WIP/FO/Lesson Learned

Luckily for me and most of Delaware, hurricane Sandy did not hit as hard as we were expecting and we escaped catastrophe. Of course, not everyone was as lucky. I prepared for the hurricane with water, candles, and lots of yarn. :) While lazing around all day, I took the opportunity to knit the day away. Right now I'm working on a set of fall colored dishcloths for a gift. I'm using the Atomic Scrubber cloth pattern from Harvest Moon Designs. When I'm done blocking I'll post. I'm also working on a crochet iPad sleeve as a custom order from my etsy shop. I don't crochet much so it's been a trial but its moving along.

I finished the ear flap hat I was working on for my little girl Brenna. I used a discontinued ball of Peaches and Cream cotton that I'm disappointed I didn't buy more of. I love the pink and brown color scheme. I only used 1 ball. She's with Daddy today so I haven't gotten to see her in it yet, but here it is.

 

This hat would have only taken me a couple hours, but...here is my lesson learned: So I have this problem where I get distracted easily. I have never knit anything from start to finish without restarting the whole thing because of a mistake or miscalculation, or that I haven't had to tink or rip back. I swear I spend more time going backwards than forwards! So once again, I ran into trouble on the decrease. This is a very simple basic hat with your standard decrease. I used a multiple of 8. I was at the top and almost finished at which time I think I jinxed myself by saying "I'm so close to being done!" Anyway, I noticed my stitch count was uneven between my markers. So I start pulling back to find where I messed up. It was so far back and then my head hurt trying to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward so I ended up ripping back to the row before you start the decrease. *sigh* Lesson learned: it is easier and takes less time to count the number of stitches between each marker or the entire row to make sure you have the correct stitch count, than it does ripping out and starting over. Something of course we all know but might not always do. I think most of the time I knit with a hope and a prayer lol. Of course, once I did this, I finished without incident. It was such an easy knit and it's super cute. There's a group out there called Emily's Hats for Hope and if I can find the time, I'd love to make these to donate to the cause.

 

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Book Review Knit Notes

How I came to buy this book is actually through a series of unfortunate events. I've been using the Vogue Knitting app for over a year. Let's just say that is the best, most well designed, and most poorly executed app. For me, this app was everything. Every time there is a problem with the app, there is no way to contact he developer and Vogue does an insanely shitty job of keeping up with this app. It honestly sucks and there's no reason for it. Especially since they advertise and promote the app. They should care more. Bt they don't. So when I went to use it this year, I opened it to find it had erased everything! All of my projects notes...gone! What I also loved about it was that, not only did it have a needle and crochet hook inventory, it kept track of what project your needles were on. And your stash. Gone! I read the reviews and everyone is having this problem. Vogue still has done nothing to fix it pissing off tons of customers. So I decided, of course, that I was never going to rely on a computer again. I picked up a blank journal from Barnes and Noble and thought, how the hell am I going to keep this book organized? Then I received via iPad the new Knit Simple Magazine and saw "Knit Notes" advertised in it. I looked it up on amazon and after looking through it (which amazon lets you do for this book) that I'd give it a shot. It cost $10 with free 2 day shipping because I have amazon prime. So here it is

It is spiral bound on the inside with a hard outer cover over the binding so you don't see the spirals.

There's plenty of space to keep notes. It starts with a page for your basic project info. Needles used, type yarn, etc. there is also graph paper which I might not use for every project but it an extra area that I can write extra stuff down on. Then the next set of pages has space for project notes. There's so much room and I love this because when I knit a pattern more than once, I like to keep notes on how that project turned out with the yarn I used and needles so I can take notes on future suggestions. Every project is different when you start changing variables and now I have a place to keep it all. I like how they give you basically 4 pages for a project. So now I feel like I don't have to cram info on little pages and have projects out of sequence and messy because I ran out of room. I love this book and I plan on using it again when I run out of room. He'll, I might even just buy more and use them as different book types, like "scarf book" or "hat book." Needless to say, I'm glad I found this book so soon after my catastrophe. It was such a relief.

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LYS haul!

So one of the stores around here called Kitschy Stitch and is located on Rehoboth beach in Delaware. I picked up the most amazing project bag made by a local resident. It's so different and gorgeous! The fact that its square makes for an excellent bag.

 

This is her smaller bag and it has tons of space. It fits my cake of yarn, project and notions with plenty ofroom to spare. I love this fabric and she had other ones available in different pattern including Halloween ones. This small style bag was 35$ and of course there is no sales tax in DE. First state to ratify the constitution and all. Alison is the owner of Kitchy Stitch and she ships. I would recommend getting your hands on one of these. For now the designer doesn't sell them online but her email is bags@kompulsivelykreative.com.

Here are some buttons I recently purchased as well.

The top pair is from a local LYS in Newark DE called Stitches with Style. They remind me of nature and I really like them. The colors are beautiful. The bottom set is also my new favorite button. Those I did buy at Kitschy Stitch. They remind me of Lord of the Rings for some reason. I have plans for these buttons to end up on my boot toppers.

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Boot Warmers Done!

So, I finished my modified boot warmers. I like them this way better. I took out the button tab on the original pattern and added a cable set to make one more cable repeat. I might even make a pair longer for leg warmers. I love these though. The knitting was easy to memorize but not boring so I knit them fairly quick. They came out great. I do have to say that you don't know what you've got till its gone. Meaning that I haven't knitted with cheap acrylic yarn in so long that I forgot how much I hated it. My needles and my hands hate me for it and I promised them I would never put them through that again. I can't speak for all acrylic yarn. Maybe there are higher end acrylic yarns that feel better and knit better but as for the craft store chain acrylic yarn...no thank you. I'm making another pair of these as we speak and I'm using Berroco Vintage in color 5101 which is an off white. This yarn is actually 50% acrylic 40% wool and 10% nylon. The LYS I went to doesn't carry Cascade 220 Superwash and this was the only washable wool they had so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not bad. It's soft but feels more like knitting with wool that acrylic so I'm happy again. Here's some pics of the boot toppers in Caron. They are available to purchase in my etsy shop found here.

 

 

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Works in Progress

So what am I working on right now? Well I recently updated my ravelry stash. I still have a box not cataloged, but I have uploaded right now 130 different types of yarn. Yeah...it's a little out of control. But I had a project in mind for most everything, I swear! So I added a bunch of projects to my queue. Now I just have to knit through all of them! I am actively working on 2 projects right now. One is the new york man scarf. its a free pattern and can be accessed at http://scrumptiousliving.wordpress.com/2007/01/25/free-knitted-scarf-pattern/ So because I have so much yarn, I wanted to use stash yarn. Problem is, I have a "bad" habit of just buying one skein at a time. So I wanted this to be a manly shade of grey or black, but I didn't have enough of one color. I had two similar shades of cascade. One is a heathered grey super wash and one is just a regular grey wool. I used one skein of both and have been alternating every two rows carrying the yarn up the side. I also cast on 38 sts to make the ribbing even on both sides. Here's where I'm at so far.

You can't even tell that they are two different shades of grey. They work together quite well. I'm over half way done so I just need to get moving.

The second thing I'm working on is a variation of the one skein boot warmers I knitted before. I added and changed some things based on what I like. Because I ran out of cream colored yarn and all 3 yarn stores are 45 mins away, I decided to pass the time by using...wait for it...gasp! Acrylic yarn. Yup, I know. I'm using Caron simply soft in a cream color. I figured I could sell them for less on my etsy shop and maybe someone with a wool allergy or tight budget can appreciate them. Pics coming soon! That's all for now. I have some projects planned but we'll have to see how much I can accomplish.

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Projects new and old

So here's some stuff I actually did manage to get done. I finished the "just enough ruffles" scarf for my mom. Here it is.

This scarf has a history. Well, the pattern does. I first came across this scarf when I was in my LYS Stitches with Style. The owners daughter, Ali, was wearing one. It was knitted using the Great Adirondak Yarn Co bamboo cotton yarn. It's a hand painted multicolor yarn and the scarf she was wearing was amazing. So I get the pattern, which is fairly easy to knit, and 2 scarves later, they look nothing like hers. So even though I have multiple skeins of this yarn, I haven't actually made one for myself because my "test" scarves haven't knitted up the way I want. Here are some of the skeins of yarn I have waiting to turn into this scarf. They are roughly 400yrds each and retail for around 40$.

                                       

The first time I knitted this pattern, I used a size 9 needle. I'm a tight knitter. The second I used a size 8. Since I still thought it came out weird I thought I'd try a size 7 next. I was at the store to buy yarn for another project and didn't really have this in mind. Strangely coincidentally and lucky for me, their knit along pattern of the month was this scarf! On display was yet again another gorgeous version of this scarf. I grabbed Ali and said HELP! Why isn't mine turning out this way. So, 2 things. 1: she's a loose knitter and used size 9. She suggested I use size 10. 2: she didn't block it. That must be it. Can't think of any other reason. So next time, I will do as she suggested. Stay tuned for that!

So next, here's a super cute hat I knit for my nephew when he was born. It's just a basic hat pattern. I used size 7 needles and magic loop. My gauge was 6 sts/inch to make 13" around. I cast on 78, knit until 4" from brim and decreased every 6. Then I used a pompon maker for the top. I love the effect this yarn has when it's knitted up. The only thing I will modify is the decrease. Next time I'm going to decrease by 8 so it won't be so pointy. That will change my cast on number by a couple stitches.

                                         

So on to my current projects. I was approached by a friend of mine who during an etsy session decided she wanted boot toppers. Never heard of them! She sent me some pics and after scaling ravelry, I found a pattern that I though would work. The pattern is called "One Skein Boot Toppers" and can be purchased for $4.50 here:


One Skein Boot Toppers

Here are the designers pictures

I I decided to use a cream or off white shade of cascade 220 superwash. The pattern was fairly easy and came out well. I disagree with the way part of the pattern was worded. It was unnecessarily confusing and I had to use my "phone a friend" to help me out and make sure I understood it right. The pattern consists of a 5 line repeat. Row 2 tells you to knit each stitch as it appears and then tells you which other rows to do this on. Thing is, she should just have repeated the sequence because it's all the same. If you get the pattern you'll see what I mean. This aside it's still a great pattern. I wasn't too fond of the button tab. It stuck out and I felt the need to sew it down. Still love it though and so did my friend. I did block them to give them a professional look even though they stretch and it wasn't really necessary once they're on. I'll be making more of these for sure.

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I'm Baaaaack!

Well, it's been a while. What can I say? Life is never what we expect. My beautiful daughter who is now 1.5, has inherited her father's adrenaline junky genes. This means she has no fear whatsoever. That whole "I shouldn't do that. It might hurt" doesn't exist. I have grabbed her more than once trying to throw herself head first off the back of the couch. Needless to say, my knitting came to a crawl. I also did buy a house and moved but my craft room is a victim of my unfinished basement, it's mainly in boxes. No scrapping or stamping. Just my yarn! Not the worst deal although I do miss my close to my heart stamps. Divorce has also gripped my life. So in the midst of that, I'm working out the kinks of raising a daughter with my soon to be X in 2 different homes. I've managed to work in some knit time when he has her so I am very happy to have time to indulge myself in my knit-happy place. So there's my update!