WOW!!!!!

OMG so I found out that I have not ONE, but TWO extremely kind knitterly friends who both got me awesome birthday presents!

Number A, my knitting mentor Cynthia. She pulled a reversal on me, like one I did for her in the past.... she ordered me a present on Amazon and then had it delivered straight from them to me. When I did this to HER, and she found a package waiting at home, she thought, "Oh, I must have ordered this for myself and forgot that I did!" Later on it finally came out that I was the one who had ordered it, and she finally realized it was a gift ;-). With the present cynthia just gave me, it was delivered to my old address (my parents' house). My mom called me and was like, "You have a package here!". I didnt get around to picking it up from them for a day or so. During that day, I spent a lot of time trying to remember what the hell I ordered from amazon, and why it was sent to my parents house! LOL! So hey Cynthia, you got me back ;-). But without further ado, here is the present:

Woohoo!!! The yarn harlot's first book! You will have to excuse me for not stopping from reading it while taking the picture. This is so perfect, because I just bought myself her second book, and was thinking, man I really should have the first one too!!!!!!!!! so THANK YOU CYNTHIA so much! :-D You rock!

Number B: My newbie knitter friend Shawn. I had taught her to knit a few months ago, and she enjoyed it, but isnt quite as obsessed as I am becoming. :-) So last night when she showed up at my birthday party, she pulls out the most amazing present any knitter could ever ever wish to have:


YES - that is an ORIGINAL COPY of BARBARA WALKER's Treasury of Knitting Patterns.
Look at the date!!!!!!!!!!!


OMGOMGOMG! I knew she had this book, she had gotten it as a gift from her boyfriend's grandmother, and had shown it to me ( i was so jealous) and then she GIVES IT TO ME for a present, saying "you will get more use out of it than I will"...... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I fondle the book lovingly:



WHAT A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Also: I realized that I have a stash. For real. It totally snuck up on me. IM A REAL KNITTER NOW!!!!! Embarrasing picture of sneaky stash pile crammed into corner of bedroom to hide from my friends: (in plastic bags in a poor attempt at organization)

Knit - a- longs

OK so I have made ballband dishcloths, so i gotta add the Mason-Dixon Knitalong! And of course, the one for Grandmother Purl's blanket!

Just posting them here so i can use them for my sidebar. ;-)

Update on a blustery October evening

Yes folks, it is time to throw some more pictures out there of stuff I finished and havent shown you yet!

First, the blanket square for Grandmother Purl (unblocked):


And who can forget? The baby blanket that took 500 million months to finish! ta da:


It makes a decent shawl. Hmm maybe i should make another one.. NO! AHH!


To show off the two different sides of the blanket:


So yay! Not much else going on right now. Working on the Gryffindor scarf intermittently. Oh, a friend of mine from work started to teach me how to crochet... it was her birthday present to me! She bought me a skein of yarn and some crochet hooks. So far I can make a chain and do single and double crochet. Not too bad for one lesson! Now, if I can remember how to do it on my own... I figure it is good to learn for all those knitting patterns where they say "crochet on a border" or something like that. So far I still think knitting is cooler, as far as the look of the stitches when done. :-)

Oh, and I might have accidentally bought myself a little present on amazon.....


Can't wait to read this!!!!!!!!

Have a good wednesday evening, everyone dont forget to watch the Office on NBC tomorrow night (8:30), I am so mad I forgot last week! Best show ever!!!!!

Time flies.

Cast off the baby blanket. Finally! Ok it probably could stand to be longer, but I was really tired of knitting it. Plus I didnt want it to be too rectangular. ill get some pictures up later.

Also finished a basketweave square for Grandmother Purl's knit-a-long. Gotta get that sent off in the mail!

Now I am down to one WiP: the Gryffindor scarf. Kind of odd to only have one project going.... eek! Quick, better start something else. My first sweater? Another pair of fetching? Baby hat? Decisions Decisions.

Finished Object!!!!

Guess what I finished!





Unfortunately, I didnt get to make them from just one skein, I had to buy a second one friday. But they are done, and they dont look half bad! The bind off around the knuckes is curling a little, so I will probably try to block them lightly eventually. I am planning on giving these to my mom for Christmas. Whats that? I have one Christmas knitting object DONE IN SEPTEMBER???? Yeah, i rule. ;-)

SO anyway, last night was KICK ASS! I dont know if any of you faithful readers listen to a morning radio show called Bob & Tom, but they are hilarious and have many talented and hilarious comedians on their show. Last night I went to the "Friends of Bob & Tom" Comedy Show, and it was great! It was at the embassy downtown, very nice, and then afterwards I went to the bar (Buckets) where the comedians were planning on heading after the show, and we got to HANG OUT with them!!!! It was SO awesome, I mean, these guys are pretty famous. I was there with my friend Alicia and her friend Kelly, and I had made us all Tshirts that said "BIRBIGS" on the front with iron on letters. Birbigs is a nickname for one of the comedians, Mike Birbiglia. Anyway, all the guys (like 5 of them) were VERY nice and funny and totally sat at our table and talked to us, gave us drinks, etc. It was AWESOME! :-) Kelly had a digital camera, so I will post her good quality pictures she took when she emails them to me.


Kelly and Mike Birbiglia, haha.


OK, gonna go grab some dinner and watch the ND game, bye!

Remember this?

OK! The long promised "Adventure of Scarfy!" Remember the IHS I made? and gave to my father for his birthday? Well, he liked it so much, he decided to take pictures of the scarf during one of it's "typical days"....hahaha. My dad is hilarious. :-) Enjoy!


First: the scarf relaxes in the backyard, enjoying the nice weather:



Then the scarf relaxes in the living room for a bit:


On to the daily piano lesson! (Probably playing chopsticks)


A delicious snack of cheese-its while reading a good book:


Rocking out on the drums:


Better get a quick work out in!


And finally, watching a little tv to unwind.....


Hahaha... Thanks dad!

Tailgating at ND!

Look how close we were to the stadium! It was a really fun day, too bad ND lost so bad to Michigan, ugh.

OK this is the only pic that blogger is letting me upload, more later!

The porche has crashed into a wall.

OK yeah, so NO progress has happened on the "fetching" gloves since that last picture of the second cuff. I have a good excuse though! (kind of)... Well, I got a crazy idea that since I will be seeing my three young teenage female cousins (like ages 10, 13, 15 or something) this weekend, and since i might not see them again before christmas (they live in Seattle)... why not try and knit them all something by Saturday?

(OK, everyone see the insane-ness of this plan? THREE things by saturday? Hello, time????)

So I decided, Hey! Scarves are quick. Let me go find some fun and crazy yarn, and some size 13 needles, and see what i can do. So i went to Hobby Lobby (fun and crazy yarn capital of Fort Wayne) and found these:



Hah! The pink swatch is two yarns held together, the multicolored one is a ribbon yarn that is just fun on its own. I also have a skein of an "antique" white chenille yarn that I might make a more plain scarf out of for the eldest cousin. OK so! Now the time comes.... can I make three scarves and FAST???

Scarf #1!!!!!!:



Barely got it cast off and gave it mini-fringe with the LAST of the skein, but hey! Not too bad of a width for just one ball of the stuff. Besides, a scarf like this isn't for coverage, its just for fun. :-)

1 down, 2 to go.... but can I make it?

If knitters were cars....I'd be a porche.

Cuz I am SO FAST! hah.... but yeah, look I have the second glove started already!!!!!!!!! (took the picture wearing the first glove so you know I'm not trying to cheat)

OK back to work!

squeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Look what I made!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Halfway there....



One down, one to go!


This is a beautiful fingerless glove called fetching, from knitty.com. I love it, and I love the yarn (cashsoft, or something... extrafine merino and CASHMERE)! It's soooo soft. I really hope the rest of the ball is enough for the second glove. (the website said it is, we will see!)

Anyhoo, this is my first project on DPNS, and it really isn't that bad! Once i got started (after several frustrating tries in Megan's car when she was driving us to a wedding in Lafayette over labor day weekend)... i got it going and it went smoothly. Except for the thumb hole, that ended up being a little wonky, but no matter. These will be a gift for my mom, and you know moms... they love whatever you make them, no matter how crappy. I think she will like these though. :-)

OK, time to work. Booo! Zzzzzzzzzzzzz gnight! haha

update, finally!

OK! Lots of catching up to do. First off, here is the first ballband dishcloth that I completed, but never got a finished picture up: And here is the second dishcloth that i finished yesterday, this one will be a gift for my boss: Those are so easy and quick, I really love making them now! OK now, back to the IHS!!! Remember that old scarf? Well i have had pictures i needed to show ya! Here is me, modeling the scarf shortly after it finished blocking: So went over to the parents' place to give dad his present... i guess he liked it because he put it on right away! haha...! My dad, lovingly strangling me with the scarf I made him... *awwwwww* Coming next: The adventures of scarfy!

Shake & Bake

WOO! Last night I saw Talladega Nights and was NOT dissapointed! hahaha...

OK so this is not an intellectual movie... It is a duh duh comedy, but it definitely has given me new fodder for quotes! The next best quotable movie (from Will Ferrell) since Anchorman. So if anyone notices strange quotes (see title of this post) they are probably from the movie. :-D

Anyhoo, I hope to be getting pics of my dad wearing his new scarf soon. I have to get copies from my parents, who took pics with their digital camera. Meanwhile I have been working on the baby blanket, it's going fine... I better hurry though, because the kid is already 7 months old! EEK!

Have a good weekend everyone!

In the meantime...

While the lovely scarf finishes drying (I felt it again this morning, feels dry... so I am unpinning it from the floor this evening!) I have grabbed the baby blanket to work on again. Now, skeins usually work by finding one end of the yarn, and pulling out from the center of the skein. The yarn is supposed to pull out nicely so you can just knit away from that. The yarn I am using for the baby blanket is THE MEANEST, and tangles and does crazy stuff... so I was like, FINE: I will wind it into a ball. Needless to say, it was hopelessly tangled.... The yellow circle highlights an impossible tangle of yarn that is the result of many hours of untangling. There was only one solution left... (besides pulling my hair out in frustration)... Cut it. Yep.... grabbed the ol' scissors and cut that stupid knot out. So then what? Two balls. Oh well... Not a huge deal. And now the yarn is well behaved and ready to go again. Coming soon: beautifully blocked IHS! I am so excited!!!!!

Mission: Blocking

I bought a lot of pins! Here is the beginning...



Halfway done, it's looking so much better! :D I can't believe how skinny the unblocked portion was.



DONE! Now you can see the cables, woot!

I am very pleased with how straight I got it, especially just doing it "freehand". YAY BLOCKING! Not too bad of an experience. I filled up the sink and submerged the scarf in it. Then i picked up the soggy mass of wool (which smelled funny, lol) and let it drain for a minute. It looked a little fuzzier... so I was definitely being very paranoid about not accidentally felting it. Next, I rolled it in a towel to squeeze more water out. Finally the pinning... and there you have it, I blocked something! Wooooooo! I felt the fabric this morning, still a little damp, but Dad's birthday isnt until friday, so I am way ahead of schedule! :D

Today should be a good day. My friend Shawn is taking me out for sushi as payment for taking care of her pets last week when she was on vacation. And then tonight I am going to a concert at Piere's (for free!) with my work buddies. I am excited, Breaking Benjamin and Evans Blue are playing. So many fun things today and I don't have to spend a DIME! (Which is fantastic since I just paid rent, ugh.)

Anyone know if it will hurt the scarf to febreeze it? I want it to smell nice for my dad.

YAY

Guess what I did last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAST OFF THE SCARF! Woo hoo!

I am going to buy pins at lunch today, so tonight: blocking! I am so on top of things, dad's birthday isn't until friday! :D

Ill try to get some blocking-adventure pics tonight.

Home stretch

Countdown: 8 days. 8 days to hurry up and get this darn scarf finished and blocked!!!!



THANKS Cynthia SO MUCH for getting that extra skein for me, you are a life saver! (haha, everyone enjoy the picture? I tried to mimic the one from my last post, so it looks like my ball of yarn magically grew. Shutup! I am amused.)

Thursday! Finally. Tonight nothing is going on, but tomorrow is finally Friday! Pay day (thank goodness)... and then a nice weekend of KNITTING KNITTING KNITTING. lol. And hopefully a fair amount of sleeping.

Ugh, i drink too much diet coke. I think I will die of an aspartame overdose. But at least I will be caffienated!

Alrighty, back to work. (hah). Knit on!

wee little ball o' yarn

Look at that teeny little bit o yarn. Skein #2 almost gone! Thank goodness for Cynthia, who procured me a third one, and I think even of the same dye lot! Cynthia, you rock!

Must... knit... faster...

In other news, TGIF, and T.G.For.Payday. I am so poor. :(

cyas.

Eek...

Well,... Here it is, July 20th, and this is what I have done on the IHS. Due date, my dad's birthday, is Aug. 4th. And look at the tiny little ball of yarn left!!!! Ahhh, must buy a third skein!

It's not going too bad, but I need to knit a lot more, i have been slacking the past couple of days. :(

I hope I can get this done!!!!

Scruffs

Scruffs 1992 - 2006

i love you scruffy.

Can you smell the progress?

Is it any longer? Anyone? Bueller?????

Well it is slightly longer... that picture is taken with my elbow resing on the bottom edge of the scarf... so it is now that much longer than my forearm. Yipeee..... I am in that black hole of knitting, where the scarf is just slooooowly creeping along. I am a bit nervous too... dad's bday seems to be looming ever closer. it's practically mid july!!!!!!! EEK!

Jessica is the IHS queen... she has finished one and is already contemplating another. I wish I had her speed!!!! although, my problem might be the huge addiction that is WoW. Sooooo addicting. I have to make myself work on the scarf before I let myself play. Ha!

OK back to work. Anyone want to hit up Three Rivers Festival this week?
:-D

quick quick post

Time to get crackalackin' on my IHS!!! Knitted all through lunch. Dad's birthday is a month from yesterday, I have my deadline! 4th of july weekend was great, sorry i havent posted, but I will have to tell more later. Peace out! p.s. I love World of warcraft. ha!

Just what I need...

Another WIP! Lol.... I am crazy. But at Walmart the other day, Cynthia and I found the Peaches n Cream cotton (i know, at walmart? I was surprised also), so I HAD to buy some. Great colors too. And the perfect pattern? Ballband dishcloth from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book!!!!! This is my first time knitting with cotton, and I am really enjoying it. The texture of the yarn is awesome.

I am also proud that I am slipping stitches purlwise like a pro, and also that I figured out that 'yarn front' and 'yarn back' weren't any more complicated that they sound. :D I am so smart. lol

OK bedtime. Busy weekend!

Just for fun

I got my mason-dixon knitting book today!!!!!!!! It is one of the coolest knitting books I have bought. I want to make everything in it, lol!

One idea i got from the book was knitting with strips.... of things.... like old tshirts or rags..... or plastic bags:



LOL! Yes, I knitted a plastic bag. Morbid curiosity maybe? I took one plastic grocery bag, and cut it into thin rings (cut off the handles and the bottom first)... and then chained the loops together to make a sort of yarn. (This process is described in the mason-dixon book!) So that picture is of a (roughly) 3inch by 3inch square, knitted from one plastic bag. Whew, imagine what it would take to knit a floor mat or something! haha.

Anyway, it was fun and pointless, i just wanted to see if I could do it. Now i need to get back to THE BLANKET! Eesh.

quick post

Does it look any bigger???? I think I am halfway done, at least! I hope my cousin doesn't think i forgot about this, haha.

Didn't get that much knitting done this last weekend, Saturday I went to the beer tent at Germanfest with a bunch of friends! It was very fun. Beer, crazy folk style music, beer, roasted nuts (so goooood), and more beer! :-D And I kept running into people I knew too, which made me feel special.

OK back to work!