Knit Pinkie

A Catcher Upper...

2009-01-26T11:14:00.004-06:00

Wow, I bet you all feel a bit abandoned right about now don't you. Yeah sorry about that. My mother comes in for the holidays and well she's a bit like the energizer bunny. There is not a whole lot of down time while she's here, even less than usual this time actually. And what little I had I spent knitting or napping. Hey you'd be napping too if she came and stayed with you trust me. If you don't believe me I'll give ya my neighbor's number. She'll back me up.

So on to the knitting, no need in wasting time eh? First my SWS striped scarf, because it's finished, which is actually the Noro Striped Scarf. The Noro versions of this are gorgeous, however since I'm not a big scarf wearer I just couldn't justify the cost on this one. But that's ok because even though I had to settle for SWS, I love it.

There ya go Jhonda a picture of myself. It's probably not exactly what you were looking for not is it the best picture but oh well. And another shot to see the scarf a bit better...
I've contemplated not putting anymore pictures of the fairy up until after she makes her flight to her new owner because well frankly I'm just cruel like that. It's not quite finished yet. I have to attach the hair, knit one more wing, and finish half a green Tinkerbell dress still. Actually I'm not too far from finished. I have to go pick up the Mr. today so maybe I'll take the dress so I can work on it while I wait. Ok so here is photo, not the best, it's kinda a weird angle.

Oh and I have to do the eyes too, but that will be done at the very very end when the hair is all put on. I'm dreading attaching the hair by the way. I never made it that far on the last one so I'm hoping it's easier that what I'm imagining. The little yellow dots in the hair are the pins holding the curls on so just ignore those and the long dangley ends of yarn. I haven't cut those yet because I'm going to use them to attach the curls. The flash washed the color out too but you get the point. Anyway I'm off to go add these to Ravelry.

I Have Proof

2008-11-04T09:34:00.008-06:00

see.... I have been knitting. Just a couple more arms and legs, oh and a few curls and this mama will be good to go. The word on the street is that the recipient of this here doll has a thing for fairies and recently her room was redone in Tinkerbell so I think it's only fitting that the doll get a Tink dress too. I so lucked out, I didn't know about the Tink room until after I had received the yarn so it was a total coincidence that I had ordered a skein of green yarn too. I was planning on embroidering a few simple flowers along the bottom of this dress which is why I got the green skein. Like I said luck. I have an idea of how I'm going to do it so we'll see how it turns out. I'm waiting until the body of the doll is done before I start the dress though since Tink's dress is a bit on the short side and well frankly we don't want any of Sally's unmentionables showing, just pretend they aren't in the above pic.

I am so behind on my knitting. This is the first time that I've ever had things to knit for people. I mean I've knit things and given them to others before but never knit things with the people knowing that they are getting them, so to speak. Another friend of mine asked for a hat to replace the one that accidentally went through the wash. A good reminder of why machine washable is a must for those with young ones. Actually I would've run it through the wash too just not the dryer, which she suspects her older daughter did. No problem though, I half expected it, or the twin that was given to my sleeping nephew to get destroyed long before it did so hey. So for those of you keeping count, that's one doll, one hat, and one other hat...Ok so I've kinda made it my personal mission to knit Corben a new winter hat each year. I mean he is after all the closest thing I have to a nephew on my side of the family. And how could I not, he loves my hats so...This by the way is the hat that I have to replicate. So anyway back to the count, one doll (I'm so making myself one of these in the future), two hats, a wild stripes blanket, and a cow scarf. Now given the last two don't really have a deadline, well none of them do but I would like to get the doll out by the time the kid graduates and Corben's yearly winter hat would need to be done well by the end of winter, but I have made the decision to not start anything new until I have everything off the needles and I so want to start the February Lady sweater. Ok, ok I can start the striped scarf that I got the yarn for the other day but that's it, nothing new until the one doll, two hats, the wild stripes, cow scarf, and striped scarf are all complete. Oh and I also need to start...kidding.

Pinkie admits to Complete Failure...

2008-10-27T13:01:00.008-05:00

I got nothing, absolutely nothing accomplished this weekend. I guess since I haven't been around in a while I could give a quick update. The Mr. bought a new welding truck, well not new, actually far from new but new to him, and he has been working on it the past two weekends. So after last weekend's incident that ended with my leg catching on fire, no worries no harm was done, I decided I would stick to the sewing machine this time. I was in charge of making straps to help lift a tank out of the truck. Ok so right away the engineering side of my brain starts cranking, it was only squeaky for a short time. Anyway long story short the brilliant idea, and I mean it was brilliant, that I came up with was beyond a failure, maybe it was so brilliant. Then while the sewing machine was out I decided I'd finally make that bag for the Mr's work clothes I've been promising him. Oh it started out great, I even made box pleated corners, or whatever they're called. Then came the time to put the grommets on. I have found the new devil. Another long story short a grommet came off after I had the top all hemmed up and everything. "Fuck it" is all I have to say about this weekend. And while I'm on the subject of the weekend...why is it that my house cannot survive one. We go into the weekend with the house looking great, I mean spotless. Then by Monday all hell has broken lose. Specifically my table... This table had nothing on it except a candle/hurricane and a table runner on Friday. This was taken Saturday so I'm sure it's even worse by now but I have refused to look at it. And I figured while the camera was out I'd play a bit more so....here is the Mr. Actually I got a few really good pictures of him welding this weekend. I'd love to put a few up around the house but I'm thinking if he's going to want pics like that he'd want them of him actually welding pipe not playing around in his backyard so oh well.... On a side note Blogger is not playing nice today. My pictures are not resizing like they normally do so I'm doing in manually and it just isn't working out so well and I have to run so they are staying screwed up until later, probably much much later but screw it.

In knitting news, Sally is starting to make her way into the world, head first no less. That's right Jhonda I started on your Sal. Her head is almost finished, hair not included. No pics yet though, since there's really nothing worth taking pics of yet, then again I have a picture of my husband welding on my knitting blog....But anyway I'll get some pics up when I have a bit more finished. Amber helped me pick out the colors so if you don't like them it's her fault not mine. And since I've managed to lose one of my size 7's, knitting on my COW scarf(the one from the last post) has stopped. It's just so patiently sitting over there longing to be picked up, maybe I'll try to find that needle today. Anyway until next time....

Just another one of those days

2008-10-14T11:28:00.005-05:00

Nyquil + me = a horrible combination. For some reason I never remember this before I'm chugging the stuff down, but the next morning it all suddenly comes back to me. At first I woke up thinking I've caught the draggin' disease again. It wasn't until after I returned this morning from running a few errands that I remembered the nyquil. It is 12 hours later and I still feel like shit, you know that heavy feeling that you get, like it's even too much to just walk around, yeah that's what I feel like.

Well anyway I know I promised a picture of the scarf I was working on and I never delivered so here ya go, and because I lied I'll even give you not one but two....

The pictures don't really do it justice. The yarn that I'm using is one that I got when I was in ArtsyGal's sock club but since it no longer had the ball band on it, I was going to use it on something else but obviously that fell through, I don't know what exactly it is other than yummy. It really is. It is nice and squishy and I'm lovin' the colors. This is where the pics aren't doing it justice. It really is more of a blue green color not just a blue and it has these great sections of purple and an even greener blue green. At first I wasn't diggin' how it was pooling. All the green and purple were on one side and the other was just kinda blah in comparison but after a while it started shifting around and I just fell for it.
As you can tell though I'm not very far. I really should be further along by now, especially with that lazy, I mean time saving way of not winding the yarn into a ball (did I mention that I had a ball winder).

The Sweet Smell of Success

2008-10-09T19:54:00.007-05:00

Ahh...wish you were here to smell it. Are you wondering what "it" is? It is my bread of course. Remember I'm getting domesticated. For those of you who have done the math, you aren't crazy I am indeed two days late, so we'll see how it turns out. I hear that the starter is very forgiving but who knows.

It has been a very eventful day around the Pinkie home. First our bloodhound refuses to stay in her pen, so I'm constantly greeted with a whining dog when I walk outside. Next the little dog, the one in the pumpkin picture ruins our DVD player/surround sound and get shocked. Somehow I'm thinking she won't find lizard hunting such a good idea next time. So what I'm thinking is if I didn't have dogs maybe my life would be just a tad less stressful. I just finished cleaning the hell out of the house so that when the Mr. gets in from working late maybe the fucked up DVD player won't seem so bad, I don't think it's going to work though.

Seriously I need to knit, which is what I'm going to go do now. I'm working on the Crest of the Wave Scarf out of some of ArtsyGal's sock yarn. Also if you would like you can buy a kit for the scarf here. Anyway I'm off to work on that, I'll get some pics of it up tomorrow.

Just pretend there's something clever up here again

2008-10-03T14:29:00.009-05:00

Why is it so damn hard to come up with clever titles anyway. So my swapper finally posted today that she had received my package which means I can now post pics, however bad they may be. I didn't want to post them before she said she received it because while I am normally horrible about surprises, I think everyone must know what they are getting for Christmas especially me, this time I wasn't spoiling it. Warning they are quite fuzzy at least the scrubby pic is.

I told ya it was fuzzy, I couldn't get a great shot so I finally just said fuck it. I have to say I was a bit worried during the swap. I sent out my box on the 16th and when I hadn't heard from her a week later I figured it had gotten lost and started a new cloth. This being my first swap I was determined not to be a sucky swapper. Then a couple days later I decided I'd send her a message to let her know another box would be on its way. No worries though she just hadn't checked her PO box. However after being worried once I have to say I remained worried until she posted that she had received it. Hopefully she liked it. I enjoyed doing the swap, it was small and cheap and fun to get something in the mail other than bills. The cloth I recieved is at the bottom of this post.

Picture courtesy of Topaz. I decided I'd borrow her pic, it looks much better than mine. Hopefully she won't mind, if she/you do let me know and I'll take it down.

UPS love

2008-10-02T13:54:00.005-05:00

Don't you just love that little, well it's not really little but it's not 18-wheeler big either, brown truck that pulls up to the house bringing you glorious goodies. If you can't tell I am in what some might say is a UPS euphoric state. I some how managed to convince the Mr. that I needed a new camera, a shiny new tiny one to put in my purse. I mean don't we all need one of those. This is my old camera.

It isn't really that old. I think I got it for Christmas two years ago. It has definitely been a love/hate relationship. It loves to make me hate it. No really I'm learning to love it, now that I'm learning lighting. I loathe camera flashes so I insist on not using it. What I end up with is, well sometimes great and sometimes not so great, actually more like a horrible grainy mess. I have learned that if I must use the flash to stand as far back as I can then zoom into the whatever it is that I'm taking a picture. This I can live with if there is no other option. The camera takes great outdoor shots. My SIL got the same camera about 6 months to a year after I got mine and she has gotten some excellent pictures of her kids since. So it isn't the camera really, it's my obsessive ways that sometimes make me want to set the camera down calmly and jump on it. Again kidding I actually do love this camera.

This however is what the UPS man brought me, that sweet sweet man. Now I must admit I skipped the usual 3 week period where I just sit crawling the Internet for every review to find the exact camera that I wanted. I wanted to give Nikon a try and this one was in the price range I was willing to go so I went. Again the reason I wanted a new camera was so that I could pop it in my purse and take it everywhere with me. While I love my camera, and while I just got an enormous purse that would so fit my camera, I just felt a wee little one would work better. So far I'm liking it but so far I've only played with it for about 10 minutes. Below are pictures taken with the new camera.I've made two more teenie weenie pumkineenies. I might just be addicted to these little guys. I only have a few more, 15-20, to go to fill up the bowl/hurricane that I'm planning on using. Yeah I know I'll probably give up long before then. I then decided to take a picture of one single pumpkin and the pup decided that she wanted to make the pumkin her toy...
While I was never able to get her to leave the pumpkin alone so I could take pictures, I was able to talk her into allowing me to include the pumpkin in a picture of her, such a ham. Please forgive the rat's nest that is her head. It's a good day if her hair even makes it up in a bow/clip/band.So far I'm likin' my little Nikon. I'll have to let ya know if I change my mind after I use it some more. Off to go play now....

One word: Cute

2008-09-30T16:56:00.003-05:00

How cute is that teenie weenie pumpkin. Oh that's right you can't really see just how small it is, just trust me it is teenie. It's definitely smaller than those tiny pumkins that you always want to get but have no idea what to do with, admit it you always want to get them when you see them. I love this little guy. I'm going to attempt to make a whole bowl to put in the center of the kitchen table. Oh yeah the pattern can be found here, you know you want to make one.

Pinkie Goes Domestic

2008-09-29T10:18:00.003-05:00

You heard it right folks, this chica is getting domesticated. As if the knitting wasn't enough, I'm making bread. I have fond memories of Momma Pinkie's bread starter and all the glorious bread that came from it. So I finally decided to give it a go. Actually it started when the neighbor offered to give me a bit of hers and I gladly took it, only to let it die. So yesterday morning I started one of my own.

I bet the Mr. was wondering what the hell I was doing this time. When I went in to check on it this morning it was all ballooned up, which means that more than likely it was when he got up this morning. The plus side, I've trained him well, he did not touch it. Nine more days until the Mr. comes in and says what's cooking, it smells good, or at least I'm hoping it goes more like that than the opposite.

Along the same domestic lines I've been cleaning like a mad woman. I don't know what it is but something about the weather and getting to open the windows puts me in the mood to clean. I guess I just imagine this clean house with breezes flowing through. So I have made a list of all the non norm things to do. Yes to all those remembering back to my cleaning schedule I am all about the lists, how the hell else am I suppose to remember what I need to do.

See that up there, one thing already checked off. Now I have a nice bag of kitchen utensils all ready to make their way to goodwill, actually it isn't goodwill but close enough. How I was able to fit three drawers worth of crap into 2 drawers I will never know. And why I felt the need to have not three, not four, but five, yes five ice cream scoops I will never know. Just getting rid of three scoops (yes, I'm still keeping two), two vegetable peelers, and two pizza cutters, gave me worlds of room in the drawers. Seriously this is all the crap I'm getting rid of.Now it doesn't look like a whole hell of a lot there but trust me it's at least one drawer if not more worth of crap. This Pinkie is going to have one happy Mr. when he comes home. He hates, no despises all of my clutter.

And just so I can continue to call Hal here a knitting blog...

...this is what I got from the dish cloth swap, minus a bit of candy that has already found it's way to the candy jar. I love the multicolored yarn and it looks great with the orange. I mentioned that my light blue kitchen looked surprising good with orange and my pal musta paid attention, or got lucky. Anyway this is why I like doing these here swaps, I would've never picked up that multicolored yarn on my own, and I would've been missing out cause I'm seriously diggin' it but now I don't have to cause I have some.

Time to feed Hal

2008-09-16T13:49:00.003-05:00

Yeah to all of you who weren't there for the big start up, ok ok I can admit it, for all of you since you weren't there in the beginning you probably don't know that this here blog's name is Hal. So next time I mention Hal and you find yourself wondering "just how crazy is this lady" just know that while I am crazy (I mean who names their blog anyway) I am just not completely insane (I do not see dead people, who happen to be named Hal, and talk about feeding them all the time). I figure it's been over a week since my last update, I know big surprise, anyway I guess I figured it was time to give ya guys something.

Lately I have become somewhat addicted to dishcloths. Not too bad, but I did join a swap and convince Newbs to as well. I haven't received my dishcloth swap package yet (mailing deadline isn't until the end of next week I believe) anyway I did send mine out yesterday. I had fun searching for just the right pattern and yarn and of course knitting it. Can't post a pic in the off chance that she stumbles over to get any info, yeah I know very unlikely that someone else would voluntarily come to my blog but you never know. I can however post this....

See slightly addicted. In my defense most of these have been finished for a while and are just awaiting a needle and a nonlazy person to weave in the ends. I would say all but three still need the ends woven in.

I also realized recently that you haven't actually seen the above yet, well not felted at least. I'm really happy with how it turned out. And even happier that she is using it. Contrary to the above photo my cats are not the normal roll in a ball sleepers. They are more of the let's see how much room we can take up sleepers. She was just getting pissed at me for taking pics so this is her semi hiding semi leave me the hell alone pose. Anyway since they stretch out this bed is great because the sides, as you can see, fold down easily.And just because I love how this picture came out I'm including the one below too.

I had to sweet talk her into getting into the bed that day. But I just love how the light hits her sooo...

Just to show you how lazy my mail lady is. Yes that is my mailbox with the door wide open and yes the mail could go flying out. Oh and yes this was taken from inside through the blinds if you are by chance wondering what those dark things are going across the pic. And yes I just completely and randomly went way off topic there, oh well.

Also since I'm dragging out this post for as long as I can I just wanted to say that I did not forget your requested project Jelly Beans, I'm just waiting on the yarn to be restocked so I can actually place an order for it.

New Knitting Monday

2008-09-08T14:45:00.003-05:00

So with a new week comes new knitting right. I have so wanted to knit my dog a sweater out of finger weight yarn for the longest time and as I was staring at her thought today would be the day I start. I don't know why but for some reason my own biggest accomplishments come from knitting things in smaller weight yarns. So I grabbed the newest skein of sock yarn I've bought and cast on. After the cast on and a few rows in I held it up to her, way too big. So out it came, and with it out went my idea of starting her a fingering weight sweater. It is a great idea though, I figure it won't be warm enough to keep her warm outside but it would be perfect inside. It would keep her a bit toastier while not making her too hot. Anyway I went in search of my next project. Why yes I could have picked up Wild Stripes but what fun would that be. Besides he's nice and tucked in in the guest bedroom, shhhh....he's sleeping. So I ran through my Ravelry queue trying to pick out which hat I would like to start. This is the hat I settled on...

yeah I know not much of a hat. It's actually a Klean Kanteen Kozy and frankly I think the baby sized ones are just the cutest little things. A few weeks ago I finally ordered the Mr. some of the Klean Kanteen bottles. I figured reusing the plastic toxin leaching bottles wasn't the best idea, although we've been doing this for quite some time and no ill effects as of yet. Anyway he's a freak about stainless steel so I knew he would digg these bad boys and digg he does. So after he used them for a couple of days he mentioned how cold the metal gets from being in his lunch box/cooler. Well I knew with the trusty needles in hand, a good skein of yarn, and a great pattern I would be able to remedy that problem. Now logically I know he will not use the covers. Ha do you really think he's going to be ridiculed at work? Hell to the no. But I figured if I ever use one then I'll have a great cover to keep my hands from getting cold. Now to get on top of buying those reusable shopping bags...

And just because I want to show off some more here's a bit of a blast from the past...

yep that's right today's post is all about the cozies. I knit this one a while back. The yarn is some I dyed myself and I actually really like it here. There is apparently an ice cream cozy in a book somewhere but none of the other patterns in there were screaming to me so I figured I could wing it. To this day this is one cozy that I feel everyone should have. I know some people are anticozy but the first time you grab that pint of ice cream out of the freezer and dip your spoon directly in the carton all the while your hands are remaining unfrozen, you will thank me for telling you you must have one. There is nothing that compares to the satisfaction of this guilty pleasure and I urge everyone to knit yourself an ice cream cozy so you too can be a bit more comfortable when indulging yourself with ice cream straight from the carton.

Why I knit

2008-09-08T14:23:00.002-05:00

The house was pretty much in order today so that left me a bit more knitting time that usual. I did something that I haven't done in quite a while, I broke out the "pointy sticks" and turned on Cast On. Every time I listen to it, it reminds me of why I knit. I knit for the history; the history that is already in the knitting and the history that I'm making. Every time I pick up my needles I can't help but think of the generations long ago, I see their hands working the needles and the yarn slipping through their fingers. The last time I was knitting with my niece she started asking about "who made up knitting" and such. It just made me smile that she in her own way is thinking about the past of knitting. We discussed it for a bit about how much there was to knitting and how many people added to it in their own way and just the pure intelligence/engineering that that first person had to start knitting, or weaving, etc. One of my favorite episodes of Brenda's is the one where she discusses knitting memories. I know we've all picked up something we had knit a while ago and were immediately back where we were when we were knitting. We were back sitting on the beach, or driving to our eldest son's graduation, or just on the couch on an ordinary day with the sun sneaking in warming up the living room. The history, that is why I knit.

Nonknitting Sunday

2008-09-07T14:35:00.005-05:00

Lazy Sunday is more like it. Lat night we went to some friends' house to watch the game....Roll Tide Roll. Another win for the Crimson Tide (not much of a win, but a win none the less). So anyway today I decided I wasn't doing a thing. The poor husband has different thoughts. He's been outside working all morning. Who knows what all is getting done but hopefully its not going to require me getting rid of more of my stuff. Why is it that every time he decides he's going to clean it turns into me sitting down and sorting through stuff and trashing half of it...

Now today hasn't been a total waste mind you. I broke out ole trusty (no not that, get your minds out of the gutter people, my sewing machine) and went diggin in the black hole, umm I mean my sewing closet. I had a great idea to make a needle case. Sadly the only material I could find was supposed to be made into the sister's bag last Christmas but there wasn't time so it's been sitting in my closet ever since. And by the way I wasn't the slacker this time it was my Mother, for your information. I've picked up the fabric a couple of times to use on something else but decided I better not well not today I said to hell with it and used it. She does have good taste though...

That's my Dad when he was little if you were wondering. Mom's right beside him but she didn't make it into the photo. I bet you didn't know that I was also a master on the sewing machine as well did ya? Yep that's me Pro Seamstress, ha. I went through a quilting phase and learned all things sewing, well a lot of things sewing.

I'm happy with how it turned out. I've made one before but it was out of white canvas and was just too plain. This one has a bit of character and spunk and a bit of edging on the inside (this is my fave part). Speaking of the other one I haven't been able to find it these past few days so that's why there is a lack of needles in the new case. It seems a bit big though so eventually I might make a smaller one. One that only holds a few sets so it's a bit easier to take on the go. It's only about 18"x24" (keeping in mind that the height allows for the top to be folded down a bit) but I would still like a tiny tot version. Anyway here she is in all her glory.

The Beast is Complete

2008-09-05T19:18:00.004-05:00

well almost. It's in the machine felting as we speak oh oh oh hang on a sec...sorry I had to go check on it. Bet you want pictures don't you?
Doesn't tell ya much does it? Ha ha ha. Yeah so the husband decided to take a nap this afternoon so I was able to get this monster finished. For some reason I seriously underestimated this thing. It wasn't hard it just took quite a bit longer than I thought. But hopefully it will all be worth it. Sophie has already shown some interest in it see....Although she's probably just wondering what the heck it is and what it's doing on her chair. Yes it is upside down on a chair. How the hell are you supposed to get a picture of it, this was the best I could do. Check back later for the post felt grand finale photos...

Hint hint...

2008-09-05T14:53:00.002-05:00

Yeah I can't keep a secret...at least you don't know what color it is.

I saved 2-3 lives yesterday..

2008-08-31T10:57:00.003-05:00

but went through hell to do it. Keep in mind though I didn't save the 7-8 like the husband did but oh well I guess 2 is better than none at all. We gave blood yesterday. I somehow managed to sucker the hubster into doing it, neither of us had ever given blood before and no time like the present to start. I've always wanted to do it, and always knew I should, so yesterday when we were driving home and passed the LifeSouth bus I knew we had to go back. The husband only agreed to do it if I agreed to go fix his deer feeder with him (the reason I wasn't going to go is way too long and boring and will prob make me sound like a complete bitch so I'll leave it out), however if losing my pride means saving a few lives I'll do it. And did it I did, right into the trash can. That's right folks I got sick, almost passed out, and starting sweating profusely. It wasn't a pretty site. I just felt sorry for the guy that was up next, facing my direction, and had no other choice but to watch. The hubster did great mind you and not once did I hear a "I told you so". I think he felt sorry for me. Later last night though I asked if he got worried for me (because come on we all like a little pity every now and then right) and he said yeah but then said that when it all started he thought to himself "Boy I bet she's regretting this now". Ah the love. I managed to hold off getting sick long enough to give enough blood though. Yeah I start feeling nauseous and tell one of the ladies and then the other comes up to, they start rubbing an ice pack on my neck and such but they just weren't taking out the damn IV. So seconds later when it really hits me I'm just thinking to myself "if they don't take this damn thing out of my arm" because at the time I seriously thought if they took it out everything would get better (maybe not immediately but soon enough). I just wasn't thinking at that point I was too far gone and that taking the IV out wasn't going to matter. So anyway here's the battle scar cause I know you all want to see it.

I would go through with it again though, because after all if you are able to do it, it really is the right thing. Oh and yeah about the 2-3 vs. 7-8 lives the interviewer was seriously bragging and rubbing it in that my "boyfriend" will be saving 7-8 lives well la te da, touch him. Here's proof that I really did give blood and my arm wasn't the result of some heroin incident gone wrong.My shirt...actually the husband's but still, I couldn't find mine. And my iron was great, which as you may know "it is really an accomplishment cause it's hard for us ladies for have good iron", yes another interviewer comment. Seriously though all the gals in there were great especially the ones that had to take care of me. They were so sweet and motherly and that's just what you want when you're head is in a trash can, you're Momma.

Ok so now on to the closest thing to knitting I got today..my Mom's Christmas present.

I've been watching ebay for hand turned crochet hooks and these are the two that I've won so far. Ebay is serious business I tell ya, first all the panic of will I win the bid, and oh that bitch just outbid me, then the wait for it to arrive if you are so lucky to win, but don't think it ends there oh no you still have to remember to leave a comment and feedback...oh the pressure. I'm going to try and get her a couple more by the time Christmas rolls around, hopefully she'll enjoy using them if now I'm sure she'll enjoy looking at them. If you're wondering the blue one is a graydog and the other is a daystar. You should be able to do a search with that and crochet hook and they come up if not let me know if you're interested and I'll get the usernames of the folks.

Just pretend there's something clever up here

2008-08-29T11:31:00.002-05:00

So my ass has been DRA-GGIN lately. I can't figure out what it is. I've done everything from get enough sleep to get too much to get not enough, nothing matters. I've started exercising again this week hoping that maybe that would help, and finally today I'm noticing a bit of a difference but not much. So now not only am I still draggin' but my arms and chest are also hurting. My ass and abs finally quite hurting so there is hope for my arms. Too bad Cooper I won't be able to toss ya up i the air this weekend though. I've also been trying to stick to a schedule since I seem to not want to do ANYTHING. So what's up for today you ask...

Well that would be wash the bedding and clean the kitchen. Usually I would take this opportunity(kitchen days) to clean out/organize the drawers or wipe out cabinets or something like that in addition to cleaning the kitchen but something tells me that the counters are just getting cleaned and that's it. On the bedding front, I know you are all so enthralled right now aren't you, anyway I've already stripped down the bed and am just waiting for the load of clothes to get finished before the sheets go in. Damn I lead an exciting life, I now understand exactly why I have such a large group of readers.

So I've been knitting up a storm lately, NOT. Oh that takes me back. You know what word/saying I was thinking of the other day "cool beans". How stupid are the youth. I was just going to say how stupid were we but I'm sure there's saying being used today that 10 years down the road someone will sit back and say remember when we used to say "insert cleverly stupid phrase here", boy what were we thinking. Just for my own peace of mind though, I must say I never said cool beans, I'm sure I used other stupid sayings but not that one. So back to the knitting, Hal's gettin' hungry, I'm over halfway done with the sides of Sophie's cat bed see....

I'm not feeling the colors. I'm just hoping that when it's felted it will look better but in the end it's a cat bed so really what difference does it make? I love the blue color, I mean I LOVE it. And I'm really diggin the brown with it, I wish I had just gone with brown and white as the background colors and the blue as the main color. The yellow isn't too bad but I don't know what I was thinking with this green. The green itself is fine but it's just not working with the rest, oh well. And just because a knitting blog isn't bad enough I'm also including pics of the cats today. Yes I wish to be even more of a dork...It's not the greatest photo. Apparently the focus feel on the scratching post (guess it's not so much a post anymore huh) and Chandler's white is sooo blown out. You see how Sophie's ears are pinned back she's waiting for Chandler to attack, like he normally would have but didn't this time. He is however doing his typical look away as if you say I'm not about to attack you ha ha ha. Also please excuse the dirt on the floor under the cat scratchy thingy it really isn't dirt it's catnip. Sophie is a total junkie when it comes to the stuff and I knew that if I rubbed it on the cat scratchy thingy it would so draw her in. The part I didn't think about is how much would be all over the floor, there was tons of the stuff everywhere. Luckily though I was able to get to the bag before Soph made a HUGE mess when she stuck her head in the bag, I told you she was a junkie.

Don't mind the ends

2008-08-27T18:34:00.003-05:00

Bet you're wondering what that is aren't ya? Well I'm calling it fairy poop and it's proof. Proof of what you ask? Well it's proof that I am actually trying to make progress on the next fairy recruit. Sadly though it's also proof that I'm not very far. I have a couple reasons for that pile. And just because you're wondering I'll tell ya what they are, lucky you. Well reason number one (probably the most important) is I was short a stitch. So why didn't I just try to find the stitch and fix it? Because I didn't like the yarn. I like the yarn just fine; it's Vanna's and it's pretty darn soft, but it has too much halo/fuzz and not enough drape for the dress. Soo....out it came and on the search once more I am. I will find the perfect yarn for this. The doll itself is going to be the same yarn as the last, all except for the hair, so I don't have to worry about that. Oh I will find it you can bet your bottom dollar I will.
The title pertains to this project, obviously. I need to weave them in then I can felt these bad boys. They are going to be pot holders/hot pads for my sister and I'm going to knit some dishcloths to go along with them. She recently moved into a new house and I thought this would be a cute little something to give her. If you are wondering about the colors, oh admit it you know you were, my mother pretty much choose her kitchen colors for her, well at least the red. And the ole hubby decided he liked the grey. Yeah as you may recall my small mistake a few posts back thinking that the square would shrink down to nothing well I suppose it was a happy mistake because it gave me the idea for the sister's small housewarming gift.

The houseguests

2008-08-25T16:12:00.003-05:00

As you may have guessed from the title we had company this weekend. Technically I don't know if you would call them company though. It was more like a sleep over. Two of the husband's nieces came over. And if I may brag on them a bit they were GREAT. Not one single fight was had. Although one did let in our wet, muddy, smelly bloodhound who had dug out of the fence in the rain, but other than that no problems. We even got to play with yarn. I convinced the youngest, who is actually a knitter herself (very much a beginner but a knitter none the less), that we should dye some yarn even though she actually wanted to start knitting something. Here is her creation...

I think it turned out nice. I made one with pink, yellow, and orange and the colors weren't as vibrant at all. She was very pleased with it. She just kept feeling it and wanted to start knitting with it immediately but once I explained that since it's sock yarn it requires smaller needles and more stitches she quickly choose my worsted weight version. I'm considering making her a pair of tube socks with it and surprising her but I don't know if she'd like that or if she'd rather knit it herself.

While we were cooking the yarn I was felting a pair of slippers for the my other niece. They've been finished for a while but I'm also making a pair for their mother and figured I'd wait to give them to her until both pairs were finished that way they wouldn't have to do the whole felting thing twice. But since they were over and it's my water bill I thought what the hell, in they went. I love this pair, the two ladies in the yarn store also loved the colors together. I forgot to get a pic once they were finished but here's a pic prefelting. I had to throw it in cause the prefelting pics are always so funny.
Oh this one is growing up so fast. Knowing her I can even see her little attitude in the pic, yes I know it's just of her feet but trust me it still has attitude. She is 13 and just got her own email address. She was so excited showing me her 6 contacts and 19 emails, so now all my g-rated emails will be heading her way. Hell I even filled out one of those get to know me things so I could send it to her. Oh well until next time...

Use a coaster

2008-08-21T13:45:00.008-05:00

Here is the promised knitting post for the day. I didn't steal your idea this time Newbs, it was truly an accident. For some reason I thought that the coaster would shrink to half their size. Yeah it didn't as you can tell. Now I have a pot holder. And by the way for those of you who felt these things by hands you are crazy. I tried and it so defeated me. My arms were sore, my shoulders were sore, it turned out all wonky shaped, and it still wasn't felted completely. So into the washing machine it went (which brought back the found teddy bear memories). It is still wonky and still toooo big.

I also got the yarn in for my cat bed as I was typing this so here it is. The blue will be the main color, I'm kinda torn whether I like it or not but either way this is it....

VENTING

2008-08-21T09:54:00.003-05:00

Ok you're probably going to want to cover your ears....er I mean cover your eyes on this one. I am officially writing another letter. Yeah so I say this so much that my husband has started counting and he claims this is the 236th letter that is supposed to be written. Oh and I promise there will be a knitting post later on so just ignore this one and wait for the other one. I'm felting a ummm coaster? and so when I went into the laundry room all the bad memories resurfaced (from last night) and now rather than pay a shrink 300 bucks, I'm paying you guys nothing.

So I bought some fabric softener from Sams this weekend, I won't tell the brand but just know this I now I hate teddy bears. So as always at Sams you get this gargantuas (although I don't know how to spell this word it really works here, so its staying) amount that takes the equivalent of two people's lifetimes to use. No worries though it came with a handy dandy little spout poury thing, so no heavy lifting right? Yeah so yesterday I use it for the first time. I pull off the spout poury thing's cover which is also very conveniently a measuring cup stick it under the spout poury thing push the spout poury thing's button a couple glugs later I'm finished. It was great, effortless if you will. I'm likin' it and since I'm very picky about how my FS smells (the husband will tell you this also, usually in a bitchy tone) I will add that the smell is nice (I know this because my entire house now smells like it but that will be explained shortly). Ok so great it worked as it should great. Well Wednesday has now become our grocery day so when the husband gets home we head out, after a quick shower of course. When we arrive home with our fresh Publix produce (we're new Publix shoppers and the newness hasn't worn off yet), I walk in and am pleasantly greeted with a lovely smell of FS. I think to myself damn that's some strong FS, I've only done one load with it so far, but continue unloading bags. So as you can imagine when I later walk into the laundry room to see a third of my new FS all over the floor, dryer, and some clothes I'm thoroughly pissed. It had leaked, and yes I did replace the cap. I kept it on its side as I would've thought I could, but apparently shouldn't have, and it leaked. Now I know what you're thinking, because I already thought of that and my husband already told me, you probably shouldn't leave it on its side but damn the instructions on the back are written sideways so that when it's on its side, so that you can use the little spout poury thingy they are right ways up. So it only makes sense, what with the instructions and spout poury thingy to keep it sideways. Where was that damn teddy bear when I was having to clean my laundry room last night. On a side note as mentioned earlier my house smells GREAT. Oh and I told you to skip this one....

Hello old friend

2008-08-19T11:20:00.002-05:00

Now that I've finished the Hemlock I'm picking back up Wild Stripes for a bit. I put in an order for the yarn and DPNs to make this too cute cat bed. I'm not too into making things for my pets, especially the cats but I'm lovin' this bed. I honestly don't even know if they'll use it but I figure worse case scenario I throw a blanket in it and the pup can use it. So when the yarn comes in the Stripes go back in the corner.

Well in case anyone cares here's a bit of info on my Hemlock. I managed to get to row 81 of the Fan and Feather chart before I started to bind off. I was cutting it close too, I only had around 12 yards of yarn left. I didn't use the third skein at all, so I guess I wasn't cutting it too close but I had decided that I really didn't want to use it unless I had to. It's about 55 inches from point to point although it could prob be bigger we didn't block it very aggressively. Yes that was a we, I suckered the ole hubster into helping me pin the beast out.

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2008-08-19T10:29:00.002-05:00

...then 8 pictures must be worth 8,000 words?

Hello...anyone out there....

2008-08-18T18:12:00.004-05:00

So Newbs (as I've now named her) told me today that I recently, or not so recently (she left out the "when" part) had a visitor to my blog. Imagine that, someone actually reading my blog except me and occasionally Newbs. So I've decided that I'm going to make a little sign just to say hello, a bit of a shout out if you will. Ya know like on TV how someone is supposed to scratch their nose or tug on their ear to say hello to someone. Well I've decided that whenever I bold the word jelly bean I'm saying hello to.......drum roll please, Jhonda. Yep that's right Jhonda, I've heard through the grapevine, or Newbs, that you've been here. Well I think here, maybe to my other blog (oh damn guess I'll have to go over there next, in case you haven't been here). I was so excited too. Now to figure out how the hell I'm going to work jelly beans into a post on a knitting blog....

So back to knitting...somebody in hell better stock up on the bread, milk, eggs, and TP, cause it's freezin' over. I'm finished with the Hemlock.

I haven't blocked it yet, that's why it looks a bit like old lettuce. But I have to clean off the guest bed first. That's where all the blocking happens. Yeah no magic happening in there, well at least I don't think so, we've only had one "couple" stay over, usually our visitors are solo. Anyway as soon as I get it blocked I'll post the grand finale photos.

Oh one last thing, so I was eating the best jelly beans today. They were sooooo good.....

When the cat is away....

2008-08-14T18:27:00.003-05:00

Yep that's right folks it's going to be one exciting night around here what with the husband gone and all. Knitting, netflix, and carbs what more can one gal ask for? This is pretty much what my life has looked like all this week except for the pasta, that one was a stretch it's pretty much been PB&Js every other night. Boy did I go all out tonight. The hemlock has been moving along quite well. I'm on my second skein and have found the hope that I was once lacking. I figure if I can get through one skein in 6 days then I should be able to get through another by the 24th. I haven't decided how far I'm going to go I guess I just figure I'll know when to stop when I get there. So what's on the ole movie list tonight you ask. Well I just finished up Starter for Ten, does anyone else find them self practicing their British accent after a British film (or a film set in England rather, not so sure it is actually a British film), or did I just tell how much of an dork I really am? It was a pretty good cheesy kinda movie. But it did include music by The Cure, so that's a plus. Up next will be Grace is Gone, don't know anything about it except John Cusack is in it. So I figure after this movie, and whatever Olympic events are on tonight I should be well beyond the Rainey Sister's chart. Finger crossed....

Go Team USA

2008-08-12T21:25:00.002-05:00

Ok so I will admit there have been many times during these past 4-5 days that I was ready to give up on this damn blanket. And you know the sad thing is, it isn't too hard. I added in a yarn over and couldn't find the f-ing thing to save my life. No joke I came in the house Sunday morning and had prepared not to finish, hell not to even pick the thing up again. Then I received the sweetest push on ravelry. I was left a comment asking where my photos were. Well hell how embarrassing would it be to admit failure 3 days in. So here is that picture...

I think I was somewhere in the low 20's when this picture was taken, now I'm up to the high 30's.

So how about that Michael Phelps? And no I'm not talking about his rockin' bod, although we can talk about that if you would like. And sadly I have to admit I found myself routing for China's male gymnast team last night too. They were so damn good though, I guess if USA had been closer I would've been cheering them on but....They did well also though, all rookies and still bronze. Swimming and Gymnastics are the two events that I have always gotten into, but with this ravelmpics thing going on I have been watching a lot more. The other day I watched soccer and even a bit of handball. Ok ok so if I have any hope of finishing I better get back to cranking it out.

A Bit Old School....

2008-08-05T08:37:00.005-05:00

Well I guess the Ravelmpics has me pumped up about blogging too b/c I'm back. What is this like two days in a row, WOW. Well I don't have anything current to blog about, I only finished a few rows of the Wild Stripes since the picture was taken, only four more rows until I'm officially a third of the way through the knitting part YEAH. So anyway I'm bringing back past projects, that's right baby I'm going old school. Actually it's not that old at all. It, Sally the Eco Fairy, was a birthday present for my youngest niece's first birthday this past May. There she is in all her glory. I was really happy with how she turned out, even without the curls. Oh the curls....I saw another fairy on Rav that was just the cutest thing I've ever seen and all because she had this head full of curls. Below is my half finished version.Yes I did attempt the curls and yes the curls defeated me. I was cranking them out, oh wait let me back up a bit. Did I mention that I started this thing a week before her birthday. Yes you heard me right. With that in mind I was a bit uncertain if the curls would get finished so I knit the straight hair from the pattern "just in case". Then I started cranking out the curls, a bit in between parts of the doll and tons after the doll was finished. I bet there's at least 20 curls on just that one side. Well I was actually starting to believe I would get this thing done, curls and all. Then of course I ran out of yarn and that skein that I just knew I had was gone. I looked everywhere it was nowhere to be found, so off to Michaels the hubster and I went. What happened next was a sign, they didn't have anymore of the Bernat Soy. Oh well, I have to say it was a bit of a relief, a weight was definitely lifted off my shoulders. I walked out of Michaels knowing full well that I wouldn't have to crank out curls the next whole day. I would simply sew on the straight hair and call it finished.
See all those ends, I hadn't quite figured out what I was going to do with them, nor how I was going to sew each of the curls on yet but lucky I didn't have to worry about that. Not to mention when I found out the following weekend that Sally had taken a swim in a toilet I didn't feel so bad about not finishing the curls. Yeah so I saved all those curls and low and behold within a few days I found that missing skein. He was hiding in my knitting bag, imagine that in a knitting bag who would've thought. Anyway so sometime I'll break out those curls and make my own Curly Sally, and no swimming lessons for my Curly Sal.

Training in progress....

2008-08-04T12:00:00.002-05:00

So I've decided that the Wild Stripes blanket is going to act as my training for the Ravelympics. It's definitely helping me with me speed since it's just stockinette stitch and lord knows I'm going to need speed in 5 more days. Anyway I'm just about finished with one of the 3 repeats (just 9 more rows) and it's not as boring as I thought it was going to be. I long to finish just one more color to see what it is going to look like with the next color. And the purl rows aren't too bad because each time I start one I think after this row is a knit row. I'm not sure I'm diggin the colors but as I said on Ravelry it looked much better once I pinned it out to take the pictures and I'm sure it will look tons better once it's finished and the embroidery is on. Actually I can't wait till I finish it just so I can see the embroidery on it, although wait I will I'm going to stop working on it prob tomorrow until after the Ravelympics are over. I don't want to develop carpel tunnel before I even start my Hemlock...

Whoops...

2008-07-31T13:24:00.004-05:00

Yeah so Newbs is gonna be mad at me. I've stolen her Wild Stripes blanket. Well it's completely her fault she's been talking about it a bit these past few days and it is too cute so how could I not knit it too. Plus until the 8th I can't start the Hemlock and what fun would it be if I finished something I already had going. Anyway it's not like I was going into Hobby Lobby to buy the yarn for it. I actually went in looking at cotton and saw Vanna's section and next thing you know I was walking out with 14 skeins (yes 14 I couldn't decide between 2 colors so I grabbed them both). Hey the good thing about it is that when she's finished and mine is sitting in a bag in the guest bedroom she'll be able to mock and torment me. Although that might be motivation for me to complete it...

Anyway so I'm off to watch the United States of Leland and cast on. I'll leave you with a picture of the yarn. Oh yeah see that glass hurricane/vase thingy, yeah so that was a wedding present that never made it to the recipient how horrible is that, we just kept it....

It's Hereeeee.....

2008-07-29T09:43:00.004-05:00

Looky looky, two posts in one week. Yep so as you may have guessed I've joined the Ravelympics. I have my yarn in hand, pattern printed out, and I'm anxiously/nervously chewing away at my needles. If you don't know what the Ravelympics are let me break it down for you. First there is a Knitting Olympics and since I've never competed in it (although two more years baby...) I don't know all the details but the basics are....pick a project, one that will test your knitting abilities, grab all the necessary materials, and anxiously wait for the opening ceremonies to the real Olympics. This is when you can hear it around the world, what is it you ask? Well it's sort of a click but more like a bang, it's every one's needles clicking together as knitters around the world cast on with high hopes of finishing their projects before the closing ceremonies. Now the official Knitting Olympics only come around every 4 years so some folks over at Ravelry started one this year and that's what all this fuss is about.

So here's my specifics. I'm working with Cascade Ecological Wool in Latte or 8063 (down the page just a bit). I'm be using my Knit Picks needles, which I need to make sure are shined and ready to go. Oh you want to know the pattern eh? Ok so it's the Hemlock Ring Blanket. Ok so let me know when you've stopped laughing.....

And the last important fact, I've convinced my pal to shoot for the moons too. Although she went ahead and cast on (CHEATER) and is almost finished so I'm thinking she'll be looking for a new project shortly.

Cupcake anyone?

2008-07-23T14:01:00.003-05:00

I figured that maybe just maybe if I introed with cupcake talk that everyone would forgive me for not posting. Back when I was in high school I used to babysit, for some of the best families I might add, I was sooo lucky. Anyway so one time one of the mothers had made cupcakes with marshmallows inside and for about 3 years now I've been wanting to make some. Do you know how hard it is to find info about a simple cupcake with a regular ole marshmallow inside? Apparently lots o people like to fill them with marshmallow creme and others like their cupcakes with a peep on top (and no surprisingly Amber this didn't strike my fancy), but no one just takes a cupcake and sticks a marshmallow in it. And yeah so it seems simple just stick one in but I guess I just needed confirmation. My original thinking was when you pour the batter that you would push one into the middle then, but what happens if the marshmallow blows up like it does in the microwave. Oh I did not want to be cleaning my oven at 9 o'clock last night, so I did find one site that used a spoon to scoop some of the cupcake out just put the mallow in while the cupcake was still hot. This is what I ended up doing and I guess it worked, although I'm still going to have to get my nerve up to try putting the mallow right in the batter. Oh and while I'm already rambling, my frosting was not being friendly either. I was going to make a white chocolate frosting (yes it is as good as it sounds) but turns out the white chocolate had a bug on it. The kind I get comes in a box and each block is individually wrapped and I hadn't even opened the box but when I was putting the blocks in a bowl to melt there he was. Some little tiny dead bug thing looking up at me. Needless to say we didn't get white chocolate frosting, instead I made some kind of whipped cream frosting, not bad but not even close to the white chocolate I was expecting. It would be really good on fresh strawberries (note to self) or some type of strawberry cake. Anyway maybe next time I'll have some knitting news. I've actually knit quite a bit but just haven't been so great with the update....

Nothing New

2007-11-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

You might want to check the weather forecast guys. Hell might just be freezing over. Yes, I'm updating 2 days in a row, I heard all the gasps. So I counted my Lady E tiers, 36, and pinned it out for a rough size, about 60 in, so I'm thinking I'm definatly adding 5 more tiers and probably more like 10. I really really want it super long so I probably do even more. Thanks to our recent Netflix subscription I've been getting a lot of knitting time in. Wednesday it was Transformers, last night it was License to Wed, pretty cute, and right now its Finding Nemo, not a Netflix though this one is one of mine along with most of the other disney cartoons. I'm bound and determined to have this thing off my needles by the time my Mother gets in town for the holidays (Nov. 17th) but would really really rather it be finished by the middle of next week. Then I have to finish the hubster's Eesti socks so I can get started on all the new stuff. I have several things in mind for the near future. I'm planning on knitting my BIL a pair of socks, my niece and nephew a hat and last but not least the hubster a pair of gloves. I have to say my husband is finally getting it. When he saw the sock that I finished he was sooo impressed and actually put in a request. I honestly can't say how excited I was when he asked for a pair of gloves. Then after the excitement faded the fear sank in, I've never made gloves before, this is going to be fun. Also he wants the tip of his pointer finger to to be able to fold back so he can use his finger on a trigger, yes that's right for hunting. Hunting has became very present in this household this year and as I tell everyone my Dad was a golfer I'm not used to the hunting. Oh well I'll survive. No pics today but there will be some up next week when I finish Lady E and start on all the new project. Happy knitting...

Any ideas, I'm kinda drawing a blank...

2007-11-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

Wow I come on and read my last blog and get looking around. Oh those sidebar projects are sooo old. Ha, I say that but they are still pretty accurate. Well sorta, I have made big progress on my Lady E but every time I stop I seem to think I need to still add 10 more tiers and well so while at the time I thought I was about 65% done, I'm still thinking I'm only 65% done. Oh and Baby Tart, oh how I wish that yumminess were done. It's not and probably won't be anytime soon, I seriously put it down with no hopes of picking it up again. Well first off I wasn't at all happy with my cast on, I don't know exactly right now why b/c I'm not looking at it but I'm thinking maybe it got turned the wrong way. And while when I began I wasn't knitting it for anyone in particular now I have a little niece that would look great in it but problem is it would need to be a bit bigger for her. Soooo, I'm guessing that would give me the inspiration needed to rip the thing back out and start over.

The hubster and I watched Transformers last night. I must say I never was a big transformer fan when I was little, Thundercats? Hell yeah, but not Transformers. It was actually pretty good though, and quite funny too. I will say it was a bit difficult keeping up with which robot was which but I think that was largely due to the fact that was working on Lady E. Oh yes I do still knit on it occasionally contrary to popular belief. My b-day is just around the corner so I put in an order for KnitPicks sock needles for a present. And along with that I threw in a bit of yarn, hey it was on sale, and some extra option tips one of which was a 10.5 harmony wood. I was lovin' the looks but not so sure about the wood. I generally dislike wood and bamboo and all that, now of course I generally don't work with yarn that too slippery either. But anyway I figured I'd try them out and I'm oh so glad I did. I really like them, when the box first got here I opened it immediately even though my b-day isn't til this coming Saturday, and went directly for the harmonies. I was surprised how slick they were I just kept running my fingers up and down them like some weirdo perv. So last night I thought it would be a good time to pull out the old Lady and knit some, of course it was purely coincidental that they are knit with 10.5 the same size as my harmonies. I wasn't purely convinced when I first started I have to say I liked my metal tips a bit better for the project and yarn but the wood were so much better than what I was expecting and by the time I had a couple squares done I had gotten used to the wood and was digging them too. I finished 3 tiers last night. Something is telling me that I really should stop and block this thing but it just doesn't seem long enough yet. Yes I know I could probably go do a trial run to see how big it will be but I'd rather just keep going til I reach the point that it will completely mummimize (yes I know I make up a lot of words) my Mother, who will be getting it since I think it will get more use with her than sitting in my closet. Oh how I'll miss her.

Back again....

2007-10-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

Hello all, how's you're knitting been going? I've actually been doing quite a bit of knitting lately, despite the lack of pics. I haven't actually completed anything yet so that explains the missing photos. I've been working on a baby blanket and so desperately want to get this finished and off my needles. Ok wait wait wait strangeness going on on the TV that I must comment about. I just turned on the tube to have a bit of noise going. It's on Dr. Phil, they're discussing Britney apparently. Anyway so the commercials come on and it shows some of the upcoming Dr. Phil shows, a lady attacked I believe it was her sister with a blender. I swear I must have heard it wrong, how do you attack someone with a blender? Ok so now that I'm thinking about it it's really quite simple, you just throw it, but for a minute I was like WHAT?

Ok back to knitting....blah blah blah, oh yeah the blanket, I believe I've posted about it previously. Its red and lacy, hmm sounds a bit risque doesn't it, but its not it's actually turning out super nice. Let's see what else do I have going on, oh yeah so I found Cast On a while back and I'm so one of those people who can't just jump in I have to catch up and that's exactly what I'm doing. So she mentions the Fiber Trend clogs and I'm immediately intrigued. I so want to knit them, and knit them now. However I can't knit them now, I don't have a pattern so I go in search of something kinda like them. What do I find you ask? I find Knitty's Fuzzy Feet, so that's what I knit. I knit them up in just whatever I have lying around and that happens to be some Lion Brand's Wool (which I'm so not in love with) but I had some orange from when I had high hopes of knit pumpkins. This orange was becoming a bit boring though so what else do I find, navy. Not a good color combination for a Crimson Tide household. My husband immediately flipped and asked where the Alabama socks were. Oh how I love the bitter rivalries.

Here's one of them, the only one finished at this time, in all its glory, a bit dark but still full of glory.Please ignore the ratty dog in the photos. She isn't normally this unkempt looking. Oh well, until next time happy knitting.

Owl Hat

2007-09-07T13:22:00.000-05:00

I'm back again. Who knows for how long though, at least I can admit my faults... Well I broke out the yarn I had dyed a while back and found a hat pattern to try it out on. More specifically the cute little number that can be here.
I first started looking for a simple basic hat pattern then became intrigued by the ear flap hats, then I realised I don't have a lot of dpns so I was limited by the size needed. The only pattern that I was liking at the time that also required my needle size was the owl hat. I'm very pleased with how it came out and am very happy that everything turned out the way it did. And yes that is the tail that is hangin out there but you will be happy to know when this picture was taken that is the only end that needed to be woven in and just as soon as the pictures were finished and the model (aka the hubby) had taken the hat off I was busy weaving in that end. So it is indeed complete. The yarn as I said earlier was dyed by yours truly. I'm not going on the record here or anything but I believe it was Paton's classic wool in Natural Mix before it was hit with kool-aid. I finished it in about 2 or 3 days so it wasn't too bad at all. It really did turn out great. I would definately recommend this hat.

2007-06-19T10:00:00.002-05:00

Oh wow, I'm a horrible blogger. Well at least I can admit it. Actually I'm a horrible knitter too. I had put down my knitting for some time until my trip to the hospital to wait on the aforementioned new youngest niece. I grabbed out Ole trusty Lady E, who by the way is probably never going to get done, to work on while I awaited the grand arrival. I really do love knitting this one in public though, you get so many comments. Ok I can also admit that I'm a tad vain. So anyway I finished one tier, yes you read that correctly 1 tier. I then started talking, playing cards with my older nieces, and watching family feud. Oh and there was also that trip to Starbucks as well.

So lately I have started another lacey baby blanket. It’s out of the same pamphlet my last one was from. I’m doing this one in a nice deep red. It’s really turning out nicely, hopefully I will be able to let go of it and not be selfish and keep it for myself. Here she is…

It has a real nice sheen to it. You can get a better look at the pattern here. Its the one right there on the cover.

Well hopefully I will get back to you guys sooner next time. Happy knitting.

I love days like today....

2007-01-15T20:06:00.000-06:00

Today was a great day for knitting. You know those days where its drizzling outside and cloudy. The kind where you don't want to go outside, even to get the mail. The kind that you don't want to do anything but curl up under the covers or in that special nook with a cup of tea or hot chocolate or whatever your fancy with a bit of music playing in the background and knit. Yeah today was one of those glorious days, too bad I didn't do any knitting. I don't know what happened to me. I really can't say what exactly I did in place of knitting today. I did get all three meals in but other than that nothing much is coming to mind.

I finished knitting my mother's sock monkey hat, two down, two to go. I still have to weave the ends in but I've really been putting that off, guess I'll try to get that done tonight before the hubby gets home. Yesterday my aunt, the one that's trying her hand at lace with me, called asking how I hold my needles. So I had to grab out something, anything to play with while I was on the phone with her. Well what did I pull out? It was a scarf I started a while back, just a simple garter stitch scarf. I was watching a Knitty Gritty episode last whenever and they were knitting with two different yarns together and I so badly wanted to try it. The outcome my something, anything pink scarf, which by the way has somehow gotten holes in it. Yep I missed a stitch and now there's a hole staring at me quite a few inches back. I should really frog it shouldn't I? Oh but I don't want to, I just don't see myself wearing it. It was really just an experiment. I don't know, I do know I really want it finished. It's been sitting in my yarn drawer for oh so long, it's time it moved on to my never wear it drawer.

I know you all are just dying to know what's my next on the needles project. Well since my sister really needs some great hats to show off her sister's knitting skills, however not so great they may be, I've seen those oh so cute dinosaur hats that those oh so cute little boys are wearing. Yep that's it, I'm going to attempt to make a green hat with those pointy things(what are those pointy things called, not scales) going down the middle of the back. I'm sure she's gonna love it. Well until next time happy knitting....

Monkeys and Blankies

2007-01-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

Ok so I’m about 2/3’s of the way through my mother’s sock monkey hat (from knitty.com). I’m generally not a fan of the, as I like to call it, fuzzy yarns. You know the ones. They all have that this extra fringe sticking out everywhere but this yarn isn’t quite as bad as some. Actually the pics make it look worse than it is and besides it really makes this hat look funny. Not quite as sock monkeyish as the original but funny none the less. I also grabbed some more yarn to get two more done for my aunts. One of theirs will have a blue top and pom pom the other a green. I know, I know, so not sock monkey but hey I didn’t want them all exactly alike and besides I think I lost the sock monkey look, as mentioned before, with the glittery, fuzzy yarn.

And again with the not so knitting news… Here’s part of the neighbor’s baby shower gift, all completed and ready to go. It’s 2 by 2 block in a checkered pattern, just like the last one I posted. I actually wanted to do a 3 by 3 (like a tic-tac-toe board) but I had the material cut for this so this is how it was done. It’s backed in a white flannel instead of the chenille that the other was done in. I like the chenille, ok I love the look of the chenille, but I really like how much thinner this blanket is. It has the same batting and such to it so I’m sure it’ll be just as warm it just isn’t as poofy as the other. I am definitely liking this one too.

So until next knit on knitters….

An update, just for the sake of updating...

2007-01-09T15:21:00.000-06:00

Well I didn’t get too much done over the holidays in terms of knitting at least. In terms of Wii, I got a lot done. I beat Rayman’s Raving Rabbids but never even started Zelda. Yes I know I hear the gasps from anyone who happens to have ever played Nintendo in their lives. I don’t know I just haven’t felt in the mood to seriously concentrate on Zelda so I haven’t even picked it up. My sister did come over and get me started though, I mean while fell asleep.

So here’s where I am in terms of knitting, about 1/3 of the way through Liesel. See it right over there…. It's a quite hard to see the pattern, I didn't realize the green would be quite so dark oh well...

I'm still at the same point on my Lady E, so no pics of that. I’ve been recruited to make another sock monkey hat for my mom (have I already mentioned that, sorry if I have). I would really love to make one for each of my aunts as well. I can see them already, the three of them all walking around town in their matching hats.

Not quite knitting, but crafting…I am almost finished with a blanket for my soon to be youngest niece, due to arrive at the beginning of May. I just love the red polka dots. Its backed in off-white chenille. This is one of my favorite blankets I’ve made. I just have the two sides to stitch up real quick then it’ll be ready to go, well actually it will be ready to wait, for the shower that is. Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll be starting one for my neighbor, who’s also having a little girl. I still have to get everything for that one though.

I didn't forget about you guys I promise...

2006-12-19T19:51:00.000-06:00

Some of you may know what these are already. To those of you who don’t, they are pure heaven. They are Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses. You must immediately run out and buy yourself a bag and while you are at it buy another one for everyone else and hide your bag. Sams sells them in bigger bags so I actually recommend going there to buy them if you have one near you. They actually taste like those mints that come in a clear upright bag that are pastel colors with little white balls of pure goodness on the bottom.

I haven’t forgotten about you guys I’ve just been out of town for a while and running around with my mother the rest of the time. I swear anytime my family gets together our schedule is determined by food. As soon as we get up, hell before we even go to bed the night before it’s “Where are we going to eat breakfast?” Then as soon as it’s over we begin the “When’s lunch”, “Where are we going for lunch?” The of course starts the dinner questions. It’s like the whole time I was out of town the only thing we did was eat with a bit of driving in between. I haven't even considered stepping on a scale since I've gotten home.

I amazed everyone, while I was gone, with my Lady E. It really is a show stopper isn’t it? I took it foolishly thinking I would get some time to work on it. Well what with all that eating and all I of course didn’t even pick it up. Ok well once, but I think I only got a square done. Now that I’m home and slowing down a bit I’m ready to pick it back up and get this puppy finished. I should’ve had it done by now. I did however complete Knitty’s Sock Monkey Hat. My sister put in a request. She wanted to be unique when she hit the slopes in February. I don’t know how warm it will be but it's sure to get a few laughs. I couldn’t find a good tweedy looking yarn but this yarn with just a bit of fuzz and glitter I think works well. My mother, who by the way is peeking up from the bottom of the picture has since requested one also.

I also finished another pair of the Old World Booties like before. This time they were a tan and dark sage green color. They turned out well. I really just wanted to try out a different bind off.

Well I guess I can leave you with the latest shot of my Lady E, although I’m almost ashamed too since I haven’t made it as far as I should have. Sorry about the color it just didn't turn out right. I think I’m in the low low 20’s as far as tiers go. Good night everyone out there in bloggyland…

Turkey Day is over now on with the knitting...

2006-11-28T09:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry about the delay folks. I've had family visiting so needless to say I've been very busy. My mother comes down a bit before Thanksgiving and leaves a bit after the first of the year. The good part about that is that she splits her time between my sister and I so when one of us is about to pull our hair out it's time for her to move on. Kidding Mom, it really is nice to have her come down and be able to stay for such a long time. She moved up North a few years ago so even though my sister and I both probably talk to her just about every day we don't get to see her that often. Anyway my mother flew in the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the shopping started that night (we had to go out in hunt of that illusive Nintendo Wii, which we actually somehow managed to get our hands on on Sunday morning at 10) and didn't stop until Tuesday night. Oh well actually it didn't stop stop, it just took a break til Friday so we could cook, eat and sleep. My sister came in on Wednesday night just in time for Turkey and of course the infamous Black Friday. Oh yes folks we are definately part of that crazy crowd that gets up at 3-4 in the morning to stand line after line in the dark and of course cold. All those who partake in this glorious adventure would agree though, it just doesn't feel like the holidays until you have gotten back home Friday evening bags of goodies in hand and shared you're victory stories and a few horror stories too with those who stayed snuggly warm in the bed until oh about 10, mainly our hubbies. Oh and is it just us but don't most of the gifts end up being for them, what's up with that. Hey to give the guys credit I did actually see quite a few men out there, it surprised me how many I saw, however not a one of them was my husband, he was one of those that stayed snuggly warm in bed until 10. So how was everyones' Thanksgiving, I hope you all had a good one? And how many of you hit the stores Friday morning and what bargins did you get? And for those of you who were smart and slept in, any good dreams ya got to share?

Well with all the chaos I haven't gotten much needle time in, now that everything has slowed down a bit I'm hoping to get going again. I am somehow up to the 20th tier on Lady E, no pics though. At first I was just so close to the end that I figured I'd just wait until she was completed to snap a few more photos. Now, however, it's taken me a bit longer than I thought, so part of me thinks I should show off what I have so far but the other part has asked for a new digi camera for Christmas and thinks that if I take pics of her now what am I going to have to show off when my new camera gets here. Realistically if this baby gets finished before Christmas there's no way I'm waiting that long to show her off, hell I'll have pics up within the hour of completion.

I ripped out all the purpley goodness that is the filing of Baby Tart. A few stitches slipped off the needles and well I couldn't figure out how to get them back on so I finally gave it up and decided to start over with it. I think I'm going to work on this one for a little bit and take just a small break from Lady E just so I don't get burnt out this close to the end, hey I'm just as surprised as all of you that I'm still trucking along on her.

And lastly I've convinced my aunt to try lace. I've ordered the yarn, which I'm hoping gets here today, and made her some stitch markers and a row counter. I figure I'll grab some lotion or hand cream/balm and stick in too. It's all just a little bribe to get her to knit this with me. We are going to do Liesel. I don't think it'll be too hard for her at all. She's finished a pillow with a basketweave stitch and she's made I think she said five pairs of those Weekend mitts that I posted about a while back. I sent her the pattern just a month or two back, I thought it'd be an easy quick project for her well apparently it was. She's giving them out as Christmas presents.

Tuesday's gone with the wind...

2006-11-07T20:02:00.000-06:00

Well almost, technically there's still 3 and 1/2 hours left but close enough. Ok so another night without my hubby and I've been knitting away. My Lady E has been going very well. I'm actually impressed that I've gotten as far as I have without starting something new or giving it up yet. It's not hard really, its just that I have knitting ADD. Actually its not just limited to knitting it really covers all aspects of my life. I'm likin' working with the SWS. It feels really good. My husband and mother are both impressed with it. I've been trying to teach my hubby to knit but he's not having it. How great would that be though, I get tired of working on something and hand it to him. Somehow I don't think it would work out that perfectly even if he were willing to learn. Anyway back to Lady E I have just finished the 6th tier and am somewhere in my second skein. I switched to a new skein somewhere in the middle of the second one I was using so I really am not exactly sure how much I've used yet. So here she is. Notice the color difference from yesterday's pic. That's due to Sunday's frogging session I mentioned right after the pic. When I frogged it I changed skeins for some reason. And the weird thing is that even though they are the same color and even the same dye lot I kinda like Saturday's version, how picky is that. I do however like that Tuesday's version is up to tier 6 rather than Saturday's 1 or 2 (can't really remember which right now)

In case you cared here's the felted Old World booties. Aren't those bobbles cute? My sister really likes these. Well she really liked them prefelting she hasn't seen the postfelting pics yet. They are almost cute enough to make me want something to fill them. Just kidding Mom, not yet for this chick.

Monday Monday

2006-11-06T17:45:00.000-06:00

So it’s Monday night and hubby is at work tonight. Leaves me plenty of knitting time in front of the TV. Although it’s Monday night and nothing really comes on on Mondays. I used to really like the whole wife swap and nanny shows but not so much anymore. I’m still a complete reality TV whore though. Project Runway and America’s Next Model are my two absolute faves. MTV’s Real World and those Real World/Road Rules competitions rank pretty high on my list as well. And what is up with those Real World people anyway. You know I thought that it was just supposed to be that they were on one show then goodbye, well then they came out with the competition so I thought well hey now they’ll stick around for one more show. No they have now made a career out of doing the competitions. But really, who am I to complain I’m completely addicted to them.

I saw one of my nieces’ scarves, or whatnot, this weekend. She hasn’t gotten too much further on it at all, but I’m surprised she’s still working on it at all. She brings down her basket and tells me she has a question about her knitting. Well she has a couple holes in it and wondered where they came from. I tried to explain that must have dropped a couple of stitches but I don’t think she got it. I guess I should probably try and figure out how to pick up dropped stitches and attempt to fix it but instead I just told her that it’s ok I’ll show her my first scarf and that will make her feel better about her’s.

So I finished my booties this weekend, actually I think I finished them Friday. They are all felted and everything. I haven’t gotten a picture of them all finished yet but here’s one of them prefelting. I’m pretty happy with them. I’m thinking I’m really going to have to look into other ways of binding off. Are there any out there that will still be kinda stretchy when done? That’s definitely what these needed. Truth be told I don’t even know if you could get a foot in, its so tight. Oh well they still look cute.

Then there's Lady E. I started her on Saturday and finished the first tier of triangles see... Then on Sunday I ripped her all out. Yep every bit of her, which wasn't too too much but it was still enough. Well off to knit...

Where were the Trick-or-Treaters?

2006-11-01T14:20:00.000-06:00

So guess how many pumpkin bags I had left over last night? 2? No… 8? No…15? No… I had 20 left. 20, and I started out with 20 and still have 20 sitting on my table. We didn’t get one single trick-or-treater.

On the knitting front, I have one Old World Bootie finished. The sole is one color, mine is teal and the rest is another, mine a cream. Well the pattern says to switch the colors on the second. I can’t decide if I want a pair with one cream bootie with a teal sole and one teal bootie with a cream sole or if I want a pair with just two cream booties with teal soles. If I want? Ha I don’t have a child they won’t be for me. Actually if they were for me I would mind the different colors but I’m wondering what others would want. If they turn out good I think they’ll be going to my SIL that I mentioned before. I actually would have preferred teal booties with a cream sole but wasn’t paying any attention when I started them oh well.

You should be so proud of me too. I went to Hobby Lobby to get my nieces some scrapbooks and I didn’t even check out the yarn aisle. Don’t really know what I would’ve gotten but hey I still showed restraint. The scrapbooks, well some of them are 50% off right now. So if you are looking for a scrapbook that isn’t K and Company or Ek Success or a photo album run over and check it out. I got them a set each from Paper Studio. They are pretty cute and each have 12x12, 8x8, and 6x6 all for 20 bucks then with the 50% off I got them each a set for 10 dollars. I was proud of myself and I think they will like them.

And you have to check out the stitch markers I made this weekend. They aren’t as good as the pros but they are good enough for me. I’m in love the blue and teal colors, they remind me of the sea.

Where's the Trick-or-Treaters?

2006-10-31T17:25:00.000-06:00

My pumpkin goodie bags are all ready to go. We don’t get too many trick-or-treaters, maybe 15 if we’re lucky, and since we don’t, we tend to toss several good handfuls of candy in their bags. This year I thought it’d be cute since we give out more than just a couple of pieces anyway to make goodie bags. I called my Mother to tell her I had them all done and can you believe it she’s going to her sisters out in the country so she doesn’t have to deal with the t-o-ters. Now let me give you a little background so you can understand how crazy that is. We used to live in this one neighborhood and I kid you not, we used to get more than 200 kids and more like 300. I remember making that special trip to Wally World to get a full buggy of candy. Every year it was the same thing too “one candy bar and a piece of gum or a tootsie roll for the little ones who can’t have gum”. Well we lived there for 12 years and of course the numbers grew as we lived there so we didn’t have any many when we first moved there. But then we moved and the numbers drastically went down. We went from oh 250 to 30 if we were lucky. She was devastated. The second year there our house was the most decorated in the neighborhood, still no more t-o-ters. The third year we had even more decorations than the second, still no more. She lives for the t-o-ters to knock on her door. I don’t get it folks but its true Momma’s place will be locked up and pitch black. Shame on you Mom, just think of those poor kids dressed up in all those great characters carrying that bag of candy. Well this year I’m sorry to say those bags will be a little lighter.

On another note my nieces, 8 and 11, are knitting, I’m so proud. I asked one if she wanted to try it again, her and her mother had tried to learn once before, and she gladly said yes. She’s doing quite well. The younger of the two was mad then because I didn’t have another set of needles on me or another skein I wasn’t in the middle of a project with. As a matter of fact the older was using a set of circs so I ran to Hobby Lobby and grabbed two sets of straights and a skein of a soft fun green yarn I knew the younger would like. They are both doing great with it. The oldest has a couple inches done in about two weeks however as the youngest told me they can’t knit during the week because they have school then if they knitted after school they wouldn’t be able to watch tv and they want to watch tv at least once a day. Then after I showed them my SIL said she wanted me to show her too, she took right off as well. I was/am very surprised how well they all did and still doing.

I can’t forget to update you on my own knitting. I got my dpn’s for the i-cord on my Booga bag and now all I have left is putting the i-cord/handles through it and I’m finished. I’m still working on Baby Tart, I’ve only gotten I think one row of bobbles done. A stitch, well three, came off my needle and I need to fix that before I can move forward on it. It was one of those knit or purl (can’t remember which right now) in the stitch then yo then do it again and again and again and again. Oh and this weekend I also picked up some SWS to start a Lady Eleanor. I’m waiting until I’m finished with Baby Tart to start it but while I was shopping I also grabbed some more felting yarn to try my hand at Interweaves Knits’ Old World Booties. I’m trying the Gold Bobble booties although mine are going to be teal.

Hello Once Again...

2006-10-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Ok so here I am back once again to this somewhat familiar place of bloggington. I visited once before. It was only a short trip though, didn’t get to do much sight seeing. Ok I admit it, I almost killed my blog. I didn’t mean to it just kinda happened. And if you promise not to tell anyone I’ll tell you the truth…I kinda saw it coming. Hell I knew it was coming before I even started. Want to hear another secret, I almost didn’t even come back, I was seriously considering just starting a new one. It’s like when to see starving puppy on TV and you almost have to look away. Well I didn’t even want to face the fact that I had completely forgot to love my blog and feed him and call him Hal.

Actually the real reason he is now near death is that I put down my needles for almost an entire…gasp…year. But now I’m back and going to keep it up. I’m really enjoying it this time. I don’t know that I didn’t before, but I really really am now. And yes that white baby blanket down there is still on my needles not yet finished, actually its just a few rows past where it was when I posted the pic. It’s about half finished I started it again but screwed it up somewhere so I need to frog a couple rows then I’ll be back whizzing away…

I have however tried my hand at a Booga Bag. It’s almost finished, just waiting on the set of dpn’s I ordered so I can make the i-cord, then felting then, I’ll be done. I used Lion Brand Wool Works instead of Noro though. It was my first project back after my absence and I didn’t want to invest in Noro to only have it still hanging off my 10 ½ circs next Christmas. After I finished the booga bag I started Baby Tart, of which I absolutely fell in love with even though I have no children to knit it for. I know a baby blanket and a baby tart and no child, I can only explain it by saying I’m strange. And no I’m not giving away that baby blanket I’m putting it up for my kid one day, the baby tart I am considering gifting it my SIL who’s preggers. So I am in the middle of it. I have the crust all finished just working on the filing that I’ve frogged for the second time today thank you very much. I’ve got it turned the right way and stitch markers now so I think I’m on the right track. Here it is so far. I’ve only gotten back up to the first purl row after starting the filing. Oh and don’t look at the bind-off edge (how exactly would you say that, bound off edge, binding edge hmmm?). I’m thinking I was supposed to do a different type of bind off, only I only thought of that after I had already finished this one and cut the yarn, oh well…..

Started a new one and already halfway done...

2005-11-16T15:37:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, I started a new project, but I couldn't help myself. Hey I really need these to finish my other WIPs. See how I look at it is my hands get cold easily and then once they get cold my fingers just don't seem to work right anymore. So see, I needed them. They are Fingerless Mitts from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knits and one took me about two hours or so. Once I get this pair finished I'd like to make another pair a little bit longer than this one. If you're looking for something like this I would recommend this pattern it was pretty simple, hey I was able to figure it out. Oh and please ignore my hand the flash made my fingers look very white, especially in comparison to my arm, oh well...

One down...

2005-11-14T20:20:00.000-06:00

Well no knitting went on this weekend in this gal's house. A friend of mine came over to visit. She decided to take advantage of my skills however poor they may be, and put me to work making blankets. Let me tell you 1 45"x60" and 2 60"x72" blankets later I'm so tired of camo (yes I said camo) and blanket stitches I could scream. My fingers are already screaming from being pricked and abused for 3 days straight. I wish I had pics because the smallest one, a gift for her stepdaughter, turned out to be so cute. No it wasn't made out of camo. It was done in the cutest flannel that was embroidered with the girl's name. I was also recruited to make a travel sized pillowcase to match.

I was able to block Branching Out last night. This was the first thing I have ever blocked and was dreading it. I just kept telling myself "I can reblock it if need be," (I can, can't I?). So a few welding rods and some pins later and there it was in all its glory pinned to the guest bed. I'm afraid its just a tad short, but I'm not really sure I stretched it lengthwise as much as I should have. I guess if it does end up being too short for my sis I can reblock it and try lengthening it. Other than that it turned out nice. I am really proud of it and myself for finishing it. See Momma I can finish something. Again it was done using Silky Wool in moss (yeah I know just like the one on the pattern, real creative eh?).

I've decided to start an 8" x 8" scrapbook with all my knitted masterpieces and knitted not-so-masterpieces, heck I may even dig up my first scarf, the holey one, and make a page for it. Well I just printed out Dayflower so I'm off to start that. Wish me luck.

The magic begins...

2005-11-07T09:56:00.000-06:00

Ok ok I'll admit it, that first post was just a tester, hey you were all first-time bloggers once too. So here goes nothin'. On to knitting talk, because of course what would a knitting blog be without knitting talk? That one is an easy one, it would be just a blog, and my knitting blog (possibly named Hal, that one is still up for debate) is not just a blog. It is a knitting blog.

So onto knitting… My first project is a baby blanket, stop freaking out Mom I'm not pregnant. I just needed something small to wet my appetite, something that I could finish pretty quick, yet something without seams and not a scarf. This is my pretty much first project. I say pretty much first project because even though I've completed a scarf, a holey one at that, started another scarf, stopped halfway through that one, and also started a dishcloth, lost the pattern a few rows from completion (it was knit corner to corner folks, I was so close I could taste it) this one is the first that is actually going to amount to anything. I have to say the first scarf was going ok though, I just got sick of plain ole garter stitch (much respect goes out to all those who use it a lot) and the dishcloth would've turned out pretty good too, darn my ability to lose something in 5 seconds. So maybe I should say that it is actually my third project (there's no way I'm counting the holey scarf) or one of the first projects that is going to be completed. My second (or fourth depending on which way you're counting) project is the Branching Out scarf from knitty.com. When this one is finished, because it will get finished, it will become Christmas present for my sister, who by the way has never received anything that I have made, so I'm hoping she will like it. I'm loving this pattern by the way. I'm loving them both actually. I love all the yarn overs, k2togs, ssk, and all the others, well not all the others I'm hating the s2 k1 p2sso. This one is the one that's going to drive me to the crazy home. The blanket is "Wavy Ripple" from Leisure Arts "Baby Ripples to Knit" and is made using Caron's Simply Soft in white. The scarf is made with knitty's suggestion of Silky Wool in Moss. After the baby blanket is finished I have to start another one for a new addition on my husband's side of the family. I think I'm going to do another on out of the same booklet, since I really am enjoying knitting this one. And after the scarf I'm going to start another one just like it, color will be cinnamon, or another lace scarf that I can do with that yarn. Any suggestions?

Hopefully you guys enjoyed this newbie's first real post. Oh yeah here's a pic of my WIP baby blanket. I'm nearing completion on my scarf so I'll just post a finished pic of it later.

Hey guys and gals

2005-11-06T11:43:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone out there in computerland. This is my new, not yet improved, knitting blog. I can already tell great things are to come, well maybe not great but definitely good enough. Hopefully I'll be a good little girl and keep up with my new blog. I will love him and feed him and call him my knitting blog. Hmm...maybe I should call him Hal, we'll figure that out later. I must say though I'm not so good at these kind of things so we'll see how it goes. Please enjoy...