Break between posts

I don’t have anything to show but I just wanted to let people know that everything is okay, I just have had virtually no knitting time since school started up again.  I am crazy so I am taking 5 classes and so I have been doing homework pretty much all the time except when I am sleeping.  I did get a couple rows knit last weekend on the shawl and will hopefully have time to get some knitting done this weekend.  The shawl is still not long enough to photograph and probably won’t be anytime soon even if I do have plenty of knitting time this weekend (which is doubtful) due to my mom wanting me to finish her self-striping socks for her.  She is getting antsy and I am dreading finishing them because they are so boring but I am going to try to work on just those for a while so that I can get the second one finished.  So hopefully I will have those to show sometime soon.  My sisters teddy bear is also on the priority list so that I can give it to her when she comes home for Columbus Day in October.  Also I got many compliments on the lace scarf and comments saying that my sister would love it.  I did not have time to respond to any of them but have read them all and I wanted to thank all of you.  My sister recieved it about a week after I posted about it and absolutely loves it.  She told me she can’t wait for cold weather so that she can wear it.  Hopefully I can get a picture of her wearing it, I am not sure though.  Anyways thats all I have for now.  I hope to have something to show you all soon but for now my random babbling will have to do. 

On another note I had originally planned on this being only an knitting blog but due to lack of knitting at the moment I want to get your opinion on changing some things up.  I am thinking of writing more about school and other random happenings in my life and just putting in knitting stuff when I have something to show, but I don’t want to lose readers by doing this.  So if people could just leave comments saying whether you would rather have fewer posts and just knitting or more posts and more stuff about other aspects of life that would be great.  Thanks so much to anyone who is continuing to read my blog despite the infrequent posts and horrible pictures, it is truly appreciated.

FO: Leaf Lace Scarf

I finished knitting and blocked the Leaf Lace Scarf yesterday and it was dry when I checked it today so I have a picture of on FO.  This project was a great first lace project with an easy to memorize pattern than looks gorgeous when blocked.   I am so excited to mail it off to my sister at college so that she can use it. 

I am almost finished with the teddy bear that I am working on as well and will be trying to get it finished within the next week.  So hopefully I will have pictures of that soon. 

I also just cast on for a new project which I already love.   I am knitting Fiore di Melanzana, which is Ann Hanson’s latest pattern.  I am knitting this out of the Malabrigo Lace in the colorway Shocking Pink.  I don’t have enough yet to photograph but if I keep knitting at this rate I will soon.

Almost Finished

Well I thought that the teddy bear would be finished about a week ago but then things go a little crazy around here trying to get my sister ready so that she could leave for college this morning.  We had a million and one things to do and then to top it all off my dad decided last minute to take me and my other sister camping.  So the bear is almost done and may even possibly be done in time for the Ravelympics.  The little bear which my sister has already named was supposed to go to school with her this morning but will now have to be mailed.  My schedule will be getting busier come the beginning of September as well so I will have very little knitting time then so I better get some of my stuff done within the next week.  I will be taking a full load of classes this fall and also working three afternoons a week at a preschool in my town so hopefully I will be able to get a little bit of knitting done but it is doubtful.  This blog will probably either become a school and work blog this fall or just not have many posts at all.  Anyways that’s all I have for today hopefully within the next day I will be able to post pictures of the bear that I made my sister.

New Yarn and Project Updates

Sorry for not posting for a while things have still been kind of busy and will probably continue to be pretty busy but I should be able to post once and a while although the Friday Favorites won’t be as consistent as I had hoped. 

Anyways onto the good stuff.  I was in Cambridge visiting one of the schools that I am thinking of transferring to for after the fall last Saturday and we were in Harvard Square which is right near Woolcott and Co.  so I had to check it out since it is quite possible that it will be my yarn shop of choice once I transfer.  So I walked in with the mindset that I absolutely wouldn’t buy anything, which usually works for me.  Then lo and behold the lady working there comes up to me and my mom and mention that all the yarn was 30% off and all the accessories and books were 25% off.  I still had no intention of buying anything until I realized that they carry all types and weights of Malabrigo and then I just had to buy some Malabrigo Lace which I have been dying to try.  So I bought 4 skeins of that in the colorway Shocking Pink. 

 I then realized that I needed some solid colored sock yarn for my next sock project so I ended up buying some Claudia Handpainted Fingering Weight yarn in the colorway mint. 

When I got to the register my total was around $42 which is great for that much yarn and the lady told me that if I spent $8 more I could get a free tote so my mom ended up buying some wool wash which she had been thinking about for a while and I got the free tote, which regrettably I don’t have a picture of to show but it is just a large canvas bag with the Woolcott logo on it which will be great to use as a shopping bag when I shop there in the future, which even if I don’t end up going to school in Cambridge or Boston I will definitely go back.  The people there were incredibly nice and very approachable and they had a great selection of yarn that I like.

In other knitting news the teddy bear that I am making for my sister is in the process of being sewn up and I should have pictures of it as an FO soon.   This also means that I will have finished at least one of my projects for the Ravelympics.  Also the Hex Coat I have decided to frog due to the fact that I have lost a ton of weight since I started it and am continuing to lose weight so i will be starting it over once I have gotten down to my target weight.

One more WIP!

So my last WIP to show you is my basic self striping ribbed socks that I am making for my mother.  They are made out of Knit Picks Felici in the the colorways Risato.  You can see the stats on Ravelry here.  I am not in love with the colorway but my mom loves it. 

I have finished the first one and the second one is moving along slowly.  Hopefully they will get done soon. 

My mother is a knitter as well and just doesn’t understand why someone would knit socks when they will just get worn out from walking around on them.  I felt the same way until I made my first pair just as practice for making a stocking and ended up loving how comfortable they were and wanting more.  So now it is my mission to convince my mom to knit socks as well.  She seems to love how the first one fits and is excited for them to be finished so that she can wear them so I think she will easily be converted.  They haven’t been getting a ton of work done on them however because I am trying to use what little knitting time I have right now to work on my sister’s scarf and teddy bear so that hopefully she will be able to bring them to school with her when she leaves at the end of August.  Hopefully I will have some FO’s to show off soon.

Friday Favorites

Today for Friday Favorites I am going to feature an item from Sassafras Creations.  This shops makes jewelry out of aluminum knitting needles and I love all of it but I especially love the Knitting Needle Necklace.  

 

She also sells earings, bracelets, and other necklaces in her shop, so go check it out.

More WIPs

Well I have an abundance of WIPs right now.  I showed you  one of them the other day but I have three more also.  The first one is the Hex Coat (ravelry link) which I don’t have any recent pictures of.  I finished one half of the front of that and am working on the back at the moment.  The next project is the Classic Teddy Bear (ravelry link) from Holiday Interweave Knits 2007.  I am making this for my sister who collects teddy bears and at the moment I don’t have any real good pictures of it because it is all in pieces of curled up stockinette.  I have one more WIP but I will save it for later this week to talk about beucase I have to leave for class.

I’m Back!

Well I am back and hopefully will be able to blog more frequently from now on.  I will probably not be blogging a ton still since I am starting school full time in the fall but I will try to update everyone on my projects every now and then.  I am taking three 6 week long summer classes at the local community college this summer so even right now the posts will probably be a little infrequent but I am going to try to get back into the swing of things.  I will try to continue the Friday Favorites but they may not be put up as consistently as they were in the spring. 

Anyways back to knitting content!  I have started the Halcyon Scarf (Ravelry link) from Knitty Winter 2007 with the yarn I had been using for the Honeybee Stole and just couldn’t get into the pattern so I frogged that as well and started making the Leaf Lace Scarf  (ravelry link) by Janet D. Russel, a free ravelry download and I am loving this pattern.  I am hoping to get it finished by the middle of August so that my sister can take it with her to college since it was supposed to be her high school graduation present.

Leaf Lace Scarf

I also started a few other projects which I will continue to talk about over the next couple days.  So that I have something to talk about since I don’t have a whole lot of knitting time right now.  I have also joined the Ravelympics 2008 on team WIP Wrestling.  I am going to try to finish at least two of my WIPs during the Olympics possibly 3 depending on how things go.  I am going to try to finish my scarf that I just showed above and my sister’s other graduation gift which I will talk more about in my next post.  It is so good to be posting again and I hope I haven’t lost to many readers during my break.

Sorry for the long break

Hey everybody!  Sorry for the long break between posts.  It has been super busy around here.  Things are goign well.  I started a new job about 2 weeks ago.  I also have applied for school in the fall and registered to take a few classes this summer.  I haven’t done a whole lot of knitting and even if I had I wouldn’t be able to post pictures of it because until my sister leaves for college in the fall I won’t have a computer of my own that I can save pictures to plus I don’t have a camera to take pictures with.  I think I will be taking a break from the blog for the summer while I get used to taking classes and the such, plus my sister leaves in August so I should have a computer at the end of the summer and I can probably borrow a camera from my  parents to start photographing stuff with.  I will continue to read all the blogs that I normally read I just won’t be doing any blogging myself.  I will also be on Ravelry just won’t be posting pictures of my work so you can keep in touch with me there.  My ravelry ID is knittingpanda87 ,  I hope you will all come back again at the end of the summer and continue to read my blog then.

Tagged

I’ve been tagged by Nachaele so here is goes!

1.) What was I doing 10 years ago?  I was in Elementary School 10 years ago I believe.  So I was living with my parents and my 2 younger sisters in the house that I just moved back into in Topsfield, MA.

2.) What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

-I have to work on my scarf for my sisters graduation

-I have to do laundry

-I have to call the court house about some divorce papers

-I have to finish making a teddy bear for charity to give to children in the hospital in Boston

-I have to make dinner for my mothers birthday

3.) Snacks I enjoy?

I like dark chocolate, the darker the better as what I would call my sweet favorite although it isn’t really that sweet.

I like Kettle Chips in the Salt and Vinegar flavor as my salty snack.

I like crackers with hummus as my savory snack.

4.)What would I do if I were a billionaire?

I would help eradicate AIDs and from Africa and donate money to help people who already have AIDS in Africa.  I would also pay off all of my debt and buy a huge condo in the city.  Plus buy yarn of course.

5.)Places I have lived?

I have lived in Topsfield, Cambridge, and Middleton all in MA.

6. )What jobs have you had?

I have worked at Macys/Filenes and am just about to start working at Steve and Barrys.  But I plan on starting school in the fall to become an Elementary Special Education Teacher.

7.)Friends I want to know more about:

Bea from Baa Baa Blacksheep