The Fearless Knitter: Recent Episodes

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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to give a quick update. My fiance messed with my settings and downloaded multiple programs. He finally came to the conclusion that I need a new camera. I just placed my order and the camera should arrive on Tuesday. I won't be able to record this weekend, but am planning on recording when I receive the camera. In the meantime feel free to stop by the Ravelry group. I will keep you all posted.

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Welcome Everyone,

so I decided to make a podcast/videocast called "The Fearless Knitter." My dad is working on a logo for me. A couple things I want to apologize for, my camera and sound suck and I need a new camera, I talk a lot with my hands and move around a lot do to anxiety (once I get comfortable recording that should stop), I said anyways a lot. I forgot to mention that I made a ravelry group (the banner will change once my dad finishes my logo), please feel free to join and start conversations as well. I did start an introduction thread, please introduce yourself I would like to see who's watching.

Show Notes:

Finished Objects

none that I can show :(

Works in Progress

• Triangle Wrap by Vickie Howell in Patons Classic Wool in Aran Colorway on size 5.5mm needles.

• Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf in Unique Sheep Ling base custom dyed colorway on size 3.25 needles.

• Hitchhiker by Martina Behm in mystery yarn from Germany on size 3.5 mm needles. Hanging out in my Bird Leg monster bag.

• Toshette by Rebecca Hill in handspun Three Waters Farm BFL in Santa Fe colorway on size 4.5 mm needles.

Spinning

Finished spinning Spun Right Round Merino in the Playtime colorway.

Next on the wheel into the whirled BFL in the Vegetable Medley colorway.

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Welcome Everyone,

this week went by pretty slow, just working. Remember last week I talked about the charity event? Well, Tuesday I got a phone call that I won a door prize, I won a free class at the local yarn shop that I go to every week. I can't believe the luck I been having with knitting related prizes. I am very excited about my free class and immediately called the owner on her cell phone. She said I can either take a class or have a private lesson, if there is something I wanted to learn. I have a pattern in mind that I will need help to get started on, since the pattern confuses me. Yesterday, I went downtown to drop of my charity hat and pick up my prize, after that I hung out at the local yarn shop. So, this past couple weeks I been thinking about turning the blog into a podcast. I watch a lot of them and am friends with a podcaster and the podcasting community seems to be very nice. However, I don't know anything about the technical aspects, for instant what software to use or how to edit. My fiance is a computer buff and I have a laptop that has a camera and microphone build in, so I am sure I could do it. I think now my question is would any one even watch me babble about my knitting and spinning, I really can't think of anything that would make me unique from all the other podcasts. Well, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Finished Objects

Like I said, I dropped off the charity hat. I just knitted a plain stockinette hat with a rolled brim and I added a pom pom. I think I used size 7 (4.5 mm) needles and some red heart that I donated as well.

I finished my Under Cover of Midgnight Hooded Cowl by Julie Turjoman out of the Vampire Knits book. I knit it out of Cascade 220 Heather Tweed on size 10.5 (6.5 mm) needles. I really like it and hope it gets cold enough this winter so I can wear it.

Works in Progress

I have absolutely no progress on the wedding shawl and all the other projects are secret knitting.

Spinning

Yay, I actually spun a significant amount. I finished the first 2 ounces of my Spun Right Round in the Playtime colorway and I am almost finished with the second half.

Last week I met up with my friend Pam, who let me borrow her spinning wheel. She asked me if I could spin one of her fibers and I get to pick. She bought a beautiful into the whirled in May, when we were at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It's into the whirled BFL in the Vegetable Medley colorway.

Enabling

I received my October fiber shipment. It is from no other than into the whirled Merino in the Bodhi colorway. I love it, once again it has my favorite color aqua and teal in it. Also, they included the QR code on their label again, this time after I scanned it I emailed myself the link so that I can share it with you guys. The link includes a lot of information, which is very helpful in any fiber related craft.

Here is the link regarding info about Merino. The first picture is her inspiration picture, also this is the last nature inspired club installment.

I also purchased a few skeins at my local yarn store, but they are for secret knitting projects and I don't want to spoil anyone.

That's it for this week, next week again no plans. Please let me know what you think of the podcasting idea, you can leave a comment or private message me on Ravelry, I am StitchesPlease.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome back Everyone,

you might have noticed that I skipped a week. At my work two sicknesses were making the rounds, either you got a head/chest cold or a bad and I mean BAD stomach bug. If my stomach hears the words stomach bug, I am guaranteed to catch it and I sure did. However, now I am all better and since I missed a week I will have a lot to talk about.

I started getting sick past Friday, but was a trooper and dragged myself and my Fiance to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Fest. I met up with my friend Lesley and we ended up doing a little bit of shopping together. At some point she had to go and demonstrate spinning with our local Spinning and Weavers guild, I went and did some more shopping. We didn't stay too long, since I didn't feel too great. Honestly I wasn't too impressed and decided that next year in spring I will once again go to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and then in fall I will do a spinning/knitting retreat with a semi-local yarn shop. This year I had to pick between the fall fiber fest or the retreat.

So, then Sunday I didn't leave my bed all day and I ended up calling in sick at work on Monday and also stayed in bed that day. Yesterday, the local Spinning and Weavers Guild held a charity event called "Let's Stitch." That's where I donated that pile of yarn I showed a couple weeks ago. Also, me and Lesley hung out together and knitted hats for the charity.

Today, was a pretty big day for my family. My sister and her husband are expecting their first child and today we had a reveal the gender party. My sister, mom, dad, her husband and all of his family live in Arizona, however I live in Virginia. So, what we did is I was on Skype via one Ipad, my birth-father from Germany was on another Ipad and that way we were able to experience the whole thing. When my sister had her last ultrasound they informed the doctor that they didn't want to know the sex of the baby, the doctor gave them an envelop, which they gave to a bakery. Today, they cut the cake and whatever color was the filling is the sex of the baby. We are happy to announce that I will have a nephew, named Micah Ryan. I took some pictures via Skype, that I will add underneath this.

Finished Objects - FO's

Nothing :(

Works in Progress - WIP's

First up is the Evenstar by Susan Pandorf out of Unique Sheep on the Ling base in the custom dyed colorway on size 3 (3.25 mm) Hiya Hiya sharp needles. I finished the 2nd chart and am currently doing the set up for chart #3. Taking pictures is really difficult, because right now I increased to 560 stitches and my cable isn't long enough to spread the shawl out.

New on the Needles is my 4th quarter Loopy Ewe challenge, which is to knit with 2 strands held double. I chose to knit the Under Cover of Midnight Hooded Cowl by Julie Turjoman, it was published in Vampire Knits book. I am knitting it out of Cascade 220 on the heather base on size 10.5 (6.5 mm) needles. While knitting this I taught myself how to knit cables without a cable needle, just to know it.

Next project is also new, it is the Charity hat. I am knitting just a plain knit hat with a rolled brim out of yarn I am donating as well.

Spinning

None, I didn't touch the wheel in two weeks.

Enabling

I won something else. Last week I won fiber of my choice from The First Draft, I chose Rambouillet in the "Quiet Contrary" colorway. I will attempt to navajo aka chain ply this.

Next, all the things I bought at the Fall Fiber Fest. Here is a picture of everything, including my Tshirt.

First thing I bought is from Wild Hare Fiber Studios I bought Faux Cashmere, it is just as soft as the real deal and is 100% Microfiber Nylon, in the "Friend or Faux" colorway.

Next up I bought to skeins from a Lady who is from Germany and the yarn she was selling is like the yarn my aunt sent to me from Germany, except the way it is dyed. I bought two, since I couldn't decide. Anyway, her store is called Wolle's Yarn Creations (wolle means yarn in German). It's 100% cotton, very soft for cotton and both are gradiants. The first colorway is called "New Vintage."

The second colorway is called "Capri 2."

The whole time I was looking for a heavy variegated sock yarn at least 500 yards for the My Hope by Laura Linneman. I just couldn't find one, well when we were just about to leave I saw one I really liked, but again not enough yards. The last skein I touched at that booth was the same colorway, but the skeins were bigger to be exact they were 510 yards and it was the last one in the colorway. It's from Creatively Dyed Yarns on the Calypso base in the "Queen" colorway.

Next week I have nothing planned and hopefully I get lots of knitting done.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome Everyone to my blog,

Oh WoW indeed, for anyone who doesn't know me, I used to be a gamer. Well, one video game in particular, World of Warcraft aka WoW. I played from December 2007 till about February 2011, this past Tuesday the new expansion Mist of Pandaria was released, one word Pandas. I pretty much played only WoW this past week and had to make an extreme effort to knit. I missed knit night and didn't go to my usual Saturday hang out at the yarn shop.This weekend I did pretty good switching from playing WoW to crafting. I honestly have too many hobbies, but they all make me happy and life is just too short to be miserable and bored all the time, you will never ever hear me say I am bored. Talking about getting bored, that's the reason I have so many hobbies, I tend to get bored very quick and need a lot of variety in my life. Anyway, besides only playing on the computer, Sedona is much better and we got the hang with her medicine.

Finished Objects - FO's

Believe it or not, but I actually do have a FO. However, I can't tell you anything about it, since it's the secret knitting I been working on. I will post about it in 90 days, yes folks Christmas is that close.

Works in Progress - WIP's
First up is the Evenstar by Susan Pandorf, knit out of custom dyed Unique Sheep on their Ling base on size US 3 (3.25mm) Hiya Hiya needles. I have about 11 more rounds of the "easy" part to go and then the 2nd chart gets a little crazy. The 2nd chart was fairly easy to this point, which makes knitting on it much less frustrating. Haha I just noticed the folds make it look like a grouchy face.

Next, I been knitting on my The Total German Hitchhiker by Martina Behm out of mystery yarn I received as a present from my aunt, Heike who lives in Germany, on size US 4 (3.5 mm) needles. I have 22 points and will knit as many as I can get out of that one ball. The first picture is to show the size of it and the second is to show the colors.

Spinning

I started spinning a Spun Right Round braid, it's Merino wool top in the Playtime colorway. I will spin one half from one end and the other from the opposite end for maximum barber pooling. I absolutely love the colors and it is sooooo soft, I love it. If you are a spinner go check out their store, they have amazing braids and very reasonable prices. The first picture is the braid before I took it apart and the second is what I have spun so far.

Enabling

Boy do I have enabling all right. I won some, earned some, bought some, and was gifted some. Where to start? Two weeks ago I mentioned the Make-a-Wish Fundraiser that I donated to and was entered in a drawing. I received my prize a pair of my choice Signature Needles I chose circulars, size US 6 (4.0 mm), stiletto points, 5 inch needle lenght, and 32 inch cable lenght. I have been able to resist to cast on with them, but as what I can see I will love these. They swivel at the join (only needle I know that do that), the cable has no memory, very smooth join, nice finish on the needle, very light, and sharp points.

Last week I mentioned that I was able to pick my prize yarn from The Loopy Ewe for Camp Loopy that I had earned for completing all three challenges to their specifications. I received my Dream in Color in the Smooshy with cashmere base in the Watering Hole colorway. This is the softest yarn I have ever touched and I just want to keep petting it. I absolutely love everything about it.

Also, I had mentioned that I ordered more yarn. First I ordered enough for the 4th quarter challenge, to knit 400+ yards with the yarn held double, so a total of 800 yards. I thought I knew what I will knit, but changed my mind, so now I am hunting for a pattern. I ordered Cascade 220 in the Heather Tweed base. So happy I received 20% discount for ordering during the discount week for the 4th challenge, also I received $25.00 off my ordered since I ordered all my yarn from them for Camp Loopy I had earned enough bonus points for my credit.

And last but not least I ordered a skein of madelinetosh in the tosh merino light base in the Seawash colorway.

I bought that skein with a specific project in mind. I already own two tosh merino light skeins, one in the graphite colorway and one in the oceana colorway. I will use all three to knit the Color Affection, I get to use my new signatures for that project.Yes, I am finally jumping on the bandwagon. Here are all three colors together, I haven't decided in which order I will start, if you have a suggestion please post a comment, thank you.

My aunt from Germany was once again so gracious too sent me more yarn on her own account. She sent me more of the yarn that is the kind I am using for the hitchhiker and actually when I went to take pictures I noticed a small tag in one of the balls and now know a little bit about the yarn, I haven't had the chance to look into it though. Danke Tante Heike, ich habe mich sehr gefreut.

Last week in enabling I showed the September club fiber from into the whirled. This week on many podcasts they mentioned that the label had a scan able QR code, but no one really knew what information it gave you. It didn't even dawn on me to scan mine, till I watched the podcasts. It took me to their website where it had information regarding the breed of sheep, what to know about spinning the fiber, what to know about knitting with that kind of yarn, and what to know about dyeing that fiber. I thought that all that information was amazing and it makes me love into the whirled even more, if that's possible.

Next week will be same old working during the day and juggling too many hobbies at night. However, something very exciting is coming up on Saturday. Me and my fiance are going to the Fall and Fiber Festival at Mountpelier, Virginia. I am very excited and can't wait, I have been told by many people it's smaller than Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, but still a very good size. My fiance will look at all the animals, while I go shopping hopefully with my friend Leslie, who will be demonstrating spinning there.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome Everyone,

this has been such a stressful week and I am happy it's over and things start to look better. Monday my lovely Sedona (my torti cat) squad down right in front of me and peed on her bed a couple drops. We knew right then and there something was wrong. We were unable to take her to the vet till Friday, for many reasons. However, as the week progressed things got worst, meaning she peed on both her beds, our bed, and the closet. Also towards the end of the week she pretty much only peed blood. The vet confirmed she has a Urinary Tract Infection and crystals in her urine. She now is on (liquid) medication for 3 weeks. The worst part is it totally is our fault, we were trying to safe money and changed their cat food. Well we learned with the vet bill and switched back to their good food. Since the first day of medication she has been much better, which makes me very happy. On a happy note The Loopy Ewe revealed 3 different colorways for the Camp Loopy prize yarn. Of course I didn't just pick my prize yarn and went along my way, but I will show those goodies hopefully next week.

Works in Progress - WIP's

First up is my Evenstar, knit out of custom dyed Unique Sheep on the Ling base, with size US 3 (3.25mm) Hiya Hiya Sharp needles. I am half way done with the 2nd chart, woohoo, still a ways a very long ways to go. I tried getting a good picture, but yea that's not happening. It will look like I have no progress, since the shawl actually only increases after each chart.

I been working a lot on a secret holiday knitting project.

Finished Objects - FO's

None :(

Next On the Needles

This is were the title is coming from. The Loopy 4th quarter challenge is to knit something with the yarn held double, I will knit The Cinch.

Then, I have a couple holiday knitting projects coming up.

Also my sister is 3 months pregnant, as soon as we find out the sex of the baby, baby knitting is getting started.

Meanwhile I have to finish my wedding shawl and knit my bouquet.

Spinning

I finished the August 2012 into the whirled Fiber club. It's Polwarth, I got about 264 yards (my most yardage yet) a heavy fingering to a light sport weight. The picture is before I soaked it and thwacked it. Actually today I washed that one and my last handspun from into the whirled that I completely forgot to wash. The first picture is the yarn and the second is the itty bitty I had left over on my bobbin, I navo plyed it into a mini skein, I had 2 yards.

Enabling

I received the September into the whirled club shipment. It's Superwash BFL (Bluefaced Leicester) in the Aurora Borealis colorway. It's very pretty, green, aqua, dark purple, and black. First I will show the inspiration picture and second the fiber.

That's it for this week. I hope Sedona will get better this week. Also I should get my Loopy package this week, with lots of goodies.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Hello and Welcome Everyone,

this past week I just had my usual work week, with my usual Knit Night on Thursday at the LYS (local yarn store). Saturday I hung out with my friend Lesley at the LYS again and once again we had a blast. We both brought our spinning wheels for Spin in Public Day, those wheels sure are conversation starters. Last week, I forgot to mention two things in my blog. First thing, me and my fiance went for the first time to Longhorn Steak House and the food was great. It's a little on the pricey side, but for the amount of food you get it actually is reasonable. The second thing, I have no idea how that slipped my mind. I won a skein of yarn from the Dramatic Knits podcast, thank you Steve and Callie. I will show the yarn in the enabling section. A little while ago a fellow knitter and triathlete, Lynn Zimm, was holding a fundraiser for the Make a Wish foundation. I donated to receive the My Hope shawl pattern by Laura Linneman, also know as Lala from the Knit Girllls and because I believe the Make a Wish is a very important organization. Lynn raised $16k, which is a total of 4 wishes, that's amazing. Yesterday, she released the list of winners for extra prices. I couldn't believe my eyes, I won a pair of my choice signature needles. Yes, signature needles and they are my 1st pair. I was lucky enough to try them out at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, so I know what length needle tip I want (yes you get to pick the lenght of the needle tips and the cable, crazy) now I just need to decide which size needles to pick out.

Works in Progress - WIP's

I won't have any pictures to show this week.

I made a deal with myself to knit at least 2 rows on my Evenstar and with my math it should be done in a little over 4 months, I have 9 months to finish it. The reason there won't be a picture is there is such minimal difference it really doesn't look much different from last time I showed it.

The next 2 projects I worked on are secret holiday knitting. This is my first Christmas as a full blown knitter and I love gifting knitting, so I can guarantee that there will be a lot of secret knitting coming up. I am sorry, but to my surprise my family does read the blog.

FO's

None :(

Spinning

I did get some spinning done. I finished the first half of my ...into the whirled August club fiber. Big thanks to Leslie, since she told me how to spin Polwarth it's been a dream to spin and so far it's my favorite fiber. I am spinning both halves from separate ends to get the most barber pooling I can get. It looks pretty consistent to me, with a couple thick spots. I am about halfway done with the 2nd half. The first picture is the finished 1st half and the second is the 2nd half that I am still working on.

Enabling

As mentioned at the beginning I won yarn a little bit over a week ago and it arrived last week. I won Dancing Dog Dyeworks Jive sock base in the Blue Planet Colorway. It's so soft and squishy and I absolutely love it.

I have a question to all you knitters out there. What do you knit with single skeins like this one when you don't want to knit socks with it? I tend to knit shawls or cowls with it, but am curious of what other people do.

Charity

This week I want to talk about charity. My local spinning guild is having their second annual Let's Stitch event. They team up with the From the Heart organization and there are a couple different ways you can help (the link will have all the information). One way is to donate yarn, so I went through my stash and I am donating almost 30 balls of yarn, around 20 of them are brand new. I think of myself as a more advanced knitter and thanks to watching podcasts and doing most of my yarn shopping online and at local yarn stores, I kind of became a yarn snob. Here is a picture of my mountain of yarn that will be donated to a home where it will be used.

Next week will just be same old, working and more working. I hope you all have a great week.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Hi and Welcome to my blog,

luckily this week flew by thanks to being a 4 day week, however unfortunately the weekend is flying by just as fast. During the week I didn't do much except for work and on Thursday I went to my usual weekly knit night at the local yarn shop, Knit2Unwind. Usually on Saturdays I also hang out at the yarn store and this Saturday was no exception. My friend Lesley, who's also the host of the videocast The Knitting Game and other Stuff, stopped by the store. We hung out, knitted, and spun together. This was the first time that I took the spinning wheel to the store and that I spun with someone. It was interesting to watch someone more experienced than me spin, I picked up some hints and tricks and had a lot of fun. Also, I want to wish Lesley a Happy Birthday, which is tomorrow. I hope you have a great day.

Finished Objects - FO's

It "only" took me 3 months, but finally I finished Meine Deutsche Socken (translates to my German socks), also known as the Harvest Dew socks. I used Uschi Universal yarn that was gifted to me by my aunt who lives in Germany. Also, the socks used the German Twisted cast on method, so I thought the yarn was perfect for them and hence the German title for the socks. I loved the pattern it was very easy, it is charted, but I prefer charts over written. The yarn is very soft and I had no problems with it at all. They have not been blocked yet.

Works in Progress - WIP's

I barely worked on my wedding shawl and won't show that this week.

However I casted on something new. I casted on the Total German Hitchhiker, the pattern is called the Hitchhiker. The reason I changed mine is that the yarn I am using was once again gifted to me by my aunt from Germany and this time the designer is German. I don't know what the name of the yarn is or if it even has a name. It came to me already caked up and without a label. To my understanding it's put together by an independent person, who picks different strands to compile the yarn. It is a multi stranded yarn, which makes splitting the yarn very easy and knitting with it a little more difficult, I definitely have to pay attention, usually I can knit without looking down, but with this yarn I have to look down the whole time. Anyway, first picture is the whole thing so you can see the size (sorry lightining sucks) and the 2nd picture is a close up so you can see the color.

I casted on one more project yesterday, but it's a secret.

Spinning

Yes I got some spinning done. I am almost done spinning the first half (2 ounces) from my August club shipment from ...into the whirled. At first I had a really hard time spinning this, but on Saturday Lesley gave me some hints on how to spin it and it's been fun ever since. I absolutely love into the whirled's fiber. The colors are amazing and the fiber prep is outstanding.

While I was spinning this Sedona was supervising me and making sure I did this right. Please excuse the mess.

Next week will once again consist of working, Thursday and Saturday I will hang out the yarn shop.

Please if you could follow my blog, there is an option on the top left side, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome to my blog everyone,

this week flew by and once again all I did was work. Friday, we had friends come over after work for a little while, but that's about it.

Finished Objects - FO's

I finished my Social Climber Cowl out of 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden that I had in my stash. I made it much longer, since I wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible. I liked the way it came out and would recommend knitting it with handspun if you have it and don't know what to knit with it.

Works in Progress - WIP's

I only worked on my Evenstar this week, besides finishing the cowl. I complete Chart #1 out of 4 and no longer have to knit it using the magic loop method. I definitely liked knitting it using magic loop better than using DPNs (double pointed needles), but I have heard others saying they can't do it using magic loop, so I guess it is a personal preference. Since it is lace it won't look very good and you won't be able to see the pattern until it is blocked.

Spinning

I spun a little bit today using my ...into the whirled August 2012 fiber club, but not enough to even show.

Like I said it would be a short one again. I been trying to mainly focus on the shawl knitting wise. I really want to cast on something new, but I am limited to only using yarn out of my stash. My stash is actually very limited, since I really only have one skein yarns. Well I am off to enjoy my labor day and knit maybe on my socks or triangle shawl.

See you next week and Happy Knitting.

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Hello and Welcome Everyone,

Let's see week in review, on Tuesday I went and met my friend at the local yarn shop to hang out for a little bit, she moved further away so I don't see her often. The rest of the week I just worked and moved to a different desk. It is official that I will be flying to Arizona on December 22nd and return December 30th and I am very excited about that. Also, last night me and my fiance watched 21st Jumpstreet and I give that movie 5 stars. If you enjoy action comedies or movies like Superbad, you should check it out.

Finished Objects - FO's

Nothing :(

Works in Progress - Wip's

I didn't really feel like knitting on my Harvest Dew Socks much this week. I did finish the heel flap, heel turn, and picked up the gusset. I still have a lot of gusset decreasing to do.

Next up is the reason I didn't really feel like knitting at all this past week. I frogged the Evenstar and re-started. Why? Because it didn't look right, when it was right. I switched from my DPN's to magic loop and enjoy knitting it a little bit better. However, I tried to tell myself to only knit on this at home and nothing else, so what did I do? I avoided knitting all together.

Since I lost my knitting mojo this week and in order to get it back I just had to cast on something new. I casted on the Social Climber Cowl on size US 10 (6.0 mm) needles using Noro Silk Garden from my stash. A lot of people have complained about this yarn, I like it. I think it looks like handspun and now I am inspired to use my handspun for Noro intended patterns.

This is all I have for this week. I didn't get any spinning done at all, I haven't even started a new project. I did receive something in the mail, but I can't show that. Hopefully next week I will have more to show and my knitting mojo returns.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Hello Everyone and welcome to my blog,

remember how I mentioned last week that I had a bad day at work on Friday? Well the reason for that was that the person who did my old job no longer works there and I had to cover her job. This week they were going to hire someone for the position, however I volunteered to take over the position. I have trained two people in that position and both got fired, I really didn't feel like doing it a third time. Plus my current position is easier to train, then the one I took over. It is not to bad and I proposed some changes, which were granted. Other than that I just went to work and came home to some much needed knitting time. Also I wanted to address some changes I made to the blog. One obvious one is I changed the font, please feel free to let me know if it's difficult to read or you hate the color, etc. Second, I added a knit meter for my knitting and spinning, it's more for my own curiosity how much I knit and spin through the year. Third, I added a Fiber Diary to keep track of which fibers I have spun. Last but not least, starting this week I will start out with my FO's instead of WIP's, that just makes more sense to me.

Finished Objects - FO's

Yay, I am so excited about this finished object. It's for the last Camp Loopy project, I can't believe I was able to complete all 3 over the last 3 months. I finished Elfe with 2 weeks to spare using madelinetosh tosh merino light in the Cobalt and Maple Leaf colorway, I can't recommend this yarn enough. Also, I really enjoyed knitting the pattern, it's well written and very easy to follow. I can definitely see myself knit another one. My photographer aka my fiance, took about a 20 pictures, that's why I am not really smiling.

Works in Progress - WIP's

I just looked back on my blog, when i last showed this wip and wow really?! One month ago I showed you my HO (half finished object), well I finally made some progress on the 2nd sock. Yes, I still have not finished the Harvest Dew socks. I have a good excuse with all those KAL's that I joined. I will change their name to the Totally German Socks, since I had to use the twisted german cast on and I was gifted the yarn from my aunt who lives in Germany. I have to knit 1 more inch on the leg and then I can start the heel.

Remember I said last week once Elfe is off the needles I will cast on my very special project? Well I started my wedding shawl the Evenstar shawl, I am knitting it on size US 3 needles (3.25mm) and am using Unique Sheep Ling in the custom dyed teal colorway (the colorway was dyed to match my bridesmaid dresses). So far I have run into many dropped stitches and I think I casted on over 20 times, but it's slowly coming along. It is very difficult to take a picture of it, since it just looks like a tangles mess.

Soon to be on the Needles

Nothing at the moment.

Spinning

I finished ...into the whirled English Shetland Combed Top in the Abercrombie colorway. I absolutely loved spinning the fiber and am very happy that I joined their fiber club. I spun this fractely, which means I split the fiber in half lenght wise and then spun the first half normally. However, the second half I split again 3 more times lenght wise and then spun each half back to back from the same end. I ended up with a heavy fingering to a light sport weight and 232 yards (most yardage so far). I also practiced chain plying with the leftovers. I think I got the technique, but it is way over spun. I have not soaked it or thwacked (that takes some of the over spun parts out) yet.The first picture is of the unspun fiber.

Enabling

I received my first fiber club shipment from ...into the whirled. Like I just mentioned I am very happy that I joined. One reason is that I really enjoyed spinning the Shetland and the second reason is it is just the first shipment and my absolute favorite color, turquoise, is in it. It is 60s Polwarth Wool Top (if someone know what the 60s stands for, please let me know) in the Pamukkale colorway. For three months the colors are inspired by some kind of theme, this time around it is Nature and this month was the first installment. The first picture is the inspiration picture and the second is the fiber.

Again no plans for next week, just keep on knitting on my wedding shawl and stay sane at work.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome Everyone,

last week I had a cold and a stomach flu and didn't work Wednesday and Thursday. During those two days I barely got any knitting done, since I pretty much just slept, but I feel much better now. Friday I had a tough day at work, since Friday kinda sucked me and my fiance treated ourselves after work to a nice dinner and later on I relaxed with my knitting and a beer. Last night we had company over, I made a delicious dinner and we just hung out played games and I drank my favorite wine.

Works in Progress - WIP's

I am almost done with my 3rd and last Camp Loopy project, Elfe. I am hoping to finish it today, but today is just flying by.

Finished Objects - FO's

I finished my 2nd Ravellenics challenge, Terence the Tap Dancing T-Rex. I almost ran out of yarn and had to take some of the yarn from an unfinished granny square. In the 2nd picture he is hanging out with his new friend Basil the Boogie Woggie Brontosaurus, I knitted him back in May.

Soon to be on the Needles

Well as mentioned before, once I finish Elfe I will cast on my wedding shawl, Evenstar.

For in between and portable projects I will knit on my Harvest Dew socks and maybe make Wellington Mitts, for the mitts I would use the leftover yarn from Elfe.

Spinning

Nothing really, I spun a little bit more on my ...into the whirled, but not enough to be worth showing. I just really been focused on finishing T-Rex, since he had to be done by tomorrow and now I am focusing on Elfe just to get it done (it has to be done by the 27th, so I have plenty of time.)

Enabling

I just can't go without buying yarn. My local yarn store, Knit 2 Unwind, is having a give away and in order to get a raffle ticket you have to purchase something for $10.00. I bought Plymouth Stiletto, pretty sparkly yarn, most likely it will become a pair of socks.

No plans for next week, just trying to get through the work week alive. Thank goodness I have my knitting, I don't know how people relieve stress without it.

Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome Everyone,

this week nothing exciting happened, just went to work and came home. I know me and my fiance live pretty boring lives. Yesterday, my fiance had to get blood drawn and that was pretty interesting to say the least. When he arrived 2 cars were in the parking lot. He got out to start a line, once he got out the two people in the cars got out as well. They were waiting for about 20 minutes for the lab to open it's doors, when they opened the two people accused my fiance of cutting in front off them and he should not be seen first. Wait what? Since when does waiting in your car count as waiting in line? Anyway, the lab tech saw them first to avoid confrontation, since they started to cause a scene. I thought that was interesting, since being lazy and sitting in your comfortable car instead of waiting in front of the door should never count as waiting in line. Sorry for that little rant, I just don't tolerate stupidity easily. I went and hung out at my local yarn store for most of the late morning till early afternoon. Next weekend we are having friends over, so that should be fun.

Works in Progress - WIP's

Same as last week, hence the title Déjà vu. My Elfe is coming along nicely. I finished the sleeves and started the waist shaping. I absolutely love how my colors are working out and the pattern is very easy to follow.

Next up is Terence the Tap-Dancing T-Rex, I finished the biggest piece, which is the body and head. I will pick up the stitches and knit his tail today, then I still have to make the tummy flap, 2 arms, and 2 legs.

Finished Objects - FO's

Nothing :(

Soon to be on the Needles

The day is inching closer. As soon as Elfe and Terence are done, I will cast on the Evenstar Shawl by Susan Pandorf that I am making for my wedding. I am going to focus all my knitting time on that and once that is finished I will start my bouquet.

Spinning

Also, the same as last week. I am still spinning my ...into the whirled English Shetland Combed Top braid in the Ambercrombie colorway. I am so happy I joined their fiber club, because so far I love spinning their fiber. I am spinning this fractal, which is a new to me technique. I split the braid lenght wise, like normally. I then spun the first half like I normally would, however the second half I split lenght wise again 4 more times so that I would have 4 smaller strips. I am spinning each strip from the same end as I did the first 2 ounces. The first picture is of the first half, the second of the first strip I am ready to attach the second strip, and the third shows all my little strips (I had 4 but spun 1 already)

Enabling

I received my Hiya Hiya Sharp for the Evenstar Shawl, since it is my first time knitting with lace yarn (my other lace projects used fingering weight) I wanted to make it easier on me and use better needles. My needles are not really meant to knit with lace and I would have to fuss with them. So far as what I can tell, these will be a joy to work with. They are made out of stainless steel and are extremely light. The join seems to be very smooth and the cable is not kinked up. After I knit with them I will give a final review. The circular needles also came with a free pattern and a cable needle.

Well for purchasing the needles I completed the requirements of becoming a Loopie Groopie. The gift I received from the Loopie Ewe is amazing. I received Tootsie Rolls, Romney Ridge Farm Calendar, Rubus sock pattern, Loopie Ewe Project Tote, and best of all I received Loopy Legends yarn dyed by Lorna's Laces in the Linda's Antique Treasures colorway. It was so funny when I got the package, I was like wait I know I only ordered needles. It was a very pleasant surprise and I absolutely love every goodie and the Loopie Ewe. If you couldn't tell, since I pretty much only buy yarn there and am doing the Camp Loopie.

Hopefully next week, I will have 2 FO's and a brand new WIP. I hope everyone has a great week. Happy Knitting,
Coutney

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Welcome Everyone,

this past week me and my fiance both quit drinking sodas and only drink water now. We also started working out every other day. It has been a difficult transition and I am glad that I have my very best friend doing it with me. We both want to be in the best shape we can be in for our wedding. Other than that we just been going to work and nothing spectacular going on.

Works in Progress - WIP's

Friday was the start date of the 3rd and last camp loopy project. The requirements are that the project has to be 500+ yards, use two colors, and a pattern I have never done before. As I mentioned before I am knitting Elfe by Astrid Schramm in madelinetosh tosh merino light in the cobalt and maple leaf colorway on size 4, 3.5 mm needles. So far I love the pattern, it's top down, but you don't separate the sleeves you knit them with the top body and then bind them off and bam finished sleeves. I absolutely love the yarn, even that it's a single ply. The colors are very vibrant and the yarn feels very soft. I heard that madelinetosh washes up nicely, so I guess I have to wait for my final say on the yarn till I am done.

Also on Friday the Olympics started and with that the Ravellenics began. Yesterday, I casted on Terence the Tap Dancing T-Rex by Rebecca Danger. I am using some Red Heart Soft that I had in my stash and for his belly I will use left over I have from Basil the Boogie Woggie Brontosaurus. I like the pattern so far, since Rebecca Danger is an awesome designer. The yarn well I bought it for a granny square blanket, since it was cheap and so far one granny square is done. The pink yarn is the scrap yarn for the after thought tail.

Finished Objects - FO's

Well, I had to kill time and the wait till Friday was kinda difficult for me, so I started and finished a couple little things. Yes, I could of worked on my socks, but what can I say?! In order to prevent my yarn balls from collapsing I knitted a ball sack giggle There have been a lot of ball and ball sack jokes in my house, because of this. I had some random Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Marlin colorway. I will add a string to the top to tie it.

Next, I was going to knit a cable beanie for my fiance. I used the Vicki Howell pattern in Knit Simple Fall 2012 issue (no link on ravelry yet). Well, I knitted it in the Large/X-Large size and it won't even touch his upper ear. It barely even fits me, I definitely recommend making the slouchy version unless you are knitting it for a child. I used Cascade Pacific that I had won from somewhere (I think it was craftsy.com)

Lastly, you might remember that I said for the Ravellenic games I would try to knit as many Monster Chunks as possible. Well, I knitted one and said that's to easy, so I decided to cast on the T-Rex for a bigger challenge and Basil is lonely. I used left overs to knit the only chunk. I will gift him to the puppy, Charlie, at my local yarn shop.

Spinning:

For some odd reason I finished the second half of my Three Waters Farm braid much quicker then the first half. I got 210 yards, not a specific weight since I am still all over the place. I still have to wash and thwack it. I used the left overs on my bobbin, to practice chain plying I got the hand motion down and just have to work on getting better at it.

Now I am spinning an ...into the whirled English Shetland Combed Top braid in the Ambercrombie colorway, I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I am spinning this fractal, which means I split the braid in half lengthwise and spin the first half normal, then the second half I will split again either once or twice and spin those all from the same end. I just started the first half today. I absolutely love the colors and it's pretty easy to spin.

Enabling:

I found a cute pencil case at Walmart today for just $4. I am using it for my DPN's (double pointed needles). I made a case myself a while ago, but I mistakenly bought some knit picks dpn's that are really long (meant to buy the shorter ones). Well those don't fit in my self made case. Now I can use that case for some other notions.

Magazine Review:

I bought the new issue of Knit Scene Fall 2012. I just want to point out the patterns that I liked. Again the magazine is set up in categories: Zipped, Forever Knits, and Ethereal. I just noticed that all the patterns I like are from the Forever Knits section.

First pattern I can see myself knit is the Rhonda Cap by Brenda K. B. Anderson.

Next I really like the Agnes pullover by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud. The only reason I am hesitating to knit this is you knit it in pieces and seam it all together.

I also like Amherst Kerchief by Marjorie Dussaud. I like the colorwork and even the tassels, normally I am not a fringe or tassel kinda girl, however they work for this.

Last but not least, I like the Frances Cardigan by Amy Polcyn. However, again it is knit in pieces. I absolutely don't like the colors they chose for it, I think the red gets lost in the orange. There is no picture on Ravelry yet.

I also received my subscription for Knit Simple Fall 2012. I am not going to review it, since the only pattern I liked was the cable beanie I already knit.

Next week I am going to the Spinning and Weavers guild meeting and besides that just my usual working and knitting.

Thanks for reading and Happy Knitting,

Courtney

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Welcome Everyone,

An update on my exam results, sadly I failed by 1 question. I will have to wait 30 days to re-take the medical coding and billing exam. Other than that I just went to work and came home to knit or spin. Today I have the whole house pretty much to myself besides the cats, which it's the first time that my fiance will be gone all day. He went to Maryland with some friends to meet another friend to go and watch Batman at the Imax.

Works in Progress - WIP's:

Something that hasn't been touched in a little over a month has made a comeback. I have a HO (half finished object). Yes, I worked on my Harvest Dew Socks and finished one of them. I am knitting those out of Uschi Universal that was graciously gifted to me from my aunt, who lives in Germany. I have not casted on the 2nd sock, since I am working on a gauge swatch. However, once I finish swatching I will cast that on. So far I am very happy with the sock and it fits great.

That's the only WIP.

Finished Objects - FO's:

Like the title says this week was FO Paluza. I finished 3 things this week, that might be a new record. First I finished my Westwood Blouse for Camp Loopy Project #2. I had a minor panic attack when I went to try it on my head didn't fit through the opening. The opening was as big as the pattern told me too, anyway I had to rip the shoulder seams an inch on each side. It turned out a little bit shorter than I expected even that I had gauge (I did block the swatch).

Second, I finished the TGV for the Knitabulls July KAL. This morning I received a message from the Designer, Susan Ashcroft, asking if she could feature my picture. Squeel She is featuring the picture with boogie. I took the picture with him, since the Knit Girllls Stash Dash 2012 checkpoint 4 price is for featuring your pet in the picture, even if I don't win that price my picture is featured on the pattern site.

The second picture shows how much yarn I had left.

I am more a handkerchief person, here is a picture of how I wear mine.

Then lastly I finished the TTL Mystery Shawl 2012 by Kirsten Kapur. When the last clue came out the beginning of July, I thought it said I had to knit 46 more rows. So I decided to work on Camp Loopy and Knitabulls KAL first. However, when I picked it back up Friday night, I realized that there is a shorter version, which is only 6 rows. Well, I ended up knitting the shorter version and if I would of known about that this shawl would of been done 3 weeks ago. The first picture is of the whole shawl and the other 2 of the detail.

Soon to be on the needles:

Friday July 27th is the cast on date for the last Camp Loopy project. I will cast on Elfe and actually that's what I am gauge swatching for right now.

Also on Friday the Ravellenics Games start, I am joining Knitabulls in the Toy Toss category and I will be casting on Monster Chunks on Saturday. My goal is to try and finish as many as possible.

Spinning:

I am still working on the Three Waters Farm BFL. I finished the first 2 oz yesterday and will start the second half today. I am getting more consistent and thinner, it definitely is a learning process.

Enabling:
I bought 2 skeins of Madeline Tosh Merino Light the blue is cobalt colorway and the greenish color is maple leaf. Those are for my Camp Loopy project. I also bought from The Loopy Ewe the Camp Loopy bag, they include the camp loopy measuring tape.

The second package I received this week was a very special one. I received my custom order from Unique Sheep. Laura was very very helpful and patient with me, to come up with the perfect color for my wedding shawl and bouquet. I must of driven her crazy, first I wanted off white, then I changed to burgundy, well now it is teal. I don't have a David's Bridal close by, so she was so generous to drive to her local one to pick up a color swatch and she matched the yarn perfectly. Left is Ling lace (70% merino and 30% silk) for my shawl, middle is the David's Bridal color swatch (Bridesmaids dresses), right is Wild Thing (Merino/Tussah Silk) for some of the flowers in my bouquet.

I will still have to order some Hiya Hiya Sharps for the shawl, but other than that enabling will only consist of my into the whirled club fiber.

Next week will once again be consisting of working, knitting and spinning.

Happy Knitting!

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Welcome Everyone,

this week was pretty uneventful. Go to work come home, knit/spin, repeat. Saturday, my fiance was so gracious and volunteered to drive me to Richmond for my big medical billing and coding test. I will find out the results on Tuesday, I think I did ok, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

WIP's:

Last week I got a minor panic attack regarding my Westwood Blouse for Camp Loopy #2. I thought that there was no way I was going to finish and I might as well give up. Well, once again I underestimated my skills of being relatively fast. Yep, I am pretty much finished. I finished the back and the front. It's is now blocking and once it is dry I can seam up the shoulders. Right now all the knitting I have left to do is the I-cord belt, which will be done today. I took the picture before I soaked it and pinned it out to dry. I love the pattern, it was really easy to understand. The only complaint I have is the lace requires to do a Purl 3 together every other stitch and with it being cotton (cotton has no give) it really hurt my wrists after a while. I had to take frequent breaks, which I would either study or spin. The yarn is really nice too, it is pretty soft for being cotton and supposedly it gets softer the more you wash it. It had one knot in one skein, but that's no big deal.

This was the only knitting I did this week. Not bad considering that I work full time and had to study for the test.

FO's

Again nothing, but that will change next week.

Spinning:

I finished spinning the Romney fiber. I love the way it turned out, much better than my first. It is between a heavy worsted and chunky, but also has some spots that are more a dk.

Now I am spinning BFL (blue faced leicester) that I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. It is from Three Waters Farm in the Santa Fe colorway. This is taking me way longer then the other two I have spun, since I got much thinner.

Soon to be on the Needles:

July 27th is when the 3rd and last Camp Loopy project starts. The requirements are to knit 500+ yards, use more than one color, and it has to be a pattern we never have knit before. I will be knitting Elfe in Madeline Tosh Merino Light. I have never used that yarn (I own two skeins, just haven't knit them) so I am excited to use it. I picked two colors that are bold and not my usual colors.

Enabling:

I finally received my Ho Bag. If you watch the Stockinette Zombies Podcast, you will know what I am talking about. Amy came up with the term HO for a Half finished object, for example if you finished just 1 sock or 1 mitten. You can't really call it a FO, since you need two so she called it HO. Then it went so far they had HO bags made and how could I resist. They also were so gracious to include a "I'm a zombie" button and a sticker.

I also received a 4 oz merino braid I ordered from Spun Right Around on etsy in the Playtime colorway. Sorry I couldn't take it out of the package, since my cat was ready to attack the fiber.

The last thing I ordered was a Wraps per inch tool from Tangerine Designs on etsy. It is in the shape of the Tardis in Doctor Who, which is my absolute favorite TV show, if you couldn't tell from my tardis bag I got a couple weeks ago. She also included a button, which is already on one of my project bags.

Next week I will have some enabling again. I am waiting on the yarn I bought for Camp Loopy #3 and on the yarn for my Wedding Shawl and Bouquet. After that, my only enabling will be my once a month club shipment from ...into the Whirled, since we have to save for our wedding.

Next week will be very uneventful, since there are no plans of any kind. That means lots of knitting and spinning time just the way I like it.

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Welcome everyone to my blog,

this past week was Independence day and me and my fiancee were off work that day. We went to Ferry Farm, which is George Washington's boyhood home and seemed fitting. They had lot's of little booths that had demonstrations, such as leather working, spinning, weapons, and Indian jewelry. Also, there were a ton of reenactors, which I felt really bad for in that heat. We actually didn't stay very long, because it was way too hot. I mentioned last week that I emailed the Wedding Venue to reserve my date. It is official that we will get married on June 1st, 2013. I am extremely excited and anxious.

There will be a small change to my segments, "on the needles" will now be WIP's (works in progress), and "off the needles" will be FO's (Finished Objects). Let's move on to the knitting among other things.

WIP's:

I been trying to focus most of my knitting time towards the Camp Loopy project, Westwood Blouse. I finished the main body today and started the lace on the back part.

My second wip is the knitabulls podcast KAL, that I am knitting together with my friend Pam. We are knitting both the TGV and I am behind. Pam already started the ribbing and I am still on the garter section. Like I said I really tried to focus on the Camp Loopy project.

FO's:

Nothing :(

Spinning:

I absolutely got bit by the Spinning bug. I got the hang of things and don't get frustrated on the wheel anymore. I had bad luck and a piece broke off the wheel, I received the replacement yesterday. However, while I was waiting on the replacement I wanted to continue my Tour de Fleece goal to spin everyday for 15 minutes, so I used my spindle and even got the hang of it. Like I mentioned last week I had finished the 2 oz of Corriedale, it is definitely super bulky and a practice piece. I used Boogie as my photo prop to make the yarn look better :)

After I finished that I started spinning some Romney fiber that I bought from The First Draft on etsy. I posted a picture of the braid last week. I finished spinning the singles and they are resting right now, tomorrow I will ply them. I spun one from pink to turquoise and the other from turquoise to pink. The first one I spun had some very think at the beginning, but then it clicked and no more super thick.

While I was waiting for the piece to come in I spun some undyed Alpaca I bought at the local Alpaca Farm. I love this fiber, it is extremely soft.

That is it for this week, I am taking a big test to become a medial coder on Saturday and am extremely nervous. I hope you will join me again next week. Happy Knitting :)

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Welcome to my blog everyone,

this week was pretty uneventful again. The weather has been acting crazy, it's been in the 100's and we had a pretty bad storm Friday night. Luckily we only lost power for a minute, unlike millions of other people. Saturday I stayed up till midnight to email the wedding venue coordinator to reserve my date, she did say that she can't accept reservations till July 1st, so 12:01 am July 1st I reserved it. Now on to the knitting stuff.

On the Needles:

Too much stuff. I currently have 7 projects, holy cow. I obviously didn't work on all 7 projects this week, even that I have one for each day of the week.

Well first up I finished the 4th clue for TTL mystery shawl by Kirsten Kapur. The 5th and last clue came out last Wednesday, but I haven't even started that yet and you will find out here in a second why.

My next WIP (work in progress) is the 2nd Camp Loopy project. The requirement for this is to knit 800+ yards and the yarn has to be a shade of a color in my country's flag. I am knitting the Westwood Blouse and I am using Kollage Riveting in the Lava denim colorway on size US 4 - 3.5 mm needles. I am past the belt loops and just knitting a long till I get to the lace section, which I have a ways to go. I love the yarn it is pretty soft for cotton, but it does hurts my wrists if I knit on this too long.

Today the July KAL for the knitabulls podcast started and I casted on at 8 am. I am making, along with my friend Pam, the TGV using the GnomeAcres Merino Nylon Fingering in the Franklin colorway on size US 6 - 4.0 mm and US 5 - 3.75 mm (for the ribbing) needles. I can't say enough about this yarn, it is so soft and squishy and the colors are very vibrant.

Off the Needles:

So, you might of wondered where the Wendy Knits mystery shawl was in the above segment and why my title is called I am a frog. Well, I got simply overwhelmed with all my projects and 1 simply had to bite the dust. I decided to frog (to none knitters to frog something means to rip it off the needles) that shawl, because I made the 3 stitch nupps, which you could hardly see and I think my yarn was too dark for the pattern. I might knit it in the future with different yarn, but right now is not the right time.

Also, I got buttons for the Pedestrian Crossing Cowl and will gift this to my friend Pam on Tuesday.

Spinning:

I have a new segment called spinning. A few months ago I decided I wanted to learn how to spin my own yarn. I went on etsy and bought a couple onces of fiber and two spindles, a top whirl and a bottom whirl. I soon realized spindles were not my thing I wanted a wheel, however with us having a wedding summer next year there is no way I can afford the wheel I want right now at least not till the end of next year. My friend Pam was so gracious to lend me her mothers Louet S10 wheel. Her wheel is a single treadle and I really want a double treadle, but I can't complain since I get to use her wheel. I bought some really nice fiber back in May at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, but I also bought some undyed Corridale to practice spinning. Now with the tour de fleece event through ravelry, I joined knitabulls team and made my goal to spin everyday for 15 minutes to get better. The event started yesterday and I spun for 3 hours total so far. I had bought 4 oz of Corridale and ended up with 2 oz as yarn, the rest well ended in the trash. I finished plying the yarn today and it is definitely very very thick at some spots and thin at other spots. Right now the yarn is drying and I will post a picture next week. I also want to learn how to dye yarn, so I decided to dye my handspun using Kool Aid. I probably will knit a small monster, since I didn't get a lot of yards and its so chunky and unpredictable.

Enabling:

I received my yarn for the Knitabulls KAL for the Ravelympics, ops I mean Ravellenic games. It's the Dancing Dog Dyeworks Waltz Worsted in the Maisy & Bella colorway. I am not sure if I will use it during the KAL tough. The way she packaged the yarn was just too cute and she included jolly rangers and a stitch marker.

Also for the Tour de Fleece I needed some inexpensive fiber, since everything I bought at the festival is very pricey and I don't want to spin it till I am good. I bought some Romney fiber from The First Draft on etsy in the And I am all out of Bubblegum colorway. I will start spinning that tomorrow. She also included a cedar block to keep moths away and a stitch marker, which was very nice of her. I can almost guarantee I will order from her again, since it's a very good price and until I get good that's what I am looking for.

That is it for this week and I hope you will join me again next week. Happy Knitting!

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Hi Everyone,

pretty uneventful week, on Tuesday I got to see my friend Pam, who has moved, and I gifted her a knitting bag. Thursday I went to knit night with 2 wrong size needles, so I just hung out with everyone.

On the Needles:

New on the needles is the Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl KAL by Wendy Johnson. I am knitting it out of the 1st yarn I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool festival 2012, Dream in Color Starry in the Sundown Orchid colorway on size 5 - 3.75mm needles. I absolutely love the yarn, it is gorgeous. The pattern gives the option to do 5 stitch nubs, 3 stitch nubs, beads, or nothing and I choose the 3 stitch nubs. I did finish the first clue, but as of now you can't really tell much. It looks like there is a ruffle edge.

The next thing I am going to talk about is technically off the needles, but I don't consider my projects a finished object till there useable. Anyway, it's the Pedestrian Crossing Cowl KAL, I finished knitting it and it just needs to be blocked and get buttons. I have not had the chance to go and buy buttons, but it has to be done by July 3rd, since that's the next time I see my friend Pam, who this Cowl is for. I love the way it knitted up and I hope she will love it.

The next project is the TTL mystery shawl. I am a little over half way done with clue 4. I taught myself how to do a Russian join for this shawl so I wouldn't have problems weaving in the ends, I wanted to do the felted join, but the yarn is a super wash and won't felt.

Once again I knitted on my Triangle Wrap during True Blood, which I will do again tonight. I am pretty close to be able to start the edging. It seems like this is my never ending garter nightmare, I mean project.

My socks did not get any love this week and my 2 secret knitting projects didn't really get knitted on either.

Off the Needles:

Once again nothing, the Cowl kinda, but i need to sew on buttons first. However, I finished a project last month that was a secret knitting and the recipient, my dad, finally received them. The pattern is Classic Socks knit out of Wisdom Yarns Marathon Socks Miami the Everglades colorway on size 1 - 2.25mm needles. I ran out of yarn and knitted the toes using stash yarn.

Soon to be on the Needles:

Same things I have mention before. Next week on the 27th I will cast on the Westwood Blouse for Camp Loopy 2nd project, which has to be 800+ yards and have a color from my country's flag. Last week I didn't have the yarn yet, however I have a picture this week and finished my gauge. I got extremely lucky, since I purchased 2 skeins from The Loopy Ewe and 1 skein from Green Sheep Shop, they are all the same dye lot. I also ended up getting a camp loopy t shirt and a Lavishea lotion bar in cucumber melon, I absolutely love it.

Then on the 30th Tour de Fleece starts and I will spin everyday for 15 minutes with Knitabulls. I think I will just spin my undyed Corridale for practice.

And July 1st me and my friend Pam cast on for the Knitabulls KAL, which I talked about last week.

Enabling:

The first thing I received was the loopy ewe package that I just showed. Next I received my 2 custom bags from Birdleg Bags. I ordered "Madman in a Blue Box" (aka Doctor Who) and "Monsters Yikes" small bags. In the first picture you can see the glass bead on the zipper. The second picture shows the lining and Zipper tab, which makes opening/closing the zipper much easier. The third picture shows her label. She also included a notepad and hooks for the bags. I definitely recommend checking out her store.

I am still waiting on 2 more custom orders, I know one has been shipped and the other one should be shipped next week or the week after.

Well that is it for this week, hope to see you again next week. Happy Knitting!

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I am blogging a few days early just, because this is too upsetting to wait.

As most knitters/crocheters/spinners who have a twitter or/and ravelry account already know, there is this huge thing with the Olympics going on. Yesterday, Casey and Jess, the founders of Ravelry, received an email by a clerk from the US Olympic Committee asking them to change the name of the ravelympics, since they own the trademark Olympics. Ravelympics is a game that has been going on for 3 years, you join a team and cast on your project on the opening ceremony of the Olympics and have to finish it by the closing ceremony day. I, for example, joined my favorite podcaster Diane from Knitabulls for the toy toss category. I challenged myself to knit as many monster chunks as possible in that time frame.

At first I did agree with that letter, it made sense yes they own the trademark and any variation of it. Also, a lot of designers were charging for patterns that included the word olympics. However, I kept reading the letter and I came across this.

"We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

Excuse me? I do what now? I am apparently being disrespectful to athletes. Are you kidding me? So, let me get this straight, by wanting to cast on with thousands of other like minded people on the open ceremony date, which actually made me want to watch the open ceremony, I am being disrespectful?! Oh and what about my hard work? Knitters will never think twice to knit for charity or help to raise money for a good cause, but no we are not hard working. Well guess what, I will still cast on on that date, but not watch the opening.

Today, I ran across a blog post by Kay from the Mason Dixon Knitting blog and she asked Stephen Colbert to be so kind and feature "a piece on the Knitters Who Are Destroying the Olympics." In return he would receive a lifetime supply of hand knitted socks.

A copy of the letter that was sent to Casey can be found here.

More information regarding knitting socks for Stephen Colbert, such as shoe size and address, can be found here.

Well thanks for listening to my rant, and lets knit Stephen some socks and help ravelry win this nasty thing.

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Hi again,

what did I do this week? I fought a nasty stomach bug, which today I finally feel almost back to normal. Yesterday me and my fiance looked at a wedding venue and we will be able to book our date in two weeks. We are trying to reserve June 1st, 2013 wish us luck. It is a gorgeous outside garden themed venue that looks like it came straight out of a fairytale. Also, that was our official first step to planning our wedding, which was very exciting. I also went a little insane last night, because I decided to take pictures of my "good" yarn stash and post it to my ravelry page, took me all night. I consider having a "bad" yarn stash and a "good" yarn stash. My "bad" yarn stash yarn is the yarn I bought when I first started knitting, such as red heart, caron, lion brand. My "good" yarn stash is yarn I have purchased at the LYS or online. The "bad" is not all bad I do like lion brand and patons.

Before I go straight into my usual agenda, as promised here are better pictures of my finished daybreak shawl.

On the Needles:

I can't believe I casted on another project and yes it's a KAL, as the title says I am addicted to them. I just can't say no.

Steven from the Dramatic Knits podcast announced the KAL yesterday and at first I was thinking that no I can't cast something else on, but then he showed the prize and everything changed. Also, I had the perfect yarn in my stash to get started right away.

The KAL is the Pedestrian Crossing Cowl by Melissa Sibley, I am using Universal Yarn Patchwork in the Purple Mountains colorway and size 8 needles. For being 100% acrylic yarn this yarn is extremely soft and definitely so far the best acrylic yarn I have ever used.

The next project are my Harvest Dew Socks, which I apparently am really taking my time with. I did finish the heel and am still decreasing the gusset.

Surprise the next project is a KAL. Its my Through the loops mystery shawl by Kirsten Kapur. I am still on track and finished the 3rd clue.

My triangle shawl actually got some love this week, I decided to knit on it every sunday during true blood. It is garter and I don't have to look down so perfect tv knitting. I won't post a picture since you can barely see the progress.

I am still knitting two secret knitting projects, that unfortunately I can't show for a very long time.

Off the Needles:

Nothing :( I hope that the Cowl KAL will be done next week.

Soon to be on the Needles:

You might be thinking "didn't she say she is addicted to KALs, but there are only 2 on the needles." Here is where the madness begins. You already know about the Kirsten Kapur mystery KAL and Dramatic Knits Cowl KAL. I also already talked about Wendy Johnson's Mystery KAL that starts next week.

Remeber all the washcloths I knitted for the baby shower? They were also part of Knitabulls May/June KAL. Well July 1st the next KAL starts, the requirement is to use a certain yarn. Me and my friend Pam are knitting with the same yarn the same thing. The yarn is from GnomeAcres on etsy in fingering weight in the Knitabulls Franklin colorway. We will be knitting TGV (high speed knitting) by Susan Ashcroft.

Then the next KAL is the 2nd month of Camp Loopy starts on June 27th. I will be knitting Westwood Blouse in Kollage Yarns Riveting in the Lava Denim colorway. I have not received my yarn yet so I don't have a picture yet.

Also I joined Knitabulls Tour de Fleece team. My goal for that is to spin everyday for at least 15 minutes and that lasts from 06/30 - 07/22. Since that isn't enough I also joined her Ravelympics team, for that my goal is to knit as money monster chunks as I can and that lasts from 07/27 - 08/12. So I still have time to worry about that.

In about 2 weeks I will have 5 KAL projects on the needles and spin everyday, well I hope to finish the Cowl by then.

Enabling:

I actually have some enabling, I been ordering things like a mad woman and a lot of the things haven't arrived. I already posted a picture of the GnomeAcres Knitabulls Franklin yarn, for the KAL she also had for the Knitting in Circles Podcast Froggy Monkey. I purchased the fingering weight one, I will not be using that for the KAL though.

The next thing I received was the ravelry bag, they had a contest for people to submit designs for their 5 year anniversary and for reaching 2 million people. It actually is not the design I voted for, but I really like it.

Review:

This week I have a magazine review. You might have already seen it being reviewed. However, I wanted to give my opinion. It is the Knitscene special edition accessories magazine. First off I really love knitscene, since they do target my age group, however as Lesley from the knit girllls said they went a little overboard this issue. They split the magazine into sections and the "out of orbit" section really is something from a different world that should of stayed away from earth. Apparently aliens do the robot too. Anyway, the first pattern I like is the Check slouch. I love slouchys and I love plaid, so why wouldn't like it, right? The second pattern I want to knit is Sideways Argyle Beret I would like it to be a little more slouchy, but I love the argyle design. I have never knitted argyle and it's definitely on my must learn list.The beret seems perfect to learn argyle especially since they have an article in the magazine explaining colorwork such as the argyle beret and a cowl. I do enjoy the Lightning Kerchief it is just a simple striped shawlette, I particularly like the wave stripe at the bottom. Another shawl I like is the Aristida Shawl that one is not so typical, I really love the lace diamond pattern and I am not a huge fan of fringe, however with this shawl it looks great. The last thing I like in this magazine is the whole Mini Mitts section. I like them all :)

Overall this magazine was definitely a great buy. They have great patterns and 4 great tutorials. One for the intarsia argyle beret, the stranded colorwork on a cowl, dropped stitches mitts, and entrelac mitts.

This was my first time reviewing anything, if you have any suggestions or recommendations on how to review books or magazines, please leave a comment. Actually even if its about something else then reviews, I would enjoy to receive your feedback. Thank you.

This is it for next week. I hope you will join me again next Sunday.

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Welcome Everyone,

this week was once again pretty uneventful. Yesterday I was supposed to go to a babyshower, but the baby decided she wanted to be present and was delivered Friday evening. Other than that I just been a knitting machine.

On the Needles:

I casted on a secret knitting project about an hour ago. Unfortunately I won't be able to talk about that project for a very very long time.

I did make a little bit of progress on the Harvest Dew socks. I am on the last pattern repeat and then I can start the heel flap. I really enjoy knitting it and the pattern is turning out great.

The 2nd clue for the Through the Loops Mystery Shawl was released a day early on Wednesday. I started and finished the clue on Saturday. I love the pattern so far.

Again no progress on the triangle wrap and my other 2 project are a secret.

Off the Needles:

As you might of noticed the daybreak for camp loopy was not mentioned above. Yay, I finished it early this morning and right now it's blocking. I am so happy with it, it turned out gorgeous. In the pattern it says to have the top part in the colored yarn, however I decided to only have the stripes in the colored yarn. I almost ran out of the grey and didn't know if I was going to be able to knit one row and bind off, so I did that in the colored yarn. I will post pictures off me wearing it next week, since it is still damp right now.

I also finished all 8 washcloths for the babyshower, well postponed welcome baby party. Those will count towards Knitabulls Washcloth KAL, with the Doctor Who and Butterfly washcloth I completed 10 washcloths for that KAL.

Soon to be on the Needles:

Well I just casted on the other secret knitting and on June 20th I am casting on Wendy Johnsons mystery shawl KAL, so nothing as of now.

Thank you for checking in and I will blog about my progress again next Sunday.

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Hello Everybody,

well I have been quiet busy this week. This is my usual day go to work, come home, make dinner, knit, go to sleep. Nothing exciting besides knitting and going to my LYS (local yarn store) has happend. So let's just jump right in. Be aware there are spoilers for Kirsten Kapur's mystery shawl KAL.

On the Needles:

Once again I will start with the one casted on most recent. The ones I talked about last week I won't reference the yarn used, you can check last weeks post for that information.

Yesterday I casted on Harvest Dew Socks by Rose Hiver. I am knitting those on 2.25mm needles and the yarn I received from my aunt who lives in Germany, it is called Uschi Wolle Universal in the Partie Colorway.

The 2nd project I casted on 06/01/12 was another shawl. Kirsten Kapur from Through the Loops is hosting a mystery KAL and I decided to join in. I am knitting that on size 4mm needles and the yarn is by Universal Pace Step (discontinued) in the coral colorway. I did finish the first clue, the 2nd clue will be released on 06/08/12.

My next WIP (work in progress) is the Loopy Ewe Daybreak by Stephen West. I forgot to mention last week that I am knitting that on size 3.5mm needles. I made pretty good progress, I only have 7 rows on the striped section left and then I just have to knit the border. The rows right now take forever, but I am slowly getting there. I love everything about this shawl, the yarn, the pattern, and the way its stripping.

I also made significant progress on the Baby washcloths I am making for a co-workers baby shower next weekend. I am knitting those on 3.25mm needles. I only have 2 more to go. I will block them, when they are all done.

I won't show the triangle shawl, since I made absolutely no progress on that and then I still have a secret knitting project going on as well.

Off the Needles:

I only finished one project and you haven't even seen it in the "on the needle" section yet. I started and finished a ruffle scarf yesterday. I did not use a pattern, I just went to my LYS and the owner showed me how to do it. I used size 5.5mm needles and the yarn I got from my father who lives in Germany, it is called Katia Rocioand there is no colorway name.

Soon to be on the Needles:

You guessed it another Shawl. What is it with me and shawls lately?! Anyway, I talked last week about Wendy Johnson's mystery shawl KAL, which won't start till 06/20/12. I decided to join and I already have my yarn picked out. I will use Dream in Color Starry in the Sundown Orchid colorway. I am very excited to use that yarn, because I bought it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post. Also, I wanted to apologize for my crappy pictures but honestly I have no room except the floor and I kind of have to hurry, because of my two cats. Please join me again next Sunday. Happy Knitting.

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Hello everyone,

sorry it's been so long, since my last post but time just kinda got a way from me. How can it possibly be June next week, we are seriously half way done with the year? Anyway, in this post I will talk about on the needles, off the needles, and a little bit about soon on the needles.

On the needles:

I'll start with most recently cast on. This morning around 7am I casted on a medium size Daybreak by Stephen West for Camp Loopy. The first challenge is to knit 400+ yards by a designer who is not from my country.

I am knitting it out of Dream in Color Smooshy in the Grey Tabby colorway and contrast is Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in the Fruchsia colorway. I am almost done with section one already yay.

The next project I am working on are some baby washcloths for a baby shower. I am using the pattern Baby Cloths by Kris Knits. I am using Plymouth Jeannee in various colors. I am making 8 total 2 in each color.

The last project I can talk about is just a simple Triangle Wrap by Vickie Howell, it was published in Knit Simple magazine Spring 2012. I am using Patons Classic Wool in aran colorway, I had it in my stash. I needed something mindless to knit. Sorry my cable wasn't long enough to take a decent picture.

I have one more project but it is a secret knitting project.

On to finished Objects:

I won't post all of them, since some are simple and not very note worthy. You can always go on my Ravelry page to see them all.

First up I finished my mom's socks for mothers day, I finished them 2 weeks before mothers day. The patterns is called Berry Season by Melissa Morgan-Oakes and is in the 2-at-a-time book. I knitted them out of Cascade fixation spray in the Tiger Lily colorway. Also they qualified for the 2nd quarter loopy challenge.

Next I finished my Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. I used Cascade Pacific Chunky, I don't know the colorway.

Then Diane from the Knitabulls Podcast is having a Knit a long (KAL) from May till June for Washcloths. I knitted the Butterfly Washcloth out of Universal Cotton Supreme and the Doctor Who Washcloth out of Plymouth Jeannee. Also, the baby washcloths, mentioned above, will count for the KAL as well.

Another KAL i joined was for designer Rebecca Danger on her ravelry board Danger crafts. Her May KAL was for any monster and basil too. I knitted Basil the Boogie-Woogie Brontosaurus out of Plymouth Jelli Beenz.

I had one more finished object (FO) but it's a gift and I can't post it till the recipient receives it next month.

Alright last topic for today what is going to come on the needles soon:

June 1st Kirsten Kapur from through the loops is hosting a Mystery Shawl KAL. I have never participated in a mystery KAL before so I am excited about that. I will be using Universal Pace Step.

Wendy Johnson from Wendy Knits is also holding a mystery shawl KAL, which I haven't decided yet. Just have to wait and see how Camp Loopy and TTL KAL are coming along.

That is it for this week . I am planning on blogging every Sunday. So see you all next week.

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This past Friday me and my friend Pam drove 2 hours to Columbia, Maryland for the annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I got off work early to avoid traffic and to check out the local yarn store All About Yarn. The yarn store was huge, it was like my LYS times 3. Anyway, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and back to the hotel for our own little KAL. We happen to knit the same thing twice now. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and had breakfast at the hotel then off to the fairgrounds. This was my first yarn festival and oh my god I was overwhelmed. So much yarn, fiber, and people.

My highlight on Saturday was I got to meet Laura and Lesley from the Knit Girllls Podcast

and Diane from the Knitabulls Podcast.

They are such nice people and I love watching their podcasts each week.

Saturday I went a little over half way through my budget so I paced myself and started to just browse, whatever I kept on my mind I went back on Sunday and purchased it. That was a good system, because on Sunday I went back for a yarn and the second time around I didn't love as much then I did on Saturday, so I got a different one I loved even more.

Here is my yarn purchases, including buttons I collected throughout the day.

From left to right: Dream in color in the starry base in Sundown Orchid colorway (love the sparkle), tilli tomas sock in the Bad Romance colorway (love the Lady Gaga colorway name), ...into the whirled in the Manchester base in Vampires in Venice colorway (what can I say you say Vampire I have to have it), The Verdant Gryphon in the Mithril base in La Cantante colorway (I owe no lace yarn and no orange yarn, it was an orphan I had to have it), the last two I bought at All About Yarn Crystal Palace Yarn in the Saudalito base no color name.

I have patterns picked out for every yarn, except the ...into the whirled. Any suggestions what would go with it please comment.

Onto the fiber again from left to right: Some plain corriedale for practice, Three Waters Farm BFL in Santa Fe colorway, ...into the whirled Superwash Merino Combed Top in the Bird Girl colorway, ...into the whirled English Shetland Combed Top in the Abercrombie colorway, Loop Merino Corriedale Nylon Angelina in the Parrot Fish colorway.
So now I just need a spinning wheel and some practice.

This weekend I am taking a mini vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina. Next week I will blog about some finished secret knitting and current work in progresses.

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Went to the local Alpaca Farm today for the first yearly Alpaca shearing. It was so much fun to see all the cute Alpacas. I also purchased my first roving. I signed up for their dying class and also got information on what could be wrong with the spinning wheel I borrowed from my friend. My friend let me borrow her Louet S-10 spinning wheel, but I couldn't get the yarn to wrap around the bobbin. Turns out I need to replace the drive band and tension band. If those fixes don't work they offered to have me bring the wheel over so they can take a look.

Next weekend I am going to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I am so excited.

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I haven't been blogging, since honestly I can't talk about my knitting. Currently I am knitting a bunch of surprises for people. I swore I would get an early start so that it's stress free and then I have the other half of the year to knit for myself. I did finish another cardigan, an easy one the Shalom, I haven't been able to take a good picture. It was a very fast knit, took me about 5 days.

I am very excited to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in less than two weeks. I am going with my friend Pam and we will leave here Friday (I am driving so no car knitting for me) and will stay till Sunday.
Sorry about this boring post I just wanted to check in. Hopefully after the MDSW I will have some goodies to talk about.

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I am finished!!! Yay with a couple mishaps I finally made.

Here is a close up of the buttons

And the back

It was a lot of fun to knit and I can see myself knit another one. I am glad I went down a needle size and a clothing size, it fits perfectly.

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This week I finished the KAL goal by Tuesday, holy cow. That went really fast. Well here is a picture of the cardigan with both sleeves finished yay.

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I finished my first sleeve and got started on the second. At first I ended up making my sleeve too short even though I tried it on, so I ripped out the cuff, which is only 10 rows, and added 20 rows, yes it was that short.

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So a little bit of back story of how I found podcasts. Me and my fiance work at the place and we are allowed to listen to our ipods, well I was complaining to him that I am running out of music to listen to. He told me that he listens to podcasts about his video games. I then went on itunes and oh my goodness there are sooooo many podcasts. I started with just one and then she would talk about other podcasts and I am trying to get caught up with 4 now and I have many others on my list. The difficult part is getting caught up since a lot of them been around for a while and I am OCD about having to start on episode 1.

They also talk a lot about The Loopy Ewe. I am now knitting a scarf for the Loopy Ewe 1st quarter challenge out of Malabrigo Silky Merino in the Stonechat color way and of course I bought that on their website. Your first 5 orders they give you little presents, I received a knitting needle inventory card and some sample yarn and a personal note, which I really appreciated.

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Ugh, this was not my week. I misunderstood the way to pick up the stitches for the sleeves but thanks to Allyson from Sweatshop of Love I figured that out. Then it went well for a while yesterday I was almost at 16 inches this weeks goal and this morning I realized I only done the decreasing twice instead of the 6 times I should of done it. So I ripped from row 65 to 31 and even after that I had problems all my fault my brain just wasn't here today. However I finished this weeks goal yay.

I also finished my secret knitting, you can see a picture on my ravelry page.

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Yay, I finished my co-workers afghan and it is ready to go to it's new home tomorrow. I won't post a picture because honestly it doesn't look much different then in the last picture . I am also half way done with my surprise knitting project that I can't talk about, since I am not sure if this person reads my blog. I also started crocheting the Thundersnow Bag by Linda Permann, who's my favorite crochet designer. I absolutely love that bag and can't wait to show you the finished project. Tomorrow I am getting started on the sleeves for my KAL cardigan so that's exciting.

Anyway, that's pretty much it, just wanted to give a short update since I am so happy I finished that afghan. I am now going to weave in the yarn tails on my cardigan and then knit on the surprise project.

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I know I been talking about my knit along every week, but since this week is break week aka weave in those ends week, I don't really have anything to say about the KAL. So, I thought why not talk about something else. Let's talk about what is on my needls/hooks right now.

I started last week on an afghan for a co-worker, I have crochet him the same afghan about 4 months ago in light blue and now I am crocheting it in grape.I found the pattern on ravelry and it's just called Throw. It is very tedious, since it is no challenge to me. Usually I like to have a little bit of either a challenge or variety in my projects. This pattern is just double crochet and since I made it before it is very easy and takes a lot of motivation to make it. I am half way done and since it uses a size N Crochet hook and Bulky Yarn I should be finished relatively soon. I should mention that I am making it much longer then the pattern calls for, so instead of a throw size it really is an afghan size.

The next project on my needles is also an afghan, however I won't use it as an afghan I will use it as a wall hanging. It is called the Lion Country Afghan. I won't post a picture since as of now I am only on row 16 and you cant really see anything yet. You cast on 272 stitches on size 9 (5.5mm) needles, it takes forever to just complete on row. At the knitting group, I go to once a week at the local yarn shop, they joke that I will finish this afghan for my first grandchild, FYI I am almost 25 years old and don't even have any children yet.

You all know about my KAL cardigan so I won't even talk about that.

Since I work full time I can't dedicate nearly as much time to knitting/crocheting as I would like. Once I finish my co-worker afghan I will cast on for a surprise knitting project, which I am very excited about.

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This week went fast. I finished knitting the back and the other front by Tuesday. I then blocked it as recommended and seamed the shoulders using the Mattress Stitch.

Next week is break week, during that week I will seam all the ends in since there is a million of them from adding new yarn or adding a stripe pattern.

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This week I was off to a much better start. No ripping back and no other little delays just straight knitting :)

I finished this weeks assignment by Thursday night and it actually looks like a cardigan now. I finished the right front and am half way done with the center back. The pictures look a little weird since I chose not to put the left front stitches on a holder and just left them on my needles and ignored them, which was one of the options to do.

Also since I finished Saturday night last week I had some extra time to finish a pair of socks for my mom. I just got started on a crochet afghan for a co-worker, hopefully I will make decent progress this weekend on that.

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I was off to a bad start on the 2nd Week. Back in week 1 one of the stitch markers flew out and I just kept on continuing, by the time I noticed it was gone I had the hardest time replacing it. Anyway, I placed the stitch marker back where I thought it belonged and continued. After a little while I noticed a shift in my work and tried to ignore it. Finally on row 58 I got so fed up that I placed a life line and ripped back all the way to row 42!! So yes I was off to a slow start. I finished this weeks assignment on Saturday night and here is what it looks like so far.

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On February 6th The Sweatshop of Love ravelry group casted on for the Delancey Cardigan by Alexis Winslow Knit along (KAL). I am using Knitpicks Swish DK main color Cobblestone Heather and secondary color is Bordeaux.

Just swatching with this yarn made me fall in love with it, but once we all finished our swatch we noticed it was looking kinda big. So, I and many others following the KAL decided to go down a needle size and instead of making size 36 inches I am making the 33 inches. The construction of this cardigan is very unique and as of now i still have no clue what part of the cardigan I am knitting :)

Week 1 went by pretty quick, I finished that weeks assignment by Thursday. Here is the first triangle.

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Sorry for being gone for so long, but I am back and will try to post regularly. I am going to improve this blog. Maybe in the future there will be video tutorials. Meanwhile enjoy this picture of Sedona and Boogie:

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I recently was invited to my friends baby shower and what better gift to give as a handmade gift.

I crocheted this baby afghan for her

and knitted this sock monkey for the baby boy.

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I am so excited and proud of myself. I just finished my second sewing Project, a pencil skirt. I used a red waist band and red zipper to make it unique and not look store bought. I also used a hand sewn slip stitch on the hem and waistband to make it invisible. It also has a small slit in the back that you can't really see in these pictures.

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My Zipper Case and Pin Cushion

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The Earflaps.

Finished hat with cables on the sides.

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The hanks of yarn, I used Pure Pima Cotton.

Turning the hanks of yarn into a cake of yarn.

Blocking the finished crochet pieces.

The finished Cardigan.

Cute Airplane Buttons.

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For Easter I knitted a gingham basket and then threw it in the washer to felt the wool.

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Last winter I moved from Arizona to Virginia and decided to knit a cable scarf on the plane ride.

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Last year for Christmas I crocheted my fiance Ricky an afghan.

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I crocheted this afghan almost a year ago. It was my first project and I am very proud of it.

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Hello Everyone,

my name is Courtney and I recently was looking for a hobby. So I went to the craft store and picked up some yarn and a crochet hook. I have been crocheting and knitting for almost a year now, I also just picked up sewing about a week ago. I enjoy making gifts and see the joy a handmade gift can bring.Keep updated with my blog to see my projects and items that I have for sale at my etsy store.

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