EmmyLiz Knits

Cross one knitting goal off the list!

2007-04-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Back in January, I decided that this was going to be the year that I learned how to do entrelac. After experimenting with some Garterlac Dishcloths, I moved on to what was the original goal of learning entrelac in the first place, making a ring bearer pillow for my sister's wedding, which I largely based on this pattern. I only have half of it done, but I feel like I can say I know how to do entrelac now, so I felt the need to show it off:

The yarns are Lion Brand Microspun and Patons Brilliant, which I think are working out well together. Now I just have to knit the other half of the pillow. Don't worry; the wedding's not until August!

Flashing my stash

2007-04-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, time for the annual Flash Your Stash. After reviewing my stash-flashings from last year

and the year before

and comparing them to the current state of my stash,

I have come to the conclusion that I have reached some form of stash equilibrium. Although I bought yarn over the past year, I must have been using up yarn from the stash at about the same rate. Either that, or I have a magical Rubbermaid box that will engulf any amount of yarn.
In the interest of doing something slightly different with my yarn this year, I liberated it from the confines of the Rubbermaid box and went for the ever-popular yarn on the bed shot:

What I've been doing

2007-03-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't been winding yarn into balls for the last six months, while I wasn't posting to my blog. I have been doing a lot of it lately, since the husband got me a ball winder for Valentine's Day. Maybe I can make my stash look somewhat presentable for the upcoming Flash Your Stash.

What I've really been doing that has kept me away from my blog is this:

As you may remember, from my sporadic posts, the husband and I were building a house, and we're finally done! Well, not entirely done, but we've moved in, and we're finishing up little things here and there. To see some more recent pictures, click here, and if you want a look at the whole thing from the beginning, click here.

Now that things have settled down on the house-building front, I have actually been getting some knitting done. When we were unpacking some of our possessions (we're not quite done with that yet), I discovered a half-finished Broadripple sock. Amazingly, none of the stitches had fallen off of the needles, and I actually remembered where I was in the pattern. So, I finished that sock, and now I am more than halfway done with its mate.

Also, I have finally jumped on the Clapotis bandwagon. I am making mine out of bamboo yarn from Discontinued Name Brand Yarn. So far, I am enjoying the pattern - I can't wait until I get to start dropping stitches!

Now that life is getting back to normal, I hope to resume many of my usual activities that got put on hold for a while, including posting to my blog!

My summer fling

2006-07-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

I know that it's been a very, very long time since I posted, and I'm still really busy, so I probably won't post much for a while, but something has happened that is worthy of breaking my months of silence: I got a package from my Summer Fling SP! I'm still amazed that she packed so many wonderful goodies inside a Priority Mail envelope! I'll start with the non-knitting related items:

There is some really yummy-smelling vanilla lotion, and a box of Good & Plenty (my favorite candy EVER!), posed in front of the adorable card that accompanied all of this. Now, on to the knitting stuff:

Two skeins of KnitPicks Dancing in an awesome colorway, a size 3 circular needle (I really needed circulars in small sizes), and two balls of Plymouth Royal Bamboo (I have been dying to try some bamboo yarn) in a wonderful shade of pink. She also just so happened to include a pattern that I think would be perfect for the bamboo yarn, Stephanie Japel's One Skein Wonder:

And speaking of patterns, there was also the pattern that I have been absolutely coveting for months, Eunny Jang's Deep V Argyle Vest:

I'm so excited! This was my first Secret Pal exchange, and I was so lucky to get such a great pal. Thank you, whoever you are!

Accessorizing

2006-04-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what one might gather from my recent posts (or lack thereof), I have actually been doing some knitting over the past few months. Lately, I haven't been very interested in knitting garments; instead, I have been working on smaller projects, accessories mostly. First (although I guess this isn't really knitting), I finished the second of the crocheted fingerless gloves that I showed off in an earlier post.

My husband wasn't home to take a picture of me modeling both of them, so just to prove that there actually are two of them:

I also finished another pair of wrist accessories, Marnie MacLean's Executive Funk. I made these out of a skein of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool that was given to me as a gift.

I had never knit with Silky Wool before, and I have to say that I love this yarn! I am, however, trying to fight my nagging suspicion that because of the color of the yarn, it looks a little bit like I am wearing lettuce leaves around my wrists.

A new experience

2006-04-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, I did something that I've never done before - I went to a book signing. Debbie Stoller actually included Lincoln on her Happy Hooker book tour, and completely by accident, I managed to find out about the event before it happened. So I am now the proud owner of The Happy Hooker,

and as you can see, it is signed.

Although I was never really drawn to either of the Stich 'N' Bitch knitting books, I do really like this book. Maybe it's because I'm such a newbie crocheter, but there are several patterns in the book that I can't wait to make. In fact, I already started working on the Fat Bottom Bag:

And I have had to repeatedly talk myself out of running out to buy yarn for several more projects. (Going to school + building house = no money...)

Stash-flashing

2006-03-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again...the second annual Flash Your Stash is upon us, and I am dutifully flashing my stash. I am a little bit early, I know, since it's not quite April 1st yet, but I have time to post now, so I'm going to go ahead and do it.

I know that my stash is pretty small compared to some people's stashes (I keep pointing this out to my husband), and I was successfully on a yarn diet for eight months out of the past year, so my stash may very well be even smaller than it was last year. (Check out last year's post if you want to compare.) But I am going to flash it anyway, so here it is:

I keep the bulk of my stash in a Rubbermaid container under my bed:

And here are interior shots of the contents. My one attempt at organization was to divide my stash into acrylics on one side...

and my "nice" yarns on the other.

The remainder of my stash is scattered throughout the apartment as part of various works in progress. Here is my double-knit hat yarn...

my stripey scarf yarn...

and my Tartan Jacket yarn (I'm embarrassed to admit that this project is at exactly the same status as it was at this time last year).

There is also a small portion of my stash that is consumed in projects-to-be-frogged:

(In case you can't tell, that picture is of a hat and a pile of sweater pieces.)

And last, but definitely not least, I proudly present the newest addition to my stash, the kid mohair from my swap with Holly, which arrived in the mail yesterday, just in time to be included in the stash-flashing.

Well, I think I'll go see if there are any other early flashers out there!

I have good news and bad news

2006-02-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

The good news is that I have recently made two fingerless gloves. The bad news is that they are two entirely different fingerless gloves, and therefore, I do not actually have two matching fingerless gloves that I can wear at the same time. But I wanted to show them off anyway, so here they are:

As you can see, the differences between these two gloves are many. I crocheted the first one, following a pattern (from a Woman's Day knitting and crocheting magazine). I knit the second one, and it's my own design. The first one is made from some Red Heart that has been lingering in my stash, while the second one is made out of one of my favorite yarns, Lamb's Pride. In fact, the only thing that these two gloves have in common is that they are both right gloves. Ironically, their one unifying feature is exactly the thing that prevents me from wearing them both at the same time and pretending that hideously mismatched gloves were what I was going for.

So I suppose I should stop typing and go make a mate for at least one of these gloves...

Olympic photos

2006-02-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I got around to taking pictures of my shrug sooner than expected. That's the good news. The bad news is that they are pretty crappy pictures. When my husband isn't home, I have to resort to one of two methods to take pictures of my knitwear, and today I used them both. First, there was the picture taken in the mirror with the flash off:

Then, I tried the picture taken with the camera's timer, which always results in me sitting on the kitchen floor, since the kitchen table is the only surface that is feasible for the camera to sit on:

Overall, I am very pleased with how I Do turned out. I really liked the pattern, I liked working with the yarn that I chose (Lily Chin Chelsea), and I think that I will really enjoy wearing it (I already did on Friday, actually). I'll try to get some better pictures of it posted eventually.

In non-Olympic news, I used the time between the completion of I Do and now to make this:

This is my first completed crochet project. The pattern is the Flowered Cloche from the Lion Brand website, but instead of using Homespun, I used two strands of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I absolutely love the hat, and I am now officially obsessed with crochet.

Finished!

2006-02-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

I completed my Knitting Olympics project in time! I finished I Do on Thursday night and wore it to work on Friday. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but when I get around to it, I will post some of them. I just wanted to share the good news!

Look what I can do!

2006-02-16T08:22:00.000-08:00

My birthday present from my husband this year was crochet classes at the LYS. Last night was the second of four class sessions, and I'm actually starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of it. Check it out!

This will turn into a small purse, which will be my first crochet project! The one problem with my crochet classes taking place in February is that all I want to do is crochet, when I really need to be working on my project for the Knitting Olympics. But I have been making progress on that too, as this post on the Team Knittyboard blog proves.

As promised...

2006-02-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well, I said that I would post a picture of my latest finished object, so here it is: The Pinwheel Baby Blanket.

And here is a picture of its recipient, my new niece Sydney, who was born on January 17, which also happened to be my birthday.

Knitting Olympics

2006-01-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's been almost three months since I've posted, but I have decided to stop being lazy in order to announce that, along with seemingly millions of other knitters, I will be taking part in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. I will be knitting I Do, which will be a challenge for me, since I'm not a very experienced lace knitter, and since I have a limited amount of free time (hence, the lack of recent posts). I am also a proud member of Team Knittyboard.
In non-Olympic news, I do have some pictures to show off, both of the baby blanket I recently completed and of its adorable recipient, my new niece. Unfortunately, I have not uploaded them yet, but I will get around to it soon, I promise. If anyone out there still actually reads this blog, please bug me until I keep my promise.

What should I do?

2005-11-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

Today, my self-imposed yarn diet is officially over. I have successfully made it six months without buying yarn! And for the last few months, I haven't even found it that challenging. I am discovering that I can exist without buying yarn. So here's my problem. Part of me feels like I should allow myself to splurge on some yarn, to celebrate my successful yarn diet. But part of me also feels like I should keep going to test my yarn diet endurance. Really, my reasons for instituting the yarn diet have not changed. Our finances are still tight, and I still do not have much time to knit, due to working full time, going to school part time, and building a house. So, should I try to make this an extended yarn diet, or should I allow myself to buy yarn for one project that I really want to make, and then see if I can go another six months? Any thoughts?

So sorry!

2005-10-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a really, really long time since I posted. Even by my normal standards, this is bad. But I promise, I do actually have an excuse. My husband and I have been insanely busy because we are building a house. And I mean actually building it ourselves, not paying someone to build it for us. (Well, except for the major things like the foundation, of course.)
In case you might think that I'm lying, I offer this photo album as proof that I actually have been doing something for the month and a half that I haven't been posting.
I suppose it goes without saying that I haven't been doing much knitting either, so therefore, I have no knitting pictures to show off. One of these days, my life will return to normal, I hope.

Blogging for Relief

2005-09-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Today has been designated as Blogging for Relief Day to raise money for charities that will help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. My chosen charity is Habitat for Humanity. I hope you will consider making a donation to them, or to the charity of your choice.

Happy birthday, blog!

2005-08-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been a REALLY bad blogger lately, and I'm going to continue to be a bad blogger, but I just had to stop in and say happy birthday to my blog. Yes, my first post on my blog was a year ago today. In case you are interested in what I had to say, this is it. I have to say that I am pretty impressed that I actually kept my blog going for this long. My main doubt going in was that I wouldn't have the work ethic to post regularly. I guess the matter of whether or not I post "regularly" is still questionable, but I think I've done okay. I would like to improve my blogging, though, both in terms of number of posts and in terms of content. Somehow, my entries just never seem as interesting as those on some of the blogs I read. That's a goal for next year, I guess. Anyway, happy birthday to my blog!

I apologize...

2005-08-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted! While I have not been doing much blogging lately, I have been doing some knitting. In fact, I have a recently finished project that did not even make it onto my sidebar because I have been neglecting my blog so badly. Since I was having trouble finding the motivation to finish my Tartan Jacket, I decided to make something more summery: a Lelah top. Here she is:

I used some Cotton-Ease from a half-completed sweater that I recently frogged and some red ribbon that I found laying around the apartment - I'm pretty sure it's left over from the programs from my wedding, almost three years ago. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to convince myself that I'm brave enough to wear a strapless top in public!

I have a new nephew!

2005-07-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I posted, and I don't really have much to say, but I did want to pop in and announce the arrival of my nephew. His name is Gavin, and he was born on June 28. Here are a couple of pics:

Apparently, I act my age!

2005-07-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

I occasionally take those Blogthings quizzes, but never before have I posted the results on my blog. But when I got this result, I just had to say, holy cow, that's accurate!

You Are 26 Years Old

26

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

I actually am 26 years old. I'm not sure how accurate the quiz was about how old I act, but it was kind of scary that the result ended up being my actual age. I guess acting my age is a good thing...

A what? Oh, a Tartan Jacket!

2005-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

You may recall that once upon a time, way back in January, I started my Tartan Jacket, and even set up a knitalong for it. As of late, this project has been severely neglected. I was starting to feel bad about all of the completed pieces and the remaining yarn for this project sitting in a cardboard box in my living room, so this past week, I made this project a priority. Here is what I completed this week:

I finished the second sleeve and did both cuffs. Add these pieces to the other sleeve, the back and the two fronts that I had finished by oh, maybe March, and I now have all of the pieces complete. (Well, all of the pieces that can be made without blocking or seaming something first - there is still the small matter of the collar.) I seem to have lost steam on this project again for the time being, but it was nice to make some progress.
And just because it has been forever since I posted, as a treat, I will throw in some photos of Franklin trying to fit himself into the lid of a file folder box. Enjoy!

Another finished object!

2005-05-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

I'm done with my Turtleneck Shrug! Check it out:

I really liked this pattern. It was a fairly quick project, and it's just what I need at work on those days where the air conditioning is a little too chilly. I posted another picture of it over at the Shrug Knitalong.

Winecozy

2005-05-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew that the posting-every-day thing was too good to last. Since it's now been almost two weeks since I posted, I figured I'd show off my most recent finished project, Winecozy. I made it for my former boss's wedding, which was this past Saturday. Inside was a bottle of wine from a local winery, with a label personalized with the couple's names and wedding date.

This was a very economical project, since I used Red Heart Super Saver from my stash (in keeping with my yarn diet). I'm very pleased with the results. I will definitely keep this in mind for future presents.

Candy

2005-05-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

Can it be? I've actually posted three days in a row? How unlike me! I thought that maybe I should finally get around to posting some pictures of Candy, which I completed in mid-March, but haven't shown off yet (aside from the one picture in the post about my sister's shower, and that didn't really do it justice). My husband wasn't home to take pictures, so I had to go with the headless self-portrait in the mirror.

And the timer picture of me sitting on the kitchen floor (the kitchen table is the only good surface to set the camera on).

I'm trying to get better about reporting all the details of my completed projects, so here goes. I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, and I had no problem getting the correct gauge with the suggested size 7 needles. I used just under 4 skeins of Onyx and less than 1 skein of Victorian Pink. I really enjoyed making this sweater. It went by fairly quickly, and I liked the unique construction of the waist area.

Random acts of kindness

2005-05-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that my posts have been somewhat lacking in photos lately, so I thought I'd take a moment and show off some of the Random Acts of Kindness that I was lucky enough to receive from some folks over at the Knittyboard this past week. First off, from saxgirl I received...

...three issues of Runner's World magazine. As I recently revealed, in addition to being a knitter, I am also a runner (albeit a very sporadic runner as of late). I haven't read Runner's World regularly since I was in high school (my dad had a subscription), so it's nice to have a few recent issues.

Later in the same week, I received a package from urbanpagan. Inside was this extremely adorable handknit pouch.

And inside the pouch were 10 absolutely beautiful handmade stitch markers!

I also have recently received via email another RAK from soapfibergal. She sent me a gift certificate to Adagio Teas. It has been a couple weeks now, and I still haven't decided what to buy - so many choices!
So I have been feeling extremely spoiled by all the Knitty-folk. I think it's time to get some more RAKs of my own out there.

Yarn diet and other news

2005-05-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm a little belated in posting this, but I decided that effective May 1, I'm officially on a yarn diet. A combination of factors led to this decision, among them the fact that finances are tight, and the realization (as I organized my stash in order to flash it in April) that I have a lot of yarn intended for specific projects that I haven't gotten around to making yet, as well as some yarn that I have new ideas about what to do with. I've decided to go six months without buying yarn. The length of time may seem a little extreme, but I'm actually looking forward to this as a challenge. I've decided that my one exception will be if I happen to run out of yarn for any of the baby gifts I'm making now and have to buy more in order to finish a project. So, until November 1, no yarn purchases!
There also is another reason why I don't think I will have too much trouble sticking to my yarn diet. My husband and I recently signed a contract to purchase our very own land, and we are going to be building a house. I'm not talking picking a design and having a house built, I'm talking actually building it ourselves (with the exception of major things, like the foundation). So, my knitting time will be greatly reduced over the summer, as we will be spending most of our free time on the house. We probably won't actually start construction until mid-June, but I'm excited already.

Ouch!

2005-05-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

My body is very sore right now. I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon yesterday morning. You may wonder why I have not mentioned that I was going to do this. Basically, I did not train for it nearly as well as I should have (I started training about 4 weeks ago, which is about 8 weeks later than I probably should have started), and even up to the night before, I was not sure that I was going to actually run the race, and I didn't want to look like a fool if I ended up not doing it or starting and not finishing. But not only did I run it and finish it, but I ran it 8 minutes faster than my one previous half marathon. I finished in 1 hour and 44 minutes, and I finished 30th out of the 230 women in my age group. So I am pretty proud of myself. My husband also ran (it was his first half marathon) and he finished in 1 hour and 39 minutes, so I am proud of him, too!

Progress report

2005-04-27T13:17:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd take a moment and address all of the Works in Progress that are listed in the sidebar. I especially feel like I need to explain the ones that have been there a very long time with very little change in progress. So here goes:

Tartan Jacket: I would like to be farther on this than I am, but I haven't worked on it in over a month. This is because most of my knitting time has been taken up by the secret project I am working on for my sister's baby, due in June. I have now come to terms with the fact that I will finish the jacket eventually, but I will probably have to wait until next fall to wear it, as I am sure it will be unbearably hot by the time it is done.

Very Tall Socks: I have also abandoned these because of the aforementioned secret project. However, unlike the Tartan Jacket, I am not feeling a strong desire to ever finish this project. I think these seemed like a really cool, unique project when I started them, but I am now realizing that it is unlikely that I would ever actually wear them. I am seriously considering dropping out of the knitalong, ripping out the two inches that I have completed, and using the yarn for something else.

Winecozy: I just recently cast on for this one. My former boss is getting married at the end of May and I will be giving this as a wedding present along with a bottle of wine from our local winery (with a label personalized with the couple's names and wedding date). I am very pleased with how quickly this project is progressing, and I can see myself making more of them for gifts in the future.

Corral Belt: This is my current Not Yarn Along project, although I think I will be making other projects for this knitalong as well. It is progressing fairly quickly, since I'm using size 13 needles, but the leather cord is kind of hard to work with, so I'm not overly motivated to work on it.

Turtleneck Shrug: I started this project recently because I have been wanting to make it for a while, and because it allows me to participate in both the Scarf Style Knitalong and the Shrug Knitalong. Out of all my projects, this is the one that I am most motivated to work on, but I keep trying to make myself work on my gift projects first.

The Elephant Show

2005-04-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well, everything covered in this post is kind of old news, but I thought I'd post about it anyway. In case you are wondering, the title of the post is a reference to a TV show of the same name that I used to watch on Nickelodeon when I was a kid (we're talking mid-1980s). It's one of those shows that I'm never sure that anyone remembers besides my sister and me (another one of those obscure shows is The Get Along Gang). But anyway, rambling aside, the title is relevant to one of my somewhat-recently finished projects, the Garter Stitch Elephant. He can be seen here, getting the inspection that Franklin deems necessary for all handknit items:

And here is an unobstructed view:

He was a present for my nephew-to-be, and here he is being received by my sister and brother-in-law at the baby shower, which took place over Easter weekend.

Since I'm on the topic of the shower, I also feel compelled to show off the gorgeous quilt that my mom made for the baby.

And just for good measure, here is a picture of my two sisters and me at the shower.

Just to bring the subject back to knitting, I'll point out that the shower was the public debut of one of my recently finished projects, Candy.

Oh, yeah, there were quilts, too!

2005-04-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take a minute and show off some of the great quilts I saw at the exhibits at the International Quilt Festival this past weekend. I took a bunch of photos, but I'll just start with a few for now. This is a quilt called "Mother Nature's Son" by Amy Winsor.

Yes, that is a zipper pocket in the center. I absolutely loved this next quilt, called "Mind Glass," by Keiko Takahashi.

I also took a photo of the fashion display put on by Bernina, the sewing machine company. I'm not sure what I think of the whole wearable art phenomenon, but there were definitely some distinctive outfits.

I didn't know there would be yarn there!

2005-04-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Leave it to me to go to a quilt show and come home with yarn. During one of my breaks, I actually got to do a little shopping. I came across a booth where a woman named Diane Bartels was selling handpainted fabric and handpainted yarn. I couldn't resist. Here are a couple of pictures of my purchases (being properly inspected by Franklin).

The two hanks on the top are alpaca, and the two bottom hanks are handpainted mohair. They came with a pattern for a shawl, but I'm not really a shawl person, so I will probably end up making something else. I'm open to suggestions, so if you have any ideas about what to do with 400 yards of alpaca and/or 400 yards of mohair, please let me know.
By the way, I did take some photos of quilts, and I will post those soon.

A new knitalong

2005-04-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is interested, I am hosting another knitalong (actually, I am co-hosting it with Sarah). It is the Not Yarn Along, and it is exactly what it sounds like - the only requirement is that you must be knitting with something that is not yarn. The official start date is April 15. I have two projects in mind - the belt knit out of leather cord from Knit Wit, and placemats made out of strips of cloth.

A quick note

2005-04-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

I realize that I don't post often enough for people to miss me when I'm gone, but I just thought I'd quickly explain that I'm going to be in Chicago for work until next Monday. I also realize that I don't talk much about what I do for a living, so I thought I'd get people up to speed about that. I'm the member services coordinator at the American Quilt Study Group. We're a non-profit organization that promotes quilt history research. Since there are only two of us that work there, my job description is basically a little bit of everything. This week, I'm going to Chicago to attend the International Quilt Festival. I will be working a booth at the quilt expo, selling memberships and volumes of our research journal. I am especially excited about the trip because I get to see my family members who live in Chicago. I also have a feeling that I will come back from the trip even more inspired than I already am to fit quilting into my life, along with knitting.

Flashing my stash...

2005-03-31T20:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it's not quite April 1st yet, but I figured I'd go ahead and post the pictures of my stash so that they will all be ready to view at the stroke of midnight. So without further ado, I proudly present my stash!
The vast majority of my stash resides in this Rubbermaid container, which fits neatly under the bed. I have been trying very hard to restrain my stash to this container as long as we still live in an apartment. When we get a house, I will allow my stash to expand a bit. Anyway, here is the container:

As you can tell by the fact that the lid does not really close completely, my stash is already trying to expand. Here are some shots of the yarn on both sides of the container:

After taking these photos, I had to search the apartment to find my yarn that is attached to various works-in-progress. Here is a box of yarn for my Tartan Jacket:

And here is the yarn for my Very Tall Socks:

I'm also working on a cat blanket to donate to the humane society.

And here is the yarn for a secret project for my sister's baby:

My search also turned up a cone of white cotton yarn inexplicably sitting on the top of my microwave.

I know there was a good reason why I brought it into the kitchen, but I can't remember what it was (or why it's been there for months now, or why I left it there after I took its photograph, instead of putting it away).

I think I'll go check out some other stash-flashers!

Fairway Fair Isles, finally finished!

2005-03-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I couldn't resist the alliterative title. The fact that it is actually getting warm enough to consider playing golf made me realize that I probably should finish up my husband's golf club covers. That, along with increasing guilt over not having finished his Christmas present by March. (Umm...happy Easter, honey?) So I sucked it up and finished the third one. It really only took me a couple of evenings to do it; now I'm not sure why I put it off so long. Anyway, here is the completed set:

In other news, as you may be able to tell by the new button on the sidebar, I have joined the Flash Your Stash knitalong started by the folks over at the Knittyboard. It's not really a knitalong in the usual sense; it's really more of a collective blog posting. On April 1st, everyone is going to post pictures of their stash in its entirety. I have a sneaking suspicion that my stash is smaller than those of a lot of knitters', so this will either confirm or contradict my belief. My stash is pretty small because it is mostly leftovers. I think I can count on one hand the times that I have bought yarn without a specific project in mind. Does that make me an abnormal knitter?

Two hats in as many days plus one

2005-03-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is a reference to my younger sister, who will try to use the phrase "in as many days" as often as she can, even if she has to resort to addition or subtraction to make it work. I dug out some Wool-Ease Chunky from my stash, and it was just enough to make up two hats in three evenings' worth of knitting. They are both patterns from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits, and they worked up very quickly.

I did this because I was suddenly uninterested in all of my current projects, and because I wanted to make something to donate to one of the charities for the Peace is Patriotic knitalong. I am thinking I will either donate them to Afghans for Afghans (now that I know that they take other items besides afghans) or to an organization that will distribute them to homeless veterans.

The first Tartan Jacket!

2005-02-28T10:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to celebrate the fact that the first Tartan Jacket of the knitalong is completed. Marika is done with hers, and in my opinion, it looks great! I have now been inspired to start working on mine again, forgetting that I said that I was going to finish Candy before getting back to the jacket.

Sweater neglect

2005-02-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

I suddenly realized that I am, in fact, guilty of sweater neglect. I have been working on Candy for a while now, and I have not given the project its fair share of blog-time. This could not entirely be avoided, as for a while the sweater was not very photographable (is that a word?), since both sleeves and the front and back were all scrunched together on a circular needle while I was working on the yoke in the round. But I have reached a point where the sweater is temporarily off the needles before I pick up stitches to start the bottom ribbing. So here is Candy, in all her bottom-portion-unfinished, sleeve-seams-unsewn, loose-ends-hanging-out glory:

I had to go with the self-portrait in the mirror, since my husband/ photographer was not home. Now that I have actually tried it on, I am really excited about finishing this project. It fits me really well, and I like the colors even better on me than I did while working on it. I think this project is going to take precedence over the Tartan Jacket for a while, so hopefully there will be pictures of the finished product soon.

Oh baby!

2005-02-15T07:36:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I have officially moved on to the next phase of my life as a knitter - knitting for babies. It seems like everyone I know is having a baby. Well, not everyone, but my cousin and his wife should be having theirs any day now, my older sister is due in June, and I just recently found out that two of my close friends (one from high school and one from college) are both going to have babies in August! I am actually pretty excited about the opportunity to knit for little ones. Baby items are so cute, and the projects go by so quickly. I have started working on the first of many baby projects, a pair of socks for my cousin's baby. (I figured I'd start with something quick, since the baby is due this month). Here is my progress so far:

This is also my first ever attempt at knitting two socks at the same time on two circular needles. Since I am pretty comfortable with double pointed needles, it never really seemed necessary to try this before, but the thought of working both socks at once really appealed to me. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but I have to say that overall, I am pleased with the technique. Up to this point, I have been very stuck in my ways when it comes to knitting socks (top-down, with dpns), but I will definitely try this again. One of these days, I will be adventurous enough to try toe-up socks, too.

Aaargh!

2005-02-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

Since it was 10 degrees outside this morning, before heading to work, I put on my usual bundling-up apparel, including the Broad Street Mittens that I made last winter. When I got outside, I noticed that my right thumb felt a little chilly. When I investigated the situation, I discovered this:

Yes, horrendous photo quality aside, it is a HOLE in my mitten! I am still trying to figure out if it is due to gradual wear and tear, or if I unknowingly snagged it on something. As far as I know, the mitten was intact when I wore it when I went to the gym at 9:00 last night. Hmmm... Well, I suppose the important thing is not how it happened, but the fact that now I have to fix it. Those mittens are just about my favorite things I ever knit, too. Sigh...

Birthday books

2005-01-30T16:01:00.000-08:00

My birthday presents from my parents arrived this week. It was a nice surprise since they were on backorder from Amazon and were not supposed to arrive until February. Here they are:

In case you can't tell, they are Scarf Style by Pam Allen and The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, two books that were very high on my wish list. I am trying really hard to stop myself from casting on for a scarf project, since I should probably wait until my list of works in progress is down to a more manageable size.
In Tartan Jacket news, I have finished both of the fronts.

I am about 65 rows into the first sleeve. I am really enjoying these smaller pieces compared to the back. Working with fewer balls of yarn is nice!

Happy (belated) birthday to me!

2005-01-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

Apparently, I can't even be on time about wishing myself a happy birthday. But it was Monday, and it was fun. I had the day off of work for Martin Luther King Day, so my husband got me a gift certificate to spend the afternoon at the spa (massage, manicure, pedicure, and haircut). And of course, there was cake in the evening. Here is an oh-so-attractive photo of me blowing out the candles - I got all 26 out in one breath!

I also have Tartan Jacket progress to report. I finished the right front yesterday.

I am now about 40 rows into the left front. Despite being a challenging pattern, it's actually going by fairly quickly, thanks to the large needles. Of course, it would be going by even more quickly if it was the only project I was working on. However, that is not the case. I haven't taken any pictures of Candy yet, but if you want to see what I've done on my Very Tall Socks, you can check out my latest post at the knitalong.

Tartan Jacket progress (and other miscellanea)

2005-01-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

I'm so proud of myself. I actually finished my dad's hat in time for him to get it for his birthday. At least, I'm assuming he'll get it on time. I mailed it on Friday, and his birthday is not until this Wednesday. I'm extra proud of myself for not taking the easy way out and using bulky yarn (which I considered). I stuck with the sport-weight yarn because I knew Dad would probably prefer a lighter-weight cap. It actually only took me just about a week to do it. I guess I'm a faster knitter than I think I am. I did take a picture of it before I mailed it, but I won't post it yet on the off-chance that my parents might read my blog before Wednesday. He knows he's getting the hat, but I don't have to completely ruin the surprise.
Now that the hat is done, I got back to working on the Tartan Jacket, and I finished the back.

I also started working on the right front, and I have made some progress on it. However, I think that I have reached an all-time personal high for most projects going at once. Aside from the jacket, I still have to finish the last golf club cover for my husband (I am rationalizing putting this off by saying that he won't be playing golf until spring anyway), I am still working on Candy (I'm rationalizing that one by saying that I need something relatively mindless and portable to bring with me to work and to Knitting Meetup - I can't really take over the coffeeshop with the million balls of yarn required for the jacket), and I just signed up for the Knit-a-long-sock, for which the starting date was yesterday, so I think I am going to go cast on for a pair of Very Tall Socks. This may not seem like a lot to some of you, but up until about last year, I was very much a one-project-at-a-time type of woman.

Don't worry, I'm here!

2005-01-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I just somehow never got around to posting while I was in Chicago for the holidays. This couldn't be helped while we were at my inlaws' house, as they don't have a computer, and I guess I was just being lazy when I was at my parents house. Anyway, the holidays were good, and I have another knitting-related present to show off:

Tada! It's my very own Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needle Set. My parents gave it to me on December 23, and I am already using the needles for three separate projects. I also gave myself a belated Christmas present:

It's Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, to use for Candy. This purchase was the result of a completely unexpected trip to a yarn shop with my mom (long story). I was planning to make Candy somewhere down the road, but I couldn't resist buying the yarn. And it turned out to be a good thing, because I ran out of yarn for the hat I had brought along for my vacation project, so thanks to this yarn and my new Denise needles, I was able to cast on for Candy. I actually am almost done with the waist band already, but I didn't take any pictures of it yet.
What I do have a picture of is my Tartan Jacket. Since my yarn was here in Nebraska, and I did not get back until the 2nd, I missed the official start date, but I cast on Monday afternoon, and I am almost up to the armhole shaping on the back. I had to rip out a few times due to my own incompetence in understanding the intarsia directions, but my sanity was saved by how quickly the knitting goes by on size 13 needles. Anyway, here is the picture:

I'm going to take a break from it tonight and work on the watch cap I am making for my dad for his birthday. His birthday is on the 19th, and somehow on New Year's Day, I found myself telling him that I could make a cap in Chicago Cubs colors for him by then. Nothing like knitting with a deadline!

Hooray for the new buttons...and hooray for early Christmas presents!

2004-12-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the other Emily has made some new and improved buttons for the Tartan Jacket Knitalong. These are 100-pixel images, which makes them much more manageable to steal. Neither of us could decide which font was better (we think the second one is kind of hard to read), so I just thought I'd put them both out here. Take whichever one you would like.

In other news, I have already received some Christmas presents that I want to show off. My friend and knitting protege Sara (I taught her to knit about a year and a half ago and now she is almost as obsessed with it as I am) gave me this:

Yes, it's the 2005 Pattern-A-Day Knitting Calendar. I have already flipped through and found several patterns that I like.

Then, my husband and I exchanged gifts last night, so that we could do it privately before traveling to Chicago today. Here is what he got me:

It's hard to see, but it's a garnet ring, and I absolutely love it.

I gave him the golf club covers I made, although only two out of three of them are done, so he technically got a present-in-progress. But he seemed to like them anyway. Here he is enjoying them:

Well, I have to go finish packing, since we are supposed to leave in about an hour. I promise I will post again soon to relate the story of the Lace Ornament Disaster. How's that for a suspenseful ending?

Hooray for the button!

2004-12-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well, the other Emily (aka Fathom) kept her word and made us a button for the Tartan Jacket Knitalong. I have to say, it's pretty snazzy.

I really can't wait for the knitalong. It's what's keeping me going as I plug away on my numerous lace ball ornaments. I'm working on the last one, though. Then I get to do the fun part (covering them in glue) this weekend.

Tartan Jacket Knitalong

2004-12-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, I finally decided that I can't wait any longer. I'm going to make the official announcement about the Tartan Jacket Knitalong. The pattern is, obviously, Tartan Jacket from the Fall 2004 issue of Interweave Knits. A picture can be seen here. The start date is not until January 1, although there's no reason to be too strict with that. If you can dig yourself out from under your holiday knitting to start sooner, go ahead. And people joining after January 1 are definitely welcome. If you would like to be a part of it, leave me a comment and let me know. I'll get a button up here sooner or later. (Fathom has mentioned that she would be interested in making one.) I can't wait to start knitting along with everyone!

Thanksgiving

2004-11-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't have much to report, but I felt like I should post since it's been a while. The reason for that, quite obviously, was Thanksgiving. My husband and I drove to Chicago to visit both of our families, so I have been away from home since last Wednesday morning. The visit was a lot of fun, although the drive wasn't, since we ran into snow both on the way there and on the way back. It was really nice to have a break from the daily grind. However, I did not get a chance to knit the whole time we were gone, so I am going through knitting withdrawal. I think that I will settle in with my lace ornaments when I get home from work today. And I will probably add a cup of tea or hot chocolate to that thought, as it is cold out, we have finally gotten our first snow, and the thermostat at work is not working properly, so I will need to thaw out when I get home!

Fairway Fair Isles pictures

2004-11-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have made considerable progress on the golf club covers for my husband, mostly because I have thrown caution to the wind and decided that it's okay if I work on them in front of him, since I have next to no knitting time away from him now that I don't knit at work due to a shorter lunch hour. I actually have made more progress than these pictures show, as I have finished two of the covers and just barely started the third one.
Here is the first one completed:

Here is a close-up of the colorwork:

And here is the second one in progress, although like I said, it is completed now:

I think that for my second ever attempt at fair isle, I did not do too badly, although I still need to work on not pulling the yarn so tightly when I carry the colors along. You can probably tell this by the fact that the fair isle sections of the covers are slightly skinnier than the rest of them.

Knitting Meetup

2004-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I know I haven't posted in a while, and I don't have any new pictures to share, but I did want to share my excitement that the Lincoln Knitting Meetup is finally up and running. After a series of false starts due to lack of interest, we have had three meetings now (two of which I have attended). The most recent was last night, and it was a really great experience. There were seven of us there - our largest crowd yet. I got to see two socks being worked on two circular needles, something that I had heard about but never seen. I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around the concept, but now that I have seen it done in person, I am at least open to the idea that it could be easier than using double pointed needles (although I have never had any particular problem with dpns), and I think I will at least look into trying it. I also got to see the Denise Interchangeable Needle Set in person for the first time (thanks to the same woman), and I am glad that I decided to ask for a set for Christmas.
I also got some positive feedback on my own knitting. Everyone oohed and ahhed over the colorwork on my one completed Fairway Fair Isle golf club cover (which I will post a picture of soon, I promise), and when we got into a discussion about Knitty patterns, I pulled out the Broad Street Mittens that I made last winter, and they all liked those too. When some of them said that they didn't think they would be able to do anything like either of these projects, I responded with my philosophy that nothing that I've encountered in knitting has been as hard as it seemed initially, and that if I just take the time to figure things out, I can usually do any pattern that I've attempted. I think my determination is at least partially due to the fact that I taught myself to knit from a book with no one to show me how to do it, and it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I did it, and so now I figure that if I take enough time, I can figure out just about anything.

Ornament burnout

2004-11-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

Well, over the weekend, I decided I was really sick of working on the lace ornaments (which is not good, since I am only in the middle of my third one, and I'm going to need at least ten of them). So I decided to start working on the golf club covers I am going to give my husband for Christmas. He is pretty much oblivious to my blog, so it is okay to talk about them here. I am using the Fairway Fair Isles pattern from Knitty, only instead of making each cover in a different color scheme, I am making them all in the blue/green pattern and putting stripes around the necks of the covers to indicate which clubs they are. Here is a picture of my progress so far:

It's going fairly quickly. This is basically what I've done over the course of a day and a half. And I feel like I can justify working on this instead of the ornaments because this is also Christmas knitting.

Lace hand grenades?

2004-11-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know it's completely silly (and perhaps even a little tasteless), but that is honestly what the two lace ornaments I have finished look like to me. See?

I'm sure they will look much better once they have been stretched into their proper round shape by the balloons.
In other knitting news, for the first time ever, I have received a knitting magazine in the mail and been so inspired that I had to start a project from it right away. My winter Interweave Knits came on Monday, and I was absolutely taken with the handknit shoelaces featured near the beginning. So I dug out some leftover sock yarn, and here is my shoelace so far:

This was just the type of quick-knit project I needed, as I have been in kind of a knitting slump lately, not wanting to work on any of my current projects, but not having the motivation to start a major project. I'm very pleased with how the shoelace is turning out, and I'm looking forward to having a pair of them for my running shoes!

French Market Bag is finished!

2004-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it's been a hideously long time since I last posted, but things have been a little crazy around here. But anyway, I finally got my French Market Bag felted. I've been done knitting it for about a week, but I didn't get around to felting it until tonight. I think it turned out pretty well. Here it is pre-felting:

And here it is post-felting:

I finished my black poncho, too, but I don't have any pictures of it yet. But I promise I will be better about posting, and I'll get some pictures up here soon.

New yarn!

2004-10-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

The yarn that I ordered for my Tartan Jacket arrived yesterday. I know the knitalong doesn't start until January, but I'm getting excited about it already, so I thought I'd show off the yarn. I got it from Elann, and it's called Gjestal Naturgarn #1. Here it is being inspected by Franklin upon arrival:

And here's a slightly closer shot of the yarn:

I can't wait for January!

No new pictures

2004-10-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

But I have made some progress, I promise. My poncho pieces are blocking as we speak. I finished the front of my sweater and have started on the sleeves. I haven't worked on the French Market Bag much, but I am planning on taking it to my Knitting Meetup this Wednesday. (My first Knitting Meetup - yay!) However, instead of working on any of these last night while my friend Sara was over and we were knitting while our husbands played video games, I cast on for a new project. I am making lace ball ornaments for my family for Christmas, and I figured I should probably get started on those. Here is the pattern for that, in case anyone is interested. They're pretty cool, actually. You knit the ball, then dip it in glue and blow up a balloon inside it. When the glue is dry, you pop the balloon and you have a stiff ball ornament.
Well, to make up for not having any pictures of my knitting, I thought I'd include some pictures of Franklin in my knitting bag. This actually happened months ago, but I was looking at them again today and realized that they were so cute, they should be shared.
Here he is inside the bag on the couch:

And here he is once I picked up the bag with him inside it. Please excuse my bare stomach. I had just come back from a run and was wearing a sports bra.

Progress

2004-10-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, one of the few benefits of being unemployed is that I have had lots of knitting time, so I have made a decent amount of progress on my various projects. I have completed both of the rectangles for my poncho, seen here:

Now they need to be blocked and sewn together. I have also made a decent amount of progress on my French Market Bag, as I am about 5 inches into the body of the bag.

And I have finished the back of my cotton sweater.

I just cast on for the front tonight and I already have about six inches done - thank you, size 13 needles!
In other news, I got a call from the temp agency today, and I will be starting a receptionist/administrative assistant position tomorrow. While I will miss all of this knitting time, it will be nice to be bringing in a paycheck again. It would be nicer if it was a job in my field, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Start-itis!

2004-10-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while waiting for my poncho to block, I developed a terrible case of start-itis and cast on for not one, but two new projects! Instead of working on the sweater I started over the weekend, I cast on for another poncho (of the two rectangles variety) and for a French Market Bag. At least I am using stash yarn for both of them. Then, toward the end of the day, I was inspired to knit golf club covers for my husband for Christmas, but I am going to make myself finish one of my current projects before I start those.
Well, I kept forgetting to ask my husband to take pictures of me in my recently finished projects, so I finally broke down and took some pictures myself, with the help of the timer on my camera. Here, finally, is Rosy:

And here are some shots of the Falling Leaves Poncho, which I fringed this morning. First a front view (which includes Franklin peeking around my shoulder, as he had to see what the beeping noise in the kitchen was all about):

And here is a side view, to give you a better view of the leaf pattern:

I know the dark brown color does not make it very easy to see the pattern, but hopefully you can at least get an idea of what it looks like.

Welcome to the future site of the Tartan Jacket Knitalong

2004-10-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

As I posted on the Knitty message boards last night, I have officially decided to host a knitalong for the Tartan Jacket (from the fall issue of Interweave Knits. Here is the picture from Interweave's website, in case anyone is wondering what I am talking about:

Since most people who expressed interest are too swamped with projects to start now, the official start date is January 1. I'll post about this again in December, when everything is more finalized, but I am very excited about my first time hosting a knitalong, so I decided I had to share.
But enough about future knitting. As far as my current knitting goes, I finished the Falling Leaves Poncho yesterday. It still needs to be blocked and fringed, but here it is pre-blocking:

I will get a picture of Rosy up here soon, I promise, but I keep forgetting to ask my photographer (aka husband) to take a picture of me in it, which will be much more interesting to look at than a picture of it laying on my shag carpeting.

In the meantime, I have begun a stash-busting project, the Straight Neck Pullover from the Winter 02/03 issue of Interweave Knits. (It is originally from the book Hollywood Knits, by Suss Cousins, but it was featured in the magazine). I had a few different colors of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease laying around, so here is the beginning of my striped concoction:

I have to say, I'm loving size 13 needles lately. They allowed me to finish the poncho in about 5 days, and I have made it up to the armholes on the sweater in just 2 days.

A quick update

2004-10-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

I finished sewing my sweater together on Thursday (it's blocking now), and the kilt pins arrived on Friday (not bad, considering that I bought them on Wednesday), so I will have pictures of the completed project to show soon.
In the meantime, I cast on for the Falling Leaves Poncho. I finally decided to admit that I am getting swept up in the current poncho craze. I figured I had better make it soon before ponchos go out of style. I really think it's funny that I have been so intrigued by ponchos, since I am usually pretty oblivious to fashion trends. I think what intrigues me the most is that it is so easy to knit ponchos that I can make something that will end up being totally in fashion. Of course, this is somewhat silly, since the fact that ponchos will be out of style in about five minutes should give me all the more reason to buy a poncho instead of putting all the time and energy into making one, but my brain has wrapped itself around the idea of making a poncho and it refuses to let go. It is coming along rather quickly actually, since this particular pattern uses bulky yarn and size 13 needles. I just started on Thursday, and I am already over one-third of the way done. I will post some pictures of that soon, too, I promise.

Finally, some pictures

2004-09-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of Rosy in progress. First, here is a picture of what it is going to look like when it is finished:

And here are my sweater pieces so far. The back:

The front:

And the sleeves-in-progress:

I spent the morning trying to find a kilt pin for the closure, and I ended up buying one on ebay. Hopefully, it will arrive just about the time that I am done with the sweater.

Oh, by the way...

2004-09-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it just occurred to me that, with everything that's been going on in my life lately, I forgot to mention the fact that I am officially a published knitwear designer! My Skating Queen skirt pattern was published in the latest issue of Knitty, which came out earlier in September. You can check it out here. I'm pretty excited about it!
Anyway, to go into more detail about what's been going on in my life and why I haven't been posting, I started a new job on September 13, but I quickly decided that I didn't like it. I won't go into the details, but there were a lot of things about it that I didn't like. Normally, I would have toughed it out and stayed with the job, but I decided that it was not worth being 500 miles away from my husband, who was having a very hard time finding a job in Chicago. So, I quit after a week and came back to Lincoln, where I will be temping until I can find a museum job.
In other knitting news, I am making a lot of progress on my Rosy sweater. I have the back and both of the fronts done, and I am now working on the sleeves. I will post pictures soon, I promise!

It's done!

2004-09-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

My afghan is finished! It really went by amazingly quickly. I guess size 35 needles are good for something, although I do still feel like I'm knitting with turkey basters when I use them. I would have finished it more quickly, but I was too exhausted from starting my new job this week to work on it at all until last night. My new job is also the reason that I haven't posted in so freakin' long. And now, I don't even think I like my new job, but that's another story...
Anyway, here is a picture of the afghan:

I also broke down and started my Rosy sweater before I finished the afghan. Basically, I have been so stressed and depressed about how my job is turning out that I felt like I needed to do some comfort knitting (meaning knitting that I have been really looking forward to doing, whereas the afghan had become kind of a chore toward the end). So on Tuesday night, I cast on. I don't have any pics of it yet, but I am pretty happy with it so far. I think that the finished product will live up to my high expectations.

A new arrival

2004-09-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Since my yarn ban was only for the month of August, on September 1, I ordered some Schachenmayr Aurora from Elann, and it arrived today. It is sort of an olive green color (I think it is called Pine), as you can see:

I am going to use it to make the "Rosy" sweater from the Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora Collection. I have had the book for several months now, and I have been drooling over this sweater, but I have not been willing to shell out the money required to purchase the actual Cotton Angora, and so I have been searching for an acceptable substitute that is more in my price range. I think this will do nicely. It is sort of a ribbon yarn, as you might be able to see in this close-up:

Now the question is, can I make myself hold off on starting the sweater until I have finished the afghan? I am almost done with the afghan, although I will not make the deadline of finishing it before I move to Chicago. I should definitely be able to finish it next week, though, assuming that adjusting to my new job and the commute does not wear me out too much to knit!

Long time, no post

2004-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

I guess it hasn't been that long, really. It hasn't even been a week yet since my last post, but it feels like it's been a while. The afghan is progressing nicely, as you can see:

It is about 40 inches long, and it is going to end up being around 60 inches, so I have two-thirds of it done. I've decided that my goal is to have it done by the time I leave for Chicago to start my new job, which is on September 10. So I have a little more than a week. The only thing that will deter me from getting this done is the fact that we are flying to Chicago for Labor Day this weekend (we had planned the trip to visit our families a long time before I found out that I would be moving to Chicago the weekend after Labor Day). Since I am not going to lug a whole afghan on the plane with me, I will be missing a lot of potential afghan-knitting time. And I need to find a new, smaller project to take with me!

Instant gratification

2004-08-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

I didn't have any major project that I was really excited to start after I finished the camisole, and I needed a break from the afghan because the size 35 needles were making my wrists hurt, so I decided that I needed to take a break and do a quick little project. I had some leftover Magic Stripes sock yarn and Fun Fur in my stash, so I gave into temptation and made the condom cozy from the summer issue of Knitty. I will probably end up using it for a change purse instead of for its intended purpose, but it was a fun and easy one-evening project. Here is the finished product:

Then, after trying the finished cozy on my cell phone and finding out it was almost the right size, I decided to knit myself a cell phone case out of some more leftover Magic Stripes. I used the condom cozy pattern as a guide, but I made it slightly longer, added a flap at the top with a button closure, knit it in the round, used a 3-needle bind-off at the bottom, and added an I-cord strap. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Here is a shot of it against the ever-popular shag carpeting background:

And here's me (well, my arm, anyway) modeling the I-cord wrist strap:

Now, back to the afghan!

Woo hoo!

2004-08-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

I have good news...I got a new job! I've been pretty happy at my current job, but it's only part-time, and therefore, I'm not bringing in the money that I would like to be. My new job is at a place called The HistoryMakers, which is an oral history archive for African American history. I will be indexing oral history videos so that they can be put into a searchable internet database. I will start on September 13, and I'm very excited. Besides finally having a full-time job in my field, I will get to move back to Chicago, where the rest of my family lives. The one downside is that my husband will be staying here until he finds a job in Chicago, so we will have to be apart for a little while, but hopefully not for too long.
In knitting news, my camisole is finished. Well, it's mostly finished. I still need to thread ribbon through the eyelet trim and straps, but I haven't found time to go out and buy ribbon yet. But here is what it looks like so far:

I also have been making progress on the afghan for my inlaws. Since I don't think I mentioned it before, the pattern I'm using is the free pattern for the Quick-Knit Throw on the Lion Brand website. Here it is:

Once again, Franklin had to sneak into the photo!

I'm back

2004-08-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been away from my blog for a while now. As I mentioned before, my two sisters and my brother-in-law came to visit from Chicago for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, but tiring. Also, I'll admit that my obsession with watching the Olympics has taken away from my blogging time. I'm getting a lot of knitting done in front of the TV, though.
I've made a decent amount of progress on my camisole. This is mainly because I worked on it on Saturday night while waiting for my family to arrive. They were originally going to get here around midnight, but because of car trouble, they left three hours late, so they did not get here until 3 in the morning. So I stayed up late knitting while I waited for them. I now have both pieces of the camisole completed and sewed together, and I am working on the straps and the trim. I don't have any pictures of it, but hopefully I will have pictures of the finished project soon.
I also just cast on tonight for an afghan out of Lion Brand Homespun. It is going to be a Christmas present for my inlaws. I know I have a lot of time to get it done yet, but I wanted to get it out of the way, because I have had the yarn for it for a long time, and it has been hanging over my head.

Making progress

2004-08-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I finished one side of the front of my camisole. It actually is going by pretty quickly, to my surprise. I was a little bit scared of it at first because this is the first time I have used size 3 needles to make anything bigger than a sock.
Here is a picture:

I'm sure I won't get around to posting this weekend, because my two sisters and my brother-in-law are coming to visit from Chicago, so I will be pretty busy.

A recent project

2004-08-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure people don't want to keep seeing pictures of my camisole as I slowly make progress - and I do mean slowly, because I am also in the middle of training to run the Chicago half-marathon on September 19. Running takes up a lot of my time, and it also saps my energy, so that I often don't even feel like knitting. (I never thought I'd say that!)
So anyway, since I haven't made a lot of progress on my current project, I thought I'd put up some pictures of my most recent finished project (other than my hat) - Mon Petit Chou from the summer issue of Knitty.
Here are a couple of pictures:

The first picture also includes my cat, Franklin, who doesn't see any reason for a ribbon to be laying around unless it is meant to be played with by a cat.
I made it out of Sock It To Me Collection Esprit, which I got from Elann. It is meant to be a surprise for my husband for our anniversary, which is next Tuesday. The second anniversary is traditionally the cotton anniversary, right?

Still figuring this out...

2004-08-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still trying to find my way around the whole posting photos thing. I think I've gotten the hang of it, but I thought I'd test it out by putting up some pictures of my lace camisole in progress.
Here is the back:

It is waiting patiently on a spare needle to be sewn together with the front, which admittedly is not much to look at right now, as you can see:

Fun with felting

2004-08-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I felted my hat yesterday. Here is the result:

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I found out that felting is surprisingly easy and fun. Now I am looking forward to working on the French Market Bag from Knitty, which I have been wanting to make for a while, but have been somewhat afraid of, due to the whole felting aspect. However, it will have to wait a little bit, since I have decided not to buy yarn (or any knitting-related supplies) for the rest of August, since the husband and I decided to make an effort to cut back expenses. Don't worry, I have plenty of stuff in my stash to work with.

Hello, world!

2004-08-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! After months of deliberating over whether I would actually have the work ethic to post regularly to a blog, I decided to go for it. Looking at other people's knitting blogs was just too tempting! I decided I need to be able to share my knitting with the world. I promise I'll get back and post some photos later to make this more interesting, but for now, I'll just tell you what I'm working on.
1. Bottoms Up bucket hat by Bonne Marie Burns. I've actually finished knitting it, and I'm going to felt it soon, hopefully tomorrow (my first attempt at felting - yikes!) I'm making it in Brown Sheep Nature Spun in black.
2. Lace Camisole from Vintage Knits (with a couple minor modifications). This is going along pretty well. I just completed the back and started the front today. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in dusty sage. (If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of Brown Sheep. Well, it is made in Nebraska.)