Awwwww.......

Just a quick picture of Miss Luna using the Hard Light technique I read about on Confessions of a Pioneer Woman's website. Check it out...she is hillarious!!

And as a quick knitting note, I did manage to get gauge on my fuzzy blue sweater. I was using size 10 needles when I thought I was using 10.5's. Doh!! (slapping forehead) Oh well, the back is cast on and I think it will be a pretty quick knit!

Ooops!

So I've been on a stash busting mission, but yesterday I had a minor setback! I finally made the hour long trip to Crafts Direct. Wowza - what fun!! They were having a yarn clearance of some more funky yarns.

The cream yarn is fairly scratchy, but I'm thinking of making some sort of lacy scarf with it. It was only $1 per ball, so no big deal if I don't like it much!

The black yarn was $2 per ball and I bought 2. I have already cast on a scarf for my FIL's girlfriend. She is celebrating her 60th b-day in April and I think this will fit the bill. I'm doing the Drop-Stitch scarf, but on size 15 needles. I didn't have 19's and wasn't about to buy a pair for this one little project. I don't think it will matter.

And now for the Coup-de-gras......the blue Moda Dea Dream. It was $2 per ball, or $10 for a bag of 10 balls. Needles to say, I bought 2 bags with NO IDEA what I was going to make! (But I surely didn't want to start something and run out of yarn.) I think I have decided to make this sweater. I cast on a gauge swatch and can't quite make gauge. I may go up a needle size, or just fudge the pattern a bit. We'll have to see.

Knit on!

Needle Case = Stash Busting!!

Heidi and I both decided that this needle case from Lion Brand would be a great "stash busting" project. I used a bunch of left-over WOTA for mine (hence the crazy color pattern!). I made it to fit all of my current bamboo straights, but left room for a few more pairs. I'm not sure if I will ever purchase anything smaller than a size 4 or larger than a 10.5, but it's nice to know I have room for them if I do! The open slot in the middle is for my size 7's, which are currently in use for my Must Have Cardigan sleeve.

Now I need to come up with some sort of pattern for all of my DPN's. I like this pattern from Paton's, but it would need to have more individual pockets. It's a super simple pattern and would be easy to alter, so I think I'll pull out the rest of my WOTA stash and start it up.

I also finished the first of my Monkey socks!! And the best sock knitting advice I ever received was "As soon as you finish the first sock, cast on the second." So, following that advise, the second sock is on the needles! I hope to finish them soon.

Knit on!

" Must Have" Sleeve

I finally received my Paton's Street Smart pattern book in the mail from Pollywog's. I love the Must Have Cardigan so I jumped right in. I chose to make it in black - mostly because it goes with everything in my wardrobe!

I have to admit that the pattern was a bit daunting at first. But once I got the cable pattern set, it was smooth sailing from there (except for the C6F I did instead of C6B - but I don't think many people will notice - even though it a GLARING mistake to me.) I'll keep posting pictures of my progress. Here's a close up of the cable pattern. I expect it to flatten out a bit after blocking, but I am super pleased with how it looks!


The Monkey socks are on the back burner. I think after the second round of frogging I lost a little steam with them. Maybe I just needed a break. I know I'll pick them back up soon because I will need a break from all of these cables!!

Knit on!!

Monkey Socks and a Hat

I have a tradition of knitting a hat/scarf for my niece and nephew for their birthday. This is the hat I made for my nephew Nate's 13th birthday. I have to admit that coming up with a hat that a 13 year old boy will like was harder than I thought! I finally chose the Little Cables pattern in a nice chocolate colored wool, I hope he likes it.

And I'm still working on the Monkey Socks. As much as I love this pattern, I'm getting pretty sick of it! I had to frog it back again this weekend. Since the whole 2.5mm needle vs. 2.75mm needle debate was never settled by me, I continued on and ended up running short of yarn. I was just about to the toe decrease when I determined that I just would not have enough. Hhrrrrmmmppphh. So back to the frog pond I went. I decided to decrease the number of lace repeats on the leg from 6 to 4. That should give me enough to complete the toe. And yes - I could have just gotten another ball of yarn - and I did consider that. But at $6.50 a ball, these would have been some darn expensive socks!

And try as I might, blogger will just not cooperate with uploading pictures right now. I promise I'll edit this post later and include the pictures of the hat and socks. (Heck I had a hard enough time just getting to type this post!)

ETA: Got the pictures up.....it's all hunky-dory now!

Knit on!

Grumble about socks....

So I am not usually a sock knitter, but I've recently come across some cool patterns that I just HAVE to knit. The problem lies in the gauge. Most of the patterns call for a needle size of US 2. What is annoying about this is that there are really 2 different size 2's - 2.75mm and 2.5 mm. Grrrrrr. For me to get the correct gauge, I need a 2.5mm. Also known as a "non-standard" US 2. And I dare you to try and find a non-standard US 2 at any store. I have one more LYS to try, then I'm going to have to go online. I know that I can get them, but I have to wait. Nothing worse than waiting.

So here's what I'm working on: Monkey Socks. I picked up some gorgeous yarn (Plymouth Happy Feet in color #4 I think) at my LYS last week when they had a Leap Day sale. I've got about 1/2 of the first sock done, but the gauge is just not working out. I'm afraid I need to frog the whole thing and start over with non-standard US 2's. *grumble*

Knit on!