Tuesday, January 29, 2008

More Works in Progress

Ok, I know, I have too many WIP's but what can I say.   Who Cares??  :)  


This first one is a Celtic Cabled scarf...first project with cables.  I am making it out of Cascade 220 Peruvian Highland wool in Westpoint Blue Heathers for Patrick, since he is the one who got me hooked on the fiber arts in the first place.
This one is a scarf for my mom, Patrick gave me 4 skeins of plush and I am knitting this up with the two strands held together on 10mm needles, knitting every row.  I realized about 12 inches in that 32 was too many stitches for this scarf so i will probably double it and seam the side when it is done which would make it the perfect width.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

First Finished Project

YAY, I finished my first project!!  The scarf is done.  I could have kept going and kept it for myself, but I decided to BO and give it to Don to keep his neck and ears warm  :)  I am so happy that it's done...not that I did not enjoy making it, but becasue I am anxious too get another project underway.  I am going to cast on a hat tonight...first one, and work it with a new online friend from Canada, Val...she is so cool and has made some awesome stuff.  I met her on Ravelry and she has been a great source of encouragement.  So....since I am starting things now, I am also going to post a couple of pics of some of my other projects that I am working on.  One is my first crochet project, which is still ongoing and will be until i decide that it is big enough and I border it and finish it.  The other is an Aran afghan that I did NOT think that I would be able to read the pattern of and turns out that it is going quite well.  So...Thanks for stopping by, it is COLD as hell here and I am SO ready for Spring.

Friday, January 18, 2008

supporting a habit

Ok...Y'all saw the scarf...
since then I have also started another scarf...just because, and another scarf, to try cables....and have purchased yarn to do ????
from what I gather this is fairly normal...I attribute it to crafting ADD :)
I have been browsing on Ravelry and it is an awesome site.  i have already made several contacts who are wonderful and have found the wealth of information on the forums to be worth so much!
I have found myself wandering back to the craft section at the local Wal-Mart (Sadly, the only place within 1.5 hours that carries yarn) every time I go there and end up buying at least one thing...I have a growing stash and need to actually finish a project.  I am projecting that I will finish the scarf this weekend and give it to Don so that I can really start on another project with more attention....I think it is going to be the cable scarf.
There is a fellow Ravelry person from Canada that I have been conversing with and we have decided to do a knit-a-long for our first hat so I will keep you posted on how that goes.

Monday, January 14, 2008

AWESOME!!

Finally got my Ravalry invite this weekend.  I did not have time to get on and do much until today...it is such a cool site, I really look forward to playing around on it more.  I am not a super organized person even at the best of times so i am hoping that belonging to this site will help with that...and it serves as inspiration, so many of the finished projects that members have made are just beautiful!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Wednesday requiem

Well, It's Wednesday....what have I been doing?  Still knitting, of course.  Yesterday I took a stab at using DPN's.  It worked!!  I was surprised that I was able to get the hang of it on the first try.  I did not do alot or have anything in specific that I was trying to do, I just cast on and did a K2P2 ribbing in the round.  I did about two inches and when I was done I also did my first bind-off...it worked, too.  Once I had it off I had this small round thing and didn't want to throw it away so I just put it on my cat's tail and let her play a bit...I think that she might ask me to knit her a full tail cozy now...

Thursday, January 3, 2008

First ever Scarf




Ok, here it is, my first scarf...I only have 13 inches done, but 6 of those were done just last night, I'm finally getting the hang of it.  I have to thank all the guys at Men Who Knit for their inspiration.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

And I forgot about the blog...

January 2nd and I just realized that I had started this blog, intending to post at least weekly if not daily and I forgot all about it...guess that is what happens when I try to do something constructive during the holidays.

Anyway...an update on what has been happening.  The crochet is still going good, have my posted afghan that has become my "when I'm frustrated with my other projects" backup.  I have mainly been concentrating on the knitting since that is what I am really interested in.  I do like crochet and love the stuff that you can make, but there is something about knitting that intrigues me.

I began a simple ribbed scarf as my first project.  Alot of you out there will shudder when I say that I am using Red Heart acrylic from the $1.98 bin at Wal-mart, but I wanted to try it first with cheaper yarn before I move on to the wool blend that I bought at JoAnn's.  It is going good, after beginning 5 times I finally got to the point where I am comfortable with the motions.  Now I am working on controlling my tension.  I have found a couple of purls where there should be knits but for the moment I am leaving them as a testament to learning.  With this project I have been able to teach myself how to pick up a dropped stitch and have also learned how to cuss quietly when I see a mistake 5 rows down.  

I know that this scarf is not going to look its best, but I have the feeling that it will become a bedraggled friend that stays with me through the years.  I know that after the time I have put in and the frustration it has caused me and the fun and relaxation that I have gotten out of it that I will keep it and love it...after all, isn't that what you do with a good friend?