Find a Deal Fridays!

I know I say this every week... but Holy Cow! It's Friday Already! hehe

I just now ran across this advertisement on Ravelry for a yarn site that I hadn't heard of called Annie Amelia. They are clearancing out a whole bunch of high quality yarns for a "reorganization." I'm not sure what that means, but I'll take it! hehe The one I liked the best was this Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino in a ton of colourways, on sale for $5.40 for 125m.(photo from www.debbieblissonline.com)

I've also found another Etsy store that I'm really excited about! It's called Yarntopia Treasures. They do all their own custom dying, ship all over the world, and can duplicate any of the skeins you see if you need more! What could be better than all this? Their Prices!!
This one is 270 yards of sport weight rayon for $4.50 in their clearance section!


But even their regularly priced merchandise is very reasonable! For example, their most expensive yarn is under $10 for great blends and fabulous colours. This one is my absolute favourite! A silk/wool blend, 360 yards for $9.95, and in my very favourite colours of all time. Almost too good to be true!!


Is any of my family out there? I want a gift certificate to THIS etsy store for Christmas!! LOL

If you're thinking you're ready to buy yarn for that sweater that's been brewing in the back of your mind, check out Divine Designs by Velvet at Etsy. It looks like she's doing some serious destashing, offering up bags of new yarn. This bag of Soysilk, hemp and wool is marked $30:


Happy crafting this weekend! :)

Is Moving Backwards Progress?

I frogged back the scarf. Well that's not entirely true.; I just ripped it out back to the end of the lace and put that little loop on it. Why would I have done this? It was simply too wide and it would have taken me until NEXT Christmas to complete. I've cut the yarn and cast it on again at about half the width and I am really glad I did. What does that make the piece of fabric pictured above? Well... it is made of mostly cotton... a really pretty dishcloth? lol I'm not sure if I"ll keep it or send it along with the finished product.

The second reason I did this was because the colour sequence on the two yarns that are being kit together started staggering some, and I don't think this effect is what I was going for. In my new cast on scarf I'm going to try harder to watch for that so that I can make small corrections as I go because I couldn't find a way to correct the larger discrepancy. I also re-cast it on with larger needles and am making a concerted effort to knit looser. It was getting to the point where passing slipped stitches back over knit ones was hurting my thumb and I wasn't even 1/5th of the way done.

So while this grand idea has been brewing in my mind, and the pull over vest has been sitting waiting to be frogged (oh, and the ball winder is on it's way. More on that when my Knit Picks order arrives!) what have I been up to?

My knitting pride needing a shot of adrenaline, so I decided to try some quick small projects, some more dish clothes. Here's what I've been making:


(LOL, Not the most professional of image compilations you've ever seen there, huh?)

I've been experimenting with slip stitch dishclothes and adding single crochet borders, then I've been making them in to little sets and finding interesting ways to tie them together. I think they'll make great little gifts for friends for Christmas, along with some baked cookies or something. They've allowed me to experiment, finish off some yarn front my stash, and complete these little projects, all of which make me feel good about knitting.

All About Me

Recently my friend from Ponder and Stitch awarded me the Premio Meme Award, which I think is basically a reason for bloggers to talk about themselves for once. (hehe Like you don't get enough of that, right?) The above image is one of me on my mom's porch during my trip home last year.

So here goes, 7 things about me you probably didn't know:

1. I'm not very good at eating my vegetables. I kinda think most of them taste like dirt.
2. I got married back in October to my guy, Mr. Pie, who is my fan club and biggest supporter.
3. I like cheap wine a lot better than I've liked any of the fancy ones I've tried.
4. I play video games, especially science fantasy ones where I can be an elf.
5. I was born and grew up in British Columbia, Canada, and still consider that my home.
6. I used to play trumpet in middle school.
7. I plan on joining the world of competative sports once again when I start school in the fall. My sport of choice? Swimming. Wish me luck. lol

So there ya go! Now I have to name 7 other people who have to do this!

http://samuraiknitter.blogspot.com/
http://groggyfroggy.blogspot.com/
http://moltodimodadesigns.blogspot.com/
http://samsaradesigns.blogspot.com/
http://lobug.blogspot.com/
http://acraftmom.blogspot.com/
http://fiberpron.blogspot.com/

Enjoy those blogs too! :)

Wave Goodbye To The Vest

I had a Come To Jesus moment with the pullover vest I was knitting. I've decided it needs to be frogged. And I swear I will frog it! Just after I get a ball-winder, that's all. I don't want to do it by hand and have a huge pile of yarn after. hehe So yeah... wave goodbye. I think when I recast it on (oh and I will!) I'm going to knit it front and back like I did my one before. It helps me to correct the mistakes a lot earlier I think. *sigh*

And as for the scarf, it's not going QUITE as planned. I keep missing stitches somehow. Here's it's current state:


Notice how the lines up at the top aren't totally even? No? Good. Maybe mom won't either. lol The pattern says for me to keep going until this thing is 30" long, which I just don't think is happening. lol Then I cast on the other side and knit it the same way, then join it at the top! A 50" scarf is just fine, right? lol I have to hang in there!!

So with one project on hold, and another one stalling on me, I sought to self medicate. With Baked Goods. I know... I know... I'm old enough I should know better. But there is nothing, NOTHING I tell you, better than home baked bread.


Oh and we might have some banana nut muffins in the oven. Kinda sorta.

Project Stalls

Well, both my projects are moving along, the super secret scarf project (hehe) and my dad's pull over vest, but both have stymied. I know, it should take longer than this to stymie, right? Let me explain.

Just as I expected with the lace weight yarn, going is slow. I'm to the not so difficult to memorize repeating pattern now, so it's not that. It's just that the yarn is so small that it's hard to get my needles underneath it sometimes. Does this mean I need sharper needles? I knitted through more than an hour of television this evening and only accomplished an extra inch of scarf. *sigh* An inch a day would get it done by oh... christmas or so. LOL

As far as the vest, I'm pretty sure at this point that it's way too big. I even knit a gauge swatch!! I've probably got 15 hours in the damn thing already, and I'm about 7" in to the 19" sweater. I'm almost half way through for god's sake! I so do. not. want. to. frog. it. But will my Dad even wear it if it's way big? Will he wear it just because he loves me? Or do I frog it and start again? I know the answer. I should frog it. But I don't want to and I'm POUTING.

More pictures on another post. I'm too dejected today. lol

:)

Could You Resist This Face?

My Popeye, inside my project bag. lol He's way too cute for words!

It's So PRETTY!

MOM! DON'T READ THIS POST!!! CHRISTMAS SPOILER! ;)

I am so so super stoked about how this rainbow yarn is knitting up with my pattern of choice, which doesn't happen to be the one that I originally thought I would make. The jubilee scarf with the cable detail ended up being too difficult to knit with my cotton/rayon mix because (I think) there just isn't enough elasticity for a 6 over 6 cable.

After some debate, Instead I chose this one as a replacement:

I love how pretty and feminine it is! And it's also forced me to learn a few new skills: knitting with two strands at once and following a chart, to name just a couple. I am so excited with the in progress shots of this scarf:


This was taken 2 1/2 repeats in to the first border, which is a total of 3 1/2 repeats before it goes in to the more cabled pattern. I was really super excited about how the colours were all lining up at the bottom, but then as I went on they became unaligned. I like the effect of a rainbow starting out and then just shattering apart and becoming all disorganized. Mom is going to love it love it love it!!