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My boyfriend asked me to babysit his virtual kitty here. :)
You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.
http://marniemaclean.com
What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
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| Pictures, finally! |
| 09.30.04 (4:37 pm) [edit] |
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I need to get my computer fixed and I need a digital, sorry for the mega delay with pics! My CD ROM drive isn't working :x so the photo CD wasn't doable so I had to upload it from my boyfriend's house.
So here are some pictures!!
First, my finished objects! My first two finished objects were a fun fur scarf and a sheep. The scarf was two skeins of Fun Fur, light blue and dark blue, knitted in garter stitch and held with a baby yarn in light blue. I slightly adapted the Fireworks Scarf pattern from Stitch 'N Bitch for it. The sheep was from a kids knitting book, basically a rectangle with small "leg" rectangles sticking out from it. Came out really cute though. I named him "Oreo" cuz he is white and black, and he was for my teddy bear who's named Dale after Dale Earnhardt (who had an Oreo sponsorship, sad logic I know). Did those back in April, right after the knitting bug caught me again.
 
Next up, a pair of mittens and the first of the second pair that I did with a nice pattern I bought off of Ebay. It's a two needle mitten pattern and that's what I chose to make to get myself un-bored after the scarf (sorry to all those who love doing scarves but that just bored me out of my skull!). The first pair I did with Lily's Sugar & Cream 100% cotton, not very warm but a bit thicker and it was good practice. The red one at the top is Wool Ease, and that's what I'm perfecting for Christmas gift mittens (y'all should see the pile of Wool Ease that's in my room right now!)
Next, a purse. This is made out of Wool Ease Thick & Quick, the second one I did, from the pattern they have on the Lion Brand website. The first one I did in purple for my mom. Then I looked at how much yarn I had left and so for mine in the turquoise I made it slightly longer and made the handles a little longer. The button is a funky peace symbol with flowers in it. It's nice, but a bit floppy and not big enough for me. But still, I used it for a little dressier purse for a couple of occasions.
Now to the works in progress! First, the first of seven strips for my Homespun afghan. I forget which book I got the pattern out of, but it's super simple. Cast on 22 stitches, knit a 53" rectangle, make 7 strips and then there's a crochet join and border. I love the feel of it, I know some people don't like working with Homespun but I think it's soooooooooo soft. I'm using Colonial, which is this strip (dark blue) and I believe the other color is called ocean or something like that, a light turquoise blue.
 
Now the shawl I was working on in the red/white/blue yarn, that I posted about. I ripped this out over the weekend though, and as soon as I de-crimp the yarn I'm going to do it as a simple two rectangle poncho. The shape I had in my head is not working right so I'm going to try and sketch it out later for another shawl when I can figure out the shaping right.
 
Finally, the start of my Gryffindor scarf. It's a little longer now, and I actually have a couple of stripes in there, but slow going cuz I don't work on it often. Same with the afghan. I gotta get to some movies! Those are both mindless don't-need-to-look-at knitting projects. And boring as hell if not doing something else.
And now, as I know everyone's curious, pictures of my teddy bear! More pics forthcoming, I have to scan the photos I took, but here's a couple pics of Dale. Later I will have pictures of him in his cardigan and pictures of my other teddies, Sakura (she's a Fall Festival bear from Build a Bear) and Michaela (she's a mini-teddy that's a Target exclusive from Build a Bear).
  
And here's Dale sitting on my bed, next to my afghan that was knitted by my great-grandmother (and which I am planning to reknit once I learn seed stitch really well because it's starting to fall apart), and the pillow he's leaning on (that says "finish" and stuff) is my handmade pillow. Took a yard of fleece fabric, cut it in half, made two pillows (one for me, one for my boyfriend) sewn by hand and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. It's the best pillow I've ever owned! :)
That's all the pictures I have for now! More as soon as I can get back over here with the hard copy pictures and scan them! :-D
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| Busy busy busy! |
| 09.26.04 (7:28 pm) [edit] |
I don't know if anyone's reading because I'm not getting comments (glare) but sorry for the sporadic posts, full time job equals less time online!
My sock is moving right along, I finished off the heel flap and on Thurs I'll get help with the REALLY confusing part of the pattern that comes next. This past Thurs I learned the weird little stitch that's used on that heel flap (and made a mistake in reading it resulting in having to rip out 8 rows, ergh) and also got a pattern generated for a pullover in Suede for my teddy.
Fri nite after work I met up with my boyfriend and we hit this classic car show in Arlington Heights. Just the ticket after a tough day at work, got to drool over '57 Chevys and Camaro SS's....awesome cars. Of course part of the reason we went was cuz his friend was there showing his car....his 2004 Ford Escort ZX2 (rolls eyes). It was still fun, though, another kid nearby had a whole V8 engine model made out of K'Nex. That actually worked mind you -- the pistons moved up and down in the right sequence and the valves rocked open and closed in the right sequence and the transmission was even geared with the right ratios and 3rd speed actually moved faster than 1st! Now THAT is talent IMO! And then we were all gathered around that when his neighbor pulled away in his Camaro SS with a HUGE supercharger blower sticking up out of the hood....nice sweet big block rumble that you feel in your bones.....droool....... (send any groans to the boyfriend, he got me hooked on this stuff!)
Sat we had a family thing, my cousin just turned 21 (dangit, they gotta stop making me feel old!) Discovered that I can't toss a bean bag in a hole to save my hide. Oh well I can knit circles around them and if they mock they won't get nice toasty mittens and socks for Christmas that's all! ;)
Knitting update:
In the knitting bag, my washcloth, the LusterSheen cardigan for Michaela, my sock, and some Bernat Sox yarn to start another sock.
Also working on: Getting close to the decorative part of the little clutch I started like milennia ago (for some reason I get hand fatigue after just a few rows and can only do it in little bits); unraveled the red/white/blue shawl because I didn't like how the pattern was going and instead I'm going to make it into a simple as pie two rectangle poncho; also unraveled my first sweater because it was WAY too wide (gave it to my boyfriend cuz I couldn't bring myself to rip and he needed the therapy ;) ); still have my two Zeeby's Bags and my summer shell in progress.
I organized my yarn somewhat. Have to look at my Wool-Ease stash and check which colours I need for Christmas mittens ($1.77 a ball this week at Hobby Lobby!). Then I gotta get into a FO kick and wrap up a few projects so I can start gift knitting -- I'm planning on making a purse for my cousin's birthday in Nov and then lots of mittens and slippers and hats for Christmas (plus a few other projects to make).
That's all for now! Pictures as soon as I can get to a computer that has a working CD-ROM (gives laptop death glare) and upload the ones off the photo CD I just got!
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| Knitting away.... |
| 09.21.04 (8:11 pm) [edit] |
I have no energy lately....still getting used to a full time schedule. But I'm getting better! :) And finding time to knit too.
I had my Demystifying the Math in Knitting class on Sat, went quite well. It was the first time this class was offered and there were only two of us but that was okay, it worked well. I think I have a little bit of a better understanding of the math behind patterns and switching yarns or adjusting patterns.
Afterward I decided to pick a nice luxury yarn to make a teddy bear cardigan with. I figure, a teddy cardigan doesn't need much yarn so I could get a really-nice-to-knit-with yarn to enjoy and not have to spend $100 to have enough for a me-size sweater. :) Besides, I was heading to Build a Bear afterward and I had the future recipient with :D
I ended up picking up three balls of Berroco Suede. I've been eyeing that yarn for a while, after seeing it in Patternworks (the colour names caught my eye), then a nice pullover pattern with it in Knit 'N Style, and finally a baby hat and booties knitted with it on Knitty Gritty. :) I was so happy to see that my LYS had it ($9.25 a ball, ouch...) I picked up three balls of blue (I forgot the cool name for it....looks in Patternworks ah yes, "Wrangler"). I'm knitting up a gauge swatch, then I'm going to take advantage of the LYS' custom pattern service and have them figure out the pattern for a fringy jacket and pants for Dale.
And I'm probably going to ask for a billion balls of Suede for Christmas...I just love working with it! It's nice and soft, it comes out really neat when knitted up. And I just love the color! (so if anyone wants to buy me Suede....;) ;)
My sock is moving along...I've been knitting it a round or three at a time all week and I've got a total of nearly 4" knitted. Looking nice, and now that my boyfriend kindly translated the fiber content for me ("75% Schurwolle, 25% Polyamid" means 75% wool, 25% polyester), I know the socks will be nice and toasty! I just hope they fit right (looks like it'll fit so far....) I like the yarn I'm using, it's called Opal. It's a German import (and I can't understand a word of the label...thank goodness gauge is universal!), a nice thin fingering weight and quite soft knitted up. It's blue and white, pretty even color bands, and it's making a really nice ziggy zaggy pattern as I knit. :D
Anyway....that's all for now! :)
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| First class done! Also Star Trek ramblings.... |
| 09.17.04 (10:32 pm) [edit] |
Well yesterday was my first of four class sessions in Intermediate Knitting. It's being taught by the owner of the store, and she is very nice and quite patient! :) There were four other ladies in class, all knitting sweaters (one for a young daughter, another for a son, the third just learning stockinette stitch on a sweater and the last finishing off a fun fur sweater for a daughter). And then there was me, poking myself up and down with DPNs. I had by far the most complex project! But then again I like to jump in head first -- my first three projects were a fun fur scarf that bored me to tears, a little sheep (though he was very simple), and a pair of mittens. Yes, I got bored out of my mind with the scarf and went and found a good 2-needle mitten pattern. I'm on my third of what shall be many pairs with this pattern, I just love it (bought it off E-Bay, wonderful find!)
So anyway, I had picked out a lovely blue and white Opal yarn in fingering weight and a nice simple pattern written for three weights and adaptable for different styles. Darlene taught me the long-tail cast on (that's one that's confusing from a book), and then helped me start in the round. I spent the rest of the two hours slowly working away with my four little Inox needles, worried one was going to slip out like the Lion Brand one the last time I attempted to use DPNs. But none have fallen out yet! I left with a round tube of 2x2 ribbing that actually looks like a sock ankle if you stare hard enough! ;)
Tomorrow morning is the "Demystifying the Math in Knitting" class. Afterwards I'm going to Build a Bear to treat myself ;) Actually the original plan was to pick up the socks they sell for the bears to have an idea of how they're shaped. My bear has very round little feet, almost totally circular, and I was to knit him socks but I'm not sure how to shape them so they'll fit! Of course then when I went to the website to get the address of the store so I could get directions, I discovered there's a special on the fall bear they're selling plus I found a coupon and I also discovered there's a new racing costume! This one has a helmet finally so I MUST get that for Dale! (he is named after Dale Earnhardt after all!)
On a totally unrelated note.....anyone know of a yarn out there that would make a velour-like fabric when knitted? A slightly shimmery blue or red? Why you ask? Well it's 2 in the morning and Speed Channel has motorcross (sorry my racing's gotta have 4 wheels and turns to keep me watching) so I checked the channel guide and found classic Trek. And I do mean classic -- "The Enterprise Incident" and I'm looking at the shirts thinking, gee if I had the right yarn I could do better than trying to sew fussy, shrink-loving velour and knit myself up a cool costume! I've never sewn velour but I'm sure it's gotta be one of the fuss-til-you-want-to-burn -it fabrics, and I know Bill Theiss had to keep making new uniform shirts because two or three washings and those things were trash.
I mean, it shouldn't be hard to make.....looking at Scotty, it's a simple raglan with a black collar...looks like 1x1 ribbing I guess, plain bottom, with the insignia and the braids on the wrist. Those I can sew on, make them out of lame again (ergh but it's the only thing I've found to give that look to the insignia -- I once made a medical/science original series uniform for an 18" doll). Hmm, I guess I've got a new project to add to the list! :) Which just grew when I splurged today on four knitting magazines....I got Vogue Knitting International, Knit 'N Style, Knitters, and Interweave Knits. There's a lot I'm interested in.
Oooo I forgot how cute the Romulan Commander's costume was....simple mini dress that could be done in intarsia since it's color blocked and the red turns into a scarf..... Any designers want to help a design-challenged Trekkie? ;)
Ah well for now I gotta get to sleep. I have to be in class at 10 AM.
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| Crochet is cool |
| 09.15.04 (7:00 pm) [edit] |
Busy weekend I had.....
Sat morning I took a beginning crochet class at Hobby Lobby, real basic but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I made a nice little piece of single crochet with a row of double crochet, looks pretty good.
Patterns still confuse the hell out of me tho. But maybe I'll take another class, at the yarn shop next time, to try and understand it more.
The rest of my weekend? Worked Sat eve, then Sunday I spent at the Indy Racing League race at Chicagoland Speedway -- they topped last year. AWESOME race. :)
Anyway, this'll have to be a short post since tblog is going down for maintainance. More later! :D
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| Knitting classes! |
| 09.08.04 (6:23 am) [edit] |
Last week I signed up for some classes to expand my knitting skills.
The first one I'm taking is this Saturday, a beginner's crochet class at Hobby Lobby. I haven't been able to pick up crochet on my own as easily as knitting so I'm taking the class to see if that helps.
The second one starts next week and goes for four sessions. It's an Intermediate Knitting class, at Mosaic Yarn Studio in Des Plaines. The class is set up so that you can choose any advanced project you wish -- I chose socks. I'm struggling trying to get the hang of DPNs and sock directions confuse me no end. I'm looking forward to this one.
The third on is also at Mosaic, next Saturday, "Demystifying the Math in Knitting". I'm interested in understanding the mathematics involved.
The last one (for now!) is next month, a knitted handbags class. I picked out a pattern to try, which takes one hank of hand-painted Mountain Colors yarn. Expensive stuff -- $22 for one hank, but worth it as it is unbelievably gorgeous! I can't wait to work with it (and the pattern gave me an excuse to add to my Addi Turbo collection)
If these classes go well I may take more, finances depending. Mosaic offers some great classes. I can always retake the Intermediate Knitting, it can be retaken over and over. Maybe cables next....I'm still trying to get those to look nice. There's also going to be a crocheted poncho class at Hobby Lobby I'm told, I'm thinking about that one.
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| FO: Teddy cardigan! |
| 09.05.04 (8:27 pm) [edit] |
Yay!
I really have to get to bed, need some sleep before work tomorrow (yuk working on Labor Day), but I was too excited not to post this! I finished my first cardigan!!
Sure, it's kinda small, it's a teddy bear cardigan but I started it ages ago and put it down midway through the back but today I got in a finishing mood. I pulled it out, finished off the back, whipped up the two fronts, taught myself Kitchener Stitch (not really that bad at all!) whilst attaching the shoulders, then I made my first go at picking up stitches (need to work on figuring out how to do that more evenly) to do the sleeves, and then I picked up stitches on the sides of the fronts to make the button bands, sewed on the cute teddy bear buttons I bought, and assembled it all. That's all today! :)
Dale (my teddy bear) is wearing it now. He looks adorable in it and he looks very happy! He's been pouting since I put that back piece down, so I'm glad it finally got done. The pattern I used is nice, it came out really cute and I didn't even pick up and knit collar stitches cuz the collar really looked nice as is.
I WILL get photos posted, I had taken a few pics on my boyfriend's digi but he can't get them uploaded. Ergh.
Anyway, that's my accomplishment of the day! Not bad for being sick, eh? ;)
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