Gettin Paid to Knit

You can't beat getting paid to knit! Yesterday I got to sit at a table and knit for three hours on the clock. I answered questions about my classes, and I helped some people with their Knitting and Crocheting problems. It amazes me that someone would actually come to me for help! I have a lot of experience crocheting, but as some of you know I've only been knitting for about four years. Sure I know enough about knitting to teach a beginner's class, but how much do I really know about knitting? This leads me to consider the TKGA's Master Knitter program. I figure it would be a good way for me to find out what I know and do not know. It would definitely be a challenge.

Ever since I taught myself to knit I have tried very hard to challenge myself every chance I get. My first project was a baby sweater and my second was a pair of socks for my hubby. Whenever I pick something to knit I try not to think, "Can I do this? Is this a good project for a beginner?" I just arm myself with good books and google, and I go to town. Does my project come out perfect? Well I really wish I could say yes, but that would be a big ole lie! So far, (knock on wood) I haven't  had any irreparable disasters, but I have had some screw ups. The beautiful thing about knitting is that all you have to do is rip back and start over. It is all a learning experience, and I still have so much to learn.

The wonderful thing about keeping this blog, is that I can document my learning experiences. When I find a good site that helped me figure out a problem, I can share it with you. When I make a mistake, I can share that also. Sometimes I'm embarrassed to admit my mistakes, but hey maybe someone (besides me) could learn from it. It's also nice to get a "Hey it's ok I've done that too. Hang in there" from some really nice people :) Remember the chart reading incident? That was too funny. I almost didn't post that booboo.

Well, I better hit the sack. My LYS is having a crazy "get up at the crack of dawn wear your pj's and come shop" sale and I have to get up at, well the crack of dawn. Details later :)

Cheap Yarn Yay!

I left work today with two bags stuffed with yarn. How much did I pay? I paid a huge whopping 15 bucks! Oh yeah baby! We just got in a bunch of new yarn, so we have a lot on clearance. I bought some Lion Brand Cotton Ease for $2 dollars a skein and some Bernat So Soft for $1 a skein. Don't you just love deals like that!

The Bernat is for my sister's Christmas present. I am pretty sure that it is safe to say what I am making her on here. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog. My sister loves anything with cherries. Her kitchen is decorated in cherries. I gave her a cherry purse last year and she just took a fit over it. I have decide to design a hat and scarf that have cherries on them. I guess you would call the style of the hat a cap. The brim isn't going to fold or roll up. I think I will do a couple rows of seed stitch so that it won't roll up. I drew it in photoshop. Please excuse the amateur drawing.

Well, you get the general idea anyway. The scarf will be Stockinette knit in a tube and will have the same two cherries on each end. I think she will love it. I chose acrylic yarn for her, because she is a very busy mom. She doesn't have time to worry about hand washing or dry cleaning anything. She needs something that you can toss in the washer and dryer. 

I am going to start this hat after I finish the long awaited Fair Isle Bag and Ribby. I wish that I had time to knit more. I need a nice desk job with a boss who appreciates some good ole multitasking ie. knitting and working! Haha! A girl can dream can't she??

Knitting with Beads Anyone??

I want to try Knitting with beads! I love love love the little amulet bags. The are so pretty and delicate. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any size 0000 needles in any of the craft stores or LYS's in my area. Then I found out that my friend Rhonda makes up these adorable bag kits with a booklet that explains everything you need to know! She has to be one of the craftiest people I know. Here are some pictures of her kits. You can click on each image for a larger view.

 



Aren't they great! The needles are so pretty. She puts the pretty beads (that have a fancy sounding name I can't for the life of me remember) on the end herself. My pair have butterflies on them, too cute! She makes some other cool gadgets that I plain to make a part of my stash really soon. I'll show them to you later. For more information you can email Rhonda by Clicking Here.

I also hunted down some information on Crocheting with beads. I knew that there would be people reading this that might not knit, and I wanted to provide information for them too. Beadcrochet.com has animated lessons for righties and lefties.

I'm still waiting for my Adrienne Vittadini Spring 2004 pattern book to get here. I ordered it weeks ago and was told it was on back order. Aaaaaaaaaaaargh! I'm so impatient. I know I won't get to knit anything from it for a while, but I want it! I also want the Fall 2004 book. Bonnie from Chicknits scooped one up at her LYS. I wonder if mine has it?

Took A Break

I took a break from the pc for a couple of days. I didn't want to go blind from looking at the screen too much. Friday I took my Grandma to my knitting group meeting. I wanted her to meet my new knitting friends. I thought that she might find it interesting. I don't know if we converted her or not but she did enjoy watching us knit.

I brought my spindle with my 1 ply to show Janette. She said that for a first attempt it was a really good job. She helped me predraft the pink Romney roving, and I spun a little under her supervision. I think that I'm starting to get the hang of it, but I still have a long way to go before I start spinning anything decent. Per Jeanettes advice, I'll be spinning about 20 minutes everyday for practice. I wish that I had a spinning wheel. I'm sure that would be a lot easier than a spindle.

The craft store I work at just got in a bunch of novelty yarn, and my boss wants me to knit up some scarves for a display. I told him that I wouldn't mind, but I would have to do them at work. I have way too much knitting to do at home. Did you know that Lion Brand makes a ribbon? It is called Incredible, and it is really pretty. I will definately be making a scarf with that yarn. That way I can also see what kind of gauge I get with it. I have a few patterns I want to knit that call for ribbon. Getting a discount on yarn almost makes up for that mean old man that called me a B*#%  today. You just gotta love that.

I'm Finished!!

Can you believe I finished that scarf and shawl list?? I sure can't. I had to organize, alphabetize, and write out the code for the page. I'm not going to admit how many hours this all took! You might think I don't have a life! Haha! The final link count turned out to be 139. I ended up cutting out a few patterns due to issues with the site they were posted on. Needless to say, I haven't done any knitting today. I really need to get that Fair Isle Bag Finished. It has been whimpering in the darkness of my knitting bag. "Please pick me up! I'm lonely!" There just isn't time is there? Sometimes I wish that there were two of me, but then we would probably fight over who gets to knit the bag anyways. Well, it's time for me to get off of this computer. I can't look at this screen a minute longer. Ok, I'm really getting off of this computer now. Have a great day!

Holy Cow!!

There are soooooooooooo many scarf and shawl patterns on the internet. Can you believe that I have found 145 so far, and I am actually leaving a bunch out! I could stop there, but I think I'll look a little bit more for the heck of it. I'm shooting for 150. Think I'll get there? For now, I'm dragging my tired butt to bed! Goodnight :)

Look What I Can Do!

I can spin! Woohooo! I learned how today during my first Spinning Guild meeting. We made our own spindles out of CD's and wooden dowels, and then we got our first lesson in spindle spinning. It was honestly and incredible experience. Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated with the process of creating fabric from wool, cotton, and other fibers, and now I have actually participated in it. When I learned how to crochet at five I was amazed with what you could create with a just a hook and yarn. When I knit my first socks, I just couldn't believe that two sticks and yarn made them! Now I can even make the yarn! I may not be good at it yet, but by golly I can do it. I still have this great pink roving that Janette gave me, but I want to practice a bit more before I attempt to spin it. It is so pretty, and I don't want to ruin it.

If you would like to make your own CD spindle Click Here. It was really easy to make, and Rhonda said that it spins just as good as her other spindles. She has to be the craftiest woman ever, so I believe her! There are many resources for spinning on the internet, so I'll post a few links for those of you interested in learning to spin. Enjoy!

I Can Spin
The Joy Of Handspinning
The Bellwether
Spin Off

I'm Still Here!

I haven't abandoned the blog. I promise.  You see, Hurricane Charlie has this real problem. He just has to be the center of attention! I really think that he should have been hugged more as a child. Maybe he needs some therapy??

I took my Ribby Shell over to the next door neighbors for some good ole hurricane party knitting. Not having to read a chart or a pattern was especially helpful once the power went out. I highly recommend this pattern for some seriously easy and relaxing knitting. I did put Ribby down long enough to teach my next door neighbor Kim how to knit. I have a ton of extra needles and a stash of kitchen cotton that I may never see the bottom of, so I got her started on an easy dishcloth. She was a very fast learner.

I would really like to show progress pictures of Ribby, but it is for my mom who is a daily reader of my blog. Hi Mom! She knows she is getting a tank, but hasn't seen the pattern picture or the yarn. That is the one drawback of Christmas knitting and blogging. Maybe I should just figure out how to block my family from my blog! Hahaa! Just kidding Mom!! Maybe.......(insert evil laugh here)

Wowsa!

I have had some time on my hands today, so I've been searching for scarves and shawls. Can I just say Holy Crap!! There are a lot of shawl and scarf patterns out there! You are going to have to be patient with me on this one. Right now I'm in the bookmarking stage. It's going to be some work getting the links alphabatized and coded. I will probably seperate the crochet patterns from the knitting ones since there are so many.

Poll Results

Thanks to everyone that participated in my poll. I'm going to get started looking for scarf and shawl patterns in my free time. I'm only going to put links for interesting/unique scarf patterns, because there are A LOT out there. I hope everyone has a great day. I have to go to work now, yuck!

Update

I have another update on my brother. It's very frustrating that we get only bits and pieces of information and half of it is wrong. First we hear he is shot, and then we hear he wasn't shot and it was shrapnel. Now the latest news is that he was shot. Did you ever play the game Telephone when you were a kid? You all sit in a circle and the first person whispers a sentence in the second person's ear. The second person whispers what they heard into the third person's etc etc... The last person says outloud what they think the sentence is, and it is almost always way off. This has been like one big freaking game of Telephone. This is the actual story.

Last Wednesday night Chris was in a convoy that was attacked. The militants were on the side of the road with a rocket propelled grenade waiting for them to pass. Once they shot that they started small arms fire that killed one and wounded five. Chris was one of the wounded. He was in the passengers seat, and the bullet went through the door through his right leg and shattered in his left thigh. The person driving was much more injured, so Chris took over driving until they were out of danger. My brother Nick was able to go to the hospital and will be there until Chris gets sent home. I am so thankful for my brother Nick's unit who never even hesitated about getting him to Chris' side.

This information came straight from Nick's wife so it should be acuarate. Thanks again for all of the well wishes and prayers. Please continue to send happy thoughts and prayers for both of my brothers. Nick is still in the mess, and Chris has a long recovery ahead of him.

Ok you need a smile after reading all of that. Click Here

Bad News Today

I had a bad feeling this morning, so I decided to read the online news on Iraq. Some of you may know that both of my brothers are over there. I read that a helicopter had been shot down, and my stomach twisted. My brother Nick works on Black Hawks and has to fly along with the crew. I got on AOL instant messenger to see I could get in touch with my sister-in-law. I had to make sure Nick was ok and my bad feeling was wrong. She says, "Oh yeah Nick is fine. I just talked to him a little while ago."  Whew! We continued to chat and all the sudden I get this message,

"CHRIS HAS BEEN SHOT!"

She was on the phone with my mother who was asking her to call the Red Cross. I called my mom to try to get more information, but she didn't have much information to give. All we know is that his convoy came under attack, he was shot three times in his legs, and his friend was killed. Despite his wounds and profuse bleeding, he kept driving his truck until he got them all to safety. My brother is a hero.  There isn't a whole lot of information available on the attack, but you can read an article by clicking here. 

The phone call to the Red Cross was a success. My brother Nick is at the hospital with Chris as we speak. They are about to operate, and hopefully we will learn more soon. Not knowing is freaking killing me! My mom is a wreak, my dad is a wreck, and all of us kids are a wreck! At least Chris is alive and will be leaving the war. But what about Nick? What's going to happen to him?

A Button!

Donna from Yarn Tomato made me a button, and I absolutely love it! It's on the left side of the page near the bottom. If you haven't visited Donna's site before, you ought to check it out. She makes the cutest buttons ever. She is also the owner of the Crochet Blogs ring which I plan to join. I'll make an effort to crochet enough to meet the qualifications :) Right click on the button to save it to your computer, and then upload it to your image host. If you don't have image hosting you can go to Photobucket. That is who I use, and it is free. Thanks again Donna! You Rock!

Yep, I crochet

I promised progress pictures today, but I decided not to show a project I am actually working on. Instead I decided to show a project that I have been neglecting for a very, VERY long time. This is a motif for the Summer Sunflowers Afghan that I begun, oh I don't know ummmm, SIX YEARS AGO! Why I lost interest in it I really don't know. I know that part of the reason is that I taught myself how to knit four years ago and fell deaply in love with it. I barely pick up a crochet hook anymore unless it is to teach a class at work or make Christmas presents. I always end up crocheting stuffed animals for the kids and christmas ornaments for the rest of my family. Last year I made Devin a stuffed Tigger and Ben a stuffed cow. His mommy really likes cows, and I wonder who's cow it is now. Haha! Now that I have started my Christmas projects there will be Crocheting content in my blog :) Maybe I will even pick my poor old Sunflower Afghan back up. I know she is terribly lonely.

Finally Knitting!

I actually did some knitting yesterday! It's amazing! I worked on the Fair Isle bag and started the Ribby Shell from ChicKnits. I have finally completed one side and the bottom of the bag. I am officially halfway there! I know I am really slow finishing projects, but I haven't been able to get much knitting time in lately. I'm lucky if I snag an hour a night. I'm beginning to worry about finishing Christmas presents on time. I think I will end up giving IOU's with pictures for the presents that I don't finish. They should understand. I work full time, I have no commuting time, and I can't knit at work. If you can I am soooooooooooooo jealous of you! My time for working on projects is way limited.