Happy Holidays...

I just found out that I'm able to access Blogger at work...for now, so I'm going to use it to my advantage.

Recent Projects:

Feather and Fan Shawl: Eugen Beugler in A Gathering of Lace

I am making this for my mom, for Christmas and her birthday in March. Hopefully I will get it done in time. The yarn I'm using is Bare Lace from Knitpicks, dyed with Kool-aid.

I will add pictures later...I am having issues uploading them. Also, I will blog about my dyeing adventures.

Jacob's Duck Hunt Sweater: Me

I found a graph online of the dog from Duck Hunt, and I am going to make Jacob a sweater. I'm using Telemark from Knitpicks.

Pictures coming...


Christmas Venting:
My Christmas this year sucked. I love Christmas, I really do, but my family is a very selfish and mean family. This year was the worst, it sucked, it was painful, and it was just plain ridiculous.

Big elephant # 1: My mom's youngest sister makes no attempt at hiding the fact that she has a favorite niece, and even though I am her god-daughter, its not me. I get a digital keychain for Christmas (as well did my younger cousin) and my cousin Erin gets a beautiful blue crystal bowl.

Big elephant # 2: My mom's youngest sister and her family also bring presents for each other to Christmas, to show off. This year, my cousin Neil received a cell phone, in front of everyone. This little event made me really happy I only spent 50 cents on my cousins (I got them calendars from Target, and they loved them). This is a stab in the heart to my mom, who is a single mom and wasn't ever able to provide that much for us.

Big elephant # 3: My mom's middle sister gave my mom and I the same gift. The. Same. Gift. Lotion and a nail kit. My mom has been doing her own manicures for years and already had everything in those kits. So my mom gets shitty gifts from her sisters who, even though they supposedly hate each other, give each other very nice gifts.


Big elephant # 4: I am single, and I don't make a whole lot of money, but I put thought and time into my gifts for people, and I expect the same from others, but this wasn't the case. When you get the EXACT SAME gift as someone else, it cheapens the gift. Christmas is not about presents, it is about giving, and spending time with your loved ones.


And he puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more."


Just call me the Grinch.

New FO's

I have a couple FO's to show you:

Here's the Kitty Pi I made for my aunt Paula and her cats, well, my cousin's cats really.

I used Noro's Big Kureyon in colorway 19 and again, Wendy's Kitty Pi Pattern.


Pre-felted


Felting Action!!!


Felted and ready to go...

I finished the first square of my Lizard Ridge Afghan. I used Noro Kureyon in colorway 180. I really liked the colors in this...the deep wine, the bright turquoise (although I wish there was more in the square) and the funky purple (I swear I made all the yarn switches...it just turned out that way. I swears!!)


I like this pattern


check out that turquoise!!! And yes, I did to a life line, until I got the gist if the pattern.

There are more pictures of both on my flickr. Check them out ;)

Dollar Store finds...and Vanna White

A week ago my mom had mentioned to me that The Dollar Tree had yarn on sale. We went there on Saturday to check it out and I got 12 skeins of yarn for $12. Nothing super fancy, its Lion Brand, but at $1 for a skein its a nice deal. Check out the pictures:


Tada...$12 of Yarn


Purple for Neil, blue for Erik, pink and yellow for Heather and red and blues for Erin


This matches the yarn my mom brought back from France


I just liked the color of this stuff

There's a Michael's is right next to the dollar store and I wanted to see if I could find anything to match the Fancy Fur, I'm planning to make hats for Christmas, and I found this:



It's Vanna White peddling yarn. It's Lion Brand acrylic at $2.99 a pop. The funny thing is that Vanna is the only celebrity I've ever seen endorsing anything to do with knitting, but I got a chuckle out of if all the same ; )

I will get better at this, I promise. At the moment I don't have access to Internet at home, so I rely on work and my mom's.

Well, anyways, this past weekend I started working on a scarf pattern designed by my friend Amber. The Thistle Leaf Scarf, click here for the pattern. I'm using Art Yarns yarn I bought while I was down in Iowa. I believe its Super Merino in the 109 colorway. I lost the tag even though I tried to keep track of it.

Here are some pictures:

Okay, I know it takes me forever to update this thing, but I FINALLY have a couple updates.


First, my Cable Hat. I had finished this when I got home from Iowa, but I made it way too small. I frogged about half of it and then got a couple inches knitted. I can probably start decreasing now, but I think I'm going to get a life line in there first. I had taken some pictures earlier this week, but hated how they turned out, so I took some more last night. They're not that much better.



Hmmm...I could have thought about the ribbing a little more...it doesn't match the pattern too well.



Does my nose look crooked?


I'm also getting pretty far on my first pair of socks...I started these in January? The yarn is Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in Lucky and the pattern is Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern. I used the Magic cast on for the two, its super easy and there's no tightening to do.

I got the needles from KnitPicks and I promised Amber I would give a review on them. You can see the cord coming out of the sock on the pictures. They offer sizes US0 - US11 and the lenghts range from 16" to 32". US4 thru US11 only come in 16". They made of a flexible plastic so they don't have a memory and they don't kink, like the Susan Bates ones do. I'm using Susan Bates for my hat and it stretches out the stitches a bit. I got the US3's in the 32" and they are awesome for knitting two socks at once, although I did take one off when I got to the heel.

My dad's family is having a picnic this Sunday, so I may be able to get some prime knitting time it. Well, we'll see.

Current Projects...

Last fall I had gone to Crafty Planet to find 16" circulars and I found this really nice and soft yarn. Rowan Cashsoft in Mist. It is so pretty, and purple. I knew I wanted to make a hat out of it but I didn't know what kind. My friend Amber help me a bit, sending me so pretty awesome patterns, but they just didn't suit my fancy. So, finally, a couple weeks ago I decided that I would make my own pattern. It's pretty simple.

Cast on 110 stitches on US 4 circs.

Do 1in of ribbing in p2 k3

Start the pattern (change to US 6)

Row 1-4 *p2 k6 p2 k1* repeat 11 times

Row *5 p2 put 3 stitches on a cable needle (or spare dpn as I'm doing) and hold in back, k3 k3 for the cable needle (or dpn) p2 k1* repeat 11 times

Repeat rows 1-5 until the pattern reaches 5 inches.

**I haven't gotten this far so I don't know how I'm going to decrease. I am open to suggestions. I would like to keep cabling up to the top, but this is my first cabled project so I'm not sure it can be done.

The picture is kinda yellowy...the color is prettier than the picture shows.

I've also been working on a scarf for my friend Kay. She found out I knitted and asked me to make her a scarf. I found the pattern online but I can't remember where I found it. I will find the instructions and post the link later...I promise. The yarn I'm using is KnitPicks Decadence it Winter Berry.

The picture is kind of blurry, but it shows the detail pretty well. I like it and I hope she does too.

In the future, I will try to get all of my Finished projects uploaded. I've been really lazy about it. I still have pictures of Christmas gifts on my camera.

Why my Mom rules...

She brought me yarn...from Germany!!

Pictures!!!







The pictures aren't really that great...but the last one is very near the color of the yarn. I can't decide what I want to make...suggestions?

Who are you again?

Wow, I am soo good at this. Any wonder why my cousin have been working on the same family reunion for 3 years!! So not good.

Well, anywho...here are some pics of Wine Cozies I am FINALLY finishing for my aunts.

The first one (earthy)...I forgot to take a picture before I felted...but here it is with the second one (blue):

I'm thinking I can call this a snuggly, no?

And this one...Wine Sock:

All in all, I like the colors but I think I need to see if I can get the first one off the bottle. It might like the sauce a little too much.

Holy Crap...

It's be almost two months since I've last updated this blog!!! Bad Janel!

Well I'd better get to it...

Update 1: I've gotten further on Heather's scarf. Here's a pic:

Update 2: I found Erik's hat. I just need to weave in the ends, make the ear flaps and pompoms and I'm done:

Update 3: I made KC a Kitty Pi. It's a home drying as I type. Here are some pre-felted pictures though:

Christmas 2006

I only got two presents finish for Christmas...well three but I lost Erik's hat.

Here are some pictures of the presents...


Here's Erin in her hat...she really liked it...so did Heather...I might have to make another one


Neil in his hat...he said it was the coolest!! I'm happy he likes it.

Erin's Hat

I finished the hat for my cousin Erin today...here are some pictures I took at work:


I'm gonna toss it in the wash to even out the stitches...but it looks pretty good.


I see I need to change the date on my Camera

Rachel's Kerchief

Okay, I was in Iowa this past weekend. I drove down Sat afternoon and drove back Mon morning. I wanted to make my sister something so I bought some yarn I thought she'd like (although I should have waited til I got down there) and a couple patterns and had her choose. It was between a headband and a kerchief. The kerchief won.

Here are some pictures:

This is how much I finished on the first night. It's a simple k1 yo k to end pattern.


Here is some detail...nice sock ; )


Here's the finished picture. She has my eyebrows...although, not as thick.


I had tied it around my head first then put it on Rachie...I didn't want to pull her hair.

Neil's Hat

Here are some pictures of Neil's hat.


Here's the hat at 7 rounds. It's a k2p1 stitch.


Here's the hat at 18 rounds. The colors are a little bright.


Here is a close-up on the hat. These colors are closer to the actual colors.

Hat and Scarf for the Neilster

This year for Christmas I am making presents instead of buying them.

For my cousin Neil (he's 13) I am making a Beanie hat (one that has ear flaps and strings) and a scarf.

I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Black and Joann Sensations Casual Boucle in Purple. I will have to double up the purple stuff, it's kinda thin,

For the hat, I am using a pattern I found on the Cider Moon website, Jayne Beanie. For the scarf, I am using a patter I found on Needleworks, the Magical Wizard Scarf. I might change the scarf a bit to match the hat more.

I'll post pictures hopefully over the weekend.

Practice Sock

Here are some pictures of my practice sock:




It's about 6 inches now...coming soon, my first heel

Updates!!

Okay, I haven't logged in here for a couple weeks...although I've had quite alot going on.

I finished the dog sweater, I gave it to a sweet little puppy named Sophie. She liked Charlie, he even peed on her once cause she didn't stay away.

I also finished the Flapper hat...I'll get pictures up soon.

I'm working on my afghan again. It's starting to look really good, although I'm getting super sick of the pattern. I finally got done with the white, only eight more panels in the corners. I'm almost done with the red, just a panel and a half. Then onto the multi brown. It's pretty warm too, my legs get warm when I'm working on it.

I'm also working on my "practice sock". I haven't knitted in a couple years so I decided to make a practice sock before working with the Moda Dea yarn I bought. I showed it to Amber and she said it looked pretty good. Sweet!! She said that the stitches are looking even. Whee!!

Woo Hoo...today's Monday. Errgg...help me make it through this week.

Charlie's Sweater Update.

I have finished the sweater but, I had to put Charlie down earlier this week. I am going to give the sweater away as a gift. It turned out to be a little funky...I didn't really match up all of the rows when I was sewing it together but hey, this is the first sweater I've made.


Here's KC wearing the sweater...before put the sleeves on. I'll probably give it away this weekend...I'll try and get a picture then.

Charlie's Sweater/Coat

I started making a Doggie Coat for Charlie last night. I was able to start the collar but I need a new hook to continue. The yarn I think is Bernat. I need to get some more so I'll add that later.

Here are some pictures of the collar:


Not too difficult...just single crochets in the back loop


Holding it together...I forgot to put my camera on close-up, so its kinda blurry


Here's my Pooper...Charlie. Sorry, that's a little nickname for him...one of many. He doesn't like the camera so he was trying to get away.

Correction: the yarn is Patons Classic Merino Wool. The color I used is the Dark Grey Mixed. I like it :) Website Info, click here. I got the yarn at Michael's. I love Michaels :)

Baseball Cap: Part Der!!

Okay...I got the correct size but it didn't make a whole lot of difference. The hat is still quite big...or maybe I just have a small head...hmm.

Anyways, here are some pictures...Enjoy!!

With bigger hook:

About 3/4's of the way done with the main part.


Finished with the main part.


Finished product.

With correct hook:


Side view, finished main part.


Hmm...I need to find someone with a big head to wear this.

Oh well, the more I practice the better I get.