First Sweater Ever!!!

Oh boy, I am SO excited. I've finished my first ever sweater! Woo hoo!! Does this make me an 'official' knitter now?? I'm so glad to move past the scarf and hat stage onto more challenging projects. The details....the pattern you can find here: http://www.interweave.com/knit/interweave_knits/Galleries/bonus/fall_2006/sienna1.asp the yarn you can find here: http://yarn.com/webs/0/0/0/0-1001-1294-1323/0/1075/3279/. The pattern is from IK Fall 2006, the Sienna cardigan, I knitted it wiih Lana Grossa Soffice yarn. This yarn was really dreamy to knit with, I have no compliants and enjoyed watching the subtle colors changes. It is actually machine washable yarn, though of course I will wash it by hand.

I am so amazed by this sweater and it's completion, I feel like I should put it in a frame and never touch it again. Too funny. Of course I had to wear it today to the movies, it kept me nice and toasty. Hooray for me!! I would recommend this pattern to anyone wanting a little more than basic cardigan for work/play. The pottery buttons came from here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=81891 - 6 pottery buttons for only $6!! Really nice too, I highly recommend her. Have a nice night.

Monkeys on the Bed

My little munchkin is almost 3, it's so hard to believe! Here she is.....some life, huh? Must be rough. I whipped her up some of Aunt Maggie's slippers last weekend: http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/maggieslippers.html - aren't they cute? I embroidered a moon and a star on them. These went so fast, I'd love to make some for myself sometime.

Made some progress on "Wicked", here's a shot as well. I hope I like this colorway in a whole sweater! Hope I can get motivated to finish my Sienna cardigan before the winter is over. Well, have a great day!

A Scarf Grows in Asheville....

For my brother. His birthday was *only* a week ago, and there is enough snow up there in PA now that he could use this. I got my hubby to model it for me....well O.K., so I just draped it over him while he was surfing. The pattern is from the beloved Vogue Stitchionary, it is such a cool pattern, you can't really make it out but it is a series of squares. Each square actually consists of two triangles. Very geometrical, and almost identical from the back side. Knitted with Rowan Tweed yarn. Hope he likes it!!

First Knitting Bag

Oh, I almost forgot......looky what I got today! My very first "knitting" bag! This bag was recommended by someone in the Knitter's Review forum, and I thought, "this is the one!" It really seems perfect for my needs. I wanted a bag that I could use as a knitting bag AND a purse, so I don't have to lug two bags around, which I often do. So I got my Haiku bag today (http://www.haikubags.com) and I have to say I'm really impressed with the construction.

Oh course I could make myself a bag, but I don't know how to sew with leather/suede and I wanted something that would really 'take a beating'! This is the "To-Go" bag, it has two nice zippered compartments, so I can keep my makeup and whatnot in them, and lots of pockets for tools and anything else I can think of. The pockets on the side can even hold a bottle of water! Yeah, I'm excited to give this baby some use. Another cool thing is that the whole thing wipes clean, a great feature when you have kids.

I'll update when I actually start using it. I think I could carry just about any project in here, except for an afghan.

Baby Goodness

Well now. Let's just start off by saying that I will NOT be making any more baby blankets, EXCEPT if one of my two best friends decides to get knocked up. Maybe they don't all take this long. In fact, I'm SURE they don't. I can safely say it will be a long, long time, if ever, that I use boucle yarn again. Ugh. Sewing this blanket together was a huge pain in the kisser. If I hasn't already spent so much time knitting up the squares (which was the easy part!), I'm sure I would have tossed the whole thing. But I preservered, and this is what the final result was. Oh, the pattern was the mitered squares run from the book, I think it was just called "Knitted Rugs". I would recommend if you make this to sew the squares as you go along so it doesn't seem so long and tedious at the end.

This is for my co-worker's new baby, sweet little "Ella Sandra", too cute for words already from the picture he showed me. I really wanted it to have a fabric backing, but the blanket was so stretchy and I was concerned about the shrinkage factor, even if I backed it with pre-shrunk cotton. You just don't know how it's going to hold up to multiple washings. So I went with no backing. Which means there is definitely a 'right' and 'wrong' side. But I really hope they like it and little Ella gets to play on it too!

The little hat was a 'last minute' addition, I just love making hats and who better than a newborn?? The pattern was actually my own, I just used a twisted ribbing for 1", then made a little lace heart panel all the way around (stitch pattern from my beloved "Stitchionary"), then simple decreases to the end. The yarn is a handspun, possibly the softest merino I've ever felt.

For the Love of Pink & Orange

Well now. I didn't realize how much I liked this color combo, but yet these two yarns arrived at my house last week. Funny thing, huh?

I couldn't resist starting these "Monkey" socks (Knitty Winter 2006) with this Yarn Ahoy handpainted merino. The Louisa Harding Kimono is SO SOFT words can't even describe. I am in love with this yarn. Even though the ball band lies (I get 5 sts per 1", not 4), I can forgive you Louisa. Going to make "Wicked" from Zephyr Style with this yarn. http://www.zephyrstyle.com/catalog/item.cfm/2367447/3974522

Still plugging away on MIL's scarf (see pics in previous post) and have added a scarf for my dear brother in Rowan's Felted Tweed. So much knitting, so little time. Have a nice night!

This is your brain on Knitting.....

Oh my. Now that we are after Christmas, I would have thought I'd be slowing down. Yet there just seems to be more and more projects lining up. I never really thought I has ADD, maybe it's just a knitting thing.

Here are some of my WIP's......top left, a square for a rug knitted out of some wool given to me that is so rough I feel like my hands get exfoliated when I use it. Don't know if I'll finish this one. Next to that is the scarf out of the navy blue Regia, it just killed me to buy that, but my Dad likes PLAIN, PLAIN colors. (I don't think it's too hard to tell from the pics that I am a bit of a color snob!) There are the Father/Son socks from IK.

On the bottom we start with the Grave Robber scarf from some handspun titled as such as it has little 'skull head' beads tied into the yarn, how cool! I'm knitting it into a small basketweave pattern. (Loving my Stitchionary!) I really think I can keep this one for myself. Next to that is another yarn by the same artist ("Feral Feminine", she sells her beauties on Etsy), this colorway is called "Electra", I'm loving the light blue and black mixed with hot pink. The pattern is a really fun lace pattern that I think looks great on this bulky yarn.

Next to that is a scarf for my MIL that is knitted in a great superwash merino, a joy to work with. Though it is taking forEVER on my size 5's, that pattern is from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts", note it is in the "more than 8 hours" section. (Which is MHO is NOT a LAST minute gift!) But anyway, she loves turquoise, so I believe she will be really pleased with this.

The last thing on the right is a strip for the baby blanket I am making for my co-worker. The mitered squares are all done except one. I think I'm going to line this with fabric for more longevity.

I really need to start of my brother's scarf, his B-day is February 7th. The pattern is the Phyllotaxis (?) scarf from Knitting Nature. At this rate, I'll never get back to my sweater! Need to slow myself down. Oh, but it's so much fun, isn't it??

I'll also leave you with a sweet photo of my niece's Koala bear I knitted her for Christmas. Oh, and as you can see in the pics, I am utilizing my new Denise set just fine. How are they? Two words, LOVE THEM. But you already knew I would say that.

Namaste, Elizabeth

One down...1,000,000 more to go......

Woo Hoo! I finished the Celtic Cap (pattern from http://girlfromauntie.com) for my husband David. Mind you, this way supposed to be his anniversary gift (anniversary was October 20th), BUT we couldn't find the right pattern and yarn. He was super picky about the pattern and just loved this one.

I'm so glad I just went ahead and got the dark green yarn (elsebeth lavold Chunky AL, #016 Forest 82 yds., it took about a ball and a half), instead of the black or grey. He looks SO good in green with his red hair, wouldn't you agree??

Now he just needs a matching scarf. I figured I'd do the cable pattern on each side, and just a simple rib or something in the middle. YEAH! The pattern said it was for 'intermediate, with advanced cables'. Can you tell I'm really proud of myself?!? Now onto the 100 others gifts I need to make.

Christmas Knitting

I'm in the throws of it now! I am horrible about knowing how long things are going to take. So when I decided what I'm going to make the fam for Christmas, clearly I wasn't being rational. (I won't post the list here, just in case anyone's reading!!) Just trust me when I say it's a lot. Well, I guess I must really LOVE these lucky people =;)

My daughter, Sydney, is totally obsessed with Christmas this year. She wakes up asking to see Santa. Every house we pass that has lights she says, "Look Mommy, Christmas!! I want to go in there!" Like she thinks there's some awesome party going on in every decorated house. It's too cute. Of course when she has her big moment with Santa last week, she wouldn't even go up to him. (I had to carry her.) When she got put on his lap, all she could muster was "I want toys" really soft. Too funny. No smiles out of her, but hey, at least she didn't cry.

Alright, I'm off to go fight with the coffee maker. More FO pics coming soon, here's a little hat I whipped up over Thanksgiving weekend that looks 1000x better in person.

Sick & Tired

That's what I am today. Felt it coming on yesterday, but it's definitely got me now. Ugh. So I know I'm supposed to be making more needle cases by next week, but my head is spinning!! So instead of them up there.....I'm making this scarf......

I don't know how happy I am with it, I really LOVE the yarn on the right, but there's not enough, so I'm alternating with the other yarn. I'm not an orange person and I think that's what I don't like about it.

So, in an effort to keep my spirits up, this is what I ate......I know I shouldn't since I'm congested....but "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Oh, and here are some cute pottery buttons I picked up from Sanctuary of Stuff, in Woodfin, NC. Since I can't get the pics to go where I want them to, I'm sure you can figure out which one is which.

Off to get in the tub. Baths are so great when you're sick.

Thursday Rant

O.K., so in an effort to have more 'beefy' content here, I'll tell you a little bit about my trip up to Philly. So I thought I would gets lots of knitting done on the 10 1/2+ hr. car ride with my brother. That would be possible if you didn't have a mini-tyrant (AKA 2 year old) sitting right next to you. And that idea to my the one-man band set for the ride was a great one! (I can still here the triangle clanging.)

It was a very short 4 days where we tried to do and see as much as possible. Of course a lot of people wanted to see us that didn't get a chance. I just wish I'd had another week or two, then I could really have time to just relax. But it's always good to go 'home', even for just a few days.

On a positive note, I actually looked forward to going back to work, oddly enough, I guess I really do like my job! It also helped throwing myself back in to not be sad about leaving family =:( Mom and I did see a really cool knitting shop in Bucks County called "Knitting to Know Ewe", which has some of the most helpful and friendly staff EVER. I got some Suss & Rowan yarn to make Sydney's monkey.

Here are some pics of the headband I knitted last weekend as a gift for my *very sweet* co-worker friend Lili. I used a Tussah silk handspun from *Castleman* at Etsy, and the pattern is in the latest IK, the cable & bobble headband. Have a great day!

Dancing in the Leaves

That's what I'll be doing soon. Boy is fall coming quick! It's been strange though, these few spring like days we've been having. I'm looking forward to my trip up north at the end of the month. Today is my 4 year wedding anniversary! Wow, that went by sooo fast. Looks like this is the year of the knitted hat & scarf set for hubby. I'm ordering some Elegance from Knit Picks to do the job. Of course it has to be in Slate (gray). But that IS a compromise, if it were up to him, it would be black.

So here's some pics of my wristwarmers I finished last weekend. I'm sooo pleased with the way they turned out. The yarn is from "Twisted's" Etsy shop and was actually free (I was her 100th customer!). So this little splurge on myself was earned for all my yarn shopping. The pattern is from the new "The Knitter's Bible, Knitted Accessories." My first cables! They were easy!! They really do warm you up too, I love them I can wear them at my office job and still type.

I'm a good girl.

I'm trying really, really hard to finish some projects that have been floating around. I needed a ribbon accent for both of these hats, so I went through the stash and found one new, one old. I think they came out pretty good. I'm going to miss Pearl the Octopus as my hat model, but I got this gorgeous new one from a great artist who sells her work on eBay. Isn't she pretty?

So the Step socks are really giving me a hard time...my hand keeps hurting when I work on them. This stinks since I wanted to make hubby some socks for our Oct. 20th anniversary. Looks like he'll have to wait a while. Off to work on second sleeve for Sienna cardigan.

Smoke in the Woods....Sock Yarn Score!

No, no, Scampy, you can NOT have my sock yarn! Look what I got today from Fearless Fibers Esty shop....yummy sock yarns! I can already see this is going to be my new favorite thing. The colorways are "Smoke", for the Gray's Anatomy KAL and "Deep Forest" for my hubby's first pair of socks. They are both so lovely, my buddy Scampy couldn't resist snuggling with them!


Alrighty, off to be productive. Have a knitterly day!

Another Saturday Night.....

Saturday night, and I ain't got nobody. Well, I got the hubby, but the toddler in the way kind of kills any romantic thoughts =;)

I've started my first pair of socks, woo hoo! They are in Step yarn by Austermann. It was really swell of them that they included the metric conversion on their free pattern for us Americans. So far, so good, but I'm working top down so who knows what surprises are in store for me. I just have to know what the obsession knitters have with socks is. I want to be one of the crazys' who spend 20 hours knitting yarn that cost $20 or more into something so basic as a sock. I'll keep ya posted on how that goes.....

I need to work on my sweater too. I have no clue how people can do one project at a time. I'm already planning my next three! I'm looking for a sweater pattern for my 2 year old daughter. I think I'm going to do the placket sweater from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts". I kind of like Haiku from Knitty, but I'm still not sure. I love Sherwood from the new Knitty, but I don't know if I'm quite ready for that challenge.

Well, I should be off knitting right now, but I thought I'd leave you with a nice picture of the scarf I finished last week. It's with my favorite merino/tencel handspun to date, spun by Houndscroft Farm. The fall colors of it are amazing!

What a Lucky Girl I am!!

Looky looky what my Secret Pal from the One Skein SP swap made for me!! I know you can't see me jumping for joy! It is so pretty with the little flowers on the sage green background. I've never had a clutch before, now I get to look all coy and cute going out on dates with my hubby.

On another knitterly note, I am going to start the Step socks from Austermann(also a gift from my wonderful SP, thanks Dawn!!). This yarn is really interesting, it has aloe vera and jojoba extracts built right into the yarn! I guess this will spoil me forever now, considering this will be my first pair of socks!

I also finished the hat I'm adding to the end of this post. It's hard to make out, but I knit it in a sort of seed stitch/stripey pattern. It's a handspun I scored from Etsy. (LOVE Etsy!) Not sure what to make with the rest of the yarn. Maybe a little neckwarmer of some sort. Or maybe a small matching purse. Any comments?

Knit and be well.

Just another Manic Monday....

Monday, Monday....why can't it stay Sunday forever? DH and I started off this morning with both of us being late for work since we missed the babysitter who had to drop off her daughter at school. Ugh!

The highlight was that I came home to this yarn, spun by Bees Knees Knitting. Isn't it fabulous? The one of the left is one huge honking ball of yarn. I put in my bunny friend, for reference. He is 9" tall and my yarn ball is nearly as big as him! What a fab bag it will make. The smaller blue yarn is also from Jenny at Bees Knees, it's only 28 yards, but still really big for the small yardage. Hope I can pull it off with my 13's....that's as big of a needle that I'll use.

O.K. I'm off to get something done before the day is over!

Hello out there!

Oh, the pressure of the first post. I am doing this blog because 1) I need yet another creative outlet and 2) somebody out there has to care about what I think. Either way it's satisfying enough to know I can get out some of the musings in my brain. Whether or not anyone reads it is another story =;)

Well, I'm on a roll. I am working on *multiple* UFO's the last two days. Knitting has really cramped my crafty style. For those that don't know, I *used* to be a fabric artist, but as of late all I want to do is knit. It is finally started to evolve, as I move past the simple hats and on to ~gasp!~ my first sweater.

I'm knitting the Sienna Cardigan pattern in the fall issue of IK. I'm using Lana Grossa "Soffice", which the sales lady at my LYS told me was new. It's 62% merino, 10% cashmere and 28% acrylic. Boy, do I hate acrylic, BUT it makes this machine washable. Not that I ever will. Nope, this sweater will probably be sealed up and put in a shrine somewhere when I finish it. Well....maybe I'll wear it just once. The colors of this stuff are gorgeous, it's a deep red that intermingles with deep coffee browns and grays for a subtle striping effect. I'll get a pic up soon, I promise.

The pic I added is probably the project I've been most proud of thus far. It's the "Droplet Hat" from "Knitting Nature" by Norah Gaughan. Such an amazing book. This hat took forever, she didn't mess around when adding bobbles. Now I am a bobble making fool!

Well, off to be productive. Have a great Saturday!! Drop me a line and let me know someone's out there!!