Out of Hiding

I am finally ready to show off my new pieces. As you may or may not know, I have been working on my art portfolio for my application to the art program this March. I have taken a little bit of time to work on nonknitting things (gasp I know!), but I do have some lovely new additions for my portfolio. First up is the Snapdragon Tam from Ysolda's Whimsical Little Knits 2 book. I initially bought white yarn but as you can tell this isn't white. I dyed it with KOOLAID! As a little experiment, I thought I would try making a bluish purple hat since I don't have any blue hats. The blue in the koolaid didn't stick, obviously, but instead I am left with a lovely purple hat that smells like grape.... yum!

Next up, I finished this little beauty last night... her name is Sophie the Octopus from the Amigurumi Knits book I bought after Christmas. I decided to use up the left overs from my earflap hat and bulky freestyled beret to make her. I also stuffed her with the leftovers of the fluffy scarf that I unraveled and some polyfill.
I went a little picture crazy but I think she's super cute!
What a nice day too for a photoshoot!
I hope you're having as good a day as me!

Broken Record

I have been working on some knitting over the past couple of weeks, I just didn't want to ruin the surprise. Here is a picture of my new earflap hat! I got the pattern from here. It's a great little pattern and it feeds my need to knit cables. I swear, I'll end up going crazy one day and my whole house will be covered in cabled cozies! This hat was made from yarn I got for Christmas from one of my roommates (remember I live with three other girls). You can't see in the picture, but I've got tassles at the bottom of the earflaps, but you can guess what they look like. Just simple braids really. I really wanted an earflap hat after I
tried making a thorpe hat a while ago and it didn't work out. Mine is made from Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick. Even with my incredibly busy schedule in the education program, I still ecked this one out in under two days. I could have made it one day but I was watching too much House! It's a super warm hat and I would suggest everyone makes one. I've got another cable project underway that will be unveiled when I successfully hit the half way point but for now I don't want to jinx it. I promise, after that, I'll start on something non cabled so I won't bore you! Have a great weekend and get outside!

Saving the Planet

After far too long, I have finally finished my reusable bags! Actually, it has been quite some time since I finished these, I just saved the pictures for a time when I was too busy to blog about the non knitting that has been going on (I'm a smart cookie!). Here's the first bag I pictured a while back. This beast took several months because I kept running out of yarn and it was a different thickness than I am used to. It is ridiculously thick and sturdy with an over the shoulder strap.

Next is my favorite, the Neopolitan bag. The grocery store that I live by used pink bags to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month in October so I collected them from roommates, my own shopping, and pretty much anyone I could find for more bags. Just to give you an idea of how much recycling these little beauts do, each bag uses about 100 bags! Wowza!

I've also been doing a lot of cooking lately. So far I have made Coconut dinner rolls, oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, turkey meatballs, quiche and onion garlic bagels. All of them could use a little tweeking except for the meatballs, so I won't post the recipes. I want to get better at cooking and there's only one way to do that.... by COOKING! Have a great weekend!

First FO of the Year!

Of course, the day before I leave to return to school, Mom decides she needs a new hat. I'm grateful for the chance to use up some scrap yarn, but really Mom? :)
Here's a little hat I whipped up tonight. I used this hat pattern to make two other hats for Christmas, one looked like a watermelon and the other was white with a green border and a giant red rose. I made this pattern up myself so if anyone would like it, I would be happy to write something up!Yeah for 2010!

I'm a Dummy

Here's why... I forgot to take pictures of the hats that I made for Christmas this year :( I was in such a rush to pump out hats that the majority of my knitted goods, and there were a lot, went undocumented this year. Anyway, I did however manage to squeeze in a small gift to myself after the gift items were completed. Pattern: My own

Needles: US 15

Yarn: Lion Brand Thick and Quick, less than one skein

Notes: This hat took me about an hour and a half to make. I blocked it over a plate by soaking it in water and letting it dry on the plate. It took about two days to dry completely. The yarn was a gift from a friend. I still have a skein and a half left over for some matching mittens!

From the back this thing is gargantuan, although I don't look stupid it on. It's just hard to tell how big my head is with that little tiny car in the background for perspective :) I've got some more finished objects to show you as well but for now I'll just save them for when I am swamped with school work and can't manage to knit anything.

This year, I decided to make a knitting resolution list... Here goes

1. Learn how to entrelac. Maybe a scarf or hat would be nice.

2. Knit a sweater/vest using the steeking method

3. Knit a matching hat and gloves set... does it still count if I already finished the hat that I want the set to go with?

4. Succeed at fair isle. I had to frog the black and white scarf because it just wasn't working. Now that I have a new set of needles, which I will discuss in my next post, I think my plan will work better.

5. Knit something that will be felted on purpose. Again, I've already started this one, but the pieces aren't finished and the felting process hasn't been started yet.

6. Reduce my stash by at least 1/2. I have been gaining lots of pretty yarns for my collection lately, but I would like to use up the yarn that is oldest, including all of the acrylic yarn that has been lounging in my stash for at least 3 years. It was given to me by a family member and I haven't found good uses for it yet. I'm thinking lots of knitted toys!

7. Knit something using intarsia. I've tried this before and was able to do it sucessfully, however, I never finished the pillow I started because my threads kept getting tangled. I have an idea about how I'm going to accomplish a neater pillow, I just need to find the enthusiasm to complete it.

And so concludes my year 2009. This is my sixtieth post and I look forward to more blogging in the coming year. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Although it is Christmas, I still haven't finished my Christmas knitting. I have two more hats and a scarf to do before the end of the new year. I finished this little treat up this morning for my boyfriend's uncle. I really recommend the pattern, however, next time I would have gone up a size because the cabling is awfully tight on the widest part of the head. Here's pops helping me model this little beaut before the recipient receives it tomorrow (or the next day!). The pattern is here

I can't share any more of my holiday knitting for fear that someone might discover it, but I definetly commited to making my gifts this year. In total, I made a blanket, 5 hats, 2 scarves, 1 pair of fingerless gloves, and some rose ornaments yet to be photographed. Happy Christmas everyone!

Bandwagon Knitting

It is so freakin hard to take pictures of knitted hats. My Gretel is not as tight fitting as it looks, promise, but it's hardly left my head since I made it. I don't know if you noticed, but... I LOVE CABLES!!! It's my favorite thing to knit and I am starting to embrace it completely. I am knitting a pair of gloves next that are covered in cables! My desire is satisfied... if only for a moment.