Friday, February 29, 2008

You Knew I HAD to post something on this qwirky day

WIP: PIF Deb's Money Socks



I love how the Fearless Fiber's Prosperity is knitting up in this unisex pattern. It's the Slipped Stitch Rib from SKS. I sneakingly asked a buddy if he liked the sock and he said he did. I'm planning on making them for him later this year.

WIP: Adamas Shawl



I'm about halfway through making this shawl. I have 243 stitches now and I'm working on the 8th repeat of chart 2.



I'm US 7 needles instead of the 6s. I hope I can block this shawl to really make the diamonds come out. I hope mine will look as good as MissMe's Adamas Shawl. Seeing hers was the inspiration for me to make mine.

Ravelry Pattern Surfing: Aveline Slouchy Hat by Jennifer T.



The Aveline Slouchy Hat is a $3.75 pattern available on pieknits.com. The pattern starts with a tubular cast on. I'd read on Ravelry so many threads about the tubular cast ons that it seemed confusing and made me not want to knit this hat. It's actually easy if you just follow Jennifer's instructions. I'm thinking of pairing the hat with Jennifer's Grape Hyacinth Lace Scarf(in black also) to give my SIL for her birthday. The purple yarn you see is waste yarn that'll be taken out eventually. I'm magic looping the hat.

? 4000+ yards of wool?



What would you do with this yarn? Dye it? It's laceweight wool yarn that my friend bought for a dollar at Goodwill. She gave it to me in exchange after I use up the yarn she wants the cone to make an angel.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Knerd

I recently talked to a buddy of mine about hobbies and he called me a nerd because I knit. I smiled and responded by saying, "I'M PROUD TO BE A KNITTING NERD/GEEK AND WHEN I DIE I HOPE I HAVE A PAIR OF KNITTING NEEDLES IN MY HANDS BECAUSE I'LL HAVE DIED HAPPY!!!"Lol He just laughed and called me a nerd again. I feel blessed that I have something that gives me joy. I love that I can look at a pattern, be able to interpret it to fit my needs and create a pair of socks, a scarf or a hat. Has anyone called you a nerd/geek because your knitting?

FO: Waterfall Lace Rib Socks

I finished the Waterfall Lace Rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks. I used a stockinette stitch heel. They're size 7 medium and very stretchy. These are the fastest pair of socks I've knit. It took me just 10 days to do it. I'm thinking about doing Sock Wars so I'm interested in how fast I can knit a pair. My next pair of socks from SKS are the Slipped Stitch Rib. I'm making those for my PIF/Deb.

New Podcast: Diva Knitting

I read about a new podcast, Diva Knitting, over on the knittinghelp.com forum. I've listened to the 3 episodes Cheryl has produced and it seems pretty good. She drumming up listeners by holding a contest. All you have to do is post a link on your blog or a knitting message to her podcast by February 26th. I try to support all things that Cheryls do. :-) Her pet project is Project Sanity. Project Sanity is a great way to organize your knitting for the year. You decide who your knitting for, what you want to knit them, the pattern, the yarn and the completion date. The completion date is what sold me on the idea. It'll help me keep my first New Year's resolution which is to knit and gift on time.
One of my friends crochets Christmas gifts throughout the year so she's not stressed durig the holidays. Before I listened to the podcast I mailed my older brother and SIL a questionnaire. I asked for their shoe size(for the smaller kids what my SIL thinks would be a good size to do), and color preference. Because I'll be making 7 pairs of socks, I'm getting my Christmas knitting organized in February. My oldest brother wears a size 13 wide shoe and his oldest son wears a 14 wide shoe. I figure I'll start in May,knit a pair of socks a month and I'll be done by December.

Pattern Surfing: Pearl's Diamond Socks by Emily and Tempest Socks by Emilee
Pearl's Diamond Socks is a pattern inspired by Emily's aunt who's battling leukemia. I heard about the pattern on Crimson Purl's blog. It's only $5 and the proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It's well written(that means I can follow it without being confused). Emily is also offering email support if you need it. The pattern is written for sport weight yarn.
Tempest Socks is a easy lace pattern written by Emilee. The lace is a repeating lightening bolt. She's famous for her Foliage Hat featured in the Fall 2007 knitty. She made a lace hat pattern knitted from the crown down easy and fun for me so I know I'll like knitting this one.
*Note: The Mirabella socks I was going to write about this week will be done at a later date. I wasn't able to get the Yummy Yarns website to come up. I kept getting an error.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

On Your Mark... Ready..... Set..... Wait a few more Days!!!!


I'm impatiently waiting for Friday, February 15th. That's when the Ebony Elite KCAL starts. I'm so excited and I want to start knitting right now! The purpose of the kcal is to challenge ourselves. Alot of the people in the group are knitting or crocheting sweaters. The Flair by Knit and Tonic seems to be popular. I'm knitting the Adamas Shawl by Mimknits. I'm making it for one of my aunts(my grandmother's sister) as a Mother's Day gift. The yarn I'll be using is JaggerSpun Maineline in Natural. It's creamy vanilla color and has 2240 yards in a cone. I bought it at Sarah's Yarn. I'm going to be using my Knitpicks Harmony interchangeable US 6s to knit the shawl. I'm adding 4 more repeats to the shawl because my aunt is a tall woman.

I've joined the Mystic Light Shawl Kal yahoo group that's hosted by Knit&knag. I'll be using the same yarn I'm using for the Adamas Shawl to make that shawl. It's for one of my other aunts(my grandmother's other sister).

On Monday I got in 3 of the 4 sock yarns I need to make my Pay It Forward gifts. I have only about 4 more months to make the socks for the women who signed up in December.

The FF Prosperity is for Deb. The yarn looks like money.

The FF Coral Pink is for Lushorama. She loves bright colors.

The FF Spellbound is for OP. It's gorgeous! I'll be buying more of it.

AJ, my Sock It to Me Twice hostess, wants to know what are my favorite sock yarns. I haven't knit with all of them but will.

Top 10 Sock Yarns

10. The Fiber Denn I've found the blue yarn for 2 of my nephews Christmas socks

9. MamaBlue Her Baja and Talula are gorgeous!

8. LotusYarns I covet her Under the Pink colorway

7. Wollmeise Yes I CAN see myself paying the shipping and buying this German sock yarn.

6. Dream in Color Smooshy Sock I'm going to buy the Black Parade to do Christmas socks for my brother and SIL.

5. Unwind Yarn Co I fell in love with her Prince of Tides colorway last yarn

4. MadelineTosh Lovely if you can get it! I've been trying to buy more of it since I made those vermillion socks but everyone is sold out. :-(

3. White Willow Her yarn is sooo soft.

2. Lisa Souza I made socks for my dad using her yarn

1. Fearless Fibers It's my "go to" sock yarn.

Ravelry Pattern Surfing: Liesel Scarf by MJ

The Liesel Scarf is lace scarf that can be knit with any type of yarn. MJ is a knitwear designer living in Germany. She has also a sock pattern I'll talk about next week. I casted on for the scarf this week using Patons Classic Merino wool in black. I'm an EE swap angel and I think my spoilee will like it. I'm not being anonymous with her because I want her to know that someone is being responsible, doing something for her and is following through on a promise.

'S Wonderful



'S Wonderful

'S marvelous

He should care fore me.....

'S awful nice

'S Paradise

'S what I love to see! Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! As you can see, mine's starting a day early..

Monday, February 4, 2008

This and That

Can you really call it winter when it's windy and 83 degrees outside? South Texas weather.......

FO: Forest Canopy Shawl



I had to look back for my start date on the shawl.... November 5th.... I stopped knitting it after I took a picture and posted about it here. It was/is my only UFO. I started knitting the shawl again last week. It's actually a quick knit because the pattern is only 4 rows long with purl rows between. I think that's what you call "knitted lace" or is it lace knitting?



The yarn is Mountain Colors Weavers Wool Quarters in Ruby River, 100% worsted weight wool. It's different shades of reds, oranges, and yellows with a little purple thrown in. (My camera hates me.... all the colors in my pics look different than they do in real life.)



I like how the yarn feels. Its so soft and doesn't split. Using this yarn makes me want to try Mountain Colors' sock yarn. I'll probably reblock the shawl after I get my blocking wires in. I had scalloping along the straight edge.

FO: Harebell Lace Rib Socks



I'm done with my size 8 medium Harebell Lace Rib socks. It's an easy pattern that's from SKS. I knitted a stockinette heel instead of the slip stitch. I wanted to see how it looked in comparison to a short row heel. I like it better and I think I'll use it instead of the short row. You know I'm not a fan of short row heels.

Sock WIP: Waterfall Lace Socks



I'm continuing my sampling of SKS patterns. This time I'm knitting the Waterfall Lace Rib Socks. The yarn is FearlessFiber's superwash sock yarn in the Imagine colorway. It's a grapey purple yarn with streaks of navy blue in it. I'm knitting them for my friend, N. I should have had them completed and given to her on January 31st. That was the expiration date on her coupon. :-(

Ravelry Pattern Surfing: Ironwork Socks by Kim
Kelp! Knits is a blogger out of Houston Texas. I was browsing on Raverly and found her Ironwork Socks. Its an intricate pattern that has a heel design that's pointed. I'm not sure if its stretches so I'll have to be careful about the size when I make them. I want to make them for my cousin eventually using the FearlessFiber Lust.

Movie Review: Smokin Aces
Maybe I would have liked the movie better than if I hadn't seen Lucky Number Slevin, Pulp Fiction the day before or watched The Departed right before I saw this movie. It was.... mmmm eh not too bad..... not better than those other movies. The plot was kinda of stupid and not believable. My suspension of belief was in overdrive watching this movie. Don't put it your Netflix or Blockbuster queue wait until its on tv. I wish I had