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.



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.

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.



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.


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.




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.

How could I pass up adorable cupcakes?

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.

Playing Catch Up

I have composed so many witty and delightful blog entries in my head since I last posted. However, since I wasn't anywhere near a computer while they were being written in my head, you will have to suffer through this blog post which will just be a random mishmash of the stuff floating around in my head. I warn you, it won't be for the faint of heart. It will be disconnected and rambling, but that is just how my mind works.

First up, I do have a finished object for Stash Dash. I completed a mitered dish towel which is retro and fabulous. See?

It makes me think of the dish towels my mom had hanging in the kitchen when I was growing up. Of course those towels were actual towels with a crochet topper but it is the same general idea. I had always assumed that my mom made them but I just found out this weekend that she bought them at a craft sale when I was little. Of course, that was in the 70s so I'm guessing it was a church bazaar and not a full on, modern, Renegade Craft Fair style craft show.  Anyway, the towel was super easy to make and it took practically no time at all which is good because I am seriously slacking in the Stash Dash arena. The hardest part of the towel was picking out which button to use on it. My button stash is mostly buttons for shirts or pants and those are a lot smaller than I needed for the towel so I went on a button quest. I didn't take the towel with me because I wasn't thinking clearly so I brought home several options.

I went with the round gray stone-esque button and I'll just use the rest up when I make more towels. And I will be making more towels. I love a project quick project and a functional project and this was both.

In other knitting news, I am still working on the Pogona. It is nearing the end which means that I want to stab myself every time I work on it. The rows get longer and longer and my knitting boredom kicks in and I want to just stick it in a corner and forget about it. However, I need the yardage for Stash Dash and I know that I will love it once it is done so I just have to suck it up and soldier through the last bits. My next shawl project needs to be worked sideways so I don't have the super long rows to contend with at the end. Hopefully the next time I blog, it will be finished.

Now for my guilty summer pleasure: Ice Loves Coco. That's right, the reality show on E!. (Do you need the period after the exclamation point? I'm just gonna go with it.) It is entertaining and their dog is a total rock star.

What else have I been up to? Yoga. Yep, still doing yoga and still enjoying it. I bought my own yoga mat, mostly because feet gross me out and even though we wipe down the yoga mats the gym provides, strangers have had their feet on them. So, now I have my own mat. I tried to be all analytical about it when I was trying to choose one on Amazon but I realized that I really have no frame of reference for good versus bad when it comes to yoga mats so I just got one of the thicker ones that was available in a color that I enjoyed. So, I got this one. I had to ignore the "Yogi Tips" because that was a little over the top for me. The mat is squishy so I'll see how I like it when I use it later today. I'm going to the Gentle Yoga class that Linda is teaching for the first time today and it will be the first time I use the mat. I have been to Linda's Yin Yoga class twice and I've really enjoyed it so I'm hoping that I enjoy the Gentle Yoga as well. The Gentle Yoga class isn't at a time that I would normally be able to go to but I thought I would try it while on vacation and if I love it, I will try to find a way to flex my sleep schedule so I can make it.

Lastly, family bonding. This summer I made it to family reunions for both sides of my family.  It is such a rare occurrence that my dad joked to my uncle that "the kids must think we are dying because they are going to the reunion this year." He was referring to the reunion for my mom's side of the family which I haven't been to since the late 80s. So, consider me officially bonded with the extended family. I do go to the reunion for my dad's side of the family almost every summer. I don't know what exactly the difference is and I don't know if it bugs my mom but that is just how I do things.

The biggest family bonding news of the summer was delivered by my brother via text. My niece is pregnant and due in February so our family is growing. My mom is busily planning all of the things that she can knit and she has already offered her babysitting services. I'm excited to have a new baby in the family as well but my response is a bit more subdued. I just offered my congrats and I'm planning on stockpiling diapers and wipes. So, exciting times ahead for our family.

Until next time, I hope the summer brings you adventures, a sense of freedom and maybe a few nights watching fireflies in the back yard.