and... FO's

The parade begins. It's so much more fun to show the finished object pictures. There is also a really good feeling that comes with completion. I wish I could keep a better hold on the satisfying completion feeling whenever I'm tempted to start something *new* and *fun*.

First up. Two very satisfying finishings. These became silent auction items for a Heartwalk fundraiser at my husbands workplace (they sell medical devices and are highly interested in all things that help with fixing hearts and keeping them healthy).

This is a dolly outfit meant to fit an American Girl doll or similar 18'' doll (like Greta has - hers is modeling). I love the Kaia Babydolly  pattern and was really enamored with how the bell bottom stripes worked out.

and ... my train wreck. Otherwise known as French Press Slippers. My first time with this pattern and clearly there is a learning curve for felting. I did expect this, though, as previously discussed I was under the mistaken impression that I'd probably make tons of these slippers so I didn't think the learning curve would be an issue. These were a hit at the auction and my husband reports many others requested them in their sizes. Any guesses how long before I make another pair?

I actually love how they turned out and they weren't so hard... and the planned recipient (with the size 9.5 feet) saw and loved them. So, you may see another pair in the works soon with a goal of fitting a little larger foot.

Also finished... shorties. One more pair after this and F is all set for summer!

This is a good start, right? Stay tuned for more (soon!)

UFOs

UnFinished Objects. I have many. If you know a knitter, she has some. It's an epidemic among us that some projects get left in the middle. High and dry. Un.Finished. A necessary evil actually. I mean, if all you can do is one project at a time and you find yourself hating said project... you might find yourself quitting knitting all together. Since we can't really stand that idea we instead have ... the UFO. Ask a knitter. Do they have an afghan started and shoved somewhere? I do. Do they have a sweater that isn't working? I do. Did they think they could be a sock knitter and try that? I did. I'm telling you . E.P.I.D.E.M.I.C.

In the interest of (almost) full disclosure I have gone through the knitting basket. (so long as you understand this to mean all projects started in about the last month - not the fossils long ago started and forgotten), I've taken pictures of all these projects hoping that if I show them I will finish them. Here's to hoping.

So. Here we go. *sigh*  Please don't be disappointed in me. We all have weakness'.

1.(&2 really) Firstly. I feel a need to revisit projects we've seen and I've admitted to already. The scrappie overalls, sadly needing only buttons, a front pocket and 2 (yes only 2)more ends weaved in, and the slippers of mass destruction. The many parts sewn up, felted to perfection I believe, needing only to be finished with buttons and tab application. *double sigh*

sadly a size 8ish instead of the 9.5 I needed

I blame these for the lack of blogging as I practically promised they would be done for the next blog entry.

3.&4. Customer projects. These are started and a good chunk done.  Halter onesie:

 

and shorties in Peace, Baby  by Western Sky Knits, which I a.d.o.r.e.  - everything Jess sends me is awesome sauce. everything. 

5. Last minute dolly outfit for hubby's silent auction at work. Blue Sky organic cotton YUM. must. finish. by tomorrow.

 

6. Project for dearest of friends. Ran out of colorway with 4 (yep just enough to require another skein) rows to go so here they sit. (yarn is now purchased for finishing)

7. The Curse-ed sock. You know how it starts to sound weird if you say a word too many times. Like FROG. frog. frog. frog - doesn't it sound weird now? like wrong? Well the same thing (sort-of) happens with knitting where if someone says something enough times you're compelled to try it - sock. sock. sock. Blasted Sonja(Sister-in-law, not to be trusted, wily and crooked with IDEAS) and blasted Yarn Harlot. This is a practice sock. Which I hope will be a practice pair. I hope.

8. Totally and completely unplanned random project. Last weekend I went to Chicago with the bestest of women. We might've stopped at some yarn stores. I might have slipped and bought some ramdom yarn to start a Wallaby for Lukester. Oops. But it was super fun knitting on the way home from Chicago. :)

9. Customer/Friend sweater. This sweater/tank will be gorgeous. Oh it will. I cast on and knit the band 3 times already. I might've done some deep breathing before the third time. The yarn is not exactly what the pattern calls for so it's a little bit of adjusting for me, which is totally fine and I will handle it ... but... it wasn't enough fun for the trip to Chicago so I'm going to get back to it... really soon. It's going to be the cutest Sorelle Felici EVER.

10.&11. Longies which look done, but are not. The monster needs top teeth and an icord and the other needs it's bum design (a secret). So close... and yet, not finished.

So these are the UFO's. I am committed to finishing them. Tomorrow begins the parade of FO's (finished objects) ... I promise.

I should know...

There are projects I love, and projects I don't. Sometimes I know before starting that a project is going to drive me crazy. Sometimes I'm totally and completely surprised that I'm not finishing something. This is happening to me now.

About a month ago I had an "AHA" moment where I decided what to make for a special someone. I was thrilled! Whenever I feel particularly thankful or pleased with someone it makes me want to knit for them. If I know them well I can pick something they would like, colors they'd approve of,  hopefully a style that works well. In this case I'd been in a conundrum because I don't know the recipient well. Then. Aha!

I picked slippers. (yay, right?) Everyone needs slippers - it's MN we live in and even if she doesn't LOVE them she can keep her feet warm with them at home where no one will see and there is certainly no pressure for her to show me she's using them because they are strictly for use at home. Brilliant.

I picked a pattern. French Press Felted Slippers. Cute, trendy, seemingly simple, and (based on many of the notes on FPFS projects ) positively quick and addictive. Truth be told I thought this was the solution for all the people in my life who I've not been able to pick the perfect knitted gift for.

I picked yarn and buttons. Even this went well. I needed wool (for felting) and had it on good authority that green would be the right color. Easy. Peasy. I found some white buttons which I believed would be adorable on the finished felted beauties.

I picked needles. Here is where I should have started to realize that though things were going extremely well with the project, I might hit some trouble along the way. Size 13. I don't like large needles. I generally use 3s, 4s, maybe 6s if I'm doing a sweater. Instead of thinking how I detest giant needles I focused on how quickly my project was bound to get done, based on the gargantuan needles.

A month (at least, lets not try to remember the actual dates of supply gathering) later I have this

This is actually pretty good. I have one fully assembled slipper and 2 of 3 parts of the other slipper made. One more piece and the assembly and I'm good as gold. After knitting for so long I should know that I don't like giant needles or piecing things together (and possibly more important, without a deadline I'm not highly motivated to finish said undesirable project).  Hopefully the next blog post will be finished slippers. *sigh*

I wish this was the only project giving me trouble. Sadly I'm also struggling with another project. Scrappie overalls. A trade I'm doing with an incredible seamstress (her store here)who made my daughters Easter dress (love love love).It hits another of my knitting buttons that I should know would be a problem. Scrappieness.

The total un-matchy-ness of scrappies by nature messes with my need for order in my knitting. My knitting friends would likely tell you that they know I can't handle this. My house is a mess but my knitting I can control. Another UFO (un-finished-object).

Sadly even the finishing (I've already admitted to not loving the finishing, right?) of these is even more a problem than the slippers. Here is the inside of one leg which needs to be dealt with.

 When will I learn what I already know about myself? Here's to hoping these two will get done so I can once again knit something I love. The finished pictures are more fun, right?

Summer is coming!

Summer is coming and that means shorties! (it also means dresses and shrugs and skirties) I've been working my way through a wonderful box of delicious yarn for an adorable little fella in Kentucky and here is the latest set of finished objects (FO's)

I love the bright colors that always come with this particular customers yarn. Much boyish yarn has blue trim, but it seems I get to try all sorts of things for my little friend F. His mother (who is the brilliant yarn chooser) also likes the cuffs to have a variety of stitches which keeps things interesting for her knitter.  Here is a more detailed look at these four.

Thanks for letting me play with your yarn JH!!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

Now that you know how much I love yarn (blush)... we'll get back to the reason I love yarn.  I am totally over the moon for knitting. And this being the point of the blog I'll get back to my projects as of late.

Know what else I love? stash busting! (using up the little leftover bits from a project OR using random yarn that was bought without a project in mind and has been there for.ever.) Hopefully if you're a knitter you know what I mean, and if you're not... well, just look at the pretty pictures.

Awhile back I had a chance to be a tester for a new pattern. It is the Every Season Sweater and I wanted to knit it for my favorite girlie. (Tester? yeah. I had to explain it to a lot of people who thought maybe the bonus would be that the designer sent me the yarn - no. The bonus is you get paid?- no. The bonus is that I get the pattern for free! For us knitters sometimes it's the little things.) Anyway. I had just received the perfect yarn and got to work. Although I wasn't a huge fan of all the flat knitting I loved the finished product!

I loved the cute detail of the cuffs and the perfect clasp for holding it on my busy (now 5 year old) little girl. The yarn is a delicious single ply (so soft) kettle dyed (no pooling) springy merino. YUM!

She just wanted it to be pink.

After a year of the leftovers sitting around I made this little Kenna Button Top and matching bloomers for a new little babe joining our church small group. Using the colorway as the trim gave this baby pink ensemble just enough color. (in my opinion anyway) The buttons are made by the incredible Tessa Ann.

Surely this much pink and pastel can bring about spring, right? Here's hopin'.

I know you wanna know how the Knitting Divas day out went...

I'm just gonna tell it. What a glorious day! of! yarn! ...Actually I should back up just a titch. Before the actual day came there was a torrent of email between the four of us regarding time and scheduling and driving and maps and many, many exclamation points. We were Excited! Capital. E.

This is my we.
(and if anyone knows how to make blogger let me line these pictures up without overlapping or jumping all to one side... I will take that help. GRR.)

The day dawned cool and a little gray. Not too hot. Not too cold and no blinding sun for the driver (who's name is also Tricia - watch out, it might get confusing!) Anyway, my best yarny girls ( Sonja-navigator, Tricia-driver, Danyelle-general encouragement) and I set out planning to stop at 7 yarn stores in 1 day. At each shop we had food items to drop off, punch cards to punch, drawings to enter, free patterns to pick up and of course, yarn to snuggle. Amazingly each store had it's own appeal and we had tons of fun checking them out. I'll save you from the novel I could write about each and only focus on two of the bestest ones.

StevenBe's Wow . Just wow. This one is in South Minneapolis and felt like NONE of the other shops we went to all day.

It. was. Crazy.

It's a former fire station now owned by the self proclaimed "Glitter Knitter" Steven Berg. Floor to ceiling color and fiber, friendly helpful employees and constant "announcements" made to the room by Steven himself. I had to buy a Vogue Knitting with his full page ad in it just so he would sign it and have his picture taken with me!

If you look closely you can see the blue hair and that the Magazine I'm holding is the one he signed on his ad. I'm just sorry we missed our chance at a photo when he had on 3 separate cowls!

The awesome StevenBe's Firehouse turned Yarn Garage!

The "Yarn Shop of the Day" award goes to Lila and Claudines in Mahtomedi. There were many reasons that we loved it SO so much. Where StevenBe's was entertaining and loud, Lila and Claudines was tranquil and cozy...

1. We ALL bought yarn. This says something. Whilst we all L.O.V.E. yarn, we also tend to be a little thrifty, which doesn't always fit well with fancy yarn shopping. This leads to #2

 2. Bargain bin finds! Danyelle went home with two delicious skeins of angora/merino/yum in pink and brown for only $5 each! (originally marked at $16.50) Her newest bundle is going to have the softest Kenna button top EVER. 

3. SO MUCH YARN. 'nuf said.

4. All around adorableness. Many yarn shops are adorable but this one greeted us with giant knitting needles and yarn. Hello winner!

5. Super sweet helpful women of yarn behind the counter. It's always a bit of a question whether this yarn is right for this project. And always a pleasure to have someone else to help find those answers. (also especially cool but not really related to the awesomeness of the shop was the bumping into of a pattern writer whose pattern we were matching yarn to -talk about HELPFUL and SERENDIPITOUS!)

Thus far there is no prize beyond the four of us knowing this shop made us the most happy during Yarn Quest 2011. Perhaps I will frame and send them this picture of our joy. I bet they would LOVE that.

All in all it was a GREAT day. We were unbelievably dorky about our yarn. BUT how lucky am I to have 3 friends to be that dorky with? Supa. Lucky.  We're totally cute too *wink wink*

This one is outside of the Yarnery in St. Paul. Even the woman who took the picture for us couldn't stop telling us how cute we are! Who wouldn't look cute perched on the steps of a cute little house-turned-yarn-shop full of yarn!?  It's just smart to take a picture there. 

Next time we're inviting more yarny friends to this day of awesomeness. And probably we'll need a bus. Woot!

It's Official

Well, it's happened. I've gone off the deep end. Totally lost it. Life as I knew it is truly over. I'm trying to accept my new, recent , long time coming reality. I'm a yarn snob. A yarnie, a fiber junkie, a total geek. On some level I think I knew it was happening, but now I know it's r-e-a-l, REAL.

This weekend is the 5th Annual (Mpls area) yarn hop. I know you're thinking, what's a yarn hop? No, I'm not planning to get any exercise by jumping around on one foot holding piles of yarn - it's not really that heavy anyway. It's a yarn shop hop. So we (that's right, I'm influencing some of my dearest friends as well, it feels better to share this problem) are planning to spend some precious Saturday time away from our families touring Minnesota's best yarn shops. Shops like "Darn Knit Anyway" and "StevenBe" filled with... yarn. All kinds and colors, solids and colorways. And patterns. And knitting needles, even fancy wooden ones that are painted so you feel fancy when you knit with them (I'd imagine, this is not a drug of choice for me ... yet). And more fiber junkies- who won't be any sort of good influence. Plus we're all going to be filling "stamp cards" and entering contests. There are "charms" to be collected and door prizes to be won. All in the name of yarn. Glorious!

Here is how I know I have truly arrived into yarn geekdom. It's the fifth annual yarn shop hop.  That means they've done this before.  For the last five years while I've been knitting away on my perfectly decent, less expensive, easily accessible JoAnn/Micheals yarns I've taken the occasional trip to a fancy yarn shop. I've heard(multiple times) of there being a yarn hop and all the craziness of a weekend of looking at yarn and immediately dismissed(multiple times) the idea as crazy. Who would do that?. I can think of so many better things than a day of yarn.

and now I think it's awesome. Do you, like me, think there might be some sort of additive in my yarn that s-l-o-w-l-y seeps into your skin as you knit (a twisted sort of osmosis) which creates in my brain a barrier against all new ideas that don't revolve around perfect patterns matched with perfect yarns? Or which possibly causes visions and begins lists of friends (neighbors, acquaintances... friends of acquaintances... whoever) who are desperately in NEED of the aforementioned perfect projects. Oy.

Here are my carefully planned excuses reasons for this being a good way to spend a Saturday.
 1. My girlfirends: my bestest buds are coming along, and excited about it, and we'll get to chat all day long
 2. Food shelves: all the yarn shops are collecting food for local food shelves. Yay!
 3. It's a Quest and adventures are good for the soul. (this is truth - it's called  Yarn Quest 2011 - a Fiber Journey. Wow, right?
 4. If  I/we make it to all 9 shops this weekend, one of us could win the $2,000 Grand PRIZE... of yarn and knitting stuff. (HOLY COW. I read a list of SOME of those items and it would be so. much. fun.)
 5. I think someone somewhere is having a baby and needs a new sweater - babies need to be kept warm. 
 6. um... I need more yarn?

So it's official I've gone off the deep end(it's fine, I can swim), BUT I'm taking my friends with me(safety in numbers), AND we are totally OK with it(quite pleased with ourselves actually- we're getting to be really good knitters).