Blue blue electric blue

Well orange actually.

In honor of a recent spate of water-hating, I am changing the color of my blog to the soothing color of orange juice. Water has been grossing me out lately. I usually drink gallons of it per day. Instead, I have been drinking Kool Aid and OJ. I have a fondness for the two ends of the OJ spectrum but not much love for anything in between.

I dig super cold OJ made from concentrated slime and poured over ice after you shake the hell out of it. I used to just scoop the concentrated frozen stuff out of the container and eat it when I was a kid. That fills me with nausea just thinking about it right now.

And I also love love love fresh squeezed. I don't have a juicer though, and that junk beez expensive.

In the world of knitting, I have been doing lots. Finished my first-ever sweater, and it's actually really cute. Also made a few pairs of crazy cabled socks, a capelet, bunches of cute slippers for Christmas presents (which I forgot to take pictures of before giving away), an annoyingly more complicated than I thought it would be Valentine's gift. I also finished up some of the hibernating projects from the closet - finished the mermaid gloves and monster slippers. Still have a couple of lingering hibernators, but I am in no mood to mess with them at the mo.

Right now I am working on the Blooming Cotton Scarf in its fiery red incarnation. It's kind of like the Ballband dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting with the colorwork done all with slipped stitches. Of course, the back of the scarf is gonna look like crap but whatevs.

Also working on a February Lady Sweater like everyone else. Mine is in a semi-solid deep bluish colorway from Dream in Color. I haven't taken any pictures of either of them. Maybe that will be my project for next Wednesday's W.I.P.

Got a lot done kind of weekend

I accomplished tons this weekend knitwise. And I got my new phone, so I'm taking more pictures - yay! And my phone seems to take (somewhat) better pictures than my camera so yay again. I finished knitting the wallet and stashed it away to weave in the ends, sew up the seam, felt and sew in the zipper. All of that stuff won't take too long. I will probably get it ready to felt during the week and felt it this coming weekend. Also finished the knitting part on the wristband. Now I need to study the graphic I'm planning on putting on it. I think instead of double stitching, I will use embroidery floss and just wing it. I did the wristband on double points, so no seam to sew up - just a couple of ends to weave in.

I cast on two new projects...

One is a purse kit from Pick Up Sticks! - I am working on the blue version. The gold/green version in the pictures is even too retro for my tastes.

I also started on the dragon scarf from Morehouse Farm Merino - it is seriously badass looking already. I have already done three little dragon "spikes." I am making it in the red version (called "Huff" on the website). Here's a sample...



I am really thrilled with the results so far. When I first read the directions, I had some serious misgivings and some doubt as to whether I could pull it off, but it's really not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be - just a lot of counting and concentrating. It's not something I can multitask on. The multitask project will be the aforementioned purse which has long stretches of stockinette. I didn't take a picture, because it's just a rectangle of baby blue stockinette stitch right now - not very thrilling.

Oh yeah - I also put the face on my teddy bear:



The evil Mountain Dew "game fuel" that almost made me vomit and incited really weird dreams can be seen in the background there.

I wish I didn't have to work today, I am in a knitting groove, and that's all I want to do. I want to make more dragon spikes!!

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Finishing and starting and ideas

So, I finished up 3 washcloths now - 2 ballband ones and 1 Mason-Dixon one. I will take some pictures at some point and post them. They are all done with Sugar N' Cream cotton. I also bought some chenille to make a couple more of the Mason-Dixon washcloths. I think those will look neat - one is a variegated blue/green and the other is variegated pink/green. Speaking of pink/green, I am finally to the point of putting on the handles and button of the purse I made in December or January(I know - I suck).

I finished a wallet and felted it - just need to put in the zipper and sew on the decorative pieces. It's gonna be badass. I made it from this kit in the red version. I think I made it in like 2 days. It's the first kit I've ever bought. It just looks so neat, and I got it on sale 50% off.

I also started a tie for my dad. I originally saw it on the Knitpicks site as a Father's Day suggestion, but I'm not one for time limits on my knitting, so it will end up being a whenever I get finished you'll get it type of project. I decided to go ahead and use the silk/wool blend they suggested on Knitpicks, and I chose to use burgundy, black, and a smoky blue for the colors. It is being knit on size 1 needles which are the smallest ones I have used as of yet.

Bill finished the socks he was making for me. They are worsted weight camouflage yarn made with a pattern from a magazine that I can't remember the name of right now. They are snazzy wazz and are gonna keep my toes nice and toasty this winter. So, since I haven't taken pictures of the projects I'm working on, here some pictures of my new socks and of Spooky and Frannie being cute.

Spooky with the yarn and pattern for my Dad's tie:


Spooky snoozing on Bill's dishcloth yarn:


Spooks in the shadow of Bill knitting on his dishcloth:


Bill's socks knitted for me modeled on my feet =)


Frannie lounging on top of Bill's knitting bag:


Bill showing off his first pair of finished socks! (Sorry I cut off part of his head - that's one photo flub that's not the camera's fault):

Techniques

So, there are a lot of techniques out there that I want to learn and some that I have no intention of trying to do anytime soon, because I envision the frustration, and I'm not feeling it.

I have learned quite a few new things (well, all new things since I just started knitting in October). I am proud of figuring out double points. I'm not perfect at them, but I figured out how to do increases and decreases on them. The hardest part was when I had to leave some stitches on a stitch holder and then come back to them later. I still don't understand which yarn I'm supposed to be using when I'm going back to those stitches later. I kind of just improvised and started out with a new piece (which made the first couple of rounds loose, but I jimmy rigged it later). At one point, I went back to some stitches on the holder and started knitting them and realized like 10 rows up that I was knitting inside out. That was interesting. This is the point where I mastered another technique - unraveling and starting again.

I really like working on circular needles, and I wish I could make socks on circular needles (cause I really want to make some jamming socks and legwarmers), but I think they will need to be done on the double points. If you don't know what any of this crap is that I'm talking about, and you have any interest in knowing more - here are some videos.
The circular needles are easy peezy once you get past that first round of tight stitches.

I woke up around 6am this morning for no reason, and I have been terminally bored since. So, I started two new projects. One is a change purse for my sister, Lisa, to match the makeup bag I made her for XMas. Nextly is another purse (I'm making lots of purses, yes?) made out of the same type of yarn that the green-y metallic-y one is made out of that I posted about earlier. The yarn is called Moda Dea Cache', and I bought a bunch of it for super cheap on eBay. The person who shipped it to me tried to make it smell nice with a dryer sheet, and they do smell nice, but I am allergic to dryer sheets. So, the whole time I'm knitting with this stuff, I'm sneezing and my nose is running. Anyway - that's all beside the point.

This pattern will allow me to learn a new technique - picking up stitches. I watched a video on how to do it earlier, and I think I've got it covered.

So, this is how this one is supposed to look when I'm done (although I'm using a different color yarn)...



The one that I posted a not yet finished picture of the other day is supposed to look like this (the one with the curly handles, not the long tube)...



So yeah. I wanna make something cool for myself. I'm itching to actually make something and then use it instead of giving it away or stashing it in the closet to give away at a later date. Pictures of B. with his v-day gift forthcoming. Aren't you excited?

And - to end, I will direct you to another knitter's blog that I have been eyeballing. Her socks are amazing and kickass.

http://knitpowerstopeace.blogspot.com/

I don't remember how I happened upon it, but I am loving all those socks.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a bit of a thing for socks that started when I was a kid. When I'm able to make my own pair of socks, you ain't gonna be able to tell me nothin' (that's Alabama talk for "I will think I'm the shizzle nazz").

The end.