Christmas is fast approaching!

Howdy!

The Christmas stockings were delivered to a very happy customer! They came out a little different than her original stocking, but they are similar enough she seemed happy with them!

I'm in complete disbelief that is it December already. I think mostly because it was 85 degrees F here in Texas...makes it hard to get into the Christmas mood/listen to Christmas music/even think about putting up a Christmas tree when it's practically summer outside still.
Good thing I am realistic enough to recognize that regardless of the heat, December is here and that means Christmas is right around the corner!

I've been working on Christmas project for that very reason. I've almost got four items completed.
This Holiday Lights Tam and scarf (the title has something to do with rain drops) both from different Interweave Knits magazines.

I'm trying to work on my lace knitting skills. The scarf was the main attempt and came out rather well. The tam was chosen because I've never worked with beaded knitting plus I've never knitted a hat. I really enjoyed the beaded knitting and the pattern was fairly simple.

 

In my typical style - I had to look up 'tam'. Apparently, tam is short for tam o'shanter and is a nickname for the traditional Scottish bonnet worn my men. This tam is obvious a very femine styled hat. How interesting is that word!

This beret and mitts are both from Crochet Today! magazines. The beret is in the 2010 holiday gifts issue - which seems to be a really good issue because I've used several patterns out of it for holiday gifts!

 



 The mitts are my first time doing crochet cables. A very intriguing concept and easy enough to work.The fact that these mitt work up quickly helps. I was super surprised how fast they worked up!

My goal for this weekend was originally to get the baseboard trim hung in the master bedroom, but Jamie worked this weekend so we didn't get around to it. So, I changed my goals and decided the goal would be to reupholster my mother's rocking chair.
I forgot to take a 'before' picture until after I had already removed the cushion, but you get the idea.

Before:

After:

 A close up of the fabric.

 Heather went with me to try to find fabric. This fabric was the original stuff we both liked, but I didn't buy it that day because we thought it wouldn't be big enough (didn't bring the cushion dementions with me). I ended up coming home with a reddish/orangish retro styled fabric that is super fun. Even though I like the first fabric we picked out - I couldn't stop thinking about this fabric. So I went back to the store and picked it up. I really do like it. The lightness of it really makes the darkness of the chair pop. It's really gorgeous! This was our first go at upholstering somthing. There are mistakes, but it came out okay. I'm sure this fabric won't last the 30 years the original fabric lasted, but I'm okay with that.

In non-crafty news, we took our annual trip out to Mitre in November. We had lots of fun hiking and hanging out at Artwalk. We didn't purchase any artwork this year, but I always enjoy looking at all the shops!
Erica and Loren joined us this year as well. I was so happy they had a good time and seemed to appreciate the less populated area of Alpine and the great outdoor opportunities camp provides.

Well, that's all for now. I'll keep you all posted on my crafty Christmas projects as they are completed!

Happy knitting!
-Em

Gettin' shit done!!

It is October and these puppies are completed!!! I doubted myself in July. I couldn't imagine ever getting them finished. But I stuck it out and completed they are!  I cannot even tell you all how excited I am these are finished! They came out pretty cute too!

I was so excited they were done. I did this:

IN THREE DAYS!
These are the Christmas socks that I sort of gave my sister - she only got one at Christmas, remember? Yep, finished those up too!

I think I've got my knitting bug back! I'm so freaking excited!

The only problem now is that I've run out of incomplete projects to finish so I need to start a new project.... So digging through patterns it is!

While I was downloading these pictures I found this (that I had forgotten I'd done this summer):

It's a door. A nice door. Our house currently has plain Jane doors and our goal is to eventually upgrade them to this style to add a little character. I hung this one on the master bedroom closet. First solo door hang (my dad walked me through the last one I hung). It went rather well. I did it on a Sataurday while the other half was working....he was impressed when he got home.

Ok, it's totally past my bedtime, but I wanted to share my excitement with the world.

Good night and happy knitting!

-E

Back in the saddle again...

I got my very own horse when I was nine. She was a white faced, blue eyed, pinto horse. She was only 14.5 hands high, but I didn't let anyone tell me she was a pony. She loved to run and loved her for running.
We often got scolded for running on the far side of the house - 'so my parent's wouldn't know'. Come to find out, a galloping horse makes quite the ruckus that can be heard through the walls of a house if you happen to be feet from said wall - my parents were not fooled by our stealth.
I was allowed to walk Sarah around the house. But Sarah and I loved running so once we got past all the windows on the side of the house that contained the 'family rooms' (kitchen, living room, etc.) we would step it up a bit and always slow back down once we got around to the other side. One day, Sarah decided to make a break for it and took off at a dead run past the house. She came unnatrually close to a short tree that used to be in the center of the loop at the end of the driveway and in my head I looked like a trick rider hanging off the side of my saddle at a dead run. I made it past the tree without being swiped off and was rejoicing in my head at my trick rider skills when she stopped dead in her tracks and threw me over her neck.
She stood there next to me smelling me as if bewildered by the fact that I was face planted on the ground and not giggling with glee from her back.
It took me a second to get my breath back. By that time, my dad had collected the horse and my mom was helping me off the ground. "Well, back up you go," my mom said. It was the last thing I wanted to do. My whole body hurt from having the air shoved out of it from the instant stopping power of the ground.
I got back on and we WALKED around the house.
This was not the first time I fell off a horse and not the last. Sarah had a knack for attempting to ditch me on the surrounding natural growth - she dropped a friend and I off on a tree and clotheslined me on a grapevine just to name a few. What I learned from this first experience was that I had to get back in the saddle.

That's how it is today with this blog. I've been dreading coming back to my online world. I had a HUGE issue in high school and college with writer's block. As a result, I've convinced myself that I loathe writing. In all honesty, I don't loathe writing. I loathed the process that higher education wanted me to use in writing. Anyway, that's another can of worms.
So, today I was thinking about horses (as I often do during the coarse of my day, sitting behind a computer screen at a desk in an all white room thinking of the beautiful things I've seen and done from a saddle) and it came to me that I needed to get 'back in the saddle again'.

Here I am, entering back into the online world. I have been working on a project I was hired to do - christmas stockings! I have completed the knitting part of the first one. I'm working all the ends in and doing some finishing. It should take me WAY less time to get through the second one. Confession: I had gotten very close to being done and ripped the whole thing out two weeks ago because I hated the way it looked. It was messy.

My life was messy for a while during my adjustment period to a new job and crazy stuff that was going on this spring. It totally showed up in my knitting. I have settled a bit more into the swing of the new job and life is slowly returning to normal.

And so should this blog.

I'm back people.

Titles are overrated...

I've reverted back to crochet and decided to crochet this in a different yarn than suggested (of course). I'm using I love this cotton from Hobby Lobby in black. I did not swatch, as usual. After completing the back, I scared myself into thinking it would never fit and decided to loosen up my work on the first front panel. I now have a front panel that is in 100% cotton that is two inches longer than the back. The 100% cotton part is very important - that's whay I italisized it - because as knitter/crocheters know, cotton loves to enlarge itself to monstorous proportions. It looks like it's supposed to be a bit loose on the model in the picture and we all know after reading this that magazine editors strive to ensure photo shoots for hand worked items acurately represent what they really should look like.*Please note the sarcastic tone in the sentance above* I am contemplating just going ahead with it as is, but I have a feeling that I'll be frogging the front panel and working it tighter because I know in my heart of hearts that it will stretch.

A quick lesson on submitting a pattern for magazines that everyone out there should fully understand (but often lost to knitter/crocheters mind by overwhelming mental processes triggered by a beautiful 'must-make-now' item involving mental pictures of perfect yarn, texture, and color which may or may not be represented in the actual photo) when one submits a fabulous pattern, it is only in writing and some of the original intent may be lost by editors who send chosen submitee a yarn the magazine is supported by and the said item is created in whatever those editors believe it should be created in. I know this because despite the fact that I have not actually written a pattern, I have looked into the submission process with the full intent to submit a future pattern that I will one day write.
So, when I automatically change something in a pattern, I just can't help it. It's the mental image of me looking fantastically tall and thin in whatever item I'm chosing to make. And the fact that I have five skeins of that yarn in my stash I've been dying to use because it's unbelievably soft and fantastic. I don't care if a vest'll end up like the Harlots' Michelen Man Sweater (scroll to the bottom - you'll see it - and give me credit she worked the item in that size it did not grow). It'll be soft and that's what's important.

Speaking of tall and thin, I seriously need to join the gym. We got word last week (maybe the week before last) that my best friend Erica and Jamie's best friend Loren are getting married! The world is a fabulous place when your best friends like each other so much they decide to spend the rest of their lives together.
It'll be better than cheese!
And even though this event has nothing to do with me and everything to do with them, I cannot help being terrified by appearing in the wedding in April in front of lots of people at my current weight and blubberiness due to the massive amounts of muscle that was once attached to my skeleton. I should be able to join the gym at the end of October. I have six months to get some muscle back - that should be long enough.

More good news is my friend Lydia, who received the Girl Scout socks, said she wore them the other day and they were comfy! Woot!!! I just hope my handiwork will hold up to washing and wear well. We'll see. It is my first gift that is in use!
I still have not mailed the small sweater to my cousin in Michigan. I will look up her address now and write it down. I will mail it tomorrow. I wonder if Michigan is still in fall. Texas is very curious with seasons and one must remember that the rest of the country experiences other seasons and summer is much shorter than here. I try to keep that in mind. But the coldness in the morning reminds me that as it become fall-like here it is getting to be winter-like north of here.

So, I love hearing about a whole lot of people living in a bubble (follow me people it has to do with being cold)- it was reported the people protesting the stock market in NY needed sleeping bags but couldn't decide to knit their own (to follow the 'protest of consumerism') or buy sleeping bags.
Someone needs to walk up behind them and give them them a Gibbs-slap to the back of the head.
Where do they think yarn comes from? And the needles? And darning needles to weave all the ends in? Hello! - you have to buy them. And you'd need like 800 skeins of yarn to make sleeping bags - even cheap yarn at $5 a skein would be $4000 - I mean you're at the stock market someone nearby should have a calculator. Do the math. Go buy the $10 sleeping bag from WalMart and continue your protest without involving knitters of the world who have enough problems with stereotypes being pressured onto them without you piping your craziness into another stereotype.

I've been cleaning the house in the evenings so this crochet vest (originally supposed to be done in a weekend) will probably keep me busy for the next two weeks.
Do not hate me for wasting precious knitting/crochet time - my house is squashing my creativity with its clutter. I... must... clean...
Thank god my sister's neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend - I've decided to get rid of some furniture I was holding onto for emotional reasons and not looking at the practicality of how the furniture functions in the house - it's got to go. I must have order and flow in order to be creative. And it must happen quickly.
I also have to burn more piles while we have a lifted burn ban (I burned four piles last weekend and we have about a bigillion more) to quell the nightmares about trees falling over into 20-story high brush piles that are burning in my house. The burn ban is likely to be re-imposed next week.
Yes, I understand no one else thinks about these things but I must explain the importance of this small window of opportuinity if you do not have forrested property plagued by hypoxylon canker - which in a matter of months cause perfectly healthy looking, gorgeous trees to die and pile up right where they stand. Plus a burn ban that drags on almost all year long because the rain clouds are scared off by the heat of the place.
Alas my knitting/crochet will have to be put aside until the weekend evenings if I can muster the brain power after working outside all day.





I'm putting this at the bottom of the page to see if anyone actually reads all the way to the end of my blogs and if you don't then I probably don't want you to see this part anyway - but I have decided after reading the Yarn Harlot's blog that I must be more like myself in the blog-o-sphere - that's the self-reflective part of my personality - and stop being so boxy and controlling. I am very hard on myself and releasing the edit button on this online world opens myself up to other people's critical analysis of ...well, me. So, be warned, from here on out that there may be more randomness, rambling, and my perspective on things. You're welcome to leave objections/critiques in the comments or stop reading my blog. (HA! like I have readers!) The only way to let this be a true reflection of my new found obsession hobby is to be myself. Spazziness and all. The final push to this decision involved standing in line at HEB picturing myself in place of Miranda Lambert on the cover of some music magazine - which my fear of being the center of attention will never allow to happen - and realizing that an opportunity exists online that allows me to overcome some of the fear if I just let myself be. So there.
Happy knitting!

Learning a new skill

I have completed the little sweater for my cousin's son. I'm going to put in the mail this week (hopefully) since they actually have fall up north and he can probably use it now. I made it in the 18 month size and he just turned one in September so I'm hoping it'll fit over a base layer.

I learned it's easier to learn new skills on child-sized garments and decided I'm going to make a little sweater for all the small people I know before attempting a second adult-sized garment.
I have learned and mastered the mattress stitch. I have The Knitter's Bible by Claire Crompton and typically this is my go-to guide for skills, but in the instance of the mattress stitch - not so good. I kept trying to understand the written instructions and the pictures (or lack thereof) just do not cut the mustard for someone who doesn't have a clue what the stitch is supposed to look like. Thank god for Utube! I found a very helpful video (I didn't save the link so I can't share it) that made it a cinch. Considering the simplicity of this stitch, I am not even going to share just how long I attempted to learn this stitch from the few books I have and written instructions. It's embarrassing.
The sleeves look great though!
I have also learned that my rib stitch is kinda tight and I should use a between size needle for ribbing or add some stitches to make it look normal. I had to be creative at the arm holes because of this and did not close them completely but left the ribbing unsewn so his little hands will fit through them.
In addition, I need to add to my button stash! I had a hard time finding buttons on hand that would look good with this little project.

In other life news, we've been adjusting to Jamie's new job schedule and it's been hard. But it will pay off in the end. We're both adjusting well.
I believe I have been reinfected with the very same cold I had two weeks ago. It's very strange considering it has been so long that I cannot even remember the last time I was sick and now, not once, but twice I come down with some crappy cold?! Horrible.
We got some rain last week and the burn ban is temporarily lifted so I plan on working outside this weekend trying to get some of the piles taken care of.

I am throwing around getting back onto the lace project. I need to make some socks too. Who knows? You'll just have to wait and see what I cast on!

When projects aren't what they seem

I've been putting off posting because I have restarted the same project four times. I get about 20 rows in and it all falls apart - either I don't like the way it looks, or I messed up and go to unravel it stitch by stitch and mess that up, or I just completely mess up.
I am working on the lacey scarf project I told you guys about forever ago on and off these past two weeks and I have nothing to show for it. It's currently waiting to be frogged...again. This time around I missed a stitch, backed up stitch-by-stitch, and somehow messed up my backup and now I'm going to have to start over because I don't think I can fix my secondary mess up. I will complete this project. But it's helping my 'cannot have more than one project going at a time' issue.

I cast on last night for a gift for my cousin's son in Michigan. It's a little raglan sweater. I have a little beanie made for him, but I'd like to send something more. I pulled the pattern off Ravelry - it's the Toddler Raglan Hoodie by Megan Goodacre and looks like this:


Photo is Megan Goodacre's from the Ravelry website listed above.

I have a few rows done in a light grey color, but I'm thinking I might undo what I've done and cast on with some wool I have in my stash. I'm using acrylic right now (Lion's Brand) and I'm thinking for the sake of softness and cost effectiveness I may stick with what I'm using. We'll see what I decide.

Last weekend I decided in a flash that my fun self striping socks I made for our Girl Scout meeting in November needed to go to another home - a good friend of mine had a birthday and it seemed perfect for her. I have a feeling this will be the case as I complete projects - they have a particular intent but find better applications. She was very very happy to receive them and thought they were fantastic. We did a small girl's night (by small I mean three of us, but not small in the amount of fun we had) out. It was great.

Minus the fact I was sick. Late last week, we had a conference for work and I picked up some super-duper cold bug that is still sort of kicking my butt. I spread this super cold to Jamie and he was super grateful considering he just started his new job. 

So, that's what I'm doing. I'm working away on stuff, just not with lots of results. I'll keep ya'll in the loop when something gets finished.

Slacker

Last week was rough. There's a lot going on in life and the blog got kicked down to the bottom. So, I have not been posting everyday until you guys are caught up and I apologize. (Not that I have a huge following, but still, I put a promise out there to the world and dropped the ball)
So, we're going to catch you guys up.

During the search for things that don't exist, we were driving by a store that sells yarn (yes any store that sells yarn is a reason to stop) and I was feeling despair and I was weak and Jamie felt bad for me. So he sat in the car while I went in search for a pick-me-up of the wool persuasion.

 I found this. Perfect for the November meeting project. I know a particular someone who'll love this Girl Scout Tie-Dyed color yarn.

 And here's number one almost finished. I have completed this pair and they are currently being stored with the helmet liner until November. When they'll make the trek to a distant land.

I also found this for a scarf project that I plan on making for my Aunt. It's her favorite color. And she's one of the few people I know who live in a cold enough climate to knit something like this for.

 It's going to look like this when knitted:

(I stole this photo from Google - linked from someone's flickr account)

I have also cast on for another coaster for the nerd room. It's not very far along. It is sitting on my couch still looking just like this:

I will make this last one and maybe a makeup one that is more squarish to make a set of four. Then I will start knitting the other logo. Set of four for those also.

I also bought some wool on my depair trip to the yarn store. It was on sale and it was all I could do to keep myself from buying every skien they had. But I didn't. I bought two. I believe another pair of Girl Scout socks will come out of one of those skiens.

Other than that, I have been organizing our stuff in boxes around the house. Including the yarn stash box. It has been upgraded to a 56qt tote. I see another upgrade sometime in the future. Should work for now. I have just a bit of room at the top of it. Must knit faster to justify adding to the stash.

Read, Read, and Re-read...

The item at the very top of the list of "Things I Learned from Knitting" is: Read the instructions. After reading the instructions, read them again, and for good measure, re-read them.
Do I read my 'things I've learned list' let alone read the instructions for my knitting THREE times?! No. So, I will continue to do stupid things like this:

The above picture is the neck portion and the back of the head part. Do you see what's wrong with this? I didn't until I sewed the top of the head to the side of the head parts together. You see the stitch holders (blue and yellow thingys as the bottom) and the increase stitches about five inches above that? Yep, you'd have to have a cone head to fit into this puppy.
When looking at it, it's rather funny I kept faith that the pattern had to be correct and I just needed to push through. The problem was I read 5 inches from the ribbing, when the instructions clearly said 5 inches from the beginning of the entire thing (including the ribbing). I kept faith all the way through, shoved it onto Jamie's head (he's the test subject because this is being made for my brother-in-law), and realized very quickly that my faith in the pattern was misplaced faith in me being able to read the instructions clearly.
Frogging, frog, frog, frog.
So I got to start back above the ribbing.

And then I finished it. It's actually a pretty cool pattern. I used plain ol' acrylic Red Heart Saver and the elasticity of the bottom ribbing isn't anywhere near as good as it would've been with a wool product. I needed it to be durable, machine washable, and he's only going to wear it like once or twice a year. It seemed silly to go out and buy wool when I had yarn in the stash that would work.
Here's a goofy photo of the final product so ya'll can see sorta how it fits:

 My head is slightly smaller than a man-sized head, but you get the idea.

This project was fun, quick (would've been quicker if I would just read carefully), and satisfying. I have a Christmas present complete. Way super early, too. I have already cast on another project and working my way through it.
There is more to come tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

My, how time flies...

When you're busy as hell. It's September already and I haven't posted in a while. Let's start at the beginning with the sweater project. Here we are.

 Yep, not too bad from the front.

Pardon the bathroom photo - I was home by myself and needed to get a picture of this to post. The bathroom being the obvious choice due to it containing a mirror. Note the cowering dog in the bottom left corner. She's the one who thinks camera flashes are lightening, is scared to death of storms, and therefore believes she should also be afraid of cameras.

Things are always different depending on your viewpoint. This my friends, is of the inside of the sweater - is it really finished? Not so much. I have to tackle those threads badly, but they're on the back burner for now. Sewing all those in = nott fun. So....I will get to it when I get to it. It's still not cold enough for me to wear this thing so I'll have them sewn in by the time the weather cools off. Promise.

I have lots more to share, but I've got to go finish my closet project. I will keep posting daily until I'm all caught up.

Happy Sunday!

Finishing

In the sense of not finished, but completing the final steps of being finished. Confusing? Nah.

I have completed the sweater. I just need to finish it. The buttons are sewed, I've sewn in the ends around the neck, all that is left is to sew the hem on the sleeves and bottom edge and hide all the yarn ends. Then it will be finished.

I put it on last night after I finished sewing on the buttons and Jamie couldn't stop smiling at me. He said "I'm just remembering all the cussing and starting back over and 'gimme the computer so I can look up how this is supposed to work' and crap that it took, but look at what you made." People just don't make thier own clothing anymore. But those that do are out there, online. Sharing that enjoyment.

It has been a trial. I have been frustrated beyond belief. I have set it down thinking I would never pick it up again. But I did and now it is almost finished.

I see some things that I'd like to fix, but I've got to do more research cause I don't personally know anyone who knits. That's for the next project.

The baby shower gifts were received well! The expecting mother was more excited than I thought she would be, in a very good way. Gifting handmade stuff makes me super nervous - I know most people in this area are appreciative of them, but it just weirds me out if I'm the only one who brings a handmade gift. I wasn't - she received quite a few sewn blankets. I get the weirdest looks that I am in my late twenties and that I knit/crochet coolish stuff - not ruffled TP holders, teapot cosies, or doll clothes. Everyone was very nice at identifying who made the stuff and the crafty conversation was flowing. Lots of crafty people in that bunch! Even made some contacts for future sewing help (once the machine is fixed).

I will be posting a picture of me wearing the sweater - all finished - hopefully by the end of the week.

Until then, have a great week everyone!

Just keep knitting...

I finished the blanket. It looks like this:

I was imagining more of a triangular trim, but couldn't find a good stitch pattern and the little loops looks okay. The pattern calls for only one stitch for the corners and I think if I ever make this same blanket again, I'll do two or three because the corners really show up with it's unfolded. It is what it is. I did it in a week!
Since I finished early, I'm going to try to get a little beanie done and maybe some little booties. I should be able to finish those before Satuarday.

I've worked a bit on the sweater too. I only have four more steps to do - crochet the buttonhole side, sew buttons on, attached the lace to the sweater, and a final block of the front.

The CC yarn I used is a bit heavier than I'd have liked, but it is my first sweater - it'll have to do. I really need to get this thing finished!

I have not cast on the helmet liner for my brother-in-law and I have not started another nerd coaster. Those are on the list of things to do.

Speaking of lists - I love lists - so much that I downloaded a list maker app for my phone. It is the best thing ever. I paid 1.99 for it cause I wanted something that could do more than the notes app already on my phone and I wanted to be able to create grocery lists, checklists, to do lists, and this app even as a 'custom list' option that I haven't used yet (just downloaded it last night). I'm pretty excited though. I think I'll create a knitting list to keep track of too. Love it! It's ListPro if you're interested and love lists like me!

Random topic of the day - I discovered I lost about six pounds from my morning weigh and an evening weigh on my wii fit board. I'm thinking that my bathroom scale needs a battery, but what a great feeling discovering that I am not quite as much of a fat ass as I originally thought! Since I've already lost 3 lbs by eating better for a week and a half, one could say that I have lost 10 lbs. That is a big difference! It's really easy when you cheat and get incorrect readings from the scale though!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Fantastic Friday!

This week has been a bit of a blur for so many reasons - Jamie started his new job, I decided to start eating better, started a new crochet project, and all the routine/normal stuff. Jamie started his new job which is about a 40-45 min commute and he's working completely out in the 100+ degree heat so by the time he gets home he's completely wiped out. I've been doing my best to have as much done in the hour between me getting home and his arrival home so he can concentrate on sleeping. This heat has to let up sometime. It's super draining and hopefully he'll adjust - or he'll just go to bed at 8 every night. Oh well.

Decided last Friday that I didn't want to gain every pound I lost about two years ago (by eating better and working out, neither of which I do now) and bought lots of healthy stuff at the grocery store. I made myself an infamous 'green smoothie'. The original recipe I pulled from a friend of mine Claire and then I did a bit of research and discovered I could pretty much put whatever in the hell I wanted to in this thing.I know this is not the best picture in the world, but this was after round one in the blender. Here's what I put in it: 4 leaves romaine, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 banana, 1.5 green apples, handful of frozen raspberries, 1/2 cucumber, one squeezed lemon, and some ginger. The smoothie won. I'm working with a 1970s model blender and there was a lot of chewing going on to get round one down. Round two got another banana, more ginger, water, and ice. I had this three mornings. I need to make another batch, but we're out of banana. I'd like to add some of the veggies that I don't really like - like beets/raddishes/etc to see if I can get some of those goodies without knowing I'm eating them.

In addition to the green smoothie, I'm eating 100-150 calories multiple times throughout the day. I've only been seriously trying this for a week and I've already lost 2 lbs. I only cheated once last weekend (we went out to dinner with friends). I'll also have to cheat today because we're doing a 'goodbye' lunch for someone at work who's retiring. 

Earlier this week, I sewed the sleeves onto my sweater. They look like this:

Not too shabby. I was having a bit of an issue with casting on the contrasting color neckband and was feeling pretty frustrated when I started another project that has to be completed in two weeks. I started it Monday. I'm this far:

It's a baby blanket for a friend of mine who's expecting. Her baby shower is on the 27th and I have a long way to go. It's crochet. Pound of Love yarn. And it's not even close to being complete. It's a free pattern from Lion's Brand Yarns - Jonah's Blanket...or something like that. I'm hoping they'll like it. It's giving me a break from the sweater frustration with a very specific goal to get this done in two weeks. Then it'll be back to the sweater. I am so close to finishing the sweater, I can taste it.

Tuesday, the deal of the century came in. We didn't get to put it up until Thursday. Here it is on our ceiling:

Fanciest light fixture in the house.

That's the excitement of this week! I plan on crocheting a lot this weekend in a mad dash to meet the deadline. I would love to get some work done around the house, but if the humidity and heat don't let up that will not be happening. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Another weekend...

I did not knit a single stitch this weekend. (!)

Let me paint this picture for you: Wednesday night our AC crapped out on us. I think I only got about 3 hours of sleep and that's being generous.I still don't think I've recovered from last Wednesday night. I have been exhausted since. (The AC is fixed, just some loose wires.)
I took a 30min power nap before we hung out with friends Friday night. Woke up super early Sat. to go pick up Jamie's toolbox from work (he starts a new job next week), unloaded it at the house for temporary storage, and attempted to not melt from the crazy heat outside. I took an hour and a half power nap Sat. evening. We grilled up some burgers and made homemade french fries. Sunday I was awoken by our sweet hounds who didn't really care that I hadn't slept much in the past three days and I did not take a nap because I wanted to actually sleep through the whole night before going to work.
Knowing how lack of sleep affects my counting abilities I didn't attempt knitting. I did however start blocking the sweater. I am blocking portions of it at a time since I do not have a big enough space for the entire thing. It's a slow process, but worth it.

I also found something amazing:


This little beauty is going into my master bedroom closet. It was only $38 at the HD. It's normally $70. Do I feel like I just got the deal of the century? Yup. I have been pouring over home lighting/improvement websites and stores looking for some light fixture that is fabulous but cheap. The cheapest I could find was at least $50. Eesh - for a freaking light fixture?! I absolutely LOVE the drum pendant styling, but that pops it up to more like $70-$80 for a freaking light fixture. I just happened to go to HD's website to look at lights...again...for the 1 millionth time. And I couldn't believe the price on this puppy. I bought it on the spot. Too good to pass up. I'll be posting a picture of it installed later.

I am hoping to finish up the sweater project this week and I will show you all the finished product! Look for it!
Have a great week.

My First Pattern

The long awaited 'special project' for my brother-in-law. It has been confirmed that he doesn't read my blog therefore I am free to share this surprise with the world before he even knows about it.

My brother-in-law is into all things 'nerdy'. I am not here to define 'nerdy' just to try to give you an idea of the person this project is intended to surprise. His dream man cave involves a space invaders painted wall, a computer wall, a large table for role playing games, and lots of Star Wars stuff. This project is to be used in this 'dream cave'.

My sister text me asking if I could take the Star Wars logo and make coasters for the man cave. I said sure! First, I looked on ravelry thinking someone must've created these already. I could only find the rebel logo in a crochet pattern. I wanted to knit it for the intro to working with multiple colors. So I hit up the ol' google machine and downloaded a Rebel and Empire logo. Next I researched the typical size for a coaster - 3x3.5 to 4x4. These things are going to be used in a man cave so they need to be washable and durable. I figured the Red Heart Super Saver acrylic would be ideal. The guage on the label on size 8 needles is 17 stitches by 23 rows equals a 4 x 4 square. Perfect! My coasters will be 4 x4.

I resized my logos in Microsoft word to 3.5 inches and 3 inches across the widest part, printed them, and then traced them onto graph paper.

 

Initially I created a graph that directly copied the tracing. I counted each box as a stitch and realized I needed to do a bit of resizing (First Picture). So I played around with a couple of different sizing and patterns to attempt to get the logo as much like the original as possible (Second photo).  Then I created a final graph with a border which in my head was a simple seed stitch with the logo being in stockinete stitch (third photo).  

 The Empire's logo was a bit more complicated, it is extremely hard to get a good visualization of a round logo on square graph paper. I made a few attempts and then gave up. This logo is going to be crochet instead of knit so I can crochet it in a circle like a beanie and I'm going to write a pattern as I go. I need to do a few calculations to make sure everything is divisible in order to create the colored pattern, but I have not given up on this one.

This is what the Rebel coaster looks like at the moment. Keep in mind I have never worked with more than one color of yarn and that this is a self created pattern. It's actually coming out pretty good. The back looks like hell, but I can always sew fabric on the back to cover all that up. While typing this blog about my fantasic first pattern ever, I'm positive that this coaster is not going to be the dementions I intended. I wrote the pattern sideways, meaning my cast on row would be a side not the bottom or top. So I'm actually going to have 23 stitches 19 rows high. It's going to be a rectangle. Good thing this is the first one and if it isn't perfect, oh well. I've got to make a set so making one more isn't going to be that big of a deal. This is only about 30 mins/45 mins of work with me trying to work out how to carry yarn across the back. It should take a lot less time once I get it down.

I like it anyway. It's pretty cool that I created that! Once I get the pattern worked out I'll post it on ravelry.

 Also, I'm using some leftover grey yarn from the stash that is not Super Saver and was initially used doubled up. I'm going to neck it down to a single strand for the others cause it's really really thick, but it's how I had it and I was itching to get a test run going.
So, I'll be posting the changes as they come. Hopefully sooner rather than later! Ya'll have a great week!
-Em



Sleeves Progressing

I am working away on the sleeves. I admit: there's been a bit of lapse in knitting time over the past week or so. Bit of an issue with counting (surprised?!). I'm coming to the conclusion that lack of sleep seriously effects my counting abilities. Last week was a sucky week for sleep and the counting skills were MIA for multiple evenings.
So, here's a photo of the sleeves so far:

See the gathering at the top of the finished sleeve? Pretty excited about how that's going to turn out once everything is assembled. And trying to figure out where/how to block all these pieces. I'm knitting away at the second sleeve, as you see. Hopefully, it'll be finished by the end of this week. I know originally the goal was to have it completed by this past weekend, but that was a bit agressive and didn't so much work out for me.
Here's what we did instead of knitting: Friday a friend of ours came out to the house and we stayed up til 3am (way too old to be doing that) and we slept until about noon. Surprisingly neither of us overindulged in tasty beverages, we were just freaking tired. Sataurday we hit up a small gun show at the local KC hall and then drove up to New Braunfels to check out a motorcycle shop. Sunday was grocery shopping, house cleaning, and cooking.
I also did not cast on my super surprise for my brother-in-law. I have been thinking about how to create a circular crochet pattern for the second emblem that didn't work out in a square. I'm fairly positive I can create a pattern for it - at least I can see it in my head - that's half the battle right? I'm going to work on that a bit this week and since I've been informed he has no idea this blog exists - I can tell you guys all about it! And you get to see the process I'm following for this little creation.
I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seat, so I'll be following up soon! Have a great week!

Progress!!!

Happy belated Fourth of July! I hope you all had a great weekend!
Oh, yeah! What does four days off work give you? Clean laundry, video games, and knitting progress! Lots of knitting progress!!!
See? This is the body portion - complete! Yep, complete I said!

 And here is sleeve #1 - about 2 inches from being complete!

Look at me all productive and stuff!
I'm excited! Can you tell??? I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am super freaking excited!
I'm learning about casting on methods during this project. I taught myself the knitting cast on method and have been using that exclusively for my projects. I attempted a provisional cast on for this sleeve, but the pictures/instructions are not as clear as I would like to know that I'm performing it correctly and not screwing up the sleeve, so I didn't use it. The provisional is also called the invisible cast on and gives a really clean line and is stretchy (as far as I understand). There is also a continental or long-tail cast on method and I can't really figure it out. I'm going to have to watch a video to see how continental is worked. Anyway, I'm looking at different casting on methods and plan on attempting them even if it's just for a swatch.
Speaking of swatching - I have gotten away with doing projects in a very similar or exactly the same yarn the patterns are written and my guage is very close to the pattern guage and have not had to swatch at all. Yes, I'm going to knitter hell, but I said it to the world - I do not swatch. Seriously, I do check my guage, but I have not swatched and I think it seems like a waste of yarn. I managed to do two semi-swatches for the sweater project after thinking that my guage might not be close enough, but it was and I just dived in. I know I said I was going to swatch, but once I saw the yarn all plain and in a sad little square I couldn't leave it like that - I frogged it and it's being worked into my sweater. I acknowledge I will at some point need to swatch for a project if I write my own pattern or switch up the yarn significantly. I cannot justify a waste of yarn for swatching. I've been thinking about this a long time - attempting to justify this necessary swatching and I believe I've come up with a good idea for all those bits of fabric: patchwork blanket from them. Since I have a craft room to hold onto all those swatches it shouldn't be a problem to hold onto them until I get enough of the swatches to piece together. Problem solved!

And I'm looking at other projects to move onto. I am going to be doing a special project for my brother-in-law that is a surprise! I'm not sure if he's aware of the this blog's existance so I'm going to be vague about this project and maybe just give tidbits on the progress of it until I find out he doesn't know about my blog and then ya'll will be included in all the fantastic details. For now, I've found the graphics I need and sized them. I need to graph them to create a custom color chart for knitting said graphic. This is going to be my first multi-color project and I'm thinking will be my gateway into fair isle knitting because I really want to knit something awesome in fair isle. Maybe like this?
 
And even further into the future some argyle socks would be super fun! I was going to insert a picture of said argyle socks, but all the photos I found of argyle socks are ugly...so just imagine something pretty and in soft colors.

Before all that hard fun stuff, I've got to start working on the list of stuff to make this year beginning with my brother-in-law's helmet liner. I think I have the yarn to do this. It needs to be easy to wash, durable, and I would like it to be comfortable. I'm thinking a soft acrylic. It would be great to do it in a superwash merino, but considering he'll only be wearing it like once a year for their annual trip to the Renaissance Festival I think it's going to make more sense for it to be of acrylic.

So I just listed enough to keep me busy for quite awhile. :)

I also saw my godsons and their parents this weekend so I gave them the beanies and they will most definately fit come fall/winter! Whoohoo! They may even be big and fit for a couple of winters!

That's my progress so far! Ya'll have a good week!

Update...

Holy crap shoot me now. So apparently this pattern is written for super skinny armed people....who the heck has that small of arms??
Going to have to unravel the bodice portion of this thing, look closer at the pattern, measure myself and figure out what the stitches need to be to fit my super huge arms....yea.
I guess this is how knitters learn.
Other than that, the length is great and the circumference is quite nice.
Well, I'll be posting in about a week after all the above steps have been completed and I'm back where I was today.
Super irritated.
Have a great week.

Mile marker 1

Progressing quite nicely. This is the first measurement marker when I start the top portion lace fagoting pattern. And yes, I am providing a link to the definition of that word because I actually looked it up, don't hate.
Took the store-bought marker off..screw that shit. I don't know if my stitches are too tight but I don't like the way it stretches that particular stitch. I just line up with the yarn end at the bottom from casting on cause that's the beginning. Duh. Probably going to have to use bits of yarn for markers as this project progresses so I don't get that stretching going on cause it'll show.
I'm on the math part - got it figured out (I think math is waaaay scarier in theory than in practice). Not too bad...it's probably good for me to do a bit of math without a calculator every now and again. Gets the brain juices going.
Exploration of Ravelry still going on - someone randomly left me a nice message about my Man Socks project. How nice! I like nice people. They make me happy. Shout out to that random nice person in Rhode Island! Getting warm fuzzies from Ravelry.
Reading Sumari Knitter's blogs on the knit along project which is a sweater and it is very insightful. Haven't so much read any of the 'knitting greats' and not so up to speed on what ESP or certain methodologies are - research topics!
WARNING: jumping on soap box!
So, I've been flipping through searches on knitting blogs and came across some dumbass saying knitters are on the rise as a kick against mainstream fashion. I am not fed up with mainstream fashion...I do not give a shit. My response to crazy mainstream fashion is to not buy the crap that I don't like - not knit my own shit. I am not knitting in some crazyass response to mainstream fashion. Knitting my own items is actually quite expensive and very time consumming if you want to use quality yarn.
Fact of the matter, I started crocheting in response to a rise in the number of days in a week that I couldn't sleep. Yes folks, that's right, I couldn't sleep. I started crocheting in the evenings and bam! could sleep at night. Weird? Indeed. Knitting was a natural progression due to the commonality of yarn.
Okie, dokie, off the soap box.
Have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday

Random thought of the day: I love homemade bread. If you're like me and don't really have the time to make homemade bread the old fashion way - buy a bread machine, they're great and you get fantastic bread. You will never buy another loaf of bread. Ever.
This weekend was a win - great-niece's bday was fantastic! Cleaned out the barn. And worked through another ball of yarn on the sweater project!
What I learned this weekend on my little sweater project: do not attempt to work in yarn ends. Crochet fabric will absorb the worked in ends without much of an impact. Knitting...well, not so much. Got to unravel and practice my favorite thing of picking up stitches to rework the beginning section of that ball of yarn. Not a good idea, don't do it!
Didn't get to work on it much last night - feeling a bit under-the-weather and couldn't keep the attention span to work on it. Sucks.
I did look at ravelry again. I had joined when I created my Etsy account earlier last year, but I was sort of overwhelmed by Etsy and ravelry all at once. That's a lot of information to process for a newbie. So, I updated some of my information and linked it to this blog.
While looking at Ravelry, discovered that the craft store downtown, You're so Crafty, has yarn! And at some point in time had a Monday night knitting group...I am tempted to check that out...if they still do it.
Well, that's it for me! Have a great week everybody!

List of want-to projects...so I don't forget.

Running Tally of the Project to complete this year

• Hat and slippers for my brother-in-law - top of the list because he got shafted at Christmas
• R2-D2 crochet for my sister
• socks - for lots of people: me, kat, a make-up pair for my sister, and I'm throwing around making enough pairs for our 'annual west texas meeting' group. Shhh... they dont know.
• A scarf for my DPS friend - he requested this before last christmas and I never got around to it.
• Bags...because I love them and who doesn't love them.
• Christmas presents for family.
• Found this super cute little dress for my great-niece too.
• Helmet liner for the brother-in-law

*Additions 6/17

• Baby blanket, booties, beanie, and hand mittens for Denise and Brian who are expecting.
• I really would like to make something for baby Luke - he may be my inspiration for a baby sweater/jacket.
• And more of the godmother homemade gifts for both Kye and Drake - I must put those beanies in the mail - that is my goal for this weekend! I saw a super cute kids sleeping bag that these boys would love and could grow into.

I'll try to update this list as I go...mainly so I do not forget!