Adventures in Ice Skating

Posted on January 21, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Saturday was an amazing day! We spent the afternoon with friends at a baby shower/housewarming. I presented the Momma-to-be with her own One Row Blanket in sage green. She was delighted! I also threw in a baseball cacoon/snuggly of my own design and improvisation as she is having a boy and Daddy-to-be has high hopes for his athletic future. We all used to live in the same town but they moved early last year so we can’t see each other very often. It was amazing to spend time with some great friends. I can’t wait until we get to meet their son! I hope to be able to share some snaps of the baby wrapped up in hand knits in a few weeks.

On the drive back to town my husband told me he had a surprise for me since it was our first weekend together after he started his new job. But he wouldn’t tell me or give me any hints…argh. So when we got home we ate an amazing grilled chicken dinner and watched a movie. I was thrilled and delighted to have such a sweet date night. But it wasn’t over…at 9:30 my husband brought me my shoes and coat and said ‘let’s go’!

He took me ice skating for the first time ever in my life!! Our town has a local semi-pro hockey team and after the home games they let you free skate for just a few bucks. While it gets cold in Kansas, it never gets cold enough long enough to freeze any lakes or rivers. And I grew up in the boonies so we didn’t exactly have access to ice rinks. IT WAS AMAZING and it really wasn’t that much different than roller skating. A few turns around the rink and I was hooked! Not to mention its a GREAT workout and my ankles/legs/behind are sore this morning to prove it!! It was such a great feeling to fly across the ice next to my husband. It will definitely be included in our regular date night options. Sorry no photos as I was deathly afraid of flying across the ice and crashing thereby smashing my phone. But trust me it’s cool!

But you know I found myself doing? I kept noticing all the hand knits that everyone was wearing. It was fairly frosty in the rink. Scarves, hat, beanies, cowls, sweaters, boot toppers, ear warmers…..so much delicious yarn everywhere. I couldn’t help but think….”I could make that!” “Oh that’s pretty!” So much yarn worn by people of all walks of life, ages, and styles. There was boho-chic, chunky knits, downtown hipster, crazy novelty yarn, and just down right warm and snuggly amazing-ness. It’s crazy how many knits you can find when you start looking. I’m beginning to think I have problem when I can spot a hand knit from half a block away.

On top of all this, I made great progress on my Chevron Blanket during all the car travel time and movie time. FO object post coming soon!!!!

Happy Knitting!

Rest and Relaxation

Posted on January 19, 2013 by atangledyarn84

It’s finally Friday and I’m free for a three day weekend! It’s been a busy week so I’m ready to let my hair down…

Destashing update!

I just started my third stripe on my Chevron Baby Blanket! Only two more to go. This is proving to be a very relaxing project with a memorable pattern. Great for TV knitting.

So I’ve put my feet up for the night with a great glass of red moscato and some Castle on DVD. Knitting, wine, and Nathan Fillian…..I love my life!

Happy Knitting!!

Something For My Husband

Posted on January 17, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I never knit for my husband. He proclaims yarn to be “too scratchy”. I’ll pause for the gasps of horror…..

He grew up with those horrible acrylic afghans that everyone had in those awful colors. Never fear yarn devotees! I’m working on converting him, I thought I’d start small and make something cute/fun. In the last year he has fallen in love with Dr. Who the British television show. I saw a blog by Knittyfordrwho where the author, Lorenia Lemas, posted a pattern for a tardis washcloth. I had some bright blue Cottontots Solids in Little Boy Blue, so off I went!

The pattern was easy and fast! I knit the whole thing up watching two TV episodes. The pattern only uses knit and purl and practically flies off the needles. Interesting enough to keep my attention but not complicated enough that I couldnt watch TV. It was a nice break from my Chevron Blanket and the never ending garter stitch. I even used yarn from my stash! Finished project was pretty smart looking if I do say myself.

Upon presenting it to my husband he immediately snapped a photo and sent it to his Dr Who buddies. I think I picked up a few cool wife points and got him to dip his toe into the yarn pool!

Happy Knitting!

A Wonky Cowl

Posted on January 16, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I snagged a great skein of Berroco Borealis at my LYS a few years ago….but only one skein. I can’t remember why I only bought one and I have had a terrible time deciding what to do with this 108 yds of lovely yarn. It’s a great mix of blues and greens and has great “squishy ness”.

I searched Ravelry and finally found something that tripped my trigger so to speak! I found Wonky by Brittany Wilson, a creative one skein cowl. It is knit in the round and the decreases and increases cause it to come out in a zig zag shape….or wonky!

It has stockinette sections and checkerboard sections that sort of lean. Best part is that this pattern was free! This was a well written pattern but stupid me misread it the first go round. I had it 2/3 done and had to frog it completely after I discovered my error. I blame the TV show I was watching, lol. I persevered and re-knit. I even added one extra pattern repeat to make it a bit taller for me. Even with re-knitting it, I knit this item in one evening and had time to wash and block it.

It looks really nice against my black wool coat. The yarn isn’t the softest but its very warm! It felt good during our trip to the dog park today as its 30 degrees here!

Happy Knitting!

Special Requests

Posted on January 15, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I met the most amazing friend named Amy in college when we both played on the same volleyball team. She was fun and energetic AND we shared the exact same birthday right down to the year. She married an amazing man who is an Air Force pilot. They move A LOT. She and her husband are expecting their second child in April and being stationed in Australia in February!

I called her up to congratulate her and asked what could I make for the new baby. I told her to pick something she really wanted and not just something she needed. She had to think about it but finally a few days later she came up with it…….diaper changing pads that were cloth and washable. She disliked the plastic ones she had with her first child. She is big into cloth diapers and being green.

So I set out to design one. Her diaper bag is made out of an old green flight suit that belonged to her husband from his first deployment. So I wanted to stick with a green color scheme. Here are the materials:
– hand sized terry cloth towel in dark green
– 1/2 yard flannel in green and brown polka dots
– 16 inches of ribbon
Combine these and a few zips of my machine and I had a diaper pad!

I pre washed all my fabrics to shrink them. Then I laid the towel over the flannel and cut a peice to size and pinned them right sides together.

I then pinned two pieces of ribbon in between the right sides so they would be on the outside when I was turned it. The ribbon will serve as closure for the pad when rolled up.

I zipped around the outside of the square leaving a 1/4 allowance and leaving a 3” in hole to turn it right side out. After turning the work right side I went around the edge again to secure the layers and see up the hole.

And tah dah you are done! Simply, easy, and super cute. The cloth rolls up and secures with the ribbon so it fits nicely in a diaper bag. The towel is plush enough to provide a nice surface for baby and the whole thing is machine wash and dry!

I made two small and one large one for Amy and I will stick in the mail tomorrow to make sure she gets them before they leave the US. I can’t wait till she opens the package. I will miss her being in the same time zone but she is about to take the most amazing adventure. And I have to give her props for flying halfway round the world at 7 months pregnant with a preschooler.

These pads make great shower presents and anyone with a sewing machine can do this! Easy materials list and no technical measuring, just sew and go! My kind of project (just don’t tell my mom cuz she hates when I don’t measure, lol).

FO: Waves and Ripples Blanket

Posted on January 14, 2013 by atangledyarn84

First destashing project complete!!

Waves and Ripples Blanket is complete! This blanket is destined for my cousins Josh and Amy (saying this because I’m very confident they don’t follow this blog) who are due in April. They aren’t finding out the babies sex so I went with unisex colors of cream and white.

Josh is my cousin and I absolutely adore his wife. She and I are very much alike and have been known to let our hair down together at more than one family wedding. They got married only a few months after my husband and I five years ago. We had a pact for a long time to hold out with having kids (much to our respective parents chagrin). Now she has left me high and dry. With the birth of their child my parents will be the only ones without grand kids…and I haven’t heard the end of it yet.

Such is life! Despite her betrayal (kidding) I really wanted to make her something special!

I used five skeins of Brava Bulky and an improvised design of my own.

I used left and right leaning decreases and increases to create chevron stripes. See my Rav notes for the details. I simply worked one skein clear to end and then changed colors. Easy peasy! I did run out of yarn as reported in a previous blog post. Luckily I was able to source enough in the right dye lots online.

This project was hard to put down and took no time at all (even with waiting for yarn). Loved the texture of the yarn and I felt very connected to the project of my own design. This blanket will be washing machine and dryer friendly and super duper soft for baby.

I cannot wait to give it to Josh and Amy and oh ya meet the newest addition! Now on to other projects…

Happy Knitting and may Monday be kind to you!

Author/Book Review: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Posted on January 13, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Using some of my wonderful Amazon gift cards from Christmas I picked up a few volumes written by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka the Yarn Harlot! I had been interested in reading her books as she is the reigning queen of knitting books.

At Knits End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much is AMAZING!! I finished this text in less than a day. It’s full of snippets of wisdom, humor, knitting lessons. This is destined to be read over and over again. Not to mention it’s earned a permanent place in my collection. I highly recommend this book to knitters of all ages and skill levels!

Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a knitter
This volume explores the different facets of knitting life. I connected a great deal to this book as my knitting habit has reached a level that one (not me) could call obsessive. Each chapter is a delightful, poignant, or instructive story about knitting that intertwined into a volume on the highs and lows of knitting. Another great read that didn’t take me very long to read!

Things I Learned from Knitting… whether I wanted to or not
A list of 44 things every knitter is bound to learn through their knitting adventures. Each chapter is prefaced with pearls of wisdom like, “beginning is hard, continuing is hard”. This book is more than just knitting, it’s a commentary on how knitting is like life. Stuff happens and how you deal with it is all that matters. This is a great coffee table book, sure to start great conversation especially among knitters!

All three books were excellent and I can’t wait to track down her other books!! Now I need to do some knitting so I have a few FO posts later this week!

Happy Sunday and Happy Knitting!

Animal Antics

Posted on January 11, 2013 by atangledyarn84

My latest knitting craze coupled with my husbands new job has left the pups in our house very put out. Neither of us is home during the day and it gets dark early here in Kansas. We haven’t even been able to get to our park runs very regularly either. I think they have cabin fever….

Dex has been pulling out ALL his toys and blankets and leaving them EVERY WHERE. Let me tell you it’s a joy to find the sharp edge of a nylon chew bone on the way to the bathroom with your bare foot at 3 am. I can’t blame the poor pup for being cooped up this winter, but he’s wearing on my nerves!

Good thing he’s cute otherwise he’d be in trouble! I wish everyone a very happy Friday! Don’t forget to have a little fun, TGIF! The pups and I are going to have a long walk and then a dog biscuit scavenger hunt in the house!!

On the Subject of Trying New Yarn

Posted on January 11, 2013 by atangledyarn84

Despite my recent destashing efforts….I still bought new yarn. I can’t help it! I had never seen or worked with it before AND it was on sale!!

I picked up some Boutique Rigoletto Sequins by Red Heart online from Knitting Wharehouse in red, black, white, and cream.

The yarn comes in 10 yd hanks and includes a pattern for Evening Sparkle Scarf. I have to admit even this seasoned knitter had to YouTube how to work with this mohair like tube if yarn. After some basic instruction it was ridiculously easy and EXTREMELY FAST. I knit up all four hanks in two hours total.

The yarn is a bit fiddly and like a boucle or mohair it’s very good about sticking to itself. Not a yarn for ripping back errors! But when the pattern calls for CO 2 sts and then knit every st until you run out of yarn…..it’s not very likely you will have to.

I was a little disappointed that it didn’t make a longer scarf. I like length so I can wrap and contort the same scarf 100 different ways so I never get bored. Also, I knit the same pattern four times with the same gauge and all four scarves turned out differently!

Rav link here.

This yarn would be excellent for knitters who need instant gratification, a quick last minute gift, or even someone who is just learning. For me? Not so much, I enjoyed playing with a new yarn but its not a knit I’m likely to do again. Ill stick to my Boutique Sashay or Starbella Flash for scarves.

Happy Knitting and TGIF!

Stashbustin’ #5

Posted on January 10, 2013 by atangledyarn84

I found a few skeins at the bottom of my stash that I procured at a garage sale. Mostly some Lion Brand Homespun, a skein of baby yarn, and a skein of sock yarn. It got me thinking of something that happened at my last fair.

I had the pleasure of meeting the director of the Topeka Crochet Guild at my last craft fair. She mentioned that they always take donations of yarn to make projects for local shelters and charities. So in the spirit of charity and needing to unclutter my life, here is what I’m donating!

The make hats, scarves, blankets, and much more for those in need! So I went through my bag of hand knits and found some of my first “projects”. Surely they will keep someone warm this winter even with uneven stitches and crazy yarn choices right?

I get the double whammy of the feeling of charity and the glow of reducing my yarn load! I think I might even join the guild, they even welcome us knitters! I’m always looking for new fiber friends 🙂

Happy Knitting!

My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures

Ramblings from an obsessed knitter

Monthly Archives: January 2013

Adventures in Ice Skating

Rest and Relaxation

Something For My Husband

A Wonky Cowl

Special Requests

FO: Waves and Ripples Blanket

Author/Book Review: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Animal Antics

On the Subject of Trying New Yarn

Stashbustin’ #5