Lotus Knits Contest

Leave a comment about your favorite knitting project and be entered to win yarn! Get your entries in by midnight on Thursday... Here is the Contest Post. The prize is a painted colorway! So, hurry up and enter!

I won a contest!

And it couldn't have come at a better time. Things haven't been great lately, so this was a really wonderful surprise!

I entered a comments contest on the Hither and Yarn blog. In the random number part of the contest my comment was selected! Yay! I'm getting some yarn, which will be picked out by the blogger this weekend. When asked what type of yarns I like... Earth tones/Fall colors, variegated/heathered, worsted and sock. It'll be a surprise what I get! The blogger apparently has an endless stash (sending jealousy eyes to her!) and will be picking something from it for me this weekend.

I'll post pics of my new yarn when it arrives!

Updates, with pictures!

Remember those two balls of olive green Corriedale I spun up? Well, here is one ball knitted up:

Actually, I guess this is half of one ball spun up :-) I have both finished. And the second ball is becoming another pair for my aunt. She saw them at Thanksgiving (yes! I did finish them in time) and wants a pair for when she is vacationing in Colorado in February. I have another pair "on order" from a friend of DF's. Good thing I like making them!

My aunt also wants me to make her a pair of gloves and a scarf from the black mohair I got on a swap on Knittyboard. I got a good pound and three-quarters of dyed black mohair roving in a trade for 2 ounces of dyed angora batts. It was all I had and the person was very generous.

I also got, in a swap, 483 yards of yarn. Someone had recycled a thrift store sweater and sent me the yarn. It's cotton, we think, and a 5 ply. Pinks and oranges, but looks bright pink from a distance. Here it is:

And, here is a picture of the scarf I'm making for Daddy...
It is the, you guessed it, Country Blue Caron Simply Soft. I just have too much of it lying around. He really wanted something handspun and natural, but I don't have it. And, I think it needs to be machine-washable. Anyway, the ends will be the basket weave and the body is mesh stitch. The mesh stitch has 2 raised bars that will be on both ends also. You can't really see it that well in the pic, though.

This is a scarf I had made for my brother earlier this fall, before I had my blog. I spun it up. It is wool (40% Merino, 40% Colonial) and tussah silk in "The Gentleman" from Copperpot. It's basketweave in design.

Finally, a few pictures from Thanksgiving...

These two pictures were taken by Nick, my almost 4-year old cousin. He is pictured below, dressed up as Remy from Ratatouille. (yes, that's me in the picture, with my head almost cut off)

Isn't he the cutest little boy ever? And such a ham!

Knitting Injury, Cute Kitty, and a Panda

Last night I jumped onto my bed to finish up the first Fetching for me. There were needles upright in my bag. I bounced onto them and got stabbed in the side. Here's the damage:

Ouch! I did finish Fetching number one and have 6 rows of number two finished. I'll post pics next week once I'm back from Thanksgiving break. I'm using the olive green Corriedale wool I spun up.

And this is Rowan. He was napping and I had to get a picture! He's being so inappropriate!

This is Mike (pronouced Meeka, like from EuroTrip). She was a panda for Halloween. She was very pregnant in the picture, poor thing... her belly was huge! But now she has 5 adorable babies.

I'm doing it anway!

I can't help it. Here is Moma's gift:

I had a better picture, but it would load correctly. So, I give you this one. It is Fetching and I love it. I used Caron Simply Soft in Country Blue. It's what I had and Shawn thought it would be the best color. I was going to use Patons Classic Merino, but wanted something machine washable. So, the acrylic.

This was my third time working in the round (DPNs... not much for circulars) and my first time with cables. I did make the thumb shorter than the pattern called for.

I'll be making me some also. I'll use the Patons for them. I don't mind handwashing and, come one, their gloves... won't be washed too much anyway. I may not go with Fetching, but instead a pattern I designed myself. We'll have to see.

I started Daddy's gift, but ended up frogging it today. It was an entrelac scarf, loosely inspired by Danica (different material, color, and stitch number). It was also acrylic. Just the stuff I have an abundance of and is the only thing I have that is machine washable. I frogged it because I realized that I couldn't really block acrylic. And you need to block entrelac. So, I started over today on a different scarf... a cabled one of my own design. Nothing too difficult or fancy, but I think it'll turn out well. And will be a whole lot faster than entrelac.

I have some more projects in mind, after finishing the scarf and my gloves (which I hope to have done before Thanksgiving).

Another Gift Finished!

I finished Moma's gift tonight. Oh so happy. I want to post pics, but can't yet!

Lotus Knits Contest

Lotus Knits is having a comments contest that everyone should check out! Just leave a comment about the question on her blog. The contest page is HERE. You have until the 15th!

Lost Scarf...

So, I lost my angora scarf. And I only had it one week (exactly). Shawn and I went out Sunday for our one-year anniversary (yay!). I wore the scarf in to O'Charley's to eat. I was careful not to leave it and brought it back to the car when we were finished. We then went to the itsy bitsy mall that's somewhat nearby. I didn't wear it in because it wasn't cool enough. Once we got back on campus I found I had lost it. I think it fell out of the car when we got to the mall. I didn't see it when we got back into the car. Today I have to get allergy shots and we'll run by the mall to see if anyone turned it in. If not, I'm letting myself believe that someone found it and is using it. I just get so attached to things and feel like I let it down... I hate the thought that my scarf is in the middle of the parking lot getting run over and rained on!

Moma's secret gift is about 45% finished. I'm so excited.

I changed (again!) what I'm making for my dad. Haven't started it yet.

I've been designing and will be casting on some fingerless gloves soon.

One Gift Completed

I'm quite proud of myself. I have a gift finished up and it's not even Decemeber yet! This is for Stephanie...

Two washcloths, a soap holder thing, lavender-scented bath oils, and cinnamon-scented candles. And here are pictures of the items separately for detail (the blue cloth is shown in an older post):

This is the LacyMock Cable Cloth from MonthlyDishcloths (July 2006 mid-month):
And the Soap Holder Thing. I modified it a bit, but it's mostly the same as the pattern. I really love this and it was one of those "instant gratification" pieces. Knitted up very fast.

I decided to change up what I'm making for my parents for Christmas. Not posting what it is here, but the house shoes aren't going to work out. I can't find the right size needles anywhere and don't want to have to order them online. So, other projects that I'm very excited about.

Now all I have left...

-Moma's secret gift

-Daddy's secret gift

-4 doggy bandanas (which I haven't yet designed the fire hydrant for)

Making a dent! The longest to make will be my dad's gift. I know what it will be, but haven't yet decided how it's going to be.

As promised, pictures of the FOs

I couldn't get to sleep last night. So, I stayed up until 0630 (exactly) and made a washcloth to go in the basket for Stephanie's (Shawn's sister) Christmas gift. Purple and blue are her colors, so here it is in Peaches & Creme Winterberry. Good color for her and a fitting name for Christmas!

I got the pattern from the MonthlyDishcloths Yahoo Group. It's from 2006 (mid-month November).

Ok, and for the angora scarf:

I love how it turned out. The color changes from off-white to creamy to a darker color. You can see it well in the pic (the lighter/darker contrast). It's about 5 feet long. SO SO SO warm and the halo is perfect. I have about 1.5 ounces left for something else also.

And, my purse! The Twiggy Tweed Bag from Knitty.com. It's made from Paton's Classic Wool (merino). I am in love with this yarn. It's so even and has a good feel for projects like this. I bought 3 skeins of the Rich Red, 1 Natural mix, and 1 Paprika (not sure what I'll be using it for yet, but I'm stuck on that burnt orange color right now). I'll be making a felted wallet to match the purse.

I had to handsew everything, so it took a while for the liner and zipper to be finished up. I love it and can't wait to be able to go out tomorrow with it! I think I did a pretty good job with it being my first 'real' purse! Other ones have always been simple ones for my cousins.

I'll be using some of this yarn for felted house shoes for my parents for Christmas.

Yesterday I bought some Peaches & Creme Sea Mist for me. I'll be making a chapstick holder keychain from it. I usually wouldn't go for the lime green and blue in it, but it appealed to me. It just seems so clean and fresh.

Contest and updates

Check out this contest... A fun comments contest. Great for people that like to tell about themselves! Find it on Tangled Up in Knots.

I finished my angora scarf and also the bag I was planning on making!!! When I finished my scarf Saturday I had nothing else to work on really, so started the Twiggy Tweed Bag. I didn't make the panels on both sides, just one. I blocked it today and will be putting it together tomorrow. Black fleecey material from Wally World's scrap bin for a liner with a pocket, zipper closure. Pictures of the scarf and the bag up tomorrow (or, since it's 0108 right now, I guess actually I'll post them later today).

Row Counter

I went and made me a row counter and a pattern row counter. Can't credit anyone with the creation... I kind of made them up. I didn't think I would do it. I'm a counting genius (slightly OCD and I count EVERY step I take, every square on the sidewalk, and how many steps per sidewalk. I've got counting multiple things as once down). But, I'm not able to remember where I leave off when I start back up. SO, here they are:
The row counter on the left can do up to 109 rows. Each white bead is 1 row and each green bead is 10 rows. I made it kind of small on purpose. I don't like the idea of wearing it as a necklace or bracelet. I added to clip so I can hang it right from my knitting bag or even the tail of a piece I'm working on if it's sturdy enough not to stretch (like my bookbag). I know which side I'm moving the beads to by the clip... I keep it facing away from me. The pattern row counter on the left can do up to 5 rows before repeating. I clip it to the row counter. I can actually make it count more rows of pattern by clipping it twice. I used glass and stone beads (I used to make jewelry before knitting came along and took over my life), beading wire, and jump rings. All sterling silver. I like the nice stuff. You can see in the picture I just finished row 58 on my bookbag.

Oh so excited about this weekend. I like going to Shawn's house and his truck-driver dad will be there this weekend. I haven't seen him in a while. This is also knitting weekend for me. Shawn at drill all day and me with nothing to do other than sit at Barnes & Noble and knit.

Knitting Away...

Still working at that scarf. I'm bored with it. Just keeps repeating. Pretty, but not exactly challenging my knitting skill. Can't wait to be finished with it.

Since I'm bored, I've started a new project... I'm making a messenger-style bookbag. I like my bag I'm using now, but want something I made. I'm using the cotton I have (Peaches & Creme Ecru and Desert Sands held together). But, like the scarf, it isn't exactly trying my skill. Just a simple stockinette body and I'm not sure how I'm doing the gussett and strap yet. Don't want to do garter because of the stretch factor (I swear my books/notebooks weight 20+ pounds!). But don't want to do stockinette because of the fold thing. I'll have to give it some thought. Maybe something a little fancier, like something a touch lacy. Or maybe even something cable to liven it up a bit.

It will have a flap with a branch for a button. There will be pockets on the front that I'll add some sort of design to. It's going to be so cute. And functional. I'm making it up as I go, so I don't know exactly what it will end up like, but do have a few ideas floating around my head.

Shawn has drill this weekend, so I'll be with him. We are staying at his parent's house, but will be gone tomorrow night and most of Saturday and Sunday. I will be going to Barnes & Noble to knit and read about knitting while he's working on his helicopters (did I ever mention he's a helicopter mechanic in the Nat'l Guard? He is qualified to work on Blackhawks and Kiowas). I hope to finish my scarf and get a lot of my bag finished before Monday. I might even work on the afghan some. But might not. It, like my scarf and bag, is boring. But VERY boring, since it's just garter, moss, and seed stitch blocks. How exciting. I really need to do something a bit challenging! Anyone have any ideas? Not too hard, but more than stockinette or garter!