FO: one row handspun scarf

pattern: one row handspun scarf

yarn: lion brand lion wool solids

needle: sz. 8

started: december 20, 2010

finished: december 28, 2010

on the faithful evening of decemeber 19th my brother called me and asked me to knit him a scarf for christmas...huh?! thanks for giving me less than a week notice, brother!!!!!!!!!!! the next day i realized that i had to knit like the wind, aka 10 inches a day.

let me tell you people, it was a christmas miracle! because i did it! i finished a 72 in. scarf in about a week. WHOA.

when i told him that scarves take me the longest to knit of pretty much anything i knit, he said he asked for that because he thought it would be the fastest. @_@

live and learn.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

FO: star crossed slouchy beret

pattern: star crossed slouchy beret

yarn: lion brand organic wool

needle: sz. 9 & sz. 11

started: december 28, 2010

finished: december 28, 2010

well hello! guess who's back with a brand new hat! :)

i finished this bad boy during a storage wars marathon, i thought it was high time to replace my salmon colored hat (it was a bit stretched out)

i also thought it was would be nice to have a brand new hat to wear home to michigan! after one canceled flight, i'm schedule to fly out tonight (hopefully!) it will be nice to get some family time after my first christmas away from home! i stayed here in nyc and then we got hit by a big snow storm that meant flights were canceled left and right. and i love snow as much as the next guy, but not when it messes up my travel plans!

i have a new project that i am really excited to work on when im home and on the flight :)

here i am enjoying the snow!

hope everyone had a great holiday and has a great new year!

nyc yarn crawl: part I

the other day my lovely friend from nebraska, sarah, let me know that the nyc yarn crawl is happening NOW! i had no idea! i have only been to about 2 of the participating stores, so its a really great excuse to hit up lots of yarn stores in the city. the scavenger hunt and raffle are also a nice incentive. i never win anything! (except i just won a free floor cleaning for the yoga studio because i filled out a building management survey...if i used up all my winning karma on that i will not be happy!)

i woke up really late today so i only made it to two stores, downtown yarns and knit-a-way. tomorrow i plan on getting up alot earlier and making it to more stores! i was kind of preoccupied trying to find the scavenger hunt apple, and about entering the raffle that i didnt really have time to browse. hopefully tomorrow i'll have more time to shop around.

after the yarn stores i headed to washington square park to knit a little...


my boss gave me the ok to sell my knitted goodies at the yoga studio this season! i am so excited. right now im just starting off with fingerless mitts, but i think i might also makes hats, scarves or cowls. it will be really cool to see my stuff on display there.

also, she asked me if i am interested in teaching a knitting workshop this december at the studio. ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so exciting. she already said it should be called 'the yoga of knitting' it would mainly be a knitting workshop, but maybe also tying in some yoga philosophy...i dont think it will be hard to connect the two since knitting is so meditative (except when im pulling my hair out.)
im really nervous about teaching this, but i think it would such a cool opportunity!

baby blanket in progress

i finally got the last two colors for my moderne log cabin baby blanket! i'm really liking these colors together, i wasn't expecting them to contrast so much but i think it works well.

this blanket is for a baby who is due december 16th...it might seem like a ways away but i know it will be here before my knitting and i know it!

on a side note, this sunday i'm taking a much needed break from the city and i'm going to nebraska from the 29th-6th! i'm going to my knitting group on the 1st and i can't wait. :) i haven't joined another group since that one, nothing compares! i love going back and seeing those lovely ladies.

ok, must go knit!

FO: muriwai bathmat

pattern: muriwai bathmat

yarn: lion brand cotton ease & sugar'n cream

needle: sz. 10.5

started: august 3, 2010

finished: august 10, 2010

i really like how this turned out! this one is going to my mom, but i think i'm going to make myself one also. i really like the effect of using two different colored yarns, it also keeps the knitting interesting. :)

this was my first time doing picot edging...i think it's a nice touch!

matt turned 30

my good friend matt turned 30, so we karaoked our brains out. it was so much fun ($454 worth of fun to be exact!) here are some highlights compliments of my friend newsy!

birthday bathmat?

tonight i cast-on for the muriwai bathmat (i'm on a major casting-on kick) and i'm debating whether or not to give it to my mom as part of her birthday gift next month. i feel like a bathmat might not be a very personal birthday gift....but its handknit! from the heart! i don't know, what do you think?
the bathmat is knit holding two strands together, and instead of doing one solid color...

i'm going to do these two, to give it a little pizazz! i really like the speckles of color in the cream yarn...

i guess if i don't finish it by september 17 though, that will make it easy for me to decide if i should gift it or not! :)

FO: edi cowl

pattern: edi cowl

yarn: lion brand thick & quick in snapdragon

needle: sz. 15

started: july 27, 2010

finished: july 31, 2010

so, this didn't turn out quite as i planned. i still really like it, but it doesn't really fit over my shoulders, i think i'm built like a linebacker. i really love the color, and how chunky it is....even though when i have it on it kind of feels like a neck brace and i feel a little claustrophobic. but i think it looks pretty cool, so it's totally worth it! ;) hehe

while taking these pics i got an order from someone who wants one! weeeeeeeeeee

ps. hi newsy! hehehehehe

FO: calorimetry

pattern: calorimetry

yarn: lion brand organic wool

needle: sz. 7

started: july 25, 2010

finished: july 26, 2010

i only cast-on 96 sts. instead of the suggested 120...and it is still a little big, and i have a big head! i also only did 12 repeats of the 5th row (instead of 15 repeats). i got my friends at the studio to try i on also, it looks great on everyone! :) now they all want one...lucky for me it's a really quick knit.

i'm back on the knitting train in a major way. lots of projects in the works and on the to do list...weeeee!!!





ps. july 21st was mine and betty's one year anniversary! i can't believe we have been in love for a whole year already, this seems like just yesterday! i'm so glad that i adopted her, and can't wait for a long life together. :) don't mind the picture, she hates cameras...

baby yogi

one of the teachers at the yoga studio i work at is having a baby! she is due in december, so i decided to get started on my baby knitting asap...since you never know how long it might take me to finish. :)

when she went to find out if it is a boy or girl, they couldn't tell because the baby was upside down and in a weird position....total yogi baby!!!

i decided to just go with neutrals, mainly because i really wanted to get started. i'm going to make a log cabin blanket out of 4 neutral shades in the tan/cream family...i think it will be really cute.

i also plan on sewing a lining on it........scary! i will definitely be looking for help with that when the time comes.

here is betty and the work in progress :)


ps i've been thinking about piercing my nose! ah! what do you think, yay or nay?!

hippie stuff

today my good friend and yoga teacher, luke, led a workshop that was part yoga class, part tie-dyeing. it was so much fun (and so messy!) i dont think my hands will be clean for a while.

we started off with an hour of yoga and then 3 hours of tie-dying! i have a new addiction. i was really interested in how we would do this in the city. at home in michigan, we could just go outside and use the sidewalk or driveway, but here it gets a little tricky. there is really nowhere to do it outside and inside it could be a real disaster. but we put garbage bags down and went to town. i made so many things! we used the regular dye, and then also fabric spray and stencils.

i did tshirts, pillow cases and tank tops. :)

soulstice

monday was the official first day of summer. could have fooled me! i've been melting since late april. anywhooooooooooos, there was a solstice celebration in times square and my boss was invited to teach a yoga class. the class was right in the middle of times square. i couldn't really picture in my head how they were going to do that. have you ever seen that place?! its sensory overload, but i went, and it was the coolest thing. hundreds of yogis getting down on their mat right at 47th and broadway.

it was interesting to just watch a whole class happen, normally i'm in it! i must say, it was pretty cool. all different kinds of people, different ages, different levels and i think everyone had a great time.

there were a ton of my friends/coworkers there helping assist the class (it's hard for one teacher to make it around to 100s of students)

here are some pics of the event...






<3

blanky

so its been really warm in the city lately. well, really warm for me at least. i'm sweating in anything above 70! is it winter yet?! oh man. so i figured this would be the best time to cast-on a chunky blanket hehe. i was walking around a couple blocks away from where i work and what do i stumble upon....the lion brand store! i must say, i wasn't really a big fan of lion brand, but the store is really great. it's big, lots of great yarn, computers to find and print patterns...and ac! awww yeaaaah. so i picked up some thick & quick deciding to make myself my first knit blanket. :) i started off with 3 skein and figured i'd just buy them as i knit them up.
i knit those 3 skeins in 3 days! granted, its super and bulky and on 13's...but still.
here is the blanket so far...

and here is betty trying to get my attention while i knit. hehe

here's hoping it cools off enough to finish this thing without sweating the whole way through. ;)
also, i really want to sew fabric on the back of the blanket once its done...anyone out there know how to do that, or have done it before? i think it would look really nice but have no idea how to go about doing something like that.
<3

FO: tweed birthday socks

pattern: my own

yarn: cascade 220 tweed (color 7627)

needle: sz. 5

started: march 14, 2010

finished: march 15, 2010

surprise, surprise....more socks! this cascade yarn is from the gift certificate i got for my birthday. i really love this yarn! it's not the softest yarn but its cozy and durable and will definitely keep my feet nice and warm. i want more tweed yarn! i love the little flecks.

after these socks i cast-on with some fingering weight yarn and sz. 1 needles....they feel like toothpicks! i feel like they are going to snap at any second and the socks don't go nearly as fast, but i figured i needed some socks other than worsted weight. :)

i love how i'm finishing all of these wintery/cold weather socks just as the weather gets amazing! i swear its in the 70s out there. smells like spring!

canceled flight=more knitting!

i have hands down, the WORST luck with flights. the past 3 times i've flown i've had delayed/canceled flights. ah! today i was supposed to fly back to nyc and my flight was canceled! i'm not sure why, i think it was the weather in ny...it has been pretty stormy there the past week or so. at least i didn't make it all the way to the airport this time! so, if all goes as planned i fly out tomorrow.

no work/traveling today meant a day full of knitting! woooowoooooo :) i'm working on my second tweed cascade sock and i am LOVING this yarn. it's so rustic and earthy, i want more! i also cast-on for a less conventional project....i'm making over the knee legwarmer thingies in some sport weight baby yarn.

i don't normally knit with baby yarn, but i really liked the bright colors. i thought i'd mix it up! i'm not sure if i'm liking how it is knitting up....we shall see!

all of this knitting has made me feel kind of lazy. i'm excited to get back to the city and get my yoga on and dare i say.....walk around. ah! normally i'm complaining about all the walking i have to do in the city, but i miss it! i need to get my butt moving. :)

FO: dayglo toes

pattern: my own

yarn: patons classic wool merino in mercury and lemon-grass

needle: sz. 5

started: march 11, 2010

finished: march 14, 2010

for these socks, i used my inros and kabukis as a jumping off point. in other words, i pretty much just cast-on what those patterns called for and knit in plain stockinette the whole way! :) easy peasy. i cast-on 42 stitches and after 3 inches decreased to 40 stitches. super fast, super easy.

i got a gift card to the yarn store here in lincoln, and found out that i only had a couple hours to go use it! (they are closed on sundays and i leave on monday!) so i hightailed it over there, nothing like 'having' to spend money at a yarn store. i could have been there forever, i kept picking up things and putting back...i just couldn't decide!

i eventually settled on two different sock yarns and some tweed cascade. i only went over my gift card by 48 cents, not bad! i had my eye on this super bright yellow sock yarn for a while, so i figured it had to be mine! i'm sensing a pattern here with the crazy neon yellow....i love it! also got some misti alpaca sock yarn, soooooooo squishy soft and then some nice rustic tweed cascade (which will probably also be socks).

this has been a very productive week in terms of my knitting, i think i cast-off 3 different projects....wha! that's crazy. nothing like getting away from the craziness of the city to get some quality knitting done. :) i head back tomorrow, and i must say, i miss it! i heard it has been raining like crazy though....definitely glad i missed that.

when i get back it is going to be right back into the craziness, i have lots of work to catch up on, class to take and an apartment to find! i'm moving in with a dear, dear friend of mine, and we have until april 1st to get a place. ah!!! nothing like trying to find an apartment in nyc to get your heart going. but the idea of living with a friend is so exciting, its been a long time coming. i finally feel like i'll be living in my own house instead of someone else's! can't wait.

26!

i had a great birthday today! 26 feels just like 25 but with more yarn hehe. i've had a great day and i'm full of cake and ready to lay around and knit. xo!

FO: kabukis and how i love stuffed animals

pattern: kabukis

yarn: patons classic wool merino in dark grey mix

needle: sz. 5

started: march 7, 2010

finished: march 10, 2010

more socks! i'm on a roll. i knit most of the second one at knitting group. :) aaaaaaaaaaah, knitting group. it was so nice to see all my lovely friends. i wish i could bring them to ny with me!

these socks are definitely nice and cozy. i kind of wish they were a bit longer, and i think the pattern gets a little lost, like it was more complicated then it needed to be. i really want to make my own sock patterns, but figuring out stitches per inch and all that business makes my head hurt! i just want a nice pair of worsted weight knee socks, is that so much to ask!

anywhos!

soooooooo, i have this an undying love for stuffed animals. i still sleep with one! and at the ripe old age of 25 (26 tomorrow!) i love them just as much as i did when i was a little one. so when i find these bigs ones, it takes all my willpower to not take it home. i'm also a sucker for animal ear headbands. i recently bought a panda headband at a museum gift shop. these bunny ears will be perfect for easter!