Technical Difficulties

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas/Tuesday, and that you are staying warm and out of the snow this week.

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family, and have been knitting up a storm the last few days. I came down with a cold the day after Christmas, so yesterday I just laid in bed, knitted, and caught up on some TV shows. 

A few days before Christmas, I hung out with my best friend, Hannah. We made chocolate peppermint and chocolate chip pomegranate cookies, and she let me teach her how to knit!! 

I started teaching her in the English style (holding the yarn in the right hand), but she wanted to learn to knit the continental style like her Grandma (and I) knit. I was surprised by how easily she picked up knitting continental, since it took me a lot longer to get the hang out it. I think that it is easier to learn an entirely new skill than it is to change the way you have been doing something for years.

I am really hoping she gets hooked on knitting so that we can be knitting nerds together.

Last Sunday, I had Christmas with my mom, stepdad, my sisters, and my step-brothers. It was a lot of fun, and we spent hours eating delicious food and playing board games. I got a lot of wonderful presents including this gem from my sister and brother-in-law

I am, of course, currently using it to hold my works-in-progress.

On Christmas Eve, Brandon and I both worked all day and then had Christmas with his family, which was also a lot of fun. His parents and siblings got us a computer chair, a new vacuum, and a new set of silverware and dinnerware. Awesome!

Brandon and I exchanged presents Christmas morning. He loves his scarf, and he got me some wonderful presents as well!

He definitely spoiled me this year, with yarn, a new blender and iced-coffee maker, some board games, and a ton of candy. But best of all he got me a webcam, so I can finally start making my podcast. Hannah told me that I can't call it a podcast because it will actually be a videocast, but anyway. It will be some sort of video-thingy. 

Then we went up to my grandparent's house and had Christmas there. It was so much fun to spend time with my cousins and grandparents, and my aunt and uncle whom I don't see very often. Everyone loved their handmade gifts, which made me really happy.

Molly and Brandon

Molly, mom, and Celeste modeling their presents

I love my family

My mom looks great in her sweater!

Celeste and Levi

My mom and Ken

I am always reminded this time of the year how much I love my family. They are so awesome, and so much fun to be around. 

Now, on to the knitting!

Finished Objects

The only thing that I have finished recently is my adorable little monster for the 600 Monsters project. 

He is so adorable. I definitely want to make another one to keep. I made him out of Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in the Peacock color, and I used Michele Lugo's Adorkable Monster pattern. I was not completely in love with this pattern, but the result is so adorable that I can understand the fiddliness (my spell checker is telling me that is not a word, but I am too sick and grumpy to care :P)  of the pattern. This little guy will be going out in the mail on Monday, and will be sent with hundreds of other monsters to Sandy Hook Elementary at the end of January.

Works in Progress

This is where the title "technical difficulties" comes in. I was home sick from work yesterday, so I spent all day knitting this:

I'm sorry about the poor picture quality. The camera has been acting funny. This is my first ever sweater for myself. I am using Blue Alvarez's Nutmeg sweater pattern, which is a wonderful unisex top-down, seamless raglan sweater and I am really loving it. I am adding some waist shaping and ribbing at the neckline, sleeves, and hem.  I am also probably going to have to make 3/4 length sleeves because I only have two balls of the Laines du Nord Prancer yarn (in color number 77). I am in love with this yarn. It is very soft and snuggly, and the color changes are beautiful. 

I am knitting this on my size 9, 5.5 mm, circular bamboo needles. Or I was knitting with them, until the cord completely snapped off the needle halfway through a round. I was very upset, but  I cannot say that I am surprised- I bought this needle as part of a very cheap set on Ebay a few years ago, and the cables are extremely flexible, but they do not stand up well to magic loop knitting. So, unfortunately, this sweater will have to be on hiatus until my new needles come in the mail, since I do not have another set of size 9 circulars. 

2) Since I could no longer work on my sweater, I cast on for my first pair of toe up socks

I am using Knit Picks Felici Sport in the Groovy color, and am using size 2, 2.75 mm, dpn's. I absolutely love how soft and smooth this yarn is. This was one of the yarns I got from Knit Pick's black Friday sale. I believe it is still on sale on their website. 

I used the figure 8 cast-on method, which was way more difficult than it should have been.  I tried three different cast-on methods before I finally got it right. I don't know if it is my cold, or my crappy needles, but I was definitely having some knitting problems yesterday. 

One of the main problems was that my size 2 needles are super dull, and I kept casting on too tightly. Finally, I just decided to knit the first row in the next needle size down, and that worked perfectly. It also had the added benefit of eliminating the looseness that this cast-on can sometimes cause. I am using Wendy D. Johnson's Sport Weigh Toe-up Socks pattern as a guideline.

Stash Enhancement 

I have actually purchased a little bit of yarn with my Christmas money, but for the moment all I have to show you is this wonderful yarn that Brandon got me as a present.

These are five balls of Bernat Natural Blends Alpaca yarn. He got me the Natural, Lavender, Aqua, Tomato, and Forest colors. They are very beautiful and soft yarns. I am not sure what I will be making with them yet, but I may either buy a couple more skeins to make a striped or colorwork (eeks) sweater, or make a striped cowl or scarf. 

Hopefully I will be feeling (and looking) better soon so I can officially start my videos. It is snowing like crazy outside right now, which makes me think it is a perfect time for a nap.

Have a great weekend!

Nicole

Quick post before Christmas

Only a little over four days until Christmas!!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. And I still have so many things to get done before Christmas!! I still have to wrap presents, bake two different kinds of cookies and a pie, and buy a few more presents. And I have worked every day this week, and have to work tonight, tomorrow, and all day Christmas Eve. 

So here is just a quick update about what I have been up to 

Finished Objects

I started and finished my first knit hat this week! I don't know how I have been knitting for over ten years and still had never knit a hat before. I guess it's because crocheting hats is so easy and quick that I never wanted to knit a hat. But after dying that lovely yarn last week, I wanted to make something out of it, and I did not think there would be enough to crochet a hat (since crocheting uses up more yarn than knitting does).

Here is the yarn after being wound into a ball

Here is the hat. I knit this on size US 4 needles and I used Julie Packard's Island Wools Swirl Hat pattern, mainly because the top of the hat looks like this:

I will mention again how essential the ninja turtles are to my creativity

 I love this pattern soooo much. It is really quick (I knit this in two days) and easy, and the hat looks awesome. All of the yarn-overs make it fit my giant head much better, as well.

Works in Progress

1) I started knitting the adorkable monster by Michele Lugo. I have been wanting to knit this pattern for a veeery long time, and when my mom sent me a link to the 600 Monsters Strong   project I knew I had to knit it. This group is trying to knit a monster for each of the students at Sandy Hook Elementary. Why monsters? Because there are a multitude of patterns easily available, they are quick and easy knits, they are unique and cute, and they will (hopefully) brighten a child's day. 

I am knitting my monster on size US 7 needles with Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in the color Peacock. The organizers of the 600 Monsters project are recommending that people knit/crochet with acrylic or cotton yarn so that the softies will be machine washable and not bother anyone with wool allergies. 

I am knitting "afterthought" arms, meaning that I have knit 12 stitches on each side in a different yarn so that later I can pull the yarn out, pick up 24 stitches, and knit the arms. This way I will not have to do much seaming, and I can stuff the whole monster at once. I will be knitting the horns according to the pattern, however. 

2) I started spinning this "Pre-yarn" that I purchased from linyarns on Etsy.  It is actually pencil roving, which is wool roving that has been drafted very very thin. It is so thin that I do not have to do anything other than spin it, making it super fast and easy to spin.

 

I am already about a quarter of the way done. The wool is a little scratchy, but I am hoping that after I ply it and soak it in wool-wash it will soften up. If not, I think I will use it to knit some felted slippers or maybe a stuffed animal. 

That's all from me for now. I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas has a wonderful day with family and friends. And if I don't get a chance to post, Happy New Year, as well.

-Nicole