Retro Redux Shrug!

I must say I love this nifty little jacket! Two skeins of Bernat Mosaic yarn, a few meetings, and ta-da! Even the not-always-so-darling kids at work complimented the shrug in their "it doesn't even look like those old lady sweaters" sort of way....

meetings+yarn=knitting!

I had to attend a staff meeting yesterday, and then an all day training again today. In the world of me, that translates into the coveted minutes necessary to complete my knitting projects, have my knit-ego petted, and inspire others to want to knit. This is what I have so far on the Retro Redux shrug:
It would probably be done, except I left my size 8 needles for completing the second cuff and neck ribbing in the parking garage, and dashing across the rainy UW campus during a 15 minute break didn't sound pleasant. I haven't yet decided how I feel about this Mosaic yarn, because the transitions between colors aren't as smooth as classic (but expensive) Noro, but I do like the idea of a reasonably quick, well priced, easy knit shrug!
This is a little late in delivery, but here's a picture of my adorable nephew Jeremiah, wearing his Oregon Ducks hat that I made a few months ago!

for the baby shower....

Finally, finished! I just seamed the shoulders of the Baby Surpise Jacket, and now I need to find something other than a darning needle to sew on the little buttons I bought. I am still working on a little softy blanket for the baby as well, and the shower will be on Sunday (three days left to finish this all!)
I am also desperately searching for another skein of the Bernat Roving yarn in Cobalt blue to finish my Sideways hat from the Boutique Knits book....as of yet this is all I have:


I finally found a pattern to use up the three skeins of Mosaic yarn that I picked up on sale at JoAnn, the Retro Redux Shrug from Interweave- I think the pattern will be an interesting way to show off the colors! As soon as things are underway I will post a picture for you all...

ooh, so busy

its been awhile (again) and I don't even have a super spectacularly awesome project to share with you.....

...other than I knit my own crown, to prove that I am and will forever be the queen of procrastaknitting!
I actually made that as a birthday joke gift for a coworker and snapped a picture of myself wearing it before I passed it along- but she did wear it all day!
more to come, sooner rather than later. there are still at least 9 unfinished projects in various stash spots throughout the house and car, but nothing close enough to finished.

so many plans...

in the midst of all my sporadic cleaning and organizing over the past week, I started noticing how many printouts of knitting patterns I was coming across. Not just a few, but A LOT. I already have two 2-inch binders and one 1-inch binder full of organized patterns, but as I collected the ones that were folded up inside project bags, or under the couch, or in my magazine basket, I realized I may have a bit more than I originally thought. I ran out yesterday afternoon and bought a package of 25 sheet protectors, assuming that would be enough to continue my careful pattern of organization in the binders.
WRONG.
This is how many patterns I have:

That is THREE 2-inch binders, one 1-inch binder, and a flexible binder full of patterns not even in the shiny sheet protector.
Do you see what I mean by by so much yarn, so many ideas, so little knitting?
I mean, what was I thinking? that I would actually have time to make all of these? or that I would remember why it was that I printed off a certain pattern anyways?
So again, today, armed with another package of sheet protectors, I will finish this project.
and maybe do some knitting.
maybe.

My first Baby Suprise Jacket!

Just last night, while sipping Mojitos at the Brotherhood in downtown Olympia during this fantastically sweaty weather we are having, I finished my first BSJ! I am not quite as ecstatic as some previous BSJ knitters have been, but it is pretty awesome that all that garter stitch and increase/decrease madness turns into this adorable little sweater. I still have to sew the shoulder seams and then find the perfect buttons, but otherwise DONE! Here, have a looksie:

My mind has already begun imagining other possibilities and yarns and gauges (can this be knit in stockinette stitch?), but for now I will be happy that this one is done and move onto more exciting knitting-like birthday crowns for coworkers!

Here's the shyly smiling Hannah wearing her new sweater last night: she really does have a fantastic personality but the camera makes her freeze! The BSJ is coming along nicely, just getting ready to do the bind off for the collar, and I am sort of working on knitting a tie for my stepdad for his birthday (using the yarn leftover from socks I knit him three years ago!) I finished the Ducks Hat and a hat for my darling friend Matt, using Lion Brand "Amazing" yarn in the Olympia colorway in honor of my current hometown....

soon to be seen...

Happy Birthday Hannah Banana! Todays the day, tomorrows the party, we'll see what she thinks of her new Fancy Image shrug! Here's some old pics of previous Hannah projects-that is one well-knit-attired little girl!







Also, you can see a picture of baby Hannah wearing the cape and booties at the same time, right here!

sewing projects since yesterday....

Like I said, sewing is so much more instantly gratifying!! Here is the messenger bag I made for a friend of mine using Kyoto fabric from JoAnns and a Koi print batik from Ruby Street Quiltworks shop. The bag is very simple, a notebook sized rectangle (more or less) with some gathered pockets on the interior.
And of course, the Olivia Jr. blanket, for her to wrap up her babydoll, also named Olivia (one year olds don't have to be creative, just cute)

Here's Rhapsody, posing in her newest tanktop. This was probably one of the easiest projects I have ever knit without a pattern, because the feather and fan stitch is now burned into memory and the strap lace was a simple yo, k2tog that alternated every other row. Maybe I will post the pattern, if I can get it off Rhapsody long enough to count stitches...



And then there is the slippers, which just fit perfectly but Corinne suggested that the next pair I make should probably have more of an edge, maybe a couple more rows around the heels before I bind off the back section.

There's the pattern and the yarn that I am using for the Shrug (by the way)!
I am right now binding off for the Oregon Ducks hat, and the Little Girls Shrug is drying (I am still not quite as adept at blocking as I would like to be). Taking a short break from knitting for awhile, to get some sewing projects done. I am slowly but surely mastering my new-ish machine, and just made a mini version of the Olivia blanket for Oly's doll. Maybe fifteen minutes start to finish? Sewing is definitely more gratifying to me in terms of time, but I still prefer knitting for those extra special projects.

Recently, I have been...

attending many work related trainings that provide for ample time to knit! On June 7th, I knit a pair of the house slippers from Knit2Together. On June 8, I worked one half of the Baby Surprise Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman. Yesterday, I finished one Cropped Baby Shrug during a morning training as a gift for my niece Hannah, and then went directly to Fancy Image Yarn in Shelton as soon as I got off work and bought another skein of her incomparable DK yarn in the Oregon Ducks colorway. During a meeting this afternoon where my client and I waited around for another case manager I had time to cast on and knit about 15 rounds on a hat using that yarn. All these months I have been lamenting my lack of knitting time while working (I know, boo hoo, some people have jobs where you can never knit) and I get an inundation of time to finish lots of fun new project.
As soon as I can download some pics, I will. (including some more of Rhapsody in her new tank top and me in my cropped cardigan-which now needs to be downsized due to the recent weight loss most apparent in my bosom)

Rhapsody's Tanktop

Yeah, so this one is pretty darn cute. take a look at the flickr badge!

done, finito, ya!

The cropped cardigan is done.{stop} pictures forthcoming. {stop} It is possible to knit size XL with four skeins of Comfort. {stop}

Recently visited not-so-local-yarn-stores

On Friday, a current work case with a client necessitated a trip to Lakewood, WA. I knew there was a yarn store on Pacific, one that I hadn't been to before and that according to their website, carried Berrocco Comfort yarn (I was still wavering about how much I would need to finish the fronts of my cardigan, in relation to how much I still had left on the skein). I stopped into Lambs Ear Farms which outwardly appears to be a house, but the insides have been miraculously transformed into a yarn store. Yes, they carry Berrocco comfort yarn, but not in the color that I needed. (I will find this yarn, I swear!) The shop owner, Roxi, was in the back unpacking a box of Malabrigo worsted-my timing is amazing, I know-and we struck up a conversation on Peru and knitting and travel. I can wax poetic on Peru for hours, but I am trying to curb this need to convince everyone I meet to travel to South America. The shop has a great selection, smells deceptively like hot apple cider ( I say deceptively because I saw a coffee pot but no cider), and Roxi has knit an absolutely beautiful Baby Suprise Jacket using Zauberball yarn-I am now kicking myself for not taking a picture!
On Saturday, my older sister and I had planned a garage-saleing (sp? how do you say that? garage-sailing?) trip that somehow found us down at the Port Orchard Farmers Market smelling garlic and gouda cheesey bread when the omnipresent clouds opened up and began pouring buckets of rain. We made a dash for the car, turned on the a/c to defog the windows from all the moisture evaporating off of us, and headed the car towards Silverdale, where the clouds were not as dark and menacing. We arrived at Linda's Knit and Stitch, which according to the Berrocco website sells Comfort yarn, wrung out our clothing and headed inside. The last time I was in Linda's they were still selling out of the basement of the church building, but now they have moved to a loftier locale, upstairs in the same building. Strike two, no Comfort yarn in the color that I desperately needed. We perused, squeezed, fingered and smelled yarn for awhile, made small talk about farmers markets in the area versus some down in Oregon (the shop attendent was from Beaverton, I know the Eugene market), and I, true to form, began discussing Peru with the gentlemen in the back office (Linda's husband?). Not just the fibery parts of Peru, but the logistics of Machu Picchu and the downfall of modern construction when faced off with Mother Nature. My sister pointed out that I sound just like our grandfather, talking to everyone about everything. (Here's grandpa discussing yarn with a llama, IN PERU!)
All in all, two more stores visited, not a single skein of Comfort yarn purchased, and I realized once I got home that I probably had about 50 yards left. I wound this into two almost the same size balls, and will finish this sweater today. Wish me luck!

oh, look!!!

Oh look, my hats do fit the babies they were made for!



And, guess what, even though it only looks partially done, I am actually doing the bottom ribbing on the berrocco cardigan.
I can knit, just slowly....

Ooops

I forgot to post for an entire month! well, well, well, I have a new job and have to work Monday through Friday like the majority of Americans, and now I am so far behind on all my projects it is ridiculous. I did finish off an adapted version of Leigh Radford's Baby Bolero (minus sleeves, because I poorly judged the amount of yarn I had!) and also used some of my new grass green and black KnitPicks Risata yarn to make my little brother his birthday hat (this is tradition now, 7 years and counting). This weekend I cast on some Berrocco Comfort yarn to make a short sleeved cardigan for myself (or mom, if it turns out too small), and I finally finished that reversible rib scarf using Fortissima sock yarn knit together with Patons Lacette yarn.
Last week, in the midst of making room for a new dryer that works and cannot be used for clever hidden storage, I realized that I had half done projects spread all over the house. They have all been combined into two picnic baskets that now reside in the living room, right next to the couch-if I am sitting, I am knitting. I still have the flame lace scarf in Malabrigo Lace in the car, and have possibly knit four rows in the last week during traffic......
Tonight I will attend the library knit night, in an effort to socialize my knitting and possibly get a few pattern rows done...I knit faster with competition!

Hats? why so many?

here they are, in all their glory, the four projects I finished this week. The blue and green with flaps counts as a COMPLETED unfinished object-one more pair of size 7 needles available for future projects. The blue and purple baby hat is for little Savannah, whom is sadly allergic to wool and could not have the pink and white baby beret, that was gladly gifted over to little Adrianna whom does not suffer wool allergies. The brown green and blue billed hat is an experiment in billed baby hats, soon to be placed on the as-yet-unborn head of my next nephew, debuting any day now!

Fancy Image Yarn

I need to rave-I just washed my Odessa hat for what may have been the hundreth time, and it still looks fantastic. I haven't had it that long, so you may ask why it gets washed so often. I wear it all the time, because we all secretly love receiving compliments on things we've made, and this particular hat takes the cake. It's the colors. It was the perfect pattern to show off the color changes. It makes my enormous head look smaller (that may be exaggerating). In any case, for everyone that lives in Washington and occasionally ventures on Highway 101, you should stop in Shelton and visit Myra. Chances are, she's in the store. You can actually talk to her! The store is tiny, but the perfect size for showing off all that fantastic yarn. The selection of other yarn brands is small, but there is enough Fancy Image to keep your idea wheels spinning and the colors, beware the colors, you will want one of every skein!
If you are on ravelry, peek at my notebook-there is lots of Fancy Image yarn in there!!!