow I managed to take a break from knitting for a few days, and I feel like I'm falling behind. It's been weeks since I've gone more than a day without knitting something. I suppose that would be due to my lack of a social life in C-U, whereas here I actually have some friends that like to hang out with me more than once a week.
Honestly though, my social life has starting to sprout since I've become more invested in KI, and since meeting Lindsay, I'm beginning to think that there is hope for me yet. Haha-- I'm such a dork. I make it sound like I have no friends, when I really have quite a few. It's just a matter of getting together with them that I have trouble with, and that's my own fault, really.
But now I'm rambling, and that's because it's 3:54 AM, and I'm just that over-tired.

Binding Off, before I say something more!

Knit-a-holic

2007-03-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Chocoholics, Shopaholics, Workaholics.... and Knit-a-holics. People who spend too much time devoted to the first part of the "aholic" word. Sadly, unlike workaholics, my "aholic" spends my money to feed my addiction. Eh, I've come to terms with my "aholic" and have learned to embrace it!

I wound those 900 yd. skeins of hand-dyed (by me) lace weight Knit Picks yarn. Oi. That's a mouthful. The first one took maybe a half hour to wind, because I had help. My boyfriend (God bless him and his willingness to endure my whims) held the hank and my cousin Candice and I each took an end and began to roll. The second I did on my own, while working on the computer. Worst mistake ever. I should have just waited until Wednesday when I go to Jessica's to knit... It took me a grand total of 3--- count 'em, 1-2-3 HOURS to finish winding one ball of yarn. 900 yds of yarn looks like such a daunting task when you first begin...

And when the thread is this tiny...

...it is such a relief to finally finish winding and end up with two giant green balls of yarn!!!

In other news, I've worked on the baby hoody, Arwen, and the Bunny:

And also picked up an old project of mine.

Way back when, I started a sweater that says "Cool Girls Knit" on the back underneath an intarsia yarn and crossed needles (skull and crossbones). I ran out of yarn, and eventually bought the rest, and it has been sitting waiting for me to pick it up again. It's made from the Cascade Superwash Wool, which is very soft. Anyway, I picked it up again and was knitting along when I noticed something strange in my knitting...

You see where the arrow is pointing? It's difficult to see from this picture, but every stitch below that arrow, is twisted. I had been knitting with twisted stitches throughout this entire sweater, and have since corrected my knitting... But this little bit of sweater with twisted stitches is going to bug me to no end. I'm thinking about ripping back my new knitting and starting over with my twisted stitches, just to keep things uniform... I don't know, what do you think? Should I leave it and just deal with it, or rip it back?

While I was taking the photos of my knitting, my kitty, Buttercup (don't laugh, I named him when I was in gradeschool), was staring at my knitting rather hungrily, you might say. So I took a photo of him:

Sir Buttercup, Slayer of Skeins and Destroyer of Knitted Works (Also a double agent for Yarn, attacking & devouring moths)

Well, that's about all I have for today. Until next time.

Binding Off.

As Promised...

2007-03-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

I promised I'd post pictures from the "Dyeing Party" And since I make every attempt to come through on my promises, here are the pictures (a little delayed, but still good!) As Jessica said, it wasn't that much of a party, but the two of us did have fun!
We started off with something resembling angel hair pasta...

Added red and green food dyes, respectively...
Red for Jessica; Green for me.
And ended up with green and red angel hair pasta!
Or really pretty lace weight yarn for our "Heere Be Dragone" shawls.
Did I mention how much I love the new blogger? I can upload pictures from my computer in about one-tenth the time it took before, for one picture! All five of these took about 30 seconds. No joke! Speedy uploads make me happy.

Speedy projects make me happy, as well.

I finished the front left of the baby sweater, as well as getting a few more inches on Arwen.

I'm planning on adding a few inches to the length of it, since I have a thing for making sweaters that end up being too short... So a few inches here, a few inches there, and it's the perfect length!

These are the legs and arms of one of the two bunnies I'm making for my little cousins. Randolph will have a few relatives to add to the family! Yay!

Spring Break began for me today at 3:15. Glorious Spring Break... I return to the little town of Blue Island tomorrow, probably late morning, early afternoon. I hope my life at home will be more exciting and filled with going out with friends than my life here has been lately. Although, I must admit, I did go out twice this week- yesterday, and today. (Yay for finally find a niche!) My friend Pam (yes, you, I know you read this) and I went with her boyfriend Chuck to Cafe Paradiso to listen to some creative writing authors read their work. Now how's this for a scene: me, sitting in a cafe listening to poetry and short story readings, with my needles flying and yarn swinging happily. That needs to happen more often. While I was there, I ordered a soy chai w/ hazelnut and as I was handing my debit card to the cashier, I noticed a large pink flyer next to the register. It claimed in bold letters "KLOSE KNIT", a knitting circle, was meeting there on Wednesdays from 7-9. How convenient! It had been mentioned at KI last night, and seeing the sign brought back the memory of the territory discussion we had. It seems Jenny (our pres) was contemplating stealing the sign and modifying to say Bar Guiliani instead of Cafe Paradiso--- Guiliani's is where we meet.
I've been wanting to switch to Cafe Paradiso for a number of reasons, but there are some very strong cons to the change. The pros are the atmosphere, it's location, and the drinks/food. It's a very cafe-ish cafe, with an ambiance that just makes you feel at ease. It's two blocks from where I live, and they have the BEST mexican hot chocolate EVER. Plus their soups and sandwiches rival Panera Bread. Pricy, but worth it. The cons? It's twice as far for about half of the other members. Bar Guiliani's is great- don't get me wrong. But it gets awfully warm, and the conference room we knit in seems so.... well, harsh really. But it's a conference room- what more can you hope for? Armchairs? Besides, it's the established meeting place.
Something else I noticed at the Cafe is a woman sitting at the bar near me. She had very short, very pink hair, an indistinguishable tattoo on her shoulder and arm, and a number of piercings- ears, nose, lip. She was wearing a tight shirt and "skinny jeans" and clasped in her hands were two very cute wooden knitting needles that knit and purl a pretty pale purple lace weight mohair yarn. It was such a memorable sight, I couldn't help but smile. I just looked at her and felt the corners of my mouth turn upward. In the back of my mind a small voice whispered "you will never look that cool when you knit" but I smiled all the same. A louder voice, I should add, told me "you will never look good in skinny jeans" but I don't think I'd wear them if I did look good in them. Haha. But I digress (horridly).
I can't wait to see how my yarn dried, and then sit and wind all of it into a gigantic ball of lacy-greenness. And then *gasp* CAST ON!!! Whoo! Well it's nearly 1:00 am, and I have a little more packing to get done before I hit the sack. Fair thee well, my friend! Happy knitting.

Binding Off

Dragons and Trees and Lace, Oh My!

2007-03-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been quite the adventure. Most of the things that I had initially planned were changed or cancelled, which I really should have anticipated. I need to just come up with a few things that I would potentially like to do while at home, and then see where my weekend ends up.
But as far as what did happen, Lori (the proud recipient of the Wanderlust Hoodie) and her boyfriend John stopped by on Friday night. She needed little prodding to try it on, and then kept repeating how much she loved it- I'm so proud! She has the photos of her modelling it, and as soon as I can I'll get a copy of them up here. The hoodie is a little bit short, so I'm going to knit up a 4-5" seed stitch band and attach it next time I see her. (She wouldn't give it back to me, haha! I'm afraid I'll have to attach it with her wearing it- makes a knitter proud!)
We watched the movie Domino, with Keira Knightly. That was an awesome movie. Definitely not a family movie- we kept having to pause it when my parents came downstairs- but an incredible movie none the less. Midway through, when my mom seemed to be hanging around and refusing to go to bed, Lori and I decided to take a break and we made oatmeal raisin cookies that were just delicious. My mom even said they were possibly the best oatmeal cookies she's ever tasted. How's that for a vote of confidence? I even got compliments from Ed's mom, which is a real ego boost, because she's got to be one of the best cooks I know.
Saturday ended up being rather hectic, but it all turned out well in the end. I did get quite a bit done- after a "quick" run to the grocery store w/ my mom, Jessica and I stopped by this small store near our LYS called Cake Walk to pick up some frosting gel dyes. Our purpose? Yarn dyeing party! Crazy fun, let me tell you. I took some pictures, but they are all on Jessica's camera, so when I can get some copies, I'll post 'em up here. We were worried about the color, since the bottles were small and we The whole process was a mostly waiting, but after all is said and done, it was fun. My color came out perfectly- a deep forest green. Jessica said she's going to go back to Cake Walk and buy some more of the red. Her color came out, but it wasn't quite what she was looking for, so she's going to add more red and less maroon this time. I'm excited to see how it looks. The yarn is currently hanging at home drying. This weekend, when I come home for Spring Break, it should be completely dried and I can start to wind it. I may take it to the LYS and see if they can do it for me--- there's just so much of it, and it's all lace weight... Ahh, we shall see.
I meant to take photos/have photos taken of the other projects that I've made and given to people recently, and have them model them. Unfortunately, that is one of the cancelled plans. I'll try and get them done this coming week. With the weather warming up, perhaps an outdoor photo shoot is in order--- who knows?
My cousin Emily's Baby Shower is set for April 1st (oh the irony). I'm excited-- the ultrasound says she's a baby girl, and they've decided on Brigid for a name. I bought a few skeins of the Knit Picks Merino Style in the honey to make a cute little cabled hoodie for her. It's going to be so adorable-- the pattern is from Sirdar, and calls for the Tiny Tots DK, but the Knit Picks is better quality. The pattern number is 1656, if anyone is interested. I'll scan in a picture soon, but for now I've got a lot to write in a little time. I'll hopefully get it done by the shower, (which means I'll be coming home for the fourth weekend in a row) and then I can focus my attention on the other projects on (or hovering over) my needles.
I have a slight problem- I can't seem to find my US5 dpns to finish Rachael's second cigar glove! I had really hoped to have them finished by now, but they are MIA. *sigh* Oh the difficulties.
I really should get going though-- more stories later, maybe. I have a midterm to study for tonight! Wish me luck.

Binding Off

2007-03-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

COMPLETED!! I HAVE DONE IT!!! After long months (way too long for a sweater!) I have finally stitched the last stitch, sewn the last edge.... The Wanderlust Hoodie is complete!

I'm going to hold off until this weekend to put up any pictures, but I also finished the second W&R mitt, and got about another inch or so knitted on Arwen.

My apologies, but I'm a little drained right now. Dilemmas with my roommates, and their bullshit is just really doing major damage to my morale. I knew I should have posted earlier...

Binding Off

Distraction.

2007-03-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ha, yes, I realized I made a mistake with my Arwen sweater. Silly me, I started to follow the front directions and ended up following the back! Well, I've ripped out the 16" of st st and have started again, following the correct pattern with the cables. It's ok- I like working with this yarn a lot, and I just started, so I'm not in too much of a twist about it. Heh, you know you're a Knitter when you can rip out 16 inches of knitting and be okay with it, simply because you enjoy working with the yarn...

The first of these is truer to the color, but the second shows the shadowing better. This is where I am now post-ripping.

I received both the yarn for the baby cardigan that I'm planning to knit for my cousin's first (Brigid, is the baby's name- it's a girl!) and the undyed lace-weight for the Heere be Dragone shawl that Jessica and I have made a pact over. What does it look like? Heere. I'll showe ye...

The picture quality isn't the best, but the detail of this pattern.... Oi! I'm glad we made that pact and are planning to do this together, because even the pattern skill level says it's a challenge! I'm stoked. This weekend, Jessica and I are getting together to dye the yarn w/ kool aid. I'm hoping for a dark, emerald green color and she's going for a blood red. Let's see what we get! The yarn as it is now looks like this:

I hope to get the color right, as this will be my first dyeing experience. I'm so excited!

Well, I suppose that's all for now.

Binding Off.

2007-03-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

So far I have done about 16 inches of straight st st on the Arwen front. I haven't started the back yet, as I plan to do the tree pattern and need more concentration that I've had in the past week or so. Anyway, this is it:

I got about 3/4 the way finished with the final piece of Ed's boxers, and I ran out of yarn. That's it- no more of the Manos Cotton Stria! *sigh* I'll be ordering more offline sometime soon, but this will have to stay on the needle for some time longer. (I'm sorry babe!)

This lovely little specimen is the first of the Wine and Roses Mitts from the Winter 06 Interweave. I love 'em- I did them in the Lorna's Laces sock yarn. The color is the Purple Club (#701). I love them!

I decided recently to keep a scrapbook of sorts of the yarn that I have used for different projects. Maybe it's just my pack-ratishness, or my OCD kicking in, but I figure it would be a good idea to keep track of the yarn, the colors, and more importantly, the washing instructions, just in case. I've got about 11 pages so far, and 25 different yarns w/ small bits of the yarn as examples. I'm special like that....

In other news, I quit my job at Jimmy John's for various reasons, of which are my grades and sexist harrassment. Yes, I meant sexist. The "men" there tend to pick on/tease/harrass the women about twice as much as the guys. I saw myself becoming bitter and dreading work, and with my grades being where they are, and where I'd like to have them... well, it was just time. I know I won't be getting a paycheck, which means that purchasing yarn will be by need only. I have enough projects in mind to keep me busy until summer, when I will again (hopefully) have a job. *sigh* Why do people have to be so stupid? Ugh. Ah, well, on that slightly depressing note, I'm off to take my cookies out of the oven and head off to the mall w/ some friends. Tata!

Binding Off.

And the spinning wheel turns...

2007-02-25T01:48:00.000-08:00

I have a prospective roommate for next semester. The apartment is about $280/person/month, plus gas and cable. Parking is extra, but that's to be expected. All the utilities are included in the rent. (yippeee!)

I decided to check out her facebook page and I discovered something that made my heart leap for joy.

SHE KNITS!!!!

Oh, I can't tell you how excited I am about this whole thing. This is going to be awesome! Lol. Anyway, just thought I'd share a few points.

Updates: I finished mitt number one of the W&R, finished the hood for Wanderlust, and realized I am missing my size 8 straight needles... no worry, I still have my circulars, but I should figure out what happened to them. I have a funny feeling one of the girls I taught to knit currently has them stashed somewhere, forgotten and falling into disuse. That's not to say that they wouldn't have suffered the same fate in my care, especially since it's been months since I've taught anyone, and it took until now for me to notice their absence. At least they'd be with other needles!

Binding Off

Don't Eat Yarn.

2007-02-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'm so close to finishing Wanderlust that I can nearly taste it!
(*pulls fuzzies out of mouth* Note to self: DON'T EAT THE YARN. IT DOESN'T TASTE GOOD.)

As you may have noticed, I did a little revamping on my template. Things went wrong, obviously. I now have my sidebare permanently stuck at the bottom of the blog, and nothing that I do changes it. I don't know what happened. It's aggravating, but until I figure it out, I guess I'm stuck. *sigh*

Note to self: DON'T TRY TO REVAMP TEMPLATE IF YOU DON'T SAVE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL. STUPID.

I bought a bag of yarn from DiscontinuedBrandNameYarn.com. It's all bamboo, and I ordered the sky blue color- 10 skeins @ 250 yds/skein for $45.00. Yea, I wasn't passing that up. The only problem is, though, when the yarn came in, it is a most distinctive shade of turquoise! Jessica seemed to have this problem- all of the yarn is darker than advertised, and in my opinion mislabeled! Sky blue? Turquoise? Two completely different colors. I want to see what the Turquoise looks like...

I have a picture of me modelling my hat and scarf set that I made when I just started knitting. Cables, by the way, were some of the easiest things for me to learn.

I finally took pictures of me in the Central Park Hoodie!

This weekend's plan---> start a few new projects. I figure I'll finish Wanderlust today before I leave to go home, and then it's on to something new! YAY!

Binding Off.

Magical Stash

2007-02-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

No, not that kind of "magic".

You recall the neverending Wanderlust Hoodie? The one with the troublesome sleeves, and the yarn shortage?

My stash is magic, I swear. I decided today to go through the two stash bins and the one drawer. I found projects that I had completely forgotten about, as well as needles that I thought I had lost. Whoops. Heh, I now own 9 US2 DPNs. As I was sorting through, BAM! I found a second skein buried toward the bottom. So I keep sorting, putting things into my stash drawer, and then BAM! Skein number three pops out and smacks me upside the head, cackling maddly and skipping around the room, jumping rope with the tail of yarn.

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite so active, but it certainly felt as if I had been hit upside the head. I should always remember- if yarn is missing, check the stash! It's bound to be there somewhere. I'm glad I found it, cuz now I know I'll have enough, with 3 3/4 skeins of yarn, it's all clear sailing. So to speak.

In other news, I have to write an evaluation paper for Rhetoric this week. My chosen topic? Knitting books. Specifically, I still need to narrow it down. But still, I figure I can a good 5 pages out on that topic in no time. Which, come to think of it, I should be doing right now. Well, I suppose I'll let that be enough for now.

Binding Off.

Progress

2007-02-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

One sleeve. I've finally, after ripping and reknitting, finished one sleeve of the Wanderlust hoodie. Not only that, but I'm about 1/5 of the way finished with the second! I just want this project off my needles, and on Lori's shoulders! Ah!

On the way back from Chicago, I finished the Center Square hat on the front page of the new Knitty. It's in green and orange- a great fall hat, and it looks really nice. In retrospect, I should have done the green first, but what's done is done.

I've started a few new projects to keep me from going crazy. One is the Wine and Roses mitts from the Winter 2006 Interweave. I'm doing it in the variegated purple Lorna's Laces- I can't wait to see the finished project.

Lately, I find myself splurging on the more high-end yarns. I bought some of the Tilly Thomas- the stuff that normally runs $40 a skein- at my LYS. Granted, she was having a 40% off sale for an hour, so naturally I took advantage of that. I bought a bunch of other yarn there, as well. Hopefully I will be able to get some of these intended projects done by summer.

The Spring 2007 issue of Interweave came in the mail today- my roommate laughed at me because I got excited about it! There aren't too many patterns in there that scream "KNIT ME!" but there are at least two- a cardigan, and a pair of Entralac stockings that made my stomach to flipflops. That is going to be a fun project...

Ed's boxers are nearing their finish, as well. I have one and a 1/4 sides left to do, and the butt flap is already finished, buttonholes and all. I'm intrigued to see how this little experiment will turn out!

We had a snow day today, which totally blew my mind. First of all, in the history of the University of Illinios at Urbana-Champaign, there have been a whopping total of 3 declared snow days. The last one was in 1977. 30 years later, we not only have one snow day (today) but because of the rate at which the snow is falling, and the fact that it's not supposed to stop until 2morro night, means that tomorrow, classes are cancelled as well! How about that?! Getting to 2morro's Knitting Illini meeting may be difficult, but I'm willing to make the trek to sit and chat it up over a latte while knitting with my friends.

Speaking of KI, I've started a blog for the group. My hope is to have everyone join and post their own blogs. I'm hoping to start giving knitting lessons for anyone interested. I figure if I can get it started, I can have a little spare cash to feed my addiction... Hahaha. I think it'd be a cool/fun experience. I'm also offering (free) advanced knitting for the current KI members, in case people want to learn some new techniques (cabling, intarsia, and hopefully soon entrelac).

I hate it when people scoff at certain techniques in knitting, like lace, for example, saying "it looks so hard, I could never do that". It's aggravating when people so dedicated to knitting don't explore the more complicated designs just because they are a little intimidating. My philosophy-- try it! If you screw it up, rip it out and try again. Or move on to something different. Ah, well, not everyone can be so adventurous with such a passive pasttime-- lol.

Well, that's about all for now. I'll try and keep updating more frequently!\

Binding Off

2007-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I've upgraded to the new Blogger. I know, shame on me for leaving one of my groups in the dust. It had to be done. The new Blogger uploads pictures properly....

This particular specimen is one of the cigar gloves from Knitty.com. I made these for my cousin Steph's birthday/Christmas gift. Also along these lines, I will soon be making another pair for my younger sister, Rachael, for her Christmas/EARLY birthday. The yarn is pictured below:

I hope to get at least the first glove finished by Feb. 9. That way I can tell her there's hope for me yet!

Pictured here is the butt flap for Ed's boxers. As you can see, my deadlines escaped me. *sigh* At least certain people are patient enough to wait for the finished product.

I'm planning to gradually purchase more of this yarn to make a sweater for my mom. It's 100% cotton, so I'm positive that she can wear it. Also, it comes in her colors! I'm still hunting for the right pattern, but I know it's out there!

This little orange tote was a gift for me from my Schneider Grandparents- it's so awesome! There's places for needle storage, as well as a divided section for yarn and WIP. The pocket in front is perfect for notions and such. I'm planning to take it with me to Knitting Club this Wednesday. It's so neat, and small, and portable!

I splurged. I bought myself a skein of Lorna's laces. *tsktsktsk* Well, I'm proud to say that I haven't bought any yarn since I've been back to school. *pats self on back* But unfortunately, that's because I really haven't had a lot of free time. Like thousands of other Americans, my new years resolution is to work out more and lose weight before Spring Break. Ed has been really helping me out, keeping me motivated and hunting for healthy recipes that we can try together. It's always nice to have an excuse to eat healthy/tasty foods. The meals are made better simply because he's there with me, helping to cook.

Something I doubt you know, that has nothing to do with knitting, is that I got a tattoo about a week ago. I went with Jessica, Jonah, Rachael, Steph and Candice to get similar tattoos, all in honor of our Gramere. The cross is St. Brigid's cross (her [& my] confirmation name was Brigid) and the rosary beads are lavender, just like her favorite herb/color/scent. The center piece before the cross has a 'G' in it, for Gramere.

I miss her so badly. Today, I went to mass at the church in the neighborhood. I was feeling rather homesick, and had managed to keep myself from crying in the pew until in the middle of one of the hymns, there was a flute solo. I sat there with tears streaming down my face, hoping that no one would notice. Kind of a sad day for me. Ed and I went out to Applebee's for dinner, though, which helped a lot.

Ok, it is now 12:19 AM, I have class tomorrow, and I also need to wake up early to finish up some homework that I managed to put off in order to write this. (smooth, Becki, smooth).

Binding Off

Spun

2007-01-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

Life is a ball of yarn,
born in tangles, ready to be wound
tightly and uniformly.
Then, fully bound,
it joins the others
nestled together
in the old wicker basket by the couch.
Comfortable. Waiting. All alike.
Finally chosen and granted a purpose.
The grounding knot tied, stitches are cast on.
Twisted and wound,
three twisted stitches
looped, dropped, picked up again.
Complications and mistakes arise.
Some are let slide, hidden
from all but the creator.
Others must be repaired.
Frog a row.
Frog ten.
Start over.
The end knits near.
Bind off.
The final stitches are done.
Scissors loom.
The maker cuts the thread.
From birth to death
the ball of yarn has become a
treasured work of art.

~~~Becki Schneider

Stress Ball: The Return of the Knitting

2007-01-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago, I went on and on about how knitting is a stress reliever for me and how I can let go of all the day's stuggles with each little stitch.

Christmas is different. Oh SO different. Knitting becomes a curse. What started as thoughtful gifts that people would truly appreciate became a knitmare.

Elements of a knitmare: (not all appear at the same time, some not at all in some instances)

1. Dropped stitches are a bitch to pick up normally. When you have an hour before the damned thing is supposed to be opened by it's lucky recipient, and you're already late for mass, as well as the dinner party you were supposed to be at---- let's just say dropped stitches are a bitch and leave it at that. I'll try to keep the swearing to a minimum. Ha.

2. Pattern flaws. Not only are they aggravating when you realize there is one, but it's even worse when you have to try and figure out what the stupid wench did wrong when writing out that pattern, and why the hell the editors didn't catch it before sending it out into the world to fuck with the minds of every knitter who picks up that pattern and thinks "Oh this would be fun to knit". Evil bastards. They do it on purpose.... Of course, having made it nearly to the end without any other mistakes, you can't just stop and rip everything out. You have to work your way around the mistake and hope to the knitting gods that you don't end up with something roughly resembling the tangled ball of yarn you started with.

3. Lost patterns. I cannot think of something more frustrating when you are on a tight schedule, and you bring your knitting with you to work on whenever you have a spare moment. The feeling your stomach gives when it's tying itself into knots as you frantically tear apart your purse (or bag, at this point, because it has so many unfinished gifts in it) hunting in vain for the pattern you swear you put in there before you left the house. Once you've realized the hopelessness of collapsing to your knees on a train headed downtown and pulling at your hair, screaming and crying like a child who left his favorite toy in the car, you calming put the bundle of needles and yarn back into the recesses of your bag and move on to the next project. And hope that pattern is still in the bag.

4. Running out of yarn. It sucks. It sucks worse when the store you bought it from went out of business months ago. Add a few curse words when you realize you've lost the tags with the dye lot number. Avoid slipping into knitting depression when you can't find it anywhere- not even online- within your price range, because when you originally bought the stuff it was on Mega-Going-Out-Of-Business-Never-To-Return-All-Purchases-Final Sale. Whoops.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. I ran out of yarn. I cut my time so close that I literally wove the ends into two scarves, wrapped them, and drove to the party. An hour later they were draped around the necks of the lucky recipients who had no idea how much coffee I had to drink to keep my eyes open and fingers moving so they could open their precious scarves on Christmas. *sigh* I ran out of yarn for Ed's boxers. I can't find it for less than $8.50 anywhere, and shipping is almost as much as the yarn itself. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. My mom got a basket of Bath & Body Cherry Blossom lotion/shower gel/body spray/loofa/etc. from me. Never even finished the first glove. Two people actually just got a skein of yarn and a picture of the gloves that the yarn would at some point turn into. One person, whose gift I actually finished weeks before Christmas, has yet to call me back and say "hey, let's get together before you go back to school so we can hang out and exchange gifts." I'll just keep her hat, then.... I also packaged the unfinished Wanderlust Hoodie and wrapped it, gave it to Lori, and said "You'll get this...sometime." I haven't touched it yet. I can't pick it up. Hers is actually started- it wouldn't be fair to the others who only got a skein of yarn.

On the brighter side of Christmas, my dad's gloves were finished (leather palms and all) and he LOVES them. I'm so happy with how they turned out. They fit him perfectly, they're warm, and they won't slide all over the steering wheel on his way to work. Thumbs up to me! Gail's socks fit her wonderfully, and she loves them. She kept saying how she couldn't wait to get up, put them on, collapse into the new recliner Ed bought for her, and relax. Another thumbs up. The scarves, although rushed and shorter than I would have liked, still turned out nicely and Dale wore hers all night.

Now for the pictures. You heard me- pictures. I GOT A CAMERA! So now the pictures won't depend on the availability of my roommate's camera. So here goes:

I suppose that would be the most ironic thing that could happen to me. I get my own camera, take photos that I want to post on my blog, and load them all onto my computer, and what does the website do? Well, I can tell you what it doesn't you. Load pictures. Ugh. We'll see- maybe it'll load tomorrow. And then I can edit this post and put up the missing photos. For now, I'm going to go ahead and bind off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like I said- tomorrow.... *shifty eyes* >.> <.<>

Steph, modelling Isaac's Christmas gift: Knitty's Cigar Gloves. She was carrying the corn dogs upstairs to throw into the microwave oven for us to eat, and I caught her in a creative/sill mood. So, cigarette in one hand, frozen corn dogs in the other, she modelled the glove!

A close-up of Isaac's glove.

This is Steph's glove in progress--- it will be the same as Isaac's, only different yarn. Rachael will also be getting a pair.

Ladies and Gentlemen: My brother Jonah, knitting. He saw me doing it at Christmas, and said "I want to know how to do that-- Becki, teach me how." He got the basics down, but he was so frustrated that it wasn't perfect the first time, and he eventually quit. I'll get to him eventually.... just you wait...

A new development on the Wanderlust Hoodie: I forgot about the pattern corrections on the Interweave website. I completed one sleeve and half of the other when I was flipping through the magazine to check on something, and this folded white sheet of paper falls to my feet. I ginerly pick it up and unfold it, looking puzzled as I read the font size 12, Times New Roman words that were inked across the page. There, in my hands, were the corrections for the sleeves of the wanderlust hoodie. I'm such a dumbass... So in an oddly numbed stupor, I sat, ripping back the half worked sleeve and winding it into a ball, and then ripping back the finished sleeve and winding it into a ball. I'm glad I was numb, because I'm certain I would have cried if I weren't. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy future posts with pictures!

RIP

2006-12-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

I figured that title would be appropriate on a few different levels.
A week and a half ago, on Dec. 10th, my beloved Gramere passed away. It has really messed up the last few weeks of my life, but my place was by her side and with my family. Enough tears have been shed, and I'm sure there are plenty more to come. But for now, we have each other and our memories.
I keep thinking how, just a few months ago, she had mentioned picking up knitting again. She was the one who taught me how to throw my yarn and gave me my first set of needles. Oddly enough, they were something like 2's and I had the hardest time working with them. Haha. I'm one of those people who, if you ask me to teach you to knit, I will give you the biggest size needles I have, because they produce things faster (because newbs tend to not have the patience for quality and small stitches...wonder why?), and the stitches are a lot easier to see, which truly comes in handy when attempting someone to identify their own mistakes!
Unfortunely some things cannot be taught. And I've realized just how deep I am in over my head. By Saturday I need to have stitched the leather palms onto my dad's gloves, have completed two pair of the Cigar gloves on Knitty.com, as well as two scarves (one of which I haven't even decided on a pattern yet) the Wanderlust Hoodie, and that pair of boxers from some issue of Vogue K1. *sigh* ChHristmas knitting sucks. Maybe I should narrow things down next year... Oh no! I also need to knit and ship a pair of socks to my friend Alex in England! I completely forgot.... Oh, I can feel my wrists cramping as I type. This is going to be one hell of a knitting week.....
Somewhere in between knitting projects I also am doing a fitting for altering a wedding dress, as well as the prom dress for the bride's sister... Not to mention shopping for the gifts for those people that I'm NOT knitting for, and possibly making gifts for them by other means that yarn and needles because I'm a poor college student who hasn't worked in a month and still hasn't cashed her last paycheck. *sigh* I need to get my self in order. First order of business: SLEEP.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Binding off

Christmas Knitting=Hell on Needles

2006-11-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

I never thought I could curse knitting. Yet, here I am, cursing it. To be fair, I'm more cursing myself for taking it upon myself to knit. Christmas gifts, specifically. It was not a very intelligent idea. I currently feel so swamped. I have three weeks to finish my outstanding projects, so that when I get home for Christmas break, I can work on the final two projects and be done with everything.
My dinner tonight consisted of popcorn and water. I'm so healthy.... Something in my cupboards (nothing, rather) tells me I should hit the grocery store this week. I suppose I could go another week living on pretzels, yogurt, popcorn, and applesauce. There is some chicken in the freezer, I think. I don't know. I think I'll test myself. See how long I can last without spending a fortune on food. Save my money for non-knitted gifts.
I finally finished my CPH, and I have only one sleeve and the hood left on the WH. I found a good use for my multitude of embroidery floss, as well. It works wonderfully for sewing up the seams. I have so many colors that I can nearly match any of the yarn I have.
On the drive home, I cast on the adult devil hat from Stitch N Bitch Nation. Another gift, this one for my friend Nicole (AKA Kitty), so in reality it isn't a devil hat, but a kitty hat. I'm using the variegated Atacama alpaca in black and grey. It's knitting up really cool and I'm excited to see how the ears turn out.
I found this pretty, easy, leaf lace scarf pattern on Knitty. And I've got the yarn for it. Let's see if I have the time to knit it. I suppose I should get going, do some knitting. Check in later.

Binding Off

Stress ball

2006-11-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a pondering day for me. What follows occurred to me while knitting after a rather stressful day at work today.

Think of all of the daily stressors you come across in the course of a day. Traffic, running late, forgotten items, missed assignments, crabby professors/bosses/husbands, etc.

Now imagine each one of those little things is a piece of yarn. As you go through the day, imagine every scrap of yarn you stumble upon is picked up and wound into a ball. By the end of the day, you'd have a rather large ball of yarn in your hands.

What do knitters do with yarn?

Easy question: they knit it.

Knitting is a stress relief. I can picture that invisible strand of stress being carried along with my working yarn. Each bit of stress that I deal with is knit into every stitch. Those bits are worked into sweaters, socks, hats, gloves- anything. They are now outside of me and no longer press on me from within. I can look at them and decide which ones are inconsequential and which I need to take a closer look at. By the time I finish knitting for the night, the entire ball of yarn is gone.

Sheds a little light on the idea of "unwinding" after a stressful day, doesn't it?

2006-10-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

I cannot wait for the Winter issue of Interweave Knits! I saw a few projects that I would absolutely love to do in the preview. One of them is the tweed beret. You remember how I said I was going to have a few extra hanks of the Donegal tweed from the CPH? Well, the beret calls for Tahki Donegal Tweed, 1-2 skeins, depending on the size. I figure I can use the left overs from the sweater. It's really adorable, and looks simple too, which is always a plus. Simple projects lately have been the more appealing ones.

Speaking of the CPH, I have sewn the shoulder seams and have around 4 or 5 inches on the hood knit up already. I'm shooting for completion by the end of this week.

As for my other projects, I'm about half way finished with the opera gloves that I'm knitting for my mom in merino wool. I'm too lazy to go find the tag for the yarn and tell you exactly what it is, but it's merino sock yarn in veriegated greys and white. I can only hope that it's soft enough for her. She's sensitive to certain wool, but merino seems to be okay for her. If not, then I may be giving these to someone else, and choosing yet another project for her.

The tweed gloves are lined, incredibly warm and soft, and look beautiful! I'm headed to Meijer tomorrow, so maybe I can pick up a cheap digital camera while I'm there. I honestly cannot believe how much I depend on having access to a camera! I miss having that wonderful kodak of my dad's... No one uses it, save me. I finally set up the dock on my dad's computer, but still. The last time I went home was for my birthday, a month ago. There were no new pictures, and the old ones were still stored on the camera! It's a shame to see such a great piece of equipment sit on a shelf, gathering dust in it's disuse. I feel almost guilty...

By rights, I should be working on other projects rather than sitting typing this blog, but it called to me. In other news, I've written nearly two pages today in the fantasy novel that I'm working on, and my inspiration is coming from multiple facets of my life. *sigh* Ok, ok- I'm going to peck at my homework for the week. Farewell. Until next time:

Binding off...

ENABLER!!!!!

2006-10-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

Jessica Rose Daniel, you are the most evil of all knitters! There is only one word for you- - - ENABLER!!! *sigh*

She sent me an email. It was a link, and the title of the email was "ENABLER." She knew what she was doing when she passed on that tiny bit of temptation. I shouldn't have clicked on it. I would have been fine if I had just avoided that link like the plague. Curiosity killed the knitter.

A Cardigan for Arwen

Go on- die. It's very pretty- I love the cables, and I just know it has to be done in an earthy color. Green, most likely. *sigh* No sooner do I nearly finish one sweater, than another gorgeous cardigan pattern rears is enticing head, and I'm swept away! I still have the yarn for a sweater I'd been meaning to knit, but I don't have the pattern. *sigh* My Christmas knitting is calling me. I'm avoiding it.

In knitting news, I have nearly finished the second sleeve of the CPH, and will soon my stitiching the shoulders together to knit up the hood. I realized I have two extra hanks of the yarn, and that makes me kind of nervous. There will be tears shed if this sweater is too small. I'll even post photos of my sobbing over the too-tight sweater. Let's hope things turn out for the best!

I'll try and get some photos up later, but right now I don't have the time. Gotta run to my Greek and Roman mythology discussion. Fairwell!

A lesson well learned.

2006-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

I should have taken the hint from Lori's experience. I should have known that naming something after a dead person is NOT A GOOD IDEA. She named her goldfish after Macbeth. Yes, I know, he's a fictional character, but he died a rather gruesome death. Barely 2 months passed, and the goldfish died.

Yesterday, I decided to clean my fish tank. It was a little green from the algae, so I took Steve and Irwin out, and put them in a baggie w/ water. I thoroughly cleaned the tank with hot water- just hot water, nothing else. Then I put everything back and put the happy little fishies in their clean home. They were peachy and swimming around when I left for work. When I came home, they were no longer peachy. Dead, lifeless, and utterly depressing in such a scene of bright colors. I gave them a burial at sea, with Chay and her friend Tristes (sp?) as onlookers.

May they rest in peace in their porcelain tomb.

R.I.P. Steve & Irwin.

Saturday's

2006-10-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

I returned to Needleworks with the intent of looking through books, and such, and just in general enjoying the feel of the yarn. I talked with the woman who worked there for awhile, and she told me that every saturday is open knitting. And the second saturday is potluck. So I may not be able to go to the Thurs. knitting nights, but I'll make it on Saturday's. I'm excited!

With the absence of any significant knitting news, I decided to put up some pictures of my luvverly apartment in all it's half-assed glory. This is my corner of the world- the bed being made is a rare occasion. I think I actually did it just for this photo...

In this corner of the living room is where I keep my two swordtails, Steve and Irwin. (Irwin is a girl, by the way.) I named them after that wacky Aussie died from a sting ray barb... *tear*

A close up of my fishies swimming in their tank.

This, uh.... well, see... I've got this thing for moose, right? And according to the tag, this is supposed to be a moose head. Lori bought it for me for my birthday. It's more a deer than a moose, but whatever. I had no real intention of putting it up in the living room, but after blowing it up, Chay grabbed it and said "I know the perfect place for it." Taking a push pin with her, she mounted it here, and here it will stay until it deflates!

This is my little bookshelf. I needed somewhere to put them, so I took half of the bookshelf from my room at home, and set it up here. The party-lite candles are not strictly regulation, but no one checks up on us that often. Heehee. Currently, the bottom shelf is occupied by my DVDs and video games.

That's all for now~

Binding off!

Taking care of business

2006-10-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

I spent much of today knitting like mad, and the result was the completion of a number of pieces for a few projects I've been working on.

The first is the Wanderlust Hoodie- I finished the back! Yay! There's something so satisfactory about finishing a piece of a project. Granted, it's even more satisfactory when the entire project is finished... Unfortunately Chay's camera is not exactly the finest piece of equipment, and the flash doesn't always work. So the color for some reason is really diluted. I'll take another some other time, but this is really a bright, cerulean blue. I just noticed the kind of fuzzy, soap opera-ish haze effect in the photo. While it is kinda cool, I think the lends might just have been smudged.

Second was the Central Park Hoodie. I also finished the back piece for this, and I LOVE THE COLOR!!! It's so.... so.... me! The lens was still smudged for this one, but you can barely tell. However, the lighting for this one meant I didn't need the flash, which is fortunately. I really wanted the color of this to show true!

The last thing I worked on today was casting on the second piece of the boxers. (I'm in utter shock that I've been able to get more than 2 pictures on here!)

I think I might start a pair of socks, because socks are just so much more compact that sweaters, or boxers.

Binding Off

If you must know

2006-10-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

First things first- the feature presentation of this weeks teaser:

new project
I finally cast on the Central Park Hoodie! I'm so excited- as of right now I'm about halfway finished with the back. It's such a treat to be working on something for me. I bought the needles for it during my yarn store visit, which you'll read more about shortly. I love the color of this- I'm using the dark orange Donagall Tweed that the pattern calls for (*gasp* a project, in the correct yarn?! Inconcievable!) and it's just the perfect color for fall. It's the rusty orange of the leaves blanketing the ground during autumn, and I adore it!

yarn store visit
I finally decided to visit Needleworks, and what originally looked to be your average sized yarn store, with a lot of yarn packed into a small space turned into a 3 room yarn extravaganza- each room larger than the other, with yarn spilling off shelves, in baskets on the floor, in hidden corners, on display, and knitting paraphernalia EVERYWHERE! I felt as if I had died and went to knitting heaven. I was so overwhelmed I actually only bought the needles I had come for. It was yarngasmic...

cowboy hats
I had a barn dance last night w/ Ed and everyone else in Ed's house, and in order to complete my ensemble, I needed a straw hat. So Wednesday we went to the mall and bought a really cute one for me. I love it.

cheese and real milk
while at the mall, we stopped in GNC and I bought a bottle of dietary pills- dairy digestant pills, to be exact. It's a simple pill with the lactase enzymes that my stomach no longer produces. In other words, I can eat diary now! Cheese, regular milk, ice cream, yogurt (even the kind w/o active cultures) all of it is open to me again! I feel like hugging a cow...

garbage and cheerios
My apartment mate, Gabrielle, threw a major bitch fit over a box of her honey nut cheerios. Someone had eaten them, and she was P.I.S.S.E.D. She was convinced it was either Chay or me, and we both denied knowing anything about it. She was acting so childish about it- marking her mini garbage can that we keep by the couch with a post-it that said "if you are not Gabrielle or one of her guests, don't use this trash can." I was fed up with it, so I gave it to her and told her that if she didn't want people to use it, then maybe she should keep it in her room. This naturally only made her more mad, at which point she stormed around the kitchen, taking all of her food from the cabinets and putting it in the spare closet that used to belong to her ex-roommate, Sarah. Chay's and my response was to spread our food out among the cabinets so it wasn't all crammed. Then Gabby took 'her' kitchen garbage out of the kitchen. So Chay and I bought a new, bigger one w/ a lid. It's nicer. As the final point to spite us, Gabby said she refused to take out the garbage (which is her ONLY chore for the house) until the person who ate her cheerios fessed up and took it out. She said some other rather rude things about us, and I told her that if she hated living with us, why didn't she just move out like Sarah did. At which point I took out the garbage, cuz there were 3 big bags of it and it was starting to smell. Shortly after this huge episode, Gabby found out that it was Sarah who at the cheerios. I've yet to receive an apology. My question is why was it ok for Sarah to have eaten them, but when she assumed it was either me or Chay, she bitched and bitched? I'm not happy with her at all.

Subway newbies
At the mall, I was hungry, so I ordered a Subway sandwich. The girl making the sandwich was new- brand new, first day of work. My sandwich was shorter than 6", and the entire thing was horribly executed. I was about to launch into a full fledged critique when I realized what working at Jimmy John's has done to me in a few short months... AAGH!

Stuffed hedgehogs
I finished Lori's hedgehog, and it's so adorable! I don't have a photo, though, so I'll have to wait until I finish the next one before I can show you, but I absolutely love it!

Hot coffee and a cold walk
I decided to get a Starbuck's pumpkin spice latte before I walked to Needleworks, and it was freezing outside, so I enjoyed a nice coffee, a cranberry/orange scone, and a trip to the yarn store. All in all a very good day.

As for the other post...*ahem* Let's just say that while I can knit while drunk, that doesn't mean it's a very good thing to do. I didn't mess up, but there's always a risk. That's why driving drunk isn't good- because of the greater risk. So therefore, I will no longer knit while drunk. It's just not safe! The lives of each knitted project are at stake when you drink and knit- so just say no!

I would, but I'm drunk...

2006-10-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

I could probably put the full post in for that wonderful teaser that I left you earlier this week, but I've been at the bottle, so I'll refrain from trying to explain the wonders of the new knitting store.

There has been a new discovery in the world of knitting (for me at least). I'm sitting here in Lori's dorm room in Edwardsville, and she and her new boyfriend have been treating me like a real guest. Well, at least Chris brought the alcohol- a big bottle of Malibu rum, and Lori bought me a bottle of Dole Cranberry juice to mix it with. The world is toasty right now. And my amazing discovery is that I CAN KNIT WHILE I'M DRUNK!!! And not the messed up, loose or screwy knitting. It's engrained in my muscle memory (got yelled at by Lori for using a psychology term) my drunkenness is not affecting it. Sweet, huh?

Before I get too into a drunken babble, I'll leave you here. If I remember things, I'll tell more later.

Binding off.

Teaser

2006-10-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

Today in a few words:

new project
yarn store visit
cowboy hats
cheese and real milk
garbage and cheerios
Subway newbies
Stuffed hedgehogs
hot coffee and a cold walk

Tomorrow, if I find the time, I'll be more specific!

If at first you don't succeed...

2006-10-10T23:07:00.001-07:00

....try another method. I've got the photos working. To the right you'll see the front left panel of Ed's boxers. I've altered the pattern quite a bit, lengthening it to fit his personal needs. In other words, the sizing chart is off, so I added an extra 6 stitches to the largest size, and then knit for a total of 5 inches longers than the pattern calls for. He'd better appreciate the work that goes into these...
This is the back of the Wander-lust hoodie that I'm working on. It's a really pretty pattern, and very complex, but it's repetitive so at least there's that. I've actually gotten quite a bit farther than from when this photo was taken. I suppose delaying the post was a little less than intelligent. I'm nearly finished with the back, and I only hope that I have enough yarn to complete the whole project. I suppose I should have thought that through before starting it... Oh well, that's what online yarn stores are for!
I've decided that tomorrow, come hell or high water, I will make it to Needleworks (the only yarn store w/in imaginable walking distance of me). I have a two hour break in my classes, so I figure I'll use that time to go to Needleworks. It's a bit of a trek, but I'm sure I can make it. If not, next time I'll just take the car. There's a parking lot, and I don't recall seeing meters, so I may just get lucky...
Something interesting happened to me the other day, and I completely forgot to mention it. I was early for my mythology discussion and the preceding class had yet to exit, so a few of my classmates were sitting on the floor outside of the classroom, waiting. One girl immediately caught my eye. She was sitting with her head bent over two needles, clicking madly away as she knit in a simple seed stitch patterned scarf. My first reaction was to sit directly next to her and engage her in conversation. Today I saw her before lecture, and we talked and ended up sitting together. I believe I have found a new friend. Now if I could just remember her name....
I believe I remember mentioning that my manager, Aaron, just had a baby boy. I knit up a quick pair of booties from Stitch and Bitch Nation. They're not intricate, or expensive- just simple booties that stretch to fit for longer than a month. And I believe that I have discovered a sort of glitch in inserting pictures into posts. I seem to have an unnegotiable limit of 2, because the booties won't show up! One more attempt, and then I just start putting links instead of pictures.
*sigh* Fine, this is the direct link to the Baby Booties.
As you may have noticed, the progress bar for the gloves for my dad is at 100%. I'm not removing it, simply because they are not completely finished. They are completely knit, but that's not the whole project. So until they are fully assembled, I will leave that WIP bar up. This link will take you to the picture of the two gloves.
The pumpkin, for those who care to know, was a gift from Ed's mom to me. She also gave me a carving knife for it, which I intend to use soon. I'm also thinking of baking the pumpkin seeds like my mom used to. I know it's a long process, but I think it would be interesting to try.
It's late, and I should be sleeping. I do have class in the morning, after all... Until next time,

Binding Off

A Knitter's Natural Habitat

2006-10-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

My roomie came in the house twice today, and both times she saw me doing the same thing: watching Brisco County Jr. and knitting while sitting on my ass on the couch. Granted, I had been doing a lot of other things in between this, but she managed to catch me at the same thing. She came in and started talking as if I were some wild animal, calling me the "beckasaurus" and describing my surroundings as my "natural habitat." When her girlfriend came in the room, she called out to her like they were on some Animal Planet safari hunt, saying "don't disturb her! She may attack- you can never tell with these knitters. They've got a nasty temper and a fierceness to them, especially if you disturb them while they're knitting." I laughed. That's all I could do. She contradicted one of the fundamental effects of knitting with everything she said. As with most needlepoint crafts, knitting has an amazing calming effect. Especially when it's something as repetitive as the boxers that I was working on.
As for my 'habitat', it did sort of resemble some sort of wilderness. There were skeins of yarn strewn about like the leftovers from some previous kill, with needles sticking here and there like bones. Books, magazines, and other sources for patterns were set up around me. It was a knitting nest. Ha! Shame Chay didn't get a picture of it... I did, however, get a few pictures of her and her girlfriend. *malevolent chuckle*

Just take a look at the following pictures. The first is of Chay, and the second of her girl-friend, a guest in the apartment. Tell me what's wrong with this scenario:

Anyway, I'm such a horrible procrastinator. It's a disease with me. I should get a tattoo that says "procrastinators unite tomorrow." Except, I'd keep putting it off...

I decided not to get into where that thought was going. On to the point of this blog: my knitting projects. I've finished the first of four panels for Ed's boxers. I have yet to figure out how to do the "access panel" or whatever you wanna call that flap w/ the buttons on the ass... He's such a strange thing. He'll never wear them- I don't even know why I'm doing this! *sigh* I swear, if he doesn't wear them, I'm taking them back. *shakes head*

I guess I'll have to add photos later... this isn't working. Again.

Binding off

Knitting ADD

2006-10-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Candice (president of the Knitting Illini, not my cousin) asked me the other day, "Do you have knitting ADD?" I have a habit of switching from one project to the next with barely a blink of the eye. When she said it, I had originally just laughed and kept knitting, but it stuck with me.

And I guess I truly do have knitting ADD. I hop from project to project, working a little of any number of different projects. But there's a logical explanation. I mean, anyone who has ever knit a pair of frustrating gloves, or worked with a complicated graph pattern for a sweater needs to have the nearly mindlessly simple project to keep themselves sane. I cannot express how much of a relief it is to go from working the Wanderlust Hoodie with it's cables, bobbles, seed stitch, purls, knits, k3togs, and YOs--- all within 63 stitches --- to working on those boxers, which is the ever simple stockinette st with a few m1's and k2tog's at the ends. And then every so often, being able to sit down and whip a pair of baby booties off in a matter of minutes--- knitting cannot be a one-project-at-a-time craft. There's just so many levels of intensity and concentration that are involved with different projects. Sometimes, you need the mindless project that you've committed to your muscle memory so well that you can sit and watch TV, or carry on a conversation, or even walking down the street, looking straight ahead and still be knitting the while time. Other times you're up to the challenge of uninterrupted, fully concentrated knitting on something more difficult. My point is that if you knit- I mean really K-N-I-T - you understand this concept of "ADD knitting" and that it is completely necessary and normal.

An update on the knitting: I knit up a quick pair of "one-hour baby booties" from Stitch and Bitch Nation. I also finished the gloves for my dad, after fixing those few glitches. Still working on the wanderlust hoodie, and the boxers. And I need to buy a few sets of needles from some of the "required" knitting for me. Heehee. Other than the botties and gloves, nothing much exciting in the way of knitting. Or anything else, for that matter.... *sigh* My life is so boring. I need to get out more...

NOTE TO SELF

2006-10-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

NOTE TO SELF: When altering a pattern, DO NOT ASSUME YOU WILL REMEMBER WHAT ALTERATIONS YOU MADE!

Stupid, right? Any moron with the ability to knit should know this, correct? Sure- I must have killed off all of the 'common-sense' brain cells, because I didn't write them down. And to make things worse, it was while working on a pair of gloves. So one glove is perfect. You've seen it- it's the gray winter gloves I'm making for my dad.
While I don't have a picture for you, I will attempt to convey the gravity of my mistake without bursting into tears. I'm sure if I do, my roommate will be 100% certain of my insanity.
*deep breath*
None of the fingers are the same width. The pinky is too thin, the index finger is too wide. The two in the middle are fine, which means that I picked up 1-2 too many stitches on the index, and that left me with too few on the pinky. And since, I happily completed the index finger first, fixing it would require me frogging all four completed fingers.
This is only one of the few obstacles that I have stumbled over while trying to complete this project. The other is that the pinky and ring fingers are both WAY too short. My fault for not measuring properly. And finally (and this is the worst one, in respect to my stupidity) while weaving in the ends on the index finger, I managed to sew the front of the finger to the back. And I can't find the end to undo it.
The knitting goddesses HATE ME! I've been doing so well! I had finally picked up that teal and cream "cool [girls] knit" cardigan from Knitty.com, and had completed one sleeve and cast on the second. The socks are finished, I'm working on that Wonderlust hoodie... and then a second disaster struck this evening whilst watching Brisco County Jr. (don't ask, childhood TV show...) and knitting my cardigan.
I can't find my other ball of teal yarn.
I had a feeling that I hadn't brought it with me to college, so when I decided to pick up this project again, I checked my stash. I double-checked it. I triple checked it. I quadruple checked it, then pulled every skein/ball/hank of yarn out of their hiding spaces, dug as far back as my arms would allow, searched every possible nook and cranny, and even the improbably, and most definitely impossible places. No show with the teal cascade superwash wool. Then the thought occurred to me that maybe I had left it at home with the remainders of my stash, thinking that I wouldn't need it. When I went home this past weekend, I checked my diminished, pitiful looking stash in my closet. (see above process, and repeat. Twice.)
Thus I have come to the only possible explanation: evil dwarf-sized moths that have sneaked into my apartment during the night, stolen a select few delicacies to feed to their parasitic tubular offspring, AND I CAN'T FINISH MY SWEATER!!!! I've been on a personal vendetta against moths based on this conclusion, and if one of those flittering little monsters so much as shakes an antenna at me, it's toast. I'm thinking of investing in a bug light to hang on the balcony. I could sit, and watch, and just enjoy the little electric "bzzt" noise as each devilish insect is burnt to a glorious crisp.
Diabolical? Yes. Insane? Most definitely. But hey- when it comes to protecting the stash, a knitter will go to any length, short of cutting of their own arm. (You need two hands to knit!)

I suppose I could blame the creative juices for this rash outburst of blather, but that wouldn't be fair. I'll just chalk another one up to insanity.

Binding Off

Planning

2006-09-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

I noticed an article online today when I signed on to check my email. It was about entrepeneurs and the fact that their businesses can make six figures if... and then listed a lot of things like hard work, dedication, and capital. I dream of opening my own little cafe/bakery/yarn store w/ Jessica and Candice. Honestly, it would be so sweet to run a a family owned store! It'd be hard work, yes, and a lot of dedication, probably on my part especially because I couldn't ask Jessica to stay away from her family that often...

Listen to me blathering on about this silly dream of mine, and I'm barely a freshman in college! I get ahead of myself sometimes.

I spent some time working on my blog template today, and have installed a nice little WIP section into the side bar. Jessica gave me the idea, and I thank her wholeheartedly, and cannot wait to get hers up and running for her.

I'm not looking forward to classes tomorrow, but what can I do? Probably homework, as I should be... off I go, to delve into the never-ending pile of work.

Binding Off.

I'm such a bad girl....

2006-09-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

They say the first step to recovery is admitting that you had a problem. Here goes nothing:

I have a knitting addiction.

This addiction goes far deeper than you would imagine, however. It is not just a simple addiction to the act of knitting. No, the symptoms have steadily worsened and I am hovering between addiction and obsession, and the gravity of obsession is pulling hard.

I suppose I first noticed something was up when I had to put a hold on buying any yarn until after the new year. I will not make it, I can assure you. No knitter can go for more than 2 months without buying a skein of yarn, and if I walk into another knitting store with new yarn and a sale basket, I'll go crazy! I've been making excuses so as to avoid going into Needleworks down here, but I'm losing my grip.

Aside from the irresistible urge to buy more yarn, there are other more time-consuming effects of this addiction/obsession. It has led to more than one instance of "SSS" or "Second Sock Synrome." I believe I have found a reprieve from this symdrome, luckily. This may not work for everyone, but for those knitters who have a lecture class that is virtually pointless to take notes because the professor posts all his lectures on the internet, then this may be a perfect solution. I have begun knitting through those long-winded lectures, pausing momentarily to jot down an important note. In this manner I have completed a pair of socks and am beginning the second in a pair of gloves.

But hold your applause. I've been a very bad girl this weekend. In lieu of going out this weekend (in light of the lack of correspondence... *grumble*) I cast on a new project.

*Waits for gasping to finish*

I couldn't help it! It's such a pretty hoodie (*more gasping* A new hoodie? Becki, you'll never finish your Christmas knitting in time!") and ahem it is a Christmas gift for someone, so there! I will too finish in time, and I have full confidence in my ability to complete the projects that I begin. As long as they're not for me, cuz then I just throw them in the knitting drawer and think "I can finish it at any time- it's for me!" and then regret it fully later when I wish I had that cardigan to wear in this lovely autumn weater.

I should really be writing an English paper. I suppose I will return later tonight to explain in further detail the hoodie that I so carelessly cast on last night.

Binding off

Since my computer is messing with me

2006-09-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

I guess my internet doesn't want me to add any more pictures to that post.

The next project I am thinking of scrapping altogether and starting anew. I'm attempting to make a pair of gloves for Ed's Gramma, but the cotton yarn I am using has no give or elasticity. This makes things difficult, especially since I have no pattern to look on, and so am sort of creating one of my own. I'm thinking of trying something with ribbing, maybe putting a cabled up the back of the hand with a few 2x1 ribs on either side to give it a little more stretch. I also think I should go up in needle size, and drop a few stitches from the CO. We'll see how things go, especially if I can't find a pattern for women's gloves and have to create these all by me onesies!These next few photos are of my stash as it appears in my room. I'm proud of it, and it may be small, but it is mine and it all fits in my room, so I'm happy! The first is of the drawer underneath my bed that holds all the yarn that I will use to make people's gifts, or commissions. The second is yarn for me- selfish, I know, but I haven't even touched it yet, so don't be too quick to judge!

Well, for now this is all. It's nearing 1:00 am and I'm still awake, typing on my blog. I was waiting for a phone call, but I guess I won't be receiving it tonight. Ciao for now!

There's just something about pictures....

2006-09-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

....that makes blog posts so much more involved. My roommate has kindly let me use her camera so I can put up a few pictures of my current WIPs, and such.

I just finished a pair of the Interweave Knits slipper socks in a dark navy blue for my boyfriend (Ed)'s mom, Gail. They were a pain in the thumbs to knit, but still they were fun. The doubled sole was tough, and actually snapped one of my needles clean in half! Begin the frugal college student that I am, I decided to keep knitting with the half-needles and managed to finish the two socks rather nicely!

Between the first and second socks, I took a break and started on my dad's gift- a pair of grey tweed gloves that I am planning to line with fleece and stitch on a black leather palm. I was worried that they would be too big, but I cleverly measured my dad's hand against mine and am confident that they will turn out perfectly. This is the first glove- the second still needs to be cast on!

In a previous post I mentioned a pair of elbow-length lace-up fingerless wrist warmers that I had knit for my girlfriend Lori as a birthday present. Her 19th birthday is 3 days after mine, on October 1st, and I cannot wait to give them to her! These are the beauties, blocked and ready for wearing!

Sorry

2006-08-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is the last time I am typing this post out, and this time I'm abandoning the pictures. Third time's the charm, right? Well, I'm sorry I've disappeared for the past month, but stupid me, I forgot that my username was IDENTICAL to the web address... Ugh, I'm a dufus sometimes. Anyway, a lot of things have changed since last I posted. I moved into my new apartment in Urbana, and start classes tomorrow at 10:00. Things are going great, I'm hunting for the Knitting Illini so I can have a knitting group, and I've got hopes for a new job at a cafe not too far from here. I've finished a few projects, and cast on quite a few new ones in preparation for the Christmas Knitting Rush.

The problem with the last three posts that I tried to put up, was that the pictures wouldn't load, and then my browser would close because it stopped responding. Not cool at all. So here's the list of projects, minus the pictures.

First, I finished a second pair of lace up fingerless gloves. These ones reach to my elbow, and are knit from a miriad of brightly colored yarn- mostly neons, like pink, green, an orange, with a little bit of bright purples and blues mixed in. To balance the barage of colors, I chose cream ribbon for the lacings. Hopefully at some point in the future I'll be able to post some pictures, but for now, we'll make do with simple descriptions.

Next, that midnight blue and silver double knitted scarf was finished and sold, although I only received half the payment, because she wasn't prepared for it to be finished in such a short amount of time. (It was a very long scarf, reaching to a total of 96.5", excluding the tassles on the end.)

Next I finally attached the black button eyes to the blue stuffed penguin that Mel asked me to make for her.

I knit up the stomach and one arm of the hedgehog for Lori, but unfortunately left the stuffing for it at home, so I cannot complete the poor thing. I adapted the pattern from the penguin, and my hopes are high, but we'll have to wait until it's stuffed for the true test of my abilities.

As for the recently cast on projects, I have a pair of gloves for my dad out of the Rowan Summer Tweed, to match a scarf that Jessica is making for him. I plan to line them and stitch a leather sole onto the palm. Here's hoping for good results.

Next is a wool hat for my dearest, Ed. It's sitting on the circular needle with one two rows completed, but it's cast on, and that's what counts, right? Also, I cast on the boxers that he wanted me to make. I chose a dark navy blue Manos Cotton Stria with a light blue trim (because they didn't have enough of the dark blue...)

For his mom, I'm doing a pair of slipper socks from the 2006 summer issue of Interweave Knits. The doubled sole, however, was too much for the toothpick US1 needles, and to my great dismay, snapped one of my poor dpns clean in half! I've managed to knit around it though, and though it may take a while longer than expected, I'll trudge on. (I'm contemplating purchasing a set of metal US1 dpns so as to avoid snapping any more of them...)

I think that's all, and if it's not, it's enough to keep my busy for the next few weeks at least.

Casting off.

Say hello to Randolph

2006-07-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is Randolph.

Randolph was born on November 16, 2005. He has a little puff ball tail and long floppy ears.

For his birthday, his Maker gave him a seed-stitch scarf, so he wouldn't catch cold in the winter. But Randolph still shivered when he went outside.

So his Maker knit up a little sweater for him to wear, because his cute little nose was running, and she didn't want him to catch a cold.

Randolph put on his sweater.

And he put on his scarf.

And he played in the cold November air without even a sniffle.

Randolph was a baby-shower gift that my sister-in-law Kristine asked me to knit. Of all my knitted animals, he is the most adorable so far.

Projects

2006-07-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I've done what I will with this blog template for the time being. Time to actually post some of my knitting! I just finished a pair of lace up wrist warmers in purple SuperWash Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn. They are so comfortable, I just can't wait for fall so I can wear them outside!

I have a few WIPs that I'm hoping to finish sometime before I move into my apartment in August. This is from Knitty's Summer '05 The Man Issue. I altered the pattern a little, putting the words across the bottom of the sweater, and, well, obviously I'm not a boy, so that had to go.
And finally, I got a commission from a girl I game with, Anne. She's asked for a cotton Ravenclaw House scarf for her sister's Christmas present. I was more than happy to oblige.
I've been sick for the past week, so I'm all loopy from medication and just being sick in general. Despite being sick, I did manage to muster up the energy to go see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee talk, and then proceeded to My Sister's Knits where she was doing a book signing. She cracks me up... I ended up buying a US8 16" needle for the sleeves for my sweater while in line. There are always perks to having a world famous author/knitter do book signings in your back store room. She made a pretty penny yesterday! Well, I'm off. I should already be in bed! I didn't realize how late it had gotten.

Stupid internet...

2006-07-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

Oh for the love of pete, why is it that nothing ever works right for me?! I think I changed the sex part of my profile at least 3 times, and it keeps going back to "male"! Not cool! The first time, when I first signed up, I thought it was just a mistake on my part. The second time, I thought maybe I'd forgotten to save. But when it happens a third time, I know it's not my fault any more! I've changed it for the last time, and if it still says male, then so be it! I'll be a guy for this damn website!

Coming along nicely...

2006-07-02T00:25:00.000-07:00

I've managed to remember much of the code I taught myself years ago, and am well on my way to a more personalized blog... I'm quite happy with the way things are coming along, and cannot wait until it is finished. Just thought I'd drop by for a stitch.

First post jitters

2006-06-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

First post, just gunna be messing around with the template for awhile to see if I can't remember any of the html code that I learned in Freshman year of high school. I hope I can get pretty good at it, but we'll see how things evolve.

Tink