Mr. Bluejeans!

Hello everyone!

Wow it is almost the end of summer- where did it go?? Well I could say that it is partially my fault that summer has flown by as I have been so anxious to go back to school! It's 2 weeks until I do my first week of student teaching!!

I have been very busy since I last wrote! As mentioned in my last post, I finished my icarus shawl and it was much needed at my cousins wedding. I actually was wishing it was knit in a heavier yarn it was so cold!

The weekend before we left my family and I took a day trip to Gimli and I got some lovely Icelandic Lopi yarn from Tergesens (this amazing shop right by the lake that sells practically everything- the building itself is also a historic site- LOVE IT!). The yarn is Lett-Lopi and I intend on making some lovely warm mittens with it.

Our trip was fantastic! Well except the fact that my Dad was sick 99% of the time (motion sickness- the plane combined with a suspension bridge at the Calgary zoo). I did some souvenir yarn shopping. In Calgary, I visited the ladies at Make One Yarn Studio, and let me tell you that is one fine yarn shop. It's very open and the people were so friendly- even offering me refreshments! I was after Dream in Colour smooshy, but they were out of stock so I purchased some Cherry Tree Hill supersock-in the spanish moss colourwayBEsides yarn Calgary was lovely. I got to see my best friend from High School and we went out for a lovely dinner and had one of our famous Slurpee Walks!

We went to Edmonton the next day and I spent FAR TOO much (but not as much as I thought I would) at West Edmonton Mall, and after the mall we made our way over to RIver City yarns, which is just such an adorable shop! There I was fortunate enough to pick up a skein of Blue Moon FiberArts Socks that Rocks Lightweight yarn in the Little Bunny Foo Foo COlourway.

Edmonton was good, and the wedding was really nice despite the fact it was so cold and that I hurt my back stretching that morning.

We drove out to Canmore on our last day before heading back to calgary to catch our flight, and it was quite possibly my favorite moment (although the yarn, catching up with a friend, and shopping are a tie). The mountains were breath taking! I didn't want to blink. I hope to have pics up here some time soon.

Since we got back I spoiled myself with another knit picks purchase ( I had to take advantage of the book sale), and I finished my Mr. Bluejeans sweater. I kind of went full force on the sweater after we got back and finished it yesterday. THe poor sweater would have been finished MONTHS ago but It was hibernating for a few months there. I just love the sweater and again I am crossing my fingers for fall so I can wear it.

IT is so nice and warm and cozy! I can see myself wearing this with almost everything and will be perfect for school!

Anyhoo that's about all- right now I'm working on the socks I Cast on for our trip and barely worked on, and thinking about future projects. Take care and happy knitting!

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!