Stitches West

This was my first Stitches event that I have been able to attend. I almost didn't make it as I was down with the flu and an awful cold at the beginning of the week. Saturday arrived and even though I was still slightly stuffed up and a tad light headed I made my way down. My friend, Julianne, came along with me for her first Stitches experience.

I had an idea of what I was looking for and who I wanted to see. First on my list was the Ravelry booth. Ravelry is the new online knitting/crocheting forum out there in cyber space. It is the best thing to happen to this craft. As soon as we walked in the door I was running around trying to find the booth. Once found I was oohing and aahing over all their items they were selling. I was so excited to see they still had tote bags for sale. I picked up one for myself and one for my friend, Louise. There was some mad text msg-ing going on. I also picked up BOB pins and another Ravelry pin. They ran out of their "Hello my name is" pins. But it's alright I was happy enough with my purchases and glad to help Ravelry out.

In one word Stitches West was overwhelming! Julianne and I were like "OMG this place is so big". I did tons of yarn browsing. My interests this time to a convention was lace and socks. I fell in love with the vendor, JOJOLAND I found a new yarn that i have just fallen in love with and I can't wait to try some of her other yarns. Also the patterns are exquisite. I picked up 3 of her patterns. I can't wait to try it out. I also got to check out another raveler's yarn. Creatively dyed yarn I didn't pick up any yarn at the show but I am definitely going to order a couple skeins from her. Her colors were absolutely stunning! I also checked out WEBS. The whole area was so busy that it was hard to walk in but I was able to do some browsing. I picked up a lace weight alpaca/wool blend yarn there. I am now just debating on which shawl to make first with it!

And to top off this wonderful Stitches experience I found out tonight that I won a prize in the Ravelry passport game. GO ME! I won the knitters block from Article Pract! WOO HOO! I couldn't believe it! Thank you to Ravelry, Article Pract, the other vendors, and Julianne (for helping me do my passport).

Overall it was a wonderful experience. I was pooped at days end but all I can say is I can't wait for next year!

First fingering weight socks

alysiasock
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

Here is my first attempt at using fingering weight yarn for socks. Boy oh boy did it feel like i was knitting with toothpicks! i did get used to it and it really wasn't that bad.

The 2nd sock was just a nightmare. First i knit the cuff part too long but I didn't realize it until i had done the heel and started the gusset. I was so mad. I started madly frogging then told myself to just put it to the side for a bit. I didn't frog the entire sock so that helped saved time. For some reason i also had trouble keeping my stitch count right. Bottom line i couldn't wait to finish.

These socks came out a little pointer at the toe than I like. But I think that's because I was doing the kitcheneer stitch wrong. Oh well they are a hit with Alysia. She loves them.

The yarn is Regia sock yarn. I won't buy this color again because I wanted more stripes. Then of course the colors of the stripes didn't match...

oh well live and learn.

A Dog tale

Last night I took a break from my knitting to just veg in front of the computer playing World Of Warcraft (aka WoW). Hours and hours of mindless questing does a knitter/crocheter good sometimes.

So instead of sharing a project with you today I decided to share a story with you. I am sure that any knitter/crocheter who owns animals has been through what I've been through. So let's start off with me showing you my adorable doggie. This is my youngest dog, Sadie, in the house.



Isn't she just adorable? There's not a naughty bone in her little body.... HA!!! Yes I am sure you can hear the laughter radiating from my house right now. Miss. Sadiekins (as i call her) loves, LOVES my yarns and needles. She's victimized a few skeins of perfectly brand new skeins of yarn already. I've salvaged some of them and others are still sitting in their lovely mess.

On Tuesday night I left my project on my table to check on dinner. I come walking down our hall and what do my eyes see? My skein of yarn halfway down the hall with my project attached!I was yelling and waving my arms, looking like a typical nut. Thankfully my project didn't unravel as it was on dpns. A few minutes later I sit down to start working on it again when I realize I can't the 4th needle. With a sinking a feeling I realized that Sadie must of taken off with it too. To my dismay she did.

Here is what I found on the floor.



This is one of the things that can make a knitter just cry. Luckily the set had 5 in it so I was able to finish my project. I've come to the conclusion that:

Cute dog + yarn/needles (knitting) = could be diaster.

Yeti Gloves

I finished my 2nd pair of fingerless mitts tonight at my local SNB group (ACKD) tonight. Woo hoo! I used Joann's angel hair yarn. I must say that i will NEVER use this yarn again. Granted my mitts are extremely warm but I can't stand the "hairy" look my mitts have! I swear when I finished the first one the other night i was like "OMG I HAVE A YETI ON MY HANDS!" (Okay don't ask me why I thought of a yeti but I just did.) So I promptly took my scissors and trimmed off as much of the excess "hair" that I could. Of course I was ever so careful that I didn't "accidently" cut any of my stitches. But honestly it doesn't look much better. *SIGH* So these will be home mitts that i will wear when no one else is around. Take a look below and see if you can see what I'm seeing



Now that I am comfortable with dpns I plan to try and another pattern and another yarn. I'd like to try one with cables and a nice soft yet warm yarn. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions!

Busy busy busy

I've been on a knitting roll lately. I finally decided that it was high time that i learn how to knit on dpns. I've tried them before and it just led to disaster. So why would I subject myself to that torture again? I wasn't going to let a simple 3 or 4 needles defeat me. Plus I wanted to be able to say that I CAN knit with them. So off I went. I successfully knit my first pair of fingerless gloves on dpns. I realized that after I did the first one that I had knit it "inside out" Sigh....so I spent an hour trying to figure out how to correct this. I finally figured it out and was able to do the 2nd one correctly. I must admit that dpns aren't as scary as I thought they'd be. They were actually fun to use. I don't mind using them at all. Here's a pix of one of the completed gloves.




So after the success of my first pair I have already cast on and completed one for a new pair.

Tonight i was on a roll. My youngest enjoys "Play" cooking. So i decided to crochet her a cupcake. I used a pattern off the internet. Next time I make it I will add more rounds to make the base higher. I may look into trying to "wing" one myself. Alas it was a hit.



And here is Alysia cooking it.


It's been a busy fiber night.

Completed Wallaby

wallaby
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

So here it is! My very first wallaby! I was so excited to finally get it done. I had this all knit up in 4 days. Would have been 3 days if I didn't run out of yarn. This was my first sweater that i worked completely in the round. I REALLY really like working in the round with all st st. Easy peasy!

I did try to get Alysia not to want the hood just so that I could finish it up but she wanted the hood. I am glad that I did do it though. I really didn't have too many problems with the pattern. I've read that a lot of people had trouble with the pouch. I read through some tips and had no problem at all. My only problem really was the underarms. It was hard for to visualize how it was going to work. Finally I just buckled down and said to heck with it and did it.

The yarn was a lot of fun to work with. It's very warm also. Judging by the expression on Alysia's face I say this wallaby was a hit!

Wonderful Wallaby

So I've finally jumped on the "wallaby" bandwagon. I decided to make one for my youngest. I am using Plymouth encore colorspun. Fun yarn to work with. I started on Thursday and would of been finished tonight if I hadn't run out of yarn! OH I've never had this happen before and boy does it stink. And to boot a lot of yarn stores aren't open tomorrow so I may just have to wait until Monday to pick just 1 more skein of this yarn. Sigh!

I've been having a lot of fun with this pattern. It did take some getting used to because of how "wordy" it, but by dissecting it into pieces, along with some internet help, I was able to get through it. I'll be posting a picture as soon as it's done.

My papercrafting has taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks. I hope to start working on a few projects this week.

Well off to work on some socks since I can't finish the Wallaby.

First Pair of socks COMPLETED

sock
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

Woo Hoo I actually finished my first pair of socks and I didn't go crazy. I actually finished last Saturday but haven't a had a chance post them here on my blog.

For the second sock I actually was able to keep it on the needle to do the heel, gusset and instep. I don't think I did it correctly though but it worked. Still need to work on learning things but I am very proud!

Literally I was jumping and down when I finished it! Now i am on a sock addiction! They are just so fun! Not overly complicated and hey I finished a pair in less than a week!!