FO: Improvised Gift Card Holder

I crocheted this in less than an hour.

Seriously.

My friend Ross had his birthday on December 1. All he wanted was Target gift cards. His goal was to get enough gift cards together to buy a Nintendo Wii.

But I had the urge to make something. And I was short on time.

So I pulled some Lion Brand Wool Ease in Denim Twist and some Yarn Bee Gilt Eyelash in blue (the Hobby Lobby brand) out of my stash, grabbed a crochet hook (I'm not sure what size) and went at it.

Basically, I double crocheted a rectangle, slipped stitch up the sides, and single crochet the eyelash yarn around the top. The whole time, I measured against the gift card as I went along. (FYI - The gift card doubled as a flashlight, so it was larger than average.)

I managed to get to dinner on time, and still prove once again that there is a time and place for eyelash yarn.

I need to ask Ross if he got his Wii yet.

Playing Catch Up

Here is my current WIP, Knitty's Back to Basics socks in South West Trading Company's TOFUtsies, color 725, "Foot in the Door."

And yes, these socks are my sister's Christmas gift. And yes, I gave her a partially knitted toe to unwrap. The good news is that she likes the yarn (as I suspected she would.)

I'm still catching up from the holidays and Jules' trip. I had didn't knit or crochet much. I missed having something to work on, and it put me "off my game" for a while. These socks had frustrated me at first. I started with US size 000 dpns (the size I had used for previous socks in a similar weight.) It was actually too tight. So I started again with US size 0. Then I thought it was too loose. Then I couldn't find my US size 00. Then I ran out of time and just wrapped what I had.

(My previous journalism professors would be so proud of those last three sentences.)

But then I realized that US size 00 would probably be too small. However, given the low elasticity of TOFUtsies, I was worried about them being too baggy if I knitted them on size 0. I finally settled for US size 0 and made some real progress.

The basic concept of this pattern is inspired by Cat Bordhi's new New Pathways for Sock Knitters, which I got for Christmas from my parents (as well as a gift certificate for The Knitting Nest.) I'm looking forward to exploring her architectures.

In other news, I have a sweater planned.

The day Jules went back to California, Hill Country Weavers was having their biggest sale of the year. I went to console myself, and I was pretty proud of my selections. Instead of buying a little of this and a little of that like I normally do, I bought a sweater's worth of yarn.

I found the Araucania Atacama (left) over in the "blue house" next door to the shop. They sometimes open the house up for sales and special events. During this sale, the house was where they set up all the clearance yarns, which were marked down more than the the rest of the shop. It was a good deal for 100% alpaca. This is color 503

Berroco Ultra Alpaca (right) is one of my all time favorite yarns now (I need to post a recent FO that I made out of it.) I could only find one skein of this particular colorway, 6259 Beet Root, with no label. Fortunately, the staff was able to match the color with their sample book and get more skeins out of storage for me. It was a good thing, because the other shades of purple didn't quite match the Atacama.

I've decided to knit Candy from Knitty. I fell in love with the pattern after discovering this version while listening to the Stash and Burn "Sweater Love" episode. (There is a better picture of the sweater here.

I think the Austin Meetup is planning a "sweater-along" starting Thursday. (I saw something about it on Ravelry.) I think it's the daytime group that I can't attend, but I'll probably cast on with them anyway.

Speaking of meetup, I'll have more coming up on their recent yarn swap, as well as pictures of the fiber festival, more FOs, my buys for the handmade pledge and my new year's resolutions.

In the meantime, I'm slowly uploading pictures from Jules' trip to Flickr. You can see what I have so far here.

FO: Sam's Scarf

A very tired Jules agreed to model this scarf for me.

It's very similar to his scarf. In fact, I think I cast on the same number of stitches.

Like Jules' Scarf, I used US size 8 needles. Unlike Jules' Scarf, I used two skeins of Knit Picks Cadena in Coal. It was my first experience with the yarn. It seems scratchy. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to wash or block it before I wrapped it. (I left instructions with recipient, Sam, to wash to soften it.

FO: Foliage: Green, Version One

Have I mentioned that I love Foliage from Knitty?

This one is much like the first one. I used US size 10.5 dpns for the hat, except for the ribbing, where I used US size 9 dpns. The yarn was Malabrigo Chunky again, this time in "Emerald."

This is version one, the bigger gauge. It only took me a couple of sittings. I plan to make more (and eventually one in the smaller gauge.)





Lisa (above) got this one, and Dee (below) got the first one.

Huh?

Where was I?

This morning I got up at 4:30 a.m. to take Jules back to the airport. That officially ends the holidays. Yet, I still haven't gotten around to putting up my Christmas lights.

I'm exhausted, a little sick and disoriented. Where did everything go after all the "cleaning" we did? How do I do my job again? Wait, no one's here to cook for me anymore?

It's time to press the reset button. I have plans for at least one sweater, some new year's resolutions to attend to and a whole lot of pictures to put on Flickr.

But first, sleep.

Closed For Christmas

Not that I've been particularly active here the last couple of weeks, but I know for sure I won't be posting again until January. Jules is here, and I'm off of work for two weeks. Prepping for his arrival, church activities and Christmas shopping has taken up much of time the last couple of weeks, so I've been fairly inactive in both my knitting groups and online.

But don't worry, I'll be back with lots of FOs, Fiber Friends pics and sweater plans.

Happy Holidays.

Fiber Friends Festival 2007

I got this via e-mail from Hill Country Weavers the other day.

FIBER FRIENDS FESTIVAL

For your holiday enjoyment and last minute shopping, Hill Country Weavers presents FIBER FRIENDS FESTIVAL!

Saturday, December 15, 10 am – 6 pm
Sunday, December 16, 12 – 5 pm
Come see and buy fabulous hand crafted items by these local fiber artists:

Platypus Dreams, Binky Knits, Moonbeam Weaving, Woolyfiori, Pretty Purl, Susan Bussard, Sally Comes Unraveled, Nancy Govro, Pam Whittington, Marie Burton, Pamela Yu, Diane Barney, Jan McCown, Infinity Knits, Jennifer Raish, Meiling Chang, Winston and Chloe, Jude Cope & Audrey Batzer, AngryOlive.com, Lauri Polunsky, Blue Rose Designs and more! You'll also have the opportunity to purchase the 2008 Naked Calendar and Blue Dog Rescue Calendar!


Hill Country Weavers
1701 South Congress Ave
512-707-7396

Come see us. (Jules and I will be there from noon until 4 p.m. on Saturday, but drop by anytime next weekend.)