Hey! Whats up?

   Not much news from the knitting world. I haven't been doing much. Pretty much the only thing I have to say is that my cat ruined Charlea's Easter chick toy that I was planning on giving to her on Easter. I am finally going to start practicing with my church band. I am going to play guitar! yay! Anything new with any of you out there?

Fishes

   Notice the little fishes on the side? They are so addicting to play with! Your welcome. If you want me to change the color of the fishes, just comment ten random colors on any one of my future posts and I will see what I can do.

Knit n' Stitch

   Last night I went to a Knit n' Stitch at my local library. I sat there quietly most of the time because usually, I don't fit in with old people(sorry). Being a long-time young knitter, I'm use to this. Even though I didn't talk to them very much, it was fun. I loved to look around and see a bunch of people who were all doing what I was doing- knitting! Well, alot of them were crocheting, but that's besides the point. Some of them finally noticed my project and talked to me as they admired my leafy stitches for a few minutes. But atleast there were cookies, right? Most of the time I did what I do best- eavesdrop. I found out the lady across from me is opening up her own bakery, somebody is going to a peach festival and need peach recipe ideas, alot of them don't even know how to knit, one of them has a taste for everything fancy and another moved from Louisiana. Overall, I think I was probably the best knitter there.
   Also, I am making some very good progress on my leaf pillow. I am more than half way done with the front of it already. It is finishing up alot faster than I thought it would. This means that I will probably do the back in the leaf pattern instead of plain stockinette stitch.
Happy Knitting!

Peacock Plume Stole

   Using my Mini Mochi, I have decided to make the Peacock Plume Stole from Knitting 24/7 by Veronik Avery. I love this book! It has three different sections for different times when you should knit the projects in that section. For example, in the P.M. section, whish is the section that the stole pattern is in, it tells you that you could "sneak in a few rows" of any of the patterns in this section during lunch breaks, before a meeting, during a movie, during a recital, etc. The other two sections are a.m(the less intricate patterns) and weekend(the most intricate patterns in the book).
   I found out it isn't very productive to try to knit lace off of a chart in a pitch black room while watching Flicka. Which, by the way, is probably my favorite movie. It happens to include two of my favorite things. Horses and Tim Mcgraw. I eventually put down my knitting after i mistaked the k2tog for yarn overs.

WIPs and Finished Projects

The leave pillow is going very good. I finished one pattern repeat after I knitted this:

A little Easter chick toy for Charlea. It took me about an hour and a half, including the embroidery. Isn't it adorable? The patten can be found here. It is a very quick and easy pattern. It can also be a bunny if you take off the wings and beak and add some ears. Happy Knitting!

Happy April Fools!

It's April Fools Day! Here are some great jokes to pull on people:

Cover someones car in sticky notes. Just make sure they aren't looking. And make sure you know the person. Complete strangers don't take jokes very well.

Glue quarters to the floor. just make sure it will stick to the ground when someone trys to pick it up.

If you keep your toothbrushes in a cup, fill it with water and freeze it.

Fill an empty chip bag with plastic bugs. Place it where someone will be sure to open it.

Any more ideas? I would love to here them!

Magic Yarn

   Yesterday when I was at the grocery store, I was thinking about how I should knit Charlea something for Easter. I was looking around for inspiration in the Easter area and right there, stuck in a little corner on the shelf, was a perfectly pink, sea shell colored ball of Bernat Satin on clearance for $2. It was a perfect Easter color that would go great with my ball of pale sky blue. Note that this store didn't have a craft section(atleast not anymore). It was like someone knew I was coming and placed this yarm there right for me.
   I am thinking about making a set of knitted easter eggs. Maybe those kind that can fit inside of eachothter. Or maybe an easter egg rattle or a stuffed Easter Bunny. Any more ideas?

The Leafs Were a Flop

   About the leaf pillow, it didn't really work out. I think it was four- or maybe five times- that I started over. I don't know why. I followed the pattern perfectly, counted my stitches when it wasn't turning out right, unraveled and re-did individual rows, etc. Also, I have done this pattern before in a scarf that I never finished. If that scarf turned out perfectly than what is wrong with my pillow?
Maybe I will try out this stitch pattern. It looks the same but there could be something wrong with the other pattern.
   On a totally non-floppy note, I got some new yarn! It is a ball of Mini Mochi from PK Yarn Over Knit Shop. As I was winding the gorgeous yarn up into a ball, I just had to stop and take a picture. Here is a closeup of a parshly unraveled ball of Mini Mochi:

   PK Yarn Over is my absolute favorite yarnshop. The yarn is gorgeous, the store is cozy, and the people are just great. As I was checking out with my new yarny picks, this is the conversation that took place:

My Mom, refering to the Mini Mochi: What are you going to make with that?

Me, wondering how she expected me to predict the future: I don't know.

The Yarn Store Lady, in her semi-pleasant, chirpy voice: It was just calling to her and it is probably the first thing that is going to be worked up.
 

Well, she was right. I also bought the pillow yarn there too and that is going very slow. I am already making a lacey scarf with my soft 196 yards of Mini Mochi, which is some very pleasant knitting. I just love knitting without deadlines.

Another Pillow

   I'm knitting another pillow. This one isn't for a ring bearer, though. it is made with the beautiful vine and leaf stitch pattern in a beautiful light brown. I am still deciding weather to just do the stitch pattern on the front and plain stockinette on the back or have the stitch pattern on both sides. I guess it will depend on how long the front takes because, like usual, I have a "due date" for the finished project.
 

Pillow

  I finished the ring bearer pillow! It turned out better than I thought it would, which is the opposite result from most of my finished projects. I decided to attach strings of pearls to the side below and above my cabling. I knitted a flat circle (increase 8 stitches evenly every other row) knit about an inch of cabling (one right cable, one left, rep) then knit another flat circle (decrease 8 stitches every other row). I then sewed in the middle with embroidery floss  and attached the ribbon. I just hope that the ring bearer doesn't start pulling off the pearls as he is walking down the aisle. I will be heading off to give this goregous pillow to the beautiful bride to be. I hope she loves it! 

Bloggers

 Have you ever wondered who bloggers are? Or how they do what they do? Well here it is in a nutshell:
1: Something happens to us or we have a semi-important thought
2:We take pictures
3: We sit down in our handy dandy spinny chair
4: We take a second to decide if this happening is worth the finger power
5: If your idea passes step 4, you try to think about how to make it sound semi-interesting
6: Finally, type it up, look it over, and post!

   So, as you see, you could be a blogger, too! Even if you don't have a spinny chair. Some great places to go to make your own blog are weebly, wordpress, or right here on blogspot! These places are all free, so go make your own blog, tell me about it, and I'll check it out!

Osmosis

   Just like in Michelle Edwards' book A Knitters Home Companion, my best friend has learned from osmosis(ok, so I guess it wasn't just like in the book, because it was her daughter, but whatever). I was at church knitting my chunky hat (which by the way I ran out of yarn for and so, it got frogged! For all you people who don't know what that is, it's when you slide your stitches off your needle, take the yarn, and pull and rip until your project is completely unraveled. It is the most satisfying thing in the world!) and she yanked it out of my hands and started knitting like a pro! I was so proud of my previously anti-knitting friend who I have turned into a knitter! I think that's the fourth time? It makes me so happy when I have friends that I can knit with.
   Anyways, right now I am about one fourth of the way done with a ring bearer pillow that needs to be done by thursday for a shower. I am always so happy when my knitting gets put to good use. I will try to remember to post pictures. Happy Knitting!

Chunky Hat

I am knitting the chunky hat from the ella rae designs for handknitting pattern book. It is being made from some chunky pale blue yarn that I got from some yarn trading. I gave up a large ball of fluffy, mocha colored yarn. Now that I think about it, that was sort of a stupid trade, but I really wanted to make that hat, I had no chunky yarn that would have worked for this project, and the mocha yarn had been sitting in my yarn basket for a while. I think the hat will turn out great.

Giraffe

   So, her is what happened with the giraffe. I almost didn't finish it, but I finally got it done after I stayed up late working on it. The boday turned out okay and so did the head. Sort of. The arms and legs were just crocheted chains(remember. it was very late at night). The ears were crocheted and the spots were stitched on with a crochet hook. It looked like crap a little odd. Even if I had remembered to take a picture of it before I gave it to my friend, I don't think I would have posted it. It was horrible. Of course, though, she loved it. Even though a majority of people sayed it looked like a rubber chicken and that it looked nothing like a giraffe. She's my best friend, and she doesn't care if my middle-of-the-night-whip-it-up-really-quick-birthday-giraffe looks like a rubber chicken. I spent my time and precious yarn on it. So, if you think you could make a better giraffe and would like to risk a scraggly rubber chicken falling off your needles, here is how I made my giraffe

Birthday Giraffe
using whatever kind of yarn and dpns you want, co 6sts
row 1 and every odd row:knit
2:kfb in every stitch(12 sts)
4:k1, kfb(18 sts)
6:k2, kfb(24 sts)
8:k3, kfb(30 sts)
10:k4, kfb(36 sts)
12:k5, kfb(42 sts)
knit 5 rows
14:k4, k2tog(30 sts)
16:k3, k2tog(24 sts)
18:k2, k2tog(18 sts)
20:k1, k2tog(12 sts)
22:k2tog(6 sts)
23-29:knit
30:kfb(12)
32: k1, kfb(18)
34:k2, kfb(24)
36:k3, kfb(30)
37-39:knit
40:k3, k2tog
42:k2, k2tog
44:k1, k2tog
45:k2tog

make arms and legs using chains , icords, or whatever you want
knit or crochet ears
figure out how to make a snout
put on a pompom tail
embroider on face and spots
 enjoy your rubber chicken.

Finished

   It’s finally finished! I finished my very first sweater, which was also my first attempt at blocking. As you can see, it turned out quite nicely. I managed to find some buttons and sew them on properly. I am a horrible sewer Sewing is not my forte.  The project gift is off to its recipient, and hopefully being enjoyed by its new owner. I will soon be posting a pattern for a small toy giraffe, designed by yours truly. I am making it for my friend’s birthday, and I will hopefully be done by Friday. I decided to design this pattern because, well, there just aren’t enough small giraffe patterns that look good and, most importantly, are free. I designed this quick and easy pattern with help from the Mochimochi guide to designing toys. I will post it, along with some pictures, once it is finished.