Fuzzy Noodle Knits

Wedding Season

Wedding season is beginning, and this year we are doing some big trips associated with the weddings.  We will be in Denver in July, and San Francisco in August.  I have never been to Denver, and have been to San Fran 3 times (possibly the 2nd awesomest city in the world, behind Minneapolis...I'm a little biased).  This year I think I am actually going to knit wedding gifts, as I feel they are more personable than the gift cards we usually get.  I'll let other people buy the stuff off the registry...I think personal, thoughtful gifts are the way to go these days.

For the Denver wedding, I have decided to make a Hemlock Ring Blanket (pdf from the Rainey Sisters here).  By the number of the projects in the Ravelry queue, you'd think everyone on earth knew about this pattern, but I just saw one for the first time on Wednesday at my knitting group...one of the gals finished binding off, and wow, it is awesome.  So, I'm going to do that then maybe a bunch of linen washcloths and hand towels.  And I might tuck a little Target gift card in there for the little things they might need, like Cheetos and video games.

Ella for Fred

 

Pattern: Ella by Wendy Wonnacott from Knitty.com
Materials: Koigu KPPPM (scraps leftover from other projects); US Size 6 needles
Finished: May 12, 2008

I am made this shawl for donation to the “Friends of Fred” Silent Auction.

                                           

My department director’s children are good friends with Fred, a 1st grader dealing with a lot more than a child should. My director is very active with the Friend of Fred group, and is organizing a silent auction which this shawl will be donated to.  The auction is this Friday.

 

 

(Art Deco scarf pins from the collection of my husband's late Grandmother)

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to mine and to you all who are Moms!!

This year, I did themed gifts for my Step-Mom and MIL.  The theme was "Green Moms".  I knit both of them Everlasting Bagstoppers and then included some other reusable items I found on Etsy...they both received reusable produce bags , my MIL got reusable bulk bags, and my Step-Mom was given a reusable Swiffer pad.  I loved the bags I knit so much, I bought yarn to make two for myself!

Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty
Materials:  Hemp For Knitting "Allhemp6" color #21; US size 5 and 10.5 needles; elastic cord, nylon strap
Finished: May 8, 2008...given to my Step Mom

Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty
Materials:  Hemp For Knitting "Allhemp6" color #23; US size 5 and 10.5 needles; elastic cord, canvas strap
Finished: May 8, 2008...given to my Mother-in-Law

Sneeky FO's

Because it's not Mother's Day yet, here are the Rav links to the finished Mom's Day gifts, here and here.  I finished them up last night.  For those of you not on Ravelry, I'll post pics on Sunday!

And, since this is a short, sweet, and(until now) picture free post, here's an early Caturday picture for your amusement.

 

Root Canals=Good Knitting

I had a root canal followed by having my crown permanently cemented on yesterday, so I stayed home and knit.  I need to have the Ella Shawl done by next Thursday, so I primarily worked on that.

It's a really fun knit, and I am finally using up my stash of Koigu bits.  This shawl is going to be huge after blocking...these little "Leaves" suck up a lot of ease.  I have about 40 rows remaining, so my goal is to have the knitting done by the end of the weekend so I can block block block early next week.

I also worked on Petal so I could get the freeking sleeves separated from the body it was DRIVING ME CRAZY!

With gauge, I am knitting the size that gives me about zero (+ or - a half an inch depending on the bra) ease, and I think I am going to be happy with that.  I normally give myself at least 2" of positive ease, but I think that I want this fitted because there are two button closure options (3rd and 4th picture), and I think I'll be wearing it more like picture 3.  I'm really excited about getting this sweater done...I think it will be a really wearable summer weather sweater.  Even though the yarn (Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran) is a cashmere/merino/microfiber blend, it is cabled and light weight, so I think it will be good for warm weather.  Also, Minnesota is notorious for having very exuberant air conditioning, so I'll need the warmth any way!

Talking Control of My Stuff...or, how Ravelry is saving my sanity

I have way, way too much a lot yarn, and about a billion patterns I want to knit.  Lately I have been trying to get in control of both stash and queue.  Ravelry has been most helpful, and I have been working on updating and documenting UFO's, stash, and future things I'd like to knit.  My goal is to try to knit up some UFO's (I did a great job of this last year), get some yarn from the stash knit up, and get some patterns I've been lusting after made.  I am a list maker, so here are my ambitious lists for the Summer!  (All links are to Ravelry, sorry if you don't have an account.)

UFO's that need to be FO's*:
1. Koigu Shrug- It's almost criminal to let Koigu languish so long on the needles
2. Denim Mitered Blanket- I had made 3 squares a while back, decided to pick this up again, a friend is having a baby, and I think this will be pretty gender neutral. 
3. Jawbreaker Cardi-This knits up so fast, I should just finish it. 
4. Fana-OMG, someone just MAKE me finish this right now!!  All I have to do is finish knitting the button band, knit the collar, and insert the sleeves!!  I have no excuse.

*This list does not include the four things I am actively working on...the two Mother's Day Gifts, the Ella for Fred due May 16, and the Petal Cardi, which is SO CLOSE to having the sleeves divided out.

New Projects I want to start (AND COMPLETE!) this Summer:
1. Minimalist Cardigan-Yum...this looks like the "go to" cardi.  From cruising on Ravelry, it looks awesome with a t-shirt, or with a lovely sweater pin for a more dressed up look.  I bought (yeah, had to buy yarn) some Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton in Natural for this.  I wanted something multi-seasonal and easy to care for because I expect a lot of wear from this.
2. Cables and O's: I've been wanting to make this classic for a while...I saw KnittingPharm's version and fell in love with it again.  I've also been wanting to try KnitPicks CotLin, and this is the perfect project for it.  16 balls of "Desert Turquoise" are en route to me know.
3. Eileen- HEY!  I just happen to have the perfect amount of yarn in my stash for this!  While Hempathy doesn't make the right gauge, I was told by FlyingNeedle , who made a delicious Eileen out of Hempathy that knitting the next size up would do the trick.  Perfect!

So, did you notice a trend with my Summer knits?  Not an ounce of wool in the bunch.  I have made the realization that I just don't wear my wool sweaters because I get too darn hot (with the exception of the Kujaku...no sleeves=good venting).  I am going to try cotton blends, hemp, and linens and see how I wearable they are.

Hopefully by this evening I'll have photos up to all the projects with the "Project Photo Coming Soon" label.  This weekend is a busy one...my BIL and his wife are visiting with us from MI, Monday is the funeral of my husband's grandmother, and I'm having a root canal done on Tuesday.  I'll need a vacation to work to make up for all the fun.

Pictures!

Here are some pictures!  The lighting was poor in the rink, so I had to fix some of the pics.  Hopefully I will have the professional photos soon!

The Hub and me...I made all elements in my costume.  I sewed the skirt, cut and refit the tee shirt, ironed on the lips, added the braided strap, I sewed the stretch lace gauntlets, and braided the headband from leftovers of my skirt.  Too bad I didn't get a good pick of my makeup...I had about 9 colors rocking, with lots of glitter!  More pictures are at my Flickr page here.

Here's the Video!

Hopefully pictures of the costume coming soon!  I am the one in the hot pink skirt and black top towards the right of the video.

Ice Show Weekend

I had an AWESOME time performing in my Figure Skating Club's ice show this weekend!  We performed well, and I had lots of friends and family come to the evening show to lend their support!  Unfortunately, all the pictures live in other people's cameras, so once they become available, I'll post them!  There is video of my routine, I just haven't put it up on YouTube yet.  Hopefully I will do that in the next couple of days.  While the ice show marks the end of the season, I am back on the ice tonight, practicing, practicing, practicing!  I have been with out a coach for the last month due to illnesses (hers and mine) and vacations (also hers and mine).  I still skated my contract ice sessions, but it's nothing like having a coach spend 20 minutes with you.  Originally I was I'm planning to test in May, but I just don't think I'll be quite ready for that.  I have about 3 of my 5 my Pre-Bronze "Moves in the Field" charts good to go, but the last two are being buggers.  I haven't even started working on the Freestyle test.  I have most jump elements ( waltz jump, toe loop), the required lunge or spiral, but my spins are icky...I have an awesome entrance, but can't seem to get balanced enough to pull more than two rotations.  Oh well, I'll just keep working on it!  I am already planning my Summer skating, and I think I am also going to include some ice dancing...it will really help with my Moves testing, but also might be more my style as I get older.

I spent yesterday doing laundry and recovering from the week (lots of rehearsals, 2 shows), and I got some knitting done too!  I have Ella knit up to the point where it divides for the two  rectangles.

Ella is going to rest for a bit as it is time to get some Mother's Day knitting done!  In order to protect the surprise,  I will direct you to the Ravelry project page (here).  I will be making two of those.  So far, so speedy, and I love the yarn!   

Crafty Monday

I ended up at home yesterday waiting for a repair guy to fix my dryer, so I managed to completely finish my costume for the ice show this weekend.  They only part I am going to show right now is the skirt...the rest needs to be seen as a complete ensemble!

This neon pink will hurt your eyes if you stare at it too long...perfect for bad 80's workout!  I adapted this pattern a bit from a Kwik Sew pattern...I made the brief a little more full coverage, and the skirt a bit longer.  Interestingly,  the XL is a bit too large on me, so next time I make this skirt, I'll make the large.  I didn't used my serger on this as I was under deadline pressure and really needed to play with the serger to find the right settings...but I think a serger is required when working with Lycra.  I'm not super pleased with the construction of this skirt, but with the rest of the costume, it looks pretty rad!  Oh, and the skirt looks MUCH better on me than it does the dress form!  So, the rest of the costume entails an off the shoulder tee shirt (embellished, of course), black and pink stripped leg warmers (purchased cuz I have no time to knit them), stretch pink lace and sequined arm gauntlets (I sewed those), and a braided headband made with leftover pink lycra.  In fact, this outfit is so bad, it has crossed the line into awesome territory...like, I belong in an American Apparel catalogue or something!

After I finished my sewing, I continued work on a new knit project that is on a quick deadline.  I was asked by the Director of my department to contribute something to a silent auction.  My Director’s children are good friends with Fred, a 1st grader dealing with a lot more than children should. My Director is very active with the Friend of Fred group, and is organizing a silent auction which this shawl will be donated to.  The auction is May 17th, which is coming up!  I wanted to make something that would garner a lot of money thought the auction, so I decided on a lace shawl.  I decided to knit Ella because I think the design is very wearable, and would be flattering for all.  I then decided to use my huge Koigu leftover stash to make a vividly colored wrap. 

It's actually knitting quite quickly.  I'm about one pattern repeat (20 rows) away from dividing for the sides.  Once that happens, it'll be super fast because you are staying with a constant number of stitches...not increasing like you do with the triangle part.

 

I haven't decided if I want to work the sides together (like 2 socks at a time) so I can keep the sides in the same color pattern, or just go totally random.  What do you think?