{2010 In Pictures}

I've been quite the productive knitter this past year!  With the help of picasa, I've pulled together a collage of (most of) my projects completed during 2010. 

(just for fun, here's last year's collage for comparison's sake)

I've made a lot of progress this year!  I think  2009 was decidedly the year of hats, but this year I can't really put a label to it.  I knitted more kids' sweaters, venturing in to top down raglan designs, fair isle, as well as pieces knit separately and seamed.  I knit a lot more lace this year, including 4 shawls, as well as a couple pairs of lace socks.  I did a couple pairs of mittens this year, both fingerless and with fingers, which I'm planning on doing more of very shortly.  It was a good year!

In the new year, I'd like to do more sweaters for me and try to knit more for me.  It's amazing how much of what's above I've kept for myself.  7 of the items above are still with me ( and three of those are toques).  I'm still working on melding what I like to wear with what I like to knit, ya know?   I want to knit more socks, for sure.  But my main goal I think is to knit more in a finer gauge.  I think I'm happier with projects when I do, and my knitting is certainly teaching me patience.   Maybe there's a fingering-weight sweater in my not-too-distant future. :)

What about you guys? What are your knitting / crafting goals for 2011?

{The Christmas Haul}

Hi folks!  I hope your breaks are all going just lovely.  Did you have a good Christmas?  Mine was really wonderful over here. We had snow on christmas eve and then a little more on christmas day, which was just beautiful.  Not very much... just a couple of inches, but I'll take it. :)

I had a very fibery Christmas, too!  My mom bought me some GORGEOUS hand spun undyed alpaca from a little farm back home.  The alpacas name is Hamlet. hehe Any suggestions on what to knit from this?  I really don't know the yardage, and it varies from bulky in some spots to more like dk in others.  Maybe a cowl of some kind? Where on Ravelry would I search for patterns that are good for hand spun yarn?

The Mr. Pie bought me some yarn I've had my eye on for a long time now!  It's 100% cotton Color Changing Yarn from Wolle's Yarn Creations on Etsy.

It's really neat yarn and I LOVE the colours.  It's made up of 4 very small threads and the colour changes happen by changing one thread at a time to the new colour.  Pretty cool.  What I'm not a huge fan of is that the yarn isn't plied, which is kind of strange, and they just kinda tie in the new colour so you end up knitting with 6 threads for a little bit and you have ends to snip off.   I'm super excited about this one and knew immediately what I would cast on - the Lace Christmas Rose scarf by Susann Hajjar.   

What I love about this pattern is how there are so many different lace patterns, but they all blend so beautifully in to one another.  It's very fluid.  You can see I chose to knit green on the ends and it'll be the light tan colour in the middle.  I love waiting to see when the changes will come!  It's exciting knitting.  Also, I never get bored of the lace pattern, which is my typical problem with these long lace scarves.  I just finished the first of 6 sections! 15% done!

The first pictures of well received Christmas gifts are trickling in, too.  Here's one of my baby niece and god-daughter Alora in her new sweater (the baby body armor) and the tutu her Great-Grandpa bought her. Oh my goodness it's WAY too cute!

The sweater fits nice! The arms were a tad long, but my sister just rolled them up for her.  I suppose they could be rolled down if her hands are cold.  And the cables look great!  At first my sister didn't think it would fit but it's way way stretchy!  I'm calling this one a success.  I hope I get other photos of my knitting being worn and loved!  The pictures mean so much to me because I spend so long wondering how my creations will fit and if the recipient will love it and wear it.

I also finished a project over Christmas!  Mr. Pie's socks that I was knitting out of a great dark green Araucania wool yarn.

This was a another pattern out of the Toe Up Socks book that I got for Christmas last year. I think it's my third or fourth one!  I'm thinking the other books might be coming my way soon!  I had a TON Of this yarn left over because after my last incident where I ran out of yarn, I was wary of it happening again.  Mr. Pie bought me my very own yarn scale though, so never again! YAY!

Did you guys get as spoiled as I did this Christmas?  Do you have snow where you are?  I have one week of vacation left, and I intend to knit my heart out! :D

{My Swap Package!!}

YAY!! It's finally here!!  Laura Jane is from Needles, Pins and Baking Tins blog.  I can't remember if I found her or if she found me, but once I read her site I was hooked!  She's more of a quilter turned crochet/knitter and I'm a knitter trying to do some quilting.  She also has the EXACT same sewing machine that I have! How cool is that??  We're also both math type people, which is cool to find. :) Totally kindred spirits!

So of course, one thing lead to another and we began emailing back and forth.  The idea of a swap was brought up and I jumped at the chance!  I love swapping with my international friends. :)   We set a deadline for sending out our packages on December 1st.  Mine somehow got to her at lightening speed and she wrote about it here , and for some other random reason mine took until today to get here!  And let me tell you... it was WELL worth the wait.  I've totally been spoiled!

I was impatient and didn't take a picture of the pretty box!  You can see Popeye climbed in the pretty stripey paper instantly. hehe  The yarn was all wrapped up in some some CUTE reindeer paper and there were hand written notes!!  I love a great hand written note. hehe

Oh my goodness there are SO MANY yummy goodies in this box!!  I'll save the yarn to show you last. ;)

The food yummies here are some Jammie Dodgers (these are them, Laura Jane! YAY!), some mince meat pies!! Oh my goodness oh my goodnesssssss! The real ones!  These will be going in the oven one by one!! for just ME! And some HP sauce for Mr. Pie to eat on his Bacon Sarnies. hehe

Then there's a VERY cute recipe book ( which I can't wait to delve in to) from a British magazine, some Twinings tea that I don't recognize the name of (very cool), some GREAT lipton teas, a few candies, which are so much fun, and the felt hearts are on my tree!

Some traditional marmalade, orange and strawberry, then finally some awesome scraps of fabric to start building up my stash!  Even some from Laura Jane's baby blanket that her mom made her way back when!  It's these personal details that make swaps the best thing on the entire planet.  I could not be more excited about all of these things!!

Then... The yarn.  Does this face say it all?

There are two balls of Sirdar Eco Wool, 100% undyed virgin wool.   It is soooo much softer than you think it might be.  I LOVE this! I think I could buy undyed for absolutely everything and I'd be perfectly happy. 

Laura Jane sent two balls of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed that are to DIE for!   I hadn't had a chance to knit in a tweed yet but I've been chomping at the bit! This dark brown is just so incredibly lovely:

Then finally.... an absolutely gorgeous skein of recycled Sari yarn!  I'd heard of it before but I had never seen it in person!  The shine this yarn has is stunning.  I already have a project brewing for this one!

So Laura Jane, in response to your comments about me spoiling you and going over board -  I think I got the better end of this deal! hehe  You asked for less expensive yarn than I did for sure!  I can not wait to get knitting with these and testing all my yummy goodies! Thank you so much, Laura Jane!  This was an excellent Christmas Eve Eve surprise!!

{A Finished Sweater}

This pattern, The Opulent Raglan, has proven to me that top down seamless raglan sweaters are all I ever want to knit for myself. Ever.

This beauty came together in 5 days.  FIVE DAYS!  It is aran yarn on size 8's, but still.  I just LOVED knitting it.  I tried it on every step of the way to make sure the waist shaping was right and the decreases in the arm were working for me. 

You may notice that it's missing the puffy arm thing ( I wanted to be able to wear this sweater without dragging the arm in my soup. hehe) and I also made it a touch shorter than in the pattern photo.  I like this length on me that just brushes the top of my hips because I think it's flattering.

The edge detailing used in the pattern is really pretty.  You knit your desired length and then knit a purl row, then knit in stockinette for about inch or so.  The material naturally folds at the purl row and you can tack the inch of stockinette under like a hem.  It's so pretty on the bottom and on the arms.

And the yarn... Lord have mercy the yarn.... it is Heaven. Sundara Silky Merino, 50% silk, 50% merino wool, and it is so incredibly warm and soft.  I can't stop touching my sweater!  It's a single ply, which from what I hear will pill, so I have to be careful about shaving it when it does.  I also haven't blocked it yet, which I'm scared to do because at $32 a skein this sweater is worth over $100 in yarn alone.  I'm so SO lucky that my friend Hope gifted me this yarn!  It's SO gorgeous and I certainly don't feel worthy!!

{11 Days Until Christmas!}

and my last gifts are in the mail! So how do I celebrate?  I sew a new bag for ME!  The idea struck when I surfed in to these directions at New Green Mama. Fantastic full tutorial with a TON of pictures!  I had been pondering what to do with the rest of the fabric I bought for the treeskirt and this pattern totally fit the bill!

It's about 12" x 14" wide and the size is perfect for a math textbook and a notebook, plus pencils and erasers and stuff.  There's two pockets, little square one and the one that's the whole width on the solid red side.  And did you notice it's fully reversible?  I love it! Thank you Green Mama for the pattern!

{The Perfect Sunday}

The perfect Sunday began by sleeping in WAY later than normal (like 8 o'clock people. It's unnatural for me), then a pancake breakfast!  Shortly after, with a cup of hot chai in hand, I began my final exam for International Politics class.  2 1/2 hours plus 8 pages type written later, I was finished with the whole day ahead of me!

Mr. Pie and I made a quick grocery store run and I came back to chat with two of my favorite people ever - Jenny and Anna - on Skype.   (do you Skype?  I kinda heart it hard.)  Then as the sun was going down the Christmassy Spirit arose!  We made bread bowls from scratch and some clam chowder to go in them for dinner, plus homemade eggnog for dessert.  SO easy and SO SO SO much better than store bought eggnog!

Bing Crosby went straight in to the cd player and some tree decorating begun!!

It was really hard to get a good picture of the tree, so it looks kinda bare. I'll try again tomorrow in the natural light, I promise. Here's a few of our favorite ornaments and our angel topper too. :)

I also have an FO to show you!! How exciting is that?  Mr. Pie asked for a balaclava to wear to work next week since it's going to be in the teens in the early morning and he'll be working outside (!!!) so of course I was happy to oblige.  I pulled out some cascade pastaza, which is 50% wool and 50% llama, VERY warm!

This is a super simple knit, just a 2x2 rib, I cast on 88 stitches and knit it in the round until it was long enough to cover his nose.  I cast off about 32 stitches, knit two rows back and forth, then used the backward loop method to cast the 32 back on.  From there I did about an inch and a half of rib then switched to stockinette so that the decreases were easier.  I knit 6, knit 2 together, all the way around, knit one row straight, then knit 5 knit two together all the way across, etc. 

I ran out of yarn so close to the end that you may notice the very tippy top is a slightly mixed green. hehe I think it's kinda cute!  This knit will certainly be super warm and functional.  That's one of my favorite parts of knitting I think, just knowing the things I create help keep my loved ones warm and cozy. :)

{ I Sewed A Tree Skirt!}

This afternoon, after a long day of shopping in the big city of Roanoke, Mr. Pie and I stopped at our favorite locally owned tree dealer to pick up our Christmas tree!  She's a beauty!

Oh my goodness! What's that wrapping delicately around the base of our tree? 

Well well well.  That's the new tree skirt I sewed ALL BY MYSELF!   Yep, you read that right!  Isn't that fabric to die for?    I absolutely adore it!  The tree skirt reversible too with a solid red linen texture fabric that's just as gorgeous!  Both fabrics were bought at Joann.com on Black Friday when they were 50% off, so with shipping two yards of each was $36.  Mr. Pie also bought me the pretty red thread and some new heavy-weight needles for my sewing machine.  I got to figure out how to install new needles! hehehe

I'll be the first to admit that it isn't perfect, but I love it.  This tree skirt is just the kind of project that I like - simple and beautiful.  Nothing fancy, just two doughnut shaped fabric sewed together with some ties to close it up.   This is also the first time I've had to sew circles!

What do you think?  Can you tell I'm happy as a clam and proud as a peach?? :)

{More Frogging than Knitting}

I'm not traditionally a frogger.  I loathe the idea of undoing hours of time and work and starting from the beginning, so instead I usually try to make do.  But I tried on my bottom-up sweater only to find that it was about 6" too large in the waist for me, which isn't really fixable, so two skeins of Sundara Silky Merino made their way back in to cakes and I recast on for a much smaller size.  This yarn is just too good to not wear when my V-Neck sweater is complete! The frogging had an added bonus of allowing me a second chance at the cast on since I found it was rolling something terrible.  I restarted with an I-Cord cast on instead of a few rows of garder.  It took two days to do, but I really like the result.  I'll talk more about the project when I'm a little farther along and have something to show you.

I have had significantly more success in doing small projects around the house!  I found the inspiration for this 5 minute project on Design Sponge where they wrapped yarn around balls to create their snowmen, but when I first saw it I just thought it was stacked cakes!  So that's what I did! 

The buttons are just attacked with two stick pins and the arms are tiny twigs.  It was just what I was looking for in my display!  I love the textures beside each other (cotton, wool and linen) plus the slightly different cream colours and fun too.

Mr. Pie and I also made our second annual Gingerbread House!  We had such fun last year that we decided to give it another go. 

We struggled with our dough in the morning and by the afternoon I'd become so frustrated I ditched it for a kit from the grocery store.  I like the simplicity of just putting it together and decorating it, but it lacks personality I think. So next year the secret will be to refrigerate the HECK out of the gingerbread dough so it's not sticky.

 And we got our first snowfall this weekend!  Always an exciting time!  We took the opportunity to do a teensy bit of baking. What you see are some chocolate covered almost and pecans setting in the cold because the cutting board didn't fit in the fridge. hehe 

They were super easy - just melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler (or a metal bowl and a regular soup pot, as it was in our case) and then toss the nuts in the chocolate until you feel like you've got them covered without too much chocolate left over, them spoon them on to some wax paper and allow them to cool. We were a bit impatient. hehe

I hope your December is coming along as nicely as ours is here!  The final projects for the semester have been turned in, but that hardly means I'm done.  I have two big final exams coming up that will be the bain of my existence for about the next week or so.  Wish me luck!

{More Decorating}

I really liked my fall table top display.  The sideboard in the dining room is the only flat surface in the house that isn't totally functional, so I feel like I can go a little crazy with the decorating there.

Here's how I've changed it up for winter:

It's a little different from last year's when we exclusively used the miniatures.  The books that were part of my fall mantle have been wrapped up in the red plaid fabric, and of course you get to see my wreath transformation too!  I really like how it looks all lit up. :)

I'll probably fuss with it a bit in the coming weeks.  Lower the wreath I think, and I want something with more pizazz over on the right instead of those little candles and the extra lantern, but they'll do for now.

Here's a few more closeups:

 

How is your holiday decorating coming along? :)

{New House Socks)

I finished some big comfy house socks!!

The pattern I really only used the charts as a inspiration.  It's the log cabin socks from the book Handknit Holidays.  The pattern is the written for top down with a beautiful complicated heel flap.  I however decided to do them my normal toe up way and just put a short row heel in for simplicity.  They're very functional!

The yarn is Kampes, which is a Swedish yarn that my friend Jenny from Jenny's Blog on Knitting gave me as part of a birthday package.  It wasn't the most pleasant to knit with because it's pretty scratchy, but let me tell you... it makes some WARM socks!  You see here that I didn't make them overly tall and I'm wearing socks underneath so the yarn isn't against the skin.

So YAY!  Now... what to cast on next? I think it's going to be in the softest yarn I own. hehe

{The First Christmas Decorations}

I went to the dollar store today and bought a few things to do the first of the Christmas decorating.  My fall wreath was pretty, but it was time to move in to the new festive season!

I spent $4 this morning to change out my wreath!  Here's what it looks like:

The supplies you'll need to do something like this are...

- A Grape vine wreath
- some $1 stems of holly and $1 stems of white flowers (I only needed 3 stems total for my little wreath, but you may need more).
- a $1 roll of red velvet ribbon
- glue
- wire cutters
(ignore the tape, I didn't end up needing it!)

Step 1:
  (Don't forget to attach your preferred method to hang before you get started!)
Don't forget to attach your preferred method to hang before you get started!I started by wrapping my grape vine wreath in the red ribbon in a kind of candy cane pattern, leaving some spaces blank. 

I finished this off by gluing the ends of the ribbon together behind the wreath.

Step 2:
Cut all your holly off the stems using the wire cutters and leave two inches or so of the stem.

Step 3:
 Push all of the individual pieces of holly through the back of the wreath at the bare spots between the ribbon and bend the stem behind. I don't like to use glue for this because I want to be able to disassemble it and use the wreath again.

 For the three white flowers I just bent the stems and hooked them over the back of the wreath, layering on top of the holly.  So really they're just kinda hanging there.  Shh! You won't tell anyone, will ya?

Step 4:
 Hang it up.  I used a bit of twine for this, but you could of course use more ribbon or a hook.  Take a step back and admire your work!

This weekend will be more decorating around the house so I'll show you how it fits in to the overall scheme of the dining room as soon as the rest of it is done. :)

{The Silliest Thing I Have Ever Knit}

By Far.  Mr. Pie got very excited when he saw this pattern as I was flipping through Ravelry patterns.  He requested that I drop all of my other knitting and start making him one.  I was excited because he rarely gets so excited about my knitting, so of course I obliged.

It must have been fate because I even had all the necessary yarn in his colours of preference on hand.  And now, two days later, we have this:

Do not rub your eyes, it's true. This toque has a beard attached! And a silly mustache!  Want to knit your own? Check out the BEARDED TOQUE pattern on Ravelry!  Maybe there's a Man in your life who will get as excited as mine is right now.... but that man will be difficult to find!

{Wordle is Fun!}

Go to www.wordle.net to make your own Wordle!!

{Another Knitting Attack}

Maybe I could make When Knitting Attacks a weekly segment, just like on the Knitmore Girls podcast? lol

This one is kinda serious though.  I decided I wanted another pair of socks out of my pink yarn I got for my birthday.  This time in cables instead of lace!   I knit one whole sock from the toe up, turned the heel and knit the heel flap and then put the sock on some holders.  I cast on the other sock from the outside of the ball and knit along thinking that at the end I would knit a row on each until I had used the whole ball! Two equal socks! Brilliant, right?

Well....

I ran out of yarn during the gusset of the second sock.  These will probably wait until I can order a second skein of the yarn from gaiascolours.com.  *sigh*

Now I have to figure out what to cast on next!

{FO As Promised}

Hellooo!  I've had one crazy week, let me tell you.  Crazy ups and downs!  I'm glad to be off of classes for the week of thanksgiving, and not so glad that I have a whole bunch of homework to do during that time.  But that's okay! Only two weeks left once I get back!

Since knitting kept me from crying too much, or killing a person, I did a lot of it last week.  I'm not quite sure of the results.   Normally this is where I would warn the recipient of this gift to click away, but since the recipient is only a year old and can't read yet, I have nothing to worry about! :P

I present to you: Alora's Sweater.

This is the one I did out of Vanna's Choice, so it's SUPER thick.  Mr. Pie jokingly referred to it as "Baby Body Armor" and I can't say that I totally disagree with him!  The shoulders have come out kind of funny but I won't really know how funny until she tries it on. So I hope that works out well! :D

AND this marks the official end to my Christmas Knitting List 2010!  Everyone is getting something knitted this year (pretty much everyone) and this week I will be wrapping and packing so that the packages can all make their way out by December 1st to beat the shipping craze! YAY!!

{Knit PIcks Contest!}

In case anyone in my family is interested in Christmas shopping from my Knit Picks Wish List  , here's the link!

Oh, and I COULD win my list if I get lucky too! WAHOO!

(don't worry, there'll be a better post this weekend. I've been knittin'!) :)

Holden Shawlette DONE!

 My Holden Shawllette is done!!

Rav link to the free pattern

 I finished it earlier this week. I pretty much love everything about it!  I love the colour the BEST!  This might be my favorite yarn colour ever - Malabrigo Sock yarn in Botecelli Red.  The variation in the yarn is my absolute favorite kind of colour too - sorta solidish. hehe  The pattern was super easy and would be a great intro to lace/ shawl knitting for anyone looking for an entry project!  The size is bigger than I thought and it's knit on 6's, which is kinda large for a lace shawl.  It's one that's easy to wear too because I don't feel like it's way fancy or anything.

As soon as it was blocking I started pulling out the yarn from that Pea Coat that made me so mad and starting knitting on my LAST Christmas gift!!  The sweater for my niece is to be the Cable Rib Pullover by Kristen TenDyke.  Here was my progress as of thursday: 

Another free pattern available on Ravelry

Don't those cables just look impressive?  It requires two cable needles, which is something I've never done before.  I love how fast this knit is going (maybe because the back was only on 60 stitches? hehe)  The back was done yesterday and I cast on for the sleeves to do two at a time on a long circular.  I'm not sure why I didn't do this pattern in the round instead of knitting the front and back separate.  I usually don't mind the seaming part too much and as I've already pointed out, it's a pretty little sweater, sized for a 2 year old.  Since Alora will only be 18 months comes Christmas, hopefully it'll fit her for at least through the winter.  

The yarn is Vanna's from Lion Brand and chosen because it has a great loft to it. It's showing the cables FABulously, but I'm not really enjoying knitting with it.  It's tough on the hands after knitting with it a ton and I'm looking forward to gettin' this one done!  I don't think she'll have any problems wearing it though and hopefully it'll soften up more after a washing. :)

{Some School Maddness, then Knitting. and sewing.}

I'm seriously seeing a pattern in the frequency of my blogging lately - mainly that I have been blogging once a week on a weekend day.  I'm not surprised because I know how stressed out I've been at school this week month. And really, it's been my knitting that I've sort of retreated in to.  Healthy or not so much?  I really don't know, but I'm glad I have it.   It's only two weeks until Thanksgiving break and then I get that whole week off of classes (but will have tons to do at home) and then I go back for a week and a half, and then it's FINALS!   It's so so weird how fast it's coming up.   I have so much to do next week and in to the weeks after, but at the same time it feels like this semester just started a few weeks ago.

Last week I kind of had a melt down, actually.  My classes are just getting so hard and I'm having a hard time spreading the hard ones out over the last three semesters I have until I graduate because of when the department offers the classes I need.  We're a small math department on a mostly residential campus and I'm an adult commuter student.   My advisor was trying to pressure me in to taking not only the 8 credits of math I don't have a choice about (if I want to graduate in 2012), but also another 2 credit elective course.  Ummm... No.  I think I mostly have that situation worked out after a LOT of meetings with deans and department heads.  I may have to go to another college to take an elective in order to graduate on time, but I'll be a much saner person for it. :)

I realize this blog is called "The Student Knitter" but I rarely talk about the student part.   I've been a strong student all my life and have always enjoyed school, so I guess no one thought to tell me that school was going to get really hard, even for me, and that I would begin questioning my ability to finish it altogether.   I also still have no idea what I think I want to do with my BA in Mathematics and another BA in Communication and Technology (business, basically).  Everyone I tell that to goes "huh. What a weird combination."  lol   If anyone has a job themselves, or knows someone who has a job that has these kinds of qualifications, I would love love love if you would leave me a comment or send me an email!

Skip to Here if you want to read about Knitting! hehe                                                                       
So, are you ready to see some knitting updates? hehe  As you can see by my side bar status thingy, I did decide to frog the pea coat I was working on.  I was just really mad at it. lol   I haven't decided what I'm going to do to replace it yet and since it's my last gift to finish before I need to send everything to Canada on December 1st I decided to start something for me!


I cast on the Holden Shawlette, which was published for free in September 2010 and already has 124 projects!  Mine doesn't look like much yet, just the stockinette body.  I'm doing it in this yarn: my Malabrigo Sock in my absolute favorite colour EVER.

(remember this mess? Never again Thanks to my friend Hope!! She sent me a swift as soon as she saw this pic!! Thank you so much!)

So yeah.  I'm chugging away on that and pondering Niece #3's Christmas gifts!  This year is going to be very lean so I'm sure I'll have to knit something, but what? Or maybe I'll quilt for her? Dunno yet, but it needs to be done in the next three weeks ! lol

I also did a bit of sewing last night.  It was kind of an whirlwind of little threads and machine whorls:

It's a pillow! Kind of lumpy and poorly photographed, but made out of the fabrics leftovers from my quilt and a recycled sweater.  The lumps will work themself out with wear, right?  This was my first time working with a knit fabric (what a pain!) and also my first applique project, and the first pillow I've ever made. LOL  I like it, I think.  It looks amateurish, but I learned a lot (like buy pillow forms, not just stuffing!)    I also tried to do a bit of a cording around the outside and you can see how that worked out for me too. hehehe It disappears in to the corners instead of going around them.    I'm not sure if it'll stay at my house or go off with the Quilt as an xmas gift.  We'll see. hehe :)

Was the pillow worth reading through all the blather at the top?  How are you guys going on your Christmas gifting lists? :)

{Yet Another Gift Done}

Today is Halloween, just 55 days until Christmas is upon us.  The days here are getting crisper with a tad of frostiness each morning.  I of course am MORE than welcoming this change from 70 degree days!  Let winter come!  The most surprising?  This is the second to last gift that I had to do, and then my Christmas knitting list is complete!  Almost too good to be true, isn't it?

Alrighty, now's the time for the standard warning: if you happen to be Niece #2 - You may not look any further!!  Anyone else, look away!

{When Knitting Attacks}

I have just about had it with this dang pea coat.  I've been knitting garder stitch for what seems like weeks now, and this is what I have to show for it:

I keep measuring the hood only to discover I don't have as much length as I thought I did last time I measured... it's like I'm knitting backwards! UGH!  I don't even have sleeves yet!

And ya know what?  I I just ran out of yarn.  SERIOUSLY.  I don't even know what I'm going to do. Should I rip back the hood and knit the sleeves? Or should I just frog the whole thing and pick a new design that isn't so BORING to knit?! I hate this coat!  Or maybe I'll just buy my niece a beautiful Christmas Dress like this one:

DONE.

{My Socks Are Done!}

Man I loved knitting these!  The pattern, the yarn, everything.  They're the Lace and Cable Socks by Wendy Johnson from her toe-up sock book, and the yarn is the Umaj Sock from Gaia's Colours, which is a dyer from close to where I grew up.  I wrote extensively about it a few posts ago. hehe

Done!  And since I decided to make them anklet socks (like I normally wear) I still have half the skein for a second pair!! YAY!

{The Quilting Problem Solved!!}

Oh my gosh! Okay... I'll start at the beginning.

So you guys remember my recent quilting disaster, right? (It was outlined here, but I don't suggest you read it. It's kinda depressing. lol)  I was talkin' it over with my new knitty, quilty, overseas friend named Laura Jane, and SHE suggested that I go check out The Moda Bakeshop.  I had NEVER heard of this before and O.M.G. It's the best thing ever! I have been searching for inspiration for my Christmas tree quilt that uses both my triangles and my squares and WHAM! Here it is!  It's perfect!

 from ModaBakeShop.com

YAY!! Now I'm SUPER excited!  I'm going to go and buy some white fabric (or off white at least) at the quilt shop soon and then I'm going to get started! YAY!  My more contemporary turnovers will be in the center for the tree and I'll use the squares for borders so no clashing or cutting!  Plus, the green fabrics that I already bought will be able to be used for other borders and such.  It's SO. PERFECT I want to SCREAM.

Thanks Laura Jane!!

{Whoo Are You?}

Get to know a blogger with some fun questions! I found it on the multi-purpose life.  We should all play along!

1.What was your favorite meal growing up?
My dad has his "Famous Macaroni and Cheese" which is baked with a creamy cheese sauce and more melty cheese on top.  I still beg him to cook this while I'm in town! hehe I can't get mine to be QUITE right!


2. What's your favorite month?
Definitely October, but this month has been lettin' me down.  I'm done with 70 degree temperatures! It's fall, People!

3. What store is most represented in your wardrobe?
There was a day when I could answer Ann Taylor Loft but lately they've gotten all trendy on me instead of more classic.  Now, since being a full-time student, I'd probably have to say Goodwill

4. How many times do you go to the movie theater each month/year?
 It hasn't been often, these days! (again with the student budget excuse. hehe)  Maybe 3 times or so and usually for a great big-budget action film! Those are the ones that are super fun to see on the big screen!


5. Fill in the blank-I'm looking forward to an ALL hand-made Christmas this year!  It's so exciting! I'm thinking I'll even sew little giftbags for everything!

How about you guys? Care to play along? :)





Check out Night Owl Crafting to read some other fun answers, too!