I Finished My Hat!

Okay, so it's not MY hat, it's Dan's, but anyway, it's done!

I really like how easy it is to make the garter stitch in the round. I saw tutorials for doing it without purling, but I actually don't mind purling, especially if it means not turning my work over.  I always get confused when that happens! You just work with two threads, and try not to forget to pick one up when you reach it... Not that I ever did that, noooooo.

I took more pictures in the spirit of the last "photo shoot" - I put the hat on his head and took photos while he was playing video games.  Yep, we have a special relationship.

I love natural light and all, but my camera just wasn't picking up the blue.  I keep saying I want to get curtains but if we're going to be moving anytime in the future... I will regret spending a weekend sewing curtains.  So I did my best to block the light from the blinds and got this:

I still have half a skein left, so the next time we go to Portland I'll have to pick up another and make myself some alpaca mittens. It's been chilly around here, and the other morning when I was getting snow off my car I swear I got frostbite even though I was wearing my super-expensive new gloves I got for Christmas.

Sweet Nothing Swap!

I joined the Sweet Nothing Swap at Yarn Miracle - if you're interested, you should join too.  I'm already planning what I'm going to make!

Signups end on the 31st, so there's still time.

Sharing a Project

I've been working on something for a long time but just never blogged about it.  It's something I've been working on for about a year.

The layman's term is "Rock Island" but I have been referring to it as "The Lacecide Pact." Why? Because three of us in Hooks and Needles decided to start this together.  The first meeting, we were literally in tears over the pattern.  I think I knit the first repeat of the first chart 6 times before I was confident that I got it right.

Oh, and did I mention that you knit that first chart 71 times? What!? Ain't no one got time for that.

Except I do, apparently.  I hit my 50th repeat today, a little over a year after I started.  If I make this my only long-term project, I might even finish it this year!

It doesn't look like a shawl.  It looks like a very long centipede.

I'm not sure if my friends have been working on their versions, I lost touch with one and the other is in grad school (and, I love her, but she has serial startitis) so our KAL might have turned into a KAL of one.

So, phew, my secret is out! I'm sure everyone has projects that they just don't blog about.  Right now, though, I only have this shawl and my hat.  And my carpal tunnel, which keeps me from knitting too fast.

Have a great week!

A Blue Post

Not because I'm sad, but because I looked at all the pictures for this post and noticed they were so blue! It's a theme!

Thursday morning there was a gigantic snowstorm, and I had my first "Wicked New England Commute."  It normally takes me an hour to get to work, but that morning... 2 hours, 20 minutes.  Everyone asked me how it went.  I told them "On average, less than 30 miles per hour."

But when I got home... holy crap.  The snow was beautiful! Of course, it was dark and raining, so I couldn't really appreciate it on the icy way home, but after the steps were shoveled it just looked awesome.  My ride into work the next morning was good too - dark and snowy, with the trees covered.  I almost wish that I could've taken photos of that but... not gunna risk it.

And today, I'm about halfway done with Dan's hat! It looks darker than in the photo, but I wanted to get an action shot! The conversation was like this:

Me: I'm gunna put this on your head while you play video games and take a picture.
Him: (Not looking up) Okay.

Me: Thanks Dan!
Him: (Not looking up) No problem.

My boyfriend is cute.

ABCs of Me

I stole this post from Dee at Tangled Up in Sticks and String, because I'm a dirty rotten thief and I can write little bits of this during the week during in-between times.  :P

 

A - Age: 22

B - Bed Size: Full, but I want to upgrade to king so that I can sleep like royalty

C - Chore You Hate: I cannot stand anything that has to do with old food.  When people leave things in the sink with food still in them, ugh! I want to puke!

D - Dogs Name: No dog, thanks.  I'm kind of scared of them.

E - Essential Start of the Day Item:  Music.  If I don't have music during my morning I sleep on my feet.

F - Favorite Colour: Green?  I don't really have a favorite.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver.

H - Height: 5' 2"

I - Instruments you play: Flute, Guitar (passably), Piano if the song only requires one hand, Kazoo.

J - Job: EHS professional! :)  I love my job.

K - Kids: Someday.

L - Living Arrangements: I rent a nice apartment in the attic of a house with my boyfriend.

 
M - Music You Love: Anything, really, but my guilty pleasure is Taylor Swift and CRJ.

N - Nicknames: N/A

O - Overnight Hospital Stay: None yet, phew!

P - Pet Peeve: I have so many I don't want to pick one because the others will get jealous.

Q - Quote from a Movie: Anything from Mean Girls.

R - Right handed or Left: Right.

S - Siblings: 1 younger big brother

T - Time you wake up: When I don't have to go to work? About 8.

U - Underwear: Y-yeah? I have no strong pro-underwear or con-underwear opinions.

V - Vegetables you dislike: Swiss Chard, because it tastes like fish.

W - Workout Style: Walking on a treadmill reading a book like a boss.

X - X-Rays You've Had: Not counting my dental x rays...? 2.

Y - Yummy Food You Make: I have a lot of good slow cooker recipies.  I also have a killer peanut butter pie recipe.

Z - The Best Place to Visit - Anywhere with a view!

FO: Beachy Socks

I finally finished my beachy socks! I'm really happy with them.  Which is kind of laughable.

They don't match at all. It took me three months to make them.  They aren't in any kind of pattern or style of any sort.  They don't show my skill at cables, colorwork, or lace. They just look nice and feel nice when I wear them.  That's all I need to knit right now.

I'm a little sad because as I was finishing the heel of the second sock, Dan said that he liked the colors and asked if I would make him a pair next.  The yarn leftover looked like I had barely finished half, so I told him that I would check and if I hadn't hit the halfway point I would make him ankle socks.  Well, I weighed them and lo and behold... I'm just over half.   Of course, the first time my significant other is visibly interested in a yarn... I don't have enough to make what he'd like.  Such is life.

But, he's getting a hat from me because I feel bad.  And also, he bought the yarn to make said hat in July. And I hadn't even started.  More on that later, hehe.

Also, I need a light box.  My work schedule is so long (about 12 hours everyday because my commute is and hour both ways) and the days are so short.  I'll have to throw it into the hopper of "things I want to have."  Other people have those, right?

Anyway, I have to go take these socks off now because I wore them on Monday (my first day of work, for good luck) and they are a little... fresh... because I dug them out of the dirty clothes hamper to take photos of them... Knit blog problems.

New Pattern: Hogwort, a Knit Hedgehog

I first made this little guy in May of 2011.  That's over a year ago! For reasons that I don't want to go into (school, boys, etc) it's taken me a ridiculously long time to publish this pattern.  What's even worse is that I had the pattern testing this time last year!  But, anyway, I'm sure no one really cares about how long its taken me from start to finish for this design.  That point is that it's here, it's cute, and fun to make! The pattern includes instructions for both in the round and seamed toys. 

Pattern Name: Hogwort, a Knit Hedgehog

Difficulty: Easy

Yardage: about 30 yards

Techniques: Knitting in the round (optional), Picking up stitches, Sewing seams, and embellishing with felt.

You can download the pattern from my Ravelry store for $2.50.  

I'm also going to give away a few copies for free! That's right, a giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below.  I'm going to give away enough patterns so that 10% of people commenting get one. So, if ten people enter, I'll give away one; twenty people, two; etc.  If you share this and more people come and enter, that means that I'll be giving away more!

2012 Recap

Well, a whole year is over.  Weird.  And I didn't really do much crafting.

I made a ton of bricks for an installation with Hooks and Needles in May. I made myself two pairs of socks, made a chameleon for my friend, my boyfriend a scarf, and a mountain of hedgehogs.  That's really it. 

It seems a little depressing, but I was doing other things! I finished grad school, wrote my graduate project on something that I knew absolutely nothing about (in 6 months!), worked two full-time jobs while doing this project (one that had 12-hour shifts), broke up with my boyfriend of 5 years, got a new boyfriend, moved to New Hampshire, and am starting my forever job on Monday.  I may not have crafted a lot, but I've accomplished so much it's staggering.

2013 is going to be a fun year.  I'm going to be working at a job I love, living with Dan, and volunteering.  I can't wait.  I have a lot of goals.  I want to publish all the patterns that I have hanging around half finished, for one - there are so many papers and notes cluttering my things.  I also want to get a grip on my yarn stash. I think that most of my projects this year will be from my stash.

Hope you have a happy new year, and all your resolutions work out!