It's Been Awhile...

So I haven't posted for awhile and I haven't really knitted anything for awhile. I found out I was pregnant on Mike's Birthday May 7th and I didn't really feel well for quite some time. I did just start to knit something for our baby girl Reese who will be here in January! I will post pictures soon!

Baby Hoodie Done

So I was knitting my Mom's sweater when I received an invit
ation for my friend Dena's Baby Shower. CRAP! I hadn't made her anything yet. So I last Friday I drove to my LYS Village Yarn & Tea to get inspired and for a yarn fix. I'm such a junky. Anyway, I picked up Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino & Cashmerino 2. I used some yarn I had in my stash that I have been dying to knit with and made the Hooded Striped Top in the first book, only without the stripes. Here it is in progress and finished. It was a lot of fun and a quick project. I changed up the hood some. Instead of casting on the stitches at the back of the neck, I picked up stitches from the back and then added increases. I started this project on April 16th and finished it on April 19th.

Yeah! My new yarn arrived!

I ordered some yarn for the Alpaka Tunic I am making for my Mother. My first attempt at making this project did not go well. The pattern in the Interweave Magazine had a misprint for yardage for the yarn they made theirs with, so I miscalculated the total yardage which was less than half of what I needed. I thought is seemed weird, but I didn't follow up and double check like I should have. Anyway this yarn is DELICIOUS! It is Cascade Yarns Eco Alpaca in Silver. So soft, so beautiful. I want to make something for myself out of this yarn if it holds up nicely. I think my Mom will really like it. It undyed also which is pretty neat.

Yesterday I spent my free time trying to finish the first sleeve of my Rogue Hoodie, which is for me btw. =) But when i got this yarn I had to set it down again so I could start my Mom's project. I couldn't stand it. It was all I could think about yesterday.

During the week, I work 4 ten hour shifts so on those days I get a couple hours before work and a couple hours after work to work on my knitting. I spent a good portion of my days off knitting as well. Is there a Knitaholic's Anonymous out there?

Hi and Welcome

Sorry my first post was so short. I feel much better than I did the day I started this blog. As my Blog title suggests I am an obsessed knitter and my friends and family keep asking me to knit stuff for them. LOL I only have two hands and I may be a fast knitter but I don't think people realize how long it takes to knit things.

My obsession started almost 3 years ago. Mike, my now husband and I were walking through Walmart in Reno, NV where we used to live, and we ended up in the yarn isle. There was a cute free pattern that caught my eye. I said to Mike, "my Grandma used to crochet and I always wanted to learn, but she was afraid to teach me because I am left-handed." So I bought a couple skeins of yarn and we detoured to Barnes & Noble on the way home and I bought Crocheting for dummies.

My first project was a baby blanket for my girlfriend Laura. Once I finished the baby blanket, I was so excited I got a pattern for a baby hat and baby cardigan also and promptly started crocheting both items. At the time, I was very proud of how they turned out, but I was even more excited after my girlfriend received these items in the mail. She actually accused me of buying these items and then trying to pass them off as my own work. A relative of hers told her that it didn't look like someones first project. That had to be one of the best compliments ever!

Next I made another baby blanket, then I moved on to making a sweater for my Mom, now Mother-in-law and also for myself. I was starting to get bored of the look of crochet and really wanted to try knitting. So I bought the book Visually Teach Yourself to Knit. Greatest book ever for learning btw, it is still my knitting bible. My first copy got passed on to one of my Aunts, but I had to replace it because after I gave it away I felt lost. Anyway, I spent months practicing everything I could out of that book. All of the stitches and stitch patterns, but no projects. My first attempt at a project was another baby cardigan, which I probably shouldn't have picked first. I finished all the pieces but then the idea of putting the pieces together shared the heck out of me. Probably because my edges on that first project were horrible and I knew there was something wrong with it but I didn't know what at the time. I set down the knitting and just crocheted for next few months.

During that time, Mike and I moved from Reno, NV to Kirkland, WA. A couple of days after we moved, Feb. 29th, 2008 to be exact, Mike asked me to marry him. Now, most of you don't know me but I have a tendancy to try to do everything myself. I decided that my wedding was the best opportunity to put my craft to use and to give my wedding party a gift that was personal and handmade. I found the book Victorian Lace Today and in a year and a half I made 6 shawls and a shrug for my wedding party. You can see most of them on Ravelry. I was hooked on knitting and haven't slowed down since. I no longer crochet, unless it is to make chains for casting on or adding crab stitch details to edges of stuff.

I haven't been good at documenting my items, so this is the reason for my blog and my account on Ravelry. I tend to forget issues I had with an item and have forgotten to take pictures of items I have made, so I am going to try to be better at that.

This weekend I went to Ikea and I purchased a new shelving unit to organize my knitting stuff. I was getting sick of living out of tubs. I am loving it. I will try to go through the items I have knitting at post them with information from what I remember and start blogging daily on the items I am working on.

Right at the current time, I have almost completed the Russian Coat for my Step-Mom Julie. This is a pattern she picked out. I let her pick out the Jasper Yarn color but then I matched it to the Puruvian colorway. All I have left to do on this jacket is to tuck two strings, sew on the button and then block it really well. I have set it aside because I don't want to connect the button without her trying it on first and to be honest, I hate blocking. It tends to be the thing I put off till the last minute.

I picked up my Rogue Hooded Sweater that I had completed the body and hood of last summer/fall and started knitting the arms. I also had to fix my grafting on the cable part of the hood because I did something wrong and it didn't look right. I tend to be a perfectionist, but with knitting you can get away with making mistakes most of the time, which is something I love about it, but that grafting was just not something I felt good with. I would have regretting not fixing it everytime I looked at it, if I had chosen to ignore it, then I probably wouldn't ever wear the sweater, so what would be the point of all that time spent, if I wasn't even going to wear the item.

I have two baby socks I need to get made also for a co-worker who's baby girl has super narrow and long baby feet. She can't keep the 1st pair of socks I made for her on her feet. LOL

This week I expect to receive Cascade alpaca yarn for the sweater I am going to make for my Mother. I am excited to start that project.

Does anyone else ever get the finished project blues? It happens to me almost everytime... I finish an object and get sad and I get stuck in a 'now what' mode.

Anyway, knitting may be an obsession for me but it sure is the biggest stress relief I have ever found. I would love to be a designer some day. I have dabbled some in modifying and/or creating my own patterns. I still have a lot to learn, but I have plenty of time!

Till next post...

My First Blog...

So... I'm home sick today. That's an unusual thing for me. I am rarely sick. I hate being sick. I hate taking the dogs outside to pee when I am sick. And I can't think straight when I am sick, so that being said, I will write more in my next blog, hopefully when I am not sick.