Category Archives: Knitting & Crochet

I just got my invitation to Ravelry!!! I can’t wait to play around!!!

I’ve made some progress on the shawl over the weekend. I know it doesn’t look like much, but the lace is time-consuming for me because I am being very careful and taking my time with it. The lace-weight yarn is hard for me to get used to, but overall it’s going well and I’m really enjoying it. I think it will be beautiful when it’s done and if things continue to go well, I will easily have this done before the wedding, and probably even before the shower in September if I want to wear it to that!

I posted this photo to Flickr right before I left on vacation and forgot to write about here as well. Here’s the story. My SP10 Pal gifted me two beautiful skeins of Manos del Uruguay. I immediately thought of knitting My So-Called Scarf because, after all, it calls for this particular yarn. Every time I’ve seen a photo of one of these scarves I’ve thought it was so pretty. However, when I cast on for this, immediately I had second thoughts. I gave it a few inches and just wasn’t feeling the love. I asked Drew what he thought and he didn’t like it, either. So with that confirmation, I plan to rip it. But now I am not sure what to do with it. I have some felting patterns that this could work with, but I don’t know how I feel about felting variagated yarn. The yarn feels so wonderful and I really want to make something with it, but I am just drawing a blank. Any suggestions?

Sigh… I ordered the wrong freaking color to finsh up my scarf. It’s my own fault for not writing down the color number. I guessed between two colors what I thought was correct, and I really thought the name sounded right, but clearly I was wrong. I should have ordered “Flamingo” not “Bougainvilla.” I think I need to start keeping track of this stuff so it doesn’t happen again. It’s a small annoyance, really, but it was enough to give me a hard time falling asleep last night because I was so mad at myself. So, I think that in addition to a recipe binder I will find myself setting up a knitting organizer as well. I’m one of those people who immediately throws away packaging, so if I get in the habit of making up a project sheet and stapling the ball band to that sheet, I will have it for reference. Why did I never think of this before?

Many thanks to Anne, who spoiled me for the Spring Into Summer Dishcloth Swap! She knit me a beautiful burgundy cloth in a basketweave pattern that will fit perfectly in my kitchen! Plus, two skeins of Sugar & Cream, a skein of Cotton-Ease (which I have really been wanting to try!), a dark chocolate bar, the cutest sheep keychain (I am transfering my keys to it this morning!), a list pad (which I needed!), sticky notes, knitting needles, a ducky squirter (which the boys have already swiped, LOL), yummy smelling Lemon Verbena soap, a tealight candle and a wax tart, and last but certainly not least a wonderful dishcloth pattern book! I absolutely love everything and had a lot of fun opening it all up last night. It was such a treat after a long day at work.

In my first SP10 package, Catherine gifted me with two skeins of Classic Elite Bam Boo yarn in this wonderful bright pink color (technically called “Bougainvilla”). I quickly found a scarf pattern that I felt would really show off the sheen and drape of the yarn and started on it. Sure enough it was perfect! Then I had to put it down to work on a few gifts and smaller items I was making for swaps. This week I picked it up again and though I thought I’d have enough, the scarf is just a little too short, so I quickly ordered one more skein. I can’t wait to finish this up! It’s light and cool and cheerful, and just a perfect little summer scarf to wear on chilly evenings. The pattern is simple, but so pretty. I’m so impatient! I had hoped to wear this up in Lake George, but I don’t know if the yarn will get here in time for me to finish. I hope so!

My final SP10 package came yesterday! Catherine over at Clicksticks Designs has spoiled me absolutely rotten over the last three months. Seriously! She has introduced me to so many wonderful yarns that are such a pleasure to knit. I can’t thank her enough! I’ve had project ideas running through my head and now all I need is some time to start working on them.

The final package included two hanks of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in color 1135 (which my husband has already claimed for me to knit him some handwarmers), two hanks of Manos del Uruguay in a beautiful colorway (111) — golds, blues, purples, just gorgeous, and a hank of delicious mohair boucle that was hand dyed by one of her friends.

She also sent me a Yarn Harlot book that I’ve been wanting (I think this will be joining me when we go up to Lake George), and three patterns – one for a felted iris (LOVE! I am so knitting this as soon as I get some free time), felted fish (and these won’t die like my real fish), and the Fiber Trends hedgehog pattern. (Going to try to knit one for each of the boys for Christmas).

I was blown away by everything. What a great pal! I hope that she was as spoiled as I was!

On Wednesday I will be mailing out packages for all three of the swaps I am participating in: KTS, SP10, and the Spring into Summer dishcloth swap.

I think I am swapped out for a while. But I will be looking forward to my spoilees receiving their packages and seeing if I did a good job. I hope I did!

Since the vast majority of you view my Flickr stream, this is old news, but for the like 2 people who don’t? I present you with knitting!

First, yet another One Skein Cupcake. I am so proud of this one. It was truly knit with love, as it was a gift for a friend’s birthday. I took extra time sewing it all up because I really wanted it to be special. Hopefully my friend loves it as much as I do!

Knit Lacy Round Dishcloth – This was fun to knit, though seaming up the ends was kind of a biatch. I think I’d knit it again, though.

Pillars Dishcloth – Loved this pattern. Perfect for TV knitting. Would also make a nice scarf pattern, I think.