yarn chat

when i purchased eight skeins of sandnes garn's lanett in sage green about a year ago, the yarn couldn't decide whether it wanted to be branching out...


or a razor cami...
it seems that after some thought, lanett would rather be a dolman top from knit so fine. so pretty... :)
also: this flutter sleeve cardigan could be quite cute, now that my waist is more defined. :)



lastly, isn't this yarn gorgeous? it's not mine... yet. :) (jojoland melody)

yarn cakes

first off, i'm writing this blog on my new laptop. woo hoo! my very own laptop! it is the new millenium, you know... even if it is about a decade old already. :)

last weekend when my sister was home, i taught her some very basic steps about how to knit and crochet. she found knitting a bit easier, so we're going to progress with that next time she's home. i think what inspired her was the huge, fluffy blanket that i knitted for her for christmas. it was pretty cool. i also think that after six years of watching me crochet and seeing the projects i've made, she's at least a little curious. :)

i finally purchased a yarn winder. the alpaca yarn that started it all is pictured below:
i had it wound at knit on in bellevue, ky. i thought that the patterns on the side made it look so cool. the shape makes the yarn easier to stack too. i immediately wanted my own winder. :)

here's a picture of my spoils from this weekend... i went a little crazy with it:


here is a before and after of some joann's sensations stellina yarn. it doesn't stay together very well, so the yarn is much better off in a cake. :)

it's about time!

truly, it is. :)

i've been thinking a lot lately... which is scary... and yes, i've been thinking but not quite blogging until now.

i think it's kind of funny that a person might form analogies towards life based on the line of work he or she does, or hobbies that he or she may have. i've noticed this in a couple knitting blogs and i've caught myself thinking this way as well. i don't know, maybe it's just the patience and tenacity that one develops when knitting... and by now means is knitting considered an "extreme sport" or anything... but when you're knee-deep in a lace pattern on #2s, you might feel that way. :)

anyway... my thought was this, silly as it may seem: life is like a knitting pattern (or crochet pattern, if you will). sometimes you get the easiest pattern with a large section of stockinette or garter... it's great but it bores you to tears. :) then you come across a difficult portion where you have to give your full concentration, and you may be completely daunted by the pattern. this is the point where you take it line by line, reading carefully and breaking down the pattern one step at a time. when this is done, the item grows beautifully and when you reach the end of the pattern, you are excited that you made it through and you have a physical representation of your hard work and maybe a new skill you didn't have before.

while it is fun to strike a new path and create or modify pattern, i'm continually amazed at what happens when i simply follow the directions. :)

on holiday

i may not be blogging for awhile, due to the fact that i recently (read: yesterday) agreed to a teaching position at a summer camp in the pocono mountains until august 14th. it's going to be a really good opportunity for me to use some of my teaching skills while enjoying the summer in a place that's a little off the beaten path. i've wanted to work at a summer camp for the past couple years too, and this just kind of fell into my lap.
they are funding my plane ticket out there, my room and board, my food, and they're paying me a decent amount on top of that for the seven weeks that i'll be there. i guess that's what happens when you're certified to teach. :) i'm finally beginning to reap the benefits of people realizing that i'd be a good candidate for teaching. it also helps that they need someone starting wednesday of next week and i just happen to be available for the rest of the summer.
have a great summer!

holy projects, batman!

i'm so excited for my yarn to come in the mail.... so funny how a little package filled with the stringy-stuff will brighten my day. i found a gorgeous purple heathered yarn (while the link works) to make maude. it's fingering/sock weight yarn, so i'm a little scared... also it's a bit lace-intensive, and i'm apprehensive about that, too. just have to jump right in, i 'spose. :)
anyway, it's late and i just wanted to post about my awesome find! will post again with other current wips and stuff.

clutter has taken over....

... and now that the school year is winding down, it's time to reclaim my room. i would take photos to provide you with a wonderful "before & after" depiction of how bad my room looks and how good it will look when i'm done, but i'm too embarrassed to even show you a before picture of the mess in which i live....
i've been finishing a lot of knitting projects recently, seeing as how when i sub at the end of the year, my duties consist mainly of telling the students to work in their exam review packets. i enjoy when students and other staff members become curious about what i'm doing. amazing how knitting has the ability to open a conversation and provide you-learn-something-new-everyday moments.
i love teaching people about what i'm doing when i knit. they'll share some comments like, "wow, that's really cool!", "i don't have the patience for that," or "my mom/grandma does that." the first one i hear a lot if i'm working on a complicated-looking piece... or if i'm working on dpns -- the four needles throw them for a loop. :)
a new FO:

my second dizzy, for a friend.
caron simply soft in soft pink

i finished my mom's simple shrug as well, i just haven't taken any photos yet. :)

sheldon, the turtle

i finished the turtle and was on my way to give it to mrs. mcswain when i realized she had a sub for the afternoon. so disappointing. oh well. hopefully she received it this morning. :)

sheldon
wool-ease in loden and avocado
#2 and #3 (yikes! super-small!)


just a note: i darkened the last photo to better represent the colors of yarn that i used.

i received lots of "wow, that's really impressive!"-type comments yesterday, which made me feel amazing. i think he's pretty cool, too. :)

wowza!

i really haven't posted on here in a month? i suppose the initial intrigue of ravelry hasn't worn off yet... :)
i've been subbing a lot and working diligently on a few knitting projects... unfortunately, i misplaced my camera battery charger when my parents had all the carpet and hardwood flooring replaced in the house. it's probably in one of those i'm-going-to-put-it-here-so-it's-easy-to-remember places... but i haven't been able to remember yet. i do that to myself quite a bit though. the oxymoron of "organized chaos" is becoming much less appealing, especially as i'm attempting to pare down my belongings... both as a new start as i'm losing weight, and as a way to make moving out of my parents house much less difficult on myself.
one of my projects is the lovely little sheldon. i'm making him for the biology teacher who allowed me to take over her class for six weeks. she has a turtle tank in her room, so she obviously enjoys them. she also has a bunch of frog accessories, so maybe frogs are her favorite, but sheldon looked so cute that i had to make him for someone. :) he's my first knitted toy.
once i find my camera charger, i'll post more pics, but in the meantime, here's an early-on progress shot:

you begin knitting at his tail-end and work your way towards his head. the #3 dpns are quite small and began creating little sore spots on my hands, just due to the frequency at which i was knitting this project. he's so cute though, you just can't stop! i was leery about attempting the shell area, since i really haven't done any colorwork before. the pattern made it easy to carry up the color that wasn't being used on the side, which will be seamed later... so it doesn't matter how great it looks on the side.
sheldon is not nearly as difficult as i thought he would be. i'm glad that i started knitting him. i like challenging myself. :)
also, here are some completed photos of dizzy:

knitting fiend

i couldn't sleep last night, so i instead worked feverishly on the dizzy hat. i can see the swirl pattern and it pleases me since i previously epic-failed with the other yarn. :)

tying up loose ends... harharhar...

get it? get it? it's a yarn jo-.... nevermind. :)
i'm on spring break from my long-term sub job (two weeks and i get a break already!). it's a good thing that i didn't have a trip planned or anything, because i started feeling incredibly under the weather on good friday and i'm just now starting to feel better.
i've been finishing some items though. the saartje's bootees, which i was afraid to finish due to the closure of the straps, are now finished and it wasn't as bad as i thought.

the little star afghan that i've had hibernating for-freakin-ever is now finished as well. i only had two-and-a-half more rounds to go... why did i put it off?

i'v been spring cleaning and donating to amvets as well. it's part of my make-the-move-from-my-parents'-house-much-easier plan. :)

suede booties

i finally put the elastic on the inside of the suede "ugg" booties.


i'm sewing the buttons on the saartje's bootees as well. pics to follow because blogger isn't uploading things right now.... :)

i'm snowed in... what else am i going to do. plus, i wanted to make sure my cousin's little girl gets them before easter. good thing i made them a little big!

yay, photos!

i finally uploaded some photos on the ravelry site. my project page looks much more pretty now. :)
i am stitches away from finishing both sets of booties and a headwarmer for steve. steve loves the "lolcatz" site and asked earlier, "i can has headwarm?" awesomeness. :)

moar funny pictures

chirstmas gifts

i've been working on mom's christmas gift and have been knitting so much that my hands hurt... i need to finish both the saartje's booties and the suede booties for my new niece. peyton olivia just came into the world yesterday! These booties and my mom's blanket that she's making will be super-cute chitmas gifts for the new arrival. :) side note: i should get my mom to join ravelry... i'll mention it to her. not sure if she crafts enough for it but she might like it.
while i'm working on these other projects, i think i might bring the basketweave blanket out of hibernation. it had to hibernate during the summer because it was way to hot to work on a blanket with the fluffy symphony yarn!

completed: pinwheel blanket

yay, finally! this project wasn't a gift to anyone but i really wanted to finish it so that i could complete a project and so that i could get my circular cords back... :) now i can focus on gifts and other stuff like that...
photos have been taken, will upload later.

photos, or a lack thereof

i really need to get my computer reassembled. i haven't had it up and running since we had the guys in the house to replace the carpet, and i've been using my parents' laptop to stay semi-connected to everything. my main reason to get reconnected is so i can post photos of my wips and completed projects to put on ravelry. my page is so obviously neglected and it just looks way too bare. i could remedy this by switching to list mode, instead of image mode, in my profile but i would love to share all the beauteous things i have created. ;)
i'm also knitting like crazy on the pinwheel blanket. i'm nearly finished, having decided to knit the moss/seed stitch around the outside. a lovely fellow raveler gave me advice on how to increase on the outside, which helped tremendously, and got me jump-started to just finish it. i have a row-and-a-half to go and then i have a million miles to cast-off. wish me luck!

hmm...

i'm thinking that i might have to learn how to knit cables... yeah. it's just always looked so daunting to me. i love the challenge of learning new knitting techniques though. just like learning how to do algebra and thinking that division was a piece of cake, i've worked with dpns successfully, even when i used to get tangled up about a k2 p2 rib. yeah, i know. :) *sigh* i just love the look of the cables and they add so much depth and visual interest to the pieces that they're on. anyway, this will be my next quest, after christmas gifts are complete!

random thought + progress

on the rainbow pinwheel blanket:
that thing is going to be a pain in the derriere to seam up! ughh...

in happier news:
i basically got paid to knit at work today, due to the computer program outages. i was able to complete the suede parts of the suede booties. now i have to knit the inner lining and sew on details and i'm done! it really made me happy that i had the time to knit the booties in two days. awesomeness. :)

building momentum

today at drc, the computers weren't exactly working too well, so i got a chance to work on the ruffled corset belt. i was at least 60% done with it before today but i was able to finish it besides having to weave in the ends. pretty cool, huh? i was glad i had a purse-sized project to work on. everyone else was looking at me saying, "i wish i had brought something to do!"
photos to follow soon.

ravelry

i recently joined the ravelry community and i'm loving the heck out of it. it's so easy to organize your projects and see who's making the same thing as you, what yarns they're using, etc. it's a bit different than craftster but i like it just as much. plus it's yarn-centered so it's easy to find patterns and the site is just really intuitive when you input what pattern you are knitting/crocheting and what yarn is used.
it's really cool. :)

all wrong

so apparently i've been knitting and purling the wrong way. i didn't notice it too much until i started making a shrug with simply soft in mostly stockinette stitch. my knits looked twisted as a result of how i worked my purls. i did some researching and found out what i had been doing was combination-style purls and continental-style knits. it didn't bug me until this project, mainly because the only other stuff i really do in stockinette is bulky, fuzzy yarn stuff, so it doesn't matter too much.
anyway, i'd like to change this so that i would be working the knits and purls in the same style. after attempting to learn to purl continentally, i think it will be easier for my hands to learn how to knit combinationally (what? lol).
not too interesting of a post but it was eye-opening for me. :)