Jumping on the bandwagon.

Everyone else is doing it, so I'm doing it too! Here's some of my favorite albums.

Create your own Music List @ HotFreeLayouts!

In knitting related news, I finished up my Clapotis last night. Pics to come soon.

Fears

I had a near heart attack last night. It was close to midnight, I was just 11 rows away from finishing my Suri-Merino Clapotis, when I glanced down to find about a foot of yarn hanging off my needles.

I was out of yarn. Eight balls of yarn, and it was all gone. How could this be? It just was not possible. Sure I added an extra repeat in increase section so that it would be wider, but still...

As it turns out, it wasn't the eighth ball of yarn, it was only the seventh. A quick inventory of my stash produced another ball [and of course by quick inventory I really mean an hour of me throwing everything I own out of my dresser and off of my shelves]

It's happened before. While Gabe was in Mexico kayaking the Sea of Cortes, I decided to knit him the Alien Illusion Scarf from Stitch n' Bitch. (He loves all things sci-fi so I figured it was a perfect fit.) I ordered the recommended yarn and cast on. Towards the end of the project, I was freaking out, I didn't think I would make it.

I did, with about two yards left of yarn and opted to leave the fringe off to save myself from having to order more yarn. In the end it all worked out. As I learned later, he's not really a fringe person.

The incident had me thinking about all of my knitting related fears I've faced.

When I first started knitting, I was terrified of dpn's. Something about 5 pointy little sticks freaked me out. Finally, I faced it and realized it's actually very easy.

Next up was socks. Instructions on turning a heel seemed like a foreign language to me. Then the Knitting Olympics came around and I decided to start my first pair of socks. A pair of Jaywalkers, using a method I've never used before. The magic loop method. It was easy, and while I might still only be 3/4 of the way through the first sock, I turned that heel with no problem what so ever.

I'm still a little scared of fair isle, but I know that one day in the future I'll give it a try and while I might not get it on the first try, in time I'll be a whiz at that as well.

I wish all fears were that easy to over come. I have quite a few that I could do without.

Finally... A mini vacation.

Next weekend, I'll be heading up to Massechusetts with my friend Gabe to visit a friend of his. I'm looking foward to it tremendously for a few reasons. [Click picture to enlarge. That is Gabe and I at a this years New Years Eve party, the night we met.]

First being a mini vacation sounds so good. I haven't even gone away for just a weekend in such a long time. (It should go without saying that I also consider some quality alone time with Gabe an added bonus.)

The second reason being, he has agreed to let me stop at one yarn store.

Some people collect shot glasses as souvenirs. Not I. I collect yarn.

I realized today while looking at various yarn stores in Massechusetts that Webs is located about an hour out of the way. Webs. A yarn store I've used numerous times online, and one that has a 21,000 square foot warehouse open to the public for shopping.

21,000 square feet of yarn. Put a Starbucks right smack in the middle, and you have my idea of heaven.

Will we be stopping at Webs? Will Gabe be brave enough to enter a yarn store with me to begin with? I don't know yet, but I'm certainly hoping!

I'm not sure how much blogging or knitting I'll be accomplishing over the course of the next few weeks. I have some major projects in the works that will be taking up alot of my time and energy.

I don't know what it is about the spring. Every spring, I feel like I need to change and I go absolutely insane buying new furniture, rearranging everything and deep cleaning.

I used to hate cleaning. But now, well now I look foward to it. I noticed that it all started when I started knitting.

Seems silly to link the two together, but cleaning and rearranging means I get to pull out my stash and rearrange and clean that as well. I get to change what yarn is sitting out on display, I get to take a mental inventory of what I have, and I get to remember certain times when I bought certain yarns, or the people who inspired the yarn purchases.

I have a fairly decent sized stash. I've seen bigger, but in our knitting circle, mine is probably the biggest. My friends tease me about it, non knitters think I have a serious problem, but I disagree. Lauren often teases me that if she stole a ball or two of yarn, I probably would never even notice.

She's completely wrong. I know every ball, hank, or skein of yarn I own. I can even give you details, such as where I bought it, gauge, what I bought it for, the price I paid. I might not be able to tell you what I had for dinner last night, or what I did last weekend, but I know my yarn.

Socks that Rock and Dye-O-Rama

I recieved the phone call I've been dreading yesterday. My mechanic called to tell me that I need a new motor. I'm aggravated with the whole situation, but I'm laughing about it. It's just easier at this point to laugh then let it stress me out.

It's actually ironic. For the past 6 months, everytime my car made a noise, whether a real one, or one that I just imagined, I would freak out about a sludge build up in the engine. My friends and family all though I was crazy. Ha. Look who's crazy now. My worst automotive related fear has come true.

To cheer myself up, I gave in and bought some of the Socks that Rock yarn I've been reading about everywhere. I picked the Carbon Dating colorway. [Click pic for a better view]

In other knitting related news, I am stoked about Scout's Dye-O-Rama. Sign ups start tonight at 6pm MST. I'll be signing up!

Short and sweet.

I've had a rough few days and haven't really been in the blogging mood as of late. My car is back in the shop, which is aggravating. I had just got it back a few weeks ago after an accident that occured the day after Christmas, so to have to get it fixed yet again angers me greatly.

I haven't been working on any of the knitting I was hoping to finished up so I could start some new exciting projects. Instead, on a whim, I bought yarn the other day. What I have come to call my "Bad Day Yarn." Because there's nothing like some Noro to cheer me up. This time it was four skeins of Silk Garden in Colorway #205. I'm using it to knit Crazy Aunt Purl's Magic Scarf. Simple, easy and relaxing. I'll post pictures in a few days when it's finished.

The end is near.

I've been eyeing up Mason-Dixon Knitting since it came out and finally gave in and bought the book this past Friday.

I absolutely love it. All the rave reviews you hear about this book are dead on. The patterns are inspiring, the pictures are amazing and the stories are entertaining.

This book sent me, just like other knitters into a dishrag knitting frenzy. I have never knit a dishrag or a wash cloth. I never wanted to until this book, and now I must tell you that the dishrag has moved up to the top of my favorite knits list. It's quick, it's easy, it's cheap, and there are so many possibilities!

The first dishrag. Can you see where I messed up? The little floats of white yarn on the bottom of the third row of white purled boxes? I plan on "messing up" in exactly the same spot at the other end of the dishrag so that it's symmetrical. [Click photo to enlarge.]



Today is the last day of tax season. I'm starting to feel a little crazy and can't wait for it to end. Our goal is to close the office up by 5, as opposed to the 8 we've been staying to as of late. I'm not sure if it will happen or not, but if we do have to stay later, I doubt it would be much more than an hour.

And to celebrate the end of a crazy, stressful three and a half months, Lauren (my coworker and one of my crafting buddies) will be relaxing with a few glasses of wine and some knitting.

Happy Easter

B.e.a.utiful

I recieved my two hanks of Sundara Yarn's Sport Weight Merino in the mail today. [As always, click pictures to enlarge.] I was so excited that I made my coworker stop at my house on her way into work to pick it up for me. It's beautiful, the color on the webpage did it no justice what-so-ever. The depth of the greens and the reds are amazing. I can't wait to knit this up. I might just throw everything aside and start something tonight. Go check out her website.

I also recieved my two hanks of undyed Tsunami wool in the mail, and will be dying them up this weekend. I think it's safe to say that Lauren, Robby and I caught the dying bug.

I didn't get much knitting time last night, with the late hours at work I getfrustrated only completing a few rows of my Clapotis, so I decided to put it aside until I have a chunk of time to dedicate it. The end is in sight.

In the mean time I decided to start a new project. Something that I can just knit in between, or while I'm out and about and don't want to lug around a ton of yarn. It's the perfect project to keep in the car, to knit anywhere, and it's a great stashbuster as well. I'll give you a little preview.Can anyone guess what it's going to be when finished?

A Decision

I don't have any actual knitting content to post today due to no movement on the knitting front and logging in plenty of overtime at work. So in honor of Project Spectrum's April colors of yellow and orange, I snapped some photos of the only yellow and orange items I could find around the house.



I've been thinking about picking up a new hobby lately. Over the years I've gone through so many: pottery, painting, woodburning, writing, scrapbooking, latch hook, and knitting just to name a few. The only one that has actually stuck is knitting, although I do from time to time write a story here or there, just not on a regular basis anymore.

While knitting is not in the least getting old or boring for me, I've just had this urge to do something new. I used to sew, I took sewing classes in school and even made clothes for my friends. I've been contemplating getting back into that, but wasn't sure which direction to go in.

I think I found that direction.

I've decided to take up quilting. There are some beautiful contemporary quilts that have really inspired me to make this decision:

[Click pictures to make bigger]





This weekend I plan on going to Border's to look at Quilting Books and then jumping right into it. My friend's and family really should consider themselves lucky, now on top of handknit items for birthdays and holidays, they'll be receiving handmade quilts as well.

History.

When I first decided I was going to learn to knit, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The decision came over a year and a half ago, when the guy I was currently dating and I broke up. I was heartbroken. He was the one, and to this day I still consider him the first man I ever truly loved. I didn't want to go out and have fun, I wanted to mourn, but sitting in the comfort of my bedroom crying quickly grew boring. I decided I needed a hobby, and out of the sky I pulled out knitting.

That was it, I was determined. It seemed perfect, knitting would take my mind off of the boy, knitting would allow me to create beautiful sweaters and scarves to wear, and wait, I remember seeing yarn at Walmart for $2 a skein, knitting for myself would be cheaper than buying sweaters and scarves for myself.

Little did I know...

Armed with a computer, size 10.5 needles and some rug yarn I found laying around the house, I started. My first attempt was awful. I didn't read any of the instructions, just looked at diagrams and went at it. I didn't think about counting my stitches, I didn't know to bring the yarn in between the needles when switching from knitting to purling, I had no idea how to join another yarn. I wish I kept that first swatch to share with you. It was awful, full of yarn overs and uneven tension with some rows bigger than others and more than one dropped stitch.

But I didn't give up. I was after all determined. I decided to go to Walmart, buy my first skein of yarn and knit a scarf. I picked Lionbrand Homespun, thinking it was the softest and yummiest yarn I had ever seen. (I really was clueless back then wasn't I?)

By the time I finished ten inches of a mistake free scarf, the boy and I were back together, so I knit the scarf for him. Every stitch of it was knit with love, I messed up more than once which resulted in me frogging it and starting over (because back then, I didn't know how to fix mistakes.) But finally, it was finished. And I was proud. So was he.

It wasn't until after that first scarf that I discovered knitting patterns, knitting websites, real yarn, local yarn stores, knitting groups. After that first scarf, I started noticing hand knit items, I would stop perfect strangers in their tracks to ask them about the scarf/hat/gloves they were wearing (a habit which still makes my non-knitting friends laugh.) I started reading knitting blogs and buying yarn online. Luckily Robby, a friend of mine, also taught himself to knit about a week before I did, once we discovered we had this in common, we taught each other everything we now know.

Eventually I persuaded other friends to learn to knit. I even taught the boy to knit. It was even more fun now. In fact one of my favorite memories was last summer. My two best girlfriend's Lauren and Kristen were over along with the boy, the three girls were knitting and watching Kingdom Hospital. Later that evening, Lauren extended an invitation to a friend of hers (Kim) to stop by for a little bit, and while the five of us lounged out watching the series, the boy taught Kim to knit. The five of us sat there for the rest of the evening, all knitting together.

I never saw Kim again and as far as I know, she never did pick up the needles again. The boy moved away with enough yarn to last him a few months (even though by that time there was more anger and frustration than anything else, I still couldn't help but give him some incentive to keep knitting.) Lauren still knits, although not as avidly as the rest of us, and Kristen has recently decided to knit her first shawl and is teaching herself the techniques that I haven't had a chance to teach her. When she told me about it, I couldn't help but feel proud of her.

Since that fateful day I picked up those ugly gold metal size 10.5's, I've grown closer to Robby then ever before, I've spent more money on yarn than on food and clothes, I've developed an unhealthy fear of rheumatoid arthritis, I've learned to sit still (in fact the only time I ever sit still is when I'm knitting), I've learned to dye my own yarn, and I've come to think of knitting as my therapy. I can't picture my life without knitting, I think knitting is partly responsible for me being the person I am today. I've knit through my pain, through my anger, through my frustrations, and I'm still doing it.

To dye for.

On a whim I purchased 2 hanks of Henry's Attic Tsunami Wool last night to dye. One hank I will be keeping for myself, the other will be gifted. I'm not usually a fan of the thick and thin bulky wool, but I thought it would be a nice quick in between project for me.



This will be my third foray into yarn dying. For my first attempt I gathered up my two favorite crafting buddies, some Fisherman's Wool and some Kool-Aid. I wasn't pleased with the results at all, the colors were not as I imagined them so I eventually pawned the yarn off to a friend, who knit up this pretty cool looking hat [Click pictures to enlarge.]


Our second attempt at dying was much easier, much smoother and yielded much better results. This time we opted for Wilton Icing Dyes and cooking the yarn on the stove instead of handpainting and then steaming in the microwave. I am thrilled with the results. I love the colors [I named the colorway Daisy] and I love the yarn. It's Henry's Attic Kona, a fingering wieght superwash merino. It's soft and fuzzy, much nicer than the Fisherman's Wool we used the first time around.



I'm not sure what colors I'm going to use for the Tsunami just yet, I probably won't give it much more thought until the yarn is in hand. If you're looking for Henry's Attic, check out this ebay seller. She's quite good, always has a great selection and ships out very quickly.

Secret Pal, you amaze me!

I came home from a long 12 hour day, stressed out and miserable to find my final package from my secret pal. Her name's Stephanie and she's a pretty amazing crafter. I'm harboring some serious lust for the tree mittens she made and posted on her blog!

To recap, previously she sent me a copy of Handknit Holidays, which is an amazing beautiful book, along with some green and mauve Lopi that I plan on using to knit Cabled Stockings out of said book.

This package was absolutely amazing, chock full of all kinds of goodies:
[Click on pics to make them bigger]



The yarn:
Purple Superwash Merino; Pink and Blue fingering weight 100% Wool



The jewelry:
Yellow "I <3 Nerds" pin; 3 bracelets; An owl and a butterfly pin; Hoop Earrings; A cute barette with a pink flower; and a charm.



The Stationary:
Scrapbook paper; pencils; zebra magnetic notepad; a postcard; seed beads, butterfly tattoos; some scrumptious toffee candy; and a mix cd:



And my favorite items:
Knitting notecards, a cute little pouch I plan on using to hold my stitchmarkers and yarn needles; and an oreo cookie pin cushion:



Thank you so much Secret Pal!

Singledom has it's down falls.

I'm not usually the type of girl who needs a man in her life to make her happy. In fact, looking over the past few years, I have come to realize that some of my happiest times were when I was single and free. The years I spent in relationships were usually filled with frustration and suffocation. I'm a free spirit. I don't like to be tied down, I don't like having to answer to anyone, I like being able to spend my time as I see fit. (Please don't mistake me for one of those bitter women who think all men are jerks. I know that is not the case, it takes a very special kind of man to keep my attention, I just haven't found him yet!)

But every once in a while something happens and I crave having someone steady in my life. Today, that something happened again.

The new issue of Knitty is up, and while browsing the patterns over coffee and cold pizza (It's the breakfast of champions don't you know?), I fell in love with Jamesey.

I couldn't tell you what it is about this sweater I absolutely adore, maybe it's the color, maybe it's the cotton, the texture, the silhouette, maybe it's all of those things. [Click picture to see Jamesey in all of it's glory.] I just know I want to knit it, and I wish I had someone I could knit it for. Someone who would wear it often, someone whom would give it up on a chilly night, letting me keep warm in a yummy handknit sweater that smells slightly of them.

Maybe I'll knit it anyway. I could always keep it, I could always give it to a brother, I could always give it to a friend. I already have one in mind and a pre-knitual agreement all drawn up.

Substitution

I never know what to write when starting a new blog. Do I just jump into recapping my day to day life? Do I need to write an introduction first? If so, how much of an introduction is enough? How much do I have to write about myself and the people I care about so that new readers aren't confused?

I've decided that this time around to just get right into it.

I am a yarn-o-holic. Looking at yarn, petting yarn, buying yarn, even sniffing yarn (you non-knitters reading along might think this odd, but I know I'm not the only knitter out there who sniffs yarn) are compulsions I can not control. I haven't bought yarn in a few weeks, and this is what I have chalked up to my misery and overwhelming stress lately.

While most people would chalk this psuedo depression up to work related stress, aggravation in my pretty pathetic love life and the steady decline of what once was a great friendship, I choose to ignore those suggestions all together.

This funk I'm in, it's yarn related. Looking around my bare walls, seeing empty hooks where yarn once was, glaring at half empty baskets that were once over flowing with wooly goodness, this is the cause of my misery.

So I decided to take things into my own hands. No more sitting around miserable for me. I will write my own destiny, I will find my own happiness.

And find it I did. In the form of Sundara Yarn's sportweight merino in the Chalky colorway. (For those of you who have followed me over from myspace, my apologies for the repetition, however I just recieved word today that Sundara did indeed have my requested two skeins in stock and will be sending me an invoice this evening. They're officially mine!) Would you just look at those beauitful colors? And the texture, my god, it looks so soft and scrumptious, I can't wait to have it in my hands, to pet it, to knit it up. I'm practically drooling just looking at it. [Click on picture to get a better view.]

I know that in all reality what I've been feeling lately isn't actually yarn related, but this spur of the moment purchase has done a great job of providing me a quick fix. And while some people might think that drowing my sorrows in yarn is not the best idea one could come up with, I find that it beats the plethora of other options out there. After all, I'd rather be a raging yarn-o-holic than a raging alc-o-holic.

I made the move.

After much hemming and hawing, I decided to take the plunge and make the move from Livejournal to Blogger. I can't promise much entertainment, but I can promise lots of talk about knitting, yarn and my day to day life.