I Love KnitPicks.com!!

Well, Harry Potter finally arrived and as a special surprise my yarn and needles that I ordered from knitpicks.com also arrived. I have never used knitpicks yarn or other products before but I have heard great things about them from various people. I am a die-hard Addi Turbo needle gal but after using my KnitPicks circulars, I may be swayed. They are light, smooth, and cheaper than Addi Turbos! Go check them out at KnitPicks. I think you may agree.

Entrelac at last (and UPS stalking)

Entrelac
Originally uploaded by hedgie97.

Well, I'm waiting for my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to arrive today from Amazon.com via UPS. I've been tracking the crap out of it for about two days now. I know that they won't deliver it until today but when I see that my book was "in transit to final destination" yesterday I got my hopes up that it would be here yesterday. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

While I stalked the UPS man online I decided to finally try entrelac. I referenced a site online, The Yarnpath which has a very easy to follow entrelac tutorial. I had no idea what I was doing going into it but I feel like I've got it down now.

I think I will be making a wide entrelac scarf. I'm using Patons SWS in "natural plum." I'm knitting on size US 8 bamboo needles. This entrelac thing is so addictive! I can't stop. Once 10PM came and I realized the UPS man can be "in transit" all night and that Harry Potter will not be arriving before Saturday I decided to stop the entrelac. I will need about 2-3 more skeins to finish the scarf.

Socks!

07202007584
Originally uploaded by hedgie97.

Finally!! I feel a sense of accomplishment with my knitting. I've been trying to unravel the mystery of the sock for about a year now. My first "sock" was more of a tube. It didn't fit very well. I think I knitted it on size 5 DPNs. I used a Lion Brand sock yarn. I didn't really understand gauge either. They kind of fit but were loose and slipped off all the time.

As I became more involved in knitting, I began reading more (more than the Internet). I learned how to knit on 2 circular needles thanks to Cat Bordhi's book- Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I LOVE this method since it makes sense!! I was finally able to understand sock construction using two circular needles.

After I read Cat's book (and LOVED it- have I said that yet?) I bought the book Sensational Knitted Socks

I was a bit hesitant about the book since I knit my "tube" sock from a sock instructional book and everything else didn't make sense. I bought it though. It was wonderful!! I understood what I was doing. I bought some new sock yarn from the LYS (The Woolie Ewe). I believe it's by Opal and a cotton yarn. I loved the striping.

Anyway, lots of rambling and these are the results. I can't recommend Sensational Knitted Socks enough. Even if you aren't a fan of the 2 circ method there are charts to use for 4 DPns and 5 DPNs. Try it!

Now I'm addicted to socks and have ordered about 8 more skeins of various sock yarn and have spent way more than I needed to spend.

Family, if you are reading this just know you may be getting a pair of socks for Christmas!

We're baaaack!

Rose and I came back from our road trip early. We got back last night around 8PM. I will be updating later this week (hopefully) about everything we did and saw. We cut our trip short since we were both tired and missing our husbands and animals.

Here's how we were welcomed to Pennsylvania. More to come later!

Road Trip

Tomorrow morning at 5AM, Rose and I will be leaving Texas and going on a cross country adventure. We will be gone for two weeks. I almost think that we're insane for trying this. Tomorrow we will be headed towards Tennessee. The only official stop we are making is Memphis to see Graceland. Then it will be on to Nashville where we will crash for the night. The next day we'll be on our way to Central Pennsylvania where we'll spend 4 days with my relatives. I haven't been back there in about 10 years so it should be quite interesting.

The next leg of our 2 week excursion will be through Ohio and Michigan where Rose's family lives. Then through Chicago-where we'll spend a couple days. After that, we'll be headed back to Texas via Branson, Missouri. We aren't sure why we're going but we're going to stop there anyway.

I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing during the next two weeks but keep checking in. I know I'll be posting some pics of our trip to my flickr page by special request from my dad.

You never know...some knitting might actually get done too!

Bon voyage!

Bubble stitch bag

Bubble stitch bag
Originally uploaded by hedgie97.

Yesterday, I worked on completing some bags. The clutch I was working on from One Skein is knitted but I need to felt it. I've never felted before and I'm a little hesitant about doing it.

This bag is from a pattern by Jessica Fraser. She posted this on the Craftster forum and I fell in love with it. It's knit with 2 balls of Noro Kureyon. I don't remember which colorway it is(Maybe 159??). Once I figured out how to do the bubble stitch, it was super easy! Imagine, dropping stitches on purpose- kind of a scary thing but very liberating once I worked it.

I still need to line the bag. I don't have any fabric right now. I will update later when I have lined it. I'm still not sure what kind of fabric I should use.

I ordered 6 more balls of Noro so that I can make 3 more of these bags. I'm obsessed!! So sad really...

Update on knitting and life

Ester is finished! Hooray!!! Here she is blocking. As soon as I can get someone to take my picture wearing it I will post. I also need to buy a shawl pin or something to keep it shut in the front. If it were cool enough I would be able to wear it but as the weather is quite warm here in Texas in June, I probably won't be wearing it for awhile. The Cascade 220 yarn is soft and warm. It's also not too heavy so I think the drape of it is very nice. This is the first wearable item I've made so I'm pretty happy about it. I had been working on a sweater from a Knit.1 magazine from last year and gave up on it when it was giving me a headache. Some of the directions seemed unclear to me. Basically, my patience ran out with it.

Yesterday, my friend Kandi came over to pick up a table (so I can get a new one!) and she brought her son, Chance. Chance and I have a special bond since he was born on my birthday. I haven't seen him in a few weeks and wow has he grown! He's almost 5 months old and very advanced for his age. So, here are some pics we took of Chance yesterday. We (Kandi, Rose, and I) think he's the cutest baby ever! We had dinner at a sushi place. Chance was very interested in what was going on outside on the patio.

Next knitting project: Well, the next one was going to be entrelac, right? Right! Well, I'm not getting it. I need detailed pictures. I'm very visual. If anyone knows a good resource please let me know.

So, I'm moving on and trying to a clutch or purse from the book One Skein. I love this book! I made Chance the Baby hat. However, he can't fit into the baby hat anymore. So, in all my infinite free time I will be working on this. Now, which yarn in my stash will I use...


OH!!! I almost forgot! I now have a blocking board. Yes I do! This makes me all the more eager to work on projects that need to be blocked. Is that a weird statement? Joann.com was having a sale on their Sew E-Z Boards (and btw still are!). I bought the 33"x51" board. It came yesterday. If I had only had this while I was blocking Ester, I think it would have been a lot easier on me. Anyway, I think it was a great deal. I also took advantage of the "20% off one item" special that they had on that particular day. Right now they are having a coupon for Free Shipping on $35 or more.