Random

Seriously, the less time I have for knitting, the more projects I find that I am crazy about. Last night, I stumbled across this pinwheel jacket and had to physically restrain myself from buying yarn on the spot! I'm trying to convince myself that this would work for a boy if it was in blues, but its a pretty hard sell - anyone else think so?

Still plotting on the baby blanket - I think I'm going to sample the Dr's Bag for the houndstooth stitch pattern and apply it to the main panel with a seed stitch border - in my head it looks great. Really don't want to frog it again (3rd time) so I'll cross my fingers it lives up to my imagination.

I am planning to head over to AFY this weekend to buy yarn for the Minimalist Cardigan this weekend. There are 39 (and counting) projects in progress on Ravelry* and they are so cute, I can't wait to start! This looks like something I can get a lot of wear out of in the upcoming seasons as long as I do a good job finishing.

School is great - I love the class I'm actually attending and the online course is just ok. I knew I wouldn't really enjoy the material and that's why I took it online - won't have to listen to lecture 3 hrs/week - always thinking!

*This is my favorite feature of Raverly - seeing other people's projects and yarn choices as I contemplate beginning projects....

Back to School, Back to School!

Much progress on the Dr. Bag now comes to a screeching halt as the yarn has run out. But only 1 color, so the yardage was not right. My LYS is also out of the yarn in the needed color, so the search begins....what else can you do?

Lots of LYS within driving distances carry the yarn, I'll just starting making calls to find the color I need.



Began a baby blanket for no one in particular on Sunday because I needed something to work on before school started this week. Got about 4" done in seed stitch - this is basically a duplicate to one I made for my sister in-law's baby a couple of years ago - green Flexi brand yarn. This one will actually be a rectangle and not a trapezoid like the one she got! Hers also got accidentally felted which makes me sad because I loved that first one so much. Maybe I'll stash this one away for myself some day...or maybe it will save me in a last-minute gift scramble. Either way, I love working with this yarn & will enjoy the process!

Pictures soon, once I find my needed yarn and can resume knitting...

Looks Can Be Deceving

I've deemed this project the "Elephant bag" and its going quite well so far.

I'm kind of worried that its going to look pink & purple instead of pink & gray, but I'm going to try and play up the gray with accessories (button & fabric lining). It WILL be cute! For once, I'm pretty much "spot-on" with gauge on my US 11 needles (HUGE).

On another note, I discovered a fellow knitter in my apartment complex that I actually know from my childhood - its truly a small world & what a fun surprise!

Husband & I traveled to Santa Barbara on Saturday and checked out the zoo, hence the lovely elephant picture. We planned on seeing the mission too, but that building that LOOKS like a mission from the 101 freeway is actually a golf course. Doesn't that make you feel slightly ripped off? I felt that way, but this leads me to.........

During our earlier days whilst living in Long Beach, we decided to visit the aquarium. Well, there is a building, round with whales and marine life painted all over it. So we naturally gravitate there, assuming its the aquarium.

When you walk up to the ticket window there is a huge sign saying:

"This is NOT the aquarium, it only LOOKS like the aquarium" posted along with directions. We thought it was quite funny and felt only slightly idiotic since we obviously weren't the first ones to make this assumption.

I hope we're getting wiser with age, but this mission incident makes me wonder...

Miles and miles of Entrelec

Husband and I went to a good friend's wedding in Texas this past weekend, which was a blast - always good to get in a little Grand March, two-stepping, and Cotton-Eyed Joe - SO FUN!

Between the plane rides and a few more rows during the week, I finished the "rainbow" Entrelec scarf! Woo hoo! I really enjoyed this project, especially once I memorized the pattern - its pretty intuitive after a while - and I could pick up the pace on it! I took a break, which is why its taken me several months to complete - no rush with the summer weather!

The fellow knitter, Sandy, that I blatantly copied on this idea has picked up hers again and when we're finished, I'll try to get a picture of the two of us modeling at once - or at least post a picture of hers! I hope this ended up long enough to get Julie's approval (she's always encouraging me to keep truckin' on the scarves when I run out of steam!)

Pattern: Entrelec, 4 reps of 8 stitches
Yarn: Trekking (if anyone is interested, I can post the colorway)
Finished Dimensions: 8"? wide x 72" long ( about 1 foot taller than me!)

For my next challenge, I'll be returning to the Bud project. I'm pretty nervous - there was a lot of pattern manipulation on the sleeve and if I can get a shoulder on the front piece to match up, I'll be in good shape. If not, I will be frogging the first sleeve and rethinking my choice of yarn... Wish me luck!

[Disclaimer: There is a sale at the LYS, so I hope I can stay focused even if I buy some yarn for the dr. bag, etc.] [Which I did since I started this post - the only thing keeping me from CO is that its not wound yet!]

Vices

My knitting vice would have to be......starting projects. (Big surprise, right?) I can hold off on yarn purchases without a specific purpose or snatching up books (although I do have a weakness for magazines, but that's not solely knitting-related). This habit lends itself to "project saturation"....

This week I finished a cabled felted purse for my little niece who's turning the big 3 this fall - I think its just right for holding all of her little "treasures", this pattern is from the S&B daily calendar for 2007.

Actually - while this was cute BEFORE I felted it:

Not so much after....oh well, its always an experiment felting:

This weekend I have been re-committing to finishing up that entrelec scarf I started back about oh 6 months ago or so. I do enjoy knitting entrelec - its so engaging - hope to have this finished by the end of a trip next weekend. (I'm using Treking sock yarn and size 4 dpns ) There is a picture on an older post if you want to check it out.

I think I forgot to post this FO last weekend - not my best work, but they are cute (turned out a little saggy which tends to happen when I work with Koigu)

New project (singular!) on the horizon: Doctor's Bag....this or a cabled afghan from Interweave will be my reward for finishing ALL of my current WIP. I've already picked out this beautiful pink and grey wool at the LYS.....I have to finish some other projects first - I'm trying to convert to a one-project lady... =)

My Kind of Project

Vacation + simple tank pattern = quickly finished project! CO Thursday and finished up this Sunday afternoon - the Honeymoon cami from the http://www.knitty.com/ pattern archives. Cute, simple pattern that was pretty easy - the v-neck/back shaping intimidated me at first, but turned out to be surprisingly simple. The only alteration was skipping the lace in the ribbing - here are the results:

Perfect for summer time lounging!

Happy Independance Day!

I've got a few filler projects going on right now - I CO last weekend for a pair of "plain ole" socks in a beautiful Koigu variegated color ( by the way, "variegated" was on the GRE vocabulary list - I felt so smart already knowing that one! That's proof that knitting makes you smarter)

Looking at the yarn I have an impossible time describing it - my first attempt was cotton candy on acid, but that sounds so unattractive and surprisingly I think its quite lovely after its knitted up, but judge for yourself:

Bonus - this was in my stash from a big sale a month or so ago & there's more sock yarn where that came from!

Second, I am about to CO for a "Honeymoon Tank" from knitty.com in Rowan Calmer (black). Looking forward to this simple tank for a summer wardrobe staple! I'm salvaging the Calmer from a project I frogged a while back. STASH knitting again!

Third, I have digressed on a sewing project - pajama pants! The pattern I bought has some cute tops/dresses I may attempt if all goes well! Check out the results from the teeny tiny sewing machine that I got a few weeks ago - my "starter" model. New hobby/obsession? We'll see...