Thursday, December 29, 2005

Progress Report

Well, I have no new FOs at this time. I do have lots of progress reports to give.



I'll start with my progress on the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from the Stitch n Bitch Nation book.
I am about half way through the yoke right now. It is going pretty fast. The sleeves are not finished, only attached to the sweater at this point. The sweater is done in Lamb's Pride Bulky, so it is working up pretty fast. The fair isle pattern is simple, so it is a great pattern for learning this technique, which is why I wanted to make the sweater in the fist place.

Next, I have the Bzzz Queen Bee hat from Stitch n Bitch Nation. I just wanted to work on something simple to take a break from the sweater. The sweater gets pretty heavy, and it can be rather hot working under it! The hat is made from a Shetland wool, but I forget the name now. I'll post that when I am done with the hat.


Last, I did about 5 inches on my striped sweater that I have had on my needles for a few years! Yup, I really did work on that thing this week. Right now I am having a bit of a gauge problem. I have really loosened up over the years, so I am trying to find what needles will give me the gauge I started with. I may have to frog this sweater yet.


Well, that is all for now. Have a Happy New Year filled with lots of yarn!

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas post

Merry Christmas, I hope that yours was as merry as mine. I had my whole family over to my house. While I have made Christmas dinners before, I have never done one for mom, dad, my sister and her family. It was THE dinner! Everyone enjoyed the food, so I am ready to relax.

Everyone seemed to like their knitted gifts. My sister was happy to get her scarf (That 70's Scarf), and she wore it all afternoon. Mom really liked the blue *obi* scarf (the blue one that I posted a few days ago).

I wanted to show a pic of the Sweet Mary Janes that I made for my mother. They are made from Noro wool. I needed two balls, but I am really pleased with how they turned out. I think mom liked them.

The last little knitted bit are some small SOS slippers that I gave my niece. She really likes Tinkerbell, so I made some quick pom poms for the toe. Jess is convinced she has real Tinkerbell shoes. I think the slippers were a bigger hit than her real gift.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday. My hands hurt. I don't know when I'll pick up my needles again. Oh, who am I kidding. I didn't do any knitting today, so it will be tomorrow when I knit again.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Kittens, trees, SOS, and MJs


Kittens are really cute. They are small, furry, and make a pleasant sound when held. Sorta like a tribble (if you know what that means, then you know I am a nerd).

Kittens are not so cute when they try to live in your Christmas tree and EAT the plastic apples on it!


She looks so unconcerned. We are forcing her to watch Christmas Vacation so she can learn what happens to kitties when they mess with the Christmas tree!

On to FOs! I have been knitting feverishly for the past three days. I am working on SOS slippers from the Socks Socks Socks book. If you don't know, SOS means special occasion slippers. They work up fast for last minute gifts.

I also finished my first "Sweet Mary Jane" by Erin

Clearly, I need to make a second. It is hard for me to tell if the slipper is good. I made it for my sister, and to be honest, she has big feet! But, the MJ seems to be fine.


The green SOS slippers are made from Wool-ease. The striped pair is from a left over ball of Jiffy. The chunky blue pair is from Kool Wool, and the Mary Jane is from Lion Wool. Didn't mean for there to be so much Lion Brand under the tree, but these were odd bits from my stash.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Stitch n Bitch Party


I'll start this post with some new FOs. Scarves, scarves, scarves! I have been a scarf knitting fool (as opposed to the regular fool that I normally am!). The blue one is for my mother and is made from Lion Brand Watercolors. It is a basic drop stitch scarf. I think it turn out totally fab.

The brown roll is "That 70's scarf" for my sister. It is made with Red Heart Tweed from my stash. It has flecks of orange and blue and reminds me of the 70s. It is 6 and half feet long, but I bet she says it is too short.

The black and purple is for me cuz I was freezing my butt off walking too work (wouldn't it be nice to REALLY freeze your butt off?) It is made from scraps of Chenille Thick and Quick. The purple was from Tara, thanks Tara!


Here is the vintage kitty bag I bought from Jen's store (see links). I just love it. It is REAL vintage fabric. Her grandfather quilted back in the day, and the fabric is from his stash. So it is extra special nice!

Now, for the party. As you can see, I got a nice haul of gifts, which is always very nice. But the best part was everyone sitting around, talking, knitting, and eating. Thanks for coming guys!

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Stash


Actually, I just want to play around with posting photos of stuff. I'll start with my very ineffective storage of my stash.

Like all knitters, I buy yarn for no reason. Like Everest, it is there, so I buy it. Often I buy out entire clearence bins at Hobby Lobby (the Hobby Lobby I go too sells the clearance yarn for less then a buck).

All this yarn buying has led to a bit of a problem, I may have more yarn than I will be able to use for the next two years! That wouldn't be so bad, but I keep buying more. And people give me the stuff too! My sister gave me 20 clearance balls of yarn for my birthday. So, not only do I buy this stuff dirt cheap, people buy it dirt cheap for me.

This first pic is of the dresser. That old thing was in my kids room when they were little. It is now filled with yarn. Lots of yarn. As you can see, there are also inefficent storage units on top of the dresser. Very bad. I really don't even know what all is in there any more.


The clear bin holds a great deal of Lion Brand Boucle (that my sis bought), and loads of Wool-ease bought on sale. One blue box holds baby yarn used to make baby hats, and the other is holding the "Molly Weasly Afghan." (see my web page for more on that!)


This last little bit is a laundry hamper. That is full of Red Heart that I pick up at yard sales. Lots of people buy more yarn then they need, then they sell boxes of left over (often full skeins) yarn at yards sales cheap. I have paid less than $5 for about 8 skeins. It is a great way to get yarn.

Well, I guess that is all the time I have for how I come by my stash of cheap yarn. I really need to get knitting because this stash is not getting any smaller all by itself!

I did it!

I have been putting off creating a blog for the longest time. I am lazy. I'll admit it, but it really is time that I enter the wonderful world of blogs.

This will be yet another knitting blog.

So, hang around and watch me learn about this stuff, and I'll share a bit of my knitting with you all too! :P

Lesa