Well, the felted bag was kind of a flop. If it was not as wide, OR if it were taller it would be okay, but it's a rather strange shape as it is. Its basically the dimensions of a shoebox, but with a strap. {sigh} It's a little too "funky" for the 13 year old girl it was intended for. I may still show her both failed bags tomorrow, let her know I tried and see if she likes either one anyhow. In the meantime, I will be finishing a beaded heart necklace and maybe a star bracelet for her, so she will still get a gift from me :) I had to dash into walmart on the way to work to grab fixtures for the necklaces, and I prepared myself for the crowds, but it wasn't bad! Certainly busier than it usually is at 8am, but not the crazyness I expected.

I got a knitting bag last night! My friend got me one as a christmas gift and it's perfect. It's a lightweight denim (I live in jeans so it will always match my clothes, hehe) and it's a nice large size so it will hold larger projects. I guess she got tired of me toting my projects over to her place in plastic shopping bags!

I've been knitting like mad, trying to finish up all the christmas gifts. I finished stitching up the seam on Sister's sweater, so that one can finally be wrapped. (though I may still do a scrunchie or head band) I knit an altered version of "My Constant Companion" from the book "Knitter's Stash". It's a large felted bag with a flat bottom. BUT I tried to make it a little smaller, partly due to the amount of wool I had, and it may be TOO small now. It's wide enough, but not very tall, it's almost shoebox size and shape. I'm just letting it dry now to see how it is with the strap in it. I'm going to work on mom's socks at work, they're nearly done, then I just have to finish a beaded necklace for my cousin. (3/4 done already) Whew!

Hubby kindly stepped in to help me today with some baking. We made piles of dogbone shaped gingerbread cookies for my brother-in-law, and a bunch of homemade dogbone shaped dog biscuits for his dog. We're going to package them the same, hee hee! (nothing harmfull in the dog biscuits if he DOES get them mixed up!)

I'm back! We had a fabulous time in Vancouver, Peter Gabriel was AMAZING!!! And I couldn't beleive how close our seats were. (4th row floor)

I got to check out a couple yarn shops when we were over there, but I didn't buy anything. I went to Birkland Brothers Wool Ltd. and A Touch of Wool. A Touch of Wool had a great selection of yarns, and cheap notions. I fell in love with a yarn called "Flamenco". They had a sweater in it on display and it was gorgeous, the dying of the yarn made it create wide stripes of colour, and it was so pretty. Only problem was the balls of yarn (300g) were $39 each and I would have needed 2!! Sadly that's a little rich for my blood, so I'm HOPING I can find it online or locally cheaper than that. I haven't found it online yet though.

Came back to a wonderful package from Shetha in trade for some stamping things I sent her. She sent me soaps she'd made herself in two scents and they smell so good! I hope hubby isn't reading this blog or he will know what one of his gifts will be on wednesday ;) It was a lot of fun putting together a package to trade and getting something in the mail!

Christmas rush time! I'm madly working to finish christmas gifts, and it seems like there just isn't enough time! I'm ALMOST done sister's sweater, have one sock to finish for mom, a second purse to try for cousin, since the first didn't felt right(though I'm not giving up on it) and some beaded jewelry. I'm heading to vancouver on sunday for 5 days, so I have even less time to work on stuff. I haven't decided what I'm taking to work on during the trip yet.

Oh, and did I mention I haven't finished making my christmas cards, nor have I sent out a single one yet?? AHHHHH!

I took the leftover red yarn from making my brother's felted jester hat, and added some koolaid to try and make purple. It came out kind of burgunsy, after using 3 packets of blue koolaid, but I liked it. (the yarn was BRIGHT red before I touched it) I'm also impressed that the koolaid seemed to 'lock in' the red dye too, it was leaking a lot when I felted it before. I'm going to try to make my cousin another purse, though I haven't decided on a design yet. Here is a pic of the yarn:

Felting Failure!!

I set to do my felting sunday night at the in-law's place. After stumbing my way through their washer's unique controls, my clogs happily felted down to size, but the purse did not felt at all. In fact, I think it might have gotten BIGGER!. It still looks nice and I may still give it to my cousin, but I will at least have to shorten the strap. I love how the colours turned out, with the patterning making wavy stripes. The clogs amazed me. They were at least 20inches long before felting, and so floppy. Now though, they are only slightly bigger than my feet which should be perfect for my father-in-law! They stiffened right up and look very cool! I will try to take them to mom's place next weekend to get my brother to snap a digital photo for me, they don't fit in my scanner very well.

More projects!! I just found out I have a new baby cousin, so baby socks are in the works. Thankfully they go really fast, one is finished and the other will be today. I'm also making progress on the purse. I did 2 rows of eyelash yarn near the top and it looks pretty neat. I'm still undecided on how to do the bottom though, flat, round, ???? Does anyone have any suggestions?

As promised, a photo of my latest koolaid dying adventure:


It's hard to show you the true colours, my scanner doesn't work very well and I'm not too good at photoshop editing. It's a mix of lavender, grape, red, burgundy, hot pink, and a few variations in betweel. I think it looks gorgeous! It will hopefully become a felted purse for my cousin, I just have to decide on a shape/style and get knitting.

I managed some KIPing yesterday. (Knitting in Public) My husband is in a concert band and they were doing an outdoor christmas concert so I sat there listening, knitting away on my sock. Not too many odd looks......

Another koolaid project in the works! I have an idea in mind for a gift for my cousin, and had one skein of white wool handy, so I'm dying again today. I am trying something a little different, to create a veregated colour on the wool. I used a bunch of elastics to cover small portions of the skein, tie-dye style, and then dyed it with grape koolaid. Now I've taken the elastics off and poured some bright pink(strawberry lemonade) over most of the white spots. Its turning out more orangy pink though, and I might do the whole thing over in some cherry koolaid or something to "pink" it up a bit. Hopefully a scan to follow in a day or two!

I ripped the sock back to the error, almost to the beginning, and went at it again. Once I'd finished the heel flap I found ANOTHER error!! This one was small and I was able to hide it (thank goodness). I'm hoping to finish this sock today and get started on it's mate. Tonight while watching the Sopranos with the neighbours I want to finish knitting the felted clogs. I'd like to felt them at Mom's tomorrow, since I don't have a washing machine of my own. Both clogs still need the second sole piece done, and I have a bit more to do on the second one, but I think I can get them done.

I found some yarn at Value Village last night! Most of a ball of brown Regia sock yarn with the tag for 69cents and a 1lb cone of blue cotton for $1.99. There was also a lot of bright green aran wool that was a bit too bright for me, and some pretty veregated pink skeins. I couldn't tell what the pink yarn was and when I felt it I found it really scratchy so I left it behind. Still, I'm happy about the cotton and Regia!

I have nothing new and exciting to show you knitting-wise. I've been working on the Fibre Trends Felted clogs for my father in law. I am finished all but the 2nd sole piece on hte first one and MY GOODNESS they are HUGE!!! Seriously, I think this thing is 20inches from heel to toe! I sure hope it shrinks a lot in felting! If they end up a little big they may become a gift for someone else with bigger feet, I'll have to see how it goes. I made a beaded heart necklace and bracelet for a friend last week. Once you get the pattern in your head those things move along quickly, I finished both in one day.

Our local stamping group had a class on using Chalks last monday. Here are the cards I created:

Well I wanted to show you a scan of my beaded knitting (or bead knitting, I never can sort out the difference) but I've lost it! I had my little project in a ziploc and its no where to be seen! Hopefully it turns up soon. Im trying to make a beaded purse necklace for my cousin. I got almost tot he halfway point when I ran out of beads. No problem, I figured I could hop over to walmart and grab more......but they stopped carrying the brand and colour I'd used. So I sent hubby to a bead store to get some. He got a perfect match except his beads were of higher quality and more uniform, and would have made the bag look strange. {sigh} So I may be starting over. I wasn't thrilled with the colour using white thread, I might try it with dark thread instead this time, and I might try making it a little smaller. I was only half done and it was already getting pretty heavy from the beads!

Started a second pair of socks for mom. These are in confetti jacquard yarn as wekk but in olive, mustard, purple, beige and white. Quite a neat colour combo actually. I'm doing these ones on two circular needles too, which is a nice change.

I finished my gloves on friday night. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. They fit my hands wonderfully, I'm proud of myself for adjusting the pattern to fit my large hands :) Here is a crummy photo of them:
The colour doesn't come out great but they are a pretty green mix, 2 plys green, one darker green, and one grey. They'll be perfect to keep my hands warm while typing at work!

I also gave my brother his jester hat yesterday. He was quite pleased, and apparently wore it out bowling. (and name himself "the jester" hee hee) Hubby tells me when my sister saw it and found out I made it she was quite impressed. Hopefully she will be impressed with the sweater I am making her ;)

Glove #1 is done!!!! (I'm wearing it now as I type - hee hee) I can't believe I worked it up so fast, hopefully its mate will work up quick too. I started getting frustrated near the end, it's hard to work in such small rounds, each finger being only about 15 stitches or so around. I also still have to darn in all the loose ends, my least favorite part of knitting things! (well it's a tie with sewing I think!) I didn't bring a needle to work though so I will have to wait until later to deal with the ends. Maybe I will start on the mate in the meantime.

I liked working on 2 circulars as compared to a set of DPNs....I might do my next pair of socks this way, if I can find some small circs at the thrift shops.

Brother's jester hat has been knit and sewn! I just need to felt it now, I may do that this afternoon before I go to stamp club. Something odd happenned though, The 'head' part of it had nice even stitches, but when I did each of the points, the tension went funny. It was like half of each stitch was tighter than the other half. The first point I did on straight needles (main hat part was done on a circular needle) so I thought that was the problem. I did the second point on the circ, though back and forth, not in the round of course, and it was the same! Very strange. It didn't make a big difference, and I suspect once felted. IF anything the points will end up a little stiffer which is just fine by me. I can't wait to give this to him, I hope he really likes it!

I started on some fingerless gloves for myself from This Pattern. My fingers get cold at work, when I'm typing or knitting or anything really, so I thought fingerless gloves would be a good thing. I have some neat stash yarn that looks like 2 plys olive green, one ply forest green and one ply greyish. I don't know what the yarn is made from, possibly a wool blend, but it feels nice and looks cool. I'm trying these on 2 circular needles, which is much different than the DPN method of knitting in the round. So far I like it, I'm getting the hand of which "loose end" to knit with so I don't knit myself into a circle. (did that a couple times already)

I started the jester hat for my brother the other day. I'm doing it in bright red and bright blue, and it looks pretty cool so far. I'm totally guessing on how many stitches to use, I made up the smaller one as I went, and don't remember how many stitches I used. At least with felting by hand I have a "little" bit of control on how the sizing goes.

The scarf I'd had nearly finished for my mother-in-law fell off the needles. Sadly the combination of Snowflake and eyelash yarn, while pretty and soft, does not lend itself to easily picking up slipped stitches, so I think I may have to rip it and start over. I'm not too unhappy, I found it to be a bit wide and short, so I can make it 2 stitches narrower and probably be happier with it in the end. I don't really like working on the huge needles though, I find them awkward.

OUCH!

It was bound to happen, and my own darned fault.....one of my knitting needles slipped between the cushions of the couch and when I plunked myself down to knit later, I sat right on it! I was pretty lucky, it only went in maybe an inch tops, and into a well padded area of my upper thigh, so other than a tender spot and some light bruising, I'm okay. It was scarey though, I jumped up once in happenned and couldn't tell how far in it was!

In happier news my sister's sweater is getting really close to completion. I'm half done the second sleeve, then I need to sew it all up. Mom's socks are nearly done, I will finish them today I think. I bought red and blue wool yesterday to make a larger jester hat for my brother too.

I still haven't found wool to make another jester hat. I want to make one for my brother but in bright red and blue maybe. The shop downtown seems to be the only place that carries the stuff I want, and I haven't managed to get down there yet. I'd better hurry I only have a few weeks! I'm still working on my sister's sweater, stalled while I wait for arm measurements from my mother.

I made a jester hat with my koolaid yarn this weekend. It was super easy and loads of fun. Basically I just knit for a while on circular needles, then split the stitches in half and decreased on each side to make triangles, folded each in half and sewed them up. I then tried my hand at felting, by hand since I don't own a washing machine. (I'm certainly not about to pay $1.25 a load at a laundromat to play around!) I'm quite happy with the result:



Sorry the image is so big, I don't have photoshop here so I had trouble resizing it. It's toddler sized, so it will be for my neighbour's little 2.5 year old girl. I bought round bells at walmart this morning to finish it off. I'm going to make another one now, larger, for my brother. He's a bit of an oddball and would love something like this. His birthday is in less than a month too. I'm not sure if I did the felting right, It did all bind together and shrink some, but it seems like my stitches still have a lot of definition to them, should they? at the bottom of the hat, where the edge rolled up since I just did straight stockingknit, it bound to itself, which was kind of cool. The seams on the points almost dissapeared too. I just used HOT tap water in a bowl with some sunlight dishsoap, and alternated between that and cold running tap water, rubbing the fabric against itself in both temperatures. Is that right? Tips anyone??

Whipping along on the mate for the sock pictured below, when this morning I discovered a problem. The dreaded dropped stitch! Worse yet, it was about 20 rows back! I couldn't bear the thought of ripping back that much, so I set to trying to just pick it back up. It took a little while but I did it, and you can't even see where! I remember being MESMERIZED when a woman at the knitting shop picked up some stitches for me several months back, amazed at how she managed it with just needles, no crochet hook, and here I am doing the same now. Go me!

New projects are forming themselves in my mind way faster than I can knit them. I REALLY need to think about something for my brother first though, his birthday is in less than a month!

Sock #1 is finished! After many false starts and multiple different patterns, I managed to create a sock from This Pattern. Here it is:




I think it turned out pretty well. This pattern makes a fairly pointy toe, though. I started grafting a couple rows early to combat this, but it's still pretty pointy. I hope I can finish it's mate fairly fast, I want to try socks on 2 circular needles next! Everyone keeps raving about them and it sounds like fun. I'm going to head down to the LYS, Beehive Wool today to see what they have. I want to look into felted slippers as a maybe gift idea for my father in law!

It's finished!

I love how it turned out, I'm so proud of myself, hehe. I'm going to take it to work today for the raffle. I hope they like it, I sure enjoyed making it! I used the hooded baby sweater pattern from Knit It! magazine. The yarn is Lion Brand Microspun, which is wonderful to knit with and came out so soft.

Still working away on the sweater for my sister. I'm done the front and back and am about halfway through one sleeve. It's nearing completion now, getting closer to the dreaded sewing up stage. I really don't like the finishing part, I am not good with sewing pieces together. I think if I looked up how you are actually SUPPOSED to do this, it would go better, usually I just wing it.

I also need to restart mom's socks in that nifty Confetti Jacquard yarn. I need a good simple pattern, my first few toe-up attempts failed, for one reason or another. I may have to start from the cuff on this one. But I still have to decide on a pattern. Most I found so far have detailing and patterning, but with the Jacquard patterning of the yarn I want something plain.

Well, here is at least a low quality image of the dying I did the other night:


What do you think? Funky colours eh? The green is a little brighter than that, but the purple is fairly close. I was just playing around so I didn't want to "waste" my good koolaid colours! I don't know what I will make with it now, maybe socks, as it's about a fingering weight wool. This was so much fun I can't wait to dye some more! I have one more small skein of wool to play with and then I will have to find some more. I've been unlucky finding more at thrift shops, and Michael's doesn't carry any pure wool yarns! Lewiscraft had a couple but they were a little pricey so I'm waiting on them.

I found a cute baby sock pattern at http://home.earthlink.net/~nanknits/5hbssock.htm that was designed to match the "5 Hour Baby Sweater" pattern you can find online. I am doing them to match my hooded baby top I'm doing. I took a crummy photo of that, I will try and scan it in soon. These socks are so cute, much better than any of the bootie patterns I tried before. I have to get busy this weekend, the baby stuff and stamped cards are due next week!

I dyed some wool last night!! Thanks to the great directions Kristi Porter wrote in an article in Knitty.com it was all so easy! I wanted to buy some wool at michael's on the way home from work to play with, but they didn't have anything that wasn't more than half acrylic! So I just got to play around with 50g of fingering weight thrift shop wool I had. I made half of it a bold kelly green and the other half eggplant purple. I'm hoping to have scans of them for tomorrow, or later tonight. I can't wait to dye some more, I need to find some wool!

The top is done! Well, I still have to sew up the underarm seams, weave in a couple ends, and attach the buttons. I bought the CUTEST buttons the other day, they are little yellow stars! They work really well with the lavender yarn I made the top out of. I started and frogged a couple pairs of booties to match, I just haven't found a pattern I'm happy with yet.

I started the Sweater for my sister last night. Already I have done over 5 inches on the back, this stuff knits up quickly! It's "hard" to knit though, like I have to put out more effort to make the stitches, if that makes sense. It looks nice though, I know she will love it.

I'm NEARLY done the baby top for the day care raffle! I feel stupid that it came out so tiny, I must start doing a guage swatch!! That aside, it's turning out very nice. I've learned on this item, which is very cool. I got lots of practice picking up stitches, as that is how the sleeves are attached AND how the ribbing around the hood edge is done. I also got to do grafting for the shoulders - way cool! I loved how easy it was and how nice the shoulders looked, no seams! I'm about 1/3 done the second sleeve, then I will just have to "block" it and get the buttons! (I put "block" in brackets cuz I've never blocked anything before, and am only partly sure I will do it for this piece. Also I suspect I will sort of half invent how to do it as every site I find has a different method!!) I may make booties to match this top since I have more than 2/3 of the second skein left of the purple microspun. I love working with this yarn! I would make myself a top in it if I didn't know it would take about 10 years given the guage!!!

Once I finish this baby thing I can start the sweater I am making for my sister. I've changed my mind AGAIN on what I am making for her, but think I'll stick to what I decided this time. I am making THIS basic sweater in Bernat Denimstyle . I'm using the Indigo colour, which is the dark blue they did the swatch in on that page I linked to. It's totally "my sister" so I'm happy with this selection. The yarn is so soft and cozy, totally machine washable, and fairly cheap($4 a ball retail, I need 6 total). This pattern is the basic sweater from Knit It magazine, but altered to be used with a lighter weight yarn (wool ease) so it will be perfect for the yarn I chose. I am excited about making this top and want to start on it, but because my other project has a deadline, I am forcing myself to finish it first.

I've finished my "6hr sweater" and wore it last week. It's warm and fuzzy, but fits a little funny. I made the arm holes too tight and the whole sweater is a little short. (sigh) I think I am more of a process knitter, I get impatient with finishing and details, and then end up frustrated with the results.

I'm moving right along on my day care raffle items. I've made three stamped cards so far, and hope to do another three and envelopes tonight. The baby sweater is more than half way done as w3ell. Made a boo-boo on the sweater though. I MUST learn to swatch. I used the recommended yarn and needles so I assumed it would be fine, but my item is ending up about 2/3 the size it should be!! I didn't notice until I was too far along to rip back. So....my "12 month" sized sweater is going to be more of a "newborn" sized sweater. Oh well, it looks really nice, and its a raffle prize so there aren't any restrictions on size or anything, I just thought a 12month old size would be more versatile.

I have hardly touched my new knitting book, I've been too busy working on this "6hr sweater" I started last week. Though I have put in a little more than 6 hours on it I would guess, I am using mohair, which is a little slower going. Plus the HUGE needles are a little awkward to use. It looks and feels really nice though. I only have to sew it up now. I may do that after work and wear it to stamp club tonight.

I've got to get moving on my items for the Day Care Raffle! They are due in one month, and I promised "knit baby items" and a set of "hand stamped cards". Maybe I can do the cards tonight at stamp club. I had made some but wasn't happy enough with them, so I need to make something new. The other cards I had made used stamps by a stamping company that wouldn't give me a clear answer about their Angel Policy, so to heck with them! (An angel policy states whether you can make items to sell using their designs. These items aren't for me to sell, they are for a charity raffle, but still, I wanted to be safe)

My book is here!! My husband picked up our chapters.ca order from the post office today so my copy of The Knitter's Stash is at home waiting for me! I'm very excited, I rarely own big fancy new books. :)

I started ANOTHER sweater last night. It's a very simple pattern for a Six-hour sweater. you knit is on huge needles, 9mm and 12.5mm, with two strands of worsted weight yarn, so it's no wonder it only takes 6 hours. I'm doing mine in some pretty purple mohair blend yarn I bought at the salvation army yesterday. Its so soft and fluffy! It's a little awkward knitting on such big needles, but very cool to have the top knitting up so fast. I'm a third of the way up the front already, and I'm going to get as far as I can on it tonight. Two women in my building seem interested in knitting and I think this would make a great beginner pattern. The large stitches make them easy to see, and the instant gratification factor is important too. I wouldn't suggest they start with mohair though, I think a cotton would work well for this!

I had a great weekend away. It was so relaxing and fun to just "get away". We really need to do that more. Knit-wise, the trip didn't go well though. I screwed up on the socks, dropping a couple stitches somewhere that I COULD not find. So I think I will have to rip it out yet again. I'm starting to consider abandoning toe-up patterns for now and just doing a plain old ankle-down pattern. What do you think?

I also didn't find any yarn stores. Because we were on a tight schedule trying to get to the wedding, then getting back to Victoria so I could be at work again today, we didn't have a lot of shopping time. We tried to chase down one yarn shop in Vancouver on Monday, but when we got there it was closed. In better news, I am expecting a knitting book I ordered last week to come today or tomorrow. I ordered The Knitter's Stash from chapters.ca. My husband needed to order a book from there anyways for school, so I decided to splurge. This will be the first knitting book I will OWN as opposed to borrowed library books and patterns from the net. I'm excited. There are a lot of patterns I like from that book, mostly for stuff for myself, haha!

Well the sweater is still coming along. I started one of the sleeves the other day. I'm a little nervous as I peeked ahead at the directions and its quite confusing when you get to attaching the sleeves to the body. But I'm not going to worry until I get there, and I decided NOT to take the sweater on our road trip. I'm going to rip out that sock I've been doing {sigh} and start it again with a different pattern and take that. A sock is a much better travel project anyways. It hurts to frog, but it would hurt worse to give my mom socks I wasn't proud of!!

I'm nearly done the main body part of the sweater. I've got 10inches, of the 11 needed before I start the arms. I wonder if I will finish this before my trip this weekend!! It's doubtfull, but If I get close I don't really want to take the stitching together portion on the road with me. I may start those socks over as a project to take instead. Mama Kate said she used Wendy's Generic Toe-up" pattern for her socks, and they look much better in shape than the one I did so far. The toe of mine is so pointy, and the pattern I'm using has lame heel instructions. I may just frog the one I'm working on and start over. Socks make good travel projects.........

I missed my stamp club meeting last week, just wasn' feeling crafty, but I need to go tonight. I have two wedding cards to make, one for the wedding this weekend, and another for a friend who got married a week or so ago. I don't have a lot of "wedding" theme stamps, hopefully someone else will bring a nice rose stamp....I have an idea in mind.

I'm up to about 5.5" done on the ribbed sweater! That's pretty good especially since it is done in the round, that's like having 11" done on a flat pattern ;) I love how its turning out, the colour will be great with my dark jeans (it's burgundy) and it's just so "ME"! I hope the pattern will be suitable for my sister too.

We're driving to a wedding in Kootenay Bay next weekend. It's a place in South Eastern BC, near Nelson, if that helps. It's apparently an 8hr drive AFTER the ferry to the mainland (which is over an hour and a half, plus driving time to the ferry on our end). Sooo....we're splitting the trip up to make it manageable. We're leaving friday night right after work, getting reserved tickets for the ferry and hoping to make it to Hope that night. Then we'll only (only??) have about a 6 hour drive on saturday. It should be fun though, it's a really casual affair, and I like driving trips with my husband. Does anyone know any good knitting shops along the Highway 3 route in southern BC????

My sweater is coming along nicely. It's so nice knitting it in the round so I can start and stop anywhere. Makes it a perfect "take along" project. (if only it wasn't a supersize skein of cotton - almost 10 by 5 inches!!) I really like how the ribs look, its going to be a great smart-looking but casual top. I think when I make the one for my sister I will use a fancier fibre for sure, I just haven't decided what yet. Even using a nice mercerized cotton might give it enough sheen to dress it up a bit.

I had been wanting to try making thos Fruit baby hats I keep hearing about, but didn't want to splurge on the kit at the LYS. Imagine my surprise when an old Family Circle magazine I picked up at a garage sale on the weekend had the pattern in it!!! So now I can try the pattern out, it looks fairly easy. I need to make a "baby item" for the raffle here at work, so a fruit hat and booties might be just the thing.

I'm not happy with my socks. They have this silly pointed toe! (If you look down to last friday's post you can see a photo) I'd been ignoring that pointy toe, because I was so enamoured with the jaquard pattern as it emerged, and enjoying the tiny needles. But I am getting to the heel point on the pattern I'm following and the pattern sort of disintigrates for me. I'm doing the pattern from http://home.earthlink.net/~jeffnstasia/sox.htm and it does NOT explain the heel very well at all! I don't have a clue what to do. So I am contemplating ripping the whole damn thing out and starting over on a new pattern. This one looks good, but is done on 2 circulars. I spent a few bucks on getting these nice 2.25mm DPNs so I don't really want to have to buy more needles. What's a gal to do? Does anyone have a suggestion for me? A toe-up pattern with better heel instructions? A different toe-up pattern I can use? HELP?!?!?

I found it! I found THE pattern I was dreaming of for my sister's christmas sweater!!! I finally got The Knitter's Stash from the Library, where I'd reserved it way back in April. It must be popular, I only get to have it for 2 weeks!

Anyways, there, as like the second project in the book, is the sweater. (if you have access to that book, take a peek and tell me what you think, and if you've made this sweater, let me know!!) It's done in a k4 p2 rib, with I-cord cast offs for trim, and it looks perfect. It's casual, but smart looking, and looks very comfortable. Even better, it's done in the round! The pattern calls for a 100% cotton yarn, too, so I am going to start myself one with some burgundy cotton yarn I had already. It's totally something I would wear, and I want to see how it knits up for size and stuff. I might want to try a "nicer" fibre for the one I make my sister, or I might just splurge and get "good" cotton yarn.

My sock is coming along nicely. It seems to fit pretty nicely now. I took my sock to the Dr's office on Monday since I was early, and my doc was teasing me about it. "Ooooh, aren't you getting all domestic!" but he was impressed with the sock thus far.

I'm thinking more about getting started on the sweater for my sister. (christmas present) I'm thinking more and more that this Berroco pattern might just do it:



But I don't like the fuzzy cuffs. Well, I do like them, but this is for my sister and I think she would hate them. Do you think I can just leave them off, and knit the sleeves and body a little longer in the pattern stitch? I'm worried about it looking funny or rolling up is all, but since the whole sweater is a sort of rib, it might be okay. OR, does anyone else have a good pattern for a ribbed, fitted sweater along these lines?

I also need to pick a yarn. I want her to really like this top, so i want to make it out of something nice, but it has to be machine washable. "Lay flat to dry" is fine, but I don't want to give her something she'll never wear since it's too hard to care for! Does anyone have suggestions for a nice yarn, something that feels really nice, but will have a little drape to it so it fits nice? The pattern suggests "Sensu-wool" but its hard to care for.........

I ripped back the sock and got rid of a couple of increases and it seems to be fitting a bit better now. I've got about 4 inches done now, it looks really neat! It goes a lot faster than I thought it would on 2.25mm needles and this tiny yarn.

And now for something different, photos of my "garden":




It's not much, but it's something! I only planted the beans a short while ago, jealous of my neighbour's carrots and herbs. My mom gave me the tomato plant. The beans are doing much better than I expected....I used some old seed I found, probably at least 2 years old, and planted some morning glory seeds with them too, thinking I'd only get a few plants and needed to fill them out! Now I see I am going to have to thin them out and move a couple of the plants to another pot. I love growing things! Next year I am going to plan early and have all sorts of things growing on my balcony.

I'm working on a pair of toe-up socks for my mom. This is my first ever toe-up pair (and only my second ever attempt at socks) and I'm having a little trouble. The instructions say to do increases each side (4 stitches total) every other row until it fits the widest part of hte ball of your foot. Then stop increasing and just knit. I did that, but where I am "just knitting" seems to still be growing! The sock is getting too wide. I don't THINK my guage is increasing, so what am I doing wrong? I think I am going to have to rip back and get rid of a few of the increasing rows and try again.

In happier news I LOVE this jaquard print yarn! It's so fun to watch the pattern appearing, and wait to see what will come next! I also like how small a sock project is, so much nicer to tote to work with me! Here's a picture of the sock and yarn showing progress as of a few days ago. If you look closely, I stopped increasing at the beginning of the black row, but its still getting bigger and bigger....



I need to rip back and get organized this afternoon. We have plans to go to the neighbours house and rent The Sopranos for tonight, so I'd like to have the sock back to "straight knitting" mode to work on it.

YAY I fixed my blog! from now on I will TRIPLE check my HTML code before publishing. Anyways, go check out my photos!

Today I have a special treat.....PHOTOS! My husband had to pick up a digital camera last night for his workplace, and we figured we'd best test it out before he took it in to work today ;) I took a bunch of photos, but I'm going to space them out a bit. I'm no whiz with Photoshop, so I'm just going to toss them up on websites to share I think. So if you want to check out pics of my boatneck shell, the failed shell, my sleeveless turtleneck and the cap sleeved top, CLICK HERE (there are even photos of my pretty face!)


I have a couple more photos I can add tomorrow. Sorry the photo quality isn't great, I had maybe 5 minutes to snap some quick shots this morning before the camera had to go. Still, I'm glad to actually have some knitting photos to share!

I've left the knitting be for today, may pick it up again this weekend, and moved my focus back to beading!! I found another nifty pattern to try: Sweetheart Necklace. So far its turning out very nicely. I'm using dark blue beadsfor the hearts, and pearly-clear beads for the rest of it. I'm almost halfway done already, and I brought it to work with me since it looks like another slow day. (yet again I am happy to have my own office in a remote place where no one comes in!)

I have questions for all you beaders though. When you are doing a project like this, where you are doing more than just stringing beads on, and need to make a starting point, how do you not run out of thread?? I mean, I can't very well work with 4 yards of thread on my needle, but if I use a manageable amount, I run out when the necklace is about 5 inches long! What I did so far on this heart necklace is start and have as much thread as I could manage, but didn't cut it from the spool, so the spool is still attached at the end I started from. Then when I ran out of thread, I unrolled a pile more and started working from the other end. It's working well so far but I still don't know if I will have enough thread to finish the necklace. I'm super bad at joining too, I don't know how I would join in more thread. Ideas?

Knitting has taught me that:

• Sometimes it is the journey, not the destination, sometimes it's the actual knitting, more than the completed item, that is enjoyable
  
• Mindless (stockingknit, especially in the round) knitting can be a wonderful thing
  
• Sometimes it's good to splurge on luxurious materials/Sometimes you don't need to splurge on luxurious materials
  
• Knitter are fun, friendly, helpful people
  
• Knit clothing can be really hip and stylish!
  
• I look better in something I made myself - it fits just right and my pride shines through and makes me smile ;)
  
• A complete flop of a project isn't a complete flop if you learned something from it. (the importance of swatching!)
  

Okay, it's official, Boatneck Shell #2 is a flop. I finished it last night, and it turned out horribly. The sleeves are a little small (and I didn't do the finishing on them even), it's way too wide, and way too short. Oh and the neck is snug too. [cry] That yarn was not fun to work with and I SO wanted the top to turn out. There really is no way to salvage it, the yarn will not stand up to another frogging, not that I would even have the heart to try. I'm going to try shrinking it in the wash, to see if I can bring in the width some, make it a crop top or something. (not that I would wear one)

So now I need a new project, and I need to work with a more "normal" yarn for a change. All these novelty ones are driving me crazy!

I'm starting to think my boatneck shell is going to turn out funny. I was measuring it against the other boatneck I did, since I am adjusting the size a little on this one, and it's shaped differently! This Paper Phil yarn is bulkier and stiffer, so that may have something to do with it, but I cannot see any of the shaping from the decreases! Strangest thing is, I added an EXTRA decrease (and corresponding increase) because the other one was a little big in the waist. Things that make you go, Hmmmmmm.....

It's also ending up really long, I still have 11 rows until I am supposed to do the armholes, but it's almost as long as my other top is to the armholes already! And this is after skipping 6 or 7 rows to shorten it! Well, at least it won't look the same as the other one, eh? It's still enjoyable to knit, and I am sure it will end up wearable, I'm just perplexed as to how it's ending up so different!

Knitting a simple pattern in the round is great for "tv knitting" which is my favorite. You count rows less often, and only do knit stitches, so there isn't nearly as much need to look down at your hands! Case in point: I knit quite a bit on the boatneck shell last night while watching Amelie! (which, I must say, is a wonderful movie! I laughed out loud so much!) The movie was in french with english subtitles, and there was so much going on, so many little details, that I had to read every word. I had no problem, I only had to look down to check off rows as I did them, and when I changed to a second skein. Nifty!

I'm going shopping tonight for tons of makeup and stuff from The Body Shop! I am vegitarian (for health reasons, not ethics) and learned about some of the nasty animal products in my makeup, plus most of it is getting quite old anyways. As part of my birthday present, my husband is buying me a whole whack of animal-friendly makup to replace my crummy old stuff! I'm not ready to go vegan, or replace everything in my home, but this is a step I'm taking so I can feel better about what I put on my face in the mornings. I've been emailing the body shop all week about their ingredients, to find out which are good, and what to avoid, and I'm ready to go shopping now!

I'm loving knitting this shell "in the round"! It's going quite quickly too, which is encouraging. SO FAR, it's been really easy, I just follow the directions as though Marker A to Marker B is the row, then I just do it again for Marker B to Marker A. Why did I think this was so hard?

I planted some beans this morning. I KNOW its late, I should have started this months ago, but my neighbour is growing herbs on her balcony and I was jealous ;) I am going to add some morning glories between the beans tonight, hopefully they will grow up my trellis and shade my balcony in.

Ripping out the boat neck tank was a trying experience. I was within an inch or so of finishing the front, I had to rip out 4 full balls of knitting - ouch! Plus I had to do it carefully because it was a novelty yarn that would tear and stretch if pulled too hard. BUT I did it, and I think ripping will be less painful in the future :)

So I started again on circular needles and I am so happy. I just love working on circular needles. I love how compact they are for packing to work, how they balance the work, how you can just knit and knit, and stop anywhere, not having to work to the end of a "row". I really hope this piece works out, it would give me the confidence to convert more patterns to circular I think!

I also went to the LYS this weekend, and picked out a neat jaquard sock yarn: DGB Confetti 100. I can't remember which colour I got, but it's a mix of blues, might be 237, I just can't remember. I bought som pretty pearly size 2.25 DPNs too. They are so tiny, but that is what the shop ladies reccomended. (actually they said size 2 but I could get away with 2.25) I'm still uncertain how just about any pattern will work with the yarn to make the pattern like they said, but what the heck. They will be a christmas gift for my mother, assuming all goes well!

Well, the boatneck shell I'm working on is not going well. I just this morning realised I don't have enough yarn. I measured it against the last one I made, and it would have been too big anyways! (this yarn has a bit bigger guage I guess). I guess that's a good thing, it means if the yarn will stand up to tinking okay(I'm worried it won't) then I will probably have enough yarn to make a smaller version, since I was only going to be about half a skein shy. I REALLY wanted to make this shell "in-the-round" too because I hate seams and sewing, loved working on circular needles, and the pattern seemed simple enough to be a good candidate for converting. But I was too scared to try. Perhaps this was a sign that I should have gone for it??

Anyways, if I can tink this yarn without destroying it completely (unravelling a few rows yesterday to correct an error was pretty hard on it) then I'm going to start again on circulars! I just have to sit down and rework the pattern. Does anyone know how to figure out how much to decrease to cover for side seams? I need to make it an inch or two smaller around I think, just to fix the size, and an inch shorter, but how much more for the seams? Once I figure it out Im going to rewrite the whole pattern out so that I can check it off as I go, I don't want to lose track. Wish me luck! (and offer me tips if you have any, please!!!!)

And finally, a photo!!! Sadly it is not a photo of my knitting. We don't own a digital camera and it takes me so long to get through a roll of film for developing that you won't see knitting photos for a while. But I did make a star beaded necklace that I can share with you here :)

Star Necklace

Sorry for the grainy photo, I was trying not to make it too huge, and I'm not too skilled with our scanner.

Thanks to mama kate getting me searching some blogs for references to using Flora Trendsetter. Both were using it for scarves though. I'm really not a scarf person. So I did a little digging on my own, found another similar yarn called Cancun, and then found these:
http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/patterns/cancuntanktop.html
http://www.tahkistacycharles.com/patterns/cancuntanktop.html
Two tank top patterns using that type of yarn, I'm very excited! They seem to use one strand along with something else, in one pattern it is cotton, not sure for the other. I could probably make a pretty cool looking top if I used a black or light blue cotton with this bright cobolt-y blue novelty yarn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Wow, I'm 25 today. That's a whole quarter century! Now I feel old. I've had most of my festivities already, birthday party on saturday, cake at my in-laws, cake and singing and cards at stamp club(one lady even sang happy birthday in dutch - how cool is that??). But this morning hubby got up and made me waffles for breakfast, and I had a gift from a friend to open: lewiscraft gift certificates!

I also scored some amazing yarn at Value Village last night. The labels say Ardilla Romantica but I couldn't search that up on the net anywhere. Its a main strand with little "tufts" on it, here is a link to another brand similar to it: Flora Trendsetter. The yarn I got is a satiny bright blue colour, and I managed to find 5 skeins at $1.99 each! I don't know what I will make with it but it looks so cool and would probably retail for 5 times that much at least. From what I am reading about the similar yarn I linked to, it's a "carry along" yarn, where you use a strand of it along with something else. That makes sense, it would make a very loose, open fabric knitting with this alone. Has anyone used this type of yarn before? Tips? Pattern Suggestions??

Still working on my second boatneck, almost done the front. I haven't had a lot of knitting time lately, so it's no surprise this one is taking a while. Should be quite nice when it's done though!

I have the bestest husband ever!! He planned a surprise birthday party for me at my mom's place saturday night! I knew we were going there for dinner and thought my aunt and cousins might come, but he invited a bunch of our friends, and his parents and brother too! I was so surprised and happy!

Everyone had a wonderful time, and I got lots of great gifts: bike panniers, bike rack, other bike accessories (I started biking recently), a cool lacrosse stick bag full of [lacrosse tape, a ball, shin guards for hockey, and a waterbottle] rubber stamps and handmade paper, a wooden box full of seed beads and cord, and a votive holder with a michael's gift certificate inside! My husband is also getting me a new field hockey stick, but I have to come with him to pick that out. (Wow, looking at that list I feel like quite the athlete now!) What a great birthday! (and the actual date hasn't even come yet, that's tuesday)

Grrr.....blogger ate my post from yesterday!

I worked on the star necklace more last night. ran short on thread and didnt feel like knotting it to add more, so I only did 7 stars, and am just finishing with a strand of beads. It looks pretty neat! I just need to get some jewelry fasteners to finish it off now.

I have a lacrosse game on today, then birthday dinner at mom's place (YAY!), and sunday has a lacrosse practice, grocery shopping, and dinner at the in-laws, though I can take my knitting there. I usually don't get a LOT of knitting done at the in-laws' place, my brother-in-law's big black lab thinks he's a lap dog and has a particular love of yours truly. (and I love the mutt so much I can't bear to discourage him!)

Not a lot of knitting in the last couple days. I've gotten a few more rows on my 2nd boatneck shell, but lots to go yet. I'm wishing I'd been brave enough to try adapting it to knit it in-the-round instead. I just don't like sewing up seams!!

Thanks to a picture and a link at Mama Kate's blog I have pulled out my seed beads to look at making some necklaces again! I used to make the little "daisy" ones, but there are so many other cool things out there to try! I tried the Double Diamond first, but couldn't get the beads to pop into the little diamond shapes, so now I'm working on a pretty star necklace! It takes a little practice but I've got 2 stars so far and they look pretty nifty.

I made the cutest Knit Puppy Hand Puppet for the neighbour's 2 year old daughter this weekend. (thanks Knitting Zen for the link!) The directions confused me a bit so my puppy's nose was a little long, more of a dog than a puppy I guess, but it was quite cute! I used dark brown on the ears and eyes, and pink for the mouth piece. I also used Bernat Softee Chunky instead of the recommended yarns, as I wanted it to be machine washable. (anything given to a 2 year old child HAS to be machine washable!) The pattern is quite cute and has sizes for toddlers, children and adults. A neat christmas gift idea, I think my 4 year old cousin might get one too.

I'm still working away slowly on my second boat-neck shell, about 3 inches so far. I have been busy at work, and at home.....we just bought Diablo 2 and its sucking up a lot of my free time! I hear that we can expect temps in the 28-30 degree range (celcius) early next week though, so I better get in gear making this top so I can wear it! [for those of you who deal in ferenheit, 30C is QUITE hot for Victoria, beach weather for sure]

It's my birthday in just under two weeks, and I don't know what to do about it. I wanted to get a bunch of pals together to play laser tag or something, but several of our friends have kids now, which makes it too complicated. Also, I have to work on my birthday and then have 2 lacrosse games in the evening, so plans on that day are out. Hubby keeps asking me what I want for my birthday and would you beleive I can't think of anything to tell him! The problem with "growing up" is when you need (or REALLY want) something, you just go buy it for yourself! Plus the money isn't 'mine' and 'his' so me telling him to buy me something is really no different than me getting it myself. {sigh} what's a gal to do??

I wore my new boatneck shell on the weekend....and got an awful sunburn!! Oh well, I got some great compliments on it. ("you MADE that??? It's gorgeous!!") so it makes up for the pain of the burn! The evil yarn from heck came out really nicely, and the top looks quite luxurious actually. I wish I had a digital camera so I could share pictures. I have to wait for the film to be developed and hope my crappy camera took ok photos!

The style is so flattering for me, and the size just about perfect, so I'm making another one! Now that I understand the pattern and everything, it should knit up quite fast. This one is in Paper Phil in a pretty light blue. It's an odd yarn, quite like J-cloths, but should make for a nice light summer top. I was hesitant to use it though....I'm really cheap and I worried about "wasting it" on a basic top. Still I paid under $30 for 8 skeins, and I will probably only need 6 for the top. And it is fun knitting with something different than basic acrylics!

I'ts DONE! I finished the boatneck shell last night! It fits really well, and looks quite cool. I'm going to wear it out today. I didn't do the edging around the sleeves, just the neck, and I like how it looks that way, it comes in a little at the shoulders which is quite flattering. My goodness that yarn was awful. It made a simple pattern into a nightmare!! I may just burn the one ball I have left over!!!!!!!!

Friday Five:
When was the last time you:
1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
It's been a couple of months I think. It's my penpal's turn to write me! ;) But I've sent handstamped cards since then.

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
I baked earlier this week from scratch (peanut butter banana muffins with chocolate chips) . I make greeting cards with rubber stamps all the time and have been knitting daily.

3. ...camped in a tent?
About 2 years ago, with my husband. We have bad luck camping, so we avoid it.

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community?
Well I'm working on some cards and knit stuff to donate to a raffle for the childcare department at work, and I donated blood about a month ago.

5. ...helped a stranger?
I can't remember one instance at this moment, but I always try to help people, whenever it comes up!

Well I have picked my next project! I borrowed the Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting mag from the library last night, and now I want to make that top on the cover! It's a sleevless turtleneck aran style sweater, with multiple cables up the front. It looks stunning, and though it's a bit ambitious, I think I can pull it off. I just need to pick a yarn, I don't think I want to make it in the suggested cashmere blend! It looks like a nice mercerized cotton would suit it well, and I like the colour they've done it in too. Has anyone else made this top? Any tips or suggestions?

I'm going to finish the boat neck shell first, not too far to go on it. I'm about a quarter of the way up the top, and should have some good knitting time in the evenings this week. Boy I'm going to have to start on christmas stuff soon, but making things for myself is just too much fun!!!

I wore my sleeveless turtleneck I made to a get-together yesterday, and got quite a few compliments. I always like to hear the "you MADE that????" heehee. I'm still working away on the boatneck shell. The front is moving along a little more quickly than the back did, I'm getting more used to this difficult yarn I think. It sure looks long though. Well I will just wait and see how it turns out. (ripping is NOT an option, this yarn would not allow it!) Off to stamp club tonight. Hopefully I will get something done and not just spend the whole time yakking as I often do.

FRIDAY FIVE:
1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo?
I live in an apartment. (1br + a den)

2. Do you rent or own?
We rent. Until hubby is done with school and we know where he will get a job, we don't want to buy.

3. Does anyone else live with you?
My husband. We don't have any pets.

4. How many times have you moved in your life?
Hmmmm....once when I was really little (don't remember it), then out on my own, to one other apt with my then-fiance, and finally to where we are now. All in the same city.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
Lots - Watching Ocean's 11 and Oz with hubby tonight and knitting. Tomorrow I have a bike training course all day, then to a friend's house to rubber stamp. Sunday morning, grocery shopping and maybe visiting the in-laws for a bit, then off to a planning session for an upcoming Dungeons and Dragons Campain! (I'm excited they invited me, I haven't played any of the D&D systems before!)

SUCCESS!!! Thanks to Bonne Marie's kind and patient help, the back of the boat neck shell is done! Once she explained it, I don't know how I managed to get it so wrong in the first place, heehee. I have only barely begun the front now, but hope I can make some good progress on it this weekend. It seems long, though. Maybe I am used to shorter tops, that fall just below the waistband. We'll see once it's done. I'm also happy to see that I have more than enough yarn, the back took EXACTLY 3 balls, and I have 7 - whew!

I'm headed to a friend's house saturday night to do some rubber stampnig. We get together reasonably often to stamp together, and there will be another friend there. It's always lots of fun to stamp with them, and I get to share their stamps too - bonus!

I'm having trouble thinking of what to make with my swap meet yarn. It's 150grams of pink, so I'm thinking a baby yarn for that fundraiser. It's hard to find a pattern without being familiar with this type of yarn. It's Baycrest "Tara", 20st=10cm on 4mm needles. It's like one thick strand and one thinner strand or something, making it a little "lumpy". Almost like Paton's Paradiso in a way. Has anyone used this type of yarn before? Any suggestions or ideas? Do I have enough in three balls for a sweater, or should I stick to a hat and booties or something?

Still working away on the Boatneck Shell. This yarn is quite hard to work with, the threads catch and pull, and undoing any stitches is very difficult, so it is slow going. I'm really happy with how it is looking and feeling though. I want to get this top finished so I can wear it!

I picked up some more needles, and a needle gauge this weekend at a swap meet, and 3 skeins of a pretty pink yarn, kind of a boucle. Should be enough to make a small baby item for that fundraiser at work. It was only 25cents a ball, I couldn't NOT buy it at that price! ( I love swap meets and garage sales!)

Well the Casual Tee has been set aside. It was frustrating me too much....I want to enjoy knitting, not be frustrated by it! So I started onBonne Marie's free pattern for a Boatneck Shell. I have this funky yarn I found at a Thrift Shop, Dale Sahara or something like that, that is a multicoloured, verigated thready boucle. It's knitting up so soft and light! It's a little hard to work with, the threads split and catch and stuff, but it doesnt really matter as it all blends in. I wish I had a digital camera to share pics of this stuff! Maybe I could scan the yarn with our flatbed scanner....I wonder how that would turn out?

I got home last night and pulled out that sweater I'm working on, only to see ANOTHER MISTAKE!! I'd bound off 6 stitches on one side and 8 on the other. That ought to teach me not to circle the size I'm working on in a pattern! (6 bind offs was for a small, 8 for a medium, which I'm doing) So I ripped it all out AGAIN (gosh Patons Canadianna is forgiving of ripping!) and went merrily on my way. It was looking great, and I decided to count my stitches to check myself. Bad move, I've got the wrong number! I may just have miscounted, but either way I'm leaving it until tonight to deal with!

The childcare department where I work is having a raffle fundraiser. They've asked staff who are creative to donate handmade toys, children's things, and neat gift items as prizes. I definitely want to donate something, but I am having trouble deciding what. My first thought was a package of handmade greeting cards (rubber stamped) but then I thought maybe I could knit something. A baby or kid's item would be small enough to not cost a ton for the yarn and would work up fast. Any suggestions? I'd love a pattern that's not too difficult, but looks pretty neat, so people will want to win it, hehe.

I bring my knitting to work pretty much every day now. I do email-based support so my tasks come in bursts, tons to do then hours of nothing, so knitting fills the time nicely. Its also a great break on super busy days, and a nice break for my wrists from typing. BUT today I was trying to relax by knitting, as work was frustrating the heck out of me........not a great idea. I screwed up. I frogged it and re-knit.....wrong again! This didn't relax me one bit!!!! Happily I have re-frogged, and reknit properly this time, and since got relaxed enough to continue working.

I'm trying to decide on another project to start. I'm still working on the casual tee, but I want to make one of Bonne Marie's boat neck shells. I have that new 'paper' yarn, and I also have that mystery "Dale Sahara" thready boucle. I'm leaning towards the mystery yarn, its really quite nifty looking, and I think it would suit a plainer top design quite well. It might be a bit too thin though....I'll swatch and see. The paper yarn might make a nice ribbed tank top later, I'm still nervous to start working with it, so it will wait.

PERSONAL YARNS:
Desert isle keepers
With all essentials being taken care of, what would you take along to a deserted island for the nourishment of your soul?
1. (non-knitting) book
Something by Robert Fulghum (All I Needed to know I learned in Kindergarten)
2. movie
The Princess Bride. I will never tire of this one!
3. music
Peter Gabriel -Secret World Live
4. food
Chocolate!! Probably coffee crisps
5. knitting book, yarn & needles
I don't have any knitting books...Maybe Knit It magazine, some size 6 needles and some generic yarn, something versitile!

Well the socks are done! Funny thing is, my first one turned out perfect, and I screwed up the second one! Well actually, I did two extra decreases in the foot of the first one, but hubby said that made it fit better. The second one didnt have those decreases (cuz I really don't know how and wear they happenned) plus I somehow had about 6 extra rows in the ankle, so its longer! Ah well, for my very first pair of socks, on some thrift shop yarn, I'm happy! I chucked them in the wash to see how they'd do but I haven't looked at them yet.

I had to head up island this weekend for a lacrosse game, and did some yarn shopping on the way. I found the most amazing yarn shop! I was awestruck....They had every type and stage of yarn, from unspun, to the fanciest of novelty yarns. The store was packed with wool and supplies. They had all different needles (brittany, bamboo, plastic, metal, turbos, etc) and I just didn't have enough time (or money) to fully appreciate it. I did pick up some cool yarn from the clearance bin, 8 skeins of Phildar Paper Phil in a pretty blue at $3 (canadian) each. Has anyone used this stuff before? Its really light and papery, almost like Jcloth I guess. I thought it would make a great lightweight shell.....any suggestions on a pattern?

I like socks! wheee!

I'm having so much fun knitting this sock. I don't know what it is.....it's just.....Fun! I like working on 4 needles, and how the decreases shape it. I'm nearly done this sock actually, just up to grafting the toe which I will try to do tonight when I get home from work. I had a couple of errors....a couple of decreases found their way to the top of the sock, but other than making the "foot" part a little thinner, It doesn't really matter all that much. I don't know if I will make a mate for it. I want to try it on first. If it fits nice then I will. The yarn (Patons Canadianna) is a bit thick so I'd use them as "wearing around the house" socks probably.

Oh and I love these plastic red DPN needles! Are they some special brand, does anyone know? They are about 9 inches long, and plastic - did I score some name-brand DPNs or are they just kiddie needles? ;) I know without a pic I am asking for incredible feats of ESP and needle sense, but I am hoping someone has seen needles like this and from my limited description can figure it out. I wonder if they come in different colours? Ooohhhh green ones would be nifty! Let me know if you've ever seen coloured plastic DPNs so I can find out where to buy more!

UPDATE!

Thanks to an explaination from shetha and some great photos and tips from Socks 101 I got this heel thing figured out. Boy this is fun! I just wish I hadn't run out of yarn! Now I have to wait until I get home to see how it finishes.

Funniest thing happened. I saw the end of the yarn and realized I would have to stop knitting soon. A moment later I realized I was knitting faster and faster, as though I could "outrun" the end of the yarn and not let it catch up with me! What a goofball!

HELP! These Basic Socks also have Basic Instructions that don't explain everything! I did the ankle part, and then the heel flap, no problems there. Now it says:
TURN HEEL - 12 STS. REMAINING
What? I have 20 stitches for the heel flap, where does 12 come in? Also what does "turn heel" mean? what do I do? The instructions go on to say:
Row 1: P12, P2tog, P1, turn
Again with the "turning"???

Please help, I was having so much fun with these socks I hate being stuck!

I'm making SOCKS!!!! I'm so very excited, just in case you can't tell. I've been wanting to tackle socks for quite a while now, I just didn't have the guts to try them. Well, this weekend I picked up a nifty set of red plastic DPNs in about size 6 (don't have a needle guage) and started this pattern from socknitters.com. I've done the cuff and a few rows past that and so far I'm having a load of fun. I am loving watching the top of the sock appear as I knit, and using 4 DPNs is something a little different. The needles look SO cool, bright red with a smoky blue yarn around them.

So I am joining the ranks of knitters with many WIPs lying about. I have a scarf I don't know how to finish, a tank top that's maybe 15% done, about 25% of a lacey t-shirt, and the sock. But I like having a couple things going, it's fun. Plus the sock is much easier to pack to work with me, since I have started biking to work I have to pack everything in these little pannier bags.

Still working away slowly on the simple t-shirt top from freepatterns.com. It's a LOT slower going than past projects, with a lighter weight yarn and 4.5mm needles. I've got 3 or 4 inches done up the back. I had to rip it out when I got to this point the first time, it just didn't look right. I figured out I was doing my yarn overs wrong. Now that I know the right way, it looks really nice :) and they are actually easier. I've got the 4 row pattern memorized so I can just pick it up and go withour referring to the pattern, which is nice. Makes me feel like I know what I'm doing or something!

I think I want to try making this Chunky Ribbed Hat next. I don't really wear hats, but I think it would be a nice quick project to do. I have a couple yarns in my stash that might work well for it, too.

Great garage sale find this weekend. Actually my husband spied it for me...this binder full of large 'cards' covering everything I could ever want to know about knitting! There are stitches, patterns, instructions on techniques, descriptions of fibre types, the history of various types of knitting, tons of stuff! All for $1! (well 87cents actually, it was all I had in my wallet and the guy took it, teehee!)

I think I'm finally sorted out on this pattern-chart business. The pattern Iam doing isn't that complicated now that I have it sorted out, and in fact I have the pattern memorized so I can work along happily until I get up to the armholes. I ended up ripping out the 12-14 rows I had done to start over, it just didn't look right and I'm so much happier with it this time around. It's just hard for me to rip out my work! Ithink it will be quite nice, the smaller needles and yarn will make a much different look than thicker stuff I have been using for other projects. I'm enjoying the bamboo needles, too!

I only did about a row today at lunch, and won't get more done this evening as I have Stamp Club. (rubber stamping)

I found a new pattern to work on. It's at freepatterns.com, and you need to log in there to see the patterns (but it's free), so I can't link to it. I'm doing the knit lacey t-top. It looks pretty nice, and fairly easy, so I started it last night. I'm doing it in Patons Canadianna because I have about 10 skeins of that from a thrift store buy, and conveniently it came with a pair of 4.5mm bamboo needles, all for $8. I'm using them to work on this pattern, and its quite a different feeling. The needles are SO light! I think it will become less noticable once I have more knitting done, and that weights it down, but for now it's fun working with such light needles.

The chart for the pattern, though not that complicated, took me a while to figure out. Its got different start and end places for the small, medium and large sizes. I understood that well enough, as well as the actual stitches, but I just coulndn't get the pattern to work out with the number of stitches I cast on. My engineer husband came to the rescue, took one look at it and said "Oh! for some reason you need to read from right to left on this chart"! BINGO, that did it, it works fine when you read from right to left. Is this normal? Is this how most charts are written? Seems very odd to me......

FRIDAY FIVE:

1. What's the last vivid dream that you remember having?
I usually forget my dreams pretty quickly, so I can't think of one to describe. Many of mine are quite vivid, and when I wake up it takes me a moment to make sure they weren't real!

2. Do you have any recurring dreams?
No, they are always different.

3. What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had?
When I was little, I dreamt the bath was running, all hot water, and I couldnt turn it off, the taps just went round and round. The room was filling up with water and I could see the cat and dog swimming around in it, and I knew they would drown but I couldnt stop the water!

4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not?
No, never. My dreams are usually really weird and I forget them very soon after waking, so even if I wanted to I couldn't write them down. Sometimes I tell my husband what happens in my dreams though, for his amusement ;)

5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it?
(Lucid Dreaming occurs when you are dreaming, and then at some point in the dream, you become aware that you are dreaming.)
Nope, as weird as things get, in my dreams I never realize that its a dream!

I've pretty much finished the scarf....but it's short! It's only 1 meter long! (1 yard and 4 inches) How long should a fancy scarf be? I don't know what to do, I don't want to buy more yarn, it would be $6.50 for another ball of the blue, there is still some black left, and I don't want to buy it to use just a bit. AAAHHHH!

OMG I love the yarns in the scarf I am making. It's like a treat for my fingers!It's a little "sticky" on my plastic needles, but feels so nice in my hands. I want to make myself a top out of Sirdar Snowflake and Funny Yarn now! ONly two problems....I think these are both fibres that need special care. As far as laundry goes, I'm NOT about special care. I'm about "chuck it in the washer, leave it out of the dryer if its specialty fabric", thats as far as my special care goes! The other problem is the cost. Snowflake yarn is $9 at the LYS and funny yarn is $6+. I'm guessing 3 of each MINIMUM for a sleeveless top, which is $45 or more! YIKES! My birthday is in July though. Maybe my brother can buy me the snowflake and my sister the funny yarn or something?

I pretty much finished the halter top this weekend, but I am not too happy with it. The instructions weren't very thourough, there was a lot I had to just figure out, and I don't know if I did a great job! the yarn I was using (2 strands of Patons Canadianna) ended up really thick too, maybe not the best for a summery top. Its comfy and fits well, but it makes my chest look HUGE and shows my belly, so I don't know if I will want to wear it much. Hubby is dissapointed in that ;)

I finally went to michaels and bought big needles (9mm) for the scarf I wanted to make. I'm not so sure I made the best colour choices anymore, but the effect is really cool. I'm using Sirdar Snowflake in black and Funny Yarn in a bright royal blue. The sample in the store was I think the same blue but with light blue Snowflake, which looked much more dramatic. Still it looks nice, and I think these colours make something my mother-in-law would actually wear. I love the feel of these two yarns together, and I am tempted to make a top for myself out of them after.

Well, the halter is not quite done. I'm 3/4 of the way done the back though, I'm guessing another 15+ rows and then I can sew it up and try it on! I hope it fits well, it's quite cute looking!

I really need to get some large knitting needles so I can work on that scarf. I want to make lots of knitted gifts for christmas this year, so I need to start now and get them going. I may have to just go pay full price (gasp!) for a set of 9mm or 10mm needles, I'm not having much luck at all with the thrift shops. It just kills me to pay $5 or more for a pair of needles when they would be 50cents at a second hand store!

I've been pretty busy lately, with work, crafting, and lacrosse, so I haven't had much chance to post here! I'm still working on that halter top, but I'm close to finishing. I'm just doing the back part now, I've finished the strap and front all up. I got to try out the 3-needle bind off to attach the straps together for behind the neck. It was fairly easy, and I do like the effect. Much neater than a regular seam. The top is looking nice, but I don't know how much I will wear it. It's really cute, but shows a bit of belly and I dont know if my halter bra will work with it yet. Hopefully by the end of tonight I will know for sure!

I found some nifty yarn at Value Village this weekend. It's this strange veregated thready boucle kind of stuff. The label says Sahara Dale Garn, but I can't search that brand name up on the Net anywhere. Has anyone heard of this stuff, or knit with it before? It looks really cool, I think it would make a great top. I have 7 skeins, bought all they had at about a buck each, I hope that's enough to make something! (they're smallish skeins and its a lightweight yarn)

I started a half-hearted halter top pattern I found on the net. Not on a website, out of a post to an email list, so I can't link to it here. If it turns out I will post the pattern. I just needed something easy to work on for a while, to leave the tank top so it doesn't frustrate me further. For the halter I just used two strands of Patons Canadianna, one white, one light blue. It looks pretty, but is a little 'stiff'. I'm not too worried how it turns out, I'm just playing around.

Okay, I'm getting so frustrated with this tank top, I've got to set it aside for a while. It's increasing my stress level instead of decreasing it! I've worked so hard on it and I have to keep redoing rows over and over, I see a bunch of little mistakes in it farther down but dont have the heart to rip it all out, and its just ticking me off.

So now I need to start another project to work on. The fancy scarf has to wait until I get some 9/10mm needles. I do want to try my hand at sock knitting, but I am having trouble finding a simple pattern to try. I love the idea of doing "toe-up" socks, but am guessuing they are harder, so I'd best start with something simpler....Does anyone have a good sock pattern for a beginner to try? And any advice on yarn to use? I have some wool blend stuff in an olive tweed that looks like it would make cool socks, also some in burgundy, but I could use something else.

If I didn't have to keep re-doing the same rows over and over, I'd have been nearly done this tank top by now! I find frogging so frustrating, especially when there are YOs and stuff in the pattern, it gets confusing. I've figured out what they mean by "experienced" for the pattern rating though. They assume you can keep a pattern idea in your head and just add the changes they specify. The pattern doesn't explicitly lay out each row, it does the "continue in pattern extablished" thing, but I keep forgetting the pattern changed part way through! But I'm still enjoying the pattern overall, and generally pleased with the results I'm getting.

I want to get some large needles to start on the scarf for my mother-in-law. It's for a christmas present so no rush, but I just want a nice easy project to work on to ease my frustrations with the tank, and get a sense of accomplishment, since I will finish it quite quickly. I'm just waiting on needles....I know they aren't THAT expensive, $4-6 a pair, but I found one thrift shop near my house that has hundreds of knitting needles, at 50cents a pair! They even have circulars and DPs sometimes. SO I can't bring myself to buy them new, I have to scour the thrift shops. I'm planning on stopping by today, hopefully they have a pair of 9s or 10s for me!

More knitting time yesterday. I got some sad news that the little brother of one of my old elementary school pals had died. I didn't want to go to the funeral, but I couldn't deal well with work either. I went home early and just sat and knit with my husband. Knitting is so peaceful and calming, just what I needed yesterday.

I'm noticing in the last few months since I started knitting, I've been far less stressed. This is a big deal because I am quite the worryer, stressing over everything and anything, but lately, things have felt much calmer. I never could imagine myself "meditating" on a daily basis, but I guess knitting has been my meditation. Very cool.

I'm motoring right along on my tank, up to the next "shaping row"! It's really fun to work on, lots to think about and keep track of, so it's keeping my interest. I'm eager to get more done to see how it looks, since the pattern sort of changes as you go. Still, it will be a while, I've put a lot of hours into it already, and I would guess I am 1/4 done.

I got help on my tank top at Beehive Wool yesterday! Actually, I did most of the 'figuring out' myself, trying to explain the pattern to the woman there helped me sort it out better in my head. Still it was nice to have someone to help me understand the pattern, and encourage me to keep at it. I'm blazing along on the pattern now and its looking quite cool! I see a few small mistakes I made, the lacey border to the cable kind of wanders out at a couple spots, but it's not too major. I don't think it will even be noticable, and I've worked too hard to frog it now!

I also picked up some NICE yarns at the shop. I had a coupon for a free ball of yarn (up to $6) which I used to get a ball of Funny Yarn in Royal Blue, and I bought a ball of Snowflake Yarn in Black. OMG these are cool yarns! The "Funny" Yarn is sort of satiny/shiny with lots of threads, I think this is what you call Eyelash Yarn. The Snowflake Yarn is the softest stuff I have ever seen! I can't think of anything to compare it too, it's so soft, but if you see some in your LYS, you HAVE to go touch it!! I'm going to make a scarf for my Mother-in-Law with these, as a christmas present. They had sample scarves near the Funny Yarn in the store and they felt and looked so neat. It should be easy, mindless knitting, and a treat to work with such fancy yarn for a change.

I'm hoping to get some in-person help with my tank top today! The LYS, Beehive Wool had a sign up advertising "Beginner Classes" Sunday afternoons. When I asked about them, they said it was more drop in help for people that were struggling with a pattern. Perfect! So I'm going to head down there later and maybe they can help me understand this pattern so I can move on. I'd also like to look for a nice easy sock pattern to try, maybe they have something for me there. I feel a little guilty going there for help, I haven't bought anything there yet because their prices scare me! If I keep getting great deals at the thrift shops I may never be happy paying retail!

I'm thinking of stamping a clock for my mother for Mother's Day. My friend made one and it turned out quite nice. You buy a cheap ($5) wall clock, disassemble it, and stamp a piece of paper to go over the fact, then put it all back together again. I don't know if I have enough stamps to do it nicely, but at stamp club on monday I can use other people's stamps to get a variety. I just have to decide on a theme...........My mom did her kitchen in a "garden" theme, complete with bugs climbing the walls and birdhouses over the window, and she wants to do her guest room like a Forest. Either of those would be easy to work with I think.

I am stuck AGAIN on that Berroco Tank! Very frustrating, I loved how it was looking and want to keep working on it! The pattern says to "work in ribbing" across a section that wasn't ribbing before, it was diagonal slants. So do I just ignore what the stitches are and plow through in K2 P2??? I don't get it! (Anyone who wants to give me a hand I'm stuck at the ROW 3 part after 'Begin Diagonal Bands'. Bleh.

I tried starting a sock last night....abysmal failure. I just used the first pattern I could find on the net though, so I'm not too upset. Has anyone got a nice easy sock pattern for a beginner to try? I have some pretty tweed-look wool blend yarn that would make nifty socks, and I want to have a second project going for when my tank top trips me up and I have to pause in it!

I finally got some knitting time in last night - yay! Hubby and I watched Law and Order, and 2 hrs of "Law and order - Criminal Intent" that we had recorded on Sunday. Fun times!

I also brought my knitting to work again. I'm glad I did because it doesn't look like there will be a whole lot for me to do! I've picked out more projects I want do to from Berroco: Stella - short sleeve lacy cardigan, and Lola a shaped long sleeve sweater with fuzzy cuffs! Both are marked as "Very Easy" so if I manage this "Experienced" tank top I'm working on they should be no problem.

I'm starting to feel guilty that all my projects are for me to wear, no gifts or anything. I feel like I should be making things for other people too! Maybe I will make my aunt the sleevless turtleneck from Knit-It...it was fun to knit and she really liked mine! Do other people knit just for themselves, or do you try to make some gifts and stuff too?

I got fed up with the last comment service being down more than up, so I'm going with YACCS now. I followed the link from Ivete's site, they seem to be up all the time for her! So now I have to go through and remove all the old comment code and clean things up - BUT people can chat to me now! And since I was messing with the Blog code anyways I changed the colours. I think they are much purtier now.

I actually brought knitting to work today. Its been really quiet and I've had so little knitting time lately, I just had to! I got some help with that tank top and I want to keep working on it. Tomorrow and friday may be "knit at work" days too, since one of the systems I support is going down for updates, so I won't have any helpdesk questions on it for 2 days.

Thanks to a kind sole on the canadianknitters list, I may be ready to move forward on that tank top that had me stuck! Unfortunately last night I was busy with Stamp Club, and tonight is Lacrosse League. How sad is that, my knitting obsession is to the point that having fun things to do is "unfortunate" when it eats into knitting time!!

I'm going really crazy at work, there is very little to do and it drives me crazy "wasting" so much time that could be useful for other things.

That Berroco - Paulina tank finally got me stumped. It's living up to it's 'experienced' rating, and I am feeling a little less smug. The thing is done in 5 'panels' of patterning across the front, two of ribbing, two diagonals, and one cable in the middle. So I knit away on these panels, until I get 28 rows as the pattern indicated. Now it gives me instructions for one decreasing row, which I do, and says effectively "continue in pattern until you have 48 rows, but the diagonal pattern ends." Um, so what do I do in those panels for the next 19 rows then???? I was loving how the top was looking, moving along quickly (well as quickly as one can on 3.5mm needles, and now stuck. bleh.

On a happier note, I scored some MAJOR yarn this weekend, and for FREE! Well I was at a women's show and this thrift shop had a booth with a prize wheel. I spun and won a $25 gift certificate - Woo! So I went to their shop and found 20-25 balls of Patons Canadiana in beige, white and blue! The beige was actually all in one bag with a pattern, a half done sweater, and a set of bamboo needles that the sweater-half was on. I haven't decided whether to continue the sweater or rip it out and do my own. (I'm leaning towards the latter) In any case there is probably enough yarn there for 2 maybe even 3 sweaters! I'm going to need a bigger box for my stash!

Well I ripped out my start on the sweater last night and started again. The tension was way wrong, the thing woulda been huge, and it looked like I had messed up. I got smaller needles, and though the tension is still a little big, its better. The "mistake" I thought I saw is still there but I am thinking its just part of the pattern....when you only have a few rows done its hard to tell. And in the photo the model's arms cover the part in question, so I think I will just have to keep at it for a while and see. It's a little harder with the smaller needles, I seem to need to focus more on my knitting. This is probably a good thing as the pattern is kind of complicated, with 5 'sections' each done in a different stitch accross the front and back. I'm enjoying it though.

I also got a set of DPNs so I can try my hand at socks when I bore of the tank top :)

I started a new sweater! It's a tank top actually, which is what I wanted. It's getting warm in Victoria, so I'd like to make things more fitting the season. I searched and searched for a pattern I liked, but I couldn't find anything that was both simple (for a beginner like me) and nice looking. I don't want to make a plain, boring top, I want something cool! Then I found this pattern: Berroco - Paulina. Isn't it nifty?

I would totally wear something like this. I SEE that it says it says "Skill Level: Experienced" and I know that's not me, but who cares? I looked at the pattern, I can understand it I think, and it just looks so damn cool! I'm not investing huge $$$ into getting fancy yarn though. I'm buying plain old cotton. I think that will be comfy, easy to work with, and most of all-cheap! I got a huge ball of it that will probaby do the whole sweater at walmart for $6.85 or something. So even if the top doesn't turn out, not a lot wasted. I'm doing it in a pretty burgundy colour.

I managed to do some yarn shopping this weekend, but I sure got a rude awakening on yarn prices today! I finally made a visit to the LYS (Beehive Wool Shop) . First I must say, they were very friendly, and had gorgeous stuff. (plus I saw a sign about free lessons on sundays that I might look into) But golly the prices! One tiny litte maybe 50g ball of something fancy was $16.50! ONE ball!!! The cheapest stuff I saw was some Patons canadiana in a clearance bin for $3, its less than that at michaels right now. Wow. Trust me to pick another expensive crafting hobby to add to Rubber Stamping!

Hubby and I headed down to Value Village after leaving the yarn shop empty handed, and there I made a score.
I would show you a picture of my yarn buys, but for some reason I can't upload to geocities or any other image hosting place today! (and I dont host my blog, I let blogger do it)Anyways, here is what I got:

• Full 'spool' Opera cotton. (prolly for crochet but so pretty)
  
• 2 mostly full skeins green/olive tweed 100% wool
  
• 2 mostly full skeins burgundy wool/acrylic blend
  
• 2 mostly full skeins Beehive Shetland Chunky(one white one blue)
  
• 1 full skein 70% mohair, 10% wool, 10% acrylic, 5% nylon in gold-yellow
  
• 1 mystery skein of blue with flecks, fingering weight maybe?

And I got ALL this yarn for under $6! I don't know what I will do with this stuff, but it was such a good deal. and now I have a little stash - like a REAL knitter ;)

No new projects yet. I know sort of what I want to make, I just have to find a pattern that looks right, and is simple enough for me. I'm looking for a lacey tank top sort of thing. I found this pattern:

http://www.velona.com/items/500/K50095.html which I just LOVE. Unfortunately the $27 US price, once I factor in exchange, shipping, and custom's inevitable surcharges, that would be one expensive tank top! SO I am looking for something similar to that. I might check out Michael's this weekend to see if they have any nice patterns.

I'm hoping to visit an actual Yarn Store tomorrow. The Beehive Wool Shop is in my city, and I'm going to be in that area tomorrow morning, picking up my husband's sunglasses. I'm excited, but nervous. I'm really cheap. So cheap that the yarn prices at walmart gave me some frights, so I don't know what will happen when I spy the pricey yarns. But I'm looking forward to seeing the variety of yarns and patterns they have there.

FINISHED! I finished sweater number 2! It turned out fabulous, a perfect fit, and I love the colour. I wore it out to stamping night on Monday, even. I'm noticing something disturbing though....its fuzzing up! I don't know how else to describe it, there are like these clumps of fuz, in areas that might have some friction (under arms, on the inside waist) I hope it isn't a problem. I hope that it is just a little bit of surface fuzz, and not that this yarn is going to break down or anything. I haven't washed it or blocked it or anything.


I really should learn about blocking. I'm lazy, so I just wore my two new sweaters, but I keep hearing about this blocking thin you are supposed to do with new sweaters. (shrug) I need to find out about that.

Now I need a new project.....I'm thinking a lacy top to wear over a tank top would be cool, I just have to find a (EASY) pattern for one now.

AAARRRRGGGG! I had NOT made a mistake, and did NOT have to frog like 10 rounds of my sweater! The small hole I saw is just because of the stitches stretching at the armhole. I ripped it out and redid it(perfectly, I might add) and the hole is still there, what a waste of time redoing it!

Otherwise, the sweater is coming along great! I am nearly done in fact, just starting on the yoke/neck part. I may even finish it to wear to stamp club tonight to show it off.

Found a great cheap source of knitting needles on Saturday: The Salvation Army Thrift Store! One branch in particular has about 1000 needles, all at 50cents a pair (or 50cents per circular). I bought 2 pairs in sizes I didn't have, and 2 circulars, so for less than half what I normally pay for needles, I got 4 times as many! Their yarn selection was sad though. Cheapo balls of yarn, bagged singly, partly used, and they wanted $1 for many of them. (this is yarn that can't retail more than $1.50-$2 new) Ah well, the needles were worth the visit!

The ribbing on this sweater has been causing me a lot of problems. This is my first time really working on circular needles, so that may be part of the problem. I ripped everything out twice more last night, but finally, I think I am on the right path. I've finished the ribbing, and it looks okay, and am moving on up the sweater. The yarn I'm using, Bernat Softee Chunky in Deep Sea, doesn't seem to show the patterning very well, so I may have been doing okay before and just not been able to see it. Now I am really well practiced at this particular ribbing pattern I guess!


Tonight I am heading to a friend's house for some Rubber Stamping, one of my other crafting obsessions. She and I have stamped together for a few years now. We have similar styles and like similar stamps so it works out really well. (Plus she's got LOADS more rubber stamps than me, so I love it when we "share")

I'm working on a second top from Knit It! Magazine right now. So far I have restarted it about 5 times, these circular needles are making all sorts of problems for me. It is REALLY hard not to twist your stitches and end up with a Mobeus strip! I keep working at it though, I'm excited about the prospect of making a sweater without having to sew up any seams! I don't like sewing knitted seams. Plus the top looks really cute. For those of you who have this magazine, I'm doing the Cap Sleeve top. (My first project was the Sleevless turtleneck)


You know you are addicted to crafting when you are counting the minutes until you can go home from work to continue your crafts. (5hours, 44minutes and counting)