WIP Wednesday

I'm working on the same three projects as last week (Hoodie, Dad's blanket, Royal Jazz).  In the last week though, I've only made progress on two.

I've been very excited to work on my first sweater, English Garden Hoodie (Everything Nice Hoodie pattern).  I finally got beyond the pockets!  It was so exciting to join the pockets to the rest of the fabric.

Now I just have to work about 5 more inches in pattern before I have to pause for the sleeves!

I've started the second quadrant for my dad's blanket and I'm already on the 6th square.

I'm trying to stay on a schedule of about a 1/2 a square a day.  We'll see how that goes...

I'm still considering my Royal Jazz a current WIP, but I didn't touch it this past week.  It is easy TV knitting though, so we'll see how it goes for this week.

I've linked up with Tami's Amis.

What are you working on?

Sam :-D

Weekend Update - Part 1 - Early Start to the Weekend

I didn't have any major plans for this weekend, but it turned out to be a pretty good one.  I took a half day on Friday.  It was the last day of our fiscal year and it was my last 4 hours of vacation time. 

I went out to lunch with Heather (Amarylis Musings) and another knitty friend Dianne.  After that, Heather and I went to a yarn shop, Knit One.  We decided to go to Knit One because my mom bought me a gift card.  My mom bought me a gift card on Mother's Day.  Yes, you read that right.  She bought me a gift and got me a card for my "fur babies."  She was so excited that she figured out a yarn store to get me a gift card.

Knit One is where Heather and I took our first knitting class.  We haven't made it over there much because they used to only be open one evening (Thursdays, and that's our knit night in a different location).  Knit One now has a new owner and I have really high hopes.  They've added another evening and they've gotten rid of a lot of the yarn that I didn't like.  It was a little sparse, but they are getting new stuff in.
They had some Madeline Tosh left from a large order they got in a couple of weeks ago.  Originally I zero-ed in on Lepidoptra, which is a pink with purple in it.  I realized that I had just got a color like that, my FairyDust in Shalimar Breathless.  So I finally decided to use my gift card on a sweater quantity of Madeline Tosh DK in Cousteau.

I spent a half an hour on a couch there staring at it with ravelry up on my phone trying to find a pattern.  In the end I think I'm actually still undecided.  Any good dk sweater patterns?

Heather came with me with no intentions of buying yarn and yet she walked away with a sweater quantity of tosh dk in Stargazing.

Heather and I spent the rest of the day walking my pups in the park, hanging out, cooking dinner, and watching TV.  She told me I needed a current picture of my puppies on here because all of you need to see that Jimmy is now indeed larger than Toby (I think she is still bitter that she put them in the wrong crates a while back because she couldn't tell them apart. I love you Heather!!  Thanks for being my emergency dog letter outer!  Even if they were so confused when I got home!)

Any how, I thought you should see why I don't have a current picture of my puppies together...because it is SO HARD to get a good photo of them together.

Attempt #1: Toby looks scared because I'm saying, "Here here here!" with my hand in the air trying to get them to look at me.  Jimmy is just not paying attention.

Attempt #2:  They are both looking and you can clearly see that Jimmy, on the right, is now bigger than Toby, on the left.  The photo turned out blurry because I was trying to snap the photo fast while they were looking.

Attempt #3:  Toby says, "What's Heather doing over there?" and Jimmy says, "I think its time to lay down."

Attempt #4:  Toby says, "I'll look at you mama, but I can't make any promises for Jimmy."  Jimmy says, "Now I want to know what Heather is doing!"

Attempt #5: Toby says, "I think I'm going to go find out what Heather is doing."

Attempt #6: Toby looks scared because I told him to sit again and Jimmy is blurry.

Attempt # 7:  I don't know what happened here.  I was losing them to doggy A.D.D.

Attempts #8 and # 9:  I tried to start over, but Jimmy wanted to know what I was doing, he's on the left now.

Attempt # 10:  This is the best that I got.  They are side by side and looking.  Jimmy is on the left and Toby on the right.

Do you see how exhausting that was?  Impossible! Toby still looks worried in the photo!

They were exhausted too because they crashed right after that.

Stay tuned, I have some nephew photos from Saturday and Sunday.  I saw him twice this weekend!

Sam :-)

New Yarn - Gram/Pittsburgh/Maryland

I've added a bunch of yarn to my stash in 2014.  The majority of it was my Grandmother's.  She liked to make blankets for people in the family and for different charities for children.  She used to use Red Heart, but a few years ago I introduced her to Stylecraft.  I think the local chapter of Project Linus even orders Stylecraft now.  Its super cheap and it the softest acrylic.

I now have 55+ skeins of Stylecraft.

I bought her this Twirl that she started a large blanket with.  I'll finish it eventually.

I think my top 3 colors are:



Emporor





Teal





Plum

This yarn will probably fuel my baby stuff for quite a while.  I have no idea what I want to do with it all just yet.

Now a very luxurious purchase this year was made at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet.  I saw these two colors of Shalimar Breathless and I knew I had to have them.

The purple is called Heliotrope and the pink is called FairyDust.  They are going to become some sort of striped sweater!  A glorious cashmere and silk sweater for me!  I have a bunch of ideas, but nothing concrete just yet.  I want to finish my first sweater (Aran weight) first.

I also purchased this beauty at Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet.

This beauty is Ball & Skein Glissade in color Mountain Ice.  I bought it to go with a lone skein I bought a couple of years ago.

It is a deep purple called Elderberry that is hard to photograph.  There are plenty of two color shawls that I have in my favorites that these two can become, Bolt maybe?

Maryland Sheep & Wool was a fun time this year.  I went knowing that I didn't have a ton to spend and that I just wanted to enjoy the experience.

I saw plenty of adorable sheep:

The first item that caught my eye was a kit that Ellen's Half Pint Yarn was selling.

The kit contained two 50g skeins and a pattern.  I'm not sure if I'm going to use the pattern, but this kit meant a lot to me.  It was $25 and all of the profits ($15) went to cancer research.  It put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

I did know that I wanted to purchase yarn for a Shawl that Jazz from Blue Moon Fiber Arts on this trip.  Many of my friends from my knit night have made this shawl.  Those same friends purchased more yarn to make another.  It has become an unofficial KAL.  I chose the color Royal.

There was a different color I spotted first with purple and grey, but once I saw this one all bets were off.  It is so pretty.  I wound one hank of the yarn immediately that night.

The ball was ginormous! :-)

The next day of the festival we went to see the sheep herding demonstration.  These dogs were amazing!

I did splurge on the last day and get a kit from Miss Babs.  It is the Perfectly Wreckless kit.  It has beautiful purples, orange, pink, and green.

That pretty much sums up all of my new yarn in 2014.  Did you find anything awesome this year? Splurge?

Sam <3

WIP Wednesday

Currently I have 3 projects that I'm working on consistently.

My Dad's Blanket has been on the needles for quite some time.  Recently I made a lot of progress.  I've even put myself on a schedule.  I have one quadrant finished (yes quadrant).

I needed to block it because my gauge has changed in the past 2 years.  I've apparently become a much looser knitter as I've gained experience.

I have just over two squares done on the next quadrant.

The next project I have been working on is called Royal Jazz.  It is the pattern Shawl That Jazz.  I'm using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in color Royal.

The yarn is just amazing.  It is so pretty!!  I'll be using two skeins for this pattern.  I wound one of them while I was in Maryland for Maryland Sheep & Wool (where I purchased the yarn).

The ball was as big as my head!!  This pattern is very easy.  In fact it is my TV knitting.  It is just garter back and forth.  I know the finished product will be totally worth it!

The color is most true in the yarn picture.  The colors are very bold and bright.  I love them.  In the last picture you can see my third project peeking in at the top of the photo.

It is my first sweater!!!  I'm calling it my English Garden Hoodie and the pattern is Everything Nice Hoodie.  I've had this yarn in my stash for a while. 

The yarn is Araucania Tocanao Multy in color English Garden (426).  I think this yarn is now discontinued.

This is a bottom up sweater.  I've almost got to the point where I can join the pocket fronts with the rest of the sweater.

I'm really excited about this sweater.  I really think this is something I would wear a lot.

I've linked up with Tami's Amis.

What are you working on?

Sam :-)

You Gotta Keep Your Head Up....

Ooooooh, and you can let your hair down, ehh!!   Andy Grammer anyone?  I've been watching the movie Pitch Perfect a TON lately.  I just got HBO (it ended up making my cable bill cheaper?! not sure, but I'll take it!) and Pitch Perfect is only on there until FRIDAY!!  I have to get all of my acca-scuse me's in NOW, STAT!

I haven't updated here in months again....I will get into a groove again with this.  I keep telling myself that.  I last posted here in February.  Again, a lot has happened since then good and bad.  One of the bad was that my grandmother passed away a couple of weeks after my last post, February 20th to be exact.  Her and I did not have a perfect relationship.  She was who I crafted with, she sewed my whole life, but I taught her how to crochet.  There was a period of time a couple of years ago where I was with her every Saturday morning.  There were things that we most definitely did not agree on, its family drama and I won't go into it, but I managed to have a relationship with her anyway.  I somehow compartmentalized and savored what we did have in common.  So now that she is gone there are so many conflicting emotions.

Right away my family gave me her yarn.  I helped sort it with what I wanted to keep and what should go to Project Linus (she worked with them).  It is a lot.  I bought a bunch of it for her.  It is mainly Stylecraft.  I know eventually I want to make a blanket out of some of it.  I actually have a half made blanket that she started that I want to finish.

I'm not going to do it just yet, but I will finish it some day.  She loved seeing everything I made and I encouraged her to try new patterns and techniques.

I changed my hair big time the day my Gram passed.  My mom was telling me all of the errands she had to run and getting her hair cut was one.  I managed to fit in an appointment.

I went from:



To this new style:

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my curls, but it was nice to do something different for a little while.  I had people walk right past me and not recognize me.  It was actually kind of cool.

Craft-wise, in February I decided I was going to make a baby blanket for Rayna.  She's the daughter of Lauren, my best friend growing up.  I'm not close to Lauren right now, but there was never anyone as deserving for something handmade and pretty.  She's had to deal with so much with Rayna.  Rayna's had all sorts of eating issues and allergies.  I just wanted Lauren to know I was thinking of her.

These were the colors I started with:

I really wanted to try something different and when I saw this pattern, Harlequin by Ingrid Jansen, I knew it was the one.

I had to add more colors to get the number of diamonds I needed.

It ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated.  Somehow my math was way off.  I didn't take into account the joins and the spacing needed.  It ended up being 35" x 44" and I have made my previous baby blankets around 28" x 33".  It's fine, it is a Mommy and Me blanket!

I love how this blanket turned out.  Lauren likes it, so I was super pumped.  My ravelry page for it is here.

I actually wrote this post 2 weeks ago!  I forgot to post it.  So, maybe I'll get out a WIP post later today or tomorrow!!

Sam <3

Another Unexpected Hiatus

I didn't mean to have another hiatus.  I really didn't mean to.  I just checked and my last post was in September!  Again my dad is the one that has been hounding me to update here.  He likes to see it.  He claims I have "readers."  I give him a look and say, "really?......really?"

I guess the best I can do is try to go in order.

The last you saw our new puppy, Jimmy, he was really little.  Here's both of the pups in their bicycle baskets in August.

Jimmy was still very little in September and just being so cute.

Both my boys are adorable. (October)

Look how big Jimmy is now!  At times I think he is bigger than Toby.  Most people can't tell them apart anymore.

Anyhow, back to my timeline.  I'm in a group on Ravelry.com called The Chittery Chattery Swappery Swappers Group.  Essentially a ton of nice women (a few guys) who love to swap.  I decided to take part in a partner swap.  As soon as I got the name of the person I was sending a package to, MissMatheMagic, I looked at her questionnaire and I zeroed in on the words "fingerless mitts."  I immediately cast on Podster Gloves.  Once I had the cuffs done, I was reading through posts and I suddenly realized she lives in Arizona!  She didn't need the mitten portion of the Podsters.

So I finished these mitts sitting in the hospital, while my sister was giving birth to my nephew.

They turned out a little big, but you'll see in a second that it actually worked out.  The yarn used was Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce in color Forest Green.  I used less than half of the skein.

I then wanted to cast on a pair that were a little bit more girly.  I posted a question in the swap group of which yarn to use, so MissMatheMagic picked out the yarn for her mitts without her knowing they were for her.  The result was a set of Zig Zag Lace Fingerless Mitts in Dream in Color Smooshy in color Raspberry Blaze.

Genevieve (MissMatheMagic), loved what I sent her.  The Podster mitts ended up fitting her husband perfectly.

She loved and told me she uses her zig zag mitts.

If you noticed above, I said that I finished the podsters while my sister was giving birth.  My nephew, Owen, was born October 9th.  

They used my blanket for the hospital photos!!

He is just so stinking cute!  Here he is with my dad, who is an elated first time grandfather, and a certified baby hog.

In November, Dave wasn't feeling well and he ended up back in the hospital.  We found out that his cancer had returned and it was aggressive.  I worked on a shawl while sitting in hospital rooms that was for a coworker of my dad.  She was going through breast cancer treatment.  I thought maybe a shawl hug might make her smile.

I made The Lonely Winter Tree Shawl using Berroco Vintage™ Chunky in the color Mochi.  I love how it came out and I really enjoyed this pattern.

While he was in the hospital, Dave decided he didn't want to wait any longer.  He proposed!

We went down to the family waiting area.  I knew something was up because he was acting strange.  Amazingly, this is the view from that particular waiting room.

I know what you are thinking....SHOW THE RING ALREADY!  Here is a photo from right after.  You can see the wheels of his IV pole in the photo.

Here's a photo I took a few days later.  I was trying to show how sparkly it really is.

The center stone is a blue diamond.  I didn't even know diamonds could come in blue.  I love it and it is very ME.  After he asked and we got back to his room, his mom was just sitting there with a grin.  She flew up from Florida to be with us throughout the week.  We heard a lot of scary information and I'm so glad she was there.  She actually had to sneak into my and Dave's room at the house to get the ring and bring it to the hospital.  She said it made her so nervous!  By the time Dave proposed, he had been in the hospital for over a week.  All of his nurses were coming in asking to see the ring.  The doctors knew about it.  The whole floor knew before me!  Everyone on that floor was amazing.  We couldn't have asked for better teams to help us through all the information they were telling us.

My friend Dianne made a hat for Dave.  He wore it to his first new chemo treatment.

Dave's family came to stay with us for most of December.  This is what I got to come home to.  Puppies not in their crates.

This is the first Christmas in our new house.  We got a tree that was almost 8 feet tall!

I made mitten ornaments for my and family members trees.

I took both puppies to see Santa, same place I took Toby last year.

My sister had some family photos taken for the holidays.  Owen was just too cute!  This time they used my navy Pine Forest Blanket that I made him.

My sister is so unbelievably photogenic, its not even funny.  Look at the hat they had on Owen!  Both hats!

I can't get over him, too cute!

Later in December, right before Christmas, it was decided that they were going to do surgery for Dave's cancer.  He wasn't handling the chemo treatments well at all.  They were sending him to the hospital.  So on January 3rd he had his 3rd cancer surgery.  This one was the biggest yet.  It was an almost 12 hr surgery.  He was in the hospital for 2 weeks.  He has 48 staples.  The nurse counted when she removed them.  My comment for 2 more for an even 50 was met with the stink eye and a "very funny."

Throughout that hospital stay, I worked on a scarf for my mom.  It is the pattern Shallows using Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in color Electric Mauve.  I used every last bit of that skein.

Owen's baptism was two Sundays ago.  I am his Godmother.  He was adorable in his white suit.

I finished a sweater that I started in November and gave that to him then.  The pattern is Greyson and I used Berroco Vintage™ DK in the very descriptive colors of 2117 (green) and 2105 (khaki).

Dave is back on the hospital.  He essentially got really dehydrated.  During this current stay, I made a had for myself.  It is the Wurm pattern.  I used two colors of Dutch Girl Yarns.  I had to make some changes since I was using worsted weight yarn instead of sport.  The photos were taken in Dave's hospital room and my hair had been in a pony tail all day, so sorry for the icky photos.

I love my hat.  I've been wearing it for 3 days straight it seems.

And that ladies and gentlemen is what I would call an up to date blog.  Do you hear that dad?  It's up to date!  I had to write a book, but its up to date!

I'll leave you with a photo of Owen that my sister sent me a couple of days ago.

SO STINKIN' CUTE!  

I'm going to try and at least post on Wednesdays and Fridays.  We'll see how it goes!

Sam <3