I've Moved!!

Check out the new blog...

http://crookedknits.blogspot.com/

Hmmmm.....

I'm debating buying a swift and ball winder. Now given my financial and living situations, not exactly a smart idea. But I have 25 skeins of yarn that needs to be wound sitting in my room and my OCD so craves those neat little balls. Plus, with all the yarn that I will be buying for the KOTOTWknitathon I'm looking at a looooooooooot of hand winding. I was thinking of asking the LYS to wind it for me (or I'll do the winding if I bring it all there) but I don't think that's very fair to them. And really, I just want one :o( Bah.

This little piggy went to the market...

One little stuffed animal down, too many more to go! Luckily, now that the safety eyes have arrived in the mail, I should get through them quick. These little guys are going to be made for my cousin's third birthday gifts and I can't wait to give them to him!

In other life news, I am soon to be unemployed! Now most people would think, especially in this economy, this would be a bad thing. Not for me...my sanity is at stake. It is far beyond time to end my stay at the day care. I will be heading into subbing in the public schools and potentially to grad school (when I can get a definitive answer from the school at least). The good side of all of this...I'll be having much more knitting time! I have lots of projects lined up that I am sooo looking forward to tackling.

Speaking of which, I'll be soon starting my first KAL! I'm very excited and, as typical to me, I dive in head first. I'm joining a KAL that will last over the next 4 years! Crazy, I know, but I thought it was a worthwhile journey to take. Mary is following Nicky Epstein's Knitting On Top of the World and is dedicated to doing every project in the book, one project a month. She has created a blog for others to follow along and also has invited everyone to join in with her. I definitely recommend checking out her blog and even if you're not going to join I'm sure everyone will learn a lot from our trials. I've already picked out which patterns I will be doing- I cannot afford to do everyone and some I just don't care for. During those months I'll use that time to catch up on the other projects because I'm sure I'll be behind. Mary has already organized everything for herself and has ordered all the yarn she needs for every project. I'm going to stop by Village Knitter and Knitter's Therapy to start checking out yarn for the projects and buying/ordering the yarn through them if possible. Gotta support my favorite LYS's!!

Today a local lady decided to destash her house. You wouldn't believe the amounts of yarn this lady had! I walked away with 23 skeins of various Cascade yarns (which cost $60 total) and an old issue of Knit.1 (free!!). I'm thinking of 2 baby blankets, possibly a sweater, and some small projects for this yarn. As if I didn't have enough projects on my plate right now :o)

Innovations in Knitting?

My world if finally coming to a calm period again.  Which means I can finally update!  As a birthday gift to myself, I took my first ever knitting class.  The class was to make the Hugs n Kisses Wrap designed by Shiri Mor at Knitter's Therapy, a most amazing LYS run by the wonderful Shawna.  She has definitely been the sweetest and friendliest person I've ever met working at a yarn store.  Shiri is a super nice and down to earth person and very enthusiastic about what she does.

The pattern itself is a rather easy cable pattern.  I really love how the center braid looks.  Our yarn used for the pattern came out a lot fuzzier than Shiri's sample had, even though it was the same line of yarn.  I don't mind though because it's just so soft and cuddly.  The yarn is Suri Merino by Blue Sky Alpaca.

This is where I was early in the month with it...

Not too long into the pattern, I can't help but notice mistakes I made at the very beginning of the cables.  I try to ignore it, continuing to the knit knowing no one but myself will ever see them.  

Can I leave it alone though?  Of course not.  My knitting OCD took over and I dropped 3 different cables down to pretty much the first couple rows just to fix it.  

But now I'm happy I did because I know it's perfect and I can't let myself have anything but when I know I am capable of doing it.  

The XO's are so adorable and you can see the mitred border that I started on the bottom.  The wrap is much longer now but no new pictures yet.

I started to get bored with this recently actually so I've been looking for some other patterns to do.   At the second class for the Hugs n Kisses Wrap I bought lots of yarn to make the Favorite Cardigan from Custom Knits.  I love Wendy's blog....it's definitely one of my favorites out there...and I love her book.  The yarn I bought for the project is Karabella Margrite...soooo soft I'm in love with it.  I spent all of last night knitting the swatch.  Usually I'm a loose knitter so I just automatically go with a needle size smaller than the pattern recommends.  That didn't work for me so I tried the recommended size...still no luck.  I'm actually using a size larger than recommended...something that has NEVER happened to me before.  I guess there really is a first for everything!

Now for my little "innovation" update.  At the Hugs and Kisses class, Shiri commented that it looked a little weird the way I was wrapping my yarn.  She had me do it slowly so she could watch closely and discovere that I knit wrong.  Not a first, but it's been so long that I've done it this way!  Luckily, it's not a big deal, I'm just wrapping the yarn over the right needle instead of from the underside to go over it.  All it does is twist my stitches a little bit and really it doesn't bother me (this actually helps me count rows a lot easier in stockingette stitch).  She said it would affect my gauge but I've never had a problem with it so I have no intentions of changing my ways now.  I just need to note if I'm ever teaching someone to knit (again) to show them the right way to wrap the yarn instead of my way.  I think this is partially why I'm such a fast knitter...it definitely takes noticeably less time to wrap my way.  Maybe this is also why I'm such a loose knitter?  Either way, it works for me.

Pretty Pretty Headbands

My unemployed friend has started to make pretty headbands to pass the time and try to make a few extra bucks recently.  Lover of all things Etsy that I am sent her there to create a store...and she did!  Everyone should go and buy some cute cheap headbands.  She's making me one tonight so I'll have to try to get a picture wearing it tomorrow...it's getting to be a pain not having a camera anymore!

Finally!

Chris's ski mask is finally done!  All the finishing is done and everything is woven in.  Unfortunately, I don't know when Chris will be coming up from North Carolina so I'll have to mail it to him.  

Pattern:  Lucha Libre

Source:  Son of Stitch 'n Bitch

Yarn:  Cascade 220

Mods:  I knit the pattern in the round because I loathe seaming.  I also only knit in one color because Chris would not appreciate the obnoxious wrestler face designs :o)

I had to put it on so you can get the full effect.  It doesn't quite fit my head since it was designed for a guy's face, but you get the idea :o)

2008 Is Done Already???

Wow I can't believe it's been a year...A YEAR since I've posted. I've definately done a lot of knitting this past year and definately have had no time for posting. Probably because most of the time the only chance I had to knit was on my lunch break at work...but I'm definately anticipating a lot more time for knitting soon. I feel like I've knit a lot, but have nothing to show for it this year. So many FOs and no pictures because I was always in such a rush last minute to get them done as gifts. Here's some of the bigger projects from this year...

Lesley's Bikini from Greetings from Knit Cafe came out absolutely awesome. She never did send me a picture of her wearing it though like she promised :o( .

I made my first pair of mittens...bum gloves if you will. I bought the handspun yarn from http://www.sheknitigans.com/ aka Coley at the West Islip Craft Fair in September or October. The yarn was half bamboo and half wool...absolutely amazing to work with, even though it leaves little fuzzies everywhere :o) After making these I went on a mitten frenzy...I made a pair for Grandpa for Christmas, even though I got them to him late. Unfortunately, he didn't quite appreciate the removable cap as much as I thought he would (he thought they were awesome when I first made them...he told me to pattent them...silly since I got the pattern out of knit.1 magazine) and he had me sew them closed. All well they still came out awesome :o)

I had my first experience using the double knitting method and now I'm absolutely addicted. I made a friend a scarf for Christmas (finished it that day!) using it and it was sooooo easy. I've got two more double knitting projects lined up in the queue. I'll have to harass him for a decent photo of that scarf.

Nicole's Argyle Socks still aren't done. I think they're going to get scrapped actually. I still can't bring myself to look at them now. They frustrate me beyond belief, even though I really enjoyed the argyle pattern. There were just soooo many strands of yarn, always getting tangled...ugh. Even now the thought of it stresses me. Maybe eventually. One of them was up to the heel too so they're close to being done. Hopefully they'll be done by her next birthday.

These days I'm working on a baby blanket for my ex's brother and sister-in-law. I know...it's weird but I promised her a hand knit baby blanket. She uses the knifty knitter loom thing because she didn't have the patience when she tried to learn to knit. I tried the knifty knitter (I was jealous how fast she finished projects!). Yea...I'm not a fan. Give me my harmony needles any day! The blanket is from Vogue Knitting On the Go Baby Blankets Two...seriously can they make that title any longer?? It's a really simple cable and rib blanket that I've made before and I'm using stash yarn (yay for not buying any more!) that I got on clearance at Michael's forever ago. I really didn't think it was worth buying nice new yarn...might as well use up the cheap stuff taking up valuable stash space.

I'm also making a ski mask for the step-dad. He requested it and I actually had a pattern...from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. I adjusted the pattern so I could knit it in the round instead of flat and took out the color work...my step-dad definately wouldn't be a fan of the interesting wrestlers design on it. Unfortunately I can't get a good photo of it...I lost my camera and only have the camera phone to rely on these days for pictures and the dark brown wool just isn't looking so great in the pictures.