Friday, September 30, 2011

Knitting Ninja Skills

I am officially a knitting ninja. I was starting a new hat project at work (on my lunch half hour) and I realized that I needed a stitch marker. I didn't have one in my knitting bag but I really wanted to knit so I scoped out my desk and found a solution.

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I got mad skills, yo! The hat in question is Twistygoo by Lisa Beamer and the pattern is available as a free download on Ravelry.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

End of Summer

Thankfully the weather seems to have turned and summer is at a close. Fall is my favorite season so I am pretty happy right now! What have I been up to since July?

Stash Dash came to an end but I did not manage to knit 5K worth of yarn. However, like any person who is good at justifying things, I'm considering it a win! How, you may ask, can it be a win without knitting the full amount? Well, I knit 2.5K and that is about 2.49K more than I normally knit during the summer. I finished some lingering projects (although not all of them) and I really got back in the swing of knitting again. So, for me, it was a win.

I finished another Sockhead hat. This one is made out of Fleece Artist Sea Wool in the Marine colorway. The yarn came from The Loopy Ewe in December of 2008 so I consider it deep stash.
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It is such an easy project, although at the end it can feel like a bit of a slog. It is great mindless knitting so it's a good work/travel/TV project. So, of course, I have another one on the needles. The newest one is nestled in my StarKnits triangle project bag and made from CraftsMeow Ice Cream Sundae in the Ice Cream Sandwich colorway that I picked up at Stitches Midwest a couple of years ago.
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I finished a giant seven foot long scarf. I used the Yarn Harlot's One-Row Handspun pattern because I wanted something easy that would show off the textures and colors in the Mushishi yarn that I used. I was able to use the whole giant skein which resulted in a giant scarf that I can wear doubled and still wrap it around my neck a couple of times.

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Believe it or not, the whole thing fit in my Piddleloop wedge bag! I love the wedge bag so much that I now have a third wedge bag.
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How could I pass up adorable cupcakes?
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Now back to the giant scarf. I don't think that I will be getting the Mushishi yarn again for a couple of reasons. First, the skein is too big for my ball winder so I worked off the swift for a while and then when I wanted to have a portable project, I had to wind the ball by hand. Second, the yarn was a really thick in some spots and thin in others and the thick spots seemed to have no twist, almost like roving that hadn't been spun.

Right now I am working on a couple of hats but I will save them for another post. Of course, knitting isn't all that I did this summer. I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend with my former college roommate and her husband and son. I had a wonderful time and was reminded that I miss my college friends immensely. I was also able to spend the day with my best friend from college when she was visiting family in Indiana. She lives in Florida and I haven't made it down to see her in probably 5 or 6 years so it was great to spend the day with her.

Okay interwebs, enough for today. I hope that the world brings you a laugh and perhaps time to catch up with a friend or family member that you haven't spoken to in a while.

Oh the places I've been...