Monday, October 11, 2010

Three Day Weekends are awesome!

I have to keep reminding myself that it is Monday. Three day weekends ROCK!

Stick it & Stuck it.

So I finished my Snappy Hat of Doom this weekend. It was really hard to knit! I knit it in Bernat Roving and the yarn was very dense and knit tight. The cable row was a nightmare and I dreaded it every time. This was definitely a much funner knit in the chunky alpaca! Not a surprise there though. Alpaca feels like heaven on the hands and I love the feel of the yarn floating around. **Sigh** I heart me some Alpaca.


I tried to knit a second diagonal scarf out of Mini Mochi - but I kept loosing myself in the pattern and finding I was too short on stitches. So I ripped it out and cast on for a simple cowl in the Mini Mochi - ignoring my own rule about letting a yarn rest after you have to frog it - because I am trying to knit up stray balls that are rolling around in the open and that was definitely a stray! This will be my third attempt with these two balls. I think I have a winner this time. I am knitting up the Aspen Neck Cowl and it is so very simple. I followed another raveler's advice and I am knitting the purl rows and purling the knit rows - since this pattern calls for mostly purling. The end is curling a lot - and I don't see myself having enough yarn to get through most of the pattern - but I think it will still work out well. I am almost through the first ball of mochi and the cowl is close to 4 inches - so I am guessing it will be an 8 or 9 inch cowl when I am done.


I also finished another dishcloth over the weekend. I knit it out of Knit One Crochet Too Cotonade which is really fun to knit with. I really love the rich colors this yarn comes in. I get tired of knitting in the happy soft shades of cotton I find at JoAnn's and WalMart... so it's really fun to see some wash clothes that POP. We will see how they launder - how the dye holds in them and how they work in the sink on my dishes. But they were fun to knit. I could see making an afghan out of this yarn with no problem.

How's the Weather up there?

It is crazy warm here this weekend!!! We went camping up by Superior Wisconsin this weekend and it was significantly colder up there - but here near the Twin Cities it has been hitting the 80 degree mark. That is shockingly warm for October and I am loving it! I am so not ready for winter even though it will give me a better chance at showing off my knit wear. :) So having a weekend like this when normally we would be doing yard clean-up and winterizing - well it's straight up a gift!



Camping was really only an overnight - but it's the first chance we have had to get away in months so it was really nice. We took Emma hiking on the trails - which is a bit of a challenge in Wisconsin as they do not allow pets on most of the trails. This really pisses me off. We love camping and want to bring our dog with. Our dog is welcome to come with - but they frown on us leaving her in the camper alone. And we really don't WANT to leave her in the camper. We want to take her out with us and exercise her and have experiences with her. She is such a fearful dog - the more we can exercise her and get her outside the better. So it's really frustrating when we go to a park and try to take out dog out for a walk and are met with sign after sign that states No Dog. Argh! Not cool. Makes me want to stay in Minnesota where dogs are welcome on the trails.


ANYWAY - despite that we had a really nice time and we really enjoyed out get away. I am hoping we can still get one or two more getaway's in this year. With the camper having a furnace in it that is a definite possibility.

Pod People
I just finished listening to the last episode of SassyPants Knitter and MAN did I enjoy listening to those podcasts. I would recommend her podcast to anyone who knits or crochets. She is a HOOT! I hope she keeps podcasting.

My latest listen is BarknKnit. I am only on my third or fourth episode so far - and one episode didn't load on my pod well - so I haven't listened to much yet. But so far I am really enjoying it. I listened to a full episode while on my Treadmill today and listened to her talk about her dog's allergies. I can't imagine a dog with a cotton allergy! I would freak if Emma had that. Cotton is all over the place! So it will be interesting to listen to her figure that out.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

On my Needles

I have just been in a hat frenzy this year! I am currently knitting my 12th hat this year. Seriously! Granted - I work in a warehouse and I freeze all winter long - so I wear A LOT of hats. Pretty much I put a hat on in October and my hair isn't spotted again until April.

So right now I am knitting my second Snappy Hat. The first one I knit over the weekend and I knit it in Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Chunky and it is SO soft and warm. I really love how it turned out even though I sort of fudged up the cables at the top of the hat and I suspect knit the cables backwards as well. I am knitting a second one now in Bernat Roving Yarn. It's really dense! And it's a total wrist breaker - although I suspect I will love the end product. It has the look of a hat that you can wear when it's REALLY bitter out. Like a January hat. Every year here in Minnesota we get a week in January that is just revoltingly cold. So cold you can't stand it. I think this hat will be awesome to wear that week. One other thing with this. I am knitting with an Addi Turbo Lace needle - and it smells like copper! ICK! I feel like I am knitting with Old Penny's! I had heard about this when Alana on Never Not Knitting did a review of these needles - and now I know it's true. These needles SMELL! I will be avoiding the lace needles in the future!

Over the weekend I also knit my Diagonal Scarf. (Really original name!) I knit that on Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes. The yarn is really pretty - but there was a splice in the yarn and the color jogged pretty harshly - so the whole flow of the scarf is messed up there. Pretty irritating. It goes from mossy green to cranberry in the middle of a row. I think if I had planned things out better I would have cut the yarn before the color change & made a smoother transition. It was my first time working with this yarn and I think I always trust the yarn to not have breaks my first time. I don't know WHY I would think that. Silly silly girl.
My Treadmill Afghan is going well. I took a break from my treadmill over the weekend. I pretty much lived in my Pajamas and slept most of the weekend really. But I am back in action today and am looking forward. I started listening to the Sassy Pants Knitter Podcast this morning at work. I am really enjoying this one! She had me laughing out loud at work. When I got home I PM'd Sillyfru on Ravelry to thank her for a fun podcast and she wrote me back right away and friended me on Ravelry! How sweet! :)






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