Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Another wonderful day

Well....I'm very pleased to say that MG Tates at the Fashion mall has asked me to make 2 of every style of hat that I make...and they will be sold there for $14.95. I couldn't be happier.
I also met with Janet of eighteenstitches for a little math help, which was not nearly as painful as it normally is. We concluded the session with a trip to Mass Avenue Knit Shop...and I was *almost* responsible. I bought 3 different kinds of yarns, two for socks and one for a felted bag... I'm madly in love with my star yarn! Here is a picture from my stash enriching experience. I also finished a hat on the way home (Janet drove). Then, I casted on another one for the Keystone store and worked on that on the boat tonight...Toffee went too, but she didn't knit anything.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Wonderful Day

Today was all and all wonderful in almost every way. Saw several friends at work today (I work at Micheals, and one of the advantages of hanging out with crafty people is that I see them at my work every so often.) Speaking of which, I teach my first classes on Saturday, I believe its four hours of kids club which is so exciting! Maybe my teaching job is closer than I think!
Another wonderful thing about today....I met my Aunts and my Grandma for lunch today at the Cheesecake Factory.....mmmm....and then browsed around the mall. After buying my brother is J. Crew birthday present, I was bumming around in MG Tates, which is one of my favourite stores because it's so artsy, thought, "what the hell" and told the lady working there that I knit and think my products would sell well in the store. That employee turned out to be the owner, and she wants me to come back tomorrow with my stuff! I've been trying to get my stuff into Keystone for years! I'm so pumped for tomorrow. So, I have a few of my hats ready to make the trip!
I've also started the baby kimono (Elphaba, my Jeep had an appointment today, allowing for an hour of uninhibited knitting time) from Mason Dixon Knitting to give to Emily, the girl at work who is having a girl. I've bought some very fun green and purple grosgrain ribbon to tie up the sides with...a little untraditional but I think she'll like it. I also plan on making her a hat, all depends on how much time I have to make hats before taking a load to Tates or (fingers crossed) Holiday Mart. A little birdy told me I was in today but still have not heard official word.

Another funny thing....yesterday my Grandma came over to drop some stuff off and saw my Ballband dishrags laying on the counter (see hot pink and lime green rags from last post) picked one up and said..."That's...(insult least offensive adjective here)....interesting." Great...she said the same thing when I died my hair purple. She hates them. Then? Surprising part? She then said..."Can I have one?" Uh....okay. I asked if she'd rather have something that wasn't magenta and lime...so I bought some more dishrag cotton that was a little more fitting for my Grandma and cast on yet another project. That brings the count up to 19. I can't decide if that's a sign of O.C.D. or just boredom. One last wonderful thing for today...my army guy sent me a naughty little note on facebook! It's a good day!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Harry Potter and a sunburn

Well....the vacation knitting bag was barely touched, but I am very glad (and a little bit sad) to say that I'm finally finished with the Harry Potter series. I must have bawled my eyes out at least 6 or 7 times in the last hundred pages.

Now on to the knitting segment of the knitting blog. I only finished two things on the entire trip, one of them being a set of washrags that are all mostly pink, the other being a black wool purse that I threw in the wash to be felted within n hour of returning home. The bag shrunk way more than I wanted it to, and I am now debating....child purse? set of coasters? hide it before anyone sees it? enlarging charms? I give up. Please leave suggestions on what to do with failed felting projects. On that note, here are the washrags. I used the same pink yarn ball for the "brick" parts of the rags, and a different varigated cotton for the the base yarns. Can you say "stash clearing?"

I also did a small bit of crocheting (top picture....blog was not cooperating)...I did take the white baby yarn and finished the yarn ball, which turned out to be almost a 2'x2' square, which is a great start! There is a girl at my work who is pregnant and she may be the recipient of this particular baby blanket...I have so much time in each of them, I prefer to give them away so I know where they are going. I know I could never possibly get my money's worth out of selling them to perfect strangers, so I prefer to just give them away. I crochet 3'x3' granny squares in a solid color and do a ruffled edge in a different or multi-colored yarn. They take a good long time, but they're worth it.

And quite possibly the biggest news yet! I have a tan. It's probably the first one in ten years, and I'm so proud of it. I'm showing it off as much as I possibly can before it peels away...

See you onThursday, Mad knitters, and to the rest of you, have a lovely day!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Ready for my vacation knitting

So, in less than 12 hours I will be headed out for a 7 hour road trip followed by a week long houseboat trip...and my biggest concern is which projects to take. I decided against taking the Aztek sweater, because after working on it for a straight week, I'm ready for a change. I know I'm taking the Rustic sweater in hopes of finally finishing those flippin' sleeves. For this same reason, I plan on throwing the Mountain Hoodie (there will be pictures next post so you guys know what I'm talking about) into the mix because I have nothing but time to finish that last aran cabled sleeve- and I really need to finish this, it's been almost a year! I'm also throwing in some black felting wool to make a "Cute as a button" purse....a pattern I shall post soon....

I'm also taking a crochet baby blanket and a Dolly Mama cross stitching set...hopefully I'll finish the set and I'll just go until I run out of yarn on the blanket...which shouldn't take too long!

I need to go pack up my knitting bag...I'll leave you with a moment of zen in place of current unfinished project picture. Here is my cat with some of my handspun.

Happy knitting and I'll be back in a week!