Finished one thing....started another

Isn't that the way it always goes with knitting. Before I finished my mom

s socks I was already perusing the books to find a hat to knit for a friends. I am pretty good with only having one WIP but I have many more in mind. Same with spinning. I will not start another till I am finished with the first anymore. I found that when I did I never finished anything. Anyway I finished my mom's socks today. Just in time too her birthday is tomorrow. I am so dang proud of myself. They are just a plain vanilla sock, but the yarn is some I dyed myself. Some of the bare yarn from Knitpicks. I absolutely love that stuff. Here is a pic of my moms socks:

I really like the way the yarn knit up like it did. And I think my mom is going to love them. I also started on a hat for my friends birthday. Which I wish I would have done first as I started it today and her birthday was 4 days ago. But she is also a knitter so she knows how that goes. Plus she lives a few states away....think I can get away with the ol' got lost in the mail trick lol. Anway this hat is knitting along really fast. I am knitting her the Official Kittyville hat from the first Stitch 'n Bit*h book. It is also being done in some yarn from Knitpicks I dyed myself. This time the superwash dk weight. Here is a picture of it so far:

I am stil working on my son's sweater. It should be done in a week or two. I could get it done with about 3 days of serious knitting, but I have so many other Christmas presents to start on I just don't see that happening. Anyway until next time....

Final SP Package

WOOOOO Just look at these goodies:

I got a gorgous purse (which is just another stylish project carrier...let's be honest here lol) The fall 2006 issue of Interweave crochet, Night of the living mad libs, some dark chocolate (YUUUM), a little yarn wish list, some pencils, and I know she packed the balloons and band-aids for my son.....but who says I can't enjoy them too :-) And the complete kicker KOIGU, MMMMMMM PRECIOUS KOIGU. Which is my FAVORITE yarn ever. I love the stuff. The colors are very gorgous and I am already turning the ol' mind wheels trying to figure out what in the world I am going to make with them. Something cabled maybe since I am on a cable kick. So thank you Christy. You have been an awesome sp. Now I can't wait for the next one.

New needles and a sweater on the needles

I got my order from Knitpicks today. In it was my first knitpick needles. I bought the 32" circulars in sizes to make socks the Magic Loop style. I love these needles. Before this the only circulars I had was the Boye Needlemaster set. Which is fine but a bugger to do magic loop. The cords are just too big and stiff. Now I am hoping a special someone gets me the interchangeable set from Knitpicks for Christmas. *hint hint*I also got some of the Harmony needles. I haven't used them yet so I don't have an opinion so far except to say the colors are very nice, they are lightweight, and seem to be put together very well. I have also picked up some yarn for a new sweater for my son. I got the Knitpicks Wool of the Andes bulky. It's knitting up awesome, the only gripe is that the color selection wasn't that great. Although give them time. When I first started ordering from them they had about half of the yarn selection they do now. I am a big fan of their yarns and prices. Anyway I am making him the Down Under sweater from The Yarn Girl's Guide to Knits for Older Kids. So far it is a very easy, fast knit. I think it's going to look super cute on him. Here is a picture of what I have done so far. Which is about half of the back:

Sorry the pic is a little blurry, I smudges the camera lens with my greasy finger....yum. I can't believe how fast this is knitting up. Of course I am used to fingering weight yarn mostly and this is a bulky....Only 6 more inches till I start the front. As fast as this is going I can probably be done by next weekend.

Scarf is fiiiiiinished.

I am so proud of myself. This is the first thing I have completed from the ground up. The fiber was 100% merino gifted to me by my Knittyboard SP. it was gorgous just as roving and I knew what I had to do. In the summer 2007 issue of Spin-off there was an article on spinning your own self striping yarn. Which is what I have tried to do in different ways a few times and failed each time. This time after I was done spinning I wished a little wish and cast on for a hopefully self striping scarf (just bought a black pea coat I knew the colors in the roving would be perfect for). Anywa, I started on the good ol' basketweave pattern, and this is how it turned out:

I looooooove this technique. I have always prefered the gradual shading type of stripes and thats exactly what I got. Here's a closeup:

Now I am off to try to spin enough to make some sock yarn. I really am happy with this technique.

Man oh Man

I seriously need to update this more. I have gotten all kinds of goodies from my SP and haven't even posted pictures of them. I have nothing to blame it on but pure laziness. I have been knitting a few things, mostly spinning though. I have about 4 different projects on my spindles that I need to finish. I have also been playing a lot with dyeing my own fiber. I really like how it ends up. The last package I got from my sp was this:

The Flip Knit book is awesome. Showing different decreases as you flip the book. It honestly hugely helped with the ssk.....I now know I was doing it all wrong. As for the fiber it is already spun and being knit into a scarf. I split the roving in half and spun one half as is, and the other half I split even further into pencil roving. What happened is an awesome stripey fade. I love it. I should have the scarf done in the next couple of days and I will post pictures. Also my son's birthday was Wednesday. He is now five years old. I can hardly believe it. I only bought him one present but it was a big one. I bought him his first four wheeler

wooohoooooo

SP 9

I had so much fun in the last Knitboard SP round that I decided to join a new one. It will go over three months again and has a spending limit which I don't think anyone actually goes by. I had a lot of fun and I hope this time it is as good. I am a little less nervous this time since I know now that the stuff I pick out isn't completely hideous. Anyway I am spinning a few different yarns. And knitting a apir of knee-highs that were supposed to be a Christmas present but I am completely falling in love with them.

A New Idea

It has been forever since I wrote on this thing thanks to a new job. But the new job does help out in the adding to the stash so I am not complaining too much. Anyway I have bought a ridiculous amount of roving from Paradise Fibers (love them). I have decided that instead of buying yarn I am just going to start buying roving and make my own darn yarn. Should cut down on price because roving is cheaper and it will take me longer to finish anything. I'll post a picture of my roving stash as soon as I get the new additions.

Dollar and a Half Cardigan

So I have decided to join a knit a long for the Dollar and a Half Cardigan in the Spring Interweave magazine. It is the first time I have actually joined a knit a long so we will see how that goes. I will have to remember to post my progress. Right now though I am still in the stages of choosing my yarn for this cardigan.

A finished scarf and some new roving

I finished a scarf for myself!!! It's the first thing I have started and finished absolutelly for myself. My boyfriend says I need to hide it so nobody globs onto it. Which is what usually happens to the stuff I knit. Anyway I made it out of the Malabrigo yarn I got from my knittyboard sp and I absolutely love this yarn. It was a dream to work with and it knit up quickly. Here is a picture of the finished scarf close up. I had a picture of me wearing it but seriously didn't want to subject anyone to that.

And now I am spinning some yarn. I am trying to make a camo yarn and it is turning out pretty well. It's more feminine than the normal camo, which was on purpose because I plan on knitting something for my sister with it. Which she HAS to have something pink on everything she owns so I bought a little bit of pink to spin with the camo colors. Here is a picture of the fiber with a little spun onto the spindle:

I'll definatly post a pic when it is done.

Crocheting an Afghan

So right now I am attempting to actually finish an afghan I want to make. I am bound and determined to use my stash before I buy new yarn(yeah right) Afghans are all I can think of doing with all the acrylic I have. I am shooting for an afghan for each of my immediate family members for their birthdays. This one I am making n ow is for my own personal use. I had a ton of Red Heart Symphony I bought for $1 a skein at a clearance sale at Wal-Mart. I bought every bit they had. The afghan is turning out to look very 70's which is fine with me because I love the 70's. It started out going really fast but the bigger it gets the slower it goes. I am just doing one big granny square. Anyway here is a picture of it so far:

My first package from my SP

I got my first package from my SP today...all I can say is wow. I was totally thrilled with everything I got. Here is a list of what I got:

WPI tool ( boy I seriously needed this)

A sample of White Musk from The Body Shop which smells really good

Capo for my guitar(it was my birthday present in the package) which I love having

Worsted weight Malabrigo merino wool in a gorgous red color

A lace weight spindle (pure awesomeness)

100g of blue and white merino fiber which is very pretty

100g tussah silk that is an absolutely gorgous colorway I can't wait to spin it up

I also got various yummy cookies(or biscuits :-) my sp is from the UK)

And my son got some mini jelly babies

This package really made my day

Some Homespun

I just got done with some yarn I spun and so far I am really proud of it. I just hope it does what I am hoping it does. I am kind of looking for a variagated self striping look. I spun one ply qith the two colors just held together, then the other ply I spun a couple of yards of each color alternating them. I think that should be enough to make it stripe. I am thinking about knitting a hat with it.

Finally done

After going way over the deadline for Christmas I finally got my boyfriends scarf done yesterday. Heck it was only 5 feet long...10 inches across with fingering weight yarn. I don't know what took me so long. Anyway here it is. I am pretty proud of it. It might have taken me forever but I also can't see any mistakes in it. One plus from all of this....before I started on the scarf I was working on a cardigan using worsted weight yarn and size nine needles....it seemed like it was taking forever. After I did this scarf I picked up the cardigan....now it is just whizzing along like nothing.

The Swap Has Started

Soooo exciting, the Knittyboard Secret Swap has started and I was claimed....wooooohooo. I woner what I'll get?? I am really excited about giving and recieving, I have all ready been combing online stores and wishlists for my partner. I will definatly post what I get here....so keep tuned.