New Year's Eve

Wow, 2010 has been quite a year. A lot has happened, both good and bad. I went from a job that paid the bills while I lived with my parents to a job that allowed me to move to Indianapolis. My husband went from almost losing his current job to also getting a job down here. We went from maintaining a relationship 180 miles apart to getting married and living together. I've already asked 2011 to try to top that, without all the drama.

My craft resolution is to continue my Stashdown for the rest of the year. I have about 10 projects planned out, not including my sock challenge. Here are my goals for next year:

1. 12 pairs of socks in 12 months
2. colorwork
3. a pullover
4. knit from my handspun
5. beading
6. kool aid dyeing
7. charity donations
8. finish all works-in-progress
9. Make 52 baby hats in 52 weeks
10. make projects from books i own and haven't used yet

The sock challenge has it's own list of patterns/techniques i want to try, and yes, i have enough yarn for the entire year in my stash already.

My one non-fiber related resolution is to get more sleep, preferably all at night and all at once. However, that will probably cut into my crafting goals.

But that goal can wait until the new year. Now, off to a friend's for partying!!!

Holiday Stashdown FTW

Unfortunately, the laptop is still out of commission, so I'm using my husband's old laptop. That means this will be a photo-heavy post, since I have weeks worth of knitting to show off!

Overall, the Stashdown was a sucess. Everyone loved their gifts, and technically the only yarn I had to buy was for my husband's gift. So here goes...

Scarf of Doom
This is the seed stitch scarf that I've been working on for about 2 months. I worked on it at knit group, football at buffalo wild wings, a random coffee shop by the outlet mall back home, and of course at home. I love the texture of this scarf, but I will never make one again, even if it does look pretty good on me. I still have another ball of this yarn left over, so it may become one of several stripes in another scarf.

Spa Sets

Next are the spa sets for my Safety ladies. I matched them up with some soaps and lotions I had to make sets. These did not make enough of a dent in my cotton stash though.

Cable Clutch

Here is the clutch that I designed myself. Yes, I could have followed a pattern online, but I wanted to make it a challenge. I held one strand of Patons Classic Wool with one strand of Cascade 220 in similar shades of maroon. The cable design is my own, and I plan on writing it up properly and putting it up here.

I spent some quality time with my sewing machine and made the lining from a discarded t-shirt.

It is closed with both magnets under the flap, and buttons on the outside. It doesn't have enough structure for my taste, so if I make it again, I would add some plastic canvas or something under the lining. Overall, very cute.

Companion Cube

This was the super-secret project for my husband. It is the Companion Cube from the video game Portal. It's used to help you though the puzzle rooms, and it really does start becoming your companion. It is the first crochet project I've done in a few months and it was, well, intense.

8 corners, 8 corner covers, 6 hearts, 6 heart backs, 12 side covers = 40 pieces to sew together. Luckily this is a 3d project, so no ends needed to be woven in. 5 episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season 3 later, and we have a completed companion:

Oh and to top off the holidays, I finished my first Toe Up, Magic Loop, Short row heel socks! The heels are a little wonky and the socks don't fit like they should, but the are finished and look pretty good. And since they are anklets, I think I have enough yarn left for another pair, you know, to perfect the skill.

The lappy is down...

That reference may not make sense to some of you. First google "strongbad" and find the horrible Internet cartoon I used to watch in high school. Then find his email response to "do you listen to techno?"

The unfortunate truth is that my laptop had been out of service for more than a week now, and this blog is currently being typed on my iPod touch. Using the "free" theme of this blog, I very nicely asked the IT guy at work if he would take a look at it for me. It turns out that more than one person hs asked this of him, and he's more than happy to comply. So between actual emergencies at work, he's been working on it. No word yet though on how the poor lappy is doing.

And unfortunately, I have lots of holiday stashdown news to share, including my spinning wheel and adventures in wheel maintenance and emergency fixes.

I will give a full update as soon as the lappy is up and running, since I can't post pictures from my current device.

"No Pictures" is No Excuse

I've been putting off posting this weekend because I needed to take pictures of all the things I have to discuss. However, I don't know when I will get a chance to do this with the holiday coming up, so this post will be picture-less. But that will just make you come back to see updates on these mystery projects, right?

Holiday Stashdown Update

I finished the Man (or Anyone) Cowl from some naturallycaron.com Country in charcoal. The yarn is awesome, I have used it a few times and love how soft it is. The cowl worked up in only a few days, and the pattern is perfectly clear. I wish it had a little more stitch definition though. Any suggestions?

The official Holiday Stashdown project count is down to 3 now. The seed stitch scarf mentioned earlier is about halfway done, although this has to be the slowest scarf I've ever made.

Now onto....

Personal Knitting

I was very excited when I managed to knit my WIP bin down to a few projects. My Ravelry project list only had one row of works-in-progress (all with pictures which is rare), and I was determined to knock a few of those out as well. However, and I'm sure subconsciously, I was more determined to start as many projects as possible to get that page back to how it normally looks (disorganized). Startitis struck and I now have 3 newly cast-on projects.

My First Toe Up Socks have been calling to me to start them for a while now. I invested in an Addi Lace fixed circular needle so I could try socks on Magic Loop. I'm using Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson (from the library of course, though I may look for a copy). I started with the "easy" toe and am steadily knitting towards the heel. I have not decided what heel I'm going to use yet, though I'm leaning towards the short row heel, just because I haven't made one yet. I'm using Berroco Comfort Sock and LOVE it. It's super soft and the color is beautiful. It's called Beach house, in blues and teals, with some white and sage green thrown in. I hope it's durable, because at less than $8 a skein (which is enough for a pair of socks for me), I could use this all the time.

The Dr. Who scarf is next. This isn't acutally for me however, but this is a request from the best man in our wedding, Matt. He got a gift for both Travis and I, and I had knit something for practically everyone but him. So I asked him if he wanted anything and his answer was, "Can you knit me a Doctor Who scarf?" My head went blank at first. I know how long this scarf is in the series. I've seen the patterns and projects on Ravelry. But because I like Matt, I tell him, "Of course! It might take a while though, because I have about a dozen Christmas presents lined up already..." He tells me that's fine, there's no deadline. I recently asked him how long he *actually* wanted the scarf to be. The pattern is about 17 feet according to my calculations, and I hope his answer is somewhat shorter than that. I'm using the Season 12 pattern because it lists the Vanna's Choice colors. I'm using an array of Vanna's and Michael's brand Impeccable. I also changed it to  stockinette instead of garter stitch because I like how it looks more. I added a 3 stitch border also, so it would not roll up.

Last is the Swinging Stripe Cardigan from the pattern of the same name. I really wanted a basic open cardi pattern, and love the rolled collar on this pattern. I'm using some Universal Yarns Worsted I picked up at Tuesday Morning in green and brown, and I think things are going well so far. It is more of a guideline for the cardi than an actual pattern, so I hope it turns out ok. I don't have a lot of experience with top down raglans, but I'm not far enough along yet to know if I'm doing something wrong. I do plan, however, to take some advice I heard from the Knitmore Girls' podcast, and start the sleeves shortly after connecting the round for the armholes.

Aaaand, that's about it. This post was a little wordy, so hopefully I can knock out some photos and get those up here.

Holiday Stashdown 2010 and Bonus Handspun!

Well, I have been quite busy this week and have so much to update.

Pom-Pom Earflap Hat (x2)

This was made from leftover Impeccable and the Basic Earflap Hat. I added i-cord ties and a pom on top. Very easy to make, and the hardest part was figuring if this was going to fit its recipient.














And here is the second one, made from a random skein of Wool-ease I bought a while ago.















ok, so each took about half a skein, but that's one whole skein out of the stash, right? and to celebrate, i used up another skein making myself a hermoine hat from a skein of Berroco Vintage in Sloe Berry #5184. is it bad that i'm a little excited for cool weather?

And now, for the bonus. Spinning class on Thursday at Knit Stop was awesome! I've only been going for about a month, and have about 5 ounces of red corriedale spun on my drop spindle from Nomad Yarns. I had enough singles spun to start plying, and I got to use the shop's spinning wheel. Kate is an awesome teacher, and had me going in no time. After much research, I believe it is a Lendrum folding wheel, definitely double treadle, and boy do I want one now. The spinning was so much faster and smoother than on my drop spindle. I have about 125 yards plied and waiting to be soaked and whacked and hung dry. But here they are!

And in my weekend spinning fever, I spun up a couple of samples we were given a few weeks ago. They're probably only 25 feet a piece, spun and plied on my drop spindle, then wound into the cutest little skeins.

The official Holiday Stashdown count is now 4 gifts in 6 weeks. One is definitely coming with me to knitting tomorrow, although I doubt it will be finished anytime soon. Maybe the socks will come with me also...

Holiday Stashdown 2010 - exhibit 6

Presenting another successful week for the Holiday Stashdown!

Beanie and Mitts

This is the Men's Fingerless Mitts pattern by Piece by Piece. The pattern was very easy to follow, and I had no problems at all. The rest of the yarn turned into a beanie which I thought would make a nice set. However, I like the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted so much, I just might keep it for myself.

What do you think?

Socktoberfest Win!

I posted a couple weeks ago that I was using Socktoberfest as motivation to finish the pair of socks I'd been working on since about the end of September. This weekend I knew was Halloween, but it didn't occur to me that Halloween was also the LAST day of October. So, I got my butt in gear and finished 2/3 of a sock in 2 days. Here is my newest (and second ever) pair of socks!

I still don't know how I feel about the yarn (Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color) If there's only a small section knitted, it's pretty ugly. When it's a full sock, it's less so, but still not really my style. But either way, they're done and they're mine!

In Holiday Stashdown news, there's not much to report. The seed stitch scarf is coming along as well as it can be I suppose. However, I do know why people advised against it, since I'm already getting bored with it, and it's about 12" long. I'm not sure how long it will have to be yet, so all I can really do is keep knitting.

Or cast on a new pair of socks!