June Goals

Reminiscing on my May goals momentarily, the success rate was pretty poor.

1. Knit three dishcloths. I might have to start changing this goal altogether from three to possibly two, because I have yet to accomplish this goal in two months. I did manage to knit 2 baby bibs and two dishcloths. The basic dishcloth is sort of my favorite, with a basic eyelet pattern in garter stitch. One was actually finished this month and the other in May. For these, I like to use the leftover scraps from other dishcloths, bibs, etc. They are pretty eclectic, but I like to call them rag cloths and they are easy to knit and good for using up the odd bits of cotton.






2. Finish the Caribou Cherub Thujas. I'm actually pretty close with finishing this pair of socks, but it looks like the first sock is a bit short. I'll have to go back and rip out the toe and reknit a bit longer.



Heh, no ripping, I say. I finally finished the second sock, but honestly it was not as pleasurable as other knits. I was merrily knitting away on the second sock, when I ran out of yarn. What I mean is that, of the yarn I purchased, each skein is 200 yards. Since the yarn is sportweight, I cast on fewer stitches than normal and used less yarn on the first sock. I was able to knit the second sock down to the heel flap before changing to the second skein of yarn. When that happened, the two skeins were markedly different, although it didn't appear to be so when I moved to the second skein. I looked down on the foot of the second sock and it appeared much darker than the first. That was really a bummer, especially as I really liked the first sock, but these socks are a bit heavier to wear with regular shoes, so they will be house socks or with clogs. Since I'm behind in blogging projects, this will serve as my FO report as well.

3. Start a Barn Raising square. All of my friends are doing it, why shouldn't I? Heehee. Nope, didn't happen. I do need to start at least one for June.

4. Pick up either the Hanami stole or the Enchanting Juno stole. Or perhaps start something new? :-) Hmm, I did pickup the Hanami stole again, but promptly put it down after a couple of rows because I realized I was reading the pattern wrong and need to rip back. Haven't gotten to that yet. But I did start a new lace project and decided to rip Enchanting Juno. Perhaps I'll start it again at another time or not.

June goals

1. Start a Barn Raising square. Since members of my knitting group are knitting squares for each other to put in our individual blankets, I need to have one completed by the end of the month to pass on to a special friend.

I won't even mention dishcloth cotton this month. The dishcloth cotton stash is getting low. I think I'm down to five actual skeins and I have scraps to knit two additional dishcloths, but that's fine.

2. Finish M's second sock. I finally kitchenered in the first sock and after more than a month, cast on the second sock yesterday. Since school is back in session starting last week, I managed to make some headway on the first sock with a mega-reading session tonite at a local cafe. I'm going out on a limb to finish the pair by Father's Day. I think I can, I think I can!



3. Continue working on my Flutter Sleeve Cardi (oops, haven't mentioned that one, getting stuck at the short rows currently).

That's about it for now. Life has been busy and blogging has been taking a back seat. My theory is life to be lived. I'll catch you all on the flip side.

Dishcloth Cotton Jag

Hey all,
Thanks to anyone who was able to help out my dear friend Mary-Kayand her yarn sale. I am sure she's thankful and glad there was demand for her yarns. I think she such a talented dyer and her colors are swoon-worthy.

As for me, I was in a bit of slump for a week where I didn't touch any knitting. Part of that was just that I spent my evenings either blogsurfing, spending time on Ravelry, or doing nothing. I didn't even feel compelled to cook or any other home duties. Now that my "break" from classes is coming to end, I'm starting to feel more refreshed. Also, hanging out with my girls tends to rejuvenate and fuel more knitting desires.

The weekend before Memorial Day weekend, I remembered that we were having a baby shower for a co-worker who's having a girl. I rustled up a couple of baby bibs and even managed to sew on buttons too. It must have been the short tie frame and I knew I wanted to finish them on time. Once the deadline passes, my enthusiasm for a pattern or project tends to wane, so it's best to strike while the iron's hot and all that.

Both bibs are from Mason-Dixon Knitting girls.

1st baby bib=knit in Peaches & Creme Country Garden colorway


Second bib knit in Bernat Cottontos


Both together now, say aww! :-)


And last in the cotton jag, for the moment, is another dishcloth. I found it on the Harvest Moon Designs blog quite awhile ago, and it was a free pattern. Now, I am not able to locate the actual pattern. This was also knit in Peaches & Creme in the Desert Sunset colorway. I really liked the pattern and how it turned out.



I also recently cast on for a simple dishcloth pattern. I like to use these especially for the leftovers from dishcloths and I just knit 2 or 3 leftover skeins into a dishcloth. As they are for my kitchen, I don't mind if it's not a fancy pattern. Nobody in the house seems to care one way or the other as to a fancy pattern or plain garter stitch. I figure I might as well do brainless knitting on those dishcloths.

I cast on for a new sweater, a summer cardigan too, but I keep forgetting to take pics. I will have to do that soon, as I have finished the back of the cardigan and have cast on for a front now

That's all for now. Must dash to work!

Yarn Sale!

No, not mine, but Mary-Kay of Red Rocks FiberWorks has dyed up some beautiful yarns, primarily sock yarns. If any of you are in the market for some sock yarn, or even if you're not, you should check her out.

We, as in all her friends, and locals in the Denver metro area have happily purchased her sock yarns at local yarn stores. However,for the first time, Mary-Kay is selling her yarns through her blog. She's a bit fearful that her yarns won't sell. But check out these beauties on her blog and let her know they will sell.




I've already scored four myself. Why don't you help her out with the rest? :-)

Oh, yeah, and the shipping is a flat $6 fee no matter how many you order. So get to buying, you won't be sorry!

I'll be back with some blogging later on today.

FO Backlog & May Goals

Whew, the second term of school is winding down. Tomorrow is the last class for two weeks, when I start again. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Besides school, work has been keeping me crazy busy. The days when I used to read blogs and surf them in between doing some work, hmm, yeah, don't even have that kind of time at the new(ish) job anymore. Which is good, because the job is hugely rewarding and satisfying. But the backlog of blog reading, hard to catch up on, that's for sure. Sporadically you see me drop in an leave a comment. Often I'm reading, but not as much time to comment on everyone.

I have been doing some knitting, although there was a period for almost two weeks where multiple days passed with no knitting, except for Friday Night Knitting group.

Just to let you know, this post will be a long one, so sit down with your cup of coffee and get settled in.

I've got a backlog of FOs and I decided to put them all in one post b/c I didn't want to keep up a FO parade before I could even get to current knitting.

As part of my April goals, where I wanted to knit 3 dishcloths, I did manage to eke two. The first is the Blissful Moss Rib Cloth pattern using Peaches & Creme in the Green Apple colorway. Pretty easy pattern and I loved the colorway as I knit it up. I just wanted more of it. I also enjoyed this pattern. Very easy and simple and I know I will use it again.



The next FO to be displayed is the Seabreeze Kitchen Towel(alert, pdf download)by Kraemer Yarns. I used Peaches & Creme in the Seabreeze colorway, hence the name, and it calls for Kraemer's Tatamy Tweed, an acrylic and cotton yarn. I haven't yet used the yarn, but now I know I will be buying some for future towels. The yardage is great and the price very economical. I am sure I will knit this pattern again, although I may just use the stitch pattern and make a dishtowel that doesn't have the button. The button is cute, but not very functional for my use, but I do like the stitch pattern and would like it as a full size dishtowel to hang on the refrigerator.



Next up is the Sideways Garter Stitch Scarf from Alison of the Blue Blog. It's a ridiculously easy pattern and it took no time for me to finish. I knit this scarf out of leftover yarns and I still have plenty leftover too. I'm thinking of knitting the Yarn Harlot's Traveler's Life Afghan, pattern/recipe from the Casts Off book by YH. I used Araucania Nature Wool in 3 colors and the leftover Cascade 220 from my Ariann sweater. I finally finished the fringe on this scarf and I do like it. I've actually thought about making myself a striped hat to semi-match. It doesn't bother me to be matchy matchy, so I will probably do this.



Lastly, the Jaybird hoodie has finally been finished. I've knit this pattern before. This time it was for a bigger child. It is from Knitting Pure and Simple, Children's Tunic #232. I knit this for my friend's 1 year old son, who is pretty big for his size. I gifted the sweater on Friday and his mother was very excited. I hope to have a picture of him in it soon. And I even sewed on the button on the sweater, finally!



Finally made it through the fo backlog. In the past week, I've really gotten my knitting mojo back. I also noticed it came back as I started reading again. Weird how that happens. I was starting to get burnt out from school and felt like I needed a break. Once I started reading for fun, my stress levels reduced again.

Because this is getting so long, I'm going to quickly list my May knitting goals.

1. Knit three dishcloths. Hopefully I can manage this goal. I'm trying to knit down the dishcloth cotton stash.

2. Finish the Caribou Cherub Thujas. I'm actually pretty close with finishing this pair of socks, but it looks like the first sock is a bit short. I'll have to go back and rip out the toe and reknit a bit longer.

3. Start a Barn Raising square. All of my friends are doing it, why shouldn't I? Heehee.

4. Pick up either the Hanami stole or the Enchanting Juno stole. Or perhaps start something new? :-)

It's getting late and this post is going on forever. Suffice it to say, I don't have many goals for May. See ya soon.

April Goals revisited

In a follow-up to April's goals, let's see how I fared for April.

1) Finish the Everyday Tweed sweater. Done

2) Finish Jaybird hoodie. Yep! Even finally got that button added. Sweet.




3.Add fringe to sideways garter stitch scarf. Now that puppy is done. It's been patiently waiting for over a month.



4 & 5) April, sadly, has not been the month of socks. I finished the first sock of M's pair, but I have hardly touched my Cherub Thujas. I really do want them done. Must focus on this for May. No pictures, sorry.

6) My goal for knitting many dish cloths, well, three for this month, was not quite met. But I did knit one dish cloth, and a handknit kitchen towel (with a button tab closure), which used up 2 skeins of dishcloth cotton.






I'll cover all the specifications of the FOs in a post, soon to follow. The April goals were quite challenging and even though they weren't all met, I'm pretty happy with myself for staying focused on my goals. Now to see what May will bring. :-)

Nacho your Hacho Everyday Tweed

Finally a finished object around these here parts! I know some of you have been waiting for me to finish this sweater and show you the FO. I am still a bit reserved on the sweater, as I may rip out the bottom hem and make the sweater a tiny bit longer. Other than length, I really love the sweater and have already worn it twice. Just as I worried about finishing the sweater during the spring, we had a freak snowstorm and I wore it and then during cooler weather last week, I was able to wear it again.


Here's a view from the front:


The back:


and the side:


Project Specs:
Everyday Tweed
Yarn: Mirasol Hachoin colorway 303 Coral Reef
Needle size: US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Lace circulars
Dates: 01/01/08-04/06/08

No modifications were made and I followed the pattern as written. I do think with top-down raglans, I am going to have to start trying on the sweaters are regular intervals and perhaps not increase as often as the pattern calls for in the chest area. I have a bit of gapping, extra fabric on the raglan increase/decrease lines at the shoulder, but it's ok. In the future, though, I'd like to alleviate it. I did alternate skeins every two rows, but I don't know that it made a major difference. The yarn is variegated and it did pool/muddle in places, so I'm not sure what the alternating did for it. But once I started, I felt it best to remain consistent with alternating the skeins.

Yarn Harlot Tour

On Friday, April 4th, Denver was able to experience the whirlwind wonder that is the Yarn Harlot. News of the Harlot tour did not seem to buzz across the local Denver blogland this time, but people were definitely in the know. Now that I think about it, it was probably discussed more in Ravelry.

Either way, it was a wonderful experience, one that I was most fortunate to experience a second time. For many of my friends, it was the first time they were able to hear and meet the Harlot. Stephanie is very down-to-earth and has no illusions about her rock star status in the world of knitdom.

Here's Stephanie blogging us at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch:



I arrived early for the event and managed to snag a cool second or third place spot. We couldn't sit on the front row on the left side, as it was reserved, but I was happy, nonetheless. You can see me on Stephanie's blog in her wrap-up of the Denver leg of the tour. I'm in the first picture on the second row in green and knitting up a storm. The Harlot is always funny and very insightful. I believe a good time was had by all. Over 200 knitters were in attendance, much to the bemusement of the other shoppers and some of the TC staff, who were not knitters. One of the bookstore's staff was overheard saying, "And the knitters are in the back. Those knitters tend to come in packs." Hahaha! That made me laugh so much. Hilarious, but true.



And lastly, another shot of the Harlot, which most of you already saw. But I did think it was a cute way to show progress of my sock at that time and who better than the Harlot? Although I have to say, the sock has not seen much action since then.



Toodles all and Go Obama in the PA primary today!

Shh . . .Don't Disturb Me

I'm blocking. Soon to follow, a finished Everyday Tweed.

April Goals

Hmm, there were no March goals. It just seemed like life was way too busy to make any challenging goals for myself for this month.

For April, I will try to push myself a little bit, but not too much. School is still busy, but good.

1) Finish Everday Tweed. I'd like to see this done and perhaps get a wear or two out of it.

2) Finish the Jaybird hoodie. Actually all the ends are woven in, just need to sew a final button on it and call it good.



3)Add fringe to sideways garter stitch scarf.

4)Finish Caribou Cherub Thujas. I finally picked them back up again and have been working on them, slowly. They are knit on size 3s, so they go a bit faster than regular sock yarn.



5) Knit at least 3 dish cloths. We're getting low on the dishcloth supply. Actually we have dishcloths, but the Sugar 'N Cream and Peaches 'N Cream cotton yarns are not colorfast. Some of them are worn out and it's time for new ones.

6) Finish the 1st sock of M's pair.

I guess that's about it. I'm tempted to list more, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Hee.