An afghan in progress

A few months ago, I saw two gorgeous cabled throws on Pinterest. The cables were thick and just the right size. It'd be the perfect type of afghan to hunker down with in the middle of winter. And ever since, I can't get cabled, chunky throws from my mind!

                                                                Source: cleverbirdbanter.wordpress.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Aren't these dreamy??

                                                                    Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Jesse on Pinterest

I came very close to purchasing afghan amounts of yarn several times, but I could never do it. Maybe it was the price tag for all that bulky yarn. Maybe I didn't think I could commit. Maybe it was because JoAnns never had enough of one color to buy enough yarn at once.

In the end, I decided on Sweet Cream by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss; it's in a knit and crochet afghan book called 7-Day Afghans. It's my first knitted afghan and I was very anxious to cast on.

The yarn I chose is worsted weight Lion Brand Wool Ease in Dark Dusty Rose.

I only purchased six skeins; I'll most likely need more

While it's not a chunky, cabled throw, it does have faux cables created by k2tog and PSSO. And it's incredibly squishy.

It won't exactly be a warm, winter afghan, but it will be perfect for spring days and fall nights. Right now, the length covers my lap while I knit, and it keeps me pretty warm!

The most current status photo. This was almost two full skeins, and I am now on my third. I might try and take a progress photo whenever I start a new skein.

I'm not sure how someone could knit this afghan in only seven days (as the book title insists). It is worsted weight yarn on size US 10 1/2 needles, but you'd have to knit nonstop! I started April 7, it's been ten days, and I'm probably a third to a fourth of my way in. It is a fun pattern and fairly easy to memorize. There are twelve rows in each repeat, and half of those rows (on the wrong side) are the exact same. And the stitch markers are life savers!

I had better get to knitting :) Happy Tuesday!

Odd bits

Hooked on Lip Balm ... Yes, you can. I am.

Yarn Harlot: Culling the Herd ... Impressive collection of knitting needles! Seriously, Scott, beware.


Rebecca Danger: Chubby Chirps! ... These are basically adorable! and um...a free pattern too, wha?

French Press Knits: Just Like Mom ... Gorgeous baby mitts (and adult mitts too) and a testament to love; to put that much work into something that will be outgrown in a few weeks.

Baking Bites: The French Laundry, Yountville, California ... Art on a plate. Delicious art.



It's a sunny day, I think I'm going out to take pictures.

Baby it's cold outside!

What a blustery, snowy week! It was so windy yesterday that the snow was blowing sideways! So I stayed in most of the day and finished my knitting project: fingerless gloves!! 

Berny seems to like them too ^-^

I started the first one on Friday night, after great debate over purchasing double pointed needles. This was my first project ever knitting in the round, and my first time using dpns! And I am very happy with my end result!

I'm not the best model haha

 I found this pattern in 60 Quick Knits which I mentioned in my previous post. The needles I used were size 8 and the yarn is Loops & Threads: Impeccable (found it at Micheal's) It's worsted weight, 100% acrylic, and in the color grass =) 

60 Quick Knits calls these Wrist Warmers, or something, but they cover more than just your wrist:

Chilling out on my laptop while I rest ;)

Eek!! Knitting on double pointed needles!!!! This is exactly the thing that scared me away from using dpns in the first place. But really it wasn't that tricky. Or scary.

I finished the left glove on Friday night and finished the right glove on Saturday! The first one took me four hours to complete! I didn't time the second one, but I have a feeling it took substantially less time to knit. The ribbed pattern adds a nice texture and it also helps break up the monotony while knitting.

The lone needle in the middle is the marker for the thumb!

While I had my camera out, I figured I should take a few shots of my other finished projects:


The oh so multi-colored Granny afghan! (it wasn't finished at this point)

Berny loves it!! haha

Ta-daaa!! Finished and on the bed. That's a queen sized bed, so the afghan is very very large =) I haven't actually measured it. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I'm positive I'll be crocheting more just like it (maybe less colorfully sporadic)

And this is a knit rib scarf for my brother's girlfriend for Christmas:

close up! trying to show off the ribbing

I love love love ribbing! It looks fantastic and it's so easy and quick. And after these knitting projects, I have knitting on the brain so much that I can't help myself examining all the knitting around me! Basically all my clothes and fabrics are knitted, so I can see why I'm so hooked on it. It's an art that surrounds me; I'm submerged in it (although, I willfully subject myself too).

Alright, I must start some homework! 

Happy knitting and I hope everyone is staying warm!!

I caved

I caved and bought 60 Quick Knits from the UM bookstore. It's originally $17.95 but I got a student discount which knocked almost two dollars off. Funny, though, I've never gotten a student discount at the bookstore before... it sure would be handy at the beginning of every semester when I have to buy school books!

This was the first, practically full-price knit or crochet book that I've purchased ever, I think. Let's see...

Found 7-Day Afghans at Powell's for only $3.99
Scored Stitch 'n Bitch at Goodwill (of all places!!) for $2.99
Bought an afghan book (blue ribbon or something like that) at Salvation Army for like $1!

So yes, I do enjoy a good deal! And I especially love hunting for them. Today has shown me that I'm not completely frugal, which is kind of relieving, really. Although, all the money I save by buying used craft books I spend on lots of yarn... so am I really saving??

Man! I need to take some pictures already! I think for Christmas I want a nice digital camera that has a good macro on it (is that possible?) My idea is, that if I have a camera that takes a good photo, I'll be more motivated to take pictures and upload them. Unlike my current one, which is a clunky old thing that only has 3 megapixels, or something. hey. it was $50 at Target, I think.

Well, in my dreams I'd love a nice, digital SLR Canon, but I definitely don't have the dough for that.

Still working on Christmas presents. About to start one now actually, if it goes well. Something like this:

via http://www.reachperspective.com/?p=ggniwtts&paged=8

But really, I'm altering a pattern for a cable headband like this:

via http://terrificfibers.blogspot.com/

to fit a cup! I haven't tried my hand at cables before and they look so beautiful. Plus, a girl in one of my lit classes has a cabled cup snuggy and it looks awesome!

There are so many patterns and pictures of pretty knits on the web!! I just google imaged "knit cable cup warmer" and found so many! Plus, quite a few good blogs to start following ^-^

Happy knitting! And it's almost Friday!!

Knit ribbed scarf

Picture!!! 

This is the very first knitted scarf that I have finished ^-^ All other scarf attempts I ended up frogging. But this one, not this one, I finished it! I don't think I will add fringe; the yarn seems like it would split. Like I said in my previous post, this one is going to my brother's gf, JH for Christmas! I hope she will like it. I gave it a test run and it is very warm. It was very simple and a good starting foundation for more scarves like it in the future. It's just k2 p2 to make the ribbing.

I'm playing around with the template and design of the blog, because I wasn't very happy with the original. But I'm not very happy with this one either haha I'll just keep playing with it and hopefully find one I'm content with. What I really want is a separate page to show my projects individually, in a nice table of contents way.

Today has been an odd day. Full of ups (our Powell's order arrived *early*!!! a wonderful surprise!) and downs (being accosted by the legless diabetic while grocery shopping). Maybe accosted is the wrong word, but I pretty much feel violated in some way when she panhandles to me, or when I see her doing it to someone else. I don't know why it makes me so angry. 

Reading Miko Kings; An Indian Baseball Story for Native American literature. It's written by LeAnne Howe. At first it seemed like it would be a really interesting non-fictional book about one of the early Indian baseball teams. Nope. Seems to be historical fiction narrated in the most absurd and horrible way, including the narrator being visited by the Miko King's manager's niece and hearing the story through this ghost. At this point in the book, I can't help feel that the author is trying waaay too hard and I don't have much interest in finishing it. Really, it's a case of false advertising, right? You can't mislead people, through the title and book cover to make them think that what they are holding in their hands is a book representing a real life story about real life Indians playing a real life MF baseball game, and then make them sit through pages and pages of a narrator who has her own identity issues deal with an uneducated ghost talking about math and theorems and physics that exist in literature. You just can't.

/rant ... 

On the flip side... it's Sunday, and we just got a bunch of groceries. I bought breakfasty type food that should make waking up at 5am a little easier, I hope. This includes wheat English muffins, peanut butter, apple juice, frosted-covered mini wheats (I'm also planning on taking a baggie of these to work as well, eat them throughout the day). I'm trying to go the fiber route. Plus we got REAL coffee, none of that Dunkin Donuts crap. They do a really good job advertising, tv and on the product, but when you taste it, the coffee is very bland and very weak. The added Pumpkin Spice flavor seems to be there only so you don't notice the weak coffee. This is probably ideal coffee for people who don't like coffee flavor (they're nuts) and who probably add a bunch of cream and sweetener.

Last thoughts:

Considering work at Subway again, once my coffee job is up

Slightly depressed about school

It snowed today

jaa ne

Shower, Tea, Knit... a Perfect Order

One of the nicest things after a shower on a chilly, windy day, is a hot cup of tea.
Lately I've been enjoying Yogi Tea, especially the Detox, Egyptian Licorice, and Egyptian Licorice Mint.

However, in light of some spring cleaning, I found a few boxes of tea from past holidays. While my friends know I like tea, I'm very particular about the kinds I drink.

The one I chose for tonight was from Timothy's:







I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the tea is in "silk" bags with actual tea leaves and not just tea dust. That said, I tried Chai tea, and it was horrible. After a few sips I couldn't drink anymore. Absolutely flavorless. It reminded of really bad coffee, like the kind that literally tastes like boiled cardboard.

I googled the company to find more information on them, but haven't found anything substantial yet. I did find that Timothy's manufactures individual "K-Cups" for coffee and tea...so you can brew just one cup at a time, I guess? sigh...lazy. I'll keep searching.

<:3 )~~~

Besides being misled cute tea packaging, I've started and stopped a new crochet project. After the black and white Granny Rectangle scarf, I decided I skipped a step in the process and started working on plain Granny Squares. I crocheted nine squares alternating in bright blue and spring green (both Red Heart), and single crocheted around each with black.



I started sewing them together, but I'm feeling a bit burned out of them haha I'm not used to projects of stop and go, only going! I would really like to finish this scarf by the end of the week, and I know I can, I just need to do it! I normally don't choose bright colors like this but I was thinking how nice it will be to wear a bright springy scarf in the middle of winter!

Also... I picked up my knitting needles again. I am horrible at knitting, mostly because I go too fast and then a stitch falls off and I don't know how to put it back on, or I miss a stitch...you really never know with me. Anyway, I found a SpiceBox at TJ Maxx today, and it's an Introduction to Knitting, which, I felt couldn't hurt even though I already know the basics (though not so well). Plus, it came with a few cute patterns, four skeins of wool/soy yarn, 5.5 mm bamboo needles, a darning needle and stitch holder, all for $7. What the hell =)

I really like the bamboo needles too. I have three sets of metal ones but compared to the wooden ones, they are much slicker. No wonder stitches kept falling off! (haha....that'll be my excuse). Anyway, I started a Checkerboard pattern which is new to me, but it's very neat looking!




I haven't knitted very much because it takes me such a long time! But you get the idea what it will look like, I hope. This wasn't the yarn that was included in my super box buy ;) it was just a ball in my yarn bag but I have a feeling it's Red Heart. It's a nice yarn to practice with because it's thin yet has a lot of stretch to it. I wonder what I originally bought it for...

Well, this has been a marathon blog for me because I've tried to squeeze three separate things into one. Hopefully my next post will less of a catch up of what I've been up to!

Happy crocheting and knitting!!