Remember me?
Ok, so I have been out of the blogging loop for a while. Don't really know what happened, I guess I just didn't have any interesting things to blog about, but I was surely following all of my friends blogs, even if I didn't comment all the time. Just needed a time out maybe?
Anyway, my fish tank is recovering, just in case you are wondering. I had a couple of ups and downs with it, but it's getting there. That's another thing about moving, but I won't go there now.
Also, I got my teeth and crown taken care of. Now that the dentist has her claws in me again, there is no escape and I think me and her will get to know each other very well. The good side about it is that she is very nice and a knitter. How cool is that. She wants to learn how to knit socks.
But this is a knitting blog, so here is some knitting content. Beginning of December I had a rather larger project from Knitpicks. I knitted 6 pairs of socks in about 4 to 5 weeks worth of time. I guess it's no big deal if I lift that secret about it, because the really secret part of it is, that I got to knit them in the new colors of Felici sockyarn. And that's what I can't show you, so there won't be any pictures of them. Sorry.
But what I can show you is the
stranded vest I was working on a while back. It always takes a while from knitting it until it shows on the Internet or in the catalog. I did this one back in October and some of you might remember it, because of that horrible scissor shot I put on the blog. Well, here it is in all it's beauty and I think it's even featured in the catalog.
Since we moved I haven't gotten a new catalog yet. I guess I have to fix that so I have a portfolio of my work. It's the
Ladies Jacquard Sweater Vest and in the Palette yarn it's really inexpensive to knit too. The pattern keeps you interested and trust me, you need it. But other than that, it was a nice knit.
To make up for all that thin yarn I've been knitting with lately, I finally cast on for my
Dad's cardigan. According to my sister he is in real need of a new one, so here I am. I'm using Lion Brands Wool Ease in Blue Heather and this worsted weight knits up pretty fast. I started with this on Christmas Day and I'm about to finish the pieces today. I still have to wash and blog them and then pieces them together. We'll see how well Wool Ease blogs, since it's 80 acrylic and 20 wool, but my sister insisted on something washable. So that's what she is going to get.
I also finished a
Christmas stocking that didn't make it to it's recipient anymore in time. I'll send it out anyway along with the pattern. I didn't find a nice bright red wool yarn, so I used some acrylic and now I'm sad to say that I don't know if it's going to blog out, if at all. I guess it can at least be used for next year. :) Nice try, right?
Next up I'll finally finish my
traveling roses scarf. I know, this has been dragging on forever. It was supposed to be a travel project I started in July/August on my way up here to Kentucky and it's finally drawing to an end. I am ending it after the 15th repeat, which will make it about as long as I am tall and I'm 5'9". No telling how much longer it's going to be after blogging. It took a while and I'll probably not going to use that pattern again, since after all those repeats I still haven't memorised it, but the feel of cashmere will make up for it for sure. (A FO pic will follow soon)
Now let's see if the UPS driver stops by today, because I have a new KP project on the way. Just in time for the cardigan being done. Also, I have plans for the new year to put my knitting machine to work, make friends with it first, and then start up my etsy shop again. I tried it two years ago with not much luck. Maybe it wasn't the right time for it, so I'll try it again, but first I have to work up some stuff to put in there. Wish me luck. I can use it.
Labels: FO, FO stranded, KP, Lace
KP 12 revealed
I found another one of my KP testknits revealed on their website today. It's the Heart Pants from Hannah Fettig's book "Closely Knit". It's available at KP, of course.
So that leaves only one more in the loop. It's the one with the scary sciccor picture. :)
In the meantime I'm keeping myself busy with smaller projects. But you already know that. Here is the one I'm currently working on. It was supposed to be another hat, but turned into these mittens.
These are the
White Witch Mitts from IK Spring 2008. I just ran into the right yarn in my stash, but ended up reversing the colors. I'm knitting those in 3mm cables and so far they are moving along quite nicely. Bad thing is, I'm almost done with them, so now I have to hunt for another project. Yes, I know, I still have a couple of WIPs, but there is just something about casting on for something new vs. knitting on the same old same old. I'm sure you know what I mean.
Labels: Gloves, KP
It's getting cold
I had to play a little waiting game with Knit Picks and the designer to get the test knit the way we wanted it, so in the meantime I jumped right onto this little hat.
It's getting a little colder here in Kentucky and the last two days of rain made even the last person realise that summer is definitely over. Since my older one is complaining about it being chilly in the morning (44 degrees on the way to school this morning) I had to knit up this hot hat for him to keep his ears warm. He even wanted to wear it all day at school today. We'll see what the teachers think of this, since I don't think that is part of the dress code. Either way it's nice to have my knitting appreciated.
Next up is a pair of
argyle mitts. You might have seen them on Ravelry. I love them and had to cast them on last night. The ribbing is just going kinda slow, so it'll be a couple more hours until it's going to get interesting.
Since it's knitted over 72 stitches I cast on with 2.25mm (1) KP Harmony DPNs (thank you
Keri) and I'm using some unknown stash sock yarn and the rest of the
Dyed in the Wool Handmade Fingering Sockyarn in Winter Violet. This was left over from my
Mohana Shawl I knitted for Monika. I think it's a rather nice color combo.
Labels: KP, On The Needles
I'm not scared!
For some of you ,that are very protective of their knitting, the following pictures might be disturbing. So I suggest you turn you eyes and wait for the next post.
The good news, I'm done with the knitting of the body of my latest KP testknit. Proof is here.
Then comes this:
I know, it's scary to look at, but it has to be done for the greater good or let's say for you to be able to get your head and arms into the whole thing.
Don't despair, because this is the second time I'm doing this and it was way less scary than the first time. Trust me, you can get used to it.
Tadaa, till next time.
Labels: KP
I'm on the roll
Today I might have to show you a couple more pictures than usual. But what fun are blog entries without pictures, right? Ok, here we go.
Remember that "smallish", but very colorful project from Knit Picks just before I moved? The one with those little alpacas? It can be found on the
website now. It's a new kit they offer.
It has interchangeable charts so it's really up to the knitter on what ear flaps you want, what colors to choose or which bands you want to put where. I, as a test knitter didn't have that choice, but that's ok. I think it turned out really nice.
Next is my finished scrappy scarf, modeled by my trusty pup. She was the only available model at the time :)
I showed to our local bookstore/yarnstore owner and she wanted to keep it for now to hang it in her window. How cool is that. And I still have plenty of scrap yarn left over to make a couple more.
This little stocking is something I whipped up last night in a couple of hours. It's a little dark, but the colors are very bright. I found this pattern in the book "Knit Christmas Stockings" by Gwen Steege. I also used stash scrap yarn and 3.5 mm needles. Now I'm working on the matching little ski sweater ornament from the same book.
And here is another little peek at what is going to be my next test knit. I have the yarn, I had the chance to swatch it over the weekend, but I'm still waiting for the pattern. It feels just like looking at the candy in the store, walking out with a bag full of it, but not being allowed to have some. Now what's up with that!
This is Knit Picks fingering weight Palette in Cornmeal and Clematis Heather, just in case you were wondering.
Now back to the little sweater. And I had a brainstorm last night. Another little thing to use up some more of my sock yarn left overs. You'll see, once that egg hatches. Hi, hi, I know, I'm so mean sometimes. Happy knitting.
Labels: FO, KP
I found them!!!
Yes, I did find the rest of my needles. It was in one of the many book boxes. Now I can sleep better.
We had a bad storm here in Northern Kentucky on Sunday. From what I heard on the radio we were cought in between two weather front that made this area here seem like Ike's little cousin. We had 50 mph winds that snapped trees, which broke powerlines. Half the day on Sunday we were out of power and I rearranged boxes inside the garage, bringing all my beloved yarn boxes into the house, so I could put my husbands car inside. I have about 2 inches between front bumper and a wall of boxes and 4 inches between back bumper and garage door. How is that for exact measurement!!
I also did the good deed for the day and donated 4 boxes to our local thrift shop. It was long overdue and it sure don't miss them and I love those two empty drawers in my dresser. And that was only clothes. I still need to go through toys and those many boxes labeled "Closet item". Hmmm, that is a very grey area. You should know how many closets I had in my other place.
Did I mention I hate moving? It's not so much the moving part, since we have people to do that for us, but the part where you have to find a new home for every single little thing and if you don't then to determent wether you really need that perticular thing or if you could part with it.
And on the knitting front, which has been very much neglected, I finally finished the little pink baby hoody.
And while we are doing the picture thing here, this is another one of my KP testknits I found on the website yesterday. This was the one with all the cables and stuff. Looks pretty good on the guy and fit me perfectly too. It's called "Traditional Gansey" and can be found at
Knit Picks in the book "Cables, Diamonds, Herringbone". I knit that one with Comfy in the color Cashew. Some of you might remember this project, just because it's a pretty bland color to knit with, especially for such a big project, but I think in the end it fits the sweater pretty good.
These are some close up pix I took before I sent it off.
Labels: FO, KP
Greetings from Kentucky
Hey ya'll. I'm waving hello to you from my new home in
Fort Knox, Kentucky. Well, more or less new home, since I'm greeting you from our hotel, where we are currently staying in. If you read my blog more often you'll know that my husband is in the military and that it was time for us once again to pack up our TA-50 and our bags and move to our new duty station. We left Georgia last friday and made our way up to Kentucky, with a quick stop over night in Nashville. We signed in here on post on saturday and are in the hotel since then.
We used the weekend of explore our surrounding towns and made our first trip to check out Louisville.
Here is where we ate for lunch:
And this is what's located right next door. Too funny.
After running around like crazy for a couple of days and getting my kids set up for school, it's quiet time for me right now. I'm knitting along on the
Traveling Roses Scarf that is my travel project, but I got a little bored with it. So since knitting stores are not on every corner here, Walmart had to come to the rescue and I got some size 8 needles and some pastel colored acrylic yarn (don't booh me for that) and I started on a new baby blanket from these dish cloth patterns
here.
My plan is to knit the whole alphabet and then piece it together to make a blanket. So far I'm on "C" and it's coming along pretty good, except that I'm not very happy with those 14" way too long Boye needles, but they'll have to do for now. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have all my stuff back. So keep your fingers crossed, that we find a right house for us soon.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Do you remember that pile of grey yarn with those blue? Well, I found that on the Knit Picks site. This is what it turned out to be.
Surprised?
Labels: family trip, KP, On The Needles, Scarf
Happy Birthday
Say Hello to the birthday girl.
This is our little girl Fancy. She is turning 3 today and is very happy with her big rawhide bone she got today. That should keep her busy for a couple of days. We adopted her about 1 1/2 years ago from our local animal shelter, just a couple of months before my husband deployed. She is the daughter I never had, the barking doorbell I never wanted and the built-in security system that never works. Well, she has her moments, when people get scared of her. She is a chow-chow/golden retriever mix and it depends on how people look at her they see a overgrown Chow and back up or a very fluffy retriever. The worst thing she does to people is clotheslining them with her leash and drooling them to death. :) Otherwise she thinks that everybody is only there to pet her all day long. She also sheds like crazy right now and I always seem to have tumble fur around the house. I was thinking about shaving her for the summer, but didn't do it anyway, even with temperatures of almost 100 here today. Next winter she'll need her fur when she gets to see snow for the first time. I wonder what she'll think about that.
I can also tell you that I'm almost done with the Veste Everest. I only have about 5 more rounds to knit in the second armhole, then I'm done, except for all the ends to weave in.
I'll tease you with another pic here. Let's see what you think about that.
Labels: General, KP
Recent accomplishments and more yarn
OK, here are some nicer shots of the tumbling blocks baby blanket I finished the other day. I was all excited about this project at first, lost interest in it for a while, found any excuse to knit/ crochet anything else instead, but finally have it done. I hope the kid has not enrolled in school yet. :) I had a teddy bear model for me on this one.
It's made with three different shades of Bernat Softee Baby, you know, the big balls of acrylic yarn you can find at Walmart. I used a size G (4mm) hook for it. The three rows of border made a nice finish to it and seem to pull it all together.
Next is a quicky test knit for Knit Picks in between. I started on it so quickly and had it done in only a couple of days, so I didn't even get to take a yarn shot. Here is a little peek. It will be in the November catalog.
This is what my favorite UPS guy brought me yesterday. Isn't it yummy? 9 different colors of Knit Picks Palette.
This is going to be another "smallish" project for them and will be in the September Catalog. I've been asking for little things to knit, because I didn't want to commit to anything major, since we will be moving soon (how many times have I mentioned that now?) and I didn't want to have to stop unpacking boxes to meet the deadline for a knitting project.
It's shocking, but I actually swatched for this one. Well, I have to do this for my test knits all the time and since I know myself as a loose knitter, I have to go down one needle size on this one two. The designer recommends a size 4 to get 8 stitches per inch. I, as you might be able to see, only get between 6 and 7. Now I switched to a 3mm needle instead (don't have a 3.25 in my stash) and we'll see how this works out.
On other news the Veste Everest was soaking this morning and is rolled up in a towel as we speak/type. Once I'm done with this post I'll torture the poor thing and stretch it to size to block it. Then I only have to add the edging for the neck and sleeves and it'll be done. I absolutely love the yarn I've used. It's RY Cashsoft DK and it's a dream to knit. If it ever goes on sale again (I got this one at Webs), I'll have to stock up on it. I'll post pics of Everst when I'm done with it.
Now back to swatching and blocking.
Labels: Crochet, FO, KP
I'm making progress
Do you see this? You know what that means? I finally had enough of this pattern and decided to finish it. I'm working on the outside border right now. I'm going around with all three colors once, that should do it.
This is a
FO from this weekend. I had to give this double knitting a try and found it pretty interesting. At first it was a little confusing until I got the hang of it and I figured out the right way for me to hold the yarn. Then it went pretty smooth and I had this hot pad finished in a day. It can be found on
Knitting Help. I knitted this one with 4 mm needles and cotton yarn that
Keri sent me, when she was weeding through her stash not too long ago. Thanks. This was a perfect combination of pattern and stash yarn.
Here is the backside of it. Or is it the front? I can't
decide which one I like better. Unfortunately I don't think I have enough yarn to make another one just like that one. They are nice and thick and work good as a hot pad or a pot holder.
The reason for this sudden burst of
FOs is another
FO. I finally got the last test knit off the needles and had to wait for it to dry after a nice soak. To me it turned out perfect, the pattern was easy to follow and I didn't have to check back with Kim at
Knit Picks at all. Nice. Just keep your eyes open in the October catalog for something brown. Yeah, like you'll remember that. So you have to excuse me, but I'm off to the UPS store to send out their package and then finish the border on the blanket. See ya.
Labels: FO, KP
Pics to keep you guessing
I finally found my camera. After almost tearing up the house, I finally found it, because there is nothing I hate more than to post without a picture. Here is another sneak peek on the cable madness I've been working on. Pretty, isn't it?
Those cables always remind me of the icing around a cake. Funny, I know. I'm down to the last 5 packs of yarn now and am pretty sure it'll be enough, but the pattern is easier now and I'm zooming right along. But I still can't wait until this is done and I can post about other knitting again.
I have one more week of work ahead of me and then I should have a lot more time for knitting, besides cleaning and uncluttering the house, before the movers come next month. I'm getting into the mood for this every once in a while and can finally get rid of some things. I'll tackle this next month and go through our stuff one room and one box at a time. My craft room is off limits to my husband. He is not allowed to throw anything out from there. To him it might just be string and fabric rags, but to me it's hidden treasures. I know you understand my point. :)
Happy knitting.
Labels: KP
Hibernation in summer?
I know, it's been quiet on my blog lately, but I haven't been hibernating or anything like this. After all, it's summer and not the right season for it. I have been knitting the whole time too, trust me, but since it's a test knit, there isn't really much I can show you, except more cables and maybe how the mountain of 17 balls of yarn is shrinking. So far I've gone through 9 balls of yarn and the main body (I guess you have figured out it's a sweater, duh) is almost done. You know what comes next, so I'm not going to get into it any further.
However, here is something I CAN show you:
Those are the Tubey socks from the book "
Son of Stitch 'n Bitch" by Debbie Stoller. The pattern was designed by
Claudia, who can also be found on Ravelry
here. I knitted them with
Knit Picks Risata in the color Buttermilk with Dusk and Sable as accent colors.
Otherwise I don't have much to show for at the moment. I've been looking for something small to knit in between, kinda like an instant gratification sort of thing, but can't seem to find anything in that direction either. It's just this heat here in Georgia (we had 95 degrees today), the weather, something, I just don't know. Maybe it's me working for a couple of hours a day, maybe it's the boys being out of school or just the upcoming move, but I can't seem to be more productive. So I tinker along on those cables every day, a couple of inches at a time, until it's done.
I'll be working until the end of this month and then we'll be getting ready for our next military move to Kentucky. I'm glad to get out of here. The south just doesn't seem to like me and it's going both ways. I've been here the second time now and don't like it any better than the first time. I'm actually looking forward to white Christmas and snow, but might curse the snow, the first time I have to shovel. But just think how much more my knitting will be appreciated in climate like this instead of here. :) Gotta find the good thing in every situation and right now I'm looking forward to getting there, just not so much the move, the house hunting and the setting up and finding a spot for all the junk we own and drag with us. Yard sale, here we go.
Labels: General, KP, Socks
Family Trip
Having two days off in a row at the same time doesn't happen to us that often, so we had to take advantage of it. Even though the gas prices seem to be going through the roof right now, we took the oportunity for a day trip to Atlanta. We didn't get cought in the travel rush, so the drive was pretty smooth. After only about 4 hours we made it to Atlanta and headed for our destination, the
Georgia Aquarium. It was pretty impressive for being a huge aquarium, but since we expected something a little more interactive, we didn't spend as much time there as we had planned.
Next stop, after a drive through a pretty (and rich looking) neighborhood with old colonial houses and parks with jogging people, very nice landscaping and Mercedes in the drive ways, was
Stone Mountain Park. After this we headed home and since we had more time on hand than expected and traffic wasn't bad either, we stopped one more time at the
Tanger Outlet Mall in Locust Grove and took advantage of their Memorial Day savings and the additional military discounts offered. I scored a couple of nice Tommy pants for me :).
Since we were on the road a while I had a chance to get quite a bit of knitting done too. I am up
7 inches on the latest test knit. 3 balls of yarn down and many more to go.
Labels: family trip, KP
I want to blog, I swear I do, but something always seems to get in the way. So now I just took the time, ignored everything else, even the nagging dog and the child next to me, telling me everything about playing Halo 3 I don't want to know, and plugged in my new toy. Guess what, this is what I'm using right now.
This is my new little Toshiba laptop that my husband insisted I'd have. I deserve it, he says. Hmm, what does he want? Or better yet, what does he want to buy to justify buying me this one? We'll see. He does things like that. Keri knows. The whole reason for that was that my older son caught something on our laptop, which made it not hook up to the Internet anymore. I wouldn't connect to the Internet Explorer anymore. Now this one works like a charm and I can even work Blogger perfectly again. I can link and I can move around my pics again, which was impossible before.
Now on the knitting note, I wanted to show you the last delivery from the UPS guy.
This is my new KP testknit. 17 balls of
Comfy. Yes, it's going to be a big one this time, but I have a pretty generous deadline. I did my swatch and now I'm off to casting on. Once I have something to show for, I'll take some more pics.
Well, that's going to have to do for now. I'm needed again. Gotta run.
Labels: General, KP
I have issues
Gauge issues that is. I am usually not the one that uses the same exact yarn as in the pattern. Well, one reason is that when I knit for Knit Picks, unless the original pattern calls for it, the yarn gets substituted with one of theirs. Duh, that's to be expected, since the whole point behind me knitting for them is to promote their yarns and to show that substitutions will work out just was well as knitting it with the "original" yarn.
Anyway. My issue is not with one of their patterns, it's with one that I'm actually knitting for me. Well, more for a friend of mine as a late, or maybe we can already say, early Christmas present. She requested a vest last Christmas. After searching for that perfect pattern I decided to make the Veste Everest by Veronik Avery from the IK Fall 2005 issue. I found the perfect yarn on last months WEBS sale and went for RYC Cashsoft DK. Choosing the right size seemed to be a problem for me, since the size I needed, was not exactly in the pattern. So I have to figure out a "in between" size. Therefore I had two choices. Bigger pattern and smaller needles or smaller pattern and bigger needles. Since I know that I knit a little loose, I went for the smaller needles. Eeeenk. Wrong answer. After knitting through about half a ball of yarn I had to figure out that I had a perfect gauge for the size I was NOT going for. So ripping I went. Now I'm going for door number 2: smaller pattern, normal needles. I knit up the yarn I ripped out before and it seems to be working in my favor. The best part about it, it's two whole repeats less, which is 24 stitches. That should speed up things a bit.
And since I sent out my last KP test knit beginning of this week, I got a new on in my e-mail box today. Contract is signed, yarn is ordered therefore stay tuned for new sneak peaks at the yarn. Until then I'll have to knit a little faster on the vest, before I have to decide which one has priority.
Labels: KP
KP 8 Revealed
How do you like this cardigan? Pretty nice, hugh? I found this today on Knitpicks.
Now compair it to this:
Yup, it's my tidepool lace knitting I did a while back for them. It made it to the website and should be in the next catalog too. I'm glad it looks great on the model. It was lots of knitting, constant knitting, but in the end it was worth it. I like it. See Michelle, this is what you look forward too, except that your name won't be mentioned, but that's ok. The fellow bloggers, that follow my blog, know I did it and that's all that matters. Thank you all for putting up with my teaser pictures all the time.
I'm almost done with the last one I'm making for them. All I can say it's gray and it's a sweater. Woohoo, that should narrow it down, right? Yeah, well, that's all you are going to get for now. :). Now I wonder what they have to offer next time.
I don't know what I'm going to be working on in the meantime, but I'm sure I'll find something. After all, I got that big box of yarn from Keri to go through and instant gratification that comes with doing small things isn't so bad either.
Have a nice weekend and a good mothers day, for all that it applies to.
Labels: KP
New Temptation
This is what I got in the mail a couple of days ago from Monika (
www.yarnloopie.blogspot.com/). I'm going to test knit the Mohana pattern for her with this. It's a great yarn and a great color made by Dyed in the Wool Handmade in Winter Violet.
She also added a skein of Fleece Artist to it as a bonus. Thanks so much.
So no wonder I couldn't help but cast on this morning to see how this knits up and to get started on her test knit, so the pattern can available to more people than just her and me. I'm so special, I know, and I'm a schmuck too, but you have to forgive me for that.
The KP test knit is coming along great too. The only problem I have now is, that Monika's shawl and the KP is using the same size needle. Hmm. Timeshare?
Here is the reason for my short blogging absence:
Yes, Hubby is home. After more than a year he is finally back from his deployment and if I have anything to do with it, it was his last one too.
This is the boys, before the bus came in, waiting......
Labels: General, KP, Lace
