Stop me! I love these things!

Your Hair Should Be Orange

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Mmm....mohair

You are Mohair. You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes. What kind of yarn are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Oh God....

I mean great, I'm pretty smart, but geez. Not sure how I feel about this.

Sanity Break

I couldn't take it anymore. If I didn't work on something different I was going to go insane. So I knit something I've been wanting to do since I saw it in my "Knit Knack" kit. Moments later: Success!

Progress is Good.

OK, so I'm an idiot and the claret colored yarn I'm using for the HP Scarf has no dye lot. So my thought that I would have to cut it short due to yarn shortage is not to be. But the farther along I get, the more I think I won't be doing the full 13 trapped bar repeats. But I'm going to play it by ear. Officially I'm only 36% done with it, but it's looking more like 50%. I was busy with church this morning so I haven't had as much knitting time as I would have liked, but still, since yesterday, I've gotten halfway on the Irish Hiking Scarf and finished up the 5th trapped bar repeat on the HP scarf. I really need to measure that. Maybe I can get my sister to measure how long the scarf would need to be to fall to my Nephew's knees and wrap around his neck once. Hmm...

Twas an Irish Day

So, after finishing the 4th trapped bar pattern repeat on the HP Scarf yesterday morning, I set it aside. I had full intentions of picking it back up in the evening and making progress on the next MC 48 row repeat. I never did. I got sucked into the Irish Hiking Scarf. I've finally mastered knitting and purling holding the yarn in my right hand properly and just kept going. It's a far more interesting pattern and I was enjoying myself. Now that I'm nearly halfway done the scarf, I know I need to pick the HP scarf back up and get it done. It's going to take a while, probably 2 more weeks if I work at the same pace I did this last week. I'm managing one pattern repeat in a 24 hour period. So basically 2 knitting days. I only have 2 more skeins of the claret color, and won't be able to do the full 13 pattern repeats (unless by some miracle I come across a couple skeins in the same dye lot) and that actually pleases me. I can't wait to be done with that thing. Even though it looks great, it's hella boring. Oh well.

Knitting Marathon

In an attempt to avoid the post-Thanksgiving Day rush of shopping, I've embarked on a knitting-marathon. I've been at it since about 10am, took a break in there earlier to catch up at the Knitty Coffeeshop and eat lunch, then picked it right back up. This morning before my break, I finished the trapped bar pattern repeat on the 4th complete section of the HP scarf. After the break, I picked up the Irish Hiking Scarf and got another 5 inches done on that. So I'm up to 23 inches of 72. It's not even 3 pm yet though, so I'm hoping to get a lot more done today.

Stupid Dye Lots

So, I finally got through my first skein of yarn on the Harry Potter Scarf, and I realized I'm not going to have enough to do the 13 pattern repeats. I might be able to make it to 8 or 9. I have 2 more skeins (I freaked out because I only remembered buying 2 total) but I can't find any more in the same dye lot from where I purchased it originally. If at the end of the 3rd, I'm not happy with the length, I'm going to have to match it as best I can. At the very least, I'll have to use a different dye lot for the fringe. At least that won't be as noticable. Oh well. So far, I've done 4 pattern repeats. I went to my first Stitch 'n Bitch meeting for the Southside group of the Metrolina Stitch 'n Bitch here in Charlotte. I had so much fun! It turns out that I already know 2 of the members from several years back, so that made it so much more comfortable for me. And the other ladies there were great, so funny. I worked on the Irish Hiking Scarf there and I finally figured out how to knit AND purl with the yarn held in my right hand over my index finger. This made my knitting tighter, but not noticable on the scarf. That should speed things up for me. And it'll make my Mom proud. She was frustrated with me for not being able to hold the yarn "properly" when I was still learning. But I've got it now! I've got 18 1/2 inches done of the 72 I need to finish. Yay! One of my best friends, whom I have spent the last 5 years with on Thanksgiving (since I have no family around) gave me the best gift yesterday. It's a pattern a day calendar for 2006. I wish they didn't put the days on there. It could be a perpetual calendar if they didn't. But I found a bunch of great patterns in there. What a great early Christmas gift! Now I need to get cracking on her scarf/neck warmer thingie she wants me to make. But she knows I can't do that in time for Christmas, so hopefully by her birthday in early January.

What Knitting Needles Are You?

You are bamboo. Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You love the craft and beauty of traditional things, and you value the comfort and experience of knitting as much as the results. But while you are reveling in your warm cozies, don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is the whole wide world! What kind of knitting needles are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Kill me now...

I sat from 7 to 11:30 last night and got 44 rows done. That's it??? Argh! I think I'm picking up speed though, I got 11 rows done at the doctor's office while I was waiting this morning. Geez.

Add one more to the tally...

I started AND finished the scarf for my sister's fiance last night. Ok, so it was made with the WoolEase Thick n Quick on size US 50 needles, but hey, it counts. Don't look at me like that. I also finally took a pic of the keyhole scarf I made for my mom (notice the little helper in the bottom left.) The HP scarf is coming along nicely now that I've got the pattern worked out. 48 rows in the MC 4 rows CC, 8 rows MC, 4 rows CC and repeat. I'm now just over 9% done. Got through the first trapped bar repeat and halfway through the next section of MC. Only got a bit done of the Irish Hiking Scarf, but Harry Potter was posing a more intimidating challenge.

Harry Potter - stupid scarf

I went and saw Goblet of Fire last night, and was able to count the repeat rows of the CC color. The pattern I have is wrong. It calls for 3 rows, I clearly counted 4. Over and over and over again. Now, since I'm still only on row 12, I'm thinking of changing the pattern. By my count (with the super sophisticated ruler technique) when printing out a full page pic with the scarf in it, I think the pattern may be more like this: Either 52 or 60 rows Main Color (a bigger printout of the pic gave me a different ratio) 4 rows CC Color 10 or 12 rows MC 4 rows CC Rinse, wash, repeat. Fabulous. I just made this project even longer. I still counted 14 sets of bars.

My Inner Child

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

Harry Potter and the Cast on of Confusion

Well, I finally did it. I started the HP Prisoner of Azkaban scarf for my nephew. I had to go to my LYS to have Vanessa show me the provisional cast-on, as that was the only thing holding me back. Turns out, the directions in "Knitting Without Tears" just plain suck. Why not just say it's just like the long-tail cast-on but with two different yarns and hold the waste yarn over your thumb? Geez, I felt like an idiot once we figured out what Ms. Zimmerman was trying to get at. But it's started. I'm on the 12th row. Only what, 509 to go? Yay. It's going much faster than I thought it would, what with it being 90 stitches in the round, on top of being my first project on circular needles. But it's started! And yay for Charlotte Yarn being open until 7pm on a Thursday! And double yay for being located next to my favorite pub. I popped over there after 26 cast on loops and finished up the remaining 64 whilst quaffing my favorite beer right at the bar. Heh. Yup, KIP at a bar. I'm so cool.

What book are you?

You're Anne of Green Gables!
by L.M. Montgomery
Bright, chipper, vivid, but with the emotional fortitude of cottage cheese, you make quite an impression on everyone you meet. You're impulsive, rash, honest, and probably don't have a great relationship with your parents. People hurt your feelings constantly, but your brazen honestly doesn't exactly treat others with kid gloves. Ultimately, though, you win the hearts and minds of everyone that matters. You spell your name with an E and you want everyone to know about it.
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Hmm...Keyhole Scarf Pattern

I was trying to make sure I had a link to each pattern I was using that I had got from the internet. I actually got the keyhole scarf pattern from the knitting group at work. I know it's a lion brand pattern and it was from the internet, but for all my searching I can't find it. All the patterns I've found were done in garter stitch and the one I have is all done in seed stitch. Hmm. I'll have to look at the pattern when I get back home and see where it came from because it looks quite nice. The one I did for my mom wasn't made with the fun fur, instead I substituted a neat yarn from Red Heart (I think) that my mom sent along. I had her pick it out because it needs to match her coat, that I've never seen. Great.

Finally! Pics of Finished Objects!

I finally got a friend to help me out and take a pic of me wearing my very first "fitted" project. This will be for my sister this Christmas. I'm so very proud of it. It's really only the 3rd thing I've made (if you count the fun fur scarf and large, oddly shaped shawl I made) and it turned out great. I used a variegated acrylic yarn (I was afraid to invest in more expensive yarn for a project this big. If I had it to do over again, I'd use a blend. But I knew nothing about gauge and whatnot when I started it.) The finished entralac scarf. My 4th project of all time. You can imagine how very proud of it I am. And finally, my current project. The Irish Hiking Scarf. Cabling is so much easier than it looks.

Only 3 repeats done...

Well, I ended up meeting some of the girls from work last night for drinks, so when I got home, I didn't get much progress done on the Irish Hiking Scarf. But it's shaping up! One of the cables looks a bit wonky, but I didn't do anything different at that point than I had anywhere else, so I dunno. But really, you can't tell. Just me. And it's not so wonky that I need to frog it and start over. Nope. No way. Uh-uh, no how.

Irish Hiking Scarf 11/14/05 - ?

I started the Irish Hiking Scarf last night. I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn in a charcoal color. It really shows the cables nicely. Now, let's see how long this sucker takes me to finish. Obviously my goal is Christmas, but with all the other stuff I want to do, and need to do before I fly home on December 22nd, I'm not sure if I'll make it. Conner's HP scarf is going to take a long time, once I figure out how to do that looped cast-on on technique, it's all knit stitches in the round from then on out but it's a long-ass scarf. Even for a kid. Of course, Conner is pretty much taller than my by now, even at 12, but still. *sigh* Thank God he's in Seattle where even if I don't finish it until February, it'll still come in handy for a little while. Better think of a back-up gift.

Productive Weekend

Well, this weekend I managed to finish the entralac scarf off and add a knotted fringe. (Pics coming) I also made a keyhole scarf for my mother and taught myself how to cable! It was a lot easier than I thought, and actually makes the cheap acrylic, I'm using to learn on, bearable. I think I may actually keep going on the practice piece. I have a pound of the cheap stuff so why the heck not? I may make it a sampler scarf. Everytime I teach myself a new pattern, I'll do a few rows of seed stitch or something, then start in on the new pattern. By the time it's long enough for a scarf it should look pretty cool. heh. Onto the Irish Hiking Scarf for my friend Jimmy next. I'll save the other keyhole scarves I want to make for Cousin Vickie and her 2 little girls (some "Mommy and Me" scarves if you will) for Sundays while I'm watching football. And speaking of the keyhole scarf, I have a bone to pick with the idiot at Lion Brand Yarn that decided fun fur keyhole scarves should be knit in a seed stitch. Why? Why oh why? It's called "A big fat pain in the ass" is what it is. Though I don't doubt it serves it's purpose by making it lay nice and flat, I honestly think it'd be fine in a garter stitch or something. Oh well, I'll just spend the 4 hours it takes to do it by the directions and deal with it. *sigh*

Entralac and a Lonely Ball of Yarn

As promised, I've got some more pictures today. (Not the sweater yet, sorry) But I do have some pics to show off my entralac scarf I'm working on. The yarn is Inca Alpaca (100% Alpaca, color 1194) and this is my very first go at entralac! I found out last night that I was doing my M1's wrong. I wasn't lifting the bar up onto the left needle and knitting it, I was just going through the bar and adding a stitch. So as a result, my left side triangles aren't as smooth as my right hand ones. But I really don't care! I love the way this looks! Here's a pic of the pattern up close: Pretty cool huh? And alas, my lonely ball of yarn. This is a 94yd ball of Classic Elite Yarns "Gatsby" in color #2132. I saved it from my LYS as it was the last one left and had been discontinued. So now I have to figure out what to do with it? A scarf seems to be the easy answer, but I think this yarn has something more special than a scarf in it. Suggestions?

OK, that's it.

Well, I've failed miserably in keeping this blog up to date, so I've come up with a solution. Post what I love to talk about! Duh, right? But I've only recently picked my knitting needles back up, and have been endeavoring to finish all my Christmas presents by hand. I love talking about knitting, what I've learned, where I've shopped, what I've done, what I'm working on, etc. The problem is, I don't know that many knitters or people that actually care to hear about this stuff. So, I'm gonna talk about it here. So far, I've completed 3 projects and have 2 in the works. My first project, done after my mother taught me how to knit last Christmas, was a shawl-type thing. Really, it's a really wide scarf. I made it out of the Lion Brand Homespun yarn. It feels yummy, but since it was a first project, it's a bit wonky around the edges. I added stitches, decreased stitches, but thankfully, never dropped a stitch. I even used 2 different dye lots of yarn on it. Whoops. I'll provide a pic of this later. My second project was a fun fur scarf, to get my knitting juices flowing again after taking the spring and summer off. I made it from one of the patterns hanging from the shelves at Michaels. You know the one, the super long striped scarf? This sucker was supposed to be like 104 inches. Mine turned out more like 120. I have to double it to make it look normal when I wear it. Again, pics coming. My third project was a Christmas gift for my sister. It's a sleeveless sweater-jacket. It hangs to mid-calf and is made of variegated acrylic yarn. Being my first "fitted" project, I didn't want to use expensive yarn on it, so I gauged it appropriately and adjusted the pattern for the different yarn. It turned out great. All the edges are ribbed, but the inside edging along the front still curls in. The armholes need to be reinforced a bit at the seam, but all in all, the thing is actually wearable! I'm so proud! Again, pics coming. As I was finishing the edging on that project, I discovered that there was a knitting group where I work, and attended my first meeting with them. It was great! One of the ladies taught us how to make an intralac scarf. I wasn't prepared to learn anything that night, but had brought my WIP and used the acrylic yarn and size 11 needles to work along on it. I screwed it up when I got home, but her directions were so well done, I was able to start all over again with yarn I love, in a smaller, tighter gauge with size 8 needles. I just started the second ball of yarn last night. Pics to come. Since I have a hard time doing the intralac and watching football, I decided to start a set of dishcloths for my sister out in Arizona who has just re-done her kitchen. Well...I ran into problems with this uber-simple project. In the end, I've decided to frog it and start over with 2 strands held together. I'll just paste in my post at the Knitty Coffeeshop message boards: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got this pattern (yeah I know, a pattern for a dishcloth?) from the Knit Knack kit. I had trouble finding a 100% cotton yarn at Michaels so I went to my LYS and showed them the pattern card and asked for help finding an appropriate yarn. The pattern calls for 100% cotton worsted weight yarn (but didn't provide a gauge). The sales clerk picked out an Elizabeth Lavold Cotton Patine 100% combed cotton. It doesn't say what weight of yarn it is. (Well, other than that it's a 50g ball) It's a simple garter stitch, 32 stitches by 72 rows using US 8 needles. The picture definitely looks like a square to me. I'm on row 48, and if I go all the way to row 72, it will definitely be a rectangle. I love the yarn, and love the way it knits up. It seems appropriate for the purpose. But since the pattern provided no gauge, and now I'm most certain this chick did NOT give me a worsted weight yarn, I don't know what to do. For $6 a ball, do I really want to end up with a rectangular dishcloth? It's looking about square right now, so I'm thinking of binding off and calling it a lens cleaner. It's nice yarn though, so, though it's taken me several hours already to get where I am, I'm thinking of frogging it and using it for something else.

Here's what it looks like: