Update! :)

Wow! It's been a long time since I've updated. Brian and I got engaged recently, so between school and wedding stuff I've hardly had time to do any yarn work.

I finished the set of dishcloths/washcloths and the bathmat for John and Jennie. To give it to them, we rolled up the items and put them in a basket. Around each item, like a napkin ring almost, we printed out labels. The labels said things like: 1388 wishes for a happy marriage. The number indicated the number of stitches involved in that item. The card said something like: each stitch contains our love and a wish for your future.

Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of the basket (or the items) before we gave it to them.

This weekend I felt a bit under the weather, so I spent most of it on the couch knitting (even though I didn't have the time to do that).

I have made much progress on the knitted scarf for Heather. It will definitely be done in time for her birthday. Though I may wait for Christmas anyway since she won't have any need for a scarf in Southern California in July.

The scarf ended up being 2x2 ribbing with 32 stitches per row. This way, every row is the same. It was too hard to determine which row I should do. The boucle yarn makes it so hard to see the stitches.

I started my first knitted hat. It involves two colors; I've never knitted with two colors before. And it involves short rows; something else I've never done. It's coming along very well.

Since it's an educational piece, I pulled out the worst yarn from my stash: RedHeart. It squeaks as I use it. Ick! The colors are nice though. A cherry red and a heathered gray. I didn't have the right sized needles (9), so I'm making it on 8s. If it doesn't fit, I won't care. I probably should have used 10s, but Heather's scarf is using my size 10 needles.

Sip or Stitch is meeting tonight. The week before last, we had seven people. Last week we only had 4.

SoS: Third Gathering

Tomorrow will be the third gathering of the SoS. I will NOT be attending. I have a project due on Friday and it's taking far too long.

Also, I will not be around for next week's gathering. I have a previous engagement.

WIP: bathmat (gift)

This will be gifted with the dishcloth set I made.

I couldn't find a bathmat pattern that wasn't in the shape of something silly. I came across an article about the absorbancy, durability, etc of various cotton yarns and stitch patterns. Using the information in this article (namely, the section titled "Stitch Matters"), I decided to use the "Back Loop Stitch Washcloth" pattern as a base for the bathmat.

I decided that I would make six washcloths (three of each color) and join them to make a rectangle.



However, I have run out of the blue yarn. I'm planning to go back to the store ASAP and see if I can get more of the same dye lot. If not, I'm going to use the natural color cotton yarn I have instead of the blue.

EDIT: I've decided to just use the natural color yarn. It's the same brand as the red (the blue is not), I already have one square made, and it will probably be easier to match her bathroom if it's only got one real color in it.

FO: dishcloth for us

This square was meant to be part of a bathmat to go with the dishcloth set. However, I ran out of yarn and the last two rows are in a different dye lot. So, this can't be a gift.

When I was working on the gift dishcloths, Brian said something like: "Do we get to keep this one?"

So, he gets to keep this one. :)


I've taken to calling it the "Three Errors Dishcloth". Error 1: yarn ran out halfway through the last row. Error 2: the last few rows are made with a different dye lot. Error 3: it's made with three pieces of yarn and the knots I put in look terrible.

SoS: second gathering

The second gathering of Sip of Stitch was last night.

Christine came again with her entre-lac stole. And Shandra (new this week) was there working on her 2nd monkey sock. Man, those socks looked cozy!

WIP: Cold Shoulders Capelet

I recently purchased the "Happy Hooker" book. This capelet is one of the patterns. It calls for mohair yarn, bun I have been wanting a shawl/stole/shrug/capelet-type thing made from some black fun fur I had in my stash.

It's difficult to crochet with because I can't see the stitches. So, I'm cheating a bit. When I was crocheting into the chain, I only caught one loop. When I crochet into stitches, I am crocheting into the space between the stitches.

WIPs, WIPs, everywhere!

After yesterday's post, I reached my homework goal for the day about 8 hours ahead of time. So, I stopping working for the day and crocheted instead.

I worked on the stroller blanket and I started a capelet.

The capelet is out of black Bernat Boa (fun fur!). It's really hard to put the stitches into the right places, so I'm cheating a bit. When crocheting into the chain, I only caught one loop. When crocheting into stitches, I put the stitch into the hole between the stitches. It's impossible to distinguish where the correct place is.

I need to look for an errata for that pattern. I found what I think is an error in row 3. It says to double-crochet in next stitch, but I think it should be "first" stitch.

Anyway, I'm going off to game today. I'll be bringing the stroller blanket. The last time I gamed and crocheted I got a lot done.

I'll try to get pictures of all this up soon.

Update: not enough time to craft!

I have no time! :(

School is kicking my butt and I haven't had enough time to work on anything interesting.

I've been working on a bathmat. But I ran out of yarn last night. Hopefully I'll be able to find some of the same dye lot to finish it. I think I just need to make 2 more squares and sew it all together.

I found out my friend Nate and his wife are going to have a baby in October. So, I want to make them a baby-blanket for the stroller. I started it about half a dozen times and pulled it all out. The first time I had started with the wrong color yarn. Then I discovered that a size G hook didn't get me anywhere near gauge. I swatched about 4 times trying to get gauge. Finally, I started it again last night with a size-J hook and I am close to gauge. I'm a little off, but since it's a blanket, I'm not going to fret about it.

I've given up on the purple scarf for now. Every time I start it, the first few inches look great, then I get an extra stitch and can't get it back on the needles and looking right. Gonna wait until my stress level is lower. Maybe I'll work on it when Brian and I go to wine country (after finals in May).

Sip or Stitch: First Gathering!

Last night we had our first Sip or Stitch Gathering. Three people came. It was very pleasant to sit and craft with others doing the same.

Jerry brought his spinning wheel and that was fascinating to watch. He also had this really soft yarn that he was making into a sweater. It was a lovely green as well as being super soft.

Debbie (Jerry's wife) had a really graceful way of knitting.

Christine was working on this gorgeous entre-lac blanket.

I didn't notice, but apparently Jerry was getting a lot of stares while he was spinning. He didn't seem to mind.

Oh, and my tea was tasty.

WIP: Stroller Afghan (gift)

I found out a friend of mine and his wife are having a baby in October. So, I started this Stroller Afghan. The pattern is out of the "Happy Hooker" book.

I have modified the pattern slightly to fit my yarn supply. The pattern calls for three colors. I'm only using two. To make up for this missing color, I'm crocheting twice as many rows in white as I am in green. This will allow me to use more white yarn than green. The white yarn I have is slightly better quality and I have far more of it.

WIP: Our Bathmat

We seem to go through bathmats very quickly in our house. Since they usually cost around $20, I think I can save us some money if I make them myself. (Shocking since yarn prices are so high.)

I'm using the same pattern I devised for the bathmat that will be a gift. I plan to use the same red color that I'm using for the gift and the natural color that may end up in the gift (if I don't find more blue colorway).

I've only made one square so far.



EDIT: This square has been reassigned to the the gift bathmat.

Sip or Stitch is a go! :)

I went up to Coffee Bean last night to ask about having the SoS gatherings there. They are totally cool with it and very welcoming.

They were rather busy last night (a Thursday), so I asked if Tuesdays were slower. The barista said that Tuesdays were slower nights than Thursdays. I take that to imply that it will be less crowded on Tuesdays, so I'm going to go up on Tuesday with my sign and my "cards" and see what happens.

I'm also going to announce my gathering on ravelry.com and maybe create a yahoo group (if I can figure that thing out).

EDIT:
Yahoo Group created!
Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/siporstitch
Group email: siporstitch@yahoogroups.com

SoS: Sip or Stitch

I want to start a crafting group at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf near my house.

I'm planning to go up and discuss it with a shift manager tomorrow night at 7:30. That is also the time that I'm hoping the gatherings would start. Will also give me a chance to see how busy they are at that time. If they are terribly busy, I don't want to crowd the restaurant.

After I get permission, I'm planning to go up there with a sign to place on my table. Maybe some "business" cards with my name and email address on them. And of course my craft projects. :)

Needle Tips

Yesterday I purchased needle tips to prevent my knitting needles from poking holes in my craft bags. Most of my planned projects will be worked on smaller sized needles (8's and below).

I accidentally purchased the large sized tips. So the tips I ended up with are made for sizes 9 through 15. Size I had just purchased (the same day) size 10 and size 13 needles, I decided to open the package and try them out on my 8s. They fit and work great.

However, they don't fit on my newly purchased sized 10s! :) lol

FO: Scallop Scarf

I finished the scallop scarf!



I would like to gift this scarf because I'm allergic to the yarn (20% wool). But since it was the first knitting project that I did without help, I've grown rather attached to it.

Current Projects

I'm still working on the the scallop scarf. Last night, it was a bit chilly in the house so I was wearing the scarf and knitting on it at the same time. I was terribly amused. :)

The scallop scarf is 65+ inches long. The pattern said to go to 59 inches, but I was so close to the end of the skein, and longer scarfs are better, I just kept going. Now, to figure out how to "bind off"....

I'm expecting two knitting books and a crochet book in the mail. Ordered them from amazon.com. One is "Stitch and Bitch", one is called something like "When bad things happen to good knitters: an emergency guide", and the other is a crochet book.

I'm planning to start the purple, boucle scarf soon. I started it a couple times last night, but kept making mistakes. With that yarn, it's impossible for me to identify the stitches. So, I think the pattern was too complicated for that type of yarn (since you wouldn't see any of the fancy/interesting stitches).

Instead, I may just do a garter stitch scarf with the boucle. I'm going to try a k2p2, p2k2 before I resort to garter stitch though.

Yesterday, I bought yarn for bathmats and dishcloths. Gonna make a bathmat as a gift (red and denim). And another for us (red and natural). Brian seemed like he wanted to keep some of the dishcloths I made as a gift, so I figured I'd make some dishcloths for us, too.

WIP: Purple Scarf (gift)

I had this boucle yarn that I wanted to get out of my stash. But since I don't look that good in purple, I wasn't sure what to do with it. After a day of thinking about it, the idea came to me an a flash: I would knit a scarf for Heather (Brian's cousin).

After about a dozen false starts, here is what I have so far:



If it's done before her birthday (in July), I'll probably give it to her then. Otherwise, I will wait until Christmas.

Scallop Scarf Update

It's been a while since I posted! :(

The scarf is about 25 - 30 inches long now. 25 if I don't play with it. 30+ if I tugged it a bit.

I've decided that I'm going to keep it. I can't see giving it away since it's the first project that I've worked on without handing the needles to my mom when I made a mistake. Pulling it out and reworking it hasn't been fun, but I've certainly learned a lot from it.

I plan to make another scarf after this one is finished. I have some purple yarn (the stuff I used for my wrist warmers) that I want to knit with. So, I'm going to make a scarf for Brian's cousin. She loves purple and looks gorgeous in it. Me, not so much.

I have a pattern all picked out. I found it on ravelry.com. The project is in my queue already. I can't wait. :)

"Knit Nut"

I went on a quest for local yarn shops. My quest led me to a woman's house. She had owned a yarn shop in Long Beach and when she retired, she moved all her yarn into her house and garage (and a storage unit somewhere).

She has TONS of yarn and she'll sell most of it for 25 cents an ounce. I got two skeins of wool sock yarn, three skeins of Egyptian cotton yarn, two skeins of "Gelato cotone" yarn, and two cones of yarn for $24.

If you want to go see her, she's in Huntington Beach. Just call her first so she can put your name in with the guard at the gate. Here is the information: Knit Nut.

Looking for Stole/Shawl pattern

While entering my yarn stash on my Ravelry account, I saw my Bernat Boa yarn and thought how nice it would be to have a classy looking shawl/stole made out of it.

I have three skeins (mini-skeins?) of that yarn in black and 2.5 in Phoenix (orange).

I need a pattern.

Any suggestions? Please post a comment.