Stitch marker fun

So today my secret pal emailed me a link for a stitch marker tutorial. So tonite I tried to make some! They're not bad for my first attempt, I don't think. I'm going to send them to MY secret pal-hopefully she doesn't find this!! I doubt she will.



So, what do you think?? I think next time I make them, I'll use a round pen or pencil. If you look, the rings are really round. I used one of those cheap BIC mechanical pencils, so they are more octogonal than round. Oh well.

Also, here are some pics of my progress on the chemo cap. For some reason, I have the hardest time trying to get a decent picture of the cables. The first picture is prolly more color-accurate, while the second one shows the cables a little more. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, I had to frog it once, before I realized that stitch markers were my friends. Now everything is going along just great. Daneise is scheduled for chemo soon, so I gotta start cracking down on it.





That's it for now. I can see beading playing a big part in my future tho...

Like I need another hobby.

Final cake class

Overall, I'm not too thrilled with my roses. But, they were better than some, so at least they weren't the ugliest roses there!





Now, I just need to practice, practice, practice!!

Cool!

Check out this movie that my secret pal made for me!

Awesome, huh?

Cake #2

So, I had great visions of this Autumnal cake in my head. It didn't exactly turn out like I had imagined.



I think it would have looked a little better if I had iced it with an orangey color or anything besides white. And the leaf is supposed to be RED. Christmas Red, the bottle said. It's more burnt orange if you ask me. Oh well. It's better than the clowns we were supposed to put on our cakes. No thanky. Still, it's a vast improvement from last weeks disaster. Next week we learn how to make a rose. I hope I'm good at it. It looks sorta tricky--I don't want to be the idiot in class who can't make a rose.

Picked up a new circ today. Just a regular Susan Bates from JoAnn's. Supposedly it's Yarn Month! Hooray! So all needles and books are on sale! Awesome! Anyway, now I just gotta transfer over the chemo cap to the new needles and off I go. They didn't have 16" so I got a 29", and I'm hoping I can figure out the whole magic loop thing. There's only like one site I can find on the website, and it seems to be the one that everyone learns off of. How come it doesn't make sense to me??? Prolly b/c I've never had the patience to read through the whole thing. Typical.

We're babysitting 3 kids for the weekend, and supposedly the oldest, a 7 year old girl, is starting to get into crochet and is loving it, so it'll be fun to do yarny things with her.

Gotta teach 'em while they're young, eh?

Secret pals and impossible moms

After what felt like forever, and then not getting the original email, I finally found out who I'm spoiling! Reading through her blog, she seems like a great girl--with awesome FOs!! I'm excited to start sending her packages. And I heard from MY secret pal--who sounds super cool as well. It's kinda crazy to think that you are meeting completely random people from across the country and sending them stuff. But what a great way to make friends! God Bless the Internets!

Haven't been knitting much lately. I really gotta get a new needle for the chemo cap. My SIL starts chemo soon, and will start to lose her hair almost immediately after that. I'm sorta feeling the scoop du jour vibe coming back, but the thought of Christmas presents keeps whispering to me. I just need to get them done, then I can selfishly knit for myself all I want! I was thinking of Branching Out for my mom, but now I'm leaning more towards Clapotis. The thing is, I'm not entirely sure if she'd actually wear either of them. I don't want to waste my time on something that won't get any use. But I don't know what else to make her. She doesn't really wear hats. Mittens, maybe? But really, who wears mittens? I don't. Maybe if I'm playing in the snow, which is like, never. I hate snow. My mom is impossible to shop for. She's not girly. If she wanted something, she'd just get it herself. There are always dishcloths, which are practical, although boring. What to do, what to do....

My first orchestra rehearsal is tonite! I'm so excited! Hopefully it's not lame, even though I have a feeling it might be. I really don't know anything else about it. They don't even know that I play the flute. Should be interesting!

Festival

So I went to the Wisconsin Wool and Sheep Festival, (and got a lot of flack about it from my husband and my friends--but I don't care!), and it was pretty cool. There were 2 big barns with vendors, including Weecroft, which is run by a co-workers wife. I stopped by and introduced myself and we chatted for a bit and she gave me some flyers about fiber classes and stuff. Most of it was spinning oriented, which I haven't done, but am interested in, so I bought 2 small balls of roving to mess around with. I don't have a drop spindle yet--have to keep my eye out for a cheap one. I also got a small skein of a purplish-pink yarn called "Waikiki". There's not a lot of yardage, really only good for accents and such. I'm thinking maybe cuffs to mittens or something. And then a couple knitty accesories I'm thinking I might send to my secret pal. Speaking of whom, I should find out her info tomorrow! Hooray!



I'm possibly going with a friend to Chicago on Friday who is auditioning for American Idol. Which means lots of uninterrupted knitting time! I'm thinking I might make my lonely sock her mate, or maybe whip out some more T&Q hats for Christmas gifts.

Any ideas, shoot 'em my way!

Hat FO

When they say thick & quick, they mean quick! This was so super speedy to make. I can definitely see these as Christmas presents for the fam! I think I used 13s and cast on 48 and then just did 2x2 ribbing. Nice. Then for the decreases I k2tog then P2, repeat to end of row. Then K1, p2tog, repeat to end of row. Then I think I k2tog until there were only 4 or 5 stitches left then drew the yarn thru. Good thing I'm typing all this out while it's still fresh...I know I'd forget it later.



Tomorrow I am headed to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival over in Jefferson Co. I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I'm goin' alone! Actually, I didn't really ask anyone--I didn't think any of my friends would be too interested in a festival dedicated to sheep and yarny things. But I don't mind going by myself...I can be a geeky as I want and do my own thing! I bet they'll have some gorgeous yarns there. I'll be sure to take pictures if I see anything cool!

My first cake!

Behold the masterpiece that is my cake!



Derrick is at his first flag football game, so I wrote Congrats hoping he wins. Cross your fingers! Otherwise, I need to think of another congrats-worthy event! The class was pretty fun, but mostly really messy! I know my cake is pretty hideous--I put everything we learned on it. My letters aren't bad, if I may say so myself, but my hearts look like butts. Gonna have to work on those. I need to just sit down and practice, practice, practice. But like that'll ever happen. But I want to make cute cakes for birthdays and stuff, not just lame funfetti frosted cakes. Even though it's my favorite.

And just for kicks, here is a picture of a WIP: a hat I started last night during our live fantasy football draft. It's on Jiffy T&Q, and I love how fast it knits up! I will probably finish it tonite! Hooray!



It's just 2x2 ribbing, and it's getting interesting now that I'm decreasing and trying to sorta keep some resemblance of ribbing going. We'll see how it ends up.

I love having a craft blog! It's very liberating! I don't have to use simple terms to keep the average reader clued in. Not that I've use very technical terms thus far, but whatever.

I'm feeling so accomplished right now, I think I shall break out the flute and play awhile!

:)

Secret Pal 6 Survey

Note to secret pal: You'll prolly find out more about me as a person on my other blog. This knitting blog is pretty new, so not much here yet.



1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I'll work with anything really...except really bad acrylic. Like cotton a lot, and of course, wool.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? basic crochet, but I'm interested in learning how to spin.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) cigarette smoke

4. How long have you been knitting? 4 years

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Amazon and KnitPicks

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) clean scents--ocean, cotton--cucumber melon, citrusy smells

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? My preferred chocolate is orange flavored chocolate. I like fruity candies, Twizzler Nibs, skittles, starbursts...

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I'm in a cake decorating class right now. i'm taking a watercolor class next month, I've made glass magnets. I want to try and make beaded stitch markers. Don't know how tho...I try to be crafty...sometimes I succeed

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) pretty much anything really. well, not a huge fan of hard core gangsta rap. I like crossover pop country. Love Britney Spears. But I like disco, oldies, 80s, LOVE 90s music-Coolio, Cantaloop, Blind Melon---you know, stuff like that, classical, rock, punk, ska, you name it. Yes, I have MP3 capacity. LOVE my iPod!

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? pink pink pink! i love all colors tho. oranges, greens, blues...whatever.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? married, no kids, no pets.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) get into nursing school, be a mom

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? anything knitpicks, cascade 220, rowan calmer

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? i've never met a fiber i didn't like!

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? socks, bags

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? hats---instant gratification! and you can never have enough--especially in Wisconsin!

17. What are you knitting right now? chemo cap, beanie, scoop du jour

18. What do you think about ponchos? I dig em

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? circular--love my Denise's!

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? bamboo

21. Are you a sock knitter? yes, I just started, thanks to my SP5, Heather!

22. How did you learn to knit? old roommate, then mom showed me more

23. How old is your oldest UFO? I have read this as FO for months. What a dork. My oldest UFO?? Scoop du Jour. I stopped last month b/c my ribbing sucked. I think it may be the Cotton Ease tho.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Nemo, Kermit the Frog...baby ducks

25. What is your favorite holiday? 4th of July--love the fireworks, food, summer. Although Christmas comes in a close second.

26. Is there anything that you collect? not really. but i have a lot of purses!!!

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? none, but i want either IK or FCEK

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Ultimate Vogue Knitting Reference

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? One Skein Wonder from Glampyre

New knitting blog

I'm thinking of moving all knitting content over here....