Kittens and Knittin'

Moved!

2009-01-20T11:59:00.003-05:00

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!

Embers and Ashes

2009-01-14T14:38:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-01-14T12:21:00.002-05:00

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

Baby Strawberries

2008-05-09T22:03:00.002-04:00

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.

A Purple Sheldon

2008-04-17T18:13:00.004-04:00

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.

Round and Round

2008-04-14T15:23:00.002-04:00

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!

It is here!

2008-04-10T12:44:00.003-04:00

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

Earthly Delights and Contest Winners

2008-04-08T12:41:00.002-04:00

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

Puppet Master Gloves

2008-04-04T08:51:00.002-04:00

Pattern: Gloves from the Knitters Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, black, 2 skeins
Needles: US size 3 dpns
Guage: 7 stitches per an inch
Mods: I made the cuff way shorter than suggested, because that’s what he wanted.
New Techniques: I learned how to "make 1 right" and "make 1 left".

These are finally done! I was getting a little bored with the black yarn and weaving in all those ends was tedious. My roommates suggested I not weave the ends in at all, because they got amusement from yelling "puppet master!" whenever Danny would try on the glove with all the finger ends dangling. I'm glad my knitting amuses someone. :)

Daniel loves his gloves. He even wore the first glove in his car one chilly morning while the second one was still on the needles. He told me that he only wore it in the car because he was fairly certain he'd look silly with only one glove one. When both gloves were done and our gaming group was over he proudly showed them to everyone. All this from a guy who originally didn't want knitted stuff. Now he is saying "I'd maybe wear a hat, and some socks!"

FO count: 6, which leaves us with two contestants. :)

Undergarments on your head

2008-03-31T12:47:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of knitting Quant when it was still looking like a little triangle with a long string attached to it, my roommate walked in and said "Whatchya knittin?" I held it up for him and he said "a thong?"

Imagine you can see the i-cord string, and just a few inches of enterlac.
I started to explain what it was when I stopped and really looked at it, he was right. At that point it did look like you could make a cute little thong out if, that is if wooly undergarments are your thing. He suggested wool was much too absorbent and that licorice would be a much better choice for a thong.

I'm not much into thongs, wooly or otherwise, so I continued on with the project as planned. And I must say I think it makes a much cuter ear warmer than it would have thong.

Project details:
Pattern: Quant by Star Athena
Yarn: Taos by Crystal Palace, color number: 17
Needles: US 8, knit picks options
Mods: In the beginning when expanding the i-cord so you can do the set up triangles the increases just say "make 1", for which knitty gives the directions for "make 1 right". I used "make 1 right" and "make 1 left" at the appropriate times. I doubt it made much of a difference, but it made me happy.
New Techniques: I-cord and enterlac

Pattern review: I loved making this pattern. It was simple, well written, and worked up very quickly. I also think enterlac is a really fun and interesting technique. The one thing I'm displeased with is how the ends don't match up.

This would not be difficult to fix, I'm sure someone has already written up directions on how to do so. I was watching prison break, so I didn't notice how badly mismatched the ends were until I had started the i-cord already. This particular yarn doesn't frog well, so I decided it wasn't worth going back to fix. It doesn't show when it's on, but little details like that matter to me. If I ever make the pattern again, I will be sure to make the needed adjustments.

If I were to make it again, I would also make it just a little bit shorter to allow for the patterns natural stretch. It isn't too big as it is, but I would prefer it just a bit shorter.

Luigi was extra special helpful with the picture taking.
Yarn thoughts: I really enjoyed this yarn for the most part. The colors are lovely, and the color repeats are long which lends its self well to this pattern. The yarn is very soft and losely plied, and a little fluffy. This does make splitting an issue, though not a major one. Frogging and lots of tinking are difficult in this yarn. I had to frog once and it was a mess of tangles and snags. The yarn also was a lot fuzzier after being frogged.

I think this is a nice yarn, once you are aware of its downsides. It created a very soft and comfy knitted fabric. I'm going to love wearing this thing next winter!

A sort of FO

2008-03-26T14:21:00.002-04:00

I finished my first hat!

I think the cabled pattern is really cute. I also enjoy the colors of the yarn I used, despite the pooling. My problem with this hat is the size.

It is a little tight. Nothing a good washing and blocking couldn't fix. The big problem is that it is way too short. I'm debating between adding another repeat and adding ribbing to the bottom. My plan is to let the hat rest for a bit until I can decide. Until then, it is finished!

Pattern: An Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. Color: Storm dyed over with cherry kool-aid.
Needles: 10.5 dpns
Mods: None
New Techniques: Helix stripes as described by Grumperina. I used this method to work from both ends of the yarn ball. You can still see the pooling easily, but it is a little more gentle. Had I felt like messing with it I think working with 3 or 4strands would have fully fixed the pooling problems.

FO count: 4

Bibs O’Green

2008-03-24T10:24:00.003-04:00

Daniel has a manager that is very pregnant and on Tuesday night he asked if I could knit something small for her. We talked about it a little bit and agreed that he would find out the gender the next time he worked and then we would pick out a pattern together.

On Wednesday I was heading to class and the only item I had to work on was the misbehaving glove. I grabbed a ball of Peaches and Creme and my Mason Dixon Knitting book and headed out the door.

Over the course of the day I finished the first bib.

I had so much fun making the first one that on Thursday I started the second one, and it was a good thing too. Thursday Daniel learned that the baby was a boy and that the manager’s last day was Friday! We ran off to Jo-Ann's and picked out buttons and a patch. I finished all the knitting that night, and did the finishing work on Friday afternoon.

Pattern: Bibs O'Love, from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Peaches and Creme 100% cotton, 1 ball each "Baby Green" and "Shades of Green"
Needles: knit pick options size 6
Mods: None
New Skills: This was my first button hole. I also learned how to properly sew on a button.

I really enjoyed making these bibs. I especially love the way the bib with the patch turned out. I sewed it down, and then ironed it on for extra security.

That brings me to three FO’s! Dad’s socks, and two bibs.

Spring Time

2008-03-21T13:49:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was the perfect first day of spring. The sun was shining and the temperature was comfortable. In the late afternoon I decided to celebrate by going for a walk and bringing my camera. My goal was to find some sings of spring and take a picture of them.

The first thing I saw right outside my door were green shoots coming up.

Next I saw a flower had already bloomed

Sadly I had to prop this flower up to take it's picture. The stem was broken, most likely from the storm we had the other night. Regardless of it's ill fate it is still the first flower to fully bloom in our yard this season.

How about this little guy who hangs out on the side of our house?

Isn't it neat how the water collects in the leaves? I thought the water droplets looked like little jewels nestled inside the plant.

Someone else’s yard had a bunch of pretty flowers

I hope we have some soon! We might need to do some planting.

I'll have an FO to show you tomorrow! :)

Quick Trip Recap

2008-03-20T14:36:00.003-04:00

The trip to New Jersey and New York was fun, we kept really busy while there. Going out and exploring during the day and visiting with my parents in the evening. I wish we'd had more time, but that’s the way it goes.

Here are a few snap shots from the trip:

We had Korean food for the first time.

We went to The Chocolate Haven several times to have yummy hot chocolate and peek in the windows so we could watch chocolate being made.

We visited the Bronx Zoo and saw baby gorillas! A lot of the animals were no where to be seen because it was chilly out, but the baby gorillas totally made up for it. They were cute, playful and constantly on the move.

I didn't get nearly as much knitting done on the trip as I thought I would. I did finish one of Danny's gloves. It fits him perfectly and we are both very excited about it. The second one is in time out until the thumb gusset I forgot to do magically appears on its own, or until I decide to frog it. Whichever comes first.

Happy First Day of Spring!

"This is doomed to be awesome"

2008-03-09T10:56:00.003-04:00

What do you do when you have a cancelled flight, several inches of snow, one sled, and no idea where good sledding hills might be found? Go sledding with 7 other people of course! I mean come on, isn't that the most brilliant idea ever?

What about this for brilliant? On top of our one real sled we had a few Rubbermaid type container lids, and several pillows wrapped in plastic bags. The Rubbermaid lids didn't work. The pillows wrapped in plastic bags had varying degrees of success. They worked pretty well if you used one pillow under your chest, and one under your knees. We suspect that body pillows would really awesome.

If you have one good sled, and two OK pretend sleds, the "best" thing to do is to go down in a train.
Step 1: Person1 gets in the real sled facing forward, that way if you are about to run into a tree, you know.
Step 2: Person2 gets in the real sled behind person number 1 and faces backwards.
Step 3: Person3 lays down on a pillow and holds person2's hands.
Step 4(optional): Person4 lays down on a pillow and holds onto person3's legs.
Step 5: Someone who is insane enough to help you, but not insane enough to join the train helps you get started down the hill.

It was awesome. Awesome enough we did it multiple times. One of the pillow people would always end up separated from the train half way down and spinning around in circles.

The day was finished off with homemade hot chocolate and hot wings, naps, pizza and beer, and games on the wii.

No pictures were taken. I was too busy playing.

I wore my hand knit socks, and got some knitting done.

My Surprise Contest

2008-03-07T13:20:00.005-05:00

We have snow coming down now and it reminded me of the last bit of nasty weather we had. It was a little ice storm and I was shocked when I stepped out my door and almost walked face first into these branches. The weatherman is suggesting anywhere from 4 to 10 inches of snow. I am really hoping they are wrong, because I have a plane to catch tomorrow morning! Cross your fingers for me, will you?

As far as knitting goes I've realized that I have an absurd number of projects on the needles. My mind flashed to the Christmas knitting wars and the competition to finish the most projects. From there I remembered that I have been bouncing around the idea of having a contest.

1. SOTSii hint 1, 2. rpm sock, 3. dad's sock, 4. Boy Gloves, 5. unoriginal hat, 6. fetching, 7. sheldon, 8. clapotis

I have 8 projects on the needles. Your job is to guess how many projects I will finish in a month. The month will start today, and end on April 7th. I will do my best to concentrate on projects already in progress. I reserve the right to cast on new projects, and if I finish them they will count in the FO total.

Guesses are due by March 13th. The person with the closest guess wins. If multiple people are equally close then the winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be announced on April 8th.

The prize will be a surprise. :) The prize might be big or small, but I will do my best to make it something fun and enjoyable for the winner. The prize will be sent out sometime in April.

WIP Wednesday

2008-03-05T14:43:00.003-05:00

What have I been up to? I've not been posting much. I fell off the wagon with my picture project, been busy, been sick, and my current knitting projects are a bit boring to look at.

I'm almost finished with dad's socks:

I have about two more inches to knit before I start the toe decreases.

I started a pair of gloves for Daniel

I hope they go quickly so he can get some use out of them before the cold weather disappears.

Between brown socks and black gloves I have been feeling a desperate need for color. My ball of cherry kool-aid yarn has been sitting on the coffee table mocking me. Begging me to make it into a hat.

I love the colors. I don't love how they are pooling. I'm going to rip this and fiddle around with it to see if I can break it up.

Fearless Fingerless Mitts

2008-02-19T16:22:00.003-05:00

For Valentines Day I jumped head first into a color work pattern. I didn't even bother to swatch. I figured if they turned out a little bigger or smaller than they were suppose to it was no big deal.

Pattern: Companion Mitts- Coordinate with Fair Isle Tam
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool in Red and Blue (greenish blue)
Needles: US size 4
Mods/tricks: I shortened the thumb. Used a slip stitch to minimize the jog on stripes, and knit the first row of a ribbed color change all stockinette so that I wouldn’t have purl bumps of the wrong color sticking out. During long floats I used this method of weaving in as you knit, to carry my float along with me. This was great for long floats, but I didn't find it to be secure enough to actually weave in ends. The lack of security may have been a short coming of my own instead of the technique's, so I will try it again someday.

This was honestly not the best choice for a first color work pattern because some of the floats are quite long. Also between my lack of a swatching, and my small hands these mitts are huge on me. I could easily wear a pair of thick gloves under them.

I'm very proud of them regardless of their flaws.

These also count as my first PS3 fire FO!

Huston, we have a problem

2008-02-07T22:37:00.000-05:00

My Dad's sock is too small... on me. I can assure you that his foot is bigger than mine. Plus, the sock just sucks overall.

Here are all the gory details:

First we have the funky Dutch heel which bags out even when I scrunch my toes so I can pull it up correctly.

Then there is the loosey goosey cuff. It is knit on significantly more stitches than the foot (a whole 3/4 of an inch more stitches). The cuff is loose on me, and Dad is not exactly a man of thick ankles and calves. The cuff would be forgivable if the rest of the sock didn't suck so much.

Look how funky it looks. Yes it really does want to crinkle up on its own like that when left to its own devices.

The sock ended up being about 8 inches long. It should have been 9.25 inches long. Now I did make a mistake and start the toe a quarter of an inch too early, but that doesn't explain the other missing inch! I think it is the heels fault, the way it pulls everything in all funky makes it hard to measure how long the foot is.

The short explanation of all of this is: I hate the heel, and blame all of the socks problems on the heel. ;)

Now there are a few things I DO like. The longish ribbing has grown on me. I found the purl stitch it has you do on the back (like a seam) to be interesting. I also enjoy the way the toe decreases make the bar along the toes. I didn’t like the suggestion of threading the yarn back through the stitches to close the toe. I felt there were too many stitches left for that method.

What really baffles me is I seem to be the only one who has problems with this sock. Everyone on ravelry claims theirs turned out just fine. Poo on them!

I'm ripping the whole sock out and starting anew.

Project Spectrum - the elements

2008-02-05T08:18:00.000-05:00

There are five elements, and those elements seem to change depending on the culture. For example in Chinese culture the five elements are wood, metal, fire, water, and earth. In Japanese culture they are chi (earth), sui (water), ka (fire), fū (water), and kū (void/sky/heaven).

The elements that I'm most familiar with are the western elements common in the pagan culture: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Spirit. Project spectrum is utilizing fire, water, earth and air as its color inspiration this year. February and March have been assigned to fire.

Fire: Love, passion, destruction, rebirth, warmth, cleansing.

From the Celtic Dragon Tarot

For project spectrum the official colors of fire are red, orange and pink. I've never really thought of pink, but it fits. I also include yellow in the fire category.

I have some yarn that fits in nicely with project spectrum. Top right is knit picks WOA Bulky in storm, over dyed with cherry Kool-Aid. Top left is knit picks palette in red. Bottom right is The Knittery in Orange Blossoms, and the last one is knit picks WOA in holly berry left over from an Irish hiking scarf.

I also have one more red yarn, but it’s in use and you'll see it later this week.

Consequently, I also just completed a blogstalking! One of the recent blogstalking tasks was to photograph your favorite color. My favorite color just so happens to be red. :)

Go Team!

2008-02-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone enjoyed National Knitting day! To be honest I didn't get any knitting done. I was too busy hanging out and cheering. That was one exciting game!

I did make some awesome cookies. Danny in his ultimate football dorkieness arranged some of them into an actual football play. The guys had fun picking up cookies and saying "I'm going to eat player X", or "I think I'll eat a wide receiver".

Female roomie who is a non football fan simply cheered "Go Team!" at the appropriate times. This insured she did not accidentally cheer for the wrong team, which surely would have been a death sentence. ;)

Socks!

2008-01-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

I finished the first of my RPM socks

The fit is perfect, and I can't wait to start working on the second one! Sadly, I have to wait. I must first make my dad a pair of socks, so he doesn't feel left out.

I selected the Plain Winter Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks because my guage matched, and because they would work up quickly. I'm close to the heel turn already.

I'm hoping to finish hint 2 of my stole sometime tonight or tomorrow. Hint 3 will be published tomorrow, and I'd like to be ready for it!

Wouldn't ya know

2008-01-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

Last week I posted about how I tried to capture snow falling and mostly I ended up with a picture of the world around me.

This week I have a picture where I was trying to capture the snow covered world around me, and ended up with a picture of snow falling. Or are they orbs? Or faeries?

Luigi believes in faeries.

He chases them all the time.

Wheee!

2008-01-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited!

I finished hint #1 tonight! I even finished in time to submit it for the prize drawing. :D

I've been thinking that maybe those diamonds are actually flowers. They look sort of like flowers. You have the cluster of decreases in the middle with yarn over petals surrounding it. Flowers would match the suggestion that we use an earthy color for this stole. hmmm....

I believe it is time to go celebrate with a class of wine, my sock, and an episode of the Sopranos.

Secret of the Stole Swatch

2008-01-23T10:12:00.000-05:00

Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Moss

Top Swatch
Cast on: US3 and US2 held together (US3 alone was tight)
Cast off: US7 I made an effort to cast off very loosely.
Knit: US3
Size: 8.25in wide, 4in tall

Bottom Swatch
Cast on: US4 - turned out nice and stretchy
Cast off: US7 - I cast off normally and it turned out too tight.
Knit: US4
Size: 7.5in wide, 4.5in tall

Results:
They look almost identical. Top swatch turned out a little wider and Bottom Swatch turned out a little taller. I think a lot of this is due to blocking. The bottom swatch's bind off was too tight which limited how much I could stretch out the lace. I also just did a better job blocking Top Swatch, because it was the second swatch I knit.

For this project I intend to go with the size 3 needles. My yarn is finally in Lexington, so I'm hoping I get it today. Fingers Crossed!

I also finally got around to making the heel for my sock

Pictures from last week

2008-01-21T20:49:00.000-05:00

The first day of school last week, it snowed.

I discovered that it is really hard to capture a picture of snow falling. I'm guessing you have to mess with shutter speed. Doing a few experiments with shutter speed might be a fun project for one week. I did manage to catch the snow way away in the background in the picture above, which I'm happy about.

I've been spending my time between classes hanging out in the library. It is a nice quiet place to knit (or study).

How I wish Luigi was always this cute and this sweet.

I'm debating how to handle days where I have multiple different decent pictures taken. Sometimes its difficult to decide which one matches the day best.

Juliet Scarf

2008-01-19T16:56:00.000-05:00

You know how on Thursday I said I expected to finish my Juliet Scarf sometime next week. When I said that I actually meant I would finish it that night.

It wasn't fully my choice to finish it. I ran out of yarn. The scarf was only about 25 inches long instead of the suggested 37 inches long. But don't worry, this story has a happy ending.

Pattern: Juliet Scarf from Knitting Little Luxuries.
Yarn: Partial skein of Rowan Felted Tweed (unknown amount)
Needles: US 8
Finished size: 37 x 7 inches
Mods: I left the book at my mom's so I'm not 100% sure but I think the pattern intended you to end on the last row of the chart. I didn't like the look of it because that row ends with a big hole. It looks great in the pattern, but not so great standing alone. I ended on row 6 instead. This also happened to be the perfect place for the amount of yarn I had. In the end I had just enough to weave in.

I'm so glad it blocked out to 37 inches. I still think it is a little short. If you knit this, and would like to be able to tie it, I suggest making it longer. I intend to make or find some cute pin to use to use with this.

Knit knit knit

2008-01-17T16:35:00.000-05:00

I've not had nearly as much knitting time as I thought I would, but I still got a decent amount done on my Juliet scarf

She is now 21.5 inches long and the suggested length is 37 inches. With any luck I'll be done sometime next week!

I've not started my dad's sock yet. My second set of US1 dpns seem to be MIA. I feel a strong urge to cast on about 20 different projects. I must resist.

I signed up for the second secret of the stole. The clues start tomorrow. Unfortunately my yarn has not arrived. :( It has finally been shipped though! YAY! Maybe I'll be able to buckle down and catch up once it gets here? Wishful thinking? Probably.

I'm enjoying my anatomy class. Is that weird? I bet I'll be cursing it come test time. ;)

The first beer

2008-01-14T08:27:00.000-05:00

For christmas I got TheBoy a Mr. Beer kit so he could try brewing his own beer. Last week we bottled the first batch.

I haven't gotten much knitting done, but today is the first day of class so I'm sure I'll have plenty of knitting time.

My first class was a Pilates class and I'm a bit skeptical. The instructor is a young grad student who is a certified physical trainer/something or other. She also explained that she is about to get certified in Pilates and that that means she "is qualified to teach this course." Now I would prefer that she was already certified, but I'll take close.

Now here is the real kicker, after all that she mentions: She has never done Pilates. And that she will be learning from our text book and then teaching it to us. Say what?

Now I need to decide what to do about this class.

Lacey WIP

2008-01-09T14:36:00.000-05:00

Today's WIP is the Juliet Scarf from Knitting Little Luxuries. I borrowed the pattern and the yarn from my mom. I really love this scarf. It is my first time knitting lace, and my first time working from a chart. I didn't think I'd like working from charts, but I LOVE it. I now understand why everyone wants charts.

Project 365 - First Week

2008-01-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

With the first week of project 365 now over with I'm the proud owner of 3 pictures. If I can manage three pictures a week, I'll be cool with that. The above one was taken yesterday evening while on a walk.

I've been thinking about it and I don't think pictures of WIPs or yarn should count toward my 365 project total. If I counted them I would be cheating myself out of exploring and trying new things. Big ticket items like a first sweater, or a large completed lace project however I think are fair game.

FO's from the trip

2008-01-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

While on the trip I finished my brother's socks. I don't have an FO picture for the pair, but I can assure you the second sock looked the same as the first. ;)

I also started and finished a pair of fetching while I was there

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty
Needles: US 6
Yarn: Cascasde 220 Superwash, color 888
Made for: My mommy
Mods: I used a purled bind off insted of the picot bind off. I also picked up extra stitches for the thumb and decreased them away. To be honest I picked up the extra stitches because I wasn't 100% sure which to pick up. I decided to not bother finding out because I've noticed fetching thumbs sometimes have holes. I thought the extra stitches might pervent this. They didn't.

The yarn for these was actually left over from my brothers socks. I think I still have enough for another small project.

Coming to a close

2007-12-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that among other things a good blog takes work and dedication. I've not really put much work into this blog and as a result it is pretty boring. With a little effort I think I could really enjoy keeping this blog.

To make this blog more fun for me I'd like to try a few things.

1.) I need to branch out my knitting projects. This is both just for my knitting enjoyment and because I'm tired of writing "I worked on a sock". ;)

2.) Project 365. I really enjoy taking pictures and this will encourage me to do so more often. Any good ones can become an instant blog post.

3.) I'm considering a posting schedule of some sort. I tend to put off posting and then when I do post I end up with writers block.

There is a possibility that this blog will experience a huge shift sometime after this summer. TheBoy and I are discussing the possibility of going to South Korea to teach English for a year after I graduate. This would be a really amazing experience and would undoubtedly give me a lot to talk about. I'm already plotting the best way to bring lots of yarn with me if we go.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well tomorrow is christmas and I'm not quite ready. I'm not too woried about it. I think I can finish and if not no one will be upset or hurt.

I finished one of my brothers socks.

I absolutely love it. Can't I just rip it back, make it shorter and keep it? No? Darn.

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday! I demand this of you. Even if you don't celebrate. :)

Pepper Love

2007-12-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I didn't get any knitting done because I was lazy early in the day and then I made the most awesome dinner ever.

I started with these.

I've had this red pepper cream sauce recipe stashed away waiting for red peppers to go on sale. They finally did. I did a happy dance.

Some quick comments about the recipe: I used whole basil leaves and next time I think I'll chop them up for visual reasons. Unless you have a kick ass blender I wouldn't bother adding the mixture to the blender. All ours did was stir it a bit. A food processor would probably work better, but it really isn't needed.

I cooked a little less than a pound of chicken with half an onion and some garlic. I actually threw the onion and garlic in the pan while I was cutting the chicken because I wanted the onions to caramelize.

I served it all over whole wheat pasta. It was really tasty and really satisfying. I fully intend to make it again.

What dinner post would be complete without a colorless night time picture?

Yesterday I....

2007-12-21T14:45:00.001-05:00

Worked on the goodie baskets that TheBoy and I were making for friends.

We finished them up and delivered most of them last night. The final contents? Shortbread, chocolate fudge with and without nuts, peanut butter fudge, peanut brittle, caramels, and ginger cookies.

Worked some on my brothers sock

I didn't get nearly enough done, but at least I got some done! I foresee a possible all nighter.

I enjoyed some pretty flowers

I love marked down flowers. Full price flowers are crazy expensive and there is no way we could afford to get them. Marked down flowers on the other hand? We can handle that. They really do brighten up the house. It has been so dreary here lately.

Blogstalking - An interesting Statue

2007-12-18T13:22:00.000-05:00

To be honest I have no intention of going back and doing all the blogstalking posts that I missed. I am however perfectly happy to go back and do them when I come across something that will work. With that said, let me introduce you to the silver lady.

I saw this living statue when I was in Boston this summer and I thought she was very pretty. Her outfit rocks. I especially like her lacey parasol and gloves.

Not Christmas knitting

2007-12-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

This morning I woke up to our first reall snow dusting here at the house. Snow is pretty but cold. I need some sort of fingerless gloves for taking pictures outside in the winter. I'm thinking maybe cigar from knitty.

Here is what I've been working on and off isntead of making christmas presents:

It is RPM in lorna's laces lake view. I changed the cast on number ro 72 to adjust for my much tigheter guage. I actually really like the way they look at a tigheter guage because you see more spirals.

Now I'm going to actually get to work on the christmas knitting.

knitting book happiness

2007-12-12T18:35:00.000-05:00

I took this picture of Luigi, and similar ones of Mario back when I was living in my own apartment. At the time I was really frustrated that I couldn't get a clear picture, but now I really like the fuzzy effect. I love how the picture seems to have captured Luigi's eternal kitten.

Sometime soonish I turn 24. I've gotten comments along the lines of "I didn't know you were that old!" Well dammit neither did I! For one thing in my opinion 24 isn't old, and to top it off in my head I'm still 22. ;)

I have new knitting books!
Knitting Vintage Socks - Spiral bound. On my first glance through the book I was really disappointed, on my second look through I loved it. It has a little history section and lots of information on different heel and toe types. I really enjoy the textured look of a lot of the "gentlemen" socks, and there are some really cute/pretty lacey patterns as well.

Knitting On the Road - This book is also spiral bound. It has short but clear directions about a couple cast ons to use, as well as different ways to join yarn in the round, which is new info to me. I like most of the patterns, and I love the different cabled socks, as well as the mismatched pair.

Mason Dixon Knitting - I've been wanting this book forever, because I just love it. I'm particularly interested in the log cabin section.

The Knitter's Book of Yarn - I haven't had time to really read any of the yarn info in here, but I love the patterns! I also like how it gives "substitution info" so I don't have to stop and look up the weight of the yarn, or do multiplication for the total yardage.

My Season and Thanks

2007-11-24T14:34:00.001-05:00

There was a lovely frost on the ground this morning. It just looked so pretty in the early morning sunlight that I had to try and capture it.

Fall is my favorite season because in my opinion, it has all the bestest things. The leaves change and look so pretty on the trees and then they fall and they crunch so nicely under my feet. It is just cold enough for the air to have that delightful cold smell, but not so cold that I can't stand outside and enjoy it. I can begin to snuggle up in long sleeves, sweaters, and blankets, and as a professional snuggler that makes me very happy. Cider, wine, and mulling spices can be brought together in wonderful harmony. On Halloween you can watch all the kids have a blast dressing up and going door to door pillaging for candy. And then as the last big holiday of the fall season, you get together and have dinner with friends and family.

Some things I'm thankful for:
Family, friends, a nice place to live, my boyfriend, my kitties who forever love me, financial aid that allows me to go to school, finally having a career to work towards that I'll enjoy, knitting, yarn, and many many more things. I'm one lucky girl.

Look at that... I actually did a blogstalking assignment!

Finally Done!

2007-11-20T09:49:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Mom's Sophisticated Scarf from Stitch N' Bitch Nation
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Weight
Color: Nordic Blue
Amount used: unsure. It was either about 2.5 skiens, or 1.5 skeins
Needles: Susan Bates us 7

Modifications: I reduced the number of stitches and added extra rows of seed stitch. I started this over a year ago when I was still a super newbie. I remember being pretty proud of myself for being able to correctly reduce the number of stitches all on my own. I'm pretty amused at myself now.

I love wearing this scarf. It is soft, it drapes beautifully and I can wear it with any jacket I own. It is a great basic scarf.

Look Mom, I'm a violin!

2007-11-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

Am I allowed in this thing?

I fill up this bed just fine! No funny instrument shape required.

zzZZZZzzzzz

Finished Mom's Socks!

2007-11-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Garter Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi, 2 skeins. Argyle colorway
Needles: Clover size 1
Gauge: 10 stitches per an inch
Mom's foot size: 8 inch diameter, 9.5 inches long.

I knit the socks exactly to size and mom really likes them. My foot is the same width as hers and I find the socks to be a bit loose. I think I would prefer some negative ease in my socks.

I love the garter rib stitch pattern. It is easy and it looks nice. It also makes decreasing for the gusset easy. I set it up so I decreased on rib rows, and knit straight across on plain knit rows. It saved me from having to stop and inspect the stitches to see if I decreased the previous round or not.

New Jersey Trip

2007-11-08T08:34:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I went and visited my parents in Jersey City. My mom will happily tell you that they live in a closet with a view, and she loves it. Life in the suburbs of KY just didn't work for her.

The first day was the longest day. Mom and I went over to New York to explore a little and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I had fun walking across the bridge. It was nice to get out and stretch my legs after being on a plane all morning.

We also took the dogs to the dog park. I attempted to get a picture of them, but they wouldn't sit still. Silly puppies.

Mom and Dad have been trying to find an acceptable dog walker with not much luck. The big one is scared of everyone new. She didn't like dog walker number 1 at all. She likes #2, but is too scared to allow #2 to walk her.

I learned that cabbage is the new "in thing" in landscaping. My mom swears its not new, and she swears that Louisville use to do it to, but I don't believe her. Regardless of if she is right.

Mom and I also explored Hoboken some. Our explorations included Patricia's Yarns. Mom picked out yarn to make a scarf for herself, and yarn for me to make her more socks. Unlike her attempt at socks early this year, her scarf is going extremly well. It is a much better project for someone who hasn't knitted in 20 years.

The scarf is made out of sheep shop yarn. I can't remember the color way right now, but it is really pretty. When last I heard she is now about two thirds of the way done.

The sock yarn is a self patterning yarn from Austermann Step, so it isn't really all that pretty look at in a ball.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T20:43:00.000-04:00

I painted that little ceramic guy above at the Mad Potter here in Lexington. It was a lot of fun. If you have a place like that near you, I suggest you try it. :)

Trick or treaters are now all home either crashing from exhaustion or on a sugar high. I had a bunch of fun passing out candy, and watching Danny pass it out in his ren fair costume.

I finished my moms sock tonight. I'm so excited that it requires a night time picture!

I feel motivated to get going on the second one now. I'm leaving to visit her and my dad in New Jersey on friday, so she can even try it on to make sure it fits! Maybe I can get the second one finished while I'm there? I won't be leaving for home until monday.

For projects I intend to pack my clapotis, fetching, and my mom's socks.

Kentucky Yarn Pr0n

2007-10-26T08:20:00.000-04:00

How about a little local yarn love for today?

From: Koenig Farm
Fiber content: 100% mohair
color: watermelon
weight: lace
yardage: 212 yds

I think I'm going to Isobel with this.

What I've been knitting

2007-10-24T11:05:00.000-04:00

I haven't been blogging and I blame it on ravelry. I'd love some ravelry friends, but I can't remember who is on ravelry now and who isn't? If you are on and want to add me I'm silencepainter. :)

This calorimetry is for my SIL for Christmas. I'm really happy with how the colors worked out. There is very little left to do, I just need to wash it, weave in the ends, and add a button

I'm also making a pair of fetching to go with the calorimetry. I'm not sure if I'm happy with how the colors are playing with the pattern. It does look better once its on, and I'm thinking once the second one is made it will look even better. If it doesn't I'll remake them.

Here is how the clapotis is coming along. I'm really happy with the colors and I love the feel of the yarn (knit picks shimmer). It isn't very far along, I've only done 3 or 4 increase sections.

I finished my basket weave scarf, but I'd like to wash it and block it before I take pictures. That might take a bit as I don't own any wool wash, and I need somewhere safe to block it.

I haven't made any progress on my mom's sock. I'm feeling kind of guilty about that. I see her again pretty soon, I really should work on it.

Yarn Pr0n Friday - Fishermans Wool

2007-09-28T13:13:00.001-04:00

Looking for Purse Guts? Scroll down!

Lorna's Laces, Fishermans Wool, 500 yards. Color: Sweetie (purple, pink and yellow)

I was thinking of making a jaywalker type scarf with this but I think I want more than three colors in my jaywalker scarf. Perhaps Wavy? Choices, choices. I'll have to search around. Its times like this I wish I had my ravelry invite.

Blogstalking - Purse Contents

2007-09-28T12:18:00.000-04:00

To really cover all the things this question should cover I had to empty out my school bag, my purse, and my pockets. After all of that my keys and my phone still didn’t make it into the pictures.

School/Knitting Bag

Its called an Everything Bag and according to the receipt it came from QVC. I got it from a second hand store. It has a bazillion pockets which I love! Makes it so easy to store stuff in.

First off is "Our Changing Planet" which is my geology text book. I picked this book up from the library, which means I don't have to buy it!

Sitting on top of the text book is
- A scarf I'm knitting.
- A pouch with items like stitch markers, stitch holders, and point protectors
- Needle size checker thing
- Label from the yarn I'm using in the scarf
- Kid scissors
- A loose blunt needle for weaving in ends. It should probably go in the pouch.

Next is my binder. It has all my notes and papers for my classes. Sitting on top of the binder are 2 mechanical pencils, a package of mini G2 pens, and a highlighter. G2 pens are my favorite pens ever, so you can imagine my excitement when they started making mini ones!

On the ground bellow the text book is a burts bees lip balm. I hate chapped lips.

My Pockets

These items move between my pockets, purse, and school bag depending on the day.
- Change
- License
- Debit card
- School ID
- Little black heart on a jump ring - I found it on the ground yesterday.

Purse

My purse exists mainly to hold my keys, cell phone or anything else too bulky to fit comfortably in my pockets. It is boring inside.

- Pay stubs
- Wallet which holds my triple A and health insurance card.
- A coupon for paper towels.
- A slip of paper with various dates I need to remember.

Wow that was kinda long. Hope you had fun snooping!

Yarn Pr0n Friday - Orange Blossoms

2007-09-21T14:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry to be posting so late in the day, and that I missed last week. Real life has been hogging my time lately. Boo on real life!

Yarn: Orange Blossoms from The Knittery

I bought this a few weeks ago from the Loopy Ewe. I've noticed that when it comes to yarn I'm a blue girl. I like my blues with the occasional bit of other dark or jewel toned colors. Tried and true colors are great things for projects like sweaters. You're not going to wear a sweater it the color doesn't work on you. But socks? Socks are where you should have some fun! You can fearlessly expand your color palette with no worry of the yarn making you look a sickly green color when you wear it. So I'm expanding! I followed a similar theory with that yarny weekend I had.

On their own the colors make me think of various sherbet flavors. Sherbet yummy.

Red Scarf Project Complete!

2007-09-21T14:29:00.000-04:00

I finished the scarf for the red scarf project! Now all I need to go do is pick up a gift card, write a little note, wrap it, and mail it. You don't have to include a gift card, but as a fellow poor college student I understand how much they must be appreciated. I'm so thankful I have my parents to help me through college.

Scarf Stats:
Pattern: Multi-directional Scarf
Length: 62 inches
Width: 6 inches
Yarn used: Bernat Super Value, Wine Twist, 275 yards per skein. I used a little under 1 and a half skeins.

Thoughts:
A lot of the other inexpensive acrylic yarns feels scratchy to me but I think this yarn has a nice soft feel to it. The feel is very appropriate for a scarf in my opinion. I love the colors too. I hope who ever gets it likes it.

Blogstalking - Who Am I?

2007-09-16T14:23:00.000-04:00

What is a girl to do when she’d like to post more often but doesn’t have anything to post about? Join blogstalking of course! This weeks topic is all about me. I don’t think I’ve given much personal information on here so this might be fun.

My name is Lauren. I’m a student at Eastern Kentucky University where I’ve been working towards my bachelors degree for way too long now. I’m an ex-computer science student and current general studies major. I’m scheduled to graduate this summer and then I hope to go into grad school for occupational therapy.

I’m a liberal which leaves me at odds with Kentucky’s conservative majority. [insert political and social unrest here]

I’m shy, quiet until I’m comfortable, and a bit weird. I’m a geek. I enjoy table top gaming such as D&D. I enjoy cooking and baking, but dislike the dishes that are left afterwards.

I procrastinate and am doing so as I write this. I knit, play the violin, and pack bento lunches. I’m a bit overweight but working on correcting the issue. I enjoy hiking and being outside. I would like to some day get more into sewing and embroidery and maybe try out belly dancing and pilates. I love blank books, and boxes. My childhood stuffed animal was a bunny.

TV:
Lately I’ve been cycling through episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Charmed, Smallville, Hero’s, and Scrubs.

Book Series:
I have a bit of a soft spot for novels about vampires and the like where the main character is a smart ass female. I’m a fan of Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series and Kelly Armstrong’s Women of the Underworld series. In more of the fantasy genre I’ve been enjoying Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel's Legacy series. Oh and I’m a Harry Potter fan for sure.

Two of my favorite books ever were Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, and Canone Inverso by Paolo Maurensig. I actually bought Canone Inverso because of the cover. The original cover had a nice picture of a violin on it.

A Yarn Filled Weekend

2007-09-10T15:24:00.000-04:00

I had a nice weekend with lots of yarn! First my sister in law told me that Dee's Crafts was having a sidewalk sale and that I should go check out the yarn. I went and checked it out and managed to score a few skeins of Lorna's Laces for 50% off!

Two skeins of Lorna's Shepherd Sport in Layette, and one skein of Fisherman's Wool in Sweetie. The Fisherman’s Wool skein is 500 yards!

The same sister in law has also recently started to get into beading, and I have to say she is awesome at it! She is really good with colors and mixing sizes and shapes. Both my mom and I think she could sell her work. She would at least make enough to feed her bead habit.

The family took a trip down to Berea which is the home of the Kentucky Artisan Center as well as the Old Town Artisan Village which has a collection of shops and workshops that you can visit. Cool stuff. I of course had to pick up some local yarn.

212 yards of lace weight mohair in the color watermelon. This yarn is from Koenig Farm Spinnery & Yarn Shop located in Springfield Kentucky. Its a really cool establishment. They raise the goats, spin the yarn and dye it.

As far as knitting goes I've been working on my moms sock, and working on a scarf for the red scarf project.

I really like the yarn I selected for the red scarf project. It is Bernat Super Value and the color is Wine Twist. When I bought it I thought the colors were unisex... or at least I really wanted to believe they were. I've been informed that there are too many colors for the scarf to be unisex. To top it off I'm not sure I can get it done on time.

What should I do? Should I try and finish and send it in anyway? Or is there another program I could send this scarf too? I really like the colors so if all else fails I could keep it myself or give it as a gift.

Shimmer Pr0n

2007-09-06T16:07:00.000-04:00

I had this brilliant idea that I'd try and get on a monday/wednesday/friday posting schedule or something like that. I think it would be nice to have more than just one or two posts a week.

I've been working on my moms sock and I think the cuff is almost long enough. She gets in late tonight and after I clean up around the house some I intend to spend the evening knitting and watching netflix.

I bought this yarn to make a clapotis. It is knitpicks shimmer in Stained Glass and Turquoise Splendor. I plan to hold one of each color and knit together with them. I'm hoping they play nice together. If not I'll have to buy more yarn which will be oh so sad. You know how us knitters hate getting new yarn.

Sorry for the multiple edits - I some how posted before I was done!

Purple Turtle in the Making

2007-09-03T19:30:00.000-04:00

I worked on sheldon some this weekend. He is currently a sad little one legged turtle without a home (shell), but damn is he cute! I'm making him for a friend who loves turtles, stuffed animals, and the color purple. He is such a perfect little guy for her.

My mom might be flying into town on Thursday night and staying until Tuesday! For this reason I'm going to get back to work on her sock. It would be great if I could finish the first one while she is here to make sure it fits. She has toe problems on one foot and a non-fitting sock could be a real issue for her.

Here is a little garden visitor I found one day.

Argyle Sock Yarn Pr0n

2007-08-31T07:56:00.000-04:00

Lorna Laces sock yarn in Argyle

Started something new!

2007-08-29T18:42:00.000-04:00

My mom bought herself some sock yarn only to discover that sock knitting just isn't for her. She really loved her yarn and really wanted her knitted socks so I promised to knit them for her. I've finally started them and hope to have them done well in time for NJ cold weather.

The yarn is Lorna Laces Shepherd Sock in the color Argyle.

This is what the yarn looked like when I swatched it. I'm getting 10 stitches to an inch on size one needles. That seems like a lot of stitches per an inch to me.

I'm really happy with how the colors are spiraling around. I have no clue why they are spiraling around, but I like it.

"If we snuggle we can both fit in the cat cube"

Back to School Cloths are done!

2007-08-26T18:58:00.000-04:00

The above cloth is hanging out with a yummy bar of Chocolate Orange soap from Chargin Valley Soap and Craft. I had a lot of fun making all these cloths. I didn't even really mind the duplicate stitching, which I'm sure would bore some people to tears after a bit.

Yarn: Sugar'n Cream
Needles: US size seven
Colors: Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue, and pink

TGI Yarn Pr0n Friday

2007-08-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

The yarn today is Knit Picks Memories in the color Yukon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bento - My other current obsession

2007-08-21T22:47:00.001-04:00

Today was my first day of classes and my Back to School cloths aren't done yet. Because of the lack of knitting content I thought I would introduce you to my newest obsession... Bento!

What is bento you may ask? The easy explanation is that it is a style of Japanese packed lunch that is both healthy and pleasing to the eye.

Cooking Cute is a popular bento blog with lots of information and links to other bento blogs. It isn't currently very active but the info, links, and gallery are well worth a look. The food here seems to be more of a traditional bento style.

Lunch In A Box is so far my favorite bento blog. Much of the food is often leftovers and things I could see myself actually making and having on hand. It also has lots of helpful tips.

Now, it is time for you to meet my bento box.

Isn't it cute?

Oh and here is what was in my lunch today:

Bottom tier (on left): Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry made with brown rice. Recipe is from Better Home and Gardens cook book.
Top tier (on right): Carrots, cucumbers, a grape tomato, string cheese, red grapes, and almonds wrapped in pink saran wrap to keep the fruits and veggies from sweating on them.
Not shown: A little side container of dressing for dipping veggies in.

You of course don't need a fancy bento box to pack a bento style meal. One of my favorite lunches so far was packed in a rubbermaid take along container.

In the lunch was: homemade ground turkey chili, half a baked potato, 1 cheese slice (cut with cookie cutter), strawberries, cheese cubes, almonds, and a piece of blueberry coffee cake.

Koigu Pr0n

2007-08-16T19:49:00.000-04:00

Koigu KPM Semi Solid
Color: 4000

The full body shot is the color accurate shot, I could not get a color accurate close up no matter how many times I tried.

Project for Back to School

2007-08-12T15:13:00.000-04:00

I've decided I need to finish my back to school wash cloths before school starts on August 20th. As of right this second I have four and a half wash cloths done.

I'm having a lot of fun with these wash clothes. They are quick to knit, easy to take with you and the colors are so fun and bright.

I also have Sheldon the turtle and a swatch for a sock on my needles.

When I go out to take pictures, Mario sits and watches me the whole time. He actually looks a little sad.

Oh lookie what lives in our yard!

It’s a ground hog! The male roommie seems to be under the impression that we can in some way run off the hog. Yeah right! First we are lazy, second this is prime real estate. Considering he is here to stay, I think we should name him. Any ideas? :D

Souvenir Yarn Pr0n

2007-08-09T23:11:00.000-04:00

In my last post I mentioned I got to go on a vacation up into Canada. On one of our stops I happened across a local yarn store and after picking up this yarn I could NOT put it down. It is just so soft and shiny and beautiful. My pictures don't do it justice.

Yarn: Sea Silk
Made By: HandMaiden Fine Yarn
Contents: 70% Silk, 30% SeaCell (made from seaweed!)
Weight: Lace

I'm back!

2007-08-08T02:22:00.000-04:00

My poor little old laptop was indeed fried beyond hope. To get me through the rest of the semester I used my dads even older laptop. It did what I needed but was otherwise useless due to constant freezing.

A lot has happened while I‘ve been away. I went on a cruise up to Canada, my parents moved to NJ and I moved into a house with my boyfriend and another couple. I'm loving having roommates. Mario and Luigi are also loving it as well. They have more space to play, more people to pet them and more ways to get into trouble.

Thanks to my parents moving to NJ they suddenly found they had too many computers and I kindly took one off their hands. This means I can start posting real updates with pictures! Expect something later this week! Pr0n for sure on Friday.

Computer Problems

2007-02-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

I took pr0ny pictures this morning of some of the koigu I got, but I ran into a glitch. My computer kept freezing and several restarts later it is now frozen and won't even react to the power button.

You know I've had a computer that wouldn't turn on before but I've never had one that wouldn't turn off. I really hope the computer isn't dead, and if I can't have that I hope I can get it to work long enough to get some files off.

So... I'm having to pull up an older pr0n picture, sorry guys.

Yarn on the doorstep

2007-02-05T18:39:00.000-05:00

On friday the mail man brought me a present from New York

Look what I found when I unwrapped it!

I must say, I love the look and feel of the Koigu.

One problem: I ordered the wrong color. See that green yarn, I *thought* it was a dark brown. I should send it back but I've fallen in love with the color and can't part with it. I see a cabled sock in its future. I emailed Purl and ask which yarn was a dark brown so that I won't make the same mistake again.

I can't quite explain it but originally when I ordered the yarn I didn't really like ordering from Purl. I've gotten great customer service though so I feel much better about it. First of all the packaging was cute and I was surprised to see that there was a little hand written thank you on my invoice. I also got a very prompt and helpful answer to my color confusion.

The new yarn should be on its way tomorrow, so I'll probably get it friday.

I also started the Chocolate Decadence scarf. I started it three times to be exact.
First I started with the Men's Cashmere scarf from LMKG. I got a decent amount done on it while watching a disk of 24. To my horror when I stopped to really look at it, it was curling. I pouted and then ripped it all out.

I tried the pattern again only I added a garter stitch boarder. The boarder looked like crap and the thing still curled. BOO!

I searched the internet for new options and was given a few ideas by knitty board members. I decided on the Scrunchable Scarf. I like the way it is turning out.

The scarf I'm making now needs more yarn than the original pattern called for so poor me had to make a knitpicks order. I ordered more than just the decadence. I didn't think I'd have to say this so soon but I'm going to join the knit from your stash thing for awhile. My only exception will be sock yarn for socktopia.

A winter day

2007-02-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not a photographer but I like to pretend I am sometimes. Taking pictures can be a lot of fun, it forces you to stop and really look at the world. Yesterday I trudgred around the park taking pictures in the snow.

The kittens have a good understanding of "its snowy outside". They understand that it means "time to snuggle up in a blanket".

I appologize for how long this probably takes to load, thanks for looking. :)

Lorna's Laces Pr0n

2007-02-02T01:15:00.000-05:00

Lorna's Laces Shepperd Sock
Color: Lakeview

I finished them!

2007-01-31T20:00:00.000-05:00

I look down and what should I see?

Two finished socks staring up at me!

I finished all the knitting on the second sock last night and this morning I grafted the toes together and weaved in all the ends. I got them done just in time for January Socktopia. These would have been done much more quickly had I not procrastinated starting the second one. It is amazing how much more quickly and easily the second sock went.

Yarn: Lang Yarn's Jawoll Jacquard, Color: 82.0155
Pattern: Silver's Sock Class
Theme: Celebrate Good Times - because your first pair of socks is always cause for a celebration!

Because you can see her in my sock picture I figured I'd introduce you to my new friend Sophia.

You see right before Christmas D asked me for suggestions for Christmas presents because he wanted to get me a little more than he'd already picked up. I threw out a few ideas and one of them was for him to take me to Build-a-Bear because I had never been. He liked that idea and said he would. Well come Christmas I found out he'd already gotten me plenty of presents so when he forgot about Build-a-Bear I didn't say anything. A few weeks later he remembered saying "Oh no! We forgot to take you to build a bear!". I told him it was alright and he could save the idea for another time, or use it as a surprise. Well this weekend when he picked me up to take me home he started going the wrong way, and to my surprise we ended up at build a bear.

Tomorrow Feburary begins which brings me to thoughts about the new socktopia themes! If I could make any socks I wanted I'd make these:

I love this pattern and think the socks look very romantic but the truth is they are too complicated for me right now. I'm sure I could do them with time, effort and many tears of frustration but that just doesn't seem like much fun.

I have decided to go with the box of chocolate theme and will be doing these in browns:

If I finish the first pair early enough to make a second I'd like to make these for the short and sweet theme:

The future sock patterns are Vogue Knitting on the Go: Socks Two. The book is small, easy to carry and has quite a few cute patterns. The three I posted are my favorite.

Chocolate Decadence

2007-01-26T09:15:00.000-05:00

Decadence by Knitpicks
Color: Chocolate

For some reason when ever I say "Chocolate Decadence" the song "Pardon Me" by Incubus pops into my head.

This yarn will become the Men's Cashmere Scarf from Last Minute Knitted gifts.

Fiber love

2007-01-18T20:00:00.000-05:00

Life has been a bit busy with the start of school and I haven't been home much in the daylight hours. I almost forgot that it was yarn pr0n time and when I remembered tonight I started freaking out about what I would post because it was much too late to take any pictures. Lucky for me I have some pictures of a special yarn I have been saving, I wanted to save it for a bit longer but I guess this week is just as good as any other.

Meet one of my Christmas presents from my Mom - yes she's a fiber snob.

Joseph Galler's Peruvian Tweed
"The Heavenly Fiber"
100% alpaca
Color: 111

This stuff feels so soft and wonderful. There are no dyes, all colors are naturally occurring in the lovely fiber providing alpaca's. I looked up alpaca on wikipedia because I'm a dork like that and it says that alpaca's have more than 22 natural colors!

Now I do have a dilemma with this yarn... WHAT DO I MAKE WITH IT????

It is a light worsted or DK weight yarn and there is 600 yards. This stuff is soft, snuggly and warm and I want to take advantage of that. I was thinking of making a cozy, but that needs 800 yards and I'm not sure if 600 yards would produce a suitable size. I don't want to pick the wrong project for this yarn, its too lovely to do that to, so please send me your ideas if you have some!

Born again scarf

2007-01-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

I don't have a lot to report but I felt like I should post something. Today was my first day back in classes and my first day working a temp job at the campus bookstore. The bookstore gig is just for the first two weeks or so, to get them through to book rush.

I recently restarted my basket weave scarf which I frogged back in October because I didn't like how it was turning out. Link to what it looked like in October

Here it is now:

I really love how it is turning out this time around. The size seven needles are working so much better than the eights were and the decreased width is also nice. I can't wait until it is done so I can wear it!

Warning Geek Moment:

If you don't know what I'm referring to with this picture you really should check out this link which is pretty funny. Mine is just me being goofy.

Lets try this again

2007-01-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

Well I'm going to be busy until the evening tomorrow so I figured I'd go ahead and get the pr0n up now. I'm sorry about last weeks pr0n being blurry, that is what I get for trying to use an unfamiliar camera while half asleep. So because last weeks silky wool didn't turn out I decided to try it again this week, while awake, with my own camera. ;)

Alright so even with improved conditions this silky wool was kinda tricky, I don't think it likes being a pr0n star. Either the picture was in focus and the color was way out of whack, or the color was dead on but the picture was blurry. Grrr. After like 15 million pictures I finally got something that was in focus and somewhat color accurate so I took it and ran.

First the full body shot:

The close up:

Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool
Content: 65% wool 35% silk
Color: Teal (20)
I have an amusing tidbit to share with you from my mom who recently took up knitting again. She decided to make a pair of socks as her first project and she has been updating me periodically through IM about her trials in getting the socks started. One of the most recent messages was this:

"I did get to start k2 p2 but they all ended up on one needle"
I have to admit this made me laugh. I know she can do it, she just needs a little help getting started. I'm going to help her when she comes to visit tomorrow. I've got to start my second sock so we can start and work a few rounds together.

Everyone have a safe and enjoyable fiber friday!

Half way done

2007-01-09T12:23:00.000-05:00

Today I learned...

That taking pictures of your own foot is a bit difficult.

I finished my first sock!

It is just an itty bit tight. I don't think my toe turns out as long as the toe in the directions.

Close up

I think the sock looks pretty weird when it is not on a foot. The ribbing for the cuff makes it look so skinny compared to the rest of the sock, the toe decreases really fast to a flat topped triangle and the heel looks a bit odd. I'm not sure if that is just the nature of the type of heel used or if it is a newbie sock knitter thing. It looks alright on which is what matters.

One sock down, one more to go! YAY~

Yarn Pr0n

2007-01-05T12:07:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Lavold Silky Wool

Well I'm at my moms right now for her birthday. She loved her scarf. I hope this picture came out ok, and isn't too huge. I'm having to use my moms camera and my mom's computer, so everything is very different than what I'm use to.

Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf Complete

2007-01-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Multi Directional Diagonal Scarf
Yarn: Wool of the Andes Buly Hand Dye, Storm
Needle Size 9
Length: 64 inches, not including fringe
Width: 5 inches

This is my first finished project of 2007 and I am so pleased with it! The knitted portion took two whole skeins of yarn and I had to use a portion of a third to make the fringe. When I finished the scarf it wasn't hanging all that nicely so I made my first attempt at blocking. I dampened it with a spray bottle, smoothed it out over a towel, and threw a hot towel down on top. I used the hot towel because I remember reading somewhere that it helps drying time some. The blocking worked and it now hangs beautifully.

When I was in the basement of my apartment building heating the towels up in one of the dryers I noticed something in the corner. A cute little vine has grown into the basement bringing with it a splash of color and cheer.

I'm not sure what it is today but there are tons of birds hanging around. My cats go nuts about one bird, so you can imagine what happens when there are a lot of birds. Bird watching for my cats involves clinging to windows, lashing the tail, and making this odd chirping noise. It is cute for the first few minutes.
The bird watching did give me a chance to capture Luigi's special window scaling skill. I'm not sure how he manages to stand on those little bitty window bars, but he does.

I have started my first sock! I am only about 1.5 inches into the cuff but for a first sock I think its going pretty well. I didn't work on it at all yesterday, but I might get more done today.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T12:57:00.000-05:00

In 2006 I learned to…
Cast on
Knit
Purl
Increase
Decrease
Join yarn
Cast off
Cable
Fix a dropped stitch
Tink back
Frog (I was so scared my whole scarf would unravel! LOL)

I made…
Three Irish Hiking Scarves
One moss stitch scarf with beaded fringe
Random practice pieces

I started…
Basket weave scarf (frogged the whole thing)
Multidirectional Scarf

In 2007
I will…
Knit something for myself, because I haven’t yet.
Feed my sock obsession with my knitting – Hello Socktopia!
Knit something lacey
Felt something
Attempt some form of color work, even if it is just a swatch.
Personalize this blog a bit more.

And today I thought I’d share that thing I made when learning to knit. You know the thing where you just knit with no real intention of it being anything?

It ended up looking like a scarf.

Multidirectional Scarf Progress

2006-12-30T09:19:00.000-05:00

The night I wanted to start working on the scarf I discovered to my horror that the yarn was in hanks. That’s right I’ve had this yarn for weeks, I’ve fondled it, I’ve taken pornography pictures of it, but I still some how missed that the yarn was in hanks. Don’t ask me how, because I don’t know. Maybe I was just in denial. So instead of knitting I got to learn how to make a center pull ball. While I was doing it I felt like it was taking forever and that it was extremely boring. Once I was done I didn’t think the process was all that bad and I was kind of proud of my first ball of yarn.

Here is a picture showing what it looks when in the middle of a short row. I would have loved to see a picture like this when I first tried the pattern because the short rows really confused me for a bit. I mean really what a crazy foreign idea to turn and knit row two when I’ve not even knitted all the stitches on my needle for row one. I was very very suspicious about it at first, so suspicious I actually checked other copies of the pattern.

I am really loving how it looks and how quickly it is knitting up with the bulky yarn.

While I was working on the scarf yesterday the cats were napping in a near by sunbeam. I'm a sucker for pictures of them snuggling together, I really can't help it.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Years Eve! I'll be back New Years day with a bit of review, plans for the new year, and a picture or two.

Sock Yarn Pr0n

2006-12-29T01:04:00.000-05:00

Lang Yarn's
Jawoll Jacquard
Color: 82.0155 (I wish it had a name)

Color card I found for it

As an odd little tidbit I will share that this yarn was given to me by an ex-boyfriend current friend. I was pretty surprised because we haven't exchanged gifts for over four years. I think he did pretty darn good for a non-knitting boy. He had the nice ladies at the store help him find the sock yarn and tell him how much to get.

I now need to learn to knit in the round and decide what sock pattern to use!

On Saturday I'll post multidirectional scarf progress pictures

Finished Gifts

2006-12-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

I had a fun and hectic holiday/birthday. I am now in possession of three new pretty yarns that were given to me as presents. I also have a gift card to a craft store for an unknown amount so we'll see where that leads!

I finished the last of the three Irish Hiking Scarves so all three are now with their new owners. I managed to get a shot of the three scarves together before they went their separate ways.

I also got a picture of D's quilt before I gave it to him.

He liked it. It is warm and snuggly and I may just steal it back from him.

After finishing the last Irish Hiking Scarf I suddenly found myself with nothing to knit. I had left the yarn for Mom's birthday scarf at home so I decided to practice the multi directional scarf pattern with some scrap yarn. I'm glad I did because I ran into a few problems. I fixed most of them but I'm still having trouble with the last triangle, one side ends up slanted. I'll have to try it again.

Cookie Overload

2006-12-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

It started out innocently enough. D and I were going to make cookies and fudge to give to friends. The first evening of baking we even had friends over and they helped us decorate our first batch of sugar cookies. They also helped us eat some of our first batch of fudge. The next day things got a bit crazy.

The whole mess right after we finished decorating the last of them. There are layers upon layers of cookies here.

You can even see our classy wine bottle rolling pins in the back ground!

Stacks of Cookies:

The one heart cookie sitting alone was made and decorated just for me.

Sky view:

Isn't my cyclopse ginger bread boy cute?

When we counted there were over 150 cookies, and we'd already given some away.

Yarn and Cuteness

2006-12-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

Well I just finished up my last final for the semester and now it is time to post some yarn pr0n before I go take a much needed nap!

Today's Wool of the Andes is a bulky weight and the color is Storm.

This will one day soon become a multi-directional scarf for my mom, who has been very clear in her want of a grey scarf. Her reasoning for wanting a grey scarf? Because it matches her hair. Is anyone else as amused as I am with this reasoning?

I call this the "omg pet meee!" stretch.

Pictures at last

2006-12-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

I was hoping to make a post with pictures yesterday but I failed in my attempt due to technical issues. All issues have been cleared up and I now present you with some pictures.

This past weekend I got together with a friend who shares my appreciation for little kid crafts. We had a lot of fun creating cards out of construction and origami paper.

I like the flower card and the heart card the best. I've already given D the heart card because he needed some cheering up. Some of the Christmas cards will find themselves attached to Christmas presents this year.

Mom's scarf is coming along and I am feeling pretty good about my ability to get it finished by Friday so that I can start the next one on Saturday.

And last but not least, the kittens:

They look so sweet and innocent when they are sleeping, but don't let that fool you!

I'm back and knitting away

2006-12-11T11:42:00.000-05:00

Today I was going to take some pictures and go ahead and make a real post to this blog. I got out my camera turned it on and got the red blinking battery light of death. Sadly I don't have enough fresh batteries to power my camera so there will be no pictures today. Tomorrow though I shall make a real post with pictures! And there WILL be new pr0n on Friday.

Anyway so this week is finals week so my whole week will consist of studying and knitting with the occasional test thrown in. This is a good thing because I desperately need to study and I desperately need to knit. I didn't knit at all for the month of November so you can imagine the state my Christmas knitting is in.

To try and make up for my lack of knitting I've been knitting up a storm. My mom's scarf went from maybe a foot to over half done in the course of just a few sittings. I want to have it done by this Friday or earlier so I can get moving on my SIL's scarf and hopefully have it done by Christmas. Then my mom’s birthday is right around the corner so I'll need to quickly start and finish her birthday scarf. Luckily her birthday scarf is in bulky yarn so it should knit up quickly.

After all those presents are done I am making Sheldon the turtle for a friend as a belated Christmas present and my ex boyfriend current good friend wants a scarf to keep him warm.

Yarn pr0n at last!

2006-11-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

I'm so sorry for the lack of pr0n recently. Life has been a bit crazy hectic around here and knitting and internet went on the back burner and it just slipped my mind. It’s been rains and clouds lately and I wasn't able to get a new pr0n picture to turn out so I'm pulling up one of my old ones.

I'm using Wool of the Andes in amber which was my very first pr0n picture ever. This is also the yarn I used for my Dad's Irish Hiking Scarf which I finally finished!

Mario brothers go to the vet

2006-10-26T15:48:00.000-04:00

Mario and Luigi went on a trip to the vet today for their yearly check up.

Mario is a little over 11 pounds
Luigi is a little over 10 pounds

Both have been declared perfectly healthy and in great physical shape.

The vet did much cooing over how handsome and sweet they are. She said she HAD to get pictures of them and put quite a bit of work into trying to capture a picture of Mario who wasn't cooperating. He just isn't a ham like Luigi, who promptly posed for her.

I haven't done much knitting lately. I've barely worked on my Dad's IHS at all. I really need to get back on it.

pr0n day at last!

2006-10-20T11:09:00.000-04:00

The sun has been hiding behind clouds and rain drops this week. I was worried it would be difficult to get a good yarn pr0n picture, but it worked out just fine.

This is wool of the andes in hollyberry.

Yesterday the boyfriend had to get his wisdom teeth removed and he needed someone to take him because he wasn't allowed to drive afterwards. I took him to the appointment and sat in the waiting room knitting. Suddenly the lady working the front desk asked about my knitting. I came over and showed it to her, and she was very impressed. She couldn't believe I taught myself. I told her knitting really wasn't that difficult and that I learned from free online videos. She was absolutely fascinated so I gave her the web address for Knitting Help. She decided to go ahead and check the site out right away instead of waiting until she got home. I warned her that knitting was addicting but I think my warning came too late. hehe

The IHS has reached the original suggested pattern length of 55 inches, and it definitely needs to be longer. I was hoping that once I actually reached that length it would magically be “long enough”, but that wasn’t the case. I'll just keep working on it until it looks done.

ETA: I'm sorry about this being posted so late today. Blogger has been being a brat and wouldn't publish my post. Gah

Trial by fire

2006-10-16T16:18:00.000-04:00

As a new knitter I have found the most scary thing is to make a mistake that you don't know how to fix yet. In the past week I've run into several problems that I've had to fix. The first two really stressed me out, but over all I guess it was good for my growth as a knitter.

Problem number one:
I got the bright idea to put my knitting down in the middle of a row and ignore it for over 15 minutes. In the past I have always finished a row before setting down whatever I was working on. Later I picked it up and started knitting again only to realize my stitches looked horribly wrong. Oh no!

Did stitches jump off my needle while I was gone?
Are these those twisted stitches I've heard about?

I fiddled with it for about ten minutes tinking back and re knitting only to reproduce the same problem every time. In my panic I just wasn't thinking straight so I took over cooking dinner so that I'd have to think about something else for awhile. In the middle of cooking I realized what I had done.

I had forgotten if I was on a right or wrong side and had turned my work in the middle of a row.

Lesson learned: Whatever needle has the yarn tail hanging off of it is the one that goes in your right hand.

Problem number two:
While talking with friends and knitting I got distracted and threw in a random cable twist much too early. I tried to tink back but dropped stitches right at the twist, and they slipped away before I could catch them. I know there are directions for picking up dropped stitches, but I didn’t have a crochet hook.

I rashly yanked my needle out before I remembered my fear of frogging and needle reinsertion. This resulted in panic. I had visions of the whole scarf unraveling before my eyes. I rushed to a computer so I could watch a video on needle reinsertion that can be found at Knitting Help. It took me several tries but I finally got my needle reinserted.

Then I had to watch the video on twisted stitches, so I could tell if mine were twisted or not. Every single knit stitch was twisted, so as I knit I had to un twist them.

Lesson learned: How to reinsert and recognize twisted stitches.

Problem three:
There was a messed up bit of yarn in one of my skeins, it was less than a centimeter long. I just kept on knitting and it ended up at the back of the work, so I decided not to mess with it. Later it worked its self to the front of the work and it was a very obvious eye sore. I had to rip out several rows to get to it.

Now what to do about this bit of yarn? I was close to the end of my skein, but there were still a few rows left after the messed up bit. With only that small amount left it seemed silly to use the knit in join I have been using, but I didn't want to waste the yarn.

I tried felted join the first time I was going to have to add new skein to my IHS and it failed miserably. It looked nice but when I tugged on the yarn it snapped. I tried it again this time fraying the ends at least an inch and I rubbed it between my palms for longer. I noticed the yarn looked a bit more thin in the join area than else where so I was a bit worried, but I tugged really hard on it a few times and there was no snapping. Now I just need to decide if I want to trust it or not. It feels a bit risky to me because of that first felted join experience.

Lesson learned: Don't trust the messed up bit of yarn to stay at the back of your work. Save yourself some time and cut it out now.

HIS Progress: Today is my projected finishing day. I don’t think it is quite long enough yet. I’m a little bit behind schedule, but even if I wasn’t I still think it would be too short. We’ll see when I get there I guess.

Yarn pr0n and kitten cuteness

2006-10-13T10:16:00.000-04:00

Nature Spun worsted weight wool in the color Nordic Blue

Napping kittens

It has grown

2006-10-11T10:29:00.000-04:00

The irish hiking scarf is progressing nicely. I love how it looks with the leaves. It is such a wonderful match with all the fall foliage that is beginning to show up here in Kentucky.

I'm on my third skein of yarn, and am only one twist behind! I hope to fix that today. ;)

I've also been working on adding the beads and fringe to my niece’s scarf, and I'll get pictures of that when its done. I think the beads look really cute.

Pr0n - Does Size Really Matter?

2006-10-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

Well it matters to this big cone of Mystery Yarn!

I inherited this big cone of yarn from my mom, who for some unknown reason bought it at goodwill several years ago. I have no clue what type of yarn it is or where it originally came from, even google has failed me. The inside sticker reads:

Trio Manufacturing Inc
Denim
2/2

And now its time for his close up!

A blue work weekend

2006-10-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

I hope every ones weekend went well! I had an enjoyable one that consisted of visiting a winery for a wine tasting and lunch, cute socks, and much crafting.

I collect socks and haven't owned a plain white pair for about six years now. I will soon own a pair of plain white knee highs, but I have decided they won't count. Knee highs aren't exactly plain, right? Anyway when I got home to Louisville I discovered my mom got me these cool socks:

Much of my crafting didn't involve knitting, but instead a rag or fringe quilt that I'm making for my boyfriend D. Its a nice little activity I can do with my mom who is a long time sewer. Later this year she wants to try knitting again, and we are both going to make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. This weekend I got all the pieces for the quilt sandwiched together with their X's sewn onto them. I can start piecing them together next time I work on it.

The redish fabric at the top has clusters of little drawn stars, like kids would draw them. It is a very fun fabric and makes me happy every time I see it. He is going to be an elementary school teacher so I think it fits in well. ;)

I worked a little on my basket weave scarf and did some thinking about it. I'm not happy with it as it is. It has a lot of air space between the stitches, and its just not a nicely knit as the things I'm doing now. I also think it might be a bit too wide. Here is what it looked like:

I ripped it all out this weekend and I'm going to restart it and use size 7 needles rather than the size 8.

My Dad's IHS is moving along nicely. I am on schedule so far! I had to start a new skein this weekend - my first time ever having to do this. The idea of having to was a bit intimidating but it went well. My Sister in law saw it and loved it, and wants one too. She said she'd like hers to be in grey or black, to match her new winter coat.

Yarn Pr0n!

2006-09-29T13:10:00.000-04:00

Well I loved the idea of the yarn pr0n web ring, but I was sure I'd never be a member. I was sure I wouldn't be able to take good pr0n pictures, but then I tried and I think I did pretty well! So here it is, my first ever yarn pr0n staring Wool of the Andes in Amber.

Look at that color, and those little fuzzies!

There are many reasons you shouldn't leave your kitchen cabinets open. This is just one of them:

IHS Progress: I'm one twist a head of schedule! Which is good. I'm going home this weekend and its not exactly easy to work on your Dad's Christmas present when you're in the same house with him and expected to socialize.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nineteen days

2006-09-28T12:16:00.000-04:00

I was feeling worried last night that I wouldn't be able to finish my Dad's scarf in time for Christmas, and consequently wouldn't even get my moms started! So I did some thinking. What if I did a little bit each day? Even on my most busy days I should be able to find time to do at least two twists. I did some measuring and calculations and discovered if I do two twists a day I can have the scarf finished in 19 days! I am such a dork.

Estimated finishing day for Dad's IHS: October 16th

How about some kittens? Here is a picture of Luigi snoozing on the couch:

He is such a cutie pie! It almost makes up for him being a humongous brat. Almost.

I recently bought a bunch of new toys at the pet store for the kittens after realizing that all their toys had mysteriously disappeared. Where do cat toys disappear too? They'd been amusing themselves with stolen water bottle tops. They chase them around, and hide them in things. One morning I found a collection of them floating in the water bowl like little toy boats. Today one of them was in my left shoe. I wonder what odd place I will find one next.

No boyfriend sweaters here - just an IHS progress report

2006-09-27T12:49:00.000-04:00

I promised my boyfriend that I would never ever do this to him. He was very appreciative, I assure you.

Irish Hiking Scarf:
I finally got some work done on my Dad's Irish Hiking Scarf (IHS). The scarf is currently a little over 7 inches long and I'm a few rows past the sixth twist. I really love this scarf, every time I look at it I just can't help but feel amazed. It is such an awesome pattern.

So far I have really enjoyed knitting presents for other people, rather than for myself. It just feels good to make something for someone else. As much as I love this scarf, I feel no urge to keep it for myself. It will make me happy to give it to my dad, I hope he loves it as much as I do.

Stitch Counters

2006-09-25T22:02:00.000-04:00

My mom bought me this cute little clear plastic zip bag that contains lots of little useful tools like stitch markers and needle point toppers. One tool it contained was a stitch counter.

I don't find the prospect of having to use a stitch counter enjoyable. They seem like a cumbersome thing to me. Make a stitch or two, stop, put down the needles and mark the stitch counter. How would you get a rhythm going if you have to constantly put down your needles? How is that enjoyable? Maybe if I do a complicated pattern one day I'll understand - but then if a pattern is so complicated that I need one I'd probably find the pattern just as unpleasant as a stitch counter.

I assumed my stitch counter would sit in the little plastic bag unused, until I had a brilliant idea: I can use it to count rows! Now that to me is useful, and because I'm already having to turn my work it doesn't create a break in my rhythm. It is certainly easier than tracking what row I'm on with a piece of paper and a pencil, which is what I was doing. Now tracking when the next twist will be done in my Irish Hiking Scarf is a cinch!

Irish Hiking Scarf progress: I haven't gotten much further than I was on my last post. I am now just a few rows past the third twist. School and social life keep getting in my way.

Began Irish Hiking Scarf

2006-09-18T21:38:00.000-04:00

For my Fathers Christmas present I decided to make him an Irish Hiking Scarf. I showed my Mom the pattern to enlist her help in selecting a yarn color for him and she demanded that I make one for her as well. We picked out Amber in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, and it arrived in my mail box last week. The yarn is nice and soft, and the color is interesting.

I started the scarf tonight and I just love it! Cables are a bit awkward to do at first, but very easy over all. The pattern is easy to follow, and once you get started you don’t need it at all. You can tell exactly what you need to do just looking at the stitches – except for the first and last two which are always knit. All you have to keep track of is when to do the twist.

Progress: I am over halfway to the third twist. I made one mistake on my first twist row but after inspection I realized it was only visible from the wrong side. It took a lot of will power, but I didn’t go back and fix it. Why fix a mistake that’s not even visible?

Maybe I’ll join the Irish Hiking Scarf Knit-a-long

Characters Part 2: The Kittens

2006-09-18T12:28:00.000-04:00

Oh yes the Kittens. My babies.

On September 24th 2005 I went to a Shamrock Foundation adoption day with the intention of adopting an adult cat.

When I got there the cat that I had been interested in originally wasn’t there, but there were plenty of cats needing a home so I looked around. There were many sweet cats, but none of them really seemed to be my perfect match. I kept skipping over two brothers who were about six months old because I only wanted one cat, and I really was planning on adopting an adult.

I finally gave in and picked up each brother one at a time. The first one was slightly larger and so snuggly he just purred and purred. The second one was very friendly but he wasn’t interested in snuggling. He kept wiggling around in my arms attempting to look at everything near by, he struck me as inquisitive and playful. I loved them both. They both came home with me that day.

They were born on April 5th, 2005 and originally named Myron and Melton. I couldn’t keep straight which one was suppose to be Myron and which one was suppose to be Melton, so I picked new names for them. In all my dorky glory I named the slightly larger one Mario and the other one Luigi.

To this day Mario and Luigi hold true to the personalities they showed when I picked them up. Mario is laid back and calm, and if you pick him up he’ll snuggle and purr. Luigi is much more active and inquisitive; if you pick him up he squirms around so he can see his world from this new vantage point. Together they make a great team, and they spend many hours playing together.

Mario is almost all white with a bit of orange/tan markings on his face, and one very small marking just under his shoulder blades.

Luigi has spots!

Their eyes match their markings in color, and both have tabby tails.

Characters Part 1: The knitter

2006-09-11T19:06:00.000-04:00

In the past I have tried to learn to knit or crochet several times, only to give up after a few days of working at it. I found crochet to be fairly simple and relaxing, but it quickly hurt my wrists. Knitting was more complicated, I just couldn’t seem to grasp it. I could knit and purl, but I was always fighting with the yarn. Wrapping the yarn around the needle felt awkward, and trying to switch between knit and purl was even worse.

Then one day it all changed. I was browsing the internet and saw a link to Knitting Help, the site contained free videos. “Maybe videos will help me understand!” I thought to myself.

Those videos did more than help me understand, they opened up a whole new world to me. Continental knitting. In the past I had only found clear instructions for English knitting. Continental knitting was a perfect fit for me and suddenly all the awkwardness was gone. I knit away practicing my stitches on purple acrylic yarn. First just knits, then just purls, then stockinette, ribbing and seed stitch. I had a blast with it and decided it was time to buy yarn for my first scarf! Before I even got close to finishing that first scarf I started a second for my niece. My niece’s scarf is much closer to being done than mine. ;)