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.

Back to Knitting

The night before New Year's Eve was the official end to my unintentional sabbatical from knitting. Thank goodness.

The week of Thanksgiving I got an awesome promotion at work...I now have my own classroom at the day care (a whopping $3 raise...more awesome for my resume than anything). The only problem with this is I have had NO time for ANYTHING. The house is a mess and I literally did not knit or even keep up with my knitting blogs. I could barely keep up with my email inbox. I dropped Weight Watchers (maybe restarting this week??). I worked overtime every day and worked at least one day a weekend at the card store.

I know I'm whining. But it was a crazy 2 months. But now they're cutting down on overtime and I'm having more time during the day to get stuff done at work. And I'm so happy to be knitting again.

I caught myself up on lots of knitting blogs this afternoon. Last weekend I found a blog of a girl I graduated high school with which lead me to Etsy. This is great for anyone trying to sell anything they knit or otherwise make. I'm thinking of opening my own store soon for all my random knitting projects (subway scarf projects and leftover yarn baby blankets).

I also recently got my very fist iPod. I know I'm behind, but I had an awesome Creative Zen mp3 player from before iPods were even known...but I dropped it too many times and it stopped working. I tried so hard to fix it but nothing worked. With lots of Christmas money, I caved and bought an iPod. Oh the wonders I was missing out on. I have been addicted to listening to back episodes of the KnitPicks podcasts. I can't wait to get the books Kelly talks about and try some new knitting techniques. I'm really getting bored of the same old projects and am so ready for real sweaters and socks.

Slowly Making Some Progress

Work is still keeping me busy these days and on top of that (and getting ready for the holidays) I just applied for a grant to take an online class. The class total costs about 2 grand and there's no way I'm paying for any of that. If I get the grant, then I'll take it. The class is 3 sections that at the end I'll have an Associates Degree for preschool. Just something else to add to my resume that will hopefully help me get a real job for next school year.

As for my knitting, I've started the Menswear Striped Scarf for Chris' Christmas gift, although if it's done early enough I'll just give it to him for his birthday. Not that he really needs it in NC but maybe for when he and Mom come up here for visits or his trip to Mt. Everest, if that ever actually happens.

I've also finished a simple blue crochet scarf that I work on in the mornings. Some of the traffic lights take so long that I work on it mostly when I'm sitting at them. It only took about two weeks of mostly working on it only then.

I frogged the almost finished fingerless glove I was working on. I totally screwed up one of the cables and since it wasn't going to fit my hands anyway, I just took the whole thing apart. I have to re-work the pattern to fit my hand. I actually checked the gauge on this and everything so I'm not sure why it came out too tight. I think it's because the yarn is thinner than was used on the glove I was copying.

Last week I went to the Village Knitter for some yarn for a pair of socks that will eventually be for Nicole. They're going to be argyle in pink, purple and an off-white. I actually already have her Christmas gift for this year so I'll probably save them for a post-holidays project for next year's birthday.

I feel like I've got so many projects to get done for the holidays and so little time to work on them. I stayed at work late Wednesday for a meeting (2 and a half hours!) and I worked on Chris' scarf through the whole thing. I need to stop reading so many knitting blogs so I have more time for my own knitting!

la di dah

I still haven't been able to take a picture of the finished poncho yet :o(. Daylight Savings is killing me. I can't remember the last time I got home from work when it was light out. And the 1986 lamp in our living room just isn't going to cut it for taking pictures of my FOs. Also because I've been getting home so late, I haven't had time to work on pretty much ANYTHING. I started the cabled baby blanket just as something to do during my breaks at work but then switched to a Harry Potter scarf for a lady who left work for another center. Needless to say, with 2 days notice to her leaving, I did not finish. Now in the mornings when I get to work a little early I started a double crocheted and shells scarf. I made a bunch of these last year as Christmas gifts and figured that I could just make it for a backup gift. They work up really quick (it's 3 rows of dc and then a shell border).

And speaking of gifts, I still have not finished Nicole's birthday gift or started any other Christmas gifts. I think I'm going to the Village Knitter for some new yarn for one project (it's their first birthday and I got a 25% off coupon in the mail for my whole order!!!). I don't think the yarn I originally bought will work for the pattern.

Part of the reason I haven't started any gifts is my needles. The situation with them is disasterous. I don't know where pretty much all of them are. Some are in a decorative box at my mom's (or maybe I brought it here....I don't really know anymore). Some are in the living room with my current projects. And some are in the screen house packed away with all my things from college. AAAHHHH! I have to start moving things out of my mom's house so they can put it on the market so hopefully soon my life will be somewhat more organized.

Not knitting related, but I'm telling you anyway. So far I've lost 6 pounds! Woot. And that's without exercising. I know I should exercise more but I just don't have the time or energy after chasing my kids at work all day. I do my best to get a nice 20 minute walk in while the kids are on the playground...they love to hold my hand and just circulate the playground. It's not much but it's the best I can do right now.

It's been a while

My life has been so utterly hectic lately. Work is going pretty good, but it's keeping me busy. I don't get home some nights until 6 or 7 and by that point I just want to veg. I've been doing Weight Watchers again though and I've lost 4 pounds. Woot!

As for my knitting...
I finished the cabled poncho last week. I have to try to get home while there's still some light to take some pictures of it. I started a pair of fingerless gloves with the leftover yarn but frogged them because I just didn't like how they were coming out. I'm trying a new pattern for Nicole's Harry Potter ornaments (even though her birthday was last weekend). I hated trying to sew up those little sweaters so I'm trying another sweater ornament pattern that's knit in the round...so much easier. They're coming out a little bigger it looks like though so I might have to adjust.

At my hometown's country fair today the public library was having a book sale and I bought Kids Knitting for only $1. It's got some cute patterns in it and will be helpful if I ever do some knitting classes or teach my cousin Courtney to knit. (I tried once...she sorta got it. I cast on 10 stitches for her and somehow within a half hour she had about 50 stitches on her needle)

Also at the craft fair, I priced out how much it is to rent a booth there. $75. I'm thinking of stock-piling some of the things I make and rent a space next year. I'm just afraid I won't make it back. I looked at some of the other knit/crocheted goods that people were selling to get an idea on pricing. Some people's things I thought were underpriced while some I thought were overpriced. The secret to it is, though, is to have a little of everything: blankets, baby clothes, doll clothes, dog clothes (there were like 5 booths devoted to pets), baby blankets, scarves and hats. I'll have to expand my patterns a bit and venture to some new projects.

That's really the only knitting updates I have. It doesn't sound like much but I was so happy to see the poncho finished. It was starting to really drag working on it.

LAKSDJ;OBUIA

My life is utter CHAOS right now. I really need to get to sleep. I finished Mom's hat and have made my way through most of Grandma Marie's poncho (thanks to 2 straight days of doing nothing but watching Heroes DVDs). I start the new job tomorrow. Updates on that and maybe some project pictures to come.

I'm beginning to hate this poncho...

Now that there are so many stitches on it, it's taking FOREVER to do just one round. I haven't stopped to count in a while how many stitches I have (it's doesn't hurt the pattern if it's not exact) but man there's a lot. It's coming out pretty good though. I joined a new ball of yarn yesterday. I was surprise how much that little ball got me through. But now that it's so wide I'm sure this ball will go a lot faster. I'll have to try to get some pictures the next time I put it on scrap yarn to try it on and make sure it looks right.

What I really should be working on is the ornament set for Nicole's birthday (Sept. 15). It's right around the corner and I have pretty much nothing done. I found some more sweater ornament patterns that are done in the round so I might try making one of those instead. I'm really not a fan of the sewing together part, which given my sewing history should be a surprise. But I've never been a big fan of hand-sewing. Nicole tonight asked me to help her make her kitchen curtains. I've never made them but I can't imagine rectangular curtains being all that hard. I need to make some for our living room window because there's always a glare on the TV from the sunlight.

Who's got a job?

I've got a job. That's right, I'm FINALLY no longer unemployed! Which means I can finally go to the doctor's because I'll have insurance. I got a job at a Kiddie Academy as an assistant teacher full time. I'm sooo celebrating tonight!

Car Troubles with No Time for Knitting

A week ago me and Art drove out to look at houses and we took a side trip to the Hamptons. Sitting in traffic on Montauk Highway my car seriously started to overheat when I tried to turn the AC on. Yesterday while trying to do errands of course it starts to overheat again. I turned on the heat to cool the engine and it wasn't even spitting out hot air. I started to freak out because I was on a road with no room to pull over and the temp gauge was literally almost at the red line. Luckily I was close to my mom's house and my stepdad was home. He looked at it with me and apparently I have an antifreeze leak and there was pretty much no coolant in my car. Kinda explains a lot. We refilled the tank and Dad said he'd take a look at it on Saturday. It's been running normal since so that's good.

Stupid me this morning decided to step on that pretty clean white scale this morning before jumping in the shower. Baaaaad idea. I am officially at the heaviest I've been EVER at a good 25 pounds overweight for my height. So I stole my mom's Weight Watchers stuff and I'm gonna restart it next week (and I'm not paying for the program...I'm not paying that much to go talk to other fat people). I think I'm going to take an aerobics class at the high school and I really need to start doing yoga again.

Phew. That's my vent for the day. It's been crazy. I have not had any time to work on anything lately. I guess that's a good thing considering I've been working at the card store a bit which means money. Tomorrow morning I have my interview at Kiddie Academy. Woot. Hopefully I'll get that job. I really want it although working with 3 year olds would be really interesting...

SOCKS!

Does anyone know of any quick/easy more on the masculine side patterns for socks? I'm thinking of making some for the stepdad for Christmas since he doesn't really need any other knitted objects. Thanks!

No knitting news for today yet

I've just been working on Marie's poncho all day. In the process of switching needles I tried it on and it's looser than the picture shows but that's okay. It just covers my shoulders so I have a ways to go still.

I had another job interview this morning. I don't really want the job. I just wanted the interviewing practice. Chris came with me for some reason. He said he wanted to go for the ride. It was nice having someone to talk to on the ride at least. And then he took me out to lunch and bought me some vegetarian supplement pills when he went to the health food store.

As soon as I came home I started looking at the real estate websites to look up houses in the Moriches area. That's where were're thinking of moving eventually. I found a great house in the village of Center Moriches that was built in 1890. Desperately needs some landscaping though.

The yard looks pretty crappy but the house is the age and style that I want. Art's not so thrilled with the age though. It doesn't matter that much because we're no where near being able to afford a house yet, especially on one income. It's listed at $337,000 and seeing as how combined we have $5,000 (half of which is my bonds from childhood that go towards my college loans) we're no where near ready for a house. I love it though, maybe even more with a new paint color :o).

P.S.: I'm #11155 on Ravelry. Only 1682 people in front of me!

I figured I should update since I've done a bit of knitting. I frogged Mom's hat to the ribbing but haven't restarted it yet. I just got the new needles I needed for it yesterday. Hopefully it'll be quicker this time around since I've already done the whole thing. Grrr...


I also started Art's Grandma's Christmas gift. It's a pretty simple poncho from Vogue Knitting: Ponchos. I couldn't find a picture of the poncho finished but here's what I have so far:

what I have done...it's hard to tell because the whole project is squished onto my circulars

detail of the cable pattern.

It's hard to see in the pictures. I have to get better at taking pictures of my work, especially for when I'm trying to sell it online.

I haven't worked much on Nicole's birthday gifts (Harry Potter sweater ornaments). I only have one done (knitting part at least...I have to make the hanger parts but those will all be done at once). They're so annoying to make and I'm only on my second one. The knitting isn't that bad...it's the sewing together, neck, and sleeve stitch pick-ups that are driving me crazy. And it's bad because these have to be done soon. I'll have to get working on them again.

I apparently have a job interview tomorrow in Brooklyn again. I really don't want to go. MapQuest said it's a 40 minute drive (without traffic of course which never happens around here) and HopStop said it's a 2 hour 40 minute public commute. Not quite what I really want to be doing every morning on my way to work. I'm also supposed to have an interview with a developmental institute for students with disabilities but the lady never returned my call. I'd much rather work here (with a substansial pay cut) since it's on Long Island and sooo much closer. It's for a teacher's assitant position but would give me a lot of special ed experience. I'm calling them in the morning again and hopefully this lady will be at her desk this time.

Part one of an xmas gift done...I think

I finished Mom's hat for Christmas. It just looks like crap though. It's waaaaay too tall. I don't know if I should frog it or just save it for someone else. I spent literally all day yesterday working on it and this morning finishing it up. I'm wondering whether I should adjust the pattern or try a different size needle. My gauge was fine for the stitches across and I've never had a problem with the height of my stitches but they're a little bigger than what the pattern calls for. If I redo it, I'm definately buying circulars though. DPNs are such a pain in my ass. They're good for small things but a hat is just too big to be dealing with them. I might just take the hat apart down to the ribbing. I'm not going to bother redoing that part I think. That wouldn't make that much of a difference.

In other news, I've started my first full week of Fly Lady. It's a plan to help clean and organize the home, working on one Zone (room combinations) each week. I didn't bother much with last week's Zone because I started it so late in the week, but I did shine my sink! It's helping out big time. Only problem is that most of what I'm supposed to do this week I already did on Saturday in my cleaning frenzy. If you're having trouble keeping your place clean, I definately recommend it. I only wish I could get Dad and Art to help out a bit more.

Done with my first sweater...sorta

It's been sooo hot here lately. Luckily today wasn't so bad...I could knit a little bit. I knit my first sweater. For some reason (I'm on Dad's computer since mine is still broke) I can't load pictures to the blog. Check it out here: PhotoBucket . The pattern is for Christmas ornaments that will be Nicole's birthday gift (hopefully...). They are from the Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel (blog here). So it's sorta my first sweater. A good intro to sweaters at least. I started a golden snitch one too but it's only halfway done. Last week I also finished a St. Balderick's hat...a little too big though. I guess my knitting has changed in the past few months. It'll just be for a bigger kid (it fits my head).

You'll also see Dude and Squirt in my new pictures. They're my two new baby turtles, named after the turtles in Finding Nemo, that I got from Chinatown last week. They're now happily in a tank swimming everywhere. If only I could knit something for them it'd be perfect.