Cruising

The past few weeks I have been incredibly productive, I have been just “cruising” through projects. I just finished my second project for the tee’s, top’s, and tank’s KAL. My Mackinac Attack Tank is complete! Now I am not super thrilled with the pictures, so I plan on retaking them, but here’s two so you can at least see the finished project.

Overall I really enjoyed this tank top. The pattern was super easy and the ruffles were a lot of fun. I felt so accomplished and proud after I finished the ruffles. I also really liked the shaping, I can’t really explain but it wasn’t right along where the seam would be like most of the shaping I have encountered. One thing I did change was I made it in the round-up to the armpits and then I worked the front and back separately.  By doing that it I was able to knit it up faster, and well I hate seams so I actually finished it instead of it getting put to the side.

Now the KAL is supposed to end this coming Wednesday the 22nd, but I have a feeling there will be at least a 1 week extension. So with that in mind I have decided to start project number 3 of this KAL, which is… The love braid cardigan.

I may or may not get it finished by the end of this KAL, but I can at least get it started. With me starting this cardigan it makes me feel accomplished, because that means I will have knit up or at least started to knit up almost all of the yarn from my last knitpicks purchase. It only leaves two skeins of sock yarn, which were both kind of impulse buys and have no distinct project in mind, but the wonderful thing about sock yarn is that it can always end up being socks.

With starting cardigan I will still have that, the annis, a pair of socks, the helix scarf, a pair of fingerless gloves, and my Gemini on the needles. So I still have 6 projects on the needles, none of them getting much attention except for my newly started cardigan and the Gemini. Not all of the attention the Gemini is getting is good though, the Gemini is causing me a lot of stress because I am afraid it will be too big. At the current moment the Gemini fits just fine, actually kind of snugly, but I heard linen has a tendency to grow. I have never worked with linen before so I didn’t know that I should wash my swatch before starting the project, I mean I know you should wash your swatch as a general rule, but I never do. So now I am concerned that it is going to be too big. I think I am going to make up a swatch and wash it to see how much it grows. I really hope it doesn’t grow more than an inch because I am over halfway done with the body and would really hate to have to rip it out.

Sunshine+Chalk=Happiness

Well today at work was a lot of fun! We got a new box of crayola chalk, the new chalk that they keep advertising having all sorts of beautiful colors. Well it’s true, and they were so much fun to doodle with today. Needless to say I took full advantage of the new chalk and the lovely sun that was out today. The sun has been hiding from us since I think about Sunday, all it’s been doing is raining. The kids, my coworker, and I were very happy to be back outside again!

In other news my Mackinac tank is coming along beautifully! It is my second project for the luvinthemommyhood‘s Top’s, Tanks, and Tees KAL. I decided to make it in the round instead of flat and it is working out wonderfully so far. I am already about 9 inches in!

Here is the Mackinac Attack thus far!

I’m not too sure about the color. It may be too orange for me, I bought the yarn online through knitpicks and I thought it looked a little bit more red in the picture. I may try over dying it with a red RIT dye, over course I would try the over dye on a swatch first. I don’t know though, I have never over dyed before. The yarn content is 60% pima cotton and 40% modal. I guess I will need to see the tank on to make a true decision on it though.

What do you think? Should try to over dye a swatch? Do you like the color? Have you ever over dyed, if so do you have any tips?

Done!

*Cue dramatic celebratory music*

I am done with my first semester of grad school and I couldn’t be more relieved or happy! Sadly I will start back up in about two weeks, but this is a much needed break!

Besides being done with grad school the fact that I have two finished projects recently finished makes everything even more exciting.

Here are the promised finished project pictures:

The pistachio robot aka the cap sleeve lattice top, from Purl Soho. My first finished project for the Top’s, Tanks, and Tee’s KAL with luvinthemommyhood.

 

Here’s a run down on all of the modification’s I made for the cap sleeve lattice top, I already posted part of this and it is all on my ravelry page, but here it is again:

Cast On-
I decided to knit it in the round because I don’t like to seam and I think it goes faster. So I cast on 198 stitches, I put a stitch marker in the middle so it has 99 stitches on either side of the stitch marker and I placed a stitch marker when I joined in the round.

I followed the eyelet section like it was written, but since it was in the round at the end of the round you need to yo then k2tog, after you k2tog you are at the stitch marker, you need to remove it k1 then pm again. Then you will have 99 stitches on either side of the stitch markers again.

Body-
I prefer things to have a more fitted look so besides casting on fewer stitches I have also done some waist decreasing and increasing. After knitting 4 in. (including the ribbing) I started decreasing. Since my starting point is one of the sides I did a k1, k2tog then knit until 3 stitches before stitch marker ssk, K1, sm, k1, k2tog, then knit until 3 stitches before stitch marker ssk, k1. I did that every 5 rows (about an 1 inch between each) 4 times total. Then I knit 3 inches and started my increases. I started at the same spot for the dec and did a k1 m1 knit until a stitch before marker m1, k1, sm, k1 m1, knit until 1 stitch before marker m1 k1. I did the inc every 5 rows, for a total of 4 times. Then I knit until the body equals 16 in. including the ribbing.

The split-
So after the body equaled 16 in. I split the work into front and back which is where the stitch markers on the side come in handy again. You put 99 stitches on scrap yarn and you work on the other 99.

Lattice-
So I followed the lattice pattern once I split the work into front and back. I started with the ws row like the pattern called for, so the inside of the sweater. Once I knit about 5.25 in. I continued to follow the pattern except with how many stitches they left for the arms, and bound off for the neck.

-Neck I left 25 sleeve stitches and bound off 49 stitches for the neck and then 25 for the other sleeve. Then I continues with the lattice and once I got to 5.25 in. and I used the kitchner stitch to connect the lattice to the rest of the body. I ended up connecting directly after a lace row and it was fine.

I ended up having an entire skein of the pistachio (MC) left over and about a ball and a half of the (CC)

Now on to the Strathcona which I didn’t alter at all! I love it and the Riveting yarn from Kollage is fabulous considering it is cotton, and the fact that it is from recycled blue jean makes it even better!

And here’s the strathcona from Jane Richmond!

Have you finished anything recently? What’s on your needles? Have you modified any patterns? Did the modifications come out well?

Busy busy busy

With my first semester of grad school coming to a close this coming Wednesday, I have found myself with a ton of work left to do. Happily though I have procrastinated (I admit it) everything has been getting turned in by there due dates. A great example of that is I finished my 15 page paper with 15 minutes to spare before the turn in deadline last night. Nothing like cutting it close.

Besides all of my school work we had a yard sale this weekend and I helped to work it. We had a surprisingly amazing turnout. I was shocked. I had 5 tubs of clothing that I laid out for sale and I only have about 2 tubs left that will go to charity. Plus I sold two of my old tennis rackets, my CD player, mp3 player, DVD player, some books, a shower curtain I bought for when I was in the dorms, and an old rug.

Also now that I am coaching I have come to realize that my life has gotten quite busy. I really do enjoy coaching though, the girls are all really sweet, they need a lot of work though. But heck they are all under the age of 8 so it’s not too bad considering there age. They have lost every game by at least 5 points I think.

In more exciting news my nephews team has lost two games, tied one, and won one today. The part that makes them winning today even more fantastic is that my nephew hit his first out of the park home run, bringing in another player. My brother-in-law said that it was over 200 yards. I’m so proud of him!

So between Levi’s baseball and the softball team I help coach, I am at the ball fields around 4 to 5 times a week on average. When you add in work and grad school my free time has been cut in like half.

Even with that being said I have gotten my Strathcona and my Lattice Cap Sleeve top (Pistachio Robot) finished. Here are pictures of them on my bed, I hope to get out and take some pictures with me actually wearing them some time soon.

I’m really please with both and once I get pictures of me modeling them I will post more about each individual one.

Also I promised to show some of my most recent yarn purchases so here it is:

What have you been up to? Have you been procrastinating on anything? What have you been working on lately?

Weekend Craziness

Well I am exhausted, burnt, and sore.  I so wish I could have an extra day to recoup from this weekend, but as it is I have already technically had a 3 day weekend. Friday the kids had no school, which meant that I was babysitting so I babysat two little girls for roughly 7 hours. Not “working in the since of through my employer” is what I mean by technically having a three-day weekend but I actually worked more hours on Friday than I do regularly. By that evening I wasn’t feeling really well, so I went to be early, then I woke up nice and early again, but not as early at 6 on Friday, but 9 which isn’t horrible and went to the ball fields. I coached softball for about an hour and a half and then went to watch a friends kid play and chat. After that I went and watched my nephew play. So all in all I was at the ball fields for about 6 hours give or take playing with kids and swinging them around and watching baseball without any sun screen because we had none at my house and I wasn’t really thinking about it. Needless to say I am a pale red-head and I got BURNT! Then that night I ended up getting asked to babysit about 5 hours watching 5 boys which is fun but exhausting. Then again today I was at the ball field for another two hours to watch my nephew. I am BEAT! Oh and in case you are wondering my nephew has another game tomorrow and the team I help coach has a game on Tuesday, and I go back to work so no break in sight.

Me at my babysitting job Saturday night with their cute little puppy Ginger. This picture surprisingly does not show how truly burnt I am.

But on the plus side I have been able to get a lot of work done on my Pistachio robot while babysitting and while watching baseball.

So far everything is going according to plan with my pistachio robot. Since I am working on32 in  needles that are not interchangeable  I can not try it on as I go yet, but I have compared it to a shirt that I bought and a sweater I have made and it seems to be matching up to the size I was hoping for.

When I picked this top I knew I was going to be making some pretty major modifications to it. I have read through some of the other FO’s that have been modified, but from what I saw most of them were size small and well I am a medium so I am taking some things others have said and making it my own.

Cast On-
I decided to knit it in the round because I don’t like to seam and I think it goes faster. So I cast on 198 stitches, I put a stitch marker in the middle so it has 99 stitches on either side of the stitch marker and I placed a stitch marker when I joined in the round.

I followed the eyelet section like it was written, but since it was in the round at the end of the round you need to yo then k2tog, after you k2tog you are at the stitch marker, you need to remove it k1 then pm again. Then you will have 99 stitches on either side of the stitch markers again.

Body-
I prefer things to have a more fitted look so besides casting on fewer stitches I have also done some waist decreasing and increasing. After knitting 4 in. (including the ribbing) I started decreasing. Since my starting point is one of the sides I did a k1, k2tog then knit until 3 stitches before stitch marker ssk, K1, sm, k1, k2tog, then knit until 3 stitches before stitch marker ssk, k1. I did that every 5 rows (about an 1 inch between each) 4 times total. Then I knit 3 inches and started my increases. I started at the same spot for the dec and did a k1 m1 knit until a stitch before marker m1, k1, sm, k1 m1, knit until 1 stitch before marker m1 k1. I did the inc every 5 rows, for a total of 4 times. Then I knit until the body equals 16 in. including the ribbing.

I am about 3 inches from the 16 in. mark and then I will separate the front and back to make the arm holes and work on the lattice portion

My progress so far!

Though I have had a long weekend it has been great, even if I did kind of complain about it in the beginning of this post. This weekend I got to knit which I love, coach softball which I love softball, watch my nephew play baseball which I love, and I got to spend time with friends, family, and kids that I absolutely adore. Today in church my priest talked about love, and one thing that he said that really stuck out to me (that I have heard before, but is a great reminder) is that you need to do everything in love. This weekend for me was a weekend of love and not just because I got to do what I like to do, but because I got to show love and share love with others. I think the best part about my babysitting jobs and the after school care job that I have is the fact that I get to spend time with kids, and play with them, and listen to them, and show them that I care about them. The priest read a quote from Mother Teresa that I have heard before and absolutely love, it is: “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” That’s a great quote to live by, but hard to live up to.

Here’s a music video from one of my favorite artist’s I hope you enjoy. Oh and in posts to come I have some new yarn to show you!

What have you been up to? Was your weekend really busy? Did you get to work on any knitting projects?

Glutton for Punishment

Well my plans for a big weekend of crafting essentially got destroyed by the amount of homework I had to do, because well I have been procrastinating A LOT! I ended up getting to work on my Gemini some and I am about halfway done with the body of it, so that’s exciting. I did work on the Strathcona some this weekend, but last night I got to work on it and I am all the way to the garter part so the next time I get to sit down and seriously work on it I will probably finish it up. Which is super exciting because I really would like another finished objects because well my works in progress pile is getting rather larger, and all of them are considerably larger projects. I also made my friends card and necklace, which turned out really well in my opinion.

The card and the necklace. They ended up being color coordinated but that is mainly because those colors are our favorite colors.

 

In other news the Spring Tops, Tanks, and Tees KAL with luvinthemommyhood started on Wednesday and I cast the Cap Sleeve Lattice Top. I also plan on making the Mackinac tank. I really hope that I can get both of those projects done and the Gemini, Strathcona, and Annis by the end of May. For those of you counting besides the four things I have mentioned above that are on going I also have 3 other projects on needles. I really need  to finish some projects.

Here’s my Lime Gemini so far!

Here’s the lattice top or as I like to call it due to the two colorways I am using A Pistachio Robot.

So besides all of the knitting going on I still have plenty of homework to do, after Monday though it will mostly be reading which means I will be able to knit while I am doing it. On top of that baseball season starts Saturday so because I love my nephew I will be going to those games 2 to 3 times a week. Also I am helping to coach a 8 and under girls softball team, I am really excited for that! I love and miss softball so much, it will be nice to get to be involved with the sport again.

And for your viewing pleasure some pictures I took this past week of the flowers blooming outside my house.

What have you been up to? Have you been procrastinating on anything?

Big Plans

Well this weekend I have big knitting and jewelry making plans, on top of the fact that I would like to work on my crocheting skills some.

Everything I want to work on this weekend. My gemini, my strathcona, look through the knitscene because it has some articles I would really like to read, fix a necklace, and make a necklace for a friend. Also I would like to make up some cards and write to a few friends.

All of that is all well in good, but I have an obstacle standing in my way. That obstacle is called the end of the semester grad school paper fiasco, as with most college students when warm weather hits with the combination of the end of semester fast approaching I have less and less desire to actually do homework. So I have a stack of homework, papers, and reading I need to do, but I have new yarn and very exciting summer projects to cast on.

Here is the dreaded stack of homework. I don’t know if I talked about this before, but grad school is a lot more work than undergrad and the professors are way more critical.

Well even though I have that homework I still plan on doing everything I want to do this weekend and the homework. Wish me luck on completing all of my endeavors.