revelation?

I am a selfish knitter.
And its ok.

My new hat (which needs to be blocked still) is evidence of this.
The Blue Sky Alpaca was just too nice to leave sitting around. So it became a fun new hat.

Now this is not to say that I never knit for other people. Its just not often anymore. I used to gift many things to people. They would say "Oh, thanks this is neat" and that would be that. More often than not the knitted item would never be seen again. I will admit that some of those early knits were quite odd. But they were given with the best of intentions.

These days when I knit for others I knit things that are small, sweet and don't take too long.

Case in point, these baby booties. They were just received by HT's expecting cousin. She quiet likes them and there is Internet gushing going on about them. I'll admit it, I like a little gushing now and then.

So it would seem that I'm going to try and keep some of my knitting to Parents to Be types.

Though this burp cloth is slogging a long.

It doesn't help that at the last knit night I snapped one of the needles when I was sitting down (no I didn't sit on it, just put my hand on it funny)
It is nice and plain with just enough something to keep you going, but I might have to make any more of these with self striping yarn.

And bibs, everyone needs bibs right?
They are simple but can be super pretty if worked right.

This is my first one. It turned out nice and the Soon to Be Parents seemed to like it. Maybe I should just knit a few every time I want to knit but am stuck for an idea. Then I wouldn't always be knitting for myself.

But like I said, there really is nothing wrong with that ;)

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.

Review 1: New Pathways for Sock Knitters

Sock knitting is something that seems to come along in every knitters create.
Most of us believe that Sockyarn is not stash.
There for, we should want to use up all that non-stash from time to time.



In Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Sock Knitters we have a ton of ways to create with our sock yarn. What she tries to do in the book is create a way of thinking about the structure of the knit sock.

Now the ideas of this book are pretty good. The increases that she uses Linc/Rinc are a nice way to make stitches with out holes. The diagrams that show how to use two circs is pretty nice too. Though I don't think that's the method for me.


The designs are good, the charts for working socks for your own feet are understandable (which is more than some).

I did the Woven Ridge Socks socks. They turned out well. The get a bit droopy on my caff but otherwise they fit quite well.


The one thing that I'm critical of is the lay out of the book. Some of the instructions get a bit muddled. There are cut outs and instructions and sometimes it feels like a chose your own adventure book.

I did my homework.
I started at the very beginning of the book and knit the first baby bootee fallowing the pattern word for word. Well, mostly.



Starting from the beginning of the book is the best way to figure out the way that Miss Cat thinks about the socks. If you try jumping around in the patterns, well the chose your own adventure aspect of the book gets more pronounced.

All in all a good book to have in your arsenal.

Patterns doing good.

Ysolda Teague is a great knit designer.
This month she is donating 50% of her profits from pattern sales to DWB.
Click on the picture to fallow to her Whimsical Little Knits 2 page on Ravelry.

I have also been eyeing Sarah Barbour's Kimono Top for a while.
She is donating 100% of her profits to StC.

What better time to pick up some patterns that you have been looking at.
You will be doing good as well.

Now,
This weekend I'm going to sit down and write up a review of the book below.

I have knit a few of the patterns and I have read all the instructions.
I think it will be a good way to start off this new year direction of the blog.
I'm even going to start a new baby sock or 2 to prep for this.
That's right, I do my homework... sometimes.

New Year, new direction

There is a lot of snow on the ground. To much in fact. All the snow never makes me feel like it's a new year. Spring, that's when the year starts again for me.

But for the sake of blogging more, I will make a "New Year Resolution". I am going to start reviewing my knitting/crafting books. I need a reason to justify the compultion i have to buy craft books. If they are well designed, they just call out to me. I'm going to make it a monthly thing. Maybe the last Monday of the month.

Now it I really get cracking, I'm going to review tools and yarn and patterns as well. Though I'm just going to start with books. No over doing it right off the bat.


On another note, the marshmallows have defeeted me. I don't know if it's the fact that my mixer can't go as fast as it should. Or if i'm not leaving it to sit as long as I should. I've decided that if I need some, I'm just going to buy my hand made marshmallows from some folks that know what they are doing. I found this great maker to try.

Well that's all for now. Keep an eye out for the book review.