Last minute Christmas Knitting continues....

OK here goes!

1. A Christmas gift to myself... I ripped out and reknit the lower section of the sleeves on my hourglass sweater....(can you tell which sleeve has been reknitted? hehe)


They were beautiful but too long and too wide.


Now they are a lot more manageable and won't get so caught in my coat sleeves! Yay!!!!!

2. Noro striped scarf - DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Isn't she beautiful????????????????????????


Noro is magic. This is another christmas present to myself... Wow, so far this list is awfully selfish!!! :-/


Sorry, I had to take a million pics of this scarf... it is really photogenic, no???

3. Finally, a present for someone else! I just need to figure out who. Originally I was using the leftovers from Holden's blanket to make him a matching hat... (cute, no?)


Well apparently I suck at swatching and at doing math, because it came out a teensy bit big...


YES - it fits MY head. I am going to take it with me when I see the nephews at christmas and hope it fits one of the kiddos with the brim turned up. If not,... I will (sigh) rip it out and try again. Bleh!

4. TIE FOR MY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry it is blocking... I will get cuter shots later but ZOMG ITS DONEEEEEEEEE! Those teensy metal needles really cramp up my hands so it is a big relief. Also for those of you not paying attention, I had this scarf almost half done back in AUGUST for my dad's birthday present... OOPS.... at least he will get it for xmas!


Here it is compared to a store bought tie I was using as a template!

I am on vacation this week so expect more knitting! Yay! For now I am exhausted so I am off to bed... hope everyone is staying safe and warm in this icy winter weather!

Still a little damp...

But I had to put it on. :-D



Yay :)


Sleeves were a little big, but besides that it fits great! I consider that a huge success for my first sweater. Now the whole world of sweater knitting has opened before me.... ;-)

ITS A MIRACLE

THE HOURGLASS. IS. DONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



(Blocking)

OMG ITS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Start Date: Like Feb of 2007?!?? Or earlier? WHO KNOWS?
End Date: April 12, 2008
Yarn: 7 skeins of Knit one Crochet Too Parfait Solids in "Dusty Lilac"

YAY!



Yes. It is off the needles. I spend the whole day weaving in ends and kitchenering the armpit holes shut and tacking down the hems and ALL THAT JAZZ. Whew.



But: its BLOCKING. its DONE. I could WEAR IT TO WORK MONDAY OMG!!!!!!!!!!

<3 My First Sweater <3

I am proud.

Oh, and I made this little bear lovie/toy for a friend's little boy:



Yarn: 1 skein of Crystal Palace Puffin in "Dotty Blues" and some scrap black wool for the face.
Pattern: Lion Brand's Bunny Blanket Buddy



Only mod was I didn't knit bunny ears, but fashioned bear ears by just knitting a few rows and then doing a few decreases. It was well received by the little guy (he started chewing on it). Lol.

Not quite ready yet

So I have my hourglass in the yoke, and am decreasing merrily around the shoulders.

Today, while knitting at lunch with my knitting guru/coworker Cynthia, I got the bright idea to "try" my sweater on.

I put the rubber stoppers on my circular, and proceeded to try and wiggle into the sweater. First, cynthia had to come help me pull it on. Second, when cynthia was going to get her camera, the rubber stopper popped off one end of the circular and i lost a few stitches. Third, I couldn't really put my arms down because I need to knit a lot more in the yoke LOL.

But all that aside, I got to try it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(I am holding one end of the circular cuz that darned stopper flew off)

And more importantly, from the halfway try on I feel that the sweater is going to fit around my middle. The sleeves are a smidge baggy (I even added a decrease and ommitted a few increases) but they will be more comfortable this way.

Now I am even MORE excited to get it done! WOOT!

Also, when is spring coming? Because I am tired of still having to warm my car up in the mornings. Sheesh!

Hourglass

PROGRESS!

ITS ALL CONNECTED! IN THE YOKE!


(do you SEE the excitement in my eyes??? DO YOU?)

Zomg people, i MIGHT ACTUALLY finish an ADULT SIZED REAL LIFE SWEATER in my LIFETIME.

Knitting gods be praised!

It's a miracle!

Yes people, hell hath frozen over...

I have picked up my hourglass sweater.

Originally started in Feb of 2007 or so, it has been ripped out once and restarted, and now I am finally back on it making progress.

The body is knit up to the armpits.


I have started a sleeve!


It is all very exciting around here folks... I might even get to wear it this year! (ha)

I also finished a cute little baby boy hat to go with my blue booties with ties:


It will be a gift set for my fiancee's coworker.

Hope everyone else has nice weather... I am sick of snow!!!!

Hourglassy

Hourglass progress from last weekend! Sorry it took me so long to post :)

Finally!

A blog post! Who would have guessed? I have actually been pretty good about knitting a lot lately. Here is what I have to show:

A finished ballband, ready for gifting...


Progress (gasp!) on my whoreglass, er i mean hourglass sweater (haha)...


A striped scarf...


or IS IT??? Secret skulls, I love this!!!!!!


Also, I got Cynthia to make me some beautiful stitch markers...


I kept those and sent the rest to Jessica... gotta share the lurve!

No progress on my branching out scarf... that is on the backburner in favor of the sweater and skull scarf. But it's still alive! Maybe i will give it some attention this weekend... a nice, 3 day weekend, yay! Well, yay until next week when I get to try and make up those lost 8 hours the rest of the week... being a temp sucks!

Anyhoo, hope everyone has a safe and relaxing memorial day!

Knew Knitting

So by now I am sure you have heard the bad news.... Fort Wayne's only LYS is closing. :'( On the bright side, everything is 25% off right now!


Woo new yarn!!! I got two shades of pink Lamb's Pride Bulky, for various upcoming babies I will probably knit for (also cuz i liked it... haha), AND three beautiful blue skeins of cascade 220 for a baby sweater. I love it!!!

As for current WIPS:


Here we see the classic ballband dishcloth... I always seem to be making one of those.... and also, my small little start to the Branching Out scarf. Lace is fun! (by fun I mean, this is not good TV knitting)


Ah yes... the ol' hourglass. Back on the needles and just to the point of "positive knitting" (past the point where I stopped before) It's good to have it back, and I am looking forward to my goal of having the body done by june. :)

Yay the weather is nice! AND this morning as I was leaving for work, I noticed that the geese that live around my apartment started to have babies!!!! Baby geese are so cute, I am looking forward to watching them grow up this summer.

New office episode tonight! Everyone better watch!!!! Now I am off to play with my yarns. Ahhh :)

The good and the bad

Here is the good:


Finished baby sweater! It turned out alright for my FIRST SWEATER EVER! lol.
(thanks to Mr. Penguin for modelling.)



Of course it was just garter stitch, but my first time seaming went alright! Gives me hope for my hourglass sweater. Speaking of which...


Yup. There is the bad... had to rip it out! I "tried it on" last night after putting it on a scrap piece of yarn, and it was too big. Just now I got it cast on again... so I hope this one FITS. Whew!

I think im going bowling with my brother tonight, that should be fun. I'll let you know if I break 100. (Usually happens once every 3 games... lol)

Coming Soon to a blog near you:

Teaser pic! Hopefully this will get sewn up tonight and pics of another FO tomorrow!

In other news: Hourglass sweater might get a try-on tonight. I want to make sure it is going to fit right before I knit another stitch. Of course, it is only like 6 inches long, so it will be like trying on a belt... but it is driving me nuts not knowing if it's the right size. Maybe that is why I havent worked on it? Sweaters are such a big commitment! Maybe I am a commitment-phobe. That is why I have made so many ballbands.... haha. Hopefully I can settle down with my nice hourglass and live happily ever after (once i know it will fit!).

Rainy crappy day... good day for knitting!

Socks. Wait, 2 of them? Really?!??

Ta da! Yes, I now own my first pair of handknit socks. Sure they are a bit thick, and will be used a slipper type socks around the house, but I made them!(they are the same size too, i dont know why one looks bigger in the pic) Woo hoo! 

Hourglass sweater hasnt been touched.. seems like I have been so busy! My baby sweater needs the other sleeve sewn on. Hopefully I will do that tonight, and pics soon! Thats all for now!

Sleeve dilemma

So, you know that baby sweater I am making? I am holding two yarns together. Unfortunately, I do not have enough of the darker blue color to make two matching sleeves. (Boo!) The yarn was from a learn to knit kit... which I just went to michaels and checked, and which they still have (!!!) BUT now the kit comes with purple variegated yarn. Lame! I did find the kit with the color I need on Ebay, but I am hesitant to use that site, since I put my money in the hands of a possibly untrustworthy stranger. (on the other hand, I have no qualms with giving amazon.com my money, haha!)

I also went to Hobby Lobby and searched for similar yarns I could possibly substitute for my darker blue. This is what I found:


On the left: Red Heart, regular acrylic, lighter blue.
In the middle: My lonely bit of beautiful mystery yarn.
On the right: Caron Super Soft, soft/shiny acrylic, slightly darker blue.

I am going to swatch properly this weekend and might enlist you bloggers to help me choose. So far it seems like I should go with the red heart, since putting two Caron yarns (the light blue I am holding with it is Caron also) together would make the sleeves too "shiny".

And dont worry everyone, last night I got a good 5 rows or so done on my Hourglass. Neglected no longer!!!!! :-)

TGIF!

Brrrrrrrr

So the high today was like 30 degrees and it is SNOWING. I mean, it's freaking APRIL!!!!!!!! Ugh!!! I cannot wait until next week, when I go visit my friend in Florida. WOOT! But come on people... this is not natural:


Global warming, where are you?

Onto the knitting. OK, so I would say that April's theme will be: "distracted". That is because I have been neglecting a few things:

The second sock. I have a little bit of second sock syndrome, but I plan on maybe working on it tonight. I am just glad I have it started, that is the tough part!


The neglected hourglass... hiding under my end table all forlornly. Dont worry little guy! I pulled you out and put you on the coffee table, and I am going to work on you as soon as I am done blogging, I swear!


Cynthia went to see the Yarn Harlot in Ann Arbor this last weekend, and kindly picked me up a copy of her latest book. Unfortunately, they couldn't stay and get it signed(the line was huge and they had to get home before it was crazy late), but she was so kind to get it for me anyway! I am almost halfway through and it's a great book!!!!


SO... what has been distracting me from my poor sock and lonely sweater??? Why, another sweater of course! But this one is for a baby:


So cute! and size 10 needles + holding 2 yarns together = fast knitting.


In fact, I finished the back at lunch today and even sewed the shoulders together! (it is a boatneck sweater)


Thanks to my penguin that lives on my desk at work for modeling. (It was a bit big on him) But that was the first thing I have ever seamed together! Fairly exciting. This sweater is very simple, but I figure its good practice for when I have to seam up my hourglass! (P.S. The light blue is Caron Simply soft that I used for my baby blanket, and the dark varigated blue is mystery acrylic yarn that came from a learn to knit kit!)

OK everyone think warm thoughts and maybe spring will come back (pleeease)... Bye!

Slow but Steady

Wow! I first want to say thanks to everyone for leaving me such nice comments on my last post! I think 7 comments is the most I have ever had. I feel so loved. :-D

OK on to the knitting, which I assume is why you all are here!

Sock progress!



I think I could get a career as a sock model, don't you??? Oh, and actually these pics are from the other day, I am now to the point where I need to switch colors for the toe... ooh la la! But must save that for sock class on tuesday. Here's hoping I have a finished sock next week!

Sweater progress:

How can I be in the black hole of endless stockinette ALREADY? Haha oh well. It will be totally worth it when I am done!

AND! Today was Cynthia's Yarn Sale!!!!!!!! Look what I bought:

Mostly wools, one ball is cotton. See the two balls of sock yarn? I am already thinking of my next pair! I must be addicted already.

Oh... and Cynthia?

I GOT A PICTURE OF YOUR STASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahah *evil laugh*

I win! YOU LOSE! NICE TRY! Now who's the sneaky one?!?????? Too bad the table blocks a lot of the yarn on the floor, but I had to take this shot really really fast. I am still amazed she didnt catch me.

But her dog Purl is adorable!!!!



Purl says: "Lauren is Evil!"