I've noticed that my photos have been coming in bursts lately. I couldn't tell you why that is. My own busy-ness perhaps. Anywho… here are some fun pictures.

This one is of the Beatrice Cardigan. It was taken last Thursday when it was still unfinished. Shortly thereafter the trim was completed! Woo! I've been wearing it around the house a lot since it's completion, but it still lacks buttons, so I guess it's not ENTIRELY finished. Soon though!

The picture to the left is what it looks like from the back (obviously). I'm loving the collar. I'm really happy I was able to figure it out to look the way I wanted it to. Once I get the buttons on you can see why I love the collar so much. There is 1 button about 3" up the collar, that makes it really hug my neck. It's warm and cozy, and I'm amazed at how fast I made it. Only 2 weeks!

Below is a picture of the buttons I will be putting onto the cardigan. I've misplaced my last yarn needle, I know I've had about 3 of them, and the last known one went missing soon after I finished weaving in all the ends on this sweater. I'm pretty sure it's around the couch somewhere, but I haven't had the energy to look yet. Once I find that, then I'll be putting the buttons on.

The other image below is the pretty snow that covered everything when I woke up on Friday morning. My whole drive to work was absolutely beautiful. It made the whole day wonderful.

Internation Scarf Exchange

February 22nd, 2007

I stumbled across this sometime a few months ago, and the old blog page has been bookmarked since. I swear, I must check it two to three times a week. They've been promising a new exchange for a little while now, but I was being impatient. I'm hoping my constant checking paid off. They just put up the new one today, and, they're only allowing 200 people. I sent in my questionere this morning, but haven't heard anything back yet (not that I'm expecting anything anytime soon). I'm super eager to find out who I get to knit for. I plan on designing my scarf, of course taking into consideration what the recipient likes, and what he/she talks about in their blog. The scarf and anything else I want to send needs to be shipped out by May 31. Jim and I plan on going to Hawaii in the middle of May, so I'm hoping I can get something special for my scarf recipient from Hawaii to include in their package. I won't find out who I'm knitting for until mid March, so until then… I wait.

Sniffles still remain.

February 21st, 2007

So, I'm in the final recovery stages of a pretty nasty cold that took over my life this weekend. I was so happy this morning to be able to breath out of both nostrils! It takes a lot of energy to defeat something like this... so, needless to say, I didn't get much knitting done over the weekend… or since then, really. It was actually pretty amusing. Sometime on Saturday I really wanted to knit, so I was balled up on the couch wrapped in a blanket with a space heater beside me, hugging a box of tissues. I pulled out my knitting and started plugging along. I think after about 2 or 3 rows, I got tired, so needles in hand, I closed my eyes and took a short cat nap. Woke up about 5 minutes later, knit another row, then napped again. I must have repeat this about 20 times before I put my knitting down. In spite of that, I am almost done the Beatrice coat. I finished the collar once, ripped it out and re-did it, and now I'm almost finished with the trim. It's going faster than I thought it would. I began at the back center of the collar, worked all the way down the left front, across the bottom and I'm at the turn to go back up the right front. I really want to get buttons before I work up this side, only because I would hate to have created the buttonholes only to find buttons that are too big or small for them. As quickly as the trim is going, I'd hate to have to rip out a whole side to redo it. Especially when I know it could be prevented.

Tee hee, SNOW!

February 14th, 2007

Oh, it was so nice to see snow covering everything this morning. The ride to work was actually somewhat nice. I like having to keep my awareness on something. It entertains me. I was listening to Dr Dyer talk about stuff I've heard him say before on a CD set that I have listened to many times, so I didn't have to pay much attention. The snow continued to fall, occasionally changing to rain. I enjoyed the sound of my tires going through slush and over packed snow as conditions changed constantly along my hour and 20 minute commute. I even witnessed a small accident on the highway. The car in front me went over a bridge where the snow was very slushy, and it didn't look plowed. Her CR-V started fishtailing. I slowed, wondering if the situation was improving or not. It wasn't. She then started spinning, as I, and the cars in the 2 lanes to my left came to a stop. The car in the far left lane, however did not. As the slowly spinning CR-V creeped over to the left lane, the brave little car tried to out run it, only to have the right corner of its rear bumber brushed off by the dancing CR-V. I'll admit that it probably wasn't as beautiful for those involved, but I really enjoyed watching it, and I'm happy that no one got majorly injured.

So… on to knitting things. I did get to the cap shaping last night! Hurrah! That makes me really happy. It means that the majority of the knitting is DONE! I think caps are my favorite thing to knit. Why, you wonder… Because the stitches decrease so quickly that the rows become faster and faster, until finally you're at the final bind off, and you're jumping for joy! I do still have the collar, but it's the collar… I don't feel threatened by it. It's not going to sneek into my dreams and attack me or anything. I'll defeat the collar by the weekend.

and the yarn goes on...

February 13th, 2007

The Beatrice sweater is almost done. I just don't know how it happens. I finished the fronts on Sunday afternoon then began the sleeves. I have about 4 inches to go before I can begin the cap shaping. But the row gauge is only 5 rows per inch, so that's only about 20 rows… which means I could probably get to the cap shaping tonight. Hurrah! Then comes the collar. It's gonna be big! So, it will probably take an evening or two to complete. THEN, I get to do the trim and an I-cord belt. The trim is going to be an i-cord edging. I've been wanting to do this on something for quite some time now, and this is the perfect opportunity, as there are no sharp corners on this piece. They're all rounded. Oh, I know you all just can't wait to see it. I can't wait to finish and show you! Right now, it's not much to look at, the rib keeps doing what ribs do, making it hard for me to flatten and photograph. Once it's blocked and sewn together I'm sure it will be tamed enough to share.

SNOW is coming tomorrow! I can't tell you how excited I am. Our friends from Texas still haven't really seen snow. We've only had small dustings. Finally, we're getting inches of snow. I know many parts of the country have had plenty, so your stomach turns as you read this, and for that, I'm sorry. But that's what happens in winter, right? Snow! I was actually beginning to doubt that we were going to get any this season… and that disappointed me. I hope the predictions are right, as they are so often wrong. Tomorrow we shall see!

Clicky clicky

February 10th, 2007

So, I finally got the chance to sit down and upload some pictures that I've promised would come. To the right is a picture of the Lace Cardigan partially finished. Obviously there are not any sleeves yet. But wearing this over that striped sweater kinda gave me some ideas. Actually, my creativity has been on an up-rise lately. I'm working on cranking a few things out so I can add some more patterns to the patterns page. It's been a little while since that page has seen anything new.

Oh, heh, those socks in the post below aren't going to be made. Don't get me wrong, they're a beautiful design, and the pattern's well written. But I just don't think I am meant to make them. I got the stockinette stitch gauge on them using a size 4 needle. I worked about 3" down and a woman at work suggested I go down a needle size. I agreed, so I ripped it out, and without checking the needle size, I grabbed a set of needles that I thought were size 3 and worked for about 2" before I noticed that they were size 5. I still have the sock on the 5's but I just totally lost the motivation to continue. The yarn is great though, so I'm thinking I might try to design some socks. Who knows, anything's possible, right?

Here is the finished sweater.

On Friday at work I was very inspired by a sweater that came in for Classic Elite's Fall 07 line, designed by Tonia Barry. I swear, it's the cutest thing. When I tried it on I fell in love with the way it felt and its shape. So, thinking of how I could make something like it for myself I thought of the Beatrice yarn that I had frogged from a sweater recently, and began designing something of my own that I could make in it. It's funny how when you're inspired by something, what you come up with can look nothing like what you were inspired by.

Can you believe that I began knitting this last night around 5PM? I finished it a few hours ago, and I"m about 3" up on the 2 fronts now. This is going super fast! At this rate I'll be finished by next weekend. It's nice to think that I'll be able to wear it before the warm weather comes.

If you click on the picture, you can see that there is a row of eyelets just below the waist. I'm planning on having an i-cord belt run through them. I'm debating on if this should be considered a coat or a dress. It might be possible for it to be warn as a dress. I'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Back to knitting!

Socks

February 8th, 2007

I guess, somewhere inside me I've been craving socks. I remember thinking about making some a few months ago, but I'd forgotten I had that desire… until yesterday when I found this pattern and the craving resurfaced. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I can buy yarn at work. Once I found the pattern I ran into the store and bought 2 balls of Sirdar Country Style in this pretty marled color, then started working up the first sock last night. It was one of those nights that I brought my knitting to bed, and ended up loosing track of time to complete "just one more round" over and over again. I'm pretty surprised how much I like this yarn. It's relatively soft for an acrylic/nylon/wool yarn. I'm excited that I'm knitting myself another pair of socks. It's like a birthday present to myself. Maybe I'll shoot for finishing them by my birthday then wrapping them up and making myself wait. Silly, I know, but it's a goal, and I tend to meet goals, even silly ones.

Do, de, do…

February 7th, 2007

I'm currently in between projects, and I've been trying to decide what to do next. I have been desiring a pair of those fingerless glove mittens that I had made for Jim, but I'm not sure that I feel like knitting another pair of those right now. I have some Princess in my stash at home that I think could get the same gauge as the Wicked I had used on his pair... and I know my hands would love a pair. But I have this thing where I can't knit the same thing twice; at least not so close together. I think I'm just lacking the motivation to do these again because they're something I've already experienced. I'd have to redesign them to inspire myself to make them again, which isn't totally unrealistic.

Another option would be to make a hat for myself. The one I have requires me to take my hair clip out to wear, and if you know me, you know that my hair clip rarely leaves my head. So this hat is asking a lot of me. One of my co-workers wandered into my office yesterday with bin of yarn and asked me if I wanted any. (how cool is that?) So, I took 2 hanks of some unlabeled yarn that was really soft and wound in the fashion of our luxury yarns. I don't know what's in it though. It doesn't really matter... it's soft. I know that yarn will need to be used in something small, so I'm considering using it for a hat. I've been searching for a pattern, or at least an inspiration for said hat, but I'm having issues finding the "perfect" design. I have an idea that I'm not sure about, so tonight it will be swatched and considered. We shall see.

My knitting speed has improved while I wasn't looking

February 6th, 2007

I had planned on knitting Jim a pair of fingerless gloves that have a removable mitten top for Valentines Day. I didn't expect to be able to finish them in one weekend. Something made me think that they would take the 2 weeks until V-day to make them… but it didn't. So, I gave them to Jim last night. He knew about them, as I kept needing to measure his hands to make sure they would fit him. It seems wrong to make him wait another week to use them, especially when it's so cold out right now. I bet if I had waited that we would begin having abnormal warmth the day I gave them to him, and they'd just sit in the closet until next winter. That's why he has them now. I splurged and bought a ball of cashmere to make them. He has more things made in cashmere than I do now. I was super happy that I was able to get them both finished without having to buy another ball. Phew. Sharon, the director of the Classic Elite Luxury Fiber Division loved them, so she asked for the pattern. It'll be available soon. She's just going to test it on a pair for herself, then we'll be sending it out to the public. The pattern itself will be free, but you've got to buy the yarn. It's only one ball, so it's totally worth it.

Lace is fun!

February 1st, 2007

I can't believe how fast I knit that sweater. I usually expect that a sweater will take me forever to complete, but this one went really fast for somet reason. I finished the sleeves last night, and wet them this morning. This yarn tends to really stretch out after washing, so I'm glad I washed my swatch rather than just blocking it. So, the sleeves are drying as I write... I'm planning on putting it together tonight and wearing it tomorrow. My mom will be pretty excited to see that it's finished. I visit her every Friday, and she always loves hearing about my knitting. If I finish the sweater tonight then she can see it tomorrow. The last time I was over there I was at the armhole on the fronts of the sweater, so I'm pretty sure she'll be as amazed as I am. I keep forgetting to bring my camera into work to get the pictures off of it… of course, that's something I could do at home too, but it's never something I think about. I'll get some pictures up here eventually, perhaps over the weekend.

My Raw journey

Patterns for Sale

Tweed Beret

Violet, the Slouchy Head Friend

Lush Woven Scarf

Petal Socks

River of Life Socks

Crochet Motif Cardigan

Beatrice Ribbed Tie Coat