Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Moved!

Other than a few little things, I'm done moving over to wordpress so this is my last post here.

Please come join me at my new blog.

Thanks!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Embers and Ashes

Embers and Ashes Socks


Pattern: Just a basic sock
Yarn: Austermann Step, colorway: 43
Needles: US size 1 DPNS
For: Mom

Once upon a time in a state far away my mom selected a skein of sock yarn in the hopes that I would make her a pair of socks. I readily agreed, but once I got home I stuck the yarn in my stash and ignored it. I’ll admit it. I dragged my feet because the colors just didn’t interest me much.



Grey, white, and a little bit of muted red? Bah!


Then one day after months of avoidance I realized I had another visit with my mom coming up soon. I started plowing through with a sense of duty. I felt a little foolish, because after all that avoidance I learned I actually did enjoy the way the colors blended together. The layers of white, grey, and red reminded me of embers that are still glowing ever so slightly.

Despite my efforts I arrived for my visit without even one finished sock. I wasn't confident that I would get them done in time, and my mom was rightfully suspicious that I would leave her with only one sock. I told her I wouldn’t, and by some miracle I didn't. I got them finished with time to spare! The socks now live happily with the other socks in my mom's sock drawer.



The End.

Knit From Your Books in 2009!

Last year turned out to be a pretty busy year for me. The result was that I did very little knitting, and no blogging. The good news is that I’ve finally graduated and my Christmas knitting is late as ever, but almost done. This means I have more time for knitting, and that what I’m working on is no longer secret! I can't wait to start sharing again, but for now I’m just going to introduce you to my new goal:

In 2009 I want to knit from my books.

Let me explain. I have a lot of lovely knitting books and I love each and every one of them. Despite my love, I haven’t used them very much. I have added a project from every single book to my queue, attempted a pattern from just over half of them, and finished a project from only a handful of them.

My books deserve more love. In 2009 I plan to give it to them. I have 13 books, plus a subscription to Interweave. That means 14 projects for the year in 2009. That is more than I’ve ever knit in a year before. Let’s see if I can do it! Anyone want to join me? I know I can’t be the only one who doesn’t give her books enough love. :)

On an unrelated note I’ll be moving my blog to wordpress. I prefer the setup over there, and it gives me a chance for a fresh start. If anyone is still reading this thing, please come and join me. I’ll keep posting here for just a bit so there is some sort of transition period. The new blog can be found here

Friday, May 09, 2008

Baby Strawberries

I have knitted since the last time I posted, but I really lost my knitting mojo the last week and a half or so. I don't have anything to show you, so I thought I'd show you some baby strawberries instead.







We picked and ate our first ripe strawberries this morning. It was awesome. :D

I'll be out of town and country for the next week. I should have some knitting to show you by then! Take care.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

A Purple Sheldon

Look who I found outside playing by our pond!



It's Sheldon, finished at last! I had no clue it took baby turtles so long to hatch.

Pattern: Sheldon by Ruth Homrighaus, published in Knitty.
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Violet (darker purple) and Hydrangea (lighter purple)
Needles: US 2 DPNS, and US 3 KP circular
Mods: None

Sheldon is finished just in time to give to my friend Jana for her birthday. She'll love him. I can't wait to give him to her when I have dinner with her a little over a week from now! I have plans for cute packaging including making a little "birth certificate" tag to give important information about care instructions.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Round and Round

They are finally finished, and just in time for a cold snap!



Pattern: RPM by Aija Goto, published in Knitty.
Yarn:: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, 2 skeins, Lake View colorway
Needles: clover bamboo US1 dpns
Gauge:
New Techniques: None
Mods: I knit these on dpns instead of 2 circs. I cast on 72 stitches instead of the 54 or 63 suggested. I did extra repeats of the spiral pattern on the leg to make it longer. I modified the stitch count on the heel flap to match my cast on number. During the gusset decreases I decreased until I had 66 stitches. I followed the directions for the large pointed toe, the only directions I had to change was the first line where I decreased two stitches to reach the 64 stitch count called for.


I really enjoyed knitting these socks because the pattern was interesting enough that I didn’t get bored, but simple enough that I could relax with it. The pointed toe is the perfect end to this sock.

The best part yet is that these fit perfectly!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

It is here!

Guess what I received in the mail today! It's my package from my favorite color secret pal! She wrapped everything nicely. See?



She also included a nice hand written note - on purple paper no less. Her name is Jaymi. She doesn't have a blog, but you can find her on ravelry here.

I know us knitters don't like to be kept waiting, so here it is all unwrapped!



Here are some close ups.



A keychain sock blocker! I've really wanted one of these for awhile, they are just so cute!



Two sets of pretty stitch markers. They are little and perfectly sized for socks or other small gauge knitting!



Yarn! Two skeins of SWS in a dark blue purple color, and two skeins of cotton. I'm not sure what I'm going to do use the SWS for yet (hat? mittens?), but I think I'll use the cotton to make a ball band dishcloth. I've wanted to try that pattern out for awhile!



Two very nicely knitted dish cloths. The color on the one to the left is really interesting. Close up you can see bits of green, pink, and purple, but far away it looks sort of metallic.



To top it all off there was also a cute blank book, and a lovely magnetic note pad to put on the refrigerator. The note pad even came with matching magnets!


After some careful inspection Mario determined that the box was the perfect size.


Thank you so much Jaymi! It is all perfect! <3

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Earthly Delights and Contest Winners

First thing first, in the past month I completed six projects. There were two people who guessed that I would finish 6 projects, and Jo of WildPeculiarJoy won the coin toss! Joy – I’ll message you on ravelry.

Now, on to project spectrum. The end of the fire months has passed and the earth months have begun! For fire I only finished two projects. At first I felt like that wasn’t enough, but I don’t think it is so bad. The point of project spectrum isn’t to limit me to just certain colors for two months, but to open up some new horizons.


Picture from nature.desktopnexus.com


I think it is fitting that we begin the earth months just as spring is starting to peak out of the ground. Spring is a time of renewal, when the old is pushed aside to make room for the new. In the spirit of this I have some spring cleaning to do with my projects. Despite my finishing spree I still have four projects left over from 2007, and one project from earlier this year.

My knitting goal: Finish or frog all current WIPs, and make a pair of socks out of my green or brown koigu.

Things outside of knitting might include a bit of gardening, baking, and taking pictures.

The official colors for project spectrum earth are greens, browns and metallics. I personally would love to see bits of pink and yellow peaking out in some projects. It is spring time after all!

Also remember that Earth Day is on April 22