Another Cast On

I decided yesterday that I was becoming a little irritated and bored with my CotLin dishclothes, so I decided to cast on another project that I was eager to start: My 3-Hour Sweater, which you can see the pattern for here.

It isn't really a three hour sweater for me, I'm not THAT fast yet, but I do have a significant amount done since yesterday:


I'm knitting it with the recycled angora blend that I've been hanging on to for so long! Remember this stuff?


I wanted to try and do it like some of the modifications I saw on Ravelry where the ribbing goes all the way up past the waist, but I was scared I didn't have enough yarn, so it's just a wee bit of ribbing at the bottom, like the pattern calls for. I did take the sweater in significantly in the waist though too, so I hope that works out for me! I nipped it in pretty good, maybe too much, so we'll see about that one once I sew it together. I'm also going to be attempting to make the neck line a wider scoop than the original, which I think will be more flattering as well. With me luck. :)

Disaster in the Kitchen

No, not dying or even cooking. The disaster was related to the water heater and the swimming pool that magically appeared in my kitchen. lol No... it wasn't that bad. hehe I am, however, short one water heater. The owner and his plumber will be coming by to install the new one tomorrow! It looks like we'll be getting one of the newer model Tankless Water Heaters, which I'm pretty stoked about. Looks like this:

Most Awesome Heater

It pumps out 2.6 gallons per minute of water, super heating it as it comes it. They're rumored to cut your electric bill in half, which we're super excited about too.

The one we had before was the same height as the counters and had a white metal box around it so it acted like another counter space. The kitchen is a complete disaster right now, but with this tinier water heater we're going to get to go buy a BRAND NEW cabinet where the old heater was!! It'll have two drawers and two doors! YAY!! More storage in my kitchen!!

A Place for Pots and Pans

::Happy Dance!!::

Scarf and Hat Set is Done!

When I first cast on my first attempt at crochet, back during the Hand Emergency of '09, my main thought was only to keep creating without the pain in my left hand, not "Oo! I could make a cool matching set!" But, in the end, My First Crochet ended up being paired with My First Fair Isle to make this very cute set!


I like that it's not really "matchy matchy", just made in the same colours. The scarf is a little longer than you can see, with fringe on the end. Here's the hat inside out! Isn't it purdy?


Of course, neither have been blocked yet because I still haven't purchased blocking squares and have instead been using my bedroom mattress. Well... hmmm... the sheets probably should be washed today.... hehehe

Find a Deal Fridays!

I've found some fun yarns to show you today!

From Yarn Treasures, which I'm sure I've featured before, I found this gorgeous wool/silk blend.


Gorgeous! For just under $10 you get 360 yards of sport weight! I think this is just soooo pretty. Lace scarf anyone? They've got 119 listing, all of which were very reasonably priced.

Oh my gosh, LOVE this one! I think I have a new favourite colour!!



This yarn is called Papaya and Coconut and it's from PortFiber. MMMMMmmmmm. It's 430 of Superwash Merino/Nylon and just a tad under $13.50. She says it's a summer colour, but I think it's dripping the crispness of fall, don't you?

And I don't think I've mentioned Smiley's for a while, but there's a bunch of new yarns under $2 a skein, the following are just a few examples! (click the picture to be taken to their respective websites).


Enjoy your weekend everyone! I finished my Fair-isle hat and it's matching crochet scarf tonight. I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow!

Pluggin' Along

School's crazy, but I've been fitting in bits and pieces of knitting here and there. :) I think I might finish my first Fair Isle hat tonight! Homework is done - let the fun begin! hehe

After that, I'll be sure to blog about my hat/scarf matching set. One's crochet and one's knit, but still. lol Maybe after that I'll feel the inspiration to start my most fabulous scarf ever, the one that inspired me to start knitting in the first place. You know, I've posted the picture before, right? This one?


I've even got the pattern AND the yarn for it. I'm stoked! Wish me luck!

My First Fair Isle!!

At least, I think this is fair isle. That's anytime you use two colours back and forth in a row to make a pattern, right? Like this?

Snowflake Hat

And Yes, that's normally what my workspace looks like... maybe minus the wine. Most of the time. :P The scarf that I did in crochet in the same colours is done! It needs for me to be home before dark though so I can get a pic of it! Y'all will see it soon, I promise.

Cowl Is Done!

YAY! Something done that's for me! hehe This is the cowl that I began before my hand starting hurting and was put on pause. Here it is just laying flat:

I recycled and dyed this yarn from a yard sale sweater some while back but didn't have any real plan for it. The gradient dye that I tried with the brown turned out SO GOOD with this project! I love it! I wish that the yarn had just a teensy bit more elasticity in it, though, to hold it up around my face better. I'm still working on the concept of choosing the right yarn for the right project, ya know?

Here it is with my favourite winter coat:


And pulled up over my ears and nose!

I'm left with about half of the green still and just a teensy bit of the brown. Maybe I'll do a christmas ornament or something.

On the needles right now is a crochet scarf that I'll soon be sharing with you. Oh, and when they say that crochet is a lot faster? They're SO not lying. LL I just started the scarf last night and I'm about a half hour from finishing it! Crazy, right? :)

You May Have Noticed...

... that I'm trying a new layout, inspired by this super fun header that I found and edited.

What do you think? Thoughts? Opinions?

OMG! Find a Deal Friday!

How can it seriously be friday again? I was just saying to a fellow student that I can't BELIEVE we've been in school for two and a half weeks already. This is insane.

These deals? Maybe a little less "insane" so to say, but still way cool. hehe

Knitpicks.com has got this 40% off of fall books, including this one below, which I'm a huge fan of. Usually I don't like the felted look because it's just sorta not my cup of tea. This bag though? TOTALLY cute. I want it!!

Plus there are a bunch of other sweaters, scarves and accessories I'd love to knit. This book is less than $14, and you don't pay shipping if you spend over $50 from their site. Who couldn't find $50 worth of stuff that they want from Knit Picks?

See this beautiful yarn right here? It's from Portland Fibre Gallery and Weaving Studio... on sale!

Aren't the colours gorgeous? I wish I could live in the fall season all year 'round! This skein is a worsted weight merino, about 300 yards, for $13.50. There's so much else that's pretty at this Etsy store too. Check it out!

Maybe you're more a spinner than a knitter? Don't fret! Fall is out there for you too!


Doesn't it look like beautiful pumpkin patches?? I love it! Head on over to A Fine Fleece's Etsy store to check this one out! 4.8 ounces of merino and wool blended for $10.75. Wouldn't this make a great Christmas present for your favorite blogger? Maybe along with say... one of these?

hint hint, Mom!

Disappointed.

I tried to knit a little today and only got about 12 stitches in before my knuckle started aching again. So much for just "knitting gently"... guess that won't work. *sigh*

On The Needles

I've written before about how after I was finished with Christmas gifts that I got really lazy about choosing my next project. I posted a number of photos that I actually had the yarn for in my stash, but didn't feel inspired to start.

So I made myself just pick one. Thinking that I would want to start knitting with my home dyed yarn, I thought to cast on the lovely fairisle headband, but after after starting I found that the yarn was too light weight. So what to do?

Back to the Ravelry database I went and scoured around until I found a suitable project for my algora blend, hand dyed, brown and teal. This is what I've been working on:

It's a striped, 2x2 ribbed, cowl. Can you tell how the brown is done in a graduated fade? I'm kinda excited about it. It'll look great with my winter coat! The pattern calls for it to be 13" tall, which means, again, I'll probably have a teeny bit left over.

Getting this done quickly so I can try it on certainly has it's allure, but it seems as though I've maybe strained a ligament or something going from the middle knuckle on my left hand, down the finger. It really really REALLY hurts, so I'm going to have to take a break from knitting for a few days. It'll be a while before it's cold enough to wear it anyway. hehe

Another Obsession

So I'm window shopping online yesterday at all my favourite clothing retailers, AnnTaylorLoft.com, seeing if there's any great sales that I simply can't live without, when all of a sudden I see this sweater and my breath catches.

"Oh my god it's beautiful," was my first thought, followed quickly by, "Oh my god, it's $50!!" So I set to work examining it a little more carefully for construction details. (Click HERE to see it big so you can follow along and help me out, pretty please! hehehe)

Alrighty. I'm seeing a top down sweater here, with the yoke done in a simple 2x2 ribbing, followed by a couple of rows of garder stitch, then stockinette all the way to the bottom (with some shaping), then an inch or so of ribbing on the bottom. The arms just look like they were unfinished stockinette stitch and they rolled a bit, which is totally cool.

This is what I don't know how to do: I have no clue how to figure out what weight of yarn this is, what size of needle to use, and how to knit a sweater from the top down on a circular like I think this was done. I have no idea how to do that neck shaping, or how to introduce the sleeves, or what shape the sleeves take when they're 3/4 like these. What is the content of the yarn? I'm guessing a wool blend... but how to pick the right one?

Or do you guys think I'm totally wrong and it's knit from the bottom up in the round to get the neck shaping? Maybe it's one of those kinda of designs where the sleeves are made kind of like wedges at the top and the seam goes diagonal from the armpit to the neckline. Huh. I have no idea now...

I think after I knit a swatch I think I could figure out the math to make it fit. Any ideas where I start? Should I look for free pattern on ravelry that would kind of fit this shape?

Man, that's a gorgeous sweater.


UPDATE:

What do you guys think about this sweater? Apart from the neckline (which I LOVE in the original) I think this pattern could give me a great start:

The yarn in this one looks... stiffer... doesn't it? But with a little alteration to the sleeve length, the neck, and the design of the yoke, I think it could work. Or, I'm totally wrong. lol

A Fun Surprise

Earlier this week I had a VERY fun surprise come in the mail from my friend Jenny on Ravelry. She had been destashing some yarns (really, giving away, since she was only charging shipping.) and the only one left was a very small lonely ball of white mohair. I asked if I could have it since I hadn't had the opportunity to knit with mohair yet and she even offered to send it for free because it was only going to be a couple of dollars.

Then about Wednesday or so, after totally forgetting about it, look what I got in the mail from Sweden!


A VERY cute note, the little ball of mohair, and TWO chocolate bars!! (yes, the second didn't make it to the photoshoot - terrible tragedy.) She even went to the extra trouble of translating the ingredients list for me in case I was allergic to something. It has got to be some of the best chocolate I've ever had. Oh my god it was good!

Thank you so much Jenny!! I think I'm going to knit a little snowman for christmas. :)

Ever Wanted to Be an Angora Goat Farmer?

Can't say I haven't pondered it over the last little while, mostly right after shellin' out some bucks for gorgeous yarn!

Well, if you're SERIOUS about wanting to raise goats, now's your chance! You still have a few days to enter this give away!

A Mighty Big Givewaway from Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm!

Who wouldn't want to give this little guy a home? :)

Find a Deal Fridays!

Yay! On time this week!

KnitPicks.com has got some great deals happening for their kits right now, including one "Design Your First Sweater" kit that include 15 50oz balls of of their Wool of the Andes for just under $20. They include the pattern for the top-down sweater (with different cuff, hem, and neck options). It looks like this:


The sweater design isn't my favourite, but that saves you about 1/3 of the cost of the wool! I'm sure I could figure *something* to do with all that. ;)

Poppy Flower Fibers on Etsy (and out of Boulder, CO) is having a great sale for the month of September, too. She's offering 25% off all sock yarn, plus free shipping to the US and Canada. And oh my gosh, she has some GORGEOUS fall colours to drool over:


Too bad I've sworn off sock yarn, or I'd be ALL OVER this!! Wow, so many gorgeous skeins over there. Oh, and this one is Merino wool, 440 yards of fingering for $16.50.

From what I can tell, there are some people out there who LOVE their Noro, and I happened to stumble upon Webs' closeout sale on some discontinued colours of Silk Garden Lite. Dudes: 137 yards of DK weight for $6.49 (normally $11.99). The pictures are kinda tiny, so click through to check that one out.

Lastly, before I'm done with this week's FADF, I'll share with you my new find, www.littleknits.com . You can find whole bags for 70% off retail! An entire bag (meaning 10 skeins @141 yards each) of this beautiful wool blend for $40. Wow! And they have tons of other colours too!



Happy shopping everyone! Have you started your Christmas knitting yet? :)

Random Thoughts and Confessions

This post will be mostly composed of thoughts and occurrences that didn't really merit a blog post on their own, so I let them accumulate until they made one post. hehe So expect a pretty random post today!

First, a confession. I won these lovely stitch markers made with little painted cats on a blog give away! I was stoked, because I think stitch markers are so so fun to collect! But... (and here's the confession part) I totally can NOT remember who sent these to me! ACK! I haven't sent this nice lady a thank you note, because for the life of me I can not remember from which of the sites I follow that I won these on! So please, if this was you, forgive me! My brain is being bombarding by school!! Please let me know so I can thank you!

Aren't they cute??

Last weekend while I was mulling over my very lack-luster knitting as of late, I decided to unravel one of the sweaters in my frog pool.


Unless you don't get this impression from the photo: this is a LOT of yarn. I was kinda disappointed too because I thought it was going to be closer to a sport or worsted weight, and instead I'm guessing it's closer to lace or light fingering. Ever since that scarf I knit mom I've kinda given up on really little yarn. I love how it looks knit up! Don't get me wrong! But it takes forEVER to knit up! LOL

I got to thinking... do you think someone would pay for this much yarn? Someone who likes knitting socks maybe? Or someone who has a drop spindle and would like to twist two or three together to make a thicker yarn? I'm not entirely sure, but it's gotta be close to 2000 yards... 100% cotton. And if I was going to sell it, what does a person charge for recycled cotton? I thought I would seek our your opinions because you're always so helpful. :)

Then, my last random thought. I was going through my stash the other day looking at what I had and searching for inspiration to cast on a new project, and came across these:


I'm beginning to accumulate bits and ends of yarns that I've knit with. What in the heck do you do with these?? It's too much to throw out, but not enough to knit anything I can think of. Do you guys store them seperate for doing colour work maybe? I'm going to have a million of these things if I just keep 'em!

School update: today marks my 1 week anniversary of starting classes at Hollins. I am wore out, plain and simple. Right now homework is sucking my energy like a vampire. Ugh. Is this related to my lack of knitting mojo? Discuss.

Lacking Inspiration?

After finishing my slippers, I've been lacking inspiration for what I want to cast on next. Yes, it's true, I have a cotton dishcloth on the needles... and that sock that's been there forever... but the later will soon be complete and the latter is completely uninteresting to me. Why is this happening? Maybe a push to get the Christmas projects done has left me lacking a vision or a sense of purpose?

It's not like I don't have things in my queue that I could start on. I've got a couple of balls of my hand-dyed that I've been thinking about trying some fair-isle on, a couple single skeins that would work for a small neck warmer, and a couple balls of those alpaca that I've decided to use for my dream scarf project! Why aren't I all over that?

Well, I'm not entirely sure. Here's a few pictures of projects that I technically have the yarn for, but seem uninterested in starting:



So where do you all you passionate crafters find your inspiration? Hopefully this'll give me a kick in the pants! :)

Why Does Food Have To Be So GOOD?

I've just discovered within the last few years that I really probably enjoy food more than I should. Mr. Pie is just such a fantastic cook! Last night we cooked (well, he cooked. I helped) an amazing Back To School special meal. I got to pick! I decided that I'd been craving shrimp fettuccine. So we pulled out the good silver, and this is what I got:


Spinach, shrimp, fettuccine all covered in the. most. amazing. alfredo sauce. I don't know all the secrets, but I know there was butter, heavy cream, lemon zest and fresh grated Parmesan involved.

Thank you, Baby, for a wonderful back to school dinner!! :D

Find a Deal ... Saturday?

Now with new and improved Picture Clicking! (duh? Why didn't I have this before?)

Well, I knew it would happen eventually, sadly. It's Saturday and I forgot Find a Deal Fridays yesterday! Ack! So with that behind us, we'll dive right in. Labor Day sales galore!

Gosh I love recycled yarn! MichMashYarns has a whole bunch of it for 20% off of their regular prices! My favourite:


100% Lambswool! 250 Yards of it, worsted weight, for $3.20. Fab! There are about 30 other yarns to choose from at her Etsy store, so definitely go check out all her recycled goodness.

I'm tellin' ya, I did NOT expect to find a great deal at such a great dyer! BareSheepYarn has marked down this beautiful hand dyed skein, called Jenny:


120 yards of Super Wash Merino for $9.99! Super pretty. I want a hat made of this. :)

Smiley's Yarns has a few new ones I saw today too. Big Tuft Merino is 80% off retail at $1.99 per 27 yards. And Paton's SWS, made of wool and soy mixed, is more than 50% off at $2.99. I think the one that makes me the most excited, though, is the Roywan Soft Luxe below! For three bucks you get 137 yards of worsted weight Wool/Cashmere/Nylon blend. I LOVE that sable colour (the taupey-browny one). It's called Rowan Soft Lux.

Please, Pay No Attention To The Zombie Leg

Knitted Moccasin Slippers

I cast on slippers! Having completed the christmas list so far, I decided to do something easy and experimental. Originally, they were supposed to be for Mr. Pie, but they came out a little small so I'll have to do his for him next. ;) They're done in some stray acrylic I had around and they are sooooooo soft and squishy and comfy! These ones you knit flat and then seam up the bottom and back. Way cool project.

The second day of school was today, and let me tell you something: I am going to be very busy this semester. I'm taking 4 classes (18 credits). Calculus I, Introduction to Anthropology, Introduction to Business, and Leadership Skills. All of them are going to be pretty intense, with about an hour of reading at least between each class, and the Calculus will be at least an hour a day of homework. Man oh man ...

But I'm excited at the same time. I love the school I'm at and I know I'm going to be more joyful again once I have my mojo back and have the groove of things. I'm a creature of habit and pattern and I haven't found habits or patterns yet, so I think it makes me feel a bit on edge.

In the mean time, I'll knit to keep same.

Dum. Dum. Dum. Another One Bites the Dust!!

Lila's Christmas present is done!! Check it out:

Num Num Num

It's a brain monster hat, complete with bit scary teeth and googly eyes! hehe This was a super fun, super fast knit that I might just find the occasion to do again (not to mention I have eleventybillion googly eyes. :P )