A post without pictures...

...is not that much fun.  I have been a little absent from the blogosphere lately, so I feel the need to post an update.  Let's see...my last post was about my crocheted summer sweater which was a WIP at the time...now it's a FO! I ended up finishing that sweater on July 8th, but I've yet to take proper pictures of it.  In fact, that is actually the theme of this post...the lack of proper pictures.  I crocheted a set of lotus earrings in a deep purple the other night...but I still need to weave in the ends and take a picture or two.  (Although I think they sort of get lost in my hair because of the color...but I'll see.  They were quick and easy to make, so perhaps I'll whip up another pair soon.)  I'm also working on a summer style vest for myself in sort of a burnt orange color (pictures to come...:)).  I've also been invited to my boyfriend's niece's 1st birthday party this August.  I've decided to make her a Sheldon with a green body and a pink and purple shell.  So far I've the body and legs all finished and just need to make the shell.  This is such a cute turtle!  Annnnnnd I'm knitting a yoga mat bag for Matt!  He joined me at hot yoga on Monday and fell in love with it--it is awesomely wonderful and addicting!  So of course he needs a nice knitted yoga mat bag to hold his new mat! :) (It's blue and in organic cotton...pictures to come :)). 

Finally, back on 6/25 I had finished the ruched tee that I had started the year before (during the interim of the CPH KAL).  It took me so long to finish it because I kept getting distracted with other project.  Well, I wore the tee for the first time on 7/2. I got so many compliments on it!  The only complaint I have is that it grew a I wore it.  Meaning it is now sort of tunic length!  Also the back is a bit saggy and baggy, which I'm not the biggest fan of.  I think that I'm going to crochet a round around the neckline to try and strengthen it up.  I've also read about slip stitch crocheting on the inside of a knitted garment to give it more strength and structure.  I think that I might do this on the ruched sections.  They sort of got less..um...ruchy as the day went on.  So, hopefully that will improve it a bit.  After I do all of that, I plan on washing it in warm to hot water and throwing it in the dryer on a hot setting, in an attempt to shrink it some.  The yarn is 60% cotton 40% modal, so hopefully the cotton part will shrink when I do this.  If not, I'll make it work as a tunic over leggings or skinny jeans.  I'm definitely not frogging this project!  I love the yarn and the look of it on me...I'm just not a fan of the sag.

I guess that's it for now.  I promise to post some pictures of all of these projects! I need to either set up my tripod or get a friend's help to take a picture of me in the sweaters I made!

Oooo and the Ravellenic Games are starting next week!! Hurray!!

WIP Wednesday

One of the things I'm working on is a light-weight crocheted cardigan for spring/summer.  I had started working on this back in April when I was flying to Vancouver.  However it was coming out too small, so I didn't touch it after my flight there.  This week I ended up frogging the progress that I had made during that flight and started again using a larger hook.  This sweater goes SO fast!  I've been trying to only craft on my commutes to and from work/school and on only two commutes I've finished the back and half of one of the front panels!  I think this will be finished really soon and I can't wait to post FO pics!

Farewell Stix-n-Stitches

On of my favorite LYSs, Stix-n-Stitches in Montclair, is closing this week.  I have some wonderful memories of going there to pick out yarn for projects, especially when I first started branching out from only using chain-sold yarn. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, I love love love AC Moore and Michaels :)).  I ended up going to "say goodbye" to Stix-n-Stitches this past Thursday.  Since they are trying to liquidate their inventory, I did purchase some yarn.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be buying yarn, but I couldn't resist.  All yarn was 40% off the day that I went and buttons were 50% off.  I ended up getting 3 different kinds of yarn in 5 different colors.  I also got some buttons for a light weight summer sweater I'm crocheting.

Presenting my new stash additions (in no particular order):

Cascade 220 in a beautiful teal color, 3 skeins:

Cotton Classic by Tahki Yarns in a burnt orange color, 4 skeins.  The beauty of this yarn was that it was on clearance for $4 a skein and then I got 40% off of that.  Amazing.

Cotton Classic by Tahki Yarns in a gray--which was also on clearance--8 skeins.

Berroco Weekend in a spring green color, 4 skeins.

Berroco Weekend in a light purple, 3 skeins.  I know it looks a little blue in this photo, but it is not.

I also got 8 metal buttons with a black shiny center.  They sort of look like they have little suns on them.  I knew that I needed buttons for a new sweater that I'm making, but I couldn't remember how many I needed, so I figured 8 was a safe number.  I think I need 5 for the pattern, so I'll have 3 to use somewhere else!

I will definitely miss Stix-n-Stitches, but I hope that this ending for them only brings wonderful new beginnings!!

Ravellenic Games 2012!

This is the year of the London summer Olympics!! How exciting!  I honestly LOVE the Games and have watched them every since I can remember.  I think my favorite are gymnastics followed by swimming!  The online knitting and crochet community that I belong to, Ravelry, has been celebrating the Olympic Games with a knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, etc. competition.  This competition is used as a means to challenge yourself in the craft of your choosing.  Prior to the beginning of the Games, you select the "events" that you will enter--possibly knitting an entire sweater during the games, or finishing a bunch of projects that you have yet to finish--something that you find challenging to your self.  Formerly this was known as the "Ravelympics," however the USOC recently informed Ravelry that the use of this word was copyright infringement and that it must be changed.  The USOC also said that: 

"We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

I personally was very upset by the statement that we were disrespecting the Olympic Games and the athletes by knitting and crocheting along with the Games.  I, as well as the multitude of Ravelers that commented in our community on this situation, are very respectful of all of the hard work that the athletes put into training for the games.  This is more a means of celebrating and enjoying the achievement of the athletes and most definitely NOT a means of disrespecting anyone.  You can read more about this here.  In the end the USOC apologized for what they said.  Ravelry also changed the name of the event to the "Ravellenic Games" which still encompasses the original meaning plus more.  When I discussed all of this with Matt he made a great comment about how the USOC holds the copyright to the word "Olympics" and all of the related sounding words.  He was quite curious if Hercules signed off on the agreement allowing the USOC to hold the copyright ;).  Gosh Matt, you're the best!

Anyway, I digressed a bit on this post.  This will be the first Ravellenic Games that I will participate in and I am a member of Team Designers Challenge (which is one of the groups that I'm a member of within Ravelry)! There are a whole bunch of different events, but I think the ones that I will enter have to do with frogging a few projects that I am no longer interested in (aka taking them apart), knitting a sweater that has cables in it, and dyeing some yarn that I've been meaning to dye.  I hope that I'll be able to accomplish all of this during the Games!

The sweater that I am planning to make is the Owls sweater by Kate Davies.  I fell in love with this sweater a few years ago when I first saw it and have been planning on making it for a while. This seems like the perfect time!  I already have the yarn for it too :).  I plan on using Brava Bulky in Solstice Heather from Knit Picks.

I also plan on frogging one or two projects.  I started knitting myself a cowl maybe a year and a half a go in an alpaca yarn, but I just did not like the way the colors were pooling.  This yarn was pricey and I think it would be suited for something better.

The other project I'm thinking about frogging is a baby blanket that I started back in 2008 or the beginning of 2009.  It took FOREVER to crochet, it feels sort of heavy, and I'm just not in love with it anymore.  I'm sure that I could use the yarn for something better.

And finally I want to try dyeing some more yarn again.  Last time I dyed yarn I used Kool Aid that I mixed into water and then put the yarn into this mixture.  However I've seen tutorials about how to sprinkle the dry Kool Aid onto the wet yarn and dye it like that.  This is what I'm hoping to try!  As part of my Ravellenic Games training I'll need to locate this online tutorial!  I have some worsted weight wool and some fingering weight wool as well.  I'm not sure which I'm going to dye, but I'm sort of leaning towards the fingering weight.

Oh one last thing!  In preparation for the games, I've made my new Ravatar to represent my team association and my participation in the challenge!  It might still be a work in progress, but at the moment I'm happy with it :).  (Oh, and that animal on the side is a chizzard, our group's mascot!).

FO: Bedroom pillows

This spring I decided to get a new quilt for my bed because I was tired of the other one that I had. I ended up finding *THE PERFECT* one at Kohl's.  Purple and gray with leaves and vines stitched along in.  I fell in absolute love with it!  However Kohl's did not have any shams to go with it, except for the European kind which I didn't want.  So I was left with a bit of a problem....how do I make my bed without shams?  I decided to buy the quilt anyway.  My friend Matt was with me when I found it and he liked it a lot too!  After purchasing it we went to 2 or 3 different stores to try and find shams to go along with it, but had no luck.  We took it home and put it on my bed.  After thinking about it for a while, I realized that I had pillows on my couch that would match the quilt and easily let me bring in other colors to match it!  However, I felt that these pillows (the two butterfly ones and the paisley one) didn't quite "finish off" my bed.  Soooooo I decided to crochet myself two more pillows to go along with them.  I decided that these pillows would tie in the green, blue and cream in the butterfly pillows with the green, blue, cream, and purple in the paisley pillow.  I used a pattern from a Sarah London book (it's really just a granny square) and use the remaining yarn from my "bring-it-on baby blanket."  I was actually surprised at how much yarn these pillows used up!  Not only did they take up 4+ skeins of Naturally Caron Country, but they also took one skein of Naturally Caron Spa and some Simply soft that I had that matched.  I'm really happy that I got to use up stash to make these...and I love the look of my bed!  Next up is to make a matching throw.....I've already the yarn from Knit Picks (Comfy Sport!!!)....mwah-ha-ha ::evil yarn lover laugh:: ;).

FO: Bring it on Blanket!

Back in March I finished knitting this blanket.  It was the first blanket that I've knit.  Originally it was intended to be a gift for one of my friend's new baby, but I completely fell in love with it and love love love how it looks in my living room.  So...selfishly....I kept it for myself.  Shhh, don't tell!  The pattern is from Pickles and called the Bring-it-on baby blanket.  The awesome thing about this pattern is that it is knit on larger needles, so it goes pretty quickly, and the lace pattern is beautiful!  I used some Naturally Caron Country yarn from my stash.  (It always feels nice to use up stash!  That's one of my goals for 2012....) I had blue, purple, green, and white yarn (all of my favorite colors).  This blanket is so soft and stretchy.  It is the perfect size for a lap blanket and I've been getting a lot of use out of it when I watch TV!  This is a pattern that I highly recommend!  If you decide to make it, I'd suggest using a yarn that can be blocked so that the laciness can really open up nicely.

Bestest's Birthday Gifts

My best friend Matt celebrated his birthday this past weekend.  I usually have to think long and hard about what to get/make him because I always want my gift to be perfect (because he is so dear to me :))! Luckily he really appreciates the gifts that I hand make for him.  So this year I decided to go with a "comforts of home" themed birthday gift.  Included in the gift was a crocheted tea light holder, a cotton basket to hold items on his dresser, a crocheted basket/bag, and a pair of slippers!  

I completely fell in love with the tea light holder and will definitely be making another one!  I used an empty Smucker's jam jar and crocheted over it using a silver yarn.  I just love how the candle light shines through the crocheted sections.

I crocheted a cream colored basket for his dresser (or wherever else he'd like to put it).  Matt is so organized, so I figured that a basket like this would come in handy for him.  It can be folded down to hold shorter objects too.  AND it is washable!

As you know from a previous post, I'm sort of obsessed with these bags/baskets.  I figured it would be useful for something in Matt's room.  It was cute that he recognized it when he opened his gift! (Way to go Matty!!!!)

And finally I made him a pair of dark blue slippers.  I really love this pattern--not only are they comfy, stretchy, and warm, but the pattern is completely ingenious and I love knitting them!  I definitely have to make a pair for myself sometime soon.  Perhaps I'll make a few of these for Christmas gifts too!

Astronomical dish towels

Today I had the honor of attending the retirement party of one of my dear undergraduate professors, Dr. Mary Lou West.  Dr. West taught physics and astronomy and was basically my advisor for the concentration of my minor.  She always made any class she taught fun AND always always always got the students interacting with the subject.  The party was a lot of fun and I got to see a few professors that I haven't seen in a while.  One of my favorite things about Dr. West is how she always wore something to do with astronomy (or physics)--a funny or interesting shirt, or perhaps a quirky pair of earrings--but every day something different and interesting!  As part of my gift to Dr. West I made a pair of astronomy-themed dish towels.  I picked out blue towels and crocheted appliques for them!  She absolutely loved them!!

Here are the towels!

A close up of the sun and...

...a close up of the moon! (Note the whimsical nose on the moon ;)).

And here are a few photos from the party.  Dr. West is featured on her retirement cake!! (along with the planets!)

Dr. West and I proudly showing off the towels that I gave her.

Dr. West with one of my good friends from undergrad, Nathaniel!  We both were in many of Dr. West's classes!

Being a student of Dr. West's was one of the best parts about being an undergraduate.  Thank you so much Dr. West for all that you've done for your students.  You are truly an excellent teacher and friend.

FO Friday: Baby P's blanket and bunny

One of my close friends from school (Brian) and work and his wife (Sue) are expecting their first baby in the next few weeks.  I've known Brian since about 2006 when I started graduate school, so of course I was going to make something for their new addition.  Since the baby is due in July, I decide to make a light weight stroller blanket using Felici Sport.  I really fell in love with this blanket AND yarn.  The original pattern, which you can find here listed as "Zig and Zag Pram Blanket," was written to use up odds and ends of sock yarn--meaning lots of different colors, etc.  While looking at the finished versions of this on Ravelry, I came across someone who made the blanket using Felici Sport from Knit Picks, which stripes by itself, and I fell in love.  I decided that I must make a version of that blanket!  It was surprisingly easy to make as well (and quite cost effective, since it only took 4 balls of yarn).  Prior to blocking I was afraid that the blanket would be too tiny because it was less than 2 feet across and less than 3 feet long...but after blocking it really opened up and became the perfect size.  ANNNNND it is oh so soft!  Along with the blanket I included a knit bunny blanket buddy bunny.  I love this pattern because it makes such a cute gift!  I used really soft yarn and it is a nice size for cuddling.

WIP Wednesday

So, I'm not an impulsive person.  Ask my Mom and my friends.  When making decisions, ESPECIALLY when making purchases, I take my time and never rush into a decision.  (Shopping with me can sometimes become annoying, I imagine, because I put so much thought into my purchases...but c'est la vie.)  Well, the other day I surprised myself with my impulsiveness!  I was in A.C. Moore browsing the yarn (and picking up a few skeins of Vanna's colors which were on sale for $1 each--can't beat that!) and I came across a bag of gray yarn that was SUPER soft and a bag of super soft purple yarn in the "mill ends" section.  I quickly fell in love with them and decided that I'm going to make Sean (my bf) and I a blanket that is just "us"--he loves gray and I love purple.  Sickeningly cute, I  know.  So into my basket they went and I checked out.  I also started the blanket that night!  (It's called Impulsive btw in my Ravelry projects).

I'm using the granny stripes pattern from Lucy of Attic24.  I've used this pattern before for baby blankets and it has always produced lovely results.  I'm not sure how many I chained, but the blanket is just about the width of my full-sized bed.  My original plan was just to crochet until I had finished the two bags of yarn, but when Sean saw my progress he was so excited to use the blanket to cover up with that I decided to go and see if another bag each of the colors existed (which they did).  So now I'm going to crochet until the two bags of yarn is gone.  This should hopefully make a blanket long enough to cover an adult (rather than just be a lap blanket).  I had been crocheting this on the train during my commute, but since it is getting larger I haven't taken it the past few days.  However, it is really growing quickly!!  Here it is in it's current state!  I'm really excited!