Glampyre Tubular Camisole

I LOVE this! The pattern is from Stefanie at Glampyre Knits, and I made it with color-your-own yarn from KnitPicks, which I dyed with Kool-Aid. Grand total including pattern: $8.74!!! Now, you can't beat that!

Socks!!

I gotta tell you..... I was NEVER going to make socks. way - to - hard

Kaity was making socks, and they just baffled me.... I couldn't understand them, heel flaps, turned heels, and those gussets with the stitches going every which way - no sir, I just couldn't get my mind around it.

Then, one day was was watching Knitty Gritty on DIY, and the girl was teaching Sock 101. She explained it SO well, and I could watch her do it.... and I got it, it really didn't seem so hard after I SAW it done (yeah, as you can imagine.... I'm real good at math, too.... echhh, I gotta see it, touch it, to get it).


So off I go - luckily, the Knitty Gritty girl starts you out more with slippers, BIG double-pointed needles and BIG yarn... so I made slippers, two pairs. The top picture is made with my left over Manos from hubby's Chullo hat. They're pretty funky, and I may even wear them as hiking socks - you know, they're wool and all.

The 2nd pair - I really wasn't up for those yet... size 2 DPN's, Wildfoote Yarn. Pattern: Mind of Winter, freebie on the web, BMG's Footies. Oy, I ripped those suckers out sooooo many times! Yarn's too little, the needles are too little - I have old eyes. They gave me fits! But they're done.... they're FULL of mistakes - but you can't see them from where you are, can you? We're talking a HUGE learning curve here. Gotta say, not a bit fan of the Wildfoote, not real comfy, splits way too much for me.... but they are pretty socks.

Socks are now my FAVORITE thing to knit - always have a pair going. They're relatively fast, and interesting enough that you don't get bored. LOVE to make socks! Now, that wasn't so hard...

One Skein Wonder

Okay - we all make a OWS, don't we. I was tricked into making one, you know.... making it for the body I only have in my mind. As you'll notice, you don't see it modeled on me, do you? Oh, it fits alright.... but I'm 40-something.... do I really belong in this? Besides, there's the "tharms," you know like "cankles." Tharms are arms that are shaped more like thighs. Ok, when I lose those last 20 lbs and uncover the beautiful muscles I'm sculpting 3-4 days a week at the gym, but are covered with that layer of fat obscuring them..... then I'll post a new picture, but only then.... when I don't have tharms anymore.

Pattern: Glampyre, One Skein Wonder
Yarn: Cascade 220, 100% Peruvian Highland wool - another new fave.... Beautiful Stuff!

I could just give it to my ballerina niece, it looks like something a ballerina would wear to me.... or is that just copping out?

Buttonhole Bag

I decided I needed to felt something, and I loved this bag I kept seeing on everyone's blogs. I decided I'd make a bag to haul little knitting projects around in. I'm still at the point in my knitting adventure where some patterns baffle me..., and I was having trouble finding one I could understand and "see" in my head. I have to be able to see it in my head, or I don't know where I'm going..... so I just looked at a bunch of bags I liked and kind of made it up from there.

Yarn: Noro Kureyon, color #159 - wow, this is some beautiful stuff. Felts nicely, but doesn't really shrink. (get me, I actually swatched AND washed it up beforehand to see where I was going with this).

Yeppers, it's a nice bag, but too small for it's intended purpose. Okay, so I have a whole other skein in my stash I could have used, but I just got impatient and couldn't wait to see it done..... so it's smaller than I planned. But, it now goes to Bible Study with me every week and holds all my books for that perfectly... and all those ladies are non-knitters, so they are very impressed with my "skill."

My First Sweater

I love this sweater - hey I just love sweaters.... next to purses, shoes, and jackets.... yeah, I probably love sweaters the most.

Here's the obligatory take-it-yourself in the bathroom shot...


It's a little big (which is WAY better than too small), and the arms are a little floppy, but I will wear it like crazy. Of course, I started it in the Winter and didn't finish it until it was too hot to wear a wool sweater, but this year... I can't wait. It's the perfect blue to go with my jeans (which is all I ever wear anyway).

Pattern: Ann Budd's "Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns"
Yarn: Lamb's Pride worsted, Winter Blue

May I just say... this book is genius. I borrowed it from my Mom. She's lucky she got it back. You just pick the sweater you like (the combinations are endless), knit up a swatch in the yarn you choose, and she does all the math for you!!! Genius I tell you.

3rd Eye Chullo

So I say, "Hubby, want me to make ya something?"

Now I'm really a glutton for punishment.... my first try with double-pointed needles! Cast on two stitches to each of four needles.... yah, right... Kaity had to get me started on this one. After that, it actually was really easy. Hey - I can knit, AND follow a pattern!

Pattern: Knit Wit 30 Easy and Hip Projects - 3rd Eye Chullo
yarn: Manos de Uraguay

He even wears it, sometimes on a cold night after a mountain bike ride, and I think it's been hiking in the Sierras. The hubby's big on keeping his head warm...

Can I just say.... this was the first yarn I FELL IN LOVE WITH! It is sooooo beautiful. Worth every penny, soooooo pretty and soft. They have the most amazing colorways, mmmmm, pretty!

Aibhlinn

Oh baby- I love this one... and I may be the only one who does... at least in my family. My girlies just think it's very "odd." But check it out, I've ventured beyond scarves, barely... this is just a big, tubular scarf, but when I saw it in Knitty I had to have it.

Now we're really out of my easy-project-comfort-zone.... we're talking swirling ribs AND bobbles., AND knitting on circulars. I started and restarted this project about four times. Still didn't have the right number of stitches cast on and one of the ribs is smaller than the rest, but just look at it.... all gathered around my neck you can't even tell, can you? Not to mention the other hundreds of mistakes.... but hey, no one should be looking that close anyway!

Patttern: Aibhlinn, Knitty.com/Fall04
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too's "2nd Time Cotton" in Beluga Blue (recycled cotton, very pretty, perfect for this project, splits like crazy!)

I still love this - and wear it like the girl in Knitty - with my jean jacket... I don't care what my daughters say. But, baby, it better be really cold outside (which it rarely is where I live), 'cause it keeps you warm!

Poncho

Just the basic info here.... this poncho deserves, and will get it's own post in the main blog someday.... suffice it to say, it's my first venture past the scarf... we've moved on to k2tog and M1 (threw me for a loop), AND following a pattern (believe me, I found the easiest one I could!).

Pattern: Lion Brand Split Neck Poncho
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Encore

Ignore the fact that I'm wearing shorts in the picture, and it's 90 degrees outside....I've only worn it a couple of times....I don't know if I'm a "poncho person."

First Knits - Scarves

It seems like everyone I know who knits, starts with scarves. That's all I was going to make, actually. One day I picked up a scarf Kaity was making and asked her to show me how to knit.... and it was so relaxing, we ran out to our LYS that day, in the pouring rain, because I had to knit! Anyway, these are two of my first. The one on the right is just straight knit, and I made sure to pick something really fuzzy so my mistakes wouldn't show. I don't remember what it was made out of. The one on the left is my second scarf.... get me, now using seed stitch, and knit with Rowan Chunky Print.