Lots of Projects

Blogger is pretty slow right now and I'm having trouble posting my pictures, so this will be a multi-post day.

Here's a picture of the first few blocks for a quilt I'm making for my neighbor. The one on the left isn't finished yet. My neighbor's having a little boy and she's due the end of October. We probably would have never gotten to know each other if it wasn't for our dogs, who love each other! So I thought it was rather fitting to make a puppy quilt. It doesn't go at all with the decor of their room (light green and classic pooh) but that's ok, it can be a quilt to use anywhere but the nursery! I think it's turning out great. I'm doing 6 puppy blocks and then 6 four patches using the same bright colors.


Hopefully I'll be able to post about the clapotis and my craft room later. I'm taking the dogs for a walk now so it will have to be later today.

Beginning Clapotis

Ok, so I haven't posted in a very long time. I've been very busy though. I'm working on my dissertation, which honestly doesn't take up much time as compared to our pups. They are a handful and require a whole lot of exercise and attention. I love em though and they're keeping me occupied while my husband is over in Iraq.

I've been slowly working on my first pair of socks. I turned the heel and everything and now I've got to do like 6 or 7 inces of straight knitting and it's pretty boring, so it's being put on the back burner. And it's only the first sock! It's going to take forever.

I got some new yarn though and just had to make something with it. My sister suggested the Clapotis pattern from Knitty and I think it's looking real good so far. I'm using 100% alpaca. It's all natural, undyed yarn in three colors that are spun together. I love it!! I did one one repeat of section 2 and I'm not sure how many I will do of section 3. It's going really quick though. I'm glad I'm doing the smaller scarf size one, other wise the stripes wouldn't be so nice. It would probably go half a row before changing color. I've dropped 2 stitches so far and it looks pretty good. My sister's looked real good without blocking, but mine will definitely need to be blocked.

Here's a detail of the stitches and dropped stitches. It will look much better when it's blocked and the dropped stitches will be straighter.

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll have some real progress to post soon!

I finished a project and have nothing on my needles!!!

I know, how could this ever happen. . . what kind of knitter am I to not have anything going on. Well, I blame it on a very difficult pattern. The scarf has been scrapped yet again and I'm going to try again with a new pattern that will hopefully look very similar but isn't so difficult. The pattern wasn't really that bad, there was just a weird part involving a yarn over, a slipped stitch, and passing that slipped stitch over. It was very hard to tell the yarn over from the slipped stitch when it came time to psso. So, I will start it again and it will be my next project. My new dog is keeping me very very busy though. He's a little (well, big. . . he's 60 pounds) fireball and is absolutely obsessed with tennis balls. Right now he's running 4 miles a day and walking another 4 miles, plus playing fetch all the other spare time of the day. Unfortunately, I don't have a treadmill so I'm also getting 8 miles of exercise.

So, some finished projects. Here is a picture of the bunny that I made and gave to the dog (I really didn't like the way it came out!)

Her is the sweater for my niece. It took me long enough, didn't it? It's very big and I hope it looks good on her. There's a hood and a pocket. Besides the enormity of it, I think that it turned out pretty good. It will probably fit her well into her teen years. Although hot pink may not be a part of her wardrobe much longer. I think I feel confident enough to move onto a big sweater. I think I'm going to make one for my hubby for when he gets back from his deployment. I just have to find the perfect pattern and buy a whole bunch of yarn (there goes my promise not to buy yarn until I use up what I have in my stash!!)

Here's a picture of my pups. The dark one (Cooper) we've had for almost a year, the white one (Trapper) we got one week ago today. They're already best buds and Trapper is fitting in just great!!

The dog ate my homework

Well, not really, but he did eat a few other things! I made a bunny stuffed animal and it looked absolutely horrible because I didn't measure it correctly before sewing and the head was tiny and the butt was huge. So I gave it to the dog. He immediately pulled the tail off then didn't touch it again for a few days. Now it's one of his favorite toys and he's always got it in his mouth when I come home from work. He was a little troublesome this morning though. I left him at home when I went for a run and he wasn't happy about that. He has knee surgery 2 months ago and still gets mad when I leave him home when I go running. One more month and he'll be able to join me again. Anyway, when I got back home the yarn for the scarf I'm working on was stretched across the den, through the kitchen, and into the sitting room. Luckily he didn't manage to pull any stitches off the needle!!

So, I've ALMOST got one sleeve done of my neice's sweater. The thing is going to be so huge!! I also started the scarf for the 3rd time. Hopefully 4th time is a charm! I somehow managed to lose the instructions though. I had them scribbled on a piece of paper that I was able to find, but the original pattern has disappeared into a black hole somewhere. I'm sure I'll find it the day after I finish the scarf. I think that's all I'm working on at the moment. I'm hoping to work on a baby blanket for my neighbor while I'm in NY at a conference and visiting my family.

The neverending blanket

The neverending blanket has finally been finished!! It took forever and I'm never making another blanket like this!! It came out very pretty and it's a nice lacey pattern, but I'm never making another thing so big on such small needles.


Yarn: Bernat Coordinates
Needles: Size 7US
Pattern: Baby Chevron Afghan, on Bernat label

Here's a picture of the blanket all packaged up and ready to be mailed. The baby shower is on Saturday and it's Wednesday right now. It should get in the mail today (if I ever get changed out of my pajamas) and it MAY make it there for the shower. I can only hope.

I also finished the seaman scarf for my husband, but didn't take a picture yet. I'll get it up eventually.

So, my projects that are on the needles now:
Pullover for my niece (I just messed up the sleeve, so it will probably go even slower now)
Bunny (a pattern from my sister to make a little bunny from a square, it will be an accompanying animal for an auction baby blanket)
Scarf (well, it was on the needles until I messed up the pattern for the millionith time, I just unravelled it and now the bunny is on those needles so it will have to wait a little bit)

I've also got a few random things in the craft room. I have a sock started and some washcloths and I think an ugly scarf, obviously not all that interesting since I haven't worked on them in a very long time.

Some pictures of my projects

I finally remembered and had time to download my photos I took a week ago. Here is the scarf I'm making for my hubby, more than halfway done! I'll have it done by next year since it's a little too hot now.
Now for the baby blanket that will never be a whole blanket. It is getting very boring since it's the same 4 rows over and over and over again. But, I've managed to finish the first skein of green and now I'm starting the second skein, which is white. Then I have one more skein after that, a yellow one.
Here's the detail of the pattern. I did mess up a little, but of course I didn't take a picture of that part!!

Oh to be a stay at home wife!!!

I just returned from a month of working in Australia. Unfortunately, I brought no knitting projects with me, but I did manage to read 3 books from the Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan series. . . highly recommended. I've done a little bit since I got home. I'm mainly working on a scarf for Josh, although he's going to Irag for a year and won't need it, but I just want to finish something, and I'm also working on a baby blanket for my cousin. The baby shower is in June so I don't have much time left. It's getting a little bit boring, but it's good for when I get home from work and don't want to think.

I'm thinking of things to make for the charity auction this year. We're starting things off pretty early being that it's in November, but I might as well start thinking enven though I won't start anything until October!

The best thing is that I've been able to work from home for the last 2 weeks since I've been home from Australia. My dog had knee surgery (poor pup) and I needed to stay home with him a few days. Then I realized, wow, I'm a million times more productive at home then at work. So, I've been working from home. It's been real nice because I can actually take a lunch break and knit of go for a walk with the dog. Not having to drive to work is great too, I've got an extra 90 minutes every day to do anything I want (mainly fold laundry or sleep). I could definitely be a stay at home wife for a while!!!

Well, that's it, no pictures or anything, they'll just have to wait til my next post, which will hopefully be in less than 2 months!!

Too much to do!

Well, I finally finished a hat, mitten, and scarf set for myself. I think that it's adorable, however my husband thinks the little thing on the top of the hat is silly. The sillier the hat the better!

Yarn: Colinette Prism, velvet leaf accent on scarf in moss
Pattern: Iris hat and mittens from Colinette Artyfacts book

Despite his thinking I only knit silly things, my husband requested a simple watch cap, so I gladly obliged.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, Ink

Pattern: Ribbed Watch Cap http://www.vintageknits.com/hat.html

Needles: Size 8

Now that he has a hat, he needs a scarf, of course! It's going to be 19 inches of reversible cables, 18 inches of ribbing, and another 19 inches of cables. I'm about 9 inches into it. It will probably not be done in time for him to wear it this year, but I'll try.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, Cream

Pattern: Reversible Cable Seaman Style Scarf http://www.cu-needleworks.com/Patterns/Scarves/DoctorScarf/doctorscarf.htm

Needles: Size 8

My last recent project was a little quilt for the puppy that I've been watching for a week now. She absolutely loved the rag quilt that my mom sent to me so I thought I'd make her one to take home with her. It took all over 3 or 4 hours to complete. It was fun to get a little quilting in. Now I just have to clean up the craft room enough so I can find some of the other projects I had started.
Well, that's it for now. I am going to keep working on my husband's seaman scarf and a baby quilt I'm making for my cousin. That blanket is no where near done, but I still have a few more months.

Charity crafting

I managed to actually clean out my craft room a little after it's been used for storage of whatever needs to be put away when company comes over. There's still quite a bit that needs to be done and the majority of stuff has just been moved to other rooms so the mess has spread out, but most of it is out of my craft room! In the cleaning process I found 2 blankets I had made for Project Linus when I first learned how to crochet. I also found a few premie hats I crocheted. I gave it all to my friend Erica who will drop it off for me at our local Project Linus volunteer.

These discoveries, along with my overwhelming amount of scrap yarns and fabrics, has inspired me to make more charity things. I found a baby quilt top that was pieced for a friend in wild colors, but then I saw she registered for all Classic Winnie the Pooh stuff anf wild colors just wouldn't go. So, I layered and tied it last night and will sew on the binding Thursday. I also found an extra panel I had made for a kittens in mittens quilt for my niece. I'm going to add some fabric on both sides and turn that into a baby quilt as well.

In terms of my other projects. I'm making a baby blanket for my cousin's baby. It's a very simple lace pattern that will have three stripes of color (green, white, and yellow). I'm using the Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn and the pattern is from one of the skeins. It's going pretty quick, but it is my first ever knitted blanket. It's quite a jump from working on size 11 and 13 to working on 7s. It seems like this blanket will take forever, but it will be adorable when it's done!! It's the main thing I'm working on now. I'm really enjoying it now that I have the pattern memorized and it's starting to get some length to it.

I'm still working on my running mittens and scarf. I've got the hat done and use it almost every day. It's just perfect, not too tight, not too loose, and just the right breathability.

After the hat and mittens is my socks, they're kinda boring, but they are a very portable easy project for now. I'm just working on the top part and haven't gotten to any shaping.

My niece's pullover has hit a wall. It's just too boring. I finished the back, but am kind of dreading starting the front. I'm sure my interest will be revived soon, but for now it's just sitting in it's pretty little bag waiting for me!

I finished my hat, scarf, and mitten set for everyday wear. It's just adorable. I'll post a picture soon, it's hard to get them away from the dog though. He likes to steal them and hide them under couch cushions or in the bed! I finally gave in and let him have a hat of his very own (one I made that was too big for me and too girly for my husband), but he still likes to go after my stuff. Luckily he doesn't chew or destroy my knit or quilted stuff, he just carries it around the house. He was born to be a crafter's dog!!

That's it for now, except for a little self reflection: I think I'm turning into a real knitter. When I first started quilting I would start a project and actually finish it. Then I started getting too interested in a million different projects and started every one I wanted to. Not that's happening with my knitting, too. I think it's time for a bigger craft room!!

Holiday Crafting

I somehow managed to finish my knitted gifts just in time for Christmas. I made a little bag for my sister. It was a kit from kyarns.com. The pink lady bag, using manos yarn, color: stellar. It's a felted bag that came out really good, except the little bulges on the sides which should have been smoother, but it looks good none the less.

For my other sister I made a hat and a pair of mittens. It was going to be just a hat, but then I saw the pattern for the matching mittens and decided hey why not! So I made them too, the hat turned out really nice. The mittens were ok, not my favorite. They have a seam that runs in a weird place that makes them a little uncomfortable. But they're cute enough that I made ones for myself. I'll have a picture once it's blocked. The ones for my sister are made of collinete prism yarn, color: moss. The ones for me are the same yarn, color: velvet leaf, a grass green color.
I think that's all I've actually accomplished. While I was home for the holidays, I helped my parents clean out their basement and came across quite a yarn stash. I'm keeping some of it to make a baby blanket for my cousin's baby (8 months to finish that one!) and the rest will be donated to the trust run by a woman in my knitting group. She will sell the yarn and use the money to buy food and supplies for the poodles she raises for assistance dogs. While I wish I had the space to store it all, it's going to a great cause!