End of Year Catch Up!

Yeah, well, it's now year's end and the good news is, I found the cable to my camera and have access to a laptop at home again, bad news, I'm still not done with Christmas knitting and it's well, not Christmas anymore. Everyone will get their presents by the end of January and just have to deal with it. I know, I'm being grumpy and it's not their fault, it's mine, I over committed myself and I became subjected to carpal tunnel which left me unable to knit for a good 2 plus weeks and having to knit slow, but I have learned that if I plan to make everyone knitted gifts, I have to start in March, so I won't be doing that again. Also, I'm grumpy because since I've gotten back to knitting and learned crochet, I still haven't made a single thing for myself so all this effort has been for everyone else and not me, but that will change! As soon as I finish the current WIP that I need to send off, I have my eyes on a beautiful scarf and mitt set that will be done in July, but it will be all MINE!

What I have finished is nice, which is a good consolation and my WIP are going well. I've certainly learned a lot. I Finished my first pair of socks!!!

They are ugly, imperfect, and took me at least 30 false starts to get them going, but man does it feel nice to have turned those balls of yarn into something so cozy an practical! They are my "Mommy Socks" as they are for my mother-in-law for Christmas. She loves me enough to like them and I love her enough to not keep them for myself. Also, I finished PopPop Beadle's Scarf which turned out very nice!

I had a few issues initially in reading the pattern, but once it got goin

g, it was great! I liked learning about cable cast on and it really turned better than expected. I made a few pattern alterations, I knitted it in one piece, and I made it in a smaller gauge making it a thin elegant scarf which I think will match the eldest of the Beadle Brads' personality much more.

I'm not yet finished with Roland's Ugliest Stocking Hat Challenge, but it's getting there! I'm now on the yellow band and will soon be adding the cookie monster yarn level! It's wide on the bottom, but I'm going to work this out with a rubber band. I've got some soft elastic band from the corsages I make for my brother Victor's dances so that will be really great and it was recommended to me by people from my guild that I wrap the bottom around it to cover how it goes, so I'm going to see it that works.

One semi-failed attempt I had was at my 4 at a time socks. It's not totally failed and I have one pair ready nearly ready to go, but 4 at a time was taking too long. I'm slow enough as it is and new enough to socks. I ended up taking off one pair and just focusing on 2 at a time, which has worked out well. These are for a friend of mine and they are my Twilight Socks! I have a few charts for when I'm done to duplicate knit over them a Twilight Saga inspired pattern, but I've worked out an image with all four of the book covers blended and I'm going to try and chart that out, so wish me luck that it will be ok.

There also have been a lot of abandoned projects. My brave attempt to make things for the family kiddies is null. But that's fine, it just means I already will have yarn for my next projects. So basically that is where my knitting stands so far as we reach years end.

The Great Twilight End Swap 2008: Part II

Finally got my package done and pictured, I know I’m late with everything!

I have here 55g hank of hand spun bamboo in a blue/green/aqua palette. I spun it myself! Didn’t find a bamboo skein in the color she likes that looked nice, but I saw the fiber and said, “What the hell!? I’ll spin it!” This my first spinning project, with some imperfections, so I hope my partner likes it.

I’ve also included a box of MilkDuds, her favorite candy, for her to go prepared to the film, (I know I can’t watch a movie without the stuff), a bar of Ghirardelli’s dark chocolate raspberry chocolate bar which is my favorite also for the movie, and some hot cocoa, a comfort food of hers (and who isn’t comforted by hot cocoa!?!?!) with little marshmallows to make her feel all warm and fuzzy when she returns from the movie and realizes that the book saga is over and now has to start them all over again…

Then I went crazy at the dollar store with fun stuff and symbolism.

Fun Stuff:

A cute little “very Alice” style fuzzy Muppet/hippie/flower purse and a Winnie the Pooh jacks game, because nothing picks me up more than Winnie the Pooh!

Symbolic Stuff:

Apple Cinnamon Candle = Twilight (get it? Apple!?)

Flowery Bath Beads = New Moon (they didn’t have any moon flower stuff, but this seemed ok…)

Peel&Eat Twizzlers = Eclipse (because they are ribbons that break apart!)

Deck of Playing Cards = Breaking Dawn (couldn’t find a chess set, but at least there is a queen in here!)

(OK! I know I’m a dork! But I’ve gotten the feeling my gal will appreciate a dorky sense of humor!)

Then I’m packing all of this with Tootsie Roll minis stuff and Hershey Kisses as packing peanuts as Tootsie Rolls are from Chicago (where I am now) and Hershey is from PA (where I’m originally from), this will be a shout out to her from me.

Pictures are all below, so tell me what you all think!!!! It goes out tonight!!!!!!

The Great Twilight End Swap 2008: Part I

So I got my Twilight swap package about a week or more ago, and haven’t taken pictures because I couldn’t find my blasted camera. I found it this morning out of pure determination before leaving for work, and you know where it was????? Right where I left it!!! How dare it be there?!?! Last time I cleaned the house, I put it in the closing door bookcase in the living room so it would be easily accessible as I had just taken pictures of the finished baby blanket I sent off to my cousin, and was going to YarnCon and wanted to take pictures of my spoils, other things, but of course, I haven’t posted or updated any pictures of anything as I totally forgot of my genius plan to not loose the camera and hence lost it.

Anyway, as I found it this morning, I quickly took pictures of it because it is an absolutely AWESOME gift. As I finish mine up, I feel like mine will be totally unworthy! Also, I’ve been dyeing to use some of the bath stuff which just smells so nice, but have resisted so I could not spoil it all for pictures, which is yet another reason I’m so happy to finally have the camera back. I do have to admit, there were MilkDuds also in the box, but that is much harder to resist than bath beads so they were gone before I opened up the rest of the box!

I am also LOVING my neck warmer!!! Not only is it very Alice, whom I love (but then again, who wouldn’t love Alice?!?!), but I also recently went shopping for fall wardrobe update and became obsessed with all things purple and jewel toned, so this will match perfectly!!! Also, I love the Animal Key Chain! Not only am I a HUGE fan of the Muppets, but also my brother is an unbelievably talented drummer, so this will be my little reminder of him always!

Tonight, now with camera finally accounted for, I’ll post up what I’ve got for my swap partner which I’m hoping to finish packing tonight and send off tomorrow.

Happy Knitting!!!

'Tis the Season for Stress Knitting!!!

I know, I haven’t posted any pictures yet, I certainly need to, just haven’t had time or patience, also I haven’t properly updated my Ravelry notebook either. But I do need to start getting organized. I have overcommitted myself, as usual, and now am feeling overwhelmed. I created a chart below of the knitted gifts I plan to make and where I am with them and when they are due. Everything with the exception of my brother Victor’s birthday hat and the home spun yarn I’m working on my twilight swap it’s all due by Christmas. I have most of the yarn for everything here, just need patterns for some, so I’m going to knock out what I have already and started. I need to limit myself to 1 or two projects at a time, being a WIP Whore just ain’t working out!

But I can do this and have them finished in time! J

Spinning though is proving harder than expected, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. It’s uneven thicknesses, but it’s coming smooth, so I’m going to call it “texture”. The lady I bought the fiber from at YarnCon (I have her card and will add the link and name later), showed me a project where she did that intentionally and it turned out very nice. Hopefully my partner will like her skein.

I am happy though with the way Mommy Socks are going finally!!! I finished the heal and now feel pretty confident with Short row heels. I had a little trouble, but I know the things that went wrong for my next set of socks, and none of the problems were noticeable at all, just imperfections I noticed so I didn’t have to frog anything!

And this morning I found and cast on the perfect easiest hat pattern for Victor’s hat which he has been asking me for, so hopefully I’ll have that done in time for his birthday. I’m magic looping it on my new cables that arrived yesterday from KnitPicks! I am LOVING interchangeable needles and magic looping. I still like my double points, but with magic loop I can multi-task! I currently have both pairs of my twilight socks started on one 47” needle!!! I’m knitting 4 socks at a time, how AWESOME is that!!! Hopefully tricks like that will help with me feeling less overwhelmed.

Project Name:	For:	Deadline:	Status:
Hand Spun Bamboo	Twilight Swap Partner	10/19/2008	Half Way
Victor's Red Hat	Victor	10/22/2008	just started
Fetching Mittens	Ashley	12/20/2008	1 down, 1 to go
2 pairs of Twilight Socks	Mel & Heather	12/20/2008	Toe Started
Mommy Socks	MIL	12/20/2008	legs left
Hat & Scarf	Brandon	12/20/2008	Need Pattern
Hat & Scarf	Andrew	12/20/2008	Need Pattern
Vest	Bryan	12/20/2008	Need Pattern
Moose Dishcloth set	Uncle Ray	12/20/2008	Pattern Found
Lace Scarf	Nana Beadle	12/20/2008	Started
Ugliest Stocking Cap Ever	Roland	12/20/2008	1/4 of the way
Scarf	PopPop Beadle	12/20/2008	Need Pattern
Dad Hat	Daddy	12/20/2008	Pattern Found

First Stitch

Yay! So now I have a knitting blog. Figured I could post my frustration with problems and my giddiness with success without threajacking my groups on Ravelry.com and without causing DH Brad to fall asleep!

Also, I'm hoping to use this as a way to keep my multiple projects and project plans and ideas organized.

Ok, so here I go with my first KnittingBlog post!
thought it would be a good time to finally start it up as I went to YarnCon this weekend and had fun exploring for the first time so much handspun and hand dyed yarns.
I even got a drop spindle and some fiber to try my hand at spinning for the first time! It’s getting better, but I’m still unsure how good it will be. The first night was awful and I went to bad mad and full of pink fluff!!
I also got some really cool recycled yarn that’s lace weight. I plan to use that to make a pretty shawl for Brad’s grandmother. Only disappointing thing about YarnCon was that the workshop I wanted to attend got cancelled at the last minute.
I now need to organize my projects and get to serious work on my Christmas knitting. I need a few needle size I’m going to order, but for the most part, I think I should be good as long as I get to work. I’m half way done with my first pair of socks that are going to be for my MIL, and I’m pretty proud that they are coming together so nicely. Also, I need to though get going on Victor’s red hat. Took the measurements last night and have my swatch and everything, so no more dilly-dallying.
I’ll post some pictures of my goods and more details about my potential projects later tonight or tomorrow. For now, I must get back to work, the real one that pays me…
TTFN!