No yarn for you!

I have a confession to make. I don't really have a yarn stash. I'm the type of person that only buys yarn when I have a project in mind. This is usually a good thing, as I never end up spending too much money on a yarn splurge. My "stash" actually consists of left over yarn from past projects. I have half of skein of blue yarn from the Sleepytime Seashells Blanket. I have most of a skein of red heart simply soft left over from the Irish hiking scarf I knit back in april. I have some chunky gray yarn from a scarf I knit Tanner. I have a big spool of Cotton yarn from when I wanted to knit washcloths. I have a couple skeins of yarn that felt really great until you started knitting up (not touching those, ever).

The one drawback to this is when I run out of yarn, I have to go and buy new yarn to finish a project. At the moment? I'm not really overflowing with cash. As a result the fanciful rose blanket is going to be a UFO until I get a job (which should hopefully happen mid-August). I want to start up a hat but I don't have the right needles for it. All of the other great projects I was looking forward to when I got my hurt knitting books? Don't have the yarn or in some cases, the needles.

So at the moment I'm going through a bit of knitting withdrawal. I'm thinking about using that left over blue yarn to start a new blanket called Little Boy Blue. It's more complicated than any of the other blankets I've made and unlike Sleepytime Seashells, it will show mistakes. Still, I realize that I've been grumpy a lot lately, and I think part of the reason I have been is because I've been going through knitting withdrawal. Since I only have half a skein of blue yarn, I know I won't get much of a relief from stress but hey, at least it's knitting.

Getting Started Knitting/Scarf Style

Horray! The Hurt Book Sale Books came in today. To Scraf and Wrap style books don't seem really "hurt" to me, but I'm not complaining. They were pretty cheap! The cover of Getting Started Knitting, on the other hand is showing what looks like signs of sun damage. I don't care as the book is GREAT. Sure a lot of the stuff in the beginning was review to me but it's a great reference book. It has information on things that I have been wondering about for a while, like blocking, knitting in the round, and knitting off of charts, as well as interesting little bits of information like how to make button holes. I read it in bits and pieces throughout the day (it's less than 150 pieces) as a way to de-stress me from my current worries. I haven't knit any of the patterns yet as I want to get the Fanciful Rose blanket finished first (it's coming slowly, I'd like to spend a couple hours on it this afternoon while doing laundry). Here's some of the patterns that caught my eye:

Sunset Strips Scarf- A scarf knit lengthwise. The colors chosen are great but I would like to try one in shades of blue and gray.

The Pillow Case- A decorative knit pillow case. Seeing as we have no need for decorative pillows at the moment (our current living situation is a little rustic), this will have to wait for when Tanner and I eventually move to our own apartment.

Rock and Roll Brim Hat- A wicked cute looking hat knit in the round. It's a quasi-bucket hat that I ALREADY have yarn for, left over from a cabal scarf I knit (for whatever reason) right around the time it got too warm for scarves. All I need to do it buy the needles. This will probably be my first project from the book.

Cable Cap- Although I find the bright-redness of the yarn chosen to be a bit garish, the pattern looks like it will be super-cute in a more subdued pattern. Maybe better in a cream color...

The To-Go Pullover- Probably my first sweater project. Really excited about this one.

Bell of the Ball Cardigan- Looks so soft and comfortable. Probably my second sweater project.

The other patterns are either too simplistic (like the garter stitch scarf) or really not my style. When it comes for knitting for myself (or buying clothes/accessories) I tend to lean away from certain things. The first biggie is BRIGHT ASS COLORS. There's nothing more cheap looking to me than bright headache inducing pink or green. I have nothing against BOLD colors but I'm sorry, I thought we left the day glo colors behind back in the 80s. Another thing that gets me is outfits that look overly trendy. I see nothing wrong with trying to keep in style, but there are just some looks that you can tell are going to get old fast. You know those looks, the ones you look back on and think, dear God what was I thinking?

Well some of these patterns seem to violate either one or two of these rules. The Muppet Scarf is a big example of one that violates both. Nothing against, people who like them, but it just looks very cheap to me. I sometimes worry that in the efforts to make knitting more modern and accessible, people are sometimes buying too much into these fading fast trends. The two pairs of Leg Warmers found in this book are also examples of this. I mean, I know the 80s throwback thing is popular now but I just don't get it.

Call me overly conservative. Call me dull. I'm probably both these things and a bit of a snob on top of that! I'm just not too big on buying into certain trends.

I'll probably stay away from the Fast Favorite Wrap or Poncho, Super Hero Hand Huggers (probably really great for smokers though), Feed Bag, and Half-Square Triangular Shawl as well. They just aren't my style. The Lace Skirt is pretty enough but I don't like the little belt added onto it and I'm not that into showing off my underwear. :)

I don't mean to be too harsh on the patterns. I can only picture myself knitting a few. The ones that I can picture myself knitting make me really excited though. Anyways, this isn't really a book you buy for patterns. This is knitting content book first and foremost and I'm really satisfied with it.


The other books I got were Scarf Style and Wrap Style. I can already tell that Scarf Style is going to be more to my liking but there are a few things I like in Wrap Style as well. Still, for the moment, I'll just focus on Scarf Style. This book is very much the opposite of Getting Started Knitting. It is NOT a beginners book, and it's all about the patterns. Still, I'm sure I can handle it as long as I start out with the simple ones. There's a really wide variety of styles to be found in here. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Bright Stripes- Very similar to "Sunset Stripes Scarf." I'd leave the little bobbles off the end though. I'm not really a fan of bobbles/pompoms on adults for the most part.

Here and There Cabals- I LOVED the cabled scarf I did last spring. This scarf is more complicated but really interesting looking. I hope I get to try this one out first.

Forbes Forest- Nice unique pattern.

Campus Scarf- I really like the style of this scarf but would probably prefer it in a more solid color (or a plaid one with less green).

Zig-zag scarf- Again, minus the bobbles

Interlocking Balloons- Great unisex pattern. I wonder if Tanner would like it...

Misty Garden- Usually I'm not big on shorter scarves but there's something about the color and look of this yarn that makes it very attractive for me.

Vintage Velvet- The photograph for this is very poor but from w hat I can tell it looks like a beautiful cabled scarf.

Backyard Leaves- My FAVORITE of the book. I can't wait until I get better on my chart reading abilities so I can make this.

Midwest Moonlight- Super sweet blue scarf that is just perfect for me.

The others just aren't really my style, are too busy, or I can't really tell if I want to knit them or not. This actually has less to do with my indecisive nature and more to do with the fact that the photography isn't the best in this book. Often we don't get a good luck of the full scarf and sometimes the photos are blurry! There's also a Design Notebook in the back that I'll read when I start knitting the scarves.

Looks like I have plenty of possibilities to distract me from my baby blankets! Eek! Looks like I'll have to make sure I finish Fanciful Rose before I do anything else.

FO

The Sleepytime Seashells Blanket has been finished. Last night I knit up the last few rows and wove in the ends and here is what it looks like! It was a very tricky blanket for me. As someone who knits tightly, knitting four together was quite a challenge. I guess as a positive, I've learned to loosen up a bit with my knitting, which I'm sure will make my mom happy as she's always giving me a hard time about it. Also, you'll notice that this blanket is very rectangular. Nope it wasn't meant to be that way, I just got sick of knitting it so I stopped a few inches too early. I think it looks just fine this way anyway.

But my journey didn't end with finishing off the blanket. Tanner wanted to add in a stuffed animal, so today we went to the mall and visited Hallmark. We found a nice little bag to put it in and an adorable stuffed elephant. Originally, Tanner wanted to get a teddy bear and even seemed skeptical at the thought of grabbing an elephant but once we saw the cute little Gund elephant in Hallmark we knew that we HAD to buy it. After getting lost while trying to find the Dairy Queen, we came home and put the bag together and here's what it looks like.

So I'm throughly satisfied with this knitting endeavor. Yes, there are tons of mistakes in that blanket, yes it was a frustrating experience at times, and yes I had to put a lot of hours in it in a short amount of time just in case the woman gave birth early.... but I'm really happy I made it.

Next tasks? Finish off that hat for WarmupWinc that's collecting dust and (you guessed it) another baby blanket. This one is for the Lowell Wish Project. It's called "Fanciful Rose." It's from the same book as Sleepytime Seashells and it's very, very, feminine. I've only done about ten rows so it doesn't seem picture worthy yet. I'll continue to write about it as it grows. It's a simple lace pattern. I'm baffled how only repeating three rows can create something so intricate.

And I leave you with one last picture (since I don't get to borrow Henry's camera every day.) I give you, Max in a box!

New Books and updates on WIP

So apparently Interweave Press has an annual hurt book sale. I found out about this yesterday when I got a nice little e-mail from Knitting Daily. As someone who has always drooled over Interweave Press' knitting books, I was salivating over the prices and books that they had up for sale. Unfortunately, funds are a little tight now so, regardless of the fabulous prices, I knew that buying these books would hurt me financially so I had to sadly turn away from the sale.

Then something amazing happened. Tanner and I were driving back from the grocery store when I mentioned the situation from him. He looked up from the book he was reading and said:

"Why don't I just buy you the ones you want for your birthday?"

I froze. I hadn't really thought about that. I had already asked Tanner for something and assumed that he had either already bought it or had something else in mind. I told him yes of course and now I'm going to get three lovely books at the end of July. The first thing I grabbed as was Getting Started Knitting by Jennifer Worick. As you can tell, it's a basic knitting book. I found out about it when it was reviewed on the faireknits podcast. Sure I know a lot of the basics already but I'm still a beginner, so this should help me out with the things I don't know. I also took advantage of their Style Special, by picking up Scarf Style by Pam Allen and Wrap Style by Pam Allen and Anne Budd for only 15 bucks total. I have a feeling that Scarf Style will be more to my liking but I've always wanted to learn how to knit shawls as well. The patterns in here look to be more complex so I know that I'm not going to be able to tackle these until I have sharpened my skills with Getting Started Knitting.

Oh, and I found out that there's an ongoing Scarf Style/Wrap Style kal going on on blogspot. Maybe when I get brave enough to try out the patterns I'll join :).

As far as knitting goes, I'm almost at the end of the second skein of yarn for the Sleepytime Seashells blanket. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out (despite a mistake here and there) and I suspect that it will be done once I get another half skein or yarn in there. I also started a hat for WarmUpWinc. It's about halfway done now. I'm sure once I sit down and work on it, it will be finished in no time.

WarmUpWinc

One way that's kept me in the mood for charity knitting is through charity crafting communities. I'm a member of the very active Homespun Helpers (http://community.livejournal.com/3000in2007/ on livejournal is where I post but there's also a blogger community here at http://www.craftingforacause.blogspot.com/) . I also recently joined a great looking community called WarmUpWinc (http://wuwinc.blogspot.com/). The founder of the community, Amy, was inspired to create a charity knitting community after witnesses an alarming amount of poverty in the town she grew up in. She's looking for wool hats, mittens, scarves, and anything else warm. I hope to make a bunch of hats because they're quick and I'm pretty sure if I knit two blankets at once, I will get very confused.

I'm really looking foreword to this. I have some left over Lion Brand Wool-ease to start off with but I've really been itching to buy some new yarn for when I'm done with the first hat.