Miss Janeen

We finally let Janeen get a texturizer. She looks like such a lovely little lady.

Scarf and Shawl

A LOT has happened. I can't update everything on the blog - a girl has her little secrets you know. But I can update knit and crochet right?
This is a little lace scarf I made to practice knitted lace. It was pretty quick, made with Brown Sheep Cotton Fine. It was super soft to work with, but doesn't hold it's shape really well no matter how much a block it. Probalby would be better in a sweater instead of lace.


And this another lace shawl - made with a cotton/wool sock yarn. I like sock yarns for shawls. Just the right weight and a lot of yardage in the ball. This one took 3 balls - and it's over 60". I got the pattern from Jan Eaton's 200 Ripple Stiches book. I love that book and will definately make more items from it. I love this shawl but I think I am going to give it to someone who is having a rough time right now.

I can make lace!

It almost made me give up - but I just couldn't let that happen. I guess the first step toward victory is understanding I was twisting my stiches. You can't make lace with twisted stiches! I was also twisting my Yarn Overs - same deal. Then the *@$* ssk was driving me crazy. So I stopped doing it! I slip a stitch, knit the next stitch, then slip the slipped stich over the knitted stich, voila - left slanting decrease w/o the headache. The last victory was the easiest - rememer to count! The stiches need to add up - at least in the easy lace I am doing now - so count, and recount. That way - when I ended up w/ 40 stitches instead of 41 - I had only 1 row to frog vs. frogging the whole thing. Which had been my previous lace experiences. So this is a lace bag - made in a dk weight cotton. That is my other tip - cotton is great because you can see everything! It also doesn't felt or tangle the way something fuzzier sometimes does. A good beginning lace yarn. Also something other than lace weight. I had thought - lace knitting, lace weight, right? WRONG! the holes are all so big you can't tell what you are doing at all. So - cotton dk weight on size 2s worked perfectly for my first successful project. I'm going to start a scarf now while I work on my pie shawl (done in stockenette b/c I didn't want to risk lace yet). All of this is just working my way up to using some Helen's Lace my sister and I bought (each of us bought a skein). I don't want to waste it - so I want to master lace and the pi before starting my masterpiece :)

My penguin & birthday girl

Janeen at her birthday party. We had it at Fry's Roller rink. A lot of her school friends attended. Let me see if I can remember - Chase, Jessica, Alexis, Alexandria, Sean, Lisa, Katelyn (neighbor and classmate), Robbie, AJ, Jonathan, Victoria, Jason and I will try to remember the rest!



Janeen's class had a play at school. The little costumes they made were too cute. I just had to show her off.

Koigu socks

I finally finished my Koigu socks. They were too far done in the now infamous stockenette twist to turn back. But I like them anyway. The yarn feels so good on my feet. I've got to make more of these - of course with the correct stitch! They will be more strechy w/o my little twist.

Here are some other socks I've been working on:

And my sister's birthday socks:

>

Just call me twisted

I took my lovely koigu sock to a LYS today - and learn something new. Pretty amazing given I have been knitting for year and NEVER KNEW I TWISTED MY KNIT STITCH. Boy does that explain a lot. It explains why when I knit and purl it looks weird. My solution was to avoid it when ever possible and knit in the round. It also explains why knitting lace and the kitcheners stitch was so difficult. I knit continental, and after looking on the web apparently this is a common mistake for self-taught continental knitters. Good - I'm not too weird. I've done a bit of practicing to re-learn and I know how I do it now. And it does make the fabric look completely different!

I feel a bit silly - I'm dying to make something now that is knit correctly. Problem is I have too many projects 1/2 done with a twisted knit stitch!

Well - lessons learned:

1. You are never to old to learn, well relearn.
2. Just because it feels good, doesn't mean you are doing it right.
3. It's always good to ask an expert (although lots of people have looked at my knitting and didn't comment on what was wrong! Although my sister did come close a couple of weeks ago.)
4. Knitting the wrong way is still fun and addictive.
5. You can wear a lot of items that are knitted with a twisted stitch.
6. Now I can twist and untwist at will!
7. The fact that I now know my stitches in existing garments are twisted bugs me.
8. This explains why I had such a hard time with picking up stitches (the right leg would NEVER want to go in front), knit lace, and finish the sock with kitchner's.
9. Maybe I was sending a subliminal message to myself.
10. I'm glad I didn't teach more people (including my daughter) how to knit!

I made it!!! Christmas was wonderful, family and fun. Christmas Eve was at my sister's (http://mom2rays.blogspot.com) and Christmas after church was at mine. I love the time of year with lots of family and fellowship. And I really enjoyed giving handmade gifts again this year. This has been a huge outlet for me in allowing me to express my creativity.

Here are a few project's I've complted in my week off. I probably could have completed more if I had not started a new project everyday. This break I was a complete homebody and very unfocused. I wanted to use every yarn I own (which is a challenge given the size of my stash...) all at once and couldn't wait to start many projects. As a result, very few got very far along and I finished none of the projects I had started before Christmas. I can see what January is shaping up to be - a FO month!

Here are Jason's socks, of course I made them like just big enough to fit him. So chances are they will be Charmie socks very soon! And yes - they don't match on purpose!

And from the Twisted Sister's Sock Workbook, they had the idea of treasure bags. Basically a chance to play with sock patterns and techniques, but not have to do a heel or two of them!! I love sock yarn and I wanted to try out some new techniques so this was a great idea. Here is my first treasure bag!


And two more treasure bags in progress:


And lastly - I have not stopped with crochet. I read an idea for a crochet scarf, so this is it in progress. My plans for it is a lot more exciting than it looks right now, but it is taking a loooong time with sc with fingering weight!

Will I or will I not.....

make Christmas.
Will all the gifts be in their boxes, wrapped with names and cards?
Will they even all be off the needles or hooks?
Why that is part of the fun, leaving it until the nail bitting, hurried end.
And with the house 1/2 full of Seattle travel gear that has not been returned to the proper place.
And of course none of the food purchased, or even for that matter well planned for Christmas dinner.
And decorations, well - who needs decorations when there are family conversations to be had.
Who's worried, not me.
Merry Christmas.

Christmas Shrug

I made this shrug as a Christmas present for my sister, I wanted to suprise her but then had doubts....what if she doesn't like. So I showed it to her. She likes it :)

But I'll hold on to it until Christmas!

I found the pattern on knitting pattern central - here is the link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=62184.0. I'm very grateful to the creative person who wrote out the pattern!!

I made it with Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky that I had in my stash. I had been wondering what to do with it. It was almost perfect, but I ran out of it on the sleeves! I bordered them in Debbie Bliss SuperCashmerino. Wow - that is a really nice yarn. I wish I could make a sweater in that - but that would be very pricy!

I am definately going to make more of this pattern for my nieces - but with less expensive yarn. I have some some woolease chunky that I think will work great.

Socks!

Can you guess my new knitting obsession - socks! Now that I have learned both magic loop and 2 needle method - I have a perfect portable project. DPs didn't work for me - they would always fall out while I was out and about. 2 circs or ML works great! Now I Loooove socks. The Paton's Classic Merino pair is for my grandma and the other one is made in magic strips and for me. It's a bit loose in the cuff, although it snugged up in the foot area. I'll have to wear it and it's mate w/ my clogs :)

A few more

Gift scarf in Moda Dea Dream yarn. Edit to post - the yarn is Aeire not dream :)

Poncho in Moda Dea Dream yarn. Sooo soft and yummy - but a bit too big :( Got to figure out how to make it smaller. so I can give it as a gift.

Yet another gift scarf - in baabaajoees. long and warm...

Too busy to blog!

I have been busy! Mostly too busy with work, and destessing with crochet and knitting. So I haven't blogged like I should. Here are some picks of my handiwork.

Gift scarf made out of soft stripping yarn.

Scrap lap robe granny square made out of yarn scraps. I can't believe how soft it is. I have to make another one of these.

Gift scarf made out of Alpaca yarn, yummy and soft!

Gift scarf made out of moda dea yarn.

Gift scarf made out of Mountain Colors sock yarn, double strand.

Two more

Two more. One in Cascade 128, one in Sassy stripes! :)

Addicted to scarves

I'm addicted to knitting these little scarves.

This newest scarf just a double rib made out of Wool-Ease for Jason. I've been working on it a while as it's not the most fun thing in the world to knit a double-rib scarf. :) But it's finally finished :)

I've made another one for my mom and ran out of yarn on the point!! And it's the shop that is going out of business. I thought I had 2 balls, but it turned out one ball as 4 ply and one was 8 ply. Same color - but look & weight was different. :(

More scarves

This is one for Jason and one for me :) Jason's is in Simply Soft, and mine is in Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted. A truly wonderful yarn. Soft and not itcy - also a superwash wool.


I also scored a major stash win today. A local shop had 40% off due to the location they are at going out of business. With only 1 week's notice!! I'm sad they are going away, but very happy for the bargains!

Koigu scarf

Ymmmmmm - I made a version of the scarf in Koigu KPPPM - double-stranded. Oh, it's yummy. I think I might keep this version as a gift to me :)

Back to the beach

We went to the beach for a Come to Christ Conference - our church's annual conference. Colin and the kids got to go with my sister & her family and my parents. I was not feeling well this trip - so didn't go.

Here's the family!!




More photos on a http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2118909201.

More gifts!!!!

I found the coolest scarf pattern - these are quick, cute and practical. I will definately be making more of these! HEre's a link if you want to purchase it from the creator:
http://www.smallknits.com/bert%20bow%20tie%20scarf.htm

I made mine with Lion Wool print - Autumn something or other:



And I also have been making some feather n fan scarves. This is the first one I finished! It was made with baabaajoes - I just love the colors!

More fingerless mitts

I'm almost done with my matching glove with the long cuff - but I found this easy pattern and had to play with it. I added ribbing, but other than that it's simple and easy :) My daughter wants her own pair. A good way to use up scrap yarn :)

Link to pattern: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=10620.0

Still crocheting and knitting

With my WIP bin overflowing and not much actually getting finished - I had to try some quick projects just so I can say something was complete. My daughter's sweater is giving me fits because when I BO at the bottom it was too tight! My LYS is going to help me, but I need to find time to swing by and seek out assistance.

I have been admiring fingerless gloves and found a pattern I wanted to try - so I knitted one last night and today. It was quick and satisfying, now I just have to compelte the other one.

I made it with Inca Alpaca which is really, really soft. I love the yarn!





And I also had some alpaca yarn I was dying to try so I crochet this scarf. I miss crochet!



Ignore my feet in the photo! I am crocheting a coordinating hat to match the scarf and I have some finishing to do on the gloves - I have to thread in some yarn and add a flower to the wrist area. It it is a little more loose than ideal - so next time I will have to check my guage first!! Bad I know - I'm terrible at checking the gauge before charging ahead!