Serious New Project Addiction

There has to be a diagnosis for the problem that I have.. It begins with an overwhelming desire to buy yarn, new needles, etc. and ends with me creating new projects before I finish my old ones.  There are a bunch of projects that I'm working on that are begging for me to finish them and of course last night at 12 AM, I begin a new one!  

I always complain about how expensive rugs or carpets are.  Last night I was going through my closet and found old faded green and white curtains that won't be used again.  I immediately began cutting them in 1 inch strips (following instructions I found online) and rolling them into 'cloth' balls.  

I then followed instructions found on youtube and began creating an oval crocheted rug.  

Here is the beginning:    

Luckily, I am heading to New York City and am only bringing one project with me.  Hopefully I will be able to finish that on the train ride there! :)

New Camera

Gone are the days that I could pull out my smart phone and snap a relatively decent photo. Mark and I recently decided to go on a phone plan together and I downgraded to a basic phone without a data plan.  This is coming from the girl who refuses to pay for cable television.. so it makes sense that I wouldn't want to spend $400 plus an additional $30 or more a month for data usage.  This is all fine and I haven't really missed being able to get on the internet.  The one thing that I really really miss is having a decent camera on my phone, so today I went out and bought a Sony Cyber-Shot.  


My criteria:

• Something not bulky
• Not very expensive
• No AA batteries

My first stop was at BestBuy, but I wasn't sure if I was happy with their selection or not, so I went to Walmart.  No one could explain what kind of batteries the cameras had or any of their features and so I went back to BestBuy and received really great service and advice.  My decision came down to a choice between the Sony and a Cannon of equal price.  I'll be honest, the Sony just looked better, plus it has a panoramic shot which is really neat.  

Here is my first picture on the new camera:

Considering this was taken with the flash on, I think it's pretty good.  It is way better then my phone!

Yarn bowl

I mentioned before that my knitting classes were held in the photography studio of the teacher's husband.  The local knitting store closed down this spring.  I'm so glad that we still have a place to meet!  The studio was a refurbished neighborhood deli and has a lot of charm.  It's a wonderful time meeting with various women who all come together to enjoy a great hobby.   

One of the ladies in the group makes pottery and creates yarn bowls.  She sells them for about $40 and they are wonderful!  My good friend Sue began going to the knitting classes with me and bought me one as a gift to thank me for introducing her to something that has been a fun time for her.

The bowl is beautiful and helps keep my yarn in place.  I don't know about you, but when there are pets in the house, a ball of yarn flying off the couch is free game.  

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Not having a yarn shop:

The unfortunate thing is that the nearest yarn shop is a good half hour/forty five minutes away.  Right now I have plenty of yarn to work with.. but I just bought it because it was pretty and didn't plan on what to make out of it. It's going to be a challenge to find a pattern that is interesting and I have enough yarn to complete the project.  Here are some of my favorite in my stash that I can't wait to turn into something.  (I have two skeins of each.)

Hacho hand dyed marino wool  (Shade: 329. Lot: 15827)
My sister bought me this fun yarn.  I have
no clue what to knit it into.

Zauberball Starke 6 #2079
Sock yarn! Or a fun scarf? Hm..

Alpacita (Colorway: Hattie's Zinneas) From Autumn House Farms
This one is sooooooo incredibly soft.  It is baby alpaca yarn...
This will be turned into some sort of scarf.

I blame this lady for my obsession with knitting.. :)

Most knitters can think of at least one person that inspired them to pick up knitting needles and struggle to learn a new hobby.  The person who inspired me was my grandmother.  All while growing up, my grandma knit beautiful sweaters for my twin sister and myself.  She is one of the most active grandparents I know and spends her time line dancing, doing water aerobics, knitting for hospice and hospitals, and even doing zumba.  During her 'free' time, she knits washcloths using the 'Grandmother's favorite' washcloth pattern.  She is a great inspiration and often asks about what I'm working on and encourages me to keep it up. 

My grandma Mitzi.

Goodbye old couches...

Have you ever had furniture that had been handed down one too many times?  My couches were given to me from my brother who had received them from one of his friends.  By the time they came to me, they were not in the best condition.  After being sat on every day for three years by myself and three different roommates over the years, they were ready to go.  When I put them in the garage, I could see all the memories of the past few years.. Nail polish, red wine stains, fake eyelashes (thank you Claire. :) haha), and a list of other forms of makeup as well.  Luckily, my mother felt a little sorry for me and helped me get new couches.  This is what the living room looks like now: 

There are still a few things I want fix up in the living room and with the rest of the house:

1. Redo the coffee and end tables (paint and redo the glass top)

2. Put up pictures on the far wall in a photo collage.. 

3. Change the small bedroom into an office

4. Redo kitchen cupboards (paint a cream/ivory color, add hardware)

5. New front porch (new porch, new screen door, columns)

6. New windows

7. Bathroom (new tile, bathtub/shower)

8. Pave the driveway

9. New siding

10. Finish basement

The first 4 on the list are things that I can actually do myself and are within my budget.  The last 6 are things that I would love to do, but that may take some time and additional funds.

Do you have a long list of things to fix up at your house?  What types of things need done?

Children's things..

Some things that I've completed this summer.

These past two weeks, I've been on a children's knitting spree.  It all started when I was getting ready to travel to Canada for Mark's cousin's baby shower.  What better gift then baby booties?  At my knitting class, Kris has a sign on the door that says, "Knot a Yarn Shop".  She does however have some yarn for sale and faces increasing pressure to turn her husband's photography studio into an actual yarn store.   Anyway, I bought really soft cream and green yarn from her and cranked out these:

Pattern: Ann Norling Infant Set III by Sandi Rosner

I like these because they are constructed like adult socks.  The eyelets for the tie were fun to do and I love the contrast of the green on the cream sock.  They are super soft and hopefully she'll send a picture of the baby wearing them.

The baby booties were quick knits and made me realize how fun it is to finish something really fast.  I decided that my nephews and cousin's baby girl MUST be in dire need of winter things.  Yes, it is just the beginning of August, but a knitter must be prepared for the coming seasons. haha 

My cousin Tyler has a little girl who was born premature.  She's doing great, but is still a tiny little thing.  I've been wanting to learn how to do some color work and so I took the opportunity to try on this little winter hat.  Although it wasn't complicated, I love how this hat turned out.  I've done stripes before, but for the blue 'dots' I switched back and forth every other stitch from purple to blue.  It was so much fun knitting something pinkish/purple.  I may make a flower to add to the hat later.

I used Lion Brand's Vanna White yarn.  Not the softest ever, but I have  two whole dresser drawers filled with the stuff.  It will also hold up better for little kids.

I used the same pattern to make hats for two of my nephews.  The hats for my two youngest nephews are still a work in progress.  They will also have matching mittens.  

The hat on the left was knitted with the same yarn as the baby booties.  It's super soft and my oldest nephew loves it.  Hopefully it will last a long time and he can give it to his baby brother when he outgrows it.  The one on the right was made with Vanna's yarn.

It's been so long!

It has been such a long time since I posted anything at all!  There really is no excuse except that my user name and password were forgotten and I didn't want to deal with trying to figure it out.  However, all is well now and new posts should be fairly regular.  


First, I'd like to thank the one person I know who actually checks to see if I've posted anything new: 
        

My wonderful boyfriend Mark is always encouraging me to continue with my blog because it's his favorite.  (Yes, he's so sweet that he exaggerates how much he enjoys reading about knitting. lol) 

Anyway, back to the knitting!  This summer I've worked on quite a few different projects.  During the spring I began knitting socks.  They are awesome!  Before starting to follow patterns,  socks always seemed impossible.  The people who actually knit socks were experts in my mind.  Now I know that just because you can knit socks does not mean you are an expert by any means, but it does show growth and improvement.  

The first socks were completed in the spring.  These are knit on size 3 DPNS with Noro 'Silk Garden Sock Yarn'.    I forget the lot and color numbers... 

These socks are about a size 7.  They still need blocked. I love the stripes and that they aren't perfectly aligned, but are obviously the same colors.  I am already looking for some sort of shoe so that I can wear them to school in the fall.  They were so much fun to make.  The pattern was just an easy ribbed sock pattern from Ravelry.  

The next pair of socks were just finished at the beginning of July.  I used the same ribbed sock pattern but used a knit behind, purl ribbing at the top.   I made these for a teacher at school who retired.  I'm not quite sure that I will give them to her because they don't actually match.  

These were made from Zauberball Crazy 1537.  They were supposed to be self striping.  I loved the orange, blue, green, and yellow that was all kind of mixed together.  I made these in a size 8-9 so they are just a little too big for my feet.  This makes me really sad because these socks are so comfortable.  The yarn was amazing to knit with and is really squishy without being bulky.  Hopefully someone in my family or friend group will think the mix/match colors are interesting and funky and will want them.