It's Hereeeee.....

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?

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

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...

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....

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

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.

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.