blog previous January 2007 next August July June May April March February January 2007 December November October September August July June May April March February January 2006 December November October September August July June Archive Almost done! January 29th, 2007 I was able to work quite a bit on the lace cardigan over the weekend. In fact, I finished the 2 fronts and couldn't wait to sew them to the back. So, the shoulders are sewn, and I did the crochet trim around the center fronts and neck, including the buttonholes. Saturday I spent about a half hour staring at buttons at Joanne fabrics. I wasn't super impressed with the selection. There were a lot of buttons, and I swear I looked at every single one, but nothing jumped out at me and screamed that it wanted to marry my sweater. I think I'm happy with the buttons I chose though. I've tried something different with this sweater, which my contribute to why it's being completed so quickly. I worked both of the fronts at the same time, and I'm in the process of working both of the sleeves at the same time. This way I know that they will be exactly the same. Plus, whenever I finish a piece I need to muster up the motivation to begin the next one. Doing it this way means that I only have to muster up that motivation twice (fronts & sleeve) rather than 4 times (front, front, sleeve, sleeve). So, it's more likely that I'll actually complete something before becoming bored with it... Seriously, give it a try sometime. Oh, this pattern will soon be available in Classic Elite's Spring 07 booklet Summertime Knits. It's originally done in Classic Silk, but I had to use some free yarn because I can't justify spending money on things when I have things that I didn't spend money on that I could use. Check out the Gallery! January 26th, 2007 Yippy, Classic Elite has finally updated their website to include the Spring 2007 garments! To see my designs, click here. How appropriate January 25th, 2007 So, I've decided on a color for that cabled pullover pattern. However, it's neither of the two colors below. I was having such a tough time deciding between those two that I broadened my options and found one that I liked more than them. HA! So, yesterday, after deciding that this was the color that I was definitely going to use I went upstairs (at work) to our warehouse to see if we had any in stock. So, here's a little story: I can't afford cashmere. There's no way I'll let myself spend that kind of money on yarn. So, I'm going to make this in Lush. It's the same gauge as Lavish and it will look just as beautiful (in my mind). When I decided this, I hadn't thought that Lush has been a pretty popular yarn this past season because of the scarf on the cover of Vogue. In fact, it didn't dawn on me until I was up in the warehouse looking around for which colors we have in stock. Unfortunataly, we didn't have ANY of the colors that I had been deciding between. So, I have two choices, I can wait until we get another shipment of Lush, which probably won't be until… um… mid-summer sometime, or I can break down and spend the money on the cashmere. I think that for the time being, I'm going to wait until Lush comes in, who knows, I may end up becoming impatient and splurging on the cashmere… but I'm doubting I'll do that, as nice as it would be. I can't decide! January 24th, 2007 This is a brand new pattern available from Classic Elite's Luxury division. It's FREE, but you've got to buy the yarn. I'm sure your yarn store will know about it… anyway. I've been wanting to make this design for a while now. But I've been having a tough time deciding on a color. I usually stick with naturals, but they've been getting so "cliché" lately, so I'm wanting to try something new! By "cliché" I just mean that I ALWAYS use natural colors for things for myself, and it's getting old. Anyway, here's my thought process on these colors. The very first color I thought of (after a natural) was the orange. I knit something with this color a few months ago and I really loved it. But, I got scared; the orange seems a bit bold. So I thought of the blue, which would be a more wearable color, however I've been told that this color blue is a bit too pale for my complexion. At the moment, I'm leaning toward the orange, but it's only a slight lean, like 55 orange/45 blue. I can't decide! Free Scarf Pattern January 23rd, 2007 Well, this really surprised me. Poking around the web world, I stumbled upon a free pattern for my Medallian Scarf that was printed in the Vogue Knitting on the Go - Crocheted Scarves Two book. I wasn't expecting to see it anywhere other than in the book, so as I said… it surprised me. Anyway, here's the link. It's the third one down, in pink. Some pictures. January 22nd, 2007 I've been pretty un-bloggy lately. Sorry about that... so because I have the chance, I figured I'd post about a few things. To the left you see a photo of the boucle sweater that I had finished at the beginning of the month. My little sister just happened to be going picture crazy on one of the days I was wearing the sweater. If she hadn't, you probably never would have seen it, as I don't really like trying to take photos of myself. I got this pattern from the Bernat website once upon a time, and I used 1 hank/ball of the Sensations yarn from Joanne Fabrics. I still have 2 balls of the stuff. For now, it's going into the stash. But I've gotten lots of complements on the yarn from family members, so maybe someone will get something from it someday. This is what I did this weekend. Yes, I began it on Saturday afternoon and finished it Sunday night. Needless to say, I didn't do much else. I had received some yarn from the Hub Mills Store that was originally sample yarn that Classic Elite had received, and did not want. It's 100% wool, and when I was knitting my swatch, was really disappointed with how scratchy it was. Also, the pattern I'm using calls for a size 6 needle, to get 5 sts/inch. So, that's what I did first. After washing the swatch and letting it dry it was 16 sts/inch :( So, I tried a 5. That was 18 sts/inch. So I tried a 4. Before the swatch was dried I decided to just start the back on the 4. Thankfully, when it was dried it did measure 5 sts/inch :) yippy! Plus, after washing, the yarn really softens up and has a beautiful drap Jelly Bean also really likes this yarn. I was woken up on Sunday morning by some loud scratching in the kitchen. Jelly found the plastic box filled with the yarn I'm making for that lace cardigan (above). She was more interested in the box, so I took the top off and gave it to her to play with. I don't think she has ever seen a clear plastic box, so she was intrigued. I'm sure by the time she has distroyed the top of the box, I'll be done storing the yarn in it, so she can then have the bottom to play with. Such a spoiled kitty. I've also gotten myself addicted to Hero's. My sister and her husband gave me a burned DVD set of all of the episodes so far. I have sucessfully avoided being addicted to any television shows for about a year now. So, I suppose it's time to change that :) At least it's only one. There was once a time in my life where there was something I watched every night, and I remembered the chanel and time for every show. I can't say I miss that. Anyway, tonight's the season premiere for the second season of Hero's. I hope I remember to watch it, I'm quite eager to find out what's going to happen! The poor, neglected website January 17th, 2007 I usually check up on my website every few days just to make sure that everything is normal. I guess that it only makes sense that the week that I totally neglect to look at my site that the home page has a strange phenomenon. For some reason the whole blog page was shown below the home page. It's not there anymore, cuz I fixed it, but it was for probably about a week. Meh, oh well. All better now :) So, why have I been neglecting my site? No reason in particular. I've just been busy doing other things. This weekend I finally cleaned the apartment. I'm still not 100% happy with it, but it's 30 times better than it was. To be honest, I usually don't go on the computer much when I'm at home, so most of my updates are done while on break at work. Because I'm still working on getting these Spring 07 booklets to the printer and updating the website I haven't had many breaks at work to do said "updating". Once I have the Classic Elite website updated for the Spring booklets I plan on getting my gallery updated with my Classic Elite garments… speaking of which… It's funny that in this field you work so hard on something that you become attached to it, but by the time that it is actually released and shown to the public the attachment is gone and you've since moved onto something else. I really like that feeling. I try not to be attached to many things, as I can only find happiness from within, and if I was attached to the projects as they were being released it would totally feed my ego. But since I've detached I no longer feel as though "I" had anything to do with their creation. So "I" don't feel as though "I" am receiving any reward by having it published… if that made any sense. If it didn't, ignore it and continue on with your happy day :) Swatchy swatchy me January 9th, 2007 Wow, it's been awhile. Sorry guys. I guess I've been busy. At work I'm really really working hard on getting the booklets finished so we can send them to the printer. The goal is the end of next week. So, hopefully, they will be in stores by the middle of February for you all to see! At home, sinse I no longer have a sweater to work on, I've been swatching away designs. I think a few of them are really pretty neet.There are some that I'm hoping will be done in time to submit to magazines. I'm really happy that I'm not mid-project, and I have time to swatch things. I feel like I've been neglecting designing lately, and it's nice to be back! Oh, and I'm sure you'll all love to see the completed sweater that I made for Jim! So, there it is. I have the pattern all written out, but I need to go through it and double check everything before I post it for you all to have and hold. It may be a little while, as I'm in swatching mode, not tech-editing mode. I still haven't picked up one of my old projects to finish. I have the feeling that it might be awhile, and I'll have things I'll need to make for magazines/Classic Elite before I get the chance... but that's okay, because I haven't had the urge to really begin another project yet... just swatch. One of the swatches I'm making is turning out to be really big. I created a fair isle chart that is 42 sts x 42 rows (the answer to life, the universe and everything) and began knitting two repeats of it with a thick yarn on size 10 needles… so it's pretty big. Probably big enough to be the back of a sweater, but I guess it needs to be that big to show the pattern. I'm really having fun making it too. I don't usually do fair isle, but it's so addicting now! I'm sure you'll see more from me in the future. I did it, it's frogged. January 3rd, 2007 I've been thinking about the Beatrice yarn that I have trapped in a sweater that I'll probably never finish. I really love the yarn. It's got a great bounce to it. I don't know how else to explain what I mean. So, I've been craving this yarn again, and in order to continue making the sweater that it is currently being used for, I'd have to rip it out to some point, and re-write the pattern based on how many stitches I have then finish it, and to be honest, that doesn't sound like something I want to do right now. So, instead, I frogged it! I know that I need to finish one other thing before beginning something new, so I'm not starting something with this yarn yet. It's just as well, because I need the yarn to sit and straighten itself out before I can use it again. I'm really thinking I'd like to make some sort of hoodie with it. I was introduced to the Wonderful Wallaby, so I might use that pattern as a starting point for how to come up with a pattern for Beatrice. I'm thinking I'd like to finish the crochet cardigan next. There are only 9 squares left to attach, then the trim around the neck. I'm estimating it to take about 7 more hours. Which, I guess isn't too long… for a sweater. Happy New Year everyone! January 2nd, 2007 Wow, that year went by fast. They seem to get faster and faster. I'm happy to announce, (as you may have read on my last December post) that I have finished Jim's sweater! It's funny how, once you're done with something that you've been working so much on, you don't know what to do next and you just sit there with your thumb in your ear trying to decide on something… So, here's what I decided. I want to complete two of those UFO's haunting the right side of this screen, before I begin anything new for myself. Classic Elite and magazine projects don't count, because those are something that I know I'll finish… I just don't want to be adding more possibly unfinished objects to this list before getting rid of some of them. I know that compared to some knitters, this list is pretty small. But I'd really like to keep it that way, and not let it get out of control. So, I decided to work on the project that needed the least amount of work first, the Boucle sweater. I began it on Sunday night right after finishing Jim's sweater, then I finished it on Monday afternoon! How great is that? I really didn't think that I had that little left to do. So, that's one down. One more to go. I can't decide if it will be the tire cover or the crochet cardigan. I have a feeling that the beatrice pullover is going to be frogged… we'll see. Patterns to Buy River of Life Socks Crochet Motif Cardigan Beatrice Ribbed Tie Coat Stormy Diamond Eyelet Cropped Vest Work's in Progress CEY Knit - Due Sept 10 Secret Project - Fin by Sept 4 Secret Project - Fin by Oct 10 Quilted Toe Up Socks Mountain (Knee) Socks Philosopher's Girl PO Crocheted Raglan Rasta Hat Master Knitting Striped Hat Forbidden Lace Cardigan Master Knitting Program - Level 1 Hauk Smiley Face Tire Cover