« 2005-11 | HomePage | 2006-01 »
30 December 2005
and my feet shall be toasty...
because i can never work on just one project at a time, i present to you...(insert drumroll here)...
TA DA!!!! the top of my Norweigen Sock from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks book. i love this book...i will own it someday, oh yes, i will. i'm borrowing it from a very nice lady from one of my knitting groups. so far, things are going well in the land of fair isle. i snatched up the yarn, Dale of Norway Falk for 1/2 price at the LYS sale...colours were a bit limited, but i'm mostly happy (i do wish for a grey in place of the cream). really, for half off, i can't bitch too much. i need to find a skirt to wear with these when they are done.
(i am apparently trying to draw the foot fetish crowd to the blog, what with all the sock knitting....oh, the sad and suprised googlers that sentance will draw) the Jaywalker's are skipping along. and i guess i have a deep and serious love for socks in blinding bright colors. huh...i've switched to size 0's for the foot, so progress has slowed up a bit...plus, did you see that awsome fair isle guy up there?!?!?!?!
and now, a gratuitous shot of my adorable and terribly smartie pants dog Xavier.
22:55 Permalink | Comments (6) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
28 December 2005
Sales? hell yes!
ahhhh, i have survived the "festivities" of christmas yet another year..whew! i've been entertaining boycotting the holidays, just saying "i am staying home! i don't want your turkey, so don't even try it!" a girl can dream, can't she? my parents do rock my tiny little world though. 
yeah, see that picture over there? that is indeed a swift and ball winder combonation. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! i was so excitted when i opened them that i almost cried...i shit you not. as you can see by the lovely perfect cakes of yarn in the background, i've sorta gone nuts. i've been winding up yarn that didn't need it...stuff that was already in a handy ball. i wind and laugh with barely restrained, tweeked out glee. the dog is scared.
my main LYS is having a WEEK LONG 30-50% off every damn yarn in the store sale (Mass Ave. Knits for you in the area). i'm doing well in the restraint department, actually. since the advent of Knit Picks, i have trouble justifying the price of the yarn. i try to support the local stores, but sometimes it's hard. i did get the yarn for the adorable baby jeans from knitty. i've never knit a baby anything but a hat, and i can see how it has it's good points and bad points. on one hand babies are tiny, and the things you knit for them are, generally, also tiny. that's rockin. on the other hand, babies don't stay the same size for any length of time at all. so, you knit this cutie, tiny thing, and said baby only wears it once. regardless, i'm making the jeans cause they are too cute.
the best thing about christmas passing is that i can start knitting for myself. (i must give props to the fam though...all received their gifts with proper ooh's and ahh's...i was happy) i've started on the Jaywalker socks that everyone seems to be 
working on in blogland right now. maybe it's cause these are some rockin' socks...not plain, but not so labour intensive that you get nose bleeds from the pattern. and, doesn't the Clown Puke yarn look faboo? i'm jazzed. i also got a copy of the book Socks Socks Socks last night, and there are some very cool patterns in there. i guess i'll just be knitting socks and lace until the next holiday season, when, though i've sworn not to, i'll start the gift knitting. sheeseh
10:41 Permalink | Comments (5) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
16 December 2005
wHoot!
my birthday was wonderful (besides for the fact that both my parents failed to remember). thanks to everyone who wished me a happy day. i think the best part was getting together with Tina and drinking coffee for 3 hours. she has a 7 month old daughter who will soon be the recipiant of many knitted goodies! knitting for babies rocks cause they are tiny so the things you knit can be too (wow! that was a brilliant statment).
gearl hooked me up with goodies! i got 2 skiens of Shepherd Sock yarn, 1 in the "Flames" colorway and one "Gray's Corner".
i also got a 40" Addi Turbo circ, size 0 for knitting socks...i'm a magic loop junkie. i picked these things out, and i was suprised with a copy of Folk Mittens , a book i've been lusting after for a while. i think that it's my desire for fair isle designs. i was pretty happy with the gifts, and it means that i can do some major sock knitting after christmas.
that, incidently, is the one thing i really hate about my birthday--it's a reminder that i have 10 days left to finish holiday knitting! actually, since my fam-damn-ily moved the yuletide celebrating up, i really only have 8 days...okay, i just started freaking out!
01:43 Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
15 December 2005
it's my BIRTHDAY!!!!!
okay, so just barely...but 12:11 am still counts as the 15th, damnit! really, does it suprise you coming from the girl who has been getting "it's 10 days til your birthday" gifts? i told you i love my birthday.
anywho, i finished my birthday socks, ironically, almost exactly at the stroke of midnight. the rock soooo much. i used up a bit less than 2 skiens of the Fixation, but i have smallish feet, so i don't know. i definetly like them better in a solid colorway. 
by the by, it is damn near freakin' imposible to take a decent sock picture of your own feets. i almost fell into the toilet. what a birthday joy that would have been!
in hap-hap-happy news, i found a dear friend of mine from my freshman year of college (circa 1999). i haven't seen her in almost 5 years, and we are getting together tonight! how cool is that?
SP7 is getting underway, and i made the sign up deadline! WOOT!! i am rediculously excitted about this. it just seems like the coolest idea, and i can hardly wait. we'll see what tune i'm singin' come march, though.
on another note, thanks to everyone who posts comments. i love comments...they validate my blogging and make me filled with joy. yup yup.00:15 Permalink | Comments (11) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
12 December 2005
Birthday countdown!
whoo hoo! only three more days until my birthday! yippee! i'm so jazzed.
i decided to make myself some birthday socks. i'm using the Broadripple pattern from knitty, and i am loving how they are turning out. i'm working these bad boys up in bright fuchsia Cascade fixation . the finished pics in the pattern use a multi colored yarn that, i think, obscures the really awsome detail of the lace. these socks knit fast as Ferdando Alanso (kudos to you if you get that) and i love them sooo very much.
i checked out all 4 of Barbara Walker's stitch pattern books from the library on saturday, and let me tell you what--i want to design now, baby! i think that, after i finish up the holiday knitting, i'm going to try my hand at designing a lace shawl and maybe a sweater. i'm dizzy with the prospect of it!
okay, a break off from knitting, dig this shit:
You are the Saint of Killers. You tried to be a good, peaceful man after you fell in love, but that was all taken away when your family died thanks to some bandits and God's meddling. Now, as the new angel of death, you can't be killed, everything you shoot dies, and you've got nothing in you but meanness.
Take this quiz!
16:46 Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
08 December 2005
Nay-sayers and warm winter woolens
lookie lookie! i finished up my loverly glittens, and boy howdy am i proud! i used the fingerless glove pattern from Weekend Knitting , but i made up the mitten part all by myself!! 
without a pattern! on my own! (i'm pretty jazzed... can you tell?) it was a bit of a bitch, and i ended up tinking/frogging back quite a few times, but it was worth it totally. if i'm this jazzed about a mitten top, just think how totally insane i'll be after a whole garment. G will never hear the end of it.
after the glittens, i decided that i needed a whole matching warm winter woolen ensemble. i think that i look fairly a lot like a goon in most hats, so i went ahead and made the Panta head thingy 
from the crafster knitting forum. it was super duper easy, and i don't look too much like a goon, which is definetly a goodness. 
i also made a moebius scarf using these directions for casting on. in this pic, the yarn looks a different color than the other guys, but it's the same light lilac-y Cashmerino Aran. i figured that as long as i was being a butt about my yule time knitting i should be learning new stuff.
okay, now a bit of a rant. i frequent a couple of Knitting forums, and something has popped up a couple of times that makes me want to kick in some heads. in my opinion, if a BRAND new knitter wants to give socks a try, let 'em. socks are great. the first thing that i ever knit was a pair of socks...socks are why i learned to knit in the first place. why, oh why, do some of the people on forums feel the need to DASH the hopes and dreams of the newbie? "oh, socks are sooooo hard. you don't even want to try those yet." it makes me want to scream. and it's not just socks, it's anything percieved as "advanced." quit the nay-saying and support your fellow knitters. cripes. sure, the experiance might drive the newbie to drink, but 1)something will definetly be learned and 2)how proud is that knitter going to be when the FO is there in all it's "advanced" glory? okay, i feel better now.
13:36 Permalink | Comments (8) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)
01 December 2005
Oh so long a time
finally things are together enough with the new place for me to post to my little blog here. sheesh!
i wish that i could have adopted Xavier's "cram my head behind a box" type of attitude to unpacking. course, then i would never have found my yarn stash, and i couldn't have started on christmas gifts until, oh, july.
as far as christmas knitting, it's coming along alright. i did cop out and make a pillow out of a deliciously soft angora blend sweater that i was going to frog for the yarn. it turned out way bigger than i expected, but i think that the recipent will dig it...if not, i'll just take it from her cause i think it's pretty jazzy. it was a relatively quick project--would have been easier if i wouldn't have mattress seamed and grafted the edges and just used my sewing machine...oh well.
MY BIRTHDAY IS IN TWO WEEKS!!!! i love my birthday...celebrating not croaking for yet another year. truth be told, i'll celebrate all month long. well, living a whole entire year is quite a feat!! i decided to add a project for myself to the needles, ya know, to break up the duldrum of gift knitting. 
after walking the couple of blocks from the parked car to the Border's where we knit on tuesdays, i decided that i was in desparate need of some hand coverings. driven by this need, and the desire to knit two sock/mitten type things at once, i cast onto my 40" size 4 Addis and started TWO glove/mittens at ONCE with the magic loop technique. in delicious Cashmerino...*drool*
14:36 Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: Knitting (ENGLISH)