Holy Hiatus!

This summer has been all sorts of crazy. For 6 weeks I was visiting family in Idaho and it was crazy and fun. I was totally working on the blessing gown but I had massive troubles with that thing and it ended up being frogged, thank GOD. My brother in law had the blessing gown that had been worn by his older sister who died a few years ago and I was more than happy to give way to sentimentality. Besides, my sis loves cables so I'm going to get on that. She's totally down for me making her some 3-6 month baby items considering everyone got her newborn items. Very sweet, but not enough for-thought for a little one!

I've also decided that in lieu of all the things I listed that just need to be done I need to step back and really think through projects. I know a lot of lovely people and I know a lot of lovely pregnant people but I've realized that if I'm going to get around to making  items to sell and maybe even one for myself, I'm going to have to prioritize. Family comes first. If I have extra time I'll knit up some baby items and put them aside and send them out. So OUT with the old list! We have new things to conquer.

By December:

1. I have a butt load of slippers to make. I want to make a pair for every one in my immediate family, my nephews and nieces in particular, which is 9 pairs, P'lus 19 other pairs for siblings and their spouses if I have the time. Jeeeeeeez.
2. Make socks for mom, grammy, MIL, SIL (I've decided that September will be the month of socks and booties, seriously, thats all I'm going to do, pair after pair after pair, it'll be a sockstravaganza!)
3. I still need to make about 8 each of mitts and hats for my mom.
4. Something for Matt and Selly
5. Start the shawl FOR my mom
6. Actually make something for myself
7. Make a super cute hat and sweater for TK (soon to be born niece). I chose some patterns from my 60 Quick Baby Knits since I've been DYING to make something from it! Plus I want more knit books and I can't justify it until I've made something from each of the 8 books/mags I already have.
8. 
   
   
   
   
   
   That'll do for now I think. *rev up* Okay just 7 months to get things popped out!

PAS and Dragon Tales

I'm currently caught up in the tidal wave of PAS or Project Avoidance Syndrome. You know, you are partway through a project, you have great forward motion, you've been working steadily, then suddenly you subconsciously find every reason not to do it. Heck I've even resorted to chores to keep from finishing. I'm thinking its because I've been working so steadily and whenever I sit down I'm knitting that part of my brain who doesn't appreciate all of my work apparently thinks I need a break. LAME! So instead of picking up my current project I decided to do a blog post. At least I'm being useful!

CURRENT WORK!

I feel like I came into the knitting arena late in the game. Well, late for half of my nephews and nieces. The 4 that are under 6 won't really notice, but I feel guilty that the 16 and 12 y.o. won't have the baby sets, winter sets, crazy hats, or toys made for them by Aunt Starcie. What makes the situation super ironic is that they live in Alaska and would have gotten the most benefit! I'm working on rectifying that this Christmas. In the mean time, I'll be seeing 4 of the younger ones in a few weeks and I decided that I need to get going for them. Whats the most awesome thing you can do? Matching stuffed animals!

From left to right in order of make, that dark blue fellow at the end totally has back legs now

I loved making the Tarragon Dragon for BB for Easter and I figured I have 4 other little ones who would probably adore a little stuffed thingy. The 3 boys are (respectively) 5,4, and 3 and my niece is 3. I thought it would be cute if all of them had the same stuffed animal. I have a fair bit of sturdy acrylic redheart yarn and a bag of stuffing is shockingly cheap, so hey, win win!

I liked the original but I wanted something a little bit sturdier attachment wise for the appendages and a little more shape so I made a few changes and have more in mind for future dragons. I had a hella hard time with that stupid kitchener stitch, but over the course of multiple faces I've gotten way better. The stitching is neater and tighter due to an adjustment on the needles I used. I'm really happy with them.

I think its fun to do a pattern multiple times, it shows how I'm changing and getting better and how I'm able to think outside the box. I freaking love this!

the newest head, tidier and less bulbous

the original head not so pretty and tidy

the original leg, dangly and cute but I didn't feel secure

with a little short row shaping i'm happier

Lovin Me Some Lace

A friend of mine is getting her start in the formal gown and lingerie business and she has bestowed upon me the privileged of creating a set or two of gloves and a shrug for an upcoming event in August! It's so exciting and intimidating.

 I don't want to just find someone else's pattern and reproduce it. I'm always worrying that even if they don't say its only for personal and private use that I'll step on toes. If I make my own I don't have to worry! I'm super comfortable with gloves and am confident in my chart reading so I think its time for me to make an effort. Heck, in all honesty you just have to do a swatch and and figure out what lace pattern works for what you do!

Considering the formal aspect I feel that accessories should reflect the design which means I need to start getting myself all sorts of familiarized with new stitches. I know some basics but most of what I know to make involves a set stockinette stitch pattern along with a solid pattern. I love that but when I think formal I think ethereal, dainty and light weight. For this season anyway :P I checked out books at the library and there are stunning stitches but not the ones I'm looking for. So....TO THE INTERWEBS and consequently I found and epic sight. Knitting Fool. I'm totally in love! there are hundreds and hundreds of stitches and charts and swatches. I totally squealed. 

I've found some potential stitches for the gloves (they are going to be for her marine corps ballgown)

Stripes with Twisted Bars

English Lace Mesh

Cardigan Mesh Lace

 I'll admit I have shrugs on the brain after completing the one for my friend. I fell in love with a shawl that used the Lily of the Valley stitch and I'd like to adjust the shrug pattern to use it.

I love lilies of the Valley, 

 

I'm a delinquent

This vid has nothing to do with knitting, its just awesome!

I haven't been posting as much as I should and  totally apologize! I've been in a bit of a funk. I've been knitting (like crazy actually ) and have finished a bunch of projects or am halfway through others. I'm just sitting down and really going at it before I leave to visit my parents in June. I'll gather up all the goods and take a big old picture of them to post.

In the mean time, anyone who's having trouble right now, chin up, you'll get through it :) Grab your needles and a hank of yarn and find someplace where you can watch people and make something you will be proud of. Grab a few friends, take a good break. You deserve it <3

I'm currently immersing myself in satisfaction

My previous post, Blanket of Doom, spoke of my utter determination to make a few skeins of Bernat Baby Coordinates into something awesome. Its taken over a year, a ton of annoyance, frogging, and freaking out but lo, it is DONE!

Its pretty and turned out alright. Its def crib length but I'll always think I should have done another swapped pattern repeat so there would be a total of 4 as opposed to 3. I think I'm just a big old symmetry person. I'm considering doing a border and stitching it on because I really really hate picking up stitches and hey, who knows I may prefer to sewing on a border. Or I'll hate it, it really can go both ways!

I also managed to get other stuffs done!

I finished BBs Easter Dragon and it turned out super cute! I'm already thinking of changes to the pattern for future dragons!

And I finished a basic hat for my mom to give to coworkers for Christmas. I didn't care for the yarn, its warp was way off. Its also really wooly so its hard to see the cabling, but I feel better knowing that its not just blah and boring! 

So YAY! Stuff done ^_^

Obsession at least results in beauty!

For the last week and a half I have been totally obsessed with the Layering Shrug. My dearest, most darling friend, Chelle, who has put up with me for about 14 years, heard my call for knitters block. She had a need for something to cover her shoulders and go with her strapless dress for an upcoming wedding. We spent a few days going through options, choosing one, and then the week wait for the gorgeous Bamboo Pop bamboo/cotton blend in cream. I figured I would have 2 weeks to get it done in order to mail it out on time. I sort of had another one of those moments where I didn't realize what I was getting into. Hubris is apparently my sin.

I am definitely learning quite a bit about realistic time management. I did use my wait time appropriately, learning how to do a provisional cast on and buying the needles, practicing the elastic cast off. I was feeling pretty confident. Then in comes the yarn, and out come the circs and promptly the first problem. The instructions did not state that I'd have to use the Magic Loop technique so I hadn't practiced it. This caused multiple froggings, having to recast on etc. It sucked. Even when I did sort out how to do it and how to work, the ladders were so ridiculous that I couldn't conceivably call it acceptable. Darn... I wish I'd taken pictures. Finally I tossed the circs and got out my trusty old DPN's and in quick order turned out the cuff

I've never been so happy for 2 inches in my life

Even though I misread the pattern and omitted the purl rows I was happy enough with it that I continued on! I had to rip back once or twice because I misread the patterns and did that stupid thing where I tell myself, oh its no big deal and I can fix it. I sort of mess up awesomely and have to back track. I did wise up and put in safety lines after having to pull back a little more than I preferred. Things eventually evened out and I worked at a fair clip with no more mistakes.

I am still totally in love with the pattern

I'm fairly certain that if I hadn't had so much issue with the first bit I wouldn't have had to bust butt so much later. I worked on it about 2-3 hours a day the first 4 days. After that I bumped it up to about 5 or more hours. I still took Butter Bean to the library 2 days a week but the days we didn't I was working on it when I wasn't cooking or doing mandatory cleaning etc. All but the necessities were put on the back burner. Little bit didn't seem to mind as that meant she got to sit and watch movies. It definitely wasn't quality time and talk about super parental guilt!

A few pattern repeats short of the second sleeve

I worked and worked and was not disappointed at all by what came of it. I was done with the body before I knew it, I was all "WOOHOO the border will go super quick" of course picking up 300 stitches and an additional 20 rows to do. I stayed up til 2 am, and spent another 5 hours the following morning knitting and knitting and knitting and finally, it was done! I got that thing out 2 days before I expected which meant it would def be in on time.

I was thrilled with how it turned out, it looked beautiful and fit like a glove. The pictures are unblocked and I knew my gf would prefer a little bit more give and it would open up the pattern more. It blocked beautifully but because it was a 50/50 blend the cotton didn't let it have as much give as it could have. I'd consider a different fiber blend or add another pattern repeat across the back for a more relaxed fit.

 I'll post pictures once I get them from her. But yeah, it consumed my every waking moment, exclusively for a week. It was worth it and this is the first clothing item I've made that was what I would consider intricate. It gave me a serious wake up call though on the difficulty level of making things that are a little more involved than a hat. When I decide to go all crazy and try intarsia and fair isle you can bet I'll do it on something small, like a cup cozy 0.o

Magic my a$$

Right now, I'm sitting here watching My Little Ponies, eating a serving size of pseudo cookie dough I made up and finishing my daily coffee. My day warranted it.The beginning started off with a grumpy kid at story time, so our morning was a total bust. Thank god for nap time, then I can get to work on the shrug my friend needs by the 16th. I have plenty of time!

This whole project has already been an ordeal. I didn't have the 24 inch size 6 circs and I had to go to 3 different places before I finally found them. I had never done a provisional cast on and that took forever. Then I had a ton of problem with my first round, of course that would be because the pattern NEVER SAID IT CALLED FOR THE MAGIC LOOP METHOD! I have never ever used this technique. If I had known I was going to have to do it I would have looked into it while I waited for the yarn to ship.

I've learned something. I hate the magic loop. I hate it so much I have literally thrown things. This is the most impractical method of actually knitting that I have ever experienced all for the sake of not having to switch to straights. It took 3 different explanations/videos before it made sense to me. I tried and failed, frogged, tried again, frogged, decided to start all over (considering I've only done 2 rows tops it shouldn't be a big deal right?), over over over over! I will have 2 big ladders at the beginning and middle because if I pull tight I cant transfer my stitches back onto the needle. If its loose the ladder only gets bigger.

If I could afford it I'd just go buy anther set of needles that are smaller but no, instead I'm gong to have to sit down and do this stupid thing with this stupid method, swearing, ranting, throwing, and being an overall pain in the behind for the next week......

Screw you magic loop

Woop! Another one bites the dust

Yup, that's my most recent hat. I really need to get a picture of it on a head! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The yarn is Cascade Paints. It makes me think of the desert weirdly enough.

I also finished the belly of my dragon, the back scale ridge, and the wings! The only thing keeping me from finishing is that I need stuffing stuff! It's going to be perfect :)

The booties, they sleep with the froggies

Well thats a disappointment....I was working on the little converse booties for my Boot camp instructors baby. 

The dream:

The reality:

One of these things is DEFINITELY not like the other! I followed the instructions, paid attention to what I was doing, frogged and re-attempted, but it just didn't get any better than this. I don't think that it is all on my end though. I'm fairly certain that there was something lost in translation on the toe portion. Literally, its originally in german!

Luckily, I'm looking it over and I think I know how to fix it. I tell you, there is something thrilling when you realize that you can think your way through a knitting glitch. I'm going to get on a few other little knits while I sort out the whole thing. I still have to figure out how to make those Viking Horns work proper like!

TO THE NEEDLES ROBIN!

OMG I actually finished something!

The gloves all done up! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I got quite a bit of a hat done but the pattern is off so I need to frog it at least half way. ADVENTURES!

I have Knitting ADD

I remember reading Free Range Knitter in my new days o'knitting and I her writing about having multiple projects on the needles at any given time and I was thinking that there was no way I could do it. One project at a time is what seemed responsible and practical!

How little did I know. Right now I currently have a viking set 2/3 complete (and half of a horn waiting for me to figure out how to do short row shaping), the upper 2 rows of a baby sock, 1.5 mitts, and the lower 1/2 of a converse booty waiting for me. OH and that crib blanket and a doll sized blanket. If I was to sit my butt down and muscle my way through it, it would only take a day for each item AND their matching set. I totally need to take another week off the internet because its cutting into my mad knitting time. There are just so many awesome things begging to be made!

Add to my current desire to dink around in the virtuality I now have MORE projects. Its like an addiction. There is no such thing as too many things to do or that need done. OMG it turns out my sister is expecting a girl! NEED BLESSING DRESS AND A CABLED BLANKET CUZ SHE LOVES CABLES! I'm seeing my nephews and nieces for the first time in years/ever OMG I NEED TO MAKE THEM ALL SOMETHING (you know to be that cool aunt). Oh, and my sister is commissioning booties and hats that need to be done asap for twin girls! I need more size 7s.

I'm like a frickin ferret on pixie stix being let loose in a shop full of super shinyness. At least those things aren't due until June and August respectively. I'll post some pics, the gloves should be done tomorrow at least so I can get started on the twins-ies

My additions:

I'm thinking cream with light and dark pink

I currently have 5 plus 1 for my own!

Seriously, she loves Cables

Samba-latta fun

I love my days off. Tuesday was Hubby's day off so in the afternoon I ran errands and headed out to my fav caffeinated watering hole to get my knit on. It was super busy but hey, you know they've got to have yummy stuff if they are packed at 4:30 when everyone is out of work. I was happy to sit and sniff in the aroma of brewing grounds, sweet treats, and savory sandwiches! And the guy in front of me. Omg, he smelled like HEAVEN! Anyway after a happy tete a tete with the counter girl I placed my order. The results:

Yes, that's a WHOLE french press of coffee and it was just $6.50! Plus I have no idea how to pronounce the type of coffee so it HAS to be good.

The only table available was a little corner one that required me to navigate around a table full of women in various stages of workout gear and a couple of fabulous men. I would have happily taken up residence at one of the little wicker chairs but I was expecting girlfriends to be stopping by for visiting! I hunkered down happily and cast on to start the mitts for xmas gifts for next year. I managed 2 rounds of k2 p2 before my darling friend Megan showed up. 

 

I learned something I should have known. I like to really focus on people I'm talking to, especially if its a very small group. I'm big on eye contact and listening. THAT means that not a lot of knitting done! 3 hours late, and the joining in of my friend Bookie and Megan's departure this is how much had been completed:

Bookie is a crocheter and she was going to show me how to conquer that evil hobby but we sat and gabbed instead!

I don't mind so much that I didn't accomplish a lot. In the 4.5 hours I was there I got about 7 rows total, but I felt like myself instead of full on mom and wife. Yay for mental health! Plus I was all sorts of jittery from drinking a whole french press of coffee o.O

I have been able to sit down and do a little work over the last few days and I've managed to make it past the first bit of knotting (after having to rip back 10 rows). I've come to the conclusion that I really do prefer charts over written out instructions and that sort of surprises me. It makes me feel like I've leveled up!

One leg on the dark side

I have a goal. I shall become a hooker! Okay, I totally titter every time I say that. Heck, I want to learn how to crochet just because I can add Hooker to my fiber arts resume. In all reality, there are just so many absolutely adorable patterns out there and everyone keeps sending them to me and I hate admitting that I'm unable to do them! So off to my dear fabulous friend, the library,  to snag my other close darling friend, Debbie Stoller! Seriously, this woman is absolutely amazing. I love her writing style and how she makes it genuinely interesting and easy to follow!

I bet some people get this without reading the rest of the cover and are sorely disappointed!

I haven't been able to do more than read the first bit and the chapter on how to begin. I did manage to make a chain but then of course before I could even start on the next section my duties as mommy called to me and I haven't been able to do anything since. I really do need to sort out how to make the horns and a few baby booties and such, but I have such high aspirations! Here are a few of the projects I'd like to make :) GOALS PEOPLE GOALS! Being able to crochet and knit is a lot like being ambidexterous and I can do it! Granted if things go horrible and I'm completely incompetent I can at least still knit so I win!

Blanket of doom

I'd like it to be noted that I initially had written out an awesome post, then then internet ate it. I totally got all whiney. I'm sure facebook had a ton of pity for my rant. SO TAKE TWO and if the internet eats this one I'm going to post pictures of me all crying

A little over a year ago I bought 5 skeins of Bernat's Baby Coordinates in soft grey. I had this lofty notion that in the 2 months before we moved I'd figure out how to knit more than basic stockinette stitch and pump it out in no time. Oh how naive I was in my youtful folly. The rose colored glasses were firmly affixed to my face.

Here is the pattern I figured I was awesome enough to make:

Exhibit A

I'm fairly certain the adorableness of that little girl was totally meant to distract me from the fact that I knew nothing about knitting and lull me into the belief that this "easy" pattern was well within my scope. After all I did know which end of the needles to knit with!

That yarn slowly but surely became the bane of my existence. Casting on was a serious chore, I had no idea what a psso was but I was so certain it would be my friend! It was just repetition right? After finally casting everything on, I managed not to do the yarn overs. Slowly but surely my blanket became more and more narrow. Frog. Youtubed yarn overs, started again, at some point I missed a stitch because the concept of counting when you are doing any sort of lace-like knitting hadn't been discovered. Frog. Forget where I was in the pattern and don't have a grasp of how stitches are supposed to look. FROG. This was getting ridiculous. I changed to a basic fan and feather pattern and frogfrogfrogfrog. It was like the buffet at a cajun mardi gras festival. The yarn was irritatingly tossed into the back of my tiny box of yarn. 

September rolled around and I suddenly had a freakish desire to learn how to sew and I figured I shouldn't start a new hobby if I hadn't done anything with my current hobby I'd already invested money into. BACK TO THE BLANKET.  I finally found the Feathered Baby Blanket on Ravelry and nearly wept when I saw that it wasn't a ton of pattern rows. I'd have a break! And so it began. 

Of course I misread the pattern and instead of it being all lacey with a band like so:

Mine had 1 row of feather and fan instead of a bunch:

In all reality I liked it. I figured if I was going to make a mistake it was something easily applied to the rest of the blanket and it made for a bit more of a solid blanket with texture. So I happily kept on going! From September to November I worked on the blanket off and on. I was very happy with how it was looking and then on the 10th pattern repeat I suddenly realized there was something amiss...

WHERE DID THE FAN GO?!?!

Yup I had miscounted and the Right Side was now the Wrong side. I had a moment of disbelieving angst before I thought, hey, this could work! If I did 8 sets facing the opposite side, I'd just have to make sure I skipped a row at the 17th pattern repeat but it would work and look like it was on purpose! BWAHAHAHAHA i felt like an evil genius.

Then December rolled around and the frantic Christmas knitting began. Blanket got shelved into a nice comfortable basket to await my attention. Of course this meant that things got going and the blanket sat there, a pile of silvery neglected softness. 

Then something kicked in a few days ago. I do have a lot on the burner but nothing that is super necessary and has to be done asap and I had some books on tape I wanted to listen to and its a lot harder to follow a story if you have to read a pattern. So the viking hat got put aside, the pattern for the converse booties filed away and out comes the blanket!

Now at the time the pattern was doable with just a little bit of challenge. Out of 12 rows only 2 weren't knit and of those two one was a purl row. Serious, super easy+10 after some of the other stuff I've done. I zoned and it was nice. I've added 4 more pattern repeats and have moved into the reverse section. Who knows maybe I'll have it done and on BB's bed before her b-day in June! GOALS!

Thus far

P.S. Its not all blanket and nothing else. I did do the 5 minutes of work I had left on the insignia on the stocking cap for my former Bootcamp instructors impending child! I did take up the needles to work on the converse booties so I'm feeling pretty good.

Norseman FTW!

You know what's awesome? People paying for materials to enable you to make something you wanted to make anyway! My delicious friend (known for 10+ years) from college has a little boy and she gave me some cash and asked me to make a viking hat for him. I nearly frothed, I've always wanted to make one and here was that push to just do it.

There are plenty of patterns online but I felt like I could do something on my own. I did check out some pictures to get some ideas on how to go about it. It was pretty simple, doing the (simple) math to come up with size and where to put (as well as how to make) the bobbles, what needed to be garter stitch and what needed to be stockinette, etc. I was comfortable winging it! 

My first time I messed up on the count (even though I checked multiple times) and it got frogged, which wasn't a bad thing. It was good practice with the bobbles. My second time was much more awesome.

Now it looks pretty decent. I got up to the decreases and actually did the first round and second after but it felt off. First off, I had decreased in the stockinette section when the garter section had the bobbles. There also felt like something was...off. The bobbles don't stand out on the garter panels AND the stockinette seem more "raised". So froggy went a courtin on the hat and I pulled back to the brim!

In one day I managed to finish the hat portion

Please ignore my awesomely terrible hair

I'm pretty satisfied with the results. There are tweaks I'd like to do with the pattern but that's for the future. I'm currently working on a super awesomely red beard and getting myself all revved up to figure out how to make horns!

Supercalifrogaliciousexpialidocious!

So in the last week I've:

*written, started, and frogged the viking hat because I miscounted at my cast on (even though I counted about 8 times before I even started on my first row*

*made a set of booties for my cousin's baby, I messed up on the pattern but committed to it because it looked fine, up until I went to thread the ribbon through it only to find I had the wrong number of eyelets!

*had to redo the insignia on the baby boy hat multiple times, but it did turn out right in the end.

*only got to the 3rd row on a coffee cozy multiple times before I had to admit that even a simple lace row isn't for the park. 

*tried my hand at lace knitting with crochet thread and itsy bitsy lace needles, that took a good 10 minutes to cast on and do a row and a half. 

I have a bunch I could do, a bunch I should do, but I'm feeling a little ennui. Its just the time of year, and being emotionally under the weather. But hey, I did learn how to do bobbles.

Now I'm just going to watch Sherlock and work on a coffee cozy in rainbow yarn. 

Stashin' the good stuff

The internets was down for us for about a week or I totally would have posted. I do have Blogger on my phone but lets be honest, there is nothing worse than typing away at the little touchscreen on a phone. Plus my phone has some sort of horrific disease that makes it impossible for it to hold a charge and do anything else for longer than an hour. I'm assuming its some sort of cellphone incontinence. Well the web is back and it turns out I totally had a post all in the draft mode and could have put it up! Better late than never? WOOHOOO

What exactly is a stash? According to Mirriam-webster it means to put (something) in a secret or hidden place or an amount of something that is stored or hidden. According to Urban Dictionary its slang for moustache. Not helping urban dictionary! 

I recall starting on this wonderful fiberlicious journey I hard of these "stashes" that knitters have. The whole concept of having a ton of extra yarn seemed like such a foreign possibility. Why would you buy that much extra? Isn't it better to buy it as you need it? As you can see, I literally never expected to have more than maybe 5 skeins at a time. I had a few that were given to me by a friend who wasn't planning on using them but I had no real plan for them and didn't really know what to do with them since I was just dipping my toes in the knitting pool. Plus I had some homespun from a few years back during my first "I SHOULD LEARN TO KNIT" phase. Its all really quite magical. 

Anyhow, not only did my mother send me home with a bag of about $100 in good quality fiber yarn and instructions to "make some awesome things for me and my coworkers by next christmas" and a promise to send me a yarn budget each month (she has 12 coworkers, wants hats and mitts for all of them plus goodies for herself), but my wonderful cousin moved to Hawaii and had to get rid of some of her stuff and I was surprised with a white kitchen trash bag full of yarn and big ol needles. 

I was in shock and a part of me wanted to put all of that yarn down and roll in it, but I resisted, instead I had to move all of my stuff upstairs since I had no space in my room for it. As I set it up on the bed it suddenly hit me that I have moved up a level as a knitter. I have a stash.

Its not much but its mine!

A look inside the mystical bag of awesome fiber

I suddenly decided I absolutely had to pop on my Ravelry and put all of my stuff in so that when I get all blergh on what to do next I can just click those buttons that say "stash yarn" and then I get an adventure chosen for me! So that means I spent the last 2 hours on line searching for pics of the yarn (I want to be thorough) and entering all of my yarn accurately. So now I know I have 35 skeins of yarn. That's 35 skeins of awesome potential just waiting to be manipulated into something awesome! This doesn't even include the 4 skeins I have sitting in my next to knit with bucket or the 5 I just bought yesterday so that I could start making my cousins mitts and hats. OR the contents of the bag because they are kind of taken. 

I know that there are plenty of knitters who have rooms full/dedicated solely to their stash, but to this little rookie, 50ish skeins sort of blows my mind! I'm overwhelmed by the potential! I love it, seriously.

PROGRESS! Updates and such!

1. 2 sets of Gloves and a hat for my cousin (asap, looking for the neon colors he wanted). These should be fun because I'm making them sans pattern to fit his hands! YAY FOR ADVENTURE!  This took waaay longer than expected. After having to rip back multiple times, I went on and double checked the average number of stitches cast on for men's gloves. The rest was pretty easy. Mittens aren't exactly rocket scientistery or anything. What I hate is how some things knitted really suck because they look slightly off but the minute you put them on its like "OH wow, that totally works" hopefully he likes them! I have enough left over yarn he's going to be getting a hat or two as well.
   
   
   
               
2. OMG THE BABIES!
   

    Mid March 

   

   Baby Dollard, due in March

   
   Before April
   
   Turtle baby Mittens
   
   
   and
   
   
   Turtle Baby Booties
   
   
    for twins so I need 2 of each!
   
   
   
   
   
   Before June
   Baby beanie and converse booties for my bootcamp instructors impending child
   
   

   

   
   
   

   The beanie is going to be basic black but I'm going to do the
   bootcamps insignia on it in double knitting SO EXCITED. I have started making the beanie so thats a yay and I need grey and white yarn so woohoo!

   
   
   My cousin and his fiancee are having a little girl, so booties and hat!
   
   
   
   
   Before August
   
   
   
   
   

   

   one adorable sock down!

   A Baby Layette for my nephew. This is just an example. I may go a different direction but I think this is super cute. I'm also making  baby socks and pretty much anything I can think of too for Nolan!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   AAAAND another cousin's wife is expecting so hat and booties!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   4. Fingerless Mitts for: Brenda, Rose, Gwendy, Bookie, and Val, pretty much due whenever. I need to find a pattern I like or make up something!
   
   
   5.Dew Drops Shawl for my mom and a Pineapple Delight Shawl for my grammy. I'm hitting a major stumbling block because no one carries size 5 80 cm circs! I don't want to just order them flat out because with shipping and handling... I feel like I should wait until I actually legit have to order something.
                                 
   6.Hats and mitts for my mom's coworkers for next xmas (12 sets, I have total artistic freedom)I was about to start this, totally enthusiastic over a cascade paint yarn she's gotten but then I realized I REALLY had to get David's mitts out.
   
   7. A viking hat and beard for my friends 5 year old son! Really excited for this. I've found good patterns but all are for infants or adults so I'm going to sort this myself. Yeah it could be awesome or terrible. I'm excited nevertheless!
   
   
   Huh...considering how much time I spent knitting the list isn't getting any smaller! I've made progress with those mitts being done, a baby sock, and today I made hubby a pair of super bulky slippers because his feet get so cold! I'm totally not disappointed at all. I know I'm moving forward and if you aren't always adding new things to try what is the point in a hobby?!