Mystery Shawlette KAL Part 1

I just completed Part 1. This is what it currently looks like:

 The following photo is a much more accurate color representation. The Sea Silk is going to make the stitches look fabulous when I block it out...

Wendy already released Part 2 this morning. You can find it here.

So far I'm liking what I see.

Passing Exam Stash Enhancements

Of course it was bound to happen, I needed a prize for passing my exam! (or whatever excuse I can use to buy more yarn!!) So, off to The Loopy Ewe I go.

I had these three skeins of yarn among my wish list.

They are all Handmaiden Sea Silk. The colorways from left to right are: Nova Scotia, Salt Spray,  Bronze.

I already have plans for the Nova Scotia colorway. I would like to knit the Ocean City Shawlette.

However, I need to finish my Mystery Shawlette first by WendyKnits. I'm just about halfway through the first clue - although, I need to step it up today as the next one is being released in a couple of hours.

So...I'm off to knit...

Mystery Shawlette KAL

I decided to join my first KAL. It is called the Summer Mystery Shawlette by Wendyknits.

This is what it currently looks like after my CO and 2 set up rows. The next 12 rows (part 1/chart A) were issued yesterday, however I am going to start those tomorrow night.

Pattern: Summer Mystery Shawlette
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk
Colorway: Ocean
Needles: Signature US 6 - 24" (US 8 to CO)

Come join us here.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sister! 

What a wonderful year you have had!

From celebrating life's moments with those closest to you...

 ...including your ever present personal touches...

...in creating your Fairy Tale....

...marrying the man of your dreams...

May the memories you created this year stay close to your heart.

xo

Where have I been?

Studying. In the industry I work in we are required to obtain licenses and some of us have gone on to acquire designations. With those, we are required to get 45 continuing education credits every 3 years.

Well for the past 10 weeks I've been studying for a measly 16 credits. This included a $800 course fee, 20 hours of webinars, 70+ hours of self studying a 898 page book. It ended today with a 100 question proctored exam that I passed!

Life can now resume.

Having dealt with so much of that studying I only had a limited amount of time for knitting.

So, quick knits with minimal thinking were required. Thank goodness I have my The Great American Afghan Book....

I have since finished it today after my exam. However it is pouring rain outside and my completed photo looks awful. So, I will post that when it stop raining (which unfortunately appears to be at least 7 days away per the weather forecasts)

Details:

Pattern: Great American Afghan Square #14
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted
Colorway: Haze Heather
Needles: Knit Picks Circulars US 8

I also just CO on my third square. It is from the Sampler Afghan and the pattern is Elm Seed.

Now rain rain go away....

Flower Square #1 FO

2 days! That is how long it took me from start to finish on this square.

If I keep this up I WILL finish my afghan by September!

Pattern: The Great American Afghan
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted
Colorway: Green Tea Heather
Needles: Knit Picks US 8mm Circulars

Now I need to find another pattern....

Flower Square #1

If you've been following me in Ravelry you've probably heard me say that I was trying to get my knitting mojo back.

I needed a project that was a relatively quick knit. That would provide me with something finished within a few days or even a days' time. Something that wasn't that a hard pattern. A project I could knit in front of the TV.

I found just the project.....The Great American Afghan.

I'm going to try and get my squares done for September. However, I'll still need to give myself time to knit them all together after that deadline. I hope to be done with the entire project by Christmas. Maybe this will turn out to be a Christmas present to myself.

Here is what my first square looks like at this moment:

I'm using Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted in the colorway Green Tea Heather. I'm knitting with my fabulous Knit Picks Harmony US 8 circulars.

At the rate this is knitting up I should be done tomorrow.

So, what have you started for a project after a lull in your knitting?

Day Seven: Your knitting and crochet time

My knitting time is generally at home. When you have to drive yourself to/from work, the commute can't really be knitting time.

I've been known to bring a travel knitting project with me in the car to knit some stitches before I head into my office building. I know if I have a tough day ahead it will help to break up a traffic filled commute and the office as knitting truly is calming for me.


Most of my knitting projects are TV knits. I can easily continue knitting with the drama shows I tend to watch at night. I do love my lace projects however, the complicated rows are saved for weekends or for TV shows I have no interest in watching.

My place of knitting is on my sofa. Surrounded by my laptop - need to be only an arms length from Ravelry!

I also always bring knitting with me on vacation. There is so much time in airports, planes, hotel rooms, etc. I will also plan ahead with my vacation knitting to have always CO first and try to get through one repeat of the pattern if it allows before I leave home.

WOW! I did it! I blogged for 7 days in a row. Amazing.

Day Six: Something to aspire to

Hands down a long sleeve sweater for moi!

This is the one my Gramma made for me so many many years ago. Ideally I would like to mimic the pattern.

I need to learn a few techniques first, like get better at seaming, top down sweater knitting and button holes. Steeking just scares me so...I mean you spend all that time knitting then cut it with scissors...YIKES!

Day Five: And now for something completely different

Wordless post.

Day Four: Where are they now?

I just can't believed I've just blogged 4 days in a row! I'll have to check to see if that is a record.

Ok - so to answer the question(s) Where are they now? or Whatever happened to ______?

Well, we talk about this topic a lot in the Selfish Knitters group on Ravelry since the question where are they now indicates that you have gifted a handknit away. As in what deems a person knit worthy. Interestingly enough I started knitting for me. Yet, my second knit project was for my sister, clearly a knit worthy person!

To date I've made 3 items for people outside of family. One was a dishcloth for Dish Rag Tag. I did a hat for a friend's little girl. The final was for my nephew's longtime girlfriend...technically, when you've been around that long you are family right?! So maybe I have only knit two items for outside family members.

All of which have been talked about on the blog.

However, back to the question at hand here, Where are they now?

I'm choosing to go way back.

Back to 2007.

My first & second completed knitting project:

Fun Fur Scarves.

One for me, one for my sister.

Yes, I'm publicly posting a picture of two scarves made out of Fun Fur. Come on it was 2007, give a woman a break.

So - where are these scarves now? I haven't worn mine in years, however I still have it. The one on the left was given to my sister, I'm not sure where her scarf is. Maybe I do not want to know!

How far I've come from $1 yarn at a hobby store, to official yarn snob!

Day Three: Tidy mind, tidy stitches

Organization. Depending on who you ask this is my middle name. My stash is no exception.

All of my yarn is cataloged in Ravelry. If I have a specific project in mind for it, the yarn is linked to the pattern.

Last year I participated in the 2010 Flash Your Stash. I took the picture on the right in April 2010.

The bottom one is from March 2011. Hmmm, it seems a little enhancement went on this past year.

Interesting to see some of the same skeins, figuring out the skeins that are no longer in the stash and seeing the new ones. Also, for full disclosure I didn't put all the skeins of the projects I'm currently working on in this photo.

One of the things that stands out at me this year are my purchases from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I did purchase a couple of skeins from Stitches East, then promptly ordered 5 skeins of Sock Candy when I got home. They are all starting the bottom row on the left hand side. The other skeins on the far left are Knit Picks Comfy & Cotlin. They are some of the softest yarn I've held.

As for where I store my yarns. I have this canvas bag from LLBean. The yarn goes into see through plastic bags by weight into this bag.

I am going to guess that 85% of my stash resides in this bag.

I take out all the skeins of yarn for the particular project I'm working on and locate them elsewhere for ease of use. I also keep my leftover yarns if the ball is small enough in mason jars.

If I have a majority of a skein left after a project it goes into a see through bag with all the others and put in a separate tote bag.

Yes, it is my organized stash!

Day Two: Skill + 1UP

I really like this topic today. Each project I do I look to expand my knitting techniques. I try to learn a new pattern, new stitch, technique or just try something different.

My first couple of projects I was working with basic knit & purl to show different patterns. I then learned to knit in the round for my socks. The next few projects were lace and I needed to learn YO's, Inc, KFB etc. Overall, I've feel I've progressed nicely in my learning of new techniques.

This past year I was determined to learn cables as I'm determined to knit myself an Irish Knit sweater this decade. I started learning cable with simply 2 stitches held to the back or front in this scarf;

This was the project I took on vacation with us last year. Unfortunately, it is still a WIP, as I realized when our winter began and my sister's wedding rapidly approaching, I needed to get a couple of other projects finished up.

As you may have read in my blog post from early March that I recently finished my Winter Wonder. This for my was a bit more complicated cable design. I'm so pleased with how it came out!

I feel much more confident in my cable knitting after this project. So, that means I'm on track for that Irish Knit Sweater I promised myself!

Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns

If you've read this blog through the years you already know my love of Handmaiden Sea Silk. I'm allergic to many fibers so I've found this is my favorite in which to knit my many lace projects with. I love the stitch definition it provides, and I find blocking my projects really make them shine. The yarn is just overall a delight to work with!

This is my Handmaiden Sea Silk in the Blackberry colorway.


However, I decided to try the Handmaiden Sea Three. I figure I loved the Sea Silk so much, I would really like this one...it's thicker cousin!

These are two skeins in the Twilight colorway.

It is comprised of the same material, however just spun to a different weight (Aran). I'm not as big a fan of this weight.

I knit my Saroyan Shawl from this and just find it too heavy. While the yarn is lovely to work with and just sails over the needles I'm going to save the rest of my Sea Three for scarves.

There lies my Tale of Two Yarns.

Stay tuned for our topic of the day tomorrow...

2nd Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week

Please feel free to join us this week:

 

http://eskimimiknits.com/knitting-and-crochet-blog-week-2011/

FO Winter Wonder

Well I did it. I finished my Winter Wonder in record time.

This is my first completed cable project. I'm officially

Pattern: Winter Wonder by Irishgirlieknits
Yarn: Berroco Remix
Colorway: Strawberry #3960
Yardage: Skein and a third (still need to weight it to be exact)
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony Circulars US 8

I quickly took this photo in between downpours here today. I tried it on and I hope to order a pin from Designs by Romi that will compliment it well.

The bigger decision is being that it is my first cable project I'd really like to keep it. However, I know someone that it would look fabulous on.

Isn't this always my dilemma with all my finished objects? Is it yours?

Cranking out cables

I can't believe how fast I'm knitting cables.

Someone suggested that I could be going even faster if I learned to knit without cable needles. I've tried it on this scarf and I just can't get comfortable with it.

Even with using the cable needles I feel I've been really knitting alot this past week (both in speed and time spent). I've been able to knit every night this week and it has helped my stress level tremendously. I'm trying to enjoy it now, as my busiest time period is almost upon me at work and when that happens I barely make it home for supper.

I originally purchased 2 skeins of this Berroco Remix, I'm still on skein one although I'm hoping to make a cowl out of what is left after this project.

Back to knitting...

Winter Wonder in Remix

I cast off this past week on a pattern by Carie (aka IrishGirlieKnits). You may remember the Le Petite Pont I made from her pattern and yarn purchased at Stitches East 2010.

Well, I bought another pattern from her. This is the Winter Wonder. I originally wanted to knit this up in a dark blue yarn, however the yarn store shipped the incorrect color (black instead of nightfall). I decided to keep the black and CO with the red.

The yarn is Berroco Remix. It is made from 100% recycled fibers, Nylon, Cotton, Acrylic, Silk & Linen. Once I picked up a new cable needle (instead of using a DPN) I was able to cruise right along. This is what it looks like now, after 2 nights and a Saturday of knitting:

As you may be able to tell I did a pattern modification, as I'm doing a smaller border. Another 4 repeats and I'll be done! Now just to be able to have some large amounts of knitting time....

February Recap

I'm not exactly sure where this month went. I do have some ideas:

• my sister's wedding
• 3 weeks of illness in this house
• losing my voice for 2 whole days
• new course load for new designation program
• 2 feet of snow (as if we hadn't had enough)
• flat tire on way to work
• roof on house leaking like a rain shower that people pay good money for
• meetings with contractors to get new roof in place

I think that about sums up my month.

My sister looked stunning! The groom was happy! I love going back and looking at all the photos and reliving the moments in time.

I was able to finish the Little Silk Shrug in time:

(for the record it was in the wee hours of the next morning when this photo was taken!)

Pattern: Little Silk Shrug
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk Three
Colorway: Ivory
Yardage used: 1.25 skeins
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony US 7 & 8 circulars

I love how this came out!I can't wait to wear it again!

Tomorrow I'll have to show you what I cast on this past week. I'll leave you a hint it involves Berroco Remix and my IrishGirlieKnits pattern.

Wedding Wishes

The Best Is Yet To BeBy Joanna Fuchs
On your joyful wedding day,
You begin a brand new life.
Friends and family give their gifts
To joyful husband, blissful wife. But the greatest gift you'll ever get,
A gift from heaven above,
Is love forever, ending never,
Everlasting love. You'll share life's joy and pleasure;
You'll have plenty of that, it's true.
But love is the real treasure
For your new spouse and you. And if life hands you challenges,
As it does to one and all,
Your love will hold you steady
And never let you fall. Your wedding day is full of joy;
Tomorrow you cannot see.
But one thing's sure for the two of you:
The best is yet to be.