Now I just need one cold day....

As of Wednesday I have completed my second pair of socks. They are adorable and near perfect (a few mistakes are to be expected). It took almost 4 weeks to complete the pair and well worth it. I'm sure I would have been done them much sooner if I hadn't been pre-occupied with working out my school timetable for next term, the last term of my BA... yay!!! I want to wear my new socks but it just happens to be summer and summer in the 'Peg is known to be hot and humid, not exactly sock wearing weather. I also don't exactly have any shoes that will show off my socks:You can't really see it in this picture but there are little eyelits in the ribbing. You can also see a bump on my left ankle, that would be my anklet which i was too lazy to remove before taking the picture. Aren't they adorable? I'm quite proud of them.

I had another exciting moment this week having to do with knitting. When I was a little girl I used to sit in my grandparents den with my grandma while she was knitting. She would have piles of patterns and knitting books, she also got a Mary Maxim catalogue every season. This catalogue had sweater kits and yarns and I used to spend hours leafing through the catalogues. My grandma also made me a few things out of those catalogues. One item makes an appearance every Christmas, a christmas stocking with santa on the front and it used to have a light up nose until the light burnt out. Anyways, a few months ago I was just browsing knitting websites and Mary Maxim came up... needless to say I was extrememly excited so I quickly signed up for the free catalogue. I had registered for it so long ago I had almost forgot about it so imagine my surprise when the mail came one morning and this was there:I feel like a real knitter now with this catalogue sitting on top of my knitting bag in the living room.
Sweater Update: Well the sweater is progressing. I've got a couple more inches done, a few more and I'll be able to start the shaping for the arm. Once I've got a little more done I'll post an picture.
New Project: Back in May when I got my "SNB" book almost immediatly I made a mental note of a certain project: A PDA cover. I got a Palm for Christmas and I've been looking for something to protect it but PDA covers are extremely expensive, so imagine my surprise when i finally had a pattern to knit one up myself. I'm knitting it in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton and size 4 mm needles in a really nice pink verigated colour. I'm quite liking how the colour is knitting up:

I need to knit that piece pretty long, about 10 1/2 inches, then a bit of shaping for the flap a little sewing here and there and voila, a nice home for my Palm.

That is all folks, no more knitting news. Perhaps by next time I will have another project hop onto my needles but perhaps not. Happy Summer and Happy Knitting!!

A sock addiction??? perhaps.

Well it is above 30 C here in the 'Peg today and a perfect day to sit in the nice cold basement and update the world on my knitting adventures. With the miserable and unpredictable weather the past few weeks I have had plenty of time to knit and completed a sock! I fear I may have fallen victim to the sock knitting bug. On Wednesday, after two weeks of work, I completed the sock I was making out of Bernat Baby yarn and a pattern I found in "One Skein Wonders" and after finally figuring out the kitchener stitch the toe grafting looks nearly seamless!! Here making it's world debut is my adorable little pink sock:Isn't it adorable?!?!? The next day I made sure to cast on the second one and as of this morning I was a about half done the leg:Socks give you such a feeling of accomplishment. You cast on and before you know it you have something beautiful to wear. I'm hoping that once i'm finished the second one we will have just one cool day so I can wear them without overheating. I've read many articles and even got some advice on the knitlist message boards that acrylic yarns are horrible for socks because they don't allow your feet to breathe. However, I feel as my first attempt at a pair of socks on small needles and with fingering weight yarn the choice to settle for the cheaper acrylic yarn was a good decision. I am quite eager to get some actual sock yarn for my next pair. I was researching on my LYS website and they have some sock yarn that is extremely reasonable, so hopefully sometime this summer I'll get a chance to get down there, but in the meantime I'm perfectly content with making small projects with yarn I can get at the craft store, besides I am currently in the middle of a new major project:What is that?? Why I think it may be the back panel of my very first sweater. In my last post I was still torn between a sweater and an afghan, but after bringing up my confusion at a family dinner a few nights later I finally decided on the sweater. As well, after I made my decision the Michaels flier came on Saturday morning and as if it were fate the yarn I needed was on sale! Yay! As you can see I chose a nice blue, it looks great when you hold it up next to denim and I can not wait to wear it with my favourite jeans and with any luck by the time I am done it will look something like this:

My goal by my next entry is to complete the second sock, or at least be finished working the heel and gusset. With any luck I'll also have more accomplished on my sweater. Perhaps I will even have another project on the go, I kind of feel like knitting up a dishcloth so maybe some of my cotton yarn will be lucky and find itself wiping a counter before the end of the week.

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

It seems like it has been raining for the whole month of may and I am beginning to get quite sick of it. You'd think that with all this rain I would have a ton of time to knit but I really have not been that productive lately.

A couple weeks ago I finally finished my bag which I was knitting with Bernat Softee Chunky, and it turned out quite well. I sewed a lining in it and have been using it as my everyday purse. I found the pattern on Bernat's website but I sort of modified it since I didn't like the way the bernat fancy fur looked with the colour of the softee chunky.

Since I last wrote I celebrated my 22'nd birthday, aren't I old now?? Anyways my birthday was great. I got a lot of money from my family and was able to buy a couple new outfits. I also purchased a few books (which i mentioned in my previous entry). Well "One Skein Wonders" and "Stitch 'N Bitch: A Knitters Handbook" arrived about a week and a half ago and I am quite impressed with both of them. SNB is one of the best handbooks I've come across, in fact, in the week and a half since it arrived I have consulted it many times. Not only does it have great instructions and helpful tips, but the information about knitting in it is great and I already have plans to make the kitty bed in, hopefully, the near future. "One Skein Wonders" is also great. This book has some great patterns that will make great Christmas gifts for family. I love how the book is organized by yarn weight so you can substitute yarns easily. The only downside is there are a few patterns that are horrible and I would never knit, like the knit collars *blech* they just seem much too old fashioned for my tastes. ALong with the knit collars some of the hats are tacky but some are really cute. The book was worth purchasing because out of the 101 patterns there are quite a few that I hope to attempt. I've already made a pair of wrist warmers/ fingerless mittens that I knit up in Bernat Satin and were knit on dpn. I've also started a pair of socks on dpn with fingering weight yarn. The pattern says that this pattern is great with handpainted yarn as it really shows it off. I'm knitting these socks up with Bernat Baby, since it's my first time using smaller needles and fingering weight yarn I didn't want to go out and spend a lot just in case I couldn't get the hang of it. I actually had to increase the size of the needle from a size 1 to one that I believe is almost a size 2 (I don't know the actual size since my inherited my grandma's knitting needles and her dpn were all thrown together without their sizes listed so I had to sort through them with my needle guage and these ones were not quite a 2 but did not fit in the size 1 slot), I've been working on them almost a week and it's taken a while to get the hang of the pattern and I'm just about to move onto the heel of the first sock. Once I get one finished I intend to post a pic on here.
I've been working on small projects for a while (socks, bags, mittens, scarves) and I think I need to begin a project that is going to take a long time to complete and something that will be very satisfying once I'm complete it. I'm torn between attempting my first sweater or an afghan (or this afghan). I have found the patterns for both and in the long run the sweater will cost me about half of what the afghan will but I do intend on completing both of them eventually. For the afghan I will have to purchase my first circular needle and a lot more yarn, but it is something that you can use almost every day and the colour I have chosen would look great in our basement. The sweater, however, is something every knitter must one day attempt and I have the needles and the yarn will only cost about $16 for the whole sweater. I'm really quite torn.
Anyways that's about all for now. Happy Knitting!

Gotta Love Online Shopping

There is just something about shopping online that is quite exciting. I am not one of those compulsive online shoppers, in fact it's almost been a year since I last made a purchase online (and that was my Knitting for Dummies Book). Since my 22'nd birthday is just around the corner (May 21) and I know I will be getting some money from family as presents I decided to make a couple purchases in advance so that they will be here just after my birthday. I pre-ordered the Harry Potter book, One Skein Wonders ( i hear that there are quite a few mistakes in the book but most reviews are positive and with my budget one skein projects are just right), and Stitch 'N Bitch: A Knitters Handbook (which I have read many positive reviews for, although I really thought about getting Not Your Mama's Knitting, which i may keep in mind at Christmas-time). I took the free delivery option, which means I may not be getting the Harry Potter book on the release date, so hopefully no one will spoil it for me!

At the moment I only have one knitting project on the go. I'm knitting a couple dishcloths for my grandpa for his birthday(which just happens to be May 22, the day after mine). We're having the family birthday party on saturday so I really need to finish them since I only have half of the first one complete.

Yesterday I finished the bag I've written about a few times. I finished knitting it on the weekend then I bought some cheap fabric to line it and a couple clasps. It turned out really cute!! I'm quite proud of it and will post pictures most likely in my next post. I also finished my first pair of socks, I really need to practice grafting (which i'm hoping my new knitting books will do), but i've worn them around the house since they're called "dorm socks" and they are quite comfortable. Here is a picture for your enjoyment! Isn't is adorable??Anyways I best be off!! Happy Knitting!

Yay it's May!

As my title says.... Yay it's may!!! Not only is may usually a great month of the year weather wise, it is also birthday central! This month is extra special because in 2 weeks I get to celebrate my birthday. Anyways on the topic of birthdays I want to wish Jenna a happy Early Birthday/whacking day. Her and I had a lovely knitting afternoon last monday and a nice catch up... and of course she got to smother my animals with love.

I've been semi busy with knitting projects.... I'm making progress on my bag. I have 1 panel done, about half done the second panel. I still need to make the bottom and the handles. I may get some fabric to line it with, but only if I really love the end result and plan on using the bag on a regular basis.

I made a quick I-pod cozy during our little knitting party. It originally began as a kitty toy (i've decided to make kitty toys and little items, like the ipod cozy, with all my little scraps of yarn) but this kitty toy was the perfect size for my Ipod so magically it turned into an ipod cozy.

My goal for this week is to quickly make up another dishcloth for my mom... i think i have enough Bernat handicrafter cotton lying around to make one.

I also have been attempting socks on dpn *ooooooh* I found a pattern that actually uses cheap ol' Red Heart yarn (I didn't want to go out and buy actual sock/fingering weight yarn to practice with). There were a few moments of frustration, and I ended up pulling it all out twice... but as of about 11:30 AM this morning I Have my very first sock... yay!!!!

The main problem i had with the sock were tiny holes/gaps. For example where you join the heel gusset with the instep. I found a website that shows exactly how to avoid that problem, so for the next one I shall follow that. I do not have a pic of my sock, since the batteries in my camera died and I was feeling too lazy to replace them... a picture will be coming shortly. I will leave you, however, with a couple pictures of other projects I have done.

This is a dishcloth I made out of Bernat Handicrafter cotton. I found this pattern in a book I took out of the public library and the pattern was called the "company dishcloth"... because apparently it is nice enough to use when company comes to visit.





This is a "pocketbook slipper" I made for my mom. It is a very simple pattern I found back around Christmas-time. I've made 3 pairs of them so far. I use just basic Red Heart yarn and they knit up pretty fast.... a nice mindless knitting project!


Anyways I best be off.... I shall write again soon!

Knitting in the Spring-time

Ahhh spring.... how I love thee. Well I am much less stressed about my knitting, unlike the last post. I am currently working on a skinny scarf that has cable work in it. Nothing too fancy, just a nice practice project to get me used to working with cables. I also picked up some yarn at Michaels the other day. I got two skeins of bernat softee chunky and two skeins of bernat satin. I'm making a bag out of the softee chunky... although i'm altering the pattern a bit. It is supposed to have Bernat Fancy Fur as a trim, but none of the colours really go with the softee chunky. I have no clue what to make with the bernat satin. I've got a pattern for a sweater i'm hoping to start in the next few weeks, it does not look too difficult and i've been meaning to start a sweater for some time now (school, however, too priority).

I have some pictures of projects i have recently completed. I made this scarf about two months ago. It was my first attempt at lace and i was doing so well... until i mis-calculated the amount of yarn I had leftover and ran out just before I was done binding off. I tried to be artsy and sew blue edging onto the ends, didn't turn out as I had hoped... but if you ignore that I'm quite proud of this scarf.

I made this shawl about 3 weeks ago. It is just in basic stocking stitch with a garter stitch border. It started out as 3 stitches and just increased by 2 in every RS row. I used bernat chunky, and it is really quite soft and warm.... should be perfect for the cool spring mornings.

I have a couple more pictures but I think i will save them for later... plus they refuse to upload. Anyways I'm off... happy knitting.

a wee bit of frustration

Well the knitting on dpn was going great... a little messy but that is to be expected while learning. I thought to myself that I would continue on with the pattern and attempt this socks (not the prettiest socks but they would be great practice) I spent an hour working on the heel this evening only to realize that the numbers on the pattern are screwed up and don't add up properly (and this is from my knitting for dummies books). I tore out as much as i could and turned it into a nice little glass cozy.

I need a nice easy pattern for dpn since i'm just beginning but I need to be working towards something not just knitting a long tube. I also think i need to get a better yarn... I'm using cheap Red Heart stuff to practice with.

I need a project.... as of right now I have nothing started. I think i need to go to Walmart and look at their yarn either tomorrow or early next week maybe I will get some inspiration there. I want to start a sweater and I may have found a pattern, but I need to ensure that the yarn is available. I also want to make a purse.

I do have some pictures of my shawl, dishcloth, and slippers but the camera is upstairs and I am much too lazy right now to upload anything. I do have a pic of the lovely cupcakes I made for Christmas which I might as well share *awww christmas wreaths* ... eventhough it is April there is always room for a little Christmas spirit.