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?

Thank God!

Yesterday I was sad because I didn't have anything to say to you guys. When I got home from work, however, I decided to visit Knitty. I was plesantly surprised when I saw that they uploaded the Fall 2007 issue.

I know many of you guys are probably giving your personal reviews of the issue. I'm doing the same here. First I would like to say that this being their 5 year anniversary, this issue is pretty lack luster in terms of proclaiming that fact (unlike another certain publication that I do not really like right now).

The majority of the sweater patterns are flat out plain, boring, or too ugly to knit. However, I am somewhat interested in this sweater but it's not on my "I have to make that right now" knitting list.

What is refreshing is the amount of sock patterns. Many of the socks are plain to the eye but knit up in a not so conventional way (like this one and this one), which makes for interesting knitting.

However, one thing that I am completely in love with is this shawl. I think it is the best pattern in this issue. I can definetely see some KAL's popping up for this number.

Lastly, I just wanted to comment about this man's hair (you got to scroll down about mid-page to see it). I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIS HAIR!!! If only I were as disciplined as he to have my hair like that (I mean I cut my hair just so that even when I do not pass a comb through it, it still looks somewhat descent).

That's all for now. This weekend will be busy but I believe I'll have some time to knit this Sunday as I watch football.

Some Tidbits

So I had an especially wonderful weekend. Saturday I had to run some errands like grocery shop and things like that but on Sunday I spent the whole day knitting and watching some football! Here are some pictures of what I worked on this weekend:



I figured I get some Christmas knitting started with this wash cloth. I'm thinking I'm going to make several and then buy some nice soap, baskets, make some candles, and make a little nice homemade bath kit for the women in my life. Quick, easy, and tasteful.





Two scarves. Remember this scarf I was making for my sister this Christmas? Well I figured that it looked ugly so I ripped it out and started over again. The result is the Windy City scarf from the original Stitch 'n Bitch book. Since I had two different colors of Malabrigo that were within the red family, I figured I would alternate knitting from the two balls by knitting two rows from one than switching to the other for the whole scarf. Hopefully you guys can see the slight striping affect this made. This scarf is so soft, I wish it were for me! But I know my sister would love it and get some great use out of it.

The second is a chunky scarf made out of this stuff from Rowan. It's for me; perfect for brisk fall evenings and cold winter days. I love making scarves like these because they are quick. I used a stitch pattern from one of the Vogue Stitchionaries. BTW, there is another set of stichionaries that are ready to come out next month. I'm thinking of getting them all. Maybe not all at once but if I like one book, I think I'll like the rest.



Last but not least, progress on the Jaywalker socks for Auntie Dee. I'm about 1 inch away from the toe and I'm very excited. At the rate I'm going, I think the pair will be done by the end of this month or sooner. Which is perfect because Sascatchewan gets very cold very quickly.

Complaints

As of this writing, has anyone noticed that all of the knitting publications have released their fall issues instead of Knitty? Am I the only one bothered by this? Here we are already in September and Knitty has not updated its web content. I mean it's not like I need to add any more new projects to my queue but I still enjoy clicking through the website to look at the patterns that people have created. I did hear, however, that Amy Singer, the editor of the website, was sick last week, via Cast-On. But I would think that if this is her full time job, she would have a staff to depend on to ensure that the website is updated in a timely fashion. Thankfully those of you that need your new project fix, Magknits has updated and they have some pretty cute things to fantasize about and eventually knit.

A Short Excursion

So I meant to tell you guys before I left, but with packing and all the craziness that a trip involves, I had no time to write a post. So here is a little recap on my weekend.

I went to a wedding of 2 friends of mine this weekend. They were getting married to each other in a town called Arnprior, about 20 minutes north of Ottawa, the capital of Canada and the home of this hockey team.





It was a very traditional wedding with a casual flair.









Afterward we ate, drank, and danced the night away.







All in all a good time.

Knitting

So remember I was knitting this boring sock for my boyfriend's aunt. Well I had enough of it and ripped it all out early Friday morning. Mind you I was almost done knitting the short rows for the toe on Thursday! I could have finished one sock and started the other the next day! But the mind numbing boredem I saw ahead of me was just too much to bear. I decided to make some Jaywalkers out of them. Boy am I happy I did. Look at my progress:



I'm already on the heal of the first sock and it's only been 4 days! I've made more progress in 4 days on this sock than I have on the plain ol' sock in 3 months! Now I am confident that these socks will not be forgotten because I actually enjoy the pattern.

Thats all for now. I got to unpack and readjust to the real world of work and drudgery.

Michigan Fiber Festival, Part 2

As promised, pictures of my booty:















Go ahead. I won't mind if you drool!

As you can see I went a little crazy on the sock yarn. From top to bottom:

Knitting Notions handdyed lace yarn. This is the only yarn that will not become a sock. I'm making it into a lacy scarf. Maybe for me, maybe as a Christmas present. We'll see.

Some Merino-Tencel blend from some farm I forgot the name of (when I bought the skein it didn't even have a tag on it!).

Some fad yarn. Socks That Rock to be exact. I'm not one for fads but I have never knitted with this stuff before, and if I find out it is as good as people say it is, well, I may become a fanatic myself!

Perchance to Knit sock yarn. I recently found this lady's blog after she had left a comment on mine some weeks ago. I knew she dyed yarn but I never realized that she sold her handdyed creations. Absolutely beautiful, Susie ! I think once I'm done with this baby, I'll purchase some more.

Some solid colored sock yarn from Shelridge Farm. I figured I needed some solids because I would love to utilize the stichionary I have to make socks one day. Plus solid sock yarn seems to be more mature than multi-colored (as if pink and bright yellow are mature colors).

Some Mountain Colors Bearfoot in a wool and mohair blend. I see myself wearing these socks around the house, on an extra cold winter day, sipping some hot tea, listening to a podcast, and knitting away on something else.

And finally some sock yarn from the Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill, Inc. I simply fell in love with the jewel like tones of the blues in this yarn. Whatever this becomes, it will be something for me!

Now that I have all this new stuff to add to my stash, the hardest part is choosing what to work with next and with what pattern to pair the yarns with!

Now excuse as I roll around in my new treasures!

Distractions

Due to poor lighting (it's been raining since yesterday afternoon), the photoshoot of my booty has been delayed.

In the mean time, here are some shots of some FO's I have recently completed:





The hat was finished Sunday night and the bag was felted Monday morning. Both projects were very satifying. As you can tell, though, I gave up last minute on one of the straps for the bag. I ended up not wanting to do the intarsia motif on the strap because I really just wanted to felt this bag up and start using it. It doesn't bother me that the straps don't match. I have a bag that beautiful anyway and thats all that counts.

The hat is the Odessa pattern by Grumperina. Again, this knit is fast and easy. Perfect for last minute gifts.

Speaking of last minute gifts, has anyone started their Christmas knitting? I know it's still August but if you're a knitter with a couple hundred things to knit this year, it's best to start early and plan ahead. Let me know what you guys are cooking up in your houses.

Hopefully the weather will improve today or tommorow so I could show you my newly accumulated stash. Until then, happy knitting!

Michigan Fiber Festival, Part 1

Today I have a long post to write but not much time to write it in. So this is going to be more pictures than words.

The BF and I woke up very early so that everything wasn't sold out by the time we got there.

There was plenty of this:







Beautiful roving. It made me think maybe I could become a spinner. That's when a man that was selling electric spinners (at $800 a pop) showed me that it was easy to do. Needless to say that is easier said than done.





Nonetheless I tried but failed many times. I didn't want to learn how to spin after that. But I did end up with this:



Remember I chopped off my hair 2 weeks ago? Well I kept my hair, thinking that it could be spun up into some yarn. And the man was right! See, I told you my hair was like wool!

Then we got to my favorite part of the show:















I was whoring around:







By the end of it, we got to the animals:





Mostly sheep and alpacas, with a couple of angora rabbits were there. Everytime I go, I fall in love with the sheep:



Then I step in a pile of shit, and realize why I do not like animals.

All and all, a wonderful day:





In part 2, I will be showing you my booty (Pirate talk for: the stash I accumulated this past weekend).