Hat Frenzy

Just this week, I realized that Christmas is nearly here and I've made absolutely nothing for my family.  Now, I know that you're thinking, "Didn't your knitted gifts go over over like a lead zeppelin last year?" Well, um, yes, but I was there with them, this year I won't be there so I won't have to see their reactions to the knitted items.  I can just enjoy making the items and then "poof" like magic they are all gone to new homes.

So with this in mind I have gone into hat frenzy.  I've made 5 hats of which I showed you two but I have two more finished, one on the needles and three more to make.  Its all very exciting!  I love the fun fur yarn (LBY) and the colors are great:

Oh and I definitely made a big hit with this black and red boa yarn.  My daughter's school colors, she loved it! and really it is pretty cute, so I'm making myself one in hot pink for October, Susan G Komen breast cancer awareness month. I also have enough boa yarn to make several more of these.

I did stop by the Woolie Ewe today and I bought some beautiful yarn: Berroco Souffle'.  It looks like it would be so heavy but it is light and airy.  I am quite excited about it.

Cheers!

Lunatic Fringe Hat

 

I have had a really productive weekend.  The new stash items I bought have been put to good use. So first I tried a hat out of Fall 2011 Knit Simple magazine.  It has a crocheted top and knitted sides.  I did 7 hours of crochet/knitting on saturday. The hat looks just like the picture but something isn't right with it...can't figure it out.  Maybe I should have made the large version. I have it blocking now.

The Second thing I tried was the Wasabi Cowl from the Ravelry site.  This turned out really great and I found a great shell button for it.

The last thing I tried was another hat but one I'd made before that was too small.  So I tried the larger hat, it is bright and cute! I'm calling it the Lunatic fringe Hat.  I had to add a wig to my styrofoam model so the hat wouldn't slip down over the eyes.

So I'm off to get back on my larger projects and possibly finish something there!



Yarn Addiction--Just About

I haven't been sleeping well until last night.  I actually had REM sleep and two dreams.  Normally I don't dream or don't remember them anyway but these were exciting.  The first one involved 3 peculiar ants in a planter just outside my "yarn room."  They were about 1 to 1.5" (2.5-4.0 mm) long, stood up on their back legs and were knitted with the tiniest yarn I've ever seen.

The second dream involved a pair of socks that I'd apparently made the night before. I woke up (in the dream) and had a pair of knee-socks that I'd knitted in one night.  The right sock was twice as big as the left. When I actually woke up this morning and realized those were all dreams, all I could think was, "Love that sock yarn, where can get some?" Duh, Lori, that wasn't real. That sock yarn doesn't exist.../sigh. 

The funny thing is for several hours this morning I've pondered how on earth I could make a pair of socks in one night and how on earth can get some of that non-existent yarn.  I notice that buying yarn that one doesn't really need or have a project for is just part of the knitter's persona but I seem to think about it just about all the time.  I have planned today around going to Dallas to buy some slubby yarn that I saw at the yarn store there a few weeks ago.  Let me remind you (or tell you if you're new) that I am not working, I shouldn't be buying anything non-essential.  Normally, my fastidious and frugal self would kick in and place a control marker on the behavior and straighten me out.  Since the yarny in me keeps rising to the surface I can only conclude that I have a serious case of yarn addiction!

I said I would stop when my wall bins were full, I didn't.  So I decided to go around the room and find all the hiding places that reveal the yarn problem...

 <==The main stash and public presentation 

  

<==There is always a few yarn balls here and there about the house

Then there's the stuff that doesn't get all used up in the knitting process but can't be thrown away...I may need it sometime to, um...something...==>

<==This is the main "bucket" that I am currently working from as I need additional balls and if I open the drawer on that little dresser there's a few hidden in there...

What's in here? All the Sock Yarn in those pretty decorator boxes? ==>

 These are the projects I am currently working on less one or two ==>

 <==This little stash was just bought last week and is hiding behind my work chair and I look at it all the time just to make sure its still there. its right in front of the closet.

If we peek in the closet, hmmm, what's this?

Hmm, a good sized bucket of pretties hiding beside the sewing machines...



Open a little further and some more there, hiding behind some quilt tops that need to be quilted...

Just when you think there isn't anymore...I discover my Nashua Handknits yarn hidden under some fabric under my work table.  Aha! There you are...

Sadly, there are two more smaller bins with cotton yarn and yarn I had before I started knitting.  I think that accounts for it all. Well what can I say, I think I have proved to myself that I love yarn at least as much as knitting itself. 



Weekender

I have been dividing my days between looking for work, working at home and, of course, knitting.  So far the knitting is going better than anything else.  I've managed to keep the faith and remain calm.  I know that I'll look back on this time and find that it was a  good for me.  I haven't gotten so much done.  I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger as my grampa used to say.  Although I guess that's considered an insensitive thing to say these days even if it is just metaphorically speaking.

The banner needs lettering next, this was a lot of work.  I never liked to think of myself as being anything like my grandmother but I think in this case, I am channeling her like crazy.  "oh sure, no problem," says I. My gramma says her head nods "yes" and never shakes a "no" when it come to making items for the church.

The Weekender Cardigan is going well, I had to add a longer cable (which you can't see in this picture because I've left it rolled up).  I like it but I still think my stranding is uneven.

My son wanted a troll "action figure" and I ordered it for him from Amazon.com.  It came in 7 pieces, was all metal and unpainted.  I asked him if he wanted me to send it back and he said no, that he was expecting it to come this way because it was a model.  "Oh," says I, "you are going to assemble and paint this little thing yourself?"  "Of course." Says he.  Right.  OK, I've finished the troll, he is pretty cute:

Yesterday, I bought a pattern from the Ravelry.com site, called Insouciant.  It is a really cute tee knitted in silk. But really I can't start any new projects, can I?  I mean really...really?

I would also like to add as an aside that my husband has also been channeling.  In his case its Julia Child.  He made her recipe for Beef Bourguignon (from Mastering the Art of French Cooking) last night for supper.  All I can say is "wow!"

Labor Day Knitters

Labor day weekend has arrived and with it, we hope there is going to be some rain.  We have, after 55 days over 100F had the temperatures to drop into the high 80s and low 90s.  I noticed the road crews were back to work during the day a little.  They say in Texas we have two seasons:  Summer and Road Construction.  That has certainly been true this summer.  Labor Day weekend always means so much no matter where I've lived or what the seasons have been like.  The first thing it means is no more white clothing or shoes and all the cowboys change from straw hats to felt or pelt hats. The biggest thing about Labor day weekend is that it has always represented the end of summer, albeit informally.

My Family and I are going to stay with friends this weekend.  I have been asked to teach a couple people how to knit.  I was flattered and I told them I was a newish knitter but I thought casting on, knit and purl, YO, etc could be easily taught by a noob.  Then I started thinking....how did I learn to knit? I can tell you it was not from making swatches and gauges, phoowee on that!

I taught myself to knit which has numerous downfalls in and of itself.  I started with a small pamphlet style book that was really great and from which I made my first hat and scarf.  They turned out nice.  It gave great advice so I've bought 2 of these books to give to my friends this weekend as well as 2 sets of 6.5mm 10" (25mm) needles. I found mine which I've had since I was 14 (given to me by my Aunt Olga). I also bought several skeins of the yarn it suggests, which I didn't always do and which caused numerous beginners mistakes. 

I also found that U-Tube has really good tutorials on things the book didn't show me like how to pick and knit stitches.  Now to those of you that have been knitting a long time, how did you learn to pick up and knit?  That was one of the most frustrating things I have ever encountered.  What the heck does that mean, I wondered through clenched teeth! My first attempt came with the Antje Gillingham book Knitting Circles Around Socks. Holy buckets, Bat Man!!!  She has fantastic instruction, loads of pictures on how to do everything...except "pick up and knit."  Arrrrrggghhh!  OK I survived the pick up and knit.  My first socks turned out really great in spite of me.

I've put the things to teach with in a bag, I've packed up what I'm taking to work on, what else do I need?  I am pondering...

I hope you all have a nice end of summer no matter where you live.  I'll be watching the kids in the pool and NASCAR racing and, of course, I'll be knitting.