MotherHenKnits

2012 Mitten Campaign

2012-01-19T17:48:00.002-05:00

I just received an email from my friend up north in St. Lawrence County asking for help again this year. He collects mittens throughout the year to be given every October to the kids at Norwood-Norfolk Central School (where I’m from) who are mainly from low income families without sufficient warm clothes to wear.

He makes 100 hats each year on a knitting machine but relies on knitters to make the 100 mittens needed (scarves aren’t needed at this time). His 89 year old mother knits these mittens all year round but she can’t make 100 in a year so he’s asking for our help. Here’s the details:

Machine washable yarn only
Colors for boys & girls, multiple colors and bright colors are fine (they’re kids - color is fun)
Sizes can range from ages 4 to almost adult
Must be sent to me by end of September so I can ship in one big box or drop them off to him in person when I get up that way

Personally, I can’t commit to making all of the mittens needed but I can try to work in a pair here and there between now and September. Kids mittens knit up very quickly and it’s a great travel/social knitting project. If you are interested in helping out let me know (I'm MotherHenKnits on Ravelry) and I’ll PM you my address or we can meet up somewhere to save you the shipping costs.

Below is a picture of the 2011 donation to give you an idea of what was done in the past:

On Ravelry, one of my friends offered to donate 10 skeins of Encore worsted yarn to anyone knitting for this project. If you'd like to take her up on that offer let me know and I'll get you in contact with her. There may be a "NNCS mittens" knitting afternoon at the Yarn Cupboard in the future too so I'll update here when any details become available.

Also, I'm offering an incentive as well:

For every pair of mittens knit and received by the end of September, your name will go in a hat (most likely a toque) to be drawn for a skein of my handspun yarn.

If you knit 5 pairs of mitts then you get 5 chances to win. Tag your project in Ravelry with “NNCSmitts” so we can all see everyone’s progress.

Happy Knitting!

Mystery Fibers Update

2012-01-07T08:45:00.002-05:00

I loved blogging regularly about my spinning last month! Too bad I don't have the time at work anymore to take a quick break. Way too busy now. I'll just have to setting for weekend updates for now until things calm down.

I had to look it up but the last update on the mystery fiber spinning was ages ago and I've got a ton done. Mystery Fiber #1 before and after pictures:

Pictures of the individual skeins and stats on each are on my Ravelry stash page. I love how the colors look together so I'm leaning towards a color work project like mittens for all this yarn. It would be fun to mix and match them for several pairs.

Next up was the roving that I found all in one bag: Mystery Fibers 2, 3 & 4 (black, grey and white). I finished 2 and 3 and I'm working on 4 now. The cool thing is that when I started working on the white I found a receipt for my purchase. I paid $10 for each 4 ounce bump from Angel Knoll Alpacas located in Waddington, NY. This supports my theory that these are all alpaca/wool blends along with the occasional guard hairs I found.

Here are the before and after pictures that I have for the black and grey (details on my stash pages):

That grey is lace weight, I couldn't help myself. It was lovely to spin! In both fibers there was a bunch of vm with most of it falling out on it's own as I spin. I had to stop a few times to pick out a piece of hay but really I can't complain for the cost. I'm heading up north for 4th of July again this year and I'm seriously considering an outing to the farm to buy more.

Right now I'm spinning up the white and taking my time with it. I'd like to end up with a sport or worsted yarn if possible. I'm enjoying the process and it should be done in about a week or so:

Then I'm faced with the last of the Mystery Fiber. The enigma itself: #5. We did a burn test on it over the holidays and came up with either nylon or polyester (we couldn't place the smell). I also did some digging and found the receipt showing I paid $100 for 11 ounces of it back in 2007 before I really knew much about fiber prices. I feel like I got ripped off so I'm determined to spin it up.

The fibers are super long so I'm thinking it should be spun fine. But if it's nylon should it not be spun by itself and blended with something else instead? Or if it's polyester should I try to spin it as thick and airy as possible to keep the softness? I have no idea. I'd like to bring it to my next spin night and see what everyone recommends. I have no clue what to do with this fiber but I refuse to let it sit in my stash any longer. Five years is long enough!

Finished Yarns - Jill Draper Makes Stuff Fibers

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Over the holidays I spun a ton. It was great to be able to spindle spin while watching my son play with his new toys. He loves that I can pay attention to him and I love to keep my hands busy. I was able to finish up a braid of Jill Draper Makes Stuff fiber that I had purchased from the Yarn Cupboard. This colorway didn't have a name so I'm calling it "Williams' Pick" since he decided on it at the shop as well as which spindle I should spin it on.

Initial 100% merino fiber at 4.55 ounces:

Finished yarn in 3 skeins:

(More details on my stash page)

While these colors aren't necessarily my favorites, I was able to get more practice with spindle spinning and I learned that I really need to figure out Navajo plying on a spindle. Looking at the 3 skeins, the first is by far my favorite because it has the least amount of the barber pole effect. I had originally thought that I only needed to learn how to Navajo ply on my wheel but I'm adding learning this on a spindle to my list as something that would be nice to know. I could always just spin the singles on a spindle and then ply on my wheel but I would rather have my spindles projects be self-sufficient.

Enough about the colors though, the fiber was amazing to spin! I didn't have to split the fiber because it's already a smaller than normal width. I would place it somewhere between a regular roving top size and pencil roving. No pre-drafting or splitting required means that I just divided the fiber into 3 sections, bagged them up and started spinning. Absolutely no VM in the entire braid and super soft fibers. This is definitely one of my favorite fiber bases to spin so far - Jill's color palette is very different from mine so while it limits what I buy from her it also helps expand my normal color choices range.

I would definitely recommend buying this fiber for wheel or spindle spinning. It's very cool that she tries to completely source and produce her fibers within a 100 mile radius of her home. Plus, I met Jill at the last Yarn Cupboard retreat and she's just fabulous. I'm planning to keep an eye on her Etsy shop as well as what's delivered to the Yarn cupboard in the future.

An Update & Some Changes

2011-12-30T09:08:00.003-05:00

I put so much thought into planning for that self-imposed spindle club that it's now funny how much of it has changed. I received 3 Golding spindles for Christmas. It was a huge surprise. I thought maybe I might be getting 1 but 3 just blew my mind. Here they are in all their glory (details on weights and sizes are on my Ravelry stash page):

Strickland VIII:

Celtic Spiral:

2" Cherry:

I was completely shocked. I received all 3 on the early afternoon of Christmas Eve so I immediately spent the afternoon spinning up some samples that shipped with them and one I had in the stash.

I spun up 23 yards from .3 ounces of Inglenook Fibers in the Christmas Berry colorway on my Strickland:

Next up was 25 yards from .3 ounces of Inglenook Fibers in Disco Bunny (hate the colorway, loved the fiber):

Last was 83 yards from .5 ounces of Corgi Hill Farms Falkland fibers on my 2" Cherry spindle. I am so impressed with this little guy, I'm calling it Lightning:

So the addition of these spindles got me looking at my stash differently. I decided to separate my fiber stash into 2 bins with one dedicated to wheel projects and the other to spindles. In my wheel bin I have the fibers that are more than 4 ounces and those that I wanted to try out new techniques with like learning how to long draw or Navajo ply. Everything that was left went into the spindle bin. This left me with 14 bundles of fiber at 4 ounces each either in braids or long hanks.

Instead of assigning a spindle or a month to each fiber I'm just going to choose whatever I feel like spinning next out of the bin. I am going to rotate through the new spindles for spinning singles and I'm leaning towards using my Ashford spindle for plying since it has the biggest whorl and longest shaft. The only time I might get picky is when I have a spin night coming up that requires me to spin on a Yarn Cupboard fiber out of courtesy. Also, when the 2" Cherry spindle comes up in rotation I'll need to make sure the fiber would be nice as a lace weight.

That's about it for planning. I have been told I'm over thinking things and it's finally settled in. I love to plan, especially for a New Year, but it's not supposed to be stressful. I've got my fiber sorted and my list of techniques to learn so that should be enough to get me going in the right direction for 2012.

Spindle Candy Self Imposed Spinning Club

2011-12-22T13:00:00.003-05:00

I finally got my act together and sat down with my fiber stash for 2012 planning. I've matched up fiber to the techniques that I wanted to learn in 2012 (ex. Navajo plying with Wooly Wonka Fibers painted ponies colorway). I saw a thread on Ravelry in the Spindle Candy group about a "Spindle Candy Self Imposed Spinning Club" aka "Fraking Awesome Self Imposed Spinning Club" and it sounded fun.

Since I don't know how to Navajo ply yet on a spindle I focused on solid or semi-solid colored fibers in my stash. Surprisingly I don't have 12 separate 4 ounce braids to choose from based on those qualities so I had to divide up one 8 ounce ball in half and one 1 pound ball into quarters. This is the list that I posted in the group with my intentions (I really wish I knew how to create a collage with my pictures - all of the details are in my handspun stash section in Ravelry):

Jan - Ashland Bay dark blue

Feb - Corgi Hill Farm vamp

Mar - Ashland Bay light blue (have 8 ounces total)

Apr - Spinner’s Hill red (have 1 pound total)

May - Ashland Bay light blue (have 8 ounces total)
(see above)
Jun - Spinner’s Hill red (have 1 pound total)
(see above)
Jul - Wooly Wonka Fibers yellow

Aug - Corgi Hill Farm blue

Sept - Spinner’s Hill red (have 1 pound total)
(see above)
Oct - Wooly Wonka Fibers blue

Nov - Wooly Wonka fibers pinks/reds

Dec - Spinner’s Hill red (have 1 pound total)
(see above)

Can you tell I went alphabetical through my stash in Ravelry and then switch up the colors so there were no repeats? Yeah, I'm predictable. I also have a thing for blue and red fibers apparently. I need to expand my color palate big time. The only month I'm struggling with is July because I haven't set my goals yet for the Tour de Fleece. I'm looking at this one as a place holder until I'm sure of what I'd like to do. I may try to Navajo ply that one since I should have learned how to do that on the wheel by then.

The other half of the challenge is to pair up a different spindle with each of the fibers so that you're spinning on a new one each month. Some people have a ton of spindles to choose from so I can understand why that sounds so appealing. I have 2 spindles with one custom Golding on order (yay!) so I'll have to tweak this a bit so that I'm just alternating through them. I am expecting it to be hard to spin on anything other than the Golding once it arrives.

I have no idea if I can spin 4 ounces of fiber a month on a spindle while I'm also knitting and spinning on my wheel as well. This is a great challenge for me to continue improving and see what's comfortable to do in a set amount of time. I also like the idea of setting aside fiber specifically for certain goals whether it's a specific technique to learn or something to improve upon. This should be fun.

Podcasts

2011-12-21T10:58:00.004-05:00

With it getting closer to the end of the year I'm still in the mode of making lists. No pictures today but I should have some hand spun yarn to show soon.

The topic of podcasts came up on Ravelry a little while back and I thought it might be useful to have a review type post on the ones I like.

Cast On - By far, Brenda Dayne has set the bar for sound quality, content, and mood. I started from the very beginning so I never dealt with the wait involved when she took breaks. I would definitely recommend this podcast for any knitter. Be prepared to wade through some woes as Brenda tries to find herself and decide if she can make money from podcasting. It's worth it to keep listening - her essays are wonderful and the music she includes is varied. She's now back to a weekly format and decided to make money from patterns, CDs, books and retreats. It's great to hear her so happy again.

Fiber Beat - This is a fairly newer podcast by Michael Wade. Great sound quality and content here. You can really tell that he puts a ton of time into the production of each episode. At first I was distracted by all the little sound clips during the interviews but now I really like how it breaks up all the talking. Even if you're not into the particular fiber art of the interviewee Michael still makes it interesting. He doesn't talk over the person, no constant agreeing while the person is talking and great thought provoking questions. So far I think he's covered knitting, spinning, crochet, weaving and a few more. Definitely start from the beginning on this one.

KnitaJourney - Susan Dolph has a good voice and I love her slight Midwest accent. I didn't start from the beginning with this one but I may go back and listen to them all if she ever decides to take a hiatus. I started in the middle of her current series on perma-culture and how it relates to our knitting and larger life. There are some parts where she discusses friends and work issues but I don't mind that too much. Her knitting style doesn't match mine but I like the way that she approaches knitting in general as something larger than a hobby.

SpinDoctor - Sasha Torres is an American living in Canada and started this podcast as a forum for reviewing all things related to spinning. As a relatively inexperience spinner I love being exposed to new products and fiber vendors. My favorite part of her podcast is that she is brutally honest. It's refreshing to hear some cons along with the pros in each of her reviews. I started from the beginning with this one too and haven't quite caught up yet. I did see on Ravelry that she's going to include more personal information about her own spinning and I'm open to that as well. She's big into fiber prep (which I am not) and trying out all kinds of fibers. I would love to do a rare wool breeds study someday based on all of the interviews and vendors she's profiled. This is a podcast that I have to listen to at my desk so I can look up things she mentions as we go. So informative.

Sticks & String - I'll admit, I was drawn to this one because David Reidy is a guy who knits and spins and also happens to have an Australian accent. The content that he's able to provide kept me listening. I've started from the beginning with this one and I'm no where near caught up with 105 episodes to go. He interviews people local to him and while it's interesting I'm probably not going to be able to buy from them. I end up listening to this podcast while I work out since each episode is about 35-45 minutes long and the easy listening music he plays helps with passing the time on the treadmill. While I'm not into the same kind of knitting he is I like hearing about how he chooses yarn and patterns from a guys point of view, "sometimes guys just like plain boring patterns in plain colors, just be ready to knit a lot of stockinette stitch to make them happy and they'll wear it."

I have several other podcasts that I used to subscribe to but they all either quit or pod-faded. I tried CogKNITive for a couple episodes and while the content was interesting I couldn't get past the lecture style while driving in a car. There are a ton of people who like this one but it just didn't mesh with me. I may try it again later on in life. Next on my list to try is SpinControl.

Speaking of lists, here's a great Wiki on Ravelry that lists all the podcasts out there that are fiber related and still active. I'm always open to new ones and I use this all the time to find new ones that I might like.

2012 Planning

2011-12-14T12:38:00.003-05:00

This time of year is great for making lists. Laurie from Crazy Aunt Purl and I would be fast friends when it comes to this area. I've been thinking a lot about what I would like to buy, make, and learn next year and this is the best place that I have to document it all.

BUY
My yarn stash is starting to burst at the seams for storage reasons. My husband disagrees with me (so cool) but I'm at the tipping point for having too much mentally so I'm not planning to buy any yarn in 2012. I have a total of 14 kits coming my way next year that are already paid in full:

Shakespeare in Lace - 4 big lace shawls
Shakespeare in Lace, Accessories - 2 socks and 2 shawlettes
Bare Naked Knitspot - 6 packages of mystery using natural undyed fibers

So yeah, no need to buy yarn. Spinning fiber on the other hand is full on. I'm spinning up fibers from the depths of my stash currently and it's freeing up space for more. I like that. Since the inception of Ravelry I prefer to work with fiber that I know all the details on. This whole mystery fiber business just kills me to work with. I'm planning fiber acquisition at the retreat, fiber shows and festivals as well as online. Not sure on joining any fiber clubs just yet.

I am sure on purchasing spindles and a Woolee Winder for my Sonata. Let the countdown begin until our income tax check is received and the buying will begin!

MAKE
For knitting goals I'd like to finish the cardigan for myself and then I have these projects on my radar:

Leaving cardigan - for Mom
Bountiful Bohus - for me
Shakespeare Lace shawl - not sure which one but I'd like to knit one this year
KnitSpot kits - it's fun to knit along with the other members month to month

All are big projects so that could easily be more than a years worth of knitting for me. Especially since I'm spinning more than ever now. There may be a baby made sometime next year since I have friends getting married this Saturday. If that happens, everything will take a back seat to some serious baby knitting.

LEARN
This is the biggest part of my focus for next year. There is so much that I don't know that I don't know what I don't know when it comes to spinning. I am reading as much as possible but I have a feeling as I learn one technique it's just going to add more to the list . . .

Steeking - see Bountiful Bohus cardigan above, this freaks me out
Navajo plying - had a quick lesson in my plying class but I really need to practice it on yarn with long color repeats both on my wheel and on my spindle
Gradient spinning - many great lessons out there on the Internet
Alpaca fiber spinning - I gave up on it before, I think I can do it now
Using a drumcarder - I have one but have never used it. Planning to card the fibers from my "how to spin for socks" class that I took at Hemlock this year
Woolen spinning - Looking for some loftier yarns
Long Draw - I think this is related to woolen spinning but not sure

I think I have all the fibers needed already in my stash for the above techniques except for the alpaca. I plan to remedy that tonight at spin night by purchasing some Salt City Fiber Works alpaca if they have any left.

I am planning to take classes again at Hemlock in the fall mainly around spinning. If I ran the world though, I'd rather go to a monthly spinning workshop at my LYS to learn new techniques. To get that type of teaching I may have to look into joining a spinning guild in my area.

Mystery Stash #1 - Update

2011-12-12T14:43:00.002-05:00

I finally finished the second and third colors from this mystery stash. They have been hanging up dry for days in my bathroom, life has just been that crazy. After spinning these two I'm seriously considering alpaca as the fiber or an alpaca blend. When drafting it doesn't grab the other fibers like a wool blend but it's not hairy either. I really don't know. Is there any definitive way to tell if fiber is wool or alpaca? I haven't been able to find anything other than pictures. This could very well be a 50/50 blend of wool & alpaca and I'm ok with that.

After finishing up the dark grey I treated myself to some color by picking the dark blue next. It was a bitch to spin. I wish there was a nicer way to put it but it fought me the entire way. I was so glad when I had finished that I didn't have to touch it ever again. It didn't want to draft at all. My best guess is that the dye did something to the fibers (not my fault) or I just started from the wrong end of the roving (my fault). I didn't think of this until I was done spinning but I was kicking myself later for not trying the other end.

I was very close to scraping this whole "spin the old stash" movement but I already had the next two colors bagged up and ready to go that I just stuck with it. I am so glad that I did. Before I referred to this natural fiber as a cream color but really was a light silver color when spinning. After I plied it and hung it up to dry it's a cross now between light silver and light tan, maybe a taupe? I have never been good with colors so let's just say it's beautiful and be happy. It spun like a dream that I didn't want to end. Loved this fiber. It put my faith back into spinning the unknown from the depths of my stash. In fact, we had some friends over this weekend that are not into knitting/spinning/yarn/fiber goodness and they all raved about how this skein was just wonderful. (And I got the "wow, you could totally sell this" comment but I let it slide, they don't need to know that I'm no where good enough to sell hand spun yarn so I just took it as a compliment and smiled)

Stats so far:

Dark Grey: 213 yards of DK weight yarn finished on 12/5/11

Blue: 156 yards of worsted weight yarn finished on 12/12/11

Light Grey: 168 yards of worsted weight yarn finished on 12/12/11

I have just the red bump left from the set of four to spin. If it is the dye that made the blue yarn crappy to spin then the red should be tough too. I will definitely remember to try both ends this time if I have problems.

Old Stash

2011-12-06T15:55:00.002-05:00

When I first started spinning about 10 years ago I started with a pound of Romney roving. I randomly bought fiber at local festivals and from online vendors like Paradise Fibers. There was no rhyme or reason to my purchases other than I liked natural colors. For the most part I didn't keep track of what kind of fiber it was or where I purchased it from. Then I had a baby & lost interest in spinning. I call all of this fiber my old stash and it lives happily in a bin in my closet.

Fast forward to about nine months ago when I decided to take a plying class. This re-energized my spinning interest (obviously since most of my posts now are about spinning) and I began to buy lots of new fibers. All were meticulously tracked in Ravelry as I purchased them and all are dyed in great colors. This is my new stash and it lives in it's own separate bin in my closet right next to the old stash bin.

New stash is starting to run out of room so I decided to tackle my old stash. I had been saving some of it until I was a better spinner but how am I ever going to learn if I don't try new types of fibers? Life is too short to wait to spin the nice stuff. I started with Mystery Stash #1 (as it's labeled in Ravelry) and it's the only one with any dyed fibers in it:

It's 4 ounces of each color and I think I purchased it at the Jefferson County Fiber Festival near Watertown, NY (I think it was a 1 or 2 year thing only - best guess is I was there in 2008-ish). I originally thought it was wool but after spinning the first ball of fiber I'm leaning towards some kind of alpaca blend. I'm no expert though. The fibers are long but don't have the hairy quality that I would normally expect to see in alpaca. I know I should do the burn test on these fibers but it's cold outside and I don't feel like stinking up the house with burnt fiber. Even with the burn test I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between wool and alpaca. I'm ok with that. It's not like I'm selling my finished yarn so we can go with a best guess.

I started with the grey and finished it up in two nights. It was super soft and I was trying to go for a worsted weight yarn (it's really hard for me to spin thick yarns now). I ended up with 213 yards of DK weight yarn:

It's beautiful and soft and evenly spun. This is probably the best hank of yarn I've ever done. I just want to squish it and hold it to my neck all day.

I've already got the blue bump spun up and it will be plied tonight. That one didn't spin up as nicely as the grey. Maybe the dye did something to the fibers? It just fought me the whole way. I tried to spin it the same way as the grey but it just didn't want to. This is my inexperience coming through but I'm not going to let it stop me. I'm going to take detailed notes and hopefully learn something from it for next time.

I love how the 4 colors look together so my initial thought is to make color-work mittens out of the final 4 yarns. A couple pairs would be so soft against the skin and warm as well.

Spindle Spinning Progression

2011-12-05T11:56:00.003-05:00

I finished the first braid of fiber this past weekend that I had purchased for my spindle class. I labeled the yarn with my do-it-yourself labels and I took time to note the order in which each skein was spun. I was hoping to see marginal improvement in my spindle spinning. What I got was pretty cool.

The colors photograph horribly but what I most wanted to see is the yarn. Starting from left to right:

1st skein: 71.6 yards of sport weight yarn from 1.2 ounces, finished on 11/25/11 (spun on sprinkler top spindle)

2nd skein: 81.6 yards of sport weight yarn from 1.3 ounces, finished on 11/30/11 (spun on sprinkler top spindle)

3rd skein: 95 yards of DK weight yarn from 1.3 ounces, finished on 12/5/11 (spun on my Ashford spindle)

That third skein is absolutely beautiful. I understand that the 1st skein was learning from scratch and the 2nd skein was making sure I remembered how to do everything. That 3rd skein is just lovely. I switched over to my Ashford spindle which is a bit lighter than the other one just to compare how I like spinning on them. It took some getting used to it but I did well.

After finishing this project I can see how one person can amass a large stash of spindles all depending on what fiber you're going to spin and what you want the resulting yarn to be like. I plan on adding several spindles to my wish list as I start exploring spindle vendor possibilities. I never thought I would love this as much as I do. Spindle spinning has replaced my social/mindless knitting projects completely.

Next up on a spindle is fiber that I let my son pick out - he picked the spindle to spin it on as well!

Yes, I Still Knit

2011-12-02T12:44:00.004-05:00

I took about a week off from having anything on my knitting needles. This was a big deal in my household since I rarely even go one day without a knitting project of some kind. I took some time to really think about what I wanted to create. With the help of the Yarn Cupboard's Black Friday sale I purchased enough yarn to make 2 cardigans for myself and one for my Mom.

I ended up casting on Bernhardt first. This is going to be a great cardigan for me and I picked out a gorgeous shade of red in Berroco Comfort yarn.

I think everyone has a color that just speaks to them and this one is mine. That deep, rich, burnt red that is more on the blue hue than the orange. When I pulled it out of my shopping bag my husband said "oh yeah, this is your color". I am nervous about knitting a non-wool cardigan with this being a mix of cotton and acrylic but it's so soft and the chain ply really looks great knitted up.

That's about two nights of knitting and I like the lace edging. It's simple but not too boring. I'd like to have this done in time for the retreat in mid-March so I can get Sandi Wiseheart to critique the shape for me during the sweater workshop that I signed up for. I missed it last time so I was happy to see it on the class list again this year.

I have knit 2 adult sweaters, 1 adult vest and several baby sweaters but nothing for myself. I keep thinking that I should wait until I lose some weight first but life is too short. I want one now. I have no problem going out and buying more yarn to knit more sweaters if by chance I lose a ton of weight and this one won't fit anymore. So many knitters only knit for themselves while I tend to be a gift knitter. I still like knitting for other people but I think it's time to even it out a bit with a few items for me. So if this cardigan should no longer fit me in the future I'm sure I have plenty of knitting friends that will take me up on gifting it to them :)

New Love for Spindles

2011-12-01T16:02:00.003-05:00

During my vacation, I used my spindle project just like I would use a mindless or social knitting project. Anytime I had some free time, even if it was only 15 minutes, I would get out my spindle and work a bit on my spinning. It's so addicting. I completely understand now why they say you can actually spin more on spindles because you spin more often.

My main project was with the sprinkler-homemade spindle that I got from Beth during my spindle class:

I finished two small skeins of yarn on it both at a heavy fingering weight. The first skein I got 71.6 yards from 1.2 ounces and the second I got 81.6 yarns from 1.3 ounces. This was a great learning experience. Since the spindle weighs 1.9 ounces I don't think I'd want to go much more than 1.3 ounces of fiber at one time. It just starts to get too heavy and the yarn slips and breaks more often. Here's of the skeins:

I'm pleasantly surprised at how nice it turned out. I still have a slight problem with how small the yardage is with spindles but it's makes great yarn for smaller projects like cowls or mitts. I used my ball winder to make a center pull ball and then just did a two-ply yarn from the center pull ball.

I had one section of this fiber left weighing 1.3 ounces and my husband suggested that I use my Ashford spindle to get a feel for a lighter weight spindle. This one weighs 1.75 ounces and you can definitely feel the difference when spinning it.

I'm not finished with the fiber yet but I have been spinning a little here and there during the day. I can tell now that the lighter the spindle the finer the yarn. I've been able to get a nice, smooth yarn so far that will probably end up as light fingering weight once it's been plied.

Working with the Ashford spindle has helped me understand what I like and dislike so far. I like the smooth wood whorl but don't like the longer shaft. I have been spending way too much time admiring new spindles online. Just looking at the Golding and Bosworth sites along can waste an hour or two (I'm obsessed with the Golding Celtic themed ones right now and the Bosworth Moosies that have a waiting list). I'm thinking I'd like to round out my spindles with a lighter medium weight and one true light weight spindle. With that full range I should be able to get a good idea on what I like to spin on for each weight yarn.

I joined a few spindle spinning groups on Ravelry and came across The Spanish Peacock spindles. There's no prices on the site because everything is custom ordered. His cut-out spindles are just amazing (there's a tempting snowflake design in a lighter wood). Lots of spindle makers use exotic woods so I've asked my husband to check out some of these sites with me. He's so much more knowledgeable on them that I am. I'm more of a "ooh that's pretty" type of opinion.

I have some fiber lined up next my next couple spindle projects already. I'm thinking about taking each of the 4 ounce braids and breaking it up into 1 ounce packages just for ease of use. Having these spindles has opened the doors for me in terms of where and when I can spin so I expect to have lots more handspun yarn to show in the future.

A Finishing Vacation

2011-11-30T09:43:00.002-05:00

I took about a week and a half off for the Thanksgiving holiday and it was desperately needed. It's good to just disconnect from work like that once in a while. I was very productive with my time off.

I finished the wedding shrug and gave it to my friend. My learning experience from this is that not only do you need to swatch but you should also soak and dry the swatch for the final measurement, especially when working with a new yarn. This yarn grew quite a bit making it go from half sleeves to three-quarters. The end product was still good but I should be washing my swatches from now on. I'll put up some better pictures next month from the wedding since so many people have been asking about it.

Next I finished up a pair of socks for my Mom. This was a kit from my Shakespeare in Lace accessory club subscription. I loved the lace pattern and the heels were fun. I'm not sure on the name for this heel technique but it was surprisingly quick and fit my Mom well. She's getting these for Christmas since we're so close to the holiday.

Then I went on a spinning frenzy. I hadn't spun at all while knitting on the shrug so my hands were just itching to spin. The only way I can describe it like when you go on a diet and say no chocolate. Then when you finally give in you eat a ton of it. That was me and I got so much done.

On the wheel already was the deep purples spinning fibers from Spinner's Hill. It's not my normal color but I loved how saturated it was and how easy it was to spin up. It's no secret that they're my go to fiber at the Yarn Cupboard no matter what the color. This is destined to be a Christmas gift for my Mother-in-Law since she asked for some handspun yarn this year. (I really need to find a way to photograph my yarn better, it's not this hairy looking in person)

I tried to spin it thinker than normal but I still ended up with about 480 yards. It would make a nice scarf or loose cowl since it's so soft and the color variations turned out well.

Next on the wheel were two lots of fiber that my Father-in-Law purchased for me at the NYS Fair. In the future I will remember to direct him to a yarn shop or local festival instead. It's not that the fibers were bad, just not as nice as what I normally spin. First up was an ounce and a half of romney wool that was super scratchy but had nice blues and purples:

I ended up with 145 yarns of light fingering weight yarn. It did soften up a bit after a soak. I'm going to recommend soaking with a little hair conditioner if my Mother-in-Law thinks it's too scratchy for knitting (or she can just weave with it instead). There's some nubs and thick/thin sections in there, more that I would normally like but it does add character to the resulting yarn.

Then there is the natural Romney wool that he bought to be eventually dyed. It's hard to believe that it's from the same farm as the blue/purple fiber since it felt like a cloud. Not a cashmere cloud but a soft wool cloud. The label said 8 ounces but when I weighed it I got 7.35. I spun it up as thick as possible into 2 sport weight skeins. This is beautiful as it but should look even better when dyed:

I struggled with the twist on this yarn because it wouldn't wind onto the bobbin even with my little spring fully cranked. I had to really slow down and work at it but I love the resulting yarn. All of these will be going in their Christmas box to be mailed as soon as the last couple skeins are fully dried.

Once this came off the wheel I didn't have the itch to spin anymore. Well, there still is the itch but it's not as pressing as before. I'm fine now to start thinking about knitting projects again, even if I'm not actually starting any. I don't have any knitting on the needles for the first time in a long time. I truly have evolved from a knitter who likes to spin to now a spinner who likes to knit and that's ok with me.

This isn't even all I did on vacation. Next up: spindle spinning progress!

I Will Never Be a Knitwear Designer

2011-11-14T10:36:00.003-05:00

I mean this in the best way possible but this shrug project has shown me that I never want to be a knitwear designer, ever. There is so much self doubt involved that every stitch has been wondering if I'm doing the right thing.

So, an update with no pictures after the second wedding dress fitting over the weekend:

Yarn look ok with the wedding dress?
Absolutely. It looks fabulous. What looked bright white in my hands while knitting faded to a soft ivory when held next to the dress. Huge success and sigh of relief there.

Beads: too many? too little? just enough?
The overall verdict was just enough. They will catch the light here and there but not be the focal point of the outfit since the dress is lacy and ornate enough by itself.

Does the re-written pattern fit?
No. The back seems to be ok so that will not be ripped. Both the left and right fronts come too far over the dress so those will be ripped and scaled back (we thought that would be the case from the initial look at the pattern). The sleeve didn't even come close to fitting. My best guess is that since the pattern was written for chunky yarn the sleeve was intended to be knit loose and then tighten up a bit at the upper arm. With using DK weight yarn that is intended to be a tight fit all the way I am improvising and doing the opposite of what the pattern states. I'm starting out small and increasing instead of decreasing. So far all of my measurements and calculations are coming out correct. I should be able to finish the first sleeve tonight & get started on revising the fronts tomorrow. We have another fitting for the shrug only scheduled for this Friday so my hopes are to have the back pinned to one front and one sleeve for final fit approval.

I have so much respect for knitting designers. I did before but after working on this project I no longer have that daydream that I could design someday. This whole knit, rip and re-knit thing is not what I like to do. I like to sit down with a well written pattern and just knit without having to figure out if something is going to work out or not. That's why I don't mind paying for a pattern, they've done all that work for me and deserve the few dollars that I paid to just knit it up.

This shrug is for a wedding so I'm being a perfectionist. I understand that not every project is this way but this is special. I'm willing to work on it right up until the day of the wedding if I have to just to get it right. BUT if things go well I could be done by Thanksgiving. Fingers crossed for good knitting karma until then.

Knit, Knit Like the Wind

2011-11-08T13:41:00.003-05:00

(yes I stole that title from Brenda Dayne but I thought it was appropriate)

My best friend is getting married next month and she asked me to knit her a shrug to wear with her wedding dress. So after all that spinning obsession talk I haven't touched my spindle or wheels for over a week now. My local yarn shop ordered the yarn we picked out, Lana Grotto VIP:

It's a merino/cashmere blend and so luxuriously soft. I'm stressing out about the shade of white but we have a fitting on Saturday that should ease my concerns.

Since the pattern itself was a bit on the plain side (which we wanted) I still wanted to dress it up a bit with some beads. There's a great bead shop just across the street from my yarn shop and we picked out white pearl seed beads to go with the yarn. Once I got the yarn and the right size beads it was the pattern next. We picked out one that was knit up in chunky weight yarn so the pattern had to be rewritten for the lighter weight yarn. Thankfully my friend Shannon who teaches at the shop offered to help out.

I've got the back all knit up and plan to start the fronts tonight. Overall it will be a quick project which is wonderful just in case I need to rip back and re-size anything. To say this needs to come out perfect is an understatement - my best friend would probably be fine but I know that this is going to be a hand knit item that will last forever through pictures.

I'm not normally monogamous with my projects but there will be no spinning or knitting on other items until this shrug is done and perfect :)

Successful Drop Spindle Class

2011-10-31T10:52:00.005-04:00

During tough times like today it's helpful to have distractions. Spinning is one of my many distractions.

I bought a spindle from the Yarn Cupboard about a month ago with the hope of teaching myself to spin on it. I thought it would be nice to have a true travel spinning project that didn't take up a bunch of room. This is the Ashford spindle that's top whorl, 3 1/8 inches and weighs 1¾ ounces:

I tried reading articles and watching YouTube videos but I couldn't get it to work for me. I think my body was just used to spinning on a wheel and didn't understand the different mechanics needed to get started. Plus I was spinning on some junk fiber that I didn't care about so that contributed to the crappy spinning I was doing.

Thankfully I heard about the class and thought if it's possible for me to learn this was my best shot. Beth is a wonderful teacher (I was in her plying class earlier this year) and I bought some special fiber just for spinning on a spindle:

It looks really red in this picture but it's really neon orange, neon pink and a little bit of red. I should wear sunglasses when spinning this stuff! But it's good quality fiber (Spinner's Hill of course) and I thought the colors would be fun for learning.

There were 6 of us in the class, some with no spinning experience at all and some, like me, who had spun on a wheel before. It was a good mix with everyone struggling but staying positive, no two people had the same color fiber. I didn't swear the entire time - big achievement there! Beth gave us each a hand made spindle that was heavier than the one I had. That made it so much easier to learn on. Once I understood the "park and draft" method I could then figure out which hand wanted to be where (I'm right handed but spin left handed) and then I got it like a big light bulb moment. It began to feel like a fluid movement and I no longer wanted to park it, I was fine just spinning and winding, spinning and winding, etc.

I proceeded to spin for the rest of the weekend off and on just making sure it wasn't a fluke and that I really had absorbed all of the information. I even got to the point of letting my son spin the spindle for me and wind the yarn on, he loved it for about 20 minutes. Here's the handmade spindle and my spinning from that short amount of time:

I'd like to spin up an ounce at a time and ply it back on itself using a center pull ball for practice resulting in 4 smallish skeins of yarn. The hard part will be not shopping for fancy spindles ($50 to $250ish a piece) in the meantime. I've promised my self to finish up this 4 ounces of fiber that I bought before buying any other spindles just to make sure it's something that I will continue to like doing. But I have started looking in a couple places . . . Golding spindles with Celtic themes are tempting as are the Bosworth spindles made from Moose antlers or exotic woods. I'm not shopping, I'm just researching for Christmas 2012 :)

Spinning: My New Passion

2011-10-28T09:44:00.003-04:00

Ever since I linked up my blog to my Facebook account I've been shy about posting. If you're reading this in Facebook and you don't care about knitting or spinning or yarn/fiber in general you may want to just hide me now :)

Back in the spring I got really flustered because I loved to spin but the resulting yarn wasn't anything I would ever knit with. It hit me that I wasn't plying correctly so I asked for a class from my local yarn shop. That class was my last straw, either I could make yarn that I liked or I was going to stop spinning. Thankfully I had a great teacher and it turned out well. The only bad thing is that now my free time is torn between wanting to spin and wanting to knit. I left the store that day with this:

It's a very basic braid of Colinette roving that I liked the color variations on. When I took my time and used what I learned to ply I ended up with yarn that I would actually knit with (Ravelry link with all of the specs):

It was a huge revelation that yes I can spin and yes I can make a nice yarn. I kind of went a little crazy buying fiber from there. I joined a fiber club with 6 monthly shipments, I purchased a bunch of Spinner's Hill roving from the Yarn Cupboard and I bought even more from the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock.

My biggest problem was finding time now for both spinning and knitting. I need to have some structure around my crafting otherwise I start feeling overwhelmed. I ended up working out an every other night schedule with alternating spinning and knitting. It's working out ok so far with a few changes when my husband is out of town for work.

One of the nice things to come out of this discovery process is that I really enjoy listening to audio books while I spin at night. It's a great way to keep my mind engaged and keep up with my love for books. I found that my local library had a digital media section on their website so I've checked out a ton of audio books all for free that can be downloaded to my iPod. The trade off is that they don't have a huge selection but I am listening to authors that I would have normally not tried before. So far the science fiction & fantasy genre has fit me best but James Patterson's Women's Murder Club was an interesting find. I've listened to the first 3 books in that series and while it's not amazing writing it is very entertaining with the twists and turns.

I'm currently working on the first half of this 4 ounce braid from Spinner's Hill:

I had a hard time photographing the colors. In person it's a deep, dark purple that transitions to a slightly medium purple. Not my normal color choice but it's good to get outside of your comfort zone once in a while. I'm looking forward to seeing how the resulting yarn will look with a blend of the dark purples. It's spinning so nicely I haven't even needed to pre-draft the fibers. I just split it in half, weighed the halves so I could be as close as possible and then started spinning. I'm hoping to have this one done in time for Christmas as a gift but I'm not going to rush the process.

It's Done & I Love It!

2011-05-24T11:11:00.006-04:00

I finished my Midsummer Night's Dream lace shawl over the weekend and I couldn't be happier. Of course there's mistakes here and there but the common observer would never notice. This was my first project actually knitted from the Shakespeare in Lace subscription club. I can't wait to wear it to my next festival or retreat.

Here's it blocking on Saturday morning:

Close up of the beads in the center and top sections:

On final modeling shot to show how big it is:

It took me about 4 months to knit from start to finish. The first rows with 439 stitches were a bit hard for me to do mentally when I was barely knitting 2 rows a night. I loved the beads and I have enough yarn left over for another scarf or lace cowl. I can't say enough how much I loved knitting this and I'm really looking forward to starting my next Shakespeare in Lace project.

Mittens for Kids in Upstate New York

2011-05-10T11:36:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine from my former high school is organizing a offering "The Angel Tree" at our old school in Upstate New York (NNCS in St. Lawrence County). During the Christmas Holidays, this helps the less fortunate families in our local school district celebrate Christmas. This is the second year that he has made winter hats for the Angel Tree. He can make hats but can't knit (I think he has a knitting machine). He's asking for volunteers to knit mittens to be given with the hats.

If you know anyone who would like to knit a few mittens for this project, please contact me via Facebook, Ravelry or KnittingHelp.com and I'll give you my address to send them too. This will always be an annual event so I will gladly accept mittens year round but they will be collecting for an October 1st deadline this year right when the weather starts turning cold. I'll either make the trip up north to drop them off all at once or mail them when I have enough for a flat rate box.

The donation last year was 104 hats and 76 pair of mittens. They place the hats in one pile and the mittens in another and let them choose their combination. All hats and mittens were taken home!

Here's the specifics:
1. Most mittens are 32 stitches but knitters are making different youth sizes as these hats and mittens are given to families with children ages 4 to almost adult.

2. Just mittens only, no scarves at this time.

3. Unisex, multi-color, whatever so have fun with it. His mom knits what she calls "Crazy Mittens". She will make a brown and orange mitten with the cuff orange, palm brown, thumb orange and top orange. The other mitten reverses the color pattern. The kids like to be different and like bright colors.

4. He uses Red Heart Super Saver for the hats so any yarn that is machine wash and dry would be preferred.

Here are pictures of the hats and mittens that they did last year.

Thank you all and let me know if you have any questions.

A Tale of One Sock (so far)

2011-04-12T10:52:00.008-04:00

A long time ago my son, Will, asked me to knit him a pair of socks. Not just any yarn would do either. He specifically asked for gray, yellow, blue & red yarn. I thought it was a phase that would pass but each time I asked it was the same 4 colors. Even with a little prodding and suggesting that maybe just 1 color or even 2 colors would be better he stayed firm with the original 4 colors.

So I searched Etsy figuring it would by my best chance for find such specific yarn. No luck. I tried the alchemy feature but found out it had just been shut down the day before. Desperate, I posted on the Etsy Ravelry group asking for suggestion on what to do. Several people gave me great ideas and then one indie dyer spoke up and said she'd do it for me. I checked out Jill's shop and loved everything I saw. We messaged back and forth with the details and I placed my order.

When the yarn arrived I made sure that Will was there when I opened the box. It was more than perfect. He was so happy that I had found him the exact yarn that he asked for. In fact, he now wanted socks, a hat and a scarf all out of that yarn (thankfully I ordered 2 hanks just in case). Next up was finding the right pattern.

My go-to pattern for men's socks is Anne Hanson's Gridiron. It's super simple, manly with enough detail not to get boring and it fits very well. The problem is that my son is almost 5 and I wasn't sure if it would fit him. I posted to Anne's fan group on Ravelry asking the question and very quickly was given several patterns to choose from that would size down to fit Will's feet. Anne even confirmed that she loves to use Gridiron to knit socks for her own nephews that are close in age to Will. She included a helpful explanation on how she sizes her sock patterns so I can feel confident that I'm knitting the right size the first time.

It didn't take me long to knit the first sock and when he came home from school I asked him to try it on. The sock wasn't even all the way on his foot, his eyes lit right up and he said "Oh this feels really nice!". Once it was on we did a modeling session. This is how he wanted me to take the picture:

This is me trying to get him to hold his foot still:

This is him pointing to the coolest socks ever:

This is one happy boy who is ever so patiently waiting for his second sock:

Knitting Retreat Recap

2011-03-28T11:47:00.012-04:00

What a wonderful weekend! I am just overwhelmed by how much I enjoyed the knitting retreat. It was my first time taking classes and first time attending a retreat. I'm still blown away today by how much fun I had.

This was the first ever knitting retreat done by the Yarn Cupboard, a local yarn shop in Jamesville that I still haven't visited (oh that will definitely change soon). It started on Friday night and at check in we were give a nice goodie bag with 3 yarns I had never heard of. I plan to research them more this afternoon. Then it was dinner and a talk by Sandi Wiseheart from Knitting Daily. I was a little late to it but what I did catch was educational, inspiring and entertaining all at the same time. Sandi is a great advocate for helping people understand what patterns will look nice on you no matter what your body shape is and how to adjust existing patterns (hello bust darts). Also on Friday was our preview for the vendors. Jill Draper's section was my first stop since I've bought from her before and love the quality of fibers and colors she offers. I bought two hanks of sock yarn (Cherry Pie & Iowa City colors) for one of my classes.

Next up was Holiday Yarns, which for some strange reason I didn't know they were an actual shop. I thought they were a place for workshops only - boy I was wrong! I was very good about staying away from her lace weights but her sock yarns have amazing choices for colors. I ended up buying one of her Yarn Fairies in a color that reminds me of Orange Sherbet. I was later told that her Yarn Faires are either the "oops" skeins or skeins used to finish up a pot of mixed colors. I originally bought it to make socks for someone else but by the end of the weekend I was smitten and it will be mine, all mine!

Saturday morning we had a lazy continental breakfast and then I headed over to my first class of "Reknittable Heels and Toes" taught by Jill Draper. Since the heels are where my socks tend to wear out first I thought this would be a great technique to learn. It was challenging because I used too light weight of a yarn to move quickly but I did eventually finish the heel. The most challenging aspect of this class was paying attention to making both sides even with the yarn overs. I'm really looking forward to using this heel technique in the next pair of socks that I make for the men in my family who tend to have rough heels and wear out that spot quickly.

Lunch was relaxing and delicious - I'm a picky eater so I was pleasantly surprised that I liked everything. Saturday afternoon we dived into "Fair Isle Toe Up Socks" taught by Shannon Chaffee Adams. I have already done fair isle projects before so I really wanted to focus on the toe up part of the class. The cast on was tricky and fidgety but once I got the first row completed it was easy. Shannon had a few tricks for knitting your ends in so you don't have to weave them in later and I really want to keep practicing that one. I can't stand seaming ends in. When we got to the fair isle part and adding in the second color she showed me how to knit with both hands, meaning one hand in each color. It was slow but I can see how with a little practice it will be faster eventually. It felt natural and fluid in my hands - just one more bonus for taking this class.

Dinner was great again and then we had a talk from the lady who started Great Adirondack Yarns. I loved her enthusiasm for embracing creativity and for recognizing that nothing is a wasted project. Later we heard from a yarn rep who gave us insight on upcoming trends in the knitting & yarn industry. It's nice to hear about the trends but I knit so slow that I'll probably stick with the staples of knitting for now. Several people & companies donated items for the door prizes and I ended up winning a skein of handspun yarn made by Beth. I was so touched. I know how much hard work goes into that and I can't wait to find the perfect cowl pattern to knit up with the yarn she made.

Sunday morning after breakfast I took a second class from Jill Draper called "Double Time Cowl" which focused on double knitting. The cast on took forever for me to pick up but I did eventually get it. Double knitting felt intuitive and I caught on to that quickly. Soon I was focused on the chart with "same, same, different, different" repeating through my head. Big light bulb for me when I realized that I could take just about any pattern and make it double knit. When my husband saw the swatch I made he immediately made a request for a double knit hat. The best part was that I'm not very good at the Kitchener stitch and Jill stayed late with me to make sure I had it down. The resulting swatch is the item I'm most proud of from all of my classes: brand new cast on, brand new double knitting & proper kitchen stitch to finish it up.

There were other vendors at the market but I tried to avoid them for stash overflowing reasons. I bought a Addi Lace turbo needle from the Yarn Cupboard but tried to stay away from her other yarns because her kits and lace were so tempting (I have tons of lace & kits already). There was also a lady with gorgeous spinning fiber and I was very close to buying some but I stayed strong since I haven't been able to spin on a regular bases. Another lady was selling rug hooking supplies and then on Sunday morning there was a table of amazing cupcakes.

I can't believe all I purchased was 3 hanks of sock yarn and a set of needles but it's wonderful now to have new sources for buying yarn in the future. This whole weekend really opened my eyes to what's out there and inspired me to learn more and try more projects. Here's a look at the contents of my knitting bag when I finally got home:

Hands down, the best part of the entire retreat was hanging out with such nice people. We all ranged in age but got along great. This morning my Ravelry inbox was full of friend requests from all of the ladies I met. I can't say enough how lucky I feel to have met them. I will definitely be signing up for another retreat if/when the Yarn Cupboard does it.

Committed

2011-03-09T10:19:00.001-05:00

I checked my Ravelry project page and I started Midsummer Night’s Dream on January 19th. I’ve knit on this project exclusively since then with the exception of a week’s vacation where a sock project made more sense for traveling. Tonight I should finish the first full pattern repeat. Let me repeat, first pattern repeat. I never thought of myself as a slow knitter. Maybe I’m just enjoying knitting this so much that I’m not rushing? With the decreases each row now I’m averaging about 3-4 rows a night which is up from the max of 2 per night when I was knitting the border.

I’m definitely not going to finish by March 21st. I’m looking forward to my first knitting retreat later this month and then maybe finishing this project by June? Good thing I really, really like knitting lace – and that my friends have stopped having babies for the time being

What’s really crazy is that including this one I have 4 Shakespeare in Lace kits from 2009, 4 from 2010 and 2 already for 2011. I’ll be knitting these well into retirement and loving every minute of it!

Long Road Ahead

2011-01-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

The stars have aligned and I’m finally able to participate in my first season with my first Shakespeare in Lace shawl. I joined the club each year since 2009 but never had time to actually knit one. I picked the Midsummer Night’s Dream shawl kit because there was no grafting required. The last project where I tried to graft lace was horrible looking so I need more practice in that area.

Ravelry Pattern Link

The yarn is 1300 yards of Wooly Wonka silk/merino lace weight in the “Love in Idleness” colorway that was dyed for the club.

I starting this on January 19th which was a bit late for Selfish Knitting Month but still counts in my book! I’ve got all 439 stitches on the needles, knit the 2 garter rows and just finished row 8 on the border.

I do know how do place beads with a crochet hook and I’m really enjoying the process:

I don’t expect to finish this in time for this Season of Lace but I saw a category for spanning several seasons so that might be it for me. I’m getting about 2 rows done a night so far and I should speed up once I can start decreasing. It feels so nice to finally be knitting something just for me!

35,843

2011-01-03T09:40:00.002-05:00

That's the number of remaining yards in my stash that's up on Ravelry. It doesn't include my charity yarn or left over balls from projects.

Yeah, it's a big number but I'm thinking I can double it in 2011 if I try real hard. Most people may be looking to knit from their stash and reduce what they have. I'm looking towards retirement when I won't have an income. I've got about 25 more years of stashing to make sure I'll be comfortable. I heard another knitter call it our 401(k)nit savings plan :)

I like it!

I'm in both 2011 Shakespeare in Lace subscriptions so my lace and fingering weight yardage will increase from those. I'm also on the look out for some funky sock yarn from festivals. I don't ever seem to have enough sock yarn. I knit almost every day so it's just a further investment into my happiness!

Whoa

2010-11-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it but my yarn is packed up in bins and ready to be moved. We should be moving into our new house before Thanksgiving. I have enough yarn to get me through the month but it's just difficult now seeing my yarn cabinet all bare.

I am still working on the Warm Up America rectangles each night. I should be able to finish that project up by the first week of December. I have 1 more row to go on a chunky hat for my husband so I grabbed enough yarn to knit him up a pair of socks. It's a horrible feeling having your yarn all packed up and trying to figure out if you have enough to get you through the month. Total addiction talk craziness . . .

New Favorite Hat pattern

2010-10-26T12:49:00.003-04:00

It started out as a pattern (Subtle Twist Hat) that was perfect for some leftover yarn from a sweater I made for my father-in-law. When I asked my husband to try it on to check the fit, he loved it so much that he wanted 2 for himself. It's a very easy pattern up until the last 12 rows where the cabling starts. I'm not saying it's difficult, it just slows down and you have to focus after rows and rows of mindless knitting.

DSC03488, originally uploaded by Angela & Gerald.

My husband swears that this is the best pattern for hats that he has ever tried on - fits him perfectly once I added 3/4 of an inch to the length. I'm actually working on the third hat so far now.

Warm Up America Project

2010-10-25T09:53:00.001-04:00

DSC03462, originally uploaded by Angela & Gerald.

While this is a picture of an upside down cone (thanks to my Ravelry peeps who pointed that out before I started winding it into balls) you can still see the quantity of yarn. This has since been wound into 9 large balls of yarn and as of last night I have finished knitting 9 rectangles. 2 balls were given to my mother so that she and her neighbor could help out - also helping my mom get her knitting mojo back.

I was excited to work on this because I've always like the Warm Up America group and what they do. My only reason for not knitting for them before now was that previously if you knit up rectangles you had to drop them off at a store and there were too many stories of the store managers just throwing them away instead of mailing them to the appropriate place to be seamed up. This time, I was contacted through my membership with The Knitting Guild of America. For sending me free yarn they asked for my commitment to knit 51 rectangles before December 15th AND they included an address of a real person for mailing them in. I figured this was perfect timing for me to crank out some mindless knitting and help out. I need this too since I've got a ton of work and personal stress all around me.

I worked out the stitch and row count for 4 separate patterns so I don't have to keep measuring all the time. It's a great little system and I haven't gotten bored yet. The yarn is a very loosely plied 4 ply with a heavy cotton component - not exactly the most stretchy but it is soft on my hands. I have to pay attention to knit split the yarn with my needle occasionally but that's pretty much my only complaint so not bad overall.

I plan to knit this monogamously during the evenings until all of my yarn is used up. My calculations have me finishing with plenty of time before December 15th. During the days when I have meetings I've been working on a few warm weather items for my husband - more about those later.

Finally Finishing

2010-09-16T11:10:00.003-04:00

Some people say that a project isn't completely finished until it's been blocked. If that was the case, I did a bunch of finishing this weekend. Two projects I can show (Mystery Stole & Dainty Bess lace scarf):

The other one I can't but it was a great feeling to finally get these out and finished. No clue what's going to happen to them next but I see some gift giving in my future since my finished projects drawers are over flowing!

I Actually Did It!

2010-07-04T08:58:00.001-04:00

It took me a little while to remember how to adjust the wheel to spin just right but I actually did it. I filled an entire bobbin last night and got a second one started. I'm going to keep going with a one day at a time mantra so that I don't get overwhelmed. Last night was successful because my only goal was to figure out how to spin again. It was wonderful.

Tonight, I'd like to fill another bobbin and then start plying the yarn. I'll have 6 full bobbins and that's plenty for now. It will be a good feeling to get the yarn off those so that I can fill them again. Still no clue yet what I'll eventually make with the yarn but that isn't the point. I'm just going to spin this month and figure it all out later!

No pictures because it wasn't anything special to post. It was a bit thicker than I've done in the past but by the end of the night I was getting the groove back. My overall goal is to get spinning lace weight yarn once it's plied. This Tour de Fleece is the best thing ever to take on. I've having a great time and it's only day one. Now I just need to work on my posture so I can make it to the end . . .

Tour de Fleece

2010-07-03T17:32:00.002-04:00

I signed up about a week ago and organized by spinning fibers and supplies yesterday. Today is the official start of the Tour de Fleece but since my parents are moving into a new home today my start won't be until later tonight when my son is in bed. I signed up for 2 teams on Ravelry:

Rookies
Stashbusters
Wild Card

I probably could have joined several more teams but I wanted to keep this simple for my first year. I think it's so cool to have prizes in the mix as an incentive to join up. I'm really looking forward to getting back into spinning again.

My goals are super simple:

1. Spin every day
2. Finish up the alpaca roving I started 4 years ago and ply it into yarn
3. Start one of the luxury roving in my stash

I don't think it's possible to spin up everything in my stash this month so I'm mainly hoping to get the feel for it again and figure out a way to spin about once a week after the Tour is over. Here's some pictures that I uploaded to Ravelry of my stash:

My spinning wheel, fiber stash and supplies

Alpaca fiber that's in process (5 bobbins full already)

Sweater #2

2010-06-24T15:56:00.001-04:00

DSC03298, originally uploaded by Angela & Gerald.

This is sweater # 2 for my father-in-law and I'm very pleased with it. I knit the medium size and it fits snug just like a fisherman's sweater should. It's extremely warm and turned out exactly like he requested. I was concerned with the doubled over collar but the extra weight ended up making it a tighter fit around his neck which he prefers.

I have been told that he already has in mind a design for sweater #3. He gets great ideas from foreign films and the Ravelry group "As Seen in the Movies" have been amazing with helping me find patterns to match. I would like to try a light weight sweater for him next since I've already done medium and heavy but we shall see next year when we sit down and choose.

More pictures here on my Ravelry project page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/MotherHenKnits/snorri

Hello Stranger

2010-05-12T10:51:00.002-04:00

I haven't been around much lately since my massive addiction to Facebook but I'm still knitting every day. I'm in Ravelry every day as well dreaming about all the new projects to line up.

Today is a cold, dark, rainy day so I'm going to take this opportunity to photograph my stash of lace yarn and upload it to Ravelry. Of course I don't think to do this on a sunny day! I got a ton of beautiful lace yarn from my parents for Christmas and it's all still in the clear shipping bags. I was keeping them together because they're samplers but I'm at the point now where I want to "air the stash" and remind myself of all the beautiful yarn that I own.

This urge could be because I'm just a couple weeks from finishing a big sweater for my father-in-law and my next home project is going to be a lace shawl from the Shakespeare in Lace subscription. This is my second year in the subscription and I have yet to cast on a single project from it. Such a travesty! I slowly reevaluated my To Do list and stopped adding any deadline projects so now I'm actually close to being able to start one.

Normally I'm a monogamous knitter but my husband suggested always having two projects going so that I can do a major/complicated/big project at home and a smaller/easier/mindless project when we're in the car or visiting my parents. So far it's working out well and I'm able to get some sock knitting in here and there - should make Christmas a breeze this year!

Gearing up for 2010

2009-12-29T15:42:00.004-05:00

I originally started this blog to feel connected to other knitters and to keep a journal of my knitting projects. Then Ravelry came out and I really don't have a use for the blog anymore. I'm going to keep it going for the free patterns and comments I've made on past projects but I need to figure out what I want this space for.

Speaking of space . . .

My yarn is running out room. I have a beautiful yarn cabinet with class doors that is very full of yarn. Not just any yarn either. Beautiful, hanks of alpaca, silk, wool and cashmere just waiting to be knit up into something fabulous. I have a lifetime supply of lace weight yarn now thanks to 3 Knit Picks lace sampler packs from my parents for Christmas. I have 4 Shakespeare in Lace kits (still untouched) and 4 more on the way for 2010.

It's quite necessary for me to declare a moratorium on yarn purchasing. Specifically, I need to stop buying yarn to knit other people stuff so that I can use the yarn I already own to knit myself stuff. It's not that I don't like knitting for others, I do, I really do. The problem is that my gorgeous stash just isn't getting knit up and my hands are just itching to work with all of it.

So no yarn buying in 2010. With the only exceptions being sock yarn purchased from the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival in September and Rhinebeck in October. I'm going to have to be strong the next time a baby is due and just hop on over to Target instead of the yarn shop. Too much guilt lies in that yarn cabinet just staring at me day after day.

First step - accept there is a problem
That would be me purchasing yarn whenever I go on a trip. I like visiting local yarn shops but there's no need for me to buy yarn when I go. I can still browse the yarn but maybe buy a pattern or a set of needles instead.
Babies don't always need hand knit items. Sometimes wipes and baby wash make great gifts too and they'll probably get used more.

Second step - create the solution
This will be a work in progress but will start with a revamp of my current To Do list. I do have a couple deadline projects that I already have the yarn for so I want to make sure they're accounted for. The trick will be to not add any more deadlines and take breaks with projects that are for me.

Third step - be realistic
I will probably not work on the Great American Aran Afghan this year so it makes no sense for me to add it to my To Do list. Even one 12 by 12 square is too much to do if I don't feel like doing it.
Also, knitting up just one Shakespeare in Lace project would probably take me a couple months so it giving myself a goal of knitting all 4 in one year doesn't exactly work.
It's going to take me a couple months to knit up a sweater that I already have the yarn for so planning this project will be key. I need to make sure I'm not working on it in the middle of summer but I also don't want to get overwhelmed and crank it out ASAP. I'm thinking about working in a pair of socks after I finish each section of the pattern to break up the monotony .

I'm going to also work this week to get all of my yarn photographed and uploaded into Ravelry to help with knowing what I have and finding the perfect patterns.

Finished Object - Cable Blanket

2009-08-20T13:33:00.004-04:00

I finished the cable blanket last night with about a month to go before the baby shower. YAY! It's so nice to be able to finish early and not have to rush. I'm glad I was able to cast off last night because it was getting so big that my fore arms and wrists were starting to hurt after knitting each night. I'm excited to cast on another pair of lightweight socks next!

Details
Pattern: Cable Blanket by Debbie Bliss in Simply Baby
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in almond
Needles: US 6 & 3 circulars
Time frame: April 24 - August 19, 2009

Love the yarn, love the pattern - love making baby blankets as long as I have plenty of time!

Power Knitting

2009-08-12T14:20:00.003-04:00

I have nothing exciting going on lately in terms of knitting, other than I can't wait to get started on some of the projects on my To Do list. I've been able to get down to 4 WIPs with one of them as my main project, the Cable Blanket. It's very relaxing to knit and I barely have to look at the pattern. I'm on my second to last ball of yarn and it feels good to be able to get this one done well in advance of the baby shower (not even scheduled yet).

I re-organized my stash yarn again this week with just a basic "airing of the stash" to remind me what I have. I like to do this often as it keeps me from buying more. I think my organizational pattern in my cabinet fits just like how a bartender sorts his liquor. My top shelf yarn is exquisite, total luxury and demands nothing but the perfect pairing with a pattern. Second shelf is good quality, durable yarn for my functional knitting needs. Third shelf is all acrylics for specific charity projects, just a hodge podge of yarn - and I like it that way. The bottom shelf is my left overs, oddballs and Great America Aran Afghan yarn. This is the spot where I put stuff that doesn't quite have a purpose yet but isn't ready to go to my mother-in-law for her weaving projects.

So, while I work diligently on my Cable Blanket I'm daydreaming about my top shelf yarn and how I'd really like to expand that stash with a nice sock club this year . . .

Isn't It Lovely?

2009-08-10T12:30:00.003-04:00

Last month I braved the ridiculous heat of Austin, Texas for a work trip. On my way there I met a lovely knitter in the airport and we had a very nice conversation. She recommended that I visit Hill Country Weavers shop while I was there. I'm so glad that I did.

That shop was actually the closest one to my hotel according to my research on Planet Purl's site. I researched all the shops right after I found out that I had to go. The store didn't look like much from the outside (plus I was just trying to concentrate on breathing - not quite used to that heat) but when I stepped in it was a treasure trove of goodies.

One of the ladies gave me a tour of the store after I told her I was brand new. That store just kept going. Every time I turned a corner there was another room, then another and another. I ended up planting my feet in the lace section and then wandering back over to the sock yarn. I must have walked back and forth several times before settling on my final purchase.

1460 yard of Prism Lace Wool in smoke. This colorway is so cool, so unique, I can't wait to find the perfect pattern for it. It's a combination of black, blue, purple and grey - I've never see anything like it. One big hank of yarn probably for a nice shawl or stole. The best part is that it would look great with a simple black dress or with something more colorful. I'm having fun just looking at my possibilities on Ravelry already.

Yes, I didn't need any more lace yarn but I braved the heat just to get to the shop and I'm proud of the reward that came home with me!

Finished Object - Dad's Tampa Bay Socks

2009-08-03T11:11:00.004-04:00

I finished Dad's second sock while on a conference call on Friday (yes it's allowed because they track which screen I'm viewing so if I can't multi-task I knit, plus it helps me focus on what they're saying). It's hideous and not what I originally had in mind but he will wear them anyway and loves them just the same. Maybe that's why I love knitting for him. He's honest and still appreciates the hard work that it takes to create a finished item.

Pattern: Gridiron by Anne Hanson

I LOVE this pattern. It's very manly and functional, easy to understand and memorize and very well-written. I don't knit too many socks so I don't remember everything that goes into knitting socks. This is a great pattern and I plan to use it again, and again, and again! I also plan to purchase more of her patterns for men.

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock, 2 hanks

The yarn felt wonderful and knit up like a dream. 80% superwash wool and 20% nylon make it a very durable, machine washable yarn. I only found 1 or 2 thin spots in each hank - nothing to complain about. I'll definitely go back to this brand again for socks.

Yarn Color: Team Spirit #19

I make a separate note here for the color. While I love the yarn, the color didn't work out like I had hoped. It was the closest that I could find to match the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and I didn't think the amount of white would make it look as "candy cane-ish" as it did. I take this as a learning point next time when shopping for colors.

Needles: US 1 metal DPNs

I had to purchase a multi-pack of metal DPNs at my local AC Moore for these socks and I really liked working with them. I even had a coupon, yay!

Time Frame: 6/22/09 to 7/31/09

This is mis-leading because I had several charity knitting projects come up AND I worked on my Cable Blanket for a weekend once because I originally wanted the socks to be a surprise. I bet if I was monogamous to them it would probably be closer to 3 weeks or so.

So with Dad officially in possession of his socks they know have a nickname "Dad's Lightning Bolt Christmas Socks". They fit him very nicely and he loves them. I couldn't be happier!

Tour de Fleece

2009-07-07T15:39:00.002-04:00

Right now the Tour de France is running and spinners around the world are engaged in the Tour de Fleece challenge. I'm envious. This is the second year that's gone by that I knew about it and didn't participate. So I joined the group in Ravelry to keep it fresh in my mind and added it to my calendar as starting next year on July 3rd.

I'm thinking it will be a great way to improve my technique by focusing only on spinning for about a month. Also, I can work through my existing stash and make room for new purchases at Rhinbeck next year. I have several pound of roving stashed away and I refuse to buy anymore until I start spinning again on a regular basis.

The challenge will be making the Tour de Fleece a priority and sidetracking any deadline projects (and keeping the cats away from my wheel).

So Proud!

2009-06-30T10:50:00.004-04:00

Last night, William asked me to sing a new song to him before bed. I had no idea what the new song was so I asked him to sing it to me first. I quickly called for Gerald to come back into the room to listen as well. This morning I brought my camera with us on the way to school and asked him to sing it to me again:

This is after just one day at the new school. We are definitely happy with the results so far. Plus, he actually came home CLEAN yesterday afternoon - a first in a long time!

I'm sure his old school taught him this too as did I and other family members but after learning several new songs in class yesterday this is the first time he sang it to us. We're so proud!

Finished Object - Kansas' Purse

2009-06-23T10:45:00.004-04:00

Thankfully I have a wonderful mother-in-law with amazing sewing skills, otherwise this purse would never have been finished.

The yarn called for is ribbon yarn (Berroco Glace) and I will never, ever knit in ribbon yarn again. I'm documenting this just in case I see something pretty online and think that it won't be that bad. It was a nightmare to knit with and just twists and twists. Maybe I just have just knit it from the hank. I don't know. It took twice as long as it should have to knit and then required sewing skills.

I think I might have the sewing skills but just not the sewing patience :)

So, this purse was loving knit by me and sewn by her Grandma. Just look at that button - just perfect! Thank goodness I was using my Rosewood luxury needles . . . it dulled the anger and kept me from hurling it across the room! I love my niece Kansas but I was this close to just sending her a gift card and letting her go shopping. I hope she loves it and I can't wait to hear from her!

Details
Pattern: Girly Bag by Amy Polcyn (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Berroco Glace (thankfully discontinued)
Needles: US 6 rosewood straights
Time frame: June 5-20, 2009

Just a thought

2009-06-12T11:09:00.002-04:00

Sitting at my computer this morning working, no shoes on and the AC on. I thought to myself "man, it would be really nice to throw on a pair of hand knit socks right now"

Yeah, imagine that.

Knitting for all these years and still no socks for myself. What a shame! I'm going to remember this for my next "me" project . . . not that it will be happening anytime soon though.

Success!

2009-06-08T12:00:00.004-04:00

It fit and was determined to hot to wear right now but was a success!

We were at camp so this was just a fitting for later this fall when the cooler weather comes in. Very nice pattern, yarn and experience overall!

Finished Object - Dad's Vest

2009-06-05T14:16:00.002-04:00

It couldn't have been finished with any later and still be a present for my father. His birthday was this past Tuesday but I got a few extra days since I won't see him until tomorrow. It's currently blocking/drying in our spare bedroom.

I would say that while the pattern is beautiful and very well made, it's short. I tried to add length to it here and there hoping to make up for it since I read others knitters opinions on the Ravelry project page claiming it ended up way short for them. My Dad wanted it longer than what the pattern stated so I definitely kept that in mind the whole time. I'm hoping that by blocking the wool strongly it will give me another couple inches in length. We shall see when he tries it on tomorrow . . .

Details
Pattern: Zipped Vest by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in charcoal
Needles: US 4 (Knit Picks Options were awesome)
Time frame: 3/23/09 - 6/5/09

Mid Year Update

2009-06-04T09:36:00.011-04:00

It's June 4th and time to gauge what I can do this year and what is probably impossible to accomplish. First step is to make a list of project with deadlines:

1. Dad's Vest - Knitting is done and the zipper will be sewn in tonight! Deadline is this Saturday when I see him at camp.

2. Kansas Purse - Haven't cast this on but it should be quick and I bought the clear purse handles yesterday while I was at AC Moore looking for a zipper for Dad's Vest. Deadline is July 11th, her birthday.

3. Football Socks - Team colored yarn was purchased and patterns have been queued up in Ravelry. I'm really liking the looks of Gridiron and School Sock. Very manly. Deadline is August 9th, beginning of NFL pre-season.

4. Cable Blanket for Baby Craig - One ball knit and 4 to go. Very enjoyable project to work on so it shouldn't take long to finish if I work here and there on it in between other projects when I need a break. Deadline is pre-October 17th, her due date but most likely given as a shower gift.

5. Duke Dog Sweater - Measurements have been taken for the pattern calculator, colors have been selected but design elements are still being debated between a dog bone motif or skull and cross bones. Deadline is this fall, before it gets too cold.

6. Manly Socks for Christmas - Requests came in from my husband, father and father-in-law for more wool socks in specific colors. I purchased several balls of yarn already from AC Moore when they had a ridiculous sale on Paton's Classic Wool (and later retracted the flyer costs). I'll probably use my patterns from Knitting Pure and Simple. Deadline is this Christmas.

Ah, that doesn't seem so bad. The problem is that it doesn't include my current WIPs:

1. Mystery Stole 4 (aka Serendipity Stole) - I've got the first half done and about half way through the second half. Since I started this project as a learning experience for larger lace projects there's no intended recipient at this time and no deadline. It will sadly have to wait for the deadline projects to get finished up first.

2. Dainty Bess lace scarf - This is my travel project and perfect for airport/airplane/hotel knitting. Absolutely no rush on this one either.

That's not too bad either. It's nice to have true pleasure projects to work on with no pressure for finishing. But then there's the Shakespeare in Lace club that I joined. Now that's true pleasure knitting. I had initially hoped that I could finish all 4 shipments this year but realistically I'd like to just be able to cast on for one before the end of the year. The first two shipments are beautiful and will make great presents some day:

1. Desdemona Shawl - The yarn is a pinkish peach and super soft.

2. A Midsummer's Night Dream Lace Shawl - The yarn is again very soft and the blue has great depth to it from being kettle dyed. Plus, it came with BEADS! Good thing I know how to knit with beads after working on the MS4 stole!

So, while I feel good about organizing my To Do list and that I only have to buy yarn for one project (Duke's Dog Sweater - Caron's Simply Soft won't be expensive at all) I do have some anxiety about finding enough time to get everything done. I only knit a couple hours each night. Plus there's that nagging feeling about not knitting on my GAAA at all this year and all of the other gorgeous yarn in my stash that I'm excited to work with.

Maybe I just need to schedule a few "mental health" days and just knit all day. Yeah - that would be nice . . .

Knitting Karma

2009-05-12T10:46:00.002-04:00

This past weekend my parents had a massive garage sale and thankfully they let us put a ton of stuff in with theirs. I took this opportunity to sort through my stash and found two boxes of yarn that I would never use.

They were my husband's grandmother's stash and kept very nicely over the years. It was chunky acrylic yarn in colors that didn't fit my taste. Back in the 1970s this must have been her best stash. There were balls from Sweden - very cool but still too rough for my taste and I love acrylics. After 3 years of keeping it in this house I decided to part with it - which was hard but it felt good too.

My father set out the yarn for me and told me how it sold:

An elderly lady and a couple of her friends got out of the car early Friday morning and started looking around at the offerings. She came to the first box of yarn, "Excuse me, how much for this box of yarn?"

My father replied, "One dollar for the box."

"One dollar?" she asked.

"Yes, a dollar for the box."

"The entire box?" she asked again.

My father assured her that it was marked to sell at exactly that price. She quickly snatched up the box and dug through her purse for the dollar. Then she spotted the second box . . .

"Sir? How much for this box?"

He said one dollar again and she was just tickled pink with her find. She quickly paid him, beamed to her friends and just gushed about what a great deal it was. My Dad explained that his daughter was a knitter and that I was just clearing out my yarn. It was perfectly good yarn but just didn't fit with what I liked to make, I didn't have room for it anymore, etc. My Dad had a conversation on yarn with her. Love it!

When Dad told me this story it made my day and I completely felt the great karma from not just tossing the yarn into the trash. I hope she enjoys the yarn just as much as I enjoyed passing it along!

Weekend Knitting

2009-05-11T12:04:00.003-04:00

This weekend I finished my first ball of yarn for the Cabled Baby Blanket that I'm making for friends that are expecting their first baby. I'm amazed at how quickly it's going but then again I'm comparing it to Dad's vest that has double the number of stitches in one row.

The color is a rich almond and should fit in nicely with their home decor. The pattern is one that they picked out from my Debbie Bliss Simply Baby book. At this rate I should finish it well before the baby shower. It's perfect knitting for when family is visiting or when we have a short road trip.

Stash Organization

2009-05-08T11:07:00.004-04:00

The other night I had a dream about my acrylic yarn that I use for charity and I was trying to get Clara Parks to write reviews of the yarn available in big box stores, their pros can cons and the best uses for each.

Yes, I need to do something about the growing size of my acrylic yarn stash.

I ended up pulling all of my stored yarn out of bags and either putting it in my yarn cabinet or my drawers. I had yarn from my husbands grandmother that will be perfect for the HAP rectangles and I had yarn purchased a while back for a couple Project Linus blankets. I also had knitting bags all over my closet and office with no real organization.

I ended up cleaning out my entire office and it felt really good. I rearranged my furniture and completely cleaned out the closet with an emphasis on accessing the things I need easily. I've got a laundry basket of clothes to garage sale now and a good sense of the yarn I own. Needless to say I don't plan on making any purchases anytime soon :)

The first shelf is my nicest yarn including lace weights and festival purchases, second shelf is sock yarn and Project Linus blanket yarn, third shelf is charity yarn for Oddball blankets and the bottom shelf is my GAAA yarn and the yarn I have in my Ravelry trade/sell category for easy access.

My stash drawers include finished objects, tools and notions. I also have leftover balls of yarn for charity knitting, dishcloths and for teaching people how to knit when they ask. I feel much better about having everything organized and knowing exactly what I have. By no means is it excessive but by organizing a couple times a year I can keep it from getting out of control. I have some really nice stuff and can't wait to use it all. Now it's just a question of finding the time to knit . . .

Addiction

2009-05-06T16:17:00.006-04:00

I have recently admitted to myself and to my family that I have an addiction. It's powerful and intoxicating. I'm addicted to knitting bags. Now that it's out in the open I'm hoping to shop more :)

Below is the Namaste Clutch that I won from Planet Purl.

I was so excited to get the charcoal version since out of all the colors that would have been the one I would pick for myself. Love. This. Bag.

Perfect Size for my lace scarf projects with spots for multiple needles.

Perfect sections for practical items needed that are non-knitting related.

Perfect price for my budget (ahem - FREE)

On Monday we took a lunch break with my parents and went to Cracker Barrel. Most of their items are over priced but I love to look. I found the cutest black bag with pick flower that was perfect for knitting (see - the addiction is always there) and at $15 I thought it was worth considering. By the end of the meal, I decided to save my money since we're in a recession and my husband just recently had to trade in for a new truck for safety issues. Next day it was waiting for me on my desk, thanks to my father who thought if I liked it that much I should have it.

So yes, not only is my husband the ever vigilant enabler - he's converted my father too. Do you think they have rehab for this?

Planet Purl Rocks!

2009-04-14T12:16:00.005-04:00

I just got an email from Planet Purl stating that I won the Namaste Cali Clutch in their latest drawing! Holy crap! I thought it was spam at first and then I was just about in tears when I realized it was real. I never win anything - seriously - my father is the lucky one in the family.

I sent a reply with my address and my sincere thanks. I love that site and their travel guides save me a ton of time when I'm getting ready for my trips. I haven't explored the other areas of their site as much as I would like but just their yarn shop reviews are valuable to me.

This Cali Clutch is so cool! I can't wait to see which color I get and figure out which project to use it for next. I'm thinking a travel project would make sense based on the size and where I'm getting it from.

Update

2009-04-14T10:31:00.003-04:00

I have been steadily knitting along on my projects and haven't felt a need to update my WIPs or FOs on this blog since the same information is captured on my Ravelry Projects page. No need to duplicate work. Instead I'd like to explore future projects and current knitting dilemmas.

Currently I'm working on a ginormous project. My father's vest is in XX-Large with 280 stitches so I'm able to get about 4 rows a night done in the main pattern.

I'd like to finish it up by his birthday in early June but it will take some dedication and serious monogamy. I can do both but I plan to work in a few small projects to break it up a bit.

**********
Awhile back I received a free bag of yarn, I organized it by weight & color, and then wound them into small yarn cakes for storage. I'd like to use these up and make more room in my yarn cabinet for nicer stash that I still have stored in a large bag. It's all charity yarn but I'd like to use up the older stuff first. My plan is to finish the skein of yarn I'm working periodically on for the soldiers rectangles and then color coordinate my old stash for a couple Project Linus blankets for my local chapter. It should make a great car/road trip project and won't take forever to do. I've got a couple stitch books with patterns I've been wanting to try so I'm hoping to find something that fits and works well with the sizes I need to make. The only problem I see with this is that I'm not very good at coordinating colors so I may have to take a pictures of the yarn available and get my sister-in-law to help with that part.

**********
Work has been crazy busy and my travel has increased. This means less blog posts but hopefully more money for me in the long run. I'm planning my summer/fall festival now so that the time is blocked out way in advance. I've decided against the Knitting & Crochet Show in Buffalo this August because we think we'll have a wedding to attend that same weekend. But I would LOVE to take that Russian Lace Knitting class that's all day on Friday. That would be worth the trip alone - but with traveling for work it's hard to take a full day away from my family right now.

So far my only definite festivals are the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival and the NYS Sheep & Wool festival in Rhinebeck. The first one can be a family day trip for us with about a hour each way in the car. Rhinebeck will most likely be just me going alone. I can't imagine my husband and son wanting to go to that.

***********
Very realistic goals for me now that it's April. I'm trying to work in 30 minutes on the treadmill every day and not purchase anymore yarn until the festivals. They're both a challenge for me but I can do it.

Finished Object - Pirate Hat

2009-04-02T09:49:00.003-04:00

This was a crash course in Fair Isle. I had never learned this technique before but when my niece's birthday was coming up I felt the urge to knit something fun for her. After sending a few ideas to my sister-in-law the overwhelming response was the Pirate Hat from Hello Yarn. They are very much a Halloween family so it made perfect sense to me.

The problem was picking out the yarn for me. I wanted something light and soft so I didn't have to knit the cotton band but the white in the store didn't look good to me. I went with a blood red instead. Loved it.

She immediately put on the hat and didn't take it off the entire night. I think she liked it. Next time I will do a different ribbing though because without the cotton band lining it did curl more than I liked. Overall - great project.

Details
Pattern: We Call Them Pirates by Adrian Bizilia
Yarn: Bernat Satin Sport Solids, 1 ball each of black and red
Needles: US 2 & 3
Time frame: 3/15/09 to 3/28/09

ISE7 - My Package Arrived!

2009-03-09T17:03:00.003-04:00

My ISE7 package arrived over the weekend. Once again I was spoiled rotten.

I was very lucky and got a great pal again this time. The scarf is simply beautiful! It's a reversible pattern and the yarn is 80% baby suri alpaca and 20% silk. It feels wonderful to wear and looks very nice on me. The blue is a great color for me.

On to the goodies:

2 magnet notepads - I can never get enough of these
March 2009 Creative Knitting - just flipped through it once & already found 2 patterns I love
Knitters Hand Handmade Lotion Bar - never used this but I can't wait to try it
Notions bag filled with stitch markers, needle gauge and stitch holders - so useful!

My favorite is the stitch markers from See Jayne Knit Hand Dyed Yarns. I love the color and they are the perfect size for my lace projects. So thoughtful! These came as a separate package and I think I gave a yell when I opened them.

Thank you so much Dorothy!

No Begging Allowed

2009-02-19T10:29:00.003-05:00

My husbands wool socks have finally worn out. We think he snagged it on something and the whole just grew.

Since these are the only pair he has I had to make an emergency trip to AC Moore for yarn. That morning I got a circular stating that Patons Classic Wool was 2 for $5. Knowing that one ball was normally $7.99 I high-tailed it to the store before the best colors were sold out. Of course, they said that the circular was incorrect and the sale was actually 2 for $9. There was no retraction printed and after my husband pleasantly argued our case with the store manager I got 8 balls of Patons Classic Wool for $2.50 a piece. I felt very guilty but I can't help it if they made a mistake in their advertising. The worst part was that there was another lady in the aisle that wanted the same deal but the store manager said that we'd be the only ones getting that price. So not fair! You print the ad, you honor the price!

Anyway, progress has been very fast on these since my husband doesn't like the socks to be very tall. I cut 5 inches from the length on each sock so I may be able to get 2 socks out of one ball of yarn. It will be close but I'm definitely curious. The pattern is Men's Heavy Boot Sock #998 from Knitting Pure & Simple and I it's my stand by for quick, warm socks.

I have two more business trips coming up so it will be lace knitting for me to stay sane. Plus I have a couple baby blankets headed my way for charity. Oh - and the first shipment of Shakespeare in Lace is scheduled to go out the first week of March. No rest for the weary!

Feel Good Knitting

2009-02-11T16:52:00.003-05:00

I've simply got too many projects on the needles for my liking so I'm focusing on finishing my MS4 stole. Nothing exciting to photograph since the first side looks the same as this one. I just started Clue 3 on the second side and it's flying off my needles. I love knitting lace.

My trick for concentrating without going crazy has been listing to Brenda Dayne's Cast On podcast. She mixes up knitting talk with great music and it's thoroughly entertaining. I started from the beginning so I think I'm at around episode 37. Eventually I'll catch up and be disappointed that I can't hear a new episode whenever I feel like it.

To make sure I'm not getting bored I'm mixing it up with a few charity projects. I've started another set of rectangles for the HAP project and I'm diving in head first with a new round of Northeast Oddball Baby Blankets with my peeps on Knitting Help. I haven't done much charity work lately and it's just feels good. My MS4 doesn't know it's purpose yet but I balance that out with the charity projects.

[Oh - I uncovered an entire stash of charity yarn that I forgot about. That makes my charity knitting "recession proof" since I won't have to buy any yarn for a long time to participate!]

Finished Object - la novia

2009-02-09T10:10:00.003-05:00

I have loved Anne Hanson's designs for a while now and with ISE7 I was finally able to knit one. I choose la novia for it's open design and paired it with my Sublime yarn that I had stashed away for a special scarf.

My pal should receive her package from me sometime tomorrow I figured it's finally safe to post the finished pictures. With it being a deep navy blue, it photographed horribly:

But it's beautiful, soft and smooshy. Perfect for the warm weather climate that my pal lives in. I hope she enjoys it - it was lovely to knit.

Details:
Pattern: la novia by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK purchased from Sheep Thrills
Needles: US 8 straight bamboo
Timeframe: 1/12/09 to 1/27/09

Finished Object - XOXO Blanket

2009-01-16T14:59:00.003-05:00

This is my first finished project for 2009 and it surprised me how fast it knit up. I really, really overestimated the time it would take to complete the blanket. My friend from college is due in February and it's already in the mail!

I knit this baby blanket because I was able to make it very meaningful. Scarlet and Brown are our school colors from college. XOXO may mean hugs and kisses to some people but to us it's the Greek letter for Chi Omega, our sorority where we met.

I'm very happy with the two colors but the strangest thing happened. I bought 2 skeins of autumn red and 2 of chocolate for the blanket. While I ran out of the first Chocolate skein before starting the last strip I never touched the second autumn red. I even had plenty left for seaming. I've heard of manufacturers varying the length of yarn in a skein but this was a huge difference. Good think I love the color and will use it in something else some day!

I did end up deciding not to attach a backing to the blanket since it's going to a warm climate. That meant an entire night just seaming in ends. Pure torture but it looks wonderful. I've gotten great compliments from anyone who's seen it. I'm definitely going to save the pattern for future babies since it was such a quick knit. There are some good color combinations out there to try and Caron's Simply Soft is perfect for the quality, price and durability.

Project Details:
Pattern: XOXO Blanket (free Ravelry link)
Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft in Autumn Red and Chocolate
Needles: US size 9 straight
Time frame: 12/24/08 to 1/11/09

Free Bag of Yarn - YAY!

2009-01-13T17:03:00.004-05:00

I was going through my emails Thursday morning last week and decided that I didn't need to get the Freecycle daily digest anymore for my county. I used it to get rid of stuff but there was never anything I ever wanted. I was just about it click to join my group and edit my preferences when I saw a listing for a free bag of yarn and not much more information than that. I jumped right on it and replied to the lady.

She still had the yarn and our times for pick up matched. Then we got snow, lots of lots of snow. My husband and I picked up our son from daycare and then braved the weather to drive a half hour. This was treacherous weather and we just giggled the whole way. No one can ever say my husband didn't support me with my knitting.

I ended up with a big bag of older acrylic yarn.

Perfect for my charity work with the baby blankets and HAP rectangles. I sorted out the stuff that was unusable, balled up everything else then sorted which was worsted and which was sport weight.

Overall, very good for a free bag of yarn.

Wednesday Book Night is Back!

2009-01-08T15:42:00.002-05:00

With the insanely crazy holidays over we're finally able to get back into our routine. Last night I started Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) . . . love it! Even though the story line and characters remind me of The Lord of the Rings I'm caught up and want to see how it all ends. Do Eragon and Arya end up together? Can he save Murtagh from his oath to the evil dude? I could have sat there and read the book cover to cover if I didn't have to work the next day. It's so relaxing to put the XM channel on and just snuggle with a blanket and read. I look forward to Wednesday night every week now.

It is difficult to not get my knitting out that night. I feel like I'm almost cheating or just not being productive with my time. But it gives me a good break so that I can dive in again on Thursday night and not get too bored with what I'm making.

Speaking of which - my XOXO Blanket should be done this week, at least the knitting part. Then comes the hard decision as to whether or not a backing should be added. I may chicken out and just weave in my ends and be done. I'm not sure if I'm up for learning something new and having it turn out horrible. This is a gift that I really want to send out right now. I haven't responded to my friend after getting her Christmas card announcement of the pregnancy so I'm chomping at the bit to talk to her.

2009 Resolutions

2008-12-31T13:39:00.003-05:00

For 2009 I'm going to keep things as simple and organized as possible. Of course I have a list. It's broken up into categories based on my main focuses in life:

Family
1. Let Will play outside as much as possible
2. Visit our relatives down south
3. Read to Will every day (not just at bedtime)
4. More date nights with the hubby

Knitting
1. Complete 3 more squares of the Great American Aran Afghan
2. Knit socks for the men in my life (and me too)
3. Knit up all the projects for Shakespeare in Lace
4. Spin at least one day every three months

Saving Money
1. Eat at home more often
2. Continue to spend less than we earn

Environmental Issues
1. Get reasonable estimates for solar panels
2. Stay active with environmental campaigns and public policy

Getting Healthy
1. Walk on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes each work day
2. Eat more vegetables

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Such a good compilation of stuff! Playing outside and reading to my son is easy to accomplish - fun too. The Knitting goals aren't that bad either. I didn't spin a single ounce in 2008 and that just sucks. I'm going to try to take a day off from work once every three months and just spin all day. I'll call it my Mental Health day.

A lot of these are connected with others on the list but the biggest challenge will be getting healthy. I'm just plain fat right now and ugh - who ever says they want to be fat when they grow up? I work from home and have a treadmill, rowing machine, plenty of workout DVDs so I have no excuse. I usually end up working through my lunch break and that's not helping my mental sanity at all. If I can do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill each day my outlook for my job and my life is usually better. Plus, I love listening to Brenda Dayne's podcast. Between her and Lime n'Violet I've got enough podcasts to work out until June at least!

Overall I think I came up with very attainable goals for myself. Good stuff that I should already be doing. I'm hoping that making small changes and sticking to them will actually create a routine and part of everyday life.

Pleasant Surprises

2008-12-31T10:48:00.004-05:00

Last week I received a Christmas card from a college friend. She signed her name, her husband's name and then "Baby-to-Be (Feb 09)". I think I almost cried right there in my kitchen. She's been trying to have a baby for a long, long time. I can't believe she's finally pregnant!

I immediately decided to knit this Baby-to-Be a present. It had to be perfect though. They're in a warm climate so it can't be to heavy, plus I wasn't sure if they had a special theme planned for the nursery so it would have to blend with everything. Oh and unisex too because I have no idea if Baby-to-Be is a girl or boy. I thought about knitting up Yarn Harlot's Sam Blanket again and I even made a trip to the yarn store. I wasn't crazy about the colors offered so I came home empty handed.

I went back on Ravelry and tried searching every way possible. Then I found the XOXO Blanket as a free Ravelry download. PERFECT!

To personalize the blanket I went with our college colors of Scarlet and Brown (Caron's Simply Soft in Autumn Red and Chocolate). Not exactly baby colors but I know that she will appreciate the choice. The XOXO design symbolizes hugs and kisses for the baby but even more - the letters XO symbolize the Greek letters for Chi Omega. That was the sorority that we were both members of and by joining that's how we met and became friends.

There's instructions to sew on a fabric backing so I'm leaving all my ends out until I make that decision. I would have to find the perfect fabric in order to do that - also because I've never sewn fabric to anything knitted so that will be a learning curve for me.

It's a quick, easy and fast knit and I should easily have this done by the end of January. I've almost got the second strip of 6 squares completed. Only 3 strips (18 squares) to go!

Holiday Knitting

2008-12-30T10:42:00.006-05:00

I need a vacation from my vacation! Lots of fun though and I would say it was a great holiday!

Over the last week or so I worked on 3 blankets for the Northeast Oddball Charity project that I'm a member of. I added a section to Bubblegum:

I added two sections to Lavender Satchel and my Mom added a border:

With the empty needles I then cast on for a new preemie blanket called Be My Valentine:

It was so nice to work on these while my family was visiting. Everyone wanted to know where the blanket was going next and where they would be donated. It's a great project to have as a break in between larger ones. Speaking of which, my Mystery Stole 4 got about 10 rows on it and I should be done with Clue 5 if I ever get to knit on it again . . .

I've got 2 projects now with deadlines so they've become a priority. I'll grab pictures of those tomorrow.

Thanks Mark & Ellen!

2008-12-23T17:26:00.003-05:00

Adding not Subtracting

2008-12-11T16:23:00.002-05:00

I have decided on purchasing Alhambra as my reward for losing the first 10 pounds. It's gorgeous and I already have the perfect yarn for it.

I have decided to slowly add things to my daily routine instead of taking things away. So instead of "eat less sweets" I'm going to "eat more veggies". I had all sorts of complicated workouts planned but they'll never stick. I decided to make my mantra "be more active" and using my treadmill on the weekdays and playing with my son on the weekends. Simple and I hope it works.

I think it will be around 2 years to hit my goal weight if I do this smart. So 50 pounds over 2 years is about 25 pounds a year, or about 2 pounds a month or about 1/2 pound a week. That's not too bad. (Except I already weigh one pound more than yesterday - damn you water weight!)
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I'm working on another charity blanket this week and periodically on MS4. I love what I'm working on lately and not having the rush of Christmas overwhelm me. I need to do this every year!

Motivation for Weight Loss

2008-12-10T10:22:00.004-05:00

Last night as I sat down for dinner I came to the realization that I have no idea how to lose weight. I've never done it before and just steadily gained over the years. After having a baby, that weight doesn't just magically melt away with nursing. It stays for a very long time actually - unless you do something about it.

Taking a long hard look at myself and researching the multitude of calculators out there. I have about 50 pounds to lose before I can get close to my goal weight. Based on their figures I would need to be 65-70 pounds lighter but I truly believe that's very unrealistic based on my frame and body type.

50 pounds is a nice round number but it's huge, not an easy feat. I need to get healthy so I can set a good example for my son and be around for a long time for him. High blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease . . . and the list goes on and on for problems associated with being overweight. I'm not waiting until January 1st - I'm not waiting another day. It starts now.

So how can I stick with whatever program I choose? I've decided to bribe myself with luxurious yarn and knitting. I've broken up the 50 pounds into 10 pound increment goals to make it more attainable. This way I have something to look forward to in the short range. These would all be for me and not something I would give away:

1. Purchase a Pattern (probably one of Anne Hanson's designs), cost around $5-$10
2. Fancy sock yarn (lots of possibilities here), cost around $20 - $30
3. Cashmere scarf yarn (no clue yet on what), cost around $40 -$50
4. Stole/Shawl yarn (I'm thinking something fancy, Zephyr maybe?), cost $50 +
5. Sweater yarn (no clue but I won't limit myself on cost), cost $100 +

I tried to make the goals increase as I go so that they become better and better. I do have a full physical scheduled next month so I'm hoping to get a realistic goal weight from my doctor. If it's more than the 50 pounds I'd like to have a subscription club be my final prize. Something like the Socks that Rock Club or the Year in Lace would be a great way to celebrate.

It shouldn't be hard to get my husband to buy in on the costs associated with each. He's training for triathlons and definitely understands the need for motivation and goals. The hard part will be changing my routines to actually make this a priority. These goals should help.

MS4 - Clue 4

2008-12-09T08:38:00.005-05:00

I finished knitting Clue 4 on Sunday night and actually remembered to take a picture this time. I really love knitting on big lace projects and it's making me more and more anxious for Shakespeare in Lace to start up in March.

I was sad to see no beads in clues 3 and 4 but I understand that for comfort when wearing the stole they had to be left out. After the theme was revealed it was challenging for me to stay into this project. Serendipity is ok but I like clear themes and "a little of this and a little of that" was hard for me to keep focused. At this point I really don't care though. I'm taking this first stole as a learning project to prepare me for wonderful things in the future.

(I really should take a photography class someday - just horrible lighting on this)

I've started to wonder what I'll do with this when I'm done. With the merino yarn it should be warm but the beads make it a bit dressy for around the house wearing. Plus my 2 1/2 year old would love to just whip it around his head in circles and find ways to chase the cats with it.

For now I'll just be turning out 10 rows or so a night just enjoying all of the yarn overs and the 8 beads to come in Clue 5!

Oddball Charity Knitting

2008-12-08T12:23:00.004-05:00

I finally have my camera back in working order just in time for the holidays.

I recently finished my section of the Forest Greens Northeast Oddball Charity blanket using Caron's Simply Soft in soft green with a basic woven stitch:

Since all of my Christmas knitting was finished early I stepped up and signed on for 4 of these blankets knowing they would probably make it to me this month. I'm hoping this helps out my other knitters right now!

I love it that this group has gone regional. It's not that I didn't mind shipping to Montana when needed but it's so much cheaper to ship to the Northeast and it's nice knowing that they'll end up somewhere around here. Plus, our group is smaller now so less time waiting for a blanket to get to me. YAY!

We're active in two different websites, one on Knitting Help and one on Ravelry. Feel free to join the group in your location. I've definitely had a great time working on these and meeting other knitters in my general area.

ISE7

2008-12-02T09:27:00.002-05:00

I have already sent in my questionnaire for the International Scarf Exchange 7 swap. Love, love, love this swap. Last time I knit for someone in Australia, got a package from the UK and was completely spoiled.

They have extended the deadline to December 8th for signing up and scarves should be mailed by February 26th leaving plenty of time for people to finish up their holiday knitting. They only accept 200 people each time and there are still spots available.

Sign up and spread the word! It's a great experience and I loved every minute of the last one.

Christmas Knitting is Done!

2008-11-25T11:35:00.003-05:00

Thanks to good planning and an early start my Christmas knitting is officially done before December even got here. I had only two major projects to do this year but since I had extra yarn and extra time I made a bit more than originally planned.

1. Bath set - 1 knit rug, 4 hand towels and 8 wash cloths using Lily Sugar'n Cream Confectionery Colors Twists in denim.

2. Niece fun & cozy set - 1 Hearts & Flowers blanket to snuggle with and 2 awesome scarves for her dress up box using Patons Melody in magenta, hot pink and mango.

Yesterday I tried working on a GAAA square and it felt so forced I couldn't do it. I made a ton of stupid mistakes and then decided to just shelve it again until after January 1st. My mind just wasn't into cabling even though it was a sensible project to work on.

Instead I worked on my Mystery Stole 4 project. LOVE IT! I knitted non-stop last night for at least 3 hours and it never felt like work. This is how knitting should be! I'm sure I'll want a cabling project in the future but right now it's lace on the needles that feels right. My hopes are to work on this with little breaks for the charity blankets here and there until it's finished.

Obsess Much?

2008-11-18T15:51:00.002-05:00

While updating my queue in Ravelry and working to get organized I found that I have lots and lots of lace knitting planned. I live in a cold climate and I'm not exactly the type of girl that would wear lace often. Maybe a nice shawl or wrap for a wedding but that's about it. So I guess I need to figure out who in my life is going to get some of these beautiful projects in the future!

I do like knitting just to knit. I have several projects stored away for when the need to give a gift arises. That saves me from all of the deadline crazy knitting that I just don't work well with. I also like to use fun yarn to try out different patterns and those I end up finding good charities for.

Here's my problem: I've been knitting for about 8 years now and never made myself a sweater. I've made baby sweaters and one nice adult sweater so it's not intimidating to make one. I'm getting better at many of the techniques involved. I think I just keep waiting for me to magically lose 50 pounds so I can be fitted properly. Since that's not going to happen anytime soon, I'm going to add making a sweater for myself to my To Do list for 2009. It was probably on my list for 2008 . . .

Now I'm off to Ravelry to find "big girl" patterns and hope the the cost of yarn doesn't bankrupt me in the process.

Finished Object - Hearts & Flowers Blanket

2008-11-17T11:28:00.003-05:00

I got so much done this weekend! Not only does my stash have a new, beautiful home but I was also able to finish my big Christmas project last night! The Hearts and Flowers Blanket for my niece is completely done, all the ends are woven in and the border is attached.

It's so girly, so fuzzy and so warm! I hope it's perfect for Saturday morning cartoons in the air conditioning!

This was my first project using lots of color work and I'm happy with the results. My only complaint for this pattern was the yarn amounts were off by for the non-main colors. That really wasn't fun to reorder yarn from 2 different places. There's no way I would have been able to even finish the second strip with the yarn amounts they recommended. I'm very disappointed with that part.

Now with the blanket done I do have a little yarn left over. I need to see exactly how much before I decide to make a cute scarf to match for her dress up box. I've got plenty of time before it needs to be mailed out so I'm off to Ravelry to start searching for the perfect pattern!

Pattern: Hearts & Flowers Blanket (ravelry link)
Yarn: Patons Melody in mango, hot pink and magenta
Needles: US size 15 straight & circular
Time frame: 9/25/08 to 11/17/08

I love my Stash and Ravelry!

2008-11-14T16:46:00.005-05:00

This afternoon my parents and my husband moved an older china cabinet up into my office. I'm going to use this as yarn storage. We probably bought if from Wal-Mart about 7 years ago at a bargain price. I was beginning to run out of room in my bins and it was very difficult to see what I had already purchased. I would find myself purchasing new yarn and forgetting about the gorgeous yarn I already owned. Now I can see everything and get to anything I want easily:

This is the coolest thing ever!!!!!

Now it's like I have my very own yarn shop in my office! I tried to organize everything but I have a feeling I'll be updating it again soon. For the time being I just wanted to have my yarn visible and accessible.

This is the best part. My Dad was here and we had some time to waste before picking up my son from school so he helped me photograph each hank and upload it into my stash on Ravelry as we moved the yarn from bins to the cabinet. Cue the singing angels: Hallelujah!!!

Here's my stash.

Not only is this just cool to have, I can easily search within Ravelry to find patterns based on the yarn specifications. I'm in heaven! I have been wanting to do this for so long but just never had the time. I might even be able to help someone out with my leftover yarn that I put in the trade/sell category.

The yarn that I didn't upload to Ravelry is my scraps for teaching people how to knit and my charity yarn. I figured that can be saved for another day if needed. The cabinet isn't full so I have plenty of room to grow my stash if needed. Before I was struggling with bags of yarn stored all over the place. It feels so nice to be organized once again and it should be easy to maintain this with uploading pictures of new purchases.

My hope is to be able to knit for a while from my stash until the economy improves and this makes it so much easier and attractive to use yarn I already own!

Absent Minded

2008-11-10T11:48:00.003-05:00

I finished knitting the third strip for the Hearts & Flowers Blanket last night. I just need to weave in the ends before I can start seaming them together. I'd show a picture but my battery charger for my camera is missing and I'm too lazy to grab my old clunker camera out of storage.

So weave in ends, seam up the three strips and then somehow magically knit on the border. I have no idea how this border is going to work because I don't have a circular needle big enough or long enough for the entire blanket. I may have to learn how to crochet for this one.

The good news is that I should have some yarn left over to make a fun matching scarf for my niece's dress up box. We'll see if time and yarn allows . . .

Wednesday Book Night

2008-11-06T10:00:00.002-05:00

Yes I know it's Thursday but we tried something new last night and I wasn't sure if it was going to work. After our trip to London I remembered how much I love reading (no knitting needles on the flight back). I used to read for an hour and a half every day on my commute to work when we lived in Chicago. My favorite thing to do on road trips was to shop at old used book stores. My how times have changed!

Living in Central New York and having a 2 year old is simply wonderful. No commute since I work from home and having a very active son means my reading time is limited to stuff he likes to listen too. It's been challenging trying to find time to snuggle on the couch with a good book and still have time to knit as much as I'd like on my never-ending project list. My husband and I decided to try a new schedule to work within our new life together so now Wednesday is Book Night!

On the plane back from London I finished Eragon (Inhertitance) written by Christopher Paolini and I couldn't wait to get started on his next book in the series, Eldest (Inheritance). I don't have another trip scheduled in the near future so this was the driving factor for making a book night. I'd like to get our son on board too but last night was rough so we ended up watching Backyardigans and cuddling.

I had a hard time first reading Eragon because it reminded me so much of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Elves, Dwarfs and evil wizards were common between the two. The interesting new thread was the idea of Dragon Riders and how the legend becomes a reality. Now I've come to like how Paolini writes and I'm engaged with the characters in that I'm concerned enough to keep reading and see how things turn out for everyone. He's an amazing writer and it's crazy to think how good he is at such a young age. I can only imagine what kind of work he'll be doing in 30 years!

My husband and I both read last night and we found the Audio Visions XM channel (I think it was 856) was great for background music. No vocals and the music was relaxing but wouldn't put me to sleep. Overall I felt really good at the end of the night so I think we're going to keep Wednesdays as book night for the future.

Tonight it's back to the grind with my Christmas knitting!

Breathing Room

2008-11-05T13:19:00.005-05:00

I am happy to say that I should have all of my Christmas knitting down before the end of this month. YAY for me! This is only because I took a realistic look at how fast I knit and shelved a few projects for birthdays. Plus it didn't hurt to start work on these well before September.

I just recently got back from a quick trip to London visiting friends. Not so much tourist stuff this time but it was very nice. I did a full yarn shop crawl and found three stores that I really liked thanks to Planet Purls' shopping guide for London. In order of shopping (not preference):

1. All the Fun of the Fair - Very tiny shop with limited yarn selection. It was more of a small hobby shop than a yarn shop but my friend did find some nice chunky yarn to make a couple scarves.

Leaving this shop and heading to the next one we were accosted by a random zombie mob with great costumes and make up. I had fun taking their pictures and screaming with horror!

2. Liberty of London - This was a full department store that had a section for sewing and knitting. Loved it except I was all hot and sweaty from the walk over there (silly fat American). I did buy some cashmere/merino yarn for my mother as a thank-you present for watching our son. I really liked the little table and chairs they had set up for just sitting and knitting while you watched the square traffic.

3. John Lewis - Another department store but wow, this must have been the headquarters for distributing Rowan yarn in London. I only wised I had enough room in my bag to buy a sweaters worth of yarn. Next time! BTW - The yarn department is right next to the toy department so it was perfect for entertaining my husband while I shopped. I had to go get him and tell him I was ready to go.

4. I Knit London - This was the main shop I wanted to visit. They have a liquor license so it would be perfect for us! I bought some beautiful Fyberspates silk lace weight there last year and I wanted to see what else they had. It turns out they're negotiating with a different lace vendor and didn't have any Fyberspate yarn. Buggar! I did end up buying some beautiful Malibrigo sock weight yarn - because sometime in the next decade I'd like to knit myself some socks:

Thankfully we had an uneventful flight back home AND when we got home our son's Halloween costume actually fit him! YAY! We took a few minutes and made a couple crowns for him so he could be a King and just hoped they would last the day. This is him all dressed up saying "I'm strong!"

Trick or Treating went so well we had to go back to our house and empty his pumpkin bucket so he could keep going. He had a great time and made us proud with his "THANK YOU!" after getting candy from each house. Not bad for a 2 year old . . .

Recovered

2008-10-30T16:52:00.003-04:00

I'd like to apologize for the last post but I was pretty mad so I'll just let it stand that I was venting. I waited a couple days and placed my orders for the remaining balls of yarn needed with 2 separate companies. It turns out that one of the colors is discontinued so I lucked out. By the time I got back from London both packages were here and I was able to finish strip number 2 last night.

I ended up doing a little retail therapy but not on purpose. In my regular blog updates I got the new entry in my Google Reader from Lime & Violet about Shakespeare in Lace. I think I actually squealed and danced when I read it. It took about 15 minutes to order it.

I read the description a couple times and then told my husband about it. Then I proceeded to talk myself out of buying it because it was a total want and not something I needed. Then my husband told me how great I am and proceeded to talk me into buying it because I never splurge on things for myself. Yup - about 15 minutes from the initial reading to my final purchase. I can't wait!

I would have to say that Anne Hanson is one of my favorite designers. I love so much of what she does and when I saw that she was one of the designers for this subscription it was just a sign that I should do this. I was an English Literature major in college so I definitely appreciate the inspiration from Shakespeare's plays. The luxury fibers are a great bonus too. There's already a group on Ravelry for it so I can anxiously wait for the first shipment (March) with other fellow knitters.

I've never purchased a subscription like this before so I think I'm going to think a bit on how to prepare for each one so I don't get too far behind. Finishing up everything on my needles right now it a big part of it so I'm on the right track!

Disgust

2008-10-17T12:37:00.003-04:00

I have no words for the anger that I felt last night. Let me explain . . .

I was in a great mood and feeling pretty good about myself last night. I had plenty of time to finish the last square in the second strip of the Hearts and Flowers Blanket and cast on for the third and final strip. I was cruising along and then I realized I was almost out of that particular color of yarn. I looked through my bag and no magenta. I looked upstairs in my stash thinking I had just forgot to grab it - no magenta. I went back through the pattern thinking maybe I misread it and used magenta when I should have used a different color - nope, I knit it exactly to the pattern.

So let me summarize. I bought the same brand yarn specified in the pattern, even the same colors. No substitutions, no changes whatsoever. Now I have 4 skeins of mango and no magenta. I didn't even have enough magenta to finish the square in the last strip and I have an entire strip to go.

Disgust. That's the only word that I can type to describe how I feel.

I now have to go to my local stores and hope that they have this brand and color. I originally ordered everything online so I wouldn't have to do this hunting for specific balls.

How is it that a yarn company can't get the yarn requirements right for a pattern using their own yarn? I'm just so . . . disgusted.

No New Knitting!!

2008-10-16T15:02:00.002-04:00

I have officially become overwhelmed with the projects in progress and using up my needles. I was searching for a size to start another project when I realized they were already in use. Light Bulb! I have too many UFOs!!!

So, from now until January 1st I've decided to not cast on any new projects and try to tidy up around here. My knitting bags are all over the place and I'm starting to forget where I was in each pattern (mainly just the complicated ones like GAAA). I have no intention of finishing everything - I just want to see some substantial progress!

Here's my mental list of what definitely needs to be finished by mid December in time for Christmas:

1. Hearts & Flowers Blanket - Biggest issue will be staying motivated with the seaming & border
2. Wash cloths to finish bath set - I knit on this during work conference calls to stay focused on the conversations (really I do, if I didn't knit I would be on the Internet or emailing clients) so it shouldn't be a problem to get these finished up in time.

Other UFOs to make progress on:

3. Mystery Stole 4 - I'd like to finish this while the Yahoo group is still active in case I have grafting questions since I've never attempted that before.
4. Elizabeth I, Dainty Bess - No rush with this one but I do plan to take this with me to London next week so I should get a good portion done.
5. GAAA Tabler square - I put this one in "time out" after I had to rip out the entire square since I realized too late it was way too big. I'd like to finish this one and have a fresh start with the GAAA next year.
6. Shifting Sands scarf - I have the rosewood needles, yarn and pattern ready to go, I just need to take 5 minutes and learn how to cable without a cable needle.

For most people this is probably not a lot of UFOs but for me it's a bit too much. I'd like to start a couple other projects soon plus I've been wanting to sign up for the TKGA Masters classes or maybe just their correspondence classes but right now I have too much going on. I keep seeing so many patterns out there that I want to try but I don't want to invest in buying a ton of needles all the same size just because I can't seem to finish anything lately. I'm too cheap!

Catching Up - Yet Again

2008-10-15T11:50:00.004-04:00

My life is crazy, work is crazy, everything is just crazy right now. Work is starting to slow down and it might not be a good thing. I have been working almost every night on the Hearts & Flowers blanket. It's like working on a big floofy scarf since it's knit up in three strips then seamed together. Here's my first strip completed including ends already woven in:

This was my very first project with Intarsia techniques so a huge pat on my back for that. Thankfully the videos on Knitting Help were just what I needed to get started. The second strip is just flying along now that I know what I'm doing. It also helps that the hearts are just two colors and pretty simple. I should have that strip done sometime this week:

I think my next challenge will be determining which method for seaming the strips together. Then the whole "picking up a million stitches for the border" is probably going to take some time. It's only October though so there's plenty of time to have it finished and mailed out in time for Christmas.

It's so girly and perfect for my niece. I hope she'll be able to curl up with it watching cartoons and feel very special that it was made just for her!

Finished Object - Cable Blanket

2008-09-25T15:32:00.004-04:00

It's a very busy time of year for me so I don't have much time to comment on this FO. It's going to a very special baby due on November 27th who's got 4 older brothers waiting to meet her.

Overall the pattern was easy to memorize and I enjoyed working on it while I watched TV. I used 5 1/2 balls of Plymouth Encore DK so with 2 1/2 left over I might have enough for a cute little follow up project. I would recommend this pattern as a good TV or road trip project.

Pattern: Cable Blanket from Debbie Bliss's Simply Baby
Yarn: Plymouth Encore DK in mango
Needles: US sizes 3 & 6, 32 inch circular
Time frame: 8/4/08 to 9/24/08 (would have been sooner if I hadn't started the Mystery Stole 4 project a couple weeks ago)

Mystery Stole 4 - 2nd Clue

2008-09-18T15:19:00.003-04:00

I finished up knitting the second clue for MS4 last night. I have to say that even though there are tons of guesses on the theme for this one I'm not really interested. I like it so far and I'd be fine if there wasn't a theme. I love this yarn. I love working with beads now (total convert). I love that people keep asking me who it's for and I say "maybe it's for me - who knows?"

Here's my status so far. The picture is horrible but you can kind of get an idea of the length and design from here:

Since I finished with this clue a full day early I'll be able to work on my cabled blanket all tonight. I don't have much to go so it's really serving as a min-break from the lace knitting in between clues. I would like to finish it soon though because I'm itching to start the Hearts & Flowers Blanket for my niece. That bulky yarn in neon colors is going to be fun to work with!

Mystery Stole 4 - 1st Clue

2008-09-12T15:29:00.004-04:00

This project doesn't fit with my normal knitting. I wanted to knit the Mystery Stole 4 as soon as I heard about it. Adding beads to the mix only intrigued me further since I've never knit a stole or knit with beads. Why not have it be a mystery and join a KAL with thousands of members around the world?

Of course, red never photographs well by trust me. This is a deep, earth tone red with black hematite beads. Love it!

Love it!

I finished up Clue #1 last night and just downloaded #2 this morning. I may even keep this for myself!

Spending Spree

2008-09-03T16:46:00.005-04:00

I would have to say that my anniversary weekend was a great time. I started out the weekend a little early by shopping for the tiny crochet hook for the Mystery Stole 4 project that starts this Friday. Michael's was having a 90% off clearance sale so I purchased this brown, black & tan bag for $1.99:

Actually I didn't spend any money on it. I got the crochet hook, this bag and a similar bag for my mother-in-law using my gift card and she paid the 13 cents I was short! It's a great bag with a nice lining and a little pocket inside. Love it! I'm now officially a collector of knitting bags - I think I shop for those just as much as yarn now.

Speaking of yarn, my husband is not great to shop with for yarn. It's not what you think - he doesn't discourage my purchases, he over-encourages them. Really! He pressures me to buy so sometimes I have a hard time just slowly down and touching the yarn and really thinking about things. I think I'm just cheap. He's the best though. My husband is the perfect enabler. This is what I bought:

My first stop was Knit Knackers almost by accident. I didn't know where James Street was so on the way to Yarn Forward we passed James Street so we just lucked out. It was a smaller shop for yarn but she had an amazing selection of roving and spinning supplies. I just stood there in awe. I have no room for more roving so I could only just look, I haven't even spun at all this year. It's just shameful. I did find a lace weight hank of Malabrigo in an electric blue. It's super soft so I just had to buy it and try out this famous yarn for myself. That was my only purchase at Knit Knackers.

Yarn Forward is just an amazing shop. I found some great Cadenza in purple that I really liked so the owner ordered another skein for me from her other shop in Kanata. I went back the next day to pick it up and ended up purchasing 3 balls of Tosca in red & brown and 1 hank of Misti Alpaca in a earth tone brown. Love, love, love this store. I actually grabbed my Ravelry queue for when I went back and wrote down a shopping list so I could have existing projects to shop for.

The couple that own Yarn Forward were very friendly and completely knowledgeable about every type of yarn. I felt completely at ease there and it would have been great to be local and shop there often.

Silly Washcloth Pictures

2008-08-28T14:02:00.006-04:00

I wanted to put a real picture up in Ravelry for my washcloths. I was trying to take a close up of the stitch definition and no matter how hard I tried it kept being way to blurry. Here's the shot I wanted:

At that moment of frustration my husband walked into my office. I innocently asked him how I can take a nice close up picture with my new fandangled camera without it being so blurry and it all just got out of hand from there . . .

He's my go to guy for anything technical so he immediately got out the tripod and started figuring out the best angles. While he was doing that I took this picture that was ok for me:

He then took my super cool camera, screwed it to the tripod and took this picture after playing with the settings:

After several tries he thought our old camera that was bigger might work better on the tripod so he unscrewed my camera and screwed on the old clunker (it's still a really great camera - just too big for my liking). He fiddled for awhile and came up with this one that we determined to be the best quality:

Pretty cool. Way too much effort for a Ravelry picture of a washcloth but definitely a learning experience. How do those famous bloggers do this every day with their yarn and projects?I've heard of the light boxes that people set up but it just seems like a lot of work for my personal knitting pictures.

Traveling Scarf

2008-08-27T15:32:00.003-04:00

Yarn Harlot may have her traveling socks but I find that my lace scarf works best for me when flying. The lace weight yarn takes up very little room in my purse and the pattern is just complicated enough to keep my attention for long periods of time. It's the perfect type of project when you start expecting delays every time you fly somewhere.

This time I went to Puerto Rico for work and I took my Dainty Bess scarf with me to work on. We had on time departures for the entire trip so while we were very lucky I didn't get much knitting time in the terminals. Most of my knitting was done in the air with about 10 hours total of flying time. I did get a few looks from other passengers but no rude comments this time ("I can't believe they let you on the plane with those!")

Here's my blurry progress:

I more then doubled the length of the scarf on this trip and that's even with frogging 3 rows after I noticed a mistake. I think 3-4 more trips and this baby will be done!

Working on this scarf made me more anxious for the first clue of the Mystery Stole 4. I can't wait for that to get started - first clue is Sept 5th!

12.5% Done!

2008-08-15T11:06:00.003-04:00

I have been working on the Cable Blanket lately and just last night I started on the second ball out of eight.

I'm definitely much faster now that I've got a good handle on the pattern. It's pretty much 2 main rows with an occasionally cabled row thrown in. The only difference in the main rows is how your start the row but the basic stitches are the same. I definitely like it so far. At this rate I should have it done sometime in September, plenty of time before the baby should arrive in late November!

I liked that this Plymouth Encore yarn has some wool content because it should be a cold winter. This blanket will work nicely for covering up in a car seat or watching a hockey game. I also like the peach because I'm sure this little girl is going to get showered in pink presents since she has 4 older brothers in the house.

Finished Object - Basket Rib Hand Towel

2008-08-14T16:58:00.005-04:00

A little house keeping today . . .

I finished the last towel this past weekend but haven't had any time to do anything else this week. There's 3 total to match the rug I knit up. Next up is the assortment of wash cloths.

This cotton yarn and quick patterns make great road trip knitting. Truly mindless knitting so I don't lose my place when the big guy starts hollering for more juice or another pretzel.

Pattern: Basket Rib Hand Towel
Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Twists in denim
Needles: US sizes 7
Time frame: 6/6/08 to 8/10/08 (for all three)

Choices

2008-08-07T11:01:00.003-04:00

Last night I realized that I forgot to switch to the larger needed for my Cable Blanket project. I had only knit three rows of the pattern but tinking back 480 stitches wasn't appealing to me. So I had a choice to make. Either tink back 480 stitches or frog the whole thing and start over again. For a split second I just wanted to frog because it's so quick. Then I realized I would lose 3 nights of knitting by frogging but only 1 night by tinking.

So I did the smart thing by tinking back and I actually had time to switch needles and knit 1 pattern row. It's so upsetting when you have one of these decisions to make but I'm happy that I fixed the problem and I didn't just frog.

******************************************************************

I mentioned to my husband that I was thinking about buying the yarn and bead for the Mystery Stole 4 project that starts up in September. I've never joined one before, never knit a stole and never knit with beads before so it would be a good challenge. Jokingly he suggested before I buy any more yarn to see if I could knit up all of the yarn I already own . . .

Uh, yeah, like that's ever going to happen in my lifetime.

Even though he was joking it stayed with me. I'm drawn to all of these new and interesting projects but my current stash doesn't fit. I pretty much have yarn for scarves, GAAA afghan squares and a few charity projects. I can only knit so many scarves. I'd like to get into more complicated lace projects along with socks and sweaters for myself but the yarn for those is expensive. In the future when I find myself at a fiber festival I need to start looking for those types of projects - or I just need a scarf knitting extravaganza and put a serious dent in my stash.

Very Exciting Blanket Casted On

2008-08-05T09:44:00.003-04:00

Well, the blanket itself is just a normal blanket. I'm using the Cable Blanket pattern from Debbie Bliss's Simply Baby: 20 Adorable Handknits for Baby's First Two Years book. My yarn is Plymouth Encore DK in Mango - it looks like a soft peach. With the 25% wool content it's not as soft as normal baby yarn but it's for an Upstate NY baby so it's got to be warm!

The exciting part is that my friends have 4 boys now and they have always wanted a little girl. They love having a big family and the boys are great. I love each one and how they have their own unique identities but they still come together to help each other as a family. We just found out a couple weeks ago that they're pregnant again only with a girl this time!

I had purchased this peach yarn in the hopes of making a warm blanket for a baby girl. This yarn has been waiting in my stash for almost a year now. There was no temptation to make anything else with this yarn. I knew there would be a baby girl coming our way eventually - especially after attending 3 weddings this summer.

I was able to knit 5 rows of garter last night and finally got in the rhythm of knitting with this yarn. It's a very different feel from the Lion Brand Cotton Ease that I was using on the last blanket.

I expect this project to take about 2 months to complete because of the smaller needles (US 6) and cabling involved. Plus I have a few trips coming up where it's not feasible to take this project with me. The baby-girl-to-be is due November 27th so I should have plenty of time - that is unless she decides to make an early arrival . . .

Finished Object - Jack's Blanket

2008-08-04T16:35:00.005-04:00

Let me just say that I really like this blanket pattern.

It was interesting enough to keep me engaged yet mindless enough to work on and watch TV. The yarn is very soft and I hope durable. I am looking forward to getting this out in the mail to my very pregnant friend who's not due until September 10th. I'm soooo early with this one!

The pattern calls for the finished measurements to be 90 cm x 90 cm. I think I went overboard because mine was about 120 cm by 80cm without any stretching.

Just a tad bit too big for baby blanket standards but folded in half it's a good size. I think this would work well as a crib blanket on chilly nights.

Pattern: Sam's Blanket
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Lake
Needles: US sizes 7, 32 inch circular
Time frame: 6/22/08 to 8/4/08

Yarn Purchase!

2008-08-01T12:19:00.005-04:00

I actually squealed with glee when I saw that my package from Herrschner's arrived today!

Last week I saw the Hearts & Flowers Blanket & Pillows pattern in my Knitting 2008 Desk Calendar for July 23-25 and I instantly thought of my niece in Florida. My sister-in-law is a big fan of bright colors but I wasn't sure if this would work for her daughter. I scoured the Internet but I couldn't find the pattern online to share. I ended up contributing it to Ravelry. But I did find a picture in some one's Photobucket site here. I sent that to my sister-in-law and asked if my wonderful niece would like it.

After a huge YES that I almost heard here in NYS I decided to start hunting for yarn. I checked my local Michael's, Jo-Ann's and AC Moore but they didn't have the colors needed. I then searched online at regular shops and then on eBay. Nada. Then I remembered Herrschner's, they were my discount source for cotton yarn awhile back so I thought I'd give them a try. BINGO! They had every color I needed, the amounts were in stock AND they were cheaper then anywhere else I had looked. I still took a day to think about it and then I placed my order.

Here's my box getting inspected by Gracie:

The colors are so bright - it's like nothing I've ever worked with before:

It's Paton's Melody yarn in Magenta, Mango and Hot Pink:

They are so bright and just perfect for my 4 year old niece. The yarn is super bulky I think and very soft - those 12 skeins should knit up very quickly. Plus, this will be a color work pattern for me so it's time to work on improving that skill!

I've packed up the yarn again because I have one more baby blanket that will need to be completed first. Jack's blanket should be finished up by Sunday, then it's on to baby-girl-to-be's blanket since she's due November 27th. I'm going to try to have this bright blanket done by Christmas but if not I'll use it as a birthday present. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself with deadlines!

Getting Healthy & Entertained

2008-07-31T13:46:00.005-04:00

I am so close to finishing Jack's Blanket (Ravelry link). Working that last skein has been killing me though. First I find a thinned out crumpled section in the yarn that has to get cut out then 2 rows later it's a knot. I had many profanities come to mind but since my in-laws were visiting I just sat there amazed at such a crap skein of yarn. I think I have just a couple nights of knitting left, maybe 12-14 rows. I'm glad I like working on this pattern. Not sure how I will rate the yarn overall. It's great to work with but knots are hard to approve.

*******************************

Like the majority of the US population I'm overweight. My husband is doing well with his weight loss by training for triathlons. He's tracking his progress with his own blog called Clydesdale Triathlete. I'm very proud of his progress and it's good to know that he's working to improve his health.

I was an athlete in school so I never actually exercised, I practiced. I would run a 2 mile warm up before soccer practice and then have a full 2 1/2 hour practice. I would never have called myself thin - more like athletic, toned definitely not fat. I never expected losing weight gained while pregnant would be so hard. I guess I just thought it would magically melt of in the first 6 months. With my husband traveling so much it's pretty much impossible to commit to any kind of team sport. I also have a hard time committing to a gym membership when we have this:

This is technically the dining room of our house but since we have a large kitchen and eat there we turned this into our exercise space. We bought a commercial grade treadmill a few years ago because of our fat-ass size and usage. Just recently we bought the rowing machine for my husband who used to row in college. I think my son uses it now more as a toy than it gets used as an actual work out machine. I've never rowed before so it's intimidating to me - I never know if I'm doing it right.

I tried the Couch to 5K program several times. Each time I get a couple weeks in and I end up too sore to keep with it. My husband on the other hand loved it and used this program to get up to running 3 miles regularly. I don't know why but it just didn't work with me. So I'm trying something new.

I'm just walking. I need to get back in the rhythm of doing something every day but at the same time I need to not be sore because I have a kid to chase after (so needy). Walking is pretty boring and it's hard to get motivated. I'm combating this with blocking out an hour every weekday in my work calendar. I'm also listening to Lime n Violet's podcasts. I think I have over 60 downloaded from the very beginning and they're very entertaining so far. I'm hoping to get to the point where my workout time is dictated by the time of each podcast which is about 45-60 minutes so far. Right now I'm sticking with a minimum of 30 minutes until I'm not dieing after each workout. Baby steps. Any other podcasts that I should try?

I'm combining Getting Healthy with Knitting and hoping it will help me lose some of this weight. I've lost a few pounds since January by eating better but it's just a drop in the bucket. If I got with all of the assessments based on height and age I should lose about 45 pounds to get into the healthy range. I know at least Gracie will keep me company, the kitty condo is set against the window in between the treadmill and rowing machine . . .

Blanket Calculations

2008-07-30T16:01:00.002-04:00

I am on my fifth and final skein of yarn for Jack's Blanket and now the anxiety comes . . .

I need to end on row 12 or row 24 AND have plenty of yarn left over for 10 border rows. I have never been good at estimating yarn. I tend to run out right in the middle of the row. I'm taking the risk to go to row 24 then work the border. My measurements estimate about 8 pattern repeats plus both borders to be 90 cm. I may have more yarn left over than desired but it's better than not having enough!

UPromise - College Savings

2008-07-22T09:25:00.002-04:00

Here's a good one that covers two of my passions: Family & Saving Money. Let me first say that UPromise isn't paying me to say any of this. I'm just continually amazed that people don't know about this and aren't getting the same cash back (free college money) for their kids.

I first heard about UPromise when Senator Bill Bradley was trying to be the Democratic Nominee for President back in 2000. I don't know if he started the idea but that's where I heard of it. Back then I listened to every campaign speech and I really analyzed every candidate based on what they were saying and what their track record was. It's not that I don't want to do that now - I just don't have time with a 2 year old . . .

Anyway, I signed up for it as soon as I realized that it was legit. My husband and I didn't have any kids at that time so I just had him listed as the beneficiary (we later changed it to Will).

The basic idea is that you register your grocery cards and credit cards with the site. You then get cash back from retailers when you make purchases at the grocery store, participating restaurants and online purchases as long as you when from UPromise's site then to the retailer. We didn't make too much at first because we didn't have much priority on saving for college for a kid that we hadn't conceived yet :) Every 3 months the balance in your UPromise account is transferred to your kids 529 college savings account as long as you have at least $25 at the time. That never happened for us back then because we weren't earning that much and we didn't have a 529 to transfer anything to.

Once I learned I was pregnant that whole situation changed. I evaluated every purchase we made and saw that we could be getting much more free money if we just put a little thought into our purchasing process. Here's my most commonly used examples:

1. I printed out a list of participating restaurants in our area using the zip code search and just kept in it my purse for those spontaneous lunch outings with my husband. It also helped me to remember to use our debit card for those purchases since you can't get the 4-8% cash back using cash. Total savings earned to date: $36.55

2. I try to do my majority of grocery shopping at a participating store like Wegmans and only use non-participating stores like Wal-Mart for last minute items. The kicker here is that I don't change my shopping habits at all. I still use coupons and I still buy my favorite store brands. I just get savings from my normal shopping. Total savings earned to date: $17.01

3. All online purchases my family makes are researched first for a decent range of prices and then checked with UPromise to see if they have a participating retailer. I would say 75-80% of the time we can purchase through UPromise and get the cash back but there are places like Amazon that sometimes have better prices and they don't offer cash back. All Christmas presents, wedding and baby showers and birthdays start here for long distance friends and family. All regular purchases like iTunes start here as well. It's amazing to see how many retailers are listed. Total savings earned to date: $162.66

4. By far our biggest savings has been switching to the Citibank UPromise credit card. I'm not a big advocate for credit cards but you really have to have one for online purchasing and for your larger transactions like trips and household stuff. So I figure if you have to have one you should pay it in full every month and get the best rewards possible. I believe they give you a higher percentage on gas and grocery purchases but the bottom line is 1% back on all purchases. We use this card for all of our personal (vs work) purchases and we've been very happy with it. The best is getting cash back from a retailer for an online purchase AND getting another 1% back from Citibank on that same transaction. Total savings earned to date: $416.99

5. Miscellaneous items: At one time our home phone service qualified so I got $$7.60 total from SBC (we're now with Verizon). I started taking surveys through E-Rewards and got an initial $2.00 but I should be getting an additional $50 before the end of the year. I switched our energy provider just recently and for last months bill I got $3.69 back. I also have gotten gas at Mobile a few times (probably out of necessity) and got a total of $4.02 from them. You can also have friends and family sign up and contribute directly to your account. We haven't gotten much from this yet but it's worth it if you have people in your life that want to help save for your kids future.

Overall I have gotten $652.52 from UPromise transferred directly into Will's 529 college account. Since we're only able to put $100 a month into that 529 account right now that equates to almost 7 months extra savings. He just turned 2 in May so I'm hoping to take advantage of more in the future. As long as I'm not spending any more money than I intended I feel like I'm on the right track. Most of the time these vendors offer coupons or free shipping if you click through UPromise first.

They've just recently announced a couple things that I hope to take advantage of in the future:

1. Travel - My husband and I travel often for work and we have a work website dedicated to this but our personal travel could be booked through here since we normally use Orbitz anyway.

2. Auto - We will probably need to purchase a new vehicle in the next 5 years so I'm hoping we'll have a participating dealer in our area by then. It sounds like a good deal if you know exactly what you want to buy.

I hope that this helps a few people save more for college. I can't even imagine what it's going to cost for my son to go 16 years from now but I'm going to do what I can to save every penny possible to help. My husband laughed at me when we first signed up and got less than $50 in the first year. Now he's a believer and actively searches the site on his own before making any purchase. It feels good to save money on something we were going to buy anyway AND get money for Will's college account at the same time.

Passions

2008-07-21T14:10:00.002-04:00

I'm on skein 4 out of 5 for Jack's Blanket and my next project is another baby blanket. I'm still working on finding the right pattern but I already have the peach/mango colored yarn ready to go. So when both are done I'll probably have worked on these two every day for 2-3 months. Not exactly exciting to write about. Time to change things up.

I've decided to write more about what I'm passionate about in life. It's a short list but I could probably write a post every day until Christmas and still have more to say.

1. Family
2. Knitting
3. Making/Saving Money
4. Environmental Issues
5. Getting Healthy

Everything that I really care about falls into one of these categories. Most actually relate to other items. The problem is that Getting Healthy isn't really high up on my list right now and it should be. I should lose weight so that I can play outside longer with my son, have a longer life thus knit more :)

I will still be knitting every day but be warned: I'm breaking out of my mainly "knitting only" theme. I only knit so fast on this blanket . . .

Raising a 2 Year Old

2008-07-16T14:15:00.005-04:00

I have to say, being a Mom is pretty cool. I get all of the cuddles now that he's in the "mommy stage" and I get to kiss all of his boo-boos. Now that Will is 2 (as of May 5th) he's communicating more than I could ever imagine. This morning we flipped through one of his picture books and he named every item, everything from a car to a parrot to stars and coins. I am so proud of him.

Since we've finally got some heat his favorite activity is to play "OUTSIDE!" and in the "POOL". I think we're going to have to move getting an above ground pool higher up on our To Do list for the house. He loves to splash and even kicks his feet as if he's swimming.

When he gets tired of the pool it's all about the "SAND!" although in Will's voice it sounds more like "SEEND!". I can't figure out this kid . . . here he standing on his head in the sand:

Oh yeah, bath time is a requirement whenever he plays in the sand and we end up finding sand everywhere! Our biggest challenge is having him keep the sand in the sandbox. I think every kid wants to just throw it especially when they just finished splashing and "throwing" the water from the pool.

He's getting bigger but his favorite play area in the house is still my cupboards. He takes all of the pots and pans out then hides inside with the door shut. We get to listen to him giggle until he slams open the door with a big smile as if to say "Hear I Am!"

Love it. Love being a Mom to Big Will. Not so sure I can handle adding any more kids to the mix. This big guy takes all I've got right now, especially with his Daddy traveling so much for work. I was an only child so maybe that's his fate as well. It's hard to think about sharing my attention with a newborn but maybe I'll change my tune as he gets older. A little sister would be nice and just think of all the cute hand knits I could make . . .

About Half Way There

2008-07-15T12:34:00.004-04:00

I've been working on Jack's Blanket now as my main project pretty much every day. The only exception is if we're at camp then I don't bring it because of the smokey smell that gets on everything. I'm almost done with the third skein out of five and I'm not getting bored with this at all. It definitely helped that we went to the Jersey shore this weekend and I worked on it in the car most of the way for the 10 hour plus round trip. Here's the current length:

I'm very pleased with this pattern and I'm glad I thought about trying the shortcut for SSKs. In Arctic Lace, Donna mentions that the Inuit people found SSKs to be too many movements for just one stitch (think K2tog as one movement). By using k2tog through the back loop it's similar enough to the SSK that it works for them. I'm no expert on stitch definition but I like how the lace sections look AND it saves me time on these very long rows:

I'm also happy with purchasing my first circular needle for this blanket. I have a set of interchangeable needles but I didn't want to worry about tightening up the joins every row. I'm thinking about using my AC Moore coupons to stock up on a set of permanent circulars for larger projects like these. Wait - who am I kidding? I'll just buy a needle here and there when I need it for a project!

New Technology

2008-07-14T13:16:00.005-04:00

I'm way behind the times when it comes to technology. I do my best to keep up but I really don't need the latest and greatest products. Maybe I'm thrifty, maybe it's just being cheap. I am a big sucker for marketing and sales though so when it came time for my "New Every 2" with Verizon I was at the store the very next day to upgrade my phone. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my current phone - I do love that Razr - but I wanted a full keyboard for text messaging. Plus we have a family plan and my Dad wanted something smaller that what he had before.

After about 5 minutes in the store we picked out this for me:

It's the LG enV2 in maroon and I really like it so far. It's a little thicker than my old Razr but it's less wide. I usually keep it in my purse so it's not that big of a deal. I love love love the maroon color. It looks just like a normal phone until you turn it to the side:

With one flip I have a full keyboard for text messaging. Text messaging is so much easier than talking when my husband is in noisy airports (often) and I just couldn't get it done quick enough for my liking with the old style keys. Here's the new way:

So cool. I've got a new age ring tone now and I think I have all of the settings done correctly. One perk that I think I'll really use is that you can automatically put a call on speakerphone just by flipping it open. That will be so useful when driving or when just dealing with our 2 year old.

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Allison inspired me with this pos t on her blog. I added AdSense content and searching to my blog along with the Amazon link. My plan is to use Amazon for books and DVDs for Will and the any AdSense money will go into Will's college account. I'm not sure how this will work out but it's worth a try. By the time Will goes to college tuition is going to be even more ridiculous than it is now so every penny helps!

Family Charity Project

2008-07-07T15:29:00.005-04:00

A few months ago I learned about Project Linus from one of my friends on KnittingHelp. Since my family is into craft projects and we're all over the east coast I thought we could make a blanket for each of our local chapters by knitting or crocheting squares. Those squares would be assembled at one of our family get togethers.

We had a few issues. Not everyone liked to knit and not everyone liked to crochet. The agreement was made that knit squares wouldn't look right next to crocheted ones. Then we were all introduced to the Knifty Knitter. It was quick, easy to learn and worked up a nice, warm 12 inch square. I liked the break from the challenging knit projects I was working on. We all got a Knifty Knitter set and started out with a plan. One of us picked out the colors to use while the rest got going on the squares.

We all met up and designed a beautiful blanket, it was later seamed up and a gorgeous border was crocheted on as a finishing touch. I'm sure there's mistakes here and there but it's a hand made gift and mistakes make it feel unique and loved.

I plan to contact our local chapter coordinator this afternoon and schedule a time to drop it off. We ended up with a blanket that's 4 squares by 5 squares. We used Caron's Simply Soft so it's machine washable and super snugable! I hope that it finds the right person and they know that our thoughts are with them!

Realistic Math

2008-06-26T10:04:00.005-04:00

I have found math to be so much easier when you write it out. Right now I need to understand if it's realistic for me to complete this baby blanket before the the due date. First, the raw data:

Using my handy dandy measuring thingy (technical term of course) I found that I'm getting about 5-6 rows per inch in the stockinette section of the pattern. I'm going to round up to 6 because it's better to assume more rows than less in this situation since I'd rather overestimate the time.

6 rows per inch and my final length needed is 35 inches. If I subtract about an inch for the beginning border that leaves me to knit 34 inches total. I've got one inch done already in pattern so now I'm down to 33 inches total to knit. 6 rows per inch multiplied by 33 inches needed means about 198 rows to go.

Tuesday night I was able to knit 6 rows but last night I made a stupid mistake and with all the tinking involved I was only able to knit 3 rows total. So if I use those as my range for knitting 3-6 rows each night . . . that means I need 33-66 days to complete the blanket. Assuming I'm able to knit almost every night on this I should finish sometime in August (leaving out a couple Saturdays for date nights with my sweetie). Baby Jack is due Sept 10th. Score!

Now I have a realistic time frame in mind for completing the blanket. As long as he gets it before he hits one month old I think I'll be happy but it's nice to know that it's possible to send it out before he arrives!

Purpose Knitting

2008-06-25T09:28:00.003-04:00

SPOILER ALERT: If you are pregnant with a baby-to-be named Jack please stop reading and let me know so I won't blog about your future present!

A friend of ours is due in September and it took me some time to find the perfect gift to make. I wanted to be inspired with a gift idea that was unique to this family and baby-to-be. I had the chance to go yarn shopping with my sister-in-law this past weekend so it was a great opportunity to spend time in the store feeling each yarn and considering each color option. Normally I have to rush since I'm on lunch break or I have people waiting for me in the car.

Thanks to Ravelry again for another great experience. I used the experimental queue search to view all the blankets that I had previously liked. I saw Yarn Harlot's pattern called Sam's Blanket and it was perfect! I was able to quickly see what other yarn's have been used by other Raveler's for this blanket and thought Lion Brand's Cotton Ease was a economical choice that would be available at the stores I planned to visit.

While I was shopping I thought the yarn was definitely soft enough for a baby and tough enough to be washed often. The color choices were more muted than what I originally wanted but the Lake color was a good fit. It's not a baby blue and it's not a deep navy - I think it will work well.

Reading the other knitters notes about the project let me have a good understanding that this project will take awhile due to the number of stitches (176-181), the weight of the yarn and final length of the blanket. That helped me decide to make this my main project to work on every night. After 3 nights of knitting I've been able to knit 10 rows of garter and 7 rows in the pattern. It takes a long time to complete a row but I like the pattern so it's not that big of a pain right now. Plus the yarn is really nice to work with. I would definitely recommend this yarn to other knitters. It's very soft in your hands but has the durability of cotton.

Now I just need to figure out the math to see if I can get it done in time for Jack's arrival . . .