So far this year....

  We are on our way with 2015 and I thought I would talk about my first finished objects of the new year. Spoiler alert - there is NO knitting!

  My biggest Finished object this year would be the 6 scarves I double crocheted for the Pine Ridge Reservation. It was fun to work with the bright colors and crochet just goes so much faster than knitting for me. I started these in December and had hoped to get them finished and in the mail by Christmas, but it was just too hectic and I didn't get enough time to get them done, so they went out in the mail yesterday.

  I didn't put much detail into my Ravelry page about these scarves, (they are all double crochet and I mostly winged it) but if you are dying to know what yarn I used for one of them or want more information, feel free to pop over HERE and have a look.

  The other finished object I have to share is a scarf I made for myself. We went to Michaels Craft Store on New Years Day and I spotted fleece yarn in a cheetah pattern and I had to have it! And yes - that means the first day of 2015 I purchased yarn! No yarn diet for me!

  The scarf is Double crochet with a size L (8.0 mm) Hook. I used two skeins of the Premier Yarns Cuddle Fleece in the Cheetah colorway. (You can see my Ravelry project page HERE.)

 

  It wasn't too bad to work with, but the end product was a bit stiff. I am hoping a run through the washer and  dryer will help soften it up a bit. I wore it to work the day after I finished it as we had a -35ºF wind chill and I wanted to be warm! It worked - but turning my head with this around my neck while driving to work was a bit of a challenge. 

  Part of the joy of Ravelry is that I can keep track of all my statistics. I tag my projects as I go, and so far for 2015 I have used  1,259 yards of yarn. Neat! 

  And that is all I have so far. My hope is to finish some socks that I started in the fall of 2014, and do some WIP (works in progress) busting over the winter, but we shall see. The need for scarves and mittens For the Children of Pine Ridge is great, so I will probably be working toward that rather than focusing on WIPs. 

Happy knitting everyone and Stay Warm!

Finished Object: Fall over you

Needle: Size 4 40" circular {Magic Loop with afterthought heel}
Project Name: Fall over you
Yarn: Patons North America Classic Wool Merino in Colorway Harvest - 1 Skein

These knit up super fast! Just over two weeks and they are complete. Love how fast they were and they are really thick and warm - so I suspect I will be wearing these when I am shoveling snow this winter.

These are an amalgamation of several patterns I have used and kind of a standard pattern I use now.

I prefer magic loop at this point with one long circular need, top down, one at a time.

Since this was worsted weight yarn and knit it on size 4 needles I knew it would be dense, so I cast on 48 sts over two needles, removed one needle, and then began the ribbing.

I did the ribbing for three inches, then five inches of stockinette before placing the waste yarn.

Here is a photo that shows the waste yarn knit in. The first time I chose a yarn that blended with the socks a little too well, so I got smart and found a higher contrast yarn the second time.

I always make my heel before I get to the toe, so that I can try on the sock and fit it perfectly as I go.

 

For this sock I added the heel after I had knit about five inches past the waste yarn, then I try on the sock and see where it is sitting on my toe area. I generally like it to be around the top of my pinky toe before I start my decreases.

I take notes as I go through my first sock and try to duplicate it on my second. I do not count rows, so my socks are not a perfect match ever. But I get close and the notes help make it so my heels are not funky. (Although I have indeed made socks and accidentally put a different heel in the second sock. Doh!)

I am really happy with these socks and I have already ordered a pair of liners for (Fox River Wick Dry Coolmax Liner Socks off of Amazon) so that if my feet sweat when I wear these the liners will wick that sweat away and keep my feet warmer.

I am pretty sure I will be turning to these this winter when I am shoveling all that Minnesota snow.

This crazy life

Oh blog. I neglect you so! It's been a little over a month since my last blog post and I have had a lot going on in my life. Lets start with the yarn!

So I have been pecking away at night on my Nemo's Comfort blanket. I am up to about 47 inches across and it is about 80 inches in length. This thing is a beast! I have been working on it off and on for over a year. Each color is three rows - and each row is around 240 double crochets on a size H hook. This is in cotton yarn so it will be machine washable and dry-able. But I seriously need to decide where it is going to go so I know what size it will be!

Other things in my life includes be taking a nice tumble down the steps to my basement. THAT was unpleasant! Let me start this story by saying this has been an insanely cold and snowy winter. The day I took my tumble was another really cold day and we had some good snow out. We came back from the grocery store and I was wearing thick winter boots and my thick winter coat and my boots were covered in snow. I was carrying two 12 packs of soda in one arm and one 12 pack in the other. My wet boot hit the painted step and next thing I know I was laying half way down the steps in some serious pain! I had bruises on my butt and back like you would not believe and motion in my neck was limited for about two weeks. I knew where each stair hit! So that was pretty awful. It took me a bit to get back to human after that, and I still had my full time job and four classes at school to contend with while trying to recover. Needless to say I was pretty tired, and a little cranky to boot!

Here is a picture of our backyard the weekend I took my tumble. We had a pretty good snowstorm the night before and my Husband has been blowing paths in our yard so the dog can access her zone in the back where she takes care of her doggy needs. We have several feet of snow pack right now and it's just been a challenge this year to function!

This past week I had my final exam for my PowerPoint class. I am so happy to have that off my plate! I actually found the classwork fairly simple - I like PowerPoint and don't think it's all that challenging to use so I enjoyed the class for the most part. But now that it is over I feel like I will have better balance in my life. That's one less class to attend every week, one less weekly quiz to study for, one less text I have to read and turn in an assignment for every week.... So I am pretty excited to have just a touch more free time.

School overall has been going very well and I am pleased with my progress in my classes and the roads I am forging into my next career path.

And that is about it for my world right now. School. Job. Homework. A little bit of yarn. A little bit of sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Revived Socks

 

I cast these on in December of 2011 and then apparently stuffed them in a bag and completely forgot about their existence. Fast forward two years and I am doing some cleaning and organizing, and hark, what is this? I honestly do not remember casting these on and working on them, but I have notes on Ravelry stating I did (apparently cast on while watching The Biggest Loser).  So I decided to quick finish them up so I could wear them this weekend. Monday is supposed to be so cold here that the governor of Minnesota closed all schools in the entire state for that day. Before the Wind Chill is factored in they say a high temp of -10°F and I have heard colder than that on some channels. Yikes. So having a paid of bulky wool house socks sounds mighty fine to me!

 

 

• The Pattern: Socks 101 by Larissa Brown from the book "Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together"
• The Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in the color Elderberry Wine. I used just under 1 skein for the pair of socks, 115.0 yards (105.2m).
• Needles: US 10 - 6.0 mm double point needles
• Knit a ♀ Medium
• My notes on Ravelry can be found HERE.

 

As you can see by looking at the toe construction, I decreased more on one toe than the other. I think I got confused about which size I was working on and followed the directions for the small sock on the first sock. When I finished it I was not thrilled with the toe, but I thought Well, if I make these again I will change the toe construction - because I am not an elf and my feet aren't shaped like an arrow.

Then I finished the second sock and realized it was a Jenny oops - meaning I fudged up that first sock. So I have a pair of house slippers with wonky toes and I know that if I make them again I need to REALLY watch that toe construction.

I wore these all last night and my feet were toasty warm in them. When it gets cold like this you can just feel the cold seeping in through the walls and floor of the house, so I am pretty sure these will get some good wear for the next few days/weeks.

If I were to change anything, I think I would make the ribbing much higher (which would make this a two skein project in this yarn) and I would watch the toe construction so I didn't get wonky arrow toe on one foot next time. I might also try an eye of partridge heel on it as I am sort of in love with the eye of partridge heel.

Pleased to have a wearable garment and to have cleared up a long lost WIP! Win!

Jaded Dreams but Warm Hands

Another pair of mittens finished! I once again used the Wool-Ease Mittens pattern by Stephanie Taylor. This was knit with 100 yards of Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky yarn with size 10 double point needles. These are really warm and the fit is perfect. If anyone wants the details on my project pop on over to my Ravelry page. (I did very minor mods on the pattern - the pattern is pretty much perfect just as it was written!)

I keep making mittens in an effort to stop my hands from cracking and bleeding so much. Sadly - it's not helping too much. I am still struggling with chapped and bloody hands. BUT I will keep trying to wear mittens and moisturize in an effort to stop this.

 

Temperatures are well below normal here in the Twin Cities. It's been cold and the roads have been awful to drive on. Every year I wonder why we live here. It's just bitter cold and miserable. Maybe I will have to look at pictures of my garden from this summer. Summer in Minnesota is awesome. 

Snow Bird

We got another 6 inches of snow last night. It's insane to me that we are getting snow like this and it is almost May. HOPEFULLY (knock on wood) this will be the last storm of the season.

When I got to work this morning I saw this guy in the tree by my car. I quick snapped a few pictures of him. I suppose the mice are pretty obvious in all this snow - good hunting weather for him.

In theory our weather will improve dramatically in the next few days. I am hoping my spirits will improve then too. It's just depressing how much winter we have had. Garg.

Number 2 in Rosewood

Project Name: Number 2 in Rosewood
Pattern Name: This is pattern #2 from The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs by Linda P. Schapper
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino in the color Rosewood, 1 skeins = 223.0 yards (203.9m)
Hook: 5.0 mm (H)
Size: 5 inches by 48 inches
Love: ♥♥♥♥

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I finally have a finished project and thought this would be a good chance to get back into blogging! I took a bit of a break there while I finished studying for, taking and PASSING my A+ certification exams. Yup. I am now officially A+ certified! Yay me!

So I have been starting a ton of projects, and finally finished SOMETHING. I picked up this book...

and have been slowly teaching myself some new crochet stitches. I have to admit, as a knitter I find the language and the pattern writing of crochet books (patterns, etc...) a little baffling. So I started on pattern 2, which is really simple. You pretty much just cast on an even amount of stitches and then you single crochet twice in every other stitch. Easy peasy. I grabbed a ball of yarn out of my stash and went to town.

The scarf worked up quickly, was portable and I like how the yarn worked up in this pattern. Bonus that this was a loan ball of yarn that was just hanging out in my stash for years and is now GONE. Yay!

I really like the idea of working all the odd balls of yarn out of my stash while learning some new crochet skills. Win win!

And the photo with Emma on the deck modeling the scarf was taken just minutes ago. We really have that much snow left. It's just disgusting. Winter will not go away.

Knitting in all seasons (3KCBWDAY4)

For Knitting and Crochet Blog Week the question of the day was:

How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

I live in the Minnesota here in the United States. This past winter was really (unusually) warm, but the winter before we had eight months with snow on the ground. I spent a lot of time driving (and living) in this mess. So I guess it's not surprising that I knit A LOT of hats and winter wear.

Not just for me either. I have knit a few sweaters for my dog Emma. I have knit some goodies for my hubby and family. And I try to give a bunch to charity. There are lots of organizations and shelters that distribute goods to the homeless or needy in the winter. And many of our yarn shops will do hat, scarf and mitten drives in the winter. Love that.

I wear many of my hats and scarves and enjoy picking out my knit "look" for the day. I also find that my unfortunate habit of buying one or two skeins of yarn (rather than a sweater amount) lends itself to hat and mitten knitting. Really - there are only so many things you can do with 100 yards of yarn.

Looking through my Ravelry page with an eye toward seasons - I realize I have many pictures with thick wool hats or scarves being proudly modeled in the dead of summer. I love these pictures. Lots of bright happy flowers with my thick woolen creations. Something warm to hold on to when winter comes and there is so little warmth and light.

Frosted Pines

We are having a really warm winter this year. I am loving the lack of arctic temps and the lack of snow. This weekend we had fog overnight that froze to everything. When I let the dog out this weekend I was greeted with frosted Pine Trees in our back yard. It was so pretty! Later when it warmed a little and a breeze would go through the tree's it "snowed" off of the trees. It was kind of magic.

I snapped a shot of Emma just as she blinked. Go figure. She has been enjoying running around in the yard this winter with out freezing her paws off. We still have months of winter left so we might still get some serious snow and cold, but to have made it this far and still see grass in the back yard is pretty remarkable.

On the knitting front, I finished knitting, sewing in the ends, soaking and am now blocking my Yelcho Feather & Fan scarf. I did the trick with folding my scarf in half and using a rolled up towel to block it in a smaller space. I just know if I lay this on the floor in the basement with all those fun colored pins I would be rushing my cat to the vet with any number or terrible ailments. This seems less likely if I have this up on the table. I am doing a light blocking - only pinning on the ends and then the towel at the center is pulled up somewhat firmly.

I am anxious for it to be done done. I can't wait to wear it! The pattern was so easy and would be very adaptable to a shawl or blanket. Definitely a keeper! I think this will be used a lot to work down some of my single skeins in my stash. Hopefully I will have a picture of me modeling it in here very soon.

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.

Checking in

I haven't been talking much about my weight loss goals and how things have been going. I am still working hard on my goals - but I have been struggling with the weight loss. When I weighed in yesterday (Zero loss/Zero gain) my weight watchers report told me I have lost 2.2 lbs in the last 4 weeks. Uffda. Something is not right here. They recently changed my daily weight watchers allowance from 29 points to 26. You wouldn't THINK three points a day would make that large of a difference, but it really has been throwing me for a loop. I used to have extra points every day, and now I am digging into my weekly allowance every day. Which has lead to me not wanting to track what I eat, which leads to only dropping 2.2 lbs this last month.

So I am heading back to the grindstone here. I have been exercising consistantly, but I am going to work harder on the food input and tracking. I am also going back to exploring recipies so I am eating some fresher foods that are more satisfying. As good as the frozen lunches I eat have been, they are still frozen meals.

I will also be taking a que from my Cat Izzi and trying to get more sleep!

January and February are always a hard time in Minnesota. It's cold. It's gray. There is no light. You feel like you are constantly bundled up and running from one warm area to another. We have actually had a very mild winter here this year, but it's still winter and it's still long, dark and cold. I know that affects my spirit. I am trying to not let stuff get me down, to take deep breaths, to slow down.

There will always be stressers in life. Always. So I need to learn how to shake them off and roll with the rough times. Something I have been trying to improve for awhile. It's not easy! But I am learning.

How is everyone else doing this winter? You all hanging in there? I know it's not winter everywhere, it's sunny and warm and awesome somewhere right now. I think New Zealand and Australia are in high summer now. Oh to be a Kiwi!

Maybe it's time to make an appointment to get a hair cut and throw some color on my toes. A little make-over might go a long way toward some much needed lifted spirits!

Wind Blows

The snow is not melting away anymore. It's in the teens in the mornings now. Brrrrrr! Not very excited for it to be winter again. Although it's been fun wearing all the hats and other knit accessories I made over the summer. My first real chance to rock them out!

See - there is always a bright side.