Okay. Knitting finished objects to come, but first I need to share that my Love Beads quilt is done! I said I wanted to complete it by the end of March, and I made it in just under the wire. Now it's currently in the wash, which means that for the next hour or so until it comes out, I will be a nervous wreck. It's something that I have to do so that it gets that wonderful wrinkly, crinkly look, but I always worry that so much can go wrong while it's out of my hands and in the washer. Keep your fingers crossed, and look for a new post with pictures tomorrow night!

I am so making progress on my "Finish It Or Pitch It" list. (Don't worry--I'm not really going to throw out good yarn. It's mostly an empty threat to myself and so far it's working!) Last week I got two complete shawls finished in the same week. My needles were busy.

This one, the Multnomah, was so easy. It's just rows of garter stitch and a super simple lace pattern to finish it off--easy peasy. I had had this pattern queued on Ravelry for several months, but I just wasn't that inspired to knit it, but after seeing a sample of it knit up at my LYS, I was suddenly inspired to knit one for myself.

Although I like the way the variegation turned out for this project, I've decided that I like solid or semi-solid yarns a lot better for shawls. Personal preference, but one to remember for next time. Also, I thought the yarn I used--Alchemy Juniper--wasn't as nice as I thought it would be. I had lots of issues with it splitting while knitting with it. Because of that, I certainly wouldn't use it for socks.

It gave me so major troubles, but oh, how I love my Clothilde! I knit this with worsted weight, Cascade Eco Alpaca (SO nice) but when I started it, I decided that I wanted to make it a little bigger than the pattern suggested (where it suggested fingering or DK weight yarn). When it got to the point of looking like a blanket, I decided it was time to rip back to the beginning and start again.

I hated starting from scratch but it was so worth starting over. It took me just about a week to follow the pattern exactly this time. When I blocked it, I stretched it out as far as I could to get it to the size I wanted. And it really is the perfect size for what I wanted. And it's soft and squishy--just perfect.

Yay for progress!

posted by Sarah | March 31, 2010 | Knitting | 1 comments | link

Let me be honest: I'm currently sick and grumpy. I've had a bad cold since last Wednesday and then I lost my voice on Friday. It's now almost a week later and my voice is still nowhere to be found. It really sucks.

However, here is a list of things that are currently making me happy:

*Watching Curling on the Olympics. I watched an hour of it yesterday in between my napping and I found it completely intriguing. I have no idea what the heck was going on, but boy, I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I need to learn more about it so I can become a hard-core curling fan.

*Having a freshly organized shelf of cds. I will be the person who buys cds up until they stop selling them in stores. I just can't get behind the idea of spending money on a downloaded song. I need the cd in my hand so that I can leaf through the liner notes. I'm fuddy like that.

*Knitting socks! I ended up going with the green yarn for my socks, and despite several false starts, I'm off and running on the Interlocking Leaves pattern. So far, I'm very happy with them.

*Ice cream. 'Nuff said.

*And a nap to top it all off!

posted by Sarah | February 18, 2010 | Knitting | Life | 3 comments | link

I easily get all wrapped up in group projects. Every October I get all riled up to knit only socks for Socktoberfest and then this past November for Vestvember I knit my first actual wearable garment. There's just something fun about knowing that a group of people with a shared hobby are working on the same things you are. So, beginning tomorrow night, I'm going to try knit a full pair of socks for Ravelympics 2010.

I want a challenge, but I don't want to knit something so tough that I won't be able to finish. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to knit a something toe-up, which is relatively new skill to me. I had pulled out these five yarns hoping that one of them would inspire me to pick a pattern, but I'm still torn. I'm thinking I'd like to use the green (Dream in Color Smooshy, in Happy Forest) to make the Interlocking Leaves socks. However, I could still persuaded to pick something different. I just can't make up my mind.

I can start casting on tomorrow night as the Olympic opening ceremonies begin. I have this feeling that I'll still be having trouble deciding what to make.

posted by Sarah | February 11, 2010 | Knitting | 0 comments | link

Wee people are surprisingly easy to make gifts for. Find cute stuff, make it, and present to wee person's keeper (or mom). Simple.

I do not have wee people. I have a dog. And I work with mini people at work everyday. Although I do not currently have the desire to own my own wee person, I apparently have an intense drive to make cute embroidered onesies for other people's wee people. Monkey onesies!

Despite saving these until the last minute (and staying up most of the night before the were due) I was overall happy with them. I used a Sublime Stitching iron on pattern, and other than figuring out that I had to use an interfacing under the stretchy material, the whole thing couldn't have been any easier.

I also wanted to knit a blanket, and being that the wee person will be arriving early this summer, I went with something lightweight. I used the Baby Chalice Blanket (link here if you're on Ravelry) pattern, with in Knit Picks Comfy. It's a 100% cotton yarn, and while I'm not usually a fan of knitting with cotton, this stuff seemed really nice to work with. Plus, it should help the wee person's mom and dad when she spits up all over it and it needs to be washed about 15 times a week. No worries about felting it all up.

posted by Sarah | May 12, 2009 | Knitting | Sewing | 1 comments | link

Wheee! Two blog posts and two completed knits in one whole week!

My lovely friend Allison had a birthday this past weekend, and being the lovely person she is, deserved something that was squishy and warm and red. I knew I wouldn't be able to crank out a pair of socks in just a few days so I decided to go with a Darkside Cowl. I love how defined the stitch pattern is, but yet is still simple enough to wear just about with anything. It was also a perfect way for me to use a nice yarn and be finished in less than a month.

Allison is also a knitter and appreciates good yarn so I picked out something I hadn't seen before -- Elsebeth Lavold Baby Llama. LLAMA! This stuff is super soft and squishy. I'm a little worried that it might pill and nub up a bit, but hopefully the softness will make up for any of that.

Pattern here, yo!

posted by Sarah | March 13, 2009 | Knitting | 1 comments | link

Crap. I've done it again.

I've been debating wiping the blog out and starting fresh (just because I think it's pretty embarrassing that my last post was in October...of the sewing machine I bought in August) but I think I'm going to just leave it up. Nobody's reading this pile anymore, anyway.

So, back to business. I finished a new hat.

I was skeptical about this hat for several reasons. As I knitted it, the brim seemed very odd to me. The picot edges seem a lot larger than I had expected and I thought it might look silly. I also was concerned with not having enough yarn in the end (I used two skeins Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight Baby Alpaca) so I decided to begin the decreases early. I think if this yarn was thicker and I was planning on using it as a winter hat, I would have ripped back and knitted it longer, but I'm satisfied with using it for a spring hat.

On Ravelry? See the details here. And hey, add me as a friend. I like friends.

posted by Sarah | March 11, 2009 | Knitting | 8 comments | link

I just want to let everyone know that I have no idea how to write a blog post anymore.

And now that we've gotten that out of the way, wanna see what I've been up to?

I happened to stumble upon this amazing alpaca yarn at one of our crappy little craft shows that we have in town during the holidays and I couldn't pass it up. It's from a local farm--who seriously knew that yarn this nice was found so close to home? It's amazingly soft and has quickly become one of my favorite things I've ever knit with.

I've never knit with a fiber that was so thin though, and finding a good pattern for it was a little challenging. I went through my older knitting magazines and spotted a nice (but not outstanding in my original opinion) scarf pattern from the Spring/Summer 2005 issue Vogue Knitting. I'm so glad now that I stuck with it, because it has turned out so lovely. It's knit in two halves, and then seamed together in the center of the back (something that I've never tried before). Since I've got the first part done, I blocked it out this morning and couldn't believe how it looks! I'm scrambing to finish the pattern now because I want to wear it NOW!

So now I'm carrying around the ratty magazine and second half of my scarf everywhere. I have to get it finished!

posted by Sarah | January 4, 2008 | Knitting | 2 comments | link

I'm not very good at it, really.

Much like the way that I prefer to run this blog, (by starting it and never bothering to follow through with an update for months at a time) I also knit socks. Do these socks match, though? No. Would I consider finishing a pair so that I could wear a matching set? Possibly...but I've got several other skeins of yarn that need to get started on too. Do I tend to follow through with any of my plans? Do I have to answer that now?

Seriously though, I'm on a sock kick right now. It's something that I can take with me to work and do while I eat lunch, I can work on it while I'm watching television at night, and I can always toss it into my bag to work on while I'm out. I know people talk about how they can get so much sock knitting done when they're in public during times of waiting, but it is so true, people! I just can't take a full size quilt or a bag that needs to be sewn on the machine to the doctor's office while I wait. I preach the truth--learn how to knit socks and you'll never be bored while waiting again.

And while I'm on the subject of starting things I'll never finish....does anyone know of a good "how to teach yourself how to crochet" website? I've tried to learn before (I never tried very hard, as that is my style with things) but I never got the hang of it. I have to learn so that I can make one of these though. So seriously beautiful.

posted by Sarah | February 16, 2007 | Knitting | 5 comments | link

I really hope this is my last post about knitting socks for awhile now! I finished these just under the wire for Christmas. This pair went to my very happy mom. She's gone on about how much she liked the first pair I knit up for myself, so I knew that I wanted to make her some too. I also made one other similar pair for my aunt, but being the slow person I am, I finished them up just moments before I wrapped them and forgot to snap a picture of them. It was nice to give so many people knitted gifts this year, but I've just about had it with the socks!

posted by Sarah | January 3, 2006 | Knitting | 1 comments | link

My sister's 21st birthday was this past Tuesday. And the perfect present for a sister who's just turned 21 is of course... knitted socks. Whoo.

While I was knitting the second sock I had a revelation while watching an episode of Knitty Gritty about sock knitting (oh my gosh, I'm knitting a sock, while watching a show about knitting socks! How weird!), about how to better pick up the stitches along the heel so there would be less gapping between the stitiches. I was really amazed how obviously better the second sock was than the first.

I at least hope she'll wear them next time she has a drink.

posted by Sarah | December 22, 2005 | Knitting | 2 comments | link