It seems like I've been on a finishing kick for the past few days. I decided to skip the last 3 decreases on Eiffel (hey, I tried it on first), because I was running out of yarn. So I bound off on that Tuesday, then washed and blocked it yesterday. It's still wet, I was hoping putting it in the garage would make it dry faster. That thing is like an oven. When I was dyeing last summer I would hang the skeins in the garage and they'd be dry by that evening. Of course, Eiffel is bigger than a skein. Anyways, here's a picture of me trying Eiffel on, at that point it was still 2 inches from the bind off point. And night, keep that in mind.
You remember Baccarat Player was finally completed. I mailed it off on Monday, and my mom got it yesterday! Now we have pictures of the FO on it's model, I admit that I like it a lot better now that it's on my mom instead of my needles. For something so fiddly to knit, it looks gorgeous. The Fancy Silk Sock has a heel and gusset now, there are pictures but really no reason to post them. It's not much different than the last couple of times I posted pictures. My camera has me all excited. not to mention Ravelry. I'm ALWAYS on there. Updating EVERYTHING. *sigh* Oh, and checking up on you guys. :D Man, I don't know who has more projects in their queue, Lana or Mouse. Every time I turn around Lana has queued a new project (a lot of them make me go Oooo! I want to knit that too!). Eventually I will update my bloglines to reflect my friends on Ravelry, I've got like...30 some friends or something. :)
the Turkish CO. Mine is still there but it's on the inside. These are also slightly larger than the first two pairs, they fit one of Heather's larger doll babies, but still not any of my actual babies.
Labels: Baccarat Player, booties, Eiffel, Goddess, hair, happiness, knitting, project spectrum
and even has a crocheted edging. I packaged it up and will mail it out tomorrow. I am so excited! And very proud of my seam job. It's the first time I've ever used the mattress stitch thing...you know, the way you are supposed to seam. I don't even know why it was so hard for me to figure out! Not only was it simple, but every time I cinched the stitches tight, it was like magic! Seriously, I made Mr. Shad pause his video game to watch me do it. lol Oh, if you want to see the picture closer up you'll have to click it. Not sure it will be any clearer though.
Not sure exactly how I feel about it, although I really like the way it made my slip stitch edge around the armhole into eyelets.
until I finish Eiffel.
Eiffel is a pretty easy pattern and all. But knitting with the hemp is like...well knitting with twine. lol It doesn't feel good on my hands, which means it's hard for me to really enjoy the process. I did get the sleeves joined, plus an inch. Next I start decreasing for the yoke. Hopefully I will have enough yarn. I think that I will, but there is always that chance. Right? I'm itching to swatch for Goddess now, so I will probably be finished with Eiffel before I know it.
Labels: Baccarat Player, baking, cookies, crochet, Eiffel, Fancy Silk Sock, finished object, knitting, project spectrum, socks
Damn it's hot out there. Makes me want to sit in my living room with the air conditioning and a glass of ice water. And knit. So, that's basically what I've been trying to do. Except life keeps interrupting me. This past week was not great. Really, I don't want to think about it. Mostly just a lot of little things. Like the fact that only one couple showed up to Nolan's birthday party yesterday. He still had fun and all, it just hurts to know that I've got lots of fake friends. Mr. Shad is deploying soon and I'm not sure I have many people to count on. Anyways, here are some shots from Nolan's party. Plenty of messy faces.
feet. Seemed to fit her perfectly. Also, I think I gave her a whole new view of knitting when I showed her my Ravelry queue and projects. Once that was finished I wanted to dive into Eiffel, but uh...forgot the needles. lol Instead I just worked on Mom's top for a bit. And read some comic books that Mr. Shad picked up for me. Did I mention I am a huge Stephen King fan? Especially The Dark Tower series. Specifically, Wizard and Glass. Awhile back, Marvel mentioned they were co-oping with Stephen King to create a comic series based on that book! Woot! Mr. Shad saw them at the comic book store he likes to visit while in Maryland, and bought all of them for me. Oh, and my brand new IK arrived the day before we left, so I perused that as well. Eunny's long awaited (for me anyways) Tangled Yoke Cardigan is in it!! My LYS owner got me all hyped to spin my own yarn for this...we'll see how that goes. Maybe use some of that Alpaca I got for Mother's Day?
Blue. Let me tell you, when I saw this on Kpixie, I had to have it. I was afraid at first, because the swatch pictured on SWTC's website was darker than the yarn pictured at Kpixie. Still, I figured it would be worth the risk, besides, if it really was as bright as it was on the Kpixie site then it would be a perfect match for Goddess. Oh, they really are that gorgeous. Castonitis hit me hard when I opened the box to see the bamboo (my fav fiber!) calling to me, and the pattern...just begging to be swatced for. Grrr! No. I had already swatched Eiffel, plus made a deal with myself to knit an inch a day on Mom's top. Still, it calls to me, sitting in my little bag of yarn in my bedroom. Oh yeah, it's next in my queue for sure!
away from completion. Then I can weave in ends (which I have been trying to do as I go along for the front), and *gulp* seam. Linda has already been warned that I am bringing it in for her assistance when I finish it. Generally...I suck at seaming, and I want this to be well done, besides, the yarn is so slippery and fiddly! My number of FOs is really growing, and I am very happy about that. The pair of socks a month thing, and the sweater every two months... well that was shot a long time ago. It's okay, because I am still making things, getting things done and all. Ew...Christmas is coming up soon. Alright, I'm going back to my water and needles.Labels: babies, Baccarat Player, birthdays, Eiffel, family, frustration, funny, kids, knitting, messes, progress, project spectrum, Twisted Flower, yarn
There is so much to say, I keep forgetting to take pictures of things and post them. lol Last night I was up til 5am on Ravelry. Knitting keeps me up at night. Really, I couldn't sleep last night thinking about my latest projects/ideas. First there was the impending spending spree. Justin told me I could spend $50 since I hadn't been buying much yarn lately. (The yarn from Philly was bought on my card) So I was online doing some pre-shopping, and then I realized that I actually have plenty of yarn. And that what I really wanted to do, I didn't want to do in Project Spectrum colors. However, I did just buy that lovely hemp for a modified Eiffel. Instead of long sleeves I plan on just doing a little cap sleeve, maybe with some lace detail. What do you guys think?
17sts to 4". Boo. But I'll just go up to size 7s. I swatched...kinda. lol However, I plan on finishing Twisted Flower before I actually cast-on for Eiffel.
We've had this yarn in the shop for awhile now, and every time I see it I want it. Even though it is red, and I don't like red! It is just very pretty and soft. Next up, I bought the Goddess pattern from StitchDiva. They were having a sale, and I've been kinda loving this pattern since I spotted it on the site. Way back when the Sexy Knitters Club was doing their Sahara KAL. So, I snagged it. Then, of course, I had to find the perfect yarn for it. Something with a lot of drape...and fingering weight?! So, I swatched some sport weight cotton I had sitting around, 29sts over 4" on size 3s. The exact same gauge as the example yarn. Woohoo! I knew SWTC made a great bamboo yarn (because I have some), and I remembered it being really lightweight. When I looked it up it turned out to be sport weight (yes!) and I saw this. Could it seriously be any prettier? Hopefully it is really that color, because it's gorgeous and I'm excited! That was where the extra money went. Goddess will be next on the needles after Eiffel.
I took a ton of update pictures, better shots of things for Ravelry and whatnot. Finally put the elastic into my boy shorts, so I took a picture of the halter/shorts combo. Oh! And I got some shots of Nolie in his little hoodie. This is such a great pattern, generally I don't like the Knitting Pure & Simple patterns because they have no shaping really. However, for a baby that is perfect. Also, I've been spinning a little. It's Beaten from Serendipity Fibers on Etsy. I love the colors as well as the name. Get it? Beaten black and blue? Get it? lol Lastly, I snagged a shot of the huge sweater on the mannequin in the shop. It looks better on something other than my floor. As usual, click any pic to see it larger.
Labels: babies, Eiffel, Gracefully Gathered halter, knitting, Knitting Lingerie Style, pretty, progress, project spectrum, purchases, Ravelry, sleep, socks, spinning, sweater, tunic, Twisted Flower, yarn
Labels: project spectrum, sewing, skirt
Actually, it is a good Monday so far. The weekend wasn't great. Had some stressful and unhappy things happen. Some of which were my fault. None of which I feel like talking about really. So I'll sum it up for you.
me. I have to be really happy with it, I mean, it's going to be on my body forever. Gotta take some pics of Justin's tats to share with you guys. This time I'll remember to take my cam with me, they totally lost the pics they took. lol Thelonious has made some serious headway, I've already started the heel flap. I don't know if it was the quiet day yesterday, the yarn, or the pattern; I just can't put it down. Speaking of the pattern, seriously, click on the picture and take a peek at that chart. Trust me, you won't be able to read it, I can't even read it. lol I mean not when it's printed out, it had to be on the screen. My printer didn't print that page out correctly, and it's SUPER tiny. I need a magnifying glass.
today! It's awesome. Mr. Shad walks through the door with an armload of mail and says "Well this is a new one...." and tossed me a 2 liter soda bottle. Yep, it was stuffed with gifts! Ah the cleverness of Una! I of course took pictures and then went about opening the package, er cutting the bottle open. Had to be careful though as I didn't want to damage any of the goodies. :) The bottle contained EZ's Knitter's Almanac (YAY!), Ruby Sapphire superwash sock yarn in Trudi, Caramel filled Hershey's kisses, some cute mini-nail files (which got hidden in the picture), awesome stitch markers, a keychain, a pencil topper and sunflower seeds. :) My garden will be pretty this year.
which I have a thing for right now. Everything in the package was great! There is 550yds of the sock yarn, that's enough for some knee-higs for me! I can't manage to get a good pic of the yarn, it's all dark tealy and lavender like. It's very pretty. Kyran has already claimed the pencil topper, he's walking around with it on his finger. hehe My CafePress.com order came in today too! All you see today will be the penguin magnet, I didn't want to overload you guys on pics. Isn't he cute?
Labels: endpaper mitts, finished object, PRGE, project spectrum, socks, Thelonious, yarn
Man, this head cold has seriously messed with my memory. First, I sign up for a LINKS class (military thing) and send them the specs on the kids (free daycare!!)...and totally forgot that Heather would be in daycare. So then I had to email my KV (more military stuff) back and let her know that Heather wouldn't be there. 
rundown, the ceremony was going to be at 10 am...subtract 6 hours for the drive, plus an extra hour for traffic getting on base...10-7=3. That's right, we had to leave at 3. So, hubby wakes me up at 2:30, now mind you that he got home around 10 and has not been to sleep. Yea, that's really exciting. I had only been asleep since midnight. Not much better. Upon waking I hear wind and rain battering my siding. Great, now we have to drive in the rain. I'm an uneasy traveller and the whole time he is gone picking up the babysitter I am giving myself a mental pep talk. When he does get back to the house I say (without thinking) "Can I just tell you how much insanity this is?" to which he replies, "Yeah, I know. Let me check the weather". He does and realizes the weather isn't going to let up until 10. We canc (more military jargon, short for cancel) the whole trip. Our bags are out in the car, he's hopped up on energy drinks. I go to sleep. We called the next day. *sigh*
camera out yesterday, doing my thing, I forgot to take pictures of a new addition! I love to try out new yarns. This came highly recommended by Beth, so imagine my surprise when perusing the shops that gave SAM3 discounts, to stumble upon a store that sold it. It's called J.Knits yarn, and although I'm not actually sure how she chooses the name/color combo, she names them after states and cities. That's right, you guessed it, I bought Maryland. I wonder if I can get into contact with her and ask why green and pink? Oh well, it's perfect for ProjSpec and I have BIG plans for this yarn. Or maybe I don't. Maybe I'll just use a pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks?Labels: forgetting, life, project spectrum, purchases, yarn, yarn addict
I finished my socks for the month of February! Oh, I joined the Sock-a-month thing too, just to encourage me further. There is a lot of yarn leftover from knitting these. It'll probably end up as socks for Kyran, and maybe even a pair for Nolan. Depends on exactly how much is left. I also just figured out that taking pictures like this one upside down and then flipping them in the viewer makes for cuter pics. lol
it's exciting. I was almost burnt out on the ProjSpec colors for these two months (wow, that was quick!) until I started this hat. Not that it matters though. I've still got the sweater for my LYS. Which is all sorts of colors. So, I ended up having to knit a few rounds in the dark Friday night. Somebody decided to drive into a power pole. Hopefully nobody was hurt. Otherwise my biting sarcasm is just plain cruel. One of my knitting buddies drove by the scene and said that it didn't look bad enough to have caused severe injuries. Then again, she also said it didn't look bad enough to for them to be 
putting up a new pole.Labels: accidents, happiness, KAL, progress, project spectrum, socks, spinning
Yeah, I made my hubby sleep on the couch so that I could block Wicked. lol I had it pinned down to his side of the bed. hehe It was SO worth it though. Although I was really worried that I might give the sweater too much width, I didn't. I could actually wear it without the shirt underneath, it just looks better that way I think. Not to mention it's very Project Spectrum-y. Don't mind the picture, I threw all of that on specifically for this photo shoot and then took it ALL back off. I did leave my hair up though.
Mainly our wireless internet wasn't working. Now, don't ask me why I didn't think of just...plugging it in. At any rate, I was without internet all day yesterday. Which gave me plenty of time to knit. I swatched for the sweater I'll be knitting for my LYS, I turned the heel and completed the gusset decreases on the I Dreamed of Africa socks, and made one of the foot thongs for my best friend. Can I just say that I got gauge the first time? This is only the second time EVER that this has happened.
differently because it was a bit too big for my foot. Admittedly, I'm kinda smitten with this thing. It's ultra-cute. Too bad it's entirely impractical for me. My best friend is a lifegaurd, who lives in Florida...by the beach. I never get to the beach, hate things around my toes (still can't stand flip flops), and rarely wear sandals. Oh yeah, do yourself a favor and get OTHER people to take pictures like this. We're not even gonna get into what I had to go through to get this picture. lol This was super simple to make though, I did the entire thing (including frogging several times to acheive my desired effect) while watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Maybe I'll make a pair for myself with the leftovers...or maybe some bookmarks. Way more practical for me.Labels: foot thong, happiness, knitting, LYS, progress, project spectrum, Wicked
Mostly I've been plugging away on Wicked. I can see the finish line and can't wait to have it ready for wearing! Last night I attached the pocket, bound off the sweater, wove in any ends that I had (which were few due to the use of the spit splice!), and started the right sleeve. The sleeve proved to be a real pain, first I picked up 6 sts, which would have been great for the ribbing pattern, but I wanted to decrease a few out. After decreasing to the original number (54) I realized, hmm, 54 is NOT divisible by 4, go figure. So, I tinked and just knit around instead of the doing the extra decrease. There's not going to be enough leftovers to do much with, that's what I get for knitting a couple of extra inches. Oh well, not a hugely big deal.
yarn, so she said that 25 of that is for paying off my spinning class, which leaves me $100 to play with. Do you have any idea what I could do with $100 in a yarn shop?! Gee I'm happy I decided to ditch that Knit-from-your-stash idea. lol There were also a couple of free patterns that were going to be coming in! I really hope she gets this in, excuse the camera phone pic, I didn't think to bring in my camera. One of her fellow Red Hat members also brought in a couple of vintage pattern books. Mostly it was just funny and interesting to see. But there were a couple of patterns that actually caught my eye. My absolute favorite was a simple ribbed cardigan, the thing about it is they have the zipper placed just slightly off center. It amazes me how something so simple can look so cute. It very much appeals to my "slightly off center" fashion sense. lol I'm hoping she'll make a copy of it 
for me. I'm thinking simple black, it will go with everything. That's for later though. Right now I have to concentrate on the patterns I'm doing, and the knitting I'll be doing for my LYS owner.
pretty well. Still no real goal or idea for that though. I still say it's a bit scratchy for armwarmers. The white is Saucy Sport yarn for some cute little beach foot thongs that I want to make for my best friend before she comes up. Which is near the end of March. She has offered to let me and Justin use her apartment for a week while she watches the kids so we can kinda...get away for a bit. We've never had any time alone with each other.Labels: gratitude, ideas, knitting, life, LYS, planning, progress, project spectrum, purchases, Wicked
Endpaper mitts will be put aside. They'll still be done well within the blue/white/grey months. Although I might not finish in time for Fair Isle February. That's been a really great KAL, everyone is friendly and they've done some beautiful colorwork!
the one who wrote the I Dreamed of Africa sock pattern. She sent me a great package with a lavendar sachet, some wildflower seeds, and (best of all) some yarn that she hand dyed! Isn't it pretty? Normally I don't like pink, but I love the way this looks. Maybe it's the brown in it that calls to me. Now I just have to figure out what to make with it.... Maybe something simple? haha That would be so out of the ordinary for me. How about Knitty's straight laced socks? 
all that far away. Speaking of Wicked, I took some photos of the progress for you all. I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of it for inches. lol It's like 10.5 or 11" by now. Which is when I'm supposed to start the ribbing, except I have a longish torso (can't you tell in the picture?) and plan to knit an extra inch or two. Definitely doing this pattern again, maybe with a different stitch pattern on the collar and sleeves? Or some stripes? Fair-isle? Intarsia? The possibilities are endless. I do want to see if I can find a way to make the neck wider, maybe it's just me but I like open necklines on sweaters.Labels: gratitude, happiness, knitting, progress, project spectrum, purchases, Wicked, yarn
Kitty's Story
On My
PRGE Questionnaire (the third?)
8 in 2007/0 in 2008
