Christmas Knitting

I've been working for the past week on the Urban Necessity Convertable Gloves by Colleen Michele Meagher. Well, I got done with one hand, however, I feel as though I need to rip out the whole hand. See, the pattern calls from a worsted weight yarn. I used a Bulky sized yarn. The medium fits my dear husband instead of hands like mine. FYI, hubby's ring size 12, mine 4.5, soooo, needless to say, the gloves are a bit big for a girl's hand. Guess I should start over.

So I picked up my Bernat Alpaca that I bought from Michael's last week and casted on stitches for the gloves for Rose (husband's grandfather's lady friend). She's my secret santa for Christmas through the hubby's family. I've cast on for the small. This yarn is a bit thinner than the Cyprus Mohair that I was using for Jess', however they are both 12 ply, so who knows how this will turn out! LOL.

Everyone seems to love them and are putting in their request for some of them! Woo hoo!!!!

Since I'm broke, I'm making everyone's Christmas gift. It's fun. I'm making some "hugs" for my non touchy-feely type friends. I'm making a bunch of bags and hats for some other friends. But I also have tons of Christmas Cookies to make, plus Church Dance group for the Christmas Cantada. Will it all be finished?!?! Stay Tuned!

Wedding Ideas

I had an amazingly awesome idea for the wedding pop in my head as I was reading Ravelry’s With This String, I Thee Wed! one topic of wedding favors. I was reading through the ideas others had come up with. And it got me thinking about what I want to do for mine… So I have decided on…. Drum roll please



Small translucent/mesh-like bags filled with Tea, Cinnamon Sticks, Lemon Honey Sticks, and Sugar Cubes. If I want someone else to do what I want, it’ll cost over $500!!!! And if I want personalized tea covers, it’s like $150 bucks! WTF, I’m not going to pay that amount for my freakin’ name to be on 150 tea bags. I can make the amount of them myself and save 3/4’s that amount. I’ll just have to start on them closer to the wedding, probably mid-late September. It won’t take that long (hopefully) to put them together.

This will tie into what I’m doing for Bridal Shower Gifts. The wedding bags. I’m done with 11 of them, starting on the 12th. I was surprised to find out that my Shine Sport from Knit Picks was actually Shine Worsted. I like it TONS, but I’m just sad that my Hollyberry colorway is in Shine Sport. I was also unpleasantly surprised to fine that one ball of my Fedora Shine Worsted only made TWO bags. And the second bag I skimped on because I didn’t have a lot of yarn left. I barely was able to cast off with the remainder! *sigh* But I really like how they’re turning out. There will be 39 people invited to the shower, but I don’t know how many people will show up.

OOOOhhhh, I also determined that I will have pine cones as my place card holders. I’m going to dry a bunch out, spray them a misty golden color, and tie autumny colored ribbon around them with the name cards on them. Such a good Autumny scene I’ll have going on!!!! And I can have the tags be in mini shapes of Maple or Oak leaves! *Gasp* I cannot wait!

Yarn and Boredom

Sooooo, the afternoon after my last blog, I dropped off a coworker in Bethlehem and decided to find Tangled Yarns. Well, I found it. And I bought 4 skeins of Watercolor colorway yarn there... Oh and more stitch markers for my wedding shawl. Not because I HAD to, but I just wanted to... *Sigh* Then, Rob and I went to DC this weekend, to visit his cousin, Joe, and Joe's girlfriend, Jess. Out of sheer boredom at work, I decided to check out the local area on Google maps (I am a map maker after all...) then, I got the brilliant idea to see if there were yarn shops in the area where we were going to be. And the answer is.... YES!!!! Stitch DC was right across the street from the Georgetown Mall, where we were going to eat on Saturday night. Sooooooo, I convinced Jess to bug the boys with me to go. I just HAD to pick out something to knit up for Jess! She will, after all, eventually be part of the family. Of course, I won't get to working on her items until after the wedding and Christmas socks are done, but you know, that's okay with her! So I ended up getting 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (Aran) in the Teal colorway for a scarf for myself and a total of 4 balls of Feza Iplik Cyprus Mohair for Jess' gloves and Rob's hat. Oh, I'm so excited to start on these projects.

What I'm not so excited about is still doing these wedding bags... *loud audiable SIGH* They're getting boring. I just need to hurry up and get them done. The only thing that is exciting about doing these is changing colorways. I have several yarns and colorways for this project (all one ball each): Knit Picks Shine Sport in Fedora (Brown), Hollyberry (Red), and Mallard (Green); Kraemer Yarns Summit Hill (Red) and Tatamy Tweed DK in Harvest Gold (dark yellow) and Ginger (Orange); and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solid (Yellow and Orange). So far, I've used almost all my Lion Brand in both colorways, as well as the Summit Hill and the Harvest Gold Tatamy Tweed. I just casted on my next little bag in the Fedora colorway.

I love the Shine Sport and this is the first time I am using it. However, I am a bit surprised at how much it sheds initially. I'm not a fan of the shedding... Oh well, the yarn is so soft and shines just so nicely! No wonder it's called Shine Sport! LOL.

Anyway, back to the bags. I was testing out different types of lace patterns and determined the one I modified from Interweave Knits Summer 2008, Wakame Lace Tunic by Angela Hahn was the one to use. I'm still using the bags that I made up as testers, and people can pick and choose their color and pattern from that. I hope everyone appreciates all the time and effort that has gone into these!!!! They're so pretty, if I do say so myself.

I've also been working on my wedding shawl. Which would be fine, but it's a very simple pattern. I picked it because I wanted to make sure it would be accurate and quick to knit up. Uggggh, I love working with lace, but there's just so many darn stitches on the needles. I have them sectioned off in groups of 12 because the pattern repeats every six stitches and I don't have enough stitch markers. The color is turning out beautifully (it's the Shadow Lace Yarn in Juniper Heather) although it's a few shades darker than my dress color... :( Oh well, because it's heathered, no one will notice, right? I already made Arielle's shawl for her, and I hope she likes it!!!!! Her stepmom says she will so I'm trusting Jackie right now!

Okay, I've seriously taken up too much time of my ranting about wedding bags and yarn and all the stuff I'm working on. Time to try and get the heck outta here!

Help, I'm Addicted to Yarn

So, I just bought my 4th, I repeat, my FOURTH order from Knit Picks in less than a month. And because I don’t want to pay for shipping, all my orders have been $50 or more! Why? I have no clue! Because I see pretty yarn and I must have it. What is going on in my mind!?!?!? I don’t need the yarn, I have tons of it, but I want it. To quote The Devil Wears Prada, “Because it’s preeeeetttttyyyyyy.”

I want to use one skein to knit up a cute little baby hat for a girl I met at Creation. I also want to make a wedding shawl for my friend. Hopefully 2 skeins of shimmer will be enough. I think it will. And I hope it matches her color for her bridesmaids. It’s a light green she said. Oh, well, if she doesn’t like it, then I’ll just keep it! LMAO! Just kidding. I’m sure Megan will like it but she’ll tell me it looks like scrambled eggs. Total inside joke, I’ll let you know if you wanna know.

Anyway, tons of pretty yarn, hopefully will come in sometime next week. YAY Yarn!

Arielle's Shawl is Done

I finished up the Julia's Shawl from Wrapped in Comfort on this past Friday. I was knitting at Creationfest, in between my camera working. I got to meet bands like Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Kutless! It was pretty awesome, especially when Skillet and Toby Mac had pyro going. Rob and I made sure to stay away from where the explosions were occuring. But in my off time, I was able to complete my shawl. It has a few little slips and I had to catch a few stitches so I figure only I'll notice. It's really pretty though.
I love the way my Knit Picks Harmony circulars feel in my hands. A few times, the interchangable needle came loose. I'm not exactly sure how but oh well. It was easy to tighten back up. They were so smooth to knit with, I found myself trying to "sticky up" my fingers so that the needles wouldn't slip from my grasp. But it worked out wonderfully. Plus the Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn was so nice to work with. The Juniper colorway is a bit darker than the green in the dresses, but I think with the lace pattern, no one will notice!


I really hope Arielle loves this shawl as much as I loved making it for her. Now onto mine!

Julia's Shawl

I'm working on my first real lace project. It's Julia's shawl from Wrapped in Comfort. I'm using Shadow Lace in the Juniper Heather color. It's a lot different than what I'm used to knitting with. It's harder than I thought because I'm a tight knitter. Oh well, it's a new experience for me. I'm enjoying it tremendously. I also just received my first set of Harmony Interchangable Circulars!!! I'm super excited!!! :-)

I'm using stitch markers ever 6 stitches just because I'm so easily distracted. I usually knit while watching TV or I bring it to work to do while I'm taking my lunch break. Yes, I know I should EAT during this time, but I'd prefer to knit! I don't think I'm going to take this, though to work. I believe it's a bit difficult to bring and work on there. Maybe once I feel a bit more comfortable with it, perhaps I'll bring it in.

So far, I'm pleased with my progress. Hopefully it'll continue. I'll post blogs of my progress.

In other news, I picked up my wedding dress last night. OMG, the train is so long!!!!!!! I cannot believe how pretty it is!!!! I can't believe that I'm really getting married. Well, this shawl will be for my flower girl and hopefully I'll have enough time to make one for me too!!!

Knitting and Weddings

So I've completed two whole projects in one full week! Yikes, I might have to start on this full time and make a few bucks doing it. I wish I could be a test knitter. It would give me so much time to do things. Like, I'd be saying, "Ohhhh, I have to get this done, sorry, can't come out!!!!"I have found that I love getting my yarn, needles, and so much more.

I'm stoked to get my Shadow and my Shimmer in the mail today. I'm getting a pack of circulars too. I'm excited to get home, but first....

I'm going to get my wedding dress!!!! I'll post a picture when I try it on so people can (if they want) tell me what they think of the dress. I'm excited to start on the Julia's shawl from the Wrapped in Comfort book. Now I'm ready to get out of work. Arrgggg, still an hour and 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow Devil Hat Is Done

I finished up the snow devil hat last night. I can't believe how quick it went. Well, I did spend my lunch hours and evenings knitting so I really shouldn't be too surprised. I'm happy it's done with. Now it's just hiding at my house so my Future Sis-in-Law doesn't see it. I'm totally stoked about it.

Snow Devil Hat

Well, I started on the snow devil hat. I haven't done grafting before so this was a first... I don't like it with two stitches going different directions. It's like picking up stitches and grafting. I started it on Sunday and I'm already working on the nape. I feel very confident with my knitting. Unfortunately, I've been thinking so much of knitting, I woke up at 4 am this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep until 5:30. So, what did I do, you may ask? I went downstairs and worked on the snow devil hat.... **SIGH**

I've decided that I'm going to make two of these in a row. One for Dana's birthday on August 5, and one for my friend and maid of honor, Laura. Her birthday is September 20, but I'll probably give it to her when she's here over Labor Day weekend. I'm sure both of them will be extremely excited for the hats!!!

Completed Adam's Mohawk Hat & The Start of a New Project

Yay, after ripping out both sides several times, I was able to complete the hat. I'm totally excited to have finished this and all in less than a week's time! I realize that I'm getting to be a faster knitter than I was even a year ago! Which excites me greatly.
Now I'm making the Devil Hat by the same designer. Very similar in creation to the Mohawk hat. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it in a week too! That would be fantastic. It's being created for Dana and her birthday is in August. She's also been begging me for one of these for months. So that can be her birthday present. I was going to start on Julia's Shawl from the Wrapped in Comfort book I recently purchased, but I realized that I didn't have the right size cables for it. So I purchased the interchangable wood needles from Knit Picks yesterday. I can't wait to get them later this week and hopefully be able to start on the shawls. Rob told me I'm not allowed to have more than one project going on at a time. That I need to finish one before beginning the next. HAHAHHAHHAHAHAH, what kind of knitter would I be then?!?!?!

Adam's Mohawk Hat 2

So I begin this blog to continue the story of Adam's Mohawk hat... I kept messing up the left gusset, and I continued to rip it out and start over. I did this 3 times, because I couldn't keep it centered... Oh well, right? Wrong........I realized that I had picked up stitches every row instead of every other row. Oops!!!! So not only did I rip out the left gusset AGAIN, I ripped out the RIGHT gusset. Ugggh. But I realized on Friday how quick of a knitter I've become, because I finished both by this afternoon and Trever tried the finished hat on. Then I began using the Mauch Chunky Bing Cherry and started to add the hair. Next I'll post a picture of the finished product!

Adam's Mohawk Hat

I found the pattern for a Mohawk hat in the DomiKNITrix book by Jennifer Stafford after a friend recommended it to me. My fiancé, Rob, saw it, and asked if I’d make it for him. After months of realizing he would never wear a sweater if I made it for him, I was only happy to oblige! I created the hat for my fiancé about, oh, a bit over a year ago. He works in TV Production for a rental company. Anyway, he wore it to work one day because he was cold and I made it out of Kramer’s Yarn, Mauch Chunky, which is a wool yarn. It’s not very itchy when knitted up and he loves it (He's 29!). See photo!

So all the boys in the shop saw this (after the girls rolled their eyes profusely!) and immediately begged me for ones, who you would think were 5 instead of 25-35! I promised Adam first. Well, that was about 6-8 months ago!!! Whoops! I really did start on it. I just haven’t had motivation to do another hat… Plus, my wedding’s in 4 months, and I’ve been planning that AND Rob and I just moved into our first house.So I finally decided to start up on it again. I made the Widow’s Peak and just finished the Right Gusset. Tonight, I’ll start on the Left Gusset, and hopefully get the Nape done by Saturday. Then I can add the Mohawk hair to it this weekend and I can give it to him so he’ll be happy. Not that he’ll be able to wear it until the fall anyway, but at least it can be done with. I’ll post pictures of my progress, if I remember!

Widow's Peak (1/8/08)

Right Gusset (6/12/08)

Left Gusset (6/13/08)

Beginning of the Nape (6/14/08)