All Purpose

I managed to finish something for July, with plenty of time to spare even.

Pattern: Liesl by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Indigo
Needles: US 10/6 mm circular
Notes: Easy, easy pattern. I think this would be great as a first sweater project because it’s in the round, the pattern is easy to understand and it goes by really fast. It did take me almost a month to knit this, but that’s because I haven’t been knitting a lot lately. I didn’t do buttons at all, and I did the green version (low neck, half sleeves). I’m definitely making a winter version of this later this year maybe with some Malabrigo, because my Malabrigo stash? It’s getting out of hand.

The yarn is nice too, very soft and the colors are amazing, but it does shed. A lot. I’m hoping a wash will get rid of the excess fiber and the shedding will die down, otherwise I’ll have to only wear it with black.

No Comments | In: finished object, knitting | tags: 2009, cardigan, cotton, feather and fan, finished object, knit, knitting, lace. | #

I finished my little glovettes. They came out a little big even though I did the small size, but then again I can barely grasp gauge in knitting, much less crochet.

I finished another blanket square and started a sixth one…

I bought my yarn for the upcoming sweater workshop:

In other news my neck is hurting a lot, not sure if it’s all the knitting, the data entry at work or what but it’s putting a bit of a damper on my knitting fever.

I <3 Ravelry. I’ve found so many cool patterns, forums, blogs, yarn on there that it’s not even funny. Please never leave me Ravelry.

No Comments | In: crochet, finished object, knitting, ravelry, work in progress | tags: crochet, fingerless gloves, finished object, knit, ravlery, work in progress, yarn. | #

Ok, so I got one of my Harmony Guides yesterday and while I didn’t find the exact stitch I was looking for I did figure it out with the help of looking at the diagrams and then trying to diagram/chart out my pattern. After reading it, crocheting the first row and paying attention to what my stitches looked like the directions for the second row finally clicked. It’s moving along swimmingly now:

I finished my wonderful Malabrigo purple scarf last week. It’s so freakin soft and snuggly I want to keep it wrapped around my face at all times. It would look a little weird though.

I’m also progressing nicely on my blanket for Ella, here’s the proof:

I also un-hibernated my Noro throw project just because I need variety in my knitting/crocheting so I don’t get bored or frustrated with any one project.

So a pretty good week of knitting, though not nearly as productive as I would like. I start my Sweater Workshop in like 10 days and I need to get a little further with the blanket and maybe finish the gloves by then.

In other news, I attended the HCW “blow-out” sale and was able to save almost $50 on the yarn for my sweater project. My yarn was not specially discounted but it was 20% off which is nice.

No Comments | In: crochet, finished object, knitting, work in progress | tags: blanket, crochet, finished object, gloves, knit, malabrigo, scarf, throw, work in progress. | #

Hmm, so I’m working on this new project (fingerless gloves) in crochet and I seriously don’t think I’m doing it right. Check it out:

It’s done in blossom stitch and it just doesn’t look right. I think I don’t really understand what I’m doing and none of my crochet books has blossom stitch so I’m kind of at a loss. I guess I’ll work on it a bit more then try to get to HCW’s or a book store to find a good crochet resource to help.

In other news, I’m almost done with scarf 7, yes I got scarves 1-6 done on time and 7 is my LAST ONE. Yay!

I’m making good progress on my scarf and I’ll be starting my sweater workshop pretty soon, I’m very excited about that.

No Comments | In: crochet, knitting, work in progress | tags: crochet, finished object, gloves, knit, scarf, work in progress. | #

So I have finally shaken loose some of the distractions and obligations that were keeping me so busy this last year. I am ready to knit. I’m ready to crochet. I haven’t picked up sticks or hook for 9 months, that damn wedding planning ate up all my time. But I’m back to it, yay, and wow have I missed a lot the last 9 months.

I can’t believe that I am the last to hear about Ravelry. Almost every knit/crochet blog I read has signed up and received their invite, and most of my stitching friends have too. Where the hell have a I been? I guess my explanation for this is that I not only wasn’t knitting I also wasn’t reading any knitting blogs while I planned the wedding. So I finally heard about it last week and promptly signed up. Only 6000+ people to go before I get my invite (down from 8000+ so there is progress).

I am really fired up about this whole ravelry thing, let me tell you why. Like 2 years ago I was wanting to really get my yarn, wip’s, wish projects, etc. all organized. I am a computer geek so of course I turned to technology to help me and found that not only was there not anything out there for us mac people, but that the pc software for crafting sucked. I really, really wanted to team up with my then boyfriend (M, aka the Italian) to design and build software that would allow knitter’s to list all their stash, wip’s, patterns, etc and then link everything together. Of course, I am lazy so this never happened. That’s ok though because the fine, wonderful people at Ravelry have done it all for me and they had the brains to realize this would be better as a web app with networking/community features. I am so, so excited about this and I really hope I get my invite soon because I’d like to spend my xmas break playing on ravelry.

So enough about ravelry, for now. I’m also pretty fired up to be knitting and crocheting again. I’ve gone on a yarn buying spree and I’ve decided to crochet all the females on my xmas list a scarf (more details later). I have 7 scarves total to make, and I’m 2 down. I’ve ordered yarn for all but one of them, and hopefully I’ll be getting some yarn today so I can start another scarf and stay on schedule. I’ll have pics later today or tomorrow, I need to get some good light for photo taking.

No Comments | In: crochet, fever, knitting, ravelry | tags: crochet, knit, ravelry, work in progress, xmas knitting, yarn. | #