Happy New Year!

Sexy & Romantic glitter graphics from www.sexiluv.com



Wishing you the best in 2007! See you next year! lol

Finished Object

I finished something! Woo-hoo! Well, it was supposed to be a Christmas present for my Dad - but it wasn't finished until last night. I may still give it to him as a belated gift.

I started it in plenty of time but then, well, Christmas stuff got in the way. Shopping, wrapping, cooking , preparing, etc. Somehow, the time got away from me & all of a sudden, it was Christmas morning & I'd only knit about 2 inches of the hat (at this point, I realized that there was NO WAY I would have it finished to give to him on Christmas).

So, after the presents were opened Christmas morning (and all of the QP's toys were taken out of the packaging - which is ANOTHER story!), I picked up the hat & knit. Christmas evening, we went to my cousin's house for our family get-together. I knit while I was there. Last night, I knit while watching tv. And then the hat was finished. I really like the pattern - very simple & quick & a great "guy" hat.

The pattern is one that I found, & printed , not long after I started knitting. It's called the Late Christmas Hat (hehe!). I used size 7 KnitPicks Options circular needles (one for the body of the hat, and then two needles once the decreases started). The yarn is Patons SWS (soy wool stripes), in "Natural Navy".

The yarn is kind of fuzzy, so I'm not sure I'll like how it looks after the hat's been worn. We'll see. It feels silky & smooth. I love the colors. I bought some of this yarn (in a different color) a few months ago, to make mittens for the QP. I made one mitten & then ripped it out because I had the thumb in the wrong place. I may make her a hat out of her SWS yarn, instead of the mittens. She was enjoying wearing this hat today (I think she just likes to take things from my room - shoes, yarn, knitted items, etc). **despite how the hat looks in that one picture, it's not lopsided at the top - that just shows my lack of photography skills today. :-)

Is anyone doing a New Year's finish up some of your wip's kind of knit along???? (just asking - because I'm thinking that I really should finish some things I have on the needles - and I know I can't be the only one!)

MAKE it a great day!

Happy Wednesday

It's Wednesday. For those of you who celebrate, only 4 days or so til Christmas. Hard to believe it's almost the end of 2006!

I haven't been doing much knitting. There's so much to do this time of year. Especially if you have kids. Then you have your stuff and their stuff to do! It's crazy.

I "discovered" myspace. It just so happens that one of my best friends is also on myspace. She lives in California (which is 3 hours behind the time in PA). I've been able to "talk" to her more within the past week or so, than I had in a while.

I also got an ipod (early Christmas gift). I can't believe I never got one before now! These things are so awesome! The things can hold 7,500 songs!! 7,500!! That's a hell of a lot of music! I have almost all of my cd's downloaded. I love it, because every song that's played is a favorite. It's like having the perfect radio station. No commercials and every song that you like!

I think that's all I have right now. MAKE it a great day!

Thanks SP9!

I got a package from my SP! The package arrived Wednesday. I can't tell you how happy that made me. I've had a shitty week & the package really helped.

First, there is this card. A yarn card. Who knew there were such things? The yarn is Schaefer Yarn. My SP says that she recently tried this yarn & likes it. I've never tried it.

This was my package. Some Regia sock yarn (I love it!). It's blue (my favorite color) and it looks like it'll have thin stripes of color (red, yellow, a different shade of blue). Very cool. I love the bold colors. There are three tins of hot cocoa. Yummy! Two Lindt Lindor truffles - they were gone within 20 minutes of opening the package. A beautiful glass ornament. A bag of dipping pretzles & a jar of raspberry honey dipping mustard (which is almost gone!). There was also a cool, quilted change purse (which may become my "notions" bag). My SP sent me stuff that'll take care of my knitting obsession & also my snack urges. What a great SP!

Thank you so much SP!!!

That's all I have for today. Not much going on. It's Saturday - and it's cold outside. Now I'm off to read my book (or, maybe get some Christmas knitting finished) while the QP watches tv.

MAKE it a great day!

Easy come, easy go...

I'll be so glad when this year is over! Remember how I had a new job? Well, now I don't. I was told it wasn't working out. I'm not really sure what didn't work out. But, well, it was within the 90-day probationary period, so they can do that.

Now I get to start looking again. Yippee. Interviews and wearing pantyhose! What's not to like?!?

Can you tell I'm in a pissy mood? I won't "talk" too much tonight because, well, if you can't say anything nice, and all that. I'm just tired of bullshit. And I'm tired of people's bullshit.

So, onto the knitting...

Here ( to the left, to the left) are my KnitPicks Options needles. I love them! It's such a powerful feeling , having a full set of interchangable needles! I feel I can knit anything!! I do need to get more cables though. And a few more needle tips (there are certain sizes that I use alot, so I'd like to have more than one set of those sizes). To the right, you see KnitPicks yarn!

Yes. A whole mountain of yarn! Yarn for felted bowls, stockings, socks, Moebius items, PICC arm bands. Lots & lots of yarn!!

I also got the tools to needle felt. I didn't take any pictures of them. But I've been playing with them. I don't have any roving, so I've been using wool yarn. It's so much fun!

Here we have a felted bowl. The pattern is from KnitPicks. No, it's not one of their free patterns. But KnitPicks patterns are only $1.99.

It's knit using sock yarn. I have to work on the lid (I'm going to block it again). It's a little too small for the bowl (and not quite round). This yarn color is called Pansy. Don't the colors look like those you'd see on a pansy? See how the colors swirl? I think they look so cool. It was intersting knitting this, because you have to match up the colors and then have them off by a few stitches. I have two more hanks of yarn that will become bowls (each hank makes one bowl & lid).

Here is my 1st Moebius basket. This was a really quick knit. I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Bulky & Bulky Hand-Dyed yarns. I have enough left over to make another basket (with the colors reversed).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the basket. I kind of doubt I'll keep it - I don't really have any use for it. Maybe it'll be a Christmas gift. I don't know.

Betcha had no idea that I joined the Knit Unto Others kal. I mean, how could you have known? I never blogged about it. I still don't have the button added to my blog. But yeah. I did join it. And I actually have been doing some knitting for others. Here are two things that I have pictures of.

The first, a red scarf...can you guess what that's for? Yep! The Red Scarf Project. I have more red yarn in my stash, so it's likely that there will be more red scarves.

The second item, a Prayer Shawl. This is one that I just started.

It's going to be a triangle shawl. The pattern is from the Prayer

Shawl book. I'm using Lion Brand Homespun. This yarn was sold as "mill ends". I love the colors in this yarn. The red/oranges remind me of a sunset or something.

I find the mill ends at my local AC Moore. They are sold with three skeins in a pack. The packs usually have at least two colors in - so you have to buy at least two packs (sometimes three), to get enough of the same color yarn for one shawl. This yarn came in a pack with one other color. I managed to find a pack with two skeins of this color and one of the other color, and then another pack with two skeins of the other color and one of this color. So I only had to get two packs of mill ends & I'll be able to knit two shawls. The beautiful thing about mill ends is that the bag (with three skeins) costs about $5. With a 40% off coupon, it ends up being $3 something. A little over $3 for yarn for a shawl is a great price!

Well, it's time to get the QP to bed. She's been watching a movie & I'm sure it's finished. Tonight was a big night for her. Her class participated in her school's Christmas program. It was all music. The kids were from kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade. It was nice. No Frosty the Snowman or Jingle Bells. Only Christmas carols (she goes to a private school). I have an intense dislike for "Christmas" music - the kind that's been playing, non-stop, on at least three different local radio stations since before Thanksgiving...but that's another post! It's still time for me to get the QP to bed!

MAKE it a great day!