6.5

For those of you who are counting, there are still 731 days until a real Leap Day! Aka. 731 until my real birthday :) Yes, I am one of THOSE people... one of the forever young (well at least in numbers, not in years). Scott's grandma is also a Leap Day baby, so I must wish her a 22.5 birthday as well!

I just wanted to thank all of you who have already sent me birthday wishes... It really means alot to me :) If anyone is interested in finding out more about Leap Day, check out some of these sites: Leapzine.com, timeanddate.com, Julius Caesar and Leap Years, Wikipedia, Science World

And since I have to be reflective on my "birthday", here is a beautiful picture from Colorado. This pictures reminds me to make every moment count...

Warm Me Up

In an attempt to look like the backcover of LMKG, I present my recently finished legwarmers! I finished these last week and just haven't had any time to post. I've been wearing these lots around the house since its been super cold here in Boston lately. In all reality though, I would never knit these again. They took me forever since I never really sat down and gave them a chunk of time. They were also EXTREMELY boring to knit... Perhaps I worstened my pain by using a a dk weight yarn and a size smaller needle?!




Pattern: Legwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Uruguay DK #08 and Kidsilk Haze #592.
Measurements: 21" long
Started: January 9, 2006
Finished: February 20, 2006
Other Details: I used a dk weight yarn instead of worsted. Therefore, I went down to a US7 instead of a US8. I also cast on less stitches since I have little legs (42 rather than 46). Lastly, I didn't make these the full length since I though 20" was plenty!

One Blizzard = One Baby Sweater

As most of you probably know, or witnessed, the East Coast was buried under snow this past weekend. Boston, fortunately, made out pretty well with only 15-18". Since we stayed inside most of the weekend, I dyed yarn and decided to start a new project. What did I knit?!



You'll never believe it, but I just randomly got the urge to knit a baby sweater (No secrets over here, I swear!). How cute is this?! Its the Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used Koigu Kersti in color #416. Three skeins was plenty for the 6-12 month size since I had enough leftover to knit a matching hat with a seed stitch rim and a pompom. This was a great knit because it was quick (I started it Friday night and finished it on Sunday). The buttons found a new home today and now its just going to sit peacefully in my closet until someone has a baby.. anyone? anyone?!





I can definitely see myself knitting this pattern over and over again in the future. I have to give a big thanks to Alison for inspiring me to knit this pattern after seeing her cute sweater in person last week :). And the project specs:

Pattern: Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Koigu Kersti in color #416
Measurements: Made to fit a 6 - 12 month old baby
Started: February 10, 2006
Finished: February 12, 2006
Other Details: I didn't change anything except the needle size in this pattern since it was my first baby sweater. I used a US6 instead of a US7 since that was what I had on hand. I tried really hard to knit a bit more loose and got gauge on the US6. I love the raglan sleeves and the seed stitch border. It needed a good block, but once it was dry, it looked fantastic!

Hearts

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day! Scott and I normally don't do a whole lot on Valentine's Day, because who are we kidding.. every day we're in love! However, yesterday was a bit different: we exchanged a few little presents, Scott made me dinner, and of course, we were in the presence of yarn! You will never believe this, but part of Scott's present, was in fact, yarn! Better yet, HE said he is going to knit ME a hat with it (while I do a matching scarf). Go figure, they can be converted! He does know how to knit from all of the hours he spends glancing over at me, so the concept of a hat is very clear to him. Here are a few pictures I thought you would like :)





And, what do you all think of the new Interweave? I was very excited for this issue to come out since I saw lots of things I really loved in the previews. So, what are the things I just HAVE TO MAKE at some point? See below (though the skirt was just an add, my LYS just got the pattern in). There were four or five other patterns I really loved; however, they would not look good on me.

Superwash My Way

For those of you who follow Sunshine Yarns, you'll be happy to hear that there will be lots of new changes within the next month or so! First off, there is a new design in the works for my banner, button, tags, etc. You'll have to wait to hear more about that :) Secondly, I have been experimenting with some superwash yarns! The one I seem to enjoy the most right now is a thinner fingering weight, but it has a unique look and feel to it, which I really enjoy. I'll most likely be offering only the self-striping yarns in the superwash, but will be adding some new self-striping colorways as well. Below you can see two different superwash yarns. The center-pull ball is a thicker fingering weight in the Neapolitan colorway. The skein is actually a self-striping version of the Neapolitan in the thinner fingering weight! I will most likely use this skein for my Sockapalooza pal though I still have to decide what pattern I am going to do.



And here is the Harvest colorway not yet re-skeined in the thinner SW fingering weight. Doesn't it hold the colors beautifully!?



And some of you will think I am crazy, but I lust over other's sock yarns like you wouldn't believe! I recently acquired some Vesper Sock Yarn from Julia. She is really such a sweet heart! She does some very unique colorways, which I really enjoy. Below are some pictures of my Midnight Knitter sock yarn :)



I also purchased some Socks that Rock Sock yarn and did really love the colorway. However, I knew it wasn't really me (the purple was just too strong), so I traded with Johanna for some of this gorgeous Twinkle Toes yarn from Joslyns Fiber Farm! How beautiful is this stuff?!



And, as I was taking picture for this mornings post, I just couldn't resist one of my little girls basking in the winter sun :) You can see my new swift again too! Have a good weekend everyone!

Go Green

As much as I hate big needles, I have to say that they are great in times of need. We were having a friend over for dinner that has recently gone through some bad times and I wanted to make her something warm and cozy. So, I dug through my stash and pulled out two skeins of Blue Sky Bulky and some borrowed needles. Viola! A scarf in under an hour. (Yes, ANOTHER SCARF ON THIS BLOG!) I am so thrilled that she loves green as much as I do :)




Pattern: Plain ol' garter stitch with some fringe on US35 needles
Yarn: Blue Sky Bulky in color #1017
Measurements: Approximately 75" long with 7.5" fringe
Started: February 6, 2006
Finished: February 6, 2006
Other Details: Knit on size US35 needles, this took about an hour to knit! I needed a quick fix project for a friend who was having a bad day. I added in some Kidsilk Haze in Meadow to the fringe to give it a little something!

Is it ON or OFF the Bandwagon?

After a long weekend visiting our friends at Lehigh, I had discovered that I had lots of work do to and little time to blog. Hence, my absence for the past week. Things are good though, I've actually been knitting and dyeing lots the past week (I sent out 18 skeins on Friday and 23 custom ordered skeins on Saturday).

First off, if any of you know me, you will know that I was fighting the Jaywalker craze for the past few months (love the pattern, but everyone was knitting it!). I crashed and burned the other day when I dug this self-striping Regia yarn out of my stash and had a sudden urge to knit with it. After seeing this colorway on Diana's blog last spring, I had to have some. And, so it has sat so patiently in my bin.. until Tuesday night!

And look, I have half of the foot done! Unfortunately, I tried it on last night and it is super super tight around my ankle/heel. It took some coaxing to get it on, but I vow to keep these for myself. I know they will stretch out a bit over time, and so I keep knitting.




Oh, and yes, I did cut out the stripes from the heel :)

And in other news, I finished this super boring, but super soft scarf last week while on our trip! A friend of a friend wanted someone to knit her this, and so I agreed.



Pattern: Plain ol' garter stitch with some fringe
Yarn: Touch Me in forest green
Measurements: Approximately 60" long with 7.5" fringe
Started: December 24, 2005
Finished: January 30, 2006
Other Details: Its a chenille, so I knit this on US7 needles to prevent worming.