Holiday Knitting

It's that time of year, Christmas knitting time. I've been thinking of Christmas presents for a while now, even have one project that I finished before summer was over! But now it's down to the wire & I have to decide what I WILL finish for Christmas presents. I've made 3 projects for me now, one being the fingerless mitts that I was disappointed in, but I've also made myself a yummy scarflett with some malabrigo and a sockhead hat. Now I'm working on a scarf, hat & cowl for Christmas knitting. I'm also planning on doing some cup cozys too. Here's what I accomplished this fall:

The hat is really for me, but doesn't my lab Jake look so handsome in it?!

Art Walk Yarn Bomb!

There's a few of us girls that have been working on a yarn bomb for our city. We have been working for the last 3 months and tonight we finally got to put it all up & see it come together! It was so much fun :) The city does an art walk the third thurday of every month (except in the winter) and the vendors downtown stay open late, others set up booths displaying their art, jewelry, pottery, etc. I had never been before & really enjoyed seeing everything. Especially our yarn bombing! We "bombed" a park, the art gallery, in front of the church and then covered some trees & light posts. (All with permission) Again it was awesome! I have a feeling this will be the first of many yarn bombs for us.

Knitting Fail :(

I have been working on some fingerless mitts for me for the last month. I saw this pattern a while ago & instantly fell in love with it! The rating wasn't too difficult & I went shopping for the yarn when I went to Colorado back in July. This was my first project for me & I was so excited to get started. Now I've finished them and I'm so disappointed. I made so many mistakes, the gloves aren't even the same size. I hated the cabled part of the pattern so I went with a pattern out of my stitch dictionary that looked similar for the second mitt. I am happy with how that part turned out. It was much faster & my language while knitting that part on the second glove was much better! lol But the first dpn project was a little too ambitious I think. There are lots of ladders & I didn't keep my place very well so you can tell where I've skipped a step. I don't think it's too obvious from far away but when you look at them close you can definately tell. Maybe I'll keep them as a lesson learned. But that would mean weaving in all these ends! Did I mention they are 2 different colors and there were lots of color changes?

Almost Fall!

Well, the end of the summer is just a few weeks away & I am so ready for the fall season! The cooler temps, changing leaves, bonfires with family & pumpkin beer :) Fall is very special to me this year, there have been many changes in my life recently & fall is bringing lots of great things. Rebuilding is under way from the May tornado, many of my friends that lost homes are rebuilding & getting closer to being back into their homes. My sister & brother in law are expecting their first baby & in October we find out if it's a boy or a girl! My husband has 3 boys & there will be football games, band concerts & other school activities to share. There is also a wedding in October! My cousin Tobie is getting married! I am looking forward to the trip to Minnesota & sharing that day with her & our families. The Art Walk in October is my first one to experience & a group of us have been working on something special so I'm excited to finally show off what we've been working on. I will post pictures when we are able to :) I've got some fun knitting projects I'm working on. A gift for a new baby, the art walk project, I'm tackling dpns & making some fingerless mitts for me, and I've also got some handpainted yarn I'm looking forward to making something beautiful with. I can see progress in my knitting & that makes me excited to make more projects & work on new techniques. Yes, lots of fun things to come this fall, I am really looking forward to it all.

Married Life

Well the wedding & honeymoon were wonderfull! It's now back to regular life, only with the married part ;) Things have calmed down (well as calm as they get around here!) and I'm back to working on some wonderful projects. I have 2 that are secret projects but I promise I will be sharing them in the next few months when I can. I'm also working on a baby hat for an expecting friend and I hope to cast on to some fingerless mitts for me sometime this fall. I don't know if it's me getting older or the events of this summer or both put together but I have never been looking forward to fall like I am this year. The weather this summer has been horribly hot & humid with record temps and the tornado was front & center in everyone's summer activities & conversation. I'm ready for the next season, ready to move on. A season of cooler weather, rebuilding, and leaving that stupid tornado in the summer of 2011. Fall of 2011 is a season of my friends getting their homes back & businesses reopening. I am looking forward to some chick fil-a for lunch, cupcakes by liz for desert & having dinner with friends in their homes. C'mon fall!

I'm Getting Married!!!

Wow, I can't believe that Aug. 13 is finally right around the corner! Tomorrow I marry my best friend & the man that makes me a better person. What a journey the wedding planning has been. I cannot thank my friends and family enough for all of their help. Without them I don't think I would've been able to do this & still be calm & have a smile on my face! When things were stressfull I could count on my fiance to support me & make me feel better. I think that's a glimpse of what our new life together will be like. I can count on him to support me & hold me up when I come undone. And I don't hesitate to do the same for him. I am so blessed to have such amazing people around me. I am excited for us to start this new life together & see what our future holds. I feel like some amazing things are coming our way :)

Mountains & yarn soothe my soul

I just got back from visiting friends in Colorado, and visiting an awesome yarn store! I bought yarn to make some fingerless gloves for me & a couple of friends. There was so much beautiful yarn it was hard not to go crazy & buy tons of it! (I still went a lil crazy! But hey, it's vacation right?) I'm excited to work on these projects but have to finish the one I'm working on & another one before I'll allow myself to cast onto the fingerless gloves. But both projects are quick knits so it won't be long.

The trip to Colorado definately soothed my soul a bit after the recent events of the tornado. I felt a bit normal & went thru a city that didn't look like a wasteland & trees actually had bark & leaves on them. But my heart sank when I got back home & saw my tornado ravaged city. I feel like I'm not doing enough to help. I still have my home & my loved ones & my things. I need to do more to help. I am working on some squares for a group project on Ravelry for the Heart in Hand group. I help my friends with a shoulder and an ear when they need it. Little things like borrowing a vehicle, helping to shop for lost items, cleaning out destroyed homes. But I still feel like I can be doing more. I pray that God leads me to do what I am meant to be doing. I want everyone to feel a sense of normalcy in just one moment of everyday.

Magic Loop - Conquered!

I finished my first hat & my first magic loop project last week! It was a little tricky at first to get the hang of magic loop & I was carefull to keep track of where I was so I didn't get lost in the pattern. The hat had spikes sewn to the top & that was kinda tricky too & took a few times for me to get them where I wanted them. But I finished it & it turned out pretty cute! I made some errors & you can see them when you look for them but I don't think a non knitter would notice them. I showed it to a few people at work & one girl asked if I would knit one for her son if I had time. I like that she & others like my knitting when I show off my hard work but I can't get caught up doing projects for everyone that asks. But the compliments are nice!

Back to Knitting

Well things seemed to have settled down these last few days, everyone has gotten into the new routine and, though the stress is definately still there, we are managing it better. I got back to my knitting project! I am almost finished with a hat for a friend's baby, due later this summer. I figured out the magic loop method and also knitting in the round! The hat is a dino hat, it has spikes knitted on the top. I just need to sew on the spikes. Trickier than you think, it's not too easy to keep the stitching neat & in a straight line. But the distraction has been very helpful. I also got back to the wedding plans :)

I have felt so blessed these last few weeks, we didn't have any injuries in our family and didn't lose any loved ones in the storm. The person to thank for that is Jesus. He kept my family safe and has a plan for us. I'm very curious to see what that is.

Anger

I'm mad. Ever since the tornado I'm mad about everything. My power keeps going out, it makes me mad. The dog is barking in the back yard, that makes me mad. Work has no a/c and we are working during the hottest part of the day. THAT makes me mad. (We have fans & window a/c unit in the office so they are trying to keep it cool) The kids are arguing, it makes me mad. I can't figure out my knitting project, it makes me mad. My wedding cake lady's house & business were destroyed, it makes me mad. The restaurant doing my catering is gone. That makes me mad. My site for the bachelorette party is destroyed beyond recognition like everything else & that also makes me mad. Everything makes me mad. I'm usually a patient person & very easy to get along with. But right now, I'm mad. I wish this stupid tornado would stop bugging me when I sleep & go away & let everything go back to normal. I hate feeling this way, that also makes me mad! Ok, I think I'm done now

Normalcy Please

Well it's been a little over a week since the F5 tornado went right thru the heart of my city. The amount of damage is unimaginable, never in a million years would I have thought a tornado could do this to my city. It's all in the news so there's no need to go into detail but it's going to be a long time before it looks like a normal city again. Right now it looks like a bomb went off for a 14 mile stretch, from one edge of town all the way thru to the other edge of town. It makes me sick to my stomach to see it, & I've seen it everyday for the last week but it's still just as disturbing. My work had some damage so the building had some damage & we had to evacuate all the pets and the clinic has not been up and running. They did have a tent set up for us to help take care of the search & rescue dogs and also any pets found trapped in the rubble. But I got to go back to work yesterday, just got a lot of cleaning up done, but today we are going to open! I'm so glad to be able to work a sort of normal shift. Just being in a sort of normal routine I think will help a lot with healing. The amount of support and compassion coming in is overwhelming, it really makes me proud of my community. Everyone is working together to help one another & it is amazing. People are coming from states away with trucks of supplies, hot meals, bottled water, places to shower, do laundry, it's nothing short of incredible! There will be months of clean up alone before rebuilding can begin but with the amount of help coming in I'm hopeful that normalcy will return one little bit at a time.

A Case of the Blahs

Well I have 2 friends expecting babies this fall and had wanted to knit them up something as a gift. I had picked out a dinosaur hat for one baby, still not sure what I'm doing for the other baby as we don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl. I ordered the yarn I needed for the dino hat & also ordered some yarn for upcoming christmas projects on my list. Now that the yarn is here I just can't seem to get motivated to do any knitting. I'm very intimidated by the pattern for the hat so I'm sure that is part of it. I also have several christmas projects on my list that I need to get going on, after the baby gifts, but my motivation seems to be on vacation. So I'm blogging instead and searching patterns and yarn to see if my motivation will come back. I've been busy with other things, wedding stuff, kids sports & band, yard work, holidays, etc. I also made some awesome crab legs & steaks for a cookout last weekend, it was so declicious! It seems like there's always something going on, but I really need to get out of this funk.

At a Loss

I don't know what to title this blog, I don't really like blogging about stuff like this but there's something important to take away from this today.

The world lost a beautiful person today, a friend of mine passed away after some complications following a routine knee surgery that was done a week ago. She was only in her 50's and had a lot of great things to still give to this world. She was a selfless person willing to do anything she could for others in her family, community & the four legged community as well. She was an advocate for stray cats that were dumped in her community and would do whatever she could to tame them, get them necessary veterinary care and most importantly give them a home with a warm place to stay & food to eat everyday. She was one in a million and this place will never be the same without her.
Life is really so short & we should enjoy every moment. I'm so happy to be able to come home to my family and kiss them goodnight & tell them I love them. I get to celebrate mother's day this year with my mother, grandmother & my sister, that makes me feel pretty lucky. I am so blessed & hope that I'm able to serve my family & community the way I am meant to. The same way that my friend did when she was here.

Swapping!

I participated in my first yarn swap on Ravelry this month, it was great! We had a budget for coffee and/or tea, yarn, and then the rest for the theme which was regional goodies. We also included a handmade item in the package. I made a irish hiking scarflet for my swap partner, found some knitting goodies, a jar of local made jam, some yummy knitpicks yarn & a tea cup & saucer from my hometown (my partner collects them) We all have a deadline & send the packages out in the same week. I got my package last night & was SO EXCITED!!!! My partner did a fabulous job and really spoiled me, she sent some local coffee with a chocolatey after taste, some candy that I've never had in my area, some beautiful locally dyed sock yarn,a pair of wrist warmers from her own handspun yarn and a book called the natural knitter. I am thoroughly enjoying every bit of the package & would encourage all of you to participate in a yarn swap on Ravelry! It's great fun! Here are some pics of the box I sent and the one I received.
Enjoy!

Here is the box I sent

Here is the box I received!

I would like a day to knit please

It has been one crazy work week this week! I've only knitted twice this week & feel like it takes me forever to finish anything. I read on other's projects that they knit up this hat in a few hours or a scarf in a weekend, REALLY?! I'm no where near that kind of pace. I've taken about 5 weeks to knit this scarflet I'm working on, only about 3 repeats left then blocking. Does this amazing speed come with experience? I really hope so. I've got a list of things I want to knit this year & I know there's no way I'm going to get them all done. Maybe I'll get half the list done. I'm way to ambitious with my knitting. I also have projects for me that I want to get started on. There's just not enough time. And with the oldest boy's sports starting up there will be practices to go to along with the band concerts, there are 2 weddings & bridal showers to go to & I've got my own wedding coming up in August so tons of stuff to do there! And don't forget all the holidays & add in 5 birthdays & my schedule is PACKED! ha ha Just listing all that I have going on makes me tired, I think I'll go to bed early tonight!

Time to Knit

For our final day in the knit & crochet blog week we are asked to talk about our crafting time.

About 9pm, the house is quiet, I'm in my recliner kicked back with my knitting in my lap. There's usually a beverage on the side table and maybe some secret stash of candy or something sweet nearby too. I've got the tv on but I'm not really watching it, I need to focus on my stitches. You can almost guarantee that my chihuahua is laying up here too and maybe even my cat, Eli. He knows to stay on the footrest as he gets kicked off if he sits too close to the yarn that he can't help but play with it. I will occasionally knit on saturday or sunday afternoons depending on what else is going on with our busy schedule. There's a group of us girls that will try to get together when we can at our local starbucks or one of our homes for some knitting. I've tried to knit while in the car but I get carsick. If I think I'll be sitting for a while like at an appointment or during the kids' football games I'll bring along a knitting project. If only I could knit while I'm at work . . .

Something to aspire to

On this 6th day of Knit & Crochet Blog week we are asked if there's a pattern or technique that we hope to tackle. Well I have a lot of things I want to learn to do still, since I'm a newer knitter there's a lot that facinates me & lots of things I want to make. I think at the rate I'm going right now I'm hoping to knit fast enough to get all the projects on my list done in time. I always seem to bite off more than I can chew in life & knitting is no different. But the challenge is what keeps me going. I have several patterns for fingerless gloves that I keep adding to my ravelry queue but they all are done on dpns, something I have not figured out yet. I think once I get those down though, sock knitting will probably capture my attention for a while. And I also want to learn how to crochet as well. Who says you can't know how to do both? Maybe what I'm needing to learn more than anything is patience, patience to take one project or technique at a time. I'm like a kid in a candy store wanting to try a little bit of everything! Did I mention I also want to learn about spinning & dyeing & such? :)

This is a photo by Sharon Dreifuss,or SheKnits, this is one of her patterns on Ravelry & the one I can't wait to try when I get brave enough to learn dpns.

Serenity. . . .

Where are they now?

Last summer during the gulf oil spill I got word of a charity asking knitters to knit up some wash cloths and send in to be used to wash oil off of wildlife in need. I am a biology major with an emphasis on marine biology so this was something I was very excited to help out with. I immediately got to work and knit wash cloths all summer & sent them in with a couple bottles of Dawn dish soap. I saw many pictures of oil covered pelicans, seals, sea turtles & other wildlife as I followed the news during this time. I'm hoping my wash cloths & dawn dish soap brought life back to some of these poor creatures, helpless to the destruction that humans caused. And it felt great to be able to help out from my small town in Missouri since I was too far away to physically be there to help.

Tidy mind, Tidy stitches

Well I missed day 3 of blogging due to a hectic day at work so I will post wed & thurs topics today :)

Do I organize my stash? I sure do! Thanks to an inspiration from a friend I bought a cabinet, with doors to keep curious kitties out, and that is my stash organization system. I have a vinyl bag that my knitpicks circular needle set came in & that's where I keep my row counter, stitch markers, scissors, etc. All the little things go in the bag. I have 2 project bags that are in use & also a couple of baskets to store projects too, when I want to work on that particular project I can simply grab the basket or the bag and head to my comfy recliner! I am looking for a way to organize patterns, I have my ravelry queue for most of them but there are a few that are printed that I need to organize a bit better. I am thinking of a 3 ring binder with page protectors to keep them easily available. I have some straight needles that I'm looking for a jar or something to keep those in, also have a quickly growing button stash that will need a home too. Maybe I need a bigger cabinet?!

An Inspirational Pattern

A pattern or technique I aspire to, well there are lots of them actually! I'm still learning in this craft & like that there are lots of things on my to do list. A big one that I'm planning to learn this year is how to knit on dpns or double pointed needles. It seems so complicated & tricky but everyone I talk to says it's very easy once you get the hang of it. So far everything that I've tried has come fairly easy and I just have to stop thinking of how complicated it looks & just take one step at a time. I have a facination with fingerless gloves & most of them are knit on dpns. I have a pattern in my ravelry queue for Owlings Mitts that are so adorable, I also have another pattern for fingerless gloves in my queue that I'm anxious to knit. It's easy to keep adding things to my queue & there's just not enought time in the day to knit what I want!

I also want to learn how to do amigurumi toys. They are so cute & there are so many different patterns out there. You can make them big enough for a regular sized stuffed toy, can make a mobile for a baby's room, you can make toys for dogs & cats and donate them to shelters. There are so many uses for the toys and so many different patterns that get my creative juices flowing & I want to jump right in! I have a crocheted baby doll that my great grandmother made a long time ago. She made 2 of them, and I think both my grandmother & my mother have played with them. Now I have one & my sister has one. They are great heirlooms that we both have to continue to pass down to our kids & grandkids. I don't think there's anything better than that. I want to make heirlooms that my kids can continue to pass down. I didn't know my great grandmother very well but I think I have an idea as to what kind of mother, grandmother & great grandmother she was with these toys that I continue to hang onto.

A Tale of Two Yarns

I've come to learn quite a bit about different yarns in the last year & have only begun to scratch the surface of what there is to learn about these magnificent fibers! There are two that stick out among the rest that were definate learning experiences for me.

The first one is the LionsBrand Homespun, very beautiful yarn with tons of colors that caught my eye. My inexperience in knitting came through when I cast onto a scarf during a roadtrip. It was very hard to work with, didn't show much stitch definition and the yarn seemed to break quite a bit. I'm a tight knitter & still learning so that project was frogged before we got out of the car. I donated all the yarn I bought (an embarrasing amount) to various people who enjoyed it more than I did.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is my first knitpicks purchase, 4 balls of Comfy worsted yarn in a deep purple. This yarn is fabulous!!! It is luxuriously soft, easy to work with, shows excellent stitch definition & it's machine washable! What more could you ask for? I made a scarflet for a friend of mine & neither of us could stop rubbing the scarflet on our faces because it was so soft. I think this may be my go to yarn when I'm not sure what the heck I'm doing! I know that the money spent on comfy worsted will be well spent, I can always use the yarn for a scarf, hat, gloves, pretty much anything! It's fantastic yarn :)

Knitting Anniversary

Well it's been a year since I started knitting, I have to say I've come a long way in a year! My fingers aren't so clumsy with the yarn & knitting needles. I've learned a lot about knitting tools & different fibers & yarn, and I've come to know that I have a serious yarn addiction! I only allow myself to buy what will fit in my knitting cabinet so there's at least some limit set in place. I have knit with different types of needles and found that I like the wood needles over the acrylic/plastic types & the nickel ones. I have completed several projects & frogged a few too, all part of the learning process. I am very proud of how far I've come in the past year being a self taught knitter (with the help of a friend & knitting videos) and I'm very excited to see how far I'll come in the next year. I hope to complete more projects and also learn to knit in the round on circular needles & double pointed needles or dpns. I'm very active on ravelry.com and am participating in my first knitting swap! It is a great hobby that has given me confidence, something productive & relaxing to do, it is something I can do for myself or for others, and it's something I can talk with my mother & grandmother about (both active crocheters) Here are a few projects from my first year knitting :)

Hello Spring!

Thank goodness it's finally here!!!!!!! I think this has been the longest winter ever! I am so glad to see the sun shining & be able to open the windows and get some fresh air! I needed this weather. I got some lettuce planted & some other plants for my russian tortoise, Betty, to graze on. This spring is going to be so busy, I have a cousin getting married in June, I'm going to Colorado in July, I have 5 birthdays coming up, my bridal shower in June & my wedding in August. And I'm turning 30 in July! I don't think i've ever been this busy in my life but it will likely be the only time I'm ever this busy. I hope anyway. I have changed my schedule at work so I only work 4 days a week instead of 5. I'm hoping to get lots of knitting and relaxing done on that extra day off. I can't think of anything more relaxing than an afternoon nap in a hammock on a perfect summer afternoon. That will definately need to be a weekend ritual :)