Knit n Things

This is the coolest idea yet!! Found it in Crochet Today. You buy a piece of fleece sew a little edging on it so you have a place to put your crochet stitches, or you get lucky and buy a little fleece blankie with edges already sewn on and cute little hippos in the middle. Poof! A blankie in an evening! Perfect for little ones to snuggle in! Luv it!!
I did make a few changes. What you see is an actual ruffle - the pattern as written depended on the yarn to make it full and ruffley. I used some striping Bernat that I had in my stash so I had to improvise. It's totally cute so it worked out fine. This is going to Liz - the one that had her baby three months early - so she doesn't have to wait. Yea, for the quicky, stash busting cutness!!

I want to wish you all a safe, happy, and of course Fabulous New Year's!!

I just wanted to take a sec to wish everyone a happy holiday. Got this one in my e-mail and thought it was hysterical and wanted to share. Knitters are taking over the world - did you see the Knitting Kangaroos on Google?? Hahaha - made my day! Have a WONDERFUL, SAFE, and MERRY HOLIDAY!!!!
Hugs to all!!

Told ya - St. Anthony comes through again!I have no idea what possessed me to look behind my microwave - but I did and there it was! And just in time too. Look what I got in the mail!

Sock-ret Pal goodies!! There some yummy peppermint coco, cookies that are out of this world, chocolate, a book with some cute quickie projects in it, a planner for next year, a way awesome sock pattern AND the recommended yarn! I must say - that is brilliant - how did it never occur to me to send a pattern for the yarn I send my pals? Ya know why that's awesome? Cuz this yarn won't make it into the stash!! And I totally take back the crack about working with black - this yarn is SO nice! It's Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran - it's sinful it's so nice. I'm casting on these socks tonight! Pal your timing couldn't have been better - since I have nothing I want to knit and this fills the void perfectly! Thank you so much!!

Yup - still no camera. I'm not super worried - last time I used it I was in the house so it can't have gotten far. Besides I have total faith in St. Anthony - it will show up sooner or later.

In the meantime however I can't show you my new socks. Actually they aren't really new - I started them back in the summer, got to the heel and stopped. I just didn't feel like doing a heel flap and gussett. This week I had the bright idea to try a short row heel cuz I STILL didn't feel like doing the heel flap and gusset. I looked up a plan on the internet and started doing a short row with wraps. I've done this before and I felt pretty confidant that I could pull it off.

That confedence bites me in the ass everytime! My short row heel looks like crap. Where I picked up the wraps on the purl side looks ok but the knit side - yuck. Are you supposed to do it different? It doesn't matter - I'm pulling it out as soon as I'm done here. It just looks to bad to live. I'll be trying the yarn over short row method next it sounds much easier.

For the people that just come for the pictures.
I took this picture a few weeks ago - it's actually a finished object now. It's an Odessa for my SIL. I think this is the first thing I've ever done that was true black - it could also be the last. Black is a pain in the ass! You can hardly see the stitches and it's not very photo friendly. It does look fabulous finished though. It turned out really well - I just hope it fits right. It's a little too small for me - but I have a big head so I dunno. I didn't weave in the end so I can rip it if need be.

Confession - I am a techno-dope. Despite the fact that I spent 7 gazillionty dollars on a multi-media design course & learn all kinds of flashy computer things. You might wonder bout that -flashy computer stuff? But her blog is sooo boring?? Yea that's cuz I'm a techno dope and lazy to boot. I digress - my point in telling you this was that I just spent a embarrassingly long time trying to figure out how to get a photo from my phone to my computer. Yea - it's easy & I am an idiot. The crappy thing - after all that effort - the picture sucks - I mean really sucks.
See. Makes me want to cry. I can't find my camera. The sweater has already been gifted and all I've got is this craptastic cell phone shot. This is the first FO since I started this blog that doesn't have a FO picture. I was lucky I got this one - I had to borrow the phone/camera from my Aunt's sister. It's ridiculous how upset I am by the lack of a decent picture of this sweater. I was dam near tears on the way to the shower cuz I couldn't find the camera.

Anyway - about the sweater. It's a wonderful knit. The construction is BRILLIANT! Finishing took me an hour - that includes the buttons. Wonderful! Love it!!! Elizabeth Zimmerman Rocks!!
My Sister-in-law's sister had her baby 15 weeks early. The baby is doing very well for someone who is the size of a snapple bottle. Liz (my SIL's sister) asked my mom if she could possibly buy a handknit blanket for her little Lydia. Does she really think we weren't going to make her something? All the babies get the woolley love! I wasn't planning her knit till after Christmas cuz she wasn't due till March! I'm going to make her a similar sweater cuz it's so quick. Hopefully I can figure out the math to size it down to premie. Anybody have any suggestions for finished measurements?

Once upon a time – when I was just a little girl my mother made a skirt for her Christmas tree. She took a giant piece of felt and took tracings of my brother’s & my itty bitty baby hands and stitched them into her skirt. Every year she made new tracings and stitched new hands. I have many wonderful memories of this skirt. Taking out of the box each year to see how much we had grown. Mom telling Zeke & I stories about some of the “alien” looking fingers – apparently little children can not be expected to sit still while mom’s trace their fingers onto felt. When I was older I remember attempting to embroider a hand myself cuz mom was so busy (I never did finish that one – and I still suck at embroidery.)

Now thirty some odd years later, my mother is a grandmother & her skirt has seen some better days. So for her birthday this year I made her a very special present. With a bunch of help from Tisha I re-created her tree skirt. I managed to add some space so she has lots of room for her grandbabies to be included in the future. I’ve spent lots & lots of knitting time on the skirt – that’s one of the reasons I’m not really doing Christmas knitting – but the look on her face was worth every single missed stitch.

Do you ever feel like knitting has taken over your life? The other day I met up with a non-knit-girlfriend that I haven’t seen in a while (Hi Cathi!) We went to the movies and saw Happy Feet - which by the way is a unbelievably cute movie. During the course of our afternoon she asked the inevitable question – “what have you been up to?” I struggled to come up with a non-knitting related answer. I’ve been busy – there’s the guild, and my SnB, and shopping excursions to yarn shops, and I’ve been playing with the wheel again – but does my non-knitting friend give a crap that about the new lace book I want or fab sock yarn I just scored? (She’s really great she totally pretends she’s into it when I get going. I really do have awesome friends.)

I am NOT complaining. I love the way that knitting has bled into everything. The question is what in the world did I do with myself two years ago before I picked up the pointy sticks?? Did I have less of a life? I don’t think so – I’ve always kept myself fairly busy. What the hell did I do with my time?? What did I talk about with my friends? I feel like lately I’m most animated when I’m talking about my fiber pursuits. Is this a bad thing? Should I be concerned about my obsession with all things woolly? Is it weird to have your friends call you up and start the conversation with “you’ve got to see this (insert project) I just started – it’s so cute”?

Am I neglecting my “life” in the pursuit of knitting? Or has knitting become my “life?”

*The yarn is a gift from Nora. She dyed the berry one herself - it's less red in real life - isn't it awesome?!!!

I’ve wanted to take pictures of my latest WIP’s for days but I've been a bit busy and I've had serious lighting issues. When I get home from work it’s dark - and I’m sick of taking crappy pictures. I had the brilliant idea to take the pics on my lunch hour so I’d have some nice light - I make plans to do that and what do I get? Rain & grey cloudy nastiness, so much for my brilliance. But I couldn’t let it go another day with no posts so I took pictures in the front seat of my car.

This is an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern made all in one piece. I can’t tell you how excited I am by the prospect of finishing the knitting & just having to sew sleeve seams & buttons! No shoulders or side seam – no trying again and again and again to get the sleeves set in properly. I’m loving it! Even better – I can sub out the
lace pattern and make the same sweater over & over but different! Very clever – no wonder everyone loves EZ.