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.