Jury Duty and The Ravelympics!

The Olympic winter games are almost over and that means that so are the Ravelympics. I helped represent the Ank-Morpork Knitters Guild as a assistant coach for team Bad Ass Artificers.

I was able to get 3 projects done for the games.

First were the French Press Felted Slippers. They were easy to knit and stitch together. The yarn and the cute finishing buttons came from the way to close Crafty Planet. ( way to close for the budget that is)

The mittens are the classic Thrummed mit. There is left over roving knit into the mittens along with the yarn. It makes for a vary warm mitten. Though you might want to knit a half size bigger than you think you need. Also, 1 inch of semi tightly twisted roving should be perfect for the thrumm. The inside needs to be light and fluffy but the outside should be tight so that it doesn't fuzz up.

Before the Olympics started I knit up this baby cardigan for the fabulous shop Darn.Knit.Anyway (in Stillwater). It is from Rowans new mag Classic Miniature Knits. The denim yarn is great to knit with. It just slides through your fingers and doesn't resist like regular cotton does. Though Rowan really needs to get over all the seaming. It is a raglan style that was knit from the bottom up. It could have been knit top down in one piece and the sleeve could have been knit in the round. But as it was a knit to show off the pattern, I didn't deviate. It looks super cute all done and I think the handmade buttons are going to look great on it.

My payment was some fab Blue Sky Alpaca. I decided to make an Incognito with it. I do love a good mustache. It's very warm and the alpaca is nice against the skin. Though I think instead of making the hems I would knit it as a big tube and then just tack down the edges if I make it again. I have lots of green and orange left over so i think I might make a brimmed hat to go with it.


As for this Jury Duty that I mentioned at the top, it is stressing me out. I was planing for this a month ago as that's when they sent the summons. Everyone at work was like "Oh they will call you early and it will be over and done with in a week." The summons says 2 weeks. The first week is almost over and they haven't called me yet. I'm really stressing out that this is going to head into next week. *deep breath* Well what ever happens I have a good team and they will help me work it out.

The kitties have liked having me home but, they don't like me vacuuming all the time. The house is pretty darn clean right now. Though if anyone thinks that this week has been a vacation... they can just keep that thought to themselves.

Here's to hoping that I either get called in tomorrow or released from duty and back to work.

Review 2: Stitch & Bitch (books on knitting)

So when I first picked back up knitting, I wasn't doing so well.
HT got me Debbie Stoller's first book for Christmas and well the rest is history.

This is the first sweater that I ever knit. It is the Manny Sweater from the book. It's a little too short but it keeps you warm

All Cascade 220. It is a bit ichy around the neck though. While it is ichy the colors are some of my favorite.

I have yet to knit anything out of Stitch and Bitch Nation.
It has a lot of cute and fun patterns in it.

I love all the patterns in Son of Stitch and Bitch.
Lots of very manly yet fun knits.

This is a version of the Love vest. I really liked the cables in it and the color edging. Sadly, I had gauge issues again. I tried to get HT to do a curtsy so you all could see the with of it. If he was wearing foot ball pads it would be a winner.

The Stitch and Bitch books are great. They helped me to find my love of knitting. They taught me different techniques and gave me the confidence to try sweaters, even if they didn't work out.

The illustrations in the books are easy to fallow and instructional. Over all lay out of the books are great too. They all have photos that make you want to knit it all, even if its not your style.

I'm even going to get a new copy of the first book to give one of my friends.
So that she has something to reference when I'm not around to help.

If you know anyone who wants to stretch their skills but isn't into classes (or doesn't have the time) these are great books to gift to them.

A hat in One Day.

Yesterday I decided to sit down and knit as HT played Mass Effect 2.
And I wanted something quick easy and fun.
So, I knit the Shroom from this winters Knitty.

I had some of the Spud & Chole it called for so I figured I'ld make it.
The colors made me think of a mushroom and also Toad from Mario Brothers. So I went with it.

What do you think?
It makes me giggle. Though I think that the knit 3 together that it calls for should be a slip knit 2 together pass. I might make another one solid color and see how that looks.

I finished the baby kimono wrap for HT's cousin's little one. I think it will look really sweet on her. I also made some tiny booties to match and some bigger booties for lasting longer.

Grimlock thinks that the wrap makes a nice place to stand and demand attention.

And just for fun, a sign of things to come.
Every now and then it's good to get little potted plants for your house.
The ones that bloom are great things to have around.