yarnish things

The knitting continues! I want to do some more sewing, I really do, but quilts seem so overwhelming and until I can get myself to work on things already started, I am not letting myself start any new quilts. I did work on some DWR arcs this weekend, and will hopefully be working on more of them this week, but mostly I am finding myself obsessed with yarn. I want to knit all the things. It is much easier to pick up at night and do a bit, or snuggle with the little during nap time while knitting a bit. So while I do have some {rather large} quilty plans, right now I have just as many knitting ones.


After my sweater was finished, I decided I needed to do something {much} smaller and quicker, so I had the little pick some yarn and started making her a little cowl. I am using the sophia cowl pattern by green bee designs and it is cute and simple. I really want to see if it fits, but I shouldn't have long to wait, I only have a couple more inches to go!

Of course I was gathering these supplies and realized I didn't have any project bags for a smaller project (really?? how did that happen??) so some cats and stars later, we were good to go.

I also have some pretty combinations picked out for a few other things. I have this gorgeous purple  (I'm your huckleberry) from knitsomniac designs that I think is going to become a pair of fingerless mitts, for a gift I think if I can bear to part with them. Probably this adrift pattern, but I haven't committed yet.

And then I have this combination that strikes me as a bit strange, but makes me so happy. It is plucky primo fingering in miss manners, and knitsomniac designs plushy sock yarn in sea glass and stormy weather. This is destined to become a drachenfels shawl which I am hoping to start this week, once I figure out how to adjust it for fingering weight yarn. I am hoping it will be a good movie knit since starting October 1st, we kick off a halloween movie month around here, watching all kinds of old, and usually bad, halloween movies. I am so so so excited to work with these yarns and see how they knit up!

I also have had plans, the pattern and even the yarn for my next sweater for months and I am just working up the nerve to start it. I am hoping by december I will be ready and I can work on it while we are traveling.


So yeah, pretty grand yarn plans around here. As slow as it goes, I do feel like I am making progress. I have also been working on making a scrapbook for each of my girls about their first year. Like everything, it has gotten complicated and a bit out of control, but hopefully I'll get it all ironed out soon and get it done. I know they would love to have that to flip through, and if I'm honest, so would I. It would be much better then the piles of stuff in boxes, so I am really trying to get going on that. I am almost done ordering pictures and then I begin for serious. I keep telling myself that eventually things will start falling off the list, since right now I can only do small pieces of things at a time so it feels like I am constantly spinning my wheels and never really getting anywhere. I guess what I am saying is, I have no idea when I will have much of a finish to share (aside from the almost finished cowl), but I think I am going to try and keep up with some progress posts, and if nothing else it will remind me that progress is indeed being made, no matter how slowly. I suppose it is just the ebb and flow of my crafty life. Have a good week friends!

crochet in rainbow

Is anybody else in 'clean it out' mode? Maybe it's spring cleaning, I don't know, what I do know is that I just want to clear everything out and feel like I have space to breathe. That includes my old projects that I have been avoiding/ignoring for varying amounts of time. This finish is one from that list. I got the yarn and started strong back in September, making a 'yarn blanket' for the big girl bed at the request of said big girl. I was doing well in the beginning, but it kind of fell by the wayside with moving and holidays and everything. It has been in a box under my sewing table taunting me for months. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and got down to business.

I used a tutorial from the pearl bee, but I used larger yarn and hook to make larger blocks. I made 42 9.5" blocks in 9 colors to do a 6x7 layout. The yarn is brava from knitpicks.com and it is a nice soft acrylic. Once I got going it went pretty quickly. The key for me was to do all the center parts of a color and then do those borders and somehow that motivated me to get it done. I even stitched it together in record time and weaved those nasty ends in and now it happily resides on her bed. I am pretty much in love with it and owe tons to my sweet husband for helping me land on the perfect layout. More details on my ravelry page.

Basically it looks awesome and I am so happy to have it done and have that box out of my way. Now I am on a mission to get my hexie pillow done asap which is the other big longstanding project that I have been ignoring. Then I have a handwork break until my parents get me my birthday yarn so I can knit up a special something for me. Oh, and I may have ordered some awesome yarn to make myself a sweater at some point. I have big goals people, big goals! Also, I have been back at the pony club so I'll have some more blocks for that soon.

thistledown hat

Hello and happy Friday! I am still working on turning my feathers into a quilt top, but I did manage to finish the knit hat this week! I am so in love with it, it is going to be so hard to give away. If only you could feel the softness of the yarn, it is really quite incredible. Now if only I knew what it was.....

It was a pretty quick knit. The pattern was only $1.99 through knit picks. It is a really simple pattern with a really impressive result, the best kind of pattern. I went up a size for each needle, actually out of necessity since I already had the smaller needles a size larger and the store only had a size larger for the bigger ones, but I knit tight and usually go up a size anyway so it worked out just fine. I am already planning another that I can keep :)

Now I need to go hide it in the gift pile so I don't keep wearing it. Have I mentioned that it is the softest yarn ever?!?!  Hopefully I will be back next week with an amazing finished feather quilt top to show off. It is looking really good so far and I am quite excited. I also hope that we make good progress this weekend on the cleaning out of all our crap so that after thanksgiving, the packing can begin. Ahhh so much to do so little time!!

Random Friday

Yay! It's weekend time!!! This week was a long one for me, for no particular reason really, but I am happy to see it come to an end. I have been doing a bit of this and a bit of that, so nothing is really finished but that's okay.

This weekend I am planning to finish up my echo baby quilt. It is all quilted and awaiting binding.

I branched out in my quilting on this one and I am really happy with it. I can't wait for it to be done and all washed and crinkly. I am also planning on picking up some batting this weekend and basting/quilting my tragic kingdom quilt. I have a plan for that one too but we'll see how it turns out, especially since the quilt doesn't lay all that flat.

Also, at some point I want to finish up my first pair of socks. I haven't gotten much further recently as I've been spending my nights reading instead of watching things while knitting, and now I'll have a couple quilts to bind. But, I did go ahead and buy some yarn for my next pair(s). And maybe when I make another pair it will actually fit my feet instead of being huge. I do believe this current pair is for the hubby.

So anyway, that is my random list for this Friday. I have no idea what we will be doing this weekend, but I sure hope it is relaxing.

thoughts of knitting

Good Morning! With all this traveling, this week got away from me. So since I have worked on absolutely nothing sewing related in the past week, I am going to skip the wip wednesday link-up and talk about something else instead. That something else: yarn. Knitting really I guess. I don't know, it just felt like time for an update.

Part one of the update is about the afghan. You remember the one? The one I swore I was going to finish because I found it and it was taking up space. Well I made a handful more blocks and just couldn't take it anymore. It has a new home now with my dad who can do with it as he pleases. It was stressing me out just looking at it hanging around and I wasn't enjoying making the blocks anymore. So that is gone and off the list. Not exactly how I was hoping for it to end, but it's nice not to have to worry about it anymore.

I have been making slow progress on the other thing on my list which is a cowl for my sister.

It is looking good so far and I am just past halfway done I think. I am just going until I run out of yarn so we'll see how wide it gets. It is looking good though and I am kind of excited to see it finished. Not that there is a really hurry I guess, since it doesn't do much good when it is so stinking hot out.

I have also decided that I would like to try making a pair of socks. I had been debating trying something on smaller needles ever since one of the ladies at the yarn shop said that her hands hurt less when she used smaller needles. The deal was sealed when I found a yarn I love. I didn't buy it yet, but my dad let me have some pretty yarn he had to test the waters. And he is lending me his book about knitting two pairs at once on circular needles.

I figured my biggest problem would be not wanting to make the second sock so hopefully this will take care of that. I am hoping to get some needles and get to work soon, once I finish the cowl. So we'll see how I feel about sock knitting. I hear it is very portable and relaxing so I have high hopes. And hopefully it doesn't take me too long to get the hang of it. I picked a super simple pattern to start with. I really hope I enjoy it!

I also want to start a blanket but I don't think I'll be doing that until fall so I'll deal with that then. And that is my knitting update for now. It's not that impressive, I know, but I'm going to blame the heat. Now I need to go get some sewing done!

Leg Warmers

Earlier this month, I posted a little round up of my knitting projects. I thought now would be a good time to check in and report that I am done my legwarmers! That means I got done the two projects I was trying to complete in February and I can start on the other things!

I have wanted to make some leg warmers for a while now. I have some Ugg slippers that I don't wear socks with, but my ankles get cold so I wanted something to cover them. I found this pattern on The Purl Bee and I love it. I obviously made mine shorter since I thought full leg warmers would be a bit excessive, so I stopped somewhere around 15".  I used Berroco Remix yarn and I like it a lot. I have already washed them and they survived just fine and got softer and lovely. This yarn is a bit thick for this I think, but it works. The pattern is simple and went really quick when I actually worked on it.

In order to make sure it would go over the widest part of my calf, I did cast on and off with needles a couple sizes bigger, which I think helped. They fit great and I can't wait to wear them this week! This leaves me with just two current projects, the afghan I have had sitting around forever, and the cowl that I want to make for my sister. I am planning to make a few blocks and then when I get bored start the cowl. I must admit Downton Abbey is really helping my knitting addiction ;) Today, however, I have a bit of sewing I need to get done. I have starting working on the mini quilt that has been in my head for ages and I can't wait to see it come together! We'll see if I can get it put together today!

Honey Cowl

My Honey Cowl is finished! Oh man, it is so perfect and warm...I used it yesterday morning on my way to work and it was great. Better than the lighter scarf I've been using, but not as bulky as my heavy scarf. I am just glad I actually got it done to use this winter.

This pattern has been going around blogland for a while now. I saw it here, and here, and probably a few other places and somewhere along the way it seemed like something I needed to make. I actually had a different cowl pattern in mind that I like a bit better, but I had the right weight yarn for this and would have had to buy bulky yarn for the other. That's okay though, I'm going to make the other for my sister so if I like it enough I will make one for me.

I started this right before Christmas when I ran out of yarn for my legwarmers. And it goes pretty quick, I just kept getting distracted working on other things. I did consider quitting at one point when I realized the yarn was twisted when I joined it in the beginning....so it has a big twist in it. But since it gets wrapped around anyway I don't mind. I don't know how I managed to not notice for at least 16 rounds, but I guess there are just so many stitches crammed on there that I missed it.  I made the larger size because I wanted to be able to wrap it twice and I am glad I did because I love it that way. I used Encore DK yarn, because that's what my dad had for me to steal, and it is nice and soft and warm. I think I did end up making this 10 or 11 inches instead of 12 because I really wanted it done and it seems plenty wide enough.

The pattern is available for download here if you are interested. And I started using ravelry so you can find me on there as well! Not that I've put much up there, but it's a start. And now I go kick off a weekend by {hopefully} putting a quilt top together! I am so excited about this weekend, I get to see my sister, have a day-long date with my hubby, and finish up my embroidery 101 quilt! Next week I really need to make a couple valentine's day gifts real quick.....that kind of snuck up on me. Anyway, happy weekend!

just keep knitting, just keep knitting

Just keep knitting, knitting, knitting. Clearly you can tell what I've been up to :) There is something about winter that always puts me in the mood to knit. It starts in about November and goes on through at least March usually. The thing is, it just takes me a long time to finish something I knit. And unlike when I sew/quilt, knit projects have a tendency to sit around for a long time and become ufo's. So I thought I would do a little round up of things I am working on/going to work on and maybe that would help me push through to actually finish it all. And I made a deal with myself, if I can get everything done this year, next year I will try to make the sweater I fell in love with. I really want to, but I have to prove to myself I can finish knit things...plus I need to clear out some space to store the yarn.

Working on right now:
    I am hoping to have both of these done by the end of the month.

Honey Cowl

I caught the bug on this one. I love it and I can't wait until it's finished and I can wear it. I should finish it up in the next couple days, maybe even tonight!

Legwarmers

I finally got the rest of the yarn I need to finish these up. So as soon as my cowl is done I will get back to these.

To Do
Cowl for my sister- I have everything ready, I just need to finish the other things first

UFO's {that I am determined to finish]
Patchwork afgan

I started this um....over 3 years ago now and I really need to just use up the yarn I have and make it whatever size that brings it to. It has been sitting around way too long. I don't even know why, I just think I got bored.  The rectangles go pretty quick, so hopefully I can get myself to start working on it.

I guess it's really not that bad, but it feels like it is, probably because I know how long it will take to do it all. I am a pretty slow knitter and my hands get sore pretty easily, but I do love it. I have some other things on my someday list, but I'll save them for now. So you'll probably be seeing an occasional knitting update from me. Hopefully. We'll see if I ever decide to actually make a sweater....I have such a fear of it not fitting and never wearing it after hours upon hours of work....

Anyway, I am working on creating a ravelry profile (with stuff actually on it), so we'll see if I get it done. I'll let you know!

yarn love

I recently started a project that unfortunately can not be revealed for many months. (Which is often my problem....I would post a lot more projects if they weren't for people and I wasn't afraid they might see them.) In any case, the point is that I love the yarn I am working with and I thought everyone should know. It is spa yarn from naturallycaron.com and it is a mix of acrylic and bamboo which makes it super soft. I was afraid I wasn't going to like it (we had a little fight in the beginning when I couldn't find the end....resulting in a very long process that involved much untangling) but it is turning out to be great! The first row was rough because it can be quite stringy but once I got into it, it was fine and now I really love working with it. So that's all for now. I actually am not sure when I will have another finished project to show, but hopefully it won't be too long. I should be getting the sewing machine back in 2 weeks and that will expand my possibilities. I have a lot of sewing planned and that generally goes much quicker than knitting, so by the end of the month things should pick up :)


and p.s. thanks for all the bear love, the more I look at it the more I kind of like it and enjoy it's quirks :)