FO Friday: Milestones

This Friday I wanted to share a milestone rather than a FO.

I noticed this week that I hit 100 followers. This was something of a unspoken personal goal for me. I mostly started blogging to push my fiber creativity and archive my projects. But I also wanted to meet new people, learn new skills, and expand my fiber universe. And I admit, I hooked!! I love interacting with all the creative fibery people in the blog world.

20130424-083242.jpg

In celebration, I gave myself a special present. I have been squirreling away a Knit Picks gift certificate from Christmas and I let myself use it for something completely selfish and fun! Stay tuned on Monday and see what it is…

I’m off to pack boxes and clean for our move. T-minus 4 days to closing and 10-ish to moving day!!

WIP Wednesday: Stylish Square Blanket

20130421-183815.jpg

Stashbustin’ #13update!!

I love bulky yarn in big needles. I feel like these projects practically fly off my needles. Just the knitting mojo I needed lately. I’m almost through my fifth hank. I will most definitely need to use six, but I have seven just in case.

20130421-184053.jpg

This Knit Picks Biggo is so super soft and squishy. The golden color way has really buoyed my mood this past week when it’s been pretty bleak outside. And Susan’s pattern is as beautiful as it is simple. Right yarn, right project, and right mood!

I almost guarantee this project to be done by the weekend! Stay tuned…

Happy Knitting!

Stashbustin’ #13: Stylish Square Blanket

Introducing Stashbustin’ #13! I started a new blanket over the weekend….

_MG_0354

 

I have five skeins of Knit Picks Biggo in Golden Heather burning a whole in my stash. I am a BIG fan of Knit Picks yarn and Biggo has become one of my go-to yarns for baby projects. It’s a soft wool blend that isn’t hard for a new parent to care for but also baby butt soft.

I perused my Ravelry queue and found The Stylish Square by Susan Hanlon. Simple seed stitch border with a alternating stockinette/reverse stockinette block design. And the wool blend is so yummy under my fingers.

_MG_0352

Just the simple project I need as I head into the home stretch of trying to close on a house and opening a community theater show. It seems I’m surrounded by pregnant ladies so I’m sure I will find a good home for a blanket.

Happy Knitting!!!

A Good Project Gone Bad

Remember this FO?

20130329-101203.jpg

It was a frustrating project and I was NOT happy with the end result. It’s just a very odd shape! I literally finished it and shoved in a box.

20130329-101354.jpg

Based on some awesome advice from knittingwithheart I think there is a “fix”!

Folded over the blanket is a nice Snuggly size….

20130329-101617.jpg

I am going to snip the yarn in the middle and rip back a few rows on each side. Then pick up the live stitches and re-knit a matching border. This way I have two Snuggly sized blankets instead of one weird sized one!!

Wish me luck and Happy Knitting!

WIP Wednesday: Baby Girl Chevron Blanket

Stashbustin’ #10 Update!

20130329-095347.jpg

I’m in the second stripe!! This is the last of my WIPitis projects. And represent 4 skeins used from my stash. This was supposed to be fished by this coming Saturday for a baby shower….oops! But the baby’s not due until May and the mommy to be and I have been friends since we were 5. I think I’m ok!

I just have to keep knitting along. A few trips to rehearsal and some TV knitting time and I’ll have this project licked in no time! I’m in love with chevrons and making baby blankets out of buttery soft cotton.

20130329-095901.jpg

My brain may or may not be buzzing with what my next bout of WIPitis should involve…

Happy Knitting!

A Visit To The Frog Pond

Stashbustin’ #2 …..I want to love this project but I’m only in like with this project.

20130324-130017.jpg

The pattern is beautiful and the purple is lovely. I memorized the pattern but I can’t just get myself to pick up this project. I’m a process knitter and I can’t stand to work on a project I don’t love.

I am frogging the project, rewinding the skein, and returning the yarn to my stash. It’s just not meant to be, right now anyways. I’m definitely re-queuing this project on Ravelry.

I’d rather cut my losses and work on a project I love right now . Baby Girl Chevron Blanket perhaps? Or maybe I will pull the next item from my queue? Oh so many options!!

Happy Monday and Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Simple Stockinette Blanket

20130320-094851.jpg

I’m finished with Stashbustin’ #9. This was one of my less than enjoyable knitting projects. I started here, then changed course here, finally made at least some progress here, and thus leaving me utterly done with this project!

It really did need a third skein of yarn. But I just couldn’t bare the thought of continuing to work on this blanket, so I just cast off.

20130320-095706.jpg

I ended up with roughly a 55 inch long by 32 inch wide strip of knitting. I’m thinking lap blanket??? Who the heck knows…

20130320-095827.jpg

Folded in half it makes two appropriately sized baby blankets. Maybe I should get a pillow insert and seam around it for a pillow cover?

20130320-100010.jpg

I did learn a few things from this experience:

A) Always check gauge or risk ending up with a wonky size

B) I learned how I need to treat chenille for both maximum stitch definition and fabric quality

C) I should listen to my mother

I WILL work with this yarn again. I just need a better game plan next time! But now this project is done and I can focus on my raglan cardi.

TGIF and Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Memory Blanket

I was cleaning out my knitting storage and came across a surprise, my memory blanket I made in 2011! By 2011 my knitting had progressed from scarves to many many garter stitch baby blankets. At the time I had a slew of family and friends all having babies. It seemed that they would never stop. I think I made like 8 or 9 blankets in 2011?

20130312-101324.jpg

After all those projects I had a ton of random acrylic baby blanket yarn left over. It was all different colors and yarn weight and I didn’t really want to store it. So on a whim, I just cast on a whole bunch of stitches and started working. I knit until I ran out of one color and then started the next one. I finished the project shortly after Christmas. I distinctly remember sitting at my Grandma’s kitchen table playing dominos with the family and trying to knit the blanket at the same time because I didn’t want the project to run over into 2012.

20130312-101409.jpg

It’s not the best or prettiest blanket I have ever made, but it’s special to me. I can look at the various stripes an see all the babies I had knit for: Sofia, Bentley, Devin, Jackson, Orion, and Ely. And it’s perfect blanket to throw on my bed on a cold night or cuddle on the couch with. Isn’t it cool when something you knit becomes more than just FO?

20130312-101449.jpg

20130312-101505.jpg

Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!!

WIPitis and Its Implications

I have had a well documented case of WIPitis lately. I have five projects currently in my WIP column and about 50 more projects queued up on Ravelry. To keep myself honest, I am reporting all my WIPs to you guys. I am going to call it a “WIP Flash”!!!

Stashbustin’ #2 – Waffle Blanket

Haven’t touched this since that progress report. It’s hibernating and it honestly doesn’t bother me….yet

_MG_0428

Stashbustin’ #9 – Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket

See yesterday’s post…it’s coming along! This project is now my bedtime knitting.

photo (4)

Stashbustin’ #10 – Pink and White Chevron Blanket

Haven’t touched this one since the last update either. I’m waiting for it to “speak” to me before I pick it up again.

20130217-200611.jpg

Stashbustin’ #11 – Simple Raglan Cardi

I have made a little progress since Tuesday. I’m really trying to do this one right. And slow and steady wins the race! This is my current TV knitting on the couch. I haven’t snapped a recent photo, but I’ve completed at least 3 inches!

Purse Project

I always keep a small mindless project in my bag in case I get stuck somewhere in line or get bored at lunch. Right now I have a Cascading Ruffles Scarf in the most elegant and shiny purple I have ever seen. It’s about half done, which is impressive since I only work one or two rows at a time.

I’ve shown you mine….anybody want to tell me about theirs?

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Stockinette Baby Blanket

Stashbustin’ #9

I have made some great progress on my Simple Stockinette Baby Blanket in Bernat Baby Blanket. Especially since I got snowed in at my parent’s house this past weekend and it’s the only project I took with me. The alterations I made in my previous post have really helped. It’s not the best blanket in the world, but I feel victorious for surviving thus far without incoherent babbling!!

photo (4)

Having said that…..I am improvising this pattern and I did not swatch for gauge. (Please see previous WIP post where I was bragging about swatching my cardi…) I do realize that gauge has significant implications but my knitterly brain just refused to accept that reality in some projects. The resulting WIP blanket is proving to be coming out enormously wide. My calculations have blanket coming out at 50 in long and 30 in wide or vice versa.

photo (2)

 

I have decided to roll with the punches and call this an “unintentional design feature”‘ I am on my second skein if yarn and I think I’m just going to knit until I get to the end of it. My mom took only look at my progress and declared I should use three. Sadly she is right and I know it. But I just can’t keep working on this hot mess of a project. Lesson learned: I shall not improvise a project without first checking gauge and dimension! I am just going to finish what I have (should even be able to cast off this project before the weekend) and move on!!

Anybody need a wonky shaped blanket? (I am the master of my own knitting, at least according to the Yarn Harlot!)

Happy Knitting!