What's up, inheriting an icelandic, and Christmas knitting...

Alright, so I've been working on a bunch of things since my last post. Here they are.

--Did the Calorimetry for Alex, it turned out well.

--Used leftover yarn from that to make some Waffle Stitch Gloves. They turned out well too.

Over Thanksgiving break, I had four 5 hour car rides, so I got a lot done. I made:

--A Baroness Beret in really pretty red vanna's choice for my sister
--A matching pair of Cherry Red handwarmers
These both came out really well!

--A Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret for my room mate...This came out really really big and slouchy. As a result, she didn't really like it, so I offered to rip it out and make a different one. I'll probably make another Max's Staircase Tam instead.

--A Baroness Beret for me. I blocked it on a kind of small plate, so I think I'm going to reblock it on a bigger one so that it will cover up my ears.

**Note: If you like knitting hats, and berets/tams, then you should totally make the Baroness Beret. It's such a gorgeous pattern, and it's really nice to knit up. I wish I had about 500 more people I could make these for--this is one of my favorite patterns EVER!

Other than that, I've just been working on:

--The feathers and fans throw. I think that I'll finish this tonight. At this point, I just want it out of the way, and on my bed to keep me warm at night. :)

--A pair of fingerless gloves for my dad. I'm using the Plain 'Ole Fingerless Mitts pattern, and it's coming out well. One took me an evening, I just haven't gotten around to getting the other done.

--A Christmas gift for my mother...She loooves hedgehogs, so I'm making a Blue's Hedgehog stuffed toy for her. I just need to do the eyes and the nose, and then I'll be finished! :)

Tomorrow, once my sick sister goes back to school, I'll whip up a Petunia Phlying Piglet Peep for her. Then it's back to square one and deciding what to make next!! :D

**Also, sometime over break I should be making a pair of socks for my sister's guy friend. He's wanted me to knit him a pair ever since he saw the ones I made for her a while back, so when he was over the other day, I told him to get some worsted wool. Little did I know, but the next day his mother happened to be shopping at the same store we were, and asked me where to get worsted wool. I thought that was cute, so I need to find a good pattern to make some socks for him. :)

**Another note...I seem to have forgotten that I have a stash of leftovers, in which I haven't used the whole skein. This is good! I have wool! :D

****NOTICE****
Over Thanksgiving break, my aunt (who is a pretty experienced knitter herself) was looking at some of my knitting, and offered me a partially-finished Icelandic sweater that she had started about 15 or 20 years ago and never finished. Of course I couldn't turn that down, so I now had inherited that and all the wool, needles, and pattern to go with it! Coolio! :D

Bringing you up to date...

So since I posted that last entry, I've been knitting a bit, but being at school mostly.


So...what have I been working on?

--The other 2 pairs of socks for camp. I decided on your mama's big fat booties for the "beasts" session, and bayerische socks for the "invaders" session. Only one pair of those got finished, and i'm betting you can guess which pair it was...

--next project was another pair of your mama's, for my mom. not too much to say about these, although i did make them in caron simply soft, because they are slipper socks anywho.

--I'm currently working on a Feathers and Fans throw, using Red Heart in a color called Watercolors. It's pretty, and relatively cheap, and good for knitting I don't really have to concentrate on, as the pattern is easy to follow and memorize.

--This weekend I just finished a scarf and hat for one of my housemates. She has a bright red coat and wanted a hat and scarf to go with it. She chose black, and I used Patons Classic Merino, because that is literally the only wool you can buy in this town.
--The scarf was the Off Set Diamonds Scarf, and turned out pretty well, I think. It was the first time I'd ever blocked anything, and was given a surprise when I discovered that wet yarn still smells like wet sheep! lol. I don't know why I wasn't expecting it to--I guess just the processed nature of it made me think that it would have gotten all the smell out. anyway, here's a pic of the finished scarf:






























--The pattern i used for the hat was Max's Staircase Tam. This was SUCH a quick knit. I've never really been into slouchy hats, but I am so going to make myself a slouchy tam or beret now. so pretty! :)























she really liked both of them, which is good, because i made them into her birthday present ;)


Knitting to come:

--I'm making a Calorimetry for another of my housemates. I made her a hat last year, but she wants something that gives her the option of not messing her hair up/holding back the flyaways while still keeping her ears warm (that was the big selling point, haha).

--My third housemate wants a slouchy hat. I looked up a bunch of patterns on Rav, and showed her pictures, and she decided on the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret. She wants it in pink. Only a problem if it has to be done in wool, but I think with the slouchyness, it'll be alright in acrylic.

--I want a slouchy hat. I originally wanted to make it a Cabled Beret, but now that I've seen the Star Crossed, I may make that instead. I don't know what to make it with, though. I'm thinking wool, and could probably get a nice grey in Patons Classic Merino at Joann's, but another option came up--knitpurlgurl (on Rav and Plurk) saw my Plurk about making myself a slouchy hat, and my lack of wool, and offered up one of her own skeins of Cascade 220, in a heathery sage green, (which is a color and wool I wouldn't mind at all) for free!! I would love it, but I would feel bad about her paying shipping for it--she lives in CA, and I'm in NY...so I'll have to think about it a bit more, but I'm leaning toward the lovely green-ness of it, haha.


So that's what's up.

A funny knit-object note: Today two of my housemates and I went to the store. It's cold and snowy out, so we were all decked out in our wintery warm outdoor outfits. Then one of them goes, "Are we all wearing something Emma's knitted?" It's true, it's true...I like to keep my friends warm. :-P

Workin' 9 to 5's....

So my first full-time job is a counselor position at a day summer camp called Time Tunnel, which is run out of the NYS Museum. I attended the summer camp when I was a kid, and I always wanted to come back as a counselor.
Since I wanted to make some socks anyway, and the 9 to 5's were on my Ravelry queue, I coincided the creation of some 9 to 5's with my first 9-5 (although actually 9-4:30) job.

Then, my mother made a really good suggestion. Because I take a commuter bus into Albany with her (my mom works at the museum, and it's about an hour away from where we live), I have at least 3 hours a day in which I have nothing to do but ride a bus. Since I'm a pretty fast knitter, and socks are easy portable projects, she thought it would be cool to make three pairs of socks (for each of the three two-week summer camp sessions). So, that's what I have decided to do.

I haven't yet decided what the other two pairs are going to be, but I'll figure it out tomorrow. It's the end of week two and I'm not done with the 9 to 5's yet! Just a half a sock left to go...

Long time no knit...

So due to the lack of fingering weight yarn to go along with the majority of the sock patterns in my queue, as well as the lack of time that was brought about by last minute pre-school observations and cramming for second-semester finals, I haven't knit anything since...my Fetching, I do believe. I told my mom that I am going through yarn withdrawal, and she asked me what weight I needed. When I told her I needed fingering for a bunch of socks, she told me that she had a bunch that I could use. Soo, tonight when she gets home from work, she's going to let me pick out a few skeins to work on some more knitting...YAY. :D

"Ordinary Day" scarf

Ordinary Day Scarf

Worsted Weight Wool, 315 yards/288 meters (Used: Caron Simply Soft, in color: Plum Wine)
Size 8US needles

**C4= S2 stitches onto cable needle, hold needle in front of knitting, K2, then K2 from cable needle

CO 36 stitches

Row 1: K4, *P4, K2 repeat from* until last 8 stitches, P4, K4

Row 2: K2, *P2, K4 repeat from * until last 4 stitches, P2, K2

Row 3: Repeat Row 1

Row 4: Repeat Row 2

Row 5: Repeat Row 1

Row 6: K2, P2, *C4, P2, K4, P2, repeat until last 8 stitches, C4, P2, K2

Repeat rows 1-6 until scarf has reached desired length.

My first design!! (and Irish Things, Part II)

I made my first design!!!! It's a scarf that I designed to go along with the "Hat with Cables" that I made for my friend Alex. I had just finished my Irish Hiking Scarf/Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers, and she had purchased yarn for me to make her a scarf, but I didn't want to make another Irish Hiking Scarf, because I was getting tired of the same pattern, so I looked at a bunch of patterns on Ravelry, and decided that none of them would match her hat, or were made on any size needles that I already owned. So, I got out a sheet of paper, drew up a bunch of stuff, did some math calculations, and...Presto! A scarf that matches her hat! It's cabled and ribbed, like the hat, wide enough to be cozy and warm, but not too complicated, so I can do it while watching TV or episodes of anime & still be able to read subs. I was trying to think of a name that would be good, but all I was coming up with was boring stuff like "cabled ribbed scarf", so I decided to ask my friend what she thought would be a good name. She immediately said, "Ordinary Day!" (based on a song that she really likes, which is also part of her screen name for aol). It fit perfectly, both as an interesting name, and it was fitting that she should name it, because I designed it for her, so...Viola! The Ordinary Day scarf was born. :-)


I'll post that up here in my next post so that it won't be in with the other stuff I want to write about in this post.

OK, so my Irish things are finished!! They are AWESOME. At first, I didn't think the wrist warmers were going to fit, but once I mattress-stitched them up, they worked perfectly!! I debuted them up at Mt. Irenaeus (an AMAZING retreat location run by my university), along with bringing the Ordinary Day scarf that I'm working on for Alex, and they were perfect--really really warm, and such a beautiful bright blue color--they're so cool.

Anyway, while I was waiting with a group of other students who had gone up for the evening, I got up the nerve to break out my knitting. Two of the other girls asked me what I was making, and my friend proudly told them that I was knitting her a scarf, and that I had designed the pattern especially for her. Then I brought out my Irish things, and they "oohed" and "ahhed" over them for a little, then promptly told me that they would pay me to knit them scarves/hats/anything. Now, I'm not quite at the point where I'd charge for knitting, so I told them that as long as they bought the materials, then I'd knit them stuff. The only guy in the group that went up was a little interested too, asking if I could make him a black & gold hat for him (black & gold being the colors of our Rugby team, of which he is a member). I told everyone that as long as they bought the yarn, I would knit stuff. I like knitting, whether it's for myself or for other people, and in my mind, the more people who are interested in sporting hand-knit items on a college campus, the better it is for the craft. :-)

Irish things!

So I was browsing Ravelry a few days ago, and I can't remember where I discovered them, but I found my next projects! Since I haven't gotten around to ordering anything off the internet, I decided that I needed some other projects. I made a pair of Fetching and a mug cozy since I've been back at school, but that's it, and pretty much the only things on my queue that can be made with yarn from Wal-Mart or Joann's. So when I found these patterns, I decided to push them to the top of my queue!
They are the Irish Hiking Scarf and the matching Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers. I saw a bunch of people using Caron Simply Soft, and one in particular used a Brites colorway called Blue Mint. So I decided to be a copy cat and went out and purchased three skeins of Caron Simply Soft Brites in Blue Mint, as well as a pair of *bamboo* single points, size 7US. My first bamboos!! I am so excited to use them for the wrist warmers; I absolutely ADORE bamboo needles. They are by far my favorite. thing. ever.
So last night, I cast on for the scarf, while watching No Country for Old Men with a few friends. I'm reading the book for a class, so I had wanted to see the movie, too. The pattern for this scarf is really easy--it took me a few rows to get back into the swing of knitting straight again (I've been knitting in the round forever, I can't remember the last project I did with single pointed needles), but now that I have, it's turning out to be a really easy knit.
I've been doing the cables without a cable needle (this is because the last project I did with cables when I used a Brittany cable needle borrowed from my mom and then lost it on the car ride back to school somehow, which made me feel really bad), so no extra needle to have to look after. The only thing I needed to worry about was when to put in the cable row--which is easily solved with the use of a kacha-kacha.
I'm trying to be better about keeping my hands off my knitting when I have due dates looming, so I stopped knitting when the movie was over--it's really a challenge. My fingers are itching to knit! haha.

So anyway, I'm excited about finishing my Irish things. They are going to be so pretty! It makes me wish that I had a black coat so that I wouldn't clash all my knit winter-outdoors accessories with my sky blue jacket, haha.

Oh, and if anyone reads this who procrastinates by knitting, I created a group called Procrastiknitters, so you should totally join! ;)

Delays and Things that came up...

As usual, over midterm break, nothing in my Ravelry queue was started, worked on, or finished. Instead, I worked on a bunch of things that I randomly found in my house, because somehow things always seem to come up...

So, instead of getting any yarn for the stuff on my queue, I discovered an unwanted stash of acrylic and a pattern for mug cozies. I spent the first few days of break knitting three--one fuzzy green chunky, one red variegated bouclé, and one Red Heart Super Saver Pink. They came out very well, and I am planning on knitting more for my mugs here at school.

Then my mom decided that she wanted us to learn how to knit toe-up socks together. She found what looked like an easy pattern, and gave me some pretty dark teal wool, and told me to "figure it out," then show her how to do it. Well by the time she actually started her first sock, I was halfway finished with the foot of my second. ^_^
So they're finished and pretty--I added a pattern sequence from the Vogue sock book that my mom just got, and now I know how to knit toe-ups!

I finished the socks up on the way back to school yesterday, and as soon as I got here I got online and looked for something in my queue that I could make from a ball of really pretty purple acrylic that I purloined from home. It's worsted, so I decided to make a pair of Fetching, because I want something to wear on my hands inside when they get cold, and Knucks don't really work for me when I'm knitting. So I cast on last night, and all I have left to do on the first glove is the thumb. However, I'm planning on doing both thumbs one after the other, so I am a few rows into the 2nd glove. I'm excited.

Also, I am really really thinking about ordering a bunch of sock yarn from KnitPicks, including some for a pair of socks that my friend wants me to make her. So when I do that, I should have a bunch of my queue to work on! ^_^

Knitting standstill...

This is awful. I don't have anything to knit! I am working on another pair of Knucks, but once you knit something, it gets a bit boring to do the same project over again with the exact same yarn, etc. So I've been working on the 2nd pair on and off, but I am itching to find more yarn to start another of the projects on my Ravelry queue. The next on the list is the Sesame sweater, but I'm not getting that yarn until I get home next week, and I don't think I'm going to start it there, just because I don't want to travel with it as a WIP. So after that on the list is a pair of Snicket Socks, which is good for a next project, but I have a problem. That problem is that I don't have any fingering weight yarn. I also don't have anywhere to get any at the moment, because the closest LYS is in another state (Granted, it is only about 30 minutes away, but as I don't have a car, I don't think my friend that has a car would bring me there for yarn, haha.). Sooo I guess I'll just have to wait until break, because I was talking to my mom the other day, and she told me that one of the yarn stores near my hometown closed recently, but also that another one just opened, and that she'd take a day off from work while I am home for break & we can have a road trip to the LYS (although it doesn't really turn out to be the L part, as it's about 1 hour away). So maybe while I'm there I can stock up on some various fingering weight yarns, because almost all of the socks on my queue call for that weight. Hmm...I don't think I've ever actually gone to a yarn shop looking specifically for yarn for a certain project--normally I just pick out the yarn & then decide what to make out of it. Either way, it'll be fun!
I should also pick up a set of 1US and 2US dpns, because, again, most of the socks in my queue are knitted on those sizes. So I think a new pair of socks will be good for over break, and when I return to school, I can start my Sesame!! (because hopefully I will have gotten the yarn I need for that while I'm at home!)


...Thank goodness I have a fiber addict as a mom; she openly and freely encourages me to feed my need for yarn by buying lots for me! *evil grin*

A solution to pilling

I had no idea that there were little devices out there that get rid of pills, fuzz, and other annoying things on knitted objects. Sweater shavers!

I need to get one. :-)

Hmm...

Maybe Swish DK will work? It's superwash, so that'll be the best of both--not shiny and washable. Need to find out if it pills, though.

Possible Sesame in the Future...

Up until now, I've been doing lots and lots of small projects. I love knitting socks, and I just finished my first pair of Knucks about a half hour ago, but I want to break out and do bigger and more courageous things--I want to make a sweater!

So, I looked around online for a pattern, and came up with three that I want to make. Two from Magknits--Sesame and Basic Black, and one from ohmystars.net--Buttony. I wasn't really sure about how to decide which one to start with, and didn't really have anyone around here to ask, as my knitting guru (aka Mom) is 5 hours away, and I haven't really discussed it with her in detail. So, I decided to see what my fellow knitters from the LiveJournal Knitting! community had to say about it.

It turns out that although Buttony is a relatively easy knit, the pattern is a bit confusing especially if it's a first sweater (better wait 'til I have Mom there to help!).
Not much was said about Basic Black, which doesn't really matter, as that was my least favorite of the trio--it's a little too feminine (I want my first sweater to be something that I wear ALL THE TIME, and something that's really comfy that I can feel comfortable in).
However, I got a lot of input on the Sesame pattern, which is good, because that was my first choice anyway. A bunch of people said that it was an easy knit, that the pattern was clear, and that they were working on theirs or had already made one! In fact, the only negative comment that I got about it was the insane amounts of boring stockinette stitch (which I don't mind that much, because I can multi-task better without having to pay attention to my knitting ;-p).
One user even asked me to put up pictures as soon as I began!

So, I think the general poll of the Knitting! community was that I should totally make Sesame...

The next thing I needed to decide was what yarn to use.
I have been looking on Ravelry, and a lot of people have been using Lion Brand Wool Ease and Cotton Ease. The only thing about this is that although it's not really pricey yarn, I kinda don't want to spend that much on my first ever sweater, just in case, ya know, I mess up big time or something, and don't want to frog for hours. ;-)
A few other people have been using yarn from Knitpicks--mainly Merino Style or Shine Sport. I'm not sure yet whether or not I like the shine part of the Shine Sport, although using that would be way easier cleaning-wise. However, the Merino Style needs to hand washed, which might not be easy to do at school, and it also pills. Oh, the conundrum...


The toughest part of the issue is next: What colors do I make it in?



...and I haven't even discussed buttons yet! :-x

Crafting Blog!!

Ok, so I have a few other blogs, but none that are specifically for the purpose of the crafts that I do. I guess in this blog, I'll talk mostly about knitting, but sometimes I might talk a little about spinning, beading, scrapbooking, etc.

The name:

So I thought that this would be a good name based on something my room mate said to me last night (as I was working on my latest project, a pair of Knucks):

"I think you're the only college student who procrastinates from studying by knitting!"

Fortunately, I have just recently gained access to Ravelry--which, by the way, is totally my new favorite website, and now trumps facebook as my internet time-consumer--and found the group called "College Knitters," so I could back myself up in saying that no, I'm not the only college knitter, although I probably am the only one at my University. :-(

But anyway, I've decided to make a blog about my knitting, so here it is! :-)