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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Yes.!! making progress on my scarf/ shawl.. slow progress but .. it's still progress.. I plan on working on this a little each day.. it was so exciting to finally start on the border .. and now I'm interested in seeing how the colors are going to work around the border..(this shawl was started on February 1st..0.0.. I'm slow .. what can I say)

















Everyone has a different time relationship with their knitting.. some of us knit all the time and others knit when they have time and others have an on and off relationship with knitting... what ever your relationship is with your knitting.. it's always a wonderful feeling when u finally finish a project.. no matter how long it took u to finish..
This sweater was a long time in the making..(maybe that makes it a little more special) and I wasn't the person that knit it!!.. This was made by my daughter Brooke.. it was supposed to be a present for her bf for Christmas 2005...she wanted to make it a surprise so she would only work on it when he was at work.. (she also had a full time job as a chef).. then she would carefully tuck it away so he couldn't see it which gave her limited time for knitting.. well.. life happened ... a baby.. some job changes.. being a new mom and working.. and so..knitting was put to the side.. and some how she has found time to work in it again.. and as of Monday.. this sweater was finished.. the pattern is from Amy Singers' book Knit wit and it's called hidden agenda..the yarn used .. mano del uruguay.. color 55 olive..






















little Abby is modeling.. hehe so cute.. I just wanted to say Gratz Brooke.. on a beautiful sweater.. well done.

Monday, March 26, 2007

What have u been doing this weekend?... this is what I've been doing.. a trip to the LYS .. I've been wanting to knit the silk camisole from Last-Minute knitted gifts.. so the yarn I picked out is cotton frappe' from elsebeth lavold.. color # 012.. I did a swatch and it's going to work..yay
















20 row's left to go and counting down on my scarf/shawl... then on to the border.. I'm getting exicited now and have been working on this quite a bit.. I knit lace really slow.. even simple lace.. this yarn in the lighter color gets hard to see so I've been really careful to make sure I pick up both the stitches when knitting 2tog.. I've also been reading The Friday Night Knitting Club..and getting near the end..

















I have picked this up a few times over the weekend.. I'm off to knit right now for a bit then I have to drive up to Orlando to pick up my car.. yes .. it's getting worked on again today.. this time it's the brakes and some weird sounds coming from the engine.. `0.0;

Friday, March 23, 2007

eArThY...

Just a little progress on sock #2... I pick this up here and there...I'm not in a big hurry to finish it.. I'm just enjoying the process

















After much thought over which pile of yarn to work with next.. I choose earthy green..for some reason my homespun looks more gray then green in the picture.. in real life the greens look closer in color.. greens are funny.. and I think people see the color green differently.. anyway.. this is what I will be working on today.. looks kind of weird at this point.. other than this.. I'm checking out some summer knit projects along the line of swim suit tops and what-nots.. (^_^)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

jUsT 3..!!

Just 3 piles of yarn to choose from.. oooo noesss which should I choose..?? the first pile is my newly spun "aqua girly purly" yarn with some cotton from my stash.. this could be possibly another shrug.. ( u can never have enough shrugs.. can u?)

















here is a group of sweet pink yarn intended for some kind of baby item.. dress.. shrug..etc.(babies can't have enough shrugs either can they?)
















And last but not least..a pile of earthy green yarn.. some homespun merino/silk with alpaca and cotton yarn.. this could be a shrug too.. !!

















So .. today I have been staring at these 3 piles of yarn trying to decide which one I will knit with next.. girly purly.. earthy green.. sweet pink.. hum.... this could take awhile..

Monday, March 19, 2007

It started with some fleece and aqua wilton icing dye... some tencel and angelina....


















then continued here..

















and ended here with 120 yards... I think I'll call it agua girlie purly yarn.. just because it looks so purly..

















One sock finished .. all set for grafting the toe together.... and ready to cast on sock #2..

Saturday, March 17, 2007


Just a sock... moving along slowly .. this is a fun pattern to knit but I don't think my yarn was the best choice for this pattern.. and so I keep knitting.. 0.0

Thursday, March 15, 2007

I was thinking today.. about 2 of my favorite blogs..( although I read and enjoy many) but 2 blogs really stand out to me...
First and foremost is The Yarn Harlot... this was actually the first knitting blog that I had read.. and I was immediately drawn in.. the reason being Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has given knitters a knitting community.. or she has awakened us to the fact that we are out there and joined by the same thread .. um.. yarn..from all over the world... In my own knitting life... I now feel knitting isn't something to be ashamed of .. or a waist of time .. or what ever else "muggles" like to call it.. for years I felt uncomfortable knitting ... although I did a lot of knitting.. because of comments like.. "oh u knit.. my grandmother used to do that.. I don't have patience.. it takes so much time... or that wastes so much time.. how do u have time to do that...I'm too busy for that..".. being the only knitter in my family circle and circle of friends made me feel I was some how wasting precious time that maybe I should have been doing something else... maybe find out what they were doing and do that..but... after reading Stephanie's blog and books.. I felt validated .. I felt geeee there are others out there like me with a closet full of yarn and knitting books.. with needles and yarn in their purses..
(although my yarn stash isn't as big as the Yarn Harlot's by any means) I want to say thank u to Stephanie.. aka.. The Yarn Harlot for helping me to feel good about knitting in the movies and and at family gatherings and where ever else I like to knit.. and for opening my eyes to the knitting community and the power there of... heheh.. I am now an avid reader of many knitting blogs.. It's just great to see what others have on their needles and in their closets..!!! (^_^)

The second blog I'm very fond of is It's a Purl, Man.. this blog I just recently discovered.. ( I know .. I'm slow).. but it's so entertaining.. plus I can knit and listen away as he chats with other bloggers about patterns and yarn .. up coming knitting events ... book releases... I feel like I'm at a knitting meeting right in my living room.. so fun!!!.. he is planning a gathering in NYC.. sounds so wonderful.. check it out..

and a picture.. !! (weird fingerless mits of my own creation)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

One more shrug picture.. (^_^)

















Right now a fingerless mitt is in the works.. it's coming out ok but I would have liked it a whole lot more if it was knit with nicer yarn. I used all of the good stuff on the shrug and had to dig around the closet again for more off white/cream color yarn and only the bargain stuff was left..sigh.. so although I like my design .. I'm not liking the yarn.. in the near future I plan to make a pair with nicer yarn.. in the mean time I'm finishing these up.. it kind of looks more like a slipper than a glove.. at this point...
















Now it looks like a glove.. for the next pair I think a dk yarn will have a nicer fit.. these do fit but but for the design are a bit bulky. gosh do I repeat myself over and over...???
















This has made me think about my yarn buying habits... in the future I would like to have some better quality yarns in my stash to work with..time to sort out some of my stash and donate it..

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

wHaTs oN tHe nEeDlEs

What's on the needles..??.. same old same old...I pick this up a couple times a day and work on it.. I love how the yarn feels.. at this point I'm not really sure I like the colors.. it's a bit more stripy then I thought it would be.. once the border goes on it might look different.. This is now at 30" long....
















This is my progress on the quill lace socks... the leg is almost finished .. then on to the heal..!! I'm not sure if i mentioned that I'm using the magic loop.. this is my first time and I'm loving it.. if u haven't tried it .. u should..( I was looking for a tutorial online but the ones I found made the magic loop confusing and it's not confusing at all.. :( ) this is a super fun pattern... my one thought is that the yarn is a bit more colorful than it had looked in the skein...maybe a more solid yarn might have been better..














Sunday, March 11, 2007

Yay.. I finished my no pattern shrug this morning..!! I would have liked to use different buttons .. so I might go an buy some today.. the yarns I used for this project were all scraps and bits in my stash some left over from other projects .. some were new and never used... just waiting in the stash...I didn't buy anything for this project.. not even a pattern...(^_^)































well.. this is what we accomplished yesterday.. and today I'm sore and tired.. on the bright side of this.. I'm getting treated to a nice dinner at Bahama Breeze.. (^_^)

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Here is the progress on my no pattern shrug... all that is left are the button bands and neck edging.. I already know what I want to do.. I just have to see if it works.. I'm really happy that this fits well too.. just perfect .. as far as what yarns I'm using... umm.. everything I can find in the color scheme I'm using.. from homespun wool/angora.. 100% cotton... some kind of metalic weird yarn and acrylic... all the yarns are about worsted or medium weight.


















I've been picking this up now and then and working a few inches here and there.. that makes me happy... I don't like to work on more than one project at a time usually.. they tend not to get finished that way..

















So why in the world did I start this sock.. !!!... my daughter bought this yarn and decided she didn't want to make socks and gave the yarn to me.. humm..then I saw the new Knitty and was listening to Lime & Violet... and got really tempted.. almost seduced to make some socks.. and then I saw that yarn peeking out of my sock yarn basket ( the prettiest sock yarn in there) and I don't know what happened... all of a sudden I was casting on and bamm!! I started a sock.. the pattern is quill lace from knitty .. I'm going to knit this as my carry-a-long project so I probably wont be finishing for a bit.. although the pattern is really fun.. and kind of addicting to do.. ooo I'm using the magic loop method.. that's kind of fun too.. !!
















Speaking of knitting.. I don't think I'm going to be doing much today.. I'm off to help my BF tile his mom's house.... I mean the whole house.. omyw....!!!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

this is what I accomplished yesterday on my kind of free form shrug.. I keep digging through my stash for bits of yarn the right color... shew.. well anyway I wanted a very light gray .. almost silver and I found something close to the color I wanted.. I'm going to use the gray for the ribbing which I plan to start in a minute after a couple of rows of silvery garter stitch.. I have an idea of what I want to do with the sleeves.. 2 ideas actually ... the right yarn is the problem.. I might have to hit the LYS tomorrow.. I was hoping to complete the whole project from scraps and stash...unless the perfect yarn pops up in my stash.. highly unlikely though.. 0.o'


















well..... all that hunting and digging around for yarn wasn't for nothin!!! look what I found hiding in the garage.. 0.0 .. most of it is phildar and a bit of lopi .. there was even a sweater close to completion .. that was the sweater I was in the middle of knitting when we moved here from NY.. it was august and super hot.. I never touched the sweater again and there it is.. I think I see some felted purses.. as for the rest of it.. the dark green/blue stuff might end up being a guys vest or possibly a large rectangle shawl.. my mom's birthday is coming up next month.. I need to start thinking of making something for her.. (hopefully from my stash)
Man.. and just when I thought my stash was getting under control too..(well maybe it wasn't).. but now it's worse.. I couldn't have done that much damage at the LYS.. sigh... I'm at the point now where if I didn't leave the house for a year.. I could still knit every day.... well thats not such a bad thing..(^_^)

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

buzz buZZ

baby bee booties are finished..they came out a little bigger than I had wanted even after a gauge swatch.. (note to sell.. don't cheat on gauge swatch test out both yarns u plan to use).. but that's what I get for trying to cheat..
















I think I'm making a mess.. hehehe.. actually I'm making something without a pattern.. I guess it's free form.. because I have finished measurements .. but no real plan as how I'm going to achieve them... I'm making bits.. and crocheting them together.. then filling in with some knitting... I've been working on this most of the day and just took a food break.. I'm not sure if this will amount to anything.. but it's kind of fun and I'm using up little ends of yarn .. including some angora homespun.. so soft....... k.. back to knitting.. (^_^)..

Monday, March 05, 2007

dEaR Anonymous..*~*

hello anonymous.. to answer your question.. " Hi
I am trying to make urbernatural sweater and have a problem! I cast on 40 stitch for size small and i think it should be 45 instead? After knitting 5 stitches for btn hole, # of stithches just doesn't add up???
Pls help:) "

This is what I did.. I hope it helps and I think it's right.. I did cast on the 40sts.. I made the button hole as the pattern says.. K3 yo K2 tog then I knit 2 more stitches to equal the total of 7 sts.. where the pattern says knit 7.. that would include the button hole sts. I had to work this out a couple of times too..because it wasn't working out right.. but it would make sense to also add the extra 5 sts. instead to make it work. either way I think u will be ok because u can try on the sweater and add or subtract rows to the underarms for the perfect fit.. (^_^)

3!!!


How could it be that all of a sudden I find myself with 3 projects going at the same time.. that's just not like me.. and to top it off I got bit by the flu bug and haven't knit for 3 days.. >.< .. so that leave 3 projects just sitting in front on my that I couldn't work on... oh well..
today I feel a bit better and I'm going to work on the little bee booties.. (don't ask about that snarl of yellow yarn)..
















Remember this... well I ended up ripping it out and starting over on a larger needle so it would be a little softer and hopefully have a bit more drape.. this project is going to have to wait until later.. hopefully I can finish the booties today.. aches and pains aside..

















yes .. I am working on this a little every day.. I need good lighting though ... so at other times of the day when the lighting isn't as good in the room I knit in .. I work on other stuff.. hence.. 3 projects on the needles at once..

Thursday, March 01, 2007

mOrE sTaSh BuStiNg

More stash busting going on.. omg there is still more yarn.. right now I'm working on Natty by Wendy Bernard.. again I'm using 2 strands of paton's classic wool merino.. I really like how the hat looks and I like how the scarf looks too... but the scarf doesn't have the drape factor I usually like.. I think from all the cables it's a bit stiff.. so... I stopped working on it yesterday trying to decide if I want to continue or not.. I think it would have been better on a larger needle... I'm still thinking about it.. I might rip it out and start again on larger needles... this is a reversible pattern and u make cables in on the purl side .. that's a first for me.. and .. I actually find it easier to manage the stitches during the twist.. they don't pull as much.. go figure.. 0.0
I'm off to the grocery store... knitters have to eat too..!!