Tuesday, August 22, 2006

NEW BLOG ... and I'M OUTTA HERE!

My frustration with Blogger has resulted in a move. I'm giving WordPress a shot, and so far I'm liking it. It's free, it's got great templates, but I'm still figuring out how to move the rest of my stuff.

So bear with me, and come see my new place here.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

I HAVE A HAT!

LOOKY! LOOKY! I have a finished project!

Actually, I cheated. I was digging and sorting yesterday and found this at the bottom of one of my (dozen or so) bags. This is actually meant for the Caps for a Cure project, so I'll have to get it in the mail next week.

I'm also taking an occasional breather from the will-this-never-end lovely Cocoon pattern and working on this little bunny blankie for fun. But I'm using some kind of Bernat fleecy yarn (sorry; lost the label), and it's NOT fun! It's like knitting with linty thread.

Thursday, though, was constructive as far as getting patterns organized. I currently have three binders filled with patterns and filed by type. Feels good. Now if I only I could do the same to my clothes closet.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?

Penny -- darlin' -- you're killin' me. You're giving me a complex. I gotta stop reading your blog. Do you sleep? Eat? Take potty breaks? For the love of Mike (or Stan or Harry or Frank), HOW DO YOU DO IT? I never saw anyone turn out the FO's like you do. And if they did (my sister comes to mind, but not really), then their stuff wasn't nearly as nice as yours. Seems like you have something new almost every day! What do you DO with it? I see a lot of it is for babies (which always makes them even cuter, doesn't it?). Do you have, like, an abundance of baby relatives?

Honest to Murgatroid, I can barely get something done in a month (see referenced UFO's and FROGGED items below). What am I doing wrong?

I work, but not that much. I clean, but believe me, you're not gonna eat off my floor. Laundry has a lot of down time. Cooking -- well, I hate to cook. So why can't I whip some of these babies out faster? I wanna see progress! I wanna see FO's! I wanna start new stuff!

I wanna be YOU!


Monday, August 14, 2006

I DO love Secret Pal!!!

LOOK AT THIS STUFF!

How fun is this? My Secret Pal angel really came through at the last minute. I had SO much fun opening this box. And she really must have studied my blog and questionnaire. I almost ordered this book last night. I'm so glad I waited! And the great wool! Now I can do felted booties for both girl babies and boy babies! Good & Plenty -- my favorite! A vanilla scented candle and sock yarn...a Knit Simple magazine! And a great eye-soothing mask for when I become cross-eyed trying to read lace patterns.

But best of all?


These beautiful STITCH MARKERS -- including a couple perfect red hat stitch markers! Can't wait to use them!

Thanks so much, Katie!


Friday, August 04, 2006

OKAY. I'M TRYING LACE AGAIN.

Here goes. I'm going to try my hand needles again on what's hopefully a simpler lace project than that dumb tank I tried just recently...and totally FROGGED!! This one is from Meg Swansen's beautiful book, A Gathering of Lace. So far, so good. But I'm being reeeeally careful and counting stitches each way, back and forth, and tinking wherever it's not right. I'm using the lovely and beautiful Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in taupe...so soft!!! This is taking longer than the average knit for me, but frankly I'm being much more particular than normal. Have I finally learned my lesson?


Nah.

Just tired of going to the frog pond. (Ribbit!)

Sunday, July 23, 2006

CALLING ALL BABY CINDERELLAS!


I'm totally enjoying this pattern and am so glad I bought it. I'm having a blast trying different yarns and seeing how they felt. I'm trying to figure out a way to make them look more MALE. And I've added little snaps to the straps instead of the buttons suggested because there's no way I could sew on tiny buttons AND an elastic to go around it. No, unh-unh!

Now I have to find some baby feet to fill them! Luckily, in my very large family, there's always a baby! WooHoooo!!!!


Thursday, July 20, 2006

Favorite Hat Pattern


I think this Blanche hat is my favorite hat pattern to make. It's only slightly brainless knitting, which makes it a great project to take places where you only have to minimally think about what you're doing. It seems to work great with whatever yarn you choose to use, and it comes out looking like you really did something creative! It's a wonderful pattern! Thanks, Janelle!

(And it SO works on this little bear, dudn't?)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Love THEEEEESE!!!

Well, honest to goodness, if these are the cutest booties you ever did see??? I bought this pattern from Stony Hill Fiber Arts, knitted them up in about a day, and felted them. Here's before and after. I love them, love them, love them! While this color isn't exactly 'babyish' -- boy baby maybe?? -- I still think they're as cute as can be!!! Now I have to dig through my wool stash and see if I have anything more pastel. I want to make a BUNCH!

Monday, July 17, 2006

LOVE IT -- HATE IT

Love this toe-up sock from Knitty.


And I REALLY like the little picot edging. Don't know how I did it 'cept followed the directions, but it sure did come out cutsie and all.


But I majorly screwed up the gusset area. Not sure exactly what I did wrong, but its mate will be done differently, nodoubtaboutit.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

SOME UPDATES

Well, I have a some pics to post from the last week or so. DH and I went downstate for business (him), so I had to spend my time in a wonderful yarn store in Plymouth called OLD VILLAGE YARN SHOP. I wish they had a website (they're working on it), because they have anything and everything for the Debbie Bliss junkie (me). No, I didn't buy any DB, but only because they're having a HUGE sale this weekend, and I'm going to have my GF pick it up for me.




But on the three-plus hour ride down and back, I was able to make some progress on my Lotus Blossom Tank on the cover of the Summer 2006 IK.


I also was able to knit up this CUTE little Teddy Bear from a pattern off Bev's Country Cottage. Very quick and easy, and made with some Red Heart SuperSaver yarn in Multicolor.


The two skiens I bought are Online sock yarn and the supersoft Plymouth Yarn Jelli Beenz. I'm going to attempt socks again, and I'll probably use the other for a baby item -- maybe even another teddy bear!