Gearing up for Christmas

Yes. It is not even September yet, but I feel the overwhelming urge to start my Christmas knitting. I am not doing much. I only have about 4 projects planned this year and one of them is already halfway done (though it will take the longest). I plan on knitting a cowl for my friend Lisa, a pair of socks for the boy, a little pair for my niece Bianca and finally I plan to finish a blanket I started for my mother 3 years ago (as suprise).

The blanket will be the most challenging. When the Knitting Guru first got me back into knitting my senior year in college, she showed me how to make a simple face cloth to practice doing increases and decreases. Well I got it in my head that these were so easy and quick that I should make a bunch of them, sew them together and make a patch work blanket!

Well here is the blanket 3 years later....

It is actually very pretty, tightly knit and extremely warm....but it takes forever!! I need 49 squares and as of yesterday I only had 26 ( I have three done that aren't sewn on yet.) Did I also mention that it is also knit in yucky acrylic yarn??? I can't stand the stuff! I didn't mind it back then because I was kinda new at it and it was super cheap for a starving broke college student. But I suppose I will need to suffer through it. It is for my mommy after all =)

Weekend Report

I am back from my weekend away and it was fantastic and relaxing. We sat on the beach (until it got cold), we went to the outlets in Freeport, ME, we ate lots of "bad for you" food and partied our hearts out! It was lovely to be in such a beautiful place.

It was so serene, just what I needed after many weeks of hectic work. The boy didn't come but I was there with my girlfriends which is just as good ( if not better =P).

Ok I didn't find these on the beach. Christina's mother had them and gave them to me lol. I haven't found one myself in a few years...but I might try to go up in the fall, might have better luck!

Since we were up there around the time of my birthday, I got presents from my knitting guru! Who is a very talented knitter and contrary to what she will tell you I did NOT beg for these....ok maybe a little.

The lighting this weekend was just perfect for pictures! Her mothers house has a million windows and all the furniture is light so that sun shown in beautifully! Aren't they gorgeous! I love them and I will wear them forever!

Not only did she knit me socks, she got me the sock blockers that I wanted! Whoo hoo!!! I am so lucky to have a such a great friend who takes hints so well =P

I also got some knitting in myself. Since I didn't drive I got to knit on the way up there and back, it was also pretty crappy out on Sunday so I sat on the deck and took the opportunity. Behold my sister's FINISHED socks! These took me over a year to finally complete!

The colors in this yarn is awesome and fits her personality. I was sad to see them go....but now I can start more! Woot!

Thoughts on the Stash

I am heading to Old Orchard Beach, ME this weekend and for the ride (1.5 hrs each way) I will be bringing my Aran Necklace Camisole and a few pairs of socks that I have in the works that I want to get done. When I am finished with them I have a few more pairs planned and ironically they are all for me haha. I figure if they are all intended for me I will be less stressed to complete them in a timely manner. Two of them are patterned socks and one is just plain vanilla. The patterns I am planning on are The Snowflake Socks and the Leyburn Socks.  I mentioned the snowflake socks in my last post so I will be using the yarn pictured there. For the Leyburn Socks I haven't decided on a yarn. I will have to do some digging in the stash for those. The plain vanilla socks will be in the Schoppel-Wolle yarn I bought on Ravelry, links to pics are in my post here. That yarn is made to be in vanilla....if that makes sense haha.

I have to admit that I often wish I was the kind of person that only works on one project at a time, has only enough yarn for that project and doesn't venture out to buy more until is complete. I feel it would make my life alot simpler to do something like that. I have a large stash of both yarn and roving and a million projects I want to do but life always gets in the way. Living at home certainly does not help so I like to think once I can afford to get my own place I will have more opportunities to do everything I plan to. Like knit through my entire stash of sock yarn so that when I am all done I can only buy one more hank and can't buy anymore til I finish the socks I intended for it. Not to mention I will have a hell of alot of yummy handknit socks!

I look at all the projects I have started but don't have time to finish and I get sad. Why would I do this to them? Don't they deserve just as much love as every other project I have? Why am I spending all my time with that plum purple camisole when there is a beautiful pair of pink fair isle socks that would like to be finished. What makes the orange and red socks better then the Patons Kroy sock I started?

Will I ever be able to stop buying sock yarn and get to a point where I am knittng one pair at a time? Lets not get to crazy. But it would be something if I could!

Progress, Trying Again and Thoughts on Being Alone

I promised pictures of what I have been up to and I have finally been able to take some! Well I took one of my Aran Necklace Camisole....the front is knitting up beautifully!

This pattern is so pretty! And the yarn is super soft. Me and The Guru are hoping to have this done before the end of the summer so we can show it off. I do wish the color photographed better, but purple is weird like that.

I am also getting ready to resurrect a project that The Guru and I were knitting last year. While she succeeded beautifully, I failed miserably =(. Not because I didn't understand the pattern or anything like that, but I knit them too small. They were the Snowflake Socks from the Interweave Knits Falls 2007 edition. I finished up the leg on the first sock and I was so proud of myself! But when I tried to put it over my foot the damn thing just wouldn't budge! I read testimonials after about people who had the same problem and I was heartbroken! I had tried so hard and spent so much of my precious and rare free time to do this and it didn't fit =( the colorwork was knit too tightly....i even tried to add some rows and a needle size but then I knit it too big! So I got discouraged, frogged the whole project and gave up.

I came across the yarn I used a few weeks ago and decided....ok I will give it one more go. This time I am simply upping the needle size and going with the pattern as it is. No extra anything. If that doesn't work then it wasn't meant to be. Here is the yarn I am using and I must say... the colors look incredible with this pattern.

I

 I am hoping....no praying this works out. I really love those socks and I would kill to have them for the winter to wear around the house =)

On a final note, in earlier posts I talked about how I was learning to be alone. I don't want to depend on other people when there is something I really want to do and no one will do it with me. If I want to go to a movie, I should not be afraid to do it alone like I have always been. I have some anxiety issues, and though they are not very severe they still make it hard for me be by myself.

I am getting better at it....shopping, reading, going to Panera alone. But I came across this video on MSN.com that I would like to share. Whenever I watch it I smile and say to myself...I can do that! She even knits in the video which I think just makes me love it more. Here it is.....enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

No Time

It seems that lately I have been running out of time to do things lately. For example every morning I wake up with the intention of going out and taking pictures of my WIPs but always run out of time before I go to work. I also intend to do it when I get home but have been finding myself only stopping in for a few moments before going out again. By the time I get back it is dark out. I cannot win! Between my niece's first birthday preparations, the boyfriend and knitting dates (=P) I simply have not been able to take a single picture. I don't like to post without them because I LOVE blogs with pictures but I was itching to post about my goings on so I will suffer through it.

First, I have signed up for a swap on Ravelry! It is in the iblog a.k.a The Blog Hub group that I just joined. It sounds like so much fun and I might even get an international partner which would be super cool!  I like how you have to individually wrap at least seven things so that your partner can open and blog about it for everyday for a week. I don't think it is required to actually blog about it but I intend too =).

Next, I have made it to the body of my Aran Necklace Camisole! The hard part is over and now it is straight stockinette stitch. I am on the front and will need to pick up stitches for the back soon. My Knitting Guru is very proud of me! Also I am almost done with my sisters socks and as soon as I finish I can cast on another pair! The Guru put the rules in place, not me =(

Lastly, one of my favorite blogs to read is Eskimimi Knits. She makes the most beautiful projects, has a yarn store on Etsy, takes fantastic pictures (even has a tutorial that I have tried to use for my blog pics though not a nicely as hers) and her posts are interesting and informative. She is actually the moderator for The Blog Hub group that is hosting the swap. Anyways, she is knitting a pair of socks in yarn that I just fell in love with. You can see her pictures here. I love the beachy colors that the yarn has and I have tried to find something similar with no luck. So I was snooping around Ravelry the other day and found someone who was selling the same yarn in the same colorway! I was so siked! She is mailing it to me tomorrow but it won't be here for a while since it is coming from England. The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle and it looks lovely to work with. The socks I knit with that yarn will be for me =)

I think those are all the updates I have for today. I am gonna have pictures up as soon as I can =)

Knit-a-Long Update

Me and Christina had our knit-a-long on Wednesday and we made fantastic progress on our Aran Necklace Camisole! This pattern knits up really quick because of the short rows, the only thing that takes a while is of course all of the cables.

I am almost completely done with the necklace part, just need to do the second strap and then I can pick up my stitches for the rest of body which is pretty much just straight stockinette. I did make a mistake unfortunately but after consulting several people at work who DO NOT knit I have determined that is not noticable enough to bother frogging it out ( frogging all those cables would be a nightmare!) and cables are very forgiving anyways.

Can you see where the mistake is? It isn't a mistake that makes the piece look bad, so I am just going to leave it. I am hoping to meet my quota next time (which is Monday this week). I need to get 5 and 1/2 inches of the body done...hope I have enough time! Have a great weekend!

Real Quick....

I know I need to stop. This simply isn't healthy for me to go from one obsession to the next since I really have no time to do anything ( I get most of my knitting down sure my lunch hour...ickkk), but now I find myself not only thinking about socks constantly....but sewing to. I want to sew more drawstring pouches. They don't take long and I want to get really good at making them, but it is hard with the limited space I have at my house. So to help things along I went to the Christmas Tree Shoppe this afternoon and purchased this....

A table top ironing board. Much more convenient then the humongous one my mom has and I can use it right next to the sewing machine. I also bought a small notebook because I have great affection for paper and butterflies. Total spent.....6 bucks! I know....I need help.

Sewing...

This weekend I really wanted to sew. I haven't sewn in months but all the trips I have been making to Joann's Fabrics have been giving me the urge to do so. I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon out shopping alone (are you seeing trend of aloneness here?) during which I bought a new purple camera case for $5, dug through the discount books at Barnes and Noble, bought myself a delicious mocha frappe from McDonalds (yes I work out ALOT but I am terrible with food) and decided to end my afternoon with a quick trip to Joann's.

Usually this is not a very good idea. I tend to spend money there and that is something I am trying to avoid. I needed a camera case because I don't have one and have been carrying my camera with me more often so that is justified, but more yarn is something I DO NOT need. In my attempts to stay away from the yarn isles, I found myself looking at all the pretty fabrics and remembering the sewing machine I got for my last birthday. It is a basic Brother sewing machine and my knitting guru also happens to sew a little so she taught me how to use it.

The first month of my sewing consisted of alot of swearing and some odd looking finished works. I sewed only two things really, a tote and a knitting needle roll for my knitting guru (she helped me sew the tote, but the roll was all me!) When those were finished I started another roll but abandoned the project when I got too discouraged.

Anyways, while I was walking through the isles I stumbled upon the reminents bin and found the cutes dark blue with white polka dots fabric. My knitting guru owns everything she can get her hands on in this print so I had to buy it at a whopping $1.36 for almost a whole yard! I was so pleased that when I got home I pulled out all my sewing gear and realized just how much fabric I bought during my ill-fated sewing attempts.

Nothing here is more then a yard so everything was meant for small projects. I LOVE all the fabric here and I really want to make some cute project bags or something with it. I found tutorial on youtube.com that explains a simple drawstring bag. And here it is.....

Isn't it soo cute??? It didn't take very long, but I had some problems and the stitches are pretty uneven. Oh well, practice makes prefect right? I am gonna try a few more to get the hang of the machine, but I think I can deem this project a success either way. =) Maybe in the next few days, I will have some more stuff to show! Here's hoping =)