Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (turn and face the strain)

HELLO!

So I have been having a whirlwind of changes happen in my life over the last couple of months! You can always tell when life is overwhelming me, as my Blog becomes neglected! So here is the quick and dirty version of what has happened over the last few months.

I don't think I have mentioned much about this in my Blog, but I was laid off from my job this summer. I won't go into a ton of detail, but I had been in my last company for over 12 years, and it was quite a surprise. They gave us about two months notice at the job and then I was out of work about two months before I started my new job. So that was all very stressful on about 14 levels. My new job is fabulous and I am REALLY happy there, but it's a huge change for me. I went from retail to a hardcore business environment. Change to how I dress (no more jeans!), and my commute (half the distance!) and my parking (what do you mean I have to PAY to park?!?!), and I could go on and on here. But now here I am, in my new job, in a company that I REALLY love, with wonderful wonderful people. Very happy on that front and so pleased to be finishing out 2014 in a job that I  love and with potential for me to grow in.

I also decided to take a break from school. I was actually in classes up until a couple weeks ago, and I finally decided I was just to overwhelmed and I wanted to take a break, focus on getting up to speed in my new job, and then reevaluate what I want to do with my education. So I withdrew from my HTML class a couple of weeks back, and am just focusing on my job at this time. It is strange to not be focused on my studies! I had been in some form of school for the last 2 years - so it's just like hearing the silence after a storm. Strange!

So! In terms of crafty stuff, I have been getting some knitting done. Most of what I have completed since I last wrote has been for Pine Ridge. I found a group on Ravelry called "For the Children of Pine Ridge" and I have been working on hats, scarves and mittens for a school on the reservation.

Here is what I sent over the last month or so:

My First box included 7 knit hats and 4 crocheted scarves.I am not overly skilled at the crochet yet, so this was a good way to practice and do some good as well. The hats I made using 3 different patterns I found on Ravelry.

1. Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat by Eboni A. Johnson

These knit quick on size 15 needles and the yarn was Lion Brand Hometown USA that I had floating around. My notes on these can be found HERE if you want more detail. They were fast and fun - and this pattern is a staple for me. Works on almost everyone and it's fast and easy.

2. Basic Hat / Radiant Hat by Lion Brand Yarn

 An easy pattern and free from Lion Brand. Used Hometown USA again and size 15 needles again. My notes on this hat can be found HERE if you want more detail.

3.The Vermonter by Abi Gregorio

Same yarn as the other hats, but we switched it up and went with size 11 needles on these babies and I opted to skip the pompom's. My more detailed notes can once again be found HERE if you need more info.

The next box I sent out had three scarves, a pair of mittens, and a bunch of stuff my mom contributed.

The scarves I made were crochet stash busting once again:

 And the mittens were made following one of my favorite patterns:

Warmest Mittens by Kris Percival.  

 

 

These were knit with Farmhouse Yarns Andy's Merino that I had had in my stash for years. If you want more details on how I made these, head HERE once again. (I always try and take good notes for my Ravelry Project pages!)

So that is what I have been getting done on the knitting front. I am going to work on getting blogging back into my life as I really missed it! Hope this finds any and all readers out there in good health. 

 

Happy crafting people!

The Lure of Sock Yarn

Oh how I love a sale! I have been in need of some tiny little number charms for a project for quite some time. I finally found a pack of these I could live with on JoAnn.com and thought I would "just peek" at the yarn "real quick". Famous last words. I just happened to be there when a bunch of sock yarn was half off! AND add to this, so far one of my favorite pair of socks that I have made was out of the Lion Brand Sock Ease. I got a pair of socks out of one ball and I really loved how the fabric turned out on these socks.

Here's a picture of the socks I made from this yarn last year.

I just loved the fabric. It's a little rough, but it isn't scratchy and they wear really well! So when I saw that I could get this yarn for half price and free shipping if I spent $50.00 I stocked up! I have no idea when I will get to this yarn - especially considering how much delicious sock yarn I already own and can't seem to resist buying, but I am pretty happy with this purchase!

Monkey Mittens 2013

I try to knit a pair of mittens for my niece (aka: "Monkey" ) every Christmas. This is a picture I took of this years mittens before I sent them off.

Yarn: 87.9 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Stripes in the colorway "Tigers"
Needles: US 10 - 6.0 mm
Pattern: Wool-Ease Mittens by Stephanie Taylor

This is the 5th time I have made this pattern and I just love it. It's really easy and the results are wonderful.

You notice I used 87.9 yards of yarn? The Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Stripes comes in a skein with 87 yards. So yeah - I had to use less than a yard of the second skein. Add to this that I wanted to start the second mitten on the opposite color of the first - and my left overs turned into three balls of just under one skein's worth of yarn. Sort of a bummer, but what are you going to do? If I had made the cuffs a little shorter and hadn't cared about how the yarn lay - I would have been able to do this in one skein. But I was picky about how the thumbs were and I wanted the mittens to be kind of opposite.

Love how they turned out and my niece was happy to get them as always. WIN!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Project Name: Rainy Days and Mondays
Pattern Name: Sock Recipe: A Good, Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn Used: Lion Brand Sock-Ease Prints in 201 Rock Candy and I used 284.7 yards (260.3m)
Needle Size: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Project  love: ♥♥♥♥ out of 5 ♥

 
See my notes on my Ravelry Project Page HERE.

This was my first time using Size one needles. My first time with this pattern. My first time with this yarn. The needles were easier to manage than I would have thought. When you are a bulky knit girl the thought of working on these small DPNs can be intimidating, but I think I am over my small needle fear now.

I took gauge after I started knitting and found I was getting 9 stitches to an inch - not 8. But the socks ended up fitting me well in the end. I did soak them and block them on my sock blockers, but I tried them on before that and found they were fitting just fine.

My goal was to have these finished before school started and I didn't think I would make it - but I did! I finished the knitting and the end weaving with 23½ hours to spare! LOL. Cutting it close! But I did it. It killed me not to immediatly rince them and block them out, but I had school, so yeah.

The pattern was great. It's in Stephanie's book Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks and part of what I loved about this pattern was that she spend pages and pages explaining what each part of the sock construction is, how to personalize it to get it to really fit your foot, and then there is a two page "cheat sheet" where the pattern for a good, plain sock is just written out. If you get yourself a little stuck, you can look back in the book and read about the construction of the area you are working on and get an explanation of what you are really doing when you are on that area. Really nice! I would recommend the book just for that alone.

As for the yarn, I admit I pulled it out of my stash because it was clearance yarn and I wanted my first time working on fingering weight yarn to NOT be some expensive Indy died yarn. It would break my heart to mess up on that kind of yum. I find the yarn to be very attractive, and my hubby said they are his favorite of my socks so far, but the yarn itself is rather scratchy and I found areas to be a little inconsistent in weight when I was working on my socks. I had a spot where the yarn just seemed to be a bit thinner. Still, I suspect I will get a lot of wear out of these, and with how rough they are they will probably last for a long time. Would never give these as a gift though. I suspect the recipient would not be pleased with the scratchy factor. 

Overall I am very pleased with these socks and can't wait to wear them this fall/winter.

A Hat For a Neighbor

Project Name: Hat for Bruce
Pattern Name: Ed's Hat by Michelle Edwards (Free Pattern on Ravelry)
Yarn: 75 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in color 110 Navy
Needle: Size 13, 36" circular needle
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ - Love it!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a hat for my neighbor Bruce. He brought us over nice neighbor Christmas gifts BEFORE Christmas. (Begin guilt meter here....) And here I am mid February finally finished with his hat. I actually had a box of locally made fancy chocolate to give him - and managed to deliver my "Christmas Neighbor Gift" to all my neighbors except him. I think he ran away for the holidays, and then we had the flu over in our house. It seemed wrong to deliver a belated gift of food from the house of flu, so I decided to knit him a hat instead. 

Well I had to find a pattern and buy the yarn. And then I messed up the pattern, so I had to frog it out and start over. This actually got me to knit this hat on a long circular instead of double point needles. I have never knit a hat on one long circular - so it was fun to figure that out while working on the inches of ribbing.

The pattern itself was really simple and well written. It makes a nice "Manly" hat and I think I will keep this one around to give as gifts to my brother and male relatives. 

Sort of Afghan

Project Name: Sort Of Afghan
Pattern Name: Stratford Circle Afghan by Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn: Patons Rumor 5 skeins = 420.0 yards (384.0m) in Colorway Hibiscus Heather

Hook: 8.0 mm (L)
Size: About three feet across - Lap blanket size
Love: ♥♥♥ - Medium Love. I like the pattern - but I needed A LOT more size for this to be useful for humans

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

This was a stash buster for me. I had these 5 skeins of Rumor yarn in my stash and I wanted something different to work on at lunch - and this is what that turned into.

They no longer make this yarn so I couldn't order more to add to the size of this. It was a bit splitty and shed A LOT, but it also hid my oops well because is was a furry yarn. (Part Alpaca!) It also kept my lap very warm while I worked on it. Nice since it has been bitter cold here for the last week.

I intend for this to be used for my Cat Izzi in her cat bed. She has bad knee's so we have a pet heating pad in the top bed of her Kitty Tower, and she loves it when we put a blanket over her and she can curl up in the warmth. This will be a better size than a human afghan and will look a little better too!

I really liked this pattern. It was free from Lion Brand.com and it was a great beginner pattern for a crochet blanket.

Found You!

 

Hello all and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2013 is a wonderful year for one and all!

 

I was cleaning up my craft room (THAT'S a good way to kill an afternoon!) and came across a bag with this scarf about 1/3 done. I was knitting it to replace one I had made with the same yarn that unraveled on me. I wore the heck out of the old one. This one I decided I would donate. (I have so many scarves already!)

Project Name: Found you!
Pattern Name: n/a (I made it up)
Yarn: Bernat Boa in Cardinal (2 skeins) and most of a skein of Wool-Ease Worsted in Black.
Needle: 12
Size: perfect!
Love: ♥♥♥♥

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

This was a really simple scarf. I cast on 12 stitches with the Boa and the Wool-Ease held together. Then knit every row until I ran out of the 2 skeins of Boa. I had Wool-Ease left over. Easy as pie!

IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth Cap

 

Project Name: IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth Cap

Pattern Name: Snow Day Cap (Free Pattern on LionBrand.com)
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA. 44 yards of Main Color - MPLS Purple & 11 yards of Seattle Sea Mist for the Snowflakes
Needle: US 13
Size: Small Woman's or Large Childs
Love: ♥♥♥♥ Well written free pattern. Uses a minimum of yarn and the end result is quite nice!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

 

I really had to stretch this to fit on my mannequin head to take pictures - and you can tell the snowflakes are distorted when I place it on the head.  Laying flat you can see the snow flake pattern more clearly - and I have to think some young gal (Pre-tween I think) would rock this out wonderfully.

I knit this exactly as the pattern stated. I found the chart was too much for me when I was tired and didn't want to think too much - so I saved it for more alert and less distracted knitting times. I really like how it looks from the top. A pretty decrease sequence. 

A welcome addition to my Knit Hat Donation pile.

Lovely (?) Lavender Hat

Project Name: Lovely Lavender Hat
Pattern Name: Big Chunky Comfy Hat by Erica Kempf on Ravelry (Free Pattern)
Yarn: Hometown USA in Seattle Sea Mist (66.4 Yards used)
Needle: 11
Size: adult-ish (may fit a child better)
Love: ♥♥♥ Only 3 out of 5 loves on this.

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I thought it would be fun to try a different pattern so I gave this one a go. It turned out a little awkward in length for me. It's a little too long all the way down unless I have a ponytail on under the hat. Then it's perfect. It's too short if I roll the brim up. So yeah.  A little off.

The other thing I am not in love with is the decrease section. I thought the ribs would just thin out - but it ended up looking really sloppy. Not sure if that was my execution or the pattern. I followed the pattern exactly so I could see how it turned out, and I would make this again but modified. I would add length to the body and rim area so you could get a nice flip over, and I would change the decrease section so it looked smoother.

I think this is hat three for the charity box I am making. A LOOOOOONG way to go to get it filled up - but it's fun to do!

♦ That's my cat Izzi that made it into most of the photo's this time.♦

Ain't No Grinch! The Hat!

Project Name: Ain't No Grinch
Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA leftovers in Tampa Spice (Red) and Lime. Hat weighed in at 98 grams so about 57 yards of yarn total.
Needle: US 15 for the bulk of the hat and then Size US 13 Double points for the last two rows of the decrease and bind off.
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ - Love this so much! SQUEEEE!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I saw these two left over balls of yarn in my scrap bin and KNEW I had to make them into a crazy striped Christmas Hat for me! I thought it would be a wacky tacky - but the end product is quite pretty actually! Love the every other row stripe look on the ribbing. And I am happy I cast on in red and then did row one in red too. It gives the hat a kind of finished look or something. Don't know - Just like it!

My stash of acrylic is getting kind of low, so I may have to do some stash expansion so I can keep knocking these out. Only 1100 stitches to make this hat, and it keeps me feeling like I am accomplishing things in the knitting world when I really only have time to knit a little here and there.

And now I am set for the holidays! Warm head and holiday spirit to boot!

Pasture & Sky Hat

Project Name: Pasture & Sky
Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA in Washington Denim & Lion Brand Thick & Quick in Grass. Hat weighed in at 110 grams so I used 64 yards approximately.
Needle: Us 15 for most of it and then 13 Double points for the bind off
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥ Lots of love. It's not my favorite I have made of this pattern (that would be the red/gray/black from earlier this week)

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

Another charity hat for the Pine Ridge Reservation. This is #2 and I am looking at my stash so I can cast on another!

This hat I had intended to be shorter, but I ran out of the green yarn on the last three rows! So I improvised and added a final blue stripe and then bound off in the blue. I think the result is pretty good. When you put it on you can raise and lower the brim to cover your ears better if it's needed. I forgot how nice that option is - too many beanies knit lately I think. You just don't get the same ear coverage with the shorter beanie style.

I may have to knit more like this!

What are you making there?

Project Name: What are you making there?
Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat
Yarn: 50 yards of assorted scraps - mostly Hometown USA by Lion Brand - but some Thick &Quick from Lion Brand might also be in there.
Needle: US 15 for everything but the last two rows where I needed Double Points - US 13 there.
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts = Full of Love!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

This is the first in what I hope will be a respectable sized pile of knit goods that I intend to mail to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation this winter.

I am really happy with how it turned out. While I was knitting it, my hubby leaned over and asked me "What are you making there?" in a manner that made me think he might be interested in having this hat. When it was finished he was excited - but after trying it on declared he "must just not be a hat person." LOL! So I can donate it knowing my hubby had his chance!

And yes - I have my new camera! So I can make with the clicking! YAY!

Can you handle the lockdown? HAT

 

Project Name: Can you handle the lockdown?

Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat

Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA in Dallas Gray 50.2 yards (45.9m)
Needle: 15 & 13
Size: Fit's me head
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts! Simple pattern and it looks good!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.
 

A simple hat pattern out of some stash I had laying around. I saw Sassypants Knitter was collecting hats in honor of her Grandma who wants to collect 100 hats it give to the Homeless this winter. Wendy (Sassypants herself) is so awesome, and it seemed like the perfect thing that I knit this thinking I wanted it to be a charity hat, and then I saw on Ravelry that she is taking hats for donation.

This pattern is a breeze to work up and looks pretty fab if I do say so myself. I went through my leftovers last night and pulled out a bunch of left overs of this weight of yarn and think I will work up a bunch more charity hats. It's good to do a little charity knitting!

Oh - And the name comes from me knitting this up while watching Ghost Adventures on The Travel Channel.

BROaden

 

I recently finished a quick crochet scarf. I was working on it the night before my Birthday, and my brother called me to wish me a Happy B-day. The rest of the time I was working on it I thought of him, so it was only natural that I mail it off to him as a surprise hug from his little sister. 

(FYI - That is my cat in the lower corner of the photo by my hand. Can't take a picture without a critter getting into it one way or another!)

YARN: Lion Brand Hometown USA Tweeds - 2 Skeins.

HOOK: 10.00mm Size N hook

PATTERN: Improvised. I chained 13 and then did Extended Single Crochet until I used up both skeins. 

SIZE: 7" x 44"

LOVE: ♥♥♥♥ Pretty High. This is like wearing a teddy bear around your neck! 

Check out my snazzy new boots in the background. Love wearing boots! Especially when the snow isn't flying yet. I am pretty sure they are more about cute than warmth or keeping the feet dry. Had to have them though!

Cedar and Spice and Everything Nice for Emma

I finished my Cedar and Spice and Everything Nice Shawl finally. As you can guess from the title of this entry and the pictures that follow, this turned into a dog blanket for my girl Emma.

Emma sleeps on a little sleigh bed that my hubby made, and it's right next to my side of the bed in the corner of the room. Every night she curls up under various little blankets and looks super cute. So I am actually happy to give her a hand knit blanket. Bonus that it matches the curtains and rugs. Double bonus that it's machine washable and dryable.

When I finished knitting it I tried it on and it just looked weird. And it's because the ends are not symmetrical. As you can see on the picture below, the edge on the left is really skinny and pointed - where as the edge on the other side is more of a gentle slope over a larger surface. I wanted to wear this with a shawl pin and thought I could hide this better with a pin and overlapping the fabric rather than the button method the author intended. (The button method would be too much for me. It would have been too tight on my neck and just felt icky.) So after trying several things and talking to the hubby about it we decided it would be better suited for the dog bed.

I really like the look of this as a blanket - and I think it you tripled the amount of stitches and knit it about twice as long you would have a really warm blanket that you could snuggle into on the couch. I am quite happy with this as an Emma Blanket. I think it classes up her little bed and I like the thought of her having a hand knit blanket to curl up in. The one I made I ended up using 4 skeins of Hometown USA in Tampa Spice.

If anyone wants to look at the pattern on Ravelry it is a free pattern by the wonderful Susan B. Anderson. She looks really cute in the one she made! The pattern is called Cedar Wrap and it can also be found on the Spud and Chloe Blog if you aren't on Ravelry.

Storm Season and Emma

Last night we had our first real Thunderstorm of the Season. That means we had one freaked out Dog cowering in the bedroom with us. My hubby and I were laying in bed watching Season 2 of The Biggest Loser and saw the storm roll in. We closed the drapes and tried to make the room as quiet and calm as we could and still poor Emma started shaking like a leaf. I really need to order that Anxiety Wrap toot sweet! But that wasn't going to help us much for the night. I looked at my husband and asked if I should get an old T-shirt to wrap around the dog. He said that wouldn't help since our shirts would be really big on her. So then he suggested the old Dog Sweater I made for her the first summer she was with us. It's a little tight on her now so she doesn't really wear it anymore.

It ended up being perfect! I went and popped it on her and she went from super shaking puppy to just laying there staring around. You could tell she was still freaked out by the weather, but just to have that shaking stop was really nice.

This picture above was Emma not knowing how to react to the sweater the first time I put her in it in 2009 - I didn't stick my dog in a sweater and then drag her out in a storm for a photo shoot. You can tell she wasn't real sure what to think about the sweater. She was probably thinking Oh no! I live with people who want to dress me up!

Here is a rather saucy picture of Emma's underbelly just to show the tight fit of the chest area of the sweater. I think it was the tight fit that made a difference last night. Once he thunder stopped she immediately fell asleep. It was so nice to see. We could still hear the rain falling and she just nodded right off.

The pattern I used to knit this was the Need for Tweed Dog Sweater by Shiri Mor on Ravelry. It's also available on the Lion Brand website and it's a free pattern. It's knit flat and seemed which makes it easy to customize the fit. It took less than two skeins of Lion Brand Thick and Quick and the pattern was fast and easy. Bonus that it's machine washable - always a good thing with a dog sweater!

I am so happy we thought of putting this on Emma last night. Bonus that something I knit came in REALLY handy!

Happy first day of Spring!

Get ye back January!

January is over and I rejoice! Although I have to say this was the warmest January I can remember. I am thankful every day for the warmer than normal winter. After last winter's 8 months of snow I thought I would go out of my flipping mind. So to have a very mild winter after that year? Yes please!

Emma and I are both looking forward to the spring and getting out and hiking trails and camping with my Hubby. Although I have to say we had some pretty awesome snow trails in the back yard last year with the feet and feet of snow we got. It was a blast watching Emma run the trails! She would actually build up speed and bank around the corners! Awesome to watch. 

I haven't posted much about my knitting lately, so I thought I would show my WIP's I am feverishly working on. Above is the Yelcho Feather and Fan scarf I am working on everyday at lunch. It's a great portable project. I am using Araucania Yelcho yarn to knit this. It's a pretty new yarn and there are only 6 projects using it on Ravelry at this point. I really like it! It's a thick and thin yarn with 60% Wool, 20% Mohair, 10% Nylon, and 10% Silk for it's make up. It's texturally interesting to work with and I love the colorway I chose.

My other big WIP is my Cedar and Spice and Everything Nice wrap. This is a free pattern on Ravelry (as is the Yelcho Feather & Fan scarf Pattern) and I am using a different yarn than the pattern calls for, so mine is coming out fairly dense and is eating more yarn than the pattern calls for. I am doing mine in Lion Brand Hometown USA in the color Spice and I really love how it's looking. I just hope when I am done it looks like a wrap and not a baby blanket!

I think it will be really warm to wear in the winters around the house. Maybe even when I go camping to wrap around me at nights by the fire. I have one more skein of yarn to add to this and I will call it good and bind off and think about buttons.

And I had to show my Izzi stalking my yarn while I took a picture. She is a wily one. I didn't even know she was there until I saw a little hand with claws extended reach out for my yarn. To be fair, I can't imagine many cats would be able to resist such temptation.

Black Friday Mittens

YAY for Finished Objects! I finished the thumb on my mitten last night and wove in all the ends on my second mitten and Walla! They are done!

This is a free pattern on Ravelry called Wool-Ease Mittens by Stephanie Taylor and this is the second set I have made. LOVE THEM! It took less than one skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarn and they are so thick and so warm! I am just geeked out to have my own pair.

The first pair I made I gave to my niece for a Christmas gift and they were wonderful and I kind of had a hard time giving them up. :) You know how that goes. So since I had a lot of this yarn left over from my Capucine Hat I decided that I would go whole hog and make matching mittens. 

I did a few mods on the pattern to make them a little shorter and they are pretty close to perfect. They look a little big laying flat with my hand on them - but when I put them on they are pretty ideal.

They go up my arm far enough that when I go to scrape my car after work I know I won't end up with a frozen wrist. I could probably make a pair with crazy long arm length and go gauntlet on them if I had the desire - but for now I am just tickled pink with my Black Friday Mittens!