Just Barely

I have been working on the Pinwheel Baby Blanket and finally finished it today, barely.

Most of my recent projects have been done using up stashed yarn and I have been doing really well on my yarn "diet." I had four balls of pink yarn that I used to make this blanket:



By the time I decided it was time to do the fancy edging on the blanket, I had 500 stitches all the way around. I was binding off and I had 79 stitches left and this is the amount of yarn I had:



DRAMA! Sure I found some people that had the yarn showing in their stash on Ravelry, but I really didn't want to go through the hassle of ordering it, paying for it, and waiting for it when I needed so little. I had several ends to weave in, so I came to this idea. Instead of weaving in the ends, I tied knots (I know, GASP!) and saved all the little pieces:



Then I tied those together (I know, more knots):



Then I prayed that I could bind off the last 79 stitches. It worked! Although it wasn't without some sweating (and maybe a little cursing) on my part. This is how much of the tied together scraps I had left when I finished binding off:



And finally, this is ALL of the remaining yarn from the 4 balls I used to make this blanket:



I NEVER want to have that happen again. I guess I had to up do myself from when I thought I had hardly any yarn left here.

I just hope the recipient loves it...and she's not a knitter so she may not notice all the knots :)

Fiber Friday

Many bloggers have specific themes for specific days, like Wordless Wednesdays or Random Mondays, and I have always liked the idea. I'm sure it helps you to keep blogging on a more regular basis. I don't know that I will continue Fiber Fridays, but it's fitting for this post.

A couple of years ago I bought a drop spindle at Stitches West. I don't really know anything about spinning, but I have been curious. I finally decided to buy one about 10 minutes before the market closed. The woman I bought it from was kind enough to show me how to use it. I think I tried it once after that and it then sat in the closet. Until this last Wednesday night that is. One of the girls that attends the meetup said that she would teach two of us how to use our spindles. She was very patient and even gave me some better fiber to use (we knitters/spinners will do anything to temp others to fall for our craft). This is what the fiber looks like before it is spun:



And this is what it looks like after I spin it (tangle it up):



I have tried to do a little each day and like all things it takes practice. I have also put a book about spinning on hold at the library, so maybe that will help me figure things out.

Yesterday, I attended my second guild meeting. One of the members taught us how to make the silk azalea pattern she designed from silk hankies. It was so much fun and so different.

You start with a silk hankie:



Then you pull one layer off:



Next, you draft it out. This is done by poking a hole in the center with your finger and pulling it open. When it is thin enough, you break apart the loop and it will look like this:



Then you knit the petals (no spinning required):



I will be sure to post the finished product when it is done.

Happy (Fiber) Friday!

Inspection Team

Just so you know, most of my knitting projects must pass an intense inspection. You can see the team hard at work:



After working hard, some members love playing in their "crinkle tube" that Santa brought them this year:





I tried to catch Oliver poking his head through the hole in the middle because it is so cute. This is me tempting him with string:



Unfortunately, he didn't fall for it. Oh well!

Here are some recently finished projects:







I love the colors on the cowl and the yarn is SO soft! It was a birthday present, so I did have to part with it. I'm trying to be better about letting go of some of my projects. A lot of times I really want to keep them because of all the hard work and time I put into them. That's why I tend to be a little selective on where their final home will be.

I also made my first 2 layer cake. I know it's nothing spectacular, but I was proud of myself and it was much cheaper than a store bought cake (and much tastier, if I do say so myself).

A New Year

I'm bringing in the new year with a finished project. A Christmas present from last year (but not as late at that makes it sound). I just mailed it off today and I am SO ready to move beyond socks.

The yarn is STR from Blue Moon Fiber and the colorway is called Tidepooling.



The pattern is Seedy Rib Socks.



The way the coloring turned out is interesting. I love the colors, but I'm still deciding on whether or not I like the way the colors worked up on the foot. Hopefully the recipient enjoys them!



I was getting nervous that I was going to run out of yarn as I was nearing the end of the second sock. Here is what I had left:



I've seen much closer calls, but it was still very nerve-racking to me.

After reading Frugal Family Fun blog, I started thinking about what I could do with some recyclables that I had around the house and came up with this:



I'm pretty sure I've seen a similar container used this way before, but I was proud of myself for making it and adding the fabric to dress it up a little bit. It keeps the yarn neat and a little more hidden from some curious cats around here.

I wanted to also post a Christmas gift that I received this year:



I love it! It is so perfect. The only one of those four things that I haven't been doing is grading. Due to layoffs, I don't need time to grade and I have more time to knit (if you want to see the bright side of losing your job...)

To celebrate New Year's this year, we went to Reno with some friends. We usually just stay in or go to a friend's house nearby. Since some friends invited us and it is our first year as a married couple we decided to go.

The drive up was beautiful and no chains were necessary:



We celebrated our first "married" New Year's:



And the drive home wasn't quite as beautiful (if not a little scary in a Honda), but still did not need chains:



Hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's!

Tis the Season

For knitting. I didn't take the time to post before Christmas because I was doing A LOT of knitted gifts this year. These are the gifts I gave away:

For my niece who loves playing with pretend food lately:









For my other niece, who is 7 months old:



For my sister-in-law, who loves beanies and neon green:



For DH's godmother:



Peekaboo mittens for my mom:



Another helmet liner for my uncle who rides his bike in Washington (rain or shine or snow!):



For DH because he requested a brown beanie:



For my aunt who has been requested knitted socks if she happens to get a Secret Santa who knits (remembering I'm one of two knitters in the ENTIRE family):



Mittens for a cousin:



And a ponchette for my grandma:



I still have a pair of socks to finish for a Christmas present, which go with the scarf for DH's godmother. It is taking longer than planned. I was supposed to be done by tonight since she will be here for New Year's. It is 4:30pm and this is where I stand:

First Sock:


Second Sock:


I am in complete denial and believe that I will somehow be able to accomplish the goal of finishing this sock by tonight. It's not just a river, folks!

We have also been busy because we adopted this adorable guy:



We named him Oliver. You can see how tiny he is by comparing him to the shoe next to him or my foot (had some trouble cropping that out, but it does display my felted slippers). He is definitely a playful guy. It was quite an adjustment for our first cat, Leo, but they are getting along much better now.

And our family Christmas picture for the Christmas cards. This was taken before Oliver was added to our family :)

The F Word

That's right, frogging! For those of you who aren't knitters, frogging is when you have to rip out some knitted work. It's called frogging because you have to "rip it, rip it..."

I HATE frogging. It's fun to do, but it's so hard to see your hours of hard work unravel away in minutes. It pains me. That's why I was having such a hard time understanding how one of the women from my knitting meetup didn't seem to have any trouble at all. She showed me a sweater that she had been working on and all that was missing were the sleeves. Then she looked at me, shrugged, and said, "I think I'm just going to frog the whole thing." I think my eyes might have popped out of my head. She was so nonchalant about it, like it was no big deal. When I expressed my sorrow for her hard work that was all about to be for nothing, she said she wasn't really worried about it because she went into the project thinking that this might happen anyway.

All of this to say that I am proud of myself for frogging just the toes of my socks. Thank you G for your guts and positive attitude about frogging.

Why I thought 7.5 inches was long enough for my socks(when it usually takes 9 inches) beats me. I think I was just so proud of myself for finishing a sock in 24 hours. I guess that's no longer true because it wasn't really finished. After the first sock was "done" I told myself that it would just be a very fitted sock. As I was working on the second sock, I told myself that maybe I would just give them to someone with smaller feet. As I got to the toe of the second sock, I decided that I had put enough effort into these socks to rip out the toe and do it right. I mean, it's not like it was almost a whole sweater.

Here is the comparison of the two socks:



As you can see, the the socks are lined up and the one top is much shorter.

I'm really glad I fixed the short sock (that looked like it was meant for a child). Can't wait to wear them :)

Sock in a Day

That's right, I finished one sock within 24 hours!!! It's miraculous. That has to be an all time record for me. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have much else going on.

Here's the sock I finished in 24 hours:



And the conversation I had with my husband about it:

Me: (While modeling the sock on my foot) Babe, do you like my sock?
E: Uh, are there holes in it?
Me: Yeah. That's called lace. It's pretty!
E: Hmm...When my socks have holes in them I usually throw them away!

Awww, the mind of a non knitter. Gotta love him!

A couple of days ago, I also knit up a couple of these Knit Turkeys, which is a free pattern from Webs Yarn



I think they are adorable (and a super quick knit too). You can also see my Thanksgiving tablecloth in this picture. The hubby would like me to do one for Christmas too. I think it's cute when he enjoys my projects :)

Two weekends ago, I went to Portland to visit my cousins and nieces. I was so happy I got to visit with them, and so so so sad that I forgot my camera!!! Argh! The four of us (cousin, her 3yr old, her 6mo old, and me) when to a yarn shop together called Happy Knits. This place was awesome. Not only did they have a play room for the kiddos, they also informed us that it was soundproof (not that we shut the door on the kids). Apparently the building used to be a recording studio. Great shop, awesome lighting!





Although the picture is small, I assure you that my 3 year old niece is holding yarn and needles and believes she is knitting. That's right, we start them young. When asked what she was making she said, "A hat for Addley (her best buddy)." Then she said she needed some glue. Ha ha! Love it!

We also did a drive-by shopping stop (my cousin waited in the car while I ran in to grab this bag) at The Naked Sheep. We usually make a stop at this shop. Every time we go I think about getting one of their totes, but then talk myself out of spending the money. This time I got one and they had my favorite color, so I think it was meant to be.



The bags have gotten a little more expensive than I remembered, but I think that the quality is better too. Plus I bought it in Oregon, so no sales tax!!