* Delicious Stitches *

Etsy and a Birthday

2012-01-21T18:58:00.001-05:00

I now have 20 items in my shop YAY!!! But no sales BOOO!!! I know it can take a while to start getting customers on Etsy and you have to promote yourself so I am going to keep working on that and of course making sure that I only make and list items that I love and use and wear myself. I started redoing some of my pictures and I am going to finish the rest of them tomorrow.

I just had my first day of school today and less than half the class was there because we had a snow storm last night and the roads weren't cleared yet. I am glad to be back in school because I am so bored at home.

I have been making party favors for my little sisters 11th birthday party thats next Saturday. I made tie dye t-shirts and multi color tutu skirts for all the girls. I will post pictures next week of everything. I am so proud of the things I made because I have never done tie dye or made a tutu before and they turned out really nice. I did try to make a heart tie dye design on two of the shirts but they just look like circles.

I'm on Twitter

2012-01-13T15:19:00.000-05:00

I just signed up to twitter a few minutes ago and I posted a comment. If you want to follow me there is a link on the left side of this blog underneath my profile. I feel like I am so late with getting onto twitter but oh well.

Etsy Shop Now Open!!!

2012-01-07T16:11:00.002-05:00

Long time no post. I have been missing my blog but I have been busy with life as I'm sure you all can relate and even though I do have the time to blog I just don't have the energy.

I mentioned months ago that I wanted to open my Etsy shop back up but never got around to it because my digital camera had been stolen and I had no means of taking pictures except for when my mother let me borrow her iphone but that was not convenient. Lucky me, my boyfriend bought me a camera for Christmas so I have been taking loads of pictures and I have now posted my first item. It is a knitted ring made from wool yarn.

Infinity Ring $8

I got the idea to start making knitted jewelry a few months ago when my boyfriend asked me why I never wear jewelry and I explained to him that it's because I find it very uncomfortable. I had looked online for knitted jewelry but nearly everything I found was to clunky looking so it became my goal to make simple, classy, and sophisticated knitted jewelry pieces.

I just hope people like what I am making now and customers can find me. I had a bad experience with using Etsy a few years ago and completely got turned off from the site but I have decided to give it one more shot.

What I Want from Etsy

2011-08-26T12:57:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to learn how to do cross stitch for a long time and this kit is super cute and it seems like something a beginner could easily handle.

Little cloud pin embroidery kit made by TakoFibers

Little bit of knitting, whole lot of Insanity!!!

2011-08-14T20:36:00.001-04:00

I have not done much knitting over the past week but I wanted to show you something that I'm working on and haven't posted about yet. They are the Kalajoki socks free on ravelry. They are ridiculously easy and fun to make. I am finished with the first one except for the toe seaming. I am planning on stitching it up and casting on for the second one tonight before I watch the new True Blood episode. Isn't that show amazing? I have been watching it since the very first episode and it just keeps getting better. The other day I was saying to my boyfriend about how I love it because it has so many supernatural beings that there's something for everyone and he said "Yeah a little too many if you ask me?" Well guess what? I wasn't askin' I was tellin', so there, lol.

Anyway the reason I haven't been doing much knitting is because last week I got started with a SUPER intense workout program called Insanity. They have infomercials for it that I am sure you've seen. My boyfriend bought it a long while back and never used it and one day I was talking about how much weight I gained over the past few months and how I haven't been this heavy in a few years. I am not actually overweight but I have always been pretty fit so for me gaining 10 lbs. is drastic especially since I'm 5 feet tall. Anyway I was saying that I was going to buy a workout program and so he said I could have his. He gave me the Insanity program and he gave me P90X. I watched them both and chose Insanity because the P90X had too much weight lifting and not enough cardio and I LOVE cardio cause I like jumping around like a maniac. I have already lost 3 lbs. which is more than I have ever lost in one week on any other workout program before so I am so excited. I haven't even started to follow the nutrition guide. I will at the beginning of next week and I am hoping for even more results.

Entrelac Shawl Progress

2011-08-10T09:51:00.000-04:00

The Entrelac shawl is going pretty well but I have to say I am getting bored with this project. I don't think it really has anything to do with the project itself I just want to make so many things right now and I can't seem to get anything finished quickly enough to make me happy. I started two other projects as well which I have been giving way more attention. I wish I could just commit to one project at a time, but don't we all? I am on my second skein of yarn and its about 14 inches long right now. I wish this was finished so I could wear it already.

What I Want from Etsy

2011-08-01T11:47:00.000-04:00

I really want a new makeup bag. I have lots of makeup and I hate that when I bring it somewhere with me that it's thrown around in my purse getting makeup everywhere. There are several that I have in my etsy favorites that I would love to have and they are all big enough to hold all my stuff.

These first two bags are from Octopurse and they are my favorites. These pouches range from $50 to $60 which is a little steep for me.

This one is from FA2U and I like that it is so feminine and classy looking. I would actually use this is a clutch too.

This last one is by Natalie Farrell and I like that it has a bunch going on but all of the design elements flow together perfectly and I love the button embellishments.

Primavera Socks

2011-07-28T09:50:00.001-04:00

Ah yes another finished project :-) These are the Primavera Socks free pattern. I wanted something simple and quick to make. I was a little surprised that it took as long as it did to make them. I spent a whole week working on them non stop including my bus ride from DC to Pittsburgh. The increasing rows are what really slowed this project down and they weren't any fun. I wasn't a big fan of how the pattern was written. I thought the directions for make one right and make one left were a little confusing but I already knew how to do it so it didn't matter for me. Also when it got to the toe decrease section she didn't tell you how many stitches should be knit between each decrease she simply stated knit until the end of this needle or that needle and decrease. Well if I had done that I would have had some pretty crazy looking toes. When people are knitting socks sometimes they transfer stitches from one needle to another to make it more comfortable or easier to knit also how does she know how many stitches a person put on each needle when doing the heel? She shouldn't assume that the knitter who is using her pattern is doing everything exactly the way she did it. I would never recommend this pattern to a knew knitter or anyone that has not made socks before because if I did they would probably give up. With all that said I do still like the finished product.

My little sister was kind enough to model these for me.

What I Want from Etsy

2011-07-27T01:23:00.001-04:00

Vulva Love Lovely

Vagina love!!! These pieces of vagina jewelry are not only beautiful but each one is modeled after a real womans vagina. I would love to get one custom made for myself.

Brians Blanket

2011-07-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here is my little brother Brian's finished Granny Ripple Afghan. He is 8 years old and he loved it. He is always asking me to make him things and I have some leftover yarn so I am going to make him some kind of toy but I haven't figured out what yet. There are some pretty cool spaceship patterns on Ravelry and it would fit the theme of his room.

This blanket seemed like it was coming together pretty quickly until I got towards the end and it took two days for me to do the border. Now I have to get started on my sisters blanket. I am going to be doing a multi color granny square blanket so the most time consuming part of hers will be weaving in the ends which I am not looking forward too.

What I want from Etsy

2011-07-24T01:30:00.000-04:00

I NEED these! Every last one of them. Cute and functional.

made by Maid of Clay

made by OC Pottery

made by Jampdx

made by Lenny Mud

I Promise I'm Not Ignoring You

2011-07-22T22:02:00.000-04:00

I can't comment on my own blog posts so for the past three weeks I haven't responded to any comments left by you guys. I just wanted to make sure you all knew that I wasn't being rude this feature is just not working on my blog. I have posted several messages about this problem in the blogger forums along with other users who are experiencing the same issue but it hasn't been addressed.

Workin on the Boyfriends Scarf

2011-07-22T01:19:00.000-04:00

Progress is really slow on the Cerus scarf. Working the rows long ways is making it seem like it takes an eternity and it is a two row repeat so I am already pretty bored with it but I love the way it looks. I am glad I got this started early because it will probably take me until the fall to muster up the motivation I'll need to finish it.

I even like the wrong side of the scarf because it looks like seed stitch and I loooove me some seed stitch.

What I want from Etsy

2011-07-21T09:46:00.000-04:00

Jewelry made by Contrary. When I first saw this little teapot necklace I thought oh this was made for me. I love tea and coffee but I am now a decaf drinker cause I'm getting HEALTHY :-)

And then I saw these and I consider myself to be a bit of a handywoman and this would be a nice conversation starter. Conversations that would allow me to brag about all of my handy projects that I've done. I love being better with my hands than most boys.

Almost Finished with Brians Blanket

2011-07-19T02:00:00.001-04:00

This is the blanket that I have been working on for my little brother. It is the Granny Ripple Afghan by Project Linus. I highly recommend this pattern. It's fun, easy, and it works up really fast and it's a nice change from just the plain ripple afghans all over the place. This made the adult size because I want my brother to have this forever and ever and man is it big. I was really surprised at how wide it turned out. I can spread it across my moms queen size bed. I'm not completely finished with this blanket just yet, I need to do the trim. I will take pictures of it on his bed when I am all the way done.

What I want from Etsy

2011-07-17T02:00:00.007-04:00

When I was in elementary school I used to always be in another world. I used to break my pencils in to pieces and pretend that they were toys and sneak and play with them in my desk. I was diagnosed with ADD as an adult but it should have been obvious lol. Anyway these would have been way more fun.

Made by Mochie Qtie

There are lots of other cute animals available all around $15

Entrelac is Fun!

2011-07-13T21:55:00.001-04:00

I started working on my entrelac shawl and it is a very fun knit. It took me a little while to catch on to the pattern, I even had to watch a video on it because I couldn't figure it out. I made a few mistakes along the way but once I got it down it was nothing but smooth sailing.

I decided to put the other shawls I wanted to make on hold because I want to start making sweaters and socks for when it gets cold. I am also working on opening my etsy shop back up and I have been spending the majority of my time making items for it.

What I want from Etsy

2011-07-07T20:13:00.001-04:00

Lime green suede and silver wrap bracelet by Rebecca Novotny Designs

I have decided that once a week I will be doing a post called what I want from etsy because there is so much great stuff on that site and I can't afford it all (not even close). So I will share my dreams of having these lovely items with you all. The first item is this lovely bracelet by Rebecca Novotny. I love the mix of suede with green and it comes in several other colors that I would also like to own. I like the green, yellow, and pink the very most and this bracelet wraps around your wrist 4 times so I'm thinking it might be big enough to fit over my smallish head to be worn as a necklace. At $20 a pop this would make a great gift for a friend or sister or any cool chics you know who are deserving of such prettyness.

There are so many other items I want to blog about but I don't want to overload you with all the stuff I want so I will pace myself :-)

To My Followers

2011-07-04T11:26:00.000-04:00

I would like to take some time out this July 4th to say how grateful I am to all my blog followers. You guys mean alot to me because I don't have any crafty friends or family members. I am the only crafty person I know in real life and until I started blogging I felt all alone but blogging has connected me to so many people with the same interest and of all age groups. I also follow alot of your blogs and they are a great inspiration to me so keep it up. I never thought years ago that I would still be blogging and that I would love it so much. I hope to look back 10 years from now and see how I've grown as a crafter.

Blanket for my Boy Toy

2011-06-28T08:40:00.001-04:00

I made this blanket for my boyfriend. I have never made such a big gift for a guy :-) and he totally loved it. It matches the decor in his den perfectly and I think it adds a really homey touch. I made it using Patons merino wool and Lion Brand fisherman's wool.

I made the hexagons using this pattern. It was really easy but all the ends I had to weave in were driving me crazy. I wish I had timed how long it took me to weave them all in. I watched all of the 42 episodes of Hoarders on Netflix while making this plus some other shows just to give you an idea of how long this project took me. I'm pretty sure I developed a few extra cellulite dimples on my booty but I'm working hard to remedy the situation. I have been working out every other day and I am sticking with it!

Busy Bee Me

2011-06-23T21:15:00.004-04:00

I have been very busy starting new projects this week. I am working on the Granny Ripple Afghan for my little brother and it's crocheting up really quick. I started making the entrelac shawl that I posted about a few weeks ago. It is so much easier than I expected it to be and it's so pretty. I'm worried I didn't buy enough yarn for it but hopefully I will have enough to make a stole big enough to wrap around myself. I can always block the hell out of it and make it stretch. I knit the Vlad shawl by Tammy Bailey from start to finish in less than a week and I think it might be my favorite shawl to date. I knit it using Knit Picks Stroll hand painted yarn in kindling tonal colorway. I used almost the entire skein. I had almost completed the border rows when I realized I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish so I had to frog back and remove the last repeat of the body so I would have enough for the entire border. I loved the border so much on this shawl I didn't want to omit any of it.

I'm about to cast on for yet another project this one is for my boyfriend. I am going to use two skeins of Knit Picks Imagination fingering weight yarn in the colorway castle walls to make him a Cerus Scarf by Hilary Smith Callis. I have been in love with this pattern for a long time and was waiting for the right person to make it for.

Trip to Phipps

2011-06-21T15:51:00.008-04:00

I love visiting Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh and I always get a bunch of great photos. Since I didn't have my own camera this time around my boyfriend did all the picture taking and I think he did a great job. Now I have new photos for my facebook page :) Enjoy the pretty pictures everyone.

Pretty Shawls

2011-06-14T19:04:00.005-04:00

I finally have pictures of some of the items I have made over the past few months. I had to take pictures using an iphone because someone stole my digital camera :-( and I havent been able to get a new one.

I used some lace weight yarn from my stash and knit this on size five needles. The pattern is the Pooling summer mesh shawl. I wanted to make something really simple that I could use up this yarn that I had and this project was perfect for that. I had the pattern memorized after one repeat but it took a long time to knit up the thin yarn. I took this on two seven hour bus trips and worked on it at home fpr two weeks. It is very soft and light so it's perfect for the summer.

I knit the Pimpelliese shawl with some fingering weight yarn that I got from knit picks. I wanted to try making a shawl that was knit from side to side. I thought the process might seem faster this way but I was so wrong about that. It seemed like it took forever to get to the center and it took even longer to get from the middle to the end. I do love the finished shawl so I am glad I stuck it out and finished. This shawl is more like a scarf though.

I crocheted this last shawl which was really fun and really fast. I had the whole thing done from start to finish in 3 days. The pattern is called Elise and I used two skeins of patons classic wool that I had in my stash and I think I used a size J hook. I had so much fun making this that I got back into crocheting and have made several more crochet items since then.

Explorations in Knitting

2011-06-07T12:13:00.010-04:00

Hello everyone I am coming back to blogging after a very long absence. I have missed it so much. I have a bunch of finished projects that I will be posting over the next two weeks so stay tuned for that but right now I want to talk about the things I plan to make. I have decided to challenge myself by knitting projects that use techniques that I have never tried before. My boyfriend ordered me some very pretty yarn from Knit Picks and I have my projects all picked out for them.

The first project is going to be the one that I think will be the easiest and that is the Drop Stitch Cowl by Lisa Zingsheim. I have never done a project with dropped stitches and I love the seafoam pattern.

Image Courtesy of Knitwench

Next I will try my hand at entrelac. I have always thought that entrelac looked way to intimidating for me to try but I found a pattern that has quite a few projects and after reading many comments from ravelry users saying the directions were easy to understand even for first timers I decided that I would give the Entrelac Scarf a try. I am going to add stitches to make mine a stole instead of a scarf which I see alot of other people did as well.

Entrelac Scarf and photo courtesy of Laura Spradlin

I am referring to this next one as the really scary cabled triangle shawl. It uses multiple charts and the pattern contains cables, yarn overs, and slipped stitches, OH MY!!! That's alot to handle in one project and if you don't work the pattern just right the stitches won't flow into one another and the whole pattern will get thrown off.

Cartouche Shawl and photo by Janelle Martin

The last project I chose is Summit by Mandi Harrington. I don't really know what the technique is that she used to make this shawl so I will just call it super cool and leave it at that. She says the technique is actually very easy. I'll be the judge of that ;-)

Photo courtesy of Knitwit

I'm Alive

2011-03-09T09:38:00.004-05:00

I just haven't had much access to the internet over the past few months. I moved from Plum Boro, Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland about five months ago and I am just now getting back to using the computer. I decided to make all of my patterns available for free because I haven't been able to manage my ravelry store. I am going to start posting about knitting again so come back soon :>)

FREE PATTERNS

Fleuri

2010-09-14T15:33:00.003-04:00

I had wanted to make one of these floral bags since back when I first started to crochet but then changed my mind after reading repeatedly online that crochet flowers look like vagina's. I guess after all this time I still liked the bag deep down cause I finally got around to making it. I love the way it turned out and would like to make another one eventually but it's not exactly the most fun project ever so I'm not sure if that will ever happen or not. The project itself was fairly easy but using a bulky yarn with a small hook really kills your hands so you can't work on it for long periods of time or your fingers will swell.

The pattern was written by Julie Armstrong Holetz and it is available for free on Ravelry or the Crochet Me website.

Summer Flies

2010-08-29T16:54:00.002-04:00

It sure does. This shawl is called Summer Flies. It was designed by Donna Griffin and is available as a free Ravelry download. It was the perfect project to end the summer with, quick and easy. I used some main line yarn that I bought from KnitPicks.com. I love this yarn and it is super soft and makes neat even stitches. The only thing is that when I was knitting with it there was lint everywhere. It was floating in the air and my clothes were covered in it. I washed it in the machine and it seems to be done with that now but we will see, I haven't worn it yet.

I also decided to give the blog a whole new look now that Blogger has so many great new templates for you to use. I wanted something clean and bright looking. I moved somethings around to make it easier to navigate and find patterns. I won't keep it like this forever, I will change it again when I start to get bored.

Ghetto Fab

2010-08-13T11:13:00.004-04:00

I had alot of leftover yarn from the cowl I posted about last week and decided to make this quick crochet project. I found the pattern free on ravelry it's called a crochet Dookie Chain and was designed by KeenaButtaH.

The only mod I did was instead of double crocheting the last round I did single crochet and I felted mine in the washer. I love the way this came out and I think I will make more in the future in different colors.

Show Me Your Teeth

2010-08-04T15:05:00.005-04:00

I was working on this over the past few days and couldn't wait to show it off. I have had the idea in my head to make this for years but just hadn't gotten around to it.

It was partly inspired by the masks from the Nas video for "Theifs Theme" and it was also inspired by the Alice in Wonderland Cheshire cat.

I am working on making a knit version of this and will be selling the patterns together for $3.50. I should have the patterns written up and on Ravelry by next week.

Literally (pencil case)

2010-07-28T14:59:00.007-04:00

Hey everyone I added a new pattern to my Ravelry Patterns today. The pattern is for a pencil case that looks like a pencil. I tried to make it look as much like a real pencil as possible. I love the way it came together and I'm going to be making more of these over the next few weeks for back to school :)

FREE!!! download now

Woodland Shawl

2010-07-15T11:43:00.005-04:00

I finally finished the Woodland Shawl that I have been knitting since April and blogged about here. I used some pink fingering weight yarn that I got at a thrift store about 2 years ago. It's 100% wool so it blocked really nicely. As with pretty much all my shawls I iron blocked it and really made it stretch. I can't remember how many stitches I cast on but it was more than the pattern calls for. I wanted mine to be very wide. I knit this on size 4 needles because my gauge seemed loose and I wanted the stitches to look neat. It might seem like I wasn't working on this very much because it took so long for me to finish but I worked on it consistently it was just a very time consuming project. I could have finished more quickly if I hadn't gone down in needle size. I love the way this shawl turned out and I was thinking about dying it because I wasn't in love with the pink but now that it's all finished I think the color has kind of grown on me so maybe I will wait until I wear it out once and then decided whether or not to dye it.

I'm trying to decide which shawl in my Ravelry favorites to make next. I just ordered some yarn from Fearless Fibers and I can't wait to get it in the mail. I have known about Fearless Fibers yarn for a few years now but never got around to trying them out. I'll let you know how I like it in a few days.

Sockettes

2010-07-02T19:44:00.003-04:00

I am currently knitting these cute sockettes. When I saw the pattern I knew I wanted to make myself a pair. One reason was because I have a few small skeins of sock yarn that I need to get rid of. The other reason is because I bought a few pairs of ballet style flats but when I wore them without socks my feet hurt and were of coarse really sweaty. I'm not really sure how everyone else manages to wear these type of shoes without socks and still be comfortable but I can't do it. The pattern is by Inspire Knits and is available for free on ravelry as well as on her blog. I finished the first sock in about 3 days. Most people could probably finish in less time but I knit really slow on small needles. I can't wait to finish the second sock so I can try them out and see how they feel. If they work out I will probably knit some in a more neutral color.

Milestones

2010-05-30T12:51:00.005-04:00

I now have just over 100 people following my blog and it was a personal goal of mine to get 100 followers by the end of 2010. My strategy to make that happen was to post as often as possible and ALWAYS have pictures. The first few years I had this blog I wasn't really into it but now I love it, I can't imagine not having a blog. I know with Ravelry being around now some people don't want to blog anymore but I'm keeping my blog for as long as I possibly can. Anyway I would like to take some time out to thank everyone who follows and reads and comments and especially to those that buy my patterns, lol. I put together a photo mosaic of nearly every project I ever took a picture of and yes there were lots that I didn't. Back when I first started knitting I wasn't trying to keep track of the things I made. Most of these projects were designed by me. Some of the patterns are free and some are for sale on Ravelry. You can find links for all of the patterns on the right side of the page.

Late Bloomers Fingerless Glove Pattern

2010-05-26T13:07:00.009-04:00

I was feeling really motivated because the Sunshine shawl I posted about the other day has already had 5 sales and that's more than any of my other patterns so I'm really happy and I decided that I would finally take some pictures and list another pattern.

FREE!!!

download now

This is a pair of fingerless gloves I designed to remind me of the blooming plants in spring.

Sunshine Shawl Pattern

2010-05-24T13:42:00.010-04:00

I was inspired to make this shawl while looking at the shawl designs by Steven West. He has a really interesting way of doing shaping that often makes the shawl more practical. That was my goal with this shawl… to make it so it really does keep your upper body warm. Instead of knitting a traditional triangle I added additional increases causing the shawl to have 4 sections instead of 2 so it wraps around your body much more easily. The whole time I was knitting this I kept thinking about the sun so I named it Sunshine. Materials 2 skeins Knit Picks Stroll Kettle Dyed Sock yarn in Gold 1 size 5 circular needle (24 or 32 inch) 1 size 7 circular needle (32 inch) 3 stitch markers

FREE!!!

download now

New Pattern

2010-05-15T13:57:00.004-04:00

I got inspired to make this shawl while looking at all the great shawls that Stephen West has knit. Here is a link to his blog and to his ravelry page. He has a really interesting way of shaping his shawls and in most cases it makes them more functional. I made one of his shawls awhile back if you remember it was the Colonnade shawl that I hated, lol. I think maybe it was that I just don't like shawls in such a heavy weight yarn because the recipient swore she loved it.

The idea for this shawl was to be like a burst of sunlight and that is why it is going to be named Sunshine. I will have full details when I post the pattern which will be by the end of this coming week. Sorry this pattern won't be a freebie but it will only be $4.50 per download on Ravelry.

Happy Mothers Day

2010-05-09T13:55:00.003-04:00

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Traveling Woman Shawl

2010-04-29T16:01:00.003-04:00

I took some pictures of me modeling the Traveling Woman shawl that I blogged about here. I knit this shawl using a size 5 circular needle and the yarn was Knit Picks Imagination hand dyed sock yarn in Pixie Dust.

I would highly recommend this yarn and I hope to buy some more for myself and it's only $4.99 a skein. Where else can you get beautiful hand dyed yarn for that price?

I decided to take pictures of myself without glasses which was pretty difficult because I am BLIND. I couldn't even see the buttons unless my face was practically touching the camera. One of these days I'm going to get Lasik.

I hardly ever look at myself without glasses it's so bizarre seeing myself without them because I think I look really different. Maybe that's just me.

Will I ever get sick of knitting shawls?

2010-04-25T11:26:00.003-04:00

Probably not.

This time I am working on a rectangular shawl instead of a triangular shawl. I am knitting up some salmon colored fingering weight yarn I bought second hand a few years ago. I had a difficult time choosing a pattern for this yarn because after all the drama with the last shawl I wanted complete mindless knitting. In the end I needed to make a choice between the Spring Leaves shawl and the Woodland shawl and I went with the Woodland shawl because you just keep repeating the same 16 row pattern repeat all the way until the end and there is no edging or finishing that needs to be done. The other reason I didn't choose the Spring Leaves shawl it that you have to knit the shawl in two pieces and then graft them together and I had a hard time with that when I made the Clementine Shawlette. In fact I never actually grafted the two pieces together because it looked bad and I instead did a two needle bind off. The only modification I'm making is that I am knitting on size 4 needles instead of the recommended size 6 because I wanted to really show off the stitch definition of the little leaves.

I am also almost finished with the front of the tank top that I blogged about in my previous post so maybe next time I will have some pictures of it finished.

Finished Traveling Woman Shawl

2010-04-19T14:50:00.007-04:00

As you can see I finished the Traveling Woman Shawl and I took about a bazillion pictures mostly because when I bought my camera around a year and a half ago I had trouble with the close up but I've been working on it much more and I think I'm getting better. I would like to get a DSLR camera in the future, it would be like my dream come true, lol. I've always loved photography, I hope to take a course before I graduate. I've just always loved pictures and cameras in general. I love the way a camera looks especially old cameras, I would love to buy some old ones and restore them to working condition in the future. I think that would be a fun hobby and one that doesn't take up as much space as my current one. I'm gonna share a private story with you guys today since all this talk about photography has me thinking about it. When I was in like 6th grade I asked my mom to get me a camera for Christmas one of the Kodak Polaroid instant ones. So because I didn't really ask for much else I was so sure I was getting it. So Christmas comes and do you know what she did? She bought the gift I wanted... for my older sister! So not only did I not get to enjoy the dream gift that I was lusting after for months (and for a kid that's forever) but I had to endure the torture of having my sister receive it. I can't tell you how many years my sister had this camera sitting on her dresser unused collecting dust and yet refusing to ever let me take a picture. Actually that's not correct she used the free film that came with it then never touched it again. Yeah I'd say I'm still a bit traumatized from the ordeal. I actually tried to trade things with her for awhile. What's strange is I was so angry about even later on when I was in high school and I had the opportunity to take photography as an elective I never did. Even though I wanted too. I think I was still pissed off, lol. Anyway I had to buy a camera once I starting crafting and using the Internet and then I had the idea of starting a blog to post my projects. As soon as I started using it I loved it, and I just wanted to get better and I kept thinking about upgrading to a better camera and then when I did I wanted to upgrade again and right now I'm on my 3rd digital camera.

Is anyone still with me, lol. I know, I take too many pictures and I talk too much. This last picture is of the Tunic with Flounce. What a creative name ; ). It is a free pattern from Garnstudios. They have a ton of free patterns and add new ones every season.

Frog This, Knit That

2010-04-17T13:58:00.006-04:00

Finally after tearing back and knitting over and over again and still not coming out with the correct amount of stitches for the larger size Haruni shawl I decided to call it quits and make something else. I think there may be an error with the math and chart B no longer works with chart A when you knit additional pattern repeats and the pattern has already been revised twice so I don't doubt that there may be issues. If anyone has made this in the larger size let me know if you had any difficulties. I have a single skein of sock yarn that I may try and make this with in the future in the regular size. I am using the yarn that I was using to make the Haruni shawl to make the Traveling Woman shawl. I chose the Traveling Woman shawl because I like that it's not in the shape of a triangle like most traditional shawl patterns and also because it looked really easy. You start out with stockinette then you work 2 (or more if you want a bigger shawl) repeats of chart A and then one of chart B and then your done.

Finished Abalone

2010-04-05T16:54:00.003-04:00

I finally took pictures of my Abalone vest. I fixed the sleeves a while ago but was lazy when it came to taking pictures of me modeling it. As you can see I also colored my hair. It was more turquoise when I first did it two weeks ago but it has rinsed out some. I also cut it myself (not the best idea), I kept messing up on one side so now it's shorter than the other side but it's not awful. Next I'm going to dye it pink!

Finished a Few Things

2010-03-14T13:09:00.004-04:00

I finished the vest from the last post but not in time to wear it to school on Wednesday. I really underestimated how long it would take to knit all that garter stitch around the border and since I was working in the round on a circular needle I had to purl every other row. So I finished on Thursday and blocked it and it was huge so I put it in the dryer for probably way too long, about an hour. The yarn I used is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Claret Heather. I wore this to school on Friday and I had to keep messing around with the sleeves, they flare out really badly. I'm going to redo them sometime this week and add decreases to make them narrow out and a little longer.

I started and finished a crochet scarf in about 3 days. I only used 3 1/2 of the 5 skeins of yarn I had bought to make it so I am looking for something that I can make with such a small amount of yarn. I used Knit Picks Organic Cotton in Malted Milk. When I saw this color online I almost chose a darker one because I thought it might look white but I love it. It's a really creamy color and its very soft. The pattern is called Claudia and I made the scarf size. I highly recommend this pattern, it comes together quickly and it's a very easy stitch pattern to remember. You only have one row that is repeated for the entire pattern.

I haven't added any new pictures of Buttercup in a long time so here you go

Also Buttercup now has a Facebook page of her own so you can add her as a friend, lol.

Getting Out of Hand

2010-03-08T14:08:00.001-05:00

Yes that's right things are getting out of hand with the knitting projects. I have started so many projects and still have so many old ones that still need finished. I have currently stalled on this shawl...

I am having trouble with switching over from chart A to chart B and I think it may be because I did more pattern repeats and I may not have the correct amount of stitches. Anyway I spent an entire day trying to figure it out and I decided to finish a quicker project until I'm ready to get back to it.

This is the project that I started. It's called Abalone and I LOVE it. It is knitting up so much faster than I thought it would. I just started yesterday and I am almost done with the body so that means all thats left is the garter edging and the little sleeves which should take no time. I think I'll be wearing this to school on Wednesday.

Oh and look at that, I started yet ANOTHER project.

SOME Ravolympic Finished Projects

2010-03-06T12:29:00.003-05:00

1. Finished Old Shale Scarf, 2. Finished Old Shale Scarf, 3. Untitled, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Finished Old Shale Scarf, 7. Finished Old Shale Scarf, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. Untitled, 16. Untitled

The finished projects you see are the Old Shale Scarf made using some Knit Picks fingering weight yarn that I had in my stash. The pattern uses one full skein. I loved making this scarf and will probably make one again in the future, most likely as a gift.

There is another old shale scarf in the pictures also made by my mother using some bulky weight wool yarn from Knit Picks, the colorway is called Cordial Cherry. She made a few mistakes but they aren't all that noticeable and I think she did really well considering this was only her 3rd project ever.

I also finished the Tea Shawl that I had started. I finished this one about a day or two into the Olympics.

Your probably confused about the last project you see there because it wasn't a Ravolympic project. I actually finished that shawl right before the Olympics started and never took pictures because I didn't have a button for it. I still didn't put a button on it but I decided to take pictures of it anyway or else I'll never get around to it.

I added a picture of the last skein of yarn I have to knit in order to complete the Haruni shawl I have been working on. I had three skeins total and I feel like this shawl is never ending. I am about to start on the border and then I'm done.

My RavOlympic Projects

2010-02-20T13:37:00.005-05:00

I'm so proud of myself! I created my first photo collage/mosaic using BigHugeLabs.com where you can create them for free. Here are all my projects that I plan to have completed by the end of the Olympics. You can click on the links below for more info on each project. 1. Sweater, 2. Slouchy Hat With Picot Edge, 3. Shawl, 4. Old Shale Scarf, 5. Haruni, 6. Tea Wrap/Sea Shell Wrap

I have already finished the Tea Wrap so I am really confident that I am going to be able to complete all of my projects. Wish me luck!

Somebodies Getting Flamed

2010-02-19T08:51:00.001-05:00

I don’t usually post really personal stuff on my blog and I tend to stay away from topics like this but some things have been going on that I really need to get off my chest. It’s something involving an ex boyfriend who I broke up with when I was 19. I was with this guy for three years and all we did was drink and party. I met him when I was in high school and he is four years older than me. We have been facebook friends for a while and we were myspace friends before that back when I had a myspace page. I had noticed since adding him to my friends that there were a lot of post on his wall from a twenty year old girl constantly saying “I’m on the way to your house”, several times a week followed by messages the next day about how drunk she was and how much fun she had. Now this is a 27 year old man getting drunk and partying with a 20 year old girl along with several of his friends (no other girls). They have pictures and videos of them on their page getting drunk yelling and basically making total asses of themselves. I told him a few times that I didn’t agree with it and I thought it was irresponsible and straight up stupid for them to be putting that where anyone and everyone could see(not to mention the fact that men their age are still doing this shit). So last night I’m checking out my friends pages because I was about to get off line and what do I see? Yet another post from this under aged girl posting on his wall “I remember absolutely nothing from last night”. I was done! I sent him a message letting him know how I felt and that I was removing him from my friend list. I remember being young and hanging out with him and his friends and doing the same thing. I thought they were my friends, I thought they were cool for letting me hang out with them (what teenager wouldn’t?)but now looking back I see what a huge waste of time that all was. I hope that girl gets it together, hopefully she has some “real” friends out there who will tell her the truth because I know she can’t see it and to the guys in those pictures and videos, GROW THE FUCK UP!!!

Mara(x)

2010-02-13T17:33:00.005-05:00

This is the second Mara shawl that I have made. This one was a gift for my 9 year old sisters birthday. I think you remember the whole debacle from a few posts ago. I promised I would post the pictures the next day but I lost my memory card and just bought a new one today. Actually my mom bought it for me, Thanks Mom! I also picked up one of those key chain electronic photo albums. You can store up to 45 photos in it and it's only $15. The best thing I got today was photo shop software. I can't wait to figure it out it comes with a giant instruction manual so I think I'm going to try to figure it out tomorrow. I can't remember the name of the yarn that I used but I bought it at Joann's and I think it was some kind of Bernat baby yarn. It's a little bit scratchy but it's machine washable and that's a good thing cause I saw the dog had it in his mouth, ewww.

I have also decided to participate in the RavOlympics but I'm not going to follow the rules... of course. Your supposed to watch the actual Olympics while your knitting(or whatever craft) but I don't want to watch the Olympics. Instead I have decided to watch the entire series of Harry Potter movies because they were coming up in my Netflix account and the kids didn't get to see the first few movies. I'm going to make a list of all the projects I want to make and compile them together for my next post.

"This crazy thing called yarn and what it does to people."

2010-02-12T15:32:00.005-05:00

I found this posted in the forums on Ravelry.com. I was going to put a link to it but you have to be a member to see the site so I figured I would just post the entire forum post. I thought it was really funny and figured you guys might like it too. The guy who wrote it is Padgee on Ravelry. I am not a knitter. I joined Ravelry to see where my girlfriend spends her time on the internet lol. In the 10 or so months that she’s been knitting I’ve been secretly/overtly observing and documenting this crazy thing called yarn and what it does to people. These things I know to be true. 1.Yarn is NOT string and should not be referred to as such. 2.Knitting needles are not sticks,stix, or styx. 3.Casting on is NOT a fishing metaphor. 4.Yarn comes in different weights, colors, styles. Kind of like drugs. 5.People dye their own yarn with varying degrees of success. 6.Knitting is taken everywhere. No exceptions are to be made. 7.Fun fur is frowned on by “real” knitters. 8.“Lemme just finish this round” is a lot like me saying “Lemme just finish this round of video games” fair enough 9.A collection of yarn is a “stash” much like drugs. 10.Yarn barf is actually a thing. 11.Ravelry has a weird economy of bartering. Yarn can be exchanged for other goods not related to yarn. ????? Weird. 12.There are knitting groups, where other like minded knitters knit together and (this part is an assumption) talk about how knitters should rule the world. 13.Do NOT sit on or around yarn left on the sofa. This will cause knitter in the other room to jump up and rescue said ball of yarn from your evil ass. 14.Thank goodness there are no shows about knitting on Primetime TV. 15.Stitch markers are NOT earrings. 16.Lots of knitters have kittehs. You know who also had them? Witches. 17.If I want something, “Did you want to go to the yarn store?” are the first words out of my mouth. 18.Yarn stores are populated by alpha knitters. Some stores are better than others. Michaels is not a suitable substitute for a yarn store. 20.The needles that are attached with wire to each other, do not make good nunchuks. 21.Kitteh won’t chase a ball of yarn no matter how many balls you throw at his head. These things I know to be true.

Colonnade Shawl Winner!

2010-02-06T08:40:00.001-05:00

The winner of the drawing is Mousewife! Email me at amandareed20@gmail.com so I can send you your prize : )

Jawbreaker Scarf

2010-02-05T16:55:00.006-05:00

FREE!!!

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Here is my next pattern for sale. I haven't been adding patterns as often as I wanted to but with school everything has been taking longer than I would like. This yarn was given to me by my mother who originally wanted me to use it to make a baby gift for her college professors new born. After the yarn arrived in the mail my mother decided she didn’t think it was the right yarn for the hat that she had wanted me to make with it so I asked if I could have it. I knew right away that I wanted to make a sideways scarf with it. The way the colors striped was perfect for it. I wanted to keep the design itself simple to better show off this great yarn. When I was finished my mother said it was the best item I had made and I completely credit the Noro yarn company because they make such awesome yarn in beautiful color ways. I named the scarf Jawbreaker because the colors make me think of hard, sweet and sour candy.

The Colonnade Shawl

2010-02-03T18:21:00.004-05:00

It's finished and I hate it, lol. I actually finished it over a week ago and was so disappointed at the finished product that I decided to make my little sister something else for her birthday(I'll be blogging about that tomorrow.) So anyway the problem I have with this shawl is that the yarn is so thick that it has absolutely no drape to it at all. When I put it on my shoulders it just sits there looking very stiff. I was wondering if maybe I did something wrong or maybe blocked it incorrectly or something but after closer inspection of the photos of the original I can see now that the original most likely has the same issues and I just wasn't able to tell because of the way the model was posed. It took some careful maneuvering but I was able to get some fairly flattering shots of the shawl and it's a good thing too because I'm going to be giving it away to one of you! If you like this shawl or know someone who might than add a comment here and it's your, 100% free.

I didn't add a button to it so you will have to add one yourself. You have until midnight on Friday the 5th to enter. I will add all the names and choose one randomly. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

Relief for Haiti

2010-01-19T13:04:00.002-05:00

From today, (January 19th) until February 14th (Valentines Day) 100% of the profits from all Delicious Stitches patterns will be donated to charity for those devastated by the earthquake in Haiti. You can click on the links to the patterns that I sell on the right side of this page. I will match whatever the donated amount is. For example if the donated amount is $20 I will donate $20. We can all afford to give something so lets do what we can for them in their time of desperate need, thank you.

Victorian Cowl

2010-01-11T14:26:00.007-05:00

Better late than never! I haven't felt much like taking pictures these past few weeks. Its been snowing so much here in Pittsburgh and it's freezing. The lighting inside my house is awful so I have to go outside to get good pictures.

FREE!!! download now

Inevitably Frogged

2010-01-08T12:09:00.006-05:00

I just spent the past hour frogging the shawl from my previous post. I wish I had trusted my instincts and done so as soon as I realized there was trouble but I wanted to finish the shawl before I had to go back to class this coming week. The shift in color was too much and I was right, the second skein was exactly the same way. There was a break in the yarn and from there it was a completely different color. I asked my mom if she thought it looked weird and she said no but then my 7 year old brother said, "It's light there, then it has stripes, then it's dark there". So yeah, if a 7 year old boy can notice it from clear across the room, it looks BAD. I decided when frogging it that I would take the two lighter colors and combine them in the same skein and do the same with the two darker colors. The two darker colors actually look exactly the same and the two lighter colors are pretty close. Its pretty obvious to me now that this was definitely caused by human error. I haven't decided what I want to do with the yarn. I was thinking of making two separate items with each color or possibly using them together in the same project and making the entire thing striped. I'm still a little angry with this yarn right now so I'm going to work on the Colonnade Shawl and come back to this some other time.

Twilight Mittens

2010-01-02T12:30:00.003-05:00

I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally have these finished. I finished knitting them on New Years Eve, I was determined to have them done before the start of this year. I absolutely love them and can't wait to start wearing them. I washed and dried them and it made them super soft. I knit them using pink wool ease that I had in my stash from way back when I knit the Lace Panel Raglan. I still have about a half a skein left that I plan on using with some other yarn in my stash to make my little sisters birthday present. She told me she wanted a shawl so I'm going to make her the Colonnade Shawl from the fall 2009 issue of Knitty. These mittens were probably the most unenjoyable knit to date. It wasn't because they were difficult, they were actually really easy, but they were boring. I had to do cabling every other row which also made it boring because I couldn't watch tv while I was making them.

This is a shawl I am working on. I am using some Knit Picks Kettle Dyed yarn in Gold. Everything was moving smoothly until there was a join in the yarn. I kept on knitting until I realized that where they had joined the yarn the color changed drastically. You can see it in the picture above and it's actually even more noticable in real life. The entire remainder of this skein is this darker color. It's almost as if they joined it with yarn that wasn't even dyed in the same batch as the other yarn. So now I have to frog a few inches and I'm going to knit one row from each skein alternating back and forth so that the transition from one color to the next is more gradual. I looked at the other skein I bought for this project and it seems like it is going to have the same issue. I know it's not unusual for kettle dyed yarn to have variations in the skein but I used this yarn in a different colorway before and it wasn't like this so I think it was just human error.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T16:44:00.005-05:00

Happy new year everyone, I hope everyone had a good time bringing in the new year last night. I am bringing you the first post and first pattern of this year. I have so many resolutions for this year and I have a feeling I am really going to accomplish alot on my list.

FREE!!!

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2009 Christmas Presents

2009-12-30T13:30:00.006-05:00

Here are the pictures of the Christmas presents that I made this year. I made my brother and sister both crochet star afghans and I made my grandmother a cowl. All patterns found via Ravelry. I decided not to make my mom a gift because I have yet to see her use any of the items I have made her so far, so instead I gave her the October hat that I posted about a few posts ago. I gave my little brother the green one which actually fits him because his head is so HUGE! Seriously he looks like a bobble head, lol. I crocheted my sisters afghan using some Bernat Cotton yarn that I had in my stash. I used almost 1200 yards.

I used some Vanna White acrylic yarn that I bought from Joann's a few weeks ago and I used some Patons Tweedy yarn that I had in my stash for a total of about 1000 yards.

For my Grandmothers cowl I used some Knit Picks Kettle Dyed yarn that I had left over from the Springtime Bandit shawl that I made for my mom.

One of my New Years resolutions is to use ALL of the yarn currently in my stash and whatever I can't find a use for I will donate to the Thrift Store.

Skullie

2009-12-22T21:26:00.006-05:00

The second pattern for this week is Skullie. It's my take on the beanie hat. I know beanie hats are really popular because there simple and look good on just about everyone but I wanted to make one that was a little more feminine than a traditional beanie. I used a very soft silk bamboo blend yarn made be Patons called silk bamboo (didn't take them long to come up with that). Also I just really wanted to try out a yarn that had some bamboo in it because I had heard so much good stuff about bamboo yarn and let me tell you it does not dissappoint. It is so soft and light you almost forget that your wearing a hat at all.

FREE!!!

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Well I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas so I wish you all a happy holiday.

Memory Lapse Scarf

2009-12-20T20:18:00.006-05:00

This is the first pattern of the week. I decided I'm going to list both patterns this week at the beginning of the week because I'm going to be busy with Christmas stuff.

FREE!!!

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Pattern Number 2

2009-12-17T15:58:00.006-05:00

Heres the second pattern for this week as promised. I hope I don't slack off around the holidays with my pattern updates. This is a simple ribbed hat pattern that I worked up using some Joann Traditions yarn. I was surprised at how much I liked this yarn. I have to tell you, my expectations were pretty low because it is after all made for Joann's but it's very soft and the way the colors self stripe is really pretty. I like that the stripes are big because most self striping yarns have very thin stripes. I think this yarn may have been discontinued because I couldn't find it on the Joanns website but I hope not.

FREE!!!

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I'm kind of a big deal

2009-12-15T13:37:00.009-05:00

Atleast that's how I feel today, and would you like to know why? I have just listed my first pattern for sale on Ravelry!

FREE!!!

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I am so excited to finally be offering my patterns for sale. As most of you know I have been working on a knitting book for awhile now but I was holding out because I couldn't figure out whether or not I should just sell them online. I finally decided to sell them online for several different reasons. One being that the economy sucks right now and I've noticed alot less knitting books being published, I was also worried it wouldn't sell very well because of the economy. Another reason I wanted to sell them separately is because I am a perfectionist and if I can't do something to the best of my ability than I don't want to do it at all and I couldn't afford to make the book as amazing as I wanted to. So for right now I am going to list my patterns on Ravelry and I think I might revive the old etsy store and sell from there as well. Hopefully I will someday have the time and money to devote to putting together a truly awesome book but until then you can buy my patterns individually as PDF downloads. I will be adding two new patterns each week until I have listed them all.

Here come the holidays.

2009-12-01T17:26:00.006-05:00

I've decided that this year I am not going to participate in the mass consumerism that comes with celebrating holidays. Instead I am going to make all of my gifts using almost all stash yarn. I am going to make both my brother and sister a blanket. I've wanted to do this for a while but just hadn't found the time but since I have two full weeks of no school and nothing else to do before Christmas I've decided to try and get that done. I also want to make them each a stuffed animal but I'll have to seee how quickly I'm able to finish the blankets. I already started my sisters blanket a few days ago using some Bernat Cotton Twist yarn that I had in my stash from when Joanns had it on sale.I am using a free pattern from Ravelry called Lyn's Round Ripple Baby Afghan. I haven't decided what blanket I want to make for my brother but I like Mille's Fish Blanket, which is also a free Ravelry pattern. I am reluctant to make this because there is ALOT of seaming and I am worried that I will lose my motivation and not finish it on time. As for the stuffed animals I haven't made a decision about that at all. Here are a few pictures of stuffed animals that I am considering making.

Jess Hutchisons Kate

Susan B. Andersons Elefante

Rachel Borellos Marisol

Erika Hughes Love Bunnies

Emily Stonekings Hamsterbeans

I'm Back...

2009-11-10T15:59:00.010-05:00

and with lots to talk about.

I'm going to start with showing you my latest FO, the Springtime Bandit Shawl.

I loved knitting this, it only took me about two weeks start to finish. I had a little trouble understanding the pattern in the beginning. I read the instructions wrong and wasn't doing the middle portion of the shawl correctly which was causing it to not have the correct amount of increases. I was about halfway done before I realized this, silly me.

As for modifications, I used a fingering weight yarn and size 5 needles and I did double the amount of repeats for the main portion of the shawl. I wanted it to be a really large shawl, and it is, lol.

The yarn I used is from KnitPicks and it is there kettle dyed fingering weight yarn in the colorway Bordeaux.

I made this for my mom with the intention of giving it to her for her birthday at the end of November but I am very impatient when it comes to giving people gifts, especially when its something that I've made myself. I am actually the type of person that gets more pleasure out of giving gifts than I do receiving them. Hopefully she'll get a lot of use out of this, I think it will come in handy at work because she works in an office building and the air conditioning in those places is always unnecessarily high.

Now lets talk about those damn mittens, you know the ones I'm talking about. I am still not finished with the Twilight mittens. I finished the entire first mitten except for the thumb and I am almost halfway done with the second. I am determines to wear these mittens when I go to see New Moon so I think I'm going to buckle down and finish them this weekend.

I am also still working on the Rising Fog Shawl, well, actually, I haven't worked on it in a few weeks. I think the fact that I know I won't be able to even use it for several months is causing me to not be very motivated to finish it.

I am also proud to announce that I am also working on a sweater. I am using some really soft tweed yarn and I know this is going to be a super cozy sweater.

I also got another tattoo, and it's a knitting tattoo! I have to get it touched up because there are a few things I'm not really happy with but overall I really like them.

Well, that's it folks. Hopefully it won't be weeks before you hear from me again.

Halloween Costume Giveaway

2009-10-20T09:26:00.002-04:00

I am posting today for a very selfish reason. I want to win one of these costumes http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/10/queen-of-hearts-and-alice-in-wonderland.html I doubt I'll win but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Twilight Mittens in Progress

2009-10-14T15:25:00.004-04:00

I am STILL working on my Twilight inspired mittens, I was really hoping that this would be a quick knit. I guess I'm really not in the mood for knitting mittens right now. I am ,however, in the mood for knitting shawls! I am still working on the rising fog shawl but I have also cast on for another shawl by the name of Springtime Bandit. I'm sure many of you who follow my blog are members of Ravelry, so you probably already know all about this pattern. I am making this for someone but I can't say anymore about it because it's going to be a surprise.

Why yes, as a matter of fact it is...

2009-10-03T12:51:00.004-04:00

another shawl. This time I am making the Rising Fog Shawl. The pattern is written by Bonnie Sennott and I found this pattern via the wonderous, Ravelry. I'm knitting this using some Knit Picks yarn called "Imagination" in the colorway "Pixie Dust". Now doesn't that just sound magical? I had originally cast on the amount of stitches that the pattern instructions tell you too, but the yarn was pooling in a really ugly way. All of the pink was on one side and all the brown on the other with the blues and greens all in the middle, so I decided to cast on 10 stitches fewer. The pattern is a 10 stitch repeat so that's why I chose to do it that way. I also switched to a smaller needle, which reminds me. I am using a fingering weight yarn instead of a lace weight yarn so instead of casting on using size 3's I cast on using size 5's, but now because of going down a needle size I am using size 4's. I am still not loving the way the colors are looking but my mom said she likes it so I think I'm going to keep going.

My Finished Mara

2009-09-15T19:54:00.002-04:00

I LOVE this shawl. I changed the pattern a little. In the directions it tells you to do a k2, p2 rib, but if you look at the close up shots you can see that it is actually a k3, p2 rib so I did the k3, p2 rib. I used up all the fisherman's wool in my stash, by the time I reached the ribbing it felt like it was taking a half hour to knit each row. I was like, "I am in knitting hell". I'm glad I stuck it out and made my shawl as big as I did, it's so cozy and warm. I can't wait to wear this tomorrow.

Busy Weekend

2009-09-08T11:43:00.007-04:00

Well, I have had a very busy weekend. I painted my bedroom on Friday and Saturday, I did each wall a different color. I unfortunately had to paint one wall twice because I realized after I painted it that the color didn't look right, it was way darker than the swatch I picked out. So I went and found my swatch and realized that the guy who mixed my paint had scanned the back of the wrong card, so I had to send my mom back to Lowe's to get the right paint and when she got there they gave her a hard time and didn't want to give her the correct paint. Apparently you have to check and make sure they mix the right color because once you leave the store, your stuck with it. Lucky I had called and talked to someone from the paint department before sending my mom up there and they had said that they would exchange it, so basically they had to do it because they had already agreed to do it. I'll post some pics in a few days once I get everything hung on the walls. I have also been doing some more knitting. First up, I am knitting Mara by Madelinetosh. I am using some Lion Brand Fisherman's wool from my stash. I have lot's of this yarn so my shawl is going to be pretty big. I have been wearing both the shawls that I made almost everyday that I have class but soon I think it will be too cold for them, this shawl will be very warm and perfect for cold weather. I am also working on some mittens that are based off the Bella mitten's from the movie Twilight. Here is a link to the pattern. I actually am not using the pattern because its meant to be knit using the magic loop and I have no idea how to do that so I am knitting mine using DPN's. I am also substituting the k1, p1 ribbing for twisted rib because I think it makes them look a bit more feminine. I am knitting these using some pink wool-ease that I have had in my stash from when I made the Lace Panel Raglan.

Finished Clementine Shawl

2009-08-31T14:38:00.006-04:00

That's right another finished project! I am on a roll, I just cast on for a hat last night, using some more of my stash yarn. I am also starting another project for the book today, you won't be surprised to know that I've decided to make a shawl pattern. I am so hooked on shawls right now, they are the perfect project. Once you get the stitch pattern memorized you can take it along with you anywhere, and since shawls are usually made using a light weight yarn, they don't take up much space in you're bag.

The only thing that I'm unhappy with is the seam from where I connected the two pieces. I had originally tried grafting the pieces together, that's how the pattern tells you to do it, but it didn't look good that way either. I'm going to try to get it to lay flat with my iron. Either way I really like this shawl and recommend the pattern.

Silly Mistake on a Simple Shawl

2009-08-27T10:33:00.003-04:00

In an effort to continue decreasing my stash I decided to make the Clementine Shawlette from Spring 2007 Interweave Knits. I was almost completely finished with the first half when I realized that mine didn't look like the one in the picture. I read through the chart more carefully and realized that I was knitting ALL of the wrong side rows when you are clearly not supposed to do that. I was tempted to just make the other half of the shawl the wrong way too, but I knew I wouldn't be as happy with it as I would with the real shawl, so now I have started to knit it the correct way. I only have one ball of this fingering weight yarn and I'm really hoping that I have enough to make it the same size as the pattern. I dyed this yarn myself using purple kool-aid, the yarn is some un-dyed sock yarn that I bought from Knit Picks. I was originally planning to make my mom something with this yarn because her favorite color is purple but she never uses anything I make her, she just neatly stores them away. Over the next few weeks you're going to see alot more projects being posted here on my blog and there are two reasons for that: one being that I really need to decrease my stash, and two, I get dropped off at school almost two hours before my first class because my mom has to go to work, so I spend most of that extra time knitting. I have so many projects saved on my computer and I can't wait to make them. I think I'm going to save some of the finished projects to give as Christmas gifts.

Not One But Two Pittsburgh Hats

2009-08-26T14:12:00.005-04:00

You may remember me mentioning a few posts back that I was making a black and gold hat for a friend of mine, and not only did I finish the hat, but I had enough yarn left over to make him a second hat! I am so happy with the way these turned out and he had better like them, lol. The first one I made mostly black with gold stripes and its slightly smaller than the second. I didn't use a pattern for it because it's really simple but I did learn a new technique in order to create jog less stripes. For the second one I did use a pattern, one that I found on Ravelry of course. Here's a link http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-boy-hat I chose this pattern because I really liked the pattern on the top of the hat and I thought it was manly, although I think I might possibly make one of these hats for myself in the future. I used knit picks superwash wool so they can both be machine washed. They are sooo soft you would never even think they were made of wool.

My Very First Shawl

2009-08-21T15:48:00.005-04:00

I have just completed my very first shawl and I think I'm hooked. I used a very easy pattern that I found via Ravelry and it took me a week from start to finish. Here's a link to the wonderful pattern. The only modification that I made was I knit mine using a size 5 needle instead of a size 3 because I wanted to make sure it was big enough. I had this skein of sock yarn in my stash for probably over two years, I had purchased it from Etsy and it is hand dyed in a very pretty pink and green combo. I can't remember what seller I purchased it from, I don't use Etsy anymore cause I'm broke, lol.

I had originally started to knit a pair of socks from a pattern that was in one of my various knitting magazines but this yarn is a little thicker than a regular sock yarn and I didn't think it was going to turn out the way it was supposed to so I gave up on it. Then last week I ordered more yarn for projects for my book and I didn't have any space left to store it so I decided to try and find a few quick and easy projects to use up a few skeins of yarn that I bought a very, very long time ago.

I have another skein of variegated purple sock yarn that I died with kool-aid and I'm going to make another one skein shawl with it, I'm not sure what pattern I want to use. I have so many patterns saved in my Ravelry favorites and I want them all!

Disappointment

2009-08-18T18:07:00.006-04:00

I am very disappointed with my latest knit. A friend of mine asked me to knit him a black and gold hat because he's from Pittsburgh and if you are also from Pittsburgh or know anyone that is than you know we love our black and gold. I found a pattern on Ravelry that I really liked and started to make it but I don't have much experience with intarsia and it just looks a hot mess, lol. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I will not hesitate to frog something that I think is not up to par so that's whats about to happen to this baby. I wasn't able to find a hat pattern that I really liked so I'm using a pattern from one of my handy knitting stitch pattern books and I think it's going to look really good. If I really like the finished product I might make the pattern available here. Also if you would like to knit the hat you see above or just see what it looks like when knit by someone who doesn't suck eggs, here's a link http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripey

Snowball's Great Escape

2009-08-16T12:47:00.004-04:00

My sisters hamster escaped from its cage on Friday evening. I had to go to orientation at CCAC because I'm starting school there on Monday. While I was at orientation my little sister told my mom that Snowball wasn't in her cage but my mom thought she was just hiding in her little house because who would think that she could actually get out?

I have been having trouble sleeping so I was sitting in my bed knitting at around 4am and I thought I saw something run across the floor and under my desk. I figured it was the light reflecting off the metal base of my chair and also the fact that I was really tired but about 10 minutes later my cat was in my room near the desk and I could see her trying to swat her paw at something, I stood up to see what it was and started freaking out because it was the hamster. I thought Buttercup was going to try and eat it! Luckily Buttercup was not interested in hurting it as you can see. I had to wake the kids up to try and catch it because since she bit me I haven't touched her, lol. As my sister was chasing it and trying to grab it she accidentally stepped on it and it hissed really loud and totally freaked me out. After that we weren't able to find it so I closed my moms bedroom door so it couldn't get out of there and we went to bed.

My mom didn't end up catching the hamster until the next afternoon, it was hiding in the back of her closet. We gave her water when we got her back in the cage because she hadn't had anything to drink for almost 24 hours. We honestly thought when we couldn't find her that she had died but luckily shes ok and I think she had a fun day.

Bender Bending Rodriguez is Complete

2009-08-04T15:39:00.006-04:00

I'm Alive! Well hello there, how about you and I get a little better acquainted.

Ahhh yeah, that really hits the spot.

Update on the Bender Madness

2009-07-30T18:43:00.003-04:00

Well Im happy to report that I made the entire Bender stuffie in one day. Here is a pic of the finished stuffie before felting, lookin' good...

Here is is after being washed on the heavy cycle of the washer.

OH MY GOSH!

Here he is after I performed a little plastic surgery.

I have washed him twice more on a more gentle cycle and have made him a new pair of eyes that I will sew on after he is finished drying. I actually can't tell if I like him better felted or not but either way he's pretty cool.

Building Bender

2009-07-29T14:01:00.004-04:00

This is a little something I'm making for someone because I know they love Futurama. I really like the show too and Bender is my favorite character, I love the episode where he and Fry first meet and they get locked together in the "Suicide Booth". Also it pretty hilarious that he runs on beer and carries 6 packs in his stomach compartment. I found a pattern for a Bender Bending Rodriguez but the finished Bender is only 14 inches tall and I am going to felt mine so I figure after felting it would only be about 12 inches and that's the same size as a Barbie doll.

Sorry the pictures are kinda sucky today but I wanted to photograph it on the laptop and next to the remote for size comparison. When hes all finished we are going to have a proper photo session with Mr. Rodriguez.

Crafting for a Swap

2009-07-27T11:52:00.004-04:00

This is an item that I'm currently working on for my swap partner, I can't reveal what it is until after send outs on August 15 so stop back to see all the cool stuff I made.

I am currently participating in a swap on craftster.org follow the link and it will take you directly to the swap page. If you've never participated in a swap than you definitely need to try it, especially if your like me and you don't know any other crafty people.

The swap that I'm participating in is called "Favorite movie in a box swap" and you are given a partner and they give you a list of there top 5 favorite movies and then you craft items that fit into the theme of one of the movies. Its a really fun swap and I chose to do the movie Amelie for her and she chose to do the movie White Oleander for me.

If you love Coraline...

2009-07-23T10:08:00.004-04:00

then you've got to check this out. It is a free pattern for making you're very own paper Coraline doll. The creator of the pattern recommends using card stock. The doll is so adorable! She is wearing her yellow raincoat and yellow lace up boots, so cute! I saw Coraline for the first time at the movie theater and was able to watch it in 3-D and I was amazed. It is such a good movie for children and adults, I love the mystery and magic of the other world behind the little door and if you like movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Corpse Bride than just add this to the list.

Unfortunately my printer is broken so I cant make this but I have been considering making a knitted version when I get the time. If I do I will post the pattern on my blog for anyone who wants to make one.

UFO's

2009-07-13T09:34:00.003-04:00

I have so many UFO's right now which is very bad seeing as they are all supposed to be going in the book. I like a lot of knitters have no problem getting inspired to start something new but then somewhere along the way I get a new idea and want to start on that and then the other project gets put on the back burner. Over the past few weeks I have started several new projects and have finished zero, zip, nada. So my goal for July is to finish all of the projects that I've started including writing up the patterns and most importantly it will be my goal not to start anymore projects. Speaking of UFO's lets talk about the granny blanket that I have been making for my mom (see last post). The blanket itself is looking really good but unfortunately its been put on hold for two different reasons, 1 my mom moved the crochet hook and now I cant find it in her messy bedroom and 2 she cant find the rest of the brown yarn. She has two to three skeins left of every other color but for some reason the brown is missing and I think I have a pretty good idea what happened to it. My mom used to take the blanket that she had been working on to work all the time and I believe she left her yarn at work and its probably long gone by now. So now I have only one option and that is to go and buy more Vanna White yarn and hope that the colors aren't noticeably off, I think because of the stripes it wont be. If I don't get more yarn this blanket wont be large enough to be called a baby blanket. Alright I'm going to get off the computer and work on my UFO's, ta ta!

Granny Blanky for my Mommy

2009-06-30T09:36:00.003-04:00

I started making this granny blanket for my mom 2 days ago and its coming together quick. I'm using some Vanna White (that's right) yarn that my mom was using to make a blanket that she started knitting months ago. We went to Joann's and I saw one of those cheap booklets and it had this granny square blanket pattern in it and I knew it would work great with the yarn my mom already had so I talked her into letting me frog her never to be finished blanket so I could make this instead. Crochet is a lot quicker than knitting so this should be finished in no time. I love having a crochet project going it gives my hands a break from the needles and this is also my first time doing a granny square. I love granny squares but I have never found a project that I wanted to make that used them but they have such an old school style that I really like. I'm sure when my Grandma sees it she'll tell me all about how her mother used to make things just like it when she was a little girl. Oh and did I ever tell you guys that my Grandma is one of 17 children? Birth control?! She don't need no stinkin' birth control!

Even children know that stealing is wrong

2009-06-22T10:03:00.004-04:00

So than why is this blogger Yarn Bourgeoisie SELLING my FREE pattern? Click on the link and scroll down to see the pattern. If you have time please leave her a comment or send her an email letting her know how ashamed of herself she should be.

I worked really hard designing and making the Lillian Tank Top and I won a contest for designing it and I was really proud of that and I cant believe that someone would just come along and snatch it up and try to sell it as there own. They are also selling a few other patterns that are available for free online.

I have reported them to Ravelry since they are a member and I have also flagged there blog and reported them for copyright infringement so hopefully the blog will be deleted soon and maybe they will learn a lesson from all of this and not do it again in the future. Or maybe they will just open a new account using a different name and do the same thing, oh well.

Buenos Dias Snowball

2009-06-21T20:43:00.003-04:00

I would like to introduce you to the newest furry addition to our family, Snowball. My sister got good grades on her report card so she was able to pick a pet of her own. Actually she got two little frogs that promptly died and were flushed, so sad. They lived two weeks. She was very upset so my mom took her to the pet store and let her pick something else. She told her she wasn't allowed to pick any rodent like animals but my mother has a hard time saying no to the little ones.

Ah yes she may look sweet and innocent but I can assure you she has a bit of a mean streak. She bit me the other day causing me to curse loudly in front of the kids.

That's ok though, me and Butters will have our revenge Mhuh ha ha ha!

YARN CAKE!!!

2009-06-17T15:03:00.002-04:00

As you can see I got my yarn ball winder and swift today and I made my first yarn cake, YAY! The yarn did get tangled up a few times but it is still worth the money and it takes alot less time than winding it by hand. The yarn you see here is Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine and it is a fingering weight yarn. Hopefully my yarn winding skills will improve and my cakes will be a little neater.

I have to get back to my yarn winding now, I have a full box of yarn that I need to get busy on.

I really need a yarn ball winder.

2009-06-12T16:57:00.004-04:00

I've been avoiding buying one because I am ridiculously cheap and try and buy everything second hand or on super sale but I'm going to have to give in and just buy one.

Misti Alpaca- 100% Baby Alpaca, lace weight yarn.

2009-06-07T14:15:00.004-04:00

Ah I'm feeling quite content.

And its all because of these babies. Knitty Hedera. I want to make more socks in the future, I already ordered 3 skeins of sock yarn from Webs.

Finished February Lady Sweater

2009-05-23T20:18:00.004-04:00

As promised, pictures of my finished February Lady Sweater.

The brown yarn is Lion Brand Fishermans wool and the oatmeal color is patons classic wool.

I LOVE THIS SWEATER!!!

Scavenger Hunt for a February Lady

2009-05-21T11:57:00.003-04:00

Well I am sure you all know of Elizabeth Zimmermanns February Baby Sweater and if you've ever been to craftster.org or ravelry.com than you've also seen the February Lady Sweater. I wanted to make that sweater ever since the first time I saw it and I actually cast on for it almost a year ago.

I moved in with my boyfriend in mid summer (shortly moved back out, lol) but since the move I couldnt find my almost finished February Lady. I looked everywhere, or so I thought, but had long ago given up on ever finding it and just assumed it had somehow gotten lost in the move. I used the yarn that I had left on a crochet bag since there wasnt enough to make another sweater.

So yesterday I'm switching over my winter wardrobe for my summer and what do I find at the very bottom of this huge plastic tub of clothing? YES! My nearly completed sweater with my circular needle still in place and ready to be completed. But then I remembered I used the rest of the brown yarn for that bag and I had no idea where the oatmeal colored yarn was. I went on a scavenger hunt first through all the yarn in my bedroom closet and then down in the garage where I have some more crafting supplies that I dont have space for upstairs. I found one small ball of the oatmeal colored yarn so I wont be able to make the long sleeve version but I do have enough to make a short sleeve version, YAY!

I will post finished pics in a few days once its finished being blocked.

Carry Me

2009-05-11T21:04:00.011-04:00

Last night as I was sitting in my bed knitting my first sock ever I decided that I had to have a little bag to carry my yarn for me so I can knit freely where ever I want without having to worry about my yarn rolling away.

Materials

Size F/5 3.75mm crochet hook

2 size 6 double pointed needles

1 skein Patons Silk Bamboo in "Sea"

Pattern

Chain 4, join with slip stitch to form a ring.

1. Ch1, 1 sc in the same loop, 2 sc in each of the next 3 sc, sl st in ch1 to join.

2. Ch1, 2 sc in each sc around, sl st in ch1 to join.

3. Ch1 *sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

4. Ch1 *sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

5. Ch1 *sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

6. Ch1 *sc in next 4sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

7. Ch1 *sc in next 5 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

8. Ch1 *sc in next 6 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

9. Ch1 *sc in next 7 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

10. Ch1 *sc in next 8 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat from *to* around, sl st in ch1 to join.

11. Ch1, sc around, sl st to ch1 to join.

Repeat row 11 20 times.

Buttonhole Row

Ch1, sc in next 14 sc, ch 10, skip next 3 sc, sc in 4th sc and all remaining sc around, sl st in ch1 to join.

Sl st next round to finish.

I-Cord Strap

Cast on 4sts using double pointed needles.

Knit, don't turn.

Slip the sts back to the beginning of the needle and k the row again.

Continue in this manner until you have a short length of knitting, pull down on the cord and the gap at the back will close.

Continue until your cord measure approximately 4 feet. If you are tall you may want to make yours longer, I dont need a long strap because I'm only 5 foot 1

Finishing

Slip the end of each side of your I-cord through the bag from the inside out about 1/2 an inch from the top of the bag and tie a knot an inch from the end of the cord.

Add a button of your choosing.

Adventures in Sock Knitting

2009-05-09T15:12:00.010-04:00

If you follow my blog than you have probably noticed that I have not once posted any knitted socks. Well, I have a confession to make. I don't know how to knit socks. I have wanted to try and make a pair of socks for quite some time. I don't really find them to be all that functional because lets face it we can buy socks by the pack for a fraction of the price that it costs to knit a single pair. But you have to admit they are alot more visually pleasing. When it came down to choosing a pattern I decided to check out knitty.com because they have sock patterns in every issue and there have been several that caught my eye. After looking through the archives I had narrowed it down to two different pairs of socks. The first is called Monkey and is pictured directly below and the other is called Hedera and coincidentally they were both designed by a lady named Cookie(how cute is that). I love both designs but chose Hedera because it claims to be easy and that's exactly what I was looking for.

Pattern for Monkey

Pattern for Hedera

Also I wanted all of you who read my last post "Murphy's Law" to know that I finished the tank top and it came out perfect! Sorry I cant show you guys but its going in the book.

Murphy's Law

2009-05-06T15:51:00.006-04:00

Murphy's Law states that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and that is definitely true when it comes to knitting, or more specifically, my knitting.

I decided I wanted to make a tank top using some Lion Brand Cotton Ease that I picked up at Mitchael's for $2.99 a skein, what a deal right? So I do my gauge swatch and then figure out my measurements and then I cast on and begin.

Oh and I may as well answer a question that someone asked me in a post. They brought up the fact that I always use long tail cast on in my designs and the reason I do that is because its my favorite cast on, lol. I think it looks neater than any other cast on and its stretchy so its great for sweaters where you need enough stretch to get it over your head. But back to the tank top I was making.

I was working on it for about a day when I realized that the first skein of yarn that I was using was different than the other two skeins that I bought. I couldn't believe I forgot to check the dye lots, I never do that! I didn't want the yarn to go to waste and I didn't want to stop working on the top so I decided that there couldn't possibly be that much of a difference in the color and decided to press on. Well, about halfway through the second skein I realized there was a pretty big difference but I was almost done with the body of the tank so I decided to keep on going and maybe it wouldn't be so noticeable when I was wearing it. Wrong! I was nearly completely done when I tried it on and there was a clear line where one color ended and the next began, not only that but the tank top was HUGE! I really under estimated how much stretch the stitch I was using had. So now I have completely restarted it and redid the pattern all the way from the beginning with new measurements and everything.

Kittys attacking that bad pattern for me, lol!

My Favorite Singer

2009-04-29T17:38:00.006-04:00

Justin Nozuka is my absolute favorite singer. I discovered him a little less than 2 years ago. I was watching VH1 early one morning when his video came on and I was hooked ever since. I bought his album and put it on my ipod and I listened to it every day for months. I got to see him in concert in the fall of '08 and he sounded just as good live as he did on his album, which I have to say is rare these days. So anyway I finally got around to cropping and resizing some of the pictures I took from the concert so here you all go and here's a link to his myspace in case any of you want to check out his music. http://www.myspace.com/justinnozuka

Kings of Leon

2009-04-27T10:24:00.005-04:00

That's right, I got to see the Kings of Leon this past Wednesday. I love this band and if you've never heard them than you should check them out. They really put on a good show, I just wish it could have lasted longer. I was in the front row of the balcony so I got an awesome seat. I was standing up taking pictures and some guy asked my friend to tell me to sit down so I had to curse his ass out, lol. Everyone in the place was standing up, thats kind of the point in going to a concert.

I'm all smiles with my beer and concert ticket, oh and check out what I'm wearing! It was rainy and kind of chilly so I decided to wear my striped raglan sweater, its so hot now in Pittsburgh I doubt I'll be wearing sweaters again until next fall.

The place where they had the concert(cant remember the name) ran out of beer within the first like 45 minutes so I only got to have one. Either they didn't realize how many people would be there or they wanted to keep us from getting to disorderly, who knows?

Lots of new exciting things!

2009-04-18T16:39:00.002-04:00

Well, the title says it all. Let me run through each thing one by one and try my best not to forget anything.

First off Id like to thank everyone for all the lovely comments that you are always leaving me. I read each and every one of them and I love when you leave me comments, its my reason for coming here and blogging.

I finally took the time today to properly photograph 3 different sweaters that I have already posted about but hadn't taken the best action shots of. One of the sweaters didn't have action shots at all! The pictures were taken by my ex-boyfriend (but still good friend) Heath. So lets take a moment to thank him for providing us with non crap-tastic photos, Yippee!

I am proud to announce that progress on the book has been great. I have been knitting non stop and hope to have the book finished by the summer.

And now for the bad news, I mentioned in an earlier post that I had learned to drive and got a car. Well 2 days ago a woman hit me on my front driver side and totaled my car. She hit me so hard I don't even remember driving on that street at all. She hit me with an SUV and I didn't see her until a second before she hit me. The accident was her fault and its written in the report. I'm not angry about the car being gone I'm just glad I'm OK and suffered no permanent injuries, but damn am I sore, lol.

Striped Raglan Sweater

2009-04-15T13:46:00.007-04:00

That's right finally a post about knitting!

This is a striped raglan sweater that I actually finished months and months ago but never got around to posting. I was inspired by a striped sweater that I saw on Brooklyn Tweeds blog. If you haven't visited his blog I highly recommend that you do, he is a very talented designer and unlike myself he actually finishes the knits that he starts. I used some cheap wool-ease yarn so its a little scratchy but all in all I like it. If there were one thing that I could change I would have used a smaller needle because When I wear a shirt underneath this sweater you can see through it.

Bathroom Redo

2009-04-05T17:16:00.006-04:00

I decided to redo the bathroom because its pink and ugly. I couldn't change the sink or the tub so I had to try and work around them and draw as much attention from them as possible. I did a peel and stick floor that cost under $40. I painted the vanity bottom brown and replaced the hardware and I painted the mirror above it brown also. My mom ordered the storage thing above the toilet from Sears. We had originally bought one from the store but it was missing one piece so we had to take it back and after waiting 2 days more than they said we got it and some of the pieces just looked kind of beat up so I wouldn't recommend buying from Sears.

BEFORE

AFTER

Kitty Porn

2009-04-02T16:09:00.006-04:00

This is my sweet little buttercup. She is really furry now but I am going to get her shaved really soon. I am going to save her fur and get it spun into yarn. I don't know how to spin myself so I'll have to get someone to do it but Im sure I can find someone on Etsy. I want to knit a floppy stuffed kitty so a long time from now when I don't have her anymore I can still kind of hold her. Yes Im obsessed with my cat!

Baking Practice "Cupcakes"

2009-04-01T16:59:00.006-04:00

The other day I got the urge to bake some cupcakes. I plan on making some things for Easter so I figured I may as well get some practice in so I can improve my cooking skills which are pretty much non existent. I let my little sister and brother help but they mostly just licked the bowl and ate the candy which is usually my job especially when I go over my friend Dana's house. She makes the most awesome brownies!

I bought two boxes of Pillsbury devils food cake mix and I bought Hershey's kisses with caramel inside and Reese's peanut butter cups. Some of the cupcakes are just plain chocolate and the others have the candies in them. You can tell the difference because after they were baked they left little holes on the tops of most of them. I learned for next time that if I push the chocolates in deeper that wont happen. I used chocolate and vanilla icing on both kinds of cupcakes. The Reese's peanut butter cup ones are better because the kisses seem to have dissolved into the cake mix or something so next time I'm going to try putting 2 kisses in each one.

Sorry if you cant enlarge the pictures, bloggers being weird.

*** Delicious Stitches ***

Etsy and a Birthday

I'm on Twitter

More Items and Blogger Problems

Etsy Shop Now Open!!!

What I Want from Etsy

Little bit of knitting, whole lot of Insanity!!!

Entrelac Shawl Progress

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Brians Blanket

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I Promise I'm Not Ignoring You

Workin on the Boyfriends Scarf

What I want from Etsy

Almost Finished with Brians Blanket

What I want from Etsy

Entrelac is Fun!

What I want from Etsy

To My Followers

Blanket for my Boy Toy

Busy Bee Me

Trip to Phipps

Pretty Shawls

Explorations in Knitting

I'm Alive

Fleuri

Summer Flies

Ghetto Fab

Show Me Your Teeth

Literally (pencil case)

Woodland Shawl

Sockettes

Milestones

Late Bloomers Fingerless Glove Pattern

Sunshine Shawl Pattern

New Pattern

Happy Mothers Day

Traveling Woman Shawl

Will I ever get sick of knitting shawls?

Finished Traveling Woman Shawl

Frog This, Knit That

Finished Abalone

Finished a Few Things

Getting Out of Hand

SOME Ravolympic Finished Projects

My RavOlympic Projects

Somebodies Getting Flamed

Mara(x)

"This crazy thing called yarn and what it does to people."

Colonnade Shawl Winner!

Jawbreaker Scarf

The Colonnade Shawl

Relief for Haiti

Victorian Cowl

Inevitably Frogged

Twilight Mittens

Happy New Year

2009 Christmas Presents

Skullie

Memory Lapse Scarf

Pattern Number 2

I'm kind of a big deal

Here come the holidays.

I'm Back...

Halloween Costume Giveaway

Twilight Mittens in Progress

Why yes, as a matter of fact it is...

My Finished Mara

Busy Weekend

Finished Clementine Shawl

Silly Mistake on a Simple Shawl

Not One But Two Pittsburgh Hats

My Very First Shawl

Disappointment

Snowball's Great Escape

Bender Bending Rodriguez is Complete

Update on the Bender Madness

Building Bender

* Delicious Stitches *