Well... it's been a while

Oh has it ever been a long time since I last wrote about my knitting. I have been so busy with work that every time I log onto the internet it is only for a few minutes here and there. Well summer is almost half over which means it's almost time to start school :D big yays!

I found out which school I'll be student teaching at and I must say I am very impressed. It is a private school in the area and the teacher I will be learning from seems like an amazing person!

I was reading over my last post to see where I was when I last wrote and it was the day before my convocation. Well you will all be happy to hear that I am now a graduate of the University of Winnipeg with my Bachelor of Arts. It's kind of funny how I will be part of the alumni association and the student association at the U of W. .... in my world of knitting I have become obsessed with one project. My Mr. Bluejeans sweater? No. My Jaywalker socks? no. Shortly after I wrote my last post I cast on the Icarus Shawl with Knit Picks Gloss Lace yarn in the Sterling colourway. I finished this very shawl yesterday and I must say it is stunning! The most beautiful thing I have ever made. At times it was a challenging project and I basically abandoned all other projects for the month and a half it took me to knit the shawl, but it was so worth it.THis picture does not do the shawl justice. Trust me... it is much nicer in person.

As I mentioned before, my other projects have been abandoned. I have not touched the sweater in almost 2 months, I frogged the baby cable socks (the yarn was just not working for socks), and I had abandoned the jaywalkers for some time. I did manage to finish one and get about halfway done the second :D

Isn't the colour amazing? I just love the Knit Picks Felici yarn in the mixed berries colourway.

Well that is about all. I'm heading to Alberta in a little over a week and intend on making some yarn shop stops :D. With any luck I'll grab another chance to blog before summers end... until then Happy Knitting.

Knitting post

While I have been working a ton I have also been progressing well with my knitting. I am currently working on the first sleeve of my Mr. Bluejeans sweater. Loving this sweater to death and, although I've come to a slight halt and not working on it as much as I should, I absoloutly can not wait until Fall to wear it! I have two pics of it. The first is from a distance of the back and the second is a close up of the darling little cables!

I'm loving the colour of the yarn and I just love Patons Classic Merino Wool!

I've made progress on the Baby Cable rib sock- not as far as I'd like to be- but I'm really not caring for the yarn. It's knit picks palette which technically isn't a sock yarn and it's not too bad to knit with but compared to others it does feel really cheap. The sock is slightly small- not so small that I should rip-it and redo it but small enough that it can be a pain to try on while knitting.

Also on my birthday which happened to be about a week and a half ago I started a Jaywalker sock with Knit Picks Felici yarn (mixed berries)! LOVE IT! I love the yarn and the pattern! IT's so much fun! I was making insane progress but I've kind of slowed down the past week but hope to finish the first sock by the end of next week (but we know how I am with knitting goals).

Speaking of my birthday! I got some great stuff: I got some luggage for our trip to Calgary/Edmonton this summer. Money (which has been put to good use!), A manicure which I went and had done this afternoon and my nails look amazing! A yarn/project basket, and forbidden flavours gift cert (a coffee shop by my house).

My gift of money went to great use, although I haven't seen it yet. I made a big Knit Picks order. I bought 3 skeins of wool of the andes in various colours for some felting projects, 2 skeins of Essential sock yarn in African violet, 3 skeind of Gloss lace yarn in Sterling (a grey/white/sorta blue/purple colour), Fitted Knits(book), Best of Interweave knits(book), 2 skeins of Cotlin yarn (one in a purplish colour and one in a green), and a circular needle.

My hope is to use the lace yarn, and circular needle and the Icarus shawl pattern in the best of interweave knits book! My very first lace shawl project so I'm quite excited with anticipation! I haven't received the order yet but it should be coming sometime next week.

In other good news- my convocation is tomorrow and I'm so excited! It seems like i've been waiting forever to finally get my degree and finally the day is almost here.

Anyways thats about all. Happy KNitting!

My Little Gentleman

A little less than 2 weeks ago my family suffered a major loss. Our beloved cat Boo Boo passed away at home at the age of 17 on May 19. He was an amazing companion and you could not have asked for a better guy. I was 5 years old when we found him at the pet store and something just drew me to him. You never heard a cat purr like him and sometimes all you had to do was look at him and the purring would start.

About a month or so ago he started to grow ill and we knew that his time was coming. It was hard to grasp but we all know that he is in a better place and that grandma is taking really good care of him, probably spoiling him (which of course he deserves!). There is still an empty feeling in our home and a major piece missing in my heart. This is a picture of my little prince- I actually took a picture of a picture because it wouldn't scan very well and I did not have a picture that best represent BooBoo on my digital.

May my little guy rest in peace and remember that he was loved and will always be loved by so many! We love you Boo Boo!

The Monkeys are Done :D

Hip Hip Hooray my monkey socks are done and now I can hide those dreaded bamboo dpn and never use them again (unless I am desperate for that size!). They turned out quite good and they would have been done MONTHS ago had it not been those horrible dpns which slowed me down not only in my pace of knitting but also discouraged me from picking up that project and work on it. I think at one point I actually went over a month without touching them. Now they are done and they are fabulous and i put them on last night and did a happy dance around the house :D. I was so hoping to finish them before the weather warmed up and sure enough the day I finish them looks like the last chilly day for a while- oh well I will now have a great pair to start the school year off with. Here are some pics for your enjoyment!

I think there may be a smudge on my camera lens, which I must remember to go clean once I finish this.

These lovely socks were knit with the lovely Christmas present of Shibui KNits sock yarn from Jenna :D. I do hope to one day start another pair but not on those bamboo dpns but on my lovely set of knit picks nickel plated dpns.

In other project news: my Mr. Greenjeans sweater is progressing nicely. I'm almost done the body- i have about 4 more repeats of the cable pattern before binding off and starting a sleeve. I'm loving the Patons yarn for the sweater and I absoloutly can not wait to be done. Except I fear once I'm done i'll be crossing my fingers for a chilly day just so I can wear it... which I'm sure others would not enjoy.

My baby cable rib socks haven't been touched in weeks since the monkey socks and sweater have taken first priority, I officially have moved my rowan scarf into hibernation until summer or some day when i'm bored. The log cabin blanket is still just sitting there and picked up every so often but there is no rush on that.

On deck: I really need to make my mom some new dishcloths and I have some great patterns from Creative Knitting which I have been dying to try. I really want to do a bit of baby knitting since my cousin and his wife are expecting, and my mom's cousin who held onto my grandma's patterns for us has a daughter who is also expecting. I'm thinking some nice booties or baby socks sound good. Maybe even a hat or two since both these babies will be born around fall time, i think.

I'm also drooling over several other sweater patterns- knitting sweater sure can become addictive. I also have so many socks I want to knit and I'm hoping that once i get a little further on my babycable rib socks I'll be able to cast on jaywalkers with either my Patons kroy socks stripes or my Knit Picks Felici yarn.

I want to wish Jenna a happy belated birthday and I am quite excited about her knitting birthday party on Friday- I told her that I'll be there with yarn on, lol. I'm also very excited because in a week and a half I turn 23- 23 WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN! It is also the day of my orientation for the education program which 2 1/2 weeks later I still can't believe I got accepted.

Also in exactly 3 weeks I should be arriving at the u of w for my convocation and waiting to get my cap, gown, and hood :D Oh i'm so excited to graduate! Everytime I think of it I get a little giddy.

Anyhoo I best be off- happy knitting everyone!

Oh the Excitement!

Big Yays!!! I got into the Education program at the University of Winnipeg :D. I scored one of the 35 spots available for my teaching stream! I can not tell you how good this feeling is. It's a little over 2 years from the date I finally realized that teaching is what I want to do and for the past two years I have been working so hard towards this goal.... taking courses that scared me to death (Calculus), slaving over applications and then the constant pain in my stomach I would get just thinking about the possibility of not making it. Now 2 years later I am stress free and so happy to know that I will be going to school to finally work toward my future career!

I, however, have been pretty slack on the knitting front. My monkey socks are about 3 repeats shy of toe decreases and I'm about to work the heel flap on the first baby cable rib sock. I did get a block of colour done on my afghan, and the Rowan scarf is officially hibernating until I feel like some mindless scarf knitting.

Last weekend I did pull out my new Kitty Knits book and whipped up a felted catnip mouse, which is SUPER CUTE and my cats love it :D (i'm getting quite fond of this whole felting thing, it's fun!)

awwww... isn't it cute.

I also have decided to scrap the cardigan pattern I had chosen last entry. I am now going to attempt the Mr. Greenjeans cardigan sweater from Knitty. I bought the yarn last night and I'm going to knit it up with Patons Classic Merino wool in a lovely colour called "new denim" so I guess I'm knitting Mr. Bluejeans *insert laughter here*

Other than those updates there really isn't anything else knitting related. I do hope to pick up the sticks a little more in the next week or so since it looks like my work schedule might slow down for the time being.

Anyhoo, Happy Knitting.

New Projects... New Yarn

My it has been a while since I last wrote. Much has happened since then.... yes the Monkey socks are still slowly progressing (I Blame the bamboo needles, which I am not fond of, for them not being done yet). I have, however, completed my Sweet and Seamless sweater from Not Your Mama's KNitting. I knit it in Ella Rae classic in a nice dark pink/purple colour. I've worn it a couple times already and I am loving it :D. Such a big improvement from the last sweater. THis picture does not do it justice. It's pretty form fitting underneath a long sleeved tee and it just fits perfectly!

I also remembered to take a pic of my Felted cable bag which I finished weeks ago. The picture actually didn't turn out too bad for this one. It's super cute but pretty tiny so I use it to hold my nintendo DS- the perfect size!I made another chapters purchase a week or so ago. I bought THe Friday Night Knitting Club, Kitty KNits, which is an adorable book with so many things I want to knit for my feline friends, and SEnsational Knitted Socks which is a great book (so far). I've already started the pattern for the Baby Cable Rib Socks knit in another purchase I made.

I made my very first Knit Picks purchase and what great service! A little over a week and my yarn was in my hands. I bought 2 skeins of Felici sock yarn in Mixed Berries, 2 skeins of Essential sock yarn in Burgundy, 2 skeins of Pallette in Tidepool Heather, and a set of NickelPlated DPN's. Loving them all... what a difference with the nickel plated as compared to the bamboo dpn's i bought at Ram Wools back in January.

Here is a pic of the baby cable rib socks which I am knitting on 2.25 mm dpns with Knit Picks Tidepool Heather Pallette sock yarn (which isn't the best quality but i'm still really enjoying!). The pic is a little blurry and you can't really see the baby-cables but they are really cute.

I've also been thinking about my next sweater project and I think I might attempt a cardigan. I found a pattern of my grandma's which looks like a great first cardigan pattern- pretty basic but could be fabulous in a spectacular yarn! Which gosh darn means I have to go to the LYS and pick out a new yarn to play with, lol.

Anyhoo that's about all- still making progress on the log cabin blanket but not enough to post a pic yet. Hope spring is treating everyone well- Happy Knitting!

Easter Fun!

Happy Easter Weekend! I just love Easter, I think next to Christmas it may be my fave holiday. I am currently just putting the finishing touches on my cousins easter treasure hunt for tomorrow. For the past few years I've been doing this where I create a bunch of clues which will eventually lead them to a treasure box with a treat in it for them. This year I got my two girl cousins My littly pony toys and I got my 11 year old boy cousin a light up yo-yo. They will also each be receiving a knit easter egg from a pattern in the March 2008 Creative Knitting (which I bought last saturday just days before it was replaced by the May 2008, phew that was close!). I have knit two eggs so far with one to go, but they only take 2 hours to knit so no worries. I knit one in Vanna's Choice (purples) and one in Red Heart (orange), now the Vanna's choice I love working with, in fact I'm still working on a blanket in that very yarn. It is a very nice acrylic and I haven't had any issues knitting with it. This REd Heart, however, almost broke my fingers. IT's not the nice soft Red Heart... no... it's the could be plastic super skein in bright orange I got to make the very same cousin golf club covers for Christmas. As I was knitting it I could literally hear it squeeking and my hand was in pain from trying to maneouver the increases and decreases. The stripe on that very egg is from the yarn I made my first sweater with (and still only completed sweater) and I have no clue how I knit a huge garment with that. The eggs are really cute though and I think my cousins are going to love them!

Last night I finally finished my first Monkey sock. I sat down yesterday afternoon and thought about picking up the final easter egg and getting it done but the monkey sock was calling my name. I had to do two more repeats of the lace pattern and then the toe so I figured it would be a manageable project for the evening. When I did finish the sock, however, I failed to immediatly CO for the next sock, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't come down with second sock syndrome and leave the poor sock until I finish some more projects (in this picture you can see the paw of my little helper, maggie).

At knitting group this past week I really began work on scarf using Rowan Soft Lux yarn I bought at Ram Wools back in... january?? I think. I love this yarn, it is so pretty and soft and so much fun to knit with. It is a scarf and it is almost spring here in the 'peg so I'm in no hurry to finish it. I have a funny feeling it is going to become my "i'm bored with everything else"project and get ignored a lot. As long as it is done by the time the snow flies in the fall the I'll be happy.

As a nice Easter present for my mom I decided to try ballband dishcloth from the Mason Dixon knitting book. I loved knitting this, the constant changing of colour made it a really interesting knit and not as monotonous as a classic dishcloth. I finished it and gave it to my mom yesterday and she loved it!

Now.... what else have I finished... I finished my brothers mittens, yay! Last week I also finished my felted mini bag, which I failed to take a picture of. I love it. The felting went well, although being my first felting project I feel I may have over-felted it just a smidge since the cabling is not as defined as I would have liked. Despite that I am very pleased with how it turned out and I'll try to remember a picture for next time.

Sweater Update: I have been working on so many little projects it has been ignored, although I do hope to be finished the body VERY soon and then the sleeves will take next to no time and before I know it I should have a sweater (and hopefully before it's +30 C outside).

Blanket Update: Still looking adorable, loving the colours, but it is a project that will be slow going and I fully expect it to take forever... once I've knit a few more rounds I'll post a pic to show the progress!

Happy Easter Everyone! Hope the Easter bunny treats you all very well and happy Easter Knitting!