I *should* be cleaning.....

and packing and a bunch of other stuff, but what am I doing? That's right knitting....

I finished knitting up my hair curlers and sewed in the ends this morning. So they are now in my hair and I am wanting to make more knitting stuff. I won't let myself but still have a burning desire to knit. Crazy I know.

On a good note, my little sister wants me to knit for her and she is providing the yarn. Yippie! I like free yarn. Her B-day is in March so should have it done really quick.

Finished that &#!@$% baby hat!

For the last 3 days I have been *obsessed* with making my daughter a hat and finally got it right. I was changing the yarn from fingering to bulky so lots of changes had to be made to make it fit. Not hard just frustrating.


I think I was just avoiding finishing that BSJ jacket for my little niece. Now I have no excuse and will be finishing it tonight.

Well that was quick....

I made a calorimetry yesterday and have been working to make a baby hat as well. It is in bulk and I do have pics but I also still have that pesky virus on the computer.

Anyway I did finish both but discovered that the hat didn't fit a 2 year olds head, though 42 stitches in bulky would work for a preemie if anyone is interested! I ripped it and am knitting that again, which it really no wast due it taking only 3 hours steady knitting time. I am posting everything on Ravelry so check it out if you have account.

What I have been up to...

Well, I have been very busy lately and have taken photos but due to crazy computer updates, we have a computer virus and I am taking no chances with my digital camera. I can at least tell you what I have been doing.

1. I have almost finished a Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) by Elizabeth Zimmerman for a little cousin's X-mas present.

2. I have made 2 more free patterns, only crochet. I won't be posting them until I can get photos up though.

3. I made a diaper cover (soaker) of my own design that I plan to sell (no photos of that until I sell it though).

Over all I feel very productive. I am hoping to get the BSJ done by tomorrow or the next day, well at least the knitted part. The seams will take longer and so will the button.

Pay It Forward contest like thing.

Ok, so The Crafty Cat is taking part in a pay it forward thing on her site and well, I decided why not. I am going by the standard rules, plus my own rule so as not to get stiffed.

1. The contest starts when I get my package from The Crafty Cat. I will be posting a pic of whatever she sends and THAT is the actual contest post. (I will be linking to this post but this is not the post to comment in to get into the contest)

2. Only the first 3 people to comment will be getting whatever I am sending. (Sorry, USA only)

3. You forfeit your entry to the next person that commented if you don't post about entering on your own blog saying you are participating (this means you will be doing a pay it forward on your blog) and you MUST link to my blog.

4. I have 365 days to get this sent to you, though I hate to have stuff looming over my head so it will most likely be sooner.

That is all. Thank you.

that A.C. Moore class

Seems I was celebrating a little too soon, someone did sign up for one of my A.C. Moore classes but has since withdrawn.

As you can see I didn't do a soap making or a yarn dyeing class, not enough interest for me to convince myself I can make up the costs to actually go out and buy supplies. I am planning to do soap making in Feb. but I need to make some money with the knitting and crochet classes before I go and buy the materials to make soap. I need 4 people to sign up for classes before I can afford examples and a board to display on.

I am sick today, but I am hoping to be better enough to get to the Barnes and Nobel knitting night tonight.

Contest!

Knitting up a storm is having a contest.

Ends: Dec. 8th, 2007

Free yarn!

Ok, so the awesome yarn artists at The Unique Sheep have accepted a pattern idea of mine to get free yarn for. I am hoping to have the yarn before X-mas so that I can see about getting swatches done and get the pattern submitted to Knitty. Sadly I can't tell you what it is, due to how Knitty runs itself nor can I post pics of WIP. Sorry

Fiber art's meetup failure

Ok, so I made it to the fiber art meet up at Barnes and Noble and was the only lonely person there. Hung out at the coffee shop for about 30 minutes then transfered to the knitting section of the store and hung out there looking at books for about 45 minutes. I did meet several other knitters looking for books and told them that I was trying to start a knit night or sorts. Got several "I'll be here next week then!". I hope Hubbies schedule permits me to make it next week...

The naming....

So after much thought on the name this yarn should have I went to the thesausus and started to look up synonyms for the words I though described it.


I ended up liking Ardor, so Ardor it is.

Kool-aid dyeing part 2

So I said I would wait til Monday... I couldn't... so I did it tonight!

For the record the colors used were:
1 Wyler's Lemonade (yellow),
1 Mixade Lemon-Lime (green),
1 Kool-aid Twists Berry Blue (blue),
1 Mixade Grape (purple),
and half a package of Kool-aid Fruit Punch (red)

I started by soaking the yarn for 20 minutes then draining all the water that would pour out with out pushing on the yarn.


I made an X of the Berry Blue first, then filled each quadrant with either the grape of the lemon lime. I put the fruit punch on the grape in one big clump and the lemonade on the lemon line on one big clump.


I did the double boiler method and it took 30 minutes (I actually didn't check for 30 minutes and by then it was done). If you do this method it goes faster with a lid... I did use a cooking thermometer (100 F) to see what temp the yarn got to but the picture didn't turn out...

The reason I like the double boiler method is because you can get AWESOME colors and you can basically forget about it for periods of time because the yarn pot will never boil. In the boiling method, you can walk away but might just get a felted mess and I have never been able to get the microwave method to work. Another method I like is the steam method but that is basically what I did just not in a bag.


See the water is all clear!


The YARN!

Ok, I can live with it but I wish that it was more violet/purple than red. Oh well, It will still look good!

See the yarn Here

"Learn to purl" washcloth/dishcloth

Since my class is tomorrow, I figured I might as well post the pattern here that I am going to teach in my class... at least for those that are up to learning the purl stitch....


Yarn:

I used Sugar N' Cream. One of the small balls and not even half of it. I like cotton, so I used cotton but acrylic does work better for a dishrag.

Directions:

CO 30 sts.
Knit next 4 rows.
*K3, P24, K3 turn.
Knit whole row and turn.*
repeat between *'s until desired length (to make a square fold cast on row to knitted edge.)
Knit 3 rows.
Bind off.

copyright info at bottom of page.

A.C. Moore class

Well I have one person signed up for my knitting classes at A. C. Moore so I am really excited. (Even though was hoping for something like 5 or 6 people but it is right before X-mas.) I have signed up in January to do one knitting, one crochet and maybe a soap making or a yarn dyeing class. I really want to do the yarn dyeing but think I might have more interest with the former.

In other news I am hoping to get the yarn dyed with Kool-Aid on Monday or Tuesday so expect an update the following day.