Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Alpaca Days

On Saturday, my knitting group had a luncheon and swap.  I was able to destash quite a bit and I restrained and only took home 1 skein of yarn and that was only had because youngest daughter loved it and wanted it for herself.  After stuffing ourselves on some wonderful food we headed out to Paca Pastures to visit the alpaca.  They were so cute...like teddy bears.






We were able to feed them and pet them.  They aren't fond of having the top of their heads patted but they did like being scratched under their chin.  Too cute.  When we were done we were able to purchase hand-spun alpaca, roving or fleece.  Once again I restrained due to my recent spending spree.  Overall though it was a lovely day and we had a great time....despite a little rain.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Finished after Four

Yes, it took 4 years but I finished it. This is a Christmas quilt I started for Christmas 2005. I had it all pieced before Christmas. I had it all layer up by the end of January 2006. However, it took until March of 2008 before I paid someone to quilt it for me. Then it took until July of this year before I added the binding. And now 2 nights ago I finished whip-stitching the binding. Finally done!

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Once upon a time it was to be a gift for someone. But now...it's mine...too much time has gone by and now I'm definitely attached to it.

Another quick sew project was the bag below. It's storing all my volunteer (school stuff, and Girl Scouts) folders. Cute, quick and instantly gratifying.

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I have a couple more quilt projects in the works. One more that is more than 4 years old...maybe 6. And another new one. Both are Christmas related so they will be done this year.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Eye Candy

Here is a little bit of eye candy for you. I ended my yarn diet with a rash of purchases.

First off some very squishy lovely Merino/Cashmere/Nylon from Stricken Smitten.

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And it came with some yummy tea which I loved. Great idea Desiree!

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Next is a little Wollmeise. I didn't mean to buy it but I happened upon the Loopy Ewe at exactly the right moment. I wasn't even stalking! It was the only color I could keep in my cart through checkout and it was my favorite. Yeah me!

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Last is a skein of Malabrigo Sock in color way Cote D'Azure. I can't beleive it took me this long to buy my first skein of this. And I got it 25% off at one of my local yarn shops, Cozy's.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

New Mittens

I just finished the Chevron Love Mittens and I love them. They are going to look great with my red coat. The pattern was so addicting that I knit nothing else other than them until they were done. I definitely have the colorwork bug and I am adding new projects to the queue daily.

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Pattern: Chevron Love Mittens (knitterlythings.com)
Needle: Magic Loop method on size 3 Addi Lace Turbo
Yarn: Vintage Appliance Kit (Brown Sheep Sport)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Colorwork

After finishing Liesl and having nothing to work on I decided to use Ravelry to inspire me as what to knit next. I first came across turtlegirl76's Orion Socks. I love them and soon bought these to make my own pair from.




This is actually more of a chocolate brown with a hint of pink running through it.

I however neglected to notice that the sock pattern for these socks is now unavailable. These socks were designed for Sock Summit. I did not go to Sock Summit and that is a very sore subject around here so we won't discuss that. I still plan on making them but I need to work out the pattern first.

While working on that, Knitterly Things updated her website with the Chevron Love Mitten Kits. I ordered/received the Vintage Appliance colorway and so far I have this...



I'm very rusty knitting with 2 hands but they are coming along nicely. I definitely see more colorwork in the near future.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Liesl



I just finished Liesl. Overall I'm pretty pleased. I used just 2 skeins of Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Cinnamon Girl. I was worried about length of the sweater but the yarn did what everyone said, and grew enough to add 20% more length to the sweater. I also opted for the picot bind off which I would normally not do. I don't tend to knit/wear things that can seem too girly but I figured with a full lace sweater, "what the heck". It turned out very cute and I learned something new.

The sweater is still in need of some kind of closure but I'm not sure what that will be at this point. A button, shawl pin, eye and hook closure, tie...I can't decide. For the photo I just pinned it. I almost want to use something removable so I can switch from closing at chest to closing at neck.

This is my third completed sweater of the year. Yeah Me! I'm going to block my Nantucket Red sweater today and try to seam it up this week. I've told myself I couldn't start another sweater until that one is done. I hate seaming and it's very easy to let it just sit. Why I did a piece sweater I do not know. It should be nice though when complete.