Monogamy

Although I have been absent for some time from blogging, there has been some knitting done around here. Case and point:





I started and completed these fingerless mitts in about 2 weeks. I used some Shelridge Farm sock yarn. I like the project, but I'm not too sure about the color choices. Everytime I look at them all I could think about it how 70's it looks! I would most likely knit this again, but maybe in some more toned down colors and in colors that contrast more so that the pattern really pops.



Yeah I know it's a picture of stockinette, but this is special stockinette. This is sweater number 2 of my 3 part baby/toddler garment series. I have twin nephews and a 1 year old niece that need some knitted goodness from their aunt this Christmas. And I'm (usually) not one to disappoint!

The pattern's simple, from the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. I figured that clothes for growing children don't need to be complicated nor take a long time to make. And besides I have more intricate gifts to make this holiday season.



This (and 15 other balls of yarn) will become this cardigan. I haven't swatched or anything for this project but most likely I'll get started on it next weekend. The baby sweater is coming along fast and lately I've been pretty monogamous with my knittng.



And remember I said I wanted to start up a shawl? Well as you can see the only thing I have done is roll the yarn up into a ball. I bought the yarn at Stitches Midwest 2006 and always thought I'd make something for my mother out of it. When the Fall 2006 IK came out, I knew that this yarn would be the Swallow Tail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. The design is beautiful and I think my mom will really like it. And besides, all this Christmas knitting is great for stash busting.

Other News

Today is Sunday and I'm going to knit with some friends. I mention this because most of my time in Michigan I've been knitting alone. I've taught many of my friends while down in Argentina how to knit but they have all since forgotten the craft, leaving me all by myself. Lately, however, one of those friends has renewed her interest in knitting. She has a lot of friends that want to learn how, so we figured the best way to do that is to have a meet up at her house. Hopefully this becomes more frequent (like once a month or something). Either way, I'll report back to you guys about what happened there.

Now that is is 1 p.m., the Colts are about to play and as the significant other of a Colt's fan, it is my one of my obligations to watch with him. As always, happy knitting from me!

When It Rains, It Poors

Last post I was talking about my new house venture and how that has taken time from knitting. Well I haven't heard much from my realtor, so that has created some time for knitting - LOTS of knitting. Take a look:







Some leg warmers for a friend, an almost done baby sweater, and some freshy mailed sock yarn from Yarn Hollow. My friend plays flag football and she mentioned she wanted some leg warmers. I started these Wednesday and I'm almost done with the first one (1 more inch to go). Total kniting time has to be 4 hours, which surprised me a lot because I did not think I knit that fast. That's a nice surprise!

The almost done baby sweater is for one of my twin nephews for this Christmas. I'm waiting on some more yarn from KnitPicks so I could start and complete the second sweater. I used the drop sleeve sleeve sweater pattern in this book but I don't want to do it again for the second sweater (sometimes I don't like when identical twins are so matchy, matchy). Instead I'm going to do the raglan sleeve sweater with a brown body and green or red sleeves (I have to decide once I buy the yarn).

I have also received the new Holiday Issue of Vogue Knitting:



Let's just say that when I came home from work, saw the magazine on my coffee table, I had a relgious moment (as in I prostrated myself and praised the Lord). I know last time I completely shitted on Vogue Knitting, but I must say that this time they do have some things in there that I really want to make. For example, the cover alone draws me into this issue. Maybe because the featured pattern is made out of red yarn (one of my favorite colors) and many of the patterns are garments I would see myself wearing. So, I guess I could forgive Vogue Knitting this time. Last time I was ready to write them off my subscribtion list of knitting magazines, but they have truly redeemed themselves with this new issue.

Last but certainly not least, I got my invite to Ravelry this past Wednesday. My name is Kellyson if you are interested in making me a friend. I was rather surprised and excited when I got my invite. I immediately logged on, started editing my profile and looked around. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed. Maybe it's because instead of clicking the "What can Ravelry do for you" button, I just wandered around. One thing I did not like was that you can only upload pictures from Flickr. This is because to get the most out of one of these accounts, you need to pay money, and as cheap as I am, I'm not paying for this type of webspace. I know Flickr does a lot more than hold pictures but that's all I need. That's why place my pictures on Snapfish. All you need to do is buy at least 1 photo per year for them to print and you can put as many pictures as you want on their site. It's wonderful, and the printing service is fast and easy if you want to print some digital photos.

I think what also contributed to my small disapointment in Ravelry is that I didn't feel like I had enough time to really get into it. I hear from many people with blogs on Ravelry that spending time there takes time away from their blogging, and quite frankly, I'd rather but writing about knitting than searching on a site for knitting. Furthermore, I guess in a sense, even though I really enjoy looking at other people's projects, the volume of patterns and yarn and everything knitting on Ravelry would make me more of a spectator than a knitter. And if my goal is to get rid of most of my yarn by next year (life spare), I better start knitting, rather than watching other people knit!

Man that was a lot of writing! This weekend I'm going to start a shawl, because I'm itching for something challenging and requires focus. Until next time, happy knitting!

Now You Know

This is what has been keeping me from my knitting and essentially you guys:



For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to buy a house.









As you can see from the pictures it is a little shack that needs some love. It's in foreclosure and has been on the market for more that 9 months. The asking prices is $27,900. We're offering $24,000.

It's in a nice neighborhood, right downtown in a city close by to my new job (my commute is 1.5 hours a day now instead of 30, living there would give me a 15-20 minute commute total per day). It's right across the street from the hospital which has a helipad for emergencies:





I know a lot of people are scared of buying homes now a days (there's this whole credit crunch and mortgage meltdown in the United States which is a whole bunch of jargon for people are becoming homeless at a very alarming rate).

As everyone else is scared to loose their homes, people like me looking for a home can profit. Homes are way undervalue, that means I can save! And one things for sure once the market bottoms out, it can go no where but up! That is why I'm buying a house now, instead of later, when the prices are really high and I'll have some 30 year mortgage that will never get paid.

Anyway, in knitting news, the little time I've had to just relax and knit I got to finish this:



Socks for Auntie Dee. The plan is to send up a DVD of SurvivorMan (my boyfriend loves the show and Auntie Dee sure loves the outdoors). And seeing that it should start getting cold up north in Canada, I finished these puppies in the nick of time.

I'm working on some other things but frankly, I'm too lazy to pull out my camera and take a picture. So till next week, Happy Knitting!

I'm Still Here

It's been awhile. Part of the reason is because I did not have much to say these past few weeks. The other reason is because I've been so busy doing real life things, that knitting has some what taken a back seat--until this past weekend. I'm going into work earlier all this week, so I won't be able to post in the morning, but I will be revealing some cool things to you guys. Just hand it there for me.

How's everyone else doing?