GAAA - Hurt Square

I actually finished this square last week but live has been too busy for me to even think about taking pictures. I made the same mistake several times on this one on the right cable with the yarn overs. I think it was just lapses in concentration but after I finally finished I had to take a week off from cables in general. Here's the final square:


Overall I think it's very pretty and will look great in the afghan but it came out a little long for me. Thankfully I'll block everything out to size later.

Pattern: The Great American Aran Afghan - Dana Hurt square
Yarn: Plymouth Encore color 7357 worsted weight
Needles: size 7 US (4.5 mm)
Notions: cable needle & 2 stitch markers
Size before blocking: 10" x 13.5"
Time frame: about a week and a half due to all the mistakes I made

GAAA - Belanger Square

Life has been crazy. I'm already working on the Burns square for about a week now and I forgot to post a picture of my finished Belanger square.


Very pretty. I'm really focused on working these cables lately. I like the point where the pattern starts to get intuitive and I can just relax with it. The cables kept me interested while I got a break on the bobble sections.

Pattern: The Great American Aran Afghan - Ginette Belanger square
Yarn: Plymouth Encore color 7357 worsted weight
Needles: size 6 US (4mm)
Notions: cable needle & 2 stitch markers
Size before blocking: 11.5" x 12"
Time frame: about a week

Working on the GAAA

Since one of my 2008 resolutions was to finish The Great American Aran Afghan I decided to cast on a square this past weekend. It didn't seem right that I made a resolution and then not do anything to meet that goal in January.

It's been a while since I've worked on a GAAA square so I started up with one of the easiest squares. This is my progress after 3 nights of knitting on the Belanger square:



So pretty! Every time I work on a GAAA square I realize again and again that I love cables!

I tried to schedule this out so that it's an attainable goal for finishing this year. I have 11 months and 20 squares left, not including this square. That comes to 2 squares a month leaving one full month to the border and seaming to finish. The problem is this isn't the only project that I would like to make this year. I have a hoodie and a pullover that I'd like to make for my son's birthday in May, plus at ton of other projects that don't have deadlines (unless you count the sweater for my father that he would like for Christmas - no pattern or yarn chosen for that yet).

I thought about just working on these on the weekends giving me about 88 days but I'm averaging around 5 days per square for the easy ones and that makes 100 days at the very least. If I switched it and just worked squares Mon-Fri with other projects filling my weekends I would have plenty of time to finish but I'm afraid I'll get bored and feel like it's a chore to work on.

Blech!

Until I find a nice little organized schedule for myself (wow - I am so anal) I'm going to finish this square, work a little on my lace scarf and then start another square. I'm thinking that the lace will be a nice break while I regroup, pick the next square and do the prep work of color coding. I like to take my time with that part so this may be an unofficial schedule for me for now . . .

Super Bowl Champs!

I have to take a minute to say that my heart completely stopped for the last 4 minutes of the game last night. I couldn't knit - I couldn't breathe. It was that exciting. Finally we were rewarded with a TOUCHDOWN!


My husband and I have been Giants fans for a long time. While we were living in Chicago we saw them play the Vikings and the Packers. It was tough being a fan of a visiting team but we had a great time. Over the years they haven't been a good team, it's so nice that they're really growing together now.

Normally the Super Bowl is a blow out and just boring to watch. Last night's game was the best I have ever seen. It was close the entire night and every play was important. Great job guys!

Oh - and I actually started my 4th GAAA square this weekend and I'm about 1/2 way done. Pictures tomorrow.

Finished Object - Baby Cables Bootie Socks

DSC00736, originally uploaded by Angela & Gerald.

This was a list minute project that was an add-on to my second Pea Pod Sweater Baby Set. We had some left over yarn and I though why not.

I think I messed them up but I'm not sure where. They look ridiculously huge in person (matches the abnormally huge hat I knit to match - forgot to start decreasing in the right section). It's the six month size but I'm not going to pass any judgements until I knit another size. The 3 month size looks adorable.

Free Pattern: Baby Cables Bootie Socks

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Grass

Needles: US size 2 DPNs

Timeframe: Just a couple days

Company Review - Paradise Fibers

Let me start by saying that I am in no way connected to Paradise Fibers other than being a regular customer. I was searching online for a quality source of roving when I first started spinning and their name came up in many of the online communities. I have consistently used them as my first stop when shopping for spinning supplies.

I get a monthly newsletter emailed to me with their sales, specials and offers. Love it! I didn't know they had such a nice selection of knitting and weaving supplies too. Well, in one of their newsletters they asked for bloggers to help get their name out by becoming an affiliate. I had no clue what that was but since I have had a great experience with them so far I looked in to it.

When you become an affiliate you just put their code on your blog and when people click through to shop and eventually buy something you get credit in the form of a discount on your next purchase. It reminded me of something like a "refer a friend" policy.

So if you're in the market to buy some yarn, roving, knitting, spinning or weaving supplies go ahead and shop thru my link if you don't mind. I would love to stock up on some yarn . . .

Organized - Home & Online

Today is a dreary day with flurries here and there and a mix of icy wind. My husband is overseas again for work with a 7 hour time difference between us. I'm trying to get work done and putter around the house at the same time. It's very hard to stay motivated.

I made a list. I have lots of lists actually and they're super helpful when I'm overwhelmed. Today's list is stuff I'd like to get done before he comes home. My favorite list is all of the projects that I already own the yarn for. Years and years of happiness right there my friend!

All this puttering made me realize that I'm not using Ravelry to it's fullest potential. Their queue is good for storing patterns but did you know that you can print a shopping list based on your queue? Man - that made my day when I found that little button. Next time my LYS is having a sale I can just print my list and go. I will be completely prepared with my customized list!

In order to have this handy dandy list you have to enter in the yarn that you already own with the corresponding project. That took some time. I've got a little stash of lace weights started and I wasn't sure if I had enough patterns to match (I do). I also have several patterns in mind for some special yarn that I'm saving - I was able to group those together so when I'm ready to make a decision I can quickly have all of my choices in one place.

The last thing I did was enter useful information in the notes section. Things like "sweater possibility for Dad" or "3 color choices for this pattern" will be helpful in the future. I made a discovery while doing this part - I have several cabled sweaters saved for myself and I have yet to knit myself a sweater. That's something I'll have to remedy!

This is just one tiny section of Ravelry (if you're in Ravelry already check you can see what I was talking about in my queue). I can't tell you how many times I've used the pattern browser or how many times I've looked at other peoples projects to see what they made with a particular yarn that's been sitting in my stash. Such a good website to have as a resource . . .

If you haven't discovered it yet go ahead and take the leap to put your name on the waiting list right now. I've heard that the invites are just flying now. This is still a beta site but I can't imagine how cool it's going to be once they open it up fully.