Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sarah's Spectacular Socks Success

Sarah's birthay socks are done!


I used the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in purple that I got a couple weeks ago, which unfortunately didn't come out very well in the picture you see here. It is really a deeper more vibrant shade of purple. Stupid flash. I should start taking my pictures outside so it doesn't feel the need to poke its nose in and ruin my colors. But...I digress. The pattern is a slightly modified version of Widdershins from Knitty. I decided I wanted a sleeker looking sock, so I knit the heel flap plain without the slipped stitches. I also used a mini cable rib for the cuff instead of the plain ribbing. I'm really happy with how they turned out. The yarn was a dream to work with, such a great hand. It felt perfect on my Brittany DPNs. I want to keep them. I know I can't - I will have to force myself to stop fondling them and wrap them up.


Green Gable is cast on and all I'm going to say about it now is...I'm going to go knit now.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Happy Spring!

Here are some lovely colors to celebrate the long awaited
return of warm weather.
=)



The man and I decided to have a bit of a grill party last night. Teryiaki steak tips and veggie skewers, most delicious! Good company, good tunes, good eats, what more could you want on a warm spring eveing?


Hannah would like to say hello today. She's a good helper when I sit on the couch and knit. She sits next to me and "makes sure the yarn doesn't get tangled." At least, that's what she tells me she's doing. I'm not sure I buy it...

Sarah's socks are coming along nicely. I'm almost done with the heel flap of the second one, and since they are toe up, after that it's straight on up the leg. I'm happy they are going so fast, although it really doesn't help my fast-developing sock addiction. (Not that listening to Lime & Violet is doing wonders, either.) I'll have at least two more pairs coming up soon as well, it's coming up on birthday season for me. Green Gable is next up on the needles though, that gorgeous Cotton Fleece calls my name every time I walk by my knitting cabinet.

Monday, April 16, 2007

It was the socks' fault

It was a good knitting week. And weekend. The boy was away all week, so I had a lot of extra time to myself. Needless to say, it was not such a good week for house chores, but I got a lot of knitting done! I'm almost done with the baby cardi, there's about an inch and a half left on the last sleeve. I ran out of blue yarn at the very end, so I have to buy some more - and I only need about an arms length, just my luck. My plan is to have it finished, blocked, seamed and ready to be mailed next Saturday. Best laid plans...we'll see.

I made a visit to my LishYS, Ewe'll Love It in Nashua on Saturday and by lucky chance they were having a "Fiber Fiesta"! All the ladies from the shop were there and they were doing raffles and hourly sales. I won a cute little baby pattern and a skein of Hemp/Wool from Hand Painted Knitting Yarns not 10 minutes after I walked in the door! I learned how to use a swift and winder and took advantage of the great sale loft prices to pick up two skeins of Artful Yarns Fable in the Hansel and Gretel colorway. Yummy. I think a tank top shall be in order.

And then there were the socks. I never finished my first pair of socks. I hadn't even turned the heel of the first sock before I decided that socks were most definately not for me. I was most definately wrong. Socks are the best! After I finished the first pair, the bug bit me. My second pair is self designed, using the Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula from the Summer '06 Knitty. Then of course I had to start a third pair before the second was finished. A good friend's birthday is coming up and I got some mmm mmm good Cherry Tree Hill Supersock to make some for her. I love the socks! I want to make more!

Green Gable, you have not been forgotten. I just have to finish this pair of socks...

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Exciting aquisitions

All of a sudden my queue of projects waiting for the needles has grown!

With warm weather approaching, I decided that I really wanted to try knitting something with bamboo. I had found a few patterns that looked promising, so I headed up to Nashua and visited Ewe'll Love It! for the first time. Oooh. I did love it. I did not however, get any bamboo yarn, although they did have some. While browsing, I came across this 100% baby alpaca worsted weight by Alpaca With a Twist, and I absolutely COULD NOT leave it in the shop. She had 3 hanks and I took them all home with me. I'd never spent that much money on yarn before, buying it almost seemed forbidden in a way. I don't have a pattern in mind for it yet, but I do know that it will be the most beautiful sweater I have ever owned. The picture below doesn't do it justice, the yarn is much less red than it appears here.

The other yarn in the picture is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I have admired the Green Gable pattern for a long time, and this spring I am going to make it. I bought the pattern from Zephyr Style and ordered yarn online for the first time. Let me tell you, I was so excited to open that package when it arrived! The color is even better than the picture I saw when I bought it, I can't wait to knit with it!

I also have a shawl or stole type of deal cast on, but that's it. It's a lace pattern that uses Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo, and I got about 8 inches in before I decided that I would really rather use larger needles. So I've cast on with the larger needles, but haven't gotten any further.

That's because my cousin just had a baby! I decided to make her little boy a cardigan, my first baby item. I wanted it to be washable and durable, so I chose Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. I'm about finished with the back of it and am almost ready to start the neck shaping. There will be a second one soon, another cousin is due in 3 months.

Talking about it makes me want to go work on it!

Happy Easter and Happy Knitting!



Friday, April 6, 2007

First Post

Welcome!
=)

I'm new to the blog world. I read lots of them, and have decided that I want my own! My goal in doing a blog is to give myself an outlet to talk about my knitting and hopefully get to know some other cool knitters. I don't know if anyone will be interested in my ramblings or not, but I'm going to dive right in anyway! It's my first entry, so I figured I'd make it more of an introduction and background on me and my knitting. I'm Miss Bea, although of course that isn't my given name, and I LOVE to knit! I can't get enough of it, I am obsessed!

I first learned when I was 9, my mother taught my sister and I to knit and crochet. Neither of us really liked knitting at the time though. My sister proceeded to make a long string of crochet bobbles (not intentionally, mind you), and then nothing even remotely crafy ensued from her for many years. I, being the pie in the sky type of gal I am, decided that I was going to crochet an afghan with my newfound skills. Needless to say, it did not keep my attention. Somewhere in my parents attic is a horrible mess of pink and teal Red Heart that shall remain unfinished.

I picked up knitting again during my junior year of college in the fall of 2000. My first project was a scarf for my boyfriend at the time, modeled after a scarf worn by the main character in the show "Rent". I gave it to him for Christmas and then started a scarf for myself. I designed it myself from stitch patterns I found in one of my mother's knitting books, and knitted it in Lion Brand Wool-Ease. It is my favorite scarf still, and every time I wear it I remember how proud I was when I finished it.

After that I knitted in fits and starts, only finishing a project or two a year. I would knit furiously for a month or two and then not a stitch for months. I did branch out into garments though, finishing a zip-up hooded sweater with pockets (I was quite proud of that one when I finished it too), a tank top, several pillows, and some mittens.

Then there was a looong lull. I had two UFO's; an Aran sweater knitted in Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool, and a fair isle style sweater knitted in a gorgeous handspun and dyed yarn that I picked up in green and lavender on a trip to Prince Edward Island. I didn't get any further than about 6 inches up the back on either of them.
My fiber craft dry spell ended this past October, when my boyfriend and I went to upstate New York for the weekend. I decided to crochet snowflake ornaments for my mother for Christmas during the trip. One thing led to another of course, and by the time January rolled around I had blasted through 4 crocheted hats, a crocheted sweater, 5 knitted hats, 3 knitted scarves, and a pair of arm cosies. I was a knitting fiend, and I loved every minute!

Since then I've slowed down a bit - I don't have the holiday deadline looming over me anymore. I made my boyfriend a hat, the poor lad had nothing to keep his ears warm! He's got a pretty big noggin, so it had to be custom designed and was my first attempt at designing something that involved shaping. Next up was another hooded zip-up sweater, which turned out to be a disaster (more on that another time) but I love it anyway. And then I knit my very first pair of socks! What fun!

So that's my personal knitting history, a very important thing for every knitter to recall from time to time, I think. It's nice to remember not only how you have become the knitter you are and what started you on that path, but also to reflect on how far you've come in the journey. There is so much to learn that I doubt I'll ever be bored.